The Latest Breaking News from John Prescott

Newly released official files lift lid on how ministers expressed concerns over unrestricted access for workers from new EU countries

Nick Bailey writes: John Prescott contributed greatly to urban development and regeneration

Angela Singer writes: John viewed those who caused the prison riot as people in difficult circumstances

Keith Seacroft writes: He would share bits of the latest news about Hull, always a great example of an MP who represented broader interests than his own.

Malign influence exerted by negotiators for fossil-fuel lobby dramatised in production transferring to London

Letters: Kate Ashbrook offers a reminder of his support for the right to roam and national parks, and Ben Piper recalls his role in convening a water summit. Plus letters from Ruth Blunt and Aidan Roddy

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle led tributes to Lord Prescott, who died last week, calling him a ‘towering figure in the Labour movement and in this House’.

Tory leader says she will not ‘comment on every bit of micro-policy’

Once frozen out by the New Labour elite, John Prescott fought his way in from the cold to become a loyal deputy leader. Toby Helm recalls a bruising political career

The former deputy prime minister, who died this week, spoke freely and didn’t care what journalists thought of him – he was everything today’s guarded politicians are not

The warm tributes paid to John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister who has died aged 86, reflect a memorable politician of a seemingly bygone era. While his achievements over a long career were vast, the enduring image for most people is of Prescott punching a voter during the 2001…