Brexit news - live: Theresa May to stage fourth meaningful vote on deal as Corbyn launches Labour's EU elections campaign
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Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, one of the Labour figures involved in the Brexit talks, has accused Tory leadership hopefuls of undermining the chances of a cross-party deal.
The groups will meet again on Monday, he said. “We will continue the dialogue into next week,” he said. “Our worry is that we haven’t seen a great deal of movement from the other side.
“The second thing is we have had a discussion about how we can entrench any agreement for the future. But every time we have had that discussion, there have been noises off from the various leadership candidates for the Conservative Party which have undermined confidence in any agreement surviving more than a couple of months until the next Conservative leadership election.”
He added: “It is the instability of the Conservative Party at the moment which is causing us the most concern.”
Work and pensions secretary Amber Rudd announced today that the government will scrap three-year financial penalties for people on benefits who do not meet strict conditions.
Here’s our political correspondent Benjamin Kentish with all the details.
Leader of the Scottish Lib Dems Willie Rennie has claimed his party can stop Brexit and end the division it has caused across the UK.
Speaking at the party's European election campaign launch in Edinburgh on Thursday, said: “People are fed up with Brexit. It has caused division in our country and damaged our economy. Voters now have the chance to make that stop by voting for the Liberal Democrats.
“Brexit is bad for us, however you look at it. Our economy is in jeopardy … Our public services are under threat - hundreds of thousands of EU nationals live in Scotland. We rely on them to staff our hospitals and schools and we want them to feel welcome here.
“Finally our security is at risk. Our police need to work with European police forces. We can't risk peace in Northern Ireland and we want to work with the whole of Europe to keep us safe from climate change.
“A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a positive vote to solve these problems, prove the UK is an outward looking country and remain in the EU.”
Nicola Sturgeon said she has an “unequivocal message” for Theresa May that “Scotland does not want Brexit”, as she also launched her party’s campaign for the European elections today.
Scotland’s first minister and SNP leader demanded any Brexit deal must be put back to the people in a second referendum. She said: “Let me make the SNP position crystal clear. If a Brexit deal is agreed at Westminster, it must be put back to the people. No ifs, no buts, the people must have the final say.”
Discussing the position of Labour and the Conservatives, Ms Sturgeon claimed both want a hard Brexit and she described their closeness as “depressing”.
Amber Rudd has attacked Tory MPs vying for the leadership in “some Game Of Thrones push for the Iron Throne”. She also said any candidate backing a no-deal Brexit would fail to become prime minister.
“I think that a no-deal prime minister would not be able to command a majority in the House,” she told BBC Two’s Newsnight.
Ms Rudd added: “Parliament is a hung parliament at the moment. We know that it is an incredibly difficult group of MPs to influence and to control and to get a majority at the moment. So whoever makes the pitch in the future is going to have to convince everybody that they can hold that majority together.”
The work and pensions secretary said members of the government should focus on their jobs rather than the leadership, adding: “This shouldn’t be some Game Of Thrones push for the Iron Throne. We’ve all got important jobs to do. Let’s deliver on those.”
It seems the plan by Remain parties to put forward one candidate as an independent for the Peterborough by-election has failed. Change UK - not now fielding a candidate - has blamed Labour for the mess.
The released list of Peterborough candidates shows no Change UK contender.
Here’s our political correspondent Benjamin Kentish with all the details on the failure to get a unified People’s Vote candidate running in Peterborough.
Jeremy Corbyn launched Labour’s European election campaign in Kent earlier. Here’s our political sketch writer Tom Peck on his pitch to voters.
New defence secretary Penny Mordaunt has said it is a “personal priority” for her to ensure that service personnel are not unfairly pursued in relation to allegations of historical misbehaviour.
Her promise came after Tory MP Johnny Mercer told Theresa May he will no longer support the government in the Commons unless the historical prosecution of ex-servicemen and women ends.
Mercer said he found the repeated investigations into allegations, some dating back decades, “personally offensive”.
Mordaunt said: “This has dragged on for far too long and it is time for action. We owe it to those who take the greatest risk in the service of their nation.
“We will always hold our armed forces and the chain of command to account but I want to ensure our service personnel are not going to be victims of unfounded allegations, as we saw in the case of IHAT [Iraq Historical Allegations Team] or pursued unfairly for events that took place decades ago.
“This is a personal priority for me.”
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