Caroline Lucas: Labour must pursue social justice while tackling climate crisis

Outgoing Green MP calls for combined strategy to ensure net zero will not be done ‘on the backs of the poor’

Labour must combine tackling the climate crisis with pursuing social justice, if elected, to show that achieving net zero will not be done “on the backs of the poor”, the UK’s outgoing Green party MP has warned.

Caroline Lucas, who has held the seat of Brighton Pavilion since 2010, said: “The biggest priority is to demonstrate that is not the case. We have to make sure that this is a strategy and a policy that is the opposite of being done on the backs of the poor.”

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UK politics: Anas Sarwar says election is about ‘getting rid of Tories’, not Scottish independence – as it happened

Leaders of Scotland’s five main political parties clash during live TV debate

Momentum, the leftwing Labour group set up when Jeremy Corbyn was leader, is not happy about Keir Starmer’s jibe about Corbyn’s manifesto.

Labour’s 2019 manifesto was fully costed.

Keir should know, he stood on it as a member of the shadow cabinet.

How about stopping attacking your own side during an election @Keir_Starmer?

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Rwanda bill clears parliament after peers abandon final battle over safety amendment – as it happened

Bill could become law this week as end of parliamentary ping-pong in sight

Q: Do you think you will be able to implement this without leaving the European convention of human rights?

Sunak says he thinks he can implement this without leaving the ECHR.

If it ever comes to a choice between our national security, securing our borders, and membership of a foreign court, I’m, of course, always going to prioritise our national security.

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Siân Berry to be Green candidate for Caroline Lucas’s Brighton seat

Green members select the party’s former co-leader to stand in Brighton Pavilion at next election

The Green party has selected Siân Berry as its candidate to stand in Brighton Pavilion to replace Caroline Lucas MP.

Berry, Emily O’Brien and Dan Rue were vying to be the Green’s candidate in the Sussex constituency which Lucas, the former leader of the party, has represented in parliament since 2010.

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Green party MP Caroline Lucas to stand down at next election

Former party leader says she wants to ‘dedicate myself fully to climate and nature’

Caroline Lucas has said she feels more optimistic about the environment than when she first joined the Green party in 1986, as she prepares to retire from parliament after 13 years as her party’s only MP.

Lucas told the Guardian she felt “gratitude” for her career as the Greens’ first ever MP, adding that she took heart that many of the causes she has long championed were now the policies of both Labour and the Conservatives.

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Former cabinet secretary urges Sunak to drop Covid inquiry legal challenge – live

Lord Butler says there is ‘strong public interest in the inquiry being carried out constructively’

The North Sea oil and gas industry is in decline, the shadow business minister Seema Malhotra said, as she defended plans to block new drilling licences, a move criticised by trade unions. Aubrey Allegretti has the story here.

MPs will hold a debate on Monday on proposals to ban members from the parliamentary estate if they are being investigated for a criminal offence and are deemed to pose a risk to other people.

Last night the government was debating whether to hold a vote on Monday on proposals to ban MPs accused of violent or sexual offences from the estate — after backlash from some Tory backbenchers. One senior Tory MP told Playbook they opposed the plan because it would overturn “common practice that you are innocent until proven guilty”.

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Embrace local solutions to meet UK net-zero targets, MPs and peers urge

Exclusive: Cross-party group recommends policies such as mortgage penalty for landlords of energy-inefficient homes

The UK will need to embrace innovative, community-based solutions to environmental and energy problems if it is to have any hope of meeting looming net-zero deadlines, a cross-party group of MPs and peers has recommended.

A report by the all-party group on a green new deal argues for a combination of robust, top-down policies on green issues including localised power generation, food and transport schemes. Recommendations include a mortgage penalty for landlords who let energy-inefficient homes, and also real community decision-making, notably on power schemes.

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Kwasi Kwarteng’s secret meetings with Saudi oil firms revealed

Exclusive: Meetings while in Saudi Arabia undisclosed due to ‘administrative oversight’, says business department

The chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, held undisclosed meetings with senior executives of Saudi Arabian firms when he was the business secretary, documents acquired by the Guardian show.

The meetings occurred in January, when Kwarteng visited the kingdom for a two-day trip under his previous ministerial role.

