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Boris Johnson’s lead negotiator, David Frost, is in Brussels for intensive talks as time ticks away before the prime minister’s Oct. 31 Brexit deadline. The response to London’s latest proposal has not been positive. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said there are big problems with the plan and gave Johnson 10 days to improve it.
Key Developments:
Johnson’s lead negotiator David Frost in Brussels for talksBid to give courts power to request delay to Brexit being heard in EdinburghJohnson rival Rory Stewart quits Conservative Party – says he will run as independent candidate for mayor of LondonJohnson Gets One Week to Improve His Plan for Brexit Backstop
Date Set For Next Scottish Court Showdown (11:45 a.m.)
There are many moving parts in the Edinburgh court action, with the most drastic — the request to the court to send a letter to EU leaders in place of the prime minister — confirmed for a hearing on Tuesday.
“Getting a court to sign a letter on behalf of someone else would be unprecedented,” Judge Drummond Young said.
The second action is a petition seeking to bind Johnson under threat of a fine or imprisonment. That’s set to be heard later today, with a ruling expected on Monday. Regardless of the decision, that case is also likely to be appealed in a joint hearing next week.
Taskforce Wants to be ‘Generous’ With U.K. (11:30 a.m.)
After his earlier comments (see 10:15 a.m.), Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said there’s “huge appetite to be generous” to the U.K.
Speaking to reporters in Dublin, he said they will work “night and day” to find the way forward, adding ‘’hopefully” next week, there will be reason for more optimism.
“We’re still quite far apart but hope we can close that gap,” he said.
EU denies Johnson Given One Week Deadline (11:15 a.m.)
European Commission spokeswoman Natasha Bertaud denied the U.K has been handed a one-week deadline to reach a compromise with the EU.
“Every day counts,” Bertaud told reporters in Brussels. but there’s no week-long deadline. Technical negotiations between EU and U.K teams are ongoing today, she added.
Johnson Has Boxed Himself In, Coveney Says (10:15 a.m.)
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Johnson’s proposals represent a “step forward,” but repeated that they contain “significant” problems and can’t be supported.
Again, he focused on the possibility that the proposals would deliver a customs border in Ireland, and offer the DUP a veto over regulatory alignment.
Speaking to RTE on Friday, he said the U.K. needs to present an improved offer within 10 days. He warned that Johnson has “boxed himself in” and left little room for maneuver with his promises during the Tory leadership campaign and choice of cabinet.
Rory Stewart Quits Conservative Party (9 a.m.)
Rory Stewart, who ran against Boris Johnson to be Tory leader and was expelled from the Parliamentary party for voting against the prime minister’s Brexit strategy, announced he won’t run for election again and has quit the Conservative Party.
“It’s been a great privilege to serve Penrith and The Border for the last ten years, so it is with sadness that I am announcing that I will be standing down at the next election, and that I have also resigned from the Conservative Party,” Stewart wrote on Twitter.
Stewart later told London’s Evening Standard newspaper that he wants to stand for election as mayor of the U.K. capital. He will run as an independent to break “the suffocating embrace of our dying party politics,” he said.
Court Bid to Enforce Brexit Delay (Earlier)
Brexit finds itself back in court in Scotland today in a case that seeks to empower the courts to write to Brussels asking for an extension if there is no deal by Oct. 19 and Boris Johnson refuses to do so.
In addition to asking the court to send the letter asking for a Brexit extension, English lawyer Jolyon Maugham is seeking to bind Johnson under threat of a fine or imprisonment if he refuses to comply with the law requiring him to do so.
The law, passed by Parliament last month, obliges the prime minister to seek a delay to Brexit until Jan. 31 unless he can agree a deal with the EU or win Parliamentary consent for leaving the bloc without one.
Earlier:
Johnson Gets One Week to Improve His Plan for Brexit BackstopHow a No-Deal Brexit May Become a Problem for the World EconomyBrexit’s Next Court Drama Could Kill Johnson’s Do or Die Vow
–With assistance from Thomas Penny and Dara Doyle.
To contact the reporters on this story: Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at [email protected];Peter Flanagan in Dublin at [email protected];Jonathan Browning in London at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at [email protected], Robert Hutton
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