Afternoon summary
- Gordon Brown, the former Labour prime minister, has accused David Cameron of “a double betrayal” of Scotland that could “blow the union apart”. In a speech to Glasgow University, Brown said that the Scotland bill currently going through the Commons does not honour the promises made to Scotland by Cameron and his Labour and Lib Dem counterparts in “the Vow”, the statement made promising further devolution shortly before the independence referendum. These promises were then fleshed out in recommendations from the cross-party Smith Commission. In the text of the speech released to the media Brown said:
The powers that the Scottish parliament were promised - and need but have yet to be given - are the clear and unambiguous right to top up welfare benefits and an end to any suggestion that a UK government can prevent the Scottish parliament administering such change if it decides to do so.
In an apparent reference to child tax credits, he said it was particularly important to give the Scottish parliament powers to top up benefits because Cameron was also breaking promises to protect the poor.
Without the changes that give the parliamentary welfare top-up powers to Scotland, we face a perfect storm - an explosive cocktail of measures that could blow the union apart - the Conservative Government defying the Smith proposals on welfare, the very issue where their controversial imposition of cuts hits Scotland hard.
The government should avoid what would be seen as a double betrayal - breaking their promises to the poor and breaking their promise to deliver the Smith recommendations in full on the very powers that are needed to counteract welfare cuts and the austerity they bring.
The Scotland bill will have its report stage in the Commons later this month, and Brown said the government should accept amendments making it explicit that Holyrood does have the power to top up benefits and making it clear that Westminster does not have a veto in this area. Brown said that, without these changes, Cameron would be breaking his promise to implement the Smith Commission proposals in full.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
More on Jeremy Corbyn and the privy council. This is from the Press Association.
According to Cabinet Office records, David Cameron was made a privy counsellor shortly after becoming Conservative leader in December 2005, but was not sworn in for another three months.
Constitutional expert David Rogers - who has written a forthcoming book: By Royal Appointment: Tales from the Privy Council - said while a member could be sworn in by an order in council, they had only been used when the individual concerned was physically unable to attend.
“I have never come across a case where an order in council has been made so somebody can become a privy counsellor because they didn’t want to go to the meeting,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World at One.
Less than a third of voters expect Cameron to succeed in EU renegotiation
Huffington Post has published the results of a poll exploring whether people accept some of the claims that David Cameron made in his speech to the Conservative conference yesterday. For Cameron, the findings are quite mixed.
On the downside -
- Only 29% of people agree with his claim that the Conservative party has changed since he became leader 10 years ago. Most people either disagree (40%) or don’t know.
- Only 36% agree that the Tories are the party of working people. Another 39% disagree, and the rest don’t know.
- Only 27% think he will be successful at getting a good deal for Britain in his EU renegotiation. Even amongst Tory supporters, only 48% think he will be successful. Amongst voters generally, most people either think he will be unsuccessful (36%) or don’t know.
But on the upside -
- Some 38% accept Cameron’s claim that Jeremy Cobyn has a “security-threatening, terrorist-sympathising, Britain-hating ideology”. Another 31% disagree, and the rest don’t know.
- There is considerable support for Cameron’s plan to inspect madrassa supplementary schools, with 62% in favour, and only 13% against.
- Some 44% accept that the Conservatives are the party of home ownership. Only 25% disagreed.
The Labour party has now put out a statement about Jeremy Corbyn joining the privy council. A spokesman said:
Although Jeremy was unavailable for today’s meeting, he has confirmed he will be joining the privy council. As the prime minister and others did, it is far from unusual to miss the first meeting due to other commitments.
According to the Telegraph and the Evening Standard, Corbyn will actually be appointed to the privy council at a meeting this afternoon.
Souces tell me that Jeremy Corbyn will be bith Right and Honorable by the end of the day. And without kneeling before the Queen.
— Joe Murphy (@JoeMurphyLondon) October 8, 2015
The House of Commons website has already listed him as a member, because it is describing him as a “right honourable”.
Lunchtime summary
- The Labour frontbencher Jon Ashworth has said Jeremy Corbyn will see the Queen soon to become a member of the privy council. (See 12.36pm.) After it emerged he was not attending a meeting today to be sworn it, Corbyn was accused of snubbing the monarch.
- A TNS poll suggests Labour is 35 points behind the SNP in Scotland. In a poll of voting intention for constituencies in the Scottish parliament election, the SNP is on 56% and Labour is on 21%. In voting intention for the regional list the SNP has a lead of 29 points.
Corbyn will see the Queen to become a privy counsellor soon, says Ashworth
Jon Ashworth, the shadow minister without portfolio, told the Daily Politics just now that Jeremy Corbyn would attend a ceremony to be sworn in by the Queen as a member of the privy council.
He is going to go and see the Queen and become a privy counsellor. I believe he had a private appointment today that he could not get out of. But he is going to go and see the Queen and become a privy counsellor ...
Ashworth said he did not know what the private engagement was that mean Corbyn could not attend today. But he dismissed the suggestion, at the heart of the Daily Telegraph splash, that Corbyn was snubbing the Queen.
According to the papers, David Cameron took three months [to get sworn in]. So, look, he is going to do it. And I’m sure he will do it in an appropriate and respectful way. And he will get on with it soon.
Thursday's Telegraph front page: Corbyn refuses to meet the Queen #tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers pic.twitter.com/X4C0BAPTrr
— Nick Sutton (@suttonnick) October 7, 2015
Mhairi Black, the 21-year-old who became the youngest MP in May after she won Paisley and Renfrewshire South, before she had even finished her final university exams, has been described as a potential future leader by Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister.
Sturgeon made the comment in an interview with GQ. She said:
[Black] is just incredibly talented, so if she wants to then I think, yes, she could be an SNP leader. Absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt. I don’t like piling pressure on her by saying that because people used to do that to me years and years ago, although not when I was quite as young as she is.
This is a treat - a Guardian video of Steve Bell describing how he drew today’s cartoon of David Cameron.
LabourList has a straightforward explanation for Jeremy Corbyn turning down the chance to be sworn in to the privy council today. So far his office has just said he had a prior engagement.
While Corbyn’s prior engagements have not been confirmed, it is believed he may have taken a short holiday. This would also explain why he did not personally respond to Cameron’s speech yesterday – reactions came from Jon Ashworth and a Corbyn spokesperson.
Having campaigned in he General Election, and then for the leadership through the summer (in which he made over 100 public appearances), Corbyn’s first weeks as leader were dominated by appointing a new frontbench and preparing for his first conference as leader. With the media focus finally on the Conservatives during their conference week, and with Parliament returning next week, this will have been his first and only chance to get away
Government refuses to publish Syria drone strike legal advice
Two government departments have refused to publish the legal advice used to justify the RAF drone strike that killed two British jihadis in Syria, the Press Association reports.
The attorney general’s Office and Cabinet Office rejected a freedom of information (FoI) request, saying it was in the public interest for the details to remain confidential.
Last month David Cameron disclosed that an RAF drone had killed two Britons in an attack near the city of Raqqa, describing it as an “act of self defence”.
Reyaad Khan, from Cardiff, the primary target, and Ruhul Amin, from Aberdeen, died on August 21.
Announcing the operation, the prime minister said it was “entirely lawful” and confirmed that the government’s senior law officer, attorney general Jeremy Wright, was consulted and “was clear there would be a clear legal basis for action in international law”.
Ministers have resisted calls for the full advice to be published and this position was repeated in correspondence to the Press Association.
The Cabinet Office and attorney general’s office were asked for details of the legal advice provided to Cameron and the National Security Council before the strike was authorised.
In near identical replies, they confirmed they hold information “falling within the scope of your request”. However, they declined to provide the material, citing six exemptions built into the FoI Act.
They were: information supplied by, or relating to, bodies dealing with security matters; defence; international relations; information relating to the provision of advice by any of the law officers or any request for the provision of such advice; protection of personal data; and legal professional privilege.
The UK political conference season is over (but not Scotland - we’ve got the SNP next week) and the Commons is not sitting until Monday. Most of the Westminster political class are having a break, and it really is very quiet.
Still, the blog goes on.
There are two stories in the news.
- Britain is to station troops in the Baltic states to shore up Nato’s eastern borders and deter Russian aggression, the UK defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has said. As Frances Perraudin reports, Fallon announced the commitment upon arrival at the quarterly meeting of Nato defence ministers in Brussels. The deployment is intended to reassure former Soviet bloc members in light of increased tension between Russia and Ukraine. “This is further reassurance for our allies on the eastern flank of Nato – for the Baltic states and for Poland,” said Fallon. “That is part of our more persistent presence on the eastern side of Nato to respond to any further provocation and aggression.”
- Jeremy Corbyn has turned down the chance to be made a member of the privy council in person by the Queen, with his office saying that private engagements made such a ceremony impossible. As Patrick Wintour reports, the decision suggested that the Labour leader, a republican, was unwilling to follow convention and bow in front of the monarch, sometimes seen as an essential part of the privy council ceremony. Corbyn has previously revealed that he needed to think about whether he was willing to attend such a ceremony. In practice it is possible, and frequent, for members of the privy council to be appointed without meeting the monarch through a device known as an Order in Council, but is rare for a party political leader to use such a course.
I’m sorry I’m late launching today. I was held up by something at home.
As usual, I will also be covering breaking political news as it happens (if there is any), as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web (likewise).
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on@AndrewSparrow.
