Starmer grilled by senior MPs amid growing Labour rebellion over Waspi women – live

Sir Keir Starmer has backed Tulip Siddiq, Downing Street indicated, after the Treasury minister was named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh.

Ms Siddiq is alleged to have been involved in brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh in which large sums of cash are said to have been embezzled.

The Labour minister’s aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was until recently prime minister of Bangladesh for more than 20 years.

She is facing a wider investigation by an anti-corruption commission in the south Asian country after being deposed.

As economic secretary to the Treasury, Ms Siddiq is responsible for tackling corruption in the UK’s financial markets.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman indicated Sir Keir continues to have confidence in Ms Siddiq.

She has “denied any involvement in the claims” accusing her of involvement in embezzlement, according to No 10, and continues to maintain her responsibility as a minister.

Pressed about whether there was any conflict of interest in Ms Siddiq’s involvement in the 2013 deal, the spokesman said: “I can’t speak to events that happened prior to a minister’s time in government.”

He added there was a “very clear declaration process” for ministers, which had been followed.

Downing Street insisted the Government was working to get HS2 under control as officials admitted they did not know how much it would cost or when it would be completed.

In a report released on Monday, HS2 Ltd estimated that the cost of building the railway would be between £54 and £66 billion in 2019 prices – between £67 and £83 billion in current prices.

But appearing before the Commons Public Accounts Committee on Thursday, the Department for Transport’s top civil servant said these figures were not “reliable” and an agreed estimate was unlikely to be produced until “well into 2025”.

Dame Bernadette Kelly said: “I say with great regret, sitting before the committee, that is the situation.”

Both the department and HS2 Ltd have committed to a “reset” of the project in order to control costs and establish a more accurate baseline for assessing performance, while Downing Street said it had already made announcements to get the project under control.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The Transport Secretary has asked HS2 to urgently provide updated and clearer estimates of the project as soon as possible, and we’ve made it the number one priority of the new chief executive to drive these costs down.”

He added that the most recent estimates from HS2 Ltd had been made “ahead of the rebaselining work that has been commissioned” and before the Government’s “fresh announcements to get this project under control under new leadership”.

A senior minister in the government of Georgia is among five people from the country who have been sanctioned by the UK for links to human rights violations.

Georgia’s interior minister Vakhtang Gomelauri is one of the high-ranking officials now banned from travelling to Britain and subject to an asset freeze.

The move follows a crackdown on demonstrations, civil society and the media in the Caucasian nation after the ruling political party, Georgian Dream, paused the country’s tilt towards Europe.

The UK has also paused all support for the Georgian government and is restricting engagement with its leading politicians.

Others facing sanctions are Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, deputy minister of internal affairs, and three policing figures: Sulkhan Tamazashvili, Tbilisi police department director, Zviad Kharazishvili, chief of the special tasks department, and his deputy Mileri Lagazauri.

A Conservative former minister has pressed the Government to fast-track Ukraine’s Nato membership, amid concerns over whether Donald Trump will maintain US support.

This comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer spoke with the US president-elect earlier this week, where he is said to have “re-iterated the need for allies to stand together with Ukraine”.

In the Commons on Thursday, Father of the House Sir Edward Leigh said the UK should “stiffen the sinews” when it comes to Mr Trump, adding: “We must fast-track Nato membership.”

Defence minister Luke Pollard replied: “We have made clear that we’ll support Ukraine for as long as it takes, and support them on their irreversible path to Nato membership.

“It would be wrong for me to speculate on the policies of the new US administration, but it’s certainly true that the safety of the United States, just as the safety of the United Kingdom, relies on Putin not winning in Ukraine.

“That is the reason why we’re continuing our support for our Ukrainian friends, and that when the new administration takes office, further, such discussions directly, will be able to take place.”

Chairman of the defence committee Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi also pressed the Government on what steps are being taken during this “critical juncture”.

Water bills should freeze while sewage threatens Santa swims and surfing, an MP has said.

Ben Maguire called for new limits in the Commons on Thursday, after the watchdog Ofwat said it will allow firms to raise average bills by £31 a year over the next five years.

Surf therapy charity The Wave Project cancelled its annual Santa Surf event at Newquay’s Fistral Beach in Cornwall last month, according to a post on its chief executive Ramon Van de Velde’s LinkedIn account.

He said “an ocean full of sewage is not a safe space – not good for your health and wellbeing” after a storm overflow discharge, and said the state of waterways is “a political issue, and something our politicians can and should solve”.

Mr Maguire, the Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, told the Commons: “North Cornwall has world-class beaches and rivers but Santa swims have been cancelled due to the constant dumping of raw sewage.

“Meanwhile, water companies receive millions from billpayers but then the very next day give it away to their shareholders.”

He called for a “total ban on water bill rises” until the end of the sewage dumping “scandal”, which he described as “the best gift (Environment Secretary Steve Reed) could give (his) constituents this Christmas”.

The Prime Minister said he was not in favour of blanket safe and legal routes for asylum seekers to come to the UK.

Although he said safe routes “can play a really important role” and praised schemes such as the Afghan resettlement programme, he added more work needed to be done “upstream” to prevent people feeling they need to flee their homes.

Asked whether he would be supportive of more blanket safe routes, he said: “No, and I’ve never been supportive of blanket safe and legal routes, but I believe in the Afghan scheme, I believe in the Hong Kong scheme, I believe in the Ukraine scheme, I think they’re good examples of safe and legal routes for people fleeing awful circumstances where we’ve got an obligation.”

Sir Keir Starmer has said he would not do anything differently if given the chance to relive his five months in power, despite the turmoil and criticism he has faced since coming to office.

Closing off questions to the Prime Minister at the Liaison Committee of senior MPs, chairwoman Dame Meg Hillier asked: “Is there anything that you would do differently if you were starting out now, knowing what you know?”

Sir Keir replied: “No. We have had to do tough stuff, we are getting on with it and I am very pleased to be delivering from a position of power, rather than going around the division lobbies losing every night.

“I have had too much of that.”

The Prime Minister has defended his decision not to set out a date for spending 2.5% of Britain’s GDP on defence until a strategic defence review had been completed.

He said: “I do think it’s important that we have the strategic review because that is looking into the risks and challenges that we face as a country, what our current capability is and whether we need therefore to make changes to match the risk and challenges to the capability that we have.

“Therefore, what I’m reluctant to do is commit large sums of money to the budget unless and until we know the outcome of that strategic review, because this money needs to be spent well and it will only be spent well if it’s spent at the end of that exercise.”