LIVE - Updated at 12:43
Swansea West MP suspended while a review is carried out following allegations reported by Politico.
Brexit will be remembered as a "historic economic error" that damaged the UK economy and has helped to drive inflation higher, according to the former US treasury secretary Larry Summers.
Singling out Britain's departure from the EU as a factor for higher costs, Summers also criticised the UK's economic policy as "substantially flawed for some years".
Brexit "reduced the competitiveness of the UK economy, put downwards pressure on the pound and upwards pressure on prices, limited imports of goods and limited in some ways the supply of labour", Summers told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"All of which contributed to higher inflation," he added.
Official figures last week showed inflation remained stubbornly high, at 8.7%, in the UK as households come under pressure from the fastest annual rise in food prices since the late 1970s. US consumer prices have been slowing in recent months, dropping to an annual inflation rate of 4.9% in April.
Related: Brexit will be known as 'historic economic error', says former US treasury secretary
The Covid inquiry must take an unflinching look at how the UK's lack of decent sick pay left the country "brutally exposed" during the pandemic, the TUC has said.
The UK entered the pandemic with the lowest rate of statutory sick pay (SSP) in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, and with millions unable to access it, the union body claimed.
This "broken sick pay system" massively undermined the country's preparedness and ability to deal with the pandemic, and resulted in millions facing a huge financial cliff edge if they contracted Covid, it added.
The inquiry will take witness evidence from Tuesday 13 June.
Public spending on the asylum system has quadrupled under Conservative-led governments, according to official figures, as Rishi Sunak prepares to discuss ways of reducing the number of people seeking asylum with other European leaders.
Labour has unearthed figures that show the amount spent on the asylum system has increased from £550m in 2012 to £2.1bn in 2021.
There was a further substantial increase in 2022, as slower asylum decisions and Suella Braverman's last-minute decision-making led to an increase in costly hotel use, the party has claimed.
Asylum spending figures taken from the first financial year of the Tory-led coalition government in 2010 showed that £567,856,116 was spent processing asylum claims and on accommodation. By 2021-22 that had risen to £2,115,584,829.
It is expected to increase further when the figures for 2022-23 are published, as recent estimates show that an additional £2.4bn from the overseas aid budget was used to support the asylum system on top of normal costs.
Last week, the government announced that the asylum backlog had reached a new record high of 173,000.
Related: Sunak to join EU leaders at asylum summit to address failings
A long-serving MP has had the Labour whip suspended after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced from five women stretching back over several years.
Geraint Davies, who represents Swansea West in the House of Commons, is facing an investigation after the claims made by anonymous alleged victims to the Politico website.
No formal complaints have been made about Davies, due to those who were allegedly targeted being said to have a lack of confidence that they would be taken seriously.
Labour described the claims of "completely unacceptable behaviour" as "incredibly serious" and said it strongly encouraged anyone who wanted to make a formal complaint to come forward.
"Any complainant will have access to an independent support service who provide confidential and independent guidance and advice from external experts throughout the process," a spokesperson for the party added.
Davies has been contacted for comment but is quoted by Politico as saying: "I don't recognise the allegations suggested and do not know who has made them.
"None of them, as far as I know, has been lodged as complaints with the Labour party or parliament. If I have inadvertently caused offence to anyone, then I am naturally sorry as it is important that we share an environment of mutual and equal respect for all."
Davies has been an MP for decades, first in Croydon Central from 1997 to 2005, until he lost his seat, and then again in Swansea West since 2010.
Related: Labour suspends MP Geraint Davies over sexual harassment allegations
Shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock said Labour's whips were "very alive" to the issue of sexual misconduct in Westminster.
It comes as a Labour MP, Geraint Davies, had the whip suspended after allegations of sexual harassment surfaced from five women stretching back over several years.
Kinnock told Times Radio:
The key thing is that, when something like this happens, a formal complaint must be made. And I do genuinely believe that our whips and our party is very alive to this issue. People get suspended, they lose the whip, investigations take place. I think we need to make that happen as rapidly and effectively as possible and make sure that anyone who does feel that they have a complaint to make that they know that they can do so in confidence, and that they will be treated with respect and confidentiality and with action will be taken.
The key thing is that, when something like this happens, a formal complaint must be made. And I do genuinely believe that our whips and our party is very alive to this issue.
People get suspended, they lose the whip, investigations take place.
I think we need to make that happen as rapidly and effectively as possible and make sure that anyone who does feel that they have a complaint to make that they know that they can do so in confidence, and that they will be treated with respect and confidentiality and with action will be taken.
Lord Saville, who conducted the inquiry into Bloody Sunday, said Covid inquiry chair Heather Hallett was best placed to decide what information was relevant to her review into the pandemic.
