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Boris Johnson says EU nationals will have an absolute right to remain after Brexit – live news
Boris Johnson says EU nationals will have an absolute right to remain after Brexit – live news
(32 minutes later)
Labour has listed 10 questions that it says Boris Johnson did not answer when he was responding to Jeremy Corbyn.
Labour’s Chi Onwurah asks Johnson to give the three things he admires most about the north-east.
10 questions Boris Johnson refused to answer in Parliament https://t.co/ryi1o1bVMJ
Johnson says the people of the north-east should answer that. It would be patronising for him to answer. But he does know that the north-east is the only region of the county that is a net exporter, he says.
Caroline Lucas, the Green MP, asks if Johnson will honour his promise to lie in front of bulldozers to stop the Heathrow extension.
Henry Smith, a Conservative, asks when MPs will know how many extra police officers each force area will get.
Johnson says he is watching the court cases taking place with lively interest.
As soon as possible, Johnson says.
Anna Soubry, the Independent Group for Change leader, asks Johnson to bring the matter back to the Commons if he fails to get a new Brexit deal.
Labour’s Emma Lewell-Buck says it is important for the PM do be on top of the detail. So can he say now what is in paragraph 5(C) of Gatt article 24?
Johnson says MPs have already voted for Brexit.
That is a reference to one of the questions Andrew Neil asked Johnson in his BBC interview recently.
Johnson refuses to commit to giving MPs a vote on what happens next if he fails to negotiate a new Brexit deal.
Johnson declines to answer, but he says he plans to rely on paragraph 5(B).
Labour’s Pat McFadden asks if Johnson accepts the commitment on the backstop made in the joint agreement between the UK and the EU in the joint report of December 2017.
Colin Clark, a Tory, asks Johnson if he will support the oil industry in Scotland.
Johnson says that is the trap from which the UK is trying to escape.
Johnson says this industry has a great future.
Johnson suggests UK no longer feels bound by December 2017 joint report with EU on Brexit.
Asked about the Lib Dem leader, Jo Swinson, saying she would still oppose Brexit, even if people voted for it in a second referendum, Johnson says the opposition are like dictators; they want to ignore the will of the people.
Julian Lewis, the Tory chair of the defence committee, asks Johnson if he agrees defence spending needs to go up.
Labour’s Debbie Abrahams says she loves this country and its people. But all the evidence shows the richer are getting richer and the poorer are getting poorer.
Johnson says he has a strong desire to increase spending, particularly on ship building.
Johnson says that is not correct. Income inequality has declined since 2010, he says. He says the government has lifted poor people out of tax.
Labour’s Liz Kendall says, if optimism was all it took, today people would be wandering across the garden bridge (the Johnson project that failed) and taking off on holiday from the Boris island airport (another Johnson scheme that never got off the drawing board). He asks Johnson what he will do about social care.
(Actually, recent figures show income inequality is increasing.)
Johnson says he wants a cross-party solution to this.
Labour’s Chris Bryant asks Johnson to get rid of the five-week waiting time for payments under universal credit.
"If optimism was all it took to get things done, thousands of people would be spending this blisteringly hot sunny day waltzing across his garden or jetting off on holiday from Boris island, as it is people need real solutions to their problems," - Liz Kendell
Johnson says people can get advances on their benefit payments. Labour wants to scrap universal credit, he says. He defends the system.
Sir Oliver Letwin, a Tory, says he does not agree with Johnson on Brexit, but he says he thinks there is a possible majority in the Commons for a deal.
Labour’s Alison McGovern says we now have a Vote Leave government. Does Johnson stand by the promises he made to have no change at the Irish border, and no sudden changes in the economy?
Johnson welcomes what he says.
Yes, says Johnson. He says he is opposed to border controls. And as for the economy, he implies that if there were a no-deal Brexit, it would be the fault of the EU.
Plaid Cymru’s Liz Saville Roberts asks what is Johnson’s priority: delivering Brexit, or maintaining the union? He will have to pick one, do or die, she says.
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem MP, asks if Johnson agrees the UK faces a climate emergency.
Johnson says the people of the UK voted to leave the EU, and the people of Wales voted emphatically to do so.
Johnson says the government is leading the world in setting a net zero emissions target for 2050. Carbon emissions have been cut dramatically, he says. When he was London mayor carbon emissions were cut by 14% by new technology. That is the policy he will adopt.
John Baron, a Tory Brexiter, congratulates Johnson on his “cracking” policies so far. He says it says a lot that the four great offices of state are held by the descendants of immigrants. He asks if Johnson will maintain a cancer treatment initiative.
Johnson refuses to say the UK faces a climate emergency.
Johnson says he will carry on with that scheme.
The SNP’s Stewart McDonald asks Johnson why he has refused to answer questions about his relationship with the former Russian arms dealer Alexander Temerko.
Labour’s Hilary Benn says Leo Varadkar, the Irish PM, said yesterday trying to negotiate a new deal by October was “not in the real world”. What will Johnson do if MPs vote against no deal?
Johnson says if McDonald has an allegation to make, he should put it to him in writing.
Johnson says Benn’s question is redolent of the defeatism he deplores. Why does not Benn think the EU might think again? All parties know what will happen if they do not honour the referendum result.
Justine Greening, a Conservative, asks Johnson if he agrees any deal must be put to the people in a referendum.
Labour’s Yvette Cooper asks if Johnson can say what the technology will be for alternatives to the backstop in Ireland. She asked the chancellor 17 times, but he could not say, she says.
Johnson says he does not agree. Labour is now a referendum party, he says. But a referendum should only happen once a generation.
Johnson says abundant options are available, including trusted trader schemes.
(In the past Johnson did once express some support for the idea of holding a second referendum.)
Owen Paterson, the Brexiter former environment secretary, asks for an assurance that the UK will take back “total sovereignty” over fishing after Brexit.
Labour’s Laura Smith asks if Johnson will apologise for what he said about how investigating historical child abuse was spaffing money against the wall.
Johnson says that is exactly what he will do.
Johnson says this country can be proud of its record on tackling child abuse.
Here is the Press Association’s first take on Boris Johnson’s statement.
Boris Johnson has urged Brussels to rethink its opposition to negotiating a new agreement on the terms of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU.
In his first statement to MPs as prime minister, Johnson reaffirmed his determination to deliver Brexit by the October 31 deadline, warning of a “catastrophic” loss of confidence in the UK’s democracy if they failed.
Johnson, who entered the Commons chamber to cheers from Tory MPs, insisted that he wanted to take Britain out of the EU with a deal.
But he said Theresa May’s deal had been rejected three times by the House and could not be brought back again.
“I would prefer us to leave the EU with a deal - I would much prefer it,” he said.
“I believe that it is possible even at this late stage and I will work flat out to make it happen.
“But certain things need to be clear. The withdrawal agreement negotiated by my predecessor has been three times rejected by this House.
“Its terms are unacceptable to this parliament and this country,” he said.
He said that his new government was ready to negotiate with Brussels in good faith.
“We will throw ourselves into these negotiations with the greatest energy and determination and in a spirit of friendship,” he said.
But at the same time he promise to “turbocharge” preparations for a no-deal Brexit in the event that they were unable to come to an agreement with the EU.
Nigel Dodds, the DUP leader at Westminster, welcomes Johnson’s positivity and optimism. He says the UK must be prepared for no deal if necessary.
Johnson thanks Dodds for his support, and for what he has done to protect the people of the UK from the “depredations of the party opposite”.
Jo Swinson, the Lib Dem leader, says the 3 million EU nationals here are our family, our friends, our carers. But they have been kept in uncertainty. So will Johnson back the bill from the Lib Dem peer Lord Oates backing their rights.
Johnson says he can guarantee their rights. He says 1 million people have already signed up to the settlement scheme.
Ian Blackford, the SNP leader at Westminster, welcomes Johnson as the last PM of the United Kingdom.
It is sometimes said Johnson lives in a parallel universe. Today he appears to have gone to outer space, Blackford says.
He asks Johnson to accept Nicola Sturgeon’s request for a meeting.
A no-deal Brexit would cost Scotland 100,000 jobs, he says. He says Johnson has admitted he has done no analysis of the outcome of his plan. He says Johnson is deluded. If Johnson tries to take the UK out of the EU without a deal, Scotland will stop him and this parliament “will stop this madness in its tracks”.
He says Johnson does not have a mandate to be PM.
He asks Johnson to rule out changing the Barnett formula.
He says Sturgeon is now reviewing the timetable for a second independence referendum.
Blackford says SNP government considering bringing forward its plans for a second independence referendum.
In response, Johnson says Nicola Sturgeon replaced Alex Salmond without a vote.
He asks if the SNP would really campaign to rejoin the EU, and to hand back control of fisheries to the EU, after Brexit.
He says he will govern for the whole of the UK.
Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, says the EU will have listened to what Johnson had to say. He asks the government to say every week what has been done to prepare for no deal, so that the EU knows when the UK is ready.
Johnson welcomes that idea. He says there will be a very active campaign to get the public ready.
