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Andrew Sparrow

Labour former NEC member says she was raped at party event and discouraged from reporting it - Politics live

A Labour party badge. Bex Bailey, a former Labour NEC member, says she was raped at party event and discouraged from reporting it.
A Labour party badge. Bex Bailey, a former Labour NEC member, says she was raped at party event and discouraged from reporting it. Photograph: Oli Scarff/Getty Images

Afternoon summary

  • Bex Bailey, a former member of Labour’s national executive committee, has disclosed that she was raped at a party event six years ago and later discouraged from reporting it by a party staffer. (See 5.22pm.) Labour has called on the police to investigate the attack and announced its own inquiry into how the party handled Bailey’s complaint. (See 5.25pm.)
  • David Davis, the Brexit secretary, has said that the Brexit withdrawal agreement “will probably favour” the EU. (See 4.45pm.)
  • Holyrood is to toughen up its procedures for handling sexual harassment cases and to survey all its staff and members, after the Scottish National party became the first to admit it was dealing with two cases of suspected misconduct. As Severin Carrell reports, after convening a meeting of party leaders at Holyrood on Tuesday afternoon, Ken Macintosh, the parliament’s presiding officer, said it would revise its reporting procedures, set up a confidential helpline this week and launch an anonymous internal survey to gauge the scale of any problems with sexual misconduct and people’s confidence about reporting incidents. “The parties unanimously endorsed a zero tolerance approach to harassment in the workplace and we hope that this sends a clear and powerful message to not only those working at Holyrood but to wider society,” Macintosh said.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments - and for keeping them responsible, allowing us to keep the comment section open.

Updated

Here is some reaction to the Bex Bailey revelations. (See 5.22pm.)

From the former Labour leader Ed Miliband

From Labour MP Stella Creasy

From Labour MP Sarah Champion

From Labour MP Alison McGovern

A Labour source says the party will appoint an independent legal expert to investigate the allegations that a party staffer encourage Bex Bailey not to report the rape she suffered at a party event in 2011. (See 5.25pm.) Details of the investigation will be made public “at the earliest opportunity”, the source said.

Davis signals government prepared to accept amendments to EU withdrawal bill

Back in the Lords hearing, David Davis has just been asked about today’s Times story about the government agreeing to enshrine the Brexit deal in law. (See 10.34am.)

Davis says the deal will come back to the Commons for a vote.

Q: But will the government accept the amendments to the EU withdrawal bill saying the final deal should be enshrined in an act of parliament?

Davis says the government will listen carefully to the debate on the EU withdrawal bill. It is not like the article 50 bill, where the government did not accept amendments. It is not designed to be “untouchable”. But he says he will not say what amendments the government will accept during committee stage until the committee stage.

  • Davis signals government prepared to accept amendments to EU withdrawal bill.

And that’s it. The hearing is over.

Here are some more lines from the David Davis hearing. These are from the BBC’s Esther Webber, the Observer’s Michael Savage and Reuters’ William James.

Labour calls for police investigation into Bailey revelations, and promises inquiry into claims party mishandled complaint

This is what the Labour party is saying about Bex Bailey’s revelations about being raped at a party event six years ago. (See 5.22pm.)

The Labour party takes these allegations extremely seriously. It takes great courage for victims of rape to come forward - and all support must and will be made available to them.

We would strongly recommend that the police investigate the allegations of criminal actions that Bex Bailey has made.

Labour will also launch an independent investigation into claims that a party employee acted improperly over these 2011 allegations.

Updated

Labour former NEC member says she was raped at party event and discouraged from reporting it

Radio 4’s PM programme is broadcasting an interview in which Bex Bailey, a Labour activist who used to sit on the party’s national executive committee, says she was raped at a Labour event in 2011 by a more senior party figure and that, when she told a party staffer, she was discouraged from reporting the attack on the grounds it might harm her political career.

She wants an independent agency to be set up to deal with cases like this.

Here is an excerpt from the transcript the BBC have issued of Bailey’s interview with Carolyn Quinn. Bailey was 19 at the time of the attack.

BB: Erm, it’s something that I’ve experienced myself. Erm, I was seriously sexually assaulted at a Labour party event by – it wasn’t an MP – but someone who was more senior to me. It took me a while, erm - it took me a while to summon up the courage to tell anyone, erm, in the party, but when I did, erm, I told a senior member of, er, staff who told me th – it was suggested to me that I not report it. I was told that if I did it might damage me and that might be their genuine view, it might be that that was the case, in which case that shows that we have a serious problem in politics, erm, with this issue anyway, erm, but I –

CQ – So they said that it would be damaging - to you.

BB: - to me. Yes

CQ: In terms of your progression within the party or the way you’re viewed within the party is that it?

BB: Yeah, I would assume so, yes. And, erm, I wasn’t given good advice. I wasn’t given a procedure when I asked for it so that I could, sort of, see what would happen if I did report it and then make a decision .....

