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PMQs: Johnson says plan to let Scotland decide its immigration policy 'fanciful and deranged' - live news PMQs: Johnson says plan to let Scotland decide its immigration policy 'fanciful and deranged' - live news
(31 minutes later)
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happenRolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
Verhofstadt says MEPs have to consider the causes of Brexit.
He says the UK voted for Brexit to get sovereignty. But it has to consider what sovereignty it will have if it has to plant Chinese telecommunications equipment all over the country.
Verhofstadt says today is not a vote in favour of the principle of Brexit.
It is a vote against a hard Brexit, and against a disorderly Brexit, he says.
If he could vote on Brexit, he would vote against.
He says what is happening is that “a country that liberated us” twice is leaving.
MEPs in Brussels have finally started the debate on the EU withdrawal agreement. Originally the debate was meant to start at 2pm, but various other items came up first.
Guy Verhofstadt, who has been the parliament’s lead spokesman on Brexit, is speaking now.
He says he wants to pay tribute to British MEPs - at last, the majorithy of them.
They have broad wit, charm, intelligence - at least some of them, he says.
And they have brought stubbornness too, he says.
MEPs applaud.
From the Mirror’s Pippa Crerar
Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will chair a meeting of the government’s Cobra emergency committee at 4.30pm, Downing Street said.
In the European parliament the debate on the withdrawal agreement has not quite started yet. We’ve had various procedural interventions first.
The government has lost a legal challenge against high court rulings that it unlawfully discriminated against severely disabled people who were moved on to universal credit (UC), the Press Association reports. In a unanimous judgment, the court of appeal upheld two earlier rulings that people who previously received disability benefits had been less favourably treated as a result of moving on to the controversial benefits scheme. Two severely disabled men who had to apply for UC when they moved to a different local authority area won a declaration that they had been unlawfully discriminated against in June 2018.
Here is Richard Burgon, a candidate for the Labour deputy leadership, has posted this on Twitter about President Trump’s Middle East peace plan.
From my colleague Jennifer Rankin
The European parliament is now debating the EU withdrawal agreement.
There is a live feed here.
Nigel Farage, the Brexit party leader, has posted this on Twitter ahead of his speech.
Rebecca Long-Bailey, another Labour leadership candidate, did not take part when there was a Commons vote on building a third runway at Heathrow in June 2018. But today she has posted this on Twitter, signalling her clear opposition to the plan.Rebecca Long-Bailey, another Labour leadership candidate, did not take part when there was a Commons vote on building a third runway at Heathrow in June 2018. But today she has posted this on Twitter, signalling her clear opposition to the plan.
Sir Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry, the other three remaining leadership candidates, all voted against Heathrow expansion in 2018. Jess Phillips, who was in the contest before withdrawing last week, voted in favour.Sir Keir Starmer, Lisa Nandy and Emily Thornberry, the other three remaining leadership candidates, all voted against Heathrow expansion in 2018. Jess Phillips, who was in the contest before withdrawing last week, voted in favour.
Sir Keir Starmer, another Labour leadership candidate, says he would only nominate people to sit in the House of Lords if they were prepared to sign a declaration promising to vote for its abolition.Sir Keir Starmer, another Labour leadership candidate, says he would only nominate people to sit in the House of Lords if they were prepared to sign a declaration promising to vote for its abolition.
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary and Labour leadership candidate, has issued her own statement about President Trump’s Middle East peace plan. She says it is an abomination.
Ian Murray, a candidate for the Labour deputy leadership, has received endorsements of sorts from both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Brown formally says is is backing Murray. The Blair statement does not go quite that far, although that may be an acknowledgement of the fact that, given Blair’s standing with Labour party members (62% of them have an unfavourable view of him), a proper Blair endorsement would be a mixed blessing.
This is from the Tony Blair Institute.
And here is a statement from Brown. He said:
Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, has told reporters that the US is still considering whether or not to restrict intelligence sharing with the UK in the light of the Huawei decision. Speaking to reporters on his flight to the UK, he also suggested that Washington is still hoping that the UK might change its mind. These are from the Washington Post’s John Hudson.
This is what Pompeo said when asked about the prospect of Washington reducing intelligence sharing. He said:
In the European parliament the debate on the withdrawal agreement has not started yet. MEPs are marking the Holocaust Remembrance Day first.
MEPs are about to start debating the EU withdrawal agreement.
There is a live feed here.
From my colleague Jennifer Rankin in Brussels
Boris Johnson claimed that the Scottish government’s plan for Edinburgh to be able to decide immigration policy for Scotland was “fanciful and deranged”. This is what he said when asked Ian Blackford, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, asked about this at PMQs. Johnson said:
Blackford replied:
From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg
The Northern rail franchise is to be renationalised, the government has announced, with the state operator of last resort taking over the running of the struggling network from 1 March, my colleagues Gwyn Topham and Lucy Campbell report.
Here are some lines from the post-PMQs briefing from Jeremy Corbyn’s spokesman.