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Jumat, 13 September 2019

Boris Johnson 'won't be deterred' from Brexit on 31 October - BBC News

Boris Johnson has said he "won't be deterred by anybody" from leaving the EU on 31 October.

The prime minister said he was "cautiously optimistic" of getting a Brexit deal, but the UK would leave by the deadline "whatever happens".

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he did not have "reasons to be optimistic" over getting a deal.

Mr Johnson will meet him and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday for talks.

The PM's comments come after Parliament passed a law forcing him to ask for an extension to Brexit.

Mr Johnson will have to write to the EU on 19 October to ask for an extra three months, unless he returns with a deal - then approved by MPs - or gets the Commons to back a no-deal Brexit.

But despite the new law, Mr Johnson said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask for an extension.

The Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow, vowed to act with "creativity" if Mr Johnson ignored the law, saying it would be a "terrible example to set to the rest of society".

MPs managed to pass the law before Parliament was suspended - or prorogued - in the early hours of Tuesday morning until 14 October.

Mr Johnson said the government had made the move so it could hold a Queen's Speech and put forward its new domestic policy agenda.

But opposition MPs claim it was to stop scrutiny in Parliament of his Brexit plans.

Earlier this week, a Scottish court ruled the prorogation was unlawful as it was motivated by an "improper purpose of stymieing Parliament".

The government is appealing against the decision and a ruling will be made by the Supreme Court in London on Tuesday.

During Mr Johnson's speech at the Convention of the North in Rotherham, the PM was heckled by an audience member, telling him to "get back to Parliament" and "sort out the mess that you have created".

Answering questions after his speech, Mr Johnson said: "We are working incredibly hard to get a deal. There is the rough shape of the deal to be done.

"I have been to talk to various other EU leaders, particularly in Germany, in France and in Ireland, where we made a good deal of progress.

"I'm seeing [Mr Juncker and Mr Barnier] on Monday and we will talk about the ideas that we've been working on and we will see where we get."

He added: "I would say I'm cautiously optimistic."

'Shenanigans'

MPs are still demanding Parliament be recalled to scrutinise a number of Brexit-related issues, including the release of so-called "Yellowhammer" papers - a government assessment of a reasonable worst-case scenario in the event of the UK leaving the EU without a deal.

But Mr Johnson said that "whatever the shenanigans that may be going on at Westminster", the government would "get on with delivering our agenda and preparing to take this country out of the EU on 31 October".

He added that there would still be "ample time" for MPs to scrutinise any deal reached with the EU, adding that he "very much hoped" to agree one at the EU summit on 17 and 18 October.

The Times newspaper reported that a Brexit deal could be on the horizon as the Northern Irish DUP - the party which has a confidence and supply deal with the Conservatives - had reportedly agreed to "shift its red lines" over the backstop.

The backstop is the policy in the existing withdrawal agreement - negotiated between former Prime Minister Theresa May and the EU - aimed at preventing a hard border returning to the island of Ireland, but it has proved controversial with a number of pro-Brexit MPs.

However, the reports were rejected by the DUP's leader Arlene Foster, who tweeted: "Anonymous sources lead to nonsense stories."

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2019-09-13 12:51:46Z
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Boris Johnson 'won't be deterred' from Brexit on 31 October - BBC News

Boris Johnson has said he "won't be deterred by anybody" from leaving the EU on 31 October.

The prime minister said he was "cautiously optimistic" of getting a Brexit deal, but the UK would leave by the deadline "whatever happens".

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said he did not have "reasons to be optimistic" over getting a deal.

Mr Johnson will meet him and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday for talks.

The PM's comments come after Parliament passed a law forcing him to ask for an extension to Brexit.

Mr Johnson will have to write to the EU on 19 October to ask for an extra three months, unless he returns with a deal - then approved by MPs - or gets the Commons to back a no-deal Brexit.

But despite the new law, Mr Johnson said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask for an extension.

MPs managed to pass the law before Parliament was suspended - or prorogued - in the early hours of Tuesday morning until 14 October.

Mr Johnson said the government had made the move so it could hold a Queen's Speech and put forward its new domestic policy agenda.

But opposition MPs claim it was to stop scrutiny in Parliament of his Brexit plans.

Earlier this week, a Scottish court ruled the prorogation was unlawful as it was motivated by an "improper purpose of stymieing Parliament".

The government is appealing against the decision and a ruling will be made by the Supreme Court in London on Tuesday.

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2019-09-13 12:50:00Z
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'Why I'm using a drone to stop Heathrow flights' - BBC News

Environmental protesters are trying to use drones to bring flights to a halt at the UK's biggest airport, Heathrow, from Friday. Why are they taking this drastic step, and who will it affect?

"I find the whole prospect of potentially going to prison terrifying," Sylvia Dell tells the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme, regarding the threat she could soon face.

"But this issue is too important."

Ms Dell says she has already been arrested for taking part in previous climate change protests.

Now the retiree intends to fly a lightweight, toy drone within the three-mile (5km) no-fly zone surrounding Heathrow Airport, in a protest known as Heathrow Pause.

The aim is to bring attention to the environmental damage the planned third Heathrow runway could cause.

Ms Dell describes its construction as "sheer lunacy".

She decided to take action when one of her sons, aged 27, explained how angry he was that previous generations had done little to tackle global warming, and she remains resolute in her view that what she describes as "civil disobedience" can bring about change.

'Criminal activity'

The protests began on 13 September, but could stretch further.

Heathrow Pause said the airport would be given an hour's notice before all of the drone flights, which are planned at regular intervals to ensure "no aircraft flights will take place".

The Met Police has said it will "do everything in its power to stop and prevent any such criminal activity" and that the consequences of flying the drones are "potentially very severe".

But Ms Dell disputes this, saying she believes it is "perfectly safe" to fly the toy drones at head height, as planned, although she has no formal experience of piloting one.

Heathrow Airport has described the campaigners' plans in a statement as "criminal and counterproductive".

"We agree with the need to act on climate change", it said, adding: "This is a global issue that requires constructive engagement and action."

Ms Dell has said previous meetings with the Heathrow Aviation Authority, in her view, have proved ineffective.

She now wants the government to listen and take action - something she hopes these protests will achieve.

Arrests over Heathrow Airport drone protests

The Heathrow Pause organisers say the protests have been timed to disrupt mostly frequent flyers and those flying for business reasons.

But for some it may prove a step too far.

Despite sharing many of the same coordinators, the Extinction Rebellion group - from which Heathrow Pause is an offshoot - has said it is not backing the demonstration - although it does not condemn it.

It said in a statement: "It is clear that people in the movement have had different views around this proposed action and that tension has arisen from figuring out the most effective way to tell the truth about the climate and ecological emergency we face."

One holiday-maker, Mussirah Moossun, told the BBC the actions of the campaigners were "selfish".

She is due to fly to Turkey to go on holiday with her mother, who has recently been ill.

"It feels like disrupting people in this way is a really negative way of making a point," she said.

"I do understand people are really passionate about their cause, but some people have to travel for really serious reasons."

Ms Moossun believes the protests "will annoy people more than it will make them understand the message".

"It will cause frustration when you want people to be positive about your cause," she added.

"I think the fact that Extinction Rebellion have distanced themselves from the protest really means they need to re-examine their tactics."

Morgan Perry, from Cardiff, also faces disruption.

He works for a tech firm and was due to fly back to Heathrow from San Francisco on Friday. Being unable to would mean missing work, and a loss of earnings.

He said he cares about protecting the environment, but has little alternative but to fly to get to places like the US.

"I've seen the protests from similar groups over the summer and I understand what the protest is trying to do, but from what I can see it doesn't lead to much change," he explained.

"These groups need to lobby corporations and governments instead."

Jonathan Fishwick, a window cleaner by trade, is set to fly a drone in the protests. He said he understood the group's actions may seem unnecessarily disruptive to some.

But he believes strongly in the need "to do what I think is right, and not what is popular".

"Our planet is heating up so fast that we won't be able to grow enough food - and history tells us when the food system collapses, society collapses," he said.

"For me personally this is about my conscience. It's so important for me to get the message out that we are in deep, deep trouble."

Both he and Ms Dell said they were fully aware they could go to prison for taking part. Both said they found that prospect "terrifying".

But for Ms Dell the risk has made her more determined.

"We're the fire alarm waking the public up [to the danger]," she said.

"If we get sent to prison, then what sort of world are we truly inhabiting?"

Follow the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme on Facebook and Twitter - and see more of our stories here.

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2019-09-13 10:50:45Z
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John Bercow vows to stop Johnson 'robbing a bank' with no-deal Brexit - CNN International

Bercow said he would allow Parliament to use "additional procedural creativity" to thwart any attempt to circumvent legislation.

