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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Nicola Slawson and Andrew Sparrow

Labour wins symbolic victory in vote on universal credit - as it happened

The Houses of Parliament.
The Houses of Parliament. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Evening summary

We’re closing this liveblog now. Thanks so much for joining us and for all the comments.

Here’s a roundup of the last few hours:

  • MPs have supported, by 299 votes to 0, Labour’s motion for a pause in the roll-out of Universal Credit in order for problems in the system to be fixed.
  • It is a symbolic victory for Labour. Conservative MPs abstained, thanks to a three line whip, and the vote is not binding on the government.
  • There was only one Tory rebel. Sarah Wollaston, the health select committee chair, voted with Labour.
  • Contrary to earlier reports, DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds did not in fact vote with Labour, there was just a mix up with Anneliese Dodds on the divisions list.
  • Following the vote, shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams called it a “major defeat” and said the government is “in office but not in power”.
  • Commons speaker, John Bercow has said it was for government ministers to decide how to respond to the “clearly expressed view of the House”.
  • Sir Edward Leigh criticised his own government’s tactics, and said: “What worries me is that surely there is some sort of precedent here..... this is not and should not be a university debating society.
  • Following the result, Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: “The Tories must now act on clearly expressed will of Parliament [and] pause its roll out.”

Read the full report here:

Read the Guardian view here:

Jeremy Corbyn has seized on Commons speaker John Bercow’s insistence that the government must respond to the “clearly expressed view” of the commons.

The Labour leader tweeted to say the Tories “must now act”.

He later tweeted a video from the vote, which was captioned “Theresa May: In office but not in power”.

Here’s MailOnline deputy political editor Tim Sculthorpe’s take on what John Bercow said following the vote.

Tory former minister Sir Edward Leigh questioned what the point of the Commons was if it merely expresses opinions “for the sake of it” as he made a point of order following the vote.

He said he had trooped through the lobbies to vote on hundreds of divisions on Wednesdays over 34 years as an MP, and that he was “under the impression that it served some purpose”.

He added:

And what worries me is that surely there is some sort of precedent here.

This is not and should not be a university debating society, what is the point of the House of Commons if we just express opinions for the sake of it and surely when we vote it should have some effect?

On the Dodds mix-up, it is worth noting that the division list has now been updated on the Commons Votes App. Nigel Dodds is no longer on the ayes and Anneliese Dodds now is.

On the last point I made, Nigel Dodds has told the Press Association that he did not in fact vote with Labour.

The result of the vote released by the House of Commons said the DUP deputy leader had voted in the aye lobby in support of Labour’s motion.

But Dodds said he did not vote in the aye lobby, adding: “They made a mistake.”

Labour MP Anneliese Dodds was not listed on the ayes despite speaking out against UC roll-out in the debate, pointing to a mix up of the two on the lists.

Updated

Sarah Wollaston was the only Conservative MP to rebel against the Tory whip by voting in favour of Labour’s motion, according to the division list.

Deputy DUP leader Nigel Dodds also voted with Labour.

Updated

There are now various points of discussion being raised on the nature of the motion, which is not likely to have much effect as the government is not bound by opposition day motions that are carried in the house.

John Bercow, the speaker, was challenged on saying the no vote lost. He said: “If you choose not to take part and vote you can’t say, ‘well we didn’t lose’”

He also seemed to pile pressure on for a response from the government.

He said:

A minister from the government should come to the House and show respect to the institution and say what it intends to do.

This institution is bigger than any one party and is bigger than any government.

Updated

Shadow work and pensions secretary Debbie Abrahams, raised a point of order after the vote, describing it as a “major defeat” for the government.

The motion passes with most Tories abstaining

MPs vote 299 to 0 and therefore the “pause and fix” to Universal Credit motion passed after the government called a three-line whip for Tories to abstain.

Updated

Faisal Islam, political editor for Sky News, says Tory MP Sarah Wollaston has rebelled and voted with Labour.

“Advisory votes, but do help express opinion, regretfully I vote with Labour” she said.

MPs are now voting on the Labour motion calling for a “pause” in the rollout of Universal Credit. The Tories are expected to abstain meaning the motion will pass.

We’re expecting to have the result by 7:15pm.

Updated

Damian Hinds, work and pensions minister, is speaking now.

He addressed that many people had not been able to speak and said he looks forward to more dialogue with colleagues and will listen to their concerns.

He says the implementation has not been rushed and has been brought in over nine years.

There has been a lot of talk of pauses but in August and September we did have a pause to learn lessons, build improvements and address any issues.

He is now quickly addressing many of the common issues that the debate has thrown up and I will bring you more on what he is saying shortly.

Several Labour MPs have used the debate to recount personal experiences of being on benefits.

Laura Smith, the MP for Crewe and Nantwich, said she wanted to give colleagues an “insider look” at being a single parent relying on the benefits system.

Smith said:

I became a single parent when my now six-year-old son was 14 months old. I was working as a teacher and had no option but to drop my hours and apply for working tax credits. I experienced the process of benefit delay myself and went many weeks focusing on feeding my son meals while I survived off cereal.

During this difficult time, I felt the pressure of trying to manage my bills and make my rent commitments while all the time trying to remain a strong and capable parent for my child. I cannot stress enough how tough life can feel when you’re a single parent.

Not only are you dealing with the trauma of a failed relationship and the difficult process of everyone involved adjusting to the new circumstances, but like me, many can find themselves in extreme financial difficulty where it is easy to become trapped in a spiral of debt and benefit uncertainty while juggling children - in my own case as a teacher.

Rosie Duffield, MP for Canterbury, also described how tough the reality on having to feed her children while in debt and on benefits.

She said:

I know personally how hard it is to raise my children on my own whilst on benefits, and I know what it is like to be in debt. I have lived with the reality of having to feed my children while knowing that any money coming in is already owed to someone else.

What a shame the member for Gloucester wasn’t a fan of the last Labour government’s life-changing tax credits system. I assure him that those of us who were dependent on that system to feed our children most certainly were.

Afternoon summary

  • Labour is on course for a symbolic victory over universal credit after it emerged that Tory MPs plan to abstain in a vote at 7pm on pausing the UC rollout. This means Labour’s motion, saying “this house calls on the government to pause the rollout of universal credit full service”, seems certain to be passed with no opposition. But it will not be binding on the government. Earlier Jeremy Corbyn scored another success when the government announced it would abolish charges for the UC helpline, as he proposed at PMQs last week. But, by effectively staging a tactical retreat, the government whips also managed to minimise a potential Tory rebellion. So far only one Tory backbencher, Sarah Wollaston, has said she might vote against the government at 7pm (see 5.46pm) and most Conservatives speaking in the debate have defended the government and its welfare policies rather than raised concerns.
  • The Lib Dems and the Greens have said that the government proposal to abstain in the vote shows contempt for parliament and democracy. (See 4.35pm and 4.46pm.)

Businesses say this week’s failure to make progress on on either EU exit talks or domestic Brexit legislation means they are increasingly forced to assume the worst when planning for the final year of British membership.

Airlines, for example, have told their suppliers that they could soon be legally unable to sell annual advance tickets because the lack of a transition deal means they cannot guarantee regulatory approval to fly after March 2019. “If we don’t get [a transition deal] sorted quickly after Christmas, it will be squeaky bum time for lots of businesses,” said one aviation executive in receipt of such warnings.

  • The chimes of Big Ben will be heard for the first time in almost three months when parliament’s historic bell is reconnected on November 9, ahead of armistice day, the Press Association reports. But people in the Westminster area are advised not to set their watches by the famous bongs that day, as parliamentary authorities expect “slight inaccuracies” following its 11-week break, PA says. After the resumption of chimes at 9am, Palace of Westminster clockmakers will work through the day adjusting the bells to ensure that they strike at exactly the right time for armistice day commemorations at the 11th hour of November 11, followed by Remembrance Sunday events the following day.

That’s all from me for today.

My colleague Nicola Slawson will be taking over now and covering the vote.

Highlights from the universal credit debate

Here are some of the highlights from the universal credit debate.

  • The Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston has said she will vote with Labour for a pause to the universal credit rollout unless a minister assures her at the end of the debate that flaws with the benefit will be addressed. But otherwise a potential Tory revolt on UC does not seem to have materialised. Wollaston said the main problem was that claimants have to wait six weeks for their money. She told MPs:

Why are we undermining a policy with the potential to change lives for the better by not addressing a fundamental flaw at its heart? Our constituents who are living on the edge are going to start this process in debt and in arrears. I want to hear from the frontbench in summing up that they recognise this and that they are going to address the six-week wait.

I know this side of the House is going to be abstaining tonight. Personally, I don’t agree with this and that the House should have an opportunity to express its view. If there is no way for me to express my view on behalf of my constituents that I think this fundamental flaw must be addressed before it is rolled out to the Totnes constituency next year, I’m afraid I will have to vote against the government. I hope the minister will give an assurance at the despatch box so I don’t have to.

Another Tory backbencher, Heidi Allen, called for changes. She said her priority was to remove the rule that says people are not entitled to money for the first seven days of their claim. Fixing that could cost between £150m and £200m, she said. But, unlike Wollaston, she did not threaten to vote against the government. She said it was “too ambitious” to expect a concession from the government today when she and fellow potential rebels had only met Theresa May to discuss this yesterday.

And fellow Conservative Peter Aldous said the government should proceed with caution. He told MPs:

I understand why the government wish to proceed with the rollout of universal credit, and I give them my support. However, they need to proceed with caution, they must not stick rigidly to a pre-conceived timetable, and they must slow down or speed up as circumstances dictate. They should be pragmatic and not dogmatic, and they should continue to listen and to respond to feedback ...

Whilst it is right to acknowledge the improvements that have been made in recent months, it is also important to recognise that much work still needs to be done. The long delays before some claimants receive the payments must stop.

The government must seriously consider implementing the CAB recommendation that those who need it much get a payment within two weeks, which they do not then have to pay back.

  • Frank Field, the Labour chair of the Commons work and pensions committee, has challenged the government to respond to claims that his local food bank will need an extra 15 tonnes of food over Christmas if the UC rollout in his areas goes ahead. He said:

Birkenhead food bank, after talking to other food banks who have experienced the roll-out, believe they will need 15 tonnes more food this Christmas.

What message should I take home, please?

Should I go home and tell the good citizens of Birkenhead that the food bank is scaremongering, that we should pay no attention to them, that the Secretary of State’s word is to be judged well, that it’s rolling out well?

Or should they contribute that extra 15 tonnes to the food bank to prevent people in Birkenhead being hungry over Christmas as a result of the roll-out and his inability to deliver a scheme that works?

When this point was raised during the work and pension committee hearing this morning, David Gauke, the work and pensions secretary, refused to guarantee that the UC rollout would not lead to a surge in food bank use. (See 10.39am.)

  • Debbie Abrahams, the shadow work and pensions secretary, has said UC is a test of whether the government is serious about wanting to make life better for everyone in the country. Urging the government to pause the rollout, she said allternative forms of payment should be offered to all claimants, such as fortnightly payments or for rent costs to go directly to landlords.
  • Gauke has accused Labour of trying to wreck UC. He said:

What we are hearing today is not constructive opposition, not a plan to reform Universal Credit, but an attempt to wreck it.

An attempt to paralyse a policy that will help 250,000 more people get into work, an attempt to block a reform that will increase opportunity, an attempt to play politics but no attempt to set out a real alternative.

We will proceed: we will address the historic failures of our benefit system, we will increase opportunity, and we will deliver a welfare system that puts work at the heart of it.

  • The DUP MP Sammy Wilson has said his party will abstain in any vote tonight. He also warned Labour not to try to exploit policy differences between the DUP and the Tories for party political reasons. He said:

Let me just say this to the Labour party ... because they know there are differences between ourselves and the government, there will be times when they try to exploit that. But we will not be used for headline-grabbing defeats of government flagship policies, rather than solving and trying to find a way of resolving the issues which need to be addressed.

  • The SNP MP Mhairi Black has accused the government of acting like a “pious loan shark - except that instead of coming through your front door they are coming after your mental health, your physical well-being, your stability, your sense of security - that is what the experience is for all of our constituents”. She was particularly critical of the fact that universal credit advance payments, intended to help people short of money while they wait for their first payments, are loans that have to be repaid.

Updated

European businesses have joined calls for an urgent agreement on a period of transition after Britain leaves the EU to avoid a damaging “cliff edge” Brexit, the Press Association reports. The PA report goes on:

Fourteen trade and business bodies have signed up to a statement warning that failure to reach a deal would send “costly shock waves” through established trade flows and supply chains.

They urge British and EU negotiators to ensure a “seamless transition” after March 2019 which replicates the current commercial, regulatory and commercial environment.

Signatories include the European Shippers Council, the Community of European Railways, the European Association of Automotive Suppliers and the World Shipping Council as well as the UK’s Freight Transport Association.

While the statement acknowledged there were “significant questions” to be resolved between the two sides, it said decisions were needed urgently to enable businesses to invest and plan for the future.

May to meet Bill Clinton to discuss Northern Ireland

Theresa May is to discuss the political situation in Northern Ireland with former US president Bill Clinton, Downing Street has said. Clinton, who has been visiting the UK and Ireland, will meet May tomorrow in Number 10. The prime minister’s official spokesman said:

[Clinton] and the prime minister wanted to take this opportunity to discuss Northern Ireland and also the ongoing partnership between the government and the Clinton Health Access Initiative’s work to lower the cost of HIV/Aids treatment worldwide.

Henry Bolton, the new Ukip leader, has unveiled his team of spokespeople. For a party with no MPs and a shrinking vote, it is a very large team. He has appointed not just a deputy leader (Margot Parker MEP), but two assistant deputy leaders too (Jim Carver MEP and Mike Hookem MEP). The full list of appointments is here.

In the Commons the Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston has just said that she is disappointed that the Tories are abstaining. She said that she supported the principle of universal credit, but that it was flawed in its current form. She needed to express a view on behalf of her constituents, she said. And she said that, unless her concerns were addressed by the minister at the end of the debate, she would vote with Labour for the rollout to be paused.

In the Commons the DUP MP Sammy Wilson has just said that his party will abstain if there is a division tonight. He said the DUP was not interested in just defeating the government for the sake of making a headline; there were better ways to raise concerns about universal credit, he said.

Lib Dems says Tory plan to abstain in vote is 'outrageous attempt to subvert democracy'

The Lib Dems have also criticised the government for planning not to vote on the Labour motion. In a statement Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dem chief whip, said this was “an outrageous attempt to subvert our democracy”. He said:

This is another outrageous attempt to subvert our democracy and undermine parliament’s ability to hold the government to account.

The Conservatives should remember that contempt for parliament is contempt for the people that elect it.

To simply ignore today’s debate would be an insult to the millions of voters deeply worried about the disastrous roll-out of universal credit.

It is a sign of just how weak and divided this government has become that it is reduced to using every trick in the book to avoid scrutiny and debate.

Caroline Lucas, the Green party co-leader, has said the government will be showing “contempt for democracy” if it does not vote on the Labour motion tonight. In a statement she said:

Failing to turn up to today’s vote on universal credit would reveal a deep contempt for democracy from the government. Ministers know that MPs from all sides are opposed to these changes which are pushing our constituents into hardship, destitution and debt. Yet the Tories are ploughing ahead anyway, and discarding our democracy in the process.

Universal credit threatens to force families in Brighton and Hove into poverty this Christmas - and I know that people in my city are living in fear of these changes.

This system has cruelty hardwired into it - the poverty it causes is no accident. The government should scrap the six week wait immediately and rethink this policy before it causes further pain for people already suffering the unjust benefits squeeze.

Updated

A senior DUP figure said today that the party in relation to universal credit was “interested in the issue not using it to play political games as Labour is. We will listen to the debate.”

This was a curt, cryptic response to pressure from other parties in Northern Ireland to vote against the Tories on UC. The party has previously indicated that its confidence and supply strategy of propping the Tories up in power does not exclude them from at times voting against the government.

Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, and Steve Baker, a Brexit minister, are giving evidence to the procedure committee about Brexit legislation.

As my colleague Heather Stewart reports, Baker has admitted that the government is considering proposed amendments to the EU withdrawal bill that would allow parliament to decide which new laws passed under the bill’s Henry VIII powers need extra parliamentary scrutiny. One plan is for a “sifting committee” that would vet these new laws, and ensure the important ones get debated.But Baker said there was a concern about how this could hold up legislation; these powers are needed to implement Brexit.

Baker also admitted that the Brexit date, currently set as 29 March 2019, could theoretically, be changed.

And Leadsom seems to have had a Donald Rumsfeld moment.

Turning away from the universal credit debate, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg says tomorrow’s EU summit has been hit by a glitch.

Tory MPs have been ordered not to vote at the end of the Labour debate, Sky’s Beth Rigby reports.

Earlier I said Labour may have to put up tellers for the noes if they want a proper division tonight. A reader said my explanation of the process was not clear, and so I have written an update to the 2.58pm post going into this in more detail. You may have to refresh the page to get the update to appear.

On a point of order the Green MP Caroline Lucas asked the deputy speaker, Eleanor Laing, what could be done if the Tories attempted to sabotage today’s debate by abstaining. Laing said that Lucas should not necessarily pay attention to what she reads on Twitter and that the vote was still a few hours away.

Updated

Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary who introduced universal credit, has just spoken in the debate. He defended the benefit and said pausing the rollout would not help.

The Sun’s Steve Hawkes has more more confirmation that the government is abstaining in his debate.

Last month two Labour motions went through on the nod when the government abstained. If Labour want to ensure that an actual division takes place, they might have to put up their own tellers to notionally vote for the other side so as to orchestrate a “250-nil”-style result.

UPDATE: I’ve been asked to explain this in more detail because a reader said it was not clear.

When the speaker calls a vote, he or she initially calls it by acclamation. “All those in favour say aye” etc. If no one shouts no, the motion is carried, and everyone can move on to the next business. That saves 15 minutes. But if some MPs shout no, there is a division - a proper, counted vote, with the names of people voting recorded.

If you are the government and you want to avoid a division, you can just keep quiet at this point. Then the motion goes through on the nod.

So if Labour tonight want to ensure that there is an actual division, they will have to get some of their MPs to shout no to their own motion.

But that on its own is not enough. If the speaker calls a vote, and it turns out that there are not tellers for the noes (because the government is abstaining), the division gets called off.

So, to ensure there is a division, Labour might have to put up two tellers for the noes. They don’t actually vote; they just stand their counting those MPs who do vote no. And then the division goes ahead - even if no MP actually does vote no. That explains how you sometime get a “250-0”-style result in the Commons.

Updated

Gauke says only 8% of the households that will move on to universal credit are on it now. By January it will only be 10%, he says. He says it is being rolled out gradually.

One of the most pointed interventions came from the Labour MP Angela Eagle. BuzzFeed’s Emily Ashton has the quote.

Gauke is taking many interventions from opposition MPs calling for changes to universal credit, particularly to the six-week waiting period before the first payment. But he is not budging or offering concessions, and instead falls back on defending the system.

The government has been a bit evasive about whether it will order its MPs to vote against the Labour motion today, but the BBC’s Norman Smith has confirmed that government MPs are being allowed or expected to abstain.

The government abstained in the first opposition day debates of this parliament, which led to Labour motions on increasing NHS pay and opposing the tuition fee increase being passed without a division.

At the time government sources said the Tories would routinely abstain on Labour motions of this kind. But a few days later John Bercow, the Speaker, said it would be “very worrying” if this became a habit.

Updated

David Gauke, the work and pensions secretary, is speaking now.

He welcomes the fact that Labour welcomes the principle behind the debate.

Abrahams says the government should allow UC payments to be made very fortnight.

She says she recognises that making the work allowance and taper rate more generous would be expensive.

But the government must address the problems with this, she says.

Abrahams says it has been estimated that universal credit will push 1 million more people into poverty by 2020.

Updated

Abrahams says people have to wait six weeks for their first payment. It has been described as a “long hello”.

Tenants are increasingly likely to go into rent arrears, she says.

The so-called advance payment is a loan that has to be paid back, she says.

She says Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has said rough sleeping will double if the rollout continues. This is not a guess, she says. It is a calculation based on what has already happened in UC areas.

Abrahams says changes to the work allowance and taper rate have undermined the original principle behind universal credit, that it should always pay to work.

Abrahams says universal credit is digital by default. But not everyone can apply online.

Payments are paid monthly, and rental payments go to landlords.

There are doubts about the “real-time information”, she says. (See 11.04am.) There are doubts about how reliable this is.

And she says disabled people can lose money.

MPs debate Labour call for universal credit rollout to be paused

Debbie Abrahams, the shadow work and pensions secretary, is now opening the debate on the Labour motion.

She says 90 MPs hope to speak, so she will not take many interventions.

Here is the Labour motion.

That this house calls on the government to pause the rollout of universal credit full service.

Updated

PMQs - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat

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

There is general agreement that Jeremy Corbyn had a very good day.

At least two people are saying it is his best PMQs as Labour leader. I’m not sure that is correct - in the autumn of 2016 he had a very good run against Theresa May, with some more spectacular wins on subjects like grammar schools - but, in the long term, today’s win could be more significant, because he beat May on the economy.

From the Mirror’s Jason Beattie

From ITV’s Paul Brand

From the New Statesman’s George Eaton

From the Observer’s Michael Savage

From the Spectator’s James Forsyth

From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn

From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh

From the Guardian’s Rafael Behr

From Sky’s Lewis Goodall

From the Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland

From Sky’s Adam Boulton

From the Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff

From the Mirror’s Kevin Maguire

From the Sun’s Steve Hawkes

From the Daily Mail’s Jason Groves

From BuzzFeed’s Emily Ashton

At PMQs Jeremy Corbyn quoted what George Osborne, the former Conservative chancellor, said about Labour and the financial crash at a Spectator event last week.

In case you missed it, here is the key quote from Osborne. Alert readers will notice that it is not quite the line he used to take when he was in government. Osborne said:

The public finances were not as strong as they could have been after 10 years of growth … But did Gordon Brown cause the sub-prime crisis in America? No. And although I would have questions about some of the decisions taken in 2007-08, broadly speaking the government did what was necessary in a very difficult situation.

I’ve taken the quote from Politico Europe.

As usual, the questions from Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, got missed earlier because I was writing the snap verdict. Blackford asked May to rule out a “no deal” Brexit.

May told him:

I can confirm what we are doing is working for the best possible deal for the UK. But it would be irresponsible of government not to prepare for all possible scenarios, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.

She also criticised Blackford for not acknowledging that 250,000 more people are in work in Scotland than in 2010. “That is a result of the actions of this government,” she said.

I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.

Labour’s Dennis Skinner says Ineos, the fracking company, have been accused of lowering the quality of the water supply in his constituency.

May says this will be investigated. But the country needs a safe energy supply. That is why fracking will continue.

And that’s it. PMQs is over. Today it overran by almost 20 minutes.

Updated

Andrew Selous, a Conservative, asks if May will implement the proposals in the family manifesto.

May says she wants to do more to promote stable families.

Labour’s David Crausby asks if the battery of the “northern powerhouse” has gone flat.

May says the government is committed to it, and is putting money into it.

Updated

The SNP’s John McNally asks May why a Tory MP has been allowed to miss today’s debate to take part in a football game. (Douglas Ross is a top-class referee.)

May say the voters of Moray get more from a Tory MP than from the SNP.

Lucy Frazer, a Conservative, asks May to confirm that she will consider legislating to force internet companies to deal with extremist material on the internet.

May says she can confirm that. She raised this at the UN. The tech companies have a responsibility to act, she says.

Updated

Labour’s Joan Ryan asks what May will do to help people in work buy their own home.

May says she sat with housebuilders and housing associations in Number 10 only this week to discuss this. She says Ryan should asks Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, what he is doing on this.

Updated

James Cleverly, a Conservative, asks if the government will help trainers improve productivity.

May agrees. The government is investing in technical education to improve skill levels.

May says the government is putting record funding into schools. More children are in good or outstanding schools, she says.

David Amess, a Conservative, pays tribute to the former Tory MP, the late Teddy Taylor (one of Amess’s predecessors.)

May pays tribute to him too. She remembers having to evacuate Portcullis House when Taylor set the smoke alarm off by smoking when he should not have been.

Updated

Labour’s Lilian Greenwood says Nottingham council plans to retrofit sprinklers in council flats. She asks why the government will not fund the work.

May says sprinklers are not the only way to make tower blocks safe.

Victoria Prentis, a Conservative, says it is great to have May back in good voice. (I’m not sure May will welcome a reminder of that speech.) Does May welcome the work of the Singing for Syria initiative.

May says the government has committed more than £2bn for Syria since 2015. She backs Singing for Syria.

May says the DWP has been rolling out universal credit, and listening to concerns raised. Performance in terms of getting money to people on time has improved enormously, she says. She says UC will deliver a more straightforward, simpler system, encouraging more people into work.

PMQs - Snap verdict:

PMQs - Snap verdict: A Corbyn victory, obviously, although it was one that he notched up at 9.30am, and at PMQs he just ambled through a confident but straightforward victory lap. Sometimes a dextrous PM can make a virtue of a U-turn, by using it as evidence that he or she is listening, and May must have been tempted to announce the telephone helpline U-turn herself (although it would have been hard for David Gauke to spend two hours in a committee dodging questions about this). Corbyn was wise to start by welcoming the fall in unemployment, thereby denying May the chance to make the usual ‘Why won’t he mention it?’ jibe, and thereafter he relied upon the scattergun approach he increasingly favours. His questions were serious, shrewd and pertinent and, although this tactic does not allow him to push a single issue aggressively, today he started to flesh out an interesting and convincing ‘weak economy, not strong economy’ line of argument. May never tripped up, but her Economics 101 lecture about public money sounded a bit naive and overall she didn’t land a blow. It wasn’t a memorable PMQs, but Corbyn won, and he won on the economy. That is something that ought to worry the Tories enormously.

Updated

Corbyn says George Osborne said earlier this week Gordon Brown did not cause the subprime crisis. Broadly speaking, the Labour government did what as necessary, Osborne said. Corbyn says the UK is the only major economy where wages have not grown. We have weak productivity and falling wages. How does May have the nerve to talk about a strong economy when the figures show the opposite?

May quotes from the OECD being positive about the British economy. The way to get a weak economy is to borrow £500bn as Labour proposes. The government is getting the deficit down and dealing with Labour’s great recession.

Updated

Corbyn says a long list of people want universal credit paused, including Citizens Advice, the Trussell Trust, John Major and two dozen Tory MPs. The public sector pay cap is a problem. Will the Treasury fund getting rid of it.

May says the government responds to the pay review bodies. For 2018-19 the remit of those bodies has been changed. More flexibility has been introduced. But Corbyn has to accept that government has no money of its own. It collects money from people to spend on services. If businesses don’t grow, it won’t have money. The only way you get that is with a Conservative government.

Corbyn says May had no trouble finding £1bn for the DUP. May need to make it clear how public sector pay rises will be funded. Young people are in record debt. Isn’t this yet another sign, not of a strong economy but of a weak economy?

May says the OECD said the deficit Labour left was unsustainable. The government has found money for Northern Ireland, but also to freeze fuel duty. We should not be racking up debts for young people.

Updated

Corbyn says May should do a first, and answer a question. He asked about falling wages. Christine wrote to him. She works in a shop and is worse off. She cannot afford to run a car. She does not have a luxurious lifestyle. She just wants to feel secure.

May says she recognises that people like Christine find life difficult. That is why the government is taking steps to help people with the cost of living. Fuel duty has been frozen. Some people have been taken out of tax. There will be an energy cap. But you can only do that with a strong economy.

Corbyn says people are struggling to make ends meet. Is Christine wrong? Or is she an example of what is wrong with modern Britain. Today May has bowed to pressure and scrapped the phone helpline charges. But problems remain. Will May pause universal credit and fix the problems?

Yes, says May – prompting jeering. She did not mean yes she would pause it, but for a moment it sounded like that.

It is right the government has announced a change. Last week she said she was listening, she says. It is right to do this. She wants people to know people can ring in. But why is universal credit being introduced? It is a simpler system.

Updated

Jeremy Corbyn also recognises anti-slavery day. The slave trade was one of the most grotesque times in the history of this planet.

He hopes May will offer solidarity to the people of Somalia following the terror attack.

He starts by saying he welcomes today’s fall in unemployment. But real wages are lower than 10 years ago. Most people in work are worse off. Are falling wages a sign of a strong economy.

May starts by expressing concern about the terror attack. The UK will continue to try to bring stability to Somalia.

May says Corbyn has done a first. It is the first time he has welcomed the fall in unemployment. It is good news that more people are in work, and unemployment is at its lowest level for four years.

On the cost of living, she says 30 million people have had a tax cut. The low paid have had the highest pay increase for 20 years through the national living wage. And free childcare is worth up to £5,000.

Updated

Esther McVey, a Conservative, asks May to reaffirm her commitment to the “northern powerhouse”. And what schemes will May prioritise? Are the only norths in tune with Jeremy Corbyn Islington North and North Korea?

May says the voice of the north is being heard by the Conservatives in government. It remains committed to the northern powerhouse.

Updated

Theresa May starts by saying MPs will want to mark anti-slavery day. She is determined to bring this abhorrent crime to an end.

May and Corbyn at PMQs

PMQs is about to start.

And here is some more reaction to the universal credit phoneline announcement.

From the SNP MP Chris Stephens

The Tories have finally realised the telephone tax is completely indefensible. In spring this year I secured a ten minute rule bill in parliament to debate this topic – but since then the roll out has hit thousands of people and left many facing real financial hardship.

The Tories cannot claim it as any kind of victory as it is only putting right something that was completely wrong. For people already facing real financial hardship because of the shameful UC policy to have to pay for a premium phone service was never acceptable.

From the Lib Dem work and pensions spokesman Stephen Lloyd

I welcome the government’s change of heart, but it is no compensation to the those on the breadline who have already been fleeced. Given the mess of universal credit, this is likely to become the hotest hotline in Britain.

From David Finch, an economic analyst at the Resolution Foundation thinktank

David Gauke’s move today to make the universal credit helpline free is very welcome, but it’s clear both implementation and more fundamental design challenges remain for UC if it is to deliver.

The design of universal credit must reflect the needs of the modern labour market, with more workers renting, being self-employed or using childcare. Yet these are precisely the groups the system looks to be failing with delays in full payment that extend beyond six weeks.

Here’s Sky’s Beth Rigby on the latest ahead of the Labour debate on universal credit.

The government in London will have to impose a budget on Northern Ireland if Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionists fail to reach a deal to restore devolved power sharing, James Brokenshire warned today.

The Northern Ireland secretary revealed that a deadline for the budget to run ministries in the region was now the week beginning 6 November.

Brokenshire told MPs on the Northern Ireland committee at Westminster that London would then have to draw up a budget for the region in the absence of any deal.

This move at the end of November would effectively mean direct rule being re-imposed from London.

Brokenshire said the prospects of compromise between the two main parties represented in the Stormont Assembly “do not look positive”.

Intensive talks between the DUP and Sinn Fein “stalled at the end of last week”, Brokenshire said.

An agreement to bring back local power sharing government remains stuck mainly on the issue of an Irish Language Act - a key Sinn Fein which the DUP has so far resisted.

Jeremy Corbyn has tweeted this about the Gauke phoneline U-turn.

The work and pensions committee hearing is over. But we haven’t heard the last of universal credit for the day. The topic is likely to come up at PMQs in half an hour, and then MPs will be debating it all afternoon - although for about an hour less than Labour hoped, because of a procedural ruse by the government whips. (See 10.54am.)

Sarah Wollaston was one of the Tory MPs called in to see Theresa May yesterday because they are unhappy about the universal credit rollout and could rebel in today’s debate.

Another was Johnny Mercer. But on Twitter overnight Mercer suggested that, notwithstanding any concerns he might have, he would not be voting with Labour on this.

On BBC News Sarah Wollaston, the Conservative MP, has just said that she still cannot support the rollout of universal credit. She said she supported UC in principle, but did not accept that people should have to wait six weeks for their first payments. She described that aspect of the system as a “fundamental flaw”.

Back in the committee Neil Couling, the DWP’s UC programme director, says he heard Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, tell the Today programme this morning that rent areas in his area had gone up from around 30% to 80% because of universal credit..

But it is “analytically unsound” to argue that that is because of UC, he says. He says Burnham was comparing housing benefit cases with UC (the new single benefit that replaces housing benefit and five other benefits).

Here is my colleague Amelia Gentleman on Gauke’s phoneline announcement. She has tweeted a link to a very good article she’s written for today’s paper explaining the problems with UC in detail.

Couling says he does not accept the claim that private landlords will stop renting to benefit claimants because, under UC, payments go to claimants instead of direct to landlords. He says similar concerns were raised in 2008 when the then Labour government introduced a change that stopped landlords being paid directly. But landlords continued to rent to people claiming benefits, he says.

Gauke tells the DWP committee that, when he was a Treasury minister in charge of HM Revenue and Customs, he used to joke that RTI (“real-time information” - the system that involves benefit payments being paid according to what claimants’ current earnings, not their past earnings) was the only bit of the UC system that was working.

But now he is happy that that UC is working, he says.

Jonathan Bartley, the Green party co-leader, says the government should now agree to repay bills run up by people using the UC helpline. He says:

The government’s universal credit phoneline has been little short of fining vulnerable people for seeking help. It is shameful it took this long to make the line free. The government must refund all bills racked up by the phoneline immediately as a first step towards undoing the damage it has inflicted.

Turning away from the committee hearing for a moment, but sticking with universal credit, Labour has accused the government of timetabling an unnecessary Commons statement to limit the time available for the Labour debate on UC. These are from Labour whips, an official Twitter account.

Gauke says he came into parliament after tax credits were introduced. UC is a much better system, being introduced in a much better way, he says.

Neil Couling says in the past he has persuaded ministers to pause the rollout of UC where necessary.

Gauke tells MPs that the rollout is “pretty steady”.

He says he expects to see refinements and improvements and changes as the rollout continues.

But UC is already helping more people into work than the legacy benefits it replaces, he says.

Joe Anderson, the Labour mayor of Liverpool, has been listening to David Gauke’s evidence, and he’s not impressed.

Gauke says by January only 10% of people will have been transferred to UC.

Gauke refuses to guarantee UC rollout will not lead to ‘surge’ in food bank use

Field says the food bank in Birkenhead, his constituency, thinks it will need an extra 15 tonnes of food over Christmas to cope with the need generated by the rollout of UC in the area over that period. He asks Gauke if he is confident that the rollout will be so smooth that this will not be necessary.

Gauke says he would not try and tell food banks what they should be planning.

But he says he is encouraging the use of advances to reduce the pressure on people in those first six weeks.

He says giving out advances is the best way of ensuring that people spread out their income.

Q: But you can’t guarantee that there won’t be a surge of food bank use?

Gauke says ministers are loath to guarantee anything.

But if the number of people being paid on time is increasing, as it is, and if the use of advances is increasing, as it is, the system should improve.

But he says he wants to keep monitoring this

  • Gauke refused to guarantee that universal credit rollout will not lead to ‘surge’ in food bank use.

Debbie Abrahams, the shadow work and pensions secretary, has issued this statement in response to Gauke’s announcement.

The increase in the number of people on universal credit is worrying given the government’s chaotic handling of its roll out.

The Conservatives have finally listened to Labour and scrapped the premium phone helpline for claimants, now they need to listen to the calls of charities and councils and back Labour’s motion today to immediately pause and fix the roll out of universal credit, before more people are pushed into rent arrears, poverty and homelessness.

Gauke told the committee earlier (see 10.25am) that it was wrong to describe the UC phoneline as a premium rate one.

Here is our story about David Gauke announcing that the universal credit helpline will be free.

And here is the key quote from Gauke.

In recent days, there has been criticism over the telephone charges that exist in respect of universal credit. Now, as we’ve previously said, the universal credit 0345 numbers are charged at a local rate, which is included in the call package of most mobile phone and landline phone deals. Contrary to some reports, these are not premium lines. DWP does not make a profit from these lines.

Nonetheless, given the recent attention and concern that this [the UC helpline charge] could place a burden on claimants, I have decided that this will change to a freephone number over the next month.

It has been DWP’s longstanding position to operate local line charges for benefit inquiry lines, but having reviewed this matter more widely I will be extending freephone numbers to all DWP phone lines by the end of the year.

Updated

Q: Will advance payments become more of a feature of UC?

Gauke says advance payments have always been part of the system. But giving advance payments is a sensible approach. It is an “effective” way of helping people through the first period.

He says he will look at the evidence.

The hard cases are largely people who have not taken advances, or who have taken too low a figure, he says.

Q: Is it a real success to say the number of people taking advances is increasing? Or is the transition to this benefit too difficult?

Gauke says he does not have an optimum figure for what the proportion of people taking advances should be.

But this is a big reform, he says. It has some “big prizes” for the government. Narrowing the gap between being in work and out of work will help people get into work, he says.

The Fair Telecoms campaign - whose existence I was unaware of until about five minutes ago - have been in touch on Twitter to argue that David Gauke’s helpline announcement marks a victory for them too.

UPDATE: My colleague Amelia Gentleman points out that we wrote about the Fair Telecoms campaign in the Guardian last week. I must have missed that ...

Updated

Frank Field is now asking Gauke and Couling detailed information about the DWP’s UC data.

In response to questions from the committee, Gauke sent the MPs a letter yesterday (pdf) with a series of UC statistics. The committee has published a paper today (pdf) summarising what the DWP is saying.

Field tells Gauke the robustness of the DWP’s data is so poor that it “beggars belief”.

Q: How many people have to wait seven or eight or nine weeks for their payments.

Gauke says after 10 weeks 96% of people have been paid in full. Most of those will have been paid within the six-week period.

Q: When will 98% of people get their money within six weeks?

Neil Couling says he cannot say. He does not know how hard it will be, for example, to ensure everyone signs the claimant commitment.

Gauke says 81% of UC claimants get their money on time. And he says that 92% of claimants get all or at least some of their money within the six-week deadline.

Of the 8% who do not get money within six weeks, around half are people who have not supplied ID or signed the claimant commitment, Gauke says.

And he says the rest are people who have not supplied information, for example relating to earnings or their residency status.

Here is the start of the Press Association’s announcement about Gauke’s phoneline announcement.

Charges of up to 55p a minute for calls to a universal credit helpline are to be scrapped, work and pensions secretary David Gauke has announced.

Gauke told the House of Commons work and pensions committee that the line would be switched to a freephone number over the next month, and that all department of work and pensions helplines would be free of charge by the end of the year.

The announcement came as Gauke braced himself for a tough vote in the Commons on a Labour demand for the roll-out of the universal credit to be paused.

Amid reports that up to 25 Tory MPs could be willing to rebel over criticism that people are waiting six weeks for any money and getting into debt, Labour will call on ministers to “pause and fix” the flagship benefit reform.

Here is Heidi Allen, a Conservative member of the work and pensions committee and a potential rebel on universal credit, on Gauke’s announcement.

This is from HuffPost’s Paul Waugh.

Frank Field, the chair, is asking the questions now.

Q: UC is supposed to be similar to work. But in Birkenhead (Field’s constituency) people are paid weekly. Under UC they are paid monthly. Why aren’t they paid weekly, or every fortnight at least, as in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Gauke says 69% of people in work are paid every four weeks or every month.

Q: Have you thought about introducing the two-week system that applies in Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Gauke says hardly anyone in work is paid fortnightly. In Scotland there is a deferral of payments, not a bringing forward.

Neil Couling, the DWP’s UC programme director, who is giving evidence alongside Gauke, says that the two-week system is being introduced in Scotland. People can ask to get their UC every two weeks. But effectively people are deferring a payment for two weeks. This is not well understood, he says.

The Scottish system does not bring money forward. Instead, it is the opposite, he says.

Q: If more and more people are taking advances, doesn’t that mean people should not have to wait six weeks. People don’t wait that long if they have a job.

Gauke says he could get rid of the rule that says people do not get paid for the first week (which accounts for one week of waiting.) But this would cost more.

Gauke says he wants the take-up of advance payments for universal credit to rise.

Staff are supposed to ask people if they need an advance payment, because UC claimants have to wait six weeks for their first payment.

Universal credit helpline, and all DWP helplines, to be made free, Gauke tells MPs

David Gauke is speaking at the start of the hearing.

He has something to announce, he says.

In recent days there has been interest in the charges for the universal credit helpline, he says. Jeremy Corbyn raised the issue at PMQs last week.

He says the 0345 number charged people at a local rate. It was not a premium rate charge.

But he has decided, in the light of the concern, to change that to a freephone number, he says.

And he says all DWP helpline will become free by the end of the year.

  • Gauke announces that the universal credit helpline - and all DWP helplines - will move to freephone numbers.

That is a victory for Corbyn who challenged May to make this change last week.

Updated

You can watch the hearing when it starts here.

David Gauke gives evidence to MPs on universal credit

David Gauke, the work and pensions secretary, is about to start giving evidence to the Commons work and pensions committee about universal credit.

Two days ago Frank Field, the committee chair, launched a withering attack on Gauke’s department for failing to give the committee information it requested about UC. Field also said:

The overwhelming picture we are getting is that universal credit as currently configured is very bad news. We have heard nothing, to the contrary or otherwise, from those running it.

Here is Patrick Butler’s story about what Field said.

UK's €20bn 'Brexit bill' offer to EU is 'peanuts', says European parliament chief

Universal credit is the main topic on the parliamentary agenda. David Gauke, the work and pensions secretary, is giving evidence to the Commons work and pensions select committee on the topic this morning (I’ll be covering that in detail) and this afternoon MPs will debate a Labour opposition day motion calling for the rollout of UC to be halted. As my colleagues Anushka Asthana and Patrick Butler, even though she is faced with a Tory revolt on this issue, Theresa May is resisting calls to change the current rules which mean UC claimants have to wait six weeks for their first payment.

But there is no escaping from Brexit and we’ll start by flagging up what Antonio Tajani, president of the European parliament, said in a Newsnight interview last night. May has offered to keep paying into the EU budget until the current budget round runs out in 2020, an offer said to be worth around €20bn. But that is “peanuts”, Tajani said. He said the UK ought to pay around €50bn or €60bn. He told the programme:

I’m a friend of the UK. I’m not against the UK. But please help us to help you.

How, Evan Davis asked. By paying another €20bn more than already offered? Tajani replied:

€20bn is peanuts. It’s peanuts, €20bn ... The problem is 50, 60, this is the real situation.

Tajani also said that, in demanding their money back, the Europeans were just doing what Margaret Thatcher did in the 1980s when she demanded a budget rebate.

We need our money back, as Mrs. Thatcher said 30 years, 40 years ago.

Antonio Tajani, president of the European parliament, being interviewed on Newsnight last night.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9am: Xavier Rolet, head of the London Stock Exchange, gives a speech on Brexit.

9.30am: David Gauke, the work and pensions secretary, gives evidence to a Commons committee on universal credit.

9.30am: Unemployment figures are published.

12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.

Around 1pm: MPs begin the debate on the Labour motion calling for the rollout of universal credit to be suspended. They vote at 7pm.

2.45pm: Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, and Steve Baker, a Brexit minister, give evidence to the Commons procedure committee on the scrutiny of Brexit legislation.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web.

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. 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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