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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Theresa May criticised for lack of progress on Brexit as EU summit begins – as it happened

Theresa May speaking to reporters at the start of the EU summit in Brussels.
Theresa May speaking to reporters at the start of the EU summit in Brussels. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

Afternoon summary

  • Aid money could be used to fund humanitarian operations undertaken by the military, Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, has said. The move, which comes as the Ministry of Defence is battling for a major increase in its budget, would not mark the “militarisation of aid”, Mordaunt said in a speech. Mordaunt, a former defence minister, said:

If I can deliver a humanitarian operation and it is cost appropriate and effective for me to seek the use of UK military assets to do so, then I will. The fact that my actions benefit another department is a reason for doing it, not a reason for not doing it. So, if there is spare capability in defence that development can use then we should do so, and we should foot the bill for it. This is not about the militarisation of aid, but about ensuring that each department plays a complementary role.

What I am really interested in is that we are coming together and we are using both our budgets in the most sensible way. I want DfID and the MoD to develop our capabilities together. Whether it’s civil contingencies at home or humanitarian crises overseas, we can support and inform each other to better meet the challenges we both face.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Further doubts about the Scottish National party’s vetting of its candidates and Nicola Sturgeon’s judgment in nominating Gillian Martin as an education minister (see 12.27pm, 1.26pm and 4.30pm) have been raised after allegedly racist comments in her blog came to light.

Fresh excerpts from Martin’s deleted blog have her making disparaging comments about black, Jewish and overweight Americans she apparently encountered as a waitress in New Orleans.

Sturgeon’s spokesman, after accusing the media of using “electronic bin-raking” to expose the affair, claimed this afternoon the first minister suspended Martin today only after this fresh material emerged.

He said the most-widely circulated and allegedly trans-phoblic comments about “hairy-knuckled, lipstick-wearing transitional laydees” were already known to Sturgeon, before she had nominated Martin as an education secretary. He claimed:

Stuff came to light this morning which had not been previously aired or known about in any shape or form, certainly not to the first minister, and that’s the basis on which she took the decision not to proceed with the nomination.

Martin has since issued a lengthy apology (see 4.30pm) but in a detailed account of the restaurant tipping culture in New Orleans, her blog spoke of “American Blacks – don’t tip at all or tip next to nothing – to be avoided. The waiters (also black, remember) would do anything to avoid serving a table of blacks …”

She went on: “American Jews – tip ok but only if you’ve absolutely busted your hump and everything was faultless in the extreme. Often complain about the quality of the food, and then the small portions (Copyright: Woody Allen)”

And: “American Christian Whites – tip well (a combination of feeling guilty about slavery and wanting rub their comparative wealth in your face).” [sic]

This is from AFP’s Danny Kemp.

This is from RTE’s Tony Connelly.

This, from Naomi O’Leary, an Irish journalist covering Brussels, is interesting.

Jon Lansman, the Momentum founder and member of Labour’s national executive committee, says the proposed changes to the way Labour elects its leader, parliamentary candidates and council leaders, which the Guardian has been writing about this week, do not go far enough.

The MSP Gillian Martin has issued this statement about her non-appointment today as a Scottish government education minister. (See 12.27pm and 1.26pm.) She said:

I fully accept and understand the decision that the first minister has taken.

In a blog I wrote 11 years ago across a range of issues I used language that was inappropriate and offensive. I reported comments from other people which have caused offence, and made statements in a way which does not represent my views then or now.

I deleted this blog some time ago precisely because I accepted that it contained unacceptable content – but I recognise that these posts should never have been published in the first place.

That is entirely my responsibility and I am deeply sorry.

When parts of this blog were last raised publicly two years ago I apologised – and I unreservedly apologise today.

Since my election as MSP for Aberdeenshire East in 2016, I have always campaigned hard for equalities and I will continue to do so.

Gillian Martin MSP
Gillian Martin MSP Photograph: Ken Jack - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Juncker says UK must say what sort of Brexit it wants

At the start of the EU summit in Brussels Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, also said the UK needed to clarify what sort of Brexit it wanted soon. He told reporters:

I don’t have to lecture Theresa May, but I would like our British friends to make clear their positions.

Asked if there was a risk there may not be a deal, he said:

We are preparing for different scenarios - on the proper withdrawal agreement but, in parallel, we are working on the no deal.

Jean-Claude Juncker, president of European commission
Jean-Claude Juncker, president of European commission Photograph: Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images

Michael Gove, the environment secretary, has tweeted a clip of an answer he gave in an interview saying he did not mind Liz Truss, the environment secretary, making a joke at his expense in a speech on Monday.

(If you recall the joke, you make think “fantastic sense of humour” is stretching it.)

I muddled up two EU PMs earlier, saying that it was Leo Vardakar posing in the Belgian football scarves picture when it was Xavier Bettel. I’ve corrected that now. (See 3.21pm.) Sorry.

Here is my colleague Daniel Boffey on Theresa May and the Belgian football shirt.

According to the Australian, the British defence giant BAE Systems has won a $35bn contract to ­deliver nine advanced anti-submarine warfare vessels.

Sam Coates from the Times says Downing Street were due to announce the news but have been scooped.

And, on the subject of the England/Belgium match, Theresa May suffered a bit of an ambush when she arrived in the room for the summit. The EU broadcasts a live feed as the leaders mingle in the room, with no sound, so we could watch what happened.

As Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, arrived, he opened a package and took out a football shirt which he offered to Theresa May. Watching the footage, it was not entirely clear from her reaction whether she realised at first what it was.

Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, handing a football shirt to Theresa May at the opening of the EU summit.
Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, handing a football shirt to Theresa May at the opening of the EU summit. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA

With the number 10 on the back, it seemed an appropriate present. I’m told by those who follow these things that the number 10 shirt belongs to Eden Hazard, the Belgian star player.

Some Belgian team scarfs appeared too, and Michel then posed for a picture with Xavier Bettel, the Luxembourg MP, and Mark Rutte, the Dutch PM.

Sadly, no one from the Number 10 team seems to have brought any England scarfs to pass around. Perhaps they were worried that no one would want to wear one? Or perhaps it was just another case of the UK turning up at an EU negotiation empty handed?

UPDATE: I’ve corrected the post above to say it was Xavier Bettel in the picture, not Leo Varadkar as I wrongly said earlier.

Updated

UK must understand that its relationship with EU not one between equals, says Irish PM

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, gave the most extensive of the Brexit-related doorstep interviews on the way in. We’ve covered some of his comments already, but here is a full summary.

  • Varadkar effectively said there had been no progress in the Brexit talks in the last three months. (See 2.23pm.) He admitted there was “responsibility on all sides”, but it was clear that he felt the UK was largely to blame. (Technically there has been some progress since March - the EU and the UK published a note explaining what last week - but it is fairly minimal.)

We did expect that we would make more progress - or any progress, really - we expected there would be progress at this summit in June, like there was in March and December. And there hasn’t been. So I will be saying to Prime Minister May we all need to intensify our efforts now. All of us want there to be a deal. We need a deal. Europe needs a deal, Britain needs a deal too.

  • He urged Theresa May to soften some of her Brexit red lines.

We in Europe, the 27 states, are willing to be more flexible. But in order to to be flexible the United Kingdom needs to soften some of its red lines.

  • He insisted the EU would never compromise on its four freedoms because, if it did, it would start to break up.

There are things that we just can’t compromise on; the four freedoms, the four freedoms and the single market have to go together. You can’t have one freedom or two freedoms or three and a half freedoms, because if we were ever to agree to that, the European Union would start to break up, and that is something that we can’t ever contemplate.

  • He said the UK government’s Brexit white paper should have been published more than two years ago, before the referendum, not now.

I think it would have been helpful if they had that white paper two years ago. You would have thought that before people voted to leave the European Union they would have had an idea what the new relationship might look like. But I appreciate that has not happened. But we look forward to seeing that white paper.

  • He said he hoped the white paper would acknowledge that the EU will not allow cherry picking (ie, trying to have the advantages of the single market without the obligations). He said:

We’re two years telling people it can’t be cherry picking, it can’t be cake and eat it. So it needs to understand that we’re a union of 27 member states, 500m people. We have laws and rules and principles and they can’t be changed for any one country, even a great country like Britain.

  • He said the UK had to understand that its relationship with the EU was not one between equals.

Any relationship that exists in the future between the EU and the UK isn’t going to be one of absolute equals. We are 27 member states; the UK is one country. We’re 500m people; the UK is 60m. So that basis fact needs to be realised and understood.

  • He said EU countries had to prepare for the possibility of a no deal Brexit.

We will have to start making preparations for [a no deal Brexit]. Even though it’s a very unlikely scenario, any responsible government has to make those kind of preparations.

  • He reaffirmed his insistence the Brexit withdrawal deal would have to include an agreement on the Irish backstop.

As we agreed back in December and March, there can be no withdrawal agreement without an agreement on the Irish backstop.

  • He said he would be supporting Belgium in tonight’s England/Belgium World Cup match.

I am here in Brussels in Belgium, so of course I’m going to be cheering for the home team. But of course if Belgium wins, England will probably get an easier ride in the next round. So perhaps it’s one of those win/win scenarios.

Leo Varadkar, with the Irish Europe minister Helen McEntee
Leo Varadkar, with the Irish Europe minister Helen McEntee Photograph: EU

Updated

May criticised over lack of progress on Brexit as EU leaders arrive for summit

Theresa May’s claim that the UK and the EU have made “very good progress” in the Brexit talks was flatly contradicted by what Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said when he arrived at the summit a few minutes earlier. He said:

We did expect that we would make more progress - or any progress, really - we expected there would be progress at this summit in June, like there was in March and December. And there hasn’t been. So I will be saying to Prime Minister May we all need to intensify our efforts now. All of us want there to be a deal. We need a deal. Europe needs a deal, Britain needs a deal too.

Varadkar did not personalise his criticism of the UK, but it was clear that he felt London, not Brussels, was to blame for the lack of progress. Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, in his remarks to journalists said splits in the British cabinet over Brexit were a problem. (See 1.59am.)

May claims UK and EU have made 'very good progress' in Brexit talks as she arrives at EU summit

Theresa May is arriving at the EU summit now.

She starts by talking about the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons vote yesterday, which the UK led, she says.

She then claims there has been “very good progress” on the Brexit withdrawal agreement. Both sides want a strong future partnership, she says.

She says she wants both sides to continue with the talks “at a faster pace”.

Asked if the talks are really going well, she replies:

We have been setting out throughout these negotiations our position and at every stage, last December and March, we have come to agreements with the European Union.

She says the cabinet will be coming together next week to finalise the white paper on Brexit.

Asked if she is annoyed by how rigid the EU is being, she says the UK has already been able to get “flexibility from the European Union” on matters.

This is not just about the UK, she says. It matters for both sides.

Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, has arrived. He said Theresa May should relax her Brexit red lines. This is from my colleague Lisa O’Carroll.

I will post the full quotes soon.

Dutch PM says solving Irish border problem now 'first, second and third priority' in Brexit talks

EU leaders have been talking to journalists as they arrive at the summit in Brussels. Mostly they have been talking about migration, but the Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte (who speaks good English, meaning the British journos can ask him questions) has spoken about Brexit. Here are the main points he made.

  • Rutte said solving the Irish border problem was now “the first, second and third priority” in the EU talks. He said that time was getting “shorter and shorter” in which to reach an agreement and that “we don’t have much longer”. Asked if he thought the transition was at risk (ie, if the UK could leave without any withdrawal deal), he replied:

I don’t want to talk in apocalyptic terms. What I want to say is that I believe the first, second and third priority now is to solve this issue of the Irish border. And when that is solved so many other issues will be easier to discuss.

  • He said the backstop solution to the Irish border problem could not be time limited.

The first issue on the table now to solve is this problem of the Irish border. That is crucial. And there has to be a backstop which is not temporary, which is continuous, in case we are not able to solve this problem in future. And that issue has to be solved.

The UK’s plan for a backstop is time limited, because this is something Brexiters are insisting on.

  • He said he realised that the British cabinet was divided, but that Theresa May needed to reach agreement on what she wanted. He said:

I do understand it is difficult to come to agreement within her cabinet and within [the] UK parliament, but she has to.

  • He said that he would do everything he could to support May. She was “working day and night to solve this,” he said.
Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte Photograph: EU

EU leaders back Merkel on migration ahead of EU summit

This is what Reuters has filed on the opening of the EU summit.

European leaders promised to help Chancellor Angela Merkel tackle a crisis in the bloc’s migration policies on Thursday, offering the weakened German leader vital support before a high-stakes EU summit.

Arriving in Brussels, the leaders of Spain, Greece, Finland and Luxembourg all expressed support for Merkel’s push to curtail “secondary migration” of refugees who arrive at the EU’s southern border before heading north to Germany.

Europe’s longest serving leader has come under acute political pressure from her hardline allies in Bavaria, who are threatening to close their border to migrants if she can’t work out a deal with Germany’s European partners.

That could trigger the collapse of Merkel’s three-month-old government and cause the EU’s control-free Schengen travel zone to unravel.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told reporters that European solidarity on migration was vital, “especially with Germany which is now suffering a political crisis”.

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel added: “There are so many people who arrived in different countries and then made their way to Germany. I understand when Germany says ‘Why do we have to deal with everything?’”

Greece’s Alexis Tsipras and Finland’s Juha Sipila also promised to work with Germany on the issue.

Sturgeon says she is still reflecting on whether to appoint Martin as education minister

Nicola Sturgeon has told MSPs she has apparently not yet decided whether to renominate Gillian Martin as a junior education minister, after Martin’s candidacy was withdrawn for her apparent attacks on transgender rights in a blog 11 years ago. (See 12.27pm.)

