SNP on course for majority in Scottish election – follow live

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has told party colleagues that he intends to run for the leadership of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) following the decision by Arlene Foster to step down last week.

The PA news agency understands that Sir Jeffrey, the MP for Lagan Valley, sent a letter to MPs and Assembly members on Monday morning informing them of his decision and the party’s current Westminster leader will make an official announcement later today.

The move means the DUP will have its first-ever leadership contest in its 50-year history, as Stormont agriculture minister Edwin Poots announced his candidature last week.

Sir Jeffrey will be seen as the moderate candidate against the more hard-line Mr Poots, who also represents the Lagan Valley constituency, as an Assembly member.

A small electorate, comprising just the party’s MLAs and MPs, will decide the leadership contest, which will play out against a backdrop of discontent over the DUP’s Brexit strategy.

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly has attacked headlines about the sleaze allegations against Boris Johnson’s government while India is suffering from a devastating surge in Covid-19 cases.

Mr Cleverly criticised the “juxtaposition” of questions about the funding of the PM’s flat refurbishment amid vital international efforts to help the South Asian country.

Our deputy political editor, Rob Merrick, has the full story below:

If she is successful in Liverpool’s mayoral election this week, Labour candidate Joanne Anderson will be the first woman of colour to ever lead a major British city.

Ms Anderson (who is no relation to former Liverpool city mayor Joe Anderson) spoke to our reporter Colin Drury ahead of the vote about the potential impact of her victory and the political scandal that has engulfed the city.

You can find the full piece below:

Nicola Sturgeon has said suggestions that an independent Scotland would have been unable to procure Covid-19 vaccines is “nonsense” following criticism of her plan for the country to leave the UK.

The SNP leader said coronavirus vaccines were not a “gift” from the UK government to Scotland and were procured on a joint four-nations basis with Westminster and the devolved nations.

“I just think that is utterly nonsense,” Ms Sturgeon said, when questioned by ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

“The UK was still within the transition period when it procured the vaccine and that didn’t prevent it procuring the vaccine on a four-nations basis with England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland, the way we procure the flu vaccine every year.

“That was done, nothing would have prevented that happening had we still been in the European Union.”

She added that Scotland’s vaccination programme was down to the “sterling efforts” of NHS Scotland and teams across the country.

Now that he has succeeded in catching the elusive corrupt police officer “H”, Line of Duty star Martin Compston has taken up a new challenge – securing a majority for the SNP in the Scottish parliament…

The actor, who plays DI Steve Arnott in the police drama, has urged fellow Scots to back Nicola Sturgeon in this week’s election, describing her as “by far the most competent leader on these islands”.

Our reporter, Peter Stubley, has the full story below:

British dual nationals should not be used as “political leverage”, Foreign Office minister James Cleverly has said in relation to the imprisonment of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

Iranian state TV reported on Sunday that Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe could be freed if the UK pays a £400m military debt to the country.

“We have always said that British dual nationals should not be used as political leverage,” Mr Cleverly told Sky News.

“We have also seen a number of occasions where the Iranian regime has used disinformation, we’re hearing inaccurate reports coming out over the last couple of days.

“On the one hand, they are saying that these proceedings are legitimate, we don’t agree with that at all, but then also saying that they are linked to this legal dispute – it can’t be both.”

He added: “We’re making it very, very clear. It is in the hands of the Tehran regime to release these people and they should be released.”

Foreign Office minister James Cleverly has refused to speculate about whether Boris Johnson should resign if he is found to have breached the ministerial code over the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat.

Speaking on Times Radio, Mr Cleverly said: “The investigations and reports that will come out into the public domain about this need to come out.

“I’m not going to speculate about what the content of those reports will be or how the prime minister responds to any of those reports.

“Speculating about the outcome or what comes next is not right.”

The minister also told Sky News that it was “pointless” speculating on what actions might be taken following the conclusion of the reviews – you can find his comments in full below:

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab will hold face-to-face talks on trade, Iran and China with Joe Biden’s secretary of state ahead of discussions between G7 foreign ministers in the UK.

Antony Blinken will be in London for talks on Monday as the US and Britain seek to forge a fresh relationship following the departure of Donald Trump from the White House.

The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and a post-Brexit trade deal are likely to be discussed, as is Iran, where the nuclear deal and the imprisonment of British-Iranian national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe are key issues.

The first in-person meeting of G7 foreign ministers will then begin on Tuesday, with allies including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the EU attending.

Boris Johnson should step down if he has broken the ministerial code over his lavish Downing Street flat makeover, the Scottish Tory leader has said.

Douglas Ross, who made the same demand of SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon, made the admission when asked by the BBC’s Andrew Marr on Sunday.

Our deputy political editor, Rob Merrick, has the full story below:

Nicola Sturgeon has suggested that she alone offers “serious leadership” for Scotland as the SNP appears to be on course to seize a slim majority in this week’s Holyrood elections.

A BMG Research poll, published in The Herald on Sunday, found that the SNP was set to win 68 seats, giving them a majority of seven.

Our reporter, Andy Gregory, has the full story below: