The Department has received a number of requests to further extend the public consultation periods on reshaping stroke and breast assessment care.

Labour demands minister ‘sets the record straight’ over Boris Johnson’s misleading Brexit claims

Keir Starmer has written to the Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay
calling on him to “set the record straight” in Parliament later today
over Boris Johnson’s misleading Brexit claims. The letter comes ahead of
Brexit questions in the House of Commons this morning.

Notes to editors

A copy of Keir Starmer’s letter is below:

Rt Hon Steve Barclay MP

Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union

9 Downing Street

London, SW1A 2AG

27 June 2019

Dear Steve

The next Prime Minister will inherit the biggest political crisis
this country has faced in recent history. The Government’s Brexit deal
has been rejected three times, the negotiations are at an impasse and
there are now only four months to go until the October deadline.

If we are to break the deadlock the next Prime Minister will need to
have a credible plan and be honest with the British public about the
difficult choices ahead.

However, over recent days, Boris Johnson, who you are supporting in
the Tory leadership contest, has made a number of misleading claims
about the Withdrawal Agreement and about what can be achieved in the
negotiations before October:

• That the UK can rely on GATT 24 to deliver tariff free trade in the event of no deal. “There
  will be no tariffs, there will be no quotas because what we want to do
  is to get a standstill in our current arrangements under GATT 24, or
  whatever it happens to be, until such a time as we have negotiated the

[free trade agreement]

.”ⁱ

• That the UK can cherry pick the Withdrawal Agreement. “You
  disaggregate the elements of the otherwise defunct Withdrawal
  Agreement… You reserve the payment of the £39 billion… That is in the
  context of the Free Trade Agreement, that we’ll negotiate in the
  implementation period, after we’ve come out on Oct 31st”. ⁱⁱ

• That there are existing technological solutions to the Northern Ireland border. “There
  are abundant, abundant technical fixes that can be introduced to make
  sure that you don’t have to have checks at the border.” ⁱⁱⁱ

• That Parliament would support a no deal. “I do [believe I can get no deal through Parliament] … I think Parliament now understands.” ^iv

• That we can have a standstill transition without a withdrawal agreement. “I
  think that the way to come out is with a standstill between the UK and
  the EU so that we keep going with the existing arrangements until such
  time as we’ve completed our free trade agreement and we use that period
  to solve the questions of the Northern Irish border. I think we can do
  that.”^v

You will know as well as I do that these claims are not based in reality.

As Secretary of State and a supporter of Boris Johnson’s campaign,
you have an opportunity – and I believe a duty – to set the record
straight and present an honest assessment of the difficult choices
facing the next Prime Minister. I’m writing to ask that you do this at
this morning’s Brexit questions in the House of Commons.

If these claims are not corrected, then I believe the next
administration will repeat the mistakes of its predecessor, with false
promises, empty rhetoric and unrealistic red lines.

I look forward to your reply in the Commons later today.

Yours sincerely,

Keir Starmer QC MP

Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union

[i]

BBC News, Gatt 24: Would obscure trade rule help with no-deal Brexit? 24 June 2019

[ii]

PoliticsHome, Cabinet ministers tear into Boris Johnson’s plan for no-deal Brexit, 23 June 2019

[iii]

BBC News, In full: Boris Johnson interview with BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, 24 June 2019

[iv]

BBC News, In full: Boris Johnson interview with BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, 24 June 2019

[v]

Talk Radio, Boris Johnson – the talkRADIO interview, 25 June 2019

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Kristian Bailey has had his sentence increased following the Solicitor General’s Unduly Lenient Sentence referral.

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