LONDON: British MPs on Monday passed a new law aimed at preventing a no-deal Brexit this week by obliging the government to ask EU leaders for a delay.
The law has been rushed through both chambers of parliament over the past week and was opposed by the government, which has said it could limit its room for negotiation with the European Union.
“This is a huge dog’s dinner,” Andrea Leadsom, who represents the government in parliament, told MPs.
“I fundamentally object to it on the grounds that it is totally unconventional,” she said.
The law was passed on the initiative of MPs, subverting the normal order in which parliament debates and passes government-proposed legislation.
As a result of the law, the government now must put forward a motion in parliament on Tuesday setting out the delay that it will request at an EU summit on Wednesday.
MPs will be allowed to vote on this and make their own suggestions as to the length of the delay.
It allows the government to seek any extension from May 22 onwards. Prime Minister Theresa May has asked for a delay until June 30, but ultimately this is up to EU leaders and it could be longer.
The law does not actually prevent a no-deal Brexit when the deadline for Britain runs out on Friday, as that is the legal default if Britain and the EU cannot agree on an extension at the summit.
Britain could also choose to stop the entire Brexit process by revoking Article 50, the formal procedure for member states that want to leave.
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British MPs pass law to block no-deal Brexit
British MPs pass law to block no-deal Brexit
- MPs will be allowed to vote on this and make their own suggestions as to the length of the delay
Australia Day protesters demand Indigenous rights
SYDNEY: Thousands of people rallied in cities across Australia demanding justice and rights for Indigenous peoples on Monday, a national holiday marking the 1788 arrival of a British fleet in Sydney Harbor.
Crowds took to the streets in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and other cities on Australia Day, many with banners proclaiming: “Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”
In Sydney, police allowed the protests to go ahead despite new curbs introduced after gunmen opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah festival on Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 people.
Millions of Australians celebrate the annual holiday with beers and backyard barbecues or a day by the sea, and this year a broad heatwave was forecast to push the temperature in South Australian capital Adelaide to 45C.
Shark sightings forced people out of the water at several beaches in and around Sydney, however, after a string of shark attacks in the region this month — including one that led to the death of a 12-year-old boy.
Many activists describe the January 26, 1788, British landing as “Invasion Day,” a moment that ushered in a period of oppression, lost lands, massacres and Indigenous children being removed from their families.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up about four percent of the population.
They still have a life expectancy eight years shorter than other Australians, higher rates of incarceration and deaths in custody, steeper youth unemployment and poorer education.
- Anti-immigration protests -
“Let’s celebrate on another day, because everyone loves this country and everyone wants to celebrate. But we don’t celebrate on a mourning day,” Indigenous man Kody Bardy, 44, told AFP in Sydney.
Another Indigenous protester in Sydney, 23-year-old Reeyah Dinah Lotoanie, called for people to recognize that a genocide happened in Australia.
“Ships still came to Sydney and decided to kill so many of our people,” she said.
Separately, thousands of people joined anti-immigration “March for Australia” protests in several cities, with police in Melbourne mobilizing to keep the two demonstrations apart.
In Sydney, “March for Australia” protesters chanted, “Send them back.” Some carried banners reading: “Stop importing terrorists” or “One flag, one country, one people.”
“There’s nowhere for people to live now, the hospitals are full, the roads are full, you’ve got people living on the streets,” said one demonstrator, 66-year-old Rick Conners.
Several also held aloft placards calling for the release of high-profile neo-Nazi Joel Davis, who is in custody after being arrested in November on allegations of threatening a federal lawmaker.
“There will be no tolerance for violence or hate speech on Sydney streets,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters.
“We live in a beautiful, multicultural community with people from around the world, but we will not tolerate a situation where on Australia’s national day, it’s being pulled down by divisive language, hate speech or racism,” he said.
“Police are ready and willing to engage with people that breach those rules.”
Crowds took to the streets in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth and other cities on Australia Day, many with banners proclaiming: “Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.”
In Sydney, police allowed the protests to go ahead despite new curbs introduced after gunmen opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah festival on Bondi Beach on December 14, killing 15 people.
Millions of Australians celebrate the annual holiday with beers and backyard barbecues or a day by the sea, and this year a broad heatwave was forecast to push the temperature in South Australian capital Adelaide to 45C.
Shark sightings forced people out of the water at several beaches in and around Sydney, however, after a string of shark attacks in the region this month — including one that led to the death of a 12-year-old boy.
Many activists describe the January 26, 1788, British landing as “Invasion Day,” a moment that ushered in a period of oppression, lost lands, massacres and Indigenous children being removed from their families.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up about four percent of the population.
They still have a life expectancy eight years shorter than other Australians, higher rates of incarceration and deaths in custody, steeper youth unemployment and poorer education.
- Anti-immigration protests -
“Let’s celebrate on another day, because everyone loves this country and everyone wants to celebrate. But we don’t celebrate on a mourning day,” Indigenous man Kody Bardy, 44, told AFP in Sydney.
Another Indigenous protester in Sydney, 23-year-old Reeyah Dinah Lotoanie, called for people to recognize that a genocide happened in Australia.
“Ships still came to Sydney and decided to kill so many of our people,” she said.
Separately, thousands of people joined anti-immigration “March for Australia” protests in several cities, with police in Melbourne mobilizing to keep the two demonstrations apart.
In Sydney, “March for Australia” protesters chanted, “Send them back.” Some carried banners reading: “Stop importing terrorists” or “One flag, one country, one people.”
“There’s nowhere for people to live now, the hospitals are full, the roads are full, you’ve got people living on the streets,” said one demonstrator, 66-year-old Rick Conners.
Several also held aloft placards calling for the release of high-profile neo-Nazi Joel Davis, who is in custody after being arrested in November on allegations of threatening a federal lawmaker.
“There will be no tolerance for violence or hate speech on Sydney streets,” New South Wales Premier Chris Minns told reporters.
“We live in a beautiful, multicultural community with people from around the world, but we will not tolerate a situation where on Australia’s national day, it’s being pulled down by divisive language, hate speech or racism,” he said.
“Police are ready and willing to engage with people that breach those rules.”
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