Top story: Workers’ rights clause stripped from exit bill
Good morning. I’m Martin Farrer and welcome to the last morning briefing of the year. We will return in January but in the meantime we wish you all the best for the festive season. These are the top stories from the Guardian today.
MPs will vote on the revised Brexit bill for the first time in the new parliament today after Boris Johnson promised that Britain would leave the European Union by 31 January. After a Queen’s speech that outlined more than 30 new pieces of legislation, the EU withdrawal bill will be put to the Commons where it is expected to pass easily. Labour MPs expressed dismay that key concessions on issues such as workers’ rights and refugee children had been stripped out of the new bill, dashing hopes that Johnson’s majority would usher in a softer Brexit. Their mood will not have improved when Johnson proclaimed the next decade could be a “new golden age” for Britain. Suggesting he believes he can win again in 2024, the prime minister said: “This is not a programme for one year, or one parliament – it is a blueprint for the future of Britain.”
Labour’s leadership race gained a new entrant when Clive Lewis, the MP for Norwich South, said he would be running on a platform of giving more say to members. Writing in the Guardian, Lewis says Labour had failed to convince voters that they had cast off the legacy of New Labour.
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Trial of strength – House speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell are gearing up for a showdown about how Donald Trump’s impeachment trial should be managed. Pelosi is trying to gain more Republican support for a substantive impeachment trial but McConnell, who is effectively the head of the trial jury, has vowed to ensure a short, summary acquittal of the president. Trump repeated his claim that the process was a “witch hunt” and won support from Vladimir Putin, who said the allegations were “made up”. But Trump was dealt a blow when the magazine Christianity Today said the impeachment hearings had revealed the president’s “immoral” behaviour and called for his removal from office.
In Los Angeles, the Democratic party presidential hopefuls faced off in their final debate before next year’s primaries with Elizabeth Warren unleashing on the alleged elitism of Pete Buttigieg for hosting a fundraiser in a wine cave in California. Read our analysis of who won the debate.
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Christmas getaway – The festive travel rush is expected to peak this afternoon although congestion on the roads could be better than previous years, according to motoring groups, because the 25th falls in midweek. Heathrow is expecting its busiest day of the year tomorrow while Network Rail said the vast majority of the railway would be open over the break. However, thousands of rail passengers could be left out of pocket over the holidays because railcard applications and renewals were delayed when the national website crashed.
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Depression hope – A drug similar to ketamine has been licensed for use in the UK for severe depression in a decision that offers hope to the millions of patients for whom conventional treatments have failed. Esketamine, taken as a nasal spray, is one of the first rapid-acting drugs for depression and the first in decades that is thought to work in a fundamentally different way in the brain. Some psychiatrists say esketamine is a breakthrough while others fear it has the potential for addiction and abuse.
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‘Catastrophic’ – Firefighters in Australia are bracing themselves for “catastrophic” conditions tomorrow as bushfires threaten major roads in the eastern states at the start of the Christmas travel getaway. Temperatures are set soar into the high 40s on Saturday and police fear drivers could get trapped in their cars if fires encroach onto highways. It follows the death of two firefighters in western Sydney on Thursday when their truck overturned after hitting a downed tree. Scott Morrison, the country’s prime minister, is heading back to the country after being criticised for trying to keep a family holiday in Hawaii under wraps.
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Bet fairer – Video games with betting-style features are “polluting” youngsters’ lives and should be reclassified as gambling for over-18s. A new report by the Royal Society for Public Health raises concerns about video game loot boxes – where players buy or earn in-game rewards – and the rise of betting with “skins”, the term for items such as weapons and outfits that can be bought for money. It also warns about marketing tieups in sport and calls for a complete overhaul of gambling regulation in the UK.
Today in Focus podcast: Astrology boom is written in the stars
Astrology is back! The Guardian’s Aamna Modhin looks at why millennial women are taking life advice from the stars. And: spoken word artist Sophia Thakur on why we should be a bit kinder at Christmas.
Guardian and Observer charity telethon
A team of Guardian and Observer journalists will be taking calls and donations at our annual telethon tomorrow. The cause is the climate crisis and we’re raising money for four charities that plant and protect trees, forests and woodlands. So if you want to discuss the climate crisis with George Monbiot or mull over the election with Polly Toynbee, Owen Jones or Marina Hyde, this is your chance. You can also talk food and drink with Felicity Cloake, beauty with Sali Hughes or movies with Peter Bradshaw.
Sport
Mikel Arteta may make a success of Arsenal. Carlo Ancelotti could triumph at Everton. Even a laughably reactive recruitment strategy gets it right once a decade, writes Barney Ronay. Arsenal didn’t fight hard enough to recruit Mikel Arteta as a coach and then last year overlooked him as a manager. His appointment now would offer hope for a reboot. UK Sport is “quietly confident” that the Tokyo Olympics will be the best ever for British athletes, surpassing the record-breaking medal haul of 2016. In darts, if Gerwyn Price ends up as world champion, he may find his mind wandering back to the time his opponent threw at a double 1 instead of a double 2. In tennis, Britain’s No1 Johanna Konta says she’s had a knee injury since the start of the year, but is still hopeful of playing in the Australian Open next month. Finally to cricket, and England have been forced to revise their final preparations for the Boxing Day Test due to the illness bug sweeping the camp, with Friday’s warm-up against South Africa A downgraded from first-class status.
Business
Andrew Bailey, head of the City regulator, is favourite to takeover from Mark Carney as governor of the Bank of England. The FCA boss could be confirmed in his new post today, according to the FT. Markets in Asia were becalmed overnight and the FTSE100 looks like opening down very slightly. The pound is on £1.305 and €1.172.
The papers
A picture of a grinning Boris Johnson and a stony-faced Jeremy Corbyn features on several front pages as the papers digest the Queen’s speech. The Guardian says “Fears of ‘extreme Brexit’ in PM’s blueprint for Britain”, while the Express and Telegraph take a different view with, respectively, “Boris promises new golden age” and “Johnson promises a ‘golden age’ for Britain”. The i has “Missing: a plan to tackle social care crisis” and the Mail leads with “Minister demands all NHS staff get flu jabs”.
The Times continues with its story about the leaks at the Bank of England with “Traders boasted of Bank breach”, and the FT splashes on future changes at Threadneedle Street: “FCA’s Bailey emerges as favourite to replace Carney at Bank of England”.
The Mirror goes with “Gran’s final wish … a Christmas shopping trip to M&S” and the Sun is concerned with renovations at Wayne Rooney’s house: “Escape Roon”.
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