CQ: There have been now a flurry of allegations ranging from a hand on the knee to a lunge in the lift, I mean it all sounds rather crude but, but you know, a range of allegations have been made. When you talk about a serious sexual assault, how far up that scale are you going if I may ask you that?

BB: I was raped. Yeah.

CQ: At a Labour party event?

BB: Yes.

CQ: Did you report it to the police at the time?

BB: No, I didn’t for, erm, all the reasons that I think a lot of women don’t report this. Erm, I… was scared, I felt ashamed, I know that the Labour party, like any family, loves a good gossip and I didn’t want people to know, and I also was worried that I wouldn’t be believed if I did. So, erm, no I didn’t.

CQ: But you did report it to a senior, a senior member of the party or someone that you trusted?

BB: Yeah so, not even initially because it was so difficult, it was something that, at first, I tried to just, erm, pretend hadn’t happened and just sort of shut away. But it was only a couple of years later when I, erm, had summoned up the courage to do it that I did say to someone what had happened, erm, and just wasn’t given the support that I needed. Erm, and –

CQ: - Was this person in a position to help you, were they, were they a senior figure that you went to to ask for help?

BB: Well, yes, that’s why I said it to them, erm, but I guess it was clear that staff didn’t have the training that was needed in order to, erm, to report this, erm, properly. So they didn’t, erm, have the sort of mandatory safe guarding training that should be in place, erm, that would’ve meant that I’d have been given proper advice, been told what the procedure was and talked through that in case I did decide to report it. It just was quite a, quite a cold, horrible experience to be honest. So… it could have been better.

Here is the BBC’s story about Bailey’s revelations.

Updated

The committee hearing is back on. There was a vote in the Lords too which held things up.

And here is the quote where David Davis said that the Brexit deal (covering withdrawal and the proposed future relationship) could initially be a “political” agreement, rather than a full, legal treaty. He said:

Whether [Michel Barnier] believes [the Brexit agreement] will be as precise as we believe it will be, I don’t know at this stage. He has used words like ‘scoping’ and ‘framework’, rather than agreement. I take the view it’s got to be an agreement. It may be a political agreement at that stage because, as the committee is aware, the European Union can’t sign the next stage agreement with us until we are a third country. So that may be one second after midnight on 29 March [2019]. But it should be agreed, because otherwise how will this House, how will the Commons, make a decision on whether the deal is acceptable.

Here is the full quote from David Davis where he spoke about the Brexit withdrawal agreement favouring the EU. He said he saw the withdrawal agreement issues and the future relationship issues as “inseparable”. He went on:

There are three components, if you like, which are linked together: the withdrawal agreement as laid out in the original guidelines from the [European] council, plus the implementation period, the transition phase, and I would expect that to be a part of the withdrawal agreement. So those are absolutely legally inextricably linked in my mind.

But also, in the infamous words or the famous words of the European Union, nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. And we see these as being linked to each other.

The withdrawal agreement, on balance, will probably favour the [European] union in terms of things like money and so on. Whereas the future relationship will favour both sides and will be important to both of us.

Updated

The hearing is currently suspended because there is a division in the Commons, and Davis has to go and vote.

Davis says the talks at the moment are focusing on citizens’ rights, money, Northern Ireland and separation issues. The question of which one matters most has changed. At first the UK thought citizens’ rights was the most important issue.

Davis says there will be a number of make or break issues in the talks, like regulatory equivalence or financial services.

This is from MLex’s Matthew Holehouse.

Davis says Brexit withdrawal agreement 'will probably favour EU'

Davis says he expects the withdrawal agreement to favour the EU. But the agreement on a trade deal will be good for both sides, he says. These are from Business Insider’s Adam Payne and HuffPost’s Kate Forrester.

Updated

Davis says, when he spoke to the Commons committee last week and said the talks could go on until March 2019, he was talking about what sometimes happens in EU talks.

But he says they still want the talks to wind up by October next year.

He says Michel Barnier wants the talks to end then, to allow the European parliament to look at it in committee before voting on it in December or January.

The British parliament would vote more quickly, he says.

Davis says Brexit talks will resume next week

Q: Can you tell us when the Brexit talks will resume?

Davis says he can. He has just come off the phone.

He says the reference to the UK and the EU wanting to “accelerate the talks” can be taken in various ways.

He says, for the UK, it means moving on to the next phase.

He says he invited Michel Barnier to come to London tomorrow. Barnier could not make it. He says the negotiating teams will meet again in the later half of next week, on Wednesday and Thursday. He says he will go out on Friday.

He says the EU does not like the idea of “continuous” EU negotiations.

  • Davis says Brexit talks will resume next week.

David Davis's evidence to Lords EU committee about Brexit

David Davis, the Brexit secretary, has just starting giving evidence to the Lords EU committee about Brexit.

You can watch the hearing here.

UK has no clear Brexit message for EU, just 'cacophony', says former Foreign Office chief

Lord Ricketts, the former head of the Foreign Office, former national security adviser and former ambassador to Paris, has been giving evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee about Brexit. Asked about the “tone” adopted by the UK in the Brexit talks, he echoed what Alistair Darling said earlier (see 3.28pm) about the government not knowing what it wanted. He said:

Looking at it from European capitals, I think people would find the tone - well, it’s more like cacophony than any recognisable tone, actually. They’ve heard quite a lot of messages about what we don’t want the future to be. We don’t want single market, we don’t want customs union, we don’t want freedom of movement, we don’t want European court of justice jurisdiction, we don’t want a Canada-style agreement, we don’t want a Norway-style relationship.

But what they are wanting to hear is, what do we want? And much more important than any tone is having some sense of what the strategy is for post-Brexit Britain. And, quite honestly, I think if you are looking at it from Europe, you are not hearing a clear message [from Britain].

Lord Ricketts
Lord Ricketts Photograph: Parliament TV

Lords committee proposals plan to cut size of Lords to 600 peers

The Lord Speaker’s committee in the Lords has published its 37-page report (pdf) on reducing the size of the House of Lords. As was reported in advance, it proposes using 15-year terms, and a two-out, one-in approach, to get the Lords down to 600 in size in just over a decade.

The plan could be implemented without legislation, provided the prime minister and and the main political parties cooperate.

Here is the committee’s summary of its proposals from its press summary.

The House of Lords would be reduced by a quarter to 600 members. The size would then be capped at that number. The House would reach the target of 600 members in just over a decade. A House of Lords capped at 600 members would be smaller than the current House of Commons.

New members would be appointed on 15 year terms and give an undertaking to leave the House after that period. Failure to do so would be a breach of the code of conduct.

No party would be allowed an absolute political majority and a minimum of 20% of seats would be reserved for independent crossbench members largely appointed by the House of Lords appointment commission.

Political appointments should be shared between the parties in line with the result of the previous general election, defined as an average of the parties’ share of the national vote and of the seats won in the House of Commons. The combination of this formula and the 15 year term limit would ensure the future make-up of the House of Lords reflected the political views of the country over the medium term.

An accelerated ‘two-out, one-in’ programme of departures until the House reached the target size of 600, with half of the departures contributing to the reduction and the other half being replaced with new appointments. Each party would be asked to contribute the same proportion of its current membership each year towards the target.

Here is my colleague Peter Walker’s story about the report.

The Scottish government will carry out a review of how it deals with complaints of sexual harassment following “disturbing and deeply concerning” allegations of sexual misconduct at Holyrood, the Press Association reports. The first minister has asked her most senior civil servant, Scottish government permanent secretary Leslie Evans, to review the current processes.

A Scottish government spokeswoman said:

The Scottish government investigates concerns or complaints raised by staff. They are all investigated.

The permanent secretary is going to be taking forward a review of the processes in place to ensure this support is provided at all levels within the government.

The Scottish Parliament building.
The Scottish Parliament building. Photograph: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert/Getty Images

Darling says government doesn't seem to know what it wants from Brexit

Alistair Darling, the Labour former chancellor, has just finished giving evidence to the Lords EU committee about Brexit. The BBC’s Esther Webber has tweeted some of the best lines.

Alistair Darling.
Alistair Darling. Photograph: Richard Gardner/REX/Shutterstock

The talks aimed at restoring cross community government in Northern Ireland are entering a “very key” stage one of Sinn Fein’s negotiators at the discussions said today.

Former MP and minister Conor Murphy said Sinn Fein was back in the talks whose deadline was extended by the Northern Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire on Monday night.

Murphy said his party continued its discussions with the Democratic Unionist party in order to “get the DUP to accept the basic rights for citizens here which apply to citizens’ rights across these islands.”

But the ex Newry and Armagh MP warned that if the secretary of state went ahead with his threat earlier in the week to impose a regional budget to keep local ministerial departments running it would crash the negotiations. Sinn Fein would see this move as an imposition of direct rule from London.

There have been reports on the BBC today that Sinn Fein is seeking an extra £150m to deal with legacy issues from the Northern Ireland Troubles as part of a package that would enable them to back into power sharing government with the DUP.This is an added demand to the Sinn Fein core demands including an Irish Language Act.

DUP sources earlier today indicated there may be some move to compromise on that issue.

Meanwhile Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister who is in Belfast for the negotiations, sounded an optimistic note on Twitter. He has tweeted:

(Late) lunchtime summary

  • Downing Street has hinted that the government will agree to demands for the Brexit deal to be enshrined in an act of parliament. (See 1.15pm.) David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is expected to be asked about this when he gives evidence to a Lords committee this afternoon.
  • Cabinet ministers have been told that almost 3,000 extra civil servants have been hired to work on preparing for Brexit, as part of Brexit planning measures costing more than £500m. (See 1.56pm.)

The government is preparing its position ahead of the December meeting of the committee of ministers of the council of Europe. Any changes to our position we will announce to parliament in the usual way.

But the Conservative MP Philip Davies told him:

Following the triumph of the Conservative manifesto at the election, can I congratulate you on finding another half-baked and unpopular policy to put before the electorate - that being giving prisoners the vote. Could you acknowledge that nobody is taking the vote away from prisoners, they’re taking it away from themselves and if voting was so important to them perhaps they wouldn’t have committed the crimes in the first place that led them being sent to prison? Could I urge you to reject this ridiculous policy which goes down like a lead balloon with the electorate?

Former Labour MP Candy Atherton dies

The former Labour MP Candy Atherton, who represented Falmouth and Camborne, has also died. The BBC has a story with tributes.

Candy Atherton.
Candy Atherton. Photograph: Back/Daily Mail/REX/Shutterstock

Amanda Spielman, the head of Ofsted, has told MPs that Ofsted should have greater powers to scrutinise multi-academy trusts (MATs) which can control dozens of schools. Giving evidence to the Commons education committee, she said it was not possible to get the full picture without looking at the chain as a whole.

She told the committee:

The view we can get just by looking at subsets of the schools in a MAT is very significantly more limited than the view we would get by looking at the whole of a MAT.

Increasingly, they are quite highly integrated operations. It’s a bit artificial - you cannot say that just looking at a school and a local governing body gives you the full view of how that’s being run, how it’s being controlled, how important decisions are being made. I want to be able to look properly at those decisions.

Amanda Spielman.
Amanda Spielman. Photograph: Alicia Canter for the Guardian

The government believes it has a strong case for changing international rules that prevented it giving relief from the overseas aid budget to British territories devastated by Hurricane Irma, a minister has said. As the Press Association reports, international development minister Lord Bates told MPs the UK wanted the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to be more flexible on where aid can go.

Bates told the international development committee this morning that there was a “strong case” for changing the rules that meant Britain was unable to give help to Anguilla, Turks and Caicos and the British Virgin Islands from the government’s £13bn aid budget after September’s natural disaster because the overseas territories were considered by the OECD to be too wealthy. He said:

There should be a waiver of the rules for a period of 36 months to allow aid to go in, and also the reconstruction to happen during that period. We do think there is a reason to look again.

Homes destroyed in Anguilla by Hurricane Irma.
Homes destroyed in Anguilla by Hurricane Irma. Photograph: Patrick Lynch

Former Labour MP Frank Doran dies

And the former Aberdeen Labour MP Frank Doran has died at the age of 68, the party has confirmed. The Press Association reports:

Doran served as the MP for Aberdeen South between 1987 and 1992, losing his seat to the Conservatives that year.

He was re-elected in the Aberdeen Central constituency in 1997 and most recently represented Aberdeen North before standing down at the 2015 general election.

During his time at Westminster, he served as shadow minister for energy and on the culture, media and sport select committee.

He was involved in campaigning for offshore health and safety improvements after the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster.

North East Labour MSP Lewis Macdonald said: “On behalf of the Scottish Labour family, I would like to pay tribute to Frank, who served the city of Aberdeen with distinction as a Member of Parliament.

“His work to support the families of the Piper Alpha tragedy was so important for so many, as was his tireless campaigning for safety in the oil and gas industry during his time as an MP.

“Our thoughts are with Frank’s loved ones at this time. The Labour family in the north-east has lost a strong voice for working people.”

Doran has two sons and married former Labour MP Dame Joan Ruddock in 2010.

Frank Doran.
Frank Doran. Photograph: Mark Liley / Allstar/Sportsphoto Ltd. / Allstar

Derek Robinson (Red Robbo) dies

A union official dubbed Red Robbo because of his involvement in strikes in the 1970s has died, the Press Association reports.

Derek Robinson became a familiar face in the media during his time at car giant British Leyland when he was a shop steward at the firm’s plant in Longbridge, Birmingham.

He died in the early hours of Tuesday, aged 90.

Robinson was a member of the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU), now part of the Unite union, and stood as a Communist candidate in four consecutive general elections in Birmingham, Northfield between 1966 and 1974.

He worked as a tutor in trade union studies during the 1980s and 1990s, and was chairman of the Communist Party of Britain for a period in the 1990s.

Derek ‘red Robbo’ Robinson (centre)
Derek ‘red Robbo’ Robinson (centre) Photograph: Brian Bould / Associated Newspap

What the cabinet was told about Brexit planning

In addition to the lengthy briefing at lobby, Number 10 have sent out a detailed note about what was said at cabinet today about Brexit planning. Here are some extracts.

  • David Davis, the Brexit secretary, told colleagues that there had been a “significant acceleration” in Brexit planning. No 10 said:

Alongside the negotiations in Brussels, it is crucial that we are putting our own domestic preparations in place so that we are ready at the point that we leave the EU.

Cabinet heard many of these will be needed even in our preferred scenario of a bold and ambitious deal – for example, implementing either of our proposed customs arrangements will require investment in new systems and customs officers by HMRC.

The preparatory work has seen a significant acceleration in recent months. Departments are preparing detailed delivery plans for each of the [circa] 300 programmes under way across government and these are monitored closely by DEXEU and the Cabinet Office.

Each of these plans prepares the country for the range of negotiated outcomes and a ‘no deal’ scenario for a policy area affected by the UK leaving the EU. The plans set out detailed delivery timelines including, for example, to recruit and train new staff; to design and procure IT systems; and to deliver the necessary legislative and regulatory changes.

  • Davis said that 3,000 extra civil servants have been hired to work on planning for Brexit. HM Revenue and Customs are also taking on an extra 3,000 to 5,000 staff. No 10 said:

[Davis] also noted that this was a huge cross-government effort. Nearly 3,000 new posts have now been created in support of EU exit across government - including in specialist functions. For example, 300 additional lawyers have been recruited to the government legal department in the last year.

The government expects the number of posts to continue to grow next year as we move into the next phase of delivery. HMRC have confirmed that they will recruit an additional 3 – 5,000 additional staff next year.

  • Philip Hammond, the chancellor, that the Treasury has already committed to spend more than £500m on Brexit preparations, with £250m of that being spent in 2017/18.
  • Theresa May announced that she is creating a new cabinet sub committee and renaming as part of her Brexit preparations. No 10 said:

[May] announced that, to support the intensification of our domestic preparations, a new EU exit and trade sub committee is being created. Chaired by the first secretary [Damian Green], it will focus on domestic preparedness, legislation, and devolution.

The PM added that, as we build towards the next phase of the negotiations in Brussels, she also intend to extend the existing EU exit and trade (negotiations) sub committee to become the EU exit and trade (strategy and negotiations) sub committee. It will consider strategic questions relating to the UK’s future partnership with the EU and our negotiating mandate.

The full EUXT committee [chaired by May herself] will continue, as well as the sub-committee on international trade and the inter ministerial group on EU exit.

The EU exit and trade (strategy and negotiations) sub committee sounds as if it will be the place where the crucial decision about what final outcome, or “end state” in the jargon, the government wants gets decided. In government this is an issue that is still unresolved.

Philip Hammond, the chancellor, arriving at No 10 for cabinet this morning.
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, arriving at No 10 for cabinet this morning. Photograph: Niklas Halle'N/AFP/Getty Images

Downing Street lobby briefing - Summary

The lobby briefing was unusually long, but it covered just two subjects: Brexit, and the cabinet discussion on it this morning; and the sexual misconduct allegations.

Here are the key points.

  • David Davis, the Brexit secretary, told cabinet that almost 3,000 extra civil servants have been hired to work on preparing for Brexit. On top of that, HM Revenue and Customs plans to hire between 3,000 and 5,000 more staff next year. Philip Hammond, the chancellor, said that so far more than £500m has been committed to spending on Brexit preparations. I will post more on details of Davis’s presentation in a moment.
  • The spokesman refused to deny a Times report saying that ministers will agree to enshrine the Brexit deal in law. (See 10.34am.) Asked if the report was true, the spokesman said:

There is lots of speculation around. There always is. I have always said we will do whatever is necessary.

  • Downing Street has refused to say explicitly that Theresa May has full confidence in Michael Fallon, the defence secretary. The spokesman said that was because he did not want to give a “running commentary” on particular ministers. All he would say was that May has confidence in her government and her ministers. The spokesman said that Fallon was right to apologise for touching a female journalist’s knee at a dinner in 2002, but he said that the matter was not being investigated by the Cabinet Office.

Updated

The Lib Dems, like Labour, also want the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals to be reduced to £2. This is from the Lib Dem peer Tim Clement Jones, who introduced a private member’s bill calling for this.

The Liberal Democrats have been calling for the maximum stake to be reduced to £2 for nearly a decade and pressed the issue during the coalition.

We are glad that the government are finally addressing FOBTs, as these machines are highly damaging to some of society’s most vulnerable, but we need to know when real action will be taken, this consultation cannot be another attempt to push this issue into the long grass.

I’m off to the lobby briefing now. I’ll post again after 12.30pm.

According to @ParlyApp, Tom Watson has been granted an urgent question on fixed-odds betting terminals at 12.30pm.

Updated

8 reasons why the Westminster sex scandal won't be 'worse than expenses'

In a post on his Facebook page yesterday ITV’s Robert Peston said some Tories feared the Westminster sexual harassment scandal could bring down the government. The Daily Telegraph has got an equally dramatic claim this morning, with a splash headline saying “Sex scandal ‘could be worse than expenses’” (although, when you read the story, the headline seems to be based on the Tory MP Tim Loughton saying this affair could drag on, damaging parliament, for as long as the expenses saga - which is not quite the same thing.)

It is always rash to predict how a story will turn out, but this seems so wide of the mark that is seems worth explaining why. That is not to say that Westminster doesn’t have a problem with sexual harassment that should be addressed. But the notion that this is at all comparable with the expenses scandal seems fanciful. Here are eight reasons.

1 - The expenses scandal story was found on a trove of facts. The Daily Telegraph had a disk full of expenses claims, which were true and uncontestable. The key document in this story is a spreadsheet (there is a version in today’s Sun), with allegations backed up (so far) by little more than hearsay.

2 - Much of the coverage of the story is conflating consensual sexual behaviour with sexual harassment, and worse. Society is becoming much less tolerant of sexual harassment than it used to be (rightly), but at Westminster and elsewhere people are becoming much more tolerant of consensual sexual behaviour which 20 years ago was a resigning matter for ministers (eg extramarital affairs, gay sex.)

3 - Newspapers are struggling to get complainants to go on the record with serious sexual misconduct allegations. In the 1990s, when the John Major government was being rocked by “Back to Basics” sex scandals, a Sun news editor would been sacked if he had suggested to the editor splashing the paper on a story about a cabinet minister touching a female journalist’s knee 15 years previously. Yet that is the best the paper could manage today. And it won’t be for want of trying; the British press has its faults, but at uncovering sex scandals, it is generally world class. If perpetrators aren’t being named, it is because victims don’t want to go public.

4 - None of the dossier allegations seem to involve the police. The expenses scandal ultimately led to MPs going to jail, but there is no evidence (so far) that the same level of criminality is involved.

5 - The expenses revelation triggered genuine public outrage, but there is no evidence to suggest that people are reacting with anything like the same amount of horror to what they have been learning in the last 72 hours about sexual misconduct at Westminster. It is not that they approve; it is just that they are probably not that surprised.

6 - The sexual misconduct scandal has not been “weaponised” for party political advantage. In 2009 Cameron tried to exploit the expenses scandal (even though he was personally tainted to an extent) by showing that he was providing firmer leadership on the issue than Gordon Brown. It was the sort of low politics at which he excelled. But Jeremy Corbyn has little aptitude for or interest in low politics (arguably one of his virtues), and he is not politicising this story. Also in 2009 both main parties used expenses as an excuse to get rid of some unwanted MPs. That is not happening this time, not least because neither Corbyn nor Theresa May can afford to lose MPs.

7 - Even if a handful of Tories MPs were to resign, there is little chance of May losing her Tory/DUP majority. As Stephen Bush explains in a blog on this theme for the New Statesman, even if byelections were to occur, there are only a limited number of places where Labour could hope to gain seats.

8 - The expenses scandal brought down the then speaker, Michael Martin. But John Bercow, although unpopular with some MPs, is much more capable than Martin, and yesterday he was reasonably effective at deflecting any blame for what is happening at Westminster back onto the political parties.

REQUEST TO READERS: The comments are currently turned on, because we recognise they are an important feature of the blog, but (contrary to what some of you think) the Guardian is liable for what is published below the line and if people start posting libellous material BTL the comments will have to get turned off again. Please post responsibly and don’t use this forum to regurgitate gossip and rumour.

UPDATE: The Labour MP John Mann doesn’t like my post.

Updated

On BBC Breakfast Malcolm George, chief executive of the Association of British Bookmakers, claimed that cutting the maximum stake allowed for fixed-odds betting terminals (FBOTs) would not necessarily help problem gamblers. He said:

[The government have] looked at the evidence that was submitted last year, and they haven’t come down with a firm view because actually the evidence around cutting stake doesn’t necessarily suggest you’re going to help problem gamblers.

The risk for the industry as a whole is that you simply move a problem gambler from one environment into another, into an amusement arcade, into a casino, into online. And that mightn’t be the best policy outcome.

He also claimed that cutting the maximum stake to £2 could result in the loss of 12,000 jobs in the betting industry. He said:

Just cutting stake to £2, ruining the lives of the thousands of employees who will lose their jobs, ruining the high street and the attraction betting shops provide, when it won’t actually be a benefit to a problem gambler, that simply doesn’t make sense.

The talks aimed at restoring power sharing government to Northern Ireland hinge on Sinn Fein’s demand for an Irish Language Act. Until now the Democratic Unionist Party has resisted this.

Up until tea time on Monday it appeared that direct rule from London was coming back.

But late last night the Northern Ireland secretary, James Brokenshire, granted extra time to the two main parties to continue talking. He will not yet blow the final whistle at Stormont as it appears there might, stress might, be a compromise in the air.

DUP sources this morning say there may be some ‘wriggle room’ over the Irish Language issue.

Unionists of all hues opposed an act that would have had powerful legal compulsion and even a language ombudsman who could impose Irish on every government department, public service or council.

According to DUP sources there is talk of a ‘quasi act’ which will in principle would put the gaelic language on an equal par with English would not have compulsory powers to impose it across the board.

This does not shift the odds hugely in favour of a deal being reached this week but the political picture is not as gloomy on Tuesday.

David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is giving evidence to a Lords committee. Presumably the peers will ask him about a story in today’s Times (paywall), in which Oliver Wright says the government has agreed that the Brexit deal will be enshrined in law. This is a crucial concession (assuming it is true), because it implies parliament will be able to vote to amend the legislation. Dominic Grieve, the Conservative former attorney general, and other Tories are backing an amendment to the EU withdrawal bill demanding precisely this, and if the government does not concede, there is a strong chance the rebel amendment will get passed anyway.

Here is how Wright’s story starts.

A Brexit agreement with the EU would need to be enshrined in law and be subject to scrutiny and a vote by MPs and peers, ministers have conceded.

Until now Theresa May and David Davis, the Brexit secretary, have insisted that parliament will only be given a “take it or leave it” vote on the overall deal, without the need for primary legislation.

But behind the scenes ministers have accepted that their stance is untenable and the government will have to implement key elements of the withdrawal agreement directly into British law.

The concession, which could be announced as early as next month, raises the prospect of a lengthy and divisive parliamentary showdown on the eve of Brexit. It could also hand MPs the power to unpick key elements of the deal by trying to amend the legislation.

James McGrory, executive director of Open Britain, which is campaigning for a soft Brexit, says this could be the most important Brexit story of the week.

Updated

Here is some more reaction to the government’s announcement about fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs).

From John White, chief executive of Bacta, the trade association for the amusement and gaming machine industry in the UK

Today’s announcement is a step in the right direction on FOBTs, and a welcome acknowledgement by government of the dangers posed to gamblers by high-stakes FOBTs. We now urge government to move to decisive action and making high-stakes gambling on every high street a thing of the past.

We do however urge Government to cast aside the notion of a £50 stake as it will have little to no impact.

It is only through a truly substantial reduction that we can effectively protect consumers from the risk of gambling harm. Stronger regulation has long been needed in this area: we are pleased to see it is now on the table, but to be worth anything the good intentions must now be followed through.

From Marc Etches, chief executive of GambleAware

There was a concern this review would focus narrowly on FOBT stakes, so we are pleased to see the Government has acted boldly and taken a more holistic view of the risks attached to all forms of gambling, including online, which will soon be 50% of the market.

GambleAware supports the proposed consultation on reducing stake limits in order to reduce overall losses, which is backed by the latest research.

From Brian Chappell, founder of campaign group Justice4Punters

This review began in 2013 and has been delayed at every juncture by the gambling industry. During this time both the losses from FOBTs and spend on gambling advertising have increased dramatically.

It’s taken four years to get to this point. What can really be achieved in another 12 weeks, especially as the review scope has been widened?

Children will continue to be bombarded with gambling adverts and vulnerable people will continue to lose everything on FOBTs whilst we, yet again, wait for a decision.

From Simon Blackburn, chairman of the Local Government Association’s safer and stronger communities board

It’s extremely positive that government is committed to the review and looks set to substantially reduce FOBT stakes, but we are pushing for the final outcome to be £2, which is what the LGA has long called for, to help protect vulnerable people from harm.

Not only are £100 maximum stakes significantly out of line with maximum amount that can be wagered on other gaming machines, but there is credible evidence that these machines may be particularly addictive and can harm vulnerable players - for example, through spiralling debt - as well as being linked to anti-social behaviour and crime in betting shops.

However, regulating gaming machines is about more than just stakes, and we urge government to give councils powers to prevent the opening of new betting shops in areas where there are already multiple premises.

A new cumulative impact test would give councils the power to veto new bookmakers’ in areas already saturated by betting shops.

In the Commons yesterday Liz Saville Roberts, the Plaid Cymru leader at Westminster, raised the case of someone working for an MP who claims to have been sexually assaulted. Saville Roberts said:

A worker employed as staff of a member in this House told me today that she reported being sexually assaulted to the proper authorities earlier this year, who did nothing. She is deeply disappointed and distrustful, and she tells me that distrust is endemic.

Saville Roberts was on the Today programme this morning talking about this issue and she spoke a little more about this case. She said the woman had complained through four different channels at Westminster. She also took the case to the police. But the woman felt that police action wasn’t really an option for her. Saville Roberts said that she could not go into details, but that the woman had explained this to her.

Saville Roberts said that it was important for Westminster to find a way of handling these complaints other than just saying, if they were serious, they were a matter for the police. She said that she used to work in further education and that, in workplaces like that, it was well understood that certain types of behaviour were “fundamentally unacceptable”. And workplaces had mechanisms to deal with that. She went on:

What we are seeing here is here [in Westminter], with workers, with interns in the House, with this discrepancy in power, is there is no way internally for that to be discussed formally in an adult fashion, as we would expect in the 21st century.

REQUEST TO READERS: The comments are currently turned on, because we recognise they are an important feature of the blog, but (contrary to what some of you think) the Guardian is liable for what is published below the line and if people start posting libellous material BTL the comments will have to get turned off again. Please post responsibly and don’t use this forum to regurgitate gossip and rumour.

Liz Saville-Roberts.
Liz Saville-Roberts. Photograph: Andrew Price/View Finder Pictures/ANDREW PRICE/View Finder Pict

Watson says Labour was wrong to relax gambling laws in the way it did when it was in power

This is what Tom Watson, the shadow culture secretary and deputy Labour leader, said in his Today interview about the government’s plans for fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs). See 8.49am.

  • Watson said that Labour was wrong to relax the gambling laws in the way that it did when it was in power. He was specifically asked about a famous photocall that Tessa Jowell staged when she was culture secretary and was announcing plans to relax gambling laws. Watson said:

Tessa Jowell herself has said that she thinks we made a mistake with the way both parties decided fixed-odds betting terminals would be regulated. My main point is that in 2005 we didn’t know how these machines would explode on to every high street, converting our betting shops into what [are] essentially high street digital casinos, where you can lose £100 every 20 second. And also we didn’t know where the internet and digital would take gambling products. That is why I think we need a new gambling bill to deal with these things.

Tessa Jowell inside the Gala Casino in London in 2002.
Tessa Jowell inside the Gala Casino in London in 2002. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian
  • He said that he believed gambling addiction cost the country more than £1.2bn a year.

We think if the government looked at this in the whole, they would realise that gambling commission figures show that gambling addiction costs us something like £1.2bn a year ... My personal view is [the cost] would be significantly higher than that if you looked at all the social harms done by broken families, lost jobs, violent and criminal behaviour as a result of the addiction.

  • He dismissed claims that Labour’s plans to reduce the maximum stake on FOBTs to £2 would lead to the closure of 3,000 betting shops. He said:

I’m afraid that’s what the lobbyists and the spin people for the industry are saying. They’ve got a very highly funded campaign to defend the status quo. But they could offer different kinds of products. They could put two staff members back into betting shops and try and reinvigorate horse racing, which many of us who like the occasional flutter would like to see.

He said he liked “the odd bet” himself. He also said that he had used FOBTs himself, but only to see how they worked.

  • He said one in nine users of FOBTs are identified as addicts.
  • He said that Labour would be reviewing gambling addiction and that he was particulalry worried about football clubs taking sponsorship from gambling firms.

I’m very worried that football clubs are now taking sponsorship deals with gambling interests, online gambling interests, many of them for gambling interests abroad, so that they can get the exposure on TV. And that worries me because I think it regularises gambling in the minds of our children. And I want my kids to grow up to think that they don’t have to have a financial stake in the outcome of a football game. It almost feels like, to be a proper football fan, you’ve got to put a bet on at half time.

Updated

Here is the Labour MP David Lammy on the government’s proposals for fixed-odds betting terminals. (See 8.49am.)

Labour says government betting terminal proposals 'deeply disappointing'

This morning the government published its long-awaited consultation on fixed-odds betting terminals. Here is the culture department’s news release, here is the 62-page consultation document (pdf) and here is the Guardian’s story about the announcement.

And here is how it starts.

The maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) is to be cut, after the government admitted that the current level of regulation on the machines, which allow gamblers to bet up to £300 a minute, is “inappropriate”.

In a long-awaited and lengthy review, Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) minister, Tracey Crouch, unveiled proposals to address FOBTs, as well as online gaming and advertising. In the most keenly awaited element of the review, she said the government would cut the maximum bet on the machines from £100 to between £50 and £2.

Crouch said stake reduction was intended to “reduce the potential for large session losses and therefore to the potentially harmful impact on the player and their wider communities”.

Labour, which is committed to reducing the maximum bet on FOBTs to £2, has described the proposals as “deeply disappointing”. This is from Tom Watson, the shadow culture secretary and deputy Labour leader.

This response from the government is deeply disappointing.

Ministers have squandered a real opportunity to curb highly addictive fixed-odds betting terminals, which can cause real harm to individuals, their families and local communities. After months of delays they’ve simply decided to have another consultation.

And instead of taking firm measures on the proliferation of gambling advertising, on TV and online, the government have again been found wanting.

Britain is suffering from a hidden epidemic of gambling addiction. The measures announced today will do very little for those suffering from gambling addiction and for the millions, including hundreds of thousands of children, who are at risk of developing an addiction.

Labour is committed to reducing the maximum stake for FOBTs to £2 a spin and will ban gambling company advertising on football shirts.

Watson has also been speaking about this on the Today programme. I will post excerpts from his interview shortly.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Theresa May chairs cabinet. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, will give a presentation on planning for Brexit.

10am: Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman and its chair, Julius Weinberg, give evidence to the Commons education committee.

2.30pm: Lord Burns publishes the report from the lord speaker’s committee on reducing the size of the House of Lords.

2.30pm: Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, gives evidence to the Commons health committee.

2.45pm: William Hague, the former foreign secretary, and Lord Ricketts, the former head of the Foreign Office, give evidence to the foreign affairs committee on Britain’s relationship with Europe.

4.05pm: David Davis, the Brexit secretary, gives evidence to the Lords EU committee.

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

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

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard’s Playbook. 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 BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

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

Updated

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