EU chief says good reason to believe leave vote could be reversed in second referendum
The chances of the UK staying in the EU are as high as 30% as the country would be likely to reject Brexit in a second referendum, the president of the European council, Donald Tusk, has said.
The bloc’s most senior official claimed the British public had only truly debated Brexit after the 2016 referendum and there was significant reason to believe the leave vote could be reversed.
Continue reading...Overcharging for life-saving medicines costs lives, yet the UK seems reluctant to support efforts to encourage fairer pricing
In a year when the British government should be working to secure progress towards universal health coverage, they are failing to champion access to life-saving medicines globally.
The Italian government has put forward a draft resolution to improve the transparency of markets for drugs, vaccines and other health-related technologies, to be discussed at the World Health Assembly in 10 days’ time.
Continue reading...The Stow horse fair has been held in the Cotswold town of Stow-on-the-Wold biannually, in May and October, for hundreds of years. Gypsy and Traveller people from all over the country have been gathering in the small town for the event since 1476
Continue reading...Candidates say the party is ‘almost in denial’ over vote and will not publish manifesto
Conservative officials fear the party could come sixth in the European elections, with their support plummeting to single digits.
Candidates running in the election said the party was “almost in denial” that the poll was happening and continued to insist they would not need to take up their seats in the European parliament, despite fading prospects for a cross-party deal with Labour that would enable Brexit to happen before 2 July.
Continue reading...My friend Audrey Simpson, who has died aged 83, was a powerful voice in Brighton and Hove, which she had made her adopted city after leaving London in 1978.
Without any previous experience, she bought a small, run-down, 12-room guest house, the Granville, overlooking the West Pier on the seafront, and transformed it into one of Brighton’s first boutique hotels. Later, in an adjacent space, she created a restaurant, Trogs, which met with equal success and became a gourmet mecca.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Jeremy Corbyn launching Labour’s Euro elections campaign
Nicola Sturgeon has urged Scottish voters to treat both Labour and the Conservatives as pro-Brexit parties in the European elections, claiming only the Scottish National party has the weight to fight to remain in the EU.
Describing the vote on 23 May as the most important European election in Scotland’s history, the SNP leader and Scottish first minister also reiterated her call for a fresh referendum on Scottish independence before 2021, regardless of whether Brexit happens.
It is striking, I would say depressingly, just how close together Labour and the Tories are on Brexit. On this defining issue of our time, Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May have so much more in common than they like to pretend. They oth want to take Scotland and the UK out of the European Union.
There is no escaping the fact that Labour is a pro-Brexit party, just as the Tories are a pro-Brexit party.
Continue reading...Azeem Wazir left Pakistan in 2015 over involvement in protest against blasphemy laws
A Christian man who has been living in Bristol for four years says he is at risk of being killed if he is deported to Pakistan after protesting against the country’s draconian blasphemy laws.
Azeem Wazir is being held in Colnbrook immigration removal centre near London, and may be deported as soon as Friday following his arrest last week.
Continue reading...Burial chamber of a wealthy nobleman in Prittlewell shows Anglo-Saxon Essex in new light
An Anglo-Saxon burial chamber found on a grassy verge next to a busy road and not far from an Aldi is being hailed as Britain’s equivalent of Tutankhamun’s tomb.
Archaeologists on Thursday will reveal the results of years of research into the burial site of a rich, powerful Anglo-Saxon man found at Prittlewell in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
Continue reading...Environment Agency calls for urgent action to protect country from river and coastal floods
Entire communities might need to be moved away from coasts and rivers as the UK takes urgent action to prepare for an average global temperature rise of 4C, the Environment Agency warned.
The agency said on Thursday that difficult decisions would have to be taken in the coming years to make sure the UK was resilient amid flooding that would not be held back by higher land defences.
Continue reading...PM agrees to meet 1922 Committee next week, amid pressure to reveal her departure date
Theresa May has bought herself another week’s grace as prime minister, hinting she will bring the EU withdrawal bill to parliament before the European elections and promising to meet a powerful backbench committee who have demanded that she set out her timetable for stepping down.
After a fortnight of furious demands by Tory MPs that she give a firm date for her departure, Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, said May had agreed to meet him and the 13-strong executive of Tory backbenchers next week.
Continue reading...In curving galleries designed by David Adjaye, artists are putting Africa firmly on the biennale map
The Venice Art Biennale, the world’s most celebrated international art event, has a history that is inextricably bound up with colonialism.
Its first pavilion for the showcasing of a “national” art was established by Belgium in 1907. Britain followed soon after. European countries remain dominant at the event – at least numerically.
