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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

May implies UK will not implement Brexit transition unless trade deal agreed too - Politics live

Theresa May gives statement to Commons after European Union talks – watch live

Theresa May's Commons statement on Brexit - Summary

Here are the main points from Theresa May’s Commons statement on Brexit and on the EU summit.

  • May has implied that the government will not implement a transition period unless there is a deal on trade too by next autumn. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, said this last week and May’s spokesman said the same at lobby this morning. (See 1.01pm.) When Labour’s Yvette Cooper asked if this meant that the UK would leave the EU on WTO terms in March 2019 if it failed to get a long-term trade deal, May replied:

An implementation period is about a period which is adjusting to the future relationship. That’s the basis on which I’ve put it forward to the European Union and that’s the basis on which we will be negotiating an agreement on it.

Cooper responded.

  • May has said the British people did not get it wrong when they voted for Brexit. Repsonding to the Lib Dem MP Tom Brake, she said:

I’m standing up for the British people who voted that we should leave the European Union, unlike the Liberal Democrat party who want to tell the British people that they got the answer wrong. They didn’t. We gave them a choice, they voted and we will deliver it.

She also told the Labour MP Paul Flynn that for this reason a second Brexit referendum would be “out of the question”. (See 4.54pm.)

  • May has hinted that the government could bring back the seasonal agricultural workers scheme after Brexit. (See 5pm.)
  • She has said that the government will not offer the EU a final financial settlement until it knows what future trade deal it will get. In response to a question from the Tory John Whittingdale she said:

I and the government have been very clear that the whole question of that financial settlement cannot be finally settled until we know that the future partnership will be. It isn’t that we are going to sign up to a bill and then negotiate what that future partnership will be. So it will be the case that once those formal negotiations on the future trade relationship have started, there will continue to be negotiations on issues which were initially identified as in phase one.

  • May has been urged to pay the EU “not a penny more” that the UK legally owes. The call came from the Tory MP Philip Davies, a hardline Brexiter, who said:

The reason why this country has been so successful in the past and will be in the future is because of our belief in the rule of law.

So therefore can I urge the prime minister to pay the European Union what is legally due to them when we leave the EU - not a penny less but not a penny more either.

If the government has got spare tens of billions of pounds in its coffers, and I’m not sure that it has, then that money should be used to pay for things like social care and for pay rises for public sector workers - not to go into the bottomless pit of the EU, and into Jean-Claude Juncker’s wine cellar, which I’m sure is rapidly diminishing as we speak.

We can’t look public sector workers in the eye if we give tens of billions of pounds to the EU that is not needed to give to them legally and hold back their pay at the same time.

Very few Tory MPs asked about payments to the EU, and the session did nothing to illuminate what the “red lines” are for Tory MPs on this issue - the maximum sums they are willing to pay. Davies would normally be seen as among the most intransigent of Tories. But even he was not saying the UK should refuse to pay any money to the EU; all he did say was that the UK should not pay more than it legally owes.

  • Jeremy Corbyn has said the Brexit talks are “stuck in an impasse”. He told MPs:

I’m beginning to feel a very worrying sense of Groundhog Day here every time [May] gives us an update on the progress of negotiations.

Only two weeks ago she told this House that her speech in Florence had put momentum into the article 50 negotiations, and that an agreement on phrase one of these talks was within touching distance.

Well, here we are again after another round of talks and we’re still no clearer as to when negotiations on Britain’s future with our largest trading partner will actually begin, and still no clearer as to what exactly she has agreed to in phase one of these talks.

  • The Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh has urged the government to be more forthcoming about what the UK will pay the EU. Leigh, a Brexiter, said:

Given that we are being entirely open about our negotiating tactics, namely that no European nation should be worse off or indeed any EU citizen, may I encourage her to be more transparent and open with Parliament on the figures,” he said.

I know the reserved position of Whitehall is that Parliament is a nuisance, but what else was Brexit about except reviving parliamentary democracy? We still have no idea what we’ve offered, what they’re demanding.

I think we could do with some more information, because ultimately there will be a vote on this in this House, and that will be a vote that counts.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Bercow grants emergency debate tomorrow on universal credit

But the Speaker has granted a request from Labour’s Debbie Abrahams for an emergency debate on universal credit.

Updated

Bercow dismisses call for emergency debate on Clive Lewis as 'absurd'

At the weekend the Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani said she would be applying for an emergency debate on the Labour MP Clive Lewis using of the phrase “on your knees, bitch”. (It was obviously a dubious joke, but for various different reasons a coalition of people took offence, and bizarrely it ended up as a story on the News at 10.)

In the Commons John Bercow has just described Ghani’s proposal as “absurd” and “inappropriate”. He clearly did not even allow Ghani to make an application for an emergency debate in the Commons. He was speaking in response to the Tory MP Amanda Milling, who tried to raise the matter as a point of order. Bercow was quite dismissive towards Milling too, telling her she could try for an adjournment debate.

The session has just ended. May was on her feet for two hours.

I will post a summary soon.

The SNP’s Stewart McDonald says it is a bit unfair to charge EU nationals around £70 to settle a status they did not question in the first place.

The SNP’s Patrick Grady asks May to name just one power that will be devolved to Scotland after Brexit.

May says the government will be making this clear.

Matt Warman, a Conservative, says May is right to be sceptical about whether a punishment deal is better than no deal on trade.

Robert Jenrick, a Conservative, says he learnt at law school to have an agreement to agree. So amending the EU withdrawal bill to make a “no deal” Brexit impossible could not be done, he says.

May says she agrees.

Rachel Maclean, a Conservative, asks for an assurance that applying for settled status will be straightforward and that people won’t have to supply lots of documents.

May says the government does want to make the process simple.

Richard Graham, a Conservative, asks for a confirmation that the UK will be able to negotiate trade deals during the transition.

May says that is the intention.

Labour’s Kerry McCarthy says Michel Barnier, the EU’s lead Brexit negotiator, will soon meet the leader of core cities in the UK. He will meet the representatives of 19m people. Shouldn’t David Davis meet them too?

May says Davis has met the metro mayors.

Labour’s Rupa Huq asks May about the declaration from the head of Goldman Sachs that he expects to spend more time in Franfurt. What will May do to stop a brain drain?

May says of course the government wants to protect the City. The reasons that make it important make it valuable to the EU, she says.

The SNP’s Alan Brown asks what plans the government has to process up to 3m applications by EU citizens for settled status.

May says plans are in hand.

Labour’s Clive Efford says Tory ministers are taking different stances on Brexit. Can May get a grip?

May shakes her head. She says the government is clear about what it wants from the negotiations.

Antoinette Sandbach, a Conservative, asks what will happen to the service sector if there is no Brexit deal. (Service are not covered by WTO trade rules.)

May says the government is looking at this.

Labour’s Barry Sheerman says Hillary Clinton reminded people this week how pleased Russia was about Brexit.

May says Russia has been discussed at previous EU summits. EU leaders will return to this, she says.

May suggests seasonal agricultural workers scheme could be reintroduced after Brexit

Sarah Wollaston, a Conservative, asks May if she will reinstate the seasonal agricultural workers scheme.

May says the migration advisory committee is looking at Brexit, and whether or not it will be necessary to reinstate this.

  • May suggests seasonal agricultural workers scheme could be reintroduced after Brexit.

Labour’s Louise Ellman asks May if she is withholding information about the impact of Brexit on manufacturing.

May says she is optimistic about Brexit.

May says people were not wrong to vote for Brexit

The Lib Dem MP Tom Brake asks May when she will stand up against the Tory “obsessives” who want a “no deal” Brexit.

May says she is standing up for people who voted to leave the EU. The Lib Dems want to tell people they got it wrong. They did not, she says.

  • May says people were not wrong to vote for Brexit.

Updated

Nigel Evans, a Conservative, says the sight of Labour MPs going to Brussels offering to pay more to the EU was “a slight to the British taxpayer”.

May agrees. She says Labour will pay whatever is asked.

May insists a second referendum would be 'out of the question'

Labour’s Paul Flynn says the OECD said last week the economy would be stronger without Brexit. Wouldn’t it be right to allow the public to have a second opinion three years after the first one? Aren’t second thoughts better than first ones?

May says this is not just about the EU. It’s about trust. Any attempt to tell people they they have to vote again because they got it wrong first time would be “out of the question”.

(May gets particularly animated at this point. She seems to feel very strongly about this.)

  • May insists a second referendum would be “out of the question”, because it would amount to telling people their first vote was wrong.

Updated

Jonathan Djanogly, a Conservative, asks if there is “hope for optimism” based on what EU leaders are saying in private.

May says there is. EU leaders are starting to think about their own future, she says.

Labour’s Helen Goodman says every member of the WTO, including Russia, would have to agree to the UK being an independent member. What price would they extract for that?

May says the government is putting in place measures to ensure that the UK can be an independent member of the WTO.

Here is the journalist Steve Richards on May’s statement.

Labour’s Mike Gapes describes May an an “empty vessel, caretaker prime minister”.

Sheilesh Vara, a Conservative, says EU nationals living in the UK after Brexit should not have recourse to the European court of justice. Is May asking for Britons living abroad to have the ability to have their rights protected by the supreme court?

May says Vara has made the government’s point well.

The Labour MP Chris Leslie says Theresa May’s comments about not having a transition unless there is a final trade deal are a “disaster for business planning”.

Crispin Blunt, a Conservative, says we will now have two months of private diplomacy. That may help, he says. He says Gina Miller agrees with him that the government should publish its contingency plans for no deal.

May says the government is working for a deal.

Philip Davies, a Conservative, says the UK should not pay tens of billions to the EU. It would only go into Jean-Claude Juncker’s “rapidly diminishing” wine cellar.

May says the UK is a law-abiding nation. It will pay what it owes. But it must establish what it does owe, she says.

Labour’s Chuka Umunna says, if the UK leaves the EU with no deal, it will need the EU to agree to the UK’s terms of membership of the World Trade Organisation.

May says the UK is already working with the EU on its membership of the WTO.

John Baron, a Conservative, asks what assurances May can give about the transition being time limited.

May says it will last around two years. It is “absolutely essential” that it is time limited, she says.

John Whittingdale, a Conservative, asks May if she agrees that any flexibility on the UK’s financial settlement must be linked to flexibility on the final deal.

May says the UK will not make a final financial offer until it knows that the final trade deal will be.

  • May effectively says UK’s final payment to EU will depend on what the final trade relationship is. (This has always been understood, but ministers have not generally said so explicitly.)

Labour’s Heidi Alexander asks if a pharmaceutical company would get authorisation for a new drug from the European Medicines Agency, or from a new body, during the transition.

May says this would be part of future negotiations.

Owen Paterson, the Tory former environment secretary, asks if EU leaders accepted the impact of not keeping free trade. Do they accept that they would lose far more?

May says this is not just about the UK. It is in the interests of all sides to get a deal, she says.

Labour’s Liz Kendall asks May to accept that talks are stalled because the Tories are divided.

May says Kendall has not acknowledged that progress has been made.

Julian Lewis, a Conservative, says Labour would agree to pay the EU £1 trillion because their position is that they won’t walk away.

May says the government is preparing for all eventualities. She says Lewis has illustrated Labour’s position. They would pay any price, she says.

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks if the EU discussed Russia, and has the EU or its agencies been asked for help by the US special counsel investigating Russia and President Trump.

May says Russia was not on the agenda.

Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative, says anyone saying May is weak is “seriously underestimating” her and her party, which supports her. Will she stick to her guns? The only Tories undermining her are those threatening to vote with Labour.

May thanks Jenkin for his words.

The DUP’s Ian Paisley asks May if she has reminded Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, to pull his weight in the interests of Ireland rather than speak out about the border. And could May tell Labour frontbenchers that they should not play with fire by talking of threats to the peace process.

May says all sides must support the Belfast agreement. She says they need to work with the Irish government on this.

Labour’s Stephen Doughty asks how much is being spent across government preparing for a “no deal” Brexit.

May says she has already said £250m will be spent this year preparing for every eventuality.

The SNP’s Joanna Cherry asks what the legal basis of the transition will be - article 50 or something else.

May says the EU’s guidelines say it would be on the basis of article 50.

Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary and Treasury committee chair, says no partnership is possible without dialogue. Will May promise not to listen to those who want the Brexit talks to stop?

May says the talks will continue.

Updated

Labour’s Pat McFadden says, given the “lust for the cliff edge” shown by some Tories, can May list the countries that trade on WTO ruled with no sectoral deals?

May says the premise of the question is false. That is not what the government wants.

Sir Edward Leigh, a Conservative, says May’s approach is sensible, open and moderate. But will May be more open with parliament on the figures. Brexit was supposed to be about reviving parliament. The government should be more open about what has been offered.

May says parliament will get a vote. And when she can make information available, she will. But she said she would not give a running commentary on the negotiations.

Labour’s Chris Leslie says businesses will be shocked to hear that there will be no clarity on transition until we get a final deal. Will May agree the transition separately?

May says she set out the concept of the implementation period in her Florence speech. She is confident she will get a good deal. That is in the EU’s interests too.

