Afternoon summary
- Theresa May has said she has an “open mind” about what trade relationship the UK should have with the EU, and does not just want to copy an existing model. (See 2.36pm.)
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
3 politics books reviewed
One of the perks of my job is that I get sent a lot of new politics books. Here are three that I have not mentioned in the blog already which I would recommend.
How to Win a Marginal Seat by Gavin Barwell - Dozens of books about politics get published every year but there are surprisingly few that cover the mechanics of what it takes to get elected. Barwell won Croydon Central for the Tories in 2010 with a majority of just under 3,000 and in this campaign memoir he writes about the tactics he employed to keep his seat in 2015. (They worked - he beat Labour by 165 votes.) It’s candid, highly readable and even, if you like electioneering, moderately gripping. If you want to become an MP you should definitely read it, but anyone interested in the craft of politics can learn from it too.
Sample extracts:
I could tell from the responses I received [to mass emails sent out to constituents] and from the number of people who unsubscribed which ones were a hit and which ones irritated people. The lesson was clear: the emails needed to be personal, setting out my views instead of just repeating the party line. They also needed to be timely - about something that people might just have seen on the news or a current local issue.
There was one policy in our manifesto, however, that was making a difference on the doorsteps: our promise to give tenants of housing associations the right to buy their homes at a discount. Council tenants already had this right, but for the last 30 years most new social housing had been developed by housing associations and their tenants did not, which seemed unfair. We would put this right.
I suspect that if I had conducted a poll right across my constituency this would not have been one or our more popular policies. However, the people who did not agree with it tended not to be Conservative supporters or, if they were, they didn’t object to this policy strongly enough to change the way they voted. For people who lived in housing association properties, on the other hand, it was a vote-deciding issue.
Reflections: Conversations with Politicians by Peter Hennessy and Robert Shepherd - This is a collection of the transcripts of 11 Radio 4 interviews conducted by Hennessy, with a brief introductory essay. The interviewees are: Shirley Williams, Jack Straw, Norman Tebbit, Neil Kinnock, John Major, Roy Hattersley, David Steel, Margaret Beckett, David Owen, Nigel Lawson and Clare Short. Hennessy is the zoologist who went to live in the safari park - he’s the pre-eminent historian of postwar government who got himself a seat in the House of Lords, enabling him to study his subjects close up - and as a result these interviews are unusually informed and revealing. They have all been broadcast, between 2013 and 2015, but reading them as a collection highlights certain common themes, not least the fact that quite of few these figures believe that despite holding high office they managed to change very little.
Sample extracts:
(From Jack Straw’s interview)
I had lots and lots of training [for taking decisions about authorising decisions to intercept a passenger plane in the event of a British 9/11] and I carried on that responsibility right until the end of the government in 2010. There was one terrifying Boxing Day when we were having lunch with friends in the Cotswolds, as we usually do on Boxing Day, and Downing Street got hold of me. I was put through to the control and they told me they couldn’t find the prime minister, but they’d got this aeroplane, a passenger plane, coming in to land. They’d lost all contact with it, and did we scramble planes? So for about 20 minutes, I was the man who was having to decide whether to send the fighters up, and I got them ready, then Tony took over and by that stage, after lots of signals to this aeroplane, the pilots had woken out of their stupor and got back in contact with the control tower. But we could have taken that plane down.
(From Norman Tebbit’s interview)
It was not Churchill that created Nato, it was Attlee ... Ernie Bevin in particular, one of the truly great men of British politics, in my judgment ... There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that in any really great contretemps that Attlee and Bevin and I would have been on the same side.
The European Union: A Citizen’s Guide by Chris Bickerton - It is quite a feat to write a scholarly book about the EU that’s clear, original and highly readable, but Bickerton has managed it. It’s a thematic history of the EU, with particular focus on its democratic shortcomings. It was published shortly before the EU referendum, but it deserves to outlast the Brexit campaign - although obviously the title will need to be changed if this ever gets reprinted
Sample quotes:
Only when texts [of EU laws] reach the third reading are they debated in plenaries, with the political partisanship of MEPs driving the debates. Only a fraction of draft laws ever reach that stage. The legislative life of the EU is centred around small and select clusters of people, meeting behind closed doors and hammering out agreements that both sides can be happy with. It is no coincidence that the parliament’s greatest triumph, the Spitzenkandidat process, was the result of a behind-the-scenes coup d’etat and carried out by a select few parliamentarians. That is one reason it had no discernible effect on raising the turnout at European elections.
Whereas Eurosceptics in the past had believed in the glory and honour of their national political traditions, today they are more likely to believe that their national political establishments are run by, and for, crooks. The term ‘Euroscepticism’ - describing a stand-alone ideology based on hostility to the process of European integration - has lost its object. It has become reabsorbed into the changing political currents of the European continent.
Central Bank of Ireland says Brexit will have 'negative and material' impact on Irish economy
Brexit is putting the brakes on Ireland’s economic bounce-back, the country’s banking chiefs have warned. As the Press Association reports, Dublin’s Central Bank has downgraded forecasted growth over the next two years as a result of the shock referendum result. In its latest quarterly report, it said the UK’s decision to leave the EU will inflict a “negative and material” blow to Ireland’s economy, presently the fastest-growing in the bloc.
The close relationship between the Irish and UK economies creates a particular exposure for the Irish economy from Brexit. Both in the short-term and in the longer-term, the economic impact of Brexit on Ireland is set to be negative and material. Quantifying the impact with much precision, however, is difficult.
Here is a short Labour leadership reading list.
Me: Is being anti-austerity a new thing.
Caller: No he has always been anti austerity.
Me: Oh. It doesn’t seem to be working. But also hasn’t the Labour Party always been anti-austerity?
Caller: No Jeremy has changed that
Me: But didn’t Gordon Brown in 2009 bring all the G20 leaders together and commit them all to a growth plan to get us out of the financial crisis rather than to all cut back. I thought Labour had been anti-austerity since 2009?
Caller: Well I don’t remember that, but Ed Balls.
Me: What about Ed Balls?
Caller: Well he was arguing for cuts
Me: Isn’t that what john Mcdonnell is arguing for?
Caller: No
Me: But hasn’t john mcdonnell said he wants to have the same fiscal rule as Ed Balls?
Caller: I’m not sure but...
Me: I think they have both said that they want to eliminate the current budget deficit but leave space for borrowing for capital?
Caller: Yes but there is a much bigger emphasis on investment, john mcdonnell wants to invest
Me: What in?
Caller: Well in growing the economy
Twentieth-century social democracy was always about electing other people to do our bidding. It’s the parliamentary road to socialism we have heard about recently (rather than the revolutionary road). And this is underpinned by the role MPs played in that process.
But that worked when MPs and the central state could make the political weather. Increasingly, we can’t. Increasingly, power is both global and local, with corporations and citizens – not with MPs.
Changes that are being enhanced by technological innovation (social media being a case in point) are happening at an increasing rate. The top-down, vertical power relationships of the past are being replaced by a more evenly distributed, bottom-up variety.
It could be reasonably argued the current fault line between the “membership” and the parliamentary Labour party (PLP) is in fact a symptom of this changing power relationship.
So let me be clear – Corbyn is the best candidate because, in his own way, he understands some of the economic and moral challenges we face, and is the product of a deep desire for something new.
Smith says Labour should fight to keep UK in EU
And here’s the quote from Owen Smith’s Q&A when he said Labour should fight to keep the UK in the EU.
I also think time is now right for Labour to argue, even in parts of the country, like mine and like here where the referendum went against us, where people voted to leave, let’s see the truth of what this Brexit is going to look like. Let’s wait til we’ve got to the end of the 18 months or so when we’ve negotiated - tough negotiation, not the sort of hard Brexit we’re likely to see from the Tories - let’s negotiate for the sort of European relationship people want in this country, and then let’s trust them again, either in a second referendum or in a general election. Because I think we’ve got to fight in Labour to be in Europe still. I fundamentally believe we are better off in Europe and I’m going to fight for it. Jeremy [Corbyn] might not want to fight for it, but I’m going to fight for it.
In answer to a later question, Smith made it clear that he thought that, if there was a second referendum, one of the options should be remaining in the EU. (See 11.44am.)
The Shrewsbury 24 campaign has defended John McDonnell’s record on employment rights. Responding to Owen Smith’s comments earlier (see 2.55pm), a spokesman for the campaign said:
It is thanks to the guidance and hard work over many years of John McDonnell MP that our campaign to overturn a miscarriage of justice for the Shrewsbury 24 pickets has been so successful. With his support we have raised the profile of our case which is 43 years old. He has always made time to discuss any problems which we have faced even though he is a busy constituency MP. We need more MPs like him.
Here is the Labour MP Jess Phillips on Owen Smith’s comment about wanting Labour to “smash” Theresa May back on her heels.
I don't like the terminolgy of smash very much but lets be honest it is a clumsy way of saying outperform, I like the heels bit less tbh
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) July 27, 2016
I will speak to Owen when I see him and I expect deeds lots of deeds on women, that is what matters.
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) July 27, 2016
Owen Smith apologise for saying Labour should 'smash' Theresa May back on her heels
Labour leadership challenger Owen Smith has apologised for saying Labour should do more to “smash” Theresa May back on her heels.
After criticism of his choice of language, a spokesman for Smith said:
It was off script and on reflection it was an inappropriate choice of phrase and he apologises for using it.
The Jeremy Corbyn campaign has responded to the claim that Corbyn and John McDonnell have not been working on policies for employment rights. A spokesperson for Jeremy for Labour said:
Employment rights have been front and centre for John McDonnell in the past 10 months as shadow chancellor and throughout his campaigning life. He launched the Institute of Employment Rights “Manifesto for Labour Law” on 28 June, which included a policy to reinstate the ministry of labour. Jeremy Corbyn has also proposed reinstating the Ministry of Labour, notably during last year’s leadership campaign.
Updated
Owen Smith says shadow cabinet has been 'devoid of ideas'
Back to Owen Smith, and this is what he said during the Q&A after his speech when it was put to him that John McDonnell has been saying that he proposed setting up a ministry for labour. Smith replied:
All I would say, and I don’t know whether the rest of the room wants to correct me, but it passed me by. I think it passed the country by, if John announced that he was going to do something about employment rights and create a minister for labour. So it was a very sotto voce announcement that he made.
And, truthfully, that’s the problem. We have not been strong enough in taking the fight to the Tories. We have been a weak opposition over the last nine months. John and Jeremy, for all their good intentions, have been weak.
And worse than being a weak opposition, we have not laid out, I think, in anything like the detail a credible prospectus for government. Let’s be clear. Two weeks ago now I announced that we should have a £200bn investment programme, a Keynesian investment programme ending austerity. For the last nine months Jeremy has just been walking around the country saying he wants to end austerity without describing at all what he wants to put in its place. And John McDonnell says I’ll see your £200bn and I’ll raise you three for £500bn. Well, fine, if he wants to be even more ambitious than I am, that’s great.
But I’m not going to be blown of course from doing what I think is right. And if John agrees with me, that just marvellous.
Smith was referring to these plans McDonnell announced last week.
Then, when asked if any of this was discussed in the shadow cabinet when he was a member, he replied:
Not once. Not once in the last nine months in which I’ve served in the shadow cabinet have I heard a single debate being led by John McDonnell about a minister for labour. Not once have I heard a single debate led by John McDonnell about rights at work ... It has been devoid of ideas quite often. Now, there are lots of reasons for that. But I tell you straight; it’s about time Labour pulled its socks up.
Theresa May's press conference in Rome - Summary
Here are the key points from the May/Renzi press conference.
- May said she had an “open mind” about what trade relationship the UK should have with the EU, and did not just want to copy an existing model.
We have a very clear message from the British people in the Brexit vote, that they want us to bring in some control on free movement. They don’t want free movement rules for movement of people from the European Union member states into the UK to operate as they have done in the past. And we will deliver on that.
But, on the other side, we do of course need to ensure that we get the best possible deal in relation to trade in goods and services. And I’m looking at this with an open mind. I think we should be developing the model that suits the United Kingdom and the European Union, not adopting necessarily a model that is on the shelf already, but saying what is going to work for the UK and what is going to work best for the European Union in ensuring that we can maintain that economic relationship which has been of benefit to us in the past.
- She said that she intended to be able to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living in the UK - provided the rights of Britons living on the continent were respected. She said:
On the issue that you raise of Italian and other EU citizens who are living in the UK, I want to be able to guarantee their rights in the UK, I expect to be able to do that, I intend to be able to do that, to guarantee their rights. The only circumstances in which that would not be possible would be if the rights of British citizens living in other EU member states were not guaranteed. But I hope that this is an issue we can address early on.
- She called for further intelligence-sharing in Europe in the light of the recent terror attacks. She said:
Yesterday’s attack in northern France on an innocent Catholic priest in a place of sanctuary and peace was yet another brutal reminder of the threat that we all face. Following on from the atrocities in Nice and Germany, it reinforces the need for action both in Europe and on the wider global stage. In Europe, we must increase further our intelligence co-operation and share vital information swiftly and effectively, enabling us to better protect ourselves from these terrorists who seek to destabilise us.
Updated
May says she has an ‘open mind’ as to what trade deal with EU will be best for UK
May says Liam Fox’s comments yesterday were about the interaction between customs unions and free trade agreements.
She says the Brexit vote was clearly a vote for controls over immigration. She will deliver on this.
But she wants the best possible deal on trade. She is looking at this with an open mind, she says. She will choose the best deal for the UK. It might not necessarily be the same as the model adopted by other countries.
- May says she has an ‘open mind’ as to what trade deal with EU will be best for UK.
Renzi said Brexit is Brexit. The discussion cannot now be re-opened. If EU leaders were to do that, they would be rejecting the idea of democracy, she says.
And that’s it. The press conference is over.
May and Renzi are now taking questions.
May says she wants to be able to guarantee the rights of Italians (and other EU citizens) in the EU. She intends to be able to guarantee them, and expects to, but that depends on EU countries guaranteeing the rights of Britons living in their countries.
- May says she expects EU citizens to be allowed to stay in UK.
Updated
May says UK will continue to be 'a strong voice for international free trade'
Theresa May is speaking now.
She says there is a close friendship between the UK and Italy. As we make a success of Brexit, it is important to with with major EU states like Italy, she says.
On Brexit, she says she and Renzi have agreed on maintaining “the closest possible economic ties” after the UK leaves the EU.
She says the UK will continue to be “a strong voice for international free trade”.
She says the UK and Italy both want to do more to stem the flow of illegal migrants from Libya.
Today she and Renzi have had “a useful and constructive meeting”, she says.
Updated
Renzi says it is essential to establish certainty, so that the UK can have a relationship of friendship with the EU.
May's press conference with Renzi
Theresa May is holding a press conference with Matteo Renzi, her Italian counterpart, in Rome.
Renzi starts. He says that it is important to accept the results of the EU referendum, although it is “sad” for Italians living in the UK.
Owen Smith was speaking from a text, but at various points he departed from it - or at least from the copy released to the media.
The line about “smashing” Theresa May “back on her heels” was one example. It came when he spoke about how Labour should have been better at responding to May at PMQs. He said:
Theresa May even had the temerity to lecture Labour on social injustice, on insecurity at work.
I’ll be honest with you – it pained me that we didn’t have the strength and the power and the vitality to smash her back on her heels and argue that these are our values, these are our people, this is our language that they are seeking to steel.
Owen Smith has been telling interviewers that his line about wanting to “smash” Theresa May “back on her heels” may have backfired. This is from ITV’s Chris Ship.
'Perhaps it backfired' @OwenSmith_MP tells my colleague @peterlane5news when asked about his 'smash [Theresa May] back on her heels' comment
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) July 27, 2016
Here is some Twitter reaction to the Owen Smith speech from journalists.
From the New Statesman’s George Eaton
Smith's policy agenda shows how Corbyn has shifted Labour's internal debate dramatically leftwards. pic.twitter.com/kG5TGsJdOD
— George Eaton (@georgeeaton) July 27, 2016
From Newsweek’s Josh Lowe
But can Blairites (actual ones, not in the sense Corbynites use the term) hand on heart, say they would fully back these in a manifesto?
— Josh Lowe (@JeyyLowe) July 27, 2016
The wealth tax? The 50p top rate? Every Labour MP will merrily go along with those up to 2020 will they?
— Josh Lowe (@JeyyLowe) July 27, 2016
From ITV’s Chris Ship
Owen Smith is a better orator when answering questions than when delivering his speech
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) July 27, 2016
Corbyn campaign accuses Smith of using 'aggressive' language against women
The Corbyn campaign is accusing Owen Smith of using “aggressive” language against women. Referring to Smith’s comment about wanting to “smash” Theresa May “back on her heels”, a Corbyn campaign spokesman said:
We need to be careful of the language we use during this contest as many members, including many female Labour MPs, have said they feel intimidated by aggressive language. Jeremy has consistently called for a kinder, gentler politics. We should all reflect that in our political rhetoric.
Updated
Here is John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor and Jeremy Corbyn’s closest ally, responding to Owen Smith’s speech.
I welcome Owen Smith's endorsement of IER recommendations for a Ministry of Labour which we committed to last month https://t.co/67HkU6wTvN
— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) July 27, 2016
And here is the Momentum organiser James Schneider responding to the speech.
Pleased that Owen Smith this morning will call for a Ministry of Labour which John McDonnell spoke about last month https://t.co/gvwJZoPH15
— James Schneider (@schneiderhome) July 27, 2016
A Ministry of Labour is a very good idea. Jeremy Corbyn proposed it last summer https://t.co/76Oza9IKvK
— James Schneider (@schneiderhome) July 27, 2016
Owen Smith's speech - Snap verdict
Until today the conventional wisdom at Westminster has been that Owen Smith’s chances in the Labour leadership contest lie somewhere in the margin between extremely slim and zero. After watching that speech, many people will probably reassess. Within the space of an hour Smith may have made himself competitive.
Smith achieved two things. First, he outlined a policy agenda with considerable appeal to leftwing progressives. (See 12.06am.) This may sound obvious, but as last year’s Labour leadership contest showed, and this summer’s Tory one, party leadership candidates can be surprisingly reluctant to commit themselves to policies. Second, and more importantly, he put delivery at the heart of his pitch; he could implement these proposals, he said, but Jeremy Corbyn couldn’t or wouldn’t.
In policy terms there is little that Smith is proposing that Corbyn himself would not endorse enthusiastically. The Jeremy for Labour camp tried to make this point by issuing a statement this morning, before Smith even stood up, accusing him of lifting some of Corbyn and John McDonnell’s ideas. (See 10.56am.) But the Jeremy for Labour press statement may have been sunk by the sheer weight of policy in the Smith speech. And even if Corbyn can prove that he has backed all these proposals, Smith was at his most effective when arguing that Corbyn had done little or nothing to advance them. (See his answer to my colleague Jessica Elgot at 11.39am - I will post the full quotes soon.) During the Labour leadership campaign last year Corbyn produced a dozen or so policy papers that were reasonably substantial. But since then, in most areas, the party has done almost nothing to develop those proposals, as the tax campaigner Richard Murphy, who used to be a Corbyn cheerleader, pointed out last week in a blog explaining why he has lost faith in Corbyn. Smith has identified what is probably Corbyn’s biggest weakness and today’s speech showed that he is prepared to capitalise on it as hard as he can.
And “watching” the speech, as well as reading it, is important. Smith was passionate, just as Corbyn is. But he was also assertive, authoritative and comfortable with the media to an extent that Corbyn isn’t.
That is not to say that he is a perfect candidate. A glance at what Smith has said in the past on certain subjects, and what is saying about them now, has left him open to the charge of insincerity, and there were a couple of moments today when he appeared to trip. Some colleagues are viewing the line about smashing Theresa May back on her heels as a gaffe (although I felt he defended it well - see 11.53am) and the “one hour contracts” line (see 12.05pm) was a slip that he may feel the need to clarify. But these did not tarnish was overall a strong performance.
Although Smith is mostly differentiating himself from Corbyn on delivery, not policy, on Europe he said enough to suggest this could become a key policy dividing line. Smith has already said that the people should get a chance to vote on the final Brexit deal, either at a general election or in a referendum. Today he implied, without being fully explicit, that Labour under his leadership would campaign to stay in. He said Labour should be fighting to stay in Europe. (See 11.41pm - I will post the quote soon.) Corbyn, on the other hand, has shown no interest in trying to reverse the EU referendum vote, and Smith’s words suggest the leadership contest could become one with implications not just for Labour, but for Britain’s relationship with the EU too.
Updated
Owen Smith's 20 policy proposals
The Owen Smith campaign say there were 20 policy proposals in Smith’s speech this morning. Here is their list of what they are.
1. A pledge to focus on equality of outcome, not equality of opportunity
2. Scrapping the DWP and replacing it with a Ministry for Labour and a Department for Social Security
3. Introducing modern wages councils for hotel, shop and care workers to strengthen terms and conditions
4. Banning zero hour contracts
5. Ending the public sector pay freeze
6. Extending the right to information and consultation to cover all workplaces with more than 50 employees
7. Ensuring workers’ representation on remuneration committees
8. Repealing the Trade Union Act
9. Increase spending on the NHS by 4% in real-terms in every year of the next parliament
10. Commit to bringing NHS funding up to the European average within the first term of a Labour Government.
11. Greater spending on schools and libraries.
12. Re-instate the 50p top rate of income tax.
13. Reverse the reductions in Corporation Tax due to take place over the next four years.
14. Reverse cuts to Inheritance Tax announced in the Summer Budget.
15. Reverse cuts to Capital Gains Tax announced in the Summer Budget.
16. Introduce a new wealth Tax on the top 1% earners.
17. A British New Deal unveiling £200bn of investment over five years.
18. A commitment to invest tens of billions in the North of England, and to bring forward High Speed 3.
19. A pledge to build 300,000 homes in every year of the next parliament – 1.5 million over five years.
20. Ending the scandal of fuel poverty by investing in efficient energy.
Updated
Q: Who would be hit by the wealth tax?
Smith says this would be a 15% tax on unearned income from investments. It would be paid by those in the top 1%, those earning more than £150,000 a year. And it would raise £2.8bn. He says the UK used to have a wealth tax of this kind, but that it was abolished by Margaret Thatcher.
Q: You says you would allow minimum hours contracts, not zero-hours contracts. What would the minimum be?
Smith says we should reverse the status quo. A contract should offer a minimum number of hours.
Q: Could it be one hour?
It could, says Smith. But the important thing is that it is not zero.
That’s it.
I will post a snap verdict shortly.
Updated
Smith says Labour owes Corbyn some gratitude for pushing it towards radicalism. People responded to him last summer because that is what they wanted to hear.
But he has not been able to translate that into either a robust defence of Labour values, or a smashing back against Tory values, and he has not made Labour look like a government in waiting.
Labour was set up to provide working people with representation in parliament.
Working people are no longer on the outside, he says.
Labour is on the inside. And that is why the leader of the Labour party has to be able to command respect within parliament.
Smith says Labour did make Britain a more tolerant place. He says he is worried that is changing. That is another reason why Britain needs a Labour government.
Next week he will give a speech on BME communities, he says.
All those questions were from journalists. Now Smith is taking questions from Labour people in the audience as well as from journalists.
Q: What will you do about the Housing Act?
Smith says the housing market has changed enormously over the last 25 years. Yesterday he drove through West Norwood, where he first lived with his wife 20-odd years ago. As an MP he could not afford to buy the home he lived in then. Even if he were PM he could not afford it. Something has gone fundamentally wrong, he says. It is the same in many parts of Britain, although not everywhere.
Rents have gone sky high too, he says.
He says Labour should want to create a property-owning democracy.
The answer is to build more, he says.
Q: What is your view on grammar schools?
Smith says it was a “tragedy” that the Tories scrapped the Building Schools for the Future programme.
Schools should be democratically controlled, he says.
He is not saying turn the clock back. But there needs to be democratic accountability.
Q: What do you make of the YouGov poll?
He says Britain is becoming more unequal. Labour’s task is to even things up, he says. He says the policies he has announced are designed to even things up.
Q: Do you stand by your comment that you want to smash Theresa May back on her heels?
Smith says that is rhetoric. There will be more tough rhetoric from him. But that does not mean that he literally wants to smash May, he says.
Q: You are in the socialist republic of South Yorkshire. There is a poll today suggesting that more than 2m Labour voters would rather have May as PM than Corbyn.
Smith says his “heart sank” when he read that in the paper. This should be a wake-up call, he says.
People need to look at Labour and think people can put their faith in its policies.
We are not respected as a party, he says. Unless we are respected, we cannot turn our principles into practice. He says Nye Bevan, his hero, taught us that.
He is not in this game to be a protester or a demonstrator. He is in this to exercise power on behalf of a Labour government.
Q: What should the question be in a second referendum? The Brexit deal versus staying in?
Yes, says Smith. It should be that.
And Labour should be demanding a seat at the table. We should have a full-time Brexit minister, demanding to sit alongside David Davis.
He says we have to fight to maintain workers’ rights.
Q: You said in your speech Labour should be smashing Theresa May back on her heels at PMQs. Is that appropriate language?
It was rhetoric, says Smith. But he says Labour should be smashing the Tories back. He says Labour needs to stand up for people powerfully.
Q: Is there a disillusionment with Labour here? And how will you stop votes going to Ukip?
Smith says he thinks people are disillusioned with Britain.
People were lied to during the EU referendum campaign, he says. Boris Johnson lied about £350m more a week going to the NHS. And leave lied about immigration.
He says Labour should fight to be in Europe still. Corbyn may not want to fight for that. But he wants to fight for that.
He says the final Brexit plans should be put to the people, either at an election or in a second referendum.
Smith's Q&A
Q: [From my colleague Jessica Elgot] What did you make of John McDonnell this morning saying he had already proposed some of these ideas?
Smith says McDonnell’s speech passed him by. And, if he proposed a ministry for labour, it passed the country by. And that’s the truth. We have been “a weak opposition”, he says. He says McDonnell and Corbyn have been weak. And they have not set out a credible programme for government.
Corbyn has gone round saying he wants to end austerity. But he has not put in place plans saying how he would do it.
And McDonnell has trumped him, by proposing a £300bn investment plan, not a £2oobn one. That’s fine.
He says not once in the shadow cabinet has he heard McDonnell propose a ministry of labour, or greater rights at work.
It is about time Labour pulled its socks up, he says.
Smith says he is not promising a 'socialist nirvana'
Smith is winding up now.
Our job is to level the playing field for individuals and whole communities.
So that wherever you live, or whatever disadvantages you set out with, you can live a good life
With excellent education and healthcare in every community; dignity, opportunity and decent pay in every workplace; and a faith in fair play in every breast.
But to achieve that we need revolution not evolution.
Not some misty eyed romanticism about a revolution to overthrow capitalism.
But a cold eyed and practical revolution, through a radical Labour Government that puts in place the laws and the levers that can genuinely even things up.
That’s the kind of Government I dream about.
That’s the kind of revolution I’ll deliver.
Again, this is the passage from the text. Smith ad-libbed a bit, including at one point saying he was not promising a “Socialist nirvana”. And then he joked that he did not know who that could refer to.
Smith proposes building 300,000 new homes every year
Smith turns to fair funding, and proposes a £200bn investment programme.
It’ll include massive investment in the North of England to close the North-South divide and to deliver High Seed 3.
HS2 and the capacity it brings, is greatly needed.
But we need to go further, we need to be bolder.
Our economy is far too London-centric.
And this is in part because both our existing transport infrastructure, and new investment, are all concentrated on London.
And he proposes building 300,000 new homes every year.
Labour’s New Deal will also free up councils across the country to borrow to build.
And end the housing crisis inflicted on millions by the Tories.
A crisis created by a Government that’s built fewer homes than any other since the 1920s.
And presided over the lowest levels of home ownership in a generation.
An utter failure.
A shameful failure.
So it will fall to Labour to end this crisis.
And, under my leadership, we will.
My New Deal will pave the way for 300,000 homes to be built every year.
Smith proposes a £3bn a year wealth tax
Smith explains how he would fund this.
To do that, we’ll ask the wealthiest in society to pay a fair share.
We’ll re-instate the 50p top rate of income tax – the Tories’ tax cut for millionaires – and put a stop to further reductions to Corporation Tax.
We’ll reverse Tory cuts to Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax.
And to tackle the historic inequality that is holding Britain back,
Labour on my watch will take the historic and necessary step of levying a Wealth Tax.
A surcharge on investment earnings by the wealthiest 1% in our country, raising £3Billion a year.
Theresa May can wring her hands at the inequality that scars our country.
Labour, under my leadership, will do something about it.
Smith says he would increase NHS funding by 4% a year in real terms
Smith says he would commit Labour to increasing NHS funding by 4% a year in real terms for every year in the next parliament
If we’re to have a properly functioning, well-serviced NHS that my hero Nye Bevan would be proud of, spending needs to rise by 4% every year for the foreseeable future.
Under the Tories, it’s only been 1%.
That’s unprecedented levels of low funding for our most important, our most cherished public services.
The lowest in history.
The Labour Government I hope to lead will right this wrong.
The Last Labour Government inherited spending on the NHS that was just 6.6% of GDP.
Miles behind the EU average.
We got it up to 9.9%, but under the Tories it is falling back again.
And, as usual, it will take a Labour Government to save our NHS.
So if I am leader of this party we will commit to increasing spending on the NHS by 4% in real-terms in every year of the next parliament.
To do that, we’ll ask the wealthiest in society to pay a fair share.
Smith says he would make businesses pay “a much fairer share” in tax
Smith now turns to taxation.
He says he would make businesses pay “a much fairer share”.
My plans will ensure the wealthiest in society and big businesses pay a much fairer share.
A fairer share to re-build our vital public services.
To re-open libraries, to reduce class sizes and to relieve hospitals of the immense pressure they’re under.
Smith says he would repeal the Trade Union Act
Smith turns to unions.
And we need to give working people a voice at work.
Employees should always be given a say over the big decisions in their workplace that affect them.
We saw with BHS how a British institution was asset stripped and steered onto the rocks while the staff who went on to lose their jobs were not even given a look-in.
So I would extend the right to information and consultation to cover all workplaces with more than 50 employees.
And I would guarantee a place for workers reps on remuneration committees.
Trade unions give people a voice at work.
That’s why the Tory Government hates them so much.
So if I was Prime Minister, on day one, I’d set to work on repealing the vicious and vindictive Trade Union Act.
It is undemocratic, unnecessary and unjust.
And I’d scrap it.
Smith says he would outlaw zero-hours contracts
Smith says he would outlaw zero-hours contracts.
Let’s start with the obvious. Labour will ban zero hours contracts.
Don’t tell me some workers would prefer them to a guarantee of minimum hours.
Don’t tell me they’re not exploitative in their very essence.
They are the hallmark of insecurity at work.
They represent everything that is wrong about the inequality of power between employers and employees.
And I will outlaw them.
Smith says he would end public sector pay freeze
Smith says he would end the public sector pay freeze.
Theresa May even had the temerity last week to lecture Labour on the evils of social injustice and job security.
She says Britain needs a pay rise. And who could disagree?
But rhetoric is cheap.
The reality is that Mrs May is still squeezing her own workers til the pips squeak.
With her pay freeze for millions of public sector workers that has dragged on far too long.
So let me be clear.
The public sector pay freeze cannot continue while the costs – of housing and heating, transport and childcare - continue to rise.
The public sector pay freeze must end. And under me, it will.
(I am taking the quotes from the text Smith’s campaign have just sent me. There was at least one sentence in this that he phrased slightly differently when he was delivering the speech, but the change was not significant.
Smith says he would abolish the DWP and create a ministry of labour
Smith turns to employment.
He would turn Britain into a world-beating place for employment rights, he says.
He says he would create a ministry of labour. And he would scrap the department for work and pensions, which he says has become a “byword for insecurity and cruelty”, and replace it with a department for social security.
He says he would introduce a wage council to ensure that workers in the care sector are paid properly.
He says more needs to be done on equal pay. He will set out more plans on this in the coming week. He would have a modern Equal Pay Act.
- Smith says he would abolish the DWP and create a ministry of labour.
Smith says Labour would “smash austerity” under his leadership
He says a Labour government that he hopes to lead will “smash austerity”.
He will make three promises today, about fair employment, fair taxation, and fair funding.
- Smith says Labour would “smash austerity” under his leadership.
Smith says wages have not increased. And services have been hit.
And that is because of austerity, he says.
The Tories have privatised debt, he says.
This has got to stop. And Labour has got to stop it, he says.
Smith says people are right to be furious about inequality
Smith says Labour can only turn Britain into a prosperous place when it wins.
He says at the moment Britain is a profoundly unfair country.
People feel the system is rigged against them. And they are angry about it.
And let me be very clear. They are right to be angry about it. They are right to be furious about the inequality that still exists.
- Smith says people are right to be furious about inequality.
He says people are right to be angry that no banker went to jail during the recession and that Philip Green has brought a second yacht.
Owen Smith was introduced by the Labour MP Louise Haigh.
He starts by saying how proud he is to be seen as a potential prime minister.
He says he wanted to speak at the Orgreave site because it symbolises so much of what he stands for. He grew up in South Wales, in a coalfields area. He wanted to come here to remind people of the great battles Labour fought as a movement.
And he says it is high time that there was a full public inquiry into the conduct of police at Orgreave during the miners’ strike. Labour should be making that happen, he says.
Owen Smith's speech
Owen Smith is about to give his Labour leadership speech.
Here is the live feed:
Updated
Corbyn accuses Smith of lifting his ideas
Owen Smith, the Labour leadership contender, is due to give a speech at the former Orgreave site shortly. In extracts released overnight, he said he would commit Labour to boosting workers rights and to establishing a ministry of Labour.
The Labour Party has achieved so much for social justice, but we need to be more than just our history. So in the next few weeks I’ll be setting out my vision for Labour’s future.
A future of fair taxes, fair employment and fair funding. That means investment, not cuts with a British New Deal to defeat Tory austerity and re-balance the country. And under my leadership, it would mean a strengthening of employment rights including creating a new Shadow Cabinet Secretary of State for Labour tasked with making Britain the envy of the world for the quality of our jobs and the protections they have, so workers have access to better terms and conditions.
In response, Jeremy Corbyn’s campaign has accused him of lifting Corbyn’s ideas. A spokesman for the Jeremy for Labour campaign said:
We welcome Owen’s focus on equality of outcome, reindustrialisation and workers’ rights - and his support for policies announced in recent months by Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell.
We are delighted that he has echoed John McDonnell’s call for the reinstatement of a Ministry of Labour, made last month at the Institute of Employment Rights and Jeremy Corbyn’s call for a ban on exclusive workforce recruitment from abroad, made during the referendum campaign, among other policies.
Owen’s speech today shows the leadership that Jeremy Corbyn has demonstrated in placing economic justice and fairness back at the heart of Labour politics. Under Jeremy, Labour has put restoring dignity and pride in our communities worst hit by decades of neglect at the core of our politics.
Many communities in the North of England and elsewhere have for too long been left behind, with regeneration schemes that relied on expanding the public sector to make up for the shortfall of decent jobs in manufacturing - and thirty years headed in the wrong economic direction.
This will end under a Jeremy Corbyn Labour government, which will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs in low-carbon goods and services and return our economy to being a dynamic engine of global progress, prioritising northern towns and cities with economic devolution that puts people first.
Michel Barnier appointed EU's lead Brexit negotiator
Former French government minister and ex-European Commission vice-president Michel Barnier has been appointed as the commission’s chief negotiator for Brexit, the Press Association reports
The appointment was announced by commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, who said he wanted “an experienced politician for this difficult job”.
Barnier officially takes his position on October 1 and will spend the coming months preparing the ground in Brussels for the negotiations, but will not make contact with UK authorities until the two-year process of withdrawing from the European Union is formally triggered by London under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Barnier will report directly to Juncker as head of the commission taskforce for the preparation and conduct of the negotiations with the United Kingdom.
He will have the rank of Commission director-general and will be able to draw on the advice of Brussels’ most senior civil servants and experts.
Describing Barnier as “a skilled negotiator with rich experience in major policy areas relevant to the negotiations”, Juncker said: “I am very glad that my friend Michel Barnier accepted this important and challenging task. I wanted an experienced politician for this difficult job.
He has an extensive network of contacts in the capitals of all EU member states and in the European Parliament, which I consider a valuable asset for this function.
Michel will have access to all Commission resources necessary to perform his tasks. He will report directly to me, and I will invite him to brief regularly the College (of commissioners) to keep my team abreast of the negotiations. I am sure that he will live up to this new challenge and help us to develop a new partnership with the United Kingdom after it will have left the European Union.
Juncker has tweeted about the appointment.
Heureux que @MichelBarnier - responsable politique expérimenté - ait accepté d'assumer la tâche importante de Négociateur en Chef sur Art.50
— Jean-Claude Juncker (@JunckerEU) July 27, 2016
Often Juncker tweets in English, but this one is in French - a sign perhaps that he’s already starting to think of the British as outsiders?
And Barnier has tweeted about his appointment in both languages.
honoured to be entrusted UK negotiation by @JunckerEU and @EU_Commission. Rendez-vous for beginning of demanding task on 1 October.
— Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) July 27, 2016
Très honoré par la confiance de @juncker pour conduire la négociation avec le Royaume-Uni. RV le 1er octobre pour cette mission exigeante !
— Michel Barnier (@MichelBarnier) July 27, 2016
Here are some more findings from the YouGov poll. Some of these involve looking at the crosstabs (the group-by-group breakdown of the polling numbers) which involve small samples, and are therefore not especially reliable, but it’s a quiet morning, so here goes.
- Only 13% of those who voted leave back Labour, the poll suggests.
- Almost a quarter of those who voted Labour in 2015 (23%) would now vote for another party, the poll suggests. Some 7% would vote Lib Dem, 6% Tory, 3% Ukip and the rest someone else.
- Labour is ahead of the Tories in London (by 38% to 37%) and in the north (by 40% to 33%) but is behind the Tories in the rest of the south, the Midlands/Wales and even Scotland (by 11% against the Tories’ 23%), the poll suggests.
- But the poll suggests voters think Theresa May would be a better prime minister than Jeremy Corbyn even in Scotland (43% May, 26% Corbyn), London (46% May, 23% Corbyn) and the north (47% May, 20% Corbyn).
- The Tories have a big lead on which party is best to handle the economy in general (35% over Labour’s 17%), the poll suggests. They also lead on the best party to tackle asylum and immigration, law and order, taxation, unemployment, and Brexit. Labour lead on the NHS and housing, and the parties are tied on education.
UPDATE: A reader has flagged up this blog by YouGov’s Anthony Wells which is very good on why it is a mistake to read too much into the data from crosstabs.
Updated
UK economy grew by 0.6% in second quarter of 2016, ONS says
The growth figures are out.
- The UK economy grew by 0.6% during the second quarter of 2016, the Office for
National Statistics says.
Here is the ONS statistical bulletin with full details.
My colleague Graeme Wearden is covering these in more detail on his business live blog.
YouGov has now posted its poll findings on its website.
Here is an extract from the commentary from YouGov’s Matthew Smith.
The Conservative lead is now larger than at any time since the 2015 general election, and represents a remarkable turnaround for the party which was 3% behind Labour in late April. It is still unclear whether the results are sustainable or are just down to a new-PM bounce and the continued division in the Labour party.
Voters also expressed their support for new Prime Minister Theresa May, with 52% of them saying that she would be a better Prime Minister than Jeremy Corbyn, who was supported by just 18%. May’s efforts to reach out to Labour voters may be bearing some fruit, with 29% of 2015 Labour voters preferring her premiership to Jeremy Corbyn’s – every little will help when the Conservatives have such a slim majority. May is also overwhelmingly preferred to Corbyn among 2015 Lib Dem voters (66% vs 8%) and 2015 UKIP voters (75% vs 4%).
And here are the full tables (pdf).
Many people don’t trust pollsters anymore. If Labour party members, and the 180,000 registered supporters who signed up to take part in the leadership contest, are in this category, then Jeremy Corbyn has nothing to worry about.
But if voters in the contest are swayed by polling, then it’s a difficult morning for the Labour leader. Yesterday an ICM poll gave the Tories a 16-point lead. This morning new figures are out from YouGov. They put the Tory lead at a mere 12 points, but the Times has splashed on the figures, highlighting the finding that almost a third of those who voted Labour in 2015 prefer Theresa May as prime minister to Jeremy Corbyn. Here is the Times’ story (paywall) and here’s an extract.
When those who voted Labour in last year’s election were asked to choose between Mrs May and Mr Corbyn as prime minister, 29 per cent opted for the Tory leader. This equates to 2.7 million Labour voters out of 9.3 million. Among voters generally, only 19 per cent believe that the Labour leader would make a better prime minister. The poll also suggests that the EU referendum is leaving a lasting mark on Westminster politics. Thirteen per cent of people who voted to leave now back the Labour Party, against 51 per cent who support the Tories.
The Times also says that the Tories’ lead under May is even bigger than Labour’s was in the honeymoon period after Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair.
Mrs May’s Conservative government leads Labour by 12 points, the largest gap since her party returned to Downing Street six years ago, a YouGov survey forThe Times found. It is a bigger lead than Gordon Brown achieved during his bounce after succeeding Tony Blair. Labour dropped to its lowest share of the vote since the eve of the election in 2010.
The poll also found that Mrs May has started to attract some Ukip voters. It put the Tories on 40 per cent and Labour on 28 per cent, its lowest result under Mr Corbyn. Ukip was on 13 per cent and the Lib Dems on 8 per cent.
The commanding lead will pile pressure on the prime minister to consider an early election. Some Tory MPs believe that Mrs May needs to be ready to use that option, even though she has dismissed it in public and private.
Tomorrow's front page: Millions of Labour voters place May above Corbyn #Tomorrowspaperstoday pic.twitter.com/Q4WjtZoMkF
— The Times of London (@thetimes) July 26, 2016
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: The ONS publishes second quarter growth figures.
11am: Owen Smith gives a speech at the former Orgreave site, announcing plans to appoint a cabinet-level minister to deliver fair employment. He’s already made the Yorkshire Post splash.
Today's Yorkshire Post front page #yplive pic.twitter.com/n2Yk9dCTbS
— The Yorkshire Post (@yorkshirepost) July 27, 2016
Lunchtime: Theresa May is in Rome for a meeting with the Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi.
As usual, I will be covering the breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.
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