ABERDEEN — The SNP-led Scottish government is set to drop its long-standing opposition to new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea. Two senior members of the Scottish government — granted anonymity to discuss a strategy not yet ready for publication — told POLITICO the government will revise its energy plans to take a more pro-oil and gas exploration position. Tests on compatibility with the government’s climate targets will remain, but Scotland will no longer begin from a position of opposition to new oil and gas projects. The move marks a major change in the Scottish government’s energy policy. The Scottish government — led by the SNP since 2007 — released a draft energy strategy in 2023 which set out its “presumption against” new oil and gas fields in the North Sea. That draft strategy is “out of date,” one senior Scottish government official said. They said a new strategy, expected by the summer, will not contain this wording. A second person with knowledge of the policy said the new strategy will “reflect the world as it is.” The shift in policy comes with the U.K. government widely expected to give the go-ahead to the Jackdaw gas field next week. While the Scottish government has little power over the granting of new licenses for projects such as Jackdaw or the Rosebank oil field — where a decision is expected to come separately and at a later date — it has an important symbolic role, and can apply pressure to the U.K. government to approve licenses.  SNP politicians at the party’s conference in Aberdeen privately admitted the stance on Jackdaw has hurt the party electorally.  The party passed a resolution at its conference Friday which stated that the “utilisation of domestic production” of oil and gas is “clearly preferable to importation”. This was seen as a further softening of the position of the SNP — which governed in a quasi-coalition with the anti-exploration Scottish Greens until as recently as 2004. This resolution, which changes the party’s official policy, will be used as the government writes its new energy strategy, the two people quoted above said. In the summer, the SNP lost a key parliamentary by-election in Aberdeen to the pro-drilling Conservative Party, where their North Sea messaging was a key focus. “It was bruising ,” the official quoted above said. “But we’d been shifting our position for a while.”  Speaking in the debate at the party’s conference Friday, the defeated SNP candidate in that by-election said the victorious Conservatives had hung the words ‘presumption against’ around “our necks lie an albatross.” ”We need to put to bed any suggestion that our party, or our government, supports a ‘presumption against’,” Richard Thomson said. 

LONDON — Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s carefully built relationship with Donald Trump could be torpedoed by the disclosure of Peter Mandelson’s communications as ambassador, U.K. officials fear. Starmer will have to publish documents relating to the ex-Labour peer’s appointment as ambassador after demands from MPs across the political spectrum for greater transparency about the process. While it is not yet known exactly what will be published, the files may include messages from Mandelson to officials at No.10 Downing Street and the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office.  Two senior Whitehall officials, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, told POLITICO they are concerned about what the former envoy — known for his ruthlessness and candor — may have said about Trump to his colleagues, and how they responded to him. One of the officials said there is “lots which could be damaging” and “he [Mandelson] used to download his thoughts in real time.” They point out that parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee, which will sift through the documents before publication, will only be looking for matters that could jeopardize national security, rather than cause embarrassment or rifts. In a further sign of the shockwaves going through the diplomatic establishment, FCDO permanent secretary Oliver Robbins wrote to all departmental staff Wednesday night to reassure them over the “anxiety” caused by the whole affair. He asked civil servants approached about communications that may be disclosed to refer all requests to his office. In the message, obtained by POLITICO, Robbins said, referencing the PM’s earlier expression of regret for appointing Mandelson: “I am also sorry about this episode, which I know will have affected staff particularly in our U.S. team but also across the workforce. “I want to acknowledge that anxiety and reassure you that my recommendations as head of the diplomatic service to the foreign secretary for the many roles in our department carrying enormous trust and leadership responsibility are guided by my deep concern to preserve and enhance our service’s reputation for merit, professionalism and integrity.” NATIONAL SECURITY EXCEPTIONS The ISC has specified that papers which are national security related should be sent to them unredacted, and the government should provide an explanation as to exactly why pieces of information are prejudicial. “We believe the motion is clear that those papers which the government is required to provide to the ISC must be disclosed, unredacted, to the ISC,” the committee said in a letter to the PM and cabinet secretary. “The government may not decline to disclose any in scope material altogether” Kevan Jones, chair of the committee, told the BBC that the panel would put “as much as possible in the public domain.” One of Mandelson’s predecessors as ambassador, Kim Darroch, was forced to resign in 2019 over his criticism of Trump’s “dysfunctional” administration, made in confidential diplomatic cables that were made public.  But both senior officials cited above made it clear that Mandelson may not have always used cables for his musings on Trump, instead often using email and texts. Mandelson, one of the architects of New Labour who helped bring Tony Blair to power in 1997, returned to high office last year when he was named as the British ambassador to Washington despite his known links to the pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.  He was forced out of that role in September after it was reported he had continued a closer relationship with Epstein after the late financier’s conviction than was previously publicly known.  Mandelson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He has not commented on the police investigation, but has previously said he was wrong to have continued his association with Epstein and apologized “unequivocally” to Epstein’s victims. The scandal was reopened Monday when emails released as part of the Epstein files appeared to show Mandelson leaking internal government discussions in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.  Police are now investigating allegations of misconduct in public office against him, which they have warned may limit some of the information which is made available.  

