• Four of Boris Johnson’s aides have resigned today. Johnson’s longstanding policy chief Munira Mirza was the first to go, using a stinging resignation letter to accuse the prime minister of “scurrilous” behaviour when he falsely linked Keir Starmer to the failure to bring paedophile Jimmy Savile to justice. Jack Doyle then resigned as director of communications at Downing Street. Dan Rosenfield, Boris Johnson’s chief of staff and Martin Reynolds, the prime minister’s principal private secretary, resigned later in the evening. The latter has been thrust into the spotlight after it emerged he sent an email inviting more than 100 Downing Street staff to a drinks party in May 2020.

• The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has accused Russia of “unprovoked aggression and underhand activity” to destabilise Ukraine following reports of a plan by Moscow to fabricate a pretext for an invasion using a faked video.

• The Northern Ireland first minister, Paul Givan, announced his resignation from Stormont’s power-sharing Executive. The move by the Lagan Valley MLA is part of the DUP’s escalating protest strategy against Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol.

• Rishi Sunak responded to the prime minister’s attempt to smear Starmer by saying: “With regard to the comments, being honest, I wouldn’t have said it and I’m glad that the prime minister clarified what he meant.”

• The chancellor also had his say on partygate and what would happen on “his watch”. In an opinion piece for the Sun, he wrote: “We have always been the party of sound money — we will always continue to be on my watch — and that is the only kind of party I am interested in.”

Here is the confirmation from Downing Street that both Martin Reynolds and Dan Rosenfield have resigned.

A No 10 spokesperson said:

Dan Rosenfield offered his resignation to the prime minister earlier today, which has been accepted.

Martin Reynolds also informed the prime minister of his intention to stand down from his role as principal private secretary and the prime minister has agreed to this.

He has thanked them both for their significant contribution to government and No 10, including work on the pandemic response and economic recovery.

They will continue in their roles while successors are appointed, and recruitment for both posts is underway.

It has also been confirmed that Reynolds will be returning to the Foreign Office.

The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, has accused Russia of “unprovoked aggression and underhand activity” to destabilise Ukraine following reports of a plan by Moscow to fabricate a pretext for an invasion using a faked video.

The New York Times reported that US had acquired intelligence about the Russian plan which involved staging and filming a fabricated attack by the Ukrainian military either on Russian territory or against Russian-speaking people in eastern Ukraine.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Truss said: “This is clear and shocking evidence of Russia’s unprovoked aggression and underhand activity to destabilise Ukraine.

“This bellicose intent towards a sovereign democratic country is completely unacceptable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”

If you missed it earlier today, the Northern Ireland first minister, Paul Givan, announced his resignation from Stormont’s power-sharing Executive.

The move by the Lagan Valley MLA is part of the DUP’s escalating protest strategy against Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol, the PA Media news agency reported.

Givan said the protocol, which has created trade barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, had undermined a cornerstone of power-sharing in the region - governance with the consent of both nationalists and unionists. He said:

Today marks the end of what has been the privilege of my lifetime - to serve as the first minister of Northern Ireland.

When I first entered the Assembly 12 years ago, I never expected to have the opportunity to lead the government and serve the people of Northern Ireland as first minister.

His announcement comes 24 hours after DUP agriculture minister Edwin Poots acted unilaterally to order a halt to agri-food checks required under the post-Brexit trading arrangements.

The secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, commented:

The decision by the DUP to withdraw the first minister from the Northern Ireland executive is extremely disappointing. I urge them to reinstate the first minister immediately to ensure the necessary delivery of public services for the citizens of Northern Ireland.

The UK government’s priority is to see a strong functioning Northern Ireland executive delivering a better, more prosperous, shared future for all the people of Northern Ireland.

We want to continue to build on the Belfast (Good Friday) agreement’s promise of a stable, cooperative and respectful power-sharing executive.

Jack Doyle has resigned as director of communications at Downing Street, according to the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves.

He reports that Doyle had always planned to step down after two years and is not linked to Munira Mirza’s resignation earlier today.

However, the timing of this latest resignation could not come at a worse time amid a police investigation into parties during lockdown at No 10 and mounting pressure on an increasingly beleaguered prime minister.

Doyle reportedly told staff at No 10: “It was always my intention to do two years. Recent weeks have taken a terrible toll on my family life.

“Thank you all for your hard work and dedication. I wish you all the best for the future.”

