Category Archives: UK news

Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal appears doomed as deadline looms

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EU may offer to extend Brexit talks to summer, despite PM’s insistence UK will leave on 31 October

Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan appeared to be all but dead on Tuesday night as the government admitted there was little prospect of a deal before 31 October, following a day of furious recriminations.

The prime minister spoke to the Irish taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, on the phone after a stormy 24 hours of briefing and counter-briefing, as concerns about his tactics were even raised in Johnson’s cabinet.

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Brexit: Tusk accuses Johnson of ‘stupid blame game’ as No 10 signals talks about to collapse – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as doubts grow over future of Brexit negotiations

This is from Mujtaba Rahman, the Brexit specialist at the Eurasia consultancy.

Collapse of negotiations now leaves MPs with a huge dilemma. Do they put trust in Benn Act to be robust enough to prevent the no-deal Boris will now gravitate to? Or do they oust him in a VONC to make totally sure? Former more likely- still no sign of agreement on caretaker PM

And these are from the BBC’s Berlin correspondent, Jenny Hill.

Worth bearing in mind the following when looking at No 10’s interpretation of Merkel / Johnson call. 1. This confrontational language / style is unusual for Merkel 2. Germany - more than most - has been careful to avoid leaks / statements which wld inflame tensions between UK&EU

3. My understanding is that German govt still ready to work to find solution not least because....4. Germany doesn’t want no deal. Met president of German exporters assoc earlier - they are horrified by prospect

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Center Parcs: council investigates after three injured as raft flips over

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Man and two children hurt in incident in August on ride at site in Longleat, Wiltshire

An investigation is taking place after a raft on a Center Parcs ride flipped over, injuring a man and two children.

The holiday company apologised after the man and his nephew, 12, and niece, 13, were hurt on the Tropical Cyclone ride at a site in Longleat, Wiltshire, on 19 August.

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Extinction Rebellion: Johnson calls climate crisis activists ‘uncooperative crusties’

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PM hits out at protesters for ‘littering’ London with ‘heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs’

The prime minister has attacked the Extinction Rebellion activists protesting in London over the climate crisis, dismissing them as “uncooperative crusties” who should stop blocking the streets of the capital with their “heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs”.

Boris Johnson made the remarks at the launch of the final volume of a biography of Margaret Thatcher written by his former boss at the Daily Telegraph, Charles Moore.

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PM urged to confront Trump over US tariffs on scotch whisky

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MPs say thousands of jobs, many in rural Scotland, could be at risk from planned 25% tax

MPs are calling on Boris Johnson to intervene directly with Donald Trump to prevent the US imposing punitive tariffs of 25% on imported scotch whisky later this month.

The US announced last week that scotch would be among a range of European goods subject to hefty import taxes from 18 October, as it hits back against the EU in the long-running trade dispute over subsidies for Airbus.

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Johnson says US diplomat’s wife should lose immunity after teenager’s death

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PM to appeal to Donald Trump if Anne Sacoolas fails to return to UK over fatal traffic collision

Boris Johnson will personally appeal to Donald Trump if the US continues to refuse to lift the diplomatic immunity it has granted to a US diplomat’s wife who is accused of killing a 19-year-old motorcyclist in a traffic collision.

Anne Sacoolas, who is married to a US communications official, left the UK last month, prompting widespread anger in Britain over the use of diplomatic immunity to flee potential charges of causing death by dangerous driving.

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No 10 continues to deflect blame for Brexit impasse on to EU

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PM calls on EU to engage but leaked document suggests it has refuted his plans in detail

Downing Street has sought to deflect the blame for the Brexit impasse on to Britain’s EU counterparts, as Boris Johnson’s plans continued to meet a frosty reception.

After the French president, Emmanuel Macron, set a deadline of Friday for progress towards a deal, the prime minister’s official No 10 spokesman repeatedly said Johnson was still waiting for the EU27 to engage with Britain’s plan.

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Revealed: the EU’s point-by-point rejection of Johnson’s Brexit plan

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Exclusive: Leaked papers obtained by the Guardian show extent of fundamental objections Brussels has raised

The European Union’s full devastating point-by-point rejection of Boris Johnson’s Brexit proposals for the Irish border has been revealed in documents obtained by the Guardian.

Leaked documents lay bare the scale of the multiple faults highlighted to David Frost, the prime minister’s chief negotiator, during the recent talks.

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Amazon launches Kindle e-reader aimed at children

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New 6in Kindle Kids Edition comes with 1,000 books, word-building tools and parental controls

Amazon has launched a new version of its popular Kindle e-reader aimed at children, which comes bundled with more than 1,000 age-appropriate books.

The new £99 Kindle Kids Edition is a special variant of Amazon’s latest, cheapest frontlit 6in Kindle with software designed to encourage reading through gamification and word building.

