Khan dismisses Sunak’s attack on his housebuilding record in London as ‘desperate nonsense’ – as it happened

• Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has dismissed as “desperate nonsense” a claim by Rishi Sunak that he has a poor record on building houses in London. (See 1.18pm and 2pm.)

• The Home Office’s “routine” housing of unaccompanied child asylum seekers in hotels is unlawful, the high court has ruled.

• The head of the private bank Coutts has resigned, less than 48 hours after the departure of his boss, the NatWest chief executive Alison Rose, saying he was taking “ultimate responsibility” for the “mishandling” of Nigel Farage’s bank accounts.

• Rishi Sunak has failed to give his backing to Sir Howard Davies, the embattled chair of NatWest Group, following the row over Nigel Farage’s bank account.

Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary for climate and net zero, has dismissed reports suggesting the Labour leadership is divided over its support for net zero policy.

There have been some reports suggestions that Miliband’s passion for green policies is not 100% shared by Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, who are more worried about the impact of measures that might raise costs for voters.

But Miliband dismissed these reports in an interview on the World at One. He said:

I am far too experienced to be worried about that kind of thing. Because the truth is you always get tittle-tattle in Westminster.

The truth is that Keir Starmer is absolutely 100% committed to the project of clean energy by 2030, which is the way to cut bills and give us energy security and tackle the climate crisis.

And he’s also absolutely committed, as is Rachel Reeves, to ramping up to £28bn a year of investment to bring the good jobs that we need for our country.

And you know what? If Labour wins the election, we will never have had a prime minister and a chancellor so committed to this agenda and I’m incredibly proud to work alongside them.

The Refugee Council has welcomed this morning’s high court ruling on unaccompanied child asylum seekers (see 11.28am) as a “landmark day for children’s rights”. The organisation’s chief executive, Enver Solomon, said:

The court has confirmed that there can be no exceptions when the rights of vulnerable children are concerned. The government should do everything in its power to ensure these children are safe and in the care of local authorities.

Nadine Dorries has been urged to honour her promise to resign as an MP by councillors in her Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Flitwick town council, which describes itself as having the largest concentration of voters of any town council in the constituency, has posted on its website an open letter to the MP saying she should quit.

In the letter Stephanie Stanley, the town clerk, says:

The last time you spoke in the Commons was 7 June 2022. You have not maintained a constituency office for a considerable time, and it’s widely understood that you have not held a surgery in Flitwick since March 2020.

Rather than representing constituents, the council is concerned that your focus appears to have been firmly on your television show, upcoming book and political manoeuvres to embarrass the government for not appointing you to the House of Lords. Councillors noted that your behaviour widely reported in the press is not in line with the seven principles of public life set out by Lord Nolan in 1995 …

Our residents desperately need effective representation now, and Flitwick town council calls on you to immediately vacate your seat to allow a byelection.

The town council says it operates on a non-party political basis.

View image in fullscreen

Opposition parties in Scotland have strongly criticised Humza Yousaf for using Scottish government resources to publish a policy paper on citizenship policy in an independent Scotland. (See 10.25am.)

Donald Cameron, the Scottish Conservatives’ constitution spokesperson, said:

People across Scotland will be appalled that Humza Yousaf is focusing on yet another self-indulgent paper touting independence. It is the wrong priority at the worst possible time.

This paper is not only a blatant misuse of public money and resources by the SNP, but it also demonstrates how out of touch they are with the public.

Neil Bibby, Scottish Labour’s constitution spokesperson, said:

Our NHS is in chaos and people are struggling to make ends meet during the worst cost of living crisis in decades – but as always the SNP-Green government is distracted by its constitutional obsession.

Humza Yousaf is completely out of touch with Scotland’s priorities and bereft of new ideas.

And the Scottish Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie said the policy paper was “more therapy for Humza Yousaf and the nationalist movement than a serious attempt to persuade people to support their cause”.

The number of permanent GPs in England has dropped year-on-year for 12 months in a row, PA Media reports. PA says:

There were 26,521 permanent qualified GPs working in England in June 2023, down 1.3% from 26,859 in June 2022, according to figures from NHS Digital.

It is the 12th consecutive month the number of family doctors has fallen year-on-year, suggesting the total is on a clear downward path.

The latest drop of 1.3% comes after annual decreases of 1.4% in March, 1.5% in April and 1.3% in May.

Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of GPs, said the figures show “the true extent of both the workforce and workload crises” GPs are facing. She said:

Our teams have been working continuously under intense workload and workforce pressures in recent years, but the latest data shows just how serious these pressures have become.

Nigel Farage has welcomed the resignation of Peter Flavel as Coutts CEO. (See 2.21pm.)

Humza Yousaf, Scotland’s first minister, has said he will not expel a former minister from the SNP over terse criticism of the party’s policies, PA Media reports. PA says:

Fergus Ewing has become a frequent opponent of Scottish government policy in recent months, including over plans to limit human activity in at least 10% of Scottish waters, the introduction of a deposit return scheme and the long-awaited dualling of the A9.

Speaking on the Holyrood Sources podcast this week, Ewing said there was a “toxic” atmosphere within the SNP group at Holyrood, claiming some in senior positions within the party and in government had not spoken to him in “well over a year”.

Asked by journalists on Thursday if the recent criticism could lead to Ewing’s expulsion, Yousaf said the former minister’s position in the party was safe.

“People aren’t going to be expelled or punished for criticising me, or criticising the party’s direction on several positions,” he said.

“We will always look to adhere to the standing orders that apply to me just as much as they apply to Fergus or Angus Brendan MacNeil.”

Later asked if there was a “toxic” environment within the party, the first minister said “not in my experience”. He added: “There’s pretty robust debate, it’s fair to say.”

View image in fullscreen

Peter Flavel is stepping down as head of Coutts, Graeme Wearden reports on the business live blog. Flavel is the second senior figure from the NatWest group to lose their job over the row that erupted after Coutts closed Nigel Farage’s account. Dame Alison Rose, the NatWest chief executive, resigned yesterday.

There are more details on Graeme’s business live blog.

Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has responded to Rishi Sunak’s attack on his housebuilding record (see 1.18pm) by accusing the PM of “desperate nonsense”.

In a statement Khan said:

This is pathetic gesture politics by the Tories in an attempt to distract from their out of touch government’s inaction on the mortgage crisis and Rishi Sunak’s failure to stand up to his own backbenchers on housebuilding. Londoners won’t be fooled in the slightest.

The Tories have a miserable record of continually blocking badly needed new housing in London across the board while Labour in London has exceeded the government’s own affordable housing targets, delivered higher council home building than the rest of England combined and built more homes of any kind than since the 1930s.

In a briefing note for journalists, Khan said that there were 25,658 “genuinely affordable” housing starts in London in 2022-23, a record high, and that 23,092 council homes had been started in London since 2018, which is the highest level of council home building since the 1970s.

He also highlighted multiple ways in which he said the Tories were holding back building in the capital, including: ministers blocking new housing developments that would have delivered hundreds of homes; funding for affordable housing being cut and delayed; limits being imposed on the construction of tall buildings in London; the government failing to extend infrastructure in the capital.

View image in fullscreen

Rishi Sunak was visiting a housing development in west London today to promote an announcement from Downing Street that it is spending £200m on housing initiatives in the capital.

In a news release, sent out to journalists but not yet on the No 10 website, Downing Street says the money will fund “densification” and brownfield regeneration in the capital. It says:

A direct allocation of £150m for housebuilding to London boroughs, bypassing the Greater London authority – to unlock development by preparing brownfield land and supporting infrastructure like new roads and green spaces. Because of the mayor’s failure to deliver the number of homes required in London over his years in office, someone working in inner London can, on average, expect to pay 17 times their earnings to buy a home – a ratio more than double the national average. This is why the government needs to change the approach, working directly with other local leaders in the capital.

Further government investment worth £53m to Old Oak West – a project that will deliver over 9,000 new homes, support 12,000 jobs, and transform the area neighbouring the £1.7bn Old Oak Common HS2 station.

The news release is particularly critical of Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London. As well as suggesting that he is to blame for London property prices being so high, it says the government will be launching its own review into housebuilding in London because, it says, the target for 52,000 new homes per year in London’s housing plan is not being met.

In a quote in the news release, Sunak says:

The mayor has failed to deliver the homes that London needs. This has driven up house prices and made it harder for families to get on the housing ladder in the first place.

That is why we are stepping in today to boost house building and make home ownership a reality again for people across this great city.

The Tories have been criticising Khan’s record on housing for years. But normally government press releases are not as implicitly party political as this one, and this could be seen as fresh evidence that Sunak has decided to adopt a more “gloves off” approach to campaigning.

(Making assessments on which party has the best record on housebuilding in London is famously complicated. This article, by Inside Housing’s Peter Apps, published during the Boris Johnson premiership, explains why.)

View image in fullscreen

In his pooled broadcast interview this morning Rishi Sunak claimed the government was taking “tough” action to stop banks closing people’s accounts on account of their views. He said:

We have passed new laws to ensure banks do treat customers fairly and they are not discriminating against people because they are exercising their lawful right to free speech.

And we’re making sure that people, if banks are going to take away their bank accounts, have an ability to challenge that and have those bank accounts re-instated through the ombudsman.

So there’s tough action that the government has taken to make sure that banks are behaving in the right way.

View image in fullscreen