Boris Johnson news – live: Government embroiled in row over EU citizens’ rights, as Keir Starmer out ahead in Labour leadership poll

Follow all the latest developments

Guy Verhofstadt says Britain will eventually rejoin EU

The head of the European parliament’s Brexit steering group Guy Verhofstadt has claimed the UK will rejoin the EU one day because young people will demand to be part of the bloc. “It will happen,” he said.

In response Tory MEP Daniel Hannan told the BBC he supported holding another referendum in the future to test Mr Verhofstadt’s theory.

“I’m perfectly happy to have another referendum in a generation’s time and let people decide,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme.

It comes as the Commons authorities said money raised by the public to have Big Ben bong on 31 January cannot be accepted because of rules on private donations. Despite that, a campaign led by Tory MP Mark Francois ​to get the clock chiming has now raised more than £160,000.

Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice told the BBC: “I blame the bureaucrats. They’ve now said even if we raise the money, actually they won’t let us do it because they’re worried about spending privately-raised money on a public sector asset.”

Meanwhile in the Labour party Rebecca Long-Bailey and Emily Thornberry both set out their stalls for the leadership in their official launch events.

Ms Thornberry leant back on her experience, arguing the leader to succeed Jeremy Corbyn needed to be “battle hardened”, while Ms Long-Bailey invoked policies including the green new deal she had worked on for Mr Corbyn’s manifesto.

However both appear to be coming up short against the only man in the contest. In a YouGov poll conducted for the Times, Kier Starmer was placed ahead in the final round with a comfortable 63 per cent of the vote compared to the 37 per cent attributed to Rebecca Long-Bailey

Emily Thornberry would be out in the first round of votes, then Lisa Nandy, then Jess Phillips, according to the poll of 1005 Labour members.

Here are the day’s events as they happened:

Key Points

• Young people will demand UK rejoins EU, says Verhofstadt
• Tory MEP backs another EU referendum in future
• 'Big Ben must bong' campaign raises over £160,000
• ...but Commons authorities cannot accept donations for Big Ben bongs
• Lib Dems set to wait until summer to name Swinson’s successor

[17 January 2020 11:00 · Adam Forrest]

Why did Labour voters switch to the Tories? Almost half say Brexit

Something for Corbyn supporters to latch on to, perhaps.

According to YouGov, 49 per cent of voters who switched from the Conservatives to Labour cited Brexit as the main reason. Only 27 per cent cited the leadership.

But just 5 per cent of these switchers hold a favourable view of Corbyn, while 90 per cent have a somewhat unfavourable or very unfavourable view of the Labour leader.

So the vast majority of people who stopped voting Labour really dislike Corbyn, mainly because of how he handled Brexit?

[17 January 2020 11:17 · Adam Forrest]

Starmer won’t make Long-Bailey shadow chancellor if he wins, ally predicts

Labour leadership hopeful Keir Starmer might not give his rival Rebecca Long-Bailey one of the top shadow cabinet jobs if he wins the contest, one of his senior allies has suggested.

One Labour MP who nominated the shadow Brexit secretary has told The Independent: “I don’t think he’ll make Becky shadow chancellor. She doesn’t have a lot of experience.

“I think there’d be a place for people like Becky, and even Richard Burgon would be given something low-profile which didn’t involve him being on the media too much.”

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has the details:

[17 January 2020 11:27 · Adam Forrest]

Brexit Party boss blames ‘bureaucrats’ for blocking Big Ben bongs

Brexit Party chairman Richard Tice hasn’t given up on getting Big Ben to chime on 31 January – he’s still longing for the bonging.

He has been on the BBC complaining. “It looks like bureaucrats in the House of Commons are trying to stop this happening – this hugely important moment in our constitutional history.”

“We’re leaving the European Union, we want a bold, ambitious vision for the country, and yet we can’t even organise a bell to ring in a clock tower – it really is pathetic.

“I blame the bureaucrats. They’ve now said even if we raise the money, actually they won’t let us do it because they’re worried about spending privately-raised money on a public sector asset.”

[17 January 2020 11:54 · Adam Forrest]

Home Office tries to clear up ‘misconceptions’ over settle status scheme

The Home Office has rejected some of the comments from the European parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt on EU citizens who remain in the UK – and warned against “misconceptions”.

Verhofstadt said he had won assurances from Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay that there would be “no automatic deportation” of those who miss the deadline to apply for settled status.

And he said, after meeting Barclay in London a day earlier, that the government had conceded over allowing EU citizens to have a hard copy of their settled status confirmation.

But the Home Office said it had “made it clear” that extensions would be granted if there are “reasonable grounds” for missing the deadline and that there has been “no change to our digital approach”.

A statement added that “some of the misconceptions we’ve seen about the settlement scheme have been unhelpful when our focus is on providing reassurance”.

Campaigners raised concerns of another Windrush-style scandal when Home Office minister Brandon Lewis said in October that EU citizens may be forced to leave if they miss the deadline, which is 30 June 2021, including a grace period.

With hundreds of thousands of people yet to apply for the right to live and work in the UK after Brexit, Verhofstadt said he had questioned Barclay over previous “contradictions”.

“I wanted to be sure that there is no automatic deportation of these people even after the grace period because it can be people who are very vulnerable,” Verhofstadt said earlier on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.”

But the Home Office stressed that this was already the case in response to Verhofstadt. “We have made it clear that, where people have reasonable grounds for missing the original deadline, they will be given a further opportunity to apply,” a statement said.

[17 January 2020 12:03 · Adam Forrest]

‘Britain is taking a sabbatical’

The Labour MEP Seb Dance has retweeted our story about Guy Vorhoftstadt – noting the European parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator has responded to his own prediction that the UK is only taking “a sabbatical” from the bloc.

Taking his seat for the last time in the building on Thursday, Dance, said: “One day British MEPs will get to sit here again and represent our interests and work with our neighbours to solve common problems. Britain is taking a sabbatical”.

[17 January 2020 12:20 · Lizzy Buchan]

What does Momentum’s backing for Rebecca Long-Bailey mean for her leadership hopes?

The endorsement of the Corbyn-supporting group is worth more than the numerical total of its members’ votes, writes John Rentoul.

Read his piece here:

[17 January 2020 12:43 · Lizzy Buchan]

Nicky Morgan forced to sit in the public gallery for her own department’s questions

The secretary of state for culture, media and sport was, as they say, present but not involved, writes Indy sketchwriter Tom Peck.

Read his piece here:

[17 January 2020 13:01 · Lizzy Buchan]

Government denies U-turn on giving EU citizens physical proof of right to remain in UK, despite 'new Windrush' fears

Ministers have refused a plea to give EU citizens physical proof of their right to stay in the UK after Brexit – needed to prevent “another Windrush” they say – triggering fresh anger.

Hopes were raised after Guy Verhofstadt, the European Parliament's co-ordinator, hailed a partial climbdown after a meeting with Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary.

But officials quickly stamped on his claim that the ability of millions of EU citizens to print out a letter confirming they had been granted ‘settled status’ amounted to a concession.

“It has always been the case that people could print a copy of their confirmation letter, but this can’t be used as evidence of status,” the Home Office.

[17 January 2020 13:20 · Adam Forrest]

Long-Bailey’s Momentum mandate mocked

The chair of Labour Students group has attacked the left-wing group Momentum for balloting its members with only one option over Jeremy Ciorbyn’s successor.

Momentum said 70 per cent of replying members had ticked a “yes” after they were asked if they supported “recommended” candidate Rebecca Long-Baily.

“The ballot was fundamentally undemocratic – a ballot has to include every single candidate or it’s not a democratic ballot,” said Rania Ramli, who is backing Jess Phillips for Labour leader.

Lara McNeil, the Labour NEC’s youth representative, defended Momentum’s process – saying it was “definitely a mandate for Rebecca”.

McNeil added: “She is clearly the left candidate … who’s going to carry on with the policies of the last four years.”

[17 January 2020 13:41 · Adam Forrest]

‘Defend reproductive rights’, leftist commentator tells candidates

More squabbling in the Labour movement.

The leading author-pundit-intellectual Paul Mason, formerly of the BBC and Channel 4 News, has shared an open letter urging the Labour leadership candidates to “commit to defending and extending the reproductive rights of women across the UK”.

Mason – who is supporting Keir Starmer as Jeremy Corbyn’s successor – tweeted: “I don’t want Labour’s policy on reproductive rights dictated by the Vatican, thanks.”

It’s a barely-veiled attack on Rebecca Long-Bailey.

Long-Bailey was shown to have expressed “personal” support for tougher abortion limits in the case of unborn children with disabilities – after the anti-Corbyn blog Red Roar revealed her responses to the deanery of Salford questionnaire.

Her spokesperson insisted that Long-Bailey, who is Catholic, always backed extending abortion rights and she is not expected to try to change Labour policy or the law.