Boris Johnson news – live: PM’s Brexit withdrawal deal signed in Brussels, as top union backs Rebecca Long-Bailey
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Boris Johnson has described the signing as “a fantastic moment” which would bring an end to more than three years of “argument and division” since the referendum vote to leave the EU in 2016.
The step forward in the path towards Brexit came as the PM faced challenges on the domestic front - being urged to scrap HS2 by a group of 13 Tory MPs while his business secretary Andrea Leadsom met with the family of Harry Dunn to discuss the ongoing effort to bring Anne Sacoolas back to the UK to face justice.
Meanwhile the passing of Good Friday architect and former Stormont deputy first minister Seamus Mallon prompted tributes from across the political spectrum. Tony Blair, who worked with him to bring peace to Northern Ireland, said he was "Brave, blunt...someone deeply respected and admired across the troubled landscape of Irish politics"
And in Labour leadership contest news, Len McClusky's union Unite expressed its support for Rebecca Long-Bailey to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.
Here are all of the day's events as they happened:
Rebecca Long-Bailey: ‘I’m not a millionaire’
Labour leadership candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey has shared her latest campaign video.
“I know you’re devastated we lost the election,” she tells prospective supporters. “I am too.”
She adds: “I wasn’t born to be a politician. I’m not a millionaire, and I grew up far away from the circus of Westminster.”
In the only real criticism of the Corbyn era, Long-Bailey admits “we had nothing to say about power” at the last election. “Labour, the true party of the people, lost their trust. I’ll make you a promise – I’ll never let that happen again.”
Tory minister ‘deeply sorry’ extradition refused in Dunn case
The business secretary Andrea Leadsom, MP for the Dunn family’s constituency, has also now called on Anne Sacoolas to return from the US to Britain, posting a “justice for Harry” message on Twitter.
It follows foreign secretary Dominic Raab expressing his disappointment about the US decision not to extradite Harry Dunn crash suspect to the UK.
Health secretary chairs emergency meeting on coronavirus outbreak
Matt Hancock is to chair a meeting of the government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee at noon today to discuss the coronavirus outbreak, Downing Street has announced.
Representatives of Public Health England and the government departments for transport, local government and education, the Home Office and Foreign Office will also attend the meeting in the Cabinet Office on Whitehall, said a No 10 spokesman.
“There remain no confirmed cases and we are well prepared for any new diseases,” said the spokesman.
Fourteen people have been tested for the virus in the UK, with five confirmed negative and nine still awaiting results, Public Health England (PHE) said on Thursday night.
Matt Hancock at No 10 (PA)
Labour MEP vows not to vote for Brexit deal
Another Labour MEP has pledged not to vote for the withdrawal agreement when it comes before the European parliament next week.
Rory Palmer said Brexit was “a historic mistake for my country” and called this morning’s signing by EU leaders a “sad moment”.
EU draws map for Boris Johnson of where customs checks he says don’t exist will go
The European Commission has produced a map of where it expects Britain to apply internal customs checks between different parts of the UK, under Boris Johnson’s Brexit withdrawal agreement.
The prime minister has repeatedly denied that his withdrawal agreement includes customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, but his claim is contradicted by the actual contents of the deal.
EU trade chief Sabine Weyand said that “now that the Withdrawal Agreement has been signed” the EU was was publishing a guide to the deal, “including now the protocol on Northern Ireland will work”.
'Unsustainable': Speaker calls for ban on a new appointments to House of Lords
A moratorium on the appointment of new peers to the House of Lords should be introduced urgently to combat its excessive size, according to the speaker of the upper chamber.
Norman Fowler’s intervention comes as both Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson prepare to nominate new peers in the Lords as part of the dissolution honours list – taking the total size of the chamber way beyond 800 members.
It is already one of the largest legislative bodies in the world, surpassed only by the Chinese National People’s Congress, and calls have already been made to remove “passengers” who fail to contribute to debates.
Chief medical officer at Cobra meeting
Downing Street say that chief medical officer Chris Whitty is attending the Cobra meeting on the coronavirus outbreak this lunchtime.
A Downing Street spokesman said the Department for Education was being represented at today’s meeting because large numbers of Chinese students were expected to return to UK universities over the coming period after visiting their home country for Chinese New Year celebrations.
The No 10 spokesman said: “We are keeping our response under constant review. We remain in close contact with the World Health Organisation and international partners including China and we are ready to take further action if needed.”
UK will face ‘consequences’ after Brexit, says German finance minister
Germany’s finance minister has said he is confident his country will not suffer from Brexit – but warned that the UK will inevitably face “consequences” from its decision to leave the EU.
At a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Olaf Scholz said Britain’s financial sector will not be as important to the EU after Brexit as it is now.
Scholz said a non-member cannot have the same advantages as an EU member and that will be an important factor in upcoming trade discussions between the EU and Britain.
“That is something that will have to be balanced,” he said. “I think we will have solutions but, sure, there cannot be a special competitive advantage from being outside.”
German minister Olaf Scholz (Reuters)
UK ‘top of the list’ for trade deal, says Trump’s treasury secretary
US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has been talking about Brexit and trade deals in Davos, appearing on a panel alongside Christine Lagarde, the president of the European Central Bank.
“On the UK, the president has been clear, going back to the election, that the UK is our number one ally and will be at the top of the list of trade agreements,” said the Trump administration official.
He reiterated the hope to get the deal done in 2020, and said “conversations” had started between Washington and Brussels for new US-EU trade arrangements too.
US treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin (AP)
Will Boris Johnson back down over tax on US tech giants?
Commentators have been discussing a US-UK trade deal, and the growing tension over the government’s planned digital services tax on Silicon Valley companies like Facebook.
“There’s no point taking back control from Brussels if you are going to be told by president Trump what taxes you are going to raise,” said The Times’ Rachel Sylvester.
She said getting a trade deal with the US would be “difficult” over the next year – given rows over the tech tax, Iran and Huawei’s involvement in Britain’s 5G network.
“However much [Trump] like Boris Johnson personally he’s not going to do him any favours,” Sylvester added.
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