Colin Beattie ‘steps back’ as SNP treasurer following arrest amid party finance investigation – as it happened

Colin Beattie has resigned as SNP treasurer. Photograph: Andrew MacColl/REX/Shutterstock

6.01pm BST

Early evening summary

• Keir Starmer has used prime minister’s questions to repeat Labour’s attacks on the government’s record over crime, saying that Rishi Sunak had “lost control of the court service” and allowed offenders to go free.

• Rishi Sunak has declared his wife’s shareholding in a childcare company that could benefit from a new government policy, four years after she invested in it, a much-delayed new register of ministers’ interests has shown.

• Colin Beattie has stepped down from his post as SNP treasurer after his arrest on Tuesday (see 5.08pm).

• Richard Sharp’s future as chair of the BBC is in doubt as he awaits the publication of a “very uncomfortable” report on how he was recommended for the job by the former prime minister Boris Johnson.

Sir Jeffery Donaldson (left), the DUP leader, and Peter Robinson, one of his predecessors and a former first minister, arriving at Hillsborough Castle for the gala dinner to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA

Updated at 6.13pm BST

5.56pm BST

Jim Allister, the leader of Traditional Unionist Voice, the hardline unionist party which has been winning votes from the DUP, has posted this on Twitter in response to Rishi Sunak’s speech. He makes it clear that he is opposed to the resumption of power-sharing because he does not want to see Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill as first minister.

So PM thinks the way to protect the Union is to put in charge the party dedicated to its destruction! Didn’t end well for chickens in the coop!

— Jim Allister (@JimAllister) April 19, 2023

Updated at 6.02pm BST