Month: July 2022

Anas Sarwar said there would be no pact between the parties even in the event of a hung parliament.

The Scottish Labour leader was setting out his proposals for the future of the UK in a speech at Westminster.

His proposals included a legal duty of cooperation for governments in London and Edinburgh, and a regional senate to replace the House of Lords.

The SNP wants to hold an independence referendum on 19 October 2023, with leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon saying the next general election could be used as a single-issue vote if this is blocked.

Mr Sarwar’s speech in London comes the week after Ms Sturgeon set out her plans to pursue a fresh vote on independence.

The Scottish Labour leader called for “cooperation and not conflict” to be put at the heart of government as he unveiled the first in a series of papers on reform of Scotland and the UK.

This proposed introducing a “legal duty to cooperate” between the Scottish and UK governments, as well as a new governance forum which would “bring together the leaders of the UK and the nations on an equal footing”.

Mr Sarwar also called for the House of Lords to be abolished in favour of a senate of the nations and regions, which would include more representatives from around the UK and be “more reflective of modern Britain”.

He said: “The political game-playing of recent years has wounded the devolution settlement. We need these new rules of engagement to heal it.”

Mr Sarwar ruled out any pacts or deals with the SNP in the event of a hung parliament at Westminster.

He told BBC Scotland: “We are trying to get an outright Labour majority at the next election.

“If we fall short of that and seek to form a Labour minority government, the SNP will face a clear choice – they can have a Tory government or a Labour government, and in that situation I dare Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP to back the Tories and let’s see how Scotland responds.”

In the speech, hosted by the Fabian Society, Mr Sarwar said the SNP and Tories had “stoked up bitterness, division and anger and created a politics of us versus them”.

He also attacked the leaders of the rival parties, claiming that Boris Johnson is “a gift for the SNP” and that Ms Sturgeon “wants to pit Scot against Scot for her own obsession”.

Meanwhile the SNP accused Labour of being “indistinguishable from the Tories on Brexit”, saying independence was the only path back into the EU for Scotland.

Labour’s UK leader Sir Keir Starmer is due to make a speech later in which he will commit to keeping Britain out of the single market.

SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford said Sir Keir was “offering no real change at all”, adding that there was “no route back to Europe and economic prosperity at Westminster.”

And the Tories said Mr Sarwar had repeatedly ruled out pacts with the SNP prior to May’s council elections, only to join a cross-party coalition in Dumfries and Galloway.

MSP and party chairman Craig Hoy said that “pro-union voters know that only the Scottish Conservatives can be trusted to stand up to the SNP”.

This speech was Anas Sarwar’s attempt to carve out a distinctive position for Labour in the debate over Scotland’s future.

For years now the party has been an awkward third wheel in a binary tussle, with the SNP and Conservatives cementing their positions as the parties of independence and the union.

In truth Labour would rather be talking about almost anything else, but with the constitution looking set to dominate Scottish politics through to the next election Mr Sarwar needs a clear policy to fall back on.

Finding a third way through this issue tall order; just ask the Lib Dems, who have made very little headway with their calls for federalism in each election since 2014.

The headlines will likely be dominated by talk of Mr Sarwar ruling out any post-election pacts with the SNP – something he also did prior to the Holyrood and council elections in 2021 and 2022.

Really he has little choice but to rule out cooperation with other parties, given Labour badly needs to win back votes lost to both the SNP and the Tories over recent years.

And for a Westminster election it also feels fairly obvious, given neither Labour nor SNP MPs are likely to vote to put Boris Johnson back in office, regardless of what deals might be on offer.

Nicola Sturgeon raised the issue in a phone call with Boris Johnson.

He said he would respond to her letter on an independence referendum “in due course”.

During the call Mr Johnson also thanked Ms Sturgeon for Scotland’s contribution to the UK’s military aid for Ukraine.

And he raised the prospect of a summit later this year to tackle the cost of living crisis.

Ms Sturgeon wrote to the prime minister last week to ask to negotiate the terms of a section 30 order, which would temporarily transfer the power to hold a referendum from Westminster to Holyrood.

The UK government said it would examine her proposals, but its position was that “now is not the time” for another referendum.

The Supreme Court was also asked to rule on whether the Scottish government has the power to hold a vote without UK government approval.

If it rules that Holyood does not have the power to hold a referendum, Ms Sturgeon said the next general election would be a “de facto referendum”.

Following the leaders’ conversation on Monday evening, a Scottish government spokesman said Ms Sturgeon made it clear she was “ready and willing” to negotiate a section 30 order.

He added: “[The first minister] reiterated that the absence of a section 30 order will not mean Scotland is refused the democratic right to choose.”

The prime minister acknowledged Ms Sturgeon’s letter and said he would respond formally in due course.

Earlier, he told the Commons: “I think right now the priorities of the country should be rebuilding after cCovid.

“They should be taking us forward together as a united country, and that’s what we want them to do.”

Ms Sturgeon proposed 19 October 2023 for another independence referendum, asking the question: “Should Scotland be an independent country?”

The same question was asked during the 2014 vote when Scottish voters backed remaining in the UK by 55% to 45%.

The leaders also discussed the UK’s military aid to Ukraine during their telephone call.

Scotland has contributed £65m to the £2.3bn UK fund for the war-torn country, and it has also helped to house 6,000 refugees.

The UK has also spent £1.5bn in humanitarian and economic support for Ukraine.

Following their conversation, Mr Johnson tweeted: “I’ve just spoken to Nicola Sturgeon to herald the success of UK collaboration supporting Ukraine.

“I thanked the Scottish government’s £65m contribution in upping the UK’s military aid to Ukraine to £2.3bn and efforts to help house 6,000 Ukrainian refugees.”

Mr Johnson and Ms Sturgeon also discussed a summit with the leaders of all the UK nations to address the cost of living crisis.

The Scottish government’s spokesman added: “The two leaders agreed that a heads of government meeting will take place in the near future to discuss the current cost of living crisis.

“Both governments will work together to develop proposals ahead of that meeting to help those most in need of support.”

It triggered a disciplinary process that confirmed the MP’s misconduct.

BBC News understands the PM and the foreign secretary at the time – Dominic Raab – knew about the issue.

The complaint raises fresh questions about what the PM knew before appointing the MP deputy chief whip.

The prime minister’s spokesman said Mr Johnson was aware of media reports and some allegations that were “either resolved or did not progress to a formal complaint”.

He added: “It was in one way concluded in some form. These issues tend to be anonymous.”

Mr Pincher apologised after the process concluded, BBC News has been told, but at the time of publication the MP had not responded to our request for comment.

The MP for Tamworth was suspended as a Conservative Party MP last week over allegations he had groped two men at a private members’ club in London.

He quit as Tory deputy chief whip last Thursday, but has since said he was seeking professional medical support and had no intention of resigning as an MP.

In recent days, Mr Pincher has denied a series of new allegations of inappropriate behaviour stretching back several years.

Mr Johnson appointed Mr Pincher as deputy chief whip, which involves ensuring party discipline among Tory MPs, during a cabinet reshuffle in February this year.

Mr Pincher was appointed a Foreign Office minister in July 2019 by Mr Johnson, and stayed in the post until February 2020.

During his tenure as a Foreign Office minister, an official complaint was raised about Mr Pincher for “inappropriate behaviour”.

This triggered a process, overseen by the Cabinet Office, which resulted in a report that confirmed misconduct.

Both the prime minister and Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary at the time, were made aware of the disciplinary process, the BBC has been told.

Mr Raab’s team have been approached for comment, and the Foreign Office said: “We have robust measures in place to respond to any allegations of inappropriate behaviour. It’s our long-standing policy not to comment on individual cases.”

The prime minister’s official spokesman has previously said that before Mr Pincher was appointed a deputy chief whip, advice was sought from the government’s propriety and ethics team, part of the Cabinet Office, who did not advise against the move.

On Monday evening, No 10 reiterated that the prime minister was not aware of any “specific allegations” being looked at, and that in the “absence of a formal complaint it would not be appropriate to stop the appointment”.

The regional health minister said hospitals in the regional capital, Nukus, were full of patients.

Clashes broke out with the security forces when protesters took to the streets over plans to withdraw the territory’s right to secede.

President Shavkat Mirziyoyev now says the plans will not be carried out.

But at a meeting with local deputies on Sunday, he accused what he called malicious forces of trying to destabilise and undermine the situation in the Central Asian state.

He accused protest organisers of trying to “seize the buildings of local government bodies” in order to obtain weapons.

“Taking advantage of their numerical superiority, these men attacked law enforcement officers, severely beating them and inflicting severe injuries,” he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

Uzbekistan has a reputation for being one of the most repressive republics of the former Soviet Union, clamping down on any form of dissent.

Karakalpakstan, a mostly desert region near the Aral Sea of just under two million people in a country of 32 million, has autonomous status.

Reports say police and the army are patrolling the streets of Nukus, after the state of emergency was declared.

An exiled opposition politician, Pulat Ahunov, said people were unable to move around and obtain information because of the state of emergency.

