Green party’s Magid Magid says he wants to be a voice for young people and refugees
The departing lord mayor of Sheffield has said he intends to run in European elections in response to growing political turmoil and the rise of far-right groups.
Magid Magid, 29, said on Tuesday he wanted to become Yorkshire and the Humber’s first Green party MEP if the UK participated in the European elections due on 23 May.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May’s talks with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, and MPs debating how long the article 50 extension should be
These are from my colleague Angelique Chrisafis in Paris.
Before Macron meets May, Elysee official insists any long extension would need ‘very strict guarantees’ that UK as an exiting state wouldn’t fully take part in or disrupt key decisions on future of EU eg commission head, budget. Would mean regular checks that UK abiding by this
Elysee source on length of possible Brexit extension: ‘we think one year would be too long’
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EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier fails to convince bloc May has plan to break deadlock
Britain is likely to be offered a final long extension ending on 31 December after the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, failed to convince the bloc’s capitals that Theresa May has a plan to break the Brexit impasse.
A number of member states, most prominently France, along with Slovenia, Greece, Austria and Spain, remain sceptical about a lengthy extension, citing the risks to the EU of Britain behaving badly.
Continue reading...Britain’s membership could be extended to March 2020 after PM fails to sell her plan in dash to Paris and Berlin
Theresa May’s request for a short Brexit delay has been torn up, putting the EU on track to instead extend Britain’s membership until 2020.
Despite the prime minister’s desperate dash to Paris and Berlin to convince leaders of her plan to break the Brexit impasse, the European council president, Donald Tusk, signalled EU politicians’ lack of faith in her cross-party talks.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
MPs are now debating amendments to Cooper Letwin. A result is expected within an hour or so.
We expect the House of Commons to debate the #CooperLetwin Bill around 9pm for up to an hour, with votes at the end. pic.twitter.com/0leLoH8gZQ
There’s been a split in the hard Brexit-supporting Tory backbench ERG group this evening: The MP, Daniel Kawczynski, has announced his resignation.
There have been recent rumblings of disquiet among the group; some of whom believe others are so determined to deliver the hardest of Brexits that they are actually imperiling the whole project. Kawczynski is one of them.
Have decided to resign from ERG. Despite excellent Chairmanship by @Jacob_Rees_Mogg who has accommodated all views I can no longer be a member of caucas which is preventing WA4 from passing. Hardcore element of ‘Unicorn’ dreamers now actually endangering #Brexit
Continue reading...Backbenchers submitting letters to 1922 Committee chair in bid to block further delay
A fresh attempt to oust Theresa May is under way over her decision to enter into talks with Jeremy Corbyn, with leading Brexiter MPs plotting ways to force a vote showing that the majority of the party has lost confidence in her.
Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, has rebuffed calls from backbenchers for an indicative vote on May’s future, because the prime minister saw off a no-confidence vote in December last year and cannot be challenged again within 12 months.
Continue reading...Cabinet source says PM negotiating with one hand behind her back, amid warnings long delay would cause ‘tremendous angst’
Theresa May is facing intense cabinet pressure to avoid the prospect of a long Brexit delay, amid increasing expectations that last ditch cross-party talks on a compromise departure plan will not produce anything concrete.
Before a crucial EU summit later this week, the prime minister is facing a fast-diminishing range of options that could split the Conservative party and prompt a mass cabinet walkout, or could result in the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal on Friday.
Continue reading...Minister rejects long extension as PM says in video she is hopeful of deal with Labour
A no-deal Brexit at the end of next week would be “not nearly as grim” as many believe, one of Theresa May’s senior ministers has said, as both the government and Labour indicated that cross-party talks to resolve the situation remained deadlocked.
Andrea Leadsom, the Commons leader, said preparations would mitigate many adverse effects of no deal. She also said the idea of a departure extension long enough to require the UK to hold European elections was “utterly unacceptable”.
Continue reading...Chance of May getting 30 June extension appear slim after notes of EU meeting emerge
France has won the support of Spain and Belgium after signalling its readiness for a no-deal Brexit on 12 April if there are no significant new British proposals, according to a note of an EU27 meeting seen by the Guardian.
