Day: August 12, 2019

    Downing Street believes rebel MPs will try to make a move to stop a no-deal Brexit in the second week of September, with the EU unlikely to respond until after that battle has played out. A senior government source said the date for a parliamentary battle was expected to be 9 September a week after MPs return from their summer break. Boris Johnson may meet key EU leaders, such as Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, but not Ireland’s Leo Varadkar, ahead of the G7 summit in Biarritz, France at the end of August. However, No 10 is not expecting any breakthrough until the EU has seen what happens in the first weeks of September, when a cross-party alliance of Tory and opposition MPs try to take a no-deal Brexit off the table. The EU is adamant that the backstop is not ...

    Patients are waiting an average of more than two weeks to see their GP, a new survey shows. A poll of UK doctors conducted by Pulse, a publication for GPs, found that the average waiting time is now almost 15 days. Just over 900 GPs were surveyed and 22% said patients had to wait more than three weeks for a routine appointment and 6% said it took more than four weeks until they could see a patient. However, 20% said the average waiting time was less than a week. Dr Richard Vautrey, GP committee chair at doctors' union the British Medical Association said the figures showed "the reality of the capacity issues that many GP practices across the country are facing". He added: "GPs' number one priority is treating their patients and they work incredibly hard to do so,...

    Boris Johnson announced an expansion of controversial stop and search powers for the police as part of a multi-billion pound package to tackle violent crime. They included an extra 10,000 prison places and a sentencing review which could see violent and sexual offenders serve more time behind bars. The roll back of restrictions on police use of stop and search which will prove most controversial, with warnings from criminal experts and community groups that it risked provoking riots similar to those seen in 2011. Dr Mariam Fitzgerald, Professor of Criminology at the University of Kent said the extensive rollout of the practice across London under Mr Johnson’s mayoralty was the “backdrop to the riots in Tottenham”. “These searches had gone through the roof in each ...

    August could be the wettest on record with at least five more days of downpours predicted this week alone. The stormy weather that has blighted Britain could be set to last until the final weeks of the month before normal temperatures resume. The bleak forecast is in stark contrast to the end of July that saw the UK record what is believed to have been its hottest ever day. And after more days of rain, this month could threaten the wettest ever August of 1912 that saw an average of 167.6mm. After a brief let up in the terrible weather on Monday and Tuesday, wind and rain is expected to return by Wednesday. The Met Office warns that while some will dodge the worst of it the remainder of the week will be wet and windy. Meteorologist Sarah Kent told the Daily Star:...

    British diplomats will pull out from the EU’s institutional structures of power in Brussels within days, under plans being drawn up by Downing Street. In an attempt to reinforce the message that the UK is leaving the EU by 31 October, “do or die”, the UK would stop attending the day-to-day meetings that inform the bloc’s decision-making. The move under discussion is said by UK officials to be in line with Boris Johnson’s first statement in the House of Commons, in which he said he would “unshackle” British diplomacy from EU affairs. Critics have countered that the symbolic walkout would merely leave the UK blindsided on decisions and ultimately damage the national interest. EU working group meetings at which British diplomats were expected to take their seats alon...