Downing Street says sovereignty of Falkland Islands \u2018rests with the UK\u2019 after leaked Pentagon report<\/p>\n
Downing Street has hit back at reports suggesting the US could reconsider its position over the UK\u2019s claim to the Falkland Islands because the UK did not do enough to assist the American bombing of Iran<\/a> was leaked.<\/p>\n The prime minister\u2019s official spokesperson said: \u201cThe UK position is clear and isn\u2019t going to change \u2026 It\u2019s a longstanding one. It\u2019s an unchanged one, and it will remain the case.\u201d<\/p>\n The spokesperson added: \u201cThe Falkland Islands have hugely voted overwhelmingly in favour of remaining a UK overseas territory, and we\u2019ve always stood behind the islanders\u2019 right to self-determination and the fact that sovereignty rests with the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked whether the UK was ready to defend the islands from any threats, the spokesperson replied: \u201cThe question of the Falkland Islands and the UK\u2019s sovereignty and the islanders\u2019 right to self-determination is not in question, and we\u2019ve expressed that position clearly and consistently.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.22 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Downing Street: Starmer will stay on as PM ‘throughout this parliament and beyond’<\/p>\n Keir Starmer will stay on as prime minister \u201cthroughout this parliament and beyond\u201d, Downing Street has said.<\/p>\n Starmer has faced calls to quit amid the fallout from the Peter Mandelson vetting scandal, but the prime minister\u2019s official spokesperson said: \u201cHe\u2019s very focused on the job.<\/p>\n \u201cI refer you back to his previous language that he will continue to lead the government throughout this parliament and beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s got a huge amount of work to do. We\u2019re in the middle of a global conflict, the like of which we\u2019ve not seen for years.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.15 EDT<\/p>\n In further comments, Badenoch said she does not believe the assisted dying bill should be brought back in the next parliamentary session.<\/p>\n She accused the Labour government of not dealing with issues such as the cost of living and energy bills, and was instead coming up with \u201crandom campaigns that their activists have brought in\u201d.<\/p>\n When she was challenged over the fact the legislation was a private member\u2019s bill, introduced by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater, Badenoch said: \u201cThe government has used a private member\u2019s bill to push through its agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI don\u2019t think the assisted dying Bill should come back. It was hopelessly flawed, there were all sorts of problems with it, the safeguards removed.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t what we need to be doing right now. We need to be talking about how to improve people\u2019s lives, not how to end people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Kemi Badenoch has reacted to reports the US could consider its position on the UK\u2019s claim to the Falkland Islands (see post at 10:27<\/a>), saying it was \u201cabsolute nonsense\u201d, PA reports.<\/p>\n Speaking at a party rally in Swindon, she said: \u201cThe Falkland Islands are British, they have been for a very long time. The sovereignty is British sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch during a party rally in Swindon, Wiltshire. Photograph: Jonathan Brady\/PA<\/p>\n She added: \u201cI don\u2019t know what Donald Trump is talking about. This sounds like the sort of thing he was saying when it came to Greenland.\u201d<\/p>\n She was referring to Trump\u2019s repeated push to take control of the semi-autonomous Danish territory, which has been widely criticised by European leaders.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Back in the Lords, Conservative former deputy prime minister Therese Coffey said she thought some MPs and peers were more interested in passing an unsafe assisted dying bill than introducing proper safeguards.<\/p>\n Representing the view of opponents of assisted dying, Coffey said: \u201cThe continuing claim that this bill is the safest in the world, and was largely good to go in the house, perhaps with a few tweaks, just does not hold true.\u201d<\/p>\n She admitted she had tabled \u201cmore amendments than she had expected to\u201d, but said it was due to a lack of information from the government over workability.<\/p>\n \u201cI do fear that many peers and many MPs are putting choice for some ahead of concern on coercion for others,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Meanwhile, Wales\u2019s first minister, Eluned Morgan, has likened herself to a strawberry daiquiri as she warned constituents she could lose her seat in the Welsh parliament election, PA reports.<\/p>\n The Welsh Labour leader used canned cocktails to explain the new voting system in Wales in a video posted on social media. Constituents will be represented by six members of the Senedd, but Morgan said Plaid Cymru \u201cis pretty secure, they\u2019ve got at least two seats, maybe even a third\u201d.<\/p>\n Welsh Labour and first minister Eluned Morgan speaking during a Channel 4 Welsh leaders’ debate in Cardiff. Photograph: Ben Birchall\/PA<\/p>\n \u201cSo, the real battle is between Reform, the Tories and Labour,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s me,\u201d she said, holding a canned strawberry daiquiri up to the camera.<\/p>\n She used a mojito to represent Plaid Cymru, a blue raspberry martini for the Conservatives, an espresso martini for Reform, a pina colada for the Greens, and an Irn-Bru vodka martini for the Welsh Liberal Democrats.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause the real danger is that if you don\u2019t come out and don\u2019t support Labour, you\u2019re going to get another Reform person.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a006.24 EDT<\/p>\n The Lords has heard some personal and moving stories from peers in the assisted dying bill debate. Nick Markham spoke about his mother, a Marie Curie nurse who supported terminally ill people, who was diagnosed with late-stage womb cancer in 2007.<\/p>\n double quotation markThat experience changed how I see the debate. I consider myself broadly in favour of assisted dying because I believe in choice, in personal autonomy. But what I witnessed, and what I\u2019ve learned since is what has happened to my mother happens quietly all the time across the country, informally and inconsistently, with no upfront oversight, no safeguards. The current ban does not prevent assisted dying. It simply makes it unregulated, unequal and unsafe.