Rishi Sunak 'set to block Nicola Sturgeon’s new trans law'

Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said she does expect teachers to vote for strike action. 

Asked if she expected the thresholds to be met in order to walkout, she told Sky News: "From our own internal polling I think that we will meet the thresholds but I can't be sure. I really can't be sure. I will know about 2 o'clock today."

The National Education Union will announce later today whether teachers have voted to go on strike. If there is a vote in favour of strike action the union will then have to give two weeks notice before walking out. 

Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said the result of the ballot will be announced at 5pm. 

Asked if she expected NEU members to back strike action, she told Sky News: "Well, we will know at 5 o'clock today. We haven't had the result, when we take a formal ballot for strike action we have to use an independent polling company, quite rightly by law, so that the vote is absolutely legitimate and in order to take strike action we have to pass very high thresholds, 50 per cent of the members have to vote and the equivalent of 40 per cent of the whole membership have to vote yes. 

"So if at 5 o'clock today we find that the members have voted it will be that half the members have voted during a time when there was postal disruption and 80 per cent of those members need to vote yes before we can take strike action. 

"These are thresholds which are very high and if they are reached and it would be the first time, I have been the general secretary since 2003, it would be the first time that we have had a ballot at anything like this extent and scale and the first time ever national ballot for pay at this level. It is an indication of how strongly members are feeling." 

The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill is due to have its second reading debate in the House of Commons this afternoon - the first hurdle it needs to clear on the path to making it onto the statute book. 

Labour will vote against the new anti-strike laws. Jonathan Reynolds, the shadow business secretary, said this morning that the proposed legislation is a "fundamental mistake" which will only make industrial action worse. 

He told Times Radio: "It has been a very difficult 13 years for a lot of people in this country. Wages have not grown as we would expect them to. People are having a very difficult time and the Government has got to respond to that, not by making it harder, making it illegal or taking away unfair dismissal protections for people who go on strike. 

"It has got to be willing to listen and negotiate and all the evidence suggests that this kind of approach from the Government actually will make those disputes worse, it will prolong them because people can’t do the industrial action on the timescale that they would otherwise put forward and it is a fundamental mistake. 

"I personally think this is a complete sideshow, it is an alibi for the Government to try and deflect from the fact that they are the ones responsible for the state of public services in this country."

Rishi Sunak confirmed at the weekend that the UK will send Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine to help Kyiv's fight back against the Russian invasion (you can read that story in full here). 

The Prime Minister has also asked James Cleverly, the Foreign Secretary, and Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, to meet with allies across the glove to encourage them to follow the UK's lead in providing additional support to Ukraine. 

Tobias Ellwood, the Tory chairman of the Defence Select Committee, said this morning that he welcomed the decision to donate tanks but warned it was "very, very late in the day". 

Speaking to Times Radio, Mr Ellwood said: "This is a very much welcome announcement that we are finally gifting some serious hardware given the conflict has been raging for almost a year now. 

"I don’t want to take away what the United Kingdom has done in continually pushing that envelope on both the quality and indeed the quantity of military support that we should be gifting to Ukraine. 

"But this is very, very late in the day, possibly too late, unless other nations start to follow suit."

Rishi Sunak is set to block Nicola Sturgeon’s proposed new gender recognition laws in Scotland, it has been claimed, in a move which will spark a furious constitutional row with the SNP. 

The Financial Times cited three people who are close to discussions on the issue in No10 as saying Mr Sunak will move to block the laws, potentially as soon as today. 

It would be the first time ever that a UK prime minister has used powers to stand in the way of legislation passed by one of the devolved administrations. 

Good morning and welcome to today's politics live blog. 

There are two main issues in Westminster today: Whether Rishi Sunak will block Nicola Sturgeon's proposed new gender recognition laws in Scotland and the Government's ongoing battle with unions amid continued public sector industrial action. 

The Government's new anti-strike laws are due to be debated in the House of Commons this afternoon, with a vote this evening, in what will be a major moment. 

I will do my best to guide you through the key developments.