Boris Johnson’s government has ‘no plan’ if parliament blocks no-deal Brexit, says Tory minister

EU gives lukewarm response to PM’s plans, with one leader saying hopes of a deal are a ‘long shot’

Boris Johnson‘s government has “no plan” for what might happen if parliament blocks a no-deal Brexit, a cabinet minister has said, amid warnings from EU leaders that an agreement was a “long shot”.

Tory cabinet minister Robert Jenrick said the ”sole focus” was on upholding the prime minister’s “do or die” pledge to leave the EU on 31 October and ministers would do ”absolutely everything in our power” to meet the deadline.

The issue will come to a head if Mr Johnson cannot secure an agreement a key European Council summit on 17-18 October, as he will then be compelled by law to seek a delay – something he has sworn he will not do.

Brexit talks are on a knife-edge after the prime minister’s new proposals to break the impasse over the Northern Irish border were met with a lukewarm reception in Brussels.

David Frost, the PM’s chief Brexit negotiator, will be in Brussels for further talks on Monday but question marks hang over whether Mr Johnson will make a last-ditch charm offensive, after the EU snubbed talks over the weekend.

Mr Jenrick, the housing secretary, told Sky’s Ridge on Sunday: “Boris Johnson and this government will do absolutely everything in our power to deliver Brexit on 31 October.

“But we have no plan as to what might happen if parliament doesn’t allow us to get Brexit done on 31 October because we intend to get it done on that date and that’s the sole focus of this government at the moment.”

He said the prime minister had been “very clear” he would not seek a delay to Brexit but refused to explicitly commit that Mr Johnson would write the letter.

Lib Dem Brexit spokesman Tom Brake seized on the comments as a sign that Mr Johnson and ministers could not be trusted.

“The livelihoods of millions across the UK are wrapped up in the future of Brexit,” he told The Independent. ”To admit there is no fallback plan reveals a Conservative party that has no interest in governing for the whole of the UK.”

Labour MP Ian Murray, a supporter of a People’s Vote, said: ”Boris Johnson’s Brexit is falling apart around his ears. His fantasy proposals to deal with the Northern Ireland border issue have been met with scepticism from the EU and Ireland.

“His lawyers have revealed he will have to seek an extension to Article 50 despite him saying he would rather ‘die in a ditch’ than do so. And now ministers in his government are admitting they have ‘no plan’ for how to proceed after that.

“This government’s Brexit policy is in total disarray.”

In a series of newspaper articles, Mr Johnson declared he had growing support for his plan among MPs, who he was encouraged to discover were not “so recalcitrant” in supporting his plans as Jeremy Corbyn.

But Mr Johnson’s hopes of securing a deal with Brussels in time were dealt a blow, when Latvian prime minister Krisjanis Karins said the prospect was a “bit of a long shot”.

Mr Karins told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “If we consider that the bulk of the withdrawal agreement has already been agreed upon and we are now fine tuning one issue, albeit a very important issue, but fine tuning one issue, it conceivably is possible.

“I’m not a gambling man so I won’t say what I think the odds are...It may be a little bit of a long shot.”

Meanwhile, Brexit secretary Steve Barclay signalled the government could shift over the plan to offer Stormont a veto on the plans on its plans for an all-island regulatory system after Brexit.

No 10 has previous suggested that this was the government’s “final offer”.

Asked if they might move on the method, he said: “The key issue if you’re going to have a regulatory zone in which laws apply in Northern Ireland there has to be consent to that. That is the key issue of principle.

“Now, the mechanism, we’ve set out proposals in our legal text, we can obviously as part of the intense negotiations in the coming days discuss that mechanism.”

Mr Barclay said he wanted to get into “intensive negotiations” with Brussels in the coming days and confirmed that talks were underway with Labour MPs to win support for the plans, ahead of a possible Commons vote

However, Labour’s Lisa Nandy – who represents Leave-backing Wigan – said she could support a deal but the “problem is at the moment, we don’t have a deal”.

Shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti said parliament must be able to scrutinise his proposals but she said his current plan “cannot get through”.

Labour is expected to try to seize control of the parliamentary timetable on Monday to demand the full legal text of the prime minister’s Brexit plan.

Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said: “The legal text is important because we suspect it will confirm that the government’s proposals unavoidably mean the introduction of infrastructure in Northern Ireland, and that this will contradict the assurances Johnson gave in the House on Thursday.

“We also think the text will show how the government plans to replace the current commitments to protect workers’ rights.”

Elsewhere, Scotland’s highest civil court is expected to deliver a verdict on what sanctions could be applied if the PM refuses to comply with the law.