Boris Johnson rejects Gove's claim government now assuming no deal Brexit most likely outcome – live news

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Boris Johnson’s first visit to Scotland as prime ministerPM drops investigation into MP who manhandled protester Dominic Raab’s Today interview – Summary and analysisDowning Street lobby briefing – Summary 2.59pm BST Here are some more lines from what Boris Johnson said when he spoke to reporters at Faslane in Scotland.Look, my approach is to be very outward-going. I don’t want the UK to be aloof or hanging back. I want us to engage, to hold out the hand, to go the extra mile, the extra thousand miles.An what we want to do is to make it absolutely clear that the backstop is no good, it’s deal, it has got to go. The withdrawal agreement is dead, it’s got to go. But there is scope to do a new deal.In our approach to the negotiations we are not going to be aloof, we are not going to be stand-offish, we’re are not going to wait for our friends to come to us. We are going to reach out, we are going to engage and we’re going to ask for obviously very, very profound changes to the current basis for leaving the EU. The present withdrawal agreement is dead, the backstop must go, but once the backstop goes then it might be possible for progress to be made.The funny thing is for the last three years it hasn’t really been at all clear that that was the position of the UK government. There’s no point in coming out of the EU if you’re going to end up being run by the EU. And that was the result of the backstop. So I think to a large extent Brussels was a bit baffled by what the UK position really was. There was no clear decision. 2.23pm BST Imagine that you are the CEO of a large company. You need to make decisions about the possible impact of a no deal Brexit, but quite what you do will depend on your judgment about how likely such an outcome is.It would help to have some clarity from government.While we are optimistic about the future, we are realistic about the need to plan for every eventuality. The EU’s leaders have, so far, said they will not change their approach — it’s the unreformed withdrawal agreement, take it or leave it.We still hope they will change their minds, but we must operate on the assumption that they will not. The prime minister has been crystal clear that means we must prepare to leave the EU without a deal on October 31, and I fully support this approach.No, absolutely not. My assumption is that we can get a new deal, we’re aiming for a new deal. But, of course, Michael is absolutely right that it’s responsible for any government to prepare for a no deal if we absolutely have to. I think it is absolutely right that we should go for a deal, and there is every chance that we can get a deal. And I think with goodwill and with common sense, that is what we will achieve.Provided there is sufficient goodwill and common sense on the part of our partners, that is exactly where I would put the odds. Continue reading…
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