Gaza ceasefire vote: Jess Phillips resigns as Starmer hit by rebellion – live

Jeremy Hunt has warned those who “coast” on benefits will lose handouts if they refuse to take a job as part of a new crackdown.

The former foreign secretary was speaking at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and National Police Chiefs Council joint summit when he said: “I want you to feel that you can speak with me and my team at the Foreign… Old habits die hard” as laughter broke out in the audience.

It comes after Mr Cleverly insisted ministers are “absolutely determined” to get a removal flight to Rwanda before the next election after the deportation policy was ruled unlawful.

The new home secretary certainly isn’t the first politician to regret an off-the-cuff remark – but he’d better get used to what is his (and his government’s) Ratner moment, writes Paul Clements.

Read Paul’s full piece here:

As James Cleverly adopts an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ approach to defending the unlawful and unworkable Rwanda plan, the Conservatives have gone through the looking glass… again, says Sean O’Grady.

Read Sean’s full piece here:

The rebellion over the call for an Israeli ceasefire is no threat to the leader, but his handling of it could be, writes John Rentoul.

Read John’s full piece here:

Rishi Sunak must take Britain out of the ECHR if he wants to save his Rwanda plan before the general election, Suella Braverman has said.

In her first article since being sacked as home secretary, the Tory rightwinger attacked the prime minister’s approach to the policy and set out her own proposals.

Sunak’s plan to create a new treaty with Rwanda to declare it a safe country would not allow flights to take off before the general election, she said, branding it a “tweaked version” of his failed Plan A rather than an effective Plan B.

Writing for the Daily Telegraph, she calls for emergency legislation to block “all avenues of legal challenge” against the flights by excluding them from the “entirety” of European and human rights laws.

“There is no longer any chance of stopping the boats within the current legal framework,” she says.

Keir Starmer is facing more resignations over the party’s position on Gaza, with MPs angry about how the leader managed last night’s vote for a ceasefire.

Sources told The Guardian many of those who remained loyal and did not back the SNP’s amendment to the King’s Speech are angry and could quit if the party does not take a tougher line on Israeli military action.

“We’ve been warning for weeks that the party was getting its messaging wrong on Gaza,” one told the paper. “Many of us stayed in the end, not to keep our jobs but to continue to push for change from the inside.”

Rushanara Ali, one of three Muslim frontbenchers to back the party line on Wednesday and the shadow minister for investment and small business, said in a statement yesterday: “Leaving the shadow government is something I am always willing to do, which is why I completely respect the decisions taken by my fellow MPs today. The moment I feel my presence is less positively impactful than my absence, I will do so.”

Earlier on Thursday hundreds of schoolchildren marched to the Bethnal Green and Bow MP’s office in east London demanding a ceasefire.

The crowds could be heard chanting “Israel is a terror state” and “free, free Palestine” while walking down a street in the area.

Some 56 Labour MPs voted for the SNP’s amendment to the King Speech’s calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. A total of 10 Labour frontbenchers – including eight shadow ministers – were sacked or resigned for backing the amendment.

David Cameron should be forced to take regular questions from MPs in Westminster Hall, Labour has said.

Shadow Commons leader Lucy Powell said the new Foreign Secretary, who cannot enter the Commons because he is not an MP, should hold regular “accountability sessions” there as a “starter”.

Ms Powell said: “At a time of war in Europe, a horrifying conflict in Israel and Gaza, and threats from China, Iran and elsewhere, elected members here are now unable to hold the Foreign Secretary to account.

She added: “This House must be able to scrutinise his work effectively because, let’s be honest, there’s a lot to hold him to account for.”

She said it would be “entirely insufficient” for another Foreign Office minister to stand in for Mr Cameron, adding: “The last time the House was in this situation, Conservative members were furious and demanded that questions must be answered in this place.

“The then Labour government was set to bring in the recommendations of the Procedure Committee at the time.

“So does she agree with me that we should immediately dust off that report, and bring forward a motion to put in place its recommendations quickly?

“This would include regular accountability sessions for the Foreign Secretary in Westminster Hall as a starter.”