Sign up here to receive the daily news briefing in your inbox every morning with exclusive insight from the BrexitCentral team Boris Johnson ‘should seek Brexit deal changes’ if he wants DUP support, says Arlene Foster Boris Johnson should again seek to re-negotiate the Brexit deal if he wants DUP support, Arlene Foster has said. The DUP leader told the party’s conference that the DUP had sent the PM to the “naughty step in Parliament” twice in the last week. The DUP has twice voted against the government on crucial Brexit votes recently, because of its opposition to Mr Johnson’s Brexit strategy. The party said it would not support the NI arrangements negotiated by the PM. This is because it “creates a border in the Irish Sea”. The DUP leader told Saturday’s annual conference she would encourage the PM to seek further changes to the deal. “We will not give support to the government when we believe they are fundamentally wrong,” she said. Boris Johnson does not have a Conservative majority in Parliament and the DUP’s votes hold the balance of power on key decisions in the Commons. – BBC News > WATCH: Arlene Foster criticises Boris Johnson for dividing the Union Lib Dems offer Johnson route to December election… Boris Johnson has been offered a route to securing the pre-Christmas election that he has been seeking, through a plan that would only require the support of a simple majority of MPs. With most Labour MPs still against the idea of a snap election, the prime minister looks set to lose his bid to secure a December poll on Monday in a vote that requires the backing of two-thirds of MPs. Other parties are also opposing an election until the EU has granted a three-month Brexit delay, although the DUP hinted on Saturday it could back the move. However, in a sign that the coalition opposed to an election is under strain, the Liberal Democrats have drawn up a plan allowing Johnson to secure a December poll with a simple majority of MPs, with the support of Jo Swinson’s party and the SNP. Under the one-page Lib Dem bill, the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act would be amended to state that the next election would take place on 9 December, three days earlier than under Johnson’s plans. It states that the new election date would be cancelled should the EU fail to grant a three-month Brexit extension. – Observer …as Tories surge to 16-point lead over Labour in new poll The Conservative Party has seen a surge in support over the past week, according to a poll that gives the party a 16-point lead over Labour. The poll, carried out by Opinium Research from Wednesday to Friday, showed support for the Conservatives had reached 40%, while the Labour Party commanded 24%. This is a 3% increase for the Tories on the same poll conducted a week earlier, while the Labour result is unchanged. The Liberal Democrats had 15% support in the most recent survey, while Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party had 10%. – Sky News Tories deny plan to compromise workers’ rights after Brexit The government has denied it has misled parliament and that it is seeking to tear up provisions for workers’ rights after Brexit. The business minister Kwasi Kwarteng admitted on Saturday that it would be very difficult for Britain to leave the European Union next week, but he dismissed reports employees’ rights would be slashed after Brexit as “way exaggerated”. He said it was for the EU to decide whether the UK was granted an extension, with deliberations in Brussels continuing into the weekend after Boris Johnson grudgingly requested a delay to Brexit. Fresh scepticism over the agenda of Johnson’s government is likely to impact ongoing EU27 discussions after the Financial Times reported that the prime minister was willing to consider diverging from EU standards on the environment and workers’ rights. But Kwarteng dismissed the report and said it was completely inaccurate. “I think this is completely mad, actually,” he told the BBC. “You’ve said how we built a coalition – 19 Labour MPs have come with us and voted for a second reading [of the withdrawal agreement bill]. It wouldn’t make any sense at all to dilute workers’ rights in building that coalition to land the bill. “We have said we will be better than our word. We have said our ambition on securing workers’ rights will be stronger than the provision of the bill.” – Observer Business Minister blames Speaker for making October Brexit ‘very difficult’… A senior Government minister admitted it was “very difficult” for Britain to leave the European Union in five days’ time. Business Minister Kwasi Kwarteng blamed Speaker John Bercow for giving “unprecedented” powers to opposition MPs, allowing them the opportunity to pass the Benn Act, which demanded Brexit be delayed if a deal had not been ratified by October 19. The Prime Minister last week complied with the stipulations of the law by sending a letter to Brussels requesting an extension. “I think it will be very difficult to leave on October 31 precisely because of the Benn Act, the surrender act, which essentially gave authority to the EU about whether we will leave on October 31 or not,” Mr Kwarteng told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “It looks like they may well give us an extension.” – Belfast Telegraph …as Remainers plot to elect Harriet Harman Speaker as a John Bercow Mark Two Unless he rats again, by this time next week John Bercow’s ignominious tenure as Commons Speaker will be over. But Tories should be wary of celebrating too much for fear of finding something worse. I hear there is a plot afoot among Remainers and Labour to put Harriet Harman in the chair as the ‘continuity Bercow candidate’ – someone willing to tear up the rules to keep Boris Johnson and Brexit on the rack. Most Conservative MPs are backing chummy Labour man Lindsay Hoyle or feisty Tory Brexiteer Eleanor Laing but worried whips have detected a growing movement toward the PC-brigade’s beloved ‘Harperson’ among Remainer Tory rebels and older women on the Government benches. Hoyle’s supporters are confident he has the numbers, but were Labour to swing behind Harman en-masse, she could clinch the post. – Mail on Sunday Corbyn needs to be brave and tell Leavers they are wrong, says Sadiq Khan Sadiq Khan said it is time for Jeremy Corbyn to be “braver” and start telling Leave voters they are “wrong” on Brexit. The London Mayor was an early advocate for a fresh referendum, a position now backed by his party’s leader. Yet there are frustrations with Labour’s attempts to appeal to both Remain and Leave voters, with critics voicing concern that the on-the-fence stance is losing them votes on both sides of the Brexit debate. Remainers in the party had wanted Labour to ditch talk of supporting even a Labour-negotiated Brexit deal and come out in favour of staying in the European Union. Mr Khan, in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, said it was time for Mr Corbyn to “provide leadership” on the issue and stop trying to be “all things to all people”. He said, having seen the terms of Boris Johnson’s deal and analysis of a no-deal exit, that “all forms of Brexit are worse than remaining in the EU”. A Remain stance would likely assist the former minister in his bid for re-election next year, given Londoners voted overwhelmingly to remain in Europe during the 2016 referendum. “I’d like the Labour Party to be braver and provide leadership on this issue,” said Mr Khan, who will be vying for a second term at City Hall in May. – Belfast Telegraph Labour council accused of ‘electioneering’ after spending £27,000 on pro-EU banners A Labour-run council campaigning for a second Brexit referendum has spent £27,000 on an advertising campaign describing the local authority as “proud members of the EU”. Hammersmith & Fulham council, in west London, which has said it will do “everything in its power” to trumpet the benefits of the UK remaining in the EU, erected banners around the borough resembling the bloc’s flag. The council said the campaign was intended to encourage EU citizens to register for settled status so they can remain in the country after Brexit. But some residents have accused the local authority of “misspending” taxpayers’ funds, and even “electioneering” ahead of a possible general election or second referendum. Greg Hands, the MP for Chelsea and Fulham, and a former Conservative Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: “I ran the Remain campaign In Fulham in 2016, and I was disappointed that not a single Labour councillor joined me in the campaign. – Sunday Telegraph (£) Gibraltar wants a Peer in the House of Lords to replace its MEPs after Brexit Gibraltar could be given a peer in the House of Lords, opening the door for other British Overseas Territories to follow suit, after the ruling coalition won a third term in office having pledged to seek representation in Westminster. Fabian Picardo, the chief minister of Gibraltar who was elected to another four years in office earlier this month, told The Daily Telegraph: “Having some representation at Westminster, perhaps even in the upper house, I think would be an important way of having the voice of the people of Gibraltar heard in London directly.” The Telegraph understands that the UK Government is open to a dialogue if Gibraltar makes any proposals. The small British territory on the southern tip of Spain currently has no representation in Parliament but shares six MEPs in the European Parliament with the South West region. – Sunday Telegraph (£) Tony Blair calls for new law to block no-deal Brexit after Tory minister admits it will ‘always’ be option Tony Blair is urging MPs to pass a fresh law to prevent a no-deal Brexit, after a government minister admitted the option will “always” be on the table. Kwasi Kwarteng’s comments were “a revelation” that made it essential Boris Johnson did not succeed in triggering a pre-Christmas general election, the former prime minister said. They exposed the real risk of the UK crashing out of the EU at the end of 2020 – the planned end of the transition period – if the Brexit deal is passed in its current form, he argued. “Kwasi Kwarteng’s words are a revelation that no deal is still a real possibility in the negotiation over Britain’s future relationship with Europe,” Mr Blair warned. Suspicions that a no deal at the end of 2020 remains the aim of hardline Tory MPs were first prompted when one said it was their reason for backing Mr Johnson’s deal. – Independent Speed limit reduced on M275 in preparation for no-deal Brexit Speed limits are to be introduced on the motorway approach to a cross-Channel port to prevent delays in the case of a no-deal Brexit at the end of October. The contingency arrangements will see speed limits cut from 60mph to 40mph on the M275 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, from Monday October 28 as part of plans to avoid congestion at Portsmouth International Port. Similar measures were introduced in March ahead of the previous proposed date for the UK to leave the European Union but were later reversed after an extension to membership was granted. A Portsmouth City Council spokesman said: “The Hampshire Local Resilience Forum (LRF) has been preparing for a reasonable worst-case scenario in the event of a no-deal, with a particular focus on any potential traffic congestion at Portsmouth International Port arising from a change to customs requirements. “With the possibility of the UK leaving the EU without a deal next week, and the latest national planning assumptions suggesting that up to 70% of HGVs would not be ‘border ready’ on day one of a no-deal, the contingency arrangements are now being implemented.” – Belfast Telegraph Karren Brady: Forget Halloween — remaining in this Brexit limbo is the scariest prospect Well, here we are on the eve of Halloween week. Is anyone else as unsurprised as I am about the fact that we still haven’t managed to leave the EU by the latest deadline that was set? Just when it looked like finally there was some progress on Tuesday — when the Commons voted for Boris’s new deal — Parliament, with Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party’s encouragement, voted (again!) for delayand, even worse, handed over control of what happens next to the other EU member states. Corbyn has also been stalling on agreeing to a general election — saying Boris must assure Westminster there would be no chance of No Deal. He doesn’t want Brexit, he doesn’t want a general election. He has caused untold damage to the country, destroyed any chance of an orderly exit from the EU and now won’t even let the British people have a say in an election. – Baroness Brady for The Sun Carole Malone: Wilful treachery of Remainers show no deal will ever be good enough After this week’s debacle in the Commons when our idiot MPs voted for Boris’s Brexit deal – and then voted to delay it – there is now only one choice. It’s Boris’s deal or an election. The wilful treachery of our remainer politicians, who have used every constitutional trick in the book to subvert the will of 17.4 million people because they disagreed with it, have made it clear there’s no deal that will ever be good enough. they want to stay in the EU. So, we have a parliament that refuses to do its moral and constitutional duty which means it has to go. – Carole Malone for the Sunday Express The Sun: Boris Johnson is right – Jeremy Corbyn is holding the country to ransom and causing real damage Boris Johnson is right to warn that this rotting Parliament is holding Britain hostage. The PM points out that the paralysis is causing real damage as people and businesses cannot plan for their futures. The rabble blocking a deal and a general election are condemning millions to further months of economic uncertainty. It is even more shocking when you realise that cack-handed Jeremy Corbyn has demanded an election on 35 occasions since the last one was held in 2017. His squabbling party has also called for a national vote no fewer than 50 times in the past two months alone. But Corbyn and his Marxist clowns are disgracefully ready to turn tail tomorrow just because it suits their narrow political interests. All the signs are that Boris’s bid for a new deal and a new Parliament this year will be defeated. Corbyn may be running scared of the ballot box. But the voters will not forget this treachery. – The Sun says Liam Fox: Only the Conservatives can defeat Labour’s ‘dither and duplicity’ on Brexit Not only does the current House of Commons refuse to implement its side of the referendum contract, but it refuses to allow the public to elect another one. Those who promised their voters in their 2017 manifestoes to make Brexit a reality now employ every means possible to avoid facing the same voters. They will not allow government to function and they will not move over. It is the zombie parliament, the political equivalent of the Walking Dead. Boris Johnson is absolutely right to seek a new general election in the circumstances. We need a government that will both see the Brexit process through and set out a bold and imaginative agenda for Britain’s future at home and abroad. Only the Conservatives can do this. Ever since the referendum, Labour has been a model of obfuscation, dither and downright duplicity on Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn has tried to be a remainer in the south and a leaver in the north. In the end he has satisfied neither. – Liam Fox MP for the Telegraph (£) Brexit in Brief EU pays for MEPs’ plastic surgery and anti-ageing treatments in bonkers expenses policy – Sunday Express ‘Time border’ on island of Ireland if EU clock‑watchers get their way – Sunday Times (£) Leave-backing Labour MP Kate Hoey refuses to rule out plans to defect to Brexit Party – Sunday Express Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tells Boris Johnson: You’re pouring petrol on divided Britain – Sunday Times (£)