Brussels shoots down plans for Brexit deal without backstop as PM blasted over 'spin'

Ireland deputy prime minister Simon Coveney has urged all sides to be honest that “we are not close to a deal right now”.

Despite admitting the mood music had improved, Coveney suggested there was some “spin” going on about the current status of negotiations.

Our correspondent Lizzy Buchan has more details.

Liz Truss is in Tokyo, and posing for photos. The international trade secretary said she would “cross any road” for a trade deal with Japan.

Truss said: “Businesses should be reassured that there is huge political will on both sides to begin negotiating a new free trade agreement with Japan as soon as possible.”

Senior Labour MP Harriet Harman said she will maintain her bid to replace John Bercow as Speaker despite her local party’s call for her to abandon the ambition.

Camberwell and Peckham constituency party voted to urge Harman to pull out of the race and hinted she could face a Labour candidate at the next general election – rather than the usual convention of the main parties not standing against the occupant of the chair.

Harman said on Twitter: “A confident and respected House of Commons representing every constituency in this country & holding govt to account is vital to our parliamentary democracy.

“The Speaker is at the heart of this – that’s why I going for it.”

Labour's Naz Shah has called for the prime minister to sack a Tory minister who allegedly made Islamophobic remarks. 

She was responding to complaints from Sajjad Karim, a Conservative Party member and former MEP, who said: "I have experienced conversations taking place with Islamophobic content directly about me, being conducted by very senior members of the Conservative Party - in fact parliamentarians, one of whom is in fact a serving minister at this moment in time.

"Ultimately, this is about values and if we allow Islamophobia, or any other form of discrimination, to go unchecked, what we are doing actually is undermining our own values."

Mr Karim has not revealed the name of the minister in question, but said he would give it to Conservative Party headquarters if they wanted to investigate the incident.

Ms Shah said: "Whoever this is, they are not fit to serve as an MP, let alone as a government minister.

"Boris Johnson must act, find out who it is and sack them."

Labour veteran Margaret Hodge has condemned the "pointless and divisive" tactics by activists keen to prevent Harriet Harman from standing to be the next Speaker.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is expected to address the climate strike in London this afternoon, where he will thank the young people attending for leading by example.

He is expected to tell crowds: "I know the situation can look bleak. We have a prime minister that has called global warming a ‘primitive fear without foundation’. The US President is a full-blown climate denier, putting our planet in danger by pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement. And the Amazon is on fire, looted by big corporations with a Brazilian president watching on who doesn't care.

"But when we see young people demanding urgent action, it's an inspiration. When I see this movement growing – and it's growing every day – I know we can tackle the climate emergency.

"The next Labour government will welcome your pressure and hear your demands for change. We will kick start a Green Industrial Revolution and protect our planet, so it’s there to give life and joy to generations to come."

We are running a separate liveblog on the protests here.

If Labour commits to full integration of private schools into the state sector where I teach, this will frame the whole election," writes primary school teacher and Labour councillor James McAsh.

Read his piece here:

Cross-party MPs are planning to table legislation to force the government to adopt a radical climate change target to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

Ahead of a global wave of climate protests on Friday, Labour frontbencher Clive Lewis and Green MP Caroline Lucas have announced plans for a bill that would bring forward the deadline for net-zero carbon emissions by two decades.

Theresa May vowed to introduce a legally binding target to cut carbon emissions by 2050 after recommendations from independent climate change advisers - but campaigners want the government to move faster to tackle the looming climate crisis.

Brexit Party MEPs abstained from voting on a European Parliament resolution on Thursday which called on Iran to release imprisoned EU-Iranian nationals, including British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

The resolution called on Iranian authorities to “immediately and unconditionally” release all dual-nationals and human rights campaigners jailed as political prisoners.

As well as naming Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who has been imprisoned in Iran since April 2016, the resolution also named EU citizens Ahmadreza Djalali and Kamran Ghaderi, who are also being held in Iran.

The Muslim Council of Britain has said the latest revelations are a "manifestation of institutional Islamophobia" in the Conservative party.

Harun Khan, secretary general of the organisation, said: "An independent and specific inquiry into Islamophobia specifically is long overdue.

"Sadly the Conservative response has been woeful. From denial, through to now a reluctant commitment to a broad and watered down investigation that we fear will do nothing to address this problem.

"The fact that former MEP Sajjad Karim has confirmed a current serving minister has made Islamophobic comments directly about him, is extremely serious and indicative of the scale of the problem.

"Investigating this minister immediately is essential will be the latest test of the apparent resolve of the party. If no action is taken, and instead they remain a minister, it will yet again demonstrate its failure to take this problem seriously."

Read our piece here.