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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Frances Perraudin, Ben Quinn and Kevin Rawlinson

Brexit: Labour will only support election if no deal 'off the table' - as it happened

Closing summary

That’s all from us for this evening. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:

  • The prime minister dropped his key “do or die” promise to bring the UK out of the European Union on 31 October. Boris Johnson demanded a general election on 12 December, offering MPs more time to scrutinise his Brexit legislation if they agreed.
  • It was unclear whether he would get his wish after Labour indicated it would not back an election unless a no-deal Brexit was ruled out altogether. Boris Johnson needs Labour’s support to call an election and, while the party’s leader Jeremy Corbyn said he wanted one, he would not back it until a hard Brexit was taken off the table.
  • MPs backed the government’s legislative programme. The Commons voted through the Queen’s speech motion by a majority of 16.
  • Johnson is likely to be left waiting for the EU’s terms for a further Brexit extension until Friday, with signs of momentum building behind Donald Tusk’s plan for a delay up to 31 January. The French government has privately voiced its concerns about taking the pressure off MPs to vote for the deal, which they believe could be ratified in 15 days, but EU sources said the bloc was seeking a “solution that works for all” and avoids a no-deal exit.
  • The Liberal Democrat leader wrote to Jeremy Corbyn urging Labour to support her party’s amendment to the Queen’s speech, which would ensure a second Brexit referendum. Jo Swinson tweeted a copy of the letter, which read: “I believe we cannot afford to wait any longer if we are going to get a people’s vote in this parliament.”
  • Key Brexit legislation was not included in the Commons business for next week. The Commons leader, Jacob Rees-Mogg, told MPs the business would include the second reading of the environment bill on Monday, among other matters.
  • The DUP angrily chastised the Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, with one of the party’s MPs saying unionists had been the ‘sacrificial lambs’ of the Brexit deal. Barclay was presented with the prime minister’s earlier promise there would be no checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. “It is the case the prime minister was distinguishing between the paperwork that is required, which will be done digitally and is a single form, rather than actually introducing physicals checks,” he responded.

If you’d like to read yet more, my colleagues Heather Stewart and Daniel Boffey have the full story:

France’s Europe minister insisted on Thursday night that Paris had no intention of giving ultimatums or confrontations over a Brexit extension – but London must provide clear, precise, organised reasons for an extension.

Amélie de Montchalin said the EU simply giving more time would solve nothing unless there was concrete action in place in the UK. She told RTL radio:

Our position is that simply giving more time – without political change, without ratification, without an election - would be useless.

The French position is to give more time if it is justified, if we understand why more time is needed. That could be more time to ratify, because there’s a deal on the table. Or it could be because they say want to hold elections. Then we’ll look at that.

But it’s one thing to say we’d like to maybe have elections and another thing to say elections have been organised.

She denied France wanted to give Britain an ultimatum.

We’re partners. We live 50km from each other. We’ll stay strong partners and neighbours, we’ll have a future relationship. So this is not about an ultimatum, it’s about getting clarity.

We need clarity ... so our work is not about giving ultimatums, nor confrontation. But we do need to know why we would be giving more time. Simply giving more time alone leads to getting stuck in a rut.

If there’s a clear scenario that will change things, for example a ratification or elections – not just suggested but organised – then we can take decisions. But we ask Britain for facts – we’re not in fictional politics, we need facts to make decisions.

Decisions will be taken in the next hours and days in terms of what the UK parliament says and what has really been actioned [in the UK].

Labour will only support the prime minister’s push for a general election if a no-deal Brexit is taken “off the table”, Jeremy Corbyn has said.

He declined to say whether or not Labour will back moves for an election if the Commons votes on the matter on Monday. In an interview this evening, he has said:

Take no deal off the table and we will absolutely support an election. I’ve been calling [for] an election ever since the last one because this country needs one in order to deal with all the social injustices but no deal must be taken off the table.

Asked what he would do in the event of a vote on Monday on whether or not to hold elections, he said:

Tomorrow, the European Union will decide whether there’s going to be an extension granted or not that extension will obviously encompass whether there’s a no deal or not. Let’s find that out tomorrow.

Pressed on the matter, he refused to elaborate. Asked what course of action he would define as having taken no deal off the table, he said:

No deal is a threat that Boris Johnson has been using all along, and indeed it’s included in his legislation that’s before parliament at the moment; the legislation that he’s paused. I want us to not crash out of the EU because of all the damage it will do to jobs across this country.

He said he was unable to say whether the granting of a Brexit extension until the end of next January would satisfy him in that regard.

Updated

The Press Association is quoting an unnamed N0 10 source as saying the government would pull the withdrawal agreement bill if MPs refused their timetable and instead “campaign at every stage and at every opportunity for a general election”.

Updated

Here’s the latest on the shadow cabinet discussions over the prime minister’s general election offer:

There are unconfirmed reports around that the government has pulled it plans for a budget on 6 November.

Announcing the plans for a budget last Monday, the chancellor, Sajid Javid, had said:

This will be the first budget after leaving the EU. I will be setting out our plan to shape the economy for the future and triggering the start of our infrastructure revolution. This is the right and responsible thing to do – we must get on with governing.

Updated

The Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, has accused the prime minister of “trying to distract from his government’s failure” in announcing his preferred general election date.

He has missed his do-or-die deadline and is now demanding that parliament give him a general election and the time to ram through his bill without proper scrutiny.

The Liberal Democrats will not support any election until it is clear that we can avoid crashing out with no deal, and that needs an extension from the EU.

The Liberal Democrats have consistently campaigned for a people’s vote as we believe that is the best way to end the Brexit impasse. The failure of Jeremy Corbyn to back us on a people’s vote today means we have missed the chance to deliver it so far in this parliament.

Updated

Labour MPs are reacting on Twitter to this pretty astonishing piece of research by Cardiff University and the University of Edinburgh, which suggests that a majority of voters in England, Wales and Scotland believe that violence against MPs is a “price worth paying” in order to get their way on Brexit.

The BBC’s Europe editor is reporting that a “two tier” extension could be available, where the first extension would be provided to allow MPs to approve the Brexit bill. If the bill did not pass, the EU could then allow a further extension until 31 January.

Updated

And from the chancellor of the exchequer:

This from the Scottish first minister:

Some more reaction from MPs.

Let’s just take a moment to think about Boris Johnson’s “do or die” promise that the UK would leave the EU on 31 October.

This evening’s call for a general election on 12 December is his first admission that he will not deliver on the pledge he said he’d rather “be dead in a ditch” than break.

Here’s a little reminder:

It’s looking less and less likely that Johnson will get his election proposal agreed by parliament ...

On the question of whether the speaker John Bercow will stay on any longer now the 31 October Brexit deadline has been scrapped, Jacob Rees-Mogg says the timetable is set. Bercow will leave next Thursday and tributes will be paid to him in the house.

Jacob Rees-Mogg speaking in the Commons.
Jacob Rees-Mogg speaking in the Commons. Photograph: Parliament TV

Updated

Some reaction from MPs to the prime minister’s decision to push for an election on 12 December.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, stands up to say that next Monday MPs will be given the opportunity to “debate and approve a motion relating to an early general election”. The business for the rest of next week remains as he announced earlier.

Valerie Vaz, the shadow leader of the Commons, says we will find out tomorrow what extension has been granted by the EU.

She says the Labour party will back an election once a no-deal Brexit is ruled out and if the extension allows.

Updated

MPs vote for Boris Johnson's Queen's speech

MPs have voted for the Queen’s speech – 310 to 294.

A few minutes ago, before the vote on the SNP amendment, MPs voted on a Labour amendment to the Queen’s speech. They voted against it by 311 to 293.

MPs are now voting on the main motion on the Queen’s speech. The result is due in about five minutes.

The SNP’s amendment to the Queen’s speech has been voted down by 310 votes to 64.

The prime minister has written to the Labour leader setting out his proposals for a general election. He says he is “extremely sceptical that this habit [of voting to delay Brexit] will change and many will doubt that this parliament will do anything other than waste more time”.

Updated

MPs are now voting on amendments to the motion to approve the Queen’s speech, before they vote on the whole thing.

They are currently voting on an SNP amendment that says “the house regrets the UK government’s intention to use the immigration bill to end freedom of movement within Europe”.

Updated

Here are Johnson’s comments in a bit more detail.

Speaking to the BBC’s political editor, he said:

If this parliament is anything to go by, that delay could go on for a very long time because it looks as though our EU friends will respond to parliament’s request by having an extension, which I really don’t want at all.

The way to get Brexit done is, I think, to be reasonable with parliament and say if they genuinely want more time to study this excellent deal, they can have it, but they have to agree to a general election on 12 December.

He added: “It’s time, frankly, that the opposition summoned up the nerve to submit themselves to the judgment of our collective boss, which is the people of the UK.”

Johnson said his proposal would give MPs “all the time they want” to scrutinise the bill before 6 November. He says that’s more than many of them had been asking for.

The prime minister said it would be “absolutely morally incredible” if the Labour party refused to back an election.

Updated

Johnson calls for a general election on 12 December

Boris Johnson has announced he will push for a general election on 12 December.

He said parliament voted to delay Brexit and “that delay could go on for a very long time” because the EU would respond to parliament’s request and agree an extension.

The prime minister said he wanted “to be reasonable with parliament” and say they could have more time to scrutinise the legislation if they submitted to a general election on 12 December.

Updated

Report: Government to table a motion for an election

Sky News’s Beth Rigby says Johnson will table a motion for a general election on Monday.

But remember, the government would still need the support of two-thirds of MPs to hold an election. And Labour has said it will not back an election until the EU has given the UK a Brexit extension.

Updated

The Lib Dem MP Chuka Umunna says it looks increasingly unlikely that there will be the numbers in parliament for a second referendum because of lack of support from Labour. He says the best way forward is an election.

Updated

This is from ITV’s Paul Brand. The vote on the Queen’s speech could come at 5.45pm, followed by an address by Johnson calling on MPs to back an election.

Shadow cabinet members have said Labour would back an election after the EU granted the UK a Brexit extension. (See Long-Bailey this morning and Burgon yesterday morning.)

Updated

PM to make fresh push for election, say reports

This from the Sun’s political editor. There are mounting reports that Johnson could announce his intention to push for an election this evening.

Updated

Oh goody ...

The vote on the Queen’s speech is expected after 5pm. The vote will be tight and if it is voted down it will be the first time since 1924 that a government has lost a Queen’s speech vote. (That was when Stanley Baldwin’s minority government was defeated. The opposition went on to form a new government.)

In less bizarre times you would expect this to result in an election being called, but – since the introduction of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 – this would require the backing of two-thirds of MPs.

We could find ourselves in the strange situation of having a government that cannot pass its legislative programme but also cannot secure a general election.

Downing Street has said Johnson would not resign if he loses a vote on his Queen’s speech.

This is a good Queen’s speech explainer from the Institute for Government.

Updated

If Johnson does decide to push for an election (again) he could well fail to get parliament to vote for it. There is plenty of opposition to the idea among MPs.

This is intriguing from Media Guido, reporting that the BBC’s political editor has just gone into Downing Street to conduct an interview with Boris Johnson. Could the prime minister be about to announce that he will push for an election?

Some more MPs – this time Labour ones – have been expressing concerns over the idea there could be an imminent election.

Ex-employment minister Pat McFadden told the BBC:

I don’t think we should have an election now. We are in the middle of a huge decision-making moment for the country. The issue before us is Brexit and has been for several years. I think we have a duty to decide the future of that issue and an election should come after that.

Former culture secretary Ben Bradshaw said:

My objection to a general election is one of principle in that with a general election the secret is in the name – it is general. It’s not and shouldn’t be about a single binary issue like Brexit.

Some light relief – apparently the German word for the withdrawal agreement bill is ...

Austrittsvertragsratifizierungsgesetzentwurf

Updated

Tory backbenchers have been out speaking to broadcasters this lunchtime. They are divided over whether trying to secure an election is a good idea.

Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate, told BBC Radio 4’s World at One:

What we’ve got isn’t working, it needs sorting. We need to go to the country as soon as possible to put this parliament out of its misery and give the country an administration that can actually work.

David Lidington, the de facto deputy prime minister under Theresa May, said that, given the lack of clarity in legislation regarding the post-Brexit proposals for Northern Ireland, an election could “further put at risk a very fragile political situation in that part of our country”.

Damian Green, the former first secretary of state, said:

I very much support the view that it is much better to get Brexit done. There is no reason at all why we can’t have got over this stage of Brexit by mid-November and at that point [Boris Johnson] will say: ‘I have now done what I have promised to do’ and this political paralysis that has affected the country for three years is now over.

Updated

Boris Johnson is holding a meeting of his cabinet around about now, amid disagreements as to whether the government should push for an election or try to get its Brexit bill through parliament.

Updated

Here’s a full write-up – by the Guardian’s Brexit correspondent Lisa O’Carroll – of this morning’s urgent question on the implications of the deal for Northern Ireland.

The government has been urged to heed the warnings of the risk of civil disorder by loyalists in Northern Ireland because of the sense of betrayal they feel over Brexit.

The deputy leader of the Democratic Unionist party, Nigel Dodds, urged the government not to shrug off the impact of the Brexit deal on the unionist community.

“You are really in danger here of causing real problems with the Belfast agreement, the St Andrew’s agreement, the political institutions and political stability in Northern Ireland by what you are doing to the unionist community,” he told the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, during an hour-long exchange in the House of Commons over the Northern Ireland protocol of the deal. “Please wake up and realise what is happening here,” he said.

Updated

BuzzFeed’s Alberto Nardelli and Alex Wickham are reporting that Boris Johnson personally raised the issue of businesses having to fill in export forms on goods moving between Great Britain and Northern Ireland in a phone call with Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, on the morning the Brexit deal was agreed.

Juncker insisted that the matter could not be renegotiated. Shortly afterwards, in a follow-up call, Johnson agreed the deal, thereby accepting the need for the forms.

This shows the PM knew the issue would be problematic, but signed it off anyway.

Updated

Tony Lloyd, the shadow Northern Ireland secretary, has issued a statement on the confusion surrounding the Northern Ireland/Ireland protocol.

The government is in complete disarray about the impact of its sell-out Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.

The Brexit secretary says there will be border checks, the prime minister claims there won’t be, and the home secretary cannot say for sure one way or the other.

Boris Johnson should come to parliament at the earliest opportunity to clarify the government’s position and apologise for misleading MPs about the consequences of his Brexit deal on trade within the UK.

Earlier today the DUP’s Nigel Dodds criticised the Brexit secretary, Stephen Barclay, for describing the checks envisaged on exports between Northern Ireland and Great Britain as “administrative processes”, when in reality they were export declarations that would have to be checked.

Updated

The next president of the European commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has said Boris Johnson will need to nominate a candidate for EU commissioner to serve in Brussels if Brexit is delayed beyond 31 October.

“There might be an extension and the UK will still be in the EU. Then of course I would ask the UK to send a commissioner,” Von der Leyen told reporters when asked about the repercussions of the UK staying in the EU beyond the end of the month.

The prime minister has refused to pick a replacement for Sir Julian King, a Briton who is Jean-Claude Juncker’s security commissioner. The home secretary Priti Patel has admitted this week to a select committee that she had yet to meet or talk to King.

Should Johnson fail to nominate a commissioner, the UK would be in infringement of EU law.

Article 17 (5) TEU of the Lisbon treaty removed the obligation for each member state to be represented in the commission. It stated that any commission must have members from at least two thirds of EU countries. But before the treaty came into force the member states reverted to insisting that any commission must have a member from every EU country. This was made legally binding in 2013.

A derogation for the UK could be given under Article 17 (5) TEU. This would require the consent of all 28 member states, including the UK.

Updated

The Guardian’s political editor, Heather Stewart, has this useful guide to what the prime minister’s options are now.

And here’s a quick guide – by our political correspondent Kate Proctor – to how Boris Johnson could get a general election before January.

A motion for a general election

Boris Johnson has three options to try and call a general election. Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, an election may be called if it is agreed by two-thirds of the total number of MPs. Johnson presented motions for an election on 4 and 9 September and failed on both occasions when the majority of Labour MPs abstained. Johnson could try this again and potentially secure Labour backing, because the Benn act has removed the imminent possibility of a no-deal Brexit.

A one-line bill

This lowers the threshold of MPs needed to trigger a general election because it requires a simple majority to pass. This could work in Johnson’s favour. However, it is amendable, which can involve the moving of an election date to a time that works for the opposition. 

A no-confidence motion

The leader of the opposition, Jeremy Corbyn, can call a no-confidence motion in the prime minister. This needs a simple majority to pass. He has been urged to do this by Johnson several times as a way of triggering an election, but Corbyn has resisted. It begins a 14-day period in which either the prime minister or someone else can try to form a new government. While Johnson could potentially lose this, and therefore his place as prime minister, to another Conservative, Corbyn could also struggle to get enough MPs to rally around him to form a government. The Scottish National party has said it would back him, but the Liberal Democrats have been extremely vocal in saying they would not support him. An election is triggered if, at the end of the two-week period, no alternative government has been formed.

Kate Proctor Political correspondent

Updated

The Queen’s speech debate is ongoing. The speaker selected two amendments for debate. See below.

He did not select the Lib Dem amendment that called for a second EU referendum.

From the BBC’s Adam Fleming:

And from ITV’s Paul Brand:

A meeting of the political cabinet – without civil servants – will take place at 3pm on Thursday.

It’s Frances Perraudin here, taking over from Ben Quinn for the afternoon.

Lunchtime Summary

• Boris Johnson’s cabinet is divided over how to proceed with Brexit as the prime minister faces the choice of pressing ahead with his deal or gambling his premiership on a pre-Christmas general election.
After an inconclusive meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday morning to try to agree an acceptable timetable for parliament to consider the bill, the prime minister told MPs at Wednesday’s PMQs that he was awaiting the decision of the EU27 over whether to grant an extension before settling his next move. The EU’s decision is unlikely to come before Friday.

• Johnson will be left waiting for the EU’s terms for a further Brexit extension until Friday, with signs of momentum building behind Donald Tusk’s plan for a delay up to 31 January.
The French government has privately voiced its concerns about taking the pressure off MPs to vote for the deal, which they believe could be ratified in 15 days, but EU sources said the bloc was seeking a “solution that works for all” and avoids a no-deal exit.
Tusk, the president of the European council, told Johnson in a phone call on Wednesday his reasons for “recommending the EU27 accept the UK request for an extension”.

• The Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, has written to Jeremy Corbyn urging Labour to support her party’s amendment to the Queen’s speech which would ensure a second Brexit referendum.
Swinson tweeted a copy of the letter, which stated: “I believe we cannot afford to wait any longer if we are going to get a people’s vote in this parliament.”

• Key Brexit legislation has not been included in the Commons business for next week.
The Commons leader, Jacob Rees-Mogg, told MPs the business will include the second reading of the environment bill on Monday, the second reading of the animal welfare (sentencing) bill on Tuesday, a general debate on the Grenfell Tower fire on Wednesday, and tributes to the Speaker’s chaplain followed by a general debate on children’s services spending on Thursday.
The Commons will not sit on Friday 1 November, he added.

• The DUP has angrily chastised the Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, in the House of Commons, where one of the party’s MPs said unionists had been the ‘sacrificial lambs’ of the deal between the EU and the UK.
Barclay also referred to comments made by the prime minister on Wednesday when he said there would be no checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.
Responding to this, Barclay said: “It is the case the prime minister was distinguishing between the paperwork that is required, which will be done digitally and is a single form, rather than actually introducing physicals checks.”

Updated

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, is speaking in the debate on the Queen’s speech, which he describes as little more than a crude election stunt.

He says the reality is that after almost a decade of harsh and brutal austerity, a few cynical attempts to paper over the cracks in the NHS and elsewhere go nowhere near making a difference.

On Brexit, the FT’s Jim Pickard tweets:

Updated

Much hilarity and some outrage has ensued as a result of reported comments from Jeremy Corbyn’s chief of staff, Karie Murphy, at a town hall meeting of Labour staff that, “anyone who knows Jeremy knows he loves to go on the train to obscure places like the south-west or Orkney”.

ScotRail, more used to getting pelters on Twitter because of late-running, overcrowded trains, is now enjoying much praise for maintaining a secret under-sea train line to the Orkney Islands, 10 miles from the Scottish mainland, apparently only for use by the Labour leader.

At least he’ll get a seat.

Residents of the south-west, which has a population of more than 5 million people, were likewise surprised to learn that they were considered obscure. Geography, it’s a tricky subject.

Updated

The Labour backbencher, Lucy Powell, has said that it would be better to put the Brexit bill through parliament before an election, but if MPs “can’t resolve” it, then there should be an election.

Speaking on Politics Live, she also hit out at the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, who has written to Jeremy Corbyn to seek Labour support for a second referendum amendment.

Updated

I’ve just come back from the twice-daily lobby briefing, with the PM’s official spokesman.

He offered little in the way of defence of Johnson’s refusal to attend this morning’s planned appearance before the House of Commons liaison committee, which infuriated its chair, Sarah Wollaston.

Asked what Johnson was doing that was so important, he said: “Throughout the course of the morning the PM has been holding meetings with members of his team and with members of his cabinet,” adding, “since taking office he has spent 14 hours at the dispatch box taking questions from colleagues across the house”.

That has only included two sessions of PMQs, of course – and that belligerent late-night session after the supreme court struck down his prorogation, during which he suggested to MPs the best way to honour their murdered colleague Jo Cox was to “get Brexit done”.

As for whether Johnson will ask parliament to support a general election in the coming days, his spokesman suggested he was awaiting the response of the EU27 to the letter sent on Saturday, requesting a Brexit extension.

And he appeared to concede that the 31 October “do or die” deadline looked out of reach, saying: “That is absolutely what the PM wants to achieve, but at the same time we have to recognise the fact that parliament has handed control of the timetable to the EU.”

Since parliament is not sitting tomorrow, the government would have to lay a motion under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act before the end of today’s sitting if it were to be voted on by MPs on Monday.

Alternatively, they could await the EU’s response, and then table a motion on Monday, with a vote then held on Tuesday.

Updated

A PR and lobbying industry body has condemned as “wholly unethical” the hiring of the former Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson by a communications firm while she continues to sit in the Scottish parliament.

Tulchan Communications, which has offices in London and Singapore, announced Davidson’s appointment as a senior adviser on Wednesday.

Francis Ingham, the director general of the Public Relations and Communications Association, which represents more than 30,000 PR practitioners worldwide, said: “It is simply wrong for lobbying agencies to employ legislators.

“The possible conflict of interest in doing so is clear and damages the reputation of both our industry and of the political process.”

Read on

Ruth Davidson appearing in August, when she confirmed that she does not believe she will stand in an election again.
Ruth Davidson appearing in August, when she confirmed that she does not believe she will stand in an election again. Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA

Updated

The Tory MP, Eddie Hughes, asks Rees-Mogg to confirm that, subject to the outcome of a general election, the government will find time to put precisely the same Brexit deal before the House of Commons.

Rees-Mogg replies:

It is impossible to guarantee what might happen after a general election because we don’t know what might be in the various manifestos and we don’t know what a new parliament will decide to do.

The deal as it currently stands has its second reading. If there were to be an election of course any deals that haven’t completed their passage fall, so there can be no guarantees of that kind.

Updated

Swinson urges Corbyn to back second referendum

The Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, has written to Jeremy Corbyn urging Labour to support her party’s amendment to the Queen’s speech that would, if passed, ensure a second Brexit referendum.

Updated

Rees-Mogg: 31 October Brexit plans still under way

Responding to a question about whether the UK would still be leaving the EU on 31 October, Jacob Rees-Mogg said that this was still the date set in law.

“We do not know what the European Union will do … and you know that the request for an extension is not the prime minster’s request. It is is the request of the Benn act,” he added.

“Her Majesty’s government does not want an extension and it is making every preparation to leave on the 31 October.”

As to a question about what happened to the withdrawal agreement bill - not included in next week’s business, for now - Rees-Mogg quotes the fictional regency fop Percy Blakeney (with a slight twist):

They seek it here, they seek it there.

Those parliamentarians seek it everywhere. Is it in heaven? is it in hell? That damned elusive Brexit bill..

Updated

It’s tweets at dawn between the Conservative party’s press office and the former chancellor turned Evening Standard editor, George Osborne.

It comes after the Standard carried a piece stating that “Conservative chiefs” had sparked a fake news row by claiming that the Brexit deal had already “passed” parliament. CCHQ press office claims this is simply not true.

Osborne replies today:

Updated

Key Brexit legislation not in parliamentary business

There’s no mention of the withdrawal agreement bill in the House of Commons business for next week – which has just been read out by the leader of the house, Jacob Rees-Mogg.

There’s also no mention of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act however. So, no election vote for now … unless there’s an emergency statement later on.

Rees-Mogg told MPs the business will include the second reading of the environment bill on Monday, the second reading of the animal welfare (sentencing) bill on Tuesday, a general debate on Grenfell on Wednesday, and tributes to the Speaker’s chaplain followed by a general debate on children’s services spending on Thursday.

The Commons will not sit on Friday 1 November, he added.

The European Union (withdrawal agreement) bill is currently in limbo after MPs rejected the government’s attempt to fast-track it through the Commons.

Updated

The Labour MP Owen Smith says that peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland is far too important to be taken for granted by what he describes as the “obfuscation” exhibited by Barclay.

He seeks a response to concerns that consumer prices could go up in Northern Ireland as a result of the protocols and that trade would be hit.

Brandishing what would appear to be a copy of the type of form that would need to be completed as part of the checks on exports, Barclay replies: “I don’t think it helps the debate to describe what is a fairly simple form as putting our future trade with Northern Ireland in jeopardy.”

Updated

The Labour MP, Steve Doughty, wants to know if UK Border Force officials will be involved in any way at any stage in the checks on exports between Northern Ireland and Britain.

It’s not quite clear if Barclay gives a “yes” or a ”no”. “We will have sovereign control over that as a sovereign country,” he says.

Updated

The Scottish Liberal Democrat MP, Alistair Carmichael, has reminded Barclay of comments made by the then Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson, in a letter to Downing Street last year, which said:

We could not support any deal that creates a border of any kind in the Irish Sea and undermines the union or leads to Northern Ireland having a different relationship with the EU than the rest of the UK, beyond what currently exists.

This letter was described by a senior Tory as “an article of faith”, adds Carmichael, who asks what has changed.

Barclay replies:

What has shaped these arrangements is that there are unique circumstances in Northern Ireland and that does require unique solutions. There are already unique circumstances pertaining to the Belfast agreement.

There is more anger from the DUP benches, with David Simpson asking Barclay if unionists were the “sacrificial lamb” that had to be made in order to reach a deal with the EU.

Barclay says he “doesn’t recognise this characterisation”.

Britain’s Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union Steve Barclay arrives for a cabinet meeting at Downing Street on October 22.
The Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, arrives for a cabinet meeting at Downing Street on 22 October. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP

Updated

DUP: deal causes real problems for Belfast agreement

Nigel Dodds, the DUP’s leader at Westminster, has told Steve Barclay to “wake up” and realise the “real problems” which the Brexit deal was causing for the Belfast agreement, the unionist community and political stability in Northern Ireland.

Visibly exasperated, Dodds said that Barclay now called the checks envisaged on exports between Northern Ireland and Britain as “administrative processes” but in reality they were export declarations that will have to be checked.

The government’s own impact assessment says that it has the potential to reduce trade and have an impact on small businesses, Dodds said.

“Let’s have a bit of clarity here. You are really in danger of causing real problems with the Belfast agreement, the St Andrews agreement and political stability by what you are doing to the unionist community,” he said.

“Please wake up ... don’t plough ahead regardless.”

Updated

The Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, is taking an urgent question in parliament on Northern Ireland trade, and insists that there is nothing in the protocols in the latest Brexit deal that would stand in the way of “unfettered” movement of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland

As Barclay confirmed this week, firms in Northern Ireland will have to fill out export declaration forms when sending goods to Great Britain under Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.

He told MPs today that the electronic forms concerned “fairly straightforward” data in terms of the nature of goods moving across the Irish Sea and who was doing it.

“The issue here is that these are administrative processes that pertain in particular to international obligations – on things like diamonds, endangered species – but it is the case that there have been concerns expressed in Northern Ireland and there have been concerns expressed, which I very much respect, from our confidence and supply partners,” he added, looking up towards DUP MPs.

The DUP glared back.

Updated

Raoul Ruparel, a former special adviser to Theresa May, has been sharing some thoughts on an argument behind a political flashpoint this week – an allegation that Boris Johnson misled MPs after claiming there would be no checks between Northern Ireland and Britain after Brexit.

Johnson’s comments appeared to have directly contradicted the Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay, who admitted on Tuesday that Northern Ireland businesses would be forced to fill out export declaration forms when sending goods to Britain under the terms of the new deal.

Here’s Ruparel’s thread:

Here’s another view however:

Updated

Amid splits in the government, Labour and EU, here’s yet another:

The Liberal Democrats push for second referendum through a parliamentary amendment unveiled today has caused divisions in the People’s Vote movement, reports the editor of the PoliticsHome, Kevin Schofield.

Updated

Conservative MPs have secured the majority of key spots reserved to allow backbenchers to introduce legislation in the House of Commons.

The Press Association reports that Nigel Mills (Amber Valley) won the private members’ bill ballot, thereby securing first pick when choosing a Friday for his proposed law to begin its journey through the parliamentary process.

He finished ahead of Tory colleague John Stevenson (Carlisle), Labour’s Anneliese Dodds (Oxford East) in third and Conservative Anne Marie Morris (Newton Abbot) in fourth.

Labour’s Lisa Forbes (Peterborough), Conservative former minister James Brokenshire and Liberal Democrat former leader Sir Vince Cable completed the top seven, who have the best chance of making progress with their draft legislation.

Deputy Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said 395 MPs put their name forward to be in the ballot, with 20 drawn out for the different slots.

Updated

He’s currently visiting the French Glorioso Islands off the south-east coast of Africa, but the French president, Emmanuel Macron, remains a key figure today amid EU27 deliberations over what type of Brexit extension to grant the UK.

While reports this morning suggest that he favours a 15-day delay, by contrast Germany is among the states backing the proposal from the European council president, Donald Tusk,for an extension to 31 January.

The Irish Times meanwhile reports that sources in Brussels and Dublin say Macron is unwilling to wave through the extension.

EU ambassadors met last night in Brussels but did not agree to the UK’s request. It is believed that the French government does not favour a three-month extension unless the UK commits to an election or a second referendum.

However, it would be willing to agree a short extension of a few weeks to enable the British parliament to complete ratification of the treaty.

French Overseas Minister Annick Girardin, Isabelle Autissier, Romain Trouble and French President Emmanuel Macron visit to Les Glorieuses - 23 Oct 2019
The French overseas minister, Annick Girardin, sailor Isabelle Autissier, explorer Romain Troublé and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, visit Les Glorieuses. Photograph: Jacques Witt/SIPA/Rex/Shutterstock

Updated

As an election looms, here’s some interesting food for thought in the form of research into what parties can learn from the last time Britons went to the polls in 2017.

A summary published today on the LSE’s website suggests that the Tories “went overboard in their rhetoric on ‘getting on with the job’ of Brexit, (risking the alienation of their more moderate supporters) and on the robotic message of ‘strong and stable leadership’.”

By contrast, Labour was said to have played a better hand and tapped into most of its electoral strengths.

The academics, whose findings have been published in a new edition of West European Politics, add:

There is a clear left-wing anti-austerity constituency in Britain, and rather than being out of touch with the public mood, as many New Labour grandees feared, our analysis shows that Labour’s message under Corbyn resonated both with party supporters and the wider public.

By offering its supporters policies they strongly agreed with, Labour also thwarted the electoral threat potentially inherent in its vague position on Brexit.

They add that it remains uncertain now however whether avoiding Brexit in favour of other policies will serve Labour as well next time as it did previously.

Updated

Today’s proceedings are under way in the House of Commons, where the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, is taking questions.

He’s told MPs that he is one of those who own an electric car and that we’re about to see a big increase in ownership.

Updated

In the world of business traders are still waiting for Brexit certainty as as Brussels deliberates over the type of extension to give the UK.

The Guardian’s business blog quotes Craig Erlam of trading firm OANDA

The pound has rallied a little this morning on the back of claims that Labour has offered a “pragmatic path” to a Brexit deal with a compromise on the timetable.

The details of this are still lacking and the terms will probably not be acceptable to the prime minister but in reality, it’s not that important.

An extension will be signed off, at which point we’re probably heading for an election. We are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Updated

Some have detected a vagueness suddenly returning to Labour’s position after those comments earlier this morning by Rebecca Long-Bailey about the party being prepared to immediately back an election after the EU grants an extension.

Steven Swinford of the Times picks up on a slightly different message to Sky News:

It’s worth noting too of course that the shadow secretary of state for business, energy & industrial strategy is today also unveiling major Labour plans to create a carbon-neutral energy system by the 2030s including insulation upgrades for every home in the UK and enough new solar panels to cover 22,000 football pitches.

The party is setting out a fast-track climate strategy after adopting plans to work towards a net-zero carbon economy two decades ahead of the government’s legally binding 2050 target.

Updated

Liberal Democrats share details of second referendum amendment

The Liberal Democrats have shared their amendment to the Queen’s speech calling for a new referendum on Brexit.

The amendment, signed by the party’s MPs, proposes the addition to the legislation:

At end add ‘but believe that your government should make arrangements for a people’s vote in which the public will have the choice between the latest withdrawal agreement and remaining in the European Union’.

The party’s Brexit spokesperson, Tom Brake, tweets:

Updated

One of the more prominent Labour backbenchers this week, Lisa Nandy, has said this morning that five or six days would be a sufficient length of time in committee stage for the Brexit withdrawal agreement bill.

Nandy, who was one of the Labour MPs who backed Boris Johnson’s Brexit bill at the its second reading this week with the aim of allowing it to progress to a stage when it can be amended, told the Today programme:

When you consider that this is a bill that was published only 72 hours before the House of Commons was meant to consider it, that draws a border down the Irish Sea, so essentially creates an internal border within the United Kingdom, which could spark a chain of events which breaks up the United Kingdom, it seems to me not unreasonable to ask for five or six days to scrutinise it.

Nandy added that she had been asked by Conservative ministers how long Labour would need to scrutinise the bill and she said the “general consensus”, including from their chief whip, is that “five or six days in committee would be sufficient”.

Updated

An election would still be a major gamble for both Labour and the Tories though and Dan Sabbagh writes in the Guardian on why reluctance on the part of the former goes beyond the need to stave off the potential threat of a no-deal Brexit.

The Conservatives already enjoy a healthy poll lead of 10 points, on average, according to Britain Elects, with the government on 35%. That leaves Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition on 25%, while the Liberal Democrats sit at 18%.

It is a figure so dismal that the party is behind where Michael Foot was in the run-up to the 1983 election, according to the elections expert John Curtice of Strathclyde University – and would result in a Conservative majority of about 60 on forecasts prepared by Electoral Calculus based on October’s polling. And this is with Nigel Farage’s Brexit party at 12%.

The Labour party leader, Michael Foot, campaigning in 1983, alongside his partner, the documentary maker Jill Craigie.
The Labour party leader, Michael Foot, campaigning in 1983, alongside his partner, the documentary maker Jill Craigie. Photograph: Don McPhee/taken from The Newsroom

Corbyn and other Labour figures have said they want an election once no deal has been “taken off the table”.

Dan adds that against this polling background it would not be surprising, however, if the opposition party found more reasons for delay.

Updated

The Telegraph also reports on splits in Downing Street, adding that Boris Johnson’s chief of staff, Edward Lister, is in favour of accepting a short Brexit delay to get the deal through parliament before going for a mid-December election.

That reportedly puts him at odds with Dominic Cummings, who reportedly wants a poll as soon as the EU grants an extension to article 50, with 28 November or December the most like dates.

“Is Boris Johnson still listening to Dominic Cummings on Brexit?” the Telegraph also asks.

Also speaking of Cummings, the New European has a fairly striking front page today.

Updated

Many ministers favour an election this year, arguing that Johnson will become progressively weaker if he is forced to fight battles int he commons to pass a Brexit deal, the Financial Times reports.

One minister is quoted by the paper as saying: “We’d cream it, with or without a deal.”

On the front of the Guardian, the dividing lines of an emerging Cabinet split are laid out.

Some cabinet ministers, including the Northern Ireland secretary, Julian Smith, are cautious about asking for an election, report Heather Stewart and Peter Walker

They believe the majority of 30 achieved by the government on the second reading of the Brexit bill on Tuesday suggests Johnson’s deal has enough support to carry it through all its stages in parliament.

However, hard Brexit supporters appear to be more gung-ho, with leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg fearing support for the bill could yet fall away – if the 19 Labour rebels who backed it fail to secure the amendments they would like to see, for example.

In the mix too - as reported by Buzzfeed - is the prime minister’s chief aide, Dominic Cummings, who is said to be one of the main driving forces for an election.

Updated

Yesterday’s appalling human tragedy in which the bodies of 39 people were found insider a container lorry in Essex dominate the front pages today, but Brexit takes up considerable space inside most titles.

The Times makes space on its front for a piece in which it reports that Johnson could make a third attempt to trigger a general election as early as today.

He is likely to lay a motion under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act as early as tonight that would force MPs to decide before that much-touted 31 October deadline on whether to permit an election, reports Frances Elliott and Bruno Waterfield.

The paper also reports that Theresa May, the former prime minister, has raised concerns about an early election before a Brexit deal is over the line.

Updated

Long-Bailey: Labour would back election after 'Flextension' granted

After Cleverly, the shadow business secretary, Rebecca Long-Bailey, was asked if Labour would vote for a general election as soon as the prime minister asks for one after the EU grants an extension.
She said:

That’s our position. But we also want the prime minister to look at the compromise that’s been offered that a lot of MPs support, and that’s the ability to be able to properly scrutinise the bill.

Updated

‘Conservatives cancel Christmas?’

It’s not quite the election slogan that Downing Street will have been hoping for but the prospect of an election poll appears to be gaining ground, with all the spin-off problems that come with it.

As reported by the Guardian earlier this month - and by the Times today - electoral officials are facing logistical issues as authorities seeking to hire venues find that some are already booked up for nativity plays and pre Christmas venues.

The Tory party chairman, James Cleverly, when asked about the issue today on the Today programme, replied:

I don’t want to be the Grinch but the point is that democracy is incredibly important and we have been prevented from discharging the duty imposed on us.

He didn’t take the bait when asked how the party’s Christmas election planning was going.

Cleverly had not ruled not Brexit taking place on 31 October and said the government has had to “ramp up” its no-deal preparations.

The EU has not agreed an extension and therefore it is absolutely essential that we make sure that we are ready to leave.

Updated

Good morning and welcome to Politics Live for another day of intrigue, brinkmanship and jumbled acronyms as the British government, EU leaders and Labour all face difficult choices over Brexit.

I’m Ben Quinn and I will be taking you through all this morning’s developments before handing over to my colleague Frances Perraudin this afternoon.

Boris Johnson’s cabinet is divided over how to proceed with Brexit, as the prime minister faces the stark choice of pressing ahead with his deal or gambling his premiership on a pre-Christmas general election.

After an inconclusive meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday morning in an attempt to agree an acceptable timetable for parliament to consider the bill, the prime minister told MPs at Wednesday’s PMQs that he was awaiting the decision of the EU27 over whether to grant an extension before settling his next move.

While the EU’s decision is unlikely to come before Friday, look out for signs of positioning from European capitals and from inside the commission today.

The French government has privately voiced its concerns about taking the pressure off MPs to vote for the deal, which they believe could be ratified in 15 days, but EU sources said the bloc was seeking a “solution that works for all” and avoids a no deal exit.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, told Johnson in a phone call on Wednesday his reasons for “recommending the EU27 accept the UK request for an extension”.

The Labour party meanwhile also faces a choice, whether to support fresh moves for an election, or to again stand in the way of the two-thirds majority needed as one way of initiating a poll.

Timings (provisional) today:

• 10.30am - The leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg’s is expected to make a statement setting out next week’s business.

• 5pm - MPs vote on Queen’s speech

• 7pm - Jeremy Corbyn to address rally

Updated

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