Markus Andrews

Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner were supposed to receive the protection of the Geneva Convention as members of the armed forces of a sovereign country, Ukraine.They have been sentenced to death after a show trial in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), a “state” recognised only by Vladimir Putin’s Russia.The fact that Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner are British citizens and a third defendant at the trial, Saadoun Brahim, is a Moroccan national, does not affect their status as prisoners of war.Prosecutors in the DPR have repeatedly accused the three men of being foreign mercenaries. But all three are signed-up members of the Ukrainian armed forces, and many countries across the world have foreign nationals in the ranks.This includes Britain, where recruitment is largely restricted to those from the Commonwealth. Russia is among the most welcoming to foreigners in its forces. Citizens of any country, aged between 18 and 30 and with a knowledge of the Russian language can join and they become eligible for Russian citizenship after serving three years.DPR forces also include foreigners. During a visit there after the separatist war of 2014, I met a Scot (who advocated an independent Donbas but had voted against Scottish independence) and an American from Texas, as well as French, Finnish, Portuguese and Spanish nationals and others from eastern Europe.Russian news agency Tass reported that the men’s guilt had been proven “based on the analysis of the totality of the evidence”.What the “evidence” consists of is unknown because the trial took place behind closed doors. Mr Pinner and Mr Brahim allegedly pleaded guilty to “actions aimed at the violent seizure of power”, it was claimed, and Mr Aslin to “illegal use of weapons and explosives”.In reality, the trial and sentencing in Donetsk is a political rather than a legal issue and the two Britons will undoubtedly be regarded as bargaining counters.Boris Johnson is “appalled” by the death sentences and “has asked ministers to do everything in their power to try and reunite them with their families as soon as we can”, according to his spokesman. Britain is “prioritising” talking to Ukraine rather than Russia because “we don’t have regular interaction with the Russians”.The Kremlin holds that it is not Russia that Britain needs to talk to, but the separatists. Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova described the British reaction as “hysterical”.Foreign minister Sergey Lavrov told reporters: “The trials  are being held on the basis of the legislation of the Donetsk People’s Republic because the crimes in question were committed on the DPR’s territory. I will not comment on the Donetsk People’s Republic judiciary.”It would be astonishing if Britain were to negotiate directly with an administration it does not recognise, let alone one that is at war with an ally.  So any talks over the release of the two men will be between Volodymyr Zelenesky’s government of Ukraine and the Russians, who regularly liaise on prisoner swaps.Russian state media has reported that more than 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners who surrendered in Mariupol have been transferred to Russia for “investigation”. Politicians in Moscow and the separatist republics have threatened to carry out “Nuremberg-type” trials of prisoners from the Azov battalion, whom they accuse of being neo-Nazis and fascists.Ukraine, too, has put Russian servicemen on trial. Courts in Kyiv and near Kharkiv have handed out lengthy sentences – life imprisonment in one case – on war crimes charges. Iryna Venediktova, the country’s prosecutor general, said on Wednesday that she had filed eight more cases for trial.The Russians and their DPR allies may offer to exchange the two Britons and the Moroccan – as well as others they might put on trial and convict in the future – for detainees held in Ukraine.Moscow is in a strong position when it comes to negotiations on the exchanges. The total number of Russian soldiers being held by Ukraine has fallen to 550 from 900 in April after a series of exchanges. Russia has more than 5,600 Ukrainian troops in captivity, the figure enlarged by the surrender of 2,500 in Mariupol.However, Moscow might have someone else in mind for a swap with Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner rather than soldiers. Both the Britons appeared on the state-run Rossiya 24 channel asking Boris Johnson to get them home in exchange for Viktor Medvedchuk, an oligarch with pro-Moscow sympathies who is under arrest in Ukraine.In the footage, Mr Aslin and Mr Pinner could be seen watching a video of Mr Medvedchuk’s wife Oksana making an appeal for her husband to be exchanged for the two Britons. Mr Aslin says to camera “we look to exchange myself and Aiden Aslin for Mr Medvedchuk. Obviously I would really appreciate your help on this matter.”The Russians and their proxies had gone to some lengths to orchestrate this. But Mr Medvedchuk is no ordinary pro-Moscow oligarch. Mr Putin is godfather to his daughter Daria and the pair’s friendship goes back two decades. They have holidayed together.After Mr Medvedchuk was accused of treason and placed under house arrest, and his television station seized by authorities, Mr Putin delivered one of his most aggressive condemnations of Ukraine, accusing it of turning “slowly but steadily into an antipode of Russia, an anti-Russia”. More

Jacob Rees-Mogg and Commons leader Mark Spencer have refused to take part in a public debate on why they “blocked” a bill that would have spared elephants from torture in Asia.The Brexit opportunities minister and Mr Spencer are widely thought to have vetoed planned legislation to ban UK adverts for foreign theme parks where elephants are stabbed, chained and deprived of sleep, food and water to make them comply with orders.The Animals Abroad Bill, previously agreed in cabinet, would have outlawed adverts by British holiday companies for attractions where the animals are forced on pain of punishment to give rides and perform “tricks” such as playing football and painting pictures.The bill, which would also have banned imports of foie gras, fur and hunting trophies, was dropped earlier this year because of opposition from ministers who deemed it “un-Conservative”.Activists from the Save the Asian Elephants organisation, who were furious at the measure being canned, wrote to the two senior MPs asking them to take part in a debate in their constituencies over the issue and also to go on a fact-finding mission to see how elephants are treated behind the scenes at tourist attractions.The government’s own Animal Welfare Action Plan, which ministers vaunted as groundbreaking when they launched it last year, included a promise to ban the adverts.The sister of a British woman killed by an elephant at one theme park told two months ago how she was disgusted the government had performed a U-turn on its plan.But the bill was dropped from the Queen’s speech at the reopening of parliament.Duncan McNair, chief executive of Save the Asian Elephants (StAE), who has previously had meetings in Downing Street to lobby for a ban, wrote to the two MPs: “This omission came as a shock not only to those engaged daily in working to protect the highly endangered species from brutality and extinction to whom government has repeatedly made such promises, but to the many tens of millions in the country which polling show to be strongly supportive of such a ban.”He said in Mr Rees-Mogg’s North East Somerset constituency, 87 per cent of voters supported the ban and 86 per cent in Mr Spencer’s Sherwood constituency.“Government has yet to explain why it has abandoned its promises of such a ban,” the letter added.“I invite you to debate the issues with me in a convenient large public space within your constituency to see what local people think having heard both sides…“We also invite you to join StAE for a fact-finding visit to SE Asia so you may see first-hand the brutality inflicted on Asian elephants and their babies in tourism at ‘attractions’ promoted by UK companies.”The office of Mr Rees-Mogg, a former Commons leader, did not respond to repeated requests by The Independent to comment on the invitations and to say whether he believes cruelty to elephants can be justified.But a brief reply from the Cabinet Office to Mr McNair said the MP could not agree to either request “due to diary pressures”.A source close to Mr Spencer told The Independent he would not take part in either a debate or visit to elephant attractions in Asia.The source said Mr Spencer would not comment on the letter or on why he opposed the bill.But they said the government was confident it would deliver all its manifesto commitments on animal welfare by the end of the parliament in 2024, as well as pledges in the animal welfare action plan – including banning adverts for low-welfare experiences.Mr McNair has asked Mr Rees-Mogg to write personally explaining his views. More

Brexit is “largely to blame” for billions being lost in trade and tax revenues in recent years, according to a new study by top economists.The Centre for European Reform (CEF) said that by the end of last year, Britain’s economy was 5.2 per cent – or £31bn – smaller than it would have been without Brexit and the Covid pandemic.“We can’t blame Brexit for all of the 5.2 per cent GDP shortfall …. but it’s apparent that Brexit is largely to blame,” said John Springford, author of the CEF study.The CER modelled the performance of a “doppelganger” UK – if the nation had remained inside the EU’s single market – using data from other advanced economies similar to the UK.Mr Springford said “disentangling” the economic effects of Brexit and Covid in recent years was “difficult” – but said it was clear that the bigger negative impact had come from Brexit.The economist argues that a huge gap between the current UK and his “doppelganger” economy had opened up before the pandemic struck in the spring of 2020.Mr Springford said the sluggish economic performance after the end of lockdowns in 2021 also showed that the “sizeable” shortfall was “mostly Brexit and not Covid”.