Politics

Brexit: Leadsom unable to tell MPs when next debate due to be held – live news


It used to be unusual to hear members of the cabinet disagree with each other in public. Now, as a result of Brexit, it has become commonplace – so routine one scarcely notices anymore – but it is worth flagging up anyway, particularly on the highly-charged issued of a second referendum.

On ITV’s Peston show last night Philip Hammond, the chancellor, did his best to slam the idea back on the table. Arguing that MPs should get a vote on the proposition, he told the programme:


I’ve said it’s a perfectly credible proposition. Some ideas have been put forward which are not deliverable, they are not negotiable but the confirmatory referendum idea, many people will disagree with it, I’m not sure there is a majority in parliament for it but it’s a perfectly credible proposition and it deserves to be tested in parliament.

But his morning, on the Today programme, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, did his best to sweep the proposal back into oblivion. Asked what he thought about a second referendum, he said:


I don’t see how that helps. That isn’t about delivering Brexit … I have argued many, many times that it would be divisive, it would not be decisive, it doesn’t help us leave the European Union before the European elections, so I am very, very strongly against it …

The point here is to respect the result of the referendum, not to challenge the result of the referendum in another referendum.

Then, when it was put to him that Hammond had described the idea as “credible”, Hancock responded:


Well that’s certainly not how I would describe it. But all of use are having to find compromises, and that is hard.

This is not even a split between the cabinet’s leave faction and its remain faction. Hammond and Hancock are both remain-voting Brexit pragmatists, although Hammond is at the more militant end of that spectrum.

Labour is just as divided on a second referendum, if not more so (Hammond is an outlier – most Tory MPs agree with Hancock on this), and that became clear when Shami Chakrabarti, the shadow attorney general, was interviewed on the Today programme too. I will post some extracts from her interview soon.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Stephen Barclary, the Brexit secretary, takes questions in the Commons.

After 10.00am: Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the Commons, makes a statement on next week’s Commons business.

10.45am: Violeta Bulc, the European transport commissioner, holds a press conference on Brexit preparedness.

Afternoon: Peers are expected to debate the Yvette Cooper bill requiring the PM to seek an article 50 extension. The proceedings could run late into the evening.

3pm: Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, meets Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, in Dublin. They are due to make a press statement at 5.30pm.

Also a government team headed by David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister, will spend the day in talks with a Labour team headed by Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web, although I expect to be focusing mostly on Brexit. I plan to post a summary at lunchtime and another when I wrap up.

You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe round-up of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments BTL but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply ATL, although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.





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