Sunak calls for Stormont return ahead of Biden visit for Good Friday agreement anniversary – UK politics live

Key events

As you can imagine, a lot has been written today about the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement being signed.

In case you missed anything, here’s a rundown of some of the best bits the Guardian’s had in the run-up to the date, including some brilliant pieces by the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent, Rory Carroll.

How did the Good Friday agreement come about and why is it so significant?

The historic Good Friday agreement that ended three decades of the Troubles, brought peace to Northern Ireland and saw the Irish Republican Army and others lay down their arms, is 25 years old this Easter.

It was signed on 10 April 1998, which fell on Good Friday that year, and led to a joint Nobel peace prize for David Trimble and John Hume, leaders of the Ulster Unionist party and the SDLP.

Although the power-sharing government it established is suspended over a Brexit row, it is seen as such a diplomatic achievement that the anniversary is being marked by visits from US president, Joe Biden, former president Bill Clinton, King Charles, former prime minister Sir Tony Blair and former taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Nostalgia, rap tributes and violent tropes: has Northern Ireland really turned its back on the Troubles?

Early last week hundreds of young people filed into the Telegraph Building, a concert venue in central Belfast, to see a popular working-class hip-hop trio called Kneecap.

The band raps about rebellion and defiance, and uses images of petrol bombs and a burning police Land Rover. One of the trio wears a green, white and orange balaclava.

The song Get Your Brits Out (it opens with, “Guess who’s back on the news/It’s your favourite republican hoods”) has had more than 2 million streams on Spotify.

The gig could be viewed as a validation of the Good Friday agreement. During the Troubles, paramilitaries used to shoot alleged delinquents in the knee. Now, 25 years later, rappers have reclaimed a word that once inspired dread. What was this if not a peace dividend?

Petrol bombs and punishment beatings: paramilitaries still rooted in Northern Ireland

The scenes are like a time warp. Masked men in camouflage gear march through city centres while youths gather petrol bombs to hurl at police. Hoax bomb alerts seal off streets. Fresh murals celebrating gunmen appear on walls. News headlines report so-called punishment attacks.

If Rip van Winkle had dozed off when the Good Friday agreement was signed in 1998 and woke up now, 25 years later, he may not have noticed much difference in the presence of paramilitaries in Northern Ireland.

A quarter of a century after the end of the Troubles, republican and loyalist paramilitary groups still recruit, still march, still intimidate and, on occasion, still kill.

The conflict is over. The Provisional IRA is fading into history and loyalist groups do not menace Catholics. But a less deadly form of paramilitarism remains woven into society, reflecting and aggravating political dysfunction.

Women who helped strike Good Friday deal finally recognised – 25 years late

It took a quarter of a century but Mo Mowlam and other women who helped clinch the Good Friday agreement are finally gaining recognition.

After years of being belittled, marginalised or forgotten, the late Northern Ireland secretary and other figures are receiving tributes from politicians, diplomats and artists on the eve of the agreement’s 25th anniversary.

An exhibition titled Peace Heroines has opened at the UN’s headquarters in New York. Hillary Clinton will recognise 25 women who made significant contributions at a conference at Queen’s university in Belfast. Ulster University has named a refurbished arts studio after Mowlam and will unveil a video portrait of her. A new play in Belfast gives Mowlam a central role in the talks that paved the 1998 agreement.

The former prime minister Tony Blair, Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and other politicians have also lauded the contribution of female negotiators.

The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, has appointed members of his elections team in anticipation of next year’s UK general election.

His deputy leader, Jackie Baillie, and Ian Murray, the party’s single Scottish MP and shadow Scotland secretary, are taking on the roles ahead of the UK general election, which is expected to take place some time next year.

Sarwar declared Scottish Labour could win seats from the Scottish National party and help “kick the Tories out” of power at Westminster.

Amid turmoil in the SNP and the election of their new leader, Humza Yousaf, recent polls have suggested a narrowing of the gap between the SNP and Labour in Scotland. Labour’s UK leader, Sir Keir Starmer, has made a number of campaign trips to Scotland in an effort to woo voters.

Baillie takes on the role of general election campaign coordinator alongside her existing post as Labour’s Scottish spokesperson on NHS recovery, health and social care and drugs policy.

Fellow MSPs Carol Mochan and Paul Sweeney will also work on the health brief, with Mochan becoming the party’s spokeswoman for public health and women’s health, while Sweeney will speak on mental health and veterans’ issues.

There is a tweaked finance role for Daniel Johnson on the economy and business, and Michael Marra becomes Labour’s finance spokesman.

Speaking about his revamped frontbench team, Sarwar said: “At that election, only Scottish Labour can take seats from the SNP, kick the Tories out, and deliver the Labour government that Scotland badly needs.

“From implementing a meaningful windfall tax on oil and gas giants to creating GB Energy and the thousands of jobs that will bring to Scotland, a Labour government will transform our country.

“The road to that Labour government begins in Scotland.”

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said he is interested in the concept of charging drivers for every mile they drive in London, but said it is unlikely in the short term because of a lack of technology.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Khan was asked about controversy surrounding the ultra-low emission zone (Ulez) policy, which charges drivers £12.50 a day to drive vehicles that go over a certain pollution threshold into the capital.

Its aim is to cut air pollution, and the policy is projected to cut nitrogen oxide emissions from cars in outer London by nearly a tenth. Other schemes have been introduced in London, such as low-traffic neighbourhoods, to make it harder for people to drive and encourage them to walk and cycle instead.

However the Ulez has been unpopular with people who live outside London and commute in, or access services that fall within London boundaries – and has faced accusations it will hit the poorest, and people with disabilities or caring duties, hardest.

Khan, who was diagnosed with asthma at 43, said: “Ulez isn’t a big thing on most people’s minds. It’s a big thing on a small number of people’s minds  …  In outer London, 85% of vehicles are compliant and half of Londoners don’t even have a car.

“Road use charging is interesting …  If you get rid of the congestion charge, get rid of Ulez, get rid of road tax, and charge people depending on how many miles they drive, how polluting their vehicle is, what time of day they’re driving, are there alternatives related to public transport, how many people are in the car? That’s potentially quite exciting. The problem is the technology’s quite a long way off.”

Keir Starmer has said he will “make absolutely zero apologies for being blunt” in an article published after a row over a widely criticised Labour attack advert on child sexual assaults.

In a veiled message to critics within his own party, the Labour leader said he will “stand by every word Labour has said on this subject” and would continue to use the Conservatives’ record on crime as a legitimate criticism “no matter how squeamish it might make some feel”.

The advert, which drew criticism from both left and right, used a picture of Rishi Sunak and said he “does not believe adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison” and pointed to the Conservative record on offenders avoiding jail.

Several senior Labour figures distanced themselves from the poster. The Observer reported that the shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, “had nothing to do with it”.

In an opinion piece for the Daily Mail, Starmer said Labour would continue to take on the Conservatives on law and order and pointed to the case of Zara Aleena, the aspiring young lawyer who was murdered by an offender who had been recalled to prison two days before the attack and should not have been free.

“For the first time in my lifetime, everywhere you look – from the economy to the NHS to the chaos on our streets – we have been set on a path of decline,” Starmer said.

Read more:

The SNP’s former leader in Westminster has urged the party to “come together” under the new leader, Humza Yousaf.

Ian Blackford’s comments came just 24 hours after the SNP president, Mike Russell, told the Herald newspaper that Scottish independence cannot be secured in the immediate future amid the ongoing police investigation into party finances.

Blackford told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland on Monday that Russell was signalling that the party is facing “a very challenging period”, and warned that “political parties that aren’t united tend to face electoral challenges”.

The MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber added: “I would appeal to everyone in the party to come together now the election contest for the leader and the first minister is over.”

Yousaf narrowly beat rival Kate Forbes in the leadership contest last month.

Blackford, who backed Yousaf to replace Nicola Sturgeon as leader, added: “I actually think, when I look over the course of the first few days of the leadership of Humza, he’s made a number of very positive announcements.”

Sunak calls for return of Stormont ahead of Biden visit

Good morning from London.

Today marks 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement was signed, bringing an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland which killed thousands and created a state of terror for thousands more on both sides of the Irish Sea.

The prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is using the anniversary to urge leaders of political parties in Northern Ireland to resume the power-sharing process, which includes the government in Stormont. It has not sat since February 2022 after the Democratic Unionist party withdrew its support because of concerns about the Brexit trade deal that put up trade barriers between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The US president, Joe Biden, is visiting Belfast on Tuesday and will meet Sunak, but will not meet leaders in Northern Ireland because power-sharing remains suspended.

Sunak said: “As we look forward, we will celebrate those who took difficult decisions, accepted compromise, and showed leadership – showing bravery, perseverance, and political imagination.

“We commemorate those who are no longer with us and the many who lost their lives by trying to prevent violence and protect the innocent. And we give thanks to them as we reflect on the new generations that have grown up and continue to grow in a world in which peace and prosperity has prevailed. We stand ready to work with our partners in the Irish government and the local parties to ensure that the institutions are up and running again as soon as possible. There is work to be done.”

Despite the hope expressed by Sunak, more tellingly, the Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, was wary of predicting a date for the resumption of power sharing.

“Anybody who was predicting a date by which the executive would go back in Northern Ireland would be someone who could also sell you a four-leaf clover. No one knows when it will go back. Deadlines are deadly in Northern Ireland terms,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour on Sunday night.

There’s a lovely photo here, tweeted by the BBC’s Mark Simpson, of a silhouette of the SDLP’s negotiating team embracing 25 years ago, signalling that peace had been agreed.

Meanwhile, for those of you who were following the blog on Friday, Labour and Keir Starmer are continuing to double down on a set of aggressive attack adverts that blamed Rishi Sunak for sexual offenders against children, and people found guilty of “possession of a firearm with intent to harm”, not going to jail.

It comes as part of Labour’s broad focus on crime and antisocial behaviour, but was heavily criticised by members of its own party for its tone, and by the legal profession for making up an offence in the latter case.

It led the Sunday Times yesterday, and a Labour insider told the Playbook email overnight: “We’re determined to take the fight to the Tories. They may not be used to a Labour party that wants to campaign on law and order but it’s important to Keir Starmer and he wants voters to be in no doubt that we’re on their side.”

The Times reports that the economy will be the next focus of the campaign.

Finally, Emily Thornberry has been on the morning broadcast round talking about the government’s fraud strategy, or lack of it, and asking what has happened to it.

She wrote last night: “At least 10,000 offences are committed every day against working people and pensioners in our communities, for some destroying everything they have worked for all their lives, and yet the parasites who are stealing their wages and savings simply move on to their next round of victims with near total impunity.”

I’m sitting in for Andy Sparrow on this Easter Monday. You can get in touch by emailing harry.taylor@theguardian.com, or via Twitter where I’m @HarryTaylr and my DMs are open.