Boris Johnson news: PM confident 'our friends in the EU' will change Brexit position as No 10 refuses to recall parliament
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No 10 has rejected Labour’s call for Boris Johnson to recall parliament to debate Brexit, as Jeremy Corbyn vowed to block a no-deal exit and called the prime minister “Britain’s Trump”.
The PM claimed he was “confident” that “our friends and partners” in the EU would change their stance on the backstop and come up with a negotiated deal.
It comes as Downing Street reacts with fury to the publication of the “Operation Yellowhammer” dossier setting out the negative impacts of a crash-out departure. The Home Office, meanwhile, plans to end the free movement of EU citizens on day one of no deal.
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The government has been criticised for spending more than £10m on an advertising campaign to prepare the country for Brexit.
Figures released under Freedom of Information laws show spent £10,842,063 has been spent over eight months on the “Prepare For EU Exit” adverts.
The Cabinet Office spent £2.7m on print, £2.4m on radio, £1.2m on TV and more than £1m on social media advertising, and a further £3m on other platforms, according to the data.
The figures also revealed that the page advising people living in the UK on how to prepare received 1.2 million views by the end of May, while the EU citizens preparedness tool had 930,000 views.
Labour MP Wes Streeting said: “Every single penny spent on this advertising campaign to prepare for the self-inflicted damage that is Brexit would have been better spent on policing, schools and the NHS. Brexit is already costing us dearly and we haven't even left yet.”
Independent MP Heidi Allen said: “No matter how much public money Boris Johnson squanders, he will not be able to hide the damage of a no-deal from the businesses, public services and communities that will be hit hardest by it.
“This woeful waste of public money is another reason why it is essential for voters to give their consent in a final say vote.”
Plenty of reaction to our story on Home Office plans to end freedom of movement on the very first day of a no-deal Brexit.
Labour MP David Lammy says the PM should be “ashamed of himself” for forcing more than three million EU citizens in the UK to live with such uncertainty.
Britain has lost its “measles-free” status three years after the virus was eliminated – leading Boris Johnson to launch a new campaign to stop the spread of misleading anti-vaccine information.
Here’s Eleanor Busby with all the details.
Health minister Jo Churchill has been talking about the availability of medicines in the event of a no-deal Brexit, and the fight against “misinformation” on vaccines following a spike in measles cases.
She said the government is working to make sure there are no shortages of drugs, including measles vaccines if Britain crashes out without a deal on 31 October.
“On the measles vaccine, there are buffer stocks in place and I don't see any issue with supply.
“We also saw last week the secretary of state procuring an express freight service with the aim to secure transport for medical supplies within 24 hours.”
Asked about the availability of other drugs, including insulin, Churchill said: “Making sure that people feel safe when they need their supplies of insulin or other drugs, many of us take drugs to help us stay fit and healthy, that they can be sure that those supplies are there.”
“People are already dealing with their own particular set of circumstances around the disease, and making sure that we don’t give them anything else to worry about is what we are focusing on every day.”
She also said the NHS and the government need to work with social media companies so that ”misinformation is also taken down, and that we give people the correct information that they can help keep their children safe”.
Did you know an anagram of Yellowhammer is “Orwell mayhem”? Spooky.
Let our political columnist Matthew Norman guide you through the madness, as top government officials try to completely dismiss a planning dossier put together by top government officials.
Returning to John McDonnell’s interview this morning, the shadow chancellor claimed said there were still a “range of options” for Labour consider on Brexit. And he refused to rule of the possibility the party could be neutral on the options in a second Brexit referendum.
McDonnell said there is a “gaining majority” in parliament for another public vote. “The most important thing now is (to) block no-deal,” he said.
“I think the opposition parties and reaching across to Conservative MPs as well, I think there is still a majority in parliament to say to Boris Johnson that we will not accept a no-deal.
“I think there is a gaining majority now to say we have to go back to the people in some form of public vote and that is, in my view, a referendum, that’s the Labour party policy now, and therefore we are narrowing down the discussion into what then goes on the ballot paper.”
McDonnell said he would campaign for remain, but said it was a personal view and explained it would still for the party its position if there was a Final Say vote.
“That’s one of the issues we’ve got to debate in the party. You know our democratic processes. I know people get frustrated with this ... but we’re a democratic party.”
Debate is raging over whether Operation Yellowhammer constitutes the “worst-case” scenario in the event of a no-deal Brexit. There’s also a battle about what constitutes “old” when it comes to the leaked civil service assessment of the possible negative impacts.
Tory MP Andrew Bridgen has dismissed the dossier as “an old report”.
When told on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme that it was put before Michael Gove only earlier this month, he responded: “Yeah, it was written up a long time ago.”
The staunch Brexiteer said “I think the EU are going to renegotiate when we get to the compression point about three weeks out from us leaving.”
“The forces who do not wish us to leave the European Union – they’re going to make hay out of this.”
Jeremy Corbyn has started his speech in Corby. He has vowed to bring “rail, mail and the national grid into public ownership”.
He has also pledged to introduce a real living wage of £10 an hour and promised a Labour government “will not make people work until they’re 75” – as suggested by Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice think tank.
The Labour leader said Boris Johnson’s recent spending pledges “insults voters’ intelligence … with no confidence that it will actually be delivered”.
Jeremy Corbyn at Pen Green Children's Centre in Corby (PA)
Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he will call a no-confidence vote in parliament to “vote down this reckless government”.
Jeremy Corbyn says the Operation Yellowhammer dossier makes “crystal clear” the damage a no-deal Brexit will do, and called the prime minister “Britain’s Trump”.
“The Tories have lurched to the hard right. Boris Johnson is Britain’s Trump, as the US President himself declared, so it must be true. It cannot be said to be fake news.
“Fake populism and phoney outsiders funded by hedge funds and bankers committed to protecting the vested interests of the richest and the elites whilst at the same time, bizarrely, posing as some kind of anti-establishment movement.”
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