Top story: Auditors reveal increased EU spending
Hello – it’s Warren Murray rounding up the news this morning.
It will be around £39bn, the government has insisted, but in reality the Brexit “divorce bill” might rise due to tens of billions of euros in spending promises and pension costs racked up by the EU.
Figures released by EU auditors show spending promises hit a record €267bn in 2017, up from €239bn the previous year, and almost twice the size of the EU’s annual budget. In the last decade the EU has spent on big infrastructure projects, such as motorways and bridges, in central and eastern Europe. Also on the rise were EU staff pension liabilities, and development loans to member states and foreign countries.
The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, has never endorsed Britain’s claim of a £39bn liability. A senior EU source has previously told the Guardian in 2017 that the UK had signed up to £53bn after the two sides settled the issue last December.
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‘Kremlin behind hacking’ – The British government has accused Russia’s GRU military intelligence unit of conducting “reckless and indiscriminate cyber-attacks” on the orders of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin. The attacks include the hacking of the US Democratic National Committee headquarters, sport’s World Anti-Doping Agency and a UK-based TV station. The Foreign Office identified 12 hacking group code names as fronts for the GRU – with names such as Fancy Bear, CyberCaliphate, BlackEnergy Actors and Sandworm. The claim is a precursor to the announcement of further UK intelligence revelations of Russian state involvement in the poisoning in Salisbury of Sergei Skripal, once a GRU member.
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Trump’s ‘appalling’ display – The US president has been condemned for mocking Dr Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who accuses supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault. Donald Trump parroted a series of questions and answers at a rally in Mississippi – among them, “How did you get there? ‘I don’t remember.’ Where is the place? ‘I don’t remember.’ How many years ago was it? ‘I don’t know.’” Three Republicans who could determine if Kavanaugh is confirmed by the Senate called the president’s comments “appalling” and “just plain wrong”. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders insisted the president had been “stating facts”. “Every single word Judge Kavanaugh has said has been picked apart … yet if anybody says anything about the accusations that have been thrown against him, that’s totally off-limits and outrageous. This entire process has been a disgrace.”
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Exit, austerity – After a juddering sashay to the strains of Dancing Queen, jokes about the backdrop, and lighthearted referencing of her coughing fits last time around, Theresa May has sought to reclaim the centre stage of Conservative politics with a pledge to bring a decade of austerity to a close. “When we’ve secured a good Brexit deal for Britain, at the spending review next year we will set out our approach for the future,” May said. “A decade after the financial crash, people need to know that the austerity it led to is over and that their hard work has paid off.”
The promise was sceptically received – current government plans involve continuing to reduce the deficit until the second half of the 2020s – but aides insisted it was unconditional. After Boris Johnson skewered May’s Chequers plan, the PM called on party colleagues to unite behind her or “risk ending up with no Brexit at all”. May said Labour had become the “Jeremy Corbyn party”, led by a movement that “rejects the common values that once bridged our political divide”. She bemoaned the toxic nature of public debate: “Rigorous debate between political opponents is becoming more like a confrontation between enemies. You don’t have to believe in a word Diane Abbott says to believe in her right to say it, free of abuse.”
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‘Extremely sad and serious case’ – Specialist officers have rescued a potential modern slavery victim who is believed to have lived in a six-foot shed for 40 years. The 58-year-old British man was found at a residential site north of Carlisle in Cumbria. Martin Plimmer from the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority (GLAA) said: “There was just a soiled duvet on the floor. There was no heating and it was very cold. It was conditions that no human being should live in. He has been traumatised for such a length of time that it will be a slow process to win back his trust.” Another man, aged 79, was arrested on suspicion of modern slavery offences.
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Hole in space station theory – Nasa has expressed doubts over a Russian theory that a hole that caused an air leak on the International Space Station (ISS) could have been sabotage. Russia says it was not a manufacturing defect and may have been drilled maliciously, or so that someone on board the station could return to Earth early. Nasa, the US space agency, said ruling out defects “does not necessarily mean the hole was created intentionally or with mal-intent”. Astronauts are planning a spacewalk in November to gather more information on the hole, which was quickly sealed.
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On a lighter note – Dutch public television has given a makeover to “Black Pete” – the traditional Santa’s helper character who, controversially, wears blackface. From now on, when making his annual appearances he will have only smudges of soot on his hands and face, ostensibly from coming down the chimney to deliver presents. “The NTR respects both tradition and change, but it is our public duty as an independent public broadcaster to reflect these changes in society,” the broadcaster said. Black Petes appearing on the channel will also have “different types of hair and will not be wearing golden earrings”.
Lunchtime read: Greater than the sum of its parts
The Japanese carmaker Nissan has warned the government that serious disruption will be caused to its huge car manufacturing operation in the north-east of England if there is a hard Brexit. Carlos Ghosn, the chair of Nissan, has described its British operations as “a European investment based in the UK”. It employs almost 8,000 people, mostly at its factory near Sunderland, while a further 30,000 people work for UK suppliers.
The carmaker, housed in a giant factory complex just off the A19 at Washington, helps the north-east bear the standard of being the only area of Britain that is a net exporter to Europe. Still, to churn out two cars a minute, it relies on millions of parts arriving daily from Europe with no barriers or customs delays. The open gateway between Britain and the continent is what makes the Nissan plant work – David Conn examines how Brexit has plunged this into doubt.
Sport
A virtuoso performance from Lionel Messi in the Champions League has condemned Tottenham to a 4-2 loss against Barcelona at Wembley, with the home side at times in danger of facing a rout. Liverpool have dropped points against a Maurizio Sarri-coached team, past or present, for the second time in a week, as Lorenzo Insigne’s 90th-minute winner handed Napoli all three points in group C.
England’s director of cricket, Andrew Strauss, has stepped down to help care for his wife, Ruth, who has been battling cancer – Andy Flower will continue in the role in an interim capacity. UK Sport has launched the ambitious target of hosting between 40 and 60 major sporting events in the British Isles over the next 15 years, including the 2030 World Cup. And a close Kremlin ally and former deputy prime minister, Arkady Dvorkovich, has been appointed head of world chess’s governing body following a bruising campaign including allegations of Russian interference and vote-rigging.
Business
The IMF has warned that the world economy is heading for another crash, but no one seems to have told the Americans. The country’s economy is booming and it has sent the dollar soaring to an 11-month high overnight. Expected strong jobs figures on Friday will send it even higher, signalling more rate hikes and spelling trouble for a lot of dollar-indebted nations in the developing world. The pound was unable to resist the advance, slipping to $1.293, but was fairly flat against the euro at €1.127.
The papers
It’s a fun day on the front pages of the newspapers, almost all of which show the PM boogeying on the party conference stage. The Guardian and the FT play it with a straight bat: respectively, “Back me on Brexit and I will end decade of austerity, pledges May” and “May vows to end austerity if Tories unite over Brexit”. Almost everyone else opts for a dance or Abba-related pun. “Mamma May-a!” says the Mail. The Times says “May moves to end austerity” and the i has a very similar headline “The PM makes move to end austerity”.
The Telegraph has “Dancing to a new beat: May declares an end to austerity”. The Express urges readers: “Let’s all dance to May’s tune”. The Metro has some fun with “Poll dancer”. The Mirror is unimpressed, calling May’s performance “Strictly shambolic” with a picture of the Strictly Come Dancing judges holding up scores of zero and the headline “Zero credibility”. The Sun has May in its masthead – “PM’s Brex dancing!” – but leads with a baffling story about Prince Harry promising Meghan Markle they would take a holiday to a Butlin’s resort in Bognor Regis, under the headline “Hi-de-highness”.
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