Downing Street has admitted that talks between cabinet ministers and EU officials have been “difficult” and saw a “robust exchange of views” – despite there being just days left to secure an agreement.
EU officials said the latest talks with Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, and Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, “did not go well”.
Mr Cox and Mr Barclay are seeking to allay fears that the backstop could leave the UK trapped in a customs union with the EU in a bid to win over Tory MPs ahead of further votes next week.
But the European Commission said there was still “no solution” to the impasse over the Irish backstop.
Meanwhile, the international trade secretary Liam Fox refused to rule out backing a no-deal Brexit if the Withdrawal Agreement is voted down by MPs next week.
It came as the issue of knife crime dominated clashes between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, following a series of fatal stabbings across the UK.
Ms May said “we cannot arrest our way out of the problem”, as the Labour leader criticised cuts to police budgets and the vast reduction in the number of officers.
Here's how the day unfolded:
Under the proposals, MPs will be allowed to vote on whether to take new EU workplace rules, rather than them being automatically written into UK law.
Union leaders warned the measures will risk UK employees' rights falling behind those in neighbouring countries.
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The prime minister also attempted to win Labour support for her deal with new proposals on post-Brexit workers’ rights"I want to express my sincere hope that the JLM will decide to continue a relationship that has been fundamental to the history of our party and our movement.
"This morning our shadow cabinet discussed this and affirmed our support for JLM's affiliation and our very strong desire for you to remain part of our movement."
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Greg Clark refuses to deny that up to 90 per cent of levies would be removed, on everything except cars, in agriculture and on some textiles"We have concluded that Momentum committed a number of offences, and we have imposed fines totalling £16,700. The offences spanned 2016 and 2017. This is the biggest fine that we have imposed on a non-party campaigner for the submission of an inaccurate spending return to date."
Momentum fined over £16,000 for multiple breaches of electoral law during 2017 election
Pro-Jeremy Corbyn group Momentum has been fined over £16,000 for multiple breaches of electoral law during the 2017 snap election."The Electoral Commission did find some mistakes in our reporting and some clerical errors. This isn’t surprising for a new organisation which at the time was less than two years old and had 25,000 members and 150 local groups. The Conservatives likely employ more lawyers than Momentum have staff, and even getting close to fully complying with these complex regulations for a volunteer led, social movement organisation is a herculean task.
For example, the law back dates regulations to a year before election day. This means organisations running campaigns in that period can be fined or even prosecuted. In the snap election, this left us in the absurd situation of asking volunteers in local groups to submit receipts for booking community halls and buying refreshments a year before polling day. All for a snap election they did not know was going to take place, in an effort to comply with regulations they did not know they would be subject to.
The level of detail required under the law was often comic. In one instance, the Electoral Commission queried the purchase of a pizza, wanting to know what percentage of the pizza was eaten by staff members and what percentage by volunteers."
"These are very sensitive discussions - we're into the meat of the matter now. We put forward some very reasonable proposals and we're now really into the detail of the discussions."Both sides have exchanged robust, strong views and we're now facing the real discussions. Talks will be resuming soon."
The OECD said:
"In such a scenario, the likely near-term recession in the United Kingdom would generate sizeable negative spillovers on growth in other countries.
"Although contingency measures to soften the impact of a no-deal outcome are being taken by both sides, UK-EU separation without an agreement would still be a major adverse shock for Europe and possibly elsewhere in the world, given that the United Kingdom is an important trading partner for many countries."
Asked whether the Cabinet could decide to back no-deal, he replied: "Potentially all things are possible."
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