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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow and Kevin Rawlinson

'The right thing to do': Jeremy Corbyn reacts to Livingstone's resignation – as it happened

Evening summary

That’s all for this evening. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:

  • Ken Livingstone announced he was resigning from the Labour party, saying the row over his suspension for alleged antisemitism has become a distraction. The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, called the news “sad”, but said it was the “right thing to do”.
  • Sir Nick Clegg, the former Lib Dem deputy prime minister, has said the UK should seek to revoke article 50 to delay Brexit for a year or more. (See 5.15pm.)
  • John Bercow, the Commons speaker, has said that his comment about a “stupid woman” in the Commons last week was a criticism of the way the government was timetabling business, not a personal attack on Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons. He declined to apologise for what he said. (See 4.50pm and 5.03pm.)
  • Theresa May has said that the UK wants to remain part of key EU science projects after Brexit and will pay money to do so. She made the comment in a major speech on science and industrial policy. (See 2.59pm.)
  • May has said that, if the UK does need to remain bound by the EU’s common external tariff after the transition ends in December 2020 a “backstop”, it will only be “in a very limited set of circumstances for a limited time”. Asked about this in the Q&A after her speech, she said:

The European Commission between December and March outlined their backstop solution. That was unacceptable to the UK government, I think it will be unacceptable to any UK government because it effectively put a border down the Irish Sea.

What we are proposing is an alternative backstop proposal but nobody wants this to be the solution that is achieved.

We want to achieve the right solution to our own border relationship with the European Union.

If it is necessary it will be in a very limited set of circumstances for a limited time but we are working on achieving that commitment to Northern Ireland through our overall relationship with the European Union.

Some senior Labour figures have been offering their reactions to the news of Livingstone’s resignation:

As well as the Conservative MP, James Cleverly:

Continuing his round of media interviews after the announcement of his resignation from Labour, Livingstone has told Sky News the party’s disciplinary structure is dominated by “right-wingers”.

He also offered support to a former party activist, Marc Wadsworth, who was expelled for accusing the Jewish Labour MP, Ruth Smeeth, of working “hand in hand” with a Daily Telegraph journalist. Claiming that Jewish people exert control over the media is a common antisemitic trope. Wadsworth has insisted he did not know Smeeth’s background when he made the comments.

Asked if he felt he was going to be subjected to a Kangaroo court, Livingstone said:

Well, yeah but, unfortunately, this disciplinary panel structure that was set up under Tony Blair is filled with old right-wingers, who have been expelling lefties like me for years. Now, Jeremy’s slowly getting a grip on that but it takes a lot of elections to change the balance of that.

And so, this is going to go on. We saw last week Marc Wadsworth being expelled simply for making a criticism of a Labour MP.

But it will change. Jeremy will get hold of this disciplinary procedure and the simple fact is: I remember my lawyer telling me that, if I’d gone to court, I had a 99% chance of winning because I simply stated historical fact. But, in this world of fake news, immediately that was all distorted.

Livingstone was also asked if he felt he had been a victim during the row that has surrounded his comments.

Well yeah, I mean, literally, one of the things that really gave me strength to get through all this was, in the weeks after my suspension two years ago, somewhere between 30 and 40 Jewish people came up to me on the street and said: ‘We know what you said is true, don’t give in’. One woman said to me: ‘Don’t these MPs read their history?’ Sadly, they don’t.

The Campaign Against Antisemitism has demanded that Jeremy Corbyn confirm Ken Livingstone will never be readmitted to the Labour party. Joe Glasman, its head of political and government investigations, said:

Even with the resignation of Ken Livingstone, the Labour party is growing worse. Jeremy Corbyn has already rubbed salt into the wound by saying that Mr Livingstone’s departure makes him ‘sad’ and is still trying to promote Mr Livingstone’s defender, Martha Osamor, to the House of Lords.

Just today, the Campaign for Labour Party Democracy, run by senior Labour figures including the incoming Chair of Labour’s Disputes Panel passed a resolution backing Mr Livingstone and calling for the reinstatement of Marc Wadsworth who was expelled for accusing a Jewish Labour MP of orchestrating a media conspiracy.

The Labour party’s antisemitism problem seems to be growing, not receding. Perhaps, had the Labour party expelled Mr Livingstone when it had the chance, that might have started to change.

Mr Corbyn must apologise for his statement, and confirm immediately that Mr Livingstone will never be readmitted to the party.

Livingstone, who is understood to have taken the decision to resign independently, has hinted that he is unlikely to seek reinstatement, citing his age.

This article, written by my colleague Peter Beaumont shortly after the row erupted, is instructive background on Livingstone’s comments:

Livingstone’s resignation comes a little more than a week after Labour’s shadow attorney general, Shami Chakrabarti, said he should leave or be expelled.

The former director of the human rights group, Liberty, who authored a report on dealing with antisemitism and racism in the Labour party, told the BBC’s Sunday Politics she found it “very difficult to see that any rational decision-maker in the light of what has happened in the last two years could find a place for Mr Livingstone in our party at this moment”.

Mann concludes his interview on Sky News by saying that anyone who supports Ken Livingstone should now leave Labour, or be thrown out of the party.

Mann says you can “see the damage [Livingstone] has caused” in the local election results in London, saying many Jewish people could not bring themselves to vote for Labour.

Ken Livingstone is directly responsible for that. Directly.

The Labour MP John Mann, a longstanding fierce critic of Livingstone, says the former London mayor “lied” and tried to “rewrite history” with his comments on Hitler’s stance towards Germany’s Jewish community, saying it was his “fantasy”.

At the end of his 5 Live interview, Livingstone is asked if he thinks those Jewish organisations that criticised him should “forgive and forget and move on” now he has resigned.

No, I think they should check what I actually said. I had so many Jewish people turn up at my hearing a year ago providing support and saying what I’d said was true. And there are Jewish organisations that support me.

And I worked very closely with the Jewish community when I was leader of the GLC (Greater London Council) and when I was mayor. In my eight years as mayor, antisemitic incidents in London were cut by 50% and, in Boris Johnson’s eight years, they more than doubled – no one ever wants to ask about that.

Asked whether his legacy will be tarnished by the antisemitism row, Livingstone says:

There will be a million times every day when a pensioner gets on the Tube or the bus and they don’t have to pay – they’ll remember that.

Addressing those in the party who wanted him out, Livingstone adds: “I just wish they’d gone and checked what I’d actually said and, sadly, that sort of detailed work doesn’t seem to happen as much as it should.”

Livingstone adds:

I didn’t say he’d supported a Jewish homeland ... All he did, his government signed a deal with the German Zionists to move German Jews to Palestine. They wanted to create a Jewish state in Palestine, he wanted Jews out of Germany. I’m sure they loathed each other, but they had that one working relationship. And 60,000 German Jews were moved to Palestine. The prime minister of Israel said virtually the same thing six months before I did – no one’s suggesting Netanyahu’s antisemitic.

Livingstone tells BBC Radio 5 Live that one of his reasons for leaving was that he was barred from campaigning for the Labour party while he was suspended from it.

Having left, he says, he is now free to resume campaigning for Jeremy Corbyn’s ascension to Downing Street, as well as for causes such as action on climate change.

Asked if he would be a “help or a hindrance”, Livingstone says he suspects he will be more busy in the near future than he has been recently.

Updated

Livingstone rejects the claims he should have been expelled over his comments and says that, were he still seeking elected office, he “would have to fight this all the way down to the bitter end”. In the event, he asked himself if it was “really worth all this distraction”.

Asked if he believes his stance was damaging the party, he says:

What was damaging the party was those people that looked in the Financial Times or on the Huffington Post website or the Jewish Chronicle website and saw the claim that I’d said Hitler was a Zionist.

If I’d said Hitler was a Zionist, I’d have been off to my doctor to check it wasn’t the sign I was at the first stage of dementia. How can anyone say that a man who loathed and feared Jews all his life was a Zionist? But this has been global, all the way around the world.

Livingstone says Labour’s shadow attorney general, Shami Chakrabarti, accused him of “equating Jews and Nazis”; a claim he said was also made in the Sunday Times and which he denounced as one of many smears going back decades.

Referring to the antisemitism row that underlies his resignation, Ken Livingstone says he was “warned over the weekend that some of the old right-wingers on Labour’s NEC (National Executive Committee) were planning to raise it all again”.

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, he says he was advised by his lawyers that the disciplinary proceedings could take another two years and says he felt that to go ahead with them would distract from Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign to get into Number 10.

Livingstone was suspended in 2016 for claiming Hitler supported Zionism in the 1930s. He said he was leaving with “great sadness”. The former London mayor continued to reject the allegation he had brought Labour into disrepute and insisted he was in no way guilty of antisemitism. He said:

After much consideration, I have decided to resign from the Labour party. The ongoing issues around my suspension ... have become a distraction from the key political issue of our time, which is to replace a Tory government overseeing falling living standards and spiralling poverty, while starving our schools and the NHS of the vital resources they need.

Livingstone acknowledged that some of his comments had caused offence in the Jewish community, for which he was “truly sorry”. He added:

I do not accept the allegation that I have brought the Labour party into disrepute, nor that I am in any way guilty of antisemitism. I abhor antisemitism, I have fought it all my life and will continue to do so.

I also recognise that the way I made a historical argument has caused offence and upset in the Jewish community. I am truly sorry for that.

I am loyal to the Labour party and to Jeremy Corbyn. However, any further disciplinary action against me may drag on for months or even years, distracting attention from Jeremy’s policies. I am therefore, with great sadness, leaving the Labour party.

Livingstone quits Labour

Ken Livingstone is resigning from the Labour party, he has announced, saying the issues around his suspension for alleged antisemitism have become a distraction. The party’s leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said:

Ken Livingstone’s resignation is sad after such a long and vital contribution to London and progressive politics, but was the right thing to do.

Afternoon summary

  • Sir Nick Clegg, the former Lib Dem deputy prime minister, has said the UK should seek to revoke article 50 to delay Brexit for a year or more. (See 5.15pm.)
  • John Bercow, the Commons speaker, has said that his comment about a “stupid woman” in the Commons last week was a criticism of the way the government was timetabling business, not a personal attack on Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons. He declined to apologise for what he said. (See 4.50pm and 5.03pm.)
  • Theresa May has said that the UK wants to remain part of key EU science projects after Brexit and will pay money to do so. She made the comment in a major speech on science and industrial policy. (See 2.59pm.)
  • May has said that, if the UK does need to remain bound by the EU’s common external tariff after the transition ends in December 2020 a “backstop”, it will only be “in a very limited set of circumstances for a limited time”. Asked about this in the Q&A after her speech, she said:

The European Commission between December and March outlined their backstop solution. That was unacceptable to the UK government, I think it will be unacceptable to any UK government because it effectively put a border down the Irish Sea.

What we are proposing is an alternative backstop proposal but nobody wants this to be the solution that is achieved.

We want to achieve the right solution to our own border relationship with the European Union.

If it is necessary it will be in a very limited set of circumstances for a limited time but we are working on achieving that commitment to Northern Ireland through our overall relationship with the European Union.

Polling in Northern Ireland on staying in UK or uniting with Republic of Ireland
Polling in Northern Ireland on staying in UK or uniting with Republic of Ireland Photograph: UK in a Changing Europe
  • Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, has said that more UK institutions should be based in Scotland. Speaking to the Policy Exchange thinktank, she said unionists should not be complacent about the risk of the UK splitting up. She said places like Scotland needed not just more devolution, but more union too. And she floated the idea of England and Scotland making a joint bid for the World Cup. She said:

Arms’ length bodies – they’re all still mostly based in London. Forgive me, but if they’re arms’ length, why do they need to be within touching distance of SW1?

Our cultural institutions. We see progress being made already – I’m thinking in particular of the soon to be opened V+A museum in Dundee. But why not more?

Why is it we must come to London to see the wonders of the British Museum? Why not create a second home for the Museum nearer to where most of the rest of us live?

On Brexit. We know huge new powers will be repatriated to these shores. Should our newly empowered fisheries industry be run from London? Shouldn’t it instead be based in Peterhead?

Instead of EU Structural Funds, poorer parts of the UK are to be supported by a new UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Shouldn’t it therefore be based in one of the poorer parts of the UK, instead of one of the richest city’s on the planet? I think it should.

Or take sport. Nothing has the power to bring a country together more. Ironically – given what I’ve just been saying - it was the London Olympics, which shared its venues across the UK, which provided the most vivid recent example.

So we should be thinking of what other events we can bring to our nation.

I hesitate here in floating the idea a joint UK wide World Cup bid – knowing just how much trouble it would land me in with the Scottish FA.

But it’s a thought isn’t it? And this is a think-tank, so - as long as it doesn’t mean a joint team on the pitch - what the hell….

That’s all from me for tonight. My colleague Kevin Rawlinson is now taking over.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

The Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy has more from Andrea Leadsom’s speech.

Clegg says Brexiters have 'forfeited their right to be heard' as he calls for one-year delay in leaving EU

Sir Nick Clegg, the former Lib Dem deputy prime minister, is giving a speech on Brexit at Speaker’s House in the Houses of Parliament tonight. Some extracts have been released in advance, and Clegg is not holding back. Here are the main points from what has been sent out so far.

  • Clegg says Brexiters have now “forfeited their right to be heard” because they have managed this process so badly. He says:

[The Brexiters] have now forfeited their right to be heard on the process: they advocated Brexit during the referendum without the faintest idea what it means in practice; they still can’t agree amongst themselves how it should work; and they have no remote chance of crossing all the T’s and dotting all the I’s before the deadline which they themselves established.

They’ve had ample time to sort this mess out. And they’ve failed. So now they must give way to MPs to do what they believe to be right for the country and for their constituents.

  • He says the UK should seek to revoke article 50 to delay Brexit for a year or more.

At the very least, MPs on all sides should move to lift the sword of Damocles which presently hangs over the timing of the article 50 negotiations. When faced with so many doubts, so many loose ends, so many unresolved questions, the first and simplest thing to do is give the country that most precious of commodities – more time.

It is simply impossible for us as a nation to think about the long-term future in a calm and considered way under the remorseless pressure of having everything sorted by 11 pm on March 29th 2019. Everybody knows the government jumped the gun by triggering the article 50 timetable when it wasn’t ready to do so. There would be no shame in ministers now admitting that. It is infinitely better to get this right – and explore all our options – than to continue headlong towards the negotiating buffers.

The Brexiteers will, of course, scream blue murder if there was a move in parliament to introduce a significant delay of, say, a year or more to the article 50 timetable.

EU leaders would agree to this, he claims.

All my conversations across Europe suggest to me that, notwithstanding a little huffing and puffing in places, the overwhelming sentiment will be to grant Britain that extra time if we were to ask for it.

  • Clegg says Brexit has created “a political and constitutional crisis”.

What we are witnessing is a gross failure of the executive to govern at a time of profound national need, aided and abetted by a divided Opposition, a hysterical media, and a Parliament still unsure of its own role. What this country is experiencing, with all the risks and threats it poses, is nothing short of a political and constitutional crisis.

  • He says MPs and peers must take control of the process.

In a parliamentary democracy, the only course of action is for Parliament to assert itself and, to repeat a well-worn phrase, to take back control. Parliamentarians have a solemn duty to hold the executive to account and point the country towards a more sensible future.

  • He says going ahead with Brexit is more likely to provoke riots in the streets than halting it.

And to those who say that civil unrest will follow unless the hardest and harshest Brexit is delivered, that cars will burn, that there will be violence on the streets - I say the reverse is true. To proceed blindly with a course of action that you know to be wrong would be a far greater betrayal of the people than using your position of responsibility, your duty of care, to help change direction. It is a crude form of political intimidation to be told that you cannot continue to have a debate in a democracy, because people may resort to violence.

Sir Nick Clegg
Sir Nick Clegg Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, is speaking in the Commons now, in response to the emergency debate on money resolutions.

She is not directly responding to John Bercow but she is using the start of her speech to say that she takes her responsibilities to the Commons very seriously.

Bercow's statement on his 'stupid woman' comment in full

Here is John Bercow’s statement on his comment last week about Andrea Leadsom being a “stupid woman”. Bercow said:

Last Wednesday the government chose to schedule a major transport statement on an opposition day, thereby substantially reducing the time available for opposition business.

I thought then, as I think now, that this was very badly handled. It was in particular disrespectful both to the House and to the 23 backbenchers who were hoping to participate in the opposition day debate on the Grenfell Tower disaster.

It was in that context, and that context alone, that, having expressed my displeasure about the matter quite forcefully from the chair, I used the word “stupid” in a muttered aside. That adjective simply summed up how I felt about the way that that day’s business had been conducted.

Anyone who knows the leader of the House [Andrea Leadsom] at all well will have not the slightest doubt about her political ability and her personal character.

I love this House. I respect all of my colleagues. I hold you all in the highest esteem.

It is our duty to get on with the business of parliament, scrutinising legislation, debating issues and standing up for the people we are here to represent.

For my part I shall continue to speak out firmly for the interests of the whole House and, if from time to time it involves publicly disagreeing with the government’s management of business, then so be it.

Bercow tells MPs his 'stupid' comment last week not intended to disparage Andrea Leadsom's intelligence

John Bercow, the Commons speaker, is making a Commons statement now.

He says the government scheduled a statement on Wednesday last week that took time away from the Labour

I used the word stupid in a muttered aside. That adjetive simply summed up the way I felt that day’s business had been conducted.

He says anyone who knows Andrea Leadsom knows her ability.

He says he “loves this House” and respects the MPs who are here.

He says he will continue to speak up firmly for the interests of the whole house.

If that involves disagreeing with the government’s management of business, “so be it”.

  • Bercow tells MPs his “stupid” comment was directed at government’s handling of business, not at Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, personally.

Bercow was responding to these allegations that surfaced last week.

Updated

M20 lorry park plans not related to Brexit, government claims

A government source has been in touch to challenge the suggestion that the contingency plans to park lorries on the M20 have been drawn up in response to the risk of a no-deal Brexit causing customs chaos at Dover. He said that, regardless of Brexit, the government needed to prepare a replacement for Operation Stack (the current system used to park lorries on the M20 when there are delays at Dover) because Operation Stack blocks the southbound carriageway of the M20, disrupting traffic for drivers in Kent. This new scheme, Operation Brock, will apply until a permanent solution is found, he said.

Asked if he was saying that this initiative has nothing to do with Brexit, even though it scheduled to be ready by early 2019, the source replied: “Pretty much. It’s just a bit of a coincidence.” He also said the funding for the Operation Brock was not coming from the Brexit contingency funding.

Johnson says US plans for replacement for Iran nuclear deal are unrealistic

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson has stepped up his criticism of the White House’s approach to Iran, condemning US plans for what he called a “jumbo deal” as unrealistic.

US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Monday set out the White House’s “plan B” in Washington, after Donald Trump chose to tear up the multilateral Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action (JCPOA).

Pompeo threatened to impose “the strongest sanctions in history” on Iran, and laid out a list of demands, including withdrawing all forces from Syria, and releasing prisoners.

But speaking to journalists in Buenos Aires, Johnson cast doubt on the likely success of a deal encompassing Iran’s role in the Middle East, as well as its nuclear ambitions. He said:

The prospect of a new jumbo Iran treaty is going to be very, very difficult. I think if you try now to fold all those issues – the ballistic missiles, Iran’s misbehaviour, Iran’s disruptive activity in the region and the nuclear question - if you try to fold all those in to a giant negotiation, a new jumbo Iran negotiation, a new treaty - that’s what seems to be envisaged - I don’t see that being very easy to achieve, in anything like a reasonable timetable.

He suggested the JCPOA’s narrow range, criticised by Donald Trump, had been a good thing.

The advantage of the JCPOA was that it had a very clear objective. It protected the world from an Iranian nuclear bomb, and in return it gave the Iranians some recognisable economic benefits. That was at the core of it. The Americans have walked away from that.

Johnson said he would raise the issue on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, which he is attending in Buenos Aires today.

We’ll certainly be discussing it with friends and colleagues today, how to take it forward.

Johnson is on the second leg of a tour of South America. He has already visited Peru, and will fly on to Chile later in the week. On arrival in Buenos Aires on Sunday, he laid a wreath to the casualties of the 1982 Falklands conflict.

Boris Johnson (right) arrives for the official photo with foreign ministers and representatives at the G20 Meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Boris Johnson (right) arrives for the official photo with foreign ministers and representatives at the G20 Meeting of foreign affairs ministers in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photograph: Marcos Brindicci/Reuters

Boris Johnson claims South Americans 'fired up' about prospects of trade with UK after Brexit

Speaking in Argentina, Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, also claimed that countries in Latin America are “desperate” to build links with the UK following Brexit. He told reporters:

Yesterday in Peru we saw a country that is desperate to do more business with the UK, that is fundamentally open to the world and as a free-market administration under [President] Martin Vizcarra, wants to do a big free trade deal with us.

We are here in Argentina where relations are improving and you will see tomorrow, when we go to see [President] Mauricio Macri, his determination to take relations with the UK forward.

There are big opportunities for UK business here. We don’t do nearly enough. There’s a low base, but we are going to build on it very fast. And in Chile it’s the same story - another economy that desperately wants to integrate more closely with the UK.

And I was talking to Luis Videgaray last night, the Mexican foreign minister) who came to London the other day, and he said how desperate they are to do a free trade deal with us and how enthusiastic they are about Brexit.

I’m getting a lot of that sort of mood around here. This is something that people are really fired up about.

