UK politics: Starmer accuses Sunak of taxation ‘hypocrisy’ – as it happened

This live blog is now closed. You can see some of our latest politics stories below:

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the No 10 spokesperson confirmed that Lord Geidt, the independent adviser on ministerial standards, would be conducting an inquiry into Rishi Sunak’s declarations of interest. Sunak requested one last night – but Geidt is only allowed to launch an inquiry with the permission of the PM, which has now been given.

But the spokesperson was unable to confirm that the inquiry would cover Sunak’s decision to retain his US green card after he became a minister, and even while he was chancellor. It is reported that he only gave it up last October.

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Partygate: ministers refuse to disclose pictures taken by No 10 photographers

Cabinet Office won’t confirm or deny existence of taxpayer-funded pictures of illegal gatherings after freedom of information request

Ministers are refusing to disclose any pictures taken by official No 10 photographers of illegal gatherings held inside Downing Street, prompting Labour to call on Boris Johnson to “come clean and release these photos”.

The Cabinet Office refused to confirm or deny the existence of any photographs of events in the cabinet room, leaving parties, and a party in the prime minister’s Downing Street flat, after official pictures of the gatherings were requested under freedom of information laws.

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Channel 4 privatisation plans face Tory backlash – UK politics as it happened

This live blog is now closed. You can find our latest stories on Channel 4 below:

DCMS select committee chair Julian Knight has questioned if the government’s plans to forge forward with the privatisation of Channel 4 are “revenge”, adding that many Tories believe the move is “payback time” for “biased coverage”.

Knight said Channel 4 could succeed if it was privatised and managed well, but it’s “a big risk” and “must be done as part of a thorough overhaul of all public service broadcasting”.

It is certainly true that Channel 4 will have greater freedom to compete once privatised and if managed well it should be able to continue to innovate and crucially appeal to young audiences - a real USP in today’s broadcast landscape.

However, this is a big risk. The question has to be, do you think a restricted but brilliant small state broadcaster will part compete with the likes of Apple and Amazon or does it need to be able to borrow and grow in a way only privatisation can unlock?

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Labour women urge party not to use NDAs for sexual harassment allegations

Exclusive: Senior figures say signing confidentiality agreements that cover up unacceptable behaviour violates Labour policy

A dozen senior Labour women have called on the party to end its use of confidentiality agreements to “cover up” allegations of sexual harassment, saying the treatment of two former staffers was appalling.

Laura Murray, Labour’s ex-head of complaints, and Georgie Robertson, who worked in the party’s press office, said they refused to sign the agreements after reporting an official for “inappropriate” and “possessive” behaviour.

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Boris Johnson is an asset in the local elections – but on rival parties’ leaflets

The prime minister fails to feature on a number of Tory flyers for the 5 May polls, but his opponents are putting him front and centre

After his ratings plunged in the wake of “partygate” and as his government faces demands to act over the cost of living, it may be a surprise to discover that Boris Johnson’s face can be found on leaflets for the forthcoming local elections. Unfortunately for the prime minister, it is not his own party’s literature that features his image.

The Observer has seen Conservative leaflets circulated in London, the Midlands and the north of England in recent weeks. None of them shows Johnson, once regarded as the Tory politician able to reach voters that no one else in his party could.

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UK politics: Public must be told if Carrie Johnson fined for breaking lockdown rules, says Starmer – live

Latest updates: the Labour leader suggests it is in the public’s interest if the prime minister’s wife is fined over Partygate

Clive Efford (Lab) is asking the questions now.

Q: You have expressed strong views in the past. Is that a problem?

I described the licence fee as regressive. I didn’t think that was an opinion, I thought that was a statement of fact, actually.

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UK local elections: what is up for grabs, and what might we learn?

The elections on 5 May will be a key test for Boris Johnson after ‘partgate’, but they are often difficult to predict. Here is our handy guide to the polls

Much of the UK will go the polls on 5 May for local and regional elections that will be seen as a key test for Boris Johnson after months of negative headlines over allegedly lockdown-breaking parties. Local elections can be hard to decode, so here is what is up for grabs, and what we might learn.

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Labour and Tory rebels force disclosure of security advice on Lebedev peerage

Conservative whips allow MPs to abstain in vote on publication in U-turn after backbenchers threaten to support Labour motion

Boris Johnson has suffered a fresh humiliation after Tory rebels joined with Labour to force the publication of security advice relating to Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage.

Labour launched a bid to reveal information about Johnson’s appointment of his friend to the House of Lords, following the revelation that the intelligence services had concerns about the Russian-born businessman and son of a former KGB officer.

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Labour urges Kwasi Kwarteng to launch legal action against P&O Ferries

Letter to business secretary calls firm’s sacking of 800 workers ‘scandalous’ and a criminal offence

Labour has urged the business secretary to launch legal action against P&O Ferries over its “scandalous” decision to sack 800 workers without warning, which the party said is a criminal offence.

Shadow transport secretary, Louise Haigh, deputy leader Angela Rayner and shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds have written to Kwasi Kwarteng, asking if he will begin proceedings for what they called the “scandalous action” of the ferry company.

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Ministers ‘told in advance about P&O mass sackings’

Government accused by Labour of complicity in ferry company’s shock decision to cut 800 UK-based jobs

Government ministers knew about P&O Ferries’ plan to slash 800 jobs before staff were informed but were told by officials it would ensure the firm remained “a key player in the UK market for years to come”, it was claimed on Saturday.

A leaked memo, apparently written by a senior Whitehall official, justified the mass redundancies, stating that “without these decisions, an estimated 2,200 staff would likely lose their jobs”.

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Labour calls UK’s homes for Ukraine plan a ‘DIY asylum scheme’

Criticism follows announcement that UK householders will have to name refugees they wish to sponsor

Michael Gove’s plan to permit UK householders to shelter Ukrainians seeking to escape the Russian war machine has been compared to a “DIY asylum scheme” after it was announced that people would have to name the refugees they wish to sponsor.

The communities secretary was criticised after setting out details of the homes for Ukraine scheme in the Commons on Monday, after complaints about the government’s slow response to the worst humanitarian disaster in Europe for decades.

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Companies with female leaders outperform those dominated by men, data shows

Labour’s Anneliese Dodds says women should play a central role in the UK’s post-pandemic economic recovery

Women should play a central role in the UK’s post-pandemic economic recovery, with evidence revealing companies with more female leaders outperform those dominated by men, according to House of Commons research.

Accusing the government of ignoring women’s needs during the coronavirus pandemic and side-lining them in plans for recovery, the shadow secretary for women and equalities, Anneliese Dodds, said the data showed women held the key to a stronger economy, but they were being held back by a lack of investment and the risk of “childcare deserts” in parts of the country.

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UK politics live: Boris Johnson promises ‘massive sanctions’ after Russian invasion of Ukraine

Latest updates: prime minister condemns Russian president Vladimir Putin and promises to stand with Ukraine

General Sir Richard Shirreff, the former British officer who was Nato’s deputy supreme allied commander, told the Today programme this morning the possibility of the war in Ukraine leading to military conflict between Britain and Russia could not be ruled out. Asked if this was possible, he replied:

Absolutely there is a possibility that we as a nation could be at war with Russia, because if Russia puts one bootstep across Nato territory, we are all at war with Russia. Every single one, every single member of the Nato alliance.

Article 5 [of the Nato alliance] says an attack on one is an attack on all, so we need to change our mindset fundamentally, and that is why I say our defence starts in the UK on the frontiers of Nato.

What became evident in the days leading up to this invasion is that Vladimir Putin is increasingly isolated. That bizarre video of him berating his senior officials shows that he’s making these decisions increasingly in isolation and illogically.

And unfortunately I think that that is part of the reason why the initial round of international sanctions that [were] put in place by ourselves, by France, Germany, the US, Canada and others, didn’t have the deterrent effect.

The sanctions package that will be put in response to this is already actually having an effect. Just the announcement that it’s coming - we’ve seen the Russian stock market, the equivalent of the FTSE, drop by over 30%. That is a huge reduction in Russia’s economic abilities to fund this invasion.

And those sanctions will be laid today and over forthcoming days to really prevent Russia from funding this invasion.

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Keir Starmer cleared of breaking lockdown rules over office beer

Durham police confirm they will take no further action against Labour leader over April 2021 incident

Keir Starmer has been cleared of an allegation he broke lockdown rules after he was filmed drinking a beer in an office.

The Labour leader was in the City of Durham MP’s office, working in the run-up to the Hartlepool byelection in April 2021.

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PM facing calls to ensure all evidence is published in No 10 parties inquiry

Labour and Lib Dems call for full transparency as it emerges Sue Gray’s report may just summarise findings

Boris Johnson is facing calls to ensure all evidence on the Downing Street parties is published with the Sue Gray inquiry, as it emerged the pivotal report is likely to amount to a concise summary of findings.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats called on Friday for the report to be published along with its accompanying evidence – including emails and witness accounts – to give full transparency around more than 15 alleged parties under investigation by Gray, a senior civil servant.

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Boris Johnson now less popular than Theresa May as polls show Tories’ dire predicament

Analysis: Voters across the country think the prime minister has lied and should resign

Today’s Opinium poll for the Observer is grim reading for Boris Johnson and his party. Johnson’s personal approvals fall below the worst figures ever recorded by Theresa May; and his party sinks to its worst vote share since the general election, 10 points behind Labour. Majorities of practically every political and demographic group believe Johnson and his colleagues have broken the rules and lied about it, and say Johnson should resign.

Until recently, the wobbly wing of the Conservative coalition looked to be better off Remainers in the South of England. Yet today’s poll adds to growing evidence that the “partygate” scandal is jeopardising the party’s support from “red wall” Leavers too. Such voters have long felt disaffected from and distrustful of a political class they felt ignored their concerns and lived by its own rules. The resentments once mobilised against the EU by the promise to “Take Back Control” now have a new target – an out of touch Downing Street team who partied while the Queen mourned.

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Boris Johnson must resign in national interest, says Keir Starmer

Labour leader increases pressure on PM as more Tory politicians join calls for him to quit

Keir Starmer has ramped up the pressure on Boris Johnson as the prime minister fights to save his job, arguing that it is in the “national interest” that he steps down as he is “unable to lead”.

In a speech to the Fabian Society conference, the Labour leader accused the Conservatives of running the NHS into the ground because they are “too preoccupied defending his rule breaking”. Stressing that “waiting times were the shortest on record” when Labour left government 12 years ago, he said: “Rather than concentrating on getting through the pandemic and bringing down waiting lists, this self-indulgent Tory party is instead having a fight about a leader who they should have known from the start is not fit for office.”

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Woman jailed for death threats to Bradford MP Naz Shah

Sundas Alam’s threats led to Shah's children fleeing home and innocent family being arrested at gunpoint

A woman whose death threats led to an MP’s children fleeing their home in the middle of the night, and an innocent family being arrested at gunpoint, has been jailed for three and a half years.

Bradford West MP Naz Shah has described how she rang 999 about “an immediate firearms threat” in a disguised email sent by Sundas Alam in April last year that threatened her with a “bullet in her head”.

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Prince Andrew faces calls to pay for his own security

Growing clamour for royal to lose dukedom and taxpayer-funded Scotland Yard security detail

The Duke of York faces calls to pay for his own security and relinquish his dukedom after being stripped of his military affiliations and royal patronages in the fallout over the civil sexual assault case against him.

The calls come as his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, welcomed the New York court ruling that paved the way for her lawsuit against Prince Andrew to proceed to trial, as she pledged to “continue to expose the truth”.

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