A boat thought to be used in a migrant crossing is left on the beach in Kent, England. Picture: Gareth Fuller/PA

Nearly 600 migrants have been intercepted attempting to cross the English Channel as the UK Home Secretary reaffirmed her “unwavering determination” to stop the journeys.

A total of 378 migrants were detained by the UK authorities in 12 incidents on Sunday with 178 others being stopped from reaching the UK by the French in five further incidents, according to the British Home Office

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Priti Patel will set out new plan for immigration on Wednesday. – Luke Dray / Stringer via Getty Images

The home secretary has said she will make “no apology” for tougher immigration rules as she announces “the biggest overhaul of the UK’s asylum system in decades”.

Priti Patel’s new plan for immigration, detailing how the Government intends to deal with people entering the UK “illegally”, will be set out on Wednesday.

The Home Office described the current asylum system as “collapsing under the pressures of what are in effect illegal routes to asylum, facilitated by criminals smuggling people into the UK and often resulting in the loss of life”.

“Fairness” and a genuine need for refuge are at the heart of the proposals, the department said, as well as including measures to tackle people smugglers and “remove more easily from the UK those with no right to be there”.

Patel said: “If people arrive illegally, they will no longer have the same entitlements as those who arrive legally, and it will be harder for them to stay.

“If, like over 60% of illegal arrivals, they have travelled through a safe country like France to get here, they will not have immediate entry into the asylum system – which is what happens today.

“And we will stop the most unscrupulous abusing the system by posing as children, by introducing tougher, more accurate age assessments.

“Profiteering from illegal migration to Britain will no longer be worth the risk, with new maximum life sentences for people smugglers.

“I make no apology for these actions being firm, but as they will also save lives and target people smugglers, they are also undeniably fair.”

Last year about 8,500 people arrived in the UK by crossing the Channel in small boats and the majority claimed asylum, the Home Office said.

Around 800 are estimated to have made the crossing so far this year.

The Home Office said: “For the first time, whether people enter the UK legally or illegally will have an impact on how their asylum claim progresses, and on their status in the UK if that claim is successful.

“We will make every effort to remove those who enter the UK illegally having travelled through a safe country in which they could and should have claimed asylum.”

Access to benefits and family reunion rights could be limited while the appeals and judicial process will be reformed to “speed up” removals for those whose claims are refused.

The Government promises to continue to welcome refugees and to help them build a life in the UK, with the Home Secretary having the ability to offer protection to vulnerable people in “immediate danger and at risk in their home country”.

But the measures, anticipated to be brought forward as part of a Sovereign Borders Bill, will also make it “much harder for people to be granted refugee status based on unsubstantiated claims” and include “rigorous age assessments” to stop adult migrants pretending to be children.

Tougher laws will be introduced to “withhold protection and remove dangerous criminals, even when they improperly claim to be victims of modern slavery”, the Home Office added.

Life sentences will be brought in for people smugglers, harsher offences will be imposed on people trying to enter the country illegally and foreign criminals who breach deportation orders and return to the UK could be jailed for up to five years instead of the current six months.

A new “one-stop” legal process is also proposed, so asylum, human rights claims and any other protection matters are all made and considered together ahead of appeal hearings.

Labour shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said he feared the changes would not curtail the number of people making “dangerous crossings” to reach Britain.

“Measures are clearly needed to speed up processes and stop criminal gangs profiting from dangerous crossings,” he said.

“However, we fear these plans will do next to nothing to stop people making dangerous crossings, and risk withdrawing support from desperate people, such as victims of human trafficking.”

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, accused the Government of “seeking to unjustly differentiate between the deserving and undeserving refugee by choosing to provide protection for those fleeing war and terror based on how they travel to the UK” and claimed the plans could undermine the country’s traditions of providing protection for people “regardless of how they have managed to find their way to our shores”.

Kolbassia Haoussou, of Freedom from Torture, warned the proposals could see most of the people the charity helps become “criminalised”, adding: “These unreal proposals make it clear that this Government isn’t serious about improving lives and creating a fair asylum system.”

Mike Adamson, chief executive of the British Red Cross, branded the changes “inhumane”.

He said: “We should not judge how worthy someone is of asylum by how they arrived here.

“The proposals effectively create an unfair two-tiered system, whereby someone’s case and the support they receive is judged on how they entered the country and not on their need for protection. This is inhumane.”

Source: https://news.stv.tv/politics/priti-patel-to-announce-huge-overhaul-of-uks-asylum-system

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The UK could see another 50,000 deaths from coronavirus, a scientist advising the Government has warned, as the Prime Minister said he was “deeply sorry” for every life lost.

Boris Johnson insisted he takes “full responsibility” for the response to the pandemic and said “we did everything we could” to minimize suffering as the Government’s figure for coronavirus deaths passed 100,000. Separate data published by statistics agencies places the toll at 115,000.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the milestone was a “national tragedy” and accused the Government of being “behind the curve at every stage” in its response to the pandemic, ahead of grilling Mr. Johnson during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.

Home Secretary Priti Patel is widely expected to announce a limited plan for new arrivals in England to quarantine in hotels when she later details to the House of Commons border protections against new coronavirus variants arriving from overseas.

The Times reports Ms. Patel had pushed for a temporary closure of the UK’s borders to stop the spread of the variants but she was overruled by the PM.

Mr. Johnson told a Downing Street press conference: “I think on this day I should just really repeat that I am deeply sorry for every life that has been lost and of course as I was Prime Minister I take full responsibility for everything that the Government has done.

“What I can tell you is that we truly did everything we could, and continue to do everything that we can, to minimize loss of life and to minimize suffering in what has been a very, very difficult stage…

“And a very, very difficult crisis for our country, and we will continue to do that, just as every government that is affected by this crisis around the world is continuing to do the same.”

Professor Calum Semple, who sits on the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), predicted there could be another 50,000 deaths from coronavirus and warned that every Covid fatality “represents probably four or five people who survive but are damaged” by the disease.

“It would really not surprise me if we’re looking at another 40-50,000 deaths before this burns out,” he told BBC Two’s Newsnight programme.

In March, before the Prime Minister announced the first national lockdown, chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said keeping the death toll below 20,000 would be a “good outcome”.

Referring to the 100,000 deaths now surpassed, Mr Johnson said it was “hard to compute the sorrow contained in that grim statistic”.

England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty braced the country for “a lot more deaths over the next few weeks before the effects of the vaccines begin to be felt” and cautioned against relaxing restrictions “too early”.

Sir Keir, who will appear at PMQs from home while self-isolating, urged the Government to make quarantining in hotels mandatory for all new arrivals as he accused the Prime Minister of having shown a “reluctance to take tough decisions” throughout the pandemic.

There was no official comment following the meeting of the Covid operations committee of senior ministers on Tuesday, but Whitehall sources ahead of the talks suggested the measures could stop short of mandatory hotel quarantines for all arrivals.

They suggested that the measure may only apply to British nationals returning to England from high-risk nations, with passengers expected to cover the price of quarantining.

The Times reported that the committee rejected calls for a full border closure and will instead limit it to those returning from 30 countries already covered by the travel ban, including those in South America, Portugal and Cape Verde, as well as South Africa and neighbouring nations.

If confirmed, Labour’s shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said ministers would be “leaving gaping holes in our nation’s defences” with the “half-baked” proposal.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Arlene Foster said a four-nations approach to the issue was being taken, while the Welsh Government said it expects to discuss the plans with Westminster.

In Scotland, Deputy First Minister John Swinney said the Scottish Government would “go at least as far” as England in enhancing quarantine arrangements.

In other UK developments:

– AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot, in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, predicted the UK will have vaccinated “maybe 28 or 30 million people” by March and will hit the target to administer jabs to the top four priority groups by mid-February.

– More than 6.8 million coronavirus vaccinations have taken place in the UK as of Monday – a rise of 279,757 on the previous day’s figures.

– Analysis of official data by the PA news agency showed care home residents have accounted for almost a third of the total number of coronavirus deaths in England and Wales.

– Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said he was “confident” that the Pfizer vaccine supply would continue – despite the European Union threatening to impose tight controls on the export of coronavirus jabs made in the bloc.

Source: click here

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Migrants who cross the Channel in small boats should be returned to France before they can apply for asylum, the former head of the Border Force said.

Tony Smith said it would be the only way to stop people smugglers risking the lives of vulnerable people.

An agreement between French and British governments would be needed, he said.

Home Office minister Chris Philp said the government was “reviewing laws that prevent us from taking stronger action to stop illegal migration”.

Priti Patel and her French counterpart Christophe Castaner pledged in September 2019 to make crossings an “infrequent phenomenon” by spring 2020.

More than 2,400 people have crossed the Channel in small boats this year, while at least 4,500 have done so since November 2018.

Mr. Smith, who served as Border Force’s interim director general between 2012 and 2013, told the BBC that returning migrants to France would “send a message to the smugglers that it’s not going to work”.

‘People will drown’

Turning overcrowded boats back at sea is “really quite difficult” without risking lives because migrants have been “coached” by smugglers to resist rescue by the French and only accept assistance from British vessels, he said.

Britain currently has “no authority to return them to France”, so once intercepted by Border Force migrants are brought to the UK, where they typically claim asylum, he said.

“The only practical solution that I think can be achieved would be an international agreement with the French that would enable us to return people, once we have established they are safe and well,” he said.

He said all efforts so far on both sides of the Channel had failed to “break the mold,” adding: “We have got to find a way of stopping this because people are going to drown.”

Bridget Chapman, of Kent Refugee Action Network, said the government should instead offer “safe and legal passage to those looking for refuge”.

“Shutting the door in people’s faces will not solve the problem and it is an abdication of our moral duty,” she said.

French Conservative MP Pierre-Henri Dumont has previously called for migrants to be allowed to claim asylum at British embassies across Europe.

Mr. Philp said the government was “tackling these crossings at every level,” adding: “We continue to work tirelessly with our French counterparts who have stopped over 1,000 migrants this year from making the perilous journey.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-kent-53238473

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UK authorities have faced criticism over the time taken to track down recent arrivals from Wuhan. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA

About 100,000 people could be infected with the new coronavirus around the world, experts have warned, as the UK government faced calls to reassure people that the NHS is ready to deal with any British cases within days.

Prof Neil Ferguson, a public health expert at Imperial College, said his “best guess” was that there were 100,000 affected by the virus even though there are only 2,000 confirmed cases so far, mostly in the city of Wuhan in China where the virus first appeared.

“Sooner or later we will get a case,” he said. “There are very large numbers of Chinese tourists across Europe right now. Unless the Chinese manage to control this, and I’m skeptical about whether that is possible, we will get cases here.”

Although no one has yet tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, Labour called on the government to reassure the public that the NHS could cope with an outbreak when it is already struggling with the winter flu season.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, said: “The NHS is currently under immense strain this winter with staff already working flat out and hospitals overcrowded. We need urgent reassurance from ministers they have a plan to ensure we have capacity in place to deal with coronavirus should we need to.”

Priti Patel, the home secretary, insisted on Sunday that the government was taking “all precautions”, despite criticism it had been slow off the mark to find and give information to the thousands of people in Britain who had flown back from Wuhan in recent weeks.

Prof Martin Dove, a British academic, said no one from the UK government had tried to contact him regarding the coronavirus outbreak despite recently returning home from working in Wuhan.

Others have said the UK authorities have been difficult to contact with the British embassy in Beijing shut on Friday and over the weekend, as well as Monday and Tuesday for the lunar new year. A Foreign Office spokesman said there would be some staff working despite the official closure and pointed to its 24-hour emergency assistance number.

There was also no clarity on Sunday over whether the government would evacuate the estimated 200 Brits trapped in Wuhan, with the Foreign Office advising against all travel to Hubei province but providing scant information on how to leave the affected areas. This is in contrast to France, the US, and Japan, who are putting in place logistics to get their citizens out.

Patel said the government was “looking at all the options”, which could include airlifting UK citizens out of the worst-affected area.

So far there are around 40 cases outside China, including three each in the United States and France. All 56 deaths have occurred in China, mostly in people who were older and had underlying health problems that made it hard to fight off the virus.

The Department of Health and Social Care said on Sunday that 52 people had been cleared after testing in the UK and the “risk to the public remains low”.

But in spite of the rigorous containment measures China has taken, its ban on flights and the UK checks on travelers from China at Heathrow, experts say it is only a matter of time until there is a case in the UK, given the ease with which the new coronavirus is now believed to pass from one person to another – possibly transmitted by people with mild or even no symptoms at all.

Ferguson, whose team has been modeling the disease for the World Health Organization, said they estimated the virus had a reproductive rate of 2.5-3, meaning that each person infected would potentially transmit it to up to three others.

“My best guess now is perhaps 100,000 cases right now,” he said, although it could be between 30,000 and 200,000. “Almost certainly many tens of thousands of people are infected.”

Most of the cases that have been exported to other countries from China have been mild, he said. That could mean mild cases of disease spread more easily than severe, life-threatening cases, which sounds like good news. But on the other hand, it means it is possible there will be a reservoir of mild disease in the country that goes unnoticed and can spread until it affects somebody vulnerable because of underlying poor health, who becomes seriously ill.

“People looking for people with a travel history to China are not necessarily looking in their local population,” he said.

There is a lot still unknown, he explained. “We don’t have reports as yet as to the extent to which children are becoming infected, probably because of the bias towards severe cases.”

Unlike Sars, which made everyone who contracted the virus severely ill, the new virus appears to be able to slip under the radar, he said. Firstly, there are the many mild carriers, who will infect other people without necessarily being recognized. Secondly, there are reports from China of people who have infected others before they have experienced any symptoms.

Ferguson said it was possible this is not quite as it appears. It may be that the authorities have not actually identified the index case – the person who infected a group of people – making it look as though they picked up the virus from someone who had no symptoms.

But although only people with symptoms of illness spread Sars, scientists point to other diseases, such as influenza and some colds, that can be passed on by those who appear well. These viruses “are carried into the air during normal breathing and talking by the infected person”, said Prof Wendy Barclay of the department of infectious disease at Imperial College London.

“It would not be too surprising if the new coronavirus also does this. If this does prove to be the case then controlling the spread does become more of a challenge, and measures like airport screening are unlikely to stem the virus effectively.”

Note: See currently posted coronavirus cases and deaths: https://gisanddata.maps.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/jan/26/coronavirus-could-infect-100000-globally-experts-warn

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FILE – In this Tuesday, July 10, 2018 file photo Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, and from left, Meghan the Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry, Prince William and Kate the Duchess of Cambridge watch a flypast of Royal Air Force aircraft pass over Buckingham Palace in London. In a stunning declaration, Britain’s Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, said they are planning “to step back” as senior members of the royal family and “work to become financially independent.” A statement issued by the couple Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020 also said they intend to “balance” their time between the U.K. and North America. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

FILE – In this file photo dated Sunday, Nov. 8, 2015, Britain’s Prince William, right, Prince Harry, left, attend the Remembrance Sunday ceremony at the Cenotaph in London. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is set to hold face-to-face talks Monday, Jan. 13, 2020 with Prince Harry for the first time since he and his wife, Meghan, unveiled their controversial plan to walk away from royal roles — at a dramatic family summit meant to chart a future course for the couple. The meeting at the monarch’s private Sandringham estate in eastern England will also include Harry’s father Prince Charles and his brother Prince William. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, File)

FILE – In this March 5, 2019 file photo, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is joined by Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, and at rear, from left, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince William, Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex during a reception at Buckingham Palace, London to mark the 50th anniversary of the investiture of the Prince of Wales. In a statement issued on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, Queen Elizabeth II says she has agreed to grant Prince Harry and Meghan their wish for a more independent life that will see them move part-time to Canada. (Dominic Lipinski/Pool via AP, File)

This is a handout photo issued on Monday, Jan. 13, 2020 by Buckingham Palace of a statement by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II on the future of Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. Queen Elizabeth II says she has agreed to grant Prince Harry and Meghan their wish for a more independent life that will see them move part-time to Canada. (Buckingham Palace via AP)

Media prepares in the early morning at the entrance of the castle in Sandringham, England, Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have declared they will “work to become financially independent” as part of a surprise announcement saying they wish “to step back” as senior members of the royal family. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

FILE – In this Tuesday, July 10, 2018 file photo Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, and Meghan the Duchess of Sussex and Prince Harry watch a flypast of Royal Air Force aircraft pass over Buckingham Palace in London. As part of a surprise announcement distancing themselves from the British royal family, Prince Harry and his wife Meghan declared they will “work to become financially independent” _ a move that has not been clearly spelled out and could be fraught with obstacles. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

The figures of Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, left, are moved from their original positions next to Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip and Prince William and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, at Madame Tussauds in London, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. Madame Tussauds moved its figures of Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex from its Royal Family set to elsewhere in the attraction. (Victoria Jones/PA via AP)

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II arrives to attend a morning church service at St Mary Magdalene Church in Sandringham, England, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2020. Prince Harry and his wife Meghan have declared they will “work to become financially independent” as part of a surprise announcement saying they wish “to step back” as senior members of the royal family. (Joe Giddens/PA via AP)

SANDRINGHAM, England (AP) — Britain’s pragmatic queen brokered a deal Monday to secure the future of the monarchy, charting a course for Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, that allows them to live part-time in Canada while still remaining firmly tied to the House of Windsor.

