Sir Michael Fallon – defence secretary. Image: Screengrab from Andrew Marr Show BBC Television.

Defence Secretary, Sir Michael Fallon, has told the BBC the Brexit agreement will fully respect the position of Gibraltar.

Sir Michael was appearing on the Andrew Marr show as part of a government drive to convince Gibraltarians that the UK will stand up for the territory’s interests.

Spain has been accused of lobbying the EU so that Brexit talks affecting Gibraltar will have to be run past the Spanish government.

Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer said Gibraltar should not be a ‘bargaining chip.’

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has also said Britain remains ‘implacable and rock-like’ in its support.

Will be an “agreement that fully respects the position of Gibraltar” – Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon https://t.co/Q05eFcfDaZ#Marrpic.twitter.com/H2iWL3byEd

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 2, 2017

Six arrests in Croydon hate crime attack

Detectives investigating a serious hate crime assault in Croydon that took place on Friday have arrested six people.

The four men and two women were arrested late on Saturday at addresses in Croydon and have been taken into custody.

All were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and violent disorder.

They are three men aged 20, a 24-year-old man, and two women aged 20 and 24.

DS Kris Blamires from Croydon CID said:

At this early stage it is believed that about eight suspects approached the victim as he waited at a bus stop with two friends outside the Goat Public House in the Shrublands.

It is understood that the suspects asked the victim where he was from and when they established that he was an asylum seeker they chased him and launched a brutal attack.

He has sustained serious head and facial injuries as a result of this attack, which included repeated blows to the head by a large group of attackers.

Six arrested after suspected hate crime assault in #Croydon https://t.co/H42Ilzqflf pic.twitter.com/IOTI9gshTc

— Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) April 2, 2017

Special task force for prisoner extremism

A specialist team of counter-terrorism experts will be launched next week to tackle ‘poisonous’ extremism in prisons.

From Monday the new 100-strong task force will examine intelligence from around the country to assess the danger posed by radicalisation behind bars.

The unit will be the ‘nerve centre’ for all counter-terrorism and counter-extremist work across the prison estate and probation service.

Extremism in prisons to be tackled by specialist task force https://t.co/7dH8T8eF8t

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 2, 2017

Specialist team to tackle extremism in jails: https://t.co/TqoTU7EmLp by @haydsmith

— Press Association (@PA) April 2, 2017

Fall in prosecuting road fatalities

There’s been a sharp fall in prosecutions for road deaths.

The drop is twenty three per cent in prosecutions in England and Wales between 2010 and 2015.

The Department for Transport says:

Britain has some of the safest roads in the world and in 2015 we had the second lowest total of road fatalities on record.

We are determined to do more and we’ve recently announced tougher penalties for those caught using a mobile phone while driving.

Sharp fall in prosecutions for death crash drivers https://t.co/YWEyFXEapP

— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) April 2, 2017