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PMQs: Johnson says plan to let Scotland decide its immigration policy 'fanciful and deranged' - live news 'Not adieu, only au revoir' - Verhofstadt predicts UK will rejoin as MEPs vote on Brexit agreement: 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
Daniel Hannan, the Conservative MEP, says after the 1975 vote Eurosceptics in the UK accepted the decision to stay in the EU.
But after Maastricht the mood changed. It became clear that the EU was turning into a quasi-state, with a flag and a president etc.
If at any point the UK had been able to have a trade-only association, it would have stayed.
He says if David Cameron had got any repatriation of power in February 2016, the UK would have stayed.
The EU is “losing a bad tenant, but gaining a good neighbour”, he says.
Philippe Lamberts, co-head of the Green group in the parliament, says there is a reason why people have turned against the EU. It is because too many policies serve the interests of the few, not the many. The EU must fix this if it wants to avoid another Brexit, he says. It should ensure that all policies serve the interests of the vulnerable. And policies should respect nature too, he says.
Nathalie Loiseau, a representative of the Renew group in the European parliament (and the former French Europe minister), is speaking now. She says she is speaking in English because she wants to address the British. She says they will be missed.
The European parliament will ensure that citizens’ rights are respected, she says.
Addressing Brexiters, she says now they will have no one to blame but themselves. They won’t be able to blame Brussels.
But if they think Brexit will weaken the EU, they are wrong, she says.
Iratxe García Pérez, head of the socialist group in the European parliament, is speaking now.
She says, if the British people ever decide to return, the EU arms will always be open to them.
From my colleague Jennifer Rankin
Manfred Weber, head of the centre-right European People’s party group, is speaking now.
He says he regrets the fact Brexit is happening.
He says it was the UK’s decision to rule out an extension to the post-Brexit transition. He implies this is a mistake.
He also says that MEPs will not allow any cherry picking in the trade deal.
Von der Leyen says she wants to achieve the best for young students who want to study abroad.
She ends by quoting George Eliot.
Von der Leyen says the EU is considering a zero tariff, zero quota free trade agrement. But for this to happen there must be a level playing field, she says. She says the EU will not expose its companies to unfair competition.
She says the trade off is simple: the closer the UK stays to EU rules, the better the access to the single market will be.
She says British car firms recently asked the UK government to stay aligned to EU rules. This is in both sides’ interests, she says.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European commission, is speaking now.
She pays tribute to contribution made by Britons to the EU, in the commission and in the parliament.
She says the EU will be vigilant in monitoring power-sharing in Northern Ireland.
She says she wants to be very clear; she wants the EU and the UK to remain good friends and good partners.
They have a lot in common, she says. They both believe climate change must be tackled as a matter of urgency.
Verhofstadt says he has had hundreds of citizens from Britons wanting to stay in the EU. He says he is not sure what to say to them. But he says what the EU must do is ensure that when the UK returns to the EU, as he is sure it will, it must return to an effective union. He says:
Verhofstadt says some people blame the EU because it did not offer enough to David Cameron in his renegotiation.
But he says his view is that the Brexit process started many years ago, when it started offering countries opt-outs.
He says that led to countries only accepting the advantages of the union, not the disadvantages too.
Verhofstadt says MEPs have to consider the causes of Brexit.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.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.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.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.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.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.
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.