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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Justine Greening tells Tories hard Brexit could prove unsustainable - as it happened

Justine Greening
Justine Greening Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Afternoon summary

  • Justine Greening has used her first intervention on Europe since being sacked as education secretary last week to warn that, if the government opts for a hard Brexit, it could prove unsustainable because the young would reject it. (See 2.37pm.)
  • Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, has told MPs that the government is not expecting to ratify the withdrawal treaty with the EU until parliament has passed the withdrawal agreement bill. (See 5pm.)
  • The government has won the first two of today’s votes on the EU withdrawal bill with majorities of 13 and 24.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Baker tells MPs government not expecting to ratify EU withdrawal treaty until Commons has passed withdrawal bill

Before the voting started, Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, wound up for the government.

If you were watching Theresa May give evidence to the Commons liaison committee at the end of last year, you will remember an almost comic exchange between May and Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the home affairs committee. Cooper repeatedly tried to get May to confirm that MPs would vote on the EU withdrawal agreement and implementation bill before the withdrawal agreement gets ratified by the government. (May has promised MPs a vote on the bill, but obviously that will be a bit meaningless if by then the treaty has already been ratified.) But May just refused point blank to answer Cooper’s question. (Given her stubbornness and message discipline, in another world May would have made an ideal junior minister in the Gordon Brown Treasury.)

In the debate a few minutes ago Ken Clarke asked Baker the same question. And, unlike Cooper, he got an answer.

Baker said the Brexit department had set out its position in this written ministerial statement before Christmas. But he went on:

Both Houses will have meaningful votes on whether to accept the agreement. And it is my expectation that we would not ratify before that primary legislation [the withdrawal agreement and implementation bill] has gone through.

This goes beyond what May said, or did not say, to the liaison committee.

  • Baker said the government is not expecting to ratify the withdrawal treaty with the EU until parliament has passed the withdrawal agreement bill. But he did not give an absolute assurance that that would be the case.
Steve Baker.
Steve Baker. Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters

Updated

MPs are now voting on an amendment to the EU withdrawal bill. According to the Labour whips, there could be up to eight votes. The government is not expected to lose any of them.

Brexit 'like blowing up a bridge', Canadian trade expert tells MPs

Earlier I referred to Christophe Bondy, senior counsel to Canada when it was negotiating the Canada-EU free trade deal (Ceta), telling MPs that if the UK left the single market, it would face trade barriers with the EU, regardless of what any free trade deal said. Bondy was giving evidence to the Commons Brexit committee.

This is what Bondy said about the disadvantages of a free trade agreement.

With a free trade agreement, you have regulatory autonomy, but you have borders. For Canada it was a huge step forward to get rid of the walls that tariff barriers, for example, create, or rules that so no Canadian need apply, lots of those things. That’s great. But you step over the border and you have to show that you are compliant with the local rules in terms of the provision of services. You have to show that your permits meet the compliance rules in that new regulatory space. And in practice that can be a significant barrier.

In a trading arrangement, if that’s what the UK wants, if it just wants a free trade agreement, it wants to retain complete regulatory autonomy, it can do that, but there will be trade barriers, in the sense of those regulatory conformity issues.

Bondy also compared Brexit to blowing up a bridge. He told the MPs:

A free trade agreement is like two parties are on either side of a river and are considering building a bridge across that river because they think it will be in their economic benefit. And that’s what the Ceta does. And I think it does provide for Canada and the EU real economic benefits.

What the UK situation with the EU right now is that that bridge has been there for 45 years. Communities have been built up on either side of it. There are buildings on the bridge. And you are deciding what part of it you want to blow up without bankrupting yourself.

Two organisations fighting Brexit have said Bondy’s evidence is significant.

Open Britain, which says it is fighting against a hard Brexit, put out this response from the Labour MP Ian Murray.

David Davis says he wants a Canada-plus-plus-plus deal, but the message from Canada’s trade negotiator is very clear: the best deal we could get is to stay in the single market and customs union.

The Canada-style deal that is actually on offer from the EU would be disastrous for our country, and the government knows it. The prime minister said in Florence that it would damage our economy, and the chancellor says it ‘does not even remotely replicate the access we have as an EU member.’

And Best for Britain, which is campaigning for a second Brexit referendum, put out this statement from the Lib Dem MP Tom Brake.

Mr Bondy, who knows more about trade than virtually anyone in the world, is bluntly restating the blindingly obvious - the arbitrary red lines set by PM May are a guarantee that the UK will have a poorer trade deal after Brexit than the one we have now.

This is the first time ever that a country is seeking to secure a worse trade deal than the one it currently holds.

Updated

The Insolvency Service has said that bonus payments to directors and former executives at collapsed construction giant Carillion have been stopped. Nick Fletcher and Graeme Wearden have more on this on their business live blog.

UK can still change its mind over Brexit, says France

President Macron has joined Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker et al (see 9.27am) in saying it is not too late for the UK to change its mind about Brexit, the Evening Standard reports. An aide to Macron told reporters:

If tomorrow, or the day after, the United Kingdom decided to change its mind, it’s clear that we would look at this with kindness. But it’s not up to us if the United Kingdom wants to change its mind.

Chuka Umunna, the Labour pro-European, has welcomed the news.

Updated

Justine Greening warns Tories hard Brexit could prove unsustainable because young would reject it

Justine Greening, who was sacked as education secretary last week and who left the cabinet after refusing a move to work and pensions, has taken to sitting in the “remainer corner” in the House of Commons since her return to the backbenches, alongside some of the pro-European Tories who rebelled last year over the EU withdrawal bill. She is there today and this afternoon, for the first time since she became free to speak out after leaving the government, she made an intervention on Europe.

Greening, like her Putney constituency in south west London, was strongly pro-remain in the referendum. As education secretary she did not really speak out on Brexit issues at all, but this afternoon she effectively issued a warning to her party that, if it opts for a hard Brexit, it will prove unsustainable. She made the point when she made this intervention during a speech by her Tory colleague, Ken Clarke. She said:

I represent a very young constituency here in London. And the bottom line is that, looking ahead, if Brexit doesn’t work for young people in our country, in the end it will not be sustainable. When they take their place here, they will seek to improve or undo what we have done and make it work for them. So we do absolutely have a duty in this House to look ahead and ensure that whatever we get is sustainable and works for them.

By “take their place here”, she meant become MPs. And by a Brexit that “doesn’t work for young people”, she clearly implied some form of hard Brexit, although she did not elaborate. (Perhaps she will give a full speech later.)

Clarke welcomed what she said and told Greening he entirely agreed.

Justine Greening.
Justine Greening. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, has pledged that the EU will continue to fund cross-border peace projects on the island of Ireland even after Brexit.

Juncker said he could see “no more importance use” in EU funding than supporting initiatives which promoted peace and reconciliation between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic.

There had been fears that border counties particularly in Northern Ireland would no longer receive EU largesse after Brexit.

The EC president told the European parliament that he wanted continued backing for the peace process in Ireland. Since the early 1990s the EU have invested hundreds of millions of euros into community and infrastructure projects especially targeted at divided communities along the border and in areas of sectarian division in places like north and west Belfast.

Stressing “unconditional European commitment” to the EU’s Peace and Reconciliation Fund, Juncker’s announcement means financial support for these projects could continue up to 2025.

Lunchtime summary

  • Jeremy Corbyn has used PMQs to accuse the government of “negligence” over Carillion and launch a wholesale attack what he described as the “costly racket” of big public firms being allowed to run public services for profit. (See 1pm.)
  • Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, has renewed his call for the UK to change its mind about Brexit and said he would be “happy” to let it return if it does leave the EU. (See 9.27am.)
  • Christophe Bondy, senior counsel to Canada when it was negotiating the Canada-EU free trade deal (Ceta), has told MPs that if the UK leaves the single market, it will face trade barriers with the EU, regardless of what any free trade deal says. Bondy was speaking to the Brexit committee. Labour’s Seema Malhotra, a member of the committee, posted this clip.

And Stephen Kinnock, another Labour member of the committee posted a Twitter thread summarising Bondy’s evidence. It starts here.

