Boris Johnson has contradicted his most senior no deal Brexit planning minister, Michael Gove, by claiming that the government is not working on the basis that a no-deal Brexit is the most likely outcome this autumn. (See 2.23pm.)
Boris Johnson was booed by protesters as he arrived at Bute House in Edinburgh, the official residence of the first minister, for talks with Nicola Sturgeon. He left later via the back door.
Michael Gove, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, has been chairing the first meeting of the cabinet’s key Brexit committee, XS (exit strategy - see 1.02pm). Here is the Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson on the fact that all six cabinet ministers sitting on it are men.
The future of our country decided by 6 men pretending they are at war. Is this really what we’ve become? https://t.co/6uk9mG3KzT
Geoffrey Cox, the attorney general, leaving the Cabinet Office after the first meeting of the new exit strategy committee, known as XS. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
Boris Johnson has now finished his meeting with Nicola Sturgeon. Having been booed by protesters on his way in, he left via the back door, the BBC’s Nick Eardley reports.
Boris Johnson has just left Bute House through the back door
This is what Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader, said after her meeting with Boris Johnson.
We had an incredibly constructive meeting.
We covered a number of areas, talking about Brexit, the need to make sure we can get a deal across the line, and I support the prime minister wholeheartedly in getting that deal.
We talked about how we can continue to have the UK government deliver in Scotland, for Scots, and how we can build on that delivery, and also how we can continue to take on Nicola Sturgeon and oppose her obsession with another independence referendum.
There’s a pretty bracing difference in tone between the prime minister’s words in person at Faslane this morning, and what his official spokesperson was telling reporters at a lobby briefing in Westminster at almost exactly the same time.
Asked about Dominic Raab’s suggestion that Johnson was ruling out re-opening negotiations unless he could ditch the backstop (see 9.14am), Boris Johnson said:
I believe in reaching out. I’ve already been talking to colleagues around the table in Brussels. I have absolutely no inhibitions about that. We are not going to be aloof or wait for our friends to come to us.
Yet in London, the tone was far less emollient, with his official spokesperson insisting the prime minister had made clear that he wanted to strike a deal, but there was no point in holding face-to-face talks unless the EU agreed to reopen the withdrawal agreement.
Boris Johnson was booed as he arrived at Bute House in Edinburgh for talks with Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister. Here is the clip from the BBC’s Lynsey Bews.
The moment Boris Johnson arrived at Bute House to meet Nicola Sturgeon for the first time since becoming PM. pic.twitter.com/aFBIrXbPTL
Among the many criticisms Corbyn makes of Johnson, he claims Johnson is staking the country’s future on a trade deal with the US that would risk the takeover of the NHS by American corporations.
Ministers are sensitive to this charge. In an article in this morning’s Telegraph (paywall), Liz Truss, the new international trade secretary, confirms that a UK-US trade deal is a priority, but she makes a point of adding: “At the outset of this process, I want to make it clear that [a trade deal] will never mean putting our NHS up for sale.”
Boris Johnson's failure to speak to Varadkar 'offensive and discourteous', says Sinn Fein
Sinn Féin has said that Boris Johnson’s failure so far to speak to Leo Varadkar, the Irish taoiseach, is “discourteous and offensive”. This morning, Downing Street confirmed that, five days on from becoming prime minister, Johnson still had not spoken to Varadkar, who is crucial to any EU decision on the backstop. (See 1.02pm.)Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin’s leader in Northern Ireland, raised this in a meeting with Julian Smith, the new Northern Ireland secretary, at Stormont.
Speaking after the meeting O’Neill said:
I would judge that it is highly discourteous that the new Prime Minister Boris Johnson is not engaging with the Taoiseach. That is highly offensive given the disastrous impact of Brexit on the island of Ireland.
O’Neill also said Smith had not offered an explanation as to why Johnson and Varadkar had not spoken yet.
Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy, Michelle O’Neill and Chris Hazzard (right) after a meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith at Stormont House. Photograph: David Young/PA
Johnson signals he would oppose letting Scotland hold second independence referendum
Speaking to reporters at Faslane Boris Johnson also suggested he would refuse to agree to Scotland holding another independence referendum. Asked if he would rule out a second referendum, Johnson replied:
It was a once in a generation consultation of the people, we did it in 2014 and the people were assured then that it was a once in a generation consultation.
I see no reason now for the politicians to go back on that promise ...
Everybody made clear at the time in 2014, even the Scottish Nationalist Party, I seem to recollect, said that this was a once in a generation vote and I think that the confidence of the public in politicians would be undermined yet further if we were to go back on that and hold another referendum.
Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, has said the vote for Brexit justifies a second independence referendum (in 2014 the UK government said Scotland was most likely to stay in the EU if it voted against independence) and she has introduced a bill in the Scottish parliament that would pave the way for one to happen. But for a referendum to be legally binding, it would need Westminster approval.
When Sturgeon first floated the idea of a second independence referendum, the then prime minister, Theresa May, said that “now is not the time”. Subsequently she firmed that up into outright opposition to a second poll, a position that Johnson seems to be adopting.
Here are some more pictures from Boris Johnson’s trip to HM Naval Base Clyde in Faslane.
Boris Johnson (left) visiting HMS Vengeance with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (right) Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PA
ommander Justin Codd accompanies Boris Johnson (right) and Defence Secretary Ben Wallace (centre) as they visit HMS Victorious at HM Naval Base Clyde Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Boris Johnson meeting crew members in the mess hall of HMS Victorious at HM Naval Base Clyde in Faslane, Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/PA
Boris Johnson tours the nuclear submarine HMS Victorious at the Naval Base in Faslane. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/AP
Johnson claims he's willing to go 'extra thousand miles' to get deal with EU - even though No 10 setting precondition for talks
Here are some more lines from what Boris Johnson said when he spoke to reporters at Faslane in Scotland.
Johnson claimed that he was willing to “go the extra mile” to reach a Brexit deal with EU leaders - even though No 10 has set a precondition for talks. Asked if he was planning to meet EU leaders personally to try to find a solution to Brexit, he replied:
Look, my approach is to be very outward-going. I don’t want the UK to be aloof or hanging back. I want us to engage, to hold out the hand, to go the extra mile, the extra thousand miles.
An what we want to do is to make it absolutely clear that the backstop is no good, it’s deal, it has got to go. The withdrawal agreement is dead, it’s got to go. But there is scope to do a new deal.
He also said:
In our approach to the negotiations we are not going to be aloof, we are not going to be stand-offish, we’re are not going to wait for our friends to come to us. We are going to reach out, we are going to engage and we’re going to ask for obviously very, very profound changes to the current basis for leaving the EU. The present withdrawal agreement is dead, the backstop must go, but once the backstop goes then it might be possible for progress to be made.
But at the No 10 lobby briefing this morning his spokeswoman said he did not want to meet EU leaders until they had agreed in advance to change the withdrawal agreement. (See 1.02pm.)
He claimed that with Theresa May as prime minister the EU did not really know what the UK wanted. Asked why he thought he would be able to reach a deal when she failed, he said he was being very clear about wanting to come out of the customs union and the single market. He went on:
The funny thing is for the last three years it hasn’t really been at all clear that that was the position of the UK government. There’s no point in coming out of the EU if you’re going to end up being run by the EU. And that was the result of the backstop. So I think to a large extent Brussels was a bit baffled by what the UK position really was. There was no clear decision.
Boris Johnson (right) visiting HMS Vengeance with Defence Secretary Ben Wallace at HM Naval Base Clyde in Faslane, Scotland. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Johnson rejects Gove's claim that government now assuming no deal Brexit most likely outcome
Imagine that you are the CEO of a large company. You need to make decisions about the possible impact of a no deal Brexit, but quite what you do will depend on your judgment about how likely such an outcome is.
It would help to have some clarity from government.
Yesterday you picked up your copy of the Sunday Times, and there was an article (paywall) by Michael Gove, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He has been put in charge of no-deal Brexit planning, and luckily he had some clear guidance for you.
While we are optimistic about the future, we are realistic about the need to plan for every eventuality. The EU’s leaders have, so far, said they will not change their approach — it’s the unreformed withdrawal agreement, take it or leave it.
We still hope they will change their minds, but we must operate on the assumption that they will not. The prime minister has been crystal clear that means we must prepare to leave the EU without a deal on October 31, and I fully support this approach.
No deal is now a very real prospect, and we must make sure that we are ready. A lot has already been done. Thanks to hard work by ministers past and present, and outstanding efforts by the civil service, we have made significant progress.
But in a pooled interview with the BBC’s Scotland editor, Sarah Smith, broadcast just now on the BBC and Sky News, Boris Johnson, the prime minister and Gove’s boss, said the opposite. Here are the key quotes.
Johnson said he did not accept Gove’s claim that the government was now working on the assumption that a no deal Brexit was the most likely outcome. Asked about Gove’s assumption, and whether he agreed, Johnson replied:
No, absolutely not. My assumption is that we can get a new deal, we’re aiming for a new deal. But, of course, Michael is absolutely right that it’s responsible for any government to prepare for a no deal if we absolutely have to.
I think it is absolutely right that we should go for a deal, and there is every chance that we can get a deal. And I think with goodwill and with common sense, that is what we will achieve.
When pressed again on whether he stood by his one million to one claim, Johnson replied:
Provided there is sufficient goodwill and common sense on the part of our partners, that is exactly where I would put the odds.
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