Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow (earlier), Jedidajah Otte (later)

Brexit: Varadkar says PM's plans 'do not fully meet agreed objectives' – as it happened

Evening summary

I am going to wrap the blog up now.

Here’s a recap of today’s events.

  • The British government published new proposals for a withdrawal agreement and sent it to the EU Brexit negotiators, who reacted frostily to the new ideas for a backstop in Northern Ireland.
  • The DUP, some hardline-Brexiter members of the European Research Group and a handful of Labour MPs have said they could support the proposal if the EU agreed to make it the basis of a new withdrawal agreement deal. Sinn Fein and opposition parties criticised the plans.
  • Prime minister Boris Johnson said in a speech at the Tory party conference the proposal was a “fair and reasonable compromise”, but reiterated that not accepting these proposals would inevitably result in a no deal exit from the bloc, and said he would not seek another extension.
  • European leaders said they were carefully examining the proposals, and the European Commission agreed to further talks.
  • But the Irish PM Leo Varadkar said the proposals “do not fully meet agreed objective of the backstop”.”
  • SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said the PM’s plan was “designed to fail”.
  • Downing Street No 10 confirmed it will seek another prorogation of parliament next Tuesday, ahead of a Queen’s Speech on October 14, which is expected to be compatible with the recent Supreme Court ruling about the last prorogation, which was ruled to have been “unlawful”.

That’s all from me, goodnight.

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon told Peston what she thinks of Jeremy Corbyn’s stance on a second referendum, as far as she can “work out what it is”:

Asked by Robert Peston how the UK is going to leave on October 31, Michael Gove said: “The most important thing about bridges is that you cross them when you come to them.”

Asked whether he was part of Boris Johnson’s “inner circle”, and privy to conversations about leaving without an extension at the end of the month, Gove said: “The conversations I have with the PM are confidential.”

This from Sky’s Lewis Goodall:

The Conservative MP John Whittingdale just told Peston that he hopes the EU will accept the proposals and that it was a “serious” one.

The Labour MP Melanie Onn said she would, if confronted with the choice of a no deal Brexit and this deal, vote for the deal.

The Lib Dem MP Sarah Wollaston said the proposal was “plain games from Boris Johnson” and that he didn’t have the numbers to get it through parliament.

Michael Gove told Peston “nobody” wanted a no deal outcome, including the PM.

Updated

Steve Baker, the ERG hardline Brexiter who rejected May’s deal three times, has stopped short of telling Emma Barnett on BBC Newsnight outright that he will support Boris Johnson’s new proposals for a withdrawal deal.

Baker said the PM had offered “a very dramatic change of destination” with his proposal. “His model is about [...] a free trade agreement as a destination,” Baker said.

“Boris Johnson is not going to choose to extend,” he added. “We are not going to extend.” When pressed, he said he was not willing to support another extension of even just a few more days and even if that meant a deal would pass parliament. He said he doesn’t “wish to know” how government will manage not seeking another extension despite the stipulations of the Benn bill, but said he had had a number of conversations with ministers who believe they have found a way to circumvent the law.

Baker said he was “very encouraged” by the DUP being on board with the government’s proposals.

He also said he was prepared to vote against the deal if it represented “Brexit in name only”, even if that meant having the Tory whip removed.

Labour MP Stephen Kinnock has signalled that he might support the PM’s proposals.

This from BBC Wales:

This from the Daily Mirror’s political editor Pippa Crerar:

The MP Mike Gapes, who left the Labour party in February to form what is now known as Change UK - the Independent Group, has described the government’s new withdrawal proposals as a “No Deal Scam” and a “Trojan Horse”.

The Independent’s John Rentoul reports that Michael Gove will tell Peston tonight that he believes the new proposal has “got a very good chance of getting through” the Commons if the EU accepts it.

Guy Verhofstadt, a member of the pro-European Renew Europe group in the EU parliament and chair of the European parliament’s Brexit steering group, said earlier that he would publish a statement tomorrow detailing ”what is not acceptable” about the PM’s proposals.

Buzzfeed’s Alex Wickham reports that aides of the PM have instructed Tory MPs via a memo on how to play the blame game if the EU rejects Johnson’s proposals.

An extract of the memo reads:

If the EU maintains the position that in effect Northern Ireland is never allowed to leave the Customs Union, then it is impossible to negotiate any deal - in which case there will be checks according to the Commission’s own logic. This will be seen by everybody as a crazy policy. We have offered a compromise to avoid this situation.

It ends with a statement hat will infuriate MPs who voted for the Benn bill, which has enshrined in law that the PM must seek another extension if no deal is passed by October 19:

Government policy is to oppose any further delay which would be extremely damaging for democratic politics and the economy.

The memo also states, however, that the government is “obviously happy to negotiate details”, adding to efforts by No 10 to distance itself from previous assertions that this proposal would be a “final” offer.

Updated

The Labour MP Ruth Smeeth has responded to reports that she and her colleague Gareth Snell would support the PM’s new deal if the EU agreed.

Both MPs represent Leave constituencies, but voted against Theresa May’s deal three times.

On September 10, a cross-party group of MPs, nicknamed “MPs for a Deal”, was launched in Westminster, aiming to bring back a version of May’s deal for another vote. The group also called on Boris Johnson to put a new deal before MPs by October 14.

Both Smeeth and Snell are members, and, like the rest of the group, desperate to avoid a no deal exit.

When May’s deal failed to pass parliament for the third time on March 29, only five Labour MP’s supported it. Stephen Kinnock, also a member of MPs for a Deal, claimed last month that up to 50 Labour MPs could back a deal at the next opportunity.

My colleague Heather Stewart has written a piece on Labour’s reaction to Boris Johnson’s proposal, in which she quotes shadow chancellor John McDonnell calling the PM’s plans “a cynical attempt to force through a no-deal Brexit”.

DUP leader Arlene Foster on why her party would support the PM’s proposed new deal:

Here an interesting tweet from Labour peer Stewart Wood on a clever rewording of “customs clearance centres” from the government.

Only yesterday, Boris Johnson had said that customs clearance centres would not be part of the government’s new withdrawal agreement proposals.

As expected, Boris Johnson is being accused of trying to avoid parliamentary scrutiny by proroguing parliament again, in this instance by Labour MP Liz McInnes:

Labour MP Hillary Benn has sharply criticised the PM’s proposals, and told Channel 4 that he does not think the plan upholds the principles of the Good Friday agreement.

This from the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg on the reaction of Leo Varadkar to the proposals:

The Labour MPs Ruth Smeeth and Gareth Snell have expressed support for Boris Johnson’s new withdrawal deal proposals, provided it would ever reach the Commons for a vote.

This from the BBC’s Nicholas Watt:

And this just in from the BBC’s Katya Adler, on reactions of EU leaders to the new proposals and possible developments over the comings days and weeks:

The BBC’s economics editor Faisal Islam has made an important point about the PM’s new withdrawal proposals and has flagged up that the government explicitly states in the new text that there is “no need” for a “level playing field” between the UK and the EU - a point that carried significance in previous negotiations, particularly in regard to the future relationship between the UK and the Euro bloc.

Updated

My colleagues Richard Partington and Rob Davies have written a story about the potentially “severe” damage the PM’s new backstop proposals could inflict on Northern Ireland’s economy.

Updated

Meanwhile, the Domestic Abuse Bill has passed its second reading in parliament without a vote, unanimously supported by MPs. A carry over motion was passed to ensure the bill does not collapse if parliament is prorogued again next week.

This from Jess Phillips MP:

This from Brigid Fowler, senior researcher at the Hansard Society:

For those of you wondering what the implications of another prorogation of parliament would be - it’s not entirely clear at this point.

What is for certain is that the Supreme Court judgment that ruled the last prorogation unlawful did not preclude the possibility of another, shorter prorogation, a detail the government is leaning on now.

Another prorogation on Tuesday would get the PM out of PMQs, which he will surely be criticised for by MPs.

This from ITV’s Robert Peston:

Here the full statement of Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar following a call with Boris Johnson:

The Taoiseach and the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson spoke by phone this evening, shortly before 6pm.

They discussed the latest proposals from the UK.

The Taoiseach said the proposals do not fully meet the agreed objectives of the backstop.

However, he indicated that he would study them in further detail, and would consult with the EU institutions, including the Task Force and our EU partners.

The Taoiseach expects to speak with European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and with other EU heads of Government over the coming days.

This will include the Swedish and Danish Prime Ministers, with whom the Taoiseach has bilateral meetings on Thursday and Friday in their capitals.

The Taoiseach said he wants to see a deal agreed and ratified, and will continue to work in unity with our EU partners to this end.

The Taoiseach and the Prime Minister agreed they would speak again next week.

This just in from my colleague Lisa O’Carroll, the Guardian’s Brexit correspondent:

Here the full statement of MSP and Constitutional Affairs secretary Michael Russell, in response to Boris Johnson’s latest Brexit proposals to the EU. (It echoes remarks Nicola Sturgeon made earlier this afternoon.)

It looks like these proposals are designed to fail and that the UK Government is intent on pursuing a ‘no deal’.

This plan does not appear to be a serious basis for negotiation. The UK Government is pulling back from previous undertakings and demanding the EU makes concessions on its fundamental principles, which it will not accept.

The number one priority now is to find a way to stop the disastrous ‘no deal’ outcome which the UK Government has demonstrated it favours.

The proposals published today also show that in the longer-term the UK Government wants a much more distant relationship with the EU with all the damage to jobs and living standards that will bring.

Parliament to be prorogued again next Tuesday

No 10 Downing Street has just confirmed that the government will seek another prorogation of parliament next Tuesday ahead of a new Queen’s Speech on October 14.

Here the statement in full:

The Prime Minister has been consistently clear that he wants to set out a fresh legislative programme in a Queen’s Speech. He therefore intends to request that the current session of Parliament be prorogued from the evening of Tuesday 8 October, with a Queen’s Speech on Monday 14 October.

The Government will seek to strengthen public services, improve infrastructure and connectivity across the country, tackle crime and enhance the integrity of the criminal justice system, while protecting our natural environment for the long-term.

The Prime Minister has today set out a fair and reasonable compromise for replacing the backstop and securing the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union with a deal. If a deal can be agreed at European Council, a central feature of the legislative programme will be to introduce a Withdrawal Agreement Bill and move at pace to secure its passage before 31 October.

These timings would mean Parliament is prorogued for the shortest time possible to enable all the necessary logistical preparations for a State Opening to be undertaken, including those done by the House Authorities.

Prime minister Boris Johnson said:

I want to deliver on the people’s priorities.

Through a Queen’s Speech, the government will set out its plans for the NHS, schools, tackling crime, investing in infrastructure and building a strong economy.

We will get Brexit done on 31 October and continue delivering on these vital issues.

Updated

Hello everyone.

I’ll be gathering some reactions to the plans for a new withdrawal agreement the British government has set out this afternoon.

While the DUP and the ERG’s hardline Brexiters, many of whom have voted down Theresa May’s deal three times, seem prepared to support Boris Johnson’s proposals, others are voicing scepticism.

This from the BBC’s Nick Eardley, who quotes Michael Russell here, member of the Scottish parliament for Argyll & Bute:

Downing Street has confirmed that Boris Johnson has spoken to Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, and Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach (PM) about his plan this after. He is due to hold further talks with his EU counterparts in the coming days.

That’s all from me for today. My colleague Jedidajah Otte is taking over now.

Here is the Guardian’s Politics Weekly podcast, with Rowena Mason, Heather Stewart, Lisa O’Carroll, Peter Walker, Kate Andrews and Ryan Shorthouse in Manchester talking about Boris Johnson’s Brexit offer to the EU, the Tory announcements at their conference, and what’s been happening in parliament.

This is from Manfred Weber, the German MEP who heads the centre-right EPP group in the European parliament.

Raoul Ruparel, an adviser to Theresa May on Europe when she was PM, has posted a useful Twitter thread on Boris Johnson’s plan that starts here.

And here is his conclusion.

Boris Johnson's new Brexit plan - Summary and analysis

Boris Johnson’s plan for an alternative to the backstop is set out in two documents that have been published - his four-page letter to Jean-Claude Juncker (pdf) and a seven-page explanatory note (pdf). There is also a legal text, but that has not been published.

Here are the main points.

  • Johnson has backed away from claims that this is a final, take-it-or-leave-it offer to the EU. No 10 was briefing this line last night, and some ministers used the term “final offer”. (See 10am.) But Johnson did not use this language in his conference speech. (See 12.56pm.) And in his letter to Juncker Johnson strongly hints that further changes might be acceptable. He says:

This letter sets out what I regard as a reasonable compromise: the broad landing zone in which I believe a deal can begin to take shape.

  • Johnson admits that his overall plan for Brexit is different to Theresa May’s, and that he wants the UK to end up less aligned to the EU than she proposed. He often implies that the only thing he disliked about her deal was the backstop. But in his letter to Juncker he says, more explicitly than he usually does, that the argument about the backstop is also an argument about Brexit’s final destination. He says:

The backstop acted as a bridge to a proposed future relationship with the EU in which the UK would be closely integrated with EU customs arrangements and would align with EU law in many areas. That proposed future relationship is not the goal of the current UK government. The government intends that the future relationship should be based on a free trade agreement in which the UK takes control of its own regulatory affairs and trade policy. In these circumstances the proposed “backstop” is a bridge to nowhere, and a new way forward must be found.

  • Johnson’s plan essentially replaces a UK-wide backstop with a Northern Ireland (NI) only backstop (which is what was originally planned before May proposed the UK-wide one to satisfy the DUP). Under May’s plan the whole of the UK would have stayed in the customs union, and NI would also have stayed bound by some single market (regulatory) rules. Johnson has reverted to a NI-only model, with two features: Northern Ireland staying in an all-island regulatory zone for goods, meaning a regulatory border down the Irish Sea; but Northern Ireland staying in UK customs territory, meaning a customs border in Ireland.
  • Northern Ireland would be in an all-island regulatory zone for goods including agrifoods. In his letter Johnson says:

For as long as it exists, this zone would eliminate all regulatory checks for trade in goods between Northern Ireland and Ireland by ensuring that goods regulations in Northern Ireland are the same as those in the rest of the EU.

  • The UK government has accepted that this would involve more checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain. The explanatory note says:

Building on the existing practice established to maintain the single epidemiological unit (SEU) on the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland would align with EU SPS rules, including those relating to the placing on the market of agri-food goods. Agrifood goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain would do so via a border inspection post or designated point of entry as required by EU law, building on the provisions that already exist to support the SEU. They would be subject to identity and documentary checks and physical examination by UK authorities as required by the relevant EU rules.

  • The Northern Ireland assembly would have to vote for Northern Ireland to stay in the all-island regulatory zone - before it took effect from January 2021 (when the transition period is due to end) and every four years afterwards. Johnson says in his letter.

This regulatory zone must depend on the consent of those affected by it. This is essential to the acceptability of arrangements under which part of the UK accepts the rules of a different political entity. It is fundamental to democracy. We are proposing that the Northern Ireland executive and assembly should have the opportunity to endorse those arrangements before they enter into force, that is, during the transition period, and every four years afterwards. If consent is not secured, the arrangements will lapse. The same should apply to the single electricity market, which raises the same principles.

This is an essential element of the proposal, but there are at least three potential drawbacks. First, there is no power-sharing executive at the moment, because it has been suspended for nearly three years. Second, this would give the DUP a veto; they would have the power to take NI out of the arrangements. (So would Sinn Fein, but they would not want to do that.) And, third, as the government briefing earlier revealed (see 4.16pm), it is not very clear what would happen if the NI assembly did vote to abandon the arrangement. After a year NI would default to “existing rules”, but that begs the question as to what new arrangements might be needed at the border.

  • Johnson accepts that goods going between Ireland and Northern Ireland would be subject to customs rules, but he claims there would be no need for checks at or near the border. In his letter he says:

We are proposing that all customs processes needed to ensure compliance with the UK and EU customs regimes should take place on a decentralised basis, with paperwork conducted electronically as goods move between the two countries, and with the very small number of physical checks needed conducted at traders’ premises or other points on the supply chain.

  • Johnson has admitted that the details of how these new customs rules would work have yet to be finalised. In his letter he goes on:

To enable this, we should both put in place specific, workable improvements and simplifications to existing customs rules between now and the end of the transition period, in the spirit of finding flexible and creative solutions to these particular circumstances.

The explanatory note goes even further, saying that although the arrangement would be based on existing customs legislation, the intention would be to amend that legislation. It says:

The intention is to make a series of simplifications and improvements to that legislation which will ensure that the commitment in the new protocol to ensure no checks or infrastructure at the border will be fulfilled by the end of the transition period.

This implies the EU would be expected to changes its customs rules to accommodate the UK’s wishes.

  • And he has also admitted that the customs arrangements for goods crossing the north/south Irish border would involve some physical checks. The explanatory note says goods would be imported or exported via a transit mechanism or a prior declaration mechanism. It does on:

Under either process the relevant customs authority will be notified that the consignment has entered their customs territory. Either mechanism would link the movement of the consignment over the border with the information provided to the customs authority, which could identify any goods requiring customs interventions. Physical checks – which would continue to be required only on a very small proportion of movements based on risk assessment – could then take place at traders’ premises or other designated locations which could be located anywhere in Ireland or Northern Ireland.

The note says there would be no need for checks to take place “at, or even near” the border. But the concern in Ireland is that customs officials and customs centres could become a target for terrorists, wherever they are.

  • Johnson proposes an investment package for Northern Ireland. In his letter he writes:

In order to support Northern Ireland through this transition, and in collaboration with others with an interest, this government proposes a New Deal for Northern Ireland, with appropriate commitments to help boost economic growth and Northern Ireland’s competitiveness, and to support infrastructure projects, particularly with a cross-border focus.

No 10 has not said how much money might be available to NI, but this plan reflects the idea floated by Sajid Javid, the chancellor, when he was a Tory leadership candidate, for a payout worth hundreds of millions to be used as a means of solving the border problem.

Boris Johnson after his conference speech
Boris Johnson after his conference speech Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/POOL/EPA

Updated

Juncker says PM's plan has 'some problematic points' but does not say no, and talks go on

Boris Johnson has spoken to Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president. Juncker has not rejected the PM’s plan outright, and in fact he has welcomed some aspects

Here is an extract from the commission’s statement about the talks.

President Juncker welcomed Prime Minister Johnson’s determination to advance the talks ahead of the October European Council and make progress towards a deal. He acknowledged the positive advances, notably with regards to the full regulatory alignment for all goods and the control of goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain. However, the president also noted that there are still some problematic points that will need further work in the coming days, notably with regards to the governance of the backstop. The delicate balance struck by the Good Friday agreement must be preserved. Another concern that needs to be addressed are the substantive customs rules. He also stressed that we must have a legally operational solution that meets all the objectives of the backstop: preventing a hard border, preserving north-south cooperation and the all-island economy, and protecting the EU’s single market and Ireland’s place in it.

President Juncker confirmed to Prime Minister Johnson that the commission will now examine the legal text objectively, and in light of our well-known criteria.

The EU wants a deal. We remain united and ready to work 24/7 to make this happen – as we have been for over three years now.

The UK and EU negotiating teams will meet in Brussels over the coming days.

Jean-Claude Juncker
Jean-Claude Juncker Photograph: François Lenoir/Reuters

Updated

From the Times’ Steven Swinford

John Redwood is one of the 28 Tory Brexiters who voted against Theresa May’s deal on all three occasions.

And here is Jeremy Corbyn telling the BBC that the proposal is “worse than Theresa May’s deal”.

A government official said Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan would create a single regulatory zone across Ireland for goods but not services – a suggestion that was previously rejected by the DUP.

The major difference between the new arrangements and the backstop is that there will now be a mechanism for consent allowing both the NI executive and assembly to endorse those arrangements, the official said.

Asked what would happen in regards to the border and border checks if Northern Ireland’s democratic institutions voted to end regulatory alignment with the EU, the official said: “That’s a discussion we will have closer to the time.”

The prime minister does not intend to extend the transition period but did not rule it out, the official said.

Crucially, the official was unable to say what would happen if Stormont or the executive rejects the new arrangements. It says in the documents that “if consent is withheld the arrangements will not enter into force or will lapse (as the case may be) after one year and arrangements will default to existing rules”.

The official also conceded that the deal could involve another tranche of money going to Northern Ireland. Asked about the mention of a “New Deal for Northern Ireland” mentioned in Johnson’s letter, the official said: “I wouldn’t dispute that the support is likely to have financial implications.”

Updated

Nicola Sturgeon says she thinks Johnson's Brexit plan 'designed to fail'

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, thinks Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan is “designed to fail”.

From ITV’s Robert Peston.

Updated

Corbyn says Johnson's Brexit plan 'not acceptable'

Jeremy Corbyn has told Sky News he thinks Boris Johnson’s proposal does not make it clear how the Good Friday agreement would be supported.

He also said it was “worse” than Theresa May’s proposal because it envisaged the UK diverging more from EU regulation.

He says Boris Johnson should come to the Commons tomorrow to explain his plan. He said Labour would be telling him the plan was “not acceptable”.

Jeremy Corbyn
Jeremy Corbyn. Photograph: Sky News

Updated

A DUP source said the main shift in the party’s position was not just its decision to accept a time-limited revised backstop, but that at the end of 2024 the process was “opt in” for the region rather than “opt out”.

This is because the Stormont executive and assembly will have a say on whether Northern Ireland stays in regulatory alignment with the EU/Ireland rules.

“It’s basically back to the joint report,” said the source in a reference to the December 2017 deal (pdf) between the UK and the EU, which created a backstop for the border in the event of no deal but at the same time guaranteed no barriers between the region and GB unless Stormont agreed.

Updated

According to a blogpost from Channel 4 News’ political editor, Gary Gibbon, Boris Johnson and his team are not hugely optimistic about the prospects of the EU agreeing to the No 10 plan. It is worth reading the whole thing, but here’s an extract.

The word from EU sources is that the new proposal doesn’t look like it’s going to make it into the famed “tunnel” – that’s the secret, detailed negotiating format reserved for EU endgame negotiations.

Instead there could be exploratory talks checking out how hard the UK lines are. Everyone is mindful of the blame game that will swiftly follow if talks fail and wants to minimise their exposure.

Simon Coveney has already today said on behalf of the Irish government that what they’ve seen doesn’t look like good news for the chances of a deal (Dublin was briefed yesterday by Sir Ed Lister, Boris Johnson’s adviser alongside No 10 recruit Prof John Bew, Attlee’s biographer) …

Visitors to the executive suites floor of the Midland hotel in Manchester, where the government’s top people held court this week, have been told there is already an expectation that we will soon be in the next phase of this crisis: Boris Johnson refusing to sign the letter requesting a Brexit delay as required by the Benn act.

No 10 sources say that they then expect that issue to go to the high court on 21 October and the supreme court a couple of days later. (The government’s favoured date for a general election is said to be 28 November – there is “a real keenness” not to have an election in December, No 10 sources have said.)

Updated

The Financial Times’ George Parker thinks the DUP might not have read the government’s plans properly.

The full text of the DUP statement (see 3.25pm) is here.

And here is an extract.

The DUP has always indicated that the United Kingdom must leave the EU as one nation and in so doing that no barriers to trade are erected within the UK.

This offer provides a basis for the EU to continue in a serious and sustained engagement with the UK government without risk to the internal market of the United Kingdom.

It will require changes to the draft withdrawal treaty and we welcome the fact that all sides now recognise that requirement in order to secure agreement.

These proposals would ensure that Northern Ireland would be out of the EU customs union and the single market as with the rest of the United Kingdom ...

Further work remains to be completed between the UK and the European Union but we would encourage all concerned to approach these discussions in a positive mind-set within a spirit of wanting to secure a negotiated withdrawal agreement that can allow everyone to focus on future relationships.

For our part that is the manner in which we will approach these issues over the coming period.

Updated

DUP gives Johnson's plan its provisional support

The DUP has just issued this statement. It is provisionally welcoming the plan, while stressing that “further work” remains to be done.

From the BBC’s Adam Fleming.

Updated

From the BBC’s Europe editor Katya Adler.

Updated

Here is the full text (pdf) of Boris Johnson’s letter to Jean-Claude Juncker explaining the details of his plan.

And here is a seven-page explanatory note (pdf) from the government.

Boris Johnson publishes his plan for alternative to backstop

Here is Boris Johnson’s letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, explaining the plans.

Updated

The government has just published its plan.

Updated

The absence of a “take it or leave it” demand in Boris Johnson’s conference speech has offered some hope in Brussels of a prime ministerial U-turn on what EU officials have described as unworkable proposals for the Irish border, my colleague Daniel Boffey reports.

From the BBC’s Jenny Hill

Boris Johnson is due to speaking to the European commission Jean-Claude Juncker about his Brexit proposals at around 4.15pm this afternoon. David Frost, the PM’s Brexit adviser, is also having talks with the EU’s Brexit negotiating team.

Earlier Mina Andreeva, the commission’s chief spokeswoman, said:

We understand that we will receive a text from the United Kingdom later today and once received we will examine it objectively and in light of our well-known criteria. We will listen very carefully to the United Kingdom.

Andreeva said she would not “pre-empt any reaction” from the EU before senior figures had a chance to study the details. Speaking at a briefing she said:

We want to enter into constructive discussions, so I will certainly not pre-empt any reaction here before even having received the text.

The EU wants a deal. We think an orderly withdrawal is far more preferable than a no-deal scenario.

And in order for there to be a deal, we must have a legally operable solution that meets all the objectives of the backstop preventing a hard border, preserving the north-south co-operation and the all-Ireland economy, and protecting the EU’s single market and Ireland’s place in it.

Varadkar says what he has heard about UK Brexit plans so far 'not promising'

Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach (prime minister) has said what he has heard about the UK’s Brexit plans is “not promising” and “does not appear to form the basis for an agreement”. He said:

What I can say is from the leaks, it’s not promising, and does not appear to form the basis for an agreement, but we’ll keep talking but I’d want to see them in writing first.

I hope to speak to the prime minister later this evening. I expect him to talk me through the proposals, and for me to ask him to listen to the voice of the people of Northern Ireland. As prime minister he must act with impartiality and listen to all the parties of Northern Ireland, and the people of Northern Ireland, who voted against Brexit and do not want to see customs posts on the border.

It will be necessary to have checks, but we believe they should be done at ports and airports, but not along the 500km border. That’s our position and makes sense to us.

No one on the island of Ireland wants checks at the border. Why would any British government want to force that on Irish people, north and south?

Varadkar said he did not hear Boris Johnson deliver his speech this morning. But Varadkar also said this, implying he had read or heard what Johnson had to say about how if the UK and the EU failed to agree that would be because of a “technical” disagreement about customs:

It’s much more than technical, it’s deeply political, legal, and the technical aspects are a small part of that.

Although Varadkar’s comments sound negative, here he has just been focusing on the unacceptability of customs checks at or on the border. This may be significant because Johnson is stressing that the checks he envisages would take place elsewhere. (See 11.52am.)

Leo Varadkar
Leo Varadkar. Photograph: Brian Lawless/PA

Updated

From RTE

Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, did not get the embrace he was expecting from his son after the speech, this clip shows. Bloomberg’s Robert Hutton thinks Stanley might have been getting the Falstaff treatment.

Updated

Dominic Raab v Diane Abbott at PMQs

This is what PA Media has filed about PMQs, which featured Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, standing in for the PM, and Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, standing in for the leader of the opposition.

Tory MPs need to learn how to treat women “less cruelly”, Diane Abbott has claimed during a landmark PMQs

The shadow home secretary raised the issue of abuse aimed at MPs, abortion rights in Northern Ireland, the so-called “rape clause” connected to tax credits and the plight of workers at Thomas Cook, before accusing the government of letting women down.

Her appearance at the dispatch box meant she became the first black person to lead their party at PMQs.

She faced Dominic Raab at the session, with the pair deputising for their leaders as Boris Johnson was delivering his keynote speech at the Conservative conference in Manchester.

Their exchanges included lighthearted moments, too, as Raab initially got to his feet too early after believing Abbott had finished her first question.

Abbott later tried to ask a seventh question – one beyond the allotted six – before being stopped by the Speaker, John Bercow.

The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington began by asking Raab to apologise for remarks made by the Johnson last week after he said “humbug” in response to concerns raised by Labour’s Paula Sherriff about threats received by MPs.

Abbott added Sherriff had received “four further death threats” since her exchange with the PM, noting some again quoted Johnson’s words.

Raab did not apologise on behalf of the PM but called for a “zero-tolerance” approach to any abuse or threats against MPs.

Abbott also highlighted billboards put up in Walthamstow, east London, targeting the Labour MP Stella Creasy for her support of decriminalising abortion in Northern Ireland.

Abbott later said: “Whether it’s women members in this house, women claiming benefits, women’s reproductive rights in Northern Ireland, and the failure to support women workers at Thomas Cook, isn’t this a government letting women down?”

Raab replied: “On this side of the house we’re proud to be on our second female prime minister.”

Updated

Boris Johnson's speech - verdict from Twitter commentariat

And here is some comment on Boris Johnson’s speech from journalists and commentators.

From the BBC’s Nick Robinson.

From the Daily Mirror’s Jason Beattie.

From Sky’s Lewis Goodall.

From ITV’s Robert Peston.

From the Manchester Evening News’ Jennifer Williams.

From the Guardian’s Rafael Behr.

From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh.

From Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan.

From the Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff.

From the Telegraph’s Peter Foster.

From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.

From Politico Europe’s Emilio Casalicchio.

Updated

From the BBC’s Nick Eardley.

Updated

Boris Johnson's speech - Snap verdict

Most senior politicians take speech-giving seriously, and important moments in their careers are defined by the speeches they gave at the time. With David Cameron, for example, there was the “hug a hoodie” speech that set out his vision for liberal Conservatism, or the 2013 Bloomberg speech that announced a referendum on Europe. The highlights of Theresa May’s career include her “nasty party” speech as Tory chairman, her speech attacking the Police Federation, and her 2016 conference speech as PM setting Britain on course of a hard Brexit.

But Boris Johnson is different. He mostly just gives the same speech every time, and we heard it again today – a jolly confection of jokes meandering around the theme of how Conservatism should be about combining the benefits of a market economy with strong public services, with copious references to his time as London mayor. Even the jokes were old: dispatching Jeremy Corbyn into outer space, SNP leaders having fish surnames, and the line about wind turbines – although, when Johnson said today that “only a few years ago people were saying that … wind turbines would not pull the skin off a rice pudding”, he failed to mention that one of the people using that line was Johnson himself. Essentially, it was just an extended version of one of his Telegraph columns.

On the plus side, Johnson’s Telegraph columns were always worth a read; he can deliver an entertaining speech and the whole performance was more enjoyable than having to listen to Theresa May. People respond well to leaders exuding optimism, not misery, and Johnson certainly manages this. He is not so much a glass half-full sort of person as a glass full-to-overflowing.

But, on the down side, was there any substance to support this inverted pyramid of puff? This was not a speech that made any sort of serious argument about the challenges facing the country, and it did not have anything new to say about domestic policy at all. Surprisingly, given that an election is expected soon, it did not even try to make a very robust case as to why the country would be better off for the next five years under the Conservatives, beyond claiming that Labour would prolong Brexit “chaos” (see 11.33am) – a claim, that in the current circumstances, you would have thought the Tories might have thought twice about wanting to revive.

The most important passage was probably the one summarising Johnson’s Brexit offer to the EU. (See 11.52am.) In a line that sounded desperate, or mildly threatening, Johnson suggested that if the EU rejected his plan, that would just be a “technical” matter relating to “the exact nature of future customs checks”. Doubtless EU leaders will see it very differently. But they might take some consolation from the fact that, although No 10 was briefing last night that the plan being put forward today would be the UK’s “final offer”, Johnson did not use those words in his speech.

Boris Johnson delivering his speech.
Boris Johnson delivering his speech. Photograph: James McCauley/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

Boris Johnson is now leaving the conference hall. He is shaking hands on the way out. Carrie Symonds, his partner, joined him on the way out, but she did not take to the stage.

Updated

Johnson is now on his peroration.

This country has long been a pioneer. We inaugurated the steam age, the atomic age, the age of the genome. We led the way in parliamentary democracy, in female emancipation. And when the whole world had succumbed to a different fashion, this country and this party pioneered ideas of free markets and privatisation that spread across the planet.

Every one of them was controversial, every one of them was difficult, but we have always had the courage to be original, to do things differently, and now we are about to take another giant step to do something no one thought we could do.

To reboot our politics, to relaunch ourselves into the world, and to dedicate ourselves again to that simple proposition that we are here to serve the democratic will of the British people.

And if we do that with optimism and confidence then I tell you we will not go wrong. Let’s get on with sensible moderate one nation but tax-cutting Tory government, and figuratively if not literally, let us send Jeremy Corbyn into orbit where he belongs.

Let’s get Brexit done. Let’s bring our country together.

Updated

Johnson repeats his attack on Corbyn for wanting to delay Brexit.

It has become absolutely clear that he is determined now to frustrate Brexit

What do we want and need? Do we want more dither and delay

Do we want to spend another billion pounds a month that could be going on the NHS?

Let’s get Brexit done

Johnson is setting out the choice facing the country at the election.

When the chlorinated chickens waddle from the hencoop where they are hiding, that is the vision of the country that we will put to the people. And the choice is clear.

We put up wages – with the biggest expansion of the living wage for a generation; Corbyn would put up taxes for everyone.

We back our superb armed forces around the world; Corbyn has said he wants them disbanded.

We want an Australian-style points based system for immigration; Corbyn says he doesn’t even believe in immigration controls.

If Jeremy Corbyn were allowed into Downing Street, he would whack up your taxes, he would foul up the economy, he would rip up the alliance between Britain and the USA, and he would break up the UK.

We cannot allow it to happen.

Updated

Johnson turns to life after Brexit.

We can ban the shipment of live animals. And yes, we will have those free trade deals. We already have some astonishing exports. Just in the last few months I have seen an Isle of Wight shipbuilder that exports vast leisure catamarans to Mexico. We export Jason Donovan CDs to North Korea. We exported Nigel Farage to America – though he seems to have come back.

And across the world there are countries that are yearning to engage with us.

Updated

Johnson jokes about the SNP too.

We will take back control of our fisheries and the extraordinary marine wealth of Scotland.

And it is one of the many bizarre features of the SNP that in spite of being called names like Salmond and Sturgeon they are committed to handing back those fish to the control of the EU.

We want to turbo-charge the Scottish fishing sector; they would allow Brussels to charge for our turbot.

Updated

This leads to a joke about Jeremy Corbyn

We are building two space ports, one in Sutherland and one in Newquay. Soon we will be sending missions to the heavens – geostationary satellites.

Conference, can you think of anyone who could trial the next mission?

Can you think which communist cosmonaut to coax into the cockpit?

Updated

Johnson turns this into an argument about confidence.

I do not for one moment doubt the patriotism of people on all sides of this Brexit argument but I am fed up with being told that our country can’t do something when I believe passionately that it can.

Thanks to British technology there is a place in Oxfordshire that could soon be the hottest place in the solar system – the tokamak fusion reactor in Culham – and if you go there you will learn that this country has a global lead in fusion research.

And that they are on the verge of creating commercially viable miniature fusion reactors for sale around the world, delivering virtually unlimited zero-carbon power.

Now I know they have been on the verge for some time. It is a pretty spacious kind of verge. But remember, it was only a few years ago when people were saying that solar power would never work in cloudy old Britain. And that wind turbines would not pull the skin off a rice pudding.

Well, there are some days when wind and solar are delivering more than half our energy needs.

We can do it. We can beat the sceptics.

Updated

Johnson says he wants to get more young people on the housing ladder. He urges Tories to back Shaun Bailey, the party’s candidate for London mayor.

And he turns to technology.

In the West Midlands we are seeing a 21st-century industrial revolution in battery technology. One in five of the electric cars sold in Europe is now made in the UK and that is before we have begun Andy Street’s vision of a West Midlands metro.

With infrastructure education and technology we will drive up the productivity of this country and bring it together.

Updated

Johnson says he wants to expand superfast broadband for the same reason.

And it is for exactly the same reason – to increase connectivity and liveability - that we are putting in gigabit broadband, spreading across the country like tendrils of superinformative vermicelli.

Because that is the way to unite the country, to spread opportunity, to bring the country together.

Updated

Johnson says the government will invest in youth services and in education. Education funding is being levelled up.

The government will invest in transport, he says. And he turns to buses. (See 8.46am.)

And yes I admit I am a bit of a bus nut. I confess that I like to make and paint inexact models of buses with happy passengers inside.

But it is not just because i am a bus nut that we want to expand bus transport with clean, green buses and contactless payment by card or phone.

a good bus service can make all the difference to your job. To your life. To your ability to get to the doctor. To the liveability of your town or your village. And to your ability to stay there and have a family there and start a business there.

Updated

Back in Manchester, Johnson says to spread opportunity the government must keep people safe.

We are committing now to rolling up the evil county lines drugs gangs that predate on young kids and send them to die in the streets to feed the cocaine habits of the bourgeoisie and we will succeed.

And yes, we will be tough on crime. We will make sure that the police have the legal powers and the political backing to use stop and search because it may be controversial. But believe me that when a young man is going equipped with a bladed weapon there is nothing kinder or more loving or more life-saving you can do than ask him to turn out his pockets.

Updated

If you want to watch PMQs, there is a live feed here:

Updated

Johnson says London is a model for a place with “dynamic enterprise culture and great public services”.

Updated

Johnson says the Tories must speak up for capitalism.

How we are going to grow the UK economy. I will tell you that it is by raising the productivity of the whole of the UK not with socialism, not with deranged and ruinous plans borrowed from the playbook of Bolivarian revolutionary Venezuela, but by creating the economic platform for dynamic free-market capitalism.

Yes, you heard it right – capitalism – and when did you last hear a Tory leader talk about capitalism?

We are the party of the NHS precisely because we are the party of capitalism.

Updated

Johnson says Tories 'are the party of the NHS'

Johnson says the Tories “are the party of the NHS”.

In the next 10 years we will build 40 new hospitals in the biggest investment in hospital infrastructure for a generation. Because after 70 years of the existence of the NHS – 44 of them under a Conservative government – it is time for us to say loud and clear …

We are the party of the NHS.

Updated

Johnson makes the case for building and refurbishing hospitals.

On Monday I went to the North Manchester general hospital and I saw the incredible work they are doing with reconstructive maxillo-facial surgery on people who only a decade ago would have been permanently disfigured by their traumas and for whom hope and confidence is so important.

I talked to the patients and every one of them was bursting with praise for the staff and their energy and devotion, but, conference, that fantastic hospital was built in 1876 to serve the workhouse.

We were walking down long, narrow Nightingale wards that were designed by the pioneer of nursing, and, as one of the managers told me, that asking those professionals to work in that environment is like asking a Premiership footballer to play on a ploughed field.

And so I was proud to tell them under this government we will totally rebuild that hospital.

Updated

Johnson says the values he learned from his mother are embodied in the NHS.

The NHS is holy to the people of this country because of the simple beauty of its principle that it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, but when you are sick the whole country figuratively gathers at your bedside and does everything it can to make you well again and everybody pays to ensure that you have the best doctors and the best nurses and the most effective treatments known to medical science.

And after 70 years the results are – on the whole –amazing. When I was a kid the word cancer was a death knell and heart attack was a terrifying thought. Well, we are slowly defeating the legions of disease.

This country has seen the fastest falls in breast cancer in Europe

Updated

Johnson turns to his family.

You are entitled to ask yourselves about my core principles and the ideals that drive me and are going to drive me as your prime minister.

I am going to follow the example of my friend Saj. I am going to quote that supreme authority in my family -– my mother (and by the way for keen students of the divisions in my family you might know that I have kept the ace up my sleeve – my mother voted leave).

He says he learnt important lessons from his mother.

My mother taught me to believe strongly in the equal importance, the equal dignity, the equal worth of every human being on the planet and that may sound banal but it is not.

Updated

Johnson says if the EU does not accept his offer, the alternative will be a no-deal Brexit.

And I hope very much that our friends understand that and compromise in their turn. Because if we fail to get an agreement because of what is essentially a technical discussion of the exact nature of future customs checks, when that technology is improving the whole time, then let us be in no doubt that the alternative is no deal.

That is not an outcome we want. It is not an outcome we seek at all. But let me tell you this, conference, it is an outcome for which we are ready.

Updated

Johnson says there would be no checks 'at or near border' under his Brexit plan

Johnson says he is tabling Brexit plans in Brussels.

Today in Brussels we are tabling what I believe are constructive and reasonable proposals

Which provide a compromise for both sides

We will under no circumstances have checks at or near the border in Northern Ireland

We will respect the peace process and the Good Friday agreement

And by a process of renewable democratic consent by the executive and assembly of Northern ireland

we will go further and protect the existing regulatory arrangements for farmers and other businesses on both sides of the border

And at the same time we will allow the UK - whole and entire - to withdraw from the EU, with control of our own trade policy from the start.

And to protect the union

And yes this is a compromise by the UK

Johnson claims that the Tories, and the British, are pro-European.

It cannot be stressed too much that this is not an anti-European party and it is not an anti-European country.

We love Europe. We are European. At least, “I love Europe,” Johnson says.

After what seems like a moment’s hesitation, the audience applaud.

Updated

Johnson is back to the case for getting Brexit done.

I am afraid that after three and a half years people are beginning to feel that they are being taken for fools. They are beginning to suspect that there are forces in this country that simply don’t want Brexit delivered at all.

And if they turn out to be right in that suspicion then I believe there will be grave consequences for trust in democracy. Let’s get Brexit done on 31 October.

Let’s get it done because of the opportunities that Brexit will bring, not just to take back control of our money and our borders and our laws. To regulate differently and better, and to take our place as a proud and independent global campaigner for free trade.

Let’s get it done because delay is so pointless and expensive. Let’s get it done because we need to build our positive new partnership with the EU.

Updated

Johnson uses the pre-briefed passage about how 2020 would be a year of chaos under Labour. (See 11.33am.)

Johnson turns to Labour - and he revives his claim that Jeremy Corbyn had a call for general election removed from his Labour conference speech. (Corbyn has denied this.)

Last week Jeremy Corbyn had a number of damaging and retrograde ideas in his speech

he wants a 4 day week - which would slash the wages of people on low incomes

he wants to ban private schools and expropriate their property

Even though it would cost the taxpayer seven billion to educate the kids

he wants to stamp out excellence in schools by banning Ofsted

the inspectors who ensure that schools are safe for our children

but he had one good idea

- he had a whole paragraph repeating what he has said every week for the last three years

he wants an election now – or that is what he was going to say, poor fellow

the only trouble is that the paragraph was censored by Tohn McDonnell or possibly Keir Starmer

so we have the astonishing spectacle of the leader of the opposition being prevented by his colleagues from engaging in his constitutional function which is to try to remove me from office

and in this age of creative litigation I am surprised that no one has yet sued him for breach of contract

Johnson restates his determination to get Brexit done.

What people want, what leavers want,what remainers want, what the whole world wants – is to be calmly and sensibly done with the subject, and to move on.

And that is why we are coming out of the EU on 31 October, come what may.

Conference, let’s get Brexit done.

Updated

Johnson says voters have more say over I’m a Celebrity than they do over Brexit.

And the sad truth is that voters have more say over I’m a Celebrity than they do over this House of Commons.

Which refuses to deliver Brexit, refuses to do anything constructive and refuses to have an election just at the moment when voters are desperate for us to focus on their priorities we are continuing to chew the supermasticated subject of Brexit.

Updated

Johnson is now talking about parliament - and reviving one of his favourite metaphors.

There is one part of the British system that seems to be on the blink. If parliament were a laptop, then the screen would be showing the pizza wheel of doom. If parliament were a school, Ofsted would be shutting it down. If parliament were a reality TV show, the whole lot of us would have been voted out of the jungle by now.

But at least we could have watched the speaker being forced to eat a kangaroo testicle.

Updated

I will be posting quotes from the text distributed by CCHQ as Boris Johnson speaks.

But, despite being an accomplished writer, he does not seem to believe in punctuation when writing speeches. Normally I would tidy it up, but there won’t be time.

Johnson says he has been PM for only 70 days.

But he has seen so many things that have given him hope.

I have seen so many things that give cause for hope. Hospitals that are finally getting the investment to match the devotion of the staff, schools where standards of reading are rising through the use of synthetic phonics, police colleges where idealistic young men and women are enrolling in large numbers to fight crime across the country, shipyards in Scotland that are building superb modern type 26 frigates for sale around the world – and every one of those high-wage, high-skill jobs in shipbuilding is a testament to the benefits of belonging to the United Kingdom.

Updated

Boris Johnson starts.

He says he thinks some members may have been “peppered with abuse” as they arrived.

If they were, they should not worry. Conservatives are not abashed by that, he says.

