Labour leader says there is no agreement yet on customs union or workers’ rights
Jeremy Corbyn has said Brexit talks with the government are stalling because of a Tory desire for post-withdrawal deregulation, including as part of a US trade deal.
Corbyn said Labour had been putting forward a robust case for a customs union during the talks over the past week but suggested he feared the two sides would not find common ground.
Continue reading...UK foreign secretaries wrote to assure Ecuador president over WikiLeaks founder’s extradition
Ecuador’s president, Lenín Moreno, was assured by two British foreign secretaries that Julian Assange would not be extradited to a country where he could face the death penalty, according to letters seen by the Guardian.
Letters signed by the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and his predecessor Boris Johnson, dated 7 March 2018 and 10 August 2018 respectively, confirm a person cannot be extradited if they could face the death penalty, according to British legislation.
Continue reading...No 10 scrambles to explore options before possible heavy losses in EU elections
No 10 is feeling the pressure to pull the plug on Brexit talks with Labour and move to an alternative plan, amid warnings that the opposition is in no hurry for a deal before the European elections.
With talks deadlocked and no sign that the government moving on its red lines, neither the Conservatives or Labour want to appear responsible for the breakdown in discussions.
Continue reading...Staff at Alibaba, Huawei and other well-known companies have shared evidence of unpaid compulsory overtime
Chinese tech employees have pushed back against a wave of protest over the industry’s notoriously long hours, known as the “996” schedule of working from 9am to 9pm, six days a week.
For months, former and current employees of some of the country’s most well-known companies had been posting evidence of unpaid, often compulsory or heavily encouraged overtime on the code-sharing platform Github.
Continue reading...Sources say prime minister’s red lines remain an obstacle in talks with Labour
Talks between Labour and the government are unlikely to advance much further in the coming week unless Theresa May moves on her red lines over a future customs union, sources close to the talks have suggested.
David Lidington, who is leading the government’s talks with Labour, said a compromise would have to be reached but played down suggestions that a government shift was imminent and added that Labour would also have to move.
Continue reading...Powerful US Democrat meets ex-Labour MPs to discuss why they left the party and Brexit
The senior US Democrat Nancy Pelosi met three former Labour MPs on Sunday and discussed their concerns about antisemitism in the party before a meeting with the party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
The House Speaker said she had met Mike Gapes, Chris Leslie and Ian Austin “to hear their perspective on Brexit, why they left the Labour party, and the importance of standing unequivocally against antisemitism wherever it is found”.
Continue reading...Labour MP defends comments likening group to Nazi party and white supremacists
David Lammy has said comparing the hard-Brexit European Research Group of Tory MPs to Nazis and proponents of South African apartheid was “not strong enough”, and suggested that the Brexit debate had allowed proponents of hard right views to flourish.
The Labour MP, who is a vocal campaigner for a second EU referendum, was asked on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show whether a comparison he previously made to the election of Adolf Hitler’s party in Germany and to South African white supremacists was appropriate.
Continue reading...A generation of young people could desert the party, says Richard Corbett, leader of Labour MEPs
Jeremy Corbyn has been warned by Labour’s leader in the European parliament and other grandees that the party will be deserted by millions of anti-Brexit voters if it fails to clearly back a second referendum in its manifesto for next month’s EU elections.
The message from Richard Corbett, who leads Labour’s 20 MEPs, comes amid growing fears at the top of the party that it could lose a generation of young, pro-EU voters if it does not guarantee another public vote.
Continue reading...As Nigel Farage flits overhead, a baying mob of Tories chases the withdrawal agreement into the swamp
Continue reading...Lib Dems, Greens and TIG will not form pacts as they look for surge in support for remain
Pro-EU parties, including the Liberal Democrats, the Greens and the Independent Group, will not form pacts or alliances at the forthcoming EU elections, hoping to use the poll as a “soft referendum” to show a surge in support for remain.
If no Brexit deal is passed by parliament, the UK will be required to hold the poll on 23 May. The Lib Dems, the mainstream party hoping to capitalise most on anti-Brexit discontent, has almost finalised its manifesto and plans a huge operation of ground campaigning targeting remain voters.
Continue reading...Time likely to be too tight for referendum before end of October, says chancellor
Philip Hammond has played down the possibility that the UK could use the delay to Brexit to hold a second referendum and stressed that he still expects Britain to leave the European Union.
Speaking in Washington, the chancellor said time would be too tight to hold a confirmatory vote before the new deadline of the end of October unless it was triggered over the coming weeks.
Continue reading...Owen Jones speaks to Mary Lou McDonald about Brexit, the implications for the peace process and the possibility of a united Ireland, and tries to answer once and for all why her party will never take its seats in the British parliament
Continue reading...New party has had ‘teething problems’ and will rely on small donations, says ex-Ukip leader
Nigel Farage has said he hopes his new Brexit party will be largely funded by small donations, and would not take any money from Arron Banks, the millionaire who bankrolled Ukip.
Speaking before the party’s launch on Friday, the former Ukip leader said: “In the first 10 days of the Brexit party, we’ve raised £750,000 in donations online, all in small sums of less than £500. I’ve never in my 25 years in British politics seen anything like it. And we’ve done that before we’ve even launched.”
Continue reading...Civil service to stand down its no-deal contingency plans in light of new departure date
The government has stood down an army of 6,000 civil servants who had been preparing for a no-deal Brexit, at an estimated cost of £1.5bn.
The civil servants who had been seconded from elsewhere will now return to their normal duties, but there is no clear role for an estimated 4,500 new recruits after article 50 was extended until Halloween.
Continue reading...French president compared to De Gaulle as he seeks to get on with mission to change EU
Emmanuel Macron’s tough-guy stance at the EU summit – refusing the UK a much longer Brexit extension – was partly down to the French president’s personality, but his reasoning was political.
The 41-year-old, who stood for president without ever having run an election campaign then promised a grand plan to reform the European Union, is known for his impatience. He wants action. He likes to be centre stage.
Continue reading...After marathon Brexit talks, EU leaders have offered delay, with Donald Tusk warning Britain: ‘Please do not waste this time’
Theresa May is now making a statement about last night’s EU summit.
She says she asked for an extension until 30 June. But she says she also asked for an assurance that, if the UK passed the deal before then, it could leave immediately.
Here’s a question from BTL.
Does the Yvette Cooper bill rule out a no-deal Brexit for good?
Andrew - factual question. Does the Yvette Cooper Bill protect us indefinitely from a No Deal Brexit? (In October, if we're still in an impasse, would May or any PM have to come back to Parliament and be forced to request another extension? If the answer is that we're not protected indefinitely, presumably Cooper and co could re-run this week's exercise. I.e. The fact that there's a majority against No Deal, in both the Commons and the Lords, does give us lasting protection - unless the EU itself eventually chucks us out?).
Continue reading...Follow all the latest as the prime minister awaits the EU’s decision on a delay to Brexit
This is from the Telegraph’s James Crisp.
Theresa May has left the summit building for dinner. She is expected to return later.
France and Germany are understood to be at loggerheads over both the length of the extension and the conditions that the EU should put on a delay to Brexit.
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, is arguing that a short extension to 30 June is unlikely to provide enough time for the impasse in Westminster to be broken, and Berlin is seeking an extension until 31 December.
Continue reading...British PM says UK will still be able to leave by 22 May if withdrawal deal is approved
Theresa May has signalled that she would accept the EU’s likely offer of a lengthy Brexit delay at a summit of leaders as the UK would still be able to leave when the withdrawal agreement is approved.
Arriving in Brussels, the prime minister said it would still possible for Britain to quit by 22 May if the Commons chose to approve her Brexit deal in the coming weeks.
Continue reading...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.
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