Foreign secretary Liz Truss has set the scene for a furious Brexit spat with Europe, telling Brussels the UK has “no choice but to act” over the Northern Ireland protocol.

Following a call with European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic, a Foreign Office spokesman said Ms Truss made clear the UK’s “over-riding priority is to protect peace and stability in Northern Ireland”.

Ms Truss said that the protocol was “the greatest obstacle” to forming a new Northern Ireland executive.

The spokesman said: “The Foreign Secretary noted this with regret and said the situation in Northern Ireland is a matter of internal peace and security for the United Kingdom, and if the EU would not show the requisite flexibility to help solve those issues, then as a responsible government we would have no choice but to act.”

The Metropolitan Police has announced that the number of fines handed out to government staff for law-breaking parties during Covid lockdown has doubled to more than 100.

Scotland Yard said last month that 50 referrals had been made to criminal records office for fixed penalty notices over parties in Downing Street and Whitehall.

More on this breaking news as it develops.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has criticised the recent “rhetoric” from the British Government over post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland.

His comments come amid concern in EU capitals that the UK is set to scrap parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

“The EU simply expects that international agreement be honoured and is willing to be extremely flexible in how it is implemented,” he said.

Mr Coveney rejected the suggestion that the EU has refused to compromise, pointing to proposals from Brussels which he said will significantly reduce some checks in the Irish Sea.

“The majority of MLAs that have been elected to the new Assembly want to see the protocol work,” he told RTE radio.

“There is a way forward, there is a landing ground.”

Prisons minister Victoria Atkins said she has ordered an immediate review into the request of serial killer Levi Bellfield to get married in prison, branding the proposed nuptials “absolutely appalling”.

She claimed the news called into question the workings of the Human Rights Act, saying Bellfield currently has a right under Article 12 to have his application for a wedding considered.

Asked on Sky News about the request, Ms Atkins said: “Absolutely appalling. I’ve ordered an immediate review into this when it came to light last night.

“I just want to reassure people, I understand an application has been made that has not been decided yet and he most certainly has not yet married, but, if I may, he’s currently got the right under Article 12 of the Human Rights Act to get married … or they have the right to have the application to be considered by prison governors.

“I very much welcome the debate we’re about to have about the Bill of Rights and looking at human rights for the United Kingdom for the 21st century. Believe me, I’ll be raising this.”

A Conservative MP has doubled down on his controversial comments claiming poor people use food banks because they “cannot cook properly” and “cannot budget”.

Lee Anderson sparked widespread outrage by claimed there is not “this massive use for food banks”, urging Labour MPs to visit a charity in his Ashfield constituency where people get cooking lessons.

Mr Anderson was unapologetic when asked about his remarks on Thursday – claiming that people “would be able to fend for themselves” with the right education.

The Tory MP told Times Radio: “There are generations of people there who simply haven’t got the skills to budget properly and go shopping and do a proper weekly shop, like we did back in the day.”

He added: “The point I was making was that there are a lot of people out there that with the right help, and the right support, and the right education, they would be able to fend for themselves.”

Mr Anderson said he was not “being a nasty Tory”, before adding: “I’m glad that it’s caused all this fuss. Because it brings that debate out.”

Lisa Nandy has called on the Government to cancel the rise in national insurance contributions and reiterated Labour’s calls for an emergency budget.

She told BBC Breakfast: “I think the Government should cancel the rise in national insurance contributions – I think that is causing real havoc for a lot of families across the country and we opposed the cuts to Universal Credit.”

On removing the £20 uplift, she said: “That is a lot of working families who are now unable to make ends meet.

“In my constituency now, our local food bank says they’re not just giving out food parcels to working families – to parents in work – they’re giving out cold boxes to families because people can’t actually afford to cook the food because they can’t afford their energy bills.

“So, if you put those things together, you get real payment to the people who most need it very quickly and then you’ve got to take the long-term action, such as retrofitting homes to improve energy insulation – that creates jobs, it creates growth, it gets money back into local economies.

“There’s lots of ways in which the Government can help now and can help to preserve and build resilience in the economy, and in family budgets, for the future.

“But that’s why we have been calling for an emergency budget, but so far we’ve had absolutely nothing from this Government, and it beggars belief at a time when people are struggling.”

Prisons minister Victoria Atkins has said she does not agree with controversial comments made by Tory MP Lee Anderson in which he suggested people use food banks because “they cannot cook properly”.

Asked on Sky News about the remarks made in the House of Commons on Wednesday, Ms Atkins said: “This is not the view of me or anyone else in Government. We want to give not just immediate help but longer-term support as well.”

She added that the comments may have been misinterpreted, saying she thought Mr Anderson had been referring specifically to his local food bank providing longer-term support.

Responding to a suggestion that the comments accused people of using food banks to get a “ready meal” because “they can’t be bothered cooking”, Ms Atkins said: “Yeah, that’s not right and that’s absolutely not right.

“I’ve spent my ministerial career working with very vulnerable people … cooking lessons will not be the complete solution to that.”

Conservative MP Robert Halfon has labelled oil company bosses “the new oligarchs” as he called on the Government to hit them with a windfall tax.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, he said the Government had done “a fair bit” to tackle the cost-of-living crisis but that families were still struggling with food and energy bills.

Mr Halfon said: “I do think that the Government should consider properly a windfall tax.

“Oil companies or oil bosses are the new oligarchs – one of them earning a salary over £76 million, getting a £4.5 million bonus.”

Pressed on the oligarch claim by Nick Robinson, the Harlow MP pointed to “the way oil companies are ripping off motorists at the pump by not reducing the price quickly when the oil price falls internationally”.

Arguing that windfall taxes were not “un-Conservative”, Mr Halfon argued: “Margaret Thatcher did it, David Cameron has done it, Conservative governments have imposed windfall tax on oil companies in times of need.”

Boris Johnson’s attorney general has received legal advice that it would be lawful to tear up parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The government’s chief law officer Suella Braverman is said to have approved the scrapping of swathes of the agreement, giving the prime minister legal cover to make the move, despite warnings from White House and EU not to take unilateral action.

Ms Braverman has advised that legislation to ditch protocol checks on goods would be legally sound because of the “disproportionate and unreasonable” way it has been implemented by the EU, according to The Times and the BBC.

The attorney general has submitted evidence accusing the EU of undermining the Good Friday Agreement by creating a trade barrier in the Irish Sea, and warned of “societal unrest” in Northern Ireland.

Boris Johnson has refused to rule out a windfall tax on the profits of the energy companies to help relieve the pressure of the cost-of-living squeeze.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has reportedly told Treasury officials to examine plans for a levy on the soaring profits of the oil and gas giants, PA Media reports.

It follows an admission by BP chief executive Bernard Looney, who said his firm’s investment plans would not be affected by a windfall tax.

In an interview with LBC, the Prime Minister said that while he still does not like such taxes because of the impact on investment, it is something that they would have to consider.

Pressed on Mr Looney’s comments, Mr Johnson said: “Well, you know, then we’ll have to look it.”

He added however: “The disadvantage with those sorts of taxes is that they deter investment in the very things that they need to be investing in – new technology, in new energy supply.

“I don’t like them. I didn’t think they’re the right thing. I don’t think they’re the right way forward. I want those companies to make big, big investments.”