Brussels shoots down plans for Brexit deal without backstop as PM blasted over 'spin'
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Your support makes all the difference.Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay has met his EU counterpart Michel Barnier in Brussels today after Jean-Claude Juncker insisted “we can have a deal” before the 31 October deadline.
Mr Barclay had suggested the UK should be given until the end of 2020 to come up with a replacement for the Irish backstop policy – but has been told today the EU could not consider a deal without a backstop or replacement arrangement.
It comes as Irish deputy prime minister Simon Coveney poured cold water over Boris Johnson's tentative claims of progress, saying: "We are not close to a deal".
As it happened...
Penny Mordaunt, the former defence secretary who was sacked by Boris Johnson, spent time abroad HMS Albion this week.
She has resumed her role as a Navy reservist after leaving the Cabinet in July.
The former minister was on board the ship working alongside the Royal Navy and Royal Marines ahead of their next deployment, sources close to her said.
NEW: A memo just sent to EU diplomats says the UK has put forward documents proposing alternatives to the Northern Ireland backstop that "do not amount to a legally operations solutions".
The memo, seen by the Washington Post, says of the UK's proposals for a replacement to the backstop:
"In addition to not providing legally operational solutions, such concepts fall short of satisfying all the objectives of the backstop: avoiding a hard border on the island of Ireland, protecting the all-island economy and north-South co-operations, preserving the integrity of the single market and Ireland's place in it."
The memo concluded:
"It is the United Kingdom's responsibility to come forward with legally operational solutions that are compatible with the Withdrawal Agreement."
Here's the full (leaked memo) that the European Commission has sent to EU diplomats this afternoon...
Jeremy Corbyn has said he will not interfere in a row over Harriet Harman's bid to become Commons Speaker, after local Labour members urged her to abandon her campaign.
Harman today she was determined to press on with her attempt to succeed John Bercow despite members in her Camberwell and Peckham constituency expressing their "disquiet" in a vote on Thursday.
Members say they are concerned they would lose their voice in the Commons if the former Labour leader becomes Speaker, a role which would require her to resign from the party and remain impartial.
They hinted that Harman could face a Labour candidate at the next general election, flouting the convention of the main parties not standing against the occupant of the chair.
During a round of ITV regional news interviews today, Corbyn initially indicated he believed Harman should be given a free run at the election if she wins the ballot of MPs to replace Bercow on 4 November.
"The tradition is that the Speaker is unopposed by other parties when the election comes around," he told YTV. "John Bercow wasn't opposed by the major parties and most other speakers haven't been."
However, pressed later in an ITV London interview, he said the local party was entitled to "express a point of view" and indicated that he would not get involved.
"They are the constituency party, they are the members who supported and elected her in the past," he said.
"I don't interfere in the running of local parties. What I want to do is make sure they are democratically run and that all MPs are accountable.
"I have just been through the trigger ballot system myself in my constituency. There is nothing wrong with that."
Boris Johnson met the Emir of Qatar in Downing Street today and declared that the UK's relationship with the Gulf state was going from "strength to strength".
Writing on Twitter, Number 10 said: "The PM looked forward to the further strengthening of our two countries' relationship and the 2022 football World Cup.
"They also discussed a number of matters of regional security."
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