Andy Burnham had a formal meeting with Manchester City’s chair Khaldoon Al Mubarak at an investment summit, chatted to him in the stands at a star player’s testimonial game and was accompanied by staff from the club on official overseas visits, the Press Association reports. PA says:

Details of the prime minister’s contacts with the scandal-hit club and its Abu Dhabi owners during his time as Greater Manchester mayor were released by the combined authority.

Burnham told MPs that “all of my dealings” with Manchester City’s owners would be published.

A spokesperson for the Greater Manchester combined authority said:

In October 2021 Andy Burnham, in his role as mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.

In his capacity as mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.

Also during his time as mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of mayoral international visits. This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.

Ed Davey also asked Burnham to bring together a coalition of countries willing to condemn President Trump for the deal he has agreed to buy Russian diesel.

Burnham ignored this question when he replied to Davey, but the Tory MP Roger Gale challenged him on it again later. Gale asked Burnham to unequivocally condemn “this act of treachery” by Trump.

Burnham replied:

I did make it clear in my statement that, when I heard news, I was immediately on the phone to President Zelenskyy offering any help that I could provide.

And I think where Britain can best provide help is in trying to bring people back together to get a solution that works for Ukraine. And you have to think about that more than anything in these circumstances - what will be most helpful?

Edward Leigh, the Conservative father of the Commons, asked if Burnham would view this as a reasonable statement. This is the statement he asked the PM to endorse.

I’ve been elected by my MPs to serve a full term of government. I’m going to get on with bread and butter issues such as the care system, pensions, asylum. And of course we would like a good, close relationship with our partners on security in Europe.

But I say this to the people – this is the prime minister speaking – I am very wary about reopening the whole Brexit wars …

And I give this absolute commitment that I would not seek to join the EU unless there was a general election first and I offer the British people a full referendum.

Burnham replied:

Can I say to the father of the house that I stand by every single one of those words.

I am not reopening the referendum. I respect the referendum result … but what I will do is take a pragmatic approach.

When I can boost growth in the British economy, when I can increase cooperation to get a grip on the boat crossings across the channel, I will do those things where I believe they can be in the country’s best interests.

Burnham rejected Badenoch’s claim that his comment about Russia on the Rest is Politics podcast meant he did not accept the legitimacy of the Brexit referendum. He said “no such thing”, he told MPs. He went on:

It is a matter of record that Russian actors sought to interfere in the 2019 general election. And we think it is inconceivable that this was the first time.

In his response to Badenoch, Burnham said that her comments about the proposed EU-UK deal revising the Brexit settlement implied that she wanted to preserve the status quo.

He went on:

I’m sure I heard her say at her conference that increasing growth would be the operating principle of any government that she leads.

So how can she justify turning her back on a deal that is potentially on the table now to add billions to the UK economy? How can they justify turning their back on farmers and the food industry?

And referring to her attack on his negotiating tactics, Burnham added sarcastically: “Because the Tories were so good, weren’t they, at negotiating deals with our with our partners?”

In her response to Andy Burnham, Kemi Badenoch criticised him for focusing on Brexit at a time when she said he should be focusing on issues like the cost of living.

On Europe, she accused him of failing as a negotiator, because he had already revealed “his entire negotiating hand”.

And she accused him of suggesting the result of the Brexit referendum was illegitimate with his comment about Russian interference.

He implied that the referendum result was illegitimate because of Russian interference. Where has this come from? We all remember in 2018 the head of MI5 said that there was no evidence that Russia had influenced the EU referendum result.

Even this morning, his own foreign minister could not say if the evidence existed. So will he confirm here and now whether he believes the referendum result was legitimate?

Burnham confirmed that he wanted to open a discussion about the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

If we are serious, if we are serious about promoting growth, controlling immigration, upholding our values and security, it is a conversation we must have.

The status quo is not good enough for Britain.

Worse, it would be a major dereliction of duty to turn away.

We need to take a calm, clear-eyed, rational look at the world as it is today to consider what is best for our country.

Our immediate priority is securing a successful outcome at the summit, and I believe we should then set up a serious dialogue about the different options for our relationship in the long term.

At every stage, the British public will be the boss, and I am clear that public opinion currently supports a pragmatic approach like the one I am suggesting.

Burnham confirms the next EU-UK summit will be on 20 November.

This summit presents an opportunity to make progress on two crucial issues boosting UK growth, and controlling illegal immigration.

