The Daily Telegraph - 29.08.2019

Parliament prorogued

Backstop won’t

be withdrawn

on the back of

a promise, say

EU leaders

By Simon Taylor in Brussels

IRELAND’S deputy prime minister has
accused the British Government of
“wiping the slate clean” regarding
promises made over Brexit.
Simon Coveney was speaking at a
gathering of business leaders in Paris
after the Queen agreed to a request
from Boris Johnson to suspend Parlia-
ment for five weeks.
The announcement was met with
dismay by European politicians, with
German and French parliamentarians
accusing the Prime Minister of flouting
parliamentary procedures to force
through a no-deal Brexit.
However, Stephen Barclay, the
Brexit Secretary, who was speaking at
the same event as Mr Coveney, rejected
those claims. He said: “The British Gov-
ernment are aiming for a deal. A deal
that honours the Belfast Good Friday
Agreement but without the backstop,
as the UK Parliament has made clear.
“That is what our Government seeks
and, with goodwill on all sides, it is
what we can deliver.”
Mr Coveney, who is also the minister
for foreign affairs, said that the Gov-
ernment’s stance was asking the EU to
disregard the backstop on “the back of
a promise”.
“We have a British Government who
seems to be wiping the slate clean on
the Irish issue,” he said.
“We must ensure that the commit-
ments that took two years to negotiate,
to deal with the complexity of those is-
sues on the island of Ireland, are actu-
ally followed through on.
“Unfortunately, what we are hearing
today from the British minister for
Brexit is that Britain no longer seems to

David Frost, the Prime Minister’s Europe adviser, far left, and Tim Barrow, British Ambassador to the EU, left. Right, Stephen Barclay, the Brexit Secretary, whispers to Simon Coveney, Ireland’s deputy prime minister

Queen’s Speech to focus on crime, schools and NHS

By Charles Hymas Home AffAirs editor

THE Queen’s Speech will lay out Boris Johnson’s “bold and ambitious” plans for law and order, the NHS, education and cutting the cost of living. A centrepiece will also be a With- drawal Agreement Bill enacting any new deal agreed with the EU before Brexit on October 31. The Queen’s Speech on October 14 comes just three days before the EU Council, where it is expected any new deal would be ratified. Mr Johnson’s domestic blueprint will be framed by the Chancellor’s Spending Review next Wednesday, which will provide the multi-billion pound cash injection needed to fund his “people’s priorities” of tackling crime, health and education. “We will help the NHS, fight violent crime, invest in infrastructure and sci- ence and cut the cost of living,” said Mr Johnson, in a letter to all 650 MPs an-

nouncing the Queen’s Speech. On law and order, the 20,000 extra police of- ficers he has promised over three years is likely to be supplemented by tougher sentences for violent criminals and possibly a new victims’ law, which was championed by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, as a backbench MP. One sentencing model, included in the 2010 Conservative manifesto but blocked by the Lib Dems in the coali- tion government, would end automatic release of offenders halfway through jail terms and require them to “earn” it through good behaviour and taking part in rehabilitation schemes. Mr Johnson has already pledged £1.8 billion for front-line NHS services and has promised action on waiting lists so that people “don’t have to wait three weeks to see your GP”. It is thought unlikely there will be any changes to the structure of the NHS. One of Mr Johnson’s key pledges has been to reform social care to ensure no-

Irish deputy PM tells UK

wiping the slate clean has

undone two years of work

negotiating Brexit deal

be committed to that approach, which we know solves the problem at hand, and instead wants everyone to move forward and agree on the basis of a promise that we would try to deal with these issues at some point in the future. “We can’t give up on something that we know works on the back of a promise without any idea as to how it’s going to work.” Guy Verhofstadt, a former prime minister of Belgium who is the Euro- pean Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, warned that suspending Parliament could make it harder for the UK to get a trade deal in the future. He said on Twitter: “Suppressing debate on pro- found choices is unlikely to help deliver a stable future EU-UK relationship. “‘Taking back control’ has never looked so sinister. As a fellow parliamentarian, my solidarity is with those fighting for their voices to be heard.” Mr Verhofstadt heads the group of liberal MEPs, which includes 16 Liberal Democrat members. However, in private, EU officials said suspending Parliament was a “massive poker move” that could help Mr Johnson get a revised Brexit deal through the House of Commons. “If the game becomes ‘constrain the options of MPs so very much that they have to accept any deal’, then maybe that reduces the pressure on Johnson to get substantial changes to the deal, and a narrow pathway could be found with cosmetic changes,” the official said. Another EU official said it was clear that the aim was to leave getting a deal “to the last possible moment”, refer- ring to the final days of October before the UK was due to leave the bloc. Other European politicians accused Mr Johnson of being undemocratic. Norbert Röttgen, a German MP and close ally of Angela Merkel, tweeted: “Johnson argues that respect for democracy dictates implementing Brexit ‘do or die’ on October 31. As a fellow

