Boris Johnson news: John Bercow warns prime minister against disobeying law by not asking for Brexit delay

The Yellowhammer document sent to the Scottish government has no sign of the worst case scenario Downing Street has claimed, BBC Scotland reporter Kirsten Campbell has said.

There is "no reason to be optimistic" on striking a Brexit deal with the UK, Michel Barnier, the EU's chief Brexit negotiator, has said.

A delegation from Irish border communities has met the French ambassador to Ireland to state their case against a hard border.

Border Communities Against Brexit members Tom Murray, Bernard Boyle and Majella Murphy met ambassador Stephane Crouzat in Dublin on Thursday to explain the consequences of a hard border to those who live and work between the Republic and Northern Ireland.

"We had a very successful meeting with the French ambassador," Mr Murray said afterwards.

"He understood the issues as far as were concerned about the importance of the Withdrawal Agreement and a hard border being reimposed.

"He welcomed our views and seemed to express the same views as us. He reaffirmed the French position as the same as the Irish position.

"A hard border would be a tragedy, we can't even forecast how bad it would be. It will be devastating.

"Those who visit the border understand the importance but we have yet to have a single member of the Tory party to come visit.

"If they did they might understand the reality of the situation."

Scotland's constitutional relations secretary has said he is "extremely alarmed" at the lack of evidence of any meaningful negotiations with the EU, after a meeting with the UK government.

Following the Joint Ministerial Committee (JMC) meeting in London, Mike Russell said he heard nothing to contradict his fears the government is not serious about negotiating a new deal with the EU.

Speaking in the wake of the gathering of representatives from all of the UK's nations, Mr Russell said: "I am extremely alarmed that, so close to the UK exiting the EU on October 31, we did not hear any convincing evidence that serious negotiations are taking place.

"We were very concerned before the meeting that it appeared that no substantive talks between the UK Government and the European Union (EU) were ongoing, and we did not hear anything in this meeting to contradict that.

"If any negotiations do take place, the UK Government is obliged under the terms of reference of this committee to inform its members so that it can carry out its responsibility of overseeing such talks." 

Boris Johnson has been accused of downplaying the dangers of a no-deal Brexit, Andrew Woodcock has the latest:

Campaigners have launched a fresh legal challenge to force Mr Johnson to write to the EU asking for a Brexit extension if he refuses.

And they believe that if he fails to comply with the law passed by parliament aimed at preventing a no-deal, then the court could have the power to send the letter in his absence.

The challenge has been lodged at the same Edinburgh court that ruled the prime minister's suspension of parliament was unlawful, and is being led by the same campaigners.

With the PM saying he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask Brussels for a delay to Brexit past the Halloween deadline, there have been fears Mr Johnson may refuse to do so.

But he is compelled to ask for an extension to the end of January if he fails to convince MPs to back a Withdrawal Agreement or support a no-deal by 19 October, after parliament passed the so-called Benn Act.

Commons Speaker John Bercow has warned Mr Johnson against disobeying the law by not asking for a delay to Brexit if he cannot get MPs to support a deal.

Giving a lecture in London, Mr Bercow said the only possible Brexit outcome was one approved by parliament, warning that the so-called Benn Act spells this out.

He warned that it is "astonishing" that anyone has entertained the idea that the prime minister could disobey the law.

"It would be the most terrible example to set to the rest of society," he said.

"One should no more refuse to request an extension of Article 50 because of what one might regard as the noble end of departing from the EU as soon as possible than one could possibly excuse robbing a bank on the basis that the cash stolen would be donated to a charitable cause immediately afterwards.

"We should not be in this linguistic territory. If we come close to being there, I would imagine that parliament would want to cut off such a possibility and do so forcefully.

"If that demands additional procedural creativity in order to come to pass, it is a racing certainty that this will happen and that neither the limitations of the existing rulebook nor the ticking of the clock will stop it doing so."

Simon Calder has written about the government's "silver lining" of a no-deal Brexit: Cheap booze and tobacco.

Emma Lewell-Buck, the Labour MP for South Shields, has said she would rather go into a coalition with Nigel Farage's Brexit party than the Lib Dems, Andrew Woodcock, our political editor, wires:

Britain's armed forces need to become green to protect the environment, the head of the Army has declared. Kim Sengupta, our defence editor, has the story: