Labour party membership fell by almost 25,000 in 2022, while its income rose, figures show – as it happened

Labour leader Keir Starmer. Despite the membership figures, the party achieved some of its highest income outside an election year, raising £47.2m. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

4.31pm BST

Afternoon summary

• More than 175,000 asylum seekers are waiting for an initial decision on their application, a record high, newly released Home Office statistics have shown, as Labour described the situation as “complete chaos”.

• Labour and the Liberal Democrats both recorded an increase in their incomes last year, primarily from donations, while funds in the Conservatives’ coffers fell, according to newly released accounts that appear to show ebbing financial support for the Tories. The figures also show that Labour’s membership fell by almost 25,000 last year, to 407,445 at the end of December. Two years earlier it was over 500,000. (See 12.18pm and 2.46pm.)

• Tens of thousands of teenagers have been forced to rethink their future options after GCSE results fell in England as ministers forced through plans to eradicate grade inflation accumulated during the pandemic.

• A fifth delay on the introduction of post-Brexit import checks on food and fresh produce arriving in Britain is to be officially announced imminently, the Guardian understands.

• Priti Patel has apologised to King Charles for causing “embarrassment and difficulties” after an email was leaked reportedly suggesting a review of Prince Andrew’s security should be launched.

Updated at 5.11pm BST

4.19pm BST

Nadine Dorries, the former culture secretary, has faced fresh criticism today from a Conservative colleague over her refusal to resign as an MP, despite announcing in June she intended to stand down “with immediate effect”.

In an interview with Times Radio, the Tory MP Tom Hunt said Dorries’s conduct was “pretty dreadful”. He said:

The entitlement that seems to have driven the decision in the first place, ie she didn’t get a place in the House of Lords so she’s throwing the towel in, is pretty extraordinary. It will stick in the throat of the majority of her constituents, I imagine …

I certainly don’t want to be associated with Nadine Dorries at all. I don’t know what she’s playing at, and I don’t know what her game is, but I think she’s shown right throughout her career, from the time she went on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, she’s shown she has a certain approach to being a member of parliament, and it’s a certain approach that seems to be driven by a degree of entitlement.

Updated at 4.50pm BST