The diplomatic cable reveals that the French ambassador secured the support of Spanish and Belgian colleagues in arguing that there should only be, at most, a short article 50 extension to avoid an instant financial crisis, saying: “We could probably extend for a couple of weeks to prepare ourselves in the markets.”
Continue reading...Prime minister says Brexit could ‘slip through our fingers’ as Tory party fears that taking part in EU election would boost far right
Theresa May is being warned by her mutinous MPs that they will move to oust her within weeks if the UK is forced to take part in European elections next month and extend its EU membership beyond the end of June.
Tory MPs are increasingly angry at the prospect of voters being asked to go to the polls to elect MEPs three years after the Brexit referendum, in an election they fear will be boycotted by many Conservatives and be a gift to the far right and Nigel Farage’s new Brexit party. Senior Tories said one silver lining of a long extension would be that it would allow them to move quickly to force May out, and hold a leadership election starting as soon as this month.
Continue reading...The battle for Europe is coming to a head – but, surprise, surprise, the main focus is not Brexit. Across the continent, far-right populist and nationalist parties are mobilising ahead of next month’s EU parliamentary elections. Polls show their support growing. For Europe’s newly energised hard right, Brexit is both a spur and a sideshow.
Whipping up anti-immigrant, Islamophobic and anti-semitic sentiment, and exploiting public anger over austerity and the perceived arrogance of the Brussels political class, the populists aim to reassert the pre-eminence of national identity, narrowly defined, and halt the European project in its integrationist tracks.
Continue reading...These are the lessons I’ve learned in chaotic political times
Ever since I joined the lobby of parliamentary reporters 10 years ago, politics has been going through feverish times. In the final 36 hours before the 2015 election, I remember standing in an Asda warehouse at 2am, eight months pregnant in a hi-vis jacket, trying to keep my eyes open as I interviewed David Cameron, then the prime minister, on camera. It can’t get more intense than this, I thought. Then I joined the Guardian as political editor in March 2016 and the ground beneath my feet hasn’t stopped moving. Last year I became presenter of the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast, but a large part of my job still involves reporting on the upheavals of Brexit. Here are a few things covering this spectacularly chaotic political era has taught me.
Passions are riding high
I recently heard a centre-right remainer MP casually describe a staunch Brexiter as a racist. An aide sniped back: “And you’re the worst politician in the country!” Soon after, I was standing in a television green room, a mini sandwich in one hand, when the row erupted again. The aide stormed in, spoiling for a fight, almost squaring up to the MP. For a minute I was back at university in the middle of a nightclub standoff. It ended with an apology, but it was an altercation that wouldn’t have happened a year ago. So much about the mood of politics has changed. Look at Labour peer Andrew Adonis, transformed from measured technocrat into tub-thumping remain zealot. Look at the new wave of activists. I met a 64-year-old woman outside parliament wrapped in an EU flag; she said she had never protested before. Nearby, another woman of a similar age told me she would riot if Brexit did not happen. The abuse directed at MPs is not new, but it is worse than ever. I spent a day with former Tory Anna Soubry, and by 11am she had received two death threats. Committed Brexiters have faced similar.
Trafalgar Studios, London
In his funny and perceptive two-hander, Godber and his wife play a quarrelsome couple on a tandem trip to Europe
Although it dominates our lives, Brexit has so far made surprisingly few appearances on stage. It is, however, a key topic – along with grief and cycling – in this humane, funny and perceptive two-hander written by John Godber and performed by him and his wife, Jane Thornton. This is certainly the first play I’ve seen that seeks to explain why so many people voted leave.
It presents us with an odd couple brought together by loss and a love of bikes. Don, an ex-miner and now a porter at Pontefract hospital, is grieving over the death of his wife. Carol, a teacher and would-be artist, is a widow haunted by the passing of her architect husband. But, after a chance graveside encounter, the two of them discover they have a shared passion for cycling. Rashly they set off on a bike-and-train trip to Florence on the day of the 2016 referendum, only to realise that they are on opposite sides of the argument about Europe.
