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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Politics
Andrew Sparrow (now); Matthew Taylor and Claire Phipps (earlier)

Scottish parliament debates call for second independence referendum - Politics live

Nicola Sturgeon speaking in the debate in the Scottish parliament on a second independence referendum.
Nicola Sturgeon speaking in the debate in the Scottish parliament on a second independence referendum. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/AFP/Getty Images

Afternoon summary

  • Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has opened a debate in the Scottish parliament on her call for a second independence referendum by challenging the UK government to offer its own timetable for a vote if it won’t accept hers. (See 4.11pm.) The debate will conclude tomorrow afternoon, and it is expected that MSPs will back the motion (see 2.05pm.) The SNP and the Scottish Greens are voting in favour, but Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem MSPs are against.

And Bill Clinton, the former American president, posted a tribute on his website. Clinton said McGuinness “believed in a shared future, and refused to live in the past, a lesson all of us who remain should learn and live by.”

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Here are some more extracts from the debate. The tweets are from the BBC’s Philip Sim, who has a rather good take on what its like watching a debate when you know what the result will be (a vote in favour of the SNP motion when this ends, tomorrow afternoon.)

The SNP’s Bruce Crawford

The Conservative Adam Tomkins

The SNP’s Richard Lochhead

The Conservative’s John Lamont

The SNP’s Ruth Maguire

The Conservatives’ Douglas Ross

The SNP’s Ash Denham

Labour’s Alex Rowley

The SNP’s Ivan McKee

The Conservatives’ Donald Cameron

Labour’s Jenny Marra

The SNP has retweeted this tweet about what the Lib Dem Willie Rennie and the Conservative John Lamont have been saying in the debate.

Updated

Opening of the Scottish parliament debate - Summary

Here are the key points from the opening of the debate:

  • Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, challenged the UK government to come up with its own referendum timetable if it refused to accept hers. Opening the debate, and moving the SNP motion calling for a referendum between autumn 2018 and spring 2019 (see 2.05pm), she said she was willing to discuss a possible alternative with Theresa May.

Let me make this clear – if the UK government disagrees with that timeframe, then they should set out a clear alternative and the rationale for it.

As I have said in recent days, I am, within reason, happy to have that discussion to see if we can find common ground that I can then propose to this parliament.

  • Sturgeon rejected repeated claims from opposition MSPs that the SNP did not have a mandate for a second referendum. Its manifesto specifically talked about the need for a second referendum if there were a material change of circumstances, she said.

The suggestion that an emphatic election victory on the basis of a clear manifesto commitment and a parliamentary majority on an issue does not provide a mandate begs the question, what does?

  • She said Brexit would probably turn out to be harsher than many people, including leave supporters, expected.

The probability is that our exit taking us outside the single market will be on harder and harsher terms than most people, including many Leave voters, would have supported in the run-up to last June’s referendum.

  • She claimed that she was only proposing a second referendum because the UK government had not tried to accommodate her demand for Scotland to remain in the single market after Brexit. But commentators expressed some scepticism about her claim that she did not want to be in this position. This is from the i’s Chris Green.

ITV’s Peter MacMahon also points out that some MSPs found it hard to accept her claim that she was not motivated by party political concerns.

  • Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, accused Sturgeon of going back on her promise not to push for a second referendum unless public opinion changed. Support for independence had not increased, Davidson said.

Never mind though. In the SNP, you don’t even need to acknowledge old promises, still less honour them. Instead, we are told today to forget about what was once said and instead submit to the SNP’s will. Well, we don’t. And we won’t.

Sturgeon countered this point by saying the SNP’s manifesto made it clear that a change in circumstances, and not just a change in public opinion, could justify a second referendum. Davidson also criticised the SNP for not be willing to reach agreement with Westminster over the terms of a second referendum, arguing that this was not the approach it adopted before the 2014 poll.

Furthermore, the SNP wants to unilaterally decide on the rules and the timing of the referendum. We now know there is no agreement between the UK and Scottish governments on the prospect of this referendum.

I remind the SNP today that they once described the last referendum, with the Edinburgh agreement, with unanimous backing in this chamber, with 92% support across the public, as the ‘gold standard’ approach. This today, this is not the gold standard – it’s a tinpot approach to the biggest decision we could ever be asked to make.

And she also said that the SNP could not insist on the UK government complying with a Scottish parliament vote because it often ignored Scottish parliament votes itself. She said this had happened five times in the last six months, such as when the Scottish parliament voted to scrap the controversial Offensive Behaviour at Football Act.

Why do they exclaim that the Westminster government should recognise votes in the Scottish parliament when the Scottish government does not do so?

Stephen Daisley, a Scottish journalist often very critical of the SNP, says it was Davidson’s most powerful speech for years.

But the nationalist Wings Over Scotland website mocked her stance.

  • Labour’s Kezia Dugdale accused Sturgeon of being obsessed with independence to the exclusion of matters like education. She said:

Nicola Sturgeon wakes up every single day thinking of ways to engineer another referendum. Because leaving the UK is the only thing that matters to her. It isn’t improving education in Scotland. It isn’t lifting children out of poverty. It’s independence. That will always come first and it always has.

She also claimed that independence would make Scotland poorer.

Now, I hate what the Tories are doing to Britain. I’ve never felt anger like it. Their austerity programme is destroying public services that we all value and the poorest rely on. But the SNP cannot escape from the facts. Leaving the UK would make things much worse for the poorest people in Scotland.

  • Patrick Harvie, the Green party co-convenor, who is backing the SNP motion, said delaying a referendum until after 2019 would be a mistake. He said:

The idea of delaying this until after 2019 after we’ve been given the opportunity to see how our new relationship with Europe is working fundamentally misrepresents leaving the EU as something good instead of the act of political wreckage that it is.

Autumn 2018 will be after the negotiations conclude when there is clarity about the arrangements.

A deal negotiated by a UK government Scotland didn’t choose, with an EU institution on which Scotland is no longer represented about Brexit which Scotland didn’t vote for either, and then a period of ratification by every other European country.

That would leave the future of Scotland in the hands of everybody else in the whole of Europe, the citizens of Scotland the only people voiceless, voiceless, in that process. I don’t think that we can accept that, I won’t vote for it.

  • Willie Rennie, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, accused the SNP of cynically shifting its position on EU membership. In his speech he said the SNP was not promising that in the referendum they would guarantee EU membership. He said Alex Salmond has said the SNP is after Efta (European free trade association) membership instead.

So they will use the EU to get the referendum even though the referendum won’t get the EU. And we know the reason why; they are cynically courting the one in three independent supporters who backed Brexit. So they are prepared to use pro-Europeans to get a referendum but sell them out to win independence. It is low politics for narrow gain.

Davidson claimed this point made MSPs feel embarrassed.

