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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Theresa May's Commons statement on the G20 and Brexit - Politics live

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs Composite: Parliament TV

Afternoon summary

  • Owen Smith, the Labour leadership contender, has criticised Jeremy Corbyn for not fully backing Britain remaining in the single market. Smith was speaking after a Labour source refused to say Corbyn wanted the UK to stay a member. (See 1.55pm.) Smith said:

Tens of thousands of Labour members and trade unionists will be worried to hear that Jeremy Corbyn appears to agree with David Davis that our membership of the single market is not worth fighting for.

I have been consistent in saying that trade with Europe is in our national economic interest. It brings jobs, growth and investment.

Later a senior Corbyn aide later said the Labour leader was in favour of negotiating full UK access to the single market, but would not accept a package including requirements on deregulation and privatisation, which he regarded as damaging to working people and public services.

  • Amber Rudd, the home secretary, has told the Commons home affairs committee that she will not limit the scope of the child abuse inquiry. Dame Lowell Goddard, who stood down as the inquiry’s chair over the summit, has said the scope of the inquiry is too wide. Rudd told MPs she disagreed.

Rudd also said Goddard quit because she found the job too difficult and because she was lonely being so far from her home in New Zealand.

  • Bank of England governor Mark Carney has denied allegations he “over-egged” Brexit warnings and insisted he was “absolutely serene” about policymaker actions taken surrounding the referendum.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Theresa May is going to hold talks with Donald Tusk, president of the European council, in Downing Street tomorrow, Number 10 has said.

Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has been giving evidence to the Treasury committee this afternoon. Here are some of the key points. I’m using tweets from the FT’s Chris Giles, Sky’s Ed Conway, the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn, Politics Home’s John Ashmore, the BBC’s Kamal Ahmed and Newsnight’s Lewis Goodall.

  • Carney said that the Bank’s actions after the EU referendum had reduced the risk of a recession.
  • He said that the economy was picking up, but that growth was still lower than before the EU referendum.
  • He said recent purchasing managers’ index (PMI) data was encouraging.
  • He defended the forecasts made about Brexit by the Bank before the referendum.
  • He said he was confident the Bank’s interest rate cut would be passed on to mortgage holders.

And this is from Newsnight’s Lewis Goodall. He is referring to this evidence that Charlie Bean, the Bank’s former deputy governor, gave to a House of Lords committee today.

Sky News is playing the “let’s get Ken Livingstone talking about Hitler” game. And he’s up for it. Asked if he will apologise for the remarks that led to his suspension from Labour, he says what he said was true ...

Lunchtime summary

  • Theresa May has sought to close down public debate about the government’s Brexit negotiating stance by insisting that it will not be giving a “running commentary” on the subject. She used the phrase during PMQs in response to a question from the SNP’s Angus Robertson, and then elaborated as she delivered a statement to MPs on the G20 summit. (See 1.04pm.) Her comments mark a clear shift from what David Davis, the Brexit secretary, told MPs just two days ago. He said the government wanted to he wanted to build a “national consensus” on Brexit and to minimise uncertainty. (See 1.23pm.) May’s statement probably also marked the moment when she abandoned “Brexit means Brexit” as description of the government’s position; the soundbite, which May used repeatedly during the summer, did not feature at all in her statement today. Perhaps that means we’ve gone from “Brexit means Brexit” to “Brexit means - we won’t say”. Other commentators are also sceptical. These are from Huffington Post’s Owen Bennett.

And this is from Bloomberg’s Robert Hutton.

  • Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the “free trade dogma” backed by the Tories. Speaking in response to May he said the “reckless deregulation of the financial sector” had been to blame for the financial crisis.

It’s a model of running the global economy that the prime minister acknowledges has produced huge increases in inequality and failed in its own terms. Rising levels of inequality in all of our economies fuel insecurities and pit people and communities against each other. The free trade dogma the prime minister spoke of has often been pursued at the expense of the world’s most fragile economies, and has been realised with destructive consequences for our environment. We need a UK trade agenda that protects people and the environment, and I urge the Prime Minister to stand with me against the use of Britain’s aid and trade policies to further the agenda of deregulation and privatisation in developing countries.

