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Nicola Sturgeon insists Westminster would be "wrong" to deny second Scottish independence referendum
Nicola Sturgeon has insisted it would be “wrong, unfair and utterly unsustainable” for Westminster to deny Scotland a second independence referendum if MSPs back her call for another ballot to be held. The First Minister said it was “'entirely legitimate” for the UK Government and opposition parties at Holyrood to “robustly” oppose independence. But with the Scottish Parliament expected to back her call for another referendum in a vote on Wednesday evening, she insisted she has an “unquestionable democratic mandate” for such a vote to take place. Her comments come as Ms Sturgeon and the Prime Minister are engaged in a constitutional stand-off.
The SNP leader wants another vote to take place between autumn next year and spring 2019, when she says there will be clarity over the outcome of the Brexit negotiations. Theresa May has declared “now is not the time” for another ballot, indicating the UK Government will reject the SNP's preferred timetable.
With the PM due to trigger Article 50 and start the formal two-year-long Brexit process on March 29, Ms Sturgeon told MSPs: “As a country, we can't avoid change. But we can choose what kind of change we want.” The First Minister spoke out at the start of a two-day debate at Holyrood in which MSPs are considering a motion to mandate the Scottish Government to take forward discussions with the UK Government on the details of a section 30 order - the mechanism to transfer the legal powers for a vote.
Snow set to blanket parts of the north of England
Commuters could face frosty conditions on Wednesday morning with the risk of up to 2ins of snowfall overnight on high ground. The Met Office has issued a weather warning for the north of England, including Cumbria, Northumberland and parts of Yorkshire.
Forecaster Craig Snell said: "Generally on the higher ground and higher routes we could see 2-5cm (0.7 2ins) of snow, lower levels could see a dusting. The cross-Pennine routes could be a fairly tricky commute tomorrow morning." Heavy rain is expected and temperatures will also drop. A warning is still in place in Scotland and Northern Ireland for slippery, icy conditions. Fine and sunny spells are forecast for the weekend, but temperatures could still fall below freezing overnight.
Amazing doctor faces tribunal over Ebola nurse screening
A doctor who misled other medics before Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey was struck down with the Ebola virus is “amazing”, a colleague told a tribunal today. Dr Hannah Ryan was one of the first UK medics to travel to Sierra Leone with Ms Cafferkey and other volunteers to undertake dangerous work helping treat victims of the deadly outbreak that killed thousands in West Africa in 2014. Another volunteer, Dr Sharon Irvine, told the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service: “Hannah is amazing. She's one of the best doctors I have worked with ever.”
But the tribunal has heard when they returned to the UK Dr Ryan took Ms Cafferkey's temperature while being screened for Ebola and “acquiesced” in not reporting a raised temperature indicative of infection. Ms Cafferkey was allowed to leave Heathrow Airport but fell seriously ill the next day. Dr Ryan admits misleading medics from Public Health England (PHE) doing the screening but denies misconduct at the hearing in Manchester.
Strangers' personal data revealed to Three users after technical fault
Some Three Mobile customers have been affected by a technical fault which saw them presented with the personal information of strangers when logging into online accounts. Users logging into the firm's My3 app claim they saw the names, addresses, phone numbers and the call history of other users rather than their own information. Three said the incident was a technical issue involving no outside factors or breaches and is so far only aware of a handful of affected customers.
The telecoms firm, which has around nine million customers in the UK, said it was investigating the incident, which comes just four months after hackers broke into the firm's database and compromised details of more than 130,000 customers. In a statement, Three said: “We are aware of a small number of customers who may have been able to view the mobile account details of other Three users using My3. “No financial details were viewable during this time and we are investigating the matter.”