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Barclay Says Progress Being Made on Reaching Deal: Brexit Update

Johnson Set for Hard-Line Approach in EU Talks: Brexit Update

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Prime Minister Boris Johnson has resolved on a hard-line plan as he prepares for his first face-to-face negotiations with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Monday.

Johnson will tell Juncker that there is just one month left to finalize that agreement and he won’t ask for a delay if the negotiations are fruitless, according to a senior official in the U.K. government. The premier is also set to defy a new law designed to stop him forcing the U.K. out of the European Union without a deal next month, and is braced for a fight to settle Brexit in the British courts. In an interview with the Mail on Sunday, Johnson said the U.K. will break out of its “manacles” like the comic-book character the Incredible Hulk.

Key Developments:

  • Former Education Minister Sam Gyimah joined the Liberal Democrats on Saturday after his opposition to the government’s no-deal Brexit policy led to his ejection from the ruling Conservative Party.
  • David Cameron, prime minister at the time of the referendum, has criticized what he called the “liars” of the Leave campaign in his memoir, and said Johnson didn’t believe in Brexit, the Sunday Times reports.

Lib Dems Would Cancel Brexit, Swinson Says (9:51 a.m.)

Liberal Democrats leader Jo Swinson says the party would cancel Brexit if it wins the next election.

It would be “bizarre” to suggest that the election will be about anything other than Brexit, she said, adding that “if people put into government, as a majority government, the stop-Brexit party, then stopping Brexit is exactly what people will get.”

Johnson Committed to Securing a Deal, Patel Says (9:34 a.m.)

Johnson is fully committed to getting a deal and leaving on Oct. 31, according to Home Secretary Priti Patel.

There is a “great deal” of work being done behind the scenes, and the government is focused on solving the Northern Ireland backstop issue, Patel said on the BBC’s “The Andrew Marr Show.”

Labour Is a “Remain Party,” Khan Says (9:30 a.m.)

Labour is a “remain party,” Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said in an interview on the BBC’s “The Andrew Marr Show.”

Khan said the U.K. should revoke the so-called Article 50 notification that triggered the U.K.’s legal divorce proceedings, and then give the U.K. public a final say on the nation’s EU membership.

Progress on Deal Is Being Made, Barclay Says (8:45 a.m.)

Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay said that progress is being made on reaching a Brexit deal with the EU. There have been “detailed technical talks” and “a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes,” he said.

Speaking on Sky News’s “Ridge on Sunday,” Barclay rejected Cameron’s suggestion that Johnson only led the Leave campaign in 2016 to further his own career, saying he was “committed” to the cause.

Brexiteers May Back Deal, Sunday Times Reports (8:23 a.m.)

Hard-line Brexiteers have signaled they would be willing to vote for a Brexit deal if Johnson can win meaningful concessions on the Northern Ireland backstop, according to the Sunday Times.

The newspaper cites four unnamed figures in the pro-Brexit European Research Group as saying they would vote for such a deal to prevent the U.K.’s exit from being cancelled altogether -- something it says raises the chances of the nation leaving with an agreement in place at the end of next month.

Cameron Hits Back at Leave Campaign (Earlier)

Former Prime Minister David Cameron’s new memoir says the leaders of the leave campaign lied to the public to win the 2016 Brexit referendum, according to extracts published in the Sunday Times.

Cameron also said that the leaders of the Brexit campaign waged “open warfare” on him and singled out Boris Johnson’s rival and cabinet minister Michael Gove as disloyal on more than one occasion. During campaigning, Johnson “left the truth at home,” Cameron wrote, while Gove was “an ambassador for the truth-twisting age of populism.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net;David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Gordon at pgordon6@bloomberg.net, Andrew Blackman, Stephen Treloar

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