Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
‘Extremely frustrating and disheartening’: investigation held up by public inquiry
Survivors and the bereaved from the Grenfell Tower fire have expressed their “extreme frustration” at the pace of justice after Scotland Yard admitted no charges were likely for at least two years.
Detectives investigating the possibility of manslaughter and corporate manslaughter offences said their investigation must take into account the public inquiry into the disaster, the second phase of which will not start until the end of this year. Inquiry lawyers have been swamped with 476,000 separate documents.
Brexit interventions have made British PM one of western Europe’s most populist orators
Theresa May has a reputation as a cautious and even robotic speaker. But a study that analysed speeches by world leaders has found that the British prime minister can be as populist – in her rhetoric at least – as Donald Trump, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.
May’s public speeches were classified on average as at least “somewhat populist” in the research, which examined the discourse of prime ministers and presidents of all the major countries in Europe and the Americas in the last two decades. That made May the second-most populist female leader out of 138 heads of government since the turn of the century.
- 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.
PM’s spokesman says UK still looking for backstop changes after ‘robust’ discussions
Downing Street has insisted the meaningful vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal will go ahead as promised on Tuesday, despite negotiations in Brussels stumbling.
The prime minister’s spokesman repeated the line on Wednesday that the government is determined to secure “legally binding changes” to the Irish backstop, despite the attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, returning empty-handed from the talks.
Labour MP says idea could get dozens more MPs representing leave-voting areas to back deal
Theresa May is considering demands from Labour MPs for a parliamentary vote on the UK’s future relationship with the EU as the price for backing her Brexit deal, as she faces an uphill battle to win over Conservative Eurosceptics.
The prime minister has been told by Labour MPs that a package of greater guarantees for workers after Brexit, due to be unveiled on Wednesday, is only enough to convince perhaps three or four more to vote for her withdrawal bill.
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.
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.
Theresa May will not get her Brexit deal through the Commons, Donald Tusk has warned, leaving the UK with the option of “a chaotic Brexit” or an extension of its membership of the EU beyond 29 March.
The European council president, to quell “speculation”, disclosed that, during private talks with the prime minister at a summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, he had walked through the legal process that would need to be followed to delay Brexit.
Yew Fook Sam’s case exposes the endemic culture of xenophobia that goes unchallenged in the Home Office
Last week, it was revealed that a 67-year-old man faces deportation to Malaysia because Home Office officials, and a tribunal judge, refuse to believe he is gay. Yew Fook Sam, known as Sam, came out two years ago and spent 10 months in Harmondsworth immigration removal centre. He arrived in the UK in 2005 after his wife found out he had been having sex with ladyboys in Thailand and left him.
The Home Office has suggested the fact that Sam does not have a boyfriend raises suspicions about the legitimacy of his asylum claim, leading to a rejection of his claim. His lack of sexual partners lent weight to their suspicions.
Prime minister announced aid package at EU-Arab League talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
Theresa May has pledged £200m to help victims of the war in Yemen as she called for an end to the “crisis and suffering” caused by civil war.
The prime minister announced the aid package as she arrived for EU talks in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. “We are playing our part and will continue to do so but there is still more that we as an international community can do,” she said. “At the summit in Egypt, I will call on our partners in Europe and the region to continue to provide the aid that is so desperately needed.”
May insists she will stay on after delaying ‘meaningful vote’ on revised exit deal
Theresa May has insisted that she will stay on in Downing Street beyond Brexit despite pressure from cabinet colleagues to step down, after she angered MPs by conceding that there would be no “meaningful vote” this week on a revised withdrawal deal.
The prime minister sparked a fierce backlash on Sunday by admitting that the vote may now not be held before 12 March because her team are still negotiating with EU officials on changes to the deal that she hopes will reassure MPs.
The summit of the EU and the Arab League in Sharm el-Sheikh highlights the ongoing and ill-advised support for President Sisi
Days after Egypt executed men who said they were tortured into confessions of killing the country’s former top prosecutor, Europe’s heads of state are enjoying the hospitality of its president. The resort of Sharm el-Sheikh is hosting the inaugural summit of the European Union and the Arab League. Donald Tusk, president of the European council, is co-chairing with Abdel Fatah al-Sisi; Britain’s Theresa May is among the guests.
If the event itself is a first, the approach is familiar. As Mr Sisi entrenches his rule, presiding over what Human Rights Watch calls Egypt’s worst human rights crisis in decades, European countries murmur about their “quiet diplomacy” on such issues. Then they carry on building ties and providing the air of international legitimacy that he needs given his grim record since seizing power in 2013’s coup. Mr Sisi’s recent spate of executions is instructive: he must have felt confident there would be no repercussions for putting people to death so close to the summit – despite their blatantly unfair trials.
PM’s vow comes after three ministers signal they could back moves to delay withdrawal
Theresa May has vowed to Tory grassroots activists that she will not allow the referendum vote for Britain to leave the EU to be frustrated.
The prime minister is flying to Egypt for an EU-League of Arab States summit where she is expected to hold talks with key EU figures as she battles to break the deadlock in the Brexit talks.
Senior Tories to make clear PM should give way to new leader for next phase of Brexit
Cabinet ministers will make it clear they believe Theresa May should step down after the local elections in May and allow a new leader to deliver the next phase of the Brexit negotiations, the Guardian understands.
Senior figures in government have suggested they want the prime minister to leave shortly after the first phase of the Brexit negotiations finishes – or risk being defeated in a vote of no confidence at the end of the year.
Bill readied amid concerns over impact on agriculture, food processing and transport
Ireland is accelerating preparations for a no-deal Brexit amid growing alarm that parts of the Irish economy could face severe disruption and even collapse – and that the UK hopes to leverage that prospect to wring concessions from the European Union.
Leo Varadkar’s government is due on Friday to publish a mammoth omnibus bill incorporating 16 pieces of legislation to try to shelter Ireland from the doomsday scenario of the UK crashing out of the EU.
Up to 25 government members could vote for delay rather than allow UK to crash out
Theresa May is facing the most serious cabinet revolt of her premiership next week, with as many as 25 members of the government ready to vote for a Brexit delay unless she rules out “no deal” – in a move that will challenge her to sack them.
Rebel Conservatives believe there are now enough MPs across the House of Commons to pass an amendment that would require May to extend article 50 rather than allow the UK to leave without a deal.
PM asks Juncker for changes to Irish backstop as pair agree to meet again in February
Theresa May has told the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, she needed “legally binding changes” to the Irish backstop if MPs were to back her Brexit deal, during a high-stakes meeting in Brussels that yielded no obvious breakthrough.
With only 37 days until the UK leaves the European Union, EU expectations were low when May arrived in Brussels. Shortly before meeting the prime minister, Juncker predicted there would be no breakthrough.
Despite the Tories’ plan for a 2022 vote, cross-party concern remains over a snap poll
Labour and Conservative parliamentarians are anxious that the new breakaway group formed by Luciana Berger and Chuka Umunna has increased the chances of Theresa May calling an early election.
On the Labour side, MPs and peers were worried that the prime minister would be tempted to exploit a split in the opposition if more of their number defected to the new political group.