‘We are aiming for a

deal. A deal that honours

the Good Friday Agreement

but without the backstop’

parliamentarian and democrat I won- der: how does respect for democracy go together with suspending Parlia- ment?” Mr Röttgen, a former minister in an earlier Merkel-led government, chairs the influential foreign affairs committee in the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house. Nathalie Loiseau, the leader of French MEPs belonging to Emmanuel Macron’s LREM party, accused Mr Johnson of refusing MPs a chance to express themselves on Brexit before the UK left. She tweeted: “Not only is UK heading to a no-deal Brexit but it falls into a no-debate Brexit.” Ms Loiseau, a former Europe minister under Mr Macron, added: “A decision made in the name of the people becomes a decision implemented away from its elected representatives.” The announcement to suspend Parliament came as David Frost, Mr

Johnson’s main negotiator on Brexit, visited Brussels to meet senior EU officials working on the negotiations. Mr Frost saw Clara Martinez Alber- ola, the chief of staff of Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission president, and Stephanie Riso, the deputy to Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator. He also saw Piotr Serafin, the chief of staff to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council. EU officials said that Mr Frost had not outlined any new ideas to break the deadlock but added that they had not expected any new proposals at this stage. The meetings were about the two sides getting to know each other as Mr Frost had only visited Brussels once before, officials said. One official commented that they expected the UK to present new ideas at a much later stage, towards the end of October before the UK is due to leave. A

spokesman for the European Commis- sion would not say what had been dis- cussed at the meetings with Mr Frost. She declined to comment on the implications of the announcement about suspending parliament on Brexit plans, saying that the Commission did not comment on “internal political procedures”. The spokesman stressed that the EU’s central assumption was still that the UK would be leaving on Oct 31. “That is the deadline we are working towards,” she said, adding that the EU’s “preferred scenario” was that the UK left with a deal rather than under a no- deal scenario. The spokesman said that the earlier the UK presented any new proposals for Brexit “the better”. She said that the Commission was not aware of a “30-day deadline”, refer- ring to the cut-off date for new proposals Mrs Merkel mentioned in Berlin.

body has to sell their home in old age to pay for care, a promise that follows more than two years of delay in bring- ing forward legislation. Options include a state-backed in- surance scheme under which people, from their 40s, would save for better care in their old age, and tax relief for “three generation” families who care for their elderly parents in their homes. An overhaul of education funding is expected to see secondary schools get at least £5,000 per pupil and primaries £4,000; measures to encourage more high-flying graduates into teaching, a crackdown on indiscipline among pupils and more specialist provision for excluded pupils. A new Bill will be required to enact the Prime Minister’s proposed Austral- ian-style migration points system, de- signed to open up the UK to skilled workers but to crack down on those who “abuse Britain’s hospitality”. No 10 also wants a tougher approach to de-

porting foreign criminals. Mr John- son’s administration is already planning to create up to 10 free ports after Brexit, that will allow firms to import goods and then re-export them outside nor- mal tax and customs rules. He has also pledged to change the tax rules to provide extra incentives to invest in capital and research. In a move to boost prosperity in the North, he has set out plans for a new trans-Pennine rail route between Man- chester and Leeds, and is said to have expressed personal interest in having the northern phase of HS2 built first. In his letter to MPs, Mr Johnson de- fended his decision to prorogue Parlia- ment, claiming that Commons business had been sparse “for some time” with Bills introduced that “seemed more about filling time”. “I therefore intend to bring forward a new bold and ambitious domestic leg- islative agenda for the renewal of our country after Brexit,” he added.

‘I intend to

bring forward an ambitious

domestic agenda for

the renewal of our country’

Donald Trump weighed into the row over Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament. Mr Trump tweeted: “Would be very hard for Jeremy Corbyn ... to seek a no- confidence vote against new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, especially in light of the fact that Boris is exactly what the UK has been looking for, & will prove to be ‘a great one!’ Love UK.” Mr Corbyn hit back, tweeting: “I think what [he] is saying, is that Boris Johnson is exactly what he has been looking for, a compliant Prime Minister who will hand Britain’s public services and protections over to US corporations in a ... trade deal.”

‘Very hard for Corbyn’ Trump has Boris’s back

6 ***^ Thursday 29 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph

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The Daily Telegraph - 29.08.2019

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