May and Tusk agree to 'lower tensions' in Brexit talks when issues like Gibraltar create problems

Afternoon summary

Theresa May and Donald Tusk, president of the European council, have agreed to “lower tensions” in Brexit talks when issues like Gibraltar create difficulties.At a meeting in Downing Street, May also said that the sovereignty of Gibraltar was not up for negotiation in the negotiations.

May and Tusk agree to 'lower tensions'

Mark Reckless, the former Conservative MP who defected to Ukip, has quit the party to support the Conservative group in the Welsh assembly, where he now sits. Ukip have said that he should resign his seat in the assembly. Reckless said that he would “love” to be able to fight a byelection, as he did when he was an MP in 2014 and defected, but that the proportional representation list system used in the Welsh assembly make this impossible. He explained:

Unfortunately, the proportional representation system we have in Wales doesn’t allow that [fighting a byelection].
I would say many of the people who voted Ukip in South East Wales last year, now the Conservatives are delivering Brexit and we are the main opposition in the assembly, I think are, like me, leaving Ukip and coming over to the Conservatives now we have achieved what we wanted in Ukip, which was a successful referendum to leave the EU.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has questioned whether George Osborne will be able to edit London’s Evening Standard newspaper while remaining an MP for his north-west constituency.
Ryanair has warned it will have to halt flights from the UK for “weeks or months” if Theresa May does not seal an early bilateral Brexit deal on international aviation.

The supreme court has upheld the ban on parents taking their children out of school for family holidays during term time.

A cross-party collection of peers has called on the government to rethink a cut to bereaved parents’ benefits, which comes into force on today, saying ministers must accept they have made a mistake.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.