Naomi Long wins seat after trebling party’s vote, saying supporters want to remain in EU
Opposition to Brexit has propelled the leader of Northern Ireland’s Alliance party to a dramatic victory in the European elections.
Naomi Long, an outspoken advocate of a second referendum on the UK’s European Union membership, won a seat on Monday with 105,958 first preference votes after almost trebling support for her party compared with the 2014 election.
Continue reading...Tory leadership candidate also plans to abolish need to prove settled status if he becomes PM
Michael Gove will pledge free British citizenship for 3 million EU nationals after Brexit if he becomes prime minister, as well as abolishing the burden of providing proof of settled status, the Guardian understands.
The environment secretary, one of the leading figures in Vote Leave, is understood to believe strongly that the pledge would honour the promises given to EU citizens by that campaign during the 2016 referendum.
Continue reading...Home secretary announces bid as hopefuls weigh up whether to take part in TV debate
Sajid Javid has become the latest Conservative to declare he is standing for the party leadership, telling party members: “First and foremost, we must deliver Brexit.”
The home secretary made his announcement on Monday in a video posted on Twitter. He said: “As last night’s results made all too clear, we must get on and deliver Brexit,” adding it was important to “restore trust, bring unity, and create new opportunities across the UK”.
Continue reading...In the UK, the Conservatives and Labour have been decimated over their stance on Brexit, with Nigel Farage's Brexit party and pro-remain parties emerging as the big winners. With votes still being counted across Europe, voters have boosted Greens and far-right groups, leaving centrists diminished
Continue reading...Philip Hammond and senior party figures warn that MPs are prepared to take drastic action
Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab have been warned that Tory MPs would be prepared to bring down any prime minister backing a no-deal Brexit, triggering a general election, amid fears the leadership hopefuls will veer to the right in response to a surge in support for Nigel Farage at the European election.
A string of senior Conservatives, led by Philip Hammond, the chancellor, delivered a sobering message to candidates that many Tory MPs are prepared to take drastic action to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Continue reading...Growing numbers of Britons are taking official Spanish language exams in order to become citizens of Spain, motivated by fears about Brexit and a looming deadline for people with Sephardic Jewish ancestry.
Figures published by the Instituto Cervantes show a 21% increase since last year in the numbers taking Spanish as a foreign language diploma, which is a requirement for anyone wanting citizenship.
Continue reading...A campaign to stop Boris Johnson becoming prime minister and taking the country into a no-deal Brexit was launched by moderate cabinet ministers on Saturday as the first shots were fired in the Tory contest to succeed Theresa May in Downing Street.
After May bowed to pressure on Friday and announced she would resign as Tory leader within two weeks, justice secretary David Gauke and international development secretary Rory Stewart condemned Johnson’s readiness to embrace a no-deal, saying it would be hugely damaging to the national interest.
Continue reading...The four men behind the nationwide Brexit billboard phenomenon finally reveal their identities – in the pub where it all began
The Birdcage pub in Stoke Newington, north London, seems an unlikely birthplace for a rebellion. On a midweek afternoon, the bar is almost empty. Spring sunshine streams through the windows; Spandau Ballet provide a gentle soundtrack; black-hatted men from the local ultra-Orthodox Jewish community pass by outside.
The only customers are four men sitting at a table in an alcove. It was at this spot, more than five months ago, that this group of friends came up with an idea born from their collective despair over the “lies, lunacy and hypocrisy” of the Brexit process.
Continue reading...Health secretary throws his hat into ring as Rory Stewart rules out serving in a Boris Johnson cabinet
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has become the latest cabinet minister to declare he will stand for the Tory leadership after Theresa May’s resignation.
“Yes. I’m going to run to be the next prime minister,” Hancock told the BBC on Saturday morning. He said he would be “the servant of parliament” in delivering a Brexit deal – a conundrum that destroyed May’s leadership.
Continue reading...Group of MEPs writes to Electoral Commission over reports of ballot paper delays
The Electoral Commission has been asked to permit late postal votes for the European parliament elections to be counted as reports continue of many British nationals living abroad receiving their ballot papers too late to return on time.
A group of 10 MEPs has written to the regulator to say that it should consider any postal vote that arrives by Sunday when the polls close across Europe. “We cannot permit lousy disenfranchisement like this,” said the Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder, who wrote the letter to the commission.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political events as they happen as the UK votes in the European elections 2019 and pressure continues on Theresa May to resign
This is what Valerie Vaz, the shadow leader of the Commons, said in the chamber earlier about the government’s decision not to publish the EU withdrawal agreement bill tomorrow. (See 11.22am.) She said:
Yesterday the prime minister told the house that the second reading of the withdrawal agreement bill would be in the week commencing June 3rd, now we hear it’s not, so in less than 24 hours the prime minister has broken her word. This is yet another broken promise by the prime minister on Brexit.
