Day: December 16, 2019

    Boris Johnson has fuelled fears that workers rights and environmental safeguards will be ditched after Brexit after the government watered down a promise to enshrine them in law. Downing Street suggested that the prime minister is no longer committed to pledges, made to MPs before the general election, to guarantee that standards will not be weakened when Britain leaves the EU. A promise that MPs would be given a vote on whether or not to extend the transition period at the end of 2020 to avoid leaving the EU without a trade deal has also been ditched and will not be included in a key Brexit bill to be reintroduced this week. The pledges were made by Mr Johnson and his team in October as they attempted to convince MPs to vote for the prime minister's Brexit deal. ...

    Emily Thornberry has announced she is taking legal action against ex-Labour MP Caroline Flint over the complete lie that she called Leave voters stupid. The shadow Foreign Secretary said she had given the ousted MP until the end of today to withdraw the claim made in a TV interview on Sunday but she refuses to. So that is what we are doing to do, we are having to take legal action, Ms Thornberry confirmed. The extraordinary spectacle of one senior Labour figure suing another comes after Ms Flint stepped up her criticism that a pro-Remain faction was to blame for Labour’s election disaster. The former Don Valley MP targeted Ms Thornberry, a North London MP, claiming: She said to one of my colleagues, 'I'm glad my constituents aren't as stupid as yours'. She and Ke...