Theresa May's press conference - Summary
Here are the main lines from Theresa May’s press conference
- May confirmed that Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, will be allowed to miss the vote on building a third runway at Heathrow on Monday night. Government MPs are being whipped to vote for Heathrow expansion, and today Greg Hands has resigned as a trade minister so that he could honour a long-standing promise to vote against. Johnson is also long-standing opponent of a third runway. But when May was asked if he should be made to vote for the plan, given how important a part of her government’s agenda it is, she effectively confirmed reports saying that ministers like Johnson, who have a track record of opposing the third runway, will be allowed to miss the vote. She said:
The government is absolutely committed to increasing airport capacity at Heathrow. This is important, it is part of our future as global Britain, and the ambitions we have as a trading nation for the future. And the foreign secretary, early next week, will be what I would describe as a living embodiment of global Britain. He will be out there showing the UK’s continued presence around the world and the work that the UK continues to do around the world, with our diplomacy, working on so many of the issues and the challenges that we face across the world today.
May did not say where Johnson would be on Monday. There is a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg that day, but Johnson’s deputy, Sir Alan Duncan, is representing the UK at that meeting.
- May refused to say she wanted Britain to remain a “tier one” military power. Asked about a report in the FT saying she had questioned the need for Britain to remain a “tier one” military power (see 5.03pm), she said that the report was “not correct”. But, when challenged to say explicitly that she did want Britain to remain a “tier one” military power, she refused to use the phrase. Instead she said:
The reports that you have read are not correct. We will continue to be, as we have been discussing today, that leading contributor to the [Nato] alliance, but also a leading defence nation ... We will continue to contribute in a whole variety of ways across conventional, cyber and nuclear capabilities.
She also told another reporter who asked about this:
The United Kingdom is a leading member of the Nato alliance, a leading defence nation, and that will continue. If you look at our defence budget, we’re the second biggest defence budget in Nato, we’re the biggest defence budget in Europe, and we have committed to significant sums, £179bn of spend on new equipment over the next decade or so.
According to the FT (paywall), “although there is no formal definition of what constitutes a tier one power, the MoD has interpreted it as having a full spectrum of military capabilities, including an independent nuclear deterrent and a navy, army and air force capable of being deployed anywhere in the world.”
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
Q: How can the relationship with America be fixed?
May says it will continue. There are some issues on which we disagree, such as on the Iran nuclear deal. But in the groups in which we come together we can express our disagreements.
And that’s it.
I’ll post a summary soon.
Q: If expanding Heathrow is an important part of your ambitions for global Britain, shouldn’t Boris Johnson come back to vote for it on Monday night?
May says Johnson will be an embodiment of global Britain on Monday, out there making the case for Britain.
Q: Are you committed to the UK remaining a “tier one” defence nation? (See 5.03pm.) Are you willing to use that phrase? Defence chief worry that you are not committed to that.
May says Britain will continue to be a leading defence nation. But she does not use the phrase “tier one”.
Q: Are you worried Trump will walk away from Nato?
Stoltenberg says he thinks Trump is committed to Nato. He has said so, and said he is committed to article 5. And Trump has shown his commitment. It is about actions as well as words. He has stepped up the American commitment in Europe.
Updated
Stoltenberg says there are disagreements with America.
But this has happened before, and the Nato alliance has been able to overcome those differences. He is confident that can happen again.
He says while President Trump has been in office, US funding for American interventions in Europe has gone up by 40%.
Q: Where you annoyed by reports that you have questioned the UK’s military role?
That is a reference to the Financial Times splash (paywall). This is how it starts.
Theresa May has asked Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, to justify Britain’s role as a “tier one” military power, throwing Ministry of Defence plans to modernise the armed forces into disarray just weeks before a crucial Nato summit.
At a tense meeting this week, the prime minister said Mr Williamson needed to rethink the capabilities needed to be a modern military force and focus more on Britain’s cyber warfare capability to meet new threats, including Russia.
Senior officials said Mrs May’s intervention created “shockwaves” at the MoD, with some claiming she appeared to be questioning Britain’s role as a global military player. “People have their head in their hands,” said one official.
May says the UK is a leading defence nation. That will continue. The UK has the second largest defence budget in Europe and is the biggest defence nation in Europe, she says.
Thursday’s FT: May’s comments cast doubt on UK status as ‘tier one’ military power #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers via @MsHelicat pic.twitter.com/5syB68sJTg
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) June 20, 2018
Jens Stoltenberg is speaking now.
He says Britain has led in Nato by example.
What makes Nato unique is the transatlantic bond, he says.
He says some people are questioning that bond now.
But Europe and America have had their differences before, he says. He says the relationship has survived.
Theresa May's press conference
Theresa May is giving her press conference now.
She say she welcomes the steps Nato countries have taken to increase defence spending.
Europe is shouldering more of the burden, but it must continue to do more.
At next month’s summit Nato leaders expect to agree an ambitious package of measures.
But it needs to become more bureaucratic, so it can respond more quickly, she says.
Theresa May will shortly hold a press conference at the end of her talks with Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general.
Earlier Stoltenberg, a former Norwegian prime minister, gave a speech at Lancaster House. As my colleague Ewen MacAskill writes in his preview story, Stoltenberg called for Nato unity.
The Brexit department has published another paper today on how the UK and the EU could cooperate after Brexit on security matters (pdf). It is only six pages long, and it does not contain any surprises, but it does confirm that, on security, what the UK wants after Brexit is something as close as possible to what is in place now.
For example, it proposes ongoing cooperation on sanctions (pointing out that many existing EU sanctions “derive from UK information and analysis”), on development policy, on defence projects and defence capability development priorities, on election observation missions and even in consular affairs (“in 2017, through its global network, the UK provided consular services to 207 EU citizens where they were unrepresented by their own member state, and the UK is open to continuing this service on a reciprocal basis”).
It also stresses that the UK wants a level of cooperation beyond what is currently available to other “third countries” (countries outside the EU). This is problematic because the EU says that, after Brexit, the UK will be a third country, and that this necessarily places a limit how much cooperation there can be.
Sadiq Khan says EU nationals living in UK should be able to get settled status for free
Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has said that EU nationals living in the UK should be able to get settled status for free, without having to pay the £65 fee announced today. (See 1.14pm.)
There are approximately one million EU citizens living in London. They are part of the fabric of this city – working hard, paying taxes and playing a major role in our civic and cultural life. Their rights need to be protected and so do the rights of the British citizens living across the continent.
It is disappointing that the government has not used today as an opportunity to show EU nationals living in the UK goodwill by making this process free of charge to people resident in our country. At the very least, those who moved here before the referendum took place shouldn’t be expected to pay to stay.
McVey accused of being 'in absolute denial' over problems with universal credit
In the Commons earlier Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, made a statement about universal credit. It was more of an update than an announcement of anything new, and according to the Press Association McVey gave a very positive gloss on how the project was going. She said it was a “unique example of great British innovation” and a world leader in benefits.
But opposition MPs weren’t impressed, and McVey was strongly criticised.
The SNP’s economy spokeswoman Kirsty Blackman said universal credit “pushing families into poverty and hardship” and expressed fears for her Aberdeen North constituents when they transfer to the system, which merges six benefits into one, later this year.
Labour’s Debbie Abrahams, a former shadow work and pensions secretary, said she could not believe what she was hearing from McVey and added: “They are in absolute denial, not just about this report.”
Margaret Greenwood, the current shadow work and pensions secretary, said
The government must now listen to the NAO [which published a damning report on universal credit last week], it must stop the rollout of universal credit and fix the flaws before anymore people are pushed into poverty by a benefit that is meant to protect them from it.
Universal credit is having a devastating impact on many people and will reach 8.5m people by 2024/25. The secretary of state must now wake up to the misery being caused by her policy.
After the session Frank Field, the Labour chair of the work and pensions committee, released a statement saying:
Rather than that banal offering which did nothing for our poorest constituents, a more realistic statement from the secretary of state would have acknowledged and sought to rectify the following points: Universal Credit is helping to transform the welfare state from one which protects people from poverty, to one that drives them into destitution; vulnerable people face all sorts of difficulties in trying to make and manage a claim online; mega sums of money are being clawed back from people’s monthly payments to cover historic debts, leaving them short of money for food, rent and utilities; parents have to struggle through a brutal process and rack up debts to obtain the crucial childcare payments they need to stay in work; and total chaos is unleashed on family budgets by a process of calculating monthly payments that is totally alien to working-class lives.
Updated
Lunchtime summary
- Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, has said the UK will not get a Brexit deal unless there is agreement on the Irish border. Speaking on a visit to Dublin, he said the EU 27 would not allow Ireland to be isolated. He said:
This is not a bilateral question between Ireland and the United Kingdom - this is an issue between the UK and the European Union. We want to make it clear again and again that Ireland is not alone.
We have Ireland backed by 26 member states and the commission - this will not change.
I am strongly against any temptation to isolate Ireland and not to conclude the deal on Ireland. Ireland has to be part of the deal.
Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, also said the withdrawal agreement would have to address the Irish border. And, for Ireland, the backstop was the most important issue, he said. He said:
A withdrawal agreement without a backstop is of no use whatsoever ...
Let me be blunt, there isn’t much time left if we are to conclude an agreement and have it operational by the time the United Kingdom leaves the European Union next March ...
The most important aspect of the withdrawal agreement for us is the backstop, and Prime Minister May committed in March that there would be a backstop and outlined in December what that backstop would contain.
- Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative MP who chair the European Research Group, which is pushing for a harder Brexit, has said the apparent government concession offered to pro-Europeans yesterday to avert a government defeat on the EU withdrawal bill did not change anything. (See 9.26am.)
- The Home Office has published a policy paper (pdf) explaining details of how its settled status scheme for EU nationals who want to stay in the UK after Brexit will work. Applications will cost £65 for adults. (See 1.14pm.) There is a Home Office guide to the system here.
- Irish customs authorities have looked at introducing “Ryanair-type” passport controls on ferries, and checks on private jets and helicopters arriving in the country after Brexit, it has been revealed. As Lisa O’Carroll reports, under the common travel area agreements between Ireland and the UK, Irish and British people are not required to show passports travelling between the two countries. However, Ryanair introduced mandatory checks before boarding for all flights to and from Ireland and this could be introduced by private ferry companies.
- The government has been accused of overseeing an “outsourcing racket” after Capita was awarded a new contract to run UK military fire and rescue services - despite a financial health warning. The contract is estimated to be worth £500m. As the Press Association reports, Fabian Hamilton, a shadow defence minister, told MPs during an urgent question:
The minister’s department received advice as recently as the June 7 that Capita represents a 10 out of 10 risk ...
We know that Capita has a record of poor performance delivering MoD contracts, they were stripped of the defence estate contract, and the less said about their about recruitment contract the better. In spite of this, the Government has knowingly chosen to give Capita another contract.
This government’s ideologically driven approach to outsourcing public services at any cost has simply failed. I believe we must end the racket of outsourcing and deliver solutions that benefit taxpayers and service users alike.
Tobias Ellwood, a defence minister, said the new contract would deliver savings to the Ministry of Defence, as well as investment.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign office minister, is speaking at a press gallery lunch today. Someone has made an effort to make her feel welcome. This is from the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope.
A patriotic welcome awaits Emily Thornberry at today's Parliament Press Gallery lunch. pic.twitter.com/s0s3brNppt
— Christopher Hope (@christopherhope) June 21, 2018
Nokes says EU nationals will have to pay £65 to appy for settled status in UK
Caroline Nokes, the immigration minister, has told MPs the EU nationals living in the UK will have to pay £65 for settled status if they want to remain after Brexit. Children under 16 will have to pay £32.50. In a statement, she also confirmed what Sajid Javid, the home secretary, told peers earlier (see 11.11am) and said that EU nationals applying would just have to meet three simple conditions.
Here is an extract from the Home Office’s news release.
EU citizens living in the UK and their family members will need to apply under the settlement scheme to obtain their new UK immigration status. Caroline Nokes confirmed that those applying under the scheme will only need to complete three key steps. They will need to prove their identity, show that that they live in the UK, and declare that they have no serious criminal convictions.
The minister also announced the planned fee for people applying under the scheme. It is proposed that an application will cost £65 and £32.50 for a child under 16. For those who already have valid permanent residence or indefinite leave to remain documentation, they will be able to exchange it for settled status for free.
The Home Office will check the employment and benefit records held by government which will mean that, for many, their proof of residence will be automatic.
Those who have not yet lived in the UK for five years will be granted pre-settled status and be able to apply for settled status once they reach the five-year point. From April 2019, this second application will be free of charge.
The draft immigration rules which have been published today providing details of the scheme, deliver on the citizens’ rights agreement with the EU reached in March this year, which also guarantees the rights of UK nationals living in the EU ...
The new online application system will be accessible through phones, tablets, laptops and computers. The government will provide support for the vulnerable and those without access to a computer, and continues to work with EU citizens’ representatives and embassies to ensure the system works for everyone.
The settlement scheme will open in a phased way from later this year and will be fully open by 30 March 2019. The deadline for applications will be 30 June 2021.
The Home Office will continue to engage with stakeholders, including employers, local authority representatives and community groups, about the detailed design of the scheme before the rules are laid before parliament.
The Labour party has also challenged Boris Johnson to follow Greg Hands and vote against Heathrow expansion on Monday. This is from Andy McDonald, the shadow transport secretary.
Greg Hands’ resignation piles the pressure on Boris Johnson who promised his constituents he would ‘lie down in front of the bulldozers’ to stop a third runway.
Instead he is jetting off to Luxembourg on Monday to avoid the vote because he is too weak to stand by his promises.
Labour opposes a third runway at Heathrow because it doesn’t meet our four tests and we are calling for a free vote for all parties on Monday.
And this is from Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson.
Through Hands was a deeply unimpressive minister, it strikes me that Theresa May should offer a free vote on Heathrow expansion. It’s not too late for her to change whipping arrangements. This would also allow Boris Johnson to the re-enter the country. https://t.co/UjtargFS1M
— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) June 21, 2018
Justine Greening, the former cabinet minister and an opponent of Heathrow expansion, has criticised Downing Street for not giving Conservative MPs a free vote on the third runway. Commenting on Greg Hands’ resignation, she posted this on Twitter.
It’s wrong @GregHands had to resign purely for being consistent in representing local community concerns on #Heathrow over the years. Government unnecessarily lost a great Minister, when instead we could have had a free vote. If @transportgovuk convinced of its case, why not?
— Justine Greening (@JustineGreening) June 21, 2018
No 10 say they were not surprised by the Hands resignation. “He had been categoric to his constituents that he would vote against the third runway, so it is not a massive surprise that he has resigned,” a source said. “It is a three line whip [in Monday night’s vote].”
The Green MP Caroline Lucas has challenged Boris Johnson, another opponent of Heathrow expansion, to follow Greg Hands’ example and resign.
If Boris Johnson has a backbone, or a shred of credibility left, he will join Greg Hands in resigning. #Heathrow https://t.co/zcOUInt2fE
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) June 21, 2018
Johnson famously said he would lie down in front of bulldozers to stop Heathrow expansion. But that is a good example of the sort of promise that people never expect politicians to honour anyway, because it just sounds like cavalier rhetoric. But Johnson does not seem to have ever made a firm promise to vote against a Heathrow third runway in the Commons.
Greg Hands is MP for Chelsea and Fulham. He has a large majority of more than 8,000, but it halved between 2015 and 2017. Having given a firm promise to vote against a third runway (see 11.50am), he may well have remembered the experience of the Liberal Democrats and tuition fees and concluded that a promise to vote in a certain way (unlike, say, a promise to implement a policy) is one that cannot easily be broken.
The government is whipping its MPs to vote in favour of Heathrow extension on Monday, although ministers with a long-standing objection to the plan (such as Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary) have been told that they will be allowed to abstain. It is expected that there will be some convenient diary clashes on Monday night.
But the Telegraph’s Steven Swinford says Hands has chosen not to avail himself of this opt-out.
Greg Hands feels he has no choice but to resign over Heathrow after Government decided to impose a three-line whip over the vote on Monday. He appears to have declined suggestions that he should be out of the country on the day of the vote https://t.co/3NiSeLX0UM
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) June 21, 2018
Greg Hands resigns as international trade minister to vote against Heathrow third runway
Greg Hands has resigned as an international trade minister so he can vote against the Heathrow third runway on Monday.
I wrote to the PM earlier this week on how I will honour these 2017 General Election pledges to the people of Chelsea & Fulham and vote against the Heathrow 3rd runway on Monday. pic.twitter.com/Mtad84N3Zx
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) June 21, 2018
As the Government will be whipping the vote on Monday, this means I am resigning from the Government. It has been an honour to serve the Prime Minister (and her predecessor) for the last 7 years and I wish the PM & the Government every continuing success. https://t.co/GQedGcfy80
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) June 21, 2018
Updated
Q: Will people who have been granted indefinite leave to remain have to apply for settled status?
Glyn Williams, the Home Office’s director general for borders, immigration and citizenship, who is giving evidence alongside Javid, says people will be able to swap indefinite leave to remain for settled status for free.
Javid says he wants to ensure that people who can’t or don’t want to fill in a settled status application form online will be able to go somewhere to apply in person.
Q: It has been reported that the settled status app won’t work on iPhones. Is that right? And what will happen to people who don’t want to fill in a form online?
Javid says there is a problem with this app working on iPhones. The Home Office is talking to Apple about this. For part of the process, you would be able to use an iPhone. But you would not be able to send the documentation proving your identity through an iPhone because of the way the software works.
He ways, with non-Apple phones, people will be able to send information into the Home Office from the chip on their electronic passport. People will also be asked to send in a selfie, and the Home Office will match them up.
Javid says the settled status scheme will run at least up until June 2021.
But the Home Office will look at applications after that reasonably, he says.
Javid says the Home Office is doubling the number of people working on settled status for EU nationals, from 700 to 1,500.
Back in the Lords committee, Sajid Javid says he does not want EU nationals applying for settled status so they can remain in the UK to feel that the government is just doing them a favour. The UK needs these people, he says.
Irish PM says backstop is most important part of Brexit agreement and it can't be time limited
In Dublin Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, and Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, have been holding a press conference.
Here are some of the top lines. These are from the BBC’s Alex Forsyth and Business Insider’s Adam Payne.
Leo Varadkar says of Brexit -- there isn't much time left if we are to conclude an agreement and have it operational by the time the UK leaves next March - there's now an
— Alex Forsyth (@AlexForsythBBC) June 21, 2018
urgent need to intensify efforts if we're to get there
Leo Varadkar tells press conference Michel Barnier has reiterated there are still "serious divergences" on the Irish border issue
— Alex Forsyth (@AlexForsythBBC) June 21, 2018
Question to Jean Claude Juncker: Do you think Theresa May is a trustworthy negotiating partner?
— Alex Forsyth (@AlexForsythBBC) June 21, 2018
Juncker: Yes.
Leo Varadkar, speaking alongside Jean-Claude Juncker, on the Irish border: "A backstop cannot have an expiry date... Let me blunt, there isn't much time yet if we are to conclude an agreement and have it operational by the time the UK leaves next March."
— Adam Payne (@adampayne26) June 21, 2018
Varadkar asked about Westminster chaos: "British politics isn't my concern... The most important element to me is the backstop... The Withdrawal Agreement without a backstop is of no use to us whatsoever."
— Adam Payne (@adampayne26) June 21, 2018
Helena Kennedy, the Labour peer who chairs the committee, says EU nationals living in the UK are worried about what will happen to them because of the experience of Windrush-era migrants.
Javid says this situation is different.
Javid says he has expressed some dissatisfaction to his EU counterparts that they have not done more to explain how UK nationals living in their countries will have their rights assured after Brexit.
- Javid confirms he thinks EU countries should be doing more to assure Britons living on the continent about their rights.
Javid summarises how settled status scheme will work
Javid says Caroline Nokes, the immigration minister, will be make a statement to MPs later about the plans for a scheme for EU nationals applying for settled status after Brexit.
It will be an online scheme, he says.
There will be three key steps. You will have to prove your identity, you will have to prove that you live in the UK, and that you will have to show you have no serious criminal convictions.
Javid says the default assumption will be to grant the status.
In many cases, once people provide information, the Home Office will check that information electronically.
He says there will be two types of status: settled status, for those who have lived in the UK for five years; and pre-settled status, for people who have lived in the UK for less than five years.
Updated
Sajid Javid gives evidence to peers on citizens' rights after Brexit
Sajid Javid, the home secretary, is giving evidence to a Lords committee about citizens’ rights. You can watch a live feed here.
According to the committee, they want to cover these topics.
How content are you with the current draft text of the withdrawal agreement and what outstanding issues are there relating to citizens’ rights that should be agreed before it is finalised?
What impact do you believe the Home Office’s ‘hostile environment’ policy has had on EU nationals in the UK?
Given the problems that have been experienced at the Home Office (including the Windrush affair) how confident are you that the department will be able to deliver the infrastructure to facilitate the registration of the 3 million EU nationals in the UK?
Would the government consider offering those EU nationals who wish to remain the UK a streamlined low-cost offer of UK citizenship (rather than merely settled status)?
Are there any continuing negotiations between the UK and EU on issues such as onward free movement and family reunification rights?
Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister and foreign minister, insisted this morning that there would be no Brexit agreement if the UK did not find a solution to the problem of how to avoid a hard border. Speaking before Jean-Claude Juncker and Michel Barnier arrived in Dublin for talks, Coveney said:
Let’s be very clear - there will be no withdrawal agreement, no transition agreement and no managed Brexit if the UK don’t follow through on their commitments.
He also said that the prospect of the UK leaving without a deal was being seriously contemplated within the EU. “This is a question many people are asking,” he said.
ITV’s Robert Peston has an interesting thread about what Jacob Rees-Mogg was saying this morning about how Brexit bills could be revised after the UK has left the EU. (See 9.52am.) It starts here.
.@Jacob_Rees_Mogg is right that the completion of passage of EU Withdrawal Bill through parliament is perhaps the definitive Brexit moment (other than 29 March) because it reconstitutes (in the literal sense) the UK as an independent sovereign state. It means...[see thread]
— Robert Peston (@Peston) June 21, 2018
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, and Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, have arrived in Dublin for talks with the Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar. This is from Sky’s Darren McCaffrey.
NEW: @JunckerEU and @MichelBarnier have arrived in Dublin to meet with the Taoiseach @CampaignForLeo #Brexit pic.twitter.com/ANCOMcdCsq
— Darren McCaffrey (@DMcCaffreySKY) June 21, 2018
Rees-Mogg suggests Tory Brexiters will vote down withdrawal deal unless it contains firm commitments on trade
Here are two other interesting lines from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s interview on the Today programme.
- Rees-Mogg, the chair of the European Research Group, which represents Tory MPs pushing for a harder Brexit, suggested that Tory Brexiters would vote down the withdrawal deal in the autumn unless it contained firm commitments on a trade deal. He said:
Say, for example, the government comes back with a deal in October saying it will give £39bn to the European Union in return for the good faith of the European Union to discuss a trade deal, that is something that would be very hard to get through parliament. So to some extent it means that any deal will be a tougher deal because there are more people who want to leave the European Union effectively on the Tory backbenches than there are who don’t want to leave.
The UK government claims that it will be able to get the substance of a trade deal agreed by the autumn. But, in formal terms, the trade talks will not start until after the UK has left the EU and all that is planned for the autumn is a political declaration, explaining what form a future trade deal will take, to be released alongside the withdrawal agreement. Rees-Mogg is effectively saying, if this political declaration is too vague, Tory Brexiters will vote it down.
- He insisted that parliament would be able to re-write parts of the Brexit settlement in future. Asked if he was worried about pro-Europeans obstructing future Brexit bills like the trade bill or the customs bill, he said:
These bills that are coming through will be like all other bills before we joined the European Union. They will be amendable by subsequent parliaments. They will not be EU law. They will not have that higher status of EU law. And they will be part of the ordinary political process. So whatever is passed in the bills that come down the parliamentary line over the next few months can be reversed straightforwardly by future parliaments because we will be out of the European Union. And that’s the key point.
This comment seemed to be an acknowledgement that some Brexiters may not be too worried about the UK leaving the EU on softish Brexit terms because they believe a future government (under another Tory leader) would be able to harden them up. In a good Spectator column recently, James Forsyth labelled these Brexiters as “hedgers”, to differentiate them from the “ditchers” taking a different view. (Forsyth was using terminology from the era of the Parliament Act 1911.)
Government 'concession' to Tory pro-Europeans doesn't change anything, says Rees-Mogg
Amid all the commentary on yesterday’s vote on the EU withdrawal bill, and the climbdown by many Conservative “rebels” after the offer of a fig-leaf concession, it was hard to beat this, from the former Treasury permanent secretary, Nick Macpherson.
Axiom of the last 30 years. Europhile Tories always compromise to preserve party unity, Their opponents don't. #thatswhywearewhereweare
— Nick Macpherson (@nickmacpherson2) June 20, 2018
Our overnight story on the events of yesterday is here.
Today the debate continues about whether the written ministerial statement circulated shortly before the debate started really does amount to a concession of any form at all. On the Today programme Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair of the European Research Group (which represents around 60 of the most hardline Tory Brexiters), said the government had not conceded anything. All it did was explain existing rules, he said. And he argued that the real significance was that, even if the Commons were to vote on a motion as to what the government should do next in the event of a withdrawal agreement not being approved by January next year, that vote would not be legally binding. He told the programme:
I don’t think that’s a concession. I think that’s a statement of parliamentary practice. Standing order 24B says that the speaker may not accept amendments is a motion is put down in neutral terms. Now, the standing orders of the House can be changed, the speaker can rule in a particular way, but the key is that the legislation says that the motion must be in neutral terms. So if parliament passes a different motion, that doesn’t meet the requirements of the legislation.
Parliament can do what it wants, because parliamentary proceedings cannot be challenged in court ...
It’s always been the case that parliament can have any motion that it wants. The question is, does it have any legal force? A motion under an act may have legal force. A routine motion and expression of opinion by the House of Commons does not have legal force. So if it is an amendable, non-neutral motion, it is an expression of opinion by the House of Commons. It does not have legal force under the act. And that is very important.
The written ministerial statement was merely an expression of the standard parliamentary proceedings to make clear that the act wasn’t trying to overturn them.
Afterwards the Labour MP Owen Smith said Rees-Mogg was confirming that MPs would not get a “meaningful vote” on the withdrawal deal.
Jacob Rees Mogg making it plain on @BBCr4today that there was no real concession offered yesterday - and that the Speaker’s room for manoeuvre will be zero if the final Brexit motion is drafted so as to be ‘neutral’. In other words - there will be no meaningful vote.
— Owen Smith (@OwenSmith_MP) June 21, 2018
There were some other interesting lines in the Rees-Mogg interview. I will write them up shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, gives a speech at Chatham House.
9.45am: Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, and Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, visit Dublin. They are both holding talks with the Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, and Juncker is addressing the Irish parliament.
10.30am: Sajid Javid, the home secretary, gives evidence to the Lords EU justice sub committee about citizens’ rights after Brexit.
After 11.30am: Esther McVey, the work and pensions secretary, gives a statement to MPs about universal credit.
After 12.30pm: Caroline Nokes, the immigration minister, gives a statement to MPs about the EU settlement scheme (for EU nationals who want to remain in the UK after Brexit).
3.45pm: Theresa May meets Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, in Downing Street. They will hold a press conference at around 5pm.
As usual, I will also be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another at the end of the day.
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’ 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.
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