GE
The Sun is one of those papers suggesting the Prime Minister will call a General Election if his Brexit plans are stopped.
BORIS Johnson is poised to trigger a General Election within days if his Brexit plan is scuppered by Remainers this week.
He put his troops on alert as he gears up for a six-day scrap with MPs and peers that will decide Britain’s future — and his own.
The PM plans a snap poll if a “rabble alliance” of wreckers finds a way to block him from leaving the EU by October 31.
In the past few days ministers have been ordered to submit vote-winning policy ideas for a future Tory manifesto and the party’s election planning machine is in overdrive.
Tory MPs and officials are braced for an early campaign if Parliament knocks him off course this week.
If they fail, and he delivers a Halloween Brexit, Boris will look for a pre-Christmas election – with December 5 earmarked as a possible date.
One senior aide said: “It’s clear an election is looming on the horizon. The only question is when.
“We’ll probably have a better idea after the events of the next few days have played out.”
Mr Johnson has been buoyed by polls which puts him seven points ahead of Labour.
The Express says the decision could be made this week.
BORIS JOHNSON will call an election within days if Remainers succeed in blocking a no-deal Brexit.
With MPs returning on Tuesday for the Brexit debate’s biggest week yet, the Government is facing a double plot from the “Remainer rabble”.
The Sunday Express has learned ministers and advisers have been told to expect an autumn election – and ordered to come up with policy ideas to present to voters. With Remainers planning to force through legislation to stop a no-deal exit, the “nuclear option” of an election “has become a real possibility” a senior source said.
The insider said: “This will be a people versus Parliament election – Boris is on the side of the people and we will win.”
If Remainers and Labour fail this week to stop a no-deal, their fallback is a no-confidence vote.
They would try to replace Mr Johnson as Prime Minister with Labour’s Hilary Benn in a temporary national unity government.
And the Evening Standard quotes a former minister in similar vein.
Former defence secretary Penny Mordaunt thinks the country will face a general election “fairly soon”.
Commenting on such a vote she said: “Let’s make it a really good one.”
The ex-Cabinet minister said the Brexit debate has created “a very engaged public”.
However, she admitted that even she has become bored with some aspects of politics lately.
During a session at the Big Tent Ideas Festival in east London, Ms Mordaunt was asked if she thinks there will be a general election this year.
EU
The Telegraph has a column written by the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier.
More than three years ago, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. Shortly afterwards, the then Prime Minister, Theresa May, said that this meant that the UK would leave the EU’s Single Market and Customs Union.
The current Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has confirmed this position. The consequences of these decisions are clear: they create barriers to trade between the EU and the UK that do not exist today.
After two years of painstaking talks, the EU and the UK reached an agreement on operational solutions for a whole range of areas where the UK’s withdrawal creates uncertainty: first, how do we make sure that UK and EU citizens continue to enjoy their existing rights, with strong enforcement mechanisms and life-long guarantees?
What happens to researchers or organisations in the UK that receive EU funding? What should we do after Brexit with the extradition of criminals that began under EU law? How should we make sure that Cypriots living in the UK Sovereign Base Areas continue to enjoy their rights under EU law?
It is now nine months since the 27 EU governments reached an agreement with the UK on the terms of an orderly withdrawal and on the framework for the future relationship. So far, the House of Commons has failed to approve the agreed package. Some MPs voted against it because they do not want Brexit at all, others because they would prefer a “no-deal” outcome.
Sky News quotes Barnier.
The European Union’s top Brexit negotiator has said he is not optimistic about avoiding a no-deal scenario as he cannot meet Britain’s demands to scrap the Irish backstop.
Michel Barnier declared that the so-called backstop had to stay to protect the integrity of the EU’s single market while ensuring an open border in Ireland.
Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he said: “I am not optimistic about avoiding a no-deal scenario, but we should all continue to work with determination”, according to extracts of his article on the newspaper’s front page.
“The backstop is the maximum amount of flexibility that the EU can offer to a non-member state.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has vowed to take Britain out of the EU with or without a deal on 31 October.
BBC News says he has again rejected renegotiation of the Irish backstop.
The EU’s lead Brexit negotiator has rejected Boris Johnson’s demands for the Irish backstop to be scrapped.
Michel Barnier said the backstop – intended to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland – was the “maximum flexibility” the EU could offer.
Mr Johnson has previously told the EU the arrangement must be ditched if a no-deal Brexit was to be avoided.
Meanwhile, the PM has told rebel Tories they face a “fundamental choice” of siding with him or Jeremy Corbyn.
His comments come as some MPs who oppose a no-deal Brexit – including Conservatives – are planning to take action in Parliament next week.
The UK is due to leave the EU on 31 October, with or without a deal.
The backstop is part of the withdrawal agreement negotiated between Brussels and former Prime Minister Theresa May, which has been rejected by Parliament three times.
Conservative Party
Boris warns it’s crunch time in Parliament, reports the Times.
Boris Johnson today warns Tory MPs they face a historic choice this week — back him to deliver Brexit and a £3.5bn spending “bonanza” for public services, or see Jeremy Corbyn take over and “plunge the country into chaos”.
In his first newspaper interview since becoming prime minister, Johnson delivers an ultimatum to former ministers leading the charge against him to pick a side. About 20 have talked about breaking away from the party if he makes them fight a snap election on a no-deal manifesto.
Locked in the deepest constitutional crisis for a century, the prime minister promised to unveil the “biggest, most generous spending review since the height of Tony Blair’s New Labour” in Wednesday’s spending review.
But a block of Tories are threatening to break away from the party, says the Times.
Up to 20 Tory MPs, most of them former ministers, have discussed plans to break away and fight the next general election as independent Conservatives opposed to a no-deal Brexit.
In a move that would send shockwaves through the party, senior Tories against a hard Brexit have privately vowed to walk out if Boris Johnson makes them sign a public pledge to support a no-deal manifesto in a snap election. The group has already been dubbed the “rebel alliance”, echoing the Star Wars films’ resistance movement.
Potential rebels Philip Hammond, David Gauke, Greg Clark, Rory Stewart and Justine Greening have held discussions about launching a new Tory campaign organisation opposed to no deal.
But the ex-chancellor is upset that rebels like him could be deselected at the next General Election, reports iNews.
Former Chancellor Philip Hammond has spoken out against a “staggeringly hypocritical” plan to deselect Conservative MPs who rebel against the government’s policy on Brexit.
Downing Street is reportedly planning to put in place measures that would block sitting MPs from standing as Conservative candidates at the next election if they vote against the government on Brexit, even if they have the support of their local party.
The plot, reported by The Sun, would effectively force the contingent of Tory rebels hoping to avert a no-deal Brexit in Parliament to choose between their principles and their jobs.
Given the government has a majority of just one seat, any move to withdraw the whip from Conservative MPs would also make the looming prospect of a snap election much more likely.
Mr Hammond pointed out that several members of the current Cabinet themselves repeatedly rebelled against the government over Brexit, when Theresa May was Prime Minister.
In a tweet, he said: “If true, this would be staggeringly hypocritical: 8 members of the current cabinet have defied the party whip this year.
The Evening Standard also quotes Hammond.
Former Chancellor Philip Hammond has hit out at suggestions Tory MPs who vote against a no-deal Brexit could be sacked.
Mr Hammond responded to reports which suggest Conservative rebels could be forced out should they defy the Government in a touted Commons show down next week.
The Sun reported that those who do defy the whip will be banned from sitting for the party in their seats at the next general election.
Writing on Twitter, Mr Hammond said: “If true, this would be staggeringly hypocritical: 8 members of the current cabinet have defied the party whip this year.
“I want to honour our 2017 manifesto which promised a “smooth and orderly” exit and a “deep and special partnership” with the EU.
“Not an undemocratic No Deal.”
The Brexit Party
Meanwhile, the Express carries a column by Nigel Farage.
THE long battle for Brexit is about to enter a decisive phase. And the Brexit Party is ready to play our part in the fight for democracy.