LONDON — Britain’s Labour MPs are talking furtively about ousting their leader. There’s just one hurdle: they need to work out how. Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing renewed outrage in his party after he admitted knowing that Peter Mandelson continued his friendship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, but appointed him as ambassador to the U.S. anyway. It’s the latest crisis for Starmer, whose personal popularity has tanked despite Labour winning in a 2024 landslide. Yet while MPs have anonymously thrown around potential challengers’ names for months, nothing has happened. They include former Deputy PM Angela Rayner, Health Secretary Wes Streeting, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Defence Secretary John Healey and 2024-entry minister Al Carns. (All publicly insist they are loyal to Starmer.) The upshot is that Starmer could remain in office for months or even years, even while his own MPs drift from his leadership. The hurdles are mostly political, given local elections looming in May and there is no single heir apparent, but procedure is to blame too. Labour’s internal rules, which have changed since the last time a sitting leader was challenged in 2016, are notorious for being far more opaque than in the opposition Conservative Party. Challengers need 80 fellow MPs to back them in order to trigger a contest, but the exact process is “concerningly vague” and “muddy,” one Labour official said. They added: “Everyone is fumbling around in the dark, hoping that they get enough momentum that it’s overwhelming and carries them over the line.” A second Labour official said: “I would assume that 95 percent of MPs don’t actually understand how this works, hence there are widespread fantasies about being able to have a coronation.” They added: “I’m reasonably confident that people just won’t get their shit together.” So POLITICO is here to help. We spoke to four Labour officials with knowledge of the process to clarify exactly how a hypothetical challenge would unfold, if it ever happens. All were granted anonymity to discuss internal processes. STEP 1: FIND 80 FRIENDS — IN SECRET It will kick off a mile and a half from Downing Street, in the office of a Labour Party official who is seldom seen in the public eye. Any challenger or their supporters must write to General Secretary Hollie Ridley with the names of 81 MP backers, including the challenger themselves. This can happen either by email or with signatures on paper delivered to the party’s London headquarters. “I assume they would walk in and dump 80 letters on Hollie’s desk,” said one of the four officials noted above. It’s unclear whether challengers should send one message signed by 81 people, or 81 letters (some officials who spoke to POLITICO were unsure; others thought either would be fine). Either way, this means plotters must sign up one fifth of their party to a coup … without their efforts leaking and fizzling out midway through. And backers must be ready to be named publicly hours later. Given the level of gossip among Labour MPs, good luck with that. These are much higher hurdles than in Britain’s Conservative Party, whose MPs can submit no-confidence letters anonymously and don’t need to attach them to a named challenger. Politics will probably overtake the process in the end. The last leadership challenge, against left-winger Jeremy Corbyn in 2016, was plain for all to see before it reached the formal stages — because a wave of ministers resigned and MPs passed a symbolic no-confidence vote in his leadership. STEP 2: A PAUSE — THEN A WHIRLWIND  There will be a short pause while Ridley seeks internal and legal advice before the 81 names are published — and Labour hits a thousand miles per hour. The party will convene a meeting of the 10 officers of Labour’s ruling national executive committee (NEC), which will make recommendations on the timetable and procedure to the wider NEC to wave through. Other MPs will be invited to nominate rival challengers. As the sitting prime minister, Starmer will have a place on the list automatically. But they will have to act fast. During the contest to find Labour’s new deputy leader in the fall, formal MP nominations were only open for three days and the entire contest was over in eight weeks. NEC officers are largely pro-Starmer — they include Starmer himself, though any candidate would be recused from discussions — and were the same people who blocked Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham from attempting to return to parliament in January. They may have an interest in moving quickly, to avoid destabilizing the prime minister on the world stage or allowing a left-wing candidate to gain traction. STEP 3: CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTERS CAREFULLY One piece of advice to warring MPs: Get it right first time. The four officials all said that once MPs pick who to nominate, they are “locked in” and cannot transfer to another candidate unless their pick drops out of the race. The full tally of MP nominations — with names — will be published daily on the Labour Party website, unlike the Tory system which uses a secret ballot. STEP 4: GET YOUR RUBBER CHICKEN OUT Candidates who pass the 81 MP threshold will then go through to a second stage, where they spend weeks touring the country to persuade local parties and unions to back them. They must win the support of 5 percent of Labour’s constituency parties, or at least three of the party’s formal “affiliate” bodies including two trade unions. This is not always a formality, as Emily Thornberry — now chair of the Commons’ foreign affairs committee — discovered when she failed to reach the local party threshold when running against Starmer in 2020. Two of the four officials noted above suggested that Wes Streeting — despite being widely seen as a frontrunner — could struggle during this stage, as many unions and constituency parties regard his politics as not left-wing enough. A third official said this was inaccurate, given there has been an exodus of left-wing members from the party. STEP 5: GO TO THE PARTY Whoever pulls through the initial stages — probably three candidates at the most — will go through to a final vote of Labour’s members. The result is difficult to predict, as many of the most left-wing members who joined under Jeremy Corbyn in the late 2010s have exited the party. In October’s deputy leadership vote, Bridget Phillipson — who was widely painted as being aligned to Starmer — lost by only a small margin. The winner will be Labour leader, and therefore prime minister. If Keir Starmer wins, he will stay in No. 10, secure until the next time a critic is strong enough politically to come for him. If a rival wins, Starmer will visit King Charles III to tender his resignation as PM.

The Court of Justice of the EU on Thursday annulled the European Parliament’s 2021 decision to strip Catalan separatist lawmakers’ immunity, citing doubts regarding the impartiality of the process through which the measure was adopted. Following the illegal Catalan independence referendum in 2017, former regional President Carles Puigdemont and separatist politicians Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí fled to Belgium. Spanish authorities eventually charged all three with alleged offenses of insurgency and misappropriation of public funds, and issued warrants for their arrest, but Belgian judges declined to extradite them. The Catalan politicians’ ability to evade Spain’s efforts to detain them appeared to be reinforced in 2019, when all three were elected to the European Parliament and gained the right to claim immunity as lawmakers. Madrid pushed to stop the MEPs-elect from being recognized by the Parliament, arguing their election could only be certified if they returned to Spain and swore allegiance to the constitution, but the separatists were ultimately admitted by the legislature’s then-president, David Sassoli, in 2020. Spain then petitioned the Parliament to lift the separatists’ immunity, and in 2021 a majority of lawmakers voted in favor of doing so. Although Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí challenged that waiver, the EU’s General Court upheld it in 2023, weakening their ability to evade Madrid’s extradition requests. But Thursday’s appeals ruling by the top court annuls the Parliament’s decision, finding the institution failed to “ensure the impartiality” of the procedure to waive the lawmakers’ immunity. The high court’s doubts regarding the neutrality of the process focused on Spain’s far-right Vox party, which was involved in filing the criminal case at the origin of Madrid’s extradition request. The court found that the Parliament violated the principles of impartiality by permitting former Bulgarian MEP Angel Dzhambazki, whose European Conservatives and Reformists Group then included the Vox party, to serve as the rapporteur overseeing Spain’s waiver request in the Legal Affairs Committee. EU law establishes that examinations of petitions of this kind cannot be led by lawmakers connected to the prosecution. As additional evidence of Dzhambazki’s lack of impartiality, the ruling notes that the Bulgarian lawmaker participated in a 2019 event titled “Catalonia is Spain,” at which the Vox party’s secretary-general declared, “Long live Spain, long live Europe and lock Puigdemont up!” In addition to having its 2021 decision annulled, the Parliament is ordered to pay the legal costs incurred by Puigdemont, Comín and Ponsatí in their initial challenge before the EU’s General Court, and their appeal to the Court of Justice. The ruling represents a stark rebuke of the Parliament and its handling of the Catalan separatist saga. The Parliament declined POLITICO’s request for comment. Of the lawmakers involved in the case, only Comín remains a member of the EU legislature. Ponsatí returned to Spain in 2023 and was briefly detained before being released by authorities. Puigdemont remains in Belgium, awaiting the implementation of a controversial amnesty law passed by the Spanish parliament in 2024. The legislation’s application has been halted by the courts, with the separatist leader specifically blocked from benefiting from the law due to pending embezzlement charges. Spain’s Constitutional Court last week rejected a request to suspend Puigdemont’s arrest warrant. The same body is expected to rule on whether he should benefit from the amnesty bill later this year. Sebastian Starcevic contributed to this report.

BRUSSELS ― The EU’s conservatives are convening for the second time in a week as they increase internal coordination after a tough first year of Ursula von der Leyen’s second term at the head of the European Commission. After last weekend’s meeting of European People’s Party leaders in Croatia, this week sees EPP members of the European Parliament gather in Slovenia, where they will discuss policy with the bloc’s commissioners in charge of defense and regional development. The party has powerful national chiefs, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, but is up against surging opposition figures across the political spectrum. “Populists on the left and right oppose everything without proposing anything,” said European People’s Party Vice Chair Romana Tomc in a statement. The party “will discuss who we will work with to deliver real change in Europe.” Von der Leyen has seen off four no-confidence votes since the start of her second term on Dec. 1, 2024 while the EPP has been boosted since May by the return of a German chancellor from its ranks. But the group’s traditional Brussels allies from the center left and liberal center have distanced themselves from some EPP policies, especially those supported by the far right such as the rollback of EU green rules, including cuts to corporate sustainability and deforestation legislation. The Ljubljana meeting is another example of how Manfred Weber, chair of the EPP and head of its European Parliament faction, is trying to tighten decision-making and bring more central control over policy in the Commission, the Parliament and the Council of the EU, which represents national governments, according to two EPP officials. Weber wants to use the different iterations of EPP gatherings to increase the number of touch points for center-right leaders and senior EU officials to meet and coordinate policies ahead of big moments on the calendar, they said. Next week’s EU diplomacy is particularly intense, with a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels on Wednesday, a summit of EU leaders in the Belgian countryside on Thursday, and the Munich Security Conference, which brings together some of the world’s most powerful decisionmakers, from Friday to Sunday. COMING TOGETHER The EPP is well represented in Brussels, with von der Leyen and Parliament President Roberta Metsola its two leading figures. In addition to regular pre-summit gatherings, where EPP leaders meet on the morning of European Councils, Weber has inaugurated annual meetings of national chiefs, of which last weekend’s gathering in Zagreb was the most recent. “The more coordination we can have between various groups of people, the better,” said an EU official granted anonymity to speak freely, like others in this story. “Because then you have the relationships and the format to stop the wheels coming off completely.” At informal dinners held on the Tuesday ahead of the Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg, the EPP’s commissioners, among them von der Leyen, as well as economy chief Valdis Dombrovskis and tech boss Henna Virkkunen, sit down with Weber and his Parliament vice presidents. These dinners “were set at the beginning of the term and structured in a way that allowed [the party] to have greater influence on the work of the Commission,” said an EPP official. “The goal — I won’t hide it — is to know in advance the direction the Commission is heading and to have an impact already at the preparatory stage, even before proposals are formally presented,” they added. IRONCLAD SECURITY The summit of MEPs in the Slovene capital, which kicked off Wednesday and runs until Friday, is aimed at what the organizers call “strategic planning.” Party members also pointed to the increasingly important role of policy position papers that the EPP now regularly publishes. | Marko Perkov/AFP via Getty Images In Zagreb last weekend, leaders agreed to work on making the EU’s mutual-defense clause operational, and tasked two national leaders, as yet unidentified, with spelling out how to make it an ironclad security guarantee. It’s never been used because NATO has a similar provision, but leaders are worried U.S. President Donald Trump will make that obsolete. Such moves highlight how the EPP is trying to influence wider EU policy and get ahead of security or economic decisions taken by the Commission or by leaders, where opinions from parties opposed to the center right have to be taken into account. Party members also pointed to the increasingly important role of policy position papers that the EPP now regularly publishes, which give direction to the party’s senior officials and leaders. The push to water down planks of the Green Deal, as well as an ongoing deregulation drive, both originated in policy papers drafted by the EPP following coordination meetings, two party officials said. In its 2024 manifesto the party called for the creation of a defense commissioner role, which von der Leyen made a reality when she took office. The party also called for deregulation and watering down the EU Green Deal, which became a central part of von der Leyen’s policy agenda during her second mandate. Gerardo Fortuna contributed reporting.

