Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, asks for more detail of what the UK is doing to help ensure more aid gets into Gaza,He says all the bodies of dead hostages need to be returned,And he asks what the UK is doing to ensure that the expansion of illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank stops,Starmer thanks Davey for the “content and tone” of his response,(He is making a contrast with Badenoch’s.

)On aid, he says there is a need for more trucks be admitted to Gaza.On the bodies of hostages, Starmer says he agrees with Davey.He says, when the media are finally admitted to Gaza, he thinks there will be '“quite some debate” in the Commons about “the full horror” of what happened.And he says the UK has told Israel that illegal settlements should not be allowed on the West Bank.Keir Starmer has told MPs that, when the international media is allowed to enter Gaza, he expects that will lead to more debate about the “full horror” of what happened there.

He made the comment during a long statement in the Commons about the peace deal negotiated by Donald Trump.Starmer praised the president for his contribution, but stressed that the process had a very long way to go.But the two-state solution now had its best chance of being implemented since the 1990s, he said.Migrants coming to the UK to work will need to learn English to an A-level standard under new rules set to be introduced, PA Media reports.PA says tougher requirements for speaking, listening, reading and writing will be needed for certain visas, as part of the government’s immigration white paper measures announced in May.

The white paper seeks to tighten controls and cut migration to the UK.Those applying for skilled worker, scale-up visa routes, and graduates under the high potential individual (HPI) visa will need to reach B2 level, instead of the current B1 standard.Applicants will have to pass the secure English language test at a Home Office-approved provider in person, with their results to be checked as part of the visa process.Commenting on the move, Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the Work Rights Centre, a charity working with migrants, said:It is bitterly disappointing to see a Labour government that promised to kickstart growth and give workers a ‘new deal’, instead recycle a version of Reform’s politics that demonises migrant workers and arbitrarily move the goal posts on what counts as integration.The last thing anyone needs after a summer of far-right violence is more tough talk based on bad data.

By the government’s own admission, most migrant workers are already fluent in English.Increasing English language requirements from intermediate to upper intermediate won’t make any difference to integration - this is already happening.It will simply make migrants feel less welcome, and reinforce false stereotypes.The government would be wiser to look to other parts of the white paper where it promised to explore making sponsored visas more flexible for the benefit of both employers and workers.Former lord speaker Frances D’Souza is facing suspension from the Lords after writing to the Metropolitan police commissioner to try to “influence a police investigation into alleged speeding offences”.

Europe’s most senior human rights official has called on Shabana Mahmood to review UK protest laws after mass arrests over the ban on Palestine Action.Keir Starmer’s national grooming gangs inquiry has stalled amid wrangles over its remit and difficulties in finding a senior legal figure willing to become its chair, the Guardian has been told.A man who threatened on TikTok to kill the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, has been jailed for five years.New legislation to deal with the legacy of the Northern Ireland Troubles includes provisions to block Gerry Adams from receiving compensation over being interned in the 1970s, PA Media reports.PA says:The Troubles bill being introduced today will also give legislative effect to a range of new mechanisms to deal with the legacy of the conflict.

Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn had already signalled the government’s intent to ensure the draft legislation acted on the issue of potential compensation to internees whose detention without trial during the conflict has since been ruled to have been unlawful on a legal technicality,A supreme court judgment in 2020 paved the way for former Sinn Fein president Mr Adams to secure compensation over his internment in the early 1970s,Adams won his appeal to overturn historical convictions for two attempted prison breaks, after he was interned in 1973 at Long Kesh internment camp, also known as Maze Prison, near Lisburn,The supreme court ruled that his detention was unlawful because the interim custody order (ICO) used to initially detain him had not been “considered personally” by then secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Willie Whitelaw,At the time of the case, the previous government contended that the ICOs were lawful because of a long-standing convention, known as the Carltona principle, where officials and junior ministers routinely act in the name of the secretary of state.

Adams subsequently successfully challenged a decision to deny an application for compensation for his detention.However, the 2023 Legacy Act introduced by the last Conservative government stopped such payouts to Adams and other former internees.The act retrospectively validated the ICOs to make them lawful and halted civil claims related to the orders.However, in February last year, the high court in Belfast ruled that the provisions of the act related to the ICOs were incompatible with the European convention on human rights.The Labour government did not appeal against that section of the high court judgment but Benn pledged to find a lawful means to block payouts.

The Troubles bill will seek to reaffirm the so-called Carltona principle into law – a move the government believes will prevent payouts.While the Legacy Act’s provisions in relation to ICOs – sections 46 and 47 – were ruled incompatible with ECHR by the high court, the government is retaining those sections on the statute book until such time as the Troubles bill becomes law.Addressing the Commons today, Benn said: “We must put beyond doubt parliament’s intention by clarifying that the relevant legislation allows such orders (ICOs) to be made by junior ministers, as well as by the secretary of state.”Ed Miliband has approved the UK’s biggest solar farm, which will be built in a county where Reform UK’s anti-renewables agenda has won rising support.Jillian Ambrose has the story.

Sally Weale is the Guardian’s education correspondent.Gavin Williamson’s evidence to the Covid inquiry also revealed growing tensions between him and the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, culminating in a furious email over the botched reopening of schools on January 4 2021 and the appointment of Sir Kevan Collins as the government’s education recovery tsar.Williamson wrote:Prime minister I always like to be polite in our conversations but I must confess to feeling a little hacked off.Not only do I get completely fucked over by decisions on January 4, that I took the shit and abuse for.Then I get my legs cut from under me by an appointment that you do not have the proper courtesy to discuss with me and get screwed over again.

Williamson ended his message with a threat.The last time I was treated like such an utter piece of shit by No 10 was [on] the 1st May 2019 and that didn’t work out well.The comment about 1 May 2019 was a reference to Williamson being sacked as defence secretary by Theresa May (for allegedly leaking national security council information).Williamson subsequently joined the plot to undermine her, and he is implying he successfully got his revenge – and that Johnson is at risk of the same treatment if he does not treat Williamson with more respect.The BBC has full coverage of Williamson’s evidence on a live blog here.

Sally Weale is the Guardian’s education correspondent,Former education secretary Gavin Williamson has expressed regret for “many mistakes” made during the pandemic but denied that his failure to plan ahead for school closures amounted to a dereliction of duty,Giving evidence to the UK Covid inquiry, Williamson said he wished he had done things differently, but appeared to shift blame to No 10, insisting that all key pandemic decisions were taken at the centre of government,The hearing was told that the Department for Education had made no contingency plans for school closures as late as March 2020, because the whole thrust of the government’s pandemic response was to keep schools and the economy open,“We were being asked to develop papers and the work that was required in order to be able to keep children within schools,” Williamson told the inquiry, indicating it would not be acceptable for the Department for Education to initiate its own Covid planning.

Something like Covid is being directed from the centre in terms of different departments’ responses.You don’t have quite the freedom just to go and start going out and consulting with lots of people.Williamson admitted that insufficient weight was put on emerging scientific evidence, which advised that school closures may be necessary, and that the focus and emphasis of government was not sharp enough.He said:That was the case in my department, of which I’m sorry for.I readily accept I’m secretary of state, it was my responsibility.

Lady D’Souza, a former Lord Speaker in the House of Lords, faces being suspended from the house for eight weeks for writing to the Metropolitan police commissioner on Lords headed notepaper to try to get lenient treatment in relation to a speeding offence.In a report, the Lords conduct committee said this was a breach of the rules because it amounted to trying to intefer with a live police investigation.Under the code of conduct for peers, members of the Lords “should act always on their personal honour in the performance of their parliamentary duties and activities”.In previous rulings, standards commissioners in the Lord have established that writing to a police officer or a judge to try to influence a case can be a breach of this rule.An investigation was launched after Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, referred D’Souza’s letter to the current Lords standards commissioner, Martin Jelley (a former chief constable himself), saying the peer may have broken Lords rules.

In her defence, D’Souza told Jelley:I did write to Sir Mark Rowley, the reason being that I thought there was a case to be made on the recent 20 mph speed restrictions in London and I know Sir Mark having served with him as a member of the Westminster Abbey Institute Council of Reference.I used House of Lords headed notepaper because this was the context in which I was previously acquainted with Sir Mark.My purpose being the hope that Sir Mark would refer my case to the Fixed Penalty Office for review.The alternative was to institute court proceedings for this speeding offence but I, wrongly in retrospect, chose to write to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.The rationale for the case I made to Sir Mark is as follows: in the particular route I take out of London the roads I follow change from 20 mph, 30 mph and 40mph.

