Category Archives: Emily Thornberry

May election is ‘worst kept secret in Westminster’, says senior Labour MP

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Emily Thornberry says country is desperate, and Labour is ready, for general election

Labour is talking up the prospect of a May 2024 general election, with the shadow cabinet minister Emily Thornberry saying it was “the worst kept secret in Westminster” that a contest would be called then.

Thornberry told Sky News on Thursday that the government’s decision to announce a budget in early March – the earliest date in 13 years apart from during the pandemic – “seems to confirm” that May is the most likely date.

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Keir Starmer promises to launch publicly-owned UK energy company as he hails ‘Labour moment’ – UK politics live

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Latest updates: the Labour party leader used his conference speech to spell out his plan for the UK

The decision to pay Liz Truss’s new chief of staff, Mark Fullbrook, through a private company has been dropped after criticism from within the Conservatives as well as from opposition parties.

The government admitted over the weekend that Fullbrook would be paid through his lobbying firm, a move that could have helped him avoid paying tax. He had previously claimed the firm had stopped all commercial activities.

The world we are heading for is a bumpy few weeks. The chancellor is now going to have quite a tough time because he has now set out plans to balance the books in November. That is going to be very hard.

Actually balancing the books in November is going to be harder than it would have been to show you are balancing the books last week because higher interest rates will make it harder to do. You might need £15bn worth of tough choices now that you didn’t need last Friday.

In the end, lower taxes will mean worse public services, or other people’s taxes having to go up, and it is those choices and ducking those choices that markets are looking at and saying that is not what serious policymaking looks like.

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Female Labour MPs call on PM to scrap new rape victim guidance

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More than 100 MPs write to Boris Johnson saying guidance will lead survivors to avoid seeking therapy

More than 100 female Labour MPs have written to Boris Johnson calling on him to scrap new guidance on pre-trial therapy for rape victims, which they say will make it less likely they will get the vital therapy they need.

Led by the shadow attorney general, Emily Thornberry, MPs including Yvette Cooper, Angela Rayner and Jess Phillips argue that the new rules “will cause many survivors to avoid seeking therapy, and make it more likely that cases will collapse when the prolonged stress of waiting for trials becomes too much”.

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Labour says PPE contracts must not go to Xinjiang firms that use forced workers

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Exclusive: Emily Thornberry appeals to Sajid Javid to tackle issue of forced labour in Chinese province

Labour has written to the health secretary, Sajid Javid, urging him to ensure a new £5bn contract for NHS protective equipment including gowns and masks is not awarded to companies implicated in forced labour in China’s Xinjiang region.

Following up earlier concerns about medical gloves for the NHS being produced in Malaysia, where there have been consistent reports of forced labour in factories, Emily Thornberry called for an urgent response.

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Choosing Tony Abbott as UK trade envoy ‘staggering’, says Labour

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Emily Thornberry labels ex-Australian PM a ‘Trump-worshipping misogynist’ amid reports of role

The shadow trade secretary, Emily Thornberry, has condemned reports that Boris Johnson is preparing to appoint the former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott to a senior trade role, calling Abbott a “Trump-worshipping misogynist”.

The Department of Trade declined to comment publicly on Wednesday but insisted no decision had yet been made, after the Sun reported that Abbott would be given a leading role on the board of trade.

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UK accused of selling arms to Saudi Arabia a year after court ban

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British firms fulfilling fighter jet contracts which enable kingdom to wage war in Yemen, despite the trade being ruled unlawful

The government stands accused of ignoring a landmark court ruling restricting UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

In a judgment handed down a year ago, the court of appeal ruled it was “unlawful” for the government to have allowed the sale of arms to the kingdom for use in Yemen, where independent estimates suggest a Saudi-led coalition has been responsible for the deaths of more than 8,000 civilians since 2015.

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George Floyd protest: halt UK riot gear sales to US police, says Labour

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Tory government must act as exports are prohibited if used for internal repression, says Emily Thornberry

Labour has called on the UK to suspend the sale of riot control equipment to the United States and review whether any British-made teargas or crowd control guns were being used against demonstrators across the United States.

