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Brexit: Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar give press conference after meeting in Dublin – live news
Brexit: Boris Johnson in Dublin says no deal 'would be failure for which we would all be responsible' – live news
(32 minutes later)
Varadkar quotes from something General Alan Brooke wrote about seeing Ireland when flying back after a visit to the US with Churchill during world war two.
Q: The Irish say they have received no new proposals today. Have you got anything today? And if you create an all-Ireland agrifoods zone, won’t that put a border in the Irish Sea that the DUP won’t accept.
Johnson says the government has “an abundance of proposals”. But he does now want to share them with the media.
He says he will discuss ideas with Varadkar. He wants changes to the political declaration, as well as to the withdrawal agreement.
He says he thinks he has “the ideal amount of time” to sort this out. Angela Merkel said 30 days would be enough to find a solution. She was right.
Varadkar says “no backstop is no deal”. That is not an option Ireland finds acceptable, he says.
And that’s it. I will give a verdict, summary and reaction soon.
Q: When you talk about people being dead in ditches, there is a sense that you don’t really understand what is at stake here. When did you last visit the border? Do you still think it is like the border between Camden and Islington?
Johnson says he thinks everyone here understands the importance of the border.
The UK will never impose checks at the border, he says. There must be an open border, so goods and people can circulate in the normal way.
He says he genuinely thinks that solutions can be found.
Varadkar says he hopes this will get settled at the EU summit in October.
Most EU countries would prefer not to have an extension.
But if there were a “good reason” for one, the EU would consider it.
Q: How can you convince Varadkar that you have the power to get anything through parliament?
Johnson says everyone can see the Brexit talks have been going on for far too long. The EU wants this done, and he wants this done. And he thinks parliamentarians will see the wisdom of this.
He claims he is “undaunted” by what is happening in parliament. The British people want him to deliver Brexit.
He says he wants to “manage down” expectations.
I don’t think we are going to have a complete breakthrough here today.
Q: What would the Irish government think about London imposing direct rule on Northern Ireland?
Varadkar says the Irish would oppose direct rule, as contrary to the Good Friday agreement.
Johnson and Varadkar are now taking questions.
Q: Have you visted the border as PM? And when are we going to see the detail of your backstop plan?
Johnson says he knows what the border was like in the old days. He knows how vital it is not to return to those days.
He claims that the “landing zone” is obvious.
There are two areas where progress can be made.
First, there is a lot that can be done on trusted traders schemes etc.
Second, you can accept the unity of Ireland for sanitary and phytosanitary regulations.
He says, if you can address these two points, you can go a long way towards a solution.
He says he accepts “the locus for the negotiation remains Brussels”.
But he wants to discuss with the Irish how they can assist with that process.
Other EU leaders ask him if he has made progress with the Irish. So it is incumbent on the UK to talk first to Ireland.
(But Johnson has not talked first to Ireland. He visited Berlin and Paris first, last month.)
Johnson says he wants a deal.
They have spent three years “masticating” over this problem.
He says their predecessors solved far harder problems.
Johnson says there are two tasks before November.
They must restore the government in Northern Ireland.
And they must get Brexit done, he says. The UK must come out by 31 October or “permanent damage” may be done to trust in the political system.
There are three questions to resolve, he says.
1) Can they ensure that unchecked movement of goods and people, and cattle, continues at the border? Johnson says he thinks the answer is yes.
2) Can they maintain the Belfast agreement? Johnson says he thinks the answer is yes.
3) Can we protect the economic unity of Ireland. Again, Johnson says he thinks the answer is yes.
Johnson says the government must achieve these aims, while allowing the UK to leave the EU.
He says he thinks, when you look at these problems, there are practical solutions.
If there weren’t, the backstop would not be described as a backstop.
Johnson says he wants to get a deal.
A no-deal Brexit would be “a failure of statecraft for which we would all be responsible”.
Boris Johnson is speaking now.
He says he first met Varadkar at a St Patrick’s day parade in London when he was mayor.
He says the “vast crowd” illustrated the close and intricate relationship between the British and the Irish.
He says their predecessors took the two countries forward in circumstances that were much harder.
He says the British eat 50% of cheese and beef produced in Ireland.
And the England cricket captain was born in Dublin, he says.
Varadkar quotes from something Gen Alan Brooke wrote about seeing Ireland when flying back after a visit to the US with Churchill during the second world war.
Leo Varadkar is speaking now.
Leo Varadkar is speaking now.
He says there will be no such thing as a “clean-break Brexit”. He says if there is no deal, the UK will have to renegotiate a new relationship with the EU anyway.
He says there will be no such thing as a “clean-break Brexit”. He says if there is no deal, the UK will have to renegotiate a new relationship with the EU anyway.
