Boris Johnson news: Queen signs Brexit bill into law as PM warned against ‘foolish’ attempt to rush trade deals with US and EU
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson’s Brexit legislation has cleared all stages in parliament after it received royal assent. It follows an EU warning of “sanctions” if Mr Johnson’s government fails to implement controversial goods checks in the Irish Sea after Brexit.
Opposition MPs warned the government it would be “foolish” to rush trade deals with both the EU and the US this year. Trump official Steven Mnuchin said Washington expects a US-UK trade deal to be done in 2020 – despite a growing row over No 10’s planned “tech tax”.
Elsewhere, Keir Starmer paused his Labour leadership campaign after his mother-in-law was admitted to hospital, while a formal bullying complaint has been filed against former speaker John Bercow by his most senior Commons clerk.
To follow events as they unfolded, see our live coverage below
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond.
Boris Johnson warned of ‘sanctions’ if he fails to implement GB-NI goods checks
The EU has warned Boris Johnson of “sanctions” if his government fails to implement controversial goods checks in the Irish Sea after Brexit.
Brussels will “not tolerate any backsliding or half measures”, the senior adviser to the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said. It follows repeated claims by the PM that checks won’t be necessary.
Stefaan De Rynck referred to “sanctions” when asked by The Independent what punishment the UK could face.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has all the details.
Parents who lose child to be given two weeks’ statutory bereavement leave
Business secretary Andrea Leadsom will today outline the details of new measures to ensure working parents who lose a child get two weeks’ statutory leave.
Ministers estimate the new legal right – also called “Jack’s Law” – will support 10,000 families every year in the UK and claims it is now the longest paid bereavement leave worldwide.
It is expected to come into force in April, will apply to all employed parents who lose a child under 18-years-old, or suffer a stillbirth and will be irrespective of how long an individual has been with the current employer.
PM warns US president against escalating trade war
Boris Johnson has warned Donald Trump that both their countries will suffer if the US starts a trade war in the increasingly bitter dispute over the UK’s “tech tax”
The PM hit back after the US treasury secretary threatened retaliation – probably a tax on UK car exports to the US – if a two per cent levy on the Silicon Valley companies is imposed as expected in April.
No 10 not only insisted the digital services would go ahead, but declined to rule out tit-for-tat measures – despite the desire for a rapid post-Brexit deal meant to lower trade barriers.
Johnson’s spokesperson said: “Imposing additional tariffs would harm businesses and consumers on both sides of the Atlantic.”
All the details of the mounting dispute here:
Thornberry denies ‘sneering’ at Brexiteers in BBC clash
Labour leadership hopeful Emily Thornberry was forced to deny “sneering” at Brexit voters during her interview on The Andrew Neil show last night.
She was confronted with a video in which she appeared to laugh as a fellow Labour frontbencher said that people who did not hate Brexit “have something wrong with them”.
Thornberry told Neil: “I was not sneering… I really object to this. When they say that I sneer at people, they forget who I am and where I come from.
“Somebody like me who comes from a council estate and from a single parent background, I don’t sneer at people, I listen to them.”
She also got cross when Neil asked her why she backed the comprehensive system – but sent her own son to a partially selective school. “As a mother I will never apologise for doing the best for my kids.”
Rebecca Long-Bailey, meanwhile, faced Laura Kuenssberg in a separate BBC interview. She claimed Jeremy Corbyn had the right policies, but got the “messaging” wrong.
Bercow faces new bullying claims from former clerk
A formal bullying complaint has reportedly been filed against John Bercow by a peer who served as his most senior official.
Lord Lisvane, who was Clerk of the House, has handed a dossier of allegations to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards, according to The Times.
The former Commons speaker dismissed the claims and queried the “curious” timing – with reports that he may be in line for a peerage.
The document is said to accuse Bercow of having bullied and humiliated staff, including using inappropriate language. Bercow has consistently denied allegations of bullying from former members of staff in the past.
In a statement he said: “During the five years that we worked together, Lord Lisvane had ample opportunity to raise any accusations of bullying with me.
“At no stage did he do so, even though he became Clerk of the House - the most senior official. The timing of this intervention is curious.”
Outgoing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has reportedly been lining up Bercow, who was a Tory MP before becoming speaker, for a peerage.
But there have been suggestions that Downing Street could block the move, with the PM’s official spokesman highlighting a “long-standing convention” that opposition leaders nominate individuals form their own parties.
Former Commons speaker John Bercow (PA)
Bercow bullying claims could have ‘impact’ on potential peerage, says Leadsom
The business secretary Andrea Leadsom has said that if a complaint of bullying by former Commons speaker John Bercow is upheld, it should have an “impact” on whether he is made a peer.
The former clerk of the House, Lord Lisvane, is reported to have handed a dossier of allegations against Bercow to the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards.
Leadsom told Sky News: “The whole purpose of that was that anybody, including the Speaker of the House of Commons whoever he or she may be, should also be subject to that procedure,” she told Sky News.
“In the event that there are genuine, upheld complaints about any persons that should have an impact on whether they are found suitable for the House of Lords.”
Leadsom has also had a few things to say about escalating dispute with the US over the digital service tax.
She told Talk Radio: “There are always tough negotiations and tough talk but I think where the tech tax is concerned it’s absolutely vital that these huge multinationals who are making incredible amounts of income and profit should be taxed and what we want to do is to work internationally with the rest of the world to cover with a proper regime that ensures that they're paying their fair share.”
Leadsom also admitted Brexit was “a bit of an anti-climax” but said she was “delighted” the Brexit bill was on the verge on royal assent.
‘I want to ask him to be brave’: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband heads to No 10
The prime minister will meet Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s husband to discuss efforts to secure the release of the British-Iranian mother imprisoned in Tehran.
Richard Ratcliffe will speak to the PM in Downing Street on Thursday as he re-doubles the pressure to free his wife, who has been detained since 2016.
Ratcliffe will ask Johnson – who he has previously criticised over his handling of the charity worker's case – to take a personal interest in the case and treat it as “a priority”.
He told the BBC: “I want to ask him to be brave.”
Ratcliffe also told Sky News he wanted to hear “what the prime minister’s thinking and how he’s planning on solving it”.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is serving a five-year sentence after being arrested during a holiday with her daughter and accused of spying.
Johnson has been persistently criticised for wrongly claiming, when he was foreign secretary, that she was training journalists at the time of her arrest.
Four days later she was summoned to an unscheduled court hearing during which Johnson’s comments were cited as proof she was engaged in “propaganda against the regime”.
There are some hopes that diplomatic tensions could ease between London and Tehran if a long-running £400m dispute is settled in the Court of Appeal this week.
US wants trade deal with UK done in 2020
The Trump administration’s treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin has said Washington expects a US-UK trade deal to be done this year.
Speaking in Davos, Mnuchin said it was possible to get it done in 2020, describing it as an “aggressive timetable”.
According to the BBC’s economics Faisal Islam, the US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross claimed there were “far fewer issues between UK and US than between either of us and EU.”
Tory MP wants ‘We Love the UK’ beamed across White Cliffs of Dover
The Conservative MP for Dover and Deal wants to beam a patriotic message on the White Cliffs of Dover on 31 January to celebrate Britain’s exit from the EU.
Natalie Elphicke has written about her idea for “Brexit Day” on Facebook. “This is a moment where we can look forward with ambition to the Britain we can build in the decades to come,” she stated.
“That’s why the message we should be beaming onto the White Cliffs is that ”We love the UK”. Because we are proud to become an independent nation again.”
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