Summary
Here is a round-up of the day’s main news stories:
Britons faced with an 80% increase in the energy price cap face tough times ahead, Boris Johnson said today. The outgoing prime minister said a “huge amount” of help for households had already been promised and his successor - either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak - would provide further support.
Boris Johnson has not ruled out setting his sights on a political comeback after he leaves Downing Street, as he sought to cement his legacy in the final week of his premiership. On the first of a flurry of visits to mark what he will paint as key achievements of his administration, Johnson faced questions about his future after No 10. He deflected and spoke of the rollout of gigabit broadband, also urging people to have “hope” that the worsening cost of living crisis will get better in 2023.
The Labour party chair, Anneliese Dodds, has said the “massive increase” in the cap on energy bills “will plunge many, many households into financial distress”. Asked about reports Liz Truss would support oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea and if that was the answer, Dodds told Times Radio: “No, it’s not and the answer really is to be taking action to get the cost of those bills down.”
Andy Burnham criticised Keir Starmer’s policy of stopping Labour frontbenchers from joining picket lines, saying he would not “see this as controversial” during a crisis over the cost of living. The mayor of Greater Manchester was due to join Mick Lynch, the leader of the RMT rail union, at the launch of the Enough is Enough movement in Manchester on Tuesday. The new movement is calling for lower energy prices and increases to wages and benefits. Speaking to Sky News, Burnham again declined to rule out standing for the Labour leadership in the future, saying he would consider this “one day”.
The Liberal Democrats are rushing through plans to confirm a candidate for Michael Gove’s Surrey seat amid speculation that the former levelling up secretary is considering quitting parliament, sparking a byelection. Selection for the seat, held by Gove since 2005, closes on Thursday evening, and Lib Dem officials are planning for a possibly imminent campaign the party would fight on issues including the state of local hospitals and plans to drill for gas locally.
Liz Truss will sign off on a push for more oil drilling in the North Sea if she wins the Conservative leadership election, according to reports, drawing criticism from environmental campaigners. Amid mounting public dismay about soaring energy bills, Truss’s policy advisers are thought to be discussing proposals to issue up to 130 new drilling licences, which typically take nearly three decades to produce any oil or gas.
Truss has also been accused of “running scared” of scrutiny after pulling out of a BBC interview scheduled for Tuesday, meaning she is likely to become prime minister without undergoing a single set-piece broadcast quizzing. Earlier this month the foreign secretary agreed to a primetime interview with the veteran political journalist Nick Robinson on BBC One, something already done by Rishi Sunak, her rival to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative party leader. But a BBC spokesperson said Truss had now cancelled the interview. “Ms Truss’s team say she can no longer spare the time to appear on Our Next Prime Minister,” they said.
A funding package to help secure the long-term future of London’s transport network has been agreed with Transport for London, the government has said. The Department for Transport (DfT) said the settlement includes almost £1.2bn of upfront funding and matches the Mayor for London’s pre-pandemic spending plans, the Press Association reported.
Nadhim Zahawi will spend what are likely to be his final few days as chancellor in the US on a fact-finding trip to discuss measures to tackle soaring energy costs. Zahawi, who took over as chancellor eight weeks ago and is likely to be replaced if, as widely expected, Liz Truss is unveiled as the next Conservative leader, will also discuss the Ukraine war and cooperation on financial services.
The government’s commitment to gigabit broadband appears to have been scaled down despite Boris Johnson highlighting his record on the agenda. Johnson was visiting north Dorset, where work is kicking off on the first major contract under the government’s Project Gigabit, the £5bn programme to roll out more reliable broadband to hard-to-reach areas, the Press Association reported.
It came as a minister suffered connection problems during a radio interview to announce the government’s advances in providing gigabit-capable broadband. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport minister Matt Warman’s line failed shortly after he spoke about the “huge progress” in rolling out the technology across the UK.
Boris Johnson has condemned environmental protesters who he says are “wreaking havoc” on the nation’s roads. Downing Street said Just Stop Oil demonstrations were costing taxpayers millions of pounds and “putting lives in danger”. The home secretary, Priti Patel, has accused the “thugs and so-called eco-warriors” of “waging a war against the British people”, the Press Association reported.
