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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Brexiters hit back at Tusk after he says they deserve 'special place in hell' for failing to have a plan - Politics live

Afternoon summary

  • Brexiters have hit back at Donald Tusk after he said that those who promoted Brexit without having a plan to make it work deserved “a special place in hell”. Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, said Tusk should apologise for his “spiteful” comment (see 1.20pm) and Sammy Wilson, the DUP Brexit spokesman, said Tusk was a “devilish Euro maniac”. (See 12.44pm.)
  • Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, has said that he will be be meeting Theresa May for Brexit talks over dinner in Dublin on Friday night. At a press conference in Brussels, he also said the Commons only voted for the Brady amendment, which backed the Brexit deal on condition that backstop is replaced with “alternative arrangements”, because there was no agreement on what that phrase actually meant. (See 4.25pm.)
  • Mark Drakeford, the Welsh first minister, has said a no-deal Brexit would be “catastrophic” for Wales. He made his comments during a keynote speech at the Welsh NHS Confederation Annual Conference and Exhibition where he said:

I do genuinely feel that in 2019 the skies have darkened.

I endorse absolutely everything that has been said about Brexit, about the way it hangs over the work that we do.

The way in which it is getting in the way of our ability to focus the type of future we would like to create in our public services here in Wales.

And the absolute imperative that a deal is struck so that we do not face the catastrophic impact that there would be here in Wales on leaving the European Union without a deal at all.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

This is from Sky’s Beth Rigby.

Here is some more reaction from MPs to the Donald Tusk comment.

From Nick Boles, the remain-voting Conservative

From Tobias Ellwood, another remain-voting Tory

From Kate Hoey, the Brexiter Labour MP

And this is from Arlene Foster, the DUP leader

Updated

Responding to the Juncker/Varadkar press conference, Downing Street insisted the EU would have to give ground in order for a deal to be agreed. The prime minister’s spokesman said:

Leo Varadkar said that they want the UK to leave with a deal, Donald Tusk said earlier today their priority is avoiding no deal.

The fact is that the deal that was on the table has been rejected by 230 votes.

So if, as they state, they wish for us to leave with a deal there are going to have to be changes made in order to address concerns which MPs have on the backstop.

Juncker/Varadkar press conference - Summary

Here are the main points from the press conference given by Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, and Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister.

  • Varadkar said he would be meeting Theresa May for talks over dinner in Dublin on Friday night.
  • Juncker and Varadkar both stressed their commitment to the backstop. They did so in the joint statement they issued. And, in the Q&A, Juncker said:

We cannot accept the idea, which is circulating around, that the withdrawal agreement could be re-opened. The backstop is part of the withdrawal agreement. We cannot re-open the discussion on the backstop ...

[Theresa May] knows that the commission is not prepared to re-open the issue. This is the current position of the 27, and thus of the commission. This is the position of the commission, and thus of the 27.

  • Juncker said the UK would not be allowed a mechanism allowing it to withdraw from the backstop unilaterally. He said:

So-called alternative arrangements can never replace the backstop. We need the bacsktop. We need the withdrawal agreement. And, when it comes to future relations, we can have a look into alternative arrangements. But they can never replace the backstop. There is no way to have unilateral jumping out of the backstop because the backstop is needed as a guarantee. A safety net is not a safety net if it can be destroyed by the unilateral action of one of the parties.

But a unilateral withdrawal mechanism is only one of the two legal options that May is exploring as means of ensuring the UK does not get trapped in the backstop. The other is a time limit. Juncker did not explicitly rule out adding a time limit to the backstop, and some journalists think that might be significant.

  • Varadkar said that the Commons only voted for the Brady amendment, which backed the Brexit deal on condition that backstop is replaced with “alternative arrangements”, because there was no agreement on what that phrase actually meant. He said:

I do have a concern about this idea around alternative arrangements. We need to bear in mind that this majority that did exist in the House of Commons for “alternative arrangements” probably only existed because “alternative arrangements” can mean whatever you want whatever you want them to mean. I don’t believe that would have passed if people actually had to get into the detail of what alternatives might mean or might not mean.

  • Juncker showed Varadkar a thank you card he had been sent by a family in Ireland.
Leo Varadkar (left) and Jean-Claude Juncker at their press conference in Brussels.
Leo Varadkar (left) and Jean-Claude Juncker at their press conference in Brussels. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/EPA

Javid says Tusk's anti-Brexiter comment is 'out of order'

Sajid Javid, the home secretary, has declared Donald Tusk’s anti-Brexiter comment “out of order”.

(Maybe it’s just me, but isn’t there something a bit dispiriting about the home secretary spouting demotic like a pub landlord? Even on Twitter, he could have put it a bit more eloquently.)

Here is the quote from Jean-Claude Juncker on Donald Tusk’s “special place in hell” comment.

Updated

Commons adjourns at 3.30pm because MPs have no more business to debate

The Commons has adjourned for the day. Today’s business was especially light. Apart from the usual (questions, adjournment debate etc), all MPs had to do was pass two social security motions.

This might seem odd, given the Brexit crisis. But the government cannot bring any of its main Brexit legislation to the Commons until it knows whether or not there will be a deal and, if there is a deal, what it will entail.

May to go to Dublin on Friday for talks with Varadkar

Varadkar said he will meet Theresa May for talks in Dublin on Friday night.

Q: What did you make of Angela Merkel’s comments this week about the possibility of a deal if people are “creative”?

Varadkar says he cannot interpret Merkel’s comments. But all politicians are creative.

We have been creative all along. Perhaps it is for those who created this problem to be creative now.

Juncker/Varadkar press conference

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, and Leo Varadkar, the Irish PM, are taking questions.

Q: Was today the start of the difficult conversation about what might have to happen in Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit?

Juncker says the EU stands ready to help Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit, although he does not like the term “help”.

But is working assumption is that there will be a deal, Juncker says.

He says the EU is willing to look at alternative arrangements to the backstop. But they cannot replace the backstop. The backstop won’t be a backstop if the UK can withdraw unilaterally.

Varadkar says the border will be the border for the EU as a whole.

But Ireland is making no plans for a hard border.

Q: Do you agree with what Donald Tusk said?

Juncker says he believes in heaven. He has never seen hell, apart from when he is doing his job here.

Updated

Leo Varadkar, the Irish PM, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, have just issued this statement after their meeting in Brussels.

Lunchtime summary
  • Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, has said the withdrawal agreement remains “the best deal possible”. Speaking alongside Tusk after their talks in Brussels, he also said that if the UK’s intentions for the future relationship “were to evolve”, the EU would be “prepared to adapt the content and level of ambition in the political declaration while respecting its established principles”.
  • Theresa May could win the backing of dozens of Labour MPs for a Brexit deal if she softened her red lines, it has been claimed. The Labour MP Lisa Nandy told Radio 5 Live that up to 60 MPs on the opposition benches could be prepared to back a revised deal. She said that she wanted the UK to remain in a customs union and that Labour MPs would want “binding assurances” on the future trade relationship. She went on:

If [May] were able to come back, and stop this eternal circular conversation within the Tory party, and start reaching out to the rest of parliament and the rest of the country and give us those assurances, I think you’d get somewhere between 40 and 60 Labour members of parliament who would be prepared to step forward and say, we’ve got to come together around this, otherwise we leave with no deal.

Nandy said that Labour should also be willing to drop one of its own red lines, its commitment to ending free movement. She said:

The [Labour party’s] six key tests commit us to the exact same benefits as being in the single market, to being in a permanent UK-wide customs union with the European Union, and ending free movement. Now it is very clear, in discussions with the European Union, that you cannot do all of those things. So we are going to have to choose.

My own view is that access to the single market and remaining in a permanent customs union is the only thing that will protect the huge number of food manufacturing jobs in my constituency, and the service industry as well, which employs many many people in my town and across the country. So ending free movement is where we are going to have to budge.

  • Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, has said article 50 should be extended. Speaking at PMQs, where she was standing in for Jeremy Corbyn, she said:

Does the minister not agree that the sensible, cautious thing to do at this late stage is to seek a temporary extension of article 50 so that we have time to see whether negotiations succeed or if they do not to pursue a different plan?

Thornberry’s colleague, the shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer, has previously described an extension of article 50 as probably inevitable, but this seems to be the first time Labour has actively proposed this idea.

  • Donald Trump will return to the UK in December for a Nato summit, it has been announced.
  • Police will be given strengthened powers to crackdown on illegal traveller sites under new government plans, Sajid Javid, the home secretary, has announced in a written ministerial statement.

Updated

In the Commons the Tory Brexiter Peter Bone described Donald Tusk’s anti-Brexiter comment as a “completely outrageous insult”, adding:

I don’t recall any president insulting members of this House, members of the government and the British people in such a way.

