Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Emmanuel Macron has called for a new European agency to fight against international cyber-attacks and the manipulation of election campaigns, as well as a ban on foreign powers funding European parties, as he set out plans to overhaul the EU in response to Britain’s vote to leave.
Chris Grayling | Otto Warmbier | Michele Hanson | Words for toilet | A Beatles Brexit
The likely cost of £2.7bn to the taxpayer due to Chris Grayling’s incompetence will ring hollow to the parents of disabled pupils in Leicestershire and across the country, who have been informed that their council can no longer provide transport to special schools and colleges post-16 due to lack of funds. The implications for these families, who already face substantial additional burdens of care due to cuts in respite and other services, may place another group in the foodbank queue. Kate Warner Claybrooke Parva, Leicestershire
• If Donald Trump genuinely believes that Kim Jong-un did not know of the brutal treatment of Otto Warmbier which led to his death (Report, 2 March), has he asked Kim to investigate the matter? And if not, why not? Jeremy Beecham Labour, House of Lords
Tory Eurosceptic group says at least two days will be needed to scrutinise new compromise on Irish backstop
Tory Brexiters are to demand at least two days to scrutinise any new offer from Brussels on the Irish backstop mechanism, warning the prime minister not to “bounce” the group into an early vote on her Brexit deal.
May has pledged that a vote will take place on her proposal, including any changes agreed in Brussels, by 12 March, though it is possible that Downing Street will seek to bring the vote forward to this week if changes can be secured.
Crisis networks report rise in number of farmers distressed by uncertainty over future
Charities have said British farmers are increasingly at risk of suicide owing in part to uncertainty over Brexit and the impact of bad weather.
Distressed farmers have made dozens of calls to crisis networks and some have been placed on “suicide watch”, according to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU).
Coalition-building begins after Kaja Kallas’s centre-right party wins 28.8% of vote
Estonia’s opposition liberal Reform party won Sunday’s general election, outpacing centre-left prime minister Juri Ratas’s party and a surging far-right that was buoyed by a backlash from mostly rural voters.
Led by former MEP Kaja Kallas, Reform garnered 28.8% of the vote, well ahead of Ratas’s Centre party on 23%. The far-right EKRE more than doubled its previous election score, at 17.8%, according to the full results posted on Estonia’s official state elections website.
Investigation reveals exodus of party’s moderates and influx of more extreme newcomers
A surge in Ukip membership is shifting the party decisively towards the far right, as long-standing moderates are replaced by entrants attracted by an anti-Islam agenda based on street protest, a Guardian investigation can reveal.
Critics say process Woody Johnson called ‘no-brainer’ is ‘harmful’ to nation’s health
The US ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, has come under fire from a leading food critic, a farming union and trade justice campaigners over his push to open up the UK to American farmers post-Brexit.
Jay Rayner, the BBC presenter, Observer columnist and MasterChef critic, said the UK should tell Johnson where he can stick chlorinated chicken, the US’s preferred approach for protecting consumers from pathogens such as salmonella and campylobacter.
The Welsh government has given Sophie Howe statutory powers to represent people who haven’t yet been born
Sophie Howe is a public servant with a particularly tricky constituency. The people she represents are remote and unresponsive and they never show up to voice an opinion or tell her if she’s doing a good job.
They don’t even vote. That’s because they haven’t yet been born. Howe is the world’s first – and only – future generations commissioner with statutory powers. She’s there to represent the unborn citizens of Wales.
EU negotiator frustrated at UK demands over Irish backstop but is considering adjunct to deal
Michel Barnier has told EU ambassadors that he is having to repeatedly rebut British demands for a time limit on the Irish backstop but that he is working on a legal add-on to the Brexit deal to help the prime minister.
During a meeting on Friday in Brussels, the EU’s chief negotiator expressed frustration with the British demands after the latest round of talks. “The UK side keeps on insisting on the same two things,” one EU diplomat said following Barnier’s briefing after the latest week of talks. “And we keep on explaining why it won’t happen.”
Transport secretary agrees deal with Eurotunnel, which was suing government
The government has settled a high court case over the Brexit ferry fiasco after reaching an agreement worth up to £33m with Eurotunnel, which was suing it following the award of a contract to a company with no ships.