Continue reading...Bacteria-killing viruses known as phages offer hope of solution to antibiotic resistance
A British teenager has made a remarkable recovery after being the first patient in the world to be given a genetically engineered virus to treat a drug-resistant infection.
Isabelle Holdaway, 17, nearly died after a lung transplant left her with an intractable infection that could not be cleared with antibiotics. After a nine-month stay at Great Ormond Street hospital, she returned to her home in Kent for palliative care, but recovered after her consultant teamed up with a US laboratory to develop the experimental therapy.
Continue reading...Two men aged 19 and 20 have ‘non-life-threatening’ injuries after incident in Ladywood
A man has been shot dead and two others injured in Birmingham.
The 23-year-old man died in St Vincent Street West in the Ladywood area of the city shortly after 5pm on Tuesday, West Midlands police said.
Continue reading...Ministers to sign agreement securing rights conferred under common travel area
The rights of Irish people in the UK and British citizens in Ireland are to be guaranteed in a Brexit side deal to be signed by the countries’ two governments.
Sources say the memorandum of understanding will put the rights already conferred on citizens of both nations under the common travel area (CTA) on to a more secure footing.
Continue reading...European commission warns of ‘major shock’ and slashes growth forecast the union
The threat of a full-blown trade war between the US and China and Brexit uncertainty are posing mounting risks to the EU economy, the European commission has warned, after downgrading its growth outlook for 2019.
Brussels’ executive arm said a recent slowdown in global trade volumes had taken its toll across the continent, as it cut its GDP growth forecast for the 28-nation bloc for 2019 to 1.4%, down from a forecast of 1.9% in the autumn.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments, as the government and Labour resume cross-party talks on a possible Brexit compromise
These are from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on today’s cabinet.
1. Cabinet sources say Brexit Sec Steve Barclay raised prospect of leaving EU in October without a deal at meeting this morning - big discussion on deal prep planned for next week - source suggests push back from Clark saying position was clear now that couldn't happen
2. No substantive discussion of cross party talks at Cabinet this morning - PM apparently also raised Williamson's sacking and said again there was compelling evidence - sources close to him say he still hasn't been told what it is
Almost all the MPs who have publicly backed a second referendum on Brexit are opposition MPs who would vote remain again if given the chance. Only a handful of Tories have backed the idea. But there are some signs now that that is starting to change.
On Friday Eric Pickles, a former Tory MP who now sits in the House of Lords, said that, much to his own surprise, he had now come round to the view that, if MPs cannot pass a deal, the public should be asked to decide.
If we cannot do this, if this is beyond us, and if we fail, then another referendum is inevitable.
If we fail, if there can be no compromise between the parties, I can actually see then the logic, and other people will be demanding another referendum. And those like me who have genuine concerns about what will happen to our society if we go through this process again, we will lose that debate over the referendum, because it will be the only option then left available to try to break the gridlock that we’ve entered into.
Talking to them, I think they are so obsessed with this issue, and they are so determined not to compromise in any way, they feel almost as if any form of compromise is some sort of betrayal. And certainly that narrative, one gets a great deal on Twitter: ‘This is a betrayal’, ‘This is a betrayal to the country’, ‘We are not fulfilling what the British people voted for’. I think that’s for the birds – it’s crazy …
I have to say, wouldn’t it be ironic if the ERG, the Eurosceptic caucus, through their intransigence, actually result in another referendum which will potentially overturn the previous result.
Continue reading...The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have said they are thrilled with the arrival of the new royal baby and look forward to meeting him in the coming days. Speaking in Greenwich, south-east London, Prince William joked of welcoming his brother, the Duke of Sussex, to the ‘sleep deprivation society that is parenting’
Continue reading...Duke and Duchess of Sussex could announce baby son’s name on Wednesday
The Duke of Cambridge has welcomed his younger brother to the “sleep deprivation society” as senior royals spoke publicly of their delight at the latest addition to the family.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are expected to present their baby son to the world on Wednesday and could announce the name they have chosen.
Continue reading...Actor joined by WikiLeaks editor-in-chief for Assange’s first social visit since his arrest
Pamela Anderson has described Julian Assange as “the world’s most innocent man” and said a fight was on to “save his life”, after the actor and model visited the WikiLeaks founder at Belmarsh prison.
She was accompanied by the website’s editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, for what WikiLeaks described as Assange’s first social visit since he was arrested by police after Ecuador revoked the political asylum granted to him at the country’s London embassy.
Continue reading...Mathew Talbot of Coldstream Guards died on deployment in Malawi, MoD confirms
A British soldier has died while on anti-poaching operations in Malawi, the Ministry of Defence has said.
It is understood Mathew Talbot, of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards, was on a patrol when he was killed by an elephant. He was on his first operational deployment when he died on 5 May, according to the MoD.
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