Afternoon summary
- David Cameron has delivered a strong putdown to Boris Johnson’s suggestion that he would campaign to leave the EU in the hope of subsequently negotiating a better deal with Brussels. As Rowena Mason reports, the prime minister made a series of pointed comments aimed at Johnson as he gave a statement to the House of Commons on the EU referendum. A few minutes later Johnson used a question to accuse Cameron of not doing enough to assert the sovereignty of parliament. He asked Cameron.
- Priti Patel, the employment minister and one of the “gang of six” ministers who attend cabinet and who are voting to leave the EU, has put out a statement effectively criticising what Cameron said in the Commons. (See 5.27pm.) The remarkable move illustrates how divided the Tories are over the EU. The BBC says more than 100 Tory MPs will vote to leave the EU, and in the Commons at times Cameron got a noticeably better reception from Labour MPs than from his own side. This is from the Sun’s political editor, Tom Newton Dunn.
- Recent European migrants claim 10% of in-work benefits for low-paid workers, even though they only make up 6% of the workforce, a government white paper has claimed. As the Press Association reports, of the £25bn spent on in-work benefits for low-paid workers in 2013/14, about £2.5bn went to migrants from the European Economic Area - the EU plus Norway, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The figures came in a white paper on Britain’s proposed “special status” in the EU resulting from Cameron’s renegotiation.
- Cameron has defended using a Downing Street civil servant to lobby businesses to support the campaign for Britain to stay in the EU. MPs heard a letter signed by organisations supporting Remain is due to appear in a national newspaper on Tuesday, with No 10’s business relations adviser Chris Hopkins co-ordinating the project. As the Press Association reports, political blog Guido Fawkes reported it had obtained a draft of the letter sent to FTSE 100 bosses by Hopkins. Questioned about the letter, Cameron said the government has a “full-throated view” to support Britain staying within a reformed EU - and it can use the civil service to put this before voters.