Early evening summary
Dan Jarvis, the security minister, has described Tory claims that Labour deliberately sabotaged the China spy prosecution as “baseless smears” and said that the trial collapsed in part because the last Tory government did not update the Official Secrets Act earlier. (See 5.50pm and 6.17pm.)
For a full list of all the stories covered on the blog today, do scroll through the list of key event headlines near the top of the blog.
Updated
Jarvis says Badenoch's claims about Labour collapsing spy trial are just 'baseless smears'
In his response to Badenoch, Jarvis said that he deliberately gave her a copy of his statement so that she could have time to consider his points.
But she did not engage at all with his point about the Official Secrets Act being out of date, he said.
He said he hoped they would be having a reasonable debate, but Badenoch was just spreading “baseless smears”. If she thought the government “deliberately collapsed an independent legal process through political interference”, she needed to provide evidence, he said.
He also said that Badenoch herself said last year, talking abour her time as a minister, “I have shied away from calling China a threat”. And when she was a minister, Badenoch herself said China was not a foe, he said.
Badenoch says she thinks Labour chose to put closer economic ties with China ahead of national security
Kemi Badenoch responded to Jarvis on behalf of the Conservatives.
She rejected the government’s claim that it could not give the CPS evidence that China was a threat because the last government did not take that view.
She quoted from the integrated security and defence review published in 2021, and the update in 2023, and refers to passages in both where China was described as a threat.
She went on:
Even if the last government had not said China was a threat, and it did, the government only needed to convince a jury that it was a threat.
She said she was astonished that Jarvis was repeating the “nonsense” being expressed by the government on this topic.
She claimed the government’s case had been dismissed by a former DPP, two former cabinet secretaries, and two former heads of MI6. And she said that only today a professor of public law at Cambridge University said the government’s arguments were misleading.
She went on:
Is it seriously the government’s argument that no minister knew anything about this until the trial collapsed? If this is the case, it is astonishing.
But my suspicion is that it is not the case. My suspicion is that ministers did know …
I suspect that they have decided that the closer economic ties with China were more important than due process and or national security, and if this is the case, if that was the decision of this government, then they should just tell us that.
Jarvis ended his statement by saying the National Protective Security Authority has today launched new guidance to protect the UK’s democratic institutions. (See 5.21pm.)
The guidance will help all members in this and the other place [the House of Lords]. Members of the devolved legislatures, local council members and elected representatives staff to better understand the nature of the threat. It also provides simple, effective steps for individuals at risk to protect themselves, their teams and the integrity of our democratic processes.
This guidance will kickstart a wider cross-government action plan … to reduce foreign interference and espionage threats to UK democratic institutions. This will be delivered in close coordination with the parliamentary security authorities.
Jarvis says James Cleverly said China should be not called enemy when he was foreign secretary
Jarvis restates the govenment’s insistence that it did not hold back anything from the Crown Prosecution Service when the case against the two alleged spies was being prepared.
But it was hampered by the fact that it was not the policy of the last government to treat China as an enemy, he says. He says James Cleverly confirmed this when he was foreign secretary. Cleverly said calling China an enemy was “impossible, impractical and most importantly, unwise”.
Jarvis accuses Tories of being too slow to update Official Secrets Act when they were in office
Jarvis says some of the reporting about the China spying case has been inaccurate.
He says the two accused were prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act, the legislation in place at the time the original offences were allegedly committed.
But that was “an antiquated law” that was “clearly no longer fit for purpose in addressing the complex and sophisticated nature of the state threats that we face today”.
Jarvis goes on
It has been clear for many years that this legislation has not kept pace with the modern state threats that we face today.
It was evident that the Official Secrets Act was no longer fit for purpose as early as 2015, when Conservative ministers [asked the Law Commission to review it].
In 2020, the Law Commission and the intelligence and security committee of this house were both clear that this legislation, drafted before the first world war, needed to be updated as a matter of urgency.
Security minister Dan Jarvis makes statement to MPs about collapse of China spy case
Dan Jarvis, the security minister, is delivering his statement now.
Referring to his Commons statement in September, he says the goverment remains disappointed that this case did not go to trial.
But that was a decision by the CPS, he says.
He says he can announce today that MI5’s National Protective Security Authority is taking further steps to protect parliament.
The Commons statement on the China spying prosecution that collapsed is about to start.
Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, says he is very angry about this case. He says he does not think MPs have had the protecting they need.
He says he is “angry” and “disappointed”.
