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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Theresa May says UK will still be bound by ECJ rulings during Brexit transition - Politics live

Theresa May's Brexit statement - Summary

Here are the main points from Theresa May’s statement

  • Theresa May has confirmed that the the UK will continue to be bound by European court of justice rulings for at least some of the government’s planned Brexit transition. She also admitted that there was a theoretical possibility of the UK having to implement new EU rules introduced during this period, although she claimed that in practice it was “highly unlikely” that any new EU legislation would come into force not already in the pipeline. (See 5.40pm.)This was implicit in what May said in her Florence speech, and the EU Brexit negotiating guidelines say the EU will only offer a transition allowing continued access to the single market on condition that the UK agrees to remain bound by EU law during this period. But May has until now never been so explicit about this, and some Tory pro-Brexiteers were unhappy with her language.
  • May has firmed up her claim that the government is prepared to leave the EU with no Brexit deal if necessary. Although this has always been part of her Brexit stance, her ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ rhetoric goes down badly in Brussels and she omitted this from the text of her Florence speech. But today she published Brexit papers on trade and customs showing that the government is actively making continency plans for this eventuality. (See 5.47pm.). And she told MPs:

While I believe it is profoundly in all our interests for the negotiations to succeed, it is also our responsibility as a government to prepare for every eventuality, so that is exactly what we are doing. These white papers also support that work, including setting out steps to minimise disruption for businesses and travellers.

  • The government has admitted in its trade white paper that it does not expect to be able to implement new trade deals during the Brexit transition. Instead it will “pursue” trade negotiations with other countries during the transition, with a view to implementing them later.
  • May has refused to deny receiving legal advice saying article 50 can be revoked. (See 5.14pm.)
  • May has repeated her claim that it is up to the EU to break the stalemate in the Brexit talks, despite the European commission saying the UK had to take the initiative. Overnight Number 10 released words from May saying the ball was in the EU’s court. Asked about this Margaritis Schinas, the European commission’s chief spokesman, said:

There is a clear sequencing to these talks. There has been so far no solution found on step one, which is the divorce proceedings, so the ball is entirely in the UK court for the rest to happen.

But May later told MPs:

As we look forward to the next stage, the ball is in their [the EU’s] court.

  • May has struggled to explain why some ministers say the UK will leave the single market and the customs union during the transition when her plan is effectively for the UK to stay in. Several Labour MPs asked her about this. In response to Ed Miliband she said:

As we leave the European Union in March 2019 we will leave full membership of the customs union and full membership of the single market. What we then want is a period of time when practical changes can be made as we move towards the end state - the trade agreement - that we will have agreed with the European Union. We have to negotiate for that implementation period what the arrangements would be. We have suggested that that should be a new agreement, an agreement that we should be able to operate on the same basis and on the same rules and regulations.

The Labour MP Chuka Umunna said May was not making “any sense at all” on this point. (May sounded like someone who wants to stay in the single market and customs union during the transition, but just not call it that.)

  • She brushed aside a call to create an “inner cabinet” to take control of Brexit. When the Tory MP Nicholas Soames proposed this, May said:

We have the government ministers meet in a variety of forms to consider these particular issues.

Before the Florence speech I was pleased the whole cabinet came together and signed up to that speech, and of course we have various discussions about the various elements of the negotiations. But I can assure you that what we’re aware of is the need to make sure we can make swift decisions when that is necessary in the negotiating process.

  • Jeremy Corbyn told MPs that, 16 months after the referendum, the government had made “no real progress” on Brexit. He said:

Sixteen months on from the referendum, no real progress has been made.

Just at the moment when Britain needs a strong negotiating team, we have a cabinet at each other’s throats. Half of the Conservative party want the Foreign Secretary sacked, the other half want the chancellor sacked.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Updated

Jacob Rees-Mogg told Sky News that Theresa May had gone “as far as she could reasonably go” in offering a deal to the EU. He went on:

If they reject it, then it would indicate a stubbornness, an obduracy, on their part which would indicate that they probably don’t want a deal.

The former Conservative and former Ukip MP Douglas Carswell doesn’t seems to like what Theresa May is saying about a transition.

Gove urges Tory Brexiters to be 'pragmatic' about transition because 'end state' is what matters

Michael Gove, the environment secretary and one of the leaders of the Vote Leave campaign, has taken to Twitter to urge his fellow Brexiters not to worry too much about what happens during the Brexit transition. What happens in the end is what matters, he says.

This looks like a helpful intervention to the PM.

But given that one of the key arguments going on in the cabinet at the moment is about whether the UK seeks a final Brexit deal that involves some regulatory alignment with EU (May’s preferred option, according to this Politico Europe report), or whether the UK cuts loose, at the risk of impeding single market access, Gove is not being especially collegiate. He is lobbying in public for the second option.

  • Gove urges Tory Brexiters to be “pragmatic” about transition because “end state” is what matters.
  • Gove says UK should seek “maximum freedom to diverge from EU” in final outcome.

Updated

My colleague Lisa O’Carroll says today’s government white paper on customs needs to be read alongide the leaked report from the Irish equivalent of HMRC on this issue.

Here is her story about it.

And here is how it starts.

An invisible border between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic after Brexit is impossible and hopes for such an arrangement are “naive”, a leaked report from Ireland’s equivalent of HMRC says.

In the most authoritative piece of research so far conducted on the challenges faced in Ireland, Ireland’s Office of the Revenue Commissioners (ORC) concludes that customs posts will be needed, with significant facilities on border roads.

“While some form of common travel area may exist post-Brexit, a completely open border is not possible from a customs perspective,” says the report, leaked to the national broadcaster RTÉ.

“It is probably somewhat naive to believe that a new and entirely unique arrangement can be negotiated and applied to the EU/UK land frontier.”

May’s statement has now finished.

I will post a summary soon.

Summary

Sir Bill Cash, a leading Conservative Brexiter, has told Sky News that he wants “further clarification” about how EU law would continue to apply during the Brexit transition.

Updated

Steve Peers, a law professor, has posted an interesting thread on Twitter about the government’s Brexit papers on trade and customs. It starts here.

Labour’s Mark Hendrick asks what May has to say about John Bruton, the former Irish prime minister, saying that EU leaders cannot rely on the government on Brexit because it is too divided.

May says she does not accept this. She says the UK’s position was set out in her speeches at Lancaster House and in Florence.

Updated

As the Spectator’s James Forsyth points out, May’s voice has got a lot better since Wednesday last week.

Labour’s Rupa Huq says the writing is not on the wall for this government. It is just slowly slipping off. Why did May go to Florence to give her speech, she asks. And how much did it cost?

May says she does not need to explain why she gave a speech about the UK’s relations with mainland Europe in mainland Europe.

The BBC’s Norman Smith says Tory Brexiters are “up in arms” about Theresa May’s answer to Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Updated

This is from ITV’s Robert Peston.

Peston seems to be referring to Sir Desmond Swayne. I will post the quote soon.

In the Commons, the Conservative MP Michael Fabricant says Labour could not negotiate their way out of a paper bag. A Labour MP - it sounded very like Chris Bryant - shouted that they would not have got into the paper bag in the first place.

Updated

Here is HuffPost’s Owen Bennett on the customs white paper.

Jacob Rees-Mogg is not happy about the answer he got from Theresa May. (See 5.40pm.) This is from Sky’s Tom Boadle.

Here is the full text of Theresa May’s opening statement.

In her statement, May said the government was publishing new Brexit papers on trade and customs. There are details about them here.

The customs paper is explicit about what might happen if there is no deal. Here is an extract from the news release:

In addition, while the government has repeatedly said that we are confident that a positive deal can be reached with the EU, it is only prudent that we prepare for every possible outcome. Therefore, the paper covers provisions for the implementation of customs, VAT and excise regimes in the event that no deal is reached, and sets out the steps the government would take to minimise disruption for businesses and travellers. It also enables the UK to prepare for a range of negotiated outcomes including an implementation period.

Updated

UK would still be bound by ECJ ruling during Brexit transition, May says

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Conservative backbencher and arch Brexiter, asked Theresa May to confirm that after March 2019 “the European court of justice’s writ will no longer run in any way in this country” and that any new EU laws introduced after that date would not have effect unless parliament agreed.

In her reply, Theresa May said Rees-Mogg was raising two issues.

The first is about the European court of justice. As I just said, we want to have a smooth and orderly process of withdrawal, with minimum disruption. That’s why we want that implementation period and we have to negotiate what will operate during that implementation period. And, yes, that may be that we will start of with the ECJ still governing rules for part of that period.

But what we are also clear on is that we can bring forward discussions and agreements on issues like a dispute resolution mechanism and if we can bring forward [that] at an earlier stage, then we would wish to do so.

And the second issue ... was the question of new rules brought in during that implementation period. Given the way that things operate, it is highly unlikely that anything would be brought forward during that period that hasn’t already started discussions through the European Union to which we are party until we leave and on which we would have been able to say whether they would be a rule that we would sign up to, or a rule that we would not wish to sign up to.

And any new rules that were put on the table during that implementation period, again, the way these things operate, it is highly unlikely they would actually be implemented during that implementation period.

  • May confirms UK would still be bound by ECJ decisions during the Brexit transition period. Or at least for some of it (because May floats the idea of a transition to a new dispute mechanism process taking less than two years.) This was implicit in what May said in her Florence speech, but until now she has not been explicit about this.

Updated

In response to a question from Jacob Rees-Mogg, Theresa May has just confirmed that the European court of justice would continue to take decisions affecting the UK during the transition.

I will post the full quote in a moment.

May refuses to deny receiving legal advice saying article 50 can be revoked

Labour’s Pat McFadden tries again on revoking article 50. Has the government had legal advice that it is revokable?

May says the government does not comment on its legal advice. But the supreme court was very clear; it operated on the basis that article 50 cannot be revoked, she says.

(The Labour MPs who have asked about this may have been prompted by this Observer story, quoting a second-hand source saying May has been given legal advice saying article 50 is revokable. That would not be surprising. The diplomat who wrote article 50 says it can be revoked.)

  • May refuses to deny receiving legal advice saying article 50 can be revoked.

Updated

Labour’s Chris Leslie asks May if the government has had legal advice saying article 50 can be revoked.

May suggests that the supreme court in the article 50 case accepted it could not be revoked.

(Actually, the supreme court did not rule on that point. The government argued that article 50 could not be revoked, and the court accepted that premise because whether it was right or wrong had no bearing on its final decision.)

Nicholas Soames, a Conservative, asks if May will consider forming an inner cabinet to consider Brexit.

May says ministers meet in different forms. But she says it is important for the government to be able to take decisions quickly.

Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks if she thinks it is possible to revoke the article 50 process.

May says in the article 50 court case that the government made clear it had no intention of doing that.

Updated

My colleague Alan Travis points out that, in her statement, Theresa May confirmed one aspect of what the Home Office document leaked to the Guardian said about post-Brexit immigration plans.

Labour’s Ed Miliband asks how the transition arrangements will differ from being in the single market and the customs union.

May says the UK will leave the single market and customs union in March 2019. But she says she wants to negotiate an agreement that will allow the UK to operate on the same basis during the transition.

Replying to Blackford, May says there will be a meeting of the joint ministerial committee (JMC) considering Brexit next week. (This is the body that allows UK ministers to meet ministers from the devolved administrations.)

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, says May did not even mention the devolved administrations in her speech.

He says, as an absolute minimum, the SNP want continued membership of hte single market.

He says the rights of EU nationals must be guaranteed.

And he says the EU withdrawal bill should not go ahead in its present form.

Ken Clarke, the Tory former chancellor, asks if the government will rule out creating new trade barriers with countries with which the UK currently has free trade through the EU. Wouldn’t the ideal solution be to stay in the single market and the customs union?

May says Clarke has always been consistent on this. When people voted to leave the EU, they wanted to take controls of border, laws and money. That would not be consistent with staying in the single market, she claims.

May is responding to Corbyn.

She says the Florence speech did put momentum into the talks. But the last thing people want is Corbyn’s Momentum getting involved, she jokes.

