This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/oct/25/brexit-boris-johnson-pushes-pre-christmas-election-as-eu-meets-to-decide-on-extension-politics-live

The article has changed 8 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Brexit: Boris Johnson pushes for general election as EU meets over extension – live news Brexit: Corbyn says Johnson must come to parliament to rule out no deal – live news
(about 4 hours later)
Sam Gyimah, the MP for East Surrey – who had the Tory whip removed over his opposition to a no-deal Brexit and subsequently joined the Liberal Democrats – has been speaking to Sky News. Jeremy Corbyn has been speaking to ITV’s This Morning again, this time about the prime minister’s push for an election.
He says that the way to break the deadlock on Brexit is to have a confirmatory referendum to give people a say on any deal. Gyimah says he personally thinks the deal is lousy, but that he would support it if it were to be put to a confirmatory referendum. He said that Boris Johnson needed to come to parliament on Monday and rule out a no-deal Brexit. Asked if he thought the prime minister would do that, Corbyn said:
He says that the Lib Dems will “seriously consider” voting for an election if an extension is secured and no-deal is off the table. “The prime minister is busy lobbying the EU to not give an extension until January,” he says, so they need to wait and see what the EU says. He has got to understand that the protection of jobs and the protection of the Good Friday agreement and peace process in northern Ireland are very, very important. His proposals don’t do any of that.
It’s Frances Perraudin here, taking over from Kate Lyons for the rest of the morning. My colleague Ben Quinn will take the reins this afternoon. Asked if he thought he’d win an election, Corbyn said yes. “In the last election in 2017 we were written off by everybody and look what happened,” he said.
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has been speaking to BBC breakfast. She started by saying that the house of commons had been united in their horror at the Essex lorry deaths. “We need to have safer and legal routes for refugees,” she said. Corbyn said the 12 December election date was “odd for many reasons – it’s so near Christmas, it’s after universities finish their terms”. He said Labour might want an election before 12 December, but there would be discussions about that.
Abbott said Johnson’s was a “bogus call for an election”. She said Labour needed a commitment that a no-deal Brexit was off the table, and to know what sort of extension the EU was offering, before they would back an election. Richard Madeley asked Corbyn how it would work having a chancellor who wants the downfall of capitalism in Downing St. The Labour leader said that when they have meetings with business groups there was a lot of agreement on how to manage things.
She stressed that Labour wanted an election. “We don’t want Boris Johnson in power a minute longer than necessary,” said Abbott. EU source says there is "full agreement on the need for an extension" among EU27 and there will not be a special summit. But decision on length of extension will not be made until Monday or Tuesday.
Asked what the prime minister could do to reassure her that there wouldn’t be a no-deal Brexit, she said, “it would help if he actually said it, that [they] are committing to taking a no-deal Brexit off the table”, though she added that was a problem because “he doesn’t always tell the truth”. Here’s a bit more from Daniel Boffey about those Michel Barnier comments:
Abbott described 12 December – Johnson’s proposed date for an election – as a ridiculous date, and said “there is a reason why we’ve not had a Christmas election for over a century”. Michel Barnier has said the EU27 has not yet been able to make a decision on the length of the next Brexit delay due to the ongoing debate in the UK over Boris Johnson’s demand for a general election.
Adam Jackson, director of public affairs and Brexit advisory services at Grant Thornton UK on the challenges for the business community presented by Brexit uncertainty. Speaking after a two-hour meeting of ambassadors in Brussels, the EU’s chief negotiator said an “excellent” discussion had not concluded with any clear way forward. “No decision,” he said.
Uncertainty and political chaos is the new norm in the UK and globally. Business can’t lobby this away. Instead we are seeing more focus on business agility: strengthening cash flow management, reducing cost, recruiting and retaining talent and looking at new markets. pic.twitter.com/V6zxTmxPPb It may not take until Monday for the EU to make public its offer on an extension after parliament votes on whether there will be a general election.
What do the polls say? A majority of member states want to accept the terms of an extension reluctantly requested by Johnson in a letter sent last Saturday under which Brexit could be delayed up until 31 January. The UK would leave earlier if the withdrawal agreement was ratified in Westminster and by the European parliament.
The prospect of an election leads many of the front pages today. Read the full story here:
Friday’s GUARDIAN: “Johnson tells MPs: back my December 12 election bid” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/iT0myA8wLP Barnier: EU not yet able to decide on length of next Brexit extension
Friday’s i - “Christmas election stand-off” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/VZQDOgV75P Jeremy Corbyn is on ITV’s This Morning with eight-year-old Luis Walker, who has cystic fibrosis, to talk about the deal agreed between the NHS and US manufacturers to provide the drug Orkambi to sufferers.
Friday’s Daily TELEGRAPH: “End this nightmare, Johnson tells Corbyn” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/rbGFSmcRqu Corbyn said that the NHS should have the ability to be able to manufacture its own generic medicines so that everybody has access to the best medicines.
Friday’s FINANCIAL TIMES: “Johnson challenges Corbyn to end deadlock with December election” #BBCPapers #TomorrowsPapersToday pic.twitter.com/Yqn8L7nMK9 Last month Luis asked me to join his campaign to make the life changing drug Orkambi available to patients with cystic fibrosis.Today it has been. This is a victory for all the campaigners who have taken on big pharmaceutical companies' greed and government inaction. pic.twitter.com/S34aPYz7mf
Here are Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn explaining how they’d feel about an early election. At its party conference last month Labour pledged to create a publicly-owned company to make cheap versions of medicines the NHS needs but cannot afford.
Another thing on the agenda today is that the EU will meet to discuss what length of Brexit extension to offer during a closed-door meeting in Brussels this morning. This comes after Boris Johnson was compelled to send a letter requesting a delay, which he did, very begrudgingly. NHS England agrees price for 'unaffordable' cystic fibrosis drug
Good morning everyone and welcome to Politics Live as we ponder whether or not the country will be thrown into election campaign mode. From our Brussels bureau chief, Daniel Boffey:
Boris Johnson is set to plead with MPs to grant him a pre-Christmas election. The prime minister wrote to Jeremy Corbyn last night to say he would give parliament one last chance to look at his withdrawal agreement bill and “get Brexit done” by 6 November. He would also table a motion on Monday asking for an early general election, which would require the backing of two-thirds of MPs to succeed. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, has said the EU27 has not yet been able to make a decision on the length of the next Brexit delay because of the ongoing debate in the UK over Boris Johnson’s election demand.
Johnson’s letter said: “An election on 12 December will allow a new parliament and government to be in place by Christmas. If I win a majority in this election, we will then ratify the great new deal that I have negotiated, get Brexit done in January, and the country will move on.” Some light relief ...
Labour appeared poised to reject the government’s request but Jeremy Corbyn told the BBC on Thursday night that no final decision would be made until the EU27 had agreed a Brexit delay. “We’ll know tomorrow what the extension will be and I can answer that question tomorrow. What I’m saying now is: take no deal off the table.” BREAKING Sajid Javid has "postponed" production of the new Brexit 50p coins due to the likelihood that the UK will not leave the European Union next Thursday.https://t.co/dh5kbLuWrj
After reaching a fresh deal with the EU27, the prime minister had hoped to fast-track it through parliament in time to leave by Halloween. But while MPs supported the principle of the bill on Tuesday, they rejected Johnson’s timetable. A Treasury source told The Daily Telegraph: "We have paused production of the Brexit coin and will take a final decision in due course."The Treasury declined to comment further but it is likely that hundreds of thousands of the coins have already been minted.
Thanks for joining us early this Friday morning. As usual please get in touch on Twitter or via email (kate.lyons@theguardian.com). If you’re finding it hard to absorb everything that’s happened this week (you’d be forgiven) then you might find this summary from our Brussels correspondent, Jennifer Rankin, useful.
Off we trot. The end of 'do or die': what we learned in a crucial week for Brexit
The Liberal Democrats have launched a new poster campaign that parodies the “Careless Talk Costs Lives” second world war poster.
Their “Careless Votes Cost Lives” poster replaces the two gossiping diners in the original with Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn.
The quote reads: “…thanks for your help comrade, we finally got Brexit over the line!”
Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said he would like to see a united Ireland in his lifetime, but only in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement, the Press Association reports.
Asked if he would like to see a united Ireland on Irish radio station Today FM, he said:
I would, but only in accordance with the Good Friday Agreement so that is only in consent of the majority of people in Northern Ireland. That is really important stuff. Nobody should be forced into anything.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has tweeted to say that if Sajid Javid doesn’t bring a budget forward, he will. Javid confirmed earlier this morning that the the budget scheduled for 6 November would be cancelled.
Message to Sajid Javid: Stop playing games putting our economy at risk. If you won’t bring a budget forward, move over and I will. Your irresponsible party political messing around will cost people their jobs. Grow up.