Metropolitan Police ‘regrets’ arrest of anti-monarchy group leader and five others before coronation
The Metropolitan Police has expressed “regret” over the arrest of six protesters in London before the coronation.
Leader of anti-monarchy group Republic, Graham Smith, was among six people detained by officers, who seized items that they believed could be used as lock-on devices.
However, the Met now says an investigation has been unable to prove intent to disrupt the event.
“This evening all six have had their bail cancelled and no further action will be taken,” the Met said in a statement.
“We regret that those six people arrested were unable to join the wider group of protesters in Trafalgar Square and elsewhere on the procession route.”
Officers arrested 64 people on coronation day, with 46 of those later bailed after being detained on suspicion of causing a public nuisance or breaching the peace.
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Republic chief on coronation arrests
Mr Smith said on Monday night that the Republic protesters who were arrested in London have all been told no charges will be brought against them.
He also called for a “full inquiry” into who authorised the arrests during the “disgraceful episode”.
He said: “The speed with which they did this demonstrates they were very quickly aware they had made a very serious error of judgment and there will be action taken again.
“I’m obviously relieved they dropped it so quickly but very angry they even went down this road, robbing people of their liberty for absolutely no reason.
“There was no evidence of any ability or intent to commit any offence and they simply decided to arrest us and that is outrageous.”
He added that a chief inspector and two other officers from the Met apologised to him personally at his home in Reading on Monday evening.
“I had three officers at my door personally apologising and handing the straps back to me. They were a chief inspector and two other officers from the Met. They seemed rather embarrassed to be honest,” he said.
“I said for the record I won’t accept the apology. We have a lot of questions to answer and we will be taking action.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has backed the Met over arrests amid concerns they were cracking down on dissent on Saturday at the behest of politicians.
Mr Smith previously described the arrest of protesters during the coronation as a “direct attack on democracy” which showed that the right to peacefully demonstrate “no longer exists”.
In a tweet on Monday evening, he said: “We have just been told that the police will be taking no further action.
“This has been a disgraceful episode and we will be speaking to lawyers about taking legal action.
“I also expect a full inquiry into why they repeatedly lied to us and who authorised the arrests.”
Among the group’s members who felt “targeted” and silenced were nine people that held up signs reading “Not my King” at the Mall, moments before the procession left Buckingham Palace.
Although not arrested, they were whisked out of sight of the King and Queen into St James’s Park to be searched by Welsh police officers, outnumbering them roughly two-to-one.
Officers surrounded them and exchanged words before rifling through their pockets – some protesters faced the wall with their hands up in front of them.
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Protester Harvey Woolf said: “I wasn’t very happy about the searches, I think we had been targeted because they didn’t want our message to get out.”
He continued: “What we are annoyed and disappointed about is that it was timed exactly to coincide with the point at which the carriage went down the Mall.”
The 66-year-old said police told him the protesters were suspected of carrying paint, but an officer told Sky News they led the Republic members away to avoid a “hostile environment” created by the crowds.
Harvey Woolf, 66, Republic protestor, on the Mall during the coronation of King Charles
Royal supporters had booed and shouted “shame on you” when the protesters were initially marched away from the Mall.
The Met and Welsh police were asked if it was policy to remove people who are subject to a “hostile environment”, rather than those creating it, but were not able to immediately respond to a request for comment.
The protesters had been standing still holding bright yellow signs above their heads, several rows back from the barricades lining the Mall, to object to what they called hereditary privilege and power.
Republic were not the only group at the centre of a dispute over police behaviour on Saturday, with Westminster Council volunteers handing out rape alarms reportedly arrested.
The arrests come in the wake of the Public Order Act, given royal assent on Tuesday, which handed the police more powers to curtail demonstrations, such as allowing officers to search people for items including locks and glue.
The dates for Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK have been announced, with the US president due to be welcomed by the King from 17 to 19 September.
Buckingham Palace also confirmed that President Trump and first lady Melania will be hosted by the King and Queen at Windsor Castle.
It was expected that the three-day state visit would take place in September after Mr Trump let slip earlier in April that he believed that was when his second “fest” was being planned for.
Windsor was also anticipated to be the location after the US president told reporters in the Oval Office that the letter from the King said Windsor would be the setting. Refurbishment works at Buckingham Palace also meant that Windsor was used last week for French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit.
This will be Mr Trump’s second state visit to the UK, an unprecedented gesture towards an American leader, having previously been invited to Buckingham Palace in 2019.
Donald Trump and Melania Trump posing with Charles and Camilla in 2019. Pic: Reuters
He has also been to Windsor Castle before, in 2018, but despite the considerable military pageantry of the day, and some confusion around inspecting the guard, it was simply for tea with Queen Elizabeth II.
Further details of what will happen during the three-day visit in September will be announced in due course.
On Friday, Sky News revealed it is now unlikely that the US president will address parliament, usually an honour given to visiting heads of state as part of their visit. Some MPs had raised significant concerns about him being given the privilege.
But the House of Commons will not be sitting at the time of Mr Trump’s visit as it will rise for party conference season on the 16 September, meaning the president will not be able to speak in parliament as President Macron did during his state visit this week. However, the House of Lords will be sitting.
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Labour MP: ‘Trump isn’t welcome here’
In February this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer presented the US president with the letter from the King inviting him to visit during a meeting at the White House.
After reading it, Mr Trump said it was a “great, great honour”, adding “and that says at Windsor – that’s really something”.
In February, Sir Keir Starmer revealed a letter from the King inviting Donald Trump to the UK. Pic: Reuters
In the letter, the King suggested they might meet at Balmoral or Dumfries House in Scotland first before the much grander state visit. However, it is understood that, although all options were explored, complexities in both the King and Mr Trump’s diaries meant it wasn’t possible.
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This week, it emerged that Police Scotland are planning for a summer visit from the US president, which is likely to see him visit one or both of his golf clubs in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire, and require substantial policing resources and probably units to be called in from elsewhere in the UK.
Precedent for second-term US presidents, who have already made a state visit, is usually tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.
A small plane has crashed at Southend Airport in Essex.
Essex Police said it was at the scene of a “serious incident”.
Images posted online showed huge flames and a large cloud of black smoke, with one witness saying they saw a “fireball”.
A police statement said: “We were alerted shortly before 4pm to reports of a collision involving one 12-metre plane.
“We are working with all emergency services at the scene now and that work will be ongoing for several hours.
“We would please ask the public to avoid this area where possible while this work continues.”
A huge fireball near the airport. Pic: Ben G
It has been reported that the plane involved in the incident is a Beech B200 Super King Air.
According to flight-tracking service Flightradar, it took off at 3.48pm and was bound for Lelystad, a city in the Netherlands.
One man, who was at Southend Airport with his family around the time of the incident, said the aircraft “crashed headfirst into the ground”.
John Johnson said: “About three or four seconds after taking off, it started to bank heavily to its left, and then within a few seconds of that happening, it more or less inverted and crashed.
“There was a big fireball. Obviously, everybody was in shock in terms of witnessing it. All the kids saw it and the families saw it.”
Mr Johnson added that he phoned 999 to report the crash.
Southend Airport said the incident involved “a general aviation aircraft”.
Four flights scheduled to take off from Southend this afternoon were cancelled, according to its website.
Flightradar data shows two planes that had been due to land at Southend were diverted to nearby airports London Gatwick and London Stansted.
Plumes of black smoke. Pic: UKNIP
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said four crews, along with off-road vehicles, have attended the scene.
Four ambulances and four hazardous area response team vehicles are also at the airport, as well as an air ambulance, the East of England Ambulance Service said.
Its statement described the incident as “still developing”.
Fire engines at the airport
David Burton-Sampson, the MP for Southend West and Leigh, posted on social media: “I am aware of an incident at Southend Airport. Please keep away and allow the emergency services to do their work.
“My thoughts are with everyone involved.”
Local councillor Matt Dent said on X: “At present all I know is that a small plane has crashed at the airport. My thoughts are with all those involved, and with the emergency services currently responding to the incident.”
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UK
Heidi Alexander says ‘fairness’ will be government’s ‘guiding principle’ when it comes to taxes at next budget
Another hint that tax rises are coming in this autumn’s budget has been given by a senior minister.
Speaking to Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander was asked if Sir Keir Starmer and the rest of the cabinet had discussed hiking taxes in the wake of the government’s failed welfare reforms, which were shot down by their own MPs.
Trevor Phillips asked specifically if tax rises were discussed among the cabinet last week – including on an away day on Friday.
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Tax increases were not discussed “directly”, Ms Alexander said, but ministers were “cognisant” of the challenges facing them.
Asked what this means, Ms Alexander added: “I think your viewers would be surprised if we didn’t recognise that at the budget, the chancellor will need to look at the OBR forecast that is given to her and will make decisions in line with the fiscal rules that she has set out.
“We made a commitment in our manifesto not to be putting up taxes on people on modest incomes, working people. We have stuck to that.”
Ms Alexander said she wouldn’t comment directly on taxes and the budget at this point, adding: “So, the chancellor will set her budget. I’m not going to sit in a TV studio today and speculate on what the contents of that budget might be.
“When it comes to taxation, fairness is going to be our guiding principle.”
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Afterwards, shadow home secretary Chris Philp told Phillips: “That sounds to me like a barely disguised reference to tax rises coming in the autumn.”
He then went on to repeat the Conservative attack lines that Labour are “crashing the economy”.
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Chris Philp also criticsed the government’s migration deal with France
Mr Philp then attacked the prime minister as “weak” for being unable to get his welfare reforms through the Commons.
Discussions about potential tax rises have come to the fore after the government had to gut its welfare reforms.
Sir Keir had wanted to change Personal Independence Payments (PIP), but a large Labour rebellion forced him to axe the changes.
With the savings from these proposed changes – around £5bn – already worked into the government’s sums, they will now need to find the money somewhere else.
The general belief is that this will take the form of tax rises, rather than spending cuts, with more money needed for military spending commitments, as well as other areas of priority for the government, such as the NHS.
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