LONDON — For Keir Starmer, the crises and climbdowns just keep getting faster. The British prime minister, facing questions about his judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson as U.K. ambassador to Washington despite his Jeffrey Epstein links, pledged on Wednesday to publish a cache of emails and texts between the ex-Labour peer and his top team — on his own terms. But hours later he was forced to toughen up independent scrutiny of this document release in the face of a revolt by his own MPs, who are horrified by the scandal and fear opposition accusations of a cover-up will stick. Taken alone, this technical U-turn will not enter any history books. But the last-minute drama around it puts the already weak Labour leader in further peril. Nervous MPs in his governing party, now awaiting the document dump with deep unease, are rounding with renewed ferocity on the PM and his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney. POLITICO spoke to 20 Labour MPs and current and former officials for this piece. “We need a head,” said one moderate Labour MP who entered parliament in 2024 and was, like others quoted, granted anonymity to speak frankly. “Someone has to pay the price for this failure,” a second, usually loyal, MP from the 2024 intake said, adding they “wouldn’t care” who exactly it was. In the minds of many of Labour’s own MPs and officials, the Mandelson affair has further weakened Starmer and McSweeney, who pushed for the appointment of his close ally and friend as ambassador in late 2024. After rows over a succession of tax and policy U-turns, some believe the Mandelson crisis exemplifies their criticisms of Starmer’s leadership — paying too little attention to a potential problem until it blows up into a full-blown scandal. “I love Morgan, but Keir has to sack him and he should have sacked him a long time ago,” said one Labour official who has long been loyal to the leadership. “The problem is, who does Keir replace him with?” TAINTED BY MANDELSON Starmer defended McSweeney to the hilt on Wednesday. “Morgan McSweeney is an essential part of my team,” he told MPs. “He helped me change the Labour Party and win an election. Of course I have confidence in him,” the PM said. Some MPs also rallied around Starmer, blaming an overexcited media narrative and MPs on edge for the next scandal. “This feels like a Westminster story at the moment rather than something terminal for the PM in the eyes of the public,” said a third Labour MP elected in 2024. But the mood in large parts of the party on Wednesday night was bleak. The latest round of bloodletting began in earnest on Monday, when emails released as part of the Epstein files appeared to show Mandelson leaking government financial discussions in the wake of the 2008 banking crash. Police are now investigating allegations of misconduct in public office. Mandelson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the police investigation Tuesday evening. He has previously said he was wrong to have continued his association with Epstein and apologized “unequivocally” to Epstein’s victims. Starmer, like the rest of the British state and public, insists he did not know about the bombshell emails, and would never have appointed Mandelson if he did. Having already sacked Mandelson in September he is now obliterating his reputation, saying on Wednesday that Mandelson “lied repeatedly” during his appointment as ambassador.  Yet it was well known that Mandelson came with baggage. Starmer knew the former Labour Cabinet minister had been repeatedly sacked in scandal — and confirmed at the weekly Prime Minister’s Questions session on Wednesday that he had known Mandelson was friends with Epstein. “That was the moment,” said a fourth, moderate Labour MP. “The mood was awful. I had opposition MPs saying to me that they had not seen one that bad in decades.” Several Labour MPs and officials who spoke to POLITICO voiced fears that revealing details of the vetting process will paint Starmer and his chief of staff as too incurious about the wider situation. Mandelson had worked closely with McSweeney since the late 2010s and gave Labour informal advice in the run-up to its 2024 election landslide. One former No. 10 official said Mandelson was not on the list of potential ambassadors until McSweeney took over as chief of staff in October 2024, claiming: “Morgan didn’t do anything without speaking to Peter.” “Once the timeline — and the degree to which