Here is some response from Scotland’s opposition parties to John Swinney’s conference speech.
Russell Findlay, the Scottish Conservative leader, said:
John Swinney must believe that scunnered Scots button up the back if he expects them to trust his latest half-baked plan on fixing Scotland’s GP and the wider NHS crisis.
As he delivered his recycled rhetoric, he appears to have forgotten that he’s been at the heart of this useless SNP government which has left a trail of broken promises for almost two decades.
His latest rallying cry to break up the country will excite diehard nationalists but everyone else is urging him to ‘move on, John’.
Jackie Baillie, the deputy Scottish Labour leader, said:
John Swinney laid out his three key priorities - independence, independence and independence - in a speech filled with grievance, grudge and disinformation.
From reheated NHS pledges that he has already failed to deliver, to desperate attempts to smear his opponents, John Swinney’s speech was half an hour that the audience will never get back.
John Swinney was yesterday’s man in 2003 and nothing he has done over the last two decades will convince Scots otherwise.
If Swinney had done his job over the last two decades, then we wouldn’t need any of his desperate wheezes.
From the Scottish Liberal Democrats
Vast numbers of Scots are on waiting lists and the SNP Government is seven years behind England when it comes to introducing an NHS app.
— Scottish Lib Dems (@scotlibdems) October 13, 2025
No one should trust John Swinney with running the health service. pic.twitter.com/aateYCkk3v
Council reorganisation plans for England ignore wishes of residents, MPs told
Reorganisations of councils in England could lead to the “death of democracy”, an MP has said, as a chorus of Conservatives urged the government to reconsider its plans. In its report on exchanges in the Commons during housing, communities and local government questions earlier, PA Media says:
Alicia Kearns, MP for Rutland and Stamford, was among those who said proposals that threaten to tear up local council boundaries and powers in Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Rutland could ride roughshod over residents’ sentiment.
Meanwhile former culture secretary John Whittingdale stressed the need for residents to be locally represented, amid changes affecting his Essex constituency.
Ministers have announced that council boundaries will be redrawn, with two-tier councils replaced with one larger unitary body that will look after all services from rubbish collection to education.
All eventual unitary bodies will need to have populations of about 500,000, forcing mergers of smaller councils, including Rutland, which only has 40,000 residents.
Under the three proposals submitted to the government, England’s smallest council could be taken into new bodies, with either Leicestershire or parts of Lincolnshire.
The government told MPs its consultation would be published in November.
Kearns said: “Residents of Rutland overwhelmingly want to join with Stamford, yet the council’s pushing ahead with an unwanted Leicestershire merger. In South Kesteven, my constituents don’t want to join a mega-Lincolnshire council. Yet they’re being pushed towards this. In Leicestershire my constituents do not want a Leicester city takeover. What reassurance will the government give that democracy will not die under these reforms and local people’s voices will be heard?”
Rutland had its county status abolished in 1974, becoming a district of Leicestershire. However it was restored as its own county in 1997 before the Conservatives lost the general election. It led to the creation of a unitary authority.
Communities minister Alison McGovern said: “I can certainly confirm that democracy will not die. I know that officials in the department will have heard what she has said, and I will accept her question as representations on the issue of local government.”
Security agency tells MPs that Russia, China and Iran may be trying to spy on them
MPs are being warned that Russia, China and Iran could be trying to spy on them.
As Sky News reports, MI5’s National Protective Security Authority has set that out in new guidance issued today. (See 3.34pm.)
The NPSA says:
Foreign states also try to interfere with decisions and issues in the UK in a way that is deceptive, corruptive and/or coercive.
This includes political interference: aimed at influencing, manipulating or discrediting political processes or decision-making to seek advantage or to harm the UK.
On how politicians might be targeted, the NPSA says:
Foreign intelligence officers operate undercover, posing as diplomats, journalists, academics or lobbyists, for example. Individuals working in these and other fields may also act as ‘proxies’, with their links to the state concealed.
This is from Kemi Badenoch, suggesting that she will be leading for the Tories when Dan Jarvis, the security minister, makes his statement on the China spying case. It is due to start very soon.
I will be demanding answers in the House of Commons on the squalid China Spy Scandal shortly.
It’s time this weak Government comes clean on why the case against these alleged spies collapsed, and reassures the public, Parliament and our allies that it wasn’t done deliberately.
As Peter Walker reports, a new organisation is being set up to defend promote ethical standards in public life, the Ethics and Integrity Commission.
