First government-chartered flight to evacuate citizens from Middle East takes off from Muscat one day late

• Middle East crisis – live updates

The first flight chartered by the UK government to evacuate British nationals from the Middle East has now departed, Keir Starmer has confirmed.

The prime minister announced that the delayed charter flight from Oman, which was originally scheduled to leave at 7pm on Wednesday, had taken off during a Downing Street press conference.