Month: June 2022

Angus Robertson told the BBC that the SNP would continue to push for a vote based on a section 30 order – as agreed by the Scottish and UK governments.

His comments came as The Sunday Times reported that ministers were preparing a consultative referendum next year.

It said this could “attempt to bypass the UK government” by phrasing the independence question in another way.

The SNP plans to hold a second referendum in October 2023. However, the UK government said now was not the time for another vote.

Speaking on BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show, Mr Robertson said: “We will continue to press for the gold standard – which the 2014 referendum showed itself to be.

“With a section 30 a legal referendum could go ahead and be recognised by the UK government and other countries.”

“Given we have precedent, and it worked and wasn’t complicated, and with mutual respect, it was something we could all agree on.

“If it was possible then, there is no reason why it is not possible now.”

The Sunday Times suggested the First Minister could take a different route to an independence vote, avoiding a section 30 order.

It reports that Nicola Sturgeon could avoid a possible legal challenge with a reworded question.

Instead of repeating the 2014 referendum question, “Should Scotland be an independent country?”, it said a “softer” approach asking if Scotland should open independence negotiations with London could stand a better chance in court.

Mr Robertson declined to comment on any alternative plans.

He said any constitutional plans had to be announced in the Scottish Parliament and Ms Sturgeon would be give an update before summer recess.

A section 30 order refers to the section of the Scotland Act that allows Holyrood to pass laws normally reserved to Westminster.

These have been used 16 times since the Scottish Parliament was created in 1999, and have allowed MSPs to legislate in areas from the construction of railways to reducing the voting age in Scottish elections.

A section 30 order was granted by the UK government ahead of the 2014 independence referendum, after Prime Minister David Cameron and First Minister Alex Salmond signed the “Edinburgh Agreement”.

Find out more: Scottish independence: What is a section 30 order?

Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, also appearing on The Sunday Show, dismissed the idea of a second referendum.

He said: “The next electoral contest is not a referendum, it is going to be a general election and that is going to be a campaign to put out Boris Johnson.

“The anger we feel sitting in Glasgow, is felt in Edinburgh, it is felt in Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester and London. Let’s unite across this country, put out Boris Johnson.

“I honestly believe the majority of people still don’t want independence.”

On Saturday, the first minister accused opposition parties of “running scared” of the debate on Scotland’s future.

The Scottish government published a paper comparing the UK with other nations which Ms Sturgeon claimed are “wealthier, fairer and happier” than the UK.

“The Tories and Labour have completely failed to engage with that point because they know it is true and because they can see how threadbare the case for continued Westminster rule over Scotland has become,” she said.

A UK government spokesman said: “Now is not the time to be talking about another referendum.

“People across Scotland rightly want and expect to see both of their governments working together with a relentless focus on the issues that matter to them, their families and communities.

“That means tackling the cost of living, protecting our long-term energy security, leading the international response against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing our economy so that everyone has access to the opportunities, skills and jobs for the future.”

They broke out around 04:00 on Saturday (20:00 GMT Friday) at one of the country’s largest refining and petrochemical plants.

Flames could be seen engulfing parts of the sprawling complex and spewing thick columns of black smoke into the sky.

Shanghai is China’s economic hub and only recently emerged from a strict pandemic lockdown lasting two months.

The cause of the fires, which affected an ethylene glycol facility, is still unclear.

Sinopec – the state-owned company that operates the plant in the suburb of Jinshan – said the driver of a transport vehicle had been killed and a company employee had been injured.

Residents living up to 6km (four miles) away reported hearing an explosion, local media report.

Shanghai’s fire department dispatched more than 500 personnel to the scene.

State media say the fires are now under control but protective burning is being carried out.

Drone footage shared on social media showed the sky above Shanghai, China’s most populous city, turning black from smoke.

Sinopec said it was monitoring for environmental impact and no damage to the surrounding water environment had been recorded.

The ministry of emergency management has dispatched an expert group to the scene.

Shanghai had been under a strict lockdown imposed by officials to curb a coronavirus outbreak driven by the spread of the Omicron variant.

For two months residents in the global trading hub were forbidden from leaving their homes – shutting down factories with far-reaching consequences for both the local economy and global supply chains.

The government is pursuing a “zero Covid” policy requiring everyone who catches the virus to quarantine.

New rules have now been introduced with residents required to show a green health code on their smartphone to leave their residential compounds and to enter most places.

French voters go to the polls on Sunday to decide who will control their National Assembly.

Mr Macron beat the far right in April, but this time the challenge is harder.

Far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon leads a left-green alliance that finished neck and neck with Macron only a week ago.

They call themselves Nupes, which stands for New Ecological and Social Popular Union, and the polls suggest they could stop the president winning the 289 seats he needs for an outright majority. The centrist Macron alliance, Ensemble, portrays them as a “marriage of convenience” of Communists, Socialists, far-left Mélenchonists and Greens.

But Nupes have galvanised voters with a promise to fight spiralling prices, bring down the retirement age and tackle climate change. Green leaders and many green voters back them, accusing President Macron of doing little in the past five years.

Sunday’s second round is almost entirely made up of run-off duels between two candidates, and almost half involve the two big alliances. Several ministers in the Macron government are battling to keep their seats and hold on to their jobs, and two of the toughest fights involve Europe Minister Clément Beaune and Green Transition Minister Amélie de Montchalin.

Without an outright majority of 289 seats, Mr Macron will need the support of other parties to push through his big-ticket reforms, such as raising the retirement age, cutting taxes and reforming benefits. Pollsters suggest Ensemble will win 255-305 seats and Nupes 140-200.

As the sun went down on the campaign on Friday night, Nupes spokesman Ian Brossat told supporters in Longjumeau south of Paris: “They didn’t think the left and Greens could get together – it would be chaos and catastrophe; but the chaos today is economic, with food prices going up. We’ve got 10 million people in poverty.”

While fighting for the presidency, Mr Macron rallied voters across the spectrum by presenting his main rival Marine Le Pen as an extremist and contrary to the republic’s values

With mainstream parties joining the Mélenchon alliance it has become harder to do that with this rival. President Macron has appealed to voters to give him a solid majority in the “superior interest of the nation”, while Russia’s war rages at the gates of Europe.

Former Marxist Jean-Luc Mélenchon has long wanted France to leave Nato but says that is now not a priority. However, he remains controversial, tweeting that “the police kill” and promising to naturalise Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as French if he wins the election.

Mr Macron’s recently appointed prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, has painted Mr Mélenchon’s policies as dangerous because he is “ambiguous on republican values”.

In Longjumeau, first-time voter Clara said she had backed Mr Macron against the far right in April, but this time preferred the left-green alliance.

The local candidate is only a few points behind the ruling party rival. But in the next-door constituency Amélie de Montchalin trailed in the first round and defeat would mean losing her job as minister.

The same is true for Clément Beaune, whose opponent in one of the Paris seats is Caroline Mécary, an experienced LGBT rights lawyer.

Both candidates visited the Aligre market near the Gare de Lyon several times in the run-up to Sunday’s vote, says market vendor Ichem. “People can’t afford much now; they buy less than before,” he observes.

Visiting the market, Grégoire said he backed the president because he did not want to return to the days of “cohabitation”, when president and government came from different parties: “Yes it used to work before but they weren’t good years.” Jean-Baptiste agreed the president needed a strong mandate: “Without a majority he won’t be able to do anything he needs to do.”

But Christine believed handing the president an absolute majority was bad for democracy. She backed Emmanuel Macron to keep the far right from the Élysée Palace, but felt having another party in government was good for debate.

President Macron has promised a “new method” of governing with greater involvement from civil society. He’s proposing:

The left-green alliance wants:

Workers marched to Parliament to call for better pay and conditions as part of the event organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).

The union has called for a “decent pay rise for public sector workers” and a £15 minimum wage.

A Treasury spokesman said it had “stepped in to ease the burden”.

The spokesman added that the government was “helping eight million of the most vulnerable British families through at least £1,200 of direct payments this year – and giving every household £400 to help pay their energy bills”.

Protesters set off from Portland Place and headed towards Parliament Square at about 12:00 BST as part of the We Demand Better march.

The TUC said its research suggested workers have lost almost £20,000 since 2008 because pay has not kept pace with inflation.

General secretary Frances O’Grady told BBC News that ordinary working people were saying “enough is enough” after over 10 years of stagnant pay.

“We want government to listen – workers are not the cause of inflation, they are suffering the impact of inflation,” she said.

Ben Robinson, 25, who works for a housing charity in Brixton, south London, was at the protest.

He said some residents faced a choice “between feeding their own kids, not themselves, their own kids, and paying rent and heating, and that is just not a choice that anyone should have to face”.

Members of NASUWT, the Teachers’ Union, were among those who attended the march and called for the profession to receive a “pay uplift and an urgent rebalancing of workload”.

The union said that with living expenses surging ahead of wages, the value of teachers’ pay had fallen by 19% over the last 12 years.

Teacher Stephen Brown said he was attending the march because many of those in his profession were now leaving – piling on the pressure for those who stay in classrooms.

“We’ve had a pay freeze for the past few years… teachers are leaving the profession because they are struggling so much, they just think it’s not worth it,” he said.

The Department for Education (DfE) said it was “incredibly grateful for the continued efforts of teachers and school leaders in supporting pupils” and work was ongoing to “deliver pay increases and pay awards for new and experienced teachers”.

A Treasury spokesman added: “As part of our £37bn support package we’re also saving the typical employee over £330 a year through the imminent National Insurance tax cut, are allowing universal credit claimants to keep £1,000 more of what they earn and have made the biggest cut to all fuel duty rates ever.”

He said commuters and pupils taking exams would be among those affected.

But the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said politicians had prevented progress in talks.

Strikes will take place on almost all major lines across Britain on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, as well as on the London Underground on Tuesday.

There will also be knock-on effects on services on non-strike days, including Monday.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme, the RMT’s Mick Lynch claimed rail operators were refusing to sit down for discussions, while Network Rail was being influenced by government ministers.

“It’s Shapps, [Boris] Johnson and Rishi Sunak who are stopping a deal being done in this dispute,” he said.

But Network Rail, which maintains the tracks and runs larger train stations, said the RMT were dismissing talks before they had finished.

And Mr Shapps urged the union to back down to help those who rely on the rail network.

He said: “Many people who do not get paid if they can’t get to work face losing money at a time they simply can’t afford to.

“Children sitting exams will face the extra distraction of changing their travel plans.

“And vulnerable people trying to attend long-awaited hospital appointments may have no choice but to cancel.

“By carrying out this action the RMT is punishing millions of innocent people, instead of calmly discussing the sensible and necessary reforms we need to make in order to protect our rail network.”

The RMT – which has 40,000 members across the rail network – has said its members are unhappy about stagnated pay and proposed job losses.

Mr Lynch denied the union was demanding a pay hike in line with the current RPI inflation rate – which was 11.1% in April – but said any proposed rise must reflect the higher cost of living.

He said the union had rejected a Network Rail offer of a 2% rise with a further 1% increase linked to job cuts. The RMT recently won an 8.4% pay rise on the London Underground, it said.

“We’ve got a working class, working full-time hours, having to go to food banks and take state benefits,” Mr Lynch added, saying the union did not want to see rail workers in a similar position.

On Saturday, thousands of people marched in central London to demand action from the government on the cost of living crisis.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is set to use a speech at a Labour event in Warwick to suggest Mr Shapps and Prime Minister Boris Johnson want the strikes to go ahead.

“They want the country to grind to a halt so they can feed off the division,” he will say.

“Instead of spending their time this week around the negotiating table, they are designing attack ads.”

But Mr Shapps accused Sir Keir of dishonesty over his public statements about the upcoming strikes.

The transport secretary shared an article in the Mail on Sunday which claimed Sir Keir was supportive of the strikes at a Labour Party meeting.

Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson Sarah Olney claimed Mr Shapps “hasn’t even met with the union bosses for well over a month”.

“Not bothering to avert a crisis is a sackable offence in any other work place,” she said.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The government committed £16 billion – or £600 per household – to keep our railways running throughout the pandemic while ensuring not a single worker lost their job.

“The railway is still on life support, with passenger numbers 25% down and anything that drives away even more of them risks killing services and jobs.

“Train travel for millions more people is now a choice, not a necessity. Strikes stop our customers choosing rail, and they might never return.”