UK Politics

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a new package of support worth £15 billion to help the country through the cost of living crisis.Among them, is a one-off payment of £650 for eight million families on benefits to ease the pressure of rising energy bills.The sum will be applied to those on Universal Credit, Tax Credits, Pension Credit, and legacy benefits from July.Those eligible won’t need to apply, but will receive two direct payments – the first in July and the second in autumn – from the Department of Work and Pensions straight to their bank accounts.One-off payments of £300 to pensioners and £150 for those receiving disability benefits were also announced.“We need to make sure that for those whom the struggle is too hard, and for those whom the risks are too great, they are supported,’’ Mr Sunak said in the House of Commons while unveiling the new support package.The chancellor vowed to provide support to those across the country by revising his previous energy bill loan of £200 which he announced in March.It has now been doubled to £400 and households will no longer need to repay the money.Cost of living: how to get helpThe cost of living crisis has touched every corner of the UK, pushing families to the brink with rising food and fuel prices.The Independent has asked experts to explain small ways you can stretch your money, including managing debt and obtaining items for free.If you need to access a food bank, find your local council’s website, and then use the local authority’s site to locate your nearest centre. The Trussell Trust, which runs many foodbanks, has a similar tool. Citizens Advice provides free help to people in need. The organisation can help you find grants or benefits, or advise on rent, debt and budgeting. If you are experiencing feelings of distress and isolation, or are struggling to cope, The Samaritans offers support; you can speak to someone for free over the phone, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch.“We are meeting our responsibility to provide the most help to those on the lowest incomes. I believe that is fair, and I’m confident the House will agree,” he told MPs.“But there are many families who do not require state support in normal times, they are also facing challenging times. Is it fair to leave them unsupported? The answer must surely be no.“While it is impossible for the government to solve every problem, we can and will ease the burden as we help the entire country through the worst of the crisis.” More

Boris Johnson denies feeling any ‘personal shame’ for lack of trust among voters
Yet more Tory rebels have urged ministers to resign in a bid to force Boris Johnson from office, piling further pressure on the prime minister after his dual by-election defeats last week.Urging ambitious ministers to “show a little backbone and indeed leadership”, 1922 Committee vice-chair William Wragg joined a growing chorus of former Tory Party leaders, erstwhile ministers and peers demanding that senior members of Mr Johnson’s government consider their positions.But, speaking at the G7 summit, Mr Johnson insisted he was unperturbed by potential plots to oust him and insisted questions over his leadership had been “settled” in the recent confidence vote.Despite his claims to be preparing for his leadership to hit a third term stretching into the 2030s reportedly sparking a fresh flurry of no confidence letters over the weekend, Mr Johnson insisted he had a mandate to drive a “massive, massive agenda”, adding: “Nobody abandons a privilege like that.”As MPs prepare to debate his plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol, Mr Johnson claimed the controversial legislation could be implemented in 2022.Show latest update

1656341501DUP warns House of Lords blocking Brexit bill akin to ‘wrecking’ Belfast AgreementThe House of Lords will be “wrecking the Good Friday Agreement” if peers block the passage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has claimed.In a warning to peers ahead of MPs’ first debate on the bill – due to start shortly – the DUP leader said: “If the House of Lords seeks to wreck the Bill, then they need to understand they are wrecking the Good Friday Agreement as well.”He also warned that Conservative MPs hostile to Boris Johnson should not use Northern Ireland as a “political football”, telling reporters outside parliament: “We know there will be some opposition from some Conservative MPs who have always opposed Brexit.“But I think that for the vast majority of Conservative MPs the idea of playing political football with Northern Ireland, with such a sensitive issue as this, I think they recognise is not the way to deal with the internal problems in the Conservative Party.“The prime minister is the prime minister at the moment, he continues in office, he is taking this Bill forward, we support the Bill and we want to see it going through Parliament.“The message we will be giving today to all MPs is if they want to see political institutions restored, if they truly want to protect the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, then this Bill is the way to achieve that. I don’t see any alternative on the table at the moment.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 15:511656340601EU ‘showing no inclination of taking realistic approach’ to NI Protocol, DUP leader claimsDUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said his party would look at any solution to the protocol row offered by the EU, but added the bloc would need to show “more realism”.“If an agreement with the EU deals with the problems that the protocol has created in Northern Ireland, then of course we will look at that, but certainly the EU shows no inclination at the moment to take a realistic approach to dealing with the protocol issues,” he said.“What they have proposed falls way, way short and indeed, as the prime minister has said, could actually make the situation even worse than it is at the moment.”The DUP leader added: “We certainly need to hear more pragmatism and more realism from the EU, but in the absence of that I think the Bill is the way forward.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 15:361656339724Irish premier rejects PM’s claims over Northern Ireland ProtocolIrish premier Micheal Martin has rejected Boris Johnson’s assertion that he does not see a major diplomatic row erupting over the Northern Ireland Protocol – warning London’s shift towards unilateralism “is not a good move”.Speaking in Dublin on Monday, Mr Martin said: “That, in my view, doesn’t stack up in the sense that any unilateral decision to breach international law is a major serious development. There can be no getting out of that. One cannot trivialise the breaching of an international agreement between the UK government and the EU.“My concern is a trend towards unilateralism that is emanating from the UK government. We had it on the protocol, we had it on legacy issues, we have it now in terms of the application of the decision of European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in terms of domestic British law.“We know that the Good Friday Agreement incorporates protections under the human rights convention and that is something we will keep a close eye on. I have been in touch with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, and they are concerned about this.“They are conscious that similar efforts were made last year but this is not a good move by the British government and it has to accept that unilateralism does not work in the context of the Good Friday Agreement, or in the context of good relationships with your neighbours and the EU.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 15:221656338861UK aid pledge ‘nowhere near enough’ to address hunger crisis, say charitiesBoris Johnson’s commitment to help developing countries facing an unprecedented hunger crisis is “nowhere near enough”, a coalition of leading aid charities has said.The prime minister, attending the G7 summit in Germany this week, announced a £372m support package to help countries hardest hit by soaring food costs and fertilizer shortages.Bond – an umbrella group representing 70 UK-based charities – said the pledge was not enough, highlighting recent government cuts to the aid budget.Stephanie Draper, chief executive of Bond, said it was “nowhere near what’s needed”, adding that the package “must be the seed of a bigger plan to address the causes and consequences of the global food crisis”.Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has the full report here:Andy Gregory27 June 2022 15:071656338001Opinion | We’ll never be able to stamp out sleaze at Westminster – isn’t that depressing?In her latest Independent Voices column, Marie Le Conte looks at the responses last week to various sleaze rows in UK politics. She writes:“Ultimately, politics is about parties – it is about teams that win and lose, and that stick together even when they shouldn’t. Until we make enough people understand that their party does not matter as much as doing the right thing, nothing will change. “Until we make enough of them realise that winning cannot be the only prism through which to view every event, nothing will change.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 14:531656336281Another Tory peers calls on ministers to revolt against PMAnother Tory peer has joined the chorus of Conservatives calling for ministerial resignations in order to topple Boris Johnson’s leadership.In a letter to The Times editor, Lord Garnier – a former solicitor general for England and Wales – wrote: “[Former Tory leader William Hague has understandably called for cabinet ministers to resign in the aftermath of the two by-election defeats.”He added: “Of course they will not do that as most of them cannot realistically expect to be in the next prime minister’s cabinet. It therefore needs ministers of state and parliamentary under-secretaries to do what the cabinet cannot or will not do in order to bring about change at the top. “They and several coming along behind them are the future of the Conservative Party in government and parliament. The future needs to be grasped.”Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more on Mr Wragg’s warning for ambitious ministers to “show a bit of backbone and indeed leadership” here:Andy Gregory27 June 2022 14:241656335143PM denies feeling any ‘personal shame’ for voters’ loss of trustBoris Johnson has denied feeling any “personal shame” for voters’ loss of trust in him.Asked whether this was a source of shame, Mr Johnson said: “No. Because I think actually when you look at what this government has done, it is quite exceptional.“And I understand that people are going to want to criticise me, attack me, for all sorts of reasons, some of them good, some of them less good.”Boris Johnson denies feeling any ‘personal shame’ for lack of trust among votersAndy Gregory27 June 2022 14:051656334421Irish foreign minister ‘hugely disappointed’ with UK’s ‘unlawful’ protocol plansIreland’s minister for foreign affairs said he is “hugely disappointed” that the British government is continuing to pursue its “unlawful” unilateral approach on the Northern Ireland Protocol.Simon Coveney said: “This is not the way to find sustainable solutions to the genuine concerns of people and business in Northern Ireland and only adds to uncertainty.“I continue to urge the British Government to return to constructive dialogue with the EU in pursuit of jointly agreed, long-lasting solutions.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 13:531656333641Jeremy Corbyn ‘set to give evidence’ at High Court trial after libel claimFormer Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is due to give evidence at a three-week High Court trial after being accused of libel by a political blogger, a judge has been told.Richard Millett has sued Mr Corbyn over remarks he made during an interview on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show in 2018, when he was leader of the opposition.Mr Justice Nicklin considered pre-trial issues at a High Court hearing in London on Monday. Lawyers representing Mr Corbyn, who is fighting the claim, said 41 people, including Mr Corbyn and Mr Millett, could give evidence.William McCormick QC, who is leading Mr Corbyn’s legal team, said Mr Corbyn was relying on 32 witnesses, plus himself, and Mr Millett on seven, plus himself. In a written case outline, he said Mr Corbyn was mounting a “truth defence” against allegations made by Mr Millett.PA27 June 2022 13:401656332441Watch: Boris Johnson compares Russia to Nazi GermanyHere is a clip of Boris Johnson’s comments on the sidelines of the G7 summit, in which he made a comparison between the situation facing western leaders over Russia’s war in Ukraine and decisions taken to “resist tyranny and aggression” and defeat Nazi Germany.Boris Johnson compares Russia to Nazi Germany at G7 summitYou can read more of his comments on the matter below.Andy Gregory27 June 2022 13:20 More

A leading Conservative critic of Boris Johnson has called on cabinet ministers to “show a bit of backbone” and take action on the leadership.William Wragg, who chairs the House of Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee suggested that senior ministers with an eye on the leadership are damaging their own chances to succeed Johnson by failing to act decisively to remove him now.Mr Wragg told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour that former Tory chair OliverDowden deserved “credit” for quitting the cabinet in the wake of disastrous by-election defeats in Wakefield and Tiverton & Honiton last week.But he said there was growing disappointment on the Tory backbenches that other senior ministers have not taken similar steps.“OIiver Dowden has resigned and credit to him for doing so in taking an element of responsibility,” said the Manchester Hazel Grove MP.“But so far I think it is fair to say – and it’s all very well colleagues whispering to each other in the tearoom and in the corridors – that the sense of disappointment that there is on the backbenches towards the cabinet is palpable because you would have expected for some of them at least to show a bit of backbone and indeed leadership.“Indeed, any of them with leadership aspirations might wish to consider this and do something about it.”Mr Wragg, who has previously called on the prime minister to resign, said that last week’s election defeats were a “complete and utter disaster” for the Conservative Party.“The question is are they mid-term blues? I suggest not,” he said. Instead, they appeared to be “symptomatic of a complete crisis in the Conservative vote in very different parts the country”.Mr Wragg is a vice chair of the backbench 1922 Committee, which staged a confidence vote in Mr Johnson’s leadership earlier this month, won by the PM by a 211-148 margin.Pressure is growing on the committee to amend rules which grant Mr Johnson a 12-month grace period before a re-run vote can be held.Some Tory critics of Johnson have said they will stand in elections to the committee’s 18-person executive next month in the hope of securing an early vote, which they believe the premier would now lose.But Mr Wragg said: “I don’t think it is desirable that the 1922 Committee should tinker with the rules although it did previously in recent history at the end of end of Mrs May’s government.” More

Boris Johnson denies feeling any ‘personal shame’ for lack of trust among voters
Yet more Tory rebels have urged ministers to resign in a bid to force Boris Johnson from office, piling further pressure on the prime minister after his dual by-election defeats last week.Urging ambitious ministers to “show a little backbone and indeed leadership”, 1922 Committee vice-chair William Wragg joined a growing chorus of former Tory Party leaders, erstwhile ministers and peers demanding that senior members of Mr Johnson’s government consider their positions.But, speaking at the G7 summit, Mr Johnson insisted he was unperturbed by potential plots to oust him and insisted questions over his leadership had been “settled” in the recent confidence vote.Despite his claims to be preparing for his leadership to hit a third term stretching into the 2030s reportedly sparking a fresh flurry of no confidence letters over the weekend, Mr Johnson insisted he had a mandate to drive a “massive, massive agenda”, adding: “Nobody abandons a privilege like that.”As MPs prepare to debate his plans to rip up the Northern Ireland Protocol, Mr Johnson claimed the controversial legislation could be implemented in 2022.Show latest update

1656341501DUP warns House of Lords blocking Brexit bill akin to ‘wrecking’ Belfast AgreementThe House of Lords will be “wrecking the Good Friday Agreement” if peers block the passage of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has claimed.In a warning to peers ahead of MPs’ first debate on the bill – due to start shortly – the DUP leader said: “If the House of Lords seeks to wreck the Bill, then they need to understand they are wrecking the Good Friday Agreement as well.”He also warned that Conservative MPs hostile to Boris Johnson should not use Northern Ireland as a “political football”, telling reporters outside parliament: “We know there will be some opposition from some Conservative MPs who have always opposed Brexit.“But I think that for the vast majority of Conservative MPs the idea of playing political football with Northern Ireland, with such a sensitive issue as this, I think they recognise is not the way to deal with the internal problems in the Conservative Party.“The prime minister is the prime minister at the moment, he continues in office, he is taking this Bill forward, we support the Bill and we want to see it going through Parliament.“The message we will be giving today to all MPs is if they want to see political institutions restored, if they truly want to protect the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, then this Bill is the way to achieve that. I don’t see any alternative on the table at the moment.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 15:511656340601EU ‘showing no inclination of taking realistic approach’ to NI Protocol, DUP leader claimsDUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said his party would look at any solution to the protocol row offered by the EU, but added the bloc would need to show “more realism”.“If an agreement with the EU deals with the problems that the protocol has created in Northern Ireland, then of course we will look at that, but certainly the EU shows no inclination at the moment to take a realistic approach to dealing with the protocol issues,” he said.“What they have proposed falls way, way short and indeed, as the prime minister has said, could actually make the situation even worse than it is at the moment.”The DUP leader added: “We certainly need to hear more pragmatism and more realism from the EU, but in the absence of that I think the Bill is the way forward.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 15:361656339724Irish premier rejects PM’s claims over Northern Ireland ProtocolIrish premier Micheal Martin has rejected Boris Johnson’s assertion that he does not see a major diplomatic row erupting over the Northern Ireland Protocol – warning London’s shift towards unilateralism “is not a good move”.Speaking in Dublin on Monday, Mr Martin said: “That, in my view, doesn’t stack up in the sense that any unilateral decision to breach international law is a major serious development. There can be no getting out of that. One cannot trivialise the breaching of an international agreement between the UK government and the EU.“My concern is a trend towards unilateralism that is emanating from the UK government. We had it on the protocol, we had it on legacy issues, we have it now in terms of the application of the decision of European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg in terms of domestic British law.“We know that the Good Friday Agreement incorporates protections under the human rights convention and that is something we will keep a close eye on. I have been in touch with the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council, and they are concerned about this.“They are conscious that similar efforts were made last year but this is not a good move by the British government and it has to accept that unilateralism does not work in the context of the Good Friday Agreement, or in the context of good relationships with your neighbours and the EU.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 15:221656338861UK aid pledge ‘nowhere near enough’ to address hunger crisis, say charitiesBoris Johnson’s commitment to help developing countries facing an unprecedented hunger crisis is “nowhere near enough”, a coalition of leading aid charities has said.The prime minister, attending the G7 summit in Germany this week, announced a £372m support package to help countries hardest hit by soaring food costs and fertilizer shortages.Bond – an umbrella group representing 70 UK-based charities – said the pledge was not enough, highlighting recent government cuts to the aid budget.Stephanie Draper, chief executive of Bond, said it was “nowhere near what’s needed”, adding that the package “must be the seed of a bigger plan to address the causes and consequences of the global food crisis”.Our political correspondent Adam Forrest has the full report here:Andy Gregory27 June 2022 15:071656338001Opinion | We’ll never be able to stamp out sleaze at Westminster – isn’t that depressing?In her latest Independent Voices column, Marie Le Conte looks at the responses last week to various sleaze rows in UK politics. She writes:“Ultimately, politics is about parties – it is about teams that win and lose, and that stick together even when they shouldn’t. Until we make enough people understand that their party does not matter as much as doing the right thing, nothing will change. “Until we make enough of them realise that winning cannot be the only prism through which to view every event, nothing will change.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 14:531656336281Another Tory peers calls on ministers to revolt against PMAnother Tory peer has joined the chorus of Conservatives calling for ministerial resignations in order to topple Boris Johnson’s leadership.In a letter to The Times editor, Lord Garnier – a former solicitor general for England and Wales – wrote: “[Former Tory leader William Hague has understandably called for cabinet ministers to resign in the aftermath of the two by-election defeats.”He added: “Of course they will not do that as most of them cannot realistically expect to be in the next prime minister’s cabinet. It therefore needs ministers of state and parliamentary under-secretaries to do what the cabinet cannot or will not do in order to bring about change at the top. “They and several coming along behind them are the future of the Conservative Party in government and parliament. The future needs to be grasped.”Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has more on Mr Wragg’s warning for ambitious ministers to “show a bit of backbone and indeed leadership” here:Andy Gregory27 June 2022 14:241656335143PM denies feeling any ‘personal shame’ for voters’ loss of trustBoris Johnson has denied feeling any “personal shame” for voters’ loss of trust in him.Asked whether this was a source of shame, Mr Johnson said: “No. Because I think actually when you look at what this government has done, it is quite exceptional.“And I understand that people are going to want to criticise me, attack me, for all sorts of reasons, some of them good, some of them less good.”Boris Johnson denies feeling any ‘personal shame’ for lack of trust among votersAndy Gregory27 June 2022 14:051656334421Irish foreign minister ‘hugely disappointed’ with UK’s ‘unlawful’ protocol plansIreland’s minister for foreign affairs said he is “hugely disappointed” that the British government is continuing to pursue its “unlawful” unilateral approach on the Northern Ireland Protocol.Simon Coveney said: “This is not the way to find sustainable solutions to the genuine concerns of people and business in Northern Ireland and only adds to uncertainty.“I continue to urge the British Government to return to constructive dialogue with the EU in pursuit of jointly agreed, long-lasting solutions.”Andy Gregory27 June 2022 13:531656333641Jeremy Corbyn ‘set to give evidence’ at High Court trial after libel claimFormer Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is due to give evidence at a three-week High Court trial after being accused of libel by a political blogger, a judge has been told.Richard Millett has sued Mr Corbyn over remarks he made during an interview on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show in 2018, when he was leader of the opposition.Mr Justice Nicklin considered pre-trial issues at a High Court hearing in London on Monday. Lawyers representing Mr Corbyn, who is fighting the claim, said 41 people, including Mr Corbyn and Mr Millett, could give evidence.William McCormick QC, who is leading Mr Corbyn’s legal team, said Mr Corbyn was relying on 32 witnesses, plus himself, and Mr Millett on seven, plus himself. In a written case outline, he said Mr Corbyn was mounting a “truth defence” against allegations made by Mr Millett.PA27 June 2022 13:401656332441Watch: Boris Johnson compares Russia to Nazi GermanyHere is a clip of Boris Johnson’s comments on the sidelines of the G7 summit, in which he made a comparison between the situation facing western leaders over Russia’s war in Ukraine and decisions taken to “resist tyranny and aggression” and defeat Nazi Germany.Boris Johnson compares Russia to Nazi Germany at G7 summitYou can read more of his comments on the matter below.Andy Gregory27 June 2022 13:20 More

Boris Johnson and US president Joe Biden are at odds over a plane to cut the production of green fuels in a bid to free up land for food production.The prime minister wants G7 leaders to temporarily cut the amount of grain produced for biofuels, claiming the process is pushing up the cost of food.Britain is backed by Germany – also pushing for a temporary waiver on their biofuel commitments – but the US and Canada are against the move.American officials have said Mr Biden will block the plan in a bid to protect the lucrative US market for ethanol and biodiesels and the country’s climate change commitments.German officials are downbeat on the chances of an agreement. Chancellor Olaf Scholz is said to expect the other G7 countries will reject a temporary waiver on the green fuels.Asked about the US torpedoing the plan, environment secretary George Eustice told Sky News: “We should still argue for the right thing. They disagree with it because they are thinking as well about their fuel supply … We think that is misplaced.”Mr Johnson’s plan to scale back biofuel use would mean reneging on the government’s own net zero strategy in which it pledged to increase its production.The International Energy Agency (IEA) has said replacing fossil fuels with biofuels is one of the primary ways to decarbonise the transport sector.However, a growing number of environmentalists question the use of biofuels. Although it is a renewable form of energy, the water-intensive process uses a lot of agricultural land and has seen more deforestation.The think tank Green Alliance has said ending biofuel production in the UK would free up food for 3.5 million people and reduce food prices.Britain’s biofuel industry has grown from almost nothing in 2005 to an industry supplying 293 million litres in 2020 – largely to the transport industry, according to the governmentBut the huge amounts of land used to grow crops which go on to be burnt in combustion engines, is now under scrutiny with calls for farmers to return focus to food production instead.Ahead of talks on food security on Monday, Mr Johnson said: “From emergency food aid to reviewing our own biofuel use, the UK is playing its part to address this pernicious global crisis.”He said that Putin’s “craven blockade” of millions of tonnes of grain meant “the world’s poorest people are inching closer to starvation”.Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea has driven up global food prices, and aid charities have warned that it has placed 47 million people around the world on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.Around 25 million tonnes of corn and wheat cannot be exported and is currently at risk of rotting in Ukrainian silos.Almuth Ernsting, co-director of campaign group BiofuelWatch said: “Ending the use of food to make biofuels would immediately relieve food prices and protect millions from going without enough food.”Mr Johnson’s government will pledge £10m to help rebuild Ukraine’s railways in a bid to use trains to export grain trapped by Vladimir Putin’s blockade in the Black Sea.The PM said the UN plan to start negotiations involving Turkey to get grain out of Ukraine is a “non-starter” because Russia will continue to use food supply as a bargaining chip to ease sanctions.President Volodymyr Zelensky will urge the G7 to provide more military support on Monday, addressing leaders by video link from Kyiv as his country continues to come under attack from Putin’s missiles. More

Britain is ramping up a feud with the European Union by pressing on with a plan to rip up parts of the post-Brexit trade deal it signed with the bloc.Legislation that rewrites trade rules for Northern Ireland is scheduled to get its first major House of Commons debate on Monday, the first step on what could be a rocky journey through Parliament.The legislation, if approved by lawmakers, would remove checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K., thereby scrapping parts of a trade treaty that Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed before Britain left the EU in 2020.The British government says the rules are burdening businesses and undermining peace in Northern Ireland. It argues the unilateral move is justified under international law because of the “genuinely exceptional situation.” Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said Sunday that the aim was to “fix,” rather than throw out, the trade agreement, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.Johnson’s opponents, however, say the move is illegal and will shred Britain’s international reputation. It is also causing concern among some of the prime minister’s fellow Conservatives, already worried about Johnson’s judgment — and popularity — following a series of ethics scandals and two special election defeats.The EU has threatened to retaliate, raising the specter of a trade war between the two major economic partners.The bloc’s ambassador to Britain, Joao Vale de Almeida, said Britain’s plan was “illegal because it is a breach of international law, a breach of EU law, U.K. law and international law.”