Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the Commons debate on Sir Philip Green

9.07am BST

Backbench debates in the House of Commons often attract very little attention, but today’s may turn out to be remarkable. It seems highly likely that the Commons will vote for Sir Philip Green to be stripped of his knighthood.

MPs are due to debate a motion on the joint report from the Commons business committee and the Commons work and pensions committee into the collapse of BHS. It says Green should fulfil his promise to make good the deficit in the BHS pension fund. But more than 100 MPs have signed an amendment tabled by the Conservative MP Richard Fuller saying Green should lose his knighthood. It says:

[This House] noting that Philip Green received his knighthood for his services for the retail industry, believes his actions raise the question of whether he should be allowed to continue to be a holder of the honour and calls on the honours forfeiture committee to recommend his knighthood be cancelled and annulled.

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2dC9PlT

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and Philip Hammond giving evidence to the Treasury committee

9.11am BST

Angela Eagle was subject to homophobic abuse because of her decision to challenge Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership, the party has concluded.

An internal report into allegations of abuse and intimidation in Wallasey Labour party says that Eagle was targeted and its findings have been upheld by a Labour national executive committee sub-committee.

Wallasey MP Angela Eagle WAS subject to homophobic abuse and targeted because she challenged leader Jeremy Corbyn – according to Labour party chiefs.

A confidential report leaked to the ECHO details a Labour party investigation into allegations of abuse and intimidation at the Wallasey Constituency Labour Party (CLP).

According to the report, the attack on the MP’s constituency office in Liscard was also “highly likely” to be connected to her challenge against Jeremy Corbyn for Labour’s leadership.

The report said: “It’s highly likely that the brick thrown through the window of Angela Eagle’s office was related to her leadership challenge. The position of the window made it very unlikely that this was a random passer-by.” It said that claims it could have been targeting another company and Ms Eagle was “lying” about being targeted are “categorically untrue”.

I am grateful that Jeremy took the unusual step of both attending and speaking in the meeting and that he expressed sincere sympathy for both me and for my staff.

It is now clear and accepted by the NEC that homophobic abuse was perpetrated by some members of the local Party; I will simply not tolerate it, and I know I have the backing of both Jeremy and union leaders when I say that there is no place for it in the Labour movement either.

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2dztfaW

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

9.31am BST

The Conservative party conference was dominated by what the party said about immigration but one of the most intriguing lines to emerge was what Theresa May said about monetary policy and quantitative easing. In remarks that seemed highly critical of the Bank of England, and its QE policy, she said: “While monetary policy, with super-low interest rates and quantitative easing, provided the necessary emergency medicine after the financial crash, we have to acknowledge there have been some bad side effects.” Downing Street later had to clarify that she was not trying to interfere with the Bank’s independence and that QE policy was a matter for them.

But it would be unwise to think that that is the end of the matter, and this morning a powerful voice has come to the aid of those in Number 10 who think it is time for a QE rethink. William Hague, the former Conservative leader and former foreign secretary, has used his column in the Telegraph to suggest that the Bank of England should raise interest rates or lose its independence. He also lists 10 problems with the Bank’s continued reliance on QE. Here is an extract.

I am not an economist but I have come to the conclusion that central banks collectively have now indeed lost the plot. The whole point of their independence was that they could be brave enough to make people confront reality. Yet in reality they are blowing up a bubble of make-believe money to avoid immediate pain, except for penalising the poor and the prudent …

Some central bankers would mount a strong defence of their approach. They would explain that there is a global glut of savings, so interest rates are in any case kept low by market forces. This is true, but it does not mean those rates have to be driven to zero, or even below zero now in some places, by the authorities …

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2eop0N1

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen

9.21am BST

The pound is still struggling this morning. My colleague Graeme Wearden has the details on his business live blog.

Related: Pound under pressure amid reports of Brexit split in cabinet – Business live

9.17am BST

Theresa May’s government has only been in office for three months but already cabinet infighting has hit peak intensity on the “ferrets in a sack” scale. Amazingly, there was even a story yesterday (which was denied) claiming that Philip Hammond, the chancellor, was on the verge of resignation because he was so fed up.

The faultline is between those pushing for a hard version of Brexit (principally the so-called three Brexiteers, Boris Johnson, David Davis and Liam Fox) and the chancellor, who is urging caution. Today the Times and the Telegraph have both splashed with stories claiming Hammond has angered colleagues by expressing doubts about a plan to stop low-skilled EU migrants coming to the UK.

Monday’s Times front page:
Hammond clashes with Brexiteers on migrants#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers http://pic.twitter.com/WnPOVPBSvd

Monday’s Telegraph front page:
Hammond in Cabinet Brexit row#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers http://pic.twitter.com/Oep3E74oZo

Related: Philip Hammond’s Brexit worries point to cabinet tensions

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, has angered more pro-Brexit cabinet colleagues with his concerns over plans to swiftly restrict immigration from the EU, warning this could harm the economy, according to reports.

In a sign of apparent tensions within the cabinet over the balance between limiting immigration and keeping open access to the EU, unnamed cabinet sources briefed two newspapers about supposed worries over Hammond’s stance.

On the contrary. If we weren’t having lively debates in cabinet, you would be saying “What’s happened to cabinet government, why aren’t you going through incredibly thoroughly all the different arguments to make sure we end up with the right decision?”

The British people changed the history of our country on the 23 June. The cabinet is absolutely united that we must respect that decision.

This isn’t the first time in the history of government where you read reports in the newspapers that may not actually reflect what’s happened. All I would say is that you would expect lively debates to be happening in government because we are going to get the right solution in terms of securing our borders, but also the right solution economically.

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2emGpHj

Rolling coverage of the SNP conference in Glasgow, including Nicola Sturgeon’s keynote speech

9.04am BST

Nicola Sturgeon has already delivered her first speech to the Scottish National party’s conference in Glasgow – the one announcing the publication of draft legislation for a second independence referendum – but her main address coming this afternoon. According to the SNP’s overnight briefing, it will contain a “heavy focus on domestic policy initiatives”.

But Brexit is going to feature too. As Severin Carrell and Libby Brooks report in their preview story, Sturgeon is going to announce plans to beef up Scotland’s trade links with the EU – on the grounds that Scotland cannot trust Conservative ministers like Boris Johnson and Liam Fox to represent it. Here is the story.

Related: Nicola Sturgeon plans to strengthen Scotland’s trade links with EU

Make no mistake, the growth of our economy right now is threatened not just by the prospect of losing our place in the single market – disastrous though that would be.

It is also the deeply damaging – and utterly shameful – message that the Tories’ rhetoric about foreign workers is sending.

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2e5To09

Rolling coverage of the SNP conference in Glasgow

8.02am BST

Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister and SNP leader, is doing a round of interviews this morning. The SNP conference is taking place in Glasgow and Sturgeon has been answering questions about the speech she gave yesterday. Her main speech to the conference will take place tomorrow afternoon but, just as Theresa May chose to give two speeches to her party conference, a Brexit one at the start and a domestic policy one at the end, Sturgeon opened the conference yesterday with a speech about Brexit and Scottish independence.

Here is the Guardian’s story about it by Severin Carrell.

Related: Nicola Sturgeon challenges May with second referendum bill

Nicola Sturgeon warned that she was prepared to stage a second Scottish independence referendum before the UK quits the European Union as she attacked the Tories for their “xenophobic” rhetoric on the EU.

In a clear challenge to Theresa May’s government in London, the first minister told the Scottish National party conference in Glasgow she would unveil draft legislation next week to prepare for a rerun of the 2014 referendum within the next two years.

“The rhetoric from the Tory conference was xenophobic, all about borders and blue passports”: @NicolaSturgeon tells @BBCBreakfast #SNP16

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2dRFrGT

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments, including Boris Johnson being questioned by the Commons foreign affairs committee

9.03am BST

Who’d have guessed that Brexit would trigger a national Marmite shortage? Or, to be accurate, a national Marmite shortage for people who get their shopping from the Tesco website. The Brexit repercussions continue to surprise and there is detailed coverage of this (plus the pound falling, again) on my colleague Graeme Wearden’s business live blog.

Related: Pound falls below $1.22 as Brexit sparks Marmite price row – business live

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2ej3Ncg

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and the Commons debate on Brexit

9.26am BST

MPs will debate parliamentary scrutiny of the Brexit process this afternoon and, in advance of the debate, Labour is claiming to have achieved a “real victory”. In reality, it it probably more a matter of establishing a temporary, tactical advantage, but an opposition is entitled to boast about its gains whenever it gets them.

The key point is that Theresa May has compromised to avoid the risk of a Tory revolt over giving the Commons a say on Brexit.

That this House recognises that leaving the EU is the defining issue facing the UK; believes that there should be a full and transparent debate on the Government’s plan for leaving the EU; and calls on the Prime Minister to ensure that this House is able properly to scrutinise that plan for leaving the EU before Article 50 is invoked.

At end add ‘; and believes that the process should be undertaken in such a way that respects the decision of the people of the UK when they voted to leave the EU on 23 June and does not undermine the negotiating position of the government as negotiations are entered into which will take place after article 50 has been triggered.’.

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2dIzcmi

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen

9.10am BST

In the Commons yesterday David Davis, the Brexit secretary, said that if the government got what it wanted in the Brexit negotiations, there would be “no downside to Brexit at all”. Setting out the government’s four aims, he said:

One is to regain control of our borders. Another is to get back control of our laws. The one I did not list was our aim to keep our justice and security arrangements at least as strong as they are. Finally, and most importantly in this context, the United Kingdom must aim to maintain the best possible open access to European markets and vice versa. If we can achieve all that, there will be no downside to Brexit at all, and considerable upsides.

Tuesday’s Times front page:
Hard Brexit could cost £66bn a year#tomorrowspaperstoday #bbcpapers http://pic.twitter.com/jOb8RRZXAE

Related: Hard Brexit will cost Treasury up to £66bn a year, ministers are told

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2dHHl9t

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen

9.09am BST

Jeremy Corbyn has acquired a reputation for holding reshuffles that run for almost as long as The Mousetrap and the current one, which started on Thursday, is still underway. We are told we will get some new names later today. Having finalised his shadow cabinet at the end of last week, late yesterday afternoon Corbyn announced 21 other frontbench appointments. For the record, here is the full list.

Shadow Minister for Labour – Jack Dromey MP

Continue reading…

Politics blog | The Guardian http://ift.tt/2dZmwtt