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Brexit: May hit by two cabinet resignations as Raab and McVey quit over plan - Politics live | |
(35 minutes later) | |
Responding to Blackford, May says the reason Scotland is treated differently from Northern Ireland is because Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK that will have a land border with the EU after Brexit. | |
And Scotland is not mentioned because it is part of the United Kingdom, she says. | |
From the Labour MP Mary Creagh | |
Chief whip staring at phone with face like thunder. 5 ministers gone in 3 hours. | |
This is from CityAM’s Owen Bennett (who is writing a biography of Michael Gove.) | |
No word from @michaelgove’s team about where he is. Radio silence. Is he plotting? | |
Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminser, says to lose two Brexit secretaries in six months is chaotic. He says that May looks desperate and defeat. | |
Scotland is not even mentioned in the document, he says. Yet there are 100 references to Northern Ireland, and references to Gibraltar and the Isle of Man too. If Northern Ireland can stay in the single market, why not Scotland too? He says May is ignoring the democratic desires of Scotland. | |
Ken Clarke, the Conservative pro-European, asks May if she agrees that the main benefits from EU membership have come from having a completely open border. So will she agree not to give that up until we know what we are changing too? | |
May says the UK has heard from business the importance of frictionless borders. That is why the future plan is based on that. | |
May is responding to Corbyn. | |
She says the government is planning for no deal. | |
She says there are 500 pages of legal text. It is not ill-defined. | |
She says the political declaration does refer to the plan to create a free trade area between the UK and the EU. | |
And Corbyn said there were no references to extradition in the document, she says. But she does not know what he read. There are references to extradition. And Corbyn was also wrong to say Europol was not mentioned. The document says the UK does want to continue with that, she says. | |
Corbyn says there is no clarity about a future immigration strategy. | |
After the Windrush scandal, EU nationals living in the UK need certainty. | |
He says parliament should not accept a false choice between no deal and this deal. | |
The government should withdraw this “half-baked deal” that does not have the backing of the cabinet, parliament or the country as a whole. | |
Corbyn asks May to confirm that the UK would not be able to leave the backstop unilaterally. | |
He says rules committing the UK to maintaining EU state aid regulations are baked in. But there are no equivalent guarantees on worker rights, he says. | |
He says after two years of negotiations all the government has agreed is a vague, seven-page document on the future. There is no determination in it to negotiate frictionless trade, or trade as frictionless as possible, he says. | |
Jeremy Corbyn is speaking now. He says May’s plan represents a huge and damaging failure and does not meet Labour’s six tests. | |
Corbyn says May’s Brexit deal does not meet Labour’s six tests. | |
The government is “in chaos”, he says. | |
He says, if Dominic Raab cannot support the deal, MPs cannot back it either. | |
No deal is not an option, he says. | |
He says the government must publish its legal advice on the deal, and the OBR should revise its economic forecasts. | |
He claims there is no mention of an “implementation” period in the deal. | |
The deal says the transition could be extended to “20XX”. Does that mean it could run to 2099? | |
May says, when she became PM, there was no plan for Brexit. | |
May implicitly criticises the Cameron government for not having a plan for Brexit. | |
Some people said it could not be done. She did not accept that, she says. | |
She says it has been a frustrating process. It has forced the UK to confront difficult issues. | |
Once a final deal is agreed, she will come to parliament and ask MPs to back it in the national interest. | |
May says the choice is clear. We can choose to leave with no deal, or have no Brexit at all .... | |
That generates loud cheering from some MPs. | |
Or we can choose this deal, says May. | |
She says she is delivering for the British people and doing what is in the national interest. | |
May is now on the outline future partnership. | |
Free movement will end once and for all, she says. | |
She says no other advanced economy has such good access to the EU for goods. | |
And there are commitments on services that go well beyond WTO requirements. | |
The UK will leave the common agricultural policy and the common fisheries policy, she says. | |
There is a close and flexible partnership on defence and security. | |
May says some people urged her to rip up the backstop. | |
But that would have been irresponsible, and it would have meant reneging on promises made to the people of Northern Ireland. | |
May is taking MPs through the details. | |