He starts with a tribute to his predecessor, Theresa May. The party will continue with her work tackling domestic violence and modern slavery.

Boris Johnson is arriving in the hall, shaking hands as he heads towards the stage, including shaking hands with members of his cabinet.

The lights are down, and a video is now being played. It has featured a baby and a puppy, among other things. There is a recording of Boris Johnson talking about taking first steps, in relation to Brexit.

He says the Tories will restore trust in democracy, and get Brexit done.

Boris Johnson to say 2020 would be year of 'chaos' and two referendums if Corbyn able to delay Brexit

Here is an extract from Boris Johnson’s speech released overnight.

Voters are desperate for us to focus on their other priorities -– what people want, what leavers want, what remainers want, what the whole world wants – is to move on.

That is why we are coming out of the EU on 31 October. Let’s get Brexit done -– we can, we must and we will.

Corbyn wants to turn the whole of 2020 – which should be a great year for this country – into the chaos and cacophony of two more referendums – a second referendum on Scottish independence, even though the people of Scotland were promised that the 2014 vote would be a once in a generation vote, and a second referendum on the EU, even though we were promised that the 2016 vote would be a once in a generation vote.

Can you imagine another three years of this? That is the Corbyn agenda – stay in the EU beyond 31 October, paying a billion pounds a month for the privilege, followed by years of uncertainty for business and everyone else.

My friends, I am afraid that after three and a half years people are beginning to feel that they are being taken for fools. They are beginning to suspect that there are forces in this country that simply don’t want Brexit delivered at all. And if they turn out to be right in that suspicion then I believe there will be grave consequences for trust in democracy.

Let’s get Brexit done on 31 October so in 2020 our country can move on.

Updated

Boris Johnson's conference speech

Boris Johnson will be addressing the Tory conference shortly.

Cabinet ministers have been coming into the hall to take their seats.

In an interview with Emma Barnett on Radio 5 Live Liz Truss, the international trade secretary, said that if the UK did not agree a Brexit deal with the EU, it would leave on 31 October anyway.

Asked how that would be possible given that the Benn Act requires the PM to request an extension in these circumstance, Truss admitted that she did now know. She said:

I don’t know the precise details of exactly what we will do, and even if I did I wouldn’t tell you.

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, has signalled that she is content with the Brexit plans drawn up by Boris Johnson. Speaking to the BBC, she declined to say if she had seen the proposals in detail. But she continued:

What we are doing with his prime minister is working very closely with him and we will continue to work closely with him over the next couple of hours and days, and I hope we do get a deal that is acceptable to the European Union and one that is good for the whole of the United Kingdom.

What people need to remember is after the withdrawal agreement and the backstop came out, what was happening was Northern Ireland was going to be in a different customs union, we were going to be in separate regulations without any democratic say.

I think it is important that we now try and get a deal that is good for Northern Ireland as well as the rest of the UK.

The backstop has always been identified as the huge stumbling block. Let’s fix it and let’s get a deal.

Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, at the Tory conference.
Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, at the Tory conference. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Updated

Scottish secretary says claims no-deal Brexit will lead to serious disruption at ports are 'absolute nonsense'

At the Conservative party conference, Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, has described suggestions that a no-deal Brexit would lead to severe delays at cross-channel ports as “absolute nonsense”. Responding to a question during a Q&A session a few minutes ago, he said:

I don’t subscribe to this theory that very much different is going to happen. I think the ports will all continue to flow much as they do now, to be honest. The idea that suddenly we’re not going to get medicines in, or all these other ridiculous scaremongering stories – I can’t see why.

Hauliers have to finance their trucks and pay for them. That means the wheels have to keep turning. Ferry companies have to finance their ferries. The ferries keep flowing. The ports employ people. They need the income from traffic going through the ports. This idea everything is going to seize up, and there’s going to be a disaster, especially in the event of a no-deal Brexit, I think is absolute nonsense. Business will find a way through.

Tory members applauded him warmly.

Jack’s comment did not take account of the fact that his own government has spent billions preparing for a no-deal Brexit, with the Department for Transport making plans to spend up to £300m on freight capacity to compensate for possible gridlock at cross-Channel ports. It also did not square with what the chief executive of the port of Dover told a conference fringe meeting yesterday about how, based on the government’s own assessment of how a no-deal Brexit would disrupt traffic at the port, Dover would lose trade worth £1bn a week for some months.

Jack is MP for Dumfries and Galloway, which includes the port of Cairnryan. He said he hoped it would have more trade with Ireland going through it after Brexit.

From left: Alun Cairns, the Welsh secretary, Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland secretary, Julian Smith, and Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, on a panel at the Conservative conference
From left: Alun Cairns, the Welsh secretary, Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland secretary, Julian Smith, and Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, on a panel at the Conservative conference.
 Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

Updated

The queue to enter the hall at the Tory conference in Manchester
The queue to enter the hall at the Tory conference in Manchester Photograph: Neil Hall/EPA

In his speech to the Tory conference, Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland secretary, announced some growth deal funding for Northern Ireland. He said:

This morning I announced that the people and businesses of Mid-South West Northern Ireland and Causeway Coast and Glens will benefit from £163m of UK government funding, supporting economic growth, job creation and investment in local projects. This means that every part of Northern Ireland now benefits from growth deal funding.

His speech hardly mentioned Brexit.

Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland secretary, speaking at the Tory conference.
Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland secretary, speaking at the Tory conference. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

These are from RTE’s Europe editor, Tony Connelly.

Section 10 of the European Union Withdrawal Act 2018 – which prohibits any “border arrangements” between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland – will cause a problem for the government’s latest Brexit plan, the businesswoman and legal campaigner Gina Miller has warned.

Speaking at a breakfast meeting at the London law firm Bird & Bird, Miller said there could be many more “legal twists and turns” before the Brexit crisis is resolved.

Quoting from section 10 of the act, Miller – who has won two landmark cases at the supreme court against the government – said it could prove a problem for the government.

Section 10 outlaws anything that would “diminish any form of north-south cooperation provided for by the Belfast agreement (as defined by section 98 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998)”.

It also bans any move to “create or facilitate border arrangements between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after exit day which feature physical infrastructure, including border posts, or checks and controls, that did not exist before exit day and are not in accordance with an agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU.” It has been raised in Northern Ireland Brexit court cases.

Miller also revealed she is frequently approached by EU citizens who thank her for her legal cases but tell her: ‘Goodbye. I’m leaving. We have been here for 20 years but because we don’t have the right papers for filling out a complicated process, [we’re off].’ Miller added:

I’m absolutely disgusted that this is something that parliament, which I had fought so hard to come back, has not been talking about. We must stop these divisions.

Section 10 of the EU Withdrawal Act
Section 10 of the EU Withdrawal Act Photograph: Withdrawal Act 2019 on Irish border infrastructure

Updated

Boris Johnson’s final “take it or leave it” Brexit offer to Brussels is in danger of being dead on arrival after it was rounded on by government and opposition parties in Ireland, my colleagues Lisa O’Carroll and Daniel Boffey report.

Philippe Lamberts, co-leader of the Greens-European Free Alliance in the European parliament and a member of the parliament’s Brexit steering group, told Sky News that the EU had yet to see what the UK was offering, but that he was worried by the government’s claim it was a “take it or leave it” offer.

He said he saw “major problems” in the plans as leaked to the Telegraph. He said:

The British government cannot seriously expect us to basically destroy the single market. That is what would happen if for instance, as Stephen Barclay [the Brexit secretary] suggested, we should keep a 500km border open into the single market.

He also said he did not think Boris Johnson was committed to getting a deal anyway. He explained:

My sense, but it is only my guess, is that what he is seeking is a no-deal Brexit, but with the ability of putting the blame on the EU27. That is consistent with the way he has behaved, with his public statements, the way he has antagonised both the EU27 and his own parliament. He doesn’t seem like a person who genuinely seeks a deal.

This is what Brandon Lewis, the Home Office minister, told Newsnight last night about this being the UK’s “final offer”. Lewis said:

The offer the prime minister will make is the offer he is going to make to the European Union. We will publish it tomorrow. That is our final offer.

Philippe Lamberts
Philippe Lamberts Photograph: Sky News

People queuing outside the Manchester convention centre to get into the conference hall where Boris Johnson will be speaking later.
People queuing outside the Manchester convention centre to get into the conference hall where Boris Johnson will be speaking later. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

From Jon Stone, the Independent’s Europe correspondent.

Updated

These are from Nicolai von Ondarza, an EU specialist at SWP, a German foreign affairs thinktank.

Last night, Mujtaba Rahman, a former European commission official who provides well-regarded Brexit analysis for the Eurasia consultancy, sent out a briefing revising down his assessment of the chances of the UK and the EU agreeing a deal to 10%. Previously he had put the chances at 25%. He thinks there is now an 80% chance of an election, and a 10% chance of no deal.

Here is an extract from his briefing.

London admits that Boris has scrapped Theresa May’s pledge that there could be no border “infrastructure” or “related checks and controls”. But government sources are adamant that its final proposals will mean “no new infrastructure anywhere”. However, they admit the UK is still pursuing minimal, non-intrusive “behind-the-border checks” using “existing processes and greater market-surveillance cooperation.”

They hope the UK blueprint will be good enough to persuade EU to enter the negotiating “tunnel” in the run-up to the European council, without further leaks that could scupper a deal. Remarkably, one senior minister said: “It will be better than they [the EU] expect … The hope is that both sides then move in concert and we get over the line.” Johnson wants to keep the Democratic Unionist party onboard and some ministers believe that could yet lead to the re-emergence of an old idea – time-limit to the backstop– to pave a way for a deal. Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, has signalled possible support for the move. However, the Irish remain opposed to a time-limit, while the Irish and Brussels’ reception to the government’s plans so far has been very hostile …

In Brussels, there remain grave doubts about whether Boris is serious about a deal. Indeed, the row over the leaked plan could be seen as the start of the “blame game” that would follow a failure to reach agreement. In Johnson’s planned “people versus parliament” election, Brussels is cast in a “bad guy” role alongside MPs.

Updated

This is what Patrick O’Donovan, an Irish government minister, told BBC Newsnight last night about the UK government’s plans for an alternative to the backstop, as reported by the Telegraph. He said:

The Good Friday agreement deserves a proper insurance policy, not over a period of time but indefinitely. Ireland’s position on the common market and the customs union has to be maintained, and there can be no return to any hard border.

The people of Ireland, and the island of Ireland deserve a lot better than that.

Updated

The slogan at the Conservative party conference
The slogan at the Conservative party conference Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

In an interview on Radio 4’s Today programme, James Cleverly, the Conservative party chairman, said it was time for the EU to show flexibility in the Brexit talks. He said:

The way negotiations work is both parties need to be flexible and the UK, over the last 18 months or so including the proposals that the former prime minister brought forward, has been pragmatic and it has been flexible and will in the future.

The UK has been flexible, but a negotiation means both parties need to be flexible. What we need to see now is the EU being flexible.

If they can be pragmatic and flexible, we can get a deal done and leave with a deal on 31 October but we are going to leave on 31 October whatever [happens].

James Cleverly.
James Cleverly. Photograph: James Veysey/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

These are from Mark Devenport, the BBC’s Northern Ireland political editor.

Irish deputy PM says he is 'not too encouraged' by reports of Johnson's backstop offer

Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister and deputy prime minister, has said this morning he does not think there will be a Brexit deal if the UK insists on customs checks taking place somewhere on the island of Ireland. As Sky News reports, speaking to journalists this morning, Coveney said he had not yet seen the UK plan, and wanted to wait until he had read it before delivering a verdict. But he continued:

Certainly, from what we’re reading this morning, I would not be too encouraged by it. Essentially if [Boris Johnson] is proposing customs checks on the island of Ireland, then I don’t think that is going to be the basis of an agreement. But let’s wait and see the detail of that before we make a full judgment on it.

Simon Coveney
Simon Coveney Photograph: Sky News

Updated

Boris Johnson's plan for alternative to backstop gets initial frosty reception from EU

Boris Johnson will wrap up the Conservative party conference in Manchester later this morning with the traditional leader’s keynote speech. This week he has sounded desperate to talk about almost anything other than Brexit, and the Tories have been meticulously preparing a domestic policy agenda intended to neutralise Labour attack lines ahead of a general election. (They have even been banging on about bus services, which must be a first for any Conservative party conference – a belated recognition that Jeremy Corbyn has correctly identified this as an issue that is very important to voters outside London.) But the speech coincides with the latest Brexit talks with the EU coming to a head, with the government expected this afternoon to publish its plan for an alternative to the backstop.

As we report in our overnight story, the plan seems to involve Northern Ireland staying under EU single market regulations for agri-food and manufactured goods until at least 2025, but not in the customs union. Here is our story.

The Telegraph’s Europe editor, Peter Foster, broke the story with details of what is on offer last night. No 10 has disputed some details of his report, but not the broad thrust of it. He has a Twitter thread, starting here, explaining what is on offer.

How will the EU respond? We have not had a definitive answer yet, but the early briefing suggests the reaction will be chilly. These are from the BBC’s Europe editor, Katya Adler.

Here is the agenda for the day.

10am: The conference opens with a session on strengthening the union, with contributions from Julian Smith, the Northern Ireland secretary, Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, and Alun Cairns, the Welsh secretary.

10.45am: A session on women in politics.

11.35am: Boris Johnson’s speech to the conference.

12pm: Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, faces Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, at PMQs.

As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web, although I will be focusing mostly on Brexit and Boris Johnson’s speech. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up.

You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.

If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter.

Updated

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Grow Beanstalk for Brainrots Mutations – Multipliers & How to Get
As you climb the Beanstalk and explore different areas of the map, you’ll see a few brainrots with unique appearances. These will also have a higher
Pro Game Guides
Pro Game Guides
"If you don't really get the concept of wanting to sing sad songs in the dark, you are never going to be a fan of this band, ever." The story behind the "nursery rhyme" 90s alt. rock classic covered by Metallica for one night only
"It's a song for people that know what it is like to live on the dark side of life"
Louder
Louder
Conspiracy Theory About Jay-Z, Beyoncé's Surrogate Farm Resurfaces Amid Couple's 'Scandalous' Age Gap
Explore the controversies surrounding Jay-Z and Beyoncé, including the alleged surrogate farm in India and their age gap.
International Business Times UK
International Business Times UK
“I said, ‘Where is it from?’ He says, ‘I don’t know. It’s been here for the last 20 or 25 years...’” Jake E. Lee was on tour with Ozzy Osbourne when he stumbled upon the gear bargain of a lifetime
The elusive find was covered in dust but it worked perfectly – and Lee picked it up for a steal
Guitar World
Guitar World
Joni Mitchell's Eclectic Shelf Styling Inspired Graham Nash's '70s Hit, 'Our House' – Step Inside Her Stunning Laurel Canyon Home
Multi-colored, antique glass on shelves by Joni Mitchell's '60s windows were immortalized as part of music history – explore her impactful technique
Homes & Gardens
Homes & Gardens
Frankie Grande Posted His Survivor Audition Tape That Landed Him On Big Brother, And I Need To Step My Game Up
This tape is next level.
Cinemablend
Cinemablend
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.
Download on the AppStore Get it on Google Play