Chancellor probed further on growth plan after backing major airport's expansion

New criminal offences to disrupt people smugglers set out in border bill

People selling and handling boat parts suspected of being used in migrant Channel crossings could face up to 14 years in prison under new laws trying to crack down on people smugglers.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has also outlined plans to make endangering another life during a sea crossing to the UK a new offence carrying a five-year jail term under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill introduced today.

Home Office sources said in the last few months there have been instances of "floating crime scenes" where people have acted in such a reckless way people died on board in crushes and drownings.

It comes as part of a raft of new offences and counter-terror powers aimed at helping to stop the smuggling of migrants across the Channel.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously vowed to treat people smugglers as "terrorists" in a bid to curb Channel crossings.

The government is expected to seek to bring the measures into force as soon as possible once the legislation is approved by MPs and Lords.

'He pulled himself up by his bootstraps and never forgot other people'

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, leaving John Prescott's funeral, has described the former deputy prime minister as "larger than life".

The Speaker of the Commons told Sky News that Lord Prescott was the "conscience of the cabinet".

"He made a real difference," Sir Lindsay says. "But he also made sure new MPs like myself were welcomed to parliament.

"I'll tell you, the quickest funnest story. I'm walking over the bridge and I saw this Jaguar broken down. I recognised somebody under the bonnet.

"I said 'It's a good job you've got another'".

Sir Lindsay says Lord Prescott "jumped up" and said "alright comrade" before getting back to the job at hand.

Jon Craig, our chief political correspondent, points out that Lord Prescott's family arrived with two Jaguars at the funeral today.

Former cabinet minister Jack Straw says these are "fine motor cars".

He adds that Lord Prescott's story personifies what is best about the Labour Party, and why it is there.

Mr Straw says: "He was a guy from very, very lowly beginnings, who was denied a decent education by the way the system operated at the time.

"And yet by dent of his own character, pulled himself up by his bootstraps and never forgot other people."

Blair and Brown top of the bill as leading Labour figures pay tribute to Lord Prescott

Did John Prescott have the last laugh at his funeral? 

Whoever decided that the coffin and his family should arrive at Hull Minster in two Jags - yes, really! - clearly had a sense of humour.

Widow Pauline and sons David and Johnathan were greeted at the Minister's imposing west door by John Reid, another leading member of Tony Blair's cabinet. 

The service began with another leading figure of the Blair years, controversial spin doctor Alastair Campbell, playing the bagpipes, something he used to do regularly at Labour Party conferences.

Then it was Gordon Brown, chancellor during the 10 years of the Blair-Prescott partnership, who gave the first eulogy.

In a witty speech, he hailed "a life lived to the full, which touched the lives and changed the lives of millions who may never have met John but are today better off because of him".

A short film about Lord Prescott's life - how did they cram such an eventful like into a short film? - followed, before a choir, Choral Hull, sang and David Prescott spoke about his father.

Then, the top of the bill: the eulogy from Tony Blair, who famously said after his deputy punched a man during the 2001 election campaign "John is John".

He described Lord Prescott as "the guardian of the party's conscience".

"No one ever described him as dull or grey," he continued. And he was "determined to make his mark", said the former PM.

Make his mark? Surely not a defence to that 2001 Prescott punch!

'No one ever described John as dull or grey'

Sir Tony Blair, the former prime minister, is now addressing those gathered at John Prescott's funeral in Hull today.

Lord Prescott had served as deputy prime minister under Sir Tony, from 1997 until 2007.

Beginning his eulogy, the former PM says: "Some lives exude a dull grey, that the challenge is to fill the canvas, and some are so bursting in colour that the challenge is to contain them in a single portrait.

"No one ever described John as dull or grey."

Sir Tony says Lord Prescott had "deep principles", but he was "also determined to make his mark".

He says self-doubt was the "spur that drove him to seek the struggle, to pull himself up from disadvantage, to aspire to the pinnacle of success, doubting all the while that he was truly good enough to be there, but then proving that he was".

The former PM describes his friend's achievements as "extraordinary".

