Andrew Marr typically gives a long, meandering introduction to the weather during his show, but it was a different type of forecast that was of interest today.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies’ Paul Johnson was on the show to remind us that no matter how depressing the recent growth forecasts are, in reality, it’s probably much worse than that. The Office of Budget Responsibility is usually over-optimistic in its projections, not pessimistic, he said.
The latest incarnation of Barry Gardiner’s Brexit position was on the show. The Shadow International Development Secretary had previously said it would be a disaster to stay in the customs union after Brexit, and remaining in the Single Market would leave the UK a “vassal state”.
Speaking to Marr, he said Labour had not ruled staying in either “off the table”. He said Labour recognised the benefits of staying in “a customs union” with the EU.
Ruth Davidson was sent out to bat for the Tories, and the Scottish Conservative leader did a good job of saying nothing of any real news value.
However, she did say that failing to secure the details of a post-Brexit transition phase as soon as possible would be “a set-back”.
Fox also doubled down on the UK’s position on the Northern Ireland border. He said it was impossible to fully solve the Irish border issue until the nature of the trade deal between the UK and the EU was completed – something which won’t happen unless Ireland’s government give the go ahead in December (a full write-up is here).
John McDonnell repeated Barry Gardiner’s comments on Marr that Single Market and customs union membership should be on the table in the Brexit talks. This is despite saying in June the people “would interpret membership of the single market as not respecting that referendum.”
Manchester Metro Mayor Andy Burnham criticised the Government for only committing £12 million to the costs of the Manchester terrorist attack, calling it “not satisfactory”. He said “we got our answer and it wasn’t good enough”.
He said he would be contacting the PM to say, “let’s sort this out properly”.
Burnham: “I’m afraid it’s not satisfactory, it falls some way short. I can’t see why the government isn’t meeting our costs in full. So, yeah, as I said at the beginning I would never make politics out of this issue, but we got our answer and it wasn’t good enough. I had to make our position very clear. I just will be replying to the prime minister saying let’s sort this out properly. Public services here shouldn’t be left out of pocket as a result of this, and I just hope we can now get a full agreement for all of our costs from the government.”
He also said the system for allocating transport spending “is biased against the North.”
Former Conservative Party Chairman Grant Shapps said his “views haven’t changed” since he attempted to organise a leadership challenge to Theresa May last month.
After the Conservative conference, Shapps publicly expressed his hope that May would step down as party leader, and said a growing number of his colleagues realised the solution wasn’t to bury their heads in the sand and hope it got better.
Asked if he’d changed his mind and if things would get better, and he replied: “Well for a start I absolutely believe that colleagues should be both a) allowed to have views and b) to be able to express those views. And my views haven’t changed.
“However, I also accept the reality of the situation which is, you know, we’re in a very sensitive period here with these Brexit negotiations gone. Six weeks ago was six weeks ago.”
He said he thought and hoped there was “a new sort of attitude from the centre [of government] that says let’s work together, let’s not brief against the Chancellor and let’s not brief against others”.
. says Philip Hammond was “upbeat” about economy in “not words we’re used to hearing” from the Chancellor — BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics)
“Not a single person has ever said the border presents a problem” on his previous vists to Northern Ireland — BBC Daily Politics and Sunday Politics (@daily_politics)