PM and Labour leader meet but do not agree way forward for withdrawal agreement bill
Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn have failed to agree a timetable for pressing ahead with the “paused” Brexit bill.
Despite the prime minister’s threat on Tuesday to pull the withdrawal agreement bill (Wab) and press for a general election if MPs rejected his fast-track timetable for approving the legislation, Downing Street confirmed the pair had met on Wednesday.
Continue reading...PM fails to restrict scrutiny of bill to just three days in effort to meet 31 October deadline
Boris Johnson’s plan to fast-track his Brexit deal through parliament in time for next week’s 31 October deadline was blocked by MPs on Tuesday night, even after he threatened to pull it and press for a general election.
The prime minister said he would speak to EU leaders and urge them not to agree to a prolonged Brexit extension after former Tory cabinet ministers Philip Hammond and Rory Stewart joined with Labour to inflict a humiliating defeat on the government.
Continue reading...Parliament votes to reject government’s timetable for passage of bill that would implement Brexit deal
That’s all from us this evening. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:
Related: MPs reject Boris Johnson's attempt to fast-track Brexit deal
If, as expected, Brexit is delayed until the end of January, a general election would have to follow, the Press Association reports, citing an unnamed No 10 source.
Parliament and Corbyn have repeatedly voted for delay. On Saturday, parliament asked for a delay until January and, today, parliament blew its last chance. If parliament’s delay is agreed by Brussels, then the only way the country can move on is with an election. This parliament is broken.
The public will have to choose whether they want to get Brexit done with Boris or whether they want to spend 2020 having two referendums on Brexit and Scotland with Corbyn.
No10 source tonight.
Three points.
1). Parliament hasn’t blown its last chance. The 31st deadline was set by Brussels. The PM has said it’s his final deadline but Brussels is open to an extension.
2). Benn Act was passed by MPs but PM sent the letter.
1/ pic.twitter.com/FywKxdufYM
Johnson is the author of his own misfortune. He only tried to bounce his deal through parliament because he knows it will not withstand scrutiny. A Brexit deal driven by the ideology of deregulation must be stopped.
Continue reading...Jean Claude-Juncker has spoken in the European parliament as his five-year term as president of the European commission comes to an end. He said Brexit had been 'a waste of time and a waste of energy' and that Brussels would be watching Westminster closely as it votes on a withdrawal agreement. Boris Johnson will make a final bid on Tuesday to force Brexit through by 31 October
Continue reading...Merkel ally Peter Altmaier says ‘it goes without saying’ Brexit extension would be granted
Germany’s economic affairs minister has wholeheartedly backed the option of a Brexit extension beyond 31 October, as the European parliament pulled plans to hold a vote on Boris Johnson’s deal this week.
Peter Altmaier, a key ally of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said he believed a technical extension would be offered to allow extra time for legislation to pass or a longer period to accommodate a general election or second referendum.
Continue reading...Speaker rules it would be ‘repetitive and disorderly’ for MPs to vote again on deal
Boris Johnson has been denied the opportunity to hold a second vote on his Brexit deal in the House of Commons after the Speaker, John Bercow, ruled that it would be “repetitive and disorderly”.
Bercow said it would break longstanding conventions for MPs to debate and vote on the agreement struck in Brussels last week, little more than two days after Saturday’s historic sitting.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson concludes his Churchill biography with splutters against historians who insist the “story of humanity is not the story of great men and shining deeds”. The story of Winston Churchill, he cries, “is a pretty withering retort to all that malarkey. He and he alone made the difference.”
The story of Boris Johnson withers too. He is shrivelling Britain: making it cramped, poor and irrelevant. Modern historians may sniff at the 19th-century notion that “the history of what man has accomplished in this world, is at bottom the History of the Great Men” to use Thomas Carlyle’s words. The rest of us should not be so complacent and register the capacity of catastrophic men and women to change the world for the worse.
Continue reading...Donald Tusk says he is ‘waiting for letter’ that PM promised in phone call after Commons vote
Boris Johnson has confirmed in a phone call with the European council president Donald Tusk that he is sending a letter requesting a further Brexit delay beyond 31 October.
Despite the prime minister’s insistence that he would not “negotiate” a further extension of the UK’s membership of the EU, he confirmed on Saturday evening that he would be seeking such an extension.
Continue reading...Prime minister has said he is ‘very confident’ deal will be approved in historic Commons vote on Saturday
The Labour MP Sarah Champion says she will vote for Boris Johnson’s deal, BuzzFeed’s Alex Wickham reports (assuming MPs get the chance to vote on the deal tomorrow).
NEW: Another Labour MP switcher
Sarah Champion signals she will vote FOR the deal in an email to a constituent this afternoonhttps://t.co/LXj8LW5nu4 pic.twitter.com/foKgazJ03p
Sir Oliver Letwin has released a note to journalists explaining what his amendment will do. (See 4.05pm.) Here it is.
I am writing this as somebody that voted three times for Theresa May’s deal, who has guaranteed publicly to vote for any deal that provides for an orderly exit, and who will vote for Boris’s excellent deal at all stages through to third reading of the implementing legislation, without any changes whatsoever.
The one issue that concerns me is to keep the Benn Act extension in place as an insurance policy until the implementing legislation is passed by both Houses of Parliament and the UK’s withdrawal Is ratified.
Continue reading...Prime minister is racing to secure backing from Democratic Unionist party for deal, which EU said they could approve today
For those of you who missed this, late last night Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside, announced she was leaving the Labour Party because she could “no longer advocate voting Labour when it risks Corbyn becoming PM”.
Dame Louise, 73, who is Jewish, said she had been “deeply troubled” by the “growth of anti-Semitism” in Labour in recent years.