“It is a treaty that we signed, ratified and even went through a general election in this country,” he told Times Radio.Northern Ireland is the only part of the U.K. that shares a border with an EU country, Ireland. When Britain left the European Union and its borderless free-trade zone, the two sides agreed to keep the Irish land border free of customs posts and other checks because an open border is a key pillar of the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland.Instead, to protect the EU’s single market, there are checks on some goods, such as meat and eggs, entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.Johnson’s Conservative government claims overzealous EU implementation means the rules are not working as expected and are causing a political crisis in Northern Ireland. British unionists there say the checks are fraying the bonds between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K., seen by some unionists as a threat to their British identity. Northern Ireland’s main unionist party is blocking the formation of a new power-sharing government in Belfast, saying it won’t take part until the Brexit trade rules are scrapped.“I want to see the reestablishment of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Executive, and the protocol is getting in the way of that,” Lewis told Sky News. “We have got to resolve that. That’s what this legislation will do.“Ultimately, we want to do this by agreement with the EU,” he added. “But to do that, they need to show some flexibility and actually come and negotiate in a flexible way.”___Follow all AP stories on Brexit at https://apnews.com/hub/Brexit More

New internet legislation will hand ministers “unprecedented” censorship powers, with significant implications for free speech, new research warns.The Government is facing calls to “slim down” its Online Safety Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament, amid concerns over its impact on people’s freedoms and privacy, as well as innovation.The legislation is set to require platforms legally to protect users from harmful content for the first time, with penalties for breaching the new rules including fines that could run into billions of pounds for larger companies.

While the Government no doubt has good intentions, in its current form the Bill could end up being one of the most significant accidental infringements on free speech in modern timesDavid DavisCulture Secretary Nadine Dorries has said it will make the UK “the safest place in the world for our children to go online”.But former ministers have claimed the Bill “panders to the view of the perennially offended”, and could end up “one of the most significant accidental infringements on free speech in modern times”.A new briefing paper from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) think tank warns that through the establishment of safety duties, the Bill risks digital platforms using automated tools in a “cautious and censorious” manner against content that is “only reasonably considered to be illegal”.It says the legislation will hand the Secretary of State and Ofcom “unprecedented powers to define and limit speech, with limited parliamentary or judicial oversight”. More

Boris Johnson’s government will pledge £10million to help rebuild Ukraine’s railways in a bid to use trains to export grain trapped by Vladimir Putin’s blockade in the Black Sea.The prime minister is set to call on fellow leaders to take urgent action to get essential food supplies out of Ukraine at the G7 Summit in Germany on Monday.Mr Johnson said the United Nations’ plan to get the grain out of Ukraine is a “non-starter” because Russia will continue to use food supply as a bargaining chip to ease sanctions.The PM argued that allies need to now consider plan B, as he pledged British expertise to help de-mine the Black Sea and upgrade rail infrastructure.“Global leaders need to come together and apply their combined economic and political heft to help Ukraine and make life easier for households across the world – nothing should be off the table,” he said.Russia’s actions have driven up global food prices, and aid charities have warned that the ongoing blockade has placed 47 million people around the world on the brink of a humanitarian disaster.Around 25 million tonnes of corn and wheat cannot be exported and is currently at risk of rotting in Ukrainian silos. In addition to blocking grain from leaving Ukraine via the Black Sea – the route by which 96 per cent of the country’s grain has historically been exported, Russian attacks are disrupting rail exports.Ukraine has upped the amount exported via rail, sending around 760,000 metric tonnes in early May, but it remains a tiny proportion of the amounts usually sent via the Black Sea. More