James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, accused the government of undermining national security with the defence cuts announced today.(See 3.10pm.)Responding to John Healey in the Commons, Cartlidge said:Whatever the chancellor’s true grasp of economics, she’s certainly been able to force her priorities onto the country, getting the MoD to scrap major capabilities before they’ve undertaken the department’s much vaunted strategic defence review.They’ve killed off North Sea oil, undermining our energy security; this week they are killing off the family farm and threatening our food security.

Today they’re scrapping key defence capabilities and weakening our national security.Labour have made their choices; they own the consequences.Cartlidge also said that when he was a defence minister in the last government he was told that the former flagships HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion could have used in the event of a war.He said:I personally sought and received assurances from the Navy’s leadership… that in the event of a full-scale war fighting scenario where the priority for the navy was littoral capability, those ships could have still been regenerated to a condition able to fight, and the crews found.Permanently scrapping the landing ships means we remove that capability entirely.

Britain’s longest-serving MPs, Labour’s Diane Abbott and the Conservative Sir Edward Leigh, have issued a joint call urging the Commons to reject the assisted dying bill, arguing it is being rushed through and puts vulnerable people at risk.Writing for the Guardian, Abbott and Leigh – the mother and father of the house – said there had been insufficient scrutiny of the law and urged parliament to instead focus on better health and care services.Cuts to the winter fuel allowance could force 100,000 pensioners in England and Wales into relative fuel poverty, government analysis has shown, as ministers come under mounting pressure over measures in last month’s budget.Internal government modelling shows the decision to remove the benefit from millions of pensioners will push about 50,000 more people into relative poverty next year, and another 50,000 by the end of the decade.The defence secretary, John Healey, has denied claims that a cost-cutting scrapping of a series of British navy vessels has been a “black day” for Britain’s defence.

Two former Royal Navy flagships, a frigate and two support tankers will be decommissioned as part of cost-saving measures, the Ministry of Defence has announced.The move was blamed on a “dire inheritance” left by the last administration, and the decision to scrap defence capability also includes a 14-year-old army drone.Rural Labour MPs have called on the government to reassure worried farmers, in an attempt to quell the escalating row over inheritance tax on agricultural property.Thousands of farmers and landowners descended on Whitehall on Tuesday to protest against the plans, which they said will cause family farms to have to sell up in order pay the new 20% rate on assets above a £1m threshold.Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer today criticised “unhelpful” commentators, such as Nigel Farage, who after the Southport attacks insinuated that a conspiracy was keeping the truth from the public.

Assistant commissioner Matt Jukes said such critics knew police were limited by legal rules about what they can say during a live criminal investigation and he also said misinformation that fueled the riots was “turbo charged” from abroad, including by bot farms and some state-linked actors,Justin Welby will complete his official duties as archbishop of Canterbury by 6 January, the Feast of Epiphany, and will do little in the way of public engagements over the next few weeks, Lambeth Palace has announced,Welby resigned as archbishop last week after a damning report concluded he took insufficient action over one of the C of E’s worst serial child abusers,No timetable for his departure was given at the time,Defence experts have expressed some reservations about the decision to decommission obsolete ships, helicopters and drones announced by John Healey today.

Matthew Savill, military sciences director at the Royal United Services Institute defence think tank, said the cuts mainly affected equipment that was approaching retirement,And he said the Watchkeeper drones were “probably obsolete”,Defence experts have expressed some reservations about the decision to decommission obsolete ships, helicopters and drones announced by John Healey today,(See 3,10pm.

)Matthew Savill, military sciences director at the Royal United Services Institute defence think tank, said the cuts mainly affected equipment that was approaching retirement.And he said the Watchkeeper drones were “probably obsolete”.He went on:But the fact that defence either can’t crew them, or is prepared to cut them to make very modest savings over five years in the current international environment, is an indication of just how tight resources must be in the MoD right now.And Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor at Sky News, posted this on social media.How can the UK talk tough on defence while at the same time failing to ensure sufficient funding for the military to at the very least be able to mothball “outdated” warships, helicopters & drones?A key lesson from Russia’s war in Ukraine has been that old equipment brought out of deep storage is better than no kit.

That’s all from me for today.Tom Ambrose is now taking over.Justin Welby will complete his official duties as archbishop of Canterbury by 6 January, the Feast of Epiphany, and will do little in the way of public engagements over the next few weeks, Lambeth Palace has announced.Welby resigned as archbishop last week after a damning report concluded he took insufficient action over one of the C of E’s worst serial child abusers.No timetable for his departure was given at the time.

A statement from Lambeth Palace said Welby “intends to complete his official duties by the upcoming Feast of Epiphany (6th January)”,It added: “Archbishop Justin intends very little public-facing activity between now and Epiphany, but plans to honour a small number of remaining commitments,”The date on which Welby formally ceases to hold office will be agreed with the privy council, the statement said,From 6 January, the archbishop of Canterbury’s official functions will be delegated to Stephen Cottrell, the archbishop of York, the number two in the C of E,This week, Cottrell told the Guardian that Welby’s decision to quit was “honourable”.

He said he did not expect to be a candidate for the role.Britain’s top counter-terrorism officer today criticised “unhelpful” commentators, such as Nigel Farage, who after the Southport attacks insinuated that a conspiracy was keeping the truth from the public.Assistant commissioner Matt Jukes said such critics knew police were limited by legal rules about what they can say during a live criminal investigation and he also said misinformation that fueled the riots was “turbo charged” from abroad, including by bot farms and some state-linked actors.One post on X spreading information got 27m impressions, police said.Jukes was giving on update on the riots in late July and August, the worst across England since 2011.

It followed the murder of three school girls in a Southport dance class which led to false information and lies about the case, spread at least in part by those on the extremist far right.Police revealed almost half of the 1,590 people arrested were aged under 35, almost all male and 17% were aged 17 or under.Police spent £31.7m quelling the disorder and are racing to find the causes and how to respond better if there is any repeat.Juke said only a fraction of those arrested, some 6% or 99 people arrested, were for online posts, with the majority were detained for alleged violence.

He said:I think there is a legend that has emerged that the thought police were out arresting hundreds and hundreds of people for having opinions.The reality is that hundreds and hundreds...were arrested because of their suspected involvement in violence, disorder or criminal damage.

Jukes said the majority of the disinformation came from the UK, as well as foreign state backed media, such as in Russia, and also from bot farms overseas “turbocharging” the spread of lies to sow division.He revealed counter-terrorism police tracked the online spread.We would see tremendous spikes around midnight as bots kicked in, and we would see amplification, automation, of that reach of those messages which were at times hateful, at times misinformation.Police in England and Wales follow strict contempt of courts after a suspect is arrested.Jukes said some commentators knew this yet claimed the truth was being hidden from the public as tensions rose:It is deeply unhelpful if people who know we cannot speak in fulsome terms, who know that the principal concern is delivering justice for victims, if they present that as conspiracy and cover-up.

Asked if he was referring to Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, Jukes said: “There are many people who have gone down that path.”The counter terror chief also said online platforms needed to do more.We absolutely need online platforms to show commitment to tackling misinformation …We do need responsible commentators.It is unhelpful when people, who I suspect fully well know what the constraints are on reporting during ongoing legal proceedings, point to limited disclosures or limits on what can be said as evidence of cover-up and conspiracy.Farage was widely criticised for comments he made at the time of the riots following the Southport killings, including a video he released suggesting the police were withholding information about the person responsible.

The Local Government Association has welcomed Angela Rayner’s plans to reform right to buy.In a statement, Adam Hug, the LGA’s housing spokesperson and the Labour leader of Westminster city council, said:The LGA has long-called for reform to right to buy as the system in its current format does not work for local authorities and those most in need of social housing.Steps taken by government already this year to amend the scheme are positive, and the measures set out today in this consultation will help further in supporting the replacement of sold homes and to stem the continued loss of existing stock.Angela Rayner, the deputy PM and housing secretary, has announced a consultation on plans to restrict the right to buy.In a news release, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said that the proposals would make right to buy – the provision allowing council tenants to buy their home at a discount – “fairer and more sustainable”.

The government is consulting on various proposals including:Cutting discounts available,Under the current rules, discounts can be worth as much as 70% of a property’s value,The government is considering cutting the maximum discount to 20%,Increasing the minimum period someone has to have been a tenant to be eligible from 3 years, the current minimum, to 5 years, 10 years, or even longer,Excluding newly-build social housing from being eligble for right to buy.

Replacing the current replacement targets with a like-for-like replacement target,Increasing the period during which councils have the right to ask for repayment of all or part of the discount received when a property is sold from 5 years to 10 years,Commenting on the proposals, Rayner said:For millions of people in the position I was once in, that first step into the secure social housing that changed my life has become a distant dream,Too many social homes have been sold off before they can be replaced, which has directly contributed to the worst housing crisis in living memory,We cannot fix the crisis without addressing this issue – it’s like trying to fill a bath when the plug’s not in.

A fairer right to buy will help councils protect and increase their housing stock, while also keeping the pathway to home ownership there for those who otherwise might not have the opportunity to get on the housing ladder.In its news release, Rayner’s department said that right to buy in its current form was creating a social housing crisis.It said:Fewer than 48,000 social homes have been built or acquired using Right to Buy receipts since 2012, despite over 124,000 council homes sold through the scheme across the same period.The housing crisis inherited by the government has seen the demand for social housing currently at an all-time high, with over 1.2 million people stuck on housing waiting lists as well as record numbers of households, including over 150,000 children, living in temporary accommodation.

The full consultation document is here.James Cartlidge, the shadow defence secretary, accused the government of undermining national security with the defence cuts announced today.(See 3.10pm.)Responding to John Healey in the Commons, Cartlidge said:Whatever the chancellor’s true grasp of economics, she’s certainly been able to force her priorities onto the country, getting the MoD to scrap major capabilities before they’ve undertaken the department’s much vaunted strategic defence review.

They’ve killed off North Sea oil, undermining our energy security; this week they are killing off the family farm and threatening our food security,Today they’re scrapping key defence capabilities and weakening our national security,Labour have made their choices; they own the consequences,Cartlidge also said that when he was a defence minister in the last government he was told that the former flagships HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion could have used in the event of a war,He said:I personally sought and received assurances from the Navy’s leadership… that in the event of a full-scale war fighting scenario where the priority for the navy was littoral capability, those ships could have still been regenerated to a condition able to fight, and the crews found.

Permanently scrapping the landing ships means we remove that capability entirely.Ukraine has fired UK-made Storm Shadow missiles into Russia for the first time since the beginning of the conflict, Dan Sabbagh and Andrew Roth report.Amy Sedghi has full coverage of this story on our Ukraine war live blog.Kemi Badenoch has put the finishing touches to her front bench team, and such are the depleted Conservative ranks that as a Tory MP, you had a better than one-in-two chance of getting a job.Including Badenoch herself, 64 Tories are shadow ministers or whips, which is just under 53% of the total of 121 Conservatives in the Commons.

The full front bench list is longer, but some people are named as both whips and junior ministers in departments.There are no fewer than twenty whips, which at a ratio of one per six Tory MPs is not far short of a personal whipping service.We would not normally publish the full list of shadow frontbench appointments, but it does not seem to be available anywhere else online (and certainly not on the news section of the Conservative party’s website, which has not been updated for more than a month) and so here it is, taken verbatim from the CCHQ news release.The full Shadow Cabinet is:Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer: Mel Stride MPShadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: Dame Priti Patel MPShadow Home Secretary: Chris Philp MPShadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland: Alex Burghart MPShadow Secretary of State for Defence: James Cartlidge MPShadow Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero and Shadow Minister for Equalities: Claire Coutinho MPShadow Secretary of State for Education: Laura Trott MPShadow Secretary of State for Justice: Robert Jenrick MPShadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade: Andrew Griffith MPShadow Health and Social Care Secretary: Ed Argar MPShadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Kevin Hollinrake MPShadow Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Victoria Atkins MPShadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions: Helen Whately MPShadow Secretary of State for Transport: Gareth Bacon MPShadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport: Stuart Andrew MPShadow Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology: Alan Mak MPShadow Secretary of State for Scotland and Shadow Minister of State for Energy and Net Zero: Andrew Bowie MPShadow Secretary of State for Wales and Shadow Minister for Women: Mims Davies MPOpposition Chief Whip (Commons): Dame Rebecca Harris MPShadow Leader of the House of Commons: Jesse Norman MPShadow Leader of the House of Lords: Lord TrueCo-Chairmen of the Party: Nigel Huddleston MP & Lord JohnsonShadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury: Richard Fuller MPAlso attending:Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Leader: Julia Lopez MPThe Conservative Party Shadow Ministers in the Commons are:Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury: Gareth Davies MPShadow Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury: James Wild MPShadow Economic Secretary to the Treasury: Mark Garnier MPShadow Minister of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: Wendy Morton MPShadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs: Andrew Rosindell MPShadow Minister of State for the Home Office: Matt Vickers MPShadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Home Office: Alicia Kearns MPShadow Minister for the Cabinet Office: Mike Wood MPShadow Minister of State for Defence: Mark Francois MPShadow Minister of State for Justice: Kieran Mullan MPShadow Minister of State for Education: Neil O’Brien MPShadow Minister of State for Health and Social Care: Dr Caroline Johnson MPShadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Social Care: Luke Evans MPShadow Minister of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: David Simmonds MPShadow Parliamentary Secretary for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Paul Holmes MPShadow Minister of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Robbie Moore MPShadow Parliamentary Secretary for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs: Neil Hudson MPShadow Minister of State for Business and Trade: Harriet Baldwin MPShadow Parliamentary Secretary for Business and Trade: Greg Smith MPShadow Minister of State for Work and Pensions: Danny Kruger MPShadow Minister of State for Transport: Jerome Mayhew MPShadow Minister of State for Culture, Media and Sport: Saqib Bhatti MPShadow Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Media, and Sport: Louie French MPShadow Minister of State for Science, Innovation and Technology: Dr Ben Spencer MPShadow Minister of State for Energy and Net Zero: Andrew Bowie MPShadow Minister for Women: Mims Davies MPShadow Solicitor General: Helen Grant MPShadow Paymaster General: Richard Holden MPThe following appointments have also been made to the Opposition Whips Office, supporting Opposition Chief Whip Rebecca Harris MPOpposition Deputy Chief Whip: Joy Morrissey MPOpposition Deputy Chief Whip: Gagan Mohindra MPSenior Opposition Whip: Mike Wood MPSenior Opposition Whip: Greg Smith MPSenior Opposition Whip: Alicia Kearns MPSenior Opposition Whip: Paul Homes MPSenior Opposition Whip: David Simmonds MPSenior Opposition Whip: James Wild MPSenior Opposition Whip: Jerome Mayhew MPSenior Opposition Whip: Richard Holden MPJunior Opposition Whip: Harriet Cross MPJunior Opposition Whip: Ashley Fox MPJunior Opposition Whip: Rebecca Smith MPJunior Opposition Whip: Katie Lam MPJunior Opposition Whip: Ben Obese-Jecty MPJunior Opposition Whip: Rebecca Paul MPJunior Opposition Whip: Andrew Snowden MPJunior Opposition Whip: Greg Stafford MPJunior Opposition Whip: Nick Timothy MPFurthermore, the following Lords appointments had been made, working with Lord True in his capacity as Shadow Lords Leader:Deputy Shadow Lords Leader: Earl HoweOpposition Lords Chief Whip: Baroness Williams of TraffordOpposition Lords Deputy Chief Whip: The Earl of CourtownOpposition Lords Attorney General: Lord Wolfson of TredegarShadow Treasury Minister: Baroness Neville-RolfeShadow Treasury Minister: Lord AltrinchamShadow Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs Minister: Lord CallananShadow Home Office Minister: Lord Murray of BlidworthShadow Home Office Minister: Lord Davies of GowerShadow Defence Minister: The Earl of MintoShadow Defence Minister: Baroness GoldieShadow Advocate General for Scotland and Shadow Justice Minister: Lord Keen of ElieShadow Heath and Social Care Minister: Lord KamallShadow Education Minister: Baroness BarranShadow Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Minister: Baroness Scott of BybrookShadow Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Minister: Lord JamiesonShadow Energy Security and Net Zero Minister: Lord Offord of GarvelShadow Work and Pensions Minister: Viscount Younger of LeckieShadow Work and Pensions Minister: Baroness Stedman-SottShadow Business and Trade Minister: Lord Sharpe of EpsomShadow Science, Innovation and Technology Minister: Lord MarkhamShadow Science, Innovation and Technology Minister: Viscount CamroseShadow Transport Minister: Lord MoylanShadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister: Lord RoboroughShadow Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Minister: Lord BlencathraShadow Culture, Media, and Sport Minister: Lord Parkinson of Whitley BayShadow Cabinet Office Minister: Baroness FinnShadow Northern Ireland Minister: Lord CaineShadow Scotland Minister: Lord Cameron of LochielShadow Wales Minister: Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton WaldristShadow Women and Equalities Minister: Baroness Stedman-ScottBaroness Bloomfield of Hinton Waldrist, Baroness Stedman-Scott, The Earl of Effingham, Lord Sandhurst and Lord Jamieson will also serve as Shadow Lords Whips.In his Commons statement John Healey, the defence secretary, also announced new retention payments to encourage members of the armed forces to stay longer.

He explained:I can announce today that I am introducing, from April, a new £30,000 retention payment for a cohort of tri-service aircraft engineers who sign up for [an] additional three years of service.This will affect and be open to around 5,000 personnel in total.And from January, a new £8,000 retention payment for army personnel who served four years, supporting 4,000 personnel each year for three years.So 12,000 troops in total.John Healey, the defence secretary, has told MPs that two Royal Navy flagships are included in a list of equipment being decomissioned to save up to £500m over five years.

In a statement to MPs, he said that “outdated military capabilities” were being taken out of service.He told MPs:These decisions are set to save the MoD £150m over the next two years and up to £500m over five years, savings that will be retained in full in defence.As PA Media reports, Healey said he was decommissioning HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark which he described “landing ships both effectively retired by previous ministers but superficially kept on the books at a cost of £9m a year”.He said he would retire HMS Northumberland “a frigate with structural damage that makes her simply uneconomical to repair”, 46 Watchkeeper Mark I uncrewed aircraft systems, and a 14-year-old army drone “which technology has overtaken”.He said 14 Chinook helicopters “some over 35 years old [will be] accelerated out of service”