- 27 EU leaders meet without Britain for first time
- Corbyn faces leadership challenge after news 172 MPs fail to back him
- Stephen Crabb confirms he will stand for Tory leadership with Sajid Javid
- Nicola Sturgeon in Brussels for meeting with Juncker
- Catch up with today’s morning briefing
8.47am BST
Q: You are part of a government that has failed to control immigration.
Morgan says we have ended up with a bit of a soundbite political era. She says it is important for politicians to level with people.
8.44am BST
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Claire.
Nicky Morgan, the education secretary, is on the Today programme now. She say she is actively considering running for the party leadership.
8.31am BST
As 27 EU members – minus the UK – begin the second day of the Brussels summit, I’m handing over the live blog to Andrew Sparrow. Thanks for reading and stay with us.
Tusk @eucopresident has rung the bell to start first informal #EU27 meeting
8.15am BST
Stephen Crabb, who is planting his name firmly on the nominations list to be the next Tory leader and prime minister this morning, sets out in the Telegraph what he wants to do with “the government I intend to lead”:
First, we must unite. Just over a year ago, every Conservative MP was elected on a manifesto that committed us to holding a referendum. The campaign is now over.
We cannot allow this leadership election to be defined by divisive labels like remainer and Brexiteer. The quicker we can focus on the future, the better chance we have to unite our party and the country.
8.04am BST
Sajid Javid – the business secretary who’s backing Stephen Crabb for Tory leader in a joint ticket that would see him in the Treasury – has been speaking to the Today programme.
Batting away the fact that both he and Crabb were pro-remainers hoping to lead the country through its exit from the UK, Javid said:
There’s no distinction any more … In some ways we’re all Brexiteers now … It is really all about how we get on with it.
There’ll be no going back on the decision; there’ll be no second referendum.
The British people want to know it is a policy in full control of the UK.
It’s all about delivery now … No one knows yet what kind of deal we’re going to get with the EU. We need people who can do the negotiations.
7.51am BST
As I mentioned in the morning briefing, the SNP in Westminster will apparently today ask the Speaker to recognise that party – rather than Labour – as Her Majesty’s Opposition.
The SNP’s leader in Westminster, Angus Robertson, does now technically command the support of 14 more MPs than the Labour leader, following the no-confidence vote in Jeremy Corbyn. That vote saw just 40 MPs back Corbyn, with 172 against.
Interesting thought. Ministers of Crown Act 1937 gives Speaker power to choose official leader of Opposition if uncertainty over who it is.
7.41am BST
It’s a question a lot of people are asking: is there a way back from a Brexit vote? (Can I be the first to call it an EU-turn?)
Angela Merkel last night said no:
I see no possibility to reverse this. We would do well to accept this reality.
I think there are a number of ways.
The short answer is yes, just about, but many forces would have to align.
Related: UK voted for Brexit – but is there a way back?
7.30am BST
Margaret Beckett – formerly an acting leader of the Labour party – is in tears on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme as she explains why she thinks Jeremy Corbyn needs to stand down.
She praises his integrity and principles – “but they don’t of themselves make you a leader”.
He has no experience at all of the problems of leadership … the hassle, the scrutiny, the compromises you have to make to get to the best common ground.
Jeremy has brought on a whole new raft of talent … and they have gone because they felt they could no longer deal with the situation in which they found themselves.
I’m afraid the people in the leader’s office act like a separate unit from the Labour party … There are people around Jeremy who are prepared to see the Labour party split rather than for him to go. The Labour party has to survive … because we need an alternative government.
7.21am BST
The Guardian’s front page today documents those scenes in the European parliament yesterday, as Nigel Farage was met with boos by most MEPs – but praise from the Front National president, Marine Le Pen:
The Guardian front page, Wednesday 29.06.16: As Farage looked on, Le Pen said: ‘Look how beautiful history is …’ http://pic.twitter.com/ENNMFREZOc
6.52am BST
Another day, another Brexit live blog: welcome.
Here’s the morning briefing to run you through the key developments and what we expect to happen today (as far as anyone can predict this stuff any more). Do come and chat in the comments below or find me on Twitter @Claire_Phipps.
I think [British] people recognised the strength of the economic case for staying, but there was a very great concern about the movement of people and immigration, and I think that is coupled with a concern about the issues of sovereignty and the absence of control there has been.
I think we need to think about that, Europe needs to think about that and I think that is going to be one of the major tests for the next prime minister.
It’s a sad night for me – I didn’t want to be in this position. I wanted Britain to stay in a reformed European Union … I fought very hard for what I believed in. I didn’t stand back. I threw myself in head, heart and soul to keep Britain in the European Union and I didn’t succeed.
It was not the responsibility of those who wanted to remain in the EU to explain what plan we would follow if we voted to quit the EU.
There must be, and there will be, a palpable difference between those countries who want to be members of the European family and those who don’t … If you wish to have free access to the single market then you have to accept the fundamental European rights as well as obligations that come from it. This is as true for Great Britain as for anybody else.
We did not discuss the possibility that the UK will not invoke article 50, and I consider this an impossibility.
I see no possibility to reverse this. We would do well to accept this reality.
Everything must be on the table to protect Scotland’s place in Europe.
He isn’t the man you want driving you home at the end of the evening!
I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. Today’s vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy.
For those asking how this is possible it’s in Erskine May. The official opposition must be ‘prepared to assume office’. Labour can’t anymore
If Brexit really is the will of the people, a second referendum will confirm it … What possible prime minister would have the courage, the chutzpah, to call a second referendum? Certainly not Damaged Goods Cameron. Not any ‘safe pair of hands ship-steadier’ from either party. It would have to be a leading Brexiteer. Only such a one could carry the country with him, and get away with such a bold decision. I can think of only one British politician with the sheer bottle, the idiosyncratic contrariness, the endearingly impudent bloody cheek, to get away with it. Boris Johnson, of course …
Johnson is probably the only British politician who is in a position to remove the poison from the chalice, and who has the ability to do so. And the way he could do it is by calling a second referendum.
The Conservatives decided to move back the date by which their leader must be confirmed to 9 September, which will come as a relief to those Tories who were grumbling about being hauled back from the Mediterranean a week early. The consensus in the party is that the two frontrunners in the leadership contest are Boris Johnson and Theresa May. Both have significant operations around them. May has supporters in the whips’ office, while Boris has Lynton Crosby signed up to advise him, and Michael Gove working on his behalf to charm MPs from across the party …
Some Tories claim that there is resentment building against Boris from members who feel that he wasn’t really sincerely in favour of Brexit, but has caused a colossal mess, though his supporters point out that the Uxbridge MP at least put his heart and soul into the Leave campaign, whereas the home secretary practically went into hiding after declaring for Remain.
The only argument that could have stopped Brexit was that austerity and neo-liberalism caused the housing crisis, falling wages and stretched public services – not Romanians and Bulgarians …
Corbyn’s main mistake was not to take tighter control of Labour’s campaign from the outset – although, of course, had he done so he would have been roundly denounced. Like so many quandaries of the Corbyn leadership, the referendum campaign was characterised by a need for footwork and firefighting within the parliamentary Labour party rather than a strategic focus on winning the vote. The Labour right created an impossible situation and are now attempting to exploit the aftermath. If it wasn’t so desperate and irresponsible, it could be described as shrewd.
Rupert Murdoch: if [Boris] backtracks on serious things there’ll be another bloody revolt #TimesCeoSummit
4.15am on day 1 of fight to protect Scotland’s place in Europe – off to Brussels.
Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/292YQzC
Sig Nordal 