Politics latest: Home secretary dodges questions on speeding row; Sadiq Khan may have suffered 'heart attack' at climate conference (2023)

Controversial low traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) are about "taking back control" from Whitehall, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said.

Mr Khan was defending the schemes which are in place in a number of London boroughs but have been criticised for being ineffective in the fight against climate change and making life too difficult for motorists.

The idea of LTNs is to make residential areas of London cleaner and safer to live and walk around in.

But opponents of the scheme say the changes have created hotspots of traffic which means people end up spending more time in their car.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Khan said there is evidence of fewer road traffic accidents and deaths in LTNs in areas such as Waltham Forest, Lambeth and Newham.

"If everyone jumps in their car there simply isn't enough road space for people to drive around our city. So we have to encourage people to walk, cycle or use public transport," he said.

Read his full comments here:

Earlier this year, MPs voted to stop trophy hunters bringing back the body parts of endangered animals - such as rhino horns - into Britain.

Not everyone agrees with a blanket ban, however.

Some conservationists and local community leaders in parts of Africa warn it unintentionally risks reversing their efforts to grow populations of animals including elephants, lions and the critically endangered black rhino.

They also worry bans like this could undermine the livelihoods of people in these rural areas.

On the Sky News Daily, Leah Boleto speaks to Jens Ulrik Høgh, who has hunted in Africa dozens of times, and conservationist Maxi Pia Louis, who talks about what communities in Namibia are doing to protect species and their relationship with hunting groups.

Plus, Leah is joined by wildlife expert Professor Amy Dickman, from the University of Oxford, to discuss what evidence there is that trophy hunting supports conservation – and we hear from Henry Smith, the MP who put forward the import ban which is currently going through the House of Lords.

Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts

MPs will be updated on any response to the allegations facing Suella Braverman "in due course", Rishi Sunak has said.

The prime minister stood in the House of Commons this afternoon to give a statement on the recent G7 summit and take questions from MPs.

He said he had met with Sir Laurie Magnus and the home secretary, amid reports she asked officials to try to arrange a private speed awareness course for her rather than take penalty points on her driving licence.

"I have always been clear that where issues like this are raised, they should be dealt with properly, and they should be dealt with professionally," he said.

"I have asked for further information and I will update on the appropriate course of action in due course."

We're stepping away from the House of Commons for a moment as the mayor of London has revealed he may have suffered a "minor heart attack" after falling ill at a climate conference.

Sadiq Khan said he "felt a knot" in his chest and had to be helped off-stage at the COP26 summit in Glasgow in 2021.

In his book Breathe, which was released earlier this week, he wrote about the incident, saying: "I seemed to be having a heart attack".

He fell ill on 10 November 2021, and spent around seven hours in A&E where he underwent a range of tests including an electrocardiogram, a chest -ray and several rounds of blood tests.

He wrote that the results detected "a protein called troponin, which is released into the blood after unusual heart activity".

Home Secretary Suella Braverman takes to her feet to discuss the government's plan to create a new redress scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse.

The government says it will consult with victims, survivors and charities to develop the scheme.

This consultation will help the government develop who the scheme should support and the best ways to support them.

Ministers say the scheme "will acknowledge the institutional failures that allowed children to suffer at the hands of despicable predators".

It follows the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse,which found widespread failings in both state and non-state institutions to properly safeguard and protect children in England and Wales.

Alongside the redress scheme, the government says it is also looking to improve access to therapeutic support for victims and survivors.

And it will look at improving the way police collect data on child sexual abuse to better understand the scale and nature of the crime.

The prime minister is being asked a lot of questions about the war in Ukraine, and SNP MP Drew Henry asks what action he will take to prescribe the Russian mercenary Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation.

Mr Henry says the group has already admitted to "murdering 40 children".

Rishi Sunak says the UK is "making sure that those who commit war crimes in Ukraine will be held accountable".

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the Defence Committee, also asks about the defence budget, and if it will increase.

Mr Sunak highlights an increase in defence spending and says there is an ambition to increase it to 2.5%, adding 2.25% is expected to be reached in the next couple of years.

If you want to read more about the Ukraine war, check out our other blog below...

Rishi Sunak has just made a statement in the House of Commons and is now taking questions from MPs.

The prime minister is asked about what the G7 has proposed to do about illegal migration, and what he will do to back up the Home Office to tackle legal migration in the UK.

Mr Sunak says it wasn't a "topic of conversation" in Japan with other world leaders, but that he is "committed to bringing down the levels of legal migration".

He adds that he will continue to raise it as an issue in international forums as well.

The prime minister has arrived at the House of Commons now and is giving a statement after a G7 summit in Japan at the weekend.

• He starts by talking about the UK's support for Ukraine, saying "Putin should know we are not going anywhere" and Russia is "failing" on the battlefield, and in its economy at home;
• Reiterating the UK's support for Ukraine, he says: "We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes";
• However, he says the "biggest challenge" to the UK's prosperity is China and the government is working to "strengthen" its defence ties across the Indo-Pacific;
• He adds that the UK and its allies are taking "concrete action not rhetoric" to manage China's challenge to the global order;
  
• He also rejects suggestions that the UK's global influence is in decline;
  
• On illegal migration, the PM says the country "must stop the boats and break the business model of the criminal gangs" who organise them, and to tackle the issue he is "deepening international cooperation" through new deals with the likes of Albania and France;
• He also notes that the government has announced "billions more" for the UK's defence, and its foreign policy is "delivering for the British people" by "strengthening relationships with old friends and new".

After Mr Sunak commends his statement to the House, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer stands to respond.

He says the war in Ukraine is "entering a critical stage" and "freedom must win", as he welcomes the government's move to allow other countries to send F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv and tighter restrictions on exports that aid the "Russian war machine".

On China, Sir Keir says a trading relationship with the country should never come at the cost of economic security and the UK should never be "vulnerable to economic coercion".

"A decade of ignoring these facts and Tory governments cosying up to Beijing have gifted the Chinese Communist Party a stake in Britain's key infrastructure," he adds.

Suella Braverman has repeatedly said today she never tried to evade being sanctioned for speeding.

But that's not what she's being accused of.

The unanswered question is what the home secretary asked civil servants to do to assist in potentially arranging a one-to-one speeding awareness course.

She was asked this directly in the Commons but provided no detail.

Critics say involving politically impartial officials in private affairs would break the ministerial code.

Those close to Mrs Braverman maintain she simply asked civil servants for advice rather than instructing them to arrange the course.

It's this lack of clarity that's fuelling calls for the prime minister to commission an official inquiry by his ethics adviser.

The home secretary is still taking questions from MPs, and she's just been asked about her speeding fine (again).

Suella Braverman has repeated herself quite a few times now, reiterating that she accepts she was speeding, she regrets it, and she paid the fine.

Shadow home secretary Yvetter Cooper says at the heart of Ms Braverman's responsibilities is to ensure that laws are "fairly enforced for all" but it seems she "sought special treatment - a private course and asked civil servants to help".

"She refused to say what she asked civil servants to do, so I ask her that again, and to also tell us whether she authorised her special adviser to tell journalists that there wasn't a speeding penalty when there was," she asks.

Ms Braverman replies, almost exhaustedly, that she was speeding last year.

"I regret that. I paid the fine. I accepted the points. At no time, did I seek to avoid the sanction. What is serious here is the priority of the British people," she says.