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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow (now): and Peter Walker (earlier)

Esther McVey apologises for misleading parliament over universal credit - Politics live

Esther McVey during Prime Minister’s Questions .
Esther McVey during Prime Minister’s Questions . Photograph: PA

On the World at One Frank Field, the Labour chair of the Commons work and pensions committee, accused Esther McVey of “Trumpism”. Referring to the NAO letter (see 10.35am), he said:

I’ve never seen a letter from the National Audit Office like this before in the 40 years I’ve been in parliament. It’s clearly a call to end this Trumpism in British politics when you think you can stand up and say anything about what any other people have actually said.

Corbyn calls for bank holiday if England wins World Cup

Jeremy Corbyn has called for a bank holiday if England wins the World Cup. His spokesman told journalists:

We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but I think it is the case that Jeremy believes that if England were to win the World Cup there should be a public bank holiday in celebration.

The World Cup is a very special international competition. It’s something that brings people together on a very large scale and we need recognition of that and recognition of the importance of football in the country.

Any such bank holiday should cover the whole of the UK, not just England, the spokesman added.

Owen Paterson, the Conservative Brexiter and former cabinet minister, has said that the new customs plan being considered by ministers, the third one that emerged on Monday, sounds like little more than a rebrand” of the “unacceptable” customs partnership model which would see the UK collect duties on behalf of the EU. He said:

We cannot deliver any of the economic benefits of Brexit without leaving the customs union cleanly and completely, freeing ourselves to forge our own trade relationships with friends and allies across the world and committing to the principles of free trade.

The Conservative manifesto at the last general election - which secured the most votes of any party since 1992 - was unambiguously clear: ‘As we leave the European Union, we will no longer be members of the single market or customs union’.

For the good of every citizen in the country, that promise must now be delivered.

A further meeting of the government’s Cobra emergencies committee will be held at official level on Wednesday evening to hear updates on the situation in Amesbury, Downing Street said.

Updated

Plaid Cymru's Leanne Wood faces leadership challenge

As the BBC reports, the former MP Adam Price and Rhun ap Iorwerth are to challenge Leanne Wood for the leadership of Plaid Cymru. Both are now members of the Welsh assembly.

Announcing his bid, Price said:

Following the recommendation of the assembly group to invite members to discuss a future leadership model, and the subsequent positive reaction from Leanne Wood, teams for both I and Leanne negotiated throughout the day, in good faith, to reach a way forward which recognised the need for change and avoid the need to challenge.

My proposal for a new leadership model [a co-leader plan] was a sincere and creative attempt to inject a fresh dynamic into the team. I believe it remains a practical and progressive way forward and it could have made a traditional contest avoidable. However, media statements soon indicated the negotiations were being undermined.

So we must park the proposal for the time being and revert to established procedure.

But we cannot put off the irresistible call for defining change. Change in the way we frame our politics; the projection of who we are, what we stand for, what we have fought long and hard for and what’s ultimately important to us. The areas where we will not compromise; the places where we can work with partners.

And here is a statement from ap Iorwerth.

A few weeks ago, Leanne invited a debate on the leadership of Plaid Cymru – the party of Wales, a debate that could lead to reaffirming her leadership or starting a new chapter in the history of the party.

Since then there’s been much discussion about the merits of such a debate. Supporters and members of the party from all parts of Wales – from the south Wales valleys to the north and mid-Wales, from the west to Cardiff – have encouraged me to allow my name to go forward. That encouragement has come from people at all elected levels, but mainly from ordinary party members, including some who, I’m quite sure, will back Leanne!

And that’s the point – this should be a constructive debate, a positive one that can energise the party and the country, and it’s in THAT spirit that I am accepting the nominations. And in the spirit of real excitement and passion about the future of our country.

Following Ian Blackford’s questions at PMQs about the origin of money going to the Tories from the Scottish Unionist Association Trust (see 2.16pm), the trust has issued a response of sorts. These are from the BBC’s Nick Eardley.

Penny Mordaunt becomes first minister to use sign language from despatch box

Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, was applauded by MPs as she become the first minister to use sign language in parliament. As the Press Association reports, MPs clapped after Mordaunt spoke as well as signed at the Commons despatch box in answer to a question during her department’s oral questions. In response to a question from Tory Bob Stewart, Mordaunt said and signed:

Mr Speaker, on the 24th July we will hold a global disability conference here in London organised by the UK government, by the Kenya government and by the International Disability Alliance.

For too long in the world’s poorest countries, disabled people have not been able to reach their full potential because of stigma or not enough practical support. I am proud to be focused on this area which has been neglected for too long.

The conference will support the global effort to advance disability inclusion for some countries’ most most vulnerable people.

According to Sky’s Faisal Islam, pro-European Conservatives are now meeting the prime minister, following the Brexiters’ meeting with the chief whip this morning. (See 1.15pm and 1.55pm.)

Given the balance of power in the party, this time they’ll need a smaller room.

Why buses are such an important issue for Labour voters

Jeremy Corbyn’s decision to focus on bus issues at PMQs came as a surprise and opinion is divided as to whether or not this was a good idea. (See 1.24pm.)

But if you want to know why Corbyn raised the topic, this table probably helps to explain things. It is from a Hansard Society book about the last election, Britain Votes 2017, and (bear with me) it shows “correlation coefficients measuring the associations between the shares of the vote obtained by the parties in constituencies and the usual range of social and demographic variables”.

Put simply, the higher the number, the greater the link between this factor and the chances of people in the constituency voting for said party.

In the past class was the big dividing line in British politics but these figures confirm that this is no longer the case. Places with lots of manual workers are more Labour (0.36) and places with lots of professional/managerial workers are more Conservative (0.30), but the correlation is low. Age is a much more significant factor now in determining how people will vote.

But the single factor that most seems to overlap with voting Labour is not class, or age, or ethnicity, or even being a renter rather than a owner occupier. It’s not having a car.

So arguably today was about Corbyn raising Labour’s number one core vote issue.

Link between constituency profile and parties share of the vote
Link between constituency profile and parties share of the vote Photograph: Britain Votes 2017

Updated

SNP calls for investigation into secretive donations to Scottish Conservatives

At PMQs Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, asked Theresa May to launch an investigation into donations made by the Scottish Unionist Association Trust to the Tories north of the border. That question was prompted by this investigation by the Ferret website. As the Press Association reports, details from the Electoral Commission show the trust has donated £318,876 to the party between 2001 and 2018.

Blackford said:

The Conservatives are systematically shielding their donations from public scrutiny, Jackson Carlaw MSP for Eastwood, [David Duguid] and [Ross Thomson] have all accepted donations from the Scottish Unionist Association Trust.

The trust has donated £319,000 to the Scottish Conservatives, yet there is no information available about who the people are who currently manage the trust, no public accounts indicate who its donors are or what assets it holds.

I’m now giving the prime minister the chance to tell us what checks the Scottish Tory party had in place before accepting such large donations and will she investigate the links between the Conservative Party and the trust and promise to publish a list of all donations and donors?

Theresa May responded:

I can tell him that all donations to the Scottish Conservative Party are accepted and declared in accordance with the law and the Scottish Conservative party works with the Electoral Commission to make sure that that is all done properly.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, at PMQs
Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, at PMQs Photograph: PA

Michael Gove, the environment secretary, was originally meant to be giving evidence to the Commons European scrutiny committee this afternoon. But that session has been cancelled. Gove is currently giving a statement to MPs about fishing.

Earlier my colleague Peter Walker posted on the combative interview with ConservativeHome given by the Tory Brexiter Andrea Jenkyns. (See 10.59am.) To drive home her point, Jenkyns has been tweeting about it.

She also posted this on Twitter last night.

Jenkyns is the MP who released an open letter to Theresa May at the weekend, signed by herself and more than 30 colleagues, saying Brexit would be unacceptable if it breached any of eight specified red lines.

It used to be the European Research Group that released letters like this. Maybe Jenkyns sees herself as continuity ERG?

Andrea Jenkyns on the night of her election as MP for Morley and Outwood in 2015.
Andrea Jenkyns on the night of her election as MP for Morley and Outwood in 2015. Photograph: Craig Brough/REUTERS

Updated

The Times’ Sam Coates has a good Twitter thread about the meeting Tory Brexiters from the European Research Group with the chief whip, Julian Smith, this morning. (See 1.15pm.) It starts here.

What McVey said when she apologised to MPs

This is what Esther McVey said when she apologised to MPs earlier for misleading them about universal credit. She said:

While speaking in parliament in answer to questions on the NAO report into universal credit, I mistakenly said that the NAO had asked for the rollout of Universal Credit to continue at a faster rate and to be speeded up. In fact, the NAO did not say that and I want to apologise.

I want to apologise to ... the House for inadvertently misleading you. What I meant to say was that the NAO had said that there was no practical alternative to continuing with universal credit ...

With regard to the NAO report not taking into account the impact of the recent changes to UC, I still maintain this is the case - such as housing benefit run-on and 100% advances and the removal of waiting days.

The impact of these changes are still being felt and therefore, by definition, couldn’t have been fully taken into account by the NAO report.

This is from my colleague Jessica Elgot.

Ireland’s deputy prime minister Simon Coveney has a series of meetings today with cabinet members including Michael Gove and Karen Bradley to discuss Brexit and Northern Ireland.

The tanaiste, who is also responsible for Brexit in Ireland, is also meeting David Lidington and Philip Hammond, both of whom have working relations with the Irish govrnment.

Coveney said the pace of talks needed to be intensified while expressing disappointment over progress on the Irish border question. He said:

Everything, including all elements of the withdrawal agreement and the framework for the future relationship, needs to be wrapped up by October.

What is needed now is for the negotiations to be intensified. Lack of progress on the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland, including the backstop, in recent rounds of negotiations is very disappointing. It is important that the UK delivers on the clear commitments and guarantees it provided in December and again in March. The time for postponing decisions has passed. I will be interested in hearing from key members of the British government on how the UK intends to move the negotiations forward in the coming weeks.

The foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, who likened the Irish border to London’s congestion charge borders, is not on the meeting list.

Sources told the Guardian that Johnson recently expressed “shock” when he was told by a senior Irish government source that Britain exports £10bn more to Ireland than it does to China, one of the holy grails for Brexiters.

Britain exports €18bn (£15.85bn) worth of goods to Ireland and sells €11.4bn of services from the UK, a total of £25.88bn for 2016. The same figure for UK exports to China for 2016 is £16.8bn.

The Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar gave a guarded welcome to Theresa May’s customs partnership proposal when it was unveiled in May but the government still looking for a backstop on the Irish border questions.

Updated

PMQs - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

The Twitter verdict was split more or less evenly between those who thought Corbyn had addressed a worthy and much-neglected subject, and those baffled as to why he had not focused on Brexit or Esther McVey.

Here are some journalists and commentators on the pro-bus side.

And here are some people who think differently.

Finally, there were so many variants on the joke about six bus questions coming together at once, that people started joking about this

Theresa May 'too nervous' to watch England's World Cup penalty shootout, No 10 says

I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Peter.

And my colleague Dan Sabbagh has news from the post-PMQs Number 10 briefing.

Rees-Mogg says regulatory alignment with EU would be 'serious mistake'

Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of the ERG contingent of robustly pro-Brexit Tory MPs, has warned Theresa May that it would be “a serious mistake” to agree any sort of Brexit deal which would involve a single market for goods and continued regulatory alignment. Rees-Mogg said he took nearly 50 MPs to see the chief whip, Julian Smith, on Wednesday morning, to warn against such a position.

Speaking on BBC2’s Daily Politics, Rees-Mogg said it was “hard to think of a worse idea” than a deal involving continued regulatory alignment:

That’s not Brexit. It’s very important that we are not in regulatory alignment, even if we have similar regulations, because we will need to do trade deals with other countries. And the biggest barrier to trade deals is no longer tariffs, but non-tariff barriers…

I don’t think that would meet the Conservative party manifesto, and I think the British electorate would have a right to complain, which is why I think the government won’t do this.

Asked whether he was reassured by the meeting with Smith, he added:

I won’t be reassured until I know the details of what comes out on Friday, one way or the other.

