Corbyn's speech and Q&A - Summary and analysis
The CBI has put out a press release criticising Jeremy Corbyn’s speech. See 6pm. That is mostly because the CBI hates the Labour plan for 10% of shares in big business to be given to workers, with the state gaining too. But it seemed a harsh response, because on Brexit Labour is much closer to what the CBI wants than Theresa May is, and overall Corbyn’s speech was more substantial than May’s this morning. He also, in the Q&A, sounded more positive and admiring of people who become rich by launching a business than I’ve ever heard him before. And he even quoted George Osborne approvingly. (See 5.11pm.)
Here are the main points.
- Corbyn confirmed that Labour would vote against Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
- But he also said that Labour “would not countenance a no deal Brexit”. He said that in the speech.And in the Q&A he said:
I just think [a no deal Brexit] would be an appalling vista ... I do not believe anybody wants that. We would obviously make sure, as far as we can in parliament, that simply did not happen.
But Corbyn did not explain how Labour would avoid a no deal Brexit if May’s plan gets defeated, but no alternative plan gets passed by MPs.
- He claimed that the EU would be willing to reopen the Brexit negotiations at the last minute. In the Q&A he said:
Our votes in parliament will be to attempt to stop this deal and to say to the government, ‘You’ve got to go back and negotiate something else’. There is time to do it. By the way, when the EU says there isn’t time, the EU has a long history of 11th hour negotiations. Even the Lisbon Treaty was renegotiated several times.
- He insisted that Labour would find it easier to negotiate a Brexit deal with the EU, because Labour would not resort to threats. (See 5.19pm.)
- He criticised the government for proposing an immigration plan that would only allow high-skilled workers into the UK. (See 5.09pm.)
- He said May’s deal “locks in uncertainty” for years. (See 4.52pm.) It was “a blindfold Brexit”, he said. (See 4.54pm.)
- He would not commit himself to opposing Brexit. Two questioners asked him what he could offer to younger voters who want to remain in the UK. Corbyn said the country was divided over Brexit. He did not mention a second referendum, but he said he did want to keep the UK in the Erasmus programme because he thought it was important for students to be able to spend a year abroad. (See 5.19pm.)
- He repeatedly stressed the importance of acknowledging the concerns of people on both sides of the Brexit argument, and of bringing the country together. (See 5.19pm and 5.26pm.) In this respect he sounded a bit like Gordon Brown last week. Arguably this is the tone that Theresa May should have adopted in the autumn of 2016, instead of proposing a hard Brexit and denouncing “citizens of the world”.
- He stressed his admiration for people who start businesses and become rich. Asked what he thought about people who do well from business, he replied:
No, I don’t have a problem with people doing well at all. Indeed, I know many in my own community and other places that do set up and establish small businesses, and sometimes they grow to be considerably bigger. They all go through the pain of trying to get a premises, if they are making things or selling things, trying to borrow the money to do it, trying to fix it up and all that to get started. And they work incredibly hard and they do take huge personal risks to achieve it.
Some fall by the wayside, and those businesses don’t make it. Others do very well.
I don’t have a problem with that. I don’t have a problem at all with that. Quite the opposite. Actually, it’s the dynamic that’s brought about much of the technical and economic development we’ve got in this country.
But two things need to happen. One is, those innovative, creative people who have designed so much of the high-technology we’ve got need support to do it, and need access to appropriate funding to get their businesses going.
And if they do become incredibly rich, then I invite them to be happy with their wealth, but also to share it a bit by paying their taxes as appropriately so that our public services are there for them, just as much as they are there for everybody else, so that we don’t have this horribly divided society. I don’t think any of use want to walk past rough sleepers on the way into our businesses every day.
- He claimed businesses would be strengthened by the Labour’s plans to give shares to workers. (See 5.05pm.)
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
CBI accuses Labour of offering business 'command and control', not partnership
Jeremy Corbyn seemed to get a polite response in the hall at the CBI (although I can’t be sure - I was watching on TV) but the CBI director general, Carolyn Fairbairn, has put out a very negative response. She said:
Firms have made an offer to Labour – to work with business in a new partnership to solve the issues facing the UK and build a truly competitive and fair country.
From rigid employment rules to blunt public ownership, the Labour approach sounds more command and control, than partnership. This is not the change that is needed.
Labour and business do share an ambition to tackle inequality, but the way to achieve this is through collaboration based on the belief that enterprise is a force for good.
She also seemed to criticise Labour for not supporting the government’s Brexit deal - even though what the CBI wants from Brexit is much close to what Labour wants than what the government is proposing. She said:
Firms wants a new relationship based on frictionless trade, services access and a say for the UK over future rules. This is the real prize – and firms are desperate to move forwards.
The deal currently on the table opens up this potential, and the last thing businesses want is to go backwards. The government’s deal is not perfect, but with four months to go and the potential of no deal looming progress must be made.
Here is Sky’s Beth Rigby on the PM’s meeting with Brexiters. (See 3.52pm.)
So, the press pack gathered to get a read out from ERG-ers IDS and Patterson on their meet with PM in No 10, but they didn't make a statement after the meeting. Why? told it was constructive and the PM has seriously entertained what they had to say 1/2
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) November 19, 2018
One Brexiteer source told me that you might interpret all of this as May 'saving herself' from *that* confidence vote by talking to senior ERG representatives for an hour...... 2/2
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) November 19, 2018
An update from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.
Theresa Villiers apparently HASN'T submitted her letter - v happy to clarify
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 19, 2018
The government is preparing to accept an amendment to the finance bill, tabled by Labour’s Chuka Umunna and the Conservative Anna Soubry, rather than face defeat tonight.
Signed by 11 Conservatives - enough to wipe out Theresa May’s wafer-thin majority - it would oblige the government to publish economic forecasts comparing the impact of its Brexit deal with remaining in the EU.
”I think we’re there,” said one of the amendment’s backers, “we’re expecting them to make the concession at the dispatch box”.
It’s the latest effort by backers of a “people’s vote”, including ex-minister Jo Johnson, to prevent May framing the choice facing MPs when she brings her deal back to parliament next month, as her deal or no deal.And it underlines the challenge the government is facing in getting everyday business through the Commons.
The Treasury is likely to claim that it always intended to publish such projections - pointing to a letter Philip Hammond sent to treasury select committee chair Nicky Morgan earlier this year, which mentioned analysing the impact of no deal, “relative to a status quo baseline”.
Q: Why do you think your plan would be easier to negotiate with Brussels?
Corbyn says Labour would not be approaching negotiations with the EU on the basis of threats. He would not be threatening to turn the UK into Singapore.
The approach would be difficult.
Q: What is your view of people doing well from businesses they start or lead?
This is a philosphoical question, he says. He likes that. He says he does not have a problem with people doing well at all. He says people who start business all go through pain and work very hard. He does not have a problem with that. Some succeeed, some fail.
He says these people need support to launch their companies. If people do well, he invites them to share their wealth and pay their taxes. He says he does not think anyone want to walk past rough sleepers on the way to work.
