Government officials working on plans for bridge linking Scotland to Northern Ireland, No 10 confirms – live news

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen 1.54pm GMT Richard Burgon, a candidate for the Labour deputy leadership, says there is a lesson for his party from Sinn Féin’s success in the Irish general election.Ireland’s election shows why those media commentators arguing for Labour to move to the centre are completely wrong.Sinn Fein benefited from being a strong voice against austerity.Ours was a Brexit election. The next one won’t be. We must defend our socialist policies. 1.52pm GMT Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, is giving a speech to the European Policy Centre in Brussels. Here are some excerpts, from the Sun’s Nick Gutteridge.Nicola Sturgeon is now speaking at an @epc_eu event here in Brussels. She says hearing Auld Lang Syne sung at the final EU Parliament session with UK MEPs ‘reinforced’ the feeling Scotland was leaving somewhere ‘we belong’. Says ‘we should still be participating in that chamber’. pic.twitter.com/YIJ90eyBhjSturgeon sas Brexit has demonstrated ‘the solidarity the EU offers to smaller Member States. She says: ‘People in Scotland have seen and I suspect will long remember the support the EU gave to Ireland throughout the first phase of the Brexit process.’Sturgeon says Scottish exports to the EU are growing ‘twice as fast as our exports to the rest of the world’. She says: ‘We’re leaving the EU at a time when we’ve never benefitted from it more and at a time when we’ve never needed it more.’Sturgeon says the Scottish Govt ‘will do what we can to work as closely and constructively as possible’ with Boris Johnson ‘despite our pessimism over the direction of travel’ he’s taking on Brexit. ‘We will continue to stress the value of having a close trading relationship.’ Continue reading…
Via: Government officials working on plans for bridge linking Scotland to Northern Ireland, No 10 confirms – live news