Afternoon summary
- Theresa May has used a speech on standards in public life to announce a review of the future of quality national and local newspapers. (See 3.51pm.)
- May has used her speech to announce a consultation on criminalising the abuse of MPs. There are more details here, in the government’s formal response to the report from the committee on standards in public life on the abuse of candidates, and here, in our live blog.
In the Commons Amber Rudd, the home secretary, claimed Momentum was responsible for some of the abuse. Rudd was making a statement about the centenary of women’s suffrage and, in response to a comment from Labour’s Paula Sheriff, who said Rudd should not be making this a party political issue, Rudd said:
I don’t really share her view, and speaking honestly I don’t think it is about being party political because the fact is I have plenty of Labour MPs who have come to talk to me about the abuse that they have received from Momentum - it is not just us who receive it.
It’s fine if some members of the Labour Party don’t want to call it out but I think it is fair that we do call it out because I don’t think it’s helpful to ignore it.
- Carillion executives have been branded “delusional characters” by two select committee chairs. After a joint session of the Commons work and pensions committee and the business committee this morning, taking evidence from Carillion executives, the two committee chairs, Frank Field and Rachel Reeves, put out a joint statement saying:
This morning a series of delusional characters maintained that everything was hunky dory until it all went suddenly and unforeseeably wrong. We heard variously that this was the fault of the Bank of England, the foreign exchange markets, advisers, Brexit, the snap election, investors, suppliers, the construction industry, the business culture of the Middle East and professional designers of concrete beams. Everything we have seen points the fingers in another direction - to the people who built a giant company on sand in a desperate dash for cash.
- The EU wants powers to punish UK non-compliance during the Brexit transition by summarily cutting off the country’s access to parts of the single market, according to a treaty draft seen by the Financial Times (paywall). The FT’s Alex Barker and Jim Brunsden report:
Highlighting fears in Brussels over Britain wilfully breaking rules during the transition period or refusing to implement new laws, the draft treaty text calls for additional enforcement powers so that the EU can respond promptly to infringements.
It says the final withdrawal agreement “should provide for a mechanism allowing the union to suspend certain benefits deriving for the UK from participation in the internal market where it considers that referring the matter to [court] would not bring in appropriate time the necessary remedies”.
- Sajid Javid, the housing and communities secretary, has announced an extra £150m for adult social care in the final local government finance settlement for 2018-19. The Conservative-led Local Government Association said this was “recognition of the LGA’s warning about the urgent need for the government to further try and help councils tackle some of the immediate social care pressures they face” but that it “needs to be compared against an annual social care funding gap of £2.3bn by 2020”.
- Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, has ordered an urgent review to ensure clarity about “where the line is drawn” between gross negligence manslaughter and “ordinary human error” for healthcare workers. As the Press Association reports, he told MPs there were concerns in the medical profession that “we may not be giving a voice” to doctors and other clinicians who want the “freedom to be able to learn from mistakes”. MPs heard Professor Sir Norman Williams, Hunt’s senior clinical adviser and former president of the Royal College of Surgeons, would conduct the “rapid review” into the application of gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare. The report is expected to be with Hunt before the end of April this year. Announcing the review, Hunt said “huge concern” has been caused by the case of Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba, who was given a suspended jail sentence after being found guilty of gross negligence manslaughter over the death of Jack Adcock, from Glen Parva, Leicestershire.
- Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has renewed her call for Scotland to have a say in shaping the UK government’s Brexit strategy. In an open letter to Theresa May, Sturgeon said:
The people of Scotland voted decisively to remain within the European Union, and it is the role of the Scottish government to make sure that their interests are protected. It cannot be right that decisions on the future relationship with the EU are being taken without due regard for consultation across the four governments of the UK in direct contradiction to the terms of reference of the joint ministerial committee (EU negotiations) ...
To date the discussions in JMC (EN) have fallen far short of that ambition and of your own commitment when we met in July 2016 to ‘full involvement’. I expect that following the meeting of your cabinet sub committee there will remain full scope for the Scottish government, and other devolved administrations, to influence the shape of the UK approach and objectives for negotiations.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
My colleague Heather Stewart has more on the European Research Group meeting that Jacob Rees-Mogg has convened. (See 3.30pm.)
ERG source tells me “summoned” is not the Mogg’s style: “the pleasure of their company has been requested for a fortnightly colloquium”. https://t.co/8a1pgd4bpx
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) February 6, 2018
Government review to consider future of quality national and local newspapers
In her speech in Manchester Theresa May announced a review of press sustainability. The culture department has now announced the details. Here are the key points.
- A government review will consider the future of quality national and local newspapers. It will report early next year. In particular, it will look at how they can boost online review, and at what can be done to reduce the threat posed by “clickbait”. In a statement explaining the what the review would do, the culture department said:
A key focus of the review will be the local and regional press, who face an uncertain future. The review will also assess the operation of the digital advertising supply chain including funding flows and its role in creating or reducing value for publishers. It will also look at ‘clickbait’ and low quality news and if there is more that can be done to tackle this issue and undermine any commercial incentives associated with it.
Also within the review’s remit will be an examination of how data created or owned by news publications is collected and distributed by online platforms.
- Matt Hancock, the culture secretary, said the review was needed because a free press was important for democracy. He said:
Robust high quality journalism is important for public debate and scrutiny - but as print circulations decline and more readers move online, the press faces an uncertain future.
This review will look at the sustainability of the national, regional and local press, how content creators are appropriately rewarded for their online creations, and ensure that the UK has a vibrant, independent and plural free press as one of the cornerstones of our public debate.
The department said two thirds of local councils do not have a local newspaper to cover what they do.
- The chair has not been appointed yet. The department said a panel of experts would be appointed in the coming months to lead the review.
- The review will not look at the issue of “politically motivated disinformation and propaganda”, the department said.
- The News Media Association has welcomed the review. Its chair, David Dismore, said:
The NMA welcomes this announcement today on behalf of the national, regional and local news media industry. This review acknowledges the importance of journalism in a democratic society, the vital role that the press takes in holding the powerful to account and producing verified news which informs the public.
Viable business models must be found that ensure a wide variety of media are able to have a long and healthy future. Through digital platforms, news content is more widely consumed than ever before but the revenues to sustain the investment in that quality content are challenged. This review on a sustainable future is very welcome.
The department quoted figures showing the annual average revenue per digital user is £15, compared to £124 for a print media user.
This is from Sky’s Jon Craig.
Call to arms! Jacob Rees-Mogg has summoned members of the European Research Group of Brexiteer Tory MPs to a meeting in Committee Room 14 at 6pm tonight ahead of the PM's two meetings of her Brexit "war cabinet" tomorrow & Thursday.
— joncraigSKY (@joncraig) February 6, 2018
Police forensic labs failing to show they are meeting quality standards, MPs told
Following her strongly-worded annual report, the governement’s forensic science regulator, Gill Tully, raised further concerns about the state of the forensic science in an evidence session held by the science and technology select committee this morning.
Tully said that police forces are consistently failing to meet deadlines for bringing their in-house forensics labs in line with basic quality standards. More than half missed an October deadline to gain accreditation to carry out digital forensics work, she said, and at least ten constabularies will miss an accreditation target this October to carry out examination of fingerprints, meaning they’ll have to declare in court that their procedures are not compliant.
Tully warned that many commercial providers, particularly those working in digital forensics, were also disregarding the need for accreditation. She told the committee:
Many of them are one or two person providers working from home using tools that they may not have validated. I do get people saying to me when I speak at conferences, ‘Well what are you going to do if we’re not compliant? You haven’t got any power to make us stop.’ That’s the most concerning sector.
Leading MEP says he still has 'no idea' what UK wants from Brexit
Manfred Weber, leader of the centre-right European People’s party in the European parliament, has renewed his call for Britain to say what it wants from Brexit. As the Independent reports, at a briefing this morning Weber said:
I hear a lot of things which London don’t want, but for the moment I have no idea what they want. No idea, no clarification about their orientation, about what they want to achieve.
I’m appealing to London: We cannot achieve anything with such a state of mind. The British government needs to come out with concrete proposals very soon, time is running and we need an orientation, what they want to achieve.
The EPP is the biggest group in the European parliament and Weber, a German MEP, is an ally of Angela Merkel’s.
In the Commons a Tory MP has branded his local Conservative-run council as “the worst run local authority in the country”. As the Press Association reports, Philip Hollobone used an urgent question to ask about Northamptonshire county council, which issued a section 114 notice at the end of last week, effectively admitting it was close to bankruptcy. Holloborne said:
It gives me no pleasure to say that with the issue of this section 114 notice, Northamptonshire County Council becomes the worst run local authority in the country.
There are undoubtedly huge pressures on the social care budget, exacerbated by Northamptonshire’s fast growing elderly population, and the Government’s fairer funding review is welcome but will come too late, I’m afraid, for Northamptonshire county council.
But this whole thing has been exacerbated by poor leadership by the cabinet at the county council, in which all seven Northamptonshire MPs now have no confidence.
Hollobone asked for commissioners to be sent in to run the council.
In response the local government minister Rishi Sunak said the government had taken action and sent in an independent inspector. He said it would be wrong to prejudice this investigation, which is due to report back in March.
He said the council had been clear that statutory services and its safeguarding of vulnerable people would continue, and staff would continue to be paid.
And he also said it would be “wholly inappropriate” to comment on rumours that other councils were at risk of issuing section 114 notices.
Q: Anna Soubry says you should sling Brexiters out of the party. Would you like to see the likes of Boris Jophnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg pipe down on Brexit?
May says the party if focused on what the British people asked it to do, delivering Brexit. She wants to get a good deal on trade in goods and services. She is optimistic about being able to get a good deal because that is in the EU’s interests too.
And that’s it. The Q&A is over.
Q: What do you think about Claire Kober’s account of how she says sexist bullying pushed her out of her job?
May says it is particularly disappointing that in the week we are celebrating votes for women we are seeing a woman hounded out of public life. There is no place for that, she says. Kober has effectively been “hounded out of office”, she says.
Q: Why do you think a new harassment law is necessary to protect politicians? The police said it was not necessary when they gave evidence to the committee on standards in public life.
May says this is a proposal from the committee on standards in public life. The government will consult on it.
Q: Will you commit today to closing the gender pay gap by the end of this parliament?
May says the government has introduced measures to get more transparency on gender pay. That is an important step because it shines a light on the issue, she says.
Q: In 1997 there were just 13 female Tory MPs. It must have been difficult. What advice would you give to your younger self?
May says the important thing for a woman in politics is to be yourself. Don’t feel you have to be a stereotype of a man to get on in politics, she says.
Theresa May's Q&A
Theresa May has finished her speech. She is now taking questions.
Q: Is now the right time to pardon the suffragettes?
May says this issue is not as straightforward as it looks, as Amber Rudd said earlier. She said she would be looking at specific proposals. But the best way to honour the suffragettes is to get more women into politics.
Q: Do you feel you have done enough for women in this country?
May says the gender pay gap is at a record low level. She has campaigned to get more women into politics. But she has addressed issues particulary affecting women, such as domestic violence and modern slavery. Is there more to do? Yes.
Theresa May is delivering her speech in Manchester to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage.
My colleagues Sarah Marsh and Rachel Obordo are covering it now on the suffrage centenary live blog.
Caroline Lucas, the Green party co-leader, says she has doubts about the proposal backed by the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn (see 10.48am) and the Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson (see 9.57am) to pardon the suffragettes.
Pardoning suffragettes now is nice gesture, but I worry it erases their radicalism. They took direct action, they broke the law, becos their cause couldn’t be won by petitions & letters alone. Remember them as rule breakers & don’t allow their radical actions to be forgotten. 💪
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) February 6, 2018
The Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg is to give evidence to an inquiry into free speech in universities, after an outbreak of fighting marred his visit to campus in Bristol last Friday.
