Cameron will cooperate with lobbying probe – follow live

The government has reportedly been warned by its own equalities watchdog that “vaccine passports” could be discriminatory.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is understood to have told the Cabinet Office that any sort of requirement to produce vaccine documents to enter a public place such as a bar, would create a “two-tier society” in the UK.

Vincent Wood has all the details

Sir David Normington said that he was “absolutely amazed” that a top civil servant was allowed to work as a part-time adviser at Greensill Capital while still in Whitehall.

Asked about the Bill Crothers case, Sir David told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Well actually, when I heard it, I thought it was absolutely baffling. I’ve never come across anything like it in my over 40 years in Whitehall.

“I know (Cabinet Secretary) Simon Case is checking whether there are any other similar cases – I would be very surprised if there were.

“I’m absolutely amazed that Bill Crothers should be allowed to work for Greensill while he was still in the civil service.

“But worse, I think, this enabled him to evade scrutiny of his appointment after he had left the civil service, and that is completely unacceptable.”

Alex Salmond has refused to say whether he believes Russia was behind the 2018 Salisbury Novichok poisonings that killed one woman and left her partner critically ill.

Scotland’s former first minister, who has presented a programme on Russian state-sponsored TV channel RT since 2017, said he simply did not know who was responsible for the never agent attacks during an interview on LBC.

Sam Hancock has the details

Britain and the EU are mounting a fresh attempt to resolve the problems over post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Brexit minister Lord Frost is travelling to Brussels for talks with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic today as they attempt to iron out differences over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

It has been blamed as one of the factors behind the recent upsurge of violence in loyalist areas amid concerns in those communities it has weakened their place in the United Kingdom.

Under the terms of the Protocol, goods moving from the rest of the UK to Northern Ireland may be subject to checks.

However, critics have warned that the way it has been implemented has given rise to renewed sectarian tensions, at the same time as hampering the free flow of goods within the UK.

Ahead of Thursday evening’s meeting between Lord Frost and Mr Sefcovic, an EU spokesman said they would “take stock of ongoing technical work” on the protocol.

A UK Government spokesman said there were still “significant differences” which needed to be resolved if they were to rebuild confidence in the agreement among communities in Northern Ireland.

Boris Johnson reportedly intervened after a Saudi bid to buy Newcastle United ran into difficulties.

The Prime Minister asked one of his top aides to investigate after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman warned a row over the sale of the Premier League club could damage relations between the two countries, according to the Daily Mail.

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s minute-by-minute live blog, bringing you the latest news and analysis straight from Westminster.