Johnson sticks to guns about Brexit

QUEEN: PRIORITY HAS BEEN TO LEAVE ON OCTOBER 31

Labour party will not support election until exit is delayed.

London

Prime Minister Boris Johnson repeated yesterday that Britain must leave the EU on October 31, as divorce talks resumed in Brussels in a pivotal week that could define how and when Brexit finally happens.

In an elaborate ceremony in parliament in London, Queen Elizabeth II set out Johnson’s legislative programme for the coming year, with leaving the EU top of the agenda.

“My government’s priority has always been to secure the United Kingdom’s departure from the European Union on October 31,” she said in a speech to robed peers from a gilded throne in the upper House of Lords.

“My government intends to work towards a new partnership with the European Union, based on free trade and friendly cooperation.”

But this depends on the outcome of closed-door discussions in Brussels, where officials are racing to reach a deal on Britain’s exit terms before a summit of EU leaders starting on Thursday.

If he cannot get a deal by Saturday, Johnson will fall foul of a British law demanding he ask the EU to delay Brexit for a third time rather than risk a potentially disastrous “no deal” departure.

“A deal is possible and it’s possible this month,” Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Coveney said as he arrived for talks with EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. “It may even be possible this week but we’re not there yet.”

Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator, briefed EU ambassadors late on Sunday after a weekend of talks between officials described as “intense” and “constructive”.

After weeks of gloom, the last few days have given a glimmer of hope that an agreement can be reached but there has so far been no decisive breakthrough.

More than three years after the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU, divorce talks remain stuck on how to avoid customs checks between British Northern Ireland and Ireland.

After British MPs rejected a previous plan, Johnson put forward fresh proposals earlier this month – but they have been met with a cool response in Brussels.

In a statement issued alongside the Queen’s Speech, Johnson said the British public were “tired of stasis, gridlock and waiting for change”.

But Johnson is likely to face opposition to his plans when they come to a vote next week, although his spokesperson insisted that even if he were defeated, he would not resign.

His minority government is powerless even to call an election without the support of opposition parties.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said yesterday that Johnson’s agenda was a “farce” but repeated that he would not back an election until he had delayed Brexit. –