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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Politics
Benjamin Kentish

May insists her deal will not make Britain poorer despite government analysis that says it will

Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn clashed at Prime Minister's Questions just minutes after the government published its economic analysis of the proposed Brexit deal.

The forecasts suggested the UK economy would be 3.9 per cent smaller under Ms May's plan than it would if the country remained in the EU.

However, the prime minister denied her plan would make Britain poorer, insisting the economic analysis "does not show that we will be poorer than the status quo".

Later in the day, separate analysis from the Bank of England said the pound would crash, inflation would soar and interest rates would have to rise if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal.

A disorderly Brexit could see the economy shrink by more than 10 per cent compared to current trends, it said.

Ms May has embarked on a two-week campaign to persuade the country to back her plan, before it is put to the Commons on 11 December.

But she faced a fresh row after ministers confirmed they were planning to ignore a Commons vote demanding they publish the full legal advice they have receive on Brexit. Instead, only a summary will be released.

John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, said he was willing to consider whether a contempt of Parliament had been committed and encouraged Sir Keir Starmer, Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, to write to him about the matter.

As it happened...

Welcome to today's live coverage from Westminster.
BREAKING: Philip Hammond has admitted Britain will be worse-off under Theresa May's Brexit deal than it would in the EU 

Britain will be poorer if MPs back Theresa May’s Brexit deal, Philip Hammond admits

There will be a cost to leaving the European Union because there will be impediments to our trade'
 

 

Philip Hammond told Radio 4's Today programme that the UK economy will be "slightly smaller in the prime minister's preferred version of the future partnership" but said the impact would be "very small" and "entirely manageable". The full analysis will be published later today. 

He said:

"I'm the chancellor so of course I look at the economy as being of overriding importance, but there are other considerations.

"And I recognise that many people feel very strongly about the need to leave the European Union to regain control of our fishing waters, to regain control of migration and control of our borders, to have the right to do third-country trade deals.

"These are things which have value to people, and it is true that the economy will be very slightly smaller if we do the deal the way the prime minister has set out and negotiated, but the impact will be entirely manageable."

During his morning media round, Philip Hammond also confirmed that the government will ignore a binding Commons motion that it should publish the full legal advice it has received on Brexit. 
 
Despite MPs voting in favour of the motion, Mr Hammond said ministers would only publish a summary of the legal position.
 
He said:
 
"There's a very important principle here, that the government must be able to commission impartial legal advice which absolutely tells it like it is to enable it to shape its decisions, while always complying with its legal obligation in the negotiations.

"It would be impossible for government to function if we create a precedent that the legal advice that the government receives has to be made public.

"We must have, as every other citizen has, the right to take privileged legal advice which remains private between the lawyer and the client.

"So the client has the ability to ask the difficult questions, to receive full and frank legal advice, and then to make a decision based on that full and frank advice."

Unpaid carers could be forced to repay up to £50,000 in benefit overpayments, the government has said
 

Unpaid carers will be asked to repay up to £50,000 in benefit overpayments, government says

Senior MP condemns ministers' 'ineptitude' after revelation that people have wrongly received tens of thousands of pounds
A new survey by Netmums has revealed that 7 in 10 mothers in the UK want a fresh Brexit referendum, with almost three quarters (74 per cent) saying they would vote to stay in the EU.
 
The poll found that a third of mums believe they were lied to by the Leave campaign.
 
Only 23 per cent of parents said they still wanted to leave the EU, according to the survey.
 
 
Michael Gove, the environment secretary, is currently being quizzed by the Commons environment committee. My colleague, Lizzy Buchan, writes...
 
Michael Gove has sought to reassure MPs that his department is ready for Brexit after it was condemned by auditors for failing to understand the scale of the challenge.
 
The environment secretary said only nine statutory instruments (SIs) will be left to lay by February, of the 138 bits of legislation that civil servants need to draft to prepare for exit day.

Mr Gove told the environment committee: “It is the case that our SI preparation was “at red”... but it is now "amber/green" after the hard work of officials.” 

The comments came in the Brexiteer minister's first appearance before MPs since he opted to stay in the cabinet and fight for Ms May's deal, rather than resigning. 
 
 

 

Tory Brexiteer Sheryll Murray, a member of the Commons environment committee, says concerns over fishing keep her up at night, and that fishing vessels in Plymouth are having to throw back huge quantities of sea bass that they have no quota for.
 
She told Michael Gove during a committee hearing:

“Please don’t think that what you are doing and the extension of the transition period won’t affect the very industry you are trying to save because it will.

“I’m very angry. Sea bass is a very high-value fish. Basically those vessels are throwing away almost £10,000 pounds back into the sea now because they have no quota.

“Mr Macron’s [French president Emmanuel Macron] fishing fleet are allowed to go and catch it and take it back to France free of charge and basically land it. The UK exchequer is being denied income.”
Government "complacency" means there is a "real prospect" of border chaos in the case of a no-deal Brexit, a committee of MPs has warned
 

Government 'complacency' means there is 'real prospect' of border chaos in case of no-deal Brexit, MPs warn

Key Commons committee also criticises minsters' use of 'gagging clauses' to silence business groups over Brexit
Michael Gove has told the environment committee that reports of the threat to clean drinking water from a no-deal Brexit were “Chinese whispers”, writes Lizzy Buchan.

The environment secretary said it was true that the water industry is reliant on chemicals from the EU but the overwhelming majority enter the UK through ports other than Dover, such as Immingham, in Lincolnshire, so less likely to be caught in a backlog.

The environment secretary admitted there was "a potential danger” but said action had been taken to make sure that does not arise.

He insisted water is “completely safe to drink” and denied being the source of the story in the Mail on Sunday.

However Tory MP Dr Caroline Johnson told him he needed to reassure the public to prevent people from stockpiling bottles of water.

Mr Gove said he didn't want to be caught up in Project Fear, but he wanted to be honest on the impact of no-deal on areas such as farming.
 
 
BREAKING: Leaving the EU under Theresa May's proposed Brexit deal could cut UK GDP by 3.9 per cent over 15 years, while a no-deal outcome could deliver a 9.3 per cent hit, according to new official analysis. 
Full story: UK will be worse off and wages will fall in every Brexit scenario, government analysis finds.
 

UK to be worse off and wages to fall under every scenario if it leaves EU, government analysis finds

Theresa May's Brexit plan will deliver a 3.9 per cent hit to GDP and workers’ wages will fall, according to the best estimate of government officials.
Prime Minister's Questions is just getting underway.
PM begins with a tribute to #BaronessTrumpington “she led an extraordinary life and she will be sorely missed”.
It's #PMQs time so follow the @indypolitics liveblog for all the latest updates independent.co.uk/news/uk/politi…
Scottish Conservative Douglas Ross says the proposed Brexit deal creates an "uncomfortable choice" and asks what guarantees the prime minister can give to those with concerns about the future of the fishing industry under her proposed agreement.
 
May says the deal "means we will become an independent coastal state" with the ability to determine who has access to British waters.
 
She says the government will not trade fishing rights for anything else during negotiations with the EU.
Jeremy Corbyn quotes Jeremy Hunt saying the government's Brexit deal mitigates "most" of the negative impacts of Brexit. Which ones won't it mitigate, he asks?
 
May doesn't answer. She instead addresses head on the issue of the government's analysis of her Brexit deal, published just minutes ago. She insists the forecasts doesn't show the UK would be worse off under her plan.
Corbyn says May claims her deal is the best deal but that she also insists it is the only deal. It must also therefore be the worse deal, he says. He calls the political declaration on the future relationship "a wish list"
 
May says the political declaration will lead to an "ambitious, broad, deep and flexible" partnership across many areas of policy.
 
She says all Labour has to offer is six bullet points, adding: "My weekend shopping list is longer than that."
 
The Labour leader says the prime minister promised "frictionless trade" with the EU but her plan will not deliver it. Can she understand why MPs are queueing up to vote against the deal, he says?
 
May says she will tell him who is backing her deal: "Farmers in Wales, fishermen in Scotland, employers in Northern Ireland".

Please allow a moment for the live blog to load



The Independent has launched its #FinalSay campaign to demand that voters are given a voice on the final Brexit deal.

Sign our petition here

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