Category Archives: Northern Ireland

Bill Drummond to lead Irish border poll and hand out hot cross buns

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The KLF founder will ask citizens if they agree with a clause he proposes adding to the Good Friday agreement

His best-known actions include burning £1m, firing blanks at the 1992 Brit awards and dropping a dead sheep on the red carpet of a luxury hotel as a member of the KLF. But Bill Drummond’s latest public display is more sedate: on Good Friday, he will stand on the Irish border, handing out homemade hot cross buns and conducting an informal referendum.

Between 10am and 12pm on 19 April, Drummond will ask the first 40 people who cross the border between Derry and Donegal whether they agree or disagree with adding a clause of his creation to the Good Friday agreement:

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Easter weather: parts of UK to be hotter than Corfu and Mallorca

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Temperatures forecast to exceed 20C on dry and settled bank holiday weekend

Parts of the UK will be hotter than some of Europe’s top holiday destinations over the Easter weekend, with temperatures exceeding 20C (68F).

As sunseekers plan to go away over the coming weeks, the UK could be hotter than St Tropez in southern France, the Greek island of Corfu, Bodrum in southern Turkey and the Spanish island of Mallorca, which is forecast to be cloudy on Saturday and Sunday.

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MPs tell Nancy Pelosi of antisemitism claims in Labour party

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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”.

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Masked thieves use stolen digger to rip ATM out of Derry shop – video

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Masked men stole the ATM from a garage in Dungiven, Northern Ireland, in the early hours of the morning on 7 April, tearing the machine out of the wall using a digger stolen from a nearby construction site before vanishing into the night. The audacious heist took less than four and a half minutes. It's the eleventh time the gang have struck in recent months

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Northern Ireland’s ‘hole in the wall gang’ strikes again

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Thieves have raided 11 times, using stolen diggers to rip cash machines out of the wall

The thieves have honed their modus operandi in audacious raids across Northern Ireland and just across the border with Ireland.

Under cover of night they steal a digger, trundle into town and smash open a wall containing an ATM. The digger scoops out the cash machine and lowers it into a waiting vehicle. The thieves abandon the digger and vanish into the darkness.

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Owen Jones asks Sinn Féin leader if Brexit could lead to a united Ireland – video

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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 

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Chris Mullin defends refusal to name Birmingham pub bombing suspects

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Families of victims accused former MP of obstruction after inquest into 1974 attacks

Chris Mullin, the journalist, justice campaigner and former Labour MP, has responded to criticism from families of victims of the 1974 Birmingham bombings, saying the names of suspected bombers were known to them only because of his investigations.

Mullin, whose investigative work helped to exonerate the Birmingham Six, was angrily denounced by some bereaved relatives when he refused to name any of the still-living suspected bombers while giving evidence at the recent inquest into the atrocities.

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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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Three dead after ‘crush’ at St Patrick’s Day party in Northern Ireland

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Two boys aged 16 and 17 and a 17-year-old girl died in incident in Cookstown, police confirm

A third teenager has died after a crush at a hotel on St Patrick’s Day in Northern Ireland, police have said.

Mark Hamilton, an assistant chief constable with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), confirmed a 17-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl and a 16-year-old boy had died. “It is heartbreaking an event which should have been fun should end in such a terrible tragedy,” he told reporters at the scene.

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Ministers in talks with DUP in attempt to win backing for Brexit deal

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Discussions likely to cover role of Northern Ireland assembly if Irish backstop were used

The Democratic Unionist party is to continue intensive talks to try to reach an agreement to allow it to back Theresa May’s Brexit deal, with discussions focusing on domestic legal guarantees that Northern Ireland will have no regulatory divergence with the rest of the UK.

Downing Street is hopeful that the support of the DUP is key to unlocking the backing of many Conservative Brexiters when May brings her deal to the House of Commons for the third time.

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One soldier to face charges over Bloody Sunday killings

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‘Soldier F’ to be prosecuted for murder and attempted murder over 1972 killings in Derry

Only one former British paratrooper is to be charged in connection with the killings of civil rights demonstrators on Bloody Sunday, drawing dismay and calls for accountability from the families who lost loved ones more than 40 years ago.

Northern Ireland’s Public Prosecution Service (PPS) announced the decision after relatives of the 13 people who died on one of the darkest days of the Troubles in January 1972 marched together through the streets of Derry where the victims fell as a symbol of their demand for justice.

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MPs told to pass Brexit deal by next Wednesday or face long article 50 extension – as it happened

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MPs vote by 321 to 278 to rule out no deal despite government whipping Tory MPs against motion, following 312-308 win for Spelman amendment

Folks, it’s time to wrap up the blog for the night.

I’ll be back in a few hours to launch a new Politics live blog, bringing you all of Thursday’s Brexit and other political news. A reminder of what’s on the agenda for Thursday:

There have been some remarkable turns of phrase from commentators and politicians in their attempts to capture just what exactly has gone on in British politics in the last few days.

This is a turd of a deal, which has now been taken away and polished, and is now a polished turd. But it might be the best turd that we’ve got.

The House of Commons was a Benny Hill chase on acid, running through a Salvador Dali painting in a spaceship on its way to infinity.

A vague, and vain attempt to make sense of the great mad nights in British political history.

Sketch here.https://t.co/4zCw505yNv pic.twitter.com/ZENHV8wTnz

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Brexit: DUP and ERG say they cannot support May as MPs debate deal – Politics live

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PM puts new plan to Commons as Geoffrey Cox says legal risk over backstop ‘remains unchanged’

Boris Johnson, the Brexiter former foreign secretary, is speaking in the debate now. He says he had hoped that the EU would make the wholly reasonable changes the UK wanted. But the EU refused to do that.

Like Adam and Eve, they sowed a fig leaf that failed to cover the embarrassment of the UK, he says.

This deal has now reached the end of the road. If it is rejected tonight, I hope that it will be put to bed.

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Karen Bradley ‘not fit to be NI secretary’ after Troubles comment, former police ombudsman says – Politics live

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

Amber Rudd has apologised. According to the Press Association, she said she was “mortified at my clumsy language” and has apologised for describing Diane Abbott as “coloured”. (See 2.42pm.)

Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, has referred to Diane Abbott as “coloured”. As Patrick Maguire reports at the Staggers, she used the term in an interview with Jeremy Vine on Radio 2. Speaking about the abuse directed at MPs (see 1.12pm), Rudd said:

It definitely is worse if you’re a woman, and it’s worst of all if you’re a coloured woman. I know that Diane Abbott gets a huge amount of abuse, and I think that’s something we need to continue to call out.

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Backstop may threaten Northern Irish human rights, says Cox

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Attorney general’s claims met with incredulity as talks to break Brexit deadlock stall

Geoffrey Cox is facing a backlash in Brussels and Dublin after claiming the Irish backstop posed a risk to the human rights of people in Northern Ireland.

In the latest round of negotiations in Brussels, the attorney general told Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, the arrangement could potentially breach the European convention on human rights (EHCR).

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Government defeated in Lords over meaningful vote on future trade deals – Politics live

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs

- The government are defeated on Labour’s amendment 13 in the House of Lords. The amendment makes it an “objective” of the government during negotiations to pursue a free trade deal allowing the UK to stay “in a customs union” with the EU after Brexit.

- The government was defeated on amendment 12 which called for parliamentary approval of future trade agreements.

Prince Charles has saluted the ”unparalleled bonds” between Britain and Ireland at a time of strained Anglo-Irish relations caused by Brexit.

The Prince of Wales was attending a special St Patrick’s Day dinner at the Irish embassy in London where British and Irish politicians mingled amid continuing uncertainty and recriminations over the Irish border issue in the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

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Clintons accused of nepotism in book on US-Ireland relations

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Exclusive: Policy adviser claims couple tried to gain grant for Chelsea’s boyfriend

A veteran Democratic foreign policy adviser has accused Bill and Hillary Clinton of nepotism, dishonesty and vindictiveness in an assault on a previously untouched part of the Clinton political legacy – Ireland.

Trina Vargo, who was a behind-the-scenes Washington player in Northern Ireland’s peace process, claims the couple tried to obtain a scholarship to Ireland for a boyfriend of their daughter, Chelsea, and later cut funding for the scholarship to punish Vargo for backing Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination race.

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Barnier ‘working on legal add-on’ to Brexit deal to help May

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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.”

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Pat Finucane murder inquiry fell below human rights standards, judges rule

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Supreme court says investigation into killing of Belfast solicitor was ineffective

The official investigation into the 1989 murder of the Belfast solicitor Patrick Finucane, one of the most notorious killings of the Troubles, was ineffective and failed to meet the required human rights standards, the supreme court has ruled.

In a unanimous judgment, five justices said the investigation carried out by Sir Desmond de Silva in 2011 was frustrated by his inability to compel witnesses to testify about the killing. The court did not, however, order a public inquiry and has left it up to the government to decide whether further investigation is needed.

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