diverted

The US might also try to force a choice on the UK here, or at least encourage action to keep out diverted Chinese goods.

Some of those costs might be diverted through grants and other projects with state or local officials, he said.

Other companies too could be squeezed by more competition, if cheap imports from other nations are diverted to the UK - China makes a third of global goods.

Given the years-long staffing shortage, he said, deputies should not be diverted away from contract cities to staff specialized teams such as the Mental Evaluation Team.

It said it had diverted money away from planned maintenance and repairs to secure "a stop gap water supply".