Afternoon summary
- Cross-party talks between the government and Labour aimed at finding a Brexit compromise have resumed at Westminster this afternoon.
- Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, has said that party political allegiances are becoming “irrelevant” compared to people’s views on Brexit at a triumphalist rally near Pontefract. (See 2.42pm.) He also said his party would only present a “full slate” of policy ideas once next week’s European elections are over.
- The Brexit Party has distanced itself from its national election agent after it emerged he had defended Tommy Robinson, BuzzFeed has revealed.
- Sinn Fein has urged Northern Ireland’s voters to back pro-remain candidates in the European election. At the party’s European elections campaign launch, Mary Lou McDonald, the party president, called for her party’s candidate, Martina Anderson, to be given the number one preference, before transferring to “pro-remain, progressive candidates”. McDonald said:
Brexit changes everything for all of us, and it’s for that reason that we identify this as maybe a unique and unifying moment of solidarity for people who want what is best for all of us right across Ireland.
The only thing to do is to vote for pro-remain parties and reject Brexit.
Martina Anderson [the Sinn Fein candidate] is the strongest advocate of the pro-remain position, I think it’s important that a pro-remain candidate tops the poll, but I also think it’s very important that, in the round, the pro-remain argument wins the day.
So I would say to everybody, whether they come from unionism or from nationalism, or they are somewhere in between, think long and think hard, and be sure in this European election that we send the right, the accurate and the progressive signal to Brussels, to London, and beyond, that people here are united in a desire for progress to protect our peace process, our peace agreements, to protect our economy, our livelihoods, our agriculture, that’s what a vote for a pro-remain candidate amounts to.
- Theresa May has vowed to end the postcode lottery for those escaping domestic abuse. As Aamna Mohdin reports, thousands of people seeking refuge from abusive and violent relationships will be better protected by a new legal duty for councils to provide secure homes for them and their children. The prime minister said the policy aimed to end variations in provision across the country and bolster protection in the domestic abuse bill being considered by MPs.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
My colleague, John Crace, was at Nigel Farage’s Brexit party rally this morning. His sketch is exceptionally good - although the word “sketch” does not do justice to the bleak tone running through his analysis.
Here is an extract.
“You couldn’t make this stuff up,” yelled the next speaker, John Longworth, the former head of the British Chambers of Commerce and Brexit party candidate for the north-east. Except he did make it up. He lied through his teeth. He told the crowd Brexit had won an overwhelming majority at the referendum, rather than a 52%-48% majority. He told them Westminster was denying them their birthright, forgetting to mention the reason the UK had not already left the EU was because of Brexiters voting down a deal for which they would have given their back teeth three years ago. He told them a no-deal, World Trade Organization Brexit would turn Yorkshire into the land of milk and honey.
Others came and went promising much the same. The local MPs Yvette Cooper and Jon Trickett were booed and openly denounced as traitors. The person to my left to whom I had been chatting before the event advised me not to mention I worked for the Guardian. As if I needed telling. This was the blitz spirit being whipped up into a lynch mob. There was a time when a Farage event always came with an element of humour. As if neither he nor his audiences were expected to take him entirely seriously. This is now something else. Ice-cold calculation tapping into a crowd worn down by austerity and waiting on deliverance. No retreat, baby, no surrender.
And here is John’s article in full. Do read it.
Former archbishop Rowan Williams backs Green party
Rowan Williams, the former archbishop of Canterbury, has endorsed the Green party’s lead candidate in the eastern region for the European elections. In a statement he said:
It is harder and harder to pretend that we’re not living in the middle of the most serious environmental crisis in recorded history. We desperately need people in British and indeed global politics who are not afraid to name this challenge for what it is, and to look at what needs to change in our lives if we are to avoid terrible cost to future generations and to the most vulnerable people of our own generation across the world.
Catherine Rowett is someone with the honesty, the courage and the clarity to speak out and think hard on these matters, and I sincerely wish there were more like her in our public life. I have deep confidence in her integrity and vision.
This is from the Green MP Caroline Lucas.
Amazing endorsement from Rowan Williams:
— Caroline Lucas (@CarolineLucas) May 13, 2019
“Catherine Rowett is someone with the honesty, courage & clarity to speak out & think hard on these matters & I wish there were more like her in our public life. I have deep confidence in her integrity & vision”. https://t.co/mjcAde4e6n
Northern Ireland elects three MEPs. In the past two of the seats have always gone to unionists (the DUP and the UUP), and one to a nationalist or republican (currently Sinn Fein).
But a LucidTalk poll suggests that the UUP could be on course to lose the third seat, to be replaced by the non-sectarian Alliance party, the sister party of the Lib Dems in Britain.
Northern Ireland uses the single transferable vote for these elections, which means that everything hinges on what voters do with their second preferences. That makes polling these elections tricky. But James McMordie, in a blog for Northern Slant, has written a good analysis of the figures. Here’s an extract.
This result would also confirm the loss of unionism’s majority, with the combined support for unionist parties falling from 50.9% in 2014 to 42.3% in 2019 – down 8.6 points in just five years. This poll indicates that much of this loss in support has been born by the UUP, TUV and UKIP who are down 1.5 points, 3.6 points and 2.2 points respectively since 2014. This, combined with the rise in nationalist support to 40.3%, means that the two nationalist parties would only be 2% shy of the unionist total – a statistically negligible difference.
However, first preferences only tell us part of the story. This is an STV (Single Transferable Vote) election and, as the name of the electoral system tells us, votes can be transferred. In their poll, LucidTalk also asked respondents about their second preferences in this election, data that should allow us to make an educated guess as to who might be best placed to take the third seat – assuming that the DUP reaches the quota to take the second.
What is immediately clear from the data is that that Alliance is exceptionally well placed to pick up transfers from both Sinn Féin and the Greens. In fact, if this poll were to be replicated in the election, Alliance would receive almost half (42%) of Sinn Féin voters’ second preferences – almost 20 points more than the SDLP would receive. Green voters are even more likely to transfer to Alliance, with 71.3% indicating that Naomi Long would receive their second preference. By way of comparison, Danny Kennedy would only receive 0.3% of Sinn Féin transfers and 2.8% of Green transfers, whilst Colum Eastwood would only receive 23.9% and 5.6% respectively.
This really matters in an election where Sinn Féin are likely to exceed the quota on first preferences and where the Greens appear likely to be eliminated early on. With Eastwood, Kennedy and Long so close on first preferences, Anderson’s surplus alone could be enough to see Naomi Long overtake the UUP’s Danny Kennedy.
Earlier Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, claimed that he had been told by the head lobbyist for the pharmaceutical industry that a no-deal Brexit would not affect the supply of drugs to the UK. (See 2.42pm.)
A reader has been in touch to point out that that is not what the industry has been saying in public. This is what Mike Thompson, chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry, said in March, after Theresa May’s deal was voted down for the second time. He said:
Pharmaceutical companies have done everything in their power to prepare for a ‘no deal’ Brexit. This includes increasing stocks of medicines, changing and adding new supply routes and duplicating manufacturing processes here and in Europe.
Despite these efforts, we have always said that in a ‘no deal’ scenario we could face the very real possibility of disruption to the supply of some medicines.
Current parliamentary session longer than any since English civil war, says Commons
Most sessions of parliament - the period between a Queen’s speech and prorogation, a few days before the next Queen’s speech - last around a year. In 2017, after the general election, the government announced that this one would last two years, to allow Brexit legislation to be passed all in one session. But there is still no date for the next Queen’s speech and, according to a House of Commons library blog by Edward Hicks, this is now the longest session, measured by days, since the civil war.
He explains:
On 7 May 2019 the current parliamentary session reached a striking landmark. It became the longest session by sitting days since the English Civil War (1642-51). It was already unusual, having lasted over three different calendar years, beginning on 13 June 2017. As of Friday (10 May 2019) it has run for 298 sitting days, and 2,657 hours and 56 minutes ...
This session is almost certain not to surpass the longest session by days. That was the Long Parliament. It began on the 3 November 1640, and continued, without prorogation, until the 20 April 1653. In total it sat for 3,322 days. Why did that parliament last so long? Simply put, because it was fighting Charles I in the English Civil War. Subsequently it arranged the trial and execution of the king; and was only ended when Cromwell called in his soldiers to forcibly remove MPs.
In terms of sitting hours rather than days, this is also the longest session since sitting hours started being recorded in 1831. The previous longest session in terms of hours was 1966-67, when late-night sittings were the norm.
The Long Parliament was eventually dissolved by Oliver Cromwell. In a famous speech, he told those MPs who were left that they had “grown intolerably odious to the whole nation”. These days you only encounter that much contempt for parliamentarians at a Nigel Farage rally.
Here is Ben Bradshaw, the Labour pro-European, on today’s YouGov polling for the European elections.
This poll should be a *massive* wake up call to my Party. 60% of our 2017 vote not planning to vote Labour in the E.U. elections - 12% going to the Brexit Party *48%* to pro #FinalSay #PeoplesVote & Remain parties 😱 https://t.co/v5IvqFDRY6
— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) May 13, 2019
The Brexit party chose somewhere near Pontefract as the venue for their rally this morning deliberately. Nigel Farage has said the party wants to target Yvette Cooper, the Labour MP for Normanton, Pontefract and Castleford, because he claims she is trying to block Brexit when her constituents voted for it by almost 70%.
(Although the party said the venue, a working men’s club, was in Pontefract, in fact it was in the neighbouring parliamentary constituency, Hemsworth, represented by Jon Trickett.)
Cooper did introduce the bill intended to rule out a no-deal Brexit by requiring the PM to seek an article 50 extension. But Cooper is only opposed to no-deal; she is not campaigning to stop Brexit in all circumstances.
In a statement responding to the rally, Cooper said:
It won’t be Nigel Farage and right wing hardliners who suffer if manufacturing jobs are lost and food prices go up as a result of the divisive no-deal chaos they want, it will be hard-working families in manufacturing towns like ours.
Nigel Farage still defends Margaret Thatcher’s policies yet coalfield communities haven’t forgotten the damage she did to towns across the country. We cannot let them undermine our public services and manufacturing industry again.
We need some common sense and for the cross-party talks to bring people together and get a workable deal in place, not just people shouting at each other and putting local jobs at risk.
Updated
BuzzFeed’s Alex Wickham says the message sent to Tory MPs saying they would be on a three-line whip on Thursday (ie, obliged to be in the Commons, implying an important vote could be in the offing) was sent in error.
Now told this was sent by the whips in error and it is still a one line whip 👏 https://t.co/1iAh2tm3Pm
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 13, 2019
Farage says party allegiances now becoming 'irrelevant' compared to views on Brexit
After the Brexit party rally near Pontefract this morning, Nigel Farage, the party leader, did a Facebook live interview with LBC’s Theo Usherwood. Here are some of the main points.
- Farage said, if the Brexit party held the balance of power after a general election, it would do a deal with one of the main parties to pass a hard Brexit. Asked if he would do a deal with Labour or the Tories, if he had for example 50 MPs, Farage said:
If we could save £39bn, come out of the customs union, come out of the single market, come out of the jurisdiction of the European court of justice and be a genuinely independent, self-governing democracy that could choose its own future, I’d do a deal with the devil to get that.
- He said Brexit allegiances now matter much more than party political allegiances. He said:
I think what’s going on here is people’s traditional allegiance, whether they are left of centre or right of centre, is now considered to be irrelevant by most people. People are now identifying as leavers or remainers more than being left or right, more than being Tory or Labour.
Jeremy Corbyn repeatedly claims the opposite, saying (as he did in a speech last week) “the real divide in our country is not how people voted in the EU referendum.” But, as my colleague Matthew d’Ancona says in his column today, polling evidence backs up Farage’s analysis more than Corbyn’s.
- Farage rejected claims that a no-deal Brexit would lead to extra delays at borders, saying tariffs could be logged via the internet and mobile phones. He said:
Already as a result of the no-deal preparations, which the EU have done more extensively than we have done ... already the airline potential problem is sorted ... There are disruptions every day with airports. You get fog on an airport, you get disruption.
I spoke to the head of the pharmaceutical industry, the head of their lobbyists, and said: “What about all these scare stories about drugs?” He said: “Absolute, total nonsense. Everybody is prepared.”
And the president of the port of Calais has said there will be no increased transport times as a result of a WTO Brexit. All of this is doable. You know, business finds a way through every different situation. And, frankly, if you look at trade around the world now, where tariffs are due, this is all logged online, very often done by people on their mobile phones. The idea that somehow we are going to be cut off is utter nonsense.
Sky’s Lewis Goodall has also posted an interesting Twitter thread about the rally. It starts here.
