16 March 2017
Week in Brief: UK
BREXIT: Lord Heseltine has been removed as an adviser to Theresa May’s government after he voted in favour of an amendment to the bill which will trigger article 50; the amendment would necessitate the terms of disengagement from the EU to be approved by parliament. The amendment was passed by the House of Lords, thereby inflicting a defeat on the government. It has been estimated that it was the highest turnout in the Upper House since 1831.
A letter published by The Times and signed by the heads of 35 Oxford colleges warns the government of the damage that may be caused to academic life if EU citizens are not allowed to stay in the UK. The college heads have asked the government to allow the amendment proposed by the House of Lords which would guarantee the rights of EU citizens after the UK leaves the EU.
The amendments were subsequently defeated by a vote in the House of Commons.
SCOTLAND: Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minster in the Scottish Parliament, has demanded another referendum on Scottish independence, to be held before the Spring of 2019. The reason is that Scotland voted to stay in the EU and Nicola Sturgeon is anxious to tap into this sentiment in order to achieve independence. Theresa May has made clear that Westminster will not introduce the necessary legislation while talks are taking place with the EU over the UK’s terms of disengagement.
See comment Ms Sturgeon’s Demands.
CYBER SECURITY: There has been another security breach from the CIA which may compromise the security of the UK. WikiLeaks has published documents which reveal some of the methods and techniques used by intelligence services. The techniques have been developed by the CIA and GCHQ. Commentators have said that the beneficiaries of the leak would be Russia and terrorist organisations.
GCHQ, one of the UK’s intelligence services which has responsibility for, inter alia, cybercrime, has asked for a meeting with political parties. The purpose is to warn the parties about the dangers of cyber attacks from foreign hackers which would be designed to disrupt the next general election. Russia is thought to be the country most likely to mount such an attack.
In this context, Ben Gummer, a Cabinet Office minister, has been appointed as the person with responsibility for countering subversion and for safeguarding the democratic process from cyber attacks.
OPERATION MIDLAND: The Independent Police Complaints Commission has published a report which clears police officers involved in Operation Midland of any wrongdoing. The operation investigated allegations of sexual abuse levied against well known public figures. The investigation became notorious after the allegations of a witness called “Nick” were described as “credible and true” by Detective Superintendent Kenny McDonald, before any checks to verify “Nick’s” story had been carried out. The report concluded that there was no evidence of bad faith, malice or dishonesty. Harvey Proctor, the former MP who was one of those accused by “Nick”, described the report as a whitewash. He and Lord Bramall are suing the Metropolitan Police Service for damages.
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS: Theresa May has announced that grammar schools will be required to lower the pass marks for the 11+ exam for children from poor families in an attempt to dispel grammar schools’ elitist image. The change will be announced next month.
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