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Good Morning. For once, the coronavirus does not dominate national political headlines, because Westminster is still assessing the impact of Joe Biden’s victory in the US presidential election. In an article for The Guardian Sir keir starmer urges Labor to learn from Joe Biden’s “broad coalition” that won back voters who turned away from Democrats four years ago, pointing to the president-elect’s emphasis on “family, community and safety.” My colleague Jessica Elgot has the story here.
In his article, Starmer also says that Donald Trump’s defeat makes it even more important for Boris Johnson to abandon the provisions of the domestic market bill that allow him to override parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, thereby violating international law. Starmer says:
I want us to secure the best possible trade deals for Britain, which will help create jobs, grow our industries and protect our standards. That should start with obtaining a trade agreement with the European Union before the end of the year, as promised. It also means being a country that is governed by the rule of law.
We will soon have a President in the Oval Office who has been a passionate advocate for the preservation of the Good Friday agreement. He, like governments around the world, will have a negative opinion if our prime minister goes ahead with proposals to undermine that agreement. If the government is serious about reestablishing its relationship with the US, then it should take an early first step and abandon these proposals.
The comrades are due to vote on the bill in the Lords this afternoon. They are expected to reject provisions in the bill that would allow the government to ignore parts of the withdrawal agreement, but at this time the government is saying that if it loses, it will reinstall them when the bill returns to the Commons, where it has a majority ( unlike the Lords).
You can read the full Starmer article here.
We’ll hear more from him in a moment, because he’s about to pick up his regular LBC phone.
Here is the agenda for the day.
9 am: Sir Keir Starmer holds up his regular ‘Call Keir’ LBC telephone.
9.30 am: Grant Shapps, the transportation secretary, delivers a speech at an aviation conference.
12:00 h: Downing Street is expected to hold its daily lobby briefing.
12.15 h: Mark Drakeford, the Prime Minister of Wales, conducts a briefing when the closure of Wales ends.
12:15 pm: Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Prime Minister, conducts a briefing on the coronavirus.
After 2pm: The pairs begin their debate on the internal market bill. They are expected to reject provisions in the bill that allow the government to violate international law by invalidating the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
4 pm: Penny Mordaunt, a Minister in the Cabinet Office, testifies to the Joint National Security Committee on Biosafety.
Politics Live is now doubling down as the UK’s coronavirus live blog and given the way the Covid crisis overshadows everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we’ll also cover non-Covid political stories, like Brexit, and when they seem more important or interesting, they will take precedence.
Here’s our global coronavirus live blog.
I try to monitor comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read all of them. If you have a direct question, put “Andrew” somewhere and you’re more likely to find it. I try to answer questions and if they are of general interest I will post the question and answer above the line (ATL), although I cannot promise to do this for everyone.
If you want to get my attention quickly, it’s probably best to use Twitter. I’m in @ AndrewGorrión.
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