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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Nicola Slawson (now) and Andrew Sparrow (earlier)

Irish PM: May to present new text on border deal 'tonight or tomorrow' – as it happened

Evening summary

I am closing this liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us today.

Here’s a roundup of what happened this evening:

  • Theresa May has told Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, she is “working hard to find a specific solution to the unique circumstances in Northern Ireland” and is committed to “moving together to achieve a positive result on this”.
  • The DUP have said it is continuing to hold talks with the government to find a solution to the Irish border question, saying “There is still plenty of work to be done.”
  • In a press conference with the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, Varadkar said Theresa May would be coming back to them with text on the Irish border “tonight or tomorrow” and that she hopes for a deal next week. He also flatly denied accusations that he stopped the DUP seeing the text of the Brexit border deal which was due to be sealed on Monday.
  • David Davis appears to have escaped censure from MPs after the Brexit committee split on party lines over whether to formally criticise him, following a chaotic appearance in which he said that dozens of economic impact assesssments he had been told to publish did not, in fact, exist. Both Chuka Umunna and David Lammy have written to the speaker of the house demanding action.
  • A group of 19 Tory MPs have co-signed a letter urging Theresa May to ignore those in the party suggesting that she walk away from the negotiating table, which they say is “highly irresponsible”. The letter condemns their Eurosceptic colleagues who “seek to dictate terms” which could lead to Britain leaving the European Union with no deal.
  • The government has won the latest Commons votes over key Brexit legislation. Majorities ranging from 20 to 28 helped ministers ensure the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill remains unamended after five days of MPs examining it line by line, although further battles await in the final three days before Christmas.
  • Lord Bassam, Labour’s chief whip in the House of Lords, will stand down in the New Year after questions were raised about his expenses claims.

My colleagues Daniel Boffey, Lisa O’Carroll and Rowena Mason have the full report on today’s events.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has told member states that the British government has just 48 hours to agree a text on a potential deal or it will be told that negotiations will not move on to the next stage.

Barnier informed EU ambassadors that Downing Street had told him a potential solution was being worked out that could possibly satisfy both Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party and the Republic of Ireland, but that it had yet to be signed off by any of those involved.

Another meeting of diplomats of the 27 member states has been pencilled in for Friday evening, should the UK find an agreement with the DUP on a solution to avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland.

Lord Bassam is to resign as Labour chief whip in the Lords

Lord Bassam will quit his job as Labour’s chief whip in the House of Lords in the New Year after questions were raised about his expenses claims, a Labour Lords source has said.

Updated

The government has won the latest Commons votes over key Brexit legislation, amid warnings that dissident republicans would target border officials if there is no deal.

Majorities ranging from 20 to 28 helped ministers ensure the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill remains unamended after five days of MPs examining it line by line, although further battles await in the final three days before Christmas.

Independent MP Lady Hermon had attracted Conservative support for her proposal to make the commitment to the principles of the Good Friday Agreement clearer in the Bill although she later decided against forcing a vote.

Her decision came after Brexit minister Robin Walker offered to meet her to discuss the issue further and also urged her to work with the Government to ensure the agreement is “respected as we moved forward”.

Lady Hermon opened proceedings by issuing a direct warning to Tory MPs about the consequences of a hard border, which she argued would “inevitably” exist between Northern Ireland and the Republic if the UK and EU failed to agree a deal.

DUP MP Ian Paisley said the government is clear in its support for the Good Friday Agreement, adding: “It’d be wrong to add it to this Bill.”

MPs later switched their attention to the Brexit divorce bill, defeating opposition proposals linked to this.

Debate finished shortly before 8pm - well ahead of the scheduled 9.14pm finish before the final three votes.

The Bill will return to the Commons next week for further scrutiny.

Updated

Here’s a little more from my colleague Lisa O’Carroll in Dublin.

Varadkar flatly denied accusations that he stopped the DUP seeing the text of the Brexit border deal which was due to sealed on Monday.

Asked if he had discussed it with May in his phone call today, he replied:

I didn’t discuss it with Theresa May, I didn’t need to because I know it isn’t true.

I can assure you that no such instruction was given by the Irish government nor do I think the UK would obey such an instruction.. that’s obviously untrue.

Theresa May will provide fresh text on the Irish border “tonight or tomorrow”.

Fresh and urgent moves to salvage the Brexit negotiations were underway on Wednesday night after Theresa May told the Irish prime minister she will come back with fresh text on the Irish border “tonight or tomorrow”.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar revealed that there was “room to manoeuvre” the deal into the right position before the European council summit next week.

Ireland’s Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar and Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands, hold a news conference at Government Buildings in Dublin, Ireland December 6, 2017. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne
Ireland’s taoiseach, Leo Varadkar and Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, hold a news conference in Dublin. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

He told reporters in Dublin at a press conference with the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte:

Having consulted with people in London [May] wants to come back to us with text tonight and tomorrow. And I expect to move forward as well – I want us to move forward if it’s possible next week.

I explained my position to her, she explained her position to me. It was a very good call. We were willing to look at any proposals the UK have.

While we were willing to consider them, we believe the one we had on Monday would work for Ireland and had to be assured that any new language would be consistent with that.

Varadkar said he “agreed to look at any text with a positive and open” attitude and opened the possibility of a truce with the Democratic Unionist Party with what appeared to be a soft interpretation of what “regulatory alignment” might mean between Northern Ireland and Ireland post Brexit.

He said that regulatory alignment, which is one of three options for a post Brexit border arrangement in the Brussels deal, did not apply to “everything”, merely areas of “north south” activity.

He said that there was already regulatory divergence on the island – for instance fireworks are legal in Northern Ireland but not in the republic.

Rutte said the EU was “working very hard” to move forward, but it could not without a deal on the Irish border.

He said:

We cannot just say because we need a soft Brexit that we will somehow compromise on some of these things on the table, citizens rights, the ex-bill, the border.

Updated

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has dismissed Arlene Foster’s claim that Ireland didn’t want her to see border deal text. He was speaking at the press conference with the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, which my colleague Lisa O’Carroll is reporting from.

Jobs will be moved out of Britain unless Theresa May secures progress in Brexit negotiations at next week’s summit of European Union leaders, a leading business lobbying group will warn.

The CBI will say more than half (60%) of firms with Brexit contingency plans will activate them by Easter, meaning jobs leaving the UK, unless the December 14-15 European Council summit green-lights trade and transition talks.

On Wednesday evening, CBI president Paul Drechsler will say companies will move jobs or shift production if they have to and will begin making their “no turning back” decisions in the first quarter of 2018.

In a speech to the City of London Corporation, he will say:

Today, Brexit uncertainty looms over almost every aspect of doing business in the UK. Every day, companies are having to plan for the worst while hoping for the best. They are making choices that will determine new jobs, new plants and new investments in the years ahead. Businesses will press snooze for as long as they can - but the alarm will go off.

No company wants to move jobs or shift production - but business will if it has to. No-one wants to leave their homes or jobs - but EU citizens will if they feel they are no longer wanted.

And we know that financial services firms start making their ‘no turning back’ decisions in the first quarter of 2018. There’s no time to waste. In the immediate term, business needs to know the details of any transition deal - Rome is burning on that issue.

And we need progress at the EU council next week or 60% of firms with contingency plans will have put these into effect by Easter. That means jobs leaving the UK - in most cases irreversibly.

My colleague Lisa O’Carroll is in Ireland where a press conference between Leo Varadkar and the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte is taking place following their meeting.

