With the final votes still being counted, both Benjamin Netanyahu's rightwing Likud and Benny Gantz's more centrist Blue and White party have declared victory. Both are currently tied at 35 seats, which is far below the 60 seats required for a majority in the Knesset. But Likud's right-wing coalition partner options are stronger than the left-wing allies available for the Blue and White party, which gives Likud and Netanyahu a slight advantage in the negotiations to come over the next few days.
Category Archives: Politics
Brexit: ERG Tories tell Brussels it will regret letting ‘Perfidious Albion’ remain in EU beyond Friday – live news
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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Libya crisis: UK officials anxious as blame is laid at doors of Gulf allies
There will be deep unease in Foreign Office over role of Saudi Arabia and UAE
Blame for the renewed Libyan crisis has been laid at the doors of some of Britain’s closest allies in the Gulf, highlighting again how the UK’s commercial interests so often trump its political priorities in the Middle East.
In exchanges in the UK parliament, the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, traced the crisis to Nato’s overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, an intervention described even by the government minister Mark Field as “calamitous”. She also accused France of supporting Khalifa Haftar’s attack on Tripoli, an accusation that the Élysée Palace strenuously denies. Other MPs blamed Russian meddling.
Continue reading...UK likely to be offered Brexit extension until end of year
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...Brexit: Theresa May’s hopes dashed as EU targets delay of up to a year
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...Brexit: Government sets date for UK participation in EU elections – live news
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
- May to resume Brexit talks with Labour to find compromise
- Analysis: can May keep her deal alive?
- Downing Street lobby briefing - Summary
- Barnier/Varadkar press appearance - Summary
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...Libyan crisis escalates as warplane strikes Tripoli airport
Passengers reported to have been seen leaving terminal after strike by pro-Haftar forces
A warplane has attacked the only functioning airport in Tripoli as fighting between forces loyal to the Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar and rival militias escalated and EU foreign ministers met in Brussels to try to de-escalate the violence.
Mitiga airport, in an eastern suburb of the capital, was closed after it was hit in an airstrike by pro-Haftar forces. Passengers could be seen leaving the terminal, a Reuters correspondent at the airport said. Fighting was also under way at Tripoli’s international airport, 15 miles from the city centre, which has not been functioning since fighting destroyed much of it in 2014.
Continue reading...Brexiter MPs pursue fresh bid to oust May by indicative votes
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...Israelis go to the polls: what you need to know
Election seen as a referendum on Benjamin Netanyahu, who could almost certainly become Israel’s longest-serving leader
Israelis are due to cast their votes on Tuesday in an election that could end Benjamin Netanyahu’s astonishing 10-year uninterrupted run as prime minister. Or he will be re-elected, virtually guaranteeing him the title of Israel’s longest-ever serving leader.
Continue reading...Cabinet ‘in the dark’ over Theresa May’s plans for Brexit
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...Jewish Labour Movement passes no-confidence motion on Corbyn
Labour defends antisemitism response after documents suggest party failed to act on hundreds of complaints
The Jewish Labour Movement passed a motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership on Sunday as the party came under renewed pressure over its handling of antisemitism allegations.
Labour disputed a report in the Sunday Times, which drew on leaked internal documents, that its system for dealing with complaints has been beset by delays, inaction and interference from the leader’s office.
Continue reading...Andrea Leadsom: no-deal Brexit next week would not be so grim
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...France, Spain and Belgium ‘ready for no-deal Brexit next week’
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...Furious Tory MPs will bid to oust May if UK fights Euro poll
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...Punch-ups and party splits: what reporting on Brexit has taught me | Anushka Asthana
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.
Jacinda Ardern: ‘Very little of what I have done has been deliberate. It’s intuitive’
In the wake of New Zealand’s worst terror attack, the prime minister talks frankly about the aftermath, global scrutiny and how a nation heals
“I’ll show you something,” says Jacinda Ardern. We are sitting on sofas in her office on the ninth floor of the Beehive, the circular building that houses the New Zealand government in Wellington. It is just 10 days since a terrorist attack in Christchurch took the lives of 50 people at prayer. Outside, the flags are at half-mast. Two police officers stand by the glass doors, cradling semi-automatic weapons. Up on the ninth floor, the early morning sun scythes in through panoramic windows, the harbour just visible in the distance. In the reception area, a staffer’s preschooler son buzzes back and forth on a bike.
I have been asking Ardern about her immediate response to the attack, which from the outset put a clear emphasis on inclusivity and solidarity. Succinctly, steelily, the prime minister framed what had happened in her own terms. It felt very deliberate: was it?
Continue reading...London prepares for launch of ultra-low emissions zone
Almost 1,000 people a year in London are hospitalised with asthma caused by pollution
London is preparing to enforce “world-leading” vehicle pollution restrictions from Monday as the capital attempts to clean up the toxic air blamed for thousands of premature deaths.
The ultra-low emission zone, or Ulez, will launch at one minute past midnight, imposing a £12.50-a-day charge to drive into central London in all but the cleanest cars and vans.
Continue reading...Hopes of Brexit progress fade as Labour says May has failed to compromise
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...UK must offer ‘credible and realistic way forward’ to justify new Brexit delay, says Irish PM – as it happened
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...UK urged to end unfair fees for child citizenship applicants
Home Office should also refund fees from failed requests, says immigration watchdog
The Home Office should consider scrapping controversial immigration fees charged to children from families who can’t afford it and refund profits made from failed citizenship applications, according to an official watchdog.
The call came as it emerged on Thursday that the Home Office is making a profit of £2m a month from charging children for citizenship, with about 40,000 estimated to be affected in the past year.
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