Section:GDN 1N PaGe:7 Edition Date:190909 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 8/9/2019 20:50 cYanmaGentaYellowbla
Monday 9 September 2019 The Guardian •
What happens now?^7
A crucial day in Parliament
Heather Stewart
Political editorWill there be an election before
31 October?
It now looks very unlikely. The
government has tabled another
motion under the Fixed-term
Parliaments Act (FTPA) calling for an
early election. MPs will vote on this
today, but the opposition parties
have agreed not to support it , so it
will not receive the backing of the
two-thirds of MPs needed to pass it.
The government may attempt to
pass a one-line amendment to the
act, setting an election date , but that
option is not so appealing, because
it could be amended by rebel MPs.
It now looks likely Johnson will
go ahead and prorogue parliament ,
perhaps as soon as the end of
today’s session. MPs are not then
due to return to Westminster until
14 October, when the government
plans a Queen’s speech setting out
its domestic priorities.
These are usually debated
for about six days. Even if the
government loses a vote on
the Queen’s speech, it is not
formally considered a matter of
no coni dence under the FTPA –
though it would be a clear signal
that Johnson has no majority in
parliament and Labour might be
tempted to table a motion of no
coni dence.
Could Britain still leave the EU
with a deal?
Yes: Amber Rudd said the
government’s lack of seriousness
about trying to renegotiate a
Brexit deal was one reason for
her resignation. But with no deal
looking impossible without an epic
constitutional bust up, winning
a deal that could get through
parliament now looks like the most
straightforward way out of the mire
for Johnson.
Whether or not he is serious
about achieving that is a matter of
contention, but almost all the Tory
rebels would vote for a deal – and
indeed have done so before. A
cohort of Labour MPs who do not
want Brexit stopped would be likely
to join them.
Johnson will be in Dublin
today meeting the taoiseach, Leo
Varadkar, in an attempt to i nd some
common ground on the Irish border.
He has suggested an all-Ireland
agrifood zone and there is some
speculation at Westminster that the
ultimate plan could be something
like an Ireland-only backstop.
That was rejected by Theresa May
because of the Democratic Unionist
party’s vehement objections ,
but if it opened to the way to the
looser, free -trade deal-style future
relationship he wants, would
Johnson be willing to throw his
coni dence-and-supply partners
overboard? Even with their support,
he has no majority now anyway.Can Johnson just ignore parliament
if he fails to get a new Brexit deal?
The bill passed last week by the
rebel alliance mandates the prime
minister to write to fellow EU
leaders and request an extension
to the article 50 period if he has not
either passed a deal in parliament
or won a majority vote for a no-deal
Brexit by 19 October.
He has repeatedly said he will
not request a delay under any
circumstances , but ministers have
also insisted he will obey the law. It
is unclear whether Downing Street
believes there is some wriggle room
in the way the legislation has been
drafted that gives the government
a get-out or whether there is an
inten tion to contest the issue
through the courts.
The rebels believe they have
allowed sui cient time, if necessary ,
to challenge the government all the
way to the supreme court, as Gina
Miller did over allowing MPs a vote
on triggering article 50.
Johnson and his strategists
believe that, while such a move
would provoke outrage, it will allow
him to portray the Labour leader,
Jeremy Corbyn, as part of a remainer
establishment, plotting to overturn
the result of the referendum.When will there be a general
election?
Soon: the shadow chancellor, John
McDonnell, repeated yesterday
that Labour was keen to go to the
polls once a no-deal Brexit was “of
the table”. Corbyn and his advisers
would have been happy to sign up
for an election immediately once
the backbench bill receives royal
assent – expected today – and that
was what the Labour leader said
in parliament last week. But that
position shifted under pressure from
Keir Starmer, the shadow secretary
for exiting the European Union,
and many Labour backbenchers,
who wanted to see the extension to
article 50 secured i rst.
An election could come about
either because Corbyn tables a
vote of no coni dence and Johnson
loses it , or because after a delay is
secured, the government makes
another attempt to trigger a poll and
the opposition parties back it.
If Johnson lost a coni dence
vote, there are 14 parliamentary
sitting days to try to assemble an
alternative majority. Corbyn has
suggested he would seek to lead a
time-limited caretaker government
to prevent no deal and then call
an election , though the Liberal
Democrat leader, Jo Swinson,
has suggested a more neutral
backbench i gure would be a better
temporary leader.▲ John McDonnell speaking on the
Andrew Marr Show yesterday
Kate Proctor
Heather StewartThe c hancellor, Sajid Javid, has failed
to rule out a Conservative alliance with
Nigel Farage’s Brexit party at a gen-
eral election.
He told the BBC yesterday that the
Tories did not need an electoral alli-
ance, but he did not categorically deny
that they might need to work with Far-
age, whose party took nearly half the
UK’s seats at the European elections
in May.
Javid said: “We don’t need an elec-
toral alliance with anyone. We can
stand on our own two feet.” However,
pressed three times during his inter-
view on BBC One’s The Andrew Marr
Show, he failed to rule out a specii c
deal being struck.
Farage has said he is prepared not to
stand candidates in Tory areas where
he might split leave voters and has
claimed the Tories will not win an elec-
tion without his support.
The Conservatives currently have
no majority in the Commons and there
are concerns they may struggle to win
a snap election, despite poll s showing
a large lead over Labour.
