UK parliament reconvenes

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PUBLISHED 5 HOURS AGO
UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
Holly Ellyatt

... Parliament had been shut down from September 10 onwards and had been due to re-open on October 14, just a few weeks before the Brexit departure date of October 31. There is currently no Brexit deal in place although lawmakers have already voted to prevent Johnson’s government from taking the U.K. out of the EU without a deal. The prime minister has repeatedly said the U.K. will leave the EU no matter what on Oct 31, leaving little time to strike a deal with Brussels ...

When lawmakers voted to stop the government being able to push through a no-deal Brexit, they also voted that the prime minister would have to ask for a further Brexit delay if Parliament has not agreed a Brexit deal, or accepted no deal, by October 19.

Kallum Pickering, a senior economist at Berenberg Bank, said it was very likely heading for a further delay, putting the probability at 85%. With Johnson weakened even more, the probability that parliament could pass a Brexit deal by 31 October, which we put at 12.5%, may be receding further” ...

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/25/uk-parliament-set-to-reconvene-after-government-defeat-what-next.html

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1. Angry lawmakers challenge attorney general

By DANICA KIRKA and JILL LAWLESS
an hour ago

... British Attorney General Geoffrey Cox accused Parliament on Wednesday of being a “disgrace” as lawmakers returned for the first day of work since a bombshell court decision deemed Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament to be illegal ...

Johnson remains on a collision course with Parliament over his determination to pull Britain out of the European Union on Oct. 31 even if no divorce deal is reached. Parliament has passed a law requiring him to seek a Brexit extension if there is no deal, but Johnson says he won’t do that under any circumstances ...

https://www.apnews.com/172e6d59ff044078865eef0e86679873

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2. Cox lets slip Johnson's plan to secure Brexit on October 31

... Brexiteer Andrew Bridgen has called for an emergency debate on revoking the Fixed Term Parliament Act which would make way for Boris Johnson to call a General Election.

The act, introduced by Nick Clegg's Lib Dems in 2011, prevents the Prime Minister from calling a vote without a two thirds majority of support. Overturning the act could make way for Prime Minister Boris Johnson to call an General Election ahead of Brexit ...

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1182360/brexit-latest-news-supreme-court-decision-brexit-boris-johnson-jacob-rees-mogg

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3. UK told it must table proposals for Irish backstop by next week

Lisa O'Carroll in Dublin and Daniel Boffey in Brussels
Wed 25 Sep 2019 05.30 EDT Last modified on Wed 25 Sep 2019 05.55 EDT

The UK must table written proposals to solve the Irish border question over Brexit within the next week, Leo Varadkar and Donald Tusk have agreed.

Revealing details of his conversation with the head of the European council in New York during the UN general assembly, the taoiseach said: “We have working methods and I know that President Tusk and other EU heads of government would like to see British proposals in writing really in the first week of October, otherwise it is very hard to see how we could agree something at the summit in the middle of October.

“The withdrawal agreement is actually an international treaty. It’s not the kind of thing that can be amended or cobbled together late at night at the European council meeting on 17th of October ...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/25/brexit-uk-must-table-proposals-irish-backstop-next-week-leo-varadkar