Afternoon summary
- The Unite official Jennie Formby has been appointed as Labour’s new general secretary. Formby, a leftwinger backed by Jeremy Corbyn, beat the former NUT general secretary Christine Blower in a decision taken by the party’s national executive committee. She will replace Iain McNicol, who was widely distrusted by the Corbynites in the party and whose position became untenable when Corbyn supporters recently gained a clear majority of votes on the NEC. Her appointment means that, for the first time since he became leader, Corbyn and the left now have absolute control over the Labour party bureaucracy. After her appointment Formby said:
Last year’s general election showed the strength of our movement when we are united, challenging this government’s failed and damaging policies and campaigning for real change, in the interests of communities across the UK.
Labour is preparing for government and I look forward to working with Jeremy Corbyn, our party’s staff, members of parliament, members and affiliates to oppose the Conservatives’ destructive austerity programme inside and outside parliament, and to win elections to build a society that works for the many, not the few.
And Corbyn said:
I would like to congratulate Jennie Formby on her new role as general secretary of our party. Her talent, experience and commitment to the Labour and trade union movement makes me confident she will play a crucial role in building on last year’s inspiring general election advance and taking our party forward to victory.
The Labour party is on the cusp of power and we are ready for a general election whenever it comes. We have the team, the passion and the policies to win the support of the British people, form a government and transform our society for the many, not the few.
Formby is currently Unite’s south east regional secretary and previously served as its political director.
- Downing Street has said ministers discussed new checks by border officials on private flights at today’s national security council. As my colleague Anushka Asthana reports, Theresa May chaired today’s session, which focused on measures being taken in response to the nerve agent attack in Salisbury. The checks are focused on tracking people entering the country who could pose a threat to national security. The prime minister’s spokesman said:
Action has been taken at the UK’s border to enhance our efforts to monitor and track the intentions of those travelling to the UK who could be engaged in activity that threatens the security of the UK and of our allies.This includes strict checks by border officials on private flights.
- Theresa May’s response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack is overwhelmingly seen by the public as better than Jeremy Corbyn’s, a Guardian/ICM poll suggests. (See 4.51pm.)
- Jeremy Hunt, the health and social care secretary, has indicated that a cap on the “punitive” costs faced by people requiring care is set to be included in the latest government plan for reform of the system in England. As the Press Association reports, Hunt acknowledged there was an “illness lottery” which left people suffering from conditions such as dementia facing far bigger bills than others who need hospital treatment for cancer. In a speech setting out his plans for a forthcoming green paper, Hunt said:
The way that our current charging system operates is far from fair. This is particularly true for families faced with the randomness and unpredictability of care and the punitive consequences that can come from developing certain conditions over others.
If you develop dementia and require long-term residential care, you are likely to have to lose a significant chunk of your savings and the equity in your home to pay for that care. But if you require long-term treatment for cancer you won’t find anything like the same cost.
So people’s financial wellbeing in old age ends up defined less by their industry and service in their working lives and more by the lottery of which illness they get. We therefore need a system that includes an element of risk pooling.
Asked if that meant a cap on costs would feature in the plans, Hunt replied that it would.
- Sir Patrick Stewart has called for medicinal cannabis to be legalised as he gave his support to a young boy hoping to receive the treatment for epilepsy. As the Press Association reports, Alfie Dingley, aged six, suffers from a rare condition and needs cannabis oil to help reduce his seizures. His parents, Drew Dingley and Hannah Deacon, want the government to let him use the medication, a banned substance in the UK. They met with Theresa May and other ministers today and handed a 380,000-strong petition to Downing Street. Stewart, who uses medicinal cannabis to treat his arthritis while living in California, joined Alfie and his family and gave his support to the campaign. He said:
How could one not support Alfie? Hearing what his life has been and the benefits given to him by being able to use medicinal marijuana. There has never been a stronger case for the legalisation of medical marijuana.
I have been registered for medical marijuana in California for over three years and have found it immensely beneficial for my arthritis.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
The Conservative former minister Nick Boles has joined those attacked Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, for sending a letter congratulating Vladimir Putin on his re-election as Russian president with mentioning the Salisbury nerve agent attack.
There are some things I really won't miss when we leave the EU. Watching moral pygmies like @JunckerEU crawl to murderous despots like Putin is one of them. https://t.co/6lJRamnM4X
— Nick Boles MP (@NickBoles) March 20, 2018
The Labour peer Andrew Adonis has also spoken out, offering Juncker an alternative wording.
I wouldn’t have put it quite like this. More like: ‘The EU notes that you have ‘won’ another election by banning your opponents and mass intimidation. Please refrain from invading your neighbours and attempting murder in the streets of England, then we might just rub along.’ https://t.co/EWUetyKy9g
— Andrew Adonis (@Andrew_Adonis) March 20, 2018
But the Conservative MEP Charles Tannock - brave man - has defended Juncker.
I have no brief for President Putin whatsoever but in politics for strategic reasons states and organisations have to be cordial with those who don't share their values. Eg Churchill & Stalin in WWII or more recently Liam Fox with President Duterte of Philippines. 1/2
— Charles Tannock (@CharlesTannock) March 20, 2018
2/2 The Union Jack at half mast over the death of King Abdullah of KSA and the red carpet shown for Chinese President UK state visit also spring to mind. The EU is no different from the UK in dealing with foreign leaders.
— Charles Tannock (@CharlesTannock) March 20, 2018
May's response to Salisbury nerve agent attack overwhelmingly seen as better than Corbyn's, poll suggests
We’ve got some new Guardian/ICM polling out today. It covers three topics, and all three sets of figures will provide some cheer in Number 10
How May and Corbyn responded to Salisbury attack
First, we asked people to say how they thought Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn have responded to the Salisbury nerve agent attack. The findings are very clear.
- Theresa May’s response to the Salisbury nerve agent attack is overwhelmingly judged to have been better than Jeremy Corbyn’s, the poll suggests. Asked how May responded “in her capacity as prime minister”, 51% said well and 22% said badly, giving her a net score of +29. Asked how Corbyn responded “in his capacity as leader of the opposition” (a line included to acknowledge that Corbyn has different responsibilities, as he himself has said), 23% said well and 42% said badly, giving him a net score of -19.
These figures are not surprising because other pollsters (eg YouGov last week and Opinium at the weekend) have had very similar results. One consolation for Corbyn is that Labour supporters are inclined to support him. Only 14% of them said he had responded badly, and 46% said he had responded well, giving him a net score of +32 amongst Labour supporters. But May’s net score amongst Conservative supporters was +78.
How the Brexit process is seen to be going
Next we asked people how they thought the Brexit process was going. We last asked this in early February, and before that in December.
- People are slightly less negative about how the Brexit process is going now than they were a month ago, the poll suggests. Some 19% of people said it was going well, and 47% said it was going badly, creating a net score of -28. In early February it was -37, and in December it was -30.
Overall these are still fairly dreadful figures, but ministers will be encouraged by the fact that the fieldwork for this poll took place before Monday’s announcement about a transition deal. The media coverage of that has been a lot more positive than might have been expected given the scale of the concessions involved (the Daily Mail and the Sun, the two most influential Brexiter newspapers, have both written editorials broadly welcoming what was agreed). A poll now might even find the number of people saying the process is going well nudging above 19%.
Voting intention
Finally, here are the voting intention figures.
ICM’s Alex Turk says the increase in the Conservative lead - 3 points now, compared with 1 point two weeks ago - might be related to the media focus on Salisbury. He writes:
We shouldn’t speak too soon, as these are still small shifts in our results. Nevertheless, in the context of recent deadlock in our regular ICM/Guardian vote intention polling, it is possible that this could be showing the start of a small shift away from Labour and towards the Conservatives. We’ll be watching the next few polls closely, to see if this develops into anything more than a small blip in an otherwise unprecedented period of far-too-close-to-call polls.
ICM will publish the tables here, on their website, a bit later.
ICM Unlimited interviewed a representative online sample of 2,013 adults aged 18+ on 16 to 18 March 2018. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
Updated
Spain demands assurances over its Brexit Gibraltar veto ahead of EU summit
A hard fought agreement struck between the UK and EU over a 21-month transition period has been thrown into doubt after Spain insisted that its veto over the deal covering Gibraltar needed to be made clear.
The Guardian understands that Madrid is unconvinced that the 129-page withdrawal agreement, containing the terms of the transition, is concrete enough on the issue.
The EU is insisting that the UK and Spain must come to a bilateral accord with over the future of the Rock before it can benefit from an additional period of time in the single market and customs union.
It is understood that Spain is holding back on endorsing the withdrawal agreement, of which 75% has been agreed by the UK and EU, until changes are made to the document in its favour.
Talks are ongoing among the member states and EU officials in Brussels.
In an open letter ahead of a leaders summit, where the 27 member states were accepted to give their support to the withdrawal agreement, Donald Tusk, the president of the European council writes:
Whether all 27 member states can welcome this at the European Council remains open. I still need a couple more hours to consult with some of the most concerned member states.
Clause 24 of the EU’s negotiating guidelines states agreed last year says that any transition agreement or future trade relationship between the UK and the EU can only be extended to Gibraltar after bilateral agreement between the UK and Spain.
The UK believes that this is not legally watertight.
Asked by a Spanish journalist on Monday whether the transition agreement covered Gibraltar, the Brexit secretary David Davis replied: “Yes, it does cover Gibraltar. That is our view of it.”
Responding to the same question, the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier acknowledged that the legal text agreed by Brussels and the UK included Gibraltar in its scope before adding that there remained a caveat. He said:
Gibraltar leaves the European Union at the same time as the United Kingdom [and] legally, we’ve specified the territorial scope of the agreement.
But there’s a reference which remains valid [and] which member states are keen on, all member states of the European Union on behalf of whom I negotiate.
Barnier was referring to the clause 24 veto included in two sets of negotiating guidelines agreed by the EU over the past year. He said:
Twice, the 27 member states and head of state and government indicated their position on the question of Gibraltar, in total solidarity with the Spanish government.
Updated
The Irish prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has warned that gaps still remain between the EU and the UK over Brexit. As the Press Association reports, speaking in Berlin after a meeting with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, he said that while there has been progress in the Brexit negotiations, “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”. He said:
I think we are seeing steady progress in the Brexit negotiations, but more needs to be done in the coming weeks and months to close the remaining gaps between the EU and the UK ...
We should all remember, we are proceeding on the basis that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and will be working closely with partners to make sure this is faithfully respected
Merkel said Germany fully supported Ireland’s position on the Irish border issue.
Hunt to publish green paper on social care in summer
Jeremy Hunt, the health and social care secretary, has been giving a speech on social care this afternoon. According to the Press Association, he accepted that care services “unprecedented pressure” and that previous reform plans had been “stalled”. He said the government would publish a green paper on a sustainable funding model for social care in the summer.
Setting out his approach, Hunt told an audience of health and social care leaders:
Too many people experience care that is not of the quality we would all want for our own mum or dad.
We need a relentless and unswerving focus on providing the highest standards of care - whatever a person’s age or condition.
This means a commitment to tackle poor care with minimum standards enforced throughout the system, so that those using social care services are always kept safe and treated with the highest standards of dignity and compassion.
Resolving this will take time. But that must not be an excuse to put off necessary reforms.
Nor must it delay the debate we need to have with the public about where the funding for social care in the future should come from - so the Green Paper will jump-start this vital debate.
According to the Press Association, other principles set out in the green paper will include: the quality and safety of services, the integration of the health and social care systems, control for those receiving support, valuing the workforce, providing better practical support for families and carers and ensuring greater security for all.
Hunt also said:
Innovation will be central to all of these principles: we will not succeed unless the systems we establish embrace the changes in technology and medicine that are profoundly reshaping our world.
According to the BBC, the 23 Russian diplomats and their families who have been expelled from the UK have been taken to Stansted to get on this plane taking them back to Russia.
Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, which represents a substantial majority of the country’s trawlermen, said that they not only shared Michael Gove’s disappointment at the fisheries deal but that it had been predicted. He said:
Our strong input [during the talks] was that we shouldn’t give away sovereignty. You can give away fish in a progressive and gradual way but we shouldn’t give away sovereignty. That has now happened, for an extra 21 months. We are very unhappy with that.
Armstrong said Gove and the UK government now had to redouble efforts to block any further concessions to the EU on sovereignty beyond the transition period. “That is the red line that must not be crossed,” he said. He went on:
What we are seeking now is a guarantee that access will not be granted beyond the end of the interim period. We will then become a fully responsible coastal state and will be able to make the decisions of a coastal state on access and quota. But every effort will be made by the EU to try to whittle away at that.
The Foreign Office has taken to social media to get its story out about Russia and the Salisbury poisoning.
It has released a one minute video on its twitter feed stitching together all the conflicting allegations and counter charges made by Russian media outlets since the British government first pointed the finger at Putin and the Russian state.
The nerve agent came from Sweden,
— Foreign Office 🇬🇧 (@foreignoffice) March 20, 2018
Ukraine did it to frame Russia,
It was contamination from the UK's own research facility...
Instead of providing an explanation for the Salisbury incident, Russia has launched a campaign of disinformation pic.twitter.com/dZQMXgnAFp
“A campaign of disinformation”, it says, that has variously accused the UK of poisoning the Skripals to fuel anti-Russian sentiment, that Ukraine did it to frame Russia, or the US did it to destablise the world, that the nerve agent came from Sweden, Slovakia or the Czech Republic …
It highlights the way that parts of the government at least are catching up with the rest of the world.
Lunchtime summary
- Senior Conservatives have criticised Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, for sending a letter congratulating Vladimir Putin on his re-election as Russian president that did not mention the Salisbury nerve agent attack. (See 12.19pm.) Ashley Fox, the leader of Conservative MEPs, said:
This is a disgraceful letter from Jean-Claude Juncker. To congratulate Vladimir Putin on his election victory without referring to the clear ballot rigging that took place is bad enough. But his failure to mention Russian’s responsibility for a military nerve agent attack on innocent people in my constituency is nauseating.
The European commission president is appeasing a man who poses a clear threat to western security.
- The Commons culture committee has written to the Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg asking him to appear in person before the committee to give evidence about how Facebook has allowed personal data to be taken without permission. In the letter Damian Collins, the committee chair, said there had been a “catastrophic failure of process” and that Facebook’s previous evidence to the committee has been “misleading”.
I have today written to @facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calling on him to give oral evidence to @CommonsCMS following recent reports in @guardian and @nytimes pic.twitter.com/y5xnGHzaNI
— Damian Collins (@DamianCollins) March 20, 2018
- A BBC presenter has told MPs she tried to kill herself because of stress over the controversial arrangements under which she was employed. As the Press Association reports, the anonymous presenter was among TV and radio personalities who gave evidence to a parliamentary inquiry that they were pressured into setting up personal service companies (PSCs) which later fell foul of the taxman, leading to massive bills for unpaid taxes. Damian Collins, the chair of the culture committee, said the BBC had fallen “well below” the standards expected in its treatment of staff and said he would be demanding answers from the director general, Lord Hall.
- The Welsh government has published plans to cut the number of councils in Wales from 22 to as few as 10. This is from Alun Davies, the Welsh government’s secretary for local government.
BREAKING NEWS: @WelshGovernment publishes new plans to strengthen local government in Wales #stronglocalgov https://t.co/V2zt6k2kSP https://t.co/V2RlulHRfL https://t.co/E5pDOsg11k pic.twitter.com/20hS9wCmMz
— Alun Davies (@wgcs_localgov) March 20, 2018
Gove says the transition deal is a “sub-optimal outcome”. But it is only for 12 months, he says.
The SNP’s Joanna Cherry asks why Gove and Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader in Scotland, were promising only 10 days ago why the UK would leave the CFP after March 2019.
Gove ignores the questions, and instead says the SNP would keep Scotland in the CFP.
Gove says the UK negotiating team encountered “intransigence” from the EU in the negotiations. That was disappointing. But he pays tribute to the officials involved, and says he won’t hear a word against them.
Nigel Evans, a Tory Brexiter, asks if Gove will find “imaginative” ways of supporting the fishing industry as the UK moves into Brexit.
Gove says the government will be publishing proposals addressing this.
Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s Brexit spokesman, says the DUP campaigned to leave the CFP, unlike many of those who are complaining today. How can the government be sure new rules won’t be put in place that undermine the fishing industry during the transition?
Gove says the opportunities after Brexit are “considerable”. And the transition arrangements will only apply for one year.
Labour’s Chris Leslie asks about article 157 of the draft agreement, which would allow a joint UK-EU committee to take binding decisions.
Gove says that is not what he is talking about today. He says Leslie will have a chance to ask Theresa May about this on Monday.
Frank Field, a Labour Brexiter, asks if the UK will control its fishing waters totally after Brexit. Gove says yes.
Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, says his daughter and her partner bought a fishing vessel last year. But they are concerned about the impact customs restrictions will have on the fishing trade.
Gove says negotiations over trade should be separate from negotiations over fishing access.
Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Commons Brexit committee, asks if the UK will be in the room for fishing negotiations during the transition.
Gove says the UK will be “consulted”. And it will only be for one year. The EU will be obliged to act in good faith, he says.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory Brexiter, says he is “slightly concerned” by Gove’s tone, and his reference to the EU not “allowing” what it wanted in the negotiation. He says in a negotiation you have to stress what you want. What did the UK get in return?
Gove says the UK got agreement on a transition moving towards Brexit.
Sir Christopher Chope, a Tory Brexiter, asks why Gove cannot give a guarantee that the UK will take back control over its fishing and its waters.
Gove says in December 2020 the UK will be negotiating as an independent coastal state.
John Redwood, a Tory Brexiter, says the government should “just get on with it”.
Gove says the government did not get everthing it wanted. But the transition is worth it for the greater prize, he says.
The SNP’s Stephen Gethins says, under the Conservative, “it is always somebody else’s fault”. When the Tories took the UK into the CFP, Scottish fishermen were deemed expendable. He says the UK is now in the worst of all worlds, in the CFP with no ability to change it. He says the SNP have called for changes to the CFP.
Gove says psychologists have a term called “projection”. It means referring to someone else when you are really describing yourself. He says it is the SNP who are always blaming someone else. He accuses Gethins of “concentrated cant”.
Holly Lynch, the shadow environment minister, says Gove and his colleagues repeatedly said the UK would take back control over fishing waters from day one after Brexit. But the negotiating team had different ideas.