And he says that, even if there is a deal, they will have to negotiate a trade deal.
And he says that, even if there is a deal, they will have to negotiate a trade deal.
Varadkar says there can be no such thing as a “clean-break Brexit”.
Varadkar says there can be no such thing as a “clean-break Brexit”.
He says he thinks a Brexit deal is possible.
He says he thinks a Brexit deal is possible.
And he says Ireland wants to be a friend to the UK in a future.
And he says Ireland wants to be a friend to the UK in a future.
On the backstop, he says Ireland cannot replace a legal deal with a promise.
On the backstop, he says Ireland cannot replace a legal deal with a promise.
Varadkar he says is not willing to replace the backstop with a promise.
Varadkar he says is not willing to replace the backstop with a promise.
He says he and Boris Johnson have spoken twice by phone.
He says he and Boris Johnson have spoken twice by phone.
But the UK has still not proposed a legal, operative alternative to the backstop, he says.
But the UK has still not proposed a legal, operative alternative to the backstop, he says.
Boris Johnson overheard mentioning “very well behaved press” in Dublin as he meets Leo Varadkar. pic.twitter.com/gSIruWP5dY
Boris Johnson overheard mentioning “very well behaved press” in Dublin as he meets Leo Varadkar. pic.twitter.com/gSIruWP5dY
Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar have posed for a picture on the steps of Government Buildings.
Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar have posed for a picture on the steps of Government Buildings.
But they just gone in without speaking to the media.
But they just gone in without speaking to the media.
Er, what do we do now? Leo meets Boris pic.twitter.com/pr1PDnBjos
Er, what do we do now? Leo meets Boris pic.twitter.com/pr1PDnBjos
But they might come out again. Someone has been testing the microphones.
But they might come out again. Someone has been testing the microphones.
And the two podiums have been moved, so they are now near the door, and under shelter.
And the two podiums have been moved, so they are now near the door, and under shelter.
There is a live feed at the top of this blog.
There is a live feed at the top of this blog.
Boris Johnson has repeatedly claimed that the talks with the EU intended to find an alternative to the backstop are advancing well. “We are making substantial progress,” he told MPs at PMQs on Wednesday.
But yesterday Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, said the opposite. As the FT reports in its splash (paywall), this is what he said when asked if he agreed that progress was being made in the talks.
If that is what’s being said, that’s a very optimistic assessment of where we stand.
We will hear from both leaders imminently.
Immediately after the Today programme’s interview with the former supreme court judge Lord Sumption (see 9.07am), for a counter view they put up the backbench Tory Brexiter Nigel Evans. He did not seem too bothered by Sumption’s argument that the strategy outlined in the Daily Telegraph would be unlawful. He said he and his colleagues had been discussing in the House of Commons tearoom on Thursday what Boris Johnson might do to circumvent the law requiring him to ask for a no-deal Brexit, and Evans said: “We whittled them down to about 20.”
He did not list all 20, but he referred to two: the government tabling a vote of no confidence in itself, or the government passing a one-line bill setting the date for an early election.
Evans also argued that, even though Johnson did not have the support of the Commons, he did have the backing of the public. Evans explained:
You have to remember, 400 MPs representing leave seats voted remain. You really do have parliament against the people. It’s not a great look. And I will be standing alongside the prime minister in trying to deliver what the people voted for.
The two ideas Evans did propose are problematic. The government could in theory try to pass a vote of no confidence in itself, but that would open up a 14-day period during which MPs could agree to support an alternative PM and government. And it could try to pass primary legislation requiring an election on 15 October, but that would require a majority, which Johnson does not have, and it could be amended in ways unacceptable to Number 10.
Another former lord chancellor, David Gauke, has also said that the plan to try to sabotage any letter sent to the EU requesting a Brexit delay with a second hostile letter would not work.
Sending two letters to the EU "carries no weight" says former justice secretary David Gauke"The consensus view in the legal world is that it's pretty watertight," he says of the act passed by Parliament to prevent a no-deal #Brexithttps://t.co/jI6cvXd5nN pic.twitter.com/gwHUJmjJkB
Gauke, of course, is one of the 21 Tories who had the whip removed last week after voting against the government on this issue.
I’m sorry comments were not open earlier. They are open now.
When Boris Johnson was deciding whether to back remain or leave in the EU referendum in 2016, he famously wrote two versions of his column for the Telegraph, one making the case for remain and one making the case for leave, before finally making his mind up – and publishing the leave one. In other circumstances, and for other individuals, that might be seen as a reasonable approach to taking a difficult decision. But because of Johnson’s long record of inconsistency, the story has come to be seen as emblematic of his duplicity.
As referred to earlier, according to today’s Daily Telegraph splash (paywall), Johnson is considering a new version of the “two contradictory letters strategy” to try to confound the law passed by parliament requiring him to request an article 50 extension if he has failed to agree a Brexit deal by 19 October, and if MPs have not voted to agree no deal (which they won’t). Here is an extract from Owen Bennett and Harry Yorke’s story.
Boris Johnson has drawn up plans to “sabotage” any Brexit extension without breaking the law, the Telegraph has learnt ...
One plan under serious consideration would see the prime minister send an accompanying letter alongside the request to extend article 50 setting out that the government does not want any delay after Oct 31.
On Sunday night, a cabinet source told The Telegraph: “There is a prescribed letter that has to be sent ... Does that stop the prime minister sending other documents to the EU? I don’t think it does.
“A political explainer perhaps, as to where the government’s policy is. It has to make clear that the government is asking for an extension, but let’s not forget what the next step is.
“Once that is done, the Europeans are going to ask: ‘Why? What is the reason?’ [What] if the government said: ‘We don’t have any reasons for an extension’?
“There is a clear path now: the Europeans need to refuse an extension.”
Lord Sumption, a former supreme court judge, told the Today programme earlier this would be illegal. (See 8.09am.) This is what he said when asked if it would be legal for the PM to seek an article 50 extension while trying to sabotage the strategy at the same time.
No, of course it wouldn’t. The bill, or act as it’s about to become, says that he’s got to apply for an extension. Not only has he got to send the letter, he’s got to apply for an extension.
To send the letter and then try to neutralise it seems to me, plainly, a breach of the act.
What you’ve got to realise is the courts are not very fond of loopholes.
Other lawyers have said the same thing. This is from Charlie Falconer, the former Labour lord chancellor.
“One plan would see PM send accompanying letter alongside request to extend Article 50 setting out Government does not want any delay after Oct 31.” DTel, tonight. Statutory Purpose of request letter is to get extension. To seek to destroy statutory purpose is to break law.
And these are from Adam Wagner, the barrister and legal commentator.
I don’t always agree with Jonathan Sumption but he’s absolutely right that attempting to circumvent the Benn Bill by sending a contradictory side letter would be unlawful as the Bill requires that the Govt “seek to obtain... an extension” https://t.co/NqNLsOTsGA pic.twitter.com/rBytxBuPuF
And side letter would be contrary to the purpose of the Bill and therefore unlawful. The point is that the govt would not be complying with the Bill.
From the Irish Times’ Pat Leahy
Taoiseach arrives at govt buildings for meeting with Boris Johnson shortly pic.twitter.com/TnhXNpadnM
Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Patrick Greenfield.
Boris Johnson is in Dublin already for his talks with Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach (prime minister). They are due to hold a mini press conference at about 9.15am.
Journalists are already outside Government Buildings in Dublin, where Varadkar’s office is based, waiting for the leaders to arrive.
Big media turnout at Government Buildings ahead of Boris Johnson’s much-anticipated arrival within the next hour. @VirginMediaNews pic.twitter.com/ibDsXSQMrD
Julian Smith has indicated he will not resign from the government despite official papers released last week indicating the Northern Ireland secretary had clashed with No10 over suspending parliament.
Media speculation about me doing anything other than continuing to represent & work flat out for Northern Ireland is v wide of mark @NIOgov
Jeremy Corbyn and other opposition leaders working to stop a no-deal Brexit will meet again this morning to plan their next steps, according to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg. The government is expected to lose another attempt to force an October election later today.
Morning-in no particular order1. Opposition leaders gathering again this morning to plan next steps2. Julian Smith not resigning (not yet) 3. No 10 is looking at different ploys so extension doesn't happen if no deal, aware it might end up in court
4. One option suggested by Cabinet minister privately is political side letter, as per Telegraph this morning5. Meanwhile Cabinet ministers pressing Number 10 to show more evidence of attempts to get a deal - Dublin visit today might be key
Meanwhile, our Brexit correspondent, Lisa O’Carroll, is in Dublin waiting for the British prime minister to arrive.
Press amassed for Boris Johnson’s arrival in Dublin where he will meet Leo Varadkar. Security was almost as tight as for Obama, roads closed around government buildings - no other EU premier got this treatment in last few years pic.twitter.com/Q1t4ZQGDRR
The former supreme court judge Lord Sumption has told the BBC’s Today programme that simultaneously asking the EU for an extension while asking the bloc to reject the request would not be legal. This is how Boris Johnson’s government is planning to sabotage any Brexit extension without breaking the law, according to the Telegraph.
Lord Sumption on #today programme couldn’t be clearer that sending two letters with different intentions wouldn’t be complying with the law
Johnson and Varadkar are taking questions just after 9am as the prime minister arrives in Dublin. We’ll bring you the most important answers.