In a joint statement commenting on the move, four organisations that promote democracy and transparency – Unlock Democracy, Transparency International, Spotlight on Corruption and the UK Anti-Corruption Coalition – have said the move does not go far enough. They say the new body does not have enough powers, is not sufficiently independent and does not have enough financial autonomy.
As part of the changes, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) is being abolished. Acoba also covered Scotland and, as a result, the Scottish government has announced new procedures to cover potential conflicts of interest when Scottish government ministers and senior officials leave government and take up new jobs.
Swinney says Scottish government opening network of walk-in GP services, open until 8pm
In his speech to the SNP conference, John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, also announced that the Scottish government will open a network of walk-in GP centres.
He said:
More and more people are being seen. Waiting lists are falling. More appointments. More operations. And more GPs.
But one key issue I hear about is the ‘8am rush’ for appointments.
We want to make it easier for you to see a GP - where and when it works for you.
That is why I can announce today that this SNP government will open a nationwide network of walk-in GP services.
Based in your community. On your local high street. Near your child’s school. Or close to your workplace.
They will break from the status quo.
They will add to the care we already value.
Staffed by GPs and nurses.
Open from 12 noon to 8pm.
And you won’t need to call up for an appointment.
That means more people can go after work - when it fits with their lives.
And to make that even easier they will be open seven days a week.
Families of David Amess and Jo Cox voice concern at rise in violent political rhetoric
The families of the murdered MPs David Amess and Jo Cox have voiced concern about a recent surge in violent political rhetoric in Britain, Ben Quinn reports.
Attacks on Jews and Muslims are 'attacks on entire country', Shabana Mahmood tells MPs
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, told MPs that attacks on Jewish and Muslim communities in the UK “are attacks on our entire country”.
In a Commons statement on the Manchester synagogue attack, she said:
Let me be clear, violence directed at any community, be they Jewish or Muslim, of all faiths or none, are attacks on our entire country.
I know this country is united in our condemnation of those who seek to divide us, because one of the greatest achievements of this country has been our tolerance, our ability to accept and embrace difference, our generosity towards those who may not look the same but are encompassed comfortably within a single national identity.
Mahmood also said that the “real face of this country” is not the pro-Palestine protesters who took to the streets the day after the attack, but those who “stood with their Jewish neighbours”.
She confirmed that, in the light of the attack, she will give the police new powers to impose restrictions on protest marches by allowing them to take into account the cumulative impact of those marches on communities, not just the one-off impact.
She also confirmed that the govenment has increased protection around synagogues following the attack, and that it was stepping up its efforts to tackle antisemitism.
Swinney says Scottish government will sponsor foreign care workers wanting to work in Scotland to circumvent UK's tighter visa rules
John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, has announced that the Scottish government will sponsor social care workers from overseas to work in the country’s care homes.
In his speech to the SNP’s conference, after denouncing what he described as Westminster’s “race to the right” (see 12.36pm), Swinney said:
As well as being morally wrong, Westminster’s race to the right is also deeply damaging to our society
The number of nurses the NHS was able to recruit from overseas fell by 80% last year – 80%.
And in July, Westminster shut down the visa route for social care workers.
They even withdrew job offers that had already been promised.
As a result, thousands of care workers here in the UK entirely legally have been left high and dry.
Unable to work, while care homes are crying out for staff.
In what world does that make make any sense?
Well delegates, I’ve got a solution.
I can announce today that the Scottish government is going to step in.
We will sponsor these skilled staff so they can work, pay tax and help keep Scotland’s care homes running.
Hundreds of dedicated workers.
Able to start work immediately.
Scotland’s older people must not pay the price for Westminster’s prejudice.
UPDATE: The Scottish government has published more details of the scheme here. It is setting aside £500,000 to fund the scheme.
Updated
Badenoch said it was wrong to describe China as a foe when she was in government, peers told
Anderson told peers that when the Conservatives were in office, they did not describe China as a threat. She quoted Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, as saying when she was business secretary two years ago that “we certainly should not be describing China as a foe”.
In her open letter to Keir Starmer released last night, Badenoch criticised the government for not describing China as a threat. (See 10.20am.)
Updated
Anderson said the deputy national security adviser gave three different witness statements to the CPS for use in the China spying prosecution. She said it was the CPS’s decision not to use these.
Government does view China as threat, peers told
Michael Forsyth, the Tory former cabinet minister, asked if the government viewed China as a threat.
