Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and Vote Leave and Leave.EU being questioned by the Commons Treasury committee
My snap PMQs verdict
PMQs verdict
PMQs - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat
6.32pm BST
That happened repeatedly in the euro campaign. It has happened repeatedly in this campaign as well. Calls go out from Jeremy Heywood’s office in the Cabinet Office saying, ‘You don’t want to be on that side or bad things might happen to you.’
All sorts of people in the Cabinet Office call people all the time and make threats, some more overt and some more covert. I don’t want to say Jeremy Heywood himself has particularly and specifically done anything. But everyone close to how government operates knows the power of the Cabinet Office and the power of the cabinet secretary and the power of, subtly-worded in a very English way, threats.
I think there’s a pretty good chance of that. I have spoken to people in government, in Whitehall, in the Cabinet Office who have actively been thinking about some of these schemes. One of the most obvious schemes, if Cameron and Osborne are desperate, is for them to announce some kind of ‘We will amend the 1972 European Communities Act to ensure it will not do blah, blah, blah in the future.’ They were thinking about some kind of scam like that in the hope that it would persuade Boris to support them. Of course, that did not work. Boris stuck to his principles ... But they are clearly thinking about something like that.
It would not surprise me at all to see Cameron and Osborne on stage offering something like that, possibly with representatives from the European Union saying, ‘Oh yes, we’ll do this new deal, don’t worry.’
A single market in services would actually be deeply destructive for Great Britain. We attract the biggest proportion of investment into the European Union precisely because we have a different legal system to Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain etc. We have a common law system, courts, contract, insurance, etc etc, which is the reason why we suck in all this money from around the world. The idea of harmonising all our rules on all of this with Greece would be disastrous for these investment flows. So I reject your premise. The idea that we want a single market in services is false. Harmonisation of all of these rules is damaging, often.
I witnessed exactly the same process on the euro campaign in 1999 when they lied repeatedly about their membership. They lied about how many members they had, they lied about how they were surveying them. They persistently lied about business opinion, and they have been doing the same thing on the EU.
The CBI is so dishonest. It won’t even tell you how many members it has got. That’s the scale of its dishonesty.
5.49pm BST
Tyrie thanks Cummings for his evidence. They have been going for more than three hours, he says.
And that’s it.
5.48pm BST
Cummings says Vote Leave could hire someone to produce some “spurious numbers” about the benefits of leaving the EU.
But these exercises are bogus, he says.
5.46pm BST
Cummings says if you had asked the House of Commons and Whitehall and the establishment about foreign policy in the 1930s, they would have backed appeasement. But they were wrong.
He says the conventional wisdom is often wrong.
5.45pm BST
Andrew Tyrie tells Cummings that he has made it clear that Cummings is going to persist with claims, like the one about the EU costing £350m a week.
He says Vote Leave has been putting out literature that appears to be from the NHS. Many people would consider that as misleading.
5.25pm BST
This hearing has almost gone on for three hours. Apparently right at the start, before the TV feed came on (I’m monitoring the hearing from the Parliament TV feed), Dominic Cummings told the committee he would have to be gone by 4pm. Andrew Tyrie explained to him that that was not how it worked, and that if he did try to leave, he would be recalled.
That might explain why MPs are not keen to wrap up quickly. Select committees don’t take kindly to that sort of behaviour.
.@vote_leave's Cummings has just turned up to Treasury Cttee, says he's leaving when he needs to and been rude to Tyrie. Grab your popcorn.
All of @JohnJCrace's Christmases have come early by the looks of it...
5.14pm BST
Here is some YouTube footage of one of the livelier exchanges earlier between Andrew Tyrie and Dominic Cummings.
4.54pm BST
Cummings says the Cabinet Office has been making threats to businesses with regard to what they should do in the referendum. He says he is not specifically saying it was Sir Jeremy Heywood, the cabinet secretary. But officials and civil servants have been doing this, he says. That is what they do.
