Labour’s Bridget Phillipson, the shadow treasury minister, asked Rishi Sunak why the government has not yet launched its promised “green gilts”, or government bonds which will promote environmentally-friendly investment.

She asked: “Green gilts will be a vital part of the transition to a clean economy. Last year, the chancellor promised to launch the first ones this year. Can he tell us when and why not yet?”

Mr Sunak replied that the government was doing the “technical work” behind the launch of the green bonds, adding he hopes to provide an update at budget.

The complexities of Britain’s new relationship with Europe are such that a tangling web of committees and working groups will be formed in a scramble to implement the terms of the Brexit deal, along with the Northern Ireland Protocol and the rest of the Withdrawal Agreement.

No fewer than 19 committees and four working groups will be formed to iron out the details of specific issues — there is a committee on fisheries, for instance — as a result of what one official called the “bats*** ‘House of Cards’ bureaucracy” the terms of departure demand.

Much of the work of the separate bodies will intertwine before facing political scrutiny from both sides at the Joint Partnership Council, which is due to meet once a year. Cabinet office minister Michael Gove has been tipped as the UK’s likely representative on the council, according to Politico.

“Boris Johnson – the swami of boosterism, the patron saint of looking on the bright side, the yogi of “get it done” – seems to genuinely believe that tough choices are there to be avoided or, better still, abolished.”

Not so far from a year after Boris Johnson declared the coronavirus would be “sent packing” in 12 weeks, Sean O’Grady explains the prime minister’s penchant for overpromising:

Trade from Great Britain to the Republic of Ireland remains at about half of the level seen at the same time last year, almost a month after Brexit, officials have revealed.

Irish customs officials say they are “concerned” about the low levels of goods coming into the country, as hauliers and importers grapple with new customs red tape.

Eddie Burke, from Ireland’s Department of Transport, acknowledged that many businesses, large and small, were experiencing “severe difficulty” adapting to the new customs procedures.

Britain’s economy is set to become “significantly smaller” because of Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, according to the leading financial analysts at Moody’s.

In a scathing report, Moody’s said the agreement was “skewed in favour of the EU, with the UK willing to accept significant new barriers to trade in areas in which it has a competitive advantage”.

It adds: “The new arrangements … will entail significant negative macroeconomic consequences for the UK that are structural in nature.”

Analyst Benedicte Andries said: “While the Brexit agreement avoids a no-deal scenario, it largely lacks substance in areas vital to the UK economy, such as services. The UK economy will thus be significantly smaller over the longer term.”

British company Trees Online has blamed No 10 for the fact it will no longer be exporting any plants to Northern Ireland or the EU.  

The firm stated on its website: “Due to long term idiot activity concluding at No 10, we can no longer send any plants to Northern Ireland or the EU. As compensation for naked gardens you can have Sovereignty!”  

Campaigners have criticised new delays to flagship environmental legislation on pollution, wildlife protection and cutting waste.

The Environment Bill seeks to write environmental principles in UK law for the first time, following Brexit – but the government has delayed the passage of the bill, so it is not expected to become law until the autumn.

The Wildlife Trusts’ chief executive Craig Bennett said news the Bill would suffer more delays was “deeply troubling”, while the National Trust Harry Bowell’s added: “Now we are outside the EU, we urgently need our own laws to protect and restore our environment – not delays.”

Greenpeace UK’s head of politics, Rebecca Newsom, said: “We should be raising our environmental standards and setting an example for others to follow, rather than allowing the nature crisis to continue to spiral.”

Developing countries battling the pandemic should have their debt cancelled by the UK government, MPs have said.

The Commons’ international development committee said a “legacy of humanitarian and development reversals and crises could be more catastrophic than the direct impacts of Covid-19 in developing countries”.

MPs on the committee said debt “should be cancelled rather than countries being offered debt relief”. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab will no doubt be grilled on the matter when he appears before the same committee later today.

Labour’s schools minister Wes Streeting has called on the government to consider how quickly teachers might be able to get the Covid vaccine.

“Teachers don’t want to jump the queue,” he told Sky News. “But I think school staff are really concerned that they don’t seem to feature on the priority list at all.”

MPs will debate the post-Brexit travel arrangements for musicians and other touring artists, after a petition calling on the government to negotiate visa-free work permit with the EU gained more than 100,000 signatures.