No title found

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is speaking to Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips this morning. She has been spearheading efforts to repatriate tens of thousands of British people stuck in the Middle East. It comes as Donald Trump continues to criticise Keir Starmer.

Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador to the UK, has spoken to Trevor Phillips.

Kelin has told Sky News that Russia "is not neutral" in the conflict in Iran – and backs the regime in Tehran.

Check out the clip below – and watch the full interview later this morning.

Having previously seemed to have enjoyed a close relationship, things seem to have soured between Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer, mostly due to the UK's reticence to provide UK bases to the Americans when they launched their attack on Iran.

Starmer has said overnight the country needs "seriousness, not political games" as he reflected on how the conflict in Iran is affecting people in the UK.

It followed Trump further criticising the PM over his response to the Iran conflict, saying: "We don't need people that join wars after we've already won!"

Writing in the Sunday Mirror, Starmer said: "While opposition parties seek to undermine Britain on the world stage, my Labour government is focused on protecting British people at home and abroad."

Meanwhile, former PM Sir Tony Blair is also reported to have weighed in, saying at a private event that he believes the UK should have supported Trump immediately.

"I am not saying anything that I haven't already said to the government … I think we should have backed America from the very beginning," the former Labour prime minister said at an event hosted by Jewish News, according to the Daily Mail.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper is speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips this morning.

As foreign secretary, she has been one of the most important ministers in the efforts to repatriate the tens of thousands of British people stuck in the Middle East following the outbreak of war between Iran and the US and Israel.

Also speaking to Trever is Andrei Kelin, the Russian ambassador to the UK.

And finally, the shadow home secretary Chris Philp will be speaking to Trevor on behalf of the opposition.

Throughout the show, we'll be hearing from the panel of former Conservative minister Michael Gove, retired union boss Mick Lynch, and Politico's Anne McElvoy.

Kemi Badenoch says she "supports" the government's move to extend the period someone has to be in the UK for before they can apply for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR).

Speaking to broadcasters, the Tory leader says that the home secretary "is doing a lot better than many Labour backbenchers".

"I welcome the moves that she has made, certainly on restricting even legal immigration."

However, she said that Labour's plans to pay asylum seeker families up to £40,000 to leave the UK voluntarily are "not… sensible".

Badenoch wrote to the prime minister yesterday, saying she welcomed Shabana Mahmood's changes to the asylum system, and offered Tory votes for the policies if Labour backbenchers refuse to pass them.

"In the national interest, and recognising that a large number of immigrants who entered our country in the past five years will be able to apply for ILR in the very near term, I am making an offer to lend Conservative Party votes to pass this legislation."

She said she was "concerned" Sir Keir Starmer could "water down" the policies amid a brewing rebellion by Labour MPs.

Kemi Badenoch says "the government is not yet getting a grip" on the situation in the Middle East – although "it is good that repatriation flights are happening".

The Tory leader says that British bases "are not getting the protection that they need".

"We have allies like Bahrain, Cyprus who are being attacked, because they have British bases on them. We need to protect them."

She says her party would reverse the imminent scrapping of the two-child benefit cap in order to pay for what she says will be 20,000 extra troops.

She also accused the government of changing their position on strikes – somethingDowning Street rejected earlier.

In a separate interview with Sky News, she says the UK should "be trying to take out the missile launch capability that Iran has, which is actually carrying out a lot of these missile attacks on British bases in Bahrain and in Cyprus."

Asked whether she is comfortable with how the US is conducting the war, she said the Trump administration was "theatrical" but "capable".

She reiterated that she wouldn't have joined in the initial wave of US strikes.

"The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes."

Reportedly relayed to the Mail on Sunday while he was leader of the opposition in 1994, many will now wonder why Tony Blair did not rely on his own words when deciding whether to join the US in the invasion of Iraq nearly a decade later.

The spectre of a second Gulf War hangs over all talk of UK foreign intervention, but it is felt most acutely on the Labour benches.

When Sir Keir Starmer announced on Sunday that he had given permission for US warplanes to fly defensive missions into Iran from UK bases, he pointedly referred to events two decades ago saying, "we all remember the mistakes of Iraq".

He now finds himself with the polar opposite problem to Tony Blair – an apparently fraying relationship with the US borne out of his decision to initially say no to facilitating attacks on Iran.

Add into that, allies in the region sounding off about the apparent lack of a sufficient military response from the UK to help repel Iranian reprisals.

Labour MPs are backing calls for the government to increase the student loan repayment threshold to more than £33,000, Sky News can reveal.

It's one of two options being tabled by the left-leaning Good Growth Foundation, which could save some graduates almost £400 a year.

Another option would be to cut the 9% repayment rate to 6% and extend the loan term by up to 10 years.

Both would be 'cost neutral' – possibly appealing to a government that's strapped for cash but keen to win over angry graduates.

Labour MP Lloyd Hatton, himself repaying a Plan 2 loan, describes Kemi Badenoch's intervention on the issue "truly staggering," considering it was the Conservatives who set up the system.

Another Labour MP, Danny Beales, says while Labour was "right" to commit to the triple lock on pensions, it now comes down to a question of "generational fairness".

"Burdening young people with a lifetime of ever-increasing debt is not sustainable…and not good for the sort of society we want to be," he adds

The latest interventions will only add to the pressure being piled on ministers. It's most definitely a question of when, not if, change will come.

Peter Mandelson is no longer on bail, and has been released under investigation.

A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: "A 72-year-old man arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office has been released under investigation. The investigation remains ongoing."

Lord Mandelson was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on 23 February after Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle passed information suggesting Lord Mandelson was a flight risk.

He was released on bail in the early hours of the following morning.

Lord Mandelson's lawyers called the claim a "baseless suggestion," saying he had already agreed to attend a voluntary interview.

Sir Keir Starmer held a call with the Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of Bahrain, yesterday.

He offered to send for jets to provide defensive air cover to Bahrain – which the prime minister announced in his news conference yesterday.

The pair agreed for their operational teams to work together on plans for the jets in the coming days.

Starmer also held calls with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands, and the President of France, Chancellor of Germany, and Prime Minister of Italy yesterday on the Middle East conflict.