Groves has reported the news on Twitter tonight. Here are more details.

Some breaking news from the journalist Danny Shaw on Twitter. He is reporting that Boris Johnson, Priti Patel and the Home Office have been “rebuked” by the UK Statistics Authority chair, David Norgrove, for misleading use of crime figures after claiming offences had fallen when they actually increased.

Here are the tweets, in which he says Norgrove said he has written to Johnson and Patel’s respective offices after a complaint to the authority was made by the Liberal Democrats.

Sunak is asked to respond to the breaking news we have brought you this afternoon about Boris Johnson’s policy chief Munira Mirza resigning over the prime minister’s attempt to smear Keir Starmer in the House of Commons.

Johnson made a false accusation that Starmer had failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile during his time running the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

“With regard to the comments, being honest, I wouldn’t have said it and I’m glad that the prime minister clarified what he meant,” Sunak says.

He also paid tribute to Mirza and said he will miss working with her.

Good afternoon. I’m Tom Ambrose and I’ll be with you over the next couple of hours to bring you the latest from Westminster and UK politics.

There will, of course, be more reaction to the resignation of Boris Johnson’s policy chief Munira Mirza over the prime minister’s attempt to smear the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, in a House of Commons debate this week.

But first I’ll be bringing you details of anything that may emerge from Rishi Sunak’s 5pm press conference, where it is expected he will set out the government’s plans to tackle to cost of living crisis.

Stay tuned to follow along live here.

Boris Johnson has appointed Andrew Griffith MP, his parliamentary private secretary, as the new head of his policy unit, replacing Munira Mirza.

Griffith was a senior executive at Sky before becoming at the last general election. He has been Johnson’s business adviser, and he lent Johnson use of his £10m Westminster townhouse during the 2019 leadership campaign.

In a statement a No 10 spokesperson said:

We are very sorry Munira has left No 10 and are grateful for her service and contribution to government.

Andrew Griffith MP has been appointed Head of the No 10 Policy Unit and will work across government and with MPs as we continue to deliver and expand on our ambitious policy agenda.

These are from Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser turned mortal foe, on the resignation of Munira Mirza.

Munira Mirza has resigned as Boris Johnson’s head of policy over his Jimmy Savile smear about Keir Starmer, the Spectator’s James Forsyth reports.

In a blog on the Spectator’s website, Forsyth has published Mirza’s resignation letter in full. Here’s an extract.

I believe it was wrong for you to imply this week that Keir Starmer was personally responsible for allowing Jimmy Savile to escape justice. There was no fair or reasonable basis for that assertion. This was not the normal cut-and-thrust of politics; it was an inappropriate and partisan reference to a horrendous case of child sex abuse. You tried to clarify your position today but, despite my urging, you did not apologise for the misleading impression you gave.

Mirza has been working for Johnson since he was mayor of London and he once described her as one of the five women who inspired him most.

In her letter Mirza says Johnson is “a better man than many of your detractors will ever understand” and that she still hopes he will apologise. She says she was hoping he would apologise today (he didn’t - see 1.38pm) and she implies that it was his failure to say sorry in his interview earlier, despite her telling him he should, that tipped her over the edge.

The UK government is not doing anything to stop the DUP wing of the Northern Ireland executive trying to halt the checks on goods entering Northern Ireland. Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, has described this as a matter for the executive.

Downing Street took the same line at lobby this morning (see 12.28pm) and in a statement to MPs George Eustice, the environment secretary (the relevant checks relate to agrigoods), said UK government intervention was “entirely unnecessary at this stage”.

He also said the checks were continuing, despite the order given by the DUP agriculture minister in Belfast, Edwin Poots, because the relevant officials were taking their own legal advice.

Peter Kyle, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, accused the government of standing by while their own deal fell apart. He said:

The protocol was signed into international law by the UK government, and now they are bystanders as their deal falls apart - pathetically claiming it’s all someone else’s responsibility.

Just think of the implications: Is the message that the Welsh senedd or Scottish parliament can break international law too and the government will have nothing to say about it?

And here are two more lines from the broadcast interview Boris Johnson gave on his visit this morning.

• Johnson said the current implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol was “crazy” and renewed his call for a “common sense” solution. Referring to the talks with the EU about how the protocol could be revised, he said:

What we’ve got to do is get to a sensible solution that recognises it’s crazy to have checks on goods that are basically circulating within the single market of the United Kingdom.