Earlier, when Rennie rasied this point during Sturgeon’s speech, Sturgeon said the SNP was in favour of EU membership. She told Rennie:

The SNP’s position in favour on membership of the European Union is clear and it is longstanding, and what is beyond any doubt is that if we do not become independent, then that membership of the EU is ended because we are taken out against our will.

Updated

Rennie says the case for the union is not just an economic one. He says the UK has been a force for compassion, with one of the biggest aid budgets in the world.

He says no Scottish nationalist will ever tell him he should be ashamed of that.

And that’s it.

The frontbench speeches are over. I will post a summary shortly.

Rennie says Alex Salmond denied saying that the last referendum was a once in a lifetime opportunity. But there was a clip on YouTube of him saying that. And Salmond denied denying that he had said that, even though that was on YouTube too.

He quotes from Alice in Wonderland. Alice asked: “How long is forever?” The white rabbit said it could just be one second. Rennie suggests the SNP’s stance is like this.

Willie Rennie, the Scottish Lib Dem leader, is speaking now.

Here is his amendment.

As an amendment to motion S5M-04710 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon (Scotland’s Choice), leave out from “and therefore mandates” to end and insert “believes that a second referendum on Scottish independence would only compound the uncertainty of Brexit and its risk to the economy, environment and security; notes that all measures of public opinion show that there is no appetite for such a vote; further believes that there is no mandate for another Scottish independence referendum on the basis of the UK leaving the EU when there are no cast-iron guarantees that full membership of the EU will be sought or granted, and supports the development of a positive future for Scotland inside a federal UK.”

He accuses Harvie of saying manifesto commitments do not count.

That prompts angry jeering.

This is what the Scottish Greens’ manifesto for the Scottish parliament elections said in 2016.

Citizens should be able to play a direct role in the legislative process: on presenting a petition signed by an appropriate number of voters, citizens should be able to trigger a vote on important issues of devolved responsibility. As we proposed on the one year anniversary of the independence referendum, this is the Scottish Greens’ preferred way of deciding to hold a second referendum on independence. If a new referendum is to happen, it should come about by the will of the people, and not be driven by calculations of party political advantage.

Updated

Harvie says leaving the EU is “an act of political wreckage”.

He says other EU countries will get a vote on the Brexit deal.

But under the UK government’s plans, the people of Scotland would be voiceless. They would be the only voiceless country in Europe, he says. He says that is not acceptable.

Harvie says many leave campaigners said there was no threat to the UK’s place in the single market.

Even Ruth Davidson said after the referendum that she wanted the UK to stay in the single market. He says her abandonment of that position has been “disgraceful”.

He says young voters and foreigner were deliberately excluded from the EU referendum last year. But they should be allowed to vote on the future of the country they live in.

He says the treatment of EU nationals in the UK has been particularly shabby.

He says the Tory and Labour amendments both read like wishful thinking.

Patrick Harvie, the Green party’s co-convenor in Scotland, is speaking now.

Here is is amendment.

As an amendment to motion S5M-04710 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon (Scotland’s Choice), insert at end “; believes that this gives people in Scotland a choice at a time when there is both the most information and most opportunity to act; further believes that 16 and 17-year-olds and EU citizens, who were excluded from the EU referendum, should be entitled to vote, and considers that this referendum is necessary given the Prime Minister’s decision to negotiate a hard exit from the EU, including leaving the single market, which conflicts with assurances given by the UK Government and prominent Leave campaigners, and which takes no account of the overwhelming Remain vote in Scotland.”

He acknowledges that people have mixed feelings about a second referendum.

He says 2014 was an expression of the will of the people. But so was 2016, he says.

Dugdale says leaving the UK would make things worse for the poorest people in Scotland.

In six years in this chamber she has never heard an argument to the contrary, she says.

An SNP MSP, Kevin Stewart, says the Tories are making the poor poorer. Would Dugdale be happy to see the Tories in power for the next 10, 20, 30 years?

Dugdale says independence would lead to turbo-charged austerity.

Dugdale says Sturgeon says the referendum was not divisive. But Dugdale says from her conversations with people she knows it was. Every family and workplace was divided. And last Monday, when Sturgeon announced her call for a referendum, felt just as divisive as the final day of the last campaign.

She says she believes in the union, as a living, breathing union of countries in the UK.

Dugdale says the SNP used to say the will of the Scottish people should be respected. But it was expressed in 2014. More than 2m Scots voted to remain in the UK. That is the will of the Scottish people and that is what should be respected, she says.

Kezia Dugdale's speech

Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, is speaking now.

Here is her amendment.

As an amendment to motion S5M-04710 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon (Scotland’s Choice), leave out from “and therefore mandates” to end and insert “; believes that a strong Scottish Parliament within a federal UK would meet these needs; recognises that the overwhelming will of the Scottish people is that there should be no second divisive independence referendum; believes that far from giving Scots a choice, a second independence referendum would only increase uncertainty and cause greater division as the UK faces a hard Tory Brexit, and asserts that there should be no second independence referendum.”

She says she wishes they were having a debate about education.

But they are debating independence because that is all that matters to the SNP.

Davidson says five times in the last six months the SNP government has ignored the wishes of the Scottish parliament.

So why should the UK government recognise votes in the Scottish parliament when the Scottish government does not do so?

Davidson says the SNP said the will of the people should drive a second referendum.

But there is none, she says.

She allows an intervention from Patrick Harvie, the Green co-convenor, saying he is going against his own manifesto.

Harvie says the Tory manifesto said the UK would stay in the single market.

Davidson says the government wants to keep access to the single market.

Davidson says the SNP motion amounts to a “bulldozer” approach.

That is not what happened in 2014, she says. She says the terms of that referendum were agreed in talks with Westminster.

She says the SNP described the approach taken in 2014 as “the gold standard approach”. This is not the gold standard approach, she says.

She accuses the SNP of rushing to any microphone “with the angry face on” and making the same old complaints.

It won’t work, she says.

She says most people in Scotland are sick and tired of these old games.

She says Brexit will pose challenges. Why start an independence campaign now when we don’t know how it will play out?

And the SNP cannot answer basic questions, such as what the currency will be.

The first minister wants a date, but she cannot give us a plan.

Ruth Davidson's speech

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, is speaking now.

Here is Davidson’s amendment.

As an amendment to motion S5M-04710 in the name of Nicola Sturgeon (Scotland’s Choice), leave out from “acknowledges” to end and insert “declines the Scottish Government’s proposal for a referendum on independence before April 2019; believes that it would be unfair to ask this question while the process of leaving the EU is still ongoing and while the Scottish Government has failed to set out its own position on independence; considers that no referendum should take place while there is no public or political consent for one, and urges the Scottish Government to focus its efforts on working with the UK Government to secure the best possible new relationship with the EU.”

She says the SNP is prioritising independence, not education.

She quotes Nicola Sturgeon saying on various occasions in the past she was opposed to a second referendum.

Sturgeon says she should consider what was in the SNP’s referendum.

Davidson says she is coming to that.

She quotes Sturgeon saying there would be no referendum if support for independence did not increase.

The latest polling shows it has not increased, she says.

Sturgeon says there is a fundamental decision to be taken. It can only be made by the people, she says.

And that’s it. Her speech is over.

Updated

Sturgeon says the SNP will set out its plans for independence, so people can make an informed choice.

She says that is in contrast to Brexit, where people were not told what it would involve, and where nine months later people still do not know what it will be like.

Sturgeon challenges UK government to set out its alternative timetable for a second referendum

Sturgeon says the Scottish parliament should take the decision over the timing of the referendum.

She says the latest time for a referendum should be around the time the UK leaves, in the spring of 2019.

If the UK government disagrees, it should set out an alternative timescale, she says. She says she is prepared to discuss an alternative.

  • Sturgeon challenges UK government to set out its alternative timetable for a second referendum.

Sturgeon says she understands why many Scots don’t want another referendum.

But the alternative is to drift through the next two years, hoping for the best, but fearing for the worst.

Scotland would have to accept a hard Brexit, she says.

And Scotland would not then have the option to reject that.

Sturgeon says the UK government rejected her compromise plan for the single market.

And it has also refused to commit to giving repatriated powers from Brussels to Scotland, she says.

She says the Tories could be in power in Westminster until 2030.

So Scotland should decide what future it wants, she says.

Nicola Sturgeon's speech

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, is opening the debate.

She says that she offered the UK government a compromise plan that would keep Scotland in the single market after Brexit. The UK government refused that, she says.

She says the SNP’s manifesto said a second referendum would be justified if there was a material change in circumstances. Brexit qualifies, she says.

She says she did not immediately call for a second referendum after the Brexit vote on 23 June.

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, says she heard Sturgeon on the radio that morning saying she had asked civil servants to draw up legislation.

Sturgeon says she said at the time she would seek a compromise first.

MSPs debate call for second independence referendum

The Scottish parliament is now debating Nicola Sturgeon’s call for a second independence referendum.

Here is the motion.

That the parliament acknowledges the sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs and therefore mandates the Scottish government to take forward discussions with the UK government on the details of an order under section 30 of the Scotland Act 1998 to ensure that the Scottish parliament can legislate for a referendum to be held that will give the people of Scotland a choice over the future direction and governance of their country at a time, and with a question and franchise, determined by the Scottish parliament, which would most appropriately be between the autumn of 2018, when there is clarity over the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, and around the point at which the UK leaves the EU in spring 2019.

Updated

Urgent question on Global Laundromat revelations - Verdict

And here is a verdict on the UQ from my colleagues Luke Harding and Nick Hopkins.

Labour politicians were clearly unimpressed by assurances from Simon Kirby that the government has got a grip on money laundering. It hasn’t. Today’s Guardian Laundromat story shows how profound the problem is: $740m flowed through UK banks and nobody noticed.

Kirby said that the National Crime Agency (NCA) was investigating. But when we went to see the NCA last week it admitted Moscow was refusing to cooperate. Without active help from Russian authorities it’s difficult to see how detectives can arrest money launderers or stop similar schemes in future.

For the moment, then, it’s easy for anyone to set up a UK limited company and use it for criminal purposes. This point was made by the SNP’s Roger Mullin who noted – correctly – that limited partnerships were at the heart of the Laundromat scandal. One of the companies we found, Seabon Limited, claimed its assets were £1. In fact, it was involved in transactions worth $9bn.

The most intriguing question came from Labour’s Ben Bradshaw, who wanted to know if any of the Laundromat billions had gone to fund the Trump campaign or Leave.EU. We don’t know the answer. But there are clear signs that some of the money has gone to support pro-Kremlin thinktanks and parties across Europe.

Updated

Urgent question on Global Laundromat revelations - Summary

Recently it was revealed that Simon Kirby, the City minister, had been stripped of his responsibility for Brexit-related matters. A City source told the Sun that Kirby was someone with “no knowledge, no experience and no apparent interest in the City”. Kirby did not do much to restore his reputation with his response to today’s UQ. He floundered badly, prompting unusually harsh criticism from the oppositon.

Here are the key points.

  • Labour accused the government of “complacency and inaction” over money-laundering. John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, told MPs after hearing Kirby’s opening statement:

I don’t believe the minister recognises the immense gravity of the situation we are facing and that statement reflected, I believe, a complacency on behalf of the government itself ... Money-laundering through London and elsewhere threatens the financial stability of our economy ... It obvious from today’s revelations that the current arrangements are not working. There is widespread, organised and sophisticated criminal activity ... Urgent action is needed by the government to protect the standing of our finance sector and indeed protect our economy. Complacency and inaction is not good enough.

Later other Labour MPs criticised Kirby very strongly. John Mann said he gave the impression of being over-promoted. (See 12.53pm.) Angela Eagle said he was “appallingly complacent”. (See 1.04pm.) Rushanara Ali also said his performance was “appalling”. (See 1.08pm.)

  • McDonnell called for an inquiry into what measures might be needed to strengthen money-laundering laws.
  • Kirby said the latest Guardian allegations would be investigated.

The Financial Conduct Authority and the National Crime Agency take any such allegations seriously and will investigate closely whether recent information from the Guardian newspaper regarding money laundering from Russia, or indeed any other media source, would allow the progression of an investigation.

  • He claimed the government was doing “more than any other” to tackle money-laundering.

This government already does more than any other to tackle the global threat of money-laundering. Since 2010 we have already seized £1.bn in illegal funds and put hundreds of millions more beyond the reach of criminals. We have set up the Panama Papers taskforce, we have hosted the global anti-corruption summit last year and now we are preparing the most significant changes to our anti money-laundering and terrorist finances regime in over a decade ... We are determined to make the UK the most difficult place in the world for international crime networks to channel their finances and we won’t relent in our efforts to do that.

Updated

On Tuesday morning, Theresa May told a cabinet meeting that the triggering of article 50 next Wednesday would be a “historic event and will precipitate a shift in our role in the world see Britain begin a bold new chapter as a prosperous, open and global nation.”

No 10 said the prime minister had told cabinet ministers that the letter would be “one of the most important docs in our country’s recent history and will start to deliver the result of the referendum and set the tone for our new relationship with Europe and the world.”

The content has not been finalised and was not discussed, the spokesman said. A meeting of the cabinet will be held next Wednesday, the day of notification, to discuss the letter, he said.

During the meeting, May stressed her desire to come to a swift agreement on the rights of EU citizens living in the EU and those of British citizens in the EU, the spokesman said, as well as praising the work of the cabinet sub-committee on exit and trade, calling it a “strong platform” from which to start negotiations.

May said she expected negotiations to be “smooth and orderly, giving certainty to individuals and businesses and allowing us to make preparation that will see an independent UK prospering outside the EU.”

A white paper on the great repeal bill, which will migrate existing EU laws directly into British law after the UK leaves the EU, is expected to be published by David Davis shortly after the letter is sent next week.

Updated

Labour’s Rushanara Ali says Philip Hammond, the chancellor, should have been here. She says Kirby’s answers have been “appalling”.

Kirby says he is sorry that Ali thinks that.

And that’s it. The UQ is over. I will post a summary shortly.

Labour’s Kerry McCarthy says the Russian authorities are refusing to cooperate with the National Crime Agency. What is the Foreign Office doing about this?

Kirby says he thinks the FCA are in contact with the Foreign Office about this. He says if there is new information, the FCA and the NCA will act on it.

Here is Labour’s Angela Eagle, who asked Kirby a question earlier (see 12.51pm), responding to his performance.

Labour’s Ian Austin says the home affairs committee has estimated that £100bn is laundered through the UK. But only 0.17% of it gets detected. What is necessary to make the authorities do their jobs?

Kirby says the FCA and the NCA are independent. They do investigate, he says.

Updated

The Lib Dem’s Greg Mulholland asks what will happen if the government secures its aim of turning the UK into a tax haven.

Kirby says that is not the chancellor’s policy.

Labour’s Catherine McKinnell asks if Kirby accepts that the law on money-laundering needs to be tightened.

Kirby says the Ministry of Justice will have heard what McKinnell said.

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks if any laundered money was donated to the leave campaign or to the Trump campaign.

Kirby says he is not aware of any donations of that kind.

Philip Hollobone, a Conservative, asks how many money launderers have been sent to prison in the past five years.

Kirby says he does not know, but will write to Hollobone with an answer.

Updated

Jonathan Djanogly, a Conservative, says Russians are allowed into the UK on the assumption they will do nothing wrong.

Kirby says the authorities will address any action that needs to be taken to tackle this problem.

Updated

Labour’s Helen Goodman asks if Kirby has discussed this with George Osborne, who intervened with the US authorities to stop HSBC being prosecuted in 2012.

Kirby says he has not had that conversation.

Labour’s John Mann asks Kirby to counter the impression that he has been promoted beyond his competence by telling MPs which British banks have been accused of money laundering, and what he has learned from reading those reports.

John Bercow, the Speaker, says the question was discourteous, but not disorderly.

Kirby says a number of firms have been investigated.

Updated

Angela Eagle, the former shadow business secretary, says Kirby has shown “real complacency” about this scandal. His answers are not good enough.

Kirby rejects this, he says. We have world-leading regulation and world-leading financial services.

Updated

The SNP’s Roger Mullin says at the heart of this scandal is the use of limited partnerships.

He says on Friday the business department closed its review of limited partnerships. Will that now be reopened so that Mullin and others can submit fresh evidence, based on the latest revelations?

He says it is hard to believe the UK is a world leader.

And he says the government should do more to encourage whistleblowing.

Kirby says, in this case, he does not think limited partnerships were involved. But he says any MP is free to write to the secretary of state.

We are world leaders in this, he says.

Updated

Kirby is responding to McDonnell.

He rejects the charge of complacency.

And he suggests that it would not be appropriate for the government to tell the FCA and the NCA what they must investigate.

McDonnell accuses government of “complacency and inaction” over money-laundering

John McDonnell is responding.

He says he does not think Kirby realises the seriousness of these allegations. He accuses him of being complacent.

He says HSBC has previously faced money-laundering allegations.

Money laundering threatens the stability of our economy, he says.

Can Kirby give MPs more details about what steps are being taken to address this?

Could there be criminal proceedings? This is in effect a criminal network, says McDonnell.

He says the main risk comes from inactivity. The government should ensure British banks are clean and fit for purpose.

The Financial Conduct Authority stresses the need for banks to self-police. It is obvious this is not happening, he says.

He asks the government to commit to an inquiry into this.

And, when the government owns banks, especially RBS, can it ensure taxpayers its banks are not involved in criminal activity.

  • McDonnell accuses the government of “complacency and inaction” over money laundering.

Updated

John McDonnell asks for a statement.

Simon Kirby, the City minister, is responding.

He says he wants the UK to take a lead in the drive against money laundering. This is to keep Britons safe.

He says the authorities take any such allegations seriously. The allegations in the Guardian will be investigated, he says.

He says the government is doing more than any other to tackle the threat posed by money laundering. He lists measures taken by the government and says reforms being introduced are the most serious for a decade.

He says the UK is working closely with international partners to address this problem.

We are determined to make the UK the most difficult place in the world for international crime networks to channel their money, he says.

Updated

Here is our latest story on this topic.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, is asking the urgent question.

Here is the Guardian’s main story yesterday about the Global Laundromat scheme.

Commons urgent question on Russian money-laundering and British banks

We are about to get a Commons urgent question on the Guardian’s revelations about the Global Laundromat. We revealed that Russian criminals with links to the Kremlin laundered $20bn … and that much of this cash ended up in Britain.

The UK’s high street banks handled $740m in dirty money from Moscow. Even worse, most of the shell companies used in the fraud were UK ones, registered at Companies House in London.

David Cameron’s much-vaunted anti-corruption summit last summer was meant to tackle offshore secrecy, and the fact that anonymous companies were used to own assets in the UK, especially real estate. Since then, not much appears to have changed. The Laundromat features about 70,000 banking transactions, with billions simply vanishing into opaque UK companies.

The questions for the government are:

1) What does the Treasury intend to do to stop the UK being used as the world’s pre-eminent money-laundering destination?

2) Will the National Crime Agency and other financial regulators investigate?

3) when will the government begin prosecuting the UK intermediaries – lawyers, accountants, company formation agents – who facilitate money-laundering and other financial crimes?

Updated

And, while we’re on the subject of Tom Watson, the Unite general secretary Len McCluskey has hit back at him for what he said about McCluskey yesterday with an article for Huffington Post. It’s strong stuff. Here’s an excerpt:

There is another world in our movement, alas. A world of skulduggery, smears and secret plots.

That is where you will find Tom Watson. When Labour has needed loyalty he has been sharpening his knife looking for a back to stab. When unity is required, he manufactures division.

It is small surprise that he has then worked to split the party again this week. He has form as long as his arm. And now his sights are set on abusing the internal democracy of Unite.

Updated

Tom Watson condemns MPs attacking BBC's Brexit coverage

As the Guardian reports, 76 MPs - mostly, but not exclusively, Tory pro-leave campaigners - have signed a letter to the BBC complaining about its Brexit coverage. They are particularly angry about what they dub “despite Brexit” coverage, by which they seem to mean reporting that pre-supposes Brexit will damage the economy.

(Growth and employment figures have been positive since last June, and claims that a leave vote would trigger an immediate downturn turned out to be wrong, but it remains the case that most economists think that when the UK does leave the EU there will be a hit to growth in the short and medium term.)

Here is an extract from the letter containing the MPs’ key arguments.

We know many leave-voting constituents have felt their view have been unfairly represented. This phenomenon is weakening the BBC’s bond with the 52% who voted leave and all who wish to make a success of the decision made.

In particular, the corporation’s focus on ‘regretful’ leave voters, despite there being no polling shift towards remain since the referendum, has led some to believe it is putting its preconceptions before the facts. Meanwhile the posturing and private opinions of EU figures are too often presented as facts, without the vital context that they are talking tough ahead of the exit negotiations.

It particularly pains us to see how much of the economic good news we’ve had since June has been skewed by BBC coverage which seems unable to break out of pre-referendum pessimism and accept new facts. Some of the signatories of this letter shared many of the concerns about theeconomic impact of Brexit, but all are delighted to find forecasts of immediate economic harm were at best misplaced. So-called ‘despite Brexit’ reporting may be expected of a partisan press, but licence fee-payers have the right to expect better ...

BBC coverage also shapes international perceptions of the UK: we fear that, by misrepresenting our country either as xenophobic or regretful of the leave vote, the BBC will undermine our efforts to carve out a new, global role for this country.

Here is the Guardian’s story about it. You can read the full text of the letter here, on the website of Julian Knight, the Conservative MP and former BBC and Independent journalist who coordinated it. He voted remain.

In response Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader and the shadow culture secretary, has urged the government to stand up for the BBC. In a statement he said:

The BBC is one of the world’s finest news broadcasters and we should all value its impartiality, integrity and balanced coverage. It is the BBC’s job to report the facts, not to be a cheerleader for any cause or party.

All politicians sometimes dislike the way some stories are covered, but we should never seek to interfere with the independence of the BBC by publicly accusing it of bias and making implicit threats about its future.

Theresa May and Karen Bradley must make clear their commitment to the independence of the BBC and distance themselves from attacks on it by politicians who have an agenda the BBC does not and should not share.

Nick Robinson, the Today presenter and former BBC political editor, has also leapt to the corporation’s defence.

De Volkskrant, a respected Dutch newspaper, has published a long article about the negotiating strategy the EU will adopt during Brexit. It appears under the headline:

Dit is de geheime EU-strategie voor scheiding van de Britten

or, as Google Translate puts it,

This is the secret EU Strategy for separation from the British

And that article says it is based on information provided by insiders about what it says is the draft negotiating strategy that has been drawn up. It says these will come out when Theresa May presses the “Brexitknop” (Brexit button). Based on feeding it through Google Translate, here are the key points.

  • The EU will insist access to the internal market depends upon accepting the four freedoms, including freedom of movement, de Volkskrant claims.
  • The EU will propose a deal guaranteeing the reciprocal rights of EU nationals in the UK and Britons in EU countries, de Volkskrant claims.
  • The EU will demand an exit “bill”, de Volkskrant claims. Interestingly, it says that David Cameron is partly responsible for the possible demand being so high. Cameron demanded cuts to the EU budget for 2014-20. But, in return for spending going down in the early years, planned spending in the future rose sharply. There is an argument now that the UK is obliged to contribute to those future spending commitments.
  • The EU will demand that the UK loses some of its existing trade advantages, de Volkskrant claims.
  • The EU has yet to decide whether to allow talks on the withdrawal deal and talks on the future trade deal to take place in parallel, as the UK wants, or sequentially, de Volkskrant says.
  • If the UK tries to leave without a deal, the EU could take it to court at the Hague to try to recover the money it thinks is owed, de Volkskrant says.
  • Only six people, including Donald Tusk, the European council president, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, have seen the 10-page draft negotiating guidelines, de Volkskrant claims.

Updated

Tusk says he wants to make Brexit process 'the least painful for the EU'

This is what Donald Tusk, president of the European council, said at his press conference about the special EU summit.

In view of what was announced in London yesterday I would like to inform you that I will call a European council on Saturday 29 April to adopt the guidelines for the Brexit talks.

I personally wish the UK hadn’t chosen to leave the EU. But the majority of British voters decided otherwise.

Therefore we must to do everything we can to make the process of divorce the least painful for the EU.

Our main priority for the negotiations must be to create as much certainty and clarity as possible for all citizens, companies and member states that will be negatively affected by Brexi, as well as our important partners and friends around the world.

And here are the key points.

  • Tusk calls special summit for Saturday 29 April where the EU 27 (the countries not leaving) will decide their Brexit negotiating strategy.
  • He says he wants to make the process “the least painful for the EU”.
  • He says his priority will be to create “as much certainty and clarity” for people, organisations and countries negatively affected by Brexit.

Tusk clearly did not get the memo from Theresa May about why she thinks Brexit is not a divorce.

And he clearly did not get the memo either from the 76 MPs, mostly pro-leave Tories, who have written to the BBC complaining about “despite Brexit” reporting - ie, reporting that presupposes Brexit will have negative consequences.

Donald Tusk at his news conference this morning.
Donald Tusk at his news conference this morning. Photograph: EU commission

Tusk calls summit for Saturday 29 April so EU leaders can decide their approach to Brexit

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, has just announced at a press conference in Brussels that he will call a summit of the 27 other EU countries on Saturday 29 April where they can consider their response to Theresa May’s triggering of article 50.

I will post his quotes shortly.

Here is Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, on Martin McGuinness.

Updated

John Bruton, who was taoiseach from 1994 to 1997, has said he is sorry Martin McGuinness did not live to see complete reconciliation in Northern Ireland. He said:

Notwithstanding our profound political differences, I always found him to be a very friendly person and easy to talk to.

The good and warm personal relationship he developed with Ian Paisley set a very good example. But it has yet to be followed by a genuine political reconciliation between the two communities they represented.

It is sad that Martin will not be around to complete the important task he undertook.

Later this morning Donald Tusk, president of the European council, is due to give the date when the other members of the EU will agree and announce their response to Theresa May triggering article 50. I’ll cover that as soon as it happens.

Alex Salmond, the former Scottish first minister, has issued a tribute recalling his visit to the Northern Ireland assembly in 2007 to express support for Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness’s power-sharing administration. Here’s an extract:

I gladly did so and found a remarkable partnership, which was the anchor of the institutions consolidating the peace process .

The friendship which developed between them was real, enduring and profound, private as well as public and allowed Northern Ireland to move away from violence. They were both solid and continuing friends of Scotland.

Updated

And Alastair Campbell’s assessment of Martin McGuinness for the Guardian is well worth reading too. Here it is in full:

And here is an extract.

At various moments during the years of negotiations that followed, Sinn Féin would frequently be exasperating, and some of us would lose our patience. Tony once suggested we should be a little more sympathetic to their difficulties, pointing out that they were going about this business with a not unreasonable fear that someone might put a bullet in their heads even for talking to us.

Whenever there is a terrorist attack politicians and media will rise as one to call it “a cowardly act”. But that means we should acknowledge the flipside too: what Martin McGuinness and the Sinn Féin leadership did in negotiating for peace took courage. Once he decided to make the change to pursuing democracy – and I believe he did so some years before New Labour came on the scene – I think he genuinely made the change. As time went on I saw somebody very different from the murderous hardman IRA commander image. I saw someone was was very human, very likeable, and dedicated to making the new path he had chosen work for the people he represented.

Updated

Here is my colleague Henry McDonald’s assessment of Martin McGuinness.

And here is an extract.

Trimble said he continued to monitor McGuinness’ career after he had left Northern Ireland. McGuinness’ capacity to seek compromise endured in the year running up to his death, Trimble acknowledged.

He added: “I heard recently from a very senior government minister in Downing Street that they had to call in McGuinness last year to act as a peacemaker between London and the Scots Nats!

“On the joint ministerial council between the devolved governments of Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast – in cooperation with the national government in London – there was a lot of shouting, a lot of bad blood. It was caused by the Scottish nationalists roaring and ranting against central government representatives who eventually called in McGuinness for help.

“By contrast Martin McGuinness was calm and rational, and he helped turn down the temperature at that meeting.”

Updated

Here’s the Guardian’s obituary of Martin McGuinness.

While Enda Kenny has led the warm tributes to Martin McGuinness among the Irish Republic’s political establishment there are a discordant voices in southern Ireland pointing out his record.

Austin Stack’s prison officer father was murdered by the IRA in 1984 in the Irish Republic. His son has led a dogged campaign to demand the truth about what happened to his father and has personally confronted McGuinness about the murder in the past as did the son of an Irish Army soldier, Patrick Kelly, whom the IRA also killed in the 1980s.

Stack, as spokesperson for the Independent Victims and Survivors Coalition, had this to say this morning on McGuinness’ legacy:

While acknowledging Martin McGuinness’s passing it think it’s entirely appropriate to focus on all his legacy, not just the last few years. Let’s today remember McGuinness never acknowledged his many victims and in fact told Pte Paddy Kelly’s son “just move on you”. Pte Kelly was a brave Irish soldier who was rescuing Don Tidey when he was gunned down, the man who shot him stood over him and said “take that you Free State Bastard”.

McGuinness had serious questions to answer regarding the Claudy bombing and Enniskillen bombing where many innocent civilians were murdered. He also is directly responsible for death of Frank Hegarty, a young man the IRA had exiled and who McGuinness told to come home only for him to be murdered within days. This is the real legacy of Martin McGuinness, he took what he knew about each of these cases to his grave. We should look at his real legacy in its totality.

The Cenotaph at Enniskillen with the devastated community centre in the background, where 11 people died and more than 50 were injured in a massive IRA bomb explosion just before a Remembrance Day ceremony in 1987.
The Cenotaph at Enniskillen with the devastated community centre in the background, where 11 people died and more than 50 were injured in a massive IRA bomb explosion just before a Remembrance Day ceremony in 1987. Photograph: PA/EMPICS

Updated

Bertie Ahern, who was taoiseach at the time of the Good Friday agreement, has told Ireland’s RTE Radio that Martin McGuinness was a good person.

He was a good person, in my view. He moved from a very difficult past where he took a particular side and he was a good person to negotiate with and certainly I considered him as a good friend as we went through 25 years of discussions.

Ahern also said McGuinness had the ability to compromise.

In negotiations when there is a lot at stake and it can’t be winner takes all Martin understood compromise. He listened and he was able, I think, to arbitrate between different points of view.

Bertie Ahern (right) with Tony Blair (second from right), McGuinness (third from right) and Ian Paisley at the announcement of a deal on power-sharing at Stormont on 8 May 2007.
Bertie Ahern (right) with Tony Blair (second from right), McGuinness (third from right) and Ian Paisley at the announcement of a deal on power-sharing at Stormont on 8 May 2007.
 Photograph: Niall Carson/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Lord Tebbit, the former Conservative party chairman whose wife Margaret was paralysed when the IRA bombed the Grand hotel in Brighton during the Conservative party conference, and who was injured himself by the attack, has welcomed McGuinness’s death. He told the Press Association:

I’m just pleased that the world is a sweeter and cleaner place now.

He was not only a multi-murderer, he was a coward.

He knew that the IRA were defeated because British intelligence had penetrated right the way up to the army council and that the end was coming.

He then sought to save his own skin and he knew that it was likely he would be charged before long with several murders, which he had personally committed, and he decided that the only thing to do was to opt for peace.

He claimed to be a Roman Catholic.

I hope that his beliefs turn out to be true and he’ll be parked in a particularly hot and unpleasant corner of hell for the rest of eternity.

Tebbit said he refused to forgive McGuinness for his terrorist past because “forgiveness requires confession of sins and repentance”.

“There was none of that,” Tebbit added.

The Grand Hotel in Brighton after the IRA bombing in 1984.
The Grand hotel in Brighton after the IRA bombing in 1984. Photograph: BBC

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn has posted a tribute to Martin McGuinness on Twitter.

John Simpson, the BBC’s world affairs editor, tweeted this about Martin McGuinness earlier.

Simpson was a correspondent for the BBC in Belfast in the 1970s and he has just been talking about McGuinness on the Today programme. He recalled being followed by McGuinness at one point in a Republican area at a time when McGuinness was known as “the butcher of Bogside”. Simpson said he was “absolutely terrified”.

James Brokenshire, the Northern Ireland secretary, has offered his condolences to Martin McGuinness’s family. His full tribute is here, on the department’s website, and here is an extract.

Whilst passionate and robust in his politics, on a personal level I always found Martin to be thoughtful and reflective and appreciated the personal consideration he showed. The importance of family and his home in Derry shone through.

Martin will be remembered for his contribution to politics in Northern Ireland and particularly during his near ten years as deputy first minister.

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, has highlighted Martin McGuinness’s meeting with the Queen in his tribute to the former deputy first minister. Farron said:

Martin McGuinness, for all his past, became a statesman. One moment sticks with me, the remarkable – and unlikely – images of McGuinness’ when he shook the hand of the Queen on her visit to Belfast in 2012. This single picture epitomised the changes in Northern Ireland.

The historic handshake with the Queen in the quest for peace. This is something I, and millions of others, are thankful for. Peace in Northern Ireland is down, in part, to his leadership of the Republican community.

The Queen shaking hands with McGuinness for the first time, at the Lyric Theatre on 27 June 2012 in Belfast, during a two-day visit by the Queen to Northern Ireland.
The Queen shaking hands with McGuinness for the first time, at the Lyric Theatre on 27 June 2012 in Belfast, during a two-day visit by the Queen to Northern Ireland. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

Enda Kenny's tribute

The Irish taoiseach, Enda Kenny, has issued this tribute to Martin McGuinness.

I was deeply saddened to hear of the death of Martin McGuinness today. His passing represents a significant loss, not only to politics in Northern Ireland but to the wider political landscape on this island and beyond.

Martin will always be remembered for the remarkable political journey that he undertook in his lifetime. Not only did Martin come to believe that peace must prevail, he committed himself to working tirelessly to that end.

Martin was one of the chief architects of the Good Friday agreement and he worked resolutely in the years that followed it in pursuit of its full implementation. I got to know Martin well in recent years, including through our working together in the North South ministerial council. His commitment to securing enduring peace and prosperity for all of the people of Northern Ireland was unwavering throughout this time. He strove to make Northern Ireland a better place for everyone, regardless of background or tradition.

Above all, today is an especially sad day for Martin’s family - his wife Bernie, and his children - and for the people of Derry, who held a special place in Martin’s heart.

My deepest sympathies are with all of them at this sad and difficult time.

Enda Kenny (R) with Martin McGuinness at a North South ministerial council (NSMC) meeting in Armagh in November 2016.
Enda Kenny (R) with Martin McGuinness at a North South ministerial council (NSMC) meeting in Armagh in November 2016. Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Q: What would you say to those who argued that the Good Friday agreement showed violence worked?

Blair does not accept this.

Q: But they are in power.

But not through violence, says Blair. He says Sinn Fein are in power because they committed to peace.

He says he hopes McGuinness’s life will remind people how important it is to remain committed to peace.

Q: The settlement is at risk.

Blair says the peace process is “fragile”. And it is at risk.

Q: It is extraordinary that a former prime minister is saying we can draw inspiration from the life of a terrorist.

It is, says Blair. But it shows that sometimes politics can work.

And that’s it. The Blair interview is over.

UPDATE: Here is some video.

Tony Blair: McGuinness ‘formidable as foe and peacemaker’

Updated

Tony Blair's Today programme tribute

Tony Blair is being interviewed on Today now about Martin McGuinness.

Q: When did you realise the IRA was willing to negotiate?

Blair says the IRA ceasefire had broken down as Labour was coming into office in 1997.

He says he met McGuinness then. McGuinness was clear that there was a stalemate, and that it was doing immense damage. He says McGuinness wanted to see if there was a way forward.

John Humprhys is interviewing Blair. He was a correspondent in Northern Ireland in the 1970s and he says interviewing McGuinness then was frightening, because you could imagine him looking down the barrel of a gun.

Blair says he can understand why people felt that. But he says the determination that McGuinness showed at that stage was also deployed when he committed himself to peace.

He recalls his first proper meeting with McGuinness, in the cabinet room. McGuinness said this was where the damage was done. He explained that he meant the partition agreement, but Blair and his team thought they were talking about the IRA mortar attack.

Blair says McGuinness thought pursuing peace was consistent with the motives behind the armed struggle. But he pursued it with courage, Blair says. He says if McGuinness had not been committed to the peace process, it would not have succeeded.

Q: Did you for a moment think you should not have been speaking to him?

Blair says he never forgot the victims of terrorism. But, when he thought there was a possibility of peace, he was determined to pursue it.

He says without McGuinness they would never had got the Good Friday agreement. That was in 1998. But the peace was not fully agreed until just before he left office in 2007, when McGuinness formed a government with Ian Paisley.

It was extraordinary, Blair says. If someone had said in 1997 that that would have happened, Blair says he would have thought they were completely mad.

McGuinness shaking hands with Tony Blair (right), with Ian Paisley between them, after a meeting at Stormont on 8 May 2007.
McGuinness shaking hands with Tony Blair (right), with Ian Paisley between them, after a meeting at Stormont on 8 May 2007.
 Photograph: Peter Morrison/AP

Updated

Hello. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Matthew and Claire.

Gerry Kelly, a former IRA figure and a leading Sinn Féin politician, is on Today now, paying tribute to Martin McGuinness.

He says he wants to explain what was happening when McGuinness was young. There was no democratic way forward for his community, Kelly says.

He says later it became clear that there was a military stalemate. There was always a belief that the conflict would have to end. McGuinness showed “massive leadership”, Kelly says.

He says, had he been born anywhere else, he would have been a huge figure, because he had that kind of intellect.

Gerry Kelly (L) with McGuinness, Gerry Adams (R) and David Trimble (back to camera) during talks at Hillsborough Castle in 1999.
Gerry Kelly (L) with McGuinness, Gerry Adams (R) and David Trimble (back to camera) during talks at Hillsborough Castle in 1999.
 Photograph: Paul Mcerlane/Reuters

Updated

Theresa May's tribute

The prime minister, Theresa May, has issued a statement saying that while she could “never condone the path he took in the earlier part of his life, Martin McGuinness ultimately played a defining role in leading the republican movement away from violence”.

In doing so, he made an essential and historic contribution to the extraordinary journey of Northern Ireland from conflict to peace. While we certainly didn’t always see eye-to-eye even in later years, as deputy first minister for nearly a decade he was one of the pioneers of implementing cross-community power-sharing in Northern Ireland. He understood both its fragility and its precious significance and played a vital part in helping to find a way through many difficult moments. At the heart of it all was his profound optimism for the future of Northern Ireland – and I believe we should all hold fast to that optimism today.

Theres May (centre) with McGuinness and Arelene Foster at Stormont on 25 July 2016.
Theres May (centre) with McGuinness and Arelene Foster at Stormont on 25 July 2016.
 Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA

Updated

Tony Blair's tribute

The former prime minister Tony Blair, who worked with McGuinness on the peace process, said he was sorry to learn of his death.

‎I grew up watching and hearing about the Martin McGuinness who was a leading member of the IRA engaged in armed struggle. I came to know the Martin McGuinness who set aside that armed struggle in favour of making peace. There will be some who cannot forget the bitter legacy of the war. And for those who lost loved ones in it that is completely understandable. But for those of us able finally to bring about the Northern Ireland peace agreement, we know we could never have done it without Martin’s leadership, courage and quiet insistence that the past should not define the future.

After first meeting in Northern Ireland and then again shortly after in Downing Street ‎– an historic meeting, between a British PM and the republican leadership in the cabinet room where so much Irish history had been made – he explained at length to me the causes of republican grievance. I listened. We talked. And as the meeting went on he explained why he thought, despite all the grievance, there was a chance for peace.

Over the years – through the arduous negotiation of the Good Friday agreement – and for the years after it, I got to know ‎Martin well. We met many, many times and as the trust grew between himself, my team, Gerry Adams and their team, so the discussions became increasingly open, frank and therefore productive.

By the time that extraordinary day arrived in 2007 after almost a decade of hard work where we could witness the – to my generation – incredible sight of he and Ian Paisley sitting down together in government, the transition of Martin to reconciliator was complete.

Whatever the past, the Martin I knew was a thoughtful, reflective and committed individual. Once he became the peacemaker he became it wholeheartedly and with no shortage of determined opposition to those who wanted to carry on the war.

I will remember him therefore with immense gratitude for the part he played in the peace process and with genuine affection for the man I came to know and admire for his contribution to peace.

Updated

Here is a bit more from Colin Parry whose son Tim died in a IRA bomb in Warrington in 1993.

“I don’t forgive the IRA, nor does my wife, nor do my children,” he told the BBC. “But, setting aside forgiveness, the simple fact is I found Martin McGuinness an easy and pleasant man to talk to – a man who I believe was sincere in his desire for peace, for maintaining the peace process at all costs.

“And I think he deserves great credit for his most recent life rather than more than his earlier life, for which I don’t think anything in his most recent life can atone.

That said, he was still a brave man, who put himself at some risk within some elements of his own community in Northern Ireland.”

Updated

Arlene Foster, the Democratic Unionist party leader and former Northern Ireland first minister, has expressed her “sincere condolences” at the death of Martin McGuinness.

Today’s news will come as a shock to many people. First and foremost, Martin McGuinness was a much loved husband, father and grandfather. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife and the family circle at this very painful time of grief and loss.

Updated

The former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain described McGuinness as a “pivotal figure” in the peace process.

Updated

The Guardian’s Ireland correspondent Henry McDonald has more reaction from the outgoing Ulster Unionist leader, Mike Nesbitt, who said this would be a “challenging day for victims of the Troubles”.

I believe no one needed to die to get Northern Ireland to where it is today. Clearly Martin McGuinness very actively disagreed with that analysis, but I also accept in his later years he was on a journey to create change through politics, becoming a pivotal figure at Stormont.

It would be less than honest if I said other than that I found him a straight-dealing politician in any engagement I had with him.

History will reflect a complex life story.

Updated

Norman Tebbit, who was injured along with his wife when the IRA bombed the Tory party conference in Brighton in 1984, has been reacting to McGuinness’s death.

Updated

The Alliance leader, Naomi Long, has said she is saddened to learn of the death.

On behalf of myself and my colleagues I would extend our heartfelt condolences to Bernie, to Martin’s children and to the wider family circle on Martin’s passing. They are very much in our thoughts and prayers at this sad time, she said.

I want to pay tribute to the hard work and dedication Martin invested as an MLA and as deputy first minister to serving not only his constituents, but all of Northern Ireland.

Whilst our politics were very different and his past is well documented, the compromises he made, the leadership he demonstrated and his willingness to work with others despite those differences as part of the peace process helped secure the peace we all now enjoy.

For that, we are grateful and our best tribute to him would be to do all in our power to secure that peace and progress for future generations.

Updated

Senior republican and former IRA volunteer Gerry Kelly paid tribute to McGuinness.

My thoughts are with Bernie and all his family first. He will be missed by Irish republicans, nationalists and freedom fighters around the world. Equally proud of having been a freedom fighter and peacemaker. His huge legacy lives on. RIP

Updated

Colin Parry, whose son Tim died from his injuries after an IRA bombing in Warrington town centre in 1993 has told the BBC the McGuinness he knew was “a quiet man of peace”.

Updated

Colum Eastwood, the Derry-based leader of the rival nationalist party, the SDLP, said McGuinness’s “remarkable journey from paramilitarism to peace was a hallmark of the transformative effect of the peace process”.

He expressed his condolences to the McGuinness family, adding:

History will record his political career as a journey – one born in a tradition of violence but, in a testament to Martin’s character, that arrived at his true calling in politics, people and the art of persuasion.

Those who knew him will know that his warm and affable nature undoubtedly made it easier to reach beyond his own political base.

The generosity that he displayed in developing relationships with Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson demonstrated a rare gift that came as much from his personality as his politics. It is that gift which is needed in our politics at this moment.

Updated

People in the UK are waking up to news that Martin McGuinness has died. Reactions will, of course, be mixed.

This is from Kyle Paisley, a son of the late Ian Paisley, who as the DUP first minister of Northern Ireland had McGuinness as his deputy.

This from Tony Blair’s former communications chief Alastair Campbell.

Updated

Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, has issued a long statement on McGuinness’ death. You can read it at the Irish Times here, but here’s part of it:

The world of politics and the people across this island will miss the leadership he gave, shown most clearly during the difficult times of the peace process, and his commitment to the values of genuine democracy that he demonstrated in the development of the institutions in Northern Ireland …

His death leaves a gap that will be difficult to fill. May he rest in peace.

Updated

One of the most remarkable – and unlikely – images of McGuinness’s political career came when he shook the Queen’s hand on her visit to Belfast in 2012.

As Anne McHardy writes in the Guardian obituary of McGuinness:

The image of McGuinness, as deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, standing side by side with a smiling [Peter] Robinson, [Ian] Paisley’s successor as Democratic Unionist party leader and first minister, and shaking the Queen’s hand during her visit to Belfast in 2012, vividly portrayed not only how far McGuinness himself had developed over the years, but how far Northern Ireland had moved from the violence of 1968.

The two met on a number of subsequent occasions, the last coming in June 2016 at Hillsborough Castle, when the Queen unveiled a portrait of herself. After a 20-minute private meeting, McGuinness said: “I am an unapologetic Irish republican and I value very much the contribution Queen Elizabeth has made to the peace process and to reconciliation.”

Queen Elizabeth shakes hands with McGuinness, watched by Robinson.
Queen Elizabeth shakes hands with McGuinness, watched by Robinson. Photograph: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

In a statement, Sinn Féin said:

It is with deep regret and sadness that we have learnt of the death of our friend and comrade Martin McGuinness, who passed away in Derry during the night.

He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.

McGuinness died overnight in Altnagelvin hospital. He had been diagnosed with a rare genetic disease caused by deposits of abnormal protein in his tissues and organs.

Updated

Martin McGuinness, Northern Ireland’s former deputy first minister and ex-IRA chief of staff, has died at the age of 66.

The Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, confirmed the death of his longtime political ally, saying on Tuesday morning:

Throughout his life, Martin showed great determination, dignity and humility and it was no different during his short illness.

He was a passionate republican who worked tirelessly for peace and reconciliation and for the reunification of his country.

On behalf of republicans everywhere we extend our condolences to Bernie, Fiachra, Emmett, Fionnuala and Grainne, grandchildren and the extended McGuinness family.

We will have reaction to McGuinness’ death here, as well as the politics of the day when Andrew Sparrow takes over later.

Updated

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