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Tory leadership: Fox accuses Johnson of peddling 'supposition' not fact on Brexit trade options - live news
Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs - live news
(about 1 hour later)
Here is Alberto Nardelli, BuzzFeed’s Europe editor, on Steve Baker’s article 24 tweet. (See 10.40am.)
Labour’s Emma Dent Coad asks May to use her final days in office to respond to Grenfell Tower issues, including setting up a social housing regulator with teeth.
The tactics deployed by Baker, Johnson and co. are as obvious as a mid-1990s English 4-4-2. This has nothing to do with GATT art. XXIV — it is about preparing the ground to blame the EU when all this will be exposed as bollocks. https://t.co/rE7FAkFzBz
May says the government has already taken many measures in response to the Grenfell tragedy.
At the Commons Treasury committee Labour’s Wes Streeting asked Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, to respond to what Boris Johnson said about him in his LBC interview yesterday. Johnson appeared to criticise Carney’s understanding of the article 24 process - before admitting Carney might not have said what he implied he did.
Sir John Hayes, a Conservative, asks May to use the tax system to steer resources away from big monoliths to small, local businesses.
Carney started by pointing out that Johnson clarified his initial comment yesterday saying Carney was wrong. Then he went on:
May says the government has already introduced reforms to business rates.
I did not say that there needed to be the withdrawal agreement for Gatt 24 to apply. I said there needed to be an agreement ... When I was asked about it, it was ‘Could you unilaterally use Gatt 24?’ And the answer was no, you can’t unilaterally use Gatt 24. There has to an agreement ... some form of agreement between the two parties that you are working towards a free trade or customs union agreement, something along that spectrum, and that has to be credible enough to the other members of the WTO [World Trade Organisation] that that is indeed the case ...
Labour’s Stephen Pound says May could be distracted by her imminent departure. But will she spare a thought for the 1m-plus PHMOs -pensioner households missing out (on benefits).
Just to be clear, it gets into questions of semantics and precise language. But if one is asked can you have no-deal and Gatt 24 - well, an agreement is a form of deal, an agreement to use Gatt 24, at least in my understanding of the English language ... So there needs to be some form of agreement, and intention, and a credible intention to move towards a free trade or customs union.
May says the government wants people entitled to benefits to get them.
This is from ITV’s Paul Brand, who has been watching the Mark Carney hearing.
Labour’s Kerry McCarthy asks about the case of a 14-year-old girl with autism placed in a secure unit 150 miles away from home.
NEW: Governor of Bank of England insists there needs to be "an agreement" with the EU in order for GATT 24 to be applied (allowing standstill on tariffs), despite Boris Johnson's claims.
May says the government has been looking at this issue very carefully. It wants more funding to be available for more facilities.
I will post the full quote shortly.
Andrew Mitchell, the Conservative former international development secretary, asks May if she accepts the UK should move to much more neutral position on Yemen.
The Tory MP Marcus Fysh, a Brexiter who is backing Boris Johnson for the leadership, has posted a Twitter thread about the Gatt article 24 debate. It starts here.
May says the government is working for peace in Yemen.
@BorisJohnson will deliver our exit from the EU on 31st October.As the draft Withdrawal Agreement will not pass, the EU will need to decide whether it wants to accept Boris' offer of zero tariff trade to continue for the time being after Brexit on the 31st October. 1/7
Labour’s Jo Stevens asks about a constituent who was abducted and taken to Libya. She asks if May will take up this case, and May says she will ensure that happens.
As mentioned earlier, what is at issue is not so much what article 24 says, which is verifiable, but whether the EU would be willing to use it, which is a matter for political judgment.
Labour’s Karen Lee asks if May accepts her actions have made a no-deal Brexit more likely.
This is what Fysh says on this issue.
May says she voted three times for a deal. Labour did not, she says.
It would be greatly in the EU's interest to have such an agreement that eliminated the need to charge tariffs on each other's goods after so many years trading tariff free, to save EU jobs in industries that export to UK at a time when those industries are under pressure. 4/7
Alistair Burt, the former Middle East minister, asks May if she agrees that Corbyn’s comments about Yemen were one-sided. Both sides have committed atrocities, he says. May does agree.
They might not say they want such an agreement now, in order to play games with our political process, but in the end it makes sense for the political will to be there. There will be other matters to conclude between us during negotiation of the full agreement. 5/7
Labour’s Khalid Mahmood asks about the recent poll showing that almost half of Conservative party members would not want to see a Muslim prime minister. Will May order an inquiry into what is increasingly a nasty party?
Steve Baker, the Tory Brexiter and deputy chairman of the European Research Group, which represents Conservative MPs pushing for a harder Brexit, has accused Liam Fox of “tilting at windmills” in his overnight LinkedIn article (see 9.23am) - ie, misrepresenting Brexiter arguments about the potential of Gatt article 24.
May says the Conservative party takes Islamphobia very seriously. People have been thrown out of the party. She says this contrasts with Labour’s approach to antisemitism. It is easier to get thrown out of Labour for voting Lib Dem than for antisemitism, she says.
By stating the obvious, by repeating common ground as if there were any disagreement, Liam is ludicrously tilting at windmills. He’s done much to promote trade and freedom but I couldn’t be more disappointed in him here. Get the facts: https://t.co/VWlOkGo0W1 https://t.co/5Gbw6Bk90C
Paul Masterton, a Conservative, asks about the Wimbledon tournament.
Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, has just started giving evidence to the Commons Treasury committee. My colleague Graeme Wearden is covering it here.
May offers her wishes to the players taking part.
Bank of England predicts interest rate rises after 'smooth Brexit' - business live
Suella Braverman, the Conservative MP, says she will soon give birth. She says she is glad proxy voting has been introduced. She asks May to back a campaign for safer roads.
As the Independent reports, Lord Kerslake, the former head of the civil service, said in a speech last night that a Boris Johnson’s premiership could be an “opportunity for disaster”. He said:
May wishes Braverman the best for her birth. And she commends the campaign.
Boris has placed at the very centre of his campaign the commitment that we will leave the EU on 31 October, deal or no deal. This a complete hostage to fortune.
Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, says the Scottish government was the first in the UK to declare a climate emergency.
At the same parliament has been clear, rightly in my view, that it will not countenance leaving the EU without a deal. It is always a good maxim in politics not to enter a room unless you know that you can get out of it.
Quoting Boris Johnson’s “do or die” comment, he asks May to condemn the idea of a no-deal Brexit.
Boris Johnson has not only entered the room but he has put on the straitjacket, padlocked the door and started the tap running.
May says as PM she voted three times for a Brexit deal.
Kerslake said Johnson was “good to work with” when they worked on housing issues together when Johnson was mayor of London. But he recalled Johnson cracking a joke about how “Out of every disaster comes an opportunity - or in my case an opportunity for another disaster.” Kerslake went on: “Boris as PM may just be another opportunity for disaster.”
Blackford says it is no wonder May is leaving, that was no answer. The Tories are asking the country to put their faith in the worst foreign secretary in the last 100 years, “a man who has made his career out of lying”.
Jeremy Corbyn wants to back a second EU referendum but some of his inner circle seem to want Brexit to be carried out no matter what, Labour’s Margaret Beckett has said. As my colleague Rowena Mason and Jessica Elgot report, Beckett, a former foreign secretary who is campaigning for a second referendum, told the Today programme she thought the Labour leader was open to the idea but some of his closest advisers were preventing him from budging and would be prepared to allow a no-deal Brexit. Beckett said:
Blackford condemns Boris Johnson as “a man who has made his career out of lying”.
I don’t get the impression that Jeremy himself is the stumbling block. There are people very close with great influence on him who are passionately opposed to it … and he wants to keep the party together as much as possible.
Blackford also criticises Jeremy Hunt, but it is hard to hear because so many Tories are shouting “withdraw”.
Unfortunately, it’s looking more and more that some of the people who he wants to accept the majority view are not just expressing reservations but completely oppose, and I’m beginning to think some of them do actually want Britain to leave no matter what and they don’t give a toss.
He says neither candidate is fit to be PM.
Here is Rowena and Jessica’s full story.
May says either candidate would be better than the MPs sitting on Blackford’s bench.
Corbyn aides want Brexit no matter what, says Margaret Beckett
Corbyn says the government stop the sale of arms to Saudi Arabia. He asks if May accepts the UN assessment that the crown prince was involved in the murder of the dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Yesterday the German ambassador to UK, Peter Wittig, said his government would “talk to the last hour” to avoid a no-deal Brexit. He has also written a 1,500 word article in Handelsblatt which will be seen as a plea to the UK not to crash out of the EU on 31 October. In the piece he:
May says she has raised this case with the Saudi authorities. She wants the investigation to proceed.
Warns that a free trade agreement after a no-deal Brexit would be “enormously difficult”.
Corbyn says more than 200,000 people have been killed from the war in Yemen. The court of appeal judgment should be a wake-up call, he says. He says the government should accept it.
Advocates a deal with “more than a conventional” third country special relationship between Britain and EU.
May says bringing peace to the Yemen is exactly what the government is working on with its diplomatic partners. She says the relationship with Saudi Arabia has saved lives in the UK. But let’s look at Corbyn’s sympathies. After the Salisbury poisoning attack, Corbyn sympathised with Russia. When the IRA were killing Britons, he sympathised with them. And in the recent crisis in the Gulf, he sided with Iran. He is not fit to be prime minister, she says.
Talks of the need for a continuing close military relationship.
Corbyn says the PM does not understand the depth of feeling on this matter. It is estimated that more than 200,000 people are being killed in this conflict, many of them children. If the Saudi government say they are respecting human rights, do we ignore all evidence to the contrary?
Says all countries must ask what their global status will be in 10, 15 years.
May says while the government is appealing against the court case, it will not be approving new export licences for arms to Saudi Arabia. She says the government is concerned about the humanitarian situation in Yemen. It has allocated more than £700m for aid.
Wittig says:
Corbyn says UN experts have been saying for years the Saudi coalition has been violating international law in Yemen. The government says there can only be a political solution. So why is it putting more arms into the region.
Negotiating a free trade agreement after a “no-deal” Brexit would be enormously difficult. The UK’s obligations under the withdrawal agreement would be over, trust would be destroyed. We would not be able to return to the agenda immediately ...
May says the the only resolution will come from a diplomatic solution. That is why the government is working for one.
Short-term considerations must not prevail. We have to preserve the strategic view of Europe in the world: where will Europe stand in 10, 15, 20 years? Where do we want Europe to stand? Will the EU still play a role on the global map in a world dominated by the US and China: politically, economically, technologically, militarily?
Jeremy Corbyn says climate change campaigners are lobbying MPs today. This parliament was the first in the world to declare a climate emergency he says (after backing a Labour motion).
If we Europeans want to continue to sit at the table of the global powers of design in the future, we must join forces - also and especially in the case of Brexit. It is in the pan-European interest to keep Britain as the fifth largest economy in the world and - with France - Europe’s leading military power with veto power in the Security Council in joint orbit. This requires a high level of vision from all.
He says he welcomes the court of appeal judgment last Thursday about arms sales to Saudia Arabia. Does the PM dispute the court’s finding?
The United Kingdom legally becomes a so-called “third country” as of the date of withdrawal. But we need more than a conventional third state relationship. We need a partnership of our own kind that is as close as possible, hence a new “special relationship” between the EU and the UK.
May says the UK has one of the most robust arms sales regimes in the world. She says the government is disappointed the court found against the government on one ground, and it will be seeking permission to appeal.
Sir Bill Cash, the Tory Brexiter, has been tweeting this letter published in the Daily Telegraph implying that Gatt article 24 could be used quite easily to allow tariff-free trade to continue after a no-deal Brexit.
Corbyn says Germany and Denmark have both banned armed sales to Saudi Arabia. Does May think there are serious, ongoing violations of international law by Saudia Arabia in Yemen.
This letter in the Telegraph has undisputed legal authority. It demolishes the mischief-making which has been generated over Article 24 of the GATT agreement. pic.twitter.com/WCrz0JHuHM
May says the government considers these issues very carefully when considering arms sales. But there needs to be a peace settlement in Yemen. She says the Saudia Arabian intervention came in response to the legitimate government of Yemen.
In fact, if you read the letter closely, you will see that what it is saying about how Gatt article 24 works is much the same as what Liam Fox is saying in his LinkedIn article. (See 9.23am.) The difference between the two sides lies in their assessment of the EU’s willingness to use this mechanism. Fox is arguing that, in the event of the UK and the EU failing to negotiate a withdrawal agreement, there is no prospect of the EU saying that, actually, they have agreed in principle to conclude a free trade deal in the future. But Cash seems to think this would be an option.
May says discussions are continuing about a different approach to localism in Yorkshire.
In his article Fox also says that article 24 would not be a panacea anyway because it only covers tariffs. It does not cover “more complex behind the border regulatory issues affecting trade”, he says.
Boris Johnson would be able to ignore parliament’s efforts to stop a no-deal Brexit and blame the EU if it refuses to give the UK a better deal, Dominic Raab, the former Brexit secretary, has said. As my colleagues Rowena Mason and Matthew Weaver report, Raab, who is now backing Johnson for the Tory leadership, told the Today programme that any motion from MPs against a no-deal Brexit would have “zero legal effect” and could be overridden. But Rory Stewart, the international development secretary who is now backing Jeremy Hunt for the leadership, told the same programme that parliament had not exhausted all options to prevent no deal. He said:
Parliament is against no deal. It is only the legal default because parliament made it the legal default. Parliament can unmake it the legal default. There are many, many opportunities in legislation that have to brought forward, that could be amended in order to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Here is our full write-up of the Raab and Stewart interviews.
