Boris Johnson news – live: PM loses second attempt to trigger early general election
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Your support makes all the difference.No 10 has announced that a five-week suspension parliament will begin tonight, as Boris Johnson’s flies back from his first official meeting with Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar in Dublin.
It comes as the prime minister sets up a possible Brexit showdown in the Supreme Court after it emerged No 10 is ready to launch a legal fight against the anti-no deal legislation.
Mr Johnson is also reportedly ready to send a second letter to the EU – alongside the request for a three-month delay required of him – explaining he does not actually want any delay after 31 October. Labour figures branded the plan “illegal” and “monumentally ridiculous”.
The purge continues. Yet another Conservative MP announces they are standing down at the next election. In his statement, Mark Prisk notes the decline of “common sense”.
Labour MP Yvette Cooper said the suspension of parliament would interrupt the work of the Commons home affairs committee, which she chairs.
Here’s Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn denouncing the suspension of parliament.
An £8m campaign to ensure businesses and hauliers are prepared for the UK to leave the EU on October 31 has been launched.
The Department for Transport said the project includes billboard and media advertising, distributing millions of information handbooks and pocket guides, and establishing 150 “pop up centres” across 10 countries that process the most UK-bound road freight.
Some 70,000 UK haulage firms, industry bodies and other relevant parties will be sent an email on Monday detailing essential information for driving to the EU after October 31.
As well as confirming that prorogation would begin tonight, the prime minister’s spokesperson told lobby reporters that the prime minister “is not going to seek an extension” from the EU.
“If MPs want to resolve this there is an easy way - vote for an election today and let the public decide,” the No 10 spokesperson said.
Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has the details.
MPs have requested an emergency debate to get hold of all government communications – including WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook messages – about the suspension of parliament and no deal.
The cabinet secretary Sir Mark Sedwill has been giving evidence to a Commons public affairs committee, and has been asked about what happens if there’s a no confidence vote.
The senior civil servant said a prime minister is obliged to resign only when he or she can make a recommendation to the Queen about who is most likely to be able to command the confidence of the House.
SNP MP Ronnie Cowan asked if the PM could spend the 14 day period after a no-confidence vote without recommending an alternative PM to the Queen, and Sedwill confirmed this is the case – the PM is no obliged to recommend an alternative to Her Majesty if an alternative is not clear.
Dominic Grieve’s Standing Order 24 motion asks for the government to “lay before the House” all communications “relating to the prorogation of parliament” – and for all documents related to the Operation Yellowhammer no-deal impact assessments to also be handed over.
It asks for the material no later than 11pm this Wednesday. And it names Dominic Cummings and members of his No 10 team by name.
The Financial Times’ Sebastian Payne suggests No 10 officials are confident they won’t have to comply.
Boris Johnson faces a fresh legal challenge by leading civil rights campaigners to “ensure the Government acts within the law” over Brexit.
Liberty said it has lodged papers with the High Court and detailed its intention to bring legal action in a letter to the prime minister on Monday.
The organisation wrote that it was “gravely concerned” by media reports suggesting that Johnson intends to “ignore his obligations” under Brexit legislation.
But the organisation’s lawyers said it will drop the case if the PM makes it clear that he will comply with the legislation.
The letter said: “It would plainly be unlawful. We consider that such an unprecedented step would represent a fundamental threat to the civil liberties and human rights enjoyed by those in this country and which our mandate requires us to defend.”
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