UK politics: Reform UK on course to win in two mayoral contests – as it happened

Andrea Jenkyns, the Reform UK candidate for Greater Lincolnshire’s mayor, with the party’s Richard Tice, left, and Nigel Farage during a visit to the Scuunthorpe steel works earlier this month Photograph: Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

4.15pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Rachel Reeves has said the UK’s trading relationship with the EU is “arguably even more important” than that with the US, as she prepared to lobby her American counterpart, Scott Bessent, over tariffs.

• Downing Street has said it wants to move on from “the debates and arguments of the past” at a briefing where a spokesperson accepted the UK is talking to the EU about a youth mobility scheme. In the past the government said it had “no plans” to agree such a scheme with the EU, fearful of claims that Brexiters would view it as a return to free movement. (See 3.13pm.)

• Robert Jenrick has claimed that he is not in favour of a pact with Reform UK – just two days after a recording was released of him telling a private dinner that, if Reform were still doing well at the time of the next election, he thought some sort of “coalition” between Reform and the Conservative party would be needed.

• YouGov has published a poll suggesting Reform UK is on course to win the mayoral elections in Greater Lincolnshire and in Hull and East Yorkshire relatively easily. Its poll also suggests the Green party is narrowly ahead in the contest for West of England mayor. (See 12.41pm.)

• Cyclists who kill pedestrians by dangerous cycling could face life imprisonment in England and Wales under new amendments to the crime and policing bill.

For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, scroll through the timeline at the top of the blog, above the main picture.

Updated at 4.20pm BST

3.47pm BST

Carla Denyer, the Green party’s co-leader, has backed NHS rules to be changed to make it easier for homeless people to get basic eye care. As the Big Issue reports, speaking at an event hosted by the charity Vision Care for Homeless People, she said:

People are being denied something as basic as a pair of glasses. It’s absurd – and completely fixable …

If someone is finally able to speak to a GP, get an eye test, or ask for glasses, they shouldn’t be turned away. These are modest asks. We know how to fix it. We just need the political will.

The charity is calling for homeless people to be eligible for free eye tests and glasses.