Anna Soubry, the pro-remain Tory, says businesses want the government to rule out a “no deal” Brexit. Will May do that?

May says we are in a negotiation with the EU27. The best way to get a bad deal would be to say we will accept anything regardless.

May appears to rule out having a transition unless final trade deal is agreed too

Labour’s Yvette Cooper says David Davis said last week the transition period would only come into force if there was a final deal. At the lobby May’s spokesman confirmed that. Is May saying if there is no trade deal by this time next year, there will be no transition.

May says that an implementation period must be a period that implements something.

  • May appears to rule out having a transition unless final trade deal is agreed too.

Updated

Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Brexit committee, asks if May knows why the EU say they do not know what the UK wants.

May says this is a negotiation. She says the government will disclose more as the trade talks start.

Iain Duncan-Smith, the Tory Brexiter, says you can only have an implementation deal when you have something to implement. Accusing Martin Selmayr of leaking information about the dinner, he also says the deal will have to be agreed by the summer of next year, to allow it to be implemented.

May says Duncan-Smith is right that time has to be allowed for the deal to be ratified by national parliaments. But Michel Barnier says the deal has to be agreed by October.

The SNP’s Ian Blackford says the EU summit should have discussed Catalonia.

He says the UK needs a transition deal. And the UK should stay in the single market, he says.

May says people vote to leave the single market when they voted for Brexit. We will leave in March 2019, she says.

This is from MLex’s Matthew Holehouse.

Ken Clarke, the Tory former chancellor, says a “noisy minority” of Conservatives think no deal would be welcome. Has May thought of inviting Labour to work with her on an agreement for a transitional deal?

  • Ken Clarke proposes cross-party initiative to agree transition deal, to isolate “noisy minority” of Brexiter Tories.

May says that sounded like a job application from Clarke.

May is responding to Corbyn.

On the Brexit bill, May says she set out to the European council what she set out in her Florence speech.

She says a final agreement will happen. She says she has a “degree of confidence” that they will get to the point in December where they can move forward.

Those are not her words. They are the words of Angela Merkel, she says. And other EU prime ministers said the same.

May says, if Labour is so eager to move the talks forward, why did Labour MEPs vote against this in Brussels?

Corbyn spoke about no deal, she says. That is because Labour does not know what kind of deal it wants - on the single market, the customs union, a second referendum, or free movement.

Corbyn says some in the European commission should stop briefing out “astronomical numbers” for what the UK owes the EU.

But will May confirm that she expects to pay more than already offered?

And will that breach Boris Johnson’s red lines?

Corbyn says May must reconcile the divisions within her party.

A powerful faction of her part want the UK to become a deregulated tax haven. That would be a nightmare for Britain.

Labour’s vision is clear, he says. And different. Only Labour can negotiate a Brexit putting jobs and living standards first.

Corbyn says talks are 'stuck in an impasse'

Jeremy Corbyn is responding now.

He says he has a sense of Groundhog Day.

Only two weeks ago May told MPs that her Florence speech had put momentum into the process, and that they were in “touching distance” of an agreement on citizens’ rights.

She is saying the same thing again, he says.

We are clearly stuck in an impasse.

The EU withdrawal bill has been delayed, he says.

Amber Rudd says no deal would be unthinkable. David Davis says it must be an option. Liam Fox says it would not be armageddon.

Does May agree that “not armageddon” might be setting the bar a bit too low for a negotiating ambition?

He asks what the implementation period would involve. She wants to accept the same conditions. Doesn’t that mean staying in the single market and the customs union.

When will the deal on citizens’s rights be agreed?

He says some EU citizens are already leaving, like nurses.

And will May tell MPs what will happen to the agreement on citizens’ rights if there is no overall deal? Will she guarantee their rights regardless?

Here is the Spectator’s James Forsyth on the May statement.

May says the UK is going to leave the EU in March 2019.

The government is preparing for every eventuality. It wants to leave in a smooth way. And it wants a new partnership with Europe, she says.

May says the EU leaders reflected on how to move forward.

Her Florence speech made clear commitments on money, she says.

The UK is going through potential obligations line by line.

May says she also proposed an implementation period. EU leaders responded by deciding to start preparing for trade talks amongst themselves.

Turning to Northern Ireland, May says they have made progress. The Belfast agreement must not be imperilled.

There must not be physical structures at the border, she says.

May now turns to Brexit.

She says she shared the vision she set out in her Florence speech.

She says the UK is unconditionally committed to maintaining Europe’s security.

Citizen’s rights have been her first priority. The negotiations are complicated. But they are about people, and she is determined they will put citizens first, she says. She says she wants EU citizens to stay. They are in “touching distance” of a deal, she says.

EU nationals who have paid into the UK welfare system, and Britons who have paid into EU welfare systems, will benefit from what they have put in.

Rights will not diverge over time.

Applying for settled status in the UK will cost no more than a UK passport, she says.

Theresa May's statement to MPs about EU summit

Theresa May is making her statement to MPs now.

She starts with the non-Brexit aspects of the summit.

Bercow says it is 'absurd' and 'indefensible' that government has not set up key committees yet

In the Commons John Bercow, the speaker, has just said that it is “absurd” and “indefensible’ that the Commons liaison committee is not meeting. The European scrutiny committee and the intelligence and security committee is not up and running either, he says. He says these committees are there to scrutinise the executive. The liaison committee is the only one that gets to take evidence from the prime minister.

He made the point in response to a point of order from the Tory MP Sarah Wollaston who complained about the liaison committee not sitting.

Bercow normally takes points of orders later, but he took this one now so that Theresa May would be there to hear what he said. He effectively threatened to keep on taking points of orders on this if the committees are not established soon.

Juncker rejects claim May pleaded for help over Brexit, saying 'that's not style of British PMs'

Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, has dismissed the claim that Theresa May was “begging for help” over Brexit at their dinner last night. In comments to the BBC, he has dismissed the FAZ report more thoroughly than his spokesman did earlier. (See 1.57pm.) This is from the BBC’s Adam Fleming.

The Guardian reports today that Amber Rudd, the home secretary, has been warned by a cross-party group of MEPs that her plans to force EU nationals to add their names to a register in the transition period immediately after Brexit would be illegal and unacceptable to the European parliament.

InFacts, the pro-EU group, thinks the MEPs have misunderstood the current rules. It explains why in a Twitter thread starting here.

Robert Peston, the ITV political editor, has written an interesting Facebook post about the FAZ report of the May/Juncker dinner. Here’s an excerpt.

The most revealing statement made today was a Tweet by Juncker’s chief of staff, the German lawyer Martin Selmayr, that he and Juncker have “no interest in weakening PM” ...

As it happens I have been told repeatedly and reliably that Merkel in particular regards the prospect of Johnson becoming prime minister, and therefore her counterpart in Brexit talks, with the relish that most of us would feel if presented with a plate of steaming sick.

And the knee-jerk Tweet from Selmayr, who is close to Merkel - when accused by May’s former aide NickTimothy of being the leaker - more or less confirmed that.

Lunchtime summary

  • Downing Street has refused to deny that Theresa May was “begging for help” over Brexit when she met the European commission president Jean-Claude Juncker for dinner in Brussels last week. (See 1.01pm.) The commission has denied that Juncker made negative comments about May’s “despondent” demeanour at the dinner (see 1.57pm), but the commission has not denied the broad thrust of the report, which was about the weakness of May’s negotiating position.
  • Boris Johnson has said that the west is partly to blame for deteriorating relations with Russia. (See 10.34am.)
  • Johnson has insisted that the Iran nuclear deal can be saved despite President Trump’s opposition to it. In a speech at Chatham House, he said Trump’s refusal to recertify it did not mean the deal (the JCPOA - joint comprehensive plan of action, to give it its proper name) was dead. He also held out the prospect of much better relations with Iran. He said:

First and most important it is vital to understand that President Trump has not withdrawn from the JCPOA. He has not junked it.

He has continued to waive nuclear-related sanctions against Iran, and having spoken to some of the most influential figures on Capitol Hill – none of them fans of the Iranian regime – I have absolutely no doubt that with determination and courage the JCPOA can be preserved.

This is not just because the essential deal is in the interests of Western security – though it is – but because it is profoundly in the interests of the Iranian people.

This is a great nation, of 80 million people – two thirds of whom are under the age of 30.

They are highly educated, both men and women.

They watch Youtube; they dance to music videos, even if it is in the privacy of their own home.

They use and understand technology and they are bursting with a capitalist and entrepreneurial spirit.

If we can show them that they are welcome in the great global market-place of ideas and innovation then, in time, a very different relationship is possible with the modern heirs, of what is after all, one of the greatest of all ancient civilisations.

That is the possibility the JCPOA holds open - not just averting a perilous and debilitating arms race, but ending the long and largely self-imposed exclusion of Iran from the global mainstream that so many millions of Iranians yearn to join.

Johnson has got form for being relatively pro-Iranian. In 2006, as a backbencher, he wrote a Telegraph column suggesting Iran should be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

  • Jeremy Corbyn has stepped up planning for the possibility of Labour taking power by appointing Jon Trickett, the shadow Cabinet Office minister, to take charge of planning for government, LabourList reports. Corbyn told LabourList:

Labour is no longer just an opposition but a government in waiting. We must be ready to serve our country in the event of an early election.

That is why the entire shadow cabinet is stepping up our preparations for government and I have asked Jon Trickett to take the lead in this work.

  • Henry Bolton, the new Ukip leader, has said he may have to sell his house to carry on his new, unpaid role. Speaking on LBC he said:

At the moment I am funding myself. I entered this knowing it wasn’t paid. And, if I don’t get any sort of remuneration from this, then we will be selling the home, and so on.

This is what a European commission spokesman said about the FAZ story about the May/Juncker dinner (see 9.10am and 10.55am) at a briefing earlier.

Normally, we do not comment on leaks. But today I will. Some people like to point at us to serve their own political agendas, their own political priorities, or even to undermine our negotiating position.

We would appreciate if these people would leave us alone. We have lots of work and no time for gossip.

I have to be very clear that President Juncker would have never used the words attributed to him, and never would he have said anything like this.

We have never been punitive on Brexit. We have said, at all levels, on many occasions, that we are working for a fair deal.

The FAZ story does not quote Juncker directly, but the reference to “words attributed to him” seems to be a reference to this passage in the report.

Theresa May seemed anxious to the president of the Commission, despondent and discouraged. A woman who hardly dares trust anybody, but is not ready for an act of liberation either. May’s facial expressions and appearance spoke volumes — that’s how Juncker later described it to his colleagues.

I’ve taken this from the Nina Schick Medium translation.

Theresa May and Shinzo Abe have agreed to maintain pressure on North Korea following the Japanese prime minister’s re-election, the Press Association reports. The two leaders vowed to continue working with the international community to tackle Kim Jong Un’s “destabilising activity”. Abe secured a decisive victory in a snap election - unlike May, who lost her Commons majority when a similar electoral gamble backfired in June. A Downing Street spokesman said:

This morning the prime minister called Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan to congratulate him on his success in the Japanese general election.

The prime minister and Prime Minister Abe discussed North Korea and agreed to continue to work with the international community to maintain pressure on the regime to cease its destabilising activity. They noted the role the UK played in the EU agreeing tough sanctions on North Korea last week.

Theresa May and Shinzo Abe during May’s visit to Japan in the summer.
Theresa May and Shinzo Abe during May’s visit to Japan in the summer. Photograph: Franck Robichon/AP

Here is the full text of Boris Johnson’s Chatham House speech this morning.

Boris Johnson speaking at Chatham House this morning.
Boris Johnson speaking at Chatham House this morning. Photograph: Mary Turner/Reuters

No 10 lobby briefing - Summary

Here are the key points from the Number 10 lobby briefing.

  • Downing Street refused to deny the substance of a German report saying that, at her dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday last week, Theresa May was “begging for help” over Brexit. (See 11.58am.)
  • The spokesman refused to say when the EU withdrawal bill would return to the Commons.
  • The spokesman hinted that the government will make concessions on universal credit. Asked about reports that the government intends to reduce the period people have to wait before they get their first payment, which is currently six weeks, the spokesman defended the current system. But then he added:

We will continue to listen, monitor and take action if necessary.

What we have said is that we are looking to finalise a deal [on transition, withdrawal and trade] all in one go ... The point is, with an implementation period, as the prime minister has said out, it is a bridge to where you are heading. You need to know where you are heading.

This is significant because it suggests that, even if there is a provisional agreement on a transition period early next year, business may feel that that does not provide all the certainty that it wants. However the spokesman also said the government hoped to agree an implementation period as soon as possible.

  • The spokesman brushed aside reports that the cabinet has not had a proper discussion about the final Brexit deal it wants. James Forsyth has repeatedly made this point in his Sun column and today in the Sun Tom Newton Dunn says that May has delayed the crucial cabinet debate on what the final trade deal should be until next year. Asked why May has not held a cabinet debate on the final Brexit outcome, the spokesman said:

The cabinet debates regularly matters relating to Brexit and will continue to do so.

The cabinet did have a long discussion about May’s Florence speech, but the speech itself was relatively non-committal on what the final Brexit trade deal might look like.

  • The spokesman said the UK was continuing to attract “very significant levels of investment”. And he quoted figures saying inward investment increased from 2015 to 2106. He was responding to a question about whether May agreed with Philip Hammond, who says Brexit uncertainty had held back investment, or Liam Fox, who says it continues to rise.
  • David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is going to Paris today for a meeting with the French foreign secretary. This was part of his “routine engagement”, the spokesman said.
  • May is hosting a reception at Number 10 later for people from the emergency services who responded to the terror attacks and the Grenfell Tower fire earlier this year.
10 10 Downing Street.
10 10 Downing Street. Photograph: UPI / Barcroft Images

Updated

No 10 refuses to deny that May was 'begging for help' over Brexit when she met Juncker for dinner last week

This is what the prime minister’s spokesman said when asked if the FAZ story was correct when it said that Theresa May was “begging for help” when she had dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels last monday. He said:

I have no comment on it whatsoever. One of the people who was present has denied this morning that the European commission president ever said it. And I would point you to what is on the record, which is a joint statement by the European commission and by Downing Street which says that the talks last week [at the dinner] were constructive and friendly. I have nothing to add to that.

The spokesman was referring to the tweet from Martin Selmayr, Juncker’s chief of staff, saying Juncker did not say what was reported in the article (that May was “begging for help” etc). But the FAZ article (translated here) does not say it was Juncker who said this. So this denial is fairly meaningless.

The spokesman did deny the claim in the article that the May/Juncker dinner was arranged at the last minute. But he would not comment on other aspects of the story, such as the suggestion that May appeared despondent and had rings under her eyes.

  • No 10 refuses to deny that May was “begging for help” over Brexit when she met Juncker for dinner last week.

I’m just back from the Number 10 lobby briefing.

Downing Street is not commenting on the FAZ story about the May/Juncker dinner (see 9.10am and 10.55am), other than to point out that one of the people who was there has cast doubt on the account.

As the Telegraph’s James Crisp reports, in Brussels the European commission has denied being responsible for the leak.

I will post a full summary of the lobby briefing soon.

The commentator Nina Schick has translated the FAZ article about the May/Juncker dinner. She has posted it in the form of a Twitter thread starting here.

Or you can read it all in one go on Medium here. Do. It’s fascinating.

I’m off to the Number 10 lobby briefing now. I will post again after 11.30am.

And this is what Boris Johnson said in his Q&A about wanting the EU to get on with accelerating the Brexit talks.

I’m glad that at the council in Brussels they seemed more positive, frankly, than I thought they were going to be [about Theresa May’s Florence speech], to judge by some of the anticipatory drum roll of that council.

They have given a fair wind to the idea of themselves now discussing the new trade deal or however they want to proceed.

I suggest humbly to our friends and partners in Brussels: Now is the time to get on with it. They should grip it, get on with it and start thinking about the future. I’m sure that we can both think very creatively and very positively about how to come to arrangements that suit our constituents on both sides of the Channel and benefit businesses not just in this but in Paris and Frankfurt and across the whole of Europe.

He also said the entire cabinet was “united around every dot, comma, syllable of the Florence speech”.

Boris Johnson speaking at Chatham House.
Boris Johnson speaking at Chatham House. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA

Boris Johnson says west partly to blame for deteriorating relations with Russia

This is what Boris Johnson said in the Q&A about the west being partly to blame for deteriorating relations with Russia.

Our relations with Moscow at the moment are difficult. We know that, you know that, we all know that. And it’s a great pity, by the way.

Twenty years ago it seemed possible that there would be another relationship. I genuinely thought that we would be able to welcome Russia into the comity of democratic nations in the way that was envisaged by Bill Clinton and others in the 90s.

It never really happened. And I think we have to do a bit of soul-searching about why it didn’t happen, how we lost Russia, and what went wrong. I think there were faults on both sides.

Updated

Q: [From Sky] Is is time for the world to accept that North Korea is a nuclear state and to adjust its policy accordingly? Or can you imagine any circumstances in which you would back a first-strike?

Johnson says the military option must remain, “at least theoretically”, on the table. No one would want it, he says, because of the consequences. But it is the duty of the US president to explore it.

He says the “really productive avenue” will be economic pressure from China.

And that’s it. The Q&A is over.

Q: [From a Russian parliamentarian] You are due to go to Moscow in December. What are you hoping to achieve?

