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PMQs: Boris Johnson faces Jeremy Corbyn after Brexit vote defeat – live news
Brexit: Sajid Javid unveils spending review as government reels from defeat in vote – live news
(about 1 hour later)
Jeremy Corbyn also pays his respects to PC Andrew Harper.
Javid goes on:
And he sends his condolences to those affected by Hurrican Dorian.
As I turn to the details of today’s announcement.
He asks Corbyn if it is right that his Brexit strategy involves running down the clock and that the attorney general thinks the idea the the EU will abandon the backstop is a “fantasy” (as the Telegraph reported last night).
That gets a cheer from Labour MPs, who feel much the same way as Dan Sabbagh. (See 1.16pm.)
Johnson attacks the “surrender bill” again. He says Corbyn wants “mobs of Momentum activists” to block the roads. He challenges Corbyn to agree to an election. “Or is he frit?”
Javid says total spending next year will rise by £30.4bn.
Corbyn says Johnson did not answer the first question he put to him. He tries again. What proposals have been put to the EU? The fact Johnson won’t answer suggests there are none. If the PM thinks he has made progress, will he publish those proposals?
Johnson says you don’t negotiate in public. “We are making substantial progress,” he claims.
“Extra funds take the real increase in day-to-day spending to £13.8bn, or 4.1%. That means I’m delivering the fastest increase in day-to-day spending for 15 years.” @SajidJavid #SpendingRound pic.twitter.com/6ILw8TduHl
Johnson claims he is making “substantial progress” in talks with the EU.
Education was a lifeline for him, he says.
He says he will get a deal. The only thing that is undermining him is “this surrender bill that will lead to more dither and delay”. He says he wants 20,000 more police officers on the streets. He says Corbyn wants to spend £1bn net a month beyond October to keep the UK in the EU.
And he says the NHS cared for his father in his final days.
Siobhain McDonagh, the Labour MP, says leaving without a Brexit deal is unthinkable. Johnson is pursuing a strategy of brinkmanship. If he believes in no deal, he should put it to the people.
It is getting worse.
Johnson says he will take the UK out of the EU on 31 October. He says the only thing in the way is the “surrender bill” proposed by Jeremy Corbyn. He challenges Corbyn to let the public vote on this by agreeing to an election on 15 October.
Javid says:
Johnson challenges Corbyn to let public decide on what he calls the “surrender bill” by agreeing to an early election.
Health and education are not just the names of departments.
Boris Johnson starts by paying tribute to PC Andrew Harper killed while on duty during the summer. He says this is a reminder of the dangers faced by the police.
From my colleague Dan Sabbagh, who is spot on.
Theresa May on the government benches for PMQs sandwiched between Ken Clarke and Antoinette Sandbach - neither of whom are Tory MPs any longer
Sajid Javid has been on his feet for 15 odd minutes and barely announced anything yet. https://t.co/tqAcpDdK14
Boris Johnson has just arrived in the chamber, to cheering and booing.
Normally, at this stage in a statement like this, the chancellor would have moved onto substance.
(Booing is very, very unusual. That says something about the reaction Johnson provokes.)
Javid says he wants faster internet services.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
He wants better infrastructure. He wants to build in every region. From the motor highway to the information superhighway, he wants an infrastructure revolution.
Boris Johnson is about to take his first PMQs.
Javid says he will review the government’s fiscal framework.
Yesterday Nigel Farage launched 16 new video adverts on Facebook, with straplines like “We have spent the summer preparing for a general election — and we are ready”, “I founded The Brexit Party to restore faith in our broken democracy” and “We are ready for an election. It’s time for a clean break Brexit”.
Javid says he will review the fiscal rules the government follows.
It’s notable that though they are being paid for by the Brexit party, they are all promoting Nigel Farage’s personal page on Facebook, not the party’s page. Farage has six times as many ‘likes’ on his page than the party does. They are not currently spending any money on adverts from the Brexit party page itself.
Javid says the cost of government borrowing has fallen below 1% across all maturities.
Retailers have said that the end of October is “probably the worst time to face a no-deal Brexit”, warning there will be disruption to fresh food supplies and potential price rises despite claims by Michael Gove to the contrary.
He says his judgment is that he can invest more in the economy.
Andrew Opie, the director of food and sustainability at the British Retail Consortium, told the Commons Brexit committee that he could not explain why Gove, who is in charge of the government’s no-deal planning said “there will be no shortages of fresh food” in the event of a disorderly departure from the EU on 31 October. Opie said:
But that does not mean he can borrow more permanently.
Our assessment is based on discussion with our members who move fresh food every day, and the likely disruption.
He says the country still needs to live within its means. And he will still need to make difficult choices.
We modelled that with our members who have told us there will be disruption to fresh food.
Javid says he is giving certainty to departments about their budgets for next year.
It will effect fresh food in various ways, availability, shelf life and potentially cost.
He is “clearing the decks” ahead of Brexit, he says.
From the FT’s Jim Pickard
(Most MP will assume he means clearing the decks ahead of an election.)
A special meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party has just broken up, the near-unanimous view of the room was that Corbyn should hold off on a snap election until after November 1. Corbyn may disagree. But in the words of one figure: "They (MPs) are the ones who have the vote."
Javid says the UK is the number one investment in Europe for inward investment.
Downing Street has sent out this readout from this morning’s cabinet.
It is a global hub for businesses, he says.
At cabinet this morning the chancellor discussed his plans ahead of today’s spending round where he will present an ambitious domestic agenda, delivering on the government’s priorities.
The UK is second only to the US in terms of Nobel prize winners, he says.
He said that thanks to the hard work of the British people and tough decisions made over the last decade, we are beginning a new decade of renewal.
He says an open, free-market economy is under threat. It is not under threat from the people on the other side of the Channel, but from the people on the other side of the chamber. The number one threat to business is not Brexit, but Labour.
We are delivering a step-change in spending on people’s priorities, which is why we are spending more on the NHS, properly funding our schools, boosting further education and tackling violent crime by hiring 20,000 new police officers.
John Bercow, the Speaker, says what Javid is saying is “unseemly”. He says that he says this “with a heavy heart”. He says Javid is veering into matters unrelated to the spending round, which is supposed to be the subject of his statement. He says he wants Javid to adjust his remarks, so that he focuses on the spending round. He says no one is going to tell him what Commons procedures are.
The prime minister thanked the chancellor and HM Treasury for all of their work and said that levelling up was at the core of this spending round, unlocking the talent of the whole of the United Kingdom.
Bercow reprimands Javid for using his spending round statement to make a gratuitous attack on Labour.
My colleague Jonathan Freedland has a good column on Boris Johnson’s election strategy. Here is an excerpt.
Bercow has often reprimanded ministers at the despatch box, but I can’t recall any example of him giving such a severe ticking off to a chancellor during a major financial announcement.
The assumption is that [Dominic] Cummings is intentionally baiting MPs so that he can trigger an election that Boris Johnson will then cast as a populist battle of “people v parliament”.
Ken Clarke, the former Tory chancellor and father of the house, rises to make a point of order.
If that’s right, it is surely the most high-risk electoral strategy ever attempted in this country. It knowingly alienates moderate Tory voters who have always quite liked, say, Ken Clarke, thereby writing off a string of seats – in the south and the West Country – that are likely to fall to the Liberal Democrats. It similarly dooms the Tories in Scotland. So Johnson will begin the next election campaign with that immediate handicap. The Cummings plan is to make up for those lost seats, and gain many more, by winning pro-leave seats in the Midlands and north of England, many of them Labour-held, chiefly by neutralising the Brexit party. Why vote for Nigel Farage when you can get a no-deal, full-monty Brexit with Johnson?
John Bercow, the speaker, says the chancellor’s opening remarks were out of order (because the spending review is not really about Brexit). But he exercised a degree of latitude, he says.
The trouble with that is, there are plenty of onetime Labour voters who were happy to vote leave in 2016, happy even to vote for Farage in May’s European elections, who may nevertheless baulk at voting Tory. Still, Cummings and Johnson are gambling on the belief that they can burn down every other plank of historic Tory support, but win power by delighting the hardcore Brexit base. Win the 35%, enrage everyone else.
He says Javid consulted him yesterday about the length of his statement. Bercow says he accepted the Brexit remarks did not make it over-long.
A few weeks from now, we might be watching a triumphant Johnson returned to Downing Street with a healthy majority, forced to applaud the strategic genius of Dominic Cummings. Or we might marvel that a man who inherited a precarious political situation went on a rampage of revolutionary destruction, thereby making that situation much, much worse.
Javid says he is today announcing an extra £2bn for no-deal planning.
And here is the full article.
“Within my first few days as Chancellor, I provided £2.1 billion of extra funding for Brexit and No Deal preparedness and today I can announce that we provide a further £2bn for Brexit delivery next year as well.” @SajidJavid #SpendingRound pic.twitter.com/f7SosKCUHA
Boris Johnson’s electoral gamble risks wrecking the Tory party | Jonathan Freedland
Media attention will mostly be focused on the Commons this afternoon, but in the Lords peers are also gearing up for what should be an epic display of filibustering.
Peers are debating a business motion tabled by Labour designed to ensure that, if the Benn bill intended to stop a no-deal Brexit on 31 October goes to the Lords tomorrow, it can clear all its stages by 5pm on Friday. A business motion is needed because in the Lords bills are not subject to programme motions, meaning in theory debates can go on forever. The Lib Dems support the business motion and so, given that the Tories do not have a majority, it should pass.
But before peers get to vote on it they will have to debate the amendments to the business motion. On today’s order paper (pdf) there are 86 of them. In the Lords every amendment normally gets debated, and peers are normally free to speak for as long as they want, making it filibustering heaven. The only way to fast-track a vote is to move a closure motion. But even these take time, because peers first have to vote for the closure motion, and then vote for the amendment. So, in theory, 86 amendments could translated into 172 votes.
It probably won’t go on quite that long but Dick Newby, the Lib Dem leader in the Lords, has arrived for work prepared for a long night.
Arriving in Lords with duvet, change of clothes and shaving kit. Could take us a while to see off 86 wrecking amendments on timetable motion today/tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/Knbxu1Odlf
The Tory rebels who have now lost the party whip will not be crossing the floor when parliament sits today, the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg reports.
The now former Tory rebels are planning to stay sitting in their naughty corner in the Commons on the Conservative benches
