Downing Street has urged Israel to restore Gaza’s electricity supply, warning that failing to do so risked breaching international law.

Israel announced it had cut off Gaza’s electricity supply on Sunday evening, a week after it suspended delivery of humanitarian supplies to the territory.

At the lobby briefing this morning the PM’s spokesperson said No 10 was “deeply concerned” by these reports. He said:

Our position is humanitarian aid should never be contingent on a ceasefire or used as a political tool.

Asked whether the move was against international law, he said this was “a matter for an international court” but added:

A halt on goods and supplies entering Gaza, including basic needs such as electricity, risks breaching Israel’s obligations under international humanitarian law.

David Willetts, the Tory former minister for universities and science, has been appointed as the first chair of the Regulatory Innovation Office (RIO), the government has announced. It says the RIO was set up “to cut red tape which unnecessarily impedes on new technologies coming to market and stunts growth, instead pivoting to a streamlined and pro-innovation environment which allows people across the UK to reap the real, positive impact of new tech safely and sooner”.

To mark his appointment, Willetts went to Guy’s hospital in London with Patrick Vallance, the science minister, to see how drones are transforming healthcare. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology says:

Drones are already cutting blood delivery times from 30 minutes to just 2 minutes, speeding up testing turnaround times to improve NHS productivity. British start-up Apian, founded by NHS doctors, works with global drone company Wing to fly blood samples from Guy’s to Synnovis’ lab at St Thomas’ Hospital for urgent testing. This rapid turnaround service supports some of their most vulnerable patients, ensuring they have the best possible care.

Keir Starmer is to host another summit of countries willing to contribute to Ukraine’s defence in the event of a peace deal, No 10 has said.

The PM’s spokesperson said that the next “coalition of the willing” meeting would take place virtually, probably on Saturday. It will build on what was discussed at the in-person meeting Starmer chaired at Lancaster House eight days ago.

Around 20 countries are taking part, No 10 said, mostly from Europe and the Commonwealth.

And tomorrow Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, the chief of the defence staff, will also attend a meeting in Paris with fellow military leaders about the proposal.

Starmer and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, have been leading efforts to ensure that, in the event of Ukraine and Russia agreeing a ceasefire, a Europe-led force could be dispatched to Ukraine to help protect it from further Russian aggression. But Starmer says such a force would also need US backup support.

Vladimir Putin’s Russia has expelled one British diplomat and the spouse of another, accusing them of spying, PA Media reports. PA says:

The pair were accused of engaging in intelligence activity under cover of the embassy in Moscow.

They have been ordered to leave the country within two weeks, the Russian news agency Tass said, citing the country’s FSB security agency.

“The Federal Security Service’s counter-intelligence operations exposed the unreported intelligence presence of the United Kingdom under the cover of the country’s embassy in Moscow,” an FSB statement cited by Tass reads.

It is the latest in a series of tit-for-tat expulsions involving the UK’s embassy in Moscow and the Russian mission in London.

Downing Street said the latest expulsions were “what we have come to expect from President Putin and his regime” and “the allegations are no doubt baseless”.

The PM’s spokesman said: “It won’t distract us from our focus on supporting Ukraine and putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position over the days and weeks ahead.”

Around 80 Labour MPs could refuse to back government plans to cut billions from the welfare budget, Amy Gibbons and Tony Diver claim in a story for the Daily Telegraph. They report:

The Telegraph understands that around 80 Labour MPs – roughly a fifth of the parliamentary party – “won’t tolerate” billions of pounds of welfare cuts set to be announced by the Chancellor later this month.

The anger is said to have spread beyond the “usual suspects”, with MPs who would not typically criticise Sir Keir threatening to “give the government a slap” over the proposals.

But, perhaps more surprisingly, 36 backbench Labour MPs have set up a new Get Britain Working Group to support what the government is doing. They have released an open letter to Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, explaining why. The letter, coordinated by David Pinto-Duschinsky, says:

Our Labour values are built on a simple but powerful idea: that every individual, regardless of background or circumstance, should have the support they need to make the most of their lives. Everyone who is capable of working deserves the security, dignity and agency that employment offers. Of course, there are some people who are not able to work and they must be treated with compassion and respect. But for those that can, we must restore the pathways to opportunity which are currently so sparse for millions of people. It is exactly what a Labour government exists to do …

As MPs, we understand that delivering this new social contract requires hard choices to be made. We welcome the work that has begun to rebuild our welfare system, and we are fully supportive of it. We believe reforming our broken system is not only necessary, but also a truly progressive endeavour. And so we have established the Get Britain Working Group to make that argument, insistently.

At the end of last week, in a report for ITV News, Anushka Asthana said the cuts being announced soon would save £6bn a year by the end of this decade. She said:

The radical package of reforms will see:

-£5bn in savings by making it harder to qualify for Personal Independence Payments – a benefit not linked to work that is meant to help people with the additional costs of their disability

-Further savings by freezing PIP payments next year, so they do not rise with inflation

-Raising the basic rate for Universal Credit paid to those searching for work, or in work, while cutting the rate for those who are judged as unfit for work.

-A billion pounds of savings ploughed into a major investment for employment support for those who are looking for a job

The aim of the measures is to massively increase the incentives for people to remain in the work-search category of Universal Credit, even if they suffer with a health condition or disability, but also to more than £6bn a year by the end of the decade.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Steve Reed, the environment secretary, said the government would “stretch every sinew” to get people off welfare into work.

This government is determined that instead of facing a life on benefits … we stretch every sinew and pull every lever to ensure that we can get those people into work, because that is the best way for them to have a successful and happy life into the future.

So I think it’s quite right to look at a benefit system which is clearly broken.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has rejected calls from the family of Sir David Amess for a public inquiry into his death in a letter described as “unacceptable” and “insulting” by the murdered MP’s widow and daughter.

Three organisations have hit back at the government after being accused by Angela Rayner’s department of holding up planning applications.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has announced that some of the 25 organisations that are automatically consulted about certain planning applications in England will lost their status as statutory consultees. In a news release, it mentioned the Theatres Trust and the Gardens Trust and Sport England as three organisations that should get less power in the future. (See 10.30am.)

But the Theatres Trust said it was not an impediment to growth. In a joint statement, Joshua McTaggart, its CEO, and Dave Moutrey, its chair, said:

While Theatres Trust welcomes Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner’s announcement of a review into the planning statutory consultee system, of which Theatres Trust is a committed and active part, we do not recognise the characterisation of Theatres Trust, made by the deputy prime minister and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, as being an impediment to growth.

As part of The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015, Theatres Trust is a statutory consultee in England in relation to ‘development involving any land on which there is a theatre’. This is a responsibility we take seriously and deliver diligently alongside our expert advice services to local authorities, developers and operators. In 2023/24, we responded to 238 planning and pre-planning applications that fell within our remit; 100% of these were dealt with in the allotted 21 days.

The Gardens Trust said it was “dismayed” to be accused of being anti-growth. In a statement it said:

The Gardens Trust is dismayed to learn that the government intends to consider removing it as a statutory consultee within the English planning system.

We don’t recognise ourselves in the government’s characterisation of statutory consultees. We only rarely miss the 21 day response deadline (remarkable given that we work closely with local volunteers in forming our responses), and last year objected to less than 10% of our consultations, with the remainder of our responses being simply supportive advice.

In its own statement, Sport England suggested the curent rules were justified and should not be changed. It said:

The purpose of our statutory planning remit is to protect playing fields and community spaces for sport and physical activity.

Britain’s childhood obesity crisis is rising and low physical activity levels cost our economy £7.4bn a year, making it vital we protect the places that local communities can be active.

We support growth and exercise our powers carefully and quickly, ensuring local neighbourhoods are designed to help people live healthy, happy and active lives.

We look forward to taking part in the government’s consultation exercise and arguing the importance of protecting playing fields and places where local people can keep active.

There have been some developments overnight in the story about the Reform UK split – Nigel Farage suspending Rupert Lowe, one of the party’s five MPs, over alleged misconduct, which – by amazing coincidence – the party decided to report to the police on the day an interview was published quoting Lowe describing Farage as a control freak with limited interest in policy.

Ever since then, as Eleni Courea reports, Lowe and Farage have been slagging each other off. Lowe says the allegations against him are untrue, while Farage has said that a KC was already investigating complaints about Lowe before the Daily Mail interview was published. Farage also suggested that it was the ongoing disciplinary inquiry that triggered Lowe’s public outburst against him.

Here are the new developments.

• The KC investigating the allegations for Reform UK has said Lowe was not telling the truth when he said on Friday that she was shocked and dismayed by how the party was handling the allegations. The lawyer, who has not been named but whose identity has been verified by the BBC, told the BBC:

I have seen a number of statements made by Mr Lowe MP which are attributed to me and which describe my reactions to the process conducted by the party into the allegations made against both Mr Lowe MP and his constituency manager.

I find myself in the unfortunate and regrettable position of having to make this statement to correct the record.

I have not expressed either ‘dismay’ or ‘shock’ at any time as to the process. Nor have I said ‘there is zero credible evidence against [Mr Lowe]’, let alone said this ‘repeatedly’.

Ever since this malicious attack on my reputation was launched, all I have asked for from both Reform and the KC is credible evidence against me. None has been provided. It still hasn’t. The KC has said she has been ‘chasing’ for that. I have received nothing. Because there is no credible evidence against me …

I have been in discussions with my legal team this afternoon, and this will be followed by legal action in due course. I will not have my name dragged through the mud as part of a political assassination because I dared to question Nigel Farage. You have to stand up to bullies, and I am doing exactly that.

And this morning Lowe posted this on social media.

Day eleven of repeatedly asking to see any credible evidence against me.

The plot thickens .One of my former Parliamentary aides went on to work for Rupert Lowe – she is one of the staff involved in these allegations against him. She has told me that her original complaint had nothing to do with Rupert personally and was related to the actions of another member of his staff. I have her permission to post this tweet.

• The Daily Mail journalist Andrew Pierce, who did the interview with Lowe that led to his suspension, has said that Lowe was hosting a dinner for Reform UK donors only hours before he was reported to police – underming claims that by that point the party had lost trust in him.

In one respect, whether Lowe did or did not do what he is accused of is irrelevant. Reform UK is more tolerant of unsavoury behaviour than most other political parties, which is why some readers thought Farage must be making a joke when he wrote in an article in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday: “There have been too many similar outbursts from Mr Lowe, often involving the use of inappropriate language, to the despair of our chief whip, Lee Anderson.” Anderson, a former miner suspended by the Tories for making an offensive comment about Sadiq Khan, has never before been described as someone unduly concerned about “inappropriate language”. Few observers think this is a row about misconduct. In reality, it is power struggle. In all the parties he has run, Farage has frequently been accused of control freakery by colleagues and rivals, and in almost all cases he has consigned them to oblivion. Jack Tindale has pictured most of them in a meme on Bluesky.

Ministers have announced they are going to cut the number of official bodies that are automatically consulted about planning decisions. The move is intended to cut red tape and to lead to more building, and more growth.

In a press notice explaining the move, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government says:

Under new plans organisations such as Sport England, Theatres Trust and The Gardens Trust will no longer be required to input on planning decisions. The scope of other statutory consultees will be narrowed to focus on heritage, safety and environmental protection, speeding up the building process and preventing delays to homes being built.

“Statutory consultees” are official stakeholders legally required to provide advice on planning decisions to ensure developments can consider essential environmental, transport, heritage and safety elements. They play an important role in the planning system, but councils and developers report that the system is not working effectively …

The list of statutory consultees has also grown haphazardly over time and now includes over 25 organisations. Problems expressed include statutory consultees: failing to engage proactively; taking too long to provide their advice; re-opening issues that have already been dealt with in local plans; submitting automatic holding objections which are then withdrawn at a late stage; and submitting advice that seeks gold-plated outcomes, going beyond what is necessary to make development acceptable in planning terms …

Proposed changes will put support for growth at the heart of the statutory consultee process by;

-Consulting on reducing the number of organisations, including the impact of removing Sport England, the Theatres Trust and The Gardens Trust.

-Reviewing the scope of all statutory consultees, to reduce the type and number of applications on which they must be consulted – and making much better use of standing guidance in place of case-by-case responses.

-Clarifying that local authorities should only be consulting statutory consultees where necessary to do so, and decisions should not be delayed beyond the 21 day statutory deadline unless a decision cannot otherwise be reached or advice may enable an approval rather than a refusal.

-Instituting a new performance framework, in which the chief executives of key statutory consultees report on their performance directly to Treasury and MHCLG ministers.

The plans will be included in the planning and infrastructure bill due to be published tomorrow.

Commenting on them, Angela Rayner, the depuy PM and housing secretary, said:

We need to reform the system to ensure it is sensible and balanced, and does not create unintended delays – putting a hold on people’s lives and harming our efforts to build the homes people desperately need.

As Eleni Courea reports, this week the government will be unveiling plans for “radical” civil service reform that will involve under-performing officials being incentivised to leave their jobs and senior officials having their pay linked to performance.

Today Keir Starmer has written to civil servants seeking to reassure them about what is coming, the BBC is reporting. In his letter Starmer praises civil servants for their “talent, commitment and ideas” and thanks them for their work. And he says:

The civil service must once again become the engine room of delivery for every person in every part of the UK.

Each one of you must be enabled to re-focus on your core purpose, away from the things that hamper your day to day work, delivering excellent, high-performing public services that improve people’s lives.

We know many of you feel shackled by bureaucracy, frustrated by inefficiency and unable to harness new technology. Your talent has been constrained for too long.

We are determined to empower you – not through words, but action – to maximise the collective power of the state.

Henry Zeffman, the BBC’s chief political correspondent, sums this up very well in his intro to the online story, which starts:

Keir Starmer has written to civil servants to promise reforms that will unshackle them from bureaucracy and stop their talent being “constrained”, as he seeks to sell officials on plans to cut their jobs.

Yesterday, asked if there would be a reduction in the overall number of civil servants under the plans, Pat McFadden, the Cabinet Office minister, told Sky News:

There could be, but what I’d like to see is fewer civil servants working in central London, more working in the regions where the property is cheaper.

A minister has confirmed reports that people living near new electricity pylons could be given £250 a year off their energy bills under government plans to overhaul planning rules.

In a story for the Times, Oliver Wright and Chris Smyth say:

Under plans to be set out this week, households living within a half a kilometre of new or upgraded power infrastructure could see their average electricity bill fall by almost 40 per cent a year.

The move is intended to reduce opposition to renewable energy infrastructure as Sir Keir Starmer makes a building boom the cornerstone of his push for growth …

The bill discount scheme — which is the equivalent to an annual payment of £250 over ten years — would apply to new above-ground transmission cables as well as structures such as substations and some significant upgrades of existing pylons. The legislation would also allow the scheme to be extended to other projects such as new onshore wind farms.

Ministers will also set out proposals to create community funds worth up to £200,000 per kilometre of overhead electricity cable in their area, and £530,000 per substation, to pay for projects such as sport facilities and youth centres.

In an interview with Sky News this morning, Alex Norris, planning minister, confirmed the report, saying “communities need to share the benefits” of the move to net zero. He said:

If you’re making that sacrifice of having some of the infrastructure in your community, you should get some of the money back. So we’re making that commitment , £250-a-year if you are near those pylons.

So we think that’s a fair balance between people who are making that commitment to the country themselves, well they should be rewarded for that.

Good morning. Keir Starmer and his government have got a busy week in domestic politics; today the crime and policing bill gets its second reading, tomorrow the planning and infrastructure bill is due to be published (there is a related announcement out now about energy bill discounts for people living near new pylons) and on Thursday the PM is due to give a speech about Whitehall reform. But the Trump/Ukraine crisis overshadows everything.

Last night Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, was elected leader of the Liberal party in Canada, which means he will become prime minister. Canadian election results don’t often take centre stage in UK politics, but Carney was elected promising fierce opposition to President Trump’s talk of annexing Canada and in London Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is urging Starmer to fly to Ottawa this week “to stand in solidarity with the country’s new prime minister in response to Trump’s threats against Canada”. In a statement Davey said:

It’s vital for both British and Canadian security that we stand strong together. With global instability rising, it’s never been more important to show a united front with our Commonwealth friends – and to stand together against Trump senselessly turning the screws on his allies, whether that’s Canada, the UK or Europe.

Responding to the trade war along the North American border, our prime minister must stand in solidarity against Trump’s bullying and visit Ottawa in a joint show of strength. Starmer must be clear that Trump’s threats against Commonwealth nations’ sovereignty are unacceptable.

The Liberal Democrats have a long history of calling for things that have no chance of ever happening (normally the recall of parliament – something they normally press release in the first week of August), and Davey won’t be expecting Starmer to take his advice. But he has touched a nerve. Starmer angered Canadians during his press conference with Trump in the White House last month by refusing to answer a question about Trump’s stance on Canada, claiming the journalist who asked about it was “trying to find “a divide between us that does not exist”. And, with King Charles attending a Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey this afternoon, there will be close interest in whether he says anything that might be seen as a comment about Trump’s plan to seize the country where he is head of state. As Sam Blewett writes in his London Playbook briefing for Politico:

Trump allies will be vigilant for any coded message Charles sends, following the warm reception he gave Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Sandringham shortly after the Ukrainian was ambushed by the president and JD Vance in the Oval Office. The king’s move struck a chord in the administration, with a US government official telling Playbook “people definitely saw it.” All eyes on whether Charles dons a maple leaf tie.

This is also the latest example of the Lib Dems’ attempts to capitalise on Starmer’s (understandable) reluctance to say anything openly critical of Trump. Last week Davey twice challenged Starmer in the Commons to accept that the US under Trump is now an unreliable ally on matters relating to the Russia. Starmer disagreed. For a PM negotiating with Washington, that was probably the right thing to say. But it is probably not the right thing to think.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10.30am: Relatives of the Tory MP David Amess, who are demanding a judge-led public inquiry into his murder and the dealings his killer had with Prevent, hold a press conference before a meeting with Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper, the home secretary.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

1pm: Robert Hayward, a polling expert and Tory peer, gives a briefing on the May local elections.

2.30pm: Bridget Phillipson, education secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

Afternoon: Michael Gove, the former Tory Cabinet Office minister, gives evidence to the Covid inquiry as part of its PPE procurement module.

3pm: Keir Starmer and other political leaders will join King Charles at Westminster Abbey for a service to mark Commonwealth Day.

After 3.30pm: Yvette Cooper, home secretary, opens the debate on the second reading of the crime and policing bill.

Also, at some point today, Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, and Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, are doing a visit related to the planning and infrastructure bill, which is due to be published tomorrow.

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