Many firms do support their communities. But it is important to have public services too, he says.
Q: With 130 days to Brexit how can you get your measures agreed in time to get avoid a no deal Brexit?
Corbyn says there must be a sense of urgency. The deal on offer is not acceptable.
He says the government should recognise that, and go back to negotiate something that more acceptable.
He says he wants to finish on this point; it is important to understand why people voted as they did, and to put forward proposals that bring society together.
And that’s it.
I will post a summary soon.
Corbyn's Q&A
Corbyn is now taking questions, in two groups of three.
Q: [From Sky News] You talk about uncertainty. But businesses fear a no deal Brexit. So why is it worth rejecting the government’s plans if that risks no deal. And do you favour extending article 50 so you can get your plans through?
Corbyn says the prospect of no deal would be “really, really serious”. What would happen? Would we go out on WTO rules? What would happen to environmental regulations? What about tariffs?
Corbyn says Labour would be quite serious about ensuring that does not happen.
It will try to stop this deal, and go back to Brussels.
He says, although the EU says there is not time to renegotiate, it has a long history of renegotiating at the last minute.
Q: As a young person, I want words of comfort. How will young people have assurance for the future?
Q: Young voters want to remain. Do you have any message for those voters?
Corbyn says people voted to leave in communities with little economic prospects. It is important not to underestimate the anger in those places.
But even in remain-voting cities, young people want to be free to travel, he says. He says he wants to ensure that young people can still do that. He says he thinks it is good for students to spend a year abroad. He wants to keep the Erasmus scheme.
He campaigned to remain in the EU. But he wanted reform too.
As for options, he says he would fight the election on Labour’s plan. Labour debated these at its conference. People said the party would split, but it did not.
He says he leads a party, but he is not a dictator. Those options are on the table. He does not want the UK to be cut off, he says.
He says he thinks Labour’s plans will unite people.
Corbyn is now winding up - quoting George Osborne to boost his case.
Change is needed to prevent the destruction of our environment that endangers all of our futures. And change is needed to tackle the huge inequality that has distorted the economy and fractured our society.
A senior figure in public life recently warned that: “an economy in which the returns to capital are greater than the returns to labour is one in which support for capitalism is going to decline.”
This isn’t a quote from me or from John McDonnell. They are the words of the former Conservative chancellor, George Osborne.
And he was absolutely right.
Business in Britain today faces a great future if it embraces the change we need for our economy and our society.
Labour is ready to lead that change and I invite you to join us to make that change together. To rebuild our economy and our country. So it really does work for the many, not the few.
Updated
Corbyn turns to climate change.
We’ve been talking a lot today about the urgency and importance of the choices we face over Brexit but in a very real sense the most serious and pressing challenge we face of all is the potential decimation of our planet. That’s why it’s our policy to aim for 60% of heat and electricity to come from low carbon or renewable sources by 2030 and to achieve net zero emissions before 2050.
The Conservative government has overseen a 56% fall in investment in renewable energy over the last year. The next Labour government will put our environment centre stage.
That doesn’t have to mean sacrifice, it’s a huge opportunity for businesses, jobs and communities. We will create 400,000 high-skilled, well-paid green jobs, cutting emissions and generating employment at the same time by increasing the production of offshore wind power sevenfold, doubling onshore wind power, trebling solar power and launching a £12.8 billion fund for home insulation.
These are bold plans but they are necessary if we are to meet the climate crisis head on and upgrade our economy for the 21st century.
Corbyn criticises the government’s post-Brexit migration plans.
We recognise that to close the skills gap we cannot close ourselves off from the rest of the world. When the Tories talk about high skilled immigration, what they actually mean is high wage immigration. That won’t solve the shortages of nurses, care workers and builders we desperately need and vital to rebuilding an economy that works for all.
There is nothing to gain from false competition between good and bad migration which only whips up division and hatred. Having seen the consequences of this government’s hostile environment with the Windrush Scandal, few will be convinced that this government is capable of delivering either a fair or efficient migration system.
This will go down well, because what Corbyn is saying closely echoes the CBI critique. See 1.18pm.
Corbyn says Labour will increase public investment in the economy.
The UK is the only major economy where investment is falling not rising. That is holding back our economy, innovation and productivity. The failure to invest means Britain’s productivity is 15% lower than that of other major economies.
Corbyn says giving workers shares in firms will 'strengthen, not weaken, business'
Corbyn is now summarising Labour’s plans.
That means a new settlement for business and a stronger say for the workforce where government will drive a higher rate of investment in infrastructure, education, skills and the technologies of the future. The largest businesses that can afford it will pay a bit more towards the common good.
So we will repeal the 2016 Trade Union Act and roll out sectoral collective bargaining to ensure that working people can be fairly represented through their trade unions. At the Labour party annual conference in September we set out proposals to give workers a say, and a stake, in larger businesses. We will legislate to ensure a third of the seats on company boards are reserved for elected worker-directors. And we will give employees a stake in company profits by asking big businesses to transfer shares to be held by workers in trust.
Despite the frenzied reactions in certain sections of the press this certainly isn’t about any kind of war on business, rather the opposite. Labour recognises the vast and vital contribution businesses make to our economy and our society. And at the heart of that contribution are your employees. They have an interest in the long-term success of your company – their company. They have in-depth knowledge of its day to day workings. They have so much to contribute and giving them a real voice will strengthen, not weaken, the business. Workers create profits. Giving workers a share in them isn’t just fair, it’s good for business.
Corbyn says 'rules of game need to change' when they don't work for overwhelming majority
Corbyn says people are struggling with increased debt, stagnant wages and increasing job insecurity.
Last week almost unnoticed amid the drama of cabinet resignations, Professor Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, published a damning report on poverty in the UK. He found that a fifth of the population, amounting to 14m people, are living in poverty. He catalogued what he described as the “dramatic decline in the fortunes of the least well off” and said our rates of child poverty are “not just a disgrace, but a social calamity and an economic disaster.”
The fact is that wealth hasn’t trickled down. Instead, rigid and outdated economic thinking has helped create a situation where 20% of Britain’s wealth is in the hands of just 1% of the population making us one of the most unequal countries in the EU. Inflated boardroom bonuses haven’t made our economy stronger or more successful. Corporation tax cuts haven’t increased investment and growth or put more money in workers’ pay packets. And financial deregulation didn’t deliver self-regulating markets but an era-defining economic crash from which we are still struggling to recover.
It could not be clearer, business as usual isn’t working. And when the rules of the game aren’t working for the overwhelming majority, the rules of the game need to change.
Corbyn turns to the causes of the Brexit vote.
In 2016 the country voted to leave the EU against the economic backdrop of post-crash Britain: a million families using food banks, over 4 million children living in poverty and real wages that are lower today than they were in 2010.
In towns and cities hollowed out by industrial decline and neglect, with boarded up shops and closed youth centres, many people voted for Brexit as an act of protest against a political system that simply wasn’t delivering.
