“Theresa May has faced down cabinet critics of her Chequers plan and won backing from ministers to sell it to next week’s Conservative Party conference. The prime minister also secured cabinet agreement yesterday for a new immigration system after Brexit despite objections from Philip Hammond, the chancellor, on how the change should be managed. A threatened rebellion from Brexiteer ministers demanding that Mrs May seek a looser, Canada-style deal with the EU failed to materialise after she told colleagues to hold their nerve in the face of opposition from Brussels.” – The Times
>Today: ToryDiary: Hunt looks east to Japan…and west to Canada
“EU migrants will not be given preferential treatment after Brexit and the number coming to the UK will fall significantly under Government plans. Sajid Javid, the Home Secretary, on Monday unveiled plans at Cabinet for a crackdown on the number of low-skilled migrants coming to the UK after Britain leaves the EU. The Cabinet reached a consensus on the plans despite objections from Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, and Greg Clarke, the Business Secretary. … The Cabinet agreement over a crackdown on low-skilled migrants represents a significant victory for Mrs May and Mr Javid and comes after months of Cabinet clashes over the issue. The Telegraph understands that Esther McVey, the Work and Pensions Secretary, directly criticised Mr Hammond at the meeting. Ms McVey criticised Remainers for claiming that Brexit will cause a “huge recession” leading to job losses while also arguing the UK will need migrants to fill jobs. “Both can’t be true,” she is said to have told Cabinet.” – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
“Today, the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) set out an alternative Brexit plan which was backed by senior Conservatives who are against the Prime Minister’s Chequers proposal. So what did they propose, and what is a Canada-style deal? The IEA, a non-profit, free-market think tank, issued the report titled ‘Plan A+: Creating a Prosperous Post-Brexit UK’, claiming it could deliver the “Brexit Prize.” The plan has already won the backing of leading Brexiteers, including David Davis, Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg. Mr Rees-Mogg dubbed it the “most exciting contribution” to the Brexit debate in months, as the plan sets off a Canada-style free trade deal as an alternative to Theresa May’s contentious Chequers proposal. But Mr Rees-Mogg said it went even further than the Canada deal struck in 2016, calling it “Canada plus; Super Canada; or Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Canada.”” – Daily Express
>Today: Audio: The Moggcast. May should drop Chequers now – and not delay until after the Tory conference
“Brexiteers finally have the text they have been waiting for since the Referendum. It maps out the path to a sovereign free-trading Britain that escapes the Chequers cul-de-sac and promises to transform the chemistry of Brexit negotiations. Whether you call it ‘Canada plus’, or ‘Japan plus’, or more accurately ‘Plan A+’, the 147-page draft issued by the Institute of Economic Affairs is a breath of fresh air. A week ago it might have been just another of the freelance plans doing the rounds. Now it is suddenly the closest thing we have to a British government plan, for all signs are that the Cabinet is shutting down Chequers. Last week’s Salzburg convulsion – overblown in one sense, but a political earthquake in its effects – has re-opened the door to the sort of comprehensive free trade deal that Theresa May seem to promise long ago in her Lancaster House speech.” – Daily Telegraph
Editorial:
More Brexit
“Theresa May is to hold trade talks with Donald Trump on Wednesday as she prepares for Britain’s successful future after Brexit. Downing Street confirmed that the Prime Minister will meet the US President on her trip to New York this week after she takes part in the UN General Assembly. In a packed 48-hour schedule the Prime Minister will also take part in UN discussions on controlling chemical weapons where she will again condemn the Russian links to the Salisbury nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Mrs May is also due to hold a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani where she will again raise the case of British citizen Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe who has been falsely imprisoned in Iran. Mrs May’s bilateral with Mr Trump will see the two world leaders discuss a future trade and controlling chemical weapons.” – Daily Express
“Theresa May is to petition Iran’s president for the release of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and call for greater efforts to curb chemical weapons at the UN general assembly in New York, a trip also expected to be punctuated by repeated questions about Brexit. May sets off for two days at the gathering of international leaders on Tuesday morning. A schedule released in advance by Downing Street shows that among those she will meet later that day is Hassan Rouhani. No 10 said the prime minister would raise the case of Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman who has spent more than two years in jail in Iran accused of spying. May “will express serious concern at Nazanin’s ongoing detention and call for her to be released on humanitarian grounds”, a senior British government official said.” – Guardian
“Almost a third of the world’s oceans should be protected by 2030, Environment Secretary Michael Gove has urged. The UK Government is backing calls to treble internationally-agreed targets to protect sea life and habitats by the end of the next decade, as countries meet at the UN General Assembly in New York to discuss ocean conservation. Less than 10 per cent of the world’s seas are currently designated as marine protected areas (MPAs), which can conserve sea life and habitats from damaging activities such as mining and destructive fishing. Countries have agreed a target of designating a tenth of the seas and coastlines as protected areas globally by 2020, under the UN’s Convention of Biological Diversity.” – Daily Telegraph
“… I have three suggestions for them. First of all they must show that they are the party of the little guy as much as big business. They can do that by cancelling planned corporation tax cuts and using the money to reduce the price of petrol. Idea two would scrap or at least postpone the HS2 train project which is getting more expensive with every passing month. Use the savings to fund better local rail and bus services — improvements that will be noticed by the time of the next election. And, most of all, build many more affordable houses. Tories should match Labour’s promise to help people own the companies they work for by giving young families the chance to own their own homes. It was bad enough when folk ran out of money at the end of the month. Many families are now having to watch the pennies at the beginning of the month. Finding ways of helping such families isn’t just or mainly about saving the Conservative Party.” – The Sun
More Conservatives:
>Today: Paul Scully in Comment: Conservative members in London still have time to vote for our Mayoral candidate
“The Labour leadership has been accused of “betrayal” after appearing to rule out putting the option to stay in the European Union on a second referendum ballot. While the majority of Labour members back a “people’s vote”, senior party figures have taken opposing views over what it should look like. On Monday John McDonnell, the shadow Chancellor, said: “If we are going to respect the last referendum, it will be about the deal; it will be a negotiation on the deal.” His words appeared to be at odds with the motion the party decided to put to Labour conference delegates today [Tuesday]. It does not rule out the option of staying in the EU being on the ballot.” – Daily Telegraph
Comment:
>Yesterday: LeftWatch: McDonnell is more dangerous than Corbyn – not just because he’s more extreme, but because he is more intelligent
“John McDonnell promised that a Labour government would sack water company bosses as he hinted that the party could reintroduce Clause IV almost a quarter of a century after it was scrapped by Tony Blair.The shadow chancellor would advertise company bosses’ jobs at capped salaries and hand control of the water giants to groups including councillors. A Labour government would set up a unit to handle the return of water, energy, rail and the Royal Mail to public ownership, but aides could not say if the plan to expel water industry bosses would apply to other sectors. He unveiled plans for regional water authorities made up of councillors and worker, consumer and environmental representatives. Shareholders in private water companies would be compensated with bonds in a way that would be “cost neutral” for taxpayers.” – The Times
Editorials:
“Labour would scrap free schools and bring academies under greater local democratic control as part of a plan to unwind Conservative education reforms that it says have created a legacy of “fragmentation and privatisation”. The new policy will be unveiled by Angela Rayner at the Labour party conference on Monday, the first time that the shadow education secretary has presented her own structural reform plan in her two years in the job. “The Tories’ academy system is simply not fit for purpose,” Rayner is expected to say. “Labour will end the forced conversion of local schools to academies, scrap the inefficient free school programme and instead focus on delivering what works to get the best results for pupils.” Labour said that it would allow local authorities to build schools again and halt the free school programme, a flagship initiative of Michael Gove when he was education secretary under the coalition government.” – Guardian
>Yesterday: Mark Lehain in Comment: Rayner says Labour will reject Gove’s school reforms – but what would they establish in their place?
“I’ve yet to hear a convincing argument against greater internal democracy within the Labour Party. In fact, I think the Corbynites are essentially right about it. As a Conservative, those are not words I write very often, and I doubt the acolytes of the Dear Leader will welcome my support, but that’s my view nonetheless. A stopped clock is right twice a day, though you may decide based on personal prejudice whether the broken timepiece in this instance is me or Jeremy Corbyn’s followers. … What reason would there be not to allow a party’s members to choose their own local candidates and representatives? Or to vote on the values and beliefs of the party they slog their guts out for, in wind, rain and snow?” – the i
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