Anderson said the UK’s relationship with China was complicated. But some of China’s agents have posed a threat, she said.
UPDATE: In response to a further question about whether China was a threat, Anderson said:
The government knows that China poses a series of threats to UK national security. We have seen Chinese espionage and cyber attacks on our soil and transnational repression of Hong Kongers. I think based on that I can say ‘yes’.
Updated
Former cabinet secretary Lord Butler suggests No 10 has been 'economical with truth' in its account of China spying case
Lord Butler, the former cabinet secretary, asked Anderson to admit that the government’s statement that it was not involved in the CPS’s decision to drop the China spy prosecution was “economical with the truth” in the light of the subsequent statement from the director of public prosecutions.
Anderson did not accept that. She said the govenrment had provided the CPS with witnsess statements for this case.
Lord Purvis, the Lib Dem leader in the Lords, said China should be added to the foreign influence registartion scheme’s enhanced tier.
Anderson said the government was still considering whether China would go into the enhanced tier.
In the House of Lords, Lord True, the Tory leader, is asking his PNQ about the China spy case. (See 2.18pm.)
A government whip, Ruth Anderson (the former Labour MP Ruth Smeeth), is replying. She says the government is committed to fighting the threat posed by foreign espionage.
She says advice and guidance is provided to MPs and peers on what they need to do to protect themselves.
And she says MI5 has today issued new guidance on protecting democratic institutions from foreign interference.
True says any suggestion of executive inaction leading to the collapse of the China spy trial must be condemned. Can the government assure peers that any future cases like this will be prosecuted.
Anderson says anyone spying in parliament should be prosecuted. She says the government was disappointed this trial collapsed.
UPDATE: Anderson said:
The UK government remains steadfast in its commitments to reducing the threat from foreign espionage targeting UK domestic institutions, and continues to drive cross-government work to respond to the threat through the Defending Democracy Taskforce.
MI5’s National Protective Security Authority has today launched new guidance to protect the UK’s democratic institutions from foreign interference.
Updated
Farage calls for 'big bang two' in City to boost cryptocurrency use
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has called for a “big bang two” in the City that would encourage the use of cryptocurrencies.
Speaking at the Digital Asset Summit in London, Farage said:
The big bang of the 1980s, that’s worth mentioning because today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Margaret Thatcher.
Love her or not, she broke up the City of London and we got massive investment coming in and we really made London the world’s leading centre.
If you ever want to have a look at an example of sensible deregulation, getting rid of ridiculous market practices and customs leading to success, big bang in London in the 80s is one of them.
So what we’re going to need is big bang two, with [digital assets] being right at the epicentre of what we want to try to do.
Referring to reports that Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is planning to sell off seized Bitcoin worth $5bn, Farage said instead it should be kept by the Bank of England so that it can start to “build up and make Bitcoin a reserve category”.
Updated
Reform UK’s decision to shelve most of their 2024 manifesto pledges is an admission that they have been pursuing “fantasy economics”, the Liberal Democrats have said.
Referring to the inteviews given by Nigel Farage and Richard Tice (see 11.20am), Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said:
Nigel Farage launched Reform’s manifesto last year claiming it was a contract with the British public. Now that contract has been torn to shreds.
Reform is now running scared because Farage backed Liz Truss, backed Brexit and backed Donald Trump, all of which have done huge damage to the British economy.
This disastrous record shows Farage’s fantasy economics is destined to fail.
Updated
Updated
Peers will also get a chance today to question the government about the collapse of the China spy case. In the Lords Lord True, the Tory leader in the Lords, has tabled a private notice question (the Lords equivalent of an urgent question) asking ministers “what assessment they have made of their ability to protect parliament from Chinese espionage in light of the collapse of recent legal proceedings”. A minister will reply at about 3.15pm.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for an inquiry into the collapse of the China spying trial. In a statement, Calum Miller, Lib Dem foreign affairs spokesperson, said:
The seriousness of the threat Beijing poses to our national security cannot be overstated - and this case has exposed appalling gaps in our government’s ability and willingness to challenge China’s espionage efforts.
The government must today commit to holding a statutory, independent inquiry into the China spying case. While we need immediate answers on who in government is responsible for collapsing the case, we also need a full inquiry so that we can learn lessons vital for our national security.
No 10 says claims it concealed evidence or withdrew evidence or witnesses to stop China spy trial 'all categorically untrue'
At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning the PM’s spokesperson took questions for about 45 minutes on the collapse of the China spying prosecution. The briefing did not provide answers to all the questions raised by Kemi Badenoch (see 10.20am) and others, but it did move things on a bit. Here are the main points.