She says the withdrawal detail shows how the UK will leave the EU in 134 days’ time. | |
She says she thinks the Irish border issue will best be solved through the future relationship. | |
But the withdrawal agreement includes a backstop. This has not been “a comfortable process”, she says. Neither the UK nor the EU are totally happy with it. | |
But, she says, any deal would have to have a backstop. It would not be possible to have an alternative, like Canada plus plus plus, without it. | |
She says the EU has made concessions. | |
First, the plan for the Northern Ireland-only backstop has been dropped. | |
Second, the transition could be extended as an alternative to the backstop. | |
Third, the plan commits both parties to use “best endeavours” to ensure this is not used. And if the backstop is used, it will be temporary. There will be a mechanism for ending it. | |
Finally, Northern Ireland businesses will have full access to the UK single market. | |
Theresa May is making her Commons statement on the Brexit deal now. | |
We may be here for a while. John Bercow, the Speaker, always lets statements of this kind run, and interest in this one is enormous. I wouldn’t be surprised if it runs for up to three hours. | |
Anne-Marie Trevelyan has resigned as a parliamentary private secretary. | |
It is with sadness that I have submitted my letter of resignation as PPS to the Education Ministers to the Prime Minister. It has been a joy and a privilege to have served in defence and education. pic.twitter.com/AWlMXNxtT0 | |
My colleague Jesssica Elgot is tipping Michael Gove, the environment secretary, as a possible replacement for Dominic Raab as Brexit secretary. | My colleague Jesssica Elgot is tipping Michael Gove, the environment secretary, as a possible replacement for Dominic Raab as Brexit secretary. |
There surely can't be a credible candidate for Brexit secretary other than Michael Gove. That might be the only way to keep this show on the road. Depends on his choices today, I suppose. | There surely can't be a credible candidate for Brexit secretary other than Michael Gove. That might be the only way to keep this show on the road. Depends on his choices today, I suppose. |
The case for Gove is that he is most heavyweight Brexiter left standing in cabinet following the resignations of David Davis, Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab. He is also a minister with a reputation for executive effectiveness. And if anyone could sell a Brexit plan to the ERG, it would be him. | The case for Gove is that he is most heavyweight Brexiter left standing in cabinet following the resignations of David Davis, Boris Johnson and Dominic Raab. He is also a minister with a reputation for executive effectiveness. And if anyone could sell a Brexit plan to the ERG, it would be him. |
He was also, reportedly, the only Brexiter who backed the plan at yesterday’s cabinet. | He was also, reportedly, the only Brexiter who backed the plan at yesterday’s cabinet. |
The case against Gove is that Theresa May doesn’t trust him an inch, on the understandable grounds that in the past he has already betrayed two senior Tories to whom he was very close (David Cameron and then Boris Johnson.) | The case against Gove is that Theresa May doesn’t trust him an inch, on the understandable grounds that in the past he has already betrayed two senior Tories to whom he was very close (David Cameron and then Boris Johnson.) |
If Gove were to get the job, it is conceivable that he could demand changes to the government’s Brexit strategy. Gove has in the past argued that Brexiters should focus on getting the UK out of the EU, with a view to hardening up Brexit later. And his close ally Nick Boles has been pushing the “Norway for Now” option – staying in the European Economic Area, with a view to perhaps moving to a Canada-style trade deal later. | |
Suella Braverman, a junior Brexit minister, has resigned. | Suella Braverman, a junior Brexit minister, has resigned. |
It is with deep regret and after reflection that I have had to tender my resignation today as a Brexit Minister. Thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to working to support Brexit from the Backbenches. This has not been an easy decision. pic.twitter.com/C0kply8aLE | It is with deep regret and after reflection that I have had to tender my resignation today as a Brexit Minister. Thank you for the opportunity. I look forward to working to support Brexit from the Backbenches. This has not been an easy decision. pic.twitter.com/C0kply8aLE |
Braverman was chair of the European Research Group before she joined the government. When David Davis and Steve Baker resigned from the Brexit department over the Chequers plans, for a while there were reports that she was going too. But on that occasion she was persuaded to stay. | Braverman was chair of the European Research Group before she joined the government. When David Davis and Steve Baker resigned from the Brexit department over the Chequers plans, for a while there were reports that she was going too. But on that occasion she was persuaded to stay. |