Boris Johnson news – live: Major blow for prime minister as Commons vote paves way for bill preventing no-deal Brexit

The reports today that Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson‘s top aide, described Brexit talks as “a sham” in a strategy meeting have shed a new light on Brexit talks – and whether the government is telling the truth about its strategy, writes Jon Stone.

The prime minister says the governments wants a deal, but appears to be making no real effort to get one. Downing Street denies the leaks – but they certainly tally with what we’re hearing in Brussels.

The European Union has said a no-deal Brexit remained a "distinct possibility".

The European Commission said while there was "progress on process" because of the increased tempo of meetings between officials from the two sides, there were still no "concrete" proposals from the UK side about how to resolve the Irish backstop stalemate.

Mr Johnson insisted to MPs that his efforts to force Brussels to make major changes to the Brexit deal were bearing fruit.

Additional reporting by PA

Michael Gove is delivering a statement on no-deal Brexit preparations.

Mr Gove has gone on the offensive against Labour's policy and urged MPs to get behind Mr Johnson.

  ↵A reminder of the explosive prorogation story from earlier...

Boris Johnson secretly agreed to suspend parliament in mid-August, explosive court documents reveal – two weeks before denying the plan existed, writes Rob Merrick.

An email was sent to the prime minister and Dominic Cummings, his chief aide, entitled “Ending The Session”, which says “we should prorogue” from 9 September.

It was revealed in Edinburgh's Court of Session, which is hearing a legal challenge to stop parliament being shut down for five weeks, preventing MPs making any further moves on the Brexit crisis.

Mr Gove described the Operation Yellowhammer dossier as depicting what a "reasonable" worst-case scenario of Brexit could cause.

"It is an exercise in anticipating what a reasonable worst case scenario might involve and how we can then mitigate any risks," he told the Commons.

"Operation Yellow assumptions are not a prediction of what is likely to happen, they are not a best-case scenario or a list of probable outcomes they are projections of what may happen in a worst-case scenario."

He said businesses and the public should not be "blithe or blase" about the challenges of Brexit, but that "risks can be mitigated" and "we can be ready".

On Monday, a meeting of the government's no-deal planning committee ministers had chosen not to publish details from the dossier, reportedly because it was seen as too pessimistic about the consequences of no deal.

Additional reporting by PA

Brussels is considering designating a no-deal Brexit as a disaster comparable to an earthquake or heavy flooding for the purposes of allocating emergency aid, writes Jon Stone.

The proposal would see cash from the bloc's Solidarity Fund handed to heavily-hit countries like Ireland to deal with the fallout of UK policy.

Officials behind the scenes are working on the plan, which would require the approval of the European Parliament and member states.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has apologised for telling remainers to "stop whingeing" about Brexit and accept the referendum result.

"I expressed myself carelessly and insensitively" during a discussion at the Greenbelt festival, Justin Welby admitted in a statement posted to Facebook.

Ironically, he added: "What I was aiming to say was that in this political situation, just talking in increasingly hostile language does us no good."

Phillip Lee wrote to the prime minister to resign “at the point that he crossed the floor” of the Commons chamber, according to a government spokesman.

The pro-EU former justice minister deprived Boris Johnson of his Commons majority today when he defected from the Conservatives by walking across the Commons chamber to sit with the Liberal Democrats.

The government spokesman said: “I am sure that Phillip Lee’s constituents will be disappointed by the fact that an elected politician, who is meant to represent them in parliament, is choosing to reject the democratic choices that they have made in 2016 and 2017.”

(EPA) 

A government spokesman has reiterated that Tory MPs who vote against the government in tonight’s expected vote will lose the Conservative whip – including those who abstain.

He said: “The prime minister would not expect people who have voted to take power away from this government and to hand it to the opposition, to be a Conservative candidate or a Conservative MP.”

PA