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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Jessica Elgot, Ben Quinn, Sarah Marsh and Kevin Rawlinson

Theresa May makes a statement on the Brussels summit – as it happened

Theresa May briefs ministers on Brexit negotiations - watch live

Closing summary

We’re going to close down this live blog now. Thanks for reading. Here’s a summary of this evening’s events:

  • The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, told MPs Saudi Arabia’s explanation of how the journalist Jamal Khashoggi came to die in its embassy building in Turkey was “not credible”.
  • He said the UK would take “appropriate action” once it had the results of the Turkish investigation.
  • The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, demanded he go further and suspend UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia, as well as imposing financial penalties on those responsible for Khashoggi’s death.
  • The government once again set aside its attempt to push through a Bill that many on the Tory right are believed to be intending to use as a platform on which to stage a protest against Theresa May’s leadership.

Here’s a summary of the afternoon’s earlier events.

And you can read the full story on the prime minister’s Commons Brexit statement here:

Updated

Hunt tells MPs the UK authorities are investigating the actions of Khashoggi’s alleged killers when they were in the country in March.

We are aware that some of the individuals who have been talked about in the press, may have visited the United Kingdom when the crown prince came here for his official visit and we are looking carefully into what activities they undertook.

The foreign secretary adds that it is “highy unlikely” any UK officials will attend the Saudi-hosted Future Investment Initiative summit. The international trade secretary, Liam Fox, has already confirmed he will not be there.

Some more details from Jeremy Hunt’s statement to the Commons: He said the killing was an act of “appalling brutality”, saying the Saudi explanation was “not credible”.

We have an important strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia involving defence and security co-operation which has saved lives on the streets of Britain. We also have a trading partnership that supports thousands of jobs.

So, whilst we will be thoughtful and considered in our response, I have also been clear that if the appalling stories we are reading turn out to be true, they are fundamentally incompatible with our values and we will act accordingly.

Indeed such reports are also incompatible with Saudi Arabia’s own stated goal of progress and renewal.

That is why the extent to which Saudi Arabia is able to convince us that it remains committed to that progress will ultimately determine the response of the UK and its allies - and we will continue to convey our strength of feeling on this issue to every level of the Saudi leadership.

He said the Turkish-led investigation needed to establish:

  • Who authorised the dispatch of 15 officials from Saudi Arabia to Istanbul
  • When the Riyadh government first learned of Khashoggi’s death
  • Why there was a delay in allowing investigators into the consulate
  • Why Khashoggi’s death was not disclosed until October 19, some 17 days after it happened.

The foreign secretary added:

The actions Britain and our allies take will depend on two things: firstly the credibility of the final explanation given by Saudi Arabia, and secondly on our confidence that such an appalling episode cannot - and will not - be repeated.

Hunt also said it was particularly worrying that attacks on journalists were happening with increasing frequency and decried a fashion for authoritarianism across the globe.

Updated

Hunt turns to the war in Yemen, saying missiles are being fired towards Riyadh and Saudi Arabia is acting within the provisions of the UN’s resolution on the war.

He adds that the UK’s arms sales are heavily regulated and are being constantly reviewed. He also points out that Labour was keen for the government to await the results of an investigation into the Salisbury Novichok attack before taking action against Moscow.

Updated

Responding, Hunt says it is important to wait for the results of the investigation being conducted by Turkey. He says all MPs “share the outrage” but suggests a Labour government would take the same action.

Thornberry says the Saudi crown prince takes his allies for fools. “The government must wake up to the reality of who the crown prince really is.” She attacks Theresa May for ‘rolling out the red carpet’ and hailing Mohammed bin Salman as a reformer.

She asks Hunt to apply financial penalties on those responsible, to suspend UK sales of arms to be used in Yemen and to make proper representation to the UN security council over Saudi involvement in that war.

The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, is on her feet. She commends Hunt on his statement.

She calls the killing a “disgraceful murder” and suggests that few were surprised to hear about it, listing a series of alleged crimes committed by the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

Hunt: Saudi claims on Khashoggi death 'not credible'

The foreign secretary says the explanation from Riyadh does not amount to a credible account.

He does the UK’s reaction will depend on the crdibility of the investigation and the confidence ministers feels they can have that similar will not happen again. He says the UK and Saudi Arabia have a close and mutually beneficial relationship.

While the UK’s response will be considered, the reports about Khashoggi’s death – if they prove true – are not compatible with our values.

May has finished now and the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is making a statement on the death of Jamal Khashoggi.

He condemns the killing of the journalist, saying he died at the hands of a government – that of Saudi Arabia – to which the UK government has close ties.

Hunt adds that the killing of a journalist is worrying because of its potential affect on freedom of speech.

Updated

While May is speaking in the Commons, it emerges that the government is setting aside its offensive weapons bill – for Monday at least. It had been reported that the right of May’s party was preparing to use the vote to register their displeasure with her leadership.

Updated

Politico’s Tom McTague and the Times’ Sam Coates are also curious about the fourth step mentioned by May. Others are speculating the pledge was merely reassurance for the DUP and for Steve Baker, in order to convince him to withdraw his amendments.

Updated

May has laid out four steps to resolve the impasse on the backstop.

The fourth is intriguing:

To ensure full continued access for Northern Ireland’s businesses to the whole of the UK internal market

You might well ask why the prime minister would feel it necessary to promise that, if she is already guaranteeing there will be no customs border down the Irish Sea?

Perhaps it is because she would be willing to unilaterally guarantee harmonisation with EU trade rules during the backstop, to keep things flowing for businesses in Northern Ireland.

Updated

PM's statement: summary

The statement was a more personal one from May, one that tacitly acknowledges the growing momentum against her from her own party.

She said the UK is proposing a “legally binding” joint UK-EU joint customs territory to help break impasse, which she says the EU is engaging with.

May says this is progress since the Salzburg summit, where that option was dismissed.

In a substantial shift in their position since Salzburg, the EU are now actively working with us on this proposal.

The EU argue that they cannot give a legally binding commitment to a UK-wide customs arrangement in the Withdrawal Agreement, and say the original proposal for a NI-only backstop must remain a possibility, as a final insurance option.

May is also emphasising that the UK has choices. If there is no agreement on the future relationship when the transition period ends , the UK would have the option to either extend it or enter into the UK-wide temporary customs arrangement.

Only if both options failed would the NI-only backstop come into force.

There has been so far a surprising display of loyalty from MPs, many of whom have condemned the tone of the language used over the weekend. The backlash against that may, ironically, have bought the prime minister a bit more time.

Steve Baker: Withdraw whip from MPs who use violent language

The former Brexit minister Steve Baker, one of the key figures in the ERG, says that those who briefed against the prime minister using language about nooses and knives have “throughly disgraced themselves.”

I very much hope they are discovered and I hope she will withdraw the whip from them

May thanks him for the “supportive comments.”

Updated

DUP MP Sammy Wilson calls the backstop “unnecessary and damaging” and says it is designed to keep Northern Ireland in the customs union.

May says the government has rejected that proposal from the EU and that the UK will leave “as one United Kingdom.”

The former home secretary Amber Rudd says she also “utterly condemns” the language which has been used about the prime minister.

However, she says she remains “very concerned” about progress on the security treaty for when the UK leaves. May says good progress has been made on the future relationship but says it is ongoing.

Lib Dem leader Vince Cable asks about reports that Whitehall is carrying out contingency planning for a second referendum.

May shakes her head.

No that is not correct, the government does not support a second referendum.

That is not a denial of the story - which said contingency planning was being arranged.

  • May does not deny that civil servants are making contingency plans for a possible future referendum.

The veteran Eurosceptic Bill Cash says that Chequers is still on the table and that the EU27 could still then make laws for the UK. He says that cannot mean the UK is control of its own laws.

May says that it is rules that manufacturers are already abiding by it. And she says there will be a parliamentary lock on accepting any changes to the rule book.

Another Brexiteer John Redwood lambasts the prime minister for the costs of the EU exit bill and says it could be spent at home and says the UK should leave without a deal.

May says that she wants to ensure good trading relationships on better terms than the WTO.

Updated

May says people should 'be careful' about violent language

In her response to Corbyn, May acknowledges some of the violent language used about her in the Sunday papers.

It is incumbent on all of us in public life to be careful about the language we use. There are passionate beliefs on this subject... but whatever the subject, we should all be careful about our language.

She also says that even under Labour’s plan, the backstop issue to prevent a hard border would need to be negotiated.

  • May says that the backstop issue has to be resolved whatever the state of the future relationship.

Jeremy Corbyn is on his feet. He says the Conservative party has been arguing with itself, without considering the national interest.

He says the deal cannot be 95% done, but also “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.” He asks which it is?

Corbyn says that May went to Brussels to “beg for an extension” to the transition period - the prime minister is shaking her head.

He asks for the cost per month of an extension to the transition, and how long it will last. He says when so many deadlines have been missed, how can the country have faith this latest one will be met?

This government is terminally incompetent, hamstring by its own division.

Corbyn says that Labour’s plan for a comprehensive customs union is a workable alternative.

Updated

May tacitly acknowledges her difficult week. She says the talks are “not about my interest but the national interest.”

When I stood in Downing Street and addressed the nation for the first time, I pledged that the government I lead will not be driven by the interests of the privileged few but of ordinary working families.

And that is what guides me every day in these negotiations.Before any decision, I ask: how do I best deliver the Brexit that the British people voted for.

She says that it is important that we “hold our nerve” through the last stages of negotiations - “the hardest part of all.”

She says she will not give in and give “a politicians vote” which she says would involve telling people who voted for Brexit that they had got it wrong.

Updated

May says a number of issues remain. She says people are “understandably worried” that the UK could get “stuck in a backstop” designed to be temporary.

She says there are also concerns that NI could be cut off from its most important market - Great Britain.

She says there are four more steps needed:

  • There must be a firm commitment to the EU-UK temporary customs arrangement.
  • There should be an option to extend the implementation period as an alternative to the backstop.
  • The UK must be able to leave at will, not be locked into any arrangement ‘against our will’
  • The government must ensured full access for all of NI businesses to Great Britain.

May says both an extension and the backstop are undesirable. She says the best outcome is that a future arrangement is in place by December 2020. She says this is only about an insurance policy.

She says it would be a “sovereign choice” to decide whether an extension or a UK-EU customs backstop would be preferable, should a deal not be ready.

  • May says there are four more steps before agreement can be reached on the backstop, including a “legally binding” joint UK-EU joint customs territory

Updated

May says progress has been made on the withdrawal agreement and the future relationship. She says the shape of the deal is now clear and that progress has been made since the summit in Salzburg.

She is outlining areas where there is agreement, on defence and security, on Cyprus and Gibraltar, and on citizens rights.

She says that there is agreement on 95% of the deal. She says there is “one real sticking point left and a considerable one” which is how to guarantee no return to a hard border in Ireland.

She says the House has enshrined that commitment in the EU Withdrawal Agreement.

May says she is still unwilling to accept a backstop that could create a customs border down the Irish Sea.

She says the UK has put forward an alternative proposal for a temporary UK-EU customs territory for the backstop. May says that in a shift since the Salzburg summit, this is now under consideration.

  • May says that EU now willing to consider temporary UK-EU customs territory for the backstop.

Theresa May makes a statement on the Brussels summit

The prime minister is on her feet, updating MPs about the progress at the European council last week.

Steve Baker confirms withdrawal of backstop amendment

Steve Baker has confirmed he has withdrawn his amendments to the Northern Ireland bill on Wednesday, which would have effectively make the European Union’s backstop proposal illegal.

He says he has been persuaded it was not in the public interest to amend emergency legislation, which gives civil servants in Belfast more powers in the absence of a functioning executive.

Labour sources had said they would have been uneasy amending legislation in those circumstances.

Many of the Tory MPs who have rebelled on Brexit motions are speaking in this debate. Nicky Morgan, the former education secretary, asks about the legal advice that told them they needed a ‘clean motion.’

She says that was never discussed in negotiations ahead of the bill’s passing. Raab will not say, but says advice is given continuously.

Philip Lee, the former minister who resigned to vote against the Withdrawal bill, says it is more evidence that “the foisting of a Brexit fudge on this parliament is imminent.”

Jonathan Djanogly, another member of the group of soft Brexit Tory rebels, says select committees must be given time to look at the details of the agreement before MPs get a vote, in order to inform members.

Conservative MP Anna Soubry points to Raab’s former role in the MoJ in negotiating the passage of the EU Withdrawal Act, on the basis of promises made to would-be Tory rebels like herself about the meaningful vote.

She says it is a matter of trust and “quite incredible” to say that they did not understand the consequences. She says many members were concerned about this and trusted the government to allow a meaningful vote.

She said people in the country will not forgive the government for breaching trust.

Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer has been responding to Raab in the Commons.

He starts by calling some of the comments in Sunday newspapers about the prime minister “nothing short of disgraceful... in a time of growing extremism, MPs should know better.”

He says this kind of language has no place in politics.

Starmer says that parliament must be able to express its view on the final Brexit deal. He says Labour believes that multiple amendments could be selected and that decision is in the hands of the Speaker.

Raab agrees that the tone of the debate has been wrong.

He says that amendments will be allowed, but he says that procedural amendments would have an impact at international level. He says they could not have an effect of altering the withdrawal agreement with the EU.

Steve Baker to withdraw NI amendments

The Times’ Francis Elliott reports that the war on Wednesday is off and Steve Baker has withdrawn his amendments to the Northern Ireland bill, perhaps because Labour refused to help.

There may still be another flashpoint on Wednesday - Labour MP Stella Creasy has tabled some other amendments on abortion, which could attract cross-party support.

Updated

Grieve is responding now, he calls the position “entirely unsatisfactory” and says it goes against promises made to the house that MPs would be able to offer alternatives.

He says that the memo “undermines trust” given the assurances that the government made to the House.

Raab says the government is not trying to prevent an amendable motion.

However, he says due to the legal status of the motion, a clear decision on the motion is needed, in order for the government to be able to ratify the withdrawal agreement.

  • He says any attempt to change the agreement would “come up against very real and practical diplomatic obstacles”.

Updated

Raab says that he welcomes the question - and MPs laugh.

He says there is a longstanding commitment to a vote on the deal. He says the decision for whether the motion will be amendable is a matter for the Speaker.

Raab says the government expects there may be amendments tabled.

He says it is evident that amendments to the motion would not be able to affect the withdrawal agreement, agreed at international level, nor could they delay or prevent departure.

He says the timing of the departure is set out under international law, under the article 50 framework, and that parliament has voted to trigger that action.

  • Raab says MPs cannot amend a motion to delay or stop the UK’s departure from the EU, or alter the final deal agreed with the EU.

Updated

Urgent question on the meaningful vote and amendments

We are moving on, thank goodness, to Dominic Grieve’s urgent question on the parliamentary vote on the final Brexit deal.

The Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, is answering for the government. Raab provoked backbench outrage last week by saying parliamentary approval for May’s deal needed to be unconditional because amending it could prevent it from being ratified.

This is the background to the row:

Some MPs are considering an amendment to the approval motion to authorise a second referendum. Other amendments could extend or reduce the transition period during which the UK stays in the single market after Brexit.

Updated

John Glen has spent most of the past half an hour deflecting questions to the prime minister’s statement. Not a hugely constructive UQ.

Here’s the verdict so far from the lobby:

Labour MP Catherine West voices MPs’ growing frustration with Glen, who is unable to answer most questions.

Is his boss available or is he also in the ‘killing zone’?

She is referring to this headline in the Sunday Times.

Justine Greening, the former education secretary who has since backed a second referendum, says she is “very concerned” about the progress of the negotiations.

They mean us staying in a customs union over which we will have no say over the rules for a long period, at the very moment the global economy is facing some significant risk.

Glen says that it is “modest extension” and he says she is right to highlight the need to find a settlement that gives the UK the freedom to govern its own trading relationships.

The DUP’s Nigel Dodds has also been on his feet, asking what the purpose of any extension would be – to replace the Irish backstop or in addition?

Glen says it is “an idea that has been raised” but says the PM will be best placed to answer. He is deflecting most questions to the statement that May will give later.

Updated

Labour’s Peter Dowd, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, says it is “brass neck” to talk about public spending.

“He spent eight years being a cheerleader for austerity,” he says of Redwood, who shakes his head.

He says that Labour cannot fathom how the negotiations cannot be concluded in two years. He says he is not “reassured” by promises that the deal is 95% is done.

95% of the Titanic’s journey was completed successfully.

Peter Dowd
Peter Dowd Photograph: House of Commons

Redwood says that extending the transition period would take the UK into another seven-year budget cycle of the EU.

He says that it would be “an act of great rashness” to agree to extend the transition. He says it could be “£15bn or more” to extend it by a year and that the UK could be forced to accept commitments for the full seven-year cycle.

Redwood is cheered as he says the UK needs money for schools, universal credit, hospitals, defence and to honour pledges for tax cuts.

Glen says that he recognises the concerns but says it is a “delicate stage” of negotiations.

Updated

Glen says that the government is working to ensure a future relationship is in place by the end of 2020. He says any extra costs are subject to negotiation.

He says the aim is to leave the single market and the customs union.

He says the financial settlement honours the commitment made by Britain during its membership. He says the NAO has confirmed it is reasonable.

  • Glen says the aim is to agree a settlement by December 2020

Updated

Urgent question on costs of staying in the customs union

John Redwood, the prominent Tory Brexiter, has asked an urgent question in the Commons on “the costs of staying in the EU and the cost of the draft withdrawal agreement”.

Treasury minister John Glen is responding. He says that every arm of government is working at pace to firm up the arrangements for Brexit.

He says common rules will remain in place during the implementation period, which the prime minister has said would only be extended “for a matter of months”.

He says the prime minister has made clear that it is not expected to be used.

Updated

ITV’s political editor, Robert Peston, reckons there is now a full-blown operation to convince MPs to sign letters of no confidence in the prime minister, which they must send to the chair of the 1922 Committee in order to spark a leadership contest.

He quotes one MP:

I’m campaigning myself. We need 60-70 letters, not 48...I know people who are putting letters in today. I think we are the closest ever to her going and I think, thank God, this could be it.

Peston says that Brexiteers are trying to convince the “agnostic centre” of Tory MPs who are dissatisfied with the leadership.

But Peston writes:

I’ve spoken with some of these agnostic Tory centrists, and although they have nothing good to say about May, they are not posting their letters. Why not? Because they cannot coalesce around a successor.

Tory sources have suggested to me today that they believe the numbers of letters are currently in the low 40s – with 48 needed to spark a full no confidence vote in May’s leadership. They say 10 have gone in the last week.

However, 1922 Committee chair, Sir Graham Brady, has cautioned in the past about believing “inflated figures”. He is the only man who knows the true number.

Updated

Wednesday’s vote on the Northern Ireland bill is shaping up to be the flashpoint of the week.

The DUP is poised to back an amendment tabled by Steve Baker, a leading light of the ERG and former Brexit minister, which would effectively make the European Union’s backstop proposal illegal.

Conservative MP and former junior Brexit Minister, Steve Baker
Conservative MP and former junior Brexit Minister, Steve Baker Photograph: Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images

The bill is ostensibly to give Belfast civil servants more power, in the absence of a functioning Northern Ireland executive.

But Baker’s amendment would prevent officials implementing any trade or regulatory barriers between Northern Ireland and mainland Britain.

The amendment is now likely to have more than enough Tory and DUP MPs to pass – but only with Labour’s backing as well.

And Labour sources have said they are unlikely to back the move - but the numbers of rebels will be interesting (if the amendment is chosen for debate).

“We don’t mess around on emergency legislation,” a Labour source told the Guardian. “As usual we’ll take a proper look at the detail, but this just shows the absolute state of this government.”

Updated

Here’s an interesting Twitter thread from the Sun’s political editor, Tom Newton Dunn, examining May’s claim that the Brexit deal is 95% done. He reckons not so, and even if it was, the important part is the 5%.

Updated

This is Jessica Elgot taking over for the afternoon, where I’ll take you through two very interesting urgent questions coming up in the Commons, one on the meaningful vote and one on the cost of extending the transition period.

That should start at 3.30 and then it will be on to the PM’s statement to the Commons on Brexit. Debate around all three should be... lively.

Just 71 of the more than 800 statutory instruments needed to prepare the statute book for Brexit have been laid before parliament, according to a new analysis by the Hansard Society.

The society’s full analysis of SIs (essentially the rules and regulations made by ministers under powers given to them by acts of parliament) is here, where it notes:

The government promised that, as far as possible, it would plan the laying of its Brexit SIs in order to avoid a ‘peak and trough’ approach that would inhibit parliament’s capacity to scrutinise the proposed changes.

Following the granting of royal assent to the EU (Withdrawal) Act on 26 June, there were 40 weeks until exit day (of which week 1 was not a full working week, as royal assent was granted on a Tuesday).

If a minimum target of 800 SIs have to be laid, then an average of 20 SIs had to be laid in each of those 40 weeks.

Updated

Public faith in the UK government’s handling of the Brexit negotiations has been taking a bit of a battering over recent weeks, according to other parts of the polling published today by YouGov.

The percentage who believed that it was going badly went from 67% earlier this month to 71% last week.

Thirty three percent (up from 29 percent) said the government was handling things “fairly badly”.

Updated

The chancellor is considering making changes to England’s planning system to accelerate the conversion of empty shops into homes, the Financial Times reports ahead of this month’s budget.

The move - which is aimed at tackling the housing crisis - comes as Philip Hammond is resisting calls to use his main policy intervention of the year to carry out a major overhaul of business rates, the FT adds.

Updated

May faces rebellion by Tory MPs over weapons bill

Hard Brexiters are expected to stage a rebellion tonight against government plans to ban .50 calibre high-energy rifles that have the power to stop a vehicle at a distance of a mile.

Three dozen Tory MPs have signed up to the most contentious amendment to the offensive weapons bill, aimed at striking out the Home Office’s proposed ban on guns that police admit they have do not have the resources to deal with if one were ever to fall into the hands of terrorist.

The latest signatories include David Davis, the former Brexit secretary, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chairman of the hard Brexit ERG.

Others who have signed up include Steve Baker, Sir Bernard Jenkin and Sir Bill Cash, as well as some DUP MPs and Labour’s Kate Hoey. Brexiters are looking for opportunities to stand up and be counted in the Commons and argue that .50 calibre rifles are held securely at specialist sporting clubs.

Labour, however, is expected to vote against the amendment, so the ban on the guns is expected to be passed into law.

Louise Haigh, the shadow policing minister, said: “If you think that hijacking an important firearms debate for a proxy row over Brexit is acceptable, you’re not fit for public office.”

Updated

The latest poll results from YouGov have some news to cheer Theresa May, with 38% of the public identifying her as the best person to be prime minister, compared with 24% for Jeremy Corbyn.

It means she has slightly overtaken “don’t know” since last week, while the Labour leader has fallen back by 1%.

The Conservatives are on 41% – unchanged from last week’s poll – while Labour is on 36% (from 37%).

The Liberal Democrats are on 9% (unchanged) while votes for other parties stands at 13% (also unchanged).

Updated

Robert Halfon, a Tory MP for the sometimes bellwether seat of Harlow, has been on the airwaves again after warning at the weekend that his party faces an “existential crisis”.

The violent imagery voiced by anonymous fellow Tories simply promoted an image of their party as “an awful party in the eyes of the public”, he told BBC’s World at One.

Halfon went on to say that the party needed to get away from being seen as obsessed with Brexit, adding that the prime minister needed to “lead from the front”.

“She did this when she got in in 2016 that was one of the reasons why the public rallied behind her and we were high in the opinion polls,” he said.

Halfon said that the party needed to grasp the social justice agenda like it really meant it through tackling “extortionate” rail fares and the cost of living.

Updated

DUP to back Eurosceptics amendment to NI bill

Not entirely a shock this, but ratchets up the stakes..

Updated

Iain Duncan Smith has said that the “full weight of the Conservative party” should be brought down on whoever was responsible for the violent imagery which has been directed at the prime minister.

The former cabinet minister and prominent Brexiter was speaking after he joined two fellow members of the European Research Group (ERG) - Owen Patterson and David Trimble - to meet the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier. The ERG members denied that they were undermining Theresa May.

Smith was speaking after the trio were asked by reporters if any of them had been responsible for some of the language which made its way into the weekend papers.

The Sunday Times quoted one unnamed Tory MP as saying: “The moment is coming when the knife gets heated, stuck in her front and twisted. She’ll be dead soon.”

Another said May was now entering “the killing zone”, and a third remarked: “Assassination is in the air.” In the Mail on Sunday, another source was quoted as saying that May should “bring her own noose” to a meeting of backbench Tories.

“I don’t know anything about that other than what I have heard. All I can say is that whoever did that needs to have the fullest weight of the Conservative party on them, or whoever,” said Smith
“It has nothing to do with this issue.”

Asked if Theresa May had his full support, he replied: “I have always done; I am an ex-leader. The prime minister gets my full support. That’s it.”

Updated

A delegation from the pro-Brexit European Research Group (ERG) of Tory parliamentarians have been in Brussels to meet the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier.

Asked if they were undermining the prime minister, Ian Duncan Smith said that they were simply “presenting some ideas” from a paper which the ERG had put out earlier in the year.

The former environment minister Owen Paterson, who was with Duncan Smith and David Trimble, gave the impression afterwards that much of the discussion had involved the issue of how to resolve the Irish border question.

“We believe that using existing techniques, existing processes and all within existing EU law we can continue to trade pretty well seamlessly across all borders without damaging the integrity of European customs union and single market, which is obviously fundamental for them,” he said.

“We had a long and constructive meeting with Mr Barnier and his staff and we are now going to go back and report in detail to our colleagues.”

Updated

Here’s another headache to add to Theresa May’s growing list - she faces a potential rebellion this evening on a bill designed to ban rifles of a certain calibre.

My colleague Dan Sabbagh also wrote about the issue last week.

At first glance it’s not a Brexit-related issue, but some in her party are rowing in behind it, and it is an opportunity for a show of strength by rebels.

Updated

The former trade minister Greg Hands has penned a piece for the Guardian on why he believes that staying in a customs union would be “dire” for British trade.

Hands - a remain voter - writes:

A wide range of key British interests – from Welsh and Teesside steel workers, the Stoke ceramics industry and Asian diaspora communities, to mainstream importers and exporters – could lose out.

All this illustrates the hazards of being the world’s fifth-largest economy, with a large part of our economic policy contracted out to others. We shouldn’t let it happen.

Good afternoon. This is Ben Quinn picking up the liveblog from Sarah

Updated

Prime minister’s official spokesman: 'personal vitriol has no place in our politics'

Theresa May’s office has said “personal vitriol has no place in our politics”, after dehumanising and derogatory comments were made about the prime minister’s position.

When asked how May viewed the use of violent language in comments about her position attributed to Conservative MPs, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I don’t intend to dignify those specific anonymous comments with a response ... [Theresa May] has always been very clear that we must set a tone in public discourse that is neither dehumanising nor derogatory. Personal vitriol has no place in our politics.”

On Sunday, Tory MP Johnny Mercer said he could not continue to “support an administration that cannot function” on issues from Brexit to the Grenfell Tower disaster and the Windrush scandal.

He spoke out as numerous Conservative politicians said May was on course to face a vote of no confidence this week as all wings of the party united against her.

Reports include threats about how May is in entering “the killing zone” with “assassination in the air”.

The Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, urged the plotters to ignore the “jitters” and hold their nerve for a Brexit deal. Raab laughed off the lurid claims about a “killing field”, pointing out that May’s future is regularly gossiped about with little action from her political enemies.

Updated

'We are committed to no border on the island of Ireland,' says Karen Bradley

Karen Bradley, the secretary of state for Northern Ireland, today gave assurances that the British government was not about to renege on the “backstop” commitment made over the Irish border Brexit issue.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Karen Bradley

Referring to the joint report in December, in which Theresa May and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier signed off on the need for a “backstop” insurance policy for Ireland in the event of no deal, she said that commitment still stood.

“We are committed to everything we have agreed to in the joint report and we will ensure there is no border on the island of Ireland,” she told the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly in London on Monday.

She was told by a series of Irish politicians present that people in Ireland were now getting very concerned about Brexit and the Irish border and suggestions over the weekend that the December report was irrelevant.

“I am very very concerned at the mood in the last few days,” said Irish senator Frank Feighan, who belongs to the government party Fine Gael.

“Could the UK every be trusted again if it were to renege on a written deal,” he asked.

Updated

The Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, has said that she will ensure there is no border on the island of Ireland.

Addressing a meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly in London, Bradley said: “A suggestion has been put forward last week at the European council regarding an extension of the implementation period as a way to deal with the border ... Now, we are looking at that. It is early days. It is a suggestion that has been put forward by the EU.

“And I want to be clear that we are committed to everything that we have agreed to in the joint report and we will ensure that there is no border on the island of Ireland,” she said.

Updated

Some responses to Chris Grayling’s appearance on Radio 4 Today programme.

The foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, will make a statement in the House of Commons about the Jamal Khashoggi case this afternoon.
The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, will respond for Labour.

Updated

Dozens of Commons staff waiving their anonymity to call for action against bullying

More than 80 current and former members of House of Commons staff, as well as MPs and journalists have signed an extraordinary open letter, waiving their anonymity, to call for action against bullying and harassment.

The joint letter to the House of Commons commission has been organised by women who gave evidence to Dame Laura Cox’s inquiry into bullying and sexual harassment in parliament, which was published last week with a damning verdict on the conduct of some staff and MPs, as well as the failure of senior leaders to tackle the issue.


“The signatories of this letter have one thing in common. We have personally experienced, or seen first-hand, bullying or harassment by members of parliament go unchallenged,” the letter says. “Dame Laura Cox’s report has exposed Westminster’s open secret – a minority of parliamentarians have been allowed to get away with this behaviour for years.”
Among the signatories are the MPs Jess Phillips, Sarah Wollaston, Lisa Nandy, John Mann and Kevin Barron, who chairs the Commons standards committee.

Cox’s report found that women were the target of jokes by gangs of “boorish” male MPs who made lewd comments and sexual gestures and made them answer “offensive and humiliating” questions about their sex lives, she found.

The House of Commons commission will meet this week to discuss the Cox report, a body usually chaired by the Speaker, John Bercow, who is himself at the centre of bullying claims, which he denies.

A spokeswoman for the Speaker said that he would stand aside from chairing the meeting on Wednesday, “in the spirit of independence” and the meeting will be led by Jane McCall, the most senior independent member of the commission.

Updated

Boris Johnson says we must not 'turn a blind eye' to Khashoggi murder

Former foreign secretary Boris Johnson has said Britain should “refuse to turn a blind eye” to the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi and pressure Saudi Arabia into ending the brutal civil war in Yemen.

Boris Johnson

Johnson compared the Istanbul killing with the Novichok attack in Salisbury in March, calling them “state-sponsored plots” designed to “send a terrifying public warning” to opponents.

His comments in the Telegraph came as one of his predecessors as foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said “the scales now have to fall from our eyes” and firm action is needed to reduce the destabilising power of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The Gulf kingdom admitted on Friday that Washington Post columnist Khashoggi, a vocal critic of Riyadh, was killed at its Istanbul consulate but claimed he died after a fight broke out.

Johnson said “we cannot just let it pass” and, while the UK has crucial trade and security links with the Gulf state, “the UK and the US must lead other countries in holding Saudi Arabia properly to account”.

Updated

Key events of the morning so far:

• Theresa May will tell the Commons today that 95% of the Brexit withdrawal agreement and its protocols are settled as she seeks to demonstrate to anxious MPs in her own party that she is making headway in the increasingly fraught divorce talks.

• A senior Labour MP has called on Conservative whips to identify party colleagues who use “vile and dehumanising language” towards Theresa May, after a weekend during which there were suggestions the prime minister should be knifed and hanged.

• The secretary of state for transport, Chris Grayling, has said now is the time for “calm level heads” to get through the last Brexit negotiation. Grayling also said he would be willing to accept a “short bridge” backstop if Brexit negotiations were not complete by next March.

• Dozens of current and former members of staff at the House of Commons are demanding changes in how bullying is dealt with.

• The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, defended her decision, along with the rest of Labour’s frontbench, not to attend the “people’s vote” march in London on Saturday calling for a second EU referendum.

• The former foreign secretary Jack Straw called on the UK government to recall its ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and end arms sales to the country after the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Updated

This weekend hundreds of thousands marched in London, calling for a a second Brexit referendum.

Peter Tatchell, a British human rights campaigner, said protesting was a means to an end, not an end in itself.

“It puts the authorities under pressure for change and creates sense of social solidarity ... coming together in huge numbers makes people feel they are not alone,” he said, speaking on the BBC Today programme.

Campaigners for a second Brexit referendum are hoping to harness the energy demonstrated by Saturday’s 700,000-strong march in London to lobby MPs in the run-up to a crucial Commons vote.

The People’s Vote group will focus on 50 Conservative MPs – including five ministers – who they believe could be persuaded to vote for a second referendum should Theresa May’s final Brexit deal be voted down.

Updated

Emily Thornberry defends decision not to attend 'people's vote' march

The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, defended her decision, along with the rest of Labour’s frontbench, not to attend the “people’s vote” march in London on Saturday calling for a second EU referendum.

She told the BBC Radio 1 Today programme that she had instead been in Crawley in West Sussex, “where 58% of the population voted to leave the EU”, talking to activists and businesses.

“I want to have a people’s vote, but I want to have a big and proper people’s vote, which is a general election,” she said.

“Although Theresa May says today she has got 95% of the agreement done with the European Union, I don’t know if that’s really the right number, but I can tell you what – the bit she has got to agree yet is extremely difficult.”

Updated

The former foreign secretary Jack Straw called on the UK government to recall its ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and end arms sales to the country after the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

He said it should now be the British objective to weaken the authority of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and that the crown prince had become “an architect of impending instability” in the Middle East.

Straw challenged the Saudi claim that the crown prince knew nothing of the operation to kill Jamal Khashoggi, a well known journalist and critic of the Saudi government, arguing “nothing of significance” happens in Saudi Arabia without his knowledge.

Straw was foreign secretary between 2001 and 2006, and since leaving office has been a strong supporter of rapprochement with Iran, Saudi’s great antagonist in the Middle East.

The shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, repeated her call for an end to arms sales to Saudi Arabia, a statement she has made many times before, in protest at the Saudi conduct of the war in Yemen.

She said: “These are our bombs. These are our planes they are using.” In response to the Saudi admission of killing Khashoggi, she accused the government ministers of simply “wringing their hands and saying isn’t this awful?”.

She said Saudi behaviour was unacceptable and it was necessary for its leadership to change their ways.

Updated

Transport secretary willing to accept a 'short bridge backstop' to complete Brexit

Chris Grayling also said he would be willing to accept a “short bridge” backstop if Brexit negotiations were not complete by March 2019.

He told the Today programme there were two years to sort out the details of what comes next ... “I’m perfectly happy to contemplate a short bridge between the end of the implementation period and the start of the future economic partnership if it is necessary.”

He added that he didn’t think it was necessary. “I don’t want it to be necessary, because what it can’t do, it absolutely can’t do, is trap us in limbo indefinitely, and cabinet is completely united about that.”

Updated

Transport secretary calls for 'calm level heads'

The secretary of state for transport, Chris Grayling, has said now is the time for “calm level heads” to get through the last Brexit negotiation.

He warned that MPs seeking a vote of confidence in prime minister Theresa May risk seeing Britain leave the EU without a dea.

The Brexiteer, who ran Mrs May’s leadership campaign in 2016, appealed for calm as opponents of May ramped up their threats to remove her from office if she does not alter course on Brexit.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme he said this was “always going to be the most difficult part of the negotiation”.

“If the deal on offer cannot get through parliament there will be no deal... so it is in everyone’s interest to get a deal both sides accept. That’s why, for example, the idea of a border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK is not a stater. There is no way we could agree to that.”

Grayling added that if a short bridge was required between the implementation period, he would be “happy to contemplate that”.

Updated

Cooper criticises 'vile and dehumanising language' used about May

The “vile and dehumanising language” used about Theresa May by anonymous Tory MPs has been criticised by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, who said those using such vernacular should be outed.

The Labour former minister criticised “violent” words used by the prime minister’s opponents at the weekend, which included suggesting she would be “knifed in the front” and should “bring her own noose” to a Wednesday meeting with backbenchers.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Cooper said that such language normalised violence at a time when female MPs were facing increasing hostility and little more than two years after Jo Cox was brutally murdered in the street.

“This is vile and dehumanising language towards a woman MP, towards a prime minister who, no matter how much you might disagree with her, is someone who is doing a job in public life,” she said.

“Nobody should be subject to that kind of violent language, which I think is normalising violence in public debate at a time when we lost Jo Cox, we have had threats against Rosie Cooper, we have had other violent death threats against women MPs.

Brexiteer Mark Francois said the language was “unacceptable” but that he would not tell the chief whip, Julian Smith, how to do his job. He hit out at a “bunker mentality” in Downing Street, telling Today: “The problem is that there is a lot of frustration on the backbenches at the moment, both among leavers and remainers, at the general state of play.

Updated

Welcome to the politics live blog

Hello, this is Sarah Marsh standing in for Andrew Sparrow today, and following the politics of the day.

On Sunday, Tory MP Johnny Mercer said he could not continue to “support an administration that cannot function” on issues from Brexit to the Grenfell Tower disaster and the Windrush scandal.

He spoke out as numerous Conservative politicians said May was on course to face a vote of no confidence this week as all wings of the party united against her.

Reports include threats about how May is in entering “the killing zone” with “assassination in the air”.

The Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, urged the plotters to ignore the “jitters” and hold their nerve for a Brexit deal. Raab laughed off the lurid claims about a “killing field”, pointing out that May’s future is regularly gossiped about with little action from her political enemies.

The violent rhetoric triggered criticism, with the former Northern Ireland secretary, Theresa Villiers, branding it “disturbing”. The SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, warned the Tory rivals to “get a grip”.

Updated

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