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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

May says workers' rights will be protected as long as she is PM - Politics live

Theresa May speaks at the annual Conservative party conference in Birmingham.
Theresa May speaks at the annual Conservative party conference in Birmingham. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

Afternoon summary

  • David Davis, the Brexit secretary, has insisted Britain must have power to control its own borders as part of the Brexit deal. In his speech he said:

When it comes to the negotiations, we will protect the rights of EU citizens here, so long as Britons in Europe are treated the same way - something I am absolutely sure we will be able to agree. To those who peddle hate and division towards people who have made Britain their home, let the message go out from this hall, we say you have no place in our society.

But the clear message from the referendum is this - we must be able to control immigration. Did you hear Mr Corbyn last week, telling us all there’s no need for any limit on numbers? Have you ever heard a political party quite so out of touch with its own voters? Let us be clear, we will control our own borders and we will bring the numbers down.

  • The CBI has urged the government to give more clarity about what Brexit will mean. Carolyn Fairbairn, its director general, said:

With a rapid timetable pointing to an exit from the EU in spring 2019, businesses need to know the government’s ambition on the fundamental issues of skills and barrier-free access to EU markets as soon as possible.

With the great repeal bill we now know that on the day the UK leaves the EU, the rules businesses must follow will be broadly the same as they are today.

As long as this does not lead to a bonfire of good regulation and maintains consistent rules so companies can trade easily with EU neighbours, this has the potential to help.

But businesses cannot continue to operate in the dark in other areas. The decisions they face today are real and pressing.

  • Boris Johnson has said that freedom is an essential component of prosperity. In a witty but philosophical speech, he said he was worried that people thought growth and wealth was possible without freedom. He said:

Freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom to practice whatever religion you want and to live your life as you please ..

These freedoms are not inimical to prosperity – they are in fact essential to sustained growth.

This is not the moment to cast aspersions on any other country where lack of freedom is hindering economic growth.

I can prove my point simply by asking you to look at the society we live in - a 21 century Britain that incarnates that symmetry.

Why have we got more tech wizards in London than any other city in Europe?

Is it because the politicians decided to embark on a soviet style programme of training people to do tech?

On the contrary, I had no idea what tech was – though later claimed credit for it.

It was because London acquired a deserved reputation as the greatest city on earth, a great jiving funkapolitan melting-pot where provided you did nothing to damage the interests of others and provided you obeyed the law you could make of your life pretty much what you wanted.

And that’s why we lead in all those creative and cultural sectors and that’s why we have the best universities - because the best minds from across the world are meeting in some of the best pubs and bars and nightclubs, like subatomic particles colliding in a cyclotron and they are producing those flashes of innovation that are essential for long term economic success.

  • Priti Patel, the international development secretay, has said Britain’s overseas aid spending can help foster new trading markets post-Brexit.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Ukip says Theresa May's speech shows its campaign stance has been 'vindicated and replicated'

Here is Ukip’s Steven Woolfe on Theresa May’s speech.

Theresa May has just delivered a speech that accepts the decision of the people of the United Kingdom. Control of our borders, laws, fisheries and money should be in our Parliament’s hands. All are Ukip policies as is her flagship grammar school policy.

We welcome her clear decision to repeal the 1972 Act, that article 50 negotiations are to be launched by March 2017 and that Remainers will have to accept the people’s referendum decision. Ukip campaigning position is again vindicated and replicated.

The bare bones of ‘Brexit means Brexit’ now have a time frame. Good. But with a parliamentary party divided, an opposition in flux and the House of Lords implacably opposed, it is up to UKIP to keep up the electoral pressure on. Nobody else will.

Baby T-shirts are displayed for sale at the 2016 Conservative party conference.
Baby T-shirts are displayed for sale at the 2016 Conservative party conference. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

Here are two blogs relevant to the “great repeal” bill plan that are worth reading.

Brexiteers usually admit that many EU rules are sensible. Indeed, when pressed, many struggle to name EU rules that they actually object to. So we would want to keep them after we left the EU.

Unfortunately, that would not be a simple task. You cannot just pass a short act saying the old rules remain in force, because they were drafted on the assumption that we are a member of the EU. So, for example, EU regulations on agriculture frequently refer to the powers of the European Commission. These would have to be reviewed and replaced before Brexit took effect. Much of this is technical stuff – important to those affected and requiring political judgments, but not of fundamental policy importance. Some of it, though, will require important decisions on matters such as environmental protection and workers’ and consumers’ rights ...

There is no way in which parliament could cope with the deluge of legislation. It would have to give power to ministers to make new laws in all these fields by statutory instrument.

This blog was written in May, but today’s announcement about the “great repeal” bill has made it particularly relevant.

The UN is in great need of reform and the UK has a responsibility to tackle those reforms, international development minister Rory Stewart has said, warning that support for the institution could sap because of the similarity of the UN to the European Union.

Speaking at a fringe event, Stewart said politicians must “be aware that there are aspects to the United Nations which, for some people, will remind them in some ways of some of the issues we had around Brexit. Supranational government, bureaucracy, the way in which money is spent.”

Stewart, who was a senior coalition official during the Iraq war, said the UN needed to make itself increasingly relevant, especially in the current global landscape.

My goodness that organisation needs reform, we might not be able to get all the reforms we want, but it does need reform. Transparency is going to be so important, making sure we can point to concrete things the UN is doing and also showing when we don’t like what the UN is doing we have the courage to challenge them. However, with that proviso, yes the UN is central because the world is getting out of control.

The former health secretary Andrew Lansley told a fringe meeting earlier he wanted to see a clear vision for foreign policy post-Brexit.

Whatever you would say about the last six or seven years of Conservative government and coalition government, I don’t think you could say foreign policy has been a triumph.

Britain’s influence in the world has been diminished and in part that’s simply because in the wake of Iraq, the vote on Syria in 2013 and our disengagement from Europe, we have not been able to define what we are trying to achieve.

At the same meeting Flick Drummond MP, who backed the remain campaign, said she was “still going through the mourning stage” of the Brexit vote. She said:

It’s more about the influence we’ve lost within Europe rather than anything else, I now feel we’re really on the outside of EU governance. But we’ve got to make the most of it. We have to get out there very quickly now.

Drummond said she was supportive of the concept of a European army, especially if the election of Donald Trump in the US would mean a more isolationist America.

I have no problem with a European army ... I think we need to work with our European colleagues, and I’m completely relaxed about that.

And as the American becomes more isolationist, looking towards the West coast and towards Russia, we’ve got to work closely with our European allies on defence, because that is the future of it, I’m afraid, particularly if Trump gets in. He’s not going to be interested in helping out Nato, we’ve going to have to create our own European army.

Here is Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary and shadow Brexit secretary, on Theresa May’s announcement about article 50 being triggered before the end of March. She said:

A commitment on the timing of article 50 is meaningless unless Theresa May can answer all the prior and more fundamental questions about what deal Britain is going to propose for our future relationship with the EU, what the plan is to secure that deal, and what we will do if it fails.

This is exactly the same mistake David Cameron made with his proposed renegotiation last year: working to an artificial, self-imposed timetable; with a flawed Plan A of what he wanted to achieve; and no Plan B whatsoever. Unless Theresa May starts spelling out the government’s plan on free trade, on free movement, on budget contributions, and a host of other issues, we will have to conclude she is only interested in achieving headlines not providing solutions.

James Forsyth has a good point; after Brexit, what on earth will the Tories talk about at party conference?

These are from James McGrory, co-executive director of Open Britain (which is essentially the continuity Britain Stronger in Europe campaign).

May's Brexit speech - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about Theresa May’s speech.

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

From Newsnight’s Mark Urban

From the Economist’s Jeremy Cliffe

From the New Statesman’s Jason Cowley

From the Times’ Philip Collins

From the Guardian’s Rafael Behr

From the BBC’s James Landale

From the FT’s Jim Pickard

Here’s Ukip’s communications chief, Gawain Towler, on “hard” Brexit.

Party members listening to Theresa May’s speech.
Party members listening to Theresa May’s speech. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Here is Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, on Theresa May’s speech.

Theresa May has just confirmed that we are going for a Hard Brexit. This means no single market for Britain.

This means disaster for British jobs, businesses and our economy. The Lib Dems are now the only party fighting for Britain’s membership of the single market.

The Conservatives have lost the right to call themselves the party of business. The Liberal Democrats are the only free market, free trade, pro-business party now.

Nigel Farage’s obsession has officially become government policy.

Boris Johnson’s speech was rather good, although his key message about liberal values was artfully camouflaged in a blizzard of nonsense.

I will post a proper summary soon.

Johnson is now wrapping up.

Churchill was right

when he said that the empires of the future will be empires of the mind

and in expressing our values I believe that Global Britain is a soft power superpower

and that we can be immensely proud of what

we are achieving.

Johnson turns to the role these ex-pats play.

No other country is turned so tangibly outwards and into the world

and what they take with them is not just a knowledge of English or the cast of the Archers

or which game has a position called silly mid off

but an instinctive set of values

and whether they are retired British teachers working as monitors in the Ukrainian war zone

or Met police officers training their counterparts in the parts of Syria held by the moderate opposition

Johnson says one Briton in 10 is now living abroad.

When I am making a speech in a foreign city I look around the heaving room and become aware of a phenomenon that I think people in this country are barely aware of

and that is that of the Brits now alive and born in this country

fully one in ten is now living abroad

we are talking 5 or 6 m people – a population the size of Scotland

No other rich country – according to the World Bank - has a diaspora on that scale

Johnson praises the role of free markets.

Free markets and free societies go together

but in case you are remotely tempted to despair I urge you to look not at the problems

but at the successes that these free institutions have helped to engender

For all its problems, life expectancy in Africa has risen astonishingly as that continent has entered the global economic system

In 2000 the average Ethiopian lived to only 47 – it is now 64 and climbing; in Zambia the increase has been from 44 years to 60

in 1990 37 per cent of the world’s population lived in poverty – that is down to 9.6 pc today

and yes, that is partly thanks to UK spending on development aid

- £300 m a year to Ethiopia alone

but above all it is our economic ideas, our beliefs, our values that continue to lift the world out of poverty

Here is Johnson on the BBC.

Just the BBC – and no matter how infuriating and shamelessly anti-Brexit they can sometimes be

I think the Beeb is the single greatest and most effective ambassador for our culture and our values

and it was Sergei Lavrov himself who told me that he had not only watched our version of war and peace, but thought it was “very well done”

and that, from the Kremlin, was praise.

Boris Johnson is still speaking, and the text has just dropped.

(Unusually for a Johnson speech, the text bears some relationship to what he is saying.)

Our hard power, conference, is dwarfed by a phenomenon that the pessimists never predicted when we unbundled the British empire

and that is soft power

- the vast and subtle and pervasive extension of British influence around the world that goes with having the language that was invented and perfected in this country

and now has more speakers than any other language on earth.

Sturgeon condemns May's speech

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister is plainly furious at Theresa May’s reference to “divisive nationalists”, as well as her comment that Brexit negotiations were the responsibility of the UK government’s “and nobody else”. She tweeted this:

She also retweeted this tweet from politics.co.uk’s Ian Dunt.

She agreed, Sturgeon said.

Johnson says the government will stick up as much for human rights as it does for free markets.

He says the vote in the EU referendum was for freedom.

Johnson says he used to claim that he was responsible for London becoming a tech centre.

But it had nothing to do with him, he says

London is “funkopolitan”, he says. It is an innovative city.

London is ranked the third most innovative place in the world, he says. America is fourth.

All place in the top 10 are liberal democracies, he says.

Johnson says in Africa, for the first time in decades, governments are becoming more authoritarian.

He says the idea has gained ground in recent years that Fukuyama (the ‘end of history’ historian) was wrong.

But this illiberal analysis is deeply and dangerously wrong, he says.

He says liberal values are not inimical to growth; they are essential for growth.

Johnson says that in 1990 it was assumed that Western values had won. That included the idea that people had a right to mock politicians.

But the Iraq war damaged the idea that the West could expand democracy, he says.

And he says the financial crash undermined faith in the capitalist model.

As a result of these twin blows, the world has got less safe, he says.

Boris Johnson's speech

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, is speaking now.

He starts by talking about his recent trip to the UN. He met a counterpart from another country. He must “preserve his reputation for diplomac” and won’t name him, he says. But he makes clear it was Russia.

And Sergey Lavrov accused the West of imposing democracy on them in 1990.

Everyone on the British said they were in favour of democracy. But the Russian delegation were not, he says.

Theresa May's Brexit speech - Summary and analysis

Theresa May’s speech was relatively short, but it was the most important she has yet given on Brexit. Here are the key points.

Put bluntly, we’re heading for “hard” Brexit.

  • May firmly rejected adopting a Norway or Switzerland-style relationship with the EU when the UK leaves, in what will be seen as the clearest sign yet that the government is heading for a “hard” Brexit. She claimed that it was wrong say Britain faced a choice between “hard” and “soft” Brexit.

I believe there is a lot of muddled thinking and several arguments about the future that need to be laid to rest. For example, there is no such thing as a choice between “soft Brexit” and “hard Brexit”. This line of argument – in which “soft Brexit” amounts to some form of continued EU membership and “hard Brexit” is a conscious decision to reject trade with Europe – is simply a false dichotomy. And it is one that is too often propagated by people who, I am afraid to say, have still not accepted the result of the referendum.

But May defined “hard” Brexit as the rejection of trade with Europe. In reality, though, “hard” Brexit is generally taken to mean a Brexit that puts an emphasis on independence, and rejects EEA (Norway) or EFTA (Switzerland) arrangements that involve retaining a measure of pooled sovereignty. May made it clear that this was exactly what she was proposing.

What we are now talking about is very different. Whether people like it or not, the country voted to leave the EU. And that means we are going to leave the EU ...

So the process we are about to begin is not about negotiating all of our sovereignty away again. It is not going to be about any of those matters over which the country has just voted to regain control. It is not, therefore, a negotiation to establish a relationship anything like the one we have had for the last forty years or more. So it is not going to a “Norway model”. It’s not going to be a “Switzerland model”. It is going to be an agreement between an independent, sovereign United Kingdom and the European Union.

  • May made it clear that, although she wanted companies to have “the maximum freedom” to trade with the single market, she would not accept any deal that involved the UK having to accept European court of justice rulings or EU free movement laws.

I want it to give British companies the maximum freedom to trade with and operate in the Single Market – and let European businesses do the same here. But let me be clear. We are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration again. And we are not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

  • She said that workers’ rights would continue to be protected as long as she remained prime minister.

As we repeal the European Communities Act, we will convert the ‘acquis’ – that is, the body of existing EU law – into British law. When the great repeal Bill is given royal assent, parliament will be free – subject to international agreements and treaties with other countries and the EU on matters such as trade – to amend, repeal and improve any law it chooses ... Any changes in the law will have to be subject to full scrutiny and proper Parliamentary debate. And let me be absolutely clear: existing workers’ legal rights will continue to be guaranteed in law – and they will be guaranteed as long as I am prime minister.

  • She said that the government would invoke article 50, starting the EU withdrawal process, “soon” and before the end of March.

It was right to wait before triggering article 50. But it is also right that we should not let things drag on too long. Having voted to leave, I know that the public will soon expect to see, on the horizon, the point at which Britain does formally leave the European Union. So let me be absolutely clear. There will be no unnecessary delays in invoking article 50. We will invoke it when we are ready. And we will be ready soon. We will invoke article 50 no later than the end of March next year.

This is marginally more specific than what May said on the Andrew Marr Show this morning; this morning it was just “before the end of March”.

  • She said Scotland would not have a veto on Brexit.

The negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union are the responsibility of the government and nobody else ... Because we voted in the referendum as one United Kingdom, we will negotiate as one United Kingdom, and we will leave the European Union as one United Kingdom. There is no opt-out from Brexit.

  • She implied that she would block further attempts to hold a referendum on Scottish independence.

I will never allow divisive nationalists to undermine the precious Union between the four nations of our United Kingdom.

  • She rejected the argument that parliament should take the decision to trigger article 50. The government is being taken to court over this point, but May said Jeremy Wright, the attorney general, would be in court himself to argue the government’s case. (The attorney general is the government’s chief legal adviser, but it is unusual for him to appear in court in person on behalf of the executive.) She said:

When it legislated to establish the referendum, Parliament put the decision to leave or remain inside the EU in the hands of the people. And the people gave their answer with emphatic clarity. So now it is up to the Government not to question, quibble or backslide on what we have been instructed to do, but to get on with the job.

Because those people who argue that Article Fifty can only be triggered after agreement in both houses of parliament are not standing up for democracy, they’re trying to subvert it. They’re not trying to get Brexit right, they’re trying to kill it by delaying it. They are insulting the intelligence of the British people. That is why, next week, I can tell you that the attorney general himself, Jeremy Wright, will act for the government and resist them in the courts.

  • She said she wanted a future in which “Britain is always the most passionate, most consistent, most convincing advocate for free trade”.
  • She condemned those politicians (like Labour’s Owen Smith and the Liberal Democrats) who are arguing for a second referendum.

Because even now, some politicians – democratically-elected politicians – say that the referendum isn’t valid, that we need to have a second vote.

Others say they don’t like the result, and they’ll challenge any attempt to leave the European Union through the courts.

But come on. The referendum result was clear. It was legitimate. It was the biggest vote for change this country has ever known. Brexit means Brexit – and we’re going to make a success of it.

The final sentence is one that May repeated continually over the summer. She used it again this afternoon with the familiarity of a comedian using a favoured catchphrase.

  • She reaffirmed her intention not to give a “running commentary” on the Brexit talks. She implied that speculative media stories about the UK’s negotiating position could harm the national interest.

But we will not be able to give a running commentary or a blow-by-blow account of the negotiations. Because we all know that isn’t how they work. But history is littered with negotiations that failed when the interlocutors predicted the outcome in detail and in advance.

Every stray word and every hyped up media report is going to make it harder for us to get the right deal for Britain.

  • She praised David Cameron for being willing to “put his trust in the British people”. May said that was her answer to those who said Cameron made a mistake when he called the referendum.

Davis says if the UK wants to be treated with good will in the Brexit negotiations, it needs to act with good will too.

Davis says he is “absolutely sure” the government will get a deal that allows EU citizens to remain in the UK.

David Davis says the UK does not want the EU to fail. A poorer, weaker Europe is not in the UK’s interests, he says.

David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is speaking now.

He starts by talking about Margaret Thatcher, which always goes down well here.

The full text of May’s speech has just dropped. I will post a summary of its shortly, but if Davis says anything remarkable, I will flag it up straight away.

May says the UK should have the confidence to go out into the world and trade.

She urges people to get behind the team of ministers working for Brext: David Davis, Liam Fox, Priti Patel and Boris Johnson.

(It seems Patel has now been co-opted as a fourth Brexiteer.)

She says the Tories must go on making Britain a country that works well for everyone.

May says the UK does not need to punch above its weight “because our weight is substantial enough already”.

May rejects claims government faces a choice between “hard” Brexit and “soft” Brexit

May is now turning to the government’s vision for the future.

  • May rejects claims government faces a choice between “hard” Brexit and “soft” Brexit.

She says people who argue this are basing their thinking on the past.

We are going to leave the EU, she says.

We will be a sovereign country.

The process about to begin will not be about negotiating sovereignty away.

The UK will not follow the Norway model or the Switzerland model, she says.

Instead the UK will form a deal as a sovereign country with the EU, she says.

Some people claim there is a trade off between single market access and accepting free movement.

May says she does not accept that.

She says the UK will do what is in its best interests.

She wants maximum freedom to trade.

May says existing workers’ rights will continue to apply as long as she remains PM

May says the government will convert the acquis - the body of EU law - into British law.

Businesses and workers will have maximum certainty, she says. The same laws will apply. Any changes will have to be debated by parliament.

  • May says existing workers’ rights will continue to apply as long as she remains PM.

She says she wants to enhance workers’ rights too.

  • May says she wants to enhance workers’ rights too.

May turns to the “great repeal” bill.

It will result in UK laws being made not in Brussels but in Westminster.

The authority of EU law in Britain will end.

May is now turning to the process.

She says it is not up to the Commons or the Lords to decide when to trigger atticle 50. It is up to the government, she says.

She says when the government decided to hold a referendum, it gave the public the right to decide whether or not to leave.

She says those in the Lords and the Commons who are demanding a say are not trying to defend democracy; they are trying to subvert it, she says.

She says she will consult councils and the devolved powers over this.

But she says the UK will negotiate as one United Kingdom, and will leave as one United Kingdom.

May says it would have been wrong to pull out of the EU immediately.

But there will be “no unnecessary delays”, she says.

The government will do it when it is ready.

And it will happen no later than the end of March, she says.

May says she will clarify some aspects of Brexit.

For example, the government has clarified what will happen to agricultural payments, she says.

But there will be no running commentary. She says that would damage the negotiation. Exaggerated media stories could undermine the government’s negotiating position.

Today she will speak about the timing, the process and the vision behind it, she says.

May praises Cameron for putting his trust in the British people

May pays tribute to Cameron. She says he was devoted to public service.

And to those who say it was a mistake to hold a referendum, there is no greater accolade than to say he put his trust in the British people.

  • May praises Cameron for putting his trust in the British people.

May says today we will hear from David Davis, Priti Patel and Boris Johnson.

(Gerry Yates must have been wrong about Liam Fox.)

Some elected politicians think we can ignore the referendum, she says.

Come on.

She goes on:

Brexit means Brexit, and we are going to make a success of it.

Britain will always be the most passionate and convincing advocate for free trade, May says

First she wants to talk about global Britain, she says.

She says people voted for an ambitious, trading country. But one where “we pass our own laws and govern ourselves.”

We will win trade agreements with old friends and new partners.

  • Britain will always be the most passionate and convincing advocate for free trade, May says.

Theresa May takes to the podium. She seems to laugh away the sustained applause.

She says 81 days ago she stood in Downing Street as prime minister and made a promise, that the government would be driven by the interests of ordinary people, not by the interests of a few.

This week we are going to show the country that we mean business.

Gerry Yates, president of the national Conservative convention, is introducing Theresa May. After the referendum, we are preparing to leave the EU, he says.

After a slight pause the audience cheer.

Yates says Liam Fox, David Davis and Boris Johnson are both speaking later. On the programme Fox was not due to speak.

But May is speaking first, he says.

Theresa May's Brexit speech

Theresa May is about to deliver his Brexit speech to the conference.

It will only last about 10 minutes.

Andy Street is speaking now. He has just name-checked Joe Chamberlain, the Birmingham liberal unionist statesman who is idolised by Nick Timothy, Theresa May’s highly influential co-chief of staff. Patrick McLoughlin mentioned Chamberlain too. It might be necessary to start keeping a tally ...

Patrick McLoughin's speech - Summary

Here are the main points from Patrick McLoughlin’s speech

  • McLoughlin, the Conservative chairman, ridiculed the idea that Labour MPs could recommend Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister.

Every former Labour leader saying publicly that Jeremy Corbyn isn’t fit to lead their party.

172 Labour MPs voted no confidence in their leader. One hundred and seventy-two.

How on earth are they, with a straight face, going to recommend him to the British people to be prime minister?

  • He said the Conservatives needed to “rise to the challenges of the moment”.

We can never just imagine that people will thank us for what we’ve done.

I am always reminded of a story about a Labour MP, canvassing on a council estate in 1979.

They came across a house covered with Conservative posters and asked the resident

“Why are you supporting the Tories? I helped you get this house.”

And the resident replied, “Yes. But you won’t let me buy it”.

Conference, we’ve got to be ready to rise to the challenges of the moment.

To take no one’s vote for granted, to keep their trust and to remain on the side of people who work hard and do the right thing.

  • He said the Tories should not “underestimate” the Lib Dems.
  • He praised David Cameron.

Now the achievements our Party made under David are real.

He took us from 198 Members of Parliament in 2005 to 329 today ..

Anyone who cares about politics should acknowledge David Cameron’s honesty, decency and his loyalty.

A few months ago he was due to speak at a fundraiser in my constituency.

In one of those weird twists of fate that is any party planner’s worst nightmare, it ended up taking place the day after he left Downing Street.

I assumed he might give it a miss.

But no. He came along, spoke from the heart, and shook everyone by the hand.

And really, he showed the measure of the man.

  • And he praised Ruth Davidson, the Conservative leader in Scotland.

The SNP, in power in Scotland, facing a brilliant, thriving Conservative opposition under the fantastic leadership of Ruth Davidson.

What an amazing achievement she had this year.

Taking our party from 15 seats to 31, beating Labour into second place.

And with Ruth as leader of the opposition, the SNP are finally going to be held to account.

Davidson seemed to get a louder round of applause than Cameron.

  • He said more party members were attending the conference than at any time in the last decade.
  • He said the Tories were recruting city campaign managers to help them win back seats in cities.

We know that in some major cities we simply lack the capacity to deliver our message effectively on the doorstep.

That is why we are bringing in a new team of city campaign Managers, ready to take the fight to Labour in their heartland.

He also said the Tories were offering year-long apprenticeships to train campaign mangers.

Patrick McLoughlin.
Patrick McLoughlin. Photograph: James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Heseltine says he is a realist. You don’t go into politics to be popular.

After eight years of flat living standards, people are angry.

But Street is not like other politicians, he says. Street will give up a salary that would make even a football player envious.

And he is doing it because is a Brummie. He loves this place.

He says no one is more likely to turn words into deeds than Street.

Heseltine has finished. Street gets up to speak, and starts with a joke about how Heseltine’s speech lives up to the John Lewis slogan, never knowingly undersold.

Updated

Heseltine says much of his career has been spent thinking about the balance of power between local government and central government.

He is here to introduce Andy Street, he says. Street, the John Lewis boss, is the Tory candidate for West Midlands mayor.

Heseltine says Street has spent his life satisfying customers. He now wants to dedicate himself to public service.

He also says John Lewis is a firm owned by its staff. As its boss, Street had to take decisions acceptable to his employees.

He also praises Street for leading the local enterprise partnership in Birmingham. That required cross-party support, he says. Street has been at the centre of the devolution agenda, he says.

Lord Heseltine's speech

Lord Heseltine is 83. He says he first addressed the Tory conference 49 years ago.

It was in Blackpool, late in the day, and he was talking about transport policy. The hall was nearly empty, he says.

Pointing out that there is a big audience today, he says: “I can only reflect that everything comes to those who wait.”

He says it was about 30 years ago when William Hague, as a teenager, gave his famous speech and pointed in Heseltine’s direction saying, “In 30 years, you won’t he here.”

Heseltine says Hague got many things right, but not that.

Lord Heseltine is addressing the conference. That’s a surprise. He was not in the programme.

Fox signals he backs leaving EU customs union

Liam Fox charmed a pro-Brexit Tory crowd at his only fringe of the conference, where he sounded teary as he described his pride in the British people for voting to leave the EU. He is not on the main stage of Brexit day today, but some interesting points emerged from his speech at the Huffington Post event.

  • Fox gave a bit more detail on the great repeal plan, saying bits of EU law would only be thrown out after that has passed. He said the point of the legislation was to make sure there is no delay in getting Brexit through smoothly.- The international trade secretary said there was “no question” of the UK having to reapply for membership of the World Trade Organisation, as it can just continue on current terms. He dodged a question on whether the WTO has confirmed this is the position, amid a lack of clarity.
  • Fox further signalled he is content for the UK to leave the customs union. He said the US seems to manage perfectly well without it.
  • He praised George Osborne for trying to reduce the UK’s debts, suggesting the chancellor Philip Hammond should commit to reducing the deficit by a certain date.
  • Fox hasn’t been to Chevening, his grace and favour home shared with Boris Johnson and David Davis, as he said that’s not why he went into politics.
Liam Fox.
Liam Fox. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Greg Clark says leaving EU will free UK from state aid rules

Business (and energy, and industrial strategy) secretary Greg Clark has been talking about the government’s industrial strategy at a Resolution Foundation fringe. He said one of the advantages of Brexit in his view could be freeing the government from the EU state aid rules that prevent member-governments from backing businesses.

Clearly the state aid rule question and that thicket of questions is always there, and I hope that one of the freedoms that will come from Brexit will be that we will be able to determine our own view on that rather than complying with others ... It is something that is a constraint, clearly a bureaucratic constraint ... The ability to look at that again as part of our negotiations seems entirely reasonable.

Clark also said every government over the years has had an industrial strategy - but it might as well be explicit, so it can be coherent.

Greg Clark walks along the bridge from the hotel to the International Convention Centre in Birmingham at the Tory conference.
Greg Clark walks along the bridge from the hotel to the International Convention Centre in Birmingham at the Tory conference. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

The leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, has just addressed a packed fringe meeting, at which she received a standing ovation before she’d even spoken. Answering some questions after her speech, Davidson said she does not think “hard” Brexit is already a done deal.

She also carefully avoided yet another chance (see 12.26pm) to express confidence in Boris Johnson, also pointedy not doing so for the other two main Brexit ministers, Liam Fox and David Davis.

Davidson, a strong supporter of remain before the referendum, argued that access to the EU’s single market was “not a binary choice”, as various levels of access existed.

Asked if she felt Theresa May was heading for a “hard” Brexit of no access and full immigration controls, Davidson said talks with Downing Street, as well as with Johnson, Davis and Fox, did not leave her with that impression, and that discussions were still going on.

After article 50 was triggered, “as part of that process you’ve got to put forward those competing positions”, Davidson said, adding: “I think it’s absolutely right the prime minister says she’s not ready to put it forward until article 50 is moved.”

Asked by me if she felt Johnson, Davis and Fox were the best people to lead the Brexit process, she mentioned the input of May and the chancellor, Philip Hammond: “You’ve got a whole team there at the top of government. It’s not just three people.”

She added: “Yes, I have confidence in the manner in which the UK government is going about it, and I have confidence in the prime minister taking a strong leadership role.”

Ruth Davidson at the party conference.
Ruth Davidson at the party conference. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

The conference is just getting going. Patrick McLoughlin, the Conservative chairman, has just started his speech, reminiscing about his long career in the party.

I will post a summary when I’ve seen a full text of his speech.

Here are some more pictures from the anti-austerity demonstration.

Members of trade union “Unite” march through the city during a demonstration organised by the TUC against austerity.
Members of trade union “Unite” march through the city during a demonstration organised by the TUC against austerity. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Protesters at the anti-austerity demo in Birmingham.
Protesters at the anti-austerity demo in Birmingham. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
Protesters hold a sign calling former British prime minister David Cameron a “financial terrorist and facist” during a TUC demonstration against austerity.
Protesters hold a sign calling former British prime minister David Cameron a “financial terrorist and facist” during a TUC demonstration against austerity. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
A protester gathers at the anti-austerity demo in Birmingham.
A protester gathers at the anti-austerity demo in Birmingham. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
Members of the Fire Brigade Union wave flags during the demonstration organised by the TUC against austerity in Birmingham.
Members of the Fire Brigade Union wave flags during the demonstration organised by the TUC against austerity in Birmingham. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The Spectator’s James Forsyth is not impressed by the chanting.

Grayling says it is 'inconceivable' that peers could block 'great repeal' bill

In his interview with Andrew Neil on the Sunday Politics, Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, was asked what would happen if the government’s “great repeal” bill was blocked in the Lords. Peers were six to one in favour of remain, Neil said. Grayling told him he thought it was “inconceivable” that parliament would not pass the legislation.

I believe that both houses of parliament are full of democrats, and those democrats will respect the will of the people ... We’ve taken the decision to leave the European Union, parliament voted for the referendum, the people have spoken. It’s inconceivable that parliament would not somehow allow that process to go forward.

Sir Craig Oliver, who was heavily involved in the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign as David Cameron’s communications director, has been giving interviews this morning defending the way the campaign was handled.

But Number 10 came under fire from Roland Rudd, the businessman who was treasurer of the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign. Rudd told Peston on Sunday that Downing Street’s refusal to talk about immigration was a “huge mistake”. Rudd told Robert Peston:

It was a mistake because we weren’t independent enough in terms of putting forward a really positive vision and to talk about immigration, and there was a sort of shut-down from 10 Downing Street about no-one was to talk about immigration and that was a huge mistake.

This is from the Spectator’s James Forsyth.

Mundell says SNP attracts people who would vote Ukip in England

I’ve just had a chat with David Mundell, the Scotland secretary, along with Heather Stewart, who had some interesting things to say about the EU referendum campaign. He argued that David Cameron’s team failed to learn the lessons from the 2014 Scottish referendum that you have to make an emotional case as well as a business one. He said that a phrase in Scotland was around the idea of a “balance sheet with a song”.

Now the balance sheet is very important but you’ve got to also have a song in your heart as well and I think one of the reasons that ultimately there was a decisive ‘no’ vote was in those final days was that people like Ruth Davidson and Gordon Brown gave an emotional case.

Mundell said that Theresa May was driven by her desire for the UK to remain as one. But he said that he was not so convinced about Jeremy Corbyn, criticising the Labour leader for failing to mention the issue of the UK remaining together at his conference speech.

He was one of the few Labour MPs who didn’t come up to Scotland during the referendum campaign because as I understand it he said he had stuff to do.

As for the SNP, Mundell said they had managed to project themselves as antiestablishment despite being in power for almost 10 years, attracting very different groups of voters.

They’ve attracted people who would vote Ukip in England - that’s why no Ukip in Scotland - and they’ve drawn in people who might be in Jeremy Corbyn’s Momentum, people very much to the left, people anarchist in their outlook.

Mundell argued that Sturgeon could now be a prisoner to those people.

David Mundell.
David Mundell. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Updated

At the official Conservative party shop in the ICC old loyalties are still there - a staff member told me the glossy hardback book of David Cameron’s collected speeches was selling “surprisingly well”.
Also flying off the shelves - relatively speaking - were A3 posters of Theresa May, Tory logo-ed babygrows saying “future prime minister” or “future iron lady” and fridge magnets bearing old election slogans like ‘New Labour, new danger’.

This is from ITV’s Robert Peston, who has some footage of the anti-austerity demo.

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, has said today that she has “more confidence” in Boris Johnson than in the past. (See 12.26pm.) Given what she has said about him in the past, that is not saying much.

Davidson and Johnson clashed during one of the EU referendum debates when she repeatedly accused his campaign of lying. Later, in a very funny speech to the Commons press gallery, she told a joke that involved describing him as a penis.

Today she said that Johnson was “taking the role [of foreign secretary] incredibly seriously”.

Clearly she did not read his interview with the Sun on Saturday. Here is an extract, in which the foreign secretary described the government Brexit negotiating strategy.

Mr Johnson told The Sun: “Our policy is having our cake and eating it.

“We are Pro-secco but by no means anti-pasto”.

Half way through the interview with The Sun, he also sang a Bob Marley to describe his tense relationship with the two other Brexiteer Cabinet ministers

Asked about his relationship with Brexit Secretary David Davis and Mr Fox, Boris replied: “We are a nest of singing birds.

“In fact I think Bob Marley once wrote a song which goes, ‘Woke up this morning, smiled with the rising sun, three little birds on my doorstep singing sweet songs.

“A melody pure and true.

“This is my message for you.

“Don’t you worry about a thing cos every little thing is gonna be all right.’”

Boris Johnson.
Boris Johnson. Photograph: Steve Back / Barcroft Images

Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, has been doing a round of media interviews this morning. On the Sunday Politics he said that “some” workers’ rights would be maintained when the UK left the EU - inevitably implying that employees would lose some of their EU-related safeguards.

This is from the Daily Mirror’s Jack Blanchard.

This sounds more like a gaffe than an unintended disclosure about the government’s plans. In the Conservative party news release put out overnight about the “great repeal” bill David Davis, the Brexit secretary is quoted as saying explicitly that employment rights will not be cut when the UK leaves the EU. Davis said:

To those who are trying to frighten British workers, saying “When we leave, employment rights will be eroded”, I say firmly and unequivocally “no they won’t”.