The first minister told Holyrood she was going to reflect on detailed disclosures in the Times of Martin’s references to “hairy-knuckled, lipstick-wearing transitional laydees” and other social issues while she was a college lecturer.

However renominating Martin is highly unlikely given the extent of opposition to it from other parties: Labour and the Tories had said earlier on Thursday they would oppose it, and the Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie used his first minister’s questions slot to promote gay, lesbian and transgender rights.

Speaking as MSPs – many wearing the rainbow colours of LGBT rights as ties, scarves or badges - approved her remaining slate of ministerial candidates, Sturgeon insisted again she was largely ignorant of the full extent of Martin’s remarks.

She said took all the criticisms of her decision to nominate Martin “on the chin – they are my responsibility.” She insisted Martin had earned respect from her MSP colleagues since arriving at Holyrood in 2016: “However ill advised they are, they are not reflective of the person I have come to know.”

Nicola Sturgeon during first minister’s questions
Nicola Sturgeon during first minister’s questions Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PA

Updated

EU leaders arrive for summit in Brussels

EU leaders have been arriving at their summit in Brussels.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has just spoken to reporters. Reuters have snapped this.

GERMANY’S MERKEL SAYS WE CAN TALK ABOUT LANDING MIGRANT BOATS IN AFRICA, BUT NEED TO TALK WITH THOSE COUNTRIES FIRST

Angela Merkel arriving at the EU summit
Angela Merkel arriving at the EU summit Photograph: EU

One of the most interesting features of our current politics is the way the Conservative party is abandoning its heritage as the party of business. My colleagues Aditya Chakrabortty wrote a good column on this subject recently, and many others have made the same point, but today the Daily Mail carries an article that potentially escalates the Tory war with corporate Britain.

It is by Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative leader and high-profile Brexiter. Prompted by the Airbus warnings about the impact of Brexit, he argues that big businesses and the organisations that represent them have been wrong before in their forecasts and that they don’t represent the views of small business. These claims are at least arguable (although the Federation of Small Businesses takes the same stance on Brexit as the CBI), and have been made many times before.

But then he launches into an extraordinary passage implying that the CBI can’t be trusted because its forerunner organisation supported the appeasement of the Nazis. He says:

Before World War II, as the historian Andrew Roberts has pointed out, the Federation of British Industries — the forerunner of the CBI — supported both the Gold Standard (which, in its constraints on a government’s ability to manage the economy is an instrument of jobs destruction), and the appeasement of Nazi Germany.

Between 1937 and 1939 while the Nazis were opening their concentration camps, the FBI oversaw the creation of no fewer than 33 separate agreements between British and German business groups.

Undaunted by this sorry record, after the war the CBI supported the socialistic nationalisation of much of the economy by the Labour government — just as it backed Harold Wilson’s ill-fated introduction of tripartite state planning (social partnership based on affiliations between business, labour and the state to create economic policy) in the 1960s, and the wholesale surrender to trade union power in the 1970s.

What’s remarkable about this is not that it’s wrong; it is Duncan Smith’s complete absence of self-awareness (and arguable hypocrisy). The Federation of British Industries may have supported appeasement, but no one promoted it more than the Conservative party under the leadership of Neville Chamberlain. Is Duncan Smith says no one should ever trust the Conservative party because of their 1930s foreign policy?

To this, you could add that after the war the Conservatives also accepted much of the post-war Labour economic agenda, leading to the term “Butskellism” being coined. And, of course, if you want to write an article arguing that support for appeasement and undue sympathy towards Nazis 80 years ago are proof that an institution’s views have no value today, then the Daily Mail is probably one of the worst places you could choose to publish it.

Iain Duncan Smith.
Iain Duncan Smith. Photograph: James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

MPs need more information about costs of Brexit, say committee chairs

The heads of two influential select committees have expressed concern that parliament has not been given enough information by the government on which to make crucial Brexit decisions over the next few months.

Nicky Morgan, chair of the treasury select committee, and Meg Hillier, chair of the public accounts committee, have sent a joint letter to MPs claiming that the true cost of Brexit has not yet been made clear and will need to be revealed before a series of votes. They said:

In the months ahead, parliament will be called upon to make key decisions regarding the terms of the UK’s exit, and the framework for its future relationship, and we remain concerned that there is currently insufficient information on which it can base these crucial decisions.

They highlighted a recent National Audit Office report which warned that the “divorce bill” could be higher than the £39bn estimate and would be subject to a number of fluctuating economic factors. Some have estimated that the final bill could be closer to £50bn once European Development Fund commitments and GDP growth rates across Europe are taken into consideration.

Contributions to any EU agencies in which the UK might wish to participate after Brexit, such as the European Medicines Agency and the European Aviation Space Agency are not part of the overall bill should also be considered, Morgan and Hillier wrote. They went on:

The government needs to provide clarity on the points above, in good time before parliament comes to decide on the withdrawal agreement and the future framework. Unless we understand what we and future generations are paying for we cannot call this a meaningful vote.

Sturgeon sacks junior minister over past trans students slur

Nicola Sturgeon has been forced to sack a junior minister, Gillian Martin, before she was formally appointed after it emerged Martin has written a blog attacking “hairy-knuckled, lipstick-wearing transitional laydees” while she was a college lecturer.

Martin’s appointment was announced in a press release yesterday and she was due to be confirmed later today as a new junior education minister, partly responsible for widening access, including promoting minority groups, as part of Sturgeon’s sweeping reshuffle this week.

However the Times (paywall) revealed she had made a series of highly contentious angry remarks in a blog in 2007, which has since been deleted, she also spoke about “vote whore, muppet” politicians who had failed to increase teachers’ pay and introduced top-down education reforms.

Labour described her as a “cybernat loose cannon” and had notified reporters on Thursday morning it planned to formally oppose Martin’s confirmation – a very rare event at the Scottish parliament, triggering a highly embarrassing vote which Sturgeon was likely to loose.

Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, tweeted that her party too had told ministers after the Times story broke they would not support Martin’s nomination.

The Times reported her blog attacking a questionnaire at her college asking students if they had ever identified as transgender. In it she wrote:

Will they install a third category of loo with a special transgender sign? Are they then going to pinpoint these transgender people and make sure that they get represented fairly on all undisclosed-because-I-don’t-want-to-get-fired-establishment literature in the same way our five endlessly tolerant Asian students do or that guy with the guide dog does?

Are we going to see lovely photos in the foyer of hairy knuckled lipstick-wearing transitional transgender laydees being embraced by the principal of undisclosed college or visiting politicians for the press?

Scottish government officials refused to confirm Martin’s nomination had been withdrawn but BBC reporters tweeted an amended nominations list.

Updated

DWP figures show 70,000 families have lost money from two-child benefit rule

Last year the government introduced a two-child limit for people claiming the child tax credit or universal credit, meaning that if they had a third or subsequent child after April 2017, they would not be able to claim for that child. Today the Department for Work and Pensions has published statistics (pdf) showing how many people were affected and they show that 70,620 families lost money as a result.

Commenting on the figures, Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, said:

Our analysis with IPPR last year found 200,000 children will be pulled into poverty by the two-child limit. Today’s DWP statistics now show it’s already having a damaging impact – and at a fast pace. These are struggling families, most of them in work, who will lose up to £2,780 a year - a huge amount if you’re a parent on low pay.

An estimated one in six UK children will be living in a family affected by the two-child limit once the policy has had its full impact. It’s a pernicious, poverty-producing policy. Even when times are tough, parents share family resources equally among their children, but now the government is treating some children as less deserving of support purely because of their order of birth. Having older siblings should not mean that a child misses out on support.

UPDATE: This is from the SNP’s Alison Thewliss. She points out that the report also reveals that 190 women have had to disclose a rape to get an exception from the two-child rule. The SNP have campaigning very strongly on this issue, highlighting the so-called “rape clause” as part of their call for the two-child rule to be abolished.

Updated

According to the Mirror’s Dan Bloom, a source close to Nigel Farage insists he hasn’t dyed his hair. (See 11.17am.)

A British business manufacturing ground-breaking flushable wet wipes has told a House of Lords committee that an investor pulled out because of Brexit.

Ellinor McIntosh, founder of Twipes was one of several start up business who told peers Brexit was impacting their funding and growth prospects. “We’ve actually had investors pull out because of the uncertainty around Brexit,” she said.

She told them the water-dispersable tissues her company Twipes makes were an innovation and she is hoping to tap into the market following repeated warnings about the environmental damage of conventional wet wipes.

Twipes are made in Estonia and if Brexit means import duties and customs costs of could imperil fund-raising, she said. She told peers on the EU internal market sub committee:

Our investor turned around and said, ‘You’re business is dead, you’re going to have charge your customers a lot more … they are not going to want to pay and that’s why I’m leaving’.

Her remarks come as Tory Brexiter Ian Duncan Smith claimed protests by big businesses including Airbus and BMW did not reflect majority opinion as most of private sector was made up of small to medium-sized business.

McIntosh said she considered moving production from Estonia to the UK but “manufacturing is three times more expensive” at home.

Paper manufacturing is all done in either Scandinavia or Baltic states, where forestry and space for the large machinery for paper production is not limited.

Other start-ups told the Lords they were concerned about retaining talent. Steven Hunter, founder of 9Fin, a fintech start up, said six of his eight staff were from the EU.

Francesca Hodgson, CEO and founder of Goodbox, a start up developing contactless payment services for charities said: “We’re on a mission to make fund-raising feel good again” but “talent is critical”.

Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, is giving an interview to Sky News. He is making the argument that the EU migration crisis vindicates what Ukip said before the EU referendum, but I’m afraid I’m distracted by his hair. Farage is a big Trump fan, and, unless the lighting is playing funny tricks, it does look as though he’s borrowed some of Donald’s hair dye.

Nigel Farage on Sky News
Nigel Farage on Sky News Photograph: Sky News

A committee of MPs has warned that parliament may not have enough time to approve the UK’s exit from the European Union by March 2019 as Theresa May heads to Brussels for the latest round of the slow-moving divorce talks, my colleagues Dan Sabbagh and Heather Stewart report. Their story goes on:

The cross-party Brexit committee said that “even under the most optimistic outcome” of a divorce deal being agreed in October there was not necessarily enough time for ratification by the article 50 deadline, particularly if MPs seek to amend the final deal.

Hilary Benn, the committee chairman, is due to make a statement to the Commons later this morning outlining the concerns. Speaking as the report was published, Benn warned that “time is not on our side”, citing the fact that future customs arrangements and other crucial elements had not yet been signed off by cabinet or agreed with the EU.

He added: “While the cabinet continues to run down the clock as it tries to agree on a plan, it would be unconscionable if the House of Commons was not provided with the time and opportunity both for the fullest debate and to enable a clear expression of its opinion on the most significant decision our country has faced in a generation.”

Here is the full article.

And here is the committee’s report (pdf).

SNP would rather have referendum on independence than second referendum on Brexit, says Blackford

The Scottish National party leader Ian Blackford has played down prospects the party will back a second referendum on Brexit because it would far rather see a second vote on Scottish independence.

Blackford told political journalists at Westminster the SNP was not hostile to calls for a “people’s vote” on the final deal, and would not resist one if it was held, but it was far from his party’s priority. And it could, he added, complicate the Scottish constitutional question. The Herald reports him as saying:

We already have a mandate from the people of Scotland and the Scottish parliament if there’s a material change of circumstances, then we should have a discussion with the people of Scotland on a vote on independence and if we were talking about a ranking choice as to what our preference would be it would very much be for a decision of the Scottish people on their constitutional future rather than anything else.

A second EU referendum could easily end up with England and Scotland again divided on what to do. It is not clear how that putative vote would be framed or decide but Blackford suggested it could end up being a proxy vote on staying in or out of the EU. He said:

For example, if we end up in a situation if the rest of the UK voted no again and Scotland voted to remain, how is our position protected? So there are some real issues with that second EU vote.

Blackford’s studied ambivalence masks a more significant question for his party: if the SNP endorsed a “people’s vote” on the EU deal, and then later staged a second independence referendum, it would be under heavy pressure to accept a referendum to ratify the independence deal with the rest of the UK and potentially with the EU.

And ironically, that process would rekindle the question of Scottish membership of the EU, a prospect about a third of SNP voters dislike.

Ian Blackford.
Ian Blackford. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Merkel says future of EU depends on finding solution to migration crisis

Angela Merkel has said the future of the European Union hinges on whether it can find answers to the “vital questions” posed by migration.

Addressing the Bundestag before heading to Brussels for a European summit that is likely to determine the future of her fraying coalition government, the German chancellor said European leaders should find a solution to asylum challenges “by allowing ourselves to be guided by values and rooting for multilateralism rather than unilateralism”.

If the heads of government gathering in Brussels failed to do so, Merkel said, they risked creating a situation where “no one believes in the value system that has made us so strong”.

Merkel heads to Brussels under immense pressure from her interior minister, Horst Seehofer, who is threatening to unilaterally turn away at German borders any migrants who have already registered in another EU country, unless the chancellor can come up with a European solution to the problem by 1 July.

In a 26-minute speech to the German parliament, notably in Seehofer’s absence, Merkel sounded a note of pessimism about the chances of striking an EU-wide deal on migration by Friday morning.

“We are not yet where we want to be,” she said, adding that EU leaders remained at odds on two out of seven key questions relating to common standards for asylum procedures across the EU and a quota system for redistributing asylum seekers – a proposal that has proved a contentious issue across Europe for the last two years.

Merkel defended her decision to keep open German borders to refugees at the height of the crisis in September 2015, saying: “I still believe it was right.”

But she also said it was time to return to practices before 2015 now that asylum numbers had gone down, and seek conversations with African states about about deals to return migrants “who absolutely have no right to stay”, modelled on the 2016 agreement between Turkey and the EU.

Other European leaders, such as Austria’s chancellor Sebastian Kurz, have proposed deals to set up “secure zones” for refugees in North African states such as Libya.

Throughout Merkel’s speech on Thursday morning, she was heckled by delegates of the rightwing populist and anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland, at one point interrupting her own speech with the words “My god, seriously now”.

According to a survey by German broadcaster ARD, 75% of Germans support the chancellor’s call for a “European solution” to the challenges related with migration. Only 36% of those questioned believed that she would be able to secure such a deal in the near future, however.

Angela Merkel addressing the Bundestag this morning ahead of the EU summit starting today.
Angela Merkel addressing the Bundestag this morning ahead of the EU summit starting today. Photograph: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Trump’s election means UK needs tighter rules to stop US using British territory for rendition, says intelligence committee

And here are the key conclusions from the second release. (I’ve highlighted some of the most important paragraphs in bold.)

While there is room for improvement, very few countries have attempted to set out their approach to these matters, and let themselves be held accountable [in the way the UK has, with its guidance on policy in relation to detainees held abroad]. It is to the agencies’ and the MoD’s credit that they have embedded these procedures.

The same cannot be said in relation to policy and process on rendition. There has been little improvement since we last reported in 2007. We find it astonishing that, given the intense focus on this issue ten years ago, the government has failed to take action. There is no clear policy, and not even agreement as to who has responsibility for preventing UK complicity in unlawful rendition. We particularly note that HMG has failed to introduce a process to ensure that allies cannot use UK territory for rendition purposes without prior permission. Given the clear shift in focus signalled by the present US administration, the current reliance on retrospective assurances and the voluntary provision of passenger information is completely unsatisfactory. Further, the FCO position that the UK is absolved from complicity in permitting transit or refuelling of a possible rendition flight, because it has no knowledge of what the aircraft has done or is doing, is not acceptable. We are unconvinced that the government recognises the seriousness of rendition and the potential for the UK to be complicit in actions which may lead to torture or CIDT [cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment]. We are therefore formally requesting that HMG publish its policy on rendition within three months of publication of this report.

Finally, this report addresses the question of agility. The agencies have recognised that after 9/11 they failed to adapt quickly to significant changes in circumstances, and the pressure they were operating under as a result has been cited by them as one of the key reasons they missed the warning signs on torture and mistreatment. In this context, we note that the agencies are monitoring the actions of their US liaison partners in order to identify at an early stage any shift in policy on detainees. It is essential that this is taken seriously given the grave repercussions of their failure to detect the change in US working practices after 9/11.

  • Trump’s election means UK needs tighter rules to stop US using British territory for rendition, says intelligence committee.

Updated

UK's tolerance of use of torture by its allies 'inexcusable', intelligence committee says

Grieve, the ISC chair, read out the committee’s two press statements (see 10.14am) at the start of his briefing.

They are worth reading in full, but here are the key conclusions from the first report, on what happened between 2001 and 2010.

The 27 conclusions contained in the body of this report outline some serious concerns: in our view the UK tolerated actions, and took others, that we regard as inexcusable. That being said, we have found no ‘smoking gun’ to indicate that the agencies deliberately overlooked reports of mistreatment and rendition by the US as a matter of institutional policy. The evidence instead suggests a difficult balancing act: the agencies were the junior partner with limited influence, and concerned not to upset their US counterparts in case they lost access to intelligence from detainees that might be vital in preventing an attack on the UK.

It is easy to criticise with the benefit of hindsight. We wish to be absolutely clear that we do not seek to blame individual officers acting under immense pressure. Our findings must be viewed in the context in which the events took place. The pace of work after 9/11, both in Afghanistan and London, was frenetic: we do not underestimate the pressure that the Agencies experienced whilst dealing with the imperative to protect the UK and prevent another attack on the scale of 9/11.

With that said, more could have been done at an agency and ministerial level to seek to influence US behaviour. More could also have been done to distance themselves from mistreatment of detainees. The committee wished to establish whether these lessons have been learned, and changes made to ensure that the same would not happen again today.

Dominic Grieve at his press conference.
Dominic Grieve at his press conference. Photograph: Dominic Grieve/Sky News

ISC chair Dominic Grieve holds press conference on rendition reports

Dominic Grieve, the Conservative MP who chairs the intelligence and security committee, is holding a press conference now to explain the findings of the ISC’s two report published this morning. (See 10.09am and 10.14am.)

