Rates remain at 5.25%, but inflation heading towards 2% all-but guarantees a welcome cut – and relief for Rishi sunakBusiness live – latest updates

Huge costs, mounting opposition, negligible impacts: nothing about this absurd asylum bill appears to make any sense, says Guardian columnist Zoe Williams

 

What our politics and government need is a restoration of continuity and stability – not a premature resignation, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle

Jeremy Hunt has implied we will have an October election, but even with a boost from falling inflation figures, can Rishi sunak really hold on for the next seven months?

The Labour leader says he doesn’t “check or criticise my wife” unlike the Prime Minister

sunak dismissed 'gossip' about a Tory plot to oust him

Prime minister held key meeting with backbenchers, who are worried he is leading them to catastrophic defeat in May

Lord Alex Carlile, a cross-bench peer, compared the mounting costs of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda to staying at The Ritz in Paris

Keir Starmer takes shots at open goals while PM is running on fumes as the disasters keep coming

Sir Keir Starmer told MPs “half of Rishi sunak’s cabinet are lining up to replace him, amid growing reports of a Conservative leadership challenge. Sir Keir said it is no surprise the prime minister ruled out a spring general election while ...

The prime minister will evoke Birmingham council’s bankruptcy to encourage party figures to get behind him at the local elections in May

Sir Keir Starmer challenged Rishi sunak to call a general election in a heated exchange during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) today (20 March). The Labour leader told the Commons: “Violent prisoners released early because the Tories wrec ...

Sir Keir Starmer told MPs he has prosecuted more people smugglers than the prime minister has had helicopter rides, adding “and that is a lot”. The heated exchange took place during a discussion on the deportation of dangerous criminals dur ...

Jonathan Gullis says the Conservatives will be “kicked out hard” if his fellow Tories even entertain the idea of a leadership contest. Mr Gullis said his colleagues should “shut up, and put up” before it gets worse for their party ...

The heated exchange took place at Wednesday’s Prime Ministers Questions

Watch live as Rishi sunak faces Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, 20 March, ahead of his expected appearance before the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs.

A bill now in the Lords is intended to protect Israel from any criticism. It goes further than Thatcher ever did when she tried to stop us protesting to free Nelson Mandela, says former government minister Peter Hain

Prime minister faces questions from MPs after Lee Anderson’s defection and controversy over Frank Hester as poll says voters want new leader for election