Mr Ahunov, who is chairman of the opposition Berlik party, said he feared the potential for the situation to escalate into an ethnic conflict between Uzbeks and Karakalpaks, a minority group with their own language.

“There are still rallies going on in many locations,” he told Reuters news agency, speaking from Sweden. “Overall, I think that the situation is starting to stabilise, but there is another kind of danger. There have been facts of ethnic clashes between the Karakalpaks and the Uzbeks.

“The situation can totally spin out of control. It will not be about the status of Karakalpakstan, it will be about a conflict between the Karakalpaks and the Uzbeks. It is the most dangerous thing.”

According to AFP, videos that appear to show people dead and injured from the unrest have raised fears that the security crackdown took a high death toll.

On Sunday, Kanchana Wijesekera said the nation only had enough petrol left for less than a day under regular demand.

He also said its next petrol shipment was not due for more than two weeks.

Last week, Sri Lanka suspended sales of petrol and diesel for non-essential vehicles as it struggles to pay for imports like fuel, food and medicines.

Mr Wijesekera told reporters that the country had 12,774 tonnes of diesel and 4,061 tonnes of petrol left in its reserves.

“The next petrol shipment is expected between the 22nd and 23rd [of July],” he added.

A shipment of diesel is expected to arrive at the weekend, however Mr Wijesekera warned that the country does not have enough money to pay for planned fuel and crude oil imports.

He said Sri Lanka’s central bank could only supply $125m for fuel purchases, far less than the $587m needed for its scheduled shipments.

Mr Wijesekera added that the country owed $800m to seven suppliers for purchases it made earlier this year.

It came after Sri Lanka banned sales of fuel for private vehicles until next week.

Experts believe it is the first country to take the drastic step of halting sales of petrol to ordinary people since the 1970s oil crisis, when fuel was rationed in the US and Europe.

The island nation of 22 million people is facing its worse economic crisis since gaining independence from the UK in 1948 as it lacks enough foreign currency to pay for imports of essential goods.

Acute shortages of fuel, food and medicines have helped to push up the cost of living to record highs in the country, where many people rely on motor vehicles for their livelihoods.

Last Thursday, an International Monetary Fund team concluded a fresh round of talks with Sri Lanka over a $3bn (£2.5bn) bailout deal.

While no agreement has been reached yet, the team said in a statement that it had made “significant progress on defining a macroeconomic and structural policy package”.

It added that it had “witnessed some of the hardships currently faced by the Sri Lankan people, especially the poor and vulnerable who are affected disproportionately by the crisis”.

The cash-strapped country has also sent officials to the major energy producers Russia and Qatar in a bid to secure cheap oil supplies.

A 22-year-old man has been arrested and charged with the attack which sparked panic among shoppers at Field’s mall in south Copenhagen.

Police chief Soeren Thomassen said the motive was unclear and he could not rule out an “act of terrorism”.

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Denmark had suffered a cruel attack.

Sending condolences to those who had lost loved ones, she said she wanted to encourage Danes to stand together and support each other in this difficult time.

“Denmark was hit by a cruel attack on Sunday night,” she said. “Several were killed. Even more wounded. Innocent families shopping or eating out. Children, adolescents and adults.”

“Our beautiful and usually so safe capital was changed in a split second,” she added.

Denmark’s royal family said their “deepest sympathy” was with “the victims, their relatives and all those who are affected by the tragedy”.

“We do not yet know the full extent of the tragedy, but it is already clear that more people have lost their lives and that even more have been injured,” said the joint statement by Queen Margrethe, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary.

The shopping mall attack suspect was in possession of a rifle and ammunition when he was arrested, police said.

The suspect, described by police as an “ethnic Dane”, will face questioning by a judge on Monday.

Police say they have no indication that other attackers were involved and urged shop owners to preserve any video surveillance footage they might have.

Field’s has more than 140 shops and restaurants. The multi-storey mall is located on the outskirts of Copenhagen, just across from a subway line that connects to the city centre.

Eyewitnesses spoke of panic among shoppers as gunfire rang out.

One of them, named Isabelle, told Danish media: “Suddenly we hear shots. I think I hear ten shots and then we run through the mall and end up in a toilet, where we huddle together in this tiny toilet, where we are around 11 people.

“It’s really hot and we wait and we are really scared. It’s been a terrible experience.”

A concert British singer Harry Styles was due to perform at a venue less than a mile from the scene has now been cancelled.

Writing on Snapchat, Styles said: “My team and I pray for everyone involved in the Copenhagen shopping mall shooting. I am shocked. Love H.”

Shortly after the shooting, the Danish royal family announced that a reception due to be hosted by Crown Prince Frederik been cancelled. The event had been organised to celebrate Denmark hosting the first three stages of the Tour de France.

