The chief executive of the Resolution Foundation has hit out at plans to phase out the £20-a-week increase to universal credit in the autumn, calling it "political and economic madness".

Writing on Twitter, external, Torsten Bell said it would mean a hit to families' income as inflation spikes, with his think-tank predicting this could hit 4% by the end of the year.

He added that the people affected by the cut will not largely be those who have been able to save during the pandemic, saying the economic recovery is likely to be "more bumpy" than some are predicting.

He also said it would undermine efforts to shield people's incomes from a drop to economic output, one of the government's "success stories" in the pandemic so far.

Image source, Reuters

James Brokenshire has resigned as security minister, telling Boris Johnson that his recovery from treatment for lung cancer is "taking longer than anticipated".

In a letter to the prime minister, the Conservative MP said the "frustrating recurrence of my lung cancer" means he thinks it best he stands down to "focus on restoring my health".

Mr Brokenshire, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2018, had stepped back from the role in January this year ahead of having surgery.

Mr Johnson said he fully supports the decision, and looked forward to welcoming him back "as soon as possible".

Pressure on government over UC changes to comepublished at 14:42 British Summer Time 7 July 2021

14:42 BST 7 July 2021

Nick Eardley
Political correspondent

The uplift in universal credit has been a huge boost to some during the pandemic – adding more than £1,000 to budgets.

But it costs billions of pounds. And as the Treasury grapples with the cost of the pandemic, some believe the money should be cut.

There are, however, a number of prominent and influential Tories who want it to stay.

Not just former DWP ministers, including Iain Duncan Smith, who brought in universal credit. But also many new Tory MPs, representing northern seats the party won from Labour in 2019.

This is going to be a big issue in the coming weeks – and the government is going to come under a lot of pressure – not just from opposition parties.

Boris Johnson has been answering questions from MPs at the weekly Prime Minister's Questions session.

He's about to face a more select group at 3.30pm - the Liaison Committee, made up of the MPs who chair the Commons select committees.

Committees, such as the health, Treasury or defence select committees, have a remit to start inquiries into particular areas of interest, and also to question ministers and secretaries of state about their jobs.

Mr Johnson last faced the committee's grilling in March - you can read what happened then here.

Plans to phase out the £20-a-week increase to universal credit have been announced.

Labour has been calling for the boost to continue and six former work and pensions secretaries urged ministers not to end the uplift.

Universal credit is a benefit for working-age people, claimed by more than 5.5 million households in the UK, which was introduced to replace six benefits and merge them into one payment.

Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey told MPs earlier the boost - introduced in April last year to help deal with the economic effects of Covid - will face an "adjustment".

Campaigners say the extra money - which is worth about £1,000 a year - has made the difference for some families between getting by and falling further into poverty.

Image source, PA Media

Conservative MP Sir Graham Brady has been re-elected as chairman of the influential 1922 committee of Tory backbenchers.

It means he has defeated a challenge from former junior minister Heather Wheeler, who was widely regarded as Downing Street's preferred candidate.

Sir Graham has held the post, often referred to as the "shop steward" of Tory MPs, since 2010.

The World at One
BBC Radio 4

Shadow Health Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, tells Radio 4's The World at One that the economy needs to get moving again, but the government has not set out all the data yet.

The projection of 100,000 infections a day is "massive", he says and ministers have not given any detail of what they think the level of hospital admissions will be or how many people may get Long Covid.

This government needs to "spell out" the implications of allowing infections to rise this level, he says and keep mask wearing in place alongside "proper isolation payments" for those forced to quarantine.

People will "find it extraordinary" that you won't be able to get lateral flow tests for free from the end of this month, he adds, and that you don't need to record the results.

He says: The government's plan "simply isn't going to work".

The UK politics correspondent for Bloomberg says Boris Johnson seems to have "learned" from his response to Keir Starmer last week on the case of Ollie Bibby, with his response to Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi today.

At PMQs last week, the Labour leader highlighted the case of Ollie Bibby, 27,who was not able to see his family as he died in hospital.

Mr Johnson said he "shared the grief of Ollie and his family and millions of people up and down the country".

But Penny Bibby - Ollie's mum - said she felt Boris Johnson "dismissed" the question.

Sky's political correspondent, Kate McCann, says Mr Dhesi's question was "pure anger and hurt".

Intense debate over lifting of restrictionspublished at 13:24 British Summer Time 7 July 2021

13:24 BST 7 July 2021

Laura Kuenssberg
Political editor

This is a huge change that is about to come - after more than a year of living with all of these restrictions in England

Since the government's announcement on Monday, there's been really intense political, scientific and medical debate about whether it's the right thing to do or not.

What was interesting is that at PMQs Keir Starmer was trying to get the same information that journalists have been trying to get from the government, in the last few days.

What does the government expect in terms of new hospitalisations?

What does the government expect in terms of the number of people who may lose their lives over the next couple of months?

Boris Johnson just didn't want to give those figures.

You may have heard Health Secretary Sajid Javid say we might be looking at 50,000 cases a day.

We might even be looking at 100,000 cases a day.

But the government just won't release the extra information and Keir Starmer didn't get anywhere with that.

