No straws at tennis
NO plastic straws will be used at this year’s Wimbledon Championships, the All England Lawn Tennis Club has announced.
Last year more than 400,000 plastic straws were used during the tournament.
But this year, as part of its sustainability approach, Wimbledon will not be using them during the Grand Slam. Firms such as JD Wetherspoon, Wagamama, Costa Coffee, Pizza Express and Waitrose have all started phasing out plastic straws. THERESA May promised a “robust” response to Lords defeats over Brexit amid concern from her ministers that peers were seeking to “thwart” the UK’s departure from the European Union.
At a Cabinet meeting, ministers expressed their “strong disappointment” at measures passed by the Lords which risked “tying the Government’s hands behind its back in negotiations with Brussels”, Downing Street said.
International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has suggested peers were using a “backdoor mechanism” to delay exit from the EU “indefinitely”.
In a blow to Mrs May’s Brexit plans, the House of Lords voted to give Parliament a decisive say on the outcome of the negotiations.
Asked about the Lords vote, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “There is a role for it to play in providing scrutiny, but the British public have voted to leave the European Union and Parliament needs to get on and deliver that.”
In an indication the Government will seek to overturn the defeat when the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill returns to the Commons, Mrs May told her Cabinet “the Government would be robust”, and it was “vital to ensure that the legislation is able to deliver the smooth Brexit which is in the interests of everybody in the UK”.
But Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suggested his MPs would seek to retain the extra powers for Parliament sought by the Lords, telling the BBC: “I think Parliament should have the final say on the terms of leaving the European Union, and if we don’t accept the decisions that the Government has made, then they should be sent back to negotiate again.”
Dr Fox, one of the most committed Brexiteers in Cabinet, was scathing about the Lords vote – one of three defeats on Monday night. He said: “We can’t have a situation where the clearly expressed will of the people in a referendum is thwarted by effectively procedural devices that would keep us in the EU indefinitely.”
He added: “I think there is quite a big debate now about whether the unelected House can actually thwart the view of the British electorate in a referendum and what’s been happening in terms of the legislation coming from the House of Commons.”
Dr Fox denied that a string of parliamentary defeats being inflicted on the Government would eventually force it into accepting that the UK would have to be part of some form of customs union with the EU – something Mrs May has previously ruled out.
His comments come ahead of a crunch meeting of the Cabinet’s Brexit sub-committee, which will decide on the UK’s approach to future customs arrangements.
“I don’t think there is a customs union that could ever be acceptable,” he said.
“If we are in a customs union of any sort we will have less ability to shape Britain’s future than we have today.”