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Protests against Boris Johnson's Brexit stance are to be held as the Prime Minister faces cross-party opposition to his EU withdrawal moves. Demonstrators opposed to Brexit have planned more than 30 events across the UK this weekend as Mr Johnson looked set for a torrid week in the Commons. As Mr Johnson faces Parliamentary attempts to try and legislate against a no-deal exit from the EU, or hold a vote of confidence in his Government, the PM insisted opponents could be making the prospect of a withdrawal from the bloc without an agreement more likely. Mr Johnson's remarks came as a Tory predecessor in Number 10, Sir John Major, announced he wanted to join a legal challenge to the PM's decision to extend the suspension of Parliament over the annual party conference season. Sir Jo...

    A legal challenge aimed at stopping Boris Johnson’s suspension of Parliament has been denied an interim interdict at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. A cross-party group of MPs and peers filed a petition at Scotland’s highest civil court earlier this summer aiming to stop the Prime Minister being able to prorogue Parliament. They called for an interim interdict on Thursday to halt prorogation until a final decision has been made on the case. Judge Lord Doherty heard arguments from a lawyer for the campaigners and a legal representative for the UK Government at a hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh. But on Friday, Judge Doherty dismissed the action ahead of a full hearing originally set for September 6. Judge Lord Doherty said: “I’m not satisfied that i...

    Boris Johnson has confirmed he plans to hold a Queen’s Speech on October 14. That means MPs face a race against time to thwart the Prime Minister taking the UK out of the EU without a deal. Johnson says he wants an opportunity to set up new bills to ‘level up’ spending on his priorities, including the NHS, education and policing. But his plan will also dramatically cut down the amount of time MPs have to block Johnson pressing forward with a chaotic no-deal Brexit . Here’s everything you need to know about Boris Johnson ’s new plan - and what it means for Brexit. He’s setting the date for a Queen’s speech. This effectively reboots Parliament, setting off a new ‘session’ and shutting down the old one. This usually happens every year - though it doesn’t have to, ...

    Prince William and Kate Middleton have taken a second short haul flight on a budget airline in a week. The royal couple and their children flew from Aberdeen to Norwich at 2.40pm yesterday as they returned from visiting the Queen at Balmoral, they touched down in Norfolk just 50 minutes later, at 3.30pm. The trip is believed to have cost £365 for the whole family and comes amid a row over Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's four gas-guzzling trips on private jets in just 11 days. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex flew from London to Ibiza and back before making a return trip to Nice earlier this month, fuelling claims they were contributing to climate change. In new pictures, Kate sports a green dress as she holds onto baby Louis, 16 months, while William holds the hand...

    Boris Johnson has issued a fresh warning to MPs tempted to try to block a no-deal Brexit, with a senior government official insisting “politicians don’t get to choose which public votes they respect”. Speaking in Biarritz, where Johnson met the European council president, Donald Tusk, on Sunday, the UK official said Johnson had delivered the message to EU leaders that Brexit cannot be stopped. “The prime minister has been very clear to European leaders that he’s seen in the last week that the idea that Brexit can be stopped is incorrect, and we are leaving on 31 October,” the senior official said. “He thinks that EU leaders should not be listening to the very wrong messages emerging from some parliamentarians who think that they will stop Brexit.” He added: “The p...

    Boris Johnson is expected to tell EU boss Donald Tusk that Britain will only pay a quarter of its so-called Brexit divorce bill if the country leaves without a deal on 31 October. The prime minister is due to meet the European Council president at the G7 summit in France later today. It is understood he will tell Mr Tusk that under no deal, the UK would only owe about £9bn of the £39bn liability agreed by former prime minister Theresa May. The approach is likely to stoke tension with other EU leaders at the meeting in Biarritz. In June, a source close to French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting the G7 summit, said refusing to pay was the "equivalent to a sovereign debt default". Others argue the UK is legally bound to pay the £39bn sum and warn that reneg...

    Boris Johnson has asked the attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, whether parliament can be shut down for five weeks from 9 September in what appears to be a concerted plan to stop MPs forcing a further extension to Brexit, according to leaked government correspondence. An email from senior government advisers to an adviser in No 10 – written within the last 10 days and seen by the Observer – makes clear that the prime minister has recently requested guidance on the legality of such a move, known as prorogation. The initial legal guidance given in the email is that shutting parliament may well be possible, unless action being taken in the courts to block such a move by anti-Brexit campaigners succeeds in the meantime. On Saturday Labour and pro-Remain Tory MPs reacted fur...