The PM’s spokesperson said it was “entirely false” to claim the government played a role in getting the CPS to drop the prosection. (See 12.55pm.)
The spokesperson said the government did provide evidence to the CPS to support a prosecution. He said:
The government has provided the evidence that was drawn up under the previous government – evidence that was drawn up consistent with the previous government’s stance on China, and consistent with what the Official Secrets Act 1911 requires. The evidence was drawn up using the full range of evidence across government.
But he said the government could only provide evidence relating to what the threat assessment of China was at the time the alleged offences were committed.
The spokesperson rejected suggestions the government withheld evidence from the CPS. He said:
The director of public prosecutions has given his assurance that the the CPS were not influenced any external party.
As we repeatedly said also in the course of the last week or so, the suggestions that the government concealed evidence, withdrew evidence, withdrew witnesses are all categorically untrue.
The spokesperson rejected suggestions that Jonathan Powell, the national security adviser, sabotaged the prosecution. Referring to a Sunday Times story, the spokesperson said:
There have been various reports alleging that a meeting was held about the case in September where the national security adviser ruled that China could not be defined as a threat or took a decision to withdraw evidence or withdraw key witnesses. That is simply untrue.
The national security adviser happening, nor any government minister, made no decisions on the content of any evidence relating to the case, nor has he or any government minister had any part in any decisions about the substance of the case itself.
At that point, when the Powell meeting was taking place, government officials were working on the basis that the trial was going to go ahead, it is claimed.
The spokesperson echoed Hamish Falconer this morning in suggesting that the Official Secrets Act 1911 should have been updated earlier. (See 9.53am.) The spokesperson said the National Security Act which is now in force would make prosecuting alleged offences like these ones (committed when the old law still applied) easier. The new law “removes the unhelpful enemy designation language from the Official Secrets Act” and is “state agnostic”, he said.
The spokesperson accepted that in some respects China does pose a “threat” to the UK. This government, like the last one, has been reluctant to explicitly describe China as a threat. The spokesperson said that the national security strategy made it clear that China is a country with “potentially huge consequencese for the lives of British citizens”. He went on:
We detailed how instances of China’s espionage, interference in our democracy, undermining our economic security, have increased.
In recent years, successive governments said that China can’t be reduced to a single word – either threat, challenge or opportunity – but in reality it presents all of these things, which is why we are taking a long-term, strategic approach.
In previous briefings Downing Street has avoided using the word “threat” in the context of China, and so this does seem to be a modest hardening of the government’s position.
Updated
There will be three statements in the Commons this afternoon.
At 3.30pm Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will deliver one on the Manchester Synagogue attack.
At some point after 4.30pm Dan Jarvis, the security minister, will give an update on the collapse of the China spying trial.
And, after that, probably around 6pm, Liz Kendall, the science secretary, will give a statement on government plans for a digital ID scheme.
No 10 says it is 'entirely false' to say government played role in getting CPS to drop China spying case
At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning the PM’s spokesperson said it was “entirely false” to suggest the government influenced the collapse of the China spying case because of concerns Beijing could withdraw investment in the UK, Downing Street said.
Asked about reports in the Sunday Times which suggested a decision was taken high up in government to abandon the case so as not to damage the economic relationship with China, the PM’s spokesperson told reporters:
It is entirely false. The CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] decision to drop the case was entirely a matter for the CPS. There was no role for any member of this government, no minister, or special adviser, to take any decision in relation to this case. That is entirely for the CPS.
I will post more from the briefing shortly.
Swinney to claim Westminster's 'race to right' will push Scotland towards independence
Kemi Badenoch is in Grantham today to mark what would have been Margaret Thatcher’s 100th birthday. (See 11.36am.) As Ben Quinn reports, there are other events taking place today, with Conservative and Reform UK supporters both claiming that to be heirs to her legacy.
In his speech to the SNP conference this afternoon, John Swinney, the Scottish first minister, will take a different line, arguing that Thatcher helped to pave the way for Scottish devolution. Her rightwing admirers today could help push Scotland over the line to independence, he will argue.
Swinney is expected to say:
On Westminster’s watch, the basic essentials of life - energy, food and more - are becoming more and more expensive.
In many ways, the deep-seated problems facing the UK right now are a culmination of decades of failed Thatcherite economics.
