Category Archives: House of Commons

Corbyn: Johnson plotting abuse of power to force no-deal Brexit

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Labour leader calls on top civil servant to spell out election rules

Jeremy Corbyn has called on the UK’s most senior civil servant to intervene to stop Boris Johnson forcing a no-deal Brexit in the middle of an election campaign, amid rising signs the country is heading for the polls again this autumn.

The Labour leader wrote to Sir Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, accusing the prime minister of plotting an “unprecedented, unconstitutional and anti-democratic abuse of power”, after it emerged No 10 would be prepared to delay an election until immediately after 31 October if Johnson loses a no confidence vote among MPs.

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New rebel bid to halt no-deal Brexit amid fury at PM’s enforcer Dominic Cummings

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Alarm is mounting about Dominic Cummings and his willingness to defy parliament

Rebel MPs are working on a plan to thwart Boris Johnson pursuing a no-deal Brexit on 31 October that involves forcing parliament to sit through the autumn recess, amid growing outrage about the power and influence of his controversial aide, Dominic Cummings.

The cross-party group of MPs is looking at legislative options with mounting urgency because of the hardline tactics of Cummings, who one Conservative insider described as running a “reign of terror” in No 10 aimed at achieving Brexit on 31 October at any cost.

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Johnson ally Lynton Crosby could be called to give evidence to MPs

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Disinformation committee wants CTF Partners chief to detail its propaganda activities

Sir Lynton Crosby could be called to give evidence to a House of Commons select committee on disinformation after the Guardian revealed how his lobbying company, CTF Partners, was involved in running a propaganda network on Facebook on behalf of foreign states and major corporate clients.

MPs told the Guardian they would seek to summon representatives of CTF to discuss their role in running a disinformation network that reached tens of millions of people. It comes as trade groups seek to distance themselves from CTF and its activities.

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Tory MPs condemn Boris Johnson over Kim Darroch resignation

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Just one Conservative comes to defence of No 10 frontrunner accused of lack of leadership

Boris Johnson has been heavily criticised by fellow Tory MPs over his role in Sir Kim Darroch’s decision to resign as the UK ambassador to the US, with one backbencher saying the frontrunner in the Conservative leadership contest should come to the Commons to apologise.

An urgent question in the Commons about Darroch’s departure, which followed the leak of diplomatic cables critical of Donald Trump’s White House, resulted in repeated condemnation of Johnson, and only one Conservative MP came to his defence.

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Brexit: Starmer tells Johnson MPs will ‘stand in his way’ to stop no deal

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Shadow minister says research shows even a no-deal Brexit would need Commons approval

Keir Starmer has warned Boris Johnson that MPs will “do everything to stand in his way” if he tries to force through a “bad deal or a no-deal Brexit”.

Johnson, the frontrunner in the race to be Britain’s next prime minister, has suggested he will “disaggregate” Theresa May’s “otherwise defunct” withdrawal agreement and implement its less contentious elements.

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Boris Johnson ‘might never enter No 10’ if MPs withdraw support

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Constitutional experts say new Tory leader could be blocked from becoming prime minister without a Commons majority

Boris Johnson could be stopped from becoming prime minister even if he is elected as the new Conservative leader, two of Britain’s leading constitutional experts have said.

With Tory MPs threatening to withdraw support for the party under his stewardship, Johnson is warned that he could be prevented from ever entering Downing Street should it become clear he cannot command a majority in the House of Commons.

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Tory leadership: Boris Johnson denounced as ‘racist’ by SNP at PMQs – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the third round of voting in the Tory leadership contest and Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs

The SNP’s Neil Gray say in-work poverty has risen dramatically. Isn’t that May’s legacy?

May says the relative poverty has gone up because pensioners are better off. Gray may want to see pensioners worse off, but she doesn’t.

Julian Lewis, a Conservative, asks what May feels about the principle of bringing a dying soldier to court in Northern Ireland on the basis of no new evidence.

May says no one wants to see cases like this coming to court. But previous investigations have not been found to be lawful. She says she wants to see terrorist being properly brought to justice.

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‘No deal’ Tory leadership hopefuls boosted by MPs’ Brexit vote

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Labour-led attempt to stop the UK leaving without a deal is defeated, in move that could help Boris Johnson

Conservative leadership candidates including Boris Johnson hoping to force a “deal or no deal” Brexit in October have been handed a boost after MPs defeated a Labour-led attempt to tie the next prime minister’s hands.

Labour vowed it would not end efforts to stop no deal but the defeat bolstered Johnson’s claim at his leadership launch that MPs would not be prepared “reap the whirlwind” of halting Brexit entirely as Tory MPs prepared for the first round on votingto choose the next prime minister on Thursday.

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Next Tory leader could face immediate confidence vote

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Downing Street says it expects parliament to be sitting when new prime minister is announced

No 10 has made it clear that a new Conservative prime minister will be in place before MPs break up for the summer, meaning Boris Johnson is likely to face an immediate confidence vote in his premiership if he becomes leader.

Downing Street said it expects parliament to be sitting when the new prime minister is announced in late July, after Labour and some Tories raised concerns that the government was trying to avoid a test of its new leader’s ability to command a majority.

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John Bercow defies Eurosceptics with vow to stay on as Speaker

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Exclusive: move likely to anger hardliners who fear Bercow wants to stop no-deal Brexit

John Bercow has said he plans to stay in his post as Speaker of the House of Commons despite previous expectations he was about to leave, risking the fury of hardline Eurosceptics who believe he wants to thwart a no-deal Brexit.

The Speaker told the Guardian it was not “sensible to vacate the chair” while there were major issues before parliament. And, amid growing indications that frontrunners for the Conservative leadership are willing to depart the EU without a deal, he warned candidates not to try to force such an outcome without the permission of MPs.

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Matt Hancock says he will stand for Tory leadership

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Health secretary throws his hat into ring as Rory Stewart rules out serving in a Boris Johnson cabinet

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, has become the latest cabinet minister to declare he will stand for the Tory leadership after Theresa May’s resignation.

“Yes. I’m going to run to be the next prime minister,” Hancock told the BBC on Saturday morning. He said he would be “the servant of parliament” in delivering a Brexit deal – a conundrum that destroyed May’s leadership.

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Keir Starmer: Brexit deal unlikely to pass without confirmatory poll

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Exclusive: shadow Brexit secretary also warns Labour risks losing its remain voters

Keir Starmer has expressed doubts that any cross-party Brexit deal lacking a confirmatory referendum could pass parliament, warning up to 150 Labour MPs would reject an agreement that did not include one.

The shadow Brexit secretary said he feared the party risked losing its remain voters after worse than expected losses in the local elections, but he warned Labour remainers tempted to vote for the Liberal Democrats or Change UK that only Jeremy Corbyn’s party could deliver a fresh referendum.

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May buys time with hints at new withdrawal bill vote and exit date

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PM agrees to meet 1922 Committee next week, amid pressure to reveal her departure date

Theresa May has bought herself another week’s grace as prime minister, hinting she will bring the EU withdrawal bill to parliament before the European elections and promising to meet a powerful backbench committee who have demanded that she set out her timetable for stepping down.

After a fortnight of furious demands by Tory MPs that she give a firm date for her departure, Sir Graham Brady, the chair of the 1922 Committee, said May had agreed to meet him and the 13-strong executive of Tory backbenchers next week.

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Cabinet ministers split over customs union Brexit deal with Labour

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Sceptics say it would not command majority among MPs or survive backbench changes

Cabinet ministers are bitterly divided over whether Brexit talks with Labour should broach the possibility of a customs union, with several sceptical that such a deal could even command a majority in parliament or survive hostile backbench amendments.

A senior cabinet minister suggested a deal involving a customs union could be backed by as few as 90 Tory MPs and would mean a slew of resignations from the government payroll.

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Theresa May and Leo Varadkar attend Lyra McKee’s funeral

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Political leaders from UK and Ireland are at journalist’s Belfast service

The funeral of Lyra McKee, the journalist shot dead in Derry last week, brought a rare political unity to Northern Ireland on Wednesday.

Theresa May joined dignitaries including the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, the Irish PM, Leo Varadkar, the Irish president, Michael D Higgins, and the Irish minister for foreign affairs, Simon Coveney, at the funeral.

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Brexit: ERG Tories tell Brussels it will regret letting ‘Perfidious Albion’ remain in EU beyond Friday – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May’s talks with Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, and MPs debating how long the article 50 extension should be

These are from my colleague Angelique Chrisafis in Paris.

Before Macron meets May, Elysee official insists any long extension would need ‘very strict guarantees’ that UK as an exiting state wouldn’t fully take part in or disrupt key decisions on future of EU eg commission head, budget. Would mean regular checks that UK abiding by this

Elysee source on length of possible Brexit extension: ‘we think one year would be too long’

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Brexit: MPs pass Cooper’s Brexit delay bill with majority of one – as it happened

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments, where third reading of the Cooper bill seeking a Brexit delay passed 313 to 312

I’m going to wrap up now.

Here the latest key developments at a glance:

The Leave.EU campaign seems to be rather cross:

The "Conservatives" who voted to block Brexit this evening.

Are you a Conservative member in one of these constituencies? Sign up to our deselection campaign below and help us oust the Remainers!

‍♂️ Support us at https://t.co/iICfFb8qqg

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MPs react as semi-naked climate protesters disrupt Brexit debate – video

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Semi-naked climate change protesters interrupted a House of Commons Brexit debate, spending almost 20 minutes with their buttocks facing the chamber.

MPs attempted to continue the debate during the peaceful protest by 11 activists from Extinction Rebellion, though several made coded references to the protest in their speeches

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Brexit: Labour to back common market 2.0/Norway amendment for staying in single market – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the second day of Commons votes on alternative Brexit options

The indicative votes debate is now over.

John Bercow, the Speaker, is telling MPs that they have half an hour to cast their vote, on paper in the division lobbies.

MPs are now voting on four propositions for #IndicativeVotes2 on light blue coloured between 8pm-8.30pm:

(C) Customs Union - Clarke
(D) Common Market 2.0 - Boles
(E) Confirmatory Public Vote - Kyle/Wilson
(G) Parliamentary Supremacy - Cherry pic.twitter.com/550xBpSAMk

Vicky Ford, a Conservative, says she will back the custom union amendment. Being in a customs union is not the same as being in the customs union, she says. She says the UK would be out of the common agricultural policy and out of the common fisheries policy.

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Ministers try to force May’s hand over Brexit as cabinet rift widens

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Remainers and Brexiters alike threaten to resign as MPs prepare for second round of indicative votes

Theresa May’s government is on the verge of meltdown as cabinet ministers prepare to clash over whether to support plans for a softer Brexit and a possible lengthy delay before leaving the European Union.

In a decisive intervention, David Gauke, the justice secretary, said on Sunday that the prime minister would have to accept the possibility of backing a customs union if the measure is supported by parliament this week.

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