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1. Boris adds ‘no extension’ clause to Brexit bill
Boris Johnson will add a clause to his Brexit bill to rule out any extension to the transition period, so if a trade deal with the EU is not agreed by the end of 2020 then the UK would leave without a deal. Michael Gove told the BBC that both the UK and the EU have ‘committed themselves to making sure that we have a deal’ by the end of 2020 and that ‘deadlines concentrate minds’. Shadow Brexit secretary Keir Starmer says the proposed clause is ‘typical of the reckless and irresponsible behaviour we have come to expect from Boris Johnson’s government’.
2. Boris: ‘You ain’t seen nothing yet folks’
Boris Johnson told cabinet members this morning that even though his first few months as PM was a ‘frenetic time’, they ‘ain’t seen nothing yet folks’ (a maxim of Ronald Reagan’s) as they must ‘work flat out’ to ‘repay the trust’ of voters.
3. Corbyn to meet Labour MPs amid election backlash
Jeremy Corbyn will address his MPs for the first time since the election at a meeting of the Parliamentary Labour Party later today. One MP has told the Guardian the meeting will be ‘awful’ for the Labour leader as he faces colleagues angry about the election result.
4. IFS: Conservatives ‘rather blasé’ about austerity cuts
IFS Director Paul Johnson has said the Tories have become ‘rather blasé’ about the impact of public spending cuts and ‘they need to be much more alert to the potential negative consequences of the levels of funding in public services they’re proposing’. Johnson added that the Tories can’t ‘pretend that you can have Swedish levels of public services with American levels of tax’ as it would ‘destroy… the credibility of the whole system’.
5. Unemployment at lowest level for 44 years
Against expectations that the unemployment rate would rise to 3.9 per cent, it remained at 3.8 per cent (a 44-year low) in the quarter ending in October, figures published by the ONS today show.
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