Sunak calls for return of Stormont ahead of Biden visit
Good morning from London.
Today marks 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, bringing an end to the troubles in Northern Ireland which killed thousands and created a state of terror for thousands more on both sides of the Irish Channel.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak is using the anniversary to urge leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland to resume the power-sharing process, which includes the government in Stormont. It has not sat since February 2022 after the Democratic Unionist party pulled its support, because of concerns about the Brexit trade deal that put up trade barriers between the UK and Northern Ireland.
US president Joe Biden is visiting Belfast on Tuesday and will meet Sunak, but will not meet leaders in Northern Ireland because power-sharing remains suspended.
Sunak said: “As we look forward, we will celebrate those who took difficult decisions, accepted compromise, and showed leadership – showing bravery, perseverance, and political imagination.
“We commemorate those who are no longer with us and the many who lost their lives by trying to prevent violence and protect the innocent. And we give thanks to them as we reflect on the new generations that have grown up and continue to grow in a world in which peace and prosperity has prevailed. We stand ready to work with our partners in the Irish government and the local parties to ensure that the institutions are up and running again as soon as possible. There is work to be done.”
Despite the hope expressed by Sunak, more tellingly Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris was wary of predicting a date for the resumption of power sharing.
“Anybody who was predicting a date by which the executive would go back in Northern Ireland would be someone who could also sell you a four-leaf clover. No one knows when it will go back. Deadlines are deadly in Northern Ireland terms,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour on Sunday night.
There’s a lovely photo here, tweeted by the BBC’s Mark Simpson, of a silhouette of the SDLP’s negotiating team embracing 25 years ago, signalling that peace had been agreed.
Journalists outside Castle Buildings this time 25 years ago were watching the door for a WALK-OUT … then suddenly in the SDLP window there was a HUG. 📸
Pictures went around the world. First sign that the deal was on. pic.twitter.com/eeqWeuoBp8— Mark Simpson (@BBCMarkSimpson) April 9, 2023
Meanwhile for those of you who were following the blog on Friday, Labour and Keir Starmer are continuing to double down on a set of aggressive attack adverts that blamed Rishi Sunak for sex offenders against children, and people found guilty of “possession of a firearm with intent to harm” not going to jail.
It comes as part of Labour’s broad focus on crime and antisocial behaviour, but was heavily criticised by members of its own party for its tone, and by the legal profession for making up an offence in the latter case.
It led the Sunday Times yesterday, and a Labour insider told the Playbook email overnight: “We’re determined to take the fight to the Tories. They may not be used to a Labour party that wants to campaign on law and order but it’s important to Keir Starmer and he wants voters to be in no doubt that we’re on their side.”
The Times reports that the economy is to be the next focus of the campaign.
Finally Emily Thornberry has been on the morning broadcast round talking about the government’s fraud strategy, or lack of it, and asking what has happened to it.
She wrote last night: “At least 10,000 offences are committed every day against working people and pensioners in our communities, for some destroying everything they have worked for all their lives, and yet the parasites who are stealing their wages and savings simply move on to their next round of victims with near total impunity.”
I’m sitting in for Andy Sparrow on this Easter Monday. You can get in touch below the line as always, by emailing [email protected] or via Twitter where I’m @HarryTaylr and my DMs are open.
Key events
Jessica Elgot
Keir Starmer has said he will “make absolutely zero apologies for being blunt” in an article published after a row over a widely criticised Labour attack advert on child sexual assaults.
In a veiled message to critics within his own party, the Labour leader said he will “stand by every word Labour has said on this subject” and would continue to use the Conservatives’ record on crime as a legitimate criticism “no matter how squeamish it might make some feel”.
The advert, which drew criticism from both left and right, used a picture of Rishi Sunak and said he “does not believe adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison” and pointed to the Conservative record on offenders avoiding jail.
Several senior Labour figures distanced themselves from the poster. The Observer reported that the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, “had nothing to do with it”.
In an opinion piece for the Daily Mail, Starmer said Labour would continue to take on the Conservatives on law and order and pointed to the case of Zara Aleena, the aspiring young lawyer who was murdered by an offender who had been recalled to prison two days before the attack and should not have been free.
