UK politics: Farage insults female reporter as Braverman says Reform UK wants to scrap Equality Act – as it happened

Anna Gross from the Financial Times asked a two-part question at the press conference: about whether Reform UK would create an Ice-style migrant deportation unit, and about all five of the people on the platform having been educated at private schools.Nigel Farage responded. He said sarcastically that he “loved” the FT; the day after the Mandelson story broke, its front page carried a story about a Reform councillor in Kent, he said. He said there was no point addressing Gross’s question. “Just write some silly story,” he told Gross

Nigel Farage assumes Anne Robinson role in political remake of The Weakest Link

Meet the Fockers. The shadow cabinet from hell. Rejects, losers and deadbeats. A freak show. A tribute act

What do we know about Reform UK’s frontbench team of four?

Nigel Farage has named the first four members of Reform UK’s frontbench team. Here are their briefs and what we know, so far, about their views.This budget demonstrates yet again that careful stewardship of the economy and meeting serious challenges in a serious way, thereby creating an environment for wealth creators to succeed, is always the right course. Now, the hard work of the British people is paying off.Jenrick, as exchequer secretary to the Treasury, speaks in praise of Philip Hammond’s October 2018 budget

‘Scandalous and unacceptable’: readers on the new UK entry rules for dual nationals

British dual nationals living abroad have told of their disgust, fury and distress over new UK border rules that mean they could risk being denied boarding on a flight, ferry or train.The new rules, which come into force on 25 February, have caught many by surprise and require British dual nationals to present a British passport or a “certificate of entitlement”, which costs £589, to visit the UK on their non-British passport.The changes will affect up to 1.2 million people who have moved abroad. Some have said the only option they now have is to renounce their British citizenship

‘Betrayed’: 21 Hartlepool councillors threaten to quit Labour over care budget

Keir Starmer is facing a mass resignation of Labour councillors in one of England’s poorest areas over a “betrayal” of funding for children in care.Labour councillors in Hartlepool, County Durham, said they were “between despair and open revolt” over an “unfair” cash settlement that would leave them unable to balance the books.Pamela Hargreaves, the Hartlepool council leader, told the Guardian that her group of 21 councillors, who are in overall control of the 36-member council, were considering quitting Labour this week in protest.“We feel betrayed. We feel let down,” she said

Farage expected to name Jenrick as potential future chancellor

Nigel Farage is expected to name Robert Jenrick as his potential future chancellor, as part of a series of appointments of key Reform UK politicians on Tuesday.The appointment of the recently defected former Conservative cabinet minister is likely to raise eyebrows within the party when the role had previously been widely expected to be handed to the former leader Richard Tice.Tice, a net- zero sceptic, will instead get the brief of business, energy and industry. Reports on Tuesday also suggested the party’s former chair Zia Yusuf would become home affairs spokesperson, responsible for immigration policy.Last year, Yusuf unveiled the party’s mass deportation policy, with the aim of deporting up to 650,000 people over a five-year period