Boris Johnson news - live: PM will give MPs more time to debate Brexit deal if they agree to Christmas election

Nick Boles will abstain on Queen’s Speech vote

The former Tory MP Nick Boles – who now sits as an Independent – says he will abstain on the Queen’s Speech vote later today. He is not pleased the government agenda fails to even mention housing.

McDonnell says Labour would agree to pre-Christmas election ‘if necessary’

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell confirmed on ITV’s Peston last night that Labour offered the prime minister a new timetable for his Brexit bill which could see it wrapped up – if agreed – by mid-November.

McDonnell said Labour is prepared for an election if there can’t be an agreement over the bill.

“We’re hoping, step by step, hoping we can get some agreement with the government ... If we can’t we’re up for an election for whenever it comes, and we’re confident,” he told Robert Peston.

Asked if the party would agree to an election before Christmas, he said: “Well, if necessary”.

Who would win a general election?

Jeremy Corbyn says that he wants an election – although it’s not clear whether the leadership will agree to one in the days ahead. But whether Labour should want one is another question entirely.

Sean O’Grady has taken a look at who is likely to triumph at the ballot box.

Damian Green says PM has ‘done great things’

Asked about an early, pre-Christmas election, Tory MP Damian Green said: “My advice to the prime minister, whatever it’s worth, would be, ‘You are very close, you have done great things … You have got a deal’.

“We are very, very close to Boris Johnson being able to go to the people and say, ‘I said I would get a deal, we’ve got a deal, we’ve signed it and parliament’s signed it off.’ That seems to be a more sensible time to hold a general election,” he told Sky News.

Fellow Tory MP James Brokenshire agreed. He said: “I think that now we have got that second reading through … get the deal done, then go to the country.”

Labour peer Lord Adonis, a leading advocate of a Final Say referendum, warned the PM off a snap poll.

“An election in December is clearly a very tough thing to do. We haven’t had an election in December for 109 years.

“It gets dark 4.30pm in the afternoon and Scotland could be snow bound … the deal is falling apart day by day.”

Division over timing of Lib Dem referendum amendment?

The Lib Dems earlier shared their amendment to the Queen’s Speech calling for a second Brexit referendum.

According to Kevin Schofield of the Politics Home website, there are “big splits” in the People’s Vote movement over whether now is the right time to have a vote on a Final Say public vote.

Jo Swinson pleads with Jeremy Corbyn to back referendum amendment  

The Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson has now written to Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn asking him to get behind her party’s amendment to today’s Queen’s Speech, seeking a referendum on the Brexit deal.

“This week may present our last meaningful chance to get a People’s Vote in this Parliament,” she says. “I believe we cannot afford to wait any longer.”

A reminder that two Labour backbenchers – Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson – had tabled an amendment to attach a referendum to Boris Johnson’s withdrawal agreement bill before the legislation was “paused” by the PM.

George Osborne corrects Tory press office

Former chancellor George Osborne – now Evening Standard editor – has clashed with Tory press office.

It follows a claim by the Conservatives’ twitter account that Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal had already “passed” parliament. Osborne points out there’s a difference between passing at the second reading stage and suggesting it’s won the approval of parliament.

Barclay challenged on Norther Ireland border checks and forms

Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Commons Home Affairs Committee, said she had just been given a memorandum from the Home Office confirming that there would be checks on goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland under Boris Johnson’s deal.

“The home secretary couldn’t answer this in committee yesterday,” she added.

Brexit secretary Steve Barclay sought to reassure MPs and businesses about the nature of checks on goods proposed in the PM’s deal.

Responding to an urgent question in the Commons, Barclay said: “I think it’s important to reassure businesses in terms of this is an administrative process, this an electronic form.

“It is something that is part of bookings that will be done with the haulier as part of the shipment of goods and actually involves ... fairly straightforward data in terms who is exporting, who is importing and indeed what the nature of the goods are.”

Barclay clarified comments made by Johnson on Wednesday when he said there would be no checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

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.

“In the coming months, we will need to work both within the United Kingdom and with the European Union to discuss how to eliminate the limited and administrative processes.”

PM won’t resign if Queen’s Speech is voted down

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman has confirmed that the prime minister will not resign if his Queen’s Speech is voted down by MPs later today, writes our political editor Andrew Woodcock.

Asked whether Johnson would follow the example of Stanley Baldwin, who quit immediately after his Queen’s Speech was defeated in 1924, the spokesman said: “The prime minister wants to get on with delivering both Brexit and his domestic agenda.”

Urging MPs to back the Queen’s Speech in a series of votes due around 5pm today, the PM’s spokesman said: “The PM is very clear that this is an ambitious legislative programme, and that parliament should get behind it and that MPs shouldn’t be sending a signal that if legislation were brought forward on serious violent criminals or on improving the NHS or on improving standards in our schools, that they would vote it down.”

Asked if it was still possible for the UK to leave the EU on 31 October with a deal, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “That’s 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 and we will wait to see what the EU says.”

What happens if Boris Johnson loses the Queen’s Speech vote?

As our political correspondent Benjamin Kentish writes, a prime minister staying in office having lost such a major vote would be unprecedented, but there is no prospect of Boris Johnson resigning.

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