Afternoon summary
- Donald Trump has accused the EU of being “very protectionist” while claiming that a UK-US trade deal could be “very big and exciting”. (See 1.58pm.)
- Theresa May and her husband Philip have been pictured in Desenzano del Garda in northern Italy on their summer holiday.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Jeremy Corbyn has called for Britain’s pseudo-public spaces to be reclaimed from corporate interests, after a Guardian Cities investigation revealed the extent to which private ownership and secretive rule-making now dominate many of London’s most prominent squares and parks, my colleague Jack Shenker reports.
Corbyn said:
We must reclaim our public spaces from the corporate interests who want to control them. Our country’s laws should govern public space, not secretive private rules. City life is made rich and exciting by our varied shared spaces. They should be run in the interests of the many not the few.
Here is Jack’s story in full.
Cable says Trump's claims about UK-US trade deal should be taken 'with a pinch of salt'
On the World at One Sir Vince Cable, the new Lib Dem leader, said that it was best to take President Trump’s comments about the benefits of a potential UK-US trade deal (see 1.58pm) “with a pinch of salt”.
Cable said that such a deal could have its advantages, but that they would not compensate for the losses Britain would sustain from a “hard” Brexit taking the country out of the single market and the customs union. He told the programme:
Well I think we’ve learnt in the last few months to take anything President Trump says with a pinch of salt.
It is certainly possible that there could post-Brexit be a trade deal with the US, it’s one of the few that might actually happen, unlike China, India, which are much more difficult ...
It could be significant, it’s not remotely comparable to the potential losses if we withdraw from the Europeans single market and the Customs Union, but it would provide potentially some trade benefits.
Cable also said that people should remember that: “The more food you import from the US, the less is produced by British farmers.”
He added:
I’m not denigrating the idea of free trade with the United States, but it doesn’t offset the potential losses we’ll have if we withdraw from the European Union through a hard Brexit.
Here is the news release that Liam Fox’s department for international trade released last night after the talks in Washington that Donald Trump says could lead to a “very big and exciting” UK-US trade deal, and “JOBS!” (as he put it on Twitter - see 1.58pm.) Fox said:
It is a testament to the political will in both countries that this Working Group is meeting just a month after Ambassador Lighthizer and I discussed it in June. This will be our forum to strengthen the bilateral trade and investment relationship and deepen the already extensive economic ties between the UK and US.
Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, has welcomed Donald Trump’s latest tweet. (See 1.58pm.)
This shows there's a big world for the UK outside the EU. https://t.co/q1xuqYdLuA
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) July 25, 2017
I get sent a lot of new politics books and, if they are good, I always try to give them a plug in the blog. With the summer holidays looming, here are three that have been sitting on my desk for a while that are worth reading. They are all books that help to explain why Britain voted for Brexit last year.
The Road to Somewhere by David Goodhart: Goodhart views Brexit as the product of a culture clash between Somewheres (worldview: “decent populism” - 50% of voters) and Anywheres (worldview: “progressive individualism” - 25% of voters) and, although the book and its thesis have received extensive media coverage (there’s a good Guardian review here), it is remarkably thought-provoking and provocative and well worth reading in full. As a study of postliberalism, it is also about the best book-length guide to Mayism anyone has produced - although, since Mayism as a political project went up in smoke on 8 June, that may no longer be much of a selling point.
Sample quote:
One of the best explanations for inchoate anti-establishment sentiments can be found in the famous social psychology experiment, the ‘ultimatum game’. In a one-off deal someone is given £100 to share with someone else in whatever proportion they choose, but if the other person rejects the share they are offered as unfair neither person receives anything. The experiment usually finds that if the second person is offered much below £30 the deal is rejected and neither party gets any money, showing that people place recognition, reputation and a sense of fairness before simple gain.
This explains why the remain camp’s complaint that working class people who voted Brexit or who oppose a more globalised economy are only harming themselves is missing something important. People are prepared to trade economic gain for political agency and the prospect of a society that takes them more seriously. (They may also be acting out of sheer vindictiveness, ‘if I cannot have the good life, why should the other lot’.)
How to Lose a Referendum by Jason Farrell and Paul Goldsmith: There are outstanding books already available about the EU referendum campaign (eg, Tim Shipman’s) and about Britain’s longterm relationship with Europe (eg, Hugo Young’s), but this may be the first attempt to combine both; to explain why David Cameron lost the referendum not just in the context of what happened last summer, but in the light of events since the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community in the 1950s. Farrell and Goldsmith tell the story with exceptional clarity, insight and thoroughness, and, even if you know this topic well, you’ll learn something new. It is the best single-volume account of all the factors that contributed to Brexit.
Sample quote:
The handful of Labour Leave campaigners interviewed for this book, such as Kate Hoey and Graham Stringer, consistently said that historically [Jeremy Corbyn] was always in their lobby when it came to voting on EU matters.
However, this isn’t entirely true. In fact, Corbyn’s relationship with the EU was much more in line with the indifference he showed during the campaign. It’s true that he was against joining the EU in 1975 and he’d campaigned against the Maastricht Treaty. But as the years went on, he was quite often absent from EU votes and he was rarely vocal in debates. Take the referendum vote itself. In a debate in October 2011, Corbyn voted for having a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU. This was against the party’s stance. However, in a long debate in the Commons, he didn’t contribute. Furthermore, when it came to the actual European referendum bill following David Cameron’s Bloomberg speech, he was absent from the debate and didn’t vote in any of the readings ...
It seems safe to conclude that Jeremy Corbyn wasn’t a passionate defender of the EU. In fact, we are still left wondering whether, on balance, he was remain or leave - and exactly how much he really cared.
Post-Truth by James Ball: Subtitled How Bullshit Conquered the World, this is more media than politics, but social media is transforming politics and Ball’s book is an extremely readable, plausible and clear-headed account of how and why. Bravely, he even proposes some solutions.
Sample quote:
Throughout this chapter - and many of the chapters before it - we’ve been taking social networks as a given. Without them, most of these fake news sites and stories would have withered on the vine with under a thousand hits: social sharing - not Google search - is the lifeblood of fake news, just as it is of hyper-partisan news, and increasingly of mainstream outlets too. Facebook brings sites, niche and mainstream alike, their traffic while simultaneously competing with them for their audience’s attention and for their advertisers’ dollars. Facebook, and its smaller rivals, are involved in the news ecosystem - and the bullshit ecosystem - at every stage of the food chain.
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Trump slams EU as 'very protectionist' as he talks up trade deal with UK
President Trump has been feeding Twitter again. This time he has accused the EU of being “very protectionist” with the EU.
Working on major Trade Deal with the United Kingdom. Could be very big & exciting. JOBS! The E.U. is very protectionist with the U.S. STOP!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
EU hits back at Liam Fox over chlorinated chicken
Senior EU figures have have hit back at Liam Fox’s claim that lowering UK food standards to allow the import of chlorinated chicken from America is an insignificant detail.
The international trade secretary accused the media on Monday of being obsessed with concerns about chlorine-washed chicken being sold in Britain as part of a potential trade deal with the US after Brexit.
During his visit to Washington, Fox further suggested it was a minor matter which would be settled at the end of lengthy talks and, adding that “Americans have been eating it perfectly safely for years”.
In Brussels, his comments were met with withering contempt from officials and politicians alike who accused Fox of failing to understand the implications should the UK lower its standards compared to the EU, where chlorinated chicken is banned.
Gianni Pittella, the leader of the socialist group in the European parliament, said:
I’m sure British citizens will be enthusiastic to go from the EU high standard control over chicken and food to the chlorinated, full of hormones, US chicken.
It is just a further indigestible gift from Tories and their Brexit. Luckily for British citizens, UK won’t be allowed to strike new free trade agreements as long as the Brexit process has not reached a conclusion.
This news reinforces why the EU will eventually need to have checks and controls on goods coming from the UK. We won’t accept a race to the bottom on standards.
A EU senior official said that Brussels had been surprised by the lack of knowledge shown by senior British politicians in their approach to the negotiations.
He added that while the UK was likely to avoid tariffs on many goods under any free trade deal with the EU, the apparent openness of London to lower standards below those of the bloc would significantly hinder trade in the future.
“If we look at goods the most important thing about is not tariffs, it is all the rules around it,” the official said. He went on:
That is why we invented the single market which is about having one set of rules instead of 28 set of rules. Tariffs in a way are not that difficult. I think we will fund a way of avoiding tariffs in the future.
When the stated aim is to make your own laws, not have the same controls, then we need to have checks. Then any good that travels from one market to another will have to undergo checks to see that it is legal to go on the market.
MEPs says Britain's offer on the rights of EU nationals does not go far enough
David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is negotiating Brexit with Michel Barnier, chief Brexit negotiator for the European commission. But the commission is not the only EU institution with a say. The European parliament also has to approve any withdrawal agreement, and it has its own Brexit steering group overseeing the process.
The group, headed by the MEP Guy Verhofstadt, met Barnier this morning and it has just issued a statement. Essentially it is saying that the UK offer on the rights of EU nationals after Brexit does not go far enough.
Here’s an extract.
To be precise, the European parliament will remain vigilant regarding citizens’ rights and will continue to push for full rights for EU citizens in the UK as well as UK citizens in the EU. It is a core mission of the European project to protect, not to diminish, the fundamental rights of all citizens.
The European parliament specifically seeks to fully safeguard the rights concerning family reunion, comprehensive healthcare, voting rights in local elections, the transferability of (social) rights, and the rules governing permanent residence (including the right to leave the UK without losing this status). Simultaneously, we seek to avoid an administrative burden for citizens and want proposals which are intrusive to people’s privacy off the table, e.g. proposed systematic criminal checks.
Last but not least, the European parliament wants the withdrawal agreement to be directly enforceable and to include a mechanism in which the European court of justice can play its full role.
For more on where the UK and the EU disagree on the rights of EU nationals, do read this position paper (pdf) released jointly by both sides last week. It sets out exactly the 14 areas where there is disagreement.
As the Guardian reported last night, transport secretary Chris Grayling’s decision to press ahead with Crossrail 2 in London while shelving rail electrification schemes in the north has provoked fury outside London.
This is what Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said about this on Newsnight last night.
I think the government will be making a major mistake if it underestimates the fury that people here feel when they see those announcements last week and then they hear today that billions more is about to be spent on London. Number one Crossrail 2 was not in the Conservative manifesto so on what basis has it gone to the front of the queue ahead of the north?
The IPPR North thinktank has now launched a 38 Degrees online petition urging Grayling to commit to a Crossrail North. IPPR North says that transport spending in the north would have been £59bn higher over the last decade if the north had received as much transport spending per head as London.
David Davis, the Brexit secretary who is visiting the Czech Republic today, has said that it is a “moral imperative” to reach an agreement soon on the rights of EU nationals, the BBC’s Norman Smith reports.
Its a "moral imperative" to reach swift deal on EU nationals - David Davis
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) July 25, 2017
We want to end the anxiety and uncertainty facing EU nationals in UK - David Davis
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) July 25, 2017
Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, has said he is turning down a paid advisory role with the law firm that represented Gina Miller in her court battle over article 50, following criticism it could involve a conflict of interest.
Mishcon de Reya said on Monday that it was in talks with Starmer, a barrister and director of public prosecutions before he entered parliament, over the work.
Starmer had previously advised the firm while in parliament, but ended the role when he became shadow Brexit secretary in October. Since then, Mishcon de Reya represented Miller when she took on the government over whether parliament had to approve the triggering of article 50.
When the news emerged, Tory MP James Cleverly wrote to Starmer asking him to explain the role, and whether it could involve any conflicts of interest.
In a statement released by Starmer’s office on Tuesday, the Labour MP said:
I am grateful to Mishcon de Reya for discussing a possible role advising the Mishcon Academy with me, but, given my other commitments, I have decided not to further the discussions.
Yesterday on the blog I covered comments from Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, objecting to the prospect of the UK remaining in the single market or the customs union after Brexit.
He has now written an article for the Guardian setting out his thinking in more detail. Here is an excerpt.
Most trade agreements arise from a desire to liberalise trade – making it easier to sell goods and services into one another’s markets. Brexit will not. Brexit arose from key political, rather than trade, objectives: to have control over our borders, to have sovereignty over our laws, not to submit to the European court of justice (ECJ), and not to pay money into the European budget. When negotiations start it will be the first time countries seek a trade agreement with the clear understanding that they are increasing barriers between them.
I campaigned to stay in the EU, but as a democratic politician, I have to recognise that these objectives provide the benchmarks by which leave voters will judge the future trade relations we negotiate with the EU. Unless the new agreement delivers these objectives in substantial measure, we will find it difficult to justify the final result to the 52% who voted leave.
And here is the full article.
Unusually for an article by a Labour frontbencher (or for an article in the Guardian), it has attracted the approval of a senior Ukip MEP. This is from Patrick O’Flynn, Ukip’s economy spokesman during the election.
Good piece on Brexit by a senior Labour MP. Yes, really. https://t.co/RtJVsGFZpf
— Patrick O'Flynn (@oflynnmep) July 25, 2017
Prof Sir Mike Richards, the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) chief inspector of hospitals, told the Today programme this morning that, although the NHS needed more money, care could also be improved without extra funding. He said:
There’s no doubt the NHS needs more money, because of increasing demand on it and the need to transform services. But it’s also true, as we have seen, that things can be done better without more money, and that’s what we are encouraging alongside saying yes, we will need more money ...
What we have seen in our inspections is an awful lot can be done, even at times of austerity when the money hasn’t been coming through fast. We have seen a number of hospitals actually getting better during that time, a number of mental health trusts getting better because they have focused on what really matters to patients, on patient safety and on the whole leadership agenda within these hospitals in order to engage their staff and deliver better care.
He also said that Brexit posed a threat to recruitment in the NHS which had to be addressed.
If we are leaving the EU there is a threat to that which we need to make sure is being dealt with so that we aren’t losing staff and we can then replace them and, if necessary, to grow our own, if you like.
Trump claims UK/US trade deal can make special relationship 'even better'
President Trump has also been tweeting overnight. He used a tweet to say that the trade talks that Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, has been engaged in in Washington will make the special relationship “even better”.
Our special relationship w/ UK is going to be even better. @USTradeRep & UK’s @LiamFox
— President Trump (@POTUS) July 25, 2017
met today to begin new chapter for stronger trade!
The Trump went out from his official @POTUS account (which has 19.5m followers), not from @realDonaldTrump (which has 34.5m followers), which he uses for his more inflammatory (or bonkers) pronouncements.
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Here is an extended video of Boris Johnson’s press conference in Wellington with Gerry Brownlee, the New Zealand foreign minister.
Boris Johnson has been also been tweeting from New Zealand.
Honoured to unveil a stunning new memorial in #Wellington of intertwined oak & pohutukawa trees dedicated to British & New Zealand war dead pic.twitter.com/Q1zgjti14t
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 24, 2017
Commissioned by the UK and created by @WetaWorkshop, the monument is Britain's gift and a symbol of the enduring 🇬🇧 - 🇳🇿 relationship
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 24, 2017
Firm meeting of minds in talks w/ 🇳🇿 PM @pmbillenglish & FM Gerry Brownlee on free trade, regional security & strengthening historic ties pic.twitter.com/RxSzGD0zpk
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 24, 2017
In the inner sanctum of @WetaWorkshop w/ Richard Taylor to thank staff for new 🇬🇧 🇳🇿 war memorial & see some of their amazing #LOTR props pic.twitter.com/NrfMXth5bs
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) July 25, 2017
LOTR is Lord of the Rings.
Boris Johnson says voters want no more 'political kerfuffle' as he urges Tories to back May
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, is on the other side of the world, visiting New Zealand and Australia. But that has not stopped him having to field questions about Tory leadership difficulties. (We can probably downgrade it from “crisis”, but doubtless we will need to ratchet up the language again before too long.) Speaking at a press conference at New Zealand’s parliament buildings in Wellington in the last few hours, he urged Conservative MPs to back Theresa May, saying voters wanted no more “political kerfuffle”.
Johnson said that the government was “getting on with the business of governing”.
Let’s be clear, the election did not evolve entirely in the way the government had hoped or would have wanted. I’m going to put that out.
But the Labour party did not win, they were 50 seats behind. We have a workable system of getting stuff through the House of Commons. We have workable maority with our friends from Northern Ireland. We are getting on with the business of governing, which is overwhelmingly what the British people want to see.
Then, when asked if he ruled out mounting a leadership challenge himself, he said:
What the British people want to see is us getting on with the job. They see no vacancy, nor do they see any for any more political kerfuffle.
You can watch video of the exchange here. Alert viewers will notice that Johnson did not actually reply “yes” when asked if he was willing to rule out a leadership challenge.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has dismissed speculation about a Tory leadership bid, saying people are tired of "political kerfuffle" pic.twitter.com/ZAVs0EvKui
— Press Association (@PA) July 25, 2017
Johnson said that New Zealand would be “at or near the front of the queue” for a free trade deal with the UK after Brexit.
He claimed that Brexit would not lead to Britain turning its back on the world.
People have got a democratic right to feel that their government is in charge of the situation and that was a bit what the whole Brexit thing was about. It wasn’t that people were hostile to immigrants, they weren’t hostile to people with talents and energy coming to the UK, they just wanted to feel that the British government had a handle on it.
I will say this until I’m blue in the face: Brexit is not, was not, will not be about Britain turning away from the world.
On the contrary, it is about us wanting to keep great relations with European friends and partners and do a great free trade deal with them, but it is also about rediscovering and intensifying friendships and partnerships around the world.
And he also dismissed suggestions that “infighting” in the Conservative party could jeopardise progress in trade talks. When this was put to him, he said any suggestion of discord in the Conservative party had “completely passed me by”.
Back in the northern hemisphere, politics is relatively quiet. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is on a trip to the Czech Republic. And Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, has been out giving interviews about the government’s plans to ban the sale of new homes as leasehold. But I’m sure we will find something to blog about.
As usual, I will be covering breaking political news (in so far as there is any) as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to publish a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
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.
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