Brexit news: Tory leadership candidates brace for screenings of TV interviews as time runs out for votes to be cast
Updates from Westminster as Tory leadership candidates prepared for major TV interviews
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt were braced for the release of a grilling by the BBC's Andrew Neil as the Conservative leadership contest begins to draw to a close.
The pair were each interviewed for half an hour in a programme to be aired on Friday night, with less than two weeks to go until the new prime minister is announced.
It came after Greg Clark, the business secretary, warned that a no-deal Brexit would mean "many thousands" of jobs in the UK being lost.
And Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, said the decision to leave the EU would send the UK into decades of decline.
Follow the developments as they happened
A no-deal Brexit would lead to the loss of "many thousands" of jobs, the Business Secretary has warned.
Leadership rivals Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt have each pledged to leave the EU without a deal if need be, but Greg Clark urged his Tory colleagues "strain every sinew to avoid that".
"It's evident that if you have the disruption that comes from a no-deal Brexit there will be people that will lose their jobs," he told Sky News in an interview broadcast this morning.
"It's many thousands of jobs. Everyone knows that.
He added: "I think every person that considers the evidence that companies have given - whether it's in the automotive sector, whether it's in the food sector, whether it's in aerospace, in industries up and down the country - you know if you become less efficient and your ability to trade is impeded, then of course losing your competitiveness means there will be jobs lost."
Johnson has vowed to take the UK out of the EU by current 31 October deadline "come what may, do or die", but Hunt said he would be willing to delay if a deal was in sight.
Jennie Formby, Labour's general secretary, has responded to a letter from Tom Watson, the party's deputy leader, calling him "deeply irresponsible" and accusing him of "publicly attacking" her while she undergoes cancer treatment. The row among senior figures over antisemitism in the party shows no sign of abating...
Philip Hammond has told colleagues that current senior ministers could organise a "sit-in" to prevent the next government forcing through a no-deal Brexit, according to reports.
The move would see MPs, supported by Commons speaker John Bercow, refusing to leave the chamber if the government tried to suspend parliament to prevent MPs blocking a no-deal exit.
Last week Mr Hammond told telling ITV News: “The idea that elected members of parliament will be locked out of their place of work because they might do their job is truly shocking.”
A no-deal Brexit would "give heart and opportunities" to those who want to break up the United Kingdom, David Lidington has said.
Speaking on the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme on Friday, the Cabinet Office minister said the union was already "under pressure at the moment" and that would be exacerbated if the UK crashes out of the EU without deal.
He said:
The fact that in the 2016 Europe referendum two nations of the UK voted to leave, two nations voted to remain, inevitably makes this a very difficult, delicate process.
I think that with good will and a good deal, those tensions can be handled, but I think that the risk of no-deal is two-fold.
I believe a no-deal outcome would do very serious harm to jobs, living standards and investment in the United Kingdom, and that is the consistent message I've been getting from businesses large and small.
But also I think the pressures on the union would be greater because I think that damage that a no-deal exit would cause, the very divisive nature of the politics of such an outcome, would give heart and opportunities to those who, particularly in Scotland and in Northern Ireland, would like to see the United Kingdom as it currently exists brought to an end.
The UK will miss its target for cutting climate emissions because of the government’s “failing policy” on energy efficiency, a committee of MPs has warned.
Targets for reducing fuel poverty are also set to be missed because of funding cuts and “a lack of political will”, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said.
Our political correspondent Benjamin Kentish has the full story:
Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott has retweeted a flurry of Twitter posts criticising Tom Watson, including one which calls on Labour's deputy leader to quit.
Watson has been accused of "publicly attacking" general secretary Jennie Formby during her cancer treatment after he criticised the party’s “deplorable” treatment of antisemitism whistleblowers.
Among the posts retweeted by Abbott was this one, from an NEC representative suggests Watson should consider his position:
It would be a "constitutional outrage" for any prime minister to suspend parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit, David Lidington has said.
The Cabinet officer minister said it would "very damaging" to effectively shut down the House of Commons "just to stop it debating a subject which the government of the day found uncomfortable".
There have been suggestions that Tory leadership frontrunner Boris Johnson could attempt to prorogue parliament to force through a no-deal Brexit if he was elected prime minister.
Speaking on BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme this morning, Lidington said:
I actually think the chances of that happening are slim.
I think it would be a constitutional outrage for any government to seek to prorogue parliament, to shut down parliament in effect, just to stop it debating a subject which the government of the day found uncomfortable.
I think that the precedent that that would set, for perhaps a hard-left government of the future, would be very damaging indeed.
So I suspect whichever candidate wins as prime minister will fight shy of that. I would certainly do whatever I could to avoid such an outcome.
The Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has been giving an interview to radio station Newstalk, and had this to say about the UK:
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