Rishi Sunak took helicopter to housebuilding visit where he defended government’s ‘green credentials’ – as it happened | Politics

Here is a roundup of the day’s main headlines:

• Scrapping EU-era environmental protections on nutrient neutrality will allow for an additional 100,000 homes to be built in England by 2030, the government has claimed. Environmental campaigners have criticised the planned change, but the government says housing developments contribute only a small fraction of nutrient pollution and new funding is being provided to mitigate any associated increase. The changes will see the financial burden to mitigate nutrient pollution for new housing shifted from developers to taxpayers, PA Media reports.

• Rishi Sunak has defended his government’s green credentials, as environmental campaigners criticised the scrapping of nutrient neutrality rules aimed at limiting nitrogen and phosphorus in waterways. “Of course we want to get to net zero, but we just want to do that in a proportionate and pragmatic way that does not unnecessarily burden families and households in the process. We have got a proud track record on tackling climate change, we have reduced our emissions faster than pretty much any developed country,” he told broadcasters.

• The shadow housing secretary, Lisa Nandy, said housebuilders should not be asked to cover for the government’s “abject failure” on environmental policy. She said: “With housebuilding projected to fall to the lowest level since world war two and our rivers full of sewage, the Conservatives are failing on both housing and the environment. The government is responsible for environmental policy; housebuilders should not be asked to cover for their abject failure.”

• The introduction of post-Brexit checks on food, plant and animal produce arriving in Britain has been delayed for the fifth time, the government has confirmed, meaning they will not begin until the end of January next year. The decision to once again push back the beginning of new controls on imports, which was widely anticipated, means the phased introduction has been delayed by a further three months from late October.

• Rishi Sunak said he wants people to “have confidence” in his plan to curb Channel crossings, as the total so far this year approaches 20,000. The prime minister said the number of arrivals was lower than last year and this showed his plan to “stop the boats” was “working”. Provisional Home Office data shows that in 2023 so far 19,801 people have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel. This is 21% down on this time last year when more than 25,000 had already made the journey, PA news agency analysis of government figures shows.

• Downing Street has rejected Nadine Dorries’ criticism that Rishi Sunak has presided over a “zombie parliament”. The prime minister’s official spokesperson said Sunak could point to a number of achievements, including securing the Windsor framework deal with the EU and making headway in halving inflation. He said Sunak was “very much focused … on delivering for the public”, PA reports.

• Rishi Sunak welcomed the crown prince of Kuwait to Downing Street on Tuesday. The pair emerged from the front door of No 10 together, standing side by side and shook hands, PA Media reported. Sheikh Meshal al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah’s convoy did not arrive through the front gates of Downing Street, as is normally the case with world leaders. Anti-Ulez protesters are demonstrating on the road outside Downing Street but it is unclear if that was the reason for the change.

• A former minister who is to work for a Bahraini investment company has been criticised after he did not declare 13 meetings with its single largest shareholder, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, when seeking permission to take the role. Sir Gerry Grimstone, as he was then, was elevated to the peerage and handed a job in Boris Johnson’s government in March 2020, serving as minister of state for investment until July 2022.

• The foreign secretary, James Cleverly, will visit China tomorrow as part of efforts to ease tensions between the west and Beijing. He will hold talks with China’s foreign affairs minister, Wang Yi, and the vice-president, Han Zheng, PA Media reported. The UK believes that engagement with Xi Jinping’s administration is essential given its important economic and political influence around the world.

• Police chiefs have suggested the home secretary is interfering with their operational independence by demanding forces pursue all reasonable crime leads at a time when their resources are being outstripped by a rise in offences. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) raised serious doubts about an initiative Suella Braverman used to launch the government’s crime week with insistence that there was “no such thing as minor crime”.

• Notting Hill carnival should be moved and potentially held in a park, the Conservative party’s London mayoral candidate has said, following a spate of stabbing incidents. Two men are in hospital, one in a critical condition, after attacks at the festival held in the streets of west London on Sunday and Monday, while a police officer reported being sexually assaulted, PA Media reported.

• The number of people in Scotland whose death was caused by alcohol has risen again to the highest level in 14 years, although the National Records of Scotland, which produces the data, said the rise by 2% from 2022 was “not considered statistically significant”. Regardless, Scotland still has the highest alcohol-related deaths in the whole of UK, with numbers on the rise for the past decade, and opposition parties are questioning what impact the Scottish government’s flagship minimum unit pricing policy has had.

• A multimillionaire businessman with close links to the Conservative party has been told to knock down part or all of a luxury hotel that hosted the signing of Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal because he breached planning regulations. A planning enforcement notice issued by Runnymede borough council said Surinder Arora’s hotel company had until 7 October to take action at the Fairmont Windsor Park hotel near Windsor.

• Chronic under-investment, exploitation and low pay is leading to widespread poverty among workers in the care sector, according to damning research from the Trades Union Congress. As it publishes its first workforce blueprint for the care economy, the TUC argues that the “Cinderella sectors” of social care and childcare need urgent investment to head off a demographic timebomb.

That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the UK politics live blog for today. Thanks for following along.

Former minister Gerry Grimstone under fire over undeclared UAE meetings

Henry Dyer

A former minister who is to work for a Bahraini investment company has been criticised after he did not declare 13 meetings with its single largest shareholder, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, when seeking permission to take the role.

Sir Gerry Grimstone, as he was then, was elevated to the peerage and handed a job in Boris Johnson’s government in March 2020, serving as minister of state for investment until July 2022.

His time in Whitehall complete, Lord Grimstone is returning to Investcorp, a Bahrain-based investment manager with offices in Mayfair. Investcorp’s single largest shareholder, owning 20% of the company since March 2017, is Mubadala, the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. He is to serve as an adviser and the chair of Investcorp’s planned climate fund.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) approved Grimstone’s role with Investcorp after he and the Department for Business and Trade told the committee that he may have had occasional contact with Investcorp but had made no decisions relating to it.

But ministerial transparency records show Grimstone met at least 13 times with Investcorp’s key stakeholder, Mubadala, including meetings with its chief executive, Khaldoon al-Mubarak, who is also the chair of Manchester City.

There is no specific reference to shareholders in the business appointment rules, but Acoba’s guidance for ministers does say applicants should provide “detailed information about […] their involvement in relevant matters in office. Applicants must provide as much information as possible.”

Once again, the prime minister has eschewed cheaper transport opportunities for his housebuilder-related announcement, the Guardian’s deputy political editor reports below.

Downing Street has rejected Nadine Dorries’ criticism that Rishi Sunak has presided over a “zombie parliament”.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said Sunak could point to a number of achievements, including securing the Windsor framework deal with the EU and making headway in halving inflation. He said Sunak was “very much focused … on delivering for the public”, PA reports.

The Treasury, meanwhile, has confirmed that the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has appointed Dorries to be steward and bailiff of the three hundreds of Chiltern, the archaic mechanism for quitting the Commons.

It comes after the former culture secretary finally handed in her resignation over the weekend, with a byelection now set to be scheduled in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Sunak said today that he was “grateful” to Dorries “for her service both as an MP and a minister”.

He added: “We are looking forward, and delighted to support our fantastic candidate in Mid Beds, Festus Akinbusoye, who is the local candidate, the only local candidate in this election; also the local police and crime commissioner.”

Dorries’ formal exit means a motion called a “writ” can be moved when parliament returns on 4 September, giving between 21 and 27 working days for the byelection.

Libby Brooks

The number of people in Scotland whose death was caused by alcohol has risen again to the highest level in 14 years, although the National Records of Scotland, which produces the data, said the rise by two per cent from 2022 was “not considered statistically significant.”

Regardless, Scotland still has the highest alcohol-related deaths in the whole of UK, with numbers on the rise for the past decade, and opposition parties are questioning what impact the Scottish government’s flagship minimum unit pricing policy has had.

There were 1,276 alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland last year, with a mortality rate of 22.9 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022, up from 22.3 the previous year.

Alcohol Focus Scotland said the increase was “completely unacceptable” and called for the Scottish government to increase its minimum unit pricing policy – which sets a baseline price at which a unit of alcohol may be sold – to 65p “to help save many more lives”.

But Scottish Conservatives health spokesperson Sandesh Gulhane said the figures proved MUP was “simply not working”, adding:

It is increasingly proving to be a blunt instrument to tackle a complex problem.