Downing Street has hit back at Nigel Farage after he criticised Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework and claimed Brexit has still “not been completed”.
Mr Farage, the honorary president of Reform UK, used a press conference this morning to criticise the record of successive Tory governments as he said EU regulations “have not been axed”, Northern Ireland has been “hived off” and “our borders are as open as they have literally ever been”.
He said: “Three and a half years on, Brexit has not been completed, we are still under the jurisdiction of a foreign court in Strasbourg, our borders are as open as they have literally ever been. We have a high tax, big state, low growth, low productivity society and our public services are fundamentally broken.”
No10 rejected the criticism and said Mr Sunak’s Brexit deal will fix “longstanding problems” with border arrangements in Northern Ireland while regulations made in Brussels have been “reduced right down to the very minimum level”.
The Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman told reporters: “We think this delivers on fixing the longstanding problems which have hindered individuals and businesses and caused such problems both for Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole.
“With regards to EU regulations, these have been reduced right down to the very minimum level to ensure there is no border on the island of Ireland, and I think that is the overriding priority of all parties in protecting and securing the Good Friday Agreement.”
You can follow the latest updates below.
12:19 PM
MPs may vote only once on Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal
Downing Street has refused to confirm that MPs will get to vote on all aspects of Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal.
The vote on Wednesday will be specifically on the Stormont Brake issue – a new mechanism which would stop the imposition of new EU laws in Northern Ireland in certain circumstances – but Downing Street has made clear the vote will be taken as the verdict of MPs on the deal as a whole.
It had been thought that there could be further votes on other specific items contained within the Windsor Framework but Downing Street at lunchtime failed to guarantee it.
Asked if elements other than the Stormont Brake would be waved through the Commons via “negative procedure” which does not require a full vote, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman replied: “I don’t think a decision has been taken on all the other elements.”
12:17 PM
Downing Street hits back at Nigel Farage over Brexit remarks
Downing Street has hit back at Nigel Farage over his criticism of Rishi Sunak’s Brexit deal.
Mr Farage, the honorary president of Reform UK, said this morning that Brexit had “not been completed” three-and-a-half years on because EU regulations “have not been axed”, immigration continues to rise, and Northern Ireland is “being hived off” to Brussels.
“The job for Reform is even bigger than the task that is faced by Ukip… This is about getting our entire country back on track, changing the priorities of our Government and opposition and I’m here to help in absolutely every way,” Mr Farage told a press conference.
Defending the agreement, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman said: “We think this delivers on fixing the longstanding problems which have hindered individuals and businesses and caused such problems both for Northern Ireland and the UK as a whole.
“With regards to EU regulations, these have been reduced right down to the very minimum level to ensure there is no border on the island of Ireland, and I think that is the overriding priority of all parties in protecting and securing the Good Friday Agreement.”
12:09 PM
New: Stormont Brake to be published today
The Stormont Brake will be published later today, Downing Street has confirmed this lunchtime.
“I should say the detail is already out in the public domain,” the Prime Minister’s official spokesman told reporters.
11:53 AM
Migrants being housed in almost 400 hotels across UK
Almost 400 hotels are currently being used to house asylum seekers, it has been revealed.
The number of migrants being housed in private is now above the 50,000 mark, a 20-fold increase in less than three years.
Earlier this month, analysis by The Telegraph found that 42 of the 48 English counties now have hotels accommodating asylum seekers.
The Government has never publicly confirmed the total number of hotels involved, but a government source has now told BBC News it is using 395 to accommodate more than 51,000 asylum seekers, at a cost of more than £6m a day.
Will Bolton has the full story
11:32 AM
Ann Widdecombe joined Reform UK because ‘it is the only way to save the Union’
Ann Widdecombe, a former Tory MP and ex-minister who was elected as an MEP for the Brexit Party, said she had decided to join Reform UK “because it is very clear that it is the only way to save the Union”.
She said: “I do not believe that that is an exaggeration. We have left Northern Ireland in the single market while the rest of the UK has withdrawn and yet… it was made extremely clear in the Conservative Party manifesto that when we left the EU we would leave as one United Kingdom.
“We didn’t say we were going to leave part of the United Kingdom behind in the EU.”
11:18 AM
Richard Tice announces 11 former Brexit Party MEPs have joined Reform UK
Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, has announced a number of former Brexit Party MEPs have joined Reform UK, including Ann Widdecombe.
He said the party is facing a “big job” in preparing for the next general election as he said “the more help the better”.
He told the press conference that “the band is reforming” and “many of the former Brexit Party MEPs… are joining Reform UK as we continue this journey of growth”.
Mr Tice said a total of 11 former Brexit Party MEPs have joined the party and “we mean business”.
11:10 AM
Nigel Farage not returning to the political frontline
Nigel Farage has said he is not returning to the political frontline.
Speaking at a Reform UK press conference, Mr Farage said that “my role in this is honorary and advisory” and he is only “here to help and advise”.
Mr Farage said that Richard Tice, the party leader, had “kept the ship afloat pretty much on his own” in recent years and that today’s event is about bringing in reinforcements.
11:08 AM
‘Brexit has not been completed,’ says Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage is now on stage at Reform UK’s big press conference in central London.
Mr Farage said that “Reform UK is the direct descendant of the Brexit Party” and that his original party had been “hugely successful”.
He said that “Brexit has not been completed” and “regulations have not been axed”.
10:48 AM
Nigel Farage in attendance at Reform UK ‘major announcement’
Nigel Farage is in attendance at Reform UK’s “major announcement” press conference in central London this morning, writes Amy Gibbons, The Telegraph’s political correspondent.
Meanwhile, the party’s YouTube channel has a holding image on today’s press conference live stream which states “The Band Reforms”.
Could we be about to see the return of Mr Farage to the political frontline?
10:14 AM
Suella Braverman attacks Rwanda deportations ‘snobbery’ as European judges near climbdown
European judges are close to climbing down over the Government’s Rwanda scheme after Suella Braverman hailed “encouraging” and “constructive” high-level talks to lift their block on deportation flights.
Speaking on a two-day visit to Rwanda, the Home Secretary also accused her Labour critics of “snobbery” and said removal to Rwanda would be “a blessing” for migrants risking their lives to cross the Channel.
You can read the full story here.
09:41 AM
Reform UK announcement will be about ‘new people joining’
Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, said today’s “major announcement” by the party (see the post below at 09.14) will involve “new people joining”.
Asked for an insight into what will be announced, Mr Tice told TalkTV: “We have indeed got an announcement later. It is about an enlarging of the group, announcing some new people joining. Wait and see. 11 o’clock, it will be significant.”
09:24 AM
Richard Tice claims Rishi Sunak has ‘mis-sold’ Brexit deal
Richard Tice, the leader of Reform UK, claimed this morning that Rishi Sunak had “mis-sold” his new Brexit deal.
He told TalkTV: “It doesn’t solve the issues… it’s like a sort of second-hand car salesman saying that the brakes are attached to the wheels when clearly it is not, it is not attached to anything.”
He added: “It simply doesn’t work. I am afraid it is a con, we have all been mis-sold this deal by the Government… I think that the more people look at this, and the way to read this is to look at what the EU document said about this deal… they were gloating over it, they were absolutely clear that nothing changed, they were still completely in control basically of the arrangements in Northern Ireland and look, it doesn’t meet the [DUP’s] seven tests.
“I would be absolutely astonished if the DUP said anything different.”
09:16 AM
Pictured: Boris Johnson leaves his London home this morning
09:14 AM
Reform UK promises ‘major announcement’
Reform UK has promised a “major announcement” this morning.
The party is due to hold a press conference at 11am and it is remaining tight-lipped about what will be announced.
We don’t have long to wait to find out:
09:08 AM
When will the DUP and the ERG deliver their verdicts on the Brexit deal?
Both the DUP and the European Research Group of Tory Brexiteers are yet to deliver their verdict on the Windsor Framework ahead of Wednesday’s vote on Rishi Sunak’s deal.
The DUP’s MPs will meet today to discuss a joint position on the deal, according to the Politics Home website.
Meanwhile, the ERG is expected to hold a press conference tomorrow to announce its verdict once its so-called “star chamber” of legal experts has finished looking over the detail of the deal.
