A summary of today's developments
David Cameron has said he doesn’t think it is right to publish legal advice about the Israel-Gaza war at the moment, and that there is no change on the UK’s position on arms export to Israel. Speaking in a joint press conference with US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Washington the former prime minister said “no like-minded countries have taken the decision to suspend existing arms export licences to Israel,” and that “We don’t publish legal advice, we don’t comment on legal advice, but we act in a way that’s consistent with it. We’re a Government under the law and that’s as it should be.”
Cameron also insisted his meeting with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago was entirely within the protocol of senior politicians meeting a potential incoming administration, just as Blinken had met Labour leader Keir Starmer recently. Cameron said the conversation with Trump was private and did not elaborate on details of the discussions.
At the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry on London Alan Bates, the most prominent victim and campaigner on the scandal, gave evidence saying that it was a “fundamental flaw” of Government is that it cannot deal with issues such as the Horizon scandal “easily and sensibly”. He accused the Post Office of spending two decades “denying, lying, defending and attempting to discredit and silence me”.
Rachel Reeves has said Labour’s spending plans will make a “massive difference” to the lives of people, promising two million additional appointments a year in the NHS, 700,000 emergency dental appointments, free breakfast clubs in all primary schools as well as investment in scanners and new technology in hospitals. She said it would be funded by a crackdown on tax avoiders worth £5bn to public services.
Senior MP William Wragg has resigned the Conservative whip after he admitted giving politicians’ phone numbers to a suspected scammer. The party’s whips office said he was “voluntarily relinquishing the Conservative whip” after he had already stepped back from his roles as vice-chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee and chairman of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee.
Rishi Sunak hosted president of Rwanda Paul Kagame in Downing Street, and a No 10 spokesperson said that both were looking forward to deportation flights to Rwanda in the spring for asylum seekers who had reached the UK.
Sunak also criticised on social media a protest about Gaza and climate change which appeared to have taken place outside Starmer’s house, saying “We cannot and will not tolerate this”
Former armed forces minister James Heappey has said the Conservatives and Labour should both commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence in their election manifestos.
Junior doctors, consultants and specialists have suspended industrial action in Wales after agreeing to formal negotiations about pay with the Welsh government.
Humza Yousaf has cautioned that a vote for the Greens by Scots in the next general election would be a “wasted vote”.
Ireland’s Dáil has confirmed Simon Harris’s nomination as the new taoiseach.
Veterans of the last Labour government have called on Starmer to put a new Sure Start-style programme at the heart of his election manifesto.
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary has criticised Cameron’s decision not to publish legal advice on arms sales to Israel.
David Lammy said: “This simply is not good enough. David Cameron is still hiding from scrutiny by stating that arms sales will continue without even publishing a summary of the legal advice or offering any rationale behind his decision.
“The foreign secretary should come to the Bar of the House of Commons on its return to take urgent questions from MPs on the content of the Foreign Office’s legal advice, the time period of the advice he is referring to and what impact political pressure from other members of the Cabinet had on his decision.”
