Boris Johnson news: Labour vows no confidence vote in government as Downing Street says no way Brexit can be stopped

Here’s our political editor Andrew Woodcock with more on the suggestion by Downing Street that MPs have no way of blocking a no-deal Brexit.

Any recession caused by a no-deal Brexit will hurt lower-income families more than the economic crisis of 2008, according to a report out today by the Resolution Foundation.

Our business editor Olesya Dmitracova says the threat of crashing out puts Leave voters at the greatest risk of hardship.

Curiouser and curiouser. Is it possible the government’s NHS funding is both new and old at the same time?

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, says the government’s funding pledge is “genuine, new, extra, money”. But he also says the money can “legitimately be described as money that trusts already had”.

Let’s let Hopson – the boss for the membership body for NHS trusts – explain.

“Both the government and the health think tanks are correct. As a result of this morning’s announcement, frontline NHS providers will be able to spend £1bn in 2019/20 on backlog maintenance and other capital spending that they weren't able to spend last week.”

“The department of health and social care’s capital spending limit will be increased accordingly and that will count against overall government capital spending limits. By our definition that is genuine, new, extra, money.

“At the same time, the health think tanks are correct that some of the extra 2019/20 capital expenditure enabled by this announcement will be funded through cash surpluses currently sitting on provider balance sheets.

“That spending can legitimately be described as money that trusts already had, but were told they couldn’t spend and are now able to spend.”

Got it? Still not sure whether it’s an example of philosophical sophistry, or a good bit of old-fashioned fence-sitting.

More reaction to that bombshell poll from earlier showing a majority of Scots now support independence.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Willie Rennie pointed the finger of blame at Boris Johnson and the Tories: “The apparent rise in support for independence has occurred on the Conservatives’ watch. Some people seem to be tempted by independence to escape Brexit and the Conservatives cannot be trusted to win them back.

“Boris Johnson's reckless pursuit of a no-deal Brexit has caused great anxiety even though independence would add more chaos onto an already chaotic situation. The Conservatives are playing fast and loose with the future of our country.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “Taking Scotland back to another divisive referendum on independence is not the way forward and the Scottish Conservatives will oppose it every step of the way.”

Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, who back the independence cause, added: “We didn’t vote for Brexit, we didn't vote for a Tory Government and I’m certain that given the choice we wouldn't have voted for Boris Johnson either – yet we are being dragged along with the ever increasing Brexit catastrophe.

"It's no wonder that a majority of Scots now recognise the need for us to make an exit from Boris Johnson’s Brexit Britain.”

Boris Johnson is the worse possible choice of prime minister as far as Scotland goes, says Sean O'Grady, associate editor of The Independent. 

And that means a new referendum is inevitable.

Labour's John McDonnell, who has questioned the Sajid Javid's fitness to be chancellor in a letter to the prime minister, is visiting the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

It follows confirmation that the firm will file for insolvency tomorrow and has appointed administrators - putting around 120 jobs at risk.

The yard is best known for building the Titanic between 1909 and 1911.

Mr McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, said he was there to express solidarity with the workers.

"We know there are contracts out there but it just needs support from the Government," he said.

"I am saying to Boris Johnson very specifically he can't stand on the sidelines."

Intriguingly, union officials at the Harland and Wolff shipyard have suggested that the issue could potentially topple the government.

They are calling on the DUP - which is propping up the Conservative's slim majority in parliament - to withdraw from its confidence and supply deal unless the government steps in to rescue the firm.

There was applause as one suggested that if the unionists did not do so, then workforce representatives would stand against the DUP in future elections.

DUP East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson, who met shipyard workers with party leader Arlene Foster at Stormont on Monday, claimed rescue efforts foundered because of EU rules surrounding state aid, due to the lack of time available and the inability of a non-profitable company to accept a loan.

He asked: "How can the Government put money into a company that at the minute does not have an order book, it does not have the ability to be productive or produce profit?"

However the MP said work was available, including Ministry of Defence contracts, and the skills were accessible in Belfast. "So whether it is ship building, ship repair, renewable energy, there is a business there, there are people with the skills and capacity. We have the infrastructure and the assets at Harland and Wolff, we need to seize that for the future."

Britain is to join a new US-led maritime security mission to protect international shipping in the Gulf, the Ministry of Defence has announced.

The Royal Navy will be working with the United States Navy following the seizure of the British-flagged tanker Stena Impero last month by Iranian Republican Guards.

The MoD said the mission would largely draw on assets already in the region including the warships HMS Duncan and HMS Montrose.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: "The UK is determined to ensure her shipping is protected from unlawful threats and for that reason we have joined the new maritime security mission in the Gulf."

Following the seizure of another foreign oil tanker on Sunday, Tehran has threatened legal action against the UK over the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker by British forces near Gibraltar last month.

Here's our full story on the collapse of the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, as union officials call for the firm to be renationalised,

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has claimed Boris Johnson is too focused on pursing a no-deal Brexit to care about the workers at the company.

"I think that what's happening with the current Prime Minister is all he's interested in is trying to secure a no-deal Brexit," he said.

"All the other issues for him appear to be a distraction. These are people losing their jobs. As importantly, this is a sector of our economy that we need for the future - he needs to intervene."

In Downing Street right now, the man who did more than anyone else to push the UK towards Brexit hell is gleefully scheming as to how to divide the nation yet further, writes The Independent's political sketchwriter Tom Peck.