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Brexit: May faces 'meaningful vote' crunch day - Politics live
Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs - Politics live
(35 minutes later)
Sam Gyimah, the universities minister, has made the Evening Standard splash by condemning President Trump’s decision to separate immigrant children from their parents.
Corbyn says May spoke about £600m a week extra going to the NHS. That is over £30bn a year - way more than the UK’s contributions. Her figures are so dodgy they belong on the side of a bus. Why is the PM pushing her own Mickey Mouse figures?
Today’s @EveningStandard: pressure grows on May and Boris to condemn Trump, as junior Minister leads way & Brexit rebellion latest + @MatthewdAncona on cannabis + Serpentine Party glamour pic.twitter.com/umQO4DcLAG
May says Corbyn should listen to what she said. He claimed that she promised that money by 2023-24. She said more money would be spent on the NHS as a result of her decision, partly funded by the UK no longer being in the EU. The government will be contributing a bit more. Hammond will bring forward plans before the spending review. If Corbyn is so concerned about tax, why did Labour oppose lifting the personal allowance.
The story is based on this tweet.
Corbyn says last night May emailed Tory members saying the money from the EU would go to the NHS. But the government’s own watchdog says there will be no extra money until at least 2023. If growth does not meet expectations, will there be extra borrowing, or higher mystery taxes.
Separating children from their parents in this way is beyond dreadful. This policy is indefensible, pure and simple! https://t.co/1Uev9imHj4
May says the balanced approach she has taken the economy have given her the space to act. The Conservatives believe in keeping taxes low, she says. Let’s look at what Labour offered at the election. It promised 2.2% growth for the NHS, saying that would make it the envy of the world. She chose not to listen. She is putting 3.4% in.
Procedural technicality alert. The government tabled the amendments to the EU withdrawal bill in such a way as to avoid a straight yes/no vote on the “meaningful vote” amendment passed by the House of Lords on Monday. That amendment was what Viscount Hailsham called “Grieve 2” - the amendment that Dominic Grieve thought he had agreed with the government last week, until it got nixed by David Davis, the Brexit secretary, at the last minute.
Corbyn says he is pleased May is reading his speeches. He said EU money should be ringfenced for certain uses. He goes back to taxes. Last year May says firms could not plan on the basis of unspecified taxes. Which taxes are going up and for who?
The text of that amendment (“Grieve 2”) is here (pdf).
May says Philip Hammond will set that out before the spending review. She says she is glad Labour has confirmed there will be money coming back from the EU.
The government is basically accepting this, with one key change. “Grieve 2” says, if MPs have not approved the Brexit withdrawal agreement by 21 January 2019, the government must schedule a vote within working days. The change, set out in the government amendment (see below), says that motion must be “in neutral terms, to the effect that the House of Commons has considered the matter of”. That means it cannot be amended, by Jeremy Corbyn or Dominic Grieve or whoever, to include a line saying what the government should do next.
Jeremy Corbyn pays tribute to his “friend”, the Finsbury Park imam.
The government is proposing a yes/no vote on “Grieve 2”. That means the opposition, and the Tory rebels, would have to vote not just against the key change, but against the whole thing.
He also pays tribute to the contribution of the Windrush generation, and he says he hopes May has put the “hostile environment” policy behind her.
As Labour whips point out, Grieve has tabled a manuscript amendment (a last-minute amendment) taking out the Davis key changes; in other words, this would allow MPs a yes/no vote on “Grieve 2”.
Today is world refugee day, he says. All political leaders have a duty to aid refugees.
Breaking: after last minute government procedural move to try to avoid a straight up and down vote on Grieve2 #MeaningfulVote. Dominic Grieve has tabled a manuscript Amdt which if selected will allow the Commons to have a straight vote on the #MeaningfulVote #UnderhandTactics pic.twitter.com/n16VU8ri1Z
He says May said extra money for the NHS would come from Brexit, economic growth and taxes. There will be no Brexit dividend for some years, and economic growth is very slow. So which taxes are going up?
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Matthew Weaver. I was held up this morning for domestic reasons.
May says she was struck when she visited the Finsbury Park mosque by the community work done there.
After PMQs Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, will be making a statement about the Gosport War Memorial hospital deaths. That mean that the debate on the EU withdrawal bill won’t start until about 2pm, with the vote coming at around 3.30pm.
On the NHS, she says she has set out a long-term plan. It will secure the future for the NHS, and as part of the five-year settlement there will be money from the EU. She says various shadow ministers said the Brexit dividend did not exist. But she quotes another frontbencher say Labour would use money saved from Brexit to invest in public services. That was Corbyn, she says.
One Government oral statement in the @HouseofCommons today: Jeremy Hunt: Gosport Independent Panel – Publication of Report
Simon Hoare, the Tory MP for Dorset North, says Dorset is home to the Jurassic Coast, but is not home to dinosaurs. Will May confirm that the government will ban upskirting?
Robert Buckland, the solicitor general, sounded confident that the government would win today. Talking to Sky’s All Out Politics Buckland he said:
May says upskirting is a hideous invasion of privacy. The government will introduce a bill banning it. And the worst offenders will be added to the sex offenders’ list.
I think our arguments are strong. I think we can persuade the Commons today. I must say the Lords have accepted all the arguments we’ve made. They have properly given back a matter that is for the Commons to decide. I very much hope that we can have finality on this issue today and then get on with the work that we need to do.
Labour’s Alan Whitehead says, after the UK signed up to agreements at the Paris climate change summit, will she sign up to new targets for 2050?
I’m optimistic about many things and I’m optimistic that today that our arguments are strong.
May says the government is committed to the Paris accord. The government remains committed to its targets, she says.
A note from the shadow Brexit secretary, Keir Starmer, to the Parliamentary Labour party, shows the lengths the leadership are going to stress it is not trying to stop Brexit.
Theresa May says yesterday was the first anniversay of the Finsbury Park attack. Today the imam from the mosque is in the Commons, she says.
The language is directed at the Brexit rebels to try to get them on side. It says the voe “isn’t about stopping Brexit... isn’t about delaying Brexit or tying the hands of negotiators... not about the future of Theresa May or of this government.”
She says Friday is the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Windrush. The government has announced an annual Windrush day to celebrate the diversity of the UK, she says.
Exc - here’s @Keir_Starmer’s note he sent round Labour MPs last night, language aimed squarely at Labour Brexit rebels - “isn’t about stopping Brexit... isn’t about delaying Brexit or tying the hands of negotiators... not about the future of Theresa May or of this government.” pic.twitter.com/JUE3px16Pt
This is from the Times’ Patrick Kidd.
Jeremy Corbyn is trying to persuade Labour Leavers to vote against the government.
Theresa May enters for PMQs with Boris Johnson. A last-minute chat about Trump in expectation of Corbyn going on our view of US immigration?
Also worth noting that five Labour MPs - @KevinBarronMP @CarolineFlintMP @RogerGodsiff @FitzMP Denis Skinner - abstained last week. Sounds like Corbyn will have his work cut out.
This is from the FT’s George Parker.
ITV’s political editor Robert Peston reckons there is a real risk that May could a lose a vote that she could have avoided.
Brexit peace deal in the Commons? ERG Moggites and Grievey rebels appear to be gathering around an Oliver Letwin brokered compromise, pulling party back from the brink. Prob 1: waiting for @theresamay and @DavidDavisMP sign-off. Prob 2: will anyone understand it?
Writing on Facebook he says: “May could have swallowed the substance of the amendment and emerged unscathed.”
PMQs is about to start.
The Sun’s political editor, Tom Newton Dunn, argues the vote is a dress rehearsal for the more important vote next month on the customs union amendment to the trade bill.
Some of the backbenchers who will be called to ask the PM a #PMQs on Wednesday 20 June. Watch live on #bbcdp with @afneil @bbclaurak @Peter_Dowd @JackieDP @BBCTwo 1130-1300 pic.twitter.com/uPkhVtqQRj
The real significance of today’s showdown is it’s a dress rehearsal for the biggie next month - the customs union amendment to the Trade Bill. Rebels are desperate to show they have the numbers to win that, PM desperate to show they don’t. (2/2)
Here is an extract from today’s Times story (pawyall) about the vote.
HuffPost UK’s Paul Waugh says rebel waverers are the ones to watch:
Tory whips are said to have “given up” persuading up to a dozen of their own MPs not to vote in favour of an amendment that would give parliament a decisive say on what happens in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
It’s the rebel waverers that matter most this afternoon, not your Anna Soubrys or Ken Clarkes. And although both May and Corbyn say this is about the national interest, not party interest, it’s how their MPs interpret their conflicting loyalties that will swing the decision today.
Instead they are concentrating their efforts on encouraging Labour MPs in Leave-voting areas to defy their own whip and vote with the government.
Welcome to Politics live as Theresa May faces a knife-edge Commons vote on Brexit as MPs decide on parliament’s role in Britain’s exit from the European Union.
One Labour source claimed that MPs were being promised that the Tories would “go easy” in future elections on those who supported them.
Tory rebels reckon they could inflict a defeat on the government as the EU withdrawal bill returns to the Commons after the Lords again backed giving MPs a “meaningful” say on the final deal.
Bloomberg’s Rob Hutton has some good advice for those said to be on the receiving end of such entreaties.
The debate is expected to start at 1pm according to Labour.
If any Labour MPs are tempted by the idea that the Tories will "go easy" on them at the next election in return for support on today's vote, there are 49 Lib Dem ex-MPs that they really ought to talk to.
Public Service announcement: Debate on the #MeaningfulVote is scheduled to last for 90 mins. Provided there are no Statements or UQs, the debate should start around 1pm with the key vote on whether to keep the #Grieve2 #MeaningfulVote Amdt as the first vote at around 2:30pm.
May staved off a Tory rebellion on the move last week but faces a crucial battle in the latest round of voting amid claims she failed to implement a compromise that opponents believed they were promised.
Brexiters are said to be increasingly confident of victory, but rebels are also bullish.
Phillip Lee, who resigned as a government minister in order to back a strengthened role for parliament, acknowledged there had been a concerted effort to win over would-be rebels, including the “dark arts” of persuasion in the corridors of power.
But he claimed the rebels may have the strength to defeat the prime minister - who he said he still counts as a friend - unless an eleventh-hour concession is agreed. Lee told BBC Radio 4’s Today:
We were always going to get the normal dark arts of Westminster taking place, fully expected, but my understanding is that the position taken by a number of colleagues is solid, which is why the government is still in negotiations.
Asked if there were enough rebels to defeat the government, he said:
Potentially, yes. But ... this for me personally is a position of integrity, that I think Parliament deserves to have a proper role in this process, a truly meaningful vote.
Dominic Grieve, one of the leading figures in the stand-off, said he expected negotiations to “go right to the wire”.
Tory Remainer Anna Soubry posted a lengthy statement about why she will rebel and denied being a “traitor”.
Bloomin' Brexit - why it's so important to get it right: https://t.co/fifbAdbX5f #MeaningfulVote
The prime minister’s spokesman said the government did not intend to concede ground.
Andrew Sparrow has been delayed coming to work today but should be here within an hour.
