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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow and Kevin Rawlinson

Cabinet backs May's ‘UK-EU free trade area’ Brexit plan - as it happened

Armed police officers check a queue of ministerial cars as they arrive at the prime minister’s country retreat, Chequers, for today’s Brexit cabinet meeting.
Armed police officers check a queue of ministerial cars as they arrive at the prime minister’s country retreat, Chequers, for today’s Brexit cabinet meeting. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Closing summary

The reaction seems to be drying up, which is perhaps understandable – given the time – so we’re going to close this live blog now. Thanks for reading. Here’s a summary of the evening’s events:

  • The prime minister, Theresa May, has secured the backing of her cabinet for her planned approach to the Brexit negotiations. Ministers have agreed to pursue a soft Brexit deal and talks will begin soon with EU leaders.
  • Both Remain and hard Brexit-backing MPs have attacked May over the deal. The former believe it a fudge that leaves the UK worse off than it is inside the bloc; the latter see it as a betrayal.
  • Labour and the Lib Dems cast doubt on May’s ability to get the deal past her own party and said it was left both sides of the Brexit divide unhappy.
  • Business groups cautiously welcomed the deal, saying it offered some certainty – which many had long been calling for. But they said they wanted to see the details, many of which were yet to be defined and in which the devil may yet appear.

You can read the full report from my colleagues in Westminster here:

And here is a summary of the day’s earlier events, put together by the inimitable Andrew Sparrow.

His positivity is perhaps unsurprising, given that we already know he’s backed the deal, but the business secretary Greg Clark has this to say:

The Financial Times’ chief political correspondent, Jim Pickard, has been hearing some whispers about the atmosphere in the room at Chequers today:

More publicly, the Tories’ chief whip Julian Smith – the person responsible for party discipline – has tweeted:

Updated

The pro-EU Conservative MP, Dominic Grieve, said there had been a recognition that businesses required frictionless trade which meant “we are going to follow EU rules”. He told BBC’s Newsnight:

The EU have got to be persuaded that what we are asking them is possible for them within the framework of maintaining their own cohesion, that is clearly going to be a very important discussion.

Grieve said a “no deal” Brexit would be “catastrophic for everybody’s wellbeing in this country, it would be a great disaster”.

His party colleague, the veteran Eurosceptic Bill Cash, told the same programme the plans were “rather disturbing” and he was “deeply disappointed to say the least”.

There are some aspects of it which do fit in to the red lines, but there are many others which raise a lot of very serious questions.

The Liberal Democrat leader, Vince Cable, has denounced the deal as one that was supposed to end internal warring in the Tory but, though two years in the making, has only left a “split cabinet with a threadbare agreement that Brussels might reject”.

The only reason Brexiters in the cabinet will have agreed to this position is that they trust the EU will reject it, Britain will crash out with no deal and they will blame Brussels.

No one voted for this. The Brexit campaign claimed to be about taking back control – these plans would give Britain less of a say and less control. It would weaken Britain. This makes the need for the people to have the final say on the deal even more crucial.

More reaction from business leaders – and it is of a similar flavour. The director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, Adam Marshall, says:

For Brexit-weary businesses seeking clarity, this agreement brings hope of an end to months of disappointing Westminster in-fighting.

We welcome the cabinet’s collective decision to prioritise trade and economic stability under the prime minister’s leadership. For business, there is strength in unity as the UK seeks to develop a new relationship with the EU.

As Chambers of Commerce have repeatedly argued, the priority must be to deliver clear and unequivocal answers to the practical, real-world questions businesses face. That remains the key test for the intense and complex negotiations that lie ahead.

Stephen Martin, the director general of the influential lobby group Institute of Directors, has a similar take to Fairbairn, saying “business has been waiting” and will now welcome the relative certainty on offer. But the news is not all good.

Our members have wanted cabinet to come together and put the interest of the country first, so firms across the UK will see this as a positive step forward. Today’s agreement, however, is not the end of the negotiations, and there is still much work to be done to reach agreement with the European Union. Time is still very much of the essence.

The more clarity we have on the future trading relationship, the easier it will be for business to plan ahead. We hope today will turn quickly into progress in negotiations, and clarity for business on the path ahead.

Overall, he welcomed the government’s newly adopted approach as “sensible”.

More reports of Tory backbench unrest – from both sides – are coming in:

And that does seem to be the initial reaction of the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, who has said:

The director-general of the CBI, Carolyn Fairbairn, believes business will “welcome the fact the government has reached agreement”. She says:

This is a genuine confidence boost and the prime minister deserves credit for delivering a unified approach.

Initial signs suggest the proposal is based on the evidence firms have provided on the impact on jobs and living standards. That is good news – particularly the free trade area for goods, which the CBI and its members have long called for.

The hard work starts now and time is a challenge. It has taken two years for the UK to agree its position; we now have two months to agree it with Europe. But it’s a good starting point.

And she called on EU leaders to approach the UK government’s proposals with an “open mind and flexibility”, focusing on jobs and economic growth for both sides.

It seems neither the remain camp, nor the hard Brexiters in the Tory party are particularly happy with the terms the government will seek.

The Labour MP, Chuka Umunna, a supporter of the People’s Vote campaign for a referendum on the Brexit deal, says the plan “doesn’t resolve many of the fundamental problems created by Brexit”.

No one should be in any doubt: the proposal on offer from the government would represent a bad deal for our country, will create huge added bureaucracy and costs for business, and is highly unlikely to be accepted by the EU.

However anyone voted in the 2016 referendum, they should be furious at this government stitch-up.

This only confirms how important it is that we have a people’s vote on whatever botched Brexit deal the government comes up with, so the people of this country can decide whether or not it’s good enough.

He says the government has reached this position “after two years of wasted time, and of big egos putting themselves ahead of the country”, calling it a “behind-closed-doors stitch up that would leave us all worse off”.

On the other side of the divide, the hard Brexit-backing Conservative MP, Andrea Jenkyns, is equally dismissive:

However, her Tory colleague Heidi Allen, who has backed a soft Brexit is – perhaps predictably – much happier with the news:

Updated

Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, has cast doubt on Theresa May’s capacity to get the agreement she has struck with her cabinet past the rest of her party.

It is farcical that it has taken two years for the cabinet to even attempt to agree a position on the basics of our future relationship with the EU. On previous form, whatever has apparently been agreed will struggle to survive contact with Tory MPs and members.

This looks like a sticking plaster rather than the government’s final position. With just a matter of months of the negotiations left, Theresa May’s ability to deliver Brexit continues to be in doubt.

Updated

As promised, we’re reactivating the live blog, now that we have the news that the prime minister has the approval of her cabinet colleagues to negotiate a soft Brexit deal with the EU.

Your essential primer on that is here:

Updated

Afternoon summary

  • Cabinet ministers have spent eight hours at Chequers trying to settle what relationship the government wants with the EU after Brexit. There has been virtually no briefing about what has been going on so far - either from Number 10, or from ministers (who had to hand in their phones) - and, to be honest, we don’t really know any more than we did this morning. But, as I wrote earlier (see 2.14pm), ministers are arguing in particular about the text of a white paper due to be published next week. Cabinet Brexiters were alarmed when they saw some of May’s proposals earlier in the week, with a new customs plan and a proposals to effectively remain in the single market for goods and agrifoods provoking particularly strong opposition. In an interview early this morning David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister and May’s de facto deputy, said that he was “pretty confident” they would get through the day without any of the Brexiters resigning. (See 9.33am.) The Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn posted a tweet about an hour ago saying discussions at Chequers have been “positive”.

On the basis that there is only so much excitement a man can take in one day, I’m heading home.

But if or when we get any news, a colleague will re-activate the blog.

Updated

My colleague Marina Hyde has written about the Chequers summit. Like the rest of us, she hasn’t got a clue what has been happening, but that hasn’t stopped her writing a lovely article. Here’s an extract.

Cliche demands a Titanic metaphor, so let’s have one: resigning at this stage of the shitshow would be the equivalent of quitting as ship’s sub-lieutenant 10,000 feet underwater. Or as No 10 sources let it be known this morning, ministers needed to get behind the PM “or their spots will be taken by a talented new generation who will sweep them away”. Oh, prime minister … don’t do thinly disguised England football metaphors. They’re not for you. You’ve dimly heard of the golden generation, yes? You’re the golden shower generation.

And here’s the article.

'It was all whingeing, with Boris blaming everyone but himself' - Boris Johnson and the Brexit betrayal myths

The Times’s Sam Coates has now published a fuller version (paywall) of the story he broke this morning (see 10.01am) about the meeting David Cameron had with Boris Johnson last night. Coates writes:

“When they met it was all whingeing, with Boris blaming everyone but himself,” a source said. They added that Mr Johnson now believes that Brexit could have been better delivered if the party had chosen a prime minister in 2016 who voted for Brexit, like Michael Gove. Mr Gove betrayed Mr Johnson during the leadership contest, with both men’s bids ending in failure.

Until recently betrayal myths were a speciality of the left. Anyone who has had any experience of the Labour party will have come across the mindset that says everything would be fine if it weren’t for the perfidy of Ramsay MacDonald, or Harold Wilson, or Neil Kinnock, or Tony Blair, or whoever. (In some respects, Corbynism is a product of this.) But Brexit is now generating betrayal myths on a scale that could dwarf anything that came before. We will probably be reading about them for decades, and they are coming from the right.

Over recent weeks an increasing number of once-enthusiastic Brexiters have been out blaming others for the fact that their project has not worked out as expected and only this week the Telegraph produced a half-hour video documentary dedicated to explaining “the litany of mistakes that got Britain into this mess - and who we should blame”. From what I saw of the very polished Telegraph documentary, it was 1) Cameron for not preparing for a leave vote; 2) Cameron for standing down; 3) Michael Gove for stopping Johnson becoming prime minister; 4) Johnson for giving Gove reasons for stopping him becoming prime minister, but I gave up before I could finish the video, so there were probably others. Johnson is now clearly get his excuses in too.

One of the features of these arguments is that they never seem to involve a recognition that perhaps the Brexit project was flawed in the first place. That’s why it is appropriate to call them myths. Zealots can never admit that they’re wrong, so they always have to blame someone else. People who are more realistic and grounded accept that some things work out, and some things don’t, and that even well-intentioned politicians can embark on projects that fail.

David Cameron and Boris Johnson (right).
David Cameron and Boris Johnson (right). Photograph: Luke Macgregor/Reuters

Updated

US ambassador says trade deal with UK is priority for Trump

Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to London, has been speaking to reporters about President Trump’s visit to the UK next week. He said striking a free trade deal with the UK was a priority for the president. Johnson said:

The president has been clear since the beginning of his term – he wants to do a bilateral trade deal, and he’s really ready to step up on that the minute he gets the go-ahead to do it. And he’ll get it done fast, as I know it’s a major priority for him ... We have an ad hoc committee from every department – treasury, finance, trade – looking at how to put that together really rapidly and efficiently.

Woody Johnson
Woody Johnson Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Conservative Brexiters have been relatively quiet today. Like the rest of us, they are waiting to see what the cabinet decides.

But at least two of them have been giving interviews saying that they don’t like what they’ve heard about the compromise plan being proposed by Theresa May

Andrea Jenkyns told Sky News that reports of what was in the draft white paper were “very alarming”. She said:

What I would like to see today is to ensure, as Theresa May has said, that we control our borders, we control our money. But what I’m hearing at the moment about this possible third way, that it may prevent us [doing] free trade deals with the likes of the US, it’s very alarming for us Brexiteers ...

I want to see us do free trade deals with America, with the Brics countries, I want to see us as a truly global trading nation where we are free to do trade deal with whoever we want.

Jenkyns said said she was one of the European Resarch Group (pro-Brexit) Conservatives who met Juliam Smith, the chief whip, earlier this week to express their concerns. She said:

[The chief whip] also said to the 50 of us who had a meeting with him, ‘If you are not happy, then vote against it.’ So, quite frankly, we will vote against it if it is not a proper Brexit. [A soft Brexit] is not a Brexit at all. It’s one foot in, and one foot out; 17.4m people did not vote for that.

She also said that, for her, the three key Brexit priorities were: the UK being able to sign its own free trade agreements, covering goods and services; not being “at the beck and call” of the European court of justice; and ending free movement.

Andrea Jenkyns
Andrea Jenkyns Photograph: Sky News/Andrea Jenykyns

And Peter Bone told the BBC that, on the basis of what has been reported, May’s compromise plan was unacceptable. He said:

It does sound, a common rulebook or whatever we are hearing, does seem to cross the line on two accounts. One, we’re not making our own rules in our own country, we’re accepting what the EU tells you. And the ultimate court would be the European court of justice. So I don’t actually believe that what’s being said is what’s going to come out of this meeting.

Peter Bone
Peter Bone Photograph: BBC

Sturgeon says, if cabinet Brexiters don't resign, then more 'fudge' is being served up

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, told the BBC that it might be best if cabinet Brexiters did resign today, because at least that would show that Theresa May was making a choice. Sturgeon said:

In many ways the best outcome of today would be the hard Brexiteers walking out of government because that might mean that there is then a glimmer of hope that common sense starts to prevail.

Probably the worst outcome of today is if they all emerge from Chequers at 11 o’clock tonight, arm in arm, saying they’ve agreed, because that means there’s another helping of fudge being served up.

What’s being put forward is likely to be rejected by Europe and we are no closer to a common sense realistic position and time is running out, so that becomes more and more serious.

Nicola Sturgeon speaking at Futurefest in London today.
Nicola Sturgeon speaking at Futurefest in London today. Photograph: Michael Bowles/REX/Shutterstock

The British Irish Chambers of Commerce has warned any attempt by Theresa May to strike a Brexit deal for goods only would be resisted by business leaders. Director general John McGrane said that it would be a “fudge” and unworkable. He said:

She is working very, very hard, moving millimetre by millimetre, and to say we could end up in some customs arrangement is a good thing.

But the whole point about trade is that it is not just goods. Goods do not exist in isolation. Services include the haulage sector, the creative sector, the tech sector, services simply cannot be left behind.

Scottish government says lack of information from London is making it harder to prepare for Brexit

The Scottish government has published its own 34-page paper (pdf) saying what it thinks should by in the UK government’s Brexit white paper. There is no great surprise at what it says - the SNP is opposed to Brexit and the paper says, as a minimum, Scotland should remain in the single market and the customs union - but what it most interesting is what it says about how hard it has found it trying to get London to listen to its concerns.

This is from the foreword, by Mike Russell, the Scottish government’s government business and constitutional relations secretary. (I’ve highlighted the key sentence in bold.)

It was then reported in the media that the UK government intended to publish a white paper setting out the UK’s desired future relationship with the EU.

The Scottish government has sought to understand the emerging content of that paper and to seek an opportunity to influence it in a meaningful and constructive way. We have done so in spite of having had no sight of the full white paper in draft, nor of emerging options for the negotiations and having secured no clarity on the UK government position on key issues such as customs arrangements. At the date of publication of this document less than half a dozen draft chapters have been shared with the devolved administrations, and all of those within the ten days leading up to the Chequers meeting.

Our EU partners have called for a serious plan from the UK government as to what the UK seeks from the future relationship. Domestic and international businesses, our public services, our institutions and our citizens all require clarity from the UK government on its position. As a devolved government our ability to make the necessary preparations for Brexit is significantly hindered by a lack of information on the approach the UK government wishes to take both in areas of devolved competence and in those areas that are major influences on devolved competences (for example the position of EU nationals, customs and regulatory alignment).

Sir Craig Oliver, David Cameron’s former communications chief, has been spinning for his old boss again today, saying that some of the claims made about what happened at Cameron’s meeting with Boris Johnson last night (see 10.01am) were totally wrong.

Who could possibly have been responsible for an erroneous briefing to the effect that Cameron agreed with Johnson? It’s a mystery ...

The BBC’s Laura Kuennsberg has found a mischievous way to while away the time at Chequers ...

German interior minister slapped down by EU over Brexit talks intervention

The European commission has slapped down Germany’s interior minister, Horst Seehofer, who had accused Brussels of opening up the prospect of lives being put at risk over a rigid approach to post-Brexit security.

In a letter to the European commission, Seehofer warned against a dogmatic approach to Brexit and called for “unlimited” co-operation on counter-terrorism.

Seehofer, who has a tense relationship with Angela Merkel over Germany’s migration policy, did not coordinate with the German chancellery over the letter, according to the Financial Times, which reported the story first.

Today the head of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, issued a carefully-worded put down to Seehofer. “When we are talking about heavy and difficult negotiations you should necessarily follow all the reflexes that internal politics might lead you towards,” he said, adding that EU leaders had agreed a mandate for the chief negotiator, Michel Barnier.

A commission spokesperson said the letter had been received, while adding:

I’d like to point out that there is only one Brexit negotiation and one Brexit negotiator. This is Michel Barnier.

In his letter, Seehofer said that “weakening the European security architecture would affect all EU citizens and undermine their fundamental need for security”.

His argument is a boost for Theresa May, who last week made similar points at a summit of European leaders.

The commission is not commenting on the negotiations at Chequers. “We stick to the red lines,” said Juncker, referring to the EU’s long-standing position that the UK cannot ‘cherry-pick’ the parts of the EU it wants to remain part of.

According to today’s Evening Standard editorial, at least one cabinet Brexiter is now thinking of coming out in favour of the UK staying in the single market (the EEA/Norway option). It says:

We are back to the choices the Cameron government set out for the country before the vote: either stay in the whole single market, through an European Economic Area arrangement like Norway, or have a free trade agreement like Canada, with new barriers at the border and the damage that business has been rightly warning us of. A majority in the cabinet and in the Commons has now firmly resolved that it will not be party to an act of gross economic self-harm. That means Britain is ineluctably being drawn towards a form of EEA and customs union membership. Some leading Brexiteers, such as Dan Hannan, are openly talking about it; in private, there is at least one Brexiteer cabinet member thinking of breaking ranks and proposing it. For it is clearly now the best option for both the country and the Conservative party, as this paper has consistently advised. The irony is that this is the one course Mrs May has set herself against. How long will this latest fruitless act of opposition last? She may get her way at the summit today but once the cabinet get their phones back, they will realise that there is a real world beyond the parched gardens of Chequers.

The Standard, of course, is now edited by George Osborne, the former chancellor, and so its editorials are normally a fairly reliable guide as to what is happening in the cabinet.

And here is some comment on the Barnier speech.

From Politico Europe’s David Herszenhorn

From my colleague Lisa O’Carroll

From the Telegraph’s Peter Foster

From David Henig, director of the UK Trade Policy Project

Updated

BBC News has shown some footage of cabinet ministers on the terrace at Chequers.

Cabinet ministers on the terrace at Chequers
Cabinet ministers on the terrace at Chequers Photograph: BBC

Barnier says he does not want to be unhelpful to May by commenting on her Brexit plans now

Here are some more quotes from what Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiators, said to journalists in Brussels today. (The live feed up earlier cut away during the Q&A.) These are from RTE’s Tony Connelly and the Sun’s Nick Gutteridge.

  • Barnier says he has “real respect” for Theresa May.
  • He says he does not want to be unhelpful by commenting on her Brexit proposals before they have been published. (That sounds conciliatory, but by implication Barnier seems to be suggesting that anything he did say would not be positive.

The Telegraph’s James Crisp has got an even better line. “I don’t really eat croissants and I prefer an English breakfast,” Barnier told the journalists.

Updated

Lunchtime summary

  • Theresa May has been chairing what will effectively be a day-long cabinet meeting at Chequers where ministers will try to agree what the government wants from Brexit. They are arguing in particular about the text of a white paper due to be published next week. Cabinet Brexiters were alarmed when they saw some of May’s proposals earlier in the week, with a new customs plan and a proposals to effectively remain in the single market for goods and agrifoods provoking particularly strong opposition. Since the meeting got going at 10am no significant news has emerged of what has been going on. But in an interview this morning David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister and May’s de facto deputy, said that he was “pretty confident” they would get through the day without any of the Brexiters resigning. (See 9.33am.)
  • Lidington has played down concerns about May’s Brexit compromise, saying that under her plan parliament would decide whether or not the UK remained aligned to EU rules. According to a leak to the Spectator yesterday, the plan says: “The UK should maintain a common rulebook [with the EU] for all goods including agrifood.” In an interview on the Today programme, Lidington said sticking with EU rules would be parliament’s choice, and parliament could decide to diverge. He explained:

It would not be the European legislators, or the European court, which would be deciding the common rulebook. Any change to the rules is something that would have to go through parliament and be accepted by parliament, because when we leave the EU, we become a third country, we will respect the EU’s legal and constitutional autonomy, but we will have our own legal and constitutional autonomy as well.

Lidington also complained about another aspect of the Spectator leak, which was written up in a blog by James Forsyth yesterday. Forsyth wrote:

What has really riled ministers is the section on what this deal with the EU would mean for future trade deals. The paper is explicit that this deal ‘would not allow the UK to accommodate a likely ask from the US in a future trade deal’ as the UK would be unable to recognise the US’s ‘array of standards’.

When this was put to him, Lidington said:

The phrase you quoted to me, which is one of these selective leaks from the document, was misleading ... It was not accurate. It’s like one of these theatre reviews that says ‘this was not a brilliant performance’, it goes up outside the theatre [saying] ‘brilliant performance’.

Lidington said that in previous trade talks the US had tried to get the UK to accept different product standard rules from all 50 states, while refusing to reciprocate. He went on:

What the document says is that it would be difficult anyway to swallow that sort of offer from the United States, whatever our relationship with the European Union.

  • Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has stressed the EU’s commitment to protecting the single market, saying it should be strengthened, not allowed to unravel. In a speech in Brussels he reaffirmed the EU’s willingness to improve its offer to the UK if Theresa May softens her red lines. (See 1.41pm.) But, in a sign that the EU will find it hard to accept the compromise plan being drawn up by May (which is open to the charge of “cherry picking” - taking the benefits of the single market, but not the obligations), Barnier said the integrity of the single market had to be defended. He said:

The single market is our main economic public good. There will be no damaging it, no unravelling what we have achieved together with the UK ...

The single market is at the heart of the European project. It is a source of opportunities and prosperity. It is not and it should never be only a big supermarket. It is a common areas of economic, social and cultural life between us. It should be developed in all its dimensions ...

The single market brings a wider choice of products and services, lower prices, and better quality. It also implies protection through EU rules and workers’ rights, providing the stability that protects savings and investment, air quality ... It attracts foreign direct investment and it facilitates joint investment in our research, innovation and in our industrial capacity. It allows professionals like architects to offer their services anywhere in the EU ... And it should be permanently adapted to be more inclusive and to give access to the diversity of European cultures, with the development of a genuine digital market.

In this period, when the EU has faced so many challenges, it becomes even more important to consolidate and to strengthen the single market. Our single market is the foundation of our unity.

  • Downing Street has rejected a proposal from the defence secretary Gavin Williamson, revealed in a letter leaked to the Sun, for Northern Ireland terrorists to be given an amnesty from prosecution in return for soldiers accused of offences during the Troubles getting the same protection. Asked about the plan, a Downing Street spokeswoman said:

We cannot countenance a proposal where amnesties would be provided to terrorists. We owe a debt of gratitude to the bravery of the soldiers and police officers who upheld the rule of law and are accountable to it.

Updated

Barnier says EU will adapt its offer to UK if May softens her red lines

The EU is prepared to change its Brexit position if Theresa May softens her negotiating red lines, Michel Barnier said today.

The offer could be seen as an strategically placed olive branch coming just as the prime minister tries to fuse a deal between the warring sides of her cabinet in a showdown at Chequers.

“I am ready to adapt our offer should the UK red lines change,” said Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said in a placatory speech in Brussels.

“Our objective has always been to find an agreement with the UK, not against,” he said speaking to the Institute of International and European Affairs.

He also called on all sides to stop warring over Ireland imploring everyone to “de-dramatise” the issue.

But he warned that the EU would not shift its own red line on the single market, saying it should not be viewed “as a big supermarket” from which Britain can pick and choose. He said:

The single market is our main economic public good. We will not damage it. We will not reverse what we achieved with the UK. We must find solutions that respect the integrity of the single market.

This may douse any hopes that May could emerge from Chequers with a package that simultaneously units the cabinet and is acceptable to the EU which has always said access to the single market is conditional on the UK accepting freedom of movement of people.

Hardline Brexiters were horrified to learn that she was preparing to soften her red lines by asking for access to the single market for goods and will see this as confirmation that the EU will not countenance a special compromise for Britain on immigration.

However the conciliatory tone of Barnier’s speech was striking and may help edge negotiations to the next phase.

On Northern Ireland he repackaged the need for a backstop solution spelling out the need for regulatory alignment on the island for live-stock and agri-food. This was necessary for food safety and animal health across the border and would allow farming to continue as it does, he said. He explained:

We must all de-dramatise this backstop we must need to clarify how and where these controls are done but ultimately [they are] only technical control on goods, no more, no less.

Our own backstop solution would mean the limited set of EU rules would continue to apply in Ireland as it does today, which means there would be no need for checks at the border.

In Germany pupils have been answering questions about Brexit in their exams. As my colleague Philip Oltermann reports, some of them have come up with a simple solution to the Irish border problem - a referendum on whether or not Northern Ireland should remain in the UK.

That wouldn’t go down well with Arlene Foster ...

Updated

Here are some more pictures from Chequers.

This was the scene as a queue of ministerial cars lined up this morning.

Armed police officers check a queue of ministerial cars as they arrive at Chequers.
Armed police officers check a queue of ministerial cars as they arrive at Chequers. Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

This is the room where the cabinet has been meeting.

The room at Chequers where the cabinet have been meeting.
The room at Chequers where the cabinet have been meeting. Photograph: Handout/Getty Images
Someone (presumably an anti-Brexit campaigner, judging by the EU umbrella) walking in the field near Chequers.
Someone (presumably an anti-Brexit campaigner, judging by the EU umbrella) walking in the field near Chequers. Photograph: Chris Radburn/Reuters

Barnier says in current circumstances it is becoming even more important to strengthen the single market. It is the foundation of EU unity, he says.

And that’s it. The speech is over, but the RTE live feed has cut away.

UPDATE: This is from RTE’s Colm O’Mongain.

Updated

Barnier says the UK’s proposals will facilitate both the UK’s internal debate, and negotiations with the UK.

He says he wants to find a solution with the UK, not against the UK.

He says the single market is not just a supermarket. It is a common area of social and economic life. It brings a wide choice of products and services, lower prices and better quality, but it also guarantees standards, attracts foreign investment and facilitates research, he says.

He says the single market should be adapted so it becomes more inclusive.

Barnier says the single market is the EU’s main economic public good.

The EU needs to find a solution to Brexit that respects the principles of the single market, he says, but also compatible with the UK’s red lines.

But the EU is ready to adapt its offer should the UK’s red lines change, he says.

Barnier says the European arrest warrant is linked to the free movement of people. And it is overseen by the European court of justice.

He says the EU wants to preserve the benefits of the EAW after Brexit, but there will have to be another mechanism for UK participation.

Barnier says EU wants to 'de-dramatise' its backstop plan

Barnier says there is still “a long way to go” in the Brexit talks, and there is not much time.

Turning to Ireland, he says the EU needs “more clarity” and “certainty in the long run”.

The EU needs a “cast-iron guarantee” to avoid a hard border, he says.

The so-called backstop would apply until another solution is found, ensuring the same “fluidity” at the Irish border. The British government has agreed to this, he says. And it says the issues raised by the EU must be addressed.

So now is the time to address them, he says.

First, the border must be invisible. That is necessary to protect one of the achievements of the peace process.

Second, goods must be able to cross the border without being stopped by customs.

Third, farmers must be able to move their goods and livestock across the border.

And, fourth, the single electricity market should be maintained.

Barnier says, if the status quo is to be maintained for goods, the current limited set of rules should apply. He says the EU’s backstop proposal would avoid the need for regulatory checks on goods crossing the border. And it is important to avoid the need for customs checks, he says.

(Here is an infographic [pdf] released by the EU last month summarising its backstop proposals for Ireland.)

Barnier says it is important to “de-dramatise” the EU’s backstop plans.

  • Barnier says EU wants to “de-dramatise” its backstop plan. (That means, I think, it wants to persuade the British that it would not undermine the integrity of the UK, as unionists claim.)

Michel Barnier runs through a list of problems all countries in the EU have to face.

No European country can win these battles alone.

That is why he has been a convinced European for so long, he says.

He says the EU’s future partnership with the UK needs to cover not just trade but security, foreign policy and defence.

First, though, there is need for an agreement on an orderly withdrawal, he says.

He says the EU and the UK have agreed on a number of separation issues.

It is sometimes easy to forget what has already been agreed. For example, they have agreed that 4.5m citizens (EU nationals in the UK, and Britons living on the continent) can carry on living their lives as normal, he says.

Michel Barnier speaking to the IIEA
Michel Barnier speaking to the IIEA Photograph: RTE

This is from the Telegraph’s Peter Foster.

Updated

Michel Barnier's speech

Michel Barnier is about to start his speech.

He is being introduced by the Irish ambassador to the EU.

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, is about to give a speech at the Institute of International and European Affairs in Brussels.

I’m back from the Number 10 lobby briefing. On the Chequers meeting, the spokeswoman had very little to say at all, although we did learn that Sir Mark Sedwill, who is currently acting cabinet secretary, won’t be there all day because he is chairing a Cobra meeting in London this afternoon on the novichok poisoning. It was not clear who will stand in when he is away.

The cabinet secretary is the person who takes the minutes when the cabinet is meeting. Sedwill, whose day job is national security adviser, is acting cabinet secretary because Sir Jeremy Heywood is ill.

SNP minister says 'people do require a say' on final Brexit deal

Mike Russell, the Scottish government’s cabinet secretary for government business and constitutional relations (he was Brexit minister until last week’s reshuffle), has said that “people do require a say” on the final Brexit deal. The SNP has been broadly sympathetic to the notion of a second referendum, albeit with some reservations, but this is one of the most explicit endorsements of a second referendum we’ve had from a senior SNP figure. Russell told the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland:

I’ve been very sympathetic to [the idea of a second referendum], the only caveat I’ve expressed, and it needs to be resolved, is what happens if that vote were to repeat what happened two years ago - Scotland to vote to stay and the rest of the UK to vote to leave. We couldn’t do that twice. So that has to be resolved.

But I think people do require a say, and we certainly require a say on the final outcome. This is not a second vote, this is a say on the final outcome.

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

Mike Russell.
Mike Russell. Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA

According to the Telegraph’s Anna Mikhailova, the Number 10 spin doctor bragging about the taxi service available for any minister who wants to resign (see 10.07am) did not realise the phone number in question doesn’t work.

By 10am all cabinet ministers had arrived at Chequers, the Press Association reports.

Full list of cabinet ministers, and how they voted in the EU referendum

The Press Association has filed a helpful list of how cabinet ministers voted in the EU referendum (including those who attend cabinet, as well as full members).

Remain

Theresa May (Prime Minister)
Philip Hammond (Chancellor of the Exchequer)
Sajid Javid (Home Secretary)
Gavin Williamson (Defence Secretary)
David Gauke (Justice Secretary)
Jeremy Hunt (Health Secretary)
Greg Clark (Business Secretary)
James Brokenshire (Housing Secretary)
Damian Hinds (Education Secretary)
David Mundell (Scottish Secretary)
Alun Cairns (Welsh Secretary)
Karen Bradley (Northern Ireland Secretary)
Matt Hancock (Culture Secretary)
Brandon Lewis (Minister without portfolio)
Liz Truss (Chief Secretary to the Treasury)
Julian Smith (Chief Whip)
Jeremy Wright (Attorney General)
Claire Perry (Minister for Energy and Clean Growth)
Caroline Nokes (Minister for Immigration)
David Lidington (Minister for the Cabinet Office)

Leave

Boris Johnson (Foreign Secretary)
David Davis (Brexit Secretary)
Liam Fox (International Trade Secretary)
Michael Gove (Environment Secretary)
Chris Grayling (Transport Secretary)
Esther McVey (Work and Pensions Secretary)
Penny Mordaunt (International Development Secretary)
Andrea Leadsom (Leader of the House of Commons)

At one point ministerial cars were arriving at Chequers all at once.

Police officers check cars arriving at the entrance to Chequers.
Police officers check cars arriving at the entrance to Chequers. Photograph: Chris Radburn/Reuters

Here is Michael Gove, the Brexiter environment secretary, arriving. It is a mistake to try reading too much into a photograph, but he does not look his usual, ebullient self.

Michael Gove arriving at Chequers.
Michael Gove arriving at Chequers. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

According to Jack Blanchard’s London Playbook briefing, Number 10 sources have been briefing aggressively that Theresa May would be happy to see Brexiters resign if they cannot accept her proposals. He writes:

Speaking in bellicose terms, the Downing Street figure said a “full reshuffle plan” is already in place. “Collective responsibility will be asserted at the end of the day,” the source said. “A select number of ego-driven, leadership-dominated cabinet ministers need to support the PM in the best interests of the U.K. — or their spots will be taken by a talented new generation of MPs who will sweep them away.”

And there’s more: The bullish government source confirmed ministers who quit will not be allowed to use their ministerial cars to make the 40-mile trip back to London. “Taxi cards for Aston’s taxis, the local cab firm, are in the foyer for those who decide they can’t face making the right decision for the country,” the Downing Street figure said icily. “It is a cold world outside government.” They even suggested a resignation or two might not be a bad thing for the PM or the party. “One or two empty cars returning might be a sensible amount of blood-letting,” they said.

But if any Brexiters do find they have to resign, help is available if they need a lift home, the Telegraph’s Christopher Hope reports.

According to the Times’ Sam Coates, David Cameron has been intervening with Boris Johnson on behalf of the prime minister.

UPDATE: Or perhaps not.

FURTHER UPDATE: This is from the Times’ Jenni Russell.

Updated

Clegg says cabinet should reject May's 'costly, bureaucratic, unworkable' customs plan

Nick Clegg, the former Lib Dem deputy prime minister, is urging cabinet Brexiters to reject Theresa May’s latest plan for customs arrangements after Brexit - the so-called facilitated customs arrangement.

Liz Truss, the chief secretary to the Treasury, doesn’t trust the food at Chequers.

But, actually, this amounts to the first proper revelation of the day - Liz Truss eats pizza for breakfast.

(This insight into her dietary habits does help to explain why she gave a speech the other day saying it was not the job of government to go round telling people they were “eating too many doughnuts”. I trust she will never be made health secretary ...)

Chris Grayling, the transport secretary, has arrived too, the Daily Mirror’s Dan Bloom reports.

Here is a library shot of the front entrance to Chequers.

The front entrance to Chequers.
The front entrance to Chequers. Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/PA

Here is David Gauke, the justice secretary, arriving at Chequers a few minutes ago.

David Gauke (right) arrives at Chequers.
David Gauke (right) arrives at Chequers. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

Here is a police officer patrolling the grounds of the Chequers estate.

A police officer guards the perimeter of Chequers
A police officer guards the perimeter of Chequers Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

And here are some anti-Brexit activists making their point.

Anti-Brexit activists from Our Future Our Choice outside Chequers.
Anti-Brexit activists from Our Future Our Choice outside Chequers. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Updated

May tells Brexiters MPs would reject their plans as allies predict no split at key Chequers meeting

There have been a litany of “crunch meetings” in the Brexit process, but today’s at Chequers is probably the most important so far. Cabinet ministers will spend the whole day at the prime minister’s country residence in Buckinghamshire trying to agree the text of a 120-page white paper setting out what relationship the UK wants with the EU after Brexit. After initially siding with those in her party demanding a hard Brexit, and then almost two years of prevarication, Theresa May has finally opted for a softer version of Brexit - one that would effectively (although not technically) keep the UK in the single market for goods. Forced to make a choice, and after absorbing a library of information about the economic impact of Brexit, May has decided that she does not want to go down in history at as the prime minister who closed down the British car industry and jeopardised the Good Friday agreement.

Predictably, the Brexiters are not happy. As we report in our overnight story, Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, convened a caucus meeting for cabinet leave-voters last night where they discussed tactics ahead of today’s Chequers gathering.

But on the Today programme this morning David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister who is May’s de facto deputy, predicted that the cabinet would reach agreement today and that there would be no Brexiter resignations. He told the programme:

I think all my cabinet colleagues are going to Chequers today wanting to end up with a deal, an offer to put to the European Union, that is in the best interests of people in every part of the United Kingdom .... And I think that we will end up at the end of today, I’m pretty confident, with a concrete position which everybody is able to sign up to.

It is going to be an odd day - with a potentially dramatic event taking place, but journalists having very little access to what is going on. Cabinet ministers are arriving now and they are to start around 10am. They will be there all day and for dinner, and are not due to head home until 10pm. Apparently they are being asked to hand in their mobile phones too, and so any briefing that does come out during the day will come from Number 10.

Here is what we will learn, what we might learn, and what we won’t learn.

What we will learn?

Whether or not anyone resigns. If they do, we will find out. And if we get to 10pm and no one has resigned, that in itself is a significant fact.

What we might learn?

Number 10 are expecting to say a bit more about what will be in the white paper, but don’t expect a lot of detail. For that, we will have to wait until it is published next week.

What was said and what rows took place - although we probably won’t get any juicy details until the Brexiter ministers (the worse leakers) start texting their chums at the Spectator from their cars on the way home after 10pm.

Whether the cabinet has agreed any “red lines” for the Brexit talks (a likely Brexiter demand)

What we won’t learn?

How the EU is going to respond to what May is proposing

Why is Theresa May apparently confident? There was a clue in the very bland statement she released overnight. She said (and I’ve highlighted the key bit in bold):

The cabinet meets at Chequers today to agree the shape of our future relationship with the European Union. In doing so, we have a great opportunity – and a duty. To set an ambitious course to enhance our prosperity and security outside the European Union – and to build a country that genuinely works for everyone.

We have already made good progress – on the text of the withdrawal agreement, by passing the EU Withdrawal Act and in agreeing an implementation period which gives people and business certainty. Now is the time for another step forward. We want a deal that allows us to deliver the benefits of Brexit – taking control of our borders, laws and money and by signing ambitious new trade deals with countries like the US, Australia and New Zealand.

This is about agreeing an approach that delivers decisively on the verdict of the British people – an approach that is in the best interests of the UK and the EU, and crucially, one that commands the support of the public and parliament.

In a tweet this morning the former minister Nick Boles has spelt out what this means more clearly.

Yesterday the government announced that there will be a debate in the Commons on Monday week that will allow MPs to vote on an amendment saying the UK should stay in the customs union for good. May is telling Brexiters that, if they reject her plan, they will find Conservative pro-Europeans lining up with the opposition to vote for customs union membership anyway.

I will be mostly focusing on Chequers today, but I may cover other stories too.

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

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