Boris Johnson hosts live 'people's PMQs' - politics live

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/aug/14/boris-johnson-under-pressure-after-hammond-slams-no-deal-brexit-politics-live

Version 5 of 9.

Here, in more detail (via PA Media), is Johnson’s answer when he was asked during his people’s PMQs how he intends to deliver Brexit on 31 October given the lack of movement from the EU and opposition from MPs. He said:

There’s a terrible kind of collaboration, as it were, going on, between people who think they can block Brexit in parliament and our European friends.

And our European friends are not moving in their willingness to compromise, they’re not compromising at all on the withdrawal agreement even though it’s been thrown out three times, they’re sticking to every letter, every comma of the withdrawal agreement - including the backstop - because they still think Brexit can be blocked in parliament.

The awful thing is the longer that goes on, the more likely it is of course that we will be forced to leave with a no-deal Brexit.

That’s not what I want, it’s not what we’re aiming for but we need our European friends to compromise. The more they think there’s a chance that Brexit can be blocked in parliament, the more adamant they are in sticking to their position.

Johnson said he remains “confident we will get there” and leave the EU on 31 October , noting: “In the end both our friends in other European capitals, and I think MPs, will see it’s vital to get on and to do it.”

Q Who are your political heroes.

A Johnson mentions Winston Churchill but also Pericles of Athens “one of the most powerful articulators of the idea of democracy”. He says that is why we will leave the EU on 31 October.

And that is that. The quickfire nature of it meant there was little insight to be gained just soundbites with no details on policy nor fresh announcements.

Johnson is flying through the questions with very superficial answers, it has to be said.

Q How will he govern for everyone.

A Power will be devolved and there will also be levelling off across the UK. “Opportunity is unfairly distributed”. He will invest in education, schools.

Q Kyle in Stourbridge asks how he will protect and advance mental health services.

A Johnson says he’s been doing a lot about crime, which is often associated with mental health problems. He talks about social services, housing, police, councils - wraparound care. We need to be less afraid about talking about mental health issues.

Q Sarah from London asks about tackling knife crime.

A Johnson claims he “gripped” the problem while mayor of London, helping young people get apprenticeships, also increased stop and search. We are putting another 20,000 police officers on the street and increasing stop and search. Johnson refers to people saying it is unfair that BAME groups are overwhelmingly targeted. The PM says the best thing you can do to someone carrying a knife is to stop and search them.

Q Nicky in Scotland asks how the PM will preserve the United Kingdom

A It’s the most important union of the last few centuries. Johnson essentially says he will talk up the union.

Q Sam in Wales asks about an election.

A Johnson says people are sick of elections. We will leave on 31 October.

Q Amy asks what Johnson will do to restore people’s faith in politics.

A We’re coming out of the EU on 31 October, people feel frustrated we haven’t left the EU.

Boris Johnson has started his people’s PMQs.

Q Luther in Cheshire has asked how he intends to leave the EU on 31 October with the lack of movement from Europe

A There’s a “terrible collaboration” between people who want to block Brexit and the lack of movement by our European friends. “We need our European friends to compromise.” The more they think parliament can block Brexit, the less likely they are to compromise

The European Commission has said Britain needs to explain its ideas on the way forward for Brexit if talks are to progress. Vanessa Mock, a European Commission spokeswoman, told a regular media briefing in Brussels:

President (Jean-Claude Juncker) told Prime Minister Johnson on 25 July that we’re available should the United Kingdom wish to hold talks and clarify its position in more detail.

We’re ready to analyse any concrete proposals that are compatible with the withdrawal agreement, and also ready to rework the future relationship as outlined in the political declaration. The UK knows well that our doors remain open to that effect.

But for the talks to progress the UK government needs to explain its ideas on how it sees the way forward, respecting the commitments it took earlier in these negotiations.

Asked if the refusal to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement also holds for any future British government, such as a Labour administration, Mock replied:

Our doors are open to discuss with the UK authorities, I never said anything about refusal, but I won’t go beyond what I said.

Boris Johnson will be hosting the first “people’s PMQs” at 12.15pm on 10 Downing Street’s Facebook page today. Get your questions in now!

The Conservative former attorney general, Dominic Grieve, who supports the People’s Vote campaign for a second referendum, said he is encouraged by the number of Conservative MPs pushing back against a no-deal Brexit. He said:

Philip Hammond is absolutely right to say there’s no mandate for a disastrous no deal, and that for a government to try and force such an outcome on the country without the public’s consent would be an outrage against democracy.

It is encouraging to see more and more Conservative MPs, including many former ministers, reaching this view.

We live in a representative democracy and parliament will have its say - MPs elected by the people will not allow an out-of-control government to impose no deal against the wishes of the majority of the public and of parliament. Philip Hammond’s intervention makes that perfectly clear.”

PA Media has more details of Marcus Ball failing in his latest attempt to prosecute Boris Johnson over his EU referendum bus claim:

The application was thrown out on Wednesday by Lady Justice Rafferty - one of the high court judges who quashed the original decision.

In a brief announcement, she said: “This application for leave to appeal to the supreme court is rejected.”

Ball now has the option to apply directly to the supreme court for permission.

Speaking outside court after the ruling, he said: “This isn’t over, we are not giving up.

“We are pursuing it, absolutely.”

Giving reasons for the high court’s ruling in July, Lady Justice Rafferty said the “problem of false statements in the course of political campaigning is not new” and that parliament had enacted laws to deal with “certain false campaign statements which it considers an illegal practice”.

However, she said this did not include false statements relating to publicly available statistics, and found that the district judge’s decision would have “extended the scope” of the offence of misconduct in a public office.

She also said it appeared that “there would have been no complaint” if Johnson had used a figure of “350 million per week gross, or 250 million per week net”.

Campaigner Marcus Ball has lost a bid to take his legal fight against Boris Johnson over the 350 million EU referendum bus claim to the supreme court.

Ball who claimed Johnson had lied during the 2016 referendum campaign, crowdfunded more than £300,000 online to bring a private prosecution.

The district judge Margot Coleman had issued Johnson with a summons on 29 May to attend Westminster magistrates court and face three allegations of misconduct in public office.

However, after a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in London in June, Lady Justice Rafferty and Mr Justice Supperstone overturned the decision.

Today, Ball found out that he had been unsuccessful in his attempt to take the legal fight to the supreme court.

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 a Facebook Live Q&A session (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