Uk politics

Jeremy Corbyn scolded a Tory MP during his opening speech in the Commons debate on Theresa May's Brexit Plan B, telling the backbencher that his intervention hadn't added anything to the seriousness of the occasion. How odd, then, that the way the Labour leader conducted himself throughout his speech also ended up fitting that criticism perfectly. The Labour leader's response was dominated not by a careful critique of the Prime Minister's strategy for getting a new Brexit deal agreed with European leaders and then accepted by the Commons, but by his petty refusal to take an intervention from a backbencher on his own side. Angela Smith, who has long been openly hostile to Corbyn, repeatedly stood up to ask him to give way. Corbyn repeatedly ignored her.

Is the Conservative party finally uniting around a Brexit plan? This afternoon, the Prime Minister had a surprisingly good turn at the despatch box. Opening the debate for tonight's amendment votes, May explained why she was supporting the Brady amendment calling for an alternative to the backstop – and why she rejected all other amendments. She said it was clear what MPs did not want – including her existing deal in that, but said what mattered was MPs now sending an 'emphatic message about what we do want'. Within a minute of talking, Labour MPs were interrupting to try and embarrass her over her change of tune on the merits of her deal – given that May previously said it couldn't be improved. However, what will have boosted morale in No.

Shamed former Labour MP Fiona Onasanya has been jailed for lying to police over a speeding ticket. Onasanya compared herself to Jesus after being found guilty of perverting the course of justice last year. But her explanation that she was 'in good biblical company, along with Joseph, Moses, Daniel and his three Hebrew friends, who were each found guilty by the courts of their day' didn't convince a judge at the Old Bailey who this afternoon sentenced Onasanya to three months in prison. When she was first elected as MP for Peterborough in 2017, Onasanya had said: 'I would like one day in the future to become the first black, female Prime Minister of this country' Instead, Onasanya becomes the first female MP ever to be sent to prison.

When Sir Graham Brady tabled his Brexit amendment asserting that Theresa May's deal would be palatable if the backstop is replaced with an alternative arrangement, the hope was that enough Conservative MPs would align behind it to show Brussels that – so long as they were prepared to compromise – a deal could pass the Commons. That plan has hit a fairly large stumbling block this evening. Members of the European Research Group – made up of backbench Tory Eurosceptics – gathered in Portcullis House to come up with a formal position ahead of tomorrow night's vote. The consensus was that they would not back the Brady amendment – nor any other, including the Murrison amendment which attempts to put a time limit on the backstop.

One of the ironies of contemporary British politics is that many younger voters – some of whom are so opposed to eurosceptic baby boomers that they accuse them of ‘stealing their future’ – are also enamoured with Jeremy Corbyn. The Labour leader is, after all, a eurosceptic baby boomer who some still speculate might have secretly voted Leave at the referendum. But a poll out today suggests that the Corbyn coalition is finally beginning to creak under the weight of this contradiction. According to an Opinium survey, commissioned by For our Future’s Sake (FFS), the student wing of the People’s Vote campaign, just 23 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds approve of Corbyn’s handling of Brexit; 37 per cent are opposed.

A row is brewing in the Commons over Labour's stance on the Immigration Bill, which has its second reading this evening. The party's whips told MPs this morning that they would be on a one-line whip for this piece of legislation, with the plan being to abstain on the vote itself. Centrist MPs in particular are angry about this, suggesting the Labour leadership is trying to 'pander to Ukip' by not opposing the Bill outright. Abstaining at Second Reading is normally something a party does to signal that it supports some aspects of a bill, while having concerns about others. It neither wants to oppose or support the legislation outright at this stage. In this instance, the Immigration Bill ends free movement, and brings EU citizens living in the UK under domestic immigration law.