Rachel Reeves says new government has inherited ‘worst set of circumstances since second world war’ – as it happened

6.10pm BST

Early evening summary

• Rachel Reeves is to provide an emergency assessment of the government’s spending inheritance before MPs leave for their summer break as she attempts to pin the blame for looming tough tax and spending decisions on the defeated Tories.

• Reeves has announced a series of measures to relax planning laws, claiming she has done “more to unblock the planning system in the past 72 hours than the last government did in 14 years”. (See 12.44pm.)

• The de facto ban on new onshore windfarms has been dropped by the Labour government, to the delight of environmentalists and energy experts.

• The former shadow attorney general Emily Thornberry has said she is “very sorry and surprised” not to be appointed to the role in the new Labour cabinet, after Keir Starmer appointed the human rights barrister Richard Hermer instead.

• Rishi Sunak does not intend to stay as Conservative leader beyond the summer, allies have said, amid a split in the party over how long it should take to elect a new leader.

• Hundreds of refugee and human rights organisations have written to Keir Starmer with a blueprint for asylum policy which urges him to change course from the policies of the previous government.

Updated at 6.12pm BST

5.55pm BST

Green co-leader Adrian Ramsay defends wanting pause in plan to put pylons through his constituency carrying wind energy

Adrian Ramsay, the Green party’s co-leader, has defended his decision to call for a pause in plans to build pylons in his Waveney Valley constituency in Suffolk to carry energy from offshore wind pylons to other parts of the country.

In an interview with Radio 4’s PM programme, Ramsay said he wanted to see a proper options assessment to assess how the windfarms could be connected to the grid.

When it was put to him that, as a Green MP, he could not oppose offshore wind being taken to where the energy was needed, by the most cost-effective method, Ramsay said he had a background working in renewable energy. He would be arguing for more focus on renewables, he said. “But we’ve got to connect it in the right way,” he said. He said an offshore grid should be considered.

Asked if he could say he would not oppose the pylons plan if a proper appraisal showed that was the cheapest and most effective option, Ramsay said he did not think a proper options assessment had been carried out.

Evan Davis, the presenter, put it to Ramsay that he was ducking the question. In response, Ramsay said he wanted a proper options assessment. He claimed time was available for this.

Updated at 5.56pm BST