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Fears that Egypt may use Cop27 to whitewash human rights abuses

Naomi Klein and Caroline Lucas among signatories to letter voicing concerns over country’s hosting of climate summit

A hundred days before the Cop27 summit is due to start in Sharm el-Sheikh, a group of environmentalists and activists have expressed alarm over Egypt’s ability to host the event successfully because of its poor record on human rights, as thousands of prisoners of conscience remain behind bars.

“We are deeply concerned that [a successful conference] will not be possible due to the repressive actions of the Egyptian government,” they said. “Indeed, it seems more likely at this point that the conference will be used to whitewash human rights abuses in the country.”

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UK’s transparency laws are being undermined, warn journalists

Letter signed by several MPs urges better enforcement of transparency law, as government accused of obstructing requests

More than 100 journalists, politicians and campaigners have signed an open letter warning that the UK’s freedom of information (FoI) laws are being undermined by a lack of resources and government departments obstructing lawful requests.

The signatories include the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, Katharine Viner, the editor of the Observer, Paul Webster, as well as the shadow solicitor general, Andy Slaughter, the former Brexit secretary David Davis, and the former Green party leader Caroline Lucas.

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Brazil: warning Bolsonaro may be planning military coup amid rallies

Former world leaders and public figures say nationwide marches are modelled on US Capitol insurrection

The Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, and his allies could be preparing to mount a military coup in Brazil, according to an influential group of former presidents, prime ministers and leading public figures on the left.

An open letter claims rallies that Bolsonaro followers are staging on Tuesday represent a danger to democracy and amount to an insurrection modelled on Donald Trump supporters’ attack on the US Capitol on 6 January.

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Politicians from across world call for ‘global green deal’ to tackle climate crisis

New alliance urges governments to work together to deliver a just transition to a green economy

People around the world need a “global green deal” that would tackle the climate crisis and restore the natural world as we recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of politicians from the UK, Europe and developing countries has said.

The Global Alliance for a Green New Deal is inviting politicians from legislatures in all countries to work together on policies that would deliver a just transition to a green economy ahead of Cop26 UN climate talks in Glasgow this November.

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Caroline Lucas calls for emergency female cabinet to block no-deal Brexit

Green MP urges 10 top female politicians to form cabinet of national unity to deliver fresh referendum

The Green MP, Caroline Lucas, has thrown down the gauntlet to 10 high-profile female politicians over blocking a no-deal Brexit, proposing a cabinet of national unity including Labour’s Emily Thornberry, the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, and the former Conservative cabinet minister Justine Greening to seek legislation for a fresh referendum.

In an extraordinary proposal that will be viewed with scepticism by rival parties, Lucas offered to broker a deal with female MPs from all the main political parties in Westminster, as well as the SNP’s leader, Nicola Sturgeon.

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Greta Thunberg condemns UK’s climate stance in speech to MPs

Teenager who sparked global youth movement hits out at airport expansion and support for fossil fuels

‘You did not act in time’ – Thunberg’s full speech

The UK government’s active support for fossil fuels and airport expansion is “beyond absurd”, Greta Thunberg has told MPs.

The 16-year-old Swedish student, who sparked a global youth-based movement when she began a “climate strike” outside Sweden’s parliament last year, gave a typically blunt speech. She told MPs: “This ongoing irresponsible behaviour will no doubt be remembered in history as one of the greatest failures of humankind.”

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May claims it is impossible for government to rule out no-deal Brexit in reply to Corbyn – as it happened

Labour leader says he won’t meet with PM until she takes no-deal Brexit off table, after May narrowly wins no-confidence vote in parliament

We’re going to close down this live blog now, so thanks for reading and for all the comments. Here’s a summary of the latest events:

Related: Corbyn could face string of resignations if he backs 'people's vote'

The public is “aghast” at the “Brexit pantomime” in Westminster, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, has told the Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, in what the former termed a “frank discussion”.

With each passing day, our business community, our farmers, our community and voluntary sector are growing more concerned at where this shambles will ultimately end up. And it is they who will pay the price of a no-deal crash Brexit.

Unfortunately, that is where we are likely to end up if Karen Bradley’s government pursues a solution by attempting to placate and appease the DUP and the hard Brexiteers.

It is crucial, now more than ever, that the Dublin Government and the EU27 stand firm on the position that there can be no agreement without a backstop that prevents a hard border in Ireland and protects our peace and political process.

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