Starmer urges Johnson to hold cross-party talks after Belfast rioting hits ‘scale not seen in recent years’ – live
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Version 10 of 17. Labour leader restates call on PM to address rioting as Police Service of Northern Ireland says it has not seen ‘sectarian violence’ like this for some time Public Health England has published its latest Covid surveillance report (pdf). Here is a summary of the key points from PHE. Michel Barnier, the former EU Brexit negotiator, has issued a statement on Twitter condemning the violence in Northern Ireland. Given the importance of Northern Ireland in the Brexit talks, he can claim to be an interested party. NHS England has recorded 34 further coronavirus hospital deaths. The details are here. A week ago today 43 hospital deaths were recorded. In an interview with Sky News Peter Hain, a Labour peer and a former Northern Ireland secretary, said the disorder in Northern Ireland was mainly confined to loyalist communities. They felt “left behind for all sorts of reasons”, he said, but he also said they felt “betrayed” over Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. He explained: Hain said there were “flexibilities” in the Northern Ireland protocol that could be pursued to reduce the problems at the border. He said Boris Johnson should be negotiating these solutions with Brussels. Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, has said that he is aware of the “ongoing concerns” in the unionist and loyalist community in Northern Ireland, and that he is engaging with those concerns, but that violence and disorder is not the solution. He made the comment in a statement issued ahead of his talks in Belfast later. Here’s an extract. Nicola Sturgeon has said that she would have “no hesitation” is taking the Astra Zeneca vaccine if she is offered it a week today when she is booked to receive her Covid jag. Speaking at a Q&A with the Holyrood lobby on Thursday, she said: Sturgeon also denied there had been any confusion over the SNP’s position on Covid status certificates after Ian Blackford appeared to suggest the party’s Westminster group would consider supporting and then would not support UK government proposals, which have yet to be announced. She said that four-nations discussions about this were ongoing and that she was keen to work through the issues “methodically” and in a way in which “the public feel involved”. She went on: She added: “Right now the vaccines are not authorised for use amongst the younger population, so where does that leave younger people?” The Police Service of Northern Ireland held a news conference a bit earlier to provide an update on last night’s rioting. Temporary assistant chief constable Jonathan Roberts was taking the questions. Here are the main points he made. Roberts said that what happened last night was “at a scale that we have not seen in recent years in Belfast, or further afield”. He said the police had not seen “sectarian violence” like, with large groups involved on both sides, for some time. He said there was a level of “pre-planning” involved. He explained: He said what happened was “disgraceful”. He said: He said he could not confirm that paramilitary groups were involved. He said some of those involved in the rioting were not from paramilitary groups. As for whether paramilitary groups were involved, that was still “an active line of investigation”, he said. He said that there had been two arrests so far, and that 55 police officers had been injured in the last few days. But he said the injuries sustained by the police were “on the whole relatively minor”. He said some children as young as 13 or 14 were involved. They were being “encouraged and supported by adults who stood by and clapped and cheered”. He said there would be a full investigation into what happened. He said the police were aware of other events being planned for the coming days. The police would be monitoring them, he said. A spontaneous act of solidarity has taken place at Belfast city hall for the driver of a bus that was hijacked and setting alight in the city on Wednesday evening, PA Media reports. PA says: From the BBC’s Jayne McCormack Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, is flying to Northern Ireland in response to the violence, PA Media reports. PA says: |