UK politics: Tories call for block on Chinese super-embassy amid claims of hidden chamber near sensitive cables – as it happened

An image of how the proposed embassy will look Photograph: David Chipperfield Architects

6.11pm GMT

Early evening summary

• Some Labour MPs have joined the Conservatives in condemning plans to allow the Chinese to build a new “super-embassy” in London. In a Commons urgent question, triggered by a Telegraph report claiming that the building would include a “hidden chamber” very close to cables carrying data for City banks (see 12.54pm), Alicia Kearns, the shadow Home Office minister, said the Chinese could use the building as “a launchpad for economic warfare against our nation”. (See 1.06pm.) None of the Labour MPs speaking during the UQ backed the plan, and one of them, Sarah Champion, called for the application to be rejected, saying the government should “stand up to bullies, not reward them”. (See 1.19pm.)

• The government is to delay the progress of the Hillsborough law while ministers thrash out a compromise, amid concerns from MPs and families over how it will apply to serving intelligence officers.

• Wes Streeting has criticised the centre-left of politics for an “excuses culture” which blames Whitehall and stakeholders for the slow pace of change, saying politicians “are not simply at the mercy of forces outside of our control”.

• Keir Starmer has told MPs he is open to the idea of an Australian-style ban on social media for young people after becoming concerned about the amount of time children and teenagers are spending on their phones.

• A Home Office TikTok account posting footage of deportations and arrests set to dramatic music has been criticised for turning “brutality” into “clickbait”.

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.

5.58pm GMT

And here are two more comments on the Scottish government’s budget.

From the Times columnist Kenny Farqhharson

Much to welcome in the Scottish budget but it’s remarkable how many of the measures were simply tweaks to copy what Labour is doing in England (mansion tax, breakfast clubs, etc) or position Scotland as marginally more generous than south of the border (income tax thresholds for lower paid). SNP world view is defined by England.

From Douglas Fraser, BBC Scotland’s business and economy editor

As a tax giveaway, it’s not huge - £50m handed to income taxpayers by raising two of the lower thresholds by more than inflation.

The point at which you start paying 21 pence in each extra pound earned, up from 20 pence, goes up by slightly more than £2000 from £27,492 to £29,527. That’s a reduction in an annual tax bill of just over £20.

But the stealth tax on higher rates goes on. As people’s income goes through the higher rate of income tax, remaining at £43,633, they’ll pay 42 pence on each extra pound earned.

And this BBC graphic shows how Scottish taxpayers compare with taxpayers in the rest of the UK in terms of the amount of tax they pay at different income levels.