Category Archives: Politics

Ministers agree to consider Lib Dem plans for new referendum

Posted on by

Vince Cable says move follows cross-party talks on Brexit deadlock options

Cabinet ministers involved in cross-party talks on how to break the Brexit deadlock have given the first indication that they are prepared to examine plans for a potential second referendum on the UK’s departure from the EU, according to the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Vince Cable.

The offer to examine a possible timetable for a second vote drawn up by the Lib Dems was made during discussions between senior Liberal Democrats and two cabinet ministers involved in the talks, Michael Gove and David Lidington, in the Cabinet Office on Thursday morning.

Continue reading...

Women around the world march against austerity and violence

Posted on by

Tens of thousands take to city streets to protest against violence and the impact of austerity on their lives

Propelled by a mass public rendition of Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves and accompanied by a thudding police helicopter overhead, hundreds of protesters have rallied in central London in solidarity with an estimated 89 Women’s Marches worldwide.

In Athens, Berlin, Washington DC and Los Angeles, to name just a few, tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out to protest against violence against women and the impact of policies of austerity. They also had some choice words for Donald Trump and Theresa May.

Continue reading...

Give MPs free vote on Brexit options, says Sir John Major

Posted on by

Ex-PM urges Theresa May to stage series of ‘indicative’ votes as way out of impasse

Sir John Major has called for MPs to be allowed to have a free vote on a series of options to solve the unfolding Brexit crisis, saying he feared millions will be hurt if Britain leaves the EU with the wrong deal or none at all.

The former prime minister called on Theresa May to stage a series of “indicative” votes in parliament to establish whether any proposals could command a majority.

Continue reading...

Women raped by Korean soldiers during Vietnam war still awaiting apology

Posted on by

Campaign group urges recognition for women affected by sexual violence of Korean troops and the children born as a result

Tran Thi Ngai was 24 and alone at home in her village in Vietnam’s Phu Yen province when a South Korean soldier forced his way into the house and raped her.

“He pulled me inside the room, closed the door and raped me repeatedly. He had a gun on his body and I was terrified,” said Tran, now almost 80, and still waiting for South Korea to acknowledge sexual violence by its soldiers during the Vietnam war.

Continue reading...

Revealed: UK patients stockpile drugs in fear of no-deal Brexit

Posted on by

Doctors call for more transparency amid fears of shortages, especially of insulin

Ministers have been urged by top doctors to reveal the extent of national drug stocks, amid growing evidence patients are stockpiling medication in preparation for a no-deal Brexit.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP), which represents tens of thousands of doctors, urged the government to be more “transparent about national stockpiles, particularly for things that are already in short supply or need refrigeration, such as insulin”.

Continue reading...

‘Aren’t you going insane?’: readers’ questions from beyond Brexitland

Posted on by

Jon Henley answers Brexit queries from confused readers around the world

Having asked those of you living outside the UK if you were confused by the latest news from Brexitland, I got so many responses (thank you all) that I have grouped and paraphrased the most common ones so as to be able answer, at least approximately, as many as possible.

And I’ve mostly stuck to factual questions on the Brexit process. “Will Brexit finally teach Britain it no longer rules the world?” from (among others) Steve Norman in Canada, Ferdy in Dublin and Thijs in the Netherlands, warrants a book-length response, but not now.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson condemned after falsely saying he did not make anti-Turkish claims in Brexit campaign – Politics live

Posted on by

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Boris Johnson’s Brexit speech

Here is Tom Brake, the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, on Boris Johnson’s speech.

No one will take lessons from Boris Johnson on eroding trust in our democracy. The fact he is still peddling mistruths about money from Brexit going to our NHS is shameful. Brexit will make us poorer.

As exit day approaches, with Theresa May’s deal soundly defeated, extending Article 50 is the only responsible course of action left.

And here are some more examples of Boris Johnson raising Turkey as a leave campaign issue in 2016.

In April he said:

I am very pro-Turkish but what I certainly can’t imagine is a situation in which 77million of my fellow Turks and those of Turkish origin can come here without any checks at all. That is mad - that won’t work.

Here's Boris during a HuffPost/Tele referendum debate suggesting British public should be given referendum on any Turkish membership of the EU. And that he is 'all in favour' of Turkey joining the EU as long as the UK 'comes out'. (1hr 12mins)https://t.co/jBMWY530mw

Continue reading...

