Prime Minister 1) Government resists Commons pressure for Brexit vote…
“Theresa May warned MPs yesterday to respect the will of the people and stop trying to halt Brexit. In heated exchanges in the Commons, the Prime Minister dismissed demands for MPs to be given a vote on the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU. She told one pro-Brussels member: ‘We are siding with the British people, who voted to leave the European Union. It is high time MPs listened to the vote of the British people and accepted that that is exactly what we are going to do.’” – Daily Mail
- May pledges debate, won’t promise vote – FT
- Prime Minister bans her MPs from voting on Brexit plan – The Sun
- We must have a say, Tory rebels demand – The Times (£)
- Pro-EU Conservatives speak out against May – FT
- May blasts those seeking another Brexit vote – The Sun
- Davis attacks ‘Brexit blame festival’ – Daily Telegraph
- Push to avoid Commons vote faces High Court test – FT
- Prime Minister won’t say if she’ll keep us in the single market – The Sun
- Neil slams Tory MP demanding vote in heated EU clash – Daily Express
More Brexit:
- Fox’s jibe at ‘lazy’ bosses deters trade negotiators – The Times (£)
- Cairns says Brexit will be good for Wales – Wales Online
- Britain facing £18 billion ‘divorce bill’ – Daily Telegraph
- Fury over Unilever’s ‘Brexit blackmail’ – Daily Mail
- Sturgeon claims Tory right has found licence for ‘xenophobia’ – Daily Telegraph
- Eurosceptics demand investigation into BBC’s ‘steam of negativity’ – Daily Mail
- Senior pro-Remain Alliance member backs staying in the UK – Belfast Telegraph
Cameron:
- Former Prime Minister to work with National Citizen Service – The Guardian
- Cameron already ranked amongst worst Prime Ministers by experts – The Sun
>Today:
>Yesterday:
Ambrose Evans-Pritchard: If Brussels insists on a hard Brexit, so be it
“Mr Hollande wishes to bring about the hardest possible Brexit. If this proves to be the EU position – and it may not be, since it is lunacy and he for one will soon be irrelevant – it does at least clarify the issue. A hard Brexit was never my preference. While the economic benefits of the EU customs union are greatly overstated, it would be no small matter to unwind the nexus of cross-border supply chains that has evolved over decades. But if that is the only choice, so be it.” – Daily Telegraph
- Only a Commons vote will give consensus on leaving the EU – Keir Starmer, The Times (£)
- If Brexit is about Parliamentary sovereignty, why not consult Parliament? – Stanley Johnson, Brexit Central
- Brexit reveals two Britains, both wrong: May needs a Plan B – Allister Heath, Daily Telegraph
- Legal bids to block Article 50 risk demeaning June’s referendum – Hugh Bennett, Brexit Central
- I knew the BBC’s laudable impartiality couldn’t last – Stephen Glover, Daily Mail
- Starmer is the left’s best hope when Corbyn goes – David Aaronovitch, The Times (£)
- Bremoaners were in a state of deep agitation – Quentin Letts, Daily Mail
- Hinkley, HS2, and Heathrow show May’s team are out of their depth – Simon Jenkins, The Guardian
Sketches:
- Labour are starting to act like an Opposition… if only they had a clue what they wanted – Michael Deacon, Daily Telegraph
- Prostate saga ends with positive diagnosis for Corbyn – Patrick Kidd, The Times (£)
Editorial:
- Brexit and the Corporation’s duty of impartiality – Daily Mail
>Yesterday: Andrew Gimson’s PMQs sketch: May treats Corbyn with genial condescension
Prime Minister 2) May faces fresh challenge on migration
“Only one per cent of international students break the terms of their visa by refusing to leave after their course ends, a secret government study has found. The research threatens to undermine Theresa May’s case for a crackdown on foreign student recruitment and calls into question past estimates that put the figure far higher. Official statistics have been used to suggest that tens of thousands of foreign students “vanish” each year after finishing their degrees, but the latest study would suggest that the true figure is 1,500.” – The Times (£)
- Individual children’s details passed to Home Office for immigration purposes – The Guardian
- Rudd failed in bid to exempt migrants from curbs – The Times (£)
- Confusion over gulf between arrivals and departures – The Times (£)
More May:
- Prime Minister promises to crack down on modern slavers – Daily Mail
- May urged to scrap sugar tax – The Sun
Editorial:
>Yesterday: ToryDiary: Did the referendum result really spark “a lasting rise in hate crime”?
Ministers 1) Johnson savaged by ex-MI6 chief over call for protests against Russia
“The former head of MI6 has urged Boris Johnson to be more cautious after the Foreign Secretary called for anti-war protests outside the Russian embassy. Sir John Sawers, who ran the Secret Intelligence Service from 2009 to 2014, indicated the politician’s comments could risk retaliation against British diplomats in Russia. Mr Johnson has been roundly criticised for his ‘shameful’ call for demonstrations against the bombing of Syria.” – Daily Mail
- Russians mock Foreign Secretary as just one protester turns up – Daily Express
- Fury as Corbyn aide compares UK-US campaign against ISIS to Russian carpet bombing – Daily Mail
- Labour alarm over rising influence of Stop the War figures – Daily Telegraph
- Prime Minister questions no-fly zone proposal – The Guardian
More Johnson:
- Foreign Secretary appeals to Tory donors as he backs Royal Yacht campaign – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
- West’s hubris has created this Russian monster – Michael Burleigh, The Times (£)
Editorial:
- Stop the War is a relic that plays into the hands of Britain’s foes – The Times (£)
- Labour’s call to blame the US over Russia shows the hard Left’s true colours – Daily Telegraph
>Yesterday: LeftWatch: The Stop the West Coalition is getting worse – and now it’s running the Labour Party
Ministers 2) Grayling announces extension of train delay repayment scheme
“Passengers will be able to claim compensation if their trains are more than 15 minutes late, ministers will reveal today. Chris Grayling, the Transport Secretary, will announce an extension of the Delay Repay scheme to be introduced on a group of railway services, including troubled Southern Rail, by next spring. It will then be rolled out across the country.” – Daily Mail
- MPs attack ‘inadequate’ HS2 compensation fund – Daily Mail
Osborne’s whiplash reforms – abandoned by the Government?
“George Osborne’s reforms to how the insurance industry deals with claims for whiplash injuries have been set aside by the government, increasing costs for motorists. Ministers are understood to have told insurers that they are unenthusiastic about the proposals, leading the industry to conclude that they will never emerge. The reforms would have ended the right to cash compensation for minor whiplash injuries, saving insurers £1 billion and taking up to £50 off motorists’ average annual insurance bills.” – The Times (£)
Labour MPs angry over new peeress’s rapid rise
“Baroness Chakrabarti has faced a backlash from Labour MPs a week into her job as shadow attorney-general after she was accused of posturing at a party meeting and appearing to defend private education for the rich. The former director of Liberty irritated MPs and peers by justifying her decision to send her son to an £18,000-a-year private school by saying that she lived in a “nice big house” worth more than £2 million. Her comments, in a television interview on Sunday, led some MPs to accuse her of comparing the use of comprehensive schools to the use of food banks.” – The Times (£)
- Debbonaire returns to Labour front bench – The Guardian
- Danczuk in fresh expenses row – The Sun
- Corbyn wants 50 per cent of Labour MPs to be female by 2020 – The Guardian
SNP faces ‘Momentum-style’ revolt
“Nicola Sturgeon faces the first cracks in her party’s unified front during the SNP conference this week as a Momentum-style movement hosts a rival “radical independence” event. Despite Ms Sturgeon’s reputation for maintaining an iron grip over her party, the SNP is facing similar factional challenges to Labour, which saw the grassroots group Momentum set up a competing event in Liverpool during the party conference last month.” – The Times (£)
- Sturgeon’s plan for snap Holyrood election to force referendum – Daily Express
- Independence divisions cast shadow over conference – FT
- Scotland is ‘bigger economic basket case than Greece’ – Daily Mail
- First Minister must double income tax to ready Scotland for independence – The Sun
- Nationalists accused of complacency over sluggish Scottish economy – Daily Telegraph
- Robertson proud his party is ‘gayest’ at Westminster – The Sun
- Members urged to back calls to end ban on gay blood donors – The Scotsman
Europe:
- First Minister to call for coalition to resist hard Brexit – The Scotsman
- SNP warn May to protect Scotland’s single market access – Daily Express
Comment:
- The biggest threat to Sturgeon comes from within the SNP – Alan Cochrane, Daily Telegraph
Editorial:
>Yesterday: Henry Hill’s Red, White, and Blue column: Sturgeon warned she risks repeating Labour’s mistakes by governing timidly
News in Brief:
- Quarter of GP surgeries expected to be rated unsafe – Daily Mail
- Abandoned pensioners swamping A&E – The Times (£)
- Eight in ten hospitals not safe enough – Daily Telegraph
- Trump faces multiple groping allegations – FT
- Wilders leads Dutch polls as he calls for swift EU exit – The Sun
- Welsh MPs have enjoyed free trips around the world worth £26,000 – Wales Online
- DUP claim Alliance leadership candidate’s attack on Foster fell flat – Belfast Telegraph
And finally… Duncan brands Parliamentary pets ban ‘pathetic’
“A ban on MPs bringing pets into Parliament is “risible” and “pathetic”, a Foreign Office minister has suggested. Sir Alan Duncan said his dog Noodle was “indignant” about the ban and suggested he might bring his pet into the Foreign Office as an act of defiance. His comments came after the Parliamentary Authorities wrote to the whips’ offices after a “recent increase” in the number of instances of pass holders bringing animals on the Westminster Estate “without permission.”” – Daily Telegraph