Markus Andrews

Security minister Damian Hinds has said counterterrorism police are “discovering more by the hour” about the Liverpool attack, as he suggested it was “not impossible” others could have been involved.His remarks come after police named the failed bomber who died in the Liverpool Women’s Hospital explosion as 32-year-old Emad al-Swealmeen and the UK’s terror threat was raised to “severe” from “substantial”.Addressing the situation, Mr Hinds stressed it could be “weeks” before the full picture of the attack is known, including the motivation and whether others were involved.“It’s a live investigation and the police do have the space, the time, to be able to conduct that investigation fully and carry on their searches of the key address and carry on with the analysis,” he told Times Radio.He said: “It’s not impossible that there could be other people involved. If that is the case, as the police said in their statement last night, they’ll make arrests quickly.“I’m not in a position to be able to comment on the background of the individual, the deceased individual or to speculate about the case.”In a separate interview on Sky News, the minister also said the Covid pandemic and lockdowns may have “exacerbated” the number of people self-radicalising online — an issue previously highlighted by experts.He said: “It certainly is true that we’ve seen a move over time, a shift from these what we call directed attacks, part of a bigger organisation where people are following instructions, sometimes quite complex in their organisation, and move from that to more self-directed, some self-radicalised individuals or small groups, rarely totally, totally alone.”He added: “There has been that move. During the lockdown periods there have been more people spending more time in front of computer screens and we know that when that happens for a very small minority, a very very small minority, there can be radicalisation.“I’m afraid it’s not brand now — radicalisation, self-radicalisation on the internet, the propaganda, the way people make contact with each other, that is not a new development, but like a number of things the changes we saw through the coronavirus period, through lockdown changed the modus operandi and this case yes they will have exacerbated and increased the amount of time people are spending online”.But he defended the decision to reduce the terror threat in February when quizzed on the issue, saying: “The alert level is determined independently of ministers — it’s not something I determine, or the Home Secretary determines.“We have a body JTAC — Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre — who are experts in this area. They use the alert level the way that law enforcement, security services and others can calibrate what they are doing.“We’ve been at a high alert for a very long time now and that’s the important,” he added.Asked again on why the alert level was changed despite the risk of people becoming radicalised online during the pandemic, he added: “The alert level was substantial, meaning an attack was likely.”He added: “These are not decisions that I made or ministers mind. We trust professionals and experts in the field. My opinion is that I absolutely trust them to make those correct judgments. “ More

The UK government has called on France to work together ‘constructively’ after nearly 4,000 people crossed the English Channel aboard small boats earlier this month.Tensions with France, already careworn amid Brexit rows over fishing and Northern Ireland, have escalated in recent days after 1,185 people reached the UK over the course of a single day last week.French interior minister, Gerald Darmanin, has blamed Britain’s work market for enticing people to make the perilous crossing.He told French media that NGOs “preventing the gendarmerie from working” were largely British with British citizens working on French soil.He added: “Smugglers organising networks and making large sums of money… exploiting women and children, who are often fragile and from Africa and the Middle East, are often in Great Britain.”Meanwhile, young children were carried ashore in Dover on Monday after more people risked their lives in an attempt to cross the English Channel.They were among dozens of people ferried to the Kent port aboard a Border Force patrol boat. Many were men, but border officials were also seen ushering at least six children up the gangway.There were also reports that the RNLI has recovered a jet-ski used to cross the Channel and towed it ashore in Dungeness.More than 23,500 people have now reached the UK after crossing the English Channel on board small boats this year, according to data compiled by the PA news agency.More than 3,770 people succeeded in crossing to Britain in the first two weeks of November, the data shows.Home secretary Priti Patel spoke to her French counterpart Mr Darmanin on Monday about the ongoing issue of Channel crossings.In a joint statement, the pair said they had agreed to “to strengthen operational cooperation further” and “to accelerate the delivery” of commitments made when they spoke back in July.Earlier, Mr Darmanin told French media that NGOs “preventing the gendarmerie from working” are largely British with British citizens working on French soil.He added: “Smugglers organising networks and making large sums of money… exploiting women and children, who are often fragile and from Africa and the Middle East, are often in Great Britain.”Downing Street says further action is needed to stem the flow of people crossing the Channel.The prime minister’s official spokesman said Ms Patel is seeking talks with her French counterpart about what more can be done.“It is clear that we need to keep working with our French counterparts to do more to prevent these crossings, which are putting lives at risk,” the spokesman said.“We continue to see France as a close ally of the UK.“We do want to work constructively to resolve this issue“We are providing funding to the French to allow them to increase surveillance, to allow them to increase the police presence that it there to prevent these crossings taking place.“Through that investment we have seen stoppages increase and that is to be welcomed but clearly with the level crossings we are seeing per day more needs to be done.”On a grey morning in Dover, dozens of people were seen being brought ashore aboard Border Force’s patrol boat Hurricane.While many were men, border officials were also seen ushering at least six children up the gangway.Two children and a woman were seen walking up to the quayside, accompanied by a border official who appeared to pat one of the youngsters on the back and reassure them.Another child was seen being carried in the arms of an immigration officer as they were taken off the boat.About 20 miles along the coast at Dungeness, lifeboat crews were seen towing a jet-ski on to the beach.The RNLI is believed to have been tasked to an incident at sea earlier on Monday morning, leading to suspicions that the jet-ski was used in a Channel crossing.The coastguard confirmed that it had been co-ordinating a search and rescue response to an incident off Kent and had sent the coastguard helicopter a lifeboat. More

Boris Johnson’s attempt to draw a line under the Owen Paterson scandal failed on Monday night after MPs unexpectedly blocked a government motion.Parliament was thrown into more chaos after ministers tried and failed to get their U-turn through parliament without a vote.The government had hoped MPs would approve a motion to scrap the controversial standards reforms without an embarrassing division.But as the deputy speaker Nigel Evans read out the name of the motion at 10pm he was greeted with a single shout of “object” from the Commons benches.Under parliamentary procedure the shout means the motion, which was supposed to be a formality, was blocked.Government ministers had hoped MPs would simply yell “aye”, waving through the change without a vote.The intervention, by right-wing Conservative MP Christopher Chope, means government will have to schedule a full vote on the issue – or drop its plans to U-turn. Opposition parties branded the late-night episode a “farce”. Speaking after MPs raised a point of order deputy speaker Mr Evans said it is now “up to the Government to re-programme that particular motion”.The motion aimed to rescind the so-called Leadsom amendment, which set up a new standards committee with an in-built Tory majority. It would have also left off MP Owen Paterson, who was found guilty of breaching lobbying rules. Mr Paterson dramatically quit as an MP last week when the government said it would in fact allow him to be punished. The establishment of the committee and the lifting of sanctions on Mr Paterson caused an outcry and opposition parties pledged to boycott it. The government has since said it would drop the plans and Monday night’s motion had been its bid to make good of this promise.Thangam Debbonaire, Labour’s shadow leader of the Commons, said: “You couldn’t make it up. Two weeks ago the Prime Minister forced Tory MPs to tear up the rules on Standards just to protect one of their own. Now they can’t even clear up their own mess. “Tonight’s farce is of the Tories’ own making and serves Boris Johnson right for trying to sneak a u-turn out at night rather than do the decent thing and come to the House to apologise for the Tory sleaze scandal. “At the moment, it doesn’t look like the Tories could organise a drinks party in a brewery. The Prime Minister needs to get a grip.” More

Boris Johnson has urged European countries to break their addiction to Russian gas, warning that it could cloud their judgement when dealing with Vladimir Putin’s government.In a speech to City of London dignitaries on Monday night, the prime minister said countries like Germany would have to choose between “mainlining ever more Russian hydrocarbons” and “sticking up for” peace and stability in the east.It comes after the prime minister order the deployment of British military engineers to the Poland-Belarus border as tensions rise in the east over the ensuing refugee crisis.Formally ditching a once-popular theory, Mr Johnson told his audience at London’s Mansion House that it was “clear that some countries are simply not going to evolve towards free market democracies and we should be clear eyed about that”. The prime minister said relations with Russia and other states should be “friendly and pragmatic” but appeared to warn against the construction of a planned new gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, which is backed by Berlin – a major consumer of natural gas from the east.Addressing the governments of Germany, Austria, Italy, France, and other European countries that import large amounts of Russian gas, Mr Johnson said: “We hope that our friends may recognise that a choice is shortly coming between mainlining ever more Russian hydrocarbons in giant new pipelines and sticking up for Ukraine and championing the cause of peace and stability, let me put it that way.”Russia is a major exporter of gas to Western Europe, which it sends via Belarus and sells via state-owned company Gazprom.Calling for an alliance of like-minded democracies, Mr Johnson added: “When we say that we support the sovereignty and integrity of Ukraine that is not because we want to be adversarial to Russia, or that we want in some way strategically to encircle or undermine that great country.