Major says MPs should get free vote on final Brexit deal, with 2nd referendum or halting Brexit both options - Politics live

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, did not get to question Boris Johnson in person about his leaked letter on the open border. But she has released an open letter to him, making many of the points she made in the UQ on this subject (answered by David Lidington, the Cabinet Office minister.) Here’s the text.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is set to face a new campaign from his supporters to significantly soften his stance on immigration.

Two influential trade union leaders, as well as Momentum activists and around a dozen other supporters, have signed a letter to the Guardian saying Labour must “defend and extend” freedom of movement.

Corbyn and his shadow home secretary Diane Abbott have previously been sympathetic on freedom of movement, although Corbyn has said free movement will by definition end with Britain’s exit from the EU and any future system must not allow exploitative working practices.

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes, one of the letter’s authors, said Abbott and Corbyn had fought against racism and for workers rights their entire lives. He said:

Given this, I really can”t see why they would want to roll back on the right of workers to free movement.

But there’s pressure everywhere to surrender on this principle, and it’s absolutely critical that the Left of the labour movement fights back and pushes the other way.

Another of the letter’s co-authors, Sahaya James, a member of Momentum’s ruling national coordinating group, said Corbyn had “a record of standing up to the tabloid narrative on things like immigration.” James said Momentum did not have an official position on Brexit or free movement, but said the vast majority of members were in favour of free movement. She said:

I can guarantee that a huge bulk of members and activists are in favour of defending free movement and fighting for migrants’ rights. It’s not enough to sit around and wait for Jeremy to come out with policies - the left needs to wake up and make its voice heard on this.

The full letter can be read here.

The Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn has posted on Twitter a copy of a letter that David Davis, the Brexit secretary, has sent to Tory MPs about today’s draft withdrawal treaty published by the EU.

Pro-Europeans have warmly welcomed John Major’s intervention.

Open Britain, which is campaigning for a soft Brexit, released this response from the Labour peer and former European commissioner Lord Mandelson.

This is a seismic speech which no voter should ignore and every member of parliament should heed.

John Major has stripped away every fig leaf, exposed every lie and revealed the truth about the unmitigated disaster that the government’s Brexit deal would be for our country.

A former prime minister has offered the government a way out of the mess they have made. They should take it.

MPs should get a free vote on Brexit, so they can put country before party. parliament should take its responsibility and reject any deal that will damage our country and then give back to the people the final vote on the Brexit deal.

From the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake

John Major is right, the deal must go back to the people.

This is the biggest issue facing the nation in over half a century. This deal will define our future. We have one chance to get this right and yet Theresa May is fighting to keep the final say in the hands of her inner circle.

Theresa May must put her trust in the public. Whatever deal she comes back with, the people must be given a voice. The UK must have a chance to exit from Brexit.

(Actually, this is a misreading of what Major said. Major made it clear that his preference was for parliament not take the final decision. See 2.43pm.)

And Best for Britain, the group fighting Brexit, has put out this statement from the Labour peer Lord Adonis.

Sir John Major is a very distinguished former prime minister who knows all too well the dishonesty that the Brexiteers in his party deploy in pursuit of ideology.

His warnings today - about the threat that Brexit poses to our economy, to our security and to the enduring peace that was his own legacy in Northern Ireland - can not be dismissed. Sir John’s speech highlights a stark and unavoidable fact, the Leave campaign did not win on the basis of this chaos, disruption and destabilisation. They won, just, on a false prospectus. The truth is they cannot deliver on any of their promises.

The only way forward, as Sir John implies, is to give the British people their final say on the realities of Brexit. We need a referendum on the realities of Brexit, not the fantasies of its proponents. That must be the focus of all democrats from now on.

At the afternoon lobby briefing Theresa May’s spokesman refused several invitations to give any thoughts on John Major’s speech. May herself had not watched it, he said, as she was hosting a modern slavery taskforce event at No 10.

