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Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance had not seen any evidence of a Russian withdrawal.

Arriving at the meeting of the alliance’s defence ministers in Brussels, he said:

So far we have not seen any de-escalation on the ground – on the contrary, it appears that Russia continues the military build-up.

He added that “we have not seen any withdrawal of Russian forces”, and “that contradicts the message of diplomatic efforts” from Moscow.

Stoltenberg said:

We will continue to convey a very clear message to Russia that we are ready to sit down and discuss with them but at the same time we are prepared for the worst.

And if Russia once again invades Ukraine, they will pay a high price.

Dame Clare Moriarty, chief executive of Citizens Advice, has called for more support from the government as more and more people are hit by the cost of living crisis.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Moriarty said the organisation is “really worried” about the people coming for help, adding: “We think that for people on low incomes, the government needs to provide more support.

She said:

More and more people are finding that they can’t get to the end of the month and money runs out before the next cheque comes in.

They can’t pay for gas and electric, so we’re hearing about people who are living and sleeping in a single room, who are using coats and hot water bottles to keep warm, and people having to turn to food banks to get by.

That’s a problem that’s happening right now and, as we were hearing prices are still rising, this is a problem that’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Moriarty added that the current government support is not enough for those on the lowest incomes, saying:

There needs to be more support and it needs to come through the benefit system to the people who need it most.

Responding to the responded to the inflation data released today, Pat McFadden, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said:

With inflation expected to rise even further, and working people already feeling the crunch, the Tories should have taken action by now.

Instead, the chancellor’s buy now pay later scheme on energy bills loads up debt for future years, while his tax rises will only make matters worse.

Dozens of Conservative MPs had been in private contact with Labour leader Keir Starmer expressing dismay at Boris Johnson’s false claim he had failed to prosecute the child abuser Jimmy Savile.

The accusation – which the prime minister has “clarified” but never withdrawn – was a moment for many Conservative MPs. Though only a handful have spoken publicly, Starmer told the Guardian that many had been in touch with him privately to express distaste. “You can see the disquiet because as he drags people down by this way of acting.”

Starmer told my colleague Jessica Elgot that it was clear the public were taking a new look at Johnson’s character since his repeated obfuscations over Downing Street lockdown breaches. Has he changed his mind since saying in his Labour conference speech that Johnson was not bad?

He said:

I don’t know how people judge whether someone’s a bad person or not. What I do know is he’s not fit to run the country. And it’s not surprising that more people think he should now resign than don’t. So that’s a marked change, obviously, in four or five months.

Read more from the interview here:

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, has responded to the inflation data.

He said:

We understand the pressures people are facing with the cost of living.

These are global challenges but we have listened to people’s concerns and recently stepped in to provide millions of households with up to 350 to help with rising energy bills.

We’re also helping people on the lowest incomes keep more of what they earn by cutting the Universal Credit taper rate and freezing alcohol and fuel duties to keep costs down.

In total, we’re providing support with the cost of living worth over 20 billion across this financial year and next.

As my colleague Graeme Wearden points out on his liveblog, that £350 of help includes a £200 cut to energy bills in October… which will be recouped with £40 added to bills for the following five years (whether you got the £200 saving or not!)

Plus, lowering the UC taper rate has only mitigated the impact of ending the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit last autumn, and won’t help families out of work.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said that “until we see a proper de-escalation, I think we should all be cautious about the direction of travel from the Kremlin”.

He told Sky News:

I think what we haven’t seen is evidence of withdrawal that has been claimed by the Kremlin, in fact we’ve seen continued build-up of things like field hospitals and strategic weapons systems.

I think the reality is … that we’ll take Russia at its word, but we’ll judge them on their actions … and until we see a proper de-escalation, I think we should all be cautious about the direction of travel from the Kremlin.

Wallace has warned that Russia has a “a very significant force … that would overwhelm Ukraine should it be deployed”.

On the latest intelligence, he said:

There’s over 100 battalion tactical groups of the Russian ground forces, that’s 60% of the entire Russian land combat power on the borders of Ukraine.

130,000-plus troops, both in Belarus and indeed Ukraine, but also out at sea there’s effectively a significant flotilla of Russian and amphibious landing ships, and indeed war ships and missile ships, and from a Ukrainian point of view they’re fairly surrounded by a very large force of ready troops. That continues, they haven’t taken the foot of the gas.

He added:

That’s why we’re all here at Nato today and tomorrow to try and work together to reduce tensions and try and de-escalate, but it’s a very significant force, it’s a force that would overwhelm Ukraine should it be deployed and I think that’s why we need to see clear de-escalation by the removal of troops at the same time as enter into discussion with Russia.

Keir Starmer said it was “a mistake to end free Covid tests” – a measure which Rishi Sunak is pushing – though he stopped short of calling for mandatory isolation to continue in England beyond next week.

No 10, the Treasury and the health department will decide this week on a “living with Covid strategy” due to be unveiled on Monday, which will involve phasing out free Covid testing and all but ending the tracing system.

The Labour leader said in an interview with The Guardian he would reserve judgment on ending isolation until these proposals are put forward next week.

Whitehall sources say the Treasury is driving efforts to reduce costs from an estimated annual £15bn, with an opening suggestion of cutting the budget by more than 90%, to £1.3bn. It is unclear whether the changes will apply to England only or UK-wide.

Under plans for the “living with Covid” strategy, from Monday 21 February people will no longer be advised to test regularly if they are asymptomatic. From this date the government is also likely to end support payments worth £500 to £750 for people isolating, as well as routine contact tracing.

From 31 March the government is likely to end free PCR testing for people with symptoms, apart from in hospitals and high-risk settings and for more than 1 million of the most vulnerable people.

Those with symptoms are expected to be advised to take lateral flow tests (LFTs), although free tests may be limited to older age groups. The government is also likely to stop recommending LFTs on days five and six after a positive test, and to end free LFTs for asymptomatic testing.

Welcome to today’s politics live blog. I’m Nicola Slawson and I’ll be taking the lead today. You can contact me on Twitter (@Nicola_Slawson) or via email (nicola.slawson@theguardian.com) if you have any questions or think I’m missing something.

You can also check out our dedicated Ukraine crisis blog here:

Meanwhile our global coronavirus blog is here: