Johnson Promises ‘New Golden Age’ for Britain: Brexit Update
Johnson Moves Swiftly to Deliver Jan. 31 EU Exit: Brexit Update
Boris Johnson said Brexit hands the U.K. the opportunity to “renew itself” and herald a “golden age” as he began what his government described as a fast track process to ratify the divorce deal with Brussels and take Britain out of the European Union on Jan. 31.
Along with Brexit, Johnson announced a “radical” program to cement promises made in the Conservative Party’s victorious election campaign, including a funding boost for the state-run National Health Service, tougher sentences for criminals and a crackdown on foreign spies.
Key Developments:
- House of Commons votes to sit on Friday to vote on Brexit bill
- Government plans to close Brexit department on Jan. 31
- U.K. to Crack Down on Russian, North Korean Spies and Saboteurs
- Must read: Johnson Announces His ‘Radical’ Agenda for U.K. After Brexit
Short-Lived Independent Group Shuts Down (5 p.m.)
The Independent Group for Change began the process of closing down, less than a year after the breakaway political party was formed. The party -- initially made up of an informal coalition of seven MPs who left the Labour Party in February before being joined by several former Conservative MPs -- won no seats in last week’s election. Several of their founding members, including Chuka Umunna and Luciana Berger, left the party after the European elections in May.
“From the outset we hoped more Labour and Conservative MPs would share our courage and leave their respective political parties,” said Anna Soubry, the Independent Group’s leader and former Tory MP. “We have no regrets about standing up and speaking truth to power when the country needed it. It was always better to have fought and lost than never to have fought at all.”
Government to Act Early on Election Law (5 p.m.)
The government will seek to repeal the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act fairly early in its legislative program, according to a U.K. official.
The legislation was passed in 2011 to shore up the then-coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. But it makes it harder for the government to trigger an election -- a source of frustration for Boris Johnson, who wanted an early poll but couldn’t secure Parliament’s support to hold one.
Repealing the act will make it easier to call a snap election. Returning to the old system, each Parliament won’t last for longer than five years and an election is called if the government loses a confidence vote, according to the official.
Johnson Under Fire Over Child Refugees (4:50 p.m.)
Labour’s Brexit spokesman Keir Starmer slammed the government for appearing to abandon a commitment to protect child refugees post-Brexit. The so-called Dubs clause -- named after Labour peer Alf Dubs -- required the U.K. to seek an arrangement with the EU so that an unaccompanied child refugee in the EU would be allowed to join a relative in the U.K., and vice versa. Johnson’s new Brexit bill removes the obligation to negotiate this new settlement.
But Johnson’s spokesman, James Slack, told reporters the government remains “committed to ensuring children claiming asylum can be reunited with family members in U.K. or EU,” but that the issue is one that the U.K. will deal with in future negotiations. The government is “committed to reaching that agreement,” he said.
Dubs, who fled to the U.K. as a child to escape the Nazis, defended Jeremy Corbyn’s record on antisemitism during the election campaign, describing comments made by the U.K.’s Chief Rabbi -- calling the Labour leader unfit to be prime minister -- as going “too far.”
Johnson Reappoints Goldsmith as Environment Minister (4:40 p.m.)
Zac Goldsmith, the junior environment minister who lost his seat in last week’s general election, will be given a seat in the House of Lords and will retain his ministerial position, the government said in an emailed statement.
Goldsmith will be a minister in both the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Department for International Development, and he won’t be paid for the role.
While Goldsmith’s role isn’t a Cabinet job, he had been among a number of junior ministers to attend. The government didn’t say if he would continue to do so.
May Says ‘Huge Responsibility’ After Tory Win (4:20 p.m.)
Boris Johnson’s Conservatives have a “huge responsibility” to deliver on their promises to voters after their victory in last week’s general election, the premier’s predecessor, Theresa May, told the House of Commons on Thursday.
“We must work flat out to repay that trust,” said May, who was forced from power over her failure to deliver Brexit. “We must ensure that every decision we take in this House, we remember those communities who have lent that vote.”
May said the Tories must deliver both on Brexit and on their manifesto commitments on schools, health care and infrastructure. She also urged Johnson to remember those voters who had switched form Labour when he negotiates new trade deals.
“Good trade deals will be ones that protect the jobs of those who have put their faith in us,” May said. “We do need to deliver on all of these issues for people and particularly for the communities who have lent us their vote, because these are the communities who have felt most left behind by globalization. These are the communities who all too often have borne the brunt when rights and standards are not protected.”
Johnson Rallies U.K. to Renew Itself (3:50 p.m.)
Boris Johnson ended his address to Parliament with a flourish, calling on politicians to renew trust with the public. “I say to the people of this country: we owe you,” he said. “We know it. And we will deliver.”
“As we engage full-tilt now in this mission of change, I am filled with invincible confidence in the ability of this nation, our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to renew itself in this generation as we have done so many times in the past.”
He called for an end to parliamentary deadlock, saying: “The time has come for change, the time has come for action, and it is action the British people will get.”
Johnson Suggests He’d Back N. Ireland Bridge (3:40 p.m.)
Boris Johnson suggested he’d back building a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland, telling the House of Commons to “watch this space.”
Johnson -- known for his taste for big infrastructure projects -- was asked about the prospect by Democratic Unionist Party MP Ian Paisley.
“As for his desire for a bridge to connect the two biggest isles in the British isles, all I can say is it is a very interesting idea,” the premier said. “I advise him to watch this space and indeed watch that space between those islands, because what he has said -- it has not fallen on deaf ears.”
Johnson Says ‘Golden Age’ in Reach (3:35 p.m.)
Boris Johnson promised his government will spark the “biggest transformation of our infrastructure since the Victorian age,” reach trade deals around the world and create jobs nationwide.
The premier is seeking parliamentary approval for the legislative program his government will pursue, as outlined by Queen Elizabeth II earlier in the day. He said the U.K. would embrace a “new age” of electric cars and planes and said British scientists will use “new gene therapies to cure the hitherto incurable.”
“This is not a program for one year or one Parliament, it is a blueprint for the future of Britain: Just imagine where this country could be in 10 years time,” he said. “I do not think it vainglorious or implausible to say that a new golden age for this United Kingdom is within reach.”
New Powers for Courts Over EU Law (3:30 p.m.)
The new version of the Withdrawal Bill will empower lower courts to overturn rulings of the European Court of Justice. In previous versions, that power had been reserved for the Supreme Court.
The move may make it easier for British judges to roll back EU rulings on subjects from employment discrimination to the environment after Brexit.
Johnson: People Want Country to Move On (3:25 p.m.)
Boris Johnson opened his address on the Queen’s Speech by calling on lawmakers to honor their promises to the electorate, first by getting Brexit done and then by passing his party’s legislative agenda.
“This is the moment to repay the trust of the people who sent us here,” he said. “If there’s one resounding lesson of this election campaign, one lesson I heard in every corner of these islands, it’s not just that the British people want to get Brexit done -- though they do. They want to move politics on and move the country on, building hospitals, renewing our schools, modernizing our infrastructure, making our street safer, our environment cleaner, our union stronger.”
He said his “people’s government” will unite the nation, first by enshrining in law additional NHS funding.
Corbyn Slams Johnson Over No-Deal Threat (3:20 p.m.)
Jeremy Corbyn slammed Boris Johnson for seeking to ban any extension of the Brexit transition period beyond the end of 2020, saying it would damage the economy.
“He has now deliberately resurrected the threat of no deal at the end of next year, which would decimate industry and destroy people’s jobs,” Corbyn told the House of Commons. “That threat is now written into the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.”
Corbyn also resurrected key arguments from the campaign trail for the Dec. 12 election, in which Labour posted its worst performance since 1935, accusing the premier of seeking to “sell out” the National Health Service and put at risk protections for the environment, food and workers in a “toxic deal with Donald Trump.”
“We do not want our NHS given over to U.S. corporations and we don’t want expensive medicines with extended patents and we don’t want food like chlorinated chicken on our dinner tables either,” Corbyn said. “We know the prime minister’s deal won’t put Brexit to bed, it’ll just be the beginning of years of more drawn out negotiations.”
Corbyn: Johnson Mimicking Labour Policies (3:15 p.m.)
Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn said the Queen’s Speech was heavily influenced by his own party’s policy agenda, showing the impact he had made on the political debate -- even though his party lost the election.
“In this Queen’s Speech, this government has tried to mimic some of the priorities and, interestingly, much of the language of Labour polices, but without the substance,” he told the House of Commons. “On austerity, on investment, on regional inequality, on the National Health Service, we can see how we forced the terrain to shift. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, even if it’s very pale imitation.”
He called on the Conservatives to fund the NHS “properly” -- rather than the “gimmick” of enshrining its funding package into law.
Workers’ Rights Removed From Brexit Bill (3.10 p.m)
A section on protecting workers’ rights that had been included in the October version of the Withdrawal Bill -- in part as a concession to encourage Labour MPs to back the legislation -- is not in the new bill (see 3p.m.).
Instead, Boris Johnson’s government has promised a separate Employment Bill that it says will protect and improve rights after Brexit. It was included in the Queen’s Speech earlier Thursday and includes a plan to strike “the right balance between the flexibility that the economy needs and the security that workers deserve.”
New Brexit Bill: The Key Differences (3 p.m.)
At first glance, here are the key differences between the new European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill and the one Boris Johnson put before Parliament in October:
Deleted:
- Clause 30 on MPs having a veto over extending the implementation period
- Clause 31 on Parliament’s oversight in negotiations for future relationship
- Clause 34 and Schedule 4 on the protection of workers’ rights
Added:
- Clause 33 banning Ministers from agreeing to an extension of the transition period
- Clause 35 banning the use of written procedure by the Joint Committee to adopt decisions between meetings
- Clause 37 on arrangements with EU about unaccompanied children seeking asylum
Brexit Bill Has First Reading (2:50 p.m.)
Boris Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill, intended to deliver on his pledge to leave the European Union on Jan. 31, was presented to Parliament and had its first reading before members of the House of Commons debate and vote on it on Friday.
The bill includes a clause to ban ministers from delaying the transition period beyond the end of December 2020: “A minister of the Crown may not agree in the Joint Committee to an extension of the implementation period.”
The Joint Committee refers to a panel of representatives of the EU and of the U.K. which is responsible for implementing the withdrawal agreement.
Queen’s Speech Unveils Johnson’s Plan for Government (Earlier)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson set out his agenda for government in what he described as the “most radical” program of law-making in a generation after last week’s “seismic” election victory.
Leading on his commitment to leave the European Union on Jan. 31, the legislative program, delivered by tradition in a speech to Parliament by Queen Elizabeth II, also includes campaign promises on spending on the National Health Service, infrastructure development and a review of the relationship between government and the courts.
British business leaders generally welcomed the Queen’s Speech, though stressed more details were needed in the months ahead. “The Government’s legislative plans will give businesses some encouragement that Westminster is finally starting to think about growth and investment again, but the real test will be in the detail that follows,” said Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce.
Sturgeon Demands Legally-Binding Referendum (Earlier)
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon vowed to hold a legal and internationally recognized referendum on independence as she stepped up calls for the British government to allow her to do so in the wake of Brexit. Her Scottish National Party won 48 of Scotland’s 59 districts in the U.K. election last week on a manifesto demanding another referendum on the issue in 2020.
“The election last week put beyond any reasonable argument our mandate to offer people in Scotland that choice,” Sturgeon said in a speech in Edinburgh. “The Scottish Government believes that right should be exercised free from the threat of legal challenge.”
U.K. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove rejected the Scottish Parliament’s calls for another referendum, telling the BBC the SNP should respect the result of the 2014 vote. “I think the whole of this general election shows that if you have politicians who don’t respect referendum results, the public don’t like that,” he said.
Earlier:
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To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Thomas Penny, Stuart Biggs
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