Britain plans to force those working for foreign governments to sign a register in a bid to counter hostile spy activity, the Home Office has said.

According to The Times, Boris Johnson is looking to formally announce the proposal in the Queen’s Speech next month, making it a criminal offence not to declare work in the UK on behalf of a foreign government.

The newspaper said the foreign agent registration scheme – which had already been announced by the Home Office – is part of the prime minister’s ambitions to strengthen powers to evict and prosecute spies operating in Britain for hostile states such as Russia and China.

The scheme follows the consideration of similar concepts by allies such as Australia and the US, according to the Home Office.

Since the 2014 referendum on Scottish independence, Britain’s age of chaos has seen three general elections, the Brexit wars and the Covid crisis, writes Adam Forrest.

Nicola Sturgeon and her Scottish National Party team are hoping to make 2021 another year of high drama and upheaval.

But since Boris Johnson insists the UK government will not grant the powers needed to stage a referendum, tt raises the possibility of a “wildcat” referendum – the last of which was witnessed in Catalonia in 2017.

The Tory MP leading a Commons committee investigating lobbying is confident there is bipartisan support for “meaningful change” in the wake of the Greensill Capital controversy.

William Wragg is chairman of the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, which announced on Thursday that it would be carrying out an inquiry into lobbying and business appointments issues that have come to light since the Greensill row.

“There’s an understanding that something must be done, but as often in politics we have to translate that natural understanding into tangible proposals,” Mr Wragg told the BBC.

“I think we can all approach this in a fairly consensual, cross-party way to make sure that we do have meaningful change,” he added.

Boris Johnson has condemned “very damaging” plans for a European Super League, calling on English clubs to halt their participation until they “answer to their fans and the wider footballing community”.

The prime minister said such a move would “strike at the heart of the domestic game” and that ministers supported football authorities in taking action.

Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City have signed up to the plan, and will be joined by teams from Italy and Spain. The move has been widely criticised by figures from across the sport.

Jean-Claude Juncker has said he “should not have listened” to David Cameron when he was told to stay quiet in the Brexit referendum campaign.

The former president of the European Commission said he “made a mistake” by not defending the EU’s point of view in the UK.

Speaking to the i newspaper, he said: “They asked me to shut up, so I shut up. That is something I criticise myself for. I should have spoken out rather than stay silent.”

Labour has demanded stronger checks on the appointment of crown representatives after a job was handed to an entrepreneur who donated £135,000 to Conservatives.

Daniel Green was made a crown representative while David Cameron was prime minister – the same position that allowed Lex Greensill controversial access to major government departments. 

That revelation has led to growing questions over whether the system of crown representatives – business people brought into the heart of Whitehall to help secure value for taxpayers’ money – is fit for purpose.

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of the continuing fallout from the lobbying scandal, criticism of David Cameron over his Brexit advice and much else.