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Arlene Foster, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland, said that the referendum in Ireland on abortion had no impact on the law in the province, where it is a devolved matter. But the Northern Ireland Assembly has not sat since January 2017, when power-sharing arrangements broke down. The DUP currently provides the British government with a parliamentary majority. Ireland had voted by 66.4 to 33.6 per cent (with a turnout of 64.1 per cent) to repeal the eighth amendment of the constitution, which gives equal rights to women and the unborn. The only constituency to vote against the repeal was Donegal, a county of Ulster not belonging to Northern Ireland. Leo Varadkar, the Taoiseach, said that a law would be in place by the end of the year to allow abortions during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and up to the 24th week in some circumstances. The Oliver Cromwell, a paddle-steamer being towed to Northern Ireland, sank off Anglesey.
Pret A Manger is to be sold to the Luxembourg-based JAB Holdings. The Electoral Commission said it had set aside £829,000 as a ‘precautionary measure, so that we have the necessary funds to deliver our functions at a European Parliamentary election, in the unlikely event that they do go ahead’ in 2019. Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, visited Brussels and explained Brexit to Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator. Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, returned from a tour of Peru, Chile and Argentina quoting Keats on ‘realms of gold’ for British trade if it left the EU customs union. Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, announced a scheme by which buskers would be able to use contactless payment.
A man in his eighties died after his car was submerged in flood water at Walsall, when rain deluged the West Midlands, with 2.28
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