We’re now closing this live blog. Here’s the full report on Angela Rayner’s comments:
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Evening summary
Here is a quick recap of some of the main developments from today:
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The government has scrapped the “golden visa” system that allows wealthy foreign investors a fast track to living in the UK, amid concerns over links with Russia. The tier one investor visa route will be shut to all new applicants from all nationalities with immediate effect, the Home Office said, adding that some cases had “given rise to security concerns, including people acquiring their wealth illegitimately and being associated with wider corruption”. More here.
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Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said counter-terrorism police should “shoot first” and “ask questions second”, as the party upped its attacks on the Tories’ record on crime rates. Rayner said she supported a more hardline approach to policing, saying she wanted police to “beat down the doors” of criminals and “sort them out”, as Labour continues to set out a tougher approach to law and order.
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The UK accused Russia of orchestrating “false flag” attacks in Ukraine as a pretext for an invasion. The claims by Boris Johnson and the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, came as tensions continued to mount between Russian-backed separatists and state forces in east Ukraine, with shells hitting a nursery school. Truss said reports alleging “abnormal military activity” by Ukraine in the eastern Donbas region were a “blatant” attempt by the Kremlin to fabricate a reason for an invasion. The prime minister claimed there was a “false flag operation designed to discredit the Ukrainians” and “we fear very much that that is a thing we will see more of over the next few days”. Western allies fear Russia will carry out or support attacks in Ukraine that it will then falsely blame on the Kyiv government in order to justify an invasion. More live updates here.
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Russia’s claim to be withdrawing troops from the border with Ukraine seems to be a “disinformation campaign” and the troops are instead making their final preparations to invade, the UK armed forces minister said. James Heappey said Moscow was continuing to deploy thousands more soldiers to the region and building bridges across rivers that could be used as part of a military incursion into Ukraine. More here.
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Scotland Yard was forced to admit it was “unacceptable” for one of its official Twitter accounts to apparently criticise the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, leading him to accuse the force of amplifying misleading information. Khan tackled the suggestion – made in a now-deleted tweet by the verified “Met Police Taskforce” – that he did not understand the rules for disciplining officers. It came as the London mayor said he would not support the choice of the home secretary, Priti Patel, to replace the Met commissioner, Cressida Dick, unless whoever was chosen understood “the importance of addressing these deep cultural issues” within the force, such as racism, sexism and bullying. More here.
- A minister hinted that Boris Johnson is likely to announce an end to the provision of free lateral flow tests when he outlines his “living with Covid” plan next week. James Heappey, the armed forces minister, said it was time to reconsider whether some pandemic measures should remain in place as he argued Britons need to “change behaviours” in the face of future Covid variants potentially being less threatening. There have also been reports that as part of the prime minister’s blueprint for the future, the UK government will no longer provide free lateral flow tests to the public. Asked on Sky News whether the offer of free quick-result tests to allow people to check whether they are positive for coronavirus would be “taken away”, Heappey said: “I think that is the direction of travel but the prime minister will shortly announce his conclusions on that.”
- A new attempt will be launched next week to force publication of the full report on whether No 10 parties broke Covid laws, with Conservative MPs urged to support the move to ensure there are “no more cover-ups and no more lies”. While more questionnaires were sent out by Scotland Yard to people who attended a dozen gatherings under investigation, a “humble address” motion was tabled in the House of Commons by the Liberal Democrats. If passed, ministers would be forced to release a specific set of documents within two days of the Met concluding its investigation. A date has yet to be set for the vote, but it could come on the next opposition day allocated to the Lib Dems. The papers being demanded include an unredacted version of Sue Gray’s report, all accompanying evidence collected by the Cabinet Office, and a list of Downing Street staff issued with a fixed penalty notice. More here.
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Labour will fight only a “minimal campaign” in most of the Lib Dems’ top 30 target seats at the next general election, in “an informal Lib-Lab plan to topple the Conservatives”, the FT reported. Keir Starmer has reportedly told colleagues that Labour must “ruthlessly focus” resources on its target seats in the vote, which must be held by 2024, leaving the Lib Dems as the main challengers in some seats.
That’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for reading along. Have a lovely weekend!
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