French authority overrules plan to reintroduce banned pesticide
The Constitutional Council said that exemptions to the ban on products containing neonicotinoids would violate France's environmental charter, which constitutionally guarantees the 'right to live in a balanced and healthy environment'.
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The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ukraine believes Putin has just ‘one card left to play' in ceasefire talks – and it gives Kyiv an upper hand
Vladimir Putin has 'only one card' left to play - to prolong the killing in Ukraine, according to a senior source in Volodymyr Zelensky's presidential office as Europe conducts top level talks ahead of the Alaska summit this week. Zelensky has not been invited to Friday's meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. And there are deep concerns that the US president will emerge from the encounter taking an even harder line on Ukraine. Europe's leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, have been corralling US officials and White House insiders, and are meeting virtually with the Oval Office to persuade Trump to use the leverage he has over Putin to get him to agree a ceasefire. 'The main thing for Putin is to try to trade land for ceasefires,' the source close to Zelensky told The Independent. 'The ability to kill and to prolong war is the only card Putin has. So, he's trying to play this card.' In February, Trump lost his temper with Zelensky, yelling at him that he didn't 'have the cards' in the conflict with Russia during an infamous press conference in the Oval Office. Now, Ukraine insists, it's Putin who has the weaker hand. Europe's leaders are trying to reinforce that message to Trump so that he feels confident threatening further economic sanctions against countries that import Russian oil - and even to renew arms shipments to Ukraine - to get Putin to suspend military operations. 'Trump does want to finish the killings, it's true, and he has the power to do it. So the question is for him how to do the right thing,' the Ukrainian presidential advisor said. So far Putin has said any ceasefire would have to come on the condition that Ukraine agrees to cede four provinces - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia - to Russia along with the Crimea. He also wants Ukraine not to use any pause in the fighting to rearm. Ukraine has long agreed to a minimum 30-day unconditional ceasefire and insists that it is willing to discuss grounds for peace. As speculation mounts over what Friday's summit will achieve, Trump has already indicated that he agrees with Russia and that Ukraine should be prepared to agree 'land swaps' of Ukrainian territory. Europe, the UK and Ukraine have ruled out such concessions – especially as part of any deal struck between Russia and America without Ukraine present. Despite the fanfare over the meeting in Anchorage, the US actually has less power, and therefore influence over the outcome of talks, as a result of forcing Kyiv and Europe into taking on more of the burden of the defence of Ukraine. Trump cut all military aid to Ukraine earlier this year. The total US military spend there is €114 billion, which is dwarfed by the EU and UK's current pledged contribution standing at €250 billion. Ukraine's Nato allies now have to buy US weapons to supply Kyiv, but there are now signs that the US could ban that revenue stream. Russia has seen its second largest oil client, India, hit with a total of 50 per cent US tariffs. Twenty five per cent of that was imposed to get Putin to respond to Trump's ceasefire proposals. And if the US decided to open the taps of free military aid again it could tip the tactical balance rapidly in Ukraine's favour. The UK and Europe want Trump to spell this out to Putin. 'Zelensky supports the ceasefire,' the Ukrainian source said. 'The problem is that Putin rejects it and the majority of Ukrainians want to see peace, it's true, but at the same time the majority of Ukrainians reject Russian claims on the territory.'
The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Is Keir Starmer just one crisis away from a Labour coup?
