Australia rejected millions of face masks provided by PPE Medpro suppliers

Exclusive: Suppliers for firm linked to UK peer Michelle Mone helped source Covid masks for Australian government that were found unusable

Suppliers of PPE for a company linked to the Conservative peer Michelle Mone were also involved during the Covid pandemic in supplying millions of face masks to the Australian government that were rejected over safety concerns.

Australia’s Department of Health and Aged Care told the Guardian that of 50m face masks supplied to fulfil a government contract awarded to a small online retailer, Australian Business Mobiles (ABM), the overwhelming majority – 45.7m – were deemed unusable for its health service. A department spokesperson said five of seven manufacturers that supplied the masks were “deemed non-compliant with quality regulations”.

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Tory peer cleared for second time of breaking lobbying rules over PPE contracts

Watchdog says there is insufficient evidence Lord Chadlington breached rules over £50m in contracts

A Conservative peer has been cleared of breaking lobbying rules for a second time by the House of Lords watchdog over introducing a company that was awarded government PPE contracts worth £50m.

The watchdog had been asked to reopen his investigation into Lord Chadlington after it emerged that there was an exchange with the government that had not been fully provided to his first inquiry.

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Eleven peers have not sat in Lords for at least a year after failing to take oath to king

Ex-supreme court president among those whose failure to take oath means they cannot sit or vote in second chamber

Lady Hale, the former president of the supreme court, is among 11 peers who appear to have neglected their duties in the House of Lords after failing to take an oath to King Charles – a requirement for them to perform any part of their constitutional role.

Among the other peers is Harry Carter (Lord Carter of Haslemere), a top lawyer working in Downing Street, who was appointed a peer by Theresa May nearly four years ago but has never taken part in the House of Lords.

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Sunak branded ‘inaction man’ at PMQs as Starmer attacks record on schools, prisons and China – UK politics live

Labour leader accuses government of failing to heed warnings which has led to series of crises this week

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question at PMQs.

Yesterday it emerged that ministers are mulling over a plan to tweak the triple lock for pensions so that what might be a bumper 8.5% increase in its value next year ends up being marginally less generous, at 7.8%.

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Boris Johnson made to ‘look like a chump’ as ex-aide shuns Tories in Lords

Dan Rosenfield decides to sit as independent after being nominated by former PM in resignation honours list

Boris Johnson’s former chief of staff Dan Rosenfield has decided not to sit on the Conservative benches following his elevation to the Lords in a move that has outraged some Tories, with one saying it made the former prime minister “look like a chump”.

Rosenfield, a former Treasury official, was one of several ex-aides nominated in June for peerages in Johnson’s resignation honours list.

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UK’s post-Brexit policing pact put at risk by migration laws, say peers

Committee concerned illegal migration legislation will jeopardise sharing of DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records

The UK’s post-Brexit policing pact with the EU on sharing DNA, fingerprinting and criminal records could be put at risk by Suella Braverman’s migration laws, a House of Lords committee has said.

Lady Hamwee, the chair of the Lords justice and home affairs committee, has written to the home secretary to say its members are “particularly concerned” that the new illegal migration legislation along with new data laws could lead to the “termination and/or suspension” of the security cooperation elements of the Brexit trade deal.

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Rhodes wildfires are climate wake-up call, says UK minister

Patrick Courtown sounds warning as evacuation flights head to Greek island to rescue stranded Britons

Wildfires in Rhodes are a “wake-up call” on the effects of the climate crisis, a UK government minister has said, as empty planes were sent to the Greek island to help bring home stranded Britons.

After a mass evacuation from parts of Rhodes, members of the House of Lords were told the situation was “stabilising” and there was no immediate need for the government to advise people to stop travelling there.

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Northern Ireland could lose half its veterinary medicines in Brexit row

Requirement for animal medicines to be batch-tested in EU could see products discontinued, BVA warns

Northern Ireland could lose half of its veterinary medicines in a new Brexit row threatening to prolong the political stalemate in the region, it has emerged.

The British Veterinary Association told the Lords committee on Northern Ireland in written evidence that it was “extremely concerned” about the issue even though the Windsor framework sealed between Rishi Sunak and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, in March was sold as a solution to the protracted saga regarding Northern Ireland.

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AI bots could replace us, peer warns House of Lords during debate

Crossbencher asks Lords to imagine bots with ‘higher productivity and lower running costs’ as example of risk to UK jobs market

The House of Lords could be replaced by bots with “deeper knowledge, higher productivity and lower running costs”, said a peer during a debate on the development of advanced artificial intelligence.

Addressing the upper chamber, Richard Denison hypothesised that AI services may soon be able to deliver his speeches in his own style and voice, “with no hesitation, repetition or deviation”.

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Light and noise pollution ‘are neglected health hazards’, say peers

Lords committee calls for creation of advisory groups to tackle the pollutants, which may increase risk of heart disease and premature death

Light and noise are “neglected pollutants” that are causing significant harm to human health and can cause premature deaths, a group of peers have said.

The science and technology committee of the House of Lords has called on ministers to do more to tackle these pollutants, which it claims are “poorly understood and poorly regulated”.

