Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs and the House of Lords debate on the article 50 bill
Sarah Champion’s economic equality speech - Summary
PMQs - Snap verdict
PMQs - Verdict from the Twitter commentariat
Lunchtime summary
6.13pm GMT
Lord Strathclyde, the Conservative former leader of the Lords, says this amendment will create more uncertainty for Britons living abroad.
He says the amendments are at the wrong time on the wrong subject. Peers should support EU nationals living in Europe, he says.
6.09pm GMT
Lord Woolf, the crossbencher and former lord chief justice, says he thinks this matter is best resolved by parliament, not the courts. He says he will vote for the amendment for the reasons given by Viscount Hailsham. This is a matter of moral principle, he says, as well as possible legal principle. And, on the moral issue, there is only one answer, he says.
6.07pm GMT
Lord Blencathra, the former Conservative Home Office minister David Maclean, says originally he thought it would be best to make a unilateral declaration guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals living in the UK. He thought that might lead to the EU reciprocating. But that did not happen.
He says Theresa May press for an early decision on this. Some 20 EU states agreed. But Angela Merkel and Donald Tusk opposed the idea, arguing that this should wait until the Brexit talks start.
6.04pm GMT
Lord Kerr of Kinlochard, a crossbencher and former diplomat credited with drafting article 50, says this negotiation will be a “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” negotiation. So it could be the case that a deal for the reciprocal rights of Britons and EU nationals does not get agreed for another two years.
Given that is the case, it would be better to guarantee the rights of EU nationals living in the UK now, he says.
5.58pm GMT
The Labour peer Lord Clark of Windermere says the NHS is under threat because of the shortage of labour. It depends on foreigner workers; 10% of doctors and 5% of nurses come from the EU.
We are not in a good negotiating position, because many of these workers would be more use back in their own countries.
5.52pm GMT
Lord Kirkhope of Harrogate, the former leader of Conservative MEPs and former immigration minister, says nothing in the bill will affect the rights of EU nationals living in the UK. There will be an immigration bill later, he says, that will address this issue.
He says other EU countries accept the case of reciprocity with regard to this issue.
5.47pm GMT
Lord Green of Deddington, the crossbencher and MigrationWatch, is speaking now. He says EU nationals who have been in the UK for five years have the right to stay. And he says if the government guarantees their rights unilaterally, the interests of Britons living in other EU countries will slip down the list of priorities.
5.40pm GMT
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem, the former Lib Dem leader, says he agrees with Douglas Hogg’s speech. He says the impact of the UK losing EU workers would be “catastrophic”. He says asking EU relatives to leave would be unacceptable. What sort of stress would that put on families, he asks?
He says David Davis has said it will take “years and years” to train British workers to fill the jobs being done by EU workers.
5.33pm GMT
Lady Symons, the Labour peer, says this is a simple matter of principle. The Lords should be able to do the right thing, because it is the right thing.
5.30pm GMT
Lord Lawson, the Conservative former chancellor, says he lives in France. He would have liked to have seen the government give an unconditional guarantee that EU nationals living in the UK could stay, he says.
But he does not support the amendment, he says. Like John Sentamu, he does not think this is an appropriate addition to the bill.
5.27pm GMT
Lord Kerslake, the crossbencher and former head of the civil service, is speaking now.
He says he has reflected on Amber Rudd’s letter. But he is backing the amendment.
5.21pm GMT
Lady Hamwee, a Lib Dem peer, says she is speaking in favour of amendment 25, which she tabled on behalf of the joint committee on human rights. It also proposes guaranteeing the rights of EU nationals.
This would not delay or frustrate leaving the EU, she says.
5.14pm GMT
Amber Rudd, the home secretary, is in the Lords to listen to the debate. This is from the Press Association’s Jack Maidment.
Commons oversight of the Lords continues: Home Secretary Amber Rudd currently sat on the steps of the throne as peers debate Brexit Bill.
5.13pm GMT
Viscount Waverley, a hereditary peer and a crossbencher, says that he has thought about this deeply, including taking account of the views of Britons living on the continent.
He says he has concluded that the best step is to give the government a free run.
5.11pm GMT
Lord Bowness, a Conservative peer, says he is backing the amendment. He says this debate goes to the heart of what country we are. No one would believe that Britain would remove EU nationals living here, he says. So it is pointless to pretend otherwise, he suggests.
5.04pm GMT
Lady Kennedy of the Shaws, the QC and Labour peer, said the honour of the Lords was at stake with this amendment. She said she was backing it.
Labour's Baroness Kennedy, arguing against "no new facts" line, says since the referendum 30% of residence applications have been rejected
"Byazantine emperors would be envious" of the complexity of the law surrounding EU nationals rights in UK quotes Helena Kennedy
5.02pm GMT
I have beefed up some of the previous posts with direct quotes. To get them to show up, you may need to refresh the page.
5.00pm GMT
Lord Tebbit, the Conservative former party chairman, is speaking now.
He says the first duty of parliament is to think of the interests of British citizens. So we should be thinking of the rights of Britons living abroad. But today we are thinking of foreigners, he says.
It seems to me that the first duty of this parliament of the United Kingdom is to care for the interests of the citizens of this kingdom.
If we are to be concerned about anybody’s rights after Brexit, to live anywhere on this continent of Europe, it should be our concern for the rights of British people to live freely and peacefully in those other parts.
People of nationalities of other countries within the Union are foreigners. Why is everybody here today so excited about an amendment that looks after the foreigners and not the British?
"Quite right" mutters one peer when Lord Tebbit says: why are we so excited about an amendment that looks after foreigners and not the Brits
Lord Tebbit: "We don't have the power to look after our citizens overseas, not in these days when we don't have many gunboats."
Lord Tebbit before EU citizens vote: “Somehow we seem to be thinking of nothing but the rights of foreigners.” https://t.co/O9SOWEca2X pic.twitter.com/BavtFetEuf
4.50pm GMT
Lord Oates, a Lib Dem peer, is backing amendment 9b, and also another on this topic in his name.
LibDem Lord Oates says he supports 9b, and the stronger Amendment 38 - which is also backed by the @The3Million group pic.twitter.com/dNEanXKBX0
4.39pm GMT
Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the Conservative former lord chancellor, says there are a large number of EU citizens born in one country but living in another under the protection of EU treaties.
He says the moral high ground is to treat these people equally. They are all humans, he says. He says he repudiates the idea that people should be treated as negotiating chips.
4.30pm GMT
Dafydd Wigley, the former Plaid Cymru leader, says he is backing the amendment, as well as a similar one in his name. He says EU workers play a vital role in Wales.
Thousands of people are looking to this House to give a lead and I hope we don’t let them down.
4.26pm GMT
Lord Hannay, the crossbencher and former ambassador to the UN, says he is backing the amendment. He says he does not accept the argument that passing this amendment will undermine the position of Britons living in other EU countries.
He says a group representing this group has put out a statement today saying peers should vote for the amendment.
4.22pm GMT
The archbishop of York, John Sentamu, is speaking now. He says he came to the UK as a consequence of what happened in Uganda when the Ugandan Asians were kicked out.
So he understands the feelings of immigrants, he says.
4.12pm GMT
Melvyn Bragg, the Labour peer, says 3m people in a population of 60m are a minority. Minorities have benefited this country enormously, he says.
Minorities have helped us become the best of what we are.
4.06pm GMT
Michael Howard, the former Conservative leader and former home secretary, is speaking now. He says that he wants to help EU nationals living in the UK, but that the best way to do that is to pass the article 50 bill as quickly as possible.
The question which we have to ask ourselves today is this - how can we best help the EU nationals who are resident in this country?
The best way in which we can help them is to bring the uncertainty of their position to an end as quickly as possible.
4.05pm GMT
Lady Ludford, the Lib Dem Brexit spokewoman, told peers that giving EU nationals the right to stay in the UK was the right thing to do morally.
It is disingenuous to inflame the fears of British people settled elsewhere in Europe that their place will be undermined by a unilateral move by the British government.
Ludford says PM holding EU citizens hostage for goals "other" than a reciprocal deal on British nationals in Europe
LD peer Baroness Ludford now talking about 85 page residence form "goalposts moved retrospectively" forcing people to have private insurance
4.04pm GMT
Here is a quote from Viscount Hailsham’s speech.
It is probable that if we seek to deny European citizens now resident in the United Kingdom the right to continue to stay here, we would be challenged in the courts and that challenge might well succeed.
Moreover, my lords, as a matter of general principle legislation and policies which are retrospective in their operation should be avoided. Individuals are entitled to regulate their affairs in accordance with the law that applies at the time that they make their decisions.
3.56pm GMT
Hailsham says many peers have relatives who were born abroad. His grandmother was born in Tennessee.
He says peers like himself would find in unacceptable if their relatives were forced to leave.
On Monday I was lunching in the dining room in the House of Commons where I was meeting staff whom I have known for very many years. And one of the waitresses came up to me - I’ve know her for year - and she said: “What is going to happen to me when Brexit takes place.” She was born in France but has worked in the United Kingdom, has been in the House of Commons, for very many years.
I gave her my personal opinion, which was that there would be no problem for her, but I was not able to give her the guarantee that I think she was entitled to deserve.
The moral high ground is often the best ground on which to fight a campaign.
3.51pm GMT
Viscount Hailsham (Douglas Hogg), the Conservative former cabinet minister, says he will support any of the amendments on this topic put to a vote.
He says he understands the government’s argument: that it needs to keep on the table the future of EU nationals in the UK as a bargaining chip.
It is probable that if we seek to deny European citizens now resident in the United Kingdom the right to continue to stay here, we would be challenged in the courts and that challenge might well succeed.
Moreover, my lords, as a matter of general principle legislation and policies which are retrospective in their operation should be avoided. Individuals are entitled to regulate their affairs in accordance with the law that applies at the time that they make their decisions.
3.47pm GMT
Hayter says 1985 Lord Kinnock had to say to his own party “you can’t play politics with people’s jobs”. Now she has to so you cannot do negotiations with people’s livelihoods, she says.
3.46pm GMT
Hayter says EU nationals have come to the UK in good faith expecting certain rights.
In addition to their moral obligation towards these people, peers should also consider the need for these workers in the labour market, she says.
3.43pm GMT
Lady Hayter of Kentish Town, the Labour Brexit spokeswoman, is opening the debate now.
She says peers have heard the worries of Britons who live abroad. It is not acceptable to put them under pressure, she says.
3.39pm GMT
Since we’re on the subject of Brexit, this is intriguing.
Yesterday: John Major and @David_Cameron seen lunching in @TheGoring Hotel dining room yesterday.
3.35pm GMT
According to the latest Guardian ICM opinion poll, the public is split down the middle on the issue of the rights of EU nationals. In our latest survey we asked whether the government should guarantee EU nationals living in the UK now that they will be allowed to stay, as Labour and other opposition parties are demanding; or whether it should wait until Britons living in other EU countries should also get their rights guaranteed, as Theresa May is proposing. Here are the results.
The government should not give EU nationals living in the UK the right to stay until Britons living in other EU countries get the same right: 42%
3.31pm GMT
For the record, here are the current state of the parties figures for the Lords.
Conservatives: 252
3.26pm GMT
Yesterday Amber Rudd, the home secretary, wrote to peers saying they should reject the 9b amendment because, if it were passed, Britons living in other EU countries would face two years of uncertainty because EU countries would be in no hurry to guarantee their rights.
In response the Labour leader in the Lords, Angela Smith, said:
To continue to use people as bargaining chips in this way is not only shameful but could have a dire impact on the UK’s economy and essential services.
Confirming the rights of those EU citizens living in the UK can only be of benefit to our citizens worried about their future in EU countries but the government’s approach seems to be to sit back and wait for others to blink first.
3.17pm GMT
Peers will soon begin the second day of the committee stage debate on the article 50 bill.
Almost 50 amendments to the bill have been tabled (you can read them all here - pdf) and many will be debated today (in the order set out in the grouping here). But the main focus will be on amendment 9b, a cross-party amendment backed by Labour and the Lib Dems on the rights of EU nationals.
Within three months of exercising the power under section 1(1), Ministers of the Crown must bring forward proposals to ensure that citizens of another European Union or European Economic Area country and their family members, who are legally resident in the United Kingdom on the day on which this Act is passed, continue to be treated in the same way with regards to their EU derived-rights and, in the case of residency, their potential to acquire such rights in the future.
Related: Theresa May faces likely defeat in Lords over rights of EU citizens
2.24pm GMT
The number of nominations each candidate received is no guide to the eventual result. This is clear from previous elections. For instance, in the last contest for the post of general secretary of Amicus, before that union merged with the TGWU to form Unite, the incumbent, Ken Jackson received 352 nominations, but was beaten by the challenger, Derek Simpson, who had 93 nominations.
Len McCluskey is a machine politician, elected by one in ten Unite members on a low turn out. Full time Unite officials were under heavy pressure during the nomination period to deliver for McCluskey.
He’s absolutely right to identify those circumstances as he does, where there are websites that are acting in the way he talks about and causing the problems he talks about for people who genuinely believe they’re able to buy tickets for what they wish to attend.
I understand he’s recently met the minister [Matt Hancock] to discuss this issue and, as he will be aware, the Consumer Rights Act introduced new rules on ticketing and a review of online ticket sales, and DCMS are going to shortly respond to the independent report by Professor Michael Waterson on this issue.
Any new impediments to trade and investment in Europe would not only be politically irresponsible, but economically dangerous, and not just for Europe but for the wider global economy too. We do not act in a political vacuum and our economic action will have global implications ...
The simple reality is that for Britain to wish failure upon the EU would be to wish failure on ourselves, and vice versa. The economic destinies of Britain and Europe, and the prosperity of our people, are too closely enmeshed.
We have to fight for the term ‘fake news’. What Donald Trump is doing, and I think it’s a pernicious thing that he’s doing, is to try and interpret the term fake news as being anything that he doesn’t like or agree with.
I think the reason that that’s dangerous is that there are real sources of fake news out there, and growing sources too. And it’s not just celebrity tittle-tattle or gossip about politicians.
2.02pm GMT
At PMQs Theresa May said that Damian Green, the work and pensions secretary, called his Labour opposite number, Debbie Abrahams, to tell her about the proposed changes to the personal independence payment but that there was no answer and no response for four days.
On Twitter Abrahams has challenged this.
No10: Damian Green rang Debbie Abrahams personal mobile last Thurs rang out so left voicemail. Her Commons + constit office were rung too
Not true. Green left message on mobile Monday morning. Four days after he sneaked out the statement & a day after Freeman's comments 1/2 https://t.co/cD1dIkS5KO
No message left at constituency office. Voicemail message left at parliamentary office on Thurs evening AFTER written statement issued 2/2 https://t.co/cD1dIkS5KO
1.34pm GMT
This is what political journalists and commentators are saying about PMQs on Twitter.
There does not seem to be much consensus about who did best, although there does seem to be broad agreement on my Twitter feed that this wasn’t exactly a must-see occasion.
Snap verdict on #PMQs Jeremy Corbyn's hard labourhttps://t.co/FVQxJQ31A9 pic.twitter.com/ICPQkjhyPF
#PMQs review: Jeremy Corbyn turns "the nasty party" back on Theresa May. https://t.co/zHUUPmj1DO pic.twitter.com/FhhM0QbeTI
She crushed Corbyn till the PIPs squeaked... About to join @Emmabarnett on #5live for post PMQs verdict.
The clash between Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May is fast ceasing to be the main event at PMQs, says @JGForsythhttps://t.co/LUQ13VhOfG
May getting better at #PMQs every week but she's defending the indefensible here. Cutting support for people with dementia not a strong look
Corbyn on strong ground. Important subject. He made zero impact. He's a dud. #PMQs
Andrew Grice and I review #PMQs (and praise Corbyn on mental health benefits cuts): Facebook video https://t.co/bdlLhO5kiN pic.twitter.com/rCL26kN0bs
Theresa May's weekly quest to prove that #PMQs doesn't matter, one stinker of a performance at a time.
May should stop trying to do jokes. It's really not working out #pmqs
Angus Robertson v Theresa May is now the real PMQs battle. He's the only person who presents anything like an effective challenge.
Clumsy attempt at despatch box gravitas from @theresa_may as she labels @jeremycorbyn leadership "IN-CRED-IB-LE". Too much am dram. #PMQs
1.15pm GMT
At PMQs Theresa May argued that Jeremy Corbyn was in a weak position to criticise her over the move to restrict eligibility to PIP because Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, refused to say when interviewed about this how Labour would fund £3.7bn cost of not restricting eligbility.
On the Daily Politics Ashworth responded, saying it was unreasonable to expect Labour to be able to answer that now. He said:
I hardly think it was a zinger to say the Labour party can’t write a budget for 2022, 2023 in 2017. I think it’s entirely reasonable not to expect the Labour party to write its budget in 2017 for six years down the line. As we go into the next election we will put forward our detailed plans for all our spending commitments ...
And [May] knows that. She used to make these type of arguments when she was the shadow work and pensions secretary when we were in government.
1.01pm GMT
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.
He asked if all decisions about agriculture and fisheries in Scotland would be devolved to Edinburgh after Brexit. Theresa May replied:
The right honourable gentleman knows very well that we are discussing with the devolved administrations the whole question of the UK framework and devolution of issues as they come back from Brussels. The overriding aim is making sure we don’t damage the very important single market of the United Kingdom.
Will the prime minister confirm today that it is her intention to ensure that it is UK ministers that will negotiate and regulate over large areas that impact on Scottish fisheries and agriculture post-Brexit?
He seems not to have quite understood this point, that we are in the process of discussing which of those powers that currently reside in Brussels will return and remain at a UK level and which will be devolved. It will be the UK government negotiating with the EU, taking full account of the interests and concerns of the devolved administrations and, indeed of all the other regions of England.
12.45pm GMT
PMQs is over. Trudy Harrison, the new Conservative MP for Copeland, is taking her seat now.
12.44pm GMT
Labour’s Madeleine Moon says families in Bridgend are frightened by the threat posed to the Ford plant.
May says the automative sector is one of the most productive sectors in the world. Ford is an important investor, she says. The government will continue to have a dialogue with Ford, she says.
12.43pm GMT
Rebecca Pow, a Conservative, says that if the speaker, John Bercow, took a shower this morning, there would have been microbeads in his shower gel. Does May welcome the government’s plan to ban these?
May says she does not know if Bercow took a shower this morning. But the government does want to ban microbeads by October.
12.40pm GMT
Nigel Dodds, the DUP MP, mentions the speeches by Tony Blair and John Major on Brexit. “Very helpful they were,” he says, sarcastically. We know what is meant by a hard Brexit and a soft Brexit. But we don’t know what a soft coup is, he says. He asks May to confirm that, whatever Blair and Major says, she will trigger article 50.
May says she intends to trigger by the end of March. And she means triggering article 50, not triggering a soft coup.
12.37pm GMT
Labour’s Sir Kevin Barron asks if the government will reform pharmacy funding.
May says funding for pharmacies has increased. She says the system was changed last summer to help pharmacies in rural areas.
12.36pm GMT
Andrew Selous, a Conservative, asks May if she will end the practice of developers buying freehold land and selling it on a leasehold basis.
May says the housing white paper says developers should build homes for people to live in. The government will tackle abuses of leasehold, she says. She says she does not see why homes should not be sold freehold, except in exceptional circumstances.
12.34pm GMT
Victoria Prentis, a Conservative, says the debate in Copeland about maternity services echoed what is happening in Banbury. She asks May if she agrees that maternity servics should be local.
May says she looks forward to welcoming the new MP for Copeland to the Commons soon. Trudy Harrison, the new MP, has proposed a review of maternity services in Copeland. May says the health minister is looking at this.
12.33pm GMT
Judith Cummins, the Labour MP, asks the government to commit to HS3 and infrastructure spending in West Yorkshire.
May says the government is committed to investment in the north.
12.32pm GMT
Glyn Davies, a Welsh Conservative MP, asks May if she agrees that Welsh interests must remain at the heart of the UK.
May agrees. She says she is committed to getting a deal that works for the whole of the UK in Brexit. She will be hosting a St David’s day reception at Downing Street tonight. And she says something in Welsh - happy St David’s day, I presume.
12.28pm GMT
PMQs - Snap verdict: May was doing fine until the final word, when her half-hearted, deep-voice, apparent Thatcher parody confirmed that she should probably leave the jokes and funny accents to others. Up until then it was an evenly-matched PMQs, and one that, unusually, shed some light on the issue being discussed. Corbyn focused all his questions on the government’s plans to limit the eligibility to personal independence payment (PIP), a disability benefit, in the light of court rulings that would make it easier for people with mental health problems to claim. He was precise and restrained, and he made a moving appeal for the court rulings to be honoured, but without resorting to hyperbole. His best point was when he said there was no point having courts to adjudicate on these matters if their findings are ignored. May made her usual points about the need for a strong economy, but she was better setting out the detail, explaining that current PIP claimants will not lose out and that the government’s legislation will just restore the status quo ante, and she mocked Labour quite effectively by quoting the spokesman who said the party did not know how it would fund implementing the PIP court decisions. So perhaps Corbyn had the edge, but broadly it was a score-draw.
12.17pm GMT
Corbyn says it was a Labour amendement that introduced parity of esteem. He says parity of esteem means funding mental health properly, and not overriding court decisions that help people with mental health conditions.
May says the government is spending more than before on mental health. But there is more to do, she says. More people are being provided with mental health treatment every week. But if you want to provide that help, you need a strong economy to be able to pay for it. The one thing we know about Labour is that it will bankrupt Britain.
12.11pm GMT
Corbyn says calling the chairs of two committees does not add up to scrutiny. And, as far as he understands it, there was no call to the shadow secretary of state. He asks May to look at the effects of her decision and think again.
May says the factors Corbyn has raised are taken into account. May says the court said the rules were unclear. That is why the government will clarify them. She says this government is spending more than every on support for people with disabilities, and on people with mental health conditions.
12.08pm GMT
Jeremy Corbyn also wishes people a happy St David’s day. And he hopes the workers at the Ford plant at Bridgend get the assurances they need.
He pays tribute to Sir Gerald Kaufman. It was his funeral yesterday, he says. He spoke to Kaufman’s nephews. They described him as an “awesome uncle”.
12.03pm GMT
Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative, asks about Copeland. Was that an endorsement of May’s plans to have a strong economy and leave the EU?
May says the historic result in Copeland was an endorsement her plans to keep the economy strong and to help places like Copeland that have suffered from years of neglect under Labour. And it was an endorsement of her strong leadership, in contrast to Labour’s chaos.
12.01pm GMT
Theresa May starts by wishing people a happy St David’s day.
And she also pays tribute to Sir Gerald Kaufman, who died at the weekend. He was an outstanding parliamentarian, she says.
11.58am GMT
PMQs is about to start.
Here is the list of MPs asking questions.
QUESTIONS TO THE PRIME MINISTER! Here are the MPs who with Corbyn and Robertson will needle the PM today: https://t.co/K5icDEu8Dk #PMQs pic.twitter.com/83TDrLUHRu
11.54am GMT
A Labour source has been briefing on the economic equality bill proposed by Sarah Champion today. (See 11.10am.) She says it would not stipulate that economic spending had to be divided 50/50 between men and women. Instead it would introduce transparency measures that highlighted who was benefiting from tax and spending measures, so as to push policy making towards equality. But the source stressed that the details had yet to be finalised, and that the party would consult on this over the next 12 months. She also stressed that this was not just about gender equality, and that it would look at the impact of economic inequality on LGBT people, BME people and people with disabilities too.
11.46am GMT
We don’t have a Labour leadership contest this year (yet?), but a proxy contest of sorts is under way at the Unite union where Len McCluskey, the general secretary and leading Jeremy Corbyn supporter, is standing for re-election and fighting off a challenge from an opponent who says McCluskey has spent too much time propping up the Labour leader.
And this morning McCluskey has announced some good news for his campaign. He says 1,185 Unite branches, 80% of those who have nominated someone, have backed him for leader.
I am honoured to have received the nomination of so many Unite branches across the UK, working in all sectors of the economy. This incredible level of backing is a vindication of what our great union has achieved for working people under my leadership. It is also a rejection of the cynical approach of one opponent, which is not to offer a positive vision for our union but to taint it with smears and do the bidding of meddlers from outside our union who would rather destroy Unite than see it provide strength and hope for working people.
This huge vote of confidence in my leadership demonstrates members want the union to remain proud, democratic and independent of outside interference.
11.10am GMT
At the weekend Jeremy Corbyn complained that Britain’s “wonderful media” were not reporting properly what Labour has to say about policy. Some of us felt this was a little unfair, because Labour’s policy output has not been especially rich recently, but this morning Sarah Champion, the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, has come out with a policy speech with some profound implications. You can read it in full here. And here are the key points.
I am pleased announce today that Labour will build upon current equalities legislation, consulting over the next 12 months on bringing in an economic equality bill.
Put simply, this bill would seek to ensure that on equality, the money follows the policy.
At its heart, we expect a budget that works for women as it is a key opportunity for the advancement of gender equality.
This concept, often referred to as gender budgeting, now takes place in more than 40 countries around the world.
Women are particularly vulnerable to being hit harder by this Government policies, for a number of reasons.
First, social security payments make up a greater share of women’s income than men’s, as women still earn less in the labour market.
Currently, the wages of construction workers paid to build a school count as public investment. However, when government staffs the school to provide education, the wages of the teachers are not counted as investment expenditure, but as current expenditure.
The benefits produced by teachers accrue over the years, both to the children who have been educated, and to the wider economy. These are not just ‘day to day’ immediate benefits.
When the UK Labour government invested in creating the NHS in 1948, the ratio of debt to GDP was over 200 per cent, and that higher public investment led to higher growth. High debt ratios did not prompt cuts to public investment in the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s.
What is unarguable is that at the same time as imposing cruel spending cuts that have been shown to hit women hardest, this government has added almost £700bn to the national debt.
9.47am GMT
Nigel Farage, the former Ukip leader, was on the Today programme this morning renewing his call for Douglas Carswell, the party’s only MP, to be expelled from the party. My colleague Matthew Weaver has the details. Here is his story.
Related: Nigel Farage: Carswell stopping Ukip becoming radical anti-immigration party
Ukip’s former leader Nigel Farage, has accused the party’s only MP of preventing it from becoming a radical anti-immigration party.
In an increasingly hostile war of words with Douglas Carswell, Farage said the Clacton MP who defected from the Conservatives to Ukip in 2014, had undermined his attempts to equate EU membership with increased levels of immigration.
For Douglas, all that mattered was recovering our national independence. He saw Nigel’s sallies into breast-feeding mothers, HIV-infected immigrants and the like as distractions. He came to the view that Nigel was more interested in hogging the limelight than in winning the referendum. He therefore worked, successfully, to ensure that Vote Leave, the mainstream campaign, prevailed.
Yesterday, Nigel again attacked him for doing so - even though Douglas’s choice was surely vindicated by the result.
9.21am GMT
Three weeks ago my colleague Martin Kettle reported that Donald Trump’s planned state visit to the UK was being scheduled for late summer or early autumn, not early summer as some reports had suggested, and that it would take place when parliament was in recess, so as to neutralise the impact of John Bercow, the Commons speaker, refusing to allow him to give a speech in Westminster Hall. With parliament in recess, such an invitation would be impossible anyway.
Today the Sun has a story with a bit more detail about the possible timing. Tom Newton Dunn, the paper’s political editor, says President Trump agreed to put back the visit a bit when he spoke to Theresa May on the phone two weeks ago because he wanted to reduce the chance of protests.
Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain has been delayed until October in a bid to avoid protests and MPs’ snubs ...
Though the dates may change again, a provisional three day slot for the president’s formal visit has been pencilled in from October 5 to 8, The Sun has learned.
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