UK

Related video: Tory MP who reported Rayner to police refuses to say what alleged offences he thinks she has committedSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer said he has “complete confidence” in Angela Rayner as he faced further questions on the row over whether Labour’s deputy should have paid capital gains tax on the sale of her former council house.Speaking on a visit to Teeside on Thursday, the Labour leader said his Ms Rayner had already answered questions on the row and would fully cooperate with the investigation set up by Greater Manchester Police.He told broadcasters: “Angela’s answered no end of questions on this, she said she’s happy to answer any further questions. I have complete confidence in her and the police investigation, I think, allows a line to be drawn in relation to this.”Earlier, Labour demanded that the police launch a probe into allegations a suspended Tory MP misused campaign funds in the latest sleaze scandal to rock Rishi Sunak’s party.Mark Menzies has lost the Conservative whip after reportedly using thousands of pounds given by donors to fund medical expenses and having made a late-night call to a 78-year-old aide asking for help because he had been locked up by “bad people” demanding money for his release.Labour chair Anneliese Dodds slammed the “stagnation, scandal and sleaze” engulfing Mr Sunak’s party and asked her Conservative counterpart Richard Holden whether the police had been informed about the allegations, which the party has known about for months.Show latest update 1713448841We’re finishing our live coverage of the Angela Rayner and Mark Menzies stories for today.Thanks for reading and join us again soon for all the latest updates. You can follow updates on the Rwanda bill at the link below.Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.Matt Mathers18 April 2024 15:001713428542Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live politics coverage.Today we’re covering the suspension of Mark Menzies over claims he misused campaign funds, the continuing police investigation into the sale of Angela Rayner’s former council house and other stories from Westminster and elsewhere.Stay tuned for all the latest updates.Matt Mathers18 April 2024 09:221713428589In full: MP Mark Menzies loses Tory whip as party investigates claims he misused fundsMark Menzies is alleged to have used thousands of pounds given by donors to fund medical expenses and to have made a late-night call to a 78-year-old aide asking for help because he had been locked up by “bad people” demanding money for his release.Read the full report here: Matt Mathers18 April 2024 09:231713428678ICYMI: Keir Starmer accuses Rishi Sunak of ‘smears’ over Angela Rayner tax rowFull report: Matt Mathers18 April 2024 09:241713428955Mark Menzies: Who is the Tory MP suspended over alleged misuse of funds?Mr Menzies is the Ayrshire-born Tory MP for Fylde, Lancashire, who won his seat at the 2010 general election.The University of Glasgow graduate spent years at some of Britain’s biggest supermarkets including Marks & Spencer, which he joined as a graduate trainee in 1994 .He has been an active member of the Conservative Party since 1987 and was president of his university’s Conservative Association.Full report: Matt Mathers18 April 2024 09:291713429004Watch: Liz Truss calls on David Cameron to give Israel more support after Iran attack More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSir Keir Starmer has called for a police probe into allegations aTory MP misused campaign funds in the latest sleaze scandal to rock Rishi Sunak’s party.Mark Menzies lost the Conservative whip after reportedly using thousands of pounds given by donors to fund medical expenses and making a late-night call to a 78-year-old aide asking for help because he had been locked up by “bad people” demanding money for his release.The Fylde MP disputes the allegations reported by The Times, but the Conservative Party has launched an investigation into the claims.As the scandal unfolded, Mr Menzies was suspended from his role as one of Mr Sunak’s international envoys More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Britain’s governing Conservative Party said Thursday it has suspended a lawmaker who is alleged to have used campaign funds for personal medical expenses and to pay off someone who was threatening him.The Times of London reported Mark Menzies took thousands of pounds (dollars) given to the party by donors for medical costs and other personal expenses. It said that in December he called a 78-year-old aide at 3 a.m. asking for help because he had been locked in an apartment by “bad people” who were demanding money for his release. A sum of 6,500 pounds ($8,100) was paid personally by Menzies’ office manager, who was reimbursed from donors’ cash, the newspaper said.Menzies, who has represented the seat of Fylde in northwest England since 2010, told the Times: “I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further.”He did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.The Conservative whips’ office said Menzies had agreed to be suspended from the Conservative caucus in Parliament, “pending the outcome of an investigation.” The suspension means he will remain in Parliament as an independent lawmaker.He was also suspended from an unpaid role as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s trade envoy to Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina.Menzies has faced misconduct claims before. In 2014 he quit as a ministerial aide after allegations about his behavior made by a Brazilian male escort. Three years later, the Times said, he was “interviewed by police over bizarre accusations that he had deliberately got an acquaintance’s dog drunk.” It said Menzies strongly denied giving alcohol to a dog.The case is the latest allegation of sleaze to hit the Conservatives, who have lost several lawmakers to ethics scandals in the past two years – including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.They include a lawmaker caught looking at porn in the House of Commons, another who reportedly offered to lobby on behalf of gambling firms and a legislator alleged to have drunkenly groped strangers at a London private members’ club.Last week Conservative lawmaker William Wragg suspended himself from the party’s parliamentary caucus after acknowledging he’d been the victim of a sexting scam that led to him passing colleagues’ contact details to an unknown individual who held “compromising” material on him.The Conservatives have been in power since 2010, but opinion polls put them well behind the opposition Labour Party, with an election due later this year.The report is the latest sign of the muckraking and personal mudslinging expected in the election. Conservatives accuse Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner of dodging tax on a house sale years ago by falsely claiming that it was her primary residence. Police say they are investigating. Rayner denies wrongdoing and has not been suspended by her party. More

Related video: MP who made Rayner complaint unable to explain what offence he thinks she committedSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has doubled down on his refusal to exempt Afghan heroes who served with British forces from being deported to Rwanda.A No 10 spokesman said on Wednesday that the government would not be making any concessions on the Rwanda bill after the House of Lords last night voted in favour of the move.The defiant upper chamber refused to cave to ministers’ demands and sent the flagship Rwanda plan back to the Commons.Peers are also demanding the set up of a monitoring committee to assess whether Rwanda is safe before the government sends asylum seekers there.Downing Street also on Thursday was unable to recommit to the prime minister’s pledge to get flights to Rwanda off the ground by the spring.The spokesman said: “I’m not going to get ahead of the bill passing, which obviously we’ve seen again last night has continued to be held up.“We’re working at pace to ensure these flights leave as soon as possible. It’s now incumbent on the Lords to pass this Bill such that we can trigger the final planning phases and ultimately stop the boats.”Show latest update 1713451530Post Office staff had ‘bunker mentality’ towards press, lawyer tells inquiryA Post Office lawyer has said there was a “bunker mentality” among staff in relation to the media’s coverage of the Horizon IT system.Rodric Williams, who joined the organisation as a litigation lawyer in 2012, was asked at the Horizon Inquiry on Thursday about an email sent to the Post Office by journalist Nick Wallis in 2014.Full report: Matt Mathers18 April 2024 15:451713450159Scotland ditches target of reducing emission by 75% by 2030The Scottish government is ditching a climate change target committing it to reducing emissions by 75 per cent by 2030, the country’s net zero secretary confirmed.Mairi McAllan told MSPs in a statement at Holyrood: “In this challenging context of cuts, UK backtracking, we accept the Climate Change Committee’s recent re-articulation that this parliament’s interim 2030 target is out of reach. We must now act to chart a course to 2045 at a pace and scale that is feasible, fair and just.“With this in mind, I can today confirm that, working with parliament on a timetable, the Scottish government will bring forward expedited legislation to address matters raised by the Climate Change Committee, and ensure our legislative framework better reflects the reality of long-term climate policymaking.“The narrowly drawn bill will retain our legal commitment to 2045 alongside annual reporting on progress, while introducing a target approach based on five-yearly carbon budgets.