Afternoon summary
- Liz Truss, the justice secretary, has said that improving conditions in prisons will “be difficult” and that it will take time. Giving a statement to MPs about the Birmingham prison riot, in which she also confirmed there would be an inquiry into what happened, she said:
As I have said before, levels of violence are too high in our prisons. We also have very concerning levels of self-harm and deaths in custody. That is why we are reforming our prisons to be safe and purposeful places and taking swift action to deal with drugs, drones and phones.
It is important to remember that these problems have developed over a number of years and it will take time and it will take concerted effort to turn the situation round ...
The issues in our prisons are longstanding and they are not going to be completely solved in weeks or even months.
But she said that government reforms were “the right way to address the issues in our prisons so that they become purposeful places where offenders get off drugs and get the education and skills they need to find work and turn their back on crime for good.”
- Theresa May has refused to rule out the UK paying money to the EU after it leaves. (See 5.36pm.)
- Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, has that Saudi Arabia has agreed to stop using British-made cluster bombs in Yemen. But it has admitted having used cluster bombs it obtained from Britain in the 1980s in the conflict, he told MPs.
The [Saudi-led] coalition confirmed earlier today that a limited number of BL755 cluster munitions exported from the United Kingdom in the 1980s were dropped in Yemen, including in the incident alleged by Amnesty International not far from the Saudi border, by a coalition aircraft. The coalition, whose members are not party to the [cluster munitions] convention, has said that the munitions were used against a legitimate military target and did not therefore contravene international humanitarian law. However, Saudi Arabia has now confirmed that it will not further use BL755 cluster munitions and I welcome that.
- The government has been narrowly defeated in the Lords over the protection of pension pots by a “funder of last resort”. As the Press Association reports, an amendment to the pension schemes bill, which tightens regulation of so-called master trust schemes, was backed by 209 votes to 204, a majority of five. The defeat, at the hands of Labour and Liberal Democrat peers, came despite a warning by work and pensions minister Lord Freud that it amounted to a costly and disproportionate “sledgehammer”.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, is making a statement to the Commons now about the use of British-made cluster bombs by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.
His statement seems to have been prompted by today’s Guardian story saying ministers had seen evidence suggesting this was the case.
Fallon said Saudi Arabia admitted earlier today that it has used British cluster bombs in Yemen.
And this is from the Labour MP’s Luciana Berger on Truss’s statement.
Appalling response from @trussliz about the very serious disturbances at HMP Birmingham.
— Luciana Berger (@lucianaberger) December 19, 2016
Here are some more extracts from the Liz Truss statement. These are from the Press Association’s Jack Maidment.
Liz Truss says G4S will pay bill for damage done during problems at HMP Birmingham. Also says perpetrators will face full force of law.
— Jack Maidment (@jrmaidment) December 19, 2016
Labour's Luciana Berger says prison officers down 7,000 since 2010. Suicides at 25 year high. "Truly shameful", calls on Truss to apologise.
— Jack Maidment (@jrmaidment) December 19, 2016
Labour's Angela Eagle also calls on Liz Truss to apologise over prison problems, says LT should acknowledge that staff cuts = false economy.
— Jack Maidment (@jrmaidment) December 19, 2016
Theresa May's statement on the EU summit - Summary
Here are the main points from Theresa May’s statement.
- May refused to rule out the UK paying money to the EU after it left. The Conservative MP Philip Davies challenged her to promise not to pay the EU any more money after Brexit, saying that contributing to the EU budget like this would amount to “betraying what people voted for”. But May refused to give that assurance. She told Davies:
I think what’s important is when we leave the European Union people want to ensure that it is the British government that decides how taxpayers’ money is spent.
- May implied that she wanted Britain to remain in Eurojust and Europol and to keep the European arrest warrant after Brexit. When the Labour MP David Hanson asked if she wanted the UK to keep participating in these arrangements, May replied:
Well, the right honourable gentleman knows that I have stood at this despatch box previously and indeed argued that we should remain within these particular aspects. The whole question of security, of cooperation on crime, of course is an issue that is going to be part of the negotiations. But again it’s an issue where it is not just a question of what is in the UK’s interests. Actually, the UK working with partners in the European Union is in their interests too.
- She signalled that she definitely wants Britain to negotiate a transitional deal. When asked if she agreed with what Philip Hammond said about this last week, she said that Hammond was just reflecting what she herself said to the CBI (see 4.09pm) - even though May’s comment at the CBI during a Q&A was just a hint that she backed a transitional deal, while Hammond explicitly called for one.
- She said she wanted a deal a deal guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals living in Britain and Britons in other EU countries “early on”. In her opening statement she said:
At the council, I also reaffirmed my commitment to a smooth and orderly exit – and in this spirit, I made it clear to the other EU leaders that it remains my objective that we give reassurance early on in the negotiations to EU citizens living in the UK, and UK citizens living in EU countries, that their right to stay where they have made their homes will be protected by our withdrawal.
This is an issue which I would like to agree quickly but clearly that requires the agreement of the rest of the EU.
- She said the government’s Brexit plan would be published some time before article 50 was triggered. (See 4.02pm.)
- Jeremy Corbyn accused May of adopting a “shambolic” approach to Brexit. In his response to May he said:
At the moment it is clear that on the international stage the prime minister and Britain are becoming increasingly isolated.
And if we are to build a successful Britain after Brexit it is more vital than ever that our relationship with our European partners remains, strong, cordial and respectful.
It is also clear through my own discussions; European leaders are becoming increasingly frustrated by her shambolic government and their contradictory approach to Brexit negotiations. The mixed messages from her frontbench only add to the confusion. This government fails to speak for the whole country; instead we hear a babble of voices speaking for themselves and their vested interests.
- May said those responsible for the killings in Aleppo would be held to account.
President Assad may be congratulating his regime forces on their actions in Aleppo but we are in no doubt - this is no victory, it is a tragedy, one we will not forget.
Last week’s council reiterated that those responsible must be held to account.
- She announced that the government was spending a further £20m on aid for refugees from Syria.
Updated
Truss is responding to Burgon.
She says G4S will be paying the cost of what happened at Birmingham.
But conditions need to improve in both private and public prisons, she suggests.
The government is reforming prisons. But it will take time, she says.
Richard Burgon, the shadow justice secretary, says Truss is failing to admit that there is a crisis in prisons. The riot was a symptom of that, he says.
He asks why private prisons are allowed not to reveal their staffing levels.
And he questions whether private firms should be operating prisons anyway.
Will Truss admit that it was “wrong and dangerous” to cut 6,000 staff from the prison service.
Truss says the government reforms will make prisons safer.
She says the next few months will be difficult.
But she is confident she can turn things around, she says.
Truss says levels of violence in prisons is too high, but it will take time & concerted effort to turn the situation around
— kateferguson (@kateferguson4) December 19, 2016
Justice Secretary Liz Truss: 'the problems in our prisons won't be fixed in weeks or even months."
— Daniel Hewitt (@DanielHewittITV) December 19, 2016
Truss says 380 prisoners have been moved out of Birmingham.
Truss says a plan was put in place to take back control.
She says, in these circumstances, it is important to take time to make sure the resources are in place to deal with it properly.
Liz Truss's statement on the Birmingham prison riot
Liz Truss, the justice secretary, is making a statement now about the Birmingham prison right.
She says she has asked Sarah Payne, a former director of the Welsh prison service, to investigate.
She runs through what happened. It started with six prisoners on netting, she says.
May says she has often said she hopes to be able to protect EU citizens living in the UK. But “we do need reciprocity”, she says.
Labour’s Chris Bryant asks if May will back an amendment to a bill allowing the government to remove assets from Russians found to have been involved in the Syrian attacks.
May says the amendments is unnecessary because the government already has this power.
Then, in answer to the next question, May apologises to Bryant. She says when she replied to him, she was thinking of the Magnitsky amendment.
Henry Smith, a Conservative, asks if any EU leaders said they did not want to continue trading with the UK.
May says the leaders she has met all seem keen to keep trading with the UK.
The Financial Times’s political editor, George Parker, does not seem very impressed by Theresa May’s statement.
Ref TM Brexit statement: what's the opposite of "illuminating"?
— George Parker (@GeorgeWParker) December 19, 2016
May refuses to rule out UK paying money to EU after it leaves
Philip Davies, a Conservative, asks for an assurance that the UK will not pay money to the EU when we leave.
May says, after the UK leaves, it is important for people to know that it is the British government that decides how British money is spent.
- May refuses to rule out UK paying money to EU after it leaves.
Greg Hands, an international trade minister, asks whether Ben Bradshaw’s question about Russian interference in elections (see 4.14pm) was a reference to the Russians helping to get Jeremy Corbyn elected Labour leader.
Was Ben Bradshaw in the Commons just raising the possibility of Russian interference in Labour & Corbyn's own election in 2015?
— Greg Hands (@GregHands) December 19, 2016
The answer is probably no. It is much more likely that Bradshaw was talking about the EU referendum. Last week he told MPs that it was “highly probable” that Russia did intervene in that.
May implies she wants Britain to remain in Eurojust and Europol and keep European arrest warrant.
Labour’s David Hanson asks if the UK should stay in Eurojust, Europol and the European arrest warrant.
May says Hanson knows that she has in the past stood at the despatch box and argued in favour of Britain’s membership of all three. She says Britain and the EU will want a deal that suits their respective security interests.
- May implies she wants Britain to remain in Eurojust and Europol and to keep the European arrest warrant.
Mark Harper, the Conservative former chief whip, says the EU summit conclusions show the strong influence Britain still exerts. That is why Britain will get a good deal.
May says she agrees.
Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks if EU leaders discussed interference by Russia in European elections, including in the UK. And what will be done about it?
May says everyone is aware of Russia’s more aggressive stance. But Bradshaw would not expect her to go into details. She says she takes state-sponsored cyber attacks very seriously indeed.
John Whittingdale, the Conservative former culture secretary, says 10,000 Ukrainian servicemen have been killed since the start of the conflict there.
May says the government is looking at what more it can do. It is important to put the pressure of the EU behind this.
Julian Lewis, the Conservative chair of the defence committee, says countries like France should spend 2% of their budget on defence.
May says the UK spends 2% of GDP on defence and it encourages other countries to do the same.
Labour’s Chris Leslie says the risk of a Brexit cliff edge is prompting banks to think of moving. Does May agree with Philip Hammond about the need for a transitional deal?
May says Hammond was reflecting what she herself said to the CBI.
She understands the need for certainty, she says.
Labour’s Gisela Stuart asks about Turkey.
May says the government supports the EU-Turkey deal. But there are elements that do not involve the UK, because they relate to Schengen. She says the deal has had an effect on reducing the number of migrants coming to the EU from Turkey.
Tim Farron, the Lib Dem leader, says May seems to be leading the UK out of the customs union and the single market. But those were not on the ballot paper. If remain had won by a small margin, would David Cameron have had a mandate for a hard remain - taking the UK into the Schengen and the single currency.
May says people voted to leave the EU. Farron asks about means, not ends. She says she wants the best possible outcome.
May says she has always said part of the EU referendum vote was about people saying they wanted control of immigration.
Labour’s Angela Eagle asks when the plan for leaving the EU will be ready. Presumably it will be some time before article 50 is triggered.
May replies with a single word: “Yes.”
Peter Lilley, the Conservative former cabinet minister, says a speedy departure from the EU would be wise, not least because every week in the EU costs the UK £250m.
May says Lilley makes a very valid point. But we need to make sure we are getting the right deal, she says.
May says the government has been talking to every sector of business, so it understands properly what matters to them.
Angus Robertson, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, asks May if she will meet Nicola Sturgeon to discuss Scotland’s demands for Brexit.
On security, she asks if safeguards are in place to protect British elections.
And he asks when May was told about the use of British-made cluster bombs in Yemen.
On Yemen, May says Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, will make a statement later.
On political parties, she says it is up to them to maintain their cybersecurity.
She says she spoke to Sturgeon this morning about the SNP’s plans. She says she will look at them seriously.
(That is not what her spokesman implied at the lobby briefing this morning. See 12.37pm.)
Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative former work and pensions secretary, asks May if she asked Donald Tusk why the Poles vetoed an early deal on reciprocal rights for EU nationals in Britain and Britons in other EU countries.
May says she pushed for this, but the European council said it would not open negotiations before article 50 was triggered.
May is responding to Corbyn.
She says you do not get the best deal in a negotiation by laying everything out in advance.
She says Corbyn mentioned isolation. But the point of the referendum is that we are leaving the EU, she says.
She says Corbyn gave a “bleak” impression of the economy. But she lists several firms that have announced investment in the UK since Brexit.
And Corbyn talks about confusion. But what about Labour. Diane Abbott says freedom of movement should be maintained, John McDonnell says there should be a fair deal on immigration, and Keir Starmer wants immigration controls, she says. With Labour in charge, we would get the worst deal, she says.
Corbyn is now talking about Syria. He says there can be no excuse for the attacks on civilians in Aleppo.
Coming back to Brexit, he urges May to represent all people - whether they voted to leave or remain.
Corbyn accuses May of “shambolic” approach to Brexit
Jeremy Corbyn is responding to May now.
He says the government’s approach to Brexit has been “shambolic”.
- Corbyn accuses May of “shambolic” approach to Brexit.
Last week David Davis said a Brexit deal could be struck in 18 months. But Sir Ivan Rogers, Britain’s ambassador to the EU, said it could take 10 years.
He says the Office for Budget Responsibility showed that Brexit is harming growth forecasts.
The government has promised a plan, he says. But not when it will be published? When will MPs see it? And how long will they get to scrutinise it?
And will there be a transitional plan?
Corbyn asks if it is true that Britain will be asked to pay £50bn towards EU costs as it leaves.
What will happen to EU programmes after 2020?
Corbyn says he welcomes what May says about the rights of EU nationals. But why won’t May guarantee those now? The CBI and the TUC have called for that. It would be the right thing to do, and it would also send a good message to EU partners, he says.
Corbyn also welcomes the election of Alexander Van der Bellen as Austrian president.
Updated
On Brexit, May says she told EU leaders that the Commons voted by almost six to one in favour of backing the EU referendum result and triggering article 50 by the end of March.
She says, whatever the supreme court says, she will meet that target.
She says she wants a smooth Brexit. And she wants an agreement “early on” on guaranteeing the rights of EU citizens living in the UK, and the reciprocal rights of Britons living in the EU.
And she says she welcomed the fact that EU leaders met to discuss their approach to Brexit.
- May says she wants a deal guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals living in Britain and Britons in other EU countries “early on”.
Theresa May is speaking now.
She says the EU and the UK are preparing for the Brexit talks.
But the main focus on this summit was on working together on issues like the migration crisis, strengthening security and Syria.
On migration, May says the UK has called for a comprehensive approach to addressing this.
It is important to better distinguish between refugees and economic migrants, she says.
She says the EU must take more responsibility for defence, but in a way that complements Nato. Nato must always be the bedrock of our defence in Europe, she says. She says we must never undermine it.
She says EU leaders heard directly from the mayor of eastern Aleppo at the summit. He urged EU leaders to help survivors to get to safety. May says EU leaders were unequivocal in their condemnation of Syria, Russia and Iran. Some people have been taken out by bus. But not enough, she says. She says the UK has been working on a UN resolution to allow UN observers to go in. That has been agreed unanimously. It must be implemented as soon as possible, she says.
She says the UK will give an extra £20m to help refugees from Syria.
It is too late to save those who are lost, but not those who remain, she says.
Theresa May's Commons statement on the EU summit
Theresa May is about to give her Commons statement on the EU summit.
That was the one where May was caught on camera looking isolated as EU leaders gathered for their meeting in the conference meeting. It is not always fair to draw conclusions from footage lasting only 12 seconds or so, but the video caught the attention because May’s plight seemed illustrative of the UK’s standing in the EU these days.
The Commons foreign affairs committee recently published a report saying that the the Foreign Office should get a “substantial increase” in funding to help it to prepare for Brexit. The government has today published its response to that report, but it is not accepting this recommendation. Instead it has just confirmed that £10m will be spent hiring new trade policy experts. Crispin Blunt, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, says this is not enough. In a statement he said:
The additional £10m for trade policy officers is welcome, but is hardly enough to fulfil the ambition of the prime minister’s and foreign secretary’s Global Britain agenda for the UK as an outward-looking trading nation.
Ministers have failed to heed the committee’s call for a substantial injection of resources to reverse the recent trend of downsizing the UK’s bilateral operations in European capitals for and beyond the EU exit negotiations.
Given the scale of the task ahead – including what our most senior diplomat has described as the most important negotiation of his career – the FCO must be properly equipped. The government’s response to our recommendations is cold comfort for the diplomatic community, who have seen their budget and capacity reduced dramatically in recent years.
Jeremy Corbyn has released a tribute to Rabbi Lionel Blue, whose death was announced this morning.
It's with great sadness that we hear of the passing of Rabbi Lionel Blue pic.twitter.com/C5ID884a2D
— Jeremy Corbyn MP (@jeremycorbyn) December 19, 2016
The UK fishing industry does not need the European single market or access to other nations’ waters, the body representing Scottish fisherman has said. The Commons Brexit committee has been meeting in Aberdeen and Bertie Armstrong, chief executive officer of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, told its members:
I would look forward rather than backwards with market, and I would like to see very much a change in the rhetoric of ‘we must be in the single market’. We’re not going to be in the single market. We don’t need the single market, we need an adequate market in order to press our products abroad.
Armstrong said that the imposition of tariffs on fish exports would not necessarily be a problem.
Let us not be frightened to death by tariffs at all. Some small tariffs would not necessarily be a disaster. Particularly as the other side of that coin is that you may access new markets like, for example, India.
But he said that he was worried about the industry losing out in the Brexit talks. Asked if he was worried about fishermen being “sold out”, he replied: “Very much.” He explained:
It is perfectly clear to us, it is for the UK to decide that this is our natural resource, our heritage, and if sustainably-harvested will be available forever, to say at the outset that we will use it - which is normal under international law - for the benefit of the United Kingdom.
The matter of access of other vessels to our waters, they will have the access that they presently enjoy, which is unfettered, up until the moment of Brexit, and thereafter we can negotiate for those countries who have something to offer in exchange for the access.
Seventeen per cent of our fish are caught outside our own waters. If we were to have any repatriation it would monstrously overwhelm that. We would still wish to do that [fish in other nations’ waters] but it is by no means essential.
A new publicly-funded body is being set up to provide free financial advice, the Treasury and the department for work and pensions have announced. It will replace the the Money Advice Service, Pension Advice Service and Pension Wise so that debt, pension and financial guidance is all provided under the same roof. The government is consulting on the proposal, with a view to getting the new organisation up and running by autumn 2018.
Len McCluskey, the Unite general secretary, has hit back at Number 10 over its attack on striking workers. (See 12.37pm.) He said:
The government should be looking at positive ways to resolve disputes, not demonising working men and women who only consider strike action as the very last resort.
I have never encountered a worker who wants to strike. When they have to take industrial action it is an expression of frustration at not being heard by employers.
I urge the government to concentrate more on understanding why industrial relations break down, not slinging around threats to remove fundamental freedoms.
Lunchtime summary
-
The Stormont assembly has been plunged into crisis after all non-Democratic Unionist members walked out ahead of a disputed statement by the first minister on her role in a botched renewable energy scheme. As the Press Association reports, in unprecedented schemes, DUP leader Arlene Foster addressed row upon row of empty benches in parliament buildings in Belfast, with only party faithful remaining in the chamber in the seats behind her. The bitter row unfolded after Sinn Fein deputy first minister Martin McGuinness withdrew his approval for Foster to appear to explain her role in an error-ridden scheme that has left the Northern Ireland taxpayer facing an overspend bill of an estimated £400m.
All statements by Foster and McGuinness’s joint office need the support of both sides of the powersharing executive. McGuinness’s move prompted members from all parties but the DUP to question the validity of Foster’s appearance.
- The Commons procedure committee has published a report saying the “English votes for English laws” (EVEL) procedure introduced by David Cameron should be overhauled because the current system is unnecessarily complex and does not command the respect and support of MPs. The report says:
One year on from their introduction, we find that the new EVEL procedures do not command the respect and support across all parties that they should if the system is to be sustainable through the political stresses it must expect to face in the future. This is not a sound basis for a major long-term change to the legislative process in this House. When reviewing the operation of the present system, and contemplating any change, it is vital that the government seek consensus from members representing constituencies in each constituent nation of the United Kingdom for the basis of a system which will meet its policy objectives.
- A number of companies working on UK aid contracts have been told they have 30 days to provide details of their spending and set out how they comply with conflict-of-interest regulations, in a move designed to appease increasingly vocal overseas aid critics. As Ben Quinn and Karen McVeigh report, the demands from the international development secretary, Priti Patel, come after one of Britain’s biggest aid contractors was accused last month of orchestrating the sending of supportive statements to MPs scrutinising their work. Patel faces a grilling in front of the Commons international development committee (IDC) this afternoon.
- Shane Sutton, the former technical director of British Cycling, and Sir Dave Brailsford, Team Sky’s general manager and the former performance director of British cycling, have been giving evidence to the Commons culture committee about doping in the sport. My colleague Gregg Bakowski has been covering the hearing on a separate live blog.
Updated
No 10 lobby briefing - Summary
Here is a full summary of the Number 10 lobby briefing.
- Downing Street accused rail workers and other workers on strike of causing “untold misery” and showing “contempt” for ordinary people. Asked about the strikes affecting Southern rail, the Post Office and British Airways, the prime minister’s spokesman condemned them in unusually strong terms. He told journalists.
What the prime minister thinks is that the strikes are wrong and that they are causing untold misery to hundreds of thousands of people. There are hundreds of thousands of people having their lives disrupted on a massively unwarranted scale by these strikes ...
If [these strikes] have anything in common, it is shared contempt for ordinary people trying to go about their daily lives ... [The unions’] actions are clearly designed to bring about maximum damage and disruption during the festive period.
Asked about the possibility of toughening up strike legislation, the spokesman said: “Nothing will be ruled out.” But he also pointed out that the government has just passed a Trade Union Act that is coming into force next year which will impose new thresholds for strikes. And, when asked if May was actively looking at the possibility of new legislation, he said her focus now was on getting the current strikes settled.
- Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, will make a statement to MPs about defence exports this afternoon. Number 10 would not say what Fallon will be announce, but the spokesman suggested that it was linked to today’s Guardian story saying ministers have seen government analysis indicating that UK-made cluster munitions were used by the Saudi-led coalition in the current conflict in Yemen. The statement will come after Theresa May’s on the EU summit and Liz Truss’s on the Birmingham prison riot, meaning that it will not start until around 6pm.
- Number 10 ruled out negotiating a separate Brexit deal for Scotland. Tomorrow the Scottish government will publish plans for further devolution to Scotland that it says would allow Scotland to remain in the single market after Brexit while the rest of the UK left. But the prime minister’s spokesman said the government was opposed to Scotland getting its own deal. He said:
We are committed to leaving the European Union and getting a deal that works for the UK as a whole ... We are of the opinion that we will get the best deal for the UK if the UK is unified in its response ... The referendum decision was taken by the UK as a whole. We will leave the European Union as a whole.
- Downing Street said that Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, was right to float the idea of Britain remaining partly in the customs union as a possible Brexit outcome. The spokesman said that Fox’s comments in an interview with Andrew Marr yesterday (see 9.19am) simply reflected what David Davis, the Brexit secretary, has said about customs union membership not being a “binary choice” and about a “spectrum of options” being available. (This is noteworthy because in the past some of Fox’s Brexit comments, like this one, or this one, have been disowned by Number 10.)
- Number 10 refused to say whether May thinks EU countries will try to delay offering the UK a Brexit transition deal so as to encourage British banks to move to the continent. This claim is made in today’s Financial Times splash which says:
British chancellor Philip Hammond said this month that he wanted to discuss an interim deal “early on in the negotiations” to reassure the City of London that there would be no regulatory cliff-edge in March 2019, the date set for Britain’s exit from the union.