So what did we learn from today's PMQs?

• Labour leader Keir Starmer repeats his warning that it is reckless to lift all Covid restrictions on 19 July because the link between infections and deaths has not been broken
• He questions how many people will be forced to self isolate if England reaches 100,000 infections a day in the summer
• This is the "next big problem coming down the tracks" he says, and "it won't feel like freedom day" to those who have to quarantine because they have been in contact with an infected person
• Johnson says the government's approach is "balanced and reasonable"
• The vaccination programme is an "extraordinary achievement" that allows the UK to press ahead, he says
• SNP Westminster leader, Ian Blackford, says the forthcoming voter integrity law will marginalise disenfranchised voters and minorities and the PM is going "down the path of becoming a tinpot dictator"
• Johnson says councils will be providing free photo ID for elections, and elections in the UK shouldn't be "clouded by the suspicion of voter fraud"
• On the implementation of the NI Protocol, the PM says the government "will rule nothing out" in its approach and the EU needs to move on from its "excessively legally purist" application of the rules
• Labour's Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi says ministers are "lining up to defend the indefensible" over those in government who break Covid rules when ordinary families have not been able to attend funerals of loved ones
• The PM says he apologises for the loss of life and suffering "this country has endured".

No-one knows how much of a gamble ministers are takingpublished at 13:03 British Summer Time 7 July 2021

13:03 BST 7 July 2021

Vicki Young
Deputy Political Editor

Reasonable or reckless?

The government is taking a calculated risk by lifting restrictions and hoping that vaccines do enough to protect the NHS during this third wave.

Labour’s highlighting that millions of Covid infections will bring plenty of serious problems which the prime minister is reluctant to dwell on.

Instead he’s trying to expose a weakness in Labour’s position, demanding to know what they’d do beyond keeping masks.

The truth is that despite modelling and the experience of the past 16 months no one knows how much of a gamble ministers are taking.

The final question in this PMQs session came from Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi who raised the cases of those working in government who have broken coronavirus rules and continued working, while he was unable to attend funerals for family members due to Covid.

In an emotional speech, he says "hypocritical government ministers" are "lining up to defend the indefensible".

He asks when the prime minister will apologise to the nation for having "one rule for him and his chums and another for the rest of us plebs".

Boris Johnson says how deeply he "sympathises with those who have gone through the suffering" described.

He says he knows "how much sympathy there will be with him [Mr Dhesi]" and he says he sincerely takes the criticisms, and the government has tried to "minimise suffering, to minimise loss of life".

He says he apologises for the loss of life and suffering "this country has endured".

Starmer's attack over unlocking of restrictionspublished at 12:56 British Summer Time 7 July 2021

12:56 BST 7 July 2021

Susan Hulme
Parliamentary correspondent

BBC parliamentary correspondent Susan Hulme tells Radio 5 Live listeners:

Conservative David Davis says thousands of children will die this year because of the government's cuts to international aid.

He says top lawyers say the policy is unlawful and has never been put to the House for approval.

When will MPs get a binding vote he asks?

The PM says the House was given a chance to vote but chose not to do so.

Has the Covid link really been 'severed'?published at 12:54 British Summer Time 7 July 2021

12:54 BST 7 July 2021

Reality Check

At PMQs, Boris Johnson said: “Scientists are also absolutely clear that we have severed the link between infection and serious disease and death.”

But at Monday’s news conference, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said: “The vaccines have weakened the link between cases and hospitalisation but it’s a weakened link not a completely broken link.”

He also said: “The hospitalisations are rising and rising quite steeply in some places and we would expect that to continue.”

It is true that far fewer people who have been infected have ended up in hospital or dying.

Prof Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London estimated that about one tenth as many infected people would end up dying in the current wave than died in the second wave.

Ione Wells
Westminster Correspondent, BBC Wales

Labour is proposing a change in the law that, if approved, could see Delyn MP Rob Roberts facing a recall petition and possible by-election.

He was suspended from Parliament for six weeks in May for sexual misconduct but did not face a petition.

This was because sexual harassment and bullying cases are dealt with by an independent panel under Commons rules.

If approved,Labour's proposal , externalto end a so-called legal loophole could apply retrospectively to Mr Roberts.

Read more on this story here.

Labour MP Matt Western raises the case of MP Rob Roberts, who will be able to attend Parliament again, having previously been suspended for sexual misconduct.

He asks why Mr Roberts is attending Parliament again, rather than facing a recall petition for his behaviour.

Boris Johnson says the MP has come to the end of his suspension, and Mr Roberts is no longer a Conservative MP.

Labour's Matthew Pennycook says the Buildings Safety Bill published on Monday, external will do nothing to help the hundreds of thousands of leaseholders who face financial ruin as a result of the cladding crisis.

Why is the PM refusing to legislate he asks to prevent all the blameless victims of this scandal?

Johnson says that is not accurate.

He says the government is continuing to support all those who have to do work on their buildings.

He says ministers have provided £5bn to help fix the problems.

• Read more about the government's response on concerns about fire safety changes here: Homeowners to get 15 years to sue for 'shoddy' workmanship - minister