The crossbench peer's comments come as the government faces a deadline to release former prime minister Boris Johnson's unredacted messages and diaries to the Covid inquiry or potentially face a legal dispute.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Saville said:
Who is to decide what is relevant or not? In my view, prima facie at least, it is Lady Hallett. She is in charge of the inquiry, one of her duties is to do a thorough job. It is for her to decide whether something is relevant or not. If she looks at something and decides it is not relevant then there is no reason to publish it.
Who is to decide what is relevant or not? In my view, prima facie at least, it is Lady Hallett.
She is in charge of the inquiry, one of her duties is to do a thorough job. It is for her to decide whether something is relevant or not. If she looks at something and decides it is not relevant then there is no reason to publish it.
When it was put to him that some of the messages shared with Johnson could reveal private information that is not relevant to the inquiry, he replied:
It may be, but if you are going to show it to somebody like Lady Hallett, I can't think of anyone better placed to be able to form a judgment and I can't see any downside of her, as a very senior and respected judge, seeing material that would otherwise be private.
During his inquiry into what happened on Bloody Sunday, Saville said he did not face obstacles to obtaining information from the UK government but there had been a request that some of it be kept secret from the public for "security reasons".
Good morning and welcome to the UK politics live blog. We begin with news that Rishi Sunak's government could face a legal battle with the Covid public inquiry unless it backs down over a demand to disclose Boris Johnson's private messages and papers.
The Cabinet Office has been given until 4pm today to hand over diaries, notebooks and a trove of WhatsApp messages or face the threat of a criminal prosecution, PA reported.
The government had argued that it did not have the messages and notebooks, but Johnson has handed them over to officials and said they should be disclosed - putting the Cabinet Office in a difficult position.
The Cabinet Office has also argued that it should withhold "unambiguously irrelevant" material, but the inquiry chair, Heather Hallett, has ruled that everything should be disclosed and she will decide what is or is not necessary for her work.
Johnson's decision to publicly confirm he has handed over the material - stripping the Cabinet Office of one of its defences - and his suggestion that it should be disclosed to the inquiry has heaped pressure on his successor's government.
Johnson's spokesperson said on Wednesday:
All Boris Johnson's material - including WhatsApps and notebooks - requested by the Covid inquiry has been handed to the Cabinet Office in full and in unredacted form. Mr Johnson urges the Cabinet Office to urgently disclose it to the inquiry. The Cabinet Office has had access to this material for several months. Mr Johnson would immediately disclose it directly to the inquiry if asked. While Mr Johnson understands the government's position, and does not seek to contradict it, he is perfectly happy for the inquiry to have access to this material in whatever form it requires.
All Boris Johnson's material - including WhatsApps and notebooks - requested by the Covid inquiry has been handed to the Cabinet Office in full and in unredacted form.
Mr Johnson urges the Cabinet Office to urgently disclose it to the inquiry. The Cabinet Office has had access to this material for several months. Mr Johnson would immediately disclose it directly to the inquiry if asked.
While Mr Johnson understands the government's position, and does not seek to contradict it, he is perfectly happy for the inquiry to have access to this material in whatever form it requires.
More on this throughout the day, of course.
A cabinet minister has piled pressure on the government to hand over Boris Johnson's unredacted WhatsApp messages to the Covid inquiry, saying it should be allowed to "get on with its job".
Grant Shapps, the energy secretary, said there was "nothing to be shy or embarrassed about" for ministers who were trying their best to grapple with the first pandemic in a century.
As the 4pm deadline for the Cabinet Office to hand over the files loomed, he called for the inquiry to be given "whatever they want".
"There are things which we did that were very good," Shapps told TalkTV. "Things will have gone wrong, naturally. The inquiry is there to get to the bottom of all of that."
Johnson handed over a trove of documents - including notebooks and WhatsApp messages - on Wednesday. His team say the Cabinet Office did have access to the details for months and had been invited to view them on multiple occasions at his office.
But the move poses a serious headache for prime minister, Rishi Sunak, given the government may be forced to take legal action if it wants to avoid handing over the information.
The case is viewed as a litmus test, and senior government figures fear if they acquiesce then more requests could be made for workbooks and WhatsApps from ministers who are still serving.
Related: Grant Shapps urges No 10 to hand Boris Johnson's WhatsApps to Covid inquiry
Labour has suspended MP Geraint Davies pending an investigation into reports of "incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour".
The decision to administratively suspend the Swansea West MP means he will have the whip removed in Westminster while a review is carried out.
It follows claims against the veteran politician, which were reported by the website Politico.
A Labour spokesperson said:
These are incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour. We strongly encourage anyone with a complaint to come forward to the Labour party's investigation. Any complainant will have access to an independent support service who provide confidential and independent guidance and advice from external experts throughout the process.
These are incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour.
We strongly encourage anyone with a complaint to come forward to the Labour party's investigation.
Any complainant will have access to an independent support service who provide confidential and independent guidance and advice from external experts throughout the process.