Several neighbouring leaders expressed horror at the shooting and offered condolences to the families of those impacted.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin condemned what she called a “shocking act of violence” and Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin offered his “deepest sympathies to the families and friends of those killed and injured”.

Norwegian leader Jonas Gahr Store said his “thoughts go to the victims and their relatives and to the relief crews who are currently working to save lives”.

Denmark last saw a major terror event in 2015, when two people were killed and six police officers were injured during an attack on a cultural centre and a synagogue in Copenhagen.

The gunman was later killed in a shootout with police.

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Videos on cryptocurrency using images of billionaire businessman Elon Musk appeared on the YouTube channel.

The Twitter feed appeared to retweet several posts related to NFTs – a type of electronic artwork for investment.

The Army confirmed the “breach”, saying it took information security “extremely seriously” and was resolving the issue. Both accounts have now been restored.

An Army spokesperson added: “Whilst we have now resolved the issue an investigation is ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”

It is not clear who is behind the hacking incidents, which also saw the accounts renamed.

At one stage, the Twitter account name was changed to Bapesclan, accompanied by a profile picture featuring an ape-like cartoon figure with make-up mimicking a clown.

By Sunday evening, the account had been restored to normal.

The Army later tweeted: “Apologies for the temporary interruption to our feed. We will conduct a full investigation and learn from this incident. Thanks for following us and normal service will now resume.”

Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood, chair of the Commons defence select committee, said what had happened “looks serious”.

“I hope the results of the investigation and actions taken will be shared appropriately,” he added in a tweet.

It is not the first time that a high-profile account has been targeted on Twitter.

Those accounts affected included Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Kanye West.

Mr Grady stood away from his SNP membership after newspapers reported officers would be examining claims against him.

But after carrying out inquiries and speaking to the alleged victim it is understood police will be taking no further action at this time.

BBC Scotland has approached the SNP for comment.

Last week the Metropolitan Police confirmed the sexual assault allegation was made on 22 June and submitted online by a third party.

It concerned an incident said to have taken place in October 2016 at a commercial premises in Folgate Street, London.

A force spokesman said: “Officers carried out inquiries, including speaking to the alleged victim. There will be no further police action at this time.”

The Glasgow North MP, who is now sitting as an independent, was suspended from parliament for two days after he was found to have made a sexual advance to a teenage SNP member of staff.

Mr Grady, the party’s former chief whip, told the House of Commons he was “profoundly sorry” after an independent panel found he had touched and stroked the neck, hair and back of his colleague during a social event at a London pub in 2016.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the SNP’s Westminster group had questions to answer over its handling of the harassment complaint against Mr Grady.

Ms Sturgeon said she still had confidence in her party’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford but said a victim who did not feel supported “is by definition unsupported”.

After it was recommended that Mr Grady was suspended from parliament for two days, it emerged that Mr Blackford had subsequently urged his party’s MPs to “give as much support as possible” to the MP when audio of an SNP group meeting was leaked to the Daily Mail.

Mr Grady’s victim later told BBC Scotland that the party was closing ranks and attempting to discredit him in order to limit the fallout from the case, and was more interested in finding the source of the leaked audio than addressing the issues that it raised.

He dismissed Mr Blackford’s apology over what was said at the group meeting and his “regret” that the victim felt unsupported as a “cop out” and a “publicity stunt” that was done to protect the politician’s position and reputation.

In response, Mr Blackford said he was willing to meet the victim, adding: “If the complainant feels aggrieved, then I am sorry for that.”

It was never entirely clear what the SNP meant when they said Patrick Grady had “stepped away” from the party.

Had he suspended himself, or torn up his membership entirely? The difference could be important in terms of the process should he look to be re-admitted, now the police inquiry is over.

If Mr Grady remains on the outside, then it will effectively spell the end of his Westminster career, with candidate selection for the next general election expected soon.

The SNP will be glad the investigation has been wrapped up quickly and without further action, but this will not be the end of the matter, with an external review of the party’s complaints process having been promised.

Opposition politicians condemned the handling of the case.

Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy MSP said: “It’s appalling that Nicola Sturgeon and Ian Blackford are still treating a disgraced MP with more sympathy than the victim who suffered sexual harassment.”

Mr Hoy also called for Ian Blackford to be sacked “so victims have confidence that they’ll be taken seriously in the future”.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton also called for Mr Blackford’s resignation.

He said: “At no point has Ian Blackford showed an ounce of leadership.

“He voiced absolute full support for Patrick Grady over the victim, allowed SNP whips to act menacingly and resorted to intimidation. Ian Blackford must go.”