Brexit process to officially be triggered on March 29, Downing Street confirms

Political reporter(wp/es):

Theresa May will fire the starting gun for Brexit on Wednesday next week, Downing Street officially revealed today.

She will move Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty and make a statement in the House of Commons on March 29, finally setting in train Britain’s formal departure from the European Union.

The historic start of the process, 44 years after the UK joined the EEC in 1973, will trigger a two-year countdown for negotiations over the exit terms and any interim trade deal. 

Brexit will take place by March 29 2019 at the latest, No 10 confirmed.

The UK’s permanent representative in Brussels, Sir Tim Barrow, this morning notified European Council president Donald Tusk that the Prime Minister has chosen Wednesday March 29 as the day to obey the instructions of the British people given in last June’s in-out referendum.

“We want negotiations to start promptly,” said the Prime Minister’s offcial spokesman this morning.

Asked if that would mean Brexit happening by March 29 2019, the PM’s spokesman said: “We have said we expect this to be a two-year process and we are confident that is what we will achieve.”

The starting move will be a hand-delivered letter from Mrs May to Mr Tusk, launching the exit procedures set out in the Lisbon Treaty. Mr Tusk said recently that EU leaders would respond within “more or less 48 hours” of the letter, starting possibly the most complicated series of negotiations in British history.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said: “Last June, the people of the UK made the historic decision to leave the EU. Next Wednesday, the Government will deliver on that decision and formally start the process by triggering Article 50.

“We are on the threshold of the most important negotiation for this country for a generation.

“The Government is clear in its aims: a deal that works for every nation and region of the UK and indeed for all of Europe – a new, positive partnership between the UK and our friends and allies in the European Union.”

Mrs May’s spokesman appeared to rule out an early general election at the same time as revealing the date of Brexit, saying: “There is not going to be one.”

The date means Mrs May will have met her conference pledge to trigger Brexit by the end of March by just two days.

Preparations are understood to be highly advanced, with the letter to Mrs Tusk already drafted and Britain’s opening demands in the Brexit negotiation prepared.

The Prime Minister was in Wales today on a pre-Brexit tour of the UK designed to show she is listening to the views of every region.

March 29 is anti-Brexit campaigner Sir John Major’s 74th birthday - and the wedding anniversary of fellow Remain campaigner and ex-PM Tony Blair.

London house prices hit record high

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Average asking prices in London have hit a record high of £650,000, with price growth driven by rising demand in the outer boroughs.

Buyers priced out of more central London locations because house price growth has vastly outpaced wage rises since the 2008 property crash have been increasingly searching for better value and more spacious homes on the capital's fringes.

Increased demand in these outer suburban boroughs has led to London house prices rising by an average of 1.4 per cent – or more than £8,500 – in the last month alone.

This growth has come despite the widely-reported market uncertainty since Brexit was announced in June last year, and the expectation that Article 50 will be triggered imminently.

London's "most affordable" boroughs
All 12 boroughs where average asking prices are below £500,000 – just over a third of local authorities – have seen annual price growth, according to the latest house price index from Rightmove.

Prices in Enfield in north London, where areas like Cockfosters and Palmers Green attract commuters looking for more spacious family homes, rose by 8.2 per cent annually, hitting £485,000. In the south eastern borough of Greenwich, prices hit £477,000, up 6.7 per cent year on year; and in Croydon, on the capital’s southern fringe, prices rose 6.1 per cent to £430,000.

The five boroughs with the highest monthly rises were also all in outer London – Ealing (6.3pc), Harrow (4.8pc), Kingston-upon Thames (3.9pc), Barnet (3.8pc) and Brent (3.7pc).

“Whilst people are now more likely to hold out for that second or third bedroom rather than get a smaller place and move again a few years down the line, they are prepared to stretch more to get that home they will “grow into, rather than grow out of” and move a bit further out in the process to find the extra space," says Jack Malnick, sales director of estate agent Chelsea Square in Cricklewood and West and South Hampstead.

“This of course drives up the volume of people looking in the areas we cover in Brent and Barnet which logically, when demand is higher, means a rise in prices.”

Prime central London
Meanwhile some of the most expensive boroughs continue to be hit with falling prices. Kensington & Chelsea, formerly the most expensive borough in London, saw house prices drop by 19.4 per cent, pushing the average asking price below £2 million for the first time in nearly two years.

As a result, Westminster is now home to the highest average house price in London.

“Outer London continues to out-perform inner London in the price-rise stakes, and it is this trend of buyers looking further afield for value that is pushing up demand and therefore prices in many outer boroughs," says Rightmove director Miles Shipside.

“This has helped to push the overall average price of newly-marketed property in Greater London to a record high. With nine months having elapsed since the referendum and stronger demand returning to the market, there are signs that prices are becoming more resilient.”

Huge crowds in London protest against Brexit and Donald Trump 'anti-migrant hysteria'

Pic:Large crowds gathered in London
Staff reporter(wp/es):

Huge crowds of protesters gathered to march through the streets of London on Saturday in a demonstration against racism.

Protesters carrying brightly coloured placards gathered outside the BBC offices in Portland Place, near Oxford Street, shortly after noon on Saturday.

Organisers Stand Up to Racism said the march was to combat "anti-migrant hysteria" following the Brexit vote.

Many of those taking part also clutched placards slamming Donald Trump for his immigration ban, while others featured the "Black Lives Matter" slogan.

Crowds gathered at Portland Place before heading off into Westminster holding aloft banners and chanting.

They headed towards Parliament Square, where guest speakers including former Guantanamo Bay prisoner Mozzam Begg and shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti wee set to address the crowd.

The event  saw protesters of all ages take to the streets, with children scrawling "Stand up to racism" on the pavements in coloured chalk.

Ether Onatskaia, 17, a Cambridge sixth form student who is originally from New York, said: "I think racism is a problem in the US and UK and we need to speak out against it.

"I feel like, because I'm white, I'm not so affected by it, so I need to make a stand."

Gerry Ford, 61, from Islington, who carried a placard through Piccadilly Circus, said she believed the decision to break from the European Union had been driven by racism.

She said: "This is a racist issue. People don't realise it, but it is."

Ms Ford said she believed Britain should start amending its approach to migrants by agreeing to take on more child refugees from Syria.

She added: "First of all, I'd like to let the refugee children through - more children from Syria - and we want to oppose Donald Trump.

"He's just disgusting."

As the crowds began the march down Regent Street, small groups led the chant "Say it loud and say it clear, refugees are welcome here", while drumming groups beat out a rhythm behind them.

The march comes after a series of demonstrations against hatred of migrants and the presidency of Donald Trump in February.

Saturday's march was echoed elsewhere, with rallies also taking palce in Cardiff and Glasgow, co-inciding with UN Anti-Racism Day.

Murder detectives investigate as one-year-old boy dies and girl fights for life after being injured at flat

Staff reporter(wp/es):

A one-year-old boy has died and a girl also aged one is fighting for life in hospital after they were found injured at a flat in Finsbury Park.

Murder detectives are investigating after the two children were found by police with critical injuries at a flat in Wilberforce Road.

Scotland Yard said officers and paramedics were alerted to the incident at 11.10pm on Saturday.

Neighbours said a woman was heard frantically shouting for help.

Medics rushed the injured children, believed to be twins, to a hospital in east London.

The boy was pronounced dead shortly before 1am in hospital, while the girl remains there in a critical condition.

A major police search is under way for a potential suspect.

On Sunday morning, a police car was parked outside a white three-storey building where the children are believed to have been injured.

A police car was parked outside the white three-storey building where the children are believed to have been injured.

Police officers were visiting and searching properties along the tree-lined street.

A woman living opposite the building, who gave her name as Gui Gui, said she heard a woman shouting late last night and opened the window to offer help.

"I was watching TV," she said. "I heard someone was shouting. She kept on shouting. I do not know what she was shouting.

"I opened the window and I asked her 'Can I help you, can I call the police for you?' She said, 'My kids'."

The neighbour said she later saw two young children being carried out of the building, with one being held very close to a member of the emergency services.

Mihai Menea, 29, who lives on the second floor of the building, said the children were twins.

They lived on the top floor with their Romanian mother and Indian father, he said.

The father worked at the nearby Pembury Hotel as a receptionist, where Mr Menea also works, until a few days ago, he said.

Mr Menea described the mood inside the property as "tense".

"It's really tense," he said. "There's police coming and going all the time."

Detectives from the Homicide and Major Crime Comman are investigating. 

Police have not yet released details of how the children may have sustained their injuries. 

A Met Police spokesman said: “Next of kin are aware. Formal identification awaits and a post-mortem examination will be scheduled in due course.”

He added that enquiries were underway to “establish the full circumstances of the incident” and said that no arrests have been made.

A National Police Air Service helicopter was assisting Hackney officers with a search of the Finsbury Park area in the early hours of Sunday morning.

A spokesman said they were "assisting officers from Hackney after two children were found seriously injured at an address in Wilberforce Road."

Metropolitan line extension to Watford Junction could be axed due to £50m funding gap

Staff reporter(wp/es):

The proposed Metropolitan line extension to Watford Junction could be axed or drastically delayed due to a £50 million shortfall.

In a letter to London Assembly Tories, Transport for London said the project “cannot be delivered” with the current funding package of £284.4 million.

Robert Niven, TfL’s head of line extensions, wrote that “more than £50 million will be required on top of our [TfL’s contribution of] £49 million”.

The project had a completion date of 2020. It would take Tube trains  to Watford Junction and Watford High Street via Cassiobridge and Vicarage Road.

The existing Watford station would shut. Tories accused Mayor Sadiq Khan of putting the TfL budget in “turmoil”.

His spokesman said: “This project is outside London and... responsibility for delivering it ultimately lies with government.”

Police hunt man who left victim hospitalised in brutal road rage attack in south London

Pic:A serial killer
Crime reporter(wp/es):

Police are hunting for witnesses to a brutal road rage attack in Streatham that left a man in a serious condition in hospital.

The victim, aged 62, was discovered suffering from serious head injuries just after 5.15pm on Friday on Gleneldon Road.

Witnesses who saw the incident described how the man was punched after a "right-of-way dispute" and saw someone fleeing from the scene.

In a fresh appeal for information, police have described how the victim and another motorist exchanged words after both trying to drive through the narrow road and becoming stuck.

During the altercation the suspect reached out of their own car and through the victim’s window, before punching him in the face.

Both men then got out of their vehicles and the suspect punched the victim in the face again with such force that he fell to the ground and hit his head on the concrete.

The suspect then got back into his car and drove off down .

Shafaq Hassan, a speech and language therapist who lives nearby, said: “We heard people outside our house and went to investigate. 

“Passersby and neighbours had stopped. There was a man sitting on the road surrounded by a few people. I asked what had happened and was told he had been punched. 

“As I'm an SLT I automatically sat down next to him to try and comfort him. He looked in shock and disorientated. 

“He had a head injury on back of his head as apparently he hit the pavement and possibly passed out for few minutes."

She added: "I stayed with him as police and medics came. They asked questions to check if he remembered date and year. 

Eventually they put him on a stretcher and took into the ambulance.

“Other neighbours reported seeing him have a dispute with the other driver about who should give way at the junction."

The victim was rushed to hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition.

Detective Constable Caroline O’Shaughnessy, from Brixton CID, said: “This was a nasty assault, prompted by what appears to be road rage, carried out in broad daylight at a time when there would have been plenty of people making their way home.

"The victim suffered a serious head injury as a result of being punched to the ground following a verbal altercation, and this assault could easily have had more grave consequences. 

“If you saw what happened or you have information that could assist us, we would urge you to get in touch.”

The suspect is described as a black man, aged between 20 and 25 years old and around 5ft 8ins tall with afro hair. He was wearing a jumper and black trousers and was driving a dark green-coloured car.

Storm Stella that battered US set to hit the capital

Staff reporter(wp/es):

Storm Stella which wreaked havoc across the US is set to batter London with wet weather and gales.

The monster storm sparked a state of emergency in New York on Monday and is set to descend on the capital by Friday, experts warned.

The Met Office has now warned that the weather front responsible for the blizzard conditions and 50-mile-per-hour gusts is set to hammer the UK.

Meteorologist Alex Burkill told the Standard that the storm’s impact would be “massively reduced” as it crossed the Atlantic but would bring wet weather across the weekend.

He said: “As the weather front responsible for Storm Stella hits on Friday it will bring wet and changeable weather to London and the south-east.

“The light spring weather we have been seeing will become more changeable over the weekend and in to next week.”

Described as “life-threatening” by American forecasters, Stella caused massive power outages, cancelled flights and brought travel chaos to the US.

Dozens of flights between London and New York, Washington, Boston and Philadelphia were cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday. 

Passengers were advised to check with their airlines before travelling.

All New York schools were closed and above ground sections of the subway ground to a halt. More than 6,500 flights in the area were cancelled.

Forecasters were predicting two to three feet of flooding in some coastal areas at high tide. The Metropolitan Museum of Art and other museums were also closed.

States of emergency were also declared from midnight in New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland. 

In Connecticut, residents were subject to a statewide travel ban.

The blizzard consisted of two larger storm systems which have merged into one, according to the US National Weather Service. 

It comes at the end of an unusually mild winter along much of America’s East Coast, with below normal snowfalls in some areas, including New York and Washington.