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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Nicola Slawson (now) and Andrew Sparrow (earlier)

Nigel Farage lends support to Ukip leader Henry Bolton – as it happened

Ukip leader Henry Bolton addressing the media outside the Grand Hotel in Folkestone.
Ukip leader Henry Bolton addressing the media outside the Grand Hotel in Folkestone. Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

Evening summary

I am closing this liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us.

Here’s a roundup of this evening’s events:

  • Two further members of Ukip’s senior team resigned in protest at Henry Bolton’s tenure as Ukip leader, bringing the total to 15.
  • Bolton gave his first interview since announcing he would not be standing down to Nigel Farage’s radio programme on LBC.
  • After being pressed on his relationship with Jo Marney, Bolton suggested his relationship it could be rekindled in the future.
  • Bolton defended his decision not to stand down saying that the party can’t handle another leadership contest and its constitution needs a complete overhaul.
  • Nigel Farage backed Bolton’s decision on air, saying that if Ukip doesn’t change, it won’t exist.
  • In a comment piece for the Telegraph, Farage also argued that Bolton could become Ukip’s version of Jeremy Corbyn.

Read the full story:

Updated

Bolton has perhaps been handed a lifeline by Nigel Farage, who said the leader could become Ukip’s version of Jeremy Corbyn, and backed his attempts to reform the party.

Farage said he has “despaired” at the party’s NEC and decision-making processes and praised Bolton’s decision to let an emergency meeting (EGM) of party members decide his fate.

Writing in the Telegraph, Farage said:

As one party spokesman after another resigns, I am reminded of the nightmare Jeremy Corbyn faced in 2016 when 21 members of his shadow cabinet resigned. Corbyn was written off by the press, but the rank and file membership saved him.

If Bolton has the courage and the vision to introduce a new constitution, and shows that he can be a strong spokesman for Britain leaving the single market, taking back its fisheries and restoring pride in the UK, he may well surprise all of his critics too.

Updated

Nigel Farage backs Henry Bolton

Back on LBC, Nigel Farage says Henry Bolton has been “pretty stupid” but gives the current Ukip leader his support in taking on the party’s national executive committee.

Farage says he is pleased that Bolton has triggered an emergency general meeting and that the constitution needs to be reformed so the party is governable.

He says:

If Ukip doesn’t change, it will not exist in 18 months time.

Updated

A comment piece showing support for Henry Bolton by Nigel Farage has been published by the Telegraph.

In it, he says:

Bolton knows as well as anyone that Ukip must reform or die. His refusal to accept the NEC decision to quit, and his insistence on carrying out a full EGM, could provide a lifeline for Ukip. For this crisis is about more than Henry Bolton. It is about whether Ukip is fit for purpose.

As one party spokesman after another resigns, I am reminded of the nightmare Jeremy Corbyn faced in 2016 when 21 members of his shadow cabinet resigned. Corbyn was written off by the press, but the rank and file membership saved him. If Bolton has the courage and the vision to introduce a new constitution, and shows that he can be a strong spokesman for Britain leaving the single market, taking back its fisheries and restoring pride in the UK, he may well surprise all of his critics too.

Updated

Former Ukip leader Diane James, who is being interviewed now by Nigel Farage on his LBC show, has voiced her support for embattled leader Henry Bolton.

She says continued infighting runs the risk of “killing Ukip and killing Brexit as well”.

James, who is no longer a member, says the situation makes her very sad and she believes Ukip’s problems will continue unless the constitution is changed.

Closing the interview, Nigel Farage promises to finally give his opinion on the row after the news.

The interview with Henry Bolton is over now and Nigel Farage is now speaking to MEP Margot Parker, who has just stood down as deputy leader of Ukip.

She began by saying she took exception to Bolton’s claims of disloyalty.

She said:

He became the story, it got too much. We couldn’t really communicate with him. We couldn’t get hold of him.

We did meet him and say we don’t want to discuss your private life so let’s just focus on doing the job and that’s genuinely what I did think would happen

His judgment has been extremely flawed and he’s taking his eye off the ball. He should have focused on doing the job.

The loyalty was there. It’s almost like self flagellation.

She said she could have cried on the train reading an interview Bolton did with the Telegraph in which he focused on his private life.

Updated

Nigel Farage asked how Bolton was coping with becoming a household name and the intense media coverage.

The current Ukip leader responded that the occasional whisky helped and said:

It’s a steep learning curve and in some ways I am actually enjoying navigating through all this.

Farage replied: “Well, it takes all sorts.”

Updated

On Nigel Farage’s show, Henry Bolton has defended his decision not to stand down as Ukip party leader because he says that he does not think the party can handle another leadership contest, which he blames on the national executive committee.

He says:

The committee has lost the confidence of the broader party and we need to consolidate the party.