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has been forced to abandon his commitment to get flights off the ground to Rwanda by the end of spring, in a serious blow to the prime minister’s flagship policy.Downing Street has admitted that the policy is now facing delays as the Lords refused to back down on amendments to the bill, meaning the government will not set out a new timeline for the first flight to take off until it is passed into law.The government had previously said on several occasions that flights would take off by the Spring, but the prime minister’s spokesperson has now repeatedly declined to recommit to the original timetable. Mr Sunak’s spokesman said: “The timetable that we had previously set out factored in plenty of time for parliamentary debate but obviously the bill has continued to be delayed.“We will set out the timeline as soon as the bill passes through the House of Lords. The Lords did hold the bill up again last night, we are working at pace to get the bill passed and get flights off.”The Rwanda Bill is set to face another round of back and forth between the two houses of Parliament next week after defiant peers snubbed ministerial calls to back down and again insisted on revisions to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill.The fresh government defeats mean a continuation of wrangling at Westminster over the proposed law that aims to clear the way to send asylum seekers who cross the Channel in small boats on a one-way flight to Kigali.The Bill and a treaty with Rwanda are intended to prevent further legal challenges to the stalled asylum scheme after the Supreme Court ruled the plan was unlawful.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has u-turned on plans for the first flight to Rwanda to take off in the spring More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAnother day in Westminster, another party whip suspended or withdrawn – as allegations of sleaze, dishonesty or failure to uphold parliamentary standards land yet another MP in hot water.Mark Menzies, the Tory MP for Fylde and a government trade envoy, is under investigation over allegations that he misused campaign funds and abused his position after making a late-night phone call saying he’d been locked up by “bad people” demanding thousands of pounds.Mr Menzies, who has relinquished the Tory whip pending the results of the internal party probe, now finds himself among 18 MPs who currently sit as independents, having lost their party whip since the 2019 general election.The growing number of independents has outnumbered the Lib Dems as the Commons’ fourth-largest cohort of MPs since January 2023, and now includes eight former Tories, seven former Labour MPs, along with one each from the SNP, DUP and Plaid Cymru. The Independent takes a look at the group of independents – and those who are no longer MPs – below:Matt HancockWhile Matt Hancock’s ministerial career was ended by a steamy lockdown-busting affair with his aide Gina Coladangelo, his time as a Tory MP came to an end only when he signed up for I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!The former health secretary, who dined on camel’s penis during the 2022 instalment of the show, was suspended by chief whip Simon Hart for his appearance in the contest.Mr Hancock, who is quitting as an MP at the next election, came third in the end behind actor Owen Warner and footballer Jill Scott. He has denied that his “primary” motivation for going on the show was monetary, adding that a £10,000 donation to charity from his £320,000 fee was a “decent sum”. Former health secretary Matt Hancock More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailIn the lead-up to the release of her memoirs, Liz Truss may have spent more days promoting the book than she did serving as prime minister. The Tory MP, who took over from Boris Johnson in the summer of 2022, offered a look behind the scenes of Ten Years to Save the West in a series of television and radio interviews. Despite some very negative reviews, it seems the promotion has worked as the book soared to the fourth best-selling book on Amazon on Wednesday morning.Liz Truss’ memoir hit the book shelves this week More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Oliver Dowden delivers a speech on economic security on Thursday 18 April.Britain needs to boost its economic defences to counter the “security risks” of globalisation, the deputy prime minister warned.Mr Dowden set out plans to bolster the UK’s ability to deal with “economic security shocks” such as the rise in energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.He told the Chatham House think tank that “while the financial crash exposed the economic risks of globalisation, today’s rising geopolitical competition is demonstrating the security risks behind such integration”.“We must be clear-eyed that one of the great strengths of our system is its openness, but that also brings vulnerabilities,” he added.Mr Dowden was also expected to set out a review of export controls of emerging technologies and the risks from UK businesses investing overseas. More