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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow

Boris Johnson rejects claims he had to back down from telling EU to 'go whistle' over 'Brexit bill' – as it happened

Boris Johnson giving a speech at the Foreign Office.
Boris Johnson giving a speech at the Foreign Office. Photograph: POOL/Reuters

Afternoon summary

  • The Irish government has said it will not back any new Brexit deal that alters the core principles of what was agreed earlier this week. Speaking in the Dail in Dublin, Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister,

We are in a position where we still need to find a way forward but, let me be very clear, the core issues that Ireland got agreement on at the start of this week are not changing.

Coveney was referring to provisions in the draft agreement proposing some form of regulatory alignment between Northern Ireland and the Republic to prevent the emergence of a hard border. The DUP objected to the wording because they thought it could result in Northern Ireland getting detached in regulatory terms from the rest of the UK. The UK government and the DUP are still working on a solution, but there are no indications that an announcement is imminent.

That’s all from me for today.

Thanks for the comments.

Osborne says Labour could be 20 points ahead in polls under different leader

Here are some fuller quotes from the George Osborne speech. I’m using the copy from the Press Association.

  • Osborne said there was a “consensus” in the Conservative party that Theresa May would be replaced before the general election. He said:

The essential question is going to be - is there going to be a change of leadership in this parliament? The Conservative party parliamentary party assumes there will be, the prime minister has said nothing about that. And at some point that is going to come to a head.

I would make the observation that it is the consensus view of the Conservative parliamentary Party that the leadership should change. So at some point something will happen.

  • He said the Conservative party had to be modern to win. He said:

If you as a party set yourselves against the future, if we’re hostile to business, if we think they are the problem not the solution, if the Cabinet game becomes who can get the most money out of the chancellor, if we’re anti-tech, if we talk about building homes but pretend they can only be built on brownfields, then we will lose our economic credibility and cause damage to our country’s economic future.

  • He said Labour could be 20 points ahead in the polls with a different leader. He said:

The Labour party chose to change its leadership rules, the new membership of the Labour party chose to head to the political fringes, and the Labour movement now lives with the consequences of that big decision.

And in my view, for all this undoubted ability to connect to younger and more disillusioned voters, Jeremy Corbyn remains the biggest obstacle to Labour winning an election.

If the party was led by a more moderate social democrat of even middling ability then they would now be 20 points ahead in the polls and on the cusp of power. Instead the Labour movement is consumed by an internal battle for its soul.

  • He said he did not expect to return to politics, but did not rule it out. He said:

I don’t rule it out [returning to the Commons] just because I think you can be foolish saying never to things, but it is certainly not what I think I’m going to be doing with my life in the future. I am very much enjoying editing the paper and for me aged 46, having had 20 years in politics, I’ve discovered a new career and a new life and I’m quite enjoying it.

Charles Walker, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons procedure committee, has announced that he is tabling amendments to the EU withdrawal bill for debate next week that would give a Commons committee new powers to demand votes when ministers want to amend the law using secondary legislation.

At the moment most secondary legislation gets passed at the stroke of a pen, without MPs getting a vote. This has become a big issue in relation to the EU withdrawal bill because it will give ministers extensive new powers to incorporate EU law into UK law.

The Walker amendments, which have the backing of his committee, would create a “sifting committee” which would have the job of going through all the statutory instruments passed under the EU withdrawal bill (up to 1,000, ministers expect) and identifying important ones which would have to be debated by MPs.

Many Tory MPs, as well as the opposition, have been calling for a mechanism of this kind, and it is very likely that the government will accept the amendments, or table their own alternatives.

In a statement Walker said:

In Wednesday’s debate I shall look forward to a positive response from both despatch boxes to the constructive suggestions we have made.

The process of transferring over 40 years’ worth of accumulated EU law into UK law is one of the greatest legislative challenges parliament has ever faced.

I shall be looking to the government for assurances that the process is going to be managed appropriately and in a way which allows the new sifting committee to do its job properly.

Charles Walker.
Charles Walker. Photograph: Martin Godwin for the Guardian

This is from ITV’s Carl Dinnen.

CBI Northern Ireland has said that local businesses urgently need the government what will happen to trade arrangements after Brexit. A recent survey found 81% of its members said they did not have sufficient clarity as to what was planned. After a quarterly council meeting today, CBI NI’s director Angela McGowan said:

Business leaders are united – they want to see Brexit talks move onto the next phase as quickly as possible and are becoming increasingly impatient that negotiators can’t find a way through the deadlock on future trading arrangements, citizens’ rights and the financial settlement.

Prevarication is getting us nowhere, the people of Northern Ireland need clarity now. We find ourselves in serious danger of not only losing out on much needed foreign investment but of facing the real prospect of fantastic companies making the reluctant choice to move away from Northern Ireland.

This is from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

And this tweet from Lisa is worth noting too.

Hilary Benn, chairman of the Brexit select committee, and other MPs on the committee have been inspecting the Irish border for the first time in a visit to Middletown between Armagh and Monagahan.

The frontier is barely detectable apart from a change in mobile phone service and the two derelict customs posts on either side of the bridge.

“The fact these customs houses are derelict is a good thing, “ said Benn. He went on:

We do not want to see them coming back.

The customs post, the fact it is decaying, that represents progress.

The new housing estate we passed on the way in is on the old police station. That’s two symbols of progress.

If there were customs checks, that would represent going backwards.

Hilary Benn at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

By popular request (well, redfalcon BTL), here are some quotes from the UQ on Trump and Jerusalem this morning (which I did not cover earlier because it did not add much to what was said yesterday.).

Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office minister who was responding for the government, said President Trump had created a “trust deficit” in peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Burt told MPs other states would have to fill the gap left by the United States after the president’s announcement in order to ensure the “prospects for peace are not diminished”.

And Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said the government’s whole approach to handling Trump was wrong. She said:

They told us that holding his hand and hugging him close, indulging him with the offer of a state visit, was the best way of wielding influence and shaping his policies.

But on Jerusalem, as on so many other issues before, they have been made to look like fools.

Weak, ignored and entirely without influence.

When will they realise that bending over for a bully only encourages that behaviour, when what our country needs and what the world needs is a British government prepared to stand up to him.

Emily Thornberry.
Emily Thornberry. Photograph: Handout/AFP/Getty Images

Here are some highlights on Twitter from what George Osborne, the former chancellor, said at the press gallery lunch.

On Corbyn

On the Conservatives

On Theresa May

On Brexit

On his future

On his regrets

George Osborne
George Osborne Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, has been in Portsmouth today for the HMS Queen Elizabeth commissioning ceremony. Asked by Sky News if he would issue orders for UK troops to hunt down and kill British jihadis abroad, he replied:

You can obviously appreciate that I am not going to go into operational discussion with yourself.

What we need to do is make sure that we are doing everything we can do to eliminate the the threat of extremism and terrorism reaching the streets of Britain.

So often people do not see that threat as something that is manifesting itself in the lands abroad, but that is where it is manifesting itself.

That’s why our forces are constantly doing so much to make sure that is eliminated.

Police officers are seen in front of HMS Queen Elizabeth during the commissioning ceremony of HMS Queen Elizabeth at HM Naval Base.
Police officers are seen in front of HMS Queen Elizabeth during the commissioning ceremony of HMS Queen Elizabeth at HM Naval Base. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Lunchtime summary

  • The European commission has said the UK has until Sunday to finalise a phase one Brexit deal if it wants the EU to agree to open talks on trade next week. (See 12pm.) The phase one issues cover Ireland, the financial settlement and citizens’ rights. Ireland is the sticking point, and Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said he expected the UK government to produce fresh proposals on this issue within the next 24 hours. (See 11.39am.)
  • Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has rejected claims that he has had to back down from telling the EU to “go whistle” over the the so-called “Brexit bill”. (See 12.15pm.)
  • Johnson has called on President Trump to show “leadership” in restoring momentum to the Middle East peace process. In a Q&A after a speech on fighting terrorism, he said the government thought Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was premature. But he went on:

A lot of people are very excited and interested in possibilities that the American administration, the Trump administration, could bring to the Middle East peace process. There is an opportunity, there is a conjuncture of the stars, there is a moment - people think - when progress could be made.

I think, this decision having been announced by President Trump, the world would like to see some serious announcements by the US about how they see the Middle East peace process and how to bring the two sides together.

I think that’s what we all want to see. If we are going to have a move of the US embassy, then let’s also see some moves towards the long overdue resolution of the Middle East peace process.

  • A former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, has described the new defence secretary Gavin Williamson as “juvenile” for saying all British jihadis should be eliminated instead of ever being allowed to return to the UK. (See 2.11pm.) Others have strongly condemned Williamson’s remarks too, and Number 10 and Boris Johnson have backed away from endorsing exactly what Williamson said. (See 12.35pm.)

Williamson's comments about killing all jihadis 'juvenile', says former DPP

Lord Macdonald, a Lib Dem peer and former director of public prosecutions, has described Gavin Williamson’s declaration that all Britons fighting with Islamic State should be killed rather than ever being allowed to return to the UK as “juvenile”. He explained why in an interview on the Word at One.

I think it is very important to understand that there are limits [to what the state can do.] In wartime soliders have immunity from prosecution for killing enemy combatants. But not in all circumstances. In wartime, if enemy soldiers have laid down their weapons and are fleeing or trying to surrender and their opponents kill them, that’s likely to be a war crime. And the situation is going to be no different in Syria and Iraq. So it simply will not be lawful in all circumstances to kill jihadis, as the secretary of state seems to be suggesting.

If they’ve laid down their arms, if they are fleeing, if they are trying to surrender, to hunt them down, as he put it, and kill them is likely to raise serious legal issues and perhaps legal liabilities for the people carrying out those killings. So I think his response needs to be a great deal more nuanced than it is. He hasn’t been in the job very long, and maybe that explains why his response is so unnuanced ...

A policy which says we will simply kill every individual who has travelled to Syria or to Iraq, even if they are surrendering, even if they have laid down their weapons, is really a policy that belongs in a Netflix series more seriously than it belongs in the range of policies that should be being applied by the UK government ...

We can’t simply say that everyone who has gone to Iraq will now be hunted down and killed. That’s a juvenile response. It’s not a serious, grown-up policy response for a senior British government minister.

Ken MacDonald
Ken MacDonald Photograph: Frank Baron for the Guardian

The Labour MP John Woodcock also condemned Williamson’s comments. He said:

Insecure Gavin Williamson is shooting from the hip to mask his inexperience and distract attention from the appalling cuts the government is about to inflict on our armed forces. The defence secretary risks endangering the lives of British troops with this fatuous posturing on returning British jihadis.

If he is not slapped down, any future enemy of Britain could say, ‘Why should we respect the Geneva convention on captured British soldiers when the British don’t respect it for their own citizens?’

The Lib Dem defence spokesman Menzies Campbell also made the same point. He said:

In present circumstances it is not difficult to see that any member of the military that followed his advice could be subjected to court martial and prosecution.

The gung-ho opinions that he has expressed undermine the credibility of British armed forces in general and his office in particular.

And Prof Philippe Sands, the internationally-renowned barrister, said the government should confirm that Williamson was not making policy. He told the Guardian:

I was surprised the secretary of state’s statement. It was inappropriate. It sounds as though we have or are on the cusp of having, on his terms, some sort of shoot-to-kill policy.

It sounds like he was shooting from the hip, it sounds like the words of an inexperienced minister, like someone speaking who has given no thought or reflection at all to the underlying issues, including the consequences of having such a policy. If you adopt that policy in relation to them, you effectively legitimising their actions in relation to us.

We need a confirmation from Number 10 Downing Street that the UK is committed to the totality of its legal obligations in domestic law and international law and it does not operate to shoot-to-kill policy in relation to people who violate criminal law.

Number 10 made it fairly clear earlier that Williamson was not speaking for the government in what he said. (See 12.35pm.) Reading the Daily Mail interview, it seems obvious that what Williamson said was more the political equivalent of pub talk than a new statement of security policy. Still, the Daily Mail will probably like the sound of it. Williamson’s colleagues think he wants to be party leader one day and perhaps he’s auditioning for the role of Daily Mail candidate. (The Mail will probably want to back a Brexiter, but it has reservations about Boris Johnson, so there is probably an opening ...)

Sadiq Khan rules himself out as a future PM

Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has ruled out becoming prime minister. Although seen as someone with long-term ambitions to lead Labour, he told ITV during a visit to Pakistan that he was ruling himself out as a candidate to be the first Muslim prime minister. He said:

I never had ambitions in the first place and I’ve got no ambitions now. I love being the mayor. Why give up a job I love to do a job I don’t want? I’m absolutely ruling myself out. Forever.

He also had a good put-down when asked how it felt to be coming “home”.

Sadiq Khan crossing the border from India to Pakistan.
Sadiq Khan crossing the border from India to Pakistan. Photograph: via ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Sturgeon says May's government is 'dissembling, mendacious and totally, totally incompetent'

Nicola Sturgeon has strong words for Theresa May’s government at today’s session of first minister’s questions, describing it as “dissembling, mendacious and totally, totally incompetent”.

“I don’t think we’ve seen a more incompetent UK government in my lifetime and that really is saying something,” she told the Holyrood chamber.

Asked about her support for a second Brexit vote, she then turned her fire on Jeremy Corbyn, calling on him to “get his act together” as she has a number of times on her Twitter account since Monday’s negotiation debacle. She said:

It may well be that the case [for a second referendum on Brexit] becomes difficult to resist but I think there is a more immediate necessity and that is to stop this reckless UK government driving the entire UK over this cliff edge.

I think the majority exists in the House of Commons if Labour gets its act together, and I think the majority exists across the whole of the UK to stop that happening. The sensible compromise option and the least damaging option for our economy is to stay within the single market and the customs union so everyone who is of that view should come together and make that happen.

She concluded by reminding the chamber that the current shambles only strengthened the case for independence, though noticeably avoided mentioning the ‘I’ word directly.

As long as we continue to allow our future to be in the hands of Tory governments in Westminster rather than having our future in our own hands we will always be at the mercy of reckless decisions taken by Tory government in Westminster.

Nicola Sturgeon.
Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: Ken Jack - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, said he would not divulge any cabinet committee discussions about the proposed Irish deal but said “whatever agreement reached has to be consistent with the UK taking back control of its laws, borders and cash”.

During the Q&A after his speech, he also defended himself from claims that he had been defeated on the levels of money being given to the European Union as part of the deal, saying his remarks about the EU needing to “go whistle” were made at a time when sums as high as £80bn or £100bn were being discussed. (See 12.15pm.)

He said it was time for the EU and Britain to “get going” with the second phase of talks.

Breaking briefly into French he said:

We need to get going, franchement [frankly], with the second part of the talks.

That’s the exciting bit.

That’s the bit where we will achieve a new trading relationship with our friends and partners.

We can get it done, we just need to get on with it, and I hope very much that the December European council will mark that progress.

Boris Johnson speaking about terrorism at the Foreign Office in London.
Boris Johnson speaking about terrorism at the Foreign Office in London. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has warned it does not want to return to an era when sex offenders, human traffickers and burglars use the Irish border to evade capture.

The deputy chief constable of the police force said 20 years ago there was a huge problem with aggravated burglaries on elderly with criminals fleeing across the border north or south to escape justice.

Strong co-operation between the PSNI and the Garda Siochana underpinned by European arrest warrant legislation and a bilateral agreement has made the rural border areas a place of “safety”, Drew Harris told the Brexit select committee which is visiting the Irish border today. He said:

Criminal gangs did evade us using the border. We’ve worked hard over the last 20 years to make sure that’s not the case.

What we want to concentrate on is that we don’t diminish where we are a the moment, that our relationships are maintained [post Brexit].

I served on this border are 30 years ago, we had good relationship with the Garda Siochana, but we just didn’t have the legislative infrastructure – and people flee across the border to evade the police.

The border also proved a means of evasion for people involved in road traffic accidents, the committee heard.

Harris, deputy chief constable of the PSNI, said there would have to be a new extradition treaty with Ireland in the event of no deal.
Extradition attempts before the European arrest warrant agreement came in was difficult, he told the Brexit select committee in Armagh.

Updated

Incidentally, since Northern Ireland is in the news at the moment, it is worth pointing out that Gavin Williamson’s claim that “a dead terrorist can’t cause any harm to Britain” (see 12.35pm) shows striking ignorance of history. The circumstances were very different from what Williamson was talking about, but the deaths of Bobby Sands and other IRA prisoners in the Maze hunger strike are now generally seen as disastrous for British policy in Northern Ireland because they triggered a huge IRA revival.

No 10 and Boris Johnson refuse to back Gavin Williamson's rhetoric on eliminating terrorists

Downing Street and Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, have both distanced themselves from Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary’s, uncompromising language about killing British terrorists. As Jessica Elgot reports, he told the Daily Mail:

A dead terrorist can’t cause any harm to Britain ...

I do not believe that any terrorist, whether they come from this country or any other, should ever be allowed back into this country,” he said. “We should do everything we can do to destroy and eliminate that threat.

Asked if the prime minister agreed with him, the prime miniser’s spokesman told lobby journalists:

The government position on this has been made clear a number of times in recent months, which is that if you travel to Iraq and Syria, and if you’re fighting with our enemies there, then you make yourself a legitimate target.

Asked if Williamson was contradicting government policy which does allow former Isis fighters to return to the UK, the spokesman said”

There are existing powers relating to other fighters who seek to return to the UK. They include exclusion orders that allow the UK to cancel an individual’s passport. In instances where people do return to the UK, where we’re clear is that they should face the consequences of their actions and that would include investigation by the police and possible criminal prosecution. Where we’ve also been clear is we will take whatever steps are necessary to protect national security.

In his Q&A Boris Johnson also refused to endorse Williamson’s language. (See 11.51am.)

Boris Johnson rejects claims he has had to back down from telling EU to 'go whistle' over 'Brexit bill'

Sky and BBC News cut away from the Boris Johnson Q&A before it finished. As often happens when they do that, they missed the best bit - with seems to be Johnson’s response to a question from Sky’s Faisal Islam.

After it emerged last week that the UK was willing to pay around £50bn to the EU as its “divorce bill”, some commentators felt this was hard to square with Johnson telling MPs in July that the EU could “go whistle” if it wanted an “extortionate” sum from the UK.

But Johnson is entitled to say that some potential “divorce bill” sums were a lot more extortionate than £50bn. One story in the Financial Times (paywall) claimed the EU would be demanding up to €100bn.

Boris Johnson giving his speech at the Foreign Office in London.
Boris Johnson giving his speech at the Foreign Office in London. Photograph: POOL/Reuters

Updated

Judging from this morning’s No 10 lobby briefing, there’s no immediate Brexit news: the word “ongoing” was used at least three times, referring to negotiations, conversations and the wider process.

When asked if a new text of a deal was being circulated May’s spokesman said:

As the PM set out at the start of the week in the Commons, we think we’re close to an agreement but there’s more work to be done. It’s an ongoing process and we’ll update you as it goes along.

There was, we were told, no news of any fresh conversations between Theresa May and other figures, or when she might be going to Brussels again.

So more news later, today perhaps. Or perhaps not.

European commission says Sunday is deadline for Brexit deal

The European commission has said that the UK has until Sunday night to get a deal on Brexit if it wants the EU summit next week to agree to open trade talks. These are from the Express’s Nick Gutteridge and Le Figaro’s Isabelle Ory.

Q: What do you think of what Gavin Williamson, the new defence secretary, said about eliminating Britons who fight with Islamic State?

Johnson says:

I think that ... Michael Fallon put it very well a few weeks ago when he said that anybody who goes to fight for Daesh in Syria or Iraq has got to understand that they are putting themselves in harm’s way and, indeed, making themselves legitimate targets of British armed forces, and that is the reality.

Q: Do you agree we need higher defence spending?

Yes, says Johnson. He says that is why defence spending is going up.

Q: Do you know what the EU’s deadline is for a new Brexit deal?

Johnson says he does not known. But it should be as soon as possible.

Updated

Q: On Brexit, what is the government offering the DUP in an attempt to get a deal? And how hopeful are you of getting a deal?

Johnson says he won’t give a running commentary.

He says we are leaving the EU, but not Europe.

What we want to achieve is a deep and special partnership where we can intensify our trade links, he says.

But we need to get going on the second half of the talks. That is the exciting bit, he says.

He says he hopes the December EU council will be where the progress happens.

Q: Where is Britain’s leverage in the Middle East? It is focused on Brexit, at odds with the White House, and reducing its defence spending?

Johnson says other countries want to see more of the UK, not less.

He says the UK must fund its diplomacy properly, but also its aid budget and defence budget.

Boris Johnson's Q&A

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, is now taking questions.

Q: [From the Latvian ambassador] What is your view on Jerusalem?

Johnson says the UK is sticking to its policy: the future of Jerusalem must be settled as part of the two-state of solution. The US move is “not helpful”, he says.

Q: There was a section in the text of your speech about Jerusalem. But you did not read it out. Why not?

Johnson says it was inserted at the last moment. He says he did not need to say it because he repeated the words just now in the Q&A.

He says for years America and its allies have taken the view that Jerusalem was a card that should not be played at this point.

He says some people thought the Trump administration would be good for the Middle East peace process.

If America is going to move its embassy, it should also make other moves to help the peace process, he says.

Varadkar says he expects to see new British proposals for UK-EU deal within 24 hours

Ireland’s prime minister Leo Varadkar has claimed the British government plans to publish a new Brexit document to deal with the vexed issue of the Irish border.

Speaking at a press conference in Dublin today, the Taoiseach said he had spoken to Theresa May by phone yesterday on the matter.

Varadkar said the Irish side in the debate wanted to demonstrate a “willingness to consider any proposals that the UK side have”.

He said he expected to see new British proposals over the next 24 hours.

The taoiseach stressed however that Ireland’s “red line” remains a guarantee from the British that there is no hard border. He said:

My responsibility as taoiseach - as prime minister of Ireland - is to protect our fundamental national interest and that is the rights of Irish citizens in Ireland and Britain and also the avoidance of a return to a border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

Leo Varadkar.
Leo Varadkar. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters

This is from AFP’s Danny Kemp.

Checkpoints and cameras on the Irish border will be a target for attack by terrorist groups in Northern Ireland, the deputy chief constable for the region has said.

Drew Harris said there is still a significant level of terrorism in Northern Ireland that does not get reported by the media with 58 shootings and 32 bombing incidents this year so far.

“Dissident groups see this as an area [the border] which is contentious which will give them a further rallying call to try and engender support. It is of concern, they have a focus in this , they see it as an opportunity,” Harris, deputy chief constable of the Police Service Northern Ireland said.

He was giving evidence to the Brexit select committee which is making its first visit to the Irish border since the referendum.

Two key members of the committee, Conservative MP and Brexiteer Jacob Rees Mogg and Democratic Unionist Party MP and Brexiteer Sammy Wilson have snubbed the trip.

Harris told MPs:

The UK has said there will be no infrastrucure on the border, that would be an obvious place for dissident groups to rally around and also to attack.

It is highly forseeable that dissident groups would seek to take action and that would include buildings.

The committee will travel to Middletown, a small crossing between county Armagh and county Monaghan at lunchtime.

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, is delivering his speech on the war against terror now. I will post highlights when I have seen the text, but if he takes questions, I will cover that in detail.

Commenting on the announcement about the Electoral Commission investigation (see 9.48am), a Momentum spokesman said much of the investigation referred to “administrative errors that can be easily rectified.” He went on:

Momentum put a lot of effort and resources into detailed budgeting and financial procedures during the election to ensure full compliance. Our election campaign was delivered on a low budget because it tapped into the energy and enthusiasm of tens of thousands of volunteers across the country.

We have a good working relationship with the Electoral Commission, and will fully comply with the investigation going forward.

Northern Ireland would need extra 1,000 police officers for hard border, says Police Federation

At least a thousand extra policemen and women would have to be recruited to secure any “hard border” between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic post-Brexit, rank and file officers have warned.

The Police Federation of Northern Ireland has said that policing in the region would be dangerously under-staffed to cope with protecting a 300 mile plus frontier if the UK left the EU and had to control a newly fortified border.

At present numbers the Police Service of Northern Ireland would be ‘physically incapable of patrolling’ what has always been a porous, the Federation’s chairman Mark Lindsay told The Guardian.

Lindsay said that during the Troubles police numbers were double the number of 6,700 – the current PSNI figure of serving officers.

“That figure of nearly 13,000 was also backed up by considerable military support even in the mid 1990s,” he said.

Stressing that the position of the Police Federation of Northern Ireland on Brexit was entirely neutral, Lindsay said that there were considerable security challenges posed even by a “soft border” that might require police back-up for customs officers at border customs posts. He said:

Right now, the preparatory work for a “soft” or “hard” border should be well underway. However, I don’t believe the wider security implications have featured anywhere near as prominently as trade, free movement and the Customs Union. That’s a glaring deficiency and one that ought to be addressed with some urgency.

The federation chairman also claimed that any kind of fortified border would place fresh demands also on the Irish Republic’s security forces.

A hard border doesn’t simply affect Northern Ireland. It would have a costly and profound impact on policing in the Republic of Ireland. You can’t upscale on one side of the border without doing the same on the other. That would be a nonsense.

Month by month the PSNI is reducing in number. Eleven per cent of the workforce is eligible to retire next year – that’s 730 in real terms. A further 331 can retire in 2019 and 2020. Recruitment plans fall far short of keeping pace with that number of departures.

Any build-up in numbers to deal with Brexit would need to get the “green light” immediately. This cannot wait for another three to four months. We shouldn’t find ourselves in a situation where we have to play catch-up if, and when, any new border arrangements appear. By that stage, it would be too late to do the job effectively.

Earlier this year the Police Federation expressed their concerns about the installation of new border posts after Brexit along the Northern Ireland-Irish Republic frontier.

The rank and file organisation that represents around 6,500 police officers in the region said the posts would turn their members into ‘sitting ducks’ for violent dissident republican terror groups. The Federation also claimed that the erection of border and customs posts would be a “propaganda gift” for dissident republicans who oppose the Good Friday peace settlement.

Last month the political allies of the New IRA, Saroadh, at their annual conference in Derry said they hoped that Brexit would turn out to be ‘hell’ for the British and Irish governments.

The leader of Saoradh, former IRA prisoner Davy Jordan, said that ‘England’s Brexit difficulties are Ireland’s opportunity.’

Jordan told more than 100 delegates at the conference that Brexit had “driven the Tories’ beloved Britain to the point of fracture.”

He said hard-line republicans should exploit Brexit to expose the continued existence of the border on the island of Ireland.

Sinn Fein protestors holding an anti-Brexit white line rally in Belfast last night.
Sinn Fein protestors holding an anti-Brexit white line rally in Belfast last night. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Labour MP Dame Margaret Hodge has breached the MPs’ code of conduct and should apologise to the House of Commons, a parliamentary sleaze watchdog has found. As the Press Association reports, the Commons committee on standards found that Hodge used parliamentary facilities, such as stationery and phones, to carry out work on the review of London’s proposed Garden Bridge for the London mayor, Sadiq Khan. The PA story says:

The committee noted in a report that the sums of money involved were “very small” and that the Barking MP, who became prominent as a scourge of wrong-doers in her former role as chairwoman of the Commons public accounts committee, said she was not aware she was committing a breach.

But it said the offence was aggravated by the fact that she allowed her parliamentary office to be used as many as 20 times for the review and “did nothing to prevent the impression being given that her work on the review was conducted on behalf of, or in some way connected with, the House of Commons”.

Although the work on the review was initially expected to be unpaid, Hodge later accepted payment for it without seeking the advice of Commons authorities, the report found.

The committee, which includes MPs and lay members, said: “We conclude that the appropriate sanction for Dame Margaret’s breach of the code of conduct is that she should make an apology for this breach on a point of order on the floor of the House.”

In response Hodge said:

I am extremely sorry that I inadvertently breached parliamentary rules. I carried out this inquiry in good faith and in the public interest. I think all MPs would benefit from greater clarity in the rules governing the use of offices.

Margaret Hodge.
Margaret Hodge. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

The Electoral Commission has sent out a note explaining the rules relating to spending for “permitted participants” (campaigning organisations) at an election. It says:

The law enables non-party campaigners which wish to undertake ‘targeted spending’ – intended to influence people to vote for one particular registered political party or any of its candidates – to do so within prescribed spending limits. These are £31,980 in England; £3,540 in Scotland; £2,400 in Wales; and £1,080 in Northern Ireland. These limits apply during the regulated period which is 9 June 2016 to 8 June 2017.

Registered non-party campaigners are only entitled to spend above these limits if they have the authorisation of the political party that they are promoting. If that party provides authorisation, the registered non-party campaigner can spend up to the limit authorised by the political party. It is an offence to spend above the statutory limits without the party’s authorisation. Should the party provide authorisation for a higher spending limit, any spending by that non-party campaigner up to that limit would count towards the party’s national spending limit.

The national spending limit for parties fighting all constituencies at the general election was around £19m.

Electoral Commission launches investigation into whether Momentum broke election spending rules

The Electoral Commission has announced it has launched an investigation into whether Momentum, the pro-Corbyn Labour organisation, broke election spending rules in the general election.

In a press statement the commission said:

The investigation will look at:

whether or not Momentum spent in excess of the spending limits for an unauthorised non-party campaigner in the UK parliamentary general election;

whether or not Momentum submitted a return that did not include accurate donation information and/or the required declaration stating that the donation return was complete and accurate;

whether or not Momentum submitted a return that was not a complete statement of payments made in respect of controlled expenditure;

whether or not Momentum submitted a return that did not include all invoices for payments of more than £200.

It is possible that during the course of the investigation, the commission will identify potential contraventions and/or offences under PPERA other than those set out above.

And Bob Posner, the commission’s director of political finance and regulation and legal counsel, said:

Momentum are a high profile active campaigning body. Questions over their compliance with the campaign finance rules at June’s general election risks causing harm to voters’ confidence in elections. There is significant public interest in us investigating Momentum to establish the facts in this matter and whether there have been any offences.

“Once complete, the commission will decide whether any breaches have occurred and, if so, what further action may be appropriate, in line with its enforcement policy.

Momentum badges and leaflets.
Momentum badges and leaflets. Photograph: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

There’s an urgent question in the Commons at 10.30am on President Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

UK less 'hospitable' for foreign talent after Brexit, says banking chief

Theresa May wanted to wrap phase one of the Brexit talks on Monday. It is Thursday, and we are still waiting for a deal. Last night Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said he was expecting a new text by the end of today. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said it has to be finalised tomorrow if EU leaders are going to agree to open trade talks next week. Perhaps we will get a settlement within the next few hours, although it is starting to look as elusive as the government’s Brexit impact reports.

Here is our overnight story with all the latest.

And here is a summary of the various Brexit news lines from this morning’s Today programme.

  • Chris Grayling, the Brexiter transport secretary, said the “regulatory alignment” with the EU proposed for Northern Ireland after Brexit as one option in the draft UK-EU agreement rejected by the DUP on Monday would not involve the UK having the same rules as Europe. He said:

We don’t have to have, we have never said we will have and we don’t want a situation where in future our laws are identical to those of the EU. There will be areas where we do things in a very similar way, there are will be areas where we don’t do things in a similar way.

That’s all the prime minister was seeking to achieve, to make sure we can ensure that trade flows as freely as possible across the border of Northern Ireland and southern Ireland.

  • Grayling said he was “absolutely optimistic” that there would be a deal. He said:

I remain absolutely optimistic that we will reach a successful point, we will move on to the trade talks, because ultimately it is in everybody’s interests for that to happen ... If you are running a business in the Republic of Ireland and shipping foods to the EU, the relationship with the UK is pretty fundamentally important, because your goods need to go through the UK.

  • The chief executive of Standard Chartered, one of the UK’s biggest banks, said the UK’s ability to attract talent is suffering because the country is no longer seen as such a “hospitable” place. Bill Winters also said that banks were “preparing for the worst” on Brexit, with his own institution spending millions on expanding a base in Frankfurt in case it needs to move staff and operations from London. On Brexit deterring some talented foreign workers he said:

Some of the best talent that we can have in the UK marketplace is coming from students that have chosen to study here and then stayed for some extended period afterwards. We’ve noticed that impact already, more through a sense from non-UKs or foreigners that this might not be such a hospitable place any longer. It’s more psychological than contractual, as it were. But I think it’s something we must really be very careful about.

And on banks making plans to leave London he said:

London will take hits in the context of Brexit. Some jobs will move from London to the continent. I think big parts of the euro-denominated corporate banking business will be forced into Europe.

It’s possible that through the Brexit negotiations that there is some sort of extended passporting rule, but none of us are expecting that quite frankly, or preparing for that. We have to prepare for the worst. Our regulators in the UK require us to prepare for the worst.

The best would be we carry on as we are and passporting is allowed to continue to exist and we can run our business as we do today, in which case we will have spent a bunch of money [on contingency plans for moving to Frankfurt] and flushed it down the toilet.

  • Lord Jay, the former head of the Foreign Office and acting chair of the Lords EU committee, said he was surprised the government had not done proper Brexit impact assessments. Describing the 850 pages of documents that have been shown to MPs and peers, he said:

They are quite interesting but they are pretty underwhelming. They don’t really include an impact assessment, as far as I can tell.

I would have thought there would have been a proper impact assessment, a proper assessment of what the impact of leaving the EU is going to be on different sectors of the economy.

What we’ve got is interesting, and there’s a lot of good information there, but I can’t really say it’s a real impact assessment. It’s a fairly underwhelming report.

  • Bernard Jenkin, a Conservative Brexiter, said the government should not give up the goal of “regulatory autonomy” after Brexit. He said:

We shouldn’t be allowing ourselves to be bullied into promising more and more money or giving up the goal of regulatory autonomy or being dragged into a long period of uncertainty without clarity on what we are getting at the end of it.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Michael Gove, the environment secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

11am: Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, gives a speech on fighting terrorism. As Patrick Wintour reports, he will “pin the responsibility for the ‘crack cocaine of jihadi terrorism’ on repressive states, and not western foreign policy”.

1pm: George Osborne, the former chancellor, speaks at a press gallery lunch.

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’s Playbook. Here is the ConservativeHome round-up of today’s political stories. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’ top 10 must reads.

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

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

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

Updated

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