A clean-up operation has begun in Edinburgh as waste and cleansing services resume after nearly two weeks of strike action by workers. The city’s waste workers began striking on 18 August in a dispute over pay, but returned to work on Tuesday in the Scottish capital where huge piles of rubbish have accumulated in many streets.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. Thanks for following along. Goodbye for now.
Updated
A funding package to help secure the long-term future of London’s transport network has been agreed with Transport for London, the government has said.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said the settlement included almost £1.2bn of upfront funding and matched the mayor of London’s pre-pandemic spending plans, the Press Association reported.
It added it would protect against potential lost revenue caused by uncertainty over post-pandemic demands for services, and also support several projects.
These include new Piccadilly line trains as well as modernisations and upgrades, including support for the repair of Hammersmith Bridge and extension of the Northern line.
Continued work on introducing driverless trains on the London Underground was part of the agreement, according to the DfT.
The department said the mayor, Sadiq Khan, had also committed to submit proposals to reform pensions by the end of September.
Updated
Boris Johnson ducks questions over possible comeback
Boris Johnson has not ruled out setting his sights on a political comeback after he leaves Downing Street, as he sought to cement his legacy in the final week of his premiership.
On the first of a flurry of visits to mark what he will paint as key achievements of his administration, Johnson faced questions about his future after No 10.
He deflected and spoke of the rollout of gigabit broadband, also urging people to have “hope” that the worsening cost of living crisis will get better in 2023.
Close friends of Johnson have said he believes he has been forced out before his time and thinks MPs will come to regret moving against him in early July.
Asked if he could make a comeback, Johnson told reporters: “I think on the whole people in this country are more interested in their gigabit broadband than they are in the fate of this or that politician.”
As the cleanup of the litter-strewn streets of Edinburgh began on Tuesday morning after the conclusion of a punishing 12-day strike by refuse workers, one residence did not trouble those tasked with removing the piles of bursting bin bags.
Nicola Sturgeon’s official residence, Bute House, like other Scottish government buildings, was not affected by the waste backlog, which has been deemed a public health hazard across the city. Rubbish at Bute House is collected by a private waste removal firm, it emerged last weekend. The news added another unflattering optic to growing criticism of the first minister’s handling of escalating nationwide strike action.
Last Friday opposition parties accused Sturgeon of being “asleep at the wheel” as she travelled to Copenhagen to officially open the Scottish government’s Nordic office. Meanwhile, crunch talks between unions and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), the SNP-led umbrella group for Scotland’s 32 councils, were ongoing.
As the cleanup of the litter-strewn streets of Edinburgh began on Tuesday morning after the conclusion of a punishing 12-day strike by refuse workers, one residence did not trouble those tasked with removing the piles of bursting bin bags.
Nicola Sturgeon’s official residence, Bute House, like other Scottish government buildings, was not affected by the waste backlog, which has been deemed a public health hazard across the city. Rubbish at Bute House is collected by a private waste removal firm, it emerged last weekend. The news added another unflattering optic to growing criticism of the first minister’s handling of escalating nationwide strike action.
Last Friday opposition parties accused Sturgeon of being “asleep at the wheel” as she travelled to Copenhagen to officially open the Scottish government’s Nordic office. Meanwhile, crunch talks between unions and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), the SNP-led umbrella group for Scotland’s 32 councils, were continuing.
Sturgeon also made no fewer than five appearances at the Edinburgh festival, concluding her run on Monday evening with an interview with the Succession actor Brian Cox, who told the audience that she was doing an “incredible” job and promised to support next year’s Scottish independence campaign.
The SNP leader hopes to hold a second referendum on 19 October 2023 and has asked the UK supreme court to rule on whether it is legally possible to do so without Westminster’s consent.
Updated
The Liberal Democrats are rushing through plans to confirm a candidate for Michael Gove’s Surrey seat amid speculation that the former levelling up secretary is considering quitting parliament, sparking a byelection.
Selection for the seat, held by Gove since 2005, closes on Thursday evening, and Lib Dem officials are planning for a possibly imminent campaign the party would fight on issues including the state of local hospitals and plans to drill for gas locally.