Pretty warm reception for Farage in Pontefract this morning. Running theme, volunteered by many: “we’ve been humiliated.” Shouts of: “come on nige!”
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) May 13, 2019
Also remains as divisive as ever in some quarters: one man shouts “youre a conman!” One woman mutters “a truly horrible man.” pic.twitter.com/HFFmjFMzJj
And it includes these.
Phrases constantly repeated:
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) May 13, 2019
-no deal is better than a bad deal.
-Brexit means Brexit
The prime minister never knew the power of her words. When they were employed they were a short term political fix for her. For us they will haunt British politics for years to come.
Talk to one couple who describes Yvette Cooper as a traitor. I push back and say that’s unfair: “no it’s not because she’s betraying constituents.”
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) May 13, 2019
Me: “but isn’t her job to use her judgement in her constituents’ interests?”
Them: “no. It’s to do what her constituents want.”
The referendum continues to play havoc with our understanding of our own democracy.
— Lewis Goodall (@lewis_goodall) May 13, 2019
Updated
This is from the Manchester Evening News’ Jennifer Williams.
Have heard from a few people that recent internal Labour polling puts Keir S in the lead for next leader, albeit not particularly comfortably, followed by Emily Thornberry.
— Jennifer Williams (@JenWilliamsMEN) May 13, 2019
This is from BuzzFeed’s Alex Wickham.
NEW: Julian Smith has just told Tory MPs they are now on a three line whip for Thursday. It was previously a one line whip. No reason given for the update. MPs are asking if this means we could finally be getting a vote on the WAB pic.twitter.com/IDZVPOVAb5
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 13, 2019
UPDATE: It was an error, apparently.
Now told this was sent by the whips in error and it is still a one line whip 👏 https://t.co/1iAh2tm3Pm
— Alex Wickham (@alexwickham) May 13, 2019
Updated
Polling shows risk to Labour if it continues to sit on fence over Brexit, says Ben Bradshaw
The Labour pro-European Ben Bradshaw says the Lib Dem surge implied by today’s YouGov polling figures (see 12.36pm and 1.26pm) should be a warning to Labour as to what will happen if it continues to sit on the fence over Brexit. In a statement released by the People’s Vote campaign, which wants a second referendum, he said:
It is also good to see Keir Starmer speaking up for the vast majority of Labour MPs, members and voters in supporting a confirmatory vote on any Brexit deal. It is long past time we had greater clarity and consistency on this issue.
Today’s YouGov poll, showing a surge towards the Lib Dems with the Labour vote falling, is a stark warning about what will happen if we continue to give the impression that we are trying to sit on the fence.
Todays’ YouGov polling has Change UK on course to get 5% of the vote in next week’s European elections. (See 1.26pm.) That might look like a very poor result but, in an interesting and counter-intuitive article, the New Statesman’s Stephen Bush argues that, given all the problems its campaign has faced (many self-inflicted, some not), 5% would be an unbelievably good showing for the party. Here’s an extract.
This is an election in which most people have not heard from Change, do not know who Change’s MPs are or what they stand for, and those who have heard about Change have largely not heard good things. This is also an election in which if you want to elect MEPs to send a message to the big two you are opposed to Brexit then you are obviously, demonstrably and objectively better off voting for the Liberal Democrats than Change.
The only compelling argument to vote Change is to avert its early extinction: essentially to use your vote as a charitable donation or a down payment on the future, rather than to shape politics in the here and now.
If Change can, after the launch it has had, secure anything close to 5 per cent of the vote, that is a remarkable endorsement of their future viability, a sign that if it can cut out the basic incompetence, learn how challenger parties succeed and repair its reputation in the bubble, it has a real prospect of genuine success. If it can do it while the Liberal Democrats are around the 15 per cent mark – which would equal their best ever showing since the switch to proportinal representation at a European election – then it will indicate that Change might also be able to bring over the voters that the Liberal Democrats cannot.
Brexit party on course to get more than Labour and Lib Dems combined, with Tories heading for 5th place, in Euros, poll suggests
YouGov has also released some GB-wide polling for the European elections today. It suggests the Brexit party is on course to get more than Labour and the Lib Dems combined, and it suggests the Tories are on course to come fifth, also behind the Greens.
Nigel Evans, the Tory Brexiter, told Emma Barnett on Radio 5 Live this morning that Tom Watson’s Today interview this morning (see 9.21am) showed why the cross-party Brexit talks were just “a cosmetic exercise”. He said:
These talks that are resuming today between the Labour party and the Conservatives are nothing more than a cosmetic exercise, which was displayed by Tom Watson this morning.
How can we possibly talk to a Labour party that has its deputy leader of that party saying now they wish to remain and reform the European Union?
Second referendum would put democracy 'at risk', claims DUP leader Arlene Foster
Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, has reaffirmed her opposition to a second referendum. Speaking at the launch of the DUP’s European elections campaign in at Seaview football stadium in north Belfast, she said:
We have to deliver on the wishes of the people - democracy is at risk here if we do not respect the wishes of the people in the referendum. And that’s why we believe we should defend the Union and deliver on Brexit.
She also accused Theresa May of not having a vision for the UK after Brexit. She said:
We have a prime minister frankly who doesn’t have the vision for the United Kingdom post Brexit that we all want to see. We want to see a United Kingdom that is strong post-Brexit and has a close relationship with Europe.
And these are from the academic Philip Cowley on the latest YouGov polling for London. (See 12.36pm.)
If the Tories do poll just 10% in London, it will be dismal, but it will not be the worst result of either of the main parties in a region since 1999. Without googling, anyone know when and where that was?
— Philip Cowley (@philipjcowley) May 13, 2019
Cowley says Labour got less than 10% of the vote in two regions in the 2009 European elections. It was on 7.7% in the south west, he says, and on 8.2% in the south east. In both cases Labour was in fifth place in the region, he says.
And, for the record, in terms of seats that's:
— Philip Cowley (@philipjcowley) May 13, 2019
C 1
L 2
LD 2
G 1
Bx 2
The Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy has been tweeting about the results of some new YouGov polling about voting intention in London. The Conservatives are on course to come fifth in the capital in the European election, he says.
POLL – Staggering meltdown of Tories and Labour in London revealed in new @YouGov poll for @QMUL
— Joe Murphy (@JoeMurphyLondon) May 13, 2019
Tories are FIFTH PLACE in London in European Elections. Labour tanks. LDs & Greens surge
https://t.co/fbjdLn6HC1
European poll results:
— Joe Murphy (@JoeMurphyLondon) May 13, 2019
(2014 election results in brackets):
L 24 (36)
Brexit 20 (UKIP 16%)
LD 17 (7)
Green 14 (9)
Con 10 (22)
...and the Westminster results are almosty as bad ...
So how's that fence-sitting playing out in London, Mr Corbyn?
— Joe Murphy (@JoeMurphyLondon) May 13, 2019
Well, according to @youGov/@QMUL poll, if there was a general election tomorrow, Londoners would vote:
L 35 (down from 49 in December)
C23 (33)
LD 21 (11)
G 7 (3)
Brexit 10 (Ukip was 3 in Dec)
A beating for Lab & Con
What on earth happened to Change UK?
— Joe Murphy (@JoeMurphyLondon) May 13, 2019
The former TIGs get a modest 7% in European elections in London (which ought to be their strongest battleground). No seats for them.
And they get a nugatory 2% in Westminster poll.
So much for Heidi's claim: "We are the Remain Alliance"
Last tweet
— Joe Murphy (@JoeMurphyLondon) May 13, 2019
If you add LD, Green and CH UK, you get a total "Remain Alliance" vote of 38
Brexit and Tories and Ukip added together make "Brexit Alliance" of 31
Does anyone know which side Labour is on?
Thanks to @philipjcowley & @ProfTimBale at @QMUL for sharing
No 10 rejects Graham Brady's plan for amendment to neutralise backstop
I’m back from the Number 10 lobby briefing, and I’m afraid it was not fantastically revelatory. On Tuesday last week Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said the cross-party talks had reached “crunch time”. Now Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, says this week represents “crunch week”. (See 10.24am.) It is all very Groundhog Day, and the lobby briefing reflected that.
Still, a few shreds of information emerged. Here they are.
- Theresa May has not given up hope of the cross-party talks reaching an agreement, the prime minister’s spokesman suggested. The talks resume this afternoon at 5pm. Asked about claims that cabinet ministers want to abandon them because getting a deal that would pass the Commons seems impossible (see 9.50am), the spokesman replied:
The PM tried to secure passage of the withdrawal agreement on three separate occasions in order to be able to deliver Brexit with the votes of Conservative MPs and with DUP confidence and supply partners. That was not possible. So, in order to try to find a way through to deliver upon the result of the referendum, cabinet decided to go into talks with the opposition. Those talks have been serious. They have also been difficult. There are more discussions taking place this evening. So, let’s see how they go.
- The spokesman played down the prospect of MPs being asked to vote for the second reading of the EU withdrawal agreement bill before the European elections on Thursday next week. The spokesman said that, if the cross-party talks made progress, the government was looking to bring the bill to the Commons before next Thursday. Asked whether that meant just publishing the bill, or holding the second reading debate and vote, the spokesman said:
It means putting it before the House of Commons.
That is ambiguous, but it seems to imply just publishing the bill, something that normally coincides with the bill getting a first reading (a formality that does not involve a debate or a division).
- The spokesman rejected the proposal from Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, for the bill to be amended with a clause saying the backstop could never be used. Brady floated this idea in an interview for the BBC’s Week in Westminster on Saturday. But the spokesman said this plan would not be acceptable to the EU. He said:
We are clear that if we are to secure ratification of the withdrawal agreement, then we obviously need to abide by the agreement that we reached with the EU.
- The spokesman said May remained committed to holding indicative votes in the Commons on Brexit if the cross-party talks failed. But the spokesman also said that May herself had not used the term “indicative votes” to refer to the process, which would involve MPs voting on several options until one emerged as the winner. Asked if May would only go ahead with this if Labour agreed to be bound by the result, which is something May has previously said would be necessary, the spokesman said “ideally” Labour would back the plan. But he did not rule out it going ahead without Labour’s endorsement.
Only route to no-deal Brexit is via second referendum, Osborne claims
George Osborne, the Conservative former chancellor who now edits the Evening Standard, thinks that Brexiters who want no-deal will end up having to back a second referendum. He explains why in an editor’s reply letter in today’s Standard, setting out why he disagrees with those proposing a three-question referendum (on Theresa May’s deal, no-deal or remain). He explains:
My guess is that we’ll end up with just two: no deal or no Brexit. For leaving with a deal is dead. The numbers in the Commons aren’t there for Theresa May’s deal; and the EU won’t negotiate a new deal with a new Tory leader, whatever the various candidates may claim.
That’s why more and more Tory MPs support no deal, a position most would have regarded as reckless just a year ago. But there isn’t a majority in the Commons to allow it to happen.
You could try to change the composition of the Commons with a general election, but the Tories won’t risk that — even with a new leader.
So here’s the emerging truth: the only way to deliver a no-deal Brexit in the next couple of years is with a second referendum.
I’m off to the Number 10 lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.
Rees-Mogg says most Tory activists he meets voting for Brexit party
Here are the main points from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s LBC phone-in this morning.
- Rees-Mogg, the Tory Brexiter and chair of the European Research Group, said most Conservative activists he met were voting for the Brexit party. As LBC reports, he said:
Normally when you go and speak to Conservative associations and you’re not fully supportive of the leader of the party, whoever that leader happens to be, you’re not the most popular person in the room.
At the moment, nobody is saying anything supportive of the leader or of the leader’s policy.
The majority of the people at associations I’m addressing – and these are members of the party – tell me they’re voting for the Brexit party.
This is in line with the findings of a ConservativeHome survey of members last month that found that 60% of them said they would vote for the Brexit party in the Euro elections.
- He said he did not see how Theresa May could continue with so little support from the members. He said:
I don’t see how a leader can go on so removed from the support base of the party membership.
- He said he was urging people to vote for the Conservatives in the European elections for the sake of May’s successor. Referring to disillusioned Tories, he said:
I would appeal to their loyalty, to their tradition and to say that the Conservative party will get a new leader at some point.
We want that new leader to have a base on which he or she can build and if we find that we are getting under 15% of the vote, if we are coming fifth behind the Greens, then it will be harder for that figure to rebuild.
- He said the BBC was biased in favour of remain. As LBC reports, he said:
The partiality of the BBC has become clearer and clearer. It is a pro-remain organisation, it regularly has more pro-remain interviewees on its programmes.
