Boris Johnson news: Government suffers first parliamentary defeat since election, as EU warns Brexit trade talks may not start until March
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Your support makes all the difference.Boris Johnson is under fire over plans to impose strict new restrictions on EU immigration at the beginning of 2021 – two years earlier than promised by Theresa May. Labour said the proposed limits on lower-skilled migrants were “damaging, ill-informed and reactionary”.
The prime minister is also facing pressure over the mounting costs of the controversial HS2 rail project. Critics dubbed it “white elephant”, as a widely leaked government-commissioned review suggested the total cost could spiral up to £106bn.
It comes as the European Commission said it might take until March to finalise its mandate for trade deal negotiations. Meanwhile, prospective Labour members have until 5pm on Monday to join and vote in the leadership contest – with over 100,000 people believed to have signed up in recent weeks.
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MPs call for unlimited fines for electoral law breaches
Political groups that break the law should be slapped with unlimited fines to stem the influence of “dirty money and dodgy data misuse” in UK elections, MPs have said.
A new report by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Electoral Campaigning Transparency warned that British elections were open to abuse due to outdated electoral laws and called for an end to the cap on fines for breaches of the rules.
The penalty for breaking strict spending laws is £20,000, a sum the head of electoral watchdog said was seen by some donors as “just the cost of doing business”.
PM to give major speech in days after Brexit
Boris Johnson is to give a major speech in the days after Brexit to set out the UK’s hopes for future relations with the EU and the rest of the world.
The speech will be followed by a series of documents formally detailing the UK’s negotiating objectives for trade talks with the EU, US and other parts of the world.
No date has been announced for the PM’s speech, but it is understood it will come at the beginning of February.
First government defeat since the general election
Boris Johnson's government has been defeated in the House of Lords over an amendment to the Withdrawal Agreement Bill which is currently making its way through the upper chamber.
Peers voted by 270 to 229 for a cross-party amendment to ensure EU citizens are provided with physical documents - not just a digital version - proving right of residence in the UK.
Upgrading existing railways instead of building HS2 would cause 'absurd disruption' for passengers
Network Rail has rubbished suggestions that the HS2 could be replaced with upgrades to existing lines, warning that passengers would face "absurd" levels of disruption from such an approach.
The intervention by the rail infrastructure manager comes amid reports that Boris Johnson's government is looking at ditching parts of the line and replacing it with upgrades – under pressure from anti-HS2 campaigners.
“It’s one of the things that opponents of HS2 are very good at understating,” chief executive Andrew Haines told the Construction News trade magazine.
“We did some work recently on just how much disruption you would need to do on the East Coast Main Line to do significant capacity improvements if you didn’t do HS2 phase two. I think [the timeframe for how long work would last was] something absurd.
Gibraltar considers joining EU’s Schengen area
Gibraltar is considering joining the EU’s Schengen open borders area to limit disruption caused by Brexit, its chief minister has said.
Fabian Picardo, the territory’s leader, said it did not “make sense” for Gibraltar to be cut off from the rest of Europe given its location bordering Spain.
A decision to join the full Schengen area by the micro-state could mean UK travellers would have to apply for a mini-visa known as ETIAS to visit after Brexit.
USDAW union nominates Keir Starmer for Labour leader
One of the UK's biggest unions, the shopkeepers' union, USDAW, has nominates Sir Keir Starmer for the next Labour leader.
Given he already has the backing of one other major union and a third affiliated organisation, it means Starmer is now on the final ballot paper.
In order to qualify the ballot, Labour's rules state: "Each candidate will now require either 5% of CLPs or at least 3 affiliates (at least 2 of which shall be a trade union) compromising 5% of affiliated membership to be successfully included on the ballot."
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Deadline for joining Labour to vote in leadership contest passes
Phillips admits she 'probably won't win' after 'awful' first hustings
Jess Phillips has admitted her campaign for the Labour leadership is faltering ahead of a crucial trade union deciding who to back, saying: “I probably won’t win.”
The centrist candidate described her own performance in the first party hustings as “awful” – appearing to acknowledge that either Keir Starmer or Rebecca Long-Bailey would triumph.
Ms Phillips vowed to be herself and strive to be less “statesmanlike” at future hustings with the Labour faithful, saying: “I am going to say what I think. I am going to give honest answers.
Johnson accused of leaving UK 'staring down barrel of no-deal Brexit'
Boris Johnson was accused of leaving the UK “staring down the barrel of a no-deal Brexit” after Brussels indicated that it may not be able to begin talks on future trade arrangements until March.
The comments came as Downing Street attempts to pile pressure on the EU for swift progress in talks, with just 11 months to complete complex negotiations before Mr Johnson’s self-imposed deadline of December 2020.
The prime minister’s official spokesperson told reporters that the UK would be in a position to begin negotiations on 1 February – the day after Brexit – and pointedly noted that talks could begin with the US first if the EU was not ready.
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