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Theresa May to make last statement as PM before she heads to see the Queen – live news Theresa May makes final speech as PM before she heads to see the Queen – live news
(32 minutes later)
Theresa May has now arrived at Buckingham Palace to see the Queen.
May says she wishes Boris Johnson and his team every good fortune.
Their successes will be our successes, she says.
She says much remains to be done.
Brexit must be finished in a way that works for the whole of the UK.
Then Britain can move to a bright future.
Being PM is a heavy honour, she says.
She says you achieve nothing alone.
She says her final words of of sincere thanks - to her staff, to people in parliament, to people in the armed forces, and to public servants, in schools, the NHS and the civil service.
She also wants to thank the British people - everyone who works hard and wants their children to do better.
Thank you for putting your faith in me and giving me the chance to serve.
She says she hopes young girls have seen her and thought there is nothing they cannot achieve.
She ends by thanking her husband, Philip.
In the background Steve Bray, the “Mr Stop Brexit” campaigner who has become a Westminster fixture, can he heard shouting: “Stop Brexit.”
“I think not,” says May.
And that’s it.
Theresa May is about to deliver her final speech as prime minister, as she leaves Downing Street on her way to Buckingham Palace to submit her resignation to the Queen.
David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister and Theresa May’s de facto deputy, is also resigning, he has announced on Twitter.
I wrote to @BorisJohnson yesterday to congratulate him on his election, to wish him well & to say I've decided that after 20 yrs on the front bench it's the right moment to move on. I shall leave the govt when @theresa_may offers her resignation to The Queen.
I shall do all I can to help new govt secure a deal to allow an orderly departure from the EU.
Huge thanks to the civil servants @cabinetofficeuk whom I've had the privilege to lead. The impartiality & professionalism of the civil service is one of the great strengths of our constitution. As is readiness of Ministers to encourage candid even when unwelcome, advice.
Lidington was not expected to stay in cabinet under Boris Johnson, not least because he is firmly opposed to a no-deal Brexit, an option that Johnson is refusing to rule out.
This is from Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, on PMQs.
Hypocritical Tory MP’s cheering their outgoing leader #BorisJohnsonPM
The chief whip in the Lords, Lord Taylor of Holbeach, is also standing down. A source said this had been long planned and was not to do with the “political situation”. As the Press Association reports, the source went on: “He has been on the frontbench for a long time.”
Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has said the EU will be ready if Boris Johnson pursues a no-deal strategy. Today he met MEPs on the European parliament’s Brexit steering group. (See 11.56am.) Barnier said he was waiting to hear from the Tory leader about his plans for Brexit and stressed that a no-deal outcome would never be the EU’s preference. Speaking to the BBC, Barnier said:
It’s a very important moment for Brexit.
We look forward to hearing what the new prime minister, Boris Johnson, wants, what are the choices of the UK.
Is it an orderly Brexit? This is the choice, the preference of the EU and we have worked for an orderly Brexit all along the last three years.
Is it a no-deal Brexit? A no-deal Brexit will never be, never, the choice of the EU. But we are prepared.
And for an orderly Brexit we will work along the next few weeks and months with the new UK government in the best possible way in a very constructive spirit to facilitate the ratification of the withdrawal agreement.
Boris Johnson’s claims that crashing out of the EU with no deal would be less painful because of a series of “side deals” that the UK has already done with Brussels have been dismissed as “rubbish” by the EU, my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports.Boris Johnson’s claims that crashing out of the EU with no deal would be less painful because of a series of “side deals” that the UK has already done with Brussels have been dismissed as “rubbish” by the EU, my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports.
Boris Johnson's claims of 'side deals' are 'pure rubbish', EU saysBoris Johnson's claims of 'side deals' are 'pure rubbish', EU says
This is from David Cameron, the former Conservative PM:This is from David Cameron, the former Conservative PM:
Congratulations @BorisJohnson on becoming our Prime Minister. It is a great privilege & responsibility - but behind that famous black door you will find the most hugely talented officials waiting & wanting to help you serve the country; I wish you well.Congratulations @BorisJohnson on becoming our Prime Minister. It is a great privilege & responsibility - but behind that famous black door you will find the most hugely talented officials waiting & wanting to help you serve the country; I wish you well.
The use of “but” in Cameron’s second sentence may be telling. It makes the sentence read like a warning to Boris Johnson that he should not ignore the advice he gets from his civil servants.The use of “but” in Cameron’s second sentence may be telling. It makes the sentence read like a warning to Boris Johnson that he should not ignore the advice he gets from his civil servants.
It might have been inspired by the news that Johnson intends to take Dominic Cummings into No 10 as an adviser. During the coalition, Cummings was fiercely critical of Cameron, and also of some of Cameron’s most senior civil service advisers.It might have been inspired by the news that Johnson intends to take Dominic Cummings into No 10 as an adviser. During the coalition, Cummings was fiercely critical of Cameron, and also of some of Cameron’s most senior civil service advisers.
Here is an extract from Philip Hammond’s resignation letter:Here is an extract from Philip Hammond’s resignation letter:
Most importantly, we bequeath to our successors genuine choices, once a Brexit deal is done: the ability to choose, within the fiscal rules, between increasing public spending, reduced taxes, higher investment or progress towards faster debt reduction – or some combination of all four. After a decade when the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession meant we had no choices, this is a luxury which our successors should use wisely.Most importantly, we bequeath to our successors genuine choices, once a Brexit deal is done: the ability to choose, within the fiscal rules, between increasing public spending, reduced taxes, higher investment or progress towards faster debt reduction – or some combination of all four. After a decade when the aftermath of the 2008-09 recession meant we had no choices, this is a luxury which our successors should use wisely.
Philip Hammond has resigned as chancellor, as he said he would at the weekend.
I have just handed in my resignation to @theresa_may. It has been a privilege to serve as her Chancellor of the Exchequer for the last three years. pic.twitter.com/pcCkvKhQxj
That was the longest PMQs in history, according to the BBC’s Daniel Kraemer.
That lasted ~63 mins Before today, the longest since the 2017 election was 55 mins ⏰#PMQs
And this is what Theresa May said in her final reply to Jeremy Corbyn, suggesting it was time for him to quit:
One thing we both have in common is a commitment to our constituencies, I saw that after the terrorist attack in Finsbury Park mosque in his constituency.
Perhaps I could just finish my exchange with him by saying this: as a party leader who has accepted when her time was up, perhaps the time is now for him to do the same?
This is what Theresa May said about the Commons in her final remarks in PMQs.
We are living through extraordinary political times. This House of Commons is rightly at the centre of those events.
That’s because of the vital link between every single member of this House and the communities, the Commons that we represent. That’s the bedrock of our parliamentary democracy and of our liberty.
And each of us, wherever we sit and whatever we stand for, can take pride in that. That duty to my constituents will remain my greatest motivation.
PMQs - snap verdict: A PM’s final PMQs is essentially a leaving do and, like most leaving dos, they are often thick with hypocrisy – effusive tributes from people who have been wanting you gone for years. There was a whiff of that today, but what was striking about most of the tributes paid to Theresa May, from MPs from all sides, was their focus on her sense of public duty. The legislative achievements of her three-year premiership are almost non-existent, she failed to deliver Brexit, but even her critics accept (mostly) that May is motivated by a sense of public service and that she is dogged in the face of adversity, and this is what people raised repeatedly this afternoon. In normal circumstances this would not really merit noting (you would expect the prime minister to be a person of integrity), but with Boris Johnson about to become prime minster, these virtues might soon seem more of a rarity. Various MPs tried to get May to criticise her successor, but largely she refused to engage with this line of attack, except perhaps in her peroration, which if you were being mischievous you could read as a coded attack on the notion of proroguing parliament to facilitate a no-deal Brexit. (See 1.05pm.) Instead May concentrated her fire on Jeremy Corbyn. In the course of his six questions Corbyn provided a fairly comprehensive list of May’s policy failures, broken promises, and ideas lifted from Labour. But May’s final jibe about how it was time for Corbyn to consider standing down too was an effective riposte, principally because it chimed with what many Labour MPs think.
Harriet Harman, the mother of the Commons (longest-serving female MP), says May was only the second female PM. Even her harshest critics must recognise her public service, her integrity and her commitment to her country. But she has some advice: sometimes you have to be careful when a man wants to hold your hand. (That’s a reference to Trump.)
May thanks Harman for what she has done to get more women into the Commons. She says when she became an MP in 1997, there were only 13 female Tory MP. She remembers someone assuming she must be Labour because she was a woman.
May says we are living through extraordinary times. The House of Commons is, rightly, at the centre of events. That is because MPs represent their constituents. That duty to serve her constituents will remain her greatest motivation.
May leaves. Tory MPs give her a standing ovation. But not Labour MPs, although a few Labour MPs seem to be joining in the applause.
Dame Cheryl Gillan, a Conservative, says there are 2.8 million families living with autism in this country. They are often isolated. Will May join the all-party group on autism?
May pays tribute to Gillan for passing the Autism Act as a backbencher. She says she has committed to taking the autism training available to MPs.
Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the home affairs committee, says although they have disagreed, she respects May’s commitment to service and her resilience. She asks if May will speak out if it looks as though Boris Johnson is ignoring warnings of the dangers of a no-deal Brexit.
May says she is confident Johnson will consider all the issues. But if Cooper is so concerned about the security risks of no deal, she should have voted for a deal.
Helen Whately, a Conservative, asks May if she will continue to push for women to be more empowered.
May says she wants women to know there are no limits to what they can do.
Jo Swinson, the new Lib Dem leader, says it is inspiring for girls to see women in positions of power. She asks if May has advice for men who think they can do a better job but who are not prepared to do the work.
May says her advice to women is to be yourself. And she congratulates Swinson on her election. She is glad the Lib Dems now have a woman leader. She says almost all parties in the Commons have had a woman as leader, including even the Independent Group for Change, which is now on its second female leader. Only Labour has not had a woman as leader, she says.