Tory MPs have voted down a House of Lords amendment to Boris Johnson’s Brexit legislation, which would have guaranteed family reunion rights for unaccompanied child refugees after EU withdrawal.
It comes as Mr Johnson is warned the EU is preparing a trade deal offer on tougher terms than those given to Canada and Japan. Washington has also threatened to hike taxes on British car companies if the PM presses ahead with plans for a levy on US tech giants.
Elsewhere, Labour leadership contender Lisa Nandy has won a place on the ballot, attacked New Labour for allowing Thatcherism to flourish – and rejected party chairman Ian Lavery’s demand that frontrunner Keir Starmer stand aside for a female leader.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events at Westminster.
PM vows to overturn Brexit bill amendment on child refugees
Boris Johnson is coming under pressure to drop his opposition to measures to allow unaccompanied child refugees to be reunited with their families in the UK after his Brexit bill went down to a fourth defeat in the House of Lords.
The PM has vowed to overturn all Lords amendments as the Withdrawal Agreement Bill completes its passage through parliament on Wednesday.
But charities including the British Red Cross and Safe Passage urged him not to strike out a provision, introduced by Labour peer Lord Dubs, to guarantee the family reunion rights of child refugees stranded in camps on mainland Europe.
Boris Johnson suffers fourth Brexit defeat in less than 24 hours as peers reject bid to scrap refugee protections
Peers vote by 300 to 220 to restore safeguards for unaccompanied minorsThink tank directed by Dominic Cummings wanted ‘Fox News equivalent’ in plot to undermine BBC
A think tank linked to Boris Johnson’s most senior adviser Dominic Cummings reportedly called for the “end of the BBC in its current form”.
The No 10 strategy was the director of the New Frontiers Foundation when it described the Beeb as the “mortal enemy” and urged people on the right to push for a British news network similar to Fox News in the US.
According to The Guardian, one post from 2004 on “things that need to happen” suggested there should be “the creation of a Fox News equivalent / talk radio shows / bloggers etc to shift the centre of gravity”.
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw said Cummings and some Tory MPs “would like nothing more than to replace the BBC with a right-wing propaganda channel like Fox”.
The Lib Dems’ interim leader responded: “The BBC is a national treasure and if Dominic Cummings thinks he has got a mandate to go after Strictly and David Attenborough he has got another thing coming.
“Every politician and party will have their problems and frustrations with the BBC, but often that’s because the Beeb are doing their job. The Liberal Democrats will fight for the BBC tooth and nail.”
Lisa Nandy lashes out at New Labour – and rejects idea next leader ‘must be a woman’
Labour leadership contender Lisa Nandy said Tony Blair and Gordon Brown allowed Thatcherism principles to continue during the New Labour government.
Nandy is preparing to praise Jeremy Corbyn in a speech on Wednesday morning for breaking the consensus that “economic conservatism was a bigger priority than people”.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m not going to trash the legacy of the last Labour government because things like the minimum wage were complete game-changers in towns like Wigan, and the investment that went into health and education was really important.
“But it is certainly true to say that the consensus that Thatcher built lasted all the way through the New Labour years.
“I came into politics after 10 years working in the voluntary sector with homeless teenagers ... And the reason I did was out of frustration with a system under the last Labour government that took small amounts from people at the very top of the system and handed it with conditions to those at the bottom.”
She rejected Labour chairman Ian Lavery’s demand that Keir Starmer should make way for a female leader, saying: “It’s not up to him, it’s up to our members.”
Nandy also advocated an “overhaul” of the entire welfare system. “What I’m going to say today is that the type of change we need has to be much deeper,” she told the BBC.
“It’s not just a question of do we raise Universal Credit rates, it’s a question of do we overhaul the entire system so that it genuinely empowers people.”
EU preparing a trade deal offer ‘worse than Japan’s’
Boris Johnson has been warned the EU is preparing a trade deal offer on tougher terms than those given to Canada and Japan.
According to The Telegraph, Brussels is reportedly planning to withhold Mutual Recognition Agreements (MRAs) to stop UK industry bodies easily certifying goods that conform to EU standards.
Although the MRAs have been arranged with key partners such as Japan and Canada, one EU source told the newspaper they did not wish to “rush into providing the UK a competitive edge”.
Earlier this month an internal slide presentation drawn up by the European Commission for member states revealed Brussels’ emphatically ruling out any “mutual recognition” of regulations between the UK and EU.
It was an idea previously toyed with in Westminster to give Britain a continued advantage of the single market despite having left it.
‘Stand aside Keir’: Labour chairman wants female leader and hails ‘Baileyism’
Labour chairman Ian Lavery has urged Sir Keir Starmer to stand aside as a contender in the leadership race so the party can have its first female leader.
The intervention from the senior Labour figure came as he introduced the left-wing candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey at a rally in London.
Lavery said: “We’ve got Rebecca Long-Bailey – Baileyism.”
He added: “She’s got the determination, the compassion, the passion that we need in a leader. And
I’ll tell you something else: we need a female leader of the Labour Party… stand aside, Keir.”
Long-Bailey outlined plans to introduce open selections for all Labour MPs ahead of the next general election.
She claimed the current system of trigger ballots had produced a culture where party members have to campaign negatively against an incumbent MP.
But Labour MP Wes Streeting was critical. “How about we concentrate on winning new ones, rather than getting rid of the ones we’ve got left?”
Labour chairman Ian Lavery urges Keir Starmer to ‘stand aside’ so party can have first woman leader
‘We’ve got Rebecca Long-Bailey, Baileyism,’ says chairman Ian LaverySNP chief demands audience with the Queen over Brexit bill
The SNP is making a last-ditch bid to stop the Brexit bill from becoming law, on the final day of its passage through parliament.
The Scottish nationalist leader in Westminster Ian Blackford has demanded the right to attend a meeting of the Privy Council to argue the case to the Queen – or one of her Majesty’s representatives – that the Withdrawal Agreement Act should not be given Royal Assent.
It follows a symbolic defeat for the government in the Welsh Assembly. AMs joined their counterparts in the Scottish Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly by voting to reject the bill.
SNP makes last-ditch bid to stop Boris Johnson’s EU withdrawal bill becoming law
Brexit legislation reaches final day of tortuous passage through parliamentNandy confronts Morgan over Meghan racism: ‘How would you know?’
The Labour leadership candidate Lisa Nandy has gone up against Good Morning Britain host Piers Morgan – and criticised him for dismissing the idea Meghan Markle had suffered racist treatment.
She told Morgan: “If you don’t mind me saying, how on Earth would you know? As someone who’s never had to deal with ingrained prejudice.”
Asked whether the next Labour leader had to be a woman, Nandy replied: “I’d dearly like to see us have a woman leader, not just because we never have and it matters on a personal level, but because for the country I think this is a bit existential for the Labour party.
“If we talk about equality, the fact we’re the only party, I think, that hasn’t had a woman lead the party on a permanent basis is a real problem for us.
“But this contest really has got to be about raising our game – and all of the candidates have something to offer.”
Huawei should deliver UK’s 5G technology, says George Osborne
The former chancellor George Osborne said he would consider allowing Chinese communication company Huawei to deliver the UK’s high-speed 5G network upgrade if he was still in power.
The US has reportedly been putting pressure on Boris Johnson’s administration to look elsewhere for finding a supplier for the infrastructure upgrade due to security fears over China's influence on the firm.
He told the BBC: “You can keep Huawei out of your most sensitive core bits of your national security infrastructure, but frankly if you want Britain to have 5G technology, Huawei is a massive supplier of that 5G technology.
“Some of its products are frankly much cheaper and better than its competitors at the moment.
“If our choice is to allow Huawei in and have a competitive playing field or delay 5G and fall behind other European nations, then I think we need to work of course with companies like Huawei.”
Phillips backs Nandy for Labour leadership
Jess Phillips will support her former rival Lisa Nandy’s bid to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader.
After dropping out of the contest on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Birmingham Yardley MP has said she will endorse Nandy – voting her as her first preference and Keri Starmer as second preference.
Having encouraged new people to sign up and get a vote in the leadership race, there has been speculation many new members backing Phillips will switch their support to Nandy or Starmer.
Nandy hails Corbyn for breaking consensus on ‘economic conservatism’
Labour leadership candidate Nandy said she would “immediately” reverse cuts to Universal Credit, paying for it by cancelling planned National Insurance reductions.
In a speech in London, she urged her party to build a new kind of welfare state.
And she said Capital Gains Tax rates should be raised to match those on earnings, and corporation tax to at least the basic rate of income tax. We need to change the debate,” said Nandy. “Tax is not an evil. Tax is how we contribute to something bigger, better than ourselves.”
She said Labour‘s “shattering defeat” should act as “a reminder that defending the status quo has never paved our route to power”.
She warned that in the years after Margaret Thatcher’s victory, Labour had “tacitly accepted that four decades of economic conservatism was a bigger priority than people... That only by showing we could be as tight as the Tories could we buy legitimacy for helping people in the most need.”
And she added: “It was only four years ago, with the election of Jeremy Corbyn, that Labour broke with this consensus. It was an important moment for us.
“But now we have to go further. To see that moral case reignite our passion for change, and to see our Labour values run like a thread through our services again.”
Nandy said: “Make no mistake, our welfare state is in real trouble... With a Tory government with a huge majority, we face the prospect of a government that will exploit discontent with the politics of grievance. To stoke resentment rather than seek to remedy it.
“We have to do more than defend a broken system from attack. We change, or we die. And for the sake of so many, for ourselves, we can never allow that to happen. The challenge of today is clear: we build on the shoulders of giants to create a modern, empowering welfare state for the 21st Century.”
Nandy wins fans among group of former Labour voters
The woman of the moment appeared popular with voters of a focus group of ex-Labour voters organised by Channel 4 News.
Some of the group said Nandy was “believable” and “relatable” after being show clips of her on TV (although one man said she was “too working class”). They all put their hands up when asked if they could see her winning people back to the party.
The group was less impressed with Rebecca Long-Bailey.
“She rated [Corbyn] 10 out of 10 didn’t she, so I don’t see how you can move forward,” said one man. One woman said she was “in Jeremy Corbyn’s pocket … a clone”.
Ordinary citizens get the chance to change UK’s climate policy
A ground-breaking new citizens’ assembly will meet to come up with ideas on the best way for the UK to achieve “net zero” carbon emissions.
A 110-strong gathering will start work this weekend and make recommendations in April – before the government finally makes clear its own strategy.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has all the details:
Citizens’ assembly to decide tough measures to achieve net zero carbon emissions commitment
A 110-strong cross-section of the public will make recommendationsJess Phillips: ‘I would be happy with Nandy or Starmer’
The former Labour leadership candidate Jess Phillips has been talking about how much she rates Lisa Nandy – who she is backing to be Jeremy Corbyn’s successor.
The Birmingham Yardley MP – who dropped out of the leadership race on Tuesday – said Nandy had been “deeply impressive” in the contest so far, adding: “I have found that not just on a personal level but I think the public view and the stuff that she has been doing have really made her stand out.”
“For me, I would be happy if the Labour Party were led by Lisa Nandy or Keir Starmer,” she said.
Phillips confirmed she would vote for Nandy as her first preference in the leadership contest and Starmer as her second preference.
Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings ‘more than give a damn who runs the BBC’
More responses to Cummings’interest in the BBC, after a think tank linked to Boris Johnson’s advisor was revealed to have called for the “end of the BBC in its current form”.
Labour MP Catherine West tweeted: “Dominic Cummings has made no secret of his contempt for the BBC, and his EU referendum campaign peddled fake news and lies.
“There is problems with the BBC, but we must stand up for it and preserve its impartiality. Cummings should steer clear.”
ITV broadcaster Robert Peston has used his latest blog to explore how No 10 might attempt to “influence” who runs the BBC after Tony Hall’s decision to stand down as director general.
“The prime minister and his chief aide, Dominic Cummings, more than give a damn about who runs the BBC – and intend to have a significant influence over the appointment of a new director general,” he wrote.
It seems they aren’t keen on the idea of James Purnell, the former Labour minister, becoming Hall’s successor.
Peston said “a Downing Street source” had told him that if the BBC’s board “try to put someone like Purnell in [as DG], we will put in a chairman whose first job is to fire him...The likes of Purnell [would be] ‘dead on arrival’”.
New Tory MPs told to stay away from miners’ gala
A Tory at the Durham Miners’ Gala? An unlikely sight, surely. Yet several local Tories have said they are planning to attend the totemic union event.
The miners’ association president Alan Mardghum said he would “rather die in a ditch” than invite any of them, advising rather ominously that Conservative MPs better consult the police about their safety.
Dehenna Davison, newly-elected Tory in Bishop Auckland, sent Mardghum a cheeky retort on Twitter: “See you there Alan”.
Richard Holden, who seized North West Durham for the party, has warned: “Me and other Tory MPs will definitely be there.”
More details here:
'I'd rather die in a ditch': New Tory MPs told they are not welcome at miners' gala
‘We never saw Arthur Scargill invited to the Tory party conference’Boris Johnson threatened with trade war over tech company tax
The US has threatened to hike taxes on British car companies if Boris Johnson brings in a tax tech giants such as Google and Facebook.
Steven Mnuchin – Donald Trump’s treasury secretary – said the US considered the UK’s proposed digital services tax to be “discriminatory” and warned that Washington could impose retaliatory taxes on the automobile industry.
Speaking alongside chancellor Sajid Javid at Davos, Mnuchin said Trump would lobby the PM on the issue and claimed the pair had “an excellent relationship”.
Mnuchin told the audience: “We have been pretty clear that we think the digital tax is discriminatory in nature … we will consider arbitrarily putting taxes on car companies.”
More details here:
Trump administration threatens trade war with UK over digital tax plan
'If people want to just arbitrarily put taxes on our digital companies, we will consider arbitrarily putting taxes on car companies,' says MnuchinBoris Johnson kicks off Prime Minister's Questions
Corbyn uses his first question to mention the £300 bonus received by Greggs staff earlier this month, but also that some workers on universal credit could only keep a quarter of the bonus due to tax rules.
"If the PM can show me that is just and fair, I'll buy him a vegan roll myself," he says.
Johnson says under this government people on low pay will be able to keep more of the money they earn.
Corbyn hits back saying Johnson fought "with unbelievable energy" for banker to keep their bonuses. He asks why he cannot do the same for those on low pay.
Johnson tells Corbyn to stop 'talking Britain down'
The PM says Greggs is producing record figures, and one person has complained about the bonuses received by staff. He also claims the UK economy is doing well and cites record employment levels.
Corbyn asks the PM to end the "vicious, and punitive" five week wait for benefits under universal credit.
"The number of people in poverty has diminished by 400,000 under this government," the prime minister claims.
Corbyn snaps back saying: "Wouldn't it be truly wonderful if the PM could answer a question about universal credit."
He also criticises the government's contentious two-child limit for those receiving universal credit and child tax credits.
Johnson describes Ian Blackford as a 'rocketing pheasant'
Before standing up to ask a question, Johnson challenges the SNP over schools' performances in the country, and says perhaps Blackford can respond when he momentarily pops up as a "rocketing pheasant".
Blackford says the PM just "doesn't get it" and calls for him to stop attacking "devolution."
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