Parliament’s joint committee on human rights was to have heard evidence from ministers Sam Gyimah, the universities minister, and Ben Wallace, the security minister, at its final session on the issue on tomorrow afternoon, but Rees-Mogg will now be its last witness in an additional session starting at 5pm.
Rees-Mogg will be joined by Jo Midgley, a pro vice-chancellor at the University of the West of England, where Friday’s event took place, as well as students from the UWE’s politics and international relations society that hosted Rees-Mogg’s event.
Updated
Q: The OBR looked at this issue (the impact of Brexit on the economy) in November 2016. Do you feel about to update those assumptions?
Chote says the OBR is going to wait until it knows more about what will happen.
Chote says, when the government produces a firm plan for Brexit, the OBR will be able to make a forecast for its impact on the economy.
But he says the OBR will be able to take into account the transition assumptions.
Q: What is your view of the row last week about economic modelling and Brexit?
Chote says there is a case for modelling Brexit outcomes.
In an ideal world, government civil servants should have embarked on this project with a view to publications. Then people could assess them, he says.
He says some people think there is “some vast neo-liberal super-computer in the Treasury” generating these results.
But the results of forecasts are determined by the assumptions that go in, he says.
He says no one should take the results of such forecasts entirely at face value.
The key question is, what are the assumptions behind these numbers?
Robert Chote, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, is speaking at an Institute for Government event where he is being interviewed by the IfG director Bronwen Maddox.
There is a live stream here.
Lunchtime summary
- Confidence in how the Brexit process is going is falling, a Guardian/ICM poll suggests. (See 11.49am.)
- Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has accused Theresa May of putting Tory demands ahead of the national interest in the Brexit talks. (See 8.58am.)
- Jeremy Corbyn has said a Labour government would pardon the suffragettes who were convicted for their actions. (See 10.48am.) He made the announcement to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage. Sarah Marsh and Rachel Obordo have full coverage of the centenary events on a separate live blog.
Greening says staying in Conservative party with Rees-Mogg as leader would be 'a bit of a stretch'
On the Daily Politics Justine Greening, the Conservative former education secretary, was asked if she, like Anna Soubry, would leave the party if Jacob Rees-Mogg became leader. At first she said that, as a minister, she learnt not to answer hypothetical questions. Then, when the present Jo Coburn pointed out she wasn’t a minister any more, she gave a more revealing answer. She replied:
Er, that might be a bit of a stretch, admittedly, but I think, again, what matters to me, probably, in any of those circumstances is what my own community thinks and who they feel is right. But we have a prime minister.
ICM have now put today’s poll findings on their website here. And the tables are here (pdf).
Cross-party group lose bid to secure legal ruling on whether article 50 can be revoked
A cross-party group of parliamentarians has lost an early-stage bid to secure a European court ruling on Brexit, the Press Association reports. The PA story goes on:
Seven politicians from four parties, not including the Conservatives, believe the UK parliament could unilaterally halt the Brexit process if the final deal is deemed unacceptable by the Commons.
They claim this offers a third option instead of Britain having to choose between a bad deal on the UK’s future relationship with Europe or crashing out of the EU with no deal.
The group is ultimately seeking a definitive ruling from the European court of justice on whether the withdrawal process triggered under article 50 of the treaty on European Union can be revoked by the UK on its own, without first securing the consent of the other 27 EU member states.
Their legal team went to the Court of Session in Edinburgh last week to ask a judge to refer the question to the Luxembourg court.
Today judge Lord Doherty refused to move the case to a full hearing at Scotland’s highest civil court, saying the issue is “hypothetical and academic”, and that he is “not satisfied the application has a real prospect of success”.
These are from Jolyon Maugham, one of the lawyers involved in the case.
It's plainly in the national interest that MPs, MEPs and MSPs, who face a choice whether to approve Theresa May's deal, know what options are open to them if they don't. I will support an appeal against this decision - to the Supreme Court if necessary. https://t.co/M5LJoxgcaq
— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) February 6, 2018
You can read the decision of Lord Doherty here. https://t.co/Z07Fim6ASE
— Jo Maugham QC (@JolyonMaugham) February 6, 2018
Several EU leaders have said explicitly that they would be happy for the UK to change its mind and decide to stay in the EU. In this blog Maugham argues that, although it is obvious that it would be possible politically for the UK to revoke article 50 (and stay in the EU), it is not clear that parliament has the power legally to make this happen.
The counter argument is that, if the UK government wanted to revoke article 50, and the European council and the European commission were in favour (they are), it would happen regardless of any legalities (which are scant in this area anyway, because there is no precedent for this and article 50 does not go into what should happen if a state changes its mind.)
Updated
My colleagues Sarah Marsh and Rachel Obordo are running a women’s suffrage centenary live blog. It’s here.
Confidence in how Brexit process is going is falling, poll suggests
We have got some new Guardian/IMC polling today. There is bad news for Theresa May, but good news for Boris Johnson.
How the Brexit process is going?
First, how to people feel about the Brexit process?
- Confidence in how the Brexit process is being handled has fallen over the last two months, the poll suggests. In December only around one person in five (21%) thought the process of leaving the EU was going well. Now it is around one person in six (16%).
We asked respondents how they thought the process of leaving the EU was going. Here are the results.
Well: 16% (down 5 from Guardian/ICM in December)
Neither well nor badly: 25% (up 2)
Badly: 53% (up 2)
Don’t know: 6% (no change)
ICM’s Alex Turk says the findings should be particularly worrying for May’s party.
These figures make especially concerning reading for the Tories, as now fewer than a third of Conservative voters think Brexit is going well (32%), down from almost 2 in 5 (39%) at the start of December. Indeed, it’s hard to find one substantial group of voters who think the Brexit process is going well. It may not be surprising to see that only 12% of 2016 Remainers think Brexit is going well, but it seems stark that even amongst 2016 Leave voters, less than a quarter (23%) say Brexit is going well.
Support for key politicians on Brexit
Next, we asked a question intended to find which leading politicians people most supported on Brexit. We asked people to put aside their general views of these politicians and to tell us instead whether they agreed or disagreed with their stance on Brexit. Here are the results.
Boris Johnson
Agree: 32%
Disagree: 34%
Net disagree: -2
Theresa May
Agree: 31%
Disagree: 36%
Net disagree: -5
Keir Starmer
Agree: 10%
Disagree: 17%
Net disagree: -7
Nigel Farage
Agree: 30%
Disagree: 40%
Net disagree: -10
Michael Gove
Agree: 17%
Disagree: 28%
Net disagree: -11
Philip Hammond
Agree: 14%
Disagree: 27%
Net disagree: -13
Jeremy Corbyn
Agree: 23%
Disagree: 39%
Net disagree: -16
Tony Blair
Agree: 18%
Disagree: 42%
Net agree: -24
This question is problematic for two reasons. First, although we asked people to judge these figures just on their stance on Brexit, it is likely that responses at least in part reflected people’s general views on these figures. And, second, many people may not know much about exactly where some of these MPs stand on Brexit. There were quite high “don’t know” responses across the board, rising to 54% when people were asked about Starmer.
Still, given that a politician may find it easier to “sell” a particular Brexit stance if they are liked generally, the result might say something about who is well placed to offer Brexit leadership.
- Boris Johnson’s stance on Brexit is more popular than Theresa May’s, and more popular than that of other leading Brexiters, the poll suggests. Even though Johnson’s stance is in policy terms very similar to Michael Gove’s, Johnson scores significantly higher in the poll.
- May’s stance on Brexit is more popular than Philip Hammond, the chancellor’s, the poll suggests. This could reflect the fact that he is pushing for a softer Brexit than she is.
- Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on Brexit is more popular than Tony Blair’s, the poll suggests. Blair comes bottom in this poll. But the Labour figure who comes highest is Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary. This is despite (or, more likely, because) more than half of respondents said they could not pass a judgment on Starmer because they did not know enough about his Brexit views.
Party support
Finally, here are the figures for party support.
Conservatives: 41% (no change from Guardian/ICM two weeks ago)
Labour: 40% (down 1)
Lib Dems: 8% (up 1)
Ukip: 4% (no change)
Green: 3% (no change)
I will post a link to the full tables here when they go up on the ICM website.
