Brexit news – live: Salmond will not appear at Holyrood committee and trade deal delay ‘prolongs uncertainty’

Hundreds of farmers will be paid to take care of parts of the countryside, such as hedgerows or soil, this year as part of a trial announced by the government.

Environment secretary George Eustice said the sustainable farm incentives, part of the programme to replace the EU subsidy scheme, would be a “no-brainer” for farmers to sign up to.

He told the National Farmers’ Union’s annual conference that the policy would help to support the choices farmers make for their own holdings.

It is hoped hundreds of farmers will join the pilot scheme, which allows them to choose from a range of standards for landscape features such as grassland, hedgerows, water, woodland and soil, to protect nature and tackle climate change.

Mr Eustice added that the early version of the sustainable farming incentive, which will form part of the scheme, will be launched in mid-2022 and expanded over time.

“The key is making it attractive enough financially so that it becomes a no-brainer to join us and that's exactly what we intend to do,” he told the press conference.

“Every farmer, whether they recognise it or not, does have environmental natural assets on their home.

“And we want to pay them and reward them for managing those assets in the right way.”

Boris Johnson is facing a showdown with Tory rebels as peers inflicted a third defeat over the so-called genocide amendment aiming to prevent trade deals with countries guilty of such crimes.

In a heavy defeat for the government, the House of Lords backed a cross-party amendment to the Trade Bill by 367 votes to 214 — majority 153 — which would allow a parliamentary panel of judicial experts to make an initial determination on whether genocide had been carried out by a signatory to an agreement.

Peers are insisting safeguards are put in place to prevent the UK signing free trade deals with foreign powers deemed guilty of genocide.

Our political correspondent, Ashley Cowburn, reports:

Boris Johnson has warned world leaders that failure to address the issue of climate change will undermine global security.

Chairing a virtual meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the PM said climate change was a “geopolitical issue every bit as much as it is an environmental one”.

“If this council is going to succeed in maintaining peace and security worldwide, then it has got to galvanise the whole range of UN agencies and organisations into a swift and effective response,” he said.

“When are we going to do something if we don’t act now when changing sea levels are affecting navigation around our coasts or when huddled masses fleeing drought or wildfire or conflict over resources arrive at our borders.

“It is a matter of when, not if, your country and your people will have to deal with the security impacts of climate change.”

In a video message to the meeting, Sir David Attenborough said the UN’s Cop26 climate summit, being hosted by the UK in November in Glasgow, could be the last opportunity to make the necessary changes.

Sir Keir Starmer has said a Labour government would be “absolutely committed” to investing in farming and rural communities.

The Labour leader used a speech to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) annual conference to try to appeal to farming communities, acknowledging the countryside had often been seen as an afterthought by his party in the past.

Sir Keir said he wanted to see farmers make a good income so they could invest in technology and adapt to climate change, thriving rural communities with shops and services, and a shift to buying more British, local and healthy food.

Labour’s proposed British Recovery Bond to boost investment in the aftermath of the pandemic will tackle the “permanent insecurity” faced by businesses and landowners in flood-hit communities, he said.

Sir Keir told listening farmers that he had tasked shadow environment secretary Luke Pollard with reviewing Labour rural policy, and said: “What I want in 2024 is a Labour manifesto that is seen to offer as much to rural communities as it does to those in towns and cities.

“If we’re to thrive, we need to invest, and I think one of the problems in farming has been a lack of long term investment.

“Therefore an incoming Labour government would absolutely be committed to investing in farming and in rural communities.”

He said that included infrastructure, such as new technology and flood protection, and affordable rural housing, but also skills and apprenticeships as part of investment in people.

Schools in northern England have shown less interest in a tutoring catch-up scheme compared to ones in the south, according to a DfE official.

Graham Archer, from the Department for Education, said uptake of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) has been slower in areas where tutoring is viewed as “a less normal part of academic life”.

The scheme – designed to provide disadvantaged pupils with tuition – is part of government plans to help children catch up on missed learning due to the coronavirus pandemic. It allows schools to access heavily subsidised tuition from a list of partners, as well as supporting those in the most disadvantaged areas to employ academic mentors to give intensive catch-up support.

My colleague, Zoe Tidman, reports:

Former Tory MP Ross Thomson was cleared by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in October following claims by former Labour MP Paul Sweeney, who said the Conservative had “groped” him in a Westminster bar in October 2018.

The Independent Expert Panel (IEP), established last year as part of a complaints process developed following a major report on bullying and harassment in the Commons by Dame Laura Cox, considered an appeal by Mr Sweeney against commissioner Kathryn Stone’s decision.

But the eight-person panel ruled there was no case to answer for Mr Thomson, who had been elected in 2017.

Mr Thomson said he hoped the panel’s decision, which related to allegations submitted in March 2019, marked the “end of the smear campaign against me”.

A spokeswoman for the IEP said it considered each of the five grounds of appeal made by the complainant - whom the panel did not name - “with some care”.

“Their judgment found there was no merit in any of the grounds and do not accept that there are any valid grounds for an appeal,” she added.

Resurfaced video footage from 1992 shows then-reporter Boris Johnson swearing at a lighting operator while he tries to work.

It comes as Mr Johnson – now prime minister of the UK – told schoolchildren on Tuesday that journalists spend their time “attacking” and “abusing” people.

Reporters from newspapers all around the world can be seen typing away in the video, with a busy 27-year-old Mr Johnson – then Brussels correspondent at The Daily Telegraph – very much the focus of the camera’s shot.

It is only when a lighting operator, who cannot be seen, shines a bright white light on the room that the future Conservative Party leader loses his temper and begins flailing his arms in the air, before saying: “Oh, p*** off!”

Read our report here:

Former leader of the Liberal Democrats, and Independent columnist, Vince Cable gives his verdict on Boris Johnson’s roadmap out of lockdown:

Alex Salmond will not appear before the Scottish Parliament committee on Wednesday when it meets to investigate the government’s botched handling of harassment complaints against him.

A spokeswoman said on Tuesday evening: “Mr Salmond has informed the committee that he will not be attending tomorrow’s meeting to give evidence.

“The committee will instead meet in private to discuss the implications of Mr Salmond’s response and the next steps for its work.”

It comes as evidence written by the former first minister was removed from parliament’s website today – after the Crown Office advised government its publication was a potential contempt of court.

Here is our full report on the situation, by Adam Forrest, in case you missed it:

A Jeremy Corbyn-backed contender for Labour’s nomination as Liverpool mayor has warned she is considering legal action against the party after being thrown out of the race amid claims of a political stitch-up. 

Anna Rothery was one of three female councillors excluded from the race to be selected Labour candidate for the May election, after the party controversially reopened nominations today with a call for new contenders.

All were called in to be reinterviewed on Friday, and it is understood that all three have now been told not to re-apply for nomination.

Our political editor, Andrew Woodcock, has the story: