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| EU referendum live: Nigel Farage and Bob Geldof clash in rival Thames boats | EU referendum live: Nigel Farage and Bob Geldof clash in rival Thames boats |
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| This, from the Political Patridge twitter account, has received almost 2,000 retweets. | |
| pic.twitter.com/VNopK1P2Q9 | |
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| And, equally predictably, the New Statesman has come out for Remain in this week’s edition. Here’s an extract from its editorial. | |
| There have been moments in Britain’s history when the country could have withdrawn in relatively benign circumstances. This is not one of them. Should Scotland vote to remain while the rest of the UK votes to leave, a second independence referendum and the break-up of the Union could result. Brexit would threaten the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland by encouraging the return of border controls. The UK’s departure would embolden fascists and populists across the continent, most notably Marine Le Pen in France, and enhance Russia’s revanchist ambitions. It is far from inconceivable that Brexit could set in train the break-up of the EU. | |
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| To no one’s surprise, the Spectator has come out in favour of Brexit in this week’s edition. Here’s an extract from its editorial. | |
| The value of sovereignty cannot be measured by any economist’s formula. Adam Smith, the father of economics, first observed that the prosperity of a country is decided by whether it keeps its ‘laws and institutions’ healthy. This basic insight explains why nations thrive or fail, and has been the great secret of British success: intellectual, artistic, scientific and industrial. The principles of the Magna Carta and achievements of the Glorious Revolution led to our emergence as a world power. To pass up the chance to stop our laws being overridden by Luxembourg and our democracy eroded by Brussels would be a derogation of duty to this generation and the next. | |
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| Idris Elba is backing Remain. | |
| My parents immigrated to the UK, worked hard and made a contribution..ME...on that basis VOTE IN....#EUDebate 👊🏾💯 https://t.co/MpGd1yAW3g | |
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| The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), the leftwing group backing Brexit, has put out a statement saying if necessary Labour MPs should vote against the post-Brexit budget measures George Osborne is proposing. In a statement Dave Nellist, the former Labour MP who chairs TUSC, said there would be no point leaving the EU only to carry on with austerity. | The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), the leftwing group backing Brexit, has put out a statement saying if necessary Labour MPs should vote against the post-Brexit budget measures George Osborne is proposing. In a statement Dave Nellist, the former Labour MP who chairs TUSC, said there would be no point leaving the EU only to carry on with austerity. |
| Ultimately, Brexit on a capitalist basis will produce broadly the same results as Remain on a capitalist basis – continued austerity, attacks on wages and living standards, cuts and privatisation of public services. | Ultimately, Brexit on a capitalist basis will produce broadly the same results as Remain on a capitalist basis – continued austerity, attacks on wages and living standards, cuts and privatisation of public services. |
| That’s why TUSC stands for an economy based on democratic public ownership of the major companies and banks (see http://www.tusc.org.uk/policy), a vision of a democratic socialist society rooted in Labour’s old ‘Clause Four’. | That’s why TUSC stands for an economy based on democratic public ownership of the major companies and banks (see http://www.tusc.org.uk/policy), a vision of a democratic socialist society rooted in Labour’s old ‘Clause Four’. |
| We stand in solidarity with those Labour politicians who fight for a similar position, in or out of the EU. | We stand in solidarity with those Labour politicians who fight for a similar position, in or out of the EU. |
| But TUSC supports a leave vote, firstly because the EU creates an extra layer of legal obstacles to the labour and trade union movement – against workers’ rights and socialist measures generally – and secondly because the referendum gives us a chance to strike a blow at the Tories and the whole capitalist establishment. | But TUSC supports a leave vote, firstly because the EU creates an extra layer of legal obstacles to the labour and trade union movement – against workers’ rights and socialist measures generally – and secondly because the referendum gives us a chance to strike a blow at the Tories and the whole capitalist establishment. |
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| 6 former disability ministers say staying in EU best for disability rights | 6 former disability ministers say staying in EU best for disability rights |
| Six former disability ministers - three Tory, three Labour - have united to sign a joint letter to the Guardian saying that the rights of disabled people are “best protected and advanced by the UK’s continued membership of the European Union”. The list is headed by William Hague, who took the landmark Disability Discrimination Act 1995, through parliament, and it includes Alistair Burt, who is currently a health minister. The others are Dame Margaret Hodge, Maria Miller, Maria Eagle and Dame Anne McGuire. | Six former disability ministers - three Tory, three Labour - have united to sign a joint letter to the Guardian saying that the rights of disabled people are “best protected and advanced by the UK’s continued membership of the European Union”. The list is headed by William Hague, who took the landmark Disability Discrimination Act 1995, through parliament, and it includes Alistair Burt, who is currently a health minister. The others are Dame Margaret Hodge, Maria Miller, Maria Eagle and Dame Anne McGuire. |
| Here is an extract. | Here is an extract. |
| All of our governments have striven to close the disability employment gap. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 inspired the European Union to adopt EU-wide measures to tackle workplace discrimination against disabled people. In turn, the EU has helped improve our law, ensuring that it covers all employers irrespective of size and offers protection to those associated with a disabled person, particularly helping Britain’s six million carers. Between 2010-14 EU money also supported over 430,000 disabled people –235 disabled people every day - to take steps to move towards paid work. | All of our governments have striven to close the disability employment gap. The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 inspired the European Union to adopt EU-wide measures to tackle workplace discrimination against disabled people. In turn, the EU has helped improve our law, ensuring that it covers all employers irrespective of size and offers protection to those associated with a disabled person, particularly helping Britain’s six million carers. Between 2010-14 EU money also supported over 430,000 disabled people –235 disabled people every day - to take steps to move towards paid work. |
| The single market continues to play a vital role in opening up the world to disabled people, building on the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 by pushing the frontiers of accessible travel, products, services and the Internet. It doesn’t make financial or practical sense for the UK to progress these areas in isolation. For example, there would have been little advantage in the UK legislating to demand assistance for disabled people when travelling by air, if this meant people being able to board a plane in Manchester, yet unable to disembark in Malaga. EU-wide measures enable disabled people to travel on business or holiday with much greater confidence. | The single market continues to play a vital role in opening up the world to disabled people, building on the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 by pushing the frontiers of accessible travel, products, services and the Internet. It doesn’t make financial or practical sense for the UK to progress these areas in isolation. For example, there would have been little advantage in the UK legislating to demand assistance for disabled people when travelling by air, if this meant people being able to board a plane in Manchester, yet unable to disembark in Malaga. EU-wide measures enable disabled people to travel on business or holiday with much greater confidence. |
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| Alice Ross | Alice Ross |
| Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson has said that Brexit would be “even worse than Tory government” and pleaded with voters not to vote Leave because they wanted to “give David Cameron a bloody nose”. | Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson has said that Brexit would be “even worse than Tory government” and pleaded with voters not to vote Leave because they wanted to “give David Cameron a bloody nose”. |
| In a speech to Labour activists in Kings Cross, London, Watson said: “Please don’t vote Leave to spite David Cameron and end up blighting the country instead.” | In a speech to Labour activists in Kings Cross, London, Watson said: “Please don’t vote Leave to spite David Cameron and end up blighting the country instead.” |
| He acknowledged that Labour’s position on the referendum remains unclear to many supporters, even though the campaign has brought together figures from all over the party, creating some unlikely pairings - he named Jeremy Corbyn and Tony Blair, and Len McCluskey and Peter Mandelson. | He acknowledged that Labour’s position on the referendum remains unclear to many supporters, even though the campaign has brought together figures from all over the party, creating some unlikely pairings - he named Jeremy Corbyn and Tony Blair, and Len McCluskey and Peter Mandelson. |
| He argued that the resentment of immigration that has surfaced among many traditional Labour voters is misplaced, laying the blame instead at the door of the Tory deregulation of labour markets in the 1980s. | He argued that the resentment of immigration that has surfaced among many traditional Labour voters is misplaced, laying the blame instead at the door of the Tory deregulation of labour markets in the 1980s. |
| Previous generations of immigrants had not affected wages, but the reforms to labour laws had led to a “race to the bottom”. “This has been going on long before Polish plumbers and Spanish care workers came along,” he said. | Previous generations of immigrants had not affected wages, but the reforms to labour laws had led to a “race to the bottom”. “This has been going on long before Polish plumbers and Spanish care workers came along,” he said. |
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| Farage denies claim he's been offered a job in a Boris Johnson government | Farage denies claim he's been offered a job in a Boris Johnson government |
| Channel 4 News’s Michael Crick has picked up an intriguing rumour. | Channel 4 News’s Michael Crick has picked up an intriguing rumour. |
| Farage friend says he's been approached by Boris camp about job in Johnson govt & place in Lords to avoid fighting possible Thanet by-elect | Farage friend says he's been approached by Boris camp about job in Johnson govt & place in Lords to avoid fighting possible Thanet by-elect |
| @MichaelLCrick Farage denies he's been approached by Boris camp about job in Govt, but repeatedly refuses to deny he'd take such a job | @MichaelLCrick Farage denies he's been approached by Boris camp about job in Govt, but repeatedly refuses to deny he'd take such a job |
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| Lunchtime summary | Lunchtime summary |
| This budget takes the mid-point of the IFS’s estimates, £30 billion, as the likely deterioration in the public finances and shows the types of trade-offs involved in dealing with such a deficit in 2019-20. | This budget takes the mid-point of the IFS’s estimates, £30 billion, as the likely deterioration in the public finances and shows the types of trade-offs involved in dealing with such a deficit in 2019-20. |
| One plausible scenario shows that: | One plausible scenario shows that: |
| Health spending would be cut by £2.5 billion, defence spending by £1.2 billion and education spending by a similar amount | Health spending would be cut by £2.5 billion, defence spending by £1.2 billion and education spending by a similar amount |
| The basic rate of income tax would rise by 2 pence to 22p and the higher rate by 3 pence to 43p | The basic rate of income tax would rise by 2 pence to 22p and the higher rate by 3 pence to 43p |
| Capital spending would be reduced by £2.4 billion Fuel and alcohol duties would increase by 5% | Capital spending would be reduced by £2.4 billion Fuel and alcohol duties would increase by 5% |
| The balance between tax and spend would be up to the government at the time. | The balance between tax and spend would be up to the government at the time. |
| Ironically, Osborne’s forecasts are bleaker than the ones the Labour party produced on Friday last week when it published its own version of what a dire, post-Brexit Tory budget might look like. Unveiling the document at an event with Alistair Darling, Labour chancellor at the time of the financial crash, Osborne said: | Ironically, Osborne’s forecasts are bleaker than the ones the Labour party produced on Friday last week when it published its own version of what a dire, post-Brexit Tory budget might look like. Unveiling the document at an event with Alistair Darling, Labour chancellor at the time of the financial crash, Osborne said: |
| We have both been chancellor as the economy has faced very difficult times. We know what happens when we lose control of the economy. | We have both been chancellor as the economy has faced very difficult times. We know what happens when we lose control of the economy. |
| We both had to deal with the consequences of the public finances collapsing and the difficult decisions we then had to make. | We both had to deal with the consequences of the public finances collapsing and the difficult decisions we then had to make. |
| But 57 pro-Brexit Tory MPs have signed an open letter saying they would refuse to pass the measures Osborne is proposing. (See 8.29am.) This suggests he would not be able to pass a budget like this in the event of Britain voting to leave the EU. More importantly, it also suggests that Osborne may find it impossible to carry on as chancellor even in the event of Remain winning because his standing with some Tory MPs has been so badly damaged. One theory is that, if Leave win, the demotion of Osborne could be the price Tory Brexiteers demand for allowing David Cameron to continue as prime minister. | But 57 pro-Brexit Tory MPs have signed an open letter saying they would refuse to pass the measures Osborne is proposing. (See 8.29am.) This suggests he would not be able to pass a budget like this in the event of Britain voting to leave the EU. More importantly, it also suggests that Osborne may find it impossible to carry on as chancellor even in the event of Remain winning because his standing with some Tory MPs has been so badly damaged. One theory is that, if Leave win, the demotion of Osborne could be the price Tory Brexiteers demand for allowing David Cameron to continue as prime minister. |
