Category: News Story

NEWS STORY

The death of Silvio Berlusconi at the age of 86, the former Italian Prime Minister, has been announced. He served as the country’s Prime Minister between 1994 and 1995, 2001 and 2006 and then from 2008 until 2011.

NEWS STORY

Nigel Adams, the Conservative MP for Selby and Ainsty, has announced that he is standing down as an MP with immediate effect. Adams is the third MP to have announced their resignation over recent days, following the announcements from Nadine Dorries and Boris Johnson. Adams posted on Twitter:

“Yesterday, Selby Conservatives selected an excellent new parliamentary candidate. I’ve today informed the chief whip that I will be standing down as a Member of Parliament with immediate effect. It has been an honour to represent the area where I was raised, educated and I want to thank my constituents for their wonderful support since 2010.”

A source at Conservative Central Office said that they had been given no prior warning about the announcement. Adams has held the constituency since 2010 and secured a majority of 20,137 at the 2019 General Election.

RESOURCES

Speeches by Nigel Adams

Selby and Ainsty Constituency

STORY

Boris Johnson, the former Prime Minister, has announced that he is resigning from the House of Commons and triggering a by-election in his constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip. His resignation comes after he received the report from the Privileges Committee which he said had recommended that he was suspended from the House of Commons. In his statement, he rejected the committee’s work, stating:

“Their purpose from the beginning has been to find me guilty, regardless of the facts. This is the very definition of a kangaroo court.”

He concluded his statement noting

“It is very sad to be leaving Parliament – at least for now – but above all, I am bewildered and appalled that I can be forced out, anti-democratically, by a committee chaired and managed, by Harriet Harman, with such egregious bias.”

RESOURCES

Boris Johnson’s Resignation Statement

STORY

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, has confirmed that she is planning to step down at the next General Election. In an open letter, the former party leader said:

“I love this city and its people, and I know how incredibly blessed I’ve been to have been given the opportunity to represent you, and to work alongside you. I have always prided myself on being, first and foremost, a good constituency MP. The people who have come to me in my regular surgeries are often desperate, feeling like they have nowhere else to turn – they’re looking for care and compassion not the tangled bureaucratic web that passes for a safety net, and that all too often just causes confusion and complication. I’ve done everything possible to help wherever I can and always worked to ensure that people feel heard, that their concerns matter, and that they are not alone.

But the intensity of these constituency commitments, together with the particular responsibilities of being my Party’s sole MP, mean that, ironically, I’ve not been able to focus as much as I would like on the existential challenges that drive me – the Nature and Climate emergencies. I have always been a different kind of politician – as those who witnessed my arrest, court case and acquittal over peaceful protest at the fracking site in Balcombe nearly ten years ago will recall. And the truth is, as these threats to our precious planet become ever more urgent, I have struggled to spend the time I want on these accelerating crises. I have therefore decided not to stand again as your MP at the next election.”

Lucas is the only Green MP in the current House of Commons and she currently has a majority of 19,940 over the Labour Party.

RESOURCES

Statement made by Caroline Lucas

STORY

Charles Michel, the President of European Council, has said that the destruction of the Nova Kakhovka dam in Ukraine by Russian soldiers is a war crime that needs urgent investigation. Posting on Twitter, Michel said:

“Shocked by the unprecedented attack of the Nova Kakhovka dam. The destruction of civilian infrastructure clearly qualifies as a war crime – and we will hold Russia and its proxies accountable.”

The Russia Government denied that they were responsible for the destruction of the dam, but international authorities have begun an investigation into what would be a breach of the Geneva Convention. Tens of thousands of people have already been evacuated and the environmental damage is expected to be extensive and potentially last for decades.

Annalena Baerbock, the German Foreign Minister, said in a statement:

“A dam near a nuclear power plant is misused as a weapon of war and human lives are put in grave danger”.

A spokesperson for NATO said that they were beginning investigations into the incident, but said that there was no evidence for an air strike on the dam and it appeared to have been destroyed by a series of explosions. They added that Russia would have a motive for the action and that flooding would continue for the next two to three days.

