Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen
Guardian/ICM poll gives Tories 17-point post-conference lead
Lunchtime summary
David Davis’s Brexit statement - Summary
7.07pm BST
Here are the main points from David Davis’s Commons statement on Brexit.
There is clearly a mandate for Brexit from this referendum but there is no mandate for the particular form of Brexit.
On the basis of what constitutional principle do you believe that the prime minister can now arrogate to herself the exclusive right to interpret what Brexit means, impose it upon the country, rather than protect the rightful role of scrutiny and approval of this House?
I’m not going to offer a view. I will just simply say this; we are going to do everything possible to protect, enhance and maximise the opportunities for British business. And he can draw his conclusion.
I recommend you read a book called Flash Boys because part of that fall, the major part of that fall was the flash crash as a result of that. Otherwise, there are lots and lots of speculative comments that will drive the pound down and up and down and up in the next two-and-a-half years and there’s little we can do about that.
In terms of the individuals who are European migrants here and British citizens abroad, my intention and the intention of the government, is to do everything possible to underwrite their position, to guarantee their position, at the same time as we underwrite the similar position of British migrants abroad ...
I don’t think people should worry people unnecessarily, get people concerned. Bear in mind five out of six migrants either have or will have ILR, indefinite leave to remain, by the time we depart the union.
The single market, of course, is one description of the way the European Union operates but there are plenty of people who have access to the single market, some of them tariff-free, who make a great success of that access and it’s the success we are aiming for.
6.20pm BST
John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, rejects the application for an emergency vote.
He says he has taken the decision in accordance with rules that oblige him to consider whether the topic will be raised in the Commons by other means. There will be a debate on Brexit on Wednesday, he says.
6.18pm BST
The Davis statement is now over.
But now the Conservative MP Stephen Phillips is making a short speech asking for an emergency debate on the Brexit negotiating terms under standing order 24. (See 12.15pm.)
6.14pm BST
Turning away from the Brexit statement for a moment, Labour has released another list of new shadow ministerial appointments. They include eight MPs returning to the front bench, Jeremy Corbyn says.
And the reshuffle is not over. More appointments are to follow.
6.09pm BST
The SNP’s Joanna Cherry says Ken Clarke told the Andrew Marr Show yesterday that the pound kept falling because people did not know what would happen after Brexit.
Davis says currencies can be undervalued and overvalued. And he does not agree with Clarke, he says. There will be big markets for the UK. What happened to the pound last week was partly prompted by President Hollande’s comments, massively exaggerated by programme trading, he says.
6.06pm BST
Back in the Commons Labour’s Lilian Greenwood asks when EU academics working in British universities will get an assurance that they can stay.
Davis says the government wants to give them the best assurances it can, but that this matter is not in hands.
6.02pm BST
And the Conservative MP John Baron, who campaigned to leave the EU, has put out his own statement about Davis’s comments. Baron accuses “remoaners” of trying reverse the EU referendum result.
The EU referendum authorised the government to negotiate our withdrawal from the EU. There will be plenty of opportunity for debates and questioning as the various processes unfold. But it is clear that the ‘Remoaners’ are trying to use the ruse of extensive parliamentary scrutiny to stymie the electorate’s decision. This will not wash with the government or the public.
5.59pm BST
Open Britain, the group campaigning to keep the UK in the single market, has put out this statement from Labour’s Pat McFadden about Davis’s statement.
If the government is serious about empowering parliament, then they should commit to putting before parliament the pre-negotiation white paper David Davis has supported. And to giving our sovereign parliament a vote on the eventual deal once the negotiations have finished.
The government cannot dismiss all calls for garliamentary involvement as attempting to deny the referendum result. The result was a vote to leave the European Union. It did not give the government a blank cheque on everything from leaving the Single Market to the potential for damaging tariffs and other trade barriers.
5.54pm BST
Labour’s Adrian Bailey says the home secretary’s speech to the Conservative conference was very hostile to foreign students. But these students contribute a great deal to the economy.
Davis says the government has told the Student Loan Company to extend loan opportunities for foreign students.
5.52pm BST
Asked what he was thinking when he published his ConservativeHome article in July proposing a pre-negotiation white paper, Davis says he was a backbencher at the time.