The coming week brings a parliamentary showdown between Brexiteers and the ragbag alliance of Remainer MPs from the mainstream parties. These Remoaner plotters don’t only oppose Tory prime minister Boris Johnson’s move to prorogue parliament for a few days. They also want to postpone Brexit again, to give them more time to bury it altogether. The result could well be an Autumn general election.
Boris Johnson faces a clear choice. He needs to face down the Remainer establishment inside and outside Parliament, ignore the blackmail and blandishments of the EU, and deliver a clean-break Brexit by the deadline of October 31st.
If Boris has the verve and nerve to do that, we are prepared to put country before party, back him and make him a hero.
Freedom of movement
The Home Secretary could face problems stopping EU nationals, says the Times.
The government’s plans to end freedom of movement at midnight on October 31 have been torn up after lawyers warned that ministers risked losing a court case that would derail no-deal preparations.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, signalled last month that freedom of movement would legally end when the UK leaves the EU.
However, plans to change the law in one move were shelved when lawyers hired by the Home Office said this could cause chaos. Freedom of movement for EU nationals was to be abolished using the upcoming Immigration Bill, but that will not become law in time for the Halloween deadline.
Social care
A new report emphasises the care crisis, reports the Independent.
The government must substantially invest in the social care system to avert the risk of its “total collapse” in parts of the country, a charity has warned.
Age UK said health and social care services were operating in a “perfect storm of limited financial resources, significant workforce challenges, and increasingly complex population needs”.
In a new report, Health and Care of Older People in England 2019, the charity said that social care remained stuck in “purgatory” while demand rose daily.
It urged Sajid Javid, the chancellor, to allocate a significant sum to local authorities in the spending review next week as an “essential first step”.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, said government intervention was imperative to stop the system’s “spiralling decline”.
Migrants
And still families – including babies – pour across the English Channel. The Times reports:
A baby was among 66 suspected migrants who were picked up by the authorities in the English Channel and on the south coast of England yesterday.
One group of eight people landed in a rigid inflatable boat near Kingsdown beach, Dover, and the others, who were in three vessels, were intercepted at sea by the Border Force.
More than 270 people, including 40 children, were picked up at sea last month, bringing the total for the year so far to 1,000, more than double last year’s figure.
At least 30 presented themselves as Iranian, with others stating they were from Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Kuwait and Lebanon. There were 12 women and 14 children among the total.
The Sun has am image of some of them landing in Kent.
THIS is the moment migrants scramble onto a Kent beach today amid a wave of more than 270 people descending onto Britain in just a week.
The group of 66 migrants were detected at first light this morning – now being quizzed by Border Force in Dover.
It is understood they arrived in a number of small boats.
Several search and rescue operations have been taking place along the Kent Coast after the men, women and children arrived this morning.
A Coastguard Agency spokesperson said: “HM Coastguard has been co-ordinating a search and rescue response to a number of incidents on the Kent coast, working with Border Force, Kent Police and other partners.”
Today’s arrivals are just the latest amid the migrant crisis, which has seen more than 220 people, including at least 40 children, intercepted by UK and French authorities between Thursday last week and yesterday.
And it’s barely a day after Home Secretary Priti Patel said she and her French counterpart are working to clamp down on migrants who try to make the perilous trip across the Channel.
ITV News also quotes the numbers.
Sixty-six migrants were caught attempting to cross the English Channel on Saturday, immigration authorities have said.
Four boats were intercepted by patrols amid the fresh wave of migrant crossings. One of the vessels, which was halted by Border Force and taken to Dover, had 35 people on board – eight of which were children.
Eight migrants suspected of landing on a beach in Kingsdown in a dinghy, who all presented themselves as Iranian to the authorities, were arrested by Kent Police shortly after they are believed to have disembarked.
Two other boats, one with 16 passengers and the other with seven, were also taken in to Dover by Border Force officials.
All of those arrested have been transferred to immigration officials for interview.
More than 220 migrants, including at least 40 children, had been intercepted by UK and French authorities since Thursday of last week.
The Mail says there was a ‘fleet’ of boats.
Border force officials scoured the English Channel yesterday after a fleet of dinghies carrying scores of suspected illegal migrants was intercepted on its way to the Kent coast.
