Rishi Sunak news – live: PM warned spies may be reluctant to share secrets with Braverman

Edward Argar has been demoted from Treasury chief secretary to become minister of state in the Ministry of Justice in the latest round of appointments by Rishi Sunak, Downing Street said.

Damian Hinds also becomes a justice minister while Marcus Jones is the new chief whip.

Another MP has confirmed their new ministerial position in Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet reshuffle:

Labour MP Jess Phillips has written in The Independent about Rishi Sunak’s cabinet reshuffle this week.

“Sunak has made the cabinet a little different, in that he’s reduced the number of women in it,” she said.

Read her piece here:

Nicola Sturgeon has accepted the resignation of one of her ministers over her opposition to controversial gender legislation just hours before the Bill was due to go to a vote.

Community safety minister Ash Regan said her “conscience” would not allow her to vote with the Scottish government and back the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill at stage one on Thursda

The Bill will remove the requirement for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria when seeking a gender recognition certificate, while also reducing the length of time an applicant must live in their acquired gender from two years to three months, with an additional three-month reflection period.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson has insisted MI5 is confident in Suella Braverman.

“The home secretary continues to have strong relationships with all the operational bodies that report into the Home Office and are focused very much on keeping the country safe,” he said.

Security and intelligence services may be reluctant to share sensitive information with Suella Braverman, Labour former Cabinet minister Lord Blunkett has warned.

Speaking at Westminster, he said: “Isn’t it true there could be two really unfortunate outcomes to the reappointment of the current home secretary?

“One is that the security and intelligence services will be reluctant to provide the briefings and the openness needed.

“And the second is that other international security agencies will be reluctant to share with us if they are fearful that their information will be passed out of government itself.”

Replying for the government, Lady Neville-Rolfe said: “Ministers receive the security briefing, as he knows, that they need to do their job in an appropriate manner.”

Meanwhile over in Northern Ireland, Assembly members are back in the chamber following a recall in a last attempt to resurrect devolved government before a fresh election is called.

Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Fein Stormont leader, claimed those watching today’s proceedings in the Northern Ireland Assembly would be “bewildered”.

“Most of us here want to do the job we were elected to do,” she said.

“Today our caretaker ministers rally to take decisions, within tight limits, before their civil servants are left in an impossible position come midnight where they are expected to run our essential public services yet have no budget and no powers,” she said.

Alliance leader Naomi Long said the people of Northern Ireland were suffering without a devolved government, describing public services as “on their knees” or “teetering on the brink”.

“The people of Northern Ireland and their needs and their interests come first, and what is in their interests is a functioning Assembly, a functioning executive, sustainable institutions and power sharing,” she said.

Downing Street has acknowledged that uncertainty over whether the triple lock for state pensions will be maintained is causing difficulty for pensioners.

“That’s why the prime minister and the chancellor believe it is right to take the time to work carefully and diligently to come up with proposals that will provide that certainty in the long term,” the prime minister’s official spokesperson said.

More people think Britain is heading in the wrong direction than at any point since the 2019 election, a poll has found.

Almost seven out of 10 people told pollster Ipsos that the country was going the wrong way in the survey carried out last weekend.

The figure is the highest level recorded by the pollster since it started asking the question after the 2019 election, topping the 64 per cent who said the country was going the wrong way in August.

Labour has said the Prime Minister must swiftly clarify the circumstances of the Suella Braverman row.

Shadow Commons leader Thangam Debbonaire said: “Suella Braverman’s appointment raises serious questions about Rishi Sunak’s judgment and the public deserves answers now.

“The Prime Minister must swiftly offer clarity to these contradicting versions of events – which relate to our country’s national security.

“If Rishi Sunak has misled Parliament and the country, he needs to correct the record urgently and act.”

Commons leader Penny Mordaunt did not address the row as she answered a host of questions.