“And never let it be forgotten, in this season of remembrance, that it was Russian blood that enabled us to defeat Nazism. It is because we have a commitment to democracy and freedom that is shared now across the vast mass of the European continent.“And when our Polish friends asked for our help to deal with a contrived crisis on their border with Belarus, we were quick to respond.”Russian president Mr Putin did not attend the Cop26 climate conference in Glasgow this month but spoke to Mr Johnson on the phone ahead of the event. According to a read-out of the call the prime minister “was clear that the UK’s current relationship with Russia is not the one we want” and said “significant bilateral difficulties remain” between the two countries. More

British business chiefs have urged Boris Johnson’s government against suspending the Brexit agreement with the EU, warning it could launch a “devastating” trade war in the weeks ahead.Brexit minister Lord Frost said last week that the option to trigger Article 16 to suspend the Northern Ireland protocol remained on the table if “significant gaps” with the EU cannot be bridged, but appeared to seek to calm the row for now. But while Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission negotiator, welcomed the “change in tone” from the UK, Brussels is prepared for immediate retaliatory measures against the UK if No 10 does go ahead and suspend the protocol, legal experts and analysts have told The Independent.Industry leaders in the UK said they feared a series of “damaging” moves that could hit British exports, further disrupt supply chains and lead to a freeze on investment.Catherine Barnard, professor of EU law at Trinity College, Cambridge, said: “A trade war is a serious possibility. The EU is looking at a range of options – they are exploring routes to take retaliatory measures quickly.”EU chiefs are thought to be mulling over a “nuclear” option of terminating the Trade and Cooperation Pact (TCA) if Downing Street triggers Article 16.This would put the UK on a 12-month notice period before the pact ends and Britain is forced to trade with Europe on World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms – essentially a “no-deal” Brexit scenario.However, the EU is also looking at whether to trigger a lesser-known part of the TCA, Article 506, to take immediate action, according to Prof Barnard.“It means that the EU would get its retaliation in quickly before needing to go to arbitration. The retaliation ranges from stopping fishing in [EU] waters to putting tariffs on UK fish going into the EU, and then tariffs on other goods,” she said.“The French and other countries could also do more rigorous checks on goods coming from the UK, which could gum things up pretty quickly at the border.”David Henig, the UK director at the European Centre for International Political Economy, said a decision by Brussels to launch retaliatory moves would have a “very negative impact” on the British economy.“If the UK triggers Article 16, I suspect [the EU] may start with things like 100 per cent physical checks on UK goods, and some retaliatory tariffs on certain goods, before deciding whether to go fully nuclear by suspending or terminating the TCA.”He added: “If they do that, we could be back in no-deal Brexit territory, with that threat hanging over the UK economy in 2022. It could lead to a freeze on investment.”The British Meat Processors Association said it was increasingly worried about the prospect of both short-term damage and much higher tariffs on exports if the trade deal is eventually scrapped.Nick Allen, the body’s chief executive, told The Independent: “Trading on WTO terms would be horrendous for the meat industry. The idea that we’re back worrying about trading on WTO terms again is incredibly depressing.”He added: “We’re struggling enough with food inflation without a damaging trade war and retaliation measures. Another year of uncertainty would be devastating for our industry and the whole of the food sector – it means all the investment our economy needs could be put on hold.”The Road Haulage Association (RHA) fears the possibility of the EU insisting on more rigorous checks at Calais and other border points, causing delays for UK lorry drivers and knock-on disruption.“A trade war would not be pretty,” said Rod McKenzie, the RHA’s director of policy. “It’s a big worry for all of us in the logistics trade.”The haulage chief added: “If Article 16 is triggered, we know the EU is going to be cross and they’re probably going to want to respond. My big worry is always supply chains. If the EU retaliates, this has the potential to cause even more disruption to very stressed supply chains that exist at the moment.”Barrie Deas, chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations (NFFO), said it still wasn’t clear which agreements on fish could be suspended if a trade war develops, but warned both sides of the dangers in escalation. “A trade war would hurt everybody,” he said. “It could have big implications for France, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark and Ireland – all the countries which fish in UK waters quite extensively. There’s a potential for all of us to be losers.”If No 10 does trigger Article 16, the scale of the EU response will depend on how the prime minister and his Brexit minister Lord Frost explain their actions – and the extent of their “safeguard” measures.The government could decide to unilaterally stop checks on only some goods sent across the Irish Sea or instead suspend large parts of the protocol agreement involving all customs checks, standards and VAT rules.The EU has offered a series of changes to the protocol, claiming they would remove 80 per cent of checks on goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.But Lord Frost has continued to demand that Brussels also agree to the removal of European Court of Justice (ECJ) judges in the protocol arbitration process. “On the European court, on our side definitely nothing’s changed,” said Mr Sefcovic on Friday.A spokesperson for the EU Commission told The Independent that Mr Sefcovic remains “fully concentrated on finding practical solutions” so Northern Ireland is given “stability and certainty”. 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The Independent first reported last month that the government was watering down the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) project – stripping it out to the bare minimum. Now, with an announcement looming on Thursday, it seems that the cuts have gone further, and the new line has been effectively scrapped.NPR was first announced by George Osborne in 2014 – when he branded it “HS3”, the logical next step after HS2. The plan was for a new high speed line running east-west across the North, connecting Manchester with Leeds. Paired with upgrades and new lines linking other cities such as Newcastle, Liverpool, Bradford and Sheffield, it would increase rail capacity and reduce journey times within and across the north.But on Thursday the government is expected to finally release its much-delayed integrated rail plan spelling out what it will build. The latest reports are that there will be no new line from Manchester to Leeds in it.This is not just a case of more cut-backs: this line was the “bare minimum” of Northern Powerhouse Rail. If a new line between the north’s two most important cities isn’t in the plan, Northern Powerhouse Rail has not been cut back – it has been cancelled.The government is expected to instead announce upgrades to the existing transpennine route – and try to spin this as NPR after all. Boris Johnson’s spokesperson appeared to confirm the reports on Monday – refusing to commit to a new line and only telling reporters: “We are committed to transforming rail connections across the Midlands and the North with shorter journey times and an accelerated timetable for delivery which allows us to bring in real benefits for communities as soon as possible.”Read between the lines, and wait to see what is announced on Thursday. These upgrades will probably be worthwhile, but there are simply no possible upgrades that deliver anywhere near the same improvements in reliability, capacity, and journey times that a new line would. New line is required to separate intercity journeys from local stopping trains, allowing far more of both. It is also required to improve links to cities like Bradford that are currently under-served by a network based on the human geography of the 19th century. Trying to squeeze more, faster trains onto the same lines will make reliability and overcrowding worse, not better.However extensive the planned upgrades to existing line might be, they are simply not HS3, or NPR or whatever you want to call the required new line. There is still time for the government to change course, but if the integrated rail plan is as reported, the government cannot claim with any credibility to care about “levelling up” regions outside London, because it is actively cancelling the main projects promised to achieve that.Paired with the expected cancellation of HS2’s eastern leg it will be doing exactly the opposite – deciding that the north and midlands aren’t worth investing in. Anything else is just spin. More

A senior Conservative MP has warned Boris Johnson not to “get ahead of public opinion” by committing the UK to climate change action, warning that voters are more interested in their “great big bloody heating bills” than in the future of the Great Barrier Reef.Sir Edward Leigh’s comment came just days after the UK-hosted Cop26 summit in Glasgow agreed to move towards a “phase down” in coal power generation and reductions in other fossil fuel emissions over the coming years in the hope of keeping global warming within 1.5C.Mr Johnson came under fire in the House of Commons for failing to secure more immediate cuts in greenhouse gases, with Keir Starmer describing Cop as “a missed opportunity – a stumble forwards when we needed to make great strides”.But Sir Edward suggested instead that the battle against climate change should take a back seat to the pressure to keep energy prices down and boost the competitiveness of UK companies.His comments, calling for unrestrained use of the UK’s natural gas supplies, signalled the continuing presence on Tory backbenches of distaste for the PM’s adoption of the climate emergency cause.“Could I urge the prime minister and other world leaders not to get ahead of public opinion on this,” said the MP for Gainsborough in Lincolnshire.His constituents “are not so much worried about the future of the Great Barrier Reef in 50 years’ time, they are worried about their great big bloody heating bills now”, he said.“They are heavily reliant on gas, of which we have abundant supply.“Manufacturers in northern ‘levelling up’ towns are worried about their competitiveness with China as more and more regulations are imposed on them.”In response, Mr Johnson insisted it was “entirely realistic to move very rapidly to renewable energy” as the cost of wind and solar power dropped, and said the UK would have a “first mover advantage” in becoming a leader in what he termed a “green industrial revolution”.The PM hailed Cop26 as “the summit that proved the doubters and the cynics wrong” – as he said it kept alive the aim of limiting global temperature rises to 1.5C, and united the world in “calling time on coal”.But he lashed out at countries who “really should know better” for “dragging their heels” on climate commitments made in Paris in 2015.Despite a last-minute ambush by China and India which watered down action on coal, Mr Johnson said Glasgow would be remembered as the place where “the world began to turn the tide”.He played down the significance of the intervention by Beijing and Delhi, which reduced Cop26 president Alok Sharma to tears on the conference podium.“You can’t phase out coal without first phasing it down as we transition to other, cleaner energy sources,” the prime minister told MPs.But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that hopes were “now on life support” of limiting global warming to levels which scientists believe will avert the most catastrophic consequences.“We still have the chance to keep 1.5C alive, but only with intensive care,” said Starmer.“We have to speak honestly about the challenge we face to rebuild the coalition that we need, and to take on the big emitters. We can and we must change course.”Sir Keir mocked the prime minister’s claim during the Glasgow summit that “190 countries and organisations” had agreed to end coal use.“On closer inspection, only 46 of them were countries,” said the Labour leader. “Of that, only 23 were new signatories. Of those 23, 10 do not even use coal. And the 13 that remained did not include the biggest coal users – China, the US, India, and Australia.”Sir Keir said: “With no public pressure, the big emitters were emboldened and they clubbed together to gut the main deal’s wording on coal. “Only someone who thinks words are meaningless could now argue that an agreement to phase down coal is the same as an agreement to phase it out.” More

The Conservatives will be “hammered at the next election” unless the party regains public trust, an MP and cabinet minister’s aide has warned Boris Johnson.In an extraordinary rebuke, Bim Afolami has branded the handling of the Owen Paterson lobbying scandal a “debacle” and a “pivotal moment of this parliament”.The aide to Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, said even committed Tories were questioning the prime minister’s competence, and asking: “If we can’t handle this sort of political issue, how can we handle the tough stuff that really matters?”And he warned: “The danger of this political moment is that the Conservative government may be close to losing a very precious thing – the benefit of the doubt.“I don’t know for how long this will be the case, but I do not believe that our fall in poll support to the mid 30s will be temporary, nor is it just about this ‘sleaze’ issue.”Mr Afolami said that after 13 or 14 years of Tory rule Mr Johnson would be vulnerable, at the next election, to Labour’s “powerful time for a change” message.It would also be fought against the backdrop of “debt higher than in 2019, NHS backlogs still high, and household incomes still stretched”.“If we add to these factors a public sense that we are not in politics for the right reasons, or that we aren’t focused on practically improving people’s lives, we will get hammered at the next election and deservedly so,” Mr Afolami said in an article for the Conservative Home website.“We need to prove that we are worthy of the trust that was placed in us in 2019 and show we are focused on delivering for the public. Unless we do that, we will go the way of previous long-running administrations.”The Paterson affair has triggered a slump in Mr Johnson’s popularity and his party’s poll ratings – and fury among his own MPs over the costly own goal.There is little sign of the government regaining the momentum, as it faces a tricky Labour-inspired vote on Wednesday that will challenge Tory MPs to ban second jobs.Mr Afolami, who calls himself a one-nation Tory, also pointed to public perception that government members are not “doing their jobs effectively enough”, adding: “Dare I say it, I think they are right.”And he said: “Our poor handling of the issue has led even our strongest supporters to question our ability to manage the country: if we can’t handle this sort of political issue, how can we handle the tough stuff that really matters?” There was a “nagging sense in the public that we should be better governed”, the MP wrote, adding: “Since the prime minister is at the apex of the system, he will carry most of the can.” More