- John Bercow, the Commons speaker, has granted an emergency debate tomorrow on allegations that Vote Leave broke election spending rules in the EU referendum. (See 5.39pm.) He took the decision as lawyers claimed a number of possible criminal offences may have been committed by members of the official Brexit campaign during the EU referendum.
- Jeremy Corbyn has firmed up his language about Russia being to blame for the Salisbury attack, while leaving open the possibility that the Kremlin did not directly order the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal and his daughter. (See 6.45pm.)
- Theresa May has revealed she has “full confidence” in her political adviser Stephen Parkinson after he was accused of outing a whistleblower to distract attention from allegations he made about Vote Leave’s spending during the referendum campaign. When Labour’s Angela Eagle put to it to May in the Commons that she should sack Parkinson May replied:
- The Jewish Leadership Council has stepped up its attack on Jeremy Corbyn, accusing him of being a figurehead for antisemitism and presiding over a party that has no safe spaces for Jews. Corbyn responded with a new letter offering a new apology to Jewish leaders for antisemitism in the Labour party, saying it was not just a matter of “a few bad apples”. (See 5.10pm.)
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
What Corbyn said about Russia being to blame, but not necessarily being directly responsible – Full quote and analysis
This is what Jeremy Corbyn said in his speech about the evidence for Russia being responsible for the Salisbury attack.
Based on the analysis conducted by government scientists, there can be little doubt that the nerve agent used in this attack was military-grade novichok of a type manufactured by Russia. Since that analysis was revealed by the prime minister two weeks ago the Russian state has had every opportunity to offer a plausible explanation as to how a nerve agent stock…
