The Foreign Office has summoned Chinese ambassador Zheng Zeguang following the arrest of three men accused of spying for Hong Kong.
Chi Leung (Peter) Wai, Matthew Trickett, and Chung Biu Yuen allegedly undertook information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception that were likely to materially assist a foreign intelligence service.
It comes as Grant Shapps revealed the MoD is commissioning the creation of six new ships to support the Royal Marines in a bid to fulfill the government pledge to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030.
He has accused the Labour Party of being a danger to UK defence. The defence secretary branded Sir Keir Starmer unserious for not committing to a spending target to match the Tories.
In a speech on Monday, Rishi Sunak delivered a pre-election speech in a move to pitch to voters after this month’s local election blow.
The prime minister told voters the world is ‘closer to nuclear war since the Cuban missile crisis’.
Health Minister urges MPs to ignore myths by Nigel Farage
Andrew Stephenson has urged MPs to dismiss claims made by Nigel Farage about the treaty.
The Reform UK president previously said: “It will be binding on us, under international law.
“It would give the World Health Organisation the ability, number one, to take away 20% of our PPE and vaccines to give to other parts of the world.”
“Give them the power to dictate behaviour, such as mask mandates, such as not being able to travel without being jabbed goodness knows how many times and, the really big one, they would be able to say to us, this is now a global pandemic, you must lock down.”
Commons: MPs debate WHO pandemic treaty
After the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide leaders vowed to do better next time by setting up a set of agreements.
But many Tory MPs are sceptical and refuse to implement the international accord.
Suella Braverman said: “Under no circumstances must we surrender our sovereignty or sign-up to a lockdown treaty.”
Rwanda in chaos: Tory MPs urge Sunak to correct ‘defective’ law
With the Illegal Migration Act put into chaos by the Belfast High Court ruling, many Tories are urging the PM for an emergency legislation.
Conservative former minister Sir John Redwood said: “We voted in a referendum to end the rule of EU law throughout the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland.
“Isn’t the only way out of this – given the muddle the courts are creating – is to have an urgent, short piece of legislation which asserts beyond doubt that we control our own borders?”
Sir Christopher Chope, Tory MP for Christchurch, added: “Why is it that the Government is not going to directly legislate to deal with this situation – that the legislation is defective. If we go to appeal and we find the appeal is rejected then we’ve lost a lot more time.
“Why don’t we act now to legislate and sort out this mess?”
Government to announce £40m package for brain tumour research
A £40 million Government package to help develop new life-saving brain tumour research is due to be announced.
The funding, which was first committed to by the Government in 2018, will be announced at a Parliamentary roundtable co-chaired by Health Minister Andrew Stephenson and chief executive of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Lucy Chappell.
The investment will be used to help develop new treatments for brain tumours, as well as improve patient care, support and rehabilitation.
It comes amid a collaboration between the Government, NIHR, the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission (TJBCM), research funders and other charities.
Suella Braverman: ‘Sunak’s Brexit deal has failed’
The former Home Secretary has attacked the PM’s Northern Ireland Brexit deal claiming it failed as soon as it has been put to practice.
It comes Sunak’s Rwanda bill collapsed after the high court deemed some parts incompatible with the Withdrawal Agreement Act.
Speaking in the Commons, she said: “I believed the assurances made to me at the time.
“But isn’t it now patently clear that the Windsor Framework has operated in a way to undermine our sovereignty, to undermine Northern Ireland’s place within the United Kingdom.
“And I’m afraid has fundamentally failed upon its first contact with reality.”
Grant Shapps doesn’t mind rainbow lanyards
Mr Shapps said: “Personally, I don’t mind people expressing their views on these things. It doesn’t, you know, what lanyard somebody wears, doesn’t particularly concern me.
“But I do think – and this is where I think Esther McVey has a point – that what we want is our civil servants to be getting on with the main job. And the main job is to serve the department they work for, in my case, defence, but across Whitehall.
“I think she was getting at the idea that that should be the focus for civil servants.”
Brexit blamed for UK immigration policy chaos
Brexiteers “should have considered the consequences of their actions” before complaining about a high court ruling which has potentially left UK immigration policy in chaos, a leading Northern Ireland MP has claimed.
Belfast South SDLP MP Claire Hanna’s intervention came as immigration minister Tom Pursglove was answering an urgent question in the Commons on the rulong by the court in Northern Ireland that the Illegal Immigration Act does not apply in that part of the UK.
Mr Pursglove insisted that the government “will appeal the decision” but came under fire from both sides of the House as Tory Brexiteer MPs joined the Opposition in condemning the chaos left in the UK’s immigration system.
‘Labour will restore trust in politicians,’ Shadow Leader says
Labour shadow sommons leader and Manchester Central MP Lucy Powell has promised the party will restore trust if elected.
The Manchester Central MP said UK politics is suffering from lack of confidence after scandals over expenses, sleaze, cronyism and Partygate.
Ms Powell added: “I’m not laying all this at the door of the Conservatives – there are bad apples everywhere who reflect badly on us all – but I think the sheer scale we’ve seen in this Parliament really means that we’ve reached rock bottom.”
Rishi Sunak gets new blow in the polls
Three in four Brits think the Prime Minister won’t get the keys of Downing Street at the upcoming general election.
Mr Sunak has been slapped with a whopping 75% of the votes from people who think he is very unlikely he will win, according to an Ipsos poll.
Sturgeon to discuss intergovernmental relations in appearance at Westminster
Nicola Sturgeon will appear before Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee on July 1 after having previously cancelled an evidence session.
Ms Sturgeon, who resigned as First Minister last year after more than eight years in the role, will appear as part of the committee’s probe into intergovernmental relations in the first 25 years of devolution.
Former first ministers Alex Salmond, Jack McConnell and Henry McLeish have already appeared before the committee.
Former prime ministers Tony Blair and Lord Cameron have also provided written evidence to the committee.
Ms Sturgeon was due to appear on April 29, but it was announced the previous week her evidence would be rescheduled due to her “availability”.
The former first minister’s relationship with the UK Government under Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss was strained after her consistent push for another independence referendum for Scotland was repeatedly rejected by successive administrations.
