Boris Johnson news - live: PM tries different route to get December general election after MPs vote against initial bid
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EU ambassadors have agreed on a Brexit extension until 31 January 2020 – killing off Boris Johnson’s pledge to deliver the UK’s exit from the bloc by Halloween. I
It comes as the prime minister lost his attempt to call an election on 12 December, after failing to achieve a two-thirds majority in the Commons. But the Lib Dems and the SNP have proposed a one-line bill to bypass the FTPA – one that would require only a simple majority to get an election.
No 10 said the government would introduce an “almost identical” one-line bill if Mr Johnson’s initial bid fails. Senior Labour figures condemned Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson’s “sell-out” offer to help the PM secure a December poll.
Michel Barnier ‘content’ with EU27 ambassadors’ decision
Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier tells reporters he is “content” with the three-month flextension granted to the UK. Barnier continue working for European Commission during the trade deal negotiations stage of Brexit – so long as our withdrawal can actually be achieved.
People’s Vote staff stage walkout, say reports
Staff at the People’s Vote campaign has staged at walkout over the treatment of leading figures Tom Baldwin and James McGrory.
Baldwin, the head of communications for the campaign has accused the chairman of putting a “wrecking ball” through the campaign amid an apparent power struggle in the group.
Baldwin said Roland Rudd, chairman of the campaign, is “making a mistake that I think a lot of businessmen do when they dabble in politics”.
Asked if he has been sacked by Rudd, Baldwin said there is a “curious situation”, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Roland Rudd has chosen this time to put a wrecking ball really through the campaign.
“It’s not about me, and it’s certainly not about him. I mean the People’s Vote campaign is five different organisations.
“He is non-executive chairman of one, I think the outgoing executive chairman of one. And he’s making a mistake that I think a lot of businessmen do when they dabble in politics, which is to think that because they had a certain title on a board that they then own the campaign.”
Presser further on whether Rudd sacked him, Baldwin said: “He technically controls my contract but he didn’t appoint me. He doesn’t pay me.”
According to several accounts, staff at the campaign’s HQ have walked out of work.
Labour campaigner for referendum condemns Lib Dems
Labour MP Peter Kyle, who last week tabled an amendment to the withdrawal agreement bill proposing a second Brexit referendum, said he had been “thinking a lot” about the Lib Dem-SNP proposal for a 9 December general election.
“Makes me really sad that after so much cross-party effort the first we hear of it was in the Sunday papers,” he tweeted, before explaining why he thinks a Final Say public vote is still needed.
Jo Swinson defends Lib Dem push for general election
It doesn’t look like the idea of a “flextension” – which leaves open the possibility of Brexit happening before 31 January if the withdrawal agreement bill is passed – has unnerved the Lib Dems.
The party’s Brexit spokesman Tom Brake says “action is needed” to stop the risk of no deal at the end of January, suggesting a general election is the way forward.
Leader Jo Swinson, meanwhile, has responded to criticism by Labour’s John McDonnell – who has suggested the Lib Dems’s new strategy means they have abandoned their support for a People’s Vote referendum.
Election would be ‘Christmas present’ for PM, says SNP rebel
Angus MacNeil, the SNP member for the Western Isles, said supporting an early general election would be like a “birthday and a Christmas present rolled into one” for Boris Johnson.
The PM has been pushing for a December 12 election but on Saturday a proposal was put forward by the SNP and Liberal Democrats to hold one three days earlier on December 9.
Rebelling against his party’s strategy, he warned against MPs voting for a poll on either date.
Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, MacNeil said: “I’m kind of perplexed as to what it’s about.
“I mean, obviously, the SNP has nothing to fear in an election at the moment, certainly wouldn’t have anything to fear in six months’ time in Scotland, but the thing we've got to fear is we have Boris Johnson in place for five years with a big majority.
“I mean, if I was to say to you you’re getting a million pounds next Monday but you won’t get it next Thursday, would you accept your million pounds on Monday or Thursday? I think you're going to take your million pounds on Monday.”
Party leader Nicola Sturgeon said forcing Johnson to fight an election now would mean he would have to explain his failure to deliver Brexit “do or die”.
Scotland’s first minister said that while she still “strongly supported” a second Brexit referendum, there was no evidence a majority of MPs could be persuaded to back this course of action.
Nearly half of public think Boris Johnson lying about protecting NHS
Almost half of people think Boris Johnson is failing to tell the truth when it comes to protecting the NHS in a trade deal with the US, according to a new survey.
Pollsters Survation found that 45 per cent did not believe the PM was being honest when he assured the public that the NHS was “not on the table” if and when UK and US negotiators sit down to thrash out a post-Brexit trade deal.
More details here:
EU parliament’s Brexit chief ‘relieved no one died in a ditch’
Guy Verhofstadt, the EU parliament’s Brexit coordinator, with some top-notch trolling here – a reference to Boris Johnson’s pledge that he would rather “die in a ditch” than ask for another extension.
Brexit Party chairman wants to ‘help’ Tories deliver Brexit
No word from Nigel Farage yet on the Brexit extension. The Brexit Party’s chairman was relatively restrained when he appeared on Sky News this morning.
Asked what he thought of Brexit being delayed past the “do or die” 31 October deadline, Tice said: “Anybody who is paying any attention realised that a couple of week ago – Brexit is not happening on October 31 st.”
“The Conservatives have tried and tried and tried – they cannot deliver Brexit on their own in this parliament – they need help. We in the Brexit Party are there to give them that help with an election that will hopefully happen before Christmas.”
Boris Johnson yet to see EU’s extension statement
Downing Street said that, due to other engagements, Boris Johnson had not read the European Council’s letter by noon on Monday and was unable to offer an immediate response, writes political editor Andrew Woodcock.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “His view has not changed Parliament should not have put the UK in this position, and we should be leaving on 31 October.
“The PM secured a great new deal, despite being told this was impossible. Parliament has chosen more dither and more delay.
“Parliament has been blocking Brexit for three years and it's clear we have to bring in a new parliament so we can move on.”
Asked whether the government would back the Liberal Democrat/SNP proposal for a one-line bill to deliver a 9 December election, the spokesman said the government was “currently” focused on its own motion for a 12 December election under the terms of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, which the Commons will vote on today.”
“The prime minister will be making the case as to why we need an election to break the deadlock, and it’s obviously for MPs of all parties to decide how they wish to vote,” he said.
Asked whether Mr Johnson would resign or apologise for failing to deliver on his often-repeated “do or die” pledge to take the UK out of the EU by 31 October, the spokesman said: “What the PM is going to do is get on with delivering Brexit, which the British people voted for, while also ensuring that we address the domestic priorities of the country - the NHS, dealing with serious violent criminals, levelling up so everyone can make the most of the talents which they have.”
Business preparations for no-deal Halloween Brexit 'job of responsible government'
The PM’s spokesman was asked whether the government had any message for the thousands of companies which spent money in response to official advice to prepare for a no-deal Halloween Brexit which will now not take place.
He responded: “It is the job of a responsible government to prepare business and other organisations for all possibilities. The work we carried out on no-deal was necessary and has ensured that business was given all the information which it needed.”
The spokesman was unable to say what proportion of the £100 million of the budget for advertising the government’s no-deal preparations had been spent.
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