An entire system, accepted by the Westminster parties, of being intensely relaxed about some people becoming filthy rich while everyone else struggles to get by.
It was in part Scottish revulsion at the policies of Margaret Thatcher that catapulted Scotland towards the creation of a Scottish Parliament, and the rebirth of self-government.
We became, in Westminster language, a “devolved nation”.
Today I believe it will be revulsion at Westminster’s race to the right that will change Scotland’s status again.From a so-called devolved nation, to what we can be: a modern, outward looking, inclusive compassionate country.
Not a devolved nation. But the world’s newest nation state.
Kate Forbes renews call for cut in energy windfall tax in speech to SNP conference
Severin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.
Kate Forbes, Scotland’s outgoing deputy first minister, has repeated the Scottish National party’s call for a cut in the energy windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas, in an address to the party’s annual conference.
Forbes, a former leadership candidate who shocked colleagues by announcing this summer she is quitting as an MSP in March, just before the May Holyrood election, said the energy profits levy was destroying North Sea jobs. She said:
In a classic move by this Labour government, they accept the 78% tax rate is costing jobs – but they won’t do anything about it for another five years.
So we call on the chancellor today – don’t wait, replace the destructive fiscal regime at the next budget with a fair one. One that protects workers and enables the energy transition.
Forbes said the North Sea’s bountiful revenues had been “frittered away on unjust wars and pet projects” by successive UK governments, while Scotland endured some of the UK’s highest rates of fuel poverty, highest energy prices and repeated welfare cuts.
In a plea to imagine Scotland as independent, she contrasted that with Norway’s $2 trillion oil fund and its low rates of child poverty and fair welfare system.
However, Norway’s oil profits levy, which funds day to day spending, has been very similar to the UK’s, at 78%, while Norwegians pay more in tax, equivalent to 40% of GDP versus 35% in the UK. The VAT sales tax, a regressive tax, is 25% in Norway compared to 20% in the UK.
To warm applause and a long-standing ovation following her swansong speech, Forbes echoed speeches from other delegates by lambasting Labour’s decision to reinvigorate the nuclear power station building programme.
The SNP has a long-standing policy of hostility to civilian and military nuclear projects; Scottish Labour believes both stances are out of step with voters, in the belief a majority prize energy and military security, and will campaign at the May election for new nuclear plants in Scotland.
Forbes said:
We are leading the world in the innovation, technology and commercialisation of renewable energy.
That is why it is so bewildering that the UK government would rather focus on the distraction of new nuclear, rather than on Scotland’s renewable potential.
It will take longer. It will be more expensive. It will increase bills. And it will leave our communities to deal with dangerous nuclear waste.
So conference, let us be clear with the Labour government today – Scotland will not be the UK’s nuclear playground.
Keir Starmer has said that he hopes Gaza and Israel are now on “a sustainable path to a long-term peace”. In a statement about the release today of all 20 remaining living hostages that were being held by Hamas, Starmer said:
I share the deep feeling of relief as Avinatan Or and other hostages are released today. But this is also a stark reminder of the treatment that he has been subject to at the hands of Hamas, and the atrocities that shook the world two years ago.
Having met his family, I know that no one can truly understand the torture and agony they suffered for two drawn out years and my thoughts are with them. My thoughts are also with the family of Yossi Sharabi, who are still waiting for news.
I reiterate my thanks for the tireless diplomatic efforts of the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Türkiye. It is now crucial that we work together to implement President Trump’s peace plan for Gaza, and that will be my focus in Egypt today.
Commitment to this plan from all parties will be essential to ending the war and building the foundations for a sustainable path to a long-term peace. The UK will support the crucial next stage of talks to ensure the implementation of the peace plan.
Updated
Badenoch accuses government of begging Trump administration to tweet praise of Jonathan Powell
Kemi Badenoch has accused the government of asking the Trump administration to tweet praise of Jonathan Powell, the PM’s national security adviser.
Referring to the post from Steve Witkoff this morning (see 9.53am), Badenoch said:
I was not born yesterday. I think it is actually very sad that the government is having to beg people to send tweets to say something nice about Jonathan Powell.
The American ambassador to Israel has actually criticised the government, saying they are delusional for saying that they have anything to do with this peace deal.
I think that that is quite tragic, the way that the UK’s reputation is falling under this Labour government.
Badenoch was speaking on a visit to Margaret Thatcher’s old school in Grantham, Kesteven and Girls’ grammar school, scheduled to mark what would have been the former PM’s 100th birthday.
