The Tory Reform Group, which represents One Nation Conservatives (people on the left of the party) has issued a statement saying it is refusing to back either of the two candidates left in the leadership contest – Robert Jenrick and Kemi Badenoch.

In a statement, the TRG says Jenrick and Badenoch have both “used rhetoric and focused on issues which are far and away from the party at its best”. It says:

The Tory Reform Group (TRG) will not be endorsing a candidate in this year’s Conservative leadership contest.

As the home of One Nation Conservatism since 1975, the TRG is committed to being radically moderate, values-driven, and focused on the future. Throughout the contest, we have sought to engage extensively with all the leadership campaigns in order to understand the views and approaches of the candidates. Unfortunately, we have been consistently disappointed by the lack of engagement from the two candidates chosen by MPs.

TRG members were consulted throughout the process, and the results clearly show that neither candidate has secured widespread support from the majority of our membership. Both have used rhetoric and focused on issues which are far and away from the party at its best, let alone the One Nation values we cherish and uphold. Therefore, the board of the TRG has unanimously concluded that we are unable to endorse either candidate.

The TRG lists Ken Clarke, the former chancellor, as its president, and Damian Green, a former first secretary of state, and Robert Buckland, a former justice secretary, as vice presidents. It was set up in the 1970s and for many years it was a respected liberal/leftish voice in Tory circles. But, as the party lurched to the right after Brexit, its influence has shrunk.

The NHS England hospital waiting figures are at their highest level for 10 months, according to figures out today. (Leo Benedictus at Full Fact has a blog on the error that led to some wrong figures being originally released, as explained at 11.18am.)

Here are some of the other lines from the NHS England performance figures. The copy is all from PA Media.

On many indicators, performance is getting worse.

Ambulance response times

• The average response time in September for ambulances in England dealing with the most urgent incidents, defined as calls from people with life-threatening illnesses or injuries, was eight minutes and 25 seconds, PA says. This is up from eight minutes and three seconds in August and is above the target standard response time of seven minutes.

• Ambulances took an average of 36 minutes and two seconds last month to respond to emergency calls such as heart attacks, strokes and sepsis, PA says. This is up from 27 minutes and 25 seconds in August, while the target is 18 minutes.

• Response times for urgent calls, such as late stages of labour, non-severe burns and diabetes, averaged two hours, 12 minutes and 54 seconds in September, up from one hour, 30 minutes and 33 seconds in August, PA says.

A&E waiting times

• The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E departments in England from a decision to admit to actually being admitted stood at 38,880 in September, up from 28,494 in August, PA says. The record high for a calendar month is 54,573, which occurred in December 2022.

• The number waiting at least four hours from the decision to admit to admission also rose, standing at 130,632 in September, up from 116,489 in August, PA says.

• Some 74.2% of patients in England were seen within four hours in A&Es last month, down from 76.3% in August, PA says. The NHS recovery plan set a target of March this year for 76% of patients attending A&E to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours.A further target of 78% has been set for March 2025.

Cancer waiting times

• Some 75.5% of patients in England urgently referred for suspected cancer in August were diagnosed or had cancer ruled out within 28 days, PA says. This is down from 76.2% the previous month but is above the target of 75%. It is the fourth month in a row this target has been exceeded.

• GPs in England made 253,841 urgent cancer referrals in August, down from 286,720 in July and also down year-on-year from 268,224 in August 2022, PA says.

• The proportion of patients in England who had waited no longer than 62 days in August from an urgent suspected cancer referral or consultant upgrade to their first definitive treatment for cancer was 69.2%, up from 67.7% in July, PA says. The target is 85%.

Long waits for treatment

• A total of 282,664 people in England had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of August, down from 290,326 at the end of July and the lowest number since December 2020, PA says. The previous government and NHS England set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than a year by March 2025.

• Some 3,335 patients in England had been waiting more than 18 months to start routine treatment at the end of August, up from 2,738 in July, PA says. The previous government and NHS England set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than 18 months by April 2023, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer.

• There were 45,527 patients who had been waiting more than 65 weeks to start treatment at the end of August, down from 50,860 in July, PA says. The target to eliminate all waits of more than 65 weeks is September 2024.

Severin Carrell

John Swinney has accused the public sector union Unison of unjustifiably targeting children and families in his constituency after it announced plans for two weeks of pay strikes later this month.

Unison said on Tuesday it plans to stage the two-week strike across all the schools and early years centres in Swinney’s Perthshire constituency, timing them to start on the day schools were supposed to resume after the October holidays.

The issue was raised during first minister’s questions by Murdo Fraser, a Scottish Conservative MSP, who said children were again “being caught in the crossfire” of an industrial dispute.

Swinney, who was visibly angry, said he took the disruption the strikes would cause “deadly seriously”, in part because his son was one of the pupils affected, along with another 64,000 people.

He said the GMB and Unite had accepted the pay deal, but Unison was breaking ranks. There was “absolutely no justification” for his constituency to be targeted. He said:

A pay deal has been offered by local government – the [Scottish] government is not even the employer here; a pay deal has been offered by the employers, which has been accepted by two out of the three trade unions …

[So] for that to be accepted by two unions and rejected by a third, and then for my constituents to be singled out for treatment just because their MSP happens to be the first minister, I think, is absolutely unacceptable.

He urged both sides to resume talks, but said there was no further money available from ministers. Financing the pay deal had played a part in forcing his government to impose £500m in spending cuts to fund it, he said.

And that deal was higher than the pay settlement with English council staff, while Scotland’s local authorities had pledged to work towards a £15 an hour pay rate in future, he added.

Downing Street and the Nato chief Mark Rutte have said that Storm Shadow missiles alone will not allow Ukraine to win its war against Russia

Keir Starmer and Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general, met Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, in Downing Street today to be updated on Ukraine’s “victory plan”.

Zelenskyy has been lobbying for months for permission to use the missiles, which have been supplied by Britain and France, to hit military sites in Russia. Washington needs to approve the move too because the missiles would need to use a US missile guidance system to avoid Russian jamming.

But today No 10 and Rutte both insisted that it would take more than one missile system to win the war.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson played down the significance of the Storm Shadow, in a hint that no change of policy is imminent. The spokesperson said:

No war had ever been won by a single weapon.

The discussions that the UK, Ukraine and international partners are having are about all the range of support that we can provide Ukraine heading into the crucial winter months ahead.

Speaking after talks in No 10, Zelenskyy said:

The victory plan aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war.

I thank the United Kingdom for its continued defence support of our country, including with long-range weapons.

In his own comments to reporters, Rutte said there was not legal reason why Ukraine could not use Storm Shadow missiles against Russia in self-defence. Asked about Ukraine being allowed to use them, he said:

First of all, that is up to the allies, the individual allies, to decide how weapons they deliver into Ukraine can be used.

Legally that is possible because legally Ukraine is allowed to use its weapons, if they can hit targets in Russia, if these targets present a threat to Ukraine.

But whether individual allies do, that’s in the end, [is] always up to individual allies. Of course we discussed this. I was last week in Kyiv. We discussed it today, but in the end, it is up to the individual allies.

Asked if he sympathised with Ukraine’s complaints that it is having to fight with its hands tied behind its back as a result of the restrictions, Rutte said:

Well, I think it is a bit more nuanced, because when you look at what the UK is doing, I think it is now £3bn a year you guys are providing Ukraine with this military aid, with training.

He went on:

The whole of the alliance is in this, and let’s not focus on one system, one weapon system, it will not be one weapon system which will make the change.

So I understand what Zelenskyy is asking, but at the same time, he also agrees that there is a broader issue to be debated to make sure that they prevail.

The Tory leadership candidates are still bound by the ‘yellow card rule’ which means they are not supposed to engage in personal attacks against each other, and when Robert Jenrick was invited to criticise Kemi Badenoch directly in his Q&A with journalists, he didn’t take the bait. (See 12.27pm.)

But in his speech he said that if members voted for him as leader, they would avoid “needless drama” – which did seem to be a clear dig at Badenoch, and her appetite for fueding and being provocative, particularly with the media. He also said the Tories should not be fighting battles on Twitter – another Badenoch speciality.

He said:

The public need to see that we are laser-focused on what they really care about, not getting drawn down rabbit holes.

The Conservative party is the oldest, most successful political party in the world. We exist to serve our country in government, not to do battle on Twitter.

Despite everything, our party remains our country’s best hope. We are the voice of the silent majority, the voice of hard working people across the United Kingdom. Their values are our values. Their priorities are our priorities. They expect us to deliver on them, to develop serious policy solutions, to express them soberly and coherently, and then to get on and put them into effect …

So my plan, grow the economy, reform our public services like the NHS, get migration done by capping the numbers and leaving the ECHR – a serious plan, not needless drama.

Robert Jenrick is now taking questions after his speech.

Q: Kemi Badenoch is ahead with the members. What do you have that she doesn’t?

Jenrick says he thinks he has consistently focused on the issues that matter to people – the NHS, immigration and the economy.

(This implies he thinks Badenoch hasn’t, but he does not say that.)

Q: Do you think you could be in the final two by mistake?

Jenrick says there is always horse trading in these contests. But he says he thinks Tory MPs voted for “the best placed people to lead this party forward”.

UPDATE: Jenrick said:

There [is] always horse trading in these things but I think, in the privacy of the ballot box, my colleagues in parliament chose who they thought were the best placed people to lead this party forward, and I’m immensely grateful for the trust and the confidence that they put in me.