The New PM on Brexit

Boris Johnson is the UK’s new prime minister and will now begin the task of trying to deliver Brexit.

The former foreign secretary has pledged the UK will leave the EU on 31 October, “do or die”, accepting that a no-deal Brexit will happen if an agreement cannot be reached by then.

He has called the withdrawal agreement “dead” but says he will “take the bits that are serviceable and get them done” – such as guaranteeing the rights of 3.2 million EU citizens in the UK.

Mr Johnson is saying the Irish border can be dealt with after the UK leaves the EU, instead of as part of the withdrawal agreement. He has said there are “abundant, abundant technical fixes” to avoid checks at the border. He concedes there is “no single magic bullet” but points to a “wealth of solutions” instead. He has made regerences to Trusted Trader Schemes and Alternative Arrangements in his speeches outside N10 Downing Street and in the House of Commons this week.