The prime minister’s official spokesman told journalists at the morning lobby briefing that Theresa May would be meeting cabinet colleagues to discuss the EU withdrawal agreement bill today, the Press Association reports.
“The prime minister is listening to her colleagues about the bill and will be having further discussions,” he said.
Continue reading...Tory ministers and backbenchers conspicuously absent as Theresa May makes statement about her proposed Brexit bill
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson criticised Andrea Leadsom’s decision to step down on the eve of the European elections, calling it a “slap in the face” for her colleagues.
He tweeted: “I accept that she may want to go but to do it the night before an election looks odd.
Commentators are pointing out the irony that it may be a resignation by Andrea Leadsom, who stood aside to let Theresa May take the Tory leadership in summer 2016, which may eventually lead to the prime minister’s downfall.
.@andrealeadsom will be seen by history to have delivered the coup de grace to @theresa_may - which is appropriate some would say because it was her withdrawal from leadership race that handed 10 Downing St to May on a plate. Revenge dish best served steaming hot perhaps
Continue reading...Prime minister to give details of plan to get withdrawal agreement bill ‘over the line’
Theresa May is to set out the details of her “new deal” on Brexit in a speech at 4pm as she paves the way for a last-ditch attempt to take Britain out of the European Union before she leaves Downing Street.
The prime minister’s spokesman said cabinet had discussed, “alternative arrangements, workers’ rights, environmental protections, and further assurances on protecting the integrity of the UK in the unlikely event that the backstop is required”.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, as Theresa May’s cabinet met to consider the contents of the Brexit EU withdrawal agreement bill
PM’s speech is called ‘A new Brexit deal - seeking common ground in Parliament’
In the urgent question in the Commons earlier on British Steel, which is on the brink of collapse putting 5,000 jobs at risk, Andrew Stephenson, the business minister, said the government “leave no stone unturned” in supporting the UK steel industry. He said:
I can reassure the house that, subject to strict legal bounds, the government will leave no stone unturned in its support for the steel industry ...
We can only act within the strict bounds of what is legally possible under domestic and European law.
Continue reading...Chancellor argues no-deal Brexit would betray leave vote, as chances of PM’s bill fade
The expected demise of Theresa May’s Brexit plan has sparked open lobbying over an alternative Tory vision, with the chancellor, Philip Hammond, arguing that proponents of a no-deal Brexit are betraying the referendum result.
The cabinet will on Tuesday discuss the final details of what Downing Street call a “new and improved deal” to be presented to MPs, expected to include reassurances on areas including the Irish backstop, workers’ rights and environmental protections.
Continue reading...Survey shows 71% of people from ethnic minorities faced discrimination, up from 58%
Ethnic minorities in Britain are facing rising and increasingly overt racism, with levels of discrimination and abuse continuing to grow in the wake of the Brexit referendum, nationwide research reveals.
Seventy-one percent of people from ethnic minorities now report having faced racial discrimination, compared with 58% in January 2016, before the EU vote, according to polling data seen by the Guardian.
Continue reading...Man arrested after Brexit party leader is latest EU elections candidate to be soaked
Nigel Farage has been hit by a milkshake in Newcastle city centre, after a spate of similar incidents against far-right candidates in the European elections campaign.
The Brexit party leader appeared to be furious after the incident and was heard to mutter, “it’s a complete failure, you could have spotted that a mile off” as his security team led him away.
Continue reading...Prime minister will ask her cabinet to sign off on concessions this week
Theresa May will ask her cabinet to sign off a package of Brexit concessions this week, as she gears up for one last bid to win over MPs and salvage something concrete from her troubled premiership.
With the Conservatives on course for a drubbing in Thursday’s European elections, the prime minister hopes the results will focus the minds of her own MPs and persuade them to support the long-awaited withdrawal agreement bill (WAB).
Continue reading...Diplomatic cables reveal the monarch also appeared to back the creation of a single market
The Queen confided to the German ambassador that she believed the future of Britain lay in Europe, newly released diplomatic cables from 1988 have shown.
“Some have not realised this yet,” the monarch allegedly said of her subjects. She also appeared to back the creation of the single market.
Continue reading...Polls suggest his party could be squeezed into third place in the European elections
Jeremy Corbyn has given a robust defence of Labour’s decision to try to appeal to both leavers and remainers in this Thursday’s European elections.
With an Observer poll suggesting Labour could be squeezed into third position behind Nigel Farage’s Brexit party and the pro-remain Liberal Democrats, Corbyn said he still wanted to bring the two sides of the Brexit divide together.
Continue reading...