Boris Johnson news: DUP dismisses Brexit breakthrough ‘nonsense’ as government braces for humiliating extension request letter
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Brexit negotiations are continuing overnight Brussels today in a desperate bid to get a political agreement ready in time for a crucial EU leaders’ summit.
Despite progress, EU officials suggested any deal would still have to be delayed by around two months to “resolve technical issues”.
Boris Johnson’s hopes of an agreement before tomorrow’s summit are fading as new hurdles emerge.
DUP leader Arlene Foster dismissed reports of a breakthrough over the issue of consent on customs arrangements as “nonsense”.
But Nicky Morgan, the UK’s culture secretary, said there was a good chance that Britain and the EU could come to an agreement.
“I think there is a good chance of there being a deal,” she said in an interview with ITV’s Peston show.
“Nothing [has been] agreed or announced yet, and of course there is a chance that actually a deal is not agreed.
“So I think we have to wait.”
If you would like to see how the day’s news unfolded, please see what was our live coverage below.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to march through London for a major demonstration calling for a Final Say referendum on Brexit.
Organised by the People’s Vote campaign and supported by The Independent, the march will take place just two weeks before the UK is scheduled to leave the EU.
Campaigners are calling on the government to call a Final Say vote on any Brexit agreement or no-deal outcome.
Here is everything you need to know about the protest.
The Brexit Party’s success in this year’s European elections was credited partly to its influence on Twitter and Facebook, but it seems its mastery of social media still leaves something to be desired.
In a tweet to advertise an upcoming event featuring Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin as a speaker, Nigel Farage’s party inadvertently promoted a parody account poking fun at the pub chain founder.
If the account’s name, @GroovyTimbo, wasn’t warning enough of the mistake, the accompanying Twitter bio should have been the giveaway.
Labour is demanding an apology from the CBI after it emerged that its “eye-watering” estimate of the cost of the party’s renationalisation programme included an incorrect assumption about its plans for the rail industry.
Shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said that the error threw into doubt the £196 billion price tag put by the CBI on the overall programme to bring the rail network, water, energy and mail back under public control.
In an email exchange, the CBI’s principal economist told the party that the figure included an estimate for the cost of buying rail rolling stock currently owned by leasing companies.
“We have assumed the rolling stock would be bought into public ownership as the trains are currently owned by the private sector and therefore full-scale nationalisation of rail would require this,” said the email. “However, we recognise that this isn’t official Labour policy on nationalising the rail industry.”
Optimism about a possible Brexit deal is rising among EU leaders.
"I want to believe that a deal is being finalised and that we can approve it tomorrow'," said Emmanuel Macron, the French president.
In London the prime minister's spokesperson confirmed a motion is being filed that would clear the way for a rare Saturday sitting of both houses of Parliament.
"It simply sets out the intention for Parliament to sit on Saturday," the spokesperson said.
If the motion is passed, the House of Commons and the House of Lords would sit from 9:30 a.m. until 2 p.m.
A Saturday sitting would give lawmakers the chance to debate a Brexit deal if one emerges from negotiations.
Parliament has not sat on Saturday since the Falklands War of 1982.
The new work and pensions secretary has refused to commit to ending the benefits freeze next year despite pressure from MPs to end the controversial policy.
Thérèse Coffey said she could not give a "definitive outcome" on whether Boris Johnson's government would renew the freeze on benefits for working-age people in April 2020, as suggested by her predecessor Amber Rudd.
In her first appearance at the Work and Pensions Committee, Ms Coffey was grilled by MPs over the welfare freeze, which was introduced by George Osborne in 2016 as part of the government's austerity agenda.
Donald Trump has said Boris Johnson asked him to arrange a meeting between Harry Dunn’s parents and Anne Sacoolas, while speaking in the Oval Office.
Dunn was killed in a car crash outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on 27 August.
Ms Sacoolas is suspected of causing the 19-year-old’s death and left the UK shortly afterwards.
“I spoke with Boris, he asked me if I’d do that and I did it,” Mr Trump said.
Read more here:
A decision by the Brexit Secretary to stop UK officials attending meetings in Brussels was not "terribly sensible", a former UK ambassador to the EU has claimed.
In August, Steve Barclay announced that UK officials would "only go to the meetings that really matter" in Brussels, "saving hundreds of hours".
Speaking to the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, ex-ambassador Sir Ivan Rogers said, "it doesn't strike me as terribly sensible" for the UK to have stopped attending meetings in Brussels before it left the EU.
He told MPs: "After you leave, you are in this transition ... which may last a year or it may last two or three years.
"You are still hugely impacted by everything going on in those rooms. Why would you leave those rooms before you have to?"
He added: "The idea that they are liberated off that and go and work on exciting new trade deals. No, they're not, they're still living in Brussels and they're either attending the working group that they used to be in or doing some other business.
"And some of the other business is finding out what the hell happened in the room when they weren't there.
"It doesn't strike me as a terribly sensible thing to do."
There will be no Brexit deal tonight, a British government source has said.
The source said that there were issues holding up the deal both at home and with the EU.
Steve Baker, the chair of the hardline European Research Group, has said "great progress" was made in the group's talks with Number 10.
"We have made great progress in our discussions with Number 10," Mr Baker told Sky News.
"Really at this point, it just remains to wish the prime minister every possible success as he goes to negotiate for our country.
"I know everybody is desperate for us to say whether we can vote for it, but until we can see it, we can't say.
"We really must see the text in time to read it in order to vote on Saturday.
"Time is becoming very short for everyone now. As Michel Barnier famously said, 'the clock is ticking'.
"We need to get through this [European] Council, have the text of the deal, have the implementing legislation ready, and we need to be voting on that on Saturday."
A legal challenge will be brought against Boris Johnson's possible Brexit deal on the grounds that it contravenes domestic tax law, lawyer Jolyon Maugham has said.
Mr Maugham, who has challenged the government successfully on its decision to suspend parliament and whether the UK could unilaterally change its mind on leaving the EU, said that he intended to lodge a petition to stop the government putting the Withdrawal Agreement before parliament.
Mr Maugham said he believes the proposed agreement contravenes legislation which states it is "unlawful for Her Majesty's Government to enter into arrangements under which Northern Ireland forms part of a separate customs territory to Great Britain".
He believes that if the court finds the proposed agreement is unlawful the government will be obliged to request an extension to Brexit negotiations, under the terms of the Benn Act.
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