Get all your news in one place.
100's of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Government loses Sunday trading vote by majority of 31 – as it happened

A sign outside a shop with Sunday trading hours. MPs are debating government plans to liberalise Sunday trading hours.
A sign outside a shop with Sunday trading hours. MPs are debating government plans to liberalise Sunday trading hours. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

Summary

  • Ministers suffered a serious defeat in the Commons as Conservative rebels lined up with Labour and the SNP to vote down plans to give councils the power to relax Sunday trading laws. A close vote had been expected, but in the event the government lost by a majority of 31 - a much larger margin than forecast. The defeat is particularly embarrassing for George Osborne, the chancellor, who made extending Sunday trading one of the key announcements in his post-election budget last year. Within the last week Osborne has also had to abandon plans for widespread pensions reform. It is David Cameron’s first major defeat of this parliament although, with a normal working government majority of just 16, more are bound to follow.
  • Twenty six Tory MPs voted against the government, Labour whips have claimed. A full voting list will be published later.
  • Ministers have strongly criticised the SNP for voting on a matter that does not directly affect Scotland. The government only lost because of the SNP vote, and Sajid Javid, the business secretary, described their behaviour as “childish and hypocritical”.

That’s all from me for tonight.

Thanks for the comments.

UPDATE: I’ve corrected the first paragraph so it says this was Cameron’s first major defeat of this parliament. Last year he suffered a less significant defeat on “purdah” rules and the EU referendum.

Updated

The SNP’s Tommy Sheppard intervened on Sajid Javid to say that the SNP were just voting to protect the interests of their constituents.

Javid did not accept that. He replied:

[Sheppard] should be ashamed of his party’s performance today. He tries to behind a policy, but we know that the only thing the SNP was interested in today was headlines, and denying the people of England and Wales a change that through their MPs they clearly wanted to see.

Javid accuses SNP of 'childish and hypocritical' behaviour

In the Commons MPs are not embarked on the third reading of the enterprise bill.

Sajid Javid, the business secretary, has just accused the SNP of “childish and hypocritical” behaviour.

Minister says government would have won had it not been for SNP voting on non-Scottish law

Brandon Lewis, the communities minister who led for the government in the debate, says the government only lost because of the impact of SNP, who were voting on a law that would not affect Scotland.

(At least, it would not affect Scotland directly. The SNP argued that relaxing Sunday trading in England might have a knock-on effect in Scotland, where Sunday opening hours are already more relaxed, but where workers are assured premium pay if they work on a Sunday.)

Here is my colleague Rowena Mason’s first take on the government’s defeat.

26 Tory MPs rebelled against government, Labour say

There were 26 Tory rebels, according to the Labour whips.

Jeremy Corbyn has welcomed the government defeat.

MPs were voting for a cross-party amendment opposing Sunday trading tabled by a Conservative MP, David Burrowes, but the government lost because Labour, the SNP, Tory rebels and some minor party MPs united behind it.

This means that Sunday trading has been taken out of the bill.

It is a big, significant defeat, on an issue that was particularly championed by George Osborne, the chancellor.

Angela Eagle, the shadow business secretary, used a point of order to say Osborne should come to the Commons to make a statement.

(There is no indication he will.)

Government loses Sunday trading vote by majority of 31

The government has lost by 317 votes to 286 - a majority of 31.

This is from Labour’s Jon Trickett.

The Lib Dems have a free vote on this, apparently.

Updated

The tellers for the ayes (ie, for the David Burrowes anti Sunday trading amendment) are the Tory MPs Peter Bone and Philip Hollobone.

The tellers for the noes are the Conservative whips Guy Opperman and Jackie Doyle-Price.

MPs going to vote on Sunday trading
MPs going to vote on Sunday trading Photograph: BBC

MPs are voting on Sunday trading

MPs are voting now on the David Burrowes amendment that would remove the plans to relax Sunday trading laws from the enterprise bill - in other words, to kill the Sunday trading plans altogether.

Labour’s Caroline Flint says it is clear the government has not made the case for change.

In the Commons the Conservative MP Fiona Bruce has just read out an extract from the impact assessment quoted at 5.46pm.

What government impact assessment says about whether Sunday trading meets 'the families test'

In 2014 David Cameron said new government proposals would be subject to a “families test” to consider their impact on family life.

The impact assessment published today includes a section looking at how extending Sunday trading would or would not meet the families test.

Here is an extract.

We have identified three potentially significant impacts on families.

There is potentially a positive impact on families from the greater employment opportunities that may result from extending Sunday trading. Financial problems and unemployment can undermine the quality of family relationships and contribute to family breakdown. Sunday work may be particularly valuable as many retailers pay staff a premium to work on Sundays and so workers can work fewer hours and earn proportionally more money ...

To the extent that Sundays are family gathering days, there is a potential for families to be negatively affected if members are more likely to work or work longer on Sundays. There are clearly benefits to families where members are working and generating an income. Generally the best judge of whether it is beneficial overall will be those families. However, some respondents expressed that some shop workers would be pressured to work Sundays against the interest of their families ...

A positive benefit for families is that they may be able to take advantage of the increased flexibility of being able to shop at larger shops at different hours and for longer. Respondents to public consultation who supported the proposals made these arguments about increased convenience and choice fitting around busy family and working life in the rest of the week ...

And here is its conclusion on this point.

As these impacts are mixed the overall impact is unclear.A large number of the individual respondents to the public consultation felt that families would be negatively affected. However, this was not a representative survey and we note that a representative poll by IPSOS-MORI carried out in December 2012 found that families with children are more likely to be in favour of extending Sunday trading hours than against.

Karl McCartney, a Conservative, says there is something special about Sunday. He wants to protect that.

Given the chance, he would go further, he says, and restrict opening on Boxing Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday.

Labour’s Helen Goodman says there are lots of things that would make life more efficient, like proposing to our partners by text. But that does not make them desirable.

Brandon Lewis, the communities minister leading for the government in the debate, is not impressed by the Labour speeches he has heard.

Sir Gerald Howarth, the Conservative MP, said he had “never seen such a shambolic way in which serious legislation affecting our country has been introduced”.

And, referring to the way the government produced a compromise amendment today, but too late for it to be put to a vote, Howarth said this “makes the back of a fag packet look like sophisticated engagement”.

What the plans to extend Sunday trading involve

This Commons briefing paper (pdf) explains in detail how the plans to relax Sunday trading in the bill would work.

Here is the key passage.

New clause 21 to the Bill amends the Sunday Trading Act 1995 (STA 1994), giving powers to ‘Sunday trading authorities’ to extend opening hours for large shops in England and Wales (with a retail floor area greater than 280 square metres). The extended hours can apply to the whole or part of the local area. For the purposes of this new clause, a ‘Sunday trading authority’ is the local authority for an area. In relation to the area of Greater London, the ‘Sunday trading authority’ is the Mayor of London acting on behalf of the Greater London Authority.

New clause 21 also introduces new Schedule 1 in to the Bill containing amendments to the Employment Rights Act 1996 and the Employment Act 2002 in relation to Sunday working. The amendments are as follows:

to shorten the notice period for opting out of Sunday work in the case of shop workers at large shops, confer a new right to object to working additional hours on Sunday;

require employers to give statements explaining those rights,

confer protections against detriment and unfair dismissal for refusing to work additional hours on Sunday; and

provide for fines in tribunal proceedings if there is a failure to give explanatory statements.

The DUP MP Jim Shannon says the Sunday trading plans are an attack on people of faith.

Updated

David Lammy's speech - Extracts

Generally the debate has been fairly second-rate so far, but Labour’s David Lammy managed to raise the tone. His speech was probably the best yet.

Here are some highlights.

My primary concerns are two-fold. First, the protection of family life. Seventy five per cent of parents in this country feel that work impinges on their family life. Many of us have been abroad: we’ve been in Spain or Portugal or France, and we’ve found real restrictions on finding things open on a Sunday. We’ve been out at lunchtime and found that the shops are on siesta. Why is it that in this country this government thinks that we should put the free market above everything else? It is conservative to protect the family and it is worth protecting.

When we come to this House and we debate issues like knife crime, when we lament that families have not got time to sit around tables with their children, when we want to see parents supporting their kids to learn to read and with their homework - when do we think that is being done? It is being done on a Sunday.

And, then the second point, what is the face of the people that we will be asking to go out and [work]. Think of those security guards now being driven to work on a Sunday. Think of the cleaners. Think of those stacking shelves. They are the face of my constituents.

The balance we have in this country is right. To change it through the back door, to allow a domino effect because one local authority has got to make changes because the neighbouring local authority did it, is wrong. And I might say also, to undermine independent shopkeepers, who universally are against this change, must be something we should not support.

The Conservative MP Stewart Jackson says he will be voting for the David Burrowes amendment. He says he was very disappointed to see the government’s manuscript amendment on the Sky Twitter feed before it had been shown to MPs.

The Labour MP David Lammy says this government puts the market before everything else. It should consider the needs of workers and families.

(It is a short speech, but a very good one - easily the best of the debate so far. I will try to post some direct quotes.)

David Lammy
David Lammy Photograph: BBC

Caroline Spelman, the Conservative former environment secretary, is speaking in the debate now. She has tabled her own amendment to the bill. It would allow the relaxation of Sunday trading laws in the spring and summer, and before Christmas, in areas designated “tourist zones”. The idea is based on a law operating in France, she says.

Having spoken in the debate, Brandon Lewis, the communities minister, has taken to Twitter to continue his attack on the SNP.

YouGov has posted a blog today with details of its polling on Sunday trading.

Broadly, more people are in favour than are opposed.

Sunday trading polling
Sunday trading polling Photograph: YouGov

But the figures also show that there are concerns about the impact on small shops and on shopworkers.

Esterson says Labour MPs will stick to their line. They want to keep the “great British compromise” on Sunday trading, ie the status quo. Labour will back the Burrowes amendment, he says.

Esterson says MPs have had less than three hours to consider the government’s impact assessment on this measure. That is an “outrage”, he says.

Esterson says, when Sunday trading laws were liberalised during the Olympics, convenience stories lost about 7% of their trade.

And, overall, there was no increase in trade, he says. He says that undermines the government’s claim the scheme would create jobs.

Esterson says this idea is presented as a move towards localism.

But if one borough relaxes Sunday trading laws, the next-door ones will have to follow suit, or face the risk of losing trade.

There would be a domino effect, he says.

Esterson says the Tories say David Cameron wrote the letter saying that he had no plans to extend Sunday trading when he was head of a coalition government, but that now he has a different view because he heads a Conservative government. But presumably then he aspired to head a Conservative government.

Bill Esterson, the shadow business minister, is speaking now for Labour.

He says that was a “Trust me, I’m honest” speech from Brandon Lewis. He has never heard anything so absurd, he says.

Why didn’t the government make this offer in the first place?

He says MPs cannot vote for pilots today.

They will have to decide whether to take Lewis’s word on this.

The government should come back with a new bill, which could then be properly considered, he says.

Bill Esterson
Bill Esterson Photograph: BBC

Lewis says only the 12 areas selected for pilots would be allowed to liberalise Sunday trading in the first year under his compromise plan.

Lewis says MPs would get chance for second vote on Sunday trading after pilot schemes

Ian Paisley, the DUP MP, suggests the government would do better withdrawing the plan, and bringing back new legislation.

Lewis says that is not the plan.

The plan is for 12 pilots. There would be an assessment. It would be published.

The idea would then come back to parliament, he says.

There would be an evaluation, and second vote, he says.

  • Lewis says MPs would get chance for second vote on Sunday trading liberalisation after pilot schemes.

Lewis says “thousands and thousands” of new jobs are at stake.

Lewis announces details of government's compromise

Lewis is announcing details of the government’s compromise.

The government is going further than planned, he says.

And he says it deals with objections raised by the SNP.

Instead of applying liberalisation nationwide from day one, it would invite 12 areas to apply to run pilots. They would be geographically and economically diverse.

He says if MPs vote against the Burrowes amendment, an amendment for the pilot schemes will be tabled in the Lords.

The pilots would allow the impact on workers to be assessed.

Jim Shannon, the DUP MP, makes a point of order. He says MPs are being asked to vote on a promise, not on something they have seen in writing.

John Bercow says it is acceptable for a minister to promise to do something in the future.

But he reminds MPs they will not be voting for the Lewis compromise plan.

Updated

Robert Jenrick, the Conservative MP for Newark, says one of the biggest employers in his constituency is Knowhow, the distribution company. He says its workers work on a Sunday. How do people think things get delivered on a Monday.

This is from the Telegraph’s Ben Riley-Smith.

Lewis accuses Labour and the SNP of 'killing off jobs' with their Sunday trading stance

Lewis says the opposition are not just being inconsistent; they are also “killing off jobs”, he says.

He says extending Sunday trading would be worth £300m in London alone.

The opposition are opposing measures that would help to create jobs, he says.

And the SNP need to explain why they are opposed to English councils getting more control over Sunday trading hours when this is a matter fully devolved to Scotland.

Bercow confirms he will not allow vote on government's compromise amendment

Angela Eagle, the shadow business secretary, raises a point of order. She asks John Bercow to confirm that there will not be a vote on the late amendment relating to piloting Sunday trading liberalisation.

Bercow says it was submitted late, and it was not selected.

Caroline Flint, the Labour MP, asks Lewis if the government will retain the protections for workers if it loses the Sunday trading extension vote.

Lewis says the government has been clear that this is a package. If Sunday trading liberalisation gets defeated, the other aspects will be lost too.

Lewis says two of the government amendments being debated now would extend workers rights.

(One would ensure that anyone sacked for refusing to work extra hours on a Sunday would not have to have worked the normal two years to be allowed to take an unfair dismissal case to an industrial tribunal. Another extends what employment tribunals can consider in relation to Sunday trading.)

Lewis says that, because the amendments are grouped together, if MPs vote for Burrowes’ rebel amendment, they will be voting against these amendments extending workers’ rights too.

The Labour former cabinet minister Andrew Smith says David Cameron said shortly before the election that he had no plans to extend Sunday trading.

Lewis says Labour may not want to promote economic growth, but the Conservative manifesto was clear that this is what the government would do.

Brandon Lewis, the communities minister, is speaking now.

He says it is important to remember why MPs are debating this. The last time the laws on Sunday trading were updated was in 1994. In those days no one had heard of Amazon. If they had, they thought it was a river.

Sir Gerald Howarth, a Conservative, says changing Sunday trading laws would be a “fundamental change”. Yet it was not in the Conservative manifesto.

Lewis says councils know their areas best. This bill would give them the power to decide to liberalise Sunday trading laws. Around 200 councils asked for the power to do this, he says.

Sir Edward Leigh, a Conservative, asks why shopworkers should have to work on Sundays.

Lewis says some shopworkers themselves want to shop on a Sunday.

Brandon Lewis
Brandon Lewis Photograph: BBC

Reynolds says his opposition to Sunday trading his partly motivated by his Christianity.

Sunday is a special day for Christians, he says. It is a day when he attends church.

Labour’s Jonathan Reynolds is speaking now. He is backing the Burrowes amendment. He says is is sponsored by Usdaw, the shopworkers’ union.

He says it is “at best mischievous, and at worst borderline fantasy” when the government says the bill does not in itself open the way to Sunday trading.

The bill says it would be up to councils to decide if they wanted to extend trading.

But, Reynolds says, as soon as one council area liberalised Sunday trading laws, neighbouring councils would be obliged to follow.

He says his fundamental objection to the bill is driven by his desire to keep Sunday special.

Jonathan Reynolds
Jonathan Reynolds Photograph: BBC

Burrowes has finished.

John Bercow says the debate will run for another two hours and 20 minutes. That means the vote will take place at around 5.50pm.

Burrowes says he has been told by a worker that the idea that working on a Sunday is voluntary is “laughable”. Employers penalise workers who do not agree to work on Sunday, he says.

The Sun’s Craig Woodhouse says that, when he responds to the debate, Brandon Lewis, the communities minister, will say that the compromise amendment produced by the government (see 2.12pm) will be inserted in the bill when it returns to the Lords.

It cannot be inserted into the bill today because John Bercow, the Speaker, will not put it to a vote because it was tabled late.

Burrowes is still speaking in the debate.

He quotes from the government’s summary of its response to the consultation on Sunday trading. It said it did not have full data about people’s responses because they responded in their own words.

The government’s last-minute compromise amendment has not been selected, which means it will not be put to a vote, Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh reports.

Waugh also says David Cameron is calling in Tory rebels for a chat.

Labour’s Toby Perkins asks Burrowes how he feels about the fact that this was not in the manifesto.

Burrowes says he is a lawyer by trade. That is a “leading question”, he says.

David Burrowes
David Burrowes Photograph: BBC

The Conservative MP Robert Jenrick says people should be free to decide for themselves whether they want to work or shop on a Sunday. It is not the most complicated decision they have to make, he says.

Burrowes says, if MPs back this plan, they will be backing the idea of extending Sunday working in principle.

Burrowes says the impact assessment relating to Sunday trading has been published today. It should have been published earlier, he says.

MPs debate Sunday trading

MPs have just started the debate on Sunday trading.

David Burrowes, the Conservative MP who is leading the backbench revolt against the government’s plans, opens the debate.

He has tabled an amendment taking the plans to liberalise Sunday trading laws out of the enterprise bill.

Lunchtime summary

  • Ministers have produced a compromise proposal on Sunday trading in the hope of averting a defeat when MPs debate the issue later this afternoon. The amendment would involve piloting the plan to allow Sunday trading laws to be relaxed in zones by local agreement. I will be covering the debate in detail. It should start around 2.30pm.
  • David Cameron has insisted he will not resign if Britain votes to leave the European Union in the forthcoming referendum. At PMQs he was asked by Labour’s Richard Burgon whether he would quit in the event of an Out vote, and he replied: “No.”
  • Cameron has called on Jeremy Corbyn to expel a “readmitted” Labour party member who reportedly said the 9/11 suicide bombers “must never be condemned”. Speaking at PMQs he said:

I have to say I was completely appalled to see yesterday that the Labour party has readmitted someone to their party who says, and I believe, that the 9/11 suicide bombers, and I quote, ‘must never be condemned’, and belongs to an organisation that says ‘we defend the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq’. Those are appalling views and I hope the leader of the Opposition will throw this person out of the party rather than welcoming him in.

Corbyn did not comment on the matter during PMQs but a senior Labour source said the issue will be examined.

  • Cameron has promised to examine claims relating to the poor treatment of refugees in Folkestone as Angus Robertson asked if he was “ashamed” of the allegations. The SNP’s leader in Westminster questioned Cameron at PMQs about instances of people being “locked up without food”, children being “forced to sleep on concrete floors”, patients with diarrhoea being “denied access to showers” and of a woman who was allegedly beaten when they were detained at a facility in Kent. “Is the prime minister ashamed of this?” he asked. Cameron replied:

I will look very carefully at the points you make. I would say that our asylum system is fair and Britain down the ages has given people asylum who are fleeing torture and persecution. When it comes to the issue of resettling Syrian refugees, it was instructive at this week’s European Council with the chart showing how many countries have actually resettled Syrian refugees. Britain has done far better than any other country bar Germany.

Cameron seemed to be referring to figures for the number of Syrian refugees resettled from refugees camps in countries like Jordan, not the numbers who have arrived in Europe under their own steam.

It is not true. I have certainly, absolutely no recollection of a conversation like that, which I suspect I would have remembered if it had taken place. I just think it’s wrong that people who want to take us out of the European Union to now try and drag the Queen for their own purposes into this European referendum debate.

Updated

Here is more from Sky’s Faisal Islam on Sunday trading.

Government offers compromise on Sunday trading

The debate on Sunday trading is due to start at around 2.30pm.

According to Sky’s Faisal Islam, the government has just offered a compromise in the hope of averting a defeat.

Nick Clegg has denied hearing the Queen complain about the EU as the Sun claims she did at a lunch he attended at Windsor Castle in 2011.

There has been speculation that this may have happened at or after a privy council meeting also attended by Michael Gove and Cheryl Gillan. (See 11.04am.)

Asked whether Gove had any recollection of discussions taking place at that meeting, a spokeswoman for the then education secretary told the Press Association: “We don’t comment on private conversations with the Queen.”

A spokeswoman for Gillan - who was Welsh secretary at the time - said: “Ms Gillan has no comment to make on privy council matters.”

PMQs - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

This is what political journalists are saying about PMQs on Twitter.

They are unimpressed - particularly with Jeremy Corbyn.

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

From the Telegraph’s Asa Bennett

From the Daily Mirror’s Jason Beattie

From the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman

From Sky’s Adam Boulton

From CapX’s Iain Martin

From the Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff

From the Independent’s Nigel Morris

From the Times’s Patrick Kidd

From STV’s Stephen Daisley

From the BBC’s Sam Macrory

From the Guardian’s Anushka Asthana

From Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh

Imran Hussain from the Child Poverty Action Group has questioned David Cameron’s claim about child poverty. He says it last fell as a result of Labour policies.

Jolyon Maugham, the tax barrister and pro-Labour blogger, has posted this chart shedding light on David Cameron’s claim that corporation tax receipts have gone up as the rates of corporation tax have come down.

Net receipts may have gone up (I don’t have the figures at the moment), but this graph shows that, as a proportion of overall tax receipts, corporation tax receipts have gone down.

PMQs - Verdict

PMQs - Verdict: Jeremy Corbyn did make some progress today. As he explains in his Independent article, he has been trying to raise the tone of PMQs, and today he scored a modest success; for one reason or another, David Cameron chose to get through his exchanges with Corbyn without resorting to low-grade abuse.

But, otherwise, there was nothing of note in that PMQs (or at least in the Cameron/Corbyn bit). As my colleague Nicholas Watt has just pointed out on the Daily Politics, when William Hague as opposition leader he often adopted a scattergun approach to PMQs, jumping from one topic to another question by question, and made it work. Tony Blair would be left scrabbling to find an answer on one topic, only for Hague to come back with a question addressing something completely different. It worked because Hague’s questions were razor-sharp, and often very funny.

Corbyn’s questions are perfectly intelligent and reasonable. But he hasn’t worked out a way of “weaponising” them, either by asking questions with a fiendish quality that makes them impossible for the prime minister to answer, or by phrasing them in a way that is particularly punchy and memorable. Of those 100 questions he has asked, how many can you actually remember?

Corbyn might argue that he is not interested in “weaponising” questions because that is part of “the political game-playing of the past”, as he puts it in his Independent article. Perhaps it is. Undoubtedly he was won credit for his refusal to resort to insults at PMQs, and generally his approach has reinforced his reputation as a sincere and serious person. But there are many people who think PMQs is still an arena where the leader of the opposition needs to score points, and Corbyn’s performance today will have left them a little disappointed.

Updated

Labour’s Barry Gardiner says under the housing bill new tenants will be on fixed tenancies. Doesn’t this mean that children could be evicted when sitting exams?

Cameron says the government wants to ensure that social housing is there for the people who need it. But current tenants will not be affected, he says.

Labour’s Siobhan McDonagh asks about a constituent who will lose money from the introduction of the living wage, because B&Q are cutting allowances. Will the government ensure that no one loses money from this?

Cameron says the government wants people to earn more money. And it is cutting people’s taxes too, he says.

Labour’s James Dowd asks how the Tory manifesto commitment to outlaw the use of wild animals in circuses in progressing.

Cameron says the government did not manage to meet this in the last parliament. The use of wild animals is licensed so strictly that only two circuses use them. But the government hopes to legislate when time allows.

Sir Bill Cash, a Conservative, says the three recent white papers on the EU referendum are not accurate and impartial. This is against the ministerial code.

Cameron says he believes in the sovereignty of parliament. Parliament called for them to be published. They were produced by civil servants, he says. He says if Cash does not agree with the content, he should challenge the content, not the process.

The SNP’S Martyn Day asks for duty on Scotch whisky to be cut.

Cameron says the government supports the whisky industry.

Andrew Murrison, a Conservative, asks about rural broadband.

Cameron says there is more that needs to be done. Ten years ago all MPs were guilty of leading campaigns against mast, he says. But now their constituents want to be connected to the information super-highway.

Labour’s Roberta Blackman-Woods mentions mother’s day asks why the government is cutting public services, and child benefit and work-related benefits so as to take money from women.

Cameron says he celebrated mother’s day with his mother, but that he has probably said enough about her. He lists various things the government has done for women. The pay gap is at its lowest published level, he says. He says Labour could help by having no more segregated political meetings. Let us stop the process of having people with bigoted views treating women as second-class citizens.

Labour’s Khalid Mahmood asks why the number of skilled apprenticeships has fallen.

Cameron says the government is building more houses. And the apprenticeship levy will allow more apprenticeships to be funded.

James Cartlidge, a Conservative, asks about school funding.

Cameron says the government is changing to consultation process to make it fairer.

Cameron says the personal independence payment (PIP) will be better than disability living allowance (DLA) because there is a more personalised assessment process.

PMQs - Snap verdict

PMQs - Snap verdict: What was the point? Overall, that was dire, in a way that did not do credit to either of those involved. Corbyn was more scattergun than ever; his questions were perfectly sensible, but there was zero follow-through, and - taken as a whole - his script sounded rambling and unfocused. Cameron was a bit better, because he had answers on corporation tax and child poverty, but he did sound as if he was just reciting a dull brief, and he completely ignored the first question about welfare cuts. Cameron’s “100 not out” was the only line that was remotely memorable.

Updated

Corbyn says there has been a 10% cut in real terms in sixth-form education, and a cut in adult education. Isn’t it true this recovery is build on sand?

Cameron says 16 to 18-year-old education has been protected in this spending round. The government can only do this because it has a strong and growing economy. Corbyn’s tax plan are a risk to the economy. And we know from Scotland that Labour would put taxes up for people earning more than £20,000.

Corbyn says construction apprenticeships have fallen. Will Corbyn stop those cuts, and invest in the future.

Cameron says there has been a massive boost to apprenticeships under this government. And housebuilding has increased. Completions are up. Housing starts are at their highest level since 2007.

Updated

Corbyn says child poverty is going up. He asks why Osborne warned last week of further cuts, if the economy is so strong. Who will those cuts fall on?

Cameron says there are 860,000 fewer workless households. He says the government is making real changes for these families.

Corbyn says the problem is the number of household suffering from inwork poverty. The poorest have paid the most for those cuts, and women have paid the most. On his 99 previous attempts to ask a question, he has been dissatisfied by his answers. So can Cameron help Callum. Callum asks if Cameron will acknowledge the importance of further education colleges.

Cameron congratulates Corbyn on getting to 100 not out. He says there is now a proper education system that will drive opportunity. There are 800,000 fewer people in relative poverty than in 2010. That is the Labour measures. So will Corbyn admit he was wrong about child poverty.

Jeremy Corbyn says Cameron said last week the economy was strong. If it is strong, why is the government pushing through a £30 a week cut for the disabled.

Cameron says he is disappointed that Corbyn did not answer the point about the Labour member. The economy is growing, he says.

Corbyn says people are not content to see someone with cancer, unable to work, reduced to poverty. In the summer budget Osborne found £6.6bn to reduce corporation tax, even though it is low. The Children’s Society has shown that spending on children is falling.

Cameron says corporation tax receipts are up by 20% under this government. If we put up tax rates, we would get less money in. Labour care about making a political point. The Tories care about services.

James Berry, a Conservative, asks what progress is being made in tackling the source of the terrorist threat in Syria.

Cameron says we are making good progress in pushing Daesh back in Iraq and Syria. He says he was appalled to see Labour has readmitted someone to the Labour party who was defended 9/11. Labour should throw that person out.

Labour’s Karin Smith says people in Bristol want to see more apprenticeships. But they wonder how the government will deliver 3m. Does David Cameron have a delivery plan?

Yes, says Cameron. There were 2m in the last parliament, and the target is for 3m in this one.

Cameron at PMQs

PMQs starts soon.

Jeremy Corbyn will be asking his 100th question, he writes in an article for the Independent. He says that, while he has tried to change the tone of PMQs, David Cameron has been unwilling to reciprocate.

The leadership campaign showed me that for many PMQs are out of touch, too theatrical, and simply not addressing the issues most people care about. So I tried something different – putting to David Cameron some of the thousands of questions sent to me by members of the public.

Today will mark my 100th question at PMQs. But while I’ve taken a different approach to asking the questions, David Cameron has carried on failing to give proper answers.

David Cameron once said he was “fed up with the Punch and Judy politics of Westminster”. But the experience of the last six months suggests he has come to rather enjoy it. When given the chance to defend his government’s record, he has instead preferred to opt for petty attacks, while avoiding the substance of the issue, and ignoring the real problems facing our people.

Khan says Corbyn should be doing more to make the case for Britain staying in the EU

At the launch of his manifesto Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate for London mayor, said Jeremy Corbyn should be doing more to make the case for Britain staying in the EU. According to the Press Association, when asked if Corbyn should be “more proactive” in speaking up for EU membership, he replied:

Without a doubt. I think we should be on the pitch campaigning with anybody who wants us to stay in the European Union. Membership of the European Union is bigger than party politics. If your job, your livelihood, your prosperity is dependent on being in the European Union, you don’t want politicians playing tribal games and not sharing a platform.

I’ve said all along, I’m happy to share a platform with David Cameron in relation to staying in the European Union I go further, as the mayor of London I’ll be on a plane with George Osborne going to China or India or the Middle East to get jobs and investment for London, and to sell London’s businesses overseas.

Khan also criticised his Tory opponent Zac Goldsmith for backing Brexit.

You can’t want to be the mayor of London and be anything but campaigning proactively for us to stay in the European Union. Because it is a fact that more than 500,000 jobs in London are directly dependent on membership of the EU, it is a fact that 60% of the world’s leading companies - Sony ARG Insurance (for example) - have their EU headquarters in London, and half of London’s exports go to the European Union.

Now if you want to be the mayor of London and you are pro-business, you have got to be arguing for us to be in the European Union. That’s why it beggars belief that a Conservative candidate running to be mayor is less pro-business than I am.

The Resolution Foundation has produced this graph showing how the number of workers on zero-hours contracts has soared in recent years.

Workers on zero-hours contracts
Workers on zero-hours contracts Photograph: Resolution Foundation

And here is a comment on today’s figures from Laura Gardiner, a policy analyst at the foundation.

As a share of the workforce, the number of people on zero hours contracts continues to rise despite the record employment rate and the long-overdue pay recovery last year. It’s increasingly clear that ZHCs are here to stay, whatever the economic weather.

While some workers value the flexibility they provide, others struggle to manage their fluctuating pay levels week by week and find it hard to budget and put any money aside as savings. This explains why one in three workers on a ZHC want more hours.

While zero hours contracts still make up a comparatively small, albeit growing, part of the labour market, it is still crucial that policy makers consider the effect of unstable employment on both workers and the economy, while ensuring the employment rate continues to reach record highs.

Farage says EU is being 'blackmailed' by Turkey

In a speech in the European parliament today Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, said the EU was being “blackmailed” by Turkey. He told MEPs:

The historic error made by Chancellor Merkel last year by saying all can come has led directly to this mess and now we are being blackmailed by Turkey. I wish that David Cameron was as good at negotiations as the Turks are.

So we are going to go into political union with a country that has got borders with Iraq, Iran and Syria, a country that is poorer than anybody else in the European Union and give free movement to 75m people. And join up with a government that is increasingly Islamist and authoritarian.

Well this referendum in Britain is all about what is the safest option. It is pretty clear to me that a vote to remain is a vote for Turkey, a vote to remain is a vote for massively increased immigration into Britain and a vote to remain is a vote that makes Britain more vulnerable to terrorism. It is safer to vote to leave and take back control of our borders.

Nigel Farage in the European parliament today.
Nigel Farage in the European parliament today. Photograph: Patrick Seeger/EPA

Sadiq Khan launches London mayoral manifesto

Sadiq Khan, Labour’s candidate for London mayor, has launched his manifesto (pdf) today.

He was introduced by Dame Tessa Jowell, the Labour former culture secretary whom he beat for the Labour mayoral nomination, and in his speech he said one of his priorities as mayor would be gender equality.

I’ll be a proud feminist in City Hall.

It’s not acceptable that your gender can still determine the amount you earn or how far you can rise.

It’s incredible in 2016, in one of the world’s most progressive cities, that someone’s pay, or their ability to progress to the highest level in their chosen profession, should depend on their gender.

As the Dad of two teenage daughters that’s just not good enough.

I’ll fight to break down the barriers to success for women, ensuring that from childhood, girls are provided with opportunities to learn the skills they need to succeed to the extent of their ability.

And I’ll publish City Hall’s first annual gender pay audit, and require that large contractors do the same.

Sadiq Khan sits beside his wife Saadiya as he launches his manifesto in Canary Wharf
Sadiq Khan sits beside his wife Saadiya as he launches his manifesto in Canary Wharf Photograph: John Stillwell/PA

Labour says zero-hours contract figures show 'crisis of insecure work getting worse'

Owen Smith, the shadow work and pensions secretary, says today’s zero-hour contract figures show “the crisis of insecure work under the Tories is getting worse with every passing week”. In a statement he went on:

Before the election they promised to act on zero-hours contracts, but these numbers show that was nothing more than words. Spiralling numbers of British workers cannot be certain where their next day’s work is coming from, making it virtually impossible to plan finances and family life.

The Sun says that the Queen made her comments about Europe at a lunch at Windsor Castle in 2011 attended by Nick Clegg.

The BBC’s Nick Sutton has been scouring the Court Circular, and he can find a reference to just one event at Windsor Castle that year attended by Nick Clegg. It was a meeting of the privy council, also attended by Michael Gove, Cheryl Gillan and Lord McNally.

Here is the Resolution Foundation thinktank on the zero-hours contract figures.

This is from its director, Torsten Bell.

This is from the Financial Times’s employment correspondent, Sarah O’Connor.

And this is from the BBC’s Norman Smith.

Owen Smith, the shadow work and pensions secretary, says the latest zero-hours contract figures may just be “the tip of the iceberg”.

Chris Leslie says Labour must be more willing to accept the need for cuts

Chris Leslie, the former shadow chancellor, has written an article for PoliticsHome saying Labour must be more willing to accept the need for cuts. If it doesn’t, it risks “doing the Tories’ job for them”, he says.

Here’s an excerpt.

The electorate have told us twice that they think we do not care enough about the deficit, so to simply call for more spending and borrowing with no mention of public service reform or any recognition of budget priorities risks doing the Tories’ job for them. Yes, there is a case for targeted borrowing specifically to fund long-term capital infrastructure investment, but to gain permission for this case to be heard by the public, we must also argue for fair savings, efficiency and reform. In short, better spending not just more spending.

Here is a pollster’s take on the Sun story. It’s from YouGov’s Joe Twyman.

Cameron made 'big concession' in his EU deal, Tory Brexit campaigners claim

Former ministers Peter Lilley, Liam Fox and David Davis are among 11 Tory MPs who have signed a letter in today’s Times (paywall) claiming that David Cameron made a “big concession to fellow EU leaders in his renegotiation deal that has been overlooked by commentators.

The letter explains:

We surrendered Britain’s one remaining bargaining lever: our right to give or withhold consent to future EU treaties (and some directives) required to convert the eurozone into a political union. We could have used that leverage to get powers devolved to the UK in return for agreeing to eurozone integration — and to block measures harmful to us.

That is no longer possible. The agreement pledges that Britain “shall not impede the implementation of legal acts directly linked to the functioning of the euro area” and “will not create obstacles to, but facilitate, such further deepening [ie, creating a political union]” ...

While our partners sensed that Britain might leave the EU and could impede further integration, they respected our interests. But a vote to remain would signal that we lack the will to govern ourselves. Our interests would henceforth be far down their concerns.

The other signatories are: Chris Heaton-Harris, Stewart Jackson, David Nuttall, Henry Smith, Bernard Jenkin, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Tim Loughton and Tom Pursglove.

Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, has put out this statement about the zero-hours contract figures. (See 9.55am.)

Zero-hour contracts may be a dream for cost-cutting employers. But they can be a nightmare for workers.

Many people on zero-hours contracts are unable to plan for their future and regularly struggle with paying bills and having a decent family life.

The so-called ‘flexibility’ these contracts offer is far too one-sided. Staff without guaranteed pay have much less power to stand up for their rights and often feel afraid to turn down shifts in case they fall out of favour with their boss.

The European Union is proposing better rights for zero-hours workers – another reason why workers should be worried about the risks of Brexit.

Frances O’Grady with Jeremy Corbyn
Frances O’Grady with Jeremy Corbyn Photograph: Rick Findler/PA

Tory MP suggests Carney should resign over his Brexit evidence to MPs

The Sun, which is strongly Eurosceptic, wants the Queen to speak out on Europe but Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, is still getting criticism from anti-Europeans for the fact that he did express views on this matter in his evidence to the Commons Treasury committee yesterday.

This morning Peter Bone, a Conservative MP and a spokesman for Grassroots Out (GO), claimed that Carney’s behaviour was so outrageous that he should consider his position. He told the Today programme.

It seemed to me that [Carney’s evidence] was a deliberate attempt to scare people into thinking we should remain in the EU, which of course is actually the only card that the people who want to remain in the EU are playing, because there are no positive reasons for staying in the EU.

Governors of the Bank of England should say the facts. Mervyn King, who’s no longer at the Bank of England, speculates that the biggest risk is being connected with the euro. So he takes a completely different view to the current governor.

I might be wrong, but it seemed he was somewhat arrogant in the way he put this down. I don’t think he liked the fact that MPs were asking him tough questions. It was not a performance that he should be proud of, and it’s certainly not what we should have seen from the governor of the Bank of England.

In a reference to John Longworth, who lost his post as director general of the British Chambers of Commerce after speaking out in favour of Brexit, Bone went on:

The last person who made a personal view got fired from his job - I just wonder whether [Carney] should be looking at his position today.

Carney, of course, strongly denied saying anything inappropriate or bias when another Tory, Jacob Rees-Mogg, made a similar allegation during the hearing yesterday.

Peter Bone
Peter Bone Photograph: Ken McKay / Rex Features

2.5% of workers on a zero-hours contract, ONS says

Here is the Office for National Statistics report about zero-hours contracts.

And here is an excerpt from the summary.

The latest estimate of the number of people who are employed on “zero-hours contracts” in their main employment, from the LFS, a survey of individuals in households, is 801,000 for October to December 2015, representing 2.5% of people in employment. It should be noted that responses to the LFS can be affected by respondents recognising the term “zero-hours contract”. This latest figure is higher than that for October to December 2014 (697,000 or 2.3 per cent of people in employment), but it is not possible to say how much of this increase is due to greater recognition of the term “zero-hours contracts” rather than additional contracts.

People on “zero-hours contracts” are more likely to be young, part time, women, or in full-time education when compared with other people in employment. On average, someone on a “zero-hours contract” usually works 26 hours a week. Around 1 in 3 people (37%) on a “zero-hours contract” want more hours, with most wanting them in their current job, as opposed to a different job which offers more hours. In comparison 10% of other people in employment wanted more hours.

As well as containing figures for the number of people on a zero-hours contract (ZHC), the report also contains the results of a separate survey showing how many ZHCs there are. This figure is always higher because some workers are on more than one. The latest figure shows that there were 1.7m ZHCs in November 2015. This is fewer than when the last survey was conducted (there were 2.1m in May 2015), but the ONS says the apparent drop may be explained by seasonal factors.

Number of workers on zero-hours contracts rises by 104,000 to 801,000

Here is the Press Association snap about the zero-hours contract figures.

The number of workers on zero-hours contracts has increased by 104,000 to 801,000, said the Office for National Statistics.

Robert Hardman, the Daily Mail journalist and author of another biography of the Queen, was on the Today programme earlier rubbishing the Sun splash. He said:

[The Sun story] really doesn’t stack up. It is utterly out of character. It does put the Queen in a slightly tricky position because the Palace have put out a denial but, on an issue like this, you don’t want to deny too much because it might sound like you’re supporting the other side.

On this she has always been utterly neutral. The idea that she would somehow depart from her very conscientious neutrality in front of a well-known Europhile like Mr Clegg over lunch defies belief.

Last year the Queen gave a speech in Germany that could be taken as showing support for the EU. She said division in Europe was dangerous.

In our lives, we have seen the worst but also the best of our continent.

We have witnessed how quickly things can change for the better.

But we know that we must work hard to maintain the benefits of the post-war world.

We know that division in Europe is dangerous and that we must guard against it in the west, as well as in the east, of our continent. That remains a common endeavour.

Like the Sun (see 9.28am), Republic, the group campaigning for the abolition of the monarch, is arguing that people have a right to know what the Queen thinks about Brexit. This is from its chief executive, Graham Smith.

Whether or not we believe the claims in the Sun newspaper, the voters shouldn’t be left guessing what the Queen believes.

The voters have a right to know who their head of state is, they have a right to know the truth behind these reports, not be fobbed off by press office denials.

Most importantly the voters have the right to decide who they want representing them and the opportunity to replace our head of state if they wish.

The Tom Hamilton critique of the Sun’s story (see 9.21am) refers to the Sun admitting that it does not really know what the Queen thinks about Brexit.

That is a reference to Tom Newton Dunn’s opinion piece inside the paper, arguing that the Queen is under an obligation to let her subjects know what she thinks. Here is an excerpt.

The Queen is very arguably the most respected stateswoman in the world.

If she has a view on something as big as Brexit, don’t voters have a right to know what it is?

Hate it as she might, Her Majesty now has form for political interference.

It is now beyond doubt that she made a very careful intervention in the Scottish independence referendum to back a vote for the union.

Can it be right that the Queen’s politics should only be known when she and the Prime Minister deem it so between them?

Andrew Marr, the BBC broadcaster who wrote a biography of the Queen, thinks the Sun’s headline might be true.

But he has also retweeted this very succinct critique of the story.

Updated

The Sun likes stirring things up, and it has certainly managed to do that this morning. Here’s its splash.

And here’s the story.

Astute readers will note that the story does not actually justify the headline, although, to be fair, Tom Newton Dunn, the journalist who wrote this story, can spot this too. His intro does not say that the Queen is backing Brexit, just that she has been “hailed as a backer of Brexit” by Tory MPs told about the two anecdotes at the heart of the story.

The first is about what the Queen reportedly told Nick Clegg at a lunch in 2011.

Her Majesty let rip at the then Deputy PM during a lunch at Windsor Castle, The Sun has been told.

The 89-year-old monarch firmly told passionate pro-European Mr Clegg that she believed the EU was heading in the wrong direction.

Her stinging reprimand went on for “quite a while”, leaving other guests around the table stunned.

The Sun also backs this up with a second anecdote about what the Queen said at a reception “a few years ago”.

One of a group of Parliamentarians in a circle with her at the time asked Her Majesty for her thoughts on Brussels.

The Queen is said to have snapped back angrily: “I don’t understand Europe”.

A parliamentary source, who relayed the remark to The Sun, said: “It was said with quite some venom and emotion. I shall never forget it”.

As the Guardian reports in our version, Clegg has denied the story.

And this morning Sir Ed Davey, the former Lib Dem energy secretary, has claimed that the Queen probably wants Britain to stay in the EU - so that Scotland does not vote for independence. He told the Today programme.

The Queen knows that if we vote to pull out of the EU, it’s the surest way to destroy the United Kingdom, because Scotland will then vote to go independent, as we all know. So I very much doubt she holds the views that are given her in the Sun.

I know Her Majesty believes in the United Kingdom, believes in Great Britain. And if we pull out of the EU, we will destroy our country because Scotland will go independent, the peace process in Northern Ireland will be under real pressure and we won’t have something called the United Kingdom or Great Britain any more. I doubt the Queen wants that.

I’ll cover a bit more of this nonsense as the morning goes on.

As for the rest of the day, here is the agenda.

9am: A conference opens on social mobility in schools, with speeches from Nick Gibb, the schools minister, and Sir Michael Wilshaw, the Ofsted chief inspector.

9.30am: The Office for National Statistics publishes figures on zero-hours contracts.

10.30am: The child abuse inquiry holds a preliminary hearing into allegations involving the late Lord Janner.

12pm: David Cameron faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

Around 12.40pm: MPs begin debating the enterprise bill. The vote on Sunday trading is expected at around 3.45pm.

2.30pm: Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil sevice, gives evidence to the public accounts committee about extending right to buy to housing association tenants.

3.15pm: David Anderson, the independent reviewer of terrorist legislation, gives evidence to the human rights committee.

Later I will be focusing on PMQs and the Sunday trading revolt. But I will also be covering the breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.

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. Alternatively you could post a question to me on Twitter.

If you think there are any voices that I’m leaving out, particularly political figures or organisations giving alternative views of the stories I’m covering, do please flag them up below the line (include “Andrew” in the post). I can’t promise to include everything, but I do try to be open to as wide a range of perspectives as possible.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100's of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Would you have a boob job with ‘zombie filler’ – from a corpse?
IN FOCUS: Cadaver tissue injections are becoming popular among US weight loss jab users who want their boobs and bum back. Lydia Spencer-Elliott asks experts if they think the macabre product will soon make it across the pond
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Netflix's new series looks like the cosiest show ever made, and could be huge
Little House on the Prairie is an institution
T3
T3
I'm excited to be on Instagram, says Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock already has more than five million followers on Instagram.
BANG Premier
BANG Premier
Texas woman goes on 3 dates with man. Then she gets a call from another woman: ‘You know about the arrest right?’
Three dates in, he was already talking marriage, stepkids, and forever. A little intense, but not exactly a crime… or so she thought. Nearly a year after walking away, one phone call turned this Texas woman’s “he came on too strong” story into something far darker.
The Mary Sue
The Mary Sue
“Monitoring your every move”: Ami Kozak parody of Candace Owens on Erika Kirk goes viral as fans say he decoded her
Ami Kozak’s parody of Candace Owens went viral for its sharp and funny imitation. By joking about Erika Kirk and Charlie Kirk with exaggerated claims, Kozak created a clip that felt both real and absurd. Social media users praised the accuracy, shared feedback, and said the video perfectly captured Owens’…
The Times of India
The Times of India
Four ways you are sabotaging your health without realizing it
A lot of roads lead to back pain, say experts, including binge-watching your favourite shows
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play