Gove defends Boris Johnson over WW2 jibe, saying it's 'witty metaphor' – as it happened
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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and reaction to May’s Brexit speech
No 10 says Boris Johnson was using a 'theatrical comparison', but 'not suggesting anyone was a Nazi'
Heather Stewart
At the lobby briefing after PMQs Theresa May’s spokeswoman gave a spirited defence of the foreign secretary’s remarks in India (see 11am), comparing President Hollande’s stance on Brexit to a threat to administer, “punishment beatings”.
The spokeswoman insisted Johnson “was not suggesting anyone was a Nazi”.
“He was making a theatrical comparison to some of those evocative WWII movies people will have seen,” she said, adding that she rejected media interpretations of the comments and comparing it to the “hyped up media reports” condemned by the prime minister in her Brexit speech.
Juncker says Brexit talks will be 'very, very, very difficult'
Jennifer Rankin
The president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, welcomed Theresa May’s “clarity” that Britain will leave the single market, but warned that Brexit talks will be “very, very, very difficult”.
Speaking to journalists in Strasbourg, he played down suggestions that the prime minister’s speech was a threat to Europe, and emphasised that the deal had to be fair for both sides.
The Luxemburger said he had spoken to May last night and told her the commission was not in a hostile mood. “We want a fair deal with Britain, and a fair deal for Britain – but a fair deal means a fair deal for the European Union.”
He added it would be “a very, very, very difficult negotiation” because Britain would be considered as a foreign country to the rest of the EU.
Sitting alongside him, Joseph Muscat, prime minister of Malta, which has the EU’s six-month rotating presidency, said he had not seen May’s words as “a declaration of war”.
He declined to say whether the UK could work out a trade deal with the EU at the same time as it negotiated its EU exit under article 50. EU leaders will take that decision at a special summit, around a month after May starts the official withdrawal process. “I will not pre-empt my colleagues in deciding themselves during an extraordinary council, the sort of attitude that will be putting forward for the commission to negotiate.”
Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, has been clearer. Shortly after May’s speech he tweeted that his priority was “an agreement on orderly exit”, without mentioning trade talks.
Germany denies EU is split over pre-article 50 deal on citizens' rights
Philip Oltermann
The Guardian’s Berlin correspondent, Philip Oltermann, has the latest on reports in the UK press that EU states were split on whether to do a deal on citizens’ residency rights before article 50 is triggered.
A spokesperson for the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, rejected the reports, stating there was “complete unanimity” that such negotiations could not take place until article 50 was triggered.
The 27 heads of states have already made clear in their joint statement on 29 June 201, so immediately after the referendum, that participation in the single market goes hand in hand with all four freedoms of the single market, and on this question all member states are unanimous. There is also complete unanimity that there can be no pre-negotiations with Great Britain before notification.
Paolo Gentiloni and Angela Merkel give a press conference in Berlin. Photograph: Clemens Bilan/EPA
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Italian prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni, Merkel said that May’s speech had “clarified” how the UK would conduct its negotiations.
We agreed we will coordinate our positions. In relation to our economies, Im not afraid. I think we’ll stick together. Europe must not be divided and we will make sure this doesn’t happen by keeping very close contacts with each other.
PMQs - Verdict: Brexit has never been a happy subject of Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs. He tended to avoid the subject before the EU referendum, he has been wary of raising it since, and today’s exchanges help to illustrate why. Theresa May’s performance was not exactly a triumph but she got the better of Corbyn and appeared more confident at the end of their exchanges than at any time in recent weeks.
There are at least three reasons why the EU is a tricky subject for Corbyn: his views on the EU are different from mainstream Labour’s; mainstream Labour’s are at odds with the consensus in the country as a whole; and the party has not resolved where it stands on the issue of immigration. This was apparent yesterday when Sir Keir Starmer’s response to May’s speech was very hard to square with Corbyn’s. (Corbyn seemed more interested in clobbering the government, while Starmer seemed more interested in positioning Labour in tune with public opinion.)
That said, May is still very vulnerable on this topic. Corbyn could have pressed her more persistently on her threat to turn the UK into a offshore, deregulated tax haven, perhaps by inquiring quite what Philip Hammond meant when he suggested the UK’s “social model” (or welfare state, as we normally call it) could be under threat. He could have asked if it is really conducive to good relations with the EU to have Boris Johnson comparing the French president to a Nazi prison guard. Or he could have asked May to confirm that her transitional deal announcement could mean free movement still applying and the ECJ still having jurisdiction at the time of the next general election (something that is usually anathema to Tory Eurosceptics).
As usual, I missed the questions from Angus Robertson, the SNP’s leader at Westminster, because I was writing up the snap verdict. So here they are.
Robertson asked about Scotland’s desire to stay in the EU single market.
The prime minister has said that Scotland is an equal partner in the UK. Does she still believe this is true, or is she just stringing the people of Scotland along?
May said that in her speech she reiterated her commitment to work with the devolved adminstrations.
Then Robertson cited figures about the potential cost to Scotland of leaving the the single market. As Tory MPs jeered, he went on:
Tories jeering and cheering when the forecast for people’s income is that it is likely to drop by £2,000, and that 80,000 people may lose their jobs in Scotland as a result of the hard Tory Brexit plan of the prime minister. Does the prime minister believe this is a price worth paying for her Little Britain Brexit?
May replied:
The right honourable gentleman once again talks about the possibility of a negative impact on Scotland if Scotland were not part of the single market - his party is dedicated to taking Scotland out of the single market by taking it out of the United Kingdom.
Juncker reiterates that the EU would be seeking as a fair a Brexit deal as Britain would and describes the imminent negotiations as “very, very, very, difficult”. That’s a lot of verys.
He welcomed The “clarifications” made by Theresa May in her speech yesterday, but says that in the trade negotiations, Britain will have to be considered a “third country”, which will be a very different situation.
We are not in a hostile mood, says Juncker. We want a fair deal for the UK but also a fair deal for the EU.
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