Updated
Richard Tice confirms Reform abandoning firm commitment to most of £90bn tax cuts in 2024 manifesto
Richard Tice, the Reform UK deputy leader, has confirmed that the party has dropped its commitment to most of the £90bn tax cuts it was promising in its election manifesto last year.
In a significant change of tack, the party is now saying that it will not implement tax cuts until it has cut government spending first.
Tice and Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, still believe that colossal cuts in public spending are achievable, and that these could be used to fund big tax cuts. But they have abandoned the bravado of the 2024 Reform manifesto, which implied rebalancing the economy in that way was relatively straightforward.
At their party conferences Labour and the Conservatives both claimed that Reform’s irresponsible economic policies would crash the economy just like Liz Truss’s mini-budget, and it is now clear that this line of attack seems to have had an impact.
In its manifesto, Reform proposed tax cuts worth £90bn, alongside spending commitments worth £50bn. The key tax cut would have been lifting the tax-free personal allowance to £20,000.
Today Tice told Times Radio that this was no longer a commitment, but just an “aspiration”. He said Reform remained committed to getting rid of net zero environmental levies, but he went on: “All the other details [in the manifesto] go because we’re in a different time.”
Tice explained:
A manifesto is based on a point in time. The principles behind it are absolutely rock solid. We said we’ve got to make very significant savings in order to fund a different way to run the economy.
What’s happened since then is that the state of the economy, because of the mismanagement by this Labour government, the numbers have got far worse. And we will be focusing relentlessly, as I’ve been saying, on the savings.
Tice was speaking after Farage told the Times in an interview that Reform would have a “rigorous and fully-costed manifesto” at the next election and that a Reform government could cut spending before it cut taxes. Farage said:
Reform will never borrow to spend, as Labour and the Tories have done for so long; instead, we will ensure savings are made before implementing tax cuts. I will have more to say on all this in the coming weeks.
The tax and spending policies in Reform’s 2024 manifesto were widely seen an unrealistic. Although the party claimed that its proposed cuts were affordable, the Economist published an analysis claiming that a more realistic assessment of the plans showed “the annual costs are in the region of £200bn and savings around £100bn”. The Economist said: “The gap between the two would amount to a colossal fiscal shock, blowing up the deficit and straining the gilt market to its limits.”
The Reform manifesto also including a commitment to abolish stamp duty. One irony is that, while this is no longer a firm Reform pledge, abolishing stamp duty for primary residences has now become an official Conservative party promise.
Tom Tugendhat, the Tory former security minister, used an interview on the Today programme this morning to attack the government for its stance on the China spy prosecution that collapsed. He claimed the government was “willing to cover up for the actions of a hostile state which is seeking to intervene in the freedoms of the British people”.
Badenoch sets out six questions for ministers to answer on collapse of China spy trial
Last night the Conservative party released the text of an open letter from Kemi Badenoch to Keir Starmer about the collapse of the China spy trial. In it, Badenoch said Starmer should arrange for a minister to make a statement about it in the Commons today and she set out six questions that she said needed to be answered.
For the record, here they are:
· Is your argument that no minister knew anything of the government’s interactions with the CPS [Crown Prosecution Service] over the “many months” in which your government refused to give the CPS the material it wanted?
· Did ministers at HMT [His Majesty’s Treasury], Home Office or the FCDO [Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office] ever brief you, the prime minister, about this matter or refer to it in any way? Did Jonathan Powell mention it to you at any point?
· Is your government still denying that a meeting including Jonathan Powell and FCDO permanent secretary took place in early September? If not, why did the home secretary and your spokesman deny this?
· Ministers now say your national security adviser was “not involved in the substance of the case and discussions around that”. What does this mean? If he was “not involved” in the decision over months not to give the CPS what they needed, then who was?
· Does the government now accept that what Dan Jarvis told the House of Commons on 15 September, ie that the government had no warning and wasn’t involved, was misleading? Will you ensure that the record is corrected urgently?
· Is it still your government’s position to claim that it would have been impossible to argue that China was a threat in court? If so, do you think the former head of public prosecutions, two former cabinet secretaries, and a former head of MI6 are all wrong?
Updated
Jonathan Powell praised as 'incredible' by Trump envoy as MPs prepare to debate his role in collapse of China spy trial
Good morning. Keir Starmer will be in Egypt today, attending the Middle East peace summit being co-chaired by Donald Trump. The PM will be a minor figure in a huge global story, and Yohannes Lowe is covering it all on our Middle East live blog.
