Brexit news – live: PM claims Labour ‘weak on defence’ amid anger at plan to increase nuclear warheads

More now on the looming by-election in the north-east. Labour has confirmed Mike Hill has quit as MP for Hartlepool, setting up a test for Keir Starmer’s party in the “red wall” heartlands.

His resignation follows reports that he used taxpayers’ money to fight a staff member’s claim of unfair dismissal, sexual assault and harassment.

Hill was suspended by Labour in September 2019 over allegations he sexually harassed a woman – but had the whip restored to contest the general election two months later.

Labour won a majority of more than 3,500 votes last time – but the potential Tory vote was hampered by the Brexit Party, which is far less likely to be a force under its ‘Reform Party’ guise this time around.

Scotland’s justice secretary has said a planned increase to lift the cap on the UK’s stock of nuclear weapons is “completely unacceptable” to the Scottish government.

“Nuclear weapons are morally, strategically and economically wrong. Our opposition to Trident remains unequivocal,” Humza Yousaf said.

Nicola Sturgeon also took to Twitter to highlight what she sees as the difference between the UK and Scottish governments.

She said: “Today, the UK government will announce a massive increase in its stockpile of nuclear weapons. By contrast, the Scottish government will incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child into Scots law.”

The UK reached agreement with Norway and the EU on catch limits for six jointly-managed fish stocks in the North Sea.

The agreement on cod, haddock, plaice, whiting, herring, and saithe stocks for 2021 are worth over £184m to the British fishing industry, according to the government.

Downing Street has failed to deny claims that Boris Johnson privately said the UK should simply “ignore” the spread of Covid when the virus first emerged.

The PM’s official spokesman was repeatedly pressed at aWestminster media briefing on the claims, in a BBC report drawn from anonymous interviews with government insiders. But four times, he did not contest the report.

Irish premier Micheal Martin has claimed the UK continues to indulge in “EU bashing” after Brexit, as he spoke to the US Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

“Historically, EU bashing has been a feature of United Kingdom domestic politics,” Martin said. “I was hoping post-Brexit that that might ease somewhat. The signs are it’s still to a certain extent, alive and well.”

Martin has warned that the UK government’s decision to unilaterally extend post-Brexit grace periods in the protocol “exacerbates uncertainty and instability”.

Keir Starmer said Labour’s support of the nuclear deterrent was “non-negotiable” but made clear he did not support the government’s plan to lift the cap so the stockpile of warheads can be increased.

“This review breaks the goal of successive prime ministers and cross-party efforts to reduce our nuclear stockpile,” he said.

Starmer said the PM has not explained “when, why and for what strategic purpose” the number of warheads would be increased.

Green MP Caroline Lucas has accused foreign secretary Dominic Raab of “breathtaking hypocrisy” by saying he worried about weapons proliferation (after confirming the UK’s cap on nuclear warheads would be lifted).

Sir Keir Starmer added that there is “a very real risk” that the armed forces will be “stripped back even further”.

He told the Commons: “Britain should and could be a moral force for good in the world. After a decade of neglect, this review was the chance to turn a corner – but there is now a very real risk that our armed forces will be stripped back even further and that this review won’t end the era of retreat, in fact it will extend it.”

In response, Boris Johnson said the Labour was “weak on defence”. The PM told MPs: “Anybody listening to (Sir Keir) would not realise we are the second biggest international donor of aid in the G7.”

He added that it is “preposterous to hear the Labour leader calling for more investment in our armed forces when this is the biggest investment in our armed forces since the Cold War”.

Johnson continued: “It is ridiculous for (Sir Keir) to talk about our nuclear defences when the reality is that Labour is all over the place.”

Sir Keir Starmer questioned why the Russia review’s recommendations have not been implemented if the country remains the UK’s biggest threat.

The Labour leader told the Commons: “The review rightly concludes that Russia remains the most acute threat to our security – that is not new, 18 months ago the Russia review concluded that the threat was ‘urgent and immediate’ – so why have none of its recommendations been implemented?

“The Integrated Review talks about the importance of upholding international law, I agree, but from Europe to the Indian Ocean this Government now has a reputation for breaking international law, not defending it.”

He continued: “The review also talks of conflict resolution yet there is nothing about updating our arms export regime, in particular suspending sales (of) arms to Saudi Arabia.

“The Prime Minister’s statement didn’t mention international development once, and I wonder why – because he is cutting development spending for the first time in decades and denying this House a vote on it.

“If global Britain is to mean anything, it cannot mean selling arms to Saudi Arabia and cutting aid to Yemen.”

Boris Johnson said the UK will work with China where it is “consistent with our values and interests”, including building a “stronger and positive” economic relationship and in addressing climate change.

The PM told the Commons: “We shall stand up for our values as well as for our interests.”

He said the UK has led international condemnation of China’s “mass detention” of Uighur people in Xinjiang, to which Labour MPs could be heard shouting “genocide”, and its actions in Hong Kong.