Boris Johnson could ignore efforts to block no deal, says Raab
At one stage in his TalkRadio interview yesterday Boris Johnson described his Brexit strategy as a set of three preferences, with plan A as his preference, plan B as his fallback, and plan C as the fallback to the fallback. Charlie Cooper sums them up well in the Politico Europe London Playbook briefing this morning.
Plan A: A deal with the EU replacing the Northern Ireland backstop aspect of May’s withdrawal agreement with “alternative arrangements” that will be brought up to speed during a standstill transition period much like the one agreed by May. NB: The EU has said repeatedly the withdrawal agreement is not up for renegotiation.
Plan B: If (when?) the EU says no, seek agreement from Brussels for a standstill on tariff rates under article 24 of the World Trade Organisation’s general agreement on tariffs and trade (sigh) while the two sides work towards a free trade agreement.
Plan C: If this fails, no deal on October 31 with full tariffs on Day 1, with only those preparations and parachute arrangements unilaterally planned by the U.K and the EU in place. Throughout, the £39bn divorce payment agreed by May will be withheld till Johnson is satisfied by the EU’s commitments on trade.
Given that plan A is almost certainly impossible - even if the EU was willing to negotiate a new withdrawal agreement, which it says it isn’t, almost no one thinks that such a deal could be signed and legislated for in the UK before 31 October - there is increased focus on plan B. Yesterday Johnson scaled down his assertions about the potential of article 24, accepting that the UK could not use it unilaterally, but still claiming it was a viable means of keeping EU-UK trade tariff fee in the event of there being no deal.
But, overnight, Liam Fox, the international trade secretary has pitched in, using an article to effectively accuse Johnson of of peddling “supposition” not fact on this point. Fox is supporting Jeremy Hunt for the Tory leadership. But he is also a hardline Brexiter, whose instinctive Brexit views are much closer to Johnson’s than Hunt. And, given his cabinet job, he is also the one minister who ought to know what he is talking about on the matter of Gatt.
Here is LinkedIn article. And here is an extract:
Some commentators have suggested that, in a ‘no deal’ scenario, the UK could maintain its existing trading relationship with the European Union for up to ten years by claiming exemption from the WTO’s rules, under article XXIV:5 of the general agreement on tariffs and trade (Gatt).
This is not the case. Gatt article XXIV permits the establishment of free trade agreements and customs unions as an exception to the ‘most favoured nation’ principle at the WTO - namely, that WTO members cannot give preferential treatment to products and services originating from one trading partner over others.
However, in order to benefit from the terms of article XXIV, there must be an agreement between two WTO members as to the elimination of duties and other restrictive regulations on substantially all trade. Therefore, article XXIV would not, by itself, allow the UK to maintain tariff-free trade with the EU in the absence of a negotiated agreement ...
A ‘no deal’ scenario, by definition, suggests that there would be no mutual agreement between the UK and the EU on any temporary or permanent arrangement. In those circumstances article XXIV cannot be used.
The European Union has made it clear on a number of occasions that full tariffs will be applied to the United Kingdom in the event of ‘no-deal’.
The director-general of the WTO, Roberto Azevedo, has also confirmed there must be a bilateral agreement between the EU and the UK in order to claim an implementation period under Gatt article XXIV. “Once they have an agreement I think article XXIV could give them some time for implementation of that agreement,” he told Bloomberg. “But the first question is the agreement itself” ...
It is important that public debate on this topic is conducted on the basis of fact rather than supposition, so that we are able to make decisions in the best interests of our country.
We will doubtless hear much more on this today, including from Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, who is giving evidence to MPs. At one point yesterday Johnson said that Carney was wrong about Gatt - before he retracted and accepted (correctly) that Carney might not have said what Johnson thought he had said.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Liam Fox, the international trade secretary, gives a speech to the Telegraph’s future of trade and export forum.
10am: Damian Hinds, the education secretary, gives evidence to the Commons education committee.
10am: Jo Swinson and Sir Ed Davey take part in a Lib Dem leadership hustings in the Commons.
10.15am: Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, gives evidence to the Commons Treasury committee.
12pm: Theresa May faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.
12pm: Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, speaks at a Policy Exchange event on the backstop.
Afternoon: Theresa May gives a speech on housing in Manchester.
3pm: Rory Stewart, the international development secretary, gives evidence to the Commons international development committee.
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, although I will be focusing mostly on the Tory leadership contest. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
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