searching questions were asked — become clear, I think Morgan might be in trouble,” one U.K. government official added. Mandelson went through at least three layers of checks, a second U.K. government official said. Before his role was announced, the Cabinet Office carried out due diligence. Afterward, he was subjected to full deep security vetting. The third layer — and potentially the most problematic for Starmer and McSweeney — was a letter to Mandelson before his appointment from the chief of staff on the PM’s behalf. It asked three questions: why he continued contact with Epstein after his conviction, why he was reported to have stayed in one of Epstein’s home when the financier was in prison, and whether he was associated with a charity founded by Epstein’s associate Ghislaine Maxwell. A No. 10 official said reports that linked Mandelson to Epstein, including after he was first convicted, had been looked into as part of the appointment process. “Peter Mandelson lied to the Prime Minister, hid information that has since come to light and presented Epstein as someone he barely knew,” the No. 10 official added. HURRY UP AND WAIT Some Labour MPs — spooked by consistent polls putting Labour behind Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK — are so angry that they want to see regime change immediately. For many on Labour’s left or “soft left” flank this was simply a chance to push their campaign against No. 10. One former minister, already hostile to the leadership, said it felt like the worst part of Starmer’s premiership and McSweeney should go now. Left-wing former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn, long cast out of the party over comments on antisemitism, went on Sky News to say Starmer may even be challenged before local elections, which will be held across the U.K. in May. Others were new converts to immediate action. A fifth Labour MP, a moderate who entered parliament in 2024, also said McSweeney should go now. They lamented the “blind spot for many in the leadership” who allowed Mandelson to become ambassador. It has left some MPs angry and dejected. One, Sarah Owen, made an impassioned intervention in Wednesday’s debate: “Don’t we need to put the victims at the heart of this, not just ourselves?” But they will have to wait if they want the facts behind the case to become clear. MPs agreed on Wednesday night to release a series of documents concerning the diligence and vetting around Mandelson’s appointment, as well as communications he had with McSweeney, ministers, civil servants and special advisers in the six months before his appointment. Starmer had intended to block the release of any documents that would prejudice U.K. national security or international relations. But No. 10 staged a late climbdown after Angela Rayner — a key figure among MPs on Labour’s “soft left” who resigned as deputy prime minister amid a housing scandal in September — called for parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) to have a role. Officials scrambled to compile a new amendment that would give the ISC the final say on what is blocked. It will likely take days or weeks for the government to work through what needs to be released, and far longer for the ISC to work through the most contentious documents after that. The Met Police also released a statement on Wednesday night warning the release of specific documents “could undermine” its current investigation into Mandelson’s alleged misconduct in public office. The releases — which could include Mandelson’s private messages to friends in the Cabinet, such as Health Secretary Wes Streeting — will provide easy fodder to a British media gripped by the stories of Epstein’s friendships with Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew. But most MPs and officials who spoke to POLITICO agreed that No. 10 and McSweeney stand to lose the most. A second former No. 10 official said: “Lots of people are nice to creepy people in politics. But when it comes down to the brass tacks of who knew what or did what when they made the appointment — that’s the chopping block stuff.” A sixth Labour MP, on the left of the party, said even frontbenchers were “questioning why they should jeopardise their own positions to protect one individual [McSweeney].” But the question of “when” remains a key one.  One Labour figure loyal to Starmer’s No. 10 admitted there will be pressure for McSweeney to go now, but insisted anyone with an ounce of political sense would delay any move against him until after local elections in May — so that he could absorb the blame for any losses and protect the PM. Even a staunch ally of McSweeney — who has been at Starmer’s side since he first ran to be Labour leader — said they had no idea if he will survive. But a seventh Labour MP, elected in 2024, thinks questions over McSweeney’s future are a red herring. “It’s ultimately about the PM’s judgement,” they said. The fourth Labour MP quoted above added: “If one of them goes, the other one has to go too.” Esther Webber contributed reporting.

ATHENS — Greece’s authorities on Wednesday launched an internal investigation into a deadly collision between a coast guard patrol vessel and a speedboat carrying migrants off the island of Chios. According to a statement by the coast guard, the collision occurred after the speedboat, which had its navigation lights off, ignored signals from the patrol vessel and changed course. The boat capsized due to the force of the impact, sending its passengers into the sea. At least 15 migrants were killed while 24 were rescued. A search and rescue operation is ongoing, and it is still unclear how many were on board. Two coast guard officers were also slightly injured. A prosecutor ordered the arrest of a Moroccan national who was piloting the speedboat. The coast guard said a camera installed on its vessel was not active at the time of the crash. An official from Frontex, the EU’s coastguard agency, said the agency wasn’t involved in the operation. Frontex has offered a plane to support the search and rescue but has not yet been asked by Greek authorities to deploy it. Greece has repeatedly been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights, Frontex and the EU Commission for pushbacks of migrant vessels and for improper investigations by its coast guard. In the notorious case of the Pylos shipwreck, among the deadliest in modern Mediterranean history, an independent investigation by the Greek Ombudsman recommended that disciplinary charges be filed against coast guard officers for alleged dereliction of duty. Migration Minister Thanos Plevris relayed the coast guard’s version of events and told the parliament that the tragedy underscores the fight Greece must wage against “killer smugglers.” Dimitris Mantzos, spokesperson of the Pasok main opposition party, said: “The truth must be revealed institutionally, without ideological bias or anti-immigration rhetoric.”

BRUSSELS — The European Parliament’s top trade lawmakers failed on Wednesday to reach a common position on the EU-U.S. trade deal, in a move that risks fueling Washington’s impatience against the EU’s slow pace in finally implementing its side of a bargain struck last summer. Negotiations will continue until next week, two people who attended a meeting of the lawmakers told POLITICO. One said that committee vote was penciled in for Feb. 24 and a final plenary vote for March. Both were granted anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks. The meeting failed to clear remaining hurdles regarding the Parliament’s position on the removal of tariffs on U.S. industrial goods and lobsters — a precondition for Washington to reduce its own tariffs on European cars.  Lawmakers from the international trade committee disagreed on the length of a sunset clause which would limit the proposals’ application to 18 to 36 months, as well as whether the EU should withdraw any tariff concessions until a solution is found between Brussels and Washington on the 50 percent tariff the Trump administration has put on steel derivatives. With the EU still processing the shock of Trump’s threats against the territorial sovereignty of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark, the liberal Renew group and the Socialists & Democrats are pushing to Trump-proof the deal by inserting suspension clauses into enabling legislation in case the U.S. president turns hostile again.  The center-right European People’s Party has pushed to sign off the deal following calls from EU leaders to unfreeze the implementation of the deal.  Failure to reach an agreement on Wednesday throws into disarray the timeline for parliamentary approval, and further delays the start of negotiations with EU capitals and the European Commission.

ATHENS — Greece’s parliament is expected to pass double-edged legislation on Wednesday that will help recruit tens of thousands more South Asian workers, while simultaneously penalizing migrants that the government says have entered the country illegally. Greece’s right-wing administration seeks to style itself as tough on migration but needs to pass Wednesday’s bill thanks to a crippling labor shortfall in vital sectors such as tourism, construction and agriculture. The central idea of the new legislation is to simplify bringing in workers through recruitment schemes agreed with countries such as India, Bangladesh and Egypt. There will be a special “fast track” for big public-works projects. The New Democracy government knows, however, that these measures to recruit more foreign workers will play badly with some core supporters. For that reason the bill includes strong measures against immigrants who have already entered Greece illegally, and also pledges to clamp down on the non-government organizations helping migrants. “We need workers, but we are tough on illegal immigration,” Greece’s Migration Minister Thanos Plevris told ERT television. The migration tensions in Greece reflect the extent to which it remains a hot button issue across Europe, even though numbers have dropped significantly since the massive flows of 2015, when the Greek Aegean islands were one of the main points of arrival. More than 80,000 positions for immigrants have been approved by the Greek state annually over the past two years. There are no official figures on labor shortages, but studies from industry associations indicate the country’s needs are more than double the state-approved number of spots, and that only half of those positions are filled. The migration bill is expected to pass because the government holds a majority in parliament. Opposition parties have condemned it, saying it ignores the need to integrate the migrants already in Greece and adopts the rhetoric of the far right. Under the new legislation, migrants who entered the country illegally will have no opportunity to acquire legal status. The bill also abolishes a provision granting residence permits to unaccompanied minors once they turn 18, provided they attend school in Greece. “Whoever is illegal right now will remain illegal, and when they are located they will be arrested, imprisoned for two to five years and repatriated,” Plevris told lawmakers. Human-rights groups also oppose the legislation, which they say criminalizes humanitarian NGOs by explicitly linking their migration-related activities to serious crimes.  The bill envisages severe penalties such as mandatory prison terms of at least 10 years and heavy fines for assisting irregular entry, providing transport for illegal migration, or helping those migrants stay. “Whoever is illegal right now will remain illegal,” Thanos Plevris told lawmakers. | Orestis Panagiotou/EPA Wednesday’s legislation also grants the migration minister broad powers to deregister NGOs based solely on criminal charges against one member, and will allow residence permits to be revoked on the basis of suspicion alone — undermining the presumption of innocence. Greece’s national ombudsman has expressed serious concerns about the bill, arguing that punishing people for entering the country illegally contravenes international conventions on the treatment of refugees. Lefteris Papagiannakis, director of the Greek Council for Refugees, was equally damning. “This binary political approach follows the global hostile and racist policy around migration,” he said.

BRUSSELS — The EU and U.K. must overcome historic gripes and “reset” their relationship to be able to work together in an increasingly uncertain world, the bloc’s top parliamentarian said. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola used an address to the Spanish senate on Tuesday to call for closer ties with the U.K. as London steps up efforts to secure smoother access to European markets and funding projects, after the country voted to leave the bloc in 2016. “Ten years on from Brexit … and in a world that has changed so profoundly, Europe and the U.K. need a new way of working together on trade, customs, research, mobility and on security and defense,” Metsola said. “Today it is time to exorcize the ghosts of the past.” Metsola called for a “reset” in the partnership between Britain and the EU as part of a policy of “realistic pragmatism anchored in values that will see all of us move forward together.” Her speech comes after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he intended to try and ensure his country’s defense industries can benefit from the EU’s flagship SAFE scheme — a €150 billion funding program designed to boost procurement of military hardware. That push has been far from smooth, with a meeting of EU governments on Monday night failing to sign off U.K. access to SAFE, despite France — which has consistently opposed non-EU countries taking part — supporting the British inclusion. Starmer has also signaled in recent days that he is seeking closer integration with the EU’s single market. Brussels has so far been reluctant to reopen the terms of the U.K.’s relations with the bloc just six years after it exited. While those decisions lie with the remaining 27 EU member countries, rather than the Parliament, Metsola’s intervention marks a shift in tone that could bolster the British case for closer relations. In the context of increasingly tense relations with the U.S., capitals are depending on cooperation with British intelligence and military capabilities and in key industries. Europe must take “the next steps towards a stronger European defense, boosting our capabilities and cooperation, and working closely with our NATO allies so that Europe can better protect its people,” Metsola said.