Good morning and welcome to our coverage of UK politics with the news that the government is to release hundreds of documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment as ambassador to the US later today.
The documents will not be released until after Prime Minister’s Questions, meaning MPs will not be able to directly press Keir Starmer on their contents.
Chief secretary to the prime minister, Darren Jones, has defended the timing of the release.
Jones, who will make a Commons statement to set out the release of the documents, said: “We were always teed up to report in early March with the first tranche of documents, which is what we’re doing this afternoon.
“Because I run the Cabinet Office, at the centre of government, it was always my responsibility to give those updates to the House of Commons and statements always come after Prime Minister’s Questions.”
He told Times Radio: “There will be a second tranche of documents that will come at a later stage.”
A pro-Palestinian march in London on Sunday has been banned by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, after police warned of a risk of “serious public disorder”. The annual Al Quds Day march has drawn criticism over apparent backing for the Iranian regime after its organisers expressed support for the country’s late leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
MPs voted 304 to 203 in favour of the courts and tribunals bill, which passed its second reading in the Commons. It includes measures to scrap some jury trials, remove the automatic right of appeal from magistrates courts and introduces a new criminal court.
Hereditary peerages will be abolished before the next king’s speech after a deal was struck granting life peerages to some Conservatives and cross-benchers losing their seats. On Tuesday evening the upper chamber accepted a final draft of the House of Lords (hereditary peers) bill, marking the end of its passage through parliament and clearing the way for it to be added to the statute book.
I’m afraid due to staffing constraints there will be no comments on the blog today. Many apologies for this.
