‘Failed former Tory MPs’ who join Reform unlikely to be selected as candidates, Zia Yusuf says – as it happened

Zia Yusuf, Reform UK party policy director. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

5.45pm GMT

Afternon summary

• Keir Starmer has said Kemi Badenoch is “losing the plot” after the Tory leader said that Rachel Reeves should be investigated by the Financial Conduct Authority for market abuse in relation to pre-budget speeches and briefings. (See 1.47pm.)

• The government has agreed to implement a plan intended to reduce the cost of buying baby formula, Keir Starmer has said.

• Markus Campbell-Savours MP has had the Labour whip suspended for voting against the government plan to extend inheritance tax to farms. (See 5.17pm.)

• Foreign Office failures led to opportunities being missed to achieve justice for the family of Harry Dunn, killed in August 2019 in a motorcycle crash outside a US airbase, an independent review commissioned by the Labour government has found.

• Eleven Labour members of the Senedd have sent a letter to Keir Starmer accusing him of bypassing devolution. They particularly criticised the plan to give money to towns through the Pride in Place programme bypassing the Senedd and the Welsh government. Acting like this was “at best deeply insensitive, at worst a constitutional outrage”, they said. The BBC has further details here. In response, Phyl Griffiths chair of the YesCymru pro-independence campaign, said:

When Westminster can ignore the Senedd, bypass Welsh ministers and take decisions about Wales from London, even in fully devolved areas, and even when the same party is in government in both Westminster and the Senedd, it shows clearly that devolution cannot protect Welsh democracy.

• The Police Federation of England and Wales has published research showing that, by 2030-31, because of the government’s decision to freeze income tax thresholds for another three years, 98% of full-time police officers will be in the higher rate tax band.

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.

Updated at 12.05pm GMT

5.18pm GMT

Markus Campbell-Savours MP has Labour whip withdrawn after voting against plan to extend inheritance tax to farms

Markus Campbell-Savours has had the Labour whip suspended for voting against the government plan to extend inheritance tax to farms, Tom Sheldrick from ITV Border reports.

EXCLUSIVE: I understand that Penrith & Solway MP Markus Campbell-Savours has been suspended as a Labour MP after he voted against the government’s plans to impose inheritance tax on farms last night

See 2.30pm for more on the vote last night.

According to Sky News, Campbell-Savours has lost the whip because he voted against the government on a budget measures, and that counts as a confidence issue.