Dorries claims she is ‘working daily’ on behalf of her constituents amid calls for her to resign – as it happened

Nadine Dorries is facing growing criticism for not resigning. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

5.06pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Nadine Dorries has broken her silence to insist she is still working as an MP, after a colleague said she should be stripped of the Conservative whip.

• Steve Barclay, the health secretary, has said the inquiry into the murders carried out by Lucy Letby must have the “full confidence” of victims’ families, in a fresh hint it will be upgraded into a statutory one. (See 4.54pm.)

• NatWest Group’s ousted chief executive Alison Rose is in line for a pay package worth more than £2.4m, despite being forced to resign last month over a scandal linked to the threatened closure of Nigel Farage’s bank accounts.

• The Conservative MP Tim Loughton has accused Greece of “blatant opportunism” in claiming ancient treasures such as the Parthenon marbles are not safe in the British Museum after thefts from the institution.

• Britain’s policymakers have been put on recession alert after a closely watched measure of economic health showed the UK gripped by a Europe-wide slump in private sector activity.

• The first “not for EU” labels have appeared on food products sold in Northern Ireland, in a sign for consumers of the changes resulting from the Windsor framework deal that updated the region’s post-Brexit arrangements.

Updated at 7.52pm BST

4.54pm BST

Steve Barclay says Letby inquiry must have 'full confidence' of victims' families, in hint it will be made statutory

Steve Barclay, the health secretary, has hinted that the government may upgrade the inquiry into the murders carried out by Lucy Letby into a statutory one.

Last week, when the Department of Health and Social Care announced an inquiry, it said a non-statutory inquiry would be “the most appropriate option, building on the approach taken in other cases” because it would be able to report more quickly.

But on Monday Downing Street said it was open to the idea of turning it into a statutory inquiry and today Barclay said:

As the prime minister has said, we’ll ensure that the legal framework for [the inquiry] has the full confidence of the families affected and I’ll be engaging with them on that – whether that’s on a statutory or non-statutory basis – to ensure that … issues such as whistleblowers, and other actions related to this case, are fully investigated …

We need to ensure that [the] inquiry has the full confidence of the families affected … And it’s the families that I am absolutely focused on in ensuring that their voices are heard.

Families of Letby’s victims have been calling for the inquiry to be beefed up into a statutory one so that it has the power to compel witnesses to give evidence. They believe that management at the Countess of Chester hospital, where Letby murdered babies, has been evasive in responding to their questions about how that was able to happen.

Steve Barclay speaking to Sky News today. Photograph: Sky News

Updated at 7.52pm BST