At the root of this was Britain’s profoundly unbalanced economy, chronic under-investment and failed economic policy. That needs to change.
The shape of our economy after Brexit will not only be determined by the text negotiated in Brussels. It will be driven by political decisions about the direction we wish to take as a country. We could try to carry on as before, with economic thinking that has fuelled instability, insecurity and crisis. Or we can embrace change and build a more equal and prosperous society that meets people’s hopes and needs.
Corbyn says, if May cannot get her deal through parliament, Labour should get its chance.
If the prime minister is unable to negotiate an agreement that can win a majority in parliament and work for the whole country, Labour’s alternative plan can and must take its place.
And he says Labour’s plan is similar to the CBI’s.
The deal I have outlined has always been possible, putting the economy and jobs first, as both Labour and the CBI have argued in different ways for some time. In January, Carolyn [Fairbairn, the CBI director general] called for the UK to remain in a customs union with the EU for the long term. And we agree with the CBI too on the need for a deal that guarantees a strong single market relationship. There is a better deal to be had and it’s not too late to achieve it – if the prime minister has the courage to change course, or stand aside and let Labour take the reins.
Corbyn explains what Labour wants from Brexit.
First, we want a new comprehensive and permanent customs union with a British say in future trade deals that would ensure no hard border in Northern Ireland and avoid the need for the government’s half-baked backstop deal. Businesses and workers need certainty. The Tories’ sticking plaster plan for a temporary customs arrangement, with no clarity on how long it will last and no British say, can only prolong the uncertainty and put jobs and prosperity at risk.
Second, a sensible deal must guarantee a strong single market relationship. Talk of settling for a downgraded Canada-style arrangement is an option popular only on the extremes of the Tory party. It would be a risk to our economy, jobs and investment in our schools, hospitals and vital public services.
Third, a deal that works for Britain must also guarantee that our country doesn’t fall behind the EU in workers’ rights or protections for consumers and the environment. Britain should be a world leader in rights and standards. We won’t let this Conservative government use Brexit as an excuse for a race to the bottom in protections, to rip up our rights at work or to expose our children to chlorinated chicken by running down our product standards.
Corbyn says the threat of a no deal Brexit is not realistic.
The prime minister knows that no deal isn’t a real option. Neither the cabinet nor parliament would endorse such an extreme and frankly dangerous course.
Labour will not countenance a no deal Brexit. I fully understand why business, which knows how disastrous no deal would be, is so concerned at the prospect, and why some might feel under pressure to support any deal, no matter how botched and half-baked, to avoid a worse outcome.
But the threat simply isn’t realistic. If the government believed no deal was a genuine option, it would have made serious preparations, but it hasn’t. Indeed, shortly before he quit, the former Brexit secretary [Dominic Raab] revealed that he had only just found out that the UK is “particularly reliant on the Dover-Calais crossing” because we are, as he put it a “peculiar geographic entity” – by which I think he meant an island. Well, we’re only talking about 10,000 lorries a day arriving at Dover handling 17% of the country’s entire trade in goods, worth an estimated £122bn last year.
Corbyn continues with his critique of the Brexit deal.
If a comprehensive future relationship is not agreed by January 2021, which few believe is likely after the experience so far, then those negotiations would have to be put on hold because the focus would inevitably shift from negotiating the future relationship to negotiating an extension to the transition period – meaning another period of further uncertainty.
And if the transition period can’t be extended, Britain will be locked into a backstop from which it cannot leave without the agreement of the EU, with no time limit or end point and no say for Britain, sowing the seeds of a backlash in years to come.
And that’s only the withdrawal agreement. The outline political declaration that was also published last week, which is supposed to signal our future relationship with the EU after Brexit, runs to a mighty seven pages.
So after two whole years, the fruits of the government’s efforts to outline our trading future can be set down on just seven sheets of paper – with no ambition to negotiate a new comprehensive customs union, no clear plan for a strong deal with the single market, merely a vague commitment to go beyond the baseline of the WTO, no determination to achieve frictionless trade or even the prime minister’s downgraded ambition for trade to be “as frictionless as possible” (meaning further uncertainty for business), and only the scantest mention of workers’ rights, consumer rights, or environmental protections.
After all the speculation about which adjective to use before the word Brexit — hard, soft, clean, red white and blue, the prime minister is trying to take us into a blindfold Brexit, a deal designed to get her through to the next stage of the process without anyone being able to see where we’re heading as a country. It’s a leap in the dark, an ill-defined deal with a never defined end date.
Corbyn says government’s Brexit agreement ‘locks in uncertainty’ for four years or more
Corbyn says the deal locks in uncertainty for two, three, four or more years.
The result of this skewed priority is a Brexit deal that is simply not good enough. Rather than ending the uncertainty of the last two-and-a-half years, the agreement the government has negotiated locks in uncertainty for another two, three, four – who knows how many more years?
- Corbyn says government’s Brexit agreement ‘locks in uncertainty’ for four years or more.
Corbyn says some might think the length of the negotiation meant the government was driving a hard bargain.
But now we know the answer. It wasn’t. The government was negotiating a botched, half-way house.
The deal does not say anything about having frictionless trade. And it does not guarantee workers’ right, while it does bake in rules in state aid.
He says Labour will vote against the deal. If it cannot get the government to accept its plan, it will demand a general election. If that is not possible, all options will be on the table, “including a public vote of some form”.
Corbyn says the CBI and Labour have had a constructive relationship since be became leader.
This is a time of huge decisions for the country, he says - about Brexit, but also about the kind of economy we want.
He says business has been confused about Brexit. Instead of leadership, “we have a government in complete disarray’, he says.
As soon as the withdrawal agreement was published, the government began to collapse. And now they are contemplating a leadership election.
Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI director general, says the CBI share goals with Jeremy Corbyn. They don’t agree on everything, she says. But she says they want a partnership.
Jeremy Corbyn's speech to CBI
Jeremy Corbyn is about to address the CBI.
Here is our preview of his speech based on extracts sent out overnight.
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg says two more letters have gone in calling for a no confidence vote in Theresa May.
Two more letters in we hear - Theresa Villiers and Philip Hollobone
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 19, 2018
UPDATE:
Theresa Villiers apparently HASN'T submitted her letter - v happy to clarify
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 19, 2018
Updated
ConservativeHome’s Mark Wallace has obtained a recording of Theresa May’s conference call with Tory activists on Friday. He has put it on YouTube here.
Sadly, it does not feature May privately telling the association chairman that she is going to grind the ERG until they are begging for mercy. A Sunday Telegraph story about the call had, as its top line from May, the PM insisting she will press on with her plan for a “common rulebook” on goods with the EU after Brexit (ie, the EU rulebook).
Here is Wallace’s assessment of what his scoop reveals.
My source from the other day who said “I got the impression that people want to support her, but are struggling” seems to have been on the button. Some callers who open with warm comments about the prime minister personally still sound concerned by the political situation – one reports “solid support for you personally” from local members and officers, before going on to report their “extreme concerns” about the deal and to ask about the chances of such concerns being listened to; another mentions fond views of May on the doorstep, but asks about the next steps if the deal is voted down in parliament. There are other callers who are neutral and ask simply about practicalities, but only one is explicitly positive about the deal itself, referring to it as “giving people what they want” and criticising sceptics as not having read the document.
Updated
Here is the Evening Standard’s Kate Proctor on the missing letters calling for a vote of no confidence in Theresa May.
On the letters, I'm hearing all of this now hinges on 12 MPs....the ones who said they'd submit a no confidence letter who haven't yet. This includes some in 2017 intake. "About 12 hold the status of the PM's future in their hands right now" - one Tory MP.
— Kate Proctor (@KateProctorES) November 19, 2018
David Davis calls for Brexit vote on Thursday
David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, has told HuffPost UK that the government should consider holding the vote on the Brexit withdrawal deal this Thursday. He explained:
The proper way to resolve the issue is to put the deal to the Commons as soon as possible, ideally this week. There’s very little on the agenda in the Commons this Thursday, for example.
There’s no need to wait for the EU council because this [deal] was approved by the commission. If parliament decides to reject it, then the commission has got to deal with the fact that it is unacceptable to parliament.
It might choose to walk away and say in that case there’s no deal, I think it’s highly unlikely, but it puts the ball in their court.
Number 10 has said there are no plans for such a vote.
Hunt says Brexit document on future relationship could 'put minds at rest'
Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, has begun talks with Europe’s foreign ministries to see if it is possible to “clarify both sides intentions” and “put minds at rest” in the future relationship document that Theresa May is seeking to negotiate and expand with the European Union this week. Speaking the Guardian in Tehran, he said:
I do not think you can change any issues of substance because the withdrawal agreement is a legally binding document and the future relationship is a political declaration.
But he added:
What you might be able to do is clarify what everyone’s intentions are in the withdrawal agreement where there is inevitably quite a lot of suspicion on both sides. On the UK side there is a lot of concern that this is an attempt to trap the UK in the customs union for ever, and on the European side there is concern whether this is an attempt to by the UK to unlock the four freedoms. So what you can do in the future relationship document is put people’s minds at rest.
It is not clear if these reassurances, that both sides do not want to leave the UK stuck in the limbo of a customs union, will be enough to satisfy Tory Brexiters demanding a unilateral right for the UK to pull out of the so-called backstop.
Hunt said the reference to “best endeavours” in the completed withdrawal agreement could be developed in the political agreement. He said:
All you can do is to create a context that makes it clear what people are trying to achieve and intending to achieve, and I think that can be helpful.
He suggested some foreign ministries have become more alarmed by the absolute appalling chaos that might ensure if May was ousted, or no agreement reached. He said:
Everyone in the EU saw what happened in the summer [with the Chequers document] and they saw what happened last week , and so they are watching events very, very closely, and they do want a deal, and they want to try and create a climate to let that happen.
These are from ITV’s Carl Dinnen.
Breaking - a delegation of Conservative brexiteers have arrived in Downing St.
— Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) November 19, 2018
Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson lead the delegation in to No10 a few moments ago.
— Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) November 19, 2018
NEW I understand the Brexiteers now in No10 are hoping to persuade the PM the Irish backstop can be avoided with a separate trade treaty.
— Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) November 19, 2018
Breaking. The Brexiteer delegation now in No10 we’re carrying a print out of an email from Sabine Weyand to Owen Paterson apparently approving of some of their ideas for keeping the Irish border open. Photographers here captured the print out.
— Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) November 19, 2018
Rudd says she is listening 'very carefully' and will 'do better' on universal credit
Amber Rudd has been making her debut as work and pensions secretary and she’s been trying to strike a different tone on the central issue of universal credit, if offering nothing new policy-wise.
Answering departmental questions – or rather a few questions; most were delegated to junior DWP ministers given she’s been in the job all of three days – Rudd said several times that she wanted to “do better” on UC, which has been widely condemned for pushing people in debt and being overly complex.
Rudd also said more than once she was “certainly going to listen very carefully” to charities and experts on UC, something Labour have demanded.
On claimants’ access to payments to tide them over as they move to UC, Rudd said:
We have already made some adjustments to that and I will make sure that I do all I can to ensure that we do better.
Another time, talking about the policy in general, she said: “I know it can be better.”
There was, however, no indication of how this would happen. Rudd was also scathing about a UN rapporteur’s inquiry into poverty in the UK, saying condemning what he called the “extraordinary political language” used in it.
Amber Rudd has been taking questions in the Commons in her new role as work and pensions secretary. My colleague Peter Walker has been following the hearing.
Amber Rudd, making her debut as work & pensions secretary at DWP questions in Commons, says she is "certainly going to listen very carefully” to charities/experts on rollout of universal credit. Hint of a different approach?
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 19, 2018
One question later, Rudd hits out at the "extraordinary political language" of the UN report into poverty in Britain, saying it discredited the study.
— Peter Walker (@peterwalker99) November 19, 2018
Sky’s Beth Rigby has been speaking to a source from the European Research Group, the hard Brexit faction pushing for a no confidence vote in Theresa May, on the non-appearance, so far, of the 48 letters required for a ballot.
*Confidence Vote Watch* ERG source tells me that if vote doesn't happen today a] It's a victory for the Tory party machine whipping operation over weekend b] It's delayed not forgotten.. apparently some MPs thinking it better for put letters in after she loses the WA vote in HoC
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) November 19, 2018
In the Sun today Matt Dathan and Tom Newton Dunn claim that, as of last night, the ERG were six letters short of the 48 that they need. They also quote Steve Baker, the ERG deputy chairman, saying that some of his colleagues who have claimed to have submitted letters have not been telling the truth. Baker told them:
If everyone does what they’ve told me, the line will be crossed by a big margin on Monday evening.
However, it has become very very clear that not everyone does what they’ve said they’re going to do.
Conservative members of parliament who have decided that the only way to change the policy is to change the leader must have the courage and integrity to write the letter themselves.
Simply telling me they’re going to obviously isn’t good enough.
Updated
Sturgeon says May's comment about EU nationals being able to 'jump the queue' under free movement 'disgraceful'
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has also described Theresa May’s description of how free movement works (EU nationals being able to “jump the queue” - see 11.16am) as “really disgraceful”.
Stopping EU citizens ‘jumping the queue’ - that the case for Brexit has been reduced to such a miserable and self defeating bottom line is depressing in the extreme. Let’s lift our sights higher than this. https://t.co/qS178lTwlV
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) November 19, 2018
Actually, the more I think about it, the more offensive ‘jump the queue’ is as a description of a reciprocal right of free movement. Really disgraceful.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) November 19, 2018
Lunchtime summary
- The CBI has criticised Theresa May’s post-Brexit migration plans after she told its conference that EU nationals would no longer be able to “jump the queue” ahead of other foreign skilled workers after the UK leaves. (See 1.18pm.) But, overall, May received quite a positive welcome from the CBI, which is glad the UK has actually reached a deal on Brexit with the EU. May urged people unsure of whether or not to back her Brexit deal to listen to the views of business. (See 12.41pm.)
