Boris Johnson news latest: Response to price rises pathetic, Starmer says as families ‘to be £2,620 worse off’

Labour is calling for the UK to agree a security pact with the EU following the wake-up call of the Ukraine invasion, as part of its drive to “make Brexit work”.

Boris Johnson must end his “petty diplomatic spats with our neighbours” and rebuild relationships, the party says – arguing last year’s Integrated Review of Foreign Policy is out of date.

That review rejected formal cooperation with Brussels, arguing the Indo-Pacific region and, in particular, China will be more important in the post-Brexit ‘Global Britain’ era.

Our deputy political editor, Rob Merrick, has the full story:

Households are set to be £2,620 worse off due to the cost of living squeeze facing the country, Labour will say on Thursday.

New analysis from the party – as it launches its local election campaign – comes as the Prime Minister is under increasing pressure to tackle spiralling costs and experts warned of the impacts.

Sir Keir Starmer will call on voters to “send the Tories a message they cannot ignore” as he pledges to cut energy bills by up to £600 – funded by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.

It comes as senior economists told the Treasury Select Committee that measures announced by the Chancellor Rishi Sunak last week will leave the poorest, out-of-work households the worst-off group from his support packages.

Labour is expected today to raise the issue of the UK’s increasing cost of living. Sir Keir Starmer will call on voters to “send the Tories a message they cannot ignore” as he pledged to cut energy bills by up to £600.

Households are set to be £2,620 worse off because of the cost of living squeeze facing the country, Labour will say.

In a boost to the post-Brexit British economy, Australian businesses announced major new investments totalling £28.5bn in projects in clean energy, technology and infrastructure across the UK.

The announcement came as Boris Johnson hosted a UK-Australia investment roundtable at Downing Street on Wednesday.

In a pre-recorded clip, Mr Johnson said: “I’m very proud to announce that leading Australian businesses are investing a colossal £28.5bn in infrastructure, in green technology and in new sustainable homes here in the UK.

“And that will mean tens of thousands of jobs that will help us to level up across the whole of the country.

“And it will mean new offshore wind projects in Lincolnshire and in northern Scotland. It will mean hydrogen hubs in Southampton and in Orkney. And it will mean 2,700 sustainable homes. I’ve never seen a package of investment like it.”

Tory MP Jamie Wallis, who became the first MP to come out as trans, has been receiving an outpouring of support, with the British prime minister promising Conservatives’ love and support.

But “the party really is divided over the issue”, Andrew Boff, a patron of the LGBT+ Conservatives group and member of the London Assembly, told PA agency.

Mr Boff said he hoped that Mr Wallis coming out will lead to a wider discussion of how trans rights are handled by the government.

In a tweet, Boris Johnson said Mr Wallis would “undoubtedly support others” and “the Conservative Party I lead will always give you, and everyone else, the love and support you need to be yourself”.

Mr Wallis on Wednesday revealed he was raped and blackmailed as he detailed a catalogue of traumatic incidents.

After two UK Supreme Court judges resigned from Hong Kong’s top court on Wednesday, British leader Carrie Lam said “here must be a lot of politics behind it”.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, she said: “I remain very confident that we still have very fine judges in the judiciary, both local and from overseas. Hong Kong will continue to benefit significantly.”

The judges resigned on Wednesday over a sweeping national security law imposed by China that cracks down on dissent in the former British colony. The resignations were condemned by Beijing and the Hong Kong government.

Ms Lam said she was confident that all levels of the judiciary in the Asian financial hub would be free from political interference.

She said that Hong Kong’s controversial national security law did not prohibit overseas judges from serving and hearing security cases.

Gordon MacDonald, a Member of the Scottish Parliament, has urged the defence secretary Ben Wallace to use about 11,000 homes vacant houses to Support Ukrainian refugees in “horrific situation”.

In his letter to Mr Wallace, the Edinburgh Pentland MSP said: “Other countries are already making good use of empty military housing, including the USA where eight military bases are currently being used to house Afghan refugees until permanent housing is made available.

“I am sure you would agree that if the choice is a family home or a hotel bedroom for months on end, then most people would choose a family home and I believe it would be a failure of the Ministry of Defence not to utilise these properties to provide a safe, warm home for displaced Ukrainian people.

“I would urge the MoD to take this forward as a priority, working with the Scottish Government and the local authorities.”

Boris Johnson has clashed with his deputy prime minister Dominic Raab over the Partygate scandal, by refusing to endorse the justice secretary’s admission that laws were broken in No 10.

Andrew Woodcock brings you more details

Liz Truss, Britain’s foreign secretary, is due to arrive in India on Thursday to build diplomatic pressure on Narendra Modi’s government to reduce strategic dependency on Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine.

But her visit coincides with one by her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, who is due to arrive in Delhi for a two-day visit on Thursday and Friday.

Ms Truss is expected to convey that Russia’s assault on Ukraine “underlines the importance of democracies working closer together to deter aggressors, reduce vulnerability to coercion and strengthen global security”.

A series of foreign officials, including from the US, UK and even Russia, are flying to India in a matter of days as Delhi is pursuing its traditional neutrality and abstained at several UNSC votes condemning the Russian invasion.

“Deeper ties between Britain and India will boost security in the Indo-Pacific and globally, and create jobs and opportunities in both countries,” she said before her visit.

“This matters even more in the context of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and underlines the need for free democracies to work closer together in areas like defence, trade and cybersecurity.

“India is an economic and tech powerhouse, the world’s largest democracy and a great friend of Britain, and I want to build an even closer relationship between our two nations.”

Vladimir Putin’s advisers “are afraid to tell him the truth” about the situation in Ukraine, according to a UK spy chief.

In his first public address over the conflict, Sir Jeremy Fleming, head of Britain’s GCHQ spy agency, said Mr Putin had “massively misjudged the situation” and “overestimated the abilities of his military to secure a rapid victory”.

“It’s clear he misjudged the resistance of the Ukrainian people,” he said during a visit to Australia.

“He underestimated the strength of the coalition and his actions would galvanise. He under-played the economic consequences of the sanctions regime.”

Speaking about demoralisation among Russian soldiers, he said: “We’ve seen Russian soldiers – short of weapons and morale – refusing to carry out orders, sabotaging their own equipment and even accidentally shooting down their own aircraft.

“And even though we believe Putin’s advisers are afraid to tell him the truth, what’s going on and the extent of these misjudgements must be crystal clear to the regime.”

He added: “It’s become his personal war, with the cost being paid by innocent people in Ukraine and increasingly, by ordinary Russians too.”

He warned China not to become “too closely aligned” with the Kremlin.