4.50pm BST
The CBI has posted a chart on Twitter to reinforce its claim that a majority of businesses are opposed to Brexit.
All polls bar none show majority of businesses want to remain in EU @HelenGoodmanMP @BBCNormanS @owenjbennett pic.twitter.com/6UbZw5r5iH
4.47pm BST
Andrew Tyrie says Matthew Elliott and Arron Banks could not be here today for personal reasons. They will get another chance to give evidence, he says.
Q: Do you think, if the EU were to disintegrate as a result of Brexit, that would be a positive thing?
4.41pm BST
Journalists who are monitoring this hearing don’t feel that Dominic Cummings is making a terribly good impression. Here are some tweets.
From the FT’s Giles Wilkes
The degree to which Cummings keeps having to return to "but they said this or that about the Euro" is a terrible sign of weakness
The other sign of terrible weakness: Cummings' continued reliance on the Mandy Rice Davies answer https://t.co/jHQJQc1B98
Dominic Cummings of @vote_leave is coming across as evasive at the Treasury Committee - he seems to be willfully misunderstanding Qs #EUref
Andrew Tyrie is having a great time at this select committee hearing. Not sure Dom Cummings is having such fun
This Treasury Select Committee Tyrie v Cummings is better than The People vs OJ Simpson
4.35pm BST
Q: Vote Leave talks about a free trade zone from Iceland to the Russian border. What is this arrangement?
Cummings says that refers to a network of relationships. But free trade applies. The exception is Belarus.
4.34pm BST
Mark Garnier, a Conservative, goes next.
Q: In the Guardian today you are quoted saying there are umpteen EU ambassadors saying they would be willing to do a free trade deal with the UK if it left. Who are they?
4.26pm BST
The Labour MP Helen Goodman has also been tweeting about the impression he made on her when she questioned him earlier.
Genuinely alarmed at the behaviour of Dominic Cummings who runs Vote Leave, He seems to have no grip on reality at all. #StrongerIn
4.22pm BST
Q: In Scotland the government offered devo-max in a panic just before the referendum. Do you think there is a chance of the EU offering some kind of equivalent just before the referendum.
Cummings says this may happen.
4.19pm BST
Q: In the past you floated the idea of a second referendum, if the EU were to come back and offer better terms. How likely is that?
Cummings says he wrote the blog floating that idea before Vote Leave was even set up.
4.17pm BST
Jacob Rees-Mogg, a Conservative, goes next. He has made a personal donation to Vote Leave, he says. But it won’t be declarable because it is relatively small, he says.
Q: David Cameron says he would trigger article 50 immediately if Britain votes to leave the EU.
4.12pm BST
Goodman says Vote Leave seems to be dominated by a small number of people from finance who do not know much about manufacturing, on which many British jobs depend.
Cummings says Vote Leave’s donors do not have an impact on its policies.
4.10pm BST
And the CBI has been tweeting a response to Cummings’s claim that it does not represent business opinion.
CBI speaks for 190,000 businesses @HelenGoodmanMP @wesstreeting. All polls bar none show majority of businesses want to remain in EU
4.07pm BST
Rachel Reeves has tweeted about her exchange with Dominic Cummings.
Astonishing from Vote Leave’s Cummings- says BoE Gov is ‘scaremongering’ when said Brexit is “biggest domestic risk to financial stability”
4.01pm BST
Q: How many UK jobs do you think depend on the EU?
Cummings says it is meaningless to put the question like that.
3.57pm BST
Helen Goodman, the Labour MP, goes next.
Q: In your letter to the Electoral Commission applying for lead campaign designation, you said you wanted to enhance democracy, and leave a legacy to that effect. How does that square with saying you wanted to disrupt company AGMs?
3.53pm BST
Rachel Reeves goes next.
Q: If we leave the EU, won’t financial firms move to the continent?
3.49pm BST
Andrew Tyrie goes next.