Corbyn could face string of resignations if he backs ‘people’s vote’

Posted on by

A number of Labour frontbenchers say they would consider their positions if leader backed idea

Jeremy Corbyn could face up to a dozen resignations from the Labour frontbench if the party backs a second referendum as a way out of the Brexit crisis.

A string of junior shadow ministers have told the Guardian they are strongly opposed to the idea of a second referendum, which they fear would expose Labour to a vicious backlash in leave-voting constituencies.

Continue reading...

May claims it is impossible for government to rule out no-deal Brexit in reply to Corbyn – as it happened

Posted on by

Labour leader says he won’t meet with PM until she takes no-deal Brexit off table, after May narrowly wins no-confidence vote in parliament

We’re going to close down this live blog now, so thanks for reading and for all the comments. Here’s a summary of the latest events:

Related: Corbyn could face string of resignations if he backs 'people's vote'

The public is “aghast” at the “Brexit pantomime” in Westminster, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, has told the Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, in what the former termed a “frank discussion”.

With each passing day, our business community, our farmers, our community and voluntary sector are growing more concerned at where this shambles will ultimately end up. And it is they who will pay the price of a no-deal crash Brexit.

Unfortunately, that is where we are likely to end up if Karen Bradley’s government pursues a solution by attempting to placate and appease the DUP and the hard Brexiteers.

It is crucial, now more than ever, that the Dublin Government and the EU27 stand firm on the position that there can be no agreement without a backstop that prevents a hard border in Ireland and protects our peace and political process.

Continue reading...

‘Stop treating seas as a sewer,’ MPs urge in bid for protection treaty

Posted on by

Paris agreement for the sea recommended as rates of plastic pollution to skyrocket

A new global agreement to protect the seas should be a priority for the government to stop our seas becoming a “sewer”, according to a cross-party group of MPs.

Plastic pollution is set to treble in the next decade, the environmental audit committee warned, while overfishing is denuding vital marine habitats of fish, and climate change is causing harmful warming of the oceans as well as deoxygenation and acidification.

Continue reading...

Power to the people – could a citizens’ assembly solve the Brexit crisis?

Posted on by

They led to radical change in Ireland’s view on abortion and spurred Texas to get behind wind power. Could a group of ordinary people do for Brexit what Theresa May can’t?

In the summer of 1978, George Bishop and a team of researchers in Cincinnati, Ohio, conducted a poll on some of the big political topics of the day. One question went as follows: “Some people say that the 1975 Public Affairs Act should be repealed. Do you agree or disagree with this idea?” It turned out that 16% did agree, and 18% didn’t. This was surprising. There should have been no controversy about the 1975 Public Affairs Act because it did not exist.

Related: What is a citizens’ assembly, and what has it got to do with Brexit?

Continue reading...

Brexit vote: Jeremy Corbyn tables no-confidence motion after May defeat – Politics live

Posted on by

Prime minister’s Brexit deal is lost by 432 votes to 202

Earlier tonight, thousands of people in favour of a second referendum marched on Parliament Square, where they watching the thumping defeat of Theresa May’s deal broadcast on large screens.

Related: People's vote supporters revel in defeat of May's Brexit deal

The former Maryland congressman John Delaney has become the first 2020 presidential candidate to weigh in on Theresa May’s resounding Brexit defeat in parliament on Tuesday.

In a statement to the Guardian, Delaney, a former businessman and centrist Democrat mounting a dark horse bid for the White House in 2020, said: “The truth is Brexit was never honestly sold to voters, which is why the UK finds itself in such a difficult position right now.

Related: John Delaney becomes first 2020 candidate to weigh in on Brexit

Continue reading...

May faces crushing Brexit defeat despite last-minute plea to MPs

Posted on by

Prime minister urges MPs to give her plan a second look on eve of crunch vote on withdrawal agreement

Theresa May appears to be on course for a crushing defeat in the House of Commons as Britain’s bitterly divided MPs prepare to give their verdict on her Brexit deal in the “meaningful vote” on Tuesday.

With Downing Street all but resigned to losing by a significant margin, Guardian analysis pointed to a majority of more than 200 MPs against the prime minister.

Continue reading...

Brexit: Tory whip Gareth Johnson resigns because he can’t support May’s deal – Politics live

Posted on by

PM speech comes after letter from Tusk and Juncker says EU will consider technological alternatives to backstop

In an article for the Guardian, Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, says that historical precedent dictates that, if Theresa May loses the Brexit vote tomorrow, she should call a general election.

Here is an extract.

In this week in 1910, the British electorate went to the polls. They did so because Herbert Asquith’s Liberal government had been unable to get Lloyd George’s famous People’s Budget through the House of Lords. Liberal posters defined the election as a choice between the peers and the people. They finally got their way after a second election that December.

So twice that year, and a number of other times, governments who could not get their flagship legislation through parliament, or who otherwise found their authority in the House of Commons exhausted, have been obliged to go to the country to seek a new mandate.

Related: If Labour supports a public vote we’ll take no lectures from Tories about democracy | Emily Thornberry

Conservative MPs have been told that Theresa May will address the party’s backbench 1922 committee at 7pm, after her statement to the Commons. And Jeremy Corbyn will be addressing the parliamentary Labour party meeting tonight too.

Continue reading...

‘I don’t trust the government to look after me or my dog’: meet the Brexit stockpilers

Posted on by

Some people are stockpiling food, medicine and even pet treats in anticipation of mass shortages after a no-deal Brexit. Are they overreacting, or should we be following their example?

Jo Elgarf doesn’t look like you would imagine a prepper to look. She’s not a swivel-eyed libertarian, camouflaged and armed to the eyeballs, crawling around the woods in Montana, skinning a squirrel for breakfast and fuelling up for the apocalypse. She lives with her husband and three young children in a sleepy suburb of south-west London.

Elgarf is happy to call herself a prepper, though; she is a member – and a moderator – of one of a growing number of prepper groups on social media. Hers – an anti-Brexit Facebook group called 48% Preppers – gets between 100 and 200 requests a day to join. Everyone wants to be ready for a no-deal Brexit.

Continue reading...

May makes last-ditch bid to win over Commons to Brexit deal

Posted on by

Voting down plan would destroy faith in politics, PM to say at start of crucial week for leadership

Theresa May will make one final appeal to the Commons to pass her Brexit deal, amid speculation among many Conservative MPs that the expected defeat could spark a cross-party plan or moves to oust the prime minister.

May is to start her most crucial week as prime minister with a speech at a factory in Stoke-on-Trent, where more than two-thirds of people voted to leave the EU. Reiterating her recent pleas, May will tell MPs that voting down her proposals on Tuesday would destroy faith in politics, and could mean that Brexit does not happen.

Continue reading...

Justin Welby: no-deal Brexit would harm poorest people in UK

Posted on by

Archbishop of Canterbury says he prays every day for Theresa May and other politicians

The archbishop of Canterbury has said a no-deal Brexit would hit the poorest and most vulnerable people in the UK.

Justin Welby also said he was praying for Theresa May and other politicians at the start of what is expected to be one of the most tumultuous weeks in recent parliamentary history.

Continue reading...

Yellow vests: protesters fight for ideological ownership

Posted on by

In France and Britain, gilets jaunes have mutated into symbols of anger against anything from austerity to Islam

What is not in dispute is who came first. On the French side of the channel lie the original gilets jaunes (yellow vests), a grassroots, social media-based citizens’ movement with no formal structure, recognised leader or party or union backing, named after the hi-visibility jackets that French drivers are required by law to carry in their vehicles.

As French yellow vests kicked off their ninth straight weekend of protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies, a battle for ownership of what has become an symbol of anti-government agitation across Europe has broken out in Britain as leftwing anti-austerity activists donned yellow in a bid to wrestle it from the far-right.

Continue reading...

AfD party votes to campaign for German exit from EU

Posted on by

Far-right nationalists decide for first time to seek ‘Dexit’ if bloc does not meet demands

The German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has voted to campaign for the country’s exit from the European Union if its demand for reforms within the bloc are not met.

The decision on Sunday marks the first time any party has called for “Dexit” – a German departure from the EU in the mould of Brexit.

Continue reading...

Labour set to call vote to topple Theresa May’s government

Posted on by

MPs told to get ready for a no-confidence vote as Tories say PM’s Brexit deal has no hope

Labour MPs have been told to prepare for Jeremy Corbyn to table a dramatic and immediate vote of no confidence in Theresa May’s government as early as Tuesday evening in an attempt to force a general election if – as expected – she suffers a heavy defeat this week on her Brexit deal.

Messages have been sent to Labour MPs, even those who are unwell, to ensure their presence both for the “meaningful vote” on the prime minister’s Brexit blueprint on Tuesday and the following day. Labour whips have told MPs the no-confidence vote is likely to be tabled within hours of a government loss, with the actual vote taking place on Wednesday.

Continue reading...