Johnson went on: “There is no question China will pose a great challenge for an open society such as ours … But we will also work with China where that is consistent with our values and interests, including building a stronger and positive economic relationship and in addressing climate change.”

Boris Johnson said a new counter-terrorism operations centre would “bring together” the nation’s ability to thwart terrorists while also dealing with the actions of hostile states.

He added: “I can announce that the national cyber force which conducts offensive cyber operations against terrorists, hostile states and criminal gangs will in future be located in a cyber corridor in the north-west of England and we will also establish a cross-government situation centre in the Cabinet Office.”

“The first outcome of the Integrated Review was the Government’s decision to invest an extra £24 billion in defence, allowing the wholesale modernisation of our armed forces and taking forward the renewal of our nuclear deterrent.”

Boris Johnson is addressing the Commons on his integrated review, which he describes as the biggest assessment of the nation’s defence and foreign policy planning since the cold war.

He said he is determined that the UK will join in ensuring that free societies are able to flourish after the Covid-19 pandemic.

He told MPs: “For us, there are no far away countries of which we know little. Global Britain is not a reflection of old obligations, still less are they inglorious gesture, but a necessity for the safety and prosperity of the British people in the decades ahead.

“And I’m determined that the UK will join our friends to ensure that free societies flourish after the pandemic, sharing the risks and burdens of addressing the world’s toughest problems.”

The government’s Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy is effectively Boris Johnson’s vision for a Global Britain following the UK’s departure from the EU – so what’s in it?

Here’s our political editor Andrew Woodcock:

Boris Johnson’s government wants to create a new homeland security HQ as part of plans to improve its response to the “major threat” from terrorism.

The government’s foreign policy and defence review says a successful chemical, biological or nuclear was likely by the end of the decade.

“Terrorism will remain a major threat over the coming decade, with a more diverse range of material and political causes, new sources of radicalisation and evolving tactics,” the review states – promising a “robust, full-spectrum approach in response”.

So the 112-page, post-Brexit foreign policy document – Global Britain in a Competitive Age – has been released.

As well as confirming the headlines on nuclear warheads and the shift in focus towards the Indo-Pacific region, it reveals the PM’s plan for Britain to join the global space race. “We will make the UK a meaningful actor in space,” the review states.

Britain will “develop a commercial launch capability from the UK– launching British satellites from Scotland by 2022”.

Britain will establish a new Space Command by summer 2021 to ensure the armed forces have the capabilities to advance UK interests on Earth and in space, the government said.

Labour’s Mike Hill is reportedly standing down as MP for Hartlepool – setting up a by-election in so-called “red wall” territory. It’s almost 600 days since our last by-election.

Sir Alistair Graham, former chair of the committee on standards in public life, said the government has not yet clarified if the contract for work on the £2.6m Downing Street briefing room went out to public tender.

The Russian company Megahertz, owned by Okno-TV, a firm that works closely with Russia Today, was hired to install communications equipment at No 10, according to ITV News.

“To use a Russian company in a highly sensitive area seems incredible really,” Sir Alistair told LBC.

Cabinet minister Dominic Raab defended the work earlier on Tuesday, saying it was “very important” that the government communicates in an “effective, coherent way”.

New Labour analysis of recorded crime data reveals women made up more than half the victims of all violent crime in the last three years.

It comes as No 10 announced plain clothes police officers could patrol bars and nightclubs around the country as part of plans to protect women from “predatory” men.

Keir Starmer’s party has attacked the government’s policing bill– claiming it does nothing to deal with the worrying rates of domestic abuse charging and conviction.

In her latest piece for The Independent, Jess Phillips, shadow minister for domestic violence, says: “The bill is tougher on crimes against statues of dead men than it is for dying women.”

No response from the Labour party yet, after Dominic Raab confirmed the government wants to lift the cap on the current number of nuclear warheads.

CND has called the move “shocking”, while The Mirror’s Labour-supporting commentator Kevin Maguire called it “penis-waving Boris Johnson madness”.

Only last month, Labour’s shadow defence secretary John Healey called the party’s support for nuclear weapons “non-negotiable”.

Prof Tim Bale, of Queen Mary University, said the latest move puts the party in awkward position. “Can’t help but wonder how much that decision has to do with improving the UK’s national security and how much it has to do with making things tricky for the opposition Labour Party,” he tweeted.

It comes as a YouGov poll finds the Tories are more trusted on defence than Labour.

The SNP is thought to have applied to the Electoral Commission so it can add the idea of a second independence referendum to the ballot paper for May’s Holyrood election.

The party has asked for two variations of indyref2 next to SNP candidates’ names on the voting slips. Officials have tried to register “BothVotes SNP for IndyRef2” and “Vote SNP for IndyRef2”, according to the Daily Record.

They have also tried to add a line referring to their leader: “Nicola Sturgeon for SNP First Minister.”