3 hours ago

... Boris Johnson had to ask the EU for an extension to the UK's 31 October exit date after MPs backed a move to delay approval of the deal on Saturday.

But Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he was confident enough MPs would back the deal next week, and Brexit would still happen by the deadline.

Labour, however, has said it will back moves to put the deal to a referendum.

No 10 said the PM sent "Parliament's letter" to Brussels - unsigned - and accompanied it with a second letter - which was signed - explaining why he believed a delay would be a mistake ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-50115151

Rowena Mason Deputy political editor
Sun 20 Oct 2019 16.08 EDT
Last modified on Sun 20 Oct 2019 16.27 EDT

Boris Johnson’s hopes of winning a clear majority for his Brexit plan faced a new threat on Sunday night as Labour declared that it would seek the backing of rebel Tories and the DUP for amendments that would force him to drop the deal – or accept a softer Brexit.

As both sides sought to gather parliamentary support after Saturday’s vote to force Johnson to seek a new delay to the UK’s departure from the European Union, Sir Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, said Labour was prepared to talk to the prime minister’s former allies in the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) about forging a better deal ...

Johnson is planning to try to rush through all stages of the Brexit legislation this week, with parliament sitting through late nights and some of the weekend, before an EU summit pencilled in for early next week.

However, opposition and Tory MPs may reject the rushed timetable for the legislation in a vote on Tuesday, and some believe there is enough cross-party support for a customs union amendment and giving parliament a say over extending the transitional period ...

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/20/labour-seeks-new-alliance-to-kill-off-boris-johnsons-brexit-deal

12:14 PM ET
David Frum

The British people have changed their mind about Brexit. Beginning in the summer of 2017, and accelerating in the summer of 2018 by an ever wider margin, British people have told pollsters that they voted wrong in the Brexit referendum of June 2016.

Over that same period, however, Britain’s Conservative Party has become more and more committed to Brexit. Sixty-three percent of Conservative Party supporters would rather see Scotland secede from the United Kingdom than abandon the Brexit project. Sixty-one percent of Conservatives would accept significant damage to the British economy to achieve Brexit. Fifty-nine percent would let Northern Ireland go. Fifty-four percent would rather see the Conservative Party itself destroyed than yield on Brexit.

So there’s the dilemma for Prime Minister Boris Johnson. His party is demanding something that the country does not want. He cannot pass that “something” through Parliament. Johnson has lost his working majority in Parliament; he has not won a single vote on a single major issue there. But despite solid parliamentary opposition to his project, Johnson cannot give up. His party would tear him apart as it tore apart his predecessors Theresa May and David Cameron if he did. He must push, push, push, and suffer defeat after defeat after defeat. In any previous period of British history, the Johnson government would already have fallen. An election would have been called, and — given the unpopularity of the government’s one big idea—the Conservatives would almost certainly have lost ...

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/can-brexit-survive-second-referendum/600382/

PUBLISHED SUN, OCT 20 20194:09 AM EDT
UPDATED SUN, OCT 20 20195:52 AM EDT
Matt Clinch

... Johnson grudgingly asked for an extension to the deadline late on Saturday night, but EU leaders don’t necessarily have to accept it. Some have ruled out giving Britain more time, piling pressure on U.K. lawmakers to accept the current deal. But it’s unlikely they would want a no-deal scenario and the potential economic hit it could mean for both sides of the English Channel.

Brussels could offer a technical extension of a few weeks in the hope of passing the agreement they recently thrashed out with Johnson. Or they could accept what Johnson was obliged to ask for on Saturday night and push the date back to January 31, opening the door to a U.K. general election — which itself could lead to a renegotiation or a second referendum.

They could also push it out until June 2020 when the next cycle of EU budgets begins, but this is seen as unlikely with the Brexit fatigue that has set in across the whole of Europe.

EU leaders are expected to take their time with a response, but it could come as early as Monday ...

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/20/brexit-vote-postponed-heres-what-could-happen-now.html

Zamira Rahim
1 hour ago

More than 200,000 people have signed a letter within the past 48 hours demanding a Final Say referendum on Brexit.

The letter, organised by People’s Vote and The Independent, calls on officials in the UK and European Union to do all they can to allow the British public to confirm whether any final deal put forward by Boris Johnson is indeed the “will of the people”.

The groundswell of support for the petition comes after a reported one million people marched on parliament on Saturday – during what was a crunch day for the prime minister’s plan to take the UK out of the bloc ...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-second-referendum-campaign-boris-johnson-letter-final-say-peoples-vote-a9164196.html

By MIKE CORDER
yesterday

LONDON (AP) — A sea of protesters was across the street from Parliament when word arrived that lawmakers in the House of Commons had forced another delay in Britain’s protracted Brexit battle.

Parliament Square, awash in European Union flags, erupted in cheers.

“Fantastic news,” said Paul Craddy, who had traveled from Bristol in western England to join hundreds of thousands of people in a march calling for a “people’s vote” on Brexit.

“We need another vote, we need another say now we know what the facts are,” the 38-year-old consultant said ...

https://www.apnews.com/551167ea91ff4745841a202910c7ef1e

The British Government has insisted the country will leave the European Union on October 31 despite a letter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson was forced by Parliament to send to the bloc requesting a Brexit delay ...

Mr Johnson's defeat in the British Parliament over the sequencing of the ratification of his deal exposed the Prime Minister to a law passed by those opposed to a no-deal departure, demanding he request a delay until January 31.

Mr Johnson sent the request note as required, but unsigned, and added another signed letter arguing against what he cast as a deeply corrosive delay.

One of his most senior ministers said Britain would still leave the bloc on October 31 ...

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-21/johnson-insists-brexit-will-go-ahead/11621782

He sent an unsigned letter requesting a delay on behalf of the government. He then sent a letter saying why a delay should not be granted.