I have made the truly agonising decision to leave the Labour Party after 55 years. I can no longer advocate voting Labour when it risks Corbyn becoming PM. I will continue to serve the people of Liverpool Riverside as I have had the honour to do since 1997. pic.twitter.com/3BTzUacZvo
Lord Adonis is up and tweeting early, as he often does. He is reiterating his view that Johnson will end up being forced to ask the EU for an extension beyond 31 October.
Obviously Parliament cannot vote tomorrow on a deal which has not been agreed, let alone published, as a legal text. So he will still have to apply for an extension, which is the key operative fact today
Continue reading...Prime minister will brief cabinet today on latest negotiations as UK and EU teams resume talks
These are from RTE’s Tony Connelly.
BREAKING: Michel Barnier has told EU Commissioners he is optimistic of getting a deal done today, @rtenews understands
2/ However, there still outstanding issues, so this could go right to the wire.
3/ It's understood VAT has emerged as a last minute problem: if NI remains inside the EU's VAT system, essential for North-South trade, then a new mechanism will have to be created for East-West trade, as the UK will be in its own VAT system
4/ However, it's understood officials are confident that a solution can be found.
5/ It's understood consent is also proving difficult, with a senior EU source saying the DUP are pushing to restore a tighter Stormont lock
6/ The third big hurdle is on the "level playing field" provisions. The EU is concerned at Boris Johnson's bid to dilute Theresa May's commitments to not stray far from the EU's environmental, state aid, social and labour standards
7/ The meeting of EU ambassadors, whom Barnier will brief, is still scheduled for 14hr CET, suggesting that the timings are still on course
ITV’s Robert Peston say the DUP are going back to Downing Street for another meeting.
DUP going back into Downing St, to try to find a way through roadblock. https://t.co/TDNS9amGqy
Continue reading...Eurosceptics and Labour MPs indicate they could back prime minister’s deal if he clinches agreement in Brussels
Boris Johnson is edging towards the parliamentary numbers needed to pass a Brexit deal after more hardline Eurosceptics and pro-deal Labour MPs indicated they could back a new agreement made with the EU.
The prime minister will need to win over almost all the 28 Tory “Spartans” who held out against Theresa May’s deal if he manages to bring an agreement back from Brussels, as well as either the Democratic Unionist party or a chunk of Labour backbenchers.
Continue reading...The day’s political developments as they happen, including the Queen’s speech, and Johnson and Corbyn speaking in the subsequent debate
Johnson says Labour’s plan to scrap Ofsted is “insane”.
He says that one nation Conservatives like himself support Ofsted because they believe in standards.
Back in the debate Labour’s Angela Eagle says Merseyside has lost 1,120 police officers. Why is it only being allowed to recruit 200 more.
Johnson says this is just the first wave of recruitment.
Continue reading...Heavier sentences for violent criminals among policies aimed at wooing Labour voters
Violent and sexual criminals as well as foreign national offenders who return to the UK will face drastically heavier penalties under measures that will form the centrepiece of a Queen’s speech aimed at wresting the agenda away from the delicate Brexit negotiations.
With just days to go before the deadline for Boris Johnson to clinch a last-ditch Brexit deal in Brussels, the Queen will on Monday set out his government’s priorities for a new session of parliament, including 22 new bills.
Continue reading...Barnier warns negotiations may have to continue as UK’s Irish border plans are an ‘untested’ risk
A breakthrough in the Brexit talks has failed to materialise after a weekend of intensive negotiations, with European Union capitals concluding that it may now be impossible for the UK to leave the EU by 31 October with a deal.
In a briefing to EU ambassadors on Sunday evening, the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, raised the prospect of the talks having to continue after the forthcoming leaders’ summit on Thursday, such was the lack of progress.
Continue reading...Pro-remain MPs predicted on Saturday that they were gaining sufficient cross-party support to secure a second Brexit referendum as fresh doubts were raised over whether Boris Johnson can secure a deal with the EU that can pass through parliament.
Related: No-deal Brexit will wreck Tories’ reputation as party of business, says Lidington
Continue reading...Minister voices hopes of progress after talks between UK and Ireland over border
The prospects of a Brexit deal with the EU appear to be “promising” after negotiations between Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar over the Irish border, Nicky Morgan has said.
A day after the British prime minister signalled the possibility of a U-turn on his plans, the culture secretary said the “mood music … seems positive, but clearly there are lots of details to be worked out.”
Continue reading...Picture revealed as files relating to misconduct claims due to be handed to police watchdog
The first meeting with Boris Johnson that Jennifer Arcuri described as an “electrifying” encounter was caught on camera, the Guardian can reveal.
The picture emerged as files relating to allegations of misconduct against the prime minister over his links to the US businesswoman were due to be handed to the police watchdog.
Continue reading...Follow the latest political developments after Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar agreed there was a “pathway to a possible Brexit deal” after an unexpectedly constructive meeting
The Pro-Brexit Tory MP, Nigel Evans, has said members of the Eurosceptic European Research Group could vote for concessions on Northern Ireland if the DUP was in favour.
“I think it is very difficult to get it through without the DUP, but we have seen a shift from the DUP already,” he said according to PA.
“We’re going to look at the detail - none of us know.
“I believe it is three dimensional poker and we’re playing very high risk stakes here.
ITV’s Joe Pike has been told that the Labour defector, Angela Smith, now a Lib Dem MP, plans to stand against the Tory backbench shop steward Graham Brady.
She faces a tough battle: In 2017 Brady secured a majority of more than 6,000 votes over Labour with the LibDems a very distant third.
Angela Smith says: ‘Me and the @LibDems are confident we stand an excellent chance of winning the seat.’
The Altrincham constituency leans Remain and Sir Graham Brady is pro-Brexit.