Boris Johnson news: EU warns it will not accept ‘pig in a poke Brexit deal’ as PM urges bloc to sign by ‘end of summer’
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson held talks with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in an attempt to revive negotiations on a post-Brexit trade deal. No 10 said the prime minister urged the EU to reach an agreement “by the end of the summer”.
It came as Mr Johnson announced he would set up a commission to consider “all aspects” of racial inequality. The review will also consider wider disparities such as issues facing “working class white boys at schools”, Downing Street has said.
Labour’s shadow justice secretary David Lammy claimed the idea was “written on the back of a fag packet” and said it was time for action. Meanwhile, No 10 indicated the review of the two-metre rule may not be finished in time for the proposed reopening of pubs and restaurants on 4 July.
Home secretary condemns London protests
Priti Patel condemned the actions of those who protested in London at the weekend.
The home secretary said: "Like all members of this House, I was saddened and sickened at the far-right thugs who came to London this weekend on a so-called mission to protect the statue of Sir Winston Churchill, claiming to want to protect our country's heritage and yet failing to understand that our country's heritage is founded on a set of shared values - tolerance, respect for people and property, adherence to the rule of law.
"And those thugs, far from protecting our heritage, did all that they could to destroy and undermine those values. There is no place for their sickening conduct and hate in our society."
London counter-demonstrations 'patently racist', Priti Patel says
Priti Patel said that the counter-demonstrators in Westminster on Saturday were "patently racist" and were abusive towards police officers.
The home secretary said: "They were violent, they were aggressive and abusive towards police officers. They were patently racist. It is right that a good number have been arrested."
Ms Patel added: "In total, over 210,000 people have attended demonstrations across the country following the death of George Floyd.
"At least 160 protests took place this weekend, with the vast majority passing peacefully. But counter-demonstrations sparked ugly scenes. On Saturday, 2,000 people attended counter-protests in Westminster with eruptions of violence throughout the day.
"Racist and far-right hooligans clashed with the police and fights broke out. Smoke bombs, glass bottles were lobbed at the police in shameful scenes. Thirty-eight officers were hurt across the country this weekend as they were kicked, punched or pelted with missiles."
Ms Patel said that a total of 137 arrests were made on Saturday as counter-demonstrations took place.
She told the Commons: "On Saturday alone, there were 137 arrests for offences including assaults on officers, violent disorder, breaches of the peace, possessions of offensive weapons and class A drugs and drunk and disorderly behaviour.
"In total, at least 100 officers have now been injured as well as three horses and one police dog and 280 arrests have been made."
Priti Patel told MPs in the Commons: "As this ugly operational picture demonstrates, many of the so-called protesters came with the deliberate intent of causing harm to those around them and to police officers. This hooliganism is utterly indefensible. There can be no excuse for pelting police officers with missiles.
"Of all the dreadful images to emerge from this weekend, the one of a man desecrating the plaque of Pc Keith Palmer was the most abhorrent."
Pc Palmer, she said, "made the ultimate sacrifice" during a terror attack "at the heart of our democracy" adding "he will never be forgotten".
She said: "Sadly backing our world-class police has never been more important. The scenes of violence and disorder that we have seen in recent weeks have only underlined the challenges that they face."
Government to take careful approach to reopening economy, foreign secretary says
Dominic Raab said the government had to take a careful approach to reopening the economy.
Speaking at the Downing Street press conference, the foreign secretary said: "We can't just pretend coronavirus has gone away and we have eliminated the virus.
"We know from the science, and also what we are seeing from international experience, that there is a risk of a second spike if we are not very careful at this moment of time.
"So we need to keep up the social distancing, we need to keep building up and reinforcing the test and trace regime and we need to continue our steady progress in repressing the virus as we try to get life back to something like normal."
Dominic Raab says a further 38 people in the UK with Covid-19 have died
Nearly 70% think there is a 'fair amount' of racial tension in UK, poll shows
Almost 70 per cent of people in Britain think there is a fair amount of racial tension between people of different races and nationalities, a new poll has suggested.
Research from Ipsos Mori indicated that while the public were more open minded in their attitudes towards race in the past decade, the majority still felt tensions were noticeable.
Out of the representative sample of 1,059 adults interviewed between 5-10 June, 69 per cent said they thought there was at least a "fair amount" of tension in Britain between people of different races and nationalities, while one in five said there was a "great deal" of tension.
Half of those polled stated that they thought Britain's public services treated black (52 per cent) and Asian (53 per cent) people the same as white people, while a third claimed black people were treated worse and 27 per cent said that Asian people were more unfairly treated.
There was an improvement in tolerance based on the question of whether those surveyed would be happy for their child to marry someone from another ethnic group, with 89 per cent agreeing with the statement compared with 75 per cent in 2009 when the same question was asked.
Foreign secretary asked why scientific and medical experts no longer appearing at press conferences as often
Dominic Raab said, when asked why the weekly appearances at the government press conferences by scientific and medical experts had reduced by half since the start of June, that experts would continue to be involved in the briefings.
He said: "In terms of presence at these press conferences, scientists and the chief and deputy medical officers will continue to come and attend these press conferences.
"I think it is also true to say that as we go down the road map and start to talk about the changes we are making, whether it is to business, schools or other areas, we will also bring other independent experts along and make sure we can answer the full range of questions that people have."
Put to him that there were some questions that medical experts would be more equipped to answer than ministers, Mr Raab added: "Well, you haven't tried me on a question I can't answer yet but I am happy to be proved wrong.
"Look, you are right to say the scientists and the medical adviser are important.
"They will continue to attend these press conferences, perhaps not on a daily basis - they've got a huge amount of other work to do - and undoubtedly the politicians need to answer the judgment calls we make based on the evolving science."
Liberal Democrats accuse government of 'deliberate move away from expert advice'
Critics have accused the government of a "deliberate move away from expert advice" after the foreign secretary took the daily press conference without any science or medical chiefs present.
The Liberal Democrats' health spokeswoman Munira Wilson said: "The image of the Foreign Secretary standing alone at the press conference was stark.
"We have seen over the past week a deliberate move away from expert advice and transparency at the daily press conferences.
"It is absolutely crucial that people have faith in the government through their handling of the coronavirus crisis, particularly as the lockdown is eased and people come into more contact with each other."
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