Q: Government policy since the 1980s has been to extend the single market. So you are saying that has been a mistake?
3.47pm BST
Reeves says in Leeds, where she is an MP, financial services are very important. At the moment firms can operate in the EU because rules are passported; ie, if firms can operate here, they can operate on the continent too.
Cummings says firms like Goldman Sachs spend millions in the “corrupt Brussels lobbying system” ensuring the rules work in their favour.
3.44pm BST
Q: Gove said in his speech that the EU has free trade deals with countries that do not involve free movement. Let’s not confuse free trade with the single market. If we are outside the single market, we won’t get free trade in services, will we?
Cummings says many aspects of the single market are negative.
3.40pm BST
Cummings says the euro is mangling the Greek economy “into a nightmare”.
3.38pm BST
Cummings says the establishment has got every big foreign policy decision wrong since trying to deal with Bismarck in the 19th century.
3.37pm BST
Q: Do you think Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England, was scaremongering when he said Brexit was the biggest domestic risk to the economy?
Cummings says he does not think those words were wise or accurate. Carney has made all sorts of mistakes with his interventions, he says.
3.35pm BST
Labour’s Rachel Reeves go next.
Q: Matthew Elliott said that it would be better to have a referendum giving people the choice between two clear propositions. So will your side spell out exactly what the alternative to EU membership would be?
3.28pm BST
Chris Philp, a Conservative, is asking questions now.
Q: How do you think our trade arrangements with the rest of the world will evolve if we leave the EU?
3.22pm BST
Cummings says Tyrie used to support Britain joining the euro.
Tyrie says Cummings is wrong. He accuses Cummings of playing “fast and loose” with the facts, as he has been with “all the other facts” he has come out with.
3.20pm BST
Tyrie asks about a Vote Leave leaflet saying: “Help protect your local hospital.”
Cummings says it looks like a Vote Leaflet.
3.08pm BST
Q: One of your Vote Leave posters says if we left the EU, we could give the NHS an extra £350m a week.
Cummings says we could give the NHS a large proportion of that. And there would be extra savings too.
3.04pm BST
Q: You say the UK’s contribution to the EU is £350m a week. But we are not going to get anything like that back.
Cummings says that is a fair figure, given that we are debited £19bn a year according to the ONS.
3.01pm BST
Q: How much of this money would the UK wish to carry on spending in the UK if it left the EU?
Cummings says that would be for the UK government to decide.
2.58pm BST
Tyrie asks Cummings to explain how the rebate process works. He says the money never leaves the UK.
Cummings says the money is debited from the UK. That is what the ONS says.
2.56pm BST
Q: How much does the UK contribute to the EU?
Cummings says it is £19.1bn.
2.51pm BST
The Commons Treasury committee has just started taking evidence from Dominic Cummings, Vote Leave’s campaign director. Cummings used to work as Michael Gove’s special adviser at the Department for Education.
Andrew Tyrie, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, started by asking Cummings about the Vote Leave claim that EU regulation costs British business £600m per week. Cummings defended the system, but sidestepped questions about how many of these regulations the UK would want to keep anyway if it voted to leave the EU.
2.40pm BST
The Conservative party has admitted failing to properly declare election battlebus -related spending worth almost £40,000 to the Electoral Commission. In a statement to Channel 4 News a party spokesperson said:
CCHQ campaigned across the country for the return of a Conservative government. As is apparent from our national return, the party declared expenditure related to our CCHQ-organised Battlebus.
However, due to administrative error it omitted to declare the accommodation costs of those using the vehicles. This is something we have already brought to the attention of the Electoral Commission in order to amend the return.
In an investigation to be broadcast tonight (Wednesday), Channel 4 News has obtained further undeclared receipts which reveal that more than £38,000 was spent accommodating activists at hotels across the country, as part of the BattleBus 2015 campaign. The spending was not declared to the Electoral Commission in accordance with the law.
