Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Sign this deal or let us go now, Boris Johnson to tell the EU Boris Johnson is to offer EU leaders a historic grand bargain on Brexit — help deliver his new deal this week or agree a “no-deal” departure by October 31. The prime minister will speak to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, and the European Commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, in the next two days and say: “Let’s finish this off.” Johnson’s intervention comes on the eve of a crunch week for his premiership ahead of a Brussels summit on Thursday and a historic Saturday sitting of parliament next weekend, the first since the Falklands War. Diplomats say Johnson wants to enlist Juncker and the German and French leaders to press the chief EU negotiator, Michel Barnier, to agree the details of the skeleton deal thrashed out with the Irish leader, Leo Varadkar, last week. A source familiar with the conversations between Johnson’s Brexit sherpa, David Frost, and EU negotiators told The Sunday Times: “He’ll be talking to Merkel, Macron and Juncker by the end of Monday to see if there’s agreement on a ‘landing zone’ for Northern Ireland and customs. The message is: ‘Let’s finish this off.’ The alternative is to agree a friendly version of no deal and finish it that way.” – Sunday Times (£) Brexit: a fragile truce amid hopes of a breakthrough – Sunday Times (£) Nineteen Labour MPs braced for Saturday night showdown with Jeremy Corbyn to help Johnson deliver Brexit Nineteen Labour MPs are braced for a Saturday night showdown with their party leader to help Boris Johnson deliver Brexit. They are ready to defy Jeremy Corbyn and back the PM if he returns from Brussels with a deal next weekend. The “rabble alliance” of Remainer MPs were plotting a fresh wave of wrecking tactics to sabotage the process. Battle lines were drawn for the most dramatic week in politics for decades as British and EU negotiators were locked in a weekend of intense talks ahead of a crunch summit on Thursday. Hopes of a breakthrough came after Mr Johnson and Irish PM Leo Varadkar announced they could see a “pathway to a possible deal” after a four hour meeting. Diplomats said the pair had agreed to a way of agreeing a customs deal that would not trap Northern Ireland in the EU or require border checks. If technical details thrashed out this weekend are agreed at a two-day Brussel summit starting on Thursday, MPs will get the final say at a “Super Saturday” sitting – the first since the Falklands War 37 years ago. At least 19 Labour MPs will back any deal that has the support of hardline Tory Brexiteers and the Democratic Unionist Party. The group – including Dan Jarvis, Caroline Flint, Sarah Peacock and Melanie Onn – had written a letter to EU chiefs to assure them they would vote it through. A Labour source said: “The 19 are rock solid in favour of a deal but there are several others ready to jump aboard to get Brexit done. – The Sun Northern Ireland must stay in the UK customs union, say DUP… Northern Ireland must stay in a “full UK customs union” after Brexit, the Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) deputy leader Nigel Dodds has said. His comment came as UK and EU officials held what were described as “intense” talks in a bid to secure a new deal. Neither side has given details about the common ground that has reportedly been found on the Irish border issue. Mr Dodds said: “There is a lot of stuff coming from Brussels, pushed by the Europeans in the last hours. One thing is sure – Northern Ireland must remain fully part of the UK customs union and Boris Johnson knows it very well,” he told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. Negotiations between the UK and the EU are taking part at the EU Commission in Brussels and are expected to continue on Sunday. – BBC News …as Jacob Rees-Mogg insists Boris Johnson won’t concede too much to EU… Jacob Rees-Mogg today issues an appeal to Leavers to back Boris Johnson’s efforts to secure a Brexit deal, warning that “compromise will inevitably be needed”. Writing in The Sunday Telegraph, the leader of the Commons insists that “as a Leaver Boris can be trusted”. Invoking an idiom that appears to concede Mr Johnson may make concessions unpopular with Brexiteers, Mr Rees-Mogg states: “If he thinks the ship of state is worth an extra ha’porth of tar he deserves support.” The intervention comes amid mounting concern among some Brexiteer MPs over suggestions that the Prime Minister has offered the EU a compromise that would see Northern Ireland legally outside of the EU’s customs union, but remaining in a close arrangement with Brussels which would create a border in the Irish sea. If Mr Johnson succeeds in reaching an agreement with the EU this week he will need to seek the approval of MPs in an emergency sitting of the Commons on Saturday – the last day for him to do so before rebel legislation requires him to delay Brexit beyond October 31. – Sunday Telegraph (£) …and Nicky Morgan says the prospects for a Brexit deal look promising The prospects of a Brexit deal with the EU appear to be “promising” after negotiations between Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar over the Irish border, Nicky Morgan has said. A day after the British prime minister signalled the possibility of a U-turn on his plans, the culture secretary said the “mood music … seems positive, but clearly there are lots of details to be worked out.” She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There are strong views on all sides and I imagine we’ll all find out around the EU council next week exactly what has happened between the two sides.” On Friday, EU sources said Johnson had conceded there could not be a customs border on the island of Ireland – a critical step away from his previous position. Officials are continuing talks in Brussels over the weekend after the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, gave the go-ahead for intensive negotiations to start. However, Morgan would not be drawn on details of the discussions because “there are subtle nuances with all of these things”. She added: “It’s a question of what is negotiated between the parties and obviously it also has to satisfy people living in Northern Ireland, who are very much at the heart of all of this, and to be approved by members of parliament.” – Observer Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer threatens Johnson with court action if he pushes through No Deal… Boris Johnson has been warned he faces court action from Labour if he pushes through a No Deal Brexit against Parliament’s wishes. Sir Keir Starmer said the party would do “whatever it takes” to stop the UK leaving the EU without an agreement at the end of the month. The shadow Brexit secretary said the PM has a legal duty to comply with the so-called Benn Act by sending a letter to Brussels seeking an extension to the departure date. He said: “If he can’t – or I should say won’t – get a deal we will take whatever steps are necessary to prevent our country crashing out of the EU without a deal. “If no deal is secured by this time next week, Boris Johnson must seek and accept an extension. That’s the law. No ifs, no buts. And if he doesn’t, we’ll enforce the law – in the courts and in Parliament. Whatever it takes, we will prevent a no-deal Brexit.” – The Sun …and says that even if the PM strikes a deal, it should be put to a referendum… If Boris Johnson succeeds in getting a Brexit deal, Labour will demand it be put to a referendum, the party’s Brexit spokesman has said. Sir Keir Starmer made the declaration as negotiators from the UK and EU hold talks this weekend in a bid to thrash out a deal. Sky News understands Prime Minister Boris Johnson has proposed a compromise in an attempt to break the deadlock ahead of a crucial EU summit next week. A government source said there had “clearly been some movement on both sides” but there was still a “way to go”. The rhetoric marks a change in tone from earlier this week, when Downing Street said a deal was “essentially impossible”. Reacting to these latest developments, Sir Keir said: “If Boris Johnson does manage to negotiate a deal then we will insist that it is put back to the people in a confirmatory vote.” Speaking at the Co-operative Party conference in Glasgow, he added that Labour was unlikely to support the kind of deal that has been mooted in recent days. – Sky News …while Philip Hammond and Dominic Grieve lead a plot to delay the October 31st deadline again Tory rebels are plotting to sabotage Boris Johnson’s Brexit by forcing a delay to the October 31 leaving date – even if the Prime Minister wins Commons support for a deal with the EU next weekend. Former Cabinet Ministers Philip Hammond and Dominic Grieve are central to moves to compel Mr Johnson to send a letter to Brussels asking for an extension to the UK’s membership, regardless of the outcome of this week’s high-stakes Brexit diplomacy. The plot, which threatens to throw the Prime Minister’s plans for a snap post-Brexit Election into disarray, caused fury in No 10, which last night accused Mr Hammond of trying to ‘sabotage’ Mr Johnson’s ‘do or die’ Halloween exit date. The move came amid cautious optimism in Downing Street about the prospects of a last-minute breakthrough in negotiations this weekend over a new customs arrangement for Northern Ireland, which could be approved at Thursday’s critical EU summit in time for MPs to vote for it at Saturday’s historic Commons sitting. – Mail on Sunday Brexit plans will be centre stage in tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech 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”. Downing Street says the prime minister will update his cabinet on the progress of the talks in Brussels later on Sunday, starting the “preparations for a final, critical EU council where it is hoped a deal can be reached”.Meanwhile, the first Queen’s Speech of Mr Johnson’s premiership, delivered during the State Opening of Parliament on Monday, will see the government highlight its priorities. Mr Johnson said: “Getting Brexit done by 31 October is absolutely crucial, and we are continuing to work on an exit deal so we can move on to negotiating a future relationship based on free trade and friendly co-operation with our European friends. “But the people of this country don’t just want us to sort out Brexit… this optimistic and ambitious Queen’s Speech sets us on a course to make all that happen, and more besides. The government says the Queen’s Speech will introduce measures to allow the UK to “seize the opportunities that Brexit presents”. – BBC News Investors told to expect £240bn Brexit deal dividend Investors in the UK’s stock market are expected to enjoy a £240bn “deal dividend” if Boris Johnson can seal a last-gasp Brexit agreement before the Oct 31 deadline. Stocks in London would rise 10pc and the pound would claw back 8pc against the dollar if a Brexit deal is reached, according to market stress tests conducted by data giant MSCI. Sterling and UK-exposed stocks skyrocketed into the weekend amid resurgent hopes of a breakthrough in talks between the UK and EU. The domestic-focused FTSE 250 index advanced more than 3pc while RBS and housebuilders saw gains of more than 10pc. Sterling gained as much as 2.8pc on Friday, pushing above $1.27 for the first time in three months. “Tactically UK stocks could become one of the best equity markets next year if we avoid an ugly global recession and the UK can kick-start growth again,” predicted Peter Garnry, head of equity strategy at Saxo Bank. – Sunday Telegraph (£) Jacob Rees-Mogg: My plea to Brexiteers – you must trust Boris Labour’s European policy has to be stated to be believed; the whole of sophistical thought has been drawn upon to develop it. Mr Corbyn wants a general election, which he will not vote for, to renegotiate a new and better EU treaty so that he may have a referendum when he will campaign against that which he has just renegotiated. The word bonkers comes to mind. In three months the Prime Minister has made extraordinary progress. The Withdrawal Agreement has been reopened, even though the EU said that was impossible, and a deal looks as if it may be reached without the undemocratic backstop. He has achieved this in spite of the Surrender Act prompted by Mr Hilary Benn, which seeks to kowtow to the imperial EU master in legislative form. Nonetheless, there is more to life than Brexit. The Queen’s Speech, which is written by the Prime Minister, will set out a domestic agenda to inspire the British. – Jacob Rees-Mogg MP for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Daniel Hannan: The Brexit row is turning us all into devils – and our MPs are mainly to blame “Don’t you have any regrets about Brexit, Hannan?” I am asked the question several times a day, usually by enraged Remainers who don’t expect an answer. But, for the record, yes I do. I regret the overheated, stagey anger that now infuses almost every political conversation. I regret the screaming demonstrators outside Parliament, the broken friendships, the foul language. I regret the way people search for traitors rather than for compromise. I regret that our age has descended into what Julien Benda in La Trahison des Clercs called “the political organisation of hatreds.” Above all, I regret the collateral damage to our institutions. Like most Leavers, I liked the idea of living in a full democracy, hiring and firing the people who passed our laws. When I argued that we should put our MPs back in charge, I had no idea how little they wanted the job. At this point, some Europhiles will be itching to interject. “Own your own mess, Hannan!” they will say. “This is your doing! You were the man who set up the Leave campaign, but you’re blaming other people!” Right, I’m blaming other people. Specifically, I’m blaming those politicians who swore blind that they would uphold the referendum result, and then went back on their words. I am blaming those who, right up to the 2017 election, solemnly promised to deliver Brexit, even as they were working with Brussels to frustrate it. If Brexit had happened but then turned sour, people would have every right to tell me to own my own mess. This mess, though, is the responsibility of those MPs who have wrecked the authority of our institutions and damaged the norms on which our democracy rests. – Daniel Hannan MEP for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Robert Tombs: Misguided Remainers do not understand European