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Brexit bill close to becoming law after MPs vote to remove Dubs amendment protecting child migrants – live news Brexit bill close to becoming law after MPs vote to remove Dubs amendment protecting child migrants – live news
(32 minutes later)
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenRolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
Here is a question from below the line (BTL) prompted by MPs rejecting the Lords amendment to the Brexit bill saying EU nationals staying in the UK should be given a physical document proving their right to residence. Here is this week’s Guardian Politics Weekly podcast. My colleague Rowena Mason is joined by Katy Balls, Stewart Wood and Lisa O’Carroll to discuss the latest on the prime minister’s Brexit withdrawal bill, and Jess Phillips’s decision to drop out of the Labour leadership race. Plus Larry Elliott rings in from Davos, and Kate Proctor sits down with Gina Miller.
I’ve asked my colleague Lisa O’Carroll, who knows more about this than I do, and she has sent me this. Q: Do you prefer tea or coffee?
These are from the BBC’s economics editor, Faisal Islam. Johnson says he is drinking tea. But he has nothing against coffee.
In the Times today (paywall) Steven Swinford says Boris Johnson is going to scrap the £30,000 minimum salary threshold for migrants coming to the UK after Brexit. He says: Q: Will five year be enough?
Responding to the story, which has not been denied by Downing Street, the SNP’s immigration spokesperson in the Commons, Stuart McDonald, said: Johnson says he wants to crack on.
From my colleague Josh Halliday He says he has to go now to a meeting.
Lisa Nandy has posted a copy of her welfare speech from this morning on Medium. But he will do this again next week, he says.
The veteran BBC journalist John Ware has launched legal action against the Labour party over his controversial Panorama investigation into allegations of antisemitism last year, my colleague Lisa O’Carroll reports. And that’s it.
The chief executive of the Civil Service, Sir John Manzoni, is to step down “at some point” this year, the Cabinet Office has said. As the Press Office reports, a spokesman said that the departure of Manzoni, who is also the permanent secretary at the Cabinet, had been planned for “some time”. Manzoni’s five-year tenure in the post had been due to end in October last year, although such senior appointments can be extended for a short period. Q: What will you do to fix potholes?
When the EU (withdrawal agreement) bill returns to the Lords this afternoon, peers are not expected to insist on any of their amendments (ie, to vote to put them back into the bill). They are expected to accept the bill as it is, meaning it should be able to become law very soon. Sometimes the Lords does sent a bill back to the Commons again with an anti-government amendment included, but after a round or two of “ping pong” it almost always backs down, letting the elected house have its way. On this bill the pressure to give in is particularly acute because Boris Johnson has just won a near-landslide on a manifesto committing him to passing this bill. Johnson says the government is spending £2nb on potholes.
The fifth and final Lords amendment to the Brexit bill has been defeated by the government by 349 votes to 246 - a majority of 103. Q: How will you keep police on the streets?
The bill will now returns to the Lords where peers can either accept the bill as it is, or else try again to insert some or all of their amendments. Johnson says he wants to keep police numbers on the streets high.
The Home Office has announced police funding for 2020 to 2021 in England. It says funding “will increase by more than £1.1bn, totalling £15.2bn, if police and crime commissioners (PCCs) take full advantage of flexibility to set the police precept”. Johnson says he wants to improve mental health services.
Q: Why won’t you give the NHS the funding it needs?
Johnson says he is giving record sums to the NHS. It is getting the biggest ever cash boost it has had.
(That is misleading. In real terms, the NHS spending increase is only the biggest since the mid-200s.)
And he is building 40 new hospitals, and upgrading another 20, he says.
Q: Do you support lower tax for working people?
Yes, says Johnson. He says he will cut national insurance for everybody. He says that will disproportionately cut tax for people on lower incomes.
(That is not true. Average and higher earners gain the most. I will post the data later.)
Q: Will the next budget cut VAT on tampons?
Johnson says he cannot say what will be in the budget. But he appreciates the importance of keeping period products low. He says an MP asked about this in the Commons today. When the UK leaves the EU, it will be able to cut VAT on tampons. That is one of the advantages of Brexit, he says.
Q: Can you commit fully to the union?
Yes, says Johnson. He says he commits to it 1,000%. He says when he criticises the SNP, he is not criticising Scotland. He says Scottish education is legendary. It produced Michael Gove, he says. It is a fantastic system. But recently Scotland has been slipping down the Pisa rankings, he says. The SNP should focus on the priorities of the people of Scotland.
He says the SNP have got no really clear idea of how breaking up the union would work.
(Some might say that criticism could be applied to other breaking up long-standing political unions.)
He says people were told that the 2014 referendum was a once in a generation event. He says five years does not constitute a generation. Nor does 10 years, he says.
Q: What shampoo do you use?
Johnson says he does not know. But it is blue. And it comes in a plastic tube.
Johnson is reading out his own questions.
Q: Will we take back control of fishing?
Yes, says Johnson. He says the UK will not trade away its fishing rights.
Johnson says he does not accept that he won’t be able to get a good trade deal from the EU.
Boris Johnson is now hosting his People’s PMQs on Facebook from Downing Street.