She says her position has been consistent. Labour said it would respect the referendum result. But now they are trying to block the EU withdrawal bill.

Labour used to be opposed to staying in the single market. But now they might stay in for good, she says.

Updated

Corbyn says it is “staggering that after eight months of triggering article 50 the government has made so little progress”.

He says Liam Fox said the trade deal should be the easiest in human history.

But now the reality is beginning to bite, she says.

Just when we should have a strong negotiating team, we have a cabinet “at each others’ throats”.

Half of Conservative MPs want Boris Johnson sacked, Corbyn says. The other half want Philip Hammond sacked.

He says millions of people depend on the success of these negotiations.

If [this government] can’t make a success of these negotiations, they should make way for one that can.

Corbyn says he welcomes May’s offer to ensure no EU country has to pay more into the budget because of Brexit during this budget period.

But, he asks, will the government pay more into the EU budget afterwards?

On the rights of EU nationals, he says some EU citizens are afraid families will be ripped apart. Will May listen to the TUC and CBI and unilaterally guarantee the rights of EU citizens.

On Northern Ireland, he says by now the government should be beyond platitudes and negotiating the practicalities.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn is responding to May now.

He says, 16 months on after the referendum, no real progress has been made.

He says the Florence speech showed what a mess the government is making of this.

He says the government is no closer to deciding what it wants.

He says he is pleased May has taken Labour’s lead, and accepted the need for transition.

But it is not clear how long it will last. Boris Johnson says it will not last a second longer than two years. Philip Hammond wants it to last longer.

May says the transition will involve keeping single market access. But Liam Fox told the Tory conference that the UK would leave the single market and the customs union in March 2019.

The government cannot have it both ways, he says.

Updated

May says a lot of the media comment is about process.

But she is committed to delivering what the British people voted for. She is determined to get it right, she says.

May says the ball is now in the court of the EU.

(This is the passage briefed overnight. See 4.31pm.)

May says the government has to prepare for every eventuality, including no deal.

That is what the government is doing, she says.

May says she will not accept any physical infrastructure at the Ireland border.

She says the budget issue can only be settled as part of the overall deal.

The EU will honour commitments made during its membership.

And, after that, the EU and the UK will continue to work together. That will involve continuing to pay to participate in certain EU programmes, she says.

Updated

May says there is a new dynamic in the talks.

She praises the role played by David Davis.

And she says she wants EU nationals to stay.

In Florence, she said that the rights of EU nationals in the UK would remain as they were in the EU, she says.

Updated

May now turns to how to build a bridge to the future.

In March 2019, neither the UK nor the EU will be ready for the new arrangement. That is why she wants an implementation period, she says.

She says the UK will have left the EU. But she is proposing that access to the single market continues for this period, under existing EU rules.

Some people may have concerns about this, she says, but she says it makes sense for two reason:

First, business should not have to deal with two changes.

And, second, it makes sense to focus on what really matters - the new trade relationship.

Britain would be able to bring in new immigration rules. And it would be able to negotiate new trade deals to come into effect once the implementation period is over.

May says she expects this to take around two years.

She says some aspects, such as new dispute resolution mechanisms, could be introduced more quickly.

Updated

May is now talking about the security relationship.

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

She wants a security partnership unprecedented in its strength and depth.

May says she wants a “dynamic, creative and unique” partnership.

It will allow the EU and the UK to work side by side.

May says the UK wants a “creative” model for the future.

The government has rejected the idea of a model already in existence.

It does not want Britain to be in the EEA. And it does not want a trade deal like Canada’s either, she says.

She says she wants a deal maintaing free trade and high standards.

It will have to make allowance for when the UK and the EU align, and when they don’t, she says.

May starts her statement

Theresa May is giving her statement now.

She gets a big cheer as she stands up from Tories.

She says she wants to summarise what she set out in her Florence speech.

When the UK leaves the EU, it wants a new security and trade relationship with the EU, she says.

Last night, No 10 released an extract from what Theresa May would stay in her statement. Here it is.

A new, deep and special partnership between a sovereign United Kingdom and a strong and successful European Union is our ambition and our offer to our European friends.

Achieving that partnership will require leadership and flexibility, not just from us but from our friends, the 27 nations of the EU.

And as we look forward to the next stage, the ball is in their court. But I am optimistic we will receive a positive response.

Because what we are seeking is not just the best possible deal for us – but also the best possible deal for our European friends too.

So while of course progress will not always be smooth, by approaching these negotiations in a constructive way – in a spirit of friendship and co-operation and with our sights firmly set on the future – I believe we can prove the doomsayers wrong.

And I believe we can seize the opportunities of this defining moment in the history of our nation.”

Updated

Theresa May's Commons statement on Brexit

Theresa May will be starting her Commons statement on Brexit shortly.

Here is our lead Brexit story at the moment.

And here is how it starts.

The battle within the cabinet to replace Theresa May as prime minister has left the UK an unreliable negotiating partner in the Brexit talks, unable to convince the EU that it will stick to any agreement it strikes, a former Irish prime minister has said.

And here is our overnight Brexit story.

Turning back to the SNP conference for a moment, the Scottish TUC has challenged Derek Mackay to raise taxes if necessary to honour is promise to increase public sector pay.

Voters don't think Tories would do better under prominent alternatives to May, poll suggests

Theresa May will be giving her Commons statement on Brexit soon. The last few days pitched her into her biggest crisis since the general election aftermath, and so it is quite a crucial appearance.

But there is some good news for her from the latest Guardian/ICM polling figures.

  • People don’t think the Conservative party would do any better at the next election under any of the prominent alternative leadership candidates featured in the survey. The only person deemed to improve the party’s prospects was an unnamed “someone quite young and able who is not currently in government”, as we put it in the survey.

We asked respondents to imagine that May was removed as party leader, and to assess whether the Conservatives’s chances of winning the next election would be better or worse with various alternatives. Here are the result

Boris Johnson

Better: 22%

Worse: 43%

Net: -21

Amber Rudd

Better: 11%

Worse: 28%

Net: -17

Philip Hammond

Better: 10%

Worse: 29%

Net: -19

Jacob Rees-Mogg

Better: 11%

Worse: 34%

Net: -23

Priti Patel

Better: 6%

Worse: 31%

Net: -25

Damian Green

Better: 4%

Worse: 24%

Net: -20

“Someone quite young and able who is not currently in government”

Better: 25%

Worse: 16%

Net: +9

The poll also suggests that May remains ahead of Jeremy Corbyn in terms of who is seen as making the best prime minister. Here are the figures for who would make the best prime minister.

Theresa May: 41% (down 7 from ICM in May)

Jeremy Corbyn: 32% (up 5)

Don’t know: 27% (up 2)

May’s lead: 9 points (down 12)

  • May is nine points ahead of Corbyn on who would make the best prime minister - but her lead on this measure is less than half what it was mid way through the general election campaign.

And the survey suggests the party conference season has not damaged the Tories. Here are the state of the party figures.

Labour: 41% (down 1 from Guardian/ICM two weeks ago)

Conservatives: 41% (up 1)

Lib Dems: 7% (down 1)

Ukip: 4% (no change)

Greens: 2% (no change)

Given the contrast between the remarkable unity and optimism at the Labour conference, and the division and mayhem at the Conservative one, these figures are surprising. But they are probably a useful reminder that most people pay little or no attention to what goes on at party conferences, and that most of what preoccupies political obsessives has minimal impact on voting intention.

ICM Unlimited interviewed a representative sample of 2,052 adults aged 18+ online on 6 to 8 October 2017. Interviews were conducted across the country and the results have been weighted to the profile of all adults. ICM is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

UPDATE: Here is the ICM website with its own write up of the poll. And here are the tables (pdf).

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon with 13-week-old twins Catherine (left) and Sam Shepherd, from Kirkintilloch, in the creche at the SNP conference.
Nicola Sturgeon with 13-week-old twins Catherine (left) and Sam Shepherd, from Kirkintilloch, in the creche at the SNP conference. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Mackay ends by saying that, even with its new powers, the Scottish parliament is limited by what it can do on tax.

Yes, we can set rates and bands, but Westminster remains responsible for the tax base, what is considered to be income, and how it is measured. It is also responsible for the personal allowance and for reliefs.

Like in so many other areas, when it comes to income tax, we have one hand tied behind our back.

Don’t just take my word for it, the Fraser of Allander institute said, that when it comes to income tax, we have “half the lego set.”

And here was me thinking we were the “most powerful devolved parliament in the world.”

He says it needs new powers.

As finance secretary, I will never settle for the situation where the Scottish parliament is only responsible for raising a third of our income.

Mackay says Scottish government researching land value tax

Mackay says the Scottish government has commissioned research on a land value tax.

And at our conference we have debated land reform. We have therefore commissioned the Scottish Land Commission to research the introduction of a land value tax.

And he confirms that he is consulting other parties about changes to income tax.

We will bring forward a discussion paper on income tax as we seek to lead an informed debate on how we best use the new powers to build a tax system that meets the needs of the country.

Conference – setting taxes isn’t easy. Taxation isn’t a toy – it has an impact on people’s lives and their choices and as a government we take that responsibility very seriously.

As part of this process, and recognising that Holyrood is a Parliament of minorities, I wrote to all the party leaders asking them to set out their tax proposals for inclusion in this paper.

To their credit both Patrick Harvie [from the Scottish Greens] and Willie Rennie [from the Scottish Lib Dems] responded outlining the proposals of their respective parties. From Labour and the Tories we have heard nothing.

But that silence speaks volumes, on the big issues of the day.

Labour are pre-occupied fighting each other. But the Tories?

The real reason that they have been silent on tax is that their position simply does not add up.

Day after day, week after week, the Scottish Tories call on the Scottish Government to spend more money, yet at the same time call for tax cuts for the richest in the country.

Mackay says his budget will contain money for housing.

My budget will make available £1.7bn pounds, over the next three years, to deliver our ambitious, transformational investment to build 50,000 affordable homes over the life time of this parliament.

Mackay says he will continue to prioritise tackling youth unemployment.

We will also maintain our efforts to tackle youth unemployment.

Back in 2014 we set a target of reducing youth unemployment by 40% by 2021.

Conference, I am delighted to tell you that we have achieved that ambitious target a full four years ahead of schedule meaning that today our youth unemployment level is the lowest in the UK, and amongst the lowest in the EU.

Mackay says he will now set out some of the principles that will determine how he sets his budget.

He says he will protect the NHS budget.

We will continue to invest record sums in our National Health Service.

Since we came to office, spending on the NHS has increased by £3.6bn allowing us to increase health staff by 9.3% ...

We will continue to ensure that people in Scotland benefit from more high quality services, free at the point of use. That means there will be no tuition fees, no prescription charges, and the continuation of free personal care.

Updated

Mackay says the UK government should “end the ludicrous and unjust Treasury position of imposing VAT on Scotland’s police and fire service”.

Mackay says the Scottish government is lifting the public sector pay cap.

We will continue to work with trades unions, to deliver an affordable settlement, that recognises the cost of living.

But there is something I must make clear, if austerity is not lifted, our ability to offer the kind of deal we might want to will remain constrained, no matter what powers we use.

The majority of our budget is still determined by decisions in London. That is why the UK government must lift the cap across the UK, and fund the pay rise that people deserve.

That is why today, along with the general secretary of the STUC, I have written to the chancellor, calling for him to do just that.

But let me be repeat – come what may, we lift the pay cap.

Mackay says over the 10 years to 2020 the Scottish government is facing real terms cuts to its budget of 9%.

The Tories have found £1bn for the DUP, he says. But Scotland is not getting the equivalent, which means it has been short changed “to the tune of nearly £3bn”, he says.

Mackay says the Scottish government has spent £350m since 2013/14 mitigating the impact of Tory welfare cuts.

Scotland is also paying £1bn a year “to pay for Labour’s toxic PFI legacy”, he says.

Updated

Mackay says the Tories are wishing Scotland to fail. In July they wanted to see figures showing a recession in Scotland. They were disappointed when the figures showed growth, he says.

Conference, we’ve gone beyond the point of the Tories simply talking Scotland down. They’re now actively wishing Scotland to fail.

Mackay says the government is setting up a new national investment bank, to address the shortage of long-term, patient capital.

Mackay says by the end of this parliament 100% of properties in Scotland will have superfast broadband.

'We are Scotland, we build bridges, not walls,' Mackay tells SNP

Mackay says the Queensferry Crosssing is a new landmark for the nation.

And a message to the world: we are Scotland, we build bridges, not walls.

Mackay says the economy has demonstrated remarkable resilient.

Manufacturers are more optimistic than they have been for two years, he says.

Unemployment is at record low levels, he says.

The oil and gas industry is beginning to stabilise, he says.

Derek Mackay's speech

Derek Mackay, the Scottish government’s finance minister, is speaking now.

He says winning three successive Scottish elections is a remarkable achievement.

There has now been a Scottish parliament for nearly half of his adult life, he says. The existence of the parliament is taken for granted. The debate is now about how the journey of self-government should go further, he says.

The SNP resolution on Catalonia (see 12pm) has just passed unanimously.

It was backed by, among other, Joanna Cherry, the party’s justice and home affairs spokesperson. She said she was in Catalonia to witness the referendum as part of a parliamentary delegation. She condemned the Spanish government’s response.

What I saw was repression on a scale I never expected to see in a western, European democracy ... As a matter of international law, the disproportionate use of force is not lawful and what happened on the streets of Catalonia was not lawful.

Nicola Sturgeon has told ITV Border’s Peter MacMahon that she is “sorry” for the seats that the party lost during the election. She told him:

I’m sorry for every seat we lost. Any party leader in any election will always be sorry for losing seats.

But she said she would not apologise for the fact that the the SNP has gone from having six MPs when she became party leader to 35 today.

Delegates have now passed a resolution calling for a review of the way the Bank of England works to ensure that Scotland plays “an effective role” in its operation.

During the debate George Kerevan, an SNP MP from 2015 until the general election and an academic economist, said that he had applied to be chair of the Financial Conduct Authority, in part to make sure that Scotland has more say over financial regulation. He did not know whether he would get an interview, he said. But he implied that he wasn’t expecting his application to get very far ...

SNP votes for law banning 'sex for rent' arrangements

The “sex for rent” resolution (see 2.29pm) has been passed unanimously.

There was a card vote on an amendment that would have toughened the resolution by urging the Scottish government to make it an offence to solicit sex, not just in exchange for accommodation, but in exchange for “money” too. That would have amounted to saying pay for sex should be illegal. The amendment was defeated by 435 votes to 403.

Jenni Davidson, from the Holyrood magazine, has more from the debate.

Updated

Delegates are now debating a resolution saying the Scottish government should pass legislation banning “sex for rent” arrangements.

Here is the full text of the motion.

Conference notes with concern the recent newspaper coverage detailing a disturbing trend in Scottish towns and cities of persons advertising “free” rental on flats and houses to women in exchange for sex. Conference notes this practice is often undertaken on advertising websites, and seek to prey on those with vulnerable housing status, and that those who fall prey lack any form of tenancy rights or protection.

Conference condemns this utterly appalling practice; and resolves to ask the Scottish government to look into introducing new primary legislation making it an offence to solicit sex in exchange for providing accommodation, or advertising accommodation for “free” with the intent to solicit sexual relationships.

Leanne Wood, the Plaid Cymru leader, has just delivered a speech to the SNP conference offering fraternal greetings.

Derek Mackay, the Scottish government’s finance minister, is the main speaker at the SNP conference this afternoon. I may miss his speech because at some point I will switch to cover Theresa May’s statement at the Commons (although the Labour whips office says that won’t start now until around 4.15pm), but the SNP have released some excerpts in advance.

Mackay will accused the Conservatives of inflicting a fiscal “triple whammy” on Scotland. The SNP explains in its news release:

Mr Mackay will cite three key examples of how funding for public services in Scotland is being squeeze by Tory actions. The austerity agenda is responsible for a 9.2% real-terms cut to Scotland’s budget over the current decade. At the same time, the Scottish government is being forced to pay an ever-increasing amount on mitigating some of the worst Tory policies – such as the bedroom tax and cuts to council tax benefit. Meanwhile, decisions such as forcing Police Scotland to pay VAT are “completely unjustifiably” withholding tens of millions of pounds from Scotland’s budget.

Derek MacKay and Nicola Sturgeon.
Derek MacKay and Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters

Here’s one supporter attending the SNP conference.

A delegate attends the SNP conference.
A delegate attends the SNP conference. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

But most people here are dressed like this.

Delegates at the SNP conference.
Delegates at the SNP conference. Photograph: Andy Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images

Mike Russell, the Scottish government’s Brexit minister, has told a fringe meeting that the UK government does not have “a scooby” (a Scooby-Doo - clue) about how to deal with Brexit. This is from the BBC’s Philip Sim.

Drug use should be seen as 'health issue rather than criminal matter', SNP agrees

The main conference proceedings have now stopped for lunch. Before the break members passed an amended resolution on drug reform, saying that substance misuse should be seen “as a public health issue rather than a criminal matter”, that powers relating to drugs policy should be devolved to the Scottish parliament (drug policy is currently reserved to Westminster), and that there should be a comprehensive review considering “all options for harm reduction, including drug classification, decriminalisation, legalisation and regulation”.

Here is a summary of some of the main points from Jeane Freeman’s speech earlier. (See 11.02am.)

  • Freeman, the Scottish government’s social security minister, accused the UK government of using the benefits system as “nothing more than a cash cow”.

Cuts to support for families and children, cuts to support for those suffering ill health or who are disabled. Cuts to those looking for work, and needing our help to do that.

The rape clause. The benefit cap. Sanctioning families and forcing them into foodbanks.

Deliberately building a system where those on the lowest incomes are left without financial support for six weeks.

Cuts to the disabled. The bedroom tax. Women in their 60s betrayed and left without a pension.

A system, the foundations laid by Labour, colluded with by the LibDems and now taken to extremes by a Tory government thirled to a failed dogma of austerity where our social security system - that essential safety net for all, is seen as nothing more than a cash cow.

Theft from each and every one of us to protect those with the most, on the back of those with the least.

(‘Thirled’ is a Scots word that roughly means in thrall to, I’m told.)

The UN did have something positive to say – it just wasn’t about the Tory UK government.

The only positive comments made were about the work of the SNP Scottish government – directly involving disabled people in the development of our polices with our disability delivery plan, social security system and our adoption of the accessible travel network all singled out for praise.

In one report – the result of a 2 year inquiry – the stark contrast between two governments and how they view the people they serve.

The UK government condemned by the UN, the scottish government praised.

Condemned by the UN, by faith groups, third sector organisations, local authoroties, housing associations. Will this make the Tories think again?

You’d have to hope so – but for a government to do that it has to have compassion, it has to care more about the people it serves than it does about itself. So in truth – I ‘hae ma doubts’.

  • She demanded five welfare changes, saying that these were what Theresa May should do if she wanted to show she was serious about tackling injustices. Freeman said:

If you want to ‘fight burning injustice’, prime minister, here are five things you could do right here, right now.

Stop the roll out of universal credit, end the 6-week wait for the first payment and fix the problems that have been known about since 2013.

Stop the work capability assessment that sees people deemed fit to work when they are clearly so ill they cannot work, or need tailored support into work because of ill health or disability.

Stop sanctioning people’s benefits, removing financial support and forcing more and more people to rely on foodbanks and emergency payments just to eat.

Act now to redress a glaring wrong and provide a decent transitional arrangement for Waspi [Women against state pension injustice] women.

And remove the rape clause. What bigger totem of injustice is a system that dictates if you’re a woman on a low income who has been raped, you need to fill in a form to get the benefits your child should be entitled to?

Updated

Derek Mackay, the Scottish finance secretary, came under pressure to give all Scottish nurses, police, fire fighters and government staff an above inflation pay rise from trade unionists in the Scottish National party.

The party conference unanimously backed a motion urging both the Scottish and UK governments to end the 1% public sector pay cap. The motion’s wording mirrored pledges by Nicola Sturgeon’s government to lift the cap, but like the first minister’s promise, the motion did not specify by how much.

But delegates loudly applauded calls from Craig Lundie, a member of the PCS civil service union, to back his union’s demands for a pay rise above inflation or face a public sector strike.

The PCS, which has 8,000 Scottish government-employed members and 16,000 paid by UK departments in Scotland, launched a consultative ballot on Monday urging its members to support UK-wide strike action in favour of a 5% across the board pay rise.

Mackay is facing a very difficult budget settlement later this year, after the SNP’s manifestos pledged to fund the NHS by £500m above inflation. Treasury funding is being reduced, while Scotland’s lower GDP will cut tax receipts. Economists at the Fraser of Allander Institute say the NHS funding pledge means other Scottish spending will need to be cut by 20% by 2021, and a 3% rise in public sector pay would cost ministers £400m.

Lundie said there was a direct link between party’s quest for a progressive social democratic and independent Scotland and an above inflation pay rise. “This is a crucial question for us in the independence movement,” he said.

He was followed by another member of the SNP trade union group, Ross Cassie, who said an above inflation pay rise would allow Scotland “to lead by example … Any pay award below the rate of inflation is still a pay cut and as such we will be seen as keeping a cap in place.”

Updated

The SNP will debate a motion on Catalonia this afternoon. The BBC’s Nick Eardley has the text.

Updated

The conference has just passed a resolution saying full powers over agriculture and fisheries should be returned to Scotland after Brexit.

Michael Matheson, the Scottish government’s justice secretary has been accused of letting down police officers by the mother of a woman who quit the single force from exhaustion, the Press Association reports.

Michael Matheson was confronted on the pressures facing Police Scotland staff during a fringe event hosted by the Scottish Police Federation at the SNP conference in Glasgow.

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she had been “incredibly proud” to attend her daughter’s passing out at Tulliallan three and a half-years-ago.

She said: “This was her dream to serve Scotland as a police officer. Unfortunately it hasn’t worked out well. She is now physically and emotionally exhausted.

“She resigned about six weeks ago because there was no prospect of improvement in the service coming any time soon Mr Matheson.”

She said her daughter had coped with “relentless” 10-hour shifts, often without a meal or toilet break, had “no quality of life” due to changing shift patterns and dealt with “never-ending paperwork” as well as “defunct” IT systems and response vehicles with 130,000 plus miles on the clock and no satellite navigation.

“She didn’t think the job would be a walk in the park, she was well aware of what she was taking on and I feel she’s been very let down. She’s not complaining but I am angry because, Mr Matheson, I’m a member of the SNP.

“This isn’t a Tory government in Scotland, this isn’t a Labour government in Scotland, this is my party in Scotland and you are letting down your officers.

“What Mr Matheson would you say to my daughter who must be feeling let down, what would you say to her and to the other officers..that are on the edge of nervous breakdowns? I’m not exaggerating.”

Earlier panel member Calum Steele, general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, said he was concerned Police Scotland was “becoming a response only service and in many cases an apologetic response only service”.

He said: “If you look at our police service just now, you will find large percentage of officers that are downtrodden, they are tired, they are exhausted, they are fatigued, they feel unloved and it is difficult to genuinely say that that’s the kind of police service that the country needs but it’s also not the kind of police service that they themselves need to be working in.”

Responding to the concerns Matheson said: “With the creation of a single force, one of the areas which has not been adequately addressed within the service is around the whole issue of the wellbeing of our police officers and their needs and to recognise that the service needs to address these issues that they have as a matter of concern.

“I’m conscious that the service has put a lot of work into that in recent times in order to try and address these issues but there is clearly significantly more that the service needs to take forward in order to address these matters.”

He said the government had protected the police budget “in order to make sure that we can try to provide as much resource as we can particularly during a period of austerity”.

This is what Phillippa Whitford said about the NHS in England. (See 11.20am.)

So what we see down in England is rationing of treatment. Older citizens being denied hip or knee replacements until they can hardly walk. And if you’ve got a cataract, tough. You’re not going to get that done until you can only see the top three letters on the chart ...

Our cabinet secretary takes a totally different approach. We are investing in expanding elective services so that we can keep up with what are known as hips, knees and eyes.

Of course, in England if you are wealthy you can pay to have your cataract done. Because in England they only fix one; they don’t fix the second. It’s going to cost you £850. That’s to the NHS. So this idea that the NHS is free at the point of use in England is over.

A colleague says this is not true. His wife got two cataract operation done on the NHS in England, for free, only this year.

This is from the Times columnist Kenny Farquharson.

Delegates are now debating a resolution welcoming the Scottish government’s decision to end the public sector pay cap and calling for “fair and appropriate future pay awards”.

Phillippa Whitford, the SNP’s health spokesperson at Westminster, spoke a few minutes ago.

She said that in England some NHS treatments are now effectively rationed. People are having difficulty getting hip replacements, she said. And people will only get cataract operations when their sight is so poor that they can only see the top letters on the letter chart.

She said the SNP’s approach in Scotland was different. It is prioritising hip, knee and eye treatments, she said.

Here is the full text of Ian Blackford’s speech.

Jeane Freeman, the social security minister in the Scottish government, is speaking now.

She says there is a big difference between the UK government’s approach to the disabled and the Scottish government’s.

The recent UN report on the UK government’s record was “damning”, she says. She says the only positive comments in the UN’s report referred to actions taken by the Scottish government.

The UK government condemned by the UN, the Scottish government praised.

Will the UN report make a difference? Freeman says she has her doubts, because for the UK to change course, it would have to have compassion.

She says the UK government is using the social security system as a cash cow. That is theft, she says.

She says Theresa May said she wanted to fight burning injustices. But if May is serious about this, she should fix the problems with universal credit, stop workplace capability assessments and stop people being sanctioned. And she should abandon the rape clause.

Blackford said there were other examples where SNPs were making a difference at Westminster.

Stewart’s bill is just one example of where our SNP MPs are working hard to make a real difference.

Chris Stephens is working tirelessly to improve workers’ rights and challenge the Tory government’s anti-trade union laws.

Mhairi Black’s campaign for justice for the thousands of Waspi women affected by the UK government’s unfair pension changes has also shown the fairer choices that could be made.

We know a win is now in sight for Waspi women. 8 DUP and 2 Tory MPs have signed a parliamentary motion showing their support - meaning parliamentary arithmetic is now on our side to push the government to give women the pensions which are rightfully theirs. So today I am calling on Labour to unite with us and challenge the Tories to end this injustice.

And he ended by stressing that the SNP was still committed to independence.

SNP MPs will always stand up for scotland - for our NHS, our universities, our food and drink sector, and the many other industries and communities that stand to lose out if the Tory Brexiteers get their way.

Of course, as the damage of Brexit becomes clearer, and as right-wing Tory policies continue to make families across Scotland worse off – we know that independence remains the only way to truly shape our own future.

But for as long as we remain tied to Westminster, you can be sure that our SNP MPs will continue to provide the strong voice that Scotland needs.

Blackford challenges the UK government to back an SNP MP’s private member’s bill on unpaid work trials.

It is SNP MPs that are driving forward the case for the progressive alternative.

Fairer alternatives like the bill being brought forward by Glasgow South’s MP Stewart McDonald, to end the scandal of exploitative unpaid trial shifts when people are looking for work.

So here’s a test for Theresa May

Stewart McDonald’s private members bill can make a big difference.

Blackford says he feels particularly passionate about social mobility.

Conference, social mobility should be the very cornerstone of our society - and that is something I feel particularly passionate about.

My formative years were spent in Muirhouse – a housing scheme in Edinburgh.

I didn’t go to university. I went straight into work from school – starting out as a bank clerk.

And with the opportunity to learn on the job, to prove my ability, and to work my way up, I was able to succeed in business like others in my generation.

Conference, I want everyone to have those same opportunities - but too often now, thanks to the right-wing policies of this Tory government, the support and chances that people need to get on are being restricted or cut off entirely.

Blackford accuses the UK government of reneging on a promise to match the £1bn given to Northern Ireland and the DUP with extra money for Scotland.

A Tory prime minister who is so desperate to cling on to power, that she was forced to beg the DUP to prop up her government with a billion pound bribe from the magic money tree we were all told didn’t exist.

A billion pounds of investment that David Mundell – Scotland’s supposed man in the cabinet – assured us ought to have had Barnet consequentials, meaning an additional £2.9bn for Scotland.

Of course – when the prime minister refused to recognise this, rather than speak out and make a stand, the Secretary of State went into hiding and said absolutely nothing – failing to secure a single penny for Scotland.

Once again, fully demonstrating, he is not Scotland’s man in the cabinet, he is the cabinet’s man in Scotland.

Ian Blackford's speech

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, is speaking now.

He was due to speak a bit later, but his slot has been brought forward because he has to go down to Westminster for the Theresa May Brexit statement at 3.30pm.

He starts with an attack on Labour.

While Labour flip flops on so many of the big issues facing our country – from their ever-changing position on Brexit, to their on-off support for Tory welfare cuts, tuition fees, and nuclear weapons – it is the SNP that are providing the consistent and effective opposition that is desperately needed.

Unlike the other parties, we have a united team of MPs that will always put Scotland’s interests first.

The Scottish government has been getting grief from the Scottish Police Federation at a morning fringe, the i’s Chris Green reports.

Michael Matheson is the justice secretary in the Scottish government.

Sturgeon says Scottish football manager wrong about genetics being to blame for Scotland's World Cup failure

On Good Morning Britain Nicola Sturgeon was also asked about the claim from the Scotland manager, Gordon Strachan, about Scottish players being at a disadvantage in international football because they were small. As the Guardian reports, Strachan said:

Technically we’re fine. But our guys have to work harder to get on the ball than bigger lads at six foot three.

What I do know is that genetically we are behind. In the last campaign we were the second smallest squad behind Spain. That means that I had to pick a team tonight to try and combat their height and strength. Even at that we couldn’t combat their height and strength at set plays. Genetically we have to work at things. It is a problem for us.

We have to fight harder for every ball and jump higher because it is easier for these type of guys. Physically we have a problem against the teams we have faced in the last couple of years.

Sturgeon said, politely, that she thought he was talking nonsense. When asked about this, she replied:

I’m a big fan of Gordon Strachan’s, actually. I have been since he used to play for Scotland. But maybe that was heat of the moment stuff after the disappointment of the match.

I think when our friends in Northern Ireland manage to get into the play-offs, we might be struggling to maintain that argument.

Asked if Strachan should resign after Scotland’s failure to make it to the World Cup, she said that was a matter for him.

And on Good Morning Britain Nicola Sturgeon was asking about Scotland not making it into the World Cup. Scotland would just have to “take it on the chin”, she said.

Sturgeon's morning interviews - Summary

Here are some of the main points from Nicola Sturgeon’s morning interviews.

  • Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, said that the case for a second Brexit referendum was getting “difficult to resist” and, if the government tried to leave the EU with no deal, the argument in favour would be “irresistible”. (See 9am.)
  • She said there was a realistic prospect of the Commons voting to keep the UK in the single market for good.

The arithmetic in the House of Commons, to be positive about this, is such that we shouldn’t give up on more sensible outcomes to this process. I’ve argued all along that if the UK is going to leave the EU, which I regret but accept is going to happen, then we should remain within the single market and the customs union because that is the best way to protect jobs and living standards and the economy generally ...

Possibly before the general election I would not have said this, but I think there now is the prospect, because of the arithmetic across the House of Commons, of trying to secure something that is not ideal, but better than what might have been in prospect before. I’m taking about remaining in the single market.

  • She challenged Labour to commit to keeping the UK in the single market for good.

Now, what has to happen for that to be deliverable, Labour has to get its act together and unequivocally argue for continued membership of the single market.

  • And she challenged Scottish Conservative MPs to do the same, saying they could hold “the balance of power” on this issue.

The Scottish Tories could hold the balance of power on this. And if they end up voting with the government to take Scotland out of the single market, I think they are going to have some very tough questions to answer ...

So far since the general election the Scottish Tories have not shown any influence of power at all. What I’m saying is, if they had the gumption, they could exercise, if they voted with the SNP and if Labour got its act together, there could be a majority in the House of Commons to stop a hard Brexit.

  • She said Brexit was “a developing disaster”.

We are seeing a developing disaster, in my view, with the Brexit negotiations.

  • She rejected claims that the SNP conference was ducking the issue of independence. These have been prompted by the fact that there is no specific debate on independence. When this was put to Sturgeon, she said:

There will be no shortage of discussion of independence throughout our conference. In my own speech tomorrow I’ll cover the issue of independence.

  • She said that the case for Scottish independence “gets stronger by the day”.
  • She said she did not accept that school standards had not risen in Scotland under the SNP. When this was put to her, she said:

I’ve accepted we have challenges to overcome in Scottish education. That’s why we’ve got the biggest programme of reform underway now in the lifetime of devolution. But I simply don’t accept your characterisation. We’re in Glasgow now. Ten years ago 12% of young people in this city left school with three highers. Today it is 30% and rising. Higher passers, for listeners south of the border, are broad equivalent of A levels, up by a third. Record numbers going to university.

Nicola Sturgeon.
Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Here is the Sun’s take on the interviews I wrote up earlier.

I will post a summary of other lines from Nicola Sturgeon’s morning interviews shortly.

Sturgeon says Brexit 'developing disaster' and case for 2nd referendum getting 'difficult to resist'

The SNP is holding its conference in Glasgow, Nicola Sturgeon, the party leader and Scottish first minister, has been giving interviews this morning and some of the questions have inevitably focused on the interplay between two referendums we’ve already had, on Scottish independence and Brexit, and the prospect of two further referendums on both of these topics.

Earlier this year Sturgeon said Brexit meant that she would want to call a second independence referendum, probably before the UK left the EU in March 2019. But the prospect of a second #indyref turned out to be a vote loser in the general election, and now she is saying she wants to wait before making a decision about its timing.

But there is also the prospect of a second referendum on Brexit. The Liberal Democrats are actively demanding one and Labour, although not backing the idea, has been careful not to rule it out. In an interview on the BBC’s Good Morning Scotland Sturgeon said Brexit was “a developing disaster” and that, although a second Brexit referendum was not SNP policy, she was becoming increasingly receptive to it.

I do think those who are calling, not for a second referendum on the principle of EU membership, but a referendum on the final outcome, that case perhaps will get stronger and become more and more difficult to resist ...

With every day that passes right now, and uncertainty growing rather than receding, people when they voted last June did not have a clue what they were voting for. That’s becoming patently obvious. Then that case perhaps [for another Brexit referendum] will become quite difficult to resist.

In a subsequent interview with James Naughtie on the Today programme, she said that if the UK government tried to take Britain out of the EU with no Brexit deal, at that point the SNP might actively call for a second Brexit referendum. She told the programme:

I’m not there right now [supporting a second Brexit referendum]. Part of the reason I’m not there is because we don’t know what the outcome is going to be yet. But if we end up in a position where the UK crashes out of the EU with no deal at all, the consequences of that are so dire that I think the argument at that stage maybe irresistible that people should have the right to look at the outcome.

I will post more from Sturgeon’s morning interviews soon.

I will be covering the SNP conference in detail until mid afternoon when I will switch to cover Theresa May’s statement in the Commons on Brexit.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10.30am: The SNP conference opens, with debates on motions including public sector pay, drug law reform and agriculture and fisheries.

11am: Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, speaks in a session on Standing up for Scotland. Jeane Freeman, the Scottish government’s social security minister, and Phillippa Whitford, the SNP’s health spokesperson at Westminster are also speaking.

2pm: Leanne Wood, the Plaid Cymru leader, delivers a fraternal address to the SNP conference.

2.15pm: Debates on motions including “sex for rent”, the Bank of England and immigration.

3.20pm: Derek Mackay, the Scottish government’s finance minister, speaks.

3.30pm: Theresa May’s gives a statement to MPs in the House of Commons about Brexit.

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

Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news from Jack Blanchard’s Playbook. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but normally I find it impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer direct questions, although sometimes I miss them or don’t have time.

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

Updated

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