Cost of living latest: Starmer says energy bills freeze has ‘double benefit’ for public

A Royal Navy warship known as the “Queen’s Frigate” has sailed for the start of a three-year deployment to the Middle East.

HMS Lancaster, which was launched by the Queen in 1990 and named after her as the Duke of Lancaster, left Portsmouth Naval Base for the long-term deployment.

The Type 23 frigate is the second ship from the fleet to be based out of Bahrain. It will see its 200-strong crew rotate every four months.

On its way to the Middle East, HMS Lancaster will conduct patrols with two Nato task forces, firstly in northern Europe and later in the eastern Mediterranean.

A Navy spokesman said: “Once in Bahrain, the 200-strong crew – including a Royal Marines boarding team and Wildcat helicopter flight – will trade places like-for-like with a second crew in the UK every four months.

“Known as ‘forward deploying’, it spares ships the month-long voyage to and from the Middle East, allowing more time to be spent on patrol, with maintenance carried out in the Gulf rather than back in the UK.

“Lancaster’s sailors have trained extensively for their new mission, not least a six-week assessment package in March and April off Plymouth.”

No 10 has now admitted that Boris Johnson will only work from his holiday in Greece if it is “urgent”, hours after former minister Brandon Lewis said the prime minister’s work ethic was not waning in the final days of his premiership.

Rob Merrick has the full story:

Large removal vans have arrived outside No 10 Downing Street as Boris Johnson’s premiership enters its final weeks.

The prime minister is currently on holiday in Greece, his second summer break in a fortnight.

A senior Conservative MP has defended Boris Johnson‘s work ethic and claimed he is “continuing to work” while away on his second holiday in two weeks (Jon Stone writes).

The prime minister, who has less than a month left in office, has now reportedly jetted off to Greece for a week – shortly after returning from an earlier trip.

The holidays are taking place despite surging inflation and the threat of a looming recession.

But speaking on Monday former Cabinet minister and ex party chairman Brandon Lewis defended Mr Johnson, rejecting any suggestion that he had “thrown in the towel”.

“Even when you are not in the office in Downing Street you are working,” he told LBC radio.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy comments by an Iranian government official about the assault on author Sir Salman Rushdie were “truly sickening”.

Nasser Kanaani, the spokesman of Iran’s foreign ministry, denied involvement by Tehran and implied that Sir Salman brought the attack on himself.

Mr Lammy said: “It is truly sickening that the Iranian government has the audacity to blame Salman Rushdie and his supporters for the brutal attack on his life.

“Salman Rushdie is an inspirational writer and a courageous defender of our values. Any attack on him is an assault on free speech and liberty.

“The UK government must urgently put diplomatic pressure on the Iranian government to withdraw and apologise for these shameful comments.”

Sir Salman was attacked on Friday at an event in New York state. Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder.

The prime minister has condemned the attack.

Rishi Sunak is the sensible choice for Tory leader, the editor of Conservative Home, a blog for party members, said.

Paul Goodman, a former Tory MP who now runs the blog, advised Tory members who cannot decide on a candidate to go with MPs and back Mr Sunak, who won every round of preliminary voting.

Mr Goodman said Liz Truss’s plans for the economy could prove damaging at a sensitive time.

He said: “Broadly speaking, Sunak wants to stick with the present plan and Truss wants to change it. In the medium term, she is right: we can’t just carry on with the near-zero interest rates, quantitative easing, zombie economy model of the last ten years.

“But in the short term, Sunak is right. The combination of tax cuts, higher spending and politicians fiddling with the Bank of England’s mandate during uncertain times could spook the markets. Wanting higher rates in principle is a good thing; getting them in practice quite another, if it guarantees, lengthens or deepens recession.”

Bus operators will axe hundreds of routes unless government funding introduced to keep services running during the pandemic is continued past its scheduled end-date in October, according to metro mayors in northern England.

Half of routes will be affected “in some form” with many losing “all services” after 7pm, the four mayors claimed in a joint letter to Boris Johnson, Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor, and Grant Shapps, the transport secretary.

The letter was signed by Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, Jamie Driscoll, Mayor of North of Tyne, Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire, and Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region.

They wrote: “In each of our regions, bus operators have now notified that they intend to withdraw hundreds of bus routes.”

They went on: “Without action, the changes to bus provision will have a devastating effect on the communities affected, add to the cost of living crisis and will compromise the aims of the National Bus Strategy introduced just last year.”

The mayors added that there is “still time to prevent this”, calling for funding to be maintained “in a form which will allow a more managed transition into a new ‘post-pandemic’ bus network”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said ministers cannot join picket lines, as he reiterated his opposition to shadow cabinet members standing with striking workers.

Asked about low-paid lawyers who withdrew their labour in a fight for higher wages, he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I understand their concerns, I absolutely support the right to strike. The point I’ve been making throughout the summer on this is, that I want the Labour Party not to be in opposition but to be in government.

“Because the single most significant thing we could do for everybody who is struggling to make ends met, whether they’re on strike or not, the single most important thing we could do, is to have a Labour government and if you’re in government your job is to resolve issues, to get around the table, whether it’s rail strikes or any other sort of strikes, get people round the table, resolve the issues and you can’t be in government around the cabinet table and then go to a picket line.”

The Labour leader has been criticised by many in his party for his stance on supporting strikers, with some of his frontbench ignoring his views on joining picket lines.

Boris Johnson has been spotted shopping for groceries in Greece on his second summer holiday in two weeks.

Labour accused the prime minister of treating his final weeks in office as “one big party” as he spends more time away from Downing Street during a deepening cost of living crisis.

Greek news websites reported that Johnson and his wife Carrie were in Nea Makri, a coastal town near Athens, and only a few hours away from where his father Stanley has a villa.

The prime minister returned from a holiday in Slovenia only last week, having enjoyed a break at a mountain resort which offered “healing energies”.

The Labour leader appeared on the BBC this morning to explain his plan for an energy price cap freeze.