She says the deal agreed yesterday contradicts promises made by ministers.
Who is leading negotiations on fishing?
Has the government failed to get what it wanted? Or was control over fishing waters from day one never a red line?
What will the government grant the EU in relation to fisheries?
Lynch says any post-Brexit fisheries policy must have sustainability at its core.
Gove says the UK’s share of total allowable catch will not be altered during 2019.
He says the dividing line between the government and its critics is that the government wants the UK to leave the CFP after Brexit.
He says comments about what the government will and will not accept apply to the period after the transition.
Carmichael say the feeling in fishing communities is one of “palpable anger”. He goes on: “This is not what they were promised.”
Gove says, as the son of a fishmonger, he understands that.
He says all countries are affected by the discard ban. It is a measure designed to stop over-fishing.
Asked by Carmichael about the comments attributed to the Tory chief whip (see 11.31am), he says the only parties committed to leaving the common fisheries policy are the Conservatives and the DUP.
Gove tells MPs transition compromise on fishing is 'disappointing', but necessary step towards Brexit
In the Commons Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem MP, asks for a statement on Brexit and fishing.
Michael Gove, the environment secretary, is responding.
He says the EU and the UK have secured an agreed text on the transition. The PM will update MPs on Monday, he says.
There are important technical and legal aspects affecting fishing, he says. He says the plan was for the UK to sit alongside other countries during fishing negotiations as an equal partner. The UK pushed for this. It is “disappointing” the EU did not agree this, he says.
But he says the EU did revise its plans. The UK will be able to attend talks. And there will be an obligation on both sides to act in good faith.
And he says in 2018 the UK will be round the table. These arrangements will only apply to 2019. In 2020 the UK will negotiate as an independent, third-country state.
He says there is a “significant prize” at the end of the implementation period. MPs should accept that the transition is a necessary stop towards that, he says.
Updated
'Shameful ... nauseating' - Top Tories condemn Juncker for not raising spy attack in letter congratulating Putin
At least two senior Tories have condemned Jean-Claude Juncker for not raising the Salisbury nerve agent attack in his letter congratulating Vladimir Putin on his re-election as Russian president. (See 12.10pm.)
This is from Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative chair of the Commons health committee.
Shameful https://t.co/OaPQadr1QE
— Sarah Wollaston MP (@sarahwollaston) March 20, 2018
And this is from Ashley Fox, leader of the Conservative MEPs.
How nauseating: https://t.co/CWnFqZXiiQ
— Ashley Fox MEP (@Ashleyfoxmep) March 20, 2018
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, has written a letter to the Russian president Vladimir Putin congratulating him on his election victory at the weekend. Juncker does not mention the Salisbury nerve agent attack at all.
Congratulations on your re-election, President #Putin. I have always argued that positive relations between the #EU and #Russia are crucial to the #security of our continent. Our objective should be to re-establish a cooperative pan-European security order. pic.twitter.com/PiEGg56DBN
— Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) March 20, 2018
Juncker’s approach contrasts with the approach taken by the French president Emmanuel Macron, who did raise Salisbury when he called Putin yesterday.
Gauke claims civil liability bill will save drivers £35 per year in lower insurance payments
David Gauke, the justice secretary, has today published details of a civil liability bill which he claims will save motorists around £35 each a year through lower insurance bills. Collectively it should save the insurance industry around £1bn a year, he says, by reducing payments for whiplash claims. He says insurers have promised to pass the savings on to drivers.
The bill will cut whiplash payments by setting fixed amounts for compensation claims, and banning insurers from settling whiplash claims without medical evidence.
In statement in the press notice Gauke said:
The number of whiplash claims has been too high for too long, and is symptomatic of a wider compensation culture.
We are putting this right through this important legislation, ensuring whiplash claims are no longer an easy payday and that money can be put back in the pockets of millions of law-abiding motorists.
Appeal judges have ruled that a Scottish court has to properly examine claims that the UK should be able to unilaterally abandon Brexit, without permission from other EU member states.
A panel of three judges led by Scotland’s most senior judge, Lord Carloway, the lord president, said the cross party group of politicians behind the case had raised a point “of great importance” which had to be fully heard.
The group, which includes Labour, Scottish Green party, Scottish National party and Liberal Democrat politicians, wants the European court of justice to issue a definitive ruling on whether the UK can unilaterally withdraw its article 50 letter which triggered the Brexit process.
They say UK government ministers and the European Commission are wrong to insist that the article 50 process can only be abandoned if all 27 EU member states agree. They argue that the EU treaties make no mention of that condition.
The group, whose members include MSPs from Holyrood, Westminster MPs and two MEPs, need the permission of a Scottish court to send that case to the European court.
The appeal hearing at the Court of Session, Scotland’s civil court, was arranged after a junior judge, Lord Doherty, had thrown out the group’s initial application for an interim hearing of that case for a referral to the European court.
The appeal hearing ruled Doherty was wrong to claim the issue was hypothetical and academic since the UK government had insisted it had no intention of abandoning Brexit and so far there was no evidence parties at Westminster would block it.
Lord Carloway said that raised significant problems for the petitioners because the statements so far by UK ministers on whether article 50 could be unilaterally withdrawn were ambiguous.
Even so, in a major legal victory for the petitioners, Carloway said they were right to argue that the Westminster parliament was sovereign. He said:
The issue of whether it is legally possible to revoke the notice of withdrawal is one of great importance. After all, if parliament is to be regarded as sovereign, the government’s position on the legality of revoking the notice may not be decisive.
Theresa May has been speaking to various fellow international leaders over the last few days about the Salisbury nerve agent attack and this morning she had a call with her Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe. According to the Number 10 read-out, Abe expressed support for Britain, but he seemed to stop short of accepting that Russia was definitely to blame. A Downing Street spokesman said:
The prime minister updated Prime Minister Abe on the investigation into the attack on Sergei Skripal and his daughter and the reckless endangerment of the British public through the use of a military grade nerve agent developed by Russia.
The prime minister noted that the incident was a grave violation of international law and also state sovereignty.
Prime Minister Abe condemned the incident, and said Japan shared our strong conviction that the use of chemical weapons should never be tolerated.
He expressed heartfelt sympathy for the victims, and said Japan shared our outrage.
They agreed that those responsible must be brought to justice and that Russia must respond in a serious manner, including by co-operating fully with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons investigation.
The fishing UQ will be interesting because we will see how many Tory MPs are willing to speak out and denounce the Brexit transition deal. Julian Smith, the chief whip, met some backbenchers unhappy about the fishing concessions yesterday. But, according to a PoliticsHome report, he angered them by appearing to downplay their concerns and telling them that fishermen were not going to vote Labour. Here is an excerpt from Kevin Schofield’s PoliticsHome story.
Mr Smith - who is responsible Tory discipline - met with more than a dozen Tory backbenchers yesterday in a bid to allay their concerns.
But one source said: “He alienated everyone there - including Sheryll Murray from Cornwall who ripped him a new one - by saying ‘it’s not like the fishermen are going to vote Labour’.
“That completely misunderstands what this is about and who our chief opponents even are. He really managed to harden the resolve of all those present.”
This quote refers to the fact that, for Scottish Tories, their main opponents are the SNP. Five of the 13 seats the Conservatives won in Scotland in the general were coastal constituencies in the north east of Scotland.
There is an urgent question in the Commons today on fishing.
1 UQ today in @HouseofCommons from Alistair Carmichael on negotiations relating to future fisheries management arrangements after the U.K. leaves the EU
— Labour Whips (@labourwhips) March 20, 2018
Alistair Carmichael is the Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland.
Governments put out many, many press releases which never attract much publicity, but I don’t recall ever seeing one before about baby names. So Fiona Hyslop, the Scottish government’s culture minister, may have achieved a first with the statement she has sent out today. Commenting on an announcement from National Records of Scotland about the most popular names in Scotland, she says:
Once again this year has seen some of the most popular names from recent years remain in the top ten, with Jack and Olivia holding on to the top spot for another year. I am extremely pleased to see that overall there continues to be a great variety in baby names across Scotland, reflecting our unique and diverse society and culture.
Greg Clark, the business secretary, has today announced a consultation on corporate governance rules relating to firms that go into insolvency. In a press notice explaining the (fairly technical) proposals, he says: “These reforms will give the regulatory authorities much stronger powers to come down hard on abuse and to make irresponsible directors bear the consequences of their actions.”
Rees-Mogg's LBC phone-in - Summary
Here are the main points from Jacob Rees-Mogg’s LBC interview.
- Rees-Mogg, the Conservative backbencher and chair of the European Reseach Group, the Tory group pushing for a harder Brexit, said Theresa May should reconsider the Brexit transition concessions she offered on fishing. He said:
As a unionist I greatly welcome the opportunity for Scottish fishing, particularly. The majority of fish in British waters are actually in Scottish waters. So it will be particularly helpful to the Scottish economy to have a regrowth of its fishing industry. And to delay that by 21 months is regrettable, I happen to think an error, and I don’t think the government should have conceded on fish.
Asked if the government should re-open this part of the negotiation and push for a better deal, he pointed out that the Brexit talks were proceeding on the basis that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.” He added: “I think, on the fishing issue, the government should rethink.”
Rees-Mogg said the UK had the clout to get a better deal because, without the UK’s financial contribution (said by the government to be worth up to £39bn), the EU would have a huge hole in its budget. It had no plans as to how it could manage without this, he said. He went on:
Our position is pretty strong, mainly because of the money.
- He said that, although he was unhappy about the transition plans, they would a price worth paying to get the UK out of the EU in the end. It was like “purgatory before getting into heaven”, he said.
It is something that is acceptable as long as on the 1 January 2021 we have really left. So, if the end state is good, then the transition is less important. It’s, in theological terms, purgatory before getting into heaven.
He also said that he did not think a transition was necessary. The UK could have managed without one, he said.
- He said he accepted the NHS needed more money. But he was opposed to the proposal, reportedly backed by some Tories, for a 1p in the pound increase in national insurance to raise money for the NHS. He said tax was already too high. He also said he was opposed to raising borrowing to find more money for the NHS.
I’m a fiscal hawk, but the NHS needs more money ...
It is therefore a question of reallocating resources from other areas, and you have to work out where it should come from. The primary target for me is the EU budget.
The NHS should get the £350m a week that the UK would get from the “Brexit dividend”, he said.
(Of course, the claim that the UK will save £350m per week when it leaves the EU has been comprehensively discredited. According to many economist, there won’t be any Brexit dividend at all, for reasons explained in this IFS briefing.)
- Rees-Mogg denied a Telegraph story saying he planned to throw fish into the Thames as part of a protest against the Brexit tranistion deal. Asked about this story, he said:
I’m not throwing fish anywhere. I’m not a fish thrower. I think this has got slightly out of hand. There was a suggestion that a fishing boat should go up the Thames in a protest against the delay in leaving the common fisheries policy, but I won’t be throwing fish anywhere. I have a nasty feeling that, if I started throwing fish, they would be brought back [by] the wind and hit me in the face. I’m not a fish thrower.
It is normally bad form to revel in another news organisation getting it wrong (because we all make mistakes sometime), but I couldn’t resist these:
From BuzzFeed’s Stuart Millar
So it seems the Telegraph fell for the Rees-Mogg fish throwing story hook, line and sinker https://t.co/tDqrCpxpDb
— Stuart Millar (@stuartmillar159) March 20, 2018
From my colleague Tony Paley
As someone has pointed out, the Telegraph’s Rees-Mogg fish-throwing story was “hake news”. https://t.co/cMhIzTOByT
— Tony Paley (@tpaleyfilm) March 20, 2018
Some of you BTL were asking why I’ve been spending time paying attention to a backbencher with some eccentric views and a pantomime manner. Well, it’s because Rees-Mogg is head of the European Research Group, which reflects the views of around 60 hardline Tory Brexiters, and for the last two years or more they have had a disproportionate impact on government policy. May is very nervous about upsetting them. In Tory politics they do matter, which is also why Rees-Mogg regularly comes top in polls of who Conservative members would like as their next leader.
(Also, there was nothing else live on at the same time.)
Here is Phil Gooding, ONS head of CPI, on the inflation figures. (See 9.36am.) He said:
A small fall in petrol prices alongside food prices rising more slowly than last year helped pull down inflation, as many of the early 2017 price increases due to the previous depreciation of the pound have started to work through the system.
Hotel prices also fell and the cost of ferry tickets rose more slowly than last year, when prices were collected on Valentine’s Day when many people could have been taking mini-breaks.
My colleague Graeme Wearden has more on the business live blog.
Duncan Smith says he's willing to give May 'benefit of the doubt' over Brexit transition
Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary and another leading Tory Brexiter, was also asked about fishing and the transition deal on the Today programme. He was rather less critical of Theresa May than Jacob Rees-Mogg (see 9.19am), saying:
At the end of the day, on balance, I want fishing control back, but the prime minister has been very clear that will come back the moment we finally finish this transition ... and I am prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt on that.
Everything hinges on the trade arrangement. This is only stage two in what is a three stage discussion.
Inflation down from 3% to 2.7%
The inflation figures are out, and the Press Association has snapped the headline figure.
The rate of consumer prices index inflation fell to 2.7% in February, from 3.0% in January, the Office for National Statistics said.
Rees-Mogg says he has never taken paternity leave. But he did not need to take it, he says. He would not say his life should be a model for others, and he accepts that other people need it.
And that’s it.
Q: You say Project Fear tactics don’t work. So are the Tories wrong to attack Jeremy Corbyn’s character?
Rees-Mogg says he agrees with the caller’s point. He says, as a person, Corbyn is “honest, sincere and forthright”. But “as a politician he believes in everything that would be destructive to the nation”.
He says he has always accepted Corbyn is “a decent man who believes in what he says”.
