Here is a round-up of the political news stories from today: The three candidates to replace the outgoing Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon – Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and Humza Yousaf – took part in the second televised SNP leadership debate on Thursday evening live on Channel 4’s news programme. It followed a heated exchange between Yousaf and Forbes two days ago in the first debate, which saw Scottish Tory leader quoting Forbes’ criticisms of the SNP government during First Minister’s Questions in Holyrood. Yousaf addressed Forbes’ criticism of him and said she provided “ammunition” to opposition parties to attack the SNP with. He tells Forbes: “What unfortunately happened in the last TV debate, Kate, was that you essentially gave our opponents so much ammunition to attack us with.” Forbes insisted that the Scottish Tories “fear me” and referred to polling which shows her as the most popular of the trio among the Scottish public. Regan added that it is “perfectly acceptable” to admit what the SNP may be able to do better and said it is “time for change”. Meanwhile, Home Office mandarins are demanding an apology from Suella Braverman for offering “praise [to] staff in private only to attack them in public” after an email in her name claimed civil servants had blocked attempts to curb migration. A letter sent to the department’s most senior civil servant accused the home secretary of “an outrageous attack on the integrity and impartiality of the thousands of Home Office staff” and said she must apologise. HS2 will be delayed by another two years and major roadbuilding schemes will be mothballed, ministers have confirmed, after soaring inflation added billions to the cost of transport infrastructure projects. Ministers insisted they remained committed to Britain’s high-speed rail network scheme, but the budget constraints have cast further doubt over prospects for the rail project’s full implementation. Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle criticised the way in which the delay to the HS2 leg was communicated. A spokesperson for the speaker’s office said: “The speaker has consistently told the government that major policy announcements should be made to the house first so that members have the chance to ask questions on behalf of their constituents, rather than hearing about them via the media.” Italy’s deputy prime minister, Matteo Salvini, has praised Rishi Sunak’s anti-immigration measures as “harsh but fair”. In a post on Instagram, Salvini, leader of the far-right League, quoted a tweet by Sunak, translated into Italian, in which Sunak said: “If you arrive illegally in the UK, you can’t claim asylum; you can’t benefit from our modern slavery protections; you can’t make spurious human rights claims; you can’t stay”. Suella Braverman, the home secretary, has said she feels personally offended by Gary Lineker comparing her language to that used by the Nazis because her husband is Jewish. In an interview with the BBC’s Nick Robinson for his Political Thinking podcast, Braverman escalated her criticism of the Match of the Day presenter over his comment, saying it was “offensive”, “flippant” and “lazy”. Chris Heaton-Harris, the Northern Ireland secretary, has suggested that MPs will vote on the Northern Ireland protocol deal by the end of the month. Speaking on a visit to a garden centre on the outskirts of Belfast, he told reporters: “There’s some European processes that also are happening. So, the European parliament will have its say on this, I believe, next week, and then I think there’s one more stage in the European political sphere for it to go through, so that’ll be in the next two or three weeks.” The government’s flagship vocational reform continues to struggle, as the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, announced in a written statement this morning that a series of T-levels due to launch this year will instead be delayed. Keegan said four of the six new T-level subjects starting in September have now been put on hold for at least a year, with catering delayed until 2025, “to allow time to consult with employers and sector bodies”. Boris Johnson has been urged to stick to his job as an MP and save the speeches he charges private companies millions of pounds to hear for the House of Commons. Having already made more than £3.7m in 2023, the former prime minister has faced criticism for the limited time he has spent making contributions in parliament. Thanks for following the UK politics live blog throughout this wet and windy Thursday. From me, Tom Ambrose, it’s goodbye for now.