While my private life is of interest, it should only be a side show.

He says everyone in the party should stay calm and “let this play out”.

Bolton also says he will be proposing a new constitution to make the party more efficient.

Bolton suggests his relationship with Jo Marney could be rekindled in the future

Nigel Farage opens the show by suggesting that Henry Bolton has turned Ukip into a soap opera, which Bolton denies.

Bolton says the party should move on from the racist comments by his former partner Jo Marney as she has apologised publicly and to Ukip’s members.

He says “the romantic side of their relationship is off” but they are still in contact. He added: “Going forward, who knows what the future holds”.

He is also claiming that at least one of the infamous Meghan Markle texts has been doctored and altered.

Updated

Ukip leader Henry Bolton is giving his first interview since announcing he will not be standing down to Nigel Farage’s radio programme on LBC.

Nigel farage on LBCUndated handout photo issued by Global Radio of Nigel Farage who will present an hour-long week-night phone-in on LBC radio. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Issue date: Thursday January 5, 2017. He said the Nigel Farage Show would be “full of opinions, callers and reaction, as well as my nightly final thought on the events of the day”. See PA story MEDIA Farage. Photo credit should read: Global Radio/PA Wire NOTE TO EDITORS: This handout photo may only be used in for editorial reporting purposes for the contemporaneous illustration of events, things or the people in the image or facts mentioned in the caption. Reuse of the picture may require further permission from the copyright holder.
Nigel Farage in the LBC studio. Photograph: Global Radio/PA

Farage, the former leader of the party, has promised that no questions are off the table and has encouraged listeners to call, text and tweet their opinions including on whether Ukip has had its day.

Grab your popcorn and tune in here.

Updated

This is Nicola Slawson taking over from my colleague Andrew Sparrow.

Two further members of Ukip’s senior team have resigned bringing the total to 15.

A party source said Peter Jewell has resigned as Ukip’s justice spokesman, and Julia Reid as environment spokeswoman.

I‘ll be covering Nigel Farage’s interview with Henry Bolton on LBC shortly.

Updated

Afternoon summary

  • Arron Banks, the former Ukip donor and Nigel Farage, has revived his threat to set up a new movement that could replace Ukip. Speaking on the PM programme, Banks said he was still considering setting up a new organisation. He said:

We’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting to see how Ukip would resolve itself really, and it doesn’t seem to be resolving itself very well. But make no mistake, the Conservative party is in a very bad place, so is the Labour party, and I think the only thing the Conservative party reacts to is electoral pressure at the end of the day.

Banks also confirmed that he had discussed with Farage the possibility of Farage becoming president of the new movement. “It’s with him at the moment,” Banks said.

  • Labour has announced plans to make it easier for the government to take back control of contracts for public services that have been awarded to the private sector. In a speech, the shadow Cabinet Office minister Jon Trickett said the party would extend the definition of “risky behaviour” that be used by the government to justify bring control of contracts back in-house, or forcing firms to make improvements. In a news release Labour explained:

In a major shift in Cabinet Office rules, Labour will extend the definition of risky behaviour to include failure on: equal opportunities, timely payment of suppliers, staff training, trade union recognition, environmental standards, pay ratios, or tax compliance.

Under Labour’s tough new rules to tackle rip off or risky behaviour by outsourcing companies in future contracts, if a firm fails in these areas they will be designated ‘high risk’, allowing the government to take back control of the contract, or forcing the supplier to agree an improvement plan.

That’s all from me.

My colleague Nicola Slawson will be taking over later to cover the Farage/Bolton LBC phone-in. (See 4.17pm.)

Ukip spokespeople - Who has quit, and who is staying

My colleague Rowena Mason has been counting the Ukip resignations. There have been 13 - the 12 listed at 4.01pm, plus Jonathan Arnott, who was a Treasury spokesman but who resigned from the party last week.

She has established that five people are definitely not resigning: Jim Carver, an assistant deputy leader; Ernie Warrender, the small business spokesman; Jill Seymour, the transport spokeswoman; Stuart Agnew, the agriculture spokesman; and David Allen, the electoral reform spokesman.

Other Ukip spokespeople have not said either way what they are doing, or have not responded to inquiries.

Updated

Henry Bolton's statement - Summary and analysis

Here are the main points from Henry Bolton’s statement. (See 4.10pm.)

