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Brexit: May faces second ministerial resignation in protest over her refusal to embrace no-deal - live news
Brexit: Bercow uses casting vote after first Commons tie in 26 years to block backbench indicative votes - live news
(about 2 hours later)
In his resignation letter (see 4.12pm) Chris Heaton-Harris, the now former Brexit minister, says he does not think Theresa May is fully aware of quite how much has been done within government to prepare the UK for no-deal. He says:
This is from BuzzFeed’s Alex Wickham.
Whilst I would have preferred to leave the European Union with your deal, I truly believe our country would have swiftly overcome any immediate issues of leaving without a deal and gone on to thrive.
1922 CommitteeA group of MPs led by James Duddridge proposed an indicative vote of confidence in Theresa MayGraham Brady sought the views of colleaguesCtte has turned down the suggestion, says a source. But one MP says it has not been ruled out entirely
It has been a privilege to work with some quite brilliant civil servants in my department and across government. They have moved mountains to prepare our country for leaving the European Union without a negotiated deal. Unfortunately, I do not believe the briefings you have received on these matters recently have reflected all they have achieved or the preparations our European partners have made.
And that’s all from me for tonight.
The Brexit minister Chris Heaton-Harris has resigned. Heaton-Harris is an enthusiastic Brexiter and there has been speculation all day that he might follow Nigel Adams, who resigned as a junior minister earlier because he thought Theresa May was making a “grave error” in trying to seek a compromise with Jeremy Corbyn.
My colleague Jedidajah Otte is now taking over.
In his resignation letter Heaton-Harris says that he thought the UK should have left the EU on 29 March, as planned, and that he cannot support any further extension.
The Scottish parliament will be recalled from its Easter holidays for an emergency meeting next week but only if it is clear the UK will be crashing out of the EU with a no deal Brexit after next week’s EU summit.
As a Brexit minister he was responsible for no-deal planning. He also tells May that her determination to avoid no-deal “obviously makes my job in government irrelevant”.
Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, had originally suggested to her cabinet on Tuesday that Holyrood could be asked to sit for much of next week because of the significance of an imminent threat of a no deal Brexit, scrapping their Easter break.
After much contemplation, I have decided to leave Theresa May's Government. I'm grateful to the PM for giving me the opportunity to serve the UK and I will continue to represent my constituents as the MP for Daventry. pic.twitter.com/sHkVhwJ7bb
While the Scottish Greens backed that proposal, it was understood it was resisted by Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories, who said they could support an emergency recall but only in the certainty a no-deal Brexit would be taking place.
The leaders of five of the smaller parties or groups at Westminster, the SNP, the Lib Dems, the Independent Group, Plaid Cymru and the Greens, are giving a joint statement to the BBC in central lobby at Westminster. They are all in favour of another referendum on Brexit, and they are expressing their concern that that this will not feature in any plan that might be endorsed by Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn. They also made the argument that, if MPs are allowed to vote more than once on Brexit, the public should have this right too.
Ken Macintosh, Holyrood’s presiding officer, said these options had been discussed by the parties this week, who had agreed there should be an emergency session on Thursday 11 April instead of suspending the Easter recess entirely. He said:
This is from the Institute for Government’s Alasdair de Costa on Nigel Adams’ resignation.
I can confirm that my intention is to recall parliament next week to meet at 1.00pm on Thursday 11 April in the circumstances that the UK is due to leave the EU without a deal on the following day.
Nigel Adams is the twelfth resignation from a Government role this year over Brexit:- 7 ministers- 4 Parliamentary Private Secretaries- 1 Party Vice Chair pic.twitter.com/fHWryGqTBk
I indicated last week that I would try and give members at least two days’ notice of the decision whether or not to recall. This is clearly an ongoing, developing situation and I may therefore not be in a position to confirm a recall to members until after decisions are taken at the EU summit on Wednesday 10 April.
These are from the Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy.
Bank of England governor Mark Carney said recent wrangling in parliament meant the prospect of Britain crashing out of the EU without a deal was “alarmingly high”.
Revealed from Cabinet: May did not reveal her plan to meet Corbyn to her ministers until summing up at the end of the seven-hour marathon. Some ministers were surprised.Geoffrey Cox had suggested it earlier, but his idea was not picked up at the time.
Speaking on Sky News Carney warned that a no-deal Brexit was now “the default option” and would cause havoc at British ports. He said:
Revealed from Cabinet 2: Plan A in Cabinet was to force a Commons decision using Alternative Vote method (preferences) with four options: May deal/Corbyn deal/revoke/no deal.Note: List doesn't include 2nd ref.This is what to expect when/if Corbyn talks end in failure
No-deal would happen by accident, it would happen suddenly, there would be no transition - it is an accidental disorderly Brexit.
As the Irish Times reports, Pierre Moscovici, the European commissioner responsible for economic and financial affairs, also said that there was “an increasing risk of no-deal Brexit on April 12” at his press conference earlier.
His comments were seen as a swipe at his predecessor Lord King, who last week said the UK could leave the EU on World Trade Organisations terms and maintain zero tariffs and concerns about queues of lorries on the M20 were “pretty absurd.”