Asked if the timing of the speech – two days before May’s own set piece Brexit speech – was helpful, the spokesman said: “He is perfectly entitled to make his views known at his time of choosing.”

As my colleague Alan Travis reports, the government has sneaked out (“sneaked out”, because it coincides with a particularly busy Brexit news day) an announcement showing that the government has backed down on the issue of the rights of EU nationals coming to the UK during the transition.

As Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said in his press conference yesterday, and again today (see 11.43am), this was one of the areas of dispute between the UK and the EU holding up an agreement on the transition.

Here is Alan’s story.

Scotland’s most senior law officer, the Lord Advocate James Wolffe, has just given a statement to the Scottish parliament saying that the Scottish government’s alternative to the EU withdrawal bill will be within the legislative competence of the Scottish Parliament.

Yesterday both the Scottish and Welsh governments issued emergency legislation or “continuity” bills to prepare for leaving the EU in a significant escalation of their dispute with UK ministers over their powers after Brexit.

The measures are intended to transfer EU regulations directly into Scottish and Welsh law if the three governments fail to agree a deal next month on how those powers are shared out after Brexit.

Subsequently, Holyrood’s presiding officer Ken Macintosh announced that he does not believe the bill currently falls within the Scottish parliament’s remit.

Saying that there was no precedent for his statement, Wolffe said that his analysis reflects the approach of the supreme court in the Gina Miller case, and that he does not believe the bill breaches UK obligations under EU law.

Q: Aren’t you worried that, if parliament were to take responsibility for this decision back, having contracted it out to the people, that might generate more bitterness?

Major says this was supposed to be about restoring parliamentary sovereignty.

And he suggests voters are sometimes inconsistent. He says some people said at the time they wanted to leave the EU but stay in the single market.

Also, people change their minds, he says. He says David Davis said if you cannot change your minds, you are not a democracy.

He says in a democracy you cannot just ignore the views of the 16m who voted against, and opt for a hard Brexit.

Both sides need to be willing to compromise, he says.

And that is it. The Q&A is over.

I will post reaction and analysis shortly.

Major says we have learnt a lot from the continent. During the referendum he met someone in his old Huntingdon constituency. The person told Major he was a European, while he was a proper Anglo-Saxon. “So where do you think Saxony is?” Major asked him. He says we all migrants in our ancestry.

Major says he does not decry the concern there is about immigration.

It has put great strain on services in some parts of the country.

But EU migrants are overwhelmingly here because they bring a skill we need.

He says he hopes the government can find a solution that allows this sort of immigration to carry on.

Major says many EU nationals coming to the UK do not stay for good. They bring their skills when they are needed, and then leave.

Major says the chances of the UK being able to have its cake and eat it are “between nil and zilch”.

Q: What would happen if there were another referendum and it were close?

Major says that, if it were won by one vote, the matter would be settled, as far as he is concerned. “We’ve got to draw a line under [this],” he says.

He stresses that he would prefer parliament to take the final decision.

But if there were a referendum, he would have no truc with the argument that it should be “the best of three”.

Q: What do you say to people who think the warnings made remain in the referendum have not come to pass and hence will not take you seriously?

Major accepts that is an issue. Some people in the campaign over-egged the threats, he says, when they were talking about long-term economic impacts.

But now almost all experts say Brexit will be bad for the economy, he says.

Personally, he is rather in favour of experts. If he has to have a tooth pulled, he would rather go to someone who has done it before, he says.

Major says Brexit will hurt people “at the bottom of the heap” first.

Q: As PM you complained about people undermining you. So why are you undermining the PM? And will you quit the party?

Major says he has no intention of quitting the party he has belonged to since he was 16. He says he is trying to put the party on the right course. And he points out that he hardly mentioned Theresa May in his speech.

Q: Why are you so sure that Theresa May will not be able to get what she wants?