  • Bolton, the Ukip leader, rejected calls for his resignation. He did not directly refer to the multiple resignations he has faced (eight today, at least 12 in total - see 4.01pm) but he said that he would go ahead and let the Ukip membership decide his fate at an extraordinary general meeting that will have to take place within 28 days. He described this as respecting “the next steps in the constitutional process”.
  • He said that over the next four weeks he would be “calling for the coordination and mobilisation of all leave campaigns” so that they could ensure the government delivers “full independence” from the EU. Given that Theresa May is committed to delivering full independence from the EU, you might have expected an attempt to set himself up as a leave figurehead to include a reference to how he thinks the Brexit vote is being dishonoured. But Bolton did not explain why he thinks Brexit is under threat, or give any indication at all as to what red lines he thinks leave campaigners should be defending.
  • He attacked Ukip’s national executive committee, the body that passed a vote of no confidence in him yesterday, by claiming that it had lost the confidence of many party members. He accused them of “factional infighting” and, without naming anyone, he said he wanted to remove troublemakers from the party. Aping Donald Trump, he described this as wanting to “drain the swamp”. Aaron Banks, the former Ukip donor and key Nigel Farage ally, has welcomed what Bolton said about the Ukip NEC, some of whom were once described by Farage as “among the lowest grade of people I have ever met”.
  • Bolton said he would propose a new constitution for Ukip.
Ukip leader Henry Bolton speaking at the Grand Hotel in Folkestone.
Ukip leader Henry Bolton speaking at the Grand Hotel in Folkestone. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA

Updated

Here is some comment from journalists on the Henry Bolton statement.

From the Guardian’s Peter Walker

From the Sun’s Matt Dathan

From Channel 4 News’s Michael Crick

From the Times’s Matt Chorley

From the FT’s Sebastian Payne

From the i’s Nigel Morris

The Telegraph’s enterprising Christopher Hope has found another Ukip spokesperson that no one has ever heard of. But this one - Ernie Warrender, the small business spokesperson - is not resigning.

One reason why this game has lasted all day is that the Ukip spokesperson team is remarkably large. In October Henry Bolton announced a list of 34 posts he had filled. Some individuals were holding more than one post, but there were 27 people on the list with jobs, not including Bolton himself.

Including Theresa May, the cabinet only has 23 full members.

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, says he will be interviewing Henry Bolton on his LBC show at 7pm.

Here is Suzanne Evans, a one-time Ukip deputy chairman, on Bolton’s statement.

Bolton refused to take questions at the end of his statement. Asked if he had anything to say about the mass resignations, he just said: “No comment.”

Henry Bolton is reading his statement out now. The wording is slightly different from the statement sent out to the media (see 4.10pm) but the substance of what he is saying is the same.

Updated

Bolton's statement in full: I'm not quitting, he says

Henry Bolton has sent out his statement by email. It says:

Yesterday the Ukip national executive committee decided to initiate and embark upon a constitutional course to remove me as leader of the party.

I advised the NEC during our meeting not to expose the party to the financial and political cost of pursuing that course of action, including the political cost of possibly yet another leadership contest.

I urged the NEC instead to focus on the unity and cohesion of the party and on the need to concentrate on such matters as the local government election campaign and the necessity of mobilising our efforts to ensure the government delivers true independence in all areas of government and administration when we leave the European Union.

I respect the next steps in the constitutional process and will therefore not be resigning as party leader. I repeat I shall not be resigning as party leader.

Instead, during the next four weeks I shall be calling for the coordination and mobilisation of all Leave campaigns, to ensure that the government delivers full independence from the European Union in all areas of government and administration and I shall be calling for the party itself to mobilise to support this agenda.

This is the most pressing matter facing our country and I am determined not to allow the NEC to distract the party away from participating forcefully in the Independence debate.

Without reflecting at all on its individual members, the NEC, as presently constituted, is unfit for purpose and has severely handicapped the party’s progress and political delivery for some years, as all recent Ukip leaders will attest. It has not only lost the confidence of me as the party leader in its ability to act objectively as the party’s governing body, it has also lost the confidence of a large proportion of the membership.

The NEC requires significant and urgent reform. To that end, again during the coming weeks, I shall be proposing a new party constitution, with a newly constituted and reformed NEC. Likewise, it is now time to put an end to the factional in-fighting within the party and to remove those who have been a part of that.

In a single phrase, it is time to ‘Drain the Swamp’.

Let me re-iterate, the most pressing issue facing our country is to ensure that we gain full independence from the European Union; that we do not allow the government to betray the country by compromising that goal. That is the object to which I shall be directing all of my energies in the coming weeks.

Thank you.

Updated

This is from the FT’s Sebastian Payne.

Henry Bolton's statement

Henry Bolton is about to make a statement.

This is from the BBC’s Ron Brown.

Ukip resignations latest: eight people have quit today, and 12 in total, over Bolton's refusal to resign

According to the Telegraph’s Jack Maidment, 12 people have resigned from key posts with Ukip in protest at Henry Bolton’s refusal to quit. He has got a higher figure than the seven in our headline because he has included people who resigned before today.

Maidment’s list includes Gerard Batten, the Brexit spokesman; David Meacock, the culture spokesman; Star Anderton, the equalities spokesperson; Bill Etheridge, the sports spokesman; and David Sprason, the work and pensions spokesman.

Sprason seems to have resigned today, so that makes eight Ukip resignations today.

Updated

Jaguar Land Rover will temporarily reduce production at its plant in Halewood later this year in response to weakening demand due to Brexit and tax hikes on diesel cars, Reuters reports. (Thanks to ScottishPanda BTL for flagging this up.)

In his first speech as education secretary, Damian Hinds spoke about the importance of learning “soft” skills at school - although he also insisted that he did not see them as soft. Speaking at the Education World Forum in London he said that in his former job as employment minister he had learnt from businesses about the importance of employability skills, sometimes known as “soft” skills. He went on:

I would suggest that there is nothing soft about these skills.

The hard reality of soft skills is actually, these things around the workplace, and these things around character and resilience are important for anybody to achieve in life, as well as for the success of our economy.

I don’t suggest that they can just be taught, but clearly what happens in school, the ethos of a school, the expectations set for students, and the support that’s given, alongside what happens in extra-curricular activity, in sport, in public speaking, in voluntary work and so on, all of these things will have an effect on character, resilience and on the workplace skills that our young people take with them.

The Times’s Rosemary Bennett says that, although Hinds’ speech was not particularly newsworthy, he made a good impression.

Damian Hinds.
Damian Hinds. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/Reuters

UBS, the Swiss investment bank, will not wait for details of a possible transition deal before triggering its Brexit contingency plans “in early 2018”, risking the loss of up to 1,000 UK jobs, the Press Association reports. It detailed the plans in its fourth quarter earnings report, in line with expectations that a raft of international firms will be forced to start moving jobs and EU client operations by the end of March. It said:

The UK is still expected to leave the EU in March 2019, subject to a possible transition period. We intend to begin implementation of contingency measures in early 2018.

Alan Sked, who founded Ukip but who subsequently fell out with the party and with Nigel Farage, has written an article for the Guardian saying that it is now a “national joke” and that it should be wound up. Here it is.

More than 1m elderly at risk of malnutrition, cross-party group says

More than a million elderly people could be going hungry in their own homes, a parliamentary report has warned. As the Press Association reports, a cross-party group of MPs and peers warned that malnutrition among the elderly was costing the NHS and social services £11.9bn a year, with the bill set to surge to £15.7bn by 2030. They urged the Government to consider withdrawing winter fuel payment from the richest pensioners to fund community projects which aim to ensure vulnerable older people eat at least one hot meal a day. Main causes of malnutrition among the elderly include loneliness and isolation caused by bereavement or illness, the closure of local shops and the loss of community transport facilities or Meals on Wheels, said the report from the All-Party Group on Hunger.

Frank Field, the Labour MP who chairs the group, said:

Hidden beneath the radar, there are malnourished older people in this country spending two or three months withering away in their own homes, with some entering hospital weighing five and a half stone with an infection, or following a fall, which keeps them there for several tortuous days, if not weeks.

The elimination of malnutrition amongst older people is urgently required for the sake of the NHS, and social care services, but above all for purposes of humaneness.

Hence our central recommendation in this report, for a series of innovative pilot schemes that feed and care for older people.

Rex Tillerson is not the only person celebrating a special relationship today. (See 2.07pm.) Theresa May will be doing her best for Anglo-Scottish relations tonight by hosting a Burns Supper in Downing Street.

Downing Street have issued a press release, including this quote from Theresa May.

Scotland is a greatly valued part of our United Kingdom and its contribution to the UK is immense – economically, socially, and culturally.

And Robert Burns is a great example of that, as one of our finest poets, famous world-wide.

I’m very much looking forward to this evening and the chance to celebrate a great poet, a great nation and an enduring Union.

The dinner will be prepared by Gary Maclean, the Glasgow-based ‘MasterChef: The Professionals’ winner. And Downing Street have released the menu.

Starter: Crispy McSweens haggis, mashed tatties, roasted neeps with red onion, Ayrshire bacon relish and a whisky scotch broth sauce

Main (which was prepared by Chef Maclean during the MasterChef’s critics round): Pan seared loin of Highland venison, raw spiced and caramelised cauliflower, oats and nuts, salsify, brambles, game chips and venison reduction.

Dessert (which won Mr MacClean the MasterChef trophy): Chocolate pistachio Drambuie and raspberry shortbread, with Arran Dairies Cranachan ice-cream.

A question for Scots: Is it okay to have haggis just at the starter? Or is that a bit of a cop out?

The FT’s Henry Mance thinks the Ukip leadership shambles offers an encouraging precedent for remainers ...

This is getting ridiculous. According to Metro’s Joel Taylor, Ukip’s embattled leader Henry Bolton is now giving a press statement about his forthcoming press statement.

Lunchtime summary

  • Downing Street has brushed aside claims claims from the head of the army that the UK is failing to keep up with Russia militarily. (See 12.37pm.)
  • Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, has reaffirmed America’s commitment to the “special relationship” with Britain amid reports of strains between London and Donald Trump’s administration. Speaking after a meeting with Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, Tillerson said:

We also view this as the special relationship. It has been and will be. We spend a lot of time talking about the world’s problems. Sometimes we forget about the importance of our own relationship. We treasure this relationship. I treasure Boris’s relationship with me personally.

Rex Tillerson, right, with Boris Johnson in London today.
Rex Tillerson, right, with Boris Johnson in London today. Photograph: Toby Melville/AP

Updated

The employers’ organisation the CBI have suggested a new customs union to solve the issue of the Irish border and Brexit.

Economist Angela McGowan, the CBI’s Northern Ireland director, said today that a comprehensive customs union between the UK and the EU would go a long way towards solving some of the complex issues that arise with the UK’s exit from the EU – including the Irish border question.

McGowan told a conference at the University of Warwick today:

CBI members across Northern Ireland have been ahead of the curve in terms of recognising that only a close and comprehensive customs union with the EU will protect Northern Ireland’s economy, its precious agricultural base and its peace process.

This outcome would allow us to maintain the large volumes of frictionless trade that currently flow both East/West and North/ South and would therein protect the many jobs that are dependent upon those trade flows.


Peter Whittle resigns as Ukip's London spokesman

Peter Whittle, a Ukip member of the London assembly, has resigned as the party’s London spokesman.

That takes the Ukip resignation count today to seven. (See 12.49pm.)

Bolton 'refusing to quit because he thinks members should decide his fate'

According to the BBC’s Alex Forsyth on the World at One, Henry Bolton has been telling journalists this morning that he does not intend to resign as Ukip leader. He believes the party membership should decide his fate at the extraordinary general meeting that will take place following the NEC’s vote of no confidence in him yesterday, she says.

This is from the Centre for Policy Studies’ Robert Colvile.

You might ask why what is happening to Ukip matters? It doesn’t, very much. At the general election Ukip got a derisory share of the vote (1.8% UK-wide - down from 12.6% in 2015). Apart from the former leader Nigel Farage, Ukip does not have anyone who has clout in the national political debate, it is likely to perform badly in the local elections in the spring and when the UK leaves the EU in March next year, it will lose the only real political platform it has - its 20-odd seats in the European parliament. (It won 24 seats in the European elections, but its exact tally is now down to 19 because, in classic Ukip fashion, quite a few of its MEPs have quit.)

Still, it’s breaking news.

More significantly, notwithstanding its decline into a laughing stock, Ukip has been easily the most successful single-issue party in British political history. All the Brexit news trying to break through today would almost certainly not be happening if it were not for Farage and the influence his party exercised between about 2012 and 2016 - partly in the referendum campaign, but much more importantly in pressurising David Cameron into holding the referendum in the first place.

If Ukip is collapsing into irrelevance, it is because it achieved what it wanted. It is a textbook example of how political parties can be destroyed not just by failure, but also by success.

Updated

Here is some comment from journalists on today’s instalment in the saga of the demise of Ukip.

From the Times’ David Byers

From CNN International’s Matt Wells

From Metro’s Joel Taylor

Taylor was commenting on the news that Henry Bolton will make a statement this afternoon from a hotel in Folkestone.

From the Guardian’s Patrick Wintour

From LabourUncut’s Kevin Meagher

David Kurten resigns as Ukip's education spokesman

We’ve got another Ukip resignation. This one takes us up to six today. (See 11.57am.)

The UK government has refused to say whether it thinks the UK could unilaterally abandon the article 50 process in its response to a legal challenge in the Scottish courts by a cross-party group of anti-Brexit politicians.

The seven Scottish politicians, including two Labour MEPs, two Scottish Green MSPs, a Lib Dem MP and an MP and MEP from the Scottish National party, want the European court of justice to rule on whether the UK is legally able to unilaterally revoke its article 50 application.

They have asked the court of session in Edinburgh to refer the issue to ECJ, but the UK government is opposing the action. It told the court late on Friday ministers have no intention of rescinding article 50 so “no genuine dispute exists” about the issue.

But its lawyers have not set out whether they think it can be unilaterally revised, either because the government has had contradictory legal advice or it does not want to offer a definitive opinion which can be challenged in court. Judges will tell the applicants within the next 14 days whether or not the case will be heard in full.

Anti-Brexit campaigners believe answering this question is essential in case Westminster votes down the final Brexit deal or if it decides to stage a second referendum on reversing Brexit.

EU treaties are silent on the issue, but both European commissioners and UK ministers have said they believe the process can only be stopped with the agreement of all 27 member states. Legal experts, including a former chief lawyer to the European Council, say it should be a unilateral decision by the applicant state, in the same way as triggering article 50 is a decision solely for a member state.

The Ukip leader Henry Bolton is due to make a statement later today, the Guido Fawkes blog reports.

Downing Street lobby briefing - Summary

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

  • Downing Street dismissed claims that the government lacks ambition. The Conservative MP and former minister Nick Boles made this point in a tweet at the end of last week and his comment was widely reported because it was seen a reflecting a more widely-held view within the party.

Asked about this criticism, the prime minister’s spokesman said:

If you look at action that has been taken by the government in recent months, you can see that it is getting on with the job of building a stronger economy and a fairer society that works for everyone.

The spokesman also gave examples of the government showing ambition: cutting stamp duty for first-time buyers; announcing the first 25-year environment plan; publishing an industrial strategy; developing plans for an energy price cap; publishing the racial disparities audit; and putting more money into public services.

Asked about Carter’s speech, the spokesman insisted that ministers were already addressing these issues. The spokesman said:

Looking at the speech, the chief of general staff is saying that we face a range of threats and we need to make sure we have the capabilities required to address them.

That is exactly what we are doing as part of the national security capability review, and we are doing that from a position of strength where we have a £36bn defence budget which will rise to almost £40bn by 2020/21.

That’s the biggest defence budget in Europe, the second biggest in Nato and the fifth largest in the world.

The stamp duty cut has benefited more than 16,000 first-time buyers already. The average first-time buyer will be saving around £1,700.

If you look back to the time of the announcement, Robert Chote from the Office for Budget Responsibility said the stamp duty measures would mean that first-time buyers can afford properties they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford.

It is helping 16,000 people already, but there is more to do in terms of hitting the housing target of providing 300,000 homes [a year], and the government is determined to deliver on that.

10 Downing Street.
10 Downing Street. Photograph: Nigel Roddis/EPA

This is from my colleague Peter Walker.

Here is Mike Hookem’s resignation letter.

Mike Hookem resigns as Ukip's assistant deputy leader

Mike Hookem has resigned as Ukip’s assistant deputy leader, the BBC has confirmed.

So today’s confirmed Ukip resignation count (see 11.52am) is now up to five.

Updated

Tim Aker becomes fourth senior Ukip figure to announce resignation because of Bolton's refusal to quit as leader

The Ukip rolling resignations continue. This is from Tim Aker MEP, taking the number of senior figures who have confirmed their resignation today to four.

The other three who have quit are: William Dartmouth, the trade spokesman (see 10.37am); John Bickley, the immigration spokesman (see 9.33am); and Margot Parker, deputy leader.

On Friday Mike Hookem said he would be willing to serve as interim leader if Henry Bolton quit.

I’m just back from the Number 10 lobby briefing. It wasn’t exactly “hold the front page” material, but I will post a summary (for what it’s worth) in a moment.

In the meantime, here is more evidence of Ukip’s self-destruction. As BuzzFeed’s Jim Waterson points out, the Hartlepool Mail reports that five councillors have quit the part (although the story was published on Friday.)

And Sky News is reporting that Mike Hookem MEP has resigned as assistant deputy leader.

(Quite why Ukip needed an assistant deputy leader in the first place is not clear.)

Mike Hookem.
Mike Hookem. Photograph: Chris J Ratcliffe/AFP/Getty Images

As promised, here are some more findings from the UK in a Changing Europe survey of MPs about Brexit. (See 9.17am.)

  • Some 65% of Conservative MPs think “no deal is better than a bad deal”, the survey suggests. Some 77% of Labour MPs strongly disagree. Prof Tim Bale, one of the academics involved in the survey, said:

The sheer number of Tory MPs seemingly prepared to countenance crashing out of the EU without a deal is one of the most striking findings to emerge from this research. Who knows, though, if push does come to shove, whether they really will refuse a compromise? If they do, then Theresa May could be in some serious parliamentary trouble later on this year.

  • Many MPs have changed their mind over the last year about whether staying in the single would dishonour the result of the EU referendum. In December 2016 66% of MPs though remaining in the single market was compatible with the referendum result. Now only 56% do. Amongst Tories, the change is even more marked. In December 2016 only 44% of Tory MPs felt the referendum prevented staying in the single maket. Now 76% of Tory MPs think that.

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

Here are three Brexit stories around this morning that are worth reading.

In a plan being co-ordinated by Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, the EU is preparing to reject British government proposals for a bespoke sectoral deal when negotiations begin in April.

Instead European leaders will insist that if the government sticks to its red lines of pulling out of Europe’s customs union and single market then the EU will offer nothing more than a limited free trade agreement.

Senior figures in Brussels and other European capitals believe that this would increase domestic pressure on Mrs May to choose between hardliners in her party and what they believe is a majority in the House of Commons for a soft Brexit. In particular, EU leaders believe that Mrs May does not have a parliamentary majority in favour of pulling out of a customs deal and she could be forced to reverse her decision to leave it.

Downing Street said this month Britain would “not pay for [EU single] market access” after Brexit, but the pro-European faction in the prime minister’s cabinet believe UK cash could be transferred to the bloc through various mechanisms to facilitate her favoured “bespoke” trade deal.

Whitehall officials said Britain could channel money to Brussels by paying “over the odds” to take part in EU programmes such as science and research. “Money is what [the EU] really care about,” said one person familiar with the cabinet’s discussions. “Germany doesn’t want to fill that [EU budget] hole.”

One minister noted the EU had recently highlighted the hole that would be blown in its budget after Britain leaves the bloc, adding Mrs May said last year the UK could make “appropriate” contributions to European programmes after it departs.

Third Ukip figure quits in protest at Henry Bolton's refusal to resign as party leader

A third senior Ukip figure has resigned today in protest at Henry Bolton’s refusal to resign as leader. William Dartmouth, an MEP, is quitting as the party’s trade spokesman. In an open letter to Bolton he said:

Dear Henry,

With regret this is my resignation as Ukip spokesman on Trade and industry. The NEC, as well as colleagues on the London and Welsh assemblies and fellow MEPs have all urged you to stand down as party leader with immediate effect. Your position is untenable. I am unable to serve under you

We have an important case to put over, including to rebut the CBI today. We cannot. Your personal life has become the entire story. In this context , It was a bad mistake to appear on ITV with Peston yesterday.

When you became leader you said that you would make the party successful. If you still feel that way then yoy should resign forthwith.

Margot Parker, the deputy leader, and John Bickley, the immigration spokesman, have already resigned this morning for the same reason.

Updated

A coalition of LGBT activists, trade unionists and human rights organisations have challenged the government to legislate for gay marriage in Northern Ireland if political talks fail to lead to the restoration of devolution in the region.

The Love Equality group, which includes Amnesty International and local gay rights advocacy organisation the Rainbow Project, has asked for a meeting with the new Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley to discuss the issue.

The region is the only part of the UK which still bans marriage for same sex couples. A majority of members of the now deadlocked Northern Ireland Assembly voted in 2015 in favour of legalising gay marriage. But the largest party in the regional parliament - the Democratic Unionists - used a mechanism known as the ‘petition of concern’, which was designed to protect minority rights in Northern Ireland, to veto the gay marriage equality bill.

Love Equality said today that if fresh negotiations starting on Wednesday aimed at restoring power sharing eventually failed then it was up to Westminster to introduce a law to legalise LGBT marriage.

In a letter sent today to Karen Bradley, whose parliamentary record includes support for gay marriage in England and Wales, Love Equality said:

As the secretary of state, with an interest in ensuring sustainable, credible devolved government in Northern Ireland, we urge you to work with the Northern Ireland parties to ensure that a return to government is accompanied by a watertight commitment from the parties to the passage of marriage equality legislation. Agreement to a further process to review the petition of concern, subsequent to the restoration of devolution, and without any clear or guaranteed outcome, would not meet this test.

If there is no return to devolved government, we ask that you introduce equal marriage legislation at Westminster to bring Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK. While our preference is for equal marriage legislation to be passed by the Northern Ireland assembly, further delay is now unacceptable and you will have our very public support in taking such legislative action to uphold the rights of lesbian and gay people here.

Last week Bradley ruled out imposing equal marriage legislation on Northern Ireland.

Priti Patel refuses to rule out standing for Conservative leadership after May

Priti Patel, the Tory Brexiter who was forced to resign as international development secretary last year after holding official meetings in Israel without getting prior permission from the Foreign Office, has not ruled out standing for the Conservative party leadership. In an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, when asked about the prospect of an eventual bid for the leadership, she replied:

I haven’t got a crystal ball. No-one knows what the future holds. Everything changes quite frequently. I don’t know what tomorrow might bring.

But she made it clear she did not envisage a challenge to May. In the interview she said that May was “delivering the will of the British public” and that May had her parliamentary party “fully behind her”. Asked if she could imagine May being removed and replaced with a committed Brexiter, she replied: “Absolutely not. I just don’t foresee that situation.”

Patel also used the interview to reject the call from Carolyn Fairbairn, head of the CBI, who is giving a speech later today, for the UK to stay in the customs union for good. Patel said:

We’ve got to stop listening to negative voices, because the fundamentals are good, our economy is growing, we’ve got good rates of employment.

The way we go forward is we don’t do what the CBI says, we don’t do the ‘We should still remain in the customs union’. If we were to do that, we would not actually be leaving the European Union.

We have to leave the customs union to be on an equal footing with many other countries in the world so we can set our own parameters for trade.

We want a fair deal with Europe, but we’ve got to have the freedom to succeed, we’ve got to have the ability to diverge, with our own rules and not governed by remote control by the European Union. This is the freedom that the British public voted for, these are the freedoms that we should be securing through the negotiations and through the trade discussions that are taking place.

Priti Patel on ITV’s Good Morning Britain.
Priti Patel on ITV’s Good Morning Britain. Photograph: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock

Two senior Ukip figures quit in protest at Henry Bolton's refusal to resign as party leader

Ukip has been hit by two resignations today following Henry Bolton’s failure to stand down as party leader, despite the national executive committee passing a vote of no confidence in him. As my colleague Peter Walker reports, the MEP Margot Parker has resigned as deputy leader.

And then this morning John Bickley resigned live in an interview on LBC as immigration and integration spokesman. Bickley, who is on Ukip’s NEC, said that he was surprised Bolton had not checked the background of Jo Marney, the woman who has sent racist text messages, before he started a relationship with her at the end of last year.

Nick Ferrari, who was interviewing Bickley, then asked Bickley if he was considering following Parker and resigning himself. Bickley replied:

Well I going to tell you now because I haven’t made it official yet, publically, but as the immigration and integration spokesman, I will be resigning today.

Ferrari then put it to Bickley that perhaps he should stay on to help the party through the difficult time it was in. Bickley dismissed this. He told Ferrari:

I think it’s up to individual members and spokespeople and elected representatives, our MEPs and AMs, maybe to decide they have to make it clear to Mr Bolton that his time is up ...

I believe he really needs to go and focus on sorting out his personal life and get away from politics. If, by a number of people resigning and showing that they no longer wish to work for him, that helps him make that decision, then fine, but ultimately, if needs be, it will come down to the members making that decision in about four weeks’ time.

John Bickley (right) watching Nigel Farage give an interview in 2015.
John Bickley (right) watching Nigel Farage give an interview in 2015. Photograph: Dave Thompson/Getty Images

Most Tory MPs oppose compromises likely to be involved in Brexit transition deal, survey suggests

Good morning. Theresa May is due to deliver a big speech soon giving more details of her plans for Brexit, but a survey out today suggests that she may find it harder than she thinks getting all her MPs to agree. UK in a Changing Europe, a project led by academics studying Brexit, have commissioned some research into what MPs privately think about Brexit, as opposed to what the official party line says, and the results are awkward for May and Jeremy Corbyn. The research involved Ipsos MORI interviewing 105 MPs in private face to face and the findings have been weighted to reflect the composition of the House of Commons. The full results have been published this morning here. And here are some of the main ones.

  • Most Conservative MPs oppose a Brexit transition involving free movement and the European court of justice have continued jurisdiction over the UK, the survey suggests. It says 74% of Tory MPs surveyed said it would be unacceptable for freedom of movement to continue during a Brexit transition, and 63% oppose the ECJ having jurisdiction over the UK after March 2019. But both these conditions are likely to apply under the two-year transition deal that May wants to negotiate with the EU (not least because, for Brussels, they are absolute red lines.)
  • A majority of Labour MPs want the UK to stay in the single market for good, the survey suggests. Jeremy Corbyn has ruled this out, but the survey involved giving MPs four potential options for a final Brexit deal and 56% of Labour MPs said they favoured the softest form of Brexit, continued membership of the single market. The survey also found that 90% of Labour MPs think staying in the single market is compatible with Brexit; in other words, they reject the argument used by May and Corbyn that if the UK were to stay in the single market, it would not have really left the EU.

Commenting on the findings, Prof Anand Menon, director of The UK in a Changing Europe, said:

Brexit presents a stark challenge to the leaderships of both major political parties. Their views are at odds with those of their own MPs. This promises to cause significant problems for both Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn. The prime minister, in particular, might face considerable opposition from her own backbenchers when it comes to securing the kind of transitional deal she has indicated she wants.

I will post more from the report later.

Here is the agenda for the day.

11am: Number 10 lobby brieifing.

11.30am: Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, meets the US secretary of state Rex Tillerson in London.

1pm: Damian Hinds, the new education secretary, gives a speech to the Education World Forum.

1pm: Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the Commons home affairs committee, speaks at at Institute for Government event.

2.15pm: The Commons home affairs and health committees take evidence on alcohol minimum unit pricing.

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

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

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard. 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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