5.50pm BST
Labour’s Madeleine Moon says Davis to give an assurance that EU citizens who have been in the UK for more than give years will have an absolute right to remain.
Davis says he can give that assurance because that’s the law. After five years in the UK EU citizens have a right to remain. After six years they have a right to citizenship.
5.48pm BST
Davis says he thinks the terms “hard” and “soft” Brexit are terms that are “designed to deceive”. They are “not meaningful in any way”, he says. The government will try to get the best possible trade access.
5.44pm BST
Here is Mark Elliott, a law professor at Cambridge University and legal adviser to the House of Lords’ constitution committee, on Davis’s statement.
#Brexit Secretary repeats PM's erroneous assertion that Great Repeal Bill will end CJEU's jurisdiction. It won't. Leaving the EU will.
Davis attempting to placate Commons with "Great Repeal Bill" that's irrelevant to key issues about initiation & conduct of #Brexit process
Becoming clear Great Repeal Bill is smoke & mirrors exercise, giving spurious impression of meaningful parliamentary involvement in #Brexit
The #Brexit Secretary is also unable to distinguish between a mandate to leave the EU and a mandate to negotiate particular exit terms
5.37pm BST
David Nuttall, a Conservative, asks if the government will use the Parliament Act to overrule the Lords if it blocks the legislation to repeal EU law.
Davis says he does not expect the House of Lords to do that.
5.36pm BST
Labour’s Rachel Reeves says some holidaymakers are now getting less than one euro for a pound. He says Davis has refused to explain why sterling has fallen in value.
Davis says Labour have talked the pound down “time and time again”.
5.34pm BST
Labour’s Owen Smith says in the past Davis proposed two referendums on Brexit.
Davis says that is something he said a decade ago (during the Conservative leadership contest in 2005). At the time he was proposing a referendum on general terms for a negotiation, and then a final referendum on the outcome. But that is not what the government did this year, he says.
5.31pm BST
Emma Reynolds, the former shadow Europe minister, asks why the pound has sunk to a 30-year low after the Conservative conference.
Davis says Reynolds should recommend a Michael Lewis’s book called Flash Boys. Much of the decline was caused by automated electronic trading, he says.
5.27pm BST
Davis says the government wants to start by bringing all EU law into UK law. And it will certainly not be cutting employment rights, he says.
5.26pm BST
Labour’s Paul Flynn says the chancellor has forecast bumps in the road. But, if the economy goes into recession, it won’t be a bump, but a sinkhole. Shouldn’t people get a second vote? Second thoughts are better than first thoughts, he says.
Davis says Flynn has revealed his agenda; he wants to overturn the result of the referendum.
5.24pm BST
Here is the full text of David Davis’s opening statement.
5.23pm BST
Labour’s Chris Bryant says the government should publish at least a white paper on Brexit talks, and a draft great repeal bill too.
Davis says the government has a huge mandate for what it is doing.
5.22pm BST
Davis says these are the opening days of the negotiation. The first days are tougher than the final days. So what EU partners are saying today they will not necessarily say tomorrow, he claims.
5.19pm BST
Andrew Tyrie, a Conservative, says the negotiating position will leak. Won’t it be unacceptable for people to find out what the government thinks from abroad?
Davis says, in his evidence to the Lords committee last month, he said anything disclosed to EU partners or to the European parliament in confidence would be disclosed to parliamentary committees too.
5.17pm BST
Labour’s Ben Bradshaw asks how a 52/48 vote for Brexit became an “overwhelming” mandate, as Davis described it.
Davis says the majority was larger than one million. And leave got more votes than any government has received.
5.14pm BST
Davis says there will be large numbers of debates in the Commons. Even if the government does not call them, the opposition will. So MPs will debate this.
And there will be a Brexit select committee, he says. He says he will tell it things as far as he can. But he will not compromise the national interest.
5.13pm BST
Pat McFadden, the former shadow Europe minister, says Davis promised a pre-negotiation white paper in his ConservativeHome article. And he also promised that trade deals would start in September this year.
Davis says McFadden has misrepresented the article. He says he expects trade deals to start when the UK leaves.
5.11pm BST
Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative MP, says he and other Vote Leave campaigners always made it clear that voting to leave the EU would mean giving up single market membership.
5.09pm BST
Chris Leslie, the former shadow chancellor, says the new £5 note is smaller than the old one. But the currency has shrunk in value by even more. He says people did not vote to become poorer.
Davis says Leslie is making an extraordinary point, and echoing Harold Wilson.
5.08pm BST
Hilary Benn, the former shadow foreign secretary, says the conflicting messages from government are causing uncertainty. If there is no trade deal by the end of the Brexit talks, will the government seek a transitional deal?
Davis says he has told every group he has spoken to that the government needs to collect hard data about the nature of the problem. For example, in terms of passporting rights for City firms, there are nine different types of passport. He says the government is trying to understand the problems.
5.03pm BST
A few minutes ago Iain Duncan Smith, the Conservative former work and pensions secretary, described Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer as a “second-rate lawyer”.
That is a rather eccentric claim. Starmer was director of public prosecutions, and, by most accounts, a very good one, before becoming an MP.
Idiotic IDS describes Keir Starmer as a second rate lawyer which everyone in the House knows he isn't.
IDS disgracefully refers to Sir Keir Starmer as "a second-rate lawyer". The Nasty Party is alive & kicking #Brexit #Parliament
I see the nasty, smug IDS is on form today,showing the nasty tories for what they really are! @Keir_Starmer has an excellent prof record #EU
And Iain Duncan Smith has absolutely no right whatsoever to call former Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer a "second rate lawyer"
5.00pm BST
Crispin Blunt, the Conservative chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, asks what will happen if there is no deal after two years?
Davis says this would put at risk the stability of the EU.
4.58pm BST
Davis says that if EU countries adopt a “punishment strategy” towards the UK in Brexit talks, they will damage their own interests.
4.55pm BST
Labour’s Angela Eagle says this is the first time she has heard parliamentary scrutiny described as “micro-management”. She invites Davis to condemn the decision to foreign academics being involved in providing the Foreign Office with consultancy advice about Brexit.
Davis says the story about the Foreign Office rejecting advice from foreigners was not true. He says Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary who is sitting beside him, has said that. And the LSE has said that too, he says.
4.52pm BST
Nick Clegg, the former Lib Dem leader, says he used to be an admirer of Davis because of Davis’s belief in parliamentary accountability. So what gives the prime minister the right to decide on her own what mandate the referendum gave her?
Davis says Clegg, like Starmer, is confusing accountability with micro-management.
4.50pm BST
Ed Miliband, the former Labour leader, says David Davis wrote an article for ConservativeHome three days before being appointed to the cabinet saying the government should publish a white paper on its negotiating stance. When will that come?
Davis says he knows of no negotiation where a government publishes its stance in advance.
We should work out what we do in the improbable event of the EU taking a dog in the manger attitude to Single Market tariff free access, and insist on WTO rules and levies, including 10 per cent levies on car exports. Let us be clear: I do not believe for a moment that that will happen, but let us humour the pre-referendum Treasury fantasy.
In that eventuality, people seem to forget that the British government will be in receipt of over £2 billion of levies on EU cars alone. There is nothing to stop us supporting our indigenous car industry to make it more competitive if we so chose.
4.40pm BST
Davis responds to Starmer.
He starts by quoting something Diane Abbott said about Starmer. She said Labour had to be careful to avoid looking as if it were not listening.
4.37pm BST
Starmer asks Davis to say when he does plan to give MPs a vote.
He says people did not vote to allow the government to take an axe to the economy.
4.35pm BST
Sir Keir Starmer, the new shadow Brexit secretary, is responding.
He says the decisions the governments take on this will define us for a generation.
4.32pm BST
Davis says the government will invoke article 50 by the end of March at the latest.
The great repeal bill will be introduced in the next parliamentary session, he says.
4.30pm BST
Davis says there is 40 years’ worth of EU law to overturn.
The government wants to ensure that, when it repeals EU law, it does not leave a black hole in the statute book.
4.28pm BST
David Davis, the Brexit secretary, is now making his Commons statement on Brexit.
He says the case for leaving the EU is “clear, overwhelming and unarguable”.
4.21pm BST
Tomorrow the new shadow cabinet is due to meet. In an article for its website Richard Angell, director of Progress, the Labour group dominated by Blairites and centrists, says the shadow cabinet should stop Jeremy Corbyn removing Jon Ashworth (a non-Corbynite) from the party’s national executive committee. Angell says:
In its meeting tomorrow the shadow cabinet has the chance to show the unity preached on our television screens. Who represents them on the NEC is in their gift, not the leader’s. As Ashworth has not resigned from the shadow cabinet, they have a choice. Either unity – by allowing Ashworth to continue – or uniformity – and sending out the message that there is only one view from here on in. If they go for the former the shadow cabinet, as a collective body, have a responsibility to show that diverse opinions are respected in Labour and that they will not simply rubberstamp the leader’s every edict.
4.09pm BST
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, has given the opposition’s backing to those arguing MPs need to be given a say over the government’s Brexit negotiating position. He told BBC News:
We need a proper structure for these negotiations. We want absolutely clarity on the issues that will be negotiated and then we want some say over the details of that package.
We need to know what the objectives are at least. I understand that you don’t show your cards initially but you need to say what the objectives are ...
4.04pm BST
In the Commons Amber Rudd, the home secretary, has been responding to an urgent question about refugees at Calais. She told MPs that she had met her French counterpart today and agreed that child refugees in the camps with links to Britain should be brought to this country. These are from my colleague Alan Travis and from the Telegraph’s Steven Swinford.
Amber Rudd says told French minister today that as many children with UK links, esp under 12s, as possible brought to UK before demolition
Amber Rudd says that those children in Calais camp eligible to come to UK under Dubs amdt should be taken to place of safety
Amber Rudd says French government to provide list of lone children in Calais camp with UK links this week and will be dealt with in a week
Amber Rudd says that the primary responsibility for children in 'jungle' camp in Calais lies with French Government
Amber Rudd: I have made crystal clear to France that priority must be to ensure safety and security of children during demolition of camp
Amber Rudd: Be in no doubt we will move in all urgency to help children in Calais camps
Diane Abbott, in first appearance as shadow home sec, says words cannot convey the horror of Calais 'Jungle' camp
3.57pm BST
Here are the full tables (pdf) from today’s Guardian/ICM poll.
And here is some Twitter comment on it.
For people who say "polls are often wrong": the two big polling disasters in 1992 and 2015 overstated Labour's lead.
I'm not saying this to demoralise people, but because things can only be turned around if you engage where you're starting from.
The Labour leadership need to be given some time and space to prove they can turn things around and avoid a terrible election defeat.
One terrifying thought for Labour about that ICM poll - the party is currently behind the Tories among EVERY social class. pic.twitter.com/Jdk5p1xV2C
Our poll of polls puts the Conservatives 13.25 points ahead of Labour: pic.twitter.com/eXMi52mwOK
Chart showing age breakdown split in today's ICM poll. Note the 75+ group going 77% to 7% to CON pic.twitter.com/utFxT3NwcE
Today's ICM poll (17% Con lead) compared to equivalent ICM poll last Parl: then there was a 4% #Labour lead, + Lab were on 39%. Now? 26%.
Swing between today's ICM poll + same last Parl: 10.5%. Such a swing carried to a GE wd give Cons 90 #Labour seats, up to + incl Don Valley.
These "polls" are about as honest as #Hilary #Clinton. #JC4PM https://t.co/Erg0Lisrj5
Brother of Labour leader has doubts about poll veracity and pollster integrity. Hmmm, to laugh or cry? https://t.co/1a55KDaCBS
3.36pm BST
Here is a Guardian video of Ed Miliband explaining why MPs should get a vote on the government’s Brexit strategy.
2.28pm BST
Trying to keep a tally of these Labour reshuffle numbers is not easy. Paul Blomfield did resign over the summer, but, a reader points out, he resigned from his post as a parliamentary private secretary, not as a shadow minister. (See 12.44pm.) So he was not on the front bench, although he would have been considered as part of the payroll vote.
So we can say that 17 MPs who resigned have now taken shadow ministerial posts. But only 15 people who resigned as shadow ministers in the summer have rejoined the front bench.
2.09pm BST
I am saying we are going to be leaving the European Union. That’s what the British people voted for. But we’ve got to get those negotiations right. It was Philip Hammond, the chancellor, who said last week the British people did not vote to make themselves poorer. And he’s right about that. And what worried me about some of what we heard at the Conservative conference was - I understand the concerns about immigration - but what I felt was our whole economy was in danger of being thrown off a cliff ...
We need to be knowing now what the government will be negotiating for. And I believe they need to get the consent of MPs. Because there is no other mandate here. The Conservative manifesto said that the Conservative party was determined to stay in the single market. Now, it sounded from what Theresa May and some of her ministers were saying that we were going to leave the single market, contrary to the mandate. So there is no mandate for a hard Brexit. That is why parliament has got to be consulted.
It seems to me British interests will be best served by an early and full and detailed explanation from the government of what its negotiating position is before it embarks on those discussions ...
What has never been discussed in any depth is what we arrive at. I think there’s a majority in parliament for doing that. And I think the public would expect us to do that. In any case, it would greatly strengthen the prime minister’s hand in negotiations.
The UK is leaving the EU but we’re not turning our back on Europe and we want to maintain strong, positive relations with our European partners like Denmark, and I am committed to doing just that.
But of course we are leaving the EU so if I turn to Brexit, as I said last week we will formally trigger the process of leaving no later than the end of March next year and I hope it can be a smooth and orderly departure.
Britain is an open nation and, as we go through the Brexit process, a large part of that is going to be broadening our approach with the rest of the world, negotiating with other countries, setting up new trade deals and making sure Britain is very much an outward-facing significant player on the world stage.
The CBI and Anna Soubry are right to warn of the dangers of a Hard Tory Brexit and the devastating impact it could have.
Losing access to the single market would seriously damage our economy but the Conservative government is prepared to risk people’s jobs and livelihoods and place party political gains ahead of the clear national interest.
Absolutely, absolutely. Look, he got re-elected by our party, we’ve got more members than I think we’ve had in 40 or 50 years, he has mobilised party members and people who weren’t party members in a way that even I didn’t do so. Now the task is for all of us to take this out to the country and convince the country.
And I think there has been a change in terms of attitude and will among the parliamentary party since Jeremy’s re-election; I think there’s an acceptance that he won, an acceptance that people have got to work with him and support him.
1.55pm BST
Here is Andrew Cooper, the Conservative pollster, on the Guardian/ICM poll.
Labour 26% support = 8 million *votes for Socialism*. 1983 all over again.
1.12pm BST
My colleague Rowena Mason was at the Number 10 lobby briefing. Here is her summary.
12.59pm BST
Here is a mini Labour reshuffle reading list.
There’s also precious self-awareness on the PLP’s part about all this. Why, as sceptics and proven opponents were they expecting Jez to reach out? True, all cabinets and shadow cabinets regardless of political colouration and level of government tend to reflect a balance of forces. Ability has to come second, unfortunately. But they’ve already suffered a comprehensive defeat in the party, and from the experience of last year Jeremy has learned that doling out portfolios to people who would undermine you isn’t the best approach to managing matters. Some have returned anyway, and newbies have slotted in, including the much-hyped Keir Starmer in the Brexit brief. Therefore given their track record, and now the breaking of the boycott of the front bench, why from Jez’s perspective should he award them a say over who goes in the top team?
12.44pm BST
The Press Association points out that, in addition to names I mentioned earlier (see 9.09am and 9.51am), there is one more Labour MP who has returned to the front bench having resigned earlier: Paul Blomfield, the new shadow minister for Brexit.
The PA missed him earlier - perhaps because Labour spelt his name wrongly (with two o’s) on its news release last night.
12.15pm BST
As my colleagues Rowena Mason and Peter Walker report, the Conservative MP Stephen Phillips, who voted to leave the EU, is demanding an emergency debate on the subject in the Commons. He believes the government has “no authority or mandate to adopt a negotiating position without reference to the wishes of the house and those of the British people, expressed through their elected representatives”.
Related: Tory MP accuses government of 'tyranny' over Brexit strategy
11.52am BST
Political parties normally expect a modest post-conference bounce in the polls (because, if they are half-competent at PR, they can generally create a large quantity of mostly favourable media coverage) but the Conservatives will be delighted with the latest findings from the regular Guardian/ICM poll. It gives them a 17-point lead.
Here are the new figures, and how they compare to the previous Guardian/ICM polling figures from early September, before the conference season started.
11.06am BST
You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.
As for the rest of the papers, here is the Politics Home list of top 10 must-reads, and here is the ConservativeHome round-up of today’s politics stories.
Theresa May is to push ahead with a new system to vet foreign investment in Britain, but has heeded warnings from chancellor Philip Hammond that the country cannot afford to adopt “French-style” protectionism.
The UK prime minister wants the government to be able to intervene in an “orderly and structured” way in sensitive foreign investment and is studying regimes used in other countries such as the US and Australia.
The leader of Britain’s biggest business group has warned Theresa May that she risks “closing the door” on an open economy with her immigration clampdown and Brexit policy.
Carolyn Fairbairn, director-general of the CBI, issued the stark message in an interview with The Times as the government climbed down on its plan to name businesses thought to be relying too heavily on foreign workers ...
10.37am BST
Anna Soubry was followed on the Today programme by Peter Lilley, the Conservative former cabinet minster and strong Brexiteer. He said that MPs like Soubry who were demanding a Commons vote on Brexit were just sore losers who did not accept that parliament would in time vote on this. He told the programme:
They’re all remain voters who are rather reluctant to admit they’ve lost. They pretend they admit they’ve lost but they still want us to remain subject to European law.
10.32am BST
On the Today programme this morning Anna Soubry, the Conservative pro-European MP, made the same argument that Ed Miliband has just been making on BBC News just now - that the Commons should have a vote on the terms of Brexit. She told the programme:
We are in grave danger of extrapolating from a very clear referendum on whether or not we’re going to stay in or out, we’re extrapolating from that all sorts of things, including immigration and including further restrictions on students, by way of example. This is the danger we are in, this over-extrapolation. It is not good for our country and it is not the way we go forward.
This is precisely why we do need to take the debate into parliament and not see it as having a vote at this stage or that stage, but just beginning at least to know what are the guiding principles as we now leave the European Union. That’s what we seek to achieve.
10.25am BST
It’s Ed Miliband v Ed Balls on 24-hour news at the moment.
Miliband is on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show, where he has just said the Commons should vote on Brexit.
A Commons vote on any Brexit deal is not about trying to reverse referendum result says Ed Miliband @VictoriaLIVE
Govt needs the mandate of Parliament over any Brexit deal -Ed Miliband @VictoriaLIVE
Ed Miliband calls for Govt to publish White Paper on Brexit deal and put to a vote of Commons @VictoriaLIVE
Ed Miliband asked if Jeremy Corbyn can win a general election: "Absolutely, absolutely."
Ed Balls says he has stopped eating Wotsits and started dancing on trains https://t.co/5UiI2uGMtT pic.twitter.com/bRvF1vtWbg
9.51am BST
For the record, here is the full list of Jeremy Corbyn’s new shadow cabinet, released by Labour late on Friday afternoon.
Leader of the Opposition – Rt. Hon. Jeremy Corbyn MP
9.24am BST
There will be a statement in the Commons today on Brexit, the Labour Whips Twitter feed has announced. David Davis, the Brexit secretary, will deliver it, and his new Labour shadow, Sir Keir Starmer, will respond.
There will be a Brexit Statement today in @HouseofCommons from @DavidDavisMP with @Keir_Starmer for @UKLabour
9.09am BST
Jeremy Corbyn has acquired a reputation for holding reshuffles that run for almost as long as The Mousetrap and the current one, which started on Thursday, is still underway. We are told we will get some new names later today. Having finalised his shadow cabinet at the end of last week, late yesterday afternoon Corbyn announced 21 other frontbench appointments. For the record, here is the full list.
Shadow Minister for Labour – Jack Dromey MP
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