Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells to hand back CBE with immediate effect in wake of Horizon scandal – UK politics live | Politics

The government has left the country “toothless” amid a crisis in NHS dental care access, Wes Streeting has claimed. As PA Media reports, Streeting made the claim as he opened a Labour debate on dentistry. PA says:

The shadow health secretary said the number of people now attempting DIY dentistry is a “moral outrage”, as he opened a Labour-led Commons debate on the lack of toothcare available through the NHS.

Streeting also fired a warning shot towards opponents of Labour’s plans to fund dental reform by scrapping the non-domiciled tax status, claiming that the party would “quote their arguments back at them” in campaign leaflets during a likely election year.

He told MPs: “Politics is about choices. Labour chooses to rescue NHS dentistry, not give the wealthiest a tax break. Labour’s plan is fully costed, fully funded and will make a real difference to people across the country. The Tories have left our country toothless, Labour will give our country its smile back and give its NHS back too.”

Streeting said tooth decay is “now the number one reason children aged six to 10 end up in hospital”, adding: “And we face the moral outrage of one in 10 Brits … saying they have been forced to attempt dentistry themselves because the NHS wasn’t there for them when they needed it. This is Dickensian. DIY dentistry in 21st century Britain. Is there any greater example of the decline this country has been subjected to under the Conservatives?”

He claimed Labour would fund NHS dentistry reform through scrapping the non-dom status in order to raise extra tax revenue.

Health Secretary Victoria Atkins told MPs she was “determined to fix these issues” with NHS dentistry “so that anyone who needs to can always see an NHS dentist no matter where they live in the country”.

She also warned that Labour’s plans to scrap the non-dom status could impact the number of foreign workers recruited into the NHS.

Atkins said: “As our economy grows, we on this side of the House want to attract the best and the brightest from around the world to work in our NHS, to work in our tech sector, to work in our life sciences industry, to work in our movie industry – which we may know just filmed Barbie this year – and many other industries that are thriving. Labour however apparently wants to shut the door through taxing such people on earnings they make outside the UK. I speak of course of the non-domiciled tax status.”

The health secretary, formerly a Treasury minister, said non-dom taxpayers paid £8bn in UK taxes on their UK earnings last year.

She added: “That is equivalent to more than 230,000 nurses. Labour wants to put that at risk and put the UK at a disadvantage in the highly paid, highly competitive, highly mobile international labour market.”

David Cameron says two Britons are still being held hostage in Gaza.

Asked if they are still alive, he says he does not want to say any more.

And he says there are other hostages who are “very connected to Britain”.

Asked how many British hostages have already been returned, Cameron says he does not have that figure.

Alicia Kearns (Con) says when the committee asked a similar question to an American diplomat, they could give a figure easily, and provide names too.

When pressed again, Cameron says he thinks there have been no British hostages who have been brought home. But there might be people released who are connected to Britain, he suggests.

Some pupils face detention because they don’t have devices or broadband needed for digital homework, MPs told

Sally Weale

Pupils are being given detentions after failing to complete homework which they have been asked to do online because their parents cannot afford the digital devices or broadband required, MPs have been told.

The Commons education select committee was told on Tuesday that the shift to online learning during Covid has not solved the problem of digital poverty for many families in England.

Elizabeth Anderson, chief executive of the Learning Foundation and the Digital Poverty Alliance, said recent research by Deloitte had shown that one in five children still lack access to a device that’s suitable for learning.

The problem is likely to be compounded as parents struggling in the cost of living crisis are resorting to cutting off their broadband in order to try to save money, the committee was told.

The issue is likely to become even more critical as national examinations gradually move online, putting children who do not have proper access to a digital device with a keyboard – rather than just a smartphone – at a disadvantage, the committee heard.

Anderson told the MPs:

Whether it’s remote learning or homework, more and more the expectation is you cannot complete that with pen and paper, you can only complete that online. We regularly hear about children who are receiving regular detentions because their parents can’t afford to provide them with the tools they need to do that.

David Cameron, the foreign secretary, is about to give evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee. This is what the committee has said in a news release about the subjects being discussed.

The committee is likely to explore Lord Cameron’s approach to the role; examine his broader vision and strategy for the UK’s foreign policy, as well as scrutinise his long-term priorities for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).

The committee is also likely to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas and the UK’s engagement with the Middle East and North Africa. The Committee may also examine the future of the UK’s relationship with China.

Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, has said the government will consider making cuckooing an offence. Cuckooing is when criminals take over the home of a vulnerable person, for example, someone with learning difficulties, so they can use it for criminal purposes.