What you could have, of course, is a common-sensical ... practical steps to weed out, to check on things that might be at risk of circulation, as they say in Brussels, are at risk of circulation in Ireland, as well as Northern Ireland.

Now we can do that, but without having a full panoply of checks on the GB/NI coast and at the airport, and that’s the way forward. I think practical common sense is what’s needed.

Asked if that meant he was going back on the protocol that he agreed with the EU, which requires the checks he calls “crazy”, Johnson replied:

Actually, if you look at the protocol, which I’m sure you have studied in detail, there’s plenty about uninterrupted east-west trade.

• He said the UK had been “way out in front” in backing Ukraine in the face of the threat from Russia. He said:

The UK has played a very good role so far in bringing together the west and making sure that our partners understand the severity of the threat that Ukrainians face.

And if you look at what we’ve been doing for the last two or three months, the UK has been way out in front in making sure that people respond.

National Energy Action, the fuel poverty charity, has said that it expects Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, to have to unveil further support measures later this year because today’s energy bills package is “woefully inadequate”. Adam Scorer, its chief executive, said:

These energy crisis measures are woefully inadequate and will leave those on the lowest incomes and in the least efficient homes in deep peril.

We needed deep, targeted support for the most vulnerable. We have shallow, broad measures for all. That simply does not work.

The depth of support is not proportionate to the increases. A household paying by prepayment will still have a £500 increase when you take into account rises from October 2021 and April 2022.

The rebates on bills and council tax are not sufficiently targeted, too small and too complex.

We expect the government will have no choice but to return to the issue of spiralling fuel poverty and another price rise later this year. By then they’ll be playing catch-up and great harm will already have been done.

Boris Johnson has finally admitted that Keir Starmer was not personally responsible for any decisions taken not to prosecute the paedophile, sexual predator and TV personality Jimmy Savile.

On Monday, in response to a withering speech from Starmer telling him that he was not fit to be PM, Johnson retaliated by saying that Starmer “spent most of his time [as DPP] prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile”.

This was widely seen as a smear, because Johnson was implying that Starmer was to blame for the failure to prosecute Savile when he wasn’t, and because it was redolent of an online conspiracy theory saying Starmer protected Savile from prosecution. Some of the Tory MPs calling for Johnson’s resignation this week have cited this comment as an example of why is is not a suitable person to be PM.

In an interview today Johnson said:

I want to be very clear about this because a lot of people have got very hot under the collar, and I understand why.

Let’s be absolutely clear, I’m talking not about the leader of the opposition’s personal record when he was DPP and I totally understand that he had nothing to do personally with those decisions.

I was making a point about his responsibility for the organisation as a whole. And I think people can see that. And I really do want to clarify that because it is important.

This is similar to the argument advanced by James Cleverly, the Foreign Office minister, who said that Johnson was trying to compare Starmer’s situation at the CPS over Savile with Johnson’s position in relation to partygate. (See 10.46am.)

But it has taken Johnson a while to issue this clarification. On Tuesday he told the Sun that what he said about Starmer was “fairly accurate”, in a comment interpreted by the paper as Johnson doubling down on his original claim.

And in the Commons yesterday, when Starmer accused him of parroting a conspiracy theory favoured by fascists, Johnson just said: “I do not want to make heavy weather of this, but I am informed that in 2013 [Starmer] apologised and took full responsibility for what had happened on his watch, and I think that was the right thing to do.”

Johnson did not say at that point he accepted that Starmer was not personally involved in the Savile decisions.

The Bank of England is today warning that families are facing the biggest fall in disposable incomes for three decades, my colleague Graeme Wearden reports. He writes:

The Bank of England fears that UK families are about to suffer the biggest fall in living standards since comparable records began three decades ago.

Its new forecasts now show that disposable incomes (post-tax labour income, after inflation) will shrink by 2% this year, and by another 0.5% in 2023.

That would be the biggest annual reduction in spending power since at least 1990.

There is much more on Graeme’s business live blog.

Charities and campaigning organisations that represent low-income families seem unimpressed by the energy bills rebate package announced by Rishi Sunak. This is what some of them have been saying.

From Dame Clare Moriarty, the chief executive of Citizens Advice

This is a strange, complicated and untargeted package of measures. It provides some relief for all households come April, but for people on low incomes who need it most there are far easier ways for the government to deliver support. If the government is serious about helping families facing the desperate choice between heating and eating it should use the benefits system.