The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, said in a statement: “The agreement with Eurotunnel secures the government’s additional freight capacity, helping ensure that the NHS has essential medicines in the event of a no-deal Brexit.”
US sets out aims for post-Brexit trade deal amid fears about chicken and beef standards
The US has outlined its objectives for a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK, demanding greater access to the food markets where products such as chlorinated chicken or hormone-fed beef are currently banned under EU rules.
The US laid out its aims for a trade deal to cut tariff and non-tariff barriers for US industrial and agricultural goods and reduce regulatory differences.
Prime minister in diplomatic push with King Abdullah II at major London conference
Britain launched an economic and diplomatic push to protect Jordan as an oasis of political stability in the Middle East by staging a major conference designed to rescue the debt-ridden country, and help its leader King Abdullah II, mainly by an injection of private sector investment.
The crowded London conference was attended by the Jordanian monarch the British prime minister, Theresa May, the bulk of the Jordanian cabinet, the US treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, and a host of economic experts.
Costa amendment passed after its proposer is sacked, while Labour amendment fails
The government has bowed to MPs’ pressure over the post-Brexit rights of EU citizens and reaffirmed pledges to give the Commons a veto on a no-deal departure after the latest parliamentary wrangling over Theresa May’s deadlocked plans.
A day that had been heralded as the moment when backbenchers would seize control of the Brexit timetable from the prime minister lost some of its drama after May and her ministers gave way in a series of areas where they were likely to lose Commons votes.
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the Commons debate on Brexit next steps, and Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs
The Electoral Commission has released its latest figures for political donations. In the last three months of 2018 £10.4m was given to political parties - £1.9m more than in the previous quarter. Most of it, £7.4m went to the Conservatives, who received more than four time as much in donations as Labour (£1.6m). The increase is almost certainly linked to speculation about a possible early election.
There are more details on the Electoral Commission website here.
On Sky’s All Out Politics the Labour MP Phil Wilson said Williamson should be suspended from the party for his comments. Wilson said:
I think it is just outrageous, really. And I think he should be suspended from the Labour party. I actually spoke to Tom Watson [the Labour deputy leader] about this this morning, and Tom is [of] the same view. Tom, I know, is writing to the general secretary of the Labour party to express his concerns about it. I just think it’s outrageous. There has got to be tough action taken on people like this in the Labour party. And when you have got a member of parliament expressing these views, I don’t think there is any place for them ultimately in the Labour party.
Latest no-deal notice forecasts Northern Ireland to be hit hard and food prices likely to rise
The government has issued a bleak warning over a no-deal Brexit, estimating the UK economy could be 9% weaker in the long run, businesses in Northern Ireland might go bust and food prices will increase.
In an official document only published after repeated demands by the former Conservative MP Anna Soubry, the government also revealed it was behind on contingency planning for a third of “critical projects” in relation to business and trade.
Official commemorations of the battle on 6 June to honour the ‘enormous sacrifice’
The defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, has urged veterans to continue to pass their stories on to future generations, as the 100-day countdown to the 75th anniversary of D-day begins.
Spokesman says party will not oppose measure but cites lack of sufficient evidence
Labour has said it will not seek to block the government’s decision to ban the political wing of Hezbollah in the UK, but suggested the move by Sajid Javid was motivated by his leadership ambitions rather than actual evidence.
Membership of the Lebanon-based group’s military wing is already outlawed, but the proscription will now be extended to its political arm, the home secretary announced on Monday.
Alicante airport is likely to be worst affected, says consumer group Which?
British tourists to Spain could face airport queues of five hours or more after a no-deal Brexit, according to analysis by Which?, and the consumer group suggests travellers should take food, water and even nappies to survive prolonged delays.
Alicante airport, which serves Benidorm and other Costa Blanca resorts, is likely to be the worst-affected airport, and Which? said visitors to Tenerife, Lanzarote and Málaga were also facing “life in the slow lane”.
Jeremy Corbyn has finally thrown his party’s weight behind a second EU referendum, backing moves for a fresh poll with remain on the ballot paper if Labour should fail to get its own version of a Brexit deal passed this week.
The decision to give the party’s backing to a second referendum follows a concerted push by the shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, and deputy leader, Tom Watson, who fear any further delay could have led to more defections to the breakaway Independent Group (TIG), whose members all back a second referendum.