“Lord Mandelson was arrested after police were warned that he was about to flee the country. Metropolitan Police officers detained the former Labour Cabinet minister on Monday afternoon after receiving a tip that he was about to move to the British Virgin Islands. Lord Mandelson was forced to surrender his passport as part of his bail conditions, following seven hours of police questioning. A spokesperson for Lord Forsyth of Drumlean denied claims that the Lord Speaker was responsible for the tip-off. In a statement on Tuesday evening, lawyers for Lord Mandelson described allegations that he was planning to flee the country as “baseless”. Police launched an investigation into the disgraced peer three weeks ago after it emerged that he appeared to have leaked sensitive government documents to Jeffrey Epstein while serving as business secretary in Gordon Brown’s Cabinet. The arrest was another blow for Sir Keir Starmer, whose judgment has been questioned over the decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the US. On Tuesday, officials confirmed they would release documents related to Lord Mandelson’s work in government and appointment as ambassador early next month. However, The Telegraph can reveal that ministers will have the final say over which files will be released, despite promises that the public would be given “maximum transparency”.” – Daily Telegraph
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“Illegal migrants would be given a free house and paid a wage with no requirement to work under the Green Party’s immigration policy. Zack Polanski plans to let arrivals use the NHS for free the moment they enter Britain. And they will be allowed to work ‘with no restrictions’ under plans for ‘a world without borders’. It comes as a bombshell poll put the Greens in second place nationally ahead of an increasingly fraught Gorton and Denton by-election tomorrow. Unearthed policy proposals seen by the Daily Mail show the Greens plan to ‘abolish’ immigration detention and grant a full amnesty to illegal migrants to stay in Britain, even if their asylum claims are rejected. The internal documents state that ‘migration is not a criminal offence under any circumstances’. Last week, the party’s plans to legalise drugs including crack cocaine and heroin for recreational use were exposed. According to the immigration proposals, the Greens seek ‘to establish a system that recognises that all migrants are treated as citizens in waiting and therefore supports and encourages them to put down roots in their new home’. Last night the Conservatives, Reform UK and Labour derided the ‘open border plans’, branding them ‘financially reckless but also dangerous’.” – Daily Mail
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“Britain and the EU must go “even further” than the Brexit reset to build closer relations, the president of the European Parliament has said. Writing for The Telegraph, Roberta Metsola called for British “common sense” as she urged deeper economic, energy and defence ties. Evoking the spirit of Margaret Thatcher, Ms Metsola argued for a “stronger and more pragmatic” relationship ahead of a visit to London. “Margaret Thatcher believed sovereign nations should work together when it suited their interests. Co-operation, in that sense, was not weakness but leverage,” she wrote before talks with Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday. The Prime Minister used a speech at the Munich Security Conference in January to call for closer alignment with the EU’s single market and deeper security co-operation with the bloc.” – Daily Telegraph
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> Today: