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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Nicola Slawson (now) and Andrew Sparrow (earlier)

British diplomats to be expelled from Moscow in retaliation, Russian ambassador says - Politics live

We are closing this live blog now. Thanks so much for joining us and for all the comments below the line.

Here’s the full story on May’s Commons statement announcing retaliation against Russia after the Russian spy attack:

In a tongue-in-cheek display of unconcern about May’s actions today, the Russian embassy in London tweeted: “The temperature of Russia-UK relations drops to minus-23, but we are not afraid of cold weather.”

Updated

In response to the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, the prime minister today said: “We will continue to bring all the capabilities of UK law enforcement to bear against serious criminals and corrupt elites. There is no place for these people or their money in our country.”

The anti-corruption group Transparency International is calling for the government to take “serious action” to combat this.

Duncan Hames, director of policy at Transparency International UK, said:

We share the prime minister’s view that there should be no place in the UK for dirty money from overseas, but we are now calling for serious action to make this a reality. Until now corrupt individuals and regimes may well have concluded they can act with impunity in the UK given the ease with which their money has been welcomed into our financial system, property market, luxury goods and other high-end services. We’ve seen the UK become a safe haven for corrupt wealth in which money stolen from people often in the poorest parts of the world is freely spent.

More than a fifth of the £4.4bn worth of UK properties we identified as having been acquired with suspicious wealth was bought by Russians. It is clear that London has routinely been the choice destination for Russians with suspicious wealth to move and they have had little trouble doing so, taking advantage of lax regulation and offshore secrecy. To help combat this the UK needs to accelerate the much delayed plans for a public register of the real owners of overseas companies owning UK property.

Rules around tier 1 investments have tightened since 2015, but we still don’t know who was granted residency before then and it’s imperative that the UK now investigates which individuals, and with what money, were able to gain UK residency under such poor scrutiny.

Updated

Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, has told Russia Today that he suspects “President Putin has better things to do” than order assassinations in Britain.

On Twitter, it was pointed out that Livingstone made similar comments following the death of Alexander Litvinenko.

There has been speculation that the England football team could boycott this summer’s World Cup in Russia, but the FA has insisted preparations are continuing as normal.

In a series of tweets, a spokesperson for the FA said they were taking travel guidance from the Foreign Office and would work closely with the government regarding England’s participation in both the World Cup and a women’s World Cup qualifier.

Updated

The location where the nerve agent novichok was developed and produced is a closed town in central Russia, Shikhany, according to a chemical weapons expert, Hamish de Bretton-Gordon.

Shikhany is the Russian equivalent of Porton Down, home to various research facilities that deal with radiation and chemical weapons.

He said the information was disclosed in a report sent by the Russians to the international body responsible for monitoring chemical weapons, the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

Updated

Afternoon summary

  • The UK is to expel 23 Russian diplomats, consider new laws to combat spying and look at sanctions as part of a sweeping response to the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, Theresa May has told parliament.
  • Jeremy Corbyn came under sustained attack, including from MPs on his own side, over his response to the prime minister’s statement on Russia in which he failed to condemn the Kremlin directly for carrying out the Salisbury attack.
  • Philip Hammond will need to impose tax rises worth at least £30bn to reach his target of balancing the public finances by 2025, undermining hopes that the chancellor will go into his autumn budget with plenty of spare cash to ease austerity, according to a leading economic thinktank.
  • The government is not planning to axe 1p and 2p coins, Downing Street has said, after a brief if vehement media campaign against the idea, which had been floated in a Treasury paper released with the spring statement.
  • Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has failed to reach an agreement with Theresa May over what the EU withdrawal bill should say about devolution. But after a meeting in Downing Street she implied a deal was closer than before. These are from the BBC’s Nick Eardley and ITV Border’s Peter MacMahon.

That’s all from me for today.

My colleague Nicola Slawson is now taking over.

Updated

Here is Lawrence Freedman, the historian who was a member of the panel that carried out the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war, on WMD comparisons between Salisbury and Iraq. (See 2.04pm and 2.44pm.)

Updated

In the Commons during Theresa May’s statement, Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons foreign affairs committee, said the government should expose President Putin’s wealth. Tugendhat said:

Could I also ask her if she will use the tools at her disposal to expose the wealth of the Putin family. Three billion dollars (£2.15bn) or more has been stolen from the Russian people by that man. We should expose him for what he is and not be a useful idiot hiding behind legalism of his crimes.

May thanked him for his suggestion.

Updated

The Russian foreign ministry has tweeted this response to Theresa May.

France says it wants 'definitive conclusions' on Salisbury attack before taking action

France has said it wants firm proof of Russian involvement in the nerve-toxin poisoning of a Russian double agent in Britain before it takes any action in solidarity with the British government, Reuters reports. The report goes on:

In contrast to German chancellor Angela Merkel and US president Donald Trump who assured British prime minister Theresa May they were taking her government’s views on possible Russian involvement extremely seriously, President Emmanuel Macron and other French officials have declined to mention Russia.

After France initialled condemned the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter and expressed solidarity with Britain on Tuesday, French government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux on Wednesday said it was too early for Paris to decide whether action should be taken.

“We don’t do fantasy politics. Once the elements are proven, then the time will come for decisions to be made,” Griveaux told a news conference shortly after May said she was expelling Russian diplomats and suspending bilateral talks.

While he called the attack a “very serious act” on a strategic ally, Griveaux said France was waiting for “definitive conclusions” and evidence that the “facts were completely true” before taking a position.

France’s muted reaction is in contrast with its closest allies, but is in line with Macron’s efforts since coming into office to build a new relationship with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Rather than directly confronting Putin through threats and megaphone diplomacy, he has emphasised private dialogue, while pushing for a restoration of business and cultural ties despite existing European Union sanctions on Moscow.

Diplomats say Macron believes ostracising Moscow will not yield results given its importance on the world stage and role in world crises. Despite obvious differences, he believes it is vital to keep a working relationship going with Russia.

