Brexit news – live: Starmer condemns Trump’s election fraud claims and Boris Johnson to extend EU talks

Barnier to update MEPs on Brexit talks

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier will update the European parliament this afternoon on the progress made in Brexit trade talks, the European Commission has confirmed.

There were reports this week of a breakthrough on fishing rights, although neither side would confirm it. The Sun reported that the EU had agreed to adopt new scientific criteria that could see UK fishing quotas double – although the change would not come in for a number of years.

No 10 is pushing for future fishing negotiations to work on the principle of “zonal attachment”, a prospect the EU has repeatedly ruled out.

Zonal attachment works on the premise that the country or jurisdiction where fish shoals spend most of their time, a calculation based on geographic catching records, should have control over access and quota levels.

PM walks out as soon as May starts talking

Theresa May said it looked like the government is choosing statistics to support its Covid-19 policies rather than basing them on the data.

“For many people it looks as if the figures are chosen to support the policy rather than the policy being based on the figures,” said the former Tory PM. “We need these proper analyses. We need to know the details behind these models.”

But Boris Johnson didn’t hang about to listen to his predecessor’s remarks – prompting a dismayed look of May’s face and some jeers.

UK government’s failure to condemn Trump ‘dangerous’, says Labour

Labour’s shadow foreign secretary has had more to say about Trump’s election claims – and the UK government’s failure to condemn his “dangerous” remarks.  

“The president didn’t just say that he thought there might have been fraud committed,” she told BBC. “He actually called, from the White House, for the votes to stop being counted.

“The American people must hear loud and clear from out government that we stand up for their rights to free and fair elections,” she continued. “To see Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, refuse to stand up for that principle of democracy was a very dangerous moment for the UK.”

Sturgeon still waiting for Treasury letter on furlough

Nicola Sturgeon said she has still not yet been given enough assurance on furlough support for Scottish firms if she decides Scotland must join England in lockdown.  

“I very much welcome the apparent commitment of the prime minister to equal treatment,” the first minister said at her latest briefing. “As a result of that commitment, we hope and expect that the furlough scheme will be available at its current levels that will apply through November if we need to import stronger restrictions … in the future.

“But we have still not seen any detailed written commitments on this from the Treasury and we need to do that as a matter of urgency.”

Sturgeon also said she is considering legally enforcing travel restrictions in Scotland, with an announcement expected next week.

Labour’s ongoing link with Unite ‘astonishing’, says PM

Returning now to one of the final remarks made by Boris Johnson at PMQs. The PM said it was “absolutely astonishing” that the Labour Party have not disassociated themselves from union Unite after the recent comments made by its boss Len McCluskey.

Last month, McCluskey was accused of antisemitism after saying that Labour peer Peter Mandelson should go and “count” his “gold”. He later apologised for his comments.

Replying to a question by Tory MP Karl McCartney, Johnson said: “I was genuinely amazed that the leader of the Unite union should make a remark of the kind that he did and that the Labour Party should remain in receipt of funding from Unite or take no steps to disassociate themselves from that union after that remark.”

Brexit deal could trigger loyalist protests in NI, say police

Police in Northern Ireland are expecting Boris Johnson’s existing Brexit withdrawal agreement to trigger protests in Northern Ireland, MPs have been told.

Simon Byrne, chief constable of the police service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said parts of the loyalist community could see new checks on goods at the end of the 2020 transition period as a “threat” to the union and descend on ports.

Unionist parties have opposed the withdrawal agreement on the basis that it creates a border in the Irish sea, which Johnson signed up as a condition of exit.

Asked who he thought might protest, Byrne told MPs: “Largely, we’d assess at the moment, by the loyalist community: if they see that what the port boundary represents is any sort of threat of their perceptions of the union.”

Labour says PM’s failure to condemn Trump ‘extraordinary’  

So what about Keir Starmer’s statement on Donald Trump moving to declare himself the winner and making false claims about voter fraud?

Starmer’s shadow justice secretary David Lammy said it was “extraordinary” that Boris Johnson didn’t agree with the Labour leader’s call for the US people to be given a “free and fair choice”.

Jonathan Lis, of the British Influence think tank, agrees it was an “extraordinary moment” – and claimed Johnson’s “moral and political cowardice knows no bounds”.

No child will go hungry this winter, claims PM

Boris Johnson has been challenged over his decision not to extend free school meal vouchers over the holidays. Labour MP Gareth Thomas has said he hoped the PM now “regretted” the decision – urging him to change his mind ahead of the Christmas break.  

Thomas also praised all the charities and businesses who backed Marcus Rashford’s campaign and offered free meals to struggling families.

“I do congratulate all the voluntary groups – I’m proud they’ve stepped up … This government will ensure that no child goes hungry this Christmas.”

PM urged to show ‘basic honesty’ over lockdown exit plan

Keir Starmer said he wanted “some basic honesty” from Boris Johnson over the potential exit from lockdown, adding: “If the infection rate … is still going up on December 2, it is madness to come out of the system back to the tiered system, when we know the one thing the tiered system can’t cope with is an R rate above one”.

The Labour leader asked Johnson to use the lockdown to “fix Test and Trace”, adding: “We’ve been going round and round in circles on this. The latest figures show that 113,000 contacts were not even reached and that’s just in one week.”

The PM praised the test and trace system before adding: “I’m perfectly willing to accept the failings of test and trace, of course I am … But to go from 3,000 tests a day, 2,000 tests a day to 500,000 is a quite remarkable feat.”

Hailing the trial scheme in Liverpool, Johnson also told MPs that new types of testing on a “scale never seen before” will be rolled out across the country.

SNP chief attacks Trump’s remarks 

The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford has also said he hopes Boris Johnson would join him in “condemning” Donald Trump’s claims of an “unsupported victory and major fraud” when the result was still not clear.  

He also asked the PM to clear up the confusion over furlough payments for Scotland if Nicola Sturgeon moves the country into lockdown. “Furlough is a UK-wide scheme,” said Johnson.