(Reminder: during the EU referendum Bone campaigned alongside Nigel Farage, the then Ukip leader, under the banner of Grassroots Out, the organisation they both founded. Farage’s offensiveness towards EU politicians is legendary. He famously described Herman Van Rompuy, Tusk’s predecessor as president of the European council, as having “all the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk”.)

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, issued this statement after her talks with Theresa May at Stormont today. She said:

The party has an on-going engagement with the government regarding our exit from the European Union. This was another useful opportunity to press for a deal which works for the entire United Kingdom. We want a deal which respects the Union and the referendum result.

Our message was very simple. The draft withdrawal agreement is flawed because the backstop would undermine the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom. The backstop is the main problem. It must be dealt with in the terms set out in the Brady amendment which secured a majority in the House of Commons.

During that debate, the prime minister made commitments that there would be legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement. That is what is needed.

Arlene Foster speaking to the media outside parliament
Arlene Foster speaking to the media outside parliament Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

This is from the Have I Got News For You Twitter account.

Sinn Fein says it is the Brexiters, not Tusk, whose language is intemperate

Mary Lou McDonald, the Sinn Fein president, has also backed Donald Tusk’s anti-Brexiter comment. And she dismissed claims that what he said might further antagonise the Brexiters. She said:

You are not going to convince me that anything Donald Tusk says could further harden the position of the Boris Johnsons’ or the Rees-Moggs’ of this world

They are people who have acted with absolute contempt for this country, utter disregard for the experiences of Irish people north and south, with utter disregard for the peace process that has been collectively built over decades.

Their position is the most hardline of hardline, it is their language that is intemperate and it is their position that is untenable.

SNP says Tusk 'hit the nail on the head' with his anti-Brexiter comments

The SNP have applauded Donald Tusk for his comment about Brexiters. This is from its foreign affairs and Europe spokesperson, Stephen Gethins. He said:

The charlatans and chancers who led the Leave campaign did not even have the decency to set out their plans before the vote, which has led directly to the uncertainty and damage that we face today. The council president has hit the nail on the head with his remarks.

Before any election or referendum, it is a basic part of democracy that those seeking office or a change set out their proposals in a manifesto or white paper and can then be held to account based on what was said before a vote. Yet those who campaigned for leave, including senior UK government ministers, failed even in this basic democratic requirement.

Their action stands in stark contrast to the Scottish government that rightly opened up its plans to full scrutiny by producing a 650-page white paper and other position papers ahead of Scotland’s independence referendum.

Providing a blueprint for future plans as well as means of accountability is responsible politics. Instead, with Brexit, we are faced with a situation where even the UK government itself is warning of food and medicine shortages and the loss hundreds of thousands of jobs and a massive economic hit.

We are facing the worst crisis in peace-time because of senior government figures failing to hold themselves to account for their actions or have a plan for what comes next other than holding the Tory party together. All the while the Labour party acts as a willing accomplice in inflicting this economic devastation.

The rest of Europe can clearly see that it is all of us in the UK who are paying the price for their continued failure.

Leadsom says EU 'intransigence' could result in no-deal Brexit

On the World at One Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, says it would be ironic if the “intransigence” of the EU lead to there being a no-deal Brexit, something the EU claims it wants to avoid.

It would be the ultimate irony if the EU’s intransigence around the deal that we have should lead to the one thing that they claim to be seeking to avoid, and that is a no-deal which would lead, potentially, to having to have a hard border. That is what they are seeking to avoid so why won’t they discuss this rationally with us?

(She is sounding very like Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, who said much the same thing yesterday.)

Updated

Downing Street suggests Tusk's comment unhelpful

There was a tone of resigned exasperation from Downing Street about Donald Tusk’s remarks, at the briefing for lobby journalists after PMQs.

Asked about his comments, Theresa May’s spokesman said:

It’s a question for Donald Tusk as to whether he considers the use of that sort of language to be helpful - and I appreciate that was difficult this morning, because he didn’t take any questions.

We had a robust and lively referendum campaign in this country in what was the largest democratic exercise in our history. People voted to leave the European Union, and what everybody should be focused upon now is delivering the verdict of the British people, so we can leave the EU in an orderly way, and with a deal that is in the best interests of the UK and the EU.

Leadsom says Tusk should apologise for his 'spiteful' and 'completely unacceptable' comment

Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, is being interviewed on the World at One now.

She says Donald Tusk should apologise for his comment. She says it was “pretty disgraceful”, “completely unaccepable” and “spiteful”.

I think that what he has said is pretty unacceptable and pretty disgraceful.

I’m sure that when he reflects on it he may well wish he hadn’t done it.