The Channel 4 News investigation has also obtained evidence that the BattleBus campaign was focussed on local candidates, suggesting the costs incurred should have been declared on their local candidate spending returns. If so this could constitute a criminal offence.
The party always took the view that our national Battlebus, a highly-publicised campaign activity, was part of the national return - and we would have no reason not to declare it as such, given that the party was some millions below the national spending threshold. Other political parties ran similar vehicles which visited different parliamentary constituencies as part of their national campaigning.
2.22pm BST
The Treasury committee’s session with Vote Leave is due to start any minute now.
We’ve just had an email from the committee saying Vote Leave’s chief executive Matthew Elliott will not be appearing, so the MPs will just be questioning Dominic Cummings, Vote Leave’s campaign director.
2.03pm BST
1.42pm BST
Rachel Reeves, the Labour MP and former shadow work and pensions secretary, told the World at One a few minutes ago that David Cameron’s comments about Sadiq Khan at PMQs (see 1.13pm.) She was responding to the leader of the Commons, Chris Grayling, who said Khan’s decision to share platforms with extremists raised questions about his judgment. Reeves said:
I would expect better from you, Chris, and I would expect better from the prime minister. This is gutter politics. The insinuation that Sadiq Khan is somehow a friend of Isis [Islamic State] is beyond contempt. I served in the shadow cabinet with Sadiq Khan for many years. He is a man of the utmost integrity. He has taken on extremism in the Islamic community and on many occasions he has fallen out with leaders in the Islamic community, for example on equal marriage. So the idea that he is somehow a friend of extremism, a friend of terrorists, is beyond contempt.
1.28pm BST
This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about PMQs. They are all agreed that Jeremy Corbyn did best.
From the Sunday Times’s James Lyons
Corbyn forensically questioning Cameron over forced academisation - his best #pmqs by far. What could have changed?
Strong performance by Jeremy Corbyn on academisation, got the better of Cameron IMO #PMQS
That, apart from the attempt to have 11 year olds set education policy, was Corbyn's best PMQs performance by some distance
My snap verdict on PMQs. Corbyn teaches Cameron a lesson:https://t.co/NdfLzaev9X pic.twitter.com/IwEvC1Zdnx
Corbyn definitely won that exchange...haven't been able to say that before...forced academies is an ill-thought out policy for Cameron #pmqs
Cameron has no defence of forced academy conversion at all. Just two useless jokes about McDonald's #PMQs
Corbyn found fire in his belly on academisation. "We appear to be heading into some kind of fantasy land here." A good day for him #PMQs
Team Corbyn deny putting more effort and preparation into #pmqs after recent sharper lines from the Labour leader
Corbyn on good form for once at #PMQs. Not many Tory voices backing Cameron on forced academy schools
1.13pm BST
PMQs verdict: The EU referendum is dominating political debate to such an extent that you might forget that the government has a domestic agenda that it is trying to implement. Today Jeremy Corbyn took us back to one of the key planks of that agenda, the plan to force all schools in England to become academies, and he rather successfully picked holes in it. It was not a disaster for David Cameron, but it was an uncomfortable exchange for him, and reminder that he should not take Corbyn for granted.
Corbyn did well because he managed to bury Cameron under a mountain of quotes from serious Tory figures raising objections to the academy plans. There was nothing particularly overstated in what he said, and his tactics worked well because this is an issue where Labour is united in its opposition to forced academisation and Cameron is facing significant internal opposition. It is also true that Cameron has not produced a robust evidential case for compelling schools to cut their ties with local authorities, and it was interesting to see how Corbyn suggested that this could turn out to be another version of the Health Act (by describing it as another top-down reorganisation). The Health Act is seen by many in government as one of the biggest mistakes they made in the last parliament.
If we are going to condemn not just violent extremism but also the extremism that seeks to justify violence it is very important we do not back these people and do not appear on platforms with them.