On the Whitehall grapevine, Wes Streeting is seen as a rare success story for the government: a good communicator who is starting to deliver the change Keir Starmer promised. The chatter in Streeting's health department predicts his next stop will be 10 Downing Street. However, the health secretary might face an uphill battle to win over the Labour grassroots in the 'one member, one vote' ballot that chooses the party's leader. Even some of his admirers suspect he might be too right-wing, or 'Blairite', for many of them. Whitehall officials are less flattering about other cabinet ministers. Rachel Reeves 's autumn Budget is described by some as her 'last shot'. In other words, if she can't break out of the doom loop of 'one-off' tax rises to meet her fiscal rules, followed by exactly the same medicine in her next Budget, Starmer might be looking for a new chancellor next year. The prime minister is not immune to speculation about his future. Even his allies admit he cannot afford a repeat of his bad first year on the domestic front. 'Another crisis like the welfare climbdown and it would surely be curtains,' one Labour MP told me. Angela Rayner told last month's meeting of Labour's national executive committee that 'announcements are not enough: people have to see real improvements in their lives, soon.' Significantly, the deputy prime minister added: 'The next 12 months will decide whether Labour wins a second term.' She wasn't talking behind Keir Starmer's back; he was in the room. Few ministers would disagree with her 'one more year' theory. Starmer's problem is that first impressions of a government, prime minister or party leader usually stick, and Labour and his party's dire ratings are getting worse. Although Rayner didn't say it, the logical consequence of her statement is that if Starmer hasn't turned things round by next summer, the question of whether he should lead the party into the next general election will become a live one. The spark might be poor results in next May's mid-term elections, when Labour could lose out to the SNP in the Scottish Parliament, to Reform UK in the Welsh Parliament, and to the Greens and Jeremy Corbyn's new socialist party in English local authorities. Indeed, there's already gossip in Labour land about Starmer's future, which is fully in line with Labour's traditions. The party doesn't kill its leaders like the Conservatives, but makes up for that by debating endlessly in private who would take over if their leader fell under a Number 12 bus in Whitehall. Labour has more in common with the TV series Succession than it would admit. Despite Streeting's Whitehall fan club, the current strong favourite to succeed Starmer is Rayner. Although she insists she doesn't want the top job, it would be very hard to stick to that if it were likely to land in her lap. Rayner is performing a delicate balancing act well. She has carved out a position slightly to the left of Starmer, which is where Labour's heart beats. At the same time, she is publicly loyal to the PM; rocking the boat could damage her succession prospects. In theory, jittery Labour backbenchers, fearing they will lose their seats, could mount a coup against Starmer. In practice, they would need cabinet-level support. How loyal would the cabinet be if the PM came under real pressure? One largely forgotten factor is that only eight of today's 22-strong cabinet nominated Starmer in the 2020 Labour leadership contest – in other words, he was their first choice. They were: Hilary Benn, Yvette Cooper, John Healey, David Lammy, Ed Miliband, Bridget Phillipson, Steve Reed and Jonathan Reynolds. That doesn't mean other ministers would dump Starmer in the event of a leadership crisis. When a leader is in real trouble, any politician is bound to consider self-interest. If Rayner still looked a shoo-in, it would suit those who don't want her to succeed Starmer to rally behind him rather than pull the rug. 'Wes [Streeting], Yvette [Cooper] and other big beasts would bolster Keir rather than let Angie [Rayner] take over,' one Labour insider told me. Despite that, it is no longer certain that Starmer will lead his party into the next election. Starmer will soon reflect on his planned fightback during a much-needed holiday, which, knowing his wretched luck when it comes to taking a break, will probably be interrupted by the need to talk to other world leaders about Ukraine and Gaza. The first test of whether Starmer can turn the domestic tide will come in what is becoming an increasingly important speech to the Labour conference in Liverpool next month. 'It's going to be a hard slog from now on,' one close ally admitted.
The Independent
6 minutes ago
- The Independent
Tulip Siddiq's anti-corruption trial formally begins in Bangladesh
Tulip Siddiq 's trial formally began in Bangladesh on Wednesday with testimonies of anti-corruption officials against the former British minister. The Labour Party member is facing charges for allegedly using her familial connection to the ousted prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, to obtain state-owned land plots in the South Asian country. Ms Siddiq, who is Hasina's niece, resigned from her post as an anti-corruption minister in Keir Starmer 's government in January following reports that she lived in London properties linked to her aunt and was named in an anti-corruption investigation in Bangladesh. She said she had been cleared of wrongdoing but that the issue was becoming 'a distraction from the work of the government'. Ms Siddiq told The Guardian over the weekend that she was 'collateral damage' in the feud between her aunt and Muhammad Yunus – the Nobel laureate appointed as the leader of Bangladesh in the absence of an elected prime minister. 'These are wider forces that I'm battling against … There's no doubt people have done wrong things in Bangladesh, and they should be punished for it. It's just I'm not one of them.' The trial at the Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 began with testimonies by two officials of the country's Anti-Corruption Commission. A third official is expected to testify later in the day, said Muhammad Tariqul Islam, a public prosecutor. Ms Siddiq is being tried together with her mother, Sheikh Rehana, brother, Radwan Mujib, and sister, Azmina. She has been charged with facilitating their receipt of state land in a township project near the capital, Dhaka. The four were indicted earlier and asked to appear in court, however, the prosecution said they absconded and would be tried in absentia. The Bangladesh court had issued an arrest warrant for Ms Siddiq in April. She was indicted in July. Her lawyers had previously called the charges baseless and politically motivated. Separately, the anti-corruption investigation has also alleged that Siddiq's family was involved in brokering a 2013 deal with Russia for a nuclear power plant in Bangladesh in which large sums of money were said to have been embezzled. Siddiq represents the north London district of Hampstead and Highgate in parliament, served in the Labour Party government as economic secretary to the Treasury – the minister responsible for tackling financial corruption. Ms Hasina was ousted after a 15-year rule in a student-led mass uprising in August last year. She fled to India and has been in exile ever since. Hundreds of protesters were killed during the uprising and Ms Hasina now faces charges, including crimes against humanity.
