Category Archives: Politics

Javid: government will push for general election ‘again and again’

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Chancellor says Tories will insist on election but experts outline problems with pre-Christmas vote

Sajid Javid has said the government will repeatedly push for a general election if parliament rejects Boris Johnson’s motion on Monday, as electoral administrators outlined potential problems with a pre-Christmas election including a lack of polling stations and late postal votes.

Johnson on Thursday night threatened to pull his Brexit deal if Jeremy Corbyn rejected the offer of a general election on 12 December, but Labour appeared poised to block Monday’s motion by telling MPs to abstain. The party has said it will only back an early election when a no-deal Brexit scenario can be firmly ruled out.

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EU delays decision on Brexit extension until MPs vote on election

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Offer is now expected to be made only days before UK is due to leave EU on 31 October

The EU will delay its decision on the length of the next Brexit extension until next Monday or Tuesday to take into account the result of a vote on Boris Johnson’s demand for a pre-Christmas general election.

Speaking after a two-hour meeting of ambassadors in Brussels on Friday, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said an “excellent” discussion had concluded without any clear way forward. “No decision,” he said.

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Boris Johnson to ask MPs to back election on 12 December

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Prime minister to table motion on Monday for early general election

Boris Johnson has abandoned his “do or die” pledge to leave the EU by 31 October and will ask MPs next week to back a pre-Christmas general election.

The prime minister has written to Jeremy Corbyn saying he will give parliament one last opportunity to scrutinise his withdrawal agreement bill and “get Brexit done” by 6 November.

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Lord Dubs: Britain’s ‘hardening’ stance on asylum means children will suffer

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Labour peer heads push to ‘save family reunion’ amid fears Brexit will stop young refugees from joining relatives in UK

Britain’s “hardening” attitude to asylum seekers threatens to end one of the last safe routes for children to reach the UK, Alf Dubs has said.

Lord Dubs believes the Home Office is targeting a permanent reduction in childrens’ rights, under an EU law known as the Dublin regulation, to join family in the UK after Brexit.

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Welsh justice review calls for Scottish-style devolution of powers

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Report calls for higher age of criminal responsibility and warns of legal aid ‘deserts’

Powers to control justice, policing and prisons should be devolved to the Welsh assembly as they are in Scotland and Northern Ireland, a commission led by the former lord chief justice of England and Wales has recommended.

In a strongly worded report on the justice system in Wales, a review chaired by Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd calls for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised from 10 to at least 12 years, says “advice deserts” are appearing due to cuts in legal aid, and condemns high imprisonment rates as unsustainable.

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Johnson’s cabinet split over gambling on pre-Christmas election

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Prime minister awaits decision of EU27 over extension before next move

Boris Johnson’s cabinet is divided over how to proceed with Brexit, as the prime minister faces the stark choice of pressing ahead with his deal or gambling his premiership on a pre-Christmas general election.

After an inconclusive meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday morning in an attempt to agree an acceptable timetable for parliament to consider the bill, the prime minister told MPs at Wednesday’s PMQs that he was awaiting the decision of the EU27 over whether to grant an extension before settling his next move. The EU’s decision is unlikely to come before Friday.

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European leaders expected to grant Brexit delay

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Donald Tusk tells Boris Johnson he has recommended that the EU27 accept request for extension

Boris Johnson will be left waiting for the EU’s terms for a further Brexit extension until Friday, with signs of momentum building behind Donald Tusk’s plan for a delay up to 31 January.

The French government has privately voiced its concerns about taking the pressure off MPs to vote for the deal, which they believe could be ratified in 15 days, but EU sources said the bloc was seeking a “solution that works for all” and avoids a no deal exit.

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Relief for Windrush sisters as removal threat overturned

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Bumi Thomas, whose sister got citizenship, wins appeal against removal from UK

Two Windrush sisters who describe themselves as inseparable are celebrating after a judge ruled that one of them should not be sent back to Nigeria.

Bumi Thomas, 36, was at risk of removal from the UK and at one point was given 14 days to leave, while her sister Kemi, 38, was not because of their different dates of birth.

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Brexit: Johnson and Corbyn meet but can’t agree timetable for bill – live news

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Prime minister will have to decide whether to carry through with call for election if EU offers lengthy extension

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has criticised the abuse directed at the 19 Labour MPs who voted to support the WAB’s second reading on Tuesday.

As reported earlier, Lisa Nandy MP tweeted emails sent to her labelling her “scum”.

Morning! pic.twitter.com/MJOtjDY2u9

Adam Bienkov, UK Political Editor of Business Insider, tweets an exchange he had with the prime minister’s spokesman when attempting to ask why Boris Johnson has insisted that there won’t be checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, even though his own impact assessment states that there will.

. https://t.co/NKeFRum2Dn

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Two-thirds of British people see overseas aid as ‘a major priority’

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Survey of EU citizens reveals overwhelming belief in importance of helping people in poorer countries

The British public remains firmly behind efforts to support people in poorer countries, with almost two-thirds of people canvassed in a survey of EU citizens believing that maintaining overseas aid at its current level should be “a major priority”.

The results from Eurobarometer, the EU’s polling organisation, also found that almost 90% of people thought helping people in developing countries should be a priority of the EU and national governments.

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Johnson and Corbyn fail to agree timetable for ‘paused’ Brexit bill

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PM and Labour leader meet but do not agree way forward for withdrawal agreement bill

Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have failed to agree a timetable for pressing ahead with the “paused” Brexit bill.

Despite the prime minister’s threat on Tuesday to pull the withdrawal agreement bill (Wab) and press for a general election if MPs rejected his fast-track timetable for approving the legislation, Downing Street confirmed the pair had met on Wednesday.

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MPs reject Boris Johnson’s attempt to fast-track Brexit deal

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PM fails to restrict scrutiny of bill to just three days in effort to meet 31 October deadline

Boris Johnson’s plan to fast-track his Brexit deal through parliament in time for next week’s 31 October deadline was blocked by MPs on Tuesday night, even after he threatened to pull it and press for a general election.

The prime minister said he would speak to EU leaders and urge them not to agree to a prolonged Brexit extension after former Tory cabinet ministers Philip Hammond and Rory Stewart joined with Labour to inflict a humiliating defeat on the government.

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Conservatives have put Trudeau on notice, says Andrew Scheer – video

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Canada's Conservative party leader, Andrew Scheer, said he had spoken to Justin Trudeau to congratulate him on winning the most seats. In his  concession speech he added that the election result, in which the Liberals lost 20 seats, showed that the 'Conservatives have put Trudeau on notice'. Scheer said: 'Mr Trudeau, when your government falls, Conservatives will be ready and we will win'

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Brexit legislation ‘paused’ after MPs reject Boris Johnson’s timetable – as it happened

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Parliament votes to reject government’s timetable for passage of bill that would implement Brexit deal

That’s all from us this evening. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:

Related: MPs reject Boris Johnson's attempt to fast-track Brexit deal

If, as expected, Brexit is delayed until the end of January, a general election would have to follow, the Press Association reports, citing an unnamed No 10 source.

Parliament and Corbyn have repeatedly voted for delay. On Saturday, parliament asked for a delay until January and, today, parliament blew its last chance. If parliament’s delay is agreed by Brussels, then the only way the country can move on is with an election. This parliament is broken.

The public will have to choose whether they want to get Brexit done with Boris or whether they want to spend 2020 having two referendums on Brexit and Scotland with Corbyn.

No10 source tonight.

Three points.

1). Parliament hasn’t blown its last chance. The 31st deadline was set by Brussels. The PM has said it’s his final deadline but Brussels is open to an extension.

2). Benn Act was passed by MPs but PM sent the letter.

1/ pic.twitter.com/FywKxdufYM

Johnson is the author of his own misfortune. He only tried to bounce his deal through parliament because he knows it will not withstand scrutiny. A Brexit deal driven by the ideology of deregulation must be stopped.

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‘First London, then Brussels and Strasbourg’: Juncker on Brexit vote – video

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Jean Claude-Juncker has spoken in the European parliament as his five-year term as president of the European commission comes to an end. He said Brexit had been 'a waste of time and a waste of energy' and that Brussels would be watching Westminster closely as it votes on a withdrawal agreement. Boris Johnson will make a final bid on Tuesday to force Brexit through by 31 October

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Trudeau says voters chose ‘progressive agenda’ after Canadian election win – video

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Justin Trudeau has won a second term as prime minister of Canada and will lead a minority government as his Liberal party led in 146 out of 304 electoral districts. Addressing supporters, Trudeau said the country had voted in favour of a 'progressive agenda' and committed his government to fighting for all Canadians, not just those who voted for him.

Early on Tuesday, barely a minute after Andrew Scheer started addressing supporters at Conservative HQ, Trudeau took to the stage in Montreal to deliver his victory speech, in a highly unconventional moment of political scheduling

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Harry Dunn death: police head to US to interview Anne Sacoolas

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The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, says there are ‘no barriers to justice being done’

Northamptonshire police have sent officers to the US to interview the woman who claimed diplomatic immunity following her alleged involvement in the death of Harry Dunn.

The 19-year-old died when his motorbike crashed into a car driven by the American Anne Sacoolas outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August.

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No filter: my week-long quest to break out of my political bubble

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Websites such as OneSub, Nuzzera and AllSides hope to subvert political polarisation by offering news and views from beyond users’ usual sources. But is it that simple?

As strange as it may sound, above a Dorothy House charity shop in the shabbier end of central Bath, a handful of people are quietly trying to push the world – or at least a small part of it – away from the polarisation that currently defines politics, and towards something a bit more open and empathic. To compound the unlikeliness of it all, they are led by a man called Jim Morrison: not the reincarnated singer of the Doors, but the 40-year-old founder of a new online platform called OneSub, whose strapline is “Break the echo chamber”.

I have come to OneSub’s HQ as part of a week-long quest to push my reading habits and general soaking-up of information out of my usual left-inclined social media bubble, get some much-needed perspective, and try to use the internet as it was originally intended – not to confirm my prejudices, but to reintroduce me to the confounding, complicated, surprising realities of the world as it actually is.

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EU would agree to Brexit delay, says German minister

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Merkel ally Peter Altmaier says ‘it goes without saying’ Brexit extension would be granted

Germany’s economic affairs minister has wholeheartedly backed the option of a Brexit extension beyond 31 October, as the European parliament pulled plans to hold a vote on Boris Johnson’s deal this week.

Peter Altmaier, a key ally of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said he believed a technical extension would be offered to allow extra time for legislation to pass or a longer period to accommodate a general election or second referendum.

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Northern Ireland set to legalise abortion and same-sex marriage

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Equality campaigners celebrate ahead of a midnight deadline for new laws to come into force

Northern Ireland is poised to legalise abortion and same-sex marriage after an 11th-hour attempt by the region’s assembly to block change collapsed into farce.

Equality campaigners celebrated on Monday as the clock ticked towards midnight when laws extending abortion and marriage rights were due to come into force, ushering in momentous social change as Northern Ireland aligned with the rest of the UK.

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