Jacob Rees-Mogg speaks on BBC2’s Daily Politics.
Jacob Rees-Mogg speaks on BBC2’s Daily Politics. Photograph: BBC2

Updated

Esther McVey apologises for misleading parliament

Esther McVey has briefly addressed the Commons to respond to the highly unusual letter by the NAO saying the pensions secretary had misled parliament about what they said on universal credit. She makes a partial apology, but still disputes some of the NAO’s view.

McVey concedes that she was mistaken in claiming the NAO had asked for the rollout of UC to be speeded up, and that she wanted “to apologise to the house for inadvertently misleading you”.

I mistakenly said that the NAO had asked for the rollout of universal credit to continue at a faster rate and to be speeded up. In fact, the NAO did not say that.

What I meant to say was that the NAO had said that there was no practical alternative to continuing with universal credit.

But she declines to say sorry for saying the NAO had failed to take into account changes to UC in its report on the issue, saying: “I still maintain this is the case.”

McVey says the impact of certain changes are still being felt in the system, and so “by definition” could not have been taken into account. The speaker, John Bercow, accepts McVey’s apology, and rebuts attempts by various Labour MPs to respond to it via points of order. It remains to be seen what the NAO think about it all.

Esther McVey addresses the Commons.
Esther McVey addresses the Commons. Photograph: BBC Parliament

Updated

Brexit-keen Tory grandee Edward Leigh also asks for reassurance on Brexit. He asks for confirmation that the UK will end up with “full and unfettered control” of migration, new trade deals, and trade-related regulations. The PM seeks to reassure him, but is slightly hazy on details.

And that’s it.

The Tory MP Robert Halfon uses a question to call for better regulation of bouncy castles following the death of a seven-year-old girl on such an inflatable at Gorleston beach in Norfolk on Sunday. He has been campaigning on the issue. May says she will look at the issue, but will await the report into Sunday’s incident.

Another long-standing Brexiter, Tory backbencher Owen Paterson, asks May to ensure she does keep to the Conservative manifesto and make sure any Brexit deal sees the UK leave the customs union and single market. In a long and slightly woolly answer, the PM – sort of – assures him this will happen.

Back at PMQs, trains get a mention as well. Oliver Heald, the Tory MP for north-east Hertfordshire, asks whether Govia Thameslink might lose its franchise, speaking up for many disgruntled commuters. May says the current, and seemingly endless, disruption to services is “simply unacceptable”.

Meanwhile even leading Labour Brexiter Kate Hoey avoids the subject, and asks a question on elections in Zimbabwe – Hoey chairs an all-party group on the subject.

Updated

Esther McVey to address parliament after PMQs

The Labour MP Marsha de Cordova asks May about Esther McVey and the concerns raised by the NAO, asking if McVey has offered her resignation for misleading parliament.

May says it is important for ministers to set the record straight, and says McVey will address the Commons after PMQs.

Updated

PMQs - Snap verdict

PMQs - Snap verdict: Two days before the crunch Brexit summit at Chequers and with May facing near-open revolt from her MPs; hours after the NAO accused Esther McVey of misleading parliament; a day before the NHS’s 70th anniversary - it’s a good guess that not many people outside Corbyn’s key team knew that the subject of today’s PMQs would be bus services.

But for all the regular airing of woes about rail travel in the Commons, this is a worthwhile and often-neglected subject, and one which affects millions of people, often in poorer communities. It didn’t make for the most dramatic PMQs clashes of recent months, but the subject is a core Corbyn area, touching on poverty, social justice and the effects of privatisation and deregulation.

I’m not sure we learned a vast amount about the subject apart from that fact that the prime minister hasn’t got a huge amount to say on it, beyond seeking to pass the responsibility to local authorities, and a general attempt to take credit for metro mayors. So, one perhaps for the purists, but can be chalked down as a win for the Labour leader.

Corbyn reiterates his points on bus travel, and points to the policy of London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, to freeze bus fares. May responds by saying bus travel in London is falling (it is, but there seem to be all sorts of reasons for this). The Labour leader demands new powers on transport for metro mayors.

Corbyn sticks with the subject, using his now-traditional final peroration to emphasise the point that for many people, bus travel is “the only mode of transport available”. He says people across the nation have a right to regulated bus services.

May - who it’s fair to guess, did not expect this subject to crop up – says it has been the Conservatives who have created metro mayors, and defends her record.

And that’s it for May v Corbyn. The next question comes from Tory MP Scott Mann, who has a good starting line: “You wait forever for a bus question at PMQs, and then seven come along at once.”

Corbyn asks again about buses, saying services have been reduced. “A bus pass isn’t much use if there isn’t a bus,” he says. May again defends her policies, saying local authorities must take responsibility. Corbyn again pushes her on the subject, asking if she believes buses should be left to the market.

This might seem niche to some, but bus travel is a big issue – and disproportionately affects people on lower incomes. And more bus trips are made then journeys by train.

Jeremy Corbyn begins by calling for increased funding for the NHS and, of course, congratulating England. After a long build-up, the Labour leader’s first question is one very few people would have expected: buses. Does the PM accept her policy on bus travel has failed?

May responds by blaming local authorities, saying they are responsible. She then contrasts her NHS spending plans with those promised by Labour at the last election.

Theresa May at PMQs
Theresa May at PMQs Photograph: BBC Parliament

Prime minister's questions

It’s PMQs, and you would expect talk of Brexit, and perhaps Esther McVey, not to mention some mentions of the England football team. And yes, Theresa May begins by welcoming the “very rare and welcome event” of an England win in a penalty shoot-out.

Labour calls on McVey to apologise to NAO and parliament

Labour has responded to the NAO\s letter. The shadow work and pensions secretary, Margaret Greenwood, said:

This is a very serious matter. Esther McVey appears to have misled parliament in misrepresenting the findings of the NAO report.

She sought to rubbish the NAO report, rather than respond to its findings, which were damning of her government’s flagship social security policy, even though her own department had agreed the report prior to its publication.

She must now make a full apology to the NAO, to parliament and to the people who rely on universal credit for support. If she won’t then she should consider her position because people’s lives are being ruined by this botched policy rollout.

Here is our story on the NAO’s criticism of McVey.

This is the first time that the NAO has ever released private correspondence with a minister and is a reflection of the tensions between McVey and the NAO.

Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, has suggested that the NAO’s criticisms of Esther McVey are sufficiently serious that she should lose her cabinet job.

This is Peter Walker here, taking the helm temporarily while Andrew is elsewhere.

As we approach Friday’s Chequers summit the pressure from all sides is building on Theresa May. Latest to have her say is the Brexiter backbench MP Andrea Jenkyns, who has used an interview with ConservativeHome to as good as threaten that the PM will be ousted if she seeks a Norway-style Brexit solution.

Jenkyns said there had been regular meetings and phone calls during the week between “frustrated” backbenchers. An overly-soft Brexit would be “catastrophic for the Conservative party”, she added.

Asked if May could stay in her job in the event of a Norway-type deal, Jenkyns seemed to say not:

This isn’t a threat, it’s just as history shows, prime ministers keep their jobs if they keep their promises.

NAO accuses McVey of making 3 misleading statements about universal credit - Summary and analysis

The open letter from the National Audit Office to Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, amounts to a remarkable rebuke. The NAO regularly publishes reports highlighting problems with government policy, but those reports are agreed with the relevant departments (meaning criticisms tend to be relatively muted) and it almost never personalises matters (identifying particular ministers for blame).

Yet the open letter from Sir Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, accuses McVey of wilfully misleading parliament. This is against the ministerial code and by rights it ought to be a sacking offence. (Damian Green lost his job as first secretary of state for less.) McVey will almost certainly be called to the Commons to explain herself, but don’t assume she will definitely have to go. Ultimately the prime minister decides what to do with ministers accused of breaking the ministerial code and, with everything else going on at the moment, a ministerial resignation is probably the last thing May wants.

But this is serious. In his letter Morse describes McVey as a repeat offender. He says he is publishing his open letter because, when he wrote to her with concerns about what he was saying about the NAO’s recent report on universal credit, she repeated some of her misleading claims during DWP questions in the Commons on Monday.

Morse says McVey misled MPs in three respects.

1 - McVey said the NAO report did not take account of the most recent changes to universal credit, when it did. Morse says the report was “fully agreed with senior officials in your department” and that it was “based on the most accurate and up-to-date information from your department”. But McVey said on 15 June that it did not take account of recent changes, and she repeated this claim in the Commons on Monday. Morse says it is “odd” she felt able to say this.

2 - McVey said the NAO wanted UC to be rolled out more quickly, even though that was wrong. On Monday McVey told MPs: “[The report] says that it needs to continue to go forward and it needs to continue at a faster rate.” Morse says this is “not correct”. He goes on:

While we recognise regrettable early delays to universal credit, my recommendation made clearly on page 11 of the report is that the department must ensure it is ready before it starts to transfer people over from previous benefits.

3 - McVey said the NAO said universal credit was working, when it does not accept this interpretation. Morse says:

I’m also afraid that your statement in response to my report claiming universal credit is working has not been proven. The department has not measured how many universal credit claimants are having difficulties and hardship. What we do know from the department’s surveys is that although 83% of claimants responding said they were satisfied with the departments’ customer service, 40% of them said they were experiencing financial difficulties, and 25% said they couldn’t make an online claim.

I’m handing over to my colleague Peter Walker now. I will be back after lunch.

Updated

National Audit Office accuses Esther McVey of misleading MPs about its concerns about universal credit

The head of the National Audit Office (NAO) has taken the highly unusual step of writing to Work and Pensions Secretary Esther McVey to complain of inaccuracies in her statement to Parliament on the watchdog’s critical report about the roll-out of universal credit (UC), the Press Association reports. The PA story goes on:

Auditor General Sir Amyas Morse said it was “odd” that McVey told MPs that the NAO did not take into account recent changes in the administration of UC, when the report had in fact been “fully agreed” with senior officials at the Department for Work and Pensions only days earlier.

He said that McVey’s claim that the NAO was concerned that universal credit was rolling out too slowly was “not correct”.

Her assurance, in response to the report, that universal credit was working was also “not proven”, said Sir Amyas in his open letter.

Updated

Bradley says there will be 'much more certainty' about government's Brexit plans when white paper published

Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland secretary, is giving evidence to the Commons Northern Ireland affairs committee. Andrew Murrison, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, has just asked her about the recent complaints from George Hamilton, the chief constable of Northern Ireland, who said he was “in the dark” about the government’s Brexit plans.

Bradley said that there would be “much more certainty” about what the UK is planning when the white paper gets published after the Chequers meeting on Friday.

She also said that she would be addressing Hamilton’s specific complaint about how he does not know who is is supposed to liaise with in government over Brexit planning. She said she would ensure that he did have contacts he could speak to.

Karen Bradley
Karen Bradley Photograph: Parliament TV

Here is our story about the Electoral Commission concluding that Vote Leave broke election spending rules in the EU referendum.

Matthew Elliott, Vote Leave’s chief executive at the time, has given interviews to the BBC and to Sky which have been broadcast this morning responding to the Electoral Commission findings (which have not been formally published yet - Vote Leave is going public on the basis of what it has been told about the commission’s initial findings).

On Sky Elliott claimed the commission was getting its information from “marginal characters” and ignoring Vote Leave’s views. He said:

[The Electoral Commission] listened to these, quite frankly, marginal characters who came out in March, and listened to their stories, but haven’t had evidence from Vote Leave side of things. I think it is a huge breach of natural justice that they haven’t wanted to listen to our opinions and our story and we were the people running the campaign.

And on the BBC Elliott said that Vote Leave was supposed to be working with other groups because it was the designated lead campaign group for leave. He said:

I believe we acted both within the letter of the law and also the spirit of the law and the spirit of how you should conduct a campaign. We got the designation, Vote Leave, as the officially designated campaign for Leave, on the basis that we would be working with other groups - we wouldn’t just solely be working on our own, we would work alongside other groups and encourage them, and encourage their activities.

Matthew Elliott
Matthew Elliott Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

The pro-Brexit papers seem to agree that, if Theresa May really does propose a softish Brexit along the lines reported when the cabinet meets at Chequers on Friday, Conservative Brexiters will be appalled.

This is from the Daily Telegraph’s story (paywall).

The plans are expected to see Britain enter into a single market on goods with the EU, collect tariffs on the EU’s behalf and potentially open the door for the European Court of Justice to have a role in arbitrating future trade disputes.

A cabinet source told The Telegraph: “This doesn’t work, it is a fiction designed to keep us in the EU and Single Market. It’s just the Customs Partnership dressed up with another name.”

A Whitehall source added: “Eurosceptic cabinet ministers feel like they haven’t been listened to by Downing Street. They are wondering what on Earth all the debate has been about if they are just going to be ignored.”

This is from the Daily Mail’s story.

Veteran Eurosceptic Bernard Jenkin last night urged Mrs May not to revive the plan, saying: ‘The Government would be playing into the hands of the EU.

This deal would deliver Brexit but without any of its freedoms or advantages.’

Jacob Rees-Mogg, chairman of the European Research Group of Eurosceptic Tory MPs, warned the proposal was unacceptable, adding: ‘The third way was one of Tony Blair’s great theories. It was a muddle then and it’s a muddle now.

‘The third way is not leaving the EU. What is being proposed, which I hope is not accurate, would be a deeply unsatisfactory non-Brexit.’

And this is from the Sun’s story.

In a sign of serious trouble for Mrs May, the atmosphere at a meeting of his Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers’ ERG was last night dubbed as “fierce”.

The group of 60 Tory MPs demanded a meeting with the Chief Whip, with one saying: “If this is remotely true, the consensus is it will be open rebellion”.

In his Today interview Michael Gove was not asked about reports that he ripped up a cabinet paper about the new customs partnership, Theresa May’s favoured customs model, because he felt its conclusions did not fully take account of his objections.

But Jolyon Maugham, the barrister who led a legal bid to get the Electoral Commission to reopen its investigation into Vote Leave, was in the studio for an interview and he said the topic came up in the green room afterwards.

Here is Maugham’s take on the story.

According to ITV’s Robert Peston, Tory Brexiters from the European Research Group have demanded an emergency meeting with the chief whip, Julian Smith, this morning because they are unhappy about the proposals that Theresa May will put to the cabinet on Friday.

Gove plays down prospect of cabinet resignations at key Chequers Brexit summit

Good morning. We’re only two days away from the crucial Chequers Brexit cabinet meeting and with reports (the most detailed here) that Theresa May is proposing something that would affectively amount to single market membership for goods and agrifoods, she seems to be facing a backlash already.

Michael Gove, the environment secretary, was on the Today programme this morning. He was there to talk about the plans he is publishing for what will happen to fishing after Brexit, but the questioning got more interesting when he was asked about the Chequers summit. In classic passive-aggressive mode, Gove more or less refused to engage with the questions at all, saying at one point it would be discourteous (sadly, he was not asked how courteous he was being when he ripped up a report on Theresa May’s preferred plan), but there was a nugget of news in what he said. He played down the prospect of cabinet resignations, saying “I don’t think so” when asked if he thought Brexiter ministers would walk out over May’s proposals.

Gove, who was one of the leaders of the Vote Leave campaign was also asked about the BBC report (which seems to have been based on a pre-emptive, defensive briefing from Vote Leave itself) that the Electoral Commission has concluded it broke campaign spending rules during the EU referendum. Again, Gove was not particularly forthcoming. But he did say he expected the Electoral Commission conclusions to be challenged in the courts. He said:

The report itself, I think, is going to be challenged legally. If it’s going to be challenged legally, if it is going to go through the courts, it would be inappropriate for me - not having read the report - to offer a commentary on it.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland secretary, gives evidence to the Commons Northern Ireland committee.

12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

2.15pm: Michael Gove, the environment secretary, gives evidence to the Commons European scrutiny committee.

4.20pm: Angela Rayner, the shadow education secretary, speaks at the Local Government Association conference.

I’ll be here until about 10.30am, but then I need to leave for a bit for an appointment, and a colleague will be taking over. I’ll be back in the afternoon.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

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.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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