Afternoon summary
- Theresa May has got through what was supposed to be a “moment of truth” EU summit on Brexit without securing a breakthrough towards a deal but with a potential crisis averted and with her European counterparts talking up the prospects of an agreement being reached eventually. At one point it had been hoped that enough progress would be made by today to justify the EU scheduling a summit for November where the withdrawal agreement could be finalised. That did not happen. But, in what seemed a determined effort to avoid a repeat of Salzburg, where their blunt assessment of the problems facing both sides left May going home feeling weakened and humiliated, EU leaders made an effort to put a positive gloss on developments. Donald Tusk, president of the European council, said a deal was “closer” than before and Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission president, said he was convinced a deal would happen. (See 3.51pm.) Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, also struck an upbeat note. In her press conference at the end of the summit she said:
All of the 27 said that we wish to bring about a solution, one that clearly expresses the fact that Britain is no longer a member of the EU, but also expresses what we all want politically speaking - namely that we establish a good relationship with Britain for the future.
As long as we don’t have a satisfactory solution we cannot really explain in a satisfactory way how this is to come about but I think where there is a will there is a way. That is usually the way.
- May has played down the idea that she favours extending the Brexit transition. (See 4.24pm.) She did so after overnight reports saying that she might let it run until December 2021, instead of December 2020, effectively keeping the UK in the EU in all but name for an extra year, provoked a furious backlash amongst her MPs. The former minister Nick Boles said things were so bad that May was “losing the confidence now of colleagues of all shades of opinion, people who have been supportive of her throughout this process”. He also said Tories were “close to despair at the state of this negotiation”. See 8.22pm. The DUP also criticised the plan to extend the transition, even though one reason for it would be to minimise the chances of having to implement the Irish backstop, which they also dislike. Nigel Dodds, the DUP deputy leader, said:
Such an extension would cost United Kingdom billions of pounds, yet our fundamental problem with the EU proposal remains.
- May continues to believe the EU’s proposal for avoiding a hard border in Ireland is unacceptable, senior UK officials have stressed. But at her press conference May did not deny reports saying she told the Irish PM last night that she accepts the Irish backstop cannot be time limited. (See 4.47pm.)
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
My colleague Lisa O’Carroll has a good guide to what happens next in the Brexit process.
We’ve had a slightly opaque explanation from a No 10 spokeswoman about whether international development secretary Penny Mordaunt contradicted Theresa May by saying the prime minister was not talking about extending the Brexit transition period, when she was. (See 1.49pm.)
The perhaps creative Downing Street line is that there was no disagreement, and that any impression to that effect from Mordaunt was “just language”.
Asked about Mordaunt’s comments, May’s spokeswoman said:
What I heard her say, mainly, is that it is vital everybody gets behind the prime minister and her negotiating team, and I think we’re kind of into semantics about what she said. The point she was making is that this is an idea to have an option, as an insurance policy, as opposed to a formal proposal.
Prodded on whether this was nonetheless still a contradiction of May, the spokeswoman added:
As the PM said this morning, this is just an idea, as an insurance policy. She also said the IP [implementation period] will end in December 2020, and there’s an idea that’s now emerged that we’re going to talk about. I really don’t think there’s any difference in our positions.
Updated
May's press conference: Verdict
Theresa May sounded less angry and pained in that press conference than she was in the press conference at the end of the botched Salzburg summit, but she did not sound any more confident or authoritative. Her line on the transition period was confusing. She did not have anything substantive say on the negotiations (or even a half-decent soundbite - a good substitute for news in circumstances like this, as someone like her predecessor David Cameron fully realised) and she did not try and engage in any meaningful way with her many domestic critics. It was a glaring omission because, unless she can find a strategy to win over the MPs who currently don’t support her plans, all this summitry and treaty-drafting will be pointless.
This is what some journalists are saying about her performance.
From ITV’s Paul Brand
BREAKING: Try following this... PM says "I've always been v clear that we negotiated that the implementation period would end Dec 2020. An 'option' to extend implementation period has emerged. But we are NOT proposing an extension to implementation period." Erm 😬
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) October 18, 2018
From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
PM 'what we are not doing is standing here proposing an extension to the implementation period' - erm...but she is a proposing finding a way of having the OPTION of doing PRECISELY that -
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) October 18, 2018
From the Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh
Oh my. This T May press conf is one of her worst. Barely acknowledges the questions, randomly fires off key points, speaks in convoluted cliches. Brexit talks seem not to have moved forward an inch (unless you count a few more months of transition). https://t.co/JOar9rweY4
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) October 18, 2018
From the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush
This May presser exposes the tactical silliness of talking about transition a) as "implementation" b) as something the EU is imposing on the UK.
— Stephen Bush (@stephenkb) October 18, 2018
From the Telegraph’s James Rothwell
Makes you wonder what the point of this summit was, considering the big obstacle to a deal, the backstop, can only be solved by May confronting her party at home
— James Rothwell (@JamesERothwell) October 18, 2018
From Sky’s Beth Rigby
So on the issue of a potential extension to transition period. May says she is NOT proposing an extension to the implementation period but says idea of extension has emerged as a potential solution to Irish backstop > All clear?
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) October 18, 2018
From Business Insider’s Adam Bienkov
So Theresa May is not calling for an extension of the transition but should such an extension emerge the extension (which she's calling for despite not calling for it) should last a few months. But she's not calling for that extension. Even though we've just heard her call for it
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) October 18, 2018
Updated
May does not deny telling Irish PM that she accepts backstop cannot be time limited
Helen McEntee, the Irish Europe minister, told Politico Europe that when she and Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, met Theresa May on Wednesday night, she told them she accepted there could be no time limit to the Irish backstop. Here’s an extract from the Politico story.
Helen McEntee told Politico that the UK prime minister gave the assurance in a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and herself at the European Council summit on Wednesday.
“I think reassuringly from our own meeting with the prime minister yesterday, she again reaffirmed her commitment to an Irish backstop — that it must be within the withdrawal agreement; that it must be legally operable; and that it can’t have a time limit,” she said.
May was asked about this at the press conference. (See 4.03pm.) The Telegraph’s Steven Swinford thinks the most significant moment at the press conference came when she refused to deny it.
Most significant moment in Theresa May's presser - she refused to deny telling Ireland that there will be no time limit on the Brexit backstop.
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) October 18, 2018
For Cabinet Eurosceptics this, not the extension of the transition period, is the big issue
May plays down idea of extending Brexit transition after fierce Tory backlash
What Theresa May said about extending the transition was rather confusing, in that it sounded at first as if she was contradicting what she said about this on her arrival at the summit this morning. (See 8.48am.) So here are the full quotes. May said:
I’ve always been very clear that we negotiated an implementation period with the EU and we negotiated that that implementation period would end at the end of December 2020. What has now emerged is the idea that an option to extend the implementation period could be a further solution to this issue of the backstop in Northern Ireland.
What we are not doing, we are not standing here proposing an extension to the implementation period. What we are doing is working to ensure we have a solution to the backstop issue in Northern Ireland, which is currently a blockage to completing the deal, that enables us to get on with completing the deal that delivers on the vote of the British people and is good for the future of the UK.
And here is how I would explain what she is saying.
- May plays down her support for the idea of extending the Brexit transition. She was not proposing it herself, she said. Instead she described it just as an idea that has “emerged”. (That is what she said this morning, although she strongly implied then that it was an idea that she supported.) She also restated her commitment to ending the transition in December 2020 - something she also stressed this morning, when she described the extension as something that might be negotiated as an option but never actually implemented. May revised her line on the transition after a day in which it became clear that Brexiters, and others in her party, would be horrified by the idea of the transition lasting beyond December 2020.
Updated
Q: Can you get a deal through parliament? And do you accept you have underestimated the ability of the EU to get a deal through parliament.
May says she wanted the EU to stay strong.
As for the vote in parliament, she will ask MPs to consider the importance of delivering on the vote of the people. And they will also want to consider what is in the best interests of Britain.
And that’s it.
Q: Is it true you have told the Irish that you accept the backstop cannot be time limited?
May explains why the backstop is needed.
It would be in case of there being a gap between the end of the transition period and the future relationship coming into force.
The future relationship will deal with the border, she says.
Q: What about the release of Anjem Choudary?
May says strict conditions will be imposed on him. If he breaks those, he will go back to prison.
May says she is very aware of the time needed to pass Brexit legislation in the Commons.
Q: With every compromise you make, doesn’t it become less and less likely that your party will support this deal?
May says the proposal to extend the transition has been around before. She has been asked about it in the Commons.
[Yes, but then she knocked the idea down.]
May says she is not proposing an extension to the implementation period.
- May says she is not proposing an extension to the implementation period. (What she means, I think, is that although she is considering an extension as an option, she does not it would ever be needed or implemented.)
UPDATE: For a much fuller account of what she said, and how it fits with what she said earlier, see 4.24pm.
Updated
Q: You have angered leavers and remainers, and disappointed EU leaders by not having any new proposals. They even went for a beer without you. What is going wrong?
May says further work is needed on the Irish backstop. Further plans have been put forward. She wants to get to a deal that will work for the British people.
Theresa May press conference
Theresa May says she updated EU leaders on the progress made in the Brexit talks last night.
On the withdrawal agreement, there are a few but considerable issues to be resolved.
But she is convinced she will secure a good deal, she says.
Q: [From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg] You have been straining to keep all the promises you have made. You are going to have to disappoint someone. Who?
May says she wants a deal that implements the referendum result, but protects jobs.
That would be good for the UK and the EU.
(She ignores the question completely.)
Tusk/Juncker press conference - Summary
Here are the key points from the Tusk/Juncker press conference.
- The two senior senior EU leaders both expressed optimism about a Brexit deal being agreed. Jean-Claude Juncker, the commission president, said a deal would happen. He told journalists.
I’m convinced that, under the leadership of Donald, we’ll find a deal with Britain. My working assumption is not that we will have a no deal. A no deal would be dangerous for Britain and for the European Union ... It will be done.
And Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, said the EU was “closer” to a deal than before.
What I can say today is that we are in a much better mood than after Salzburg and what I feel today is we are closer to final solutions and the deal. But it is maybe more emotional impression than rational one.
- Juncker said he thought the transition period would be extended.
This prolongation of the transition period probably will happen. That’s a good idea. It’s not the best idea the two of us had, but I think this is giving us some room to prepare the future relation in the best way possible.
And Tusk said the EU would be happy to see the transition extended. See 3.25pm.
- Juncker and Tusk refused to comment on reports that the UK would have to pay more into the EU budget if the transition gets extended.
The press conference is now over.
Q: If the transition period is extended, will the UK have to pay more?
Tusk says the length of the transition was not discussed last night. He does not want to add to speculation.
Updated
Tusk and Juncker strike optimistic note, saying Brexit deal is closer
Q: [From the BBC’s Katya Adler] If the transition period were extended, would that solve the Irish border issue? If so, is that because you would have a temporary customs agreement for the whole of the UK? And, if so, would that mean there would be no need for an Ireland-only backstop?
Tusk jokes the question is too complicated.
Juncker says he thinks an extension of the transition will happen.
- Juncker says he thinks Brexit transition will happen.
He thinks there will be a deal, he says.
Adler tries again.
Juncker replies: “Madam, we are not in a negotiation room here.”
Tusk says they are in a “much better mood” than they were.
He says they are “closer” to final solutions. But that may be an emotional view, not a rational one, he says.
- Tusk and Juncker strike an optimistic note at end of summit, saying Brexit deal is closer.
Updated
This is from the BBC’s Norman Smith.
I'm told Number Ten will be clarifying what @PennyMordaunt said .....
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) October 18, 2018
See 1.49pm for a post on what Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, said.
They are now taking questions.
The first two questions were on non-Brexit matters.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, is speaking now.
He starts by talking about eurozone reforms.
Tusk confirms the EU would be happy to extend the Brexit transition period.
The Tusk/Juncker press confidence is starting now.
Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, said EU leaders agreed to continue the Brexit talks after hearing from Theresa May yesterday.
He says they have full confidence in Michel Barnier.
There has not been enough progress, he says.
He says the length of the transition period was not discussed last night.
But in her Florence speech May said the transition should last around two years. EU leaders accepted that. So if she were to reqest a longer transition, EU leaders would agreed.
- Tusk confirms the EU would be happy to extend the Brexit transition period.
Here is the BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler, on the Merkel press conference.
1) Merkel at EU summit just described with a smile trying to find a way forward on the Irish border as trying to ‘square the circle’ in #Brexit negotiations but said ‘where there’s a will, there’s normally a way’
— katya adler (@BBCkatyaadler) October 18, 2018
2) Merkel said EU leases stand ready ‘at any moment’ to convene a Brexit summit when enough progress is made in negotiations
— katya adler (@BBCkatyaadler) October 18, 2018
3) Merkel emphasised ongoing European unity when it comes to Brexit. She said there was overwhelming support for chief negotiator M Barnier. Subtext: UK should forget trying to negotiate with EU leaders separately from Commission
— katya adler (@BBCkatyaadler) October 18, 2018
4) Merkel emphasised her favourite Brexit mantra: that any future relationship between the EU and a post #Brexit UK cannot be one with the same benefits as EU membership
— katya adler (@BBCkatyaadler) October 18, 2018
More from Angela Merkel. These are from various reporters covering the summit.
Angela Merkel tells journalists after #EUCO: “Each and everyone ought to prepare for a no-deal #Brexit scenario. But we didn’t want to discuss this in detail yesterday, because we didn’t want to give the impression that we were dealing with this primarily”. pic.twitter.com/vJnrETgyxI
— Dave Keating (@DaveKeating) October 18, 2018
Merkel says EU leaders last night "quite purposefully did not deal with no deal preparations. We were dealing with how and what shape a deal with Britain can take" #euco pic.twitter.com/Fve3RozV1M
— Mehreen (@MehreenKhn) October 18, 2018
Merkel hints that a Brexit deal won't need an extended transition: "Once you have a political solution you can very quickly have a future relationship worked out"
— Mehreen (@MehreenKhn) October 18, 2018
Merkel says she was 'neither more pessimistic nor more optimistic' about Brexit after May's speech
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, is holding a press conference now.
She says she left the dinner table last night “neither more pessimistic nor more optimistic” about Brexit.
She says all sides need to find an answer.
What about Ireland? But if there is no agreement, that is a problem too, she says.
Updated
The Eurasia Group, a consultancy that that has been producing well-regarded briefings on Brexit, thinks that the chances of a no deal Brexit, although still quite small, have gone up. Mujtaba Rahman, a former European commission official who runs its Europe division, says in a note released today that the odds of the UK leaving without a deal are now at 20%. He says:
A grubby Brexit deal, albeit delayed, is still our base case (45% probability).
However, in recognition of the structural impasse between the two sides over the Irish border, EU negotiators’ deep negativity about the status of the talks, the ticking clock and stepped-up preparations for no-deal planning, we are increasing the odds of a cliff-edge exit from 15% to 20%.
Rahman says there is already some talk of extending the transition by even more than a year.
The attraction for May [of extending the transition for a year, to December 2021] is that it would strengthen her claim that the backstop would never be needed, as it would be overtaken by a trade deal which both the UK and EU would commit to concluding by December 2021. Although too explosive for May to admit now, another option being discussed would be to seek yet another extension to the transition beyond December 2021 to stop the backstop being used.
He also thinks a deal may not be agreed until January.
A November summit will now only take place if EU negotiator Michel Barnier judges that talks are back on track. So there is now no guarantee the deadlock will be broken by December; indeed some UK officials are talking about a deal not being struck until January.
EU summit finishes
The EU summit is over, according to Donald Tusk’s press spokesman, Preben Aamann. Tusk, the president of the European council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the commission, will hold a press conference very soon.
Theresa May is due to hold one after that. And other EU leaders will be holding press conferences too.
The #EuroSummit is over.
— Preben Aamann (@PrebenEUspox) October 18, 2018
Next: press conference with Tusk @eucopresident and @JunckerEU. #euco
Parliament’s February recess will go ahead “subject to the progress of business”, Commons leader Andrea Leadsom said today. The announcement came following speculation that Number 10 was considering dropping the break in order to have enough Commons time to push through Brexit legislation. As the Press Association reports, Leadsom told MPs that parliament would rise on February 14 and return on February 25 - depending on “the progress of business”.
The Tory Brexiter Jacob Rees-Mogg seems to think that choosing Margaret Thatcher as the face to go on the new £50 might provide some inspiration for the Brexit process.
Putting Lady Thatcher’s picture on the £50 note would be a timely reminder of how to negotiate with the EU.https://t.co/tNGpxTqEoa
— Jacob Rees-Mogg (@Jacob_Rees_Mogg) October 18, 2018
The new £5 note came into circulation in September 2016, only a few weeks after the EU referendum. It features a picture of Winston Churchill and Churchill’s quote “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat” - which some might also have seen as a Brexit message, although not one that Rees-Mogg would have endorsed.
This is from NBC’s Darren McCaffrey.
Irish sources:
— Darren McCaffrey (@DarrenEuronews) October 18, 2018
EU willing to alter the controversial backstop to make it UK-wide as requested.
However will take some time to prepare, in meantime they will look to put a clause in Withdrawal Agreement committing the EU to creating a UK-wide backstop... via @ShonaMurray_
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg has got a procedural tip for Tory Brexiters.
Bet you a fiver Tory MPs try to stick an amendment on the finance bill that somehow tries to rule out any extra payment to EU, to kill off the possibility of an extension to the transition
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) October 18, 2018
The National Farmers Union is seeking an urgent meeting with the highest level of Government, after the lack of progress at the EU Council meeting last night. NFU president Minette Batters said that the uncertainty now facing farmers and growers was hugely damaging, reminding government “that this is a sector that produces the raw ingredients for the UK’s largest manufacturing sector, food and drink”. She said:
Farmers can’t plan livestock or crops with any certainty with the clock ticking down to a no deal Brexit in which the government has already admitted there would be food and medicine shortages
For long-term businesses like farming, it is completely unacceptable. Farmers are having to plan now what they will produce and where it will be sold. To do this without any awareness of what the trading environment will be is impossible.
The CBI has said it would be happy to see the Brexit transition extended. This is from Carolyn Fairbairn, its director general.
The risk of no deal is already biting hard. With each week that passes, firms are accelerating their contingency planning, diverting investment and costing jobs. And many firms, especially smaller businesses, simply have no time to prepare. All efforts should focus on securing transition to relieve pressure on firms, protecting people, wages and living standards across Europe.
If extending the transition period makes the withdrawal agreement easier to agree it should be welcomed.
Penny Mordaunt claims May did not propose extending transition period - even though she did
This morning Theresa May said she was considering a proposal to extend the possible timing of the transition period - even though she also said she thought the extension would never been needed. (See 8.48am.)
But in an interview for broadcasters Penny Mordaunt, the pro-Brexit international development secretary, who has refused to say she supports May’s Chequers plan, claimed that May was not proposing an extension of the transition period. She said:
The prime minister set out very clearly this morning that this is not about extending an implementation period. This is about the rules within the implementation period.
She also said that May had been “very clear about when the implementation period [will] come to an end”.
Mordaunt has got form, of course, for saying things that are 100% untrue. David Cameron got so angry during the EU referendum campaign when she said, wrongly, that the UK would not have a veto over Turkey joining the EU that he more or less accused her of lying. But in this case it is hard to believe Mordaunt did not know what May said this morning. Perhaps she was engaged in a clumsy version of the old political trick of redefining what someone actually said, so that you can honestly claim to agree with it.
BREAKING: Brexit-supporting @PennyMordaunt insists PM is not suggesting an 'extension' to transition period, despite the fact that Theresa May used exactly that term this morning. Seems to be pushing back on language. Trouble brewing in cabinet? pic.twitter.com/9Ylkc7uacS
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) October 18, 2018
This is what the Department for International Trade is saying about Liam Fox’s decision to pull out of the Saudi investment conference. A spokesperson said:
The secretary of state for international trade has decided the time is not right for him to attend the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh on 23 October.
The UK remains very concerned about Jamal Khashoggi’s disappearance.
We encourage Turkish-Saudi collaboration and look forward to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia conducting a thorough, credible, transparent, and prompt investigation, as announced. Those bearing responsibility for his disappearance must be held to account.
Liam Fox pulls out of Saudi 'Davos in the desert' conference
Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, has cancelled a possible attendance at the “Davos in the desert” trade summit planned by Saudi Arabia in the light of the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, the BBC’s James Landale reports.
Breaking: I understand that
— James Landale (@BBCJLandale) October 18, 2018
the International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has pulled out of a big international conference in Saudi Arabia next week after allegations the country was behind the killing of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Here is Theresa May with the Lithuanian president, Dalia Grybauskaite, as the summit proceedings started this morning. Yesterday Grybauskaite said the UK still has not decided what sort of Brexit it wants, so it would be nice to know what they were saying to each other.
Mateusz Morawiecki, the Polish PM, has described Theresa May’s speech to EU leaders on Brexit last night as “an important intervention”, according to the Polish Press Agency’s Jakub Krupa.
Poland's PM Mateusz Morawiecki with some positive words for Britain's May after her Brexit address to EU leaders last night; says it was 'an important intervention, which - with appropriate attitude from both sides - may offer a way out of this impasse".
— Jakub Krupa (@JakubKrupa) October 18, 2018
Here is more comment from Tory Brexiters on the government’s Brexit strategy.
Sir Bill Cash says extending the transition would be “unthinkable”.
Unthinkable that we should be blackmailed by the EU into billions and billions, plus loss of rebate in extended transition after 31st December 2020. Completely unnecessary.
— Bill Cash (@BillCashMP) October 18, 2018
Time to walk away.
And Jacob Rees-Mogg, reverting to 1980s terminology, has dismissed the government as “wet”.
Why is the Government so wet?https://t.co/386J3JUozF
— Jacob Rees-Mogg (@Jacob_Rees_Mogg) October 18, 2018
The Sun’s political editor Tom Newton Dunn thinks Theresa May is worried that the EU is close to giving up on the Brexit talks altogether.
Why would the PM appear to commit near political suicide by flaunting a transition extension? Because, I'm told, she thinks it may be the only way to re-engage Barnier. Appears No10 are now v worried that EU27 are close to pulling the plug entirely, and ready to go for no deal.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) October 18, 2018
UK officials have been briefing a bit more on government thinking on the backstop. These are from my colleague Heather Stewart.
Senior UK officials adamant the idea of a transition-extension does not mean they will countenance the EU’s version of backstop. “The idea of a NI-specific customs model, as we have repeatedly said, that’s not an option”.
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) October 18, 2018
UK officials also sticking to the idea a deal can be done in the “autumn”, despite EU27 having pulled the November council. “We want to get this done as soon as possible.”
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) October 18, 2018
And these are from the Telegraph’s Gordon Rayner.
A little clarity on Theresa May's transition extension proposal from a UK briefing in Brussels just now. Transition could be extended be a few months but ONLY if Brussels signs up to the UK version of the backstop.(1)
— Gordon Rayner (@gordonrayner) October 18, 2018
The idea being that the EU might be more likely to agree to something if they think it will never happen. Extending transition would mean backstop less likely to be needed (2)
— Gordon Rayner (@gordonrayner) October 18, 2018
But doesn't solve the problem of what the backstop should be. Brussels still wants NI-only backstop, May insists she would never agree to that and backstop has to be all-UK customs union for a temporary period (3)
— Gordon Rayner (@gordonrayner) October 18, 2018
Nothing at all on how much it would cost to extend transition. I asked if anyone had done those sums, and was told that it was important to remember they don't expect that an extension will be needed. [Trouble is, everyone now assumes extension is a given.]
— Gordon Rayner (@gordonrayner) October 18, 2018
May will do a press conference this afternoon which is likely to be pretty uncomfortable for her, not least because she now looks so completely isolated after Brexiteers and Remainers alike raged at the idea of extending transition and EU27 said she had no new ideas
— Gordon Rayner (@gordonrayner) October 18, 2018
Pro-Brexit press split over merits of extending Brexit transition
The Sun, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph, the three most influential pro-Brexit Tory papers, have all splashed on the the proposals to extend the Brexit transitions.
The most negative splash headline is probably the one in the Mail.
But in its editorial the Mail, which has become far less rabidly pro-Brexit since Geordie Greig replaced Paul Dacre as editor, gives the idea of extending the transition its tentative support. It says:
But while Brexit purists will be appalled at the thought of another 12 months tied to EU rules, pragmatists may reflect that it could be wise to allow more time for settling the most vital of issues.
For with obstacles remaining, and the livelihoods of 500m Britons and Europeans at stake, we can’t risk falling over a no deal cliff edge simply in order to meet a deadline.
The Sun’s splash is mildly less aggressive than the Mail’s. But its leader could have been written by one of those “Brexit purists” disparaged by the Mail. It says:
It is time to say No, prime minister.
The proposal to keep us shackled to the EU for another year beyond the transition period is an outrageous non-starter.
We have compromised far too much. Mrs May cannot go further than her over-generous Chequers offer. This latest ruse is an insult she must repel.
We would be in the farcical position of voting to Leave in June 2016, yet still bound by Brussels rules until December 2021 at the earliest. Which means continuing free movement, another £9bn of public money tipped into EU coffers and no say over any of it.
Recently the Daily Telegraph has often sounded more fervently pro-Brexit than the Sun. But today its splash is relatively neutral, and it does not comment on the proposal in an editorial.
Thursday’s Daily Telegraph: "May offers to extend transition by a year" #bbcpapers #tomorrowspaperstoday (via @AllieHBNews) pic.twitter.com/SQL10XTMky
— BBC News (UK) (@BBCNews) October 17, 2018
This is from the BBC’s Joey D’Urso.
Interesting difference in the editorial lines of the two biggest pro-Brexit newspapers, the Sun and the Daily Mail.
— Joey D'Urso (@josephmdurso) October 18, 2018
Extending transition either "outrageous non-starter" or wise and pragmatic. pic.twitter.com/jMydbdhTpI
Updated
Leadsom says MPs would have to agree any attempt to block amendments to 'meaningful vote' Brexit motion
This is what Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, said in defence of the government’s attempt to ensure that any amendments to the Brexit “meaningful vote” motion due to be debated later this year can be ignored. (See 11.31am.) She said that MPs would have to approve any special procedure used. She said:
The House will be aware that, whether or not debate should be organised through a business of the House motion, and the form of any such motion, will be in the hands of the House itself, which has the power to amend, approve or reject such a motion. But it is also important to recognise the need for the House to consider the question that will in reality be before the United Kingdom, and that is whether or not to accept the deal that the government has negotiated with the European Union.
She also urged MPs to read the memo (pdf) published by the government yesterday setting out the legal position.
Labour denounces 'meaningful vote' ruse as 'most outrageous power grab ever seen by the government'
In the Commons Valerie Vaz, the shadow leader of the Commons, has just raised the “meaningful vote” issue. She said that the attempt to stop MPs voting on amendments to the motion approving the Brexit deal due to be tabled later this year would be “the most outrageous power grab that has ever been seen by the government”.
In response, Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, said the letter sent by Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, to the procedure committee was a response to a letter from the committee.
And she said that any procedure agreed for that vote would have to be approved by the House itself.
I will post the quotes in a moment.
During environment questions in the Commons this morning Michael Gove, the environment secretary, said it was “vital” that the UK left the EU at the “earliest possible point”. Responding to a question from the SNP’s Stephen Gethins, he said:
The one thing I believe in is that it’s vital that we leave the European Union at the earliest possible point so we can make sure we’re outside the common agricultural policy, outside the common fisheries policy and that we take back control.
Here is Andrew Adonis, the Labour peer and diehard remainer, on what he thinks Nick Boles was up to when he criticised Theresa May so strongly this morning. (See 8.22am.)
Decoded, Nick Boles & Nicky Morgan are trying to replace Mrs May with Michael Gove who will pledge ‘Norway for now’ - telling the Brexiters it’s the only alternative to people’s vote to ‘remain’ & they can rip it up in a while, while telling ‘remainers’ they have a bit more cake https://t.co/nkl04GuP4I
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) October 18, 2018
Updated
Turning away for a moment from the transition extension row back to the “meaningful vote” row (see 7.46am), this is what Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, is saying about what the government is proposing. He said:
Labour doesn’t accept that the choice facing parliament will be between whatever deal Theresa May cobbles together or no deal.
That is not a meaningful vote and ministers can’t be allowed to silence parliament.
MPs must be given the opportunity to scrutinise, consider and, where appropriate, amend any resolution the government puts forward.
And this is what Nicky Morgan, the remain-voting Conservative chair of the Commons Treasury committee, is saying about the government’s move.
This appears to be an attempt by the Executive to frustrate our soverign Parliament - it is climsy, it won’t succeed & it shows how hollow ‘taking back control’ was for some people https://t.co/D0ERPqPB3m
— Nicky Morgan MP (@NickyMorgan01) October 17, 2018
The Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns points out that extending the transition would cross one of the red lines laid down by 34 Brexiter MPs in June in a letter sent to Theresa May.
In June 33 MPs and I wrote to the Prime Minister setting out our redlines. One of them was we would not accept any extension of the transition period. This ludicrous suggestion coming out of Number 10 and the EU, must be stopped. #StandUp4Brexit pic.twitter.com/qazruDXKH5
— Andrea Jenkyns MP #StandUp4Brexit (@andreajenkyns) October 18, 2018
Leading Tory Brexiters including Johnson and Davis urge May to reject any Irish backstop
Five Conservative ex-cabinet ministers, including Boris Johnson and David Davis, have signed a letter to Theresa May urging her to reject both an Northern Ireland backstop and, crucially, an all-UK version. Johnson and Davis have signed it even though they were in cabinet when the government published its own plan for a UK-wide backstop.
The other three former cabinet ministers who have signed the letter are Priti Patel, Iain Duncan Smith, Owen Paterson. And Jacob Rees-Mogg, chair of the European Research Group of pro-Brexit Tory backbenchers, is also a signatory.
On the backstop it says:
Talk of either a UK or a Northern Irish backstop is inimical to our status as a sovereign nation state. Both are unnecessary: indeed they are a trap being set by the EU which it is vital we do not fall into.
Using existing techniques and processes, with political co-operation, we can ensure that trade continues between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The necessary procedures can all be implemented within the existing legal and operational frameworks of the EU and the UK.
Rational and pragmatic approaches can ensure that trade across the border is maintained. There need be no threat to the Good Friday/Belfast agreement.
The signatories say the PM should not “engage in a show of resistance and a choreographed argument followed by surrender and collapse into some version of the backstop and Chequers.”
Instead we urge you to say to the EU at the Summit: “Let us agree that we need to reset our negotiations. Our objective is a free trade agreement that benefits the UK and EU and millions of our citizens.
Events have now rather got ahead of the rest of the letter, which also criticised her Chequers plan which the letter called “less popular than the poll tax.”
“Now is the opportunity for the government to reset, to stop seeing Brexit as a damage limitation exercise, and instead to deliver the Brexit which people voted for,” the letter goes on.
We urge you to make clear that you will not bind the UK into the purgatory of perpetual membership of the EU’s customs union, whether by a backstop or any other route.
All of the six signatories say they believe a different, Canada-style deal, would command a majority in parliament, though multiple remainer Tories have said they would not vote for such an arrangements.
“We are close to the moment of truth. Brexit offers the prize of a better future, global free trade deals and political independence,” the letter ends. “But if these potential gains are sacrificed because of EU bullying and the government’s desperation to secure a deal, the British people will not forgive us.”
The full text has been published by the Telegraph here.
Updated
Helen McEntee, the Irish Europe minister, was asked on the Today programme this morning about the UK having to pay more to the EU if the transition were extended. That would have to be discussed, she said diplomatically. Then, asked about reports saying the UK would have to pay around £10bn extra, she replied:
I don’t have a figure to hand. That would have to be discussed and negotiated between the UK and the [European commission’s] task force. Obviously there are a number of programmes and a number of commitments that are there.
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg says EU sources are admitting that the UK would have to pay more.
EU source tells me there would of course be ‘financial implications’ if transition was extended https://t.co/2P7ZkJg8DB
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) October 18, 2018
As he arrived at the summit Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s prime minister, was asked if the UK would have to pay more to the EU if transition gets extended. He ducked the question, telling reporters:
We are at the beginning of having new situations and new ideas.
Don’t speak about the bill. The bill is usually what you do at the end when you have done all the work to decide what is in the bill.
(The answer is almost certainly yes. The Daily Mail today is claiming that an extra year in the customs union would probably cost the UK around £10bn.)
The Ukip leader Gerard Batten today claimed that Theresa May’s decision to consider extending the transition is further evidence of her “Brexit betrayal”. He said:
Mrs May’s Brexit betrayal slowly slithers into view.
This is not due diligence, this is not a commitment to sort things out, this is a play to normalise transition indefinitely until a time when the establishment can call the whole thing off.
Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, has accused the government of failing to make progress on a Brexit deal on security, as she insisted Labour would not rubber-stamp Theresa May’s final Brexit plan.
In a speech in Brussels this morning she reiterated that Labour would vote against any Brexit deal that does not meet its six tests, which include preserving “the exact same benefits” as being in the EU single market and customs union.
EU leaders have said no country can get the same benefits outside the EU, meaning the sixth test is theoretically impossible to meet.
Another of Labour’s six Brexit tests is whether the deal protects national security and the UK’s ability to tackle cross-border crime.
In her speech at the Centre for European Policy Studies, Abbot said she wanted a “bespoke legal arrangement” that would allow the UK to continue participate in EU bodies, such as the crime-fighting agencies, Europol and Eurojust. Labour also wants the UK to have access to EU databases to allow police to share information across borders, as well as the continuation of the European arrest warrant to allow the speedy extradition of criminal suspects.
The Labour home secretary called for a “win-win outcome from Brexit that ensures the security of the UK and the EU27”. But the UK faces many legal obstacles, such as the German constitutional court ban on extradition to non-EU countries.
She is meeting the EU’s security commissioner, Julian King, and home affairs commissioner, Dimitris Avramopoulos.
The speech also showed that Labour is much more relaxed than the Conservatives about the role of the European court of justice. She said:
Some in Britain have attempted to cast the European court of justice as a bogeyman. Some of us are not sure that this is really true. Any legal arrangement must have a court of enforcement. There must be a court where appeals can be made, which the ECJ currently provides. It is incumbent on everyone who is serious about security and protecting lives to accept that there is a need for shared institutions that will perform that functions of enforcement and appeal.
Arrived at the European Commission to discuss security, migration and other Home Affairs issues @NickTorfaenMP @Claude_Moraes pic.twitter.com/YQKXP6EecU
— Diane Abbott (@HackneyAbbott) October 18, 2018
Corbyn says Labour's plan for Brexit would be much better than the Tories'
Today Jeremy Corbyn is visiting three constituencies in the east Midlands that voted strongly to leave the EU (North East Derbyshire, Bolsover and Ashfield). In a statement issued in advance, he says that he fully understands why people voted to leave and that he accepts that there must be change, but he insists that a Labour Brexit would be quite different from a Tory Brexit. He said:
I campaigned for remain and reform in the referendum of 2016. But I fully understand why many people in former coalfield and other communities voted to leave after decades of wealth, jobs and opportunities had been sucked out of these communities.
Why would anyone who hasn’t had a pay rise in 10 years, can’t get a proper bus service in the evening or worries about sending their kids to university because of years of crunching debt, listen to politicians saying nothing really needs to change?
But the Tories aren’t going to use Brexit to rebuild Britain. They want to use it to slash rights and protections and turbocharge their bankers-first market free-for-all.
We are leaving the EU, but we will not support a deal cobbled together by a divided and chaotic Tory government if it’s going to make life tougher for millions of people.
That’s why we have an alternative plan for a Brexit that guarantees jobs, rights and protections with a new deal with the single market, ensures no hard border in Ireland and supports UK manufacturing with a new customs union.
But, even more important, Labour in government has a plan for a post-Brexit Britain where we use the powers available to kick start the economy and rebuild our industry, infrastructure and public services in all regions and nations of the UK.
Corbyn is right to say that Labour’s Brexit policy is not the same as the government’s. One key difference is that Labour wants to stay in a customs union with the EU for good, although some details of how this would work are unclear, because as part of the plan the party also wants a say in how the EU would conduct future trade deals.
But in other respects there is less clarity. Labour does not want to remain in the single market, but it wants to keep the benefits of the single market - a position that runs counter to EU objections to cherry picking (as set out yet again only this morning by Xavier Bettel, the prime minister of Luxembourg - see 9.12am.)
Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, told reporters that now “more than ever, it appears the ball is in the UK’s court” as he arrived at the EU summit, Reuters reports.
Here is some Twitter comment from journalists on Theresa May’s latest statement about extending the implementation period. (See 8.13am and 8.48am.)
From the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey
Formulation used by PM interesting. EU option not acceptable. UK made proposal (EU-UK customs union) as the backstop. Now 'new idea' has emerged: a transition extension (presumably so the EU backstop not come into force). That acceptance that EU backstop remains in w/agreement?
— Daniel Boffey (@DanielBoffey) October 18, 2018
From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn
May saying transition extension would only be “for a few months” feels like the “I’m only half pregnant” defence. Sounds weak and defensive. If she’d gone on the front foot and owned the idea with vigour, she just might have persuaded MPs. V hard to do that now.
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) October 18, 2018
From Sky’s Faisal Islam
Summit discussion on extension of implementation phase by a few months “only as an option” designed to signal that there are options other than NI only backstop to be pursued. UK and EU also fleshing out a UK-wide backstop on Customs/some single market regs but will take weeks
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) October 18, 2018
From the Times’ Matt Chorley
This sounds like a massive f--- up. They have floated a vague idea about extending transition, everyone has gone mental, and now May and Lidington are trying to walk it back, saying it wouldn't last long and prob won't happen at all
— Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) October 18, 2018
Xavier Bettel, the prime minister of Luxembourg, told reporters as he arrived at the summit this morning that the UK still had to move. He said:
The UK government knows what are the problems. They have also to move. They know the two points where we have a problem on the internal market. You can’t be out and having all the good things if you would be family members. So that’s the problem.
Richard Tice, co-chair of the Leave Means Leave campaign, said today that extending the transition could be dangerous. He said:
The original transition was an unnecessary trap created by our weak civil servants who cannot be trusted as they don’t want us to leave. It should be cancelled, not extended. It is increasingly clear the PM doesn’t want to leave either.
Any transition period gives the EU zero incentive to negotiate anything and gives Brussels the power to force whatever they want on to the UK without us being able to do anything about it. It’s downright dangerous.
David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, indicated that the idea of extending the transition period another year was an idea worth discussing with the European Union as a way of “getting over the difficult final hurdles” in an interview on the Today programme. But he acknowledged that staying in the EU’s single market and customs union during 2021 could have financial implications, in the form of further cash contributions made by the UK to Brussels coffers.
When asked whether it would could cost the UK billions of pounds, Lidington said he did not accept that. “That would be one of the things that would be teased out in the negotiations,” adding: “There may be other approaches we can take.”
The former Europe minister told the Today programme that extending the transition period amounted to “an insurance policy if you run out of time” - referring to the possibility that that the UK will not be able to negotiate a free trade deal with the EU by the end of 2020, when the existing transition period is going to end. He went on:
The key point is that neither side wants to us to be in the position where the insurance policy is needed. There isn’t a detailed proposal, this is an idea that has come up. One would need to flesh it out in the next few weeks.
What Theresa May said about possibility of extending Brexit transition
This is what Theresa May told reporters when she arrive at the summit this morning and was asked if she was considering extending the Brexit transition. (See 8.13am.) She replied:
As I said yesterday, we’ve made good progress, we’ve made good progress both on the withdrawal agreement and on the future partnership, our future relationship.
On the withdrawal agreement, there are issues remaining around the backstop. Just to remind everybody, the backstop is what would come in place to ensure that there would be no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland if the future relationship is not in place by the end of the implementation period [ie, December 2020.]
Now, the original proposal from the EU is one that we could not accept in the UK. It would have created a customs border down the Irish Sea. Earlier in the year we put forward a proposal as to how to deal with this issue.
A further idea that has emerged - and it is an idea at this stage - is to create an option to extend the implementation period for a matter of months - and it would only be for a matter of months. But the point is that this is not expected to be used, because we are working to ensure that we have that future relationship in place by the end of December 2020.
I’m clear that it is possible to do that and that is what we are working for, and in those circumstances there would be no need for any proposal of this sort and I’m clear that I expect the implementation period to end at the end of December 2020.
When asked about the possible cost, and the opposition from Conservative MP, May essentially just repeated her first answer, again stressing that, even if she were to agree an option of extending the transition, she did not think it would ever be necessary to implement that because she wanted the future relationship to be in place by December 2020. And she stressed that she wants the future relationship to obviate the need for an Irish backstop (because it will implement frictionless trade.)
Updated
May 'losing confidence of colleagues of all shades of opinion', says former Tory minister
It is not just Tory Brexiters who are unhappy about the suggestion the Brexit transition could be extended by a year, taking it to December 2021. Nick Boles, who voted remain, posted these on Twitter yesterday.
1/ Lots of talk about the idea of extending the “limbo” transition for another year in order to avoid the backstop kicking in. This is MADNESS. We would have to pay extra contributions of around €17 billion.
— Nick Boles MP (@NickBoles) October 17, 2018
2/ It would be so much better to go into EEA/EFTA from next March - our contributions would be lower and we would only need to bring it to an end when we had negotiated a satisfactory future relationship https://t.co/Q7wCNBYIMe
— Nick Boles MP (@NickBoles) October 17, 2018
So the government is going to propose a €17 billion extension to the transition but refuse a £2 billion bail out of Universal Credit- good luck with that! https://t.co/k7rglLSBGG
— Nick Boles MP (@NickBoles) October 17, 2018
And this morning he told the Today programme:
I’m afraid she is losing the confidence now of colleagues of all shades of opinion, people who have been supportive of her throughout this process. They are close to despair at the state of this negotiation because there is a fear that both the government and the European Union are trying to run out the clock, that they are trying to leave this so late that they can then credibly say that there’s no alternative but a no deal Brexit. And most people agree that would be chaos. Now that is not an acceptable way for a leader of a government to behave.
Boles, a former minister, has a reputation as an MP for not being afraid to say what he thinks, but he is not a member of the hardline, awkward squad, constantly causing trouble for his party leader, and so his comments will be taken seriously in Number 10 (where they will of course they will remember that he was also Michael Gove’s campaign manager in the 2016 leadership contest.)
Theresa May "is losing the confidence of colleagues of all shades of opinion" who are "close to despair" at the state of Brexit negotiations says Tory MP @NickBoles. "There is a a fear that both the government and the EU are trying to run out the clock" #r4today pic.twitter.com/mC05DLFiw3
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) October 18, 2018
May confirms option of extending transition for ‘months’ being considered - but claims it would not be needed
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg asks May if she is considering extending the transition.
May says, as she said yesterday, we have made progress.
On the withdrawal agreement, there are issues remaining around the backstop, she says.
She explains the issue. She says a further idea that has emerged is to create the implementation period for a matter of months.
But this is not expected to be used, she says.
She says she thinks it is possible to get the new trade relationship in place by December 2020. She expects the implementation period to end more.
Q: Your colleagues are alarmed by this. It would cost the country billions more.
May repeats the point about wanting to ensure that, if there is a gap between the transition and new arrangements coming into force, something is there to stop a hard Brexit.
- May confirms option of extending transition for ‘months’ being considered - but claims it would not be needed.
Theresa May is arriving at the summit now.
After last night’s dinner at the EU summit, the German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron were spotted having a beer with Belgian PM Charles Michel and Luxembourg’s PM Xavier Bettel at a bar on Brussels’ Grand Place. Jack Blanchard has more about this in his London Playbook morning briefing. He has also flagged up this tweet from the Croatian journalist Hrvoje Krešić with a picture.
#onokad završi #EUCO a Merkel, Macron & co sjednu medju turiste u 23:00 na Grand-Place u centru Brisela i popiju pivo.
— Hrvoje Kresic (@hkresic) October 17, 2018
Jedino pitanje je - a gdje je @AndrejPlenkovic? :) #n1info pic.twitter.com/ONNnjDwd2I
Krešić has also posted some video.
Aaaaaaaand they’re gone! #n1info pic.twitter.com/RFerwkgyLe
— Hrvoje Kresic (@hkresic) October 17, 2018
May faces angry backlash from MPs over proposals for Brexit transition and 'meaningful vote'
So, Theresa May got her chance to make a Brexit pitch to EU leaders last night and then they discussed it over dinner in her absence. Judging from the overnight reports, May’s EU counterparts seem keen to avoid a repeat of the Salzburg debacle and they have been avoiding saying anything too negative or critical about her offer. But it is clear that she did not have much to say to move the process forward. As Antonio Tajani, the president of the European parliament, said afterwards: “I was listening to Mrs May. It was the tone of someone who want to reach an agreement [but] there is no change in content.”
Here is the Guardian’s overnight splash with all the details.
In Brussels criticism of May appears to be muted. But back in the UK the prime ministers appears to have generated a double Brexit backlash - from leavers, who are angry about the suggestion that she may extend the transition period for a year, and from remainers, who are angry about the revelation that the government wants to turn the “meaningful vote” on the Brexit deal into a straight yes/no affair, with amendments effectively ignored.
On extending the transition, this is what the Tory MP Nadine Dorries posted on Twitter.
We cannot find the money to fund our front line police properly. We cannot find the £2b for the vulnerable on UC, but we can mysteriously find billions to bung to the EU for the unnecessary extra year Clegg and Blair asked Barnier for to waylay Brexit??
— Nadine Dorries (@NadineDorries) October 17, 2018
This is serious.
Another Tory, Andrea Jenkyns, told ITV’s Peston last night the idea was “ridiculous”.
.@andreajenkyns tells @Peston that any plan to extend the #Brexit transition is ridiculous and that if the PM can't negotiate then we need to find someone else #Peston pic.twitter.com/LzfhasxsvF
— Peston (@itvpeston) October 17, 2018
And this is from Stewart Jackson, the former Tory MP who was David Davis’s chief of staff when Davis was Brexit secretary.
If you can't (or in the EU's case won't) resolve the backstop issue now because it's an issue of principle than why will it take another 3 years to resolve it? Will it not be an issue of principle once we have coughed up billions more in UK taxpayers' cash? #Article50 https://t.co/SMwhR3MNNb
— Stewart Jackson (@BrexitStewart) October 17, 2018
And, on the meaningful vote, this is what Dominic Grieve, the Conservative former attorney general who tabled what was seen as the original “meaningful vote” amendment to the EU withdrawal bill last year, told the BBC last night.
I’m astonished to read this letter [the one from Dominic Raab, the Brexit secretary, to the Commons procedure committee, about the “meaningful vote”] because, leave aside the policy issues around this, this is about good faith. It’s about honesty, because one way of reading this is to suggest that the government is trying to renege on clear assurances that were given at the time both the House of Commons and the House of Lords approved the government’s approach.
EU leaders will soon be arriving at the summit for today’s proceeding. There will be a live fee here. Then there will be press conferences afterwards, starting from around 2.30pm.
I will mostly be focusing on the summit today, but it will also be worth following business questions in the Commons, where Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, is likely to face questions about the “meaningful vote” issue.
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 when I wrap up, probably after 4pm.
Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. 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