Ruth Davidson says her confidence in Boris Johnson is growing

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has insisted that Scotland will be “integrally involved” in Brexit negotiations, whilst baulking at declaring her full confidence in Boris Johnson as foreign secretary.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday Politics Scotland, Davidson revealed that David Davis has spoken to Nicola Sturgeon last night to discuss today’s Brexit timetabling announcements.

But Davidson, whose antipathy towards Johnson became evident during the EU referendum campaign, couldn’t bring herself to state her confidence in him as foreign secretary, telling interviewer Gordon Brewer:

I have always had confidence in the role of foreign secretary.

After Brewer pressed her several times, she relented, laughing, to say: “I have more confidence in Boris Johnson now I’ve sat down with him than I did before.”

Davidson, whose first event in Birmingham is a speech to the Scottish Conservative fringe this lunchtime, added that she believed Johnson was “taking the role incredibly seriously” and wanted to engage with the Scottish government and other devolved administrations.

In the past, Davidson has compared her colleague’s “brazen chauvinistic” style to that of Alex Salmond, and accused Johson during the referendum campaign of “selling a lie”.

Later in the same programme the Scottish government’s Brexit minister Michael Russell warned that there was some concerning “small print” in today’s announcement, which suggested that devolved administrations would only be asked for their opinions rather than being involved in “the meat of negotiations”. He added that the Scottish parliament could well vote against the UK government’s repeal bill, if required to give legislative consent, given that a pro-remain majority existed across the chamber.

Ruth Davidson being interviewed at the Tory conference.
Ruth Davidson being interviewed at the Tory conference. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

The People’s Assembly are holding an anti-austerity protest in Birmingham today to coincide with the opening of the Conservative conference. They have attracted quite a crowd.

Protesters gather during a demonstration against austerity on the first day of the Conservative party conference.
Protesters gather during a demonstration against austerity on the first day of the Conservative party conference. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, suggested that leaving the EU could lead to fewer EU doctors coming to the UK and more British students being admitted to medical school instead. He told the paper:

I think people will ask whether it is right when we are turning away bright British youngsters from medical school - who might get three A-stars [at A-level] but still can’t get in - at the same time we are importing people from all over the world. I think it’s a debate we need to have.

In Berlin Theresa May’s announcement that article 50 will be triggered by the end of March has been welcomed. The German government has been waiting for British politics to outline its vision of a future relationship with the EU.

Scottish-German Christian Democrat MEP David McAllister, who acted as an intermediary between the British and the German government during David Cameron’s pre-Brexit negotiations, told The Guardian:

The prime minister’s announcement has led to more clarity for everyone involved. That is also important with a view to the next European parliamentary elections in 2019.

Transport secretary Chris Grayling, a leading Brexit advocate, said the government would not give much further detail on Britain’s aims for the outcome of the negotiation with the EU. “The negotiations will happen over those following two years, [Theresa May] will say more to parliament before we reach that point, but we are not going to set out in detail our negotiating position before a negotiation,” he told ITV’s Peston on Sunday.

Grayling was adamant that a speech on free trade by international trade secretary Liam Fox earlier this week, widely interpreted as the government inching towards a deal with no single market membership and trade based on WTO tariffs was “nothing of the sort.” He went on:

We will have a sensible agreement with the European Union, that allows them to carry on trading with us. We have a huge trade deficit with the European Union.. we are their most important customer. We need a deal that works for them and for us.

Here is Jon Ashworth, the shadow minister without portfolio, responding to Theresa May’s speech for Labour. He said:

Theresa May said she was providing ‘clarity’ but that’s exactly what we aren’t getting from the Tories. There were very few answers from her this morning either on the big questions facing us. She gave very little detail on her supposed big idea of a ‘Great Repeal Act’ other than it’s an ambition; there was no answer on what would be in it, how it would work or, vitally, how she intends to deliver Brexit while protecting our workers and businesses.

Warm words on a ‘country working for everyone’ are meaningless if you’re pursuing policies which do the opposite. They should be addressing problems in the NHS, in our schools and giving the economy the investment it needs. Instead the Tories are looking backwards towards grammar schools, offer no change on the NHS and are still committed to deep cuts.

May's interview with Marr - Summary

Here are the main points from Theresa May’s interview.

  • May said she would trigger article 50, starting the EU withdrawal process, by the end of March.

As you know, I have been saying that we wouldn’t trigger it before the end of this year so that we get some preparation in place. But yes, I will be saying in my speech today that we will trigger [article 50] before the end of March next year.

Theresa May: Article 50 will be triggered by end of March 2017
  • She urged EU leaders to let the UK start preliminary talks with the EU about Brexit now, before article 50 is invoked. This is significant. EU leaders have been sticking to the formal, legalistic position that they cannot open withdrawal negotiations with the UK until article 50 is invoke. But British officials and ministers want to open preliminary talks now so that they can get a sense of what is realistic before the formal negotiation starts. This morning May said that, having given a firm article 50 timetable, she hoped EU countries would agree to start “preliminary work” on the Brexit negotiation.

It’s for the European Union, the remaining members of the EU have to decide what the process of negotiation is. I hope and I’ll be saying to them that now that they know what our timing is going to be - it’s not an exact date but they know it’ll be in the first quarter of next year - that we’ll be able to have some preparatory work so that once the trigger comes we have a smoother process of negotiation.

I think this is important, it’s not just important for the UK, it’s important for Europe as a whole that we’re able to do this in the best possible way so we have the least disruption for businesses.

  • She reaffirmed her determination not to give a “running commentary” on the Brexit negotiations. But she said that did not mean she would not be providing some commentary from time to time.
  • She hinted that she might introduce a work permit system for skilled workers after Brexit. Stressing the importance of getting control of the immigration system, when asked if she would adopt a work permit system she replied:

We will look at the various ways in which we can bring in the controls that the British people want, and ensuring, as we have been in our immigration policy generally, that the brightest and best can come to the UK.

  • She refused to commit herself to maintain tariff-free access to the single market. Asked how important this was to her, she said she wanted “the right deal” for trade in goods and services.
  • She insisted that her plans to extend grammar schools did not amount to “going back to the 1950s”. She said that lifting the ban on selection was just one aspect of a programme intended to improve education for all. She also said she wanted selective schools to reach out more to poorer pupils.

We are not going back to that system of binary education. We’re not going back to the 1950s ...

We’ll be saying to grammar schools and people who want to set up new selective schools, actually, if you’re doing that, we will want you to show that you’re genuinely reaching out across society in giving those opportunities to young people.

  • She praised David Cameron for his contribution to the Conservative party.

The Conservative party has had great leaders from all sorts of backgrounds. I think what David Cameron did for the Conservative party over the last 6 years is really important. He took us into government and took us into our first majority government for nearly a quarter of a century, and changed the party while he was doing that. I think that was a very important contribution.

  • She said she wanted the Conservative party to be “a party that works for everyone”.
  • She said she wanted to ensure the honours system rewards those who genuinely contribute to society. In response to a question from Andrew Marr about how honours only seem to go to the rich, she replied:

Of course, the focus is always on the big names and the headlines in that sense. But I agree that we want an honours system that actually ensures we can recognise when people out there are really contributing to our society and to their communities.

But the question seemed to take May by surprise, and it was not obvious that her answer signalled a real intention to reform the system.

Theresa May appears on The Andrew Marr Show.
Theresa May appears on The Andrew Marr Show. Photograph: Handout/Getty Images

Updated

Triggering article 50 by March too soon, says Anna Soubry

Anna Soubry, the Conservative former business minister and a pro-European, told Peston on Sunday that Theresa May was invoking article 50 too soon. Asked about May’s ‘before the end of March’ announcement Soubry said:

Triggering Brexit as early as March really concerns me, troubles me hugely, because we won’t have had the French elections, we won’t have had the German elections, and I’m sorry, it is going to take a lot of time and effort to disentangle ourselves and get the right deal.

The other thing that’s got to be said is this - this idea that we hold the cards and that the EU is going to come to us and say ‘do you know what, we’ll give you pretty much what you want’, the idea we’re going to get anything like we’ve got now is rubbish.

We’re going to get something worse, obviously we are, and we don’t hold the cards, the EU does.

Anna Soubry.
Anna Soubry. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

Here are two Labour MPs, Mike Gapes and Bill Esterson, claiming that article 50 being invoked by March could lead to a May election.

Gapes and Esterson either have not read when May said about an early election in her Sunday Times interview (see 9.16am) or do not believe her.

This is from Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, on Theresa May’s Marr interview.

Here are some comments on Theresa May’s interview from political journalists and commentators.

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

From Politico’s Tom McTague

From the Financial Times’ Lionel Barber

From the BBC’s Norman Smith

From the Economist’s Jeremy Cliffe

From the Guardian’s Martin Kettle

From BuzzFeed’s Alberto Nardelli

From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn

From the Guardian’s Anushka Asthana

From the Times’ Michael Savage

Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, has backed Theresa May’s article 50 timetable, the BBC’s Norman Smith reports.

Theresa May's Marr interview - Snap verdict

Theresa May’s Marr interview - Snap verdict: Brexit now seems a little bit more real than it did an hour ago. After Theresa May told Andrew Marr that she would invoke article 50, starting the formal two-year EU withdrawal process by the end of March, we now have a government commitment to a timetable. The UK has six months at most before article 50 tips us down the slipway towards leaving the EU. In theory at least, once the article 50 letter has arrived in Brussels there is no going back.

This is a more important announcement than the overnight one about the “great repeal’ bill. It was inevitable that leaving the EU would involve repealing the 1972 European Communities Act, and the press statement from the Tories about the bill said relatively little about what this legislation would look like. But by announcing that she will trigger article 50 before the end of March, May will firmly quash the speculation that has been bouncing around Westminster about the EU withdrawal process being delayed for a year, or even more.

“By the end of March” sounds quite soon, but arguably May is announcing a one-month delay. In public, until now, all she had said was that article 50 would not be invoked this year. But in private she has been telling EU leaders it would be triggered early next year. Donald Tusk, the EU council president, said after a recent meeting with May that he expected the article 50 declaration in January or February.

Article 50 was easily the key story in the interview, but other bits were interesting too. In particular, May sounded less evangelical about grammar schools than she has done in the past. She preferred to describe the policy in terms of extending selection, and she was very keen to stress that this was only one aspect of a policy document intended to improve standards for everyone.

I will post a summary with the main quotes soon, as well as rounding up some reaction.

Updated

Q: Are you trying to restore cabinet government?

May say she wants to ensure ministers are involved as policy develops.

Q: Was government too informal under Cameron?

May says the last government achieved a great deal. But she thinks process is important.

Q: Will your husband take to the stage after you have spoken?

You’ll have to wait and see, says May.

And that’s it.

Q: This sounds like George Osborne’s liberal Conservatism. Why did you sack him?

May says Osborne contributed a great deal, in government and opposition. She says she has a great team.

Q: Like Margaret Thatcher, you had a religious father, your background was not rich, and you are religious.

May says the Conservative party has had great leaders from different backgrounds.

She says Cameron modernised the party and did great things.

But the party is strongest when it works for everyone.

Q: Tell us about your upbringing. Were you poor or quite well off?

May says she had a happy childhood.

Q: Were your parents Conservative?

May says her father was a vicar. He thought it was important to represent everyone in the parish. So he did not show a political allegiance.

Q: The honours system used to reward people who contributed something extra. Now it just seems to reward people who are already rich.

May says many people how get honours are not rich. The rich get more attention.

But she wants an honours system that rewards people who contribute.

May says she wants to ensure young people have the chance to develop their talents.

She wants a great meritocracy, she says.

Q: What do you say to people who oppose grammars because they do not want children divided into sheep and goats at 11?

May says she is not going back to that system.

Over the past few years the government has had great success improving schools, she says.

But too many children are still in schools that are underperforming, she says.

She wants to improve those schools. But she also wants universities to get more involved in schools, and she wants more faith schools.

She also wants to remove the ban on academic selection, she says. At the moment we have selection by house price, she says.

Q: But what will be different?

May says she will not have a binary system. She has always been interested in education, she says. If people want to set up grammar schools, they will have to show they are reaching out to underprivileged schools.

Q: Does that mean targets or quotas?

May says the government is consulting on this.

But schools will have to reach out.

She says free school meal entitlement is one measure of disadvantage. But she says she wants to explore other measures. She says 25 years ago she was sitting on a committee looking at this.

She says everyone has focused on the grammar school element in her speech. But it was about good schools for all.

May says her priority on immigration is to ensure the UK government sets the rules.

Q: So will universities and other bodies still be able to get skilled workers. Will you use some kind of work permits?

May says she wants to ensure the UK gets the people it needs.

But that begs the question, why don’t we have people with these skills, she says.

Q: How important is to to get tariff-free access to the single market?

May says she wants the right deal for the UK. She has been speaking to business about this. She is listening as to what is most important.

May to trigger article 50, starting EU withdrawal, before end of March

Q: People making big investment decisions, like Nissan, need to know where we are going on Brexit. Isn’t there a danger of losing investment.

May says there is a difference between giving some commentary and giving a running commentary. She has ruled out the latter. But she can give some details of her approach, as she is doing now.

Q: Will you trigger article 50 early next year?

May says she will say in her speech that article 50 will be triggered before the end of March.

  • May says article 50, starting two-year EU withdrawal process, will be triggered before end of March.

Updated

Q: MPs say we do not know where you are going. Why should they give you a blank cheque?

May says she wants to get the right deal. But you won’t necessarily get the best deal if you set out your negotiating position in advance.

Q: Do we actually need a deal?

May says she wants the UK to have a good relationship with the EU?

Q: Bernard Jenkin and others say we do not need a negotiation. He says we could demand free trade on a ‘take it or leave it’ basis.

May says the relationship with the EU is complicated. She says it is important to get the right deal for trade in goods and services.

Theresa May's interview with Andrew Marr

Andrew Marr is now interviewing Theresa May.

Q: Is the great repeal act a big deal? Doesn’t this have to be done?

May says it is important. It makes it clear that we will be leaving the EU. It gives clarity over timing. And it means there will be a smooth transition when we leave.

Q: But EU laws will become British law.

May says we will take EU law into British law. But parliament will then be able to decide which bits to keep. And it is important to do this. For example, EU law covers workers’ rights.

Q: But won’t MPs want to change the laws as the bill goes through parliament.

May says it is important to get this through before we leave the EU.

Q: Opposition MPs may want to vote this down. And Tories in favour of a soft Brexit may oppose it to. If you cannot get this through, could it be the trigger for an election.

May says parliament voted to give the public a vote on the EU. This is about delivering on the Brexit vote, she says.

Q: You are quite negative about Theresa May. You describe her as operating like a submarine in the EU referendum campaign. But she understood what people felt, didn’t she?

Oliver says it was very difficult having a home secretary not saying which side she was on in the run-up to the referendum. And when she did reveal her hand, she was only 51% pro-remain.

Q: The remain campaign said there would be a punishment budget if we left. That was not true, was it?

Oliver says George Osborne was trying to highlight the warnings from economic experts that Brexit could create a hole in the economy.

Yes, there has been some good economic news since the Brexit vote.

But the currency has devalued by 15%. And Philip Hammond, the chancellor, says he will reset economic policy. That sounds like more borrowing, says Oliver.

And that’s it.

Q: You are very critical of Michael Gove in your new book. But he realised what the public thought. You did not.

Oliver says two days before Gove announced he would chair the leave campaign, he told Cameron he would not play a leading role in the leave campaign. Then leave started operating like an alternative government.

Sir Craig Oliver's interview with Marr

Sir Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s former communications director, is being interviewed by Andrew Marr now.

Q: Do you like using your knighthood?

Oliver says he is not squeamish about it.

Q: Cameron said repeatedly he could campaign for a no vote. But your new book makes it clear that is inconceivable.

Oliver does not accept that. There were points in the negotiation when he was very frustrated about Europe, he says.

Q: Cameron came on this programme and said, if he lost the referendum, he would stay on as PM. That was nonsense, wasn’t it?

Oliver says you can only judge circumstances at the time. After the vote he decided to go. Earlier the situation was different.

It is only when you face moments like that that you can take a decision.

Q: So you think at the time he said he would stay on he thought he could.

Yes, says Oliver. It would have been difficult for him to say he would go. But at that point he thought there were circumstances in which he could stay on.

May says a pre-2020 general election would create 'instability'

Theresa May has given a full interview to the Sunday Times.

In it, she announced the “great repeal” bill that I’ve already mentioned. (See 8.42am.) But here are some of the other lines from Tim Shipman’s interview.

  • May was more explicit than she has been before about ruling out a general election before 2020. She said:

I think it’s right that the next general election is in 2020. This isn’t about political games, it’s about what is right for the country. I think an early general election would introduce a note of instability for people.

May has ruled out a “snap” election before, and argued that there is “no need” for an election before 2020. But if May is now saying an early election would introduce “instability”, then it would be harder for her to justify changing her mind on why there might be a need for a pre-2020 poll.

  • She hinted that she would not wait until the German elections in September 2017 to trigger article 50, starting the EU withdrawal process. Number 10 has signalled that it will be triggered early next year, probably in January or February.
  • She said that the Tories wanted to build “a new centre ground” and that she wanted to appeal to people who had not backed the party before. She said:

I think there will be many people who have not been traditional Conservative voters who will see we’re the party that is actually respecting their views, listening to their concerns and responding to them.

  • She said she thought government should be “small, strong and strategic”. Asked her view on government intervention in the economy, she said:

I’m not in that position of thinking that all government is somehow bad. Government is good. But it’s important that government is small, strong and strategic.

  • She denied having Margaret Thatcher as a role model. She said:

I haven’t had a role model in my political career and I’m not somebody who says, ‘I’m going to be like X’. I just look at the issues that I’m faced with and get on and do what I believe to be the right thing.

  • She said that, unlike David Cameron, she stayed up late to do her prime ministerial paperwork. She said:

I’m an owl rather than a lark, so I will tend to work late. I carry on working and do the boxes that I have.

Shipman says it is not unusual for May to finish working at 2am. Cameron preferred to get up at 5.45am to get through his ministerial red box.

  • She took a swipe at Jamie Oliver. May loves cooking, but not necessarily Oliver, Shipman suggests. He writes:

Her approach to the kitchen is as averse to gimmicks and quick fixes as her politics. I suggest that, with time tight, she might make use of Jamie Oliver’s book Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals. “Yes, 15-minute meals with 45 minutes of preparation,” she said wryly, followed by a quick “sorry” as she realises she is traducing a national treasure.

Towards the end of the interview Shipman also includes this unusual, and possibly quite telling, anecdote.

It is a world that has often portrayed her as humourless but the tape of our conversation is punctuated by laughter. The transcription service sent it back with a note saying: “Theresa May is a very nice woman and the transcriber thoroughly enjoyed listening to her.” No one has sent such a message to me about a politician before.

Theresa May became prime minister this summer with voters having only a relatively hazy view as to what her views are. She had been home secretary for six years but she is something of a political introvert and as a cabinet minister she only gave speeches addressing matters outside her home office brief on perhaps two or three occasions. During the Conservative leadership contest she was all set to elaborate on her thinking during the final stage of the contest. But then Andrea Leadsom pulled out, with the result that only one of the series of speeches May was planning, the Birmingham economy speech, actually got delivered.

So that is one reason why this promises to be more interesting than the average Conservative party conference. Normally, if the party leader is prime minister, we already know quite a lot about them. This week, and particularly in her keynote speech on Wednesday, May has the chance to flesh out her politics and to present herself to the country she runs in a sharper focus.

But there is second issue that will dominate proceedings too: Brexit. Over the summer ministers have said very little about how they will proceed with the EU withdrawal talks, beyond the vacuous and tautologicial “Brexit means Brexit”. This week, and particularly this afternoon, when the conference holds a session on Brexit, May and her team are going to have to say a little more. Equally importantly, conference fringe meetings on the subject are going to give members and MPs the chance to set out what their Brexit demands are.

Overnight May has announced that Brexit will involve a “great repeal” bill. Here is the our story on this.

And here is an extract.

May and the Brexit secretary, David Davis, will use the opening day of the conference to detail plans for their “great repeal” bill that will allow Britain to “take back control” of its legislation. The bill will repeal the 1972 European Communities Act, which gives direct effect to all EU law, and at the same time convert Brussels regulations into domestic law.

This will give parliament the power to unpick the laws it wants to keep, remove or amend at a later date, in a move that could be welcomed by MPs who are keen to have a say over the terms of Brexit. The move is also designed to give certainty to businesses and protection for workers’ rights that are enshrined in EU law.

Davis will say: “To those who are trying to frighten British workers, saying, ‘When we leave, employment rights will be eroded’, I say firmly and unequivocally, ‘No, they won’t.’”

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Theresa May is interviewed on the Andrew Marr Show. Sir Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s former communications director, is also a guest.

10am: Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, is interviewed on Peston on Sunday.

10am: Priti Patel, the international development secretary, and Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, are among the guests on Sky’s Murnaghan.

10am: Grayling and Oliver are interviewed on Pienaar’s Politics.

11am: Grayling and Duncan Smith are interviewed on the Sunday Politics.

12.45pm: Liam Fox, the international development secretary, is interviewed at a fringe meeting by the Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh.

2pm: The conference opens with speeches from Patrick McLoughlin, the party chairman, and Andy Street, the Conservative West Midlands mayoral candidate.

Around 2.30pm: A debate on global Britain starts, with speeches from May, David Davis, the Brexit secretary, Patel and Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary.

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

I try to monitor the comments below the line 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. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

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