“For the first time in my lifetime, everywhere you look – from the economy to the NHS to the chaos on our streets – we have been set on a path of decline,” Starmer said.
Read more:
The SNP’s former leader in Westminster has urged the party to “come together” after Humza Yousaf has become first minister.
Ian Blackford’s comments came just 24 hours after SNP president Mike Russell told The Herald newspaper that Scottish independence cannot be secured in the immediate future amid the ongoing police investigation into party finances.
Blackford told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland on Monday that Mr Russell was signalling that the party is facing “a very challenging period”, and warned that “political parties that aren’t united tend to face electoral challenges”.
The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber added: “I would appeal to everyone in the party to come together now the election contest for the leader and the first minister is over.
Yousaf narrowly beat rival Kate Forbes in the leadership contest last month.
Blackford, who backed Yousaf to replace Nicola Sturgeon as leader, added: “I actually think, when I look over the course of the first few days of the leadership of Humza, he’s made a number of very positive announcements.”
Sunak calls for return of Stormont ahead of Biden visit
Good morning from London.
Today marks 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, bringing an end to the troubles in Northern Ireland which killed thousands and created a state of terror for thousands more on both sides of the Irish Channel.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak is using the anniversary to urge leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland to resume the power-sharing process, which includes the government in Stormont. It has not sat since February 2022 after the Democratic Unionist party pulled its support, because of concerns about the Brexit trade deal that put up trade barriers between the UK and Northern Ireland.
US president Joe Biden is visiting Belfast on Tuesday and will meet Sunak, but will not meet leaders in Northern Ireland because power-sharing remains suspended.
Sunak said: “As we look forward, we will celebrate those who took difficult decisions, accepted compromise, and showed leadership – showing bravery, perseverance, and political imagination.
“We commemorate those who are no longer with us and the many who lost their lives by trying to prevent violence and protect the innocent. And we give thanks to them as we reflect on the new generations that have grown up and continue to grow in a world in which peace and prosperity has prevailed. We stand ready to work with our partners in the Irish government and the local parties to ensure that the institutions are up and running again as soon as possible. There is work to be done.”
Despite the hope expressed by Sunak, more tellingly Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris was wary of predicting a date for the resumption of power sharing.
“Anybody who was predicting a date by which the executive would go back in Northern Ireland would be someone who could also sell you a four-leaf clover. No one knows when it will go back. Deadlines are deadly in Northern Ireland terms,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour on Sunday night.
There’s a lovely photo here, tweeted by the BBC’s Mark Simpson, of a silhouette of the SDLP’s negotiating team embracing 25 years ago, signalling that peace had been agreed.
Journalists outside Castle Buildings this time 25 years ago were watching the door for a WALK-OUT … then suddenly in the SDLP window there was a HUG. 📸
Pictures went around the world. First sign that the deal was on. pic.twitter.com/eeqWeuoBp8— Mark Simpson (@BBCMarkSimpson) April 9, 2023
Meanwhile for those of you who were following the blog on Friday, Labour and Keir Starmer are continuing to double down on a set of aggressive attack adverts that blamed Rishi Sunak for sex offenders against children, and people found guilty of “possession of a firearm with intent to harm” not going to jail.
It comes as part of Labour’s broad focus on crime and antisocial behaviour, but was heavily criticised by members of its own party for its tone, and by the legal profession for making up an offence in the latter case.
It led the Sunday Times yesterday, and a Labour insider told the Playbook email overnight: “We’re determined to take the fight to the Tories. They may not be used to a Labour party that wants to campaign on law and order but it’s important to Keir Starmer and he wants voters to be in no doubt that we’re on their side.”
The Times reports that the economy is to be the next focus of the campaign.
Finally Emily Thornberry has been on the morning broadcast round talking about the government’s fraud strategy, or lack of it, and asking what has happened to it.
She wrote last night: “At least 10,000 offences are committed every day against working people and pensioners in our communities, for some destroying everything they have worked for all their lives, and yet the parasites who are stealing their wages and savings simply move on to their next round of victims with near total impunity.”
I’m sitting in for Andy Sparrow on this Easter Monday. You can get in touch below the line as always, by emailing [email protected] or via Twitter where I’m @HarryTaylr and my DMs are open.
