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EU to decide its response to Brexit at special summit called for late April - Politics live Commons urgent question about Global Laundromat revelations - Politics live
(about 1 hour later)
12.49pm GMT
12:49
The SNP’s Roger Mullin says at the heart of this scandal is the use of limited partnerships.
He says on Friday the business department closed its review of limited partnerships. Will that now be reopened so that Mullin and others can submit fresh evidence, based on the latest revelations.
He says it is hard to believe the UK is a world leader.
And he says the government should do more to encourage whistleblowing.
Kirby says, in this case, he does not think limited partnerships were involved. But he says any MP is free to write to the secretary of state.
We are world leaders in this, he says.
12.47pm GMT
12:47
Kirby is responding to McDonnell.
He rejects the charge of complacency.
And he suggests that it would not be appropriate for the government to tell the FCA and the NCA what they must investigate.
12.46pm GMT
12:46
McDonnell accuses government of “complacency and inaction” over money-laundering
John McDonnell is responding.
He says he does not think Kirby realises the seriousness of these allegations. He accuses him of being complacent.
He says HSBC has previously faced money-laundering allegations.
Money-laundering threatens the stability of our economy, he says.
Can Kirby give MPs more details about what steps are being taken to address this?
Could there be criminal proceedings? This is effectively a criminal network, says McDonnell.
He says the main risk comes from inactivity. The government should ensure British banks are clean and fit for purpose.
The Financial Conduct Authority stresses the need for banks to self-police. It is obvious this is not happening, he says.
He asks the government to commit to an inquiry into this.
And, when the government owns banks, especially RBS, can it ensure taxpayers its banks are not involved in criminal activity.
McDonnell accuses the government of “complacency and inaction” over money-laundering.
12.42pm GMT
12:42
John McDonnell asks for a statement.
Simon Kirby, the City minister, is responding.
He says he wants the UK to take a lead in the drive against money laundering. This is to keep Britons safe.
He says the authorities take any such allegations seriously. The allegations in the Guardian will be investigated, he says.
He says the government is doing more than any other to tackle the threat posed by money laundering. He lists measures taken by the government and says reforms being introduced are the most serious for a decade.
He says the UK is working closely with international partners to address this problem.
We are determined to make the UK the most difficult place in the world for international crime networks to channel their money, he says.
Updated
at 12.48pm GMT
12.37pm GMT
12:37
Here is our latest story on this topic.
National Crime Agency says investigations into Russian money laundering not going anywhere because Moscow won't help https://t.co/zOs1WxIoFG
12.36pm GMT
12:36
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, is asking the urgent question.
12.24pm GMT
12:24
Here is the Guardian’s main story yesterday about the Global Laundromat scheme.
12.23pm GMT
12:23
Commons urgent question on Russian money-laundering and British banks
Luke Harding
We are about to get a Commons urgent question on the Guardian’s revelations about the Global Laundromat. We revealed that Russian criminals with links to the Kremlin laundered $20bn … and that much of this cash ended up in Britain.
The UK’s high street banks handled $740m in dirty money from Moscow. Even worse, most of the shell companies used in the fraud were UK ones, registered at Companies House in London.
David Cameron’s much-vaunted anti-corruption summit last summer was meant to tackle offshore secrecy, and the fact that anonymous companies were used to own assets in the UK, especially real estate. Since then, not much appears to have changed. The Laundromat features about 70,000 banking transactions, with billions simply vanishing into opaque UK companies.
The questions for the government are:
1) What does the Treasury intend to do to stop the UK being used as the world’s pre-eminent money-laundering destination?
2) Will the National Crime Agency and other financial regulators investigate?
3) when will the government begin prosecuting the UK intermediaries – lawyers, accountants, company formation agents – who facilitate money-laundering and other financial crimes?
Updated
at 12.33pm GMT
12.19pm GMT
12:19
And, while we’re on the subject of Tom Watson, the Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has hit back at him for what he said about McCluskey yesterday with an article for Huffington Post. It’s strong stuff. Here’s an excerpt:
There is another world in our movement, alas. A world of skulduggery, smears and secret plots.
That is where you will find Tom Watson. When Labour has needed loyalty he has been sharpening his knife looking for a back to stab. When unity is required, he manufactures division.
It is small surprise that he has then worked to split the party again this week. He has form as long as his arm. And now his sights are set on abusing the internal democracy of Unite.
Updated
at 12.33pm GMT
12.14pm GMT
12:14
Tom Watson condemns MPs attacking BBC's Brexit coverage
As the Guardian reports, 76 MPs - mostly, but not exclusively, Tory pro-leave campaigners - have signed a letter to the BBC complaining about its Brexit coverage. They are particularly angry about what they dub “despite Brexit” coverage, by which they seem to mean reporting that pre-supposes Brexit will damage the economy.
(Growth and employment figures have been positive since last June, and claims that a leave vote would trigger an immediate downturn turned out to be wrong, but it remains the case that most economists think that when the UK does leave the EU there will be a hit to growth in the short and medium term.)
Here is an extract from the letter containing the MPs’ key arguments.
We know many leave-voting constituents have felt their view have been unfairly represented. This phenomenon is weakening the BBC’s bond with the 52% who voted leave and all who wish to make a success of the decision made.
In particular, the corporation’s focus on ‘regretful’ leave voters, despite there being no polling shift towards remain since the referendum, has led some to believe it is putting its preconceptions before the facts. Meanwhile the posturing and private opinions of EU figures are too often presented as facts, without the vital context that they are talking tough ahead of the exit negotiations.
It particularly pains us to see how much of the economic good news we’ve had since June has been skewed by BBC coverage which seems unable to break out of pre-referendum pessimism and accept new facts. Some of the signatories of this letter shared many of the concerns about theeconomic impact of Brexit, but all are delighted to find forecasts of immediate economic harm were at best misplaced. So-called ‘despite Brexit’ reporting may be expected of a partisan press, but licence fee-payers have the right to expect better ...
BBC coverage also shapes international perceptions of the UK: we fear that, by misrepresenting our country either as xenophobic or regretful of the leave vote, the BBC will undermine our efforts to carve out a new, global role for this country.
Here is the Guardian’s story about it. You can read the full text of the letter here, on the website of Julian Knight, the Conservative MP and former BBC and Independent journalist who coordinated it. He voted remain.
In response Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader and the shadow culture secretary, has urged the government to stand up for the BBC. In a statement he said:
The BBC is one of the world’s finest news broadcasters and we should all value its impartiality, integrity and balanced coverage. It is the BBC’s job to report the facts, not to be a cheerleader for any cause or party.
All politicians sometimes dislike the way some stories are covered, but we should never seek to interfere with the independence of the BBC by publicly accusing it of bias and making implicit threats about its future.
Theresa May and Karen Bradley must make clear their commitment to the independence of the BBC and distance themselves from attacks on it by politicians who have an agenda the BBC does not and should not share.
Nick Robinson, the Today presenter and former BBC political editor, has also leapt to the corporation’s defence.
Do not adjust your set. Normal service from the BBC means you will hear people you disagree with say things you don't like. (That's our job) pic.twitter.com/UyOzeEp3eV
12.10pm GMT
12:10
De Volkskrant, a respected Dutch newspaper, has published a long article about the negotiating strategy the EU will adopt during Brexit. It appears under the headline:
Dit is de geheime EU-strategie voor scheiding van de Britten
or, as Google Translate puts it,
This is the secret EU Strategy for separation from the British
And that article says it is based on information provided by insiders about what it says is the draft negotiating strategy that has been drawn up. It says these will come out when Theresa May presses the “Brexitknop” (Brexit button). Based on feeding it through Google Translate, here are the key points.
The EU will insist access to the internal market depends upon accepting the four freedoms, including freedom of movement, de Volkskrant claims.
The EU will propose a deal guaranteeing the reciprocal rights of EU nationals in the UK and Britons in EU countries, de Volkskrant claims.
The EU will demand an exit “bill”, de Volkskrant claims. Interestingly, it says that David Cameron is partly responsible for the possible demand being so high. Cameron demanded cuts to the EU budget for 2014-20. But, in return for spending going down in the early years, planned spending in the future rose sharply. There is an argument now that the UK is obliged to contribute to those future spending commitments.
The EU will demand that the UK loses some of its existing trade advantages, de Volkskrant claims.
The EU has yet to decide whether to allow talks on the withdrawal deal and talks on the future trade deal to take place in parallel, as the UK wants, or sequentially, de Volkskrant says.
