Summary
As the time approaches 5pm, here’s a roundup of today’s news as the head of the Covid inquiry, Heather Hallett, said she would extend the deadline for the government to send over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages and diaries to Thursday.
The government has been accused of a cover-up after telling the Covid inquiry it did not have Johnson’s pandemic notebooks and WhatsApp messages, even though government lawyers were given the material.
The Cabinet Office has been refusing to hand over unredacted versions of Johnson’s correspondence and documentation, and is now claiming to the inquiry that it does not have the WhatsApps or 24 notebooks in its possession.
The deadline was supposed to be 4pm on Tuesday, but it has been extended for 48 hours.
In an update on the Covid-19 inquiry, Hallett has said she aims to conclude public hearings by summer 2026.
Labour has said the evidence from Johnson that has seemingly “gone missing” must be found and presented to the Covid-19 inquiry to avoid the “whiff of a cover-up”.
On the story about Sunak’s potential price caps on essential foods trailed in the Telegraph at the weekend, the former M&S chair Stuart Rose, who now heads the Asda supermarket, said there would be “unintended consequences” if the proposal went ahead.
Sunak will travel to Washington next week for talks with Joe Biden where the two leaders are expected to discuss trade issues.
The Scottish minister in charge of implementing a deposit return scheme has said devolution is coming under “sustained attack” after the UK government stepped in to exclude glass from the scheme.
That’s all for today. Thanks for following along.
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Some photos from the news wires, as the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has been at a lab in Kent, and the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been addressing a picket line in London.
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