Eurosceptic former MP Owen Paterson takes UK government to European court of human rights – as it happened

Owen Paterson outside the European Commission's headquarters in Brussels in 2018. Photograph: Francisco Seco/AP

6.04pm GMT

Afternoon summary

• Owen Paterson, the former MP at the centre of a lobbying scandal that engulfed Boris Johnson’s government, is taking the UK to the European court of human rights to challenge the finding that he repeatedly broke the rules on paid advocacy. A peer, Lord (Nazir) Ahmed, has launched a similar legal action over an inquiry in the House of Lords that upheld a complaint of sexual misconduct against him. (See 5.44pm.) Ahmed was jailed earlier this year over unrelated sexual offences.

• Keir Starmer has issued a challenge to business leaders, vowing to end the “short-term fix” of using foreign workers to plug labour shortages and seeking to toughen up his party’s stance on immigration.

• The government is postponing a vote scheduled for Monday on the levelling up bill in the face of a potential rebellion by Tory MPs backing an amendment that would abolish mandatory housing targets, my colleague Jessica Elgot reports.

New - Government is pulling vote on Levelling Up bill on Monday, amid a big rebellion on housing targets which at least 46 MPs are planning to vote to abolish. (Though govt blaming lack of time due to Finance Bill debate)

— Jessica Elgot (@jessicaelgot) November 22, 2022

The amendment has been tabled by Theresa Villiers, the former cabinet minister.

• Priti Patel is threatening to launch a formal complaint after Home Office sources made a “categorically untrue” claim that she oversaw a two-month summer “pause” in finding hotel rooms for asylum seekers.

• The Conservatives are bracing themselves for a slew of departures by MPs, with many expected to be announced by the end of the year, as the former work and pensions secretary Chloe Smith became the latest to decide not to stand at the next election.

• Rail passengers will face further disruption across Britain at Christmas after the RMT union announced a series of 48-hour strikes in December and January.

Keir Starmer arriving on stage to speak to the CBI conference this morning. Photograph: Jacob King/PA

5.44pm GMT

Peer joins Owen Paterson in taking government to European court of human rights over misconduct inquiry

Owen Paterson is not the only former parliamentarian taking the UK government to the European court of human rights alleging that a parliamentary misconduct investigation has not been fair to him.

The court in its summary says a peer is also taking the government to court over the handling of a sexual misconduct complaint about him. The peer appealed unsuccessfully against a ruling saying he should be expelled from the Lords for what he did, and he resigned from the house before peers could vote to expel him.

The peer claims that his rights to a private life were breached by the inquiry, and that the process was discriminatory, because, as he was a member of parliament and as parliamentary privilege was involved, he did not have the right to go to court to protect his name that other people would have had.

The court just identifies the applicant as N. A. in its summary, but the facts as set out match what happend to Lord (Nazir) Ahmed, who resigned from the Lords in 2020 claiming he had been unfairly accused of sexual misconduct.