In a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Theresa May said a new advisory body, previously announced in the Autumn Budget, will co-ordinate efforts with other countries.

In addition, she confirmed that the UK would join the Davos forum’s own council on artificial intelligence.

But others may have stronger claims.

Earlier this week, Google picked France as the base for a new research centre dedicated to exploring how AI can be applied to health and the environment.

Facebook also announced it was doubling the size of its existing AI lab in Paris, while software firm SAP committed itself to a 2bn euro ($2.5bn; £1.7bn) investment into the country that will include work on machine learning.

Meanwhile, a report released last month by the Eurasia Group consultancy suggested that the US and China are engaged in a “two-way race for AI dominance”.

It predicted Beijing would take the lead thanks to the “insurmountable” advantage of offering its companies more flexibility in how they use data about its citizens.

Theresa May is expected to meet US President Donald Trump at the Davos event on Thursday.

‘Unthinkable advances’

The prime minister based the UK’s claim to leadership in part on the health of its start-up economy, quoting a figure that a new AI-related company has been created in the country every week for the last three years.

In addition, she said the UK is recognised as first in the world for its preparedness to “bring artificial intelligence into government”.

However, she recognised that many people have concerns about potential job losses and other impacts of the tech, and declared that AI poses one of the “greatest tests of leadership for our time”.

“But it is a test that I am confident we can meet,” she added.

“For right across the long sweep of history from the invention of electricity to advent of factory production, time and again initially disquieting innovations have delivered previously unthinkable advances and we have found the way to make those changes work for all our people,” Mrs May said.

This includes through a new UK advisory body, the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation.

Academics and tech industry leaders differ in opinion about the risks involved.

At one end of the scale, Prof Stephen Hawking has warned that AI could “spell the end of the human race”, while Tesla’s Elon Musk has said that a universal basic income – in which people get paid whether or not they work – has a “good chance” of becoming necessary as jobs become increasingly automated.

But Facebook’s AI chief Yann LeCun has said society will develop the “checks and balances” to prevent a Terminator movie-like apocalypse ever coming to pass.

And earlier this week, Google’s former chief Eric Schmidt told the BBC he did not believe predictions of mass job losses would occur.

“There will be some jobs eliminated but the vast majority will be augmented,” he explained.

“You’re going to have more doctors not fewer. More lawyers not fewer. More teachers not fewer.

“But they are going to be more efficient.”

While many tech industry leaders acknowledge there will be a need for new rules and regulations, they also suggest it may be premature to introduce them in the short term.

Microsoft, for example, has launched a book called The Future Computed to coincide with the Davos event.

It proposes that it be given time to develop rules to govern its own AI work internally before legislation is passed.

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Source: BBC

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He said it was not “legally enforceable” and if the UK failed to get a trade deal with the EU then it would not pay its divorce bill.

But he stressed that the UK was committed to keeping a “frictionless and invisible” Irish border.

And it would “find a way” to do this if there was a “no deal” Brexit.

The Brexit secretary also stressed that the odds of the UK exiting without a deal had “dropped dramatically” following Friday’s joint EU-UK statement in Brussels.

And he spelled out the kind of trade deal he wanted with the EU, describing it as “Canada plus plus plus”.

‘Hard border’

Canada’s deal with the EU, signed last year, removes the vast majority of customs duties on EU exports to Canada and Canadian exports to the EU.

But Mr Davis said it did not include trade in services, something he wanted to see in the UK’s “bespoke” deal with the EU.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has previously suggested the Brexit divorce bill – which the Treasury says will be between £35bn and £39bn – will be paid even if no EU trade deal is struck. Labour has also said it would continue to pay into the EU if there was no deal.

Prime Minister Theresa May signed an agreement on Friday ruling out the return of a “hard border” on the island of Ireland, protecting the rights of EU and UK citizens and agreeing a formula for the divorce bill.

EU leaders are now expected to recommend starting the next phase of Brexit talks at a summit on Thursday.

But Mr Davis stressed Friday’s agreement was conditional on achieving an “overarching” trade deal with the EU, agreements on security and foreign affairs, as well as the two year transition period the UK wants after if officially leaves the EU in March 2019.

Friday’s agreement includes a fallback position if the UK fails to get a trade deal, which proposes full regulatory “alignment” between the EU and the UK.