But he does not know him well, he says. He has bumped into him in the Commons and said hello a few times.
Rees-Mogg goes on to say that claims about Corbyn’s sympathy for terrorists are true. Corbyn has associated with groups like Hamas, he says.
Rees-Mogg says May should rethink concessions on fishing made as part of Brexit transition deal
Asked about Ireland, Rees-Mogg says it must be treated the same as other parts of the UK. And he says the UK must leave the customs union and the single market.
So you need technological solutions to the border, he says. There is already a border in Ireland for taxation and immigration. All that needs to happen is to add on customs. That can be done if people have the will to do it, he says.
Q: How worried should Theresa May be about the protest from Scottish Tories about the fishing aspects of the transition deal?
Rees-Mogg says he agrees with his Scottish Tory colleagues. He says what was agreed was an error.
Q: Should the government rethink?
Yes, says Rees-Mogg.
He says the UK is in a strong position because the EU needs its money.
- Rees-Mogg says May should rethink the concessions on fishing she made as part of the Brexit transition deal.
Jacob Rees-Mogg's LBC phone-in
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory Brexiter, started his LBC phone-in by saying that, although he was unhappy with the details of the transition deal agreed yesterday, he regarded it, in theological terms, as “purgatory before heaven”. The key thing was that, after 31 December 2020, the UK would be out of the EU, he said.
He also dismissed reports that he would be throwing fish into the Thames as part of a protest against the fishing part of the transition deal. He was responding to this Telegraph story, which says:
Theresa May is facing a Brexit backlash from Tory MPs over her “abject betrayal” of Britain’s fishermen with rebels planning a fishing boat protest on the Thames.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, leader of a 60-strong group of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs, and others are due to board a boat and pass by Parliament throwing fish into the Thames in protest at the alleged “sellout”.
Brexit won't cut overall prices in shops for consumers, says Institute for Fiscal Studies
One of the arguments made during the EU referendum campaign was that Brexit would allow the UK to get rid of the tariffs on non-EU goods required by the EU, cutting prices for consumers. Food would be cheaper, Brexiters argued, arguing sometimes (when they wanted to make a progressive case for Brexit) that the poor would benefit in particular.
Today the Institute for Fiscal Studies has published a report (summarised here, 12-page full version here [pdf]) saying this is not true.
The main point is that, even if all tariffs on non-EU goods were cut to zero, the overall impact on prices would be very limited. The IFS says:
Simple arithmetic suggests therefore that even cutting all tariffs to zero could only reduce prices overall by 1.2% at most. That assumes the full 4.6% tariff rate, that firms fully pass through the costs of existing tariffs to households, and that tariff rates are fully reflected in the prices charged by UK and EU firms. These are strong assumptions and, in practice, the impact of tariff cuts on retail prices is likely to be less than this.
A 1.2% price cut sounds better than nothing. But the IFS also points out that it will not compensate for the higher prices consumers are paying because the value of the pound fell sharply after the vote to leave the EU, pushing up the price of imports. The IFS says:
As a result, cutting all tariffs to zero could reduce prices, in the short run, by a maximum of 1.2%. This compares with the estimated 2.0% increase in consumer prices that resulted from the depreciation in sterling that occurred in June 2016.
And on the Today programme this morning Paul Johnson, the IFS director, said:
We know already that the fall in the value of the pound following the Brexit vote has increased prices by 2%. If you got rid of all tariffs, it couldn’t make up for that increase in prices.
The IFS also points out the after Brexit the government would not want to cut eliminate all tariffs anyway.
Cutting all tariffs could harm some parts of domestic industry – that’s why nearly all countries maintain at least some tariffs ...
Unilateral tariff reductions would also rob the UK of bargaining chips in future trade negotiations, potentially limiting the UK’s ability to obtain greater access to overseas export markets. And we could only gain control over these tariffs by leaving the Customs Union – a move which would make trade with the EU, by far our most important trading partner, more expensive.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, a leading Tory Brexiter who has often argued that Brexit will cut prices for consumers, is just starting a phone-in on LBC. We’ll see what he has to say about this.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9am: Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory Brexiter, takes part in an LBC phone-in.
9.30am: Theresa May chairs cabinet. Afterwards she will chair a meeting of the national security council.
9.30am: Inflation figures are published.
10am: Robert Chote, chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee about the spring statement.
10.30am: Broadcasters Liz Kershaw, Paul Lewis and Kirsty Lang give evidence to the Commons culture committee about pay at the BBC.
3pm: A cross-party group of MPs hold an event to make the case for EEA/Efta membership after Brexit.
3.10pm: Jeremy Hunt, the health and social care secretary, gives a speech on social care.
As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.
I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.
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