Crowds march, wave banners and chant ‘stop the coup’ in cities across UK
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are taking to the streets across Britain and outside the gates of Downing Street in protest against Boris Johnson’s move to suspend parliament.
Crowds brandished banners pledging to “defend democracy”, chanted “stop the coup” and waved EU flags in London in a bid to resist the parliament shutdown.
Continue reading...Follow the latest fallout from decision to suspend parliament amid mounting fears about a no-deal Brexit
A hearing at the High Court in London relating to a bid to challenge the suspension of Parliament will take place on Thursday 5 September, a spokesman for the judiciary has confirmed.
The spokesman told PA:
“A hearing into an application for judicial review received from Gina Miller with the Prime Minister as defendant has been fixed for Thursday 5 September 5 2019 at the Divisional Court in Court 4 at the Royal Courts of Justice, with the Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett presiding.
“The court will first consider the request for the case to be heard and, if it agrees, a full hearing will follow the same day. Further information will be given early next week.”
Here’s a summary of what’s happened so far today:
Continue reading...Interior minister calls for ‘day of mobilisation’ in protest at moves to sideline League
Matteo Salvini has called on his supporters to descend on Rome as Italy moves towards ousting his far-right League from power after his attempt to collapse the Italian government and force snap elections.
Salvini earmarked 19 October for a “peaceful day of Italian pride” against a potential government made up of his former ally, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S), and the centre-left Democratic party (PD).
Continue reading...If the past few years of Brexit debate have passed you by, here is what you need to know
If you’ve lost track of Brexit’s seemingly endless “cliff edges”, now is the time to pay attention as three years of argument appears set to come to a head.
Continue reading...Decision will cut dramatically the time MPs will have to take action to prevent no-deal Brexit
Boris Johnson has confirmed he has asked the Queen for permission to suspend parliament for five weeks from early September.
The prime minister claimed MPs would have “ample time” to debate Brexit, as he wrote to MPs on Wednesday, saying he had spoken to the Queen and asked her to suspend parliament from “the second sitting week in September”.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments, including meeting of opposition party leaders called by Jeremy Corbyn
The archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has responded to an invitation from MPs to chair a “citizens’ forum on Brexit” in which alternatives to a no deal would be discussed.
It’s an unexpected privilege to be asked to chair the proposed Citizens’ Forum on Brexit. In the past such gatherings have opened the way for careful deliberation. I’m open in principle – provided the Forum doesn’t aim to stop or delay Brexit, and has cross-party support. https://t.co/pYLYUDFzwJ
It is an unexpected privilege to be asked to chair this proposed citizens’ forum on Brexit. In the past this kind of gathering has, in many places and in difficult situations, opened the way for careful deliberation if at the right time and genuinely representative.
I am honoured to be approached and would be willing to accept in principle, subject to some conditions which have not yet been met. The main three are first, and indispensably, that the forum should not be a Trojan horse intended to delay or prevent Brexit in any particular form. That power can only be exercised by the government and MPs in parliament. A forum must be open to all possibilities. Second, that it has cross-party support (although its members will not be politicians). Third, the process must have time to be properly organised.
I generally don’t criticise the archbishop but he shouldn’t allow himself to be tempted into what is essentially a very political issue right now. This assembly is designed to destabilise Boris Johnson’s position. As such I hope he will recognise the deeply political nature of this.
Jeremy Corbyn was not at today’s meeting of opposition leaders at Church House – the shadow chancellor said he was busy in meetings – but the Labour leader has spoken to broadcast media this afternoon.
"The priority is to prevent a no-deal exit from the European Union" - Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn outlines strategy to block no-deal #Brexit https://t.co/6nPyoPsXrS pic.twitter.com/dzCtD0Ao4o
Continue reading...PM repeatedly declines to rule out proroguing parliament if MPs try to thwart his Brexit policy
Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to rule out proroguing parliament to try to push through his Brexit policy.
Pressed repeatedly at a press conference at the end of the G7 summit about what he would do if MPs tried to thwart his policy, the British prime minister declined to rule out shutting down parliament.
Continue reading...PM said EU leaders would be blamed for their ‘obduracy’ and that UK could keep much of £39bn settlement
Britain could “easily cope” with a no-deal Brexit, which would be the fault of EU leaders’ “obduracy”, Boris Johnson claimed at the summit of G7 countries in France, as he continued to resist mounting pressure to spell out his own plans for breaking the deadlock.
“I think we can get through this, this is a great, great country, the UK, we can easily cope with a no-deal scenario,” Johnson insisted in Biarritz, as he made his debut on the international stage as prime minister with a series of bilateral meetings with world leaders including Donald Trump, the EU council president, Donald Tusk, and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Continue reading...Backlog of claims persists despite number of arrivals almost halving in two years
Close to 900,000 asylum seekers in the EU are waiting to have their claims processed, according to figures from the European statistics office.
Women, men and unaccompanied children are living for years in uncertainty, with numbers of pending applications for international protection almost unchanged from two years ago when 1.1 million migrants were “stuck” in the continent.
Continue reading...PM says keeping £39bn is not threat but ‘reality’ before meeting with Donald Tusk
Boris Johnson has said the £39bn Brexit divorce bill would not “strictly speaking” be owed to Brussels in full in the event of no deal, insisting: “It’s not a threat. It’s a reality.”
Speaking to broadcasters as he prepared to meet the European council president, Donald Tusk, at the G7 summit in Biarritz, Johnson said: “If we come out without an agreement it is certainly true that the £39bn is no longer, strictly speaking, owed.”
Continue reading...With or without a 30-day deadline, the Brexit endgame will play out in London – rather than Paris or Berlin
If a week is a long time in politics, three weeks feels like an eternity in Brexit. Newly installed in No 10 in July, Boris Johnson vowed that he would not sit down for talks with EU leaders until they agreed to drop the Irish backstop from the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Less than a month later, the prime minister was in Paris and Berlin, where he heard the leaders of France and Germany pledge their support for the “indispensable” backstop – the insurance plan to avoid a hard border on Ireland that has become the stumbling block of Britain’s EU exit.
Continue reading...French president tells Boris Johnson he must present concrete proposals for UK exit
Emmanuel Macron has described the Irish backstop as “indispensable” to a Brexit deal and urged Boris Johnson to set out his proposed alternatives as soon as possible, as he met the British prime minister in Paris.
The French president told Johnson on Thursday that the EU would like “visibility” on London’s concrete proposals for the UK’s withdrawal from the EU within a month, echoing language used by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
From Bloomberg’s Jess Shankleman
The pound slipped to the day's low after we reported France now sees a no-deal Brexit as the most likely outcome #gbp https://t.co/Xmvg4Lpvkf pic.twitter.com/AQcwazbBaf
This is from Jenny Hill, the BBC’s Berlin correspondent.
Sat outside German Chancellery. Slovakian president’s motorcade has just whisked her away following her first meeting with Angela Merkel. Next on the guest list, Boris Johnson in just over an hour.....
Continue reading...Johnson says MPs who claim they can prevent no deal are to blame for hardline EU response
The European Union has rebuffed Boris Johnson’s attempts to tear up the Irish backstop, in a coordinated response that appeared to close the door on further meaningful Brexit negotiations.
In remarks shortly before the prime minister departed for a whistle-stop tour to meet European leaders, Johnson put the blame for the EU’s hardline response at the feet of Conservative rebels, claiming his negotiating strategy was being undermined by those who said they could prevent no deal.
Continue reading...Senior Labour MP says no-deal Brexit proposal would create chaos for EU citizens in UK
Ending the free movement of people with a no-deal Brexit on 31 October would cause chaos and confusion for EU citizens on a scale that would make the Windrush scandal look like a minor blip, Diane Abbott has said.
The shadow home secretary said Boris Johnson’s policies were taking the country “towards a catastrophe” as 2 million EU citizens resident in Britain had not yet registered for settled status, having been told the deadline was December 2020.
Continue reading...European citizens in UK fear they could be caught up in hostile environment policies
Plans to end freedom of movement for EU citizens immediately after a no-deal Brexit have caused anxiety and confusion among European nationals in the UK, with concerns they could be caught up in hostile environment policies.
Downing Street confirmed rules allowing EU nationals to move to live and work freely in the UK would end abruptly if the UK leaves the bloc without an agreement at the end of October.
Continue reading...Government figures seek to play down predictions of food, medicine and fuel shortages in leaked document
Downing Street has reacted with fury to the leak of an official document predicting that a no-deal Brexit would lead to food, medicine and petrol shortages, with No 10 sources blaming the disclosure on a hostile former minister intent on ruining Boris Johnson’s trip to see EU leaders this week.
The leaked document, detailing preparations under Operation Yellowhammer, argues that the most likely scenario is severe extended delays to medicine supplies and shortages of some fresh foods, combined with price rises, if there is a no-deal Brexit on 31 October.
Continue reading...Medicines will also be subject to shortages in what Whitehall sources called ‘the most realistic assessment’
The UK will be hit with a three-month meltdown at its ports, a hard Irish border and shortages of food and medicine if it leaves the EU without a deal, according to government documents on Operation Yellowhammer.
The documents predict severe extended delays to medicine supplies and shortages of some fresh foods combined with price rises as a likely scenario if the UK leaves without a withdrawal agreement, which is due to happen on 31 October.
Continue reading...For weeks things have been quiet in the summer heat. But in recent days the normal diplomatic back-channelling between London, Brussels, Paris, Berlin and Rome has cranked into gear before the G7 meeting in Biarritz of the world’s most advanced economies.
British officials have been liaising with their EU counterparts on how to get on the right side of the trade war between the US and China, tread a diplomatic fine line over the European-backed Iranian nuclear deal opposed by Donald Trump and get the rhetoric right on the precarious situation in Hong Kong in the presence of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “This is a diplomatic quagmire of a G7,” said a European diplomat.
Continue reading...