NEW: EU Commission writes to EU Council on Johnson letter:
-Says backstop is "necessary, legally operative solution in the Withdrawal Agreement...we regret the new UK govt wants to replace a legally operative solution with a commitment to try to find a solution-yet to be found-"
-"The EU also regrets that the new UK govt does not provide any concrete proposals as to what these alternative arrangements could be. His letter recognises that there is no guarantee that such arrangements will be in place by the end of the transition period."
-The letter confirms the Commission is "ready to work constructively within our mandate. We will analyse any operational UK ideas that are compatible with the existing WA. We are of course ready to rework the Pol Declaration in line with EU Council guidelines."
Emphasis there on "operational", ie they need to bring us something which works.
EU sources also rallying against Downing St suggestion WA doesn't adhere to the Good Friday Agreement. They say backstop is the only means identified so far by both parties which honour the commitment to no hard border, as entered into at the start of the negotiations.
They also say it's inorrect to say backstop is not democratic or that Northern Ireland would have no influence over the legislation which applies to them, saying that has already been dealt with in joint protocol entered into in March.
-Also says that Johnson's suggestion that there are two separate political and legal systems on the island already and ergo easy to manage is misleading as EU law underpins the regimes on both sides. Without that checks and controls become necessary to protect the single market.
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It seems very weird to allow rumours to build up and not clarify them before PMQs where the PM can be asked about them directly on the floor of the Commons. Not least when in news management terms you have a rare good day and decent story to tell on inflation…
Two scenarios at this point. He calls it today which given immigration figs tomorrow is, well, a big call. Or it’s been allowed to build for no reason, political journalist class annoyed and the rest of the week is dominated by “Sunak isn’t good at politics” narrative.
NEW: Latest @TheNewsAgents Investigates - Britain’s hidden homeless children
Nearly 140,000 kids in Britain are now homeless, in so-called “temporary accommodation”. We went to a school where half of the kids don’t have a home to call their own. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the…
It’s having a devastating effect on the educational outcomes of a big and growing group of working class kids. They’re almost forgotten, because they’re not on the streets. But their living conditions are Victorian, often sharing one room with their parents, siblings, shared bath.
Some of the kids come to school not having been able to wash in the mornings because there wasn’t an agailable bathroom in the temporary accomm. They’re embarrassed and have to wash at school. There are sometimes safeguarding issues because the kids are sharing bathrooms with strangers in the TA.
NEW: Lib Dems call on the govt to suspend arms sales to Israel.
@EdwardJDavey: “Clearly, the thought that British-made arms could have been used in strikes such as these is completely unacceptable.
“The government must take swift action to suspend arms exports to Israel."
There's been (more or less) a fragile consensus between Conservative and Labour on policy towards Israel and the war. Pressure is going to increase on Starmer to move. Possibly (and more importantly) Sunak too...
Flick Drummond, Tory MP for Meon Valley has also said arms to Israel should cease.
“This has been concerning me for some time. What worries me is the prospect of UK arms being used in Israel’s actions in Gaza which I believe have broken international law.”
For the general election, very little. This was a unique by election and little is transferable. But it does change politics before the election and possibly tells us something about the shape of politics after it as well.
In the short term the result is highly embarrassing for Keir Starmer and for Labour. The Labour vote collapsed by over 40 % points. Labour will point to the fact that they withdrew support. But that reminds us that they had to withdraw support in a safe seat, itself a shambles.
Questions for the leadership as to why the by-election was held so quickly and why the selection process happened so quickly. As it is a safe Labour seat has been handed to one of the party's most implacable opponents.