a no-deal brexit, attempt to prevent a no—deal brexit, and there it is, or at least part of it. and effectively saying that if there isn't a deal, then brexit should be delayed until the end of january. so a three—month extension. what's the point of that, hilary benn? mrjohnson keeps saying, what's the point of further delay? we have had delays in the past, why another one? the principal purpose of the bill is to prevent a no—deal brexit on 31st of october, because the government does make your own assessment shows that would be the most damaging outcome for the country. we have seen with the lea ked country. we have seen with the leaked operation yellowhammer report what it would mean for problems with goods getting across the straits between dover and calais, the government has talked about potential shortages of medicine, food prices, farmers saying it would be devastating for them if there is a no—deal brexit. so that is the principal purpose of the bill. and i think i watch the prime minister's

marks on the steps of downing street a moment ago, and to try and claim that somehow mps would want to prevent all of those things from being inflicted on the country, for which incidentally he has no mandate, is somehow undermining his negotiations, is nonsense. the former prime minister for over two yea rs former prime minister for over two years said, no deal is better than a bad deal, that did not work then, why it should work now completely eludes me. and the other point is, are they really serious negotiations taking place? just last weekend, mrs merkel said, we are getting on for a third of the way through the 30 days that i gave to borisjohnson and the government has come forward with no proposals, indeed the prime minister spent the first month of the summit saying to the eu, do what i want, and he did not make any proposals to them about how those changes might work in detail. so it is the prime minister who has brought this on himself, but i also agree that we are going to have to find a way out

of this. now, mps backing the bill have different views, some would vote for a deal if it came back and the bill would allow the prime minister to negotiate a deal at the european council, and bring it back, but what it says is, if by the 19th of october, which is the day after the council finishes, he of october, which is the day after the councilfinishes, he has not got a bill and has not somehow persuaded the house of commons to agree to leave as no deal, he has to ask for a further extension. have you got the numbers to get this through? that will be seen on wednesday. i will simply say this that we have shown in the house of commons over the past few months, there is a majority of mps you know that no deal is not in the national interest and know what the damages. the government itself has admitted it. i can think of no occasion in my lifetime when a prime minister is the steps of downing street and advocated a policy which he was

would damage businesses, investment and jobs, notjust would damage businesses, investment and jobs, not just in would damage businesses, investment and jobs, notjust in the short—term. if he does succeed in taking a site without an agreement, heaven forbid, we will be stuck in yea rs of heaven forbid, we will be stuck in years of negotiations with the eu, prolonged uncertainty about what our trading relationships will be without biggest, nearest and most important trading partners so all the focus in the weeks leading up to 3ist the focus in the weeks leading up to 31st of october is thinking that we must —— prevent no deal from happening but he is... it will only be the beginning of a long and damaging time for the british economy and the communities that we represent. on your bill, if you do get it through the commons, people are saying mrjohnson could try and stop it in the lords, he could create more peers, get the lords to talk it out and even if it gets

passed by parliament, the government could ignore the legislation. what do you make of those suggestions? could ignore the legislation. what do you make of those suggestion57m course as a bill is going through parliament, members of the commons and lords are entitled to express their view. but if this bill gets through and gets royal assent, i find it absolutely extraordinary that the prime minister should say as he said on downing street steps a few months ago, under no circumstances will ask for a further extension. if the bill passes, it would require him by law to do that. either we have a prime minister who accepts the rule of law don't. i was very troubled by michael gove's a nswer to very troubled by michael gove's answer to the question asked by andrew marr yesterday where he was similarly put to him, will you abide by the abilities passed? we will have to wait and see what the bill says. that is not the right answer.

if the democratically elected parliament passes a law, government has an obligation and duty to abide by it because if that goes out the window, what really has happened to oui’ window, what really has happened to our parliamentary process? people will see yes, parliamentary democracy but what about the people's democracy? they voted in the referendum, they gave their verdict, 17.4 million people and is this a clash between popular democracy in the shape of a referendum against parliamentary democracy? the people indeed had their say but they did not vote for a no—deal brexit. it is really important this. there is no mandate in the referendum for a no—deal brexit. the leave said we will get ideal. this will not be a sudden ru ptu re ideal. this will not be a sudden rupture in our economic relationships, we would take this slowly and properly and seriously and geta slowly and properly and seriously and get a deal. bodiesjohnson himself said there would be no deal.

this was a couple of years ago because we will get a great deal, but it did not turn out like that. the problem with the referendum result is it did not address the question on what terms we leave. that is no mandate for no deal. the house of commons is locked. we cannot endlessly postpone this which is why i have come to the conclusion that the compromised way through, on the one hand to stop a no—deal brexit and on the other hand there are voices who say we should cancel the whole result which i do not think would be democratic, is to go back to the people and see we know you cannot have your sovereignty back and keep all that economic benefits, it was not too when it was argued by the leave candidates three yea rs argued by the leave candidates three years ago. if you want to leave, this is the deal which has been negotiated, vote for that and if you think we should remain, vote for

that. parliament is deadlocked and i think we will have to return to the british people and asked them to bring this to a conclusion and the sooner we do that, the better. thank you very much for your time, hilary benn. we will take you back to downing street now and my colleague christian fraser. thank you. welcome back here to downing street. there isa drinks back here to downing street. there is a drinks party ongoing in the downing street garden, conservative mps coming to terms with what they have heard from the prime minister in the last hour. he has been out here saying he was pleased with the progress he has made so far in the ghost stations but he did not want those efforts to chop the legs out from underneath the uk negotiating position. five weeks ago i spoke to

from the steps and said this government was not going to hang around, we would not wait until brexit de october the 315t to deliver on the priorities of the british people. i am proud to say that on wednesday the chancellor sajid javid will set out the most ambitious spending round for more thana ambitious spending round for more than a decade. i said i wanted to make your streets safer and that is why we are recruiting another 20,000 police officers. i said i wanted to improve your hospitals and reduce waiting times at your gp and so we are doing 20 hospital upgrades in addition to the 34 million more going into the nhs. i said i wanted every child in this country to have a superb education and that is why i announced last week we are levelling up announced last week we are levelling up funding across the country and spending much more next year in both primary and secondary schools. and

it is to push forward this agenda on these and many other projects that we need a queen's speech in october, while leaving due time to debate brexit and other matters. and that's become too that brexit deadline, i am encouraged by the progress we are making. in the last few weeks the chances of a deal had been rising i believe 50 reasons. they can see that we want to deal. they can see we have a clear vision for future relationship with the eu, something which has not always perhaps been the case and they can see we are utterly determined to strengthen our position by getting ready to come out regardless, what may. but if there's one thing which can hold us backin there's one thing which can hold us back in his talks, it is the sense in brussels that may find some way to cancel the referendum or that to model mps will vote with jeremy

corbyn for yet another pointless delay. —— that to model. i do not think they will, i hope they will not. but if they do, they will plainly chop the legs out from under the uk position and make any further negotiation absolutely impossible. and so icy to show our friends in brussels that we are united in purpose. mps should vote with the government against corbyn's pointless delay. i want everybody to know there are no circumstances in which i will ask brussels to delay, we are leading on the 315t of october, no ifs or buts, we will not acce pt october, no ifs or buts, we will not accept any attempt to go back on promises or scrub that referendum. armed and fortified with that conviction, i believed we will get

ideal at that crucial summit in october, ideal that parliament will certainly be evil to scrutinise. —— are deal. in the meantime, let us let our negotiators get on with their work without that sort of damocles over the next and without an election, i don't want an election, you don't want an election, you don't want an election, let us get on with the people's agenda, fighting crime, improving the nhs, this in schools, cutting the cost of living, unlocking talent and opportunity across the entire uk with infrastructure, education and technology. it is a massive agenda, let us come together and get it done and let as get brexit done on october the 315t. and let as get brexit done on october the 31st. -- let as get. bodiesjohnson october the 31st. -- let as get. bodies johnson speaking in october the 31st. -- let as get. bodiesjohnson speaking in the last

half—hour. the implied threat that if the rebels vote against him tomorrow, his preferred course of action was to leave it new deal. you might have heard the noisy protest at the gates of downing street while he was speaking, probably a few hundred protesters there. the cabinet meeting has broken up, liz truss has left downing street in the last few minutes. these are some shots over downing street, all of the conservatives have been invited to downing street with bodies johnson this evening. let us speak to our chief political correspondence, vicky young. all he has done today is spoke about tomorrow and taking control of the parliamentary agenda into a confidence vote in his government. yes, he's trying to put massive pressure on his own mps because his argument is the only way to get the eu to compromise and give a new

deal, new withdrawal agreement, eu to compromise and give a new deal, new withdrawalagreement, he thinks, is if the eu thinks he is serious in the country as it is about living with no deal. if mps change the law so that cannot happen, he thinks that removes any h he has. when he said, be in no doubt, i will not go and ask for a readily he cannot do that, he has said constantly we are leaving with or without a deal in october, he could not possibly go to the eu now, evenif could not possibly go to the eu now, even if the law said he did. so his options are to ignore the law and break the law, pretty unlikely, you resign and talk away, pretty unlikely, or he has a general election. if the law is changed on next few days, the bbc understands he will try to get an election on the 14th of october, which is a monday which is unusual. he hopes to

