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Today in brief
- The SNP’s Angus Robertson accused David Cameron of ‘effectively taking part’ in the war in Yemen by selling arms to Saudi Arabia.
- David Cameron accused Jeremy Corbyn of being prepared to ‘give away’ the Falkland Islands as the pair clashed on student maintenance grants and bursaries for nurses.
- Labour sources hinted at a free vote in the party on Trident renewal.
- Yvette Cooper called for an end to Schengen and a return to internal border controls to manage the refugee crisis.
- Two Tory MPs said they used the drug ‘poppers’ as the Commons voted to ban it.
- The Home Office launched a review into a report that homes for asylum seekers in Middlesbrough were identified by their matching red doors.
- Labour released a new party political broadcast featuring Jeremy Corbyn inviting people to join Labour’s fight for a Better Britain…
- …as a group of Labour MPs launched their campaign for Britain to leave the EU.
- The Conservatives outspent Labour by £3.5 million at the General Election, figures from the Electoral Commission revealed.
- The unemployment rate in September – November 2015 fell to 5.1 per cent, its lowest since 2005.
The analysis
Labour’s day off
Is Labour really functioning as an Opposition any more? At Prime Minister’s Questions, Jeremy Corbyn raised two issues that could have brought some pressure on David Cameron – the scrapping of student maintenance grants and bursaries for student nurses – but his questions barely ruffled the Prime Minister, even though his answers didn’t make much sense. Given Tory MPs are in full-on loyalty mode at the moment, asking a series of planted questions designed to embarrass Labour, it felt as though the party being scrutinised today wasn’t the one in government, but the one that lost the election (and doesn’t want to spend too much time talking about why). Only the SNP’s Angus Robertson had a difficult question about British arms being used in Saudi airstrikes in Yemen. The most significant Labour intervention today came from Yvette Cooper, who responded to reports that the European Commission is considering scrapping the rules which mean refugees must seek asylum in the first country they reach by saying Europe’s plan for refugees ‘should also include ending Schengen and bringing back internal border controls to manage the crisis’. Cooper isn’t on Labour’s frontbench. But she and other formerly senior colleagues are still trying to function as an effective opposition, critiquing policies and offering solutions to problems. Corbyn, meanwhile, has released a party political broadcast that shows the Labour leader taking credit for George Osborne’s U-turn on tax credits, the decision by the Tories to shy away from cutting the police, and the cancellation of the Saudi prisons contract. What is striking about this film is the amount of time it spends in Westminster, and the fact that it opens with Corbyn in the middle of a rather traditional political setting, surrounded by photographers and admirers at his party conference. Perhaps the party wants to try to make the leader look like, well, a leader, but it’s interesting that someone who usually claims to be outside the Bubble is happy to be pictured inside it.
Today in audio
- Keith Vaz and Crispin Blunt discussed the perks of poppers
- At PMQs MPs scrutinised Labour instead of the government
Tomorrow’s agenda
- 09:30 Quarterly crime statistics for England to be published by ONS
- 09:30 Annual statistics on GCSE results, A-level results and school performance in England are to be published by the Department for Education
- 22:45 ‘Question Time’ from Belfast on BBC One. On the panel: Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers, Labour MP Peter Hain and comedian Grainne Maguire
- Prime Minister David Cameron is to give a speech at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos
- Sir Robert Owen’s inquiry into the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned in London in 2006, is to be published. Home Secretary Theresa May is to make a statement to the Commons on the report
- Interest rate decision announcement from the European Central Bank
- Further Acas talks between the British Medical Association and the government on a new contract for junior doctors are to be held
Some vital statistics
- Next US president chances, as implied by bookies’ odds (and the change on last week): Hillary Clinton 47% (-1pt), Donald Trump 18% (+3pts), Marco Rubio 12% (-2pts), Bernie Sanders 11% (+3pts), Ted Cruz 6% (-2pts), Jeb Bush 4% (no change), Chris Christie 2% (no change)
- Oil price (barrel of Brent crude): $27.30 (down 5.2% on the day, down 43% on the year)
- Government borrowing cost (10-year bond yield): 1.62% (down 0.08pts on the day)
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