This clause had been diluted at the insistence of the Democratic Unionist Party, which fears Northern Ireland would be separated from the rest of the UK, and move closer to Ireland, if it had to adopt EU rules to keep goods flowing across the border.

‘Non-binding’

But there is still controversy, and confusion, over what “full alignment” would mean in practice, with some Brexiteers fearing the UK would have to continue to abide by EU regulations on agriculture and other issues after Brexit and would not be able to strike its own trade deals.

Mr Davis has said “full alignment” would apply to the whole of the UK, not just Northern Ireland, but the Sunday Telegraph said Conservative Brexiteers had been reassured that it was “non-binding” and had been included to secure Ireland’s backing for the deal.

Pushed to explain what it meant, Mr Davis told Andrew Marr: “We want to protect the peace process and we also want to protect Ireland from the impact of Brexit for them. This was a statement of intent more than anything else.”

He added: “I think if we don’t get a deal we’re going to have to find a way of making sure we keep the frictionless border – as it were an invisible border – in Northern Ireland.”

The UK’s opposition Labour party has ruled out remaining in the EU single market and customs union if it wins power.

But the party’s shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted a partnership with the EU that “retains the benefits of the single market and the customs union”.

Labour’s position

Asked if Theresa May’s deal would mean Britain would stay very close to the single market and the customs union, he said: “Yes, and I think that’s the right thing and I think we should hold her to that because that goes to the heart of the question what sort of Britain do we want to be?

“Do we see Europe as our major trading partner in the future or do we want to rip ourselves apart from that?”

Asked if Britain would have to carry on paying some money in, he said: “Norway pays money in, they do it actually on a voluntary basis… there may have to be payments, that’s to be negotiated.”

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said she “really didn’t understand” Theresa May’s agreement with Brussels.

“I don’t understand how, on the one hand, she is going to align and other hand we are going to be out of the single market and the customs union. It doesn’t really make any sense to me,” she told the BBC’s Sunday Politics.

The Labour leadership has rejected offers from the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party to join forces to push Theresa May to keep the UK in the single market.

They say this is not what people voted for in last year’s EU referendum and the UK needed a “custom” trade deal that retained some form of customs union membership.

Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake said: “The Cabinet truce on Brexit after the first phase agreement on Friday lasted a matter of hours.

“First, [Micheal] Gove hints strongly at a harder Brexit in years to come and now Davis is resuscitating the utterly irresponsible notion of a ‘no deal’ Brexit to try to avert the coming Tory civil war.”

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Source: BBC

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There will be no “hard border” with Ireland; and the rights of EU citizens in the UK and UK citizens in the EU will be protected.

The so-called “divorce bill” will amount to between £35bn and £39bn, Downing Street says.

The European Commission president said it was a “breakthrough” and he was confident EU leaders will approve it.

They are due to meet next Thursday for a European Council summit and need to give their backing to the deal if the next phase of negotiations are to begin.

Talks can then move onto a transition deal to cover a period of up to two years after Brexit, and the “framework for the future relationship” – preliminary discussions about a future trade deal, although the EU says a deal can only be finalised once the UK has left the EU.

A final withdrawal treaty and transition deal will have to be ratified by the EU nations and the UK Parliament, before the UK leaves in March 2019.

Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, whose opposition on Monday led to talks breaking down, said there was still “more work to be done” on the border issue and how it votes on the final deal “will depend on its contents”. Mrs May depends on the party’s support to win key votes in Westminster.

The pound was trading at a six-month high against the euro as news broke of the draft agreement.

What has been agreed?

• Guarantee that there will be “no hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic and that the “constitutional and economic integrity of the United Kingdom” will be maintained.
• EU citizens living in the UK and vice versa will have their rights to live, work and study protected. The agreement includes reunification rights for relatives who do not live in the UK to join them in their host country in the future
• Financial settlement – No specific figure is in the document but Downing Street says it will be between £35bn and £39bn, including budget contributions during a two-year “transition” period after March 2019

The Irish border – the devil in the detail

The UK government and the EU want to maintain the free flow of goods, without border checks that they fear could threaten a return to The Troubles, but the DUP does not want Northern Ireland to be treated differently to the rest of the UK after Brexit.

The joint EU-UK document says any future deal must protect “North-South co-operation” and hold to the UK’s “guarantee of avoiding a hard border”.

The agreement also says “no new regulatory barriers” will be allowed between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, and that Northern Ireland’s businesses will continue to have “unfettered access” to the UK internal market – a passage thought to have been added to meet DUP concerns.

But it also sets out a fallback position if the UK fails to agree a trade deal. This could prove controversial because it says there will continue to be “full alignment” between the EU and Northern Ireland on some elements of cross-border trade, as set out in the Good Friday Agreement.

The DUP would have preferred this not to be in the agreement, says the BBC’s Chris Morris, and there could be some hard negotiating to do further down the line.

Citizens’ rights – same for everyone?

Agreement has been reached on what happens to the three million EU citizens living in the UK and more than a million UK citizens in EU states after Brexit.

EU citizens currently in the UK would be allowed to continue living and working there – and those already in the country who do not yet have permanent residency would be able to acquire it after Brexit.

Freedom of movement could continue for two years after March 2019, although the UK says new arrivals will have to register.

The plan is that UK citizens in living in an EU country would get the same rights, although they would not retain them if they moved to another EU country.

For eight years after Brexit, UK courts will be able to refer cases involving EU nationals to the European Court of Justice for interpretation.

But the campaign group the 3million, which represents EU citizens in the UK, said there was “still no clarity around the registration criteria for these rights” and said of the eight years: “Our rights should not have an expiry date”.

The divorce bill – a figure at last

A figure is not mentioned in the text of the agreement but Downing Street says it will be between £35bn and £39bn – higher than Theresa May indicated in September but lower than some estimates. It will be paid over four years and the precise figure is unlikely to be known for some time.

EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the EU had agreed to drop the cost of relocating UK-based EU agencies from the final divorce bill.

The prime minister said it would be “fair to the British taxpayer” and would mean the UK in future “will be able to invest more in our priorities at home, such as housing, schools and the NHS”.

What happens next?

Technically a future trade deal cannot be signed while the UK remains a member of the EU but “preliminary and preparatory discussions” can begin.

But the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said the withdrawal treaty and transition deal need to be ready by October 2018 – in order that they can be ratified by March 2019, before the “real negotiation” begins on the future relationship.

Mr Barnier suggested on Friday that the only option for a future trade arrangement was a Canada-style deal, rather than a one based on Norway, which retains free movement and unrestricted access to the single market but pays into the EU budget.

The European Council wants the UK to remain a “member” of the EU’s customs union and single market and to remain under the full jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice during the transition period, according to a leaked document.

What has changed since Monday?

The DUP, whose opposition on Monday led to talks breaking down, say there have been six “substantial changes” to the text.

Party leader Arlene Foster said they would mean there was “no red line down the Irish Sea” – meaning no customs barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

But BBC Northern Ireland economics editor John Campbell says there is a lot of hard negotiating to come and compromises to be made.

Another interpretation of the deal is that that it still leaves the door open for a special status for Northern Ireland, he adds.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg’s analysis

Theresa May has achieved what she wanted – the green light to move on. Had she not, she was in deep, deep political trouble.

But the 15 pages, described as a “personal success” for Theresa May by Donald Tusk give her what she needed for now.

How has it been received?

Theresa May’s cabinet colleagues heaped praise on her, with Environment Secretary Michael Gove saying it was a “significant personal political achievement” for Mrs May while Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tweeted: “Congratulations to PM for her determination in getting today’s deal.”

But Labour’s Brexit spokesman Sir Keir Starmer said Mrs May should “seriously reflect on her approach to the negotiations so far”.

He added: “Despite being two months later than originally planned, it is encouraging that the European Commission has recommended sufficient progress in the Brexit negotiations.”

 

DUP Leader Arlene Foster said it meant that Northern Ireland would “not be separated constitutionally, politically, economically or regulatory from the rest of the United Kingdom” and “in all circumstances the United Kingdom will continue to ensure the same unfettered access for Northern Ireland’s businesses to the whole of the UK internal market”.

Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: “Move to phase 2 of talks is good – but the devil is in the detail and things now get really tough.”

Lib Dem leader Vince Cable, who backs a referendum on the final deal, said “it reduces the risk of a catastrophic no-deal Brexit” but questioned if it would last or be “torn apart by Theresa May’s own MPs”.

Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage told the BBC the estimated bill was “way more than we need to pay” and he was unhappy that the European Court of Justice would continue to have a role for up to eight years. “The whole thing is humiliating. We have collapsed at every level.”

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Source: BBC

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The BBC understands deals on the UK “divorce bill” and citizens’ rights were reached this weekend.

But the UK border with Ireland remains an outstanding issue.

The PM will meet European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels, with Downing Street saying “plenty of discussions” lie ahead.

BBC Europe editor Katya Adler said there was an “upbeat mood” of “cautious optimism”.

The timings of Mrs May’s visit marks a deadline set by Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, for her to come forward with an improved offer on the terms of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.

The UK is hoping to start talks about a free trade agreement but the EU says it will only recommend this can take place when it deems “sufficient progress” has been made on the other issues.

The UK voted for Brexit last year and is due to leave in March 2019, but negotiations between the EU and the UK have not yet reached a breakthrough.

Mrs May will be accompanied by the Brexit Secretary David Davis for the discussions with Mr Juncker and Mr Tusk.

Downing Street has described the meeting as an “important staging post” on the route to the “crucial” summit with the other 27 leaders in the middle of the month when it hopes trade talks can begin.

However, Mr Tusk has stated Dublin must be satisfied there will be no return to a “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Republic after Brexit, before the EU moves on to the next stage of negotiations.

On Sunday, there were warnings from Tory Brexiteers not to give any more ground to Brussels.

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Source: BBC

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“Don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom,” Mr Trump tweeted.

The US president had earlier retweeted three inflammatory videos posted online by a British far-right group.
Mrs May’s spokesman said it was “wrong for the president to have done this”.

The US and the UK are close allies and often described as having a “special relationship”. Theresa May was the first foreign leader to visit the Trump White House.
The speaker of the House of Commons has granted a request for an urgent question on the matter from Labour MP Stephen Doughty.

The videos shared by Mr Trump, who has more than 40 million followers, were initially posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First, a group founded by former members of the far-right British National Party (BNP).

Ms Fransen, 31, has been charged in the UK with using “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour” over speeches she made at a rally in Belfast.

Several leading UK politicians have criticised the president for retweeting her posts, as has the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, who said it was “deeply disturbing” that Mr Trump had “chosen to amplify the voice of far-right extremists”.

And it has led to renewed calls for Mr Trump’s planned state visit to the UK to be cancelled, although Downing Street said on Wednesday that the invitation still stood.
In hitting out at Mrs May, Mr Trump first tagged the wrong Twitter account, sending his statement to a different user with just six followers. He then deleted the tweet and posted it again, this time directing the message to the UK PM’s official account.

After already condemning Mr Trump’s actions on Wednesday, Brendan Cox – whose wife, MP Jo Cox, was murdered by a right-wing extremist who shouted “Britain first” before committing the act – tweeted: “You have a mass shooting every single day in your country, your murder rate is many times that of the UK, your healthcare system is a disgrace, you can’t pass anything through a congress that you control. I would focus on that.”

TV presenter and journalist Piers Morgan, who has supported Mr Trump in the past, said the president “owes our prime minister an apology, not a lecture” after he “publicly endorsed the most extreme bunch of Islamophobe fascists in Britain”.

But American conservative commentator Ann Coulter – who is one of the 45 people followed on Twitter by Mr Trump and retweeted the videos first – defended her president’s words to Mrs May, saying he had “only given as good as he gets”.

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Source: BBC

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EU migrants will still be able to live and work in the UK but they will have register with the authorities, under her proposals.

And the UK will pay into the EU budget so member states are not left out of pocket.

She hopes this offer, made in a speech in Italy, will unblock Brexit talks.

She also proposed a “bold new security agreement” and said the UK would be the EU’s “strongest partner and friend”.

On trade, she said the two sides could do “so much better” than adopt existing models.

There was “no need to impose tariffs where there are none now”, the prime minister said.

She did not mention how much the UK would be prepared to continue to pay into the EU after Brexit, but it has been estimated as being at least 20bn euros (about £18bn).
In her speech, Mrs May said the UK would “honour commitments” made while it had been a member to avoid creating “uncertainty for the remaining member states”.

She also suggested that in the long-term the UK and EU would continue working together on projects promoting economic development and the UK would want to “make an ongoing contribution to cover our fair share of the costs involved”.

When the two-year transition period is up, the UK and EU could towards a new “deep and special partnership,” she said in her speech.

By March 2019, neither the UK or EU would be ready to “smoothly” implement new arrangements needed: “So during the implementation period access to one another’s markets should continue on current terms and Britain also should continue to take part in existing security measures.”

Such a period should be “time limited”, she said, as neither the EU nor the British people would want the UK to remain in the EU longer than necessary.

But she hoped to build a “comprehensive and ambitious” new economic partnership with the EU in the long-term.
This should not be based on existing agreements with Canada or European Economic Area membership, she said, but a “creative solution” should be found to reflect the existing relationship between the UK and EU.

To EU citizens in the UK she offered reassurance that “we want you to stay, we value you” and acknowledged differences with the EU over which courts should guarantee their rights after Brexit.

She said she wanted UK courts to take account of rulings by the European Court of Justice and hoped “on this basis, our teams can reach firm agreement quickly”.

Mrs May opened her speech by saying Brexit was a “critical time in the evolution of the relationship between the United Kingdom and European Union”.

She said if “we open our minds to new thinking and new possibilities we can forge a brighter and better future for all our peoples”.

Some voters were worried about the prospect of Brexit – but others found it an “exciting time,” she said.

“I look ahead with optimism, believing that if we use this moment to change not just our relationship with Europe but also the way we do things at home – this will be a defining moment in the history of our nation.”

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Source: BBC

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Sir Michael Fallon said the parties were seeking an agreement – which would not be a formal coalition – to keep a minority Tory government in power.

Speaking to Andrew Marr, Sir Michael also distanced himself from the DUP’s conservative stance on social issues.

“It doesn’t mean we now agree with all their views,” he said.

DUP leader Arlene Foster is expected to hold talks in Downing Street on Tuesday with Prime Minister Theresa May.

Mrs May is under pressure after losing the Tories’ Commons majority in Thursday’s general election.

In the latest fallout from the result, which confounded pollsters and left the UK with a hung Parliament:

• An influential Conservative MP predicted Tory manifesto policies including on grammar schools would have to be “slimmed down”
• Mrs May was accused of putting her party interest above the Northern Ireland peace process with the planned DUP alliance
• Jeremy Corbyn said he could still be PM and would try to amend the Queen’s Speech
• Former Tory Chancellor George Osborne described Mrs May as a “dead woman walking”
• Mr Fallon said Mrs May would have to adopt a more “collective” approach to making decisions
• Pro-EU Conservatives predicted the outcome of the general election would change the government’s approach to Brexit

Overnight there was confusion over the status of an agreement with the DUP, with Downing Street initially saying the principles had been agreed before issuing another statement saying negotiations continued.

The DUP were as “surprised as anybody” by Downing Street’s original announcement, the BBC understands.

“It would be very, very surprising if something as important and complex as this was stitched together in a single day of talks in Belfast,” Sir Michael said.

Ms Foster told Sky News “discussions continue” about forming a “national government” to bring stability to the nation.

She said the parties had made “good progress” so far.

The arrangement being sought is known as “confidence and supply”, under which the Tories could rely on DUP support in key votes like Budgets and no-confidence motions.

Sir Michael did not reveal what the DUP had been offered in return, but said the “outline proposal” would be published once a deal had been agreed.

The DUP, which has 10 MPs after the election, has garnered a reputation for its strong and controversial views on a number of social issues.

It opposes same-sex marriage and is anti-abortion – with abortion remaining illegal in Northern Ireland, except in specific medical cases.

Some Conservatives raised concerns about an alliance between the parties, with Scottish leader Ruth Davidson seeking assurances over LGBT rights from Mrs May.

“Just because they’re going to support us on the big economic issues, it doesn’t mean we agree with all their views – we don’t,” Sir Michael said.

He also said power-sharing talks between Sinn Fein and the DUP in Northern Ireland would be unaffected by the Conservatives’ reliance on the unionist party at Westminster.

“We have already had a friendship with the DUP that goes back many years,” he said.

What do the DUP want from a deal?

Political sources in Belfast say the DUP manifesto and a document they published in 2015 give a guide to what they will be want from any deal.

The 2015 Northern Ireland Plan was specifically designed for a hung parliament situation.

At that time the DUP hoped to be the kingmakers for either Labour or the Conservatives. At its heart is a financial package: real terms increases in health and education spending over five years, more money for infrastructure and help with transforming public services.

Those could all come with hefty price tags.

There are other more specific measures in the 2017 manifesto such as the abolition of air passenger duty (APD) in Northern Ireland.

One senior source also put it to me, with some hyperbole, that the DUP could “kill austerity”.

By that they meant that DUP manifesto opposes the ending of the “triple lock” on state pensions and the means testing of winter fuel allowance. Whether they want to see the roll-back of benefit cuts announced, but not yet implemented remains to be seen.

On Brexit the DUP does not like the idea that “no deal is better than a bad deal”.

Crashing out of the EU with no transitional arrangements could be hugely damaging to Northern Ireland’s trade with the Republic of Ireland. The party also wants to kill off the idea of a ‘special status’ which would see Northern Ireland more closely aligned with the Republic of Ireland after Brexit.

Analysis: DUP deals and dialogue

But Sinn Fein, which does not take its seats at Westminster, said the DUP had “betrayed the interests of the people” and the new arrangement would “end in tears”.

Labour’s former shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the planned deal was “dodgy” and “unsustainable” – and also “irresponsible for the Northern Ireland peace process”.

“The idea that the British government could be taking sides, having been the guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement and the subsequent peace agreements is really troubling,” she told Sky News.

• Why Queen’s Speech is a big test for May
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The new Parliamentary arithmetic means the Conservatives will need other parties’ backing to get any new laws passed – and Graham Brady, chairman of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, predicted this would change their party’s policy plans.

“There’s no point in sailing ahead with items that were in our manifesto which we won’t get through Parliament,” he said.

Mr Brady said there was “no doubt” the Queen’s Speech – due on 19 June – would be “slimmed down”, including plans for an expansion of grammar schools in England.

These could be reduced to a “modest pilot” in certain areas, he predicted.

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Source: BBC

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The PM said she would make it easier to deport foreign terror suspects and “restrict the freedom and movements” of those that presented a threat.

Labour said ministers must stand up for “democratic values” while the Lib Dems said the plan would not improve safety.

Security has dominated the final days of the general election campaign ahead of Thursday’s poll.

Rival parties have been criticising the Tories over police cuts following the terror attacks in London and Manchester.

Speaking after the London attack, Mrs May said “enough is enough” and that “things need to change” in the terror fight.

Addressing activists in Slough on Tuesday evening, she did not make any specific new policy proposals but said: “I mean longer prison sentences for those convicted of terrorist offences.

“I mean making it easier for the authorities to deport foreign terrorist suspects back to their own countries.

“And I mean doing more to restrict the freedom and movements of terrorist suspects when we have enough evidence to know they are a threat, but not enough evidence to prosecute them in full in court.

“And if our human rights laws get in the way of doing it, we will change the law so we can do it.”

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UN chief Antonio Guterres’s spokesman called it “a major disappointment” while the European Union said it was “a sad day for the world”.

However, senior Republicans and the US coal industry-backed the move.

Mr Trump said the accord “punished” the US and would cost millions of American jobs.

In an address at the White House, he said he was prepared to negotiate a new agreement or re-enter the accord on improved terms.

“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” he said.

The Paris agreement commits the US and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures “well below” 2C above pre-industrial levels and “endeavour to limit” them even more, to 1.5C.

Only Syria and Nicaragua did not sign up to the deal.

Mr Trump characterised the Paris agreement as a deal that aimed to hobble, disadvantage and impoverish the US.

He claimed the agreement would cost the US $3tn (£2.3tn) in lost GDP and 6.5 million jobs – while rival economies like China and India were treated more favourably.

Mr Trump said he was fulfilling his “solemn duty to protect America and its citizens”.

He added: “We don’t want other leaders and other countries laughing at us anymore – and they won’t be.”

Mr Trump did not give a timescale. However, under the agreement, a nation seeking to leave the pact can only give notice three years after the date it entered into force – 16 November 2016.

The process of leaving then takes another year, meaning it would not be complete until just weeks after the US presidential election in 2020.

US payments to the UN Green Climate Fund, which helps developing countries cope with the effects of climate change, will stop.

What has the reaction been?

Former US President Barack Obama, who agreed to the Paris deal, immediately criticised the move, accusing the Trump administration of “rejecting the future”.

Disney’s chief executive Robert Iger and the entrepreneur Elon Musk both resigned from White House advisory councils.

“Climate change is real. Leaving Paris is not good for America or the world,” said Mr Musk, the head of tech giant Tesla.

However, Republican congressional leaders and the US coal industry backed the move, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell supporting Mr Trump “for dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama administration’s assault on domestic energy production and jobs”.

Peabody Energy, America’s biggest coal mining firm, said the agreement would have badly affected the US economy.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called the decision “one of the worst policy moves made in the 21st Century because of the huge damage to our economy, our environment and our geopolitical standing”.

Canada was “deeply disappointed” by President Trump’s decision, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

This was echoed by UK Prime Minister Theresa May, who expressed her disappointment and told Mr Trump in a phone call that the deal protects the “prosperity and security of future generations”.

France’s President Emmanuel Macron said he respected Mr Trump’s decision but believed it was a “mistake both for the US and for our planet”.

Japan’s Finance Minister Taro Aso said: “I’m not just disappointed, but also feel anger.”

A United Nations spokeswoman said it was a “major disappointment for global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote global security”.

Small island nations whose existence is threatened by rising sea levels were critical of the move. The President of the Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine, said it was “highly concerning for those of us that live on the frontline of climate change”.

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The Prime Minister is sure an election will result in an increment in the Conservatives current majority of 17 and offer her and Britain the needed impetus going into delicate Brexit negotiations within the next two years. She has asked the people of Britain to give her “the mandate to speak for Britain and deliver for Britain”.

509 votes were required, but with 522 votes to 13, the House of Common agreed with Theresa May on Wednesday and an early election, slated for June 8^th, is now upon the United Kingdom. The EU looks on with keen interest and so will be the rest of the world. Campaign has started but what are the permutations ahead and can Ghana take any lessons, if at all from the UK’s experience?

Elections are unpredictable. Electorates are becoming more sophisticated than ever before. Recent elections in the United States, Ghana and other places around the world have all defied logic and made mince-meat of the loud opinion polls. Two years ago, nobody gave Donald Trump a chance of becoming the President of America. In Ghana, no objective pollster saw the magnitude of the defeat that befell the then ruling John Mahama government.

There is the likelihood of the Conservatives losing some seats, especially in the Constituencies that believed in Britain remaining in the EU during the last referendum. In Constituencies where the Conservatives won by slim margins, the possibility of the votes slipping through their hands are real. In December, I witnessed an approximately 11,000 margin of victory wiped away in my beloved Constituency, Ledzokuku. So why is Theresa May so sure to embark on this bold adventure?

History! History favors the Conservatives. Snap Elections have always resulted in victories for the incumbents. In 1966 for example, Labour’s Prime Minister, Harold Wilson called for an early election and it resulted in a majority of nearly 100, from a slim of just 4 for him. Earlier in 1955, Anthony Eden had also managed to increase his majority in Parliament from 17 to 60. A Prime Minister losing in an early election is unheard of in Britain’s political history.

The opinion polls so far have favoured the Conservatives. Recent ratings have all given Theresa May strong showings. The UK’s Polling Report on Tuesday and Wednesday show that the Conservatives will amass twice as the Labour will in the June elections. Such figures will always evoke confidence and it is perhaps understandable why Theresa May would want an early elections, just 14 months after another.

So why then will the opposition, who without their support, the needed votes would not have been secured for an early election voted in favour of Mrs  May’s call? Nationalism before politics? The people of the UK have voted to leave the European Union. The new Prime Minister assuming the seat as the result of the referendum believes that a “fully controlled” Parliament will help her and her government greatly to execute that Brexit mandate. Both sides of Parliament, save their opinions on the “hard or softness” on the issue, agree to go to the Polls. Or is the opposition’s stand the case of the blind knowing what he is about before threatening to pelt stones at an intruder? June 8^th will give the answer.

Ghana, my loved country has something to learn from the UK, our colonial masters. Except for the later modifications, our Parliament was established on that of Westminster. It is about time our MPs looked beyond the extreme partisan politics that is doing more harm to us than good. It is about time our Parliament built consensus on issues of National interests beyond their allowances, per diems and ex-gratia.

And beyond that, is it possible for Ghana to adopt the “Early Elections” bit of the UK? Will an early election in Ghana increase the current strong support of the NPP in Parliament or reduce it? Will swings seats like Ledzokuku change hands again to the NDC in an early election? Please share your opinion with me and let us enrich the debate.

For now, Theresa May has taken a bold step. It is another elections and it can turn out to be a bag of rotten eggs on her face. But from all indications, it looks like yet a jolly-cruise to victory for the Conservatives. And barring any miraculous occurrence, Theresa May, from June 8^th, will be the queen of all she surveys.

God bless our homeland Ghana.

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By: Ernest Anteh ([email protected])

The writer is a freelance journalist and an avid follower of the UK Parliament and Politics

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