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Brexit: Boris Johnson publishes his plan for alternative to backstop – live news
Brexit: Juncker says PM's plan has 'some problematic points' but does not say no, and talks go on – live news
(about 2 hours later)
From the BBC’s Adam Fleming
Boris Johnson has spoken to Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president. Juncker has not rejected the PM’s plan outright, and in fact he has welcomed some aspects
The legal text of the new Ireland protocol is NOT being published - that's for the negotiating room only. https://t.co/MkkZKNkzvy
Here is an extract from the commission’s statement about the talks.
From the BBC’s Europe editor Katya Adler
President Juncker welcomed Prime Minister Johnson’s determination to advance the talks ahead of the October European Council and make progress towards a deal. He acknowledged the positive advances, notably with regards to the full regulatory alignment for all goods and the control of goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain. However, the president also noted that there are still some problematic points that will need further work in the coming days, notably with regards to the governance of the backstop. The delicate balance struck by the Good Friday agreement must be preserved. Another concern that needs to be addressed are the substantive customs rules. He also stressed that we must have a legally operational solution that meets all the objectives of the backstop: preventing a hard border, preserving north-south cooperation and the all-island economy, and protecting the EU’s single market and Ireland’s place in it.
NEW: Proposals delivered in Brussels plus the PM’s letter to Jean Claude Juncker /1
President Juncker confirmed to Prime Minister Johnson that the commission will now examine the legal text objectively, and in light of our well-known criteria.
What not to expect: The EU coming out with an outright immediate rejection of the PMs proposals. Brussels does not want to be seen to be the one closing the door to a deal. Throughout this process they’ve again and again kicked the ball back into the UK gov’s court /2
The EU wants a deal. We remain united and ready to work 24/7 to make this happen – as we have been for over three years now.
I expect the EU to point out that various elements of the PMs proposal are not compatible with its red lines BUT the EU will likely say publicly that it’s door is open 24/7 to the gov to negotiate on the ‘basis’ of this deal /3
The UK and EU negotiating teams will meet in Brussels over the coming days.
Question is: Is the PM willing to move from his take it or leave it position? If he is, there will be something to talk about with the EU. If he won’t the EU will avoid being the ones saying “Forget it” /4
From the Times’ Steven Swinford
Here is the full text (pdf) of Boris Johnson’s letter to Jean-Claude Juncker explaining the details of his plan.
The spartans are movingJohn Redwood, one of the most hardline eurosceptics, says Boris Johnson's commitment to a free trade agreement with the EU is 'very significant''I have always said we should offer a free trade agreement. On the fundamentals I am very pleased with that'
And here is a seven-page explanatory note (pdf) from the government.
John Redwood is one of the 28 Tory Brexiters who voted against Theresa May’s deal on all three occasions.
Here is Boris Johnson’s letter to Jean-Claude Juncker, the European commission president, explaining the plans.
And here is Jeremy Corbyn telling the BBC that the proposal is “worse than Theresa May’s deal”.
The government has just published its plan.
“It’s worse than Theresa May’s deal, I can’t see it getting the support that he thinks that it will get”Jeremy Corbyn says Boris Johnson’s Brexit proposals will “undermine the Good Friday Agreement”https://t.co/b7crQY8b0J pic.twitter.com/HoAEWYk0Rn
Here it is... UK proposal pic.twitter.com/IBD247Fyht
A government official said Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan would create a single regulatory zone across Ireland for goods but not services – a suggestion that was previously rejected by the DUP.
The absence of a “take it or leave it” demand in Boris Johnson’s conference speech has offered some hope in Brussels of a prime ministerial U-turn on what EU officials have described as unworkable proposals for the Irish border, my colleague Daniel Boffey reports.
The major difference between the new arrangements and the backstop is that there will now be a mechanism for consent allowing both the NI executive and assembly to endorse those arrangements, the official said.
Boris Johnson speech gives EU hope he will rethink Irish plan
Asked what would happen in regards to the border and border checks if Northern Ireland’s democratic institutions voted to end regulatory alignment with the EU, the official said: “That’s a discussion we will have closer to the time.”
From the BBC’s Jenny Hill
The prime minister does not intend to extend the transition period but did not rule it out, the official said.