This is a negotiation between friends, allies, neighbours. It’s supposed to be collegiate and collaborative, and it totally demeans him to stoop to such a spiteful tweet.

Updated

Here is my colleague Jennifer Rankin’s story on Tusk’s outburst.

Leadsom hits back at Tusk following his attack on Brexiters

Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, was one of the leading Vote Leave campaigners and may have been one of those Donald Tusk was referring to when he said that the people who backed Brexit without having a plan to deliver it deserved “a special place in hell”. (See 12.02pm.) She told the BBC that Tusk was a man with “no manners”.

Updated

Here is the Conservative MP Anna Soubry on the Tusk outburst.

Here is some comment from journalist on Donald Tusk’s outburst.

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

From the Guardian’s Daniel Boffey

From the Sun’s Nick Gutteridge

From AFP’s Damon Wake

From the Times’ Bruno Waterfield

This is from ITV’s Paul Brand.

Labour’s Stephen Kinnock asks Lidington why the Tories have “trousered” £1m in donations from people with links to Russia, despite the government saying the Putin regime should not be treated as normal.

Lidington says there are people of Russian origin who live in the UK, who are British citizens and who are entitled to donate to political parties.

DUP condemns Tusk as 'devilish Euro maniac'

Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, has responded to Donald Tusk’s anti-Brexit outburst. (See 12.02pm and 12.37pm.)

Updated

Back to PMQs, and Mark Francois, the Tory Brexiter, says MPs voted for the Brady amendment, which said the backstop should be “replaced”. Which bit of “replaced” was not clear?

Lidington says Theresa May set out yesterday how the work on finding an alternative to the backstop would proceed.

Back to Donald Tusk, and this is from ITV’s Carl Dinnen.

Sir Bernard Jenkin, the Tory Brexiter, asks what progress is being made on the so-called Malthouse compromise.

Lidington says there is no intention to hold it up.

He says the Matlhouse compromise group have been meeting with Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary. Those talks continue, he says.

Turning back to Donald Tusk, here is the full text of the statement he made when he spoke to journalists earlier. (See 12.02pm.)

Jim McMahon, the Labour MP, says the government has committed to setting up a fund to pay for children’s funeral. But it has not actually been set up yet. Thousans of families have had to pay for funerals since the announcement without help.

Lidington says the government will stop parents having to pay for these funerals. But it is looking into how best this can be delivered. He says he will put McMahon’s point to the ministers in charge.

Jack Brereton, a Conservative, commends the police and the fire service for their response to the fire in Stafford this week.

Lidington says all MPs will feel enormous sympathy for the horror the family have suffered.

PMQs - Snap verdict

PMQs - Snap verdict: That wasn’t a particularly memorable PMQs, but it was more focused and less shouty than the usual May/Corbyn encounter, and Emily Thornberry, who had the upper hand, will notch it up as a success. She is an accomplished despatch box performer and in the past, when standing it an PMQs, she has often played it for laughs. Today she started with with a very good joke, but after that stuck very firmly to policy, largely eschewing party political sloganising. Her tone was appropriate given the seriousness of the crisis facing the country and, although her questions did not elicit any new information, the response they got did illustrate the weaknesses in the the government’s stance. She also seemed to commit Labour to wanting a temporary extension of article 50 more firmly than any other frontbencher has, as far as I’m aware. She was probably right when she said that Lidington understands the minutiae of Brexit better than any of his colleagues (he was Europe minister for years, and also served a long stint as shadow Northern Ireland secretary). Lidington made some reasonable points about the flaws in Labour’s own Brexit policy, but at no point did he really go for the jugular. It meant that he never got off the defensive, but, on the plus side, his demeanour, too, matched the occasion. At least he was taking it all seriously.

Thornberry says she would be happy to hold a seminar on the problems with May’s plan at another time. She says a customs union is the only viable solution. So why is the government so dead-set against it.

Lidington says the Labour plan for a customs union would not fully address the border problems in Ireland. Thornberry has said she would be happy with a Norway option. But that would involve free movement. Does Thornberry support Norway, or the Labour manifesto, which ruled out free movement.

Thornberry says Lidington probably understands these issues better than anyone else in government. But even he cannot give answers. She will give him one more chance; is there a better plan than this, or will he let parliament take charge?

Lidington says May will report back to parliament. The two-year deadline stems from EU legislation. And from article 50. Thornberry voted for article 50, he says. He says perhaps this was a vote where Thornberry was present but not involved. If Thornberry wants to avoid no deal, she should vote for a deal, he says.

Labour backs temporary extension of article 50

Thornberry says the sensible, cautious thing to do would be to seek a temporary extension of article 50.

  • Labour backs temporary extension of article 50. In the past some Labour figures have said this will be inevitable, but the party has been hesitant about being seen to call for this.

Lidington asks Thornberry to explain Labour policy.

Thornberry says there is no way that the UK can avoid a border in Ireland after Brexit without a full customs union, or a backstop, or a technological solution. Which plan is the government pushing?

Lidington says Labour wants a customs union, so businesses can export without tariffs or checks. But that is what the PM’s plan proposes. So what part of her deal does Labour object to?

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary who is standing in for Jeremy Corbyn, starts by saying it is good to be up against the person dubbed the effective deputy PM again. This must the the only time the words effective and prime minister appear in the same sentence.

She asks when the vote on the deal will take place.

Lidington says Theresa May said the meaningful vote would come back as soon as possible. If that does not happen by next Wednesday, there will be a debate and vote next Thursday.

Thornberry says May said she would get a significant and legally-binding change to the withdrawal agreement. What will happen if towards 29 March that has not been achieved.

Lidington says May is going to Brussels tomorrow.

He says, if MPs want to avoid no deal, they must vote for a deal.

Andrew Bridgen, the Tory Brexiter, starts by saying he was pleased to watch the video of Jeremy Corbyn condemning the EU when he was a backbencher. Will the government rule out a second referendum.

Lidington says a second referendum would suggest the government got it wrong.

PMQs

David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister who is standing in for Theresa May at PMQs, starts by welcoming the news that the Nato summit is coming to the UK in December.

Donald Tusk's press statement - Summary

Here are the main points from Donald Tusk’s statement to journalists.

  • Tusk, the president of the European council, said there was “a special place in hell” for those who promoted Brexit in the UK without having a plan for making it happen.

By the way, I have been wondering what the special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely.

  • He said the EU was preparing for the “possible fiasco” of no deal.
  • He said people all over Europe wanted the UK to change its mind. He said:

People all over the continent, and in Ireland, hoped that the UK would change its mind about Brexit.

Tusk said he too hoped the UK would decide to stay in the EU.

  • He said Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn were both “pro-Brexit” and that there was no leadership for remain in the UK.

But the facts are unmistakeable. At the moment the pro-Brexit stance of the UK prime minister, and the leader of the opposition, rules out this question.

Today there is no political force, and no effective leadership, for remain.

I say this without satisfaction, but you can’t argue with the facts.

  • He said the EU would not be “making any new offer” to the UK.
  • He said the withdrawal agreement was “not open for renegotiation”.
  • He said he hoped May would come to Brussels with a “realistic” plan tomorrow.

I hope that tomorrow we will hear from prime minister May a realistic suggestion on how to end the impasse in which the process of the orderly withdrawal of the UK from the EU has found itself following the latest votes in the House of Commons.

  • He said the Irish border issued remained the EU’s top priority.

The EU is first and foremost a peace project,” he said. “We will not gamble with peace or put a sell-by date on reconciliation. This is why we insist on the backstop.

Updated

Just in case anyone did not get the message, Donald Tusk, the European council president, has been tweeted.

Tusk says those who promoted Brexit without proper plan deserve 'special place in hell'

Tusk says he hopes Theresa May will come to Brussels with a “realistic suggestion” tomorrow.

He says the withdrawal agreement is not open to renegotiation.

He says the EU has been preparing for the “possible fiasco” that might happen if the UK leaves without a deal.

And he ends by saying those who promoted Brexit without a plan for leaving deserve “a special place in hell”.

By the way, I have been wondering what the special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to [deliver it] safely.

Updated

Donald Tusk's press briefing

Donald Tusk, president of the European council, is speaking in Brussels now.

He says he would like the UK to remain in the EU. But Theresa May is committed to leave, he says. And he says there is no effective leadership for remain.

He says the EU is preparing for a no-deal Brexit.

Critics of Theresa May’s Brexit deal have published proposals for a future free trade agreement between the EU and UK which they claim will deliver the “most advanced and liberalising” conditions ever seen. As the Press Association reports, the document - part of a sequence of reports released under the slogan A Better Deal - proposes zero tariffs and no restrictions in quantity for trade in goods and agricultural and food products and “maximum liberalisation” for services. It proposes “state of the art” highly facilitated customs clearance arrangements between the EU and UK.

On the movement of labour, it calls for easier access to temporary business visas, while on the movement of capital it proposes free flows between the EU and UK. The two sides would be barred from erecting technical barriers to trade or using standards as a means of making trade more difficult. And the two sides would have to commit not to use subsidies or state aid to distort markets.

Written by international trade policy experts Shanker Singham and Robert MacLean, the document states that its proposals would preserve the UK’s ability to strike trade deals around the world and make changes to its own domestic relations, the Press Association reports.

Speaking ahead of the report’s launch in Westminster this morning, Esther McVey, the Brexiter former work and pensions secretary, said:

Brexit was about taking back control over our trade policy. Ninety per cent of global economic growth will come from outside the EU in the years ahead and the EU now accounts for less than half of the UK’s overall trade.

So we must develop a trading relationship with the EU that makes doing business with our closest trading partners possible, without hindering our ability to develop new trading relationships with non-EU countries.

This proposal paves the way to a better future and a more global Britain.

Shanker Singham (left), a trade specialist, and David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, at the launch of the Better Deal paper this morning.
Shanker Singham (left), a trade specialist, and David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, at the launch of the Better Deal paper this morning.
 Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

The prime minister must introduce direct rule government for Northern Ireland if no Brexit deal can be agreed, the Ulster Unionist party has said. UUP leader Robin Swann made the call as he arrived to meet Theresa May at Stormont. He said:

We are not far from March 29, we as a party don’t see a no deal as a positive situation or something that suits Northern Ireland or the UK.

We have asked her to look for an extension of article 50. If she is not prepared to do that, and we are at a situation where the executive and the Assembly isn’t up and running again, she has to put something in place.

She has to put direct rule in place come March 30 because Northern Ireland needs political leadership and it needs political direction.

As the Press Associatoin reports, after his meeting, Swann claimed May appeared reluctant to talk about efforts to restore power sharing. He said:

The conversation we were having with the prime minister was initially about Brexit, we had to drag her to a place were we actually started to talk about how we get these institutions back up and running.

Ulster Unionist party (UUP) leader Robin Swann (centre) and his party colleagues John Stewart (left) and Doug Beattie speaking to the media at Stormont after talks with Theresa May
Ulster Unionist party (UUP) leader Robin Swann (centre) and his party colleagues John Stewart (left) and Doug Beattie speaking to the media at Stormont after talks with Theresa May Photograph: David Young/PA

Liam Fox says he would personally oppose cutting tariffs on all imports in event of no-deal Brexit

The Labour MP Chris Leslie asks Fox if he can say the government is ruling out removing all tariffs on imports in the event of a no-deal Brexit. A HuffPost story yesterday said this was being considered.

Fox says the government has not decided what it’s policy would be in these circumstances.

He says he personally has never advocated full liberalisation. But it would not just be a decision for him, he says. It would be a collective decision.

  • Fox says he personally would not favour cutting tariffs on all imports to zero in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

Leslie suggests the people working in an industry like ceramics, which would suffer hugely if tariff reduction allowed in cheap ceramic imports, will be worried that Fox has not ruled out universal tariff reduction.

Fox says this would be a collective decision. But he says the government is very aware of the harm a decision like that could cause.

Liam Fox
Liam Fox Photograph: Parliament TV

Updated

At the international trade committee Nigel Evans, a Tory Brexiter, asked Fox if he thought May was “wedded” to the backstop. The reports from yesterday’s speech implied she is, he said. But Evans said a lot of Brexiters “would just like to bin it”.

Fox said it was important to differentiate between the concept and the mechanism. May was committed to the concept of ensuring that there will be no hard border in Ireland, Fox said. But she was not committed to a “particular mechanism” for achieving that.

Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, has just started giving evidence to the Commons international trade committee.

As the Telegraph’s Jack Maidment reports, Fox started by saying a Brexit deal was closer than ever.

MPs proposing the so-called Malthouse compromise, which would offer the EU a choice of options to get round Conservative objections to the Irish backstop, have insisted Theresa May still takes their idea seriously, despite seeming to rule it out in a speech in Belfast on Tuesday.

The idea, named after named after housing minister Kit Malthouse, groups together Tories from both Brexit wings of the party. It proposes to offer the EU two option. Plan A proposes an extended transition period which would remove the backstop in place of as-yet undetermined technological checks; if this fails, plan B would also extend the transition arrangement to allow for a managed no deal.

A series of supportive MPs have been meeting Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay this week as a so-called alternative arrangements working group.

In her speech, May stressed that the UK could not leave the UK without a backstop, the insurance policy intended to avoid a hard Irish border if no permanent solution can be found.

But one MP from the group said they felt this had been overblown:

The thing about the PM is that, as ever, she’ll stick to the same line until something else is firmly on the table. What the working group is doing now is looking at the workability of what has been proposed. I strongly suspect she hasn’t had formal advice on that, so the words don’t preclude alternative arrangements. It’s a question of what those alternative arrangements are.

Another MP from the group said they felt it was possible May could still present their idea to Brussels:

We’ve had very good engagement from the government. We’ve had a series of working parties. I think the idea is that by the end of today there’s a sense of this being, hopefully, a realistic option that the prime minister can then consider as she looks for options to take to Europe.

There is, however, not complete unity on the way forward. One MP from the group said they would be fine with the Malthouse plan being taken to Brussels as part of a “menu” of options, such as a change to the backstop, for example to time-limit it.

But another argued that the entire backstop was “structurally wrong”, adding:

So to accept it with a time limit, or some exit mechanism, whatever it might end up looking like, is still a very difficult thing to do.

Clark effectively confirms he would resign as business secretary if government went for no-deal Brexit

In the committee Rachel Reeves repeatedly asked Greg Clark what the government would do to avoid a no deal, if Theresa May failed to come up with a plan that would pass parliament. Clark repeatedly insisted that the way to avoid this was for parliament to pass a deal.

Reeves then asked Clark if he would remain in government if May decided to implement a no-deal Brexit. Clark replied:

As long as [getting a deal] remains the policy of the government, I will be a vigorous proponent of that.

But I think it’s obvious to everyone that, if it were ever to be the policy of the government, as a matter of policy, to leave the European Union [without a deal], I think there would be many people on all sides of the House that would regard that as unacceptable.

  • Greg Clark effectively confirms he would resign from the cabinet if it every adopted no-deal Brexit as policy.

Richard Burgon wins libel case against the Sun

Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon has won £30,000 in libel damages in a
high court action against the Sun over claims a heavy metal band he performed with used Nazi imagery, the Press Association reports.

In the committee Rachel Reeves, the committee chair, asks Clark if he agrees that the Commons should rule out a no-deal Brexit.

Clark says the only way to do that would be by passing a deal, or revoking article 50. And revoking article 50, which would mean abandoning Brexit, would he unacceptable.

Q: What about extending article 50?

That only postpones the problem, he says.

Greg Clark says real deadline for Brexit deal within next fortnight

Greg Clark, the business secretary, is giving evidence to the Commons business committee. As my colleague Dan Sabbagh reports, Clark said the effective deadline for a Brexit deal was within “the next couple of weeks” because exporters need to know what is happening before they despatch goods on a six-week sea journey to the far east.

Some journalists are interpreting Clark’s comment as meaning the real deadline is Thursday 14 February, when MPs are due to next vote on Brexit, or the day after.

In an interview with the Times (paywall) at the weekend, Clark explained in detail why the effective deadline for a deal is in the middle of February. He said:

An engineering employer said to me yesterday, ‘Actually D-Day is much closer for us — it’s the middle to the end of February if you are shipping to the Far East.’ The reason for that is if you are sending a consignment of goods to Japan or South Korea, it’s going to take six weeks for it to arrive. Both countries have free-trade agreements with the EU, which will fall if we have no deal. So you don’t know whether the goods that you’ve had to embark on the ocean, when they arrive there will be admitted and if so what tariffs are going to be paid.

People say ‘Things are always decided at the 59th minute of the 11th hour’. But it’s important to understand where ‘the wire’ is. The wire is not the 29th of March.

Greg Clark at the business committee
Greg Clark at the business committee Photograph: Parliament TV

Updated

Theresa May’s first meeting in Belfast is with the Ulster Unionists, the BBC reports.

Trump to visit UK in December for Nato summit

Donald Trump will return to the UK in December for a Nato summit, the Press Association reports. The PA story goes on:

The US president, who has repeatedly criticised the military alliance, will meet with heads of state in London, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg announced on Wednesday.

It will be Mr Trump’s second visit to Britain since his election, having jetted in amid swathes of protest last July.

Stoltenberg said: “I am pleased to announce that allies have agreed that the next meeting of Nato heads of state and government will take place in London in December 2019.

“The meeting in London will be an opportunity for allied heads of state and government to address the security challenges we face now and in the future, and to ensure that Nato continues to adapt in order to keep its population of almost one billion people safe.”