Updated
Hunt says cross-party talks have reached 'crunch week'
The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has said that the cross-party Brexit talks are in a “crunch week” but that agreement on a confirmatory referendum on a deal would be a “betrayal”.
Speaking in Brussels ahead of a regular meeting of ministers from the EU’s 28 member states, Hunt said:
We are talking to the Labour leadership, we have had very detailed discussions. People have been pessimistic that these discussions won’t go anywhere but they have continued, this is a crunch week.
From the Conservative point of view, we have always said that [a second referendum] would be a betrayal of what people voted for and we want to implement the first referendum.
Tom Watson's Today interview - Summary
Here are the main points from Tom Watson’s Today interview.
- Watson said Labour was a “remain and reform party”. (See 9.21am.)
- He said he thought it would be “difficult” for Labour to pass a compromise Brexit deal without a confirmatory referendum attached. That was because a large number of Labour MPs would insist on one, he said. He explained:
The difficulty is just parliamentary arithmetic and Keir Starmer has alluded to this today as well, and John McDonnell did last week. The whipping arrangements for these deals is very difficult because MPs have hardened their positions within their parties so I think it would be very difficult ...
If a deal could be found that inspires enough votes in Westminster then fine, but it seemed to me that that’s very, very difficult.
And so my idea of a confirmatory ballot is not a religious point or a point of ideology, it’s just how do you get an outcome, how do you sort this out?
- He refused to say whether Labour would insist on a Labour-style Brexit deal being put to a referendum. When asked what he wanted to happen, as opposed to what he expected to happen, Watson replied:
What I want to happen is, I think the way out of this is a confirmatory ballot on Theresa May’s deal, whatever that looks like.
Then, when asked what would happen if MPs were voting on a deal that included all Labour’s demands, he said:
I think, if there is a Labour deal, then the shadow cabinet need to look at the detail of it. And we will consider it. I’m not ruling it out, but not ruling it in.
- He described Jeremy Corbyn as “a great man” and said he had faith in him. Today Watson is giving a speech to mark the 25th anniversary of John Smith’s death. When it was put to Watson that he said he had faith in Smith, and when he was asked if he would say the same about Corbyn, Watson replied: “Yes, of course. Jeremy is a great man.” Watson went on:
I’ve got differences with him, like we all have in all parties. But we’ve never raised our voice to each other. We have different views, and I think that’s the kind of Labour party he wants. Sometimes I get irritated with the decisions his political grouping make, but it wouldn’t be the Labour party if we [didn’t have disagreements].
Updated
Brokenshire plays down claims cabinet ministers want cross-party talks abandoned
Today’s Times splashes on a story by Oliver Wright (paywall) saying Theresa May is coming under pressure from cabinet colleagues to abandon the cross-party talks on Brexit, with even Philip Hammond, one of the most pro-compromise members of the government, reportedly convinced they are doomed to fail. The story says:
Theresa May was under pressure from cabinet ministers last night to scrap formal Brexit talks with Labour and launch a final attempt to secure a compromise in parliament.
Supporters of a deal with the European Union are preparing to use tomorrow’s cabinet meeting to urge the prime minister to set a timetable for indicative votes by MPs after the European elections.
The move comes amid growing criticism from Conservatives of the talks, which are due to begin again today, as ministers who previously supported them lose faith.
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, is understood to have told colleagues that, while “amiable”, they are being held on the “false premise” that a politically acceptable deal could ever be struck.
On the Today programme this morning James Brokenshire, the housing secretary, insisted that he did believe a deal with Labour was still possible. Asked if a deal was still possible, he replied:
These talks are very serious. Yes, we would not have committed all of the time and effort on all sides in relation to this [if we did not think a deal was possible]. They have been constructive, they have been detailed, and obviously they will resume later today. And I very much want to see them concluding positively.
TIMES: Pull plug on Brexit talks with Labour, May urged #tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/eb0BuMeCDM
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) May 12, 2019
Here is some Twitter comment on Tom Watson’s Today interview.
From MPs
From the Labour pro-European Ben Bradshaw
“We are a Remain & Reform Party”. Well said Tom Watson. Labour MPs will only vote for a Brexit deal if it’s conditional on a confirmatory public vote with Remain as an option. #FinalSay #PeoplesVote
— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) May 13, 2019
From Nick Boles, the former Conservative now sitting as an independent who wants a Norway-style Brexit compromise
What makes Keir Starmer and Tom Watson so confident that Remain would win a second referendum? Doesn’t support for the Brexit Party give them any doubts? Surely a Brexit compromise is better for Labour than a second referendum defeat followed by hard Brexit?
— Nick Boles MP (@NickBoles) May 13, 2019
From Anna Soubry, the former Conservative who is now a Change UK MP
“Jeremy Corbyn is a great man” @tom_watson on @BBCr4today #TomWatson doesn’t offer a way out for Labour moderates - he’s facilitating #Brexit and propping up #JeremyCorbyn The only way to build a new politics is @ForChange_Now
— Anna Soubry MP (@Anna_Soubry) May 13, 2019
From journalists
From the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire
Big mistake by Corbyn for Labour not to fight to keep Britain in Europe and back a fresh referendum. Party could’ve beaten Farage in this month’s EP elections instead of trailing in the polls. Starmer-Watson one-two reflects growing frustrations, widening divisions
— Kevin Maguire (@Kevin_Maguire) May 13, 2019
From PoliticsHome’s Kevin Schofield
Barry Gardiner: "Labour is not a Remain party now."
— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) May 13, 2019
Tom Watson: "We are a Remain and reform party."
No wonder voters are confused.
From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn
First Keir Starmer, now Tom Watson won’t tell #BBCR4today he’d back a cross-party Brexit deal even if Labour got all it wanted, customs union and all, without a second referendum. This is now the clear price. If May won’t pay it, why prolong talks any longer?
— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) May 13, 2019
Updated
Here is the clip of Tom Watson on Today.
"We are a remain and reform party."
— BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) May 13, 2019
Labour deputy leader @tom_watson says "remain is not on the ballot paper" in the EU elections but "narrow populism" and "nationalism" is, so voters should "look at the wider context of the political world we're in" #r4today pic.twitter.com/7pU4w8GTgz
Labour is a 'remain and reform party', says Tom Watson
One of the reasons why Nigel Farage’s Brexit party is doing so well in the polls at the moment is that it has a very clear message. It might be a simplistic message, and a relatively hollow message (beyond ‘we want a WTO Brexit’, the party does not seem to have any other positions at all), but you can summarise on a poster where the party stands on the main issue for the European elections.
The same cannot be said for some of the other parties and Labour’s equivocation on the issue was illustrated this morning in an interview on the Today programme given by Tom Watson, the Labour deputy leader. Watson said he agreed with what Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, told the Guardian in an interview about how any cross-party Brexit deal without a confirmatory referendum would struggle to pass through the Commons because up to 150 MPs are insisting on one. But Watson was evasive as to whether he would want a deal on a Labour-style Brexit to be put to a confirmatory vote.
Then the presenter, Justin Webb, asked Watson to sum up Labour’s Brexit position. He said:
For someone thinking of voting in the European elections, and wondering whether or not to vote Labour, are you a Brexit party or a non-Brexit party?
Watson replied:
We are a remain and reform party but obviously, when it comes to a deal, people can form their own view.
But when it comes to that European election, remain is not on the ballot paper in that election.
“Remain and reform” sums up Labour’s position in the referendum in 2016. But it is not how all Watson’s colleagues describe its position now. There have been at least two other answers to this question.
1) Labour not a remain party
Barry Gardiner, the shadow international trade secretary, is the person who has said this most directly. “Labour is not a remain party now,” he said in March. But John Healey, the shadow housing secretary, has said much the same thing.
2) Labour a party for remain and leave
Jeremy Corbyn insists Labour is a party for people who have supported remain and leave. He set out this argument most recently on Thursday, when he said he made no apology for saying Labour was “trying to offer something to everyone over Brexit”.
I will post more from the Watson interview soon.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory Brexiter and chair of the European Research Group, hosts his LBC phone-in.
9.30am: Labour MP Yvette Cooper gives a speech at the launch of a Resolution Foundation report on the impact of the economic downturn on young workers.
11am: Downing Street lobby briefing.
11am: Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, holds a rally in Pontefract.
2.30pm: Amber Rudd, the work and pensions secretary, takes questions in the Commons.
Afternoon: The government/Labour talks on a possible Brexit compromise resume.
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 when I wrap up.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
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