PM defends Brexit plan after EU launches legal action

Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said government is ‘disappointed’ by EU move

Starmer says Boris Johnson thinks he’s ‘on Love Island’

Downing Street has defended the government’s plan to override parts of the Northern Ireland protocol after the EU confirmed that it is taking legal action over the UK’s proposed changes to the post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson said the government “disappointed” in the EU’s decision to take the issue back through the courts.

“We will consider these documents carefully and respond formally in due course, however we are disappointed the EU has taken this legal action today,” the spokesman said.

“The EU’s proposed approach, which doesn’t differ from what they have said previously, would increase burdens on business and citizens and take us backwards from where we are currently.

“The infractions are related to the implementation of the protocol in our recently published Bill. It is difficult to see how scrapping grace periods and adding additional controls and checks would be the situation better.”

Key points

• Downing Street ‘disappointed’ by EU legal action
• Starmer attacks government’s handling of economy
• Johnson grilled in Commons
• EU to launch legal action against UK over Brexit plan
• Bill to override the NI protocol ‘irresponsible’, slam US congressmen

[15 June 2022 16:28 · Matt Mathers]

We’re wrapping up our Brexit coverage for the day.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the rest of your evening.

[15 June 2022 15:43 · Matt Mathers]

Labour denies claim of planning return to EU single market

Labour has rejected claims it would seek to take Britain back into the EU single market and customs union after a shadow frontbencher expressed the hope it could return.

A party spokesman said Anna McMorrin, a shadow justice minister, had been spoken to by Sir Keir Starmer after it was reported that she suggested a Labour Government may be able to renegotiate the UK’s deal with Brussels.

However, she retained her frontbench role after she issued a statement making clear that she backed the official party line that the UK had left that EU and that Labour was committed to making the existing deal work.

The Sun obtained footage of Ms McMorrin answering questions from supporters last week in which she said: "We need to renegotiate the deal, certainly."

She added: "I hope, eventually that, we will get back into the single market and customs union, and who knows then."

In her statement, Ms McMorrin said: "Labour policy on Brexit is clear. We have left the EU, Labour voted for the deal. Now it is the job of all of us to make it work."

The spokesman said: "That is the Labour Party position."

In the Commons, Boris Johnson taunted her about her remarks when she challenged him at Prime Minister’s Questions about comments by his new cost-of-living tsar saying that he "has to go".

The Prime Minister replied: "I read the other day that she wants to go back into the single market and into the customs union.

"If that’s the real policy of the Labour Party, going back to the EU, why won’t the Leader of the Opposition admit it?"

[15 June 2022 15:30 · Matt Mathers]

Braverman - Goverment would ‘prefer’ to negotiate with EU

The attorney general has said the goverment would “prefer” to negotiate with the EU after the bloc announced it was taking legal action against the UK’s move to take unilateral action on Brexit’s Northern Ireland protocol.

Speaking to the BBC, Suella Braverman said: “Listen my preferred alternative right now is negotiation and my invitation to our EU friends is to come back to the table and to engage substantively with our proposals.

“They’ve failed to do that for over two years now and that’s why we’ve regrettably been left with no option but to take these measures.”

In the same interview, Ms Braverman accused the BBC of framing the UK Government as “always malevolent” and the EU as “the honest broker”.

Appearing on the corporation’s World At One programme, Suella Braverman was asked: "This Government keeps doing things that others judge to be illegal - we can go back to prorogation, partygate, the Northern Ireland protocol, deporting asylum seekers - I wonder how comfortable you feel with the reputation that this Government has being built up as with regard to law-breaking?"

"With respect, I think that’s a BBC view, if you don’t mind me saying, that the UK Government is somehow always malevolent and the EU is always acting as the honest broker and the good guys," she replied.

"It was the Supreme Court that ruled on prorogation," presenter Sarah Montague interjected.

[15 June 2022 15:15 · Matt Mathers]

ICYMI: EU launches legal action against Boris Johnson for breaking international law

Brussels has announced it is taking legal action against the UK government after Boris Johnson pushed ahead with plans to overwrite parts of the Brexit agreement.

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone reports:

[15 June 2022 15:02 · Matt Mathers]

Editorial: The Rwanda flight is grounded – but migrants should be more than ammo in Tory MPs’ culture war

This humiliation for the government was brought about not by ‘lefty lawyers’ but by government incompetence.

Read the full Independent editorial here:

[15 June 2022 14:46 · Matt Mathers]

Patel refuses to say how much failed deportation plane cost

Priti Patel has refused to say how much last night’s failed Rwanda deportation flight cost the taxpayer.

Asked whether it cost £500,000, the home secretary said: “We don’t speak about operational costs”.

[15 June 2022 14:30 · Matt Mathers]

Germany’s ambassador to the UK has said the EU’s trust in Britain has been damaged

Miguel Berger told the BBC’s World At One programme: "I think the most important issue is really to have a relationship of trust in everything we are doing together. That’s also why this draft on Northern Ireland is so disappointing.

"We have this excellent cooperation on Ukraine where we have worked together, in Nato, in the G7, bilaterally, and in such a circumstance to have a dispute between the UK and the European Union is totally unnecessary.

"And I think the main issue is really how can trust be re-established?"

Pressed on whether the UK is no longer trusted, Mr Berger said: "I would not go so far to say that, but obviously it has had a negative effect."

[15 June 2022 14:29 · Matt Mathers]

Downing Street confirms PM considering withdrawal from human rights treaty

Boris Johnson’s official spokesperson has confirmed the government is considering withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, saying “all options are on the table” in the wake of last night’s cancellation of a deportation flight to Rwanda.

Our politics editor Andrew Woodcock reports:

[15 June 2022 14:15 · Matt Mathers]

No 10 ‘disappointed’ by EU legal action

The government is "disappointed" in the EU’s decision to launch fresh legal action against the UK over the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol, Downing Street has said.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said the latest proposals from Brussels for resolving the the issue would lead to more checks and controls, making the situation worse.

"We will consider these documents carefully and respond formally in due course, however we are disappointed the EU has taken this legal action today," the spokesman said.

"The EU’s proposed approach, which doesn’t differ from what they have said previously, would increase burdens on business and citizens and take us backwards from where we are currently.

"The infractions are related to the implementation of the protocol in our recently published bill. It is difficult to see how scrapping grace periods and adding additional controls and checks would be the situation better."

[15 June 2022 14:00 · Matt Mathers]

Labour lauches review to ensure UK is ‘best place in world’ for new businesses

Labour is announcing a new review aimed at supporting fledgling British businesses and ensuring the UK is "the best place in the world" to launch a start-up.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out the party’s vision for harnessing the "creativity and drive" of the country’s entrepreneurs at the Times CEO Summit in London on Thursday.

Driven by business experts including cross-bench peer Lord Jim O’Neill, the review will explore how to ensure start-ups can grow in Britain, to increase jobs and investment across the country, Labour says.

The announcement will build on a five-point plan set out in January by the shadow chancellor to boost the economy, which includes a target to create 100,000 new businesses over the next five years.