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Queen to outline PM’s Brexit and NHS agenda
There won’t be the pageantry we’re used to seeing at the State Opening of Parliament. The Queen – minus ceremonial dress – will travel from Buckingham Palace by car, rather than carriage, as she did after the last snap election in 2017. But she will outline 20 proposed laws in setting out the government’s agenda, including the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill – which is expected to be put to a vote among MPs on Friday, before the Christmas recess. Other measures include guarantees on an extra £33.9bn per year for the NHS by 2023-4, longer sentences for violent criminals and a points-based immigration system. Prime Minister Boris Johnson says he wants to unite the UK and “level up” opportunity.
His commitment to the health service amounts to a 3.4% year-on-year increase in expenditure – higher than his predecessors’ but significantly lower than the 6% average annual increases seen under recent Labour leaders. And, allowing for inflation and increased costs, it could be worth £20.5bn by 2023-4. Labour’s health spokesman Jonathan Ashworth called on ministers to pledge “the extra £6bn a year which experts say is needed to start to make up the cuts they’ve imposed for a decade”. In Scotland, meanwhile, SNP leader and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is to set out the “unarguable” case for another independence referendum.
Trump to face Senate trial after impeachment
Donald Trump has become only the third US president to be impeached by the US House of Representatives after Democrats – who hold the majority – voted to support charges of abusing his power and obstructing Congress. It sets up a trial in the Senate to decide whether he remains in office. The key claims – denied by Mr Trump – are that he pressured Ukraine to announce investigations into his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, then withheld documentary evidence and barred aides from giving evidence. The Republican president addressed a rally during the 10-hour debate, accusing Democrats of being “consumed with envy and hatred and rage”, and tweeted: “Atrocious lies by the radical left.” Given the hyper-partisanship, North America editor Jon Sopel says there is only one likely result when the case reaches the Republican-majority Senate: “Donald Trump will be acquitted. He won’t be forced from office.”
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Fire and heat prompt Australia state of emergency
There is no end in sight to the bushfires raging in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), where a week-long state of emergency is in place as the heatwave continues. The nation experienced its hottest day on record on Tuesday – an average maximum of 40.9C (105.6F) – with temperatures in the mid-40s forecast for parts of NSW on Thursday. State authorities are fighting about 100 fires, two of them near the outskirts of Sydney, including one which has burnt over 400,000 hectares. Premier Gladys Berejiklian says: “The biggest concern over the next few days is the unpredictability, with extreme wind conditions [and] extremely hot temperatures.”
Is the Netherlands becoming a narco-state?
By Anna Holligan, BBC News, The Hague
“Sure we’re not Mexico. We don’t have 14,400 murders. But if you look at the infrastructure, the big money earned by organised crime, the parallel economy. Yes, we have a narco-state,” confides Jan Struijs, chairman of the biggest Dutch police union.
The deadly shooting of Derk Wiersum destroyed a common misconception here: that drug cartels only kill their own. A 44-year-old father of two, he was shot dead in front of his wife outside their home in Amsterdam in September. Wiersum was the lawyer for a prosecution witness, Nabil Bakkali, who had turned supergrass in a case against two of the Netherlands’ most wanted suspects. “This is meant to frighten us,” warned public prosecutor Fred Westerbeke.
What the papers say
Some papers look ahead to the Queen’s speech, with the i reporting that policies to be set out by the government will include “first aid” for the NHS. The Daily Mail says a “high street boost” will offer a business rates tax cut for half a million independent firms. However, the Financial Times reports the British armed forces face a £1bn funding crisis that “threatens to ground aircraft and restrict deployments of support vessels”.
Daily digest
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Armed forces Racism “prevalent”, ombudsman warns
Homo erectus Ancient humans survived longer than we thought
The Apprentice Lord Sugar finds his latest business partner
If you watch one thing today
Online child sexual abuse: I couldn’t stop looking
If you listen to one thing today
Teen mum and hospice chaplain: a first Christmas and a last
If you read one thing today
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Universal Pictures
Why Cats may be destined for the litter tray
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Lookahead
12:00 The SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon faces First Minister’s Questions for the first time since the general election, in Holyrood, where MSPs also will consider the Referendums (Scotland) Bill.
12:00 The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee announces its latest interest rate decision.
On this day
1984 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher signs an agreement to return British colony Hong Kong to China in 13 years.
From elsewhere
What school shooting drills are really like for kids (Slate)
Boris Johnson has one year to stop the break up of the UK. Here’s why (HuffPost UK)
Europe is home to a grave humanitarian crisis – but Brussels looks the other way (Guardian)
DNA from Stone Age ‘chewing gum’ tells an incredible story (National Geographic)
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