Dear members — on Monday we told you about a rebel group of Liverpool councillors who were planning to vote against their party in the most important council session of the year: the budget. We also revealed for the first time that there are tentative plans to create a new political grouping if the rebels are expelled from Labour.

Well, at last night’s crunch meeting, seven councillors broke the whip to rebel, and Harry has a report on that below. Today’s edition also has:

• An interview with Ian Umney, the English teacher who made headlines after travelling 1,700 miles to rescue his wife and son in central Ukraine. When Mollie spoke to him yesterday, he was preparing Molotov cocktails in his wife’s home Nikopol. “I don’t think I’m going to be able to get my family out,” he told us.

• A report from the vigil at the Bombed Out Church, where the Ukrainian community stood together as a choir sang their national anthem and called for their country to fight.

Do get in touch with a tip or a comme…