But the first priority of Michel Barnier, chief EU negotiator, is to sort out the terms of the divorce. This means Britain must offer assurances on issues such as the rights of EU expats and paying an exit bill of up to €60bn before a deal on a “soft landing” is possible.
Senior EU diplomats admit the timetable also reflects a cold calculation of interests: delaying agreement on a transition would spur companies to move some of their business to the EU to cope with the danger of a hard exit.
British officials fear Brussels may hold out for a transitional deal so long that many banks will have already taken crucial decisions to leave the UK.
Asked about this story, the prime minister’s spokesman said Britain would be going into the negotiations “in a spirit of goodwill”. Asked if May was worried that EU negotiators would hold up a transitional deal out of self interest, he replied: “It is not for me to second-guess the motives of our [EU] colleagues.”
FT: Fears EU delays on Brexit talks will spur exodus of banks to Eurozone #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/1bSAs4dgRl
— Neil Henderson (@hendopolis) December 18, 2016
- Britain is holding a round of talks with Argentina this week through the framework of the new South Atlantic Dialogue. Sir Alan Duncan, the deputy foreign minister, is meeting his Argentinian counterpart later this week, and British officials are having meetings with Argentinian diplomats separately. The talks are intended to improve relations between the two countries.
UPDATE: I’ve corrected a paragraph above because it is Post Office workers who are on strike, not Royal Mail workers. The two companies are separate.
Updated
No 10 accuses striking workers of showing 'contempt' for public and causing 'untold misery'
I’m just back from the Number 10 lobby briefing. I will post a full summary soon, but here are the top lines.
- Downing Street accused rail workers and other workers on strike of causing “untold misery” and showing “contempt” for ordinary people. .
- Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, will make a statement to MPs about defence exports this afternoon.
UPDATE: See 12.37pm for a full summary.
Updated
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
As for the rest of the papers, here is the Politics Home list of top 10 must-reads, and here is the ConservativeHome round-up of today’s politics stories.
And here are four articles I found interesting.
European demands for a £50 billion divorce settlement are part of a plot by anti-British hardliners in the European Commission to “blow up” the forthcoming Brexit negotiations before they even get started, British officials have told The Telegraph.
Senior officials in three separate Whitehall departments said they now feared that the “absurd” figures being bandied around at this week’sEuropean Council summit in Brussels were part of a plan to back Britain into an impossible corner on the politically combustible issue of EU budgets payments.
“If the European Commission persists with these ridiculous numbers when the talks begin, then there is a real risk that our side just says ‘forget it, we’ll see you in court’ and the entire process blows up at the outset,” said a senior UK official with detailed knowledge of the British negotiating plans.
Britain is “dumping” billions of pounds in overseas aid money into obscure World Bank trust funds in an apparent attempt to meet the country’s controversial annual target, The Times can reveal.
The government is the second largest contributor to the funds, which were set up to distribute finance to the developing world but have been repeatedly criticised for a lack of transparency and effectiveness.
Over the past five years, Britain has channelled at least £9 billion into 219 different trusts, more than any country apart from the United States. The World Bank charged British taxpayers at least £241 million in administration fees over that period.
In the longer term, the Government must think hard about legislating to do two things.
First, those engaged in the delivery of a public service should have an obligation to provide sufficient services that the public do not have their lives disrupted as horribly as all the passengers at the end of their tether on Southern.
Second, we must set the rules so at least 50 per cent of those who are eligible must vote to support strike action in any ballot before industrial action can go ahead. That would be an increase on the level of 40 per cent that the Tories introduced last year.
The public doesn’t buy Jeremy Corbyn’s socialist pipe dreams of aggressive state control, printing more money and massive tax hikes. But many people still smell something wrong with the way capitalism works today. They are right: Conservatives need to be honest about the case for reform and to own the free-market solutions ...
Most consumer rip-offs come from sectors of the economy cosseted from healthy competition, whether former public utilities such as the railways, or gummed-up markets like retail banking. When the market is stitched up, big business and vested interests seize their chance to take consumers for a ride.
I’m off to the Number 10 lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.
Sinn Fein says DUP's proposed investigation into fuel scandal has no credibility
In Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness, the Sinn Fein deputy first minister, says the statement that Arlene Foster, the DUP first minister, is due to make does not have his support.
He says she is backing a DUP investigation into the Renewable Heat Initiative scandal. But that would have no credibility, he says. He says there should be an independent investigation.
And he says Foster should stand aside while this takes place.
The government has announced a fiscal framework for Wales, with the Welsh government getting powers to vary income tax rates in Wales from April 2019 without the need for referendum. As the Press Association reports, the Welsh government will be able to alter the levy by up to 10 pence once the changes are introduced. It will also be able to invest more money in infrastructure after its borrowing cap was doubled to £1bn.
Alun Cairns, the Welsh secretary, said:
Agreement on the fiscal framework is a significant milestone in the Welsh devolution journey. It lies at the heart of the Wales bill’s determination to provide secure long-term funding for the Welsh government and give Cardiff Bay greater visibility when looking at spending decisions.
We have worked hard to arrive at a deal to provide the Welsh Government with a clear financial structure with which it can push on with improving the Welsh economy. This framework underlines the mature relationship between Westminster and Cardiff as we move closer to agreeing a lasting settlement for the people of Wales.
For some days now the government has been under pressure from some Conservative MPs to toughen up the laws on public sector strikes, in the light of the Southern rail dispute in particular. As the Guardian reports this morning, Number 10 is currently resisting these calls.
Chris Philp, the Conservative MP for Croydon South and one of the key figures pushing for tighter legislation, was on Today programme earlier. He called for a new law saying strikes would only be allowed on critical infrastructure like rail services if a high court judge decided that a walkout was “reasonable and proportionate” and if companies could continue to provide a 50% service. He went on:
I completely accept the right of people to strike but it has to be reasonable and proportionate and it can’t inflict pain on the public that goes beyond the complaint.
Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, told the programme that the UK already had some of the world’s toughest union laws and that tightening them would put all the power in the hands of “bad employers”.
EU will not allow UK partial membership of customs union, trade expert warns
The Commons is just sitting today and tomorrow before going into recess for the Christmas break. That means we don’t get PMQs this week. But we do get a double dose of Theresa May, because the prime minister is giving a Commons statement this afternoon on last week’s EU summit before giving evidence to the liaison committee tomorrow afternoon. Thursday’s summit was a relatively dull one, and Britain’s departure from the EU wasn’t officially on the agenda, but Brexit is the black hole of British politics, sucking in everything else through its immense gravitational pull, and this afternoon’s statement may well end up being a Brexit Q&A.
Yesterday Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, suggested that the UK could remain a partial member of the EU customs union. This morning on the Today programme a trade expert questioned that. Sir Andrew Cahn, the former chief executive of UK Trade and Investment and a former adviser to a former adviser to Lord Cockfield, the Conservative European commissioner who helped to create the single market in the 1980s, said the EU would not allow Britain to “cherry-pick” certain industries that could continue enjoying tariff-free trade in the customs union after Brexit. Fox suggested that the UK could be partially in the customs union like Turkey. Cahn said that Turkey’s trade deal with the EU did not include agriculture and services, and that agriculture was often a special case in trade deals. But he went on:
What I think is more difficult to contemplate is the idea that you have cars inside but some sort of widgets outside.
The idea is that cars which we care about, aerospace which we care about, financial services which we care about, wouldn’t it be great if they were in the customs union.
Would that be legal under the WTO (World Trade Organisation)? I doubt, even if we got away with it I don’t think the EU side would be prepared to do it - why would they allow us to cherry-pick?
Here is the agenda for the day.
11am: Number 10 lobby briefing.
1.30pm: Priti Patel, the international development secretary, gives evidence to the Commons international development committee.
3.30pm: Theresa May is due to give a Commons statement on last week’s EU summit.
Around 5pm: Liz Truss, the justice secretary, is due to give a Commons statement on the Birmingham prison riot.
As usual, I will also be covering the breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.
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. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.
Updated