Major says when he was negotiating Maastricht, he had leverage. The EU needed his vote to get the reforms it wanted. And, when Margaret Thatcher got the veto, she had leverage. It took her five years to get the rebate. She only succeeded when the EU wanted to enlarge its budget, and needed British money.

Those circumstances don’t apply, he says. Theresa May does not have that kind of leverage.

Q: What is your message to pro-European Tories?

Major says MPs have a responsibility to their party. But they have a responsibility to their constituents too. He says it is now likely that people will be worse off under Brexit.

Q: Do you think the Northern Ireland problem is soluble?

Major says there is no more complex problem in the talks than the problem of Northern Ireland. That was obvious from the start. But some people who should have known better denied this was a problem. The can was kicked down the road, he says.

He says staying in a customs union would solve the problem, he says.

But he says the extraordinary improvement in peace in Northern Ireland is a significant prize.

And people may not think trade with Ireland is that important. But the UK does more trade with Ireland than with South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand put together, he says.

Major says, if business were to speak out against Brexit, that would have a “significant impact on public opinion”. He thinks business leaders have been too reluctant to speak out.

Major says parliament should take the final decision.

We have ruled out full membership. Ruled out the single market and customs union. Ruled out joining the European Economic Area. Dismissed talk of joining EFTA.

A Norway deal won’t do. Nor will a Swiss deal. Nor a Ukraine deal; a Turkey deal; or a South Korea deal. No, to them all, say the government’s “red lines”.

So, little is left, except for “cherry picking” – which the EU rejects. Or a comprehensive deal – which will be very hard, if not impossible, to get. So compromise it must be – or no deal at all.

It is now widely accepted that “no deal” would be the worst possible outcome. The compromise must, therefore, focus around our accepting single market rules (as Norway does) and paying for access.

Or an enhanced “Canada deal” – and it would need to be enhanced a very great deal to be attractive. The Canada deal largely concerns goods – whereas the bulk of UK exports are services.

But what we achieve to protect our interests may depend on what we concede: it is, as I say, “give” and “take”. If our “red lines” dissolve, our options enlarge. Our minimum objective must be that “deep, special and bespoke” trade deal the prime minister has talked about.

So, some unpalatable decisions lie ahead – with the cast-iron certainty that the extreme and unbending Brexit lobby will cry “betrayal” at any compromise. But it is parliament, not a small minority, that must decide our policy.

Major turns to Northern Ireland.

The prime minister is seeking a “frictionless” border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. She is absolutely right to do so. This is a promise that must be honoured, and I wish her well. But, so far, this has not materialised – nor, I fear, will it – unless we stay in “a” or “the” Customs Union.

Those of us who warned of the risks Brexit would bring to the still fragile Peace Process were told at the time that we “didn’t understand Irish politics”. But it seems we understood it better than our critics. We need a policy to protect the Good Friday agreement – and we need one urgently. And it is our responsibility to find one – not the European Union.

Major says nearly all promises made by Brexiters have been broken.

It is not my purpose to stir controversy, but the truth must be spoken.  The ultra Brexiteers have been mistaken – wrong – in nearly all they have said or promised to the British people. 

The promises of more hospitals, more schools, lower taxes, more money for transport were electioneering fantasy.  The £350 million a week for the NHS was a ridiculous phantom:  the reality is if our economy weakens – as is forecast – there will not only be less money for the NHS, but for all our public services. 

We were told that nobody was threatening our place in the Single Market.  That tune has changed.   

We were told that a trade deal with the EU would be easy to get.  Wrong again:  it was never going to be easy, and we are still not sure what outcome will be achieved.     

We were told “Europe can whistle for their money” and we would not pay a penny in exit costs.  Wrong again.  Europe didn’t even have to purse her lips before we agreed to pay £40 billion to meet legitimate liabilities.

I could go on.  But suffice to say that every one of the Brexit promises is – to quote Henry Fielding – “a very wholesome and comfortable doctrine to which (there is) but one objection:  namely, that it is not true.”.

People should pause and reflect:  if the Brexit leaders were wrong in what they said so enthusiastically before – are they not likely to be wrong in what they say now?

Major says Brexiters are wrong to advocate leaving the single market.

Leading Brexit supporters believe there is nothing to fear from losing our special access to the single market.

But that is profoundly wrong. Swapping the single market for WTO rules would mean our exports facing the EU external tariff, as well as hidden non-tariff barriers that could be adjusted to our disadvantage at any time.

A minister has speculated we might face tariffs of 3%. Not so.

It is more likely that we will face tariffs on cars (10%), food (14%), drinks (20%), and dairy products (36%). Even if a successful negotiation were to halve these tariffs, our exports would still be much more expensive to sell – and this would apply far beyond agriculture and the motor industry.

And if, in retaliation, the UK were to impose tariffs on imports, this would result in higher prices for the British consumer.

If we and the EU agreed to impose nil tariffs – as some have speculated – WTO rules mean we would both have to offer nil tariffs to all countries. That isn’t going to happen.

This is all very complex. But it is crucial. And none of it has yet been properly explained to the British people.

Major explains what a good Brexit would be like.

A good Brexit – for Britain – will protect our trade advantages, and enable us to: 

 –        continue to sell our goods and services without disruption;

 –        import and export food without barriers and extra cost;

 –        staff our hospitals, universities and businesses with the skills we need – where we most need them;

 –        be part of the cutting edge of European research, in which British brains and skills lead the way;

 –        continue with the over 40 FTAs we have with countries only as a result of our membership of the EU.

He says government aims are “tilted to ultra Brexit opinion”.

Major criticises the handling of the Brexit negotiations.

Our negotiations, so far, have not always been sure-footed.  Some agreements have been reached but, in many areas, only because the UK has given ground. 

Our determination to negotiate the divorce bill and a new trade deal at the same time was going to be “the fight of the summer” – but instead became an immediate British retreat. 

There was to be a “points based” immigration system.  There isn’t, and there won’t be. 

We were to become the “Singapore of the North”.  No more:  we have retreated from a policy of lower taxes and de-regulation.   

No transition period was going to be needed.  But we have now asked for one – during which we will accept new EU rules, ECJ jurisdiction, and free movement of people. 

I don’t say this to be critical.

I do so to illustrate that unrealistic aspirations are usually followed by retreat.  That is a lesson for the negotiations to come.

They will be the most difficult any government has faced.  Our aims have to be realistic.  I am not sure they yet are. 

Major says Brexit has already hit the economy.

The UK has been at the very top of European growth.

We are now the laggard at the bottom.  We have become the slowest of the world’s big economies, even before we surrender the familiar advantages of the single market.  

Major goes on about the effect of Brexit on the UK’s standing.

For decades, we British have super-charged our influence around the world by our closeness to the US (which policy divisions are lessening); and our membership of the EU (which we are abandoning).

As a result, we are already becoming a lesser actor. No‑one – leaver or remainer – can welcome that.

We are all urged to be “patriotic” and get behind Brexit. But it is precisely because I am patriotic that I oppose it.

I want my country to be influential, not isolated; committed, not cut-off; a leading participant, not a bystander.

Major says parliament must consider the will of the people, but also “the well being of the people”.

It has been the most divisive issue of his lifetime, he says.

Brexit has been the most divisive issue of my lifetime.  It has divided not only the four nations of our UK, but regions within them.  It has divided political parties;  political colleagues;  families;  friends – and the young from the old. 

We have to heal those divisions.  They have been made worse by the character of the Brexit debate with its intolerance, its bullying, and its name-calling.  I welcome rigorous debate – but there must be respect for differing views that are honestly held. 

 In this debate there are no “remoaners”, no “mutineers”, no “enemies of the people” – just voices setting out what they believe is right for our country.

According to the BBC’s Philip Sim, Michael Russell, the Scottish government’s Brexit minister, has called for Boris Johnson to be sacked.

In the Commons Gregory Campbell, the DUP MP for East Londonderry, says he lives closer to the Irish border than any other MP. He says it would be impossible to introduce a hard border in Ireland anyway because, with the border being so long, residents would easily find a way of circumventing it.

Labour and the SNP have both criticised the government for its handling of the Brexit talks with the EU.

Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said:

The EU-UK government war of words needs to end.

There can be absolutely no deviation from the solemn commitments made to Northern Ireland at the end of the first phase of Brexit negotiations. That means no hard border or any agreement that would undermine the Good Friday Agreement.

Theresa May’s failure to offer any viable solution to the border in Northern Ireland has come back to haunt her.

And Stephen Gethins, the SNP’s foreign affairs and Europe spokesman, said:

The UK government’s response to the EU’s withdrawal agreement has shown the chaos consuming Downing Street, given that the draft should contain no surprises for the Tories as the terms were discussed and agreed in the December negotiations.

We are fully 20 months on from the EU referendum, and it is beyond belief that the UK government is immobilised by incompetence and incapable of reaching a position amongst themselves on the UK’s future relationship with the EU.

Labour’s Stephen Timms asks if cameras count as infrastructure. Is there any example of a border anywhere in the world with no customs union and no infrastructure?

(He is trying to get a clearer answer to the question posed by Yvette Cooper. See 1.15pm.)

Lidington says the joint report in December is clear; it says there should be no associated infrastructure.

This is what the Press Association has filed about the May/Corbyn exchanges at PMQs.

Theresa May accused Labour of betraying Britons over Brexit as she faced calls to put the country ahead of her cabinet’s “oversized egos”.

The prime minister attacked Jeremy Corbyn’s latest policy after he confirmed the opposition will back a “new and comprehensive” UK-EU customs union to ensure tariff-free trade.

But the Labour leader hit back, insisting May is “incapable” of delivering a “coherent and decisive plan” for Brexit due to divisions in her government.

He also questioned Boris Johnson’s remarks over the Irish border, to which the PM insisted she and the foreign secretary are “absolutely committed” to ensuring there is no hard border.

Brexit dominated the leaders’ exchanges at PMQs for a second successive week, having barely featured in previous outings.

Speaking in the Commons, May said she was left confused by Corbyn’s speech on Labour wanting to “negotiate a new comprehensive customs union”.

She said: “That would mean that we couldn’t do our trade deals and actually it would betray the vote of the British people.

“In the next sentence he said he wanted a customs arrangement meaning we could negotiate our new trade deals - well that’s the government’s position, so what’s he want to do - let down the country or agree with the government?”

Corbyn, rising to ask his first question, took aim at Mrs May’s Brexit day and asked her to tell the country what “ambitious managed divergence” will mean.

He later said he understood May would make a Brexit speech on Friday and raised concerns of businesses and for the health service.

Corbyn pressed the PM to outline which sectors of the government want to remain aligned and which they plan to diverge.

Some opposition MPs shouted at May to question why she was making a separate speech outside parliament, which prompted the PM to say: “Just calm down.”

The PM said she had already set out the government’s position and would elaborate later in the week.

Corbyn criticised May for her “endless round of after-dinner speeches” on Europe and later attacked the government’s record on training health workers, adding it “doesn’t seem to understand it takes eight years to train a doctor”.

He said they were also “completely oblivious” to 100,000 vacancies in the NHS, adding: “I suggest some members get a life and go and visit a hospital and see just how hard those people work in order to cover for the vacancies that are there.”

Turning to the Irish border, Corbyn noticed Johnson was shouting at him and joked: “He’s obviously mixing up the border with the Camden-Islington border.”

May, in her reply, told MPs: “He said it takes eight years to train a doctor - well, if he’s worried about the number of doctors there are now, eight years ago it was a Labour government that was deciding how doctors were going to be trained.”

On the border, she said: “The foreign secretary and I are absolutely committed to ensuring that we deliver on no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.

“That’s the position of the UK government, it’s the position of the parties in Northern Ireland, it’s the position of the Irish government and it was what we agreed in the December agreement of that joint report.

“We are all committed to ensuring there is no hard border between Northern Ireland and Ireland.”

Labour’s Vernon Coaker asks why Boris Johnson spoke about the possibility of a hard border in Ireland in his letter when the government has repeatedly rule this out.

Lidington says government policy is as it has been set out.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Tory Brexiter, says the Irish economy, and particularly its agriculture, will be devastated if there is a hard border in Ireland. Has the government pointed that out to the Irish prime minister?

Lidington says Ireland is actively trying to find a solution to this problem.

Back in the Commons Yvette Cooper, the Labour chair of the Commons home affairs committee, says Boris Johnson compared border checks in Ireland with the congestion charge. But cameras in London are in built-up areas, she says. And she says there has been a long history of people between the people of inner and outer London.

Northern Ireland is different, she says. She says there were four attacks on police officers last year, 58 shooting incidents and 33 bombing incidents. She says the Police Service of Northern Ireland has said that any infrastructure on the border would be under threat. Will the government rule out installing cameras at the border?

Lidington says the government is committed to no physical infrastructure at the border.

(That does seem to imply no cameras, unless the government is planning something involving hidden, micro-cameras.)

And this is what Nigel Dodds, the DUP leader at Wesminster, said about the draft EU treaty. He said:

I think the initial reaction is one of amazement that the EU thinks that these kinds of proposition both on the jurisdiction of the European court of justice and particularly on the Northern Ireland border issue could fly with either us or the British government.

Ken Clarke, a Conservative, asks if Lidington thinks it will just be up to the UK to decide how regulatory alignment in Ireland works.

Lidington says, when the UK leaves the EU, EU law will no longer apply.

Lidington says the government is looking at how it will keep the border in Ireland open. Theresa May will say more in her speech on Friday, he says.

PMQs is over.

There is jeering in the chamber - I think from Labour MPs complaining about Boris Johnson leaving, and not staying to respond in person to the urgent question about his letter about the Irish border.

Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, used his first question to ask about devolution and Brexit. May replied:

Of course I continue to stand by wanting to ensure that all parts of the UK continue to flourish, I think the best way of doing that is ensuring all parts of the UK remain in the UK.

Then Blackford asked about Boris Johnson’s letter about the Irish border. He said:

The foreign secreatry’s leaked letter shows he can’t get to grips with one of the most fundamental issues of Brexit. The foreign secretary compared crossing the Irish border to going between Camden and Westminster. Frankly you could not make this stuff up.

This is a UK government prepared to put in jeopardy the Good Friday agreement. Does the prime minister agree with her bumbling foreign secretary, who is making the UK a laughing stock?

May said she was committed to the Belfast agreement.

I’ve taken the quotes from PoliticsHome.

Simon Hoare, a Conservative, asks May to confirm the Good Friday agreement is safe in her hands.

May says this year marks its 20th anniversary. She remains committed to it.

Anne Main, a Conservative, asks if May is concerned about the links Max Mosley has with Impress, the press regulator, and some leading politicians. (She means Tom Watson.)

May says some people will have been surprised by Mosley’s links with some politicians. She says the press must be free to shine a light on abuses. While she is prime minister, that will never change.

Labour’s Frank Field asks May to stop a proposed cut for the victims of modern slavery.

May says she is not aware of the details of this, but DWP will look at this.

Philip Davies, a Conservatives, asks about women being discriminated against by Sharia councils. Feminists do not talk about this, he says. Isn’t it time this was ended?

May says there is only one law in the UK. As home secretary she set up a review of Sharia courts. It has recently been published, and the Home Office will respond shortly.

