Sir Keir Starmer is facing continued pressure from MPs and charities, as the government prepares to announce changes to the welfare system this week.

The government will outline plans to reduce spending on health benefits on Tuesday, but is facing accusations vulnerable people could lose out.

Ministers are looking at tightening criteria to qualify for Personal Independence Payments (PIP), one of the key disability benefits.

They have abandoned plans for a one-year freeze to PIP payments, after disquiet from MPs.

But there is significant unease among Labour MPs about the cuts, spreading far beyond Sir Keir’s usual internal opponents.

More than 3.6 million people currently claim PIP – which is designed to help compensate those with disabilities and long-term health conditions for higher living costs such as the purchase of a wheelchair or having to take more taxis to get around.

It had been initially reported that the government would consider not increasing PIP payments in life with inflation for a year. But that idea could be withdrawn after many usually loyal Labour MPs voiced strong opposition.

After attending a private meeting of Labour MPs last week, one MP told the BBC that freezing PIP would be “unforgivable”.

“Some people have very complex disabilities. Part of the social contract is they are supported,” they said.

Another MP, a usual supporter of the prime minister, told the BBC: “Most of us broadly agree that there are lots of people who don’t work but should, and have no problem with getting them into work.

“But punishing those who are especially vulnerable and have severe disabilities is unacceptable.”

Backbenchers have also expressed frustration at a lack of communication from ministers.

But on Monday, Treasury Minister Emma Reynolds asked Labour MPs to wait for the official announcement, adding: “some colleagues are jumping to conclusions about our plans before they’ve heard them”.

“We’ll set out further details, but the severely disabled and the most vulnerable will always get support, and there will always be a safety net,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The reason reform of the benefits system is being announced now is because the cuts form part of the Spring Statement on 26 March.

Initially this was expected to be a pared-back parliamentary moment with Rachel Reeves only required to formally acknowledge new economic forecasts produced by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR).

Over recent weeks, however, it has become clear that the OBR has told Rachel Reeves that the £9.9bn “headroom” she had at the time of her October Budget has since been wiped out by the rising cost of government borrowing – requiring savings.

This was the buffer Reeves had against meeting her own borrowing rules.

There are some Labour MPs, including ministers, who believe that instead of responding by pursuing severe spending cuts, Reeves and Sir Keir should consider changing those rules so that the government can borrow more money, or increasing tax.

On the Today programme, veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott echoed calls from others on the left of the party for additional taxation of wealth.

Reeves’ allies, though, argue that further tax or borrowing would spook the financial markets and result in the cost of borrowing going up even further.

On tax, the chancellor is constrained by commitments Labour made during the general election not to increase income tax or VAT.

The government is facing a towering disability welfare bill. Total spending on health and disability benefits is forecast to rise from £64.7bn in 2023-24 to £100.7bn in 2029-30.

The biggest contributor to this would be from welfare spending on working-age adults, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.

PIP is the second-largest element of the working-age welfare bill, with spending on this projected to almost double to £34bn by 2029-30.

And claimant numbers, for PIP and Universal Credit payments, have increased significantly in the four years since the pandemic- about 37% over the past four years.

There are now about 4 million people getting at least one of the disability benefits – about 10% of the working age population, said Tom Waters from the Institute of Fiscal Studies.

Just under half of these claim for mental health problems, said the analyst, adding that “a majority of the increase” was from people claiming mental and behavioural problems as their main condition.

During his appearance on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Health Secretary Wes Streeting was asked if he agreed with experts that warn of an overdiagnosis of mental health conditions.

The health secretary said he wanted to “follow the evidence and I agree with that point about overdiagnosis”.

“Here’s the other thing, mental wellbeing, illness, it’s a spectrum and I think definitely there’s an overdiagnosis but there’s too many people being written off,” he said.

The health secretary’s comments prompted the mental health charity Mind to warn it was important to be “extremely careful” with the language around diagnoses to avoid stigmatising people.

Streeting also said the government “wants to support people who need help the most, and we’ve got to make sure that there is a wide range of support and that everyone’s playing their part.”

Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott accused the government of being “all over the place and divided” over welfare reform.

When asked if the Conservatives would back the welfare changes, she said her party supported the “principle of welfare reform” but “we’re not clear on the plan”.

The SNP has urged the prime minister to scrap the “cuts to disabled people”.

The party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said the Labour government had “boxed itself in with its Tory austerity rules” on public spending.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour, the chief executive of charity Citizen’s Advice said the government was “pulling the quick and easy lever” by taking “money out of the system”.

Dame Clare Moriarty also accused the government of “not having done all the work to make sure that people can actually be supported into work”.

Writing in the Times on Monday, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said he recognised the need for reform of the system, but urged “caution” on benefit changes.

He said: “It would trap too many people in poverty. And to be clear: there is no case in any scenario for cutting the support available to disabled people who are unable to work.”

Marija Taseva was enjoying a night out with her sister at the Pulse club in Kocani, North Macedonia, on Saturday when disaster struck.

They were watching DNK, a popular hip-hop duo in the country, when a fire broke out, which killed at least 59 people and injured 155 others.

“Everyone started screaming and shouting ‘get out, get out!'” the 19-year-old told Reuters.

People desperately tried to escape the flames but there was only one exit for around 500 people, as the only other door at the back of the venue was locked.

“I don’t know how but I ended up on the ground, I couldn’t get up and at that moment people started stomping on me,” Ms Taseva said.

She eventually managed to get to safety, but her sister did not.

“My sister died. I was saved and she wasn’t.”

Police have detained 15 people, with Interior Minister Pance Toskovski saying that there are “grounds for suspicion that there is bribery and corruption” linked to the fire.

Those detained include the owner of the venue and former government officials.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski has said there will be “no mercy”, regardless of political rank or party affiliation.

The fire started around 02:30 local time (01:30 GMT) on Sunday when sparks from pyrotechnic devices hit the ceiling, which was made of highly flammable material, Toskovski said.

Described as an “improvised nightclub” by the local press, the venue, located in a town around 100km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje, did not have a legal licence to operate, Toskovski said.

It had previously been a carpet warehouse, and police are investigating.

“Most of the dead suffered injuries from the stampede that occurred in the panic while trying to exit,” the head of the Kocani hospital, Kristina Serafimovska, told reporters.

“Seventy of the patients have burns and carbon monoxide poisoning,” she said, according to AFP news agency.

Vladislav Gruev, a specialist in reconstructive and plastic surgery at the University Clinic for Surgical Diseases, has been treating survivors.

“Most of them have extensive burn injuries, above 18% surface body area, second and third degree burns on the head, neck, upper torso, and upper limbs – hands and fingers,” he said.

Inspections on Sunday showed several “abnormalities” in the venue, including “deficiencies” in the fire-extinguishing and lighting system, said public prosecutor’s office spokesman Biljana Arsovska.

Speaking outside the hospital, Red Cross volunteer Mustafa Saidov said the majority of those who died were young people.

“Inside where they are identifying the victims, the situation is far worse. You see that the parents are also quite young people, in their 40s. Their children are 18 or 20 years old.”

“The situation is brutal, chaotic, the stories are very sad, and unfortunately many young lives are lost.”

One man, whose nephew was injured in the fire, said some people have been unable to locate their children.

Many are angry and searching for answers, like Dragi Stojanov, who lost his only child in the fire.

“Let me tell you in front of everybody. Film me. I am a dead man, I lost everything… the whole of Europe should know,” he told reporters.

“After this tragedy, what do I need this life for? I don’t need it.

“I had one child and I lost him.”

North Macedonia’s President Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova said there needed to be accountability for what happened.

“None of the responsible this time should avoid the law, the justice and punishment too,” she said.

“Nothing is worthier than human life, specifically young life.”

The most seriously injured were being taken for treatment in specialist clinics in Bulgaria, Greece, Serbia and Turkey, she added.

The government has declared seven days of national mourning, and it will hold an emergency session as part of ongoing investigations into how the incident unfolded.

At least 51 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a nightclub fire in North Macedonia, officials say.

The blaze is said to have started around 02:30 (01:30 GMT) at the Pulse club in Kocani, a town around 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital, Skopje. Footage posted on social media shows the building engulfed in flames.

As many as 1,500 were said to have been attending a concert by the band DNK, a hip-hop duo popular in the country.

Interior Minister Pance Toskovski said that according to initial reports, the fire started from sparks caused by pyrotechnic devices.

He told reporters in front of the Kocani police station that sparks then hit the ceiling made of highly flammable material, before the fire spread through the club. He said some arrests had been made.

Footage shows the band playing on stage when two flares go off, sparks then catch on the ceiling before rapidly spreading.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski wrote in a statement on Facebook that the government was “fully mobilised and will do everything necessary to deal with the consequences and determine the causes of this tragedy.”

He called it a “difficult and very sad day” for the country which had now lost so many young lives.

The hospital in Kocani initially reported 90 admissions, with many suffering severe burns. Some of the injured have since been transferred to hospitals in Skopje for further treatment.

The former leader of Reform UK in Wales will stand trial next year, accused of accepting bribes to make statements in the European Parliament that would benefit Russia.

Nathan Gill, 51, from Llangefni on Anglesey, is charged with eight counts of bribery and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery at the Old Bailey in London.

At a hearing in the Old Bailey in London on Friday, defence barrister Clare Ashcroft indicated that the former Wales MEP intended to enter not guilty pleas.

A trial date of 29 June 2026 was set.

The court previously heard Mr Gill, who was a UKIP and later a Brexit Party MEP between 2014 and 2020, was alleged to have conspired with former Ukrainian politician Oleg Voloshyn between 1 January 2018 and 1 February 2020.

Mr Gill stood in the dock and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth.

He was alleged to have been tasked by Mr Voloshyn on at least eight occasions to make specific statements in return for money.

A court previously heard that Mr Gill was stopped at Manchester Airport on 13 September 2021 under anti-terror legislation.

His mobile phone was seized and evidence was found that police say suggested he was in a professional relationship with Mr Voloshyn and had agreed to “receive or accept monies in return for him performing activities as an MEP”, the court heard.

Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb set a trial date of 29 June 2026, and Mr Gill is set to appear in court next on the 18 July this year.

“Your trial is not going to happen immediately,” the judge told Mr Gill.

“There’s a degree of preparation that needs to take place.”

The judge released Mr Gill on conditional bail and said he should not make contact with Mr Voloshyn and not obtain international travel documents.

Mr Gill confirmed he handed his passport to police after the previous hearing in February.

Mr Gill was first elected as a UKIP MEP in 2014 and joined the National Assembly, as it was then called, in 2016.

He was an Assembly Member for just over a year, before he was replaced by Mandy Jones in December 2017.

He served as UKIP’s leader for Wales and was briefly an independent before joining Reform’s predecessor organisation, the Brexit Party, in 2019.

The north Wales politician led Reform’s 2021 Welsh Parliament election campaign.

It is not clear precisely when Gill ceased being leader of Reform UK Wales, but the job has not existed for some time.

Reform has said he is no longer a member.

Sir Keir Starmer will pledge to slash the costs of regulation with an “active government” in a speech later.

He will take aim at a “cottage industry of checkers and blockers slowing down delivery for working people”, as he argues the state has become bigger but weaker.

New AI and tech teams will be sent into public sector departments to drive improvements in efficiencies.

It comes after Sir Keir told his ministers they should take more responsibility for decisions, rather than “outsourcing” them to regulators.

A push to reduce the role of quangos – or non-governmental bodies – is expected to be part of the prime minister’s plan.

Incoming governments have often sought to cut the number of quangos – but what are they and what do they do?

Quango stands for Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisation but the government calls them “arm’s length bodies”. They are organisations funded by taxpayers but not directly controlled by central government, such as regulators, cultural institutions and advisory bodies.

They range from huge organisations like NHS England and HMRC, to smaller bodies like the Gambling Commission and the British Film Institute.

The number of quangos has fallen by more than half since 2010 but there are still more than 300 across the UK.

Under the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition nearly 300 were axed – dubbed the “bonfire of the quangos” – in an attempt to improve accountability and cut costs.

Despite Sir Keir indicating he would also like to reduce the role of quangos, the new Labour government has set up more than 20 since winning power.

These include Great British Energy, which will invest in renewable energy to help meet the government’s clean power goals, and the Border Security Command, which aims to tackle small boat crossings.

Asked earlier this week if the government was planning another “bonfire of the quangos”, Downing Street said the PM wanted to see a more “active and agile state”, rather than “outsourcing” decisions to other bodies.

Almost 60% of day-to-day government spending is channelled through quangos, with 90% of this going to the largest 10 bodies.

The total budget for quangos in 2022/23 – the latest published figures – was £353.3bn.

Campaign groups like the TaxPayers’ Alliance have long criticised quangos, claiming they allow ministers to dodge responsibility for mistakes and can be inefficient and costly.

The Institute for Government think tank says in some cases scrapping public bodies can save money and improve how services are delivered.

It gives the example of how merging JobCentre Plus into the Department for Work and Pensions helped cut the department’s workforce and office space by a third.

But the think tank argues abolitions also cost money and time in the short term, with services disrupted when powers are transferred.

Moving activities into departments, while improving accountability, can also dilute expert knowledge.

A 91-year-old man says he lost his life savings to rogue traders who came to repair a few loose tiles but ended up replacing the whole roof.

Allan, from Hornsea, East Yorkshire, said he was visited by builders after Storm Darragh last December, believing they would fix some minor damage.

Instead, he claims they put up scaffolding, replaced all of his tiles and gave him a bill for £31,680.

Humberside Police is investigating.

Allan said a passing window cleaner told him he had a loose slate in the days after Storm Darragh swept across East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

On Sunday 15 December, builders arrived and started putting up scaffolding.

Allan said he cannot remember whether he asked them to come, or whether it was a cold call.

“A ladder appeared, three people appeared and started stripping the roof, so I thought well they know what they are doing, and bit by bit all the slates disappeared,” he said.

“They were put on the back of a wagon, and then they drove away with them and came back and started putting new slabs on the roof, just like that.”

Allan said he was confused by the size of the job the roofers were doing, and that he had not asked for it.

“It was so overwhelming,” he explained. “Once it started there wasn’t anything I could do about it.”

Allan claimed no price for the work was mentioned, but once it was finished he was presented with a bill for £31,680.

“I think he knew how much money I had because I had a bank statement in there [the next room],” Allan said.

“It was all the money I had.”

Allan said the roofers told him that if he paid them upfront, he would be able to claim the work on insurance, but when he contacted his insurers NatWest Home Insurance, they said they could not cover the cost for remedial work that they had not signed off in advance.

A spokesperson for NatWest encouraged customers to contact them before agreeing for any repair work to be done, “so we can advise on their claim and validate any work that needs to be carried out”.

They added that they would be providing Allan with “ongoing additional support” after the scam.

The BBC has seen the quote and invoice, both dated 18 December, which Allan paid in full by cheque.

Dr Tim Day, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) lead officer for doorstep crime, scams and consumer vulnerability, said this type of scam represents 95% of his caseload – and often the mental toll on victims is far greater than the financial one.

He said that research by the Home Office in 2003 suggested older victims of rogue trader crime were two-and-a-half times more likely to have died or gone into residential care in the two years following an incident than those who had not been victimised.

“It is, unfortunately, robbing people of their independence and it’s no exaggeration to say, quite literally, it’s killing people,” he said.

He added that the market was “flooded” with rogue traders like the ones who targeted Allan.

Fraud is the most common crime type in the UK, amounting to around 40% of all crime in England and Wales, according to the government.

Dr Day said the government should bring in a compulsory national licensing scheme to make traders more accountable.

“Currently, you’ve got a situation where anyone can set themselves up, you don’t need any experience, or knowledge, or training, and they don’t need to be legitimate in any way.

“The trade that they represent, as is often the case at the moment, can purely be a means by which they perpetrate fraud.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said there was “no clear evidence that a licensing scheme would improve standards”.

They said the department supports the TrustMark scheme for helping people to find competent traders, and that local authorities would have new powers from April to allow for tougher fines against businesses that rip off customers.

Allan said he had accepted that he had lost his money, but when his family tried to call the roofers to try to get the scaffolding down, they did not respond.

The scaffolding was left on his property for more than two months before another builder offered to take it away for him.

Allan’s close friend, Fred Bree, said the extent to which he had been taken advantage of “beggars belief”.

“Allan is a very proud and independent man, he doesn’t seek help – but he’s vulnerable,” Mr Bree added.

The local Trading Standards team at East Riding of Yorkshire Council said it saw similar scams “day in day out”.

The details for the firm on Allan’s invoice appear to match up with a company that was dissolved in 2022, according to Companies House.

The BBC has decided not to name the company for Allan’s safety.

Humberside Police said it was investigating a number of lines of inquiry.

Det Insp Mark Hawley added: “Those who choose to defraud and carry out such unscrupulous crimes against elderly and vulnerable people are a disgrace to our society.

“I would always encourage anyone who is suspicious that they, or someone they know, may be a victim of fraud to talk to someone about it. If it seems too good to be true, or you feel under pressure to make a quick decision, then that is a potential red flag that something isn’t right.”

Details of support with fraud are available at BBC Action Line.

The UK was “intimately involved” in helping Ukraine and the US reach an agreement over a proposed ceasefire deal with Russia, according to UK government sources.

Ukrainian President Zelensky has said he is ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire but that it is up to the US to convince Russia to agree, after talks in Saudi Arabia.

The BBC has been told that over the past week there has been a concerted European effort, led by Sir Keir Starmer, to get the US and Ukraine back in good favour with one another.

Sir Keir praised the “remarkable breakthrough” and called it an “important moment for peace in Ukraine”.

Following the announcement, the Trump administration said it would reinstate military aid to Ukraine and restart intelligence-sharing with Kyiv – after abruptly halting this after Donald Trump and Zelensky’s row in the Oval Office.

The UK sources say that last week the prime minister’s National Security Adviser, Jonathan Powell, worked with his US counterpart Mike Waltz, and German and French officials, to fashion a plan for a ceasefire and the steps that might follow.

Over the weekend Powell travelled to Kyiv to meet Zelensky and help draft a written proposal which included a temporary pause in fighting, then confidence-building measures such as an exchange of prisoners-of-war, the return of Ukrainian children taken by Russia and the release of civilians.

That proposal was agreed by the Ukrainians and the Americans, setting the stage for what happened in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.

Following the talks between White House and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia, Sir Keir congratulated the two men on the agreement, adding “we now all need to redouble our efforts” to secure a peace deal for Ukraine.

He said: “As both American and Ukrainian delegations have said, the ball is now in the Russian court. Russia must now agree to a ceasefire and an end to the fighting too.”

Trump told reporters that US officials would discuss the deal with Moscow either late on Tuesday or Wednesday as he wanted to “get this show on the road”.

When asked about the 30-day ceasefire proposal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “let’s not get ahead of ourselves”.

Speaking at a daily press briefing, he said Russia was “carefully studying the statements made after the meeting” and that the Kremlin needed to be briefed by the US on the outcome of US-Ukrainian talks in Saudi Arabia before commenting on whether a proposed ceasefire was acceptable to Russia.

Peskov did not rule out the need for a phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Trump.

Labour MP Dame Emily Thornberry, who chairs the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, said Britain has played a “big part” in where things currently stand in the war in Ukraine, including proposals for a halt in fighting.

“I think we need to just pause this moment and appreciate the calm and optimism and hope,” she told the BBC’s Today programme.

“We might have peace in Ukraine, this is a step along that road, it could happen and I think we need to at this stage kind of appreciate what it is that we have achieved and I think that Britain has played a big part in that.”

She also said that Powell had “earnt his money”, noting that the work he has done in helping Ukraine and the US reach an agreement over a proposed ceasefire deal with Russia is an “achievement”.

On Saturday, Sir Keir will host a phone call of leaders which he has dubbed the “coalition of the willing” to discuss peacekeeping efforts aimed at deterring Russian President Putin from launching future incursions into Ukraine.

Those joining the call are “ready to help bring an end to this war in a just and permanent way that allows Ukraine to enjoy its freedom”, he said.

One aim of the European teams working behind the scenes has been to ensure that it is now Russia that is in the spotlight: does it want peace?

A UK source said “the ball is firmly in the Russian court. Will they reciprocate and stop the fighting to allow serious negotiations on a lasting peace or will they continue to slaughter innocent civilians?”.

Hundreds of thousands of people, most of them soldiers, are believed to have been killed or injured on both sides, and millions of Ukrainian civilians have fled as refugees, since Russia invaded Ukraine just over three years ago.

Russia’s attacks on Ukraine have continued with Ukrainian authorities confirming one missile attack in President Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih – which killed one person – and an attack on a cargo ship in the port city of Odessa – which killed four Syrian nationals and damaged port infrastructure and grain storage facilities.

Scotland’s former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to stand down as an MSP, she has announced.

The ex-SNP leader confirmed she would not seek re-election at the Holyrood election in May next year.

In a statement published on social media, she said making the decision had been “far from easy”.

She added: “However, I have known in my heart for a while that the time is right for me to embrace different opportunities in a new chapter of my life, and to allow you to select a new standard bearer.”

Sturgeon resigned as first minister in March 2023 after eight years in the role.

She is Scotland’s longest-serving first minister and the first woman to hold the position.

Her resignation as party leader marked the beginning of a tumultuous period for her and the SNP.

In June 2023 she was arrested and released without charge as part of a police investigation into SNP finances. She insists she has done nothing wrong.

Her husband Peter Murrell, who had long served as the SNP’s chief executive, has since been charged with embezzling SNP funds.

In January, Sturgeon announced that the pair had decided to end their marriage.

The Glasgow Southside MSP is one of the original MSPs elected in 1999.

In her letter to constituents, she highlighted policies introduced during her time in office such as the Scottish Child Payment and expanded early years education.

She said: “I joined the SNP in 1986 because I wanted to play my part in building a fair and prosperous Scotland and I have dedicated my life to that task ever since.

“I believed then that winning our country’s independence was essential to Scotland reaching her full potential, and I still do.

“Even though I am preparing to leave elected politics, I hope to contribute in different ways to making that ambition a reality.”

Sturgeon led the SNP to a series of election victories at UK, Scottish and local level.

In 2022, the UK Supreme Court ruled that Holyrood did not have the power to stage another independence referendum – a move which has been blocked by the UK government.

Sturgeon was succeeded Humza Yousaf as first minister.

He lasted just a year in the role, stepping down in April last year after a decision to rip up a power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens left him facing a vote of no confidence.

Yousaf announced in December last year that he is to stand down as an MSP at the 2026 Holyrood election.

He was replaced as first minister by Sturgeon’s deputy John Swinney, who after a poor showing at July’s general election has seen support for SNP stabilise in the polls.

A reverend whose house was sold without him knowing has had the property returned to him nearly four years on, after a family was ordered to leave.

Rev Mike Hall returned to his Luton home from Wales in 2021 to find someone impersonating him had sold it on for £131,000, after his identity was stolen.

The Land Registry accepted fault and put his name back on the title, but when he returned again in 2023 he found a family living there.

At Luton County Court on Monday, Judge Elaine Vignoli granted Mr Hall outright possession of the home in 14 days.

Mr Hall said he was “quite angry about the way in which this has played out”, and “quite sad” for both himself and the family living there.

While working in north Wales in 2021, Mr Hall was alerted by neighbours that someone was in his house and all the lights were on.

Mr Hall drove back to Luton and found a new owner carrying out building work.

“I tried my key in the front door, it didn’t work and a man opened the front door to me – and the shock of seeing the house completely stripped of furniture, everything was out of the property,” he said.

BBC Radio 4’s You and Yours programme obtained the driving licence used to impersonate Mr Hall, details of a bank account set up in his name to receive the proceeds of the sale, and phone recordings of a man claiming to be Mr Hall instructing solicitors to sell the house.

After he reclaimed ownership two years later, a BBC reporter visited the home and spoke to a man and a woman with a young child who had a bogus rental contract.

Mr Hall went to Luton County Court to take possession of the home once more. A woman, following proceedings through a Romanian interpreter, and a child also attended.

Mr Hall’s lawyer, Lewis Colbourne, said there were “two innocent parties in court”.

The occupants had been told by police 18 months ago to stop paying rent, which did not go to Mr Hall, and the judge heard an investigation remained ongoing.

The court was told the occupants did not oppose the application and the judge granted Mr Hall possession and that “persons unknown” must pay his costs.

Mr Hall said: “I am quite sad that the [woman] has now got to find a new home for herself.”

You can listen to the full interview with Mr Hall on Radio 4’s You and Yours at 12:00 GMT on Wednesday.