"Throw him a problem, and he would provide a solution. I threw a few." 

Continuing, he says: "There is not one of us who thinks about John without a smile.

"John was guardian of the party's conscience, but it's important for you to know he was also its educator. Our relationship would never have worked had we been two peas in different pods.

"John was loyal... but more than that, when the new part of New Labour had to do difficult reforms, John would insist on being part of the debate.

"Not to obstruct, but to understand."

Sir Tony says he had the most "refined intuition" about what Labour must do to sustain itself in power. 

"We loved John because he was John. Unique, irrepressible and very human. He wasn't a saint, and frankly, we would have loved him less if he had been." 

Prescott 'changed the lives of millions', says Brown

Former prime minister Gordon Brown is now delivering a eulogy at John Prescott's funeral.

He hails a "life lived to the full," which "touched the lives and changed the lives of millions, who may never have met John, but are today better off because of him".

Mr Brown reminisces about 1996 and 1997, when he was "one of many travelling in support of Tony [Blair] around the country with John".

He says: "I remember John everywhere we went, pulling out this card... he waved it about his head - the pledge card. Unforgettable." 

Mr Brown jokes that he carried it around with him just in case he forgot one of the Labour Party pledges.

He goes on to thank John's wife, Pauline, for her partnership in support of her husband across 60 plus years of marriage.

"Remember too, as unforgettable, his quick wit, his humour," he says.

"His speech to the TUC when John announced he would be followed by his friend Peter Mandelson. 'It's a sort of charm offensive', he said. I'll leave you to work out who's charming, and who's offensive.'"

Continuing, Mr Brown says of Lord Prescott: "We will never see his like again, a man of the people he was.

"A one off, one of a kind but one of us in the best sense of the word. Unique, remarkable, extraordinary. John Lennon would have called him a working class hero, and not least because he risked appearing on Gavin and Stacey... as Nessa's rejected suitor.

"John was a man of the people, because he could connect with people."

Sun shines brightly as Lord Prescott makes journey to great cabinet room in the sky

It is, according to the distinguished guests packed into the elegant Hull Minster, a gathering of the Labour clan.

Past and present Labour cabinet ministers, peers, MPs and trade union leaders have converged on the city to mourn its famous son John Prescott - who died on 20 November aged 86.

Lord Prescott was MP for Hull East for 40 years and deputy prime minister for the whole of Tony Blair's premiership, from 1997 until 2007.

The great and the good from Westminster, including leading members of the New Labour elite and the Blair inner circle, travelled north on the 7.27am train from London's King's Cross.

Tory MP Sir David Davis, MP for nearby Haltemprice and Howden - and one of very few Conservatives invited to the funeral, told Sky News as he arrived: "I'm usually the only person on that train."

Former Sheffield city council leader David Blunkett, who served in the cabinet with Lord Prescott, arrived arm in arm with another Blair era cabinet minister, Alan Milburn.

Lord Blunkett said as he arrived: "John Prescott grew up in South Yorkshire, where people have two characteristics: brilliance and being bloody awkward."

Another former deputy Labour leader, Tom Watson, told Sky News he first met Lord Prescott when he was a student at Hull University.

"We were canvassing and we went round to his house," he said. 

"He served us digestive biscuits and his wife Pauline told him 'he's a student, he won't have eaten. Give them chocolate biscuits!'"

The sun is shining brightly here as Lord Prescott makes his final political journey to the great cabinet room in the sky, but it's bitterly cold.

Dame Diana Johnson, a home office minister and Hull MP, told Sky News: "It's always cold in Hull, because the wind blows off the North Sea."

It may be cold, but there's enormous warmth here for one of the giants of Labour politics, as his funeral gets underway at noon.

Three Labour PMs chat at John Prescott's funeral

The latest to arrive at John Prescott's funeral in Hull is former prime minister Sir Tony Blair, and his wife Cherie.

As he arrived, he greeted a number of current Labour frontbenchers, including Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.

He then spoke briefly to Gordon Blair, another former Labour PM, and Sir Keir Starmer.

-SKY NEWS