Boris Johnson under pressure after Hammond slams no-deal Brexit - politics live
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Version 1 of 9. The shadow chancellor is among those who have come to Hammond’s defence. Johnson’s advisers have said “Everyone knows that the ex-chancellor’s real objective was to cancel the referendum result.” Actually this is untrue. I was in the cross party negotiations & Hammond worked desperately hard to secure a deal that might carry. https://t.co/UP9ObONzUq Speaking on the Today programme, Hammond expressed confidence that parliament could block a new deal. He said: I’m very confident that the means exist for parliament to make its voice heard and to pass legislation that gives effect to the clear view of parliament. It’s very clear to me, and the Speaker of the House of Commons has also been very clear, that if a majority of MPs clearly want to go down a certain route, a means will be delivered to allow that to happen. He said: More than 17 million people did not vote to leave the EU with no deal. That is the key point here. There is no mandate for leaving with no deal. It is absurd to suggest that the 52% of people that voted to leave the European Union all voted to leave with no deal when, in fact, as the BBC itself has pointed out, during the referendum campaign there was virtually no mention made by the leaders of that campaign at all of the possibility of leaving with no deal. Hammond claimed Boris Johnson, echoing his public pronouncements had told him privately that he is determined to get a deal and confident that he can get one. However the former chancellor added: “I fear there are other people around him whose agenda is different.” Scrapping the Irish border 'backstop' is "effectively a wrecking tactic and the people behind this know that that means there will be no-deal" says @PhilipHammondUK #r4today #Brexit https://t.co/CxMlvXwr6z pic.twitter.com/LRFqwGJLw7 This is the full text of the letter sent by Philip Hammond and others to the prime minister. The letter to the PM, and its significant Tory cast list: pic.twitter.com/Lxh51mXIAa The Johnson supporter and former Conservative party leader, Iain Duncan Smith, has hit back at Hammond, accusing him of undermining the UK’s negotiating position by failing to prepare for no deal. Duncan Smith told BBC Radio 4s Today programme: By not preparing to leave with no deal, they made it certain that we’d have to swallow everything that the European Union gave us. So the crime that has been committed in political terms was committed by him and those who did not prepare us to leave. Good morning, I’m sitting in for Andrew Sparrow on the politics live blog today, bringing you all the latest developments as they happen. Philip Hammond has put the cat among the pigeons by saying that leaving the EU without a deal would be a betrayal of the referendum result. He is leading a group of 20 Conservative MPs who are making clear their opposition to crashing out on 31 October. Seven former cabinet ministers, including Greg Clark, David Gauke and Rory Stewart, have signed a letter to the prime minister in which they accuse the prime minister of setting the bar too high in negotiations with the EU to have a hope of getting changes to a deal. Hammond, writing for the Times, also took an apparent swipe at Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s senior adviser, saying: The unelected people who pull the strings of this government know that this is a demand the EU cannot, and will not, accede to. No-deal Brexit would be a betrayal, says Philip Hammond In other developments: John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, reportedly vowed at an Edinburgh festival fringe event to fight attempts to sideline parliament “with every breath in my body”. Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, has said his party must team up with the Liberal Democrats in order to stop a no-deal Brexit, as the new Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson made clear she would work with him, despite having ruled out an alliance with Jeremy Corbyn. The transport secretary, Grant Shapps said the government has issued an “invitation to tender” for 300 million worth of freight in preparation for a no-deal Brexit. He said: “We may never need it, and that is my goal. But if we do, my goal is also to be fully prepared.” Coming up later: Boris Johnson will be conducting the latest in his Facebook Live Q&A sessions (we are awaiting exact timings). A campaigner who tried to prosecute Boris Johnson over his EU referendum bus claim is set to find out if he can take his legal fight to the supreme court. If you want to get in touch with me, the easiest way is through Twitter @Haroon_Siddique |