Priti Patel, the home secretary, has suggested that some of the people present at the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard on Saturday night were to blame for it turning “ugly”. She told MPs that she had “extensive discussions” with the Metropolitan police ahead of the vigil and that she made her views about what should happen “very clear”. On Saturday, after the police broke up the vigil and arrested four women, Patel posted a message on Twitter saying some of the footage of what happened was “upsetting”. (See 3.22pm.) But responding to questions from MPs during a Commons statement, she was much more supportive of the police, hinting that some firmness was appropriate. Asked by Sir Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, what she had said to Dame Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, ahead of the vigil, Patel said that the police had operational independence. But she went on: I had been in touch with the Metropolitan police commissioner on Friday and throughout the weekend and we have had extensive discussions in terms of planning, preparation for the vigil at the weekend. I should, however, emphasise that on Friday there was legal action under way so until that legal action has been determined - and the commissioner and the Metropolitan Police themselves were engaging with the organisers with the vigil - there were various plans the police were working on. I will be very clear though: on Friday my views were known. And they were based on the fact that people who wanted to pay tribute within the locality - bear in mind we’re in a pandemic, we cannot forget that - that people who live locally, clearly who were either out on a daily basis, passing through - laying flowers is absolutely the right thing to do and we saw many people doing that. Patel did not tell Davey what she had advised the police to do about people arriving specifically for the early evening vigil (by then officially cancelled) who were not just locals passing through and laying flowers. She said the scenes on Saturday evening were upsetting and that she had ordered a review. But later she gave a further hint to her views in response to the Conservative MP Fay Jones. Jones said: I’m shocked at the way in which Saturday night’s vigil was policed, the situation demanded sensitivity and compassion, something which was evidently lacking. But I’m also shocked that what started as a peaceful and important vigil turned into a protest with photographs showing ‘ACAB’ signs, which stands for ‘All Cops Are Bastards’. I’m concerned that a young woman’s murder could be hijacked by those who would seek to defund the police and destabilise our society, making it even harder for women to come forward and report assaults. Patel said Jones had made a “a very, very important point that a peaceful vigil on Saturday turned into some pretty ugly scenes”. Patel hinted that the government would back a Labou plan for repeat perpetrators of abuse and stalking to be placed on a register. In the Commons Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the Commons home affairs committee, said that when she propose this last year, ministers said it was not needed. Patel replied: There is something about perpetrators and their serial offending that has to be addressed. There is no question about that at all. This does link, predominantly, to many of the criminal justice outcomes and the wider debate that this house will be having - not just later on today but over future weeks as well. I will be very candid: we will look at all measures and rightly so. In the Lords peers are due to vote on a Labour amendment for this proposal later tonight.
The EU has formally launched legal action against the UK, alleging that Boris Johnson has broken international law over Brexit implementation in Northern Ireland. Michael Gove has attacked plans for a fresh Scottish independence referendum as a “momentous distraction” from the critical work of recovering from the coronavirus crisis facing all the UK’s governments. Britain’s economic prospects are improving as a result of the successful vaccine programme and could perform more strongly than expected over the coming months, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England has said. That’s all from me for tonight. But our coverage continues on our global coronavirus live blog. It’s here.