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Brexit: Queen's speech branded 'farcical' as talks in EU still fail to achieve breakthrough - live news Brexit: Queen's speech branded farcical as 'difficult' talks continue in EU - live news
(about 2 hours later)
When the Labour party has to decide what is going to be in its election manifesto, it holds what’s called a clause V meeting, where the shadow cabinet, the national executive committee and assorted union leaders thrash things out over the course of a day. It is the ultimate “smoke-filled room” - although of course these days there’s no smoke. She says the government’s new economic plan will be underpinned by a new fiscal strategy.
The Conservatives do things differently, but even the party traditionally associated with the monarchy has probably never held a manifesto event quite like this - the Queen reading out 20-odd legislative proposals from the throne in the House of Lords, addressing hundreds of peers dressed in ermine, with MPs standing at the back. Parliament normally holds a Queens’s speech every year, setting out the legislative programme for the following 12 months, but Boris Johnson’s government has no majority and it has no prospect of being able to pass most of the measures being announced this morning. In fact, this could become the first Queen’s speech to be voted down for almost 100 years. The opposition have said that, in practice, today is all about showcasing a Conservative policy platform for the election, and it is hard to disagree. There will be measures to strengthen the NHS, she says. There will also be plans to reform adult social care.
This is how Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, put it in a statement last night. She says the government is committed to addressing violent crime. New sentencing laws will be introduced, she says. And measures will improve the handling of foreign national offenders.
This Queen’s speech is farcical. It is just an uncosted wish list which the government has no intention and no means to deliver, and nothing more than a pre-election party political broadcast. There will be measures to improve prison safety and to help vicitims.
Here is our overnight preview story. Public sector bodies will be under a duty to address serious violence.
Tories aim to distract from Brexit with crime-focused Queen's speech There will also be laws to help the victims of domestic abuse and to minimise the impact of divorce.
Normally the Queen’s speech is the main event of the day. But, as ever, Brexit eclipses everything, and if there is any news from Brussels today about the progress of the talks, that will overshadow anything said at Westminster. As of last night, the negotiations had still failed to achieve a breakthrough. Here is our summary. The Queen starts by saying the government’s priority “has always been to secure the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on 31 October”.
Brexit talks fail to yield breakthrough with timely deal feared ‘impossible’ She says the government wants a new partnership with the EU, based on free trade.
Here is the agenda for the day. There will be new regimes for fisheries and agriculture.
11am: Roseanna Cunningham, Scotland’s environment secretary, addresses the SNP conference. Other speakers at the conference are Derek Mackay, the finance secretary, at 12.15pm and John Swinney, the deputy first minister, at 3.25pm. An immigration bill, ending free movement, will be introduced.
11.25am: The state opening of parliament, with the Queen’s speech. And steps will be taken to deliver stability in financial services, she says.
2.30pm: MPs begin the debate on the Queen’s speech. After a statement from the Speaker, John Bercow, and speeches from two backbenchers, Jeremy Corbyn and Boris Johnson will deliver the main opening speeches. Robert Buckland, the lord chancellor, gives the Queen the text of the speech to read out.
As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web, although mostly I will be focusing on Brexit and the Queen’s speech. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up. The Mirror’s Kevin Maguire heard what Dennis Skinner said.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads. BOOM! "I'm not going" - Dennis Skinner's briefest if most direct heckle after Black Rod announced the Queen was summoning MPs to the House of Lords
If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow. Black Rod is entering the Commons.
I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone. She tells the Speaker the Queen has commanded MPs to attend her in the House of Lords.
If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. Dennis Skinner, the Labour MP famous for heckling Black Rod at this point in the ceremony, expresses some sort of dissent, but from the TV coverage it is hard to hear what he said.
Downing Street has expressed scepticism at the idea the UK could part-exit the EU on 31 October – agreeing a deal to satisfy political demand while allowing a “technical extension” for details to be finalised.
Asked about the idea, which would allow Boris Johnson to reach an interim agreement at the European Council summit this week while giving more time for parliament and the EU to approve it, Johnson’s spokesman said: “It’s news to me that something like that is even possible.”
Asked if Downing Street would thus not agree such a plan even if it was mooted, the spokesman said:
The prime minister has been clear on many occasions that we are going to leave on 31 October.
There was also little news on negotiations to even reach a deal at the summit in Brussels this Wednesday and Thursday. “Talks remain constructive but there is a lot of work still to do,” Johnson’s spokesman said.
The prime minister currently has no calls with EU leaders scheduled, despite reports he was due to talk to people including Angela Merkel.
If a deal was reached, he said, MPs would be expected to ”work around the clock” to get it through parliament in time. However, as yet it is not confirmed whether the Commons will definitely sit on Saturday, as mooted, to either agree a deal or decide on a possible extension, as dictated under the so-called Benn Act.
A motion to sit on Saturday would need to be tabled on Wednesday for a vote of MPs on Thursday, the spokesman said.
The Queen is now on the throne in the Lords.
But MPs are still in the Commons. They now need to be summoned by Black Rod.
Back to Brexit, and measures to manage traffic on Kent’s motorways in preparation for a possible no-deal Brexit will be implemented on 28 October, the Department for Transport has announced. The transport minister Chris Heaton-Harris said travellers also needed to “do their bit”. He said:
We want residents in Kent and hauliers travelling from across the EU to be reassured that there are robust plans in place to deal with any disruption in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
We now need everyone to do their bit. Whether you are travelling to see family, heading to work or transporting vital goods around the country, please check before you travel to ensure you know what to expect and have the right documents when heading to the border.
These are from the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar, who has been at the Downing Street lobby briefing.
No 10 not sounding hugely upbeat about prospect of new Brexit legal text being ready to put in front of EU leaders on Thursday. PM’s official spokesman says: “The talks are constructive but there is still a long way to go”.
PM’s spokesman also rules out extending Brexit by a couple of weeks if a deal looks in sight - even if just for a technical extension.“I’m generally not aware such a thing even exists. The PM is clear that we leave on October 31st”.
In the Commons John Bercow, the Speaker, is taking his seat ahead of the state opening ceremony.
The Queen has arrived at parliament for the Queen’s speech.
This morning Sajid Javid, the chancellor, announced that he plans to hold a budget on 6 November, less than a week after the date of the UK’s supposed exit from the EU. But the small print of the government’s announcement makes it clear that, if there were a no-deal Brexit on 31 October, the budget would be delayed. It says:
The government is committed to securing a deal and leaving on 31 October. In the event of no deal, the government would act quickly to outline our approach and take early action to support the economy, businesses and households. This would be followed by a budget in the weeks thereafter.
On the Today programme Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, said this was an example of the government “making things up as they go along”.
I have to say, I think it’s another example of this government making things up as they go along. I’m not sure they will still be in office on November 6. It doesn’t appear to be at all certain we will leave the EU on October 31. It’s still a big risk of leaving with no deal, but I certainly hope that we will manage to see an extension secured to the article 50 process.
The Mail on Sunday’s Dan Hodges thinks this is an implicit acknowledgement that there will be a Brexit extension.
About this 6th November budget. Boris still saying we'll have left by 31st. At which point we're supposed to be having an election, aren't we? Once we leave, no incentive for other parties to block one. So isn't this a clear admission Boris knows we won't have left by the 31st.
From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh
Fascinating vignette in Lords gallery awaiting QSpeech. PM's partner Carrie Symonds chatting animatedly to Stanley Johnson (last seen, still not caught on @Channel4 #CelebrityHunted.)
Boris Johnson’s hopes of getting a new Brexit deal through parliament depend to a large extend on the 10 Democratic Unionist party MPs. That is not necessarily because those votes are essential – if Johnson could win over a significant number of Labour MPs, he could make up for those lost 10 votes – so much as the fact the DUP support would help to unlock a chunk of hardline Tory Brexiter support. There were 28 Tory Brexiters who voted against Theresa May’s deal three times, partly because of its impact on the union, but they would find it hard to object to a Johnson deal on unionist grounds if the DUP was in favour.
As Rory Carroll reported over the weekend, the DUP’s response to the plan currently being explored by the UK and the EU has been non-committal.
DUP finds itself caught between the devil and the Irish sea
This morning there is new evidence that the DUP may be turning against what is being proposed. An Irish Times story quotes the DUP MP Jim Shannon saying anything that does not treat Northern Ireland the same as England would be unacceptable. Shannon said:
It is simple. Are we being treated the same as England? No, we are not. Therefore, if we are not being treated the same as England, then we are not going to accept it.
We don’t know the full details of the latest plan, but everything we have been told about it says it does not treat Northern Ireland in the same way as England.