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Brexit: May to give speech at 4pm with details of 'new' deal for MPs - live news Brexit: new bill to include MPs' vote on second referendum, May says – live news
(32 minutes later)
From the Independent’s Andrew Woodcock Q: Some of your MPs seem to be opposed to this because it is you asking them to back it. What do you say to those who say you should step aside now?
Here's the backdrop for @theresa_may's #Brexit speech. I think she might be seeking common ground in Parliament... Might have to look hard for that pic.twitter.com/SBnKykb7et May says this is not about her. If it were about her, the UK would be leaving, she says.
From my colleague Heather Stewart And that’s it. The Q&A is over.
Waiting for the PM’s Brexit speech at PWC, with hundreds of staff looking on. Slogan on the backdrop is “seeking common ground in parliament”. pic.twitter.com/VIW9V9llJL Q: You came into office committed to delivering Brexit and to bring the Tories together. How successful have you been?
The European parliament will investigate Nigel Farage for failing to declare lavish expenses funded by Arron Banks, my colleague Jennifer Rankin reports. May says she admitted in her speech she has not delivered Brexit.
EU to investigate Nigel Farage over expenses funded by Arron Banks Q: If MPs vote for a confirmatory referendum, will it happen? And if MPs vote to stay in a customs union permanently, will you implement that?
Julian Smith and Liz Truss both warned that the Wab is likely to be voted downLiz Truss suggested it was just further annoying people for no rewardTruss, Leadsom, Grayling and Barclay said it was time to up the ante on no deal planning May says she is not proposing a vote on a permanent customs union. She is proposing one on a temporary customs union. A future government would then be able to decide what happened in the future.
From ITV’s Robert Peston Q: Will you publish the bill before the recess?
As you may have heard, that odd government proposal for the UK to collect tariffs on behalf of the EU, the FCA, seems to be back as one of the Brexit customs options to be offered to MPs. The ex ambassador to the EU Ivan Rogers is not exactly impressed. This is what he told me:.. May says it will be published “in the next few days”.
“I am v happy to be quoted as saying that I regard the resurrection, yet again, of an FCA proposal, which should never have been born, and has long since been rejected by the EU side, as the PM well knows, is the definition of insanity. And a declaration of... May says EU withdrawal agreement bill will be published shortly.
“the bankruptcy of this Government!” Oh dear Q: Do you want a Brexiter to replace you, or will that just prolong the conflict?
This is from the Telegraph’s Steven Swinford. Nice try, says May. She says she will not comment on the leadership contest. That is a matter for the Conservative party.
Cabinet readout:Big row over whether CU and 2nd ref should be on face of WabGrayling went 'right to the edge' & sounded like he was prepared to quit. Leadsom also very concernedSuggestion PM was prepared to offer Labour 'anything and everything'https://t.co/f6Kdi0onWq May is now taking questions.
Theresa May is due to start delivering her Brexit speech any minute now. Q: The opposition parties say they will not vote for this. Isn’t this too late?
She is speaking at a venue in London. May urges MPs to look at the detail of the bill. It will be published, she says. She has compromised, she says.
There is a live feed at the top of this blog. Q: If you lose the vote, can you confirm you will resign?
From Sky’s Jon Craig That was last week’s news, says May. She made a statement with the chair of the 1922 Committee.
As he arrived to brief junior ministers on the PM’s Brexit speech, I asked PM’s Chief if Staff Gavin Barwell: “Do you have a winning formula?” He replied: “That remains to be seen.” May says this deal will set the groundwork for life outside the EU.
This is from my colleague Rowena Mason. But in future, Britain will be able to choose how it develops. Some will want it to move closer to the EU. Others will want it to move further away.
Cabinet source says Theresa May was prepared to put second ref and customs union on face of the WAB - backed down when Andrea Leadsom, Chris Grayling, Geoffrey Cox and then others said totally unacceptable. She also was open to giving a free vote causing big row Future governments will be able to decide, she says.
In her speech this afternoon Theresa May is expected to argue that the version of her Brexit deal contained in the EU withdrawal agreement bill is a new one because of the various changes and concessions it contains. She says over the next two weeks the government will try to get MPs to back this deal.
But in fact May and the government have already announced multiple minor amendments to her Brexit offer since MPs started debating it before Christmas to address the concerns of her critics. It is not clear yet whether she will be unveiling proposals that are genuinely new, or whether she will just be aggregating what it already on the table. Tomorrow she will make a statement to MPs, she says.
Here is a summary of what has already been offered She says she has compromised. It is up to MPs to compromise too, she says.
On Ireland and the backstop May says this is a great time to be alive.
On 9 January, when MPs resumed the first debate on the Brexit deal, the government said it was accepting an amendment from the Tory MP Sir Hugo Swire imposing six new conditions in relation to Northern Ireland and the backstop. They included MPs having the right to decide whether to trigger the backstop, or extend the transition instead, and, in the event of the backstop being introduced, the government having a duty “to have an agreed future relationship or alternative arrangements one year after the Northern Ireland backstop coming into force”. Britain can make a success of the 2020s and 2030s.
On the same day the government published plans for what it described as the “Stormont lock” (pdf). It runs to 13 pages and it includes proposals for the Northern Ireland assembly to have a “strong role” in backstop provisions becoming law, and for there to be no regulatory divergence between Northern Ireland and Great Britain in mattes covered by the backstop. But it will not do that if it remains stuck in the Brexit impasse, she says.
At the end of January, in a Brexit debate after the deal was voted down for the first time, the government accepted an amendment from the Tory MP Sir Graham Brady saying the Commons required “the Northern Ireland backstop to be replaced with alternative arrangements to avoid a hard border”. She says, with the right Brexit deal, she can end this debate.
And in March, in her speech opening the debate when MPs voted on her deal for the second time, May made three specific commitments to legislate to put some of the “Stormont lock” measures into law. She says the UK will have opportunities outside the EU. And it will be able to do even more if it has a deal. It can protect trade, and protect security partnerships.
Workers’ rights and environmental protections This is a huge opportunity for the UK, she says - out of the EU, out of every closer union, free to do things differently.
In a Brexit debate in January, after her deal was defeated for the first time, May said the government would do more to protect workers’ rights and environmental standards after Brexit. She virtually quoted word for word an amendment tabled by the Labour MP John Mann saying that, if the EU strengthens rights after Brexit, the Commons should also consider whether to match the new Brussels rules. May says this opportunity is practical and deliverable.
In a letter to Jeremy Corbyn in February, May also said the government was “prepared to commit to asking parliament” if it wanted to match the new EU laws if it beefed up workers’ rights or environmental protection after Brexit. But it is “slipping away from us”, she says.
Role of parliament in Brexit trade talks May says, if MPs approve her deal, they can get Brexit done.
On 29 March, on the day of the third Commons debate on the Brexit deal, the government said it would accept an amendment tabled by the Labour MP Gareth Snell saying MPs would be able to vote to set the negotiating mandate for the next phase of the Brexit talks. May says, if MPs vote down the bill, they will be voting to reject Brexit.
Some MPs think there will be a no-deal Brexit. But parliament will do everything it can to stop that.
So in practice MPs will be choosing a second referendum or a general election, she says.
May says MPs will be left with second referendum or general election if they vote down her deal.
May sums up the changes she is announcing. There are 10 of them.
(I will post the list in full later.)
Turning to the issue of a second referendum, May says she is opposed. But she recognises that some MPs want one.
May says her Brexit bill will include a requirement to hold a vote on whether or not to have a second referendum.
May says this means, if MPs want a second referendum, they must vote for the bill.
May says customs is the most difficult area.
She says many people who voted to leave want to retain close trading links with the EU, just as many who voted remain, like herself, are excited by the trade opportunities offered by Brexit.
May says the government and opposition both want “as close as possible to frictionless trade” at the EU border.
She says the government has its own plan. (She seems to be referring to the facilitated customs arrangement plan.)
Labour wants a customs union, she says.
She says the government offered a temporary customs arrangement.
Labour and the government could not agree.
So parliament should resolve this, she says.
May says government will let parliament decide what to do about customs.
May says she is committed to maintaining workers’ rights.
There will be a new workers’ rights bill to ensure workers get rights that are very bit as good as, or better than, EU rights.
There will be a new office to uphold environmental standards.
She says the new bill will oblige the government to keep trade in goods with the EU as frictionless as possible.
May says she backed the plan from Lisa Nandy and Gareth Snell, two Labour MPs, for MPs to have to approve the negotiating terms for the UK-EU trade deals.
May says she tried to reach a deal with Labour.
Those talks did not succeed, but she will not give up.
She has listened to MPs, and today she is making a serious offer to MPs.
She says she wants the Conservative party to stay united. Nine out of 10 Conservative MPs have agreed the deal.
She says MPs backed the Brady amendment.
May says she will put the government under a legal obligation to seek alternative arrangements to the backstop by December 2020.
May says she will also legislate to stop a future government splitting Northern Ireland off from Britain in regulatory terms.
May says delivering Brexit has proved “even harder than I anticipated”.
She says the way to deliver Brexit is to deliver a good deal with the EU.
That is what she proposed in her pitch for the Conservative leadership, and in her 2017 election manifesto. Labour’s said much the same, she says.
She says she has tried hard to deliver this.
At first she tried to deliver this with Conservative votes. She even offered to give up the job she loved. She says at the end of March if just 30 MPs had voted differently, the Brexit deal would have passed.
Theresa May is speaking now.
She say her job was and is to deliver Brexit.
And she wants a country that works for everyone, she says.