Steve Reed: ‘We need to hear from Peter Mandelson’
The latest tranche of Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice feature disturbing pictures of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor crouched over a woman lying on the floor, and also evidence of more links between Lord Mandelson and the disgraced financier. Jeffrey Epstein appears to have sent Mandelson $75,000 across three payments in 2003 and 2004, and more money to Mandelson’s husband in 2009 to pay for ‘osteo course expenses’. Keir Starmer has suggested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor should testify before the US Congress. On Sky News this morning, Trevor Phillips asked Steve Reed, the Housing Secretary, if Mandelson should be stripped of his peerage. Reed said we need to know ‘exactly what’s happened’ and whether the money to Mandelson’s husband was ‘properly declared’. Phillips asked if Mandelson should also testify before Congress if asked. Reed said that the victims should be at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and anybody who has information that could bring justice to the victims has a ‘moral obligation’ to share it. Watch here.
Reed: ‘Dialogue is always the right thing to do’
The prime minister came back from his China trip with sanctions lifted on six parliamentarians, a tariff cut on whiskey imports, and plans in place for visa-free 30 day travel to China for the UK. Starmer has called for a ‘more sophisticated’ relationship with China, but Donald Trump said it is ‘very dangerous’ for the UK to deal with the country, and the group of sanctioned parliamentarians stated: ‘While British citizen Jimmy Lai remains imprisoned and Uyghurs continue to suffer atrocity crimes, we take no comfort in this decision and will not be silenced’. Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC, the Housing Secretary said it was important to trade with China, with ‘eyes wide open when it comes to security issues’. Kuenssberg asked if it was right for Starmer to be moving closer to China at a time of instability when China is linked with Russia and Iran. Reed said that Starmer had opened up dialogue, and this was the first step towards achieving things like freeing Jimmy Lai. Watch here.
Chris Philp: ‘I certainly hope that no one else will make that decision’
Suella Braverman has become the latest prominent Conservative to make the jump to Reform UK. Nigel Farage said his party is not ‘a rescue charity for every panicky Tory MP’, and announced that Reform will not accept any more defectors after the local elections in May. On GB News, Camilla Tominey asked Chris Philp, the Shadow Home Secretary, if more Tory MPs might be jumping ship before May. Philp suggested that Farage’s deadline was ‘born of a little bit of desperation’, because the gap in the polls between Reform and the Conservatives has been shrinking. He noted that Kemi Badenoch wins in polls asking who would make the better prime minister, and accused Farage of supporting Putin, and advocating for getting rid of the two child benefit cap. Watch here.
Zack Polanski: ‘The problem we need to fix is spiralling rents getting more and more expensive’
In her latest interview with party leaders, Laura Kuenssberg spoke to Zack Polanski, who said the Green Party want to introduce rent controls. Kuenssberg noted that there are mixed results from places that have introduced similar measures. Polanski said it was about ‘getting it right’ and adopting similar systems to the countries that have had greater success. He said renters are among the groups struggling the most. Kuenssberg asked about landlords that might be struggling themselves, and pointed out that many countries with rent controls have created huge waiting lists for rental properties. Polanski said landlords are already doing better than those who don’t own houses, and criticised the ‘deep injustice’ that some people own ‘dozens and dozens’ of properties. The Green Party leader said he would leave it up to local mayors to decide how rent controls would be implemented, based on local incomes, affordability and housing stock. Watch here.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill hoping for border poll by 2030
Trevor Phillips asked Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s First Minister if she agreed with John Swinney and Eluned Morgan, her respective Scottish and Welsh equivalents, that there will soon be nationalist leaders in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, presaging the ‘breakup of the United Kingdom’. O’Neill said she is an Irish republican, and wants to see Irish unity. Phillips asked if she can envisage a border poll in her time as first minister. O’Neill said Brexit had been a ‘massive act of economic self-harm’, and people have the chance to ‘take control of their own fortunes’. She called for all political leaders to work together to achieve a unity vote by 2030. Watch here.
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