Markus Andrews

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email The parties that agreed to form a Dutch coalition dominated by the far right are struggling to find a prime minister and warned Wednesday that the search might leave the Netherlands without a fully functional government for months. Anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, who convincingly won the November election, told legislators it might take until after the summer to cobble together a technocrat government. He reiterated that he would not become prime minister as part of the outline coalition deal.The initial candidate for prime minister that Wilders had in mind withdrew early this week following reported allegations of his involvement in medical patent fraud.“It could take one or two months,” or even up to a key parliamentary meeting in September, he said. Wilders has been a divisive figure in Dutch politics for the past two decades and his appointment as prime minister would be seen as a step too far. “No one had predicted this would work,” Wilders said about the coalition. “And I assure you that the government team, including the prime minister, will be presented. We will naturally make that work too.”Wilders was instrumental in building a coalition with outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s center-right People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy, the populist Farmer Citizen Movement and the new centrist New Social Contract party. With plans to enforce the most restrictive asylum policy in the history of the Netherlands, Wilders has pushed a Dutch coalition far to the right and obscured the traditional view of the country as an open, tolerant society. The coalition plan has also raised questions about the next government’s climate commitments that are enshrined in European Union policies. The Farmer Citizen Movement has made sure the deal includes soothing language and concessions to farmers who have choked roads with tractors during disruptive protests.Asylum and climate could quickly set up bruising battles with EU headquarters in Brussels, which oversees how policies are implemented in member states, and dent the nation’s stature as a pillar of the 27-nation bloc, which Rutte had carefully nurtured during his nearly 13 years in power.Rutte remains in office in a caretaker capacity and is seen as a strong candidate to become the next NATO secretary general this year.His party, however, risks being expelled from the liberal Renew bloc in the European Parliament because of its alliance with Wilders. The Renew bloc said it would not accept coalitions with the extreme right. ____Casert reported from Brussels More

Craig Mackinlay thanked his family and NHS staff in an emotional speech as he returned to parliament following his battle with sepsis.The Tory MP underwent a quadruple amputation in December 2023, losing his arms and his legs.He appeared in the House of Commons wearing prosthetics on Wednesday 22 May.“In the public gallery are many of the staff from the NHS who took me from where I was – close to death – to where I am today,” Mr Mackinlay said, as MPs applauded their efforts.“Thank you for that.”Mr Mackinlay went on to ask the government to “ensure we embed recognition of early signs of sepsis” to “stop somebody ending up like this”. More

SNP MP Alison Thewliss read out a hate message she received as she called on Rishi Sunak to ban misogynists from entering the UK.Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday (22 May), the Glasgow Central MP said: “In the wee small hours of Saturday morning I received an email, and I apologise for my language, calling me ‘a f****** parasite’, ‘a rat’ and ‘a piece of s***.”Ms Thewliss added: “Can I ask the prime minister, who has spoken about banning hate preachers from entering the UK, if he’ll extend this to misogynists?”Mr Sunak replied: “Those who seek to divide us undermine our values and indeed intimidate and threaten others, have no place in our society.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailWatch as Rishi Sunak faces Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday 22 May.Mr Sunak has declared UK inflation is “back to normal” in a “major milestone” for the country, as it hit its lowest level in nearly three years despite falling by less than economists were expecting. Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation slowed to 2.3 per cebt in April, down from 3.2 per cent in March, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).It is the lowest level since July 2021 when inflation was recorded at 2 per cent – the Bank of England’s target level.But the decline was smaller than expected as economists had predicted CPI would fall to 2.1 per cent in April, within a whisker of the Bank’s target.Speaking in Downing Street, the prime minister said the fall in inflation is a “major milestone”, but he admitted there is “more work to do”.“That is an important moment for our country, for the economy, and shows that our plan is working,” Mr Sunak said. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThere were emotional scenes in the House of Commons as Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, who lost his hands and feet to sepsis, returned to Parliament. Mr Mackinlay, who has joked he wants to be known as the “bionic MP”, received a standing ovation on Wednesday as he made his first appearance in the Commons since his ordeal. His wife Kati and their four-year-old daughter Olivia were sitting in the public gallery to watch the moment.Prime minister Rishi Sunak paid tribute, saying he was in “awe” at his remarkable resilience and indicated NHS procedures would change as a result .Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who shook Mr Mackinlay’s hand, praised his “courage and determination”. MPs are technically barred from clapping but were allowed to on this occasion by the Speaker. Mr Mackinlay said it was “an emotional day for me” as he apologised for breaking Commons rules, including wearing trainers because his shoes would not go on over his new feet and no jacket, because it would not fit over his bionic arm. He praised the prime minister for visiting him multiple times. There was another outbreak of clapping when he paid tribute to NHS staff, also in the public gallery, who “took me from close to death to where I am today”, he said.The MP for South Thanet was admitted to hospital in septic shock last September and was put into a 16-day induced coma.He was given just a 5 per cent chance of survival but pulled through, and said he was “extremely lucky to be alive”.He said he had been “stoic” when he was informed of the decision by doctors to amputate his limbs. “I haven’t got a medical degree but I know what dead things look like,” he said. “I was surprisingly stoic about it… I don’t know why I was. It might have been the various cocktail of drugs I was on.”The MP has been fitted with prosthetic limbs and plans to campaign for early diagnosis of the condition that nearly killed him.A former UKIP member, Mr Mackinlay has been a Tory MP since 2015 and said he intends to run at the next election. He said: “When children come to parliament’s fantastic education centre, I want them to be pulling their parents’ jacket or skirts or their teacher and saying: ‘I want to see the bionic MP today’.”( More

This is the funny moment Jeremy Hunt’s phone rings during his live TV interview with Martin Lewis.The chancellor was asked when banks are going to cut interest rates following a fall in inflation when he appeared on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday (22 May).Responding to the question, he said: “It’s obviously going in the right direction, and that is very encouraging, and when….”Mr Hunt was then interrupted by the sound of his mobile phone ringing.Taking the phone out of his pocket, he apologised and said “Excuse me for a moment”.Mr Lewis joked: “It is the prime minister on the phone.” More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailTwenty-seven nations and the European Union have signed a new agreement to create shared risk thresholds around the development of artificial intelligence (AI) to close the Seoul summit on the safety of the technology.The agreement will see the countries develop an internationally recognised threshold for AI model capabilities and when it should be considered it poses a severe risk without appropriate mitigations.That risk could include the potential for AI to help malicious actors acquire or use chemical and biological weapons, or by the technology attempting to evade human oversight through deception.The agreement, known as the Seoul Ministerial Statement, was signed at the conclusion of the AI Seoul Summit in South Korea, which the UK has co-hosted.Alongside the UK and South Korea, the United States, France, and the UAE were among those to sign up to the agreement, However China, which was involved in the summit talks, did not sign the statement.Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan said: “It has been a productive two days of discussions which the UK and the Republic of Korea have built upon the ‘Bletchley Effect’ following our inaugural AI Safety Summit which I spearheaded six months ago. “The agreements we have reached in Seoul mark the beginning of phase two of our AI safety agenda, in which the world takes concrete steps to become more resilient to the risks of AI and begins a deepening of our understanding of the science that will underpin a shared approach to AI safety in the future. “For companies, it is about establishing thresholds of risk beyond which they won’t release their models.“For countries, we will collaborate to set thresholds where risks become severe. The UK will continue to play the leading role on the global stage to advance these conversations.”As part of the agreement, the signatories have now set the target of developing the risk proposals alongside AI companies, civil society and academia, so that they can be discussed at the AI Action Summit, which is due to be hosted by France in 2025.The announcement follows agreements also being reached on the first day of the summit which saw 16 leading AI companies from around the world commit to publishing safety frameworks on how they will approach specific risks around AI, and a second agreement between 10 nations and the EU to create an international network of AI safety institutes that will share research and other data. More

Craig Mackinlay received a standing ovation as he made his return to the House of Commons on Wednesday 22 May.The Conservative MP has bravely opened up about the sepsis ordeal which left him with both of his hands and feet amputated last year.He now wants to be known as the first “bionic MP” after being fitted with prosthetic limbs.Ahead of Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Mackinlay returned to parliament and was given a standing ovation by his colleagues.Speaking on Tuesday, he recalled how his arms and legs “had turned black” having gone into septic shock in September last year. More