  • A new treaty on the handling of migrants at the French port of Calais is set to be signed by Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron, according to reports in the French media. As the Press Association reports, press on the other side of the Channel reported a statement from the Elysee Palace which said the treaty would “complete” the Le Touquet agreement, which allows Britain and France to station border officials on each other’s soil. Downing Street declined to comment on the reports, which came ahead of a high-profile UK-France summit at Sandhurst on Thursday. Macron is understood to be seeking new financial contributions from the UK to bolster security at the port, which has attracted thousands of migrants hoping to sneak on board trains and ships heading for the UK over recent years. French media reported the Elysee as saying the new treaty was “still in the process of being finalised”, but would focus principally on the handling of unaccompanied minors, asylum requests and family reunions. It will reportedly include “precise commitments” from the UK to process asylum claims more quickly, accept more young people travelling alone and to deliver “significant” extra sums for frontier protection.
  • May has welcomed Macron’s decision to let the Bayeux Tapestry go on display in the UK. Speaking at PMQs, in response to a question from Bexhill and Battle MP Huw Merriman said saying Battle Abbey would be an appropriate location for the exhibition, May said:

It is very significant that the Bayeux Tapestry is going to be coming to the United Kingdom and that people are going to be able to see this. I am sure we will be looking very carefully to ensure that the maximum number of people can take the benefit of seeing this tapestry.

Suspended Labour MP Jared O’Mara is returning to work with “immediate effect” after scaling back his duties following a backlash over offensive blog posts, the Press Association reports. In December, the Sheffield Hallam MP’s office said he was cutting down his activities on the advice of doctors. The 36-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, has not attended parliament since. His office said at the time he would continue to serve voters in his Sheffield Hallam constituency in other ways, but it is unclear how he has done so.

In a statement, O’Mara announced he would now be resuming his duties on a phased return with immediate effect. It comes after the Yorkshire Post visited his constituency office on Friday to find he was absent. O’Mara said:

I am so pleased to be returning to work. Last June I was incredibly proud to have been elected the member of parliament for Sheffield Hallam and I am now delighted to be moving forward and able to represent my constituents.

Jared O’Mara.
Jared O’Mara. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Observer

Updated

PMQs - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about PMQs.

There is no consensus today, with some calling it for May, some for Corbyn, and some declaring it a draw.

From the Daily Mirror’s Jason Beattie

From PoliticsHome’s Kevin Schofield

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

From the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire

From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh

From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn

From the Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges

From Sky’s Lewis Goodall

From the Guardian’s Peter Walker

From the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman

From New European’s Matt Kelly

From the FT’s Stefan Stern

Corbyn tells May to end 'costly racket' of private firms running public services

Here is the Press Association take on PMQs.

Jeremy Corbyn has accused the government of “negligence” over Carillion as he urged Theresa May to end the “costly racket” of private companies running services for the public.

The Labour leader said the “ruins” of the collapsed construction giant lie around the prime minister and he called for private firms to be “shown the door”.

May said a third of government contracts with Carillion were let by the previous Labour administration, adding she wants to provide “good quality public services, delivered at best value to the taxpayer”.

The fate of Carillion dominated the pair’s exchanges at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Concluding his attacks on the government, Mr Corbyn said: “This isn’t one isolated case of government negligence and corporate failure - it’s a broken system.

“Under this Government, Virgin and Stagecoach can spectacularly mismanage the East Coast Main Line and be let off a 2 billion payment.

“Capita and Atos can continue to wreck the lives through damaging disability assessments of many people with disabilities and win more Government-funded contracts.

“G4S promised to provide security at the Olympics - failed to do so and the Army had to step in and save the day.

“These corporations need to be shown the door - we need our public services provided by public employees with a public service ethos and a strong public oversight.

“As the ruins of Carillion lie around her, will the prime minister act to end this costly racket of the relationship between government and some of these companies?”

May cited Labour’s involvement with Carillion before outlining the government’s plan for public services.

She added: “We’re making sure in this case that public services continue to be provided, that workers in those public services are supported and taxpayers are protected.

But what Labour oppose isn’t just a role for private companies in public services - it’s the private sector as a whole.”

May said the vast majority of workers in the country are employed in the private sector but claimed Labour has “turned its back on investment, on growth and on jobs”.

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, used this two questions about PMQs to ask about Brexit, and the government’s failure to publish impact assessments.

In response to his first question, Theresa May said the government was “constantly looking at the impact decisions will have on our economy”.

Blackford then said:

Nineteen months after the EU referendum and the prime minister has not a shred of economic analysis on the impact of leaving the single market ... Leaving the single market will cost each Scottish citizen up to £2,300 a year. How much of a hit will families take before the PM recognises the folly of leaving the single market?

May replied:

We saw the figures this morning for GDP in Scotland. In the third quarter GDP in Scotland grew by 0.2%, in the rest of the UK it grew by 0.4%. Over the last year Scotland grew by 0.6%, in the UK as a whole it grew 1.7%. My analysis? 1.7 is more than 0.6, you’re better off with the Conservative government than an SNP one.

I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.

Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, asks if May will support a bill in the Welsh assembly ensuring Westminster does not keep powers after Brexit that should be devolved.

May says Saville Roberts’s descripion of what is happening is wrong. There will be an amendment to clause 11 to the EU withdrawal bill introduced in the Lords, she says.

Alberta Costa, a Conservative, asks May if she agrees that sustainable development needs to take into account the needs of the environment.

May says it is possible to protect the environment and promote growth at the same time.

Labour’s Stephen Timms says families on low incomes face a benefit trap because if they receive a small pay rise, they will lose free school meals. That means they will lose out overall. That is a benefit trap. It should not happen.

May says under universal credit 50,000 more children will be eligible for free school meals than under the old system.

May says loneliness is the sad reality of life for too many people. She says she will be hosting a reception for the Jo Cox Foundation later on. Their work on loneliness is very important. She can confirm that she has appointed a minister for loneliness.

Labour’s Imran Hussain asks about school funding. He says schools in his constituency are missing out on funding.

May says increased amounts of funding are going into schools generally.

Victoria Prentis, a Conservative, asks about Syria, and praises the bravery of charity staff from the Hansard Society working with children in the country.

May praises the work of the volunteers.

Labour’s Alex Norris asks about modern slavery.

May says the government is working on this issue, not just in the UK but with partners across the world.

Huw Merriman, a Conservative, asks May to ensure the Bayeux Tapestry goes to Battle Abbey in his constituency.

May says Hastings, Amber Rudd’s constituency, also wants it. The government will look at where it can be seen by most people.

Labour’s Nic Dakin asks about a constituent having to wait too long for pain relief treatment.

May says the government is putting more money into the NHS. An extra £2.8bn went in in the budget. But the government also wants to ensure all hospitals are world class, and acting in accordance with best practice.

A Conservative, asks about radiotherapy treatment under the NHS at a local hospital.

May says the government wants people to have access to these treatments. These are decisions to be taken at a local level, she says.

Updated

PMQs - Snap verdict

PMQs - Snap verdict: One of the best PMQs for ages, with strong, detailed questions, the prime minister being properly held to account, and Corbyn and May using the exchanges to make big, political arguments. Corbyn comfortably come off best - he has the wind behind him on this issue - but May managed to pull it back a bit with her final answer. Until then, although clearly across the detail of her brief, she struck the wrong tone in at least two places. Refusing to engage with Corbyn second question just because it did not conclude with a question mark sounded petty, and her repeated insistence that the government was just a “customer” of Carillion, while technically correct, made her sound rather feeble. She’s not just a customer - she’s the prime minister, armed with the full power and authority of the UK state. May came to office promising a crackdown on excessive corporate and a bolder and more imaginative PM would have use the Carillion catastrophe to reboot this whole agenda. Surprisingly, May did not even try to do this, and her response to Corbyn’s question about what the Carillion directors are receiving sounded correct but uninspiring. That paved the way for Corbyn’s powerful final question/soundbite, a tirade against the whole private sector contracting “racket”. It was his best moment. May’s final answer was her most effective too. Her argument about Corbyn and McDonnell being fundamentally anti-business is persuasive enough to have some traction, but attacking New Labour for putting these contracts out to tender in the first place was probably a mistake. If anyone is going to get credit of opposing New Labour neoliberalism on an issue like this, it’s not going to be May, but Corbyn.

Updated

Corbyn says Carillion was notorious for paying its bills late. Why did the government allow this? Will May back Labour’s call for abiding by the prompt payment code to be a requirement for a firm getting a public contract?

May says this has been an issue since she has been an MP. The government has taken action. She says the government will help workers who are unemployed as as result.

Corbyn says this is not one isolated case. This is a broken system. Virgin and Stagecoach can spectacularly mismanage the East Coast mainline and be let off a late payment. Capita and Atos can get new contracts, even though they mismanage benefit checks. Companies like this need to be shown the door. Will May act to end the racket of the relationship between these companies and the government.

May says a third of the Carillion contracts were let by Labour. Labour oppose not just a role for private companies, but the private sector as a whole. The vast majority of people are employed by the private sector, but John McDonnell calls them the enemy. The Labour party will always put politics before people.

Corbyn says he asked if the government was negligent. The government is supposed to protect public money. So why - “and this is a question that the PM needs to answer’ - did the position of crown representative remain vacant, when shares were in freefall.