And I have to say I am concerned about Labour’s candidate for mayor of London, who has appeared again and again and again - the leader of the opposition is saying ‘disgrace’, let me tell him - Sulaiman Ghani, the honourable member Tooting has appeared on a platform with him nine times - this man supports IS [Islamic State]. They are shouting down this point because they don’t want to hear the truth. Anyone can make a mistake about who they appear on a platform with but if you do it time after time after time it is right to question your judgment.
12.37pm BST
The DUP’s Nigel Dodds says a “two-sided approach to the past” applies in Northern Ireland. Does Cameron agree the security services should not be persecuted?
Cameron says politics in Northern Ireland is more stable and more productive than it has been for many years. But the justice system is independent, he says. We should hold on to that, he says.
12.35pm BST
Rebecca Pow, a Conservative, asks about the need to protect ancient woodland.
Cameron says he will consider this. The government has a good record at planting extra woodland, he says.
12.34pm BST
Labour’s Meg Hillier asks how the housing bill will help her constituents.
Cameron says it will extend the right to buy to housing association tenants. He says the government has also got help to buy, and a shared buying scheme.
12.33pm BST
Cameron says the EU decision is a decision for Britain, and Britain alone. But he thinks we should listen to what friendly countries say. He has not found any friendly country in favour of the UK leaving. And we should listen to the US former treasury secretaries, he says.
12.32pm BST
Labour’s Helen Goodman asks Cameron what’s the worst argument used by Brexit campaigners. She would cite the claim England is an island.
Cameron says the one he would mention is the claim that leaving would take us out of the Eurovision song contest.
12.31pm BST
Henry Smith, a Conservative, asks Cameron to raise the Chagos Islanders with President Obama this week. They should have the right of return.
Cameron says he will be discussing this issue with Obama.
12.29pm BST
Liam Fox, a Conservative, asks why the Treasury’s EU document assumes that the government will not cut net migration.
Cameron says the document used ONS assumptions. But they do not take into acount the impact of the new welfare rules for EU migrants negotiated as part of the EU renegotiation.
12.28pm BST
Labour’s Imran Hussain asks about the government’s plans to force schools to become academies.
Cameron says some schools have been allowed to fail year after year. Turning them into academies stops this.
12.27pm BST
Ken Clarke, the Conservative former chancellor, says Margaret Thatcher used to organise seminars for ministers who needed to learn about science. He says Cameron should organise seminars for ministers who need to learn about trade.
Cameron says he will consider this. But he hopes they won’t be as frightening as Thatcher’s seminar. On one of the first times he met her, she asked him what the trade figures were. He was supposed to know but didn’t. He felt as if the ground had opened up.
12.24pm BST
Cameron says Turks visiting Schengen countries do not have an automatic right to come to the UK.
12.23pm BST
Cameron using #PMQs to attack Labour candidate for London Mayor Sadiq Khan. Says repeatedly shared platform with extremists
"Absolutely disgraceful" is the riposte from many Labour MPs after Sadiq attack. Corbyn muted #pmqs
12.20pm BST
Snap PMQs verdict: A solid win for Corbyn. Cameron managed to get his usual comic broadside into his final answer (although did you notice how he did not do his usual schtick about the importance of a strong economy - the unemployment figures killed off that today), but Corbyn got the better off him with the sheer weight of evidence he was able to cite about the extent of opposition to the plan to turn all schools into academies. It seemed as if the quotes would never stop. If Labour’s research team did a good job, Cameron’s did too, because he had a sound response to Corbyn’s fifth question, about the school visit. But Corbyn’s quotes were better, and Corbyn successfully questioned both the need for more academies (claims that academisation raises quality are questionable) and how this can be seen as true decentralisation.
12.14pm BST
Corbyn says Cameron is heading into some kind of fantasy land. The IFS says school spending will fall by 7% in the next four years - the biggest fall for years. So why is the government spending £1.3bn on a reorganisation that even his MPs do not want.
Cameron says he has protected spending per pupil. And the government is making more spaces available. He says Labour has entered fantasy land. It has given up Trident in Scotland, selected someone who sides with extremists in London. And then they heard Labour had banned McDonald’s. He thought they were banning a job destroyer (John McDonnell). But they were banning McDonald’s. Cameron says: “Frankly, I’m loving it.”
12.10pm BST
Corbyn quotes the Conservative cabinet member for education at Oxfordshire council who is opposed to diktats from central government. And he quotes the Tory MP Graham Brady saying good schools should be left alone.
Cameron says it is something to get a lecture in diktats from someone with a Stalinist as press secretary (Seumas Milne). He says the academy programme is true devolution. Schools should not be allowed to fail year after year.
12.07pm BST
Jeremy Corbyn says he is also looking forward to wishing the Queen a happy birthday tomorrow.
Can Cameron explain why he is intend on forcing schools to become academies against the wishes of parents and teachers and governors.
12.03pm BST
The Conservative MP Nigel Adams asks about the Queen, saying she had dedicated herself to the nation and carried our her duties “with dignity and grace”. People will be celebrating her 90th birthday tomorrow. So will the prime minister pass on Adams’ best wishes to her, and those of all MPs, when he next sees her.
David Cameron says he will. Tomorrow is an important landmark for the country, and for the Commonwealth. She has served 64 years on the throne. MPs will pay tribute tomorrow.
12.01pm BST
Each week 10 mins before PMQs, Cameron comes in and has to sit next to Chris Grayling. This week a high water mark for awkwardness.
12.00pm BST
PMQs set to start. Theresa May, Philip Hammond and George Osborne getting on like a house on fire on the front bench.
11.56am BST
The BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg thinks Jeremy Corbyn may go on education today.
#PMQs shortly on @daily_politics, sounds like Corbyn might go on education
11.52am BST
PMQs is starting soon.
Here is the order paper.
PMQs at 12. here order paper, on the @skynews PMQs panel will be @andrewpercy @Alison_McGovern and @GregMulholland1 pic.twitter.com/Rl0L5IdWPh
11.50am BST
According to George Parker in the Financial Times (subscription), there is increasing speculation that David Cameron will make Michael Gove deputy prime minister in a summer reshuffle if he wins the EU referendum.
Michael Gove is seen by David Cameron as the key to restoring Conservative party unity after the EU referendum, but it did not sound that way on Tuesday as the justice secretary hit his Eurosceptic stride ...
It is perhaps a sign of the Euro-trauma affecting the Conservative party that Mr Cameron is looking to Mr Gove to help bring the party together — if the prime minister succeeds in keeping Britain in the EU on June 23.
11.36am BST
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has been launching the SNP’s election manifesto in Edinburgh.
My colleague Severin Carrell has been tweeting from the event.
"So there's an end to the queue" @theSNP delegate joins 1400 people at @NicolaSturgeon #Holyrood16 manifesto launch pic.twitter.com/iTPwlpRNqb
Media at @theSNP #Holyrood16 manifesto launch must wear "I'm with @NicolaSturgeon" wristbands to gain entry #MSMtrap pic.twitter.com/WJPNKMcrdr
Here's @theSNP #Holyrood16 manifesto - reelect @NicolaSturgeon . Odd. This is the first time she's stood to be FM pic.twitter.com/CIflE930bP
.@theSNP manifesto lists dozens of building projects - PPP/PFI included, & Scotland's largest - the M80 Haggs ext pic.twitter.com/B10X8zOD2A
Very clever @theSNP #Holyrood16 manifesto: makes huge play of Treasury fiscal battles "stronger for Scotland" pic.twitter.com/gx6kG4jN2w
.@JohnSwinney says @theSNP has reached 1 million voters on Internet in last few days - "biggest ever" digital campaign #Holyrood16
.@theSNP #Holyrood16 manifesto confirms possible move towards 50p tax rate pic.twitter.com/wILkp6Vh5p
.@NicolaSturgeon "unlike the manifestos of other parties, this is a programme for government" "not a battle for second place" #Holyrood16
.@NicolaSturgeon confirms @theSNP manifesto is her "job application" as FM - no "re-election" in fact pic.twitter.com/PDivFrOAfS
11.14am BST
More than 200 entrepreneurs have thrown their weight behind the campaign for Britain to stay in the EU, warning that the economic shock of Brexit would be “hugely damaging” to the prospects of start-up businesses, the Press Association reports. Among signatories to an open letter from Entrepreneurs for In are founders of companies that have rapidly become household names in the online economy, like Skype, Ebookers, Zoopla and Net a Porter, as well as some of the names behind brands including Innocent Drinks, Jack Wills, Yo! Sushi and Domino’s Pizza.
10.50am BST
According to the Labour MP Helen Goodman, a member of the Treasury committee, Arron Banks has pulled out of giving evidence to the committee later today.
Arron Banks (the #Brexit guy who thinks 4,300 is a price worth paying to leave the EU) has just pulled out of coming to TreasurySelCom why?
10.36am BST
My colleague Graeme Wearden has more coverage of reaction to the news that unemployment is rising on his business live blog.
Related: UK unemployment rises for first time since last summer - business live
10.22am BST
Liam Fox, the Conservative former defence secretary, was on the Today programme this morning responding to what the American former treasury secretaries were saying in their article. He said they did not appreciate how badly the EU was performing economically.
I respect their authority, but some of them do go back a long way. The most important failure of the analysis is that they have failed to take into account the decline and failure of the European economy itself, with a falling share of world trade, a smaller and less important destination for UK exports, and with chronic unemployment.
If you look at Britain’s unemployment rate of 5.1%, the European Union’s averages 8.9%, and the eurozone is 10.3% - that is a failing European economy, where we are clearly not having the influence we ought to have, or they would be having falling unemployment the way that we have in Britain.
Unless there is fundamental change in that European leadership we will have an imploding continent, and a British exit may give them the shock therapy they require to make the change necessary to stop Europe falling apart.
9.41am BST
Here are the headline unemployment figures.
9.36am BST
The Times article by the former US treasury secretaries (paywall) is bit turgid, but here is a summary of the arguments.
9.05am BST
President Obama is coming to London later this week partly so that he can stand alongside David Cameron and declare that Washington thinks Britain should remain in the European Union and today, as a warm-up, eight senior American politicians have signed a joint article delivering the same message.
They are all former treasury secretaries (the American equivalent of chancellor) and the article appears in the Times (paywall). One of the eight, Larry Summers (treasury secretary under Bill Clinton) summed up their argument on the Today programme this morning.
[Leaving the EU] would be unfortunate for the British economy, unfortunate for Europe, unfortunate for the United States, and unfortunate for the world. It would do damage to London as a financial centre, it would do damage to Britain as a gateway to Europe, it would remove the very positive influence that Britain has within European debates that strengthen the European economy, and it would reduce Britain’s very positive influence as an ally of the United States and a strong participant in the G7 and in the G20. It would be a step towards a more closed, more protectionist, less effective and less prosperous global economy...
Britain would continue to be involved in global affairs but its role without its anchor to Europe would surely be diminished. I think it would find that the rest of the world, which saw it as a crucial gateway to Europe, would see it as a less relevant and less significant economy when it was on its own. I believe that the pound would very likely come under very substantial pressure in ways that would ultimately lead to contraction in the British economy. So I do not think that words would speak loudly in the face of what would be perhaps the most isolationist deed in the last century for Britain.
I don’t want to say that the United States and Britain wouldn’t continue to have the close ties that come from history, but I think the special relationship would translate much less into prosperity for both our countries and I think the special relationship would have much less influence on the broad world. Much would be lost by the kind of split in the West that a British withdrawal from Europe would represent.
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