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Saturday, June 25, 2016

Hilary Benn sacked as Corbyn faces 'no confidence' pressure

by Emily Straton and Biodun Iginla, BBC News reporters, London

Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn has been sacked from the shadow cabinet amid reports he was encouraging ministers to resign should Jeremy Corbyn ignore a vote of no confidence.

The Labour leader is facing a vote of no confidence over claims he fought a "lacklustre" campaign in the EU vote.

A Labour spokesman said Mr Corbyn had "lost confidence" in Mr Benn.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said Mr Corbyn "worked himself to the ground" during the four-month campaign.

Senior Labour sources have also told the BBC that a significant number of shadow cabinet resignations were likely if Jeremy Corbyn were to ignore the result of the confidence vote.

Secret ballot

Labour MPs Dame Margaret Hodge and Ann Coffey submitted a motion of no confidence against Mr Corbyn - who campaigned on the losing Remain side - in a letter to the Parliamentary Labour Party chairman John Cryer on Friday.

The motion has no formal constitutional force but calls for a discussion at their next PLP meeting on Monday.

The chairman will decide whether it is debated. If accepted, a secret ballot of Labour MPs could be held on Tuesday.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said Mr Benn had been publicly pretty loyal to Mr Corbyn, although the pair had disagreed over issues such as whether to extend the bombing campaign from Iraq to Syria against so-called Islamic State.

But he added that losing the EU vote "tipped the balance" and Mr Corbyn had received "huge criticism" from colleagues, and that criticism was seemingly "moving up a gear" with discussions of resignations.

UK Politics

UK's EU commissioner to resign

25 June 2016
From the sectionEU Referendum

Protestors outside the Houses of Parliament following the leave result

EU vote petition signed by over 2.5m

25 June 2016
From the sectionEU Referendum

Corbyn: 'I did all I could' in EU vote

25 June 2016
From the sectionUK Politics

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

MPs to debate calls to ban Donald Trump

by Emily Straton and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London

From the section UK Politics

MPs are to debate whether to bar Donald Trump from entering the UK in response to a public petition calling for action against the US Presidential candidate.

About 568,000 people have backed a petition calling on the tycoon to be barred for comments he made about banning Muslims from the US.
Labour MP Paul Flynn will lead a debate in Westminster Hall on 18 January.
David Cameron has condemned Mr Trump, who has major business interests in the UK, but said he should be allowed in.
The Commons petitions committee decided to hold a debate on the issue after considering the matter at a meeting on Tuesday. Under the current rules, MPs have to consider any petition with 100,000 signatures for discussion in Parliament.

'Range of views'

The debate will be held in the Commons' secondary debating chamber rather than the full chamber and there will be no vote at the end of it.
Helen Jones, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, said it would allow for "a range of views" to be expressed.
"By scheduling a debate on these petitions, the committee is not expressing a view on whether or not the government should exclude Donald Trump from the UK," she said.
"As with any decision to schedule a petition for debate, it simply means that the committee has decided that the subject should be debated."
But Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron questioned the decision to allocate parliamentary time to discussing Mr Trump.
He tweeted: "Trump is a bloviating billionaire with downright offensive views. But I'd rather we debated inequality or the NHS."
Mr Trump is currently the frontrunner, in some opinion polls, for the Republican nomination but he has been roundly criticised for comments he made about Muslims in the wake of December's fatal San Bernardino shootings - remarks which critics said were offensive and inflammatory.
Home Secretary Theresa May, who makes decisions on banning orders, has said she cannot comment on the case.
A rival petition opposing a ban on Mr Trump as illogical has been signed by nearly 40,000 people. This will also be debated by MPs.

UK Politics

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

BREAKING NEWS: Government 'recognises' anger at Donald Trump comments

by Emily Straton and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, London

From the section UK Politics

The government has responded to a petition calling for presidential hopeful Donald Trump to be banned from the UK after he proposed a temporary halt on Muslims entering the US.

More than 500,000 people have signed the parliamentary e-petition.
In response, the government said it recognised the strength of feeling against Mr Trump's comments, which are expected to be debated by MPs.
Ministers previously criticised his remarks but disagreed with banning him.
Any petition with more than 10,000 signatures on the parliament website gets a government response, and if one gets more than 100,000 signatures it is automatically considered for debate in Parliament.

'Privilege'

The cross-party Commons petitions committee is due to meet next week to decide whether to hold a parliamentary debate on the petition to ban Mr Trump.
Given the number of signatures, there is a presumption it will be debated.
In its response, the government said it did not comment on individual immigration and exclusion decisions.
"The home secretary may exclude a non-European Economic Area national from the UK if she considers their presence in the UK to be non-conducive to the public good," it said, adding that Theresa May had said coming to the UK was "a privilege and not a right".
"Exclusion powers are very serious and are not used lightly" and would only be used "based on all available evidence", it said, adding: "The government recognises the strength of feeling against the remarks and will continue to speak out against comments which have the potential to divide our communities, regardless of who makes them.
"We reject any attempts to create division and marginalisation amongst those we endeavour to protect."
Prime Minister David Cameron has labelled Mr Trump's comments "stupid" but said he did not support a ban, telling MPs the tycoon would "unite us all against him" if he visited the UK.

Donald Trump 'to spend $2m a week on campaign'

30 December 2015

UK Politics

Monday, November 30, 2015

Syria vote on Wednesday, says PM

UK PM David Cameron says he will call a one-day Commons debate and vote on Wednesday over air strikes in Syria

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Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Saturday, June 25, 2016

Hilary Benn sacked as Corbyn faces 'no confidence' pressure

Secret ballot