08:47 AM
DUP MP: Brexit deal is ‘old substance dressed up in a new package with a ribbon around it’
Senior DUP MP Ian Paisley said he does not believe Rishi Sunak’s Windsor Framework meets the seven tests set by his party for improving post-Brexit border arrangements in Northern Ireland.
He told the News Letter: “My initial reaction to the Windsor Framework was that I didn’t think it cut the mustard in terms of addressing our seven key tests (on restoring NI’s place within the UK internal market).
“After taking time to study it and a least one legal opinion on it, and going through the details, and also having conversations and messages back and forward to the Secretary of State, I am still of that opinion – that it doesn’t address any of our seven tests.
“It is the old substance dressed up in a new package with a ribbon around it, but it hasn’t actually changed, or addressed the fundamental issue of Northern Ireland trade being disrupted in our internal UK market.”
08:38 AM
DUP MP says he will vote against Windsor Framework
DUP MP Ian Paisley has said he will vote against Rishi Sunak’s new Brexit deal, known as the Windsor Framework, when it is put in front of the Commons later this week.
The first vote on the deal is due to be held on Wednesday and Downing Street has made clear that this vote will be considered the moment at which MPs deliver their verdict on the whole deal.
In an interview with the News Letter, Mr Paisley said: “I am categorically voting against, and I would be surprised if my colleagues do not join me.”
08:34 AM
Tory MP: ‘Some members’ of Privileges Committee have ‘predetermined view’ on Boris Johnson
Conor Burns, a Tory MP and former minister, said he had concerns that “some members” of the Privileges Committee have already “predetermined their view” on whether Boris Johnson misled Parliament over the partygate scandal.
The Privileges Committee is made up of seven MPs and is chaired by Labour’s Harriet Harman. Critics have questioned the impartiality of Ms Harman after a social media post last year indicated she believed Mr Johnson had misled Parliament.
Mr Burns, an ally of Mr Johnson, told the BBC’s Westminster Hour programme: “Now, the concern that some of us have is that it appears that some members of that committee have predetermined their view. I have real reservations.
“I rate Harriet Harman highly but she did tweet in April 2022 that if the prime minister, the former prime minister, the now Prime Minister, the former chancellor, admit guilt by which she said was accepting a fixed penalty notice then they are also admitting that they misled the House of Commons.
“Boris Johnson contests that but it seems to me the person who is now chairing this committee has predetermined that and that causes me a degree of anxiety for parliament’s reputation in handling this with integrity.”
Baroness Chapman, Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister, suggested allies of Mr Johnson were trying to “throw sand in the wheels” of the probe.
She told the same programme that she believed Ms Harman will “make sure that this is a fair process”.
08:15 AM
Tory MP: Boris Johnson ‘still has an enormous contribution to make in public life’
Boris Johnson still has an “enormous contribution” to make to public life in the UK, one of his allies has said after being asked if there could be an “act two” for the former prime minister.
Conor Burns, a Tory MP and former minister, told the BBC’s Westminster Hour programme that Mr Johnson is a “young man in political terms” and that a return to the political frontline for the ex-PM could well be worth a bet.
Mr Burns said: “People have rarely lost money in betting on Boris’s future. He is a young man in political terms. He is one of the great communicators, one of the campaigning connectors, I think Boris still has an enormous contribution to make in public life here in the United Kingdom and as we have seen by the way in Ukraine internationally.
“As a loyal backbencher I am supporting the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, to lead us into the next election and to win that general election.”
08:09 AM
Boris Johnson ‘looking forward’ to partygate grilling, claims ally
Boris Johnson is “looking forward” to his four hour partygate grilling in front of the Privileges Committee on Wednesday, an ally of the former prime minister has claimed.
Conor Burns, a Tory MP and former minister, said he had spoken to Mr Johnson yesterday afternoon and the ex-premier was “looking forward to the opportunity” to get his “case out there”.
He told the BBC’s Westminster Hour programme last night: “I spoke to Boris this afternoon. He called me. He is looking forward to the opportunity to getting his case out there, to putting his case to the committee on Wednesday, to answering their questions.”
He added: “You have heard very little actually from Boris on this subject over recent weeks and months. I think he has been absolutely focused on marshalling the arguments, collating the evidence that he wants to put into the public domain, allowing people to reach a rounded judgement based on facts rather than speculation and emotion.”