Brexit news: Jeremy Hunt claims Merkel is willing to look at new deal as PM hopeful lays out withdrawal plans

All the developments from Westminster on Monday

Jeremy Hunt claims Angela Merkel is willing to look at new deal as PM hopeful lays out withdrawal plans

Tory leadership hopeful Jeremy Hunt has unveiled his 10-point plan to handle a no-deal Brexit, vowing to “cease all discussions” with Brussels on 30 September if the EU fails to budge.

He also claimed to have been told by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, that she would be willing to look at any new Brexit the next British PM comes up with.

It came as his rival, Boris Johnson, was heckled at a garden centre and accused of misrepresenting the ideas of a 14th century Tunisian scholar after claiming he could cut taxes and increase revenue.

Meanwhile, pro-Jeremy Corbyn organisation Momentum has launched a fresh drive to unseat Mr Johnson – who could not name the amount paid under the living wage during his latest TV interview – at the next general election.

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Key Points

• Jeremy Hunt claims Angela Merkel will consider new Brexit deal
• Speaker blocks MP's plan to stop no-deal Brexit
• Boris Johnson called ‘crazy’ by garden centre heckler
• Jeremy Hunt pledges £6bn war chest and vows to end Brexit talks early
• ... as plan to ban civil service summer leave sparks fury

[1 July 2019 12:04 · Adam Forrest]

Despite Jeremy Hunt’s plan for a £6bn no-deal “war chest”, the chancellor Philip Hammond has dismissed the idea that any “fiscal firepower” would be available if Britain crashed out of the EU without any economic agreement in place.

[1 July 2019 12:06 · Adam Forrest]

Boris Johnson has refused to commit to pay rises for public sector workers despite his cabinet backer Matt Hancock saying the leadership frontrunner would show them “some love”.

Speaking during a visit to a Kent garden centre, Mr Johnson said: “I certainly think that you need to have decent pay in the public sector.”

Pressed several times on Mr Hancock’s comments, he declined to make a concrete pledge. “Of course he’s right we are going to make sure that we properly fund our public services,” Mr Johnson said.

“It’s very important when you’re in charge of a great public service, whether it’s the police or transport, you’ve got to make sure - or local government – you’ve got to make sure that you understand their cares and their needs.”

[1 July 2019 12:15 · Adam Forrest]

Tory party chairman Lord Patten is the latest senior figure to criticise spending plans laid out by Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt. “The debate is awful, with the latest campaign on both sides... with all the tax pledges and spending pledges...making the Labour Party look like fiscal moderates,” he says.

[1 July 2019 12:21 · Adam Forrest]

How will Jeremy Hunt’s no-deal Brexit plan be received in Brussels? EU chiefs may be too busy to notice at the moment as a summit to pick Jean-Claude Juncker’s successor has gone through the early hours and picked up again this morning.

Here’s our Europe correspondent Jon Stone with the details.

[1 July 2019 12:23 · Adam Forrest]

Here’s our deputy political editor Rob Merrick with more on Jeremy Hunt’s vow to “cease all discussions” with Brussels at the end of September if the EU has failed to budge.

[1 July 2019 12:33 · Adam Forrest]

Despite Jeremy Hunt earlier warning “colleagues” in the Commons not to block no-deal, Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth said his party would still try to stop it in parliament.

[1 July 2019 12:39 · Adam Forrest]

“There is £26bn of headroom, the money is there,” Tory leadership frontrunner Boris Johnson has claimed while out campaigning in Kent.

A reminder that the widely-respected Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) has already ridiculed the idea.

“There is no £27bn Brexit war chest,” IFS director Paul Johnson told Newsnight. He said that if the conservative leadership candidates want to borrow more “they should just say they want to borrow more. There isn’t a war chest to spend.”

[1 July 2019 12:48 · Adam Forrest]

IFS director Paul Johnson has explained just why the Tory candidates are throwing around spending pledges amounting to £26bn and £27bn.

[1 July 2019 12:55 · Adam Forrest]

Boris Johnson has been out meeting people at a garden centre near Halstead in Kent this lunchtime. Tory members get the chance to grill him later on Brexit, taxes and his spending pledges later today, when the candidate holds a “telephone town hall” event at 6pm.

Johnson at Polhill garden centre near Halstead in Kent (PA) 

[1 July 2019 13:03 · Adam Forrest]

Now Tory MP Rory Stewart – knocked out of the leadership contest in the earlier rounds of voting – has ridiculed the candidates’ tax and spending plans.