STORY

Margaret Ferrier, the former SNP MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West, has been suspended from the House of Commons for 30 days due to her breach of Covid-19 regulations. In September 2020, she travelled from Scotland to the House of Commons and back again by train while she was aware that she had likely contracted coronavirus. The suspension was approved by a majority vote of MPs in the Commons of 185 to 40, with 32 Tories voting against it. This sanction opens the likely possibility of a by-election if 10% of Ferrier’s constituents add their names to a recall petition. If triggered, the by-election would test Labour’s chances of making gains in Scotland in the next General Election and be the first major electoral test for Humza Yousaf, the new SNP leader and Scottish First Minister, with the SNP winning the constituency at the 2019 election with a majority of 5,320. Ferrier’s suspension has received mixed reactions, with supporters of Boris Johnson accused of planning to block the motion, fearing it could set a precedent.

RESOURCES

Margaret Ferrier MP

Rutherglen and Hamilton West

STORY

Geraint Davies, the MP for Swansea West, has been suspended by the Labour Party following allegations of inappropriate sexual behaviour. Speaking to Politico, he denied the allegations saying:

“If I have inadvertently caused offence to anyone, then I am naturally sorry as it is important that we share an environment of mutual and equal respect for all”.

In a statement, the Labour Party said:

“These are incredibly serious allegations of completely unacceptable behaviour.

We strongly encourage anyone with a complaint to come forward to the Labour party’s investigation.

Any complainant will have access to an independent support service who provide confidential and independent guidance and advice from external experts throughout the process.”

RESOURCES

Geraint Davies

NEWS STORY

The Government has condemned news that indicates that a Chinese-registered vessel has been detained by Malaysia on suspicion of looting two British World War Two shipwrecks. The vessel, described as a bulk carrier or barge carrier, was found to be illegally anchored at the site of the wrecks without any permission to be at the protected sites. The Malaysian maritime agency discovered a cannon shell believed to be from World War II on the ship and is investigating its involvement in the looting.

The illegal salvage operation has caused distress and concern among the Royal Navy, as valuable scrap steel, aluminium and brass fittings were reportedly being removed from the wrecks which are treated as war graves. The wrecks in question are those of the battleship HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Repulse which were both sunk by Japanese military aircraft on 10 December 1941 with the loss of 840 allied lives.

The Chinese vessel’s crew is being questioned by Malaysian authorities and the investigation into the looting of these British wrecks in the South China Sea is ongoing. Rumours of damage being done to the ships has been an ongoing problem for the authorities, with reports in 2014 that scrap metal dealers were targetting the ships.

NEWS STORY

The deadline for the UK government to hand over Boris Johnson’s WhatsApp messages has been extended by the Covid-19 inquiry. The inquiry had initially ordered the government to submit these messages but has now allowed for an extension. The deadline extension comes after a request was made to the inquiry, asking for more time to comply with the ruling. The inquiry rejected a further request to extend the deadline until June 5, but a short extension was granted. The Cabinet Office, which was tasked with providing the messages, now has until the extended deadline to hand them over to avoid facing action.

Some reports indicate that the Cabinet Office claimed not to possess Mr. Johnson’s WhatsApp messages or his notebooks, but the Covid-19 inquiry had threatened legal action against the government if the unredacted messages and diary entries were not released. Sources close to the Prime Minister have suggested that the messages aren’t relevant to the inquiry and shouldn’t need to be provided to them. The Cabinet Office said in a statement that it would meet its legal requirements in supplying the information requested.

STORY

Dominic Raab, the Conservative MP for Esher and Walton, has confirmed that he is standing down at the next General Election. Raab, who stood down as Deputy Prime Minister following a critical report on his bullying officials, said that he wanted to stand down because of the pressure on his young family. Raab has been the MP for the constituency since the 2010 General Election, but saw his 23,298 majority in 2017 reduced to just 2,743 at the 2019 General Election.

RESOURCES

Speeches Made by Dominic Raab

Esher and Walton Constituency

Report into the Bullying Allegations Made Against Dominic Raab