May, in respone to heckling from Emily Thornberry, says Thornberry has praised Carillion in the past. May says a Cabinet Office official took over those crown representative procedures. That is a standard procedure.

Corbyn says they were not looking at Carillion very well. It went into liquidation with debt of £1.29bn. The chief executive will be paid for another 10 months. Can May assure MPs that not a single penny more will go to the chief executive or directors?

May says her understanding is that a number of facilities manager contractors who have come to an agreement with the official receiver to ensure they are paid. On bonuses, May says the official receiver’s investigation will be fast-tracked, and will look into previous directors and their action. And the official receiver can look into payments and recover them. The official receiver must be free to do their job. She says Corbyn said the government had to ensure Carillion was properly managed. But it was a customer of Carillion, not its boss.

Jeremy Corbyn says the government has awarded £2bn worth of contracts to Carillion in the last six months, even after profit warnings. Why?

May says a profit warning means a company is not going to make as much profit as expected. If it was the case that the government pulled out of contracts whenever a profit warning was issued, that would be the best way to ensure companies failed and jobs were lost. It would also stop the government being able to provide services.

The government ensured all but one of those contracts were joint ventures. So someone else was able to step in. And the Labour-run Welsh government issued Carillion a contract last July. And Labour-run Leeds council agreed a contract with Carillion only last week.

Corbyn says Leeds has not signed a contract with Carillion. Between July and the end of last year the share price fell by 90%. Some contracts were issued after the third profits warning. It looks as if the government was handing out contracts either to keep the company afloat or was negligent.

May says she will answer a question if Corbyn asks one. (He did not turn his last sentence into a question.)

Simon Hoare, a Conservative, asks May to support manufacturing.

May says she is happy to give that commitment. It is very pleasing to see ONS figures saying production has grown for eight months, the longest streak since 1994. The economy is strong.

Labour’s Catherine McKinnell says the government must take responsibility for its role in the Carillion mess. Will all the apprentices be able to complete their training and get trained?

Theresa May says this has been a difficult time for a number of people. Carillion employees working on public projects will continue to get paid. But the government does not run Carillion; it is a customer. It wants to reassure workers, Carillion pensioners, and service users. The government is aware of the issues around apprentices. The minister responsible will be looking at what can be done.

This is from the Spectator’s James Forsyth.

The SNP’s David Linden has put on a special tie for his question at PMQs.

PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

Ben Bradley, the 28-year-old Conservative MP appointed a party vice chairman for youth last week, is turning into a textbook example of how provocative bloggers should think twice before venturing on a career in politics - or at least work out how to erase their internet history.

Yesterday he apologised for a blog he posted six years ago suggesting that the unemployed should have vasectomies rather than father children they could not afford. He was forced to respond after BuzzFeed uncovered what he had written.

Now BuzzFeed has unearthed another blog from the Bradley oeuvre. In a post written in 2011 headed “Public sector workers: They don’t know they’re born!”, he urged people in the public sector to stop complaining about their pay. He said:

I can’t believe for the life of me that people in the public sector are so lost in their own fantasy land that they can’t see how good they’ve got it.

Yes, okay, many teachers and teaching assistants and nurses work hard for their money and deserve to get excellent pay and pensions, but headmasters on seventy-odd grand a year ...

If you think your job or your pay isn’t good enough for you, quit! There are millions and millions of other people who will quite happily take your burden off your hands! If you think you deserve better pay, then get a job with better pay. If you don’t feel capable of getting a job with better pay then be grateful for the one you’ve got!

Bradley would have been a student at the time he wrote this. But, even so, public sector pay was frozen at the time, and no one in frontline Tory politics was making comments like this.

Southerners more ambitious than northerners, academic research suggests

Southerners are more likely to consider standing for election than northerners, according to new research carried out by academics from the University of Bath.

Using a survey of 10,000 people, which involved asking if they had ever considered trying to get elected as a council or an MP, the researchers sought to investigate what drives political ambition. And they found gender, salary, class and location were all significant factors.

You can read the report in full, An Analysis of Political Ambition in Britain by Peter Allen and David Cutts, here (pdf).

Here is a summary of the findings sent out by the University of Bath.

Only one in ten had thought of standing as a candidate or putting themselves forward.

Men were more than twice as likely as women to have considered running.

Eighteen to 24-year-olds had the highest levels of political ambition of any age group.

Highly educated respondents, e.g. with a university degree, were more than three times as likely to have political ambitions than those who failed to finish secondary school or quit even earlier.

Those from mixed-race backgrounds expressed slightly higher levels of ambition than those who were white. People identifying as South Asian were least likely to stand.

More than twice as many people identifying as upper class had considered putting themselves forward than those in the middle or lower class bracket.

Those earning in excess of the average UK annual salary of £27,600 were more likely to consider running for office.

Respondents in the South are more ambitious politically than those living in the North.

Those whose parents were politically active during their childhood were more likely to run for office than those without.

Confident and outgoing people with faith in politicians are more likely to have political ambition. They are not necessarily the kindest or most sympathetic individuals however.

Here is are two charts from the report showing how salary, class, education, ethnicity, and gender affect ambition. If the bar goes right, that means people in this group are more likely than average to be interested in standing for office. If the bar goes left, they are less interested than average.

How salary, class, education, ethnicity and gender affect political ambition.
How salary, class, education, ethnicity and gender affect political ambition. Photograph: University of Bath

And here is the chart with the regional figures.

How region affects political ambition
How region affects political ambition Photograph: University of Bath

Peter Allen, who led the research, said:

Our political institutions don’t ‘look like’ the British people because of these biases. This study highlights how political parties risk further alienating the public who already think Westminster is run by London elites.

They should adjust how they recruit to minimise this effect. If they don’t then people will switch off long term, and politics will increasingly become the domain of the wealthy and highly-educated. It’s a matter of self-preservation.

Farage suggests EU leaders conspiring with Blair and Clegg to trigger second Brexit referendum

In the European parliament debate Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, has just delivered a speech. He said that he did not want a second referendum on Brexit, but that he thought EU leaders were conspiring to make it happen. He told MEPs:

I don’t want a second referendum on Brexit, absolutely not. But I fear that you are all working together with Tony Blair and Nick Clegg to make sure that we get the worst possible deal. I say that because I’ve seen it all before. The difference is, if you force the Brits to do it again, there will be a different outcome.

By “different outcome”, he meant different from Ireland and Denmark, where second referenda on EU treaties resulted in a vote against being reversed.

Farage has, of course, changed his tune somewhat since Thursday last week, when he said he was warming to the idea of a second referendum. He told Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff:

My mind is actually changing on all this. What is for certain is that the Cleggs, the Blairs, the Adonises will never, ever, ever give up. They will go on whingeing and whining and moaning all the way through this process. So maybe, just maybe, I’m reaching the point of thinking that we should have a second referendum on EU membership.

Nigel Farage.
Nigel Farage. Photograph: European Parliament

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has announced today that he is allocating an extra £15m “to boost police resources and help officers tackle knife crime”. This came a day after Scotland Yard’s head of knife crime said young children should be taught about this issue because the problem is so serious.

One of the big talking points this morning is the announcement that President Macron is going to mark his visit to the UK tomorrow by declaring that France will lend the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain, so that it can go on display here.

The tapestry, which records the death of King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, is, of course, a vivid illustration of what happened to the first English leader who tried to take a stand against integration with Europe.

Here is our story on the offer.

And here is some Twitter comment.

From ITV’s political editor Robert Peston

From the Labour peer Lord Adonis

Earlier I quoted Jean-Claude Juncker saying, if the UK left the EU, it could re-apply to join under article 94. (See 9.27am.) That is what the translator said Juncker said, but either he or Juncker mis-spoke, because the relevant article is article 49.

This is what it says:

Any European State which respects the values referred to in article 2 and is committed to promoting them may apply to become a member of the Union. The European parliament and national parliaments shall be notified of this application. The applicant state shall address its application to the council, which shall act unanimously after consulting the commission and after receiving the assent of the European parliament, which shall act by an absolute majority of its component members. The conditions of admission and the adjustments to the treaties on which the union is founded, which such admission entails, shall be the subject of an agreement between the member states and the applicant state. This agreement shall be submitted for ratification by all the contracting States in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements. The conditions of eligibility agreed upon by the European council shall be taken into account.

Thanks to LegalRage2 in the comments BTL for flagging this up.

UPDATE: In the comments BTL LearningIsLife offers this possible explanation.

In German, one of Juncker’s language, 94 is spoken as ‘vier und neunzig’ or ‘4 and 90’; while 49 is ‘neun und vierzig’ or ‘9 and 40’, so that could be where it got confused.

Updated

Varadkar says UK must deliver on the promises made about no hard border in Ireland

Varadkar says it is hard to imagine the Good Friday agreement being signed without EU membership. Ireland is determined to protect it, he says. And that is why Ireland is so insistent there must not be a hard border after Brexit.

He says the Irish people are grateful for the unswerving support they have had from the European parliament, the European commission and the European council.

The EU has recognised the unique position of Ireland, he says.

He says a majority of people in Northern Ireland voted to remain in the EU. And a majority of people elected to the Northern Ireland assembly want the UK to remain in the single market and the customs union.

He says the agreement reached before Christmas makes it likely a hard border will be avoided.

But now the EU must ensure that “what has been promised in theory is delivered in practice” and that there is no “backsliding”.

He says he hopes the new relationship between the UK and the EU is as close and as deep as possible, consistent with the need to protect the integrity of the single market.

Leo Varadkar.
Leo Varadkar. Photograph: Leo Varadkar/European Parliament

Varadkar has delivered a passage of his speech in French. The Independent’s Jon Stone is impressed.

This is from RTE’s Tony Connolly.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, is about to address the European parliament.

You can watch it live here.

UK should do more to raise plight of Syrians, says David Miliband

David Miliband, the former Labour foreign secretary who now runs the International Rescue Committee aid organisation in America, said this morning that the British government should do more to highlight the humanitarian crisis being caused by the war in Syria. Speaking on the Today programme, he said:

It cannot be right that civilians are being bombed to hell without the UN Security Council playing any role at all - as far as anyone can see, it has been driven off the scene ...

The UK should have a foreign policy that matches the responsibility that goes with being a permanent member of the security council.

At the moment the UN has been sidelined when it comes to the greatest war in the Middle East at the moment, the Syrian war. That cannot be in the interests of the region or, frankly, in the interests of the wider world because one of the lessons of the last seven years in Syria is that nothing that is born in Syria stays in Syria and the instability is exported beyond its borders, not confined within them.

David Miliband.
David Miliband. Photograph: James Drew Turner for the Guardian

Juncker urges UK to stay in EU and says he'd be 'happy' to have it back if it goes

Yesterday Donald Tusk, president of the European council, Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission (see here) and Frans Timmermans, vice president of the European commission (see here) all said explicitly that it wasn’t too late for the UK to change its mind about Brexit. Their comments killed once and for all any specultion about article 50 not being revocable. But they received a frosty response from London. Asked about the comments, the prime minister’s spokesman told journalists at the lobby briefing: “We have been absolutely clear that the British people voted to leave the European Union and that is what we will be doing.”

But Juncker has not given up. He was speaking again in the European parliament this morning, ostensibly about the Bulgarian presidency, and he took the opportunity to restate his claim that Britain could still decide to stay in the EU if it wanted. And he went even further; even if the British did leave, the EU would be happy to take them back, he said. He told the MEPs:

Our hand remains outstretched. The UK people, the UK government, may wish to find a different way out. We’re very much willing to deal with them. We are not throwing the British out. We would like the British to stay. And if they so wish, they should be allowed to do so.

I did note that in London there was a rather irritated response to this proposal. But, note that even if the British leave according to article 50, then article 94 [Juncker meant article 49 - see 10.05am] would allow them to accede again. And I would be happy to facilitate that. I would not want to push anyone into a corner.

Juncker also said that Brexit would be a “lose-lose” situation for Britain and for the EU and that he continued to see it as “a catastrophe”. But he suggested that the EU may be partly responsible; the British had never felt “entirely comfortable with the EU”, he acknowledged, and he said the “guilt” for Brexit “lies on many shoulders”.

Jean-Claude Juncker speaking in the European parliament in Strasbourg this morning.
Jean-Claude Juncker speaking in the European parliament in Strasbourg this morning. Photograph: Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images

At Westminster the main event today will be PMQs. We have not heard from Theresa May on the subject of Carillion, but today the story is likely to dominate the PMQs exchanges. It is a big opportunity for Jeremy Corbyn, who has described the collapse of Carillion as “a watershed moment”.

For more on Carillion, do read my colleague Graeme Wearden’s business live blog.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, addresses the European parliament.

12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

Around 1pm: MPs begin their final day of debate on the EU withdrawal bill before it goes to the Lords.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.

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

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

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