Jeremy Corbyn and other opposition leaders have agreed to try to stop a no-deal Brexit through legislation after efforts to install a caretaker prime minister floundered.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has said it was time to “put aside fantasy politics” and find a strategy to enact “straight away” when parliament returns.
It comes as Boris Johnson prepares to create half a dozen new pro-Brexit peers to redress perceived Remain bias in the House of Lords.
The PM is sending his “sherpa” David Frost to Brussels this week to try to negotiate an alternative to the backstop with the EU.
Mr Johnson also told Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, that Britain will leave without a deal unless the backstop is “abolished”.
This is the full text of Jeremy Corbyn's letter to MPs, urging them to work with Labour to stop the UK crashing out of the EU without a deal:
Jeremy Corbyn’s letter urging MPs to unite to stop no deal Brexit – in full
Labour leader calls for ‘practical way' to stop UK leaving EU without a dealHere's Tom Peck's sketch on Nigel Farage's return into the Brexit fray:
Sketch: Nigel Farage is howling about democracy, like every other miniature demagogue that has gone before him
Nigel Farage is back and he's angrier than ever, angry that his lies can never come trueGood morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond, as Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn prepares to host opposition leaders at a strategy session to discuss ways to stop a no-deal Brexit.
Labour’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer has said it was time to “put aside fantasy politics” and find a strategy to enact “straight away” when parliament returns next week.
“Let’s put aside the fantasy politics,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
“We need something with bite, we need something effective, and we need to act straight away when parliament comes back. I want to see the most effective action.”
Starmer also claimed Labour would campaign for Remain in any second Brexit referendum – despite Jeremy Corbyn’s equivocal remarks about a referendum in which he would want to a “credible” Brexit option on the ballot paper.
“Jeremy Corbyn has very clearly said there must be a referendum and we would campaign for Remain,” Starmer claimed.
Boris Johnson wants to create a swathe of new pro-Brexit peers to redress what he sees as an anti-Leave imbalance in the House of Lords.
Here’s more on the so-called “Brexit heroes”.
Boris Johnson to appoint string of Brexit supporters to House of Lords
Nigel Farage is not expected to be among those honoured for their part in the Leave campaignGreen MP Caroline Lucas – attending Jeremy Corbyn’s tactics session later this morning – has said opposition MPs “will not be bullied”.
Writing exclusively for The Independent, Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to do “everything necessary” to stop no deal and called on other opposition parties to establish a “good working arrangement” at this morning’s strategy meeting.
Read his piece here:
Jeremy Corbyn: I will do everything I can to stop this no-deal bankers’ Brexit
Exclusive: The battle to stop no deal is the fight of the many against the few who are hijacking the referendum result to hand even more power to the wealthiestLib Dem leader Jo Swinson said she is “not precious” about who a caretaker prime minister would be following a successful vote of no confidence. But she has also reiterated that she does not believe Jeremy Corbyn is the right choice.
“If there are others, I am open to hearing others,” she told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme. “Anybody that could command a majority in the House of Commons to avoid us crashing out without a deal if the legislative approach, which I think is the strongest and best way forward, if that doesn’t work.”
She added: “(Jeremy Corbyn) knows he doesn’t have the numbers, he says he’s serious about wanting to stop no-deal, and, taking him at his word, I presume that means that he would be prepared to put forward that vote of no confidence and then, if we are in that scenario of having an emergency government, unite behind somebody who can command support right across the House.
“He might have suggestions for who that person could be and it could be a senior Labour politician at the end of their career who doesn’t have that long-term ambition of being prime minister because I think the House if more likely to support someone in that emergency scenario than somebody who actually wants to be prime minister and is currently leading a political party.”
Asked on Radio 4’s Today programme if she would back Jeremy Corbyn as caretaker PM if he committed to backing Remain in a second referendum, the Lib Dem leader said: “I don’t see that happening.”
Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti has prepared legal advice prepared for the Labour leadership on the suspension of parliament.
It claims that Boris Johnson would be committing the “gravest abuse of power and attack on UK constitutional principle in living memory” if he shut down parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit.
The party’s shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer was asked about the legality of proroguing parliament earlier this morning.
“It’s completely unacceptable - I think it would be unlawful ... You are not supposed to use the power to prorogue to suspend parliament.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury has been criticised after it was reported he would chair a series of public meetings aimed at avoiding a no-deal Brexit.
The Most Rev Justin Welby is in talks to chair citizens’ assemblies at Coventry Cathedral next month, according to The Times.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith isn’t happy about the idea. “I generally don’t criticise the archbishop but he shouldn’t allow himself to be tempted into what is essentially a very political issue right now,” he told the newspaper.
Mark Francois, the vice-chairman of the European Research Group (ERG), doesn’t like it either and says people who voted to Leave will be upset.
The staunch Brexiteer said: “I suspect they will not be overjoyed by having it rubbed in by the Archbishop of Canterbury to boot.”
Lambeth Palace has not responded.
Richard Tice – the chairman of the Brexit Party – has called the opposition MPs trying to stop a no-deal exit “cowards”.
“MPs twice, when they voted to serve Article 50 back in 2017 and when they voted the Withdrawal Act to be given Royal Assent, they voted to leave on 29th March with or without a deal,” Tice told LBC.
“Twice MPs have voted for it and then for some inexplicable reason, when it came near to the date, they then bottled it like a bunch of cowards.”
Our correspondent Benjamin Kentish has more on the legal advice put together by the shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti on the proroguing of parliament.
She believes any attempt by the prime minister to shut down parliament next month would be open to legal challenges.
Boris Johnson suspending parliament to force no-deal Brexit would be 'greatest abuse of power in living memory'
Shadow attorney general says attempt to prorogue parliament to stop MPs blocking no-deal would likely be thrown out by courtsThe culture secretary Nicky Morgan has she did not think the suspension of parliament to pursue a no-deal Brexit was “on the cards”.
“I don’t think it will be necessary because I think, as the prime minister rightly has said, actually the role for parliamentarians now is to support the vote from 2016,” she said.
“Downing Street have made it very clear that claims of any sort of prorogation in September are utterly false and we are working very hard as a government to prepare for no-deal ... The prime minister has said he’s not attracted to these sorts of archaic conventions.”
Asked if she would resign in such an event, she added: “I’m not planning the ending of my cabinet career at this moment in time, because I like the rest of the cabinet am working very hard, both to support the government in its efforts to find a deal, but also to prepare for a no-deal if that is what ultimately has to happen.”
Tory MP Rory Stewart is back from his summer holidays.
The former leadership contender has not ruled out any future bid to head his party, but he has said his intention to vote against a no-deal Brexit will mark him as a “traitor” in the eyes of some members.
“What I’m about to do, which is to go back and vote against a no-deal Brexit, will mark me in the eyes of many of my colleagues and many party members as a traitor who has been trying to undermine the whole project. That will probably damage me for five or 10 years.
“So the question is one I have to think about very seriously. I’m 46 now and I have to think about the next 25 years of my life - how can I be most useful, what can I actually do for this country - and it may be that certainly the next 15, 20 years of my life trying to be prime minister may not be the most useful contribution I can make.”
The MP said the idea of leadership had become about “fairy tales” and the leader “the person that can produce the most absurd and extravagant fairy tale”.
Parliament is not the only place of bitter divides. The latest YouGov poll has found that 11 per cent of Remainers would describe themselves as “very upset” if their offspring tied the knot with a Brexiteer, while another 28 per cent said they would be “somewhat upset”.
Two in five remainers would be upset if child married leave voter, poll shows
Only 11 per cent say they would be upset if the tables were turnedThe SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford – expected to attend today’s strategy session of opposition MPs – has been talking bullishly about the next steps forward in parliament.
“You might remember there was a vote in parliament just before the summer recess, a majority of 41 against prorogation. That in a sense … is the kind of majority, at least the kind of majority that we can have to stop no deal.”
Ministers have known for years that the HS2 high-speed rail project was over budget and behind schedule, new documents have revealed.
According to the BBC, a 2016 letter from then transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin to then chancellor George Osborne showed costs had spiralled £1bn over budget.
Only last month the current transport secretary Nusrat Ghani claimed: “There is only one budget for HS2 and it is £55.7bn.”
Boris Johnson has said he is “marginally more optimistic” of a new Brexit deal after his G7 appearance and meetings with European leaders.
He will sent his “sherpa” David Frost, No 10’s chief Brexit to Brussels tomorrow to begin negotiating an alternative to the Irish backstop, according to The Daily Telegraph.
“Against our first impressions, [Johnson] wants a deal. He has personally moved the dial,” a senior European diplomat told The Times.
The problem? The EU wants “operational, realistic and acceptable” alternative to the backstop from the UK.
Jo Swinson is heading off to meet Jeremy Corbyn very soon. But the Lib Dem leader doesn’t sound like she’s becoming any more keen to have him as caretaker PM.
“Jeremy Corbyn is not going to be that person who can command that support right across the House of Commons – and I think in his heart of hearts he probably knows that.”
The independent MP Nick Boles is not expected to attend today’s strategy session of opposition parliamentarians. The former Tory MP said he will vote for a new Brexit deal – if Boris Johnson can get one.
