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Several former prime ministers have issued tributes to Pope Francis.

Sir Tony Blair, who converted to Catholicism after leaving Number 10, said: "Pope Francis was an extraordinary and devoted servant of the Catholic Church, admired both within and beyond it for his humility, compassion, and unwavering commitment to the Christian faith and the service of all humanity – Christian and non-Christian alike.

"Cherie and I are deeply saddened by his passing", he added.

Rishi Sunak has also paid tribute to the pontiff.

Sunak said: "Pope Francis spoke to the world with moral clarity and humility.

"He reminded us of the dignity of every person - especially the poor and those without a voice.

"My thoughts are with Catholics and all those around the world who drew strength from his leadership."

Gordon Brown said it is with "great sadness" that he learned of the death of the pope.

His "unselfish life of service and moral leadership will always be an inspiration to millions of people", he added.

Tap here for more on the passing of Pope Francis.

The UK's political leaders are paying tribute to the news that Pope Francis has died at the age of 88, following a spell of illness.

Sir Keir Starmer, has said he has joined "millions around the world in grieving the death" of the pope.

The prime minister said: "His leadership in a complex and challenging time for the world and the church was often courageous, yet always came from a place of deep humility.

"Pope Francis was a pope for the poor, the downtrodden and the forgotten. He was close to the realities of human fragility, meeting Christians around the world facing war, famine, persecution and poverty.

"Yet he never lost the faith-fuelled hope of a better world.That hope was as the heart of his papacy. His determination to visibly live out his faith inspired people across the world to see afresh the church's teachings of mercy and charity."

The PM, who is not himself religious, added: "With his death, we are reminded once more of his call to care for one another across different faiths, backgrounds, nations and beliefs.

"My thoughts are with Catholics across the world, and the Roman Catholic church. May His Holiness Rest in Peace."

Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, said: "Pope Francis spent his final Easter yesterday bearing witness to the faith he devoted his life to — a quiet presence at a time when the world needed humility, courage, and conviction.

"His death on Easter Monday feels especially poignant. He reminded us that leadership isn’t about power, but about service.

Badenoch, whose husband is Catholic, added: "When I met him in 2022, he spoke warmly of the UK and the values we share.

"In a world that too often turns away from faith, he stood firm. May he rest in peace."

Watch: The tribute to Pope Francis paid byKing Charles in full

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: "Pope Francis’ passing is a profound loss to millions across the world. He was a leader of compassion and courage, speaking up for those in need and calling for peace in a world too often divided.

"His influence reached far beyond the Church. He offered hope by reminding us of strength in kindness and faith.

"We should remember his example: stand up for what’s right, care for others, and hold onto compassion andhope."

Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform UK, has said: "My sympathies go out to all in the Catholic Church following the death of Pope Francis. I met him and likedhimverymuch."

The government has announced that flags will be flown at half mast on all UK government buildings until 8pm tomorrow, as a mark of respect to Pope Francis.

You can read more of the tributes being paid to Pope Francis, as well as more about his life and what will happen next here.

The chancellor is set to jet off to Washington DC to meet with her counterpart in the US government, and representatives from European nations.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) spring meeting kicks off in the US capital today - and Rachel Reeves is due to fly out tomorrow.

Reeves will hold meetings with her G7 and G20 counterparts as well as with the IMF.

She'll be hoping to encourage fellow European finance ministers to increase their defence spending and discuss the best ways to support Ukraine in its war against Russia.

All eyes will also be on Reeves' meeting with US treasury secretary Scott Bessent, after the White House sent economic shockwaves around the world by introducing tariffs on dozens of countries, including the UK.

She'll be making the case for global free trade as her colleague, Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, tries to forge a trade deal with the US.

Reeves will also take part in a public debate on the world economy on Thursday. Expect to hear about Reeves' conversations during the four-day trip throughout the week.

Women's rights activist JK Rowling has called Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch the "only UK political leader offering unequivocal solidarity to women".

Famously the author of the best-selling Harry Potter novels, Rowling has courted controversy, regularly weighing in to the debate over gender identity and what defines a woman.

She is a stringent defender of women's rights and has articulated her view that someone can only be a woman if they are born one.

She celebrated the Supreme Court's ruling last week that backed this position, posting a photo of her smoking a cigar at sunset with the caption"I love it when a plan comes together."

Now she has given Badenoch her backing after the party leader labelled trans protestors on Saturday as a "mob of trans-activists" who are "extremists".

Badnoch was responding to the protest held in Westminster on the weekend, where multiple statues were damaged. The home secretary has condemned this behaviour as "completely unacceptable" - morehere.

Badenoch reposted photos of placards allegedly held at the protest in London, which state "Kill JK Rowling" and "Bring back witch burning... JK".

She said: "A mob of trans-activists waiving death threats at women isn't protest - it's criminal incitement.

"If the law isn't enforced, we don't have equality, we have two-tier justice.

"It's time for Labour to stop being on the side of these extremists and start defending women."

Reacting to this, Rowling wrote: "I knew what I was getting into when I entered this debate and compared to what others have suffered, I've got off lightly.

"Even so, it continues to astound me that Kemi Badenoch remains the only UK political leader offering unequivocal solidarity to women defending their rights."

There are growing calls from women's right campaigners for Sir Keir Starmer to issue a response following the verdict last Wednesday.

The PM has been abroad on holiday but is now back in the UK and activists say it is "disappointing" that the prime minister has issued no personal statement on the ruling.

The Liberal Democrats have also told Sky News this morning that the PM needs to provide "further guidance and clarity" following the ruling, to "protect women and the trans community".

The home secretary has criticised trans protestors who vandalised multiple statues in London over the weekend.

There's been growing frustration, on both sides, following the Supreme Court ruling last week that defined a woman under the Equality Act as a biological woman.

Those who brought the case say it's "disappointing" that we've heard no reaction directly from the prime minister. More on that below.

But there has now also been criticism of some of the people who took part in a protest against the ruling on Saturday.

Trans activists and allies gathered in Westminster to object to the court's verdict and to call for protections and guidance for the trans community.

But while there, a number of statues of important historical figures had slogans spray-painted onto them by some of the protestors.

These included anti-apartheid protestor Nelson Mandela, women's rights campaigner and suffragist Millicent Fawcett, and 18th century PM Robert Peel.

Now, the home secretary has condemned this behaviour as "completely unacceptable".

Yvette Cooper said: "Criminal damage like this, including to statues of men and women who fought for freedom and justice like Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and Millicent Fawcett, is disgraceful - it is right the police are investigating.

"We are strengthening the law to better respect and protect important memorials.

"Freedom of speech and protest are important in our democracy, but this kind of criminal damage is completely unacceptable.”

The Metropolitan Police has also issued an appeal and says its officers are trawling CCTV footage, though nobody has been arrested yet.

It added that "specialist equipment" is needed to remove the graffiti and that this will be done shortly.

Earlier today, the Liberal Democrats told Sky News that politicians need to have conversations with people of all sides of the gender debate to take "out the toxicity [of] this conversation".

You can read more on that interview here.

There's growing pressure on the PM to speak out following the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on gender last week.

Campaigners who brought the case to the highest court in the land say it's "disappointing" that we've heard nothing from Sir Keir Starmer on the issue since the judgement on Wednesday.

ICYMI: The court ruled that a woman is defined under the Equality Act as a biological woman. That definition has led to police forces, the NHS and other public bodies saying they will review and revise their positions and policies.

Watch: The court's ruling on gender - how it happened

What have we heard? Both ministers and government spokespersons have repeatedly said that the ruling "gives clarity" to women and service providers. They've also said single-sex spaces have and will continue to be protected under law.

What we haven't heard: From the prime minister on the verdict.

Marion Calder, co-founder of For Women Scotland, the group that brought the case, has said she "looks forward to hearing from him".

She said: “It is disappointing that we haven’t heard anything from the Prime Minister yet.

"I understand it’s the holidays, but we had to give up our holidays for this case.

"We look forward to actually hearing from him. There are a lot of people looking to him for direction.

"This has to come from Sir Keir, it shouldn’t be left to women like us or people on the front lines in the likes of the NHS to interpret this and make sureit’sfollowed.”

Starmer was in southern Europe with his family on a short Easter holiday last week. But the PM is now understood to be back in Blighty.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, Calder added: “To see government ministers discussing how they can circumvent the ruling, rather than how they can ensure their departments are actually following the rule of law, is quite astonishing."

The prime minister must provide "further guidance" on the ruling about what it means to be a woman, made by the Supreme Court last week, the Liberal Democrats have said.

Asked about the growing row over the PM's silence on the verdict, Jess Brown-Fuller tells Sky News' Gareth Barlow that there is "too much confusion" about what protections are guaranteed under the Equality Act.

The Lib Dem MP adds: "There's also lots of fear, confusion within the trans community as well.

"The Liberal Democrats are calling on the government to provide further guidance and clarity - that's the most important thing - on what the judgement means for people.

"But we also need to have a good faith conversation with all sides, taking out the toxicity that we've had for so long in this conversation and move forward to protect women and the trans community."

Pushed if she thinks politicians could be doing more to dampen any toxicity within the gender debate, Brown-Fuller adds: "Absolutely.

"It's not a conversation about us and them, it's a conversation about making sure that guidance exists to protect everybody."

The Liberal Democrats have called new data showing thousands of people being left waiting on trolleys in NHS hospitals "totally unacceptable".

Figures obtained by the party show that almost 50,000 people have been forced to wait more than 24-hours for a bed after clinicians decided to admit them to hospital, last year. That number is up 71-fold on pre-pandemic figures.

More on the data here.

Jess Brown-Fuller, the Liberal Democrats spokesperson for hospital and primary care, says: "Behind this data, there are real people. There is no dignity to be found waiting in a corridor, there is no privacy to be found.

Speaking to Sky News' Gareth Barlow, she says: "To be left in a corridor, in a cupboard... that is totally unacceptable."

Brown-Fuller reiterates the Lib Dems calls for an NHS winter taskforce and for the creation of "super-heads".

There's been a 71-fold increase in the number of people being left on a hospital trolley waiting for a bed for 24-hours or more.

That's according to new figures received by the Liberal Democrats through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

They've found that 49,000 patients were made to wait 24-hours or longer after a clinician decided to admit them into hospital before a bed became available last year.

By comparison, that number pre-pandemic in 2019 was 689 people.

Of those unlucky 49,000, almost 70% were pensioners. In the most extreme cases, some people were left waiting up to 10 days for a bed to be found.

The caveat: Only 54 of the 141 NHS trusts contacted actually responded with data in full - which the Lib Dems suggest means the figures could be even higher.

The political bit: The Liberal Democrats have called the figures "harrowing" and are now calling for a "winterproofing NHS taskforce" as well as new "super-heads".

These would be experienced NHS heads who could go into trusts and bring them up to standard, reducing so-called trolley waits.

Helen Morgan, the party's health spokesperson, has said: "The least patients deserve is the dignity to be treated in an appropriate area. Not the ramshackled waiting rooms and corridors that far too many have to suffer through for hours.

"The Conservatives' beyond shameful neglect brought us to this point but the Labour government’s approach of sitting on its hands and hoping it all gets better has not survived contact with reality.

"Corridor care has become normalised to the point that hospitals are now advertising for specialised nurses to treat patients in hallways.

"This cannot go on any longer."

The government: 'It will take time - but we're working on it'

Responding to the figures, a spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care said: "No patient should have to spend 24 hours in A&E waiting to be admitted to a ward.

"We are determined to end the annual winter crisis in urgent care and to cut waiting lists for emergency care, but it will take time.

"We have taken action to protect A&E departments, introducing the new RSV vaccine, delivering more than 27 million Covid and flu vaccines and ending the strikes so staff were on the frontline not the picket line for the first winter in three years. This work continues to ensure patients are treated quickly.

"We are fundamentally reforming the NHS as part of our Plan for Change, providing more care in the community, so fewer patients have to go to A&E, and those who do are treated faster and with dignity."

Good morning!

Welcome back to the Politics Hub this Monday, 21 April.

Happy Easter Monday to those who celebrate. Public service announcement: This is the last morning of the Easter weekend where eating chocolate eggs for breakfast will go without judgement - even if you are the prime minister.

Onto the day's news: Parliament remains in recess, with MPs and lords making their return to Westminster tomorrow.

But there's still plenty to get our teeth into (besides the Easter eggs).

First of all, there's a row growing over the ruling made by the Supreme Court last week, which defined what a woman is under the UK Equality Act.

Some of the leading campaigners who brought the case are angry that we haven't heard from the prime minister yet. While we've heard from government's spokespersons and ministers about how it "gives clarity" to women and service users, there's been a lack of direct comment from Sir Keir Starmer himself.

Meanwhile, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to jet off to the US capital to meet her with her counterparts at the White House.

Reeves will be holding a bilateral with treasury secretary Scott Bessent and will also be meeting with representatives from G7 and G20 nations, as well as the IMF.

Her goal? To make the case for European nations to increase defence spending and work more closely together in financing Ukraine conflict against Russia. She heads out tomorrow and will be in DC for four days, so expect to hear about this throughout the week.

Turing to the Lib Dems and they're talking all things NHS.

That's because new figures show there were around 49,000 people left waiting for a bed on hospital trolleys for 24-hours or longer last year. The data shows some patients had to wait as long as 10 days to be admitted.

And finally, the mayor of London is getting into the St George's Day spirit a little early, hosting an afternoon of family fun in Trafalgar Square.

The celebration of all things English is technically on 23 April, but Sadiq Khan has organised live performances, Morris dancing and crafts taking place from midday - it's also free. How nice.

Stay with us throughout the day as we'll be bringing you all the day's news in Westminster and the world of politics.