This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs - Politics live
Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn clash over NHS funding at PMQs - Politics live
(35 minutes later)
Bim Afolami, a Conservative, says he shares May’s strong commitment to the NHS. Can she assure him the money will lead to better patient outcomes?
May agrees. She does not want to see extra money going in and not being spend on patient care.
Here is May on the detention of child refugees in the US.
“This is wrong, this is not something we agree with, this is not the UK’s approach” @theresa_may on children in US detention centres#pmqs https://t.co/y3OmBWEJ5A pic.twitter.com/AHd1xBT6s3
PMQs - Snap verdict: That was by no means a classic, but it was one of those PMQs that could in retrospect turn out to be more significant than you might have thought while listening to the rather under-powered ding dong. That’s not because Corbyn won on health, a Labour issue where his emotive complaints about under-funding normally have force. In fact, this wasn’t so much a PMQs about health as about financial credibility - supposedly the Conservative party’s USP for most of its history - and Corbyn clearly had the best of the argument. His questions weren’t particularly flash, but they were were pertinent and reasonable, and May didn’t even begin to answer them. Where will all the money for the NHS come from? What taxes will go up? Will there be extra borrowing? These are proper questions (not loaded PMQs jibes, which the PM can ignore with some justification) and May’s perfectly articulate flannel could not really hide the fact that Corbyn had a point. He is outscoring May on fiscal prudence. The Tories ought to be worried ....
Corbyn says under Labour the NHS increase would be 5% this year. And what is her offer - a promise without saying where any of it would come from, apart from phantom taxes Hammond is presumably dreaming up now. But there is a human element to this. He quotes from a letter from someone saying her daughter needed a wheelchair but could not get one from the NHS. Does May think standing still is good enough for the NHS?
May says she is putting in extra money. She quotes what Simon Stevens, the NHS chief executive said. He said the settlement would provide the NHs with the money it needed. For every £1 extra the government spends on the NHS in England, the Welsh Labour government spends just 84p.
Corbyn says May announced nothing for health or social care. It is not what the NHS needs. A&E waits are their worst ever. There are 100,000 staff vacancies, she says. She says the PM is writing IOUs just to stand still. Until this government can be straight with people where the money is coming from, why should people trust them on the NHS.
May says she can tell him why; for 43 of its 70 years, it has been under the Tories. We will now see a 10-year plan to improve services. Corbyn can talk of Labour’s plans. But Labour’s plans would bankrupt the economy. Their plan does not add up. Labour would lose control of the public finances, she says.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
Jeremy Corbyn pays tribute to his “friend”, the Finsbury Park imam.
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.
Today is world refugee day, he says. All political leaders have a duty to aid refugees.
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?
May says she was struck when she visited the Finsbury Park mosque by the community work done there.
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.
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?
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.
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?
May says the government is committed to the Paris accord. The government remains committed to its targets, she says.
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.
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.
This is from the Times’ Patrick Kidd.
This is from the Times’ Patrick Kidd.
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?
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?
This is from the FT’s George Parker.
This is from the FT’s George Parker.
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?
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?
PMQs is about to start.
PMQs is about to start.
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
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
Here is an extract from today’s Times story (pawyall) about the vote.
Here is an extract from today’s Times story (pawyall) about the vote.
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.
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.
Instead they are concentrating their efforts on encouraging Labour MPs in Leave-voting areas to defy their own whip and vote with the government.
Instead they are concentrating their efforts on encouraging Labour MPs in Leave-voting areas to defy their own whip and vote with the government.
One Labour source claimed that MPs were being promised that the Tories would “go easy” in future elections on those who supported them.
One Labour source claimed that MPs were being promised that the Tories would “go easy” in future elections on those who supported them.
Bloomberg’s Rob Hutton has some good advice for those said to be on the receiving end of such entreaties.
Bloomberg’s Rob Hutton has some good advice for those said to be on the receiving end of such entreaties.
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.
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.
Guy Verhofstadt, the European parliament’s representative on Brexit, has been undertaking the first of two sessions at the Commons today – a marathon grilling by the Brexit select committee, which is still going on, almost two-and-half hours on.
Here’s a few things he has said so far. Asked by Tory MP John Whittingdale if Brexit would allow the EU to integrate more quickly without the UK as a drag, Verhofstadt said the process had been a failure for the block and could accelerate reform:
I look to the Brexit decision as a failure of the European union. If an important country like the UK is breaking away from the European Union, it’s difficult to say, oh, it’s a success, fantastic… It has opened our eyes in the European Union and it has has speeded up the whole thinking about reform.
He predicted it would take the entire transition period to negotiate a final political deal:
I think it shall be necessary to use the whole transition period to detail this political declaration … To detail an agreement in which we will have close trade and economic relations, cooperation on internal security, cooperation on external security, and then a whole lot of diplomatic cooperation – for that we will need more time than three or four months. But that’s not a problem. That’s the reason why there’s a will from both sides to have a transition.
Asked by Tory MP Stephen Crabb about whether the EU was refusing to compromise in negotiations, Verhofstadt said the UK should instead be more flexible over its red lines:
You have to make a difference in politics between hope and what is possible …. What is not possible is that you say, we are out of the European Union but we stay a member of Europol, we stay a member of the European arrest warrant, or even go further than you do today.
Today Britain has a number of opt-outs in these policies where you don’t participate. And now what the UK government is requesting is to participate in policies where in the past it has never opted. And then I say: Sorry, that is not possible. We need to find a practical arrangement.
The Commons has held two previous votes on the “meaningful vote” issue.
On Tuesday last week, as MPs were first voting on Lords amendments to the EU withdrawal bill, the government won a vote on this by voted by 324 votes to 298 - a majority of 26. But that was only because Theresa May had bought off Tory rebels at the last moment by promising them a compromise. (Dominic Grieve subsequently thought he had negotiated “Grieve 2” as the compromise - see 11.24am - but the government refused to accept it at the last minute after David Davis objected.)
The full division list for that vote is here.
On that vote two Conservatives voted against the government: Ken Clarke and Anna Soubry. But five Labour MPs rebelled against their whip and voted with the government: Ronnie Campbell, Frank Field, Kate Hoey, John Mann and Graham Stringer.
There was also a vote in December last year, when MPs were originally discussing the bill, which saw the government defeated on “Grieve 1” - his original “meaningful vote” amendment. The government was defeated by 309 votes to 305 - a majority of 4.
On that occasion 12 Tories rebelled and voted against the government: Heidi Allen, Ken Clarke, Jonathan Djanogly, Dominic Grieve, Stephen Hammond, Sir Oliver Heald, Nicky Morgan, Robert Neill, Antointette Sandbach, Anna Soubry, John Stevenson, and Sarah Wollaston.
And two Labour MPs rebelled against their whip and voted with the government: Frank Field and Kate Hoey.
If you want an explanation as to what the various “meaningful vote” proposals have involved (there have been several), there is one here.
Sam Gyimah, the universities minister, has made the Evening Standard splash by condemning President Trump’s decision to separate immigrant children from their parents.
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
The story is based on this tweet.
Separating children from their parents in this way is beyond dreadful. This policy is indefensible, pure and simple! https://t.co/1Uev9imHj4
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.
The text of that amendment (“Grieve 2”) is here (pdf).
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.
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.
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”.
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
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Matthew Weaver. I was held up this morning for domestic reasons.
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.
One Government oral statement in the @HouseofCommons today: Jeremy Hunt: Gosport Independent Panel – Publication of Report
Robert Buckland, the solicitor general, sounded confident that the government would win today. Talking to Sky’s All Out Politics Buckland he said:
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.
I’m optimistic about many things and I’m optimistic that today that our arguments are strong.
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.
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.”
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
Jeremy Corbyn is trying to persuade Labour Leavers to vote against the government.
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.
ITV’s political editor Robert Peston reckons there is a real risk that May could a lose a vote that she could have avoided.
Writing on Facebook he says: “May could have swallowed the substance of the amendment and emerged unscathed.”
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.
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)
HuffPost UK’s Paul Waugh says rebel waverers are the ones to watch:
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.
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.
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.
The debate is expected to start at 1pm according to Labour.
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.
