Boris Johnson news: More than 50 Labour MPs ‘ready to back new Brexit deal’, amid fears PM ready to cut Northern Ireland loose
Follow along with how the day in Westminster unfolded
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Your support makes all the difference.More than 50 Labour MPs could be ready to rally behind a compromise Brexit agreement allowing Boris Johnson to avoid crashing out of the EU, according to a leading member of a cross-party group.
It comes as DUP leader Arlene Foster demanded a meeting with Mr Johnson amid growing unionist fears that he will cut Northern Ireland loose in his desperation for a deal.
Tory rebel Oliver Letwin, meanwhile, has backed a second Brexit referendum, while Jeremy Corbyn vowed Labour would fight a general election with the “biggest people-powered campaign we’ve ever seen”.
Follow along with how the day in Westminster unfolded
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond.
A five-week break has begun after Boris Johnson shutdown parliament at the earliest opportunity.
But the Commons went out with a bang, it seems. Order had well and truly broken down by the time it came to finally prorogue shortly before 2am last night. Some Labour MPs began singing socialist anthem The Red Flag, while SNP MPs belted out Flower of Scotland.
Labour’s Lloyd Russell-Moyle and other opposition MPs even attempted to pin speaker John Bercow to his chair, while Caroline Lucas and others held up signs saying “silenced”.
A red-eyed Bercow made sure to say that this was “not normal prorogation” before winding up proceedings and gave shadow chancellor John McDonnell a hug.
Boris Johnson assembles his cabinet this morning and will tell them he is ready to “step up diplomatic efforts” to get a new Brexit agreement.
A key part of the five-week presentation to the public will be trips abroad in an effort to suggest he is still searching for a deal.
Reports suggest Johnson may actually visit Brussels next week for talks with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, while a meeting with European Council president Donald Tusk at the UN General Assembly at New York later this month is now in the diary.
The Lib Dems are poised to campaign to cancel Brexit by revoking Article 50, Jo Swinson has said. Ahead of the party conference this weekend, the leader has made it clear she wants it in the manifesto.
Here are all the details.
Labour former minister Harriet Harman defended the way Commons speaker John Bercow has handled the Brexit situation in Parliament – and confirmed she wants to replace him in the post when he stands down.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I will put myself forward for election as speaker.”
Historian Simon Schama accused Boris Johnson of “grotesque cowardice” for proroguing parliament. Here’s just some of the reaction to the shutdown.
Expelled Tory heavyweight Oliver Letwin has backed a second Brexit referendum – and said there was “an increasing number of Conservative and ex-Conservative” MPs now ready to deliver a majority for a further public vote.
Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has all the details.
Now that parliament has closed its doors for five weeks, our correspondent Ashley Cowburn has taken a look at the key dates ahead between now and 31 October.
Theresa May’s resignation honours list has drawn a heated reaction from some quarters.
Critics rounded on her choice to reward civil servants who worked on her failed Brexit strategies, as a knighthood is given to Olly Robbins, May’s chief Brexit negotiator, and the CBE awards are bestowed on her former joint chiefs of staff Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, the so-called “terror twins”.
Andrew Woodcock has the details.
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