Brexit: Swinson urges Corbyn to back second referendum amid wait for EU extension decision

Boris Johnson’s cabinet is divided over how to proceed with Brexit, as the prime minister faces the stark choice of pressing ahead with his deal or gambling his premiership on a pre-Christmas general election.

After an inconclusive meeting with Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday morning in an attempt to agree an acceptable timetable for parliament to consider the bill, the prime minister told MPs at Wednesday’s PMQs that he was awaiting the decision of the EU27 over whether to grant an extension before settling his next move. The EU’s decision is unlikely to come before Friday.

Boris Johnson will be left waiting for the EU’s terms for a further Brexit extension until Friday, with signs of momentum building behind Donald Tusk’s plan for a delay up to 31 January.

The French government has privately voiced its concerns about taking the pressure off MPs to vote for the deal, which they believe could be ratified in 15 days, but EU sources said the bloc was seeking a “solution that works for all” and avoids a no deal exit.

Tusk, the president of the European council, told Johnson in a phone call on Wednesday his reasons for “recommending the EU27 accept the UK request for an extension”.

The Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson has written to Jeremy Corbyn urging Labour to support her party’s amendment to the Queen’s Speech which would ensure a second Brexit referendum.

Swinson tweeted a copy of the letter, which stated: “”I believe we cannot afford to wait any longer if we are going to get a People’s Vote in this Parliament.”

Key Brexit legislation has not been included in the Commons business for next week.

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs the business will include the second reading of the Environment Bill on Monday, the second reading of the Animal Welfare (Sentencing) Bill on Tuesday, a general debate on Grenfell on the Wednesday, and tributes to the Speaker’s chaplain followed by a general debate on children’s services spending on Thursday.

The Commons will not sit on Friday November 1, he added.

The DUP has angrily chastised the Brexit Secretary, Steve Barclay, in the House of Commons where one of the party’s MPs said that unionists had been the ‘sacrificial lambs’ of the deal between the European Union and the UK.

Barclay also referred to comments made by the Prime Minister on Wednesday when he said there would be no checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

Responding to this, Barclay said: “It is the case the Prime Minister was distinguishing between the paperwork that is required, which will be done digitally and is a single form, rather than actually introducing physicals checks.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, is speaking in the debate on the Queen’s speech, which he describes as little more than a crude election stunt.

He says the reality is that after almost a decade of harsh and brutal austerity, a few cynical attempts to paper over the cracks in the NHS and elsewhere go nowhere near making a difference.

Much hilarity and some outrage has ensued as a result of reported comments from Jeremy Corbyn’s chief of staff, Karie Murphy, at a town hall meeting of Labour staff that, “anyone who knows Jeremy knows he loves to go on the train to obscure places like the south-west or Orkney”.

ScotRail, more used to getting pelters on Twitter because of late-running, overcrowded trains, is now enjoying much praise for maintaining a secret under-sea train line to the Orkney Islands, 10 miles from the Scottish mainland, apparently only for use by the Labour leader.

At least he’ll get a seat.

Residents of the south-west, which has a population of more than 5 million people, were likewise surprised to learn that they were considered obscure. Geography, it’s a tricky subject.

The Labour backbencher, Lucy Powell, has said that it would be better to put the Brexit bill through parliament before an election, but if MPs “can’t resolve” it, then there should be an election.

Speaking on Politics Live, she also hit out at the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, who has written to Jeremy Corbyn to seek Labour support for a second referendum amendment.

I’ve just come back from the twice-daily lobby briefing, with the PM’s official spokesman.

He offered little in the way of defence of Johnson’s refusal to attend this morning’s planned appearance before the House of Commons liaison committee, which infuriated its chair, Sarah Wollaston.

Asked what Johnson was doing that was so important, he said: “Throughout the course of the morning the PM has been holding meetings with members of his team and with members of his cabinet,” adding, “since taking office he has spent 14 hours at the dispatch box taking questions from colleagues across the house”.

That has only included two sessions of PMQs, of course – and that belligerent late-night session after the supreme court struck down his prorogation, during which he suggested to MPs the best way to honour their murdered colleague Jo Cox was to “get Brexit done”.

As for whether Johnson will ask parliament to support a general election in the coming days, his spokesman suggested he was awaiting the response of the EU27 to the letter sent on Saturday, requesting a Brexit extension.

And he appeared to concede that the 31 October “do or die” deadline looked out of reach, saying: “That is absolutely what the PM wants to achieve, but at the same time we have to recognise the fact that parliament has handed control of the timetable to the EU.”

Since parliament is not sitting tomorrow, the government would have to lay a motion under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act before the end of today’s sitting if it were to be voted on by MPs on Monday.

Alternatively, they could await the EU’s response, and then table a motion on Monday, with a vote then held on Tuesday.