Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
PM TELLS EU: DON’T OFFER BREXIT DELAY
Boris set for fiery talk with Juncker
BORIS Johnson will tomorrow tell EU bosses: Don’t you dare offer me a Brexit extension.
And the PM will warn Jean-Claude Juncker that he will reject it out of hand if he does.
He is gearing up for a fiery showdown with the outgoing EU commission president when he meets him for the first time as PM in Luxembourg.
EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has been called to the crunch lunch of snails, salmon and cheese.
Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay will be on hand to hold Mr Johnson’s coat when things get heated.
Mr Johnson plans to say he intends to defy Parliament’s demand to reject no-deal and extend Britain’s EU membership by three months.
He will say: “Forget MPs’ Surrender Act. I don’t want, won’t negotiate and won’t accept another delay.”
And he will set the EU a deadline of the October 18 Brussels summit to strike an agreement, or the UK will leave without a deal on October 31. That means Mr Johnson is planning to break the law if necessary and is even prepared to face jail after MPs voted for delay.
Number 10 is desperately trying to find a loophole to get the PM off the hook but Mr Johnson is now braced for court wrangles after October 19. A No10 source said: “MPs want to send the PM to Brussels, cap doffed, begging for another pointless extension. It’s beyond a joke.
“Most people want this resolved, with a deal if possible but without if necessary, and this is what the PM is trying to do.”
The source claimed good progress was being made with the DUP and the Dublin government on resolving the controversial Irish backstop.
Mr Johnson plans to face down MPs who he expects to try to revoke Article 50 and keep us in the EU.
The source added: “Conservative MPs don’t understand another delay would probably destroy the party and put Jeremy Corbyn into No10.” Mr Johnson will tell Mr Juncker MPs’ claims he is not serious about a deal are a myth.
And he will brand the Commons a “zombie Parliament” which cannot agree anything except more delay.
TONY BLAIR today praises Jeremy Corbyn for his handling of the Brexit crisis, and tells the Labour leader: “Don’t give up.” In this exclusive article for the Sunday Mirror, he also tells
Boris Johnson that an election won’t solve anything, warning: “If we end up with another hung Parliament, nothing is resolved.”
My disagreements with Jeremy Corbyn are well known. They remain. But he has co-operated with other parties in the last weeks very sensibly and skilfully to stop a No Deal Brexit.
Parliament is blocked and Boris Johnson completely boxed in. The blockage is not – as Farage and Johnson insist – because MPs are a bunch of “Remoaners” thwarting the will of the people. There is a substantial majority for doing Brexit with an agreement to replace the existing arrangements with the European Union. There is, however, also a big majority against No Deal Brexit for the simple reason that it is a massive gamble with the British economy that no responsible prime minister or government would take.
And the reason Parliament has had difficulty, under both May and Johnson, of reaching agreement on the type of deal which would work, is that Brexit was an easy instruction to give but a hugely
complicated one to do. We have traded and operated as a nation within Europe for almost half a century. It is the biggest commercial market and political alliance in the world right on our doorstep. Divorce was always going to be difficult.
Contrary to what we are told by the Tories, it isn’t really a negotiation with Europe. It starts with a choice. Stay in Europe’s trading structure to minimise economic pain and keep borders, not least in Ireland, open (but then what’s the point of Brexit?). Or exit, in which case the adjustment will be painful, particularly in Ireland.
Both May and Johnson have tried to have it both ways and that was never going to work.
So the question now is how to break the blockage, because the one thing everyone wants is for the Brexit nightmare to end.
Johnson wants to go back to the people in a General Election. This is crazy. We decided Brexit by a referendum. If we’re to reconsider it, do it the same way.
An election is about masses of different things and is to elect a government. Don’t muddle it up with the very specific issue of Brexit, because if we end up with another hung Parliament then nothing is resolved.
The Tories want an election because they’re afraid to consult the people on No Deal.
And with an election, they believe that a split opposition vote will give them victory. Labour should say: “Sure, have an election – but not on Brexit. Do that directly.”
This is right in principle and smart politics. Far better for Labour to campaign on what the Tories have done to our country than twisting into contortions to try to appeal to Leave and Remain voters at the same time.
Labour, working with other parties, including rebel Tories, has control of this situation now. Don’t give it up!