Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn at the last PMQs of 2015
Sir John Major’s Today interview - Summary and analysis
Unemployment falls to seven-year low
PMQs - Verdict
Lunchtime summary
3.35pm GMT
Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, is about to give evidence to the joint committee on human rights on targeted killings by drones. The committee is chaired by the former Labour deputy leader, Harriet Harman.
3.28pm GMT
Chuka Umunna, the Labour MP and former shadow business secretary, was criticising Theresa May over what she said in her speech to the Conservative party conference. He said:
In 2002 you lectured your party to stop demonising minority groups in society and you complained that people called your party the nasty party. And then you give this speech 13 years later that reinforced those stereotypes. Simon Walker, the head of the Institute of Directors, described your comments and the overall tone of that speech as irresponsible and pandering to anti-immigrant sentiment. He’s right.
You’re not some Nigel Farage tribute act. You are the home secretary. And the language you used in that speech, and the tone of it, I don’t think was responsible or temperate. And that’s what people expect of a home secretary. They might not expect it of Nigel Farage. They expect it of you.
3.20pm GMT
Chuka Umunna accuses Theresa May of behaving like "some Nigel Farage tribute act" with her anti immigration speech at the Tory conference
3.10pm GMT
There is a vote in the Commons, so the committee is adjourning to let members vote. It will start again in about 10 minutes.
3.02pm GMT
CORRECTION: In the lunchtime summary (see 2.26pm) I originally said that Philip Hammond told MPs that civilians had died as a result of British air strikes against Isis. In fact, he said that no civilians had died. I am sorry about that. It was a straightforward mistake, leaving out a word. I’ve corrected that now.
2.57pm GMT
Home Secretary Theresa May on @realDonaldTrump’s infamous comments: "They were divisive, they were unhelpful and they wrong"
Theresa May on Donald Trump's comments about the police: "He is quite wrong. This just shows he does not understand the United Kingdom."
Theresa May tells MPs that Donald Trump was talking absolute nonsense in claiming there were Muslim no-go areas for British police
2.53pm GMT
Theresa May, the home secretary, is giving evidence to the Commons home affairs committee. It is a general hearing, covering various aspects of Home Office business.
Keith Vaz, the committee chair, started by asking why George Osborne and David Cameron have both said Donald Trump should not be banned from the UK when this is a decision for May.
2.26pm GMT
I also think with that attack and also the Leytonstone attack, although unrelated, it is right also to look at the resources that our police have in terms of the equipment they have. There’s a very different usage pattern for Tasers, for instance, across the country and this is something the home secretary and the Metropolitan Police and I are discussing.
Let me join you in being proud of representing a country which I think has some claim to say we are one of the most successful multi-racial, multi-faith, multi-ethnic countries anywhere in the world. There’s more to do to build opportunity and fight discrimination. I agree with you it is right that we exclude people when they are going to radicalise or encourage extremism.
I happen to disagree with you about Donald Trump. I think his remarks are divisive, stupid and wrong and I think if he came to visit our country I think he’d unite us all against him.
In government you have to make tough choices, you have to make decisions about technology that works and technology that isn’t working. And we are spending the money on innovation, on energy storage, on small nuclear reactors, on other things, on energy heat systems for local communities that will make a difference.
To govern is to choose and we made the right choice.
Certainly as someone who has been through this battle a number of times, eventually relatively successfully, lots of people find different ways of doing it and clearly for some people e-cigarettes are successful ...
But it is promising to see more than a million are estimated to have used e-cigarettes to help them quit or have replaced smoking with e-cigarettes completely.
Everyone welcomes a drop in unemployment. But if you look at the types of job being created - we now have 800,000 people on zero-hours contracts or working part-time and large numbers underemployed. This is not the high-wage, high-skill economy that George Osborne promised us.
I recognise that I have committed in earlier debates to consult on proposals to reform the current payment schemes before the end of the year. And despite our best efforts to meet this commitment we are unfortunately not yet ready to publish this before recess. However, I can confirm today that the consultation will be published in January.
The delay I know will be disappointing for many who are anticipating this consultation before the end of the year and I do want to apologise for the delay.
1.43pm GMT
Donald Trump, the US presidential candidate, has lost a case in the supreme court today which involved him trying to stop windfarms being built near his golf course in Scotland.
Here’s Owen Bowcott’s story.
Related: Donald Trump loses Scottish windfarm appeal
This delay in the offshore wind demonstrator is deeply damaging to Scotland’s hopes of being on the cutting edge of that new technology. It would have been great for the North East to have that new string to our bow at this time of low oil prices. Trump has delayed that opportunity.
His behaviour and comments are unlikely to attract the votes of many Mexican Americans or Muslim Americans. Given his treatment of Scotland, Scots American are likely to join the ever growing list of people alienated by Trump.
#Trump organisation statement pic.twitter.com/aVMIWLhh2c
1.26pm GMT
PMQs Verdict: Jeremy Corbyn is trying to beat the Tories on the NHS. And David Cameron is trying to beat Labour over the economy (and, failing that, Christmas greetings.) That’s a summary of today’s PMQs.
Corbyn devoted all six of his questions to NHS-related questions and they were all finely-honed and relevant. He was particularly good when he taunted Cameron about the government’s decision to cut back on the amount of NHS data it is publishing this winter, contrasting this with what Cameron used to say about the importance of transparency. Often the choice of topic determines who “wins” at PMQS, and the Labour leader almost always has the advantage of health, but nevertheless Corbyn was solid and effective. He continues to show little interest in the mocking, rhetorical flourishes opposition leaders usually deploy at PMQs, and this means there is always something a bit understated about his performances, but there is so much hyperbole in politics that understatement comes as something as a relief. And, to his credit, Corbyn is raising concerns about the NHS without scaremongering. In the past some Labour figures have found it hard to talk about the winter crisis without making predictions so doom-laden that patients are left pleasantly surprised when they find a hospital actually open.
12.37pm GMT
Sue Hayman, the Labour MP, asks about flooding, and says some of her constituents who have been flooded are being asked to pay excesses of up to £10,000 which they cannot pay.
Cameron says the government’s compensation scheme will be able to help some families in this situation.
12.35pm GMT
Sir Gerald Howarth, a Conservative, asks Cameron to send out a message of support to Christians around the world. Britain is fashioned by its Christian heritage, he says.
Cameron says we should do everything we can to defend the rights of Christians the world over.
12.33pm GMT
Cameron says the SNP do not want a partnership between nations. They want separation. But one of the good things about the UK is that it has shown people can have multiple identities; they can be Scottish and British.
12.33pm GMT
Nicola Blackwood, a Conservative, asks about an attack in Poundland in Abingdon. Will the government make it harder for people to get hold of knifes?
Cameron says it is right to look at this issue. The government is also looking at whether the police need more equipment. For example, the use of tasers varies considerably between police forces around the country.
12.31pm GMT
Marion Fellows, the SNP MP, says her constituents in the steel industry are starting to receive redundancy payments. Will Cameron ensure the EII [energy intensive industry] scheme is activated?
Cameron says the government is working around the clock to try to ensure this EU scheme comes into force.
12.29pm GMT
Douglas Carswell, the Ukip MP, asks if Cameron is still committed to including social provision in his EU renegotiation.
Cameron says he finds it hard to please Carswell. Carswell joined the Tories when they were not committed to an EU referendum, and left after they did back one. He is glad Carswell is giving his new leader as much trouble as he gave Cameron.
12.28pm GMT
Cameron says the government has met its commitment to resettle 1,000 Syrian refugess by Christmas. It hit its target after charter flights arrived at Stansted and Gatwick yesterday. Another flight arrives today.
12.27pm GMT
Gisela Stuart, the Labour MP, quotes a speech from the outgoing director of the British Museum. Does Cameron agree that museums need to continue to be funded properly?
Cameron pays tribute to Neil MacGregor, the outgoing director. He took Angela Merkel to an exhibition there, and then Germany poached MacGregor. The British Museum got a good funding settlement in the autumn statement, he says.
12.24pm GMT
Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP, says she has repeatedly asked who the government will ensure that ‘no child tax credit cuts for a third child’ rule will apply to women who give birth afte being raped.