A Conservative source said, however, it was not true Gove planned to quit as an MP. Speculation that he might has intensified since Gove publicly backed Rishi Sunak to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister, and said he did not expect to be in government again.
Before becoming an MP, Gove was a prominent journalist for the Times, and there have been reports he is considering a return to the profession.
Surrey Heath has been held by the Tories since the constituency was created in 2001, and Gove had a majority of more 18,000 at the 2019 general election, albeit reduced from almost 25,000 in 2017.
Britons face 'tough months ahead', says Boris Johnson
Britons faced with an 80% increase in the energy price cap face tough times ahead, Boris Johnson said today.
The outgoing prime minister said a “huge amount” of help for households had already been promised and his successor - either Liz Truss or Rishi Sunak - would provide further support.
Regulator Ofgem has announced a rise in the price cap for around 24 million households in England, Scotland and Wales, sending the average yearly bill from £1,971 to £3,549, the Press Association reported.
Johnson highlighted the announcements already made which will see £1,200 going to the eight million most vulnerable households. But he added:
Whichever of the two candidates gets in next week, what the government is also going to do is provide a further package of support for helping people with the cost of energy.
What we’ve got to do is get through the tough months - and I’m not going to shrink from this, it is going to be tough in the months to come, it’s going to be tough through to next year.
The price increase in gas is being driven by Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, he said during a visit to Dorset. “We’re going to get through it,” Johnson said. “We’re taking 26% more of our own gas from the North Sea than we did last year, we’re much less dependent on Putin’s supplies.”
Updated
Summary
Here is a round-up of all the day’s top headlines so far:
The Labour party chair, Anneliese Dodds, has said the “massive increase” in the cap on energy bills “will plunge many, many households into financial distress”. Asked about reports Liz Truss would support oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea and if that was the answer, Dodds told Times Radio: “No, it’s not and the answer really is to be taking action to get the cost of those bills down.”
Andy Burnham has voiced criticism of Keir Starmer’s policy of stopping Labour frontbenchers from joining picket lines, saying he would not “see this as controversial” during a crisis over the cost of living. The mayor of Greater Manchester is due to join Mick Lynch, the leader of the RMT rail union, at the launch of the Enough is Enough movement in Manchester on Tuesday. The new movement is calling for lower energy prices and increases to wages and benefits. Speaking to Sky News, Burnham again declined to rule out standing for the Labour leadership in the future, saying he would consider this “one day”.
Liz Truss will sign off on a push for more oil drilling in the North Sea if she wins the Conservative leadership election, according to reports, drawing criticism from environmental campaigners. Amid mounting public dismay about soaring energy bills, Truss’s policy advisers are thought to be discussing proposals to issue up to 130 new drilling licences, which typically take nearly three decades to produce any oil or gas.
Truss has also been accused of “running scared” of scrutiny after pulling out of a BBC interview scheduled for Tuesday, meaning she is likely to become prime minister without undergoing a single set-piece broadcast quizzing. Earlier this month the foreign secretary agreed to a primetime interview with the veteran political journalist Nick Robinson on BBC One, something already done by Rishi Sunak, her rival to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative party leader. But a BBC spokesperson said Truss had now cancelled the interview. “Ms Truss’s team say she can no longer spare the time to appear on Our Next Prime Minister,” they said.
Nadhim Zahawi will spend what are likely to be his final few days as chancellor in the US on a fact-finding trip to discuss measures to tackle soaring energy costs. Zahawi, who took over as chancellor eight weeks ago and is likely to be replaced if, as widely expected, Liz Truss is unveiled as the next Conservative leader, will also discuss the Ukraine war and cooperation on financial services.
Leading Conservatives including two former education secretaries have urged the incoming prime minister to address rising cost pressures on schools as a matter of urgency, as head teachers struggle to pay soaring energy and wage bills. With the start of the new academic year just days away, many schools in England are already overwhelmed by energy price rises in excess of 200% – with worse to come – plus the additional cost of unfunded pay rises and mounting inflation.
The government’s commitment to gigabit broadband appears to have been scaled down despite Boris Johnson highlighting his record on the agenda. Johnson was visiting north Dorset, where work is kicking off on the first major contract under the government’s Project Gigabit, the £5bn programme to roll out more reliable broadband to hard-to-reach areas, the Press Association reported.
It came as a minister suffered connection problems during a radio interview to announce the government’s advances in providing gigabit-capable broadband. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport minister Matt Warman’s line failed shortly after he spoke about the “huge progress” in rolling out the technology across the UK.
Boris Johnson has condemned environmental protesters who he says are “wreaking havoc” on the nation’s roads. Downing Street said Just Stop Oil demonstrations were costing taxpayers millions of pounds and “putting lives in danger”. The home secretary, Priti Patel, has accused the “thugs and so-called eco-warriors” of “waging a war against the British people”, the Press Association reported.
A clean-up operation has begun in Edinburgh as waste and cleansing services resume after nearly two weeks of strike action by workers. The city’s waste workers began striking on 18 August in a dispute over pay, but returned to work on Tuesday in the Scottish capital where huge piles of rubbish have accumulated in many streets.
Updated
A clean-up operation has begun in Edinburgh as waste and cleansing services resume after nearly two weeks of strike action by workers.
The city’s waste workers began striking on 18 August in a dispute over pay, but returned to work on Tuesday in the Scottish capital, where huge piles of rubbish have accumulated in many streets.
The strike was timed to coincide with Edinburgh’s festival season, and spread to dozens of other areas across the country.
Strikes in other areas will end later this week. However, a fresh wave of industrial action in cleansing and education sectors will go ahead in many parts of Scotland next week after unions on Monday rejected the latest “unacceptable” offer from local authorities.
Updated
Boris Johnson has condemned environmental protesters who he says are “wreaking havoc” on the nation’s roads.
Downing Street said Just Stop Oil demonstrations were costing taxpayers millions of pounds and “putting lives in danger”. The home secretary, Priti Patel, has accused the “thugs and so-called eco-warriors” of “waging a war against the British people”, the Press Association reported.
No 10 said the prime minister backed her words, with a spokeswoman adding:
Obviously the right to protest is a fundamental principle of our democracy but these demonstrations are wreaking havoc on our roads and they’re disrupting thousands of journeys and costing millions in taxpayers’ money and also putting lives in danger.
To date, Just Stop Oil protests have cost police and other agencies millions of pounds and police on the ground have made over 1,000 arrests to date of Just Stop Oil protesters who are distracting officers from preventing crime and keeping our communities safe.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act increased the sentences available for offenders convicted of carrying out disruptive acts and police had more flexibility in the way that they managed protests, the spokeswoman added.
The public order bill “will give police pre-emptive powers to prevent guerrilla tactics” and “we will continue to ensure the police have the powers that they need”.
Updated
The government’s commitment to gigabit broadband appears to have been scaled down despite Boris Johnson highlighting his record on the agenda.
Johnson was visiting north Dorset, where work is kicking off on the first major contract under the government’s Project Gigabit, the £5bn programme to roll out more reliable broadband to hard-to-reach areas, the Press Association reported.
The government aims to reach 85% coverage by 2025 – but the 2019 Tory manifesto said “we intend to bring full fibre and gigabit-capable broadband to every home and business across the UK” by that date.
A No 10 spokeswoman said:
He [Johnson] remains committed to delivering better broadband coverage for the UK and we’ve seen an example of that today.
Updated
Leading Conservatives including two former education secretaries have urged the incoming prime minister to address rising cost pressures on schools as a matter of urgency, as head teachers struggle to pay soaring energy and wage bills.
With the start of the new academic year just days away, many schools in England are already overwhelmed by energy price rises in excess of 200% – with worse to come – plus the additional cost of unfunded pay rises and mounting inflation.
Without additional funding, school leaders are warning of redundancies, bigger class sizes and cuts to the curriculum, which they say could damage children’s education for years to come. Schools are not covered by the cap on household energy bills.
Kenneth Baker, who was education secretary from 1986 to 1989, said schools would go into the red without government intervention. “We’re heading into a really ghastly two-year period and it’s going to require remarkable leadership to come out of this smiling,” he said.
Justine Greening, who was education secretary under Theresa May, said children and schools were facing an “education double-hit” after the pandemic.
Updated
Truss ‘will approve more oil drilling if she becomes PM’
Liz Truss will sign off on a push for more oil drilling in the North Sea if she wins the Conservative leadership election, according to reports, drawing criticism from environmental campaigners.