Johnson says relations with Russia are difficult. We all know that. It is a great pity, he says. Twenty years ago it seemed possible that a better relationship would be possible. That never really happened.

We have to do a bit of soul-searching about how we lost Russia ... I think there were faults on both sides.

  • Johnson suggests UK and the west partly to blame for deteriorating relations with Russia.

Johnson says he has ancestors from Moscow.

Before I became foreign secretary, I strategically placed by ancestors around the world.

Q: [From the BBC’s John Pienaar] Some of your colleagues think you should be sacked.

Name them, says Johnson.

Q: Are you helping or hindering the government’s case?

Johnson says the government is united in what it wants.

Q: [From ITV’s Carl Dinnen] How much more money should the UK offer the EU to move on to trade talks?

Johnson says he avoided Brexit in his speech.

The reality is, we think, I certainly think, that the PM made a good offer in her Florence speech, he says. He says EU leaders have been more receptive than he expected. He suggests to our partners in Brussels that it is time to get on with it. Quoting Shakespeare, he says there is a time to move on.

We can think about arrangements that suit our constituents on both sides of the channel, he says.

  • Johnson refuses to say if UK should offer to pay more to EU for a Brexit deal.

Q: Do you see an equivalent of the JCPOA (the Iran deal) as being a solution for North Korea?

Johnson says the key thing is not to dissipate diplomatic pressure. The most important thing will be economic pressure from China. But it won’t be easy for them, he says.

Johnson's Q&A

Boris Johnson has now finished his speech. I will post more excerpts from it when I have seen the full text.

He is now taking questions.

Q: You said in your speech the America has not abandoned the Iran nuclear deal completely. Can British companies still trade with Iran though.

Johnson says it is important for people to understand that the core of the deal is still there. It has not been voided by President Trump. “He has not junked it, he has not torn it up.” That is clear, Johnson says.

Boris Johnson is giving his speech to Chatham House now. It is about nuclear weapons, and the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, and a large chunk of it was released in advance overnight. My colleague Peter Walker has written it up here.

You can watch the speech here.

We are expecting Johnson to take questions after his speech. That will probably be where we will get a news line, and I will be covering the Q&A in detail.

Updated

My colleague Philip Oltermann, the Guardian’s Berlin bureau chief, has been tweeting about the FAZ story about the May/Juncker dinner.

Leak saying May was 'begging for help' at dinner with Juncker triggers fresh row with Brussels

Theresa May is due to give a statement to MPs this afternoon about Brexit and last week’s EU summit. The summit was preceded by a surprise dinner with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, in Brussels a week ago today, and now a detailed account of that dinner has appeared in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAZ). It has been written by Thomas Gutschker, the same political correspondent who wrote the account of the May/Juncker dinner in Downing Street in April that eventually led to May accusing unnamed Eurocrats of interfering with the general election.

If your German is up to it, you can read the whole article here. If not, the Economist’s Jeremy Cliffe has a Twitter thread with the highlights which starts here.

And the Sunday Times’s Bojan Pancevski also has a good thread summarising what the article says.

The key point is that it describes May as “begging for help”.

After FAZ published an account of the April dinner, No 10 insiders claimed that Juncker’s chief of staff, Martin Selmayr, was to blame for what was perceived as a hostile.

(Quick aside: after stories of this kind appear, politicians always assume that they are the result of hostile, intentional leaking. Often they are. But we should remember that sometimes these stories are just the product of good journalism - a reporter working sources, and getting them to reveal more than they intended - and not just handed out on a plate.)

Last night Nick Timothy, May’s former co chief of staff, accused Selmayr of being the source of the latest story, and said it showed Brussels did not want another fair deal.

(Another aside: in April the Financial Times ran a good article about the Selmayr/Timothy rivalry, describing them as “the power brokers behind Brexit”. It depicted Brexit as a contest between these two intense, clever and all-powerful advisers. It is clear now who is winning. Selmayr is still in his job, but Timothy resigned the day after the election, which was a disaster for the Tories partly because of the manifesto he wrote.)

But Selmayr has denied being the source, accusing Timothy of peddling cliches.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, gives a speech. As Peter Walker reports, Johnson will “hail the importance of coordinated international diplomacy to counter the threat from nuclear weapons and North Korea in a speech to stake out a position at clear odds with the more bellicose rhetoric of Donald Trump.”

10am: The Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg host an LBC phone-in.

11am: Downing Street lobby briefing.

3.30pm: Theresa May is due to give a statement to MPs about Brexit and the EU summit.

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’ 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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