Labour says Britain's only options are second Brexit referendum or close EU ties

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::

Britain’s only options are a second Brexit referendum or forging a close economic relationship with the European Union, the main opposition Labour Party said on Sunday.

Labour’s Brexit spokesman, Keir Starmer, told the BBC he was open to extending Article 50 if that meant Britain avoided leaving the EU without a deal.

Prime Minister Theresa May returns to parliament on Monday to make a statement on how she will proceed with Britain’s departure from the European Union after her deal was defeated by lawmakers last week.

Prince Philip warned by police over seat belt, two days after crash

Royal correspondent(wp/reuters):::

Queen Elizabeth’s 97-year-old husband Prince Philip received a warning from police after he was photographed apparently driving without a seat belt, just two days after he was involved in a crash while at the wheel.

Newspapers showed pictures of Philip driving a replacement Land Rover on Saturday at the royals’ Sandringham residence in Norfolk. He did not appear to be using a seat belt while travelling on a public road.

“We are aware of the photographs,” a police spokesman said. “Suitable words of advice have been given to the driver and this is in line with our standard response when being made aware of our receiving such images showing this type of offence.”

On Thursday, Philip escaped without injury when his car flipped over following a crash with another vehicle close to Sandringham.

Philip was unhurt, although shaken in the crash. The other driver, a 28-year-old woman, suffered cuts to her knee and a 45-year-old woman passenger in the car, which also had a nine-month-old baby on board, sustained a broken wrist. They were taken to hospital but later released.

A spokeswoman for Philip, asked about Saturday’s incident, said: “It’s a matter for Norfolk police.”

Philip has developed a reputation for brusque comments and often headline-grabbing verbal gaffes.

Do not hijack Brexit, minister warns Britain's parliament

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::
Parliament cannot be allowed to hijack Brexit, Trade Minister Liam Fox said on Sunday, in a warning to lawmakers who want to take more control over Britain’s departure from the European Union.

With just weeks to go before Britain is due to leave the EU, Prime Minister Theresa May will return to parliament on Monday to set out how she plans to try to break the Brexit deadlock after her deal was rejected by lawmakers last week.

She will also speak to ministers on Sunday on a conference call, a government source said, as the prime minister tries to navigate a way through the competing visions for the future from a second referendum to staying in the EU.

Time is running out for Brexit, Britain’s biggest shift in foreign and trade policy in more than 40 years, but so far there is little that unites a divided parliament beyond its rejection of May’s deal that envisages close economic ties with the EU.

Britain’s main opposition Labour Party is pressing for a new election and for May to rule out the possibility of a no-deal Brexit, while others in parliament are lobbying for anything from a second referendum to leaving without an agreement.

Fox, a Brexit supporter, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that May’s divorce agreement with the EU was still the best basis for a deal and warned lawmakers against trying to take more control of Britain’s departure.

“Parliament has not got the right to hijack the Brexit process because parliament said to the people of this country: ‘we make a contract with you, you will make the decision and we will honour it’,” Fox said.

“What we are now getting are some of those who were always absolutely opposed to the result of the referendum trying to hijack Brexit and in effect steal the result from the people.”

Britain voted with a 52 percent majority to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum that exposed deep divisions across the country, divisions that still split cities and towns, and the country’s parliament, almost three years on.

DEADLOCK

After seeing her deal rejected by more than 200 lawmakers last week, May has opened talks with other parties to try to find a way to break the deadlock.

But with Labour refusing to take part until May rules out leaving without a deal, some lawmakers fear those talks will change little and instead have said they will launch attempts next week to force the government to change course.

Several are trying to make sure Britain does not “accidentally” leave without a deal on March 29, a scenario some businesses say would be catastrophic for the economy.

“What happens when you have a hung parliament is that power does pass from government ... to parliament and that’s what we are seeing play out,” Nicky Morgan, a Conservative former minister, told Sky News.

She said she was backing a bill that would force the government to extend Article 50, which triggered Britain’s two-year talks to leave the EU, if it cannot get an agreement approved by parliament by the end of February.

Dominic Grieve, another Conservative lawmaker, is also looking at ways to stop Britain from leaving without a deal.

With much of the focus now on Labour, its Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer said there was now only really two options that could find majority support - a future close economic relationship with the EU or a second referendum - and that it was increasingly inevitable that Article 50 would be extended.

“We’ve arrived at phase three and therefore we need to be realistic about what the options are,” Starmer told the BBC.

“Let’s ... reduce it to the options that are at least capable of getting a majority and that is a close economic relationship and a public vote.”

Rakesh Kapoor to step down as Reckitt Benckiser’s chief

Pic--Rakesh Kapoor is the chief executive of consumer goods firm Reckitt Benckiser
Business correspondent(wp/es):::

Reckitt Benckiser’s divisive chief executive Rakesh Kapoor on Wednesday revealed he will leave the consumer goods giant, where he has worked since 1987.

The 60-year-old, who has been at the helm of the Nurofen, Clearasil and Durex maker for eight years, will retire at the end of 2019.

He said: “I believe now is a good time for new leadership to take this great company through the next phase of outperformance.”

The board has started a search for a successor. Shares in Reckitt Benckiser fell 204p to 6048p.

His departure will bring an end to a reign which has been far from smooth. The boss has faced shareholder revolts over his package, and in 2017 his pay was voluntarily slashed by £11 million, although he still pocketed £12.5 million in salary and bonuses.

Kapoor, who is one of only a handful of BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) bosses at FTSE firms, also had to grapple with a string of setbacks in recent years.

There was a cyber-attack that hit factories, and Reckitt Benckiser was hurt by a scandal in South Korea over the sale of a toxic product linked to almost 100 deaths.

The chief executive looked to boost the business in 2017, growing in China with the $17 billion purchase of baby formula maker Mead Johnson, and he last year created two divisions to drive growth: health, and hygiene and home.

RBC analyst James Edwardes Jones said during Kapoor’s time as leader Reckitt Benckiser’s share price has outperformed the “European consumer staples sector by 9%, but over the last three years it’s underperformed by 13%”. He added: “One could argue on this basis that it is time for a change at the top.”

But Investec’s Eddy Hargreaves said it “seems an unusual juncture for Kapoor to leave” given the recent changes he made.

McDonald's customer beaten up at Waterloo station

A McDonald’s customer at Waterloo station suffered a fractured eye socket in a brutal attack after asking a fellow diner to stop throwing chips at him.

British Transport Police (BTP) has released images of a suspect following the assault, which left the victim in hospital.

The force said the victim had been ordering food at the restaurant “when a large amount of chips” were thrown at him and his friend.

He asked those involved to stop, but a young man then punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the floor.

The victim was taken to hospital, where he was treated for a fractured eye socket.

The attack happened on October 4 last year at about 12.10am, and BTP is appealing for information on the male shown in the CCTV images.

Waterloo is the UK’s busiest railway station.

Anyone who recognises the male, or has information on the attack, is asked to call BTP on 0800 40 50 40, quoting reference 05 of October 4, 2018.

North Yorkshire drugs gang violence 'at unprecedented level'

Pic---A team set up in 2018 to tackle county lines has made 220 arrests
Crime reporter,Yorkshire(wp/bbc):::
Violence linked to "county lines" drugs gangs operating in North Yorkshire has hit unprecedented levels in the past 18 months, police chiefs have said.

Tackling heroin and crack cocaine in rural towns was North Yorkshire Police's "number one priority", said Det Ch Insp Graeme Wright.

"The drug supply and market in many of our isolated and rural towns is booming," he said.

A team set up nine months ago to tackle county lines has made 220 arrests.

County lines refers to urban drug dealers expanding their activities into smaller towns and rural areas, often via phone networks, to supply crack cocaine and heroin to addicts in those locations.

North Yorkshire Police has also seen a "significant escalation" in cuckooing - a practice in which vulnerable people's homes are taken over by gangs.

The force said it knew of 70 people affected by cuckooing so far, a mixture of people who had been cuckooed and people vulnerable to it.

Det Ch Insp Wright said: "We're getting support from wider law enforcement colleagues across the region and nationally but this is taking a serious toll on our resourcing and we're having to invest significantly.

"We're seeing significant numbers of people being embroiled in the use of drugs and high levels of drug-related deaths that I couldn't all attribute to county lines, but it's a factor.

"Typically where drug users reside, the violence has been unprecedented."

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A police officer, speaking anonymously after finding a vulnerable addict who was a victim of cuckooing, said the man was "so scared of any consequence and repercussions from this gang that have been using his address and using him" that he had barricaded himself inside his home.

The victim still had a debt to the gang, the officer said.

"He's basically barricaded himself in his bedsit. He's got a pump action squirt gun - if someone comes through the door he's going to use it, it's boiling hot water.

"He's a nervous wreck," the officer added.

Divided and riven by crisis, UK searches for Brexit 'plan B'

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::
Prime Minister Theresa May will on Thursday try to break the impasse in Britain’s political elite over how to leave the European Union by searching for a last-minute exit deal though there was so far little sign of compromise.
After May’s two-year attempt to forge an amicable divorce was crushed by parliament in the biggest defeat for a British leader in modern history, May called for party leaders to put self-interest aside to find a way forward.

If May fails to forge consensus, the world’s fifth largest economy will drop out of the European Union on March 29 without a deal or will be forced to halt Brexit, possibly even holding a national election or even another referendum.

May has repeatedly refused to countenance another election and has warned that another referendum would be corrosive as it would undermine faith in democracy among the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.

“I believe it is my duty to deliver on the British people’s instruction to leave the European Union. And I intend to do so,” May said outside Downing Street in an attempt to address voters directly.

“I am inviting MPs from all parties to come together to find a way forward,” May said. “This is now the time to put self-interest aside.”

As the United Kingdom tumbles towards its biggest political and economic move since World War Two, other members of the European Union have offered to talk though they can do little until London decides what it wants out of Brexit.

Yet ever since the UK voted by 52-48 percent to leave the EU in June 2016, British politicians have been failed to find agreement on how or even whether to leave the European Union.

In a sign of just how hard May’s task may be, the main opposition leader, Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn, refused to hold talks unless a no-deal Brexit was ruled out.

His party wants a permanent customs union with the EU, a close relationship with its single market and greater protections for workers and consumers.

The chairman of May’s Conservative party, Brandon Lewis, said on Thursday that Britain cannot stay in the current customs union because striking international trade deals after Brexit is a priority.

He said senior ministers would meet colleagues from across the House of Commons, Britain’s lower house of parliament, on Thursday.