On the table is a trade deal on food and drink products, a deal on emissions trading, progress towards linking our energy systems, a new youth experience scheme and deeper cooperation on immigration.

The summit will also be an opportunity to raise our concerns about Made in Europe, and it is clear to me that there is an opportunity to make progress in all of these areas.

Together, these deals will add the equivalent of over £10bn per year to the UK economy by 2040, with the potential to add significantly more. We should not turn our backs on this opportunity.

Burnham turns to the plot against RAF Fairford that led to the US withdrawing its bombers.

The home secretary will update the house regarding the incident at RAF Fairford, but I can confirm our assessment that it is highly likely to have been coordinated in Iran, almost certainly directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

We will not tolerate these threats on our soil.

We will crack down on Iran’s use of criminal networks, using our full range of powers to target them and their funding streams, and we will bring further sanctions to restrict the capacity of Iran and the IRGC to do us harm.

Burnham says he welcomes President Trump’s announcement of an energy ceasefire in Ukraine. He says:

I welcome President Trump’s announcement yesterday of a reciprocal energy ceasefire.

President Zelenskyy has assured me Ukraine would immediately implement it when a start date is confirmed, and I will be discussing this further with him in the coming days.

(Burnham is being tactful. This is the ceasefire that Trump announced when Zelenskky knew nothing about it.)

Andy Burnham is making his Commons statement. He says it will cover the UN general assembly that he attended, and he says it will cover related developments too.

But he starts by welcoming the new MP for Holborn and St Pancras, Sagal Abdi-Wali.

He goes on:

What a journey from child refugee to parliament and what a country, that this story of hope could happen here.

Jennifer Rankin is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent.

The EU and UK summit will take place on 20 November in Brussels, a senior Brussels official has announced, ending months of uncertainty about the event.

The EU-UK summit - the second gathering of its kind - will be hosted by European Council President António Costa and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

“The European Union and the United Kingdom are like-minded partners, united by common values and shared interests,” said Costa, a former Portuguese prime minister, who chairs summits of the EU’s 27 leaders.

He said:

Our security and prosperity are closely intertwined, making a strong partnership between us essential. By deepening our co-operation, we can strengthen our ability to address the challenges of our time, strengthen our resilience and promote stability in Europe and beyond.

At the November summit, the two sides hope to sign three agreements: a food-and-drink deal to ease Brexit red tape; a pact linking the EU and UK’s emissions-trading systems, so avoiding European carbon taxes on British businesses; and a youth mobility scheme, enabling under 30s to live, work, study and travel for a time-limited period on both sides of the channel.

The agenda was agreed by Keir Starmer, who ruled out the UK rejoining the EU, its single market and customs union.

EU officials have also said the summit would be an occasion to discuss the future of the relationship, while stressing the UK needs to define what it wants.

One of Andy Burnham’s top priorities for the EU relationship is to ensure the UK is not disadvantaged by the bloc’s ‘Made in Europe’ laws that could favour EU manufacturers in strategic sectors, such as renewable energy, nuclear and electric cars.

Germany is leading a push for an inclusive definition of Made in Europe to include the UK, but France wants to ensure only EU companies can benefit from public subsidies and contracts in these sectors. The EU is not expected to reach agreement on a key Made-in-Europe law until December, meaning the issue will not be settled by the summit.

Here is some reaction to the Reform UK asylum plans (see 9.53am, 11.35am and 1.41pm).

The Greens said Nigel Farage was wrong about what counts as a “normal country”. (See 11.17am.) The Green MP Siân Berry said:

Reform is dangerously pitting funding for the NHS against upholding basic human rights for asylum seekers, all while supporting US-style private healthcare for the UK for the enrichment of its billionaire backers.

The Green party’s idea of a ‘normal country’ is one which stands by international treaties, and where those fleeing war and persecution are treated with human decency. It is also a country where the richest pay their fair share and our public services are properly funded.

Bridget Phillipson, the Labour chair, accused Farage of copying Restore Britain, the small, far-right party led by Rupert Lowe.

This is a clear sign of desperation and weakness. Nigel Farage is casting around for more and more extreme policies as he tries to deal with scandals, police investigations and a growing challenge from Restore — this is a carbon copy of their policy.

Running away from basic decency by entirely abandoning those escaping war and persecution might look to Reform like a way of winning a bidding war with other parties on the right, but the vast majority of British people will reject it as an assault on our common values.

But Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said Farage was actually copying his party. He said:

These proposals largely copy Conservative policy from a year ago. Banning asylum claims by illegal immigrants, abolishing the immigration tribunal and ending Labour’s resettlement routes are all existing Conservative policy.

A breach of the UK’s cyber defences is “likely, if not inevitable,” Britain’s AI minister has warned, as he unveiled new work under way aimed at preparing the country for serious incidents involving autonomous agents, the Press Association reports. PA says:

Kanishka Narayan said developers must “build machines that leave us human beings in charge” as the world crosses the threshold into “the age of superintelligence”.

In his first speech since his role was elevated to cabinet level, he confirmed that scientists at Britain’s AI Security Institute were running tests on the latest models, including Google’s Gemini, to ensure “robust safeguards”.

It marks a reversal of the White House ban on UK access to the latest models from major American tech firms including Anthropic and OpenAI following lobbying from the minister.

Google previously said it would restrict access to Gemini to only a vetted group of cyber security experts to avoid misuse by hackers, but Narayan said it would be among systems “rigorously” examined by UK scientists.

The British government will also explore strengthening parts of the cyber security and resilience bill and its wider regime to ensure key services such as hospitals and utilities are better protected from emerging risks, he said.

At a press conference in west London, Narayan pointed to an incident in Australia earlier this year, in which a rogue OpenAI agent hacked a government website and accessed private data.

“The Australian government has said that no personal medical records are known to have been accessed, and there is no evidence of wider compromise, but the incident should concern us,” he said.

The minister added: “It concerns me. It seems likely, if not inevitable, that our own cyber defences will be breached.”

Reform UK has published a policy document this morning about its plans to not allow any new asylum claims for five years. (See 9.53am.) Peter Walker says what it is proposing is “a hostile environment on steroids”, adding:

There would be migration checks everywhere. This would, inevitably, be vast numbers of other people caught up in it.

Here is an extract from the document.

A Reform UK government will direct every organ of the British state, both local and national, to make it impossible to live in Britain illegally. This will involve several large policy shifts, and many smaller changes. Overall, we expect it to produce a major increase in voluntary departures.

Currently, immigration enforcement capacity is extremely weak. Just 12,791 illegal-working visits were conducted in 2025. By contrast, there were 350,000 food hygiene visits, 51,020 non-domestic fire safety audits, and 13,200 HSE workplace inspections. There were tens of thousands more across trading standards, environmental health, housing and licensing inspections.

Currently, these visits do not include an immigration check. But this could be easily incorporated. Immigration checks do not require highly technical qualifications, and the officials that conduct these visits should be trained to also conduct a basic migration check. This would increase immigration enforcement capacity by a factor of at least 10, and up to 40.

These checks would feed data back to Deportation Command and the Migrant Identification Centre, increasing their ability to identify illegal migrants, leading to a large increase in voluntary and enforced departures. Revenue shared with local governments generated via fines on those employing illegal workers will encourage local cooperation, which in turn will generate more data for Deportation Command.

Downing Street has said that Andy Burnham does not think Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit campaign affected the result.

Asked if that was the implication of the PM’s comments to the Rest is Politics podcast (see 10.33am), the PM’s spokesperson told journalists at the lobby briefing this morning:

Given everything we know about Russia, it is inconceivable they did not seek to use the referendum to their benefit. But as the minister [Stephen Doughty] said this morning, we do not believe they have succeeded.

The spokesperson said the PM “absolutely accepts the referendum result”.

After repeated questioning the spokesperson added: “Yes, we do believe the referendum result to be legitimate.”

Q: Do you accept that under your plans to deport asylum seekers, some of them could be sent back to countries where they might be tortured or killed?

Zia Yusuf said that would not happen.

We’re not going to be sending people back to be tortured or killed.

There would be third-country options where it was not safe to send an asylum seeker back to their home country, he said. He added:

We’re going to need to [have those options]. We are not idiots.

Q: Do you think there might be a point where Britain should stop supporting Ukraine?

Farage said that no one’s support for Ukraine was limitless. Even Andy Burnham would not suggest that his support for the country was limitless, he said.

Farage suggested he was backing Ukraine now.

But he went on:

This is one of the most corrupt countries on earth, all right? We know that.

I’ve been very, very worried about where some of our money has gone.

And, goodness me, Zelenskyy’s administration has been rocked by corruption claims, which perhaps makes at some point a general election there an important thing to do.

But I am in no doubt at all that [Russian president Vladimir] Putin now poses a greater threat than he’s posed at any point …

I’ve never said we shouldn’t support Ukraine, ever. But I have said I would have a keen look to make sure British taxpayers’ money is not being swallowed up in corruption.

(Farage is exaggerating. While Ukraine does have a corruption problem, in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, it ranks 104 out of 181 countries, implying it is a long way off being among the worst performers.)

Q: Do you back Donald Trump saying it is time for Volodymyr Zelenskyy to be replaced as president of Ukraine?

Farage replied:

Trump and Zelenskyy have a somewhat tempestuous relationship, so [Trump saying Zelenskyy should go] was not any particular surprise.

At some point Ukraine needs an election. Of course that’s true if it’s to be a country that aspires to have Western style values.

As to when that election comes, we’ll have to see.

I mean, we did have an election during world war two, a point that seems to be completely forgotten. But then people’s knowledge of history now appears to be pretty pathetic.

Zelenskyy says Ukraine should not hold a presidential election while the war continues, and that it would not be legal anyway because martial law is in force.

Farage is right to say that Britain held a general election in 1945 while the war was still going on. But it was the first election for 10 years, because the normal law requiring regular elections was suspended, and it did not take place until July 1945, two months after the war in Europe had finished. The war against Japan did not end until August.

Q: Do you agree with Donald Trump’s plan to buy diesel oil from Russia?

Farage said he didn’t. But he went on to accuse the EU of hypocrisy, saying:

There is a point you ought to write about – that is, who has been buying vast amounts of Russian petrochemicals, who’s been buying huge amounts of Russian gas, who’s been helping fund for the last five months, much of the last five years, the Ukraine war? Germany and the other countries in the European Union. And it’s a point that never, ever, ever, ever, ever gets made.

In response to a question from a Sun reporter, Farage complained about the Sun giving positive coverage to Kemi Badenoch today. He said:

[It’s] almost like a desperate attempt by the establishment ecosystem to keep the two-party system and the appointments to quangos and the OBEs and the knighthoods and the membership of the House of Lords. ‘Let’s not change anything. Let’s leave everything as it is. It doesn’t matter that Britain’s going to hell on a handcart. As long as we’re OK. That’s all that really matters.’

And I think that’s what’s going on.

I’m going to say this: the Conservative party cannot win the next election.

Do you know why? Literally they’ve disappeared in the Midlands, in the north. And I think in counties like Kent and Essex, they even on a good day could not come back with a fraction of the seats they won back in 2019, let alone the last election. So that is the point that I would make to you.

Farage seemed to be referring in particular to this column by Trevor Kavanagh in today’s paper.

Q: [From the Kent Messenger] What do you say to businesses in Kent who say Brexit has made life harder for them?

Farage replied:

There’s no doubt that for some businesses Brexit makes life marginally harder.

It’s also true that, for some businesses who do their business outside of the European Union, Brexit has made their lives easier.

But let me say this to you – 95% of Kent businesses do no business overseas whatsoever. They do their business in this county or neighbouring counties or somewhere in the United Kingdom. Why should they be subject to rules that are designed for international trade between giant companies of multinationals?

Again, this is one of the points of Brexit, making life easier for men and women running their own companies, acting as sole traders.

And who was it that had the chance, with a stroke of a pen, to get rid of 4,000 of those regulations that had been agreed by everybody, but decided not to? Well, I’ll tell you what her name was. Kemi Badenoch [who was business secretary in the last government].

Q: Andy Burnham says Russia interfered with the Brexit vote. Does this taint the result? And do you think you gained from Russian interference?

Farage replied:

The prime minister is a liar. Yes, a liar.

Boris Johnson, when he became foreign secretary, one of the first questions he asked was, ‘Was there seen to be Russian interference in the referendum campaign?’ And the answer was no.

But I can give you a stronger answer than that. And that’s Stephen Doughty, the minister, Foreign Office minister, who was on the Today programme this morning, who within 24 hours of Andy Burnham making that outrageous comment, rowed it back and said even if there was some, it made no difference. [See 9.28am.]

There was no Russian interference. And the Russia hoax has run all the way through this.

And I particularly have to mention my friend and supporter Arron Banks, who was severely libelled over this. But in the end, I’m pleased to say, [he] won in the high court.

