Boris Johnson news – live: PM accused of ‘steering country off cliff’ after Gove says no need for EU trade deal, as climate change response labelled ‘amateur hour’
The day's events as they happened
Sign up to our free Brexit and beyond email for the latest headlines on what Brexit is meaning for the UK
Sign up to our Brexit email for the latest insight
Cabinet office minister Michael Gove sparked anger after claiming the UK doesn’t “need” a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU, insisting it is better to “stand up for Britain” than accept any rules from Brussels.
It comes as a former Tory minister and ex-president of the COP26 UN climate summit in Glasgow – sacked last week by the government – launched a blistering attack on Boris Johnson’s record on climate change.
Claire Perry O’Neill claimed Mr Johnson “doesn’t really get” climate change and said his promises “are not close to being met”. Ex-Labour leader Ed Miliband said the PM didn’t understand the scale of the issue and described his handling of the COP26 summit as “amateur hour”.
However Mr Johnson spent the day alongside ir David Attenborough and Giuseppe Conte, prime minister of summit co-host Italy - while saying the nation should lead the way to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.
Meanwhile in the commons the SNP railed against a vote on NHS funding in England which they were barred from voting on amid increasing frustration from the nationalists as they seek to hold a second independence referendum.
Here are the day's events as they happened:
Former Tory MP accuses PM of breaking climate promises
The former president of the UN climate summit in Glasgow, sacked by the government last week, has launched a blistering attack on Boris Johnson’s record on tackling climate change.
Former energy minister Claire Perry O’Neill spoke out as the PM prepared to outline new measures, including a ban on sales of new petrol and diesel vehicles being brought forward to 2035.
In a letter to Johnson, O’Neill told him: “You promised to ‘lead from the front' and asked me what was needed: ‘Money, people, just tell us!’ Sadly these promises are not close to being met.”
She added: “This isn’t a pretty place to be and we owe the world a lot better.”
She said the PM had not convened the Cabinet subcommittee on climate change that he had promised, adding that the government was “miles off track” in setting a positive agenda for the COP26 summit in Glasgow in November, and that promises of action “are not close to being met”.
Her attack came as Johnson was about to outline plans for the summit with a speech setting out Britain’s stall as a leader on tackling climate change.
At an event attended by Sir David Attenborough, Johnson will call for international efforts to reach net zero as early as possible through investment in cleaner technology and protection of natural habitat – which will also help reverse losses in wildlife.
Claire Perry O'Neill attending cabinet last February (AFP)
PM brings forward petrol and diesel vehicle ban by five years
Boris Johnson is pledging an earlier ban on new petrol, diesel and hybrid cars, as he hits back at claims that his attempts to lead the world in tackling climate change are mired in “chaos”.
In a long-awaited first speech on the climate emergency, the PM will call on other nations to match the UK’s landmark legal commitment to achieve ‘net zero’ carbon emissions.
The flagship announcement – to end sales of new polluting cars in 2035, rather than 2040 – was welcomed as “right” by Friends of the Earth. But the environmentalist group said it would be better to bring forward the ban to 2030.
Terror offenders could be jailed indefinitely under government review proposals
This government doesn’t mind a good legal battle, even when they end up in the Supreme Court.
There’s another one brewing after justice secretary Robert Buckland told MPs about plans for emergency legislation to end the automatic release of terror offenders and ensure they’re only considered for release after serving two-thirds of their sentence (and meet the approval of the Parole Board).
Lord Carlile, a crossbench peer and QC, said applying the change retrospectively to current offenders was “certainly going to be challenged”, while Geoffrey Robertson QC described it as “panic legislation”.
But No 10 actually hopes to go further. Offenders could be jailed indefinitely under plans being considered as part of a government review.
“I’m sure there are people who would view this as controversial,” a Downing Street source told The Independent. No doubt.
PM ‘refusing to be honest’ about Brexit damage, experts say
Boris Johnson is “refusing to be honest” about the likely damage from his Brexit plans, a leading think tank has warned.
A damning report by the UK in a Changing Europe group warns that the prime minister is on course to strike only “the barest of bare bone deals” with the EU by his deadline of the end of 2020 after the strict red lines he said out on Monday.
It argue Johnson’s government is failing to be upfront about the inevitable “trade-offs” to come and the adverse consequences for businesses, citizens and taxpayers.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has the details:
PM ‘doesn’t really get’ climate emergency, reveals Claire Perry O’Neill
The former COP26 climate change conference organiser – sacked by the government last week – has had more to say on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning.
Asked about Boris Johnson’s knowledge of climate change, Perry O’Neill said: “He has admitted to me he doesn’t really understand it [climate change] – he doesn’t really get it, I think is what he said.”
The former Tory energy minister warned the summit was being undermined by “playground politics” and was “hundreds of millions of pounds off track”, with just nine months to go.
Perry O’Neill said she suggested giving Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish first minister a key role at the November conference in Glasgow – a proposal Johnson rejected with “salty” language.
PM adopts ‘mad man’ strategy with EU
If you’re still catching up with the competing visions for a UK-EU trade deal set out yesterday by Boris Johnson and Michel Barnier, our Inside Politics briefing looks at all the fall-out.
Johnson said he believes Britain is ready to throw off our “Clark Kent spectacles” and be a free trade “superhero”. But in Johnson’s fantasyland, superheroes don’t do compromises.
The PM explained his desire for a free trade deal like one forged by the EU and Canada, his refusal to adopt “Brussels-made” rules – and his willingness to walk away if necessary.
One senior ally described this new no-deal threat as the “mad man” strategy. More Lex Luthor than Superman, then.
Michel Barnier is proving to be Johnson’s Kryptonite. The EU’s chief negotiator said the UK would have to abide by standards across an array of areas to ensure a “level playing field”.
All the details here:
Keir Starmer calls for investigation into No 10 ‘media ban’
The Labour leadership hopeful has called on the cabinet secretary to investigate urgently No 10’s decision to “ban selected media from attending a briefing with a senior civil servant”.
On Monday journalists walked out of a trade deal briefing – expected to chief negotiator David Frost – after the prime minister’s director of communications tried to restrict it to selected publications and broadcasters.
Among those boycotting were the BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg and ITV’s Robert Peston.
In a letter to Sir Mark Sedwill, Starmer warns that the decision had “undermined the civil service’s ability to comply with its core values of integrity, objectivity and impartiality.”
The Labour leadership contender says: “The media’s access to the prime minister’s chief negotiator should not be determined by political favouritism.”
Starmer has asked Sedwill to “investigate urgently this matter and provide assurance that such an incident will not happen again.”
Gove ducks questions on No 10 bar on selected press
Senior cabinet minister Michael Gove has been asked about the attempt to restrict some media outlets from a No 10 briefing, and the walkout staged by the press pack in protest.
Asked by BBC Radio 5 Live Nicky Campbell if he would have walked out if he were there as a journalist, Gove – an ex-journalist – replied: “Well. I wasn’t.”
Campbell said: “That’s not good enough – you were a journalist … Would you have joined you colleagues and walked or would you and Mrs Gove [The Daily Mail’s Sarah Vine] been the only two there?”
“I wasn’t in the room at the time, so I won’t pass judgement until, of course, I’ve heard from all the people who were.”
He also complained that it was “wrong and sexist” to bring his wife into it.
C02 ‘swaddling planet like a tea cosy’, says PM
Boris Johnson and Sir David Attenborough have been speaking to primary school children at the Science Museum in London before speaking to experts, campaigners and politicians.
Johnson told the youngsters: “We are trying to get people focusing on what this country is doing to tackle climate change and how to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which as I understand it is swaddling the planet like a tea cosy.”
He also told them: “We want to get everybody to agree to use new technology such as electric batteries, wind turbines, solar panels, all that kind of thing, so they stop producing so much greenhouse gases.”
The PM also said the UK wanted to get to net zero carbon emissions and said “we think we’ve got to do it”, pointing to Britain’s role as a leader in the industrial revolution.
Boris Johnson and Sir David Attenborough (Getty)
Gove denies inaction on climate change – and suggests UK prepared to walk away from EU trade deal
Cabinet office minister Michael Gove has appeared on Sky News – and dismissed his former Tory colleague Claire Perry O’Neill’s claims of inaction on climate change.
“The cabinet has discussed climate change … The prime minister is explaining today alongside David Attenborough some of steps we are taking, like, for example, banning the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2035.”
Gove also seemed reluctant to agree that a trade deal with the EU was necessary, following the PM’s hardline, zero tolerance approach to alignment set out yesterday.
“We need a trade deal with the EU don’t we?” Kay Burley asked.
Gove replied: “The closer the commercial relationship the better, but we can’t have a close commercial relationship at the expense of allowing European courts, European judges, European politicians.”
“It’s better to have the best possible trading relationship with the EU but most of all it’s right to stand up for Britain.”
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies