Opposition in
disarray over
attempts to
block no deal
By Charles Hymas HOME AFFAIRS
EDITOR and Owen Bennett
PLANS by MPs to block a no-deal Brexit
are in disarray, amid splits over
whether to table a vote of no confi-
dence in the government.
Jeremy Corbyn has convened a
meeting with opposition leaders to-
morrow having proposed that a no-
confidence vote be held and, if
successful, he be installed as leader of a
temporary caretaker government.
However, one of his allies yesterday
accused Jo Swinson, the leader of the
Liberal Democrats, of “petulance” over
her refusal to back Mr Corbyn’s plan
and said she risked dragging the Queen
into a constitutional crisis.
Ian Blackford, the Westminster
leader of the SNP, has also expressed
scepticism about the plan, saying the
focus should be on passing legislation
to block no deal. There is growing con-
cern that a no-confidence vote would
be won by the Government or that
No 10 would use a defeat to hold an
election ahead of Brexit.
Downing Street has reportedly war-
gamed an election in mid-October, as
EU leaders meet to discuss whether to
give Britain a new agreement to pre-
vent a no-deal departure on Oct 31.
If Boris Johnson won the election, it
would give him a mandate to negotiate
a new Brexit deal.
Some insiders are even reportedly
prepared to “throw” a vote of no confi-
dence in the Commons so that the op-
position parties are blamed for calling
an election that the public do not want.
Advisers to Mr Johnson – including
Gavin Williamson, the Education Sec-
retary and former chief whip – are sug-
gesting that Mr Johnson is likely to win
a no-confidence vote, however.
Revealing the depth of the fractures
in the opposition, Barry Gardiner,
shadow international trade secretary,
told Sophy Ridge of Sky: “It is ex-
tremely petulant of Jo Swinson the
other day to come out and dismiss this
proposal in the way that she did, it
sounded as if she couldn’t take yes for
an answer.
“If Jo Swinson wants to propel Her
Majesty into a constitutional crisis
where instead of inviting the leader of
the opposition to form a new govern-
ment she invites somebody else who is
not the leader of a political party, then
that would be forcing the monarchy
into a very embarrassing and difficult
judgment call that they would have to
make.
“The natural way of doing this is for
the leader of the opposition to be the
person called into that position and
that’s what should happen.”
In a letter to Mr Corbyn, Ms Swinson
repeated her view that any interim
government should be led by a figure
who could command support across
the Commons – something she said the
Labour leader would not be able to do.
Many MPs opposed to a no-deal
Brexit, in particular “key Conservative
MPs”, have rejected Mr Corbyn as the
leader of a caretaker government.
Ms Swinson has suggested Ken
Clarke, the father of the house, or Har-
riet Harman, the former deputy Labour
leader.
“Insisting you lead that emergency
government will jeopardise the
chances of a no-confidence vote gain-
ing enough support to pass in the first
place,” she said to Mr Corbyn.
She also called on the Labour leader
to spell out whether he was opposed to
Brexit altogether, saying that Remain
voters would appreciate clarification of
both his and his party’s position.Jo Swinson accused by
Jeremy Corbyn ally of
propelling the Queen into
a constitutional crisis
GETTY IMAGESJohnson delays tackling social care crisis
until he achieves ‘consensus’ on changes
Hammond demands apology from No 10 over Yellowhammer leak
By Charles Hymas
BORIS JOHNSON has signalled a delay
in bringing forward plans to tackle the
social care crisis as he pledged to seek
“consensus” on any changes.
The Prime Minister, who made re-
form of social care a centrepiece of his
inaugural speech, said that any new
proposals would be published “in due
course” without committing to a time-
table.
“Social care is a huge issue facing
this country. We do have to address it.
We are working very hard on it,” he
said at the G7 summit in Biarritz.
“In an ideal world we would bring
parties together across the political di-
vide and get a consensus on it, because
it is so difficult.
“We will be advancing plans in due
course that satisfy two criteria – no-
body should be forced to sell their
home and everybody should have dig-
nity and security in old age.”
His pledge follows research suggest-
ing people living with dementia have
spent almost £15 billion of their own
money on social care since the Govern-ment promised to publish a Green Pa-
per on social care two years ago.
During the leadership campaign, he
said it was “inequitable” that some
families had to raise thousands of
pounds to pay for care, while others
had all or some of the bills covered bythe state. One option being considered
is a state-backed insurance scheme un-
der which people in their 40s would
start saving for better care in old age.
Mr Johnson has also suggested he
would “steal” policy proposals put up
by Jeremy Hunt, his final rival in the
leadership contest, that included a 10-
year funding plan.
He proposed financial support for
three-generation families prepared to
look after their elderly relatives at
home rather than putting them in a
care home. Families would be able to
apply for tax relief it they chose to
adapt or extend their homes.
The Tories pledged in their 2017
manifesto to introduce a Green Paper
on social care with “summer 2017” pen-
cilled in for publication. After succes-
sive delays, plans for a Green Paper
were ditched in July this year with a
White Paper promised for this autumn.By Charles Hymas
PHILIP HAMMOND was embroiled in
a public row with Boris Johnson after
demanding a formal apology from
No 10 over “misleading” briefings that
blamed former ministers for leaking a
no-deal planning document.
The former chancellor, who re-
signed before Mr Johnson entered
Downing Street, said the document de-
tailing no-deal plans – codenamed Yel-
lowhammer – could not have been
leaked by any former minister because
it was dated August 2019, after the new
administration was already in place.
“It would not therefore have been
available to any former minister who is
not serving in the current administra-
tion,” Mr Hammond wrote in an open
letter to Mr Johnson that he published
on his Twitter feed.
“Accordingly, I am writing on behalf
of all former ministers in the last ad-
ministration to ask you to withdraw
these allegations which question our
integrity, acknowledge that no former
minister could have leaked this docu-ment, and apologise for the misleading
briefing from No 10.”
Downing Street said Mr Johnson
would reply to Mr Hammond “in due
course”, but insisted the leak included
a document prepared by the “previous
administration” and not backed by Mr
Johnson’s ministers.
Asked whether Mr Johnson was pre-
paring to apologise to the former min-
isters, the source said: “I’m sure he’ll be
interested to learn that Hammond rep-
resents all former ministers.”
The leaked document claimed theUK faced shortages of food, fuel and
medicines, a three-month meltdown at
its ports and a hard border in Ireland if
it crashed out of the EU on Oct 31 with-
out a deal.
Labour is preparing a parliamentary
bid to force the Government to publish
up-to-date reports on the expected
impact of a no-deal Brexit.
Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit sec-
retary, has told Michael Gove, the
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster,
who is in charge of no-deal planning,
that the Labour Party would “not hesi-tate to use all parliamentary devices
available” to compel ministers to pub-
lish all the Operation Yellowhammer
documents.
One tactic that could be employed by
Labour would be a humble address to
the Queen, which the party used in
November last year to force Theresa
May to publish the full legal advice on
her Brexit deal.
Speaking directly after the Yellow-
hammer leak, Mr Gove said the report
was old and Brexit planning had accel-
erated under Mr Johnson. The Govern-ment had taken “significant additional
steps to ensure that we are prepared to
leave on Oct 31, deal or no deal.
“Any prudent Government will al-
ways plan for absolutely the worst
case,” the former Tory leadership can-
didate added.
“In the past three weeks there has
been a significant acceleration in what
we’ve been doing.
“Yes, of course there are challenges
in leaving without a deal, but there are
also opportunities after Oct 31 if we
have left with a clean break.”A cut in fuel duty? Not now there are more
electric charger sites than petrol stations
By Owen Bennett WHITEHALL EDITORGRANT SHAPPS, the Transport Secre-
tary, has played down suggestions that
fuel duty may be cut in an emergency
budget as he emphasised the need to
focus on electric vehicles.
Sunday newspapers reported that
Sajid Javid, the Chancellor, was plan-
ning to cut tax on petrol and diesel in a
boost for motorists and businesses
before a possible autumn general elec-
tion.
Fuel duty has been frozen for nine
years and stands at 57.95p a litre. A gov-
ernment source told The Mail on Sun-
day the cut would send “a clear message
that the Prime Minister is behind busi-
ness in the run-up to Brexit”.
When asked about the possibility of
a tax cut during an appearance on So-
phy Ridge on Sunday, on Sky News, Mr
Shapps, who took delivery of his ownelectric car this month, said: “I’ll tell
you what I’d really like to see happen:
27 per cent of all the country’s CO
comes from transport and 90 per cent
of that’s from vehicles, so actually by
moving over to electric cars we willmake the biggest difference.” He added:
“I think we’ll get to the point where
people will look back and go, ‘Remem-
ber when we used to have gas-guzzling
petrol and diesel pumping out when
actually electric cars don’t emit any
CO2?’ There are now more electriccharger locations than there are petrol
stations, so that’s a big move, but on the
tax question on fuel, when you get the
Chancellor on, make sure that you ask
him.”
The Office for Budget Responsibility
estimates that in 2019/20 fuel duty will
raise £28.4 billion for the Treasury, so
any cut will have to be offset.
The question of the fuel duty freeze
was raised with Boris Johnson during
the G7 summit in Biarritz.
Asked when a budget would take
place, the Prime Minister said: “There
will be a budget in due course. This is a
very ambitious Government. As you
would expect, we want to set out not
just our spending proposals but propos-
als for taxation, for infrastructure, for
how we see the overall shape of the
economy.
“But I’m not going to comment on
when, or on specific fiscal measures.”Life saver
Beatrice
Wishart, the
Liberal
Democrat
candidate in
the Shetland
by-election,
met Norman
Poleson for
the first time
since 1959,
the year in
which he
rescued her
after she fell
into Lerwick
harbour as a
child.Politics
Struggling high streets to
bid for share of £1bn fund
By Charles HymasMORE struggling high streets will be
turned into modern community hubs
or redeveloped as 50 more towns have
been given the right to bid for a share of
a £1 billion Government fund.
The 50 towns – from Dudley to Do-
ver – will join 50 successful areas al-
ready shortlisted to develop plans to
reinvent their high streets.
Boris Johnson said: “Our high streets
are right at the heart of our communi-
ties, and I will do everything I can to
make sure they remain vibrant places
where people want to go, meet and
spend their money.
“But with our town centres facing
challenges, we’re today expanding the
high streets fund to support over 100
high streets to regenerate – backed by
£1 billion of vital investment.
“This scheme is going to re-energiseand transform even more of our high
streets.
“It will help them to attract new
businesses, boost local growth, and
create new infrastructure and jobs.”
In its bid, Rochdale aims to become a
hub for culture and the arts, Scunthorpe
aims to capitalise on its reputation as a
historic heart of the iron industry, and
Thanet aims to open up the high street
to start-up businesses in the creative
arts and show its culinary flair.
The Department of Housing, Com-
munities and Local Government has
already funded schemes where
boarded-up shops have been converted
into gyms, tea rooms, youth clubs and
advice centres.
The funding could also be used to
improve transport and access, convert
empty retail units into new homes and
workplaces, and invest in vital infra-
structure.£15bn
The amount research suggests people
living with dementia have spent of their
own money on social care in two yearsAugust 27
Jeremy Corbyn, below, is set to
meet with opposition MPs and
Tory rebels to discuss how to
stop a no-deal Brexit. The
Labour leader will propose a
confidence vote followed by
him leading a temporary
government.September 3/
MPs return from summer recess
on Sept 3, meaning Labour
could apply for a confidence
vote. If the Government loses,
there is a 14-day window for a
new administration to be
formed.September 18
If, after losing a confidence vote,
a new government cannot be
established by Sept 18, a
general election will be held
within 25 working days, with
the latest possible date towards
the end of October.September 26
If the Government loses a
confidence vote after Sept 26,
there would
not be enough time to hold a
general election before the
UK leaves the EU on
Oct 31.October 10
Alternatively, Boris Johnson
may seek to bypass the
two-week period by calling a
general election himself, which
he needs the support of two
thirds of MPs to hold. He could
argue he has been forced into
the move by MPs voting against
his government.
If he does that immediately
after the confidence vote at the
beginning of September, a
general election could be held
on Oct 10.On the road to a
Hallowe’en Brexit
How the next few
weeks could unfold
The Queen and the Duchess of Cambridge travel to Crathie church yesterday during a family weekend in Balmoral.Grant Shapps
played down widely
circulated rumours
of a cut in petrol and
diesel tax8 ***^ Monday 26 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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