Political Headlines – Brexit negotiations and charity predators

Today’s political headlines include May’s call for the EU to give ground on negotiations, the UK to fund list of suspected aid charity predators, Barnier and Fox suggest extending the Brexit transition and the UK’s debt to the EU still £36bn after a no deal scenario. 

Theresa May to call on EU to ‘give ground’ in negotiations
The BBC says that Theresa May is to urge EU leaders to ‘give ground’ on the Brexit backstop when she addresses them before a dinner later today. The Guardian adds that at a meeting of her Cabinet yesterday Theresa May told ministers to ‘stand firm’ but a number of ministers, including Geoffrey Cox, Michael Gove and Jeremy Hunt, expressed concern about the backstop and the status of Northern Ireland, with Chief Whip Julian Smith warning that an indefinite backstop would not pass through the Commons.

UK to fund list of suspected aid charity predators
The Times reports that the International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt is to announce that the UK will use £2m of aid spending to launch a global register of suspected sexual predators in the aid industry. The new Soteria programme will work from hubs in Africa and Asia, allowing NGOs to vet employees.

Barnier and Fox suggest extending Brexit transition
According to the Financial Times, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said that he would be prepared to extend the transition period by a further year if the UK accepted a ‘two-tier’ Irish backstop. Separately, The Times reports that International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has suggested extending the transition period for a ‘few more months’ in order agree a free trade deal and avoid needing to implement the backstop.

UK would still owe EU up to £36bn even if no trade deal is agreed, Hammond says
The Daily Telegraph claims that Chancellor Philip Hammond told the Cabinet that the UK would have to pay the EU up to £36bn even if it fails to agree a trade deal. Legal advice suggests that the UK is only likely to save £6-9bn if there is no trade deal, as the UK would be unlikely to persuade international arbitrators that it no longer had to pay the remainder.

MPs accused of politicising bullying inquiry
The Guardian says that MPs have accused each other of politicising the inquiry into bullying in Parliament amid calls for Speaker John Bercow to quit. He has indicated that he will remain in post until next summer, with Labour’s Emily Thornberry saying that it was ‘not the time’ for a change and Margaret Beckett claiming that ‘the constitutional future of this country’, in the form of Brexit legislation, ‘trumps bad behaviour’.

Hunt calls on Johnson to back May
In an interview with the Daily Mail, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt calls on his predecessor Boris Johnson and Brexiteer cabinet ministers to back Theresa May ‘to the hilt’, warning that if they don’t ‘the danger is that Brexit will be derailed altogether’. He urged EU leaders not to repeat the ‘mistake’ of the pre-referendum negotiations with David Cameron.

Lib Dems say multinationals should publish tax returns
The Financial Times reports that the Liberal Democrats are calling for multinational companies to be forced to publish their tax returns in order to tackle tax avoidance. Leader Sir Vince Cable claimed that the move would ‘shame’ firms into paying more tax and would make the UK ‘a world leader in tax transparency’.

MPs call for children to be taught how to behave around dogs
The BBC has details of a new report by the Commons Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee that claims that there needs to be more education for children on how to behave around dogs in order to avoid injury. It also calls for a review of the causes of dog aggression and training for owners whose dogs misbehave.

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