UK politics - live: Rayner and Dowden clash at fiery PMQs as Sunak branded a ‘pint-sized loser’

As Rishi Sunak struts the world stage, winning plaudits for his patriotic bolstering of Britain’s defence budget – and leaving others to field the tricky questions about which services to cut to pay for it all – Professor Tim Bale says the prime minister won’t be the last leader to court admiration abroad while being derided at home

Read the professor’s piece in full here:

The deputy Labour leading – standing in for Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions – was all harmless, knockabout fun… until her final question, when she suddenly pulled out a knuckleduster, says Joe Murphy.

Read Joe piece in full here:

A union says it will fight planned job cuts to the civil service “tooth and nail” as it accused the government of “scapegoating” public servants.

Responding to reports of 70,000 civil service job cuts, Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “Yet again ministers shamefully see fit to scapegoat their own workforce.

“It’s not right for our members to pay for a rise in defence spending with their jobs, so we’ll fight these proposals tooth and nail, just as we fought them under Boris Johnson.

“Our members work hard every day providing essential services to keep this country running and should be rewarded with a fair pay rise, not their jobs sacrificed as a pre-election gimmick.

“Cuts have consequences. Waiting lists for new passports, driving tests, driving licences and queues at airports and ports will get longer, telephone wait times for those with tax enquiries will go up.

“We need more civil servants, not less.”

The boss of budget airline Ryanair says the company would “happily” deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.

His comments come after the United Nations warned airlines could be held responsible for any violations of international human rights rules.

Michael O’Leary, Ryanair’s outspoken CEO, said the firm would facilitate the plan in the winter if it had spare capacity.

“If it was the winter schedule and we had spare aircraft sitting around and if the government were looking for additional deportation flights or any other flights, we would happily quote for the business,” Mr O’Leary said in an interview in London, Bloomberg reported.

He confirmed he had not been approached by Downing Street about the flights.

Full report:

Former Post Office chief executive Paula Vennells “interjected” when senior management suggested subpostmaster prosecutions should stop, an inquiry has heard.

The Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry was shown a document that described Ms Vennells as “resiling” from the proposals in 2013.

Asked about a meeting attended by the then chief executive, Chris Aujard, a former top lawyer at the Post Office said: “My recollection is that the executive committee were in favour of ceasing prosecutions entirely.

“But, when that proposition was discussed at the committee, Paula interjected or made the comment that proposition should not be taken as what I’d intended it to be, never bringing prosecutions, but rather… Post Office should continue to take some prosecutions.

“I’ve got no recollection of that meeting other than the limited recollection of that comment,” he added.

GB News has been warned it is “on notice” and could face fines if it is found to breaking impartiality rules again.

It comes after the right-wing broadcaster was found by Ofcom to have breached rules by allowing Tory MPs to perform as news readers.

Despite the breaches, the broadcaster escaped sanction.

Dame Melanie Dawes, Ofcom chief executive, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think anyone should be in any doubt that for a broadcaster to be found in breach as GB News have been so many times over the past year is a very significant step for them.

“And we’ve put them on notice that that does need to improve.”

The Renters Reform Bill is a “betrayal” of the government’s 2019 manifesto commitment, Conservative MP Natalie Elphicke (Dover) has said.

Ms Elphicke, who sits on the Housing and Communities Committee, also said a new clause in the legislation could “indefinitely delay” the abolition of Section 21 no-fault evictions.

She told the Commons: “It is my view that this bill does not go far enough now in dealing with the fundamental challenges of the private rented sector. The private rented sector is no longer a flex or transitionary tenure. It is the main tenure for millions of people for much, if not all, of their lives.

“Sadly, the original principle of the bill, which was to create a fair and responsible new rented sector, has been undermined by the government’s amendments.”

Ms Elphicke concluded: “Now this is a bill that the Conservative manifesto in 2019 promised would benefit tenants. Instead, this has become a bill where the balance too often is in favour of the landlords, particularly with the new clause 30 which could indefinitely delay the abolition of section 21 no-fault evictions.

“If that were so, that would be nothing short of a betrayal for the Conservative manifesto that was promised in 2019 and, for that reason, I’m unable to support this today.”

Clive Betts, chair of the Housing and Communities Committee, has urged the government to “get on with” abolishing no-fault evictions under Section 21.

He told the Commons: “I think it’s disappointing today that we’re having to focus primarily on the government backpedalling of the timetable for the abolition of Section 21.

“The select committee looked at this a year ago and we concluded unanimously that the principle of what the government intended was right.

“We obviously had some reservations, caveats, some suggested detailed changes, some concerns that we raised, but nevertheless the principle was agreed and I think, generally speaking, there’s agreement across the house, it’s the right thing to do.”

He added: “There are so many families living in uncertainty, not just housing uncertainty, but other uncertainties while the abolition is awaited, and that’s why the minister really needs to get on with this and give some clear time commitments to when this is going to happen.”

The defence secretary has faced calls to retain older military equipment and create a “war reserve” in a bid to deter Britain’s adversaries.

Grant Shapps described the idea to hold in reserve Typhoons, warships and armoured vehicles as “interesting”, but told MPs he is “much more minded” to send older equipment to Ukraine as it fights Russia’s renewed invasion.

Making a statement to the Commons, Mr Shapps said: “The best way of keeping our country safe and to protect our way of life is deterrence, being prepared, being clear-eyed about the threat we face, being clear about our capabilities, backing UK defence science, technology, and innovation.

“Carrying not just a big stick but the most advanced and capable stick we can possibly develop. And yes, using our military muscle alongside our allies.”

For Labour, shadow defence secretary John Healey accused the government of producing a “fake figure” of £75 billion.

He said: “They’ve tried this trick before. In the 2015 defence review, ministers pledged to cut 30 per cent of the MoD (Ministry of Defence) civil servants to make their defence spending plans add up.

“Civil servant numbers didn’t go down, they went up. Not down to 41,000, but up to 63,000.”