Boris Johnson news: Brexit deal ‘closer and closer’ as PM says life cannot go back to normal
The latest developments from Tuesday 6 October
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Your support makes all the difference.The UK and the EU are getting “closer and closer” to a Brexit trade deal, according to diplomats in Brussels. EU officials are said to be gearing up to negotiate until as late as mid-November to avoid a damaging no-deal scenario at the end of the year.
It comes as Boris Johnson claimed life “cannot go back to normal” after the pandemic – but said he expected no more social distancing by October 2021. The PM promised 5 per cent deposits for first-time buyers and extra investment in wind power at his conference speech.
MPs voted to retain the rule of six restricting gatherings to six people - despite a backbench rebellion as senior Tory MPs urged the prime minister to change direction. The regulation was approved by 287 votes to 17, with Labour abstaining.
‘We will defeat this pandemic,' says health secretary
Responding to Boris Johnson’s speech, health secretary Matt Hancock tweeted: “The PMs #CPC20 speech today highlighted how Britain will #BuildBackBetter & greener after #coronavirus.
“We will defeat this unprecedented pandemic & deliver on the priorities of the British people, including building 48 hospitals & recruiting 50,000 more nurses.”
Boris Johnson says claims he is suffering from long Covid are 'seditious propaganda'
Boris Johnson has rejected claims that he is suffering from the aftereffects of catching Covid-19, branding them "seditious propaganda".
Policy correspondent Jon Stone has the full story:
Boris Johnson says claims he is suffering from long Covid are 'seditious propaganda'
PM challenges detractors to a wrestling match to prove his health
Prime minister ‘attacking lawyers who are just doing their job’, human rights barrister says
Responding to Boris Johnson’s conference speech comments about “lefty human rights lawyers” , Adam Wagner, a human rights barrister with Doughty Street Chambers, said: “It is no surprise that the prime minister is picking a fight with lawyers as his government keeps losing in court when it acts unlawfully.
“People need to understand that what is really going on is the government don't like certain laws, such as human rights laws, or feel they should not be bound by them, and is deflecting attention from that basic fact by attacking lawyers who are just doing their job.”
‘We deeply regret erosions of liberty’, admits PM
Boris Johnson – who faces a Tory revolt over some of the curbs on freedoms – has a message for his backbenchers. “This government has been forced by the pandemic into erosions of liberty that we deeply regret and to an expansion in the role of the state … that go against our instincts.”
He added: “But we accept them because there is simply no reasonable alternative.”
Johnson has praised Rishi Sunak, following speculation about a rift. “The chancellor has come up with some brilliant expedients to help business, to protect jobs and livelihoods but let’s face it, he has done things that no Conservative chancellor would have wanted to do except in times of war or disaster.”
Johnson also took a swipe at Labour, saying: “We are proud of this country's cultural history, traditions - they, literally, want to pull statues down, to rewrite the history of our country, to edit our national CV. To make it look more politically correct.
“We aren’t embarrassed to sing old songs about how Britannia rules the waves.”
Labour calls on PM to give carers ‘real living wage’
Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner is not impressed by the PM’s pledge to fix social care: “I note (Boris Johnson) says we must care for the carers who care for us. How about a real living wage for all of our social care heroes for starters?”
Rayner earlier called on Matt Hancock to resign as health secretary. “He should be considering his position – he’s had multiple failures since he took on the role,” she told Sky News. “If I was him I would be completely embarrassed by the failures I have overseen.”
PM promises, again, to fix social care
Boris Johnson has again promised to come up with a solution to fix the funding of social care, telling the virtual Tory conference: “We will do what all governments have shirked for decades.”
The PM has highlighted the government’s efforts to increase police numbers and impose tougher sentences on offenders, claiming his party were “stopping the whole criminal justice system from being hamstrung by what the home secretary would doubtless - and rightly - call the lefty human rights lawyers, and other do-gooders”.
Johnson also said it was possible to imagine economic growth. “We’re resolving not to go back to 2019 but to do better,” he said.
“After 12 years of relative anemia, we need to lift the trend rate of growth, we need to lift people's incomes, not just go back to where we were.”
Life ‘cannot go back to normal’, says PM
Boris Johnson has used his Conservative Party conference speech to say that the government was working “night and day to repel this virus”.
Johnson said life “cannot go back to normal” – but said the UK would succeed in fighting off the virus “just as this country has seen off every alien invader for the last thousand years”.
The PM said: “I don’t know about you, but I have had more than enough of this disease that attacks not only human beings but so many of the greatest things about our country - our pubs, our clubs, our football, our theatre and all the gossipy gregariousness and love of human contact that drives the creativity of our economy.”
He denied his own infection had “robbed me of my mojo … This is self-evident drivel,” before again saying he was “too fat” before getting the disease.
Rebel Tories to vote on 10pm curfew next week
We reported early that a group of rebel Tory MPs believe they have a decent chance of defeating the government over the 10pm pub curfew.
But MPs may not get the chance to scrap the controversial early closing for pubs and restaurants this week.
HuffPost UK is reporting that a vote has been put back until next week – with the Commons expected to vote on regulations for Merseyside instead this Wednesday.
Do the rebels have the numbers, when the vote does finally come? Dozens are said to be ready to vote against the government, with one Tory MP saying: “My sense is that a material number of MPs might vote against the 10pm.”
SNP MP attended church after developing Covid symptoms
The SNP’s Margaret Ferrier attended a church service and gave a reading the day after she developed coronavirus symptoms, it has been reported.
The Rutherglen and Hamilton West MP developed coronavirus symptoms and took a test on Saturday September 26. The Daily Record newspaper reports that she attended a Mass at St Mungo’s Church in Glasgow on Sunday September 27 and gave a gospel reading from the altar.
The Archdiocese of Glasgow said it was “disappointing”.
No deal becoming more likely by the day, says top EU official
A top EU official said on Tuesday that a no-deal outcome at the end of 2020 is becoming more likely by the day.
European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic told the European Parliament that “time is short” to reach a trade deal before a painful divorce. “The full and timely implementation of the withdrawal agreement is simply not debatable,” he said.
Sefcovic again attacked No 10’s Internal Market Bill – calling the plans “a heavy blow to the British signature and reliability. Respecting agreements is first a matter of law, but also of trust and in good faith”.
No-deal Brexit more likely by the day, top EU official says
A top European Union official dealing with the United Kingdom says that a cliff-edge rupture between the two without even a basic trade deal by the end of the year is becoming more likely by the day
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