British intelligence agencies involved in torture and rendition of terror suspects after 9/11, reports say

British intelligence agencies were involved in the torture and kidnap of terrorism suspects after 9/11, according to two reports by the parliamentary intelligence and security committee, my colleagues Ian Cobain and Ewen MacAskill report. Their story goes on:

The reports published on Thursday amount to one of the most damning indictments ever of UK intelligence, revealing links to torture and rendition were much more widespread than previously reported.

While there was no evidence of officers directly carrying out physical mistreatment of detainees, the reports say the overseas agency MI6 and the domestic service MI5 were involved in hundreds of torture cases and scores of rendition cases.

There were two cases in which UK personnel were “party to mistreatment administered by others”. One has been investigated by the Metropolitan police but the other is still to be fully investigated.

And here is the full article.

The Office for National Statistics has published a report on population figures. Here are the two headline points.

The population of the UK at 30 June 2017 exceeded 66 million people (66,040,229), an increase of 392,000 people since mid-2016.

This growth rate (0.6%) is the lowest since mid-2004.

This is from Neil Park, head of the population estimates unit at the ONS.

This is the lowest annual population growth since 2004 due to a fall in net migration, fewer births and more deaths than previously seen. The effect is most pronounced in London and other areas that have seen high levels of immigration in recent years. Nevertheless, the population is still growing faster than at any time since the post war ‘baby boom’ and the expansion of the EU in 2004.

The report also says that Brexit is likely to have been a factor in international immigration figures falling, but it also says “decisions to migrate are complex and other factors are also going to be influencing the figures.”

UK could be heading for 'very worst' Brexit, says May's former policy chief

Theresa May is heading to Brussels for an EU summit today. At one point this was billed as yet another crunch showdown, but both sides have given up pretending that this even will mark an important Brexit milestone and instead it will be mostly about migration. There will be some discussion of Brexit, of course, and the UK is expected to be criticised for not yet explaining fully what it wants, but in the calendar of Brexit events, this is very much a second-order fixture.

Still, that doesn’t meant that Brexit is going well. Over recent weeks we’ve had a stash of articles and comments from once-enthusiastic Brexiters complaining that it is all going pear shaped and today the Daily Telegraph has printed another. It is from Nick Timothy, now just a humble newspaper columnist, but until last year May’s co chief of staff and (in the eyes of some) the most powerful policy adviser in government. He also played a crucial role in shaping May’s Brexit strategy, writing the hardline speech to the Conservative party conference in 2016 that laid down her red lines and the Lancaster House Brexit blueprint.

Now, though, he thinks May is heading for the “very worst” Brexit. He writes in his article (paywall):

The EU showed last December – when the talks faltered over Northern Ireland – that they want a deal. But they want a deal on the best terms for them, and the very worst for Britain. As things stand, they might well succeed.

All these Brexiter confessionals include passages identifying who is to blame for it all going wrong. For Johnson, it’s the Treasury. For Danial Hannan, it’s parliament. For Dominic Cummings, it’s the government and Whitehall. (None of them have, as yet, said that perhaps the whole project might have been flawed in the first place.) Timothy also blames the Treasury, but he is particularly critical of Greg Clark, the business secretary. He says:

The chancellor blocked meaningful no-deal planning, and refused pointblank to consider alternatives to EU financial regulations. Instead, the Treasury produced negative economic forecasts based on outcomes the government did not seek, and leaked them to the media.

It is not just the Treasury. This week, the business secretary has made the case for “labour mobility” – code for a form of free movement – with the EU. This not only breaches one of the prime minister’s red lines: it is one of Brussels’ main demands of Britain. Meanwhile, City sources say government advisers are encouraging them to speak out against its own policy. And Brexit department officials complain that the Cabinet Office is stopping them from dealing directly with member states because “it upsets the commission”.

Timothy’s solution? May should “toughen up”. He says:

Ministers should point out that it is not Britain jeopardising the Good Friday agreement, but the Irish, who are failing to respect the integrity of the United Kingdom. And the chancellor should immediately increase spending and staffing to prepare for “no deal”. The time for sincere cooperation with a partner that does not want to sincerely cooperate is over: we must toughen up.

We’ll hear from May when she arrives at the summit at lunchtime. But if Timothy is expecting his old boss to take his advice, he is likely to be disappointed.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

9.30am: The Office for National Statistics publishes population figures.

10am: Parliaments’s intelligence and security committee publishes two reports on detainee mistreatment and rendition.

1pm: Theresa May and fellow EU leaders arrive in Brussels for the EU summit.

1.30pm: Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, gives a speech on soft power.

As usual, I will also 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 at the end of the day.

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’s 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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