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| Brexit: Boris Johnson dismisses leaked UK border plan rejected by Dublin as out-of-date - live news | |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Q: Are you asking EU leaders to rule out a Brexit extension? | |
| Johnson says he has not made any such request. | |
| But he says he thinks EU leaders do want this sorted. | |
| Q: You told Andrew Marr that the EU would not want the UK to stay as a “truculent” member. Are you threatening bad behaviour if we stay? | |
| Johnson says people want to leave. He says he does not think any purpose is achieved by keeping the UK in against its will. | |
| Q: Dominic Raab says we won’t “play nice” if we stay. Are you threatening to muck things up if kept in? | |
| Johnson says the UK is doing things that are not in the interests of the UK. | |
| Q: So you will veto things they want? | |
| Johnson says the EU see the UK as a great power. We have spent three years arguing about leaving. They want to see us leaving, and a positive relationship with us. He goes on: | |
| I am a pro-European. I actually love Europe. | |
| Q: There are people who say you don’t want a deal. And look where your money comes from. Your donors do not want a deal? | |
| Johnson says this is the inverse of reality. He wants a deal. But there are limits. There is a limit to how much a sovereign country can compromise on customs. | |
| On sanitary and phytosanitary plans for Ireland, he has already moved “a long way”. | |
| He says he does not think people in the UK have recognised quite how much the UK has moved on this. | |
| Johnson claims UK has already compromised more on backstop than people realise. | |
| Nick Robinson is interviewing Boris Johnson on Today. | |
| Q: Will you be ringing EU leaders today about your plans? | |
| Johnson says he has been making calls. | |
| He has seen some leaked plans, possibly leaked by Brussels, that are not quite right. | |
| Q: So the report about having customs clearances sites away from the border are not true? | |
| Johnson says that is correct. | |
| It would not make sense to have a new border away from the border. | |
| Q: But people say there have to be checks somewhere? | |
| Johnson says he accepts that. | |
| He says the UK is coming up to the point of decision. | |
| A single, united country must have its own customs territory. | |
| But there are lots of ways of doing this. There are ways of protecting the customs area. | |
| Robinson says Johnson can come back and discuss his plans when they are published. Johnson does not reject the idea. | |
| This is what Boris Johnson told BBC Breakfast about the plan for customs clearance sites away from the Northern Ireland border leaked to RTE. | |
| As far as I can make out from what I have seen of the response from Brussels and, I think, Dublin, they are not talking about the proposals that we are actually going to be tabling. They are talking about some stuff that went in previously ... | |
| We’ve made a very good offer, we are going to make a very good offer, we will be tabling it formally very soon. | |
| Q: Did you expect this level of scrutiny? Have you enjoyed the job? | |
| Johnson says it is a wonderful job. | |
| He is motivated by the desire to tackle things like low pay. | |
| The national living wage is going up. The living wage is a fantastic thing, he says. And he says it works for employers because their staff are better motivated. | |
| He says he does not want to minimise things like sexual misconduct (my terms, not his). But in this case the allegations are not true. | |
| He says he loves buses. He is a “bus fanatic”. | |
| He says, if you put contactless payment on buses, you will get more cars off the road. | |
| And that’s it. | |
| Q: Do people trust you? | |
| Look at what we do, he says. | |
| He says he stood on the steps of Number 10 and promised more police officers and new hospitals. Those officer are being recruited, and he has published plans for 40 new hospitals, he says. | |
| Q: You don’t talk about your private life. | |
| Johnson says he intends to continue with that. | |
| Q: But what do you say about Charlotte Edwardes? | |
| Johnson says this is a difficult time. A lot of people don’t want Brexit to be done. They see Johnson as the person delivering it. So it is inevitable he will come in for a lot of “shot and shell”. | |
| He says the Edwardes’ allegations are “not true”. It is “very sad” that she has made them, she says. | |
| Q: Is that behaviour inappropriate? | |
| It is not true, says Johnson. | |
| Q: But would it be inappropriate? | |
| Yes, of course, says Johnson. | |
| Johnson says it is “very sad” that the journalist Charlotte Edwardes has made groping allegations against him that are “not true”. | |
| Johnson says the most important thing is to “bust out” of the backstop arrangements. | |
| Under the backstop, the UK would have to accept EU laws, he says. | |
| He says he wants to exploit “the freedoms that are so vital for Brexit”. | |
| And he thinks this can be done in a way that protects the Good Friday agreement, he says. | |
| Q: What else will you change about the withdrawal agreement? Will it just be Theresa May’s deal without the backstop? | |
| Johnson says getting rid of the backstop is the main goal. But he wants changes to the political declaration too. | |
| He says getting rid of the backstop will allow the UK to have an exciting relationship with the EU and the rest of the world. | |
| There is no point in leaving the EU if you stay in the customs union, bound by EU trade policy. | |
| Johnson says the UK has agreed that there should be an all-island area in Ireland for agri-foods. This would mean Northern Ireland being bound by EU sanitary and phytosanitary rules. That is a big concession from the UK, he says. | |
| Dan Walker is interviewing Boris Johnson on BBC Breakfast. | |
| Q: What are the backstop changes you are planning? | |
| Johnson says the EU and Dublin are not talking about the UK government’s final plans. They are talking about “some stuff” that was proposed earlier. | |
| He says the UK will make a “very good offer”. It will table it soon. | |
| To be a country, you need a single border. | |
| Q: So are you going to have customs sites as described? | |
| No, says Johnson. | |
| Q: So what are you planning? | |
| Johnson says he does not want to say now. Plans can get distorted. | |
| Here are the Boris Johnson interviews coming up. | Here are the Boris Johnson interviews coming up. |
| 7.45am - BBC Breakfast | 7.45am - BBC Breakfast |
| 8.10am - Today programme | 8.10am - Today programme |
| 8.30am - LBC | 8.30am - LBC |
| Boris Johnson is doing a round of media interviews this morning, and he is bound to be asked about an important Brexit story that broke last night. The UK government is due to present the EU with detailed plans for a replacement to the backstop within days and last night the Irish broadcaster RTE published a leak of plans, saying the UK wants to have customs clearance sites in Ireland, five to 10 miles away from the border to the north and the south. The Irish government has called the plans a “non-starter”. | Boris Johnson is doing a round of media interviews this morning, and he is bound to be asked about an important Brexit story that broke last night. The UK government is due to present the EU with detailed plans for a replacement to the backstop within days and last night the Irish broadcaster RTE published a leak of plans, saying the UK wants to have customs clearance sites in Ireland, five to 10 miles away from the border to the north and the south. The Irish government has called the plans a “non-starter”. |
| Here is my colleague Lisa O’Carroll’s overnight story about the leak of the plans. | Here is my colleague Lisa O’Carroll’s overnight story about the leak of the plans. |
| Boris Johnson's 'secret Irish border plans' dismissed as non-starter | Boris Johnson's 'secret Irish border plans' dismissed as non-starter |
| And here is how Lisa’s story starts. | And here is how Lisa’s story starts. |
| Boris Johnson’s secret plans to solve the Irish border Brexit challenge involve customs sites on both sides of the border and real-time tracking devices on lorries, it has been reported. | Boris Johnson’s secret plans to solve the Irish border Brexit challenge involve customs sites on both sides of the border and real-time tracking devices on lorries, it has been reported. |
| The ideas, which mark a departure from his promise not to put infrastructure on the border, are part of four unofficial papers submitted by the UK to Brussels by Johnson’s team. | The ideas, which mark a departure from his promise not to put infrastructure on the border, are part of four unofficial papers submitted by the UK to Brussels by Johnson’s team. |
| The broadcaster RTÉ, which has had sight of the the tightly guarded proposals, is reporting that customs clearance sites would be sited five to 10 miles from the border to the north and the south to deal with imports and exports. | The broadcaster RTÉ, which has had sight of the the tightly guarded proposals, is reporting that customs clearance sites would be sited five to 10 miles from the border to the north and the south to deal with imports and exports. |
| Traders would have the choice of lodging their papers at these sites, similar to the ones that existed before the single market came into existence, or electing to be tracked electronically in an online “transit” arrangement. | Traders would have the choice of lodging their papers at these sites, similar to the ones that existed before the single market came into existence, or electing to be tracked electronically in an online “transit” arrangement. |
| Here is Tony Connelly’s full RTE story on the leaked plans. | Here is Tony Connelly’s full RTE story on the leaked plans. |
| Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister and deputy prime minister, has rejected the proposals. | Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister and deputy prime minister, has rejected the proposals. |
| Non-Paper = Non-Starter. Time the EU had a serious proposal from the UK Govt if a #Brexit deal is to be achievable in October. NI and IRE deserves better! | Non-Paper = Non-Starter. Time the EU had a serious proposal from the UK Govt if a #Brexit deal is to be achievable in October. NI and IRE deserves better! |
| Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, has said the plans leaked to RTE are just “preliminary documents”. | Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, has said the plans leaked to RTE are just “preliminary documents”. |
| Buckland on Ireland’s rejection of the draft proposals:“They’re v much preliminary documents and only cover a part of the arrangements of the Irish border... not the be all and end all”. Part of the process not the final piece of the jigsaw | Buckland on Ireland’s rejection of the draft proposals:“They’re v much preliminary documents and only cover a part of the arrangements of the Irish border... not the be all and end all”. Part of the process not the final piece of the jigsaw |
| Here is the agenda for the day. | Here is the agenda for the day. |
| 10am: The conference opens with a session on stronger communities, followed by a session celebrating “the Conservative party in action”, hosted by Lord Dobbs and Iain Dale. | 10am: The conference opens with a session on stronger communities, followed by a session celebrating “the Conservative party in action”, hosted by Lord Dobbs and Iain Dale. |
| 2pm: A session on social justice in action. | 2pm: A session on social justice in action. |
| 2.45pm: Shaun Bailey, the Tory mayoral candidate for London, speaks. | 2.45pm: Shaun Bailey, the Tory mayoral candidate for London, speaks. |
| 3pm: Session on criminal justice, with speeches from Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, and | 3pm: Session on criminal justice, with speeches from Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, and |
| 3.45pm: Priti Patel, the home secretary speaks. | 3.45pm: Priti Patel, the home secretary speaks. |
| As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web, although I will be focusing almost exclusively on the Conservative conference. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up. | As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web, although I will be focusing almost exclusively on the Conservative conference. I plan to publish a summary when I wrap up. |
| You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads. | You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads. |
| If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow. | If you want to follow me or contact me on Twitter, I’m on @AndrewSparrow. |
| I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone. | I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone. |
| If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. | If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. |