Absolutely Not The Daily Troll-o-Graph

Boris Johnson faces a daunting task in trying to secure parliamentary approval for his Brexit deal after Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party came out against the new withdrawal agreement. Analysis by the Financial Times suggests that unless the prime minister can persuade the DUP to drop its opposition, or persuade several Labour MPs or independent parliamentarians to support the deal, Mr Johnson will struggle to win a House of Commons majority.  The FT estimates 321 MPs could vote against the deal, with 318 supporting it. Many members have yet to declare how they will vote when the Commons considers Mr Johnson’s deal on Saturday. It will be the first Saturday sitting since Argentina’s invasion of the Falkland Islands in 1982.   The Conservatives do not have a majority in the House, so Mr Johnson has to assemble a coalition of MPs to vote for his Brexit deal. Out of the 287 Tory MPs, nearly all are expected to back the deal, including most of the 28 ha...

Boris Johnson has suffered a blow to his proposed Brexit deal as the Democratic Unionist Party said it cannot support plans "as things stand". The support of the Northern Irish party is seen as crucial if the PM is to win Parliament's approval for the deal in time for his 31 October deadline. The DUP said it would continue to work with the government to try to get a "sensible" deal. It comes as Mr Johnson heads to a crunch summit to get the EU's approval. On the EU's side, the legal text of a draft Brexit deal is seen as being "pretty much ready", the BBC's Europe editor Katya Adler said. But the UK government has yet to approve the documents and the DUP remains unhappy about elements of the prime minister's revised plan for Northern Ireland. In a joint statement released on Thursday, the DUP's leader and deputy said discussions with the government were "ongoing", but "as things stand, we could not support wha...

Boris Johnson appears to be on the brink of reaching a Brexit deal after making major concessions to EU demands over the Irish border. A draft text of the agreement could now be published on Wednesday if Downing Street gives the final green light, according to senior EU and British sources. It is understood that the negotiating teams have agreed in principle that there will be a customs border down the Irish Sea. A similar arrangement was rejected by Theresa May as a deal that no British prime minister could accept. Johnson will still have to win over parliament – including the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) and the hardline Tory Brexiters of the European Research Group (ERG) – on the basis that, under the deal, Northern Ireland will still legally be within the UK’s customs territory. One Eurosceptic source close to both camps indicated that such an arrangement would be “extremely difficult for the DUP to swallow”, but neither the DUP nor ERG publicly made any criticism of J...

I have in recent weeks poo-poo'd the possibility of a second referendum rather than a GE within a matter of weeks. This was based on two significant assumptions 1) That Corbyn wanted a GE rather than a SR and he has set out his post conference Brexit stance and stuck to it. Therefore, the party would be whipped to support his position and unless there was a mass revolt, then assuming most of the government vote against a SR, it has no chance of gaining a simple majority. 2) There are at least 5 perennial Labour Brexiteers, and another 35 or so Labour MP's who are dead set against a SR. A number of those are in the process of being deselected or have already stated they would stand down. Therefore, if a SR motion was called, it would be near certain to lose. Therefore the only option available to the opposition was a GE. So what's changed? News came out today of an internal Labour coup, the rumour is that John McDonkey is running a coup, taking away Corbyn...

UK and EU negotiating teams will meet later as efforts to reach a deal before a crunch summit this week continue. After talks in Brussels this weekend, EU ambassadors were told the UK would make concessions to its post-Brexit plan for the Northern Irish border. But the bloc's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said a "a big gap" remained over customs arrangements. Home Office minister Victoria Atkins said she believed a deal could be reached by the 31 October deadline. She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "[In] the last few days, we've seen a real shift in approach from the EU - and in Ireland in particular - for which we're extremely grateful and appreciative. "I think with the negotiations ongoing... I'm an optimist, I do believe that we can get a deal by 31 October." On Sunday, Boris Johnson told his cabinet that while he could see a "pathway" to a deal, there was "still a significant amount of work" needed...

Measures to help the UK prosper after Brexit are to be set out in the Queen's Speech, the government has said. Plans to end the free movement of EU citizens into the UK and provide faster access to medicines will be unveiled. Ministers say a Brexit deal is a "priority" and they hope one can be passed through Parliament "at pace". But the UK and EU are still involved in talks ahead of a key summit - with a Downing Street source saying they were "a long way from a final deal". The UK is due to leave the EU at 23:00 GMT on 31 October and the European leaders' summit next Thursday and Friday is being seen as the last chance to agree any deal before that deadline. Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg appealed to Eurosceptic MPs to back Prime Minister Boris Johnson's proposed Brexit deal by writing in the Sunday Telegraph that "compromise will inevitably be needed". Downing Street says the prime minister will update his cabin...

Intense Brexit negotiations are continuing in Brussels this weekend after Boris Johnson proposed a compromise to break the deadlock. The prime minister's plan would involve Northern Ireland continuing to administer European Union tariffs despite leaving the bloc's customs union. This would remove the need for customs checks but also allow the businesses north of the border to benefit from new UK trade deals by applying for a rebate from the government. Downing Street has not officially confirmed the plan but Mr Johnson stoked speculation on Friday by refusing to say whether Northern Ireland would stay in the EU customs union. "I can certainly tell you that under no circumstances will we see anything that damages the ability of the whole of the United Kingdom to take full advantage of Brexit," the prime minister said. The plan would potentially see some customs checks taking place in the Irish Sea on goods flowing between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK...