Top story: PM sets January date for Commons showdown
Good morning briefers. I’m Martin Farrer and it’s my pleasure to bring you the best of the news today.
A dramatic, acrimonious day at Westminster ended last night with Labour and the Conservatives embroiled in a row about the opposition’s attempts to stage a no-confidence vote. As Theresa May told MPs that a meaningful vote on Brexit would not take place until the week of 14 January, an angry Jeremy Corbyn pressed for a vote to bring her down. But amid a swirl of procedural manoeuvring, the opposition backed away from forcing a binding vote in the Commons. Labour accused the government of “running scared” by not allowing time for a debate, while the Tories hit back by saying the opposition had lost its nerve when it realised that Tory rebels and the DUP would not vote against the government, condemning Labour’s motion to certain defeat.
With the no-confidence threat receding, the prime minister will use the spectre of no deal with Brussels to convince rebellious Tories to back her own Brexit package. She will tell today’s cabinet meeting that no-deal planning is being accelerated and the doomsday scenario is a real possibility if her deal is rejected. The plans include spending the Treasury’s £2bn contingency fund, her office said.
Our columnist Polly Toynbee criticises Corbyn for failing to press for the binding vote, but saves her most stinging criticism for the “revolutionary Tory cult” that is driving Britain to the cliff-edge.
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‘Global anarchy’ – Just as Britain decouples itself from Europe, a Lords committee has warned that UK must reassess its strategic reliance on the US and build new alliances in order to tackle critical global problems. Donald Trump’s policies on climate, the Iran nuclear accord and trade are “contrary to the interests of the UK”, the Lords international relations committee says in a report today, and that following the US path risks a form of “global anarchy”. The peers say the UK has failed to exert any influence on the Trump administration’s foreign policy, which appears “deliberately chaotic”.
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Hitting the wall – A shutdown of the US government has edged closer as the standoff between Donald Trump and his Democrat opponents over $5bn funding for a wall along the Mexican border wall deepened. A partial shutdown could occur at midnight on Friday, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal employees temporarily out of work or working without pay over the holiday season. Trump does not have enough votes in Congress to force through the spending and the Democrats are refusing to budge on their $1.3bn limit.
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War on waste – Supermarkets and other retailers could be fined for using difficult-to-recycle packaging such as black plastic trays under the government’s new waste strategy being launched today. Producers of packaging will also be forced to pay the full cost of collecting and recycling under the “polluter pays” approach. They would be charged lower fees for packaging that was easy to reuse or recycle. Local councils currently fund 90% of the costs of recycling and businesses just 10%.
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China’s Xi issues warning – Back to world politics, and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, has attempted to shore up confidence in his leadership and the country’s slowing economy with a strongly worded speech warning other nations not to “dictate to” Beijing. “No one is in a position to dictate to the Chinese people what should or should not be done,” Xi said. Speaking at a commemoration of the epochal reforms to open up the economy 40 years ago, Xi said China was a “builder of world peace” but still needed to tackle poverty at home. His remarks lacked detail of any new reforms, however, and failed to convince financial markets concerned that China’s slowdown and confrontation with the US on trade could damage global growth. Shares in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong all dropped sharply as Xi spoke.
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Deer price to pay – In what might be one of the most unusual punishments ever handed out by a court, a judge in Missouri has ordered a deer poacher to watch the Disney classic Bambi once a month during his year-long jail term. David Berry and a gang including his father and two brothers slaughtered hundreds of deer illegally, taking their heads as trophies and leaving the bodies to rot.
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Lunchtime read: ‘A nutty slice of punk fruitcake’
We’ve got Hollywood glamour, drama and politics today with a highly entertaining read in which Rachel Weisz, Emma Stone and Olivia Colman talk about their new film, The Favourite, which plots a love triangle as the former pair vie for the affections of Queen Anne, played by Colman. As the stars discuss what the film says about cinema’s changing dynamic, our interviewer Catherine Shoard calls it “a nutty slice of punk fruitcake with an enormous wallop of melancholy. It’s also – with three female leads running the country as the men ponce about in big wigs – a prime example of what movies might look like post #MeToo.” Colman is being tipped for an Oscar for her performance as the bewildered, grieving monarch, but admits to “feeling sick” about the attendant publicity. “I’d rather be at home with my husband,” she says.
Sport
Liverpool’s victory over Manchester United was simply a means to an end for Jürgen Klopp’s team, which is great news for the rest of us as it means we now have, finally, an actual, real-life Premier League title race.
England’s netball team walked away with two BBC prizes on Sunday but have turned their attentions from celebrations to plans for the future.
Police have been brought in to investigate allegations that black players in Chelsea’s youth system were subjected to a “racist bullying culture” during the 1980s and 1990s.
Anastasia Dobromyslova followed Lisa Ashton out of the PDC world championship as she lost to the Alexandra Palace debutant Ryan Joyce, while Raymond van Barneveld went out to Darius Labanauskas in Monday’s big shock.
And in Perth, Australia’s cricketers have levelled the four-match series with India with a 146-run victory to leave everything to play for in the final two tests in Melbourne and Sydney.
Today in Focus podcast
It’s been written off before, but is this the end of the Sicilian mafia? The arrest of the alleged boss of the Cosa Nostra this month is the latest blow for an organisation struggling to rebuild after the death last year of Salvatore Riina, the “boss of the bosses”. Clare Longrigg, the author of several books on the subject, describes the current state of play. Plus: Jonathan Watts on what to take from the COP24 climate talks.
Business
Britain’s big four accounting groups – KPMG, Deloitte, PwC and EY – have escaped the threat of a breakup after the competition regulator stopped short of calling for radical action against them. The CMA has ruled today that audits of Britain’s biggest companies should be carried out by two firms, one of which must be from outside the four. Our columnist Nils Pratley says action should have been taken 10 years ago.
On the markets the pound is fairly flat at $1.263 and €1.112. The FTSE100 is expected to drop 0.73% when it opens later this morning.
The papers
Brexit is yet again the top story this morning. The Guardian says “May intensifies warnings over risks of no-deal Brexit”. In what might prompt red faces at the Times and the Telegraph, the papers’ headline writers have come up with exactly the same words: “May dares Corbyn to call vote of confidence”. The i says “Corbyn gives Commons a chance to vote on May”. The Express warns readers to “Start spending to prepare for no-deal Brexit”.
Away from politics the Mail says “Panic sales spread online”, reporting that high-street stores are slashing prices. The FT also covers the “Retail sell-off as trading we spreads online”. The Mirror splashes on what it calls Jamie Oliver’s “tie-up” with the oil giant Shell: “Green Jamie’s £5m deal with Shell” is the headline. And the Sun splashes on what it calls a nation in crisis: “Brew Fools: New eco teabag splits in cuppas”. It says Yorkshire Tea has “sparked uproar” because it its new eco-friendly bags are “ruining cuppas” by splitting apart.
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