Labour’s Liz Kendall asks about the explosion in Leicester. Will May also pay tribute to residents who have pulled together to support each other?

May expresses condolences to the family and friends of those killed. She is happy to pay tribute to local residents. Everything will be done to get to the bottom of why this happened, she says.

Plaid Cymru’s Jonathan Edwards says Wales will be a “vassal country” under the government’s Brexit devolution plans.

May says she does not agree. She says the government wants EU powers being repatriated to go to the devolved administrations.

Labour’s Ian Mearns asks about youth unemployment in the north east.

May says the apprenticeship levy is intended to ensure that there are more opportunities for young people.

James Brokenshire, the Conservative former Northern Ireland, back in the Commons after cancer treatment, says early diagnosis is crucial. Will May ensure an early check programme is promoted widely? And will she tackle the stigma around lung cancer.

May says she is delighted to see Brokenshire back. He is right about early diagnosis. She says people should realise that, if they have the slightest doubt about something, they should get it checked out. Many men particularly resist this, she says. Early diagnosis can make an enormous difference, she says.

Labour’s John Grogan asks if May will support Yorkshire councils trying to get an all-Yorskhire devolution settlement by 2020.

May says the government has agreed a city deal with Sheffield city region. She hears what Grogan is saying, and the communities secretary recently met Yorkshire councils to discuss this.

Rachael Maclean, a Conservative, asks May if she agrees that it is the Conservatives who deliver most for women.

May says she is happy to celebrate international women’s day.

Corbyn says, if that is the case, why is Boris Johnson writing to May proposing the opposite. This is a government in disarray. All we get are soundbites. We had ‘Brexit means Brexit’, then ‘red, white and blue Brexit’, then ‘liberal Brexit’, then “ambitious, managed divergence’.

May says the government is giving people optimism. Corbyn would betray voters, and let the public down.

Corbyn says the government has cut nurse bursaries. The government does not understand that it takes eight years to train a doctor. And there are 100,000 vacancies in the NHS. We should give immediate reassurance to NHS workers in the NHs, he says.

He says Boris Johnson said recently a hard border in Ireland was unthinkable. As Johnson jeers, Corbyn says he is obviously mixing it up with the Camden/Islington border. Can May confirm she will keep the Irish border open.

May says the December agreement included assurances for EU nationals in the UK. On nurses, she says there are more nurses now than before. And if Corbyn says it takes eight years to train a doctor, then eight years ago it was a Labour government in charge.

On Ireland, she says the government is committed to having no hard border.

Corbyn says Fox thinks groups like the CBI are wrong. But maybe they have got more of a clue than he has.

Can May say where the UK will remain aligned, and where the UK will diverge.

May says she will be making a speech later. She makes a peculiar “Urgh” sound as MPs jeer, and says “just calm down”. She says she wants to ensure trade does go across borders, and that there is no hard border.

She says Labour does not have a clue about business. It wants to borrow £500m.

Corbyn says health and social care is already suffering badly. It is reliant on migrant workers. Isn’t May concerned the health workers are leaving the UK in unprecedented numbers?

May says the latest immigration figures show there are still more people coming in from the EU than leaving. The government wants to improve opportunities for people in the UK to work in the NHS.

Jeremy Corbyn starts by paying tribute to those killed in the Leicester explosion.

He says May promised “ambitious, managed divergence” after Brexit. What on earth does that mean?

May also pays tribute to the work of the emergency services in Leicester.

On Brexit, she says she wants to deliver on the wishes of the British people to get control of borders, laws and money. Labour wants the opposite, which would be a betrayal of the British people.

Corbyn says 94% of small and medium-sized business say the government is ignoring their concerns. Who is best at representing the views of businesses? He lists three business groups, and offers Liam Fox as an alternative.

May says the Federation of Small Businesses backs the government position.

The Conservative MP Ranil Jayawardena asks May to explain the difference between a customs union and a customs arrangement.

May says the government wants to be able to negotiate its own trade deals. She says Corbyn said he wanted that, but he also wanted to be in a customs union.

Labour’s Paul Blomfield asks about Sheffield Young Carers, a group that helps young carers. Will Theresa May meet them?

May says there are many young people caring for their parents who all too often go unseen and unheard. The government plans to publish a plan to help them, he says.

My colleague Lisa O’Carroll has tweeted what the draft treaty says about Ireland.

Q: In December the whole divorce agreement almost fell through. You must be aware of how explosive this is. Do you want to shock the UK into action?

Barnier says he is familiar with the UK political situation. But there are complicated situations in other EU states.

He says it was the UK that decided to leave the EU, unilaterally. And it initiated the exit in March, with the article 50 letter. And it was Theresa May who set the date for Brexit. We are 13 months away.

He says he respects the UK and its citizens.

He says we need a treaty, one that is legally binding and valid. He is not talking about just warm words.

Q: Do you not accept it is inevitable, that if the regulatory alignment backstop measure is approved, a border will be established in the Irish sea?

Barnier says he does not accept that.

He says there is no certainty the backstop will be used.

He says he hopes they will find a solution under the first option (a new trade deal).

Q: Are you trying to force Theresa May to stay in the customs union? Or are you trying to force a border between Britain and Ireland, which could topple her government?

Barnier says he knows the constitutional order of the UK, and respects that.

But he is trying to find solutions, he says.

He is trying to take a “calm and pragmatic” approach to this subject.

Barnier says his attitude is keep calm and be pragmatic.

Barnier says the EU is willing to discuss all three options in the joint report in parallel.

He will meet Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, and Michelle O’Neill, the Sinn Fein leader in Northern Ireland, early next week, he says.

On Ireland, Barnier says the points in the draft treaty have been agreed with the EU.

He says the joint report agreed in December (pdf) included, in paragraph 49, three options for dealing with the border issue.

The first related to a trade deal. But that will not be in place at the time of Brexit.

The second related to specific proposals to simplify border arrangements. The EU has not had those yet.

The third involves regulatory alignment. It is the backstop solution, he says.

He says the EU has applied imagination and creativity to find a solution to the threat Brexit poses to Irish border arrangements.

He says the EU’s approach is focused on areas where it is necessary to avoid border checks. Daily life around the border should continue as today.

Barnier says all financial commitments undertaken by the EU28 will be respected.

And the Irish border will be protected, he says.

Barnier says the draft withdrawal treaty has just been published.

Here it is.

According to PoliticsHome’s Kevin Schofield, the Foreign Office is sending Mark Field, a junior minister, to respond to the UQ about Boris Johnson’s Irish border letter, not Johnson himself.

The FT’s Alex Barker has started tweeting extracts from the draft EU withdrawal treaty being published by the EU this morning.

I’ve just called the Foreign Office to ask if they will be publishing the Boris Johnson letter about the Irish border, as Johnson said he would this morning. (See 9.26am.) They said they would get back to me ...

Andrew Murrison, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, starts by asking Karen Bradley to clarify the government’s stance on the Irish border.

Bradley says she cannot comment on leaked documents.

But the British government stands resolutely behind the joint report from December.

That means, as the joint report says, there will be no hard border. The UK government has said that, the Irish government have said that, and the EU have said that. That means no physical infrastructure at the border, she says.

She says she has not seen the EU document being published later.

But this will be “an initial attempt” to codify how option C - the fallback option, if other options do not work - could operate. It will be an EU document, not a government document. She goes on:

It is not a final position.

• Bradley reaffirms government’s commitment to avoiding a hard border in Ireland.

• She plays down significance of EU draft legal text, saying it is “an initial attempt” by the EU to draft a treaty and “not a final position”. And it does not represent the UK government’s position, she says.