Leaving EU 'devastating for young', says Nicky Morgan

By Katherine Sellgren BBC News education reporter

Image caption Mrs Morgan says young people do not want to be cut off from the world

A vote to leave the European Union could have a devastating impact on the life chances of young people, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan is to say.

Entering the debate over EU membership, she will urge parents and grandparents to think how their vote will affect opportunities for the next generation.

She is also urging young people to make sure they vote in June's referendum.

The Vote Leave campaign said the EU had been bad for young people, with a generation on the continent unemployed.

But in a speech at the Fashion Retail Academy in London, Mrs Morgan is expected to say that leaving the EU risks creating a "lost generation".

She will argue there has already been a drop in advertised job vacancies because of employers' fears of a British exit - or Brexit - from Europe.

"It's clear, that if Britain leaves Europe it will be young people who suffer the most, left in limbo while we struggle to find and then negotiate an alternative model. In doing so we risk that lost generation becoming a reality," she will say.

"And everyone who casts their vote must understand that. If parents and grandparents vote to leave, they'll be voting to gamble with their children and grandchildren's future.

"At a time when people are rightly concerned about inter-generational fairness, the most unfair decision that the older generation could make would be to take Britain out of Europe and damage the ability of young people to get on in life."

'Cut off'

Ms Morgan says young people are "the generation of Instagram, Easyjet and eBay" and rejected isolation in favour of internationalism.

"They don't want to see a Britain cut off from the world, where not only their opportunities, but our influence as a country, ends at our shores.

"These young people have grown up in a world where international co-operation, economic growth, technological advancements and social media, have seen barriers being torn down across the world.

"Young people today want to see the UK working internationally to tackle the big problems and issues that they care about because they want to make their world a better place."

Other senior Conservative figures, such as Iain Duncan Smith, have said EU membership makes it harder to control borders and reduce the number of people coming here to work, which has an impact on young people.

Vote Leave spokesman Robert Oxley said: "It is depressing that the education secretary is so willing to do down the chances of young people as part of Number 10's desperate bid to win the referendum.

"The EU has not been good for young people, driving up costs and forcing down wages while leaving a generation unemployed on the continent."

The referendum on Britain's place in the EU will be held on Thursday 23 June.

Brussels attacks: Belgium releases terror murder suspect

Belgium under attack

A man known as Faycal C, the only person arrested and charged with involvement in the Brussels attacks, has been released for lack of evidence.

Belgian media said the man had been suspected of being the mystery third man in CCTV footage of the bombers.

But a judge found there was no evidence to justify holding him, the prosecutor's office said.

Last Tuesday's attacks on the airport and the city's metro system killed 35 people and injured more than 300.

The attacks were claimed by the Islamic State (IS) militant group.

Of the 35 victims, seven have still to be identified, the country's crisis centre said on Monday (in French).

At least 12 of the victims are foreign nationals from the US, the Netherlands, Sweden, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and China, it said earlier.

The death toll does not include three attackers, two of whom blew themselves up at the airport and one in the metro.

EU institutions based in Brussels will reopen on Tuesday, following the Easter break, "with important additional security measures in place", European Commission Vice-President Kristalina Georgieva said in a tweet.

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Belgium terror arrests

A man referred to officially as Facyal C was released on 28 March after being arrested on 24 March in Brussels and charged with "participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempted terrorist murders".

Others detained on suspicion of terrorist activity include

§  Salah Abdeslam - arrested on 18 March in the Molenbeek district of Brussels. Key suspect in the Paris attacks last November. Charged with "terrorist murder"

§  'Amine Choukri' - arrested on 18 March with Abdeslam, real name not yet known. Also used the alias Monir Ahmed Alaaj. Documented by German police near Ulm in a car with Abdeslam last October. Charged with "terrorist murder" over the Paris attacks

§  Rabah N - arrested on 25 March and charged with participating in terrorist activities in relation to a foiled plot to attack Paris

§  Abderamane A - shot in the leg and arrested on 25 March at a tram stop in the Schaerbeek area of Brussels. Charged in relation to the foiled plot to attack Paris. Jailed for seven years in France in 2005 and banned from entering France for life aiding in the assassination of Afghan commander Ahmed Shah Massoud in 2001.

§  Aboubakar A - arrested on 24 March in a car in Brussels, charged with participating in terrorist activities

§  Yassine A, Mohamed B and Aboubaker O - arrested during raids on 27 March and charged with belonging to a terrorist group

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'Not substantiated'

In a statement, the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said: "The clues that led to the arrest of Faycal C were not substantiated by the ongoing inquiry.

"As a result, the subject has been released by the examining magistrate."

He had been charged only two days before with "taking part in a terrorist group, terrorist murder and attempted terrorist murder".

Belgian media say the charges remain, even though he has been released.

Belgian public TV and Le Soir daily identified the freed man as Faycal Cheffou, a freelance journalist.

CCTV footage released by Belgian police on Monday shows the two airport bombers alongside a third man, who is wearing light-coloured clothing and a dark hat. Each is pushing a loaded luggage trolley.

Twin blasts struck the main terminal of Zaventem Airport, in the north-east of the city. A third, even bigger, bomb was abandoned, prosecutors said at the time. It exploded after the security forces had secured the scene and nobody was hurt, they added.

The man in the hat is believed to have fled the scene.

Tuesday's other attack targeted the Maelbeek metro station in the city centre, close to several EU institutions.

Brussels was the second large-scale attack on an EU capital city claimed by IS, after gunmen and bombers killed 130 people in Paris on 13 November.

IS, an extreme Sunni Muslim group known for its ruthless tactics, has seized large tracts of territory in Syria and Iraq in recent years, attracting hundreds of young Europeans to its ranks, many of them Belgians.

EU/Turkey Migrant Crisis

The EU and Turkey say they have agreed the broad principles of a plan to ease the migration crisis.

Under the plan discussed in Brussels, all migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey would be returned.
For each Syrian sent back, a Syrian already in Turkey would be resettled in the EU. Turkey would also get extra funding and progress on EU integration.
However, the deal has not been finalised and talks will continue ahead of an EU meeting on 17-18 March.
Europe is facing its biggest refugee crisis since World War Two. Last year, more than a million people entered the EU illegally by boat, mainly going from Turkey to Greece.

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Read more about the migrant crisis

• Crisis explained in seven charts
• How different countries have been affected
• Key migrant crisis questions answered
• Have previous EU migrant deals delivered?
• Disquiet over deal with Turkey

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Most of them were Syrian, fleeing the country's four-year civil war. Another 2.7 million Syrian refugees are currently in Turkey.

What's in the proposal?

The EU heads said "bold moves" were needed to tackle the crisis, and made the following proposals:

• All new irregular migrants crossing from Turkey to the Greek islands will be returned to Turkey, with the EU meeting the costs. Irregular migrants means all those outside normal transit procedures, ie without documentation. The term "illegal migration" usually refers to people smuggling
• In exchange for every returned Syrian, one Syrian from Turkey will be resettled in the EU
• Plans to ease access to the EU for Turkish citizens will be speeded up, with a view to allowing visa-free travel by June 2016
• EU payment of €3bn ($3.3bn; £2.2bn) promised in October will be speeded up, and a decision will be made on additional funding to help Turkey deal with the crisis. Turkey reportedly asked for EU aid to be increased to €6bn
• Preparations will be made for a decision on the opening of new chapters in talks on EU membership for Turkey

How have leaders reacted?

European Council President Donald Tusk insisted the leaders at the summit had made a "breakthrough", and he was hopeful of concluding the deal in the next week.
He said the progress sent "a very clear message that the days of irregular migration to Europe are over".
However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was more circumspect, saying: "It is a breakthrough if it becomes reality."

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey had taken a "game-changing" decision "to discourage illegal migration, to prevent human smugglers, to help people who want to come to Europe through encouraging legal migration".

The BBC's Chris Morris in Brussels says that, although this new initiative is bold, it could spark fierce argument and its implementation will not be easy.

Can the return system work?

The system spelled out to the BBC by EU Commission spokesperson for migration Natasha Bertaud would see all migrants rescued in Greek waters taken to a Greek island for screening.
All economic migrants would then be returned to Turkey where they would be screened again and "if they have no right to international protection" (which currently covers only Syrians) sent back to their country of origin.

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Media captionBBC correspondents describe the scene at pressure points of the crisis

All migrants rescued by Nato in Turkish waters would be taken back to Turkey, which would decide if their status.
Serious questions remain.
What will happen to the thousands of migrants already in Greece, which has struggled to shelter and register them?
What is the legal status of returning migrants to Turkey? As it is not a full member of the Geneva Convention, could the system be challenged in courts? In addition, only one member of the EU - Bulgaria - currently considers Turkey a safe country of return.
The UN's refugee agency has already voiced concern about the "blanket return" of people without clarity on their legal status.

Image copyright EPA

Image caption What will happen to the thousands of migrants already in Greece?

The one-in, one out system also only applies to Syrians. What will happen to all the other migrants returned to Turkey? Again the legality of their return must be considered, as must Turkey's capability to return them to their countries of origin.
The biggest problem, though, will be the migrants themselves - having risked their lives and invested much of their money, will they not simply try other routes? The migrants in the Calais camp known as "the Jungle" have not been known to give up on their attempts to reach the UK.
As for resettlement, there is major opposition among some EU members for compulsory migrant quotas.

What are the other obstacles?

Hungary's anti-migration PM Viktor Orban has already indicated he may veto the resettlement deal.
Turkey's bid for EU membership. A long and thorny issue, not helped by the recent press-freedom wrangle over the court-ordered seizure of the opposition Zaman newspaper. Given all the hurdles, though, this is not a pressing concern.
More problematic is Turkey's request for visa-free access for all its citizens to the EU's Schengen zone, which it hopes to achieve by June. This may draw a lot of opposition.
The future of Schengen - which allows passport-free travel in a 26-nation zone - is already in doubt, given that eight of its members have introduced temporary border controls.

EU referendum: Leaving EU a 'leap in the dark' says Cameron

David Cameron has warned that leaving the European Union "could hurt working people for years to come", as he put the case for staying in the EU to MPs.He said the choice was between an "even greater Britain" by staying in, or a "leap into the dark" by exiting.There were thinly veiled swipes at Boris Johnson, including the PM ruling out the idea of a second referendum.More than 100 Conservative MPs want to leave the EU, including some ministers listening to his Commons statement.In a two and a half hour statement to the House of Commons, Mr. Cameron told MPs that, as a prime minister who was not going to seek re-election, he had "no other agenda than what is best for our country".That was seen as pointed reference to Mr. Johnson, who has been accused by some of putting personal political ambition ahead of principle in deciding to campaign for EU exit.The Conservative MP has rejected that suggestion and insisted that he has long been skeptical of the benefits of EU membership and the UK has a "great future" outside it.'Harmony'As he left the Commons on his bicycle after the EU statement, Mr. Johnson replied "No" when asked if there was a civil war within the Conservative Party on the issue."It's glutinous harmony," he added.Mr. Cameron addressed the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee on Monday evening, joking that "love has broken out" as he left the meeting with his arm around Eurosceptic MP Philip Davies.Earlier, in the Commons, Mr. Johnson intervened during the PM's statement to ask how the deal he negotiated would "in any way" return sovereignty to the UK.The prime minister defended the deal he negotiated with the EU's 27 other states, outlined in a new government document, telling MPs it would give the UK a "special status" within the EU and ensure it never became part of a European super-state.James Landale, BBC deputy political editorAbraham Lincoln said that "a house divided against itself cannot stand". So how can the government stand when it is so utterly divided over Britain's future in the European Union?The short answer is that it has simply decided to suspend the usual rules demanding unity and loyalty.Cabinet ministers have been given permission to ignore collective responsibility which requires them to support government policy.That means that the five full members of the cabinet who are refusing to support the government's position of backing the Remain campaign can stay in their jobs.But, in a letter published last month, David Cameron set out some pretty tight constraints on what those ministers can do.The UK, Mr. Cameron said, would be "safer and stronger" as a result of an exemption from ever-closer union, limits to in-work benefits for EU migrants that he said could last up to 2028 and protection for countries outside the Eurozone, telling MPs that the UK was "better off fighting from the inside".The prime minister dismissed talk of a second referendum on the terms of withdrawal if the British people voted to leave in four months' time, saying this option was "not on the ballot paper".In the event of a vote to leave, he said Article 50 of existing EU treaties - the as-yet unused mechanism by which a country could leave the EU - would be triggered straight away and the process of separation would be difficult to reverse. If negotiations were not concluded within two years, he warned that many existing benefits of the UK's membership would lapse automatically.He also challenged those backing EU exit to set out their alternative vision for the future of the country."I recognize there are disadvantages of being in the EU but I can look the British people in the eye and say this is what it is going to be like if we stay in," he said."The people who are advising us to leave have got to spell out what the consequences of leaving are."The statement was the first opportunity Tory MPs have had to question the PM since Friday's agreement and publicly set out their position ahead of the poll in four month’s time.A succession of Tory MPs questioned the substance of the PM's agreement, suggesting it would do nothing to remedy the unfairness of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy, reduce levels of EU immigration and address the power of European courts.Backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg said the EU was a "failed" body and the UK should "make our own path"."For so much labour, he has achieved so little," he said of the PM's renegotiations. "Is the government's policy basically 'always keep a hold of nurse for fear of finding something worse?"For Labour, Jeremy Corbyn said he was glad the "theatrical sideshow" of Mr Cameron's negotiation was over and Labour could make a "real" argument for the benefits of EU membership, while former SNP leader Alex Salmond urged him to make a "more positive case" for EU membership.Asked about the apparent criticism of Mr Johnson, Mr Cameron's spokesman said the prime minister did not have anyone in mind when he made the comments and "was speaking for himself".The government has published further details of the process leading up to the referendum. According to BBC research, 142 Tory MPs will campaign to remain in the EU, 120 to leave and 68 have yet to make their positions clear.The overwhelming majority of Labour MPs back continued EU membership as do the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats but the Democratic Unionists and UKIP are opposed.Earlier on Monday, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon rejected claims that the UK's membership exposed it to greater security risks, pointing out that the EU had taken the lead in confronting Russia over its annexation of Crimea and Iran over its nuclear programme.Explaining his decision to back EU exit in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Johnson wrote: "There is only one way to get the change we need - and that is to vote to go; because all EU history shows that they only really listen to a population when it says no."

Donald Trump threatens to pull £700m investment from Scotland

Donald Trump has threatened to withhold £700m of investment in Scotland if he is banned from entering the UK.

MPs will debate later this month whether the US presidential hopeful should be refused entry.

It follows the billionaire property tycoon calling for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US.

More than half a million people backed a petition calling on the tycoon to be barred for his comments, triggering a debate in the Commons.

However, there will be no vote at the end of the debate and it will be up to Home Secretary Theresa May to decide whether or not Mr Trump should be excluded from the UK.

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Mr Trump owns the Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire as well as Trump International Golf Links near Aberdeen.

In a statement, his Trump Organisation said it had planned to invest more than £200m at Turnberry and a further £500m at the Aberdeenshire course.

But it warned that any action to restrict travel would force it to "immediately end these and all future investments we are currently contemplating in the United Kingdom".

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionMr Trump bought the Turnberry course last year for about £35m

It added: "Westminster would create a dangerous precedent and send a terrible message to the world that the United Kingdom opposes free speech and has no interest in attracting inward investment.

"This would also alienate the many millions of United States citizens who wholeheartedly support Mr Trump and have made him the forerunner by far in the 2016 presidential election.

"Many people now agree with Mr Trump that there is a serious problem that must be resolved. This can only be achieved if we are willing discuss these tough issues openly and honestly."

Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon last month joined the calls for Mr Trump to be considered for exclusion from the UK.

Prime Minister David Cameron has previously labelled Mr Trump's comments "stupid" but said he did not support a ban, telling MPs the tycoon would "unite us all against him" if he visited the UK.

Cologne sex attacks: Police could not cope - report

An internal police report reveals officers "could not cope" with the volume of attacks in Cologne on New Year's Eve, German media say.

Women were "forced to run the gauntlet" through gangs of drunken and aggressive men outside the station, it said.

Police say the number of reported crimes from the incident has risen to 121, about three-quarters of which involve sexual assault.

They have identified 16 suspects, but have made no new arrests.

UK teenager tells of Cologne violence

Women describe 'terrible' assaults

Cologne mayor's 'code of conduct' attacked

In the report by Germany's national police, seen by Spiegel and Bild newspapers, an unidentified senior officer describes the scene in Cologne on New Year's Eve as "chaotic and shameful".

It recounts how police were met by "anxious citizens with crying and shocked children" when they arrived at the city's main railway station.

"On the square outside were several thousand men, most of a migrant background, who were firing all kinds of fireworks and throwing bottles into the crowd at random."

German media, also quoting internal police reports, say that significant numbers of Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi migrants were in the crowd - although it is unclear if any were involved in the attacks.

What we know of the New Year's Eve attacks

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionPolice say the situation outside the station was out of control

• Scores of women say they were sexually assaulted and had mobile phones and bags stolen by large groups of men during New Year celebrations in the centre of Cologne
• As many as 1,000 men - described as drunk and aggressive and many of North African and Arab appearance - were reported to have been behind the attacks
• Cologne police say they have received 121 criminal complaints - at least three-quarters of those were of sexual assault, including two alleged rapes
• Sixteen suspects have been identified but no-one has yet been arrested, police say
• Similar attacks were reported in Hamburg, where 30 complaints were filed, and in Stuttgart

Officers managed to clear the square, but the chaos continued with shocked and crying women reporting large numbers of sexual assaults.

"The task forces could not cope with all the events, assaults, and crimes - there were just too many happening at the same time," the senior officer concluded in the national police report.

Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers has rejected claims teams were understaffed, insisting "we were well prepared".

But he described what happened as "a completely new dimension of crime".

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Media captionA woman tells the BBC's Jenny Hill how she and her friends became surrounded

An initial police assessment - describing a "relaxed atmosphere" in the city on New Year's Eve - was later dismissed as inaccurate.

Correspondents say the identification of the attackers as North African or Arab in appearance has caused alarm in Germany because of the influx of more than a million migrants and refugees in the past year.

Speaking in Berlin on Thursday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Germany needed to examine whether it had done enough to deport foreigners who committed crimes.

"What happened on New Year is not acceptable. These are repugnant criminal acts that a state, that Germany will not accept.

"We must examine again and again whether we have already done what is necessary in terms of deportations from Germany, in order to send clear signals to those who are not prepared to abide by our legal order."

"I feel so ashamed" - Anger on Arab-language social media

Facebook user Israa Ragab: "Every time I watch the TV and hear them saying the suspects could be from North Africa or Arabs I feel so ashamed and disgusted"

Deutsche Welle Arabic journalist Nahla Elhenawy: "The ugliness of our region is reaching Germany"

@Farcry99 on Twitter: "Will Europe regret receiving people who suffer from religious and political repression?"

Arab social media fury at Cologne attacks

As well as the attacks in Cologne, women were targeted in Hamburg and Stuttgart.

In Duesseldorf, 40km (25 miles) to the north of Cologne, police have been investigating claims that gangs of men from North Africa have been robbing their victims by deliberate body contact.

They are examining whether there is a link to similar claims in Cologne.

Earlier Ralf Jaeger, interior minister for North Rhine-Westphalia, said police had to "adjust" to the fact that groups of men had attacked women en masse.

He also warned that anti-immigrant groups were trying to use the attacks to stir up hatred against refugees.

"What happens on right-wing platforms and in chatrooms is at least as awful as the acts of those assaulting the women," he said. "This is poisoning the climate of our society."

The "anti-Islamisation" Pegida movement and the right-wing AfD have said the attacks were a consequence of large-scale migration.

But Cologne's mayor said there was no reason to believe those behind the attacks were refugees.

Public broadcaster ZDF has apologised on social media because it failed to report on the mass assaults on its Monday evening news bulletin, after the news began to emerge.

Charlie Hebdo anniversary: Paris police shoot man dead

The suspect was carrying a meat cleaver and wearing a dummy suicide vest.

A piece of paper found on his body "pledged allegiance" to so-called Islamic State and vowed revenge for French "attacks in Syria", AFP reported.

Officials have named him as a convicted thief, Sallah Ali, born in Morocco.

Minutes before he was shot, President Francois Hollande had praised police in a speech on last year's killings.

Gunmen murdered 17 people in attacks, including at Charlie Hebdo magazine and a Jewish supermarket.

In his address, Mr Hollande said 5,000 extra police and gendarmes would be added to existing forces by 2017 in an "unprecedented" strengthening of French security.

Paris January attacks: Victim obituaries

Three days of terror

Charlie Hebdo lives on but 'in darkness'

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Media captionHollande pays tribute to police

The Paris prosecutor's office says it is opening a terrorism investigation into the incident on Thursday, which took place in the 18th district in northern Paris.

French officials say the suspect, who was wielding the butcher's knife, shouted "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Great) outside a police station in Goutte d'Or, near Montmartre, before police shot and killed him.

Bomb disposal experts were brought in after wires were seen extending from his body, but officials later said a belt he was wearing did not contain any explosives.

His fingerprints were found to match fingerprints on police files after an arrest for theft in the south of France in 2013.

Anti-terror police and French intelligence services are treating the incident as a case of attempted murder.

Following the attack, a cordon was been set up around the area, and security was boosted at schools and on public transport networks in the city.

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Terror fears: By Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris

According to the prosecutor, it was at 11:30 that the man approached the police station in the Goutte d'Or before being shot.

According to police accounts, it was also at 11:30 - exactly a year ago - that the Kouachi brothers began their attack on Charlie Hebdo.

The presumption of a link must be very strong, especially after the authorities confirmed that this was for them a terrorist incident.

Was the man intent on striking a deadly counterblow to the commemorations that are going ahead this week?

If so, it was a feeble gesture compared with what happened a year ago - and of course with the 13 November attacks. But that in itself is significant. For a jittery French public, it shows that jihadism comes in all shapes: grand organised conspiracies at one end, small individual acts at the other.

But they too can kill.

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Three days of attacks brought bloodshed to Paris and its surrounding areas last January.

The three attackers were shot dead by police, but questions remain about their jihadist contacts and possible accomplices in the Middle East.

A Paris court sentenced an alleged French IS recruiter in absentia on Thursday to 15 years in prison.

Salim Benghalem, 35, was freed from a French jail in 2010 and is believed to be in Syria. He was said to have been part of a jihadist network in Paris that includedCherif and Said Kouachi, the two Charlie Hebdo gunmen.

Three police officers were among the 17 victims of the gunmen on 7-9 January, 2015.

On Thursday, the French president said the officers had "died so that we could live in freedom".

But with France also still mourning the deaths of 130 people in jihadist attacks in Paris in November, he also used his speech to call for greater co-operation between the security services.

Since a state of emergency was imposed on the night of 13 November, police have brought to light 25 offences related to terrorism, he added.

Image copyrightReuters

Image captionFrench police check a pedestrian as they secure the area after a man was shot dead at a police station in the 18th district in Paris

President Hollande said the rules for police use of firearms were also being revised, so that gunmen could be tackled more effectively.

Earlier, Parisians laid flowers and lit candles at the former office of Charlie Hebdo magazine, where a plaque was unveiled on Tuesday.

A second plaque was installed where a police officer was shot, and a third at the Jewish supermarket.

On Saturday, a fourth plaque will be unveiled in the southern suburb of Montrouge, where one of the gunmen shot dead a policewoman.

The commemorations will culminate in a public event on Sunday in the Place de la Republique, where Parisians gathered in the wake of the attacks.

A 35ft (10m) oak "remembrance tree" will be planted in the square and veteran French musician Johnny Hallyday will perform Un Dimanche de Janvier (One January Sunday), a song recalling the vast march in Paris that followed the attacks.

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