EU launches new legal proceedings against UK over Northern Ireland protocol – as it happened

EU has launched legal action against the UK government over its plans to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland post-Brexit deal Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

4.16pm BST

Afternoon summary

• Patrick Minford, the economist cited by Liz Truss as providing the rationale for her plan to use huge tax cuts to stimulate the economy and supposedly cut inflation, has said that interest rates would have to go up to around 7% for his proposal to work. In an interview with the Times, Minford said he agreed that big tax cuts would require interest rates to rise. He said:

Yes, interest rates have to go up and it’s a good thing. A normal level is more like 5-7% and I don’t think it will be any bad thing if we got back to that level.”

If you’ve got incredibly low interest rates you kill off savings and create febrile markets with a lot of zombie companies surviving because it costs them nothing to borrow. It’s right that a healthy economy should have a decent interest rate. That’s certainly one thing I want to see.

• The EU has expressed its anger over the backing given by MPs for legislation overriding post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland by launching a further four legal cases against the UK government.

• Liz Truss, the foreign secretary and favourite in the contest to be the next Tory leader and prime minister, has welcomed the signing of a deal between Ukraine and Russia to allow the export of millions of tonnes of grain from blockaded Black Sea ports. She said the UK had been at the forefront of pushing for the agreement. In a statement she said:

Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine has meant some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world are at risk of having nothing to eat. It is vital that Ukrainian grain reaches international food markets, and we applaud Turkey and the UN secretary general for their efforts to broker this agreement.

The UK and our allies have been pushing hard to reach this point. Now this agreement must be implemented, and we will be watching to ensure Russia’s actions match its words. To enable a lasting return to global security and economic stability, Putin must end the war and withdraw from Ukraine.

Updated at 4.42pm BST

3.54pm BST

The Guido Fawkes website has got hold of a video of Rishi Sunak campaigning for leave in 2016. It says it took a while for the Sunak team to release the video, and it says it is surprised the campaign did not make it available sooner.

Perhaps that is because Sunak’s predictions have not stood the test of time. In the video he says British farmers will have a “bright future” outside the EU. But many farmers believe that Brexit has turned out to be harmful for the industry, and the National Farmers’ Union says its members says its members interests have been neglected in post-Brexit trade deals.

Rishi’s Vote Leave Campaigning Finally Dug Out https://t.co/s43jnOuWBG pic.twitter.com/L0vmeQ56Er

— Guido Fawkes (@GuidoFawkes) July 22, 2022