Category Archives: Politics

May hints at possible need for election, saying MPs ‘reaching limits’ of Brexit process – as it happened

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Rolling updates on the fate of the withdrawal agreement on the day UK was supposed to be leaving EU

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

Related: May hopes to hold fourth vote on Brexit deal

Scotland Yard has now updated the arrest figures for today’s rallies:

As of 21:00hrs five arrests have been made at the demonstrations in central #London today: x2 for assault, x1 drunk & disorderly, x1 for assaulting a
police officer & x1 male arrested after being identified as wanted for an
offence in Herts. All are in custody.

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Far-right terrorism threat is growing, say MI5 and police chiefs

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Andrew Parker and Cressida Dick say numerous plots have been foiled in recent years

Far-right terrorism has been identified as a key threat to the safety and prosperity of the country, according to the director general of MI5, Andrew Parker, and Cressida Dick, the commissioner of the Metropolitan police.

Writing in the Times, the pair warned that while Islamist terrorism remains the largest by scale, they are also “concerned about the growing threat from other forms of violent extremism … covering a spectrum of hate-driven ideologies, including the extreme right and left.”

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Brexit: MPs to only vote on withdrawal agreement tomorrow – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including reaction to the latest Commons Brexit votes and to Theresa May’s announcement that she will quit before next stage of negotiations with EU

Theresa May is now embarked on a new strategy to get her Brexit deal through the Commons. Her new strategy seems largely driven by the decision of John Bercow, the Speaker, to declare that he will rule out repeat votes on the same proposition (a ruling that he firmed up yesterday, and again today). The details of the new approach are complicated, and at this stage not all 100% clear, and some MPs are already questioning the legality of what she is trying to do. But this is what we know.

DUP to vote against government on withdrawal agreement

For avoidance of doubt, DUP will vote against agreement tomorrow, party source says

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Brexit: May suffers fresh setback as DUP says it will vote against deal for third time – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments, including the indicative votes debate as MPs choose from eight options

The Commons sitting has been suspended but, as my colleague Dan Sabbagh and others report, there is a bit of a row going on about the fact that the mace is still there.

Speaker has walked out suspending proceedings until the indicative votes are counted. But Tories are furiously pointing to the mace, still in its place, and trying to encourage deputy speaker Eleanor Laing to take the chair. Which would be a parliamentary take over...

The mace is still in place which I think is the cause of the uproar. It’s not meant to be there if we’re not sitting, but I don’t know if a brief suspension counts. It’s not normal for the Chamber to be occupied without anyone in the chair.

Speaker suspends sitting & vacates chair while we wait for results of this evening’s votes - as he had said he would do.
Tory MPs object that the mace is still there.
They object by trying to raise points of order to an empty chair.
What a total shambles of a parliament.

John Bercow, the Speaker, says he is not able to announce the results of the indicative votes ballot yet because they have not all been counted. But he says he hopes to be able to announce them soon.

So he suspends the house.

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Theresa May to resign before next phase of Brexit

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Prime minister says she will not stand in way of desire for new approach, in bid to get Tories behind deal

Theresa May has promised Tory MPs she will step down as prime minister within the next few months in a bid to get Eurosceptics to back her Brexit deal.

The prime minister indicated she would resign only if her Brexit deal passes in order to allow a new leader to shape the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

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‘Serious’ questions over SAS involvement in Yemen war

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Minister promises to investigate report of firefight involving British personnel as claims swirl about child soldiers in Saudi-led force

The foreign office minister Mark Field has promised to get to the bottom of “very serious and well sourced” allegations that British SAS soldiers have been injured in a firefight with Houthi rebel soldiers in Yemen.

He was answering an urgent question asked in the Commons on Tuesday by the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, who suggested the Britons may have been witnesses to war crimes, if weekend allegations were true that UK special forces were training child soldiers in the Saudi-led coalition.

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Tory Brexiters want May resignation date in order to back deal

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Prime minister under pressure to say publicly she will hand over next stage to new leader

Theresa May is under intense pressure to set out a timetable for her departure from Downing Street to seal the support of Brexit hardliners for her twice-rejected deal.

The prime minister will address Conservative MPs at a meeting of the 1922 Committee of backbenchers on Wednesday as the House of Commons prepares to vote on alternatives to her Brexit deal.

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Brexit: DUP says one-year delay better than May’s deal – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including reaction to the Commons voting to try to take control of the Brexit process

The government has responded to the “Revoke Article 50 and remain in the EU” petition and has announced that it will debate it in Westminster on Monday.

The petition has so far garnered more than 5.7m signatures.

This government will not revoke article 50. We will honour the result of the 2016 referendum and work with parliament to deliver a deal that ensures we leave the European Union.

It remains the government’s firm policy not to revoke article 50. We will honour the outcome of the 2016 referendum and work to deliver an exit which benefits everyone, whether they voted to leave or to remain.

A motion Conservative MP Nick Boles will table tomorrow has appeared. Here the full text from The Telegraph’s Anna Mikhailova, for those who fancy a headache:

Here it is:

The Nick Boles Common Market 2.0 motion for tomorrow pic.twitter.com/9UTgr9HcPc

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European parliament votes to scrap daylight saving time from 2021

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Directive would apply to UK if it stayed in EU, and also during Brexit transition period

The European parliament has voted to scrap the twice-a-year custom of changing the clocks by an hour in spring and autumn by 2021, leaving only national governments to now give their assent.

The change would apply to the UK if it stays in the EU, and also during an extended transition period that is part of Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

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Tory rebels asked by No 10 if they would back Brexit deal if May quit

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Downing Street aides put question to hard Brexiters at Chequers summit last weekend

Downing Street aides directly asked hard-Brexit Conservatives at Chequers on Sunday whether Theresa May’s resignation as prime minister would be enough to get them to endorse finally the exit deal struck with the European Union, it has emerged.

The afternoon summit at the prime minister’s country retreat was carefully choreographed so that Boris Johnson, Iain Duncan Smith, Jacob Rees-Mogg and other Tory rebels present ended up in one-to-one chats with key No 10 staffers when the main meeting periodically broke up.

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Brexit: Three ministers resign to join 29-strong Tory revolt on indicative votes – as it happened

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MPs vote by 329 to 302 for Letwin amendment, despite Theresa May saying government would not be bound by result

As not much has happened in the past hour, I’m going to close the blog by republishing my colleague Andrew Sparrow’s excellent snap analysis for those who missed it an hour or so ago. Thanks and goodnight.

Sky’s Lewis Goodall seems chirpy:

I’m going to bed and finally having a day off tomorrow. But in conclusion: something actually happened tonight.

No, really. I can’t believe it either.

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Warning of legal limbo for 3m EU citizens living in UK after Brexit

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Free movement, housing and social security rights at risk, says parliamentary report

EU citizens living in the UK would be stripped of their freedom of movement, housing and social security rights by Home Office legislation introduced to regulate immigration following Brexit, a parliamentary report has warned.

Despite repeated government reassurances that their privileges will be protected, a study by the joint committee on human rights (JCHR) concludes that more than 3 million Europeans living in Britain would be left in legal “limbo”.

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MPs seize control of Brexit process by backing indicative votes amendment

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Amendment giving MPs a series of votes on alternatives to May’s Brexit deal passes 329 votes to 302

MPs have inflicted a fresh humiliating defeat on Theresa May, voting to seize control of the parliamentary timetable to allow backbenchers to hold a series of votes on alternatives to her Brexit deal.

An amendment tabled by former Tory minister Oliver Letwin passed, by 329 votes to 302 on Monday night, as MPs expressed their exasperation at the government’s failure to set out a fresh approach.

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The week ahead for Brexit: third time lucky for May?

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With more than 120 MPs backing an amendment in support of indicative voting, it’s going to be a fraught five days

Many weeks have so far been billed as crunch weeks for Brexit. But with the revised departure date looming, Theresa May’s proposal looking all-but doomed and the prime minister’s own position openly questioned, the next days really do appear crucial. Here is what could happen and when.

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Brexiters pile on pressure as May’s deal drifts away

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High-stakes Chequers summit breaks up without agreement

Theresa May’s prospects of getting her Brexit deal through parliament this week dramatically receded on Sunday night after a high-stakes summit with Boris Johnson and other leading hard-Brexiters at her country retreat broke up without agreement.

Tory rebels present said that the prime minister repeated “all the same lines” about her deal and that nothing new emerged during the three-hour meeting, at which Jacob Rees-Mogg, Iain Duncan Smith and Dominic Raab were also present.

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Theresa May has failed to offer sound leadership in this toxic Brexit phase | Phillip Lee

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The PM has brought us to this crisis with a series of calamitous decisions

How has it come to this? Theresa May and her husband, Philip, have long been friends of mine and I have in the past admired her sense of duty and commitment to her party and her country. So it grieves me that her stubborn choices have left both in peril.

At a time when our politics needs statesmanship, not brinkmanship, when our divided people need time to heal and come back together, and when our country needs honest leadership rooted in reality not ideology, Mrs May has embraced division. Rather than providing the calm, compassionate and unifying leadership we so desperately needed after a divisive EU referendum campaign, she rushed to own Brexit. She has clung to power in the process, but she is letting us all down.

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Corbyn’s team split over soft Brexit

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Shadow cabinet will clash this week over Norway-style deal or second referendum

Jeremy Corbyn’s shadow cabinet is set to clash again over Brexit this week, with supporters of a second referendum concerned that the Labour leadership will opt to facilitate a soft Brexit. With senior Labour figures openly calling for another public vote at the anti-Brexit march in London on Saturday, other influential MPs believe Corbyn’s inner circle is actually warming to a Norway-style Brexit that would see Britain leave the EU, but remain closely aligned to it.

Tensions between Labour and its pro-Remain activists are already high after the party released a tweet on Friday evening asking if supporters had any “big weekend plans” and called on them to go out leafleting for May’s local elections.

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People’s vote Brexit rally draws 1 million marchers – video report

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Official figures put the numbers at the people's vote Brexit march on Saturday at over 1 million. People from across the UK travelled to central London to demand a second vote on whether the UK should leave the EU

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One telling image: in a Brussels corridor, the EU takes back control of Brexit

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A photo of an ad hoc crisis meeting gives an insight into the efforts made to cope with a floundering British government

As pictures go, it spoke volumes. On Thursday evening in Brussels, Bulgaria’s permanent representative to the EU, Dimiter Tzantchev, tweeted a photograph he titled “In the corridors of the European Council art 50”.

In a play of light and shadow, as if in a Golden Age painting by a modern-day Rembrandt or Frans Hals, a tight cluster of perhaps two dozen figures, some standing, some crouched, pored over a screen: senior EU officials, member state diplomats, Europe advisers to heads of government.

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Franco’s shadow: reburial battle sees Spain confront its darkest days

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Past and future collide as nationalist Vox party gears up for success in next month’s general election while exhumation of dictator draws closer

The gates of the suburban mausoleum that could soon house Spain’s most restless ghost are decked with a shrivelling bunch of red and yellow carnations, a handful of prayer cards and a cheap, broken crucifix.

If the socialist government’s long and fraught campaign to exhume Francisco Franco from the fascist splendour of the Valley of the Fallen finally succeeds, his body will be reinterred in June here in the humbler surroundings of the Mingorrubio-El Pardo municipal cemetery.

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