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, tweeted this after a meeting with Jeremy Corbyn. She does not seem to think Labour will strike a deal on Brexit with Theresa May.
Carney said: “Forget the fiction… (it’s) absolute nonsense. It needs to be called out.”
Just had a positive meeting with @jeremycorbyn - I’d be surprised and very disappointed if Labour sold out for such a bad deal. https://t.co/RIKkqYyq7a
Unison, the public services union, is calling for any final Brexit deal to be put to a public vote. In a statement, Dave Prentis, its general secretary, said:
From the FT’s George Parker
A general election is our preferred option, but until that time, the so-called Norway plus plan, allowing the UK to remain in the customs union and the single market is the next best bet.
Potentially good news, frazzled SW1 types: Tory whips are telling MPs this afternoon that they don't have to be here on Friday: ie there won't be another round of meaningful/meaningless/indicative votes
Whatever deal emerges in the coming days should be put to the country. We cannot allow the UK’s future to be dashed on the rocks of a no-deal Brexit.
From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
This is what Labour said in the statement that it issued after the May/Corbyn talks. A party spokesman said:
The TIGs, and other smaller parties, SNP, Plaid, Green, and Libs are meeting now separately while Corbyn and May meeting - they will announce their next steps sometime around 4pm
We have had constructive exploratory discussions about how to break the Brexit deadlock. We have agreed a programme of work between our teams to explore the scope for agreement.
These are from Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt.
And this is what a Number 10 spokesman said about the meeting.
This is worthy of Yes Prime Minister. Govt source on challenge of reaching agreement between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn on a customs union: our position is a customs union but we don’t call it that. Labour’s position is not a customs union but they do call it that...
Today’s talks were constructive, with both sides showing flexibility and a commitment to bring the current Brexit uncertainty to a close. We have agreed a programme of work to ensure we deliver for the British people, protecting jobs and security.
...so the source says the challenge is to persuade Jeremy Corbyn to sign up to Theresa May’s non customs union customs union and not call it a customs union. This would put the UK in a customs union with the EU which would then not be called a customs union@BBCNewsnight
Theresa May was joined by David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, and Julian Smith, the chief whip.
This is from my colleague Heather Stewart.
Jeremy Corbyn was joined by Sir Keir Starmer, the Brexit secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, Nick Brown, Labour’s chief whip, and Seumas Milne, Corbyn’s director of communications and strategy.
NEW - hearing an emergency shadow cabinet has been called for 6pm, presumably so that JC can report back on his chat with the PM.
Each side is going to appoint a negotiating team. Those teams will meet tonight to agree a programme of work, and then again tomorrow, for what government sources are saying will be “a full day of intensive discussion”
In the Commons Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, has just said that the government will oppose the business motion. She says that is because the government does not approve of this process allowing backbenchers to take control of the Commons business.
John Bercow, the Speaker, is now taking points of order.
The SNP’s Pete Wishart is speaking now. He starts by asking Leadsom to say whether or not the government will be voting against the actual Cooper bill at second reading, but Leadsom chooses not to respond.
Sir Bill Cash, the Tory Brexiter, says the Cooper bill should not be allowed without a money resolution - a resolution that has to be moved by a government minister authorising government spending.
Here is the full text of the speech Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission, gave in the European parliament earlier today.
Bercow says he has been advised that that is not necessary.
And here are the main points he made.
Here is a Guardian graphic showing how the rate of ministerial resignations under Theresa May compares with the rate under her predecessors.
Juncker said MPs must be able to approve the withdrawal agreement by next Friday, or else the UK would either face either no-deal or a long Brexit extension. He said:
The main business motion has been passed by 312 votes to 311 - a majority of one.
In light of prime minister May’s statement last night, I believe we now have a few more days. If the United Kingdom is in a position to approve the withdrawal agreement with a sustainable majority by 12 April, the European Union should be prepared to accept a delay until 22 May.
That means the debate on the Cooper bill will go ahead.
But 12 April is the ultimate deadline for the approval of the withdrawal agreement by the House of Commons. If it has not done so by then, no further short extension will be possible. After 12 April, we risk jeopardising the European parliament elections, and so threaten the functioning of the European Union.
And here is more from what John Bercow told MPs about why he used his casting vote as he did.
He said the EU was ready to start talks on the future relationship as soon as the withdrawal agreement is agreed. He said:
My recollection - and I’ve been saying this for years across the country to audiences, so I hope it’s right - is that the last occasion on which the speaker had to exercise a casting vote was in 1993, and I believe it was appertaining to the Maastricht Treaty bill ... I think it was on an amendment relating to the social chapter, and it was an amendment in the name of the then leader of the opposition [John Smith] and Speaker Boothroyd cast her vote in the way that she did, against that amendment. And the rationale ... for the exercise of the casting vote is that it is not for the chair to create a majority that doesn’t otherwise exist.