“The UK ended Covid restrictions sooner than many of its peers, thanks in part to starting its vaccination campaign early in 2021,” he said. “That should have made its recovery from Covid faster than other countries, not slower.”The CER study said it was “hard to avoid the conclusion that Brexit has severely curtailed GDP, investment and goods trade”.The report added: “British politicians may find it difficult to ignore the central role of Brexit in the UK’s economic problems for much longer.”It comes as British firms point the post-Brexit red tape which is continuing to create costly hold-ups in trade with the EU.One seafood firm in Northumberland spoke out about the “ridiculous” paperwork which almost caused a £50,000 delivery to be destroyed, since a form signed 43 times did not include a printed name.The Coquet Island Shellfish Company told the BBC the issue cost the firm up to £15,000 to sort out after several delays. “There have been no discernible benefits of Brexit. Everything takes longer and costs more,” said sales director Jane Pedersen.An influential committee of MPs recently warned that it was uncertain whether the post-Brexit free trade agreements negotiated by Boris Johnson’s government will provide any “actual economic benefits”.Meanwhile, No 10 confirmed on Friday that controversial new Brexit legislation – designed to take unilateral action to stop checks agreed with the EU as part of the withdrawal deal – will be published in the Commons on Monday.Conservative party grandee Ken Clarke “vast majority” of peers will back attempts to block the bill and “hold it up for a considerable time”. More

“And the Lord said unto Miliband, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tablets of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.” (Ed-xodus 24:12).And so it came to pass that, five days before the May 2015 general election, Labour Party leader Ed Miliband did stand in a car park in the marginal constituency of Hastings and Rye and unveil a towering monument bearing forth The Word.Which is to say, a handful of vague manifesto pledges.Resembling one of the eerie monoliths from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as much as the Decalogue brandished by Moses on Mount Sinai, Mr Miliand’s prop was a two-tonne slab of Portuguese moleanos limestone looming eight feet tall.Its lettering was engraved by Baskingstoke firm stoneCIRCLE at a cost of £7,1614, considerably less than the £30,000 reported at the time, and promised: “A Better Plan. A Better Future.”Beneath that legend, the values the monolith bore – reportedly approved by no fewer than 10 planning meetings attended by swathes of expensive public relations professionals who, quite frankly, should have known better – were as follows:A strong economic foundationHigher living standards for working familiesAn NHS with the time to careControls on immigrationA country where the next generation can do better than the lastHomes to buy and action on rent“They’re carved in stone because they won’t be abandoned after the general election,” the future shadow secretary of state for climate change explained.“I want the British people to remember these pledges, to remind us of these pledges, to insist on these pledges.”Oh, they remembered all right.Quickly dubbed the “Ed Stone” by media wags, the prop was met with immediate and widespread ridicule. Blustering Telegraph columnist and sometime London mayor Boris Johnson called it a “weird commie slab” and proclaimed: “Let us consign Milibandias and his tombstone to the bafflement of future archaeologists. Let it go down as the last act of a desperate candidate, and the heaviest suicide note in history.”Even The Independent’s own John Rentoul told ITV News in exasperation that the idea was “incredibly stupid”.”Serious grown adults sat in meetings and approved this,” he fumed. “The thinking behind it was ‘people don’t believe us, so we’re going to carve them on a stone and then people will believe us’.”Making matters worse, Lucy Powell, the vice-chair of Labour’s campaign gave an interview to BBC Radio 5 Live in which she dismissed the stunt outright by saying, “I don’t think anyone is suggesting that the fact that he’s carved them in stone means he’s absolutely not going to break them or anything like that”, therein fatally undermining the whole point of the venture.On 7 May, David Cameron’s austerity-minded Conservatives duly swept to victory, winning 331 seats to Labour’s 232 and drawing a line under their interesting experiment in coalition government with the Liberal Democrats to go solo, opening the door to Brexit and all the howling horrors that have ensued ever since.The opposition did not even win Hastings, site of the miraculous