Labour leader says ‘postwar era is over’ as he never expected to see ‘the rumble of war’ in Europe and adds that cybersecurity warfare is a threat

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Keir Starmer will be speaking shortly on defence and security. The Labour leader is expected to reaffirm his commitment to a “triple lock” for the UK’s nuclear deterrent, and his aim to raise defence spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product “as soon as resources allow”.

Labour’s nuclear deterrent triple lock includes a commitment to construct four new nuclear submarines in Barrow-in-Furness, maintaining Britain’s continuous at-sea deterrent, and the delivery of all future upgrades needed for the submarines to patrol the waters.

It’s certainly true that since the botched Brexit deal was put in place, many of our businesses – exporters of food, fish, agricultural products in particular – have really struggled with the additional paperwork.

What Labour has set out is our ambition to have a veterinary agreement with the EU. That’s an agreement that New Zealand has with the EU, that removes the paperwork on food and drink exports. That would make a substantial difference to fishers and farmers right across the UK

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SNP leader John Swinney has urged people to take part in a “Scottish national service” by using the general election to vote Tory MPs out of office, PA Media reports.

Scotland’s first minister said his party could “remove the remaining rump of Tory MPs”.

Labour leader says no decision has been taken over veteran London MP

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The Conservatives have been pushing a plan today to expand the number of apprenticeships, pledging “100,000 more apprenticeships a year by the end of the next parliament.”

It is unclear whether this figure includes the “up to 20,000 more apprenticeships” that Sunak previously announced ten weeks ago.

Under the plans, there would be legislation granting greater powers to the Office for Students, the universities regulator, to close degree courses that are underperforming. These would be chosen based on drop-out rates, job progression and future earnings potential.

The Conservatives claim to have delivered 5.8m apprenticeships since 2010. But the number of people starting out on apprenticeships in England is in decline, falling from 500,000 in 2015 to 337,000 last year, according to Commons library statistics.

First of all, you cannot generalise about entire subject areas. In almost all subjects there will be some institutions delivering well, and some not doing well. So for example, you take computer science, you know, you get earnings outcomes from young people studying computer science degrees which will range from £18,000 pounds to £80,000 pounds so it’s not about an individual subjects but about specific courses.

The second thing I genuinely don’t think it will be right or fair to young people who are currently on an undergraduate course to have a politician come on the radio and namecheck that particular course that they are on.