No 10 says Suella Braverman did not approve email in her name attacking civil servants over small boats – as it happened

The home secretary did not approve an email sent out in her name, according to No 10. Photograph: Reuters

5.15pm GMT

Afternoon summary

• Suella Braverman has been accused of potentially breaking ministerial rules by questioning the impartiality of public servants over small boat crossings in a Conservative campaign message.

• Rishi Sunak’s plan to stop small boat crossings will “drive a coach and horses” through protections for women who are trafficked to Britain as victims of modern slavery, Keir Starmer has said.

• Ylva Johansson, the EU’s commissioner for home affairs, has told Suella Braverman that her illegal migration bill is unlawful, Politco’s Suzanne Lynch reports. Johansson said:

I spoke to the British minister yesterday on this and I told her that I think that this is violating international law.

New — EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson weighs in on UK #migration #StopTheBoats policy.

The EU Commissioner told POLITICO she spoke with #SuellaBraverman yesterday: https://t.co/J1Z9AC6wLa

— Suzanne Lynch (@suzannelynch1) March 8, 2023

• James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, has criticised plans to house asylum seekers at an RAF base in his constituency as part of a controversial scheme announced on Tuesday to detain and deport people en masse.

• The UK’s trade agreement with the EU could be immediately terminated if the British government quits the European convention on human rights over the issue of stopping small boat crossings across the Channel, legal experts have said.

• China’s leading genomics research company was given a Covid testing contract in the UK despite ministers knowing it had repeatedly sought to hack into the NHS’s genetic datacentre, a government minister has said.

Rishi Sunak with colleagues at PMQs. Photograph: Andy Bailey/UK Parliament/AFP/Getty Images

Updated at 5.25pm GMT

5.06pm GMT

A third union representing civil servants, the Public and Commercial Services union, has criticised Suella Braverman over the email that went out in her name. (See 1.56pm.) Mark Serwotka, the PCS general secretary, said in a statement:

The home secretary’s disgraceful and disrespectful comments come as no surprise to us.

Her government has, for years, treated hard-working civil servants with disdain and contempt, taking them for granted.

Rather than insulting our members and questioning their integrity, Suella Braverman should be encouraging the prime minister to give civil servants a fair pay rise to help them through the cost-of-living crisis and beyond.