- May has said the Brexit transition would have to end before the next general election, due in the summer of 2022. (See 12.41pm.) She spoke after Greg Clark, the business secretary, said the government was open to the option of extending the Brexit transition period up to the end of 2022.
- Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s SNP first minister, has said she believers there is a potential Commons majority for remaining in the single market and customs union. Addressing an economic forum in Dundee, she said:
The Scottish government’s view is that we should continue to press for - and I believe there is the potential for - a majority in the House of Commons around this, for the UK to stay in the single market and the customs union.
That would be a solution that respects the outcome of the referendum, largely resolves the Irish border issue and mitigates the worst economic consequences of Brexit.
Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary and one of the most powerful figures in the Labour party, made a similar argument in an article for HuffPost. He said:
If the prime minister would only stop listening to the hard-line rump on her own backbenches, she would realise that there is a different deal available. That it is perfectly possible to secure a natural majority in parliament for leaving the European Union, as the British people mandated in June 2016 but in a way that unites the nation.
She needs to reach out to Jeremy Corbyn and forget about Jacob Rees-Mogg and her disloyal cabinet. She needs to actually listen to trade union concerns, rather than pretending to do so. Jeremy Corbyn extended the possibility of agreement in his party conference speech in September. Now is the time to take up the offer.
Although there is some overlap between what Sturgeon and McCluskey are proposing, there are also differences. The SNP want to keep the UK in the single market. Labour is committed to leaving the single market, because it thinks free movement must end and Jeremy Corbyn is worried about some of the single market rules affecting state aid.
- Andrew Bridgen, one of the Tory Brexiters who has written a letter calling for a no confidence vote in Theresa May, has told LBC that he thinks the 48 letters required for a vote to go ahead will be in by the end of the day. He said:
Some, many colleagues will have taken soundings in their constituency over the weekend, they will have seen in the media how unpopular the draft withdrawal agreement is and I think they’ll be writing their letters today. I am hopeful and confident that we will have the required 48 letters calling for a confidence motion by the end of today.
- The five Brexiters who decided not to resign from cabinet last week despite their misgivings about May’s withdrawal agreement have not met to discuss how they might push for a tougher stance - despite reports that that is what they were planning. This is from the Telegraph’s Steven Swinford.
BREAKING
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) November 19, 2018
'Gang of five' has not met so far today and may not do so. Despite talks over weekend they are struggling to present a united front.
While Leadsom still pushing to change withdrawal agreement, there's less appetite from Fox, Gove & Mordaunthttps://t.co/DdSNV0zx6B
And this is from Sky’s Beth Rigby, quoting one of the five, Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary.
Mordaunt offering a clue in doorstep to @skynews this morning. “I’ll be working with the WHOLE (my caps locks) of the cabinet to get the best deal possible for the UK”
— Beth Rigby (@BethRigby) November 19, 2018
Updated
Here is Gerard Batten, the Ukip leader, on Theresa May’s speech to the CBI.
The CBI endorsing the government’s Brexit plan is the rotten cherry on top of the poisoned cake that Mrs May has served up to the British people.
The CBI campaigned for Britain to have price controls in the 1970’s, join the ERM in the late 80’s, dump the pound and adopt the euro in the 90’s and backed the remain campaign in 2016. On every single major economic and political question facing the UK the CBI has been wrong - at this point, it has zero credibility.
The CBI represents the interests of large corporations who want to drive down wages by flooding the jobs market with mass uncontrolled immigration. No wonder that the CBI endorses the plan - it will turn Britain into a vassal state of the EU and wedge the door open to continued mass, uncontrolled immigration.
Batten doesn’t seem to have noticed that the CBI is actually opposed to Theresa May’s post-Brexit migration policy. (See 1.18pm.)
My colleague Simon Jenkins thinks Theresa May should have berated British business at the CBI conference for not doing more to make the case for the UK staying in the single market.
CBI says government's post-Brexit migration plans will create labour shortages
The CBI has issued its response to Theresa May’s speech. In a statement, Carolyn Fairbairn, its director general, said that May had “opened the door for enterprise and government to work together and build a fairer and more competitive UK” (which sounds positive). But, on migration policy, Fairbairn was much more critical, saying businesses would lose out from the government’s plan to stop low-skilled EU workers coming to the UK. She said:
Government may be listening to business when it comes to immigration, but they still aren’t hearing.
Free movement of people is ending and a new immigration system represents a seismic shift – one that firms across the country need time to adapt to.
A false choice between high and low skilled workers would deny businesses, from house builders to healthcare providers, the vital skills they need to succeed.
The best way to build public confidence is through a migration system based on contribution, not numbers.
She also said businesses needed “frictionless” trade with the EU after Brexit.
Future prosperity depends on getting the Brexit deal right. The overwhelming message from business is to make progress, don’t go backwards.
We need frictionless trade, ambitious access for our world-beating services and a transition period which draws us back from the cliff edge. Anything less than that and jobs and investment could suffer.
But the seven-page outline for the future framework (pdf) does not include the word “friction”, or “frictionless”. All it says is that the intrusiveness of the checks that will be imposed at the border will depend on the extent to which the UK signs up to regulatory alignment.
Extent of the United Kingdom’s commitments on customs and regulatory cooperation, including with regard to alignment of rules, to be taken into account in the application of checks and controls at the border.
Significant progress is still needed in the Brexit negotiations to flesh out the final political declaration on the future relationship, Downing Street has said, including addressing some language on customs that had alarmed Brexiters.
Theresa May will play a negotiating role in the final stages before Sunday’s summit in Brussels, her spokesman said, although there is no day set this week for her anticipated meeting with the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker.
The prime minister had said over the weekend that she intended to go to Brussels this week ahead of the emergency summit on Sunday. No 10 denied that the threat of a possible no-confidence vote was the reason no date had been finalised.
“It is dependent on the negotiations,” her spokesman said.
This is clearly a very intense part of the negotiations, you would expect the prime minister to be working very hard to get the best deal for the UK and her engagement with the commission president is part of that.
A Downing Street source said they anticipated the final political declaration, which sets out aims for the future relationship with the EU alongside the withdrawal agreement, still needed substantial work. It is currently seven pages long in draft form, but officials said they expected the final version to be significantly longer.
Michel Barnier has sought to sell the provisional Brexit deal by insisting the UK was now “taking back control” of its laws, in an echo of the Vote Leave campaign slogan, and calling for member states to recognise the progress made amid signs of fracture, my colleagues Daniel Boffey and Jennifer Rankin report.
And here is the text of the statement Barnier made this morning after briefing the general affairs council.
Updated
May's speech to the CBI - Summary and analysis
Here are the main points from Theresa May’s speech and Q&A at the CBI conference. It wasn’t a particularly memorable speech, and one passage seemed a bit ill judged (see below), but May received a warm reception, and she will probably be particularly grateful to the CBI president John Allan, who paid tribute to her “resilience and grit”. (See 11.11am.) That probably shows just how desperate the CBI are for anything that would avoid a no deal Brexit.
- May said that Brexit would enable the UK to stop EU nationals from being able to “jump the queue” ahead of skilled workers from outside the EU wanting to work in the UK. (See 11.16am.) Number 10 briefed this extract from the speech in advance, perhaps on the basis of May thinking that one of the best arguments she can use to sell her deal to the public will be the fact that it will end free movement (opposition to which fuelled the leave vote in 2016). But it was an odd argument to deploy at the CBI, which represents employers who have generally benefited from free movement. One businessman who asked a question actually referred to the difficulty in hiring workers since 2016, although his question was overall supportive of May. (See 11.42am.) May’s comment was also potentially misleading because the seven-page outline of the framework for the future relationship (pdf) says the new trade deal will include “arrangements on temporary entry and stay of natural persons for business purposes in defined areas” - implying that in some areas EU workers will still be able to “jump the queue”.
- May said the Brexit transition would have to end before the next general election, due in the summer of 2022. (See 9.12am.) Asked about the suggestion that the transition could last until December 2022, she said:
From my point of view, I think it is important in delivering for the British people that we are out of the implementation period before the next general election.
As the Press Association reports, under the terms of the draft agreement published last week, the transition is due to last until December 31 2021, but may be extended once only if it proves impossible to complete a full deal on future relations by that date, as an alternative to activating the so-called “backstop” arrangements to keep the Irish border open. The text of the agreement states that the period may be extended to “20XX” and it remains unclear whether this will be amended to show a fixed maximum date.
- May urged people unsure of whether or not to back her Brexit deal to listen to the views of business. During the Q&A, when it was put to her that with so many of her MPs opposed, it was hard for people to see why they should back her deal, she replied:
Don’t just listen to the politicians, listen to what business is saying, listen to what business that is providing your jobs, and ensuring that you have that income that puts food on the table for your family, is saying. And business is saying we want a good deal with the EU.
Some business leaders are also saying that any Brexit will be bad for the UK, and that it would be better to have a second referendum so that people can vote to stay, but, needless to say, May does not seem to be agreeing with them on this.
- She urged people to do more to make the case for free markets.
At a time when many are questioning whether free markets and an open trading economy can work for everyone in society, business need to do more to win that argument. It is not just a job for politicians: all of you must play your part too, by stepping up to demonstrate that you truly have a stake in the success of this country.
It was not a party political speech, but in this passage, by “many’, May clearly meant Labour.
Updated
CBI boss says business has spent hundreds of millions preparing for no deal Brexit
Carolyn Fairbairn, the head of the CBI, warned that UK firms were cancelling investments in Britain as she made the case for backing the prime minister’s Brexit deal.
Speaking ahead of Theresa May at the business lobby group’s annual conference in London, she said investment was “flooding out” of investing in technology and workers’ skills, with some leaving the country altogether.
She said one company had scrapped a £100m investment in the North East of England that had instead gone to Eastern Europe. Although refusing to name the company, she warned the anecdote represented a “pattern” of behaviour among major companies against a backdrop of no-deal Brexit. She said:
Our firms are spending hundreds of millions of pounds preparing for the worst case – and not one penny of it will create new jobs or new products.
While other countries are forging a competitive future, Westminster seems to be living in its own narrow world, in which extreme positions are being allowed to dominate.
Fairbairn said May’s deal was “significantly better than stepping off that cliff” of no deal Brexit in March next year, while adding that the political statement that outlines the future trade deal “does chart a route to frictionless trade” between the UK and the EU in future that was important for business.
On the sidelines of the conference, Ross McEwan, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, told the Guardian it was best to “back the prime minister,” warning that there was no workable alternative on the table.
The chief of the majority government-owned bank, which has made a £100m provision to guard against losses connected to Brexit, said the prime minister’s deal was the only option versus a damaging no-deal scenario. He also said it would give businesses the transition period they required to plan for the final Brexit deal.
Updated
At the Number 10 lobby briefing the PM’s spokesman reaffirmed Theresa May’s determination to end the transition before the next general election. This is from PoliticsHome’s Kevin Schofield.
Downing Street spokesman: “The PM has always been clear that the implementation period ends in advance of the next general election and that remains the case.” The next election is due in June, 2022.
— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) November 19, 2018
May suggests she would not let transition extend until end of 2022
Q: There has been talk today of extending the transtion. (See 9.12am.) Can you say whether the UK will be fully out of the implementation period by the next election?
May says the withdrawal agreement has an option to extend the transition, as an alternative to the backstop. Her view is that she does not want that to come into place. If something were needed “for a short period of time”, the UK could choose between the backstop and extending the transition. But she says, from her point of view, it is important to be out of the transition by the next general election (ie, by the summer of 2022).
- May suggests she would not let transition extend until end of 2022.
And that’s it. The speech and Q&A are now over. I will post a summary soon.
Q: Since Brexit it has been hard hiring unskilled labour. Let’s just get on with Brexit.
May says the government is looking carefully at its immigration plans for the future. It will be skills based, she says.
She says the migration advisory committee did not see the need for a route for unskilled wokers into the UK.
Q: What do you say to those in your cabinet who want you to go back to the EU and get a better deal? And how many cabinet ministers can you afford to lose?
May says the government is finalising the deal on the future relationship. That will determine the relationship for decades to come. Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, she says.
Q: [From a woman from a Swedish firm that has moved to the UK] How will the UK help more disruptive companies bring their business to the UK? I have a saying, disrupt or die. There are plenty of good news stories here, but they are not being reported.
May refers again to her modern industrial strategy as having some of the answers.
Q: [From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg] Why should people believe you have struck the right deal when so many of our colleagues think it’s an intolerable compromise?
May says people should not just listen to MPs. They should listen to business. They want a good deal.
The deal delivers on the Brexit vote, on free movement, the ECJ and money, she says. The UK will be out of the CAP and the CFP. But it will protect jobs too.
Q: On Sunday you will sign us into a deal that will lock us into EU regulations unless the EU agrees otherwise. That means business will be locked out of deals with countries outside the EU. So can I ask you to think again instead of listening to the CBI, which is really the Confederation of European Industry.
May says the questioner’s portrayal of the agreement is a little inaccurate.
She says the backstop does not have to be used. Neither side wants it to be used.
She says both side want an ambitious trade deal.
She does want frictionless trade at the border, she says.
She says the questioner assumes that a close relationship with the EU will stop the UK don’t trade deals. But it won’t. The UK will be able to do those deals, she says.
From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
Something pretty strange about sitting listening to Theresa May at CBI ‘getting on with the job’ when she doesn’t know and no one else does either, whether she’s about to face a vote of no confidence at the hands of her own side
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) November 19, 2018
May is taking questions. She says she will take ones from business figures first, before taking ones from journalists.
Q: [From a software company executive] What can you do to help SMEs and the technology sector?
May says the modern industrial strategy contains plans for the technology sector.