unveiling, where incumbent MP Amber Rudd not only beat challenger Sarah Owen but actually increased her majority.Tabloid glee at Mr Miliband’s ungainly assault on a bacon sandwich might also have played a hand in his defeat, as might his occasionally robotic speechmaking but, for some, it was the “Ed Stone” that was his undoing, a monument to cluelessness and ineptitude from a party whose judgement, on this evidence, could clearly not be trusted with administering the public purse.Had Mr Miliband won, the monolith would reportedly have stood in Downing Street’s Rose Garden, Westminster Council permitting, as a daily reminder to the new prime minister of his promises to the electorate.Now that he had lost, the folly was an embarrassment that needed to be disposed of as quickly and quietly as possible.Among gloating Tories, it found itself a highly-prized holy relic, with Conservative peer Lord Ashcroft reportedly having a £100,000 bid for it spurned by the party while The Telegraph, The Sun and The Daily Mail all worked hard to track it down, the red-top opening a hotline to tipsters and The Mail promising a case of champagne to anyone who could provide relevant information leading to its capture.The People’s History Museum in Manchester also made inquiries with a view to presenting it a cherished exhibit, only to be likewise rebuffed.Curator Chris Burgess told ITV: “This was a moment when the Labour Party wanted to appear solid, grounded, that they were serious and clearly they hadn’t quite projected that to the public widely and the stone was a symbol of perhaps that failure to project that message.”It was The Guardian that eventually located it in a warehouse in Woolwich, South London, owned by one Paye Stonework & Masonry Ltd. More

Boris Johnson has condemned the “sham” trial of two Britons sentenced to death by the Russian authorities for fighting in Ukraine, as the government comes under pressure to ensure their release.Downing Street said the prime minister was “appalled” at the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and vowed that the government would do “everything in its power” to reunite them with families.“We completely condemn the sham sentencing of these men to death. There’s no justification at all for this breach of the protection they’re entitled to,” said Mr Johnson’s official spokesman.They added: “[Mr Johnson] has been following the case closely and has asked ministers to do everything in their power to try and reunite them with their families as soon as we can.”Foreign secretary Liz Truss discussed the verdict issued by a proxy court in Russian-controlled east Ukraine during a phone call with her Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on Friday.After the call, she posted on social media: “The judgement against them is an egregious breach of the Geneva convention. The UK continues to back Ukraine against Putin’s barbaric invasion.”However, No 10 declined to say whether the Russian ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, would be summoned to the Foreign Office over the issue, or whether representations would be made to the Kremlin.“We don’t have regular interaction with the Russians,” they added, stressing the government’s priority is working with Ukrainian counterparts to “ensure their release as quickly as possible”.“They’re afforded protection under the Geneva Convention as members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which is why we want to continue working with them closely to try and get them freed as quickly as we can.”There are concerns in the Foreign Office that making their case a bilateral issue between the UK and Russia would assist Moscow in its narrative that the men are “mercenaries” and therefore not entitled to protection under international law.Britain argues that Mr Aslin (28), from Nottinghamshire, and Mr Pinner (48), from Bedfordshire, are members of the Ukrainian army and should therefore be treated as prisoners of war.Speaking on Friday, the Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov declined to comment on the case, saying: “Currently they are guided by the laws of the Donetsk People’s Republic”. More

The “vast majority” of peers will back attempts to block a bill by Boris Johnson’s government aimed at overriding parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, according to Conservative party grandee Ken Clarke.The controversial legislation – designed to take unilateral action to stop checks on goods agreed with the EU as part of the Brexit deal – will be published in the Commons on Monday.But the former Tory chancellor said the radical plan will be “seriously challenged” in the upper chamber. “I expect to find a very large majority of the House of Lords will hold it up for a considerable time,” Lord Clarke told the Daily Mail.