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Asylum barge docks after Lords passes ‘shameful’ UK illegal migration bill

Rishi Sunak’s legislation faced challenges from peers including the archbishop of Canterbury

A barge that will be used to house 500 asylum seekers has belatedly arrived in a port on England’s southern coast after voting in the House of Lords paved the way for the government’s small boats and migration bill to become law.

The arrival of the Bibby Stockholm, which was pulled by a tug into Portland port in Dorset on Tuesday morning, coincided with condemnation of the previous night’s drama in which the Conservative frontbench saw off five further changes to the bill peers were seeking, including modern slavery protections and child detention limits.

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Senior Tories attack illegal migration bill as Lords amendments overturned

Theresa May and Tim Loughton among more than a dozen backbench Tories criticising bill

Rishi Sunak’s immigration bill was heavily criticised by senior Conservative MPs as the government overturned amendments made by the House of Lords.

Theresa May and Tim Loughton were among more than a dozen backbench Tories seeking further changes to the illegal migration bill, which the prime minister says is crucial to stopping small boats from crossing the Channel.

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Ministers urged to shelve illegal migration bill until supreme court ruling after 11 defeats in Lords – UK politics live

Purpose of the bill is now ‘dead’, says crossbench peer Alex Carlile after yesterday’s vote in House of Lords

Rishi Sunak has posted a message on Twitter saying that he looks forward to continuing working with Jens Stoltenberg, who has had his term as Nato’s secretary general extended.

According to the Sun’s Harry Cole, at cabinet Sunak praised Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, as the only other credible candidate for the job who was not a former prime minister. Stoltenberg is a former Norwegian PM.

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Defeats for small boats bill in the Lords as Channel crossings set new record

Peers voted against government-proposed measures on detention and deportation of asylum seekers

The government’s small boats bill has suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords, as Channel crossings in June by people seeking asylum set a new record.

Peers voted on Monday to limit the time that children and pregnant women who claim asylum after arriving by irregular means can be detained, and backed preventing LGBTQ+ people from being deported to a country where they would have a well-founded fear of persecution.

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MPs and peers urge UK government to do more to free jailed activist in Egypt

More than 100 signatories express concern in letter to foreign secretary over lack of progress in case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah

More than 100 MPs and peers have written to the foreign secretary to express concern over the lack of progress to free a jailed British-Egyptian activist.

It comes seven months after the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, shook hands with Egypt’s president, Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, while Alaa Abd el-Fattah was close to death due to a hunger strike.

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British peers attended Russian ambassador’s party in London

Lords Balfe and Skidelsky were at event in June where ambassador sought to justify Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine

Two British peers were among 50 people who attended a party organised by the Russian ambassador to the UK at his opulent residence in west London last month, to mark the creation of a Russia independent of the Soviet Union.

Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador, spoke at the event where he sought to justify his country’s bloody invasion of Ukraine, while those attending included the Conservative Lord Balfe and cross-bencher Lord Skidelsky.

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Queen was asked to block Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage, claims documentary

Exclusive: Channel 4 film says officials contacted the palace in 2020 owing to concerns about Lord Lebedev’s father’s links to Putin regime

Government officials asked whether the late Queen would block Evgeny Lebedev’s peerage because of concerns that he could be a national security risk due to his father’s links to the Putin regime, a documentary has claimed.

The aides contacted Buckingham Palace in July 2020 to request that the monarch intervene, which she was constitutionally entitled to do, after Boris Johnson decided to press ahead with the controversial peerage despite warnings from the intelligence agencies, according to the film-makers.

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Keir Starmer ‘eyes dozens of new peers to aid Labour government’

Party reportedly looking to increase share in Lords, as Tory majority ‘could make life difficult’

Labour is reportedly devising plans to appoint dozens of peers to the House of Lords to prevent a Keir Starmer government being stymied by the upper chamber.

There are 174 Labour peers, making up 22% of the Lords, compared with 263 Conservatives and 183 unaligned crossbench peers.

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Dame Priti and Sir ‘party Marty’: the allies and aides in Johnson’s honours list

Ex-PM also awards knighthood to Jacob Rees-Mogg and OBE to head of parliament’s hair salon

Priti Patel, who was home secretary in Johnson’s cabinet and widely seen as a fierce ally of the former prime minister, has been made a dame commander.

Keen Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg has received a knighthood alongside Michael Fabricant who often went on the airwaves to defend Johnson during Partygate.

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Archbishop of Canterbury’s attack on illegal migration bill ‘wrong on both counts’, says minister – as it happened

Justin Welby says bill is ‘morally unacceptable’ and rules on protection of refugees are not ‘inconvenient obstructions’. This live blog is closed

In the House of Lords peers are just starting to debate the second reading of the illegal migration bill.

Simon Murray, aka Lord Murray of Blidworth, is opening the debate. He is a lawyer who was made a Home Office minister, and a peer, when Liz Truss was PM.

We now face a perfect storm of factors driving more people into homelessness while giving us fewer good options to help them when they do. These factors include soaring private rents (above the benefit cap), private landlords leaving the sector, a national shortage of affordable housing, and a backlog of court cases after Covid-relating housing support was removed. At the same time, we have a cost-of-living crisis which is reducing real-term incomes and putting further strain on relationships.

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