Cameron says there is no question that women in that situation will not lose benefit. But it is right to keep the welfare bill under control, he says.
12.23pm GMT
Nigel Adams, a Conservative, says Britain’s last deep coal mine is closing in his constituency this Friday. Will Cameron thank miners for their work.
Cameron does thank miners for their work.
12.21pm GMT
Cameron says, with regard to carbon capture and storage, the government has to decide what works and what does not.
12.20pm GMT
Snap PMQs Verdict: A comfortable win for Corbyn. It is unusual for Labour to lose on health at PMQs, but Corbyn was well beyond competent. His questions were sharp and relevant, he used humour well and he responded graciously to a jibe from Cameron about his supposedly not being able to wish people Happy Christmas. Cameron does have answers on the NHS, although his figures for the increasing volume of NHS activity are really just a recognition of growth (the volume of NHS activity is almost always going up), Corbyn is right about the problems with the social care precept, and Cameron’s repeated attempts to change the subject, onto unemployment, came across as symptomatic of weakness, not strength.
12.14pm GMT
Corbyn says he has a question from Abbie who wants to train as a midwive. She already has a debt of £25,000 from her first degree. Other people on her course have debts too. Will the government cancel the cuts in the nurse bursary scheme?
Cameron says he wants Abbie to train, and the funding will be there. Today two out of three people who want to train as nurses cannot get a place. The reforms will change that. All of this is happening because the economy is growing. You can fill up a tank of tank at less than £1 a litre. Wages are going up, because the economy is growing too.
12.12pm GMT
Corbyn says social care is the responsibility of central government. NHS trusts face a £2.2bn. And, as head of the Oxford anti-austerity movement, Cameron will be worried his trust faces a £1.7m deficit.
Cameron says Corbyn cannot complain because Labour would not commit to funding the Stevens plan. Local councils will have more to spend. How do we pay for this? With more jobs. Will Corbyn welcome that, or does he not care about the fall in unemployment?
12.10pm GMT
Corbyn says the NHS Confederation said this morning that cuts to social care will continue to pile more pressure on hospitals. The autumn statement announcement falls “well short” of what is needed.
Cameron says he is glad Corbyn listens to the Today programme; he might want to go on it, because a bit of transparency would be good. He quotes what the Local Government Association said about the social care precept. And Corbyn still has not welcomed the unemployment figures, he says.
12.08pm GMT
Corbyn asks Cameron if he agrees that cutting social care services is a false economy.
Cameron says the government has given council a precept so they can raise more. And Corbyn mentioned the Simon Stevens plan, he say. The government is backing the Stevens plan. None of this would be possible without the growing economy.
12.07pm GMT
Corbyn says, if Cameron is so happy about the NHS, why has he decided to cancel the publication of NHS data. Cameron used to be in favour of transparency. He quotes from Cameron saying “information is power”. Has Cameron decided not to publish information because the number of patients on trolleys has risen four-fold.
Cameron says on an average day there are 4,400 more operations than when he took power. And the number of appointments is up too, he says.
12.05pm GMT
Jeremy Corbyn starts by wishing the Speaker, all MPs, all staff and Major Tim Peake, who is not on the planet at this time - that generates much laughter - a happy Christmas.
He says the number of patients kept in hospital because they cannot be discharged has doubled since Cameron came to office. Can he promise there will be no winter crisis?
12.04pm GMT
Richard Graham, a Conservative, says stalking is a horrible crime. He mentions the case of a constituent who suffered dreadfully. The judge said he would have given a higher sentence if the maximum was not five years. Will the government raise the maximum sentence?
Cameron says the government has already introduced two new stalking offences. He will arrange for a meeting with the justice secretary.
12.02pm GMT
David Cameron starts by wishing Major Tim Peake well for his stay in the space station. He is proud the government funded the trip, he says.
11.59am GMT
Seems Cameron will confirm at #pmqs that UK has met its target of resettling 1,000 refugees from Syria by year end (target is 20k by 2020)
11.58am GMT
Speaker thinks MPs are having "animated conversations about Christmas shopping" ahead of #PMQs
11.57am GMT
In international development questions Justine Greening said a moment ago that David Cameron would “shortly” give an update on how many Syrian refugees have been accepted by the UK. So it sounds as if that will come up at PMQs.
