May and Tusk agree to 'lower tensions' in Brexit talks when issues like Gibraltar create problems

• Theresa May and Donald Tusk, president of the European council, have agreed to “lower tensions” in Brexit talks when issues like Gibraltar create difficulties. (See 3.56pm.) At a meeting in Downing Street, May also said that the sovereignty of Gibraltar was not up for negotiation in the negotiations.

• Mark Reckless, the former Conservative MP who defected to Ukip, has quit the party to support the Conservative group in the Welsh assembly, where he now sits. Ukip have said that he should resign his seat in the assembly. Reckless said that he would “love” to be able to fight a byelection, as he did when he was an MP in 2014 and defected, but that the proportional representation list system used in the Welsh assembly make this impossible. He explained:

Unfortunately, the proportional representation system we have in Wales doesn’t allow that [fighting a byelection].

I would say many of the people who voted Ukip in South East Wales last year, now the Conservatives are delivering Brexit and we are the main opposition in the assembly, I think are, like me, leaving Ukip and coming over to the Conservatives now we have achieved what we wanted in Ukip, which was a successful referendum to leave the EU.

• The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has questioned whether George Osborne will be able to edit London’s Evening Standard newspaper while remaining an MP for his north-west constituency.

• Ryanair has warned it will have to halt flights from the UK for “weeks or months” if Theresa May does not seal an early bilateral Brexit deal on international aviation.

• The supreme court has upheld the ban on parents taking their children out of school for family holidays during term time.

• A cross-party collection of peers has called on the government to rethink a cut to bereaved parents’ benefits, which comes into force on today, saying ministers must accept they have made a mistake.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

And this is what the Press Association has filed on the meeting.

Theresa May has warned European Council president Donald Tusk that the sovereignty of Gibraltar is not up for negotiation in the Brexit talks.

At a meeting in Downing Street, the prime minister insisted there could be no change to the status of the Rock without the consent of its people.

“The PM made clear that, on the subject of Gibraltar, the UK’s position had not changed: the UK would seek the best possible deal for Gibraltar as the UK exits the EU and there would be no negotiation on the sovereignty of Gibraltar without the consent of its people,” a No 10 spokesman said.

Here is Donald Tusk leaving Downing Street after his talks with Theresa May.

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Here are two blogs on Labour’s free school meals plan that are worth reading.

• Stephen Bush at the New Statesman welcomes the policy.

As far as good opposition policy goes it ticks a lot of boxes: it will irritate the private school lobby so it may provoke a fight, meaning there’s a half-decent chance that ordinary voters may hear about it. It has the support of at least one high-profile Conservative in the shape of Michael Gove, giving Labour a measure of cover on the right. It’s a bung for middle-class voters and no-one ever got elected without doing a bit of that. And as applications to private education has been shown to be largely inelastic to price increases, the revenue raise won’t kill the golden goose.

Bush is referring to a column that Gove, the Conservative former education secretary, wrote earlier this year headed: “Put VAT on school fees and soak the rich.”

• Ross Clark at the Spectator says private schools will only have themselves to blame if a government puts VAT on fees.

Private schools might moan and groan, yet they have invited an attack on their charitable status by shamelessly pitching their product at the children of very wealthy parents – an increasing number of them from abroad. By jacking up their fees relentlessly they have priced many middle-class parents out of the market.

The read-out from the Theresa May/Donald Tusk talks from the EU side is more interesting than the Downing Street version. (See 3.52pm.) This is from ITV’s Carl Dinnen.

• May and Tusk agree to “lower tensions” in Brexit talks when issues like Gibraltar create difficulties.

Downing Street has issued a read-out of Theresa May’s talks with Donald Tusk, president of the European council. A Number 10 spokesperson said:

The prime minister and president of the European council Donald Tusk had talks this afternoon in Downing Street following last week’s article 50 notification.

The PM reiterated the UK’s desire to ensure a deep and special partnership with the European Union following its exit, and noted the constructive approach set out by the council in its draft guidelines published last week.