In all, 66 people were detained and were being dealt with by immigration officers.
Some had been aboard vessels which were intercepted by Border Force officials while others were detained after managing to make it ashore.
Kent Police said eight people arrived in a dinghy on the shore at Kingsdown at 8.15am and were passed onto immigration officers.
One incident saw a boat carrying 27 adults and eight children intercepted. At the same time, another vessel carrying 16 people was escorted to Dover.
One group aboard a dinghy came ashore on the beach at Kingsdown, three miles south of the town of Deal.
Its eight male occupants – all Iranian – were detained by police and handed over to immigration officers.
And Breitbart says hundreds are still landing in Greece from Turkey.
At least 500 migrants have landed on the Greek island of Lesbos this week from Turkey in a single day, as conditions on the islands in the Aegean continue to deteriorate.
The 500 migrants arrived on Thursday, according to the DPA news agency, who noted that the landing was the single largest since the migration pact signed between the European Union and Turkey in 2016, television broadcaster RTBF reports.
All of the migrants were taken to the notorious Moria migrant camp which is already heavily overcrowded with an estimated 10,000 residents. The camp was originally only designed to house around 3,000 migrants.
Education
Ofsted inspections are being stepped up, says the Times.
Inspectors will no longer check if schools are setting appropriate homework from this week — a move that critics say will lead to a collapse in the amount of study that children do at home.
As pupils head back to school after the holidays, Ofsted, the school inspectorate, has removed all references to homework from its inspection framework. A question on homework in Ofsted’s parent survey has also been dropped.
It means primaries and secondaries in England can be rated good or outstanding even with a no-homework policy.
Chris McGovern, a former Ofsted inspector who chairs the Campaign for Real Education, a pressure group that advocates traditional teaching, said: “This is a retrograde step that is not going to raise standards.
Hundreds of schools have not been inspected for decades says ITV News.
Schools rated as outstanding by Ofsted will no longer be exempt from inspections.
The change is part of plans aimed at helping struggling schools and tackling under-performance, the Department for Education (DfE) said.
Schools graded outstanding had been exempt from routine re-inspection and as of May 2018 there were almost 300 which had not been assessed for more than a decade.
The DfE said reintroducing regular Ofsted inspections to the top-rated schools will ensure parents have up-to-date information and can be confident that schools rated outstanding really are providing the highest standards.
More funding will also be made available to help top performing academies to expand to support other schools and help them deliver the best possible education.
All these remoaners that will lose their seats, justice will be served, then we can also set about removing their pensions and tittles.
From Across the Pond:
Sargon of Akkad & Alex Jones https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnHn_91GCR8
That would be Alex Jones of Infowars? The man who is selling ‘9/11 Was An Inside Job’ T-shirts on his website?
https://www.infowarsstore.com/911-was-an-inside-job-t-shirt.html
“Freedom of Movement” ?
Apparently it would be difficult to stop “F of M” on 31st October
Why, Why, Why can’t Leave spokesmen point out that “movement” isn’t the problem.
We welcome easy travel for business and holidays.
(In the very early ’70s, travel to Europe was little more than a wave of the passport. Children were disappointed when they no longer got stamps in their passport !)
The problem is the Right to Settle.
How hard is it to set a date from which EU citizens no longer have automatic rights of residency (let alone citizenship) ?
Just the same rights as anyone else from overseas.
I have never understood why housing is provided on arrival, to those coming here who do not have the means to support themselves. If I suddenly fancied living elsewhere within the UK, I would be told I had made myself intentionally homeless and therefore be ineligible for any council or social housing and anyone coming from France once we have left surely will not qualify for asylum.
Migrants
Police interfering with journalism.
Daddy Dragon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQissiDZ6eY
GE: The added advantage of holding a General Election is the likelihood that Bercow would no longer be speaker.
Agreed, but in light of his recent comments and collusions he should be called to resign now.
He won’t though Ken. He likes the trappings of office and, more importantly, the POWER!!!
Re Hammond’s wanting ‘ to honour our 2017 manifesto which promised a “smooth and orderly” exit and a “deep and special partnership” with the EU.”
A WTO deal with lots of mini deals IS a smooth and orderly exit. This deep and special partnership is not wholly in our gift is it? It needs both sides to play nice and the EU isn’t.
Re the boat migrants soon as the first ones get sent straight back to France this will end immediately. Get it done.
I see Justin Welby has had a Damascene conversion overnight and is calling for Remoaners to accept the democratic result of the Referendum.
I had a good laugh when Philip Hammond maj 18,050 clearly realised that deselection is a very real possibility.
Another farting noise following, ”Curruthers, quick, bring me my brown corduroy trous . . . . too late”.
Dad’s Army German officer voice:- Philip, for you zee Housen of Common is over.
Thanks MWT. I missed the bit re Welby. Can’t say I care about a special partnership with that lot over there and anyway the referendum only talked about LEAVE or not so Hammond is LYING. Yes send the buggers back in the same frail craft they came in say I. The numbers have increased it seems since it has become clear we really are leaving. Surely that suggests we will be better out.
Have look at this video, it explains the different options the Remainers have to stop Brexit.
“Remainer MPs and Lords say they can stop Brexit next week!”
https://youtu.be/BBy8szEFx2c
One of the options is that the Remainers try and force through legislation this coming week to make a no deal Brexit impossible, all the EU would have to do is refuse to negotiate any further or offer an extension and the government would have no choice but to revoke Article 50.
Now Barnier has refused to negotiate further on the backstop, I can’t help feeling that the Remainers have been collaborating with Brussels and they are going to try and stop Brexit completely this week.
If this happens, it’s a coup pure and simple, we could be on the verge of loosing our country and democracy completely. We were so jubilant last week weren’t we, it just goes to show that we can’t give these Bas**rds an inch.
Some chatter out there about the prorogation being to allow us to leave a week on Tuesday on WTO terms while the AntiDemocrats are still stewng in their juices and focussing on Oct31. It doesn’t have to be that date – it can be earlier. Wouldn’t that be a splendid snook-cocking to those vermin!
That would be good MWT. How could that be done?
Just like Treason May did with her extensions, Boris could raise a Statutory Instrument under the Withdrawal Act 2018 and change the exit day to Tue 10th.
I certainly wasn’t jubilant last week, mainly because we are reliant on Boris and JRM who have voted for the deal, WA, PD and backstop, but also in the knowledge that the remoaners would never give up. There is much more going on here than just being of the opinion that a no deal is somehow just bad for trade.
There is no doubt that Hammond and co. have been collaborating with the EU in seeking to stop Brexit, and if Article 50 is withdrawn and IF there is a resulting GE then all leavers must co-ordinate their activities . Nigel has indicated that he would co-operate with the Tories, and speaking as a Ukip member, we should do the same, along with all the other minor parties.
Withdrawing Article 50 does not negate the referendum result, but the way forward may be to repeal the ECA 72 immediately a government with the will to do so is elected.
We don’t give in.
Ok flyer now I am frightened. But what about JRM? I hope he is strong enough to keep control in Parliament. Him and Boris must surely have thought it through.
I am sure there were terms and conditions for the extension, perhaps Boris could break all of them before or immediately if that happened. With luck that might even cancel out the present extension depending on how the conditions were worded. Can they refuse to negotiate further, even if an extension is offered surely we can refuse it and move immediately to WTO under the terms of Article 50? Of course in reality we are probably out already as pointed out by Robin Tilbrook and if Boris was determined, he could proceed on that basis.
MIGRANTS:
Surely putting babies and young children at risk by putting them on flimsy boats to travel across one off the busiest shipping lanes in the world is totally irresponsible and a form of child abuse. If they are refugees then they have already found safety in France or elsewhere and are not compelled to make this perilous journey.
The parents, those travelling with them and/or others responsible should be charged and prosecuted on arrival.
Then what, would we not have to jail the parents and put the children in care costing us more money? Easier to send them straight back and take France to court for allowing minors and their parents to embark on a dangerous journey,stop being weak and pathetic, we don’t have to accept these people, they are illegal aliens (as the Americans like to call them).
to true Debbie but our border forces have no back bone