Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

Boris Johnson’s claims that crashing out of the EU with no deal would be less painful because of a series of “side deals” that the UK has already done with Brussels have been dismissed as rubbish by the EU.

Johnson made the assertion several times during his campaign to be the new leader of the Conservative party and EU officials are now concerned that this was being spun as a new post-Theresa May “truth” after the claims were repeated by supporters in recent days.

Iain Duncan Smith referred to 17 side deals on the table while the former chancellor Norman Lamont told Sky News hours after Johnson won the Tory leadership contest that “there is no such thing as no deal” as there were “all sorts of side deals that were done”.

A senior EU official described the claims of side deals as “pure rubbish”, pointing out that the so-called deals are unilateral positions taken by the EU alone to keep the basics functioning on their side of the border.

“We have said a million times that they are unilateral and temporary and that they don’t amount to side deals,” said the official.

....and revived push to break up UK within minutes of winning Tory leadership

That's the kind of threat that can lead to war.

Thatcher would likely have dispatched fighter jets and a warship or three.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suggestion that Britain’s withdrawal agreement with the European Union can be completely renegotiated in the coming months is “not in the real world”, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said on Wednesday.

The European Union’s red lines had not changed and its negotiating position will not change ahead of Britain’s planned exit from the European Union on Oct. 31, he added.

Varadkar was responding to a Johnson’s vow in his first speech as prime minister to lead Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31 “no ifs or buts” with “a new deal, a better deal.”

“Listening to what he said today, I got the impression that he wasn’t just talking about deleting the (Northern Ireland) backstop, he was talking about a whole new deal - a better deal for Britain,” Varadkar said of Johnson’s debut speech as prime minister. “That is not going to happen.”

“Any suggestion that there can be a whole new deal negotiated in weeks or months is totally not in the real world,” said Varadkar, who was speaking in an interview on RTE television.

Varadkar congratulated Johnson on his appointment and said he was looking forward to an “early engagement” on the Irish border issue, which is at the heart of the impasse in Brexit talks.

But he said his British counterpart would have to “put a little bit of detail behind some of those slogans and statements” about Brexit.

“Confidence and enthusiasm is not a substitute for a European policy or a foreign policy,” he said. “We will need to hear in detail what he has in mind.”

While Johnson said in his speech that he was willing to leave the EU without a deal if necessary, Varadkar said it was increasingly clear to him that Johnson did not have support in parliament for such a move.

He said he wanted ties with London to improve after they were damaged by Britain’s decision to leave the European Union “without thinking it through or the impact on Britain itself, or on Northern Ireland or on wider relations with the EU.”

LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday Britain had to boost its preparations for leaving the European Union without an exit agreement, saying that while the country was more prepared than some thought, it was not as ready as it should be.

“In the 98 days that remain to us we must turbo-charge our preparations to make sure that there is as little disruption as possible to our national life,” Johnson told parliament.

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Thursday he was launching a new approach to drive independent trade policy and so would not nominate a UK commissioner to take a place in the new European Commission.

“I want to start unshackling our officials to undertake this new mission (to strike trade deals) right away. So we will not nominate a UK commissioner for the new commission taking office on the first of December, under no circumstances,” he told parliament in his inaugural speech to the chamber,

“Today is the first day for a new approach which will end with our exit from the EU on the 31st of October.”

Michel Barnier writes to member states after Johnson statement

The EU's chief negotiator has immediately dismissed Boris Johnson's latest Brexit plan just hours after he unveiled it MPs.

In an email to member states seen by The Independent Michel Barnier said the proposal unveiled by Mr Johnson on Thursday afternoon was "of course unacceptable" as it crossed EU red lines.

Mr Johnson used his first statement to the House of Commons as prime minister to call on the EU to drop the controversial Irish backstop from the Brexit withdrawal agreement as the price of further talks.

But in the email, Mr Barnier told member states that the demands contained in the "rather combative" statement by Mr Johnson were very clearly a no-go.

"PM Johnson has stated that if an agreement is to be reached it goes by way of eliminating the backstop. This is of course unacceptable and not within the mandate of the European Council," he wrote.

The top official added: "As suggested by his rather combative speech, we have to be ready for a situation where he gives priority to the planning for "no deal", partly to heap pressure on the unity of the EU27.

"No deal will never be the EU's choice, but we all have to be ready for all scenarios."

Mr Barnier suggested to the member states that the best response from the EU was "to remain calm, stick to our principles and guidelines and show solidarity and unity to the 27".

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s new prime minister, Boris Johnson, told European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday that the so-called Northern Irish backstop must be abolished to avoid a no-deal Brexit, a spokesman for Johnson said.

In a telephone call, Johnson also told Juncker that the withdrawal agreement reached between former British prime minister Theresa May and the EU would not pass parliament in its current form, the spokesman said.

European commission president says existing deal is ‘best and only’ one possible

The European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, has told Boris Johnson that the EU27 will not give in to his demand to renegotiate the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

On Thursday in his first telephone call with Johnson as prime minister, Juncker called the existing deal “the best and only agreement possible”.

Johnson has insisted the agreement to leave the EU and arrangements regarding the Irish border are not good enough and should be renegotiated.

Juncker said the EU would analyse any ideas put forward by the UK provided they were compatible with the withdrawal agreement, his spokeswoman Mina Andreeva tweeted in a readout of the phone call.

Boris Johnson’s government has played down the idea of fresh Brexit talks with the EU unless Brussels first agrees to reopen the entire withdrawal agreement and scrap the Irish backstop, both of which have been repeatedly ruled out.

In a stance that appears to place the UK more firmly on course for a no-deal departure on 31 October, Downing Street said there were no new Brexit talks scheduled, and that Johnson was “clear what the basis for those discussions needs to be”.

His spokesman said: “I don’t have a date to point you towards. The PM has been very clear that he is ready to begin having those discussions, but obviously the key point is the withdrawal agreement is not going to pass parliament, so that is going to mean reopening the withdrawal agreement.”

He added: “He will be energetic and front-footed in seeking a deal, but if a deal is not possible, we will be leaving.”

Asked if Johnson’s team had asked for any talks with Brussels, the spokesman said: “What we’ve done is set out our position and say that we are very ready and will be energetic in beginning talking, but we’re also clear-eyed about what needs to happen if we are going to be able to secure a deal which parliament can support.

“As I say, we are ready to begin talking, but we are clear what the basis for those discussions needs to be.”

Pressed on whether this meant, in effect, the process was deadlocked given the EU’s unity in insisting the withdrawal agreement cannot be torn up, the spokesman said the UK’s priority remained to leave with a deal.

“But it is very clear that if we are going to be able to secure a deal that allows us to leave on 31 October, which the prime minister has said we are absolutely going to do, that is going to mean reopening the withdrawal agreement,” he said.

Boris Johnson has demanded that Angela Merkel drop the controversial Irish backstop from the Brexit agreement, amid warnings from Europe that he is setting himself on a "collision course" with the continent.

In a phone call on Friday the new prime minister told the German chancellor that "the only solution that would allow us to make progress on a deal is to abolish the backstop" - and that the alternative was no-deal.

EU leaders were unimpressed by Mr Johnson's demand that the border policy be removed from the withdrawal agreement, a stipulation he laid out to MPs on Thursday.

"He seems to have made a deliberate decision to set Britain on a collision course with the European Union and with Ireland in relation to the Brexit negotiations," Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney told reporters in Belfast on Friday.

Speaking after a meeting with the UK's new Northern Ireland Secretary Julian Smith, Mr Coveney said said Mr Johnson's comments were "very unhelpful".

The German government also appeared unmoved by the new prime minister's approach and suggested it would fail.

"My message to the new British prime minister is clear: 'Boris, the election campaign is over. Calm yourself down. We should be fair with each other'," Germany's Europe Minister, Michael Roth, told the broadcaster ZDF.

"What do not help are new provocations. Instead, dialogue – one must be able to expect that from the leader of a friendly nation, one that is still a member of the European Union."

War cabinet of six to deliver Johnson’s mission

Boris Johnson has set up a “war cabinet” to deliver Brexit “by any means necessary” by October 31 as a senior cabinet minister warned that there was “now a very real prospect” of no deal.

In a dramatic shift Michael Gove, the minister responsible for no-deal preparations, said the government was “working on the assumption” that Brussels would not strike a fresh agreement.

In a Whitehall revolution, Johnson will make every decision on Brexit policy with a team of just six senior ministers — all of them Brexiteers who support no deal.

Starting tomorrow, the war cabinet — Gove; the chancellor, Sajid Javid; the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab; the Brexit secretary, Steve Barclay; and Geoffrey Cox, the attorney-general — will plot the nation’s course.

Putting the country on a war footing, Johnson has ordered Gove to chair meetings of civil servants and political advisers every day — including Sundays — until the 2016 referendum result is delivered.

Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s most senior aide, summoned advisers to No 10 on Friday night and declared that the prime minister had tasked him with delivering Brexit “by any means necessary”. The term — used by the American black rights activist Malcolm X — puts the EU and remainer MPs on notice that Johnson is prepared to suspend parliament or hold a general election to thwart those seeking to block no deal.

While Johnson’s team want to avoid an election before the end of October, leave supporters hoping to be Tory MPs are having their applications to join the party’s candidate list fast-tracked to ensure more Brexit backers are elected if a snap poll is forced on the government by a vote of no confidence.

Cummings also made clear that ministers were preparing for a no- deal emergency budget in the week of October 7.

Insiders say the government will go “hell for leather for no deal” in order to see if the EU “blinks” and ditches the backstop, but the “central planning assumption of government” is that the UK is on course for no deal.

Writing in The Sunday Times, Gove declares that “the entire machinery of government will work flat-out” to prepare for no deal and has been “retooled” to get the job done. He adds: “With a new prime minister, a new government and a new clarity of mission, we will exit the EU on October 31. No ifs. No buts. No more delay. Brexit is happening.”

Johnson yesterday said “progress” towards a deal could be made only once the “anti-democratic” backstop was removed.

But Gove writes that ministers do not believe the EU will back down: “We still hope they will change their minds, but must operate on the assumption that they will not. The prime minister has been crystal clear that that means we must prepare to leave the EU without a deal on October 31.”

He added that tweaks to Theresa May’s plan would not be enough: “You can’t just reheat the dish that’s been sent back and expect that will make it more palatable.”

Gove also said he had been told to “launch one of the biggest peacetime public information campaigns this country has ever seen” so that businesses and citizens “can prepare for what will happen in the event of no deal”.

The new war cabinet replaces a chaotic Brexit decision-making process under May whereby the Brexit department was sidelined from negotiations, three departments led no-deal preparations and the Treasury was allowed to thwart them all.

Gove’s “operational committee” will meet on a daily basis to commission work from departments, summon officials and issue orders. They will be given just 24 hours to deliver on the orders.

Javid pledges today that “all necessary funding” will be made available for a no-deal, with plans for 500 extra Border Force officers and possibly new port infrastructure. In an article for The Sunday Telegraph, the chancellor says the Treasury will now have new priorities.

Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson has publicly challenged Boris Johnson over his Brexit plans, saying she will not support a no-deal exit from the EU.

Her frank warning came as Michael Gove, who is now in charge of no-deal preparations at the Cabinet Office, said the government is "operating on the assumption" of the UK leaving the bloc without a deal.

While the aim for the new prime minister is still to leave with an agreement, his hardline approach and vow to "abolish" the backstop has been stonewalled by Brussels, who have refused to change their position.
[...]
But in a sign of frustration at the approach of the new government, Ms Davidson, who is often referred to as a rising star in the Conservative Party, used a newspaper column to outline her opposition.

In the Scottish Mail on Sunday, Ms Davidson said: "I hope beyond measure the new prime minister is successful in getting an agreement with the EU so he can go back to the House of Commons and get the majority backing he needs. He has my full support in those efforts.

“Where I differ with the UK Government is on the question of a no-deal Brexit.

"When I was debating against the pro-Brexit side in 2016, I don't remember anybody saying we should crash out of the EU with no arrangements in place to help maintain the vital trade that flows uninterrupted between Britain and the EU."

Boris Johnson's government is considering imposing direct rule in Northern Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit, a senior minister said.

Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary and Mr Johnson's de facto deputy, said senior ministers were looking "very carefully" at whether legislation would be needed for the government to take direct control of the region.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: “We'll make sure that arrangements are in place so that there's no vacuum, so there's the efficient conduct of government, but the number one priority is to see the parties in Northern Ireland revive the executive and the assembly so they can take responsibility and control.

He added: ”We'll make sure - and there will of course need to be legislation considered across the no-deal scenario - that all the arrangements, whether they're regulatory or administrative, are in place so that we don't have a vacuum.“

Asked if legislation would be needed to enforce direct rule, he said: ”The question will be the extent to which it can be done, and that's something I know Julian Smith will be looking at very carefully, along with Michael Gove.“