Budget spending cuts branded ‘unrealistic’ – follow live politics news

Jacob Rees-Mogg has refused to apologise after being accused of using parliamentary privilege to “smear a journalist” during a row over leaked remarks made by the foreign secretary.

A video call, published earlier this week by HuffPost UK’s deputy political editor, Arj Singh, suggested Dominic Raab said in a meeting that the UK should strike trade deals with nations that do not meet European standards on human rights.

But Commons leader Mr Rees-Mogg argued the comments had been “shockingly distorted by low-quality journalism”.

Read our full report on the spat here:

Tory frontbencher Lord Frost has claimed the government has “pulled out all the stops” to help businesses post-Brexit, despite a large fall in the goods exported to the EU by British firms.

Recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show British exports fell by more than 40 per cent – or a £5.6 billion – in January.

Speaking at Westminster, the former Brexit negotiator defended the government, saying : “A unique combination of facts has made it inevitable that we would see a reduction in trade with the EU in January and we should use caution in drawing any conclusions from the initial figures.”

Boris Johnson’s former top aide Dominic Cummings has agreed to give evidence to MPs on the government’s handling of the pandemic.

He will appear before the Commons Science and Technology Committee on 26 May.

Oliver Dowden promised MPs last summer that legislation to tackle “online harms” would be brought forward by the end of this parliamentary session.

However, the culture secretary told the Commons on Thursday that it would be published in draft form in the next parliamentary session.

Labour accused ministers of kicking the plans “further down the road” and of failing to protect children and vulnerable people.

The Welsh Labour Party has kicked off its Senedd election campaign with six key pledges, which include supporting young people and building a greener economy.

The party’s leader Mark Drakeford also promised to create 125,000 new apprenticeships as part of the Young Person’s Guarantee.

“As we emerge from the pandemic it is Welsh Labour that once again has the positive, outward looking and progressive ideas to help families and communities across Wales,” he said.

In this parliament, Mr Drakeford’s party has 29 of the Senedd’s 60 seats, with his administration supported by the Liberal Democrat MS Kirsty Williams and the independent MS Lord Elis-Thomas.

An Indian pharmaceutical company has denied Matt Hancock’s suggestion that the UK’s supply of vaccines has been slowed by slow deliveries from the south Asian nation.

The health secretary told the Commons on Thursday that the UK would receive fewer doses from India’s Serum Institute than expected in April.

However, a source at the firm told The Independent that “no specific timeframe” had been set for the [UK’s] next order”, meaning “there’s no question of it being delayed.”

Andrew Woodcock and Stuti Mishra report:

British imports to Ireland fell by more than 900 million euros in January after Brexit, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.

New CSO data shows there was a 65 per cent drop in imports – after the end of the free movement of goods – compared with January 2020. The largest drop was in imports of live animals, which fell by 75 per cent.

Orla McCarthy, a senior statician at CSO, said: “Traders reported that a combination of factors contributed to the large reduction in imports from Great Britain in January 2021. These included the challenges of complying with customs requirements.

“Other factors identified by traders were stockpiling of goods in Q4 2020 in preparation for Brexit, substitution with goods from other countries, and a reduction in trade volumes due to the impact of Covid-19 related restrictions throughout January.”

What has happened to the glitzy No 10 film hailing the success of the UK’s vaccination programme – made, controversially, at the taxpayer’s expense?

It was supposed to be released at the end of last week, after Downing Street issued a 50-second extract on social media with the tantalising words “Coming Soon”.

The film features the advisers who have become household names through the Covid-19 crisis, including Chris Whitty, Patrick Vallance and Jonathan Van-Tam – as well as Boris Johnson himself.

But, no doubt to the intense disappointment of millions of movie fans, there has been no sign of it – and there is no clue about when it will, eventually, appear.

Has it been shelved because the four-week supply drought – forcing under-50s to wait longer for their jabs – is not a good time to be boasting about success?

“We said we will release it soon, that remains the case,” said a tight-lipped prime minister’s spokesman, when asked.

Countries need to unite against the “unacceptable” bullying committed by China, the former cabinet secretary and national security adviser Lord Sedwill has advised.

Speaking to the Lords International Relations and Defence Committee, he said that Beijing had been able to “advance a more assertive agenda” in recent years because of a lack of unity among Western allies.

“We have seen the crackdown in Hong Kong, the appalling treat of the Uighurs in Xinjiang, and the deliberate expansionist agenda of the Belt and Road,” he said.

He also warned about the dangers of the so-called “Thucydides trap”, whereby conflict can result from one superpower (the US) feeling threatened by the rise of another (China).

“That is a dangerous place for the world to get to,” Lord Sedwill said.

Matt Hancock has announced the NHS will be given an extra £6.6 billion to cover the cost of coronavirus in the first half of the financial year.

“We backed the NHS at every point in this pandemic so that they can treat patients, stay safe and save lives,” he told MPs.

The Independent’s political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has the latest on this breaking story