Sometimes the same road changes its speeding limits by means of a roadside sign rather than at a traffic light junction.This is sometimes confusing.Reducing speed from say 30 mph to 20 mph can take a minute or more depending on the signage and, possibly, the time of day.It is difficult to judge the difference between speeds of 21 and 27 mph without constantly checking the dash.I believed that there was room for a wider conversation on this issue and that there might be similar concerns expressed by other drivers.

I wrote to a former Commissioner of Police, a member of the House of Lords, for advice who suggested I get a lawyer to argue my case, take the case to court or write to the Chief of Police of the area in which the offence took place.[…] In the event I went to Sir Mark directly.I did consider that it might be the case that I would have to retire from the House of Lords should I lose my driving licence.D’Souza said she was not asking to be let off; she was just trying to get the case referred to the Fixed Penalty Office for a review.When Jelley proposed an eight-week suspension, D’Souza appealed on the grounds this was unduly harsh.

But the conduct committee rejected her appeal,It said:Lady D’Souza compares the sanction in this case with those imposed in other recent cases,Those cases are not comparable: they concerned bullying and harassment, and improper use of facilities, while this case engages “personal honour”, a founding principle of the code of conduct,Moreover, the striking feature of this case, which distinguishes it from all previous cases in which members have sought to influence judicial or police processes, is that Lady D’Souza, by writing to Sir Mark, sought to benefit herself,D’Souza was subsequently given a temporary driving ban for speeding.

Peers are expected to approve the suspension when they debate the report on Thursday next week.D’Souza, a former academic, joined the Lords in 2004 as a crossbencher.She was convenor of the crossbenchers before she became Lord Speaker in 2011, serving for five years.The Lord Speaker is the equivalent of Speaker in the Commons.UK inflation is set to surge to the highest in the G7 in 2025 and 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund, PA Media reports.

PA says:In its latest outlook report, the influential economic body said price inflation in the UK would increase more sharply than expected in both years compared with previous predictions from July.It came as the IMF increased its UK growth forecast for this year but reduced its prediction for 2026 amid concerns over the labour market.UK inflation is set to surge to the highest in the G7 in 2025 and 2026, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).In its latest outlook report, the influential economic body said price inflation in the UK would increase more sharply than expected in both years compared with previous predictions from July.It came as the IMF increased its UK growth forecast for this year but reduced its prediction for 2026 amid concerns over the labour market.

In the world economic outlook, which comes as leading politicians and central bank bosses gather in Washington DC, the body highlighted that inflation is picking up in the UK and US.Most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that UK consumer price index (CPI) inflation struck 3.8% in July and August, marking the highest levels since January 2024.The uptick has been particularly linked to accelerating food and hospitality prices, with many firms and industry groups claiming this has been partly driven by increased labour and tax costs.Graeme Wearden has more coverage of this on his business live blog.

Steven Morris is a Guardian reporter.The Welsh government’s finance minister, Mark Drakeford, has urged opposition parties to work with it to make sure its £27bn budget is passed amid growing fears that the spending plans may be scuppered.Unveiling the Labour-run administration’s 2026/27 draft budget, Drakeford said spending on services such as health, education, roads and the environment will rise by £800m in the next financial year - if the budget is passed.But the plans could be wrecked if other parties refuse to help Labour pass its final budget in the new year because the government does not have a majority.Its situation could become even more perilous if, as expected, it does not win a byelection in Caerphilly next week.

Should the budget not be passed by the start of the financial year in April, the government will initially only be allowed to spend 75% of last year’s budget, which will lead to spending cuts in public services,Welsh government officials have already begun making contingency plans in case this happens,Drakeford said:My door is firmly open to working with other political parties in the Senedd [the Welsh parliament] who share my belief that a more ambitious budget can be reached and that we have a collective responsibility to pass the Welsh budget,A prominent sustainability professor had events cancelled at Labour and Conservative conferences after hosts of a panel he was on said they did not want his views on oil and gas aired in front of MPs, Jessica Elgot reports,Iqbal Mohamed, the independent MP for Dewsbury and Batley, says there are 10,000 captives still being held by Israel.

Some are prisoners, but many are being held without charge.He asks Starmer if the UK will push for their release.And he asks Starmer to oppose illegal settlements on the West Bank.Starmer just says the government backs upholding international law.Shockat Adam, the independent MP for Leicester South, said the last thing the people of Gaza needed was having Tony Blair as a “colonial viceroy”