Boris Johnson news - live: PM rebukes Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s trolls, as Tories demand NI rise delay

The government’s “vision” for Brexit is about getting rid of “gold-plated” EU regulations, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.

Speaking at a parliamentary committee on Tuesday the Brexit opportunities minister said the EU had “imposed” regulations on the UK and that it was his job to get rid of them.

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone reports:

The transport secretary has praised Gibraltar for seizing a yacht belonging to a Russian oligarch with links to Vladimir Putin.

Grant Shapps said: "It’s not only here in the UK Putin’s cronies aren’t welcome, but in all of our overseas territories too.

"Gibraltar has mirrored the sanctions I introduced on Russian-owned vessels - leading to the seizure of, oligarch, Dmitry Pumpyansky’s super yacht."

Authorities in the British territory earlier confirmed they had seized a vessel owned by Dmitry Pumpyansky.

The 72-metre long boat is worth around $75million (£57m).

Downing Street has said a new prison term handed to Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was the continuation of “trumped up charges that Putin uses against those that seek to hold him to account”.

Today, Mr Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of large-scale fraud and contempt of court.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Our thoughts are with Alexei Navalny and his family as he continues to show incredible bravery in standing up to Putin regime.”

Mr Navalny, 45, was arrested in January 2021 after returning to Russia from Germany where he had been recovering from nerve agent poisoning.

He blames the poisoning on the Kremlin, which Vladimir Putin’s government has denied.

Mr Navalny is serving a three-and-a-half year sentence on charges he stole £3.5m of donations to his political organisations, which he denies.

Last month, he was tried on the fresh fraud charges inside the maximum-security prison east of Moscow where he is detained.

Prank video calls to ministers are being used as a distraction from Russia’s “illegal activities in Ukraine”, No 10 said.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said he did not want “to give this sort of attempted disinformation oxygen”.

It comes after defence secretary was called up by a man pretending to be Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal to talk about nuclear weapons for Ukraine. Home secretary Priti Patel also fell victim to the callers.

Mr Johnson’s spokesman said: “It is standard practice for Russian information operations to try and use these tactics, it seeks to be a distraction from their illegal activities in Ukraine, their human rights abuses, and so we will not be distracted from our purpose in ensuring Putin must fail in Ukraine.”

Downing Street indicated it will not remove work restrictions on asylum seekers despite pressure from a number of Tory MPs.

The MPs have called on the government to halve the amount of time refugees have to wait before they are allowed to start work to six months.

The government’s Nationality and Borders Bill will return to the Commons today, and ministers will seek to overturn “disappointing” amendments made to it in the Lords – Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said.

He added: “Asylum seekers are already allowed to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more through no fault of their own that remains the case following a review of the system.

“Obviously we want to avoid incentivising unfounded asylum claims and it’s important to distinguish between those who need protection and those seeking to work here, who can apply for work visas.”

 Sir Keir Starmer has called on ministers to “ramp up” sanctions on Russia to “cripple” its ability to function.

The Labour leader said Western powers needed to continue supporting Ukraine – including supplying more military equipment – while avoiding direct conflict with Russia.

“Everybody understands why every step has to be taken to prevent this escalating into a direct Nato on Russia conflict,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One.

“That is why we need to provide more military support, that’s why sanctions have to be ramped up again further and faster and that’s why we need to have a stronger, more compassionate humanitarian response.

“What we need to do is to continue to provide that level of support, continue to support the Ukrainians, and ramp up those sanctions which need to go beyond just isolating Russia. They have to cripple its ability to function.”

Groups representing interests of small and big businesses are calling on the chancellor, ahead of his spring statement tomorrow, to offer funding for sky-high energy costs.

They are asking Rishi Sunak to give firms similar levels of funding that were offered to households to meet the costs, that will increase by about 50 per cent next month due to a higher energy price cap.

“We argue that, given the scale of the cost increases that businesses are facing, that it would be right for the chancellor to step in and provide something analogous to that support that was provided to households,” said Paul Wilson, policy director at the Federation of Small Businesses.

Some rebates could be made through the business rates system, while firms that do not pay business rates could be helped through a discretionary fund, Mr Wilson told MPs on the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee.

Representatives of bigger companies also called for extra help from the government.

Alisher Usmanov could have hidden his assets in irrevocable trusts to hide them from authorities before being sanctioned over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Earlier this month, the billionaire Russian oligarch was sanctioned by the UK government over of his “close links to the Kremlin”.

Mr Usmanov owns Beechwood House in Highgate, north-west London, and estimated it is worth £48 million, as well as the 16th century Sutton Place estate in Surrey.

But his spokesman said most of his property in Britain and his yacht had “long ago” been transferred to irrevocable trusts.

“From that point on, Mr Usmanov did not own them, nor was he able to manage them or deal with their sale, but could only use them on a rental basis. Mr Usmanov withdrew from the beneficiaries of the trusts, donating his beneficial rights to his family,” he added.

The price of supermarket chicken will soon increase because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, environment secretary George Eustice said.

The minister also warned that Britons face food price rises of up to 8 per cent this summer, as chancellor Rishi Sunak comes under pressure to help families struggling with the sky-high costs of living.

Mr Eustice warned that global price rises in wheat, of which Ukraine is a big supplier, would have a wider impact on UK food costs.

In a speech to the Food and Drink Federation, the minister said the rising costs of feed used by poultry farmers would have a particularly strong impact of the price of chicken at the supermarket.

Read the full story here by Adam Forrest

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