11.55am GMT
Both @David_Cameron and @jeremycorbyn in their seats early today for last #PMQs before #Christmas
11.49am GMT
The Commons rises for the Christmas recess tomorrow, so this will be the last PMQs of the year. It starts in 10 minutes.
11.45am GMT
Seema Malhotra, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, gave a speech this morning to the Social Market Foundation saying the Treasury was “not fit for purpose”. She based her claim on reports from the Commons public accounts committee in March saying the Treasury gives business tax reliefs worth around £100bn but does not monitor them properly.
Malhotra said George Osborne, the chancellor, was “remarkably uninterested in what [business tax reliefs] cost and whether they work”.
The chancellor hasn’t the faintest idea whether the array of tax reliefs for business meet their goals and whether they are value for money for the taxpayer. George Osborne is not interested in evidence that conflicts with his own political prejudices.
HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) do not keep track of those tax reliefs intended to influence behaviour. They do not adequately report to parliament or the public on whether reliefs are working as intended and what they cost and whether they represent good value for money. While HMRC is accountable for implementing and monitoring all tax reliefs, its statements about the extent of its responsibilities are inconsistent with its actual practices. HMRC accepts it has a role to assess, evaluate and monitor reliefs, but is unable or unwilling to define or to categorise reliefs by their purpose.
11.24am GMT
Jon Trickett, the shadow communities secretary and one of the few members of the shadow cabinet who backed Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership, has been put in charge of the party’s local election campaign for 2016, the Daily Telegraph reports.
11.08am GMT
The Times (paywall) reports that the government has definitely decided not to go ahead with part two of the Leveson inquiry, the bit that was supposed to examine the specific phone-hacking allegations relating to the News of the World and other papers. As Elizabeth Rigby and Frances Gibb report:
There will be no investigation into police corruption in the wake of the phone hacking scandal after the government quietly decided to shelve the second part of the Leveson inquiry.
Senior government and judicial sources told The Times that the second part of the inquiry into press and police corruption would never see the light of day amid limited political appetite for another lengthy and expensive judicial inquiry into Fleet Street and the Met ...
David Cameron made clear promises to the British public, to parliament and directly to the victims of phone hacking that he would fully implement the cross-party agreement on Leveson’s recommendations and then proceed with the second part of the inquiry once criminal proceedings into phone hacking had finished.
The government is not only shelving a central plank of the Leveson recommendations, which would incentivise publishes to sign up to a Royal Charter-backed regulator, but it is now reported that David Cameron will not proceed with the second part of the Leveson Inquiry.
10.57am GMT
Here’s some Guardian audio with an extract from Sir John Major’s interview.
10.45am GMT
Here is some reaction to the unemployment figures. (See 9.51am.)
From George Osborne, the chancellor
Today’s record employment figures, alongside unemployment and youth unemployment rates at a nine-year low, mean more people than ever before have the security of a job and regular pay packet so they can provide for themselves and their families.
Britain’s jobs recovery continues to impress, with strong growth among both employees and the self-employed. But the pay rebound we’ve enjoyed throughout much of 2015 appears to have weakened, despite inflation remaining at historically low levels.
With many expecting the Fed to raise interest rates later today, the focus will soon shift onto when the Bank of England will make a similar move. But with rising inflation likely to slow the pace of Britain’s pay recovery in 2016, the first move may remain a little way off.
The UK jobs boom is back in full swing with 207,000 more people in work compared with the previous quarter and total hours worked in the economy topping 1 billion for the first time ever. It’s also hooray time as unemployment at last returns to the pre-recession rate of 5.2%.
But after a year of much better news on pay, the rate of average regular weekly wage growth (i.e. excluding bonuses) for employees has fallen sharply to just 2%. There is thus a palpable sense of ‘payje vu’ in the labour market, a reminder of the initial phase of the economic recovery characterized by a jobs boom alongside weak productivity and pay growth.
10.29am GMT
Vote Leave, which is campaigning for an Out vote in the EU referendum, has dismissed Sir John Major’s arguments about the EU. This is from Robert Oxley, a Vote Leave spokesman.
John Major thought the ERM would be great for Britain but it was actually a disaster - causing one of worst recessions in our history. He was wrong then and is wrong now. It is disappointing that a former prime minister is now resorting to talking Britain down by suggesting that we could not stand on our own two feet in the world.
David Cameron’s renegotiation is trivial and will not deliver the change the British people want to see - the only way to take back control is to Vote Leave.
9.51am GMT
Unemployment has fallen to a seven-year low, the Press Association reports.
The government has been given a pre-Christmas boost on the jobs front after new figures showed record numbers in work and unemployment falling to a seven-year low.
More than 31m people are in work, the highest since comparable records began in 1971, giving an employment rate of almost 74%.
9.36am GMT
Mostly Sir John Major’s intervention will be welcomed in Number 10. David Cameron wants Britain to vote to remain in the EU, and Major put the case for staying in strongly. As I said earlier (see 8.50am), his willingness to talk about his own frustrations with the EU makes him a more plausible advocate than the uber-Europeans, like Paddy Ashdown or Peter Mandelson, for example.
But Major did not just say that leaving the EU would be a mistake. He explicitly said that “flirting with leaving” was dangerous, implying that David Cameron was wrong to even raise this as an option.
If there is anyone in the UK who ought to be anti-European and thoroughly frustrated with them then perhaps it ought to be me. Now, I am not a starry-eyed European, I did after all say no to the euro currency in the early 1990s, I said no to the single market and in 1996 I said no to joining Schengen when it began. So I am sceptical of a great deal of European Union policy.
But flirting with leaving, at a moment when the whole world is coming together, seems to me to be very dangerous and against our long-term interests.
If we left there must be a high probability that Scotland will have another referendum and leave the UK. The UK would be fractured, that would be very damaging – our international prestige, I think, would suffer.
They say we can easily negotiate entry to the singe market. That’s very disingenuous – if we leave the European Union it won’t be a friendly departure, it will be very acrimonious. Negotiations with an irate ex-partner could be very difficult. We may get a very sub-standard deal to enter the single market.
People say we can save all our net contribution – not true. We would have to pay at least half and possibly more of it simply for entry to the single market.
They say we can control our borders and we will have no immigration. I don’t think that’s so. In or out we can’t keep the world at bay. And if we were out one question arises: in present circumstances would France be holding so many immigrants at Calais, or would they not? And if not they would be heading here.
We are told our parliament would be sovereign. Well that of course is total nonsense. In order to trade with the European Union we would have to accept their regulations. We would have no possibility of an input into those regulations or changing them. The Prime Minister will have to go to parliament and say: ‘here are some regulations the European Union have passed. We must pass them without change or we cannot trade with Europe.’ So much for parliamentary sovereignty.
And like millions of other people I have found you and John Humphrys my daily diet for a very long time, So if I may grab the airwaves for a moment I would like to say I will miss you. And I think a lot of other people will in the morning. And I will do so because generally you have asked the right questions. Mostly you have listened to the answers, but you have done it in an extraordinary professional way. So I hope you as you leave you are proud of what you have done and whatever you do now – I don’t know what you are going to do now – but good luck with it and I hope our paths will cross.
After 21 years presenting the Today programme, Jim Naughtie just signed off for the last time. https://t.co/3cUgoVRvbM
8.50am GMT
One of the peculiarities of politics is the way a leader can get booted out of office as a discredited failure, only to pop up a few years later as an immensely authoritative and credible spokesman for a particular cause. It happened to Gordon Brown when he emerged as the lead champion for keeping the union, and now Sir John Major, the former Conservative prime minister, may end up as the EU referendum’s In campaign’s best hope.
Major was on the Today programme this morning and made a strong case for staying in the European Union. As an advocate, he was all the more plausible because he was quite open about how he found it frustrating at times, and about how much damage Europe did to his party when he was prime minister.
John Major on EU membership: "Flirting with leaving when the whole world is coming together seems very dangerous". #r4today
Major: Negotiations with an irate ex partner could be very difficult; in or out we can't keep the world at bay
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