Farage went on to criticise Burnham’s argument that Brexit has done more harm than good. He said:

And [Burnham] says Brexit has done more harm than good. Well, I don’t think our growth figures are anything to write home about. But I tell you what, they’re a damn sight better than France and Germany and Italy.

Farage admitted that Brexit has caused more “inconvenience” for people trading with the EU. But, when it was necessary to protect borders, there would always be “some level of inconvenience”, he said.

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, is starting his press conference now. There is a live stream here. He is talking about illegal immigration, and claiming that he just wants the UK to get back to being a “normal country” in the sense of being a state able to control its borders.

If any journalists are short of a question, they could ask about Andy Burnham saying Farage is “very significantly responsible” for Britain being deadlocked over the past decade.

Burnham told the Rest is Politics:

I don’t know whether Nigel Farage has got the appetite that he once had. We will see.

I certainly wouldn’t be one of those who would write him off. I think people have done that before at their peril …

I don’t think it’s a politics of the kind that Nigel provides [that the UK needs], because he’s given Britain a decade of division and drift. I would hold him very significantly responsible for our failure to move forward in the last decade.

Many commentators said the best moment in Kemi Badenoch’s party conference speech last week came when she attacked ethnonationalists, and people like Suella Braverman who suggest black people can’t be English.

Andy Burnham liked it. He told the Rest is Politics:

I thought Kemi Badenoch did a very brave thing at her conference this week. In some ways, she did something similar to what I did at Liverpool, where she spoke from real personal experience. And that gave her the power to make that point that she did about the racism that we see in politics these days. And that clear dividing line she drew with others on the right, I thought was a real moment in British politics.

In his Rest is Politics interview, Andy Burnham said he found the US proposal to livestream the execution of a mass killer by firing squad “abhorrent”.

Asked if Britain would take a stand on this, he replied:

It’s something that I can’t say I ever want to see anywhere in the world. It’s something that I find quite abhorrent in many ways. But I only want to speak for what we will do, and why we will do it.

Burnham said the government did not have to provide a “constant running commentary on everybody else”. But it should be clear about “what we stand for, what we believe is right and wrong.” He went on:

Let Britain stand for something in a world that seems to change every day.

Andy Burnham made his comment about Russian interference in the Brexit campaign (see 9.28am) in an interview with Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart for their podcast, the Rest is Politics. The full interview is available today for podcast members, but the producers have released extracts to journalists.

Here is the full quote on Russia and Brexit. In it, Burnham specifically addressed the argument made by the Conservative party today – that he should not be raking up the past. Burnham said the government had not done enough to tell people about the extent to which Russia is interfering in western politics.

On Brexit, he said:

I asked the question coming to Downing Street, ‘Was there interference in the 2016 referendum from Russia?’ And I’ve had the clear answer that, ‘Yes, there was.’

These things are important now to put clearly on the record, and I believe, help voters in Germany and France understand that some of this politics is instigated via our enemies, namely Russia.

And, I think we’ve been too much on the back foot on that, actually. And we haven’t informed people sufficiently about the extent to which people are seeking to disrupt the political process from overseas.

Burnham also said he had discussed this issue with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, when they met in Berlin last week. Burnham said:

We have had a decade of drift and division that has caused more harm than good. In my view, we are a more fractious country than we were. We have a weaker sense of direction. And these are all the things I’m trying to fix as prime minister.

I want to draw a line on that decade … And one thing I did say to Chancellor Merz yesterday is, ‘We need to support you in taking on the threat that you face and particularly the type of politics that you’re facing.’ He was saying to me that the AfD is clearly linked to Russia, funded, I believe.

There is certainly misinformation, disinformation that is emanating from Russia into German politics, as I heard yesterday. And I’ve asked the question myself coming into this role, because I gave a speech to the UN recently on this very topic.

I don’t think we knew back then the extent to which there was state-sponsored interference in the British democratic process.

Nigel Farage is set to announce a pledge to ban anyone from being granted asylum for five years if Reform were elected, the Press Association reports. PA says:

The Reform UK leader will announce a plan this morning to suspend the asylum system for a full parliamentary term and declare void any applications in progress.

All asylum tribunals, legal refugee routes and resettlement schemes will be scrapped.

A Reform government would not hear the around 90,000 outstanding asylum and humanitarian protection appeals and instead deport the claimants.