The decision followed a summit at Queen Elizabeth II’s Sandringham estate in eastern England that sought to resolve the conundrum of what to do with royals who only want the job part-time. The British monarch said in a statement that the summit of senior royals was “constructive,” and that it had been “agreed that there will be a period of transition″ to sort things out during which Meghan and Harry will spend time in both Canada and the U.K.

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“My family and I are entirely supportive of Harry and Meghan’s desire to create a new life as a young family,″ the queen said in a statement that offered a demonstrably soft tone. “Although we would have preferred them to remain full-time working members of the Royal Family, we respect and understand their wish to live a more independent life as a family while remaining a valued part of my family.″

Royal statements are usually sticklers for protocol, but the queen referred to “my grandson and his family” and “Harry and Meghan” rather than using the couple’s formal title, Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

The summit marked the first face-to-face talks with Harry since he and Meghan unveiled their controversial wish last week to step back from their royal roles, become financially independent and split their time between Britain and North America. The meeting reflected the queen’s desire to contain the fallout from the independence announcement, which prompted hurt feelings among senior family members not told in advance of the decision.

But by midday Monday, the House of Windsor showed signs of pulling together. Princes William and Harry issued a joint statement slamming a newspaper report describing a severe strain in their relationship, calling the story offensive and potentially harmful.

Though the statement did not name the newspaper, the Times of London has a front-page story about the crisis in which a source alleged that Harry and Meghan had been pushed away by the “bullying attitude” from William. The joint statement insisted that the story was “false.″

“For brothers who care so deeply about the issues surrounding mental health, the use of inflammatory language in this way is offensive and potentially harmful,” the statement said.

The queen said after Monday’s meeting that these were “complex matters for my family to resolve, and there is some more work to be done, but I have asked for final decisions to be reached in the coming days.”

One of the trickier questions that needs to be worked out is precisely what it means for a royal to be financially independent and what activities can be undertaken to make money. Other royals who have ventured into the world of commerce have found it complicated.

Sophie, the countess of Wessex, sought to keep her public relations firm going after her marriage to the queen’s third son, Prince Edward, only to find herself embroiled in controversy when she was tricked by the “Fake Sheikh” — an undercover reporter offering a lucrative contract for her firm.

Sophie hinted that if the “sheik” paid for the firm’s services he would get greater publicity because of her royal role. In the end, both Sophie and Edward, who ran a television company, gave up their businesses to become full-time royals in 2002.

Prince Andrew, who was a UK trade envoy, has faced heated questions about his relationship with the late convicted sex offender and financier, Jeffrey Epstein, whom Andrew has said was beneficial to making useful contacts. The queen’s second son has relinquished royal duties and patronages after being accused by a woman who says she was an Epstein trafficking victim who slept with the prince.

Harry and Meghan also face questions about paying for security, which is currently taxpayer-funded. Home Secretary Priti Patel refused to comment, but said safety was a priority and added that “royal family themselves need some time and space for them to work through the current issues that they’re dealing with.”

Meghan, who is American, has longstanding ties to Canada, having lived in Toronto while filming the popular TV series, “Suits.” On Friday, she returned to Canada, where the couple and 8-month-old Archie spent a six-week holiday break out of the public eye.

Bob Morris, the honorary senior research associate at University College London’s Constitution Unit, said that the crux of the matter lies in the difference between being a celebrity and having royal status.

“Royal status sets you apart, it gives you a special role in our society,″ he said. “It is very difficult for you to put the hat on and take it off. You cannot be half royal or royal part of the time. You can switch it off and on, and it seems to me the royal identity would always be the dominant one.”

Some of the challenges are enshrined in the law devised some 20 years ago after an inquiry that followed Sophie’s, brush with the fake sheik. The rules are aimed at ensuring working royals do not exploit their status to profit in business.

Under the guidelines, the royals must consult the most senior member of the royal household before taking on a business activity — a measure that would encroach on Harry and Meghan’s independence.

Last week’s statement by the couple, who are also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, pushed the issue out into the open and touched off a royal crisis. Tom Bradby, a TV journalist who is close to Harry and Meghan, warned in the Sunday Times that the royal family badly needed a peace deal to prevent “a protracted war” that could damage the monarchy.

“I have some idea of what might be aired in a full, no-holds-barred, sit-down interview (by Harry and Meghan) and I don’t think it would be pretty,” he wrote in the Sunday Times.

With much at stake, the queen’s decision safeguarded the peace — for now. Royal expert Penny Junor said it was vital for the stability of the royal family to keep Meghan and Harry happy.

“What is absolutely imperative, in my view, is that Harry and Meghan do not go away feeling angry and hurt and rejected, because an angry, hurt, rejected Harry and Meghan could cause absolute havoc for the royal family,″ she said. “If they don’t care anymore, if they want to show them, if they want to get their own back, it could get very nasty. They could go completely rogue.”

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Kirka and Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writer Helena Alves contributed to this report.

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Follow full AP coverage at https://www.apnews.com/PrinceHarry

Source: https://apnews.com/8cb152f4cdd09fc7d312d86c7e704b87

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After yet another night of unexpected electoral drama, each and every side of the never-ending Brexit debate — leave now, leave somehow or leave never — was quick out of the blocks to claim validation for their position Friday.

What is needed, everyone declared, is the bravery to do exactly as they said before.

Voters could be forgiven for spontaneously self-combusting.

The Conservatives, unable to assemble a majority in parliament for any form of Brexit, suffered significant losses in the elections to town councils across the country. With almost all of the ballots declared, the party has lost control of almost 40 councils and over 1,000 seats: A bad night.

“The results carry a “simple message” for both parties, said Prime Minister Theresa May”

Labour, meanwhile, having hedged its bets on Brexit in an attempt to appeal to Leave and Remain voters, also suffered, though not as badly, losing four councils and more than 100 seats. This was, undeniably, also a bad night.

The results were, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt declared, “a slap in the face for both the main parties.” Few Labour MPs felt confident enough to demure much from this analysis.

Easy conclusions as to why were, however, illusive.

In Sunderland — the caricature Leave city in Northern England — Labour suffered heavy losses, but almost half were to Remain parties. In Swindon, a key town Jeremy Corbyn needs to win at a general election, Labour failed to make any significant gains — yet saw its vote share jump to neck-and-neck with the Tories.

Even the surge of Lib Dem councillors offered no easy answer, the polling guru John Curtice said. “We cannot find much of a relationship between whether the area was particularly pro-Remain or particularly pro-Leave and how much the Liberal Democrat vote has gone up,” he told the BBC. The party was, it seemed, just a “useful vehicle of protest.”

With no obvious conclusions to fall back on, both parties offered soundbites. The results carry a “simple message” for both parties, said Prime Minister Theresa May: “Just get on and deliver Brexit.” But she did not give any indication of how they might deliver it.

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“The strongest possible message from voters today is that we need to come together and get on with it and do it,” the Conservative Party’s Deputy Chair Helen Whately said Friday. Labour Chairman Ian Lavery agreed. “The two parties need to get on and get Brexit sorted,” he said. The reaction is understandable.

With the margins of defeat and victory so small — the two parties controlled more than 80 percent of the vote at the last general election — no block of voters within each side’s coalition of support can be ignored.

The leaders of both main parties have little choice but to try to hold their support together by appealing to both Remain and Leave voters. The alternative strategy is too risky for either leader — to redraw the electoral map entirely.

May and Corbyn now have until June 30 to vote through the Withdrawal Agreement to stop new British MEPs taking their seats in the next European Parliament, potentially delaying Brexit until October 31. This would push Brexit beyond both sides’ party conferences, giving their members the opportunity to kill the prospect of compromise, further radicalizing the electorate along Brexit lines.

The hope of those around both leaders is that if Brexit can be dealt with, politics might be able to return to “normal.”

In Swindon, where Labour failed to make any gains, the party’s council leader, Jim Grant, said ordinary politics is impossible while Brexit dominates. “The Tories campaigned on local issues, we campaigned on local issues, but it was drowned out by Brexit,” he said.

“The fear expressed by MPs from both sides throughout Friday morning was that Brexit may simply be too powerful.”