Pressed by Marr, Javid said: “The
picture our opponents are painting of
us ... and of course they would paint
a false picture ... we are a proud cen-
tre-right, moderate, one -nation party.
There is nothing extremist about want-
ing to meet the will of the BritishDaniel Bo ey and
Jennifer Rankin BrusselsThe French government has threat-
ened to veto a further Brexit extension
owing to the “worrying” lack of
progress in the recent talks , as EU dip-
lomats expressed their frustration at
being caught up in game-playing by
the British government.
In a sign of rising exasperation, the
French foreign minister, Jean-Yves
Le Drian , highlighted the lack of real-
istic proposals being put forward by
Downing Street as an alternative to
the Irish backstop. “It’s very worry-
ing,” he said. “The British must tell us
what they want .”
When asked if an extension beyond
31 October was possible, Le Drian said
the EU’s patience was waning. “We are
not going to do this [extend the dead-
line] every three months .” The Benn
bill, due to receive royal assent today,
would extend Britain’s membership
until 31 January 2020.people on a simple question, which
was : do you want to leave the EU or
not? ” Marr said: “I’m asking you one
question, can you rule out an agree-
ment with the Brexit party, yes or no?”
Javid said : “We’re not in an election
yet. When we get there, I’m clear we
don’t need an alliance with anyone. I
think our message will resonate across
the country.”
Farage’s of er to help the Tories
by standing aside in key leave seats
depends on his party being given a
clear shot in Labour heartlands. He
believes this could enable the gov-
ernment to return a majority of 100.
Javid said an election was necessaryElections
Javid fails to
rule out deal
with Farage
Brussels
French threat
to veto further
extension
The UK government wants to
remove the Irish backstop, which
would keep Northern Ireland in the
single market and the UK in a customs
union to avoid a hard border on the
island of Ireland.
But sources in Brussels, where Boris
Johnson’s envoy, David Frost, has been
in twice-weekly talks with the Euro-
pean commission’s Brexit taskforce,
said the process of i nding a ready
alternative was proving to be “a farce”.
“There have been no substantive
proposals on how to replace the back-
stop and the British are pretending
otherwise ,” said one diplomat.
EU sources have said there is no
evidence the British government is
even working on “concrete propos-
als” to strike a Brexit deal, and that the
latest resignations from the govern-
ment, reports of “sham negotiations”
and constant election talk have all
contributed to the impression that
the government is not serious aboutbecause parliament was trying to
“knee cap” the Brexit negotiations. He
denied the party was of ering nothing
to the 48% who voted remain in 2016.
He said the public liked “all the other
things” they had been talking about
such as “keeping the economy strong”.
With a general election looming,
both parties have been scrambling
to show they have something to of er
both leavers and remainers.
The s hadow foreign secretary,
Emily Thornberry, was mocked last
week after setting out Labour’s current
stance, which is to negotiate a fresh
Brexit deal with the EU27 before put-
ting that to the public in a referendum.
She and several other senior i gures,
including Keir Starmer, the shadow
Brexit secretary, have said they would
then campaign for remain in that vote.
The s hadow chancellor, John
McDonnell, appeared to signal a shift
from that approach yesterday, suggest-
ing the leave option put to voters could
essentially be the withdrawal agree-
ment negotiated by Theresa May.
“I think it’s a matter of just coni rm-
ing what the of er would be and we’ve
said then it has to go back to the people
again,” he said. That could incorporate
some of the reassurances discussed
during the cross-party talks initiated
by May – on environmental standards
and workers’ rights, for example.
“I was in negotiations for six weeks
with the Conservatives and there were
a whole range of issues there that were
addressed which, from the indications
that we were getting from the EU, there
might be able to have some shift on.
“So you can have an of er consoli-
dating that. That would then go back
to the people,” he said. “ We believe the
people should have the i nal decision.”
Labour is keen to hold open the
prospect of winning votes from Brexit
supporters, but faces pressure from
members and many of its MPs to
become a full-throated remain party.i nding an agreement. The comments
appear to coni rm the fears of the for-
mer work and pensions secretary
Amber Rudd, who resigned on Satur-
day , citing the lack of ef ort being put
into negotiating a deal.
On Friday, Frost proposed to hold
discussions over an all-Ireland agri-
food zone, which Johnson has said
may of er a “germ” of a solution to the
current Brexit impasse. The EU insists
such a concept on its own falls far short
of honouring the UK’s commitments to
maintain the all-Ireland economy after
Brexit and avoid checks on all goods
passing between Northern Ireland and
the Republic of Ireland.
“We have the Brits ringing up say-
ing : ‘It’s great that we are going to work
on this agrifood zone idea,’ but it just
feels like a distraction from all the
other problems that need solving,” a
source said. Of the last meeting with
Frost, the diplomat added: “No pro-
posals on the idea itself were received
and therefore discussed.”
In Brussels, the absence of papers is
seen as a sign that Britain is not serious
about i nding an agreement. British
o cials reject this criticism: the UK
has not put pen to paper because
ministers are worried the EU will
immediately shoot down proposals.
The French foreign minister’s threat
of blocking an extension will be seen as
an expression of heightened irritation
but EU sources have suggested it is
unlikely to come to pass.‘We’re not in an
election yet. When
we get there we won’t
need an alliance’Sajid Javid
Chancellor▲ Jean-Yves Le Drian sug ested that
France could veto a further extension▲ Sajid Javid arriving yesterday for
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