|
1. Boris rejects Sturgeon’s referendum demand
Boris Johnson has written to Nicola Sturgeon rejecting her demand for the power to hold another Scottish independence referendum. He says she ‘made a personal promise that the 2014 independence referendum was a “once in a generation” vote,’ and with Scots having come down against independence, ‘the UK government will continue to uphold the democratic decision of the Scottish people and the promise that you made to them’. Sturgeon says the move means ‘support for independence will grow’ and she’ll set out her ‘response and next steps’ later this month.
2. Raab triggers Iran deal dispute mechanism
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the House of Commons that the UK, France and Germany have triggered the Iran nuclear deal’s dispute resolution mechanism in order to ‘reinforce the diplomatic track, not abandon it’ and to ‘press Iran to come back into full compliance’. (Here’s what that means in practice.) This morning Boris Johnson suggested that he might be willing to ‘work together to replace the JCPOA’
with a new deal negotiated by Donald Trump.
3. Boris: ‘epically likely’ that UK will get EU trade deal
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Boris Johnson said it is ‘epically likely’ and he is ‘very, very, very confident’ that the UK will get a trade deal with the EU by the end of the year.
4. Boris could crowdfund ‘Big Ben Brexit bongs’
Boris Johnson has said he is ‘working up a plan so people can bung a bob for a Big Ben bong’ on Brexit day because ‘that is expensive, so we’re looking at whether the public can fund it’. He added that it would cost £500,000 because, during refurbishment, ‘they seem to have taken the clapper away’.
5. Ireland to hold February election
Ireland will have a snap general election on 8 February, RTÉ reports. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who leads a minority government, says there is a ‘window of opportunity’ to hold the ballot in between Brexit and the start of trade talks between the UK and EU.
|
