Evening summary
Arron Banks, the financial backer of the unofficial Brexit campaign, says there was possibly collusion between Russia and the Trump or Brexit campaigns “at a low level”. But he denies taking money from Moscow and says the recent newspaper article have been part of a “campaign to smear anyone involved in the Brexit campaign”.
Banks insists there is “no evidence” of financial backing by Moscow. His communications director, Andy Wigmore, says “not one penny or rouble” was handed over.
Banks and Wigmore confirm they put the Russian ambassador in London in contact with the Trump transition team. Wigmore says the Russian government was simply unprepared for Trump’s victory.
Following the LBC interview, the home secretary, Sajid Javid, says Banks’s Russian connections are being examined “very seriously” by ministers. They want to establish if there was an attempt to undermine parliamentary democracy during the Brexit campaign, he said. You can read the full story here:
Updated
The prime minister has been meeting the influential Tory backbench 1922 Committee, along with ministers – including the Treasurer, Philip Hammond, and the Brexit secretary, David Davis.
She warned Conservative MPs that defeats over the Brexit bill would undermine her negotiating position with Brussels. May told them:
We must think about the message parliament will send to the European Union this week.
I am trying to negotiate the best deal for Britain. I am confident I can get a deal that allows us to strike our own trade deals while having a border with the EU which is as frictionless as possible.
But, if the Lords amendments are allowed to stand, that negotiating position will be undermined.
Read the full story by Pippa Crerar, Heather Stewart and Lisa O’Carroll here:
Earlier today, my colleague Jim Waterson put together a profile of Isabel Oakeshott, the journalist who has said she was aware of emails linking Arron Banks to Russian officials and businessmen at the end of last year – but did not publish the information until recently.
Farage has concluded his interview with Banks and Wigmore. I’ll post a summary soon.
In the meantime, Heather Stewart has been looking at the internal divisions in the Labour party over its position on EEA membership. It’s worth a read:
Farage asks Banks if there was collusion between Russia and the Trump or Brexit campaigns. Banks replies:
I think it’s possible at a low level – when we talked about these bots and the things that the Russians were trying to do. But at a very, sort of, amateur level. I really think that the reason this is all coming out is because it’s a concerted remain campaign to smear anyone involved in the Brexit campaign.
Nigel: was there Russian collusion in the Brexit campaign?
— Carole Cadwalladr (@carolecadwalla) June 11, 2018
Arron: maybe at a low level.
Interesting answer.
Updated
Banks tells Farage: “Where is the evidence that we took Russian money? There’s no evidence.”
Asked if he is in for a “tough time of it”, Banks says it is the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee that may find themselves in difficulty. He says the chair, Damian Collins, “had to disclose a donation from Roman Abramovich ... Putin’s man in London”.
He is referring to an entry placed on the register of members’ interests last Wednesday, in which Collins declared receipt of “two tickets, including hospitality, for Chelsea vs Crystal Palace with a total value of £1,060” from the Abramovich-owned Chelsea Football Club.
Updated
Leave.EU given 'not one penny or rouble' by Russia
Farage asks: Was there, at any point, Russian – or Russian individuals, or Russian businesses that gave money to Leave.EU?
Wigmore: “No. Not one penny or rouble.”
Updated
Banks is asked about handing the Russians the telephone numbers of members of the Trump transition team, which he acknowledges.
Wigmore, the communications director for the Leave.EU campaign, interjects to add “context”. He says the Trump transition team needed phone numbers for foreign governments and was given one he could hand out to them.
He claims the Russians, like many governments, did not expect Trump to win and had not prepared for that eventuality. It was in that context, he says, that the phone number was handed over.
Asked if he was “reporting back” to the Russian ambassador on the meeting the three men held with then president elect Trump, Banks says:
Not really, we’d had a very pleasant lunch with him that lasted six hours. And, of course, he saw a picture of us and the golden doors of Trump’s apartment and, of course he got in touch with Andy [Wigmore] because he’d seen us splashed all over the newspapers.
He adds:
It’s complete nonsense .. we had two lunches and a cup of tea. At the lunch, he [the Russian ambassador] was interested in Trump for the same reasons ... he couldn’t believe that Trump had been elected ... We were asked for numbers of the transition team to get in contact.
Updated
Asked by Farage if he was using the Brexit campaign for his financial gain, Banks tells him:
Not really. We went there to have this lunch with the Russian ambassador, we had it after Trump. He was interested in the election of Trump. When we’d had the original meeting, relating to Brexit, he was fascinated by the Brexit campaign. In fact, he thought it wasn’t going to happen.
Farage is just getting underway with a monologue, saying Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore will appear before the Commons select committee tomorrow.
He asks Banks about claims he met the Russian ambassador. Banks says he was approached at the Ukip conference in Doncaster and asked if he wanted lunch with the ambassador. “Of course,” he said, calling subsequent coverage a “witch hunt”.
He says it would be a strange conspiracy if he had revealed it in his own book. He says the second meeting wasn’t mentioned in his book because it came after the end of the timeline.
Banks says he had “two lunches and one cup of tea” with the ambassador.
Updated
Hello, we resume our coverage this evening with the appearances of Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore on Nigel Farage’s LBC radio show.
The trio were previously involved with the same pro-Brexit campaign group, Leave.EU.
Afternoon summary
- Theresa May has used a Commons statement on the G7 summit to give her backing to the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau following his row with the American president, Donald Trump. (See 5.04pm.) She also reaffirmed the EU’s decision to retaliate for the “unjustified” tariffs imposed by the US on steel and aluminium.
- Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland secretary, has said the people of Northern Ireland do not want their abortion laws changed by Westminster. Speaking to the Press Association, she said:
It’s another example of why the [Stormont] executive needs to be reformed, so those politicians representing the people Northern Ireland, understanding their views on this very, very sensitive issue can make sure the law is right for them ....
My conversations with people here [in Northern Ireland] is that they want their voice to be heard and they want their politicians, who they elected, to represent them and to develop laws around abortion that are right for Northern Ireland.
If I have heard one view I’ve heard 100 different views about what that law should look like. But there is one thing that’s absolutely certain - politicians at Westminster are not the people qualified to determine what the law looks like. It absolutely should be done in Stormont.
That’s all from me for today.
A colleague will be taking for developments this evening.
Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, will be interviewing his Leave.EU pals Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore on his LBC phone-in this evening, he has announced on Twitter.
BREAKING: Tonight from 7pm I’ll be joined on @LBC by @Arron_banks and @andywigmore for their first interview since the Russia allegations at the weekend. #FarageOnLBC
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) June 11, 2018
The government may be tabling a new amendment to the EU withdrawal bill in the hope of appeasing potential rebels, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg reports.
Whispers govt has backed down and is offering a new amendment on Customs, changing wording on Customs 'Union' to customs 'arrangement - with brexiteer and remainer names on it - probably avoids a defeat on Weds
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) June 11, 2018
May outperforms Corbyn on leadership qualities, especially taking tough decisions, poll suggests
We have some new Guardian/ICM polling out today. The questions covered leadership qualities and voting intention.
Leadership qualities
We asked about eight leadership qualities and, on each measure, we asked whether Theresa May or Jeremy Corbyn did best.
- Theresa May is generally seen as outperforming Jeremy Corbyn on key leadership qualities, often by large margins, a Guardian/ICM poll suggests. May had large leads over Corbyn on four qualities: taking tough decisions (30pt lead), being competent (20pt), being a strong leader (20pt) and being more intelligent (16pt). Corbyn had more modest leads on three qualities: standing up for what they believe in (16pt), understanding people like me (14pt) and being likeable (6pt). On one final measure, they were almost tied. Asked who was most trustworthy, 51% said May, and 49% said Corbyn, giving May a 2pt lead.
ICMs Alex Turk says the detailed figures show remain supporters and leave supporters answer the trust question differently. He writes:
Generally, those that support a party also have more favourable views of its leader – at least when compared to the opposition. So it’s not surprising that those who voted Labour are more likely to think Corbyn is trustworthy and those who voted Conservative think the same about Theresa May, regardless of EU referendum vote. Indeed Theresa May scores higher among Tory leavers (77%) than Conservative remainers (70%). These are fairly healthy proportions on both scores – but maybe, just maybe, that slightly higher score from Conservative leavers could be seen as a vindication of May’s message discipline when routinely insisting that Brexit really does mean Brexit.
Corbyn score fairly well among Labour remainers, of whom 73% think he is more trustworthy than May. But this score drops by a full ten percentage points to 63% when asked of Labour leavers. And at least part of this could be ascribed to the increased proportion of don’t knows – almost 3 in 10 Labour leavers (29%) don’t know which leader is more trustworthy, compared to less than 1 in 5 Conservative leavers (19%).
Voting intention
- The Conservatives have a two-point lead over Labour, down 1 point from when ICM polled on this two weeks ago, the poll suggests.
Here are the figures:
Conservatives: 42% (down 1)
Labour: 40% (no change)
Lib Dems: 8% (no change)
Greens: 3% (up 1)
Ukip: 3% (no change)
(This post went up earlier, but one of the graphics was garbled, and so we had to take it down. Apologies if you saw it and have been wondering where it went.)
ICM Unlimited interviewed a representative online sample of 2,021 adults aged 18+, between 8 and 10 June 2018. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
I will post the tables here later when they go up on the ICM website.
Updated
My colleague Peter Walker has translated some of the lines in May’s statement into what-it-really-means English.
Conclusing sentences of Theresa May G7 statement to Commons, translated from UK political-speak:
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) June 11, 2018
1. The summit was an absolute shit show which all-but degenerated into an actual brawl
2. Trump is 100% wrong and we're going to try and forget he exists until normal service resumes pic.twitter.com/1njW0cyDKm
May sides with Canadian PM in his row with Trump
Here are the main points from May’s statement.
- May explicitly praised the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau for the way he managed the G7 summit.
As was clear over the weekend, there was strong debate, and disagreement on some issues. But after detailed discussions between both leaders and our teams, we were able to find common ground and draw up a communique which reflected these discussions and the agreements we reached.
I want to pay a particular tribute to Prime Minister Trudeau for his leadership and skilful chairing, which enabled us - after two days of negotiation between leaders - to agree actions and a shared approach on some of the most pressing challenges facing the international community and our citizens.
May’s comments seemed as an implicit rebuke to the White House after a Trump adviser said, at the end of the G7 summit, that there was “a special place in hell” for the Canadian prime minister because he had shown “bad faith” and stabbed Trump in the back. But when May was asked by Jeremy Corbyn to explicitly criticise those comments, she sidestepped the question.
- She said the UK “fully intends to honour the commitments we have made” - implicitly criticising President Trump for saying he would not endorse the summit communique.
- She reaffirmed the EU’s decision to retaliate for the “unjustified” tariffs imposed by the US on steel and aluminium.
We need to make the international rules-based trading system work better, so the benefits of free trade can be felt by all. And that includes encouraging the World Trade Organisation to operate more effectively in supporting a global economy that works for everyone.
Multilateral action is the right way to achieve this. It cannot be done by taking unilateral action against your partners.
So at this summit, we expressed deep disappointment at the unjustified decision of the United States to apply tariffs to steel and aluminium imports. The loss of trade through tariffs undermines competition, reduces productivity, removes the incentive to innovate – and ultimately makes everyone poorer. And in response, the EU will impose countermeasures.
- But she also said she did not want to see a trade war escalate.
We need to avoid a continued tit-for-tat escalation. That is why it was right that we had such an open and direct discussion at this summit. And why, as a champion of free trade, the UK will continue to support a constructive dialogue.
As long-standing allies we do not make progress by ignoring each other’s concerns; but rather by addressing them together.
The Conservative Crispin Blunt asks a short three-word question:
Trudeau or Trump?
May jokes that she does not know what activities Blunt might be referring to.
Labour’s Diana Johnson asks if the special relationship with the US is stronger or weaker with President Trump in the White House.
May says is continues to be strong. And because it is strong, the UK can tell the US when it disagrees with what it is doing, she says.
Sir Edward Leigh, a Conservative, says he wants to spoil the consensus. Trump has got a point, hasn’t he? China is building up a massive trade surplus, he says.
May says the emerging countries which are not playing by the rules-based order need to be brought within it.
Labour’s Chris Bryant says there is a growing trend towards protectionism in the world.
May says she agrees that any moves to extent protectionism are worrying.
But the debate on this focuses on tariffs, she says. She says trade is about more than tariffs. She does not want to see tariffs replaced by other barriers to trade.
Here is the text of May’s statement.
UPDATE: Sorry, this link is to the statement May delivered at the end of the summit on Saturday. I will post a link to today’s statement when it goes up on the Number 10 website.
Updated
Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks how May reponded when Trump said Russia should be let back in. And shouldn’t the police now investigate links between Russia and the leave campaign?
May says that the police investigate is up to them. She says Russia was kicked out of the G8 after the annexation of Crimea. She says she has opposed letting it back in until it changes its attitude.
Sir Vince Cable, the Lib Dem leader, asks what is the point of the G7. The most powerful member does not believe in a rules-based system. And India and China are not involved. Shouldn’t it be closed down?
May says Cable should look at the conference communique.
Sir Michael Fallon, the Conservative former defence secretary, asks how the rapid response mechanism set up at the G7 to respond to Russian aggression will work.
May says there will be faster attribution when Russia does something. And then the G7 countries will work together to retaliate.
Labour’s Hilary Benn says, under May’s Brexit backstop plan, the UK will remain in a customs union with the EU until the end of 2021 or longer.
May says the point of the backstop is that it is there in case new trade rules are not in place. She says she wants new arrangements to be in place by the end of 2020. She hopes the backstop won’t be used.
Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, says despite the difficulties at the summit, it did show the importance of multinational organisations. He says it also showed why her cabinet colleagues are wrong to depend on Trump to offer a good trade deal with the UK after Brexit.
May says the UK has been speaking to the US about such a trade deal. The government believes open markets are the best way to bring jobs, she says. She wants to do trade deals in the interests of the UK.
Ken Clarke, the Conservative former chancellor, says the G7 summit shows President Trump has little time for multilateral summits. Doesn’t May reflect on how it went, and realise how important it is to keep as much of the benefits of the EU single market as possible. We will need it in the future, he says.
May is responding to Corbyn.
She says some of the issues he raised did not come up at the summit.
On relations with the US, she says the US did support the UK after the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
What is important is that the two countries can talk about these issues, she says.
She says she has been very clear to Trump that she thinks the steel and aluminium tariffs are unjustified.
But it is important not to have continuous tit-for-tat retaliation, she says. That is why it is important to keep talking, she says.
She says Labour’s policy would hand over negotiation of trade deals to the EU.
Jeremy Corbyn says the summit was a failure. President Trump was to blame, he says.
The problem is that is is pursusing a policy of America first.
He says attempts to engage with the US have failed. He says the UK should never outsource policy to the US.
He asks May to condemn the Trump adviser who said Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, deserved a special place in hell.
He expresses concern that Jaguar Land Rover is moving production of the Discovery to Slovakia.
He asks if the summit discussed the migrants on the ship Aquarius. He praises Spain for taking them in.
May says she expressed deep disappointment at the US’s decision to impose steel and aluminium tariffs on the EU.
She says the tariffs were unjustified. They will make everyone poorer, she says.
She says the EU will retaliate.
Theresa May's statement on G7 summit
Theresa May is making her Commons statement on the G7 summit.
There was strong discussion and disagreement on some issue, she says.
She says that, as a result of discussion between the leaders and their teams, there were able to agree on a communique.
She praises Justin Trudeau, the summit chair, of his leadership.
And she says the UK intends to honour the commitments it made.
Sir Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s former communications chief, thinks Theresa May looks “stronger” and “more human” after using her Evening Standard article (see 11.55am) to say she was wrong not to meet survivors when she first visited Grenfell Tower after the fire.
The PM proves the old political adage “never apologise, never explain” wrong with a strong article admitting mistakes over #GrenfellTowerFire in @standardnews. She looks a stronger, more human figure for writing it. pic.twitter.com/rpXb6Szqkm
— Craig Oliver (@CraigOliver100) June 11, 2018
According to a report for Business Insider, the Lib Dems are expecting to come a “strong” second in the Lewisham East byelection on Thursday. That would be a good result for party that got just 4% of the vote there in the general election. Labour, which had a majority of 21,123 in 2017, with 68% of the vote, is widely expected to win.
Lunchtime summary
- The European commission has said the UK government’s Brexit backstop plan published last week would still lead to the creation of a hard border in Ireland. (See 1.38pm.)
- The UK is to apply to stay in the European standards system for industry products and services after Brexit, following warnings from business that creating British-only benchmarks would be “an isolationist move” that would pile costs on to companies, the Financial Times (paywall) is reporting.
- Jacob Rees-Mogg has said that there would be no need for customs checks at Dover on EU imports in the event of a no-deal Brexit, suggesting that any delays for exports to Europe would be France’s responsibility. Experts says he’s wrong. This is from a Labour MEP.
British Ports Authority point out that Rees-Mogg is ‘confused’ if he thinks there is no need for customs checks at Dover in no-deal Brexit https://t.co/By9mR96hOT
— Paul Brannen MEP (@PaulBrannenNE) June 11, 2018
And this is from a law professor.
Ah. Rees-Mogg believes that in a no-deal scenario, the UK would still check non-EU goods, but would unilaterally waive checks on EU goods. Hard to see how this would be compatible with WTO law. https://t.co/RkN1gTs14n
— Steve Peers (@StevePeers) June 11, 2018
- Dozens of Afghan interpreters who served on the front-line alongside British troops are to be given the right to settle in the UK, Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, has announced. As the Press Association reports, changes to the government’s relocation scheme mean more volunteers who served in Helmand province will be granted visas in recognition of their “unflinching courage” at carrying out duties “fraught with great difficulty and danger”, Williamson said. They will be allowed to start a new life in Britain alongside their wives and children - with approximately 200 new visas set to be issued.
- Downing Street has said that President Trump should honour the commitments he made at the G7 summit. (See 11.37am.)
UK Brexit backstop plan would lead still lead to hard border in Ireland, says EU
On Friday, at his press conference in Brussels, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, raised various problems with the UK’s Brexit backstop plan, although afterwards he posted a message insisting that he was not rejecting it out of hand.
Today the commission has published a slideshow presentation (pdf) highlighting objections to the UK plan. It repeats the points made by Barnier on Friday, but also goes further. Technically it might not amount to an absolute rejection, but it is almost as good as.
Here is the final slide with the commission’s conclusion.
The commission says the UK plan, as published, would still require a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
- UK Brexit backstop plan as published would lead still lead to hard border in Ireland, says the European commission.
It is worth stressing “as published” because the document published by the government on Friday said explicitly that it was just a proposal “for the customs element of the backstop”. But a backstop would have to cover regulatory alignment too. According to reports, one idea is for the final element of the backstop plan to involve Northern Ireland staying in regulatory alignment with the single market, but not the rest of the UK.
The European commission has also published an infographic (pdf) explaining why its own backstop plan would solve the border problem.
Updated
There is an urgent question in the Commons on Yemen at 3.30pm.
UPDATE: There will be one UQ today at 3:30pm: The reports of an imminent Saudi/UAE- led coalition attack on Hudaydah port, Yemen and the humanitarian impact. This will then be followed by two statements on 1) G7 Charlevoix, Quebec (PM/LOTO), 2) Grenfell Tower (Brokenshire/Healey)
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) June 11, 2018
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson has an intriguing hunch about why the government was originally so keen to push the EU withdrawal bill through the Commons in a single day (a backlash later forced it to offer two). Could it have been clearing the decks for a critical report from the Electoral Commission about the role of some of Theresa May’s senior aides in the Vote Leave campaign?
Evidence from whistleblowers Chris Wylie and Sahmir Sanni appeared to suggest coordination between Vote Leave, the officially designated Brexit campaign, and the nominally separate BeLeave group. If the commission finds that Vote Leave was effectively directing the group of young Brexit campaigners, it could be a breach of election funding rules. The commission is believed to be examining the roles of May’s political secretary Stephen Parkinson, and Cleo Watson, another Number 10 adviser, both of whom held senior posts in Vote Leave - which was chaired by Michael Gove.
Those involved in Vote Leave have always strongly denied wrongdoing, insisting that Vote Leave and BeLeave were separate and that they acted in accordance with the rules.
The government has now confirmed to Labour MP Bridget Phillipson in a parliamentary question that those criticised in its ongoing investigation have been given 28 days’ warning of its findings. Rumours at Westminster suggest the report could be scheduled for publication on Wednesday - though the commission has not yet confirmed a date.
Watson said:
Each day the plot thickens about the murky dealings of the various Brexit campaigns. Now it seems senior figures at the heart of Number 10 who were involved in Vote Leave could have been informed about the contents of this important Electoral Commission investigation long before anyone else. If that’s true, Number 10 would have had time to plan and even ensure key Brexit votes like the ones this week could happen before the investigation findings are published. You’ve got to question whether that’s appropriate and whether those people under investigation should really still be shaping and taking decisions at the heart of government.
May admits rehousing survivors of Grenfell Tower fire has taken 'too long'
And here are more lines from Theresa May’s article about Grenfell Tower in the Evening Standard.
- May admits that rehousing survivors of the fire has taken “too long”. But almost all families have now accepted an offer of accommodation, she says:
It has taken too long, but of the 203 households in need of a new home, 198 households have now accepted an offer of accommodation, either permanent or temporary.
- She says the Grenfell inquiry must be given time to get to the truth of what happened.
Given the scale of the tragedy, the public inquiry and police investigation will, inevitably, take time — longer than many of us would like. But while I will not tolerate unnecessary foot-dragging, they must be given the space they need to do their jobs properly. Only that way can any individuals and organisations found to be at fault be properly held to account for their actions. Only that way can justice be done.
- She says survivors, relatives and local residents will take the lead in deciding what happens to the Grenfell Tower site.
A crucial part of the recovery process concerns the future of the tower and the site on which it sits. No decisions have yet been taken on this but I can again repeat my personal commitment that the bereaved, the survivors and the community will lead the process.
- She says the government is spending more than £80m on the recovery effort.
More than £46m has been spent on the immediate response and recovery effort, with a further £34m earmarked for the longer-term recovery; that’s in addition to the almost £25m donated by the public, nearly all of which has already been distributed to survivors and the bereaved.
- She says she will be planting camellia bushes in Downing Street to commemorate the victims.
The group Grenfell United has come together to provide a voice for the survivors and they have done so with great dignity and determination. To honour that spirit they have invited communities and schools across the country to come together in a celebration of unity and diversity, turning next Friday into a national “Green for Grenfell Day”. Head teachers are being encouraged to let children wear green to school and community groups will be out in force, helping others and fundraising for local charities.
And, as night falls on Thursday, buildings across the country, including 10 Downing Street, will be illuminated in green — a very visible tribute to everyone affected by the fire.
As part of Green for Grenfell, children from primary schools around the tower will visit No 10 tomorrow to plant two camellia bushes in the garden here.
Camellias flower in the winter months, bringing life and colour to the darkest times of the year. Growing within sight of the cabinet room, they will provide a lasting reminder of those we lost on that darkest of nights.
May says she will 'always' regret giving impression she 'didn't care' about Grenfell Tower victims
Last year, a week after the Grenfell Tower fire, Theresa May apologised for the way national and local government responded to the tragedy. One of the many things that angered survivors was the fact that May did not meet them on her first visit to the site of the fire.
Today, in an article for the Evening Standard, May has gone much further in admitting that her own response was flawed. She says she will “always” regret giving the impression she did not care.
Here is an extract from the article.
It was a tragedy unparalleled in recent history and, although many people did incredible work during and after the fire, it has long been clear that the initial response was not good enough.
I include myself in that.
The day after the disaster I made the first of a number of trips to the site, thanking the firefighters for their work and holding a short meeting with the team in charge of the response.
What I did not do on that first visit was meet the residents and survivors who had escaped the blaze.
But the residents of Grenfell Tower needed to know that those in power recognised and understood their despair. And I will always regret that by not meeting them that day, it seemed as though I didn’t care.
That was never the case.
And here is how the Standard are splashing on the story.
Today’s @EveningStandard exclusive: Prime Minister writes very personality about Grenfell Tower fire, her ‘regret’ at not meeting victims immediately, her determination now to help them get to the truth and how Downing Street will go ‘green for Grenfell’ later this week pic.twitter.com/wFlykFG95h
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) June 11, 2018
Updated
No 10 says Trump should honour commitments he made at G7 summit
I’m just back from the Number 10 lobby briefing. The main line was Number 10 saying Theresa May expects President Trump to stand by the G7 communique which he agreed - before he subsequently disowned it after he lost his temper with the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Asked if May was disappointed by Trump’s comments after he left Canada, the prime minister’s spokesman said:
The communique was agreed by all the parties who attended the G7. We fully intend to honour it. We would hope that the US would similarly honour the commitments that they’ve made.
Here is the programme motion for the EU withdrawal bill debates on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Here’s the programme motion for next week’s #EUWithdrawalBill consideration of Lords amendments. On Tuesday there will be votes at three hours then at six hours. On Wednesday the remaining votes will begin after six hours. pic.twitter.com/MqyNO3A8ce
— PARLY (@ParlyApp) June 10, 2018
I’m just off to the lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am
The Telegraph’s James Crisp has more on the Davis/Barnier meeting. (See 9.43am.)
DD & Barnier meeting requested by DD b4 quit threat. Over croissants, bought personally by MB, Ireland & declaration on future relationship discussed & stock take. DD pushed 4 faster work on declaration. Source pessimistic. "Like we are coming from two different places" #brexit 1
— James Crisp (@JamesCrisp6) June 11, 2018
Worrying that at this late stage UK & EU not singing from same hymn sheet or even speaking same language over Brexit. Not discord as such more like dislocation. True that some stuff has been worked out but Westminster & Brussels bubbles seem totally self contained at mo
— James Crisp (@JamesCrisp6) June 11, 2018
Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative MP who was one of the 12 backbenchers who helped defeated the government on the EU withdrawal bill in December, told the Today programme this morning that she was “minded” to rebel on the “meaningful vote” amendment when it gets debated later this week.
She also said that she and other Tory pro-Europeans wanted more concessions from the government on the customs union issue. She said:
We would like to see further concessions on the amendment on the customs union because it is just a very sensible amendment that says keep it on the table, don’t completely rule it out.
But this insisted that this was not about bringing down the prime minister. She said:
If it came back to us then having to have a vote of confidence, we would all vote to support the prime minister. We do support the prime minister.
Rees-Mogg urges Brexiters to be 'patient' and says process moving 'slowly in right direction'
The Jacob Rees-Mogg LBC phone-in didn’t really make news. What was most interesting was that, in the light of growing evidence of Brexiter despondency (see 9.03am), Rees-Mogg, chair of the European Research Group, was keen to urge his supporters to be “calm” and “patient”. Brexit was moving “slowly in the right direction”, he insisted.
I think people should be calm. Inevitably in this negotiation and in this process people sometimes get frustrated, and the backstop deal is a problem. It depends what is in it, and it depends on the time limit. But what really matters is the withdrawal bill that is going through parliament this week and, very importantly, an article jointly authored by Amber Rudd and Iain Duncan Smith saying, basically, if you don’t vote for this you risk getting Jeremy Corbyn and there are further discussions to have on how we leave, but this is just bringing in the decision to leave. And there’s quite a degree of unity within the Conservative party at the moment. So I’m optimistic about what’s happening. I think it’s going slowly in the right direction, more slowly than I would like, but still still in the right direction ...
The key to this is that we shouldn’t get over-exercised by negotiating documents when the other side hasn’t even responded, because you have a great row about something and then the EU says, ‘It doesn’t matter what that document says, we don’t like it.’ And we need to just be a little bit more patient as these negotiations go on.
According to the Telegraph’s James Crisp, David Davis, the Brexit secretary, has had his meeting with Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, in Brussels. But Davis would not speak to the press afterwards, Crisp says.
David Davis has been smuggled in and out the back of the European Commission after meeting Michel Barnier. Unlike Mr Barnier, DD doesn't feel the need to talk to the press or perhaps he is still on the naughty step after last week's tantrum. 1/
— James Crisp (@JamesCrisp6) June 11, 2018
Sajid Javid had a similarly omerta visit to Guy Verhofstadt recently. Memorably ended in farce. Contrast with Commission is embarrassing. 2/
— James Crisp (@JamesCrisp6) June 11, 2018
Q: Did you have any sympathy with Trump when you saw that picture of him being told off by Angela Merkel.
Rees-Mogg says:
I thought that picture was quite extraordinary.
It showed the US being told off by less powerful nations.
He says Trump won’t have been bothered about being told off by Canada. He says he thinks it does not make sense to lecture Trump with “the usual liberal international platitudes”.
Q: Are any of your children addicted to computer games?
Rees-Mogg says his children are aged from 10 to 11 months.
He says some of his children ask to use the iPad in the morning. He lets them play with it for 30 minutes.
And that’s it. The phone-in was over.
Q: What is the solution to the Irish border problem?
Rees-Mogg says he agrees with Boris Johnson on this. This is a case of “the tail wagging the dog”. He says the UK should leave it up to Ireland. If they want to put up a border, they can. But he guesses they won’t.
Q: Isn’t it a good thing having EU immigrants who pay taxes?
Rees-Mogg says you need the infrastructure in place to support them.
Q: EU migrants are a great benefit to the economy?
Rees-Mogg says immigration can benefit the economy. But the least helpful type of immigration is low-skills, low-wage immigration, of the kind we have had from the EU.
Q: When will the government prepare for a backlog at Dover?
Rees-Mogg says the government is making plans.
He says there won’t be a problem with incoming lorries. It is the UK’s choice to decide what checks are imposed, and it will not impose checks.
The problem will be with lorries going to France. But he says one third of those lorries are empty, because the UK imports more than it exports.
If the French impose checks, there could be delays. But the Department for Transport has been plannning for this. It is one of the best departments are preparing for Brexit, he says.
Q: There are already checks at Dover.
Rees-Mogg says what he means was that there would be no extra checks. There will be no extra checks at first. The UK may decide to impose checks later.
He says there may be a need for an Operation Stack in the short term.
Q: Why short term? New controls could last forever.
Rees-Mogg says it will be in everyone’s interests to have a deal.
He says sea travel costs are relatively low anyway.
Q: What should happen to the Aquarius, the boat in the Mediterranean carrying migrants being refused entry to Italy?
Rees-Mogg says the boat should go back to Libya. When European countries take in migrants coming in by boat, they encourage more people to make the journey, he says.
Rees-Mogg says there won’t be total unity in the Conservative party this week.
He says someone like Ken Clarke will not change his views. Rees-Mogg says he respects that.
But he says he thinks there will be enough unity this week to get the bill through, and to reinforce Theresa May’s position.
Q: And some Labour MPs might vote with you?
Yes, says Rees-Mogg. He praises the Labour MP Caroline Flint for saying the referendum result must be respected. But he says saying this will probably not help her standing in her party.
They are now taking the first question from a caller?
Q: Shouldn’t the people get a vote on the final deal?
They have already had a vote on Brexit, he says.
Q: But what about a vote on the final deal?
Rees-Mogg says it is not clear what people would vote on.
And he says there have been three votes already: a general election in 2015, with the Conservatives promising a referendum; the referendum; and the 2017 election.
Q: Boris Johnson said last week that the government should employ Trump-style tactics in the Brexit talks.
Rees-Mogg says Trump has turned out to be a surprisingly successful negotiator.
There is something in the Trump style that is surprisingly successful.
Q: So should May copy Trump?
Rees-Mogg says people have to be authentic. May is not the same as Trump, he says. He says if May were to try to copy him, that might not be convincing,
He says May will be in a stronger position when the EU withdrawal bill has passed.
Q: Are you a fan of Trump?
Rees-Mogg says he would not go that far. He thinks Trump is interesting. And it is important to have a good relationship with him.
Jacob Rees-Mogg's LBC phone-in
Nick Ferrari asks Jacob Rees-Mogg how Brexit supporters should react to last week’s event.
Rees-Mogg says people should stay calm.
He says the backstop is a problem.
But the focus now is on the EU withdrawal bill. He endorses what Iain Duncan Smith and Amber Rudd said in their joint article yesterday.
Q: Do we need a backstop?
Rees-Mogg says he does not think it is necessary.
And it is only a backstop.
And you should not get over-exercised about something that might be rejected by the other side, he says.
He also urges people to be patient.
Updated
Brexiters are increasingly gloomy about the prospects for the project this country has been embarking since they successfully won the campaign to leave the EU two years ago this month. Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, told a Tory dinner recently that Brexit could lead to a “meltdown” and that the UK could end up with “the worst of both worlds”. Daniel Hannan, the Conservative MEP and one of people credited with making Brexit happen, wrote an article for the Sunday Telegraph (paywall) yesterday saying: “We are dangerously close to an outcome that is worse than either staying or leaving.” And at the weekend Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, told the Today programme that, if Theresa May remained prime minister, the UK could finish up after Brexit “perhaps in an even worse place than we are now”.
I never promised Brexit would be a huge success @Nigel_Farage has said & it might cost the country in the short term. But when I asked him why he’d said it he seemed keen to blame someone else - it is, he says, Theresa May’s fault @BBCr4today https://t.co/4E35FnHuir
— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) June 9, 2018
What does Jacob Rees-Mogg, the most influential Conservative Brexiter on the backbenches and party members’ favourite for next leader, think? We’re about to find out. He is just staring his LBC phone-in.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative MP and chair of the pro-Brexit European Research Group, hosts his LBC phone-in.
9.45m: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minster, launches Scotland’s national performance framework.
11am: Downing Street lobby briefing.
3.30pm: Theresa May is expected to give a statement to MPs on the G7 summit.
6pm: May addresses the Conservative backbench 1922 committee.
And, at some point today, David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is meeting Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, in Brussels.
As usual, I will 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 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.
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