Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenNo 10 lobby briefing – Summary 2.28pm BST Here are the main points from the Number 10 lobby briefing.The prime minister said it was very important for the government to resist amendments which could undermine our free press. Almost £50m of public money has already been spent on investigating phone hacking and establishing a further public inquiry requiring great time and expense is not a proportionate solution to allegations that have already been the subject of several extensive police investigations or ongoing investigations by the information commissioner’s office.The prime minister said the government remains committed to a voluntary system of independent press regulation. The amendment on section 40 [of the Crime and Courts Act] would force the press to sign up to a system which has already been outright rejected by the majority of publications. It is also unnecessary and disproportionate given we now have an independent and strengthened system of regulation with Ipso making continue improvements, such as the introduction of a mandatory arbitration scheme in line with Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations.Tier one applications are complex, and they require detailed consideration and verification of evidence with HMRC. Where discrepancies are identified, applicants are given an opportunity to explain them. Robust checks are essential to avoid the potential abuse of our immigration or tax system and where abuse is identified it is right that the government acts accordingly.Where there has been clear evidence that applicants have deliberately given false information to the government, the courts have upheld our refusal decisions.The police have now released all the sites for decontamination, except for the Skripal house. Clean-up work is well under way and the priority is making the sites safe so they can be returned to use and Salisbury can get back to normal. The ongoing investigation is one of the largest and most complex ever undertaken by counter-terrorism policing. Over 250 officers from across the counter-terrorism policing network have been deployed, alongside over 160 officers from Wiltshire Police and a range of experts and partners. Officers continue to trawl through over 5,000 hours of CCTV and examine over 1,350 exhibits that have been seized. Around 500 witnesses have been identified and hundreds of statements have been taken.We do not have any plans to adopt this idea.Nearly 1.3m “silver strivers” — those working beyond the state pension age — would have to start paying national insurance to prop up the social care system, under plans being considered by the government.At present, people stop paying national insurance when they reach state pension age. But under the proposed “care tax”, the 12% charge would continue to be levied, raising about £2bn a year.Liam Fox’s trade department is set to axe hundreds of officials who promote British exports to countries such as China and Brazil, in cuts that will undermine the government’s claim to be building “a global Britain”. Staff at the Department for International Trade have been told to expect up to 10 per cent of trade promotion jobs to go because of a budget squeeze, which has pitted Mr Fox against the Treasury. 1.25pm BST Dominic Grieve, the Conservative former attorney general who led the backbench revolt that saw Theresa May defeated on the EU withdrawal bill in December and who has signed an amendment saying the UK should stay in the customs union, has given an interview to the World at One. These are from the BBC’s Insaf Abbas and from MailOnline’s James Tapsfield.Dominic Grieve on Boris Johnson’s Brexit intervention: “Discussions within government are confidential… If you don’t like the collective position – at that point you have to resign.” @BBCWorldatOne #bbcwatoDominic Grieve says Boris Johnson’s ‘extraordinary bursts of behaviour’ do not respect ‘normal propriety in government’ Continue reading…
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