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Scotland Yard has admitted Special Branch officers passed information to a controversial network that blacklisted construction workers.

It follows a six-year battle to find out if the Metropolitan Police supplied the intelligence on trade unionists.

The force says its investigation had “proven” the allegation, which will be investigated by a public inquiry.

Workers who say they were unfairly barred from jobs have already received millions of pounds in compensation.

In 2016, the union Unite reached a settlement with construction firms that resulted in 256 workers sharing more than £10m in compensation.

At the heart of the claims, which were made by hundreds of workers, was evidence that firms accessed a “blacklist” that logged workers’ trade union activities.The list was used by dozens of construction firms to vet those applying for work on building sites.

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A gunman is believed to have killed at least one person during a hostage-taking at a supermarket in Trèbes, southern France.

Elite police have rushed to the Super U shop, and there are unconfirmed reports of another death.

A prosecutor says the gunman, who remains in the supermarket, claims to be in the Islamic State group.

Earlier, a policeman was shot and wounded while jogging with colleagues in Carcassonne, a 15-minute drive away, He was not critically injured. It is unclear if the incidents are connected though media reports suggest they are

Trèbes Mayor Eric Menassi told BFM TV that the gunman was now alone in the shop with one police officer, after other hostages were freed.

A security source told French news agency AFP that most employees and customers at the supermarket “managed to flee”.

Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said the situation was “serious” and that all signs pointed towards a “terrorist act”. The regional police chief said authorities believed one person had been killed at the supermarket. Other sources put the death toll at two.

Hundreds of police officers have been deployed to the area, and the vicinity has been cordoned off.

France has been hit with several deadly jihadist attacks since 2015 and has been on high alert since. A state of emergency put in place after attacks in Paris in November 2015 that killed 130 people was lifted in October.

US President Donald Trump did not adhere to warnings from his advisers when he congratulated Vladimir Putin on his re-election, US media report.

A note to the president for his phone call with his Russian counterpart reportedly read: “DO NOT CONGRATULATE”.

Mr Putin’s controversial win came as his opponent was barred from the ballot, and some world leaders have been hesitant to congratulate him.

Mr Trump described the conversation with the Kremlin as a “very good call”.

US Republican Senator John McCain criticised Mr Trump over the call. “An American president does not lead the free world by congratulating dictators on winning sham elections. And by doing so with Vladimir Putin, President Trump insulted every Russian citizen who was denied the right to vote in a free and fair election to determine their country’s future, including the countless Russian patriots who have risked so much to protest and resist Putin’s regime,” Mr McCain said in a statement.

Mr Trump’s decision to ignore his aides’ recommendations to avoid congratulating Mr Putin was first reported by the Washington Post newspaper.

Donald Trump reportedly went off script. Again. Or perhaps he never read the notes that he should avoid a congratulating a foreign leader accused of overseeing a multi-pronged effort to influence US politics and assassinate a former spy on the soil of a close US ally.

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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been taken into police custody for questioning over allegations that he received campaign funding from the late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

Police are investigating alleged irregularities over the financing of his 2007 presidential campaign.

Police have questioned him previously as part of the probe. Mr Sarkozy has denied any wrongdoing. The centre-right politician failed to return to power in 2012.

Judicial sources said he was being questioned in Nanterre, a suburb in western Paris.

In 2013, France opened an investigation into allegations that his campaign had benefited from illicit funds from Gaddafi.

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Russian diplomats and their families are preparing to leave the UK after being expelled over the Salisbury spy attack.

Removal vans and diplomatic cars have been leaving the embassy in London.

The UK expelled 23 diplomats after Prime Minister Theresa May said Russia was “culpable” for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Later on Tuesday, the government will decide whether to impose further sanctions on Russia. Mrs May is chairing a meeting of the National Security Council.

Moscow has denied all involvement, and is expelling 23 British diplomats in response. The UK diplomats have until Saturday to leave Russia. The Kremlin is also closing down both the British Council in Russia, which promotes cultural ties between the nations, and the consulate in St Petersburg.

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