| Will you take this opportunity to condemn the opportunism of 57 of your colleagues who are pro-Leave - these are members who backed the bedroom tax, backed cutting disability benefits and slashing care for the elderly - who suddenly have now had a Damascene conversion to the anti-austerity movement? Do you have any message for them? Do you have any message for them at all? | Will you take this opportunity to condemn the opportunism of 57 of your colleagues who are pro-Leave - these are members who backed the bedroom tax, backed cutting disability benefits and slashing care for the elderly - who suddenly have now had a Damascene conversion to the anti-austerity movement? Do you have any message for them? Do you have any message for them at all? |
| Cameron replied: | Cameron replied: |
| Nobody wants to have an emergency budget, nobody wants to have cuts in public services, nobody wants to have tax increases. But I would say this - there’s only one thing worse than not addressing a crisis in your public finances, addressing it through a budget, and that is ignoring it. Because if you ignore a crisis in your public finances, you see your economy go into a tailspin, you see confidence in your country reduced. We can avoid all of this by voting Remain next week. | Nobody wants to have an emergency budget, nobody wants to have cuts in public services, nobody wants to have tax increases. But I would say this - there’s only one thing worse than not addressing a crisis in your public finances, addressing it through a budget, and that is ignoring it. Because if you ignore a crisis in your public finances, you see your economy go into a tailspin, you see confidence in your country reduced. We can avoid all of this by voting Remain next week. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 2.58pm BST | at 2.58pm BST |
| 2.04pm BST | 2.04pm BST |
| 14:04 | 14:04 |
| Henry McDonald | Henry McDonald |
| Irish rugby international Rory Best has come out for the Remain side in the EU referendum.The Ulster player has sent a tweet from Ireland’s tour of South Africa supporting an In vote. | Irish rugby international Rory Best has come out for the Remain side in the EU referendum.The Ulster player has sent a tweet from Ireland’s tour of South Africa supporting an In vote. |
| After the Irish victory over the Springboks, Best tweeted from Cape Town: “Thursday 23rd June is an important date for farmers&the agrifood sector. Support them by voting to stay in EU.” | After the Irish victory over the Springboks, Best tweeted from Cape Town: “Thursday 23rd June is an important date for farmers&the agrifood sector. Support them by voting to stay in EU.” |
| Best’s backing of the In campaigns come on the back of Northern Ireland’s biggest employer, the chicken producer, has also called for an In vote. | Best’s backing of the In campaigns come on the back of Northern Ireland’s biggest employer, the chicken producer, has also called for an In vote. |
| Moy Park’s chief executive Janet McCollum said: “We are a European business and Europe is our market. Any move way from the free market could increase tariffs, add administrative burdens and limit export opportunities.” | Moy Park’s chief executive Janet McCollum said: “We are a European business and Europe is our market. Any move way from the free market could increase tariffs, add administrative burdens and limit export opportunities.” |
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| 13:46 | 13:46 |
| Here is a Guardian video of PMQs highlights. | Here is a Guardian video of PMQs highlights. |
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| 13:36 | 13:36 |
| Britain Stronger in Europe have now sent out a link to the Brexit budget document published by George Osborne and Alistair Darling earlier. | Britain Stronger in Europe have now sent out a link to the Brexit budget document published by George Osborne and Alistair Darling earlier. |
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| 13:29 | 13:29 |
| Severin Carrell | Severin Carrell |
| The flotilla arrived at Tower Bridge as Greenpeace attacked one of the largest trawlers in the protest, the Christina S from Peterhead, over its role in a £63m fisheries fraud scandal four years ago, the worst yet involving the UK fisheries industry. | The flotilla arrived at Tower Bridge as Greenpeace attacked one of the largest trawlers in the protest, the Christina S from Peterhead, over its role in a £63m fisheries fraud scandal four years ago, the worst yet involving the UK fisheries industry. |
| The joint skippers of the vessel, Ernest Simpson and his son Allan Simpson, were each fined £65,000 and had a total of £725,000 confiscated by Scottish courts in September 2012 after they admitted illegally landing mackerel and herring in Peterhead and Shetland. | The joint skippers of the vessel, Ernest Simpson and his son Allan Simpson, were each fined £65,000 and had a total of £725,000 confiscated by Scottish courts in September 2012 after they admitted illegally landing mackerel and herring in Peterhead and Shetland. |
| Earnest Simpson pled guilty to landing more than £2m worth of undeclared fish while his son Allan admitted to more than £2.7m in undeclared fish, in a scandal involving dozens of Scottish skippers and several major processing factories. | Earnest Simpson pled guilty to landing more than £2m worth of undeclared fish while his son Allan admitted to more than £2.7m in undeclared fish, in a scandal involving dozens of Scottish skippers and several major processing factories. |
| John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace UK, said that it was “an unfortunate choice” to have the Christina S as one of the “showstopper” boats on the protest. | John Sauven, the executive director of Greenpeace UK, said that it was “an unfortunate choice” to have the Christina S as one of the “showstopper” boats on the protest. |
| It was co-owned by one of the fisheries giants referred to by Jeremy Corbyn at prime ministers questions, Andrew Marr International, which controls 12% of the English fishing quota, with the Marr family worth £122m. | It was co-owned by one of the fisheries giants referred to by Jeremy Corbyn at prime ministers questions, Andrew Marr International, which controls 12% of the English fishing quota, with the Marr family worth £122m. |
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| 13:28 | 13:28 |
| Here’s some video footage from the battle of the Thames. | Here’s some video footage from the battle of the Thames. |
| 1.24pm BST | 1.24pm BST |
| 13:24 | 13:24 |
| Severin Carrell | Severin Carrell |
| Pro-Brexit campaigners in Scotland, led by the former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars and ex-Tory MSP Brian Monteith, have claimed the country would have far more “democratic sovereignty” and money outside the EU. | Pro-Brexit campaigners in Scotland, led by the former SNP deputy leader Jim Sillars and ex-Tory MSP Brian Monteith, have claimed the country would have far more “democratic sovereignty” and money outside the EU. |
| They released a pamphlet through the Leave.eu campaign headed by Nigel Farage just as an Ipsos Mori poll for STV found the gap between the in and out vote in Scotland had narrowed sharply, by 13 points over the last six weeks. | They released a pamphlet through the Leave.eu campaign headed by Nigel Farage just as an Ipsos Mori poll for STV found the gap between the in and out vote in Scotland had narrowed sharply, by 13 points over the last six weeks. |
| The STV poll still gave the remain vote in Scotland a clear lead of 58% against 33% for leave, with 8% undecided. It confirmed the trend in favour of Brexit at UK level: in April, Ipsos put remain at 66% and leave at 29%. That implies the prospect of a massive pro-EU vote from Scotland helping remain win at UK level is receding. | The STV poll still gave the remain vote in Scotland a clear lead of 58% against 33% for leave, with 8% undecided. It confirmed the trend in favour of Brexit at UK level: in April, Ipsos put remain at 66% and leave at 29%. That implies the prospect of a massive pro-EU vote from Scotland helping remain win at UK level is receding. |
| The Monteith and Sillars paper, “Democratic, Prosperous and Free”, openly targets Scottish nationalists – about a third of whom back a leave vote - and Scottish devolutionists by claiming Brexit would allow Holyrood far greater autonomy within the UK because it already significant powers over domestic policy. | The Monteith and Sillars paper, “Democratic, Prosperous and Free”, openly targets Scottish nationalists – about a third of whom back a leave vote - and Scottish devolutionists by claiming Brexit would allow Holyrood far greater autonomy within the UK because it already significant powers over domestic policy. |
| “We can make decision-making more democratic and accountable by taking control back from Brussels and giving it to the Scottish electorate. For instance, it will mean the powers to manage farming and fisheries coming to the Scottish parliament – why would Scottish politicians wish to be against that?” Monteith said. | “We can make decision-making more democratic and accountable by taking control back from Brussels and giving it to the Scottish electorate. For instance, it will mean the powers to manage farming and fisheries coming to the Scottish parliament – why would Scottish politicians wish to be against that?” Monteith said. |
| 1.17pm BST | 1.17pm BST |
| 13:17 | 13:17 |
| Here are some more pictures from the flotilla. | Here are some more pictures from the flotilla. |
| Updated | Updated |
| at 1.26pm BST | at 1.26pm BST |