That's all from the UK politics live blog today. Thanks for following along.

Here is a round-up of the day's headlines:

• Nigel Farage's personal security has been paid for out of Reform UK's central funds despite his claim that these expenses would be covered by an undisclosed gift of £5m from a billionaire donor, sources have told the Guardian. The Reform leader has had the central party pay for a team and two cars ever since a reduction in the security provided by the taxpayer after a review in 2025.

• Ministers will face a legal challenge over plans to convert a Ministry of Defence site near the Oxfordshire village of Piddington into accommodation for more than 1,200 detained asylum seekers. It emerged on Thursday that Angela Rayner, the housing and communities secretary, has approved full planning permission, a decision welcomed by the Home Office, who want to end the use of asylum hotels.

• A news conference in Piddington descended into a shouting match between Reform's Zia Yusuf and the Conservative's Chris Philp. The two men, who are both home affairs spokespeople for their respective parties, appeared alongside Piddington parish council leader Tim McNally at a media event designed to outline local opposition to government plans to for a local accommodation site for asylum seekers.

• But the united front did not last long and soon ended up with the pair bickering in front of the cameras. Yusuf asked Philp: "Would you like to actually apologise for the things that you did in government to bring hundreds of thousands of people into this country illegally? Are you going to take the opportunity to apologise to the people of Piddington and to the country?" Philp responded by saying that the residents of the military base would be asylum seekers who had arrived recently.

• Downing Street has defended plans to convert the site at MoD Bicester near Piddington into asylum seeker accommodation. Responding to questions around public safety, a spokesperson said such sites are "designed to be self-contained with 24/7 security and CCTV to minimise the impact on the local community", the Press Association reported.

• There will be a "growing pressure" for parliament to scrutinise EU legislation under new deals on food and emissions to be sealed ahead of the UK's summit with the bloc next week, a Lords' committee has warned. Prime minister Andy Burnham is due to meet EU leaders in Brussels next week and sign agreements that he says could raise GDP by 0.4%. This includes a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal on food and farming, as well as one on emissions trading and another for a youth mobility scheme.

• A deal is also expected to be struck on a health security agreement to help address shortages of drugs such as antibiotics and ADHD medication, which have got worse since Brexit, according to a draft text seen by the I newspaper.

• The government is considering stripping back legal protections that limit the costs community groups face when challenging planning decisions that threaten nature. The Aarhus convention, an environmental treaty that was signed into law by the UK in 2005, guarantees the legal right to participate in democratic processes on environmental matters – such as sewage pollution, new roads or datacentre developments.

• Downing Street said the government was seeking to establish "the full picture" of Microsoft outages as it urged people to follow advice on "alternative ways to get in touch" where services are disrupted. A spokesperson said ministers were being kept updated and that a "range of services" were experiencing disruption as parts of the government use of Microsoft.

• Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally has said "people are seeking meaning, connection and hope in a turbulent world" as new statistics reveal Church of England attendances have grown for the fifth year in a row. The number of regular attenders to C of E services grew to 1.03m in 2025, a 1.5% increase on the previous year.

The government is considering stripping back legal protections that limit the costs community groups face when challenging planning decisions that threaten nature.

The Aarhus convention, an environmental treaty that was signed into law by the UK in 2005, guarantees the legal right to participate in democratic processes on environmental matters – such as sewage pollution, new roads or datacentre developments.

Under the treaty, when an individual brings an environmental legal claim, they are protected by a cost cap that means they only pay £5,000 of the other side's costs if they lose. For organisations, the cost cap protection is £10,000.

The purpose of this is to ensure legal challenges about the environment are not prohibitively expensive for individuals and public interest groups.

According too environmental lawyers, the Ministry of Justice has been holding private meetings with "select" stakeholders on plans to remove these cost cap protections and distance the UK from the convention.

Other possible changes include doubling cost caps at each stage of a challenge and removing the costs protection where a court finds a "misuse of judicial review".

Nigel Farage's personal security has been paid for out of Reform UK's central funds despite his claim that these expenses would be covered by an undisclosed gift of £5m from a billionaire donor, sources have told the Guardian.

The Reform leader has had the central party pay for a team and two cars ever since a reduction in the security provided by the taxpayer after a review in 2025.

The disclosure raises fresh questions about Farage's explanation of the £5m he was given by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.

After the Guardian revealed the gift, Harborne said it was intended "to support Nigel's security not just now but for the rest of his life".

Farage initially said: "This money was given to me so that I would be safe and secure for the rest of my life."