Amid mounting public dismay about soaring energy bills, Truss’s policy advisers are thought to be discussing proposals to issue up to 130 new drilling licences, which typically take nearly three decades to produce any oil and gas.
The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, and the Brexit opportunities minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg, have been meeting oil and gas firms to discuss how to secure energy supplies this winter, the Times reported.
The discussions reportedly involve importing more gas from Norway in the short term, while ramping up domestic production. The climate change committee has previously said it takes an average of 28 years for an exploration licence to lead to oil and gas production.
A minister suffered connection problems during a radio interview to announce the government’s advances in providing gigabit-capable broadband, the Press Association reported.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport minister Matt Warman’s line failed shortly after he spoke about the “huge progress” in rolling out the technology across the UK.
The unfortunately timed technical hitch prompted LBC’s Nick Ferrari to remark:
This is handy as you’re the broadband minister. You can’t hear me, can you? That is sensational and the picture’s frozen. So there we go, we’ve got the government banging on about however many billon pounds’ worth it is of ... gigabit and he can’t take the question.
You can’t hear me but I’ll be polite, Matt Warman, minister for digital, culture, media and sport, talking about the progress of broadband and the line collapses, but thank you for your time.
Earlier in the exchange, Warman said the proportion of people accessing gigabit-capable broadband had risen from 9% to 70% in the last three years.
He said:
That is huge progress at a pace that was way above what we were hoping for when we set those targets in 2019, so really good news, but of course there are still 30% of people that we are working as fast as we possibly can to get to - and that pace shows that we’re going to get to them as quickly as we possibly can.
Updated
Burnham criticises Starmer’s policy against joining picket lines
Andy Burnham has voiced criticism of Keir Starmer’s policy of stopping Labour frontbenchers from joining picket lines, saying he would not “see this as controversial” during a crisis over the cost of living.
The mayor of Greater Manchester is due to join Mick Lynch, the leader of the RMT rail union, at the launch of the Enough is Enough movement in Manchester on Tuesday. The new movement is calling for lower energy prices and increases to wages and benefits.
Speaking to Sky News, Burnham again declined to rule out standing for the Labour leadership in the future, saying he would consider this “one day”.
Starmer has been at odds with a number of union leaders after discouraging shadow ministers from joining picket lines, something a number of frontbenchers have nonetheless done.
Updated
Nadhim Zahawi will spend what are likely to be his final few days as chancellor in the US on a fact-finding trip to discuss measures to tackle soaring energy costs.
Zahawi, who took over as chancellor eight weeks ago and is likely to be replaced if, as widely expected, Liz Truss is unveiled as the next Conservative leader, will also discuss the Ukraine war and cooperation on financial services.
He said he wanted to “work closely with my allies on the common challenges we face to create a fairer and more resilient economy at home and abroad” during the visit to New York and then Washington DC.
However, Zahawi will at most be able to gather ideas for possible future policies to be potentially implemented by a new chancellor, widely tipped to be Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, if Truss takes over from Boris Johnson.
Meanwhile, Andy Burnham has once again said that he would consider “one day” running for prime minister as Labour leader.
The Greater Manchester mayor said his focus is still on his current job and that he supports Keir Starmer, but will not rule out standing in the future. He said:
Perhaps one day, if that would be something people would support, but not now because we’ve got a leader of the Labour Party who is providing leadership during the cost-of-living crisis and I’m happy to give my full support to Keir.
And I’ve got a job to do in Greater Manchester ... and I’m making big changes to public transport, which hopefully will get people through this, and that’s where my full focus is right now.
He added that he would join Mick Lynch and the RMT strikers on a picket line, adding he sees nothing “controversial” about workers fighting for their wages.
Asked on Sky News whether he would share a picket line with the union leader, he said:
I would, you know. I don’t see this as controversial. People are fighting for their incomes in a cost of living crisis. Of course you’ve got to recognise the point that they are making.
Many households to be plunged into financial distress, says Labour
The Labour party chair, Anneliese Dodds, has warned the “massive increase” in the cap on energy bills “will plunge many, many households into financial distress”.
