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Version 9 Version 10
EU referendum live: Jeremy Corbyn urges Labour supporters to vote remain EU referendum live: Jeremy Corbyn urges Labour supporters to vote remain
(35 minutes later)
1.04pm BST
13:04
Corbyn's NHS speech
Jeremy Corbyn is now speaking.
He says before he became an MP he represented NHS staff as a NUPE representative.
And the NHS is under threat if we leave, he says.
We have a big decision on 23 June, I value our NHS and admire the dedication of all its staff. I would not be voting for Remain if I thought there was any risk to our NHS whatsoever, the risk to the NHS is if we leave.
12.58pm BST
12:58
Emily Maclean, a student midwife, is speaking now. She says giving birth should be a stress-free occasion. We should not gamble with the NHS, she says.
12.54pm BST
12:54
At the Labour event we are now getting speeches from union leaders about the case for staying in the EU. It isn’t just a photo call (although that is what the Labour op note said.)
Frances O’Grady, the TUC general secretary, gave a speech describing the leaders of the Leave campaign as “fibbers, fakes and phonies”.
Punchy speech from TUC chief Frances O'Grady on the leave campaign's 'fibbers, fakes + phonies'. More passion than we've seen from Corbyn
And Dave Prentis, the Unison general secretary, is speaking now. He says he has never seen as a dishonest election campaign as Leave’s.
12.45pm BST
12:45
Here are some more pictures from the Labour event.
12.39pm BST
12:39
Journalists got a round of applause at the Labour event.
Journalists applauded at press conference - first time ever??Corbyn's warm up act says journalists doing job &"shd be treated with respect"
12.38pm BST
12:38
Corbyn says Labour making 'the strongest case we can' for staying in EU
The Labour event was billed by the party in advance as a “Labour In for Britain shadow cabinet event”. The party said there would a photo opportunity and “short remarks” by Jeremy Corbyn (ie, not a speech).
This is what Corbyn said in full.
This is a coming together of the Labour shadow cabinet, the general secretaries and members of the general council of the TUC and many members of our party’s national executive. This is the Labour movement saying we are voting to remain in the European Union next week.
We’re saying that because we want to defend the very many gains made by trade unions across Europe that have brought us better working conditions, longer holidays, less discrimination and maternity and paternity leave.
We believe that a leave vote will put many of those things seriously, immediately at risk. Many in work will be significantly worse off when the bonfire of regulations promised by others take place.
But we also want to extend those rights. We best extend those rights by working with trade unions, Labour parties, socialist parties, all across Europe in the interests of the working people of the whole continent and of course this country.
We’re making the strongest case we can. From Land’s End to John O’Groats, from Norwich to North Wales, we are making the case everywhere that staying in the European Union gives us the opportunity to defend and extend the rights of people in work. It gives us the jobs that we need and the exports that we must fulfil as a country to the rest of Europe. Therefore we are making the strongest case we can, for the good of the ordinary people of this country, to vote to remain, to give us that voice to try and improve rights and justice, in this country and all across Europe.
It’s the Labour position, it’s the trade union position, to vote to remain. That’s why we’ve come together here today to share our values, to share our determination, to share our strength, and we urge all of our supporters to think very carefully about this and to vote to remain next Thursday on 23rd.
In his final sentence there was a curious echo of what the Queen said ahead of the Scottish referendum. Doubtless it was unintentional.
12.17pm BST12.17pm BST
12:1712:17
This is from my colleague Rowena Mason.This is from my colleague Rowena Mason.
Corbyn: It is the Labour position, trade union position to vote to remain. We urge our supporters to think carefully pic.twitter.com/1GIwP4fsdhCorbyn: It is the Labour position, trade union position to vote to remain. We urge our supporters to think carefully pic.twitter.com/1GIwP4fsdh
12.13pm BST12.13pm BST
12:1312:13
Corbyn says this represents a coming together of the Labour party.Corbyn says this represents a coming together of the Labour party.
They are making the case for the EU all over the country, he says. They are making the strongest case they can.They are making the case for the EU all over the country, he says. They are making the strongest case they can.
They want to remain so they can improve rights and help workers.They want to remain so they can improve rights and help workers.
He says he urges all Labour supporters to think carefully about this and to vote to remain.He says he urges all Labour supporters to think carefully about this and to vote to remain.
12.12pm BST12.12pm BST
12:1212:12
Labour's In for Britain eventLabour's In for Britain event
Jeremy Corbyn is now speaking at the Labour In for Britain event.Jeremy Corbyn is now speaking at the Labour In for Britain event.
He has just been posing for a photograph with members of the shadow cabinet and union leaders.He has just been posing for a photograph with members of the shadow cabinet and union leaders.
LIVE: @jeremycorbyn, entire shadow cabinet & trade union general secretaries are standing together for a Remain vote pic.twitter.com/wyjKumUEQqLIVE: @jeremycorbyn, entire shadow cabinet & trade union general secretaries are standing together for a Remain vote pic.twitter.com/wyjKumUEQq
12.08pm BST12.08pm BST
12:0812:08
Vote Leave has now released the full text of its open letter promising to maintain funding to people and institutions who currently received EU money (ie, farmers, scientists etc). Priti Patel was on the Today programme earlier talking about this. (See 8.53am.)Vote Leave has now released the full text of its open letter promising to maintain funding to people and institutions who currently received EU money (ie, farmers, scientists etc). Priti Patel was on the Today programme earlier talking about this. (See 8.53am.)
The letter, signed by 13 ministers and senior Tories, also claimed that leaving the EU could theoretically save the UK up to £43bn because it would allow the government to pass legislation saying the UK would no longer be bound by European court of justice rulings forcing HM Revenue and Customs to pay tax refunds. It says:The letter, signed by 13 ministers and senior Tories, also claimed that leaving the EU could theoretically save the UK up to £43bn because it would allow the government to pass legislation saying the UK would no longer be bound by European court of justice rulings forcing HM Revenue and Customs to pay tax refunds. It says:
There are also many other costs, direct and indirect, of EU membership on top of our official contributions to the EU’s budget.There are also many other costs, direct and indirect, of EU membership on top of our official contributions to the EU’s budget.
For example, the UK is set to pay out between £7 billion and £43 billion by 2021 in tax refunds to big businesses which have successfully used the European Court and EU law to escape taxes lawfully imposed on them in Britain. If we stay, these bills will be paid for by British taxpayers on P.A.Y.E. instead of that money going to public services. If we Vote Leave, the Government will pass legislation to prevent these payments being made so that taxpayers are not given these huge bills.For example, the UK is set to pay out between £7 billion and £43 billion by 2021 in tax refunds to big businesses which have successfully used the European Court and EU law to escape taxes lawfully imposed on them in Britain. If we stay, these bills will be paid for by British taxpayers on P.A.Y.E. instead of that money going to public services. If we Vote Leave, the Government will pass legislation to prevent these payments being made so that taxpayers are not given these huge bills.
These figures are taken from government and HMRC accounts setting out HMRC’s contingent liabilities, the amount it might have to pay if it loses legal cases in the future.These figures are taken from government and HMRC accounts setting out HMRC’s contingent liabilities, the amount it might have to pay if it loses legal cases in the future.
A separate Vote Leave briefing note gives more details. Here’s an extract.A separate Vote Leave briefing note gives more details. Here’s an extract.
Rulings of the European court have exposed the taxpayer to massive liabilities for tax refunds to big businesses. The OBR now forecasts that HMRC will pay out £7.3bn from 2016-2017 to 2020-2021, an average of £270.43 per household (OBR, March 2016; ONS, 5 November 2015). If HMRC also loses every case currently pending (a further £35.6bn), the UK will be forced to pay out £42.9bn, the equivalent of £1,589 per household (HMRC, 16 July 2015; ONS, 5 November 2015).Rulings of the European court have exposed the taxpayer to massive liabilities for tax refunds to big businesses. The OBR now forecasts that HMRC will pay out £7.3bn from 2016-2017 to 2020-2021, an average of £270.43 per household (OBR, March 2016; ONS, 5 November 2015). If HMRC also loses every case currently pending (a further £35.6bn), the UK will be forced to pay out £42.9bn, the equivalent of £1,589 per household (HMRC, 16 July 2015; ONS, 5 November 2015).
The UK has tried to block these payouts before but its tax legislation has been overruled by the European court (Test Claimants in the Franked Investment Income Group Litigation v Commissioners of Inland Revenue, Case C-362/12; Commission v United Kingdom, Case C-640/13). If we vote remain, the European court will continue to take control over our tax system and require multibillion payouts to the multinational businesses.The UK has tried to block these payouts before but its tax legislation has been overruled by the European court (Test Claimants in the Franked Investment Income Group Litigation v Commissioners of Inland Revenue, Case C-362/12; Commission v United Kingdom, Case C-640/13). If we vote remain, the European court will continue to take control over our tax system and require multibillion payouts to the multinational businesses.
11.38am BST11.38am BST
11:3811:38
Here is Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, commenting on today’s European court of justice ruling backing Britain’s right to refuse to pay family welfare benefits to unemployed EU migrants who have been in Britain for less than five years. In a statement put out by Vote Leave he said:Here is Iain Duncan Smith, the former work and pensions secretary, commenting on today’s European court of justice ruling backing Britain’s right to refuse to pay family welfare benefits to unemployed EU migrants who have been in Britain for less than five years. In a statement put out by Vote Leave he said:
It’s absurd that we have to to run every nut and bolt of domestic policy past Luxembourg, and then engage in lengthy and expensive court battles if they decide they don’t like what our democratically elected government is doing.It’s absurd that we have to to run every nut and bolt of domestic policy past Luxembourg, and then engage in lengthy and expensive court battles if they decide they don’t like what our democratically elected government is doing.
As well as the cost to taxpayers of fighting these lengthy drawn out cases, it’s clearly an illegitimate challenge to our sovereignty. Although David Cameron didn’t want to admit it, this case and others like it are proof positive that the unelected European court of justice is now supreme above our elected parliament. They decide the rules and the only way to prevent this kind of intervention in future is to Vote Leave on 23 June.As well as the cost to taxpayers of fighting these lengthy drawn out cases, it’s clearly an illegitimate challenge to our sovereignty. Although David Cameron didn’t want to admit it, this case and others like it are proof positive that the unelected European court of justice is now supreme above our elected parliament. They decide the rules and the only way to prevent this kind of intervention in future is to Vote Leave on 23 June.
11.27am BST11.27am BST
11:2711:27
With Labour’s shadow cabinet EU event due to start in about half an hour, here is an extract from Rachel Sylvester’s column in the Times (paywall) today on the party and the EU referendum.With Labour’s shadow cabinet EU event due to start in about half an hour, here is an extract from Rachel Sylvester’s column in the Times (paywall) today on the party and the EU referendum.
It is Labour voters who will determine the outcome next week. According to a senior source at the Stronger In campaign, Tory voters are likely to account for a Remain vote of about 19 per cent, Lib Dems and Greens another 10 per cent and the SNP about 2 per cent, making a total of 31 per cent. That means that the prime minister is dependent on Labour voters to get over the required 50 per cent. Strategists have calculated that they need at least two-thirds of Labour supporters to vote Remain to be sure of victory. But — despite the vast majority of Labour MPs wanting to stay in — almost half of its voters do not know the party’s position ...It is Labour voters who will determine the outcome next week. According to a senior source at the Stronger In campaign, Tory voters are likely to account for a Remain vote of about 19 per cent, Lib Dems and Greens another 10 per cent and the SNP about 2 per cent, making a total of 31 per cent. That means that the prime minister is dependent on Labour voters to get over the required 50 per cent. Strategists have calculated that they need at least two-thirds of Labour supporters to vote Remain to be sure of victory. But — despite the vast majority of Labour MPs wanting to stay in — almost half of its voters do not know the party’s position ...
Another MP says that Labour voters in his area are breaking 55-45 for Out. “It’s terrible. The proverbial metropolitan elite has not been recognising the impact that rapid population change has had on the public services. And Labour is ducking this issue.”Another MP says that Labour voters in his area are breaking 55-45 for Out. “It’s terrible. The proverbial metropolitan elite has not been recognising the impact that rapid population change has had on the public services. And Labour is ducking this issue.”
The truth is that the referendum is exposing Labour’s breach with its traditional voters in a way that has profound implications for the country as well as the party. In Birmingham, campaigners were told to take all mentions of immigration out of their literature. Although the local MPs begged to be allowed to tackle local concerns head on, they were banned from doing so by party staff following instructions from the leader’s office. As one former minister says: “It gives the impression that we are completely out of touch with the way people live their lives.”The truth is that the referendum is exposing Labour’s breach with its traditional voters in a way that has profound implications for the country as well as the party. In Birmingham, campaigners were told to take all mentions of immigration out of their literature. Although the local MPs begged to be allowed to tackle local concerns head on, they were banned from doing so by party staff following instructions from the leader’s office. As one former minister says: “It gives the impression that we are completely out of touch with the way people live their lives.”
11.16am BST
11:16
The Labour party has deliberately chosen not to campaign alongside pro-EU Tories in the referendum campaign because of what happened to the party in Scotland after 2014. But, in an article for Newsweek, Matthew Laza, a former aide to Ed Miliband, argues this has been a “fatal mistake”.
Here’s an extract.
Yes, there was a case for Labour maintaining a separate and distinct role in the campaign. After Labour’s crushing 2015 general election defeat, it was clear that Cameron, and more specifically Osborne, were going to set the tone and direction of the “Remain” campaign, with scant regard to social democratic sensibilities.
But by completely opting out of the collective effort Labour wrote itself out of the argument. And in doing so removed itself from the main arena where that argument would be held—the TV news bulletins. As the person brought in to sort out Labour’s approach to TV before the last election, it has broken my heart to see our view so roundly frozen out. With no Labour figure centre-stage the battle of the airwaves became, as the cliché now goes, an exclusively “blue on blue” war as clips of Conservative in-fighting dominated the broadcasts.
10.53am BST
10:53
Clegg's wife Miriam Gonzalez Durantez attacks Cameron's 'Mickey Mouse [EU] negotiation'
Miriam Gonzalez Durantez, Nick Clegg’s wife, has launched a caustic attack on David Cameron’s EU renegotiation. Speaking at the annual Fortune Most Powerful Woman International Summit in London this morning, Gonzalez Durantez, a lawyer, said:
This is a club where everybody gets a say. You cannot be there and expect that others are going to reform it for you. I am all in favour of reform. The European Union is crying for reform. Proper reform. Not that Mickey Mouse negotiation that the prime minister did. The biggest reform that the EU needs is growth. We need growth in Europe.
She also said that she though the UK was “sleepwalking towards disaster” because it might vote for Brexit.
I believe that this country is sleep walking towards disaster. It will not only be a disaster in this country it will be a disaster for Europe and across the whole world. In my life I have never gone through another moment when I have thought we are in the history books.
10.36am BST
10:36
For more on what voters in Labour areas are saying about the EU referendum, Polly Toynbee’s column in the Guardian today is also a must read. Here’s an excerpt.
Inside Labour’s London HQ, I joined young volunteers manning the “Labour In” phones with every fact at the ready. We had sheets of Labour-supporting names to call in Nottinghamshire – and the results were grim. “Out”, “Out” and “Out” in call after call, only a couple for remain. “I’ve been Labour all my life, but I’m for leave,” they said. Why? Always the same – immigrants first; that mythical £350m saving on money sent to Brussels second; “I want my country back” third. And then there is, “I don’t know ANYONE voting in.”
Try arguing with facts and you get nowhere. Warn these Labour people what a Johnson/Gove government would do and they don’t care. Warn about the loss of workers’ rights and they don’t listen – maybe that’s already irrelevant to millions in crap jobs such as at Uber or Sports Direct. “We’re full up. Sorry, there’s no room for more. Can’t get GP appointments, can’t get into our schools, no housing.” If you tell these Labour voters that’s because of Tory austerity cuts, still they blame “immigrants getting everything first”. Warn about a Brexit recession leading to far worse cuts and they just say, “Stop them coming, make room for our own first.”
And here’s her column in full.
Related: Brexit supporters have unleashed furies even they can’t control | Polly Toynbee
10.13am BST
10:13
Here’s Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor, responding to the Vote Leave spending pledge today.
This is fantasy economics from the leave campaign as quitting Europe would wreck Britain’s economy and mean cuts to spending on vital public services, as just about every economic expert has said.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies has said leaving would lead to a £40bn blackhole in the public finances and nine out of ten economists say leaving would damage the economy.
10.03am BST
10:03
My colleague John Harris has been to Stoke-on-Trent, a Labour stronghold, to ask what people think about the EU referendum for his latest Anywhere but Westminster video. He has found huge support there for Leave.
Do watch it; it’s very, very good.
9.59am BST
09:59
Here is Marley Morris, a research fellow at the IPPR thinktank, commenting on the ECJ’s ruling this morning. (See 9.23am.)
This decision by the European Court of Justice is another sign – on top of other recent judgments – that it is becoming more sympathetic to the UK’s interpretation of free movement rules.
And here is the IPPR’s assessment of what this decision means for the EU referendum.
Nine days ahead of the referendum, this judgment is likely to be picked up by both campaigns. On the one hand, the judgment shows that the EU’s free movement rules do not prevent member states from taking action to block access to benefits for migrants who have been in the UK for less than five years and are not economically active and cannot support themselves. It also strengthens the argument that the future reforms to free movement and welfare rules – as agreed in the EU renegotiation – will not be rolled back by the EU court.
But, despite the judgment going in the UK’s favour, it is likely to also remind voters that aspects of the UK’s welfare system are subject to EU law.
9.47am BST
09:47
Alan Johnson's Today interview - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat
And this is what political journalists are saying about Alan Johnson’s Today interview.
From the Financial Times’s Jim Pickard
Alan Johnson hits nail on head that it only takes 0.6% fall in GDP to wipe out £8bn we would no longer pay to EU: but are voters listening?
From the New Statesman’s George Eaton
Alan Johnson tells Labour outers that the LSE and Oxford Economics think they're wrong. Doesn't seem a wise strategy to me. #r4today
From the Sun’s Harry Cole
Alan Johnson says the voters are not sceptical of what they are being told about Brexit by the Remain campaign....
From the Daily Mail’s Isabel Oakeshott
Desperate stuff from Alan Johnson as he claims leaving EU would somehow give us *less* control over immigration. I'll take my chances
9.39am BST
09:39
Alan Johnson says Brexit would make immigration situation worse
Alan Johnson, chair of Labour In for Britain, was also on the Today programme this morning. Here are the key points from his interview.
We’ve talked about immigration all the way through this by the way. Sometimes people haven’t been listening to us ...
The argument we’re making is, look, there’s three types of immigration: there’s immigration from outside the EU, there’s illegal immigration, and there’s free movement. Of those, free movement gives us the benefit of the single market.
Our argument is remaining part of the single market helps us to control the other two forms of immigration. If we leave, the situation is going to be worse. We won’t be protected by the Dublin Accord. If anyone believes that our UK border in Calais is going to survive us leaving the EU then once again they’re in the realms of fantasy. Of course it won’t, that will make the issue much worse.
Now, Vote Leave say in their latest fantasy economics, ‘we’re going to give all this money back’. That money won’t exist; it only takes a 0.6% movement in our wealth, GDP only has to be hit by just over half a percent, to eradicate the £8bn – not £19bn that they were claiming – the £8bn that is sent to Europe and distributed through farming subsidies et cetera. And losing our access to the biggest commercial market in the world, turning our back on something we created is going to damage our economy, that’s going to damage public finances, that is going to hit our public services.
I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.
Updated
at 9.41am BST
9.23am BST
09:23
ECJ backs UK's right to limit migrants' access to child benefits
The European court of justice has ruled in favour of the UK in the case about whether the government has the right to refuse child benefit and child tax credits to EU citizens who do not have a “right of residence”. The challenge was brought by the European commission.
#ECJ rules that the UK can require recipients of child benefits to have a right to reside in the UK. Link: https://t.co/B0sMPtNgss
9.08am BST
09:08
My colleague Roy Greenslade has written about the Sun’s decision to come out for Brexit this morning.
Here’s his conclusion.
What difference will it make? Precious little. The overwhelming majority of the Sun’s readers who have decided to vote on 23 June have already made up their minds where to play their cross.
But the Sun’s statement certainly has a symbolic importance and it is likely to give the jitters to the already nervous Cameron and his Remain campaigners.
And here’s his article in full.
Related: The Sun's Brexit call is unsurprising but it has a symbolic significance