Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, has said that he has asked Israel to “strain every sinew” to get aid into Gaza.

Speaking on a visit with his Australian counterpart, Richard Marles, to the Rolls-Royce site in Derby, where parts of the nuclear submarines being made under the Aukus partnership are manufactured, Shapps said Israel had a right to go after Hamas, but that it should follow international law. He said:

The important thing is that Israel is, of course, a democratic country that has a responsibility to adhere to international humanitarian law, and that’s a point that I make publicly as well as privately to the Israelis, including in a meeting yesterday with the Israeli ambassador in London.

And commenting on that meeting, Shapps said:

I had the [Israeli] ambassador in with me yesterday and we’ve said that we want Israel to do everything possible, strain every sinew, to get that aid in. We wouldn’t be paying for it and sending the aid if we didn’t want it to get to the Palestinian population.

A reader asks:

What do the pundits and election experts say, if anything, about the prospects for Labour should Starmer step down now? To me, it seems like the Labour leader could be a boot dredged up from a canal on a fishing line, and it would still trounce the Tories at the next GE. So, if Keir is forced out by a growing revolt over his stance on Israel-Palestine, would that really be as damaging to Labour as one might think?

The short answer is, almost nothing, because I don’t know anyone in the commentariat/journalist/political world who thinks there is any chance at all of Keir Starmer resigning or being forced out over the Gaza issue.

But that doesn’t stop this being an interesting question.

The answer, of course, is that it would depend on who replaced him. If there were a contest tomorrow, judging by their reception at conference (and the increasing pressure on Labour to stop being the only main party in British politics that has not had a woman as full-time leader), Rachel Reeves and Angela Rayner would be the candidates to beat.

Labour has done well under Starmer partly because he has persuaded the public that the party has changed a lot from the Corbyn years, and if any new leader were to reverse this, they might create an opportunity for the Tories. But Reeves would definitely maintain the Starmerite approach. Under Rayner, the party might sound a bit more leftish, but she has some intriguing blue Labourish instincts (some of her law and order views make Suella Braverman sound soft) and it is unlikely that the Tories would be able to argue Labour had reverted to 2019.

Starmer beats Rishi Sunak on who would be the best PM. I have not seen polling for Reeves, Rayner or any other senior Labour figure on this, but Sunak’s ratings are so poor that winning on this indicator would not be hard.

It is quite possible that Labour could end up being even more popular with a new leader. In 1994 Labour was already on course to win the next election under John Smith, and Tony Blair just turbocharged that process.

But it is probably more realistic to assume a new leader might make little overall difference. The Conservatives have been kiboshed by Partygate and Liz Truss, and the most important factor in determining the next election is that at some point last year a large chunk of the electorate seemed to give up on them – if not for good, at least until the next parliament.

The Scottish governmment has published the latest in a series of papers explaining the policies it might pursue after independence. Today’s covers immigration, and it says an indepedent Scotland would “devise a humane, dignified and principled migration system and comprehensively reject Westminster’s ‘hostile environment”.

The report says:

The proposals in this paper aim to deliver positive outcomes for our communities and public services and, crucially, for the people who want to live, work and raise their families in Scotland. As well as enriching Scotland culturally, people who have chosen to live and work here are helping to grow our economy – they help address skills shortages within key sectors and make an essential contribution to our population growth.

This government’s approach would also be rooted in equity for the Global South. We would learn the lessons of the Windrush scandal and ensure robust protection of migrants’ rights. This includes removing discriminatory barriers so that people from the Global South have equitable access to the Scottish migration system.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, the social justice secretary in the Scottish government, said in a statement:

Scotland’s population is set to fall, unlike other UK nations, under current constitutional arrangements. This means fewer people working, paying taxes and contributing to public services like the NHS. Yet Scotland is subject to the UK government’s hostile approach to immigration which is damaging our economy.

Control of our own migration policy would enable us to replace that approach with a system that has dignity, fairness and respect at its core, recognising above all that this is about individuals and their families.

Rishi Sunak has issued a statement saying he has asked the Home Office and the police to ensure Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday events in London next weekend are not disprupted by pro-Palestinian protesters. (See 9.49am.)

Starmer says there is a huge opportunity for the north-east with green energy.

What the government is doing on net zero is a huge mistake, he says.

A few years ago he thought there was consensus on this, he says. But now Rishi Sunak has turned against the net zero agenda. He goes on:

It will be made a political football for the next election.

He says that is a “big mistake” because the transition to net zero offers great opportunities. He says in the US the Biden government has recognised this.

And that’s the end of the Q&A.

Q: [From the chair of the North East Local Enterprise Partnership] How will Labour ensure the voice of business is heard in developing economic policy?

Starmer says we have had devolution to mayors, but the full consequences of that have not been thought through.

He says he wants growth – the highest sustained growth in the G7.

He says he does not want the model of growth where it is driven by just one part of the country. Instead, he wants growth in every part of the economy.

Labour is going to have to be bold enough to push power, decision-making and money out to areas where decisions can be made.

Decisions about the north-east are best made in the north-east, he says.

He says the government’s levelling up programme involves someone in London handing out money.

He would devolve, he says. And there should be a partnership with business, he says. He says he would not get fixated on a particular model for how this should happen.

Starmer says the NHS is a good example of where what he calls “sticking-plaster politics” is applied.

Every winter there is a crisis, he says. And the government always addresses it by releasing a bit of extra money quite late. A new approach is needed, he says.

Q: Will you sack any frontbencher calling for a ceasefire?

Starmer says he has set out his position. As leader, he has to assess how he enforces collective responsibility. He will do that. But he says, in setting out Labour’s position, he has not done that around the views of individual Labour members.

Q: What are your red lines in terms of what Israel can be allowed to do?

Starmer says he set out his position in his speech on Tuesday.

He says saying that Israel should give up the right to self defence is not the right response.

Starmer says the king’s speech should be about “a national mission to get Britain building again and grow our country from the grassroots”.

He ends by saying he wants to see “a Britain with its future back”.

Starmer says there are three planks to the Labour plan to revive the economy.

This is how Labour summed them up in its overnight press release.

A new direction for skills: by transforming the further education system with specialist technical excellence colleges, delivering tailored courses designed with local businesses so that workforces meet local skills needs, and turning the failed Apprenticeship Levy into a new Growth and Skills Levy to give businesses the flexibility they’re asking for to train their workforce and deliver growth.

Investing in British industry: by establishing a National Wealth Fund to invest in battery gigafactories, clean steel plants, upgraded ports and carbon capture. Labour will introduce an active industrial strategy to grow these sectors, including our automotive strategy to support the transition of UK automotive supply chains. Labour will implement a British Jobs Bonus: creating 65,000 good jobs in clean energy by directly rewarding companies that create jobs and supply chains here in the UK in areas like the North East.

Deliver new roads, rail and energy: reforming the planning system to speed up delivery of infrastructure. A Labour government will do this by updating policy statements, ensuring consultation is proportionate, cutting down on litigation, taking politics out of decision making and creating a powerful new to directorate to crack down on delay.

Starmer is now giving examples how how he says plannning rules hold up infrastructure investment.

He says the planning application or a tunnel under the Thames in east London was “30 times longer to the complete works of Shakespeare – 60,000 pages, a £800m pounds worth of taxpayers money spent without even breaking ground”.

And he says the planning application for the Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk contained 40,000 pages of data on the environment – but was held up in the courts on the ground that the environmental impact had not been properly assessed.

He goes on:

As a country, we can’t afford to go on like this.

In the past infrastructure could be built more quickly, he says.

He says the backbone of the motorway network was built in the 1950s and 1960s – “in less time than is taken to talk about turning the stretch of the A1 into a dual carriageway”.

And the National Grid was completed in eight years, less time than it takes some firms to get connected today, he says.

Starmer says a Labour king’s speech would focus on building.

We will take on the blockers that hold a veto over British aspiration.

Will build one and a half million homes right across our Britain. With opportunities for first time buyers here in the North East.

New infrastructure to support businesses, families and communities to grow. Roads, warehouses, grid connections, labs – all built quicker and cheaper.

And with all that – a prize for your business. A path to a stronger skills base, a happier workforce, more dynamism, more demand, more growth.

Humza Yousaf’s parents-in-law, Elizabeth El-Nakla and her husband, Maged, are on a list of Britons in Gaza who have been given permission to leave through the Rafah crossing, the BBC is reporting. They were in Gaza visiting relatives when the Israel-Hamas war started. The Scottish first minister has spoken regularly about his fears for the couple’s safety, at one point saying he did not even know if they were still alive.

Savanta has published the results of a poll of Labour councillors suggesting that more than two out of five of them (43%) are dissatisfied with the party’s position on Israel-Palestine.

And only 15% of them say Keir Starmer’s handling of this issue has made them feel more positive about the party, the poll found.

Savanta says that it interviewed 618 Labour councillors for the poll, between 27 October and 2 November, and that the results were weighted to make them “representative of all Labour councillors by region, council type, and council control”.

Chris Hopkins, director of political research at Savanta, said:

While there are plenty of Labour councillors right behind Starmer’s decision-making thus far, these results imply there is also a significant proportion who are not, putting the leadership in an awkward and uncomfortable position. Labour will be relying heavily on its base of councillors, integral to its ground campaign, at the next election, and with such a large proportion thinking more negatively towards the leadership over this issue could present a threat to Starmer’s standing among the membership at a crucial stage in the election cycle.

Tom Tugendhat, the security minister, has said it would be wrong for a pro-Palestinian march to take place in central London next week as Remembrance events are held, PA Media reports. PA says:

Tens of thousands of demonstrators are planning to take to the streets, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Israel’s attacks on Gaza, on Armistice Day on Saturday 11 November.

There are fears the march could disrupt the two-minute silence commemorating the war dead and the daytime and evening Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, with the latter performance usually attended by royals.

Tugendhat told BBC Breakfast on Friday morning: “It is a moment where we remember those we lost, and I think for the whole country the Cenotaph is sacred ground and the idea that on a day like Remembrance Day you would have a protest going past it, I don’t think that is acceptable.

“That is why I have written to the mayor of London, and to Westminster Council, and to the Metropolitan police asking them to look very carefully at the powers that they have and to consider what options they have available, because personally I don’t think this is an appropriate moment for a protest.”

While the police will be responsible for on-the-day monitoring of the demonstration, the home secretary could grant them extra powers to prevent it from interrupting remembrance ceremonies.

The Public Order Act 1986 allows Suella Braverman to ban protests from certain areas if the Met believes there is a disorder risk.

The Met has vowed to use all its powers to stop the disruption of commemorations and said officers will be deployed across the capital that weekend as part of a “significant policing and security operation”.

It said protest groups have not indicated plans to march on Remembrance Sunday on 12 November but a significant demonstration is expected on the Saturday.

Demo organisers have pledged to avoid the Whitehall area where the Cenotaph war memorial – the focus of national remembrance events – is located.

Armistice Day on 11 November is the anniversary of the end of the First World War and is also known as Remembrance Day.

Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) is preparing to bus protesters from Leicester to London on the Saturday and said it expects hundreds of thousands of people to take part in the demonstration, organised by a coalition of groups.

Spokesman Ismail Patel said: “We definitely will not be at the Cenotaph. We understand the sensitivity of the date.”

I’m afraid we’ve had to leave comments off for the moment because our moderator cover is limited, but we hope to be able to turn them on later.