THERE SHOULD BE NO BREXIT DELAY, PM TELLS TUSK
WITHDRAWAL BY END OF MONTH BEST FOR EU AND BRITAIN: JOHNSON COVENEY CALLS FOR EFFORTS TO REPAIR ANGLO-IRISH RELATIONS
BORIS Johnson has told Donald Tusk that there should be no Brexit delay and that it is in the EU and UK’s interests that Britain leaves the bloc on October 31, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister spoke to the European Council president yesterday morning after his plans to fast-track his deal through the Commons by the end of the month hit the buffers.
EU leaders will decide whether to grant Britain a further extension, and for how long, in order to allow the UK to leave with a deal, following the request for a delay.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson “set out that he continues to believe that there should be no extension and that it is in the interests of both (the EU) and the United Kingdom for us to leave on October 31” in his call to Mr Tusk.
But a Number 10 source said it “looks like” Brussels will offer an extension until January 31, adding: “In that point we know what will always happen: this broken Parliament will always vote for delay rather than a deal.
“Therefore if this Parliament is unwilling to vote for a deal then we will have to go for a general election.”
The PM also spoke to German chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday and expressed the same point he made to Mr Tusk, Number 10 said.
Opposition parties have signalled they will back a poll this autumn if the EU grants a delay until next year, while talks between the Government and Labour Party on a new timetable to get the PM’s deal through the Commons appeared to have stalled.
Mr Johnson met Jeremy Corbyn in his Commons office to discuss a new plan, but a Tory source said the Labour leader made clear he has “no policy except more delays and to spend 2020 having referendums”.
A Labour spokeswoman said Mr Corbyn reiterated Labour’s offer to “agree a reasonable timetable to debate, scrutinise and amend the Withdrawal Agreement Bill” and “restated that Labour will support a general election when the threat of a no-deal crashout is off the table”.
Mr Corbyn’s spokesman later said that the party’s chief whip, Nick Brown, told the meeting that the opposition was “ready to work together with the Government” to find a “reasonable and sensible” way of getting the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) completed.
Asked how Mr Johnson responded to that offer, the spokesman said: “He certainly didn’t lean in that direction but did not rule it out.”
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he is supportive of the request for a delay, and that Mr Tusk is recommending that the EU27 “accept an extension until January 31 that could be terminated early if the House of Commons and House of Lords ratifies an agreement”.
“I agreed to that but that’s not yet agreed by the 27 and we may have to have an emergency European Council over the course of the next few days to discuss it if he can’t get consensus,” he told the Irish parliament.
The European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt said the Parliament’s Brexit Steering Group was of the opinion that a “flextension, not going beyond January 31, is the only way forward”.
Shadow justice secretary Richard Burgon suggested Labour would back the PM’s calls for a general election if EU leaders agree to a delay into next year.
“If the EU responds by agreeing an extension of a number of months that means that Boris Johnson in that time can’t push us out through a no-deal Brexit,” the Labour frontbencher said.
“It’s only a general election that can sort out Brexit because a Labour government would hold a public vote between a credible leave option and remain to finally sort this out.”