Angela Merkel and Mark Rutte in Berlin today. Discussed Brexit, German Chancellor says still hopes for orderly exit but both countries prepared for no deal. pic.twitter.com/VKcQ3CBZKf
Crucially, the official was unable to say what would happen if Stormont or the executive rejects the new arrangements. It says in the documents that “if consent is withheld the arrangements will not enter into force or will lapse (as the case may be) after one year and arrangements will default to existing rules”.
Boris Johnson is due to speaking to the European commission Jean-Claude Juncker about his Brexit proposals at around 4.15pm this afternoon. David Frost, the PM’s Brexit adviser, is also having talks with the EU’s Brexit negotiating team.
The official also conceded that the deal could involve another tranche of money going to Northern Ireland. Asked about the mention of a “New Deal for Northern Ireland” mentioned in Johnson’s letter, the official said: “I wouldn’t dispute that the support is likely to have financial implications.”
Earlier Mina Andreeva, the commission’s chief spokeswoman, said:
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, thinks Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan is “designed to fail”.
We understand that we will receive a text from the United Kingdom later today and once received we will examine it objectively and in light of our well-known criteria. We will listen very carefully to the United Kingdom.
Hard to see how the UK government Brexit ‘proposals’ fly. And hard to escape conclusion that they’re designed to fail. For Scotland, the fundamental point remains - these proposals would take us out of the EU, single market and customs union against our will. That’s unacceptable.
Andreeva said she would not “pre-empt any reaction” from the EU before senior figures had a chance to study the details. Speaking at a briefing she said:
We want to enter into constructive discussions, so I will certainly not pre-empt any reaction here before even having received the text.
The EU wants a deal. We think an orderly withdrawal is far more preferable than a no-deal scenario.
And in order for there to be a deal, we must have a legally operable solution that meets all the objectives of the backstop preventing a hard border, preserving the north-south co-operation and the all-Ireland economy, and protecting the EU’s single market and Ireland’s place in it.
Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach (prime minister) has said what he has heard about the UK’s Brexit plans is “not promising” and “does not appear to form the basis for an agreement”. He said:
What I can say is from the leaks, it’s not promising, and does not appear to form the basis for an agreement, but we’ll keep talking but I’d want to see them in writing first.
I hope to speak to the prime minister later this evening. I expect him to talk me through the proposals, and for me to ask him to listen to the voice of the people of Northern Ireland. As prime minister he must act with impartiality and listen to all the parties of Northern Ireland, and the people of Northern Ireland, who voted against Brexit and do not want to see customs posts on the border.
It will be necessary to have checks, but we believe they should be done at ports and airports, but not along the 500km border. That’s our position and makes sense to us.
No one on the island of Ireland wants checks at the border. Why would any British government want to force that on Irish people, north and south?
Varadkar said he did not hear Boris Johnson deliver his speech this morning. But Varadkar also said this, implying he had read or heard what Johnson had to say about how if the UK and the EU failed to agree that would be because of a “technical” disagreement about customs:
It’s much more than technical, it’s deeply political, legal, and the technical aspects are a small part of that.
Although Varadkar’s comments sound negative, here he has just been focusing on the unacceptability of customs checks at or on the border. This may be significant because Johnson is stressing that the checks he envisages would take place elsewhere. (See 11.52am.)
From RTE
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he will speak by phone to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson this evening #Brexit
Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley, did not get the embrace he was expecting from his son after the speech, this clip shows. Bloomberg’s Robert Hutton thinks Stanley might have been getting the Falstaff treatment.
"I know thee not, old man. How ill white hairs become a fool and jester." pic.twitter.com/4EkSfeWpnp
This is what PA Media has filed about PMQs, which featured Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, standing in for the PM, and Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, standing in for the leader of the opposition.
Tory MPs need to learn how to treat women “less cruelly”, Diane Abbott has claimed during a landmark PMQs
The shadow home secretary raised the issue of abuse aimed at MPs, abortion rights in Northern Ireland, the so-called “rape clause” connected to tax credits and the plight of workers at Thomas Cook, before accusing the government of letting women down.
Her appearance at the dispatch box meant she became the first black person to lead their party at PMQs.
She faced Dominic Raab at the session, with the pair deputising for their leaders as Boris Johnson was delivering his keynote speech at the Conservative conference in Manchester.
Their exchanges included lighthearted moments, too, as Raab initially got to his feet too early after believing Abbott had finished her first question.
Abbott later tried to ask a seventh question – one beyond the allotted six – before being stopped by the Speaker, John Bercow.
The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington began by asking Raab to apologise for remarks made by the Johnson last week after he said “humbug” in response to concerns raised by Labour’s Paula Sherriff about threats received by MPs.
Abbott added Sherriff had received “four further death threats” since her exchange with the PM, noting some again quoted Johnson’s words.
Raab did not apologise on behalf of the PM but called for a “zero-tolerance” approach to any abuse or threats against MPs.
Abbott also highlighted billboards put up in Walthamstow, east London, targeting the Labour MP Stella Creasy for her support of decriminalising abortion in Northern Ireland.
Abbott later said: “Whether it’s women members in this house, women claiming benefits, women’s reproductive rights in Northern Ireland, and the failure to support women workers at Thomas Cook, isn’t this a government letting women down?”
Raab replied: “On this side of the house we’re proud to be on our second female prime minister.”
And here is some comment on Boris Johnson’s speech from journalists and commentators.
From the BBC’s Nick Robinson.
The Irish border problem is summed up by @BorisJohnson as “essentially a technical discussion of the exact nature of customs checks.” The EU see it as about peace in Ireland, defending the European ideal & the single market. This gulf in understanding may not be bridgeable
From the Daily Mirror’s Jason Beattie.
Verdict on Boris Johnson speech: he will always be a showman rather than a statesmanhttps://t.co/4UC60B8I0I pic.twitter.com/aWjXzUBNEZ
From Sky’s Lewis Goodall.
In many ways, that speech showed the best and worst of the Boris Johnson premiership. Funny, unpredictable but he hasn’t quite found a prime ministerial voice. It’s just his old one.
Also there’s a rhetorical difference between being London Mayor and Prime Minister. You can’t just excitedly list all the things which are progressing (electric planes, genetic research etc) whilst you happen to be in office. You have to communicate a reason to govern.
From ITV’s Robert Peston.
From ITV’s Robert Peston.
No new policy in @BorisJohnson speech. It was a repositioning speech, a statement that - putting the Brexit arguments to one side - he wants to see seen as a socially liberal, ecology-championing, big-infrastructure investing, science-loving One Nation Conservative.
If Brexit talks with EU break down in next few days, @BorisJohnson won't bother going to EU summit on 17 October, government official says. Which would be a thing
To put another way, that was Boris Johnson saying “I hate being called an extreme right-wing ideologue”. https://t.co/83D0O4bEfb
Jeremy Corbyn has told Sky News he thinks Boris Johnson’s proposal does not make it clear how the Good Friday agreement would be supported.
From the Manchester Evening News’ Jennifer Williams.
He also said it was “worse” than Theresa May’s proposal because it envisaged the UK diverging more from EU regulation.
I’ve got to say I’m no clearer on what exactly Boris Johnson stands for after that speech. Everything. He stands for everything. What was the line? Help
He says Boris Johnson should come to the Commons tomorrow to explain his plan. He said Labour would be telling him the plan was “not acceptable”.
There was one nation in there (although there is a joke to be made about which nation, which I will leave) and there was also crowd pleasing brexit rhetoric. And some stuff about turbot. So...yeah sorry I still think it was a bit all over the place
A DUP source said the main shift in the party’s position was not just its decision to accept a time-limited revised backstop, but that at the end of 2024 the process was “opt in” for the region rather than “opt out”.
From the Guardian’s Rafael Behr.
This is because the Stormont executive and assembly will have a say on whether Northern Ireland stays in regulatory alignment with the EU/Ireland rules.
This is utterly banal. Off the shelf mainstream Tory comfort zone speech, with some of Johnson's after-dinner reject lines sprinkled on top. The actual news was in @pmdfoster scoop.
“It’s basically back to the joint report,” said the source in a reference to the December 2017 deal (pdf) between the UK and the EU, which created a backstop for the border in the event of no deal but at the same time guaranteed no barriers between the region and GB unless Stormont agreed.
Interesting also, on reflection, that there was no foreign policy chapter in the speech. No China, no Russia, no Iran. Commonwealth got a shout out, but no serious attempt to explain UK role in the world.