The taoiseach says Theresa May “wants to come back to us with text tonight or tomorrow” and that she hopes for a deal next week.

We’ll have more on this shortly.

Updated

Another Labour MP, this time David Lammy, has written to speaker John Bercow regarding David Davis.

He says he has called for Bercow to initiate the contempt of parliament proceeding. It will be interesting to see whether the speaker takes any action given the vote taken by the Brexit committee earlier.

The DUP have said it is continuing to hold talks with the government to find a solution to the Irish border question.

A party spokesman said:

There is still plenty of work to be done. The (government and DUP) teams in London are continuing to work through the detail.

It is understood Arlene Foster has no immediate plans to fly to London for talks with Theresa May and any such move would depend on progress in talks.

A group of 19 Tory MPs have co-signed a letter urging Theresa May to ignore those in the party suggesting that she walk away from the negotiating table, which they say is “highly irresponsible”.

The letter condemns their Eurosceptic colleagues who “seek to dictate terms” which could lead to Britain leaving the European Union with no deal.

The signatories, who include former cabinet ministers Nicky Morgan, Stephen Crabb and Dominic Grieve, say those who suggest leaving the EU without an exit or trade deal with the UK are “deliberately” missing warnings of the uncertainty expats would face, higher prices for consumers and disruption at the border.

The MPs say:

We also wish to make it clear that we are disappointed that, yet again, some MPs and others seek to impose their own conditions on these negotiations. In particular it is highly irresponsible to seek to dictate terms which could lead to the UK walking away from these negotiations.

Those who say that if such an outcome happens the UK will ‘revert to World Trade Organisation’ rules deliberately make it sound as if this is some status quo which the UK simply opts to adopt.

They miss the many business and other voices who have made it clear that a ‘no deal’ post March 2019 scenario would lead to great uncertainty for EU citizens living here and UK citizens living in the EU, higher costs and reduced choice for consumers, disruption at our ports and borders and grave questions about how cross-border contracts are to be fulfilled.

The Secretary of State for Exiting the EU has said that the Article 50 negotiations are the most important in the UK’s modern history. We agree and urge you to take whatever time is necessary to get the next stage of the UK’s relationship with the EU right.

Faisal Islam from Sky News has tweeted out these images of the letter:

Labour MP Chuka Umunna has written to John Bercow, the speaker of the house of commons calling for action on whether David Davis has misled the house.

The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg says that 20 Tory MPs have written to the prime minister about their pro-Brexit colleagues.

Here’s her tweet on the contents of the letter:

The Brexit committee has released this statement regarding David Davis, which means it is unlikely that he will face contempt proceedings. However that won’t stop Labour MPs pushing for a vote on it.

The committee on Exiting the European Union agreed the following resolution:

That, in view of the statement that no impact assessments have been undertaken, the Committee considers that the Government’s response to the resolution of the House of 1 November has complied with the terms of that resolution.

The committee will now seek further clarification from Davis on whether any of the information in the documents he has provided should not published on the grounds that it is commercially, market, or negotiation-sensitive.

My colleague Rowena Mason has the party breakdown of how members on that committee voted.

Updated

This is Nicola Slawson taking over from Andrew Sparrow.
Here are some details of the phone conversation that Theresa May and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had this afternoon.

A No 10 spokesperson said:

They both agreed about the paramount importance of no hard border or physical infrastructure at the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Prime Minister said how she recognised the significance of this issue to the people of Northern Ireland and Ireland and how this remained a joint priority for both Governments, and the EU, to resolve.

The Prime Minister said we are working hard to find a specific solution to the unique circumstances in Northern Ireland that respects the integrity of the UK, the European Union and the Belfast Agreement.

She added that we are committed to moving together to achieve a positive result on this as well as restoring devolved Government to Northern Ireland. Both leaders looked forward to continuing relations as close neighbours and allies as the negotiations progress.

Updated

Afternoon summary

  • Downing Street has dismissed Philip Hammond’s claim that the UK will definitely pay a “Brexit bill” to the EU as it leaves even if it does not get a trade deal. (See 4.41pm.) Giving evidence to the Commons Treasury committee, Hammond argued that the UK would not be a credible country if it did not pay its debts. But Number 10 said that they were working on the basis that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”, and that this applied to finance too. This is an important faultline because Tory Brexiters think the UK should only pay the EU in return for a good trade deal, while the EU insists the financial settlement and the future trade relationship should not be linked.
  • Hammond has confirmed that the cabinet has not yet had a specific discussion about the final Brexit outcome it wants. (See 2.21pm.) Later Number 10 said the cabinet would discuss this before Christmas. (See 4.47pm.)
  • Hammond has suggested that the new defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, has yet to “get his head around” the complexity of defence. A briefing war between Williamson’s Ministry of Defence and the Treasury triggered a remarkable story on today’s Times front page.

Here’s an extract from the story (paywall.)

The chancellor has been banned from using a fleet of RAF jets and helicopters until the Treasury settles a bill with the Ministry of Defence, The Times has learnt, amid a growing spat between two cabinet ministers.

Philip Hammond’s department is said to owe a six-figure sum for past flights with No 32 (The Royal) Squadron. An order has been issued to officials who take VIP bookings for the aircraft not to accept any more requests from the chancellor until he pays up, according to a defence source ...

At the weekend allies of the chancellor were reported to have said that Mr Williamson, 41, the former chief whip and a close ally of Mrs May, “look[ed] like Private Pike from Dad’s Army” when compared to more experienced “grizzled old forces types”. Yesterday a defence source said that the comment caused “bewilderment”. The Times understands that the chancellor used BAe 146 jets, which also transport the royal family, and A109 helicopters to fly to more than 20 destinations this year on official business, including Manchester, Leeds, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Aberdeen, Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt — all accessible by train or budget airline.

Williamson is fighting for more money for the defence budget. Asked about defence spending at the Treasury committee hearing, Hammond said:

There is no greater champion of defence than me. I was defence secretary for almost three years. I am a huge advocate for our armed forces.

There is no question of the defence budget being cut. The defence budget is being increased but I recognise also the defence is facing some pressures, particularly around currency movement. A lot of defence procurement is denominated in US dollars.

I expect that once he has had a chance to understand the situation in the Ministry of Defence and to get his head around the defence budget, the new defence secretary will be wanting to come and talk to me and he will find no one more sympathetic to the challenges of defence than me.

That’s all from me for today.

We may revive the blog later to pick up the votes at the end of the EU withdrawal bill debate.

Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, has used Twitter to reassert Ireland’s demand for the phase one issues in the Brexit talks to be resolved “credibly” before the EU opens trade talks (ie, moves on to phase two).

MPs vote down SNP amendment for Scottish and Welsh governments to get extra powers

The SNP amendment was voted down by 316 votes to 296 - a majority of 20.

The prime minister has joined children singing carols outside Number 10. This is from ITV’s Paul Brand.

The first half of the EU withdrawal bill debate has just finished.

At the end Sylvia Hermon asked the Brexit minister Robin Walker for an assurance that the Good Friday agreement would be preserved. He said it would be. She then asked for a guarantee that this would be written into the new legislation promised by the government implementing the Brexit deal. Walker said the deal was still being negotiated, but that the government wanted to enshrine the Good Friday agreement principle in the deal, so there was “a logic” to what she was proposing.

Hermon then withdrew her amendment. (See 2.03pm.)

MPs are now voting on amendment 167, an SNP motion that would give ministers in the Scottish parliament and the Welsh assembly the same powers to amend directly applicable EU law using secondary legislation that Westminster minsters have.

Varadkar tells May Irish government still firmly behind what was agreed previously

Theresa May and Ireland’s prime minister spoke by telephone this afternoon, Leo Varadkar’s office has confirmed. An official said:

They took stock of developments since Monday.

The Taoiseach reiterated the firm Irish position regarding the text as outlined by him on Monday.

They agreed to speak again over the coming day.

A 64-year-old man was taken to hospital last night after a brawl in Parliament’s sports and social bar, which has shut indefinitely pending a police investigation. A man has been arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and affray.

Police were called to the bar, which is generally frequented by parliamentary staffers on Tuesday at 6.30pm. A Met Police spokesman said:

Police were called to a courtyard within the House of Commons to reports of an altercation between two males. One male, aged 57, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of grievous bodily harm and affray.

He has been taken to a central London Police station where he remains at this time. A second man, aged 64, was taken to hospital by London Ambulance Service for treatment to non life threatening injuries. No other persons were involved.

Tim Farron says David Davis should resign

The former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has called for David Davis’s resignation. He said:

David Davis needs to go. He has mislead parliament and under his leadership the Brexit department has turned incompetence into an art form.

I am not one to call for ministerial resignations every two minutes and I’ve nothing against David Davis as a person but it is now clear he deceived MP. He is also writing the government’s Brexit strategy on the back of a fag packet.

This is from Sky’s David Blevins.

And Sinn Fein are urging Leo Varadkar not to budge.

No 10 says cabinet to discuss final Brexit outcome it wants before Christmas

The prime minister’s spokesman told journalists at the afternoon lobby briefing that tje cabinet will discuss the government’s preferred “end state” in terms of post-Brexit trade and security relations with the remaining EU by the end of the year, regardless of what progress has been made in negotiations by that point.

There are only two more Cabinet meeting scheduled for 2017, on December 13 and 20.

This is the discussion that Philip Hammond told the Treasury committee earlier had yet to take place. (See 3.39pm.)

May speaks to Varadkar

Theresa May spoke to Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, this afternoon by phone, No 10 has said.

Updated

No 10 dismisses Hammond's claim that UK will pay 'Brexit bill' even without trade deal

This is what Philip Hammond, the chancellor, told the Treasury committee about the UK’s “Brexit bill” payments not being conditional on the UK getting a trade deal.

Asked if the exit payments would be conditional on there being a future trade deal, he replied:

Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed in this negotiation. But I find it inconceivable that we as a nation would be walking away from an obligation that we recognised as an obligation. That’s just not a credible scenario. That’s not the kind of country we are. And frankly it would not make us a credible partner for future international agreements.

He said there would be arguments about what the UK did actually owe, and that in some areas there would be doubt as to whether the UK did have a legal obligation. But he went on:

And we will fight our corner vigorously where there is any scope for debate.

But where it is clear that we have entered into an obligation, we will meet that obligation.

This is anathema to the Tory Brexiters, who insist the UK should only pay money to Brussels if it gets a free trade deal.

And at the afternoon lobby briefing Number 10 sided with the Brexiters. This is from the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.

In his evidence Hammond said the cost to Britain of leaving the EU without a deal would be far higher than any sum it might pay as a “Brexit bill”. Hammond said:

It is clear that the economic and fiscal consequences of getting the right deal for Britain, compared to a less favourable deal for Britain over the years to come, would be significantly larger than any of the sums of money that are in question in this negotiation.

Sky’s Faisal Islam has more from the EU withdrawal bill debate. The DUP’s Ian Paisley is speaking now, and he is backing the government on the Hermon amendment.

Parliament’s sports and social club, the most rackety of all the bars in the House of Commons, has been closed indefinitely after a fight, the Times’ Henry Zeffman reports.

The Treasury committee hearing is over. Nicky Morgan ends by telling Hammond he is not trending on Twitter, as David Davis was after his committee hearing this morning. (See 11.57am.) Hammond says (correctly) that that is probably a good thing ...

DUP accuses Varadkar of playing 'dangerous game' after warning deal may not be agreed until next year

In the Dail earlier today Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said that talks on a UK-EU Brexit could run into 2018 if there is no agreement in the next few days. As the Irish News reports, he said:

We want to move to phase two but if it is not possible to move to phase two next week because of the problems that have arisen, well then we can pick it up of course in the New Year.

Nigel Dodds, the DUP’s deputy leader, has accused him of playing “a dangerous game”. This is from the News Letter’s Sam McBride.

Nigel Dodds
Nigel Dodds Photograph: Paul Davey / Barcroft Images

There are ongoing discussions at chief whip level between the DUP and the Tories, DUP sources said in Belfast today. The sense is that this will “creep into January” at this stage, they said. The DUP, though, are watching if Theresa May heads back to Brussels today, tomorrow or Friday.

In the Commons Robin Walker, the Brexit minister, is speaking now. He has just told MPs that the government will not accept Sylvia Hermon’s amendment. (See 2.03pm.) He said the government was strongly committed to the Good Friday agreement, but could not accept the amendment for technical reasons. Hermon said she was very disappointed. The Tory MP Ken Clarke said if the government wanted to improved the wording of the amendment, it could. And several MPs say if government MPs vote against the amendment, it will look as if they are voting against the Good Friday agreement.

MPs claim government 'dysfunctional' after Hammond says cabinet has not discussed its ultimate Brexit goal

Here is the full quote from Philip Hammond earlier about how the cabinet has not had a specific discussion about the final Brexit outcome it wants. (See 2.21pm.) He said:

The cabinet has had general discussions about our Brexit negotiations, but we haven’t had a specific mandating of an end-state position.

That is something that will be done first in the sub-committee constituted to deal with this issue, and logically that will happen once we have confirmation that we have reached “sufficient progress” and are going to begin the phase two process with the European Union.

We are not yet at that stage and it would have been premature to have that discussion before we reach that stage.

Here is some reaction from the Labour MP Alison McGovern, in a press notice put out by Open Britain, which is campaigning for a soft Brexit.

This is beyond parody. The government is flailing around trying to get agreement to move on to talks on the future UK-EU relationship. Yet they don’t even know what they want that relationship to be once they make that progress. They are breathtakingly dysfunctional.

And this is from the Green MP Caroline Lucas, in a press notice sent out by Best for Britain, which is campaigning for a second Brexit referendum.

It has been 18 months since the referendum, it’s shocking that the Cabinet has not even discussed what they all think Brexit will look like. These people are making this up on the fly.

If the government has no idea on the end state, how on earth are they ready to move onto the next stage of talks? The cabinet is frankly an embarrassment.

In the comments BTL someone asked what Philip Rycroft, the Brexit department permanent secretay, said when he gave evidence to the committee this morning. I was not listening carefully, but my colleague Rafael Behr was, and he has written about Rycroft in a good column on the whole hearing.

Here is an excerpt.

So how did this misunderstanding arise? Davis had previously referred to work undertaken in “excruciating detail” to consider the economic consequences of quitting the EU under various scenarios and for various sectors of the economy. (But he claims never to have called them “impact assessments”.) Setting aside the technical definition, the question still arises of how meticulous, forensic work undertaken over a long period of time behind closed doors in Whitehall morphed into stuff you could find on Google; what one committee member described as a “cuttings file”.

One explanation is that the redactions removed all the valuable material. This is possible but it requires believing that the department had too much stuff to share and required time only to sift and remove it. Yet the permanent secretary, Philip Rycroft, giving testimony after Davis, essentially admitted that the opposite was true. He had been surprised by his ministerial bosses’ offer to parliament and had promptly required to oversee a process of rapid collection and collation of data. In other words, DexEU hasn’t spent the past three weeks taking things out. It has been scrabbling around for stuff to put in.

The more convincing explanation is that Davis was bluffing. He presumed that there was a lot of detail around somewhere, recognised at some level that it was the sort of thing that certainly ought to exist and didn’t expect ever to be forced to admit that it didn’t. And when parliament called his bluff, he doubled down, played along with the idea of impact assessments and let his civil servants try to do a year’s worth of government homework in less than a month.

And here is the full article.

The Irish government “needs to be more open” about its Brexit plans with the Democratic Unionist Party to assure them it is not using negotiations to forge a united Ireland by stealth, a leading member of Ireland’s opposition party has said.

Fianna Fail’s Brexit spokesman Stephen Donnelly spoke amid heightened tensions in north-south relations in Ireland and concerns that the DUP had not been brought on board before.

“There should be a back channel opened to the unionists,” said Donnelly in an interview with the Guardian. “We don’t know if they were in the loop, but we do know they have problems with the tone in Dublin.

“I cannot understand it as the government has been working night and day ... to get the best deal for Northern Ireland, but there should be a back channel between the Irish government and the DUP, “ said Donnelly who party props up the minority government in Ireland.

We have to respect the DUP which has a legitimate identity which is British, and concerns that there is going to be a break up of the United Kingdom.

If they have concerns, you have to listen to them. We have to tell them that nobody is trying to bounce the unionists into anything.

This is from Sky’s Faisal Islam.

Politico Europe has had a detailed briefing on the 15-page draft UK-EU deal that was circulating on Monday before the DUP said it was unacceptable. In a very thorough story, Tom McTague and Maia De La Baume summarise what it said. Here is an excerpt.

The 15-page draft agreement lays out the scope of the U.K.’s financial settlement with Brussels as well as the ongoing influence of the European Court of Justice in U.K. legal matters post Brexit. The commitments contained in the document include an agreement that the U.K. shall:

Meet its share of the cost for projects signed off in the 21 months after Britain leaves until the end of the EU’s 7-year budget which finishes on December 31, 2020 — the so-called reste à liquider;

Have the option of participating in some EU programs post Brexit;

Have “due regard” to ECJ case law on EU citizens’ rights;

Set up an independent national authority to monitor citizens’ rights concerns.

Another U.K. official familiar with the text said that in addition there was an “explicit” reference that the offer is “conditional on an overall agreement which takes into account the framework for a future relationship and an early agreement on transition,” raising the prospect that it could all be withdrawn should the talks break down.

This final paragraph, if correct, will reassure Tory Brexiters potentially alarmed by what Philip Hammond said to the committee about paying the EU what is owed regardless of whether or not there is a trade deal. (See 2.29pm.) Presumably the government is making a distinction between money it thinks it is legally obliged to pay to the EU and a larger “Brexit bill” sum, some of which will be conditional on the UK getting a trade deal.

Back in the Treasury committee, Labour’s Alison McGovern asks if it the case that the cabinet never specifically discussed whether to leave the single market and the customs union. Hammond says the cabinet has discussed lots of things, but he says the decision to leave the single market and the customs union was a logical consequence of the vote to leave the EU. So there was no separate decision, he says.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, is facing calls to “pick up the phone” to Arlene Foster to try and repair relations between Belfast and Dublin in a bid to finesse an Irish border deal.

Just two days after the Democratic Unionist Party leader torpedoed the Brexit deal, Varadkar faced questions in the Irish parliament about the deterioration of north-south relations, now at their most strained in decades.

“If we are to listen you are going to have to pick up the phone and talk to Arlene at some point. Have you any plans for that? And what she seems to be saying in recent days is that they were completely outside the loop for five weeks, didn’t know what the text was, didn’t know what the structure was [of the border deal],” said Green Party TD Eamon Ryan.

His questions came following accusations by Foster on Tuesday night that Ireland had been trying to push a united Ireland agenda and had approached the Irish border issue “aggressively”.

Varadkar ducked the direct question sticking to line that Ireland was part of team Europe and the lines of communication were London/Belfast and Ireland/Brussels.

He suggested the DUP should not get special treatment just because they are in a confidence and supply arrangement because that they were not the only party in Northern Ireland. Speaking in leader’s questions in the Dail, he said:

I would think it appropriate that all parties should be seeing the text at the same time. Obviously the European commission with our involvement negotiates on one side with the UK government on the other, but at the point at which texts are being shared with political parties I don’t see why the green party, which is north and south, shouldn’t see the text at same time as Sinn Fein and Fianna Fail and the DUP.

Varadkar was also asked if Ireland’s premature pronouncements on the impending agreement on Monday morning had helped scupper the deal.
He told the Dail that he had not spoken to media until Monday evening after the deal had gone sour.

Varadkar told TDs he expected to talk to Theresa May “in the coming days”. Sources say a call has not been scheduled for today.

Leo Varadkar speaking in the Dail.
Leo Varadkar speaking in the Dail. Photograph: Dail/PA

Updated

Hammond says the cost to the country of having a “less favourable” Brexit deal - ie, a no deal Brexit - would dwarf the cost of what the government is expecting to pay when it leaves (around £50bn, according to some reports.)

Hammond says UK will pay what it owes EU regardless of whether it gets trade deal

Q: Are future payments to the EU dependent on the EU offering the UK a future trade relationship?

Hammond says that it is the case that nothing is agreed in the talks until everything is agreed.

But he says the UK will not walk away from its obligations. Where it has a legal obligation to pay money, it will pay that money.

He says it would be bad for the country’s reputation if it did not pay money it owed.

  • Hammond says UK will pay the money it owes the EU regardless of whether it gets a trade deal.

He says the government will scrutinise what it thinks it has to pay very carefully.

Hammond confirms cabinet has not had specific discussion about final Brexit outcome it wants

Q: Has the cabinet discussed the end state, where the UK wants to get to after Brexit?

Hammond says there have been discussions about Brexit, but not a specific one about the end state.

He says the first discussion will come in a cabinet committee.

That can only happen when they know talks will move to phase two. Any discussion before then would be premature, he claims.

  • Hammond confirms cabinet has not had a specific discussion about the final Brexit outcome it wants, the so-called “end state”.

Q: Did the draft UK-EU deal mean the government would have been committed to regulatory alignment for the whole of the UK in the event of there being no Brexit deal? Is this what the Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar meant yesterday when he spoke about the three options in the paper.

Hammond says the UK and the Irish government are both committed to keeping an open border, and to respecting the Good Friday agreement.

He says in phase two of the negotiations, the Irish government will be a strong supporter of the UK having a deep and special relationship with the EU.

There are also plans for new customs procedures.

Hammond says the regulatory alignment proposals were intended to cover a situation where there was no deal.

Q: Do you support the OBR review the impact of the Brexit deal, compared to staying in the EU or there being no deal?

Hammond says he does not think it as binary as that.

He says the OBR’s statutory mandate is to produce two forecasts a year. These would take into account any deal.

As for whether it could do a specific Brexit deal analysis, he says he would have to talk to it about whether it had the resources to do that.

Hammond says spring statement will take place on Tuesday 13 March

Philip Hammond says his spring statement will take place on Tuesday 13 March.

Now that Hammond has switched the date of the budget to the autumn, the “spring statement” is the equivalent of the old autumn statement.

But it won’t be a major fiscal event, he says.

He says he will use it to respond to the latest OBR forecasts.

And he will use it to set out some long-term thinking, ahead of the autumn budget, he says.

Philip Hammond's evidence to the Treasury committee

Philip Hammond, the chancellor, is now giving evidence to the Commons Treasury committee. The hearing is about the budget, but Nicky Morgan, the committee chair, has just said the committee will be asking about “topical events” too.

I will be covering it reasonably closely, while also keeping on eye other stories.

In the Commons MPs have started the EU withdrawal bill debate. They are spending four hours debating Northern Ireland issues, and then they will spend four hours debating whether parliament should get a vote on the “Brexit bill”.

The lead amendment in the first section is this one, tabled by the independent MP from Northern Ireland, Sylvia Hermon. It is new clause NC70, and it would require ministers to abide by the principles of the Good Friday agreement when implementing the EU withdrawal bill.

Anna Soubry, the Tory pro-European, has just told MPs that she will vote for the amendment if there is a division.

These are from the BBC Brussels correspondent Adam Fleming.

As usual the questions from Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, got overlooked earlier because I was writing the snap verdict. So here they are.

Blackford said the Conservative/DUP gave the Northern Irish unionists a veto of Brexit. He said:

Is this a prime minister who is in office, but not in power?

May said she wanted a deal for the whole of the UK. She said:

What we are doing is working for a deal that will work for the whole UK. There are particularly circumstances for NI ... but as we look ahead and during the negotiations we are consulting and talking with all parts of the UK and we want to ensure that we get the right deal for the UK.

Blackford said the government should keep the UK in the single market and the customs union.

The clock is ticking and we need a deal that keeps us in the single market and the customs union. To do otherwise will devastate our economy and cost jobs ... Anything less will be a failure of leadership.

But May said that the government was leaving the EU, and that “that means we will be leaving the single market and the customs union”.

I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.

Foster says there is 'still work to be done' on revised Brexit deal

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, said there was “still work to be done in London” after her short telephone call to the prime minister this morning over the Brexit-Irish border issue.

Following her conversation with Theresa May, the DUP said Foster was ready to fly to London to examine the finer points of any agreement that is hammered out given that the party claimed they were kept in the dark over this week’s earlier proposal, which they rejected. The DUP said Foster would travel over if there is a credible deal on the table.

But Sinn Fein warned today that Ireland must not be ‘collateral damage’ in any attempt to keep the Tory/DUP pact at Westminster alive. Sinn Fein MP for Foyle Elisha McCallion said:

The solution to Britain’s Brexit crisis in Ireland is clear. The north of Ireland should have designated special status within the EU ensuring that we remain within the customs union and the single market ... This is a common sense, practical, and achievable proposal and does not change the constitutional position of the north.

MPs renew demands for contempt of parliament vote against David Davis after Brexit hearing

The SNP’s Pete Wishart uses a point of order to ask about the Brexit impact assessments. The government must be in contempt, he says. He says he has written to the speaker about this, and awaits his reply.

John Bercow, the Commons speaker, says he understands Wishart’s concern about this, and respects it. He says he is “very conscious of his responsibilities” and will discharge them. This is of concern to MPs from all sides of the House. He says this has been the subject of correspondence between David Davis, the Brexit secretary, and the Brexit committee. He says he aware of reports of what happened at the committee this morning. But he will not rush to judgment. He will await the committee’s conclusions. Then he wills study it without delay and return to the Commons.

  • Bercow says he will wait until the Brexit committee reports before deciding whether to let MPs debate a contempt of parliament motion relating to David Davis.

Peter Bone, a Conservative member of the committee, says the committee has not yet concluded its deliberations on this matter.

Labour’s David Lammy asks Bercow expects other MPs to write to him on this.

Bercow says any MP can write to him about this. But his view is that, as the Brexit committee “has ownership of the issue”, he wants to hear from it. But he says Lammy is free to “bash out” a letter to him.

Labour’s Chuka Umunna says a new issue has arisen. On 20 October an MP asked Davis about the assessement he had made about the impact of leaving the EU. Davis said he had an assessment of 51 sectors. Davis said he was looking at them. But today he told MPs that the government has not looked at this on a sector by sector basis. He says this is evidence that the Commons has been misled.

Bercow says he is “not unmindful myself” of what has been said in the Commons. It would not be right to engage in “textual exegesis” on the floor of the House. When the committee reports, he will consider its view.

Tom Brake, the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, says he also thinks MPs have been misled.

Labour’s Seema Malhotra rises with another point of order. She asks what can be done about a minister who says one thing to a select committee at one point, and then something contradictory later.

Bercow says any MP who thinks there has been a contempt of parliament should write to him.

Updated

PMQs is over. This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts says in the EU withdrawal bill debate MPs saw the government’s “imperialist” agenda in grabbing power from the devolved adminstrations.

May says the government is taking powers back from the EU.

Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative, says countries like Canada, Japan, the US and Australia are strongly in favour of free trade deals with the UK. But we won’t get those opportunities if we are shackled to EU regulation.

May says the UK wants a good trade deal with the EU, and the freedom to strike other deals too.

Lucy Frazer, a Conservative, asks May to commit to supporting farmers.

May can. She says leaving the EU will allow the government to have an agriculture policy that meets the needs of the UK.

Labour’s Karen Buck asks about police numbers in London.

May says the Met’s budget has not been reduced. It is up to the London mayor to decide how that money is spent.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative, asks May to apply a fresh coat of paint to her red lines before she goes to Brussels because on Monday they were starting to look a little pink.

May says her principles remain.

John Baron, a Conservative, asks about cancer care.

May says survival records are at a record high. Of course the government wants to do more. She says she would be happy to meet Baron to discuss this.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a Conservative, asks about new figures showing literacy improving.

May pays particular tribute to Nick Gibb, the minister for school standards, and to teachers around the country.

The SNP’s Alan Brown says DUP MPs are worth more each than Ronaldo. But Scottish Tories are costing Scotland more than £200m each if you look at the impact of cuts.

May says the budget allocated an extra £2bn for Scotland.

May says the UK believes in the two-state solution for the Middle East.

May says she is planning to speak to President Trump about the decision to move the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. It should be a shared capital, she says.

PMQs - Snap verdict

PMQs - Snap verdict: Just when you thought our politics couldn’t get much more dispiriting, that PMQs probably set a new low. It is supposed to be a forum where the prime minister is held to account, but rarely have exchanges at PMQs seemed so ill-matched to the gravity of the issues facing the country. Corbyn tends to avoid Brexit at PMQs, and you can see why. While his questions about, say, housing or universal credit have an urgency or passion to them, today’s felt a bit more half-hearted and, despite May facing the biggest crisis of the Brexit talks, he did not manage to unsettle her at all. But if Corbyn was ineffective, May was complacent - and borderline delusional. “Very good progress” in the Brexit talks? Even the Daily Mail couldn’t swallow that. She seemed oblivious to the real prospect of the talks ending very badly indeed. She had nothing new to announce, but there were some vague hints in what she said that she thinks the solution to the Irish border problem will be simply to delay the whole thing until phase two of the talks. She kept stressing that the border was a phase two issue, even though Dublin and the EU want key assurances on this bolted down in phase one.

Corbyn says “this really is a shambles”. All the government has done is publish a redacted version. Boris Johnson used to say the EU could go whistle. Now the government is planning to pay £50bn. Can it publish an audited account?

May says nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. The only hard border is down the middle of the Labour party.

Corbyn says May cannot give answers. The DUP appear to be ruling the roost. Whether it is Brexit, social care or other issues, this government cannot solve the problems facing the country. If the government cannot negotiate a deal, it should just get out of the way.

May says Corbyn said before the election he would write off student debt. Now he says he does not say that. Corbyn should now apologise for publishing misleading leaflets.

Updated

Corbyn says a deal was supposed to be done in October. The DUP only saw the deal five weeks after first asking for it. Can May now say what the government’s position is with regard to the Irish border.

May says it is the same position the government took in the Lancaster House speech, and in the Florence speech. It wants no hard border, while respecting the constitutional integrity and internal market of the UK. To those Labour MPs shouting ‘how’, she says that is part of the phase two negotiations.

Corbyn says May is still unable to answer the questions. The DUP leader vetoed May’s statement. “The tail really is wagging the dog.”

He quotes what David Davis said about having 50 or 60 sectoral analyses of Brexit. Now we know they don’t exist.

May says she answered the question on Ireland, even though she said she did not. She says there were no 58 sectoral impact assessments. There was sectoral analysis. That has been given to the select committee. The government will not give a running commentary. The UK will leave the single market and the customs union.

Jeremy Corbyn also pays tribute to the dead police officer and to Jimmy Hood.

He says in July Liam Fox said the Brexit talks would be “the easiest in human history”. Does she still agree?

May says “very good progress” has been made in the negotiations. Fox has been focusing on the future trade talks. The government expects to be able to get a good deal.

Corbyn says May has not convinced many people. Yesterday one Tory donor said May’s incompetence was hobbling the UK. He said the frontbench were like jellyfish. This is a coalition of chaos. May went to Brussels thinking she would be able to announce a deal. On her way back she did not share the details with the DUP. Surely there are £1.5bn reasons why May should not have forgotten.

May says she could not detect a question. As Juncker said on Monday, there are a couple of points be settled. Perhaps Corbyn could look at his own front bench. John McDonnell used to say staying in the single market was unattractive. Now it is on the table. Barry Gardiner used to say staying in the customs union was unattractive. Now it is an option.

Sir Henry Bellingham, a Conservative, asks for an update on the Brexit talks.

May says the government is trying to ensure it can build a country for the future. The text being discussed reports on the progress of the talks. The talks will then move on, and those future talks will determine how the UK can maintain an open border in Ireland and open trade. The government will act in the interests of the whole of the UK, she says.

Labour’s Ruth George asks about a constituent who has had to close her nursery because she cannot continue on the government’s funding.

May says she has recently met nursery owners. They say in some areas councils are operating this system well. In other parts it is not. She says the government has improved the offer for parents.

Theresa May starts by offering condolences to the family and friends of a police officer in the Thames Valley killed yesterday, and to the family and friends of the late former Labour MP Jimmy Hood.

PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

David Davis's evidence to the Brexit committee - Summary

On 1 November the Commons passed a motion saying that the list of sectors covered by the government’s analysis reports should be laid before the House, and that the “impact assessments arising from those analyses be provided to the committee on exiting the EU”. The government did not oppose the motion, partly because it would probably have lost, although there were also claims that the whips did not realise the motion was binding. Subsequently the speaker said it was.

During the debate ministers said that, contrary to some claims, there were not 58 separate impact assessments. But ministers did little to play down the idea that some sort of impact assessments existed, and David Davis has repeated told MPs that this sort of work has been carried out. David Allen Green has a good summary of all his incriminating comments in this blog. There is also useful background in this House of Commons library briefing paper (pdf).

But today Davis adopted a rather different line - saying that sectoral impact assessments did not exist. This could lead to him facing a vote in parliament accusing him of contempt, on top of the accusations he is already facing of not preparing for Brexit properly.

Here are the main points.

  • Davis, the Brexit secretary, faces the strong possibility of having to defend himself in a Commons debate on a motion accusing him of being in contempt of parliament. Last week the speaker, John Bercow, hinted that he would allow such a debate, but said he wanted to let Davis explain himself to the Brexit committee first. His evidence this morning is more likely to intensify criticism of his conduct. A lot will depend on what the committee decides to say when it has had a chance to discuss his evidence in private.
  • Davis told MPs that the government has not conducted impact assessments of the impact of Brexit on different sections of the economy. The key exchange was this on, with Hilary Benn, the committee chair.

Benn: So, just to be clear, has the government undertaken any impact assessments on the implications of leaving the EU for different sectors [of the economy]?

Davis: Not in sectors. The Treasury, of course, has got an OBR forecast which has an implication, although even that is pretty crude ... There is no systematic impact assessment.

Benn: So the answer to the question is no. So the government hasn’t undertaken any impact assessments of implications of leaving the EU for different sectors of the British economy?

Davis: No.

Benn: So there isn’t one, for example, on the automatic sector?

Davis: Not that I’m aware of, no.

Benn: Is there one on aerospace?

Davis: Not that I’m aware of.

Benn: One on financial services?

Davis: I think the answer is going to be no to all of them.

  • Davis said there would be no point in conducting impact assessments at this stage because there were too many variables and so the value of any reports would be “near zero”. He said:

You don’t need to do a formal impact assessment to understand that if there is a regulatory hurdle between your producers and a market, there will be an impact. It will have an effect, the assessment of that effect is not as straightforward as people imagine.

I’m not a fan of economic models because they have all proven wrong. When you have a paradigm change - as happened in 2008 with the financial crisis - all the models were wrong. The Queen famously asked why did we not know.

Similarly, what we are dealing with here in every outcome - whether it is a free trade agreement, whether it is a WTO outcome or whether it is something between that on the spectrum - it is a paradigm change. We know not the size, but the order of magnitude of the impact ...

The strategy we decided way before the October council, before March, indeed before the triggering of article 50, was that we would go for an over-arching, comprehensive trade deal. That will cover all sectors, not one sector ... Some of those you can’t quantify. On data, you could not quantify the impact of data, but it is obviously a high-effect qualitative impact. Therefore the usefulness of such a detailed impact assessment is near zero. Given how we were stretching our resources to get where we were at the time, then it was not a sensible use of resources.

  • He said the government decided to leave the customs unions without carrying out an assessment of the economic impact. Again, that was because there was too much uncertainty for such an analysis to have merit, he said. Here is the key exchange.

Benn: Finally, did the government undertake an assessment of the economic impact of leaving the customs union before the cabinet took that decision?

Davis: Not a formal quantitative one.

Benn: So with no formal assessment ...

Davis: No quantitative assessment. There’s obviously a judgment made on qualitative things. But not a quantitive [one].

Benn: Isn’t that quite extraordinary?

Davis: No. There are phenomenal numbers of variables in that. I related some of them to you in the last meeting I was at where I took you through, for example, the impact of free trade agreements, and I said to you a typical free trade agreement could increase by 25%, but Nafta by 40%. And that’s the sort of range you have to do. But they are qualitatively different. So the free trade agreements carried out by the EU have not been particularly beneficial to the UK. The free trade agreements carried out by Switzerland, a much smaller country, have been fantastically beneficial to it. So we would have to make a judgment about the difference of effectiveness of ourselves in that premier relationship. Those sort of judgments were taken into account.

  • Davis has been accused of misleading parliament following his evidence. (See 10.53am.)
  • Davis said he did not think Brexit would lead to a shortage of nurses in the NHS. (See 9.52am.)
  • Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative, strongly defended the government’s conduct. He said the motion passed by the Commons was “incompetent” and that the government had generously released more documentation than it had to. (See 10.14am.) This is a remarkable contrast with the approach he took last week, when he said it was incumbent on the government to comply with the motion. Rees-Mogg seemed to be rallying to the defence of Davis on tribal grounds because he realised his Tory colleague was in trouble.

Updated

There is some briefing out now on what was said in the conversation between Theresa May and Arlene Foster.

DUP should be directly involved in Brexit talks, Foster says

DUP Arlene Foster was due to ask Theresa May if her party can have a seat at the Brexit negotiations.

Foster was likely to raise that prospect with the prime minister today. Ahead of her phone call to May, the former first minister of Northern Ireland said:

There is a need for us to be directly involved.

Referring to the debacle earlier this week over the leaked document which suggested a post-Brexit deal for the Irish border based on a ‘regulatory alignment’ in terms of trade on the island, Foster said:

If we had been involved directly in the process, in the room, I don’t think we would have arrived at such a stark situation.

Foster’s party, of course, keeps May in 10 Downing Street thanks to that ‘confidence and supply’ arrangement the DUP maintains with the Tories since the general election.

The DUP leader also sought to repair some of the damaged relations with the Irish government today.

She described Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as a “friend” but accused him of taking the “Sinn Fein line” on Brexit talks.

Only last month Foster stood side by side with Varadkar at the war memorial in Enniskillen on Remembrance Sunday - the spot where an IRA bomb killed 11 Protestant civilians on Poppy Day 1987. She had earlier praised Varadkar for becoming the first Irish premier to wear a poppy while he addressed the Dail in Dublin.

One of Arlene Foster and the DUP’s most trenchant critics from the unionist right has said she was ‘absolutely right’ to reject this week’s proposals to break the Brexit-Irish border log jam.

Jim Allister, a former DUP MEP and now leader of the hard-line Traditional Unionist Voice, said today that any moves aimed at keeping Northern Ireland inside the European Customs Union would have moved the border to the Irish Sea.

Allister said movement towards “regulatory alignment” would have created in turn “regulatory divergence with Great Britain, necessitating border checks on goods to and from NI. At a stroke the constitutional and economic integrity of the UK would be subverted.”

With the Ulster Unionists already opposed to any such arrangement it means that all three major brands of unionism are for the first time in a long time putting up a united front on a major constitutional issue.

It also underlines how little room Foster and her 10 MPs have in terms of flexibility regarding a post-Brexit border deal as they will be continually looking over their shoulder at their unionist rivals who for now, at least, seem united behind her.

Jim Allister.
Jim Allister. Photograph: Paul Faith/PA

'Davis has been misleading parliament from the start', say Lib Dems

The Liberal Democrats have accused David Davis of misleading parliament. They have just issued a statement with this quote from Wera Hobhouse, a member of the Brexit committee. She said:

It is unbelievable that these long-trumpeted impact assessments don’t even exist, meaning the government has no idea what their Brexit plans will do to the country.

Ministers must now urgently undertake these impact assessments and ensure people are given the facts.

Whether it’s through incompetence or insincerity, David Davis has been misleading parliament from the start.

He is being completely blasé about the threat Brexit poses to our NHS, economy and young people.

The utter shambles this government is making of Brexit shows why the public must be given the final say with a chance to stay in the EU.

Philip Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Brexit department, is giving evidence to the Brexit committee now. I will post a summary of the highlights from Davis, instead of covering Rycroft minute by minute, and pick up the main points from Rycroft later.

The Irish government is willing to have clarifying text added to the Brexit Ireland border proposal if it will help Theresa May get the deal over the line.

No requests for changes to the deal offering “regulatory alignment” between Northern Ireland and the Republic have been made since Monday according to reports in today’s Irish Independent, which cite sources suggesting conciliatory moves in Dublin.

This involves the possibility of additional wording guaranteeing the Brexit border deal will not undermine the integrity of the United Kingdom.

“We have concrete evidence of an agreement between the taoiseach and prime minister, which was endorsed by the presidents of European Council and European Commission. We absolutely feel we can’t budge one inch,” a source central to the Irish negotiation team said, according to the paper.

But they added that so long as the meaning of the text didn’t change, “a line clarifying that the agreement does not undermine the integrity of the United Kingdom could be considered”.

The DUP have raised concerns that Ireland is using Brexit as a tool to promote a United Ireland.

Theresa May 'talking to DUP leader Arlene Foster now', Sky reports

Davis has now finished giving evidence.

Sky’s Ireland correspondent David Blevins has just tweeted this.

Davis says ministers took decision to leave customs union without analysis of economic impact

Benn asks a final question.

Q: Did the government undertake an assessment of leaving the customs union before the cabinet took that decision?

Not a quantitative one, no, says Davis.

Q: Isn’t that extraordinary?

No, says Davis. He says the range of different outcomes is too wide. Some free trade agreements have been very effective, and others haven’t. Ministers had to take a judgment. That is what they did, he says.

  • Davis says cabinet took decision to leave the customs union without an analysis of the economic impact.

Updated

Wera Hobhouse, a Lib Dem, asks where the misunderstanding that there were impact assessments came from.

Davis says she will have to ask other people. He says he always used the phrase sectoral analysis. He accepts that, at an earlier hearing, when Seema Malhotra asked him about impact assessments, he might not have corrected her.

Davis says he is already late for his next appointment.

An MP points out that last week the Commons speaker, John Bercow, said nothing was more important for Davis than for him to give evidence to this committee.

Updated

The SNP’s Peter Grant goes next.

Q: In February you told MPs: “We continue to analyse the impact of our exit across the breadth of the UK economy.” The Commons motion calling for the impact assessments used that language.

Davis says that is not the same as an impact assessment.

Q: In the Commons debate the Brexit ministers Robin Walker and Steve Baker did not say impact assessments did not exist. They just made vague comments about 58 separate reports not existing.

Davis does not accept that. He says Walker said the impact assessments did not exist.

Q: If an MP thinks a motion is going to damage the national interest, they should vote against, come what may. The fact that the government did not vote against suggests you did not really think publication of these documents would damage the national interest.

Davis does not accept that.

Updated

Davis quotes from the better regulation manual, that gives a formal definition of an impact assessment. It says these assessments have to change continually.

Richard Graham, a Conservative, goes next.

Q: How would you be able to do an impact assessment for the financial sector without know what the Brexit outcome will be, or whether there will be a free trade deal with the US?

With difficulty, Davis says. He says it would be very hard because there are so many potential outcomes.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative, says is is concerned about the government honouring parliament. If these impact assessments did not exist, the government did not have to publish anything, did it?

Davis agrees.

Q: So the government has generously gone beyond what was required?

Davis accepts that.

Rees-Mogg says the government looked at the wording of “an incompetent motion” and did its best to comply.

Davis accepts that.

Davis says the information that has been handed over is boring but useful. It would be useful to Brussels, he says. It is the product of 10 or 15 “man years” of work.

Here are more tweets from Labour’s Seema Malhotra, a member of the committee.

Craig Mackinlay, a Conservative, goes next.

Q: Is it the case that you did not edit this material yourself?

Yes, says Davis. He was provided with a sample two chapters before they were given to the committee. He did not read them because he did not want to take responsibility for deciding exactly what was and was not released himself. And he would not have time to read 850 pages either, he says.

Davis says he has used the term sectoral analysis for a reason; there were reports showing what a section of the economy looked like.

Back in the committee Labour’s Stephen Timms goes next.

Q: We got 850 pages of documents. How much material was not submitted to us?

Davis says he does not know exactly. He does not think it was a lot. He says one issue that that many of these reports have been written three times. He says the first drafts were often not very good.

The Labour MP Bill Esterson, a shadow business minister, says Davis’s evidence shows he is either “incredibly incompetent” or “incredibly dishonest”.

This is from Open Britain’s Thomas Cole. Open Britain is campaigning for a soft Brexit.

Benn steps in.

He says the Brexit steering group in the European parliament was briefed on Monday on the draft text of the UK-EU deal. Why is that parliament getting more information than this parliament.

Davis says in other respects this parliament has seen more information.

He says last year he asked for Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, to be made a privy counsellor. That was because he wanted to be able to brief him on privy counsel terms on the Brexit talks at certain points. He says he would be willing to speak to members of the committee who are privy counsellors on the same terms.

John Whittingdale, the Conservative former culture secretary, is asking the questions now. He says the contents of what have been released are “fairly anodyne”.

If you haven’t already, do read my colleague Jessica Elgot’s story about what MPs and peers who have read the 850 pages of Brexit reports that the government has released to the committee are saying about their contents.

Davis says he does not think Brexit will lead to shortage of nurses in NHS

Seema Malhotra is asking the questions now.

Q: In September you told a Lords committee that “we will carry out quantitative assessments”.

Davis says that is not the same as an impact assessement.

He says he has been using the term sectoral analysis. That is different, he says.

Q: Is it true that at the Tory conference this year, you said the government would be ready for a no deal Brexit?

Yes, says Davis. He was referring to contingency planning.

Q: But you have told us you have not assessed how impact will affect different sectors of the economy?

Davis says they are different things. The government has been working on things like how you ensure you continue to have an independent nuclear inspection agencies. These do not have numbers attached; they are problems that require actions.

Q: Do you agree with the leaked department of health report saying Brexit could lead to a 40,000 shortfall in nurses?

Davis says he does not comment on leaked documents. But if Malhotra is asking if he thinks Brexit will lead to a shortage of nurses, the answer is no.

  • Davis says he does not think Brexit will lead to a shortage of nurses in the NHS.

Back in the committee David Davis says these reports were commissioned to show government departments how the businesses they cover would be affected by Brexit.

And this is from Labour’s Seema Malhotra, a Labour member of the committee.

The Labour MP David Lammy is making a similar point.

Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP justice and home affairs spokeswoman and a member of the Brexit committee, says Davis has effectively admitted that ministers have misled parliament.

Davis refuses to defend government not to try to amend Commons motion requiring release of Brexit impact assessments

Q: Is there any wording in the Commons motion about the impact assessments allowing the government to withhold information? And why didn’t the government try to amend or reject the motion?

Davis says the motion asked for documents that did not exist.

And he says it is not for him to comment on whipping decisions.

  • Davis refuses to defend government not to try to amend Commons motion requiring release of Brexit impact assessments.

Q: You told a committee that Theresa May would have seen the summaries of the assessments carried out. What were you referring to?

Davis says he was referring to the summary outcomes of the reports that had been commissioned.

My colleague John Crace says today’s sketch is going to be a cinch.

Benn asks Davis about comments he made to a committee in September, when he said detailed assessments were being carried out.

(This blog, by David Allen Green, sums up very well all the claims about the impact assessments that have been made by Davis in the past.)

Davis says that just because you are looking at the impact of something, that does not amount to an impact assessment.

Davis says government is planning impact assessments later in negotiations

Davis says the government will quantify the effect of different negotiating outcomes for different sections of the economy later in the process.

That will cover, for example, the impact of different outcomes on financial services, or manufacturing, or agriculture.

But he says the government will not release the results, because that could help the other side in the negotiations.

  • Davis says government is planning impact assessments later in negotiations.

Davis says there would have been no point in doing impact assessments too early. He says the value of that exercise would have been close to zero.

Q: Isn’t that a bit strange?

Davis says when these sectoral analyses were carried out, the intention was to help the government understand what the impact of Brexit would be.

He says he is not a fan of economic models, because they have all been proven wrong.

David Davis's evidence to Brexit committee

Hilary Benn, the committee chair starts.

Q: You told the Commons that the Brexit impact assessments do not exist in the form that MPs assumed. Is that why you have not handed them over?

Davis says that is correct.

There are formal definitions of impact assessments, he says. The work done by the government does not fit those definitions.

But he says the government decided to give the committee the best information it could, or the closest information.

Q: So has the government undertaken an assessment of the impact of Brexit?

Not on a sector by sector basis, Davis says.

  • Davis confirms government has not assessed impact of leaving the EU for different sectors of the economy.

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, spoke to reporters this morning as he arrived for a Nato summit in Brussels. He did not exactly lift the lid on the cabinet revolt he is supposedly leading, but he did call for the EU to let talks on a future trade deal start now. He said:

We will come up with a solution but the important thing is that that solution can only be discovered in the context of discussions on the end-state of the UK’s relations with the rest of the EU.

\We need to get on with those negotiations now, so all the more reason to get on with stage two of the negotiations.

What I would say is that the best way to sort it out is to get on to the second phase of the negotiations, where all these difficult issues can be properly teased out, thrashed out and solved.

The hearing has not started yet.

When it does, you will be able to watch it here.

The Brexit committee hearing with Davis is scheduled to last an hour.

But after he has finished, the committee is also taking evidence from Philip Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Brexit department, which could also be interesting.

This is from Sky’s Beth Rigby.

Theresa May’s Brexit difficulties show no signs of easing. Two days after the DUP scuppered the UK-EU Brexit deal at the last moment, it is now clear, as our over overnight splash reports, that a cabinet revolt is stirring.

The pro-Brexit papers have all got versions of the same story. This is from today’s Sun.

The Sun has learned that Boris [Johnson] spoke out over his fears about it at the weekly meeting of the PM’s top table of ministers this morning.

Mr Johnson told Mrs May that he “would worry if regulatory alignment bound us into the EU”.

A senior Whitehall source added: “Cabinet is in the dark about what the PM is doing now, which is a very strange state of affairs to be in”.

This is from the Daily Telegraph (paywall).

David Davis, the brexit secretary, said that any alignment between the north and south in Ireland would apply to the whole of the UK, which Leave supporters interpreted as Britain remaining yoked to the EU.

One cabinet source said: “It seems that either Northern Ireland is splitting from the rest of the UK or we are headed for high alignment with the EU, which certainly hasn’t been agreed by cabinet. The prime minister is playing a risky game.”

And this is from the Daily Mail.

Boris Johnson and Michael Gove are said to be leading a revolt of Brexiteers who have a ‘genuine fear’ that Mrs May is going to push through a soft option.

The foreign secretary reportedly confronted the prime minister in a dramatic clash during cabinet yesterday over her negotiating strategy.

We will be hearing from David Davis, the Brexit secretary, Theresa May and Philip Hammond, the chancellor, on this subject today, with Davis up shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.15am: David Davis, the Brexit secretary, gives evidence to the Commons Brexit committee.

12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

Around 1pm: MPs begin day five of the EU withdrawal bill committee stage debate. The first four hours of debate will focus on the Northern Ireland border issue, with votes at around 5pm, and the second four hours will focus on whether parliament should get a vote on the “Brexit bill”.

2pm: Philip Hammond, the chancellor, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee.

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’s Playbook. Here is the ConservativeHome round-up of today’s political stories. 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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