Everyone gets how - over time - renewable energy sources have an important role to play in a sensibly conceived mixed energy policy. However wishful thinking doesn’t generate the power we need to heat homes, keep the lights on and the economy functioning; this means that until there are technological breakthroughs in carbon capture or solar storage then gas and nuclear power are the only reliable, low-carbon shows in town for all those days when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow. Limiting the UK’s options on achieving energy self-sufficiency by proposing an outright ban on fracking is naive and short-sighted.

(If you appreciate this blog, or Guardian journalism generally, please consider becoming a Guardian supporter. We publish our reporting for free online, but it is not free to produce and, with the newspaper industry in financial crisis, frankly we need every penny we can get. Being a supporter costs £5 a month and you would be helping to sustain progressive, public interest journalism. There is nothing inevitable about news organisations surviving and, if the Guardian were to go bust, there would be no Politics Live and, the next time a big political story was breaking, you would be stuck with Twitter.)

Updated

Theresa May has now finished taking questions. I will post a summary soon.

The SNP’s Joanna Cherry says Edinburgh could replace London as Europe’s leading financial centre when the UK leaves the EU, because Scotland wants to remain in the single market.

May says the best thing for prosperity in Scotland is for Scotland to remain part of the UK.

Labour’s Clive Efford asks if the UK is having to employ people from overseas to work as trade negotiators.

May sidesteps the question. She says the department for international trade is building up its capacity.

Labour’s Tristram Hunt asks what conversations May had with the Japanese about Brexit. And will May take control of these negotiations herself?

May says she will focus her efforts on getting a good deal.

The Conservative MP Nigel Adams asks May if Britain has the international trade negotiators it will need for the Brexit talks.

May says for many years Britain did not need trade negotiators. But she is building up capacity through the department for international trade, she says.

Many Labour pro-Europeans have been urging Theresa May to commit to keeping the UK in the single market. But Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, is less keen on this, according to Labour sources.

This is from Politics Home’s Kevin Schofield.

And this is from the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.

Jessica Morden, the Labour MP for Newport East, says it was disappointing that May did not raise the issue of Chinese steel at her meeting with the Chinese president.

May says she did raise this issue, but at the plenary session. A new forum to look at this is being set up, and China will sit on it.

Sky’s economics editor Ed Conway thinks Theresa May’s “no running commentary” policy on Brexit is quite sensible.

Emma Reynolds, the Labour MP, asks May to clarify that David Davis was wrong to say the UK would probably leave the single market, Boris Johnson was wrong to back a points-based immigration system and Liam Fox was wrong to say the UK would leave the customs union.

May says she has said what she has said on these issues.

Pat McFadden, the Labour former Europe minister, quotes what David Davis said in his ConservativeHome article in July about the new prime minister triggering a large round of global trade deal on 9 September. (See 9.18am.) Will May be triggering those trade deals in two days’ time?

May says she had many discussions at the G20 about trade deals.

Alex Salmond, the SNP foreign affairs spokesman, asks why Number 10 slapped down David Davis over what he said on Monday about the single market. And doesn’t she know a lot more about Brexit than May, because she has only been a Brexiteer for a few weeks.

May says she wants the best deal for the UK.

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw says giving up membership of the single market out of a “dogmatic” desire to cut immigration would be an act of self harm.

May says Bradshaw should consider the message given by the public in the EU referendum.

In his statement to MPs about Brexit on Monday David Davis, the Brexit secretary, said he wanted to build a “national consensus” on Brexit and to minimise uncertainty.

First, as I said, we wish to build a national consensus around our position. Second, while always putting the national interest first, we will always act in good faith towards our European partners. Third, wherever possible we will try to minimise any uncertainty that change can inevitably bring. And, fourth, crucially, we will – by the end of this process – have left the European Union, and put the sovereignty and supremacy of this Parliament beyond doubt.

Now May is saying the government will not reveal its hand and not provide a running commentary. (See 1.04pm.)

Labour’s Yvette Cooper says it is important to know what May values in the Brexit negotiations. Does May value membership of the single market? And should staying in be an aim of the negotiations?

May says she has answered this already. If people ask the same questions, they will get the same answer.

She wants to get the right deal. But it will be a new relationship. And she will not be setting out her negotiating stance in advance.

That would be the best way to come out with the worst deal.

Anna Soubry, a Conservative, asks what assurances May can give the automative industry about tariffs and the customs union.

May says she wants the right deal for trade on goods and services. It is important not to think of this as trying to replicate something here, or something there.

The Brexit department is working on this, and asking people in sectors like the automative industry what they want. Then the government will “be ambitious” and go out there and get it, she says.

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, says Australia has told the UK it is at the back of the queue for a trade deal. Can May confirm we will remain a member of the single market? We trusted the people on the departure. And we should trust them on the destination too, he says.

May says the Australian trade minister has just set out the legal position; we cannot concluded a trade deal while we remain a member of the EU. But that does not mean we cannot negotiate with them in the meantime.

Angus Robertson, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, says he asked twice at PMQs if Britain would remain a full member of the single market. May would not reply. But this is not a “twist and turn”. This is a crucial issue. Can she reply?

How many trade negotiators has the UK hired since the referendum vote, he asks.

He says the government has ditched the idea of a points-based immigration system and is now adopting a Donald Trump policy - a wall.

He asks May to confirm that the Vote Leave pledge that leaving the EU would raise £350m a week for the NHS is being broken.

He says the Tories are suggesting EU citizens should not participate fully in Scottish public life. The SNP reject that, he says. Will May apologise for this?

May says a points-based immigration system would not give the government control over who enters the country.

May's statement about not providing a 'running commentary' on Brexit

Here is the full text of what Theresa May said about not providing a “running commentary” on Brexit.

I know many people are keen to see rapid progress and to understand what post-Brexit Britain will look like. We are getting on with that vital work. But we must also think through the issues in a sober and considered way. And as I have said this is about getting the kind of deal that is ambitious and bold for Britain. It is not about the Norway model or the Swiss model or any other country’s model – it is about developing our own British model.

So we will not take decisions until we are ready. We will not reveal our hand prematurely and we will not provide a running commentary on every twist and turn of the negotiation. And I say that because that is not the best way to conduct a strong and mature negotiation that will deliver the best deal for the people of this country.

Theresa May telling MPs the government will not provide a running commentary on Brexit.

Updated

May is responding to Corbyn.

She says the government is acting on hate crime. There was a recent meeting with the Polish on this.

On Brexit, May says the UK will be negotiating a new relationship with the EU. That will include control on the movement of people into the UK. And it will cover trade.

She says she will not be giving a running commentary. She wants to get the best deal. If she gave a running commentary, and gave away her negotiating hand, she could not achieve this.

On steel, she says the G20 as a whole recognised the importance of this issue.

On Hinkley, she says the say she works is not to take a decision without looking at the analysis first.

She says she met the Saudi Crown Prince at the G20. She raised this issue. But she says the UK’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has helped to keep Britain safe.

And she says free trade is the way to promote growth and spread prosperity. She will take no lectures from Corbyn on tackling poverty, she says.

Free trade can be the best anti-poverty policy for those countries.

She says she will spread this message “unashamedly” and is sorry Labour is turning its back on a policy that has helped the UK.

Corbyn says the G20 was formed after the financial crisis. Rising levels of inequality pit communities against each other, he says.

He says the free trade dogma May spoke of has often damaged the world’s most vulnerable community.

Will May agree with him that trade policies must not further the deregulation agenda in developing countries?

He asks May about her talks with the Chinese president on two issues.

First, on steel, what assurances did he give that the Chinese would stop dumping cheap steal on Europe.

And, second, on Hinkley Point, what did she say to the Chinese about this.

He criticises the government for continuing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia. Will May commit to stopping those arms sales.

Jeremy Corbyn is now responding to May.

He says he first went to China in 1998. That was the same year the Human Rights Act was passed. Labour is worried about the plans to repeal this.

Corbyn says May has not revealed her hand on Brexit, or the government’s “many hands”. They are unclear what they want to do.

He says Labour accepts the result of the EU referendum. But it has led to an increase in hate crime, and created uncertainty. David Davis says staying in the single market is “improbable”. Number 10 says that is not right. Which position is correct?

He says parliament and the public must not be sidelined from the Brexit debate.

May says she intends to return to the issue of illegal immigration when she next visits the UN.

She says she wants Britain to lead a global effort to tackle human trafficking.

When Britain voted to leave the EU, it did not vote to turn its back on the world, she says.

We will make a success of Brexit, she says.

May is now running though the G20 summit conclusions.

Here is the summit communique.

Theresa May's Commons statement on the G20 and Brexit

Theresa May is now making her statement the G20 and Brexit.

She says she knows many people are keen to see rapid progress on Brexit.

But the government must look at this in a sober and considered way.

This is about looking for the right model for Britain.

The government will look at this carefully, she says.

It will not declare its hand prematurely.

And it will not provide a running commentary on what it will do.

  • May says the government will not provide a “running commentary” on the Brexit negotiations and that it will take its time to get the decision right.

(This is quite a contrast from what David Davis, the Brexit secretary, was saying on Monday. He stressed the government’s desire to keep people informed. May’s comment suggests we might not be getting any more Commons updates on Brexit from Davis for quite some time.)

Labour’s Jim Dowd asks May to send her condolences to the family and friends of the woman and boy killed in Penge last week by a dangerous driver. Will the government review the laws on dangerous driving? They are not tough enough, he says.

May says this was a terrible tragedy. She is aware of the concern there is about the law on dangerous driving. The Ministry of Justice is looking at this, she says.

Cheryl Gillan, the Conservative MP, asks about a drug newly available for a rare medical condition, a form of muscular dystrophy.

May says this is a very important issue

Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, says the government still has not ratified the climate change treaty. Is the government still committed to action on climate change? And when will the treaty be ratified?

May says it will be ratified. But she urges Lucas to congratulate the government. The UK has been rated the second best country in the world at tackling climate change.

Philip Hollobone, a Conservative, asks about the funding of NHS services in his constituency.

May says all MPs are aware of the challenge there is in integrating health and social care. In some areas this is done very well. The government wants to spread good practice on this.

The Lib Dem MP Tom Brake asks May for an assurance that, when £350m a week becomes available for the NHS (he is being sarcastic) the first £100m goes to his local hospital.

May says the government will continue to fund the NHS.

Julian Sturdy, a Conservative, asks for an assurance that universities will get the funding they need to thrive post Brexit after 2020.

May says the chancellor has given assurances to universities. Looking ahead, a higher education bill is going through the House. That will ensure the UK can provided the university places it needs. Britain has a great record on universities, she says.

Labour’s Helen Hayes asks for an assurance that funding for schools in London will not be cut by up to 20% when the school funding formula gets changed.

May says this will be done carefully to see what impact there is on all parts of the country.

According to a Guardian report from May, the figures for the number of homes sold under right to buy that get replaced are even worse than those Jeremy Corbyn quoted. He said just one in five was replaced. Hilary Osborne’s story quotes figures saying it was just one in 10.

Snap PMQs verdict

Snap PMQs verdict: An unedifying draw. Theresa May sounded confident, but her pre-scripted anti-Corbyn jibes (in response to questions two and three) came over as unprovoked, gratuitous and consequently rather cheap. It was reminiscent of David Cameron’s Bullingdon aggro, but Cameron found a way of at least making his attacks sound relevant. Corbyn ignored the obvious topics (grammar schools, or Brexit) and he asked solid, serious questions about one of the most pressing social questions of our time. But, as ever, he did not really use follow-up questions to drive home his points and so he did not really succeed in discomforting May at all. The PM was relatively weak on detail, but she did try to turn the argument into a wider one about values, and about home ownership, and on these points Corbyn’s responses were thin.

Theresa May pokes fun at Jeremy Corbyn during PMQs

Updated

Corbyn says only a year ago May voted against a Labour amendment to the housing bill saying all homes in the rented sector should be fit for habitation. The Treasury is losing £500m a year from unpaid tax from landlords in the housing sector. Unpaid tax, poor quality homes - doesn’t this require government intervention.

May says the government has intervened. Thousands of landlords face further action. Corbyn may have a model of society where he does not want to see private landlords. But that is not what she wants. She wants people to have opportunities.

Corbyn says he recognises the case for a mixed housing economy, but he does not want to see people pay excessive rent. Women’s Aid has raised concern about the cuts to housing benefit. Does May accept that very vulnerable women could be affected by the closure of these refuges. Will May ensure the cap on housing benefit does not apply to refuges.

May says the government is working on exempting women’s refuges from the housing benefit cap. But the government has a very good record on domestic violence, she says.

It is 50 days since she and Corbyn last met at the despatch box. It is good to see him sitting there. The Conservative government has been working tirelessly, she says. She mentions the public sector audit, and work on new trade deals. What a contrast with the party opposite, divided amongst themselves, and incapable of uniting the country.

Updated

Corbyn says there is a housing crisis in Britain. Some £9.3bn is paid from housing benefit into the pockets of private landlords. Is that money well spent?

May says Corbyn asked about home ownership, but than objects to a measure that helps people have homes. Corbyn may have an ideological objection to the private rented sector. Everything Corbyn tells us everything we need to know about Labour. The train has left the station, the leader is on the floor, even on rolling stock, they are a laughing stock.

Corbyn says David Cameron said every penny spent on housing subsidies was money that could not be spent on new housing. He quotes someone saying landlords should be fined for renting homes in poor condition. Does the PM think this is satisfactory?

May says, if housing benefit is such a bad thing, why did Labour oppose cuts to housing benefit. The rules for landlords have been changed, she says. New rules are being introduced for houses in multiple occupation.

Jeremy Corbyn starts off also congratulating Team GB. The average house price is now £215,000. That is eight times the average wage. Isn’t the dream of home ownership now just a dream?

May says it is important to help people get their first foot on the housing ladder. House building is up. But the government wants to do more, she says.

Corbyn says house building is 45,000 a year less than under the last Labour government. He quotes from a note from Jenny. She and her partner work in a supermarket. They have been told they can borrow £73,000. So there is not much hope for them. George Osborne said there would be one to one replacement for homes sold under right to buy. But only one home gets build for every five homes sold. When will one to one replacement come in?

May says Corbyn is wrong. The government has delivered on one to one replacement. Corbyn has asked his followers on Twitter for questions. May says she looked at them. He got on from Lewis saying don’t know scored higher than Corbyn on who would make the best prime minister. Whoever wins the Labour leadership, “we will not let them anywhere near power again”.

Neil Parish, a Conservative, asks for an assurances that farmers will not lose out from Brexit.

May says the chancellor’s announcement also said farmers would have their EU income guaranteed too until 2020.

Thangam Debbonaire, the Labour MP, says the UK has a disproportionate number of the world’s best universities. But some are already losing out as a result of Brexit. Can May tells MPs what the government’s stragegy is?

May welcomes Debbonaire back. (She was ill earlier this year.) She says the chancellor has announced that universities will have some EU funding guaranteed.

Theresa May starts by congratulating the British Olympic team. They did themselves and their country proud, she says. And she offers best wishes to the Paralympic team.

This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

PMQs

PMQs starts in 10 minutes.

Here is the order paper showing which MPs are asking questions.

Here is my colleague Alan Travis’s story on Liz Truss’s evidence to the justice committee.

And here is how it starts

Theresa May’s new government has pulled back from Michael Gove’s plan to introduce a major prison reform bill that formed the social reform centrepiece of David Cameron’s last Queen’s speech only four months ago.

The new justice secretary, Liz Truss, sparked astonishment among MPs when she refused to guarantee to the Commons justice select committee that Gove’s prison reform legislation would go ahead.

When asked by the justice committee chairman if the prison reform bill was going to go ahead, she replied: “We are looking at that at the moment. It will be in the plan … I am not committing to any specific piece of legislation at this stage.”

Umunna to stand for election as home affairs committee chair

Chuka Umunna, the Labour former shadow business secretary, will stand for election as chair of the Commons home affairs committee, I’m told. He is a member of the committee and all MPs will vote for the new chair following Keith Vaz’s resignation yesterday. Umunna has the backing of all Labour members of the committee, as well as some Tories on committee. As MP for Streatham in south London, where there is a sizeable black and minority ethnic (BME) community, he feels that chairing the committee would dovetail with his constituency responsibilities (because home affairs covers some issues of particular relevance to BME communities). He also thinks that having a serving member of the committee replace Vaz would provide continuity, which would benefit the committee, and that it would be good for Vaz to be replaced by a BME candidate because Vaz was the only BME Commons select committee chair.

Home affairs is one of the most high-profile Commons committee and there is likely to be strong competition for the post, which has to got a Labour MP. Caroline Flint, a former Home Office minister, has already confirmed that she is also standing.

Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign team have responded rather wittily to Owen Smith’s open letter about what he should say at PMQs. (See 10.17am.)

Truss suggests prisons reform bill no longer a priority

Liz Truss, the new justice secretary, has just finished giving evidence to the Commons justice committee this morning. Here are some of the highlights. The tweets are from the Guardian’s Alan Travis, the BBC’s Danny Shaw and the legal commentator Joshua Rozenberg.

  • Truss suggested that the prison and courts reform bill announced in the Queen’s speech earlier this year was no longer a priority.
  • She refused to commit herself to cutting prison numbers.
  • She said drug levels in prisons were being cut.

Journalists and commentators watching the session were not impressed. These are from the Daily Mirror’s Jack Blanchard.

This is from Politics Home’s Emilio Casalicchio

And this is from the lawyer and legal blogger Carl Gardner.

Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, is today launching a Lib Dem “plan for Britain in Europe”. The party is campaigning for people to be given the chance to vote on the final Brexit deal, although it claims that this is not the same as demanding a second referendum. Farron said:

Voting for departure is not the same as voting for a destination. Brexit means Brexit but we still don’t know if that means £350m a week extra for the NHS, immigration controls or membership of the Single Market. This is not an attempt to re-run the first referendum. It is to enable the public to vote on the final deal, reflecting that there is disagreement even in the cabinet over every major aspect of Brexit.

David Willetts, the former Conservative universities minister who now chairs the Resolution Foundation thinktank, was on the Today programme this morning criticising the government’s proposal to bring back grammar schools. It’s a subject about which he feels strongly, because his opposition to grammar schools probably cost him a seat in cabinet. As shadow education secretary in 2007 he gave a speech saying bringing back grammar schools would be bad for social mobility. David Cameron backed him at the time, but the Willetts argument went down very badly with Conservative party members and Willetts was subsequently demoted to the shadow universities post. As universities minister he attended cabinet but not as a full cabinet minister.

On the Today programme he said he had not changed his mind on grammar schools.

It’s a very serious problem in these selective systems: they do tend to be captured by the better-informed, more affluent parents ... They’re doing the right thing for their kids but the trouble is social mobility suffers as a result.

If you look overall, not just in Britain but around the world, at those school systems we admire that have got high performance and high standards, from Shanghai to Finland, by and large they don’t put their effort into trying to pick which kids they educate; they put their effort into raising standards for all the kids.

David Willetts.
David Willetts. Photograph: Richard Gardner/REX

Smith proposes questions for Corbyn to ask at PMQs

Owen Smith, the Labour leadership challenger, has written an open letter to Jeremy Corbyn about the questions he should ask at PMQs.

His suggestions are rather good. But they are contained in a letter that is both critical and patronising. Here’s a flavour of it.

I’m sorry to say that in her first PMQs in July, you put Theresa May under no pressure at all. You moved from issue to issue with no follow-up for any of your six questions, so that the prime minister’s answers were not challenged.

You didn’t even ask her about the EU, even though Brexit was and is the biggest challenge facing her government, and the reason for David Cameron’s resignation and her elevation to Downing Street. Perhaps the same reticence about standing up for Britain’s place in the EU which led you to campaign so ineffectively for Remain also puts you off exposing the weaknesses and contradictions in the Government’s position – but continuing to fail to take Theresa May on over Brexit would be a dereliction of duty.

And here are the specific questions that Smith proposes.

Following her experience at the G20 summit this weekend, does the PM regret not campaigning harder for Britain to remain in the EU?

The PM has said on a number of occasions that “Brexit means Brexit”. Did she find that this vacuous slogan was sufficient to alleviate our allies’ concerns at the G20 this weekend, or did they still have some questions?

The Japanese government raised a number of concerns about what Brexit might mean – they clearly do not find “Brexit means Brexit” a sufficient clarification of UK government policy. They want the UK to stay within the single market. But the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union says this is “improbable”. Does the PM agree with the Japanese Government or her own Secretary of State?

President Obama said at the G20 that the USA’s priority would be to pursue trade deals with the EU and with Pacific countries – not to do a deal with the UK. Does the PM plan to persuade the United States to change its diplomatic priorities, and if so how?

Over the last few months a points-based immigration system has been proposed by the Foreign Secretary, the International Trade Secretary, the International Development Secretary, the Environment Secretary and the Transport Secretary. Can the PM confirm that she disagrees with all of them?

A points-based immigration system was one of the Leave campaign’s key promises. Can the PM confirm that she also has no intention of honouring the Leave campaign’s promise of an additional £350m a week for the NHS?

The Smith letter was originally written for the Times’s Red Box website.

Here are some more lines from the Today programme’s interview with Steven Ciobo, the Australian trade minister.

  • Ciobo confirmed that Australia had offered to lend trade negotiators to the UK - although his tone suggested it was not a particularly serious offer.

I indicated that if a request was forthcoming, Australia would certainly be willing to help. I made the passing quip to Secretary Fox that if we were going to have negotiations with Australia, they would probably go very smoothly if it was Australians on all sides of the negotiating table. But, ultimately, we’re happy to provide whatever support we can.

Britain does not have trade negotiators because, as an EU member, all trade negotiations have been conducted on the UK’s behalf by Brussels. But since the Brexit vote Whitehall has been trying to recruit some.

  • He said that cheap Australian wine would be one benefit of a UK-Australia trade deal. Asked if Australian wine would get cheaper for British consumers, he replied:

Absolutely. Cheap Australian wine is a good fringe benefit of an FTA [free trade agreement] if we are able to put one in place.

  • He confirmed that Australia would conclude its trade deal with the EU before concluding one with the UK. “That’s a consequence of the fact that discussions with the European Union are more advanced than they are with the UK,” he said.

In July, a few days before his surprise appointment as Brexit secretary, David Davis wrote a detailed article for ConservativeHome about the approach the government should adopt to EU withdrawal. In it, he confidently predicted that new trade deals with countries outside the EU could be negotiated quickly, within two years.

So be under no doubt: we can do deals with our trading partners, and we can do them quickly. I would expect the new prime minister on September 9th [at this point the Tories still thought members would be voting in a lengthy leadership election[ to immediately trigger a large round of global trade deals with all our most favoured trade partners. I would expect that the negotiation phase of most of them to be concluded within between 12 and 24 months.

So within two years, before the negotiation with the EU is likely to be complete, and therefore before anything material has changed, we can negotiate a free trade area massively larger than the EU.

But that timetable has timetable has now been consigned to the bin. Steven Ciobo, the Australian trade secretary, has come to London for talks with Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, and in an interview with the BBC he said that it would take at least two and a half years to agree a UK-Australian trade deal, and possibly longer. That was because the two countries could not strike a deal until the UK left the EU, he said.

My formal advice is that, and this is from the UK side, the UK is unable to negotiate or sign an agreement prior to the formal exit from the EU. We can certainly have preliminary discussions and that’s part of what I’m doing here this week. Preliminary discussions around what a post-Brexit Australia-UK trade deal might look like.

Asked if that meant a deal was some years off, Ciobo replied:

Based upon what we’ve been told, if article 50 is present in Q1 or Q2 next year [the first or second quarter of the year] and then the two year year window in relation to that, so you would expect it is at least two and a half years off.

Ciobo was then asked if, with the UK and Australia only free to sign a deal in two and a half years’ time, there would then be months or years of “tough negotiations”. Ciobo conceded that at that point further talks might be necessary, but he also said that with “our strong historical bonds we should be able to make a meal of it quite quickly”.

And remember - Australia is supposed to be one of the countries with whom negotiating a trade deal should be easiest.

I will post more from the interview shortly.

And we’ve got more Brexit later, because Theresa May is making a statement in the Commons about the G20 summit which is almost certain to turn into a mini debate about the government’s Brexit policy.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.45am: Liz Truss, the justice secretary, gives evidence to the Commons justice committee.

12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

12.30pm: May gives a statement to MPs. It is supposed to be about the G20 summit, but it is bound to lead to MPs questioning her about Brexit, which was discussed at the summit.

2.30pm: Chris Wormald, permanent secretary at the Department of Heath, gives evidence to the Commons public accounts committee.

3pm: Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, and Priti Patel, the international development secretary, meet representatives of the Syrian opposition.

3pm: Amber Rudd, the home secretary, gives evidence to the Commons home affairs committee.

4pm: Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, launches his energy and environment policy.

As usual, I will be covering the breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

Updated

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