Emily Thornberry, the shadow international trade secretary, has written to her opposite number, Liz Truss, arguing it would “be a disgrace” if the UK supplied material that was used by US police or national guard during crisis sparked by the death in police hands of George Floyd.

In her letter the Labour MP said: “If this were any other leader, in any other country in the world, the suspension of any such exports is the least we could expect from the British government in response to their actions, and our historic alliance with the United States is no reason to shirk that responsibility now.”

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Labour condemns government for praising Trump Middle East plan

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Emily Thornberry accuses Boris Johnson’s administration of ‘shameful betrayal’

Labour has condemned the government for praising Donald Trump’s vision for Middle East peace, with the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, calling it a “shameful betrayal” of previous UK support for a viable two-state solution.

In an urgent Commons question on the plan, which has been condemned for granting Israel the bulk of its wishes but only offering a Palestinian state under severe restrictions, Thornberry called it “a monstrosity” and a guarantee of future violence.

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Labour leadership: Thornberry in, Lewis out, leaving five candidates as deadline passes – live news

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

From Business Insider’s Adam Payne

Asked Nandy whether she’d work with the Greens/Lib Dems at future elections. She says she supports working “with the broadest possible alliance” but pours cold water on electoral alliances, telling me: “it’s a bit defeatist to say we can only win power through electoral pacts.”

This transition period stuff is catching. The Queen has just released a read-out of her talks at Sandringham about Harry and Meghan and it turns out that their breakaway is also going to involve a transition period. Doubtless there will be calls for it to get extended too.

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Labour leadership: Thornberry gives Corbyn ‘0 out of 10′ for election, but ’10 out of 10’ for principle – live news

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

The troubled Northern rail franchise faces financial collapse within months, Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has said, as the government set out a timetable to tackle the “unacceptable services” for rail passengers in the north. My colleague Gwyn Topham has the full story here.

Related: Northern rail franchise could collapse within months, says Shapps

Nadia Whittome, the new Labour MP for Nottingham East, also says she is going to nominate Clive Lewis for Labour leader without necessarily planning to vote for him because she wants his ideas to be part of the debate. Lloyd Russell-Moyle is in this position too. (See 1.55pm.)

I have nominated @DawnButlerBrent for Deputy and @labourlewis for Leader to ensure both are on the ballot.

I haven't decided who I'll endorse but Clive's steadfast commitment to migrants' rights, and electoral reform and party democracy proposals, must be part of the debate.

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Boris Johnson: Qassem Suleimani was threat to all our interests

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Prime minister has spoken to Donald Trump about US drone strike on Iranian general

Boris Johnson has said that assassinated Iranian general Qassem Suleimani was “a threat to all our interests”, and that while “we will not lament his death” he called for de-escalation from all sides.

The prime minister spoke to the US president, Donald Trump, on Sunday after the US drone strike on Iran’s top military leader on Friday.

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Emily Thornberry throws her hat into ring for Labour leadership

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Exclusive: shadow foreign secretary says she warned party leaders going to polls would be ‘act of catastrophic political folly’

Emily Thornberry has declared she is entering the race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, revealing she warned the Labour leadership that backing a Brexit election would be an “act of catastrophic political folly”.

The shadow foreign secretary set out her pitch to be the next Labour leader in an article for the Guardian, arguing she has already “pummelled” Boris Johnson across the dispatch box and knows how to exploit his failings.

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Cabinet mini-reshuffle under way as Johnson keeps Nicky Morgan as culture secretary – live news

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Simon Hart named new Welsh secretary as prime minister announces that Morgan – who stood down as MP – will get life peerage

Here’s a host more middle and junior-ranking ministerial appointments just announced by No 10:

A mooted plan to merge the department for international development (DfID) and the foreign office (FCO) risks allowing British aid money to be spent on “UK foreign policy, commercial and political objectives”, rather than on helping the world’s poorest people, more than 100 charities warn.

Related: Johnson to tell new Tory MPs they must repay public’s trust

Merging DfID with the FCO would risk dismantling the UK’s leadership on international development and humanitarian aid. It suggests we are turning our backs on the world’s poorest people, as well as some of the greatest global challenges of our time: extreme poverty, climate change and conflict. UK aid risks becoming a vehicle for UK foreign policy, commercial and political objectives, when it first and foremost should be invested to alleviate poverty.

By far the best way to ensure that aid continues to deliver for those who need it the most is by retaining DfID as a separate Whitehall department, with a secretary of state for international development, and by pledging to keep both independent aid scrutiny bodies: the Independent Commission for Aid Impact and the International Development Select Committee.

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PM accused of cover-up over report on Russian meddling in UK politics

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No 10 refuses to clear release of report into Russian political interference before election

Boris Johnson was on Monday night accused of presiding over a cover-up after it emerged that No 10 refused to clear the publication of a potentially incendiary report examining Russian infiltration in British politics, including the Conservative party.

Downing Street indicated on Monday that it would not allow a 50-page dossier from the intelligence and security committee to be published before the election, prompting a string of complaints over its suppression.

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Brexit divisions threaten to plunge Labour party conference into chaos

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Senior shadow ministers publicly defy Jeremy Corbyn with calls for Labour to back remain

Jeremy Corbyn was struggling to contain an open revolt by some of his most senior shadow ministers, MPs and party activists last night as anger over his refusal to back a policy of remaining in the EU threatened to wreck the Labour conference.

Related: What should Labour do about Brexit? Five key party voices

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Jeremy Corbyn: I’ll stay neutral and let the people decide on Brexit

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Labour leader’s call for ‘sensible’ deal is signal to party that he will resist call to pick sides

Jeremy Corbyn has set out the four pillars of a “sensible” Brexit deal he would negotiate with the EU, as he pledged to carry out whatever the people decide in a second EU referendum as Labour prime minister.

The Labour leader set out how he would go into an election offering to negotiate a Brexit deal involving a customs union, ahead of next week’s autumn conference where activists will launch a bid to shift the party’s position towards campaigning to remain in the EU.

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Caroline Lucas calls for emergency female cabinet to block no-deal Brexit

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Green MP urges 10 top female politicians to form cabinet of national unity to deliver fresh referendum

The Green MP, Caroline Lucas, has thrown down the gauntlet to 10 high-profile female politicians over blocking a no-deal Brexit, proposing a cabinet of national unity including Labour’s Emily Thornberry, the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, and the former Conservative cabinet minister Justine Greening to seek legislation for a fresh referendum.

In an extraordinary proposal that will be viewed with scepticism by rival parties, Lucas offered to broker a deal with female MPs from all the main political parties in Westminster, as well as the SNP’s leader, Nicola Sturgeon.

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Corbyn backs referendum on Brexit deal after EU election exodus

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To break parliamentary deadlock, deal has to be put to public vote, Labour leader says

Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to support a second referendum on any Brexit deal after the Labour leadership came under overwhelming pressure to halt the exodus of its remain voters who backed pro-EU parties at the European elections.

The Labour leader said he was “listening very carefully” to both sides of the debate after the party fell behind the Liberal Democrats and also lost ground to the Greens.

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Brexit: May to give speech at 4pm with details of ‘new’ deal for MPs – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, as Theresa May’s cabinet met to consider the contents of the Brexit EU withdrawal agreement bill

PM’s speech is called ‘A new Brexit deal - seeking common ground in Parliament’

In the urgent question in the Commons earlier on British Steel, which is on the brink of collapse putting 5,000 jobs at risk, Andrew Stephenson, the business minister, said the government “leave no stone unturned” in supporting the UK steel industry. He said:

I can reassure the house that, subject to strict legal bounds, the government will leave no stone unturned in its support for the steel industry ...

We can only act within the strict bounds of what is legally possible under domestic and European law.

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Scotland should get independence vote by May 2021 if Brexit going ahead, says Sturgeon – live news

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

Here is the key quote from Sturgeon’s opening statement.

There are some who would like to see a very early referendum, others want that choice to be later.

My job as first minister is to reach a judgment, not simply in my party’s interest but in the national interest.

Asked if she is willing to drop her demand for an independence referendum, Sturgeon says she is genuinely open-minded. If other parties can come forward with another mechanism that will protect Scotland’s interests in the event of Brexit, she will consider that, she says. She stresses that she is “open-minded”.

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