May returns to Brexit, and says the government needs to pass its Brexit deal.
We have a deal that works for the UK, she says.
Let no one be in any doubt. I am determined to deliver it.
That is about the only reference to her leadership difficulties.
May says, as the gig economy expands, business should ensure all workers are treated fairly.
We all believe in business as a force for good, she says. She urges business to work with her on this.
May says business should help the UK become the “ideas factory” of the world.
May says businesses should do more to make the case for free markets
May says, at a time when people are questioning the benefits of free markets, businesses need to do more to make the case for them.
- May says businesses should do more to make the case for free markets.
She says they can best do that by investing in young people.
Sky’s Tom Boadle thinks May has come to the wrong place to sell her Brexit deal.
Is the CBI conference unfortunate timing for Theresa May? Preaching her deal to the largely converted. Would she have been better starting this week off in a big Leave constituency outside of the London bubble? pic.twitter.com/NQDtLUsgQd
— Tom Boadle (@TomBoadle) November 19, 2018
May says the “jobs miracle” has been the most striking success story of recent years.
She says she never forgets what is behind the employment figures - real people.
Turning away from Theresa May for a moment, my colleague Jennifer Rankin has more from Brussels.
Full text political declaration expected to be published tomorrow - it could be 14 pages.
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) November 19, 2018
Negotiations to begin 30 March 2019 on future partnership - aka 'easiest trade deal in human history'. Let's see.
Updated
May says her deal will also ensure cooperation on security.
May is now talking about the importance of just-in-time supply chains. She says her plan will protect firms that needs goods to be able to cross borders easily.
But what is right for goods is not necessarily right for services, she says.
She says the trade deal on services will offer more than any other trade deal in existence.
It will go well beyond WTO terms, she says.
There will be appropriate provisions on professional relationships, she says.
May says Brexit will stop EU nationals being able to 'jump the queue' ahead of skilled workers from outside EU
May says getting control of immigration is particularly important.
Getting back full control of our borders is an issue of great importance to the British people. The United Kingdom is a country that values the contribution that immigration has made to our society and economy over many years.
And in the future, outside the EU, immigration will continue to make a positive contribution to our national life.
But the difference will be this: once we have left the EU, we will be fully in control of who comes here.
It will no longer be the case that EU nationals, regardless of the skills or experience they have to offer, can jump the queue ahead of engineers from Sydney or software developers from Delhi. Instead of a system based on where a person is from, we will have one that is built around the talents and skills a person has to offer.
Not only will this deliver on the verdict of the referendum. It should lead to greater opportunity for young people in this country to access training and skilled employment.
We want an immigration system for the future that everyone can have confidence in. Yes, a system that works for business. One that allows us to attract the brightest and the best from around the world, more streamlined application and entry processes.
And we are already talking action in that regard, introducing e-gates for visitors from the USA, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
But it also needs to command the confidence of the public by putting them in control of who comes to this country. That is what I am determined to deliver, and I look forward to working with you to achieve it.
May says there is one paramount issue facing the country, and she starts on Brexit immediately.
She says she is confident that she can strike a deal on Brexit at the EU summit that she can take back to the UK.
The core elements of that deal are already in place. The withdrawal agreement has been agreed in full, subject of course to final agreement being reached on the future framework.
That agreement is a good one for the UK. It fulfils the wishes of the British people as expressed in the 2016 referendum. I have always had a very clear sense of the outcomes I wanted to deliver for people in these negotiations.
Control over our borders, by bringing an end to free movement, once and for all.
Control of our money, so we can decide for ourselves how to spend it, and can do so on priorities like our NHS.
Control of our laws, by ending the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in the United Kingdom and ensuring that our laws are made and enforced here in this country.
Getting us out of those EU programmes that do not work in our interests, like the common agricultural policy and common fisheries policy.
Theresa May's speech to the CBI
Theresa May is about to speak at the CBI conference.
Before she starts, John Allan, the CBI president, pays tribute to the “resilience and grit” May has shown negotiating Brexit.
This is from my colleague Jennifer Rankin in Brussels.
Brussels Brexit latest -- EU27 ministers met Michel Barnier and decided (no surprises) that negs on withdrawal agreement are finished.
— Jennifer Rankin (@JenniferMerode) November 19, 2018
"The question now is whether there is approval of this deal in the UK and the european parliament," said Austria's Gernot Blümel
My colleague Pippa Crerar, who is at the CBI conference, says there is business support for the idea of extending the Brexit transition.
Greg Clark backs idea of longer transition period. One business figure here @CBItweets makes clear it would be preferable to the backstop. "It's a no brainer. Nobody wants the backstop". https://t.co/r08aH1r31B
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) November 19, 2018
The Evening Standard’s Ross Lydall has some pictures of what’s left of Boris Johnson’s water cannon. (See 10.25am.) His story on their sale and disposal is here.
Boris’s water cannon (total cost to London taxpayers of £322k) have been sold for scrap by @SadiqKhan, raising £11k for youth services pic.twitter.com/a7HJ2kqZOd
— Ross Lydall (@RossLydall) November 19, 2018
Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, has said his government will not impose a hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, even if the House of Commons votes down Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement, the Irish News reports.
Brexiters like Steve Baker, the former Brexit minister and European Research Group deputy chair, have been keen to highlight this, because it reinforces their claim that the Irish backstop is unnecessary.
Leo Varadkar says hard border not up for discussion regardless of Brexit deal fate - The Irish News https://t.co/L7jQOzjJ0a
— Steve Baker MP (@SteveBakerHW) November 19, 2018
Many readers will be familiar with how the Conservative party leadership election rules work, but just in case you’re not, my colleague Jessica Elgot explains it all here.
Boris Johnson's unused £320,000 second hand water cannon sold - for £11,025
Three water cannon bought and refurbished for more than £320,000 while Boris Johnson was London Mayor have been sold for just £11,025. As the Press Association reports, the current mayor Sadiq Khan announced today that “we have managed to finally get rid of them” as it was revealed they had been sold to a firm that will dismantle them and export the parts. The machines were bought by Johnson from Germany in 2014 - crucially before their use had been licensed on the UK mainland. The then home secretary, Theresa May, banned their use - rendering them worthless.
There is a Brexit connection. During the 2016 leadership contest, while Johnson was still a candidate, May memorably used the story to mock Johnson’s negotiating ability. She said:
Boris negotiated in Europe. I seem to remember last time he did a deal with the Germans, he came back with three nearly-new water cannon.
This lunchtime’s meeting of the joint ministerial committee (EU negotiations) in London – which brings together representatives of Scottish, Welsh and Westminster administrations – does not promise to be a meeting of minds.
The meeting comes after Welsh and Scottish first ministers, Carwyn Jones and Nicola Sturgeon, wrote a joint letter to the prime minister, in which they criticised a “lack of meaningful engagement” over the Brexit deal and called for an urgent update.
Cabinet Office minister David Lidington, fresh from his trip to Edinburgh last Friday, is telling the devolved administrations to support May’s Brexit deal, insisting: “The deal that is now on the table is the best possible Brexit deal for all parts of the UK.”