Standing alongside Putin last May at the Chateau de Versailles, Macron heralded the start to a new page in relations after tensions under the previous administration. He said at the time that he wouldn’t let differences over Syria, Ukraine and human rights strain their relationship.

Nearly a year on, there is little evidence to suggest he has gained anything tangible from the alternative approach in terms of foreign policy successes. However, he is due to be the guest of honour at an investor forum in St Petersburg at the end of May where a large French business delegation will also be present.

“France has a policy on Russia that it’s going to stick to. There’s no reason for this to knock that off target,” a French official said. “You’ve got to remember there are pretty close ties between France and Russia, whether around literature, culture and business, and they are important.”

Emmanuel Macron in the Elysée Palace in Paris
Emmanuel Macron in the Elysée Palace in Paris. Photograph: Christian Hartmann/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

British diplomats to be expelled from Moscow in retaliation, Russian ambassador says

Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador to the UK, has confirmed that British diplomats will be expelled from Moscow. Asked in an interview with Sky News about what would happen after May’s statement, he said:

There will be expulsions. As you understand in diplomatic practice, there will be answers from the Russian side.

When he was asked to clarify if this meant British diplomats being expelled from Moscow, he replied.

In diplomacy, there is always reciprocity.

He also said that what the UK government was doing was “absolutely unacceptable” and that it should refer the matter to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He said:

We consider these measures made by the British government absolutely unacceptable, and I’ll tell you why. We believe Britain should follow international law. Under obligations under the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, if they have any suspicions on nerve gas or something like that, they have to make an application to the organisation and make a request. And, so far, we did not get any samples.

The UK government’s response has been that, while it has the option of taking the case to the OPCW, it is under no obligation to do so.

Alexander Yakovenko
Alexander Yakovenko Photograph: Sky News

Updated

The Labour MP Chuka Umunna has criticised Seumas Milne, Jeremy Corbyn’s strategy and communications director, for what he said in his briefing earlier (see 2.04pm and 2.44pm) about the case against Russia being unproven.

The Labour MP Mike Gates has also taken a swipe at him on Twitter.

Updated

No 10 backs away from plan to get rid of 1p and 2p coins

Turning away from Russia for a moment, Downing Street has signalled that 1p and 2p coins will not be abolished after all, the BBC’s Alex Forsyth reports.

The Treasury floated the idea of getting rid of them in yesterday’s spring statement. But generally it went down badly with today’s newspapers.

This must be one of the quickest “budget” U-turns in history. Even the pasty tax lasted longer than this ...

Updated

According to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, some Labour MPs have signed a draft early day motion saying they “unequivocally” accept that Russia was to blame for the nerve agent poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. Sixteen MPs seem to have signed it already.

Kuenssberg also says some Labour frontbenchers could resign in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s refusal to accept Russia was to blame. (See 3.35pm.)

The Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn has heard the same thing.

Updated

Foreign Office updates its travel advice for Russia

The Foreign Office has now updated its travel advice for Russia. It includes a passage saying:

Due to heightened political tensions between the UK and Russia, you should be aware of the possibility of anti-British sentiment or harassment at this time. If you’re currently in Russia or due to travel in the coming weeks, you’re advised to remain vigilant, avoid any protests or demonstrations and avoid commenting publicly on political developments.

While the British embassy in Moscow is not aware of any increased difficulties for British people travelling in Russia at this time, you should follow the security and political situation closely and keep up to date with this travel advice. You may wish to sign up for our email alerts to be notified of any updates.

Updated

What Corbyn said in his response to May

The full text of Jeremy Corbyn’s response to May’s statement is now available on the Hansard online report. The Labour leader was careful about what he did and did not say. Here are the key points.

  • Corbyn condemned the use of nerve agents and criticised the “abuse of human rights by the Putin government” in general terms, but did not blame the Russian state for what happened in Salisbury. He said:

The attack in Salisbury was an appalling act of violence. Nerve agents are abominable if used in any war. It is utterly reckless to use them in a civilian environment. This attack in Britain has concerned our allies in the European Union, Nato and the UN, and their words of solidarity have strengthened our position diplomatically. Our response as a country must be guided by the rule of law, support for international agreements and respect for human rights.

In terms of direct criticism of the Russian government, the strongest passage in his statement was this one. He said:

We have a duty to speak out against the abuse of human rights by the Putin government and their supporters, both at home and abroad, and I join many others in this house in paying tribute to the many campaigners in Russia for human rights, justice and democracy in that country.

  • He asked May whether she still thought it possible that the Russian government could have lost control of some or all of its stock of nerve agent. On Monday May floated this as the only alternative possibility to the Russian state being responsible for the attack. In her statement (see 1.16pm) May said that because Russia was not offering this explanation and because it had responded instead with “sarcasm, contempt and defiance”, the UK had ruled this out and concluded the Russian state was to blame.
  • He suggested that any investigation into who was to blame for the Salisbury attack should be conducted under the auspices of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. He asked May:

Has the prime minister taken the necessary steps under the chemical weapons convention to make a formal request for evidence from the Russian government under article IX(2)? How has she responded to the Russian government’s request for a sample of the agent used in the Salisbury attack to run their own tests? Has high-resolution trace analysis been run on a sample of the nerve agent, and has that revealed any evidence as to the location of its production or the identity of its perpetrators?

  • He said the UK should “retain a robust dialogue with Russia”.

Updated

Corbyn's response to May – verdict from the Twitter commentariat

This is what some journalists and commentators are saying about Jeremy Corbyn’s response to May’s statement.

From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh

From the Financial Times’ Jim Pickard

From the Observer’s Nick Cohen (a persistent and severe critic of Corbyn’s)

From the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges (another diehard Corbyn critic)

From the broadcaster Steve Richards

From Alex Nunns, author of a sympathetic (and very good) book about Corbyn

Nunns was commenting on this tweet from the Sunday Times’ Tim Shipman

From the author James Bloodworth

Bloodworth was referring to Seumas Milne, the former Guardian journalist who is now Corbyn’s director of strategy and communications, and Andrew Murray, the Unite official and former communist now working in Corbyn’s office part-time.

