UK politics: Starmer says ‘door remains open’ for Tulip Siddiq following her resignation as Treasury minister – as it happened

Tulip Siddiq, the Treasury minister, has resigned.She says Laurie Magnus, the PM’s ethics adviser, has said she has not broken the ministerial code. But she is going because if she were to stay she would be a “distraction” to the government.Here is the letter she has sent to the PM.Tulip Siddiq has resigned as a Treasury minister after repeated questions about her financial links to the ousted Bangladeshi government run by her aunt

Tulip Siddiq resigns as Treasury minister over alleged Bangladeshi financial links

Tulip Siddiq has resigned as a Treasury minister after accepting the government was being harmed by the furore over her close ties to her aunt, the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh now accused of corruption.Siddiq, who was the City and anti-corruption minister, stepped aside after an investigation by Laurie Magnus, the adviser on ministerial standards, into her use of properties given to herself and family by allies of the regime of Sheikh Hasina.She was not deemed by Magnus to have broken any rules over her use of the homes and he found no evidence to suggest that any of Siddiq’s assets were derived from anything other than legitimate means.The inquiry also looked into her presence at the signing of a 2013 nuclear deal between her aunt and Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The adviser accepted her explanation that she had been there only socially and as a tourist

Bangladesh files criminal case against UK minister Tulip Siddiq

Authorities in Bangladesh have filed a criminal case against the UK Treasury minister Tulip Siddiq, accusing her of misusing her position as an MP to gain influence and illegally acquire land with her aunt the ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.Siddiq has faced mounting calls to resign over her links to Hasina, who was toppled in August after mass protests across Bangladesh and is facing charges of corruption and crimes against humanity.On Monday, Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission (ACC) said it had filed a case against Hasina and her wider family over an alleged large-scale land grab of lucrative plots in a suburb of the capital, Dhaka. The case named the former prime minister as well as Siddiq.“Sheikh Hasina, in collaboration with some officials, allocated plots for herself and her family members,” said the ACC director general, Akhter Hossain

No 10 backs Rachel Reeves to remain in post for rest of parliament

Rachel Reeves will remain as chancellor until the next general election, Keir Starmer has insisted, as he warned the Treasury would be “ruthless” over public spending cuts to help meet the government’s fiscal rules.The Treasury is looking for billions of pounds of savings from departmental budgets to balance the books at this summer’s spending review, after another difficult day for the economy that saw the cost of government borrowing rise and the value of the pound fall.Starmer said that Reeves was “absolutely right” to take a tough approach to public spending after a bruising week in the markets and concern among some Labour MPs over her plan to get the economy back on track.“Yes, we will be ruthless, as we have been ruthless in the decisions that we’ve taken so far,” the prime minister said at the launch of the government’s artificial intelligence action plan in east London.“We have got clear fiscal rules, and we are going to keep to those fiscal rules, and that’s why the chancellor was absolutely right in the words that she chose to describe the approach that we will take

Charities call for Tulip Siddiq’s resignation from anti-corruption role

Tulip Siddiq should give up her ministerial responsibility for UK anti-corruption policy, a group of charities has said, amid concerns about her links to the former Bangladeshi regime of her aunt, Sheikh Hasina.The UK Anti-Corruption Coalition – which includes international groups such as Oxfam, Transparency International and Spotlight on Corruption – released a statement on Monday night urging the Treasury minister to hand over her anti-corruption role.Siddiq, who is also the Treasury minister in charge of financial services policy, is under pressure after weeks of revelations about her links to her aunt’s former regime, including the fact she lived in or owned properties paid for by Hasina’s allies.Last week, Siddiq referred herself to Laurie Magnus, the prime minister’s adviser on ministerial interests, but the group said she should lose the anti-corruption portfolio regardless of Magnus’s findings.The group said in its statement: “[Siddiq] currently has a serious conflict of interests

What does AI plan mean for NHS patient data and is there cause for concern?

UK ministers have committed to creating a National Data Library for building artificial intelligence models, as part of an AI action plan.The library will comprise state-controlled data with at least five “high-impact” public datasets being compiled. The prime minister, Keir Starmer, indicated on Monday that patient data from the National Health Service could be part of the library.Health data is a sensitive issue in an age of criminal hackers, cyber espionage by rogue states and general concerns about the robustness of AI tools. Here we answer some of the questions around the potential use of NHS data