She said the UK looked forward to formally beginning negotiations once the 27 Member States agreed guidelines. Both leaders agreed that the tone of discussions had been positive on both sides, and agreed that they would seek to remain in close touch as the negotiations progressed.

The PM also made clear that on the subject of Gibraltar, the UK’s position had not changed: the UK would seek the best possible deal for Gibraltar as the UK exits the EU and there would be no negotiation on the sovereignty of Gibraltar without the consent of its people.

With the UK also remaining a full and engaged member of the EU for the next two years, the PM and Donald Tusk also discussed the agenda for the next EU Council meeting.

Mark Reckless has lost his post as chair of the Welsh assembly’s environment committee, the ITV’s Owain Phillips reports.

In his capacity as chair of the committee he recently declared that access to the single market was “critical” for Welsh farmers, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.

This morning Lorraine Dearden from the Institute for Fiscal Studies was on the Today programme talking about IFS research she carried out five years ago into the case for giving free school meals to all primary school pupils. She said that it had been piloted in two relatively deprived areas and had been a success. Asked what the research proved, she replied:

It proved the case that in relatively disadvantaged areas providing universal free school meals improved attainment by around two to four months.

But she also said the pilots had not made the case for rolling out the programme nationally, not least because of the expense.

The IFS has tweeted a link to the original research.

Jeremy Corbyn was doing a school visit today to promote the free school meals policy. My colleague Frances Perraudin was there to check up on his cake-making skills.

This is from BBC Wales’s political editor Nick Servini.

And Huw Edwards is interviewing Mark Reckless on the BBC at 5pm.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has left Downing Street after his meeting with Theresa May. But he did not speak to reporters on his way out, beyond saying “as always” when asked if the talks had been successful.

6 Apr 201709.48 EDT

Brokenshire sets Easter Tuesday as deadline for Northern Ireland parties to reach deal

Henry McDonald

Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire has given the parties locked in negotiations at Stormont an extended deadline of Easter Tuesday to reach a deal which would restore power sharing government to the region.

The parties have until 18 April to secure an agreement on issues ranging from creating a mechanism to deal with the past legacy of the Troubles to the role of the Irish language in Northern Irish society.

After that dates passes Brokenshire could use the return of parliament in Westminster to trigger legislation that would transfer powers to run devolved government back to London. Alternatively, the secretary of state could call another election to yet another assembly.

The Easter deadline will bring back memories of Holy Week 1998 when the then majority Ulster Unionists and all the nationalist parties reached the Good Friday agreement just hours before that deadline was about to be missed.

Speaking at Antrim Area Hospital, Brokenshire warned that “public services will suffer if there continues to be political stalemate.” The Northern Ireland Secretary said:

That is why I am urging the political parties to continue to talk and find a way through the outstanding issues. It remains important that an agreement is reached which enables the restoration of devolved government - this is absolutely critical for Northern Ireland and its people.

Whilst I recognise some of the issues are difficult, they are not insurmountable. The window in which this can happen is narrow, but it is my hope that the politicians will do all in their power to help to bring about the resumption of secure devolved government, an objective supported by the majority of the people in Northern Ireland, is our shared aim.

We owe it to the entire community to deliver the best outcome for Northern Ireland - strong devolved government with locally accountable ministers.

The late Martin McGuinness’ last public political act was to resign as deputy first minister of Northern Ireland in January. He did so in protest at first minister and Democratic Unionist leader Arlene Foster’s refusal to stand aside temporarily from her post while a public inquiry was held into a costly botched green energy scheme.

The Renewal Heating Initiative which the DUP championed ended up costing the public purse an estimated £500m. Once McGuinness resigned over the controversy under the rules of power sharing the cross-community government in Belfast collapsed prompting elections to a new assembly.

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Theresa May is talking to Donald Tusk, president of the European council, in Downing Street now. Here they are posing for a picture as he arrived.

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And here they are inside Number 10.

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