Local elections results: Corbyn says Brexit deal between Labour and Tories ‘has to be done’ in wake of poll hammering

Here's a look at whether Mr Williamson could face a criminal charge and possible prison term following allegations he broke the Official Secrets Act over the Huawei leak, by Lizzie Dearden​:

The Bank of England has kept its main interest rate on hold at 0.75 per cent following its first policy meeting since Britain was granted a Brexit delay.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick has said the Cabinet Office would need to make a referral before it would launch an investigation into allegations Gavin Williamson breached the Official Secrets Act.

She said: "Nothing has changed from last night here. We are not going to comment on that particular case suffice to say if the Cabinet Office were to send us a referral at any point that relates to apparent official secrets or leaks we would assess that. We would scope it and we would go through a very formal gateway process before working on any investigation.

"The gateway process has been in place for about six years and a formal decision would be taken by the deputy commissioner but that is hypothetical because we have not had any referral from the Cabinet Office.

"We will look at any complaint we may get and if there is relevant evidence we will always look at it."

She said that of other people made a complaint relating to official secrets, the Met would look at it, but she said the formal process involved a referral from the Cabinet Office.

Asked if police needed permission from the Government to launch an inquiry, she said any official secrets would be owned by them and they would hold any evidence relating to them.

"It is sitting in the government. We as the police when considering whether there is an appropriate criminal investigation or not will have to be party to that material. At the present time we are not in possession."

Asked if it was on the face of it a breach of the Official Secrets Act, Ms Dick said police would seek advice at an early stage from the Crown Prosecution Service to establish that.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling, responding to an urgent question from the SNP on cross-Channel ferry and freight services, said: "The government is now reviewing our contingency planning for a no-deal EU exit in the wake of the recent developments.

"No decisions have yet been taken for what we'll do to prepare for the new exit date of 31 October, of course many of the preparations that were made for 29 March are still in place.

"The planning assumptions which underpinned the original maritime freight capacity activity will need reviewing in the light of the Article 50 extension to understand if they're still valid.

"A collective view will then be taken across government on the necessary contingency plans that'll need to be implemented, including working closely with the Department of Heath and Social Care and Defra to understand the needs of their supply chains."

Mr Grayling said the contracts with ferry companies to provide additional capacity as part of no-deal Brexit planning were "scheduled to run up until September", adding these were an "essential insurance policy".

SNP transport spokesman Alan Brown said: "People still ask me why is the secretary of state still in post after all his blunders. I can't answer that but I'd ask that he does the right thing, take responsibility and step aside."

A patient undergoing cancer treatment has been told his radiotherapy has been delayed indefinitely "because of Brexit". Alex Matthews-King​ has the story: 

UK GDP has been boosted in the short term by a stockpiling drive by businesses prior to the original March Brexit deadline.

In the minutes to Wednesday's Monetary Policy Committee meeting, it said: "GDP is expected to have grown by 0.5 per cent in the first quarter, in part a reflection of a larger-than-expected boost from companies in the United Kingdom and the European Union building stocks ahead of recent Brexit deadlines.

"That boost is expected to be temporary, however, and quarterly growth is expected to slow to around 0.2 per cent in the second quarter."

Stock building during the period had been higher than expected with UK manufacturing output rising markedly during the first two months of the 2019.

UK imports of goods from EU and non-EU countries both rose by around 3 per cent during the quarter.

Business investment has fallen over the past year due to Brexit uncertainty, as companies delay spending until the terms of the UK's exit is reached.

A survey by the Bank of England last month revealed that 28 per cent of firms expected output to fall in a no-deal scenario, while 17 per cent of firms said they expect employment to shrink.

The Monetary Policy Committee said: "As new Brexit deadlines approached, it was possible that businesses would continue to worry about adverse outcomes and delay capital spending as they waited for a resolution to emerge.

"Faced with a high option value of waiting for news about Brexit, companies in aggregate appeared to have favoured hiring relative to capital investment."

Bank of England governor Mark Carney said a Brexit resolution with a smooth transition will require "more frequent" rate increases.

He said: "If something like this forecast comes to pass, we could see a period where the economy is growing and pressures continue to build despite this uncertainty.

"If a Brexit resolution is some form of arrangement with some smooth resolution to it, it will require rate increases, and more frequent rate increases than the market currently expects."

The Commons Leader has said she hopes Brexit talks with Labour "will come to fruition soon".

Andrea Leadsom was asked by her opposite number Valerie Vaz when the EU Withdrawal Agreement would be debated again in the Commons.

Responding, Ms Leadsom said: "She asks when the debate on the Withdrawal Agreement Bill will be held. She'll be aware there are cross-party talks under way at the moment so she will be no doubt aware, possibly better than I am, how those talks are going.

"We all hope they come to fruition soon and we do make some progress in delivering Brexit which is something this House is committed to doing and something we seem to have failed singularly to have achieved so far."

Robert Hayward, a polling specialist and former Conservative MP, said he expected the Tories to lose more than 800 seats, Labour to gain fewer than 300 and the Liberal Democrats to pick up more than 500.

Another analysis by academics Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher suggested a swing in polling towards Labour could translate into Conservative losses of more than 1,000 seats and 800 Labour gains.