win and go to the eu council meeting and get some concession from the eu and get some concession from the eu and use the next few weeks to get ideal. meanwhile the opposition mps are pressing ahead with their plan. we have seen some news of what the intent to put forward to speaker tomorrow. what do we knew about them? this is a cross-party group, people like philip hammond, david gauke, the snp stephen gethins, hilary benn from labour. they are saying if there is no deal by 31st of october, the prime minister has to go to the eu and ask for readily, and extension of three months until the end of january. and extension of three months until the end ofjanuary. that and extension of three months until the end of january. that is what they want. —— and ask for a delay. it looks like they might have the numbers to go through but the pressure has been put on tory mps, if you do this and vote against your

government, you will be pitted out of the party so a lot to think about for those tory mps. —— you will be kicked out of the party. a lot of people have said they will not stand at the next election enemy, like ken clarke, but will the others be willing to sacrifice their careers? the chief whip will have to them that the numbers are there for the government to model. if you are in the position of borisjohnson and thinking how to be set forward on this election campaign, you almost need the vote tomorrow to see back knee for a true blue brexit or backless rainbow coalition who are opposed to me and my brexit but do not know what they want at the end of it? —— to say back knee.

not know what they want at the end of it? -- to say back knee. although they are united around this bill, they are united around this bill, they are united around this bill, they are not united about what should happen. hilary benn thinks there should be another referendum. others think they should stay in. they are not agreed around all that so that could be an advantage for borisjohnson. it so that could be an advantage for boris johnson. it has felt like so that could be an advantage for borisjohnson. it has felt like a general election campaign over the last few weeks, he has announced more spending for police, education and the nhs. he has been going around europe, it feels like preparation for the general election. tis not secrets the new parliament will try and do this, they knew by suspending parliaments, he has forced them to act earlier. there was mps thought they would have longer but they have to act now. they would have known that was coming soi now. they would have known that was coming so i think the last five weeks have been because they knew this was coming and they have been preparing for the general election, which they will go into if they can

get it but if they were to go into it, they will paintjeremy corbyn as someone who is against brexit. some will say that is great, you are on the rimane side. but it could allowed boris johnson the rimane side. but it could allowed borisjohnson to entice those brexit party supporting tories who have defected to come back and maybe take some seats of labour in the north of england. tory mps coming out from the junks when they have been talking to the prime minister this evening. —— from the drinks. labour have been pushing for two years for the general election, tony blair saying do not walk into the elephant trap this evening, it is not that easy forjeremy corbyn to say we will vote against? yes, it is worth bearing in mind you cannot just call elections as a prime minister, you need the backing of

two thirds of mps so he will need labour mps to vote for him. it is ha rd labour mps to vote for him. it is hard forjeremy corbyn as leader of the opposition, to get into power he needs a general election. he of course thinks he can win a general election. people have confidence in his own abilities. the polls are not good by to prove them wrong last time. he has said that people have to have a say in what happens in the coming weeks and this is an opportunity for them to have that. he would have to vote for it but there are some of his party who are very concerned because they think this could be a close election and what if he does not when boris johnson returns with a bigger majority, you could head towards no deal. or if you changes the date to after the brexit date, that would be extraordinary but the rules have been ripped up by everybody and nobody is going by the rule book so anything could happen. labour have a

very difficult few days because they have to try and the opposition on all of this and they are very divided at the moment about the general line —— about the general election. caroline lucas is very much pro—remain and she has said she wa nts a much pro—remain and she has said she wants a general election but once no deal taken off the table first. fascinating stuff, both sides trying to guess what the others are doing. tonight, all the telephones were renewed from mps before going into the meeting. thank you very much. those are the scenes outside downing street, some protesters still there and some mps are still in the drinks in the garden but we did not get an invite. i cannot think why, perhaps if you put your telephone away. let us if you put your telephone away. let us get the thoughts of professor of government at king's college. this suggestion from our political editor

that boris johnson suggestion from our political editor that borisjohnson would call a rapid general election on october the 14th if tory and opposition mps succeed in outlawing a new deal brexit in parliament this week, what do you make of that? that is the intended threat of what he's seeing which is remarkable because he is trying to reinstall a vote of confidence on specific issue that the fixed term turned really outlawed because it says a vote of confidence can only be a vote of confidence, it cannot be attached to anything else. that stopped to these anaemic her deal. if you go back to 1972, edward heath got us into europe in the first place by seeing two mps, if you do not vote for the bill, i will seek a bill, i dissolution. he got the second reading through by eight votes. borisjohnson is sent to his party, if you do not support my position