The party would immediately close resettlement schemes that home secretary Shabana Mahmood recently said would reopen, with around a quarter of those admitted to the UK expected to be Palestinians and women and girls from Afghanistan.

Reform says there is “no mandate” for such schemes and that anyone who has arrived under them would be deported.

Any refugees granted asylum in the last five years would have their cases reviewed by the Home Office under the plans.

Farage told The Telegraph: “The country is currently facing a national security emergency and the first duty of government is to protect its citizens. We cannot accept more asylum seekers while we still have no idea how many people are in the country illegally and the threat they pose. A Reform government will always put British people first and protect our borders.”

The party will also pledge to use tariffs to force countries to take back migrants.

Summing up his announcement on social media this morning, Farage said:

Today, I am announcing that a Reform UK Government will SHUT DOWN the asylum system.

This is a national security emergency and must be dealt with.

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has praised Andy Burnham for confirming that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the 2016 Brexit referendum. (See 9.28am.) In a statement, he said:

I’m not going to agree with Andy Burnham on everything, but this statement needed to be said by a prime minister. After the Conservatives suppressed the truth for years, this took courage.

We must do far more to protect our democracy from attack by the Kremlin and other hostile states, before it is too late.

Good morning. The last time Andy Burnham gave a statement to MPs after a recess, it went on for more than three hours. This prompted Kemi Badenoch to make a lewd joke later about the PM’s stamina (which she repeated at a party conference reception with an additional line about how she just had to “sit back and lie there”.) Today we are getting another post-recess, potentially wide-ranging statement from the PM, but the mood might not be so cordial.

Quite a lot has happened since MPs were last in the chamber almost a month ago, and they will want to ask the PM about issues like the cost of living, North Sea oil and gas, the Iran war and Ukraine. We have not been told yet exactly what Burnham’s statement will cover. But, as Aletha Adu reports, Burnham will talk about Brexit, restating what he told Labour’s conference about how he thinks it has done more harm than good and making the case for trying to find a better, closer relationship with the EU.

The statement will come after 3.30pm

Burnham has also given an interview to the Rest is Politics podcast and in it he confirmed that Russia interfered in the Brexit referendum. This is one of those statements, quite common in politics, which are simultaneously unremarkable and newsworthy. Unremarkable – because it has been obvious to anyone reading the news for the past decade that the Russians were trying to help the leave campaign. And newsworthy – because it is not something that any previous PM has been keen to say.

For some years ministers have been using the line – set out in 2020 in the government’s response to the intelligence and security committee’s report on the threat posed by Russia – that “we have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU referendum”. That implies there is evidence of unsuccessful interference. But in the past prime ministers have not said that explicity. Post-2016 Tory PMs, whether they voted leave or remain, did not want to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the leave vote, and Keir Starmer was also reluctant to poke his stick into that particular hornets’ nest.

Burnham is taking a different approach. In his interview, Burnham was not asked, and did not say, if he thought that Russian interference had an impact on the result. Stephen Doughty, a Foreign Office minister, has been giving interview this morning and he told Times Radio:

The result is the result, and I think the prime minister has been very clear that he’s talking about attempts to interfere. The security minister has spoken about this before. I’m confident that both the British people and the British state are able to respond to and defend against these types of threats, but we need to be very honest that those threats exist.

(“I think the PM has been very clear” is the sort of thing a minister says when what they mean is “Of course, the PM wasn’t clear at all, but I’m happy to give you the line now.” Doughty later told LBC the Russians “haven’t succeeded in their many, many attempts to undermine our [democratic] processes”.)

The Conservatives have criticised Burnham for even raising the topic. Andrew Bowie, the shadow energy secretary, told Times Radio this morning:

That Brexit referendum was a legitimate vote. People voted in this country in record numbers to leave the European Union. And I actually think it’s very dangerous and divisive of the prime minister to reopen this debate in such an explosive fashion.

Here is the agenda for the day.

11am: Kanishka Narayan, the AI minister, gives a speech.

11am: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, and Zia Yusuf, its home affairs spokesperson, hold a press conference.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

2.30pm: Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

Afternoon: MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) will vote on a no confidence motion in Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin first minister, over her support for a protest against the proposed Orange Order march down the Garvachy Road.

After 3.30pm: Andy Burnham makes a statement to MP.

Late afternoon: Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, makes a statement to the Commons on the safety of MPs.

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