Continue reading...Opposition criticises PM after talks, while risk of EU taking tough line on extension rises
Theresa May’s prospects of cobbling together a cross-party majority to convince EU leaders to grant a short Brexit delay next week appear to be slipping away after Labour claimed she had failed to offer “real change or compromise” in talks.
The prime minister made a dramatic pledge to open the door to talks with Labour on Tuesday after a marathon cabinet meeting.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
That’s all from us for this evening. Thanks for reading and commenting. For a summary of the day’s major events, click here.
And, if you’d like to read more on the Brexit negotiations between the government and the opposition, my colleagues Rowena Mason and Heather Stewart have the story:
Related: Theresa May to make written Brexit offer to Jeremy Corbyn
The elements have not been kind to candidates and party activists in south Wales as voting in the Newport West by-election nears its conclusion.
These tweets from Labour supporters summed it up – monsoon rain, biblical hail. Union-branded raincoats and brollies.
We’ve campaigned through a Monsoon, Biblical hail and sunny Skies in Newport today on the #LabourDoorstep for @RuthNewportWest.
If you can spare an hour or two come join us and experience Newport’s a Wild weather ☀️ pic.twitter.com/ZgrEHqeYY9
Now out campaigning in #NewportWestByElection for our fantastic candidate @RuthNewportWest such a great response on the door for Ruth. Note my @unisontweets brolly and @GMBPolitics waterproof coat #StandingUpForNewportWest @WelshLabour @nptwestlab pic.twitter.com/1kLl7ZxgX9
Related: Newport West byelection: voters look away from main parties for renewal
Continue reading...Labour leader under pressure from Emily Thornberry to put any pact to a second public vote
Jeremy Corbyn will resume Brexit talks with the prime minister on Thursday, after Labour tensions over a second referendum burst into the open, with the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, writing to colleagues to insist any pact must be put to a public vote.
Both Labour and Downing Street described the discussions as “constructive” and said they would hold technical talks, facilitated by civil servants, on Thursday.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Pedro Sánchez says rhetoric in both debates will lead societies down blind alley
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has compared Brexit to the failed push for Catalan independence, warning that “engaging in campaigns or political projects based on lies eventually leads societies down a blind alley”.
Renewing his appeal for the UK to accept the EU’s withdrawal deal, Sánchez said he saw clear parallels between the rhetoric that drove the Brexit debate and the arguments used in the regional independence campaign that plunged Spain into its worst crisis in four decades.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments, where third reading of the Cooper bill seeking a Brexit delay passed 313 to 312
I’m going to wrap up now.
Here the latest key developments at a glance:
The Leave.EU campaign seems to be rather cross:
The "Conservatives" who voted to block Brexit this evening.
Are you a Conservative member in one of these constituencies? Sign up to our deselection campaign below and help us oust the Remainers!
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Tory Brexiters say they doubt they can support any deal struck between party leaders
Theresa May’s cabinet descended into rows and recriminations before it settled on the uneasy decision to invite Jeremy Corbyn to help solve the UK’s Brexit crisis.
During seven hours of meetings on Tuesday described as tense and gruelling, the prime minister struggled to keep order among colleagues who are vying to take her job.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s politics as they happen, including Theresa May chairing a five-hour cabinet meeting to decide what to do about Brexit
During Foreign Office questions in the Commons earlier, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, said that staying in the customs union would not be seen as a “true Brexit”. Responding to a question from Greg Hands, the former international trade minister, who asked what assessment the Foreign Office had made of the customs union option, Hunt said:
I think people would see it as very curious that a country that voted to take back control is choosing to cede control in a number of areas of vital national interest.
And I think they’d also be concerned that it would not resolve the national debate on Brexit because many of the people who voted for Brexit would not see this as delivering a true Brexit.
This is from my colleague Rowena Mason.
Jeremy Corbyn tackled at shadow cabinet over why Ian Lavery and Jon Trickett still in their frontbench jobs despite defying whip on second referendum indicative votes- answer came there none, according to shadow cabinet sources
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