Updated

This is from the Labour MP Gavin Shuker.

He is commenting on a tweet summarising the Corbyn spokesman’s comments. (See 2.44pm.)

Here is a fuller account of what Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman told reporters in the briefing about the May statement. It’s from the Times’ Sam Coates.

Jeremy Corbyn is getting a lot of criticism from Conservative MPs on Twitter for the way he responded to Theresa May’s statement. Here is a selection.

From the former minister Nick Boles

From Peter Heaton-Jones

From Michael Fabricant

From Damian Green, the former first secretary

Green was commenting on this tweet from Tony McNulty, a former Labour minister no longer in the Commons

From Sir Nicholas Soames

From George Freeman

Labour’s Chris Matheson said there were now 15 suspicious Russian deaths in the UK (the 14 identified by BuzzFeed, and the one made public yesterday). He asked if this was higher than the figure for other countries, and why that might be.

May said she would caution against the suggestion that all these cases were suspicious. She said the family of one alleged potential victim named in the BuzzFeed report (the Times journalist Daniel McGrory) said there was no evidence he was murdered.

The May statement is now over. I will post a summary shortly.

Updated

May says Corbyn's spokesman's Iraq/Salisbury WMD comparison 'wrong and outrageous'

Caroline Johnson, a Conservative, says Corbyn’s spokesman made a comparison between this incident and Iraq. (See 2.04pm.) But in Iraq no weapons of mass destruction were found, she says. By contrast, she says, in Salisbury nerve agent has been found and three people are in hospital.

May agrees. She says:

It is quite wrong and outrageous that the leader of the opposition’s spokesman has made the comments in relation to this that he has.

Updated

Nato expresses concern about first use of nerve agent on Nato soil since it was set up

Nato has expressed concern at “the first offensive use of a nerve agent on alliance territory since Nato’s foundation”. But it is not proposing further action, and certainly not invoking article 5, the provision that says an attack on one Nato member counts as an attack on all of them (an option the UK government has specifically ruled out.)

In a statement, Nato said:

The UK confirmed the use of a military-grade nerve agent of a type developed by Russia and briefed allies that it was highly likely that Russia was responsible. The UK also confirmed that this was an indiscriminate and reckless attack against the United Kingdom, putting the lives of innocent civilians at risk.

Allies expressed deep concern at the first offensive use of a nerve agent on alliance territory since Nato’s foundation. Allies expressed solidarity with the UK, offered their support in the conduct of the ongoing investigation, and called on Russia to address the UK’s questions including providing full and complete disclosure of the novichok programme to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Allies agreed that the attack was a clear breach of international norms and agreements.

Since its entry into force in 1997, the chemical weapons convention has become one of the pillars of the global non-proliferation regime. The convention prohibits the development, transfer and use of chemical weapons. States parties to the convention take on a duty to uphold and enforce its fundamental tenets. States parties commit not to develop, produce or otherwise acquire, stockpile or retain chemical weapons, nor to transfer, directly or indirectly, chemical weapons to anyone. States parties also undertake not to engage in any military preparations to use chemical weapons, nor to commit to assist, encourage or induce anyone to engage in prohibited activity.

Nato has repeatedly condemned the use of chemical weapons in Syria and called on those responsible to be held to account. Nato regards any use of chemical weapons as a threat to international peace and security.

Updated

May says she is 'surprised and shocked' Corbyn won't accept UK assessment Russian state to blame

Alex Shelbrooke, a Conservative, asks May about the tweet from the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn I posted a moment ago. (See 2.04pm.)

May says she is “surprised and shocked” by what Corbyn’s spokesman has said. Labour MPs will be equally shocked, she says. She says they stand foursquare behind what she has said about Russia being to blame.

Corbyn’s spokesman has been briefing journalists. According to lobby correspondents at the briefing, the spokesman made it clear that Corbyn does not accept the government’s claim that the Russian government was definitely to blame for the Salisbury attack, arguing that this has not yet been proved beyond doubt.

Updated

Carwyn Jones, the Labour Welsh first minister, has tweeted his support for what May said. Jones seems to be distancing himself from Corbyn’s response to the May statement.

This is from Peter Ricketts, a former head of the Foreign Office and the government’s former national security adviser.

Christopher Chope, a Conservative, says what Russia did is incompatible with its membership of the Council of Europe. Will the UK get it expelled?

May says it is not just up to the UK. But Chope has a good point. MPs who are members of the Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly should make that argument, she says.

May says she will return to the Commons to make a further statement if it decides to take further retaliatory measures.

Mark Francois, a Conservative, says May’s statement “in some ways had flashes of the iron lady” about it. He describes Corbyn as “a CND-wearing apologist for the Russian state”.

May points out that many Labour MPs have backed what she said.

John Baron, a Conservative, says now is the time for a fundamental reassessment of defence spending.

May says the UK is one of the few countries spending 2% of GDP on defence. Defence spending is under review, she says. But she says the government will respond to threats in ways that don’t always involve conventional defence activity.

Labour’s Luciana Berger asks May if she thinks senior FA officials should stay away from the World Cup.

May says that is a matter for them. But they will have heard her statement, and they will want to consider their position, she says.

Maggie Throup, a Conservative, asks if the government will regularly update its travel advice for people travelling to Russia.

May says the government will do that. She says that at the moment the travel advice has not changed.

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader who is generally more sympathetic to Putin (a fellow nationalist) than most British politicians, has backed May’s actions.

Pat McFadden, the Labour MP, says it is important for the opposition to show strength and resolve when the country is under threat. There is a tradition in the Labour party that understands that, he says – clearly implying that Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t.

May agrees. She says she accepts there is a strong tradition in the Labour party that recognises the importance of acting in the national interest.

Updated

Here is Mark Urban, Newsnight’s diplomatic editor, on May’s statement.

And this is from my colleague Luke Harding, a former Guardian Moscow correspondent and author of books about Putin’s Russia and the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko.

Crispin Blunt, the Conservative former chair of the foreign affairs committee, says it will be important to see whose side China takes on this matter. Will the government do what it can to ensure that China sides with the UK on this?

May says she did raise Russia’s conduct on her recent visit to China.

This is from my colleague Patrick Wintour.

Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts asks if the UK is still exporting nuclear material to Russia.

May says today she has been talking about chemical weapons.

Labour’s Chris Bryant says the Russian ambassador to the UK has lied to the Commons, tried to stop Russia being debated, and tried to interfere in Commons elections (to select committees, presumably). Shouldn’t he be kicked out?

May says interfering with the Commons would be unacceptable. But anyone who tried to tell the Speaker what to do would not get very far, she says.

Updated

And here is the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent James Landale on the diplomat expulsions.

The Labour MP Ben Bradshaw says “most of us on these benches” (ie, Labour MPs) fully support what she has announced. The measures could have come sooner, he says.

Here is the BBC’s security correspondent Gordon Corera on the expulsions.

Here is my colleague Andrew Roth, the Guardian’s Moscow correspondent, on May’s statement.

Russian embassy says diplomat explusions 'totally unacceptable, unjustified and shortsighted'

The Russian embassy in London has issued its response to May. In a statement it said:

On 14 of March Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko was summoned to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where he was informed that 23 diplomats were declared personae non gratae.

We consider this hostile action as totally unacceptable, unjustified and shortsighted.

All the responsibility for the deterioration of the Russia-UK relationship lies with the current political leadership of Britain.

The DUP MP Sammy Wilson praises May for her statement, saying it contrasts with the “appeasement” offered by the Labour front bench.

Updated

May's statement on Russia – key quotes in full

Here is a very lightly abridged version of Theresa May’s statement, with headlines inserted to make it easier to read.

On Russia’s response to what she said on Monday

Mr Speaker, it was right to offer Russia the opportunity to provide an explanation. But their response has demonstrated complete disdain for the gravity of these events.

They have provided no credible explanation that could suggest they lost control of their nerve agent.

No explanation as to how this agent came to be used in the United Kingdom; no explanation as to why Russia has an undeclared chemical weapons programme in contravention of international law.

Instead they have treated the use of a military grade nerve agent in Europe with sarcasm, contempt and defiance.

So Mr Speaker, there is no alternative conclusion other than that the Russian State was culpable for the attempted murder of Mr Skripal and his daughter - and for threatening the lives of other British citizens in Salisbury, including Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey.

This represents an unlawful use of force by the Russian state against the United Kingdom.

And as I set out on Monday it has taken place against the backdrop of a well-established pattern of Russian state aggression across Europe and beyond.

It must therefore be met with a full and robust response – beyond the actions we have already taken since the murder of Mr Litvinenko and to counter this pattern of Russian aggression elsewhere.

On what the national security council decided

This morning I chaired a further meeting of the national security council, where we agreed:

• Immediate actions to dismantle the Russian espionage network in the UK.

• Urgent work to develop new powers to tackle all forms of hostile state activity and to ensure that those seeking to carry out such activity cannot enter the UK.

• Additional steps to suspend all planned high-level contacts between the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation.

On the expulsion of Russian diplomats

Mr Speaker, the house will recall that following the murder of Mr Litvinenko, the UK expelled four diplomats.

Under the Vienna convention, the United Kingdom will now expel 23 Russian diplomats who have been identified as undeclared intelligence officers.

They have just one week to leave.

This will be the single biggest expulsion for over 30 years and it reflects the fact that this is not the first time that the Russian state has acted against our country.

Through these expulsions we will fundamentally degrade Russian intelligence capability in the UK for years to come. And if they seek to rebuild it, we will prevent them from doing so.

On new anti-Russian legislation

Second, we will urgently develop proposals for new legislative powers to harden our defences against all forms of hostile state activity.

This will include the addition of a targeted power to detain those suspected of hostile state activity at the UK border. This power is currently only permitted in relation to those suspected of terrorism.

And I have asked the home secretary to consider whether there is a need for new counter-espionage powers to clamp down on the full spectrum of hostile activities of foreign agents in our country.

Mr Speaker, as I set out on Monday we will also table a government amendment to the sanctions bill to strengthen our powers to impose sanctions in response to the violation of human rights.

In doing so, we will play our part in an international effort to punish those responsible for the sorts of abuses suffered by Sergey Magnitsky.

And I hope – as with all the measures I am setting out today – that this will command cross-party support.

On new travel controls and asset freezes

Mr Speaker, we will also make full use of existing powers to enhance our efforts to monitor and track the intentions of those travelling to the UK who could be engaged in activity that threatens the security of the UK and of our allies.

So we will increase checks on private flights, customs and freight. We will freeze Russian state assets wherever we have the evidence that they may be used to threaten the life or property of UK nationals or residents.

And led by the National Crime Agency, we will continue to bring all the capabilities of UK law enforcement to bear against serious criminals and corrupt elites. There is no place for these people – or their money – in our country.

On diplomatic relations

As I said on Monday, we have had a very simple approach to Russia: engage but beware.

And I continue to believe it is not in our national interest to break off all dialogue between the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation.

But in the aftermath of this appalling act against our country, this relationship cannot be the same.

So we will suspend all planned high-level bilateral contacts between the United Kingdom and the Russian Federation.

This includes revoking the invitation to Foreign Minister Lavrov to pay a reciprocal visit to the United Kingdom … and confirming there will be no attendance by ministers – or indeed members of the royal family – at this summer’s World Cup in Russia.

On secret measures being taken against Russia

Finally, Mr Speaker, we will deploy a range of tools from across the full breadth of our national security apparatus in order to counter the threats of hostile state activity.

While I have set out some of those measures today, Members on all sides will understand that there are some that cannot be shared publicly for reasons of national security.

And, of course, there are other measures we stand ready to deploy at any time, should we face further Russian provocation.

On the UK and the Russian people

We have no disagreement with the people of Russia who have been responsible for so many great achievements throughout their history.

Many of us looked at a post-Soviet Russia with hope. We wanted a better relationship and it is tragic that President Putin has chosen to act in this way.

But we will not tolerate the threat to life of British people and others on British soil from the Russian government. Nor will we tolerate such a flagrant breach of Russia’s international obligations.

On international support for the UK

In the last 24 hours I have spoken to President Trump, Chancellor Merkel and President Macron.

We have agreed to cooperate closely in responding to this barbaric act and to coordinate our efforts to stand up for the rules based international order which Russia seeks to undermine.

I will also speak to other allies and partners in the coming days.

And I welcome the strong expressions of support from Nato and from partners across the European Union and beyond.

Later today in New York, the UN security council will hold open consultations where we will be pushing for a robust international response.

We have also notified the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons about Russia’s use of this nerve agent. And we are working with the police to enable the OPCW to independently verify our analysis.

Peroration

Mr Speaker, this was not just an act of attempted murder in Salisbury – nor just an act against UK.

It is an affront to the prohibition on the use of chemical weapons.

And it is an affront to the rules based system on which we and our international partners depend.

We will work with our allies and partners to confront such actions wherever they threaten our security, at home and abroad.


Updated

Labour’s Yvette Cooper says that what Russia did must be met with “unequivocal condemnation”. That generates loud cheering from MPs, who take it is a dig at Corbyn.

May welcomes Cooper’s comment and says she knows that Cooper’s views are shared by many Labour MPs.

Updated

May criticises Corbyn for his decision not to condemn the Russian state

May is responding to Corbyn.

She says she is glad there is consensus in the Commons.

But that consensus does not extend to Corbyn, she says. She says he could have taken the opportunity to condemn the Russian state, but did not.

It is clear from the conversations I have had with allies that we have a consensus with our allies, it was clear from the remarks that were made by backbenchers across the whole of this House on Monday that there is a consensus across the backbenches of this House.

I am only sorry that the consensus does not go as far as the right honourable gentleman who could have taken the opportunity - as the UK government has done - to condemn the culpability of the Russian state.

  • May criticises Corbyn for his decision not to condemn the Russian state.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn is now responding.

He says the use of nerve agents is abominable.

The government should work with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, he says.

He asks what is being done through the OPCW if the government still believes this material could have been obtained by Russian government negligence.

How has the government responded to Russian demands for a sample?

There are cries of “shame” from some MPs.

Corbyn goes on: what information is there about where the nerve agent came from?

He asks if May agrees with him it is necessary to maintain a robust dialogue with Russia.

He says the UK and its allies should urge Russia to reveal full details of its chemical weapons programme to the OPCW.

It is a matter of huge regret that diplomatic capacity has been cut, he says.

This also generates a lot of jeering.

Corbyn says he could not understand a word of what Boris Johnson said to him just now, “but his behaviour demeans his office”.

Corbyn says the measures taken have to be effective.

What discussions have been had with Nato partners? What willingness was there to take multilateral action?

He asks about the death of Nikolai Glushkov. What assurance can be given to Russians living in the UK?

High-level contacts with Russia to be cancelled, May says

May is now turning to diplomatic relations.

  • May says high-level contacts with Russia will be cancelled. An invitation to Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, to visit the UK has been withdrawn. And UK ministers and dignitaries will not be attending the World Cup in Russia.

May says other measures may be taken which will not be publicised.

She says the UK wanted a better relationship with Russia. It is “tragic” that President Putin has acted like this, she says.

She says the UK does not stand alone. She has spoken to allies who are backing the UK.

The UK is pushing for a debate at the UN, she says.

She says the government is also trying to ensure the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons can verify what the UK claims.

Updated

May says 23 Russian diplomats will be expelled

May sets out the government’s retaliatory measures.

  • May says 23 Russian diplomats will be expelled. They have been identified as undeclared intelligence officers. It will be the largest explusion for 30 years. They will have a week to leave, she says.
  • May says the government will draw up legislation to protect the UK from hostile state activity.
  • The government will consider new anti-espionage legislation, she says.
  • May says the government will attach Magnitsky-type amendments to the sanctions bill.
  • She says the government will increase checks on Russians coming into the country.

She says there is no place for the corrupt elites in the UK.

Updated

May says she told MPs on Monday about how Sergei Skripal and his daughter were poisoned with novichok, a Russian nerve agent.

She says it was right to offer Russia the chance to resond.

But they responded with “complete disdain”. They offered no explanation, including no explanation as to why they have an undeclared chemical weapons programme in defiance of international law.

May says the government has concluded that the Russian government was responsible. It was an unlawful use of state force.

  • May says Russia was responsible for attempted murder. It was an “unlawful use of state force”.

Updated

May's statement about Russia

Theresa May starts her Russia statement by paying tribute to the emergency services and the work they have done in Salisbury.

And she praises the fortitude of the people of Salisbury.

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Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, used his questions to ask about devolution and the EU withdrawal bill. He started by asking:

Can the prime minister tell the house why these amendments [new ones tabled by the government] have been forced on the devolved administrations.

May responded by saying Blackford used to complain about the government not publishing its amendments to the EU withdrawal bill addressing devolution. She said:

In one sentence he says he was ‘waiting for this amendment’ and then we do publish he complains we’ve published it – he really needs to get his story straight.

Blackford then said the Tories were “happy to destroy” the devolution settlement.

It was about agreement – and I’m afraid that answer simply wasn’t good enough. The prime minister famously claimed the UK was made up of equal partners. What an irony now she’s overseeing the demolition of the devolution settlement. They’re happy to systematically destroy the settlement.

I call upon the prime minister once again: stop this attack on devolution and redouble your efforts in working with the devolved administrations in finding agreement.

May said the government had given more powers to Scotland. The SNP government was using those powers to raise tax, she said.

We have given more powers, including of course, the tax-raising powers, it’s just a pity the SNP have chosen to use the tax-raising powers to increase taxes on people earning £26,000 or more.

I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.

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Labour’s Catherine West says there have been five high-profile gun crimes in Haringey since Christmas. Will May have a meeting to discuss this?

May says West should meet Amber Rudd, the home secretary, who is due to publish a new strategy on this.

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Labour’s Jo Platt says a recent IFS report said more than 30% of children will be in poverty by 2022. What went wrong?

May says there are more than 200,000 fewer children in absolute poverty.

Lucy Allan, a Conservative, says there have been shocking cases of child exploitation in Telford. Will May congratulate those who brought this to public attention?

May says the Telford revelations have been shocking. This is not the first example across the country. Allan will be meeting a Home Office minister to discuss this.

Labour’s Vernon Coaker says 2,120 children have been identified as possible victims of child slavery. We do not know what happens to them. That is not good enough.

May says this is an important issue. She says sometimes vulnerable children are taken away by traffickers. She says unaccompanied children who do not qualify for asylum are not returned to their countries unless they will be safe.

PMQs – snap verdict

PMQs – snap verdict: Job well done for Corbyn. The NHS is the government’s biggest vulnerability (among many), there is a growing consensus (including much of the cabinet, reportedly) that it needs extra funding, and it’s a Labour issue. Corbyn should be able to win easily here, and he did.

His first question was very, very effective, and May’s briefing team let her down badly by not giving her anything to say about the case of Albert Thompson. (They should read the Guardian more often, as, in fact, should everyone.) And Corbyn’s final question, quoting Stephen Hawking was a classic PMQs zinger, because May could not answer it at all (which is why she did not really try).

In the middle he was a bit more scattergun and unfocused, but that didn’t really matter. May was resilient, but she relied almost entirely on her stock NHS answers (Wales, and the threat of Labour crashing the economy), which today came over as even more hackneyed than usual. And she also sounded too much as if she did not care (an impression heightened by her decision to make a pedantic procedure point about Corbyn’s letter writing.)

But the main problem, as always at PMQs, was substance: she needs a message on the NHS that is solid, new and attractive, and she hasn’t got one.

Updated

Corbyn says May should not be scaremongering about Wales when the targets have been abandoned in England.

People’s lives are at stake. Is May saying doctors and health unions are wrong, and only she knows best?

May says she was pointing out the facts about Wales. That is why Welsh people try to get treatment in England. She says the government is putting more money into the NHS. You need a strong economy for that. Labour would crash the economy.

Corbyn says May should ensure the NHS has the money it needs now to meet patient demands. Staff deserve proper leave and proper funding. When there are 100,000 unfilled posts, there is a problem. He quotes Stephen Hawking saying the number of NHS staff was inadequate and getting worse. Does she agree?

May says there are more staff working in the NHS. Why did the government do that? Because of what happened under Labour in Mid-Staffordshire. Labour would increase the debt, and that would lead to higher taxes. Ordinary people would pay the price.

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Corbyn says Georgina’s case was resolved after he raised it in the Commons, so he did not need to write to May.

February was the worst month for A&E performance, he says. He quotes a doctor saying the NHS needs the right long-term settlement. So why didn’t it get extra money yesterday?

May says she did not wait until yesterday to announce more money; more was announced in the autumn.

Corbyn says under Labour the 18-week target for non-urgent operations was in place. That has been abandoned. When will it be reinstated?

May says Corbyn should look at what Labour will do in Wales. In Wales 3.4% of patients waited more than 12 hours, which was higher than in England.

Updated

Corbyn says he is talking about someone who has been in this country 44 years. His case may not be the only one like this.

He mentions a letter from someone facing a long wait for cancer treatment.

May goes back to the case of Albert Thompson. She says Corbyn raised a case with him last October, promised to write to him about it, but never did.

On cancer treatment, she says there are more diagnostic tests taking place, and more people receiving treatment. She says patients should get the right treatment.

Jeremy Corbyn starts by condemning the vile messages sent to Muslim MPs, and the rise in Islamophobia. It has to be condemned by everyone, he says.

He backs what May said about Stephen Hawking. He helped us understand the universe. He was also a passionate compaigner for the NHS. He backed universal healthcare.

If we believe in it, how can it be possible that someone who lives and works in the country is denied access to healthcare.

That is reference to this story.

May says the government wants to ensure treatments are as good as they can be. She is not aware of this case, she says. There are questions about what drugs are available.

Updated

May says the government stands by the commitments it made in December on Northern Ireland in the joint report.

Vicky Foxcroft, the Labour MP, asks about the youth violence commission. This is a a complex issue. But some measures could be taken now, like ensuring knives in shops have to be locked away.

May says the government has reached a voluntary agreement with retailers on this. But it is an area of concern.

Updated

Theresa May starts by offering condolences to the family and friends of Stephen Hawking. His contributions to science speak for themselves. He inspired people across the world.

And she condemns the sending of suspicious packages to some Muslim MPs. An investigation is under way, she says.

Updated

PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

May to expel 'significant' number of Russian diplomats, Sky reports

Sky’s Alistair Bunkall says Theresa May will announce the expulsion of a “significant” number of diplomats - but not as many as in 1971, when 90 Russians were expelled and another 15 were told they could not return to the UK.

Here is the Guardian report from 1971 about the expulsion of the 90 Russians.

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UK calls for urgent meeting of UN security council to discuss nerve agent attack

The Foreign Office says the UK has called for an urgent meeting of the UN security council to discuss the Salisbury nerve agent attack.

It has also posted this, making the case that the Salisbury attack was part of “a well-established pattern of Russian state aggression”.

The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg has a good guide to what the Russian papers are saying about Theresa May’s threat to take retaliatory measures against Moscow. They sound as gung-ho as some of our papers ...

The Russian ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, has been tweeting this morning – but about Stephen Hawking, not Sergei Skripal.

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Tusk says Russian nerve agent attack in UK could be on agenda for next week's EU summit

Donald Tusk, the European council president, has expressed his support for the UK in its stance against Russia. He said EU leaders may discuss the issue at their summit next week.

Updated

The government has now published its integrated communities strategy green paper (pdf). My colleague Anushka Asthana previewed this in a story overnight.

But, as we report this morning, the government’s former integration tsar Louise Casey told the Today programme that the £50m set aside for the strategy was nowhere near enough. She said:

There has been a cut to the funding of English-language classes over the last decade, I don’t think that was necessarily always going to the right people in communities but it has taken a hit.

It’s really, really important as a nation we are all able to speak a common language, and that language is English.

One of the big difficulties the strategy will have to overcome is that you can do an awful lot of unifying … however, overall it will take more than £50m over two years and is something the whole country will have to embrace. The differences in the country at the moment are too great and we need something that heals the nation.

Updated

UK in a Changing Europe, an academic project studying Brexit, has published a paper today (pdf) about the impact that Brexit will have on the NHS. In a word, it’s negative.

Here is an excerpt from the conclusion to the 21-page report.

The impact of Brexit on the NHS and public policy will hinge on a number of factors. Clearly, the state of the UK government’s finances will be crucial in determining future health provision. In common with the broad consensus among independent economists, and the official forecasts produced by the OBR, our analysis does not foresee any dividend for the NHS from the UK leaving the EU.

On the contrary, there are likely to be further pressures on public-service funding more broadly from a hit to economic growth caused by Brexit. This will mean tough choices for the government. It could decide to increase healthcare funding, but this will have to come from raising taxes, borrowing or diverting funds from other priorities.

The UK’s decision to leave the EU has not created the funding pressures on the NHS, but it is likely to exacerbate them. Similarly, should funding pressures become more acute after Brexit, there will be direct knock-on effects on waiting times, and thus recovery rates, as well as the quality of care that can be delivered.

Brexit is also likely to worsen existing staff shortages, potentially reducing service quality. There has already been a fall in the number of EU-origin nurses, attributed at least in part to uncertainty about their future status. Longer term, the NHS and the social care sector are dependent on immigration policy for fulfilling staffing needs, and it is as yet unclear what this policy will be. The risks, however, are evident ...

For patients, there are likely to be disadvantages from leaving the EU, mainly by virtue of losing access to healthcare in their country of residence (especially for pensioners) or to the EHIC [European health insurance card]. Although the EHIC itself is by no means comprehensive, it does offer security to UK citizens travelling to the EU, who make up the vast majority of UK visitors abroad. This is not to say that some form of reciprocal healthcare agreement cannot be reached, but it would probably only cover current EHIC holders, and for future patients probably be more limited in scope than it is now. Although agreeing this individual measure may seem eminently achievable in isolation, dozens if not hundreds of such agreements will be required to maintain current benefits in the health policy area alone.

'Dismal' growth has become 'the new normal', IFS says

The Institute of Fiscal Studies has released its analysis of the spring statement. Paul Johnson, the IFS’s director, was scathing, telling journalists that “dismal” growth has become the new normal. He said:

We have had the worst decade of growth since at least the last War. The economy is at least £300 billion smaller than we might have expected based on 2008 forecasts. Yet we are now supposed to be at capacity, with no potential to make up for any of that loss.

What’s more, growth projections remain very subdued. At no point in the next five years does the OBR believe that annual growth will exceed 1.5%. To put an even less positive gloss on the numbers, growth in GDP per capita is forecast to be less than 1% in each of the next five years, half the pre-crisis trend.

Dismal productivity growth, dismal earnings growth and dismal economic growth are not just part of the history of the last decade, they appear to be the new normal.

My colleague Graeme Wearden has much more on his business live blog.

Kremlin accuses UK of 'baseless accusations not backed up by any evidence'

And here is the Associated Press report on what the Kremlin is saying about Theresa May’s ultimatum this morning.

The Kremlin says Russia rejects the deadline that Britain gave it to explain any involvement in the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy.

Sergei Skripal and his daughter remain in critical condition in hospital after being exposed to a military-grade nerve agent in the city of Salisbury last week.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for President Vladimir Putin, told reporters on Wednesday that Russia “rejects the language of ultimatums” after British Prime Minister Theresa May gave Russia until the end of Tuesday to explain how the Soviet-made nerve agent came to be used to target the ex-spy.

Peskov said Britain has so far only offered “baseless accusations which are not backed up by any evidence” and said Russia would cooperate with the investigation but does not see Britain’s willingness to reciprocate.

A tourist boat breaks through the frozen Moskva river outside the Kremlin in Moscow.
A tourist boat breaks through the frozen Moskva river outside the Kremlin in Moscow. Photograph: Mladen Antonov/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Russian foreign minister accuses UK of staging 'political performance' over Salisbury poisoning

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said this morning that no progress had been made towards resolving a standoff with Britain over the poisoning of former Russian double agent Sergei Skripal, Reuters reports. The Reuters story goes on:

Britain’s accusations that Russia was likely to blame for poisoning Skripal were neither robust nor serious, Lavrov said, describing them instead as a political performance intended to mislead the international community, something which he said Russia will not permit.

Britain has not sent an official request for information about the nerve agent involved in the attack, the minister said. Moscow had insisted London submit such a request.

He added that Russia had no motive to attack Skripal, and pointed instead to actors with an interest in spreading anti-Russian sentiment.

Sky’s Beth Rigby has a fuller write-up here.

Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, at a joint press conference.
Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, at a joint press conference. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Julian Braithwaite, the UK’s ambassador to the human rights council in Geneva, has posted video of his statement this morning to the council condemning Russia. (See 10.14am.)

Updated

Former GCHQ boss says UK should avoid cyber conflict with Russia

On the Today programme Robert Hannigan, the former director of GCHQ, said the UK should retaliate against Russia but it should not launch a cyberwar. That would be counter-productive, he argued in his interview. Here are the main points.

  • Hannigan said using cyberwarfare as retaliation against Russia would be a mistake. He told the programme:

Everybody is looking around for something dramatic to do. But starting a cyber conflict – which of course we could do, we could do destructive things in cyberspace, we have great capabilities – would then put us in the wrong place. We are part of the family of civilised nations ...

At the very destructive end of course you could do great damage to anything that is networked. But I don’t think we should be going there, because that would play to the Russian narrative. We are not outside the international rules of civilised nations and we don’t want to be. We play by the rules that most countries do.

The covert work is going to be targeted against individuals and organisations who are responsible for this terrible crime but the idea of launching some large-scale cyber conflict against Russia makes no more sense than launching a military conflict against Russia, it’s not the sort of response that is needed and would play to Putin’s narrative and probably wouldn’t achieve much except damage all around.

  • He said Russia had put itself outside the family of civilised nations.

This is part of a pattern where a modern nation has chosen to step outside the rules that govern behaviour of civilised countries. And we’ve seen that in cyberspace, we’ve seen that on the ground, in Ukraine, and now we are seeing it in an incredible way with banned nerve agents being used on the streets of a European city. So it is part of a pattern.

  • He said UK retaliation should focus on economic measures.

The response should be to contain and to show Russia what the consequences of choosing to be a rogue nation outside of those civilised rules are. And I think there are obvious things, like the expulsion of diplomats on a scale we probably haven’t seen since the cold war that will inevitably happen, because there will be a further freezing out of Russia.

But more importantly, I think, will be hitting the economic targets, particularly those individuals and their assets that are reliant on London and like to do business in London. There is a lot of unexplained wealth and I think there’s a huge amount of mileage in the unexplained wealth orders that Tom Tugendhat [the Conservative chair of the foreign affairs committee] and others have suggested. I think that’s the way to show Russia that there are consequences.

  • He said Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, was engaged in measures like the Salisbury attack as a way of “distracting his own population from economic decline”. Putin had “failed to reform the Russian economy”, Hannigan said. He went on:

These overseas adventures are his way of wrapping himself in a nationalist flag. We shouldn’t play to that narrative.

Robert Hannigan.
Robert Hannigan. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Updated

Britain told the UN human rights council in Geneva that the use of a military-grade nerve agent used in an attempt to kill a former Russian spy was a flagrant breach of international law and should serve as a warning to the international community, Reuters reports. Julian Braithwaite, the UK’s ambassador to the body, told the forum:

The council and the United Nations general assembly have decried Russia’s violations of international law with alarming regularity. Its reckless behaviour is an affront to all this body stands for.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon and Carwyn Jones, the Scottish and Welsh first ministers, will table proposals to end months of deadlock over Brexit when they meet the prime minister this afternoon.

Theresa May is hosting a summit at Downing Street with the two devolved governments and officials from Northern Ireland, to discuss a complex and controversial deal on redistributing powers around the UK after it leaves the EU.

The joint ministerial meeting will include discussion of the nerve agent attack in Salisbury, Brexit issues such as the Irish border, and wider economic and trade considerations.

In a further sign of the pressure to reach agreement, May will also hold separate private bilateral meetings with Sturgeon and Jones.

They are at odds over the power-sharing in at least 24 areas including GM crops, organic farming, fishing quotas, food labelling and food safety, and pesticides, which will be needed at UK level.

Neither side is expecting a breakthrough at the event, but Sturgeon said:

At today’s meeting we and our Welsh colleagues will take the opportunity to set out what changes are required to secure our consent.

While we remain determined to continue discussions on this issue, it is time for the UK government to show respect for devolution and accept that no changes can be made to Scotland’s devolved powers without the consent of the Scottish parliament.

Updated

This is from the BBC’s Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg.

The Kremlin spokesman seemed to referring specifically to suggestions that the UK might ban RT (formerly known as Russia Today.) Moscow has already threatened to retaliate, if this were to happen, by removing British journalists from Russia.

Any decision about the future of RT in the UK would primarily be a matter for Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator.

On Monday, after May’s Commons statement, it issued a non-committal statement about RT, saying:

Ofcom has an ongoing duty to be satisfied that all broadcast licensees are fit and proper to hold a licence.

We have heard the Prime Minister’s statement in the House of Commons this afternoon and we await her further statement on Wednesday. We will then consider the implications for RT’s broadcast licences.

But yesterday it followed this up with a much stronger one implying RT could lose the right to broadcast in the UK. It said:

As the independent UK broadcasting regulator, Ofcom has an ongoing duty to be satisfied that broadcast licensees remain fit and proper to hold their licences.

We have today written to ANO TV Novosti, holder of RT’s UK broadcast licences, which is financed from the budget of the Russian Federation. This letter explained that, should the UK investigating authorities determine that there was an unlawful use of force by the Russian State against the UK, we would consider this relevant to our ongoing duty to be satisfied that RT is fit and proper.

The letter to RT said that we would carry out our independent fit and proper assessment on an expedited basis, and we would write to RT again shortly setting out details of our process.

Russia tells UK it will face 'equal reaction' if May punishes it for Salisbury spy attack

On Monday Theresa May said that it was “highly likely” that Russia was responsible for the nerve agent attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in Salisbury and that, if Moscow did not provide an explanation, she would announce how the UK would retaliate. The Kremlin has ignored the ultimatum and responded with scorn, and so today May will tell MPs what will happen next.

Here is our overnight preview story.

And here are tweets posted by the Russian embassy in London yesterday afternoon saying that, if May imposes punitive measures on Moscow, she will provoke “an equal and opposite reaction”. (Russia, like President Trump, seems fond of conducting diplomacy via belligerent tweeting; the embassy even shares his liking for the word “crooked”.)

The Russia story will be my main focus today, although, as usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web.

But, by and large, I won’t be covering reaction to the spring statement here (including the Resolution Foundation analysis, already out, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies briefing due at 10am.) My colleague Graeme Wearden is covering all this on his business live blog. You can read it here.

Here is the agenda for the day.

Morning: Theresa May chairs a national security council meeting to discuss retaliation against Russia for its role in the nerve agent attack in Salisbury.

10am: The Institute for Fiscal Studies holds its briefing on the spring statement.

12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

Around 12.45pm: May gives her Commons statement about the retaliatory measures being taken against Russia.

2.30pm: Matt Hancock, the culture secretary, gives evidence to the Commons culture committee on fake news.

3.30pm: May meets Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, and Carwyn Jones, the Welsh first minister, to discuss the deadlock over the EU withdrawal bill and its proposals for Brexit and devolution.

4.30pm: Robert Hannigan, the former director of GCHQ, takes part in an LBC phone-in.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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