PM calls on EU to engage but leaked document suggests it has refuted his plans in detail

This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

Downing Street has sought to deflect the blame for the Brexit impasse on to Britain’s EU counterparts, as Boris Johnson’s plans continued to meet a frosty reception.

After the French president, Emmanuel Macron, set a deadline of Friday for progress towards a deal, the prime minister’s official No 10 spokesman repeatedly said Johnson was still waiting for the EU27 to engage with Britain’s plan.

“We are ready to have discussions at pace. For that to happen, the EU needs to engage fully with the proposals we have put forward,” the spokesman said. “The PM believes that we have set out a fair and sensible compromise, and we are now looking to the EU to match the compromises that the UK has made.”

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But a leaked EU document suggests it has already made a detailed point-by-point rebuttal of Johnson’s offer and EU sources scoffed at the idea that it was down to it to make compromises.

Despite the tight deadline before next week’s European council summit, Johnson currently has no plans to visit EU leaders for face-to-face talks. The spokesman said: “There isn’t anything in the diary at present.”

Meanwhile, Downing Street continued to insist the UK would leave the EU on 31 October, despite government lawyers having conceded in court that Johnson would have to comply with the Benn act.

That legislation, drawn up by a cross-party group of backbenchers, obliges the government to write a letter to the EU27 requesting an extension to article 50, and to accept that extension, if parliament has not agreed to a Brexit deal before 19 October.

Play Video 1:06 Boris Johnson claims EU has not explained why it objects to his Brexit plan – video

“We want to secure a deal, because it’s in the best interests of the UK and the EU to work together to reach that agreement – but without one, we will be leaving on 31 October,” Johnson’s spokesman said.

Asked how that could be the case, given the requirements set out in the Benn law, and underlined in the Scottish legal case, he added: “The manner in which this policy is lawfully achieved is a matter for the government.”

The government is expected to publish fresh details of its no-deal preparations on Tuesday, including the tariffs that will be applied on EU goods. However, a planned announcement about the state aid regime has been delayed, as ministers continue to wrangle about the details.

Cross-party talks about how to ensure Johnson complies with the Benn law ended without agreement once again on Monday, as Labour continued to insist that Jeremy Corbyn should lead any caretaker government.

Corbyn has offered to table a motion of no confidence in Johnson’s government, and to step in as a short-term prime minister, for the few days Labour said it would take to request a Brexit delay, and call a general election.

However, the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, claimed Corbyn would be unlikely to secure a majority, because of the objections of Conservative rebels and former Labour MPs such as John Woodcock.

Woodcock claimed on Monday that Corbyn could do more damage to national security in “a few short weeks” than Kim Philby did in years as a Russian spy.

A growing list of alternative candidates for temporary prime minister has been suggested, from Ken Clarke to Ed Miliband.

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Swinson said the caretaker prime minister could be anyone who “commands the confidence of the House of Commons.” She added: “Jeremy Corbyn doesn’t have the numbers to command a majority and until he accepts that fact he could end up being the biggest block to stopping a no-deal Brexit.”

A Labour-led effort to use an emergency debate in parliament to secure the release of the full legal text of the government’s proposals also foundered, with Conservative rebels reluctant to support anything that could be seen as undermining Johnson’s negotiating position.

A gleeful government source referred to the cross-party group as the “rabble alliance”.

Johnson was asked about the state of the Brexit negotiations while visiting a hospital on Monday. He said the government had made a significant compromise in agreeing that Northern Ireland should remain aligned to EU rules for goods and agriculture – subject to agreement by Stormont – and again called for the EU to make clear its objections to his plans.