According to a blogpost from Channel 4 News’ political editor, Gary Gibbon, Boris Johnson and his team are not hugely optimistic about the prospects of the EU agreeing to the No 10 plan. It is worth reading the whole thing, but here’s an extract.
From HuffPost’s Paul Waugh.
The word from EU sources is that the new proposal doesn’t look like it’s going to make it into the famed “tunnel” – that’s the secret, detailed negotiating format reserved for EU endgame negotiations.
In 21 years of covering party conferences, I've never heard a leader's speech, let alone a PM's speech, which hasn't got a single new policy.He is obvs storing some up for the election, but felt like missed opportunity.Overall felt like he dialled it in after a heavy night.
Instead there could be exploratory talks checking out how hard the UK lines are. Everyone is mindful of the blame game that will swiftly follow if talks fail and wants to minimise their exposure.
From Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan.
Simon Coveney has already today said on behalf of the Irish government that what they’ve seen doesn’t look like good news for the chances of a deal (Dublin was briefed yesterday by Sir Ed Lister, Boris Johnson’s adviser alongside No 10 recruit Prof John Bew, Attlee’s biographer) …
Say what you like about Boris but he’s a smart, funny & charming guy, and his relentlessly positive message is a blessed relief after all the doom-and-gloom Remoaning. If he can deliver Brexit, he’ll be a national hero. We’re all sick of this pathetic partisan farce.
Visitors to the executive suites floor of the Midland hotel in Manchester, where the government’s top people held court this week, have been told there is already an expectation that we will soon be in the next phase of this crisis: Boris Johnson refusing to sign the letter requesting a Brexit delay as required by the Benn act.
From the Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff.
No 10 sources say that they then expect that issue to go to the high court on 21 October and the supreme court a couple of days later. (The government’s favoured date for a general election is said to be 28 November – there is “a real keenness” not to have an election in December, No 10 sources have said.)
This whole speech is a triumph of rhetoric over reality; built around a Brexit offer whose wheels were coming off before he stood up, nothing much in the way of new policy. The hall loved it; it changes nothing outside.
The Financial Times’ George Parker thinks the DUP might not have read the government’s plans properly.
From the Telegraph’s Peter Foster.
Confusing DUP statement: "These proposals would ensure that Northern Ireland would be out of the EU Customs Union and the Single Market as with the rest of the United Kingdom." Err. Have they read it? It would create a single regulatory zone in Ireland, border in Irish Sea
What to know the UK 'blame game' strategy for the #brexit deal? It's right here in @BorisJohnsonspeech.Just dismiss the 'kerfuffle' over the Irish border as a mere "technical" issue. Definitely NOT about lives & livelihoods; peace & identity. Mmm. pic.twitter.com/c7omYmiAFC
The full text of the DUP statement (see 3.25pm) is here.
From the Sun’s Tom Newton Dunn.
And here is an extract.
A vintage Tory conference darling speech from Boris Johnson, fizzing with optimism and ad-libbed humour, but devoid of any new policy and almost no new detail on his Brexit deal offer. The hall adored it, but will have no impact in Brussels where he most needs it #cpc19
The DUP has always indicated that the United Kingdom must leave the EU as one nation and in so doing that no barriers to trade are erected within the UK.
From Politico Europe’s Emilio Casalicchio.
This offer provides a basis for the EU to continue in a serious and sustained engagement with the UK government without risk to the internal market of the United Kingdom.
Here is the Trump/Farage style dog-whistle in the Boris Johnson conference speech: People suspect "forces in our country" trying to stop Brexit. #CPC2019 pic.twitter.com/WZwNX6wcGZ
It will require changes to the draft withdrawal treaty and we welcome the fact that all sides now recognise that requirement in order to secure agreement.
From the BBC’s Nick Eardley.
These proposals would ensure that Northern Ireland would be out of the EU customs union and the single market as with the rest of the United Kingdom ...
PM expected to speak to various European leaders this afternoon about his Brexit offer.MPs will get a chance to see plan this afternoon, but no chance to question ministers until tomorrow.
Further work remains to be completed between the UK and the European Union but we would encourage all concerned to approach these discussions in a positive mind-set within a spirit of wanting to secure a negotiated withdrawal agreement that can allow everyone to focus on future relationships.
Most senior politicians take speech-giving seriously, and important moments in their careers are defined by the speeches they gave at the time. With David Cameron, for example, there was the “hug a hoodie” speech that set out his vision for liberal Conservatism, or the 2013 Bloomberg speech that announced a referendum on Europe. The highlights of Theresa May’s career include her “nasty party” speech as Tory chairman, her speech attacking the Police Federation, and her 2016 conference speech as PM setting Britain on course of a hard Brexit.
For our part that is the manner in which we will approach these issues over the coming period.
But Boris Johnson is different. He mostly just gives the same speech every time, and we heard it again today – a jolly confection of jokes meandering around the theme of how Conservatism should be about combining the benefits of a market economy with strong public services, with copious references to his time as London mayor. Even the jokes were old: dispatching Jeremy Corbyn into outer space, SNP leaders having fish surnames, and the line about wind turbines – although, when Johnson said today that “only a few years ago people were saying that … wind turbines would not pull the skin off a rice pudding”, he failed to mention that one of the people using that line was Johnson himself. Essentially, it was just an extended version of one of his Telegraph columns.
On the plus side, Johnson’s Telegraph columns were always worth a read; he can deliver an entertaining speech and the whole performance was more enjoyable than having to listen to Theresa May. People respond well to leaders exuding optimism, not misery, and Johnson certainly manages this. He is not so much a glass half-full sort of person as a glass full-to-overflowing.
But, on the down side, was there any substance to support this inverted pyramid of puff? This was not a speech that made any sort of serious argument about the challenges facing the country, and it did not have anything new to say about domestic policy at all. Surprisingly, given that an election is expected soon, it did not even try to make a very robust case as to why the country would be better off for the next five years under the Conservatives, beyond claiming that Labour would prolong Brexit “chaos” (see 11.33am) – a claim, that in the current circumstances, you would have thought the Tories might have thought twice about wanting to revive.
The most important passage was probably the one summarising Johnson’s Brexit offer to the EU. (See 11.52am.) In a line that sounded desperate, or mildly threatening, Johnson suggested that if the EU rejected his plan, that would just be a “technical” matter relating to “the exact nature of future customs checks”. Doubtless EU leaders will see it very differently. But they might take some consolation from the fact that, although No 10 was briefing last night that the plan being put forward today would be the UK’s “final offer”, Johnson did not use those words in his speech.
Boris Johnson is now leaving the conference hall. He is shaking hands on the way out. Carrie Symonds, his partner, joined him on the way out, but she did not take to the stage.
Johnson is now on his peroration.
This country has long been a pioneer. We inaugurated the steam age, the atomic age, the age of the genome. We led the way in parliamentary democracy, in female emancipation. And when the whole world had succumbed to a different fashion, this country and this party pioneered ideas of free markets and privatisation that spread across the planet.
Every one of them was controversial, every one of them was difficult, but we have always had the courage to be original, to do things differently, and now we are about to take another giant step to do something no one thought we could do.
To reboot our politics, to relaunch ourselves into the world, and to dedicate ourselves again to that simple proposition that we are here to serve the democratic will of the British people.
And if we do that with optimism and confidence then I tell you we will not go wrong. Let’s get on with sensible moderate one nation but tax-cutting Tory government, and figuratively if not literally, let us send Jeremy Corbyn into orbit where he belongs.
Let’s get Brexit done. Let’s bring our country together.
Johnson repeats his attack on Corbyn for wanting to delay Brexit.
It has become absolutely clear that he is determined now to frustrate Brexit
What do we want and need? Do we want more dither and delay
Do we want to spend another billion pounds a month that could be going on the NHS?
Let’s get Brexit done
Johnson is setting out the choice facing the country at the election.
When the chlorinated chickens waddle from the hencoop where they are hiding, that is the vision of the country that we will put to the people. And the choice is clear.
We put up wages – with the biggest expansion of the living wage for a generation; Corbyn would put up taxes for everyone.
We back our superb armed forces around the world; Corbyn has said he wants them disbanded.
We want an Australian-style points based system for immigration; Corbyn says he doesn’t even believe in immigration controls.
If Jeremy Corbyn were allowed into Downing Street, he would whack up your taxes, he would foul up the economy, he would rip up the alliance between Britain and the USA, and he would break up the UK.
