UK politics: Tory defector Natalie Elphicke apologises for comments about women who were sexually assaulted by her ex-husband – as it happened

Labour leader Keir Starmer greets Natalie Elphicke, MP for Dover, after her defection from the Tories Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

4.46pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Labour’s newest MP, Natalie Elphicke, has apologised for defending her ex-husband and casting doubt on his victims’ testimonies after he was convicted of sexually assaulting two women.

• Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party chair, has struggled in an interview to explain why Elphicke is allowed to be a Labour MP while Diane Abbott remains suspended. (See 9.47am.)

• The Bank of England has signalled it could start cutting interest rates as early as June after inflation was found to be “moving in the right direction”, as it kept borrowing costs on hold at 5.25% for the sixth time in a row.

• John Swinney has axed the post of minister for independence, in a clear signal to Scottish voters that his government is focused on their immediate cost of living concerns before the general election.

• Senior civil servants are to have their pay linked to their performance in a move criticised as divisive by a leading union.

• University vice-chancellors need to “show leadership” in response to student protests over Israel’s military action in Gaza, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has said.

Updated at 4.47pm BST

4.31pm BST

Dominic Cummings says return of Farage to frontline politics could enable new party to replace Tories

Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser, has said that if Nigel Farage were to return to frontline politics, that would create the circumstances in which a new party might be able to replace the Conservatives.

The former Vote Leave campaign director has been writing for some time on his Substack blog about the possibility of a new “Startup party” replacing the Tories, and in an interview with the i published today he explained how it might succeed.

Asked to predict what would happen to the Conservative party, Cumming said:

Depends on what [Nigel] Farage does.

If Farage un-retires, the Tories could easily be driven down to double digit seats and then discussions of a Startup party and replacing them will go from a very fringe idea to being a very mainstream idea.

Explaining the rationale for his Startup party idea, Cummings said:

The only point of doing it is to do something which is completely different from the other parties. The Tories now obviously represent nothing except a continuation of the shitshow; higher taxes, worse violent crime, more debt, anti-entrepreneurs, public services failing, immigration out of control.

But Labour I think will not alter the ultimate trajectory very much, they’ll be continuity Treasury, continuity David Cameron, George Osborne, Sunak, so everything will keep failing and everyone will be even more miserable by 2026 than they are now.

So, to change that you have to have two fundamental things: you have to have an entity which is ruthlessly focused on the voters not on Westminster and the old media. And you have to have something which is friendly towards all the amazing talent in the country, people who build things in private and public sector.

If you can bring those two things together then you have something very powerful and very attractive that most people in the country would get behind.

Cummings thinks a new Startup party should focus on controlling immigration, closing tax loopholes that benefit the richest 1%, investing in public services and reforming Whitehall.

In the interview Cummings did not say whether he had any funding to get his idea off the ground, or whether it is anything more than just talk at this stage. He also claimed a new party could break through without proportional representation. He explained:

It’s seemingly hard but history shows it’s doable but it happens in response to huge system changes. Historically, wars and pandemics are things that reshape states and financial clashes. So now we’ve got all of those things.

Updated at 4.50pm BST