Afternoon summary
- Keir Starmer is to set out his vision for Brexit, promising to remove a series of trade and travel barriers while insisting that the debate on any UK return to the single market or customs union is definitively closed. For a full summary of Starmer’s speech, see 11.20am. And for full details of Starmer’s five-point plan for Brexit, see 11.34am. Robert Peston, ITV’s political editor, has been interviewing Starmer about his plan and, in a blog, he says he came away unimpressed by the answers Starmer gave him. Here is an excerpt.
On whether it makes economic sense, I pointed out that many economists would say that the economic price to the UK of being outside the EU stems mainly from the increased costs of trading with the EU that were imposed when the UK left the EU’s single market and customs union.
The heart of Starmer’s plan, however, is that the UK must not rejoin the customs union and single market - largely because it would reopen all those emotional arguments about whether the UK should subjugate its product standards and service standards to those of the EU.
And when I asked Starmer whether a single distinguished economist had backed his plan, he deflected and did not answer ...
In a nutshell, Labour’s new Brexit policy is at its heart similar to Johnson’s. It’s Starmer’s recognition that the hard Brexiters have definitively won the argument.
It is only more credible than Johnson’s approach to Brexit if you believe the EU is more likely to give the UK what it wants and needs in the coming years of negotiations if Johnson’s nuclear option of breaching the Brexit treaty and international law is neither wielded or held in reserve.
- A Labour government would scrap the House of Lords and create a “senate of the nations and regions” in its place, Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has announced. For a full summary of Sarwar’s speech, see 1.25pm.
Updated
Keir Starmer told Sky News that the appointment of Chris Pincher as deputy chief whip was yet another example of bad judgment by Boris Johnson. He said:
I have got no sympathy with a prime minister who repeatedly makes bad judgment calls.
We have been living with a version of this story for month after month after month. Bad judgment by a man who puts himself above everything. I don’t have any sympathy for him.
The Green party has claimed that millions of Britons are being let down because Labour’s Brexit policy is now “indistinguishable” from the Conservatives. In a statement on Keir Starmer’s Brexit speech, Adrian Ramsay, the Green party’s co-leader, said:
At a time when the economic devastation caused by Brexit is becoming increasingly clear, and as public opinion is turning against the decision to leave the European Union, it is quite perverse of Keir Starmer to stick his head in the sand and insist he will make Brexit work.
This is an idea driven only by Labour’s self-interest rather than the best interests of the country.
While businesses are suffering and the permanent fall in the value of sterling means we are importing inflation, making the cost of living crisis worse, the fact that the two main parties are indistinguishable from one another on Brexit is a major failing of our political system and is letting millions of people down.
The Green party has already called for rejoining the customs union, which would ease the tensions in Northern Ireland caused by Johnson’s hard Brexit, and for maintaining alignment with EU law and we utterly oppose government attempts to undermine environmental and social protections offered by EU legislation.
Starmer insists that, although Labour would not join the single market or the customs union, his approach to Brexit would be very different from Boris Johnson’s. (See 11.20am.)
Summary of Boris Johnson's statement to MPs about G7, Nato and Commonwealth summits
Boris Johnson’s Commons statement was a relatively low-key affair. The Chris Pincher scandal did not come up at all (MPs are only allowed to asks questions relevant to the subject of the statement), and most of the questions related to Ukraine, on which there is broad cross-party agreement. Here are the main points.
- Johnson signalled that what he said last week about defence spending rising to 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade does not amount to a firm commitment. He said he expected defence spending to increase by that amount, but that growth figures could skew the calculations. (See 4.12pm.)
- He claimed that “not a single person” at the summits he attended told him that the UK was in breach of international law because of the Northern Ireland protocol bill. (See 4.24pm.)
- He said the international community was looking at “alternative routes” to get grain out of Ukraine if the sea route continues to be blocked by Russia. This could involve using the Danube river, he said. He told MPs:
What we are also looking at is the possibility of using the rivers, using the Danube in particular, to try to get ... using the railways to try to get the grain out in smaller quantities than we would be able to do with a giant maritime convoy through the Black Sea. So we are looking at all the possible options, including smaller packets of grain coming out that way.
- He said Saudi Arabia needed to produce more oil. He said:
There may be some question about how much more the Saudis could pump out at this particular moment, but there’s no doubt we’re going to need a lot more Opec Plus oil.
The UK has strong and productive relations with Saudi Arabia, we need to make sure the whole of the west does as well, and we make that point to the Saudis. But that is the way forward, they need to produce more oil, no question.
Updated
At the Institute for Government event earlier Jeremy Hunt, the Tory former foreign secretary, refused to say whether he would stand as a candidate in a future leadership contest. (See 1.55pm.) At Westminster it is widely assumed that he will be a candidate, and that he is already planning his campaign.
But, according to a detailed survey of Conservative party members by the ConservativeHome website, Hunt is likely to lose if he does stand.
Yesterday the website published the results of a survey of members on who should be the next party leader. There was no clear winner. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, was in first place, only very narrowly ahead of Penny Mordaunt, the Cabinet Office minister. Both were on 16%.
Today the website has been publishing the results of surveys looking at how members would vote given a choice of just two candidates. That is because, under Tory leadership election rules, MPs eliminate candidates until just two are left on the shortlist put to members.
The results suggest Hunt would lose against all likely candidates.
Wallace is the candidate who emerges as strongest from this exercise. But, as the ConservativeHome editor Paul Goodman writes in his summary, a surprisingly high number of respondents answered don’t know to the various questions, suggesting a future contest is wide open.
However, the exercise does show that one nation candidates are unlikely to go far - and that there is potential for a candidate with a relatively low profile to cause an upset (eg Kemi Badenoch, the equalities minister, who ties with Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, in this exercise,)
Updated
Johnson claims 'not a single person' told him at summits that NI protocol bill in breach of international law
In response to a question from the SNP’s Joanna Cherry about the Northern Ireland protocol, Johnson said that “not a single person” at the summits told him that the UK was in breach of international law.
Labour’s Liam Byrne says this is hard to believe.
Extraordinary that @BorisJohnson tells the @HouseofCommons that's noone raised his law breaking Trade War (NI Protocol) Bill with him.
— Liam Byrne (@liambyrnemp) July 4, 2022
Last week in Brussels we heard it non-stop from our neighbours & allies.
Here's the readout:https://t.co/tMLB29cye9
UPDATE: Cherry said:
I note [Johnson] indicated to the leader of the opposition that some of his interlocutors last week at least had raised these issues with him.
And all of us who have travelled abroad on parliamentary business recently will have had these issues raised with us.
So can he tell us exactly what concerns were raised with him over the last week about his government’s disrespect for the international rule of law and human rights, and what he’s going to do about it?
In reply, Johnson said:
I can tell the honourable lady ... not a single person said that the UK was in breach of international law. On the contrary, what they did say was that we were helping the world to stand up against breaches of international law.
Updated
Johnson fails to give MPs firm commitment that defence spending will rise to 2.5% of GDP by end of decade
Mark Harper, the former Tory chief whip, asks Boris Johnson about the strength of his commitment to getting defence spending up to 2.5% of GDP by the end of his decade. He points out that Johnson’s comment on this topic this afternoon (see 3.41pm) was more equivocal than what he said last week.
Harper is right. This is what Johnson said a few minutes ago:
If you follow the trajectory of our programmes to modernise our armed forces, you will draw the logical conclusion that the UK will likely be spending 2.5% of GDP on defence by the end of this decade.
In response, Johnson said he was giving “a straightforward prediction based on what we are currently committed to spending”. But he goes on to say that “much depends” on the size of GDP at the end of the decade.
This seems to back up Harper’s suggestion that the commitment is not an absolute one.
UPDATE: Harper said:
When the prime minister’s remarks at the Nato summit were reported last week, the 2.5% commitment to spend on defence appeared to be really quite solid. His remarks today are less so. So assuming it is a commitment, can I just ask him, is it a commitment? And secondly, how are we going to pay for it?
Johnson replied:
This is a straightforward protraction - prediction - based on what we are currently committed to spending under the Aukus programme and under the FCAS [Future Combat Air System] programme as well.
These are gigantic commitments. I think they’re the right thing for the UK. They will take us up to that threshold. Of course much depends on the size of our GDP at the time. Much depends on the growth in the economy.
I think we’re going to pay for it out of steady and sustained economic growth.
Updated
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, accuses Johnson of failing to develop a coherent plan to bring down energy prices.
He asks what the PM will do to allow grain exports from Ukraine.
And he asks why the PM thinks it will help for the UK to break international law over the Northern Ireland protocol.
Johnson says Blackford should look carefully at the G7 communique. There were proposals covering items like a cap on energy prices, he says. And he says more grain is being exported from Ukraine.
On the NI protocol, he says this was not generally an issue raised with him at the summits.
Tobias Ellwood (Con), chair of the Commons defence committee, urges the PM to get a UN security council resolution to create a UN safe haven around Odesa, so that grain exports can resume.
Johnson says it may be necessary to seek a solution that does not depend on Russian consent.
Starmer welcomes the expansion of Nato.
He asks if the UK can continue to meet its obligations to Nato in the light of the defence cuts.
Turning to the Commonwealth, he says he was worried by the lack of unity on display at the summit.
There have been serious signs of strain, he says. Many Commonwealth countries abstained from a vote on a United Nations resolution over the invasion of Ukraine. The summit should have been an opportunity to create unity, he says. But he says instead the PM engineered a row over the post of secretary general. And Johnson’s failure to get the outcome he wanted showed his “embarrassing lack of influence”.
Updated
Keir Starmer is responding to Johnson. He starts with a joke, welcoming the PM back to the UK and adding:
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. So I wish you the best of luck in seeing if that works as a party management strategy.
Johnson says not every member of the Commonwealth takes the same view of the invasion of Ukraine as the UK does.
He goes on:
It was vital to have the opportunity to counter the myth and to point out that food prices are rising because Putin has blockaded one of the world’s biggest food producers. And if large countries are free to destroy their neighbours, then no Commonwealth member, [whatever their] distance from Ukraine, would be genuinely secure.
Updated
Johnson starts by talking about Ukraine.
He says the decision of Sweden and Finland to join Nato after the invasion of Ukraine has shown the folly of Vladimir Putin’s strategy. Having Finland in the alliance doubles the length of the Nato border with Russia, he says.
He says the value of military, economic and humanitarian aid to Ukraine from Nato has been almost £4bn.
And he says if you follow the trajectory of UK military spending, it is set to rise to 2.5% of GDP by the end of this decade.
UPDATE: Johnson said:
If you follow the trajectory of our programmes to modernise our armed forces, you will draw the logical conclusion that the UK will likely be spending 2.5% of GDP on defence by the end of this decade.
Updated
Boris Johnson's Commons statement
Boris Johnson is making a Commons statement on the Commonwealth, G7 and Nato summits he attended over eight days before he returned to the UK at the end of last week. It is normal for a PM to make a statement after returning from a summit, and normally the opening speech sums up what was announced at the meeting.
Johnson says that at the three events he met 80 leaders, representing almost half the countries in the United Nations, and he says he had 25 bilateral meetings with other leaders.
Here are tweets from two SNP MPs responding to Anas Sarwar’s speech earlier. (See 1.25pm.)
From Gavin Newlands:
Is this not the same Anas Sarwar that said Scottish Labour would not enter deals, pacts or coalitions with the tories following the Council elections but just suspended two Cllrs for not backing a tory deal?
— Gavin Newlands MP 🏴🇺🇦 (@GavNewlandsSNP) July 4, 2022
Am I missing something here, or does he really think we're that stupid? https://t.co/nK3RggQ8tN
Newlands is referring to the fact two Labour councillors were suspended by the party in Edinburgh recently for failing to back a deal with the Conservatives that would allow Labour to run a minority administration.
From Tommy Sheppard:
How many times have Labour promised to abolish the House of Lords now?
— Tommy Sheppard MP (@TommySheppard) July 4, 2022
A desperate attempt to get a hint of radicalism into what he's saying, whilst denying the democratic aspirations of people who live in Scotland.https://t.co/QPRgSyiJR8
Updated
Mike Pompeo, who was US secretary of state when Donald Trump was president, was speaking at the Policy Exchange thinktank this morning. In a Q&A he defended the UK government’s approach to the Northern Ireland protocol, saying it was trying to defend the Good Friday agreement. He said:
The truth of the matter is that the United Kingdom is actually driving to uphold the Good Friday accords and delivering good outcomes. The British people, the people of the United Kingdom, should be the ones that drive this.
Pompeo also criticised Democrats such as Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives, who have accused the UK government of undermining the Good Friday agreement. “It saddens me that we have American leaders coming here and undermining that central feature of both Brexit and the Good Friday [agreement],” he said.
Updated
Here is the Conservative party’s response to the speech from Keir Starmer on Brexit.
❌ Keir Starmer voted to block Brexit 48 times.
— Conservatives (@Conservatives) July 4, 2022
✅ Conservatives got Brexit done and we're seizing the opportunities pic.twitter.com/2H5THJlda5
As a line to take, it is not particularly effective because it does not engage with Starmer’s main argument, which is that the Tories have botched Brexit. (See 11.20am.) Starmer has the advantage because, on this, the public seem to agree with him. (See 2.38pm.)
Ahead of Keir Starmer’s speech later, YouGov has highlighted some polling from last week showing that more than half of Britons think Brexit is going badly. Only 16% think it is going well.
With Keir Starmer due to make a speech on Brexit today, here is a reminder on how the public think Brexit is going so far...
— YouGov (@YouGov) July 4, 2022
Going well: 16%
Going badly: 54%
Neither: 20%https://t.co/MBLoNAfsyX pic.twitter.com/mprvVtHdpK
The Liberal Democrats are the most pro-EU of the three parties in Britain-wide politics, but even they are not keen to talk up their desire to rejoin the single market. In a statement on Keir Starmer’s speech (see 11.20am), Sarah Olney, the Lib Dem business spokesperson, described her party’s current policy towards Brexit in similar terms to Labour’s. She said:
Boris Johnson’s botched deal with the EU is bad for British families, bad for British businesses and bad for British jobs.
It has done enormous damage to farmers, fishing communities and small businesses up and down the country, and that’s why the Liberal Democrats voted against it.
We need a pragmatic approach that works for the UK, cutting pointless red tape, reducing costs for businesses and making people better off as a result.
Updated
Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative former foreign secretary and health secretary, and a probable candidate in the next leadership contest, has said the next election will be decided on the economy, not Partygate. Speaking in a Q&A at the Institute for Government, he said:
The next election won’t be decided on whether or not there were inappropriate parties in Downing Street during the pandemic.
I think the next election will be decided on the economy. And the core reason that ordinary voters vote Conservative is because they think that we will look after the economy better and therefore there’ll be better prospects for them and their families.
But at the moment, because of all the global shocks that we’ve had, people don’t feel that confidence. So I think that the biggest single challenge is to get the economy growing again.
Asked if he would stand again for Tory leader, he said: “We have to see what the circumstances are and then make the decision on that one.”
Updated
SNP claims Labour now 'indistinguishable from Tories on Brexit' after Starmer's 'hard Brexit U-turn'
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, has accused Keir Starmer of performing a “hard Brexit U-turn”. In a statement responding to what Starmer will say in his Brexit speech (see 11.20am), Blackford said:
Keir Starmer has strengthened the case for independence by embracing the Tories’ hard Brexit. It is now beyond doubt that independence is Scotland’s only way back to Europe and the only path to economic prosperity.
Scotland didn’t vote for Brexit but under Westminster control it has been imposed against our will, costing the Scottish economy billions of pounds, inflicting long-term damage to economic growth, trade, jobs and the NHS, and making the Tory cost of living crisis much worse. It is frankly astonishing that Keir Starmer can look at all the catastrophic damage Brexit is causing and decide to become a Brexit supporter.
The Labour party are now indistinguishable from the Tories on Brexit. By running scared of the Tories and mutating into a pale imitation of Boris Johnson, Starmer is offering no real change at all.
With this hard Brexit U-turn Keir Starmer has perfectly encapsulated why Scotland needs to escape from Westminster control. Regaining Scotland’s place in Europe will be at the heart of the independence referendum.
Starmer has performed a U-turn in the sense that, in the last parliament, he strongly opposed leaving the single market and the customs union. When he stood for Labour leader in early 2020 he also promised to “defend free movement as we leave the EU”, without actually defining what that meant. But making Brexit work, and not rejoining the single market or customs union, has been firm Labour policy now for a while.
Updated
Labour says it wants England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to meet as equals in new devolution cooperation body
Here is the full text of the speech by Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, on Scotland and constitutional reform this morning. And here are the highlights.
- Sarwar said Labour wanted England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to be represented as equals in a new devolution cooperation body. Setting out plans to reset the devolution settlement, Sarwar said:
First, we are proposing a legal duty to cooperate. This would require joint working between governments in areas of shared interest.
Secondly, we are proposing new joint governance councils – or whatever we ultimately decide to call them. They would be designed to heal the bad relationship that exists today and provide a constructive forum for dispute resolution
Too often the current UK government keeps the Scottish government in the dark. And too often the current Scottish government deliberately seeks disagreement with the UK government. This does not lead to good governance – it undermines the union. And the Tories and the SNP do it day in, day out.
Instead, the joint governance councils we are proposing, would be set out in statute and replace the consultative joint ministerial committees, which have failed and collapsed. They would be designed so that every nation operates as an equal. They would bring together the leaders of the UK and the nations on an equal footing, with a finance council to explore the economic challenges we collectively face and a trade council to unlock opportunity and growth.
The political game-playing of recent years has wounded the devolution settlement. We need these new rules of engagement to heal it.
In a policy document published alongside the speech Labour says the joint governance councils will replace the joint ministerial committees (JMC) that sat in the past. But at JMC meetings England was represented by a UK government minister. Labour says at joint governance council meetings England should be represented by a minister from the UK government given the job of representing England. And at leader meetings, although the prime minister would be there, they would be there to represent the UK; another minister should be there to represent England, Labour says. It also says chairmanship of the joint governance councils should rotate between the four nations.
- He claimed all layers of government in the UK were flawed, not just Westminster. More devolution was needed, he claimed.
- He claimed Labour was the only party committed to devolution. He said:
Labour will always be the party which champions devolution. Today, that is more important than ever when we are up against two parties that want to end it – the SNP in Edinburgh and the Tories here in London, whose leader, Boris Johnson, called it a “disaster”.
Devolution should not be about gamesmanship or dispute. It should be about cooperation and shared responsibility. Unfortunately, today, devolution is being undermined by bad actors – the SNP and the Tories. I acknowledge that you could have the best system in the world but if you have bad actors on either side with a vested interest in not making it work, then good government is harder.
- He said future Labour policy papers would set out plans to make the Scottish parliament “stronger and more accountable”.
- He claimed the SNP wanted another Tory government – and that Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, would talk up the prospect of a deal with Labour during the election campaign to damage Labour’s chances. He said:
We know the Tories ruthlessly want to hold on to power. But another Tory government is precisely what the SNP wants too. Because it allows them to continue their grievance campaign.
- He restated Labour’s opposition to doing any sort of deal with the SNP. He said:
It doesn’t matter what Nicola Sturgeon demands. Regardless of the outcome of the next UK general election. Labour will do no deal with the SNP. No deal. No pact. No behind-closed-doors arrangement. No coalition.
- He criticised Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, for pushing plans for an independence referendum. He said the “pandemic Nicola”, who said she would focus on Covid recovery, had been replaced by “partisan Nicola”.
- He insisted the SNP was “not a progressive party”. He said:
Just look at its record in power. There are more than 700,000 Scots on an NHS waiting list – that is one in eight Scots waiting for appointments and treatment. More than 10,000 children and young people are waiting for a mental health appointment. There are almost 20,000 fewer business in Scotland today than when the pandemic began. The highest drug deaths rate in Europe. Climate pledges broken and our NHS on its knees despite the incredible efforts of the workforce.
Updated
No 10 refuses to deny PM referred to disgraced MP as 'Pincher by name, pincher by nature' before making him deputy chief whip
And here is a fuller summary of what was said at the Downing Street lobby briefing about the Chris Pincher scandal.
- No 10 admitted that Johnson was aware of some misconduct allegations against Chris Pincher before he appointed him deputy chief whip in the February reshuffle. (See 12.20pm.)
- But the PM’s spokesperson said it was not thought appropriate to block Pincher’s appointment as deputy chief whip on the basis of “unsubstantiated allegations”. This is from the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar.
NEW: PM’s official spox defends decision to appoint Chris Pincher dep chf whip.
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) July 4, 2022
“At the time the PM was not aware of any specific allegations. In the absence of any formal complaint it wasn’t deemed appropriate to stop the appointment because of any unsubstantiated allegations.”
- The spokesperson said Johnson did seek advice about Pincher before appointing him as deputy chief whip in the light of the allegations he had heard. Asked if Johnson tried to find out if the allegations were true, the spokesperson said:
I can’t get into too much detail but he did take advice on some of the allegations that had been made, but there was no formal complaint at that time and it was deemed not appropriate to stop an appointment simply because of unsubstantiated allegations.
The spokesperson said that advice would have come from political colleagues and the civil service. He went on:
[The PM] was aware that there had been reports and speculation over the years with regards to this individual, but there were no specific allegation. There was no formal complaint at that time.
- The spokesperson said no one in government should behave as Pincher was alleged to have done last week. Asked if the PM regretted appointing Pincher, the spokesperson said:
Clearly, we wouldn’t want anyone working in the government to behave in the manner as he is alleged to have done so. That is not the behaviour that you’d want to see in any walk of life.
- The spokesperson refused to deny a claim that Johnson used to refer to Pincher as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” before making him deputy chief whip. (See 10.26am.) Asked about the claim, the spokesperson said:
I’ve seen those unsubstantiated source quotes and I don’t intend to respond to them.
When it was put to the spokesperson that the quote was not unsubstantiated, but something that Dominic Cummings, the PM’s former chief adviser, seems to have heard first-hand, the spokesperson replied:
I’m simply not going to comment on content of what was or wasn’t said in private conversations.
Updated
No 10 admits Johnson was aware of some allegations about Pincher before he was made deputy chief whip
At the Downing Street lobby briefing, which has just ended, the prime minister’s spokesperson confirmed that Boris Johnson “was aware of some reports and some allegations” about Chris Pincher when he appointed him as deputy chief whip in February.
But these allegations had either been resolved, or no action had been taken, and so they were not regarded as a barrier to his being appointed as deputy chief whip, the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson also pointed out that Pincher was already a housing minister at the time (implying that no evidence was available to stop him serving as a member of the government).
The spokesperson also said the propriety and ethics team at the Cabinet Office gave advice relating to this appointment and said there was no reason to block it.
Sarwar confirms Labour committed to scrapping House of Lords and replacing it with senate of nations and regions
A Labour government would scrap the House of Lords and create a “senate of the nations and regions” in its place, the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, has announced.
Giving a speech in Westminster, in which he also ruled out any pact or coalition with Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP, Sarwar said: “A central part of the mission of the Labour party must be to renew democracy.”
He said:
The House of Lords, in its current form, as an institution has no place in 21st-century politics. It is unacceptable, and has been for far too long, to have unelected representatives wielding such power.
The House of Lords must be abolished and replaced with an institution which better reflects the makeup and the identity of the United Kingdom.
He said that would mean an elected senate, with more details to be set out in a report on constitutional reform from the former prime minister Gordon Brown, expected to be published later this year.
Abolishing the House of Lords was in Labour’s 2019 manifesto, and Keir Starmer mentioned it in his leadership pitch to the party, but when asked about it last November he appeared to back away from the idea, saying only that the Lords “needs change”. Sarwar made clear Starmer was now fully signed up to the plan, however.
Updated
Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, delivered a speech on Scotland and constitutional reform this morning. I will post a summary shortly. The speech is not available online yet, but Sarwar set out the main themes in his Daily Record column.
Only through cooperation, not conflict, can we build a better future for Scotland and the U.K.
— Anas Sarwar (@AnasSarwar) July 4, 2022
Read about @ScottishLabour’s plans in my @Daily_Record column 👇🏼 https://t.co/6fhSEboFfw pic.twitter.com/JvFi0X93uO
Updated
In interviews about his plans to relax nursery staff-to-child ratios, Will Quince, the minister for children and families, was asked why childcare costs were so much cheaper in other European countries. He told PA Media it was because workers in other countries paid more in tax. He said:
We currently invest around £4/5bn a year on childcare and early years education … there are other countries – France, Sweden, the Netherlands – who do put far more money into early years education.
They also pay a lot more in tax. So take Sweden, for example, where nearly all of your childcare costs are covered. Even the lowest-paid workers pay 35% tax, whereas we’ve lifted millions of people out of paying tax altogether.
So these are all choices that we need to make.
Updated
Labour's five-point to make Brexit work – in full
And here, in full, is what Labour has said about its five-point plan to make Brexit work.
Much of it sounds like a recipe for a Theresa May-style Brexit. Keir Starmer seems to be assuming that Labour would be able to negotiate concessions from the EU that the government has not been able to obtain. But Labour/EU talks would start with a presumption of good faith on both sides (which does not exist now), and the trade expert David Henig thinks it is realistic to assume progress could be made. (See 9.55am.)
But Starmer’s approach to the Northern Ireland protocol would not satisfy the hardline demands of the DUP, and he does not explain what he could do to get them to return to the power-sharing executive.
Here is the Labour briefing.
Point 1 - Sort Out The Northern Ireland Protocol.
Sorting out the Northern Ireland protocol must be the starting point to make Brexit work.
Agreement here can be the springboard to securing a better deal for the British people.
There is a clear landing zone to a deal. The Government just don’t want one.
Instead, their only plan is to stoke up old Brexit divisions. We must move on.
Labour will seek a new veterinary agreement for trade in Agri-products between the UK and EU. Something countries like New Zealand and Canada already have in place.
This would eliminate most checks created by the Tories’ Brexit deal between the British and Northern Ireland border.
For all other goods we will work with business in Northern Ireland to put in place an enhanced and specialised trusted trader scheme to allow low-risk goods entering Northern Ireland without unnecessary checks.
Point 2 – Tear Down Unnecessary Trade Barriers.
Labour would extend the new veterinary agreement to cover all the UK which would tear down barriers for our Agri-product exporters.
We would seek to agree mutual recognition of conformity assessments across specified sectors so that our producers no longer need to complete two sets of tests, or two processes of certification, to sell their goods in both the UK and the EU.
Labour has no intention from diverging standards below current levels, so agreeing these common standards will not only help our exporters but create a safety net to ensure our food standards are world leading.
Labour do not support the return of freedom of movement.
However, we will seek to find new flexible labour mobility arrangements for those making short-term work trips and for musicians and artists seeking short-term visas to tour within the EU.
Point 3 – Support Our World Leading Services And Scientists.
Labour will seek mutual recognition of professional qualifications to enable our world leading service industries to do business in the EU.
Labour will maintain Britain’s data adequacy status meaning our data protection rules are deemed equivalent to those in the EU, enabling UK digital services companies to compete.
We will not seek regulatory equivalence for financial services as that could constrain our ability to make our rules and system work better.
However, Labour will make sure Britain’s world leading scientists are not missing out by giving our researchers access to funding and vital cross border research programmes.
Point 4 – Keep Britain Safe.
There is no reason why leaving the EU should weaken our security capabilities.
Bad relations, lack of trust and failure to secure cross-border and security measures in the Brexit deal is doing just that.
At a time when European security is under threat, we must strengthen our security cooperation with trusted allies.
Labour will seek a new security pact with the EU to defend our borders, by allowing us to share data, intelligence, and best practice.
We cannot take risks with terrorism, organised crime, and people trafficking.
Labour will seek to set up joint intelligence working to boost capabilities in Britain and the bloc.
And we will seek to create new models of joint working with EU and other countries to combat cyberattacks and the spread of state sponsored disinformation.
Point 5 – Invest In Britain.
Labour will use green investment and a commitment to buy, make and sell in Britain to ensure we are best placed to compete on a global stage.
Labour will embrace global trade outside of the EU. Labour wants Britain to lead the way in developing a new global trade approach that puts people, communities, rights, and standards at its very heart.
The government have missed Brexit opportunities in the past 18 months, including missing the opportunity to cut VAT on energy bills.
Labour will use flexibility outside of the EU to ensure British regulation is adapted to suit British needs.
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Starmer says Johnson has 'missed Brexit opportunities time and time again'
Labour has now sent out a lengthy preview of what Keir Starmer will say in his speech on Brexit to the Centre for European Reform tonight. It is not the full text of what he will say, but it seems to contain all the points of substance.
The briefing does not seem to be available online yet, and so here are some extracts.
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Starmer will explain why Labour will not seek to rejoin the single market or the customs union, saying the UK cannot move on if it remains “focused on the arguments of the past”. He will say:
There are some who say ‘We don’t need to make Brexit work. We need to reverse it.’
I couldn’t disagree more. Because you cannot move forward or grow the country or deliver change or win back the trust of those who have lost faith in politics if you’re constantly focused on the arguments of the past.
We cannot afford to look back over our shoulder. Because all the time we are doing that we are missing what is ahead of us.
So let me be very clear: with Labour, Britain will not go back into the EU. We will not be joining the single market. We will not be joining a customs union.
The reason I say this is simple. Nothing about revisiting those rows will help stimulate growth or bring down food prices or help British business thrive in the modern world.
It would simply be a recipe for more division, it would distract us from taking on the challenges facing people, and it would ensure Britain remained stuck for another decade.
Starmer is certainly right to say that rejoining the single market would be “a recipe for division”. But the argument that such an approach would do nothing to “stimulate growth or bring down food prices or help British business thrive in the modern world” is much more questionable. Many economists would agree with Dr Swati Dhingra, an economics professor who has just been appointed to the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee, who wrote in 2019: “From an economic perspective, the best policy would be to cancel Brexit.”
- Starmer will say his approach puts Labour in the centre ground of British politics. He will say:
While the Conservatives are flailing around, lashing out, and attempting to sow division, Labour has been claiming the centre ground of British politics once again.
- He will accuse Boris Johnson of missing “Brexit opportunities” time and time again. He will say:
The government have missed Brexit opportunities time and time again. It beggars belief that during a cost of living crisis that they still haven’t cut VAT on energy bills.
This line is particularly likely to anger arch remainers who contend that any “Brexit opportunities” are so minimal as to be virtually non-existent.
- He will contrast the Tory plan for a deregulatory Brexit with Labour’s approach. He will say:
The Tory plan, as set out by Jacob Rees-Mogg, is about cutting standards, regulations, and protections before stepping back and gawping at the power of the market.
Labour’s plan looks very different. We will work hand in hand with business to bring the good, clean jobs of the future to our shores harnessing the power of government alongside the ingenuity of our brilliant private sector.
While Labour’s approach to Brexit is very different to Rees-Mogg’s, Starmer may be overestimating the power of the Brexit opportunities minister. Rees-Mogg seems to have failed to persuade his cabinet colleagues to back his plan for all EU retained law to lapse after four years.
- Starmer will set out a five-point plan to make Brexit work. It does not seem to be online anywhere, and so I will post it in full separately very soon. The five points are: 1) sort out the Northern Ireland protocol; 2) tear down unnecessary trade barriers; 3) support our world-leading services and scientists; 4) keep Britain safe; and 5) invest in Britain.
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Minister claims he can't imagine PM describing disgraced MP as 'Pincher by name, pincher by nature'
Will Quince, the minister for children and families, was the government’s spokesperson on the morning interview round. He was there to talk about the plan to relax nursery staff-to-child ratios, but inevitably he spent much of his morning talking about Chris Pincher, and Boris Johnson’s handling of the umpteenth sleaze scandal to hit his premiership.
As Peter Walker reports in his story, Quince said he had been given a “categorical assurance” by No 10 that Johnson was not aware of any “specific” allegation made against Pincher when he appointed him to the post of deputy chief whip earlier this year. But he would not comment on whether Johnson might have known of general allegations about Pincher’s conduct at the time of the reshuffle, saying he had not asked that question when he was briefed before he took to the airwaves.
It has been widely reported that Johnson did know there were concerns about Pincher’s conduct when he made the appointment, and that this was one reason why Pincher only got the deputy job, not the full chief whip promotion he had been expecting.
Here are some more lines on this topic from Quince’s interviews.
- Quince said he could not imagine that Johnson used to refer to Pincher as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature”. Dominic Cummings, the PM’s former chief adviser, made this claim at the weekend. Asked if it was true, Quince replied:
I think that quote came from Dominic Cummings, who’s not someone who I give a huge amount of credibility to, given past experience.
Asked if he could imagine the PM using this phrase, Quince told LBC: “No, I can’t.”
Here is Cummings’ tweet.
If 🛒 didn't know about Pincher as he's claiming, why did he repeatedly refer to him laughingly in no10 as 'pincher by name pincher by nature' long before appointing him...?
— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) July 2, 2022
🛒 lying again but even the Pravda-Mail struggling to spin the latest lies...#RegimeChange coming
- But Quince also said that before his media round today he had not specifically asked No 10 if the claim about Johnson describing the MP as “Pincher by name, pincher by nature” was true. No 10 has not denied that Johnson used this expression.
- Quince claimed it would have been wrong for Johnson not to have appointed Pincher to the deputy chief whip post on the basis of unproven rumour. He said:
I think these cases are hard because, like any professional organisation, you can’t act on rumour or gossip. As you know, in Westminster there is a lot of rumour or gossip.
But Johnson was not being asked at the time of the reshuffle to punish Pincher on the basis of unfounded allegation; he was just being urged by some colleagues not to promote him. In another tweet on this matter, Cummings claimed it was routine for matters like this to be taken into account during a reshuffle.
When u sit in reshuffle mtngs it's normal to go down a list like:
— Dominic Cummings (@Dominic2306) July 1, 2022
Pervert
Under investigation by NCA (he doesn't know)
Drunk
Sex pest
Sex pest
Dodgy donors
Yes she's ok but she's useless
Moron
Moron
He's Ok
Sex pest
She's actually good [laughter]
Dodgepot...
etc
- Quince refused to say whether he himself had heard rumours about Pincher’s conduct before his resignation last week. Asked repeatedly about this on the Today programme, Quince just said:
There are lot of rumours and gossip around Westminster … If I had a pound for every rumour that I’d heard about another MP then I’d be a very wealthy man.
- Quince rejected suggestions that he, a junior minister, was doing the broadcast round because cabinet minsters were refusing to appear. When this was put to him, he replied:
I was booked in four days ago, in fact five days ago I think it was, to talk about a very important childcare announcement.
The claim that cabinet ministers are refusing to defend the PM on the airwaves is in the Daily Telegraph. In their story, Camilla Turner and Dominic Penna report:
One [cabinet source] told The Telegraph that it was likely that junior ministers would be “wheeled out” on broadcast interviews as their more senior cabinet colleagues were likely to try to “pull rank” and refuse to go on the airwaves.
“Most have done their fair share of excruciating interviews already – you might discover more with dentist appointments or bereavements this week,” they said.
Here is an example of one of those “excruciating interviews”, given by Thérèse Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, yesterday.
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These are from David Henig, head of the UK Trade Policy Project and a former official at the Department for International Trade, on Labour’s Brexit policy being set out tonight in a speech by Keir Starmer.
Outside of the single market and customs union UK business will always face comparatively more barriers than European neighbours - but a government that prioritised regulatory stability and at least workable relations with the EU would be a huge relief. https://t.co/N32OVQ4xtr
— David Henig 🇺🇦 (@DavidHenigUK) July 4, 2022
Expecting lots of government supporters to comment that it is impossible to negotiate with the EU, but that is to generalise their own failures to make the difficult happen. It isn't at all easy, ask any EU neighbour, but you can't afford to just give up.
— David Henig 🇺🇦 (@DavidHenigUK) July 4, 2022
Also, whisper it quietly, that Labour making Brexit work might be the only way to save the referendum leave vote. More years of ideology and economic turmoil and that figure for voting rejoin will grow. Also why there will be a lot of pressure on Labour from different directions.
— David Henig 🇺🇦 (@DavidHenigUK) July 4, 2022
Little bit of discussion already about whether Labour's EU relations plan would be negotiable. I would suggest that in all areas some progress could be made, but it would still leave plenty of barriers in place as well - that's the trade policy reality we've faced since 2016.
— David Henig 🇺🇦 (@DavidHenigUK) July 4, 2022
The really big question on which there has been virtually no serious thinking in London or around the EU is - what is a stable long-term relationship between the UK and EU? Some believe there is none, at least for a long time, but I'd like to hope we can do better than that.
— David Henig 🇺🇦 (@DavidHenigUK) July 4, 2022
Nobody believes Johnson did not know about Pincher claims, says Labour peer
Boris Johnson still has questions to answer over the appointment of Chris Pincher as Conservative deputy chief whip, Labour has said. My colleague Peter Walker has the story here.
Starmer to set out Labour’s Brexit policy, saying rejoining single market would ‘be recipe for more division’
Good morning. In his speech to the Labour party conference last year Keir Starmer summed up his party’s new Brexit policy by saying he wanted to “make Brexit work”. It was a clever slogan because it simultaneously signalled Labour’s acceptance of Brexit (in the hope of confounding Tory claims that he wanted to reverse it), while simultaneously branding it a failing policy (a propositon that has the support of almost all remainers, and an increasing number of leavers too). As with many Labour initiatives, though, there was little follow-up, and over the next few months we heard very little about the “make Brexit work” approach.
Tonight that will change when Starmer gives a speech fleshing out more details of this policy. In it, Starmer will confirm that a Labour government would not rejoin the single market or the customs union, or reintroduce free movement for EU citizens. According to a preview of his remarks in the Financial Times, he will say that to do so would just be “a recipe for more division”. He will say:
Nothing about revisiting those rows will help stimulate growth or bring down food prices or help British business thrive in the modern world – it would simply be a recipe for more division.
There are many on the left who will find such a firm rejection of the notion of rejoining the single market disappointing. Even Daniel Hannan, the Tory peer and ultra-Brexiter, was much more positive about the single market in a recent Sunday Telegraph column in which he said it would have been much better for the UK to remain in it. Like Starmer, though, Hannan concluded it was now too late to revisit that decision.
According to the FT, Starmer will also use his speech to give details of how Labour would make Brexit work. He will propose: a veterinary agreement with the EU to reduce agrifood checks; a mobility deal to cut the need for visas for artists touring in Europe and people making short business trips; mutual recognition of product standards and professional qualifications; alignment on data adequacy rules; and more cooperation on justice and police matters including a new “security pact”.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10.30am: Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, gives a speech in Westminster on Labour plans for reform of Scotland’s place in the UK.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
12.30pm: Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative former foreign secretary and potential future leadership candidate, takes part in a Q&A at the Institute for Government.
After 3.30pm: Boris Johnson is expected to make a statement to MPs about the Nato, G7 and Commonwealth summits.
5pm: Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, speaks about the “representation gap” at Westminster at an IPPR event.
Evening: Keir Starmer delivers a speech on Brexit to the Centre for European Reform.
Also, Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, is attending the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Lugano, Switzerland.
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