“I personally, I am afraid, usually vote against the government when they are trying to break the rule of law,” he said – adding that Britain should abide by a “rules-based international order in which countries reach agreements and then stick to them”.The Tory peer added: “I do not think the government should be allowed to negotiate a treaty, tell the public that it is a fine treaty, get it ratified by parliament, and then almost immediately start trying to break it.”Fellow Tory grandee Lord Michael Howard – the former party leader who has previously voted against the government on Brexit legislation – also said the bill would “undoubtedly encounter a rocky road” in the Lords.Senior Labour and Liberal Democrats peers have also vowed to oppose the move, arguing that it violates an international treaty. Some observers predict that the Lords could help dilute the bill and delay it for up to a year.In November 2020, peers handed the government a significant defeat over Internal Market Bill – its previous bid to override parts of the withdrawal agreement – voted 433 to 165 to remove key clauses.Meanwhile, Tory MP Sir Bernard Jenkin warned the government it could face a rebellion of Brexiteer backbenchers in the Commons if the legislation if not offer the “serious prospect” of the DUP going back into government at Stormont.Mr Johnson and foreign secretary Liz Truss are under pressure by Tory MPs in the European Research Group (ERG) MPs and the DUP to make the bill as tough as possible in taking control of the movement of goods between GB and NI.The PM and Ms Truss met the ERG’s Bill Cash earlier this week to discuss their legislative plans – said to involve a “dual regulatory regime” allowing goods produced in GB to move into NI, and vice versa, without checks.Mujtaba Rahman, analyst at the Eurasia Group consultancy, said the EU would “not overreact” to the bill next week. He said Brussels chiefs are aware it could take six to 12 months for the legislation to move through parliament.But the Brexit expert told The Independent that he expected the European Commission to start “preparatory work” on possible retaliatory moves – including tariffs – as a bill moves through parliament.It comes as Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer warned that the PM was taking a “wrecking ball” to relations with the Republic of Ireland and the EU.The Labour leader met some of Northern Ireland’s political leaders on Friday amid the deepening row over post-Brexit trading arrangements for the region and the impasse at Stormont.Starmer held meetings with DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson – refusing the re-join the power-sharing executive until the protocol checks are ditched – and UUP head Doug Beattie in London earlier this week.No 10 confirmed on Friday that the legislation led by Ms Truss – and a summary of the government’s legal position – will be released on Monday. But the full legal advice given to ministers will not be disclosed.Downing Street has rejected the claim that Sir James Eadie, the government’s independent barrister on legal issues, had not been asked to give a view on whether the bill would breach international law.Foreign Office minister James Cleverly refused to directly say whether he was consulted on the plans – but insisted that the government remained “confident” that its proposals are legal.Meanwhile, Tory peer David Frost, the former Brexit negotiator, has said he is “thinking” about standing as an MP. “We’ll see if the opportunity arises and it might and it might not, we’ll see … I am thinking about it.” More

Boris Johnson is not a good role model for children, according to the government’s own social mobility tsar.Katharine Birbalsingh, the chair of the Social Mobility Commission since 2021, suggested the prime minister’s personal life made her “raise an eyebrow” and also questioned whether he looked “professional” enough.While Ms Birbalsingh said she did not know the full details of the Partygate scandal that has destabilised Mr Johnson’s premiership, she added: “It does sort of make you pause and go, hmm, hmm.“I certainly would never be able to put him up and say: ‘Be like him’. I couldn’t do that,” she told Sky News.Her remarks come after Mr Johnson narrowly survived a vote of no confidence, as 41 per cent of his own MPs voted against him amid deep anger over his handling of No 10 party allegations during Covid restrictions.Asked directly whether Mr Johnson is a good role model for children, Ms Birbalsingh, the headteacher and co-founder of Michaela community school in Wembley, London, replied: “No, I do not think so. “I don’t. I wish he could be, but he isn’t,” she said. “And that is a bit sad. “But I can’t get into the ins and outs because I don’t know enough. People say: ‘Should he be there? Should he not be there?’ I don’t know.“I like Boris, I don’t think he’s a bad guy. I don’t know enough about what he’s got up to, but I do not think he is a good role model for children.”Pressed to elaborate, Ms Birbalsingh said: “Well, his personal life — for instance. That does make me raise an eyebrow.“His hair. When I say his hair we’ve got strict rules at school. The other day I saw a picture of him in the Metro and I looked at his hair and I thought: ‘Oh, my goodness’. We expect our children to have professional looking hair”.“You might think that’s a bit pedantic and that’s a bit silly, but it isn’t actually. I think for our children it’s important to look professional.”The Social Mobility Commission led by Ms Birbalsingh is an independent statutory body and is responsible for publishing annual reports on the progress the country is making on improving social mobility.Attempting defending the prime minister on Sky News, the schools minister Robin Walker said Ms Birbalsingh is “entitled to her opinion”, but suggested any person that leads the country is a role model “children can look up to”.“The prime minister has shown phenomenal resilience through the Covid pandemic and leadership and I think that’s something the children should learn about, and understand at schools,” he added. “He’s also a great communicator and one of the things we seem to teach in all our schools is communication and literacy through speech and language.Asked whether the prime minister believed he was a good role model for children, a No 10 spokesperson later said: “I’m obviously not going to get into individual comments.“The prime minister is focused on what you heard in his speech yesterday. He’s set the government priorities in growing the economy, tackling the cost-of-living which is putting pressure on households across the country, funding the NHS the clear the backlog, to making our streets safer.“Yesterday you saw the prime minister make announcements to make it easier for people to get on the housing ladder.”“The public can see where the prime minister’s focus lies,” they added. More

Boris Johnson isn’t a good role model for children, says social mobility tsarMore than half of Britons think the Conservative party made the wrong decision in backing Boris Johnson’s premiership in the confidence vote earlier this week, a poll has found.Mr Johnson described his victory as “decisive”, despite winning the ballot by 211 votes to 148.But critics say the prime minister has found himself in the eye of a revolt against his positon, the scale of which far surpassed the expectations of his allies – failing to put to bed questions over his leadership.On Friday, an Ipsos poll found that 51 per cent of Britons think MPs slipped up in retaining the prime minister, a number which includes one in four 2019 Conservative voters. And, overall, 36 per cent said they made the right decision. Earlier, the government’s top social mobility chief dubbed Mr Johnson “not a good role model” for children.Katherine Birbalsingh, chair of the Social Mobility Commission, suggested that, even though she liked the prime minister, his personal life made her “raise an eyebrow”, and questioned whether he looked professional enough.Show latest update

1654872920What ever happened to the notorious ‘Ed Stone’?Five days before the May 2015 general election, then Labour Party leader Ed Miliband unveiled a giant monument bearing a handful of policy pledges. Telegraph columnist and sometime London mayor Boris Johnson called it a “weird commie slab”.But what happened to it? Joe Sommerlad investigates:Jane Dalton10 June 2022 15:551654871120David Frost ‘thinking’ about standing as Tory MPTory peer David Frost – the former Brexit minister who quite government at the end of last year – has said he is “thinking” about standing as an MP.“We’ll see if the opportunity arises and it might and it might not, we’ll see … I am thinking about it,” he told LBC.Jane Dalton10 June 2022 15:251654869260Brexit ‘largely to blame’ for £31bn loss to UK economyBrexit is largely to blame for billions being lost in trade and tax revenues in recent years, according to a study by top economists.The Centre for European Reform said that by the end of last year, Britain’s economy was 5.2 per cent – or £31bn – smaller than it would have been without Brexit and the Covid pandemic, writes Adam Forrest:Jane Dalton10 June 2022 14:541654867820Rwanda policy a chaotic diversion, says StarmerSir Keir Starmer has called the government’s Rwanda plan a “chaotic diversion” and said Labour instead would form “a proper plan with the French authorities” to tackle people-smuggling.When asked what Labour’s alternative to the policy would be, he said: “I think it’s very important that we all say, loud and clear, that we don’t want anybody making that dangerous crossing across the Channel.“We don’t want these people-smugglers to make profit from their business and we need to go after them hard.“That includes working with the French authorities, working upstream to tackle the criminals that are behind this.“The Government’s Rwanda scheme is a chaotic diversion, not-thought-through scheme which isn’t going to solve the problem.”Jane Dalton10 June 2022 14:301654866920Johnson condemns ‘sham sentencing’ of Britons facing death penaltyBoris Johnson has condemned the “sham” trial of two Britons sentenced to death by the Russian authorities for fighting in Ukraine, as the government comes under pressure to ensure their release.Downing Street said the prime minister was “appalled” at the sentencing of Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, write Ashley Cowburn and Adam Forrest.Sir Keir Starmer condemned the sentences, sayig he agrees with the Government’s approach to securing their release.“I utterly condemn the action that’s been taken in relation to the two Britons involved and they should be treated as prisoners of war.“The Government is right on this and I think it’s very important that we say there’s no party politics in this – we stand as one in condemning what is happening here and demanding in the strongest possible terms that they be treated as prisoners of war,” he said.Jane Dalton10 June 2022 14:151654863920Labour will oppose Troubles legislationSir Keir Starmer says Labour will oppose controversial legislation to address the legacy of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.“We will vote against that legislation because it doesn’t have the support of any of the political parties here in Northern Ireland. It doesn’t have the support of victims’ groups here in Northern Ireland, some of whom have told me themselves they haven’t even been consulted,” he said.“And it hasn’t got the support of the Irish government.”Jane Dalton10 June 2022 13:251654863020No 10 slates claim Sunak wasted £11bnDowning Street has attacked a think tank’s allegation that Rishi Sunak wasted £11 billion of taxpayers’ money by paying too much interest servicing government debt.A No 10 spokesman said: “It’s simply not true, and the measures that are proposed would’ve come with huge economic risks and would have undermined the Bank of England’s independence.“Specifically, forcing commercial banks to swap reserves for gilts undermines the independence of the Bank of England and would be an act of financial repression.“And the £11 billion figure itself is based on an implausible assumption.“Getting to that figure requires perfect foresight of market prices. It essentially says that two years ago you would’ve known exactly where the Bank’s rate and bond yields would have been now.”Jane Dalton10 June 2022 13:101654862615Labour will vote against Protocol BillLabour will vote against a government bill that would give powers to ministers to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, Sir Keir Starmer says.Speaking in Belfast after talks with political leaders, the party leader said: “We will vote against the legislation the government is putting before parliament. We think it is the wrong approach.“I’m not pretending there aren’t issues and challenges with the protocol, of course there are.“We have been listening to the political parties here, to communities, to business groups. I think those challenges can be overcome around the negotiating table with statecraft, with high levels of trust.“It is that high level of trust that is missing with this Prime Minister, and I think he is making a mistake by going down the route of legislation which will breach international law and, actually, I think, be an impediment to the negotiations that, in the end, are going to resolve these difficult issues.”Sir Keir confirmed that, if in power, Labour would scrap the proposed legislation to override parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol.He also called for “give and take” from both EU and UK negotiators.“We would scrap the legislation, and I think there has been an impasse in the negotiations because we haven’t seen the high levels of trust that we need for negotiations like this, not least from our prime minister.“But also we need give and take on both sides. The EU, as well as the UK, to give and take, to be flexible about the approach.“I do not think that the remaining issues of the protocol cannot be resolved with a different approach, with that high level of trust, with an honest broker prime minister getting people around the table and negotiating what needs to be negotiated.”Jane Dalton10 June 2022 13:031654862360Vast majority of peers will block Brexit Protocol Bill, says Tory grandeeThe vast majority of peers will back attempts to block a Bill aimed at overriding parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, according to Conservative Party grandee Ken Clarke.The controversial legislation, designed to take unilateral action to stop checks on goods agreed with the EU as part of the Brexit deal, will be published on Monday, writes Adam Forrest:Jane Dalton10 June 2022 12:591654861820PM still hopes first Rwanda migrants flight will go ahead Mr Johnson is still hoping that the first flight sending migrants to Rwanda will go ahead on Tuesday, Downing Street says.A No 10 spokesman said: “You’re aware of the ongoing court case today but we’ve set out our position on why we think this is the right approach.”Jane Dalton10 June 2022 12:50 More