Brexit news – live: Boris Johnson 'confident' in US vote count amid Trump 'rigged' election controversy

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Boris Johnson: Christmas will be 'as normal as possible' if people follow Covid rules

Boris Johnson has described having “every confidence in the checks and balances of the American constitution”, after Downing Street refused to say whether the prime minister believed all votes in the US election should be counted.

Under repeated questioning, No 10 had sought to avoid the PM being dragged into controversy, refusing to make any comment on Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the presidential poll is “rigged”. 

Mr Johnson later said that as the UK prime minister he is “always going to work closely with whoever is the president”.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party achieved its biggest poll lead since Sir Keir Starmer became leader in April, enjoying a five-point swing to sit at 40 per cent, above the Tories’ 35, according toYouGov.

And the week’s Brexit trade talks ended with both parties’ negotiators, Lord Frost and Michel Barnier, warning serious “divergences” remain over key issues. The latter reportedly told EU diplomats that he believes London wants a deal but has yet to “internalise” the necessary compromises and concessions needed. 

Mr Johnson is to call EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen to discuss the talks on Sunday, which Downing Street said would allow the leaders to “take stock” of the negotiations – but contravenes wishes expressed earlier by Mr Barnier for the prime minister not to hold one-on-one talks with the bloc’s leaders lest No 10 attempt to trigger a “tug of war” over the unresolved issues.

Key Points

• PM has ‘every confidence’ in US Constitution
• UK-EU trade will face ‘significant disruption’, even if deal is reached
• Johnson under fire for using old data to justify second lockdown
• Labour achieves biggest lead since Starmer took over, YouGov poll shows
• Downing Street refuses to say if PM thinks all US election votes should be counted
• Direct Ireland-France ferries will start in January to bypass Brexit congestion

[6 November 2020 20:13 · Andy Gregory]

Angus Robertson to challenge Ruth Davidson’s Edinburgh seat

After a hard-fought battle against SNP stalwarts Joanna Cherry and Marco Biagi, it has been announced that Angus Robertson will stand for the Edinburgh Central seat in the May Holyrood elections.

The constituency currently belongs to former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson, who plans to move to the House of Lords, and Mr Robertson will be hopeful of succeeding in his bid to return to frontline politics after he was unseated in 2017 by current Tory leader Douglas Ross.

[6 November 2020 20:36 · Andy Gregory]

As the world awaits the result of the US election and watches Donald Trump’s increasingly desperate attempts to retain power, Labour MP David Lammy’s 12-year-old is apparently keeping the mood light in their household…

[6 November 2020 21:05 · Andy Gregory]

UK faces ‘continual lockdowns’ unless government pays people to self-isolate, Independent Sage warns

Independent Sage has warned that while England’s lockdown will likely get cases under control, a similar policy would be needed again next year unless the test, trace, isolate, and support system was fixed quickly, our policy correspondent Jon Stone reports.

Sir David King, who chairs the shadow committee, said people who were told to self-isolate needed to be sure that “they will not suffer by isolating” and that the government's strategy of simply fining people who break the rules was not working.

Read the full report here:

[6 November 2020 21:34 · Andy Gregory]

Downing Street yet to ‘internalise’ necessary compromises for Brexit trade deal

Michel Barnier is reported to have told European Union ambassadors that the UK has shown no sign of movement on the issues holding up a Brexit trade deal and suggested that Mr Johnson will need to take a political decision to change his stance if agreement is to be reached, our deputy political editor Andrew Woodcock reports.

News wire Bloomberg reported that Mr Barnier told the diplomats that he believes London wants a deal but has yet to “internalise” the necessary compromises and concessions needed.

[6 November 2020 22:05 · Andy Gregory]

Downing Street admits error in graph used to justify lockdown

The chart, displayed at Boris Johnson’s televised press conference last Saturday, indicated that England could see up to 1,500 deaths a day by early December if additional action was not taken, but this figure has now been revised down to 1,000 deaths a day by 8 December.

A No 10 spokesperson insisted that the error did not affect the underlying analysis of the prime minister’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) that tighter restrictions were needed to avoid hospital admissions and deaths topping the first-wave peak in the spring.