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James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, told the Commons that to gain a work visa, migrants must in future secure a salary of at least £38,700 instead of the present £26,200. The government also said it would stop health and care workers and students bringing family dependants to Britain. He said this would have disqualified 300,000 who came to Britain last year. Mr Cleverly then flew off to Rwanda and signed a treaty intended to ensure that no one relocated there would risk being returned to a country threatening their life or freedom. Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour party, said in an article in the Sunday Telegraph: ‘Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism.’ Thames Water’s half-yearly profits more than halved to £246 million, and its debts rose to £14.7 billion. The last bank branch in Richmond, North Yorkshire, is to close.

The government was defeated 246 to 242 in the Commons vote to speed up compensation for those affected by the NHS infected blood scandal dating from the 1970s and 1980s. Train drivers belonging to the Aslef union went on a week of strikes. Boris Johnson appeared before the Covid Inquiry and said of those affected: ‘I am deeply sorry for the pain and the loss and suffering of those victims and their families.’ He argued that Britain emerged from the final lockdown earlier than comparable economies. Lucy Frazer, the Culture and Media Secretary, intervened to scrutinise the sale of the Daily Telegraph to a company backed by the Abu Dhabi ruling family, referring it to the Competition and Markets Authority and Ofcom. Lord Darling of Roulanish, as Alistair Darling chancellor of the Exchequer 2007-10, died aged 70. Glenys Kinnock, who had been an MEP and was married to the former Labour leader Lord Kinnock, died aged 79. Shane MacGowan, the lead singer of the Pogues, died aged 65.

The Dutch version of a book about the royal family by Omid Scobie included the allegation that the King and the present Princess of Wales discussed the skin colour of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s unborn baby. Trans women who have hurt women will not be held in female prisons in Scotland except in ‘exceptional’ circumstances, according to the Scottish Prison Service. The Royal Zoological Society of Scotland sent back to China the two giant pandas it has been hiring at a cost of $1 million a year since 2011.

Abroad

War resumed between Israel and Hamas after a ceasefire of seven days in which 110 hostages, women and children, were freed by Hamas in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Israel said it had carried out 10,000 air strikes in Gaza since the war began on 7 October. The BBC reported evidence of rape, sexual violence and mutilation of women during the Hamas attacks on that day. Britain carried out surveillance flights over Gaza to gather intelligence on where hostages might be held. Israeli ground forces engaged in heavy fighting at Khan Younis. Civilians were ordered to evacuate various parts suddenly. Israeli troops also entered the large Jabalia refugee camp in the north. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said about 1.8 million people were thought to be internally displaced in Gaza, out of the 2.2 million living there. Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, told Israel it should be ‘taking more effective steps to protect the lives of civilians’. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said that more than 16,000 people had been killed there.

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine cancelled a virtual appearance before the US Senate and House amid an impasse over future American funding. Russia had suffered 350,000 casualties killed or wounded in Ukraine, according to the median estimate of the British Ministry of Defence. A German tourist was stabbed to death near the Eiffel Tower; the official prosecutor said that an arrested suspect had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The USS Carney shot down three drones after three merchant vessels came under attack in the Red Sea from Yemeni Houthi rebels.

George Santos was expelled as a congressman for New York by a vote of the House of Representatives, 311 to 114. Henry Kissinger, the US diplomat and Secretary of State 1973-77, died aged 100. Moody’s demoted China’s debt outlook from stable to negative. The Philippines accused China of sending more than 135 military boats to swarm in the South China Sea around Whitsun Reef.                     CSH