Evaluation of UK’s international obligations
Conservative former ministers and human rights groups have accused the Government of failing to outlaw torture as it published fresh guidance on the treatment of detainees abroad and refused to launch a judge-led inquiry into post 9/11 rendition cases.
UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU
Philip Hammond has warned Boris Johnson that Britain ‘can’t control’ the impact of leaving the EU without a deal. Meanwhile the Chancellor has ‘told staff’ he will fight no-deal Brexit from Tory backbenches.
Speaking in her Downing Street flat, Theresa May has told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg of her ‘frustration’ at ‘entrenched’ Brexit views as she prepares to depart Number 10.
EU sources have stated that Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt’s Brexit plan to axe the Irish border backstop from the withdrawal agreement will be rejected outright by the European Union.
Jeremy Hunt has refused to say that the UK would be out of the EU by 2020 if he becomes Prime Minister.
Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd has stated that it was ‘essential’ for the Government to end its pause on working age benefits when it comes up for review next year regardless of whether or not the UK has left the EU with a deal.
The House of Lords has passed an amendment by a majority of 103 to ensure Parliament will sit in the weeks leading up to the 31 October deadline due to growing fears that Boris Johnson could prorogue or dissolve Parliament in order to allow the deadline to pass without MPs interfering. MPs have also passed a backbench amendment seeking to block any attempt by a future Government to prorogue parliament to ensure a no-deal Brexit. This has caused a setback to Boris Johnson’s threat to take Britain out of the EU without a deal.
The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has stated that Theresa May never threatened a no-deal exit during more than two years of negotiations with Brussels. Meanwhile Frans Timmermans has claimed that British ministers were ‘running around like idiots’ at the start of the Brexit negotiations.
According to the Financial Times, civil servants are concerned that they will be blamed if things go wrong under a deal or no deal Brexit under Boris Johnson.
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