Remain alliance
ITV News
For dozens of MPs, summer recess will be voluntarily cut short tomorrow as they return to Westminster. But seeing as nobody is actually calling them back to Parliament, they’ve decided to form their own version of it. I understand representatives from almost all parties will meet at Church House – where MPs gathered during World War II – to symbolise their determination to continue the work of the Commons, even if the Prime Minister suspends it. Those gathered are expected to sign a declaration, agreeing to set up an alternative Parliament if Boris Johnson decides to prorogue the one that sits in the Palace of Westminster.
Telegraph
MPs’ plans to block a no-deal Brexit are in disarray, amid splits over whether to table a vote of no confidence in the government. Jeremy Corbyn has convened a meeting with opposition leaders on Tuesday, having proposed that a no confidence vote be held and then, if successful, he be installed as leader of a temporary caretaker government. However, one of his allies on Sunday accused the Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson of “petulance” over her refusal to back Mr Corbyn’s plan and said she risked dragging the Queen into a constitutional crisis.
Express
BREXIT preventers Jeremy Corbyn and Jo Swinson have collided as tensions rise regarding a planned vote of no confidence in Boris Johnson’s Government. The Liberal Democrat leader has refused to back Mr Corbyn as the leader of an interim government as he fails to command the support of the House of Commons. Ms Swinson has instead thrown her weight behind Tory grandee Ken Clarke or Labour’s Harriet Harman for a temporary solution to stop a no deal Brexit.
Times
Boris Johnson has warned Tory rebels that they are “very wrong” if they think that they can stop Britain leaving the EU without a deal on October 31. The prime minister was said to have made very clear to European leaders during the G7 summit in Biarritz that the idea that a no-deal Brexit can be stopped is incorrect. Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, will hold talks with opposition parties tomorrow as he seeks to secure cross-party support for a no-confidence vote in the government.
No deal
Guardian
Boris Johnson has issued a fresh warning to MPs tempted to try to block a no-deal Brexit, with a senior government official insisting “politicians don’t get to choose which public votes they respect”. Speaking in Biarritz, where Johnson met the European council president, Donald Tusk, on Sunday, the UK official said Johnson had delivered the message to EU leaders that Brexit cannot be stopped. “The prime minister has been very clear to European leaders that he’s seen in the last week that the idea that Brexit can be stopped is incorrect, and we are leaving on 31 October,” the senior official said.
BBC News
“The job of everybody in Parliament” is to deliver Brexit, the PM has said at the end of the G7 summit in France. But Boris Johnson refused to be drawn on whether he would suspend Parliament to stop it preventing a no-deal exit. Mr Johnson’s comments come as MPs from other parties prepare to meet to discuss ways to avoid the UK leaving the EU without a deal on 31 October. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn hopes to win a vote of no confidence in the PM and then delay Brexit to stop no deal.
Citizens’ assembly
Times
The Archbishop of Canterbury has become embroiled in a fierce political row over plans for a citizens’ assembly aimed at averting a no-deal Brexit. The Most Rev Justin Welby is in talks with a cross-party group of senior MPs to chair a series of public meetings in which alternatives to leaving the EU without an agreement would be put forward. Iain Duncan Smith, the former Conservative Party leader, said that the proposals were “deeply inappropriate”, adding: “I generally don’t criticise the archbishop but he shouldn’t allow himself to be tempted into what is essentially a very political issue right now.
EU
Express
BORIS JOHNSON has urged EU leaders to ignore wrong messages from anti-Brexit MPs, adding that efforts to stop the UK leaving with no deal will fail. Tomorrow Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will meet with other opposition leaders to discuss a possible alternative government to extend article 50. Mr Corbyn is expected to table a no confidence motion soon after MPs return from the summer recess and if the motion succeeds, opposition MPs could try and win support for a new government.
Reuters
EU leaders should pay no heed to British lawmakers who say they can stop Brexit, a senior UK government source said on Monday, repeating Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s line that Britain will leave the bloc on Oct. 31 with or without a deal. Britain has yet to agree a deal with the European Union on the terms of its departure, raising the prospect of an unmanaged exit which is forecast to disrupt the flow of goods and people at the British border.
Telegraph
Boris Johnson has warned EU leaders that they should not listen to “very wrong” UK parliamentarians who think they can stop a no deal Brexit. The Prime Minister suggested that efforts by Jeremy Corbyn and Tory rebels to stop the UK’s departure on October 31 would fail. It comes ahead of a planned meeting between Mr Corbyn and opposition leaders including the Liberal Democrats’ Jo Swinson and SNP’s Ian Blackford, where they are expected to discuss possible Commons devices that could be used to block a no deal exit.
Sun
EU chiefs have threatened to REFUSE trade deals with the UK if we don’t cough up £38billion in Brexit cash. Guy Verhofstadt fired off the warning after Boris Johnson told Brussels we won’t pay a whopping divorce bill if there is a No Deal Brexit. Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator, fumed on Twitter: “If the UK doesn’t pay what is due, the EU will not negotiate a trade deal. “After a “No Deal”, this will be a first condition of any talks. Britain is better than this.”
Evening Standard
The EU will not negotiate a trade deal with the UK if Boris Johnson refuses to pay the £39 billion Brexit divorce bill, senior officials have said. Boris Johnson has said that if there is a no-deal Brexit “the £39 billion is no longer legally pledged” to the EU. But officials in Brussels said the UK must honour commitments made during its EU membership and pointedly said that “settling accounts is essential to starting off a new relationship on the right foot.”
Reuters
The European Union expects Britain to honour all financial obligations made during its membership of the bloc even after a no-deal Brexit, a spokeswoman for the European Commission said on Monday. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday if Britain leaves without a divorce deal, it will no longer legally owe the 39 billion pounds ($47.88 billion) agreed by his predecessor. “All commitments that were taken by the 28 member states should be honoured.
Express
THE European Commission has issued a blunt message to UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson over Britain’s £39billion EU divorce bill: “Pay up or else”. The issue of any financial settlement with the bloc once Britain quits is an extremely sensitive one, with Eurosceptics adamant the UK will not owe a penny if it leaves on October 31 without a withdrawal agreement, as appears possible or even probably.
ITV News
Boris Johnson has been warned by senior figures in Brussels that failing to pay the £39 billion divorce bill would damage relations between the UK and the European Union and jeopardise future trade talks. The Prime Minister has said that if there is a no-deal Brexit “the £39 billion is no longer legally pledged” to the EU. But officials in Brussels said the UK must honour commitments made during its EU membership and pointedly said that “settling accounts is essential to starting off a new relationship on the right foot”.
Sky News
Boris Johnson has been warned by the EU that not paying a £39bn Brexit bill even in the event of no-deal would damage future trade talks. The prime minister told Sky News on Sunday that if Brexit happens without a withdrawal agreement in less than 70 days’ time then the sum will no longer be “pledged”. He added that if a new deal is not struck, Britain will have “very substantial sums available from that £39bn” to spend as it likes.
Independent
EU officials have warned Britain that failing to pay the £39bn Brexit divorce bill would damage relations and “jeopardise” any future trade deal. It comes as Boris Johnson has pledged £10 million to help prevent further destruction of the Amazon rainforest ahead of a series of meetings with world leaders on the final day of the G7 summit. Labour accused the PM of using the fires for a “PR stunt”, with shadow trade secretary Barry Gardiner calling the sum an “embarrassingly tiny contribution to deal with the situation”.
Guardian
The European Union would refuse to negotiate a trade deal with the UK if the government reneged on the Brexit bill, EU sources have said. At the G7 summit in Biarritz, Boris Johnson said it was a “simple statement of reality” that in the event of no-deal Brexit the UK would withhold much of the £39bn financial settlement agreed by Theresa May. Brussels sources have warned that future trade talks would be blocked until the UK agreed to a settlement.
Westmonster
Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage has pointed out that the UK didn’t ratify Theresa May’s worst deal in history with the EU – so there is no question of the UK as it stands having to hand over £39 billion. Speaking on LBC, Farage highlighted the fact that: “We didn’t ratify this wretched Treaty. If we’d ratified the Treaty then it would have gone into law that we owed them £39bn. “Despite Mrs. May desperate to give them this money, it wasn’t ratified. So actually, as a negotiating position, Boris, in that sense is doing mostly the right thing.
Times
The prime minister will send his chief negotiator to Brussels to discuss a Brexit deal after declaring that the EU “wants it over”. David Frost, No 10’s Brexit “sherpa”, will meet European officials tomorrow in an effort to find an alternative to the Irish backstop and avoid a no-deal Brexit. Mr Frost held a first round of meetings at the start of this month and his second trip follows a series of bilateral talks between Boris Johnson and EU leaders, including Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and President Macron of France.
Telegraph
Boris Johnson is sending his chief Brexit adviser to Brussels on Wednesday, as he said EU leaders “want this thing done”. David Frost, Mr Johnson’s Brexit “sherpa”, will meet senior EU officials to discuss alternatives to the plan agreed with Theresa May. Talks between British and EU officials have stepped up after the Prime Minister’s visits to Berlin and Paris last week convinced officials that he is “serious about a deal”. Today it emerged that Mr Johnson told EU leaders that MPs cannot block a no-deal exit, and he later refused to rule out suspending parliament to thwart efforts to do so.
House of Lords
Independent
Boris Johnson is to create a swathe of Brexit peers to redress what he sees as an anti-Leave imbalance in the House of Lords. But Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is not expected to be among those honoured for their part in taking the UK out of the European Union. The first tranche of six so-called “Brexit heroes” is set to be named some time after the UK finally quits the EU, if withdrawal goes ahead on 31 October as the prime minister plans. Further names will be added in the following months, but it is not yet known how many Brexit lords will eventually be appointed.
Guardian
Boris Johnson is preparing to send half a dozen staunch Conservative loyalists to the House of Lords, in an attempt to bolster the party’s position in the upper chamber. The new crop of peers are unlikely to be confirmed until after the 31 October Brexit deadline – but the appointments will be read as a signal Johnson is determined to stamp his mark on parliament. Theresa May’s resignation honours list is expected to be announced in the coming days, with rewards for several of the key lieutenants who supported her through her premiership, including her chief of staff, the former MP Gavin Barwell.
Huffington Post
Boris Johnson will use his first honours list to “rebalance” the House of Lords with a clutch of new Brexiteer peers. It is understood that the prime minister believes the upper house is overwhelmingly dominated by Remainers and wants to stage a symbolic move to reward around half a dozen “unsung Brexit heroes”. As Jeremy Corbyn prepares to meet opposition leaders on Tuesday to discuss joint ways to halt a no-deal Brexit, the PM and his close allies are keen to tackle the Lords’ even more entrenched stance on the issue.
Assylum
Times
Forty thousand failed asylum seekers are still in the country despite being targeted for removal, according to official figures that one MP called a national disgrace. The number rose by 15 per cent in the past year as the government came under attack for its “hostile environment” approach to illegal migrants. The policy was fiercely criticised after the Windrush scandal, which exposed the plight of West Indian migrants and their families who were unfairly told to leave.
Health
Mail
Overseas patients have left the NHS with more than £150million in unpaid bills for treatment, a Daily Mail investigation reveals. The cash could pay for 6,000 nurses, 22,000 heart bypasses or nearly 5,500 junior doctors. Two hospitals in London are owed £28million each, including almost £500,000 from one patient alone. The revelation comes amid a new-found reluctance among frontline staff to chase payments, with doctors’ leaders saying their obligation to charge overseas patients is ‘racist’ and deters vulnerable groups from seeking help. But Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘It is the National Health Service, not an international health service and it is essential these charges are made for overseas visitors.’
Telegraph
Rising numbers of elderly patients are being left “stranded” in hospital for more than three weeks amid a growing social care crisis, an investigation reveals. Last year Simon Stevens, NHS chief executive, pledged to bring an end to the “long stay” culture on the wards, promising quicker assessments and more support at home for those who are well enough to be discharged. Health officials warned that a 10-days in a hospital bed could mean pensioners “aged” by a decade, in terms of lost muscle mass.
ITV News
Major ambulance trusts are increasingly relying on private ambulances to attend 999 calls, an investigation has found. Research by PA news agency shows England’s ambulance trusts spent more than £92 million in the last year on private ambulances and taxis to transport patients. Some trusts told PA they rely on private ambulances due to a chronic shortage of NHS staff and ongoing problems with recruitment. In some parts of the South, almost one in five emergency calls result in a private ambulance being sent to the scene.
Communications
Telegraph
Bigger and taller phone masts are to be allowed across the UK as the Government sweeps away planning restrictions in a bid to banish mobile blindspots largely in rural areas. In an exclusive article for The Daily Telegraph, Nicky Morgan, Culture Secretary, announced changes to allow telecoms firms to build taller masts to deliver better mobile coverage and make it easier for all the networks to share use of them. By permitting bigger and wider masts which can bear more signalling equipment, the Government believes it will reduce the need to carpet Britain with thousands of new ones.
Sun
DIGITAL Secretary Nicky Morgan last night pledged a radical overhaul of planning laws to make Britain’s countryside communities among the first to benefit from 5G internet. She has also announced £30million will be given to ten tech firms to trial how the fifth generation of superfast internet can be installed across the UK’s countryside. Boris Johnson has said it is a disgrace that large swathes of the country’s rural communities missed out on 4G and pledged during the Tory leadership contest to rip-up planning laws to redress the injustice when it comes to 5G.
Times
Ministers are considering a substantial overhaul of planning rules to improve mobile phone coverage in rural areas. In a consultation launched this morning, the department of culture unveiled plans to “simplify” the planning regime to ensure people living in the countryside enjoy the same levels of service as city dwellers. It is proposing increasing the permitted height of new phone masts, which it said would deliver a better service and minimise the need to build more infrastructure. In the UK, masts are limited to 25 metres and are on average 10 metres shorter than elsewhere in Europe, according to industry estimates.
HS2
BBC News
The government and HS2 knew that the new high speed railway was over budget and was probably behind schedule years ago, documents seen by the BBC show. Crucially, the documents were written in 2016, before MPs had signed-off the first phase of the project. It is evidence that both the public and Parliament were not given the full picture about the true cost. The Department for Transport said: “Like all major, complex projects delivery plans evolve over time.”
High Streets
Telegraph
More struggling high streets will be turned into modern community hubs or redeveloped as 50 more towns have been given the right to bid for a share of a £1 billion Government fund. The 50 towns – from Dudley to Dover and Scarborough to Stockport – will join 50 successful areas already shortlisted to develop plans to reinvent their high streets. Boris Johnson said: “Our high streets are right at the heart of our communities, and I will do everything I can to make sure they remain vibrant places where people want to go, meet and spend their money. “But with our town centres facing challenges, we’re today expanding the High Streets Fund to support over 100 high streets to regenerate – backed by £1 billion of vital investment.
There’s a lot of MPs need to be de-selected methinks!
“an alternative Parliament”! Surely that would have no legitimacy?
The Remainiacs are making the rules as they go along. The worse thing is they are going unchallenged. If they can ignore a democratic majority decision and get away with it, they can do whatever they want. Democracy is dead. We have an elective dictatorship.