Regional devolution is vital because the government and Whitehall are so “obsessed with Brexit” they are “incapable of doing anything else”, business and community leaders from the north of England have been told. As the Press Association reports, Professor Anand Menon, director of research organisation UK in a Changing Europe, told the first Brexit North summit in Leeds:

One of the most compelling reasons in a post-Brexit scenario, as far as I’m concerned, is that Whitehall and Westminster are simply not able to cope.

Brexit is such a massive challenge to central government that, actually, you have to divorce some powers now otherwise things that needs doing - transport being there amongst them - are not going to get done.

Our government is completely obsessed with Brexit and incapable of doing anything else.

Sky’s Faisal Islam has more on the contingency plans to park lorries on the M20.

Tom Brake, the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, has put out this statement about the Department for Transport’s announcement about its contingency plans for disruption at Dover. (See 2.02pm.) Brake said:

The transport secretary is right to start worrying about potential serious disruption to cross-Channel transport.

The EU are indicating they will accept neither the PM’s preferred solution of a customs partnership, nor her rival for PM, Boris Johnson’s ‘max fac’ fantasy plan.

If no customs deal is reached and tariffs kick in, spot checks will start on the 10,000 lorries that go through Dover alone every day and the Channel ports will simply freeze up.

Nobody voted to see our ports grind to a halt. That is why people deserve the final say on the deal and a chance to exit from Brexit.

Asked about the reports that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian national being held in jail in Iran, is facing a new charge, Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, told journalists in Argentina the Foreign Office was working hard on her behalf. This is from the Daily Mail’s John Stevens.

Boris Johnson and and his Argentinian counterpart Jorge Faurie paying homage to Argentine soldiers who died in the 1982 conflict between Britain and Argentina at the memorial dedicated to them yesterday.
Boris Johnson and and his Argentinian counterpart Jorge Faurie paying homage to Argentine soldiers who died in the 1982 conflict between Britain and Argentina at the memorial dedicated to them yesterday. Photograph: HANDOUT/Reuters

May's science and industrial strategy speech - Summary and analysis

The full text of Theresa May’s speech at lunchtime on science and industrial strategy is now here, on the Downing Street website. In some respects it was just the standard “Britain is good at science” speech that PMs have been delivering, probably since the time of Walpole. In other respects it was visionary, but over a timescale that makes whatever the government is doing now seem of little relevance. And, perhaps most interestingly, in another respect it was a speech with a solid anti-Brexit message - which, of course, is rather at odds with government policy.

Here are the main points.

  • May said that the UK wanted to remain part of key EU science projects after Brexit and would pay money to do so.

I have already said that I want the UK to have a deep science partnership with the European Union, because this is in the interests of scientists and industry right across Europe.

And today I want to spell out that commitment even more clearly.

The United Kingdom would like the option to fully associate ourselves with the excellence-based European science and innovation programmes – including the successor to Horizon 2020 and Euratom R&T.

It is in the mutual interest of the UK and the EU that we should do so.

Of course such an association would involve an appropriate UK financial contribution, which we would willingly make.

In its report in March the Office for Budget Responsibility said that if the UK wanted to continuing participating in science and education projects like Erasmus, Creative Europe and Horizon 2020 after Brexit, the annual cost would be around £2bn.

  • She said the number of foreign-born researchers in British universities would remain high after Brexit.

And today over half of the UK’s resident researcher population were born overseas. When we leave the European Union, I will ensure that does not change.

It was not clear what exactly May meant by this. There is some evidence that since Brexit non-British EU students have been less willing to embark on post-graduate research in the UK.

  • She said scientific advances are only made through co-operation.

Nothing is achieved in isolation and it is only through co-operation that advances are made. Every great British scientist could only reach new frontiers of invention because they built on the work of others, exchanged ideas with their contemporaries and participated in an international community of discovery.

William Harvey learned medicine at the University of Padua.

The first secretary of the Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg, was an immigrant from Germany.

The discovery of DNA in Cambridge was the work of an Englishman, Francis Crick; an American, James Watson; a born New Zealander, Maurice Wilkins; and a descendent of Jewish immigrants from Poland, Rosalind Franklin.

Indeed Newton himself put it best when he wrote that, ‘if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants’.

This helps to explain why most British scientists opposed Brexit.

  • She announced what she described as four “missions” relating to the four “Grand Challenges” set out in the government’s industrial strategy. They are:

On AI and data

As part of the AI and Data Grand Challenge, the United Kingdom will use data, artificial intelligence and innovation to transform the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and dementia by 2030.

This was trailed overnight.

On health ageing

Through our healthy ageing grand challenge, we will ensure that people can enjoy five extra healthy, independent years of life by 2035, whilst narrowing the gap between the experience of the richest and poorest.

We are living longer lives because of medical advances, better drugs, healthier lifestyles, and safer workplaces.

This seemed more a statement about general trends than a detailed impact assessment related to government policy.

On mobility

In the future of mobility grand challenge, we have a mission to put the UK at the forefront of the design and manufacturing of zero emission vehicles and for all new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040.

This is a statement of current policy.

On clean growth

In the clean growth grand challenge, we will use new technologies and modern construction practices to at least halve the energy usage of new buildings by 2030.

Heating and powering buildings accounts for 40 per cent of our total energy usage.

By making our buildings more energy efficient and embracing smart technologies, we can slash household energy bills, reduce demand for energy, and meet our targets for carbon reduction.

By halving the energy use of new buildings – both commercial and residential – we could reduce the energy bills for their occupants by as much as 50 per cent.

And we will aim to halve the costs of reaching the same standard in existing buildings too.

This is aspirational, although Downing Street says it is backed by £170m of public money, as well as £250m of private investment, through the Transforming Construction Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund.

  • She said Britain was “in pole position” to benefit from the technological revolution.

This technological revolution presents huge opportunities for countries with the means to seize them.

And Britain is in pole position to do just that. We are ranked first in the world for research into the defining technologies of the next decade, from genomics and synthetic biology, to robotics and satellites.

With 1 per cent of the world’s population, we are home to 12 of the top 100 universities.

And London is Europe’s leading tech start-up cluster, attracting more venture capital investment than any other city.

  • She said the government had got a target of getting public and private spending on R&D investment (research and development) up to 2.4% of GDP by 2027.
Theresa May giving her speech at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Macclesfield.
Theresa May giving her speech at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in Macclesfield. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

Updated

Government draws up plans to park lorries on M20 amid fears of post-Brexit customs delays at Dover

The Department for Transport has put out an interesting, Brexit-related ministerial statement today. It says that the government has drawn up plans to park lorries on one lane of the M20 in the event of there being “serious disruption to cross-Channel transport”.

The ministerial statement, which has been issued in the name of the transport minister Jesse Norman, does not specify what this “serious disruption” might be, and of course there have been serious hold-ups at Dover before, triggered by strike action on the French side, which led to the development of Operation Stack, an emergency procedure for parking lorries on the M20. But it does say the new system will be available “from early 2019” - which, conveniently, is when the UK will leave the EU and when a no deal Brexit (which the government wants to avoid, but cannot absolutely rule out) would cause customs chaos at the Channel ports.

In his statement Norman said:

In his November announcement, the secretary of State [Chris Grayling] also asked Highways England to develop an improved interim arrangement for holding lorries on the M20, whilst allowing traffic to continue to flow in both directions and keeping junctions open. The Department has now agreed with Highways England that this arrangement should take the form of a contraflow system which would see lorries for the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel held on the coast-bound carriageway between junctions 8-9 of the M20, while other traffic will use a contraflow to continue their journey on the other side of the motorway. Highways England are starting the preparatory works for the scheme now and it will be available from early 2019.

UPDATE: Government sources claim that this contingency planning is not related to Brexit because it is something that would have to happen anyway. See 4.24pm. I’ve tweaked the headline on this post to reflect this.

Lorries parked on the M20 in Ashford, Kent, as part of Operation Stack in July 2015
Lorries parked on the M20 in Ashford, Kent, as part of Operation Stack in July 2015 Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Updated

Arlene Foster accuses Irish government of being 'very, very aggressive' over Brexit

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, has described as “quite disgraceful” warnings by the likes of John Major and Tony Blair that Brexit could jeopardise peace on the Irish border.

In a combative appearance at a conference on the future of the union in Westminster, Foster also said the Irish government was being “very, very aggressive” in its stance on Brexit, saying Dublin seemed more keen on pushing towards a united Ireland than solving border issues.

In her speech Foster said that the “only people stirring up the myths of border checkpoints are those who are committed to unpicking the union.”

In the subsequent Q&A Foster was asked how this could be true, given warnings from many establishment figures such as Major, Blair and Lord Patten, that a hard Irish border could prompt a return to violence. She replied:

I do think it’s quite disgraceful that they use Northern Ireland in that way, because they know that that’s not the case. On of the most bizarre cases around the referendum was when the remain camp sent Tony Blair and John Major to Londonderry to speak in favour of remaining in the European Union.

They thought those two individuals were going to shift people to vote remain, and I thought it was quite bizarre.

Asked about the concerns of the Irish government on Brexit, Foster called them “very, very aggressive” under Leo Varadkar. She said:

That leads a lot of unionists in Northern Ireland to think, is it just about the European Union, or is it about something else?

On Brexit specifics, Foster was more vague, declining to state a preference between the cabinet’s two mooted models for a future customs deals, and saying only that any solution must have to do “no damage to the economic and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom”.

Arlene Foster speaking at the Policy Exchange conference
Arlene Foster speaking at the Policy Exchange conference Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

May claims new technology could cut household energy bills by £500 a year by 2030

Theresa May has now delivered her speech on science and the industrial strategy. According to Number 10, these are the top lines:

New buildings in the UK to use 50% less energy by 2030 – in some cases saving up to £500 per household

All new cars and vans to be effectively zero emission by 2040

Artificial intelligence to help prevent 22,000 cancer deaths each year by 2033

Innovations to help people enjoy an additional five years of healthy, independent life by 2035

And, on cutting energy bills, No 10 said:

As well as announcing targets to use AI to diagnose chronic disease, Theresa May unveiled a new initiative that will see new buildings in the UK use 50% less energy by 2030 – which could in, some cases, save householders up to £500 a year. It will be achieved by driving innovation and reducing the cost of energy-saving interventions such as:

Building to ‘passive house’ standards which delivers highly energy efficient homes

‘Heat pump’ which uses electricity to heat homes more efficiently

Solar panels to generate electricity for use in the home and for export to the grid

I’m just reading the full text now. I will post my own summary shortly.

As my colleague Peter Walker reported, in his Policy Exchange speech Michael Gove said the Brexit vote had made the UK more welcoming for immigrants. (See 11.47am.)

It’s a counter-intuitive claim, but there is evidence to back it up. There is also evidence to suggest he’s wrong. I looked at this in some detail when Gove made this claim on the Today programme last month and these two posts, here and here, explain how this claim can and cannot be justified.