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HSBC plans to cut 10,000 more jobs worldwide, says report

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Bank forced to shed jobs due to low interest ratess, Brexit and global tariff wars

HSBC plans to lay off up to 10,000 staff, more than 4% of its global workforce, as it embarks on a fresh cost-cutting drive, according to reports.

The cuts will affect mostly high-paid roles and come as the UK-based bank grapples with falling interest rates, Brexit and global tariff wars, the Financial Times reported. HSBC declined to comment.

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Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: court ruling on £400m tank debt could aid release

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Judge in Lodnon to decide amount UK should pay Tehran over 40-year-old arms deal

A court hearing in London over a £400m debt owed by the UK government to Iran could help decide the fate of the Iranian-British dual national Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, imprisoned in Evin jail in Tehran for the last four years.

Mr Justice Phillips is being asked in the high court to settle the precise amount the UK should pay to the Iranians for a broken arms contract stretching bank 40 years.

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Jennifer Arcuri refuses to deny claims of affair with Boris Johnson

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US businesswoman denies PM helped her career when he was mayor of London

The American businesswoman at the centre of a conflict of interest row involving the prime minister confirmed she had a “very close bond” with Boris Johnson and refused to rule out claims they had an affair.

In her first broadcast interview since her links to Johnson were exposed, Jennifer Arcuri said the then London mayor visited her flat in Shoreditch, east London, a “handful of times” but she denied he had given her favours to boost her career.

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Police chiefs ask US to waive immunity for envoy’s wife in crash

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Woman who fled country is a suspect in relation to a collision that killed Harry Dunn, 19

Police chiefs have written to the US embassy in London to demand immunity is waived for an American diplomat’s wife who is a suspect in relation to a fatal road crash.

Nick Adderley, chief constable for Northamptonshire police, said US authorities had been appealed to in “the strongest terms” to apply a waiver and “allow the justice process to take place”.

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IMF accused of ‘reckless lending’ to debt-troubled states

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Jubilee Debt Campaign says the Fund broke its own rules by not ensuring sustainable debt burden

Debt campaigners have accused the International Monetary Fund of encouraging reckless lending by extending $93bn (£75bn) of loans to 18 financially troubled countries without a debt restructuring programme first.

In advance of the IMF’s annual meeting in Washington next week, the Jubilee Debt Campaign (JDC) said the the Fund was breaking its own rules by providing financial support without ensuring that the debt burden was sustainable.

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‘It’s like a death sentence’: retired Britons in EU face loss of healthcare

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Reciprocal scheme in which NHS reimburses cost of treatment will cease under a no-deal Brexit

Britons with serious, sometimes terminal, illnesses who live in the EU say they have no certainty about how or even whether their healthcare costs will be covered after a no-deal Brexit and are suffering a “living nightmare” of anxiety and despair.

“It’s like a death sentence,” said Denise Abel, who moved to Italy in 2012. “It’s all you think about. I feel abandoned, betrayed and furious. There are no words for the rage I feel. We’re the collateral damage in the government’s war with the EU.”

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Macron gives Johnson until end of week to overhaul Brexit plan

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French president’s insistence that UK should give way raises chances of talks imploding

The French president has given Boris Johnson until the end of the week to fundamentally revise his Brexit plan, in a move that increases the chances of the negotiations imploding within days.

The UK proposals tabled last week are not regarded in Brussels as being a basis for a deal and Emmanuel Macron emphasised it was up to the UK to think again before an upcoming EU summit.

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Brexit secretary hints UK could rethink DUP veto on deal

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Stephen Barclay also says government willing to discuss detail of customs proposals

The Brexit secretary has hinted that the government could amend its proposal to give the Democratic Unionist party an effective veto over its plan for an alternative to the Irish backstop

With EU leaders not willing to accept the UK’s ideas and talks between the two sides suspended over the weekend when Boris Johnson had been hoping to intensify them, Stephen Barclay said on Sunday that the government would be willing to discuss changes to the mechanism designed to ensure the new arrangements receive political approval in Northern Ireland.

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Helena Bonham Carter sought Princess Margaret’s blessing through psychic

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The actor says she discussed her part in The Crown with the deceased royal herself

Some actors avoid excessive research, but for Helena Bonham Carter to play Princess Margaret in The Crown meant reading all the biographies, talking to friends, ladies-in-waiting and relatives, and consulting an astrologer, a graphologist and a psychic.

The last meeting meant she could talk to the princess herself, the actor told Cheltenham literature festival.

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Glastonbury tickets sell out in 34 minutes

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Record 2.4 million fans tried to secure ticket for festival’s 50th year next June

Tickets for the 50th year of Glastonbury have sold out in 34 minutes, as a record number of fans tried to secure a ticket for the event at Worthy Farm next June.

Emily Eavis confirmed that a record number of people had registered to be eligible for the sale, which started at 9am on Sunday and was finished in little over 30 minutes. A record 2.4 million people signed up to have a chance of securing a ticket.

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