<\/p>\n The Tory peer relayed stories of other people who have died during the passage of the bill, including a terminally ill nurse whose daughter said she \u201cwatched her struggle each year to try and blow out a candle. I was forced to watch my only parent lying in bed unconscious, waking only to cry out in agony. \u2026 My mum\u2019s birthday wish was to die\u201d.<\/p>\n Markham told peers:<\/p>\n double quotation markI am sorry that we\u2019ve let them down and all I can say and pledge, and I know I speak for many, many of our colleagues here, is that we will try.<\/p>\n We will try and we will try again to bring this bill back as soon as possible in the next session, to do what is right democratically, and most importantly of all, to give those people who are terminally ill hope and choice of a better way to die.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>House of Lords final debate on assisted dying bill under way<\/p>\n The final debate in the House of Lords on the assisted dying bill is happening now, follow along as we bring you the latest lines.<\/p>\n The bill passed the House of Commons in June last year, but there has been so many amendments tabled in the Lords \u2013 more than 1,280 \u2013 that it appears doomed to fail given there is not enough time to review them all before the end of this parliamentary session, expected next week.<\/p>\n A campaigner holds a banner outside parliament as a proposed law to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales will run out of time on Friday. Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth\/AP<\/p>\n Former justice secretary Charlie Falconer, who sponsored the Bill in the Lords, opened the proceedings today, saying: \u201cI am despondent that this bill, so important to so many, has not failed on its merits, but failed as a result of procedural wrangling.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is no prospect that this bill can get through the house today or before prorogation ahead of the king\u2019s speech on 13 May.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.21 EDT<\/p>\n After threatening to impose a \u201cbig tarriff\u201d, the Trump administration is reportedly looking at further measures to punish the UK including reconsidering its position on Britain\u2019s claim to the Falkland Islands.<\/p>\n An internal Pentagon email outlined options for the US to punish Nato allies for their perceived lack of support for the Iran war, according to Reuters, citing a US official. These include suspending Spain from Nato and reassessing US diplomatic support for longstanding European \u201cimperial possessions,\u201d such as the Falkland Islands near Argentina. It\u2019s unclear whether any of these options are viable.<\/p>\n Donald Trump has repeatedly directed his ire at Keir Starmer for his unwillingness to join the war, saying he was \u201cno Winston Churchill\u201d and describing UK aircraft carriers as \u201ctoys\u201d. Showing further strain in the \u201cspecial relationship\u201d, Trump threatened to impose \u201ca big tariff\u201d on the UK <\/a>over its digital services tax on US social media firms.<\/p>\n For the latest Middle East news, you can follow our live blog here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a005.35 EDT<\/p>\n US officials stalling UK criminal investigation into Mandelson – report<\/p>\n Good morning. The UK criminal investigation into Peter Mandelson has reportedly ground to a halt after the US justice department refused to hand over evidence contained in the Epstein files.<\/p>\n The documents relate to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which Scotland Yard believes could hold key evidence related to Mandelson, who served as business secretary and US ambassador. While the Met has asked for voluntary disclosure, the US department of justice is insisting on a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request, a legal back and forth between countries to obtain evidence, the Telegraph has reported.<\/p>\n Peter Mandelson taking his dog for a walk near his home in London. Photograph: James Manning\/PA<\/p>\n The process could take from several months to over a year, according to some estimates, potentially delaying Scotland Yard\u2019s investigation into Mandelson, who was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Even the Met police commissioner Mark Rowley\u2019s direct appeals to the US ambassador, Warren Stephens, and his personal trip to Washington in March had failed to move the process forward, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n Speaking of withholding documents, yesterday Cat Little, the top civil servant at the Cabinet Office, said the Foreign Office had refused to hand over a summary of Mandelson\u2019s security vetting. Speaking at a Commons committee, Little said she had to get the document directly from UK Security Vetting (UKSV) instead after Olly Robbins, the subsequently sacked<\/a> Foreign Office head, refused to provide it. You can read more on that story here:<\/p>\n In other news:<\/p>\n MPs must decide what to do with the assisted dying bill, which is set to run out of time to become law when a final debate ends in the House of Lords today. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has stalled in the Lords, which passed in the House of Commons almost a year ago, with more than 1,280 amendments made. Supporters of the bill, which would allow terminally ill adults who are given fewer than six months to live to seek medical help to end their life, now fear the bill is doomed to fail.<\/p>\n Reform UK has asked steel bosses to draw up an \u201calternative steel strategy\u201d to rival recent government plans, stoking industry fears over a charm offensive by Nigel Farage\u2019s party as it eyes gains in former Labour heartlands. Reform is trying to harness growing anger at the government for high business energy bills, exacerbated by the Iran war, which are damaging steel companies<\/a> and the wider manufacturing sector. Reform\u2019s overtures have received a mixed reception across the industry.<\/p>\n Donald Trump has threatened to impose \u201ca big tariff\u201d on the UK if it does not drop its digital services tax on US social media firms. The digital services tax, introduced in 2020, imposes a 2% levy on the revenues of several major US tech companies. \u201cWe\u2019ve been looking at it and we can meet that very easily by just putting a big tariff on the UK, so they better be careful,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n On the agenda today:<\/p>\n Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will hold a rally in Swindon with shadow transport secretary Richard Holden.<\/p>\n Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey will join a tea dance and meets residents at a care home in Wokingham.<\/p>\n Green Party leader Zack Polanski is holding a press conference in Glasgow.<\/p>\n