Boris Johnson news: Threat of no-deal Brexit returns as UK and EU harden trade positions and PM on collision course with France over 'blackmail' claim
Follow all the day's updates from Westminster
Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox
Get our free View from Westminster email
The UK and EU have hardened their stances ahead of the upcoming trade talks, as France warned they would not be ‘blackmailed’ into accepting a bad deal.
Boris Johnson has insisted that the transition period will not be extended beyond 31 December, raising the renewed prospect of a no-deal Brexit.
Meanwhile civil servants have been told to stop leaking, following reports that Priti Patel is demanding a formal leak inquiry into hostile briefings and allegations of bullying.
It comes as voting opens in the Labour leadership contest, with the party’s half a million members, registered supporters and affiliates facing a choice of Sir Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey, or Lisa Nandy, to succeed Jeremy Corbyn on 4 April.
Please allow a moment for the liveblog to load
PM has full confidence in Priti Patel amid allegations of bullying
Asked if Boris Johnson was concerned about reports of bullying by Priti Patel, the PM's official spokesman said: "The prime minister has full confidence in the home secretary and the vital work that she is doing to make our streets safer and take back control of the UK's borders."
Pressed on whether the PM had confidence in Home Office permanent secretary Sir Philip Rutnam, Mr Johnson's spokesman said: "The prime minister has full confidence in the civil service, which is working very hard to deliver on the government's priorities."
The spokesman said that Ms Patel receives the same intelligence briefings from MI5 as her predecessors.
Sexism to blame for attacks branding home secretary a bully, former cabinet colleague says
Sexism is to blame for a spate of media attacks on Home Secretary Priti Patel, her former cabinet colleague Theresa Villiers has claimed.
Ms Patel is said to be “absolutely livid” over a series of allegations branding her a bully and suggesting that she is distrusted by intelligence chiefs. An ally said she was demanding a leak inquiry to be carried out by the Cabinet Office.
No-deal Brexit expectations ramped up by No 10
Downing Street has ramped up expectations of a no-deal Brexit by saying that Boris Johnson will prioritise a clean break from EU regulations and courts over smooth trade in upcoming talks with Brussels.
Mr Johnson’s official spokesman said there was “absolutely” no question of the prime minister extending talks on the future relationship with the EU beyond 31 December - after which the UK will crash out on World Trade Organisation terms if no deal has been agreed, with the potential for massive disruption to trade and travel.
The comments - which represent a significant hardening in Downing Street's position - came as France accused the UK of using the self-imposed deadline as a way of “blackmailing” the EU into accepting a bad Brexit deal.
The PM’s spokesman denied the blackmail allegation and said that there would be no extension to negotiations once the 11-month transition period agreed by Mr Johnson comes to an end.
“The UK’s primary objective in negotiations is to ensure that we restore our economic and political independence on 1 January 2021,” he said.
Asked later whether this meant that avoiding alignment with Brussels regulations and preventing any role for the European Court of Justice in ruling on future trade disputes were greater priorities than ensuring smooth trade after the end of this year, a senior No 10 source said: “Yes.”
The source added: “Our overriding objective in the negotiations is by 1 January to have taken back control and we won’t agree to anything that doesn’t deliver that. Which means no rule-taking form the EU and no role for the European Court of Justice.
“Our red line is we have to have taken back full control by 1 January.”
House of Lords bid to derail Boris Johnson plan to extend terror sentences
Two former reviewers of the government’s anti-terror legislation have launched a bid to stop Boris Johnson changing the law so that Islamist prisoners currently in jail can be kept behind bars for longer.
The prime minister says the new law being rushed through parliament in the wake of this month’s Islamist knife attack in Streatham must be passed by Thursday to avoid the release over the coming weeks of offenders who pose a threat to the public. The House of Lords is being asked to complete all stages of the bill in a single day on Monday.
Sunak warned to not abandon Javid’s borrowing rules in March budget
New chancellor Rishi Sunak has been warned not to ditch tax and spending rules favoured by his predecessor Savid Javid when he delivers his first budget next month.
David Gauke, a former Tory MP and cabinet minister, has said Mr Sunak needs to demonstrate he is not simply a “creature of No 10” by maintaining fiscal discipline in the government.
Mr Gauke, who was kicked out of the Conservative Party after rebelling over Brexit, warned that the new chancellor would need to find new ways of raising revenue to stop public finances from deteriorating.
“You have got a new Chancellor who will want to establish that he is not a creature of No 10, that he is independent. He will, I imagine, want to assert that independence,” the former MP told the Resolution Foundation think tank on Monday.
“Fundamentally, we have already got quite loose fiscal rules and if we loosen them much further there is a distinct risk that we will be seeing debt as a proportion of GDP increase in normal years.
“That is a very strange position for a Conservative government to find itself in.”
Mr Gauke added: “One can make the arguments that borrowing costs are very low, that the markets are pretty forgiving. But markets will tend to be forgiving until they are not, and that might happen very quickly.”
The new chancellor is thought to be under pressure from Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings to loosen controls on spending after the prime minister signaled an end to austerity last year.
Mr Gauke’s comments came as a report by the Resolution Foundation said that borrowing under Mr Johnson could rise by as much as £1 trillion by 2023-24 - more than it did under Tony Blair's decade in power.
Additional reporting by PA
Ireland's Varadkar warns against ‘backsliding’ on withdrawal agreement
Leo Varadkar, Ireland’s Taoiseach, has urged the UK government to honour all the terms of its Withdrawal Agreement with the EU after reports suggested Boris Johnson had ordered Brexit officials to find ways to “get around” checks on goods in the Irish Sea.
Mr Varadkar told reporters on Monday there could be “no backsliding” on the deal and said he expected Mr Johnson’s government to honour the treaty “in full”.
“We totally understand why they [the UK government] may want to minimise any checks at the ports and airports in Northern Ireland, we want to do that too,” the Taoiseach said.
“But the agreement clearly says if there have to be checks anywhere, they would happen at the ports and airports in Northern Ireland rather than on the land border between north and south.”
He added: “So I am saying to the British Government, there can be no backsliding on the Withdrawal Agreement, let's not even go there and let's focus instead on what should be the next phase, which is negotiating a free trade agreement between the European Union and Ireland and the UK so we can protect jobs and our economy.”
The Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and EU leaves Northern Ireland within the UK customs area but all EU procedures will apply to goods arriving there.
Downing Street has insisted the UK will “comply with our obligations” under the deal and said only “limited changes” to Great Britain-Northern Ireland trade would be required.
Source: EPA
Additional reporting by PA
Johnson not visiting flood-hit areas to avoiding ‘distracting’ from recovery efforts
Boris Johnson has not visited areas affected by recent floods because he does not want to “distract” from recovery efforts, a spokesperson has suggested.
A spokesperson for the prime minister said the government was “hugely grateful” to all those who have helped with the response to the floods when asked about Mr Johnson’s absence from the worst hit areas.
“The government has extensive plans in place to deal with these kinds of extreme weather events and we are working tirelessly to help everyone affected,” they said.
“The environment secretary - and his department - is rightly leading the government response to this, ensuring teams who are working around the clock have the support and resources they need.
“It’s important not to distract from that ongoing effort.”
The spokesperson added that Mr Johnson was working at the foreign secretary’s country residence Chevening in Kent during the last week.
“The prime minister was receiving regular updates and working with ministers across government to ensure that people received the help that they needed,” they said.
Source: PA
Government introduces proposal to ban membership of two right-wing terror groups
The government has put forward plans to ban membership of two right-wing terrorist groups in the UK amid concerns over far-right extremism.
Priti Patel, the home secretary, laid orders in parliament on Monday to proscribe the organisation Sonnenkrieg Division (SKD) and to recognise System Resistance Network as an alias of the already-proscribed group National Action.
The proposal must be debated and backed by parliament before membership of the groups will become illegal.
“Recent attacks here and in Germany have highlighted the threat we continue to face from violent extremism,” Ms Patel said in a statement.
“We are working to keep the public safe by increasing funding for counter terror police and strengthening the law to keep terrorists locked up for longer.
“By proscribing these groups we are making it much harder for them to spread their hateful rhetoric.”
Anyone found to be a member of, or offering support to, the groups could face up to 10 years in jail.
Boris Johnson emerges from Downing Street
The PM has emerged to greet the Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenković outside Downing Street – his first public appearance in over a week.
No-deal Brexit threat ramped up
Downing Street has ramped up expectations of a no-deal Brexit by saying that Boris Johnson will prioritise a clean break from EU regulations and courts over smooth trade in upcoming talks with Brussels.
Mr Johnson’s official spokesman said there was “absolutely” no question of the prime minister extending talks on the future relationship with the EU beyond 31 December - after which the UK will crash out on World Trade Organisation terms if no deal has been agreed, with the potential for massive disruption to trade and travel.
The comments - which represent a significant hardening in Downing Street's position - came as France accused the UK of using the self-imposed deadline as a way of “blackmailing” the EU into accepting a bad Brexit deal.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies