Here’s a roundup of the key developments from the day: The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has defended his wife after revelations that she claims non-domiciled status, meaning she does not legally have to pay tax in the UK on her income earned abroad. Sunak told the Sun: “She loves her country like I love mine,” and said his wife had done nothing wrong in choosing a financial arrangement that legally exempts her from paying tax in Britain on foreign income. Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty had US green cards and were declared “permanent US residents” for tax purposes while Sunak served as chancellor. Sunak and Murty, who own a £5.5m California penthouse holiday home, held green cards while they lived in the US and continued to keep the status when they moved to the UK. The shadow attorney general has said that the chancellor’s wife is “taking advantage” of her decision to claim non-domicile status to avoid paying taxes. Emily Thornberry told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In the end, we have somebody who’s been living here for eight years, raising her children here, living at … Downing Street in accommodation provided by the taxpayer and aspiring to be the wife of the next prime minister, and yet she says that she isn’t a permanent resident of this country.” Boris Johnson insisted Rishi Sunak had done “absolutely everything” required after it was reported he held a US green card for a period while chancellor. He added: “I think that Rishi is doing an absolutely outstanding job.” Russia may have committed another war crime by targeting civilians fleeing from an eastern Ukraine railway station with precision missiles, the defence secretary has said. Ben Wallace vowed to “do everything” to ensure Vladimir Putin fails in Ukraine. Boris Johnson and Olaf Scholz held talks and a press conference at Downing Street. The prime minister said he was “absolutely thrilled” to be hosting the German chancellor at Downing Street during a “very important” time for Europe, Ukraine and the countries’ bilateral relations. Boris Johnson said the attack on fleeing civilians at the Kramatorsk train station was “unconscionable”, as he suggested Vladimir Putin’s forces were guilty of a war crime. He said: The attack at the train station in eastern Ukraine shows the depth to which Putin’s once vaunted army has sunk.” Boris Johnson welcomed German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s “seismic” attempts to divest from Russian fossil fuels after the pair met in Downing Street. Johnson told a joint No 10 press conference they agreed on the importance of weaning off Russian oil and gas. Priti Patel has apologised for the time it has taken for Ukrainian refugees to arrive in the UK under two visa schemes, after new figures showed just 12,000 have so far reached Britain. Boris Johnson hinted at a disagreement with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, over triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol, which he refused to rule out, despite the war in Ukraine. Boris Johnson has said it would be “irresponsible” to rule out further lockdowns if more deadly coronavirus variants emerge. The prime minister continued to say he could not rule out the prospect of taking drastic action again as the nation feels the impact of the Omicron variant, PA Media reports. The number of Covid-19 infections remains at or near record levels in most of the UK, with only Scotland seeing a drop, new figures from the Office for National Statistics have revealed. The ONS data for the week ending 2 April, based on swabs collected from randomly selected households, shows that, for the second week running, about one in 13 people across the UK are thought to have had Covid – an estimated 4.88 million infections. Outgoing Metropolitan police commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has warned against the “politicisation of policing”, saying it is “a threat not just to policing but to trust in the whole criminal justice system”. She left Scotland Yard this morning and was applauded by officers as she walked out. That’s it from me today. Thanks for joining me. My colleague Jessica Elgot has looked at whether Rishi Sunak has blown his chances of ever becoming the leader of the Conservatives, which you may find interesting.
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