UPDATE: ICM have written up the poll findings here. And the tables are here (pdf).
ICM Unlimited interviewed a representative online sample of 2,021 adults aged 18+ on 2 to 4 February 2018. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
Updated
Here is Jeremy Corbyn reading out his statement about a pardon for the suffragettes.
Jeremy Corbyn says a Labour government would pardon suffragettes given criminal records in the fight for the right to vote pic.twitter.com/7OKWX99XWU
— Sam Lister (@sam_lister_) February 6, 2018
Corbyn says Labour would pardon suffragettes who were convicted
Jeremy Corbyn has announced that a Labour government would pardon the suffragettes and given an official apology for the injustice they suffered. Speaking at the special shadow cabinet meeting taking place at the Museum of London’s suffragette exhibition, he said:
As a country, we must recognise and honour the enormous contribution and sacrifice made by women who campaigned for the right to vote.
Many of those women were treated appallingly by society and the state. Convictions of suffragettes were politically motivated and bore no relation to the acts committed. Some were severely mistreated and force-fed in prison post-conviction so a pardon could mean something to their families.
Labour in government will both pardon the suffragettes and give an official apology for the miscarriages of justice and wider persecution they suffered.
Rees-Mogg claims EU laws introduced during Brexit transition could 'drown the City'
And, while we are on the subject of hardline Brexiters, it is worth pointing out that Jacob Rees-Mogg now seems to be casting himself as a Biblical prophet. This is what he told the Daily Telegraph in a comment on a story about how nearly 40 EU directives could come into force during the Brexit transition. Rees-Mogg told the paper:
European Union laws that could come in after we have left may look to the government as ‘a cloud no bigger than a man’s hand’ but could turn into a torrent similar to the one unleashed by Elijah.
It could drown the City of London, soak consumers and flood farmers. The range and extent of these laws covers almost everyone in the country one way or another and we would have no say at all over some laws that we could now veto.
The chance for a vengeful EU to cause regulatory damage to us may be too great for them to resist and the government needs to be strong in refusing to accept new laws once we have left.
And here’s an extract from the Telegraph’s story (paywall).
Britain could be forced to accept nearly 40 EU directives during a two-year transition period after Brexit, according to a leaked Whitehall analysis ...
One of the most contentious directives would give the European Union the power to raid the City of London and force “clearing houses” for euros to relocate to the continent.
Clearing houses stand between two sides of a trade to ensure its smooth completion, and also set aside funds to protect investors when a trade defaults.
Three-quarters of euro-denominated business is cleared by houses in London, providing the City with 83,000 jobs and up to £80billion per year.
A new EU law, called the European Market Infrastructure Regulation Supervision directive, could force clearing houses to relocate.
In a separate interview this morning, with BBC Breakfast, Amber Rudd, the home secretary, was asked about Anna Soubry’s comments in her Newsnight interview about the need for Theresa May to “sling out” hardline Brexiters. (See 8.58am.) As you would expect, Rudd did not endorse what Soubry said. But she declined to criticise her either. Instead she said:
This is the sort of debate you expect when tempers run high, when people have very strong views on either side. So, Anna’s putting her views out in a characteristically robust way and we’ll see what the prime minister’s response is.
But it’s no surprise to me that there are very strong views on what is such an important part of this country’s future - working out how we leave the European Union - and people have very, very strongly held views.
Amber Rudd plays down prospects of pardoning suffragettes who went to jail
In an article in the Daily Telegraph (paywall) Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, calls for suffragettes who were jailed fighting for the vote at the start of the twentieth century to be pardoned. She says:
Voting was a value judgment, not an intrinsic right. That inequality is one of the reasons why I support calls by family members to offer a posthumous pardon to those suffragettes charged with righting that wrong.
Asked about the proposal in an interview on the Today programme, Amber Rudd, the home secretary, said that she was sympathetic to the idea but that it was problematic. She explained:
I have seen this campaign, I completely understand where it’s coming from, the extraordinary pained campaign, violence that these women went through in order to deliver the vote, which has been of such benefit to us for generations.
So I will take a look at it, but I must be frank, it is complicated because if you’re going to give a legal pardon for things like arson and violence it’s not as straightforward as people think it might be, but I will certainly look at proposals.
I think there is something different about them but I’m just pointing out, unfortunately, the practical reality of bypassing the law in this way, but as I said, I would like to take a look at individual proposals to see what can be done.
The Today programme also featured an interview with New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who said securing a free trade deal with the UK after Brexit was a “significant priority” for her government. She told the programme:
We are here, ready and willing, and really willing to model what those future free trade agreements from a UK perspective could look like, so ready we are.
Sturgeon announces £500,000 fund to promote greater representation of women in Scottish politics
In her Today interview Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, also referred to a £500,000 fund the Scottish government is setting up promote greater representation of women in Scottish politics. In a statement about it she said:
While we have a come a long way since 1918, much still needs to be done if we are to eradicate gender inequality and create a fairer and more prosperous country.
By supporting community initiatives and women-empowerment projects, we are making an important step towards securing that future.
This funding will ensure we pay tribute to the women who fought for the rights that women have today, as well as playing a part in encouraging the next generation of women leaders.
Female MPs and peers posed for a group photograph in central lobby in parliament this morning to mark the centenary of the Representation of the People Act.
"Deeds not words" - they shout.
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) February 6, 2018
Taking over 100 years later - female MPs and Peers gather in front of the original Representation of the People Act #r4today pic.twitter.com/VlpHGTt28r
Brexit: Sturgeon accuses May of putting Tory demands ahead of national interest
Last night, in an interview on Newsnight, the Conservative pro-European Anna Soubry urged Theresa May to “sling out” hardline Brexiters from the party. She has long been a vocal critic of May’s Brexit strategy, but this interview marked an escalation of her criticism. We’ve got a story about her comments here, and here is the key quote.
If it comes to it, I am not going to stay in a party which has been taken over by the likes of Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson. They are not proper Conservatives.
And if that means leaving the party, form some new alliance, God knows I don’t know. But we just simply cannot go on like this any longer.
Something is going to have to give because if it doesn’t not only will we get Jacob Rees-Mogg as our prime minister, we will get a devastating hard Brexit which will cause huge damage to our economy for generations to come.
(Arguably Soubry has missed the boat. There is a case for saying the party has already been taken over, because ever since May set the UK on course for a hard Brexit in her speech to the Conservative party conference in autumn 2016 policy has been largely shaped around the demands of the Brexiters. In his Guardian column today, my colleague Rafael Behr says “Tory politics resembles revolution on the Iranian model, where the elected political leader is subordinate to a supreme spiritual leader, a role performed in this analogy by Rees-Mogg.”)
On the Today programme this morning Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, echoed Soubry’s complaint. Sturgeon was on the programme to talk about the centenary of women’s suffrage, but she also gave her response to the government’s decision to rule out the UK staying in the EU customs union in any form after Brexit. She told the programme:
We’re seeing the government yet again put the interests of the Conservative party ahead of the interests of the country.
It is overwhelmingly in my view in the interests of the country, our economy, to remain within the customs union and the single market.
It’s a real frustration there hasn’t been more discussion and engagement not just with the Scottish Government but all of the devolved administrations.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.15am: Carillion executives give evidence to the Commons business committee and work and pension committee in a joint session.
9.30am: Theresa May chairs cabinet.
9.45am: Jeremy Corbyn chairs a meeting of the shadow cabinet at the Museum of London, where there is an exhibition to celebrate the suffragettes.
10am: Woman’s Hour broadcasts an interview with Theresa May to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage.
1pm: Robert Chote, chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility, speaks at the Institute for Government.
Early Afternoon: Theresa May gives a speech in Manchester to mark the centenary of women’s suffrage. As Heather Stewart reports, May will state that abuse in public life has become so severe it is threatening democracy.
2.30pm: Katie Price gives evidence to the Commons petitions committee on online abuse and the experience of disabled people.
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
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