United Kingdom

    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...

    The image was taken during a photo call in the French president’s official Paris residence and swiftly prompted criticism online. However, footage of the incident later suggested the brief gesture was a shared joke, with the Prime Minister appearing to pose for the cameras as the pair laughed. The relaxed atmosphere between the pair was in contrast to comments overnight from the French leader, who had suggested a no-deal Brexit could come at the cost of a historic vassalisation of Britain. The laid-back tone also echoes Mr Macron’s meeting with Donald Trump in November during which he was seen squeezing the US President’s thigh. Mr Macron and Mr Johnson both tweeted warm words following the discussions, held as the PM attempts to re-open talks on the UK-EU Withdra...

    The public decisively rejects Boris Johnson’s threat to crash the UK out of the EU without a deal, undermining his claim to have a mandate for the dramatic step, an exclusive poll for The Independent shows. Only 34 per cent of voters want the prime minister to carry out a no-deal Brexit on 31 October if necessary – while 49 per cent urge him to either delay, cancel Brexit altogether, or stage a fresh referendum. The survey, carried out by BMG Research, also reveals the public is overwhelmingly gloomy about Mr Johnson’s chances of negotiating a fresh deal, with only 19 per cent believing he will. Voters also favour MPs being given a final vote on the Brexit outcome – rather being shut out of the process, as the government intends by 42 per cent to 39 per cent. Guto...

    Remain-supporting Tories have hinted that they could favour installing Jeremy Corbyn as an interim prime minister over a no-deal Brexit. The Labour leader reached out across the political divide to gain support for his plan to lead a caretaker government. His proposal was given a boost as the Conservatives he wrote to agreed to talks on how to stop the UK crashing out of the EU. They stopped short of giving Mr Corbyn’s offer their full backing, but Guto Bebb, who quit as defence minister last year to back a second referendum, said he was open to the idea of an emergency government run by the opposition leader. I think that those who have said they will do anything necessary to stop the long-term damage of a no-deal exit must take seriously this type of offer, said...

    Downing Street believes rebel MPs will try to make a move to stop a no-deal Brexit in the second week of September, with the EU unlikely to respond until after that battle has played out. A senior government source said the date for a parliamentary battle was expected to be 9 September a week after MPs return from their summer break. Boris Johnson may meet key EU leaders, such as Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron, but not Ireland’s Leo Varadkar, ahead of the G7 summit in Biarritz, France at the end of August. However, No 10 is not expecting any breakthrough until the EU has seen what happens in the first weeks of September, when a cross-party alliance of Tory and opposition MPs try to take a no-deal Brexit off the table. The EU is adamant that the backstop is not ...

    Patients are waiting an average of more than two weeks to see their GP, a new survey shows. A poll of UK doctors conducted by Pulse, a publication for GPs, found that the average waiting time is now almost 15 days. Just over 900 GPs were surveyed and 22% said patients had to wait more than three weeks for a routine appointment and 6% said it took more than four weeks until they could see a patient. However, 20% said the average waiting time was less than a week. Dr Richard Vautrey, GP committee chair at doctors' union the British Medical Association said the figures showed "the reality of the capacity issues that many GP practices across the country are facing". He added: "GPs' number one priority is treating their patients and they work incredibly hard to do so,...

    Boris Johnson announced an expansion of controversial stop and search powers for the police as part of a multi-billion pound package to tackle violent crime. They included an extra 10,000 prison places and a sentencing review which could see violent and sexual offenders serve more time behind bars. The roll back of restrictions on police use of stop and search which will prove most controversial, with warnings from criminal experts and community groups that it risked provoking riots similar to those seen in 2011. Dr Mariam Fitzgerald, Professor of Criminology at the University of Kent said the extensive rollout of the practice across London under Mr Johnson’s mayoralty was the “backdrop to the riots in Tottenham”. “These searches had gone through the roof in each ...

    August could be the wettest on record with at least five more days of downpours predicted this week alone. The stormy weather that has blighted Britain could be set to last until the final weeks of the month before normal temperatures resume. The bleak forecast is in stark contrast to the end of July that saw the UK record what is believed to have been its hottest ever day. And after more days of rain, this month could threaten the wettest ever August of 1912 that saw an average of 167.6mm. After a brief let up in the terrible weather on Monday and Tuesday, wind and rain is expected to return by Wednesday. The Met Office warns that while some will dodge the worst of it the remainder of the week will be wet and windy. Meteorologist Sarah Kent told the Daily Star:...