good evening. the labour leader sir keir starmer and his deputy angela rayner have been cleared by durham police of breaking lockdown rules. the force was looking into an event last april during election campaigning, when sir keir was pictured drinking a beer in the office of another labour mp. he d promised to resign if he was fined. at the time, indoor socialising between different households was banned. but today, the police said there was no case to answer, because of an exemption to lockdown rules for reasonably necessary work . our political editor chris mason is at westminster for us tonight. tonight we could have been talking about another leadership race here at westminster, the day after boris johnson announced his resignation we could have been reporting on sir keir starmer s resignation as well. but that won t be happening, courtesy of a decision in durham meaning sir keir will be sticking
questionnaires from durham police. they have been issued bastion s by durham police who are investigating that event in april last year in the run up to a by election in the area where sir keir starmer was pictured drinking a beer. there was a takeaway curry. at the time the rules band socialising indoors and mixing of households except for work purposes, and labour have maintained throughout that that was a work event and that sir keir starmer was eating and drinking in between work. durham police are investigating that event there is a lot at stake, sir keir starmer that he would resign if he is keir starmer that he would resign if heisissued keir starmer that he would resign if he is issued with a fixed penalty notice and so has angela rayner. the investigation is expected to run for at least a few more weeks before it concludes, and detectives will be looking at the answers sir keir starmer and angela rayner give and corroborating that with other evidence they have gathered to come
the labour leader sir keir starmer has pulled out of a speech today as durham police continue to investigate whether he broke rules last year at a gathering where he was pictured drinking a beer. here s a member of his top team. i m just not entertaining the prospect that keir starmer is going to be fined. my frustration about this whole situation is that, you know, the conservative party, daily mail in tow, have thrown loads of mud at keir starmer. northern ireland secretary brandon lewis will hold talks with the stormont assembly s five main parties today. he s urged them to form a government as soon as possible. sport, and for a full round up from the bbc sport centre, here sjohn. good morning.
a government as soon as possible. the uk s opposition leader, sir keir starmer, pulls out of a speech today, as durham police investigate whether he broke lockdown rules last year at a gathering where he was pictured drinking a beer. i m just not entertaining at the prospect that keir starmer is going to be fined and my frustration about this whole situation is that the conservative party, daily mail in tow, have thrown loads of mud at keir starmer for no other reason than that they think dragging down keir starmer, politics in general, will get borisjohnson off the hook. more than 20 charities call on the british government to halt plans to move millions of people onto a benefit called universal credit. mps in the uk call for more protection for child social media influencers who could be at risk of exploitation.
and unprovoked conflict in ukraine does nothing but dishonour those same soldiers. the uk s northern ireland secretary will hold talks with the stormont assembly s five main parties. he s urging them to form a government as soon as possible. the labour opposition leader, sir keir starmer, pulls out of an event where he was due to speak. durham police are investigating whether he broke lockdown rules last year at a gathering where he was pictured drinking a beer. mps call for more protection for child social media influencers who could be at risk of exploitation.