Asked about reports Liz Truss would support oil and gas drilling licences in the North Sea and if that was the answer, Dodds told Times Radio:
No, it’s not and the answer really is to be taking action to get the cost of those bills down.
Labour’s been very consistent on this. We’ve got a fully costed plan that would enable the government to not be going ahead with that massive increase in the cap on energy bills that’s projected to be coming through very, very soon, that will cause – well it’s causing households worry right now, but that will plunge many, many households into financial distress.
On energy security, she added:
We’ve set out plans to make sure that we would be having no more blockages on the delivery of domestic nuclear, we would be sprinting ahead with renewables, for example onshore wind.
Dodds also accused the government of “fantasy economics” over the cost of living. She told Times Radio:
We are only ever going to be setting out plans that we have fully costed and, I’m afraid, right now from the Conservatives we’re just getting fantasy economics.
They’re not saying how they would deliver anything, they keep changing their plans every five minutes; that’s not the case with Labour.
Updated
Matt Warman, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport minister who is supporting Rishi Sunak’s leadership campaign, has said “Rishi is still fighting absolutely for every vote” adding the “disruptive” nature of the leadership contest “is deeply regrettable”.
He told Sky News:
You’re seeing him going out and meeting huge numbers of party members right even up to this moment, and I think if you’re going to have a contest, it is sensible to have a contest.
It was widely pointed out before Boris Johnson stood down, how disruptive this process would be. That is deeply regrettable and it’s more true now than ever, but I do think, as I say, less than a week to go, it is what it is right now.
Asked about the length of the leadership contest, Warman added:
I don’t make the rules on how long it’s taken to go through this contest, but I think personally I would have preferred it, had it taken somewhat less time yes.
I think when the party considers what the rules might look like going forward, that will I suspect be something that many people will take an interest in, but that’s not a problem that we can address right now, we’ve got less than a week until the new prime minister is in place.
Updated
Liz Truss accused of ‘running scared’ after pulling out of BBC interview
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. We will be bringing you all the latest as Westminster continues to react and debate how best to handle the spiralling cost of living crisis.
However, first we begin with the news that Liz Truss has been accused of “running scared” of scrutiny after pulling out of a BBC interview scheduled for Tuesday, meaning she is likely to become prime minister without undergoing a single set-piece broadcast quizzing.
Earlier this month the foreign secretary agreed to a primetime interview with the veteran political journalist Nick Robinson on BBC One, something already done by Rishi Sunak, her rival to succeed Boris Johnson as Conservative party leader.
But a BBC spokesperson said Truss had now cancelled the interview. “Ms Truss’s team say she can no longer spare the time to appear on Our Next Prime Minister,” they said. “We regret that it has not been possible to do an in-depth interview with both candidates despite having reached agreement to do so.”
In a tweet, Robinson said he had been pleased that Truss had agreed to the interview and he was “disappointed and frustrated it’s been cancelled”.
A source in Sunak’s campaign said their tally showed Truss had done just two broadcast interviews of any form during the campaign, whereas Sunak had undertaken nine, also including three spots on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and an appearance on ITV’s This Morning.
The source said:
It’s important that candidates face proper scrutiny so that members and the public know what they are offering. Avoiding that scrutiny suggests either Truss doesn’t have a plan at all or the plan she has falls far short of the challenges we face this winter.
Wendy Chamberlain, the Liberal Democrats’ chief whip, said:
Liz Truss is running scared of the media and proper public scrutiny. How can she lead our country through an economic crisis when she can’t even cope with a basic media interview?
She wants to follow in Margaret Thatcher’s footsteps but she’s fallen at the first hurdle. She’s fighting for the highest office by answering the lowest number of difficult questions.
Labour also criticised Truss for backing out. Conor McGinn, the shadow minister without portfolio, said:
The British public don’t get a say in choosing the next Tory prime minister and now it seems Liz Truss wants to avoid any public scrutiny whatsoever.
People will rightly conclude that she doesn’t want to answer questions about her plans for the country because she simply hasn’t got any serious answers to the big challenges facing our country.
For more on the story, see my colleague Peter Walker’s write-up here.
I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be bringing you all the latest news from Westminster throughout the day. Follow me on Twitter @tomambrose89.
