Category Archives: Politics

UK Brexit negotiator accused of treating Britain and EU as ‘two different planets’

Posted on by

Verhofstadt says it would be a ‘hell of a job’ to achieve success using David Frost’s approach

Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator has been accused of treating the EU and the UK as if they are “living on two different planets” after vowing to break all regulatory ties with Brussels.

Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister who has led the European parliament’s approach to Brexit, said it would be a “hell of a job” to secure a successful outcome from the negotiation using the British approach.

Continue reading...

New chancellor Rishi Sunak sticks to 11 March budget date

Posted on by

The 39-year-old has three weeks to sort out programme after Sajid Javid’s exit

The budget will go ahead on 11 March, the Treasury said on Tuesday, forcing the new chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to piece together a fresh tax and spending programme over the next three weeks.

A delay was expected after Sunak’s predecessor, Sajid Javid, abruptly quit his job after a demand by Boris Johnson that he sack his advisers and replace them with a team jointly managed with No 10.

Continue reading...

Concerns over safety at Amazon warehouses as accident reports rise

Posted on by

Figures obtained by GMB show safety at its UK warehouses could be worsening

More than 600 Amazon workers have been seriously injured or narrowly escaped an accident in the past three years, prompting calls for a parliamentary inquiry into safety at the online retailer’s vast UK warehouses.

Amazon, whose largest shareholder is the world’s richest man Jeff Bezos, recently launched an advertising campaign fronted by contented staff members, after a string of embarrassing revelations about working conditions.

Continue reading...

John Bercow says bullying accusers are ‘snobs and bigots’

Posted on by

Former Speaker tells Guardian Live event that the issue has been ‘weaponised’

The former Commons Speaker John Bercow has described parliamentary staff members who allege that he bullied people as “snobs and bigots”, and claimed he is the victim of a concerted campaign to destroy his reputation.

In conversation with Owen Jones at a Guardian Live event in Sloane Square in central London, he mocked those who have complained about him and denied all the allegations surrounding his behaviour.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson adviser quits over race and eugenics controversy

Posted on by

Andrew Sabisky says he is stepping down as ‘contractor’ to No 10 after fierce criticism across political spectrum

A controversial new adviser to Boris Johnson resigned on Monday night after MPs and experts accused No 10 of condoning his controversial claims that intelligence is linked to race.

Andrew Sabisky, who was brought into Downing Street by Johnson’s senior aide Dominic Cummings as part of his appeal for “misfits and weirdos”, became the subject of intense media scrutiny after details emerged of his views on subjects ranging from black people’s IQs to whether benefits claimants should be encouraged to have fewer children.

Continue reading...

Severe flood warnings remain as Johnson’s response is criticised

Posted on by

Labour says PM’s decision not to visit flood sites or call Cobra meeting is ‘a disgrace’

Severe flood warnings remain in place and rescue operations were continuing in stricken communities on Monday evening, as the government faced criticism for its response to what has been described as unprecedented flooding in parts of the country.

With thousands of properties flooded after a month’s worth of rain fell on parts of Britain over the weekend, and more than 200 flood warnings still in place, Labour said it was “a disgrace” that the prime minister was not visiting affected towns and villages and was resisting calls to convene the Cobra emergencies committee.

Continue reading...

We won’t budge on escaping EU rules, says UK’s Brexit negotiator

Posted on by

David Frost says democratic consent would snap if UK agreed to EU alignment

The democratic consent of the British public would “snap dramatically and finally” if the UK continued to be tied to EU rules, Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator has said.

In his first public speech since his appointment to the role, David Frost said Downing Street was not engaging in game-playing by rejecting alignment with EU laws after 2020.

Continue reading...

Politicians condemn press intrusion after Caroline Flack’s death

Posted on by

ITV says Sunday’s Love Island will not be broadcast as calls mount for regulation of traditional and social media

Politicians have condemned press intrusion, calling for more regulation of both traditional and social media after the death of TV presenter Caroline Flack.

The former Love Island presenter is understood to have taken her own life on Saturday at her home in Islington, London. She had been charged with assaulting her partner and was due to stand trial in several weeks’ time.

Continue reading...

Families of Troubles victims warn against amnesty for soldiers

Posted on by

Emmett McConomy, whose 11-year-old brother died in 1982, said cases ‘not going away’

A man whose 11-year-old brother was killed by a soldier in Northern Ireland nearly 40 years ago has warned that victims’ families “were not going to go away” if the British government tried to introduce an amnesty for military personnel.

Emmett McConomy, whose older brother Stephen was shot in the back of the head with a plastic bullet, said the new Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, needed to understand the strength of feeling among families who had not yet seen cases involving British soldiers come to court.

Continue reading...

Brexit: Britain and EU ‘will rip each other apart’ in trade talks

Posted on by

French foreign minister says it will be hard for UK to strike deal by end of year given differences

Britain and the European Union are going to rip each other apart in talks over a future trade deal, the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, has predicted, while also holding out hope that UK defence co-operation with Europe will continue.

Speaking at the Munich security forum, he added it would be tough for Britain to achieve its aim of a free trade deal by the end of the year given the differences between the two sides.

Continue reading...

British woman repeatedly trafficked for sex after Home Office failures

Posted on by

High court judge intervenes to prevent victim of county lines sex exploitation being made street homeless after refusal to find her safe housing

A young and highly vulnerable British sex trafficking victim was re-trafficked by county lines drug gangs on multiple occasions after the Home Office repeatedly refused to fulfil its legal obligation to provide her with safe accommodation.

A high court judge was forced to intervene to compel the Home Office to house the woman, who was about to become street homeless.

Continue reading...

Mary-Lou McDonald: violent dissident republicans should disband

Posted on by

Sinn Féin president’s statement comes after senior party figures were threatened

Violent dissident republicans should disband, the leader of Sinn Féin has said. Anti-peace process renegades threatened the party’s vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, and veteran policing spokesman Gerry Kelly after they supported a recent recruitment campaign for new Catholic officers.

The party’s president, Mary-Lou McDonald, said they would not be deterred or intimidated by the gunmen. She added: “These people have no politics, no strategy and nothing to offer. They are at war with their community and are now threatening political representatives who serve the people.”

Continue reading...

Macron sets out 10-year vision for EU with call for more integration

Posted on by

French president says EU must have effective defence policy, larger budget and integrated capital markets

Europe’s middle classes will only remain reconciled to the European Union if it becomes more integrated, with an effective defence policy, a larger budget and integrated capital markets, and is shorn of vetoes that slow decision-making, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, has said.

Setting out his 10-year vision for Europe on Saturday, Macron said he still wanted to see the UK involved in defence, but urged European countries to recognise that in terms of social welfare, Europe had a different values to the US.

Continue reading...

US defence secretary warns Huawei 5G will put alliances at risk

Posted on by

Mark Esper says countries using Chinese technology will put intelligence cooperation at risk

The US defence secretary, Mark Esper, warned that US alliances including the future of Nato were in jeopardy if European countries went ahead with using Chinese Huawei technology in their 5G networks.

Esper also warned future intelligence cooperation would be at risk, as the US would no longer be certain its communications networks were secure.

Continue reading...

The electability business: is Bernie Sanders America’s Corbyn?

Posted on by

Some Democratic observers fear their party is following the British left’s road to defeat

British politics rarely intrudes into a US presidential election. In 1988, Joe Biden was forced to abandon his first bid for the White House after it emerged that he had quoted without attribution a chunk of oratory from the then Labour party leader, Neil Kinnock. In 2016, Donald Trump deployed Nigel Farage as an occasional mascot on the stump, the Brexit victory in that year’s referendum deemed a happy omen that populists could defy the odds and win. In 2020, a third name has surfaced, offered as a cautionary tale to a Democratic party that this week confirmed a septuagenarian radical socialist and longtime backbench rebel as its frontrunner. That name is Jeremy Corbyn.

“I don’t want the Democratic party of the United States to be the Labour party of the United Kingdom,” James Carville, the victorious manager of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, told audiences on cable TV and in New Hampshire this week, warning that if Democrats nominate Bernie Sanders, they will almost certainly be following Corbyn’s Labour party to defeat.

Continue reading...

Labour leadership: Rebecca Long-Bailey gives speech on party’s path to power – live news

Posted on by

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Boris Johnson chairing a meeting of the new cabinet and further government reshuffle developments

Q: If the UK goes into recession, how would that affect your plans?

Long-Bailey says the economy is vulnerable because the economic model is broken.

Q: How much would your policy on freedom of movement affect the wages of workers?

Long-Bailey says the UK will be out of the single market. She says she wants an immigration system based on values, not on targets.

Continue reading...

The trouble with anti-populism: why the champions of civility keep losing

Posted on by

With rightwing demagogues gaining power and public debate getting nastier, many are calling for a return to a more sensible politics. But this approach has its own fatal flaws. By Benjamin Moffitt

You’ve probably heard some version of it in recent years. Maybe you’ve even said or thought it yourself. “Politicians are always fighting!” “Politics has become totally irrational!” “Why can’t politicians just compromise, find some consensus and solve our problems?”

For many people, these views have come to seem like basic common sense. In this era of extreme partisanship, the argument goes, what we need is more unity and moderation to bring us together. And if there is one group of politicians who have been blamed for the sorry state we find ourselves in, it is populists.

Continue reading...

Sajid Javid resigns as chancellor in Boris Johnson reshuffle

Posted on by

Rishi Sunak replaces Javid, who refused the PM’s request to sack all his advisers

Sajid Javid has resigned as chancellor after Boris Johnson asked him to sack all of his advisers in a move by No 10 to seize control of the Treasury.

Javid has been replaced by his deputy, Rishi Sunak, the chief secretary to the Treasury, who is a favourite within No 10.

Continue reading...

Salvini denies plan to visit Liverpool after mayor calls him fascist

Posted on by

Steve Rotheram says far-right Italian politician is not welcome in the city

Italy’s far-right leader, Matteo Salvini, has denied he is going to Liverpool after the mayor of the city said “the only audience he’ll find here is one that won’t be shy in telling him what they think of fascists like him.”

The mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotheram, said Salvini’s “division and hate” would not be welcomed in the city after reports Lega nel Mondo, a global network of the League established by Salvini in 2018, was holding an event in March.

Continue reading...

‘I’ve been ripped from my family’: deportee struggles to cope in Jamaica

Posted on by

Chevon Brown was sent to country where he has no close relatives after committing a driving offence

When Chevon Brown was 21 he was convicted of dangerous driving and spent seven months in prison. He admits he was speeding at over 100 miles an hour in an uninsured car and acknowledges he behaved irresponsibly, but feels the consequences have been wholly disproportionate.

As a result of that conviction he was deported to Jamaica a year ago, a country he left as a teenager and where he has no close relatives. He has been separated from his father and three younger brothers in Oxford, and is struggling to readjust to life without his family.

Continue reading...