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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

UK needs to provide 'more clarity' about Brexit plans, Dutch PM tells May – as it happened

Theresa May shaking hands with the Dutch PM Mark Rutte outside Downing Street
Theresa May shaking hands with the Dutch PM Mark Rutte outside Downing Street Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Afternoon summary

  • Theresa May has been urged by the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte to provide “more clarity” about her plans for Brexit. (See 5pm.) Rutte made his comments before the government published a 10-page document setting out its proposals for the Brexit transition period. A leaked version was published this morning, and the official text confirms that the government has not yet committed itself to an end date for the transition. But Downing Street says the transition will not be open-ended.
  • Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, has said the Democratic Unionists are not contemplating introducing an Irish language act in Northern Ireland. She said a leaked document on negotiations with Sinn Fein before the collapse of powersharing talks last week was only one of a number circulated. Speaking after a meeting with Theresa May, she said:

We were not contemplating bringing in an Irish language act and I could not be clearer in relation to that. If you look at the so-called draft agreement that is only one of a number of documents that were circulated and put out and about, and I think the important thing is that we now reflect on where we got to in relation to all of those issues, we have a budget put in place, I think that is important for the people of Northern Ireland and that we move forward.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks the comments.

If there are any differences between the implementation period plans published by DExEU, and the draft leaked to Bloomberg earlier, I have not been able to spot them. Skimming through both versions of the 10-page document, they both seem the same.

The key paper, Draft Text for Discussion: Implementation Period (pdf), is now up on the Brexit department’s website.

This is the document a draft of which was leaked to Bloomberg earlier. (See 11.10am.)

The written ministerial statement from David Davis, the Brexit secretary, about the transtition period has just been published. It runs to one sentence and it says:

I am today publishing the UK’s response to the European Commission’s draft legal text on arrangements for the implementation period, copies of which will be deposited in the libraries of both Houses.

That means the documents should be available from the department very soon.

UK needs to provide 'more clarity' about its plans for Brexit, Dutch PM tells May

After his meeting with Theresa May, Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, posted a message on Twitter saying the UK needed to provide “more clarity” about its Brexit plans.

Earlier today the BBC said we would get the written ministerial statement about the transition period at 9.30am.

As the Labour whips point out, it still has not arrived.

Remain campaigners claim leaving EU will cost £2,000m per week

Remain campaigners have launched a campaign bus claiming the cost of quitting the European Union will be £2bn - or £2,000m - a week. It has been funded by the Is it worth it? campaign, which explains on its website that it has arrived at the £2bn per week figure by extrapolating from the claim in the government’s leaked Brexit impact analysis that GDP would be 5% lower over the next 15 years if the UK ends up outside the single market but having a free trade agreement with the EU. The same analysis - which the government does not accept, because it does not model what ministers say is their desired outcome - says trading with the EU on WTO terms would be even worse for the economy.

The bus will be touring the country for the rest of the month.

Tom Brake, the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman and one of the campaign supporters, said:

What this bus is about is reminding people of the lies that particularly Boris Johnson put across during the referendum campaign about how 350 million a week was going to be available to the NHS.

Clearly it isn’t. The point that is being made on the side of this red bus is that as a result of us leaving the European Union and the impact it will have on growth and the economy, the figures suggest the loss to the UK economy could be as high as 2,000 million a week.

The “Brexit Facts Bus”, commissioned by anti-Brexit campaigners.
The “Brexit Facts Bus”, commissioned by anti-Brexit campaigners. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

Brexit minister says withdrawal agreement will include fixed date for end of transition

On the Daily Politics earlier Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, said that the withdrawal agreement definitely would include a fixed date for the end of the transition. He said:

You can see that they [the EU] want us to exit at the end of the budget period, the Prime Minister is suggesting two years. But what will be the case is, when we’ve agreed, there will be a fixed date.

Labour MP mugged on his way home from Commons

A Labour MP has been left “badly shaken up” and bruised after he was mugged on his way home from Parliament on Tuesday night, the Press Association reports. Adrian Bailey, member for West Bromwich West, was near his home in Southwark, south London, when he was attacked by “up to six” hooded assailants at around 10pm. One of the group jumped on his back before being fought off but another attacked Bailey from behind, a statement from the MP said. A third person blocked his exit with a bike, before Bailey shouted for help to someone he thought was a passer-by. They turned out to be a fourth attacker and the MP suffered “a number of blows” and was hit over the head with a “large milk container” during the struggle. Bailey handed over his phone and wallet before the attackers made off and he made his way home to call the police. Despite some “bumps and bruises”, he did not require hospital treatment.

In a statement the 72-year-old MP, who is a former chairman of the Commons business committee and who was back at work today, said:

I appreciate that many other people have gone through what I went though last night and it really brought home to me the value of having bobbies on the beat to deter such attacks.

Every member of the public deserves the right to walk about in a safe and non-threatening environment.

The Metropolitan Police response has been excellent and they are working hard with me to identify the perpetrators of this attack.

Adrian Bailey MP
Adrian Bailey MP Photograph: David Levene for the Guardian

Theresa May greeting the Dutch PM Mark Rutte outside No 10 Downing Street this afternoon.
Theresa May greeting the Dutch PM Mark Rutte outside No 10 Downing Street this afternoon. Photograph: Niklas Halle'N/AFP/Getty Images

ICM have written up the poll findings which were covered at 2.35pm on their blog here. And here are the tables (pdf).

Lawyers acting for a group of Scottish parliamentarians has urged Scotland’s most senior judge to reject attempts by the UK government to block a legal case that would determine whether article 50 can be revoked.

The parliamentarians, which includes MEPs, MPs and MSPs from the Scottish Greens, Labour, the Lib Dems and Scottish National party, are appealing against a decision by Lord Doherty earlier this month to reject their case that the European court of justice needed to rule on whether the UK can unilaterally withdraw its article 50 application.

Doherty said it was a “hypothetical and academic” case since the UK government had made it clear it had no intention of supporting a vote to abandon Brexit. Doherty said there was no evidence Westminster planned a vote on it either, and therefore no need for a court ruling.

Aidan O’Neill QC, acting for the politicians, told Lord Carloway, the President of the Court of Session, and two other appeal judges, Lord Menzies and Lord Drummond John, that Doherty’s stance was “utterly wrong” since it undermined the clear constitutional case that parliament was supreme. He added:

This is a minority government and they’re answerable to parliament. Parliament isn’t answerable to them.” O’Neill said it was essential that MPs knew whether they had the right to vote against Brexit later this year: that question could only be settled by the European court. It was a very live issue, and of “profound importance.

As things stand, the EU’s treaties were silent on whether a member state could unilaterally revoke an article 50 application. The European Commission and David Davis, the BrexitsSecretary, have both said cancelling an article 50 application had to be agreed by all 27 member states – a position rejected by European legal experts.

O’Neill also attacked Doherty’s decision to award full costs for the previous hearing against the seven politicians involved. He said that had a clear “chilling effect” on the case since one of the seven, the SNP MP Joanna Cherry, had dropped out temporarily because of the risks more costs would be awarded against them.

Caroline Nokes, the immigration minister, is giving evidence to the European scrutiny committee. As my colleague Alan Travis reports, she told them EU nationals coming to the UK after March 2019 would not have the same long-term rights as those already here. (Theresa May has said as much before, but the EU wants EU nationals arriving during the transition to get exactly the same rights as those who arrived before Brexit day.)

Corbyn's standing with voters lower than his party's on key issues, poll suggests

We’ve got some fresh Guardian/ICM polling. Yesterday I posted figures from the weekend polling showing that a majority of people who give to humanitarian charities are now less likely to do so following the Oxfam Haiti scandal, but we saved the main figures until today.

Which party is best on key issues

First, we asked people which of the two main parties, the Conservatives or Labour, they trusted most on nine key issues.

  • Labour are ahead of the Conservatives on five of the nine issues we asked about. The Labour lead is particularly strong on health (23 points) and public services generally (21 points), but they are also ahead on education, pensioners and making Britain fairer.
  • The Tories are ahead of Labour on four of the nine issues we asked about. Their biggest leads are on security and controlling immigration (15 points respectively), but they are also ahead on negotiating Brexit and managing the economy.

Here is a chart with the figures.

How the parties compare on key issues
How the parties compare on key issues

Leaders versus their parties on the key issues

Polling can be used to explore whether leaders are more popular than their parties. This weekend we framed the question about who was best on which issue in terms of parties (Conservatives v Labour). Last month we asked the same questions, but we framed it in terms of leaders (Theresa May v Jeremy Corbyn). By comparing the results, you can gain some insight into whether a leader is seen as more popular than his/her party generally, or less popular.

Here are the figures showing whether May and Corbyn are outperforming or underperforming their party on the nine issues we asked about. (The Conservatives, and May, both score 38% on protecting people, which means May is level with her party, 0%, but Labour scores 23%, and Corbyn scores 21%, which gives him a net score of -2.)

Leaders v their parties on the key issues
Leaders v their parties on the key issues

An alternative way of looking at this is to compare the red v blue results when the question is framed as a May/Corbyn one, with the results when it is framed as a Conservative/Labour choice. Roughly the results are the same - blue ahead on four issues, red ahead on five. But the blue leads are the same or lower when it is framed in party terms not leader terms, and the red leads are all bigger - sometimes considerably. (For example, Corbyn leads May by 13 points on improving public services, but Labour leads the Tories by 21 points on this measure.)

  • Corbyn personal standing is lower than his party’s on all key issues, the poll suggests. By comparison, May’s personal standing is broadly in line with her party’s on these issues.

Voting intention

Finally, here are the voting intention figures.

Voting intention
Voting intention

Here is ICM’s Alex Turk on these figures.

This week’s voting intention has Labour up three percentage points to 43%, with the Conservative bumping up by 1 point to 42%. This means that the narrow one point lead for the Conservatives in our last poll has shifted to a narrow one point lead for Labour in our poll out today.

We shouldn’t make too much of these small shifts. Indeed, since the last general election in June 2017, no ICM/Guardian poll has shown a lead of more than 2 percentage points for either Labour or the Tories. This makes it a run of 13 polls where we’d consider the result ‘too close to call’, meaning the lead for either main party is within the margin of error. This is totally unprecedented in the regular polling ICM have carried out for The Guardian over almost 35 years – never before have we had so many consecutive polls where the two main parties have been so close to each other.

However, we can quite confidently say that Ukip would be highly unlikely to win a general election if it were to be held tomorrow, as they slip down one percentage point to 3%. Whilst Ukip have been on 3% in ICM/Guardian polls before, they have never been lower – this is their joint lowest result since we started regularly asking voting intention about Ukip back in 2012.

I will post a link to the tables as soon as they go up on the ICM website.

ICM Unlimited interviewed a representative online sample of 2,017 adults aged 18+ on 16 to 19 February 2018. 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: ICM have written up the poll findings here. And here are the tables (pdf).

Updated

Earlier I described Susan Elan Jones as a Plaid Cyrmu MP. (See 12.46pm.) She is, of course, a Labour MP, for Clywd South. I apologise for the error.

Brexit minister claims row about government not setting transition time limit is 'red herring'

This is how George Osborne’s Evening Standard is reporting the news (see 11.37am) that the government does not want to commit now to the Brexit transition having an end date.

Here is my colleague Daniel Boffey’s story.

On the World at One Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, has just been asked about the story. Here are the main points he made.

  • Baker claimed the row about the government not proposing a transition end date was a “red herring”. He told the programme:

This is a red herring. The prime minister has always been clear that the implementation period should last about two years ...

In a negotiation there is a degree of shift too and fro. I just would make the point, if there is any movement, it will be from an earlier date, from the EU’s point of view. They want December 2020 [as the date for the end of the transition] ...

Returning to an idea that has been used to disrupt Eurosceptics on and off as long as we have been having this conversation, this idea that it will be an open-ended transition period is a complete red herring. The European Union wants us out of this implementation period. They want us out earlier than the prime minister has currently been saying, for two years.

  • He said Tory backbenchers would back the government’s plans. What was leaked was the government’s draft legal text for a transition, he said. He said it reflected what the prime minister had always said. He went on:

I would expect that [Conservative backbenchers] will be content with it.

Baker is particularly influential on this topic because, before becoming a minister, he was chair of the European Research Group, the Tory group pushing for a harder Brexit.

Steve Baker
Steve Baker Photograph: Darren Jack/REX Shutterstock

PMQs - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about PMQs.

There are mixed views as to how well Jeremy Corbyn did, but there is general agreement that his decision to raise Brexit was itself significant.

From the Daily Mirror’s Jason Beattie

From the Sun’s Harry Cole

From Sky’s Lewis Goodall

From the Guardian’s Jessica Elgot

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

From Politico Europe’s Charlie Cooper

From the Spectator’s James Forsyth

From the Spectator’s Isabel Hardman

From the Evening Standard’s Pippa Crerar

On the Daily Politics Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, has just said he would be “amazed” if Labour ends up voting to support the Brexit withdrawal agreement when it gets finalised towards the end of the year. Andrew Gwynne, the shadow housing secretary, refused to say how he thought his party would vote.

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, used his two questions at PMQs to ask about Syria. He said:

At least 194 people have been killed in the last 48 hours in eastern Ghouta. Can the prime minster tell the House what discussions she has had with UN colleagues?

Theresa May said the government was “appalled by the escalation of air strikes in eastern Ghouta.” She urged the Syrian government to stop the violence and to allow humanitarian access.

Blackford then said May should take the issue to the UN. He said:

The bombing is relentless, doctors are treating pregnant women and babies that have lost limbs, it is estimated over 100 children have been killed since Sunday ...

Will the prime minister show leadership and join me in calling for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to address the horrific genocide unfolding in Syria?

May said the government would be talking to the UN. She also urged Russia to do more to stop the violence. She told MPs:

The UN has called on governments around the world to call out the action that has been taken ... We will be talking to our colleagues within the UN to ensure the best possible approach can be taken in relation to these issues ... We call on all their backers, including Russia, to ensure this violence stops.

I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.

Labour’s Susan Elan Jones asks if May agrees that losing access to the single market will be disastrous for farmers.

May says she wants a good trading relationship with the EU after Brexit.

UPDATE: Earlier this post wrongly described Jones as a Plaid Cymru MP. She is, of course, a Labour MP. I’m sorry for the mistake.

Updated

Ross Thomson, a Conservative, asks May if she agrees that electrocuting dogs is wrong. Will the government ban the use of shock collars?

May says the government encourages positive training for dogs. She says Thomson is meeting Michael Gove to discuss this further.

Richard Graham, a Conservative, asks about driving instructor having a sexual relationship with a much younger pupil. Will driving instructors be added to the list of professions where such relationships are banned.

May says attitudes have changed on this. The education department will look at this, she says.

Labour’s Stephen McCabe asks how May would feel if someone stole her car and she had to pay £200 to get it back. Will May put a stop to this?

May says the Home Office will look into this.

Bob Blackman, a Conservatives, asks May to complain the Polish government about their plan for a law banning reference to Poland being involved in the Holocaust.

May says the government has already taken up this issue.

The SNP’s Alison Thewliss says a constituent of hers was refused leave to remain in the UK because of an error with his tax return. This was deemed a threat to national security.

May says she cannot comment on this case. The Home Office makes its decisions in the national interest, she says.

Nigel Evans, a Conservative, asks May if she will tell the aid sector it does need to get its act in order.

May says the government retains its commitment to aid, and the aid budget. But it wants to work with organisations which meet proper standards. What happened at Oxfam was appalling, she says. She says an accreditation scheme for aid workers may be established.

The SNP’s David Linden asks for an assurance that no more job centres in Glasgow are earmarked for closure.

May says the government will ensure there is no decrease in the job centre service available in Scotland.

May says the government is committed to devolving more powers to the Scottish parliament in line with the Smith agreement. Responsibility for British Transport Police will be devolved. But the UK government wants to do it in a way that is safe, she says.

Labour’s Steve Reed says there is one fire every month involving the cladding of the type used at Grenfell Tower. Why won’t the government take it down?

May says enforcement rules were changed under Labour. After the Grenfell Tower fire, the government ordered inspections. Action was taken by fire authorities in areas where this was thought necessary. She says the housing secretary has taken action on the basis of the findings of a review.

Sir Mike Penning, a Conservative, asks if May has any good news for the victims of the drug Primodos.

May says the victims have powerful stories. She is clear that there is a problem with regulation. We do need to do better, she says. She says the health secretary will make a statement this afternoon announcing a review.

Labour’s Tulip Siddiq says if the supply of medical isotopes to the UK is delayed after Brexit, cancer treatment could suffer.

May says Siddiq is wrong. She says the availability of medical isotopes will not be affected by the UK’s departure from Euratom.

PMQs - Snap verdict

PMQs - Snap verdict: Corbyn receives a lot of criticism for normally avoiding Brexit at PMQs, but today’s exchanges illustrated vividly why he is so reluctant to attack May on this topic. He devoted all six of his questions to the subject but made no real headway at all. Worse, he even achieved the rare feat of allowing May to sound half-authoritative on an issue on which her party is deeply split. There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with Corbyn’s questions. They were nicely phrased (one of them sounded a bit like a lift from my blog intro yesterday) and they made good points. But Brexit is an issue where the detail is crucial, and today Corbyn’s unwillingness to ask forensic follow-up questions was a serious weakness. (Can you imagine what the late Robin Cook would have been like tearing apart the government’s Brexit stategy from the despatch box? After 15 minutes, it would be in tatters.) More tellingly, Corbyn just did not sound very engaged by any of this. When Corbyn talks about housing, or the NHS, or social justice, his passion is evident. But today he came across as someone merely going through the motions, not just uninterested (a bit bored by it all), but disinterested (neutral on the key soft/hard divide) too.

Corbyn asks how May hopes to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland.

May says the government explained that in a paper published last year.

Corbyn says Boris Johnson recently gave a speech on Brexit mentioning things like stag parties, carrots and a plague of boils. But he did not mention Ireland. We don’t know from the government’s road to Brexit speeches where it is going. This government is not on the road to Brexit; it is on the road to nowhere.

May says Corbyn is meant to ask a question. She says Corbyn should think about the security partnership the UK needs with the EU. She set out her views in a speech last week. She is unconditionally committed to the security of Europe. Normally Corbyn asks May to sign a blank cheque. She knows he likes Czechs but [and whatever came next was obscured by the cheers/groans.]

Updated

Corbyn says in December the foreign secretary was briefing that the working time directive would be scrapped. The only party that wants to scrap regulations is the Conservative party. May used to say she wanted tariff-free access to the EU. Now it is just going for access that is “as tariff-free as possible”.

May says she has not changed her stance. She wants to not just protect workers’ rights, but enhance them, she says. She says the Conservatives commissioned the Taylor report, took action on zero-hours contracts and ensured workers’ voices are heard on board.

Corbyn says if May has read today’s Telegraph, she will see that 62 Tories want to deregulate. What is the government’s desired outcome?

May says she is happy to answer: a bespoke economic partnership.

Jeremy Corbyn says David Davis said yesterday Brexit would not turn Britain into a Mad Max-style dystopia. Couldn’t he set the bar a bit higher?

May says the only fiction around is from Labour, which cannot decide what its policy is.

Corbyn says a former Tory minster said the government’s Brexit policy could be a gang plank into thin air. Davis said he did not want to deregulate. So why did his own department say their could be opportunities from deregulating on issues like the environment.

May rattles through a list of what she wants from Brexit. She does not address the question. She wants to put the people first, she says.

Eddie Hughes, a Conservative, asks about policing. May says more money is going to policing.

John Bercow interrupts. There is too much noise, he says. He says MPs should think about what the public thinks. The Commons has recently published a report on harassment, he says.

May continues. She says the Labour West Midlands police and crime commissioner must defend his record, but money can be spent better.

The Labour MP Ruth Cadbury asks about air pollution. The high court has today ruled that the government’s air pollution programme is unlawful, she says.

Theresa May says the government has been taking action to improve air quality. But she disputes Cadbury’s account of what the court decided. The court dismissed the complaint from five cities, she says. It agreed the government’s modelling was sound. But it did ask the government to go further in some areas. Overall, on two out of three counts, it found in the government’s favour, she says.

PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

MPs down to ask a question at PMQs
MPs down to ask a question at PMQs Photograph: Order Paper

Matthew O’Toole, who was in the Downing Street communications team during the EU referendum, argues that there is an inherent contradiction in what the government is saying about how long the transition will last.

On the Daily Politics Steve Baker, the Brexit minister, has just said that the transition period will be time-limited. But he did not say for how long.

And here is ITV’s Robert Peston on the Bloomberg leak.

Here is the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on the Bloomberg leak. (See 11.10am and 11.37am.)

This is a reference to this concession.

Updated

Brexiters angered as leaked document implies government refusing to commit to firm Brexit end date

Here is the key extract from the Bloomberg leak. (See 11.10am.) The square brackets means the government does not accept the EU proposal to set 31 December 2020 as the definite end of the transition. The explanatory note explains why the government does not want to commit to a date now.

Extract from leaked government Brexit document
Extract from leaked government Brexit document Photograph: Bloomberg

The Ukip MEP Patrick O’Flynn has described this as “outrageous”.

Updated

The Brexit department is publishing a ministerial statement about its stance on the transition period today. We were expecting it at 9.30am, but it hasn’t arrived yet.

Never mind; Bloomberg seem to know what’s coming, because they have got a leak of a draft legal document setting out the government’s position. As Nikos Chrysoloras and Tim Ross report, it shows that government does not agree to the EU’s proposal for the transition to definitely end on 31 December 2020. Here is an extract from their story.

UK prime minister Theresa May is asking the European Union to rethink its plan to end the Brexit transition period that businesses want on the final day of 2020, suggesting such a bridging phase should last as long as it’s needed.

The British suggestion of a longer bridging phase risks inflaming May’s already tense relations with eurosceptics in her own Tory party. They want her to take the U.K. out of the bloc as soon as possible and keep any transitional arrangements to a minimum. May says she wants such an implementation period to last around two years, while the European Union has stipulated an end date of December 31, 2020.

And here is the text of the document (pdf).

Abbott says EU nationals coming to UK during transition should have same rights as those here before

In a speech this morning Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said Labour would end “family break-up through the immigration system”. As Alan Travis reports, she said:

We will allow the carers or parents of admitted child refugees to come here. We will also end the practice of deporting the children, currently without entitlement to be here, once they turn 18, even when their parents are entitled to be here.

Here is Alan’s story.

As my colleague Jessica Elgot reports, after the speech Abbott also said Labour was in favour of EU nationals coming to the UK during the transition having exactly the same long-term rights as EU nationals here before.

Diane Abbott giving a speech on immigration at the Policy Institute.
Diane Abbott giving a speech on immigration at the Policy Institute. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Updated

Ministers set to ignore MPs' objections to former Tory minister getting Charity Commission chairmanship

Ministers signalled they intend to press ahead with Tina Stowell’s controverisal appointment as chair of the Charity Commission, with the culture secretary insisting she would be brilliant in the job despite her rejection by a select committee of MPs overnight.

Matt Hancock released a statement of support, demonstrating that government believes the former Tory cabinet minister is the right person to take on the job regulating a sector reeling from the fall out of the Oxfam sexual abuse scandal. He said:

I’m sure Tina Stowell will be a brilliant chair of the Charity Commission. This is a crucial time for the Commission and the sector. She was appointed after a fair, open and transparent competition. She was not only the best candidate for the job, but is the right candidate and has my full backing.

His intervention comes after a pre-appoinment hearing, which saw the cross party committee of MPs conclude that she had “a complete lack of experience” of the charitable sector and lacked “any real insight, knowledge or vision” for the job. The committee set out its conclusions in a letter to Hancock (pdf).

Stowell accepted she had “limited experience” of the voluntary sector in the pre-appointment hearing, having previously been leader of the House of Lords between 2014 and 2016 and a senior official at the BBC Trust for nine years in the previous decade.

But Hancock dismissed allegations that the former Tory minister would not operate fairly. He said:

Tina has been absolutely clear about her impartiality in this role. I know that she will work tirelessly to protect and promote the great work that charities do and ensure they uphold the highest standards of integrity.

Formally, the DCMS will now wait for a final report from the select committee. The committee, however, does not have a power of veto, and ministers may proceed with appointing Stowell despite its objections.

Since the system of pre-appointment was introduced there have been 96 such hearings, and only five individuals have been negatively assessed. The appointment went ahead in three of those cases.

At the hearing on Tuesday, Paul Farrelly, a Labour MP, had asked: “What were the skills, qualifications and experience that were considered by Number 10 to such an extent that perceived political neutrality was not a core consideration?”

In reply, Stowell said she had “an experience of nine years at the BBC, dealing with an internal form of regulation” while her time leading the Lords required her to “manage very complex stakeholder relationships.”

UPDATE: Labour said it was concerned by Hancock’s remarks and Steve Reed, the shadow minister for civil society, wrote to the Commissioner for Public Appointments to ask if they had been consulted about the proposed appointment of Stowell before her name was announced and whether the commissioner would mount a full inquiry. “It is vital that this appointment is carefully scrutinised so that the public havefull confidence in the Charity Commission,” Reed wrote.

Tina Stowell.
Tina Stowell. Photograph: Hannah Mckay/EPA

Updated

Unemployment up for first time in almost two years

Breaking! Britain’s jobless rate has risen for the first time in almost two years.

The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.4% in the three months to December, up from 4.3% (a four-decade low). The number of people out of work rose by 46,000 to 1.47 million.

But... the number of people in work also rose, by 88,000 during the quarter, to 32.147 million.

More here on the business live blog.

Corbyn's position on customs union and single market 'evolving and deepening', says Owen Smith

Owen Smith, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, was also on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning. He used his interview to restate his view that the UK should remain in the single market and the customs union after Brexit. This puts him at odds with the party’s official position and with Jeremy Corbyn, who has talked about the UK staying in “a customs union” but who has ruled out staying in the single market. But when this was put to Smith, he rejected claims there was a split, saying “Jeremy’s position is evolving and deepening.”

The Conservative MP Andrew Bridgen, who was one of the MPs who signed the ERG letter (see 9.15am), told ITV’s Good Morning Britain this morning that it would be unacceptable for the UK to be subject to EU rules during the transition without having any say over how they were drawn up. He told the programme:

All we’re doing really is underlining [that] we’re not going to be a rule taker, we’re going to be a rule maker. We’re going to have control. We promised the electorate we’d have control of our laws, our borders and our money. We’re laying out a strategy that will deliver that. If we’re just going to merely be a vassal state of the European Union we’re not really leaving the European Union and I think that will reflect very badly on the government and on the next election it will reflect very badly on the Conservative party ...

Transition is a difficult one ... what it can’t be is just a continuation of being in the European Union and taking laws that we have no control over.

The government accepts that the UK will continue to be subject to EU rules during the transition, although what is as yet unresolved is whether the UK would have any ability to object to new EU rules coming into force during that period that it didn’t like.

Andrew Bridgen
Andrew Bridgen Photograph: GMB

To their critics, they are the “Mogglodytes”, as Tim Shipman has revealed. Officially, they are the European Research Group, a Tory caucus of hardcore Eurosceptics, currently chaired by Jacob Rees-Mogg and pushing the government for a harder form of Brexit. Sixty two of them signed a letter to Theresa May setting out demands for Brexit, and particularly for the transition period, that the prime minister may find it impossible to accept. As Jack Blanchard writes in his Politico Europe morning email, it’s a wonderful example of passive aggressive negotiating.

Here is our overnight story about the letter, including the full text of what it says.

The backlash has already started. As you would expect, pro-Europeans are denouncing the ERG. This is from the Labour MP Chris Leslie, in a statement issued by Open Britain, which is campaigning for a softer Brexit.

The ERG have long felt they can dictate Government policy and they are brazenly advocating the hardest of hard Brexits.

They continue to pretend we can have our cake and eat it, but they get away with it because of the Cabinet’s refusal to admit the truth that the Brexit we were promised can never be delivered.

With Brextremists on the rampage, people have every right to keep an open mind about whether Brexit is the right choice for our country.

More interestingly, pro-European and mainstream Tories are also speaking out. Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary, has described the letter as “a ransom note”. The former minister Nick Boles says the ERG does not represent most Tory MPs.

Vicky Ford agrees with him.

And Anna Soubry - well, she has just let rip at the “unicorn chasers”.

More on this all day, I expect. Here is the agenda.

9am: Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, gives a speech on immigration.

9.30am: Unemployment figures are published.

Around 9.30am: The Brexit department is expected to publish a written ministerial statement setting out the government’s position on the Brexit transition.

10.30am: A House of Lords committee takes evidence on the impact of Brexit on international player transfers in football and rugby.

12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

1.30pm: May holds talks at Number 10 with the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte.

2pm: Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, gives evidence to the Commons defence committee.

2.15pm: Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee

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

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

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

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

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

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

Updated

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