During justice questions, in response to a question from Julie Marson (Con), who said cuckooing was not a victimless crime and asked if it could be made an offence, Chalk replied:

We have held a stakeholder engagement exercise on this issue … and the exercise reveals that there are civil orders and criminal offences which are available to disrupt it.

It might be, for example, that the underlying offence is a possession of drugs with intent to supply, it might be possession of firearms, there could be common assault etc.

But I do think this is worthy of further consideration, so I would invite a conversation with [Marson] in due course.

Labour could draw on changes to VAT introduced by the former Tory chancellor George Osborne in order to block wealthy parents from dodging its planned tax on private schools, PA Media reports. PA says:

Bridget Phillipson, the shadow education secretary, said the party would ensure new legislation leaves no loopholes for people to avoid paying the money if it wins the general election this year.

Education leaders have suggested that parents could sidestep some extra costs from Labour’s plan to abolish tax exemption for private schools by paying for years of schooling in advance.

In a speech at the Centre for Social Justice, Phillipson said: “We would make sure that the legislation is drawn in such a way to ensure that avoidance can’t take place. There is precedent for that. Back in 2010, George Osborne, when he made VAT changes, did something very similar.

“So we’re clear there was precedent when the legislation was drawn in such a way that it is effective in raising the money that we need to invest in our state schools.”

Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, has announced that MPs will debate the remaining stages of the Rwanda bill, the legislation intended to ensure deportations to Rwanda can go ahead, on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.

There will be six hours of debate each week.

The bill will considered by a committee of the whole house, meaning all MPs can contribute to the committee stage debates which are normally limited to members of a bill committee, and these are the debates where Tory rightwingers will try to toughen the bill. For example, they may try to remove the clause in the bill allowing individuals to appeal against deportation, or to include provisions saying ministers should ignore European court of human rights injunctions stopping deportations flights.

Tory centrists may also try to amend the bill to tighten the requirement on ministers to obey the European convention on human rights.

Mordaunt normally announces the following week’s Commons business in a statement on Thursdays, but today she made her announcement on a point of order. Asked why she was doing it early, Mordaunt replied:

If I had waited to announce this for the first time on Thursday there would have been very limited time for people to table amendments ahead of the normal tabling deadline.

Paula Vennells, the former Post Office boss, has announced that she is giving back her CBE in response to the controversy about the unsafe Horizon convictions. In a statement to PA Media she said:

I continue to support and focus on co-operating with the inquiry and expect to be giving evidence in the coming months.

I have so far maintained my silence as I considered it inappropriate to comment publicly while the inquiry remains ongoing and before I have provided my oral evidence.

I am, however, aware of the calls from sub-postmasters and others to return my CBE.

I have listened and I confirm that I return my CBE with immediate effect.

I am truly sorry for the devastation caused to the subpostmasters and their families, whose lives were torn apart by being wrongly accused and wrongly prosecuted as a result of the Horizon system.

I now intend to continue to focus on assisting the inquiry and will not make any further public comment until it has concluded.

Sir Robert Buckland, the Tory former justice secretary, also asked Alex Chalk to consider legislating to quash the Post Office Horizon convictions. In his reply, Chalk said an exceptional measures was needed. He told MPs:

These were truly exceptional circumstances. When I was a backbencher, I was on the record as saying this is the most serious miscarriage of justice since the Guildford Four and the Birmingham Six. But the clue is there were four in the Guildford case, there were six in the Birmingham case. We are talking about hundreds.

It is truly exceptional, it is truly unprecedented, and it will need an appropriate resolution.

And Sir Bob Neill, the Tory chair of the Commons justice secretary, said that if the government were to publish a bill to quash all the Post Office convictions, Chalk should check with senior judges to ensure they agree that the normal means for speeding up and grouping appeals could not deliver justice within an “acceptable timeframe”.

Chalk agreed. He said the government respected the judiciary, and would only legislate if it had exhausted all alternatives.

Alex Chalk, the justice secretary, has told MPs that he is considering bringing a bill to parliament to quash the unsafe Post Office Horizon convictions that remain unsafe.

He was responding to a question from Nadhim Zahawi, the former Tory cabinet minister, who said there were 800 unsafe convictions that have not yet been overturned. He urged Chalk to bring forward a “simple bill” to quash those convictions.

Chalk said Zahawi had put his finger on the problem “with his customary precision”. He went on:

The suggestion he made is receiving acting consideration. I expect to be able to make further announcements shortly.