But Scotland’s Brexit secretary Michael Russell has in advance accused May’s government of not being interested in his views, saying:
It has been abundantly clear throughout this disastrous Brexit process that the UK government has refused to even pay lip service to the interests of Scotland and is not interested in the views of the Scottish government or parliament.
Speaking to Andrew Marr on Sunday, Nicola Sturgeon also ignored warnings Lidington that she should support the deal because there were no further options for re-negotiation, telling the BBC:
If there is a different direction, if the Commons says ‘we want to go down the road of single market/customs union, we want to take this back to the people of the UK in another vote, we need an extension of article 50’, if there is a clear change of direction then I believe the EU27 would be prepared to look at that. But that means that those who don’t want this deal to come together and there is a responsibility for people like me to have calm heads and clear thinking and to work together.
'The captain is driving the ship at the rocks' - Tory Brexiters renew call for no confidence vote
This morning Anne Marie Morris, one of the 25 Tory MPs who have admitting writing a letter demanding a vote of no confidence in Theresa May, told BBC Breakfast that there was “no question” that 48 letters would go in this week; that is the threshold for a vote to take place.
Asked who would deliver for the country if Theres May gets replaced, Morris said:
There are lots of new very bright, able people in the party. My experience is if you name these people, it is always the kiss of death ... I think it would be somebody new, somebody from the 2010 or 2015 intake.
I don’t think it will be, dare I say, one of the old guard ... I believe people, the general public, want somebody new who is not in a way tainted by all the debate, and the debacle and behaviour of the last few years.
Another of the 25, Simon Clarke, told the Today programme that he hoped colleagues who were considering whether or not to sign a letter would do so. He said:
Colleagues who have said they will act, I think now need to search their consciences and follow up on what they pledged to do ...
The point I would want to make to colleagues who are still agonising about this is if we continue with this plan we are simply not going to have a government. Because the clear threat that [May’s Brexit deal] poses to the integrity of the union is something which our colleagues the DUP will simply not put up with ...
It is quite clear to me that the captain is driving the ship at the rocks.
EU foreign ministers rule out reopening talks on Brexit withdrawal agreement
EU foreign ministers have been speaking to reporters as they arrived for the general affairs council meeting in Brussels. Here are some of the points they’ve been making.
Stef Blok, the Dutch foreign minister, said the withdrawal agreement was “workable”. He told reporters:
Now that there is a concept [ie, draft] withdrawal agreement we think that it is satisfying, it is workable and we will invest our energy now in the political agreement which has to be worked out this week which will define the details of the future relationship between the UK and Europe.
Ales Chmelar, the Czech European affairs minister, said the EU did not want to reopen negotiations on the withdrawal agreement. He said:
We hope that we will not have to reopen the negotiations. We hope that the text will be acceptable today for the EU27 and in the next days also clearly for the British side. So we hope that the text will not be opened excessively.
Chmelar also said he expected British MPs to back the deal. “I suppose that the situation in Britain will consolidate and we will be speaking to a majority and to a government with a clear majority also for the proposals,” he said.
And the Austrian EU minister Gernot Blumel also said the EU would not re-open talks on the withdrawal agreement. He said:
The withdrawal agreement on the table will now be closed. There have been long months of intensive and difficult negotiations and now what we will do is approve what is on the table.
I believe this is the best possible compromise and I hope it will now receive consent on both sides.
Blumel also said it was “a painful week in European politics”.
We have the divorce papers on the table, 45 years of difficult marriage are coming to an end.
And Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, praised Theresa May for adopting a more realistic position. He said:
I think Theresa May deserves praise for her position. ‘No deal is better than a bad deal’ has disappeared. ‘Any deal is better than no deal’ is now the slogan. That is right. This deal that is now on the table is the best there is. There is no better deal for this crazy Brexit.
UPDATE: A reader points out that, when the Dutch foreign minister referred to, according to the quote above, a “concept” withdrawal agreement, he meant a draft withdrawal agreement. I’ve put a line in to make that clear.
@AndrewSparrow Hi Andrew in your blog you quote Dutch foreign minister Stef Blok as speaking of a 'concept' agreement. He may have said that but it doesnt have the same meaning in Dutch and English. In Dutch it means 'Draft'.
— Julius Waller (@JuliusWaller) November 19, 2018
Updated
UK open to option of extending Brexit transition for another two years, Clark says
There was a time, remember, when the government refused to concede that there would have to be a transition period after Brexit at all. It was not until the Lancaster House speech in January 2017 that Theresa May started talking about one, but even then she was referring to “phased process of implementation”, suggesting that in some policy areas the transition could end “very quickly”.
By the time of the Florence speech later that year, May had accepted the case for a transition lasting roughly two years. That became the 21-month transition, meaning the UK will in practice be a non-voting member of the EU until December 2020.
At a summit in October May said she was willing to consider extending the transition - although she did subsequently play down the whole idea when Brexiters in London reacted to it very badly.
Now Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has floated the idea of extending the transition for another two years, until the end of 2022. My colleague Jennifer Rankin has the story here.
On the Today programme this morning Greg Clark, the remain-voting business secretary, was asked if he was attracted to the idea of extending the transition. Extending the transition would avoid the need for triggering the backstop, the presenter, Nick Robinson, suggested. Clark replied:
Yes. And, again, businesses, especially small businesses, have said very clearly that they would much prefer to have one change rather than have to change systems twice, to two different regimes. And if it’s a matter of a few weeks or months to meet the final negotiation ...
But Barnier is talking about an extension until 2022, Robinson pointed out. Clark replied:
It would be at our request, and that would be a maximum period. But it would be for this purpose; it would be if the negotiations are making good progress but haven’’t quite been finalised, to have the option - and it would be an option for us, if there is value in having the option - rather than going in for a temporary period into the backstop, and having a second change, to have the option, if we wanted, if the UK wanted, to extend the transition.
Up to December 2022? Clark replied:
The point is, to have the option. If we have the option, we don’t have to choose it. My strongest preference is clearly to complete the negotiation ...
The point is, it would be our discretion, purely for us if we wanted to.
This is probably not going to go down well with Tory Brexiters. May will probably be asked about this when she addressed the CBI later. And Jeremy Corbyn is at the CBI too, also speaking about Brexit.
And, of course, if that wasn’t enough, today may also be the day when Sir Graham Brady announces that he’s finally got 48 letters, and a no confidence vote in May will be called. If we get to 6pm and there’s no word from Brady, that will look like a serious setback for the European Research Group, the hardcore Brexiter party-within-a-party that has been orchestrating the leadership challenge.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: EU Europe ministers attend a general affairs council meeting where they will discuss Brexit.
9.45am: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, gives a speech in Dundee at the national economic forum.
11.10am: Theresa May speaks at the CBI conference.
4.45pm: Jeremy Corbyn speaks at the CBI conference.
As usual, I will also be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another when I finish, at around 6pm.
Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.
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