Johnson says 'public should decide' on next steps
- MPs are voting on the second reading stage of a draft law to urge Boris Johnson to delay Brexit by three months if he cannot agree a new deal with the European Union.
- MPs are set to vote on the proposed legislation from around 7pm this evening.
- If the vote goes against the his government, Boris Johnson will seek the backing of the Parliment for an October 15 general election; a two-thirds majority of parliament is required.
- Boris Johnson has challenged Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to back an October 15 general election.
MPs are voting on the second reading of a bill that seeks to block a no-deal Brexit at the end of October.
Boris Johnson will open the debate on the Fixed-term Parliaments Act in the Commons later this evening, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman added: “The Prime Minister, while not wanting an election, believes that if his negotiating position has been destroyed then that should be tested at an election and the public should be able to decide on the next steps forward.”
MPs are debating legislation which would require the UK government to ask for a further delay to brexit if a new deal is not agreed.
Introducing the EU Withdrawal (No. 6) Bill, which seeks to stop the UK leaving the EU without a deal in October, Labour MP Hilary Benn said: “I think wherever we stand on this issue, we know there is very little time left and, following the decision on prorogation, there is even less time than would have been available previously.”
Mr Benn (Leeds Central) noted strong feelings on both sides in the Chamber, and appealed to MPs to “treat each other with respect” during the debate.
He added:
The purpose of the Bill is very simple. It is to ensure that the United Kingdom does not leave the European Union on October 31 without an agreement.
He said the Bill has “wide cross-party support”, including from former senior Cabinet members.
Mr Benn added: “You could describe it as a somewhat unlikely alliance, but what unites us is a conviction that there is no mandate for no-deal, and that the consequences for the economy and for our country would be highly damaging.”
Meanwhile Downing Street has rejected suggestions Boris Johnson will resign to trigger a general election in a bid to block efforts to delay Brexit.
The Prime Minister has hinted Jeremy Corbyn is running scared from the ballot box after the Labour leader made clear he would not back a poll until a no-deal exit was taken off the table.
A Downing Street spokesman said the PM will not resign to force the country to head to the polls if the Government loses the Commons vote, telling a Westminster briefing: “He’s not going to step down. He wants an election.
“We will find a way to deliver on what the British people want, which is to deliver Brexit by October 31.
“If the PM cannot get the Bill through Parliament because Parliament is determined to wreck the negotiations, the only other option then is a general election.”
The spokesman refused to say what steps the Government would take to secure a general election if it loses a vote on calling a ballot, but said Mr Johnson believes going back to the public is the only option if Parliament votes to delay Brexit.
"The purpose of the bill is very simple, it is to ensure the UK does not leave the EU on October 31 without an agreement" - @hilarybennmp tells parliament that he believes there is "no mandate" for a no-deal Brexit.
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 4, 2019
Follow the #Brexit bill debate here: https://t.co/ZnEQgcFNqw pic.twitter.com/di4r6lgZZI
Mr Benn said: “The Prime Minister’s made it absolutely clear that he is prepared to leave on 31st October without a deal, and those of us who I hope will support the Bill today do not wish that to happen.”
He added: “We cannot continue to delay taking a decision… the Bill is deliberately open as to the purpose of the extension so it provides a framework for reporting and debate and it is supported as I’ve just pointed out by (MPs) who have already voted for a deal and would vote for one again.
“And I would just say it’s very important that we focus on the principal purpose which is to prevent a no-deal Brexit and to keep the coalition that shares that view together.”
He went on: “We must in my opinion secure that extension to Article 50 otherwise there is a risk that the election would result in us leaving without a deal, which as it may turn out at 7 o’clock tonight is not what the House of Commons wants and we should respect that.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has challenged Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to back an October 15 general election as he (Johnson) battled against efforts to delay Brexit.
Mr Johnson suggested Mr Corbyn was running scared from the ballot box after the Labour leader made clear he would not back an election until a no-deal Brexit was taken off the table.
MPs will today consider a backbench bill to delay Brexit in order to prevent a no-deal withdrawal from the EU on October 31 after Mr Johnson was defeated in his first Commons vote as Prime Minister last night, in a vote that handed MPs control of the Commons agenda and allowed them to table today's bill.
At his first Prime Minister's Questions today, Mr Johnson called it a "surrender bill" which would "wreck any chance of the talks" to achieve a new deal with Brussels.
The Prime Minister has insisted he will not ask for a delay beyond October 31 and has called for a snap election on October 15 - something that will need the support of Labour MPs to ensure the required two-thirds majority in the Commons.
He challenged Mr Corbyn: "Can he confirm now that he will allow the people of this country to decide on what he is giving up in their name with a general election on October 15 - or is he frit?"
Mr Corbyn questioned the Prime Minister over reports his strategy in Brexit talks was to "run down the clock" ahead of the deadline.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson faced a backlash over his decision to throw Tory rebels out of the parliamentary party after their disloyalty in Tuesday night's vote.
Mr Johnson removed the whip from 21 Conservative MPs after they voted against the British government in order to allow time for the backbench bill to be debated on Wednesday.
Those sacked include Philip Hammond, David Gauke and Rory Stewart - all of whom were serving in Theresa May's Cabinet just weeks ago. Party stalwarts Ken Clarke and Sir Nicholas Soames, Winston Churchill's grandson, were also dismissed.
Former Scottish Tory leader Ruth Davidson said on Twitter: "How, in the name of all that is good and holy, is there no longer room in the Conservative Party for @NSoames? #anofficerandagentleman."
Former Tory Party chairman Lord Kenneth Baker said: "These 21 MPs are not parvenus seeking to infiltrate the party, they are lifelong Tories in their mind and in their bones."
He warned that the party owed its success to being a broad church which had kept policy decisions out of the hands of "swivel-eyed ideologues" and called for the 21 to be allowed to stand again for the Conservatives at the next election.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to implore Jeremy Corbyn to "call an election, you great big girl's blouse" as the Labour leader claimed the UK PM was "absolutely desperate to avoid scrutiny".
Boris Johnson appeared to shout "call an election, you great big girl's blouse" to Jeremy Corbyn as the pair sparred for the first time at Prime Minister's Questions #PMQs pic.twitter.com/oSSSjn0gNb
— Stephen Jones (@steve_jones) September 4, 2019
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford claimed Mr Johnson was”behaving like a dictator more than a democrat” as he called on the Prime Minister to “finally act to remove the threat of a catastrophic no-deal Brexit.”
Mr Blackford said: “Last night, Parliament once again defeated this shambolic Tory government. Today we have seized back control from a Prime Minister who is behaving like a dictator more than a democrat.
“The Prime Minister must be stopped. MPs must unite across this House to take no-deal off the table tonight. We will defeat the Government again.
“So, can the Prime Minister tell us, when we succeed, will he respect the democratic vote of this House, the democratic will of the people we represent and finally act to remove the threat of a catastrophic no-deal Brexit?”
Mr Johnson replied: “I might ask (him) if he will respect the democratic will of the people of the UK, as this House voted to do time and time and time again, and that is implement the result of the referendum.”
Labour MP Geraint Davies (Swansea West) said: “People in Swansea voted to leave the EU, but Leave voters are saying to me they didn’t vote for a no-deal. They didn’t vote for do-or-die on October 31, they want to live.
They voted for good things, for more money for more jobs, more control, and now they see they’re going to get less money, less jobs, less control. So, they want the final say.
“So will you undertake, when you go to extend Article 50 after the passage of this Bill we’re seeing this afternoon, will you ensure there is a proper referendum so there is a choice between a managed deal, and remain, and not kamikaze no-deal?”
Mr Johnson replied: “If you want to put that matter to the people, the best thing you can do is to pursue your right honourable friend in the front row to summon up his courage and stop being so frit.
“If he’s going to pass this wretched surrender bill, then he needs to submit it to the judgment of the people in the form of a general election.”
“There’s only one chlorinated chicken that I can see in this House, and he’s on that bench”
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) September 4, 2019
Boris Johnson attacks Jeremy Corbyn, after the Labour leader challenges him about US free trade deals after #Brexit#PMQs updates: https://t.co/utgDYwoyV8 pic.twitter.com/fuBMFa0F4Y
Mr Johnson has been told off by the Speaker for naming Mr Corybn directly, as opposed to the MP for Islington North.
Mr Bercow said: “We don’t name people in the chamber – people must observe the rules.”
He added: “I am simply and politely informing the Prime Minister of the very long-established procedure with which everybody, including the Prime Minister, must comply.
“That is the position. No doubts, no argument, no contradiction. End of the matter.”
Mr Johnson said Mr Corbyn would not submit the “surrender Bill” to the verdict of the people in an election, adding: “We think the friends of this country can be found in Paris, Berlin and in the White House, and he thinks they’re in the Kremlin, Tehran and in Caracas – and I think he is Caracas, Mr Speaker.”
The PM listed his plans for police, the NHS and the economy before highlighting comments by shadow education secretary Angela Rayner.
2/ ...it’s starting to feel like Labour doesn’t want an election at all...and leaving this PM in place knowing he’ll try every trick in book to get what he wants would be irresponsible. Opposition must get Bill through and then seek to force election BEFORE Parliament prorogued.
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) September 4, 2019
Mr Johnson said: “The shadow education secretary says that their economic policy is, I quote Mr Speaker by your leave, ‘shit-or-bust’.
“I say it’s both, Mr Speaker.”
Warning: This clip contains explicit language.@JeremyCorbyn: "If the prime minister does to the country what he's done to his party in the past 24 hours, a lot of people have a great deal to fear".
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 4, 2019
Follow live updates from #PMQs here: https://t.co/Oq0xJJhUD7 pic.twitter.com/5MObOKNceY
Mr Corbyn repeatedly asked the PM to reveal the prospect of food and medicine shortages in the event of a no-deal Brexit, before telling MPs that Mr Johnson was “absolutely desperate to avoid scrutiny” and he has "no plan, no majority, and no authority".
He continued: “I can see why he’s desperate to avoid scrutiny – he has no plan to get a new deal, no authority and no majority.
“If the Prime Minister does to the country what he has done to his party in the last 24 hours, I think a lot of people have a great deal to fear from his incompetence, his vacillation and his refusal to publish known facts that are known to him about the effects of a no-deal Brexit.”
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has attacked Jeremy Corbyn's 'surrender bill'.
Labour MP Siobhan McDonagh has called on the UK Prime Minister to put a no-deal Brexit to a referendum.
Mr Johnson replied: "This government will take this country out of the EU on 31 October."
He says "only one thing" stands in their way, which is Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn's "surrender bill" to block a no-deal Brexit.
Mr Johnson challenged Mr Corbyn to back his call for a general election on 15 October.
Mr Corbyn asked Boris Johnson for evidence of details that he is negotiating for a deal and not trying to “run down the clock”.
Mr Corbyn added: “Yesterday it was revealed that the Prime Minister’s negotiating strategy is to run down the clock.
“And that the Attorney General told the Prime Minister that his belief that the European Union would drop the backstop was a complete fantasy.
“Are these reports accurate or can the Prime Minister provide the detail of the proposals he’s put forward to the EU?”
"My first question to the prime minister, and no answer given."
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 4, 2019
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn says @BorisJohnson's negotiating strategy is to 'run down the clock'.
Follow live updates from #PMQs here: https://t.co/Oq0xJJhUD7 pic.twitter.com/i7RVx9f05v
Responding, Mr Johnson said his strategy was to get a deal by the summit on October 17 and “to get Brexit done”.
He added: “What his surrender bill would do is wreck any chance of the talks and we don’t know his strategy at all. He’s asking for mobs and Momentum activists to paralyse the traffic in his name.
“What are they supposed to chant? What is the slogan? ‘What do we want? Dither and delay. When do want it? We don’t know’.
“That’s his policy. Can he confirm now that he will allow the people of this country to decide on what he is giving up in their name with a general election on October 15 – or is he frit?”
Here’s a reminder of Tuesday night’s events:
Boris Johnson said he could seek a snap general election:
Mr Johnson held a Cabinet meeting at 8am on Wednesday, with ministers giving nothing away to reporters as they arrived and departed from Downing Street.