At Westminster MPs are returning to the Commons after the four-week conference recess where the news here won’t be making global headlines. But, in a curious twist, a tweet from Steve Witkoff, President Trump’s peace envoy, has managed to link Gaza with the main talking point in Westminster politics this morning.
About two hours ago Witkoff posted this on X.
I would like to acknowledge the vital role of the United Kingdom in assisting and coordinating efforts that have led us to this historic day in Israel. In particular, I want to recognize the incredible input and tireless efforts of National Security Advisor Jonathan Powell.
This seemed to be a response to what Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, posted on X yesterday in a comment on a video clip of Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, saying in a Sunday morning interview that the UK had played a key role behind the scenes in shaping the peace deal announced by Trump. Huckabee, a Trump/Netanyahu loyalist who has been scathing in public before about the Labour government’s foreign policy, said:
I assure you she’s delusional. She can thank @realDonaldTrump anytime just to set the record straight.
The Witkoff tweet read like an White House-sanctioned mini rebuke, and a reassurance to London that the ambassador was not speaking on behalf of the administration.
But Witkoff’s decision to also go public with lavish praise for Powell also implies that he is trying to be helpful to the UK national security adviser when he is under intense pressure because the opposition parties are blaming him for the collapse of the China spy trial. Here is Peter Walker’s overnight story on this.
Powell is under increasing pressure because, with recess over, MPs can now use all the parliamentary levers available to them to demand a fuller explanation from ministers as to what happened. They can table urgent questions, or even use the SO24 (standing order 24) procedure to demand an emergency debate. Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, was furious about the decision to drop the spying prosecution (because it involved allegations of spying happening within parliament) and he is likely to be sympathetic to requests for UQs or emergency debates. When ministers know that a UQ is likely to be granted, they often decide to make a formal ministerial statement instead.
This is what Hamish Falconer, the Middle East minister, implied would happen in a Today programme interview this morning. Asked if the public would get a proper explanation in parliament as to why the spy trial collapsed, he replied:
I will not get ahead of the Speaker on what is tabled in parliament, but I would expect that parliament will discuss this later.
Falconer was referring to the fact that the Speaker’s Office only formally announces what statements and UQs are being allowed at about 1pm on a Monday.
Powell is being blamed for the collapse of the trial because it is alleged he refused to agree to the government giving the prosecution a statement saying China is a threat to national security, and that without this the prosecution could not make this case. It is alleged Powell held back to avoid antagonising the Chinese government.
Ministers say the decision to drop the case was taken by the Crown Prosecution Service, not the government, and that they were constrained by what official government policy was at the time the alleged offences were committed – when the Conservatives were in power.
In his Today interview Falconer offered a slightly new version of this argument, saying the Official Secrets Act should be been updated earlier. He said:
There was a case taken about alleged offences under the Official Secrets Act, which is a rather archaic piece of legislation … which was written in 1911.
The case, unfortunately, involves a period before successor legislation was put in place in 2023 [the National Security Act].
So the CPS, who do these things, rightly, independently from government, were trying to put together a case based on evidence from both a period where the Official Secrets Act, rather than National Security Act was the legislation in place, and it was this Conservative government, rather than the Labour government, who were in place.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch is visiting Grantham to mark the 100th anniversary of the day Margaret Thatcher was born.
10.30am: Kate Forbes, Scotland’s deputy first minister, opens the final day of the SNP’s conference in Aberdeen. John Swinney, the first minister, winds up the conference with a speech at 3.05pm.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12.30pm (UK time): Keir Starmer is due to meet President Trump at the Middle East peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh that Trump is co-chairing with the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
2.30pm: Steve Reed, the housing secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
After 3.30pm: There are likely to be several urgent questions and ministerial statements, including one on the collapse of the China spy trial.
If you want to contact me, please post a message below the line when comments are open (normally between 10am and 3pm BST at the moment), or message me on social media. I can’t read all the messages BTL, but if you put “Andrew” in a message aimed at me, I am more likely to see it because I search for posts containing that word.
If you want to flag something up urgently, it is best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has given up posting from its official accounts on X, but individual Guardian journalists are there, I still have my account, and if you message me there at @AndrewSparrow, I will see it and respond if necessary.
I find it very helpful when readers point out mistakes, even minor typos. No error is too small to correct. And I find your questions very interesting too. I can’t promise to reply to them all, but I will try to reply to as many as I can, either BTL or sometimes in the blog.
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