history Britain is a European country. Leaving the EU is cutting itself off from its historic nature. Brexit is isolating us, turning us in upon ourselves in pursuit of some crazy nostalgic fantasy. The EU is the world’s largest market, which we are mad to leave. So often does one hear these arguments that they must clearly convince many people. Rather than dismissing them, I would like to try, in a constructive spirit, to look at them seriously. Every notion of historical or geographical determinism that claims to tell us what we are or must be, is fundamentally undemocratic. It reminds me of the German historian Treitschke, who told the people of Alsace-Lorraine, seized by Germany from France in 1871, that even though they considered themselves French, history dictated they were really German, like it or not. Romantic Europhiles like to hark back to ancient Greece and adopt a quasi-nationalist view that Europa has some deep and continuing cultural identity of which the modern European Union is somehow an embodiment and Europe’s destiny. A glib answer would be that if such identity were real, the EU would not be experiencing so many conflicts. The truth is that Europe is very diverse. Its only historical claim to unity is as Christendom, but even that unity did not last beyond the 11th century. In its languages, cultures and mores it is hardly more a unity than Africa or Asia, and far less so than South America. Should one then turn the argument on its head? Is it precisely because Europe is so divided that it needs the EU? Without it, one often hears, we would go back to the 1930s or to 1914. But so remote from any imaginable reality is war between European democracies that justifying the EU as the force keeping them from each other’s throats is absurd. Even more extraordinary is the idea, espoused by Tony Blair among others, that if we withdraw from ‘Europe’, we might have to go back as in 1914 to stop future mayhem. – Robert Tombs for the Sunday Telegraph (£) Sunday Telegraph: So far so promising, as the crunch point approaches for Brexit talks From the moment Boris Johnson became Prime Minister, conventional wisdom among Remainers dictated that his tenure would end in disaster. The EU would never re-open Theresa May’s appalling deal, they predicted, so there was no point in even asking for a renegotiation. Mr Johnson would be laughed out of the chanceries of Europe, they said, because there was no other way of resolving the Irish border issue than by trapping the UK in the EU’s customs bloc and in just about every other part of its legal and technocratic order. And if Brexiteers didn’t like that, they had better face facts: leaving the EU in a sensible manner was all but technically and logically impossible. It was either leaving in name only, or Remain. How wrong the Remainers look now. Not only did the EU accept that the Withdrawal Agreement could be reopened, it has been locked in talks this weekend with UK negotiators over a revised deal that looks immeasurably better than anything proposed until now. Of course, these talks could yet collapse, but if speculation about their content is correct, the agreement Mr Johnson is aiming for could be substantially better even than the original Donald Tusk offer, let alone Mrs May’s catastrophic deal. The idea would be for Great Britain to exit the single market and the customs union, and to be able to diverge from all EU rules and regulations: a full, clean Brexit. There would be a compromise solution for Northern Ireland that would allow the province to take part in UK trade deals, be legally out of the customs union – while maintaining an open border with the Republic – alongside some form of ongoing democratic consent mechanism. This would be far better practically, legally and philosophically for unionists and Brexiteers than a Northern Ireland-only backstop. – Sunday Telegraph (£) editorial The Sun: Boris Johnson has stunned the Brexit-denying Remoaners by getting the UK close to a deal Boris Johnson has stunned the Brexit-denying Remoaners just by getting the UK this close to a deal. After a week of high-stakes political poker, he could be within touching distance of achieving what doomsayers preached was impossible. But even if BoJo can keep the Irish and the EU on board and get through Thursday’s crucial Brussels summit — a very tall order — he will still need to overcome the Brexit-blockers back home. Despite promises to honour the 2016 referendum, these deluded souls will fight to the end to prevent the UK leaving the EU, all with the connivance of rogue Speaker John Bercow. If the final deal works for all sides it would be an outrage if MPs tried to scupper it again on Saturday, Brexit’s D-Day in the House. It would be even more unforgivable if turncoat Tory rebels — who have already colluded with Remoaners to stop No Deal — sided with this anarchic rabble once again. Britain has endured three long years of dither and doubt, and such an outcome would sentence this country to yet more disastrous delay and division. We need to get Brexit done, then hold a general election to throw out this rotten Parliament. – The Sun says Tony Parsons: Extinction Rebellion ego warriors are an insult to the 17.4million Leave voters… but a mighty reckoning is coming For years now the largest vote for anything in our history has been spat on, sold out and stitched up by the democracy-denying elite. From the House of Commons to the Supreme Court to Broadcasting House, the dice have been loaded in favour of our Remain-backing establishment striving to abort Brexit. The refusal to accept the result of the EU Referendum is the most flagrant insult to our democracy that we have ever seen. And are there riots? Are angry mobs rampaging through the streets? Are there rivers of blood, broken glass and policemen with their trousers on fire? No! The 17,410,742 men and women who voted for Brexit have simply shrugged their shoulders and got on with their lives. And it is impossible to imagine Brexit supporters looning around London in the way that Extinction Rebellion eco-activists have over the past week. I doubt if even one of the 17.4million men and women who voted to leave the European Union all those years ago would be inclined to glue themselves to government offices, camp out in a tent in Whitehall or stage a mass breast-feeding event in Parliament Square. And not many Brexit supporters would fall to the ground weeping bitter tears while clutching a photograph of their children, as one especially sensitive Extinction Rebellion eco-warrior did this week, sobbing that he is, “a father of two children that’s very frightened for their future”. I couldn’t help thinking that he is lucky he doesn’t live in Syria. The grubby foot soldiers of Extinction Rebellion are shrill, hysterical hypocrites, puffed up with their own sense of middle-class entitlement, calling for policies that would usher in mass starvation even as they queue for their delicious Happy Meals. And the 17.4million patriots who voted for Brexit are none of these things. But do not mistake the silence of these people for surrender. Do not imagine they have not noted how democracy has been denied. And never doubt for a single second that a mighty reckoning is coming. And when it arrives it will be a very British reckoning. – Tony Parson for The Sun Dan Hodges: It’s the final reckoning: Back Boris Johnson now – or Brexit and the nation dies in a ditch ‘I’d rather be dead in a ditch than ask for a Brexit delay,’ Boris Johnson warned last month. And so this morning he finds himself staring into that ditch, hands tied behind his back, as Arlene Foster, Steve Baker and a small group of Labour and Tory MPs weigh up whether to despatch him beneath its cold, muddy waters. Brexit has had its share of do- or-die moments. But we really have now reached the reckoning point. Time is up. Either a deal is agreed this week, or the chances of securing one evaporate for good. There can be no more open-ended extensions. No frantic letter-writing to the chairman of the 1922 Committee. Those who want Britain to leave the European Union are out of options. They back the Prime Minister and his Thornton House pact, or Brexit dies. For the allies of Boris, there is no sugar-coating the nature of the choice they now have to make. The full details of Thursday’s agreement remain shrouded in mystery, but one thing is clear. It was Britain, not Ireland or the EU, that made the most significant concessions. Boris may not have blinked completely, but he was compelled to flutter his eyelashes at Leo Varadkar. If Boris’s deal is passed this week – first by Brussels, then by MPs in their historic Saturday session – it is over. In that instant our Brexit purgatory ends. And any party that tries to fight the subsequent Election on a platform of reopening this hellish Pandora’s Box, and returning us to the chaos and paralysis of the past three years, will find themselves run out of town and out of politics. – Dan Hodges for the Mail on Sunday Brexit in Brief Boris Johnson’s deal has come back from the dead — a truly remarkable turnaround – James Forsyth for The Sun Ten hurdles that Johnson must leap if a deal is agreed this week – Paul Goodman for ConservativeHome Did the ultra-tough message from No. 10’s Dominic Cummings push Irish PM to move on Brexit? – Salma Shah for The Sun Exposing the myth that our oldest living generation supports Brexit – David Barnett for the Independent John Redwood names two countries Boris Johnson should follow to ‘unlock’ Brexit impasse – Sunday Express Home Secretary Priti Patel’s migrant points plan will help boost Northern economy by tempting talent away from the capital – Mail on Sunday