An aide to Emily Thornberry tells me that, when she said at the Institute for Government event this morning “I’m very surprised, in some ways, that 70% of the country is now not in favour of remaining in the European Union”, what she meant was that she was surprised that we have not got to the point where 70% favour remain - not that 70% don’t favour remain, and she is surprised by that. I have updated the post at 10.04am to reflect that.

'It's our duty to do as we're told' - Emily Thornberry on why MPs should implement Brexit

Emily Thornberry’s speech at the Institute for Government has now ended. During the Q&A she was asked about Brexit. Here are the top lines.

  • Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said politicians have a duty to “do as we’re told” on Brexit. She explained:

My view has been since the Brexit vote is that it’s our duty to do as we’re told. We are public servants. I may not think it’s a great idea to leave the European Union; I definitely don’t think it is, and I’m completely honest about that. But it is my duty to do everything I can from opposition to try to deliver a Brexit that is the most practical and pragmatic.

  • She said the anger that made people vote leave remains.

Too many people who voted for Brexit hear - it may not be what is said, or what’s meant sometimes - but what they hear is that they only voted for Brexit because they’re racist, because they are stupid, because they were manipulated by the Russians. I haven’t met anybody who voted to leave the European Union who are any of those things, and certainly don’t think of themselves as any of those things. And they are getting dug in in their opinions. And the anger that caused them to vote to leave the European Union remains, because I think the underlying causes of people being left behind, being ignored, not being London, not being the south east, continue. And we should be a little bit more humble when listening to what the public have to say to us ... Because at a time when just end up shouting at one another, we won’t be able to pull the country back together again.

  • She said she did not think Labour could back Theresa May’s Brexit deal. The final deal should involve staying in the customs union, she said.

UPDATE: Originally I also included this Thornberry quote in the summary.

I’m very surprised, in some ways, that 70% of the country is now not in favour of remaining in the European Union, because if we look at the evidence before our eyes there are so many truthful things that could have been written on the side of the bus ...

She seemed to be saying that on some measures, 70% of people now do not favour staying in the EU (which is not correct). But an aide says the point she was making was that she was surprised that we have not got to the point where 70% favour remain - not that 70% don’t favour remain, and she is surprised by that.

For the record, here is the latest polling on Brexit, from What UK Thinks, which keeps a comprehensive database on Brexit polling.

Latest polling on Brexit
Latest polling on Brexit Photograph: What UK Thinks
Emily Thornberry
Emily Thornberry Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

Theresa May has arrived at Stormont for the talks with the Northern Ireland parties.

Theresa May faces further backlash after backstop comments in Belfast speech

This morning the Guardian splashes on Theresa May’s Belfast speech, and how it threatens to re-open the rift in the Conservative party over Brexit and the backstop.

Here is our story.

And here is the front page.

This morning there is some evidence that the backlash against the speech continues. Nadine Dorries, a prominent Tory Brexiter, posted this on Twitter this morning.

May’s speech, and her answers during the Q&A, were intended to reassure those in Northern Ireland who are worried about the return of a hard border. But, according to the BBC’s Jayne McCormack, May has managed to discomfort the Brexiters without getting any credit from those on the other side of the argument, Sinn Fein.

We will be hearing more on this later, because May is meeting all the parties in Northern Ireland today, and they are likely to brief on the talks after they are over.

Here is the agenda for the day.

8.35am: Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, gives a speech on Labour’s foreign policy. As Patrick Wintour reports, she will say a Labour government would not indulge human rights abuses by Britain’s allies or by governments that “call themselves ‘socialist’ but … betray every socialist ideal”. There is a live feed here.

Morning: Theresa May meets leaders of the Northern Ireland political parties in Northern Ireland.

10am: Greg Clark, the business secretary, gives evidence to the Commons business committee.

10am: David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, and Greg Hands, the former international trade secretary, launch a paper proposing a UK/EU free trade agreement.

10am: Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, meets Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, in Brussels. Press statements are due at around 3pm.

10.30am: Judgement is given in Richard Burgon’s libel action against the Sun.

11am: Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, gives evidence to the Commons international trade committee.

12pm: David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, faces Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, at PMQs. They are standing in, because Theresa May is in Northern Ireland.

2.30pm: Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary, and Suella Braverman, the former Brexit minister, give evidence to the European scrutiny committee about the handling of the Brexit process.

And at some point today Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, is giving a speech saying Labour would establish a new standalone internet regulator with the power to fine tech companies that fail in their duty of care to children.

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, but I expect to be focusing mostly on Brexit. I plan to post after PMQs and another when I finish, at about 5pm.

You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. 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 it is 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 questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply ATL, although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

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

Updated

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