Arlene Foster says claims Brexit could imperil peace in Northern Ireland are 'disgraceful'

My colleague Peter Walker has been listening to the DUP leader Arlene Foster speak at the Policy Exchange conference. He has written a Twitter thread starting here.

And here is one of her key claims - which runs counter to what many people in Northern Ireland think, according to the UK in a Changing Europe report published this morning. (See 9.23am.)

Downing Street lobby briefing - Summary

Here are the main points from the Downing Street lobby briefing.

In 2014 and 2015 we took action was taken to tighten up tier 1 investor route, including the introduction of new powers to refuse applications where there are reasonable grounds to believe funds have been obtained unlawfully. As a result of these reforms applications reduced by 84%. We are currently taking another look at how the route operates and are undertaking further checks on investors how came to the UK through this route before the reforms were introduced.

The comment was prompted by a question about today’s report from the Commons foriegn affairs committee claiming that the government has taken a lax approach to Russian “kleptocrats” using the UK as a place to hide their money. The spokesman dismissed this charge. He said:

The UK has taken a leading role in the global fight against illicit finance and criminals should be in no doubt that we will come for them, their assets and their money. We are determined to drive dirty money and the money launderers out of the UK and we will use all the powers that we have, including the new powers in the Criminal Finance Act, to clamp down on those that threaten our security. It is for our independent law enforcement agencies, and ultimately the courts, to use these powers, but this government will continue to take all necessary steps to keep the country safe. Since the Proceeds of Crime Act was introduced over £2.2bn has been taken off criminals.

  • The spokesman to say whether the prime minister thought Abramovich made a contribution to UK national life. “I’m just not going to comment,” said the spokesman, who also refused to say whether Abramovich was caught up in the new government crackdown on Russian tier 1 investor visa applications. The spokesman said he could not comment on individual visa cases.
  • The spokesman said said May rejected Nicola Sturgeon’s suggestion that a second Scottish independence referendum could be necessary. (See 11.55am.) Asked about Sturgeon’s comments yesterday, the spokesman said:

Now is not the time for another divisive independence referendum ... The people of Scotland voted decisively in 2014 to remain part of the UK and that should be respected.

The Foreign Office is urgently seeking more information from the Iranian authorities. The UK government remains committed to doing everything possible to help secure Ms Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s release and alleviate her suffering.

10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images

Nicola Sturgeon says she wants to restart debate about Scottish independence

Nicola Sturgeon has indicated she hopes to switch the attention of Scottish voters away from the “despair” of Brexit and on to more ambitious hopes for an independent Scotland as she prepares for a difficult party conference next month.

The first minister and Scottish National party leader is expected to publish a long-delayed report on Friday on an independent Scotland’s economic options written by her Growth Commission, chaired by the Scottish National party-linked lobbyist Andrew Wilson.

It will set out options for a new currency – despite being an avowed supporter of Scotland rejoining the EU, Sturgeon dislikes the euro; tax reform and industrial investment. It comes two weeks before she addresses a short party conference in Aberdeen, amid one of her trickiest periods since becoming leader.

While the SNP’s standing in the polls is standing firm, many of her MPs are restless and irritated by the remoteness of her tiny inner circle; her devolved government is facing intense opposition pressure at Holyrood over the NHS, schools and policing.

There are strong rumours the growth commission had made some quite downbeat forecasts about Scotland’s economy and public spending: the last official spending figures showed the country had a £13.5bn structural deficit in 2016, or 8.3% of its tax income.

There is little sign voters are yet impressed by Sturgeon’s insistence that Brexit makes an unanswerable case for independence, and she was noticeably cagey on this when Robert Peston asked her on ITV’s Peston on Sunday yesterday about her plans to resuscitate the independence question this autumn. She said:

I’m not going to say more about that in advance of that moment arising but of course over the next couple of weeks we will I suppose restart a debate about why independence for Scotland is an opportunity and what those opportunities are.

As you know we’ve had a growth commission looking at the opportunities of independence. Its report will be published in the coming days and I think that’s quite an important moment because if you think about the last couple of years in the UK, it’s been very much a debate about how we cope with the damage of Brexit.

What I think Scotland now has the opportunity to do is look at how we seize the opportunities that lie ahead so a debate based very much on ambition and hope not a debate that’s based on despair which is how the Brexit debate so often feels.

Nicola Sturgeon on ITV’s Peston On Sunday yesterday.
Nicola Sturgeon on ITV’s Peston On Sunday yesterday. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock

Gove criticises identity politics while refusing to defend Vote Leave's anti-Turkish campaign

Michael Gove has claimed the Brexit vote made the UK more welcoming over migration, even as he refused several invitations to discuss the anti-immigration tactics used as part of the leave campaign.

Gove was the opening speaker in a day-long event run by the Policy Exchange thinktank about the union, and used part of his address to criticise identity politics, saying this was an issue of both the left and right, adding that the SNP was guilty of exploiting it to promote Scottish nationalism.

Answering questions afterwards Gove was asked three times how he squared this with some of the tactics used by Vote Leave, notably the notorious poster which read: “Turkey (population 76 million) is joining the EU.”

Three times he declined to address the issue, taking instead about generalities.

Pushed on it Gove said only:

The reason why, I think, the leave campaign won, is because people wanted to make sure we could have control of our borders, of our taxes, of our laws, and all of that was part of a broader campaign to restore faith in our democratic institutions.

Gove added that he and even some liberal commentators believed “the referendum campaign has led to Britain becoming more welcoming towards migration, and more open to new people entering”.

On Brexit specifics Gove stayed very much on-message and said nothing contentious.