On the EU side, we stand ready to launch the talks and negotiations on the future partnership as soon as the withdrawal agreement is signed. Before the ink is dry. The commission’s negotiating team is in place. Michel Barnier, our chief negotiator, is ready. I would expect the same level of readiness on the United Kingdom side.
The way in which the casting vote is exercised does also depend upon the stage at which the matter is being aired. So, for example, it would be exercised differently on the second reading of a bill, where there is an important principle of encouraging further debate ... but if it’s the final stage of a bill, the casting vote would be against.
He said that a no-deal Brexit on 12 April was now “very likely”. He said:
In a situation in which a decision would be made that a day would be allocated for particular business [ie, the Benn amendment], I judge that it is not right for me to make that decision if the house hasn’t by a clear majority done so.
I believe that a “no deal” at midnight on the 12 April is now a very likely scenario. It is not the outcome I want. But it is an outcome for which I have made sure the European Union is ready.
This is what John Bercow told MPs when explaining his casting vote.
He said there was no such thing as a “managed no-deal”.
In accordance with precedent, and on the principle that important decisions should not be taken except by a majority, I cast my vote with the noes.
The United Kingdom will be affected more than the European Union because there is no such thing as a “managed or negotiated no-deal” and there is no such thing as a “no-deal transition”.
So the final vote was 311 to 310.
The concept of a “managed no-deal” is one promoted by some Brexiters, who argue that the various mitigating measures drawn as part of no-deal planning would make no-deal acceptable. In his speech Juncker referred to these measures, but he said they would not stop the UK being affected. He said:
MPs are now voting on the main business motion - setting out the arrangements to this afternoon’s debate on the Cooper bill.
The measures we and the member states have taken will mitigate the worst impact of a “no-deal” scenario. The protection offered is real. The measures will make sure that EU and UK citizens can continue to live and work where they are at the moment. They make sure that planes can take off and land. We have adapted our financial instrument to make it possible to help fishing communities. We have identified the ways in which law enforcement cooperation can continue. We have taken steps to mitigate disruption on our financial markets.
But if the Benn amendment was defeated, there must be a strong chance that this will get defeated too.
The measures we have taken are time-limited and unilateral. They provide a cushion for key EU interests at least until the end of the year. But disruption will be inevitable for citizens, for businesses and for almost every sector.
Bercow says, in accordance with precedent, and with the principle that important votes should not be taken except by a majority, Bercow votes with the noes.
Downing Street says the government will be not be supporting the Yvette Cooper bill, my colleague Heather Stewart reports.
It is a tie - 310 votes on each side.
Downing Street spox says government has no plans to support the Cooper-Boles bill. "We don’t believe that that is the right way forward," he says - because it sets a damaging constitutional precedent.
These are from RTE’s Tony Connelly.
Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission, president is confirming that next Friday has become a hard deadline for the EU.
Juncker says MPs must be able to approve the withdrawal agreement by next Friday, or the UK will face either no-deal or a long Brexit delay. This quashes the very faint prospect that the EU might have agreed another short extension to allow time for the deal to pass parliament. But, if MPs were to agree a deal by next week, Theresa May is hoping that the EU would agree to another short extension, lasting not beyond 22 May.
.@JunckerEU hardline on May offer: “If the United Kingdom is in a position to approve the Withdrawal Agreement with a sustainable majority by 12 April, the European Union should be prepared to accept a delay until 22 May.
“But 12 April is the ultimate deadline for the approval of the Withdrawal Agreement by the HoC. If it has not done so by then, no further short extension will be possible. After 12 April, we risk jeopardising the EP elections, and so threaten the functioning of the EU”
This, from the New Statesman’s Patrick Maguire, is interesting.
Hearing government could accept Cooper Bill in some form...
Nikki da Costa, who used to be director of legislative affairs for Theresa May in Number 10, is horrified.
Words fail me. There just doesn’t appear to be any legislative fight left in government. https://t.co/Sa4oGTRuUz
David Davis, the Tory former Brexit secretary, intervenes. He says he is worried about the idea of passing a bill like this in one day. He says the last time the government did this was when it passed the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act. Davis says he later spent a long time challenging that in court.
Oliver Letwin says that was a much more complicated piece of legislation.
MPs are now debating the business motion for today’s proceedings in the Commons.
This is the third day that backbenchers have effectively hijacked Commons business (which is normally under the control of the government) to allow for Brexit debates. On Wednesday last week, and on Monday this week, it was for indicative votes. Today it is to allow MPs to pass Yvette Cooper’s bill requiring the PM to seek an article 50 extension.
The business motion is on the order paper here (pdf).
As well as setting aside today for a debate allowing the Cooper bill to pass its Commons stages by 10pm tonight, the business motion also says MPs must get time to debate it when it comes back from the Lords.
And Labour’s Hilary Benn has tabled an amendment to the business motion saying next Monday should be set aside for another round of indicative votes.
John Bercow, the Speaker, has announced that he will call the Benn amendment. And Sir Oliver Letwin, the Tory former cabinet minister behind the indicative votes process who is opening the debate now, has just said he accepts the Benn amendment.
