Boris Johnson news – live: PM U-turns over free school meals after Marcus Rashford's campaign, as Keir Starmer says government must stop 'distractions'

A number of politicians have taken to Twitter to hit out at Mr Johnson’s decision to fold the department for international development (DfID) into the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).

Here is former international development minister Alistair Burt:

Former prime minister Gordon Brown:

And current LOTO Keir Starmer:

The number of people on employers’ payrolls fell by 612,000 between March and May in the clearest sign yet of problems facing the UK’s jobs market.

Official data released on Tuesday show that vacancies, pay and employment all fell while the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance or universal credit to support their income rose sharply.

Here are the key figures from the Office for National Statistics.
 

Marcus Rashford has welcomed the move to continue free school meals into the summer break, saying to MPs “we have listened and we have done what is right”

Cabinet minister Robert Jenrick is under growing pressure over a controversial decision to approve a major property scheme involving a billionaire Conservative Party donor.

Labour has raised concerns about an “apparent cash-for-favours” scandal – but the housing secretary has insisted “rules were followed” when he gave the green light to an east London apartment complex involving former Express newspapers’ owner Richard Desmond.

So what is the row all about? And what questions remain about contact between Mr Jenrick and Mr Desmond?

More below:

The chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, is making a statement on negotiations with the EU.

David Cameron has hit out against Boris Johnson’s decision to merge the department for international development with the foreign office.

He wrote on Twitter: “The Prime Minister is right to maintain the commitment to 0.7 [of the UK budget being devoted to international aid] – it saves lives, promotes a safer world and builds British influence. But the decision to merge the departments is a mistake.”

Strong words from Labour’s Chris Bryant in the debate over the PMs statement on the merging of the department for international development with the foreign and commonwealth office.

He said: “The world increasingly thinks that this country, under this prime minister, is a basket case.

“The highest excess death rates in the world, the deepest economic collapse, schools returning in complete and utter chaos and a quarantine after the horse has already bolted.

“And at a moment of international crisis the biggest idea that the prime minister has is that he should change the letterhead from the foreign office. This is a nonsense – doesn’t he realise that this isn’t a statement on global Britain, it’s a statement from little England.”

Mr Johnson responded by saying it was an important change in the way the nation manages its foreign policy and said he should “not run this country down”.

“And he (Mr Johnson) himself mentioned the defence, security and foreign policy review which was designed to understand what our Whitehall architecture should be in understanding what our vision, what our outlook, what our place in the world should be and what aspires to be. Surely that should come first?”

Mr Johnson responded: “The reason we’re having this discussion now is because we need to get going and yes, absolutely right, that we face a crisis now but we also face a post-Covid world when the UK is going to need to be able to speak with one, powerful voice on the international stage in which our idealistic ambitions for development are wholly integrated with our views on foreign policy.

“And the UK will therefore speak all the more powerfully for that.”
 

Boris Johnson said he is “very proud” of what the Government is doing, adding: “Anybody who has any experience of the matter will know that the UK overseas, we are less than the sum of our parts.

“If you travel to important foreign capitals where we need to make points to our friends and partners you have UK diplomats saying one thing and then finding that the message from overseas aid, from UK aid, from Dfid is different. That undermines the coherence of our foreign policy.”

The Prime Minister added: “Of course we will make sure that we guarantee the Dfid budget but what will happen within the new department is that every single person working in that department, in the new Whitehall super-department – the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – will have all the idealism and sense of mission that comes from Dfid but also the understanding of the need to project UK values, UK policies and UK interests overseas.

“This is a long overdue reform and he should support it.”

Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of deploying distraction tactics in his announcement on the department for international development (DfID). 

The Labour leader said: “Abolishing DfID diminishes Britain’s place in the world. There is no rationale for making this statement today. The prime minister should stop these distractions and get on with the job of tackling the health and economic crisis we currently face.

Shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy tweeted: “Extraordinary that in the middle of a global crisis, the UK is retreating from the world. Aid has long been one of Britain’s strengths helping us to build strong alliances, act as a moral force and creating greater global security. Once again we are diminished in the world.” 

Boris Johnson has confirmed the Department for International Development will merge with the Foreign Office to become the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office

Saying that the nation “possess the third biggest aid budget and diplomatic network in the world “, he said the government had a duty to “the British taxpayer” to ensure all money is spent as effectively as possible.

Mr Johnson added that the differences between aid and diplomacy were “artificial and outdated”.

Labour has called on the government to commit to a “back to work budget” to stop millions becoming unemployed in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic – our business correspondent Ben Chapman writes.

Annelise Dodds, Labour’s shadow chancellor, accused the government of following a “slow and confused” response to the Covid-19 pandemic with a similarly lethargic approach to jobs, despite the huge cost to taxpayers of high unemployment.

Tabling an Urgent Question in the House of Commons on Tuesday, Ms Dodds accused the government of taking a “one-size-fits-all” approach to its financial support packages such as the furlough scheme which is due to close at the end of October.

She called for a clear exit strategy from the scheme and accused the Treasury of instead having planned an “exit without a strategy”.

Jesse Norman, the financial secretary to the Treasury, responded that the government would do “whatever is needed” to support the economy.

Former international development secretaries have criticised Government plans to scrap the Department for International Development (Dfid) – a decision that could be announced later today

Rory Stewart, both a former international development secretary and foreign office minister, said he would have been “strongly” arguing against the shake-up if he was still in office.

He added: “I don’t think it is the smart option.

“There are many other things we need to be concentrating on at the moment.

“It will lead to a lot of disruption, a lot of uncertainty at a time when the Foreign Office has an enormous amount to be focused on.”

In the course of less than 48 hours Marcus Rashford has helped to shape government policy while ensuring thousands of children are fed. 

Here is our sports news correspondent Jack de Menezes with more:
 

‘Marcus Rashford is the prime minister’

Plenty of reaction to the U-turn by the government. Many parents will be relieved that vital £15-per-child weekly vouchers will be available until the planned return on schools in September.

Scotland ‘expected’ to move into second lockdown phase on Thursday

Nicola Sturgeon told the briefing that she “expected” to be able to move into the second phase of the Scottish route map out of lockdown on Thursday, when the review of measures takes place.

However, the first minister said not all measures will be put in place “overnight”, but that in “the coming weeks” staff would be able to return to factories, construction would be able to continue its restart plan and non-essential retail firms will have an opening date.

She added: “None of this will restore the economy immediately to full health, but it will be a significant and sustainable improvement on our current position and that is, of course, important.

“That gradual re-emergence from lockdown is crucial, that is how we allow our businesses to start to operate and to make money again.”