Lawyers helping detainees say they have been told that dozens have gone on hunger strike in detention centre near Heathrow

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Protests and hunger strikes among asylum seekers held in detention centres in preparation for deportation to Rwanda are increasing, the Guardian has learned.

Approximately 55 detainees, including Afghans, Iranians and Kurds, are believed to have staged a 10-hour peaceful protest in the exercise yard at Brook House immigration removal centre, near Gatwick airport, from 6pm on Tuesday until 4am on Wednesday.

The new first minister gets it that the public want better government, but he has not got much time to deliver

Scotland’s new first minister is an experienced and unflashy politician who can read the public mood. Almost everything that John Swinney has said and done since replacing Humza Yousaf this week shows he grasps the palpable wish – south of the border as well as north – for more effective government that is led by more sensible politicians who do not spend their time playing to the gallery. The question, after 17 years governing Scotland, is whether any SNP leader can now deliver this.

Mr Swinney’s election speech on Tuesday and his debut at first minister’s questions at Holyrood on Thursday were each designed to show that he gets it. On Tuesday, after accepting that cross-party parliamentary cooperation would be necessary under the minority government he now leads, he perambulated through the chamber to shake hands with other party leaders. It was a small gesture, of a kind that newly elected leaders sometimes make before things get more serious, but it was a good start nonetheless.

Green MSPs cite her conservative views on LGBT rights and equality – but appointment is approved by narrow majority

The Scottish Greens have voted against Kate Forbes’s appointment as Scotland’s new deputy first minister in a fresh row over her conservative views on equality.

Ross Greer, a Scottish Green MSP, said that as a gay Christian he was unable to support a minister “who feels there is something wrong with us” and said all seven Green MSPs would oppose her appointment.

Readers respond to an article by John Harris on the devastating impact of the austerity years on councils and communities

John Harris’s articles are often rooted in his conversations with and observations of parts of the electorate whose voices are rarely heard, and give a unique insight into the impact of national policy decisions on local communities.

The examples of destruction and despair from 14 years of Conservative government are well catalogued, but his visit to Thurrock revealed how much the savage cuts to local authority budgets have stripped bare the provision of every local service, from bin collections to essential care for older and vulnerable people ( We pay a lot more for a lot less, and people know it. That’s why Sunak’s Tories were thrashed in these elections, 5 May ).

Readers respond to the news of the staunch rightwing Tory MP defecting to the Labour party

It is clearly moving season for MPs. First Dan Poulter , a former Tory health minister, defected to Labour at the end of April because of the government’s lamentable failings on the NHS. Fair enough.

Then there was the breathtaking defection to Labour of Natalie Elphicke, one of the most rightwing Tory MPs who has made a career of high-volume criticism of Labour policies, some of which would have meant a lifetime ban had the criticism come from a serving Labour MP. Elphicke was welcomed in by Keir Starmer ( Report, 8 May ). On the same day, the Labour whip was restored to Kate Osamor after what was described as “a full investigation” for claiming, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day in January, that what is happening in Gaza should be remembered as genocide.

Foreign secretary says British weapons position different to US, but UK does not support Rafah invasion without civilian protection plan

• Middle East crisis – live updates

David Cameron has said the UK will not be withholding arms sales to Israel, saying its position is not comparable with that of the US, which has paused the delivery of a weapons shipment, since the UK is not a large state-to-state arms supplier to Israel.

The foreign secretary added that the UK did not support a large-scale invasion of Rafah unless it saw a plan that protects civilians, a position the UK has repeated for the past month.

Comments made after Charlie Elphicke jailed for two years criticised be new colleagues in Labour party

Having seen a fuller version of what Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor, said on BBC Radio Tees this morning, I have beefed up the post at 10.16am and changed the headline. Houchen did says Rishi Sunak ultimately had to take the blame for the state of “chaos” the Tory party is in.

Victoria Prentis, the attorney general, told the Commons that Britain continues to view its arms sales to Israel as legal a day after US president Joe Biden warned he would pause the delivery of bombs because they had been previously used to kill Palestinian civilians.

I can say that the foreign secretary has reviewed the most recent advice from the IHL cell, and that has informed his decision that there isn’t a clear risk that the items exported from the UK might be used to commit or to facilitate a serious violation of IHL. That leaves our position on export licences unchanged, but that position is kept under review.

New first minister says case for Scottish independence best made by creating ‘vibrant economy’

John Swinney has axed the post of minister for independence, in a clear signal to Scottish voters that his government is focused on their immediate cost of living concerns before the general election.

The post, held by Jamie Hepburn, was created by the previous first minister, Humza Yousaf, a year ago, with the main responsibility being publishing a series of papers on how different aspects of government would operate under Scottish independence. With no referendum imminent, opposition parties criticised the publications as a waste of taxpayers’ money. The 13th in the series, on justice in an independent Scotland, was published last month.

Anneliese Dodds backs move to accept Conservative defector Natalie Elphicke as backlash grows

The Labour party’s chair has defended the decision to admit a staunchly rightwing MP while Diane Abbott has remained suspended and under investigation for more than a year.

Anneliese Dodds said she believed Elphicke was a good fit for Labour because her remarks on border security and housing were “absolutely fundamental to the Labour party”.