Afternoon summary
- Boris Johnson has refused to confirm reports that the UK government will contribute up to £2bn to improve public services in Northern Ireland now that power-sharing has been restored. On a visit to Stormont, he said the UK government would support the new executive financially, but he refused to put a figure on it. (See 2.06pm.) Conor Murphy, the finance minister, said Johnson needed to be more specific. Murphy said:
They need to ante up basically, we had the political agreement which got the parties into the executive again, the document that was produced was the two governments’ document, promises of significant investment in services here was their promises, significant investment in infrastructure was their promise, so we have now costed most of that, I have put the figures directly to Boris Johnson this morning, I am going to put them to Julian Smith later on this afternoon and we’ll be in touch with the Treasury as well, I hope before the week is out to talk to the minister for finance in Dublin as well.
My primary focus in the next days ahead is to secure the finances that are necessary. If we’re to have good government here, it has to be one which delivers in terms of people’s rights and one which delivers progressive politics but also has to be one which can actually deliver good public services and if we don’t have the finances then the government can’t function properly.
- Johnson has falsely claimed that there will be no checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland under his plans for Northern Ireland to remain in the single market after Brexit. (See 2.06pm.)
- Peers have started debating the EU (withdrawal agreement) bill. In her speech Lady Hayter, the Labour leader in the Lords, criticised the pace at which it was being “rammed” through parliament. She said:
This is both stupid because it will mean corrections having to be made later but also arrogant with scant regard to our normal democratic method of law-making.
- Washington is “poised” to sign a post-Brexit trade deal with the UK, MPs have been told. Speaking in the Queen’s speech debate Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, said:
We’re making good progress in paving the way for our first round of future free trade agreements with the rest of the world and when I was out in the US, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told me in Washington that the US is poised at the doorstep pen in hand ready to sign a deal.
And a free trade deal with the US would boost businesses, it would create jobs, it would reduce the cost of living and expand consumer choice on both sides of the Atlantic. So there is a huge opportunity for a win-win deal.
- Jess Phillips, the Labour leadership candidate, has strongly criticised Scottish nationalism. Speaking ahead of a visit to Scotland tomorrow she said:
The idea that the answer to the UK leaving a union with our most important trading partner is for Scotland to leave a union with her most important trading partner only makes sense if you’re a nationalist.
Nicola Sturgeon wants to talk to me about threats to Scotland - the SNP’s abject failings on education and health show that it is her administration that remains a threat to opportunity and equality for working people in Scotland.
- Boris Johnson has hired David Cameron’s former personal photographer as a special adviser, it is understood. As the Press Association reports, Andrew Parsons was taken off the public payroll when a political storm erupted after it was disclosed he was being paid by the taxpayer in 2010. He will re-enter Downing Street in a role that will see him focus on modernising Number 10’s digital and video output, PA understands. Special advisers are temporary civil servants and their salaries are paid by the taxpayer. Parsons toured the country with the PM during the general election campaign, officially taking photographs for the Conservative Party but he also sold his images to media outlets.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
From Business Insider’s Adam Payne
Asked Nandy whether she’d work with the Greens/Lib Dems at future elections. She says she supports working “with the broadest possible alliance” but pours cold water on electoral alliances, telling me: “it’s a bit defeatist to say we can only win power through electoral pacts.”
— Adam Payne (@adampayne26) January 13, 2020
This transition period stuff is catching. The Queen has just released a read-out of her talks at Sandringham about Harry and Meghan and it turns out that their breakaway is also going to involve a transition period. Doubtless there will be calls for it to get extended too.
As my colleague Peter Walker reports in his story, Lisa Nandy’s speech this afternoon did not contain much in the way of policy. Instead, invoking Barbara Castle, Nandy urged Labour members to be “brave” and to choose her. She said:
Barbara Castle once said, “in politics, guts is all”. It’s in that spirit I want to talk about the leadership that is needed at this moment. The empathy, stamina and moral courage that has driven big, deep lasting change in this country over 100 years.
These have been a bruising few years and a shattering defeat. But now is not the time to steady the ship or play it safe. If we do not change course we will die and we will deserve to. This is the moment when we up our game and recover our ambition.
So I am asking you to make the brave, not the easy choice, in this leadership contest.
Nandy was speaking in Dagenham, which is associated with Castle because it was the site of the Ford machinists strike that led to Castle passing the Equal Pay act in 1970. Nandy would be a “brave” choice for Labour leader because she is relatively young (40) and relatively inexperienced (her shadow cabinet career lasted just a few months). In this passage, and elsewhere in the speech, she does not name Keir Starmer, but the line about needing to change course, not “steady the ship”, is a direct rejection of what Starmer said in a Guardian interview just after the election when he said it was “important not to oversteer”.
In the House of Lords peers have started debating the second reading of the EU (withdrawal agreement) bill. The debate is due to run until about 10pm, and there is a list of speakers here, but no vote is expected because peers normally let bills through at second reading without a divison.
In the debate Gavin Barwell, who was Theresa May’s chief of staff when she was prime minister, has just delivered his maiden speech as a peer. He said that Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal was “in large part” Theresa May’s deal. But he also suggested that Johnson was making a mistake in ruling out an extension to the post-Brexit transition. He told peers:
I understand why the government does not want to extend the negotiating period. But there simply isn’t time to negotiate the entire future relationship, have it ratified by national parliaments, and for business to prepare to implement it in 11 months ... The main risk is not no deal, it is a very basic, initial deal. And it is in our interests for everything to be decided in one go because the moment that that is no longer the case, we risk getting into a repeat of the divorce negotiations, where the EU ensured its three priorities were dealt with first.
From Sky’s Tom Rayner
199 nominations cast in labour leadership first round out of a possible 212 (202 MPs/10 MEPs). Corbyn didn’t nominate anyone. Clive Lewis also said he would wait until later in the race to decide who to back. Who else didn’t vote? pic.twitter.com/okMJPVbGmJ
— Tom Rayner (@RaynerSkyNews) January 13, 2020
From Euronews’ Darren McCaffrey
EU PARLIAMENT confirms MEPs will vote on the Withdrawal Agreement on January 29th in Brussels around 1800.#Brexit
— Darren McCaffrey (@DarrenEuronews) January 13, 2020
Note we are unlikely to see any last minute upsets 🔧
Expectation is that it will easily pass.
From the Scotsman
Derek Mackay is to publish his Scottish budget on February 6 - a month before the UK Budget which sets out Scotland's funding. https://t.co/NH7Ee64qhV
— Scotsman Politics (@scotpolitics) January 13, 2020
I’ve corrected a couple of posts earlier because they wrongly said that Labour candidates needed nominations from 10% of CLPs to pass the CLP nomination threshold, when in fact the figure is 5%. (See 2.54pm.) I’m sorry about that.
Lisa Nandy has asked Labour members to “make the brave, not the easy choice” and select her to replace Jeremy Corbyn, using a speech to set out her vision of how to restore the party’s fortunes in communities across the UK, my colleague Peter Walker reports.
In response to a comment BTL, I have amended the earlier post about Boris Johnson’s Stormont press conference because it is more accurate to say that his comments about the NI/GB trading rules that will be in place after Brexit were not just misleading but untrue. (See 2.06pm.) Peter Foster, the Telegraph’s Europe editor, has a good Twitter thread explaining why. It starts here.
Once AGAIN @BorisJohnson says that his #Brexit deal will mean NO checks for goods travelling from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, if he does a 'zero tariff' deal with he EU - must know that's wrong. Is this just pure cynicism? 1/Thread
— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) January 13, 2020
And here are some of his conclusions.
It is very difficult to know what to make about Mr Johnson continuously repeating this stuff when he must know it is nonsense.
— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) January 13, 2020
And even the GB electorate doesn't know/understand/care...the NI electorate surely do. /12
#Brexit IS happening. Alleluia. I'm as bored of the phoney war as the next man.
— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) January 13, 2020
Mr Johnson may think he can conduct the entire thing behind the nation's back.
And if things turn black, he'll just say they are white.
But watch out.../13
Because you cannot wantonly devalue the currency of the Prime Ministerial word without effect.
— Peter Foster (@pmdfoster) January 13, 2020
Brexit is a journey, and a long one. The leaders of this country need to persuade people of its merits and trade-offs, and when times get hard, they will need people's trust. /14
And here are the final figures for nominations for deputy leader. In two cases they also vary slightly from the figures quoted earlier. (See 2.54pm.)
Angela Rayner (88)
Ian Murray (34)
Dawn Butler (29)
Rosena Allin-Khan (23)
Richard Burgon (22)
The Labour party website has now updated its tally of nominations for leadership candidates from MPs. Here are the latest figures, which in three cases vary slightly from the ones quoted earlier. (See 2.54pm.)
Sir Keir Starmer (89)
Rebecca Long-Bailey (33)
Lisa Nandy (31)
Jess Phillips (23)
Emily Thornberry (23)
Updated
Full list of candidates still in contest for Labour leadership and deputy leadership
The deadline has now passed for MPs and MEPs to nominate candidates for the Labour leadership and deputy leadership.
Here are the five leadership candidates still in the contest.
Sir Keir Starmer (86 nominations)
Rebecca Long-Bailey (33)
Lisa Nandy (30)
Jess Phillips (23)
Emily Thornberry (22)
The figures for nominations are taken from the official Labour website tally, except for Thornberry’s number, because her final nomination (see 2.25pm) is not on the website yet.
And here are the five deputy leadership candidates still in the contest.
Angela Rayner (85)
Ian Murray (34)
Dawn Butler (28)
Rosenal Allin-Khan (23)
Richard Burgon (22)
To get on the final ballot for members, candidate have to clear another hurdle. They must either get nominations from 5% of constituency Labour parties (ie, 33 of them), or get nominations from at least three affiliate organisations, of which at least two must be unions), collectively comprising at least 5% of the affiliate vote. There are 12 unions and 19 socialist societies affiliated to Labour, but in practice it would be hard to clear the affiliate hurdle without the support of one of the big unions.
This official Labour briefing paper (pdf) sets out how CLPs are meant to run the meetings deciding who they will nominate. Members vote by AV (the alternative vote).
The CLP/affiliate nomination process opens this Wednesday and runs for a month, closing on Friday 14 February. It is likely several of the candidates will fail to get the nominations they need.
UPDATE: I’ve corrected this posted to say that the threshold is 5% of CLPs, not 10% as it wrongly said earlier.
Updated
From Dawn Butler, who passed the threshold to remain in the contest for the Labour deputy leadership earlier
Pleased to say it seems like we have all the women on the ballot 👍🏾
— (((Dawn Butler))) (@DawnButlerBrent) January 13, 2020
More from HuffPost’s Paul Waugh on the nomination that carried Emily Thornberry through to the next stage of the Labour leadership contest.
.@Afzal4Gorton was the vital nomination. He just told me he nominated her. She has hit the magic number.
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) January 13, 2020
@Afzal4Gorton is Afzal Khan, the MP for Manchester Gorton.
Thornberry 'through to next stage of Labour leadership contest'
According to HuffPost’s Paul Waugh, Emily Thornberry has got the final nomination she needs to make it through to the next stage of the Labour leadership contest.
12 mins to the deadline and @emilthornberry has done it.
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) January 13, 2020
According to the latest Labour party tally, Emily Thornberry is now only one nomination away from reaching the 22 target she needs to remain in the leadership contest.
The figures also confirm that Richard Burgon, Rosen Allin-Khan and Dawn Butler have all hit the 22 target - meaning there are five candidates for deputy leader. The other two being Angela Rayner and Ian Murray.
To make it onto the final ballot, candidates for the leadership or the deputy leadership also need to clear another hurdle by getting either nominations from 5% of CLPs - 33 of them - or nominations from 5% of the affiliate vote or trade unions.
Updated
Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach, has posted this on Twitter about his meeting with Boris Johnson.
Good to catch up again with @BorisJohnson in Stormont, we’re talking about the new deal and the new prospects for Northern Ireland pic.twitter.com/Uw1dGcfMdn
— Leo Varadkar (@LeoVaradkar) January 13, 2020
Updated
Boris Johnson's press conference - summary
Here are the main points from Boris Johnson’s press conference earlier.
- The prime minister claimed there would be no checks on goods going from NI to GB and only minimal checks on goods going the other way under his plan for a post-Brexit alternative to the backstop. He said:
Be in no doubt. We are the government of the United Kingdom. I cannot see any circumstances whatever in which they will be any need for checks on goods going from Northern Ireland to GB. The only circumstances in which you could imagine the need for checks coming from GB to NI, as I’ve explained before, is if those goods were going on into Ireland and we had not secured, which I hope and I’m confident we will, a zero tariff, zero quota agreement with our friends and partners in the EU.
And, furthermore, I would remind you that the arrangements that we have put in place under the Northern Ireland protocol automatically evaporate after four years unless the assembly of Northern, the government of Northern Ireland, decides that they want to protract them.
So there are plenty of protections for Northern Irish business, farmers and others.
This is untrue.
As John Campbell, BBC Northern Ireland’s business and economics editor points out, Johnson is wrong to say that a zero tariff free trade deal would obviate the need for checks on goods going from Britain to Northern Ireland under his plan, which would effectively put a customs barrier down the Irish Sea.
PM 'cannot foresee any circumstances whatsoever' where NI-GB goods would have to be checked post-Brexit. Amazingly he's sticking to his line that a FTA with the EU would obviate the need for GB-NI checks.
— JPCampbellBiz (@JP_Biz) January 13, 2020
PM's line remains that GB-NI checks only on those goods which are going onwards to the Republic and only in the absence of a zero tariff FTA with the EU. This remains less than half right.
— JPCampbellBiz (@JP_Biz) January 13, 2020
Northern Ireland will be implementing the EU's customs code at its ports. This means even if you have a zero tariff deal there will still be customs formalities. Goods will have to be declared.
— JPCampbellBiz (@JP_Biz) January 13, 2020
Northern Ireland will remain in the EU's single market for manufactured goods and agricultural products. The EU has particularly strict rules on importing "products of animal origin" - that is to say meat, fish and dairy products.
— JPCampbellBiz (@JP_Biz) January 13, 2020
Those products must enter the EU through a border inspection post where all shipments are subject to document checks and a high proportion are physically checked.
— JPCampbellBiz (@JP_Biz) January 13, 2020
Products of animal origin from Great Britain entering Northern Ireland would be subject to these checks whether they are destined to remain there or be moved to the Republic of Ireland.
— JPCampbellBiz (@JP_Biz) January 13, 2020
New Zealand, has a deal with the EU where only 1% of consignments of meat and dairy products are checked. It's possible the UK could negotiate a similar deal but it would not be able to get rid of checks entirely unless the whole of the UK was going to stay in the single market.
— JPCampbellBiz (@JP_Biz) January 13, 2020
A zero-tariff FTA would deal with the 'at risk' issue ie. goods which are deemed at risk of entering the EU from GB via NI would be subject to tariff, which could later be rebated.
— JPCampbellBiz (@JP_Biz) January 13, 2020
And, as Newsnight’s Ben Chu reports, what Johnson was saying about there being no checks on items going from NI to GB depends on a narrow definition of checks.
Might be wrong, but suspect when Boris Johnson insists "no checks" on good from Northern Ireland to rest of UK, as just he did again at Stormont, he's making a distinction between "checks" and "paperwork"...
— Ben Chu (@BenChu_) January 13, 2020
i.e those "exit summary declarations" could be described as paperwork, rather than checks (More on what ESDs are here: https://t.co/AVjoHTzJ98)
— Ben Chu (@BenChu_) January 13, 2020
Given that exit summary declarations will have to be filled in, it is assumed that someone will “check” that this is happening.
- Johnson defended the UK government’s decision to press ahead with legislation for a body to investigate killings that occurred during the Troubles. This plan was set out in the 2014 Stormont House agreement, and the deal agreed last week says the UK government will “within 100 days, publish and introduce legislation in the UK parliament”. Some Tories are concerned about the prospect of veterans being investigated, but when asked about this, Johnson said:
I think that the parties here who have revived Stormont have done a very good job at finding a balance between giving people who are in search of the truth the confidence that they need, but also in giving people who have served our country in the armed services the confidence and certainty that they need. And we will certainly be going forward as a UK government with our manifesto commitment to ensure that there are no further unfair prosecutions for people who have served their country when there is no new evidence to be brought forward. I think that is the right balance to be struck.
- Johnson said the UK government would support the new power-sharing executive financially, but he refused to confirm that this would amount to a package worth £2bn. Asked about this, he said:
We are, in the UK government, making huge commitments which will be passed through, obviously, the Barnett consequentials, to Northern Ireland in healthcare.
I have heard the arguments made to me this morning. We are listening very carefully and we will certainly do everything we can to support.
- He mocked Tony Blair’s soundbite from the Good Friday agreement, saying he saw the “hand of the future” beckoning. He said:
Never mind the hand of history on my shoulder. I see the hand of the future beckoning us all forward, and I hope that with good will and compromise and hard work on all sides it will be a very bright future indeed.
Updated
Clive Lewis withdraws from Labour leadership contest
Clive Lewis has withdrawn from the Labour leadership contest. He says he pulled so that MPs who had nominated him could nominate someone else in the 40 minutes before nominations close.
Given that he only has five nominations, however, even if all of them were to back Emily Thornberry before 2.30pm, on their own they would not get her over the line.
In a statement Lewis said:
For me, this election wasn’t about just the leadership of the Labour party but about our survival as an engaging and relevant political movement that could win a path to power.
At this stage, it’s clear that I won’t get on the ballot. So, I’m standing aside in the spirit of pluralism, diversity and generosity that I’ve promoted throughout this campaign, so that those who have supported me can recast their nominations.
Whilst I’m disappointed not to have progressed further, I’m proud to have led the debate on key issues such as progressive alliances, electoral reform, democracy in our country, democracy within the Labour party, racism and diversity, and the climate crisis. These issues aren’t going away and given the scale of our last defeat, need to tackled head on with sharp ideas and credible strategy so we can win the next election for the millions of people who deserve a Labour government.
Updated
The Financial Times’ Jim Pickard says Richard Burgon has now got the 22 nominations needed to move on to the next stage of the contest to be Labour’s deputy leader.
am told Burgon has hit the magic number of 22 MPs backing him https://t.co/3kSvkGZs5C
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) January 13, 2020
Rosena Allin-Khan has also secured the 22 nominations she needs to get to the next stage of the contest for the Labour deputy leadership, the Independent’s Lizzy Buchan reports.
More on Labour - @DrRosena has also made it onto the deputy leadership ballot paper with 22 backers. @RichardBurgon still needs two more by the sounds
— Lizzy Buchan (@LizzyBuchan) January 13, 2020
From the Daily Mirror’s Dan Bloom
Richard Burgon is quite literally stalking the corridors of power - he’s hanging out in a passage way in Parliament to give Labour MPs a final pitch as they go to file their deputy leader nominations. Can’t accuse him of not going the extra mile! 🕑
— Dan Bloom (@danbloom1) January 13, 2020
Boris Johnson is due to hold another press conference in Belfast early this afternoon, alongside Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach or Irish PM.
Updated
From Labour’s Hilary Benn
I have nominated Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner for Leader and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party.
— Hilary Benn (@hilarybennmp) January 13, 2020
Asked about the plan for the UK government to legislate to address issues relating to the legacy of the Troubles, Johnson says the parties who have revived Stormont have done a good job of finding a balance between allowing people to find the truth, and giving people confidence that there won’t be unfair prosecutions of veterans.
And that’s it. The press conference is over.
I will post a summary soon.
Asked if was in Belfast for a photo opportunity, Johnson says that is a bit harsh. He says he is here to show how strongly he will support leaders in Northern Ireland.
Asked about the RHI scandal (the “cash for ash” scandal), Johnson says it is vital that public spending in Northern Ireland is properly invigilated.
He says he leads a government for the UK. He can see no circumstances whatever in which there will be a need for checks going from NI to GB.
And there would only be checks on goods going from GB to NI if they were destined for Ireland, and if the government had failed to negotiate a zero-tariff trade deals.
And the assembly would be free after four years to vote to end those arrangements, he says.
Johnson says Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland secretary, has a “bright future”.
He thanks everyone who has contributed to the restoration of Stormont.
Johnson is now taking questions.
Q: How much will Westminster contribute? And should politicians here do their bit by raising rates?
Johnson says he has heard the points made by politicians. Westminster will be supportive. But it is about politicians being accountable.
Johnson says there has been a conversation about funding. Will the UK government be supportive?
Of course it will, he says.
But he says this is not just about money. It is about leadership too, he says.
He says circumstances are “very, very promising” for Northern Ireland. It attracts the most inward investment, and the most tech investment, he says.
He says he heard “wonderful” infrastructure proposals discussed this morning. (See 12.42am.) But education and tech are important too, he says.
Never mind the “hand of history”, Johnson says. He says he sees the “hand of the future” beckoning.
Boris Johnson's press conference in Belfast
Boris Johnson is speaking now at Stormont.
He says this is a good day for the people of Northern Ireland and that he has had good conversations with the first minister and deputy first minister.
He pays tribute to the politicians for being willing to compromise.
And he thanks “SOSNI” - the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Julian Smith.
Barry Gardiner nominated Dawn Butler for the Labour deputy leadership to help to ensure that she can go on to the next stage of the contest, he says - even though he will be voting for Angela Rayner.
According to the BBC, reports that Butler has hit the 22 threshold have been confirmed. (See 12.35pm.) That means Rayner, Butler and Ian Murray are all through.
Despite my plane back from the Climate Conference being 4 hours late — I have just managed to cast my nomination for @RLong_Bailey & @DawnButlerBrent 😅
— Barry Gardiner (@BarryGardiner) January 13, 2020
I will be voting for @AngelaRayner for Deputy but she kindly agreed I should help get our friend over the magic number of 22! pic.twitter.com/ceJkOaVzGJ
Updated
From Nichola Mallon, the SDLP minister for infrastructure in the power-sharing executive
Pleased in this meeting to hear @BorisJohnson say he shares my belief that “investing in infrastructure transforms people’s lives and opportunities”, that investment in infrastructure is a priority for him & his commitment to take a close interest in ensuring progress is made. https://t.co/UiAWM7oipI
— Nichola Mallon (@NicholaMallon) January 13, 2020
Thumbs up from the Prime Minister.
— Darran Marshall (@DarranMarshall) January 13, 2020
He's due to hold a press conference at Stormont shortly. pic.twitter.com/UBijnaR7g8
Boris Johnson is due to speak to the media at Stormont shortly. This is from ITV’s Carl Dinnen, who is referring to the appalling weather in Belfast today.
Waiting for the Prime Minister and never been happier to be inside Stormont and not outside...#StormBrendan pic.twitter.com/or2hy83p6s
— Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) January 13, 2020
Dawn Butler has now got the 22 nominations she needs to get through to the next round of the contest for the Labour deputy leadership, a source in one of the other camps is claiming. This has not been confirmed by the Butler camp yet.
Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary and favourite in the Labour leadership contest, has released the text of the letter he has sent to Labour HQ asking it to hold hustings in all regions of Britain.
I have written to the Party asking that it makes a firm commitment to hold leadership and deputy leadership hustings in each region and nation we seek to represent.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) January 13, 2020
I am inviting the other contenders in both contests to sign up to this letter. pic.twitter.com/3gYVHs2AZt
This is from the politics academic Stuart Wilks-Heeg on the locations chosen for the Labour leadership hustings. (See 10.48am.)
In 2015, the first Labour leadership hustings took place in Nuneaton, symbolically chosen because it was the first failed Labour target to declare at GE2015. In 2019, the first hustings will be in Liverpool, where Labour got 75% of the votes at GE2019. pic.twitter.com/rznxXS9aR7
— Stuart Wilks-Heeg (@StuartWilksHeeg) January 12, 2020
ITV’s Paul Brand has the latest numbers for Labour nominations.
Nominations creeping up in the latest official update from Labour Party.
— Paul Brand (@PaulBrandITV) January 13, 2020
For leadership...
Emily Thornberry now on 12
Clive Lewis on 5
And for deputy...
Rosena Allin-Khan 19
Dawn Butlet 20
Richard Burgon 18
The former Labour leader Ed Miliband is backing Keir Starmer for leader, and Angela Rayner for deputy.
I have nominated @Keir_Starmer and @AngelaRayner for Leader and Deputy Leader. My statement: pic.twitter.com/hWs1I2FtVk
— Ed Miliband (@Ed_Miliband) January 13, 2020
Boris Johnson is due to meet Leo Varadkar, his Irish opposite number, in Belfast today. They will be speaking about the resumption of power-sharing in Northern Ireland, based on the New Decade, New Approach agenda published at the end of next week (you can read the 62-page text of it here), but there will be no escaping the shadow of Brexit.
Johnson is peddling the line that he will “get Brexit done” this month because the UK will leave the EU at the end of January. But of course Brexit will be far from over, because the UK and the EU will then have to negotiate a new trade relationship. A report on this from the Institute for Government argues that “Brexit will not be ‘done’ in 2020” because “it will continue to dominate government for years to come”. And, according to a report in the Irish Independent, Varadkar himself has been telling his party that are are only at half-time in the process. It says:
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is poised to call an early election this week in a bid to capitalise on the success of Brexit negotiations ...
The taoiseach emphasised the importance of Brexit to the campaign when he addressed a private Fine Gael meeting on Friday, saying it’s only “half-time” in the process.
He added: “We’re about 1-0 up” and it’s “definitely not the time to switch the team”.
PA Media has snapped this from this morning’s Downing Street lobby briefing.
Iran’s ambassador to the UK has been summoned by the Foreign Office in response to the “unacceptable” arrest of the British ambassador in Tehran, Downing Street said.
Updated
From the BBC’s Darran Marshall
First Minister Arlene Foster jokes with PM - on his arrival at Stormont - that "we are very concerned about the weather on your hair, Boris." pic.twitter.com/YuEyc9LrLO
— Darran Marshall (@DarranMarshall) January 13, 2020
Boris Johnson arrives in Stormont for talks with first minister and deputy first minister
Boris Johnson has arrived at Stormont for talks with Arlene Foster, Northern Ireland’s first minister, and Michelle O’Neill, the deputy first minister.
Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images
Phillips backs Lisa Nandy for leader if she can't win herself
Phillips says she wants universal, free childcare. (There are more details in our overnight story, and an an article Phillips has written for today’s Daily Mirror.)
James O’Brien pick her up on the word universal. He says Phillips is saying that because she does not want to call herself a socialist.
Phillips says that’s wrong. She says she has always called herself a socialist.
Q: If you don’t win, who would you like to see as leader?
Phillips says she thinks Labour should have a woman as a leader. She says she would like to see Lisa Nandy as leader if it could not be her.
And that’s it.
Phillips says she has received death threats and been scared by those.
But she says she tries to respond to threats by using them to fuel her determination.
She says nothing in her career was as bad as hearing about the death of Jo Cox. After that her children said they did not want her to carry on, she says.
A caller asks how Phillips managed to attract so much media attention before the general election, including coverage in the Sunday Times. James O’Brien says there is an accusation that she is the Murdoch candidate.
Phillips says she only took on staff to deal with her media last week. Before that her staff were all dealing with constituency work, she says.
She says the way you end up in magazines is “being a bit interesting”. She used to turn down nine out of 10 interview bids, she says.
And she says she also wrote a book. It included a whole chapter criticising Rupert Murdoch. Yet she still ended up being featured by the Sunday Times, she says.
Q: To what extent should politicians be engaging with the media?
Phillips says the Sun is the best-read newspaper. She says, if you are not going to engage with it, you need another way of reaching people.
She says she worked with the Sun, before her election as an MP and afterwards, on behalf of Women’s Aid to highlight domestic violence issues. She says this campaign helped to change the way.
But she says she would not want to be so cosy with the Sun as to be unable to criticise Murdoch.
Q: Corbyn probably thought you should not give interviews to the Murdoch press?
Phillips says that is probably correct.
But she says you have to deal with the world as it is.
Q: Will you keep on Seumas Milne, Corbyn’s director of communications and strategy, if you become leader?
Phillips says Milne would probably not want to stay if she were leader.
Q: But if he does?
Phillips says she thinks she “would struggle” with that concept. But she says he is a Labour party employee. You have to obey employment law, she says.
But she says you can always make sure employees are subject to appraisals.
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Q: Who do you want as your deputy leader?
Phillips says Ian Murray has “one of the most credible cases” to be deputy leader.
But she says she would not rule anyone out for the job.
She says Murray has twice been the only Labour MP to get elected in Scotland. That is a tribute to his skills as a campaigner, she says.
Phillips says 'on many occasions' she was tempted to leave Labour over its handling of antisemitism
Q: Were you tempted to follow Luciana Berger and leave the Labour party?
Phillips replies:
On many occasions I felt quite tempted.
She says the Berger episode shook her. But she says watching the Panorama documentary on Labour’s handling of antisemitism disturbed her the most. It showed brave members of the Labour party staff being hounded over this issue, she says.
Q: So why did you not leave?
Phillips says it was more important to stay, and to try to change things.
She says any comparison of Israel to the Holocaust is unacceptable.
Jess Phillips' LBC phone-in
Jess Phillips, one of the four Labour leadership candidates who has got enough nominations from MPs and MEPs to move on to the next stage, has just started a phone-in on LBC. James O’Brien is presenting.
He asks if there was ever a moment in politics when she thought: “Blimey, this is bonkers.”
Phillips says she was surprised recently when a woman cried because she was so surprised to meet Phillips in the flesh. But she says she was really surprised by the attention she received for a speech in the Commons saying she did not realise how posh some people really were before she became an MP. (That was the ‘I thought posh was eating olives’ speech.)
Phillips is now taking questions from callers.
Q: How have you demonstrated leadership in dealing with antisemitism?
Phillips says at every stage she has worked with other MPs, including Jewish MPs, to issue demands to the national executive committee as to how it should be dealing with this. She has done this in public and in private, she says.
She has been pushing for rule changes for years, she says.
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According to a report in the Times (paywall), Boris Johnson may commit to a funding package worth up to £2bn to held the new power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland to address the problems facing public services in the region.
But Edwin Poots, a DUP agriculture minister in the executive, said this morning the money could come with “strings attached”, potentially by way of a commitment from the executive to raise extra revenue through the introduction of water charges or a hike in rates bills. Poots told Radio Ulster’s Nolan Show:
I was with Julian Smith [the Northern Ireland secretary during the talks leading up to the resumption of power-sharing] and he didn’t want to be tied down to a particular figure but we were working off identified needs and they were seeking to ascertain what it was actually going to take to meet those identified needs.
He said he didn’t want to make any promise on a figure and I said all you have to say is ‘billions’ and, of course, that would be at least two billion.
I would hope those are the ball parks we are in, that we are actually looking at billions of pounds over the course of the next number of years.
They may well come with some strings attached to it. So, for example, and I don’t know this, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they do press us to raise rates at a higher level and we do something in terms of water rates and all of that - those may be pressures that are applied by the Treasury and we will have to wait and see if that is the case.
But Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Féin deputy first minister, has ruled out water charges.
There will be no domestic water charges
— Michelle O’Neill (@moneillsf) January 13, 2020
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According to Lisa Nandy’s team, the Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis will be nominating her today. At one stage Jarvis was considering standing as a candidate himself.
Yesterday the Labour party announced the dates and venues for the seven official party hustings. Here is the list:
Saturday 18 January - Liverpool
Saturday 25 January - Durham
Saturday 1 February - Bristol
Sunday 2 February - Cardiff
Sunday 9 February - Birmingham
Saturday 15 February - Glasgow
Sunday 16 February - London
Sir Keir Starmer, the favourite in the contest, has said that he will ask Labour to reconsider because the south east, the east of England and Yorkshire have been left out.
I’m disappointed the Party hasn’t organised hustings in the South East, East of England or Yorkshire.
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) January 12, 2020
Labour can win the next election, but only if we win back people’s trust across the UK.
I’ll be writing to the NEC tomorrow asking them to reconsider. https://t.co/DCmKDcOdsd
And Lisa Nandy says the party should be holding hustings in seats it lost.
The Labour leadership campaign can send a powerful message to the country about whether we are ready to listen. We can start by putting some of our hustings events in the places we need to win back.
— Lisa Nandy (@lisanandy) January 11, 2020
If we're planning a hustings in Wales, why not north Wales where we lost seats? If we're planning a hustings in Manchester, why not have them in Bury or Bolton?
— Lisa Nandy (@lisanandy) January 11, 2020
The Labour MP Catherine West, who is backing Emily Thornberry for the party leadership, told Sky’s All Out Politics that she thought Thornberry would be the best candidate at bringing “guerilla warfare” to the government in the House of Commons. West also dismissed suggestions that Thornberry, a London lawyer, would fail to appeal to Labour supporters in the north. Asked about this, West replied:
I think she will [relate to these voters] because in the end what we need to do is to win the government back, and somebody who is effective, and who can pummel the government, and who can point out their weaknesses – let’s not forget, when she was shadow foreign secretary that was when [Boris] Johnson appeared at his weakest ... and that’s actually an element of what you need to do in opposition.
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Britain’s economy contracted in November, amid uncertainty over the general election, my colleague Graeme Wearden reports. He says:
UK GDP shrank by 0.3% during the month, a sharper contraction than economists expected, with manufacturers and services companies both struggling.
The service sector shrank by 0.3% during the month, according to the Office for National Statistics, while manufacturing output fell by an alarming 1.7%.
But... the economy actually grew by 0.1% in the September-November quarter, which is better than expected.
Graeme has all the details on his business live blog.
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In an interview with Radio 5 Live this morning Priti Patel, the home secretary, said she did not think that the Duchess of Sussex had been subject to racist press coverage in the UK. Asked if she thought Meghan had received racist coverage, Patel said:
I’m not in that category at all where I believe there’s racism at all. I think we live in a great country, a great society, full of opportunity, where people of any background can get on in life.
Asked if the media had been in any way racist, Patel replied:
I don’t think so, no ... I certainly haven’t seen that through any debates or commentary or things of that nature.
As my colleague Peter Walker reports, Patel also defended anti-terror police for putting the Extinction Rebellion environmental protest group on a list of extremist ideologies.
Arlene Foster, who resumed her role as first minister of Northern Ireland when the assembly started sitting again at the weekend, told the Today programme this morning that she would be telling Boris Johnson that Stormont needs more money for public services when they meet later this morning.
Asked who much Northern Ireland needed, she explained:
It’s a composite figure. There’s a need to make sure that we have the resources, resources not just for one year but over a number of years so that we don’t face a cliff edge in another year.
But as well as that, we need to have capital investment. We have a huge hole in our infrastructure, particularly in our water infrastructure which we need to fix.
It’s a package that will have to be capital and resource, and I think the prime minister is very much aware of what we need.
Asked whether the figure being asked for was up to £2bn, the DUP leader said she was “not going to put a figure on it because I think it is important that we get the right figure”.
Foster also said that she would be asking Johnson to explain how Northern Ireland would continue to enjoy “unfettered access” to the GB market after Brexit under the plan negotiated by Johnson to keep Northern Ireland in the single market. She said:
The prime minister has been saying very clearly that he will ensure that there is unfettered access.
I want to hear from him today how he’s going to do that and how the regulations that are coming forward are going to make sure that there aren’t any barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom, because the rest of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, is our biggest market, both in terms of what we send to them but also what they send to us.
Thornberry and Lewis must hit nomination target by 2.30pm or drop out
Good morning. Today we hit the first deadline in the Labour leadership contest and at 2.30pm two leadership candidates, Emily Thornberry and Clive Lewis, and three deputy leadership candidates, Richard Burgon, Rosena Allin-Khan and Dawn Butler, will find out whether or they have been able to reach the 22 nomination threshold, or whether they will have to drop out from the contest.
In the leadership contest, according to the official Labour party tally, Thornberry is on 10 and Lewis is on four. But Thornberry has not nominated herself yet, and so 11 is a more accurate figure.
The four leadership candidates who have already got the nominations they need, and who are on to the next stage of the process, are: Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, Lisa Nandy and Jess Phillips.
And in the deputy leadership contest, according to the official tally, Burgon is on 18, Allin-Khan is on 17 and Butler is on 15. Two candidates are already through: Angela Rayner and Ian Murray.
On the Today programme this morning Clive Lewis said he had faith that his colleagues would help him out. He said:
I’ve got faith in my colleagues. I think they have heard what I have put forward this week. I think they have heard the radical nature of what I’m saying.
I understand it is difficult because I am talking about things which are hard for people to hear. This isn’t about triangulating on our policies - it is about saying you have got a political system that is stacked against you.
Why do you keep playing by the rules with both your hands tied behind your back? Change the rules.
Lewis was referring to his support for proportional representation (PR).
This morning Lewis gets a boost from the Guardian, which has published a leader saying that we hope both Lewis and Thornberry get through to the next round and that Lewis has done more than any other candidate to advance an analysis of Labour’s problems addressing defects with the UK’s political system as a whole. It says:
So far, Mr Lewis has done more than the other candidates to advance an analysis of Labour’s problems that goes beyond weaknesses of the manifesto, the leadership and Brexit to address the UK’s political system as a whole. On Sunday he launched a manifesto that included proposals for the democratisation of the BBC and a new body to represent women and girls, as well as plans for devolution, the abolition of the House of Lords and introduction of a proportional voting system (the latter is also supported by Ms Phillips, with the other candidates so far undecided).
A diverse field of candidates and ideas is important, which is why we hope that both Mr Lewis and Ms Thornberry will make it to the next round. In the past, hostility to electoral reform has come from the right and left of the party. Even now, it is unlikely to be the first priority of an opposition facing so many challenges. Nor is it the only policy area in which intellectual work, as well as the community organising that several leadership contenders have described as a priority, is needed. But the problems with first past the post, including the way it perpetuates a Labour-Tory duopoly, shuts out smaller parties and rewards nationalist ones (because votes piled up in one area are easier to convert into seats than those that are thinly spread) can no longer be ignored.
Obviously Guardian leaders are always right although, sadly, history shows that a Guardian endorsement does not always guarantee electoral success.
Here is the agenda for the day.
11am: Downing Street lobby briefing.
11am: Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, visit Belfast for talks with the first minister, Arlene Foster, and deputy first minister, Michelle O’Neill. Johnson is expected to speak to the media at around 12.30pm.
2.30pm: Nominations close for MPs and MEPs backing candidates in the Labour leadership and deputy leadership elections. The leadership candidates Emily Thornberry and Clive Lewis and the deputy leadership candidates Richard Burgon, Rosena Allin-Khan and Dawn Butler have until then to reach the threshold of 22 nominations, or face being eliminated from the contest.
2.30pm: The Labour leadership candidate Lisa Nandy gives a speech in Dagenham.
2.30pm: Nicky Morgan, the culture secretary, and Zac Goldsmith, the environment minister, are introduced as new peers in the House of Lords.
After 3pm: Peers debate the second reading of the EU (withdrawal agreement) bill.
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 when I wrap up.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s 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 below the line (BTL) but it is 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 questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.
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