Category Archives: Europe

Brexit: Theresa May says high time MPs vote for her deal – as it happened

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Rolling updates on the day’s political events, including PM’s statement at Downing Street and Labour leader leaving meeting

I am going to wrap this up now. Here a few of tonight’s highlights at a glance:

Theresa May tells the British People ‘I’m on your side” ...which side is that? Leave, Remain, or Resign?

The summary of Beth Rigby, deputy political editor of Sky News, is blistering:

May’s national address badly misjudged. She has further angered the very people she needs to win over, MPs. Never before has the power of persuasion and art of compromise been so sorely needed and so clearly missing

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Brexit delay decision unlikely this week, says Juncker

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Revolt by pro-Brexit cabinet ministers forces PM to request only three-month extension from EU

Theresa May will ask for only a short extension to article 50 delaying Brexit by less than three months, after a revolt among pro-leave cabinet ministers and MPs that threatened her premiership.

The prime minister had previously intended to agree a longer extension with the EU involving European parliamentary elections if her withdrawal agreement did not pass by Wednesday.

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May asks EU for Brexit delay with cabinet in deadlock over ‘crisis’

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PM forced to seek extension of article 50 as No 10 admits it is too late to leave with a deal

Theresa May will be forced to write to EU leaders on Wednesday and beg them to delay Brexit, with her cabinet deadlocked over the best way out of what Downing Street now concedes is a “crisis”.

The government had maintained until the last possible moment that Brexit could go ahead as planned on 29 March or after a brief “technical extension”.

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Danish politician’s baby ‘not welcome’ in parliament’s chamber

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Far-right speaker Pia Kjaersgaard tells Mette Abildgaard to remove her child

A member of Denmark’s parliament has said she was ordered to remove her infant daughter from the chamber, causing surprise in a country often hailed as a pioneer in women’s rights.

“You are not welcome with your baby in the parliament’s chamber,” the speaker, Pia Kjaersgaard, a former leader of the far-right Danish People’s Party, allegedly told Mette Abildgaard.

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Mueller suspected Trump lawyer may have been acting as foreign agent

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Special counsel of Russia investigation granted access to Michael Cohen’s emails on basis he may have broken several laws

Robert Mueller persuaded a judge within weeks of being made special counsel in 2017 that Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s legal fixer, may have been secretly working for a foreign government.

Related: Michael Cohen FBI raid documents released – live updates

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Letter in Utrecht getaway car may suggest terror motive

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Firearm seized and buildings searched after suspect held over shooting that killed three

Dutch prosecutors have said they are still considering a possible terrorist motive for Monday’s shooting in Utrecht, and have so far uncovered no link between the main suspect and the three people who were killed.

The regional public prosecutor’s office said in a statement that the investigators’ view was based on the nature of the shooting on Monday, which took place on a tram, and on a letter found in the getaway car.

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Italian charity ship defies Rome to rescue 50 off Libyan coast

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Rescue could spark showdown with government after order not to bring migrants to Italy

An Italian charity ship has rescued about 50 people from a rubber boat off the coast of Libya, prompting Rome to warn it is ready to stop private vessels “once and for all” from bringing rescued migrants to Italy.

The interior minister, Matteo Salvini, has repeatedly declared Italian waters closed to NGO rescue vessels and has left several of them stranded at sea in the past in an attempt to force the rest of Europe to take in more asylum seekers.

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UK breast cancer death rates falling fastest in ‘big six’ of Europe

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Study says women aged 50-69 most likely to benefit, while those aged 70-79 will gain least

Death rates from breast cancer are falling faster in Britain than in any other of the six most populous countries in Europe, research shows.

The rate of death from the disease has fallen by 17.7% since 2010-2014 thanks to screening, earlier diagnosis and better treatment, a Europe-wide study [pdf] has found.

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Constitutional chaos after third vote on Brexit deal blocked

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Prime minister likely to have to request long article 50 extension after Bercow intervenes

Theresa May’s government has been plunged into constitutional chaos after the Speaker blocked the prime minister from asking MPs to vote on her Brexit deal for a third time unless it had fundamentally changed.

With 11 days to go until Britain is due to leave the EU, May was forced to pull her plans for another meaningful vote because John Bercow said she could not ask MPs to pass the same deal, after they rejected it twice by huge margins. EU officials, meanwhile, were considering offering her a new date for a delayed Brexit to resolve the crisis.

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French PM removes police chief and vows to shut down rioters

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Gilets jaunes protests in Paris and other cities will be banned if ‘radical groups’ are spotted

The French government has removed the Paris police chief and announced it will shut down all anti-government street protests by the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) in central parts of Paris, Bordeaux and Toulouse if violent groups are spotted in the crowds.

The prime minister, Édouard Philippe, announced the hardline measures on Monday after the government admitted failures in dealing with rioting and arson in Paris this weekend.