Over in Essex, another key region for both parties, the Tories suffered heavy losses to the Lib Dems. Tory voters were “staying at home frustrated at the uncertainty over Brexit,” the Conservative MP Vicky Ford said.

Yet can Brexit be “sorted?”

Labour and Tory MPs appeared no more willing to compromise Friday than they did 24 hours earlier.

Sunderland MP Bridget Phillipson rejected claims Labour was losing votes because it was blocking Brexit. “Too often, places that voted for Brexit back in 2016 like Sunderland get caricatured by the media as if everyone voted Leave,” she said. “The majority of Labour voters now want a people’s vote on Brexit and would vote to stay in the EU given the chance.”

Wes Streeting, the Labour MP for Ilford North, East London, said he would not vote for a compromise deal until “hell freezes over” adding: “And I’m not alone in that.”

On the Tory side, there seems to be little evidence of a softening of mood. Brexiteer former Cabinet minister Priti Patel was quick out of the traps to call for May to go and a new “direction of travel.”

“We need a change of leadership, perhaps the time has now come for that,” she said.

The fear expressed by MPs from both sides throughout Friday morning was that Brexit may simply be too powerful. It may have changed British politics permanently, it’s just the two main parties have not been able to accept it yet.

The Labour MP Lisa Nandy detected the trend, citing two councils in the North West that changed hands in ways that would appear to be counterintuitive.

“What does Labour losing control of Bolton, but gaining control of Trafford tell us?” she asked. Bolton is a working-class town on the outer edges of Manchester, while Trafford is a more prosperous neighborhood much closer into the city center.

It was, Nandy said, proof that “the same trends we saw in 2017 and 2018 are holding — we’re gaining amongst graduates, often in cities, and losing our core vote elsewhere.”

The same trend was at work during the 2016 Brexit referendum. Graduates voted Remain and now, increasingly, back Labour. The working classes and old outside the big cities voted Leave and are now backing the Tories.

The electoral map is changing, but the parties are not.

This article has been updated to reflect new electoral information.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-local-elections-brexit-tories-labour-political-landscape/

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Reuters/Toby Melville

• EU figures are reportedly preparing for Theresa May’s government to collapse this year.
• Brussels is worried about the chaos that would be caused by a change in leadership or another election.
• Priti Patel resigned last night for holding unauthorised meetings with Israeli politicians.
• Cabinet has lost two ministers within the space of a week.

LONDON — The European Union is reportedly preparing for Theresa May’s government to collapse before the New Year after the prime minister last night lost a second Cabinet minister within the space of a week.

There is growing concern in Brussels that the increasing instability of the Conservative minority government could soon trigger a change in leadership or a general election leading to a Labour government, according to the Times.

Brexit talks between British and EU negotiators resume today with the UK government in a state of disarray.

Last week Michael Fallon resigned as defence secretary after being named in a sexual misconduct scandal that has engulfed Westminster, while last night Priti Patel left her role as International Development Secretary after it emerged that she held a number of unauthorised meetings with Israeli politicians.

May is also under pressure to sack Boris Johnson. The foreign secretary’s mistaken claim that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was in Iran to teach journalism when she was arrested in Tehran last year is being used against the imprisoned Brit as evidence as she faces another five years being added to her sentence.

“There is the great difficulty of the leadership in Great Britain, which is more and more fragile,” one European leader told the Times. “Britain is very weak and the weakness of Theresa May makes negotiations very difficult.”

EU figures are believed to be considering a range of options as Prime Minister May struggles to keep her government under control, including a chaotic “no deal” Brexit and the result of last year’s referendum being reversed.

The European leader quoted by the Times appeared to leave the door open to Brexit being reversed, remarking: “The referendum decision was very close.”

Attention will today turn to Brussels where May will hope British negotiators will be able to make a breakthrough with their European counterparts.

The UK government is determined to kickstart talks on future trade relations before the New Year. However, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, has warned that work is to be done before “sufficient progress” is made on the issues of citizens’ rights, the Irish border, and Britain’s financial obligations.

The EU Parliament’s chief Brexit spokesperson, Guy Verhofstadt, said yesterday that it was “erroneous” to claim a deal on citizens’ right was close. The EU Parliament will have the power to veto any final Brexit deal.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-eu-believes-theresa-mays-government-could-soon-collapse-2017-11

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