He suggested that the Home Office did not offer him any security support. In fact, though it was reduced in scale, he was offered a bodyguard, a driver and car – similar to the provision made for Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the official opposition.

Farage refused this, and since then his security has been paid for from central party funds. These costs have amounted to more than £150,000 in the past year, sources said.

The arrangement has caused consternation for some within the party. "It's completely at odds with the narrative he's tried to sell the public," a Reform source said.

Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally has said "people are seeking meaning, connection and hope in a turbulent world" as new statistics reveal Church of England attendances have grown for the fifth year in a row.

The number of regular attenders to C of E services grew to 1.03m in 2025, a 1.5% increase on the previous year.

Meanwhile, average Sunday attendance grew by 1.6%, or 9,000 people, to 590,000, according to the Church of England's Statistics for Mission 2025, with the number of children attending church regularly rising by 8,000 over the period 2024/25.

Easter, Advent and Christmas church attendance showed the strongest growth, with Christmas attendance rising 5.2% to 1.96m in 2025. Meanwhile, adult baptisms rose for the second year running by more than 1,000, with 9,900 baptisms of adults recorded last year.

It is the fifth year in a row in which attendance both on Sundays and across the week have risen, although attendance and participation remain below pre-pandemic levels.

Archbishop of Canterbury Sarah Mullally said clergy, laity and volunteers worked tirelessly to welcome people into churches.

She added:

Whether at morning prayer, a Sunday service, Evensong, a youth hub, a parent and toddler group - or any of the countless ways that the Church of England serves our communities in every parish - it is clear that people are seeking meaning, connection and hope in a turbulent world.

Meanwhile, David Walker, Bishop of Manchester has called for a "just level of support" for people in poverty as the winter approaches. It comes as statistics reveal more than 7,000 food banks and 3,000 community cafes are run or supported by churches.

Figures on the extent of social support provided by the Church of England show more than half of its churches, 53%, are involved in food bank provision and nearly a quarter, or 23 per cent, also host, support or run community cafes providing hot meals for free or at low cost.

More than 5,000 churches - or 38% - are involved in lunch clubs, coffee mornings, or similar provision for older people.

Here is footage of the extraordinary scenes as Reform's Zia Yusuf and the Tories' Chris Philip descended into bickering with one another, during a news conference in which they were suppose to be putting on a united front:

Earlier today, Downing Street said the government was seeking to establish "the full picture" of Microsoft outages as it urged people to follow advice on "alternative ways to get in touch" where services are disrupted.

A spokesperson said ministers were being kept updated and that a "range of services" were experiencing disruption as parts of the government use of Microsoft.

They added: "Frontline services have their own contingency arrangements, and departments are working to make sure essential services keep running."

For the latest news on the Microsoft outage, you can follow our dedicated live blog on the issue here:

Meanwhile, Downing Street has defended plans to convert the site at MoD Bicester near Piddington into asylum seeker accommodation.

Responding to questions around public safety, a spokesperson said such sites are "designed to be self-contained with 24/7 security and CCTV to minimise the impact on the local community", the Press Association reported.

The spokesperson added: "As the prime minister himself has said, we do not want a situation where it's only the poorest communities in the country that receive all of the dispersal of refugees and asylum seekers who believe all parties to play their part."

The spokesperson said the safety of the public "will always be our top priority".

Tensions were clearly running high in Piddington, as Philp and Yusuf faced off in a heated exchange and made their feelings known, as evidenced in these pictures:

A news conference in Piddington has descended into a shouting match between Reform's Zia Yusuf and the Conservative's Chris Philp.

The two men, who are both home affairs spokespeople for their respective parties, appeared alongside Piddington parish council leader Tim McNally at a media event designed to outline local opposition to government plans to for a local accommodation site for asylum seekers.

But the united front did not last long and soon ended up with the pair bickering in front of the cameras. Yusuf asked Philp:

Would you like to actually apologise for the things that you did in government to bring hundreds of thousands of people into this country illegally?

Are you going to take the opportunity to apologise to the people of Piddington and to the country?

Philp responded by saying that the residents of the military base would be asylum seekers who had arrived recently.

He said that "rather than engaging in point scoring", Yusuf should "read the room". However, Yusuf said the Tories failed to "secure our borders" during their 14 years of government.

Before that, McNally had accused prime minister Andy Burnham of "failing to step up". He said:

[Burnham hasn't] extended to us as simple as courtesy of consideration of what we are going to have to consider, to receive here as our new incumbent guests that you have targeted for us - 1,250 men.

The Home Office underspent its Prevent counter-terror scheme budget by nearly a third last year, despite the number of referrals reaching record levels, the public spending watchdog has said.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the Home Office underspent its £23.4 million Prevent budget by 28% for 2025-26, continuing a six-year pattern in which it underspent by an average of £5.6 million (17%) a year in real term, PA reported.

The government-led, multi-agency programme aims to stop individuals becoming terrorists. It has faced significant criticism after it failed to intervene in the case of Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana, who had been referred three times.

Demand for Prevent has grown significantly with referrals increasing year on year since 2020, and reaching a record 10,293 in the year ending September 2025.

Officials believe the referral spike might be down to more awareness of Prevent after the Southport Attack in July 2024.

Ministers will face a legal challenge over plans to convert a Ministry of Defence site near the Oxfordshire village of Piddington into accommodation for more than 1,200 detained asylum seekers.

It emerged on Thursday that Angela Rayner, the housing and communities secretary, has approved full planning permission, a decision welcomed by the Home Office, who want to end the use of asylum hotels.

Tim McNally, the local parish council chair, told BBC Radio 4's Today Programme there would be "many actions" by villagers, and that ministers should "absolutely" be braced for a legal challenge, which would need to be lodged within the next six weeks.

Ministers have faced opposition over the plans from villagers, who even made a symbolic attempt to declare the village independent from the rest of the country after a referendum of its 350 residents. Asked how the village would respond, McNally said: "There's going to be many actions, you will see. We will disclose that as we move forward."

Asked if ministers should be braced for a legal challenge, he said: "Absolutely, absolutely."

Campaigners could also apply the new Hillsborough law, which is being considered by parliament. Once passed, the law would create a legally enforceable duty of candour that compels public officials and authorities to act transparently when investigations and inquiries take place.

The food and farming deal alone could generate at least 780 pieces of in-scope EU law every year, the committee said.

"This may sound like a technical issue, but the rules in question can affect everyday matters, from food standards and consumer prices to business costs and household budgets.

"That is why effective parliamentary scrutiny is essential to ensure such changes do not pass without proper oversight.

"The procedures, institutional arrangements and resources that are needed for this must be provided, so that parliament can undertake its scrutiny thoroughly and transparently," Stirrup said.

After the summit, Burnham plans to go further in exploring options for the UK's future ties.

The prime minister's remarks in recent weeks have fuelled questions about the prospect of the UK returning to the EU or adopting its freedom of movement rules, but he has insisted voters would ultimately be "the boss" of any changes.

Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.

There will be a "growing pressure" for parliament to scrutinise EU legislation under new deals on food and emissions to be sealed ahead of the UK's summit with the bloc next week, a Lords' committee has warned.

Prime minister Andy Burnham is due to meet EU leaders in Brussels next week and sign agreements that he says could raise GDP by 0.4%. This includes a sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) deal on food and farming, as well as one on emissions trading and another for a youth mobility scheme.

A deal is also expected to be struck on a health security agreement to help address shortages of drugs such as antibiotics and ADHD medication, which have got worse since Brexit, according to a draft text seen by the I newspaper.

It will mark a significant shift in the Britain's post-Brexit relationship with the EU as they will require dynamic alignment, the process of matching laws to the bloc's evolving legislation, the House of Lords European Affairs Committee said in a new report.

The committee of peers says this will mean parliament needs to set up a "robust, consistent and adequately resourced cross-departmental system" to manage the UK's dynamic alignment commitments. See the published report here.

The committee chairman, Jock Stirrup, said:

Although important details remain to be determined of the legal and institutional form that dynamic alignment will take, its introduction will mark a major change to the nature of the UK-EU relationship as it exists under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

As the UK aligns with more EU law, parliament will face growing pressure to scrutinise significant volumes of EU legislation.

The food and farming deal alone could generate at least 780 pieces of in-scope EU law every year, the committee heard.

Meanwhile, the I reports that the government is close to securing a deal with Europe to help tackle post-Brexit medicine shortages, including antibiotics, ADHD medication and epilepsy drugs.

Experts on post-Brexit health policy have reportedly described the deal as "significant'" and a "good first step" in addressing shortages that have hit both sides in recent years.

It comes as prime minister Andy Burnham said he believes a "win-win" deal could be done with the EU that could be "more like the Brexit that people thought they were voting for in 2016".

The prime minister was meeting fellow leaders at the European Political Community summit in Dublin, ahead of the summit next week, where he hopes to bring Britain closer to Europe.

Burnham said:

I believe there is a good deal to be done that could be a win-win for Britain and Europe.

The deal is not done, and there'll be some long nights ahead in the next seven days.

In other developments: