Afternoon summary
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for all the good wishes.
As I said earlier, I’m not expecting to do a live blog tomorrow. But I am planning to write a long Brexit article which should go online at some point in the day.
Theresa May's evidence to the liaison committee - Summary
Here are the key points from Theresa May’s evidence to the Commons liaison committee.
- May refused to commit to giving MPs a vote on the final Brexit deal. (See 2.19pm.)
- She said she was in favour of a transitional deal to allow time for new arrangements to be implemented. But she refused to say that negotiating this would be a “priority”. (See 2.23pm and 2.27pm.)
- She said the government would not be trying to extend the two-year period within which the Brexit negotiation is supposed to be concluded.
- She signalled that she would not support the plans published by the Scottish government earlier today that would allow Scotland to stay in the single market if the rest of the UK left. She told the MPs:
What we will be negotiating is a United Kingdom approach and a United Kingdom relationship with the European Union. I think you’ve assumed an acceptance of differential relationships which I don’t think it’s right to accept.
I said when I became prime minister and first met the first minister that we will look very seriously at any proposals that come forward from the devolved administrations, but there may be proposals that are impractical.
- She hinted that the government was making contingency plans for what it might have to do if the two-year Brexit talks end without a deal.
- She defended the decision to include students in net migration figures - even though Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, and Philip Hammond, the chancellor, have expressed doubts about this. She told the MPs:
The target figures are calculated from the overall migration figures and students are in the overall migration figures because it is an international definition of migration, which is used by countries around the world.
Having students in that overall migration figure actually showed us when we first came into government that what we had seen in the previous 13 years of Labour government was significant abuse of the student visa system into the United Kingdom.
- She confirmed that the government was still committed to getting annual net migration below 100,000.
- She said she would give a speech in January giving more detail about her approach to Brexit.
I will be making a speech early in the new year setting out more about our approach and about the opportunity I think we have as a country to use this process to forge a truly global Britain that embraces and trades with countries across the world.
- She refused to confirm that MPs would be given as much information about the Brexit negotiations as MEPs. (The European parliament has a formal role in the Brexit talks, and there are provisions that will allow some MEPs to be briefed in private about the ongoing negotiations.)
- She indicated the government would not be producing plans for the long-term reform of social care quickly.
Here is some Twitter comment on Theresa May’s liaison committee appearance.
From the Independent’s Rob Merrick
Classic May answer to “You accept there have been public health cuts?”….."There have been changes to the way public health is funded” 1/2
— Rob Merrick (@Rob_Merrick) December 20, 2016
From the Sun’s Steve Hawkes
Tobe fair to the PM I don't think the EU will have ever met a politician who gives away as little. Britain may bore Brussels in2 Brexit deal
— steve hawkes (@steve_hawkes) December 20, 2016
From the Guardian’s Lisa O’Carroll
Can't help noticing Theresa May twists her head lower and further to right under pressure at this v interesting Liaison select committee
— lisa o'carroll (@lisaocarroll) December 20, 2016
From Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh
May now gives Tyrie the PaddingtonBareHardStare. Asked again if Parl to get a vote on final Brexit deal: "I gave the answer I gave chairman"
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) December 20, 2016
From the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman
Not sure how long May is going to manage to keep answering her own questions rather than the ones the Liaison Committee members actually ask
— Isabel Hardman (@IsabelHardman) December 20, 2016
From Business Insider’s Adam Bienkov
May so far: "Negotiations are negotiations”… "The answer I gave is the answer I gave" and "You will see what we publish when we publish it."
— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) December 20, 2016
Unless anything very dramatic happens later this week this will be the last proper Politics Live of 2017. And, like the Queen, I’ve got a Christmas message. It’s thanks. Writing a blog means I engage with readers much more than I used to when I was doing conventional news journalism and 80/90% of the time it’s a pleasure. I always learn something new when I read comments BTL, engaging with readers who criticise constructively definitely sharpens up my reporting and I am particularly grateful to those who point out the numerous typos etc. Besides, I enjoy the company. So thank you to all those who read, and to all those who comment.
Have a very happy Christmas, and I’ll be back on Tuesday 3 January.
Tyrie says three select committee chairs - Meg Hillier from the public accounts committee, Betts and Wollaston - all stressed the need for a cross-party approach on this.
He ends by thanking May for “an extremely interesting session”.
He says she will appear again after the Easter recess, by which time people will have a much better idea of what is happening on Brexit.
And that’s it. I’ll post a summary soon.
Q: Will the final settlement for adult social care look at the need for health and social care to work together. And should they have a combined budget?
May says the government will look at health as part of its social care review. The government needs to recognise the interaction between care and health, she says.
Q: Will you look at how you fund health in the long term. These issues are connected.
May says at the moment she is focusing on social care.
May says the government needs to show people how changes in lifestyle can be of benefit to them.
Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative chair of the health committee, goes next.
Q: The obesity strategy did not say enough about pricing factors.
May says the government is introducing the soft drinks levy.
Q: Are you prepared to commission a major long-term review of what to do about care? And will you invite the opposition parties to contribute?
May says she wants a sustainable solution. But it will not be immediate, she says. Once plans are published, MPs will be able to comment.
- May signals that the government will not be proposing a long-term solution to social care soon.
May is now answering questions about the NHS and social care. Clive Betts, the Labour chair of the communities committee, is asking them now.
Q: Spending on social care fell by 9% in real terms in the last parliament. In your terms, do you accept crisis means crisis?
May says in some areas more people are getting care. She says an important factor is how well services are delivered.
Q: There was no new money in the statement last week. And increasing the precept in poor areas will not cover the extra money they have to spent because of the “national living wage”.
May says she can name some authorities where more people are getting care. She says the announcement allows council to bring forward precept money. After that, money from the Better Care Fund becomes available.
She repeats the point about councils needing to improve how services are delivered.
And in the long-term further reform is needed, she says.
May refuses to confirm that MPs will get as much information about Brexit talks as MEPs
Q: David Davis said parliament would get at least as much information about the negotiation as the European parliament. Is that your view?
May says she and Davis both want parliament to be informed.
Q: So that is a yes?
May says she wants parliament to be able to discuss the issues. The European parliament has a specific role in the negotiations which the UK parliament does not
Tyrie says that sounds like a no.
- May refuses to confirm that MPs will get as much information about the Brexit negotiations as MEPs.
He goes on.
Q: Do you want parliament to vote on a final deal?
May says she wants parliament to have every opportunity to consider these matters. But she wants to ensure that the government delivers on what the people want.
Q: Is that a yes or a no?
That is my answer.
Q: Article 50, subclause 3, specifically says the deal could be implemented at some point in the future.
May says subclause 3 is about extending the negotiations.
Tyrie reads out subclause 3. It says:
The Treaties shall cease to apply to the State in question from the date of entry into force of the withdrawal agreement or, failing that, two years after the notification referred to in paragraph 2, unless the European Council, in agreement with the Member State concerned, unanimously decides to extend this period.
Tyrie says he does not accept May’s interpretation. He says May was clear about not wanting to extend the negotiating period. But what about delaying implementation?
May says there “may be some practical aspects that require a period of implementation thereafter”.
Q: So could use article 50, subclause 3, to negotiate an implementation date after the end of the two year period.
May says they will discuss this.
She says government may need extra time to implement the deal.
But the amount of time needed will depend on what the deal is.
- May confirms there may be a case for delaying implementation of the Brexit deal. (This is another way of her confirming that there could be a transitional deal.)
My colleague Anushka Asthana has been sending me some of May’s direct quotes, and so I have been beefing up some of the earlier posts - on whether MPs get a vote, and on a transition period - to include them. To get them to show up, you may need to refresh the page.
May hints government doing contingency planning in case no deal struck in two years
Crispin Blunt, the Conservative chair of the foreign affairs committee, goes next.
May indicates the government is drawing up contingency plans for what might happen if the UK does not get a deal in two years.
Asked by Blunt if Govt has conting planning for no Brexit deal done by 2019, May: "We are looking at ALL the scenarios that might pertain"
— Paul Waugh (@paulwaugh) December 20, 2016
Q: Will your article 50 letter cover what aspects of a trade deal can be negotiated by the commission, and which have to be agreed by all member states.
May indicates this will not be part of the article 50 letter.
Q: What would happen if there were no deal after two years.
May says the other 27 states would have to decide whether or not to prolong the negotiations.
May defends decision to include students in the migration target
Q: The chancellor, the foreign secretary, the home secretary, and the previous chancellor, all think students should be excluded from your migration target?
May says they are in the figures ...
Q: I’m asking about the target.
May says the target relates to the figures. She says including students is in line with international practice. There used to be a problem with the abuse of student visas, she says.
Cooper says:
You don’t have a way to meet the target. It’s a bit of a mess on immigration.
Tyrie says the bogus student issue has been addressed. International students are a success story. Shouldn’t students be excluded?
May says she uses the international definition.
Q: So that’s a no.
May says the governments uses the international definition.
- May defends decision to include students in the migration target.
This is getting tetchy. Cooper used to shadow May at the Home Office, and so these two have “previous”. May is not enjoying Cooper’s line of questioning at all, and her bonhomie is evaporating.
May confirms government still committed to getting net migration below 100,000.
Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the home affairs committee, goes next.
Q: Will you include plans for immigration controls in the plan?
May says the government is working on plans. It will publish them when they are ready.
Q: If there is a tension between what would be in the best interests of Britain and your net migration target, will you ditch the target?
May says Cooper is assuming that you can make that judgment.
She says Cooper should know that looking at immigration numbers is not an exact science. You cannot look at it in the way Cooper proposes, she says.
She says she wants the best deal for operating in the single market, as well as allowing the UK to control immigration.
Q: But you used to blame the EU for not being able to meet your target. Will you aim to get EU migration down to 50,000?
May says she will do what is best for the UK?
Q: If you cannot do both, will you ditch the target?
May says the government will maintain its target of getting net migration below 100,000. That is important, she says. Migration affects people on low incomes.
- May confirms government still committed to getting net migration below 100,000.
Q: Who do you want not to come?
May says people voted to get control of immigration.
Updated
Q: Will you rule out passport checks between Northern Ireland and Britain?
May says she is focusing on keeping open the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Q: Will the devolved bodies get aspects of EU law?
May says these details will be decided in the great reform bill.
Q: Irish citizens have the same rights to come to the UK as Commonwealth citizens. Will that continue?
Mays says she wants to look at these issues of how we treat people from other EU countries early in the talks.
Laurence Robertson, the Conservative chair of the Northern Ireland committee, goes next.
May says she does not want to return to the borders of the past in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
May says she does not think there is a need for a second referendum.
It it became independent, it would no longer be a member of the EU, or the EU single market, or the UK single market. And the UK single market is worth four times as much to Scotland as the EU single market, she says.
May hints that she may end up dismissing Scottish government’s plans as 'impractical'
Pete Wishart, the SNP chair of the Scottish affairs committee, asks about Nicola Sturgeon’s paper.
May says she welcomes it, but has not had a chance to read it yet. It will be discussed in the joint ministerial committee, she says.
Q: Will differential arrangements be a feature of Brexit?
May says she is negotiating a UK approach. Wishart is assuming differential arrangements, and that is not right.
She says she has promised to look at plans from the devolved bodies. But they may be “impractical”.
- May hints that she may end up dismissing the Scottish government’s plans as “impractical”.
Bill Cash, the Conservative chair of the European scrutiny committee, goes next.
Q: Do you have an EU unit in Number 10?
May says she has set up a unit in Number 10 dealing with these issue.
Q: What assessment have you made of the trade off between your red lines (control of borders and laws) and what you want to keep?
May says she does not think of it like that. She thinks of it in terms of negotiating a new relationship.
Updated
Andrew Tyrie takes over.
Q: You implied you back a transitional deal. Will the government negotiate a “standstill” deal?
May says she would not use the word “standstill”. But there are issues to be addressed.
Q: Will you negotiate one?
May says she wants to discuss this with the EU.
Q: Is this a priority?
May says addressing the rights of EU workers in the UK is a priority. But this will have to be addressed.
Q: Yes or no to priority?
May says when the negotiation starts, she will consider what the issues are. She is well aware of the views of business.
May says she wants to get the best possible deal to allow the UK to trade in the single market.
The Nissan investment was a huge vote of confidence in the Sunderland workforce, she says.
May implies she favour a transitional deal to help firms adjust to new rules
Q: Can you confirm you will seek a transitional deal?
May says some people use this to refer to putting off a deal. And some people use it to refer to what happens if a deal cannot be negotiated in two years.
But there is also an issue about adjustment.
When people talk about transition, often different people mean different things by transition. There are some people who will talk about transition as a deliberate way of putting off leaving the EU. For others, transition is an expectation that you can’t get the deal in two years and therefore you’ve got to have a further period to do it.
But if you think about the process that we are going to go through, once we’ve got the new arrangements there will, of course, be a necessity of adjustment to those new arrangements for implementation of some practical changes that may need to take place. That is what business have been commenting on.
When they talk about a cliff edge, they don’t want to wake up one morning with a deal agreed the night before and suddenly discovering they have to do everything in a different way. So there is a practical aspect of how you ensure that people are able to adjust to the new relationship which is not about trying to delay the point at which we leave and not about trying to extend the period of negotiation.
(May implies that she favours a transitional deal, provided that it just amounts to allowing time for adjustment.)
- May implies she favour a transitional deal to help firms adjust to new rules.
Updated
May refuses to give explicit commitment to letting MPs vote on final Brexit deal
Hilary Benn, the Labour chair of the Brexit committee, goes next.
Q: Will parliament have the chance to scrutinise the plan before article 50 is triggered?
May says it will have suitable time to scrutinise it.
Q: How long does it need?
May says that is Benn trying to find when it will be published. She will not say, she says.
Q: Will there be a vote on the final deal?
May says there will be lots of votes on the great repeal bill.
Well parliament is going to have every opportunity to vote through the great repeal bill on the various aspects of the relationship that we will be having with the European Union.
Q: Will MPs get to vote on the final deal?
May says she wants to ensure MPs can discuss it.
It is my intention to make sure that parliament has ample opportunity to comment on and discuss the aspects of the arrangements that we are putting in place. We will be going through he negotiations ... This is going to take two parties [the EU 27 and UK] to go through that process of negotiation - when we are able to give clarity then we will do so.
Q: Why can’t you commit to a vote? The European parliament will get a vote.
May says there is an issue with the timetable. She says she wants to ensure she delivers on what the people voted for.
What I am saying is there will be an opportunity for parliament, of course, to consider when more details do become available how this is going to operate. There is a question to the timetable and how that timetable will operate in relation to the European parliament. What I am clear about is ensuring that when we come to the vote we are delivering on the vote of the British people to leave the European Union.
- May refuses to give explicit commitment to letting MPs vote on the final Brexit deal.
Updated
May says government will not try to extend two-year withdrawal process
Q: So EU law will no longer apply directly in EU courts?
May says when the UK is outside, British courts will decide British laws.
Q: That will be April 2019?
May says she “fully expects” to meet that timetable.
Q: So you won’t seek a withdrawal agreement that could extend the two-year period.
May says she is not seeking to extend that.
The European commission has indicated it could take less than two years, she says.
Q: And that deal will not leave EU law directly applicable in the UK?
May says when we leave, laws will be decided in the UK.
Q: Article 50 gives some flexibility on the operative part of leaving. Will the government make use of that?
May says article 50 allows for the two-year period to be extended. But the government does not want to do that. It wants it done within two years.
- May says government will not try to extend two-year withdrawal process.
Q: Will the UK have left the EU by April 2019? Will EU law no longer pertain then?
May says she has said she will trigger article 50 by the end of March.
The treaty gives a two-year timetable. That takes us through to the end of March 2019.
May says she “fully expects” the negotiation to be over after two years.
Q: So EU law could still apply after April 2019?
May says the great repeal bill will come into force when the UK leaves the EU.
That is the intention. But that will be dependent on what parliament legislates, she says.
May says she will meet the article 50 deadline, the end of March.
She says she will give a speech “early in the new year” setting out more about the government’s approach.
The EU vote was not just about Europe, she says. People wanted changes to the way the country worked.
- May says she will give a speech on Brexit early in the new year.
May says she has been engaged with the devolved administrations.
Ministers from the Brexit department have met more than 130 businesses.
She says she wants the UK to have a joined-up approach.
She has met most EU leaders bilaterally. Those talks have been constructive.
She will not give a running commentary, she says.
Q: Except to the liaison committee? [Tyrie is joking.]
Not even to the liaison committee, May replies. (She’s not minded to treat this as a joking matter.)
May says she will start with a statement.
She begins by offering condolences to those affected by the attacks in Berlin and Ankara.
She wants to reflect on Brexit, she says. She has created two new departments.
She is taking a “whole of government” approach to this. All departments are involved.
Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative chair of the committee, starts.
Q: Will you do three of these every year?
Yes, says May.
Q: So one at the start of the summer session, and one at the end of the summer session?
May accepts that.
Theresa May's evidence to the Commons liaison committee
Theresa May is about to make her first appearance before the liaison committee, the committee made up of all the heads of Commons select committees.
They are going to question her about Brexit and about health and social care.
The Scottish Greens have cautiously welcomed Sturgeon’s paper. “These plans are the maximum limit of compromise, so if the Westminster government fails to accept them, it will signal clearly that Scotland’s interests and wishes are to be ignored completely,” the Green MSP Ross Greer said in a statement.
Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform thinktank and a member of Nicola Sturgeons’ standing council on Europe, has told the Telegraph (subscription) that it is “extremely difficult” to see Sturgeon’s plan working. He said:
Legally, politically, technically, it’s extremely difficult for Scotland to stay in the single market if the UK as a whole does not, the basic point being that there would have to be one set of business regulations applying to England and another set applying to Scotland.
So that would require the devolution of all business regulation matters to Scotland, which clearly isn’t going to be on the cards in the foreseeable future.
Sturgeon's plan to keep Scotland in single market - How it would work
Here is a summary of the proposal in the 50-page Scotland’s Place in Europe paper (pdf) - a plan by Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, to keep Scotland in the EU single market while the rest of the UK leaves.
- Sturgeon stresses that her plan is a compromise. In her foreword she says that she thinks being independent would be the best option for Scotland. And she also says that, given that Scotland is not independent, she thinks it would be best for the UK as a whole to remain in the single market and in the customs union. But the paper focuses on a proposal that assumes the rest of the UK will leave the single market but that would allow Scotland to stay.
- The paper argues that “differentiated arrangements” of this kind already exist in the EU. For example:
The Channel Islands - They are not in the EU, but they are in the customs union and are, for trade in goods, essentially in the single market.
Denmark - Denmark is in the EU but parts of its territory, Greenland and the Faroe Islands, are outside the EU and the European Economic Area (EEA). But the Faroe Islands are considering joining the European Free Trade Association (Efta).
The paper also says that “differentiation” is integral to the Union itself, because under the Act of Union institutions like law and the church are different in Scotland from England.
- Scotland should go for what is called “the Norway option”, the paper proposes. That involves not being in the EU, not being in the customs union, but being in the EEA and Efta. Staying outside the customs union would mean the England/Scotland border would not be an external EU customs border, the paper says.
- The whole of the UK could benefit, the paper says.
The key benefits of the “Norway option” compared to Scotland being taken completely out of the EU and single market, is that it would allow Scotland to continue to trade in both goods and services within a European single market of 500m people, free of most tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade, while retaining our trading relationship with the rest of the UK ...
It would not just be Scotland that would potentially benefit from such a solution. We consider that there would also be economic advantages to the UK as a whole in having at least part of its territory still within the European single market and able to retain and attract indigenous and inward investment on that basis. It would be of benefit to the EU, both economically and through broader policy collaboration, to retain part of the UK within the European single market and as an enthusiastic contributor to European co-operation.
- The paper suggests two means of allowing Scotland to stay in the EEA/Efta. It could apply for associate Efta membership. Or the UK as a whole could keep its EEA membership, and then seek a territorial exemption for the whole of the UK except for Scotland (ie, leaving Scotland in the EEA.) There is a precedent for this: Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic ocean, is exempt from parts of Norway’s Efta membership. In this comparison Scotland is Norway, and the rest of the UK is Svalbard.
- Scotland would get new regulatory powers to allow it to comply with EEA/Efta rules, the paper says.
Membership of the European single market under the terms of the EEA agreement would require the Scottish parliament and the Scottish government to have competence to legislate in the policy areas covered by the EEA agreement in order to uphold the core principles of the European single market; namely the free movement of goods, services, capital and persons.
- The principle of “parallel marketability” should apply to Scottish goods, the paper says. This means they should met standards that allow them to be sold in the UK and in the EEA.
- Tariffs would be paid depending on where goods were imported from or exported to, the paper says. Imports could be tariff-free if coming to Scotland, but have a tariff imposed if going to the rest of the UK, it says.
When a consignment contains goods bound for sale in both Scotland and the remainder of the UK, if there is no difference in the treatment of that good (for example, if it is tariff-free) between Scotland and the remainder of the UK, then no additional process is required. Where there is a difference, on entering the UK the point of sale for the relevant proportion of the goods will need to be declared and the relevant tariff paid and regulations followed. If the point of sale is in the remainder of the UK, then the UK-wide regulations and any UK tariff would apply.
The same principle would apply to exports, the paper says.
- Free movement between Scotland and the rest of the UK would apply, and it would be up to the rest of the UK to use employment checks to stop EU workers coming through Scotland to work in England, Wales or Northern Ireland illegally, the paper says.
The main issue that would have to be addressed is the prospect of people from other European countries with the right to live and work in Scotland seeking to use Scotland as an access route to living and working in the rest of the UK. There will, however, be immigration rules applied in the rest of UK that will deal with that issue, which, as the prime minister has set out, are likely to be based on checks at the point of employment. Anyone from outside the UK seeking to find work or housing or access social security or public services in the rest of the UK would be subject to whatever rules and standards of proof the UK Government decides upon.
The paper says there are precedents for this in other countries.
It is worth noting that in other parts of the world, Canada and Australia for example, there are already successful examples of differentiated immigration systems. These allow Provinces in Canada and Territories and States in Australia to identify and address their own specific population challenges by flexing the requirements of the national immigration system. These systems do not create borders or barriers between provinces or states.
- Scotland should get a raft of new powers, the paper proposes. It paper says these come into three categories: powers from Brussels being repatriated to the UK (ie, agriculture); powers that Scotland might want to protect citizens’ rights (ie, employment law); and extra powers to allow “differentiation” to work (ie, import and export control.)
Updated
And here’s the BBC’s Philip Sim with another extract from the Scotland’s Place in Europe paper.
Key areas for further devolution targeted in Nicola Sturgeon's Brexit plan; wouldn't leave very many reserved areas at all... pic.twitter.com/4dnRPnUfaT
— Philip Sim (@BBCPhilipSim) December 20, 2016
Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, has challenged Nicola Sturgeon to rule out a second independence referendum. She made the point in a statement responding to the Scotland’s Place in Europe paper. She said:
We will study the government’s Brexit proposals in detail, including the practicality of delivering different solutions for different parts of the UK. Scottish Labour is very clear that we want the UK to retain access to the EU single market to protect jobs and the rights of workers in Scotland.
The most important single market to Scotland is the UK. The SNP’s own figures confirm that remaining part of the UK single market is more important for Scotland’s economy than even being in the EU.
With power returning from Brussels, it is now clear that we need a people’s constitutional convention and a new Act of a Union to reform where power lies across the whole of our country, and to save our union for the future.
If Nicola Sturgeon really wants to unite the country, she should take this opportunity to rule out another independence referendum. Our country is divided enough already without seeking even further divisions. Labour will not support any plan to force another independence referendum on the people of Scotland.
The BBC’s Glenn Campbell has been tweeting extracts from the Scottish government’s Scotland’s Place in Europe paper.
Here is the essence of @nicolasturgeon 's #Brexit ask of @theresa_may pic.twitter.com/REEYMAlBxg
— Glenn Campbell (@GlennBBC) December 20, 2016
Here's how @NicolaSturgeon thinks passport checks can be avoided if Scotland in single market and England not pic.twitter.com/IucEjHGQTU
— Glenn Campbell (@GlennBBC) December 20, 2016
Here is the Scottish government’s news release about its Scotland’s Place in Europe paper.
Q: You are committed to independence. Yet you want to sign up to an arrangement where you would have no say over the setting of single market rules?
Sturgeon says this is not a perfect solution. It is a compromise solution. Members of the European Economic Area and the European Free Trade Area have less influence over the rules than EU members. But they have some influence. And Scotland does not have much influence itself when decisions are taken by London, she says.
And that’s it. The Q&A is over.
I’ll post a summary shortly.
Sturgeon says she does not want to do anything to compromise the chances of finding a solution to the problem of what to do about the the Ireland/Northern Ireland border after Brexit.
Sturgeon says Scotland would have to pay the EU to stay in the single market. But the contributions would be lower than Scotland’s contributions to the EU are now.
Sturgeon says she hopes other parties will back her approach. But she does not expect the Conservatives to support her. In June the Conservative leadership were opposed to Brexit. But now they are just saying we should accept it.
But she says she would be confused if Labour were not able to get behind it.
Sturgeon says she has tried to avoid talking about “red lines”. She says she finds that approach unhelpful.
Sturgeon says she is trying to bring the country together. She believes in independence, but she respects the fact that many people disagree.
Sturgeon says this paper is informed by the views of her standing council on Brexit. A range of views are represented on that council, she says.
Sturgeon says the Scottish government has not learnt more about the UK government’s Brexit plans than anyone else. She says that, going into talks with London, you get told that Brexit means Brexit, but not much else.
But there have been encouraging signs recently from Philip Hammond, she says.
She says she hopes Britain stays in the single market and the customs union. But she has to be realistic, she says.
Sturgeon says, under her plan, there would be an issue about what might happen to anyone coming to Scotland under free movement, and then moving to England to work.
England would have to address this through administrative checks, she says.
But she says these problems are not insurmountable.
She says Sadiq Khan in London has talked about the possibility of London having different rules.
The UK government may have to deal with the prospect of having flexible immigration arrangements.
Sturgeon says what she has said in the past about the option of holding a second independence referendum still stands.
But she says she wants to give the UK government a chance to consider these plans seriously.
Back in Edinburgh Sturgeon says her plan is not a “perfect solution”. But it is the best way through, she suggests.
Here are some more Labour MPs using Twitter to condemn Nigel Farage.
Here's an excellent way to respond to the nastiness of Nigel Farage: https://t.co/zYal9Eb2gH #moreincommon #lovelikeJo
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) December 20, 2016
I pity Farage. His problem with @hopenothate is all they fight. His whole life is determined by hate, lies, racism, deceit & discrimination.
— Neil Coyle (@coyleneil) December 20, 2016
Only @Nigel_Farage wld attack group called Hope Not Hate & Brendan Cox in extraordinary Berlin 'terror attack' rant https://t.co/iIiDEone1s
— Phil Wilson MP (@PhilWilsonMP) December 20, 2016
Q: Won’t there have to be a trade border between England and Scotland?
Sturgeon says there would be no difference in terms of the customs union under her plan. So the border with Scotland would not be an external one.
Q: The UK will not get a deal with an opt-out for Scotland. And Spain in particular will not back it.
Sturgeon says Scotland did not ask for this problem. She recognises that everything is complicated. But we have to find a way through. And Scotland was told in 2014 that Scotland was a partnership of equals. If that means anything, a way should be found to square the circle, she says.
Sturgeon say, six months after the referendum, hers is the only plan anyone has published in the UK for Brexit.
Back in Edinburgh Sturgeon is taking questions.
She says more powers are needed to support a differentiated solution. But even without a differentiated solution Brexit should lead to Scotland getting new powers, she says.
Hope Not Hate suggests it is considering suing Farage over his 'outrageous' accusation
Turning back to Nigel Farage for a moment, Hope Not Hate has issued a response. It said in a statement:
We are aware of a serious and potentially libellous statement made about Hope Not Hate by Nigel Farage on LBC radio this morning.
We have no idea on what Mr Farage bases his outrageous comments. Hope Not Hate has a proud history of campaigning against extremism and hatred.
We will not be making any further comment until we have had the opportunity to consult with our lawyers.
Sturgeon says the paper is saying the devolution settlement must be fundamentally revised.
First, powers being devolved from the EU must be transferred to Scotland, for example over agriculture.
Second, further powers should be devolved, covering areas like social protection.
And, third, some new powers should be devolved to allow the single market option to work, for example over immigration.
Sturgeon says there are already asymmetric arrangements within the EU. What she is proposing would be different in scale, but not in principle.
She says the UK government has already proposed offering flexibility to Northern Ireland.
And everything about Scotland will be unprecedented anyway, she says.
The Scottish government’s full document is here (pdf).
Sturgeon says the second best option in the paper is for Scotland alone to stay in the single market.
She admits that this would be difficult.
This plan would not involve a hard border between Scotland and England, she says.
Sturgeon is now going through the details of the plans.
She sets out why the single market is so important. See 9.08am.
She says, first, the SNP is proposing that the UK as a whole should stay in the single market.
She says she accepts there is a mandate to leave the EU. But there is no mandate to leave the single market, she says.
But this “seems an unlikely outcome”, she admits.
She says the Tories want to prioritise cutting immigration.
Sturgeon's press briefing on Scottish government's Brexit plans
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister, is holding a press briefing now on her plans.
She says the plans fall short of what the SNP thinks is best for Scotland and the UK - full membership of the EU.
So they represent “a significant compromise”, she says.
I asked Nigel Farage’s spokesman what evidence Farage could provide to back his claim that Hope Not Hate backs the use of violent means. The spokesman referred me to various posts on Nope Not Hope, an anti Hope Not Hate blog. You can read them here, here, here and here.
They chronicle incidents of Ukip figures being subject to attacks and intimidation and in some cases they claim Hope Not Hate activists have been involved.
The blog is not one that I have read before, and I have no idea how accurate it is. But I am quoting it because it is the source Ukip cites.
Hope Not Hate have not yet responded to requests for a comment.
Two more Labour MPs have used Twitter to condemn Nigel Farage.
Insulting the widower of a woman murdered by terrorists. A period of silence on your part would be welcome Nigel. https://t.co/Qe6Uo9dRY8
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) December 20, 2016
I've just seen Farage's comments to Brendan Cox.Don't know why I'm upset Farage is a lying racist in cheap suit of knock off authenticity
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) December 20, 2016
Perhaps I'm upset because Farage essentially sneering at the murder of my friend & the pain of her family is something I've come to expect
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) December 20, 2016
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Labour MPs condemn Farage over his Brendan Cox comments
Labour MPs are outraged by Nigel Farage’s comments. Some of them have responded on Twitter.
The sheer nastiness of Farage sometimes takes my breath away. https://t.co/jOMnLtTG7J
— Chris Bryant MP (@RhonddaBryant) December 20, 2016
Has Farage completely lost the plot? https://t.co/SokujFec4S
— Louise Haigh MP (@LouHaigh) December 20, 2016
When your entire career has been built on hate, not hope, it perhaps shouldn't shock me, but Farage still sinks lower than I'd have believed https://t.co/QsVi8VF6NG
— Toby Perkins MP (@tobyperkinsmp) December 20, 2016
Thank god @MrBrendanCox can find strength given what happened 2 his family 2 speak. If @Nigel_Farage had 1oz of his integrity he'd listen. https://t.co/EY6GL6kTzz
— stellacreasy (@stellacreasy) December 20, 2016
Beggars belief... A new low for Farage https://t.co/BBasbCMMcG
— Tracy Brabin MP (@TracyBrabin) December 20, 2016
How dare you, Nigel Farage. https://t.co/g6dvEZHJXF
— Alison McGovern (@Alison_McGovern) December 20, 2016
Farage blames Merkel for the German truck attack
Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, has been commenting on the truck attack in Germany.
On Twitter this morning he suggested that Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, was partly to blame.
Terrible news from Berlin but no surprise. Events like these will be the Merkel legacy.
— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) December 20, 2016
He also elaborated on his thinking in an interview with LBC. He said the suspect in the German truck attack was a migrant who had come to Germany from Pakistan.
Let’s be honest about this. Mrs Merkel made one of the worst policy decisions we’ve seen from a European politician in the last 70 years when she unconditionally said in the middle of 2015 ‘as many as want to come, can come’. And there was no vetting, there was no checking, and there were people like me standing up for months ahead of that saying we should not let our compassion imperil our safety and indeed our civilisation. And I think, frankly, people like Mrs Merkel out to take responsibility for what’s happened.
Farage also attacked Brendan Cox, the widower of Jo Cox. Nick Ferrari, the presenter, asked Farage about Cox’s Twitter response to what Farage said this morning.
@Nigel_Farage blaming politicians for the actions of extremists? That's a slippery slope Nigel
— Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) December 20, 2016
Farage replied:
Yes, well of course he would know more about extremists than me, Mr Cox. He backs organisations like Hope Not Hate who masquerade as being lovely and peaceful but actually pursue violent and very undemocratic means. And I’m sorry Mr Cox, but it is time people started to take responsibility for what’s happened. Mrs Merkel has directly caused a whole number of social and terrorist problems in Germany. It is about time we confronted that truth.
When Ferrari put it to Farage that Cox had suffered more from extremism then anyone, Farage replied:
Yes, it’s a terrible thing what happened to his family, with the murder of his wife, but he continues to be active in the political arena. And given some of the organisations he supports, I can’t just stand here and say I’m not going to respond.
Hope Not Hate is a respected campaign against racism and extremism. Quite why Farage is claiming it backs violence is not clear.
Scottish Labour says it will not back any plan that puts Scotland's membership of UK at risk
Here is some “pre-buttal” (response to something before it has been published) from the other parties in Scotland about the SNP’s Brexit plans.
From Scottish Labour’s Europe spokesman Lewis Macdonald
Labour will scrutinise the SNP’s proposals and hold nationalist ministers to account on whether or not they can actually be delivered. But we are very clear that Labour will not support anything that puts Scotland’s place in the United Kingdom at risk.
The SNP’s Brexit paper should accept that remaining in the UK is even more important to Scotland than being part of the European Union. Labour will oppose any attempts by the SNP to use Brexit as an excuse to force another independence referendum on the people of Scotland.
- Scottish Labour says staying in UK more important for Scotland than staying in EU.
- Scottish Labour says it will oppose a second independence referendum.
From the Scottish Conservatives’ constitution spokesman Adam Tomkins
The Scottish Conservatives want a deal for the whole UK which gives us the maximum access to trade freely in the EU single market.
We also want a deal that does nothing to imperil our own UK single market, which is four times as important to Scotland than the EU market.
The SNP has been warned repeatedly in recent weeks that its plan for a separate Scottish deal - leading to a hard economic border with England - would damage Scotland and damage Scottish jobs.
Yet it seems to be in complete denial about the consequences of its actions.
From the Scottish Liberal Democrats’ leader Willie Rennie
If the SNP are true believers in the EU they would put independence to one side and work with parties across the whole of the UK that are working to protect the UK’s position with the EU. That’s how we can protect Scotland.
Two months ago Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said that she would draw up “creative” proposals that would allow Scotland to remain in the EU’s single market, even if the rest of the country leaves. And today she is going to publish them. As my colleague Libby Brooks revealed in a preview story, Sturgeon’s plan would involve another raft of powers being devolved to Edinburgh.
This may well end up as a blueprint for “independence-lite”, or a move towards a federal UK.
Will the plans ever fly? The UK government has been giving out mixed signals. Yesterday Theresa May told the Commons that she would look at them “very seriously”. But a few hours earlier her spokesman told journalists at the lobby briefing that the government was not in favour of Scotland getting a separate Brexit deal, and Philip Hammond, the chancellor, has said “we can’t have a different deal or different outcomes for different parts of the UK”.
In a statement issued overnight Sturgeon said leaving the single market would be “potentially devastating” for Scotland.
Being part of the European single market is vital for Scotland’s future economic wellbeing. And losing our place in the single market would be potentially devastating to our long-term prosperity, to jobs, investment and people’s livelihoods.
It would end our current status as part of the world’s biggest free trade area, a market around eight times bigger than the UK’s alone, and would have a profound and long-lasting impact on our national economic standing and our standards of living.
Analysis shows the cost to our economy of a hard Brexit, outside the single market, could be around £11bn a year by 2030, with an independent forecast of 80,000 lost jobs in Scotland and a cut in average earnings of around £2,000 per person after a decade.
But it is not just the loss of existing jobs and investment that would be at stake. In addition, there is the prospect of lost investment and employment - money and jobs which our place in the single market would ensure but which would otherwise never materialise.
That is why the paper we publish today is centred on retaining our place in the single market - and why it is so important Scotland avoids the hard Brexit threatened by the right-wing Brexiteers in the Tory party.
Our proposals deserve full and proper consideration, as the prime minister has already pledged, and I look forward to discussing them in the weeks ahead.
I’ll be covering this in detail, as well as Theresa May’s appearance before the Commons liaison committee this afternoon.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Sir Alan Duncan, the deputy foreign secretary, gives evidence to the Commons foreign affairs committee on relations with Russia.
10.30am: Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, gives evidence to the Commons business committee on corporate governance.
11am: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, unveils her plans for how Scotland could stay in the single market after the rest of the UK left at a briefing.
2pm: Theresa May gives evidence to the Commons liaison committee about Brexit and health and social care.
As usual, 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 plan to 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.
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