If the UK tries to leave without a deal, the EU could take it to court at the Hague to try to recover the money it thinks is owed, de Volkskrant says.
Only six people, including Donald Tusk, the European council president, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, have seen the 10-page draft negotiating guidelines, de Volkskrant claims.
Updated
at 12.35pm GMT
11.29am GMT11.29am GMT
11:2911:29
Tusk says he wants to make Brexit process 'the least painful for the EU'Tusk says he wants to make Brexit process 'the least painful for the EU'
This is what Donald Tusk, president of the European council, said at his press conference about the special EU summit.This is what Donald Tusk, president of the European council, said at his press conference about the special EU summit.
In view of what was announced in London yesterday I would like to inform you that I will call a European council on Saturday 29 April to adopt the guidelines for the Brexit talks.In view of what was announced in London yesterday I would like to inform you that I will call a European council on Saturday 29 April to adopt the guidelines for the Brexit talks.
I personally wish the UK hadn’t chosen to leave the EU. But the majority of British voters decided otherwise.I personally wish the UK hadn’t chosen to leave the EU. But the majority of British voters decided otherwise.
Therefore we must to do everything we can to make the process of divorce the least painful for the EU.Therefore we must to do everything we can to make the process of divorce the least painful for the EU.
Our main priority for the negotiations must be to create as much certainty and clarity as possible for all citizens, companies and member states that will be negatively affected by Brexi, as well as our important partners and friends around the world.Our main priority for the negotiations must be to create as much certainty and clarity as possible for all citizens, companies and member states that will be negatively affected by Brexi, as well as our important partners and friends around the world.
And here are the key points.And here are the key points.
Tusk calls special summit for Saturday 29 April where the EU 27 (the countries not leaving) will decide their Brexit negotiating strategy.Tusk calls special summit for Saturday 29 April where the EU 27 (the countries not leaving) will decide their Brexit negotiating strategy.
He says he wants to make the process “the least painful for the EU”.He says he wants to make the process “the least painful for the EU”.
He says his priority will be to create “as much certainty and clarity” for people, organisations and countries negatively affected by Brexit.He says his priority will be to create “as much certainty and clarity” for people, organisations and countries negatively affected by Brexit.
Tusk clearly did not get the memo from Theresa May about why she thinks Brexit is not a divorce.Tusk clearly did not get the memo from Theresa May about why she thinks Brexit is not a divorce.
And he clearly did not get the memo either from the 76 MPs, mostly pro-leave Tories, who have written to the BBC complaining about “despite Brexit” reporting - ie, reporting that presupposes Brexit will have negative consequences.And he clearly did not get the memo either from the 76 MPs, mostly pro-leave Tories, who have written to the BBC complaining about “despite Brexit” reporting - ie, reporting that presupposes Brexit will have negative consequences.
11.09am GMT11.09am GMT
11:0911:09
Tusk calls summit for Saturday 29 April so EU leaders can decide their approach to BrexitTusk calls summit for Saturday 29 April so EU leaders can decide their approach to Brexit
Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has just announced at a press conference in Brussels that he will call a summit of the 27 other EU countries on Saturday 29 April where they can consider their response to Theresa May’s triggering of article 50.Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has just announced at a press conference in Brussels that he will call a summit of the 27 other EU countries on Saturday 29 April where they can consider their response to Theresa May’s triggering of article 50.
I will post his quotes shortly.I will post his quotes shortly.
10.41am GMT10.41am GMT
10:4110:41
Here is Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, on Martin McGuinness.Here is Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, on Martin McGuinness.
Sad to learn of sudden passing of Martin McGuinness. His contribution to peace in Northern Ireland will endure. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.Sad to learn of sudden passing of Martin McGuinness. His contribution to peace in Northern Ireland will endure. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
UpdatedUpdated
at 10.48am GMTat 10.48am GMT
10.37am GMT10.37am GMT
10:3710:37
John Bruton, who was taoiseach from 1994 to 1997, has said he is sorry Martin McGuinness did not live to see complete reconciliation in Northern Ireland. He said:John Bruton, who was taoiseach from 1994 to 1997, has said he is sorry Martin McGuinness did not live to see complete reconciliation in Northern Ireland. He said:
Notwithstanding our profound political differences, I always found him to be a very friendly person and easy to talk to.Notwithstanding our profound political differences, I always found him to be a very friendly person and easy to talk to.