From Alison Garnham, the chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group

A day after the levelling up fanfare, the government’s piecemeal measures won’t protect low-income families either now or in the future. Surging energy prices are only the start of the crisis and what’s needed is comprehensive help with across-the-board price rises. The most efficient way to help households is to increase benefits to match inflation and anything less than a rise by at least 6% will leave families in a desperate situation.

From Imran Hussain, director of policy and campaigns at Action for Children

Just over 100 days ago, the families we help lost £1,000 a year in universal credit, and will now have nearly £700 a year added to their bills. The help announced for these families today won’t be enough. We’re going to see more children going hungry as parents struggle to make ends meet.

From Katie Schmuecker, deputy director of policy and partnerships at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation said:

The chancellor has offered cold comfort to families in poverty, who are already rationing what they can spend on essentials such as heating and food. These families are now expected to find at least half of the eye-watering increases in energy bills, when many are already getting into debt to keep their houses warm and food on the table.

Three-quarters of those who can claim the enhanced support are not in poverty. Meanwhile, inflation is set to rise at more than double the rate of benefits. This support will not get people through the next few months and it will not protect those most at risk of hardship.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning the PM’s spokesperson said the government was not aware that the Northern Ireland executive planned to stop the checks on goods arriving from Britain required under the Northern Ireland protocol. Asked if the PM wanted those checks to continue, he replied:

Yes, we would like this situation to be resolved, recognising it is a matter for the Northern Ireland executive.

At its own briefing, the European Commission said that EU observers in Northern Ireland were satisfied the required checks were still being carried out - despite Edwin Poots, the DUP agriculture minister in the Northern Ireland executive, saying they should stop.

Asked if the entire Brexit trade deal with the UK could be suspended if the Northern Ireland protocol’s requirements were not met, Eric Mamer, the commission’s spokesperson, said:

I’m not going to get into speculation about what we would undertake in case the checks were to stop ... for the moment our indications are that the checks are ongoing.

Although the UK government claims the operation of the checks is a matter for the Northern Ireland executive, Mamer said the protocol was a deal between the UK and the EU, not between Belfast and the EU.

The Bank of England has raised interest rates to 0.5% to tackle soaring inflation amid intense pressure on households in Britain’s cost of living crisis, my colleague Richard Partington reports.

In his response to Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, mocked Labour by saying its call for VAT to be removed from fuel bills meant it was now converted to the benefits of Brexit (which would allow a UK government to do this).

He also dismissed Labour’s call for a windfall tax on energy companies. (See 9.34am.) Although superficially attractive, that would deter investment, he said. He said the government wanted to encourage investment.

He also suggests that voters would regard Labour’s stance not as “reasonable criticism” but as “political opportunism”.

Sunak says the total package will be worth around £9bn.

There will be three measures.

First, all households will get a £200 discount on their bills. It will be paid from October. The money will be repaid in instalments over five years, he says.

Second, people will get a £150 council tax rebate in April. This will not have to be repaid. It will not just help people on benefits. People in council tax bands A to D will benefit – around 80% of all households in England.

And, third, a discretionary fund worth £150m will be available to help people in homes in higher bands who need help, he says.

Sunak says the actions being announced today will provide £350 to the “vast majority of households”.

That will cover just over half of the extra £693 people are having to pay because of the rise in the price cap.

Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, starts his statement to the Commons saying the recovery from the pandemic has been stronger than expected.

According to the Times’ Steven Swinford, Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, will announce a £9bn package of loans and council tax rebates in the Commons shortly to lessen the impact of the energy bills hike.

Households will face a record energy bill increase of 54% from April after the regulator lifted the cap on default tariffs to £1,971, my colleague Jillian Ambrose reports.

Boris Johnson’s comment in the House of Commons on Monday that Keir Starmer “spent most of his time [as DPP] prosecuting journalists and failing to prosecute Jimmy Savile” was widely seen as a smear because it implied that Starmer was in some way personally responsible for the CPS’s decision not to prosecute Savile, when there is no evidence for that at all.

But in an interview on the Today programme this morning James Cleverly, the Foreign Office minister, rejected claims that the comment amounted to a smear. Pointing out that as head of the CPS Starmer subsequently issued an apology for the “shortcomings” of the organisation in relation to the Savile case, Cleverly suggested Johnson was making a comparison between Starmer’s situation and his own. Cleverly told the programme:

Keir Starmer apologised for the CPS’s failure to pursue criminal prosecutions ...

Keir Starmer has said that leaders should carry the can – his words. He has apologised for the CPS’s failure to prosecute whilst he was director of public prosecutions. The point is, if the criticism that Keir Starmer is laying at the prime minister is about taking responsibility for the actions of organisations he leads ...

When someone is laying criticism of the prime minister about events that went on in organisations that they run, highlighting the fact that Keir Starmer, in a position of leadership, also apologised on behalf of his organisation, also put a review in place and also drove changes, which is is exactly how the prime minister has responded to the issues raised in Sue Gray’s report ...

This is the first time a minister has advanced this argument in public. Cleverly seems to be arguing that, far from smearing Starmer, Johnson was in fact expressing solidarity with him, as someone who has also had to take the rap for mistakes made by underlings.

It is an ingenious argument, although marred by two flaws. First, it did not sound as if that was what Johnson was saying to anyone who heard him in the Commons on Monday. And, second, Johnson is widely seen as being at fault personally in relation to partygate, in a way that Starmer isn’t in relation to Savile.

Paul Givan, the DUP first minister of Northern Ireland, is set to resign, leading to the probably collapse of the power-sharing Northern Ireland executive, the BBC reports. This is part of the DUP’s ongoing fight to get rid of the Northern Ireland protocol, at least in its current form. A DUP minister in the executive, Edwin Poots, has already ordered officials not to enforce the checks required under the protocol.

The BBC’s Jayne McCormack has a good Twitter thread explaining the consequences of Givan’s resignation. It starts here.

Good morning. While partygate has dominated the headlines for weeks, most politicians believe that the cost of living crisis is the story that will affect lives most this year and frame the battleground for the next election. And today it is bursting right to the top of the news agenda.

Ofgem, the energy regulator, will this morning announce a rise in the cap on energy bills that will effectively amount to the steepest increase in the amount people pay for heating ever recorded. The announcement has been brought forward so that it can be timed to coincide with a parallel announcement from Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, about what the government is going to do to help.

As Jillian Ambrose and Rowena Mason report in their overnight story, Sunak is expected to announce a series of measures, combining loans to energy companies to allow them to offer consumers discounts - a measure that should help everyone - plus targeted measures for poorer families, which are likely to involve council tax discounts and the extension of benefits that help with fuel costs.

However, for most consumers, these measures are only expected to lessen the impact of rising bills; people are still expected to face soaring costs.

This morning Labour has renewed its calls for a windfall tax on the profits of energy companies to help fund measures that would help families pay their bill. After Shell declared that 2021 had been a “momentous” year for the company as it announced its latest earning figures, Ed Miliband, the shadow secretary of state for climate and net zero, said:

With oil and gas profits booming in recent months because of the spike in energy prices, it is clearer than ever that the North Sea oil and gas producers who have made a fortune recently should be asked to contribute.

Labour would keep energy bills low, and we wouldn’t be landing costs with bill payers as they head into a spring of higher taxes and rising prices.

Our plan, part paid for with a one-off windfall tax on North Sea oil and gas profits, would save most households £200 off their bills, with targeted support of up to £400 on top of that to the squeezed middle, pensioners and the lowest earners.

Labour will reform our broken energy system so we deliver the green transition we need, energy security, and bills that are affordable.

It was Miliband, of course, who first proposed an energy price cap when he was Labour leader in 2013. At the time the Conservatives rubbished the ideas as Marxist, but Theresa May subsequently adopted the proposal and now it is one of those policies (like the minimum wage, devolution or gay marriage) that has gone from being highly controversial to having such strong cross-party support that it is probably here for good.

I shall be covering the political aspects of this story, but my colleague Graeme Wearden will be covering the business side, including the probable announcement of a rise in interest rates from the Bank of England, his business live blog. It’s here.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Keir Starmer gives a speech on trust at Edelman.

10am: Tony Danker, the CBI director general, gives a speech to the Centre for Policy Studies.

After 10.30am: Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, takes questions from MPs on next week’s Commons business.

11am: Ofgem makes its announcement about the energy price cap.

11am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

Around 11.30am: Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, makes a statement to MPs on measures to help households with the cost of living.

12pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions in the Scottish parliament.

5pm: Sunak holds a press conference.

Also, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, are on a visit in the north-west.

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