Boris Johnson news – live: No 10 fails to deny PM discussed two top jobs for Carrie

Transport secretary Grants Shapps has told the Commons that unions boss want to “drag us back to the 1970s” – accusing them of “opposing progress”.

In appeal to railway workers, Shapps said: “Your union bosses have got you striking under false pretences. Rather than protecting your jobs they are actually endangering them, and the railways future.”

The minister said it was vital for the railway companies to build “an agile, flexible workforce – and accuses Labour of “widening the division”.

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, chair of the defence committee, has said the government was “overloading our troops with these widening commitments” without sufficient resources.

The senior Tory, who praised the commitment to train Ukrainian troops, said defence funding cuts outlined in the 2021 integrated review “must now be reversed”.

He added: “All three [military] services are now too small to manage the ever-greater burden that we are now going to place on them”.Junior defence minister Leo Docherty says UK on the “right lines” in terms of getting kit to the Ukrainians.

And he claimed Britain was getting “more match fit that ever before” to counter Russian aggression.

Boris Johnson announced on Friday that a UK-led programme would train as many as 10,000 Ukrainian service personnel every three months.

Mr Docherty also said he expected other NATO nations to be involved in the training of Ukrainian troops – but wouldn’t say which ones.

Boris Johnson is “feeling well” following a minor sinus operation and is due to take meetings this afternoon, No 10 said.

Deputy prime minister Dominic Raab remains on hand to assist with any major decisions, in line with the general advice to the public on not making significant choices for the first 24 hours after undergoing general anaesthesia.

However, Mr Johnson remains prime minister and will continue acting as such, No 10 said.

Two by-elections taking place on the same day is fairly common in British politics – but a government losing two by-elections on the same day is extremely rare.

The last time it happened was more than 30 years ago.

On 7 November 1991, the Conservative government of John Major lost the seat of Langbaurgh in Cleveland to Labour and also Kincardine & Deeside in east Scotland to the Liberal Democrats, Ian Jones writes.

If the Conservatives were to lose both of the by-elections taking place this Thursday – in Wakefield and in Tiverton & Honiton – it would be only the seventh time a government has suffered such a double defeat since the Second World War.

The government is facing criticism after admitting it has still had zero meetings with unions on the eve of Britain’s biggest rail strike in a generation.

Ministers have been accused of a “dereliction of duty” after deciding not to intervene in talks between unions and employers, despite calls for them to play a role.

The Department for Transport confirmed on Monday afternoon ahead of the strike that ministers did not believe it was their responsibility to wade into the dispute.

40,000 rail workers across 13 train operators and infrastructure manager Network Rail will walk out on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, with knock-on disruption expected for the whole week.

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone reports:

The government has been accused of overseeing a “total economic and environmental policy failure” on tree planting, with current rates not even halfway to hitting targets set in 2019.

Boris Johnson said the government would plant 30,000 hectares (75,000 acres) of new woodland in Britain every year by 2024. But with a year and a half to go, official figures reveal planting is still below 14,000 hectares for the year to 31 March 2022.

The confederation of forest industries (Confor), which represents more than 1,500 forestry and wood businesses around the UK, said that the “woeful” rate of progress meant there was now “zero chance” of reaching the targets.

The organisation has now called on the prime minister to intervene to boost planting rates, our environment correspondent Harry Cockburn writes.

Recruitment firms have attacked Boris Johnson’s plan to tear up laws to prevent the use of strike-busting agency staff – warning it will break international commitments.

The head of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, which represents more than 3,000 agencies, also warned the idea would fail to avert the rail strikes and would only “prolong” the bitter dispute.

Legislation is expected this week to repeal the ban – introduced in 1973 by Edward Heath’s Conservative government – as a ‘Summer of Discontent’ looms.

Our deputy political editor, Rob Merrick, reports:

The mental health of the nation faces a “threat of pandemic proportions” due to the deepening cost of living crisis, the head of the Royal College of Psychiatrists has warned.

Dr Adrian James said pressure on the NHS could reach unprecedented levels as people try to cope with the rising price of food, fuel and other essentials, adding that those who already living with a mental illness “are more likely to suffer the consequences of the looming economic downturn”.

It comes amid warnings that some children have begun to self-harm as a result of the mounting cost of living crisis. According to a survey published by The Childhood Trust, 9 per cent of parents who responded claimed their children had started self-harming.

Samuel Lovett and Saman Javed report:

Downing Street has confirmed that members of Boris Johnson’s team intervened following the publication of a story about his wife Carrie in The Times, but denied that the prime minister himself contacted the paper to complain.

The story, which alleged that Mr Johnson had attempted to install Carrie in a £100,000-a-year job in the foreign office at a time when he was conducting a secret affair with her, appeared in the first edition of the newspaper on Saturday, but vanished from later copies and a version also disappeared from the Mail Online website.

Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson confirmed that No 10 was in contact with The Times before and after the publication of the first edition, but denied that the prime minister himself had contacted deputy editor Tony Gallagher, who was in charge of the paper that night.

Read more here from Andrew Woodcock here:

There were “serious failings” by police and councils to protect children from grooming and sexual exploitation in Oldham but there was no cover-up by the authorities, a major report has concluded.

The report looked into the alleged grooming of children in council homes, shisha bars and by taxi drivers in the town and concluded there was no evidence of a cover up or “widespread” child sex abuse in those settings.

My colleague Pat Hurst has more: