US justice department blocking Met police investigation into Mandelson, reports say – UK politics live

Good morning. The UK criminal investigation into Peter Mandelson has reportedly ground to a halt after the US justice department refused to hand over evidence contained in the Epstein files.

The documents relate to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which Scotland Yard believes could hold key evidence related to Mandelson, who served as business secretary and US ambassador. While the Met has asked for voluntary disclosure, the US department of justice is insisting on a Mutual Legal Assistance (MLA) request, a legal back and forth between countries to obtain evidence, the Telegraph has reported.

Peter Mandelson taking his dog for a walk near his home in London. Photograph: James Manning/PA

The process could take from several months to over a year, according to some estimates, potentially delaying Scotland Yard’s investigation into Mandelson, who was arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in public office. Even the Met police commissioner Mark Rowley’s direct appeals to the US ambassador, Warren Stephens, and his personal trip to Washington in March had failed to move the process forward, the newspaper reported.

Speaking of withholding documents, yesterday Cat little, the top civil servant at the Cabinet Office, said the Foreign Office had refused to hand over a summary of Mandelson’s security vetting. Speaking at a Commons committee, Little said she had to get the document directly from UK Security Vetting (UKSV) instead after Olly Robbins, the subsequently sacked Foreign Office head, refused to provide it. You can read more on that story here:

In other news:

• MPs must decide what to do with the assisted dying bill, which is set to run out of time to become law when a final debate ends in the House of Lords today. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has stalled in the Lords, which passed in the House of Commons almost a year ago, with more than 1,280 amendments made. Supporters of the bill, which would allow terminally ill adults who are given fewer than six months to live to seek medical help to end their life, now fear the bill is doomed to fail.