Boris Johnson news – live: PM's minister 'cosying up' to far-right Brazilian government official as Amazon burns

Naomi Smith, CEO of the Best for Britain campaign group, thinks an alliance of Remain forces can stop a no-deal Brexit.

Will Boris Johnson be able to avoid gaffes when he meets world leaders? Ashley Cowburn has looked at what the weekend summit in Biarritz has in store for Boris Johnson.

Home secretary Priti Patel will hold talks with her French counterpart after dozens of migrants attempted to cross the Channel.

In four separate events on the south coast on Thursday, the Border Force dealt with a total of 37 people, including six children, who tried to reach England in small boats.

And a fifth incident off the Sussex coast reportedly involved more than 20 others, although the Home Office has not confirmed details.

The attempted crossings came on the day that official figures were published on immigration to the UK from the EU.

A Home Office spokeswoman said crossing the Channel in a small boat is a “huge risk” and “the criminal gangs who perpetuate this are ruthless and do not care about loss of life”.

She added: “We have three Border Force cutters in the Channel and a joint action plan with France in place, including a co-ordination centre in Calais which assists with preventing illegal attempts to cross the border.

“Since January, we have returned more than 65 people who arrived illegally in small boats to Europe.

“We continue to monitor the ongoing situation and are working closely at all levels with French authorities on the issue. The home secretary will raise this issue with her French counterpart in the coming days.”

A Downing Street spokeswoman has said on the Amazon rainforest fires:

“The prime minister is deeply concerned by the increase in fires in the Amazon rainforest and the impact of the tragic loss of these precious habitats.

“The effect of these fires will be felt around the world which is why we need international action to protect the world’s rainforests.

“The UK will continue to support projects in Brazil to do this, and the prime minister will use the G7 to call for a renewed focus on protecting nature and tackling climate change together.”

The Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith has been speaking to reports outside City Hall in Belfast. He said he was confident the prime minister could get a Brexit deal, but couldn’t be drawn into discussing the backstop.

The Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith said there are “no more excuses” for failing to restore power-sharing at Stormont.

Smith said public sector workers have stepped in for too long to fill the vacuum left by a lack of political leadership.

He also vowed the deliver a step change in flagging talks to resurrect devolution, as he expressed unhappiness at the pace of recent negotiations.

“Getting Stormont up and running has to be the priority,” he said.

“Political parties across the spectrum must now realise that civil servants, police, hospital workers, nurses, doctors have for too long stepped in for a lack of political leadership and there are no more excuses - we just have to get this Assembly and Executive moving.

“All of the civil servants and public sector works I have met this week are really doing incredible work when actually they should be getting much more support from Northern Ireland political leaders.”

On Friday, he noted that a range of policies affecting the region - such as reforms to laws on abortion and same-sex marriage - would be introduced at Westminster in October if devolution was not restored by then.

“There has been activity throughout August but it has not been at the pace that I want," he said of the current talks process.”

A reminder that Donald Tusk – European Council president – will be in Biarritz along with Boris Johnson, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.

No 10 clearly believes the PM’s trips to Paris and Berlin have placed the ball firmly in Tusk’s court.

“Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron have shown they are willing to engage,” a government source told The Times.

“It’s over to you Brussels. Are you going to maintain your position over the next few months or are you prepared to negotiate?”

France will block an EU trade deal with Brazil and its neighbours over the country’s handling of fires in the Amazon rainforest, according to a spokesperson for Emmanuel Macron.

UK ministers will look on with interest. Labour has criticised the Tory MP Conor Burns for appearing to “cosy up” to the Brazilian trade minister while on an official visit to Brazil earlier this week.

Here’s our Europe correspondent Jon Stone with more.

This was the tweet by Tory MP and trade minister Conor Burns that has led to accusations of him of “cosying up” to Brazil’s government.

Burns has been criticised for failing to publicly speak out during a trip to Brazil about the damage being wreaked upon the Amazon rainforest by wildfires.

Labour’s Barry Gardiner accused Trade Minister Conor Burns of “cosying up” to pro-deforestation ministers while on government business, and said he should instead have been calling on the country’s right-wing leadership to do “everything they can to protect the rainforest”.

Burns posted images of him drinking champagne with Brazilian minister Marcos Troyjo, who has backed president Jair Bolsonaro’s policy of deforestation of the Amazon.

The Conservative MP for Bournemouth West called Troyjo “superb” after meeting him to discuss “increasing trade and prosperity” between Britain and Brazil.

The Department for International Trade said Burns, who is currently in Chile, had “raised environmental concerns in every meeting he has been in” since arriving in South America.

Gardiner said: “Instead of posing for photographs with far-right Brazilian politicians, ministers should be calling on Brazil to do everything they can to protect the rainforest.

“The government must insist that Brazil honours environmental clauses in existing trade agreements and fulfils their commitments under the Paris Agreement.”

Jeremy Corbyn has been talking about the Amazon rainforest fire crisis. He has urged Boris Johnson to “put all the pressure you can” on Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro at the G7 this weekend.

The Labour leader told reporters during a visit to Swansea: “[Brazilian president Jair] Bolsonaro has allowed, and indeed encouraged, these fires to take place, to clear the forest in order that the land can then be used for actually very short-term agriculture production and after that it becomes desert”.

“That is what's happening to the rainforest. The rainforest is an international resource, it's a carbon sink that we all need and rely on.

“And so we, the Labour Party, the shadow cabinet, have written to the prime minister to say: put all the pressure you can on President Bolsonaro to deal with this issue, and when you’re at the G7 summit raise the issue because it is one of global concern.

“If the Amazon rainforest is destroyed, if the west African rainforest is destroyed, then actually we all suffer.

“We’re in this together, we have to save this planet together. That means taking the climate emergency very seriously and speaking out on the international stage to those people that have it in their power to stop the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.”