On the customs union backstop he said:

The whole point about the backstop is that it’s intended not to be implemented, but it’s there just In case.

The bulk of Gove’s speech was a slightly fluffy outline of the virtues of the union, a broad-canvas entity the environment secretary painted as embodying everything from the Empire Windrush to Team GB at the Olympics and Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour.

Gove insisted the Brexit vote had made unionism stronger, pointing to Tory gains in Scotland at the 2017 election.

Brexit was “at last in part of a vote of confidence in Britain”, he argued

Michael Gove, speaking at the Policy Exchange conference this morning.
Michael Gove, speaking at the Policy Exchange conference this morning. Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

I’m just back from the Number 10 lobby briefing. Most of it was taken up with questions about how the government has been reviewing and tightening visa restrictions for Russian investors, although the prime minister’s spokesman refused to say whether this did or did not have anything to do with the Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich finding himself without a UK visa at the moment.

I will post a summary shortly.

I’m off to the Number 10 lobby briefing now. I’ll post again after 11.30am.

The Department for Work and Pensions has announced today that a pilot scheme that involving giving benefit claimants a written warning before they face sanctions is being dropped because it had little impact.

The scheme applied to people on jobseeker’s allowance who faced the loss of benefits because they were failing to comply with the conditions attached to the benefit (such as having to show they were looking for work). Iain Duncan Smith, the then work and pensions secretary, launched the scheme in October 2015, partly in response to a select committee report saying the sanctions system was punitive. The pilot involved claimants getting a written warning, and being given 14 days to explain why they were not complying.

In a written statement today Alok Sharma, the employment minister, says only 13% of claimants responded to the warning letters during the pilot, and only around half of those could provide evidence that led to sanctions not being imposed. He goes on:

Given the low proportion of cases in which claimants provided further evidence and the even lower proportion of cases where decision outcomes were changed, we do not consider that the benefits of the approach are sufficient to justify the extra time and cost it adds to the process.

Instead an alternative approach to try to reduce the number of people being sanctioned will be piloted, he says.

We are now exploring the feasibility of an alternative process to give claimants written warnings, instead of a sanction, for a first sanctionable failure to attend a Work-Search Review. The aim will be to conduct a small-scale proof of concept to obtain qualitative feedback from staff on this new process, followed by any subsequent tests. More details will be made available once we have progressed with the design work.

Updated

More from the Gove event. This is from HuffPost’s Owen Bennett.

My colleague Peter Walker has been tweeting from the Policy Exchange event where Michael Gove has been speaking. His thread starts here.

And here are some more tweets from the event.

From the Independent’s John Rentoul.

From the Sun’s Lynn Davidson

From the FT’s Sebastian Payne

Brexit: Northern Ireland voters sure hard border would provoke violence, report says

With the Irish border now clearly established as one of the key Brexit problems facing Theresa May, it is worth asking what people in Northern Ireland make of it all. And this morning a 92-page report from UK in a Changing Europe, based on polling and a deliberative forum (essentially a large focus group exposed to expert evidence) has come out with some answers.

As my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports, the survey shows that support for staying in the EU, which at 56% was already quite high in the EU referendum, has risen substantially in the region. It is now up 13 points to 69%. (This is quite a contrast with Great Britain, where opinion as changed little.)

Just as significantly, the report (pdf) suggests that claims that the introduction of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic could lead to a return to violence are well founded. Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, is among those who have claimed that such fears are exaggerated (here and here, for example.) In its summary the report says:

There is substantial and intense opposition to possible North-South border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and to East-West border checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain ...

There are strong expectations that protests against either north-south or east-west border checks would quickly deteriorate into violence.

This is what the report says about the verdict of the deliberative forum on this matter.

There was a strong sense among participants – Catholics and Protestants, remain and leave voters – that protests against a ‘hard’ border may begin peacefully, but would quickly deteriorate into violence. Violent agents were perceived as waiting for an excuse to reemerge, and were referred to as “nutjobs,” “mad hatter people,” “psychopaths,” and the “hard element.”

And here are some relevant poll findings. Nearly one in 10 Catholics, and 15% of Sinn Fein voters, would support cameras being vandalised in the event of checks and controls being imposed at the border. And 10% of Sinn Fein voters would back border infrastructure or installations being attacked.

Support for various types of protest in Northern Ireland in event of hard border returning
Support for various types of protest in Northern Ireland in event of hard border returning Photograph: UK in a Changing Europe

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Michael Gove, the environment secretary, speaks at a Policy Exchange conference on Brexit and the union (the UK one, not the EU one). Other speakers will include Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, and Brandon Lewis, the Conservative party chairman.

10.30am: Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool city region, speaks at the IPPR North Brexit conference.

11am: The Grenfell Tower fire inquiry opens. My colleague Matthew Weaver is covering it on a live blog here.

11am: Downing Street lobby briefing.

Around lunchtime: Theresa May gives a speech on science and the industrial strategy. As Anne Perkins reports, she will pledge millions of pounds of government funding to develop artificial intelligence able to transform outcomes through early diagnosis of cancer and chronic disease.

1.30pm: The Labour MP Stella Creasy gives a speech to the New Economics Foundation.

After 3.30pm: MPs begin an emergency debate on money resolutions, in response to complaints the government is using a procedural device to block a private member’s bill that would prevent the boundary review reducing the number of MPs from 650 to 600. As Anne Perkins reports, this will bring John Bercow, the Commons speaker, face to face with Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, for the first time since claims he called her “a stupid woman” emerged.

And Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, continues his tour of South America today with a meeting with the Argentinian president.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

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

Updated

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