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A SENIOR CABINET minister has insisted that the UK will leave the EU on 31 October, despite parliament forcing Boris Johnson to seek an extension yesterday.
Michael Gove, the minister in charge of no deal planning, told Sky News today that the UK would still be leaving the EU on 31 October.
The EU is currently weighing up how to respond to the prime minister’s extension request, which he sent yesterday after an embarrassing defeat in the House of Commons.
Johnson called Taoiseach Leo Varadkar yesterday to discuss the latest Westminster developments. No further details on that call were released.
This morning, social protection minister Regina Doherty said that she expects that Boris Johnson’s letter to the EU will face a legal challenge this week.
Johnson did not sign the extension request letter, which he accompanied with another letter to EU leaders telling them that his government did not want a delay.
“I think there are very many smart lawyers in the UK looking at the letter and will probably challenge it next week,” Doherty told a special edition of RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland programme.
Doherty also said that she was “disappointed” that the House of Commons had not voted yesterday to approve the deal negotiated between the UK and the EU.
“We sincerely hope that the House of Commons can reach an agreement this week,” Doherty said.
She said that it will be “interesting” to see how the letter is received by the EU, “considering it’s not signed”.
Johnson got a senior diplomat to send an unsigned photocopy of the request by MPs to delay withdrawal from the EU. In a second note to European Council president Donald Tusk, Johnson said a Brexit extension would be “deeply corrosive”.
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Sammy Wilson, right, said that his party was not seeking a second referendum. House of Commons / PA Wire/PA Images
House of Commons / PA Wire/PA Images / PA Wire/PA Images
Labour branded the prime minister “churlish” and “juvenile” in his attitude as Johnson stressed to Brussels he was only sending the communication at parliament’s bidding.
The agreement failed to pass through the House of Commons after the DUP united with Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party to vote against the government to force Johnson to request an extension.
Also speaking on RTÉ Radio One this morning, the DUP MP Sammy Wilson refused to say that Johnson had betrayed his party, which is still officially in a confidence and supply agreement with the UK government.
Wilson said that Johnson could use the deal to hold an election and win a majority in parliament.
“If the arithmetic in the House of Commons was different, I feel his ability to get a better deal would have been enhanced,” Wilson said.
He also said that his party would try and amend the Withdrawal Agreement Bill as it passes through parliament to “deal with some of the issues we feel need to be dealt with”.
The decision on whether to grant an extension will come down to the leaders of the remaining 27 EU nations, but it will be Donald Tusk’s job as head of the European Council to gather their views and he could call a special summit to approve an extension.
Tusk has confirmed yesterday evening that he received the letter seeking an extension.
Reaction
“We are going to deliver by the 31 October. We are going to ensure that we get this deal done,” Gove said.
He said that he had made a bet with health secretary Matt Hancock that the UK will leave before the end of the month.
Labour’s shadow chancellor John McDonnell said also today that Boris Johnson could be in contempt of parliament and the courts over the letters.
“He’s behaving like spoiled brat. Parliament made a decision and hes should abide by it,” McDonnell told Sky News.
“It drives at the heart of democracy that the prime minister must abide by the law,” he said. “A number of lawyers have already commented that this is seeking to undermine a decision of parliament.”
.@BorisJohnson says that there may have to be an emergency meeting of EU leaders, probably in nine days, to sort out whether there needs to be a Brexit delay. See the letter he has just sent to EU leaders, which confirms that he does not want the Brexit delay parliament voted for pic.twitter.com/323wMfNErO
There had been speculation that Johnson, who had committed to leaving the EU on 31 October, would refuse to sign the letter – placing him against the law and potentially in contempt of court.
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It remains unclear whether Johnson’s refusal to sign the letter or his decision to send another letter explaining why his government does not want an extension will prompt any legal action.
Some legal experts suggested that the only thing that matters was that Johnson had indeed complied with the law and sent the letter, which was also accompanied by an explanatory letter from the UK’s ambassador to the EU.
Immediately following his House of Commons defeat on the Letwin amendment, Johnson told MPs that he would not negotiate an extension with the EU.
The Letwin amendment, a cross-party bid to seek an extension in order to ensure legislation backing up the new deal is through the House before Brexit happens, was passed yesterday afternoon by a margin of 322 to 306.
It forced Johnson to seek an extension under the Benn Act, passed through parliament against the wishes of the government in September.
That vote followed hours of debate as MPs convened for what was being billed by the UK media as ‘Super Saturday’. It was the first time parliament had been convened on a Saturday for 37 years.
Hilary Benn, the Labour MP who gave his name to the act, said on Saturday: “After all the bluster, the Prime Minister has tonight sent a letter to the EU asking for an extension.”
“A bit churlish not to sign it though,” he added.
Message to Johnson. Nobody, no matter how high, is above the law and has the right to tear up our parliamentary constitution.
Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg announced in the House of Commons yesterday afternoon that there will be another Meaningful Vote on Monday.
However, it remains unclear whether Speaker John Bercow will allow the motion or not. He told MPs he would rule on it on Monday.
Second referendum
Thousands of people took to the streets of London yesterday to demand a second referendum.
Speaking on the BBC Andrew Marr Show today, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said that he was inviting the DUP to talk to the Labour Party.
Starmer said that his party will next week back any amendment brought forward calling for a second referendum on Johnson’s deal.
There has been speculation that the DUP might even back an amendment on a second referendum when the legislation is brought before parliament.
“Anybody who wants to improve on the situation, and they do, should be working together,” he said.
“If you want to work with us on this to improve the situation we’re in, the door is open.”
However, in a statement released this morning Wilson said that the DUP was not seeking a second referendum.
“The people of the United Kingdom were asked whether the UK should leave the EU, not whether Great Britain should leave Northern Ireland behind. We want to leave as one nation. That remains our goal,” he said.
With reporting from Press Association and Daragh Brophy
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Extremely inefficient process, in many many countries buying a property takes 4-6 weeks not 4 to 6 months if you are lucky or a year if you’re not so lucky. Properties should not be put on sale without all documents, planning permits, ber certs and so on being ready. Also cutting off the solicitors would be great too, estate agents should be qualified to do the probate and conveyancing , at the moment they do sweet f. all
@Save Rainforest: You can barely trust an Estate Agent to be genuine and not falsify bids etc. I’d much rather pay a solicitor I would trust and have them in my corner rather than an EA who just wants to close to get their commission.
I’ve recently sold a house. I applied for an nppr cert in early August. Got a reply yesterday. Property tax bands increase due to the sale price increased and were back dated. Solicitors fees include couriers for items I collected. An engineer charged 2000 euros to look into a shore and a tank and sign a document. Estate agent is uncontactable. And that’s just the sale.
I’m also trying to buy. And that’s where I’ve lost the will to live.
The real estate business is rotten to its very core. My heart breaks for those trying to get on the ladder They haven’t a hope.
Nothing is transparent. Nobody is accountable. And the seller and buyer are being rode hard.
It’s a disgraceful system. I’m furious.
@Denis Rathsallagh Brady: Look at the state of ‘council estates’ in this country?…Not a great poster boy for repeating it.If they are to build more,well then the old model needs to be ripped up.Start by deducting rent at source and maybe inspecting houses and deducting the cost of damage at source as well.
@uUleRhCu: You’re talking about the bad areas. There are more decent good estates than bad. The one in the middle of my name being a fine example of how a good council estate is run.
And besides, we need housing now
@uUleRhCu: Theres a whole generation out there with no chance of getting their own house.
So what do we do, build tower blocks? Not a chance.
Build single houses? Not a chance.
In Wicklow alone there are 125 boarded up council houses. If they had more workers these could be given out.
No workers = No houses
Remove the bid process altogether. In England you make an offer and if it’s accepted it’s off the market same day. Easy to buy a property. The Scottish system is also just as bad as IE with sealed bids and I know people who have also struggled to buy. Only difference is you don’t know if you are close but it does prevent agents constantly pushing up prices. But please just remove the weeks of open house and bidding systems!
Roughly 40% of the price of a house is direct and indirect taxation. Vat, various arbitrary contributions to the County Council, etc. not including the costs of applying for planning permission. However, there is limited transparency,, so the circus will continue.
Make legislation and simplify regulations specifically for prefabs and log cabins. Surely with all the vendors now selling these products in ireland, a code of standards can be established. It would take so much pressure off
@Louis Jacob:
Well said.
For anyone with access to a site, probably mammy’s back garden it should an option for good quality log cabins.
In reality it’s already happening, try buying a second hand mobile home at the moment.
We had one in wexford as a holiday home when the kids were smaller. Sold it last year after 10 years for more than I paid for it.
Young couple who didn’t want to pay rent while saving for a deposit.
I love the way they’ve spun the word home in to thinking there doing well and meeting targets , 30000 homes is what , how many apartments how many houses , not enough thats wha
After weeks of bidding and eventually out bidding the other potential buyers, the property owner decided he would like some more money. The plonker just wasted everyone’s time with his greed. The guide price was exceeded by more than 20k but maybe the agent deliberately put it lower to increase the interest in the property. The whole process is ridiculous. There’s very little transparency when it comes to the bidding and it just feels like the agents are out to squeeze what they can out of you.
When waiting for the sale of my dublin flat to conclude to allow me purchase a edinburgh house i recall my scottish solicitor not comprehending how awful the irish process was. The delay in funds almost cost lost me the edinburgh house. Far too many hangers on in the irish process taking a cut along the way and not taking any responsiblity.
If Jimmy from Clonmel can object to a house build in Raharny, then there’s something wrong! However, if you want to change that, then you need approval from Jimmy!
@Alan Kennedy:
The problem isn’t Jimmy from clonmel, every country has those, it’s the fact he hold it up for so long, possibly years.
And that is down to the legal system.
Estate agents want the system changed too. This legislation was proposed and promoted by IPAV. As an estate agent I spend far more time trying to resolve problems in conveyancing than in selling houses. The stress for all who care is very high.
We currently have a situation in Wexford where one couple from the north of the county are the sole objectors to ABP over major development plans ( permission granted by Wexford Co Co ) at a hotel in Wexford town, 50km away. At minimum this will put the plans on hold for at least 6 months!
@Nickb:
Your ire should be directed towards the legal system and the government that allows that to happen.
Every developed nation has some form of planning objection system, there will always be a contrarian, especially now with environmental issues, but they seem to be able to deal with it in a few months rather than years in this country.
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