The Irish government has said it will not back any new Brexit deal that alters the core principles of what was agreed earlier this week. Speaking in the Dail in Dublin, Simon Coveney, the Irish deputy prime minister,
We are in a position where we still need to find a way forward but, let me be very clear, the core issues that Ireland got agreement on at the start of this week are not changing.
Coveney was referring to provisions in the draft agreement proposing some form of regulatory alignment between Northern Ireland and the Republic to prevent the emergence of a hard border. The DUP objected to the wording because they thought it could result in Northern Ireland getting detached in regulatory terms from the rest of the UK. The UK government and the DUP are still working on a solution, but there are no indications that an announcement is imminent.
Osborne says Labour could be 20 points ahead in polls under different leader
Here are some fuller quotes from the George Osborne speech. I’m using the copy from the Press Association.
Osborne said there was a “consensus” in the Conservative party that Theresa May would be replaced before the general election. He said:
The essential question is going to be - is there going to be a change of leadership in this parliament? The Conservative party parliamentary party assumes there will be, the prime minister has said nothing about that. And at some point that is going to come to a head.
I would make the observation that it is the consensus view of the Conservative parliamentary Party that the leadership should change. So at some point something will happen.
He said the Conservative party had to be modern to win. He said:
If you as a party set yourselves against the future, if we’re hostile to business, if we think they are the problem not the solution, if the Cabinet game becomes who can get the most money out of the chancellor, if we’re anti-tech, if we talk about building homes but pretend they can only be built on brownfields, then we will lose our economic credibility and cause damage to our country’s economic future.
He said Labour could be 20 points ahead in the polls with a different leader. He said:
The Labour party chose to change its leadership rules, the new membership of the Labour party chose to head to the political fringes, and the Labour movement now lives with the consequences of that big decision.
And in my view, for all this undoubted ability to connect to younger and more disillusioned voters, Jeremy Corbyn remains the biggest obstacle to Labour winning an election.
If the party was led by a more moderate social democrat of even middling ability then they would now be 20 points ahead in the polls and on the cusp of power. Instead the Labour movement is consumed by an internal battle for its soul.
He said he did not expect to return to politics, but did not rule it out. He said:
I don’t rule it out [returning to the Commons] just because I think you can be foolish saying never to things, but it is certainly not what I think I’m going to be doing with my life in the future. I am very much enjoying editing the paper and for me aged 46, having had 20 years in politics, I’ve discovered a new career and a new life and I’m quite enjoying it.
Charles Walker, the Conservative MP who chairs the Commons procedure committee, has announced that he is tabling amendments to the EU withdrawal bill for debate next week that would give a Commons committee new powers to demand votes when ministers want to amend the law using secondary legislation.
At the moment most secondary legislation gets passed at the stroke of a pen, without MPs getting a vote. This has become a big issue in relation to the EU withdrawal bill because it will give ministers extensive new powers to incorporate EU law into UK law.
The Walker amendments, which have the backing of his committee, would create a “sifting committee” which would have the job of going through all the statutory instruments passed under the EU withdrawal bill (up to 1,000, ministers expect) and identifying important ones which would have to be debated by MPs.
Many Tory MPs, as well as the opposition, have been calling for a mechanism of this kind, and it is very likely that the government will accept the amendments, or table their own alternatives.
In Wednesday’s debate I shall look forward to a positive response from both despatch boxes to the constructive suggestions we have made.
The process of transferring over 40 years’ worth of accumulated EU law into UK law is one of the greatest legislative challenges parliament has ever faced.
I shall be looking to the government for assurances that the process is going to be managed appropriately and in a way which allows the new sifting committee to do its job properly.
Charles Walker. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian
Not hearing that anyone is booking flights this afternoon; Foster not about to come to London, May not about to go to Brussels. Negotiations continue 'positively and constructively'.
CBI Northern Ireland has said that local businesses urgently need the government what will happen to trade arrangements after Brexit. A recent survey found 81% of its members said they did not have sufficient clarity as to what was planned. After a quarterly council meeting today, CBI NI’s director Angela McGowan said:
Business leaders are united – they want to see Brexit talks move onto the next phase as quickly as possible and are becoming increasingly impatient that negotiators can’t find a way through the deadlock on future trading arrangements, citizens’ rights and the financial settlement.
Prevarication is getting us nowhere, the people of Northern Ireland need clarity now. We find ourselves in serious danger of not only losing out on much needed foreign investment but of facing the real prospect of fantastic companies making the reluctant choice to move away from Northern Ireland.
On Brit v Ireland - was at Fine Gael drinks last night. Taoiseach and ministers present. Many said they just cannot understand the level of ignorance about Ireland among some in Tory party.
Hilary Benn, chairman of the Brexit select committee, and other MPs on the committee have been inspecting the Irish border for the first time in a visit to Middletown between Armagh and Monagahan.
The frontier is barely detectable apart from a change in mobile phone service and the two derelict customs posts on either side of the bridge.
“The fact these customs houses are derelict is a good thing, “ said Benn. He went on:
We do not want to see them coming back.
The customs post, the fact it is decaying, that represents progress.
The new housing estate we passed on the way in is on the old police station. That’s two symbols of progress.
If there were customs checks, that would represent going backwards.
Hilary Benn at the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.
By popular request (well, redfalcon BTL), here are some quotes from the UQ on Trump and Jerusalem this morning (which I did not cover earlier because it did not add much to what was said yesterday.).
Alistair Burt, the Foreign Office minister who was responding for the government, said President Trump had created a “trust deficit” in peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Burt told MPs other states would have to fill the gap left by the United States after the president’s announcement in order to ensure the “prospects for peace are not diminished”.
And Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, said the government’s whole approach to handling Trump was wrong. She said:
They told us that holding his hand and hugging him close, indulging him with the offer of a state visit, was the best way of wielding influence and shaping his policies.
But on Jerusalem, as on so many other issues before, they have been made to look like fools.
Weak, ignored and entirely without influence.
When will they realise that bending over for a bully only encourages that behaviour, when what our country needs and what the world needs is a British government prepared to stand up to him.
Here are some highlights on Twitter from what George Osborne, the former chancellor, said at the press gallery lunch.
On Corbyn
George Osborne on Jeremy Corbyn ‘If the Labour movement was lead by a social democrat of even middling ability they would now be 20 points ahead in the polls.’
Interesting from George Osborne at press gallery: he, Cameron and BoJo were warned by the whips that they would end their political careers by voting for gay adoption (2002 I think) - urges Tory party not to be “anti-modern”
I asked Osborne which he believes would be worse: a Corbyn government or hard Brexit? He replies that Theresa May "doesn't have the votes" for hard Brexit in parliament.
Fascinating @george_osborne speech. Door open to tilt at City Hall or return to Parliament and no regrets for lack of Brexit planning in run up to 23 June. Not sure history will see it that way.
Gavin Williamson, the defence secretary, has been in Portsmouth today for the HMS Queen Elizabeth commissioning ceremony. Asked by Sky News if he would issue orders for UK troops to hunt down and kill British jihadis abroad, he replied:
You can obviously appreciate that I am not going to go into operational discussion with yourself.
What we need to do is make sure that we are doing everything we can do to eliminate the the threat of extremism and terrorism reaching the streets of Britain.
So often people do not see that threat as something that is manifesting itself in the lands abroad, but that is where it is manifesting itself.
That’s why our forces are constantly doing so much to make sure that is eliminated.
Police officers are seen in front of HMS Queen Elizabeth during the commissioning ceremony of HMS Queen Elizabeth at HM Naval Base. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
The European commission has said the UK has until Sunday to finalise a phase one Brexit deal if it wants the EU to agree to open talks on trade next week. (See 12pm.) The phase one issues cover Ireland, the financial settlement and citizens’ rights. Ireland is the sticking point, and Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, said he expected the UK government to produce fresh proposals on this issue within the next 24 hours. (See 11.39am.)
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, has rejected claims that he has had to back down from telling the EU to “go whistle” over the the so-called “Brexit bill”. (See 12.15pm.)
Johnson has called on President Trump to show “leadership” in restoring momentum to the Middle East peace process. In a Q&A after a speech on fighting terrorism, he said the government thought Trump’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was premature. But he went on:
A lot of people are very excited and interested in possibilities that the American administration, the Trump administration, could bring to the Middle East peace process. There is an opportunity, there is a conjuncture of the stars, there is a moment - people think - when progress could be made.
I think, this decision having been announced by President Trump, the world would like to see some serious announcements by the US about how they see the Middle East peace process and how to bring the two sides together.
I think that’s what we all want to see. If we are going to have a move of the US embassy, then let’s also see some moves towards the long overdue resolution of the Middle East peace process.
A former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, has described the new defence secretary Gavin Williamson as “juvenile” for saying all British jihadis should be eliminated instead of ever being allowed to return to the UK. (See 2.11pm.) Others have strongly condemned Williamson’s remarks too, and Number 10 and Boris Johnson have backed away from endorsing exactly what Williamson said. (See 12.35pm.)
Williamson's comments about killing all jihadis 'juvenile', says former DPP
Lord Macdonald, a Lib Dem peer and former director of public prosecutions, has described Gavin Williamson’s declaration that all Britons fighting with Islamic State should be killed rather than ever being allowed to return to the UK as “juvenile”. He explained why in an interview on the Word at One.
I think it is very important to understand that there are limits [to what the state can do.] In wartime soliders have immunity from prosecution for killing enemy combatants. But not in all circumstances. In wartime, if enemy soldiers have laid down their weapons and are fleeing or trying to surrender and their opponents kill them, that’s likely to be a war crime. And the situation is going to be no different in Syria and Iraq. So it simply will not be lawful in all circumstances to kill jihadis, as the secretary of state seems to be suggesting.
If they’ve laid down their arms, if they are fleeing, if they are trying to surrender, to hunt them down, as he put it, and kill them is likely to raise serious legal issues and perhaps legal liabilities for the people carrying out those killings. So I think his response needs to be a great deal more nuanced than it is. He hasn’t been in the job very long, and maybe that explains why his response is so unnuanced ...
A policy which says we will simply kill every individual who has travelled to Syria or to Iraq, even if they are surrendering, even if they have laid down their weapons, is really a policy that belongs in a Netflix series more seriously than it belongs in the range of policies that should be being applied by the UK government ...
We can’t simply say that everyone who has gone to Iraq will now be hunted down and killed. That’s a juvenile response. It’s not a serious, grown-up policy response for a senior British government minister.
Ken MacDonald Photograph: Frank Baron/The Guardian
The Labour MP John Woodcock also condemned Williamson’s comments. He said:
Insecure Gavin Williamson is shooting from the hip to mask his inexperience and distract attention from the appalling cuts the government is about to inflict on our armed forces. The defence secretary risks endangering the lives of British troops with this fatuous posturing on returning British jihadis.
If he is not slapped down, any future enemy of Britain could say, ‘Why should we respect the Geneva convention on captured British soldiers when the British don’t respect it for their own citizens?’
The Lib Dem defence spokesman Menzies Campbell also made the same point. He said:
In present circumstances it is not difficult to see that any member of the military that followed his advice could be subjected to court martial and prosecution.
The gung-ho opinions that he has expressed undermine the credibility of British armed forces in general and his office in particular.
And Prof Philippe Sands, the internationally-renowned barrister, said the government should confirm that Williamson was not making policy. He told the Guardian:
I was surprised the secretary of state’s statement. It was inappropriate. It sounds as though we have or are on the cusp of having, on his terms, some sort of shoot-to-kill policy.
It sounds like he was shooting from the hip, it sounds like the words of an inexperienced minister, like someone speaking who has given no thought or reflection at all to the underlying issues, including the consequences of having such a policy. If you adopt that policy in relation to them, you effectively legitimising their actions in relation to us.
We need a confirmation from Number 10 Downing Street that the UK is committed to the totality of its legal obligations in domestic law and international law and it does not operate to shoot-to-kill policy in relation to people who violate criminal law.
Number 10 made it fairly clear earlier that Williamson was not speaking for the government in what he said. (See 12.35pm.) Reading the Daily Mail interview, it seems obvious that what Williamson said was more the political equivalent of pub talk than a new statement of security policy. Still, the Daily Mail will probably like the sound of it. Williamson’s colleagues think he wants to be party leader one day and perhaps he’s auditioning for the role of Daily Mail candidate. (The Mail will probably want to back a Brexiter, but it has reservations about Boris Johnson, so there is probably an opening ...)
Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has ruled out becoming prime minister. Although seen as someone with long-term ambitions to lead Labour, he told ITV during a visit to Pakistan that he was ruling himself out as a candidate to be the first Muslim prime minister. He said:
I never had ambitions in the first place and I’ve got no ambitions now. I love being the mayor. Why give up a job I love to do a job I don’t want? I’m absolutely ruling myself out. Forever.
He also had a good put-down when asked how it felt to be coming “home”.
Sturgeon says May's government is 'dissembling, mendacious and totally, totally incompetent'
Libby Brooks
Nicola Sturgeon has strong words for Theresa May’s government at today’s session of first minister’s questions, describing it as “dissembling, mendacious and totally, totally incompetent”.
“I don’t think we’ve seen a more incompetent UK government in my lifetime and that really is saying something,” she told the Holyrood chamber.
Asked about her support for a second Brexit vote, she then turned her fire on Jeremy Corbyn, calling on him to “get his act together” as she has a number of times on her Twitter account since Monday’s negotiation debacle. She said:
It may well be that the case [for a second referendum on Brexit] becomes difficult to resist but I think there is a more immediate necessity and that is to stop this reckless UK government driving the entire UK over this cliff edge.
I think the majority exists in the House of Commons if Labour gets its act together, and I think the majority exists across the whole of the UK to stop that happening. The sensible compromise option and the least damaging option for our economy is to stay within the single market and the customs union so everyone who is of that view should come together and make that happen.
She concluded by reminding the chamber that the current shambles only strengthened the case for independence, though noticeably avoided mentioning the ‘I’ word directly.
As long as we continue to allow our future to be in the hands of Tory governments in Westminster rather than having our future in our own hands we will always be at the mercy of reckless decisions taken by Tory government in Westminster.
Nicola Sturgeon. Photograph: Ken Jack - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, said he would not divulge any cabinet committee discussions about the proposed Irish deal but said “whatever agreement reached has to be consistent with the UK taking back control of its laws, borders and cash”.
During the Q&A after his speech, he also defended himself from claims that he had been defeated on the levels of money being given to the European Union as part of the deal, saying his remarks about the EU needing to “go whistle” were made at a time when sums as high as £80bn or £100bn were being discussed. (See 12.15pm.)
He said it was time for the EU and Britain to “get going” with the second phase of talks.
Breaking briefly into French he said:
We need to get going, franchement [frankly], with the second part of the talks.
That’s the exciting bit.
That’s the bit where we will achieve a new trading relationship with our friends and partners.
We can get it done, we just need to get on with it, and I hope very much that the December European council will mark that progress.
Boris Johnson speaking about terrorism at the Foreign Office in London. Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA
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