Menzies claims should be investigated by police, Labour says as Starmer has full confidence in Rayner - live
Mark Menzies accused of using campaign funds to pay off ‘bad people’ and medical expenses after being locked in a flat late at night
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Sir Keir Starmer said he has “complete confidence” in Angela Rayner as he faced further questions on the row over whether Labour’s deputy should have paid capital gains tax on the sale of her former council house.
Speaking on a visit to Teeside on Thursday, the Labour leader said Ms Rayner had already answered questions on the row and would fully cooperate with the investigation set up by Greater Manchester Police.
He told broadcasters: “Angela’s answered no end of questions on this, she said she’s happy to answer any further questions. I have complete confidence in her and the police investigation, I think, allows a line to be drawn in relation to this.”
Earlier, Labour demanded that the police launch a probe into allegations a suspended Tory MP misused campaign funds in the latest sleaze scandal to rock Rishi Sunak’s party.
Mark Menzies has lost the Conservative whip after reportedly using thousands of pounds given by donors to fund medical expenses and having made a late-night call to a 78-year-old aide asking for help because he had been locked up by “bad people” demanding money for his release.
Labour chair Anneliese Dodds slammed the “stagnation, scandal and sleaze” engulfing Mr Sunak’s party and asked her Conservative counterpart Richard Holden whether the police had been informed about the allegations, which the party has known about for months.
Mark Menzies ‘quite troubled’, Shapps suggests
Suspended MP Mark Menzies is potentially someone who is “quite troubled,” Grant Shapps has suggested.
The defence secretary was speaking after it was reported that Mr Menzies allegedly used campaign funds to pay off “bad people” after being locked in a flat late at night.
“It sounds to me that there is potentially somebody who’s quite troubled in the mix here,” he told Times Radio.
Watch the clip below:
Cut foreign aid budget to boost defence spending - Jenrick
Future Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has suggested the foreign aid budget should be cut to fund a boost in defence spending.
The former immigration minister told The Sun’s Never Mind the Ballots podcast that a third of the foreign aid budget should be immediately diverted to bolster Britain’s defences.
He said: “To govern is to choose and if you’re faced with a difficult choice, I think protecting our national security and investing in defence is more important today than our international aid budget.”
Starmer to set out plans for ‘historic’ £1.8bn investment in Britain’s ports
Labour plans to kick-start a “historic investment” in Britain’s ports as part of its green spending plans.
The party has already committed to spending £1.8 billion over five years on upgrading the UK’s port infrastructure if it wins the next election as part of its flagship Green Prosperity Plan.
On a visit to the North East of England on Thursday, Sir Keir Starmer is expected to say the money will lead to the most significant upgrade of Britain’s ports in a generation and billions more pouring into the UK’s energy industry from the private sector.
MPs hear call for creation of minister to ‘protect and cherish’ flags
MPs have heard a call for the creation of a ministerial post to oversee use of national symbols as well as introducing legislation to protect the “cherished national flag”.
Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell (Romford) said people were “quite angered” by attempts to alter the appearance of flags.
In the Commons on Thursday, Mr Rosindell said: “I think many people will be quite angered by the way certain national organisations have tried to change our national flags – the cross of St George and the Union Jack.
“Isn’t it time that we protected and cherished our national symbols by appointing a minister of the crown to oversee this from the Cabinet Office. And will he also look at the Union Flag Bill of 2008 which enshrines in legislation the protection of our cherished national flag?”
Labour ‘confident’ Rayner has done nothing wrong - Miliband
The Labour Party is “confident” that Angela Rayner has done nothing wrong and will exonerated by the police, Ed Miliband has said.
The shadow energy security and net zero security defended his colleague while promoting Labour’s plans for UK ports.
“She has been clear. She is confident. We are confident, she has done nothing wrong. She has complied with the rules,” Mr Miliband told Sky News.
Watch more of the interview here.
Watch: Deputy PM delivers speech on economic defences
As we reported earlier, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden is delivering a speech in which he was expected to outline plans to bolster the UK’s ability to deal with “economic security shocks” such as the rise in energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He was also expected to announce new curbs on trade and investment with China and other countries with frosty relations with the UK.
You can watch his speech at Chatham House live on our YouTube channel:
Live: Oliver Dowden speaks on economic security at Chatham House
Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden delivers a speech on economic security. Watch more on Independent TV: https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/editors-picksLike ...
‘I just don’t know the answer’: Shapps unable to say if police should investigate Menzies claims
Grant Shapps said “I just don’t know the answer” when asked if police should investigate allegations that one of his colleagues used campaign funds to pay off “bad people” who had locked him in a flat late at night.
The defence secretary said he was not privy to any of the details of Mark Menzie’s case but that a process was in place to establish all the facts and that the Conservative Party was investigating the allegations.
Mr Menzies denies any wrongdoing. Watch part of the interview below:
Yet another Tory MP in a sleaze scandal takes us ‘Back to Basics’
MP Mark Menzies has been suspended by the Tories over allegations he used party funds to pay off ‘bad people’ who locked him in a flat, adding to the impression of a rerun of the Nineties sleaze that led to Blair’s Labour landslide, says John Rentoul
Read John’s piece in full here:
Yet another Tory MP in a sleaze scandal takes us ‘Back to Basics’ | John Rentoul
MP Mark Menzies has been suspended by the Tories over allegations he used party funds to pay off ‘bad people’ who locked him in a flat, adding to the impression of a rerun of the Nineties sleaze that led to Blair’s Labour landslide, says John Rentoul
ICYMI: Mark Menzies: Who is the Tory MP suspended over alleged misuse of funds?
Mr Menzies is the Ayrshire-born Tory MP for Fylde, Lancashire, who won his seat at the 2010 general election.
The University of Glasgow graduate spent years at some of Britain’s biggest supermarkets including Marks & Spencer, which he joined as a graduate trainee in 1994 .
He has been an active member of the Conservative Party since 1987 and was president of his university’s Conservative Association.
Full report:
Mark Menzies: Who is the Fylde Tory MP suspended over alleged misuse of funds?
Mark Menzies is being investigated by the Conservative Party
Watch: Shapps clashes with Kay Burley over Mark Menzies sleaze scandal - ‘Do you think it is funny?’
Grant Shapps clashes with Kay Burley over Mark Menzies sleaze scandal
Grant Shapps clashed with Sky News host Sky Burley as he was quizzed over the latest sleaze scandal to hit the Conservatives. Mark Menzies is the latest Tory MP to have his whip suspended. Mr Menzies is alleged to have used thousands of pounds given by donors to fund medical expenses and to have made a late-night call to a 78-year-old aide asking for help because he had been locked up by “bad people” demanding money for his release. Ms Burley asked Mr Shapps on Thursday (18 April): “Eight independent MPs, former Tories... what’s that saying about your party and the state of British politics?” Mr Shapps appeared to smirk and replied: “I thought I was on to talk about two wars. “Do you think it’s funny?”, Ms Burley asked.
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