The good and warm personal relationship he developed with Ian Paisley set a very good example. But it has yet to be followed by a genuine political reconciliation between the two communities they represented.The good and warm personal relationship he developed with Ian Paisley set a very good example. But it has yet to be followed by a genuine political reconciliation between the two communities they represented.
It is sad that Martin will not be around to complete the important task he undertook.It is sad that Martin will not be around to complete the important task he undertook.
10.33am GMT10.33am GMT
10:3310:33
Later this morning Donald Tusk, president of the European council, is due to give the date when the other members of the EU will agree and announce their response to Theresa May triggering article 50. I’ll cover that as soon as it happens.Later this morning Donald Tusk, president of the European council, is due to give the date when the other members of the EU will agree and announce their response to Theresa May triggering article 50. I’ll cover that as soon as it happens.
10.05am GMT10.05am GMT
10:0510:05
Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, has issued a tribute recalling his visit to the Northern Ireland assembly in 2007 to express support for Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness’s power-sharing administration. Here’s an extract:Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, has issued a tribute recalling his visit to the Northern Ireland assembly in 2007 to express support for Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness’s power-sharing administration. Here’s an extract:
I gladly did so and found a remarkable partnership, which was the anchor of the institutions consolidating the peace process .I gladly did so and found a remarkable partnership, which was the anchor of the institutions consolidating the peace process .
The friendship which developed between them was real, enduring and profound, private as well as public and allowed Northern Ireland to move away from violence. They were both solid and continuing friends of Scotland.The friendship which developed between them was real, enduring and profound, private as well as public and allowed Northern Ireland to move away from violence. They were both solid and continuing friends of Scotland.
UpdatedUpdated
at 10.50am GMTat 10.50am GMT
9.53am GMT
09:53
And Alastair Campbell’s assessment of Martin McGuinness for the Guardian is well worth reading too. Here it is in full:
And here is an extract.
At various moments during the years of negotiations that followed, Sinn Féin would frequently be exasperating, and some of us would lose our patience. Tony once suggested we should be a little more sympathetic to their difficulties, pointing out that they were going about this business with a not unreasonable fear that someone might put a bullet in their heads even for talking to us.
Whenever there is a terrorist attack politicians and media will rise as one to call it “a cowardly act”. But that means we should acknowledge the flipside too: what Martin McGuinness and the Sinn Féin leadership did in negotiating for peace took courage. Once he decided to make the change to pursuing democracy – and I believe he did so some years before New Labour came on the scene – I think he genuinely made the change. As time went on I saw somebody very different from the murderous hardman IRA commander image. I saw someone was was very human, very likeable, and dedicated to making the new path he had chosen work for the people he represented.
Updated
at 10.50am GMT
9.44am GMT
09:44
Here is my colleague Henry McDonald’s assessment of Martin McGuinness.
And here is an extract.
Trimble said he continued to monitor McGuinness’ career after he had left Northern Ireland. McGuinness’ capacity to seek compromise endured in the year running up to his death, Trimble acknowledged.
He added: “I heard recently from a very senior government minister in Downing Street that they had to call in McGuinness last year to act as a peacemaker between London and the Scots Nats!
“On the joint ministerial council between the devolved governments of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast – in cooperation with the national government in London – there was a lot of shouting, a lot of bad blood. It was caused by the Scottish nationalists roaring and ranting against central government representatives who eventually called in McGuinness for help.
“By contrast Martin McGuinness was calm and rational, and he helped turn down the temperature at that meeting.”
Updated
at 10.51am GMT
9.39am GMT
09:39
Here’s the Guardian’s obituary of Martin McGuinness.
9.33am GMT
09:33
Henry McDonald
While Enda Kenny has led the warm tributes to Martin McGuinness among the Irish Republic’s political establishment there are a discordant voices in southern Ireland pointing out his record.
Austin Stack’s prison officer father was murdered by the IRA in 1984 in the Irish Republic. His son has led a dogged campaign to demand the truth about what happened to his father and has personally confronted McGuinness about the murder in the past as did the son of an Irish Army soldier, Patrick Kelly, whom the IRA also killed in the 1980s.
