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Brexit party victory in Euro elections would be vote for WTO option, says Farage - live news
Brexit: Farage demands role in talks with EU if his party wins Euro elections - live news
(about 2 hours later)
At a poster launch in Islington, north London, where Jeremy Corbyn is an MP, the Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said he wanted to win over Labour voters. He said:
My main priority here is to get Labour voters who are rightfully disenchanted with Jeremy Corbyn over Brexit, to get behind us in the European elections, that’s the objective.
We did extremely well in the local elections, it was unambiguous. It was predominately remain areas and remain voters but we did get a lot of others voting for us on the strength of our performance and credibility in the local government.
Liberal Democrats are ready to take our clear message to Britain in #EUelections2019 on 23 May - stop Brexit. pic.twitter.com/9ceNZCcmA8
According to my colleague Daniel Boffey, (like many of us) Jean-Claude Juncker has also given up trying to guess how Brexit will conclude.
Juncker on Brexit: "i don't have fears, i don't have hopes. i was saying the other day that by comparison to the British parliament the Egyptian sphinx are open books. Either they stay or they will leave. If they stay, they stay. If they leave, they leave."
Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, has also been holding a press conference this morning. He said he made a mistake in 2016 when, on the advice of the then prime minister, David Cameron, he chose not to get involved in the referendum campaign. The European commission should have got involved to “destroy the lies” circulating about the EU. He said:
The then prime minister asked me not to interfere, not to intervene in the referendum campaign.
It was a mistake not to intervene and not to interfere because we would have been the only ones to destroy the lies which were circulated around. I was wrong to be silent at an important moment.
Juncker may be over-estimating his powers of persuasion, at least with British voters. He did not intervene, but another president, Barack Obama, did famously urge Britons to vote remain and the consensus is that this had little or no effect on the result.
As Ukip leader Nigel Farage probably did more than anyone else to push the Conservative party to the point where David Cameron decided he had to hold a referendum on Brexit. Now he leads a new party, the Brexit party, and some polling suggests it is on course to win the European elections by a nine-point margin. That would be a much bigger win than Ukip’s win (under Farage) in the same elections five years ago.
Farage abandoned Ukip after it embraced far-right Islamophobia under its current leader, Gerard Batten, but on Brexit he is not softening his message. Far from it. Three years ago, during a referendum event hosted by the Guardian, Farage implied he would be happy with a Norway-style Brexit (ie, a soft Brexit, with the UK staying in the single market). Norway was rich, happy and successful, he said. What would be wrong with that?
Now he wants no-deal - or a WTO Brexit, as he calls it. He also has ambitions to break open the Westminster two-party political system.
Here are the main points from the news conference.
Farage said a Brexit party victory at the European elections would amount to the country voting for a WTO [World Trade Organisation] Brexit. He and Richard Tice, the Brexit party chairman, repeatedly referred to a WTO Brexit, but the same concept is more commonly referred to as a no-deal Brexit, particularly by those opposed to the idea.
Farage said the Brexit party should be allowed to help negotiate Brexit if it won the European elections. He said:
In terms of legitimacy, if the Brexit party wins this election arguing for a WTO Brexit, and we get significant support and we win, I think we will have democratic legitimacy to have a say in how we proceed from here. The new date we have is 31 October. We absolutely believe that the UK must, must, must leave on that date. And if we were part of that discussion, I think we could offer them a very sensible way forward.
And Tice said:
A vote for the Brexit party is a clear vote for a WTO Brexit, no ifs, no buts.
Secondly, a vote for the Brexit party is a vote that our elected MEPs should play a significant role in the future negotiating team. We will demand such a role because we will be the party with the biggest, the most clear democratic mandate to be involved with those negotiations.
Farage and Tice called for the Brexit party to be included in the UK negotiating team even though their preferred option, a WTO Brexit, would not really require a negotiation at all. If the UK were to leave without a deal, it would become the default. Farage was asked to explain this apparent inconsistency, but sidestepped the question. (See 11.23am.)
Farage claimed some major Tory donors were considering giving money to his new party. He said that the party had already raised more than £2m, with more than 95% of that coming in £25 sums online. But he went on:
I think that may be about to change. I say that because there are now a few, much bigger donors, traditionally donors to the Conservative party, who we are now in conversation with, because they understand and realise that to fight a general election seriously we’re going to need big bucks.
He claimed his party would win millions of votes at a general election if Westminster failed to deliver a hard Brexit. He said:
If the clean break Brexit is not delivered, then my view would that the Brexit party in a general election would get many, many more votes than the 4m I managed to get as leader of Ukip all those years ago ...
I do not believe we will ever get a meaningful Brexit with this current government and this current parliament and this current political class. So, unless they listen to whatever we are able to do on 23 May, and perhaps about to do on 6 June at Peterborough, unless there is a fundamental shift in terms of what MPs are prepared to deliver, we are going to have to start to replace them in significant numbers.
He said the Brexit party was today starting to recruit general election candidates. He said the party wanted to find a new sort of MP.
We want 650 men and women ... with real-world experience, people who either in civic life or business life have got some achievements under their belt. It will be a very new kind of politics.
Although Farage claimed this would deliver a new kind of politics, most of the people who get elected to parliament to represent the established parties do have considerable “real-world experience”.
He called for the end of first-past-the-post. He said:
And if ever there was a time to break the first past the post system, it’s now.
He defended his decision to take give a series of interviews to Infowars, a far-right US website specialising in conspiracy theories. Today the Guardian has reported on concerns about Farage’s appearance on the show. Asked about these revelations, Farage said there was “without doubt some truth” in the claim that the presenter, Alex Jones, was a conspiracy theorist. But Farage went on:
Because you appear on programmes doesn’t mean that you support the editorial line, necessarily, of those podcasts, broadcasts, newspapers or whatever they may be ...
I have never been conspiracy theorist at all.
But then Farage also attacked the Guardian and the Observer, claiming that some of their stories about him receiving money from Russia and about him delivering a memory stick to Julian Assange, amounted to conspiracy theories. He told the Guardian journalist who asked the question:
I think when it comes to crackpot conspiracy theories, you’re way, way ahead of me.
Q: Will you be meeting President Trump when he comes to the UK?
Q: Will you be meeting President Trump when he comes to the UK?
Farage says, when Trump last come to the UK, one of the government’s red line demands was for Trump not to meet Farage.
Farage says, when Trump last come to the UK, one of the government’s red line demands was for Trump not to meet Farage.
He says, given his personal relationship with Trump, you would have thought it would make sense for the government to use his him to the country’s advantage.
He says, given his personal relationship with Trump, you would have thought it would make sense for the government to use his him to the country’s advantage.
And that’s it. The press conference is over.
And that’s it. The press conference is over.
I will post a summary shortly.
I will post a summary shortly.
Farage says the Brexit party will not be publishing policies until after the European elections are over. During the campaign it will be focusing on democracy, he says.
Farage says the Brexit party will not be publishing policies until after the European elections are over. During the campaign it will be focusing on democracy, he says.
He says he does not think there will be a “meaningful Brexit” with this current government and this current parliament. He says it is important to replace MPs in significant numbers.
He says he does not think there will be a “meaningful Brexit” with this current government and this current parliament. He says it is important to replace MPs in significant numbers.
He also says it is important to break first past the post.
He also says it is important to break first past the post.
Q: [From my colleague Rowena Mason] Do you regret giving interviews to Alex Jones, the US conspiracy theorist?
Q: [From my colleague Rowena Mason] Do you regret giving interviews to Alex Jones, the US conspiracy theorist?
The Guardian has written about those interviews today.
The Guardian has written about those interviews today.
Nigel Farage under fire over 'antisemitic tropes' on far-right US talkshow
Nigel Farage under fire over 'antisemitic tropes' on far-right US talkshow
Farage says he has given interviews all over the world. He has appeared on the Alex Jones programme. But just because you appear on a programme does not mean you support its editorial line, he says.
Farage says he has given interviews all over the world. He has appeared on the Alex Jones programme. But just because you appear on a programme does not mean you support its editorial line, he says.
And he claims that the Guardian and the Observer has published outlandish claims about him, saying he has been funded by Russia and that he has run memory sticks to Julian Assange. When it comes to conspiracy theories, the Guardian is way ahead of him, he says.
And he claims that the Guardian and the Observer has published outlandish claims about him, saying he has been funded by Russia and that he has run memory sticks to Julian Assange. When it comes to conspiracy theories, the Guardian is way ahead of him, he says.
Q: Why aren’t you standing in Peterborough?
Q: Why aren’t you standing in Peterborough?
Farage says he has experience as an MEP. He thinks a lot of Brexit party MEPs will be elected, and he sees it as his duty to take them to Brussels to show them how the system works.
Farage says he has experience as an MEP. He thinks a lot of Brexit party MEPs will be elected, and he sees it as his duty to take them to Brussels to show them how the system works.
Q: Is Arron Banks one of your donors?
Q: Is Arron Banks one of your donors?
No, says Farage. He says Banks will not be donating to the party.
No, says Farage. He says Banks will not be donating to the party.
Q: You say 90% of your money is from small donors. Who are the big donors?
Q: You say 90% of your money is from small donors. Who are the big donors?
Farage says the party has had one big donation, worth £100,000. It will reveal the name of the donor in due course.
Farage says the party has had one big donation, worth £100,000. It will reveal the name of the donor in due course.
Q: How will you get Brexit party MEPs accepted on the UK negotiating team? And, if it is a WTO Brexit, will there be any negotiating anyway?
Q: How will you get Brexit party MEPs accepted on the UK negotiating team? And, if it is a WTO Brexit, will there be any negotiating anyway?
The question comes from a BBC journalist. Farage sarcastically thanks them for turning up, saying the BBC has not covered his rallies, and the Brexit party has not been represented on panels.
The question comes from a BBC journalist. Farage sarcastically thanks them for turning up, saying the BBC has not covered his rallies, and the Brexit party has not been represented on panels.
Farage says if the Brexit party wins, that will be a vote for a WTO Brexit.
Farage says if the Brexit party wins, that will be a vote for a WTO Brexit.
Farage claims a Brexit party victory at the Euro elections would be a vote for a WTO Brexit.
Farage claims a Brexit party victory at the Euro elections would be a vote for a WTO Brexit.
Tice says the current negotiations have failed. Some sensible people need to take over, he says.
Tice says the current negotiations have failed. Some sensible people need to take over, he says.
Q: Are you talking to Tory MPs about defecting, as well as Tory donors?
Q: Are you talking to Tory MPs about defecting, as well as Tory donors?
Farage says he is more interesting in recruiting donors at the moment.
Farage says he is more interesting in recruiting donors at the moment.
He says his experience as Ukip leader was that recruiting defectors from other parties meant bringing in all their in-fighting too. He does not want to do that again, he says.
He says his experience as Ukip leader was that recruiting defectors from other parties meant bringing in all their in-fighting too. He does not want to do that again, he says.
Farage is now taking questions.
He says the Peterborough shortlist is down to three. The party has to decide within the next 24 hours who the candidate will be. Some national figures want to stand. But there are some interesting local figures too, he says.
He says he would not be asking other people to stand for parliament if he were not willing to stand himself. But he has not thought where he might stand, he says.
Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, is speaking now.
He says the party is releasing a pledge card today. It makes it clear the party wants a “clean break Brexit”.
He says over the last three years the political class has behaved “despicably”. And that is getting worse by the day, he says.
He says Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn are trying to form “a coalition against the people”.
Farage says he has concluded that winning the European elections will not be enough. This is but a first step, he says. He says the party might have to fight a second referendum, which he is confident it would win, he says. But he says the party also wants to change politics for good.
He says the Brexit party will fight the Peterborough byelection. It will put up a first-class candidate, although the candidate has not been chosen yet.
He says the party will today start recruiting candidates for the general election. It wants a new kind of candidate, people with real life experience. There is a new page on the website where people can apply, he says. He says candidates will be rigorously vetted.
He says the party now has 88,000 registered supporters. He says the party has received £2m in donations, mostly in small donations. But that could be about to change. He says some Tory donors are now considering giving money to the party.
Farage claims some significant Tory donors are considering giving to the Brexit party.
Nigel Farage is holding a Brexit party press conference now.
You can watch a live feed here.
Richard Tice, the party chairman, is opening the event.
He says the Brexit party expects to win the European elections comprehensively. He says they are fielding the most qualified set of candidates put forward by any party for a generation.
Many of their candidates have experience of negotiation, he says.
He says the Brexit party is unequivocally calling for a WTO Brexit.
And if the Brexit party does well in the European elections, some of its MEPs should be included in the negotiating team, he says.
He says the Brexit party stands for commonsense politics.
Tice says Brexit party will demand to be included in the negotiating team if it wins the European elections.
Uk in a Changing Europe, a thinktank, has produced a very useful report (pdf) with a series of short briefings, mostly by academics, on Brexit and the European elections. Here is an extract from one of the mini essays, by Anand Menon and Matthew Bevington, entitled “Do the elections matter for Brexit?”
The traditional ‘grand coalition’ groups look set to lose their overall majority [in the European parliament] for the first time. This introduces uncertainty, both in terms of who the next commission president will be but also about the process involved in selecting them. If, as looks likely, the two largest groupings – the S&D and EPP – have to rely on the liberal group (ALDE) to form a stable majority for deciding on major posts, this will have a substantive impact.
To take one hypothetical example. A commission led by Michel Barnier – a far from implausible outcome should the spitzenkandidaten process fail to deliver a candidate who can win majority support in the parliament – could be expected to cleave closely to the approach adopted by the article 50 task force to date. A different commission president might, by contrast, take issue with that approach (we have already seen signs of tension between Barnier and Juncker over Brexit).
And, of course, the new parliament will play a significant role when it comes to agreeing a future relationship between the UK and the EU. Warning signs are there already. The European parliament, for instance, rejected a motion offering tentative support to limited trade talks with the US. It did so because a coalition of the Socialists, Greens and far-right groupings insisted on conditions for such talks. They demanded that the existing negotiating directives for EU-US (TTIP) trade negotiations be revoked, and inserted several conditions on any further talks with the US: first, that aluminium and steel tariffs be lifted; second, that the agreement be subject to a carbon impact assessment; and, third, that it includes cars but excludes agriculture.
This hints at some of the problems that might confront the UK with a more divided and polarised European parliament. The EU’s talks with the US are now highly politicised following the TTIP saga. The Brexit process to date has raised suspicions concerning the UK’s intentions in Brussels. It is easy to imagine a similar shopping list of preconditions – on climate change, minimum regulatory standards, inter alia, to be drawn up by MEPs.
And here is Sky’s Beth Rigby on the cross-party talks.
Update on x-party talks. Cabinet source who was very downbeat about prospect of deal last week now reckons locals have made it “more likely Labour will actually do some kind of a deal” Says the argument inside Labour has shifted “towards the dealers”
Here is a round-up of some of the reports around this morning about the cross-party Brexit talks.
Gordon Rayner in the Daily Telegraph (paywall) says Theresa May has been warned she will removed from office if she agrees a deal with Labour.
May has been warned her MPs will begin moves to oust her as soon as this week if she agrees a Brexit deal with Labour.
The prime minister wants to sign off an agreement with Jeremy Corbyn on Tuesday in order to avoid having to send new MEPs to the European parliament, but there is little appetite for a cross-party deal among her own backbenchers.
Rivals in the race to succeed Mrs May are on a state of high alert in case a compromise deal with Labour becomes the trigger for a leadership election.
Senior sources within the Conservative party said on Monday that Mrs May will be “gone very quickly” if she moves towards Labour’s demands for a post-Brexit customs union with the EU ...
Nigel Evans, joint executive secretary of the 1922 Committee, said: “If she comes out of those talks offering something which is Brexit in name only then she has got a real problem.”
Robert Peston in an ITV blog says he thinks there is zero chance of a government/Labour deal.
In case you were in any doubt, there is zero chance of Labour and Jeremy Corbyn agreeing a Brexit deal with the prime minister, given that its central element is a pledge to keep the UK in the customs union till the next general election.
The point is that Labour’s main criticism of Theresa May’s Brexit plan is that it is “blind”, that it makes gives no promises or commitments about the UK’s future relationship with the EU.
And a pledge to keep the UK in the EU’s customs union only till 2022 would not turn blindness into perfect foresight.
Tim Ross at Bloomberg says in private both sides have sounded optimistic about the talks.
In recent days officials on both sides have privately sounded optimistic about the prospects of an agreement. In part, that’s because of the generally positive atmosphere in which at least some of the discussions have taken place.
Critically for the Tory side, Seumas Milne, Corbyn’s chief strategist, is said to be fully engaged and serious in the meetings that have taken place, asking detailed questions about the government’s position and the offers on the table, in a sign he’s interested in doing a deal.
The discussions on how to ensure workers’ rights remain protected after Brexit have gone well. Business secretary Greg Clark and his shadow, Rebecca Long-Bailey, produced successful results which are likely to be taken forward even if no wider deal is possible.
The Sun in its main leader article suggests that it could live with a Brexit compromise that included a customs union - as long as it was temporary. It says:
Nobody in the Tory party should be complacent about the trouble they’re in.
A deal with Jeremy Corbyn — if it includes anything like a permanent customs union— could split them down the middle ...
The only possible pill that the country would swallow would be a customs arrangement that ended before the next election, allowing a new leader with fresh vision to get a mandate for a genuinely international trading policy.
Rachel Sylvester in her Times column (paywall) says a new Tory leader could end up opting for a second referendum.
After the results of last week’s local elections, which will only be reinforced by the European elections in a few weeks time, a cabinet minister says “most people would prefer the horror of a second referendum to the risk of a Jeremy Corbyn government through a general election”.
Mrs May could still agree to a confirmatory referendum to get her withdrawal agreement passed. Some of her allies believe it was a mistake not to “reach over the heads of parliament to the people” when she lost the second meaningful vote. Even if she does not do so her successor will face precisely the same problems trying to force Brexit through a deadlocked Commons. Ultimately the next prime minister will need a mandate of their own. “The whole thing potentially ends with a new leader promising a tougher Brexit but getting into office, realising they can’t deliver it and then having to make the choice between a general election and referendum,” one cabinet minister says. “In that case, inevitably, they will choose a referendum because who would want to roll the dice on their own premiership so soon after they got to power?”
How ironic it would be if it fell to Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab or Michael Gove to persuade the British people that the “truthful hyperbole” they offered up to the electorate in 2016 was not just a con.
At the weekend, in a Telegraph article, Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, said that Theresa May could split the party if she tries to keep the UK in the customs union. He said:
The temptation for the government now to do whatever is necessary to secure some kind of Brexit agreement is obvious but it must be resisted. To reach an agreement with Labour that locked the United Kingdom into the customs union might pull in enough Labour votes to allow an agreement to limp over the line but the price could be a catastrophic split in the Conservative party and at a time when the opposition is led by dangerous extremists, the consequences for our country would be unthinkable.
This morning Philip Hammond, the chancellor, played down the prospect of the party dividing. Speaking in Paris, where he is attending a meeting of finance ministers, he said:
The Conservative party is a very broad church. Let’s be honest, Europe has been a fractious issue within the party for 45 years but there are many other things that unite us and I am sure we will get through this, we will get beyond it and I’m sure we will go on presenting a broad, right-of-centre offer to the British people that will be attractive to them.
He also admitted the European elections would be “difficult” for his party. He said:
The European elections are going to be difficult in the circumstances; the British people have voted to leave the European Union, it’s obviously challenging to them go and ask them to vote in a European election.
But we have to do this, we are legally obliged to do it and we will get on with it.
Here is the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on where she thinks we are with the cross-party Brexit talks.
1. Will the cross party talks get anywhere this week? No 10 trying to get Labour over the line by presenting withdrawal agreement as a 'stepping stone' - ie hold your nose for now and you can carve out your own deal if you win the next election
2. Key to that is promise of a 'temporary customs union' - Labour sources warn if that's all it is, that's what's already in the withdrawal agreement anyway plus a few months, and doesn't add up to anything substantially new
3. Senior govt source says it IS possible though to see a way to a deal, but unlikely to be resolved this week, and their aim is not to create some kind of May-Corbyn Rose Garden moment (imagine!) but to set out a path to get the Withdrawal Bill to Commons with a fair wind
4. Hope then to get the Bill to Committee stage where MP s would make decisions day by day - important to understand that's where Number 10 hopes this might be heading - maybe more a process to get sustainable buy in from Labour front bench than carving deal in stone
5. Clouds over May's leadership also make it harder by the day to get anything agreed - labour source says 'we are not just worried about this being ripped up in 2021, we're worried about it being ripped up in October 2019'
6. There is added momentum to talks today because Tories fresh from absolute hammering in council elex on Friday and Labour had terrible night too - but that bit of fresh impetus doesn't magic away the real problems they have to overcome if there's to be a deal
Why was Jeremy Hunt suggesting that a temporary customs union with the EU might be acceptable? (See 9.02am.) Because, according to a report in the Sunday Times at the weekend, this idea is at the centre of the plan that Theresa May is hoping Jeremy Corbyn will agree to.
Here is an extract from Tim Shipman’s story about this (paywall) yesterday.
The Sunday Times has learnt [May] will outline plans for a comprehensive but temporary customs arrangement with the EU lasting until the next general election, which Corbyn will be able to depict as a Tory cave-in to his demands.
May and her negotiating team will agree that Britain will also align with a wider range of EU single market regulations on goods. Finally, they will enshrine in law that the UK will mirror all EU legislation on workers’ rights.
“There are three main areas: customs, goods alignment and workers’ rights,” said one source involved in the talks. “The Conservative party will have to suck up concessions on each of those” ...
Under the plans, the two parties would agree to maintain the customs arrangement — with a new name — until 2022, when the next election is due. “At that point Labour could use their manifesto to argue for a softer Brexit if they wanted to and a new Conservative prime minister could argue for a harder Brexit,” a source said.
A week ago today Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary and a leading candidate to replace Theresa May, was on the Today programme. He was asked about the government/Labour talks aimed at finding a Brexit compromise, and the speculation that this might involve the UK staying in a customs union with the EU, and he was clear that he thought this was a bad idea. He told the programme:
If we were proposing, which I very much hope we don’t, to sign up to the customs union, then I think there is a risk that you would lose more Conservative MPs than you would gain LabourMPs.
If, on the other hand, it was something different, then the result could be different as well.
This morning he was back on the programme. Again, he was asked about a custom union. But this time his response was noticeably different. He said:
I have always said that I’m not a believer in the customs union as a sustainable long-term solution. I want to look at whatever deal is come to between the parties, and I know this is a crucial week, and I would not want to affect the progress of those talks by pronouncing in advance.
But I think this is a time when we have to be willing to make compromises on all sides because the message of last week was that voters for both main parties are very, very angry about the fact that Brexit hasn’t been delivered.
I personally think that any kind of permanent customs union wouldn’t work in the long run because our economy is too big, but let’s see what the parties come up with.
There are two significant lines in this.
Hunt stressed the need for compromise, citing last week’s local election results as strengthening the need for both sides to relax their red lines.
He said that he was opposed to the UK being in a permanent customs union with the EU, implying that a temporary customs union plan would be acceptable.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Theresa May chairs cabinet.
11am: Nigel Farage holds a Brexit party press conference.
11am: John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, speaks at the launch of a report calling for a universal basic income to be piloted in the UK. As my colleague Richard Partington reports, although the report does not represent Labour policy, its publication is likely to be viewed as moving the party closer towards testing a form of UBI should it be voted into power.
12pm: Downing Street lobby briefing.
1pm: Karen Bradley, the Northern Ireland secretary, and Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, host talks aimed at restoring powering-sharing in Northern Ireland.
2pm: Rory Stewart, the new international development secretary, gives evidence to the Commons international development committee.
At some point today the government/Labour cross-party talks on Brexit will resume.
And also at some point Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the Conservative backbench 1922 Committee, will hold a meeting with May at which he is expected to tell her that Tory MPs want her to set out a timetable for standing down if there is no Brexit deal.
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. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another when I wrap up.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
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