“Ministers were forced to give a last-minute written promise to protect Nissan from the consequences of Brexit before the carmaker agreed to keep investing in the UK, The Times has learnt. Nissan announced yesterday that it would build two new car models at its Sunderland plant, securing thousands of jobs. Downing Street denied that it had made a sweetheart deal or offered state aid. Greg Clark, the business secretary, is understood to have written to the board of the Japanese company pledging to ensure that its UK operations “remain competitive” after Britain pulls out of the European Union.” – The Times (£)
More Brexit:
“The doom-laden predictions of Project Fear lay in tatters last night after official figures showed the economy is continuing to flourish in the wake of the Brexit vote. Despite ministers, experts and business leaders warning of a profound shock, the Office for National Statistics said the economy grew by 0.5 per cent between July and September, the three months after the referendum. The figures leave the UK on course to be the fastest growing economy in the G7 group of leading nations this year.” – Daily Mail
Editorial:
>Today: David Green in Comment: Who needs the Single Market? Britain doesn’t. We’d be better off under WTO rules.
>Yesterday:
“This battle for parliamentary sovereignty over the steps needed to carry out Brexit really matters for a number of reasons. First, we know that the trigger to start the formal Brexit negotiations is to serve a notice under article 50 of the Lisbon treaty. As is made clear in the current court case, once that notification has been served it means the UK will be leaving the EU – there is no provision for a conditional notice to be served nor for notice, once given, to be withdrawn. Second, the EU Referendum Act 2015 made no provision for what happens in the event of a yes vote, unlike the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011.” – The Guardian
>Yesterday: MPs Etc.: Who Conservative MPs chose – and who they didn’t choose – for the Brexit committee speaks volumes
“John McDonnell has been ridiculed after confusing ‘Brexit’ and ‘breakfast’ three times in a single speech. The shadow chancellor repeatedly muddled his words as he tried to warn about Theresa May’s approach to cutting ties with Brussels. The audience at the mid-morning event became increasingly bemused as the veteran left-winger cautioned that the country was ‘hurtling towards a chaotic breakfast’.” – Daily Mail
More Labour:
Sketches:
Comment:
“The financial services sector gets a lot of bad press, but politicians must never underestimate its importance to our economy. This is an industry in which Britain is a world leader. We are the world’s sixth-largest economy and its second-biggest exporter of financial services. Financial services create jobs and investment not just in London, but in Edinburgh, Leeds, Birmingham, Bournemouth and elsewhere. According to TheCityUK, 2.2 million people in Britain are employed in the industry, which makes up 12 per cent of our economic output. No other sector provides more in taxes, or enjoy the same balance of payments surplus. The government should seek to nurture and protect it.” – The Times (£)
>Yesterday: Vicky Ford MEP in Comment: We shouldn’t ditch the Single Market wholesale – we must work out which bits we want to keep
“Iain Duncan Smith will today urge ministers to reverse a £3.4billion benefit cut imposed by George Osborne. In a surprise move, the former work and pensions secretary will speak out publicly against the planned cut to Universal Credit (UC), warning that it will cost three million people more than £1,000 a year each. Cuts to the flagship welfare scheme were pushed through by Mr Osborne in 2015 as part of a wider drive to reduce Britain’s bloated benefits bill.” – Daily Mail
“Plans to make schools become academies have been dropped in a reversal of the policy that was at the centre of this year’s budget. The government’s decision to scrap the Education For All Bill was described by critics as a “masterclass in how to bury bad news”. The U-turn was admitted by Justine Greening, the education secretary, in a brief paragraph in a written ministerial statement on further education and technical skills, and can be seen as another nail in the coffin for education policies that found traction under David Cameron and Michael Gove.” – The Times (£)
More Tories:
“Ukip has backed Zac Goldsmith in the Richmond Park by-election – prompting the Liberal Democrats to taunt that he is the ‘Brexit’ candidate. Leader Nigel Farage said the party would join the Tories in deciding not to field a candidate in the December 1 vote. Lib Dem leader Tim Farron – who wants to fight the by-election on Europe – said the endorsement showed Mr Goldsmith is a ‘hard Brexiteer’ who wants Britain out of the single market.” – Daily Mail
>Today: Iain Dale’s column: The UKIP leadership election. Is there a secret Nuttall-Evans pact?
“A news reporter who was convicted after a controversial investigation into the payment of public officials has been cleared of all wrongdoing today. Sun crime reporter Anthony France, 42, from Watford, was accused of having a four-year ‘corrupt relationship’ with a police officer but saw his conviction quashed by three judges at the Court of Appeal in London on Thursday. He was initially found guilty at a trial at the Old Bailey last year and given an 18-month suspended sentence… The CPS and Met Police have been strongly criticised today for ‘making up a law on the hoof’ to prosecute journalists over payments to public officials.” – Daily Mail
Speaking of scandal:
Editorial:
“An SNP MP paid his brother more than seven weeks’ worth of overtime in just one year, it can be revealed. Paul Monaghan signed off 255.75 extra hours for his brother Mark Monaghan, who acts as his ‘constituency communications manager’. Another SNP MP, Corri Wilson, paid her son, who was employed as her ‘personal assistant’, 118 hours of overtime during the 12 months following the general election.” – Daily Mail