Stack, as spokesperson for the Independent Victims and Survivors Coalition, had this to say this morning on McGuinness’ legacy:
While acknowledging Martin McGuinness’s passing it think it’s entirely appropriate to focus on all his legacy, not just the last few years. Let’s today remember McGuinness never acknowledged his many victims and in fact told Pte Paddy Kelly’s son “just move on you”. Pte Kelly was a brave Irish soldier who was rescuing Don Tidey when he was gunned down, the man who shot him stood over him and said “take that you Free State Bastard”.
McGuinness had serious questions to answer regarding the Claudy bombing and Enniskillen bombing where many innocent civilians were murdered. He also is directly responsible for death of Frank Hegarty, a young man the IRA had exiled and who McGuinness told to come home only for him to be murdered within days. This is the real legacy of Martin McGuinness, he took what he knew about each of these cases to his grave. We should look at his real legacy in its totality.
Updated
at 10.53am GMT
9.21am GMT
09:21
Bertie Ahern, who was taoiseach at the time of the Good Friday agreement, has told Ireland’s RTE Radio that Martin McGuinness was a good person.
He was a good person, in my view. He moved from a very difficult past where he took a particular side and he was a good person to negotiate with and certainly I considered him as a good friend as we went through 25 years of discussions.
Ahern also said McGuinness had the ability to compromise.
In negotiations when there is a lot at stake and it can’t be winner takes all Martin understood compromise. He listened and he was able, I think, to arbitrate between different points of view.
Updated
at 10.54am GMT
9.14am GMT
09:14
Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative party chairman whose wife Margaret was paralysed when the IRA bombed the Grand hotel in Brighton during the Conservative party conference, and who was injured himself by the attack, has welcomed McGuinness’s death. He told the Press Association:
I’m just pleased that the world is a sweeter and cleaner place now.
He was not only a multi-murderer, he was a coward.
He knew that the IRA were defeated because British intelligence had penetrated right the way up to the army council and that the end was coming.
He then sought to save his own skin and he knew that it was likely he would be charged before long with several murders, which he had personally committed, and he decided that the only thing to do was to opt for peace.
He claimed to be a Roman Catholic.
I hope that his beliefs turn out to be true and he’ll be parked in a particularly hot and unpleasant corner of hell for the rest of eternity.
Tebbit said he refused to forgive McGuinness for his terrorist past because “forgiveness requires confession of sins and repentance”.
“There was none of that,” Tebbit added.
Updated
at 10.57am GMT
9.08am GMT
09:08
Jeremy Corbyn has posted a tribute to Martin McGuinness on Twitter.
Martin McGuinness played a huge role in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland. He was a great family man and my thoughts are with them
9.05am GMT
09:05
John Simpson, the BBC’s world affairs editor, tweeted this about Martin McGuinness earlier.
#MartinMcGuinness made the extraordinary leap from hate & violence to reconciliation. He deserves our praise.
Simpson was a correspondent for the BBC in Belfast in the 1970s and he has just been talking about McGuinness on the Today programme. He recalled being followed by McGuinness at one point in a Republican area at a time when McGuinness was known as “the butcher of Bogside”. Simpson said he was “absolutely terrified”.
8.58am GMT
08:58
James Brokenshire, the Northern Ireland secretary, has offered his condolences to Martin McGuinness’s family. His full tribute is here, on the department’s website, and here is an extract.
Whilst passionate and robust in his politics, on a personal level I always found Martin to be thoughtful and reflective and appreciated the personal consideration he showed. The importance of family and his home in Derry shone through.
Martin will be remembered for his contribution to politics in Northern Ireland and particularly during his near ten years as deputy first minister.
8.53am GMT
08:53
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, has highlighted Martin McGuinness’s meeting with the Queen in his tribute to the former deputy first minister. Farron said:
Martin McGuinness, for all his past, became a statesman. One moment sticks with me, the remarkable – and unlikely – images of McGuinness’ when he shook the hand of the Queen on her visit to Belfast in 2012. This single picture epitomised the changes in Northern Ireland.
The historic handshake with the Queen in the quest for peace. This is something I, and millions of others, are thankful for. Peace in Northern Ireland is down, in part, to his leadership of the Republican community.