Afternoon summary
- Siân Berry, the Green party’s candidate for London mayor, has ruled herself out of standing for the party leadership following Natalie Bennett’s resignation, but said she will contact potential candidates to urge them to consider the role. As Anushka Asthana and Rowena Mason report, the Greens’ deputy leaders Amelia Womack and Shahrar Ali are among those thought to be potential successors when Bennett’s four-year stint as leader formally comes to an end in the summer.It is understood that two senior figures in the party, Jennifer Nadel and Jonathan Bartley, could stand for the role jointly as a job share. Nadel is a broadcaster, barrister and writer who stood for the Greens in Westminster North at the 2015 general election. Bartley came second in the race to be the Greens’ London mayoral candidate and is the party’s work and pensions spokesperson.
- Scotland’s justice secretary has been urged to make a statement to parliament on a predecessor’s claim that Scottish ministers sought “concessions” from the UK government to expedite the transfer of the Lockerbie bomber to Libya. As the Press Association reports, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said Kenny MacAskill’s revelation in his book The Lockerbie Bombing: The Search for Justice contradicts previous statements on Scottish ministers’ involvement in Tony Blair’s prisoner transfer agreement with Libya. In the book, MacAskill said he told Westminster officials the deal would cause “political difficulties” for the Scottish government. He said:
I explained that this would be made easier if they were able to offer some concessions to assist us ... the request for (concessions) was simply an opportunity to try to gain some benefits for Scotland from decisions that were clearly going to be taken anyway.
That’s all from me for today.
Thanks for the comments.
Updated
The Guardian has published new polling on the EU referendum - with rather confusing conclusions, my colleague Tom Clark reports.
And here is the start of his story.
Two Guardian/ICM EU referendum polls demonstrate a widening disparity between phone and internet polling, with one producing a 10-point lead for remain and the second reporting that the leave campaign is ahead by four.
The gap in results between online and telephone surveys has been a constant feature of referendum polling, with phone polls consistently putting remain ahead, while internet surveys point to something like a dead heat.
But the contrast in the two surveys is particularly stark, because they were conducted concurrently and deployed as similar vote adjustment methodologies as possible. In ICM’s phone poll, remain is eight points clear of leave, at 47% compared with 39%, with 14% undecided. Once the “don’t knows” are excluded, remain looks set for a clear-10 point lead, by 55% to 45%.
New Yorker profiles Jeremy Corbyn
The New Yorker has published a long and unusually revealing profile of Jeremy Corbyn. The author, Sam Knight, has spoken to a quite range of people and the article contains some choice quotes. Here is a selection.
- Corbyn says his staff think he should spend more time preparing for PMQs.
Since becoming the Leader of Her Majesty’s Most Loyal Opposition, Corbyn has sought to change the tone of P.M.Q.s. “I am not particularly good at or interested in this theatrical-riposte stuff,” he told me. He likes to crowdsource his material. Every Sunday night, his office sends out an e-mail to Labour supporters, and on Wednesday Corbyn presents Cameron with a question from “a woman called Marie” or “Vicky from York.” Many M.P.s whom I spoke to sympathized with Corbyn’s instincts, but said he was missing the point. P.M.Q.s may look silly, but most party leaders take it extremely seriously, to show that they are on top of their brief and to rally their M.P.s behind them. Blair wore the same lucky shoes to P.M.Q.s for ten years. His successor, Gordon Brown, would spend a day and a half each week preparing. When I asked Corbyn how long he takes, he replied, “Everybody in the office says not enough. Everybody.”
- He says his government would be about “empowering people”.
During our lunch, I asked what Britain might look like under a Corbyn premiership. He challenged the premise of the question. “Well, it is not going to be under Jeremy Corbyn,” he said. “I am hoping there will be a Labour Government, of which I will be obviously a big part. But it’s about empowering people. That is what democracy is about. Is it going to be complicated? Sure. Is it going to be difficult? Absolutely. Are we going to achieve things? Oh, yes.”
(At first glance this looks like an admission from Cobyn that he does not expect to be prime minister, but the point he is making, I presume, is that his government would focus on empowering people, not dictating to them.)
- Corbyn’s first wife, Jane Chapman, says he saw himself more as “an organising rebel” than as a potential leader.
Corbyn spent all his time at meetings. “He never read anything,” Chapman told me. “All the books were mine.” (They divorced in 1979.) Corbyn’s talents were practical: knocking on doors, targeting the next ward. “Jeremy definitely saw himself not as a potential leader but as an organizing rebel,” Chapman said. “That’s what keeps him going. It is the endorphins of springing into action for another election, another meeting, another protest.”
- Tariq Ali, the leftwing writer and activist and friend of Corbyn’s, says Corbyn is “completely opposed to the EU”.
One evening in March, I attended a small left-wing, anti-E.U. event in the basement of a Y.M.C.A. in Bloomsbury. Among those onstage were Lindsey German, one of the founders of Stop the War; Liz Payne, the leader of the Communist Party of Britain; and Tariq Ali, a left-wing writer who has been friends with Corbyn since the early nineteen-seventies. About a hundred people listened to speeches describing the “military interests of the profit seekers.” Afterward, I went for a drink with Ali. I asked him if Corbyn would have been at the meeting if he was not the Labour leader. “Without any doubt,” Ali said. “Jeremy is completely opposed to the E.U.”
- Two of Corbyn’s allies say that he is weak at strategy.
“He is not a strategy person,” [Jon] Lansman said. “He is a doer, really.” Bob Clay, a former Labour M.P. who shared an office with Corbyn in the nineteen-eighties, has sat through hundreds of meetings with his old friend. “I don’t mean this in a derogatory way, but it is maybe a bit of a fault—he is something of a gadfly,” Clay told me. “He is just more an originator of good ideas rather than someone who sees them through.”
- John McDonnell says Corbyn’s strength, and weakness, is that Corbyn always sees the good in other people.
“His strength—and weakness—is that he always sees the good in other people,” John McDonnell, another veteran socialist M.P., said, when we met in the Palace of Westminster.
- Lord Mandelson says Labour is “unelectable” under Corbyn.
“We are in a situation now where he is unelectable in the country but unassailable in the Party,” Lord Mandelson, one of Blair’s closest advisers and an architect of New Labour, told me.
Updated
At the weekend Boris Johnson received strong backing from the Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who said that he was a “Boris fan” and that he could imagine working for him if Johnson became prime minister.
Today Johnson has received further Ukip backing. In a post on his blog, the Ukip MEP Gerard Batten has argued that Johnson was right to argue at the weekend that the goals of the EU are in some respects similar to those of Nazi Germany. Batten said:
In 1942 when the German’s still thought they were going to win the war they produced a report entitled the Europaische Wirtschafts Gemeinschaft – which translates as the European Economic Community.
This report was written by various bankers and academics and laid out a plan for how Germany would manage the economies of the conquered countries of Europe after a German victory. The report was drawn up under the leadership of Professor Walter Funk the Reich’s economics minister and president of the Reichsbank.
The report contained sections on agriculture, industry, employment, transport, trade, economic agreements, and currency. It proposed the ‘harmonisation’ of European currencies and a harmonised currency system.
If this all sounds all very familiar it is because the basic plan for the European Economic Community of 1942 was very similar to the actual European Economic Community that came into existence in 1957 under the Treaty of Rome.
Here is a Guardian video of Sadiq Khan responding to Donald Trump. “I don’t want fisticuffs with Donald Trump,” says Khan.
Almost a third of people fell into poverty at least once between 2011 and 2014
Nearly a third of people in the UK have fallen into poverty at least once in four years, the Press Association reports.
Women are more at risk of experiencing longer term poverty than men, the analysis by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) also suggests.
The gap between men and women remaining in poverty over several years has been “relatively stable” at 1.5% but the UK was behind countries including Lithuania, Spain and Poland.
The overall UK poverty rate in 2014 was, at 16.8% of the population, 12th highest compared with 27 other European Union countries.
But Britain had the third-lowest rate (6.5%) of those remaining in persistent poverty over three years or more, equivalent to around 3.9 million people.
The poverty rate was calculated based on the number of people whose income after tax is less than 60% of the national average - equivalent to 9,956 for a single person without children and 20,907 for a family of two adults and two children.
Richard Tonkin, head of household and income expenditure statistics at the ONS, said: “Over a four-year period it’s actually surprising how high the proportion of the population is whose incomes slip below that.
“In the UK, compared with other countries, people have a relatively high risk of slipping into relative low-income poverty.
“But high exit rates mean people are much more likely to escape poverty than in other countries.”
Poverty tended to be “transient” for many people in the UK and was strongly linked to the labour market, with those finding employment having a greater chance of escaping, Tonkin said.
This meant people who were considered “poor” were “constantly changing” year on year, he added.
The report found that between 2011 and 2014, almost a third (32.5%) of the UK population experienced poverty at least once.
Lunchtime summary
- Boris Johnson has said that A&E waiting times are “a scandal” and that leaving the EU would help address the problem. (See 1.38pm.)
- Michael O’Leary, the Ryanair boss, has said that air faires will rise if Britain leaves the EU. (See 12.08pm.) He also said that Britain would lose investment if he left. (See 11.39am.) Vote Leave responded by pointing out that earlier this year O’Leary said Brexit on its own would not cause air fares to rise. It also said that four years ago O’Leary described the EU as an “evil empire”.
- Ken Livingstone, the former Labour mayor of London, has said Boris Johnson was wrong to compare the EU to Nazi Germany. Livingstone, who was suspended from Labour recently for own remarks about Hitler, told the Evening Standard that Johnson was being factually inaccurate.
What I said was perfectly true,” claimed Mr Livingstone. “But Boris is a lot better informed about Ancient Greece and Rome than about modern history.
There was never a plan for a United States of Europe under Hitler. What he wanted was actually a Greater Germany that absorbed neighbouring states, with Britain and France rendered subservient.
- Shami Chakrabarti has said that she will produce her report on antisemitism in the Labour party by 1 July. The former director of Liberty, who revealed that she joined the party when asked to carry out the inquiry, also told a press conference that she would not be calling Ken Livingstone to give evidence.
Boris Johnson accused Osborne and other senior remain figures of being “in danger of talking down the whole UK economy” and causing financial problems with their dire predictions about Brexit.
Touring a clothing factory in Alfreton, he said the argument that the Leave campaign has lost the argument with companies was “absolute nonsense”.
I think the people who make this case are continually running Britain down ... This is a fantastically robust economy, the fifth biggest in the world. And this fantastic company is selling on the basis of the skills of its workforce and the design hat they produce and doing better and better around the world.
He claimed the EU was a “badly-designed undergarment” that is too constricting in some places but dangerously loose in others.
Christopher Nieper, a director of David Nieper luxury clothing, said his European staff had “reassured him unanimously” that there would still be appetite abroad for British made clothes. “I don’t think the British people have anything to fear about trade,” he said.
Boris Johnson says NHS waiting times are 'a scandal' and leaving EU would help
In his speech Boris Johnson also claimed that A&E waiting times were longer than ever and “a scandal”, and that leaving the EU would allow the government to spend more on the NHS.
[Business leaders] people never see the impact of those big migration flows on local housing, or school places, or of course on A&E. And it’s a scandal at the moment, I think, that A&E waiting times are longer than they have ever been in the history of the NHS. We would have a chance to put some more money into our fantastic NHS and try and sort out that problem.
This is a charge that is likely to infuriate Number 10, because Johnson is going beyond disagreeing with David Cameron over the EU and instead attacking the government’s record on the NHS. Given the amount of time Cameron has spent trying to assure people the Tories can be trusted on the NHS, this is seriously unhepful.
Johnson says EU is like a 'badly-designed undergarment'
Here is the Boris Johnson’s undergarment quote.
(At the risk of taking a prurient interest in the intricacies of his metaphor, Johnson seems to be comparing the EU to an ill-fitting pair of pants, not knickers.)
I think the EU is not fundamentally anti-democratic. We have no way of kicking these people out, we don’t know who they are. They are taking far too much of our democracy away, and it’s time we took it back.
I think when you look at the EU now, it reminds me - walking around this wonderful factory - it makes me think of some badly-designed undergarment that has now become too tight in some places, far too tight, far too constrictive, and dangerously loose in other places. Now, is that the kind of undergarment we make here at David Nieper? Absolutely not, absolutely not. That’s why are you are continuing to do so well.
Boris Johnson has just given a speech at the David Nieper clothing factory.
He went full surreal, and compared the EU to an ill-fitting pair of knickers.
I’ll post the quotes shortly.
Boris Johnson has been campaigning for Vote Leave in a clothing factory this morning.
Boris Johnson is about to be taught how to sew and iron a Vote Leave flag at David Nieper clothing factory (which exports to Europe)
— Rowena Mason (@rowenamason) May 16, 2016
Do you iron your own shirts Boris? "I have done but not with any great effectiveness" pic.twitter.com/A1wawobf8f
— Rowena Mason (@rowenamason) May 16, 2016
"We're going to flatten our opponents says Boris Johnson wielding a hot iron pic.twitter.com/BfbTyM3fps
— Vicki Young (@BBCVickiYoung) May 16, 2016
Natalie Bennett, who has announced that she is standing down as leader of the Green party, has been on the Daily Politics this morning. She played down suggestions that her poor reputation as a media performer was a problem, saying she did not get nervous doing interviews, but she conceded that she did not have the “smoothness” that some other politicians have. Asked if this was a problem, she said it would be better if politics as a whole were done differently.
What we need to see is politics changing. That addresses much broader issues about the nature of our media, the nature of the way in which politics is covered. This isn’t a football game. It’s not about point scoring. What we need to see is exploration of issues and ideas and policies, and we need to see it not about personalities, but about those critical things for the future of our country.
Here is my colleague Heather Stewart’s story about the Osborne/Balls/Cable event.
Updated
Ken Livingstone will not give evidence to Labour's antisemitism inquiry, Chakrabarti says
I missed the Shami Chakrabarti briefing about her inquiry into antisemitism in the Labour party but my colleague Anuskha Asthana was there. She has tweeted the main points.
Chakrabarti said that she would not be asking Ken Livingstone to give evidence, because he is already being investigated by the party over his comments about Hitler being a Zionist.
Shami Chakrabarti says antisemtism inquiry will report 2 months, deadline submissions of evidence June 10
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) May 16, 2016
Shami Chakrabarti will call Jeremy Corbyn to give evidence and reveals she did join Labour Party on day she was asked to do inquiry.
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) May 16, 2016
Asked if she will call Ken Livingstone - Chakrabarti says that she's been offered cooperation from all quarters.
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) May 16, 2016
But says won't call Livingstone as unfair given ongoing investigation
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) May 16, 2016
Chakrabarti argues that she joined Labour because she wanted the party to see she had its best interests at heart
— Anushka Asthana (@GuardianAnushka) May 16, 2016
O'Leary says Boris Johnson 'has never run a sweet shop'
On Sky News the Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary was asked to comment on Boris Johnson’s claim in his Telegraph column this morning that chief executives love the EU because it ensures cheap labour. O’Leary replied:
If you’re an airline you don’t have cheap labour. We have expensive pilots, expensive engineers, expensive cabin crew.
But, look, if I thought it was in Ryanair’s best interests, or if it was in the UK’s best interests, I would make more money if the UK left the European Union, I would be advocating Leave. The fact is, we don’t, and the reason why so-called captains of industry and the leaders of big companies want the UK to stay in is because we absolutely believe that that’s in the best interests of the UK economy, it is better for UK jobs, it’s better ultimately for our profits. And our profits in Ryanair get reinvested. We buy lots more new aircraft ...
Business follows profit, and the profit interest and the economic interest of the UK is absolutely four-square for staying in Europe.
In respect of Boris Johnson, he’s never run a sweet shop.
When it was put to him that Johnson was mayor of London for eight years, O’Leary said the mayor of London does not create jobs.
O'Leary says air fares will rise if UK leaves the EU
At the Stansted event the Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary also said that air fares would rise if the UK left the EU. He said:
If Britain leaves the single market, Britain may be forced out of the open skies regime and air fares and the cost of holidays will rise. That’s not speculation, that’s a certainty.
No 10 says Cameron still thinks Trump's Muslim ban proposal 'divisive, stupid and wrong'
Downing Street today said David Cameron stood by past criticisms of Trump but added that he would seek to maintain the UK’s close relationship with the US even if Trump becomes president. The prime minister’s spokesman said:
The PM has made his views on Donald Trump very clear. He disagrees with [Trump’s plans]. He continues to believe that preventing Muslims from entering the US would be divisive, stupid and wrong. He has also been clear that he will work with whoever is President of the United States.
Asked if the special relationship would continue, the spokesman added: “He is committed to continuing the special relationship.”
The spokesman said there are no plans for a telephone call or a meeting between the two men, but one would be considered if proposed.
And the Telegraph’s Michael Deacon points out that George Osborne, Ed Balls and Vince Cable all used the line about Brexit being a “one-way ticket to a poorer Britain”.
All 3 take turns to call Brexit "a one-way ticket to a poorer Britain". Hacks laugh at repetition. Osborne: "I think they've noticed, Ed"
— Michael Deacon (@MichaelPDeacon) May 16, 2016
In the Q&A after his Ryanair speech George Osborne criticised Boris Johnson for his comment comparing the EU to Nazi Germany.
Osborne re Boris: "As someone who studied history, go for first hand sources - Lord Bramall landed at Normandy, said what needs to be said"
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) May 16, 2016
Osborne was referring to what Lord Bramall says in today’s Times. (See 11.11am.)
Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary says Britain will lose investment if it votes to leave EU
George Osborne, Ed Balls and Vince Cable were joined at the Stansted airport event by the Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary. O’Leary announced the creation of 450 new jobs in Britain as part of a $1.4bn (£976m) investment into Ryanair’s 13 UK bases, but said investment like this would be cut back if the UK left the EU.
It is this type of large-scale foreign inward investment that is helping to drive the UK economy and job creation. It is exactly this type of investment that will be lost to other competitor EU members if the UK votes to leave the European Union.
He also said the single market has helped firms like Ryanair promote low-cost air travel.
The single market has enabled Ryanair to lead the low-fare air travel revolution in Europe, as we bring millions of British citizens to Europe each year, and welcome millions of European visitors to Britain, and we are calling on everyone to turn out in large numbers and vote Remain.
.@Ryanair announcing almost £1bn UK investment & 450 new jobs –Michael O'Leary says investment at risk if we exit EU pic.twitter.com/hEvKByNRlV
— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) May 16, 2016
Updated
Summary
Here are some more lines from George Osborne’s speech
- Osborne said there was consensus that Britain would be worse off outside the EU.
[The Bank of England and the IMF] join a line of observers that range from the OECD to the London School of Economics to the eight former US treasury secretaries to the president of the United States of America, to the prime minister of Japan, to the leaders of Australia and New Zealand.
Indeed every member of the G20, every one of our major trading partners and every major international financial institution has been unequivocal that leaving the EU would come at an economic cost.
It’s not a conspiracy. It’s called a consensus. The interventions of the last couple of weeks, from the IMF to the Bank of England, make very clear that the economic argument is beyond doubt - Britain would be worse off if we leave the EU, British families will be worse off, equivalent to £4,300 a household.
Leaving the EU is a one-way ticket to a poorer Britain.
- He said that leaving the EU single market would be “a disaster for the British economy”. Boris Johnson, Vote Leave’s lead campaigner, has confirmed that he does not want Britain to remain part of the single market. Commenting on this, Osborne said this would leave the UK reliant on WTO rules to govern its trade with the rest of the world, which would be “a disaster for the British economy”.
New Treasury analysis shows that if we left the single market and relied on the rules of the WTO, then after 15 years we would be doing 200 billion less trade every year, in today’s terms, and we would miss out on over 200 billion of overseas investment into our country.
It means we don’t see the new jobs and facilities like we see here today at Ryanair. It means less investment in offices, factories, car plants, high street shops, local industrial estates.
What does all this mean for you? It means fewer jobs, lower incomes and higher prices in jobs.
Updated
Here is ConservativeHome’s Mark Wallace on the Osborne/Balls/Cable event.
Osborne bringing out defeated enemies Cable and Balls to speak has a slight air of Caesar parading Vercingetorix through the streets.
— Mark Wallace (@wallaceme) May 16, 2016
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
As for the rest of the paper’s, here is the PoliticsHome list of top 10 must-reads, and here is the ConservativeHome round-up of today’s politics stories.
And here are six stories I found particularly interesting.
Just 50 Tory MPs are needed to trigger a vote of no confidence in the leader.
Around 150 Conservative MPs are thought to back a Brexit, although a number of them have not publically stated their intentions.
Mr Cameron will almost certainly win a no confidence vote, allowing him to continue as Prime Minister.
However, the rebels will then threaten to ensure that Government legislation cannot pass in the House of Commons unless Mr Cameron pledges to step down as Prime Minister earlier than 2019.
The cross-party alliance of MPs who sought to impeach Tony Blair in the wake of the Iraq conflict is being reassembled for a fresh attempt after the publication of the Chilcot report.
Alex Salmond, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesman, has begun to rally support for an attempted prosecution of Mr Blair, with the report due for release on July 6. Although some MPs believe the parliamentary impeachment process should be revived, Mr Salmond wants to approach the International Criminal Court
“If, as I believe . . . Chilcot finds that there was a prior commitment from Blair to [George] Bush at Crawford ranch [President Bush’s Texas home] in 2002, that would provide the reason for pursuing the matter further,” he said. “My own view is that the best route would be to use the ICC because the prosecutor is able to initiate action on his or her own behalf on presentation of a body of evidence, which Chilcot would provide.”
- Christopher Hope in the Daily Telegraph says a Home Office minister has suggested that, if Britain leaves the EU, 3m EU citizens living in the UK could lose the right to stay. (UPDATE: PoliticsHome has been in touch to say they originally broke the story.)
Lord Bramall said the comparison between Nazi Germany and the EU was absurd. “Hitler’s main aim was to create an empire in the East and violently subjugate Europeans,” he said. “Any connection between that and the EU is simply laughable.”
In their brilliant book Why Nations Fail, Daron Acemoglu and James A Robinson explain how transparent political institutions are essential for innovation and economic growth. They make the distinction between “inclusive” societies, where people feel involved in their democracies and their economies, and “extractive” societies, where the system is increasingly gamed by an elite, for their own financial advantage. The EU is starting to take on some of the features of an “extractive” society. It is dominated by a group of powerful international civil servants, lobbyists and business people.
These people, on the whole, know who each other are. In the case of big business, they can afford to hire someone to follow the regulation that comes out of Brussels. They can fix a meeting with the Commissioner responsible. They may even meet him or her at some conference or event – Davos being the most famous. In that respect they have an immense advantage over the vast majority of businesses in this country.
Updated
Cable says Brexit would be 'messy, nasty and costly'
And here are some excerpts from the speech from Vince Cable, the Lib Dem former business secretary.
Cable dig at Boris: "single market was not the vision of Hitler or napoleon- a vision of the British Government" under Thatcher.
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) May 16, 2016
Divorce can be amicable, says @vincecable; but usually "messy, nasty and costly: that's what would happen here". #Brexit
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) May 16, 2016
Cable says when he went to Detroit to persuade GM CEO to save Vauxhall Ellesmere Port - EU access essential. Nissan & single market too
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) May 16, 2016
.@vincecable just accused @BorisJohnson & @Nigel_Farage of "small condom" EU alarmism
— Robert Peston (@Peston) May 16, 2016
David Cameron has been tweeting about the Osborne/Balls/Cable event.
Great to see @George_Osborne, @edballs and @vincecable joining forces to campaign for something they all believe: we are stronger in the EU.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) May 16, 2016
Ed Balls says Brexit would be a 'one-way ticket to poorer Britain'
In his speech at the Ryanair event Ed Balls, the former shadow chancellor who lost his Commons seat in the 2015 election, said that Brexit was a “one way ticket to a poorer Britain”. Here are some excerpts.
Balls praises Osborne for not taking "easier politics" path and challenging the brexiters in his own party
— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) May 16, 2016
I didn't back € when others in my party wanted me to, says @edballs; @George_Osborne hasn't backed Brexit despite Tory pressure.
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) May 16, 2016
Slightly nervous performance from @edballs but said he + @vincecable have no axe to grind; Brexit is "one way ticket to a poorer Britain".
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) May 16, 2016
Vince + I more likely to be on Bake Off or Strictly than back in House of Commons, says @edballs - so not backing Remain for career reasons.
— Heather Stewart (@GuardianHeather) May 16, 2016
Ed Balls says Boris is 'attention seeking' with ill judged statements
— Laura Kuenssberg (@bbclaurak) May 16, 2016
.@edballs warns that leaving EU would see 17% increase in price of Adidas trainers
— Robert Peston (@Peston) May 16, 2016
Updated
Sadiq Khan says Trump has 'played into the hands of extremists'
The London Mayor Sadiq Khan has hit back against Donald Trump’s attack today on him as “very rude” and “very nasty” after Khan previously described the US presidential hopeful’s views on Islam as ignorant.
“I am afraid his views on Islam are ignorant,” he said. “He has played into the hands of extremists. He has played into their hands of those who think it is not possible to be western and a mainstream Muslim. He has played into the hands of those who think there is a clash of civilisations.”
Speaking to journalists this morning about the housing crisis in London, he said:
I am not interested in Donald Trump picking a fight with me, but what I am clear about is his views on Islam are ignorant. Donald Trump said I would be the exception to his rule, that I would be the one Muslim that would be allowed to go to America. The point I made about Donald Trump making me the exception was that there is nothing exceptional about me. What about my friends and family, what about business people who want to go and do business in America and happen to be Muslim. What about young people who want to be students in America and happen to be Muslim. What about people who want to go on holiday to America and visit Disneyland. The views of Donald Trump and his advisers on Islam are ignorant.
Osborne says Vote Leave's response to economic warnings about Brexit neither 'credible nor serious'
In his speech at the Ryanair event George Osborne, the chancellor, said that one of the defining moments in the campaign came in the 24-hour period when both the Bank of England and the IMF said that leaving the EU would make Britain poorer.
He said it was hard to think of more credible observers of the British economy than the Bank’s monetary policy committee and the IMF.
And he ridiculed Vote Leave’s response to the Bank of England and IMF warnings.
And what has been the response of the Leave campaign? They say it is all a massive conspiracy. So that’s everyone from Mark Carney to Christine Lagarde to Barack Obama to the entire editorial team at ITV to the staff at the IMF and OECD, to hundreds of economists, to a majority of leaders of small, medium and large firms - they think they are all part of some global stitch-up to give misinformation to the British people. The next think you know the Leave camp will be accusing us of faking the moon landings, kidnapping Shergar and covering up the existence of the Loch Ness monster.
The response to the sober economics from around the world by those who want to leave the EU has not been credible or serious.
Osborne and Balls unite at Remain event
George Osborne, the chancellor, is standing alongside his former Labour shadow, Ed Balls, this morning at a pro-EU event. Vince Cable, the Lib Dem former business secretary, is with them too.
Osborne joined by old foes @edballs and Vince Cable to make case for Remain vote in #EUref pic.twitter.com/HP0wK79d2G
— David Hughes (@DavidHughesPA) May 16, 2016
Boris Johnson has been speaking this morning about the row generated by his comments comparing the EU to Nazi Germany.
Boris Johnson dismisses 'Hitler' row as "artificial media twit storm"
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) May 16, 2016
Boris Johnson says EU trying to re-create the dream of the Roman Empire "in a more bureacratic way"
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) May 16, 2016
Boris on that Hitler row https://t.co/SNYOjYOafr
— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) May 16, 2016
The Times’s red box morning email briefing has an interesting chart. It shows how likelihood to back Leave increases with age, and how 43 is the tipping point - the moment after which it becomes more likely that people will vote Out than In.
The full Donald Trump interview is on the Good Morning Britain website.
When Piers Morgan, the presenter, asked Trump about Sadiq Khan calling him ignorant, Trump’s first response was: “Let’s do an IQ test.”
Responding to this, Khan’s spokesperson said: “Ignorance is not the same thing as lack of intelligence.”
Khan says Trump represents 'politics of fear at its worst'
And Sadiq Khan is not in the mood to back down either. Commenting on the Trump interview, a spokesperson for the London mayor said:
Donald Trump’s views are ignorant, divisive and dangerous. It’s the politics of fear at its worse.
It plays straight into the extremists’ hands and makes both our countries less safe.
Cameron refuses to retract comment about Trump's Muslim ban policy being 'stupid'
David Cameron will not be retracting his comments about Donald Trump’s plan to impose a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US. “The prime minister has made his views clear and we have nothing to add,” a Number 10 source said.
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Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate for US president, has given an interview to this morning’s Good Morning Britain and he used it to have a go at both David Cameron and the new Labour mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.
He is still not happy about Cameron describing his proposal last year for a ban on Muslims entering the US as “divisive, stupid and wrong”. At a press conference earlier this month, after it became clear that Trump would be the Republican presidential candidate, Cameron refused to retract his comments. Asked how this would affect Washington-London relations is he became president, Trump replied:
It looks like we are not going to have a very good relationship. Who knows, I hope to have a good relationship with him but he’s not willing to address the problem either.
Trump said Cameron was wrong.
Well, number one I’m not stupid, Okay. I can tell you that, right now - just the opposite.
Number two, in terms of divisive: I don’t think I’m a divisive person. I’m a unifier, unlike our president now, I’m a unifier.
And Trump was even more critical of Khan, taking particular exception to Khan calling him “ignorant”. Trump said:
[Khan] doesn’t know me, hasn’t met me, doesn’t know what I’m all about. I think they were very rude statements and frankly tell him I will remember those statements. They are very nasty statements ...
When he won I wished him well. Now, I don’t care about him, I mean it doesn’t make any difference to me, let’s see how he does, let’s see if he’s a good mayor.
Asked if he was offended by Khan’s comment, he replied: “Yeah, I am.” He also said Khan was “ignorant” to say what he said.
Here is the agenda for the day.
11am: Boris Johnson is campaigning for Vote Leave in Nottingham.
11.30am: Shami Chakrabati holds a briefing about her inquiry into antisemitism in the Labour party.
I will cover the Labour breifing in detail but, 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 will post a summary at lunchtime and another in the afternoon.
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