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Court in Chechnya banishes human rights activist to penal colony

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Oyub Titiev sentenced to four years in penal colony after widely condemned trial

A court in Chechnya has sentenced a prominent human rights activist to four years in a penal colony after a widely condemned trial that culminated in the judge reading out the verdict for more than nine hours.

Oyub Titiev, the local head of the human rights group Memorial, was charged last year with possession of more than 200g of marijuana. Titiev said the drugs were planted in his car, and colleagues said he was being punished for revealing details of abductions and torture by Chechnya’s security services.

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Global stock markets gain as investors predict cautious Federal Reserve – business live

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Central banks in spotlight amid Brexit uncertainty and growth concerns

The Bank’s reticence to raise rates has been hinted at by Gertjan Vlieghe and Silvana Tenreyro, two of the nine-member monetary policy committee.

Weaker growth prospects have come on top of concerns about Brexit, according to Martin Beck, lead UK economist at Oxford Economics, a consultancy. He expects a 9-0 vote to keep policy unchanged, saying:

The economy’s recent performance has been broadly in line with the MPC’s expectations. But public pronouncements by some committee members on downside risks have indicated a dovish shift around the pace of future rate hikes.

In light of the continued failure to get a Brexit deal through Parliament, Brexit uncertainty remains a key block on action by the MPC.

The Bank of England will also be in action later this week, with a monetary policy announcement on Thursday at midday.

Anything other than a unanimous vote to keep interest rates on hold would be a shock, for fairly obvious reasons.

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No 10 says it won’t call Brexit vote this week unless it has ‘prospect of success’ – Politics live

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

I’m just back from the Downing Street lobby briefing. And it was a good illustration of the old rule that the length a briefing is in inverse proportion to its usefulness. (That’s because, if the reporters get a story, they want to wrap up quickly so they can file. If the briefing drags on, that’s because people keep asking questions in the hope that they might eventually get a useable reply.)

Here is the main takeaway.

Arriving at the EU foreign affairs council in Brussels this morning, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, said that he hoped there would be a third vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal tomorrow. But, he added, “we need to be comfortable that we’ll have the numbers.”

He said there were “some cautious signs of encouragement” in that Tories who have opposed the deal up to now, like Norman Lamont and Esther McVey, now want to see it passed. “But there is a lot more work to do,” Hunt added.

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Utrecht shooting: several injured on tram as man opens fire

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Security increased across Netherlands as police say shooting may have ‘terrorist motive’

A suspected gunman is at large after a shooting on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht, which police said may have had a “terrorist motive”.

The Dutch government raised the terrorism threat level to the highest possible in the Utrecht province, and security was increased at schools, mosques and transportation hubs across the country.

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Christchurch suspect: Europe investigates possible far-right links

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Officials in Greece, Turkey and Bulgaria examine Brenton Tarrant’s travels before attack

Authorities in Europe are working to establish whether the man suspected of carrying out the most deadly terrorist attack in New Zealand’s history had any links to far-right groups on the continent.

Since Friday, officials in Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece have begun formal investigations into the alleged gunman’s extensive travel through Europe in the years before he moved to New Zealand.

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Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank confirm merger talks

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Unions warn merger of two German lenders could put up to 30,000 jobs at risk

Deutsche Bank has confirmed it is in merger talks with rival Commerzbank, putting an end to months of speculation over a potential tie-up that stands to unsettle the German banking landscape.

While the move has been touted as a route to greater profitability for the troubled lenders, unions have warned that the merger could put up to 30,000 jobs at risk.

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Baltic states no longer a bridge between east and west, says Latvia

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Russian interference in elections and corruption scandals prompt rethink

The Baltic states can no longer cast themselves in the role of a bridge between Russia and the west, the Latvian foreign minister, Edgars Rinkēvičs, has said in an interview with the Guardian.

Successive crises have shown Russian determination to interfere in western democracy or use Baltic banks to launder corrupt money, Rinkēvičs said after a visit to London during which he met Dominic Grieve, the chairman of the UK intelligence and security committee.

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Buyer beware: Amsterdam seeks to ban buy-to-let on newbuild homes

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London and others will be watching closely as Dutch city tries to tackle housing shortage

Amsterdam has drawn up plans to ban the rental of new-build homes on city land, as part of a spate of policies to combat spiralling house prices, housing shortages and over-saturation of tourism.

The plan from its housing chief states: “Investors are buying Amsterdam homes more and more frequently, intending to rent them out. This means that ‘normal’ house-buyers have less of a chance in the housing market, and Amsterdam is not happy with this.”

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French government unprepared for gilets jaunes riots, critics say

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Opposition claims security was lacking as protesters ransacked Champs Élysées in Paris

The French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, has held talks with ministers after opposition politicians accused the government of being unprepared for rioting during gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protests on the Champs Élysées in Paris.

The president, Emmanuel Macron promised to come up with strong measures to prevent further violence after rioters threw paving stones at police and restaurants, luxury stores, news kiosks and cars were torched, ransacked and looted.

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