His speech, at the annual Bingham lecture in London on Thursday, comes after a bill aimed at preventing a no-deal Brexit was made law Monday. Later that day, Parliament was suspended, or prorogued, for five weeks at Johnson's request.

But Johnson, who came to power on the promise that he would deliver Brexit by October 31, "do or die," has said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask Europe for any delay. The new legislation compels him to do so if no deal is reached by October 19.

British politics is turning Trumpian because of Brexit

"One should no more refuse to request an extension of Article 50 because of what one might regard as the noble end of departing from the EU as soon as possible, than one could excuse robbing a bank on the basis that the cash stolen would be donated to a charitable cause immediately afterwards," Bercow said.

The Speaker announced on Monday that he will stand down by October 31 -- the day the UK is set to leave the European Union -- after a decade in the position.

Bercow said in his Thursday speech that it was "astonishing" that anyone entertained the idea of Johnson disobeying the law, as such a move "would be the most terrible example to set to the rest of society."

He said that if the government came close to ignoring the bill, Parliament "would want to cut off such a possibility and do so forcefully."

"If I have been remotely ambiguous so far, let me make myself crystal clear. The only form of Brexit that we have, whenever that might be, will be a Brexit that the House of Commons has explicitly endorsed," Bercow added.

He said that if "that demands additional procedural creativity in order to come to pass, it is a racing certainty that this will happen." Neither the "limitations of the existing rule book nor the ticking of the clock will stop it doing so," he continued.

Tough week

Bercow's speech added to another tough week for the Prime Minister, who rejected accusations Thursday that he lied to the Queen over his controversial prorogation of Parliament in the run-up to the Brexit deadline.

Johnson has always insisted that his decision was a routine move that allowed the government to start a new parliamentary session with a fresh legislative agenda. Critics describe it as an audacious ploy to reduce the amount of time available to the opposition to block a no-deal Brexit.

But the Prime Minister has faced a string of setbacks since he announced his intention to prorogue Parliament.

He has lost his working majority in Parliament and failed to secure a new election. He also ousted rebellious Conservative lawmakers, including former Cabinet ministers and Winston Churchill's grandson, after they voted against him on the legislation passed on Monday.

Boris Johnson says he didn't lie to the Queen over suspension of Parliament

On Wednesday, a Scottish court ruled that his government's advice to the Queen, which led to the five-week prorogation, was "unlawful."

According to the full ruling, released Thursday, one of the three judges said the suspension was motivated by the "improper purpose of stymying Parliament."

"There was, and is, no practical reason for a prorogation for what is, in modern times, an extraordinary length of time," Lord Carloway, Scotland's most senior judge, said.

The ruling paves the way for a showdown in the UK Supreme Court next week -- where judges will hear appeals on the Scottish case as well as an English challenge filed by prominent anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller.

Bercow added on Thursday that the chaos since the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU has opened him to the idea that the UK may need a written constitution.

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2019-09-13 10:46:14Z
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Potential Tropical Storm Threatens Bahamas Rescue Efforts - The New York Times

A potential tropical storm is brewing in the Atlantic and by late Friday could threaten areas of the Bahamas recently devastated by Hurricane Dorian, forecasters warned.

The new storm is not expected to pack nearly the destructive power of Dorian, a Category 5 hurricane that killed at least 50 people and left widespread damage across the islands. But the storm could pose a challenge to rescuers, who were still searching for about 1,300 missing people as of Thursday.

At 2 a.m. Friday, the approaching storm system, packing sustained wind speeds of 30 miles per hour, was about 210 miles southeast of the hard-hit Abaco Islands, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was expected to gain strength and bring tropical storm-force winds — defined as sustained winds of 39 to 73 miles per hour — and heavy rainfall to the northwest Bahamas on Friday and Saturday, forecasters said. A tropical storm warning was in effect for much of the area.

Parts of Florida’s east coast could get tropical storm-force winds and heavy rain over the weekend, and residents were advised to monitor the storm’s progress. The storm was moving slowly as of Friday morning, at just three miles per hour, but forecasters expected it to gain speed through the weekend.

Significant storm surge was not expected, forecasters said. But parts of the Bahamas were expected to get three to five inches of rain, while the Florida coast through southeastern Georgia could get two to four inches.

The storm would be named Humberto if it becomes strong enough to be classified as the year’s ninth tropical storm. The National Hurricane Center said at 11 p.m. Thursday that it was 80 percent likely to reach that strength within 48 hours, and 90 percent likely within five days.

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2019-09-13 10:00:00Z
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Bercow warns Johnson against disobeying Brexit law - BBC News

John Bercow has vowed "creativity" in Parliament if Boris Johnson ignores a law designed to stop a no-deal Brexit.

The Commons Speaker also said in a speech that the only possible Brexit was one backed by MPs.

A new law, passed before the suspension of Parliament, forces the PM to seek a delay until 31 January 2020, unless a deal or no-deal exit is approved by MPs by 19 October.

The PM has said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask for a delay.

Responding to Mr Bercow's comments, Tory Brexiter MP Sir Bernard Jenkin said the role of the Speaker had become "irretrievably politicised and radicalised".

Meanwhile, Downing Street has announced Mr Johnson will travel to Luxembourg on Monday to hold talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, and the country's prime minister Xavier Bettel.

Delivering a lecture in London, Mr Bercow said: "Not obeying the law must surely be a non-starter. Period."

He said it would be a "terrible example to set to the rest of society".

"The only form of Brexit which we will have, whenever that might be, will be a Brexit that the House of Commons has explicitly endorsed," he said.

"Surely, in 2019, in modern Britain, in a parliamentary democracy, we - parliamentarians, legislators - cannot in all conscience be conducting a debate as to whether adherence to the law is or isn't required."

He called it "astonishing" that "anyone has even entertained the notion".

If the government comes close to disobeying the law, Mr Bercow said that Parliament "would want to cut off such a possibility and do so forcefully".

"If that demands additional procedural creativity in order to come to pass, it is a racing certainty that this will happen, and that neither the limitations of the existing rule book nor the ticking of the clock will stop it doing so," he added.

The new law could force a Brexit delay beyond the current 31 October deadline by requiring the prime minister to request an extension to the UK's EU membership.

This would be done by making him write to EU leaders to prolong talks under Article 50 - the part of the EU's Lisbon Treaty which sets out what happens when a country decides that it wants to leave the EU.

The law forcing the PM to seek a delay unless MPs vote for a deal or no deal received royal assent on Monday, the final day that MPs sat in this session.

Parliament was suspended - or prorogued - in the early hours of Tuesday and is not scheduled to return until 14 October.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said the government would abide by the law, but would "test to the limit" what it requires of ministers.

Mr Bercow said: "One should no more refuse to request an extension of Article 50 because of what one might regard as the noble end of departing from the EU as soon as possible, than one could possibly excuse robbing a bank on the basis that the cash stolen would be donated to a charitable cause immediately afterwards."

Sir Bernard, who chairs the constitutional affairs select committee in Parliament, said the Commons should "adapt itself" to a new role for the Speaker.

He accused Mr Bercow of launching a "personal attack" on the prime minister, insisting this would have been "unthinkable 10 or 15 years ago".

The current position allows the occupant "unregulated and untrammelled power", he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"It's a kind of majoritarian dictatorship position," he added.

Another Leave-voting Conservative MP, Michael Fabricant, said Mr Bercow had brought the office of Speaker into disrepute:

Yellowhammer warnings

On Thursday, Mr Johnson insisted the UK "will be ready" to leave the EU by the current deadline without an agreement "if we have to".

In response to the publication of the government's Yellowhammer document, an assessment of a reasonable worst-case scenario in the event of a no-deal Brexit, Mr Johnson reiterated it was "the worst-case scenario".

"In reality we will certainly be ready for a no-deal Brexit if we have to do it and I stress again that's not where we intend to end up," Mr Johnson said.

Mr Bercow has announced he will stand down as Commons Speaker and MP at the next election or on 31 October, whichever comes first.

'No reason to be optimistic'

The Speaker's warning came as the EU's chief Brexit negotiator told political leaders in the European Parliament on Thursday that he could not say whether contacts with the UK government would result in a deal by mid-October.

Michel Barnier, in a speech to MEPs, suggested that negotiating a new withdrawal agreement remained uncertain despite discussions between Mr Johnson's team and the EU.

"I cannot tell you objectively whether contacts with the government of Mr Johnson will be able to reach an agreement by mid-October," he said.

"While we have previously reached an agreement, as far as we can speak, we have no reason to be optimistic."

He added: "We will see in the coming weeks if the British are able to make concrete proposals in writing that are legally operational."

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2019-09-13 07:51:07Z
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Kamis, 12 September 2019

Brexit: How are the UK's talks with the EU going? - BBC News

EU officials say the UK is "dancing around the issues" in talks in Brussels on a Brexit deal.

Boris Johnson's government is seeking to renegotiate the withdrawal deal agreed by his predecessor, Theresa May, but discussions so far have been at a very general level.

The EU maintains the text of the withdrawal agreement is closed but it is still listening.

"The UK wants a less involved relationship," says one EU source close to the talks, "but it's not clear what that means in practice."

The prime minister's Brexit envoy, David Frost, is back in Brussels this week for further talks but time is running short.

UK officials say criticism of their approach, from the EU side, is unfair.

"We're having conversations this week which pick up on last week's discussions," one official says, "and we've agreed where to focus talks in the future."

"Let's get this done," is the message from Mr Johnson and he has been meeting, and will continue to meet, other EU leaders. But there's no sign any country is breaking ranks to negotiate separately with the UK.

That means the focus is still in Brussels.

So far this week, the UK side says it has presented ideas on customs and manufactured goods, while there has been further discussion on the non-binding political declaration which sits alongside the withdrawal agreement and outlines the future relationship between the two sides.

But while the government says progress is being made, the EU insists no formal proposals have been tabled.

"We want to keep this going," an EU source says. "But at some point the UK needs to give us a proposal. We can't negotiate without one."

Irish backstop

Both sides say the UK has asked for the protocol on Ireland to be stripped back pretty radically - to remove the backstop designed to keep the border between the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland as open as it is now under all future circumstances.

The EU has always said it is open to an alternative plan to guarantee an open border - but at the moment it doesn't think there is one.

Backstop: Why is the Irish border blocking Brexit?

The idea of an all-Ireland zone for food and animals (in which the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland would follow the same rules after Brexit) has been explored and officials say the UK has presented "preliminary ideas" on how any solution in Ireland could involve the consent of all parties.

But UK officials reject the suggestion such discussions could evolve into a backstop - which would cover all aspects of trade - for Northern Ireland only, rather than the current plan, which would keep the whole of the UK in the EU's customs territory.

"It's still a no to the Northern Irish backstop," one official says.

Negotiating team

So, the Irish border issue remains the biggest obstacle to any new deal.

But nearly all the UK officials in the Brexit negotiations that produced the current withdrawal agreement, including the backstop, are no longer involved in the process.

"The core of the UK's negotiating team has gone," Joe Owen, of the Institute for Government, says.

"They've either left Whitehall altogether or gone to other jobs across government. There's been a big loss of institutional knowledge."

Many Brexiteers may regard that as a good thing - but it may not help produce quick results.

The size of the Europe unit in the Cabinet Office has been reduced dramatically but senior officials dispute suggestions the negotiating team is smaller or weaker.

"It's just that the support is coming from a different place," the permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, John Manzoni, told MPs on Monday. "In fact there are probably more people [involved now]."

Future relationship

As well as replacing the backstop, Boris Johnson wants a clearer path to what he calls a "best-in-class" Canada-style free-trade agreement with the EU in the future.

But it has been made clear during the talks in Brussels that this would involve the UK getting rid of many "level playing field" elements - promises agreed by Theresa May to stick close to EU rules on things such as subsidies for business, workers' rights and environmental rules.

That, though, could make it harder to reach an eventual agreement on a free-trade deal.

The EU is far more nervous about level playing field issues with the UK than it is with a country such as Canada because the UK is much closer geographically and a far larger trading partner, so it poses a much greater competitive threat.

And the less likely it is a trade deal can be done relatively quickly in the future, the more likely it is the EU will stick rigidly to the terms of the backstop.

"What we cannot do, and will not do, is replace a legal guarantee with a promise," said the Irish Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, at a press conference with Boris Johnson in Dublin this week.

Clock ticking

There is also a sense from those involved in the talks the UK's desire for a looser relationship involves not just economic issues but defence and security too.

All of this exasperates the EU.

There is plenty of churn behind the scenes but little certainty about anything.

Philip Rycroft, who was until recently the permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union, says it will be very difficult to get a deal done by mid-October.

"I think it is possible," he says, "but I don't see the other 26 countries ignoring the interests of Ireland… and time is crushingly tight."

If the EU were to shift position on any issue, it would want some degree of confidence a new deal could win the approval of the UK Parliament.

That could mean waiting for a general election - but if anything is going to be achieved in these talks, it is going to have to happen pretty quickly.

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