One of Boris Johnson’s ambitions for 2020, apparently, is to turn Brexit into a story for the business pages and not the front pages (assuming he fails in his reported ambition to get people to stop using the word altogether). You might think some of the Brexiters have concluded that the whole process hasn’t been quite the triumph that some of them were predicting in 2016. But it would be surprising if the UK-EU trade negotiating taking place this year does not end up being a front page story and, although that negotiation is not starting today, there will be an important landmark in the process when Boris Johnson holds his first meeting with the new president of the European commission, the former German defence minister Ursula von der Leyen. They will meet in Downing Street this afternoon, a few hours after Von der Leyen delivers a lecture on the UK-EU relationship at the LSE.
According to Downing Street, Johnson will tell Von der Leyen that he is firmly committed to wrapping up the negotiation this year (which many experts think is unrealistic), that he is firmly opposed to extending the post-Brexit transition period and that the new deal will not be based on “alignment” with EU rules. In a statement last night Downing Street said:
At the leaders’ first face to face meeting since Von der Leyen took office in December, the prime minister is expected to stress the importance of agreeing a confident and positive future relationship by the end of December 2020.
He is expected to tell President Von der Leyen that, having waited for over three years to get Brexit done, both British and EU citizens rightly expect negotiations on an ambitious free trade agreement (FTA) to conclude on time. There will be no extension to the implementation period, which will end in December 2020 as set out in the political declaration. The withdrawal agreement bill enshrines this in UK law.
The prime minister will likely underline that the upcoming negotiations will be based on an ambitious FTA, not on alignment.
As my colleague Jennifer Rankin reports, Von der Leyen is expected to tell Johnson that this might not be as beneficial for the UK as he thinks.
Jennifer Rankin
(@JenniferMerode)Ursula von der Leyen meeting Boris Johnson today. This is *not* to launch trade talks. UK has not left yet and EU has no mandate.
VDL (at LSE and No10) likely to stress Brexit has consequences. EU officials still concerned Johnson has not abandoned ‘cake and eat it’ approach.
Von der Leyen and Johnson will not be holding a press conference, and so it is not clear quite how much we will learn about what gets said at their meeting, but I will be covering everything that does emerge in full.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Candidates for the Labour party deputy leadership take part in a private hustings for Labour MPs in the Commons.
10am: MPs start voting in a ballot to elect two deputy Speakers. These two posts are both for Conservative MPs, and there are five candidates.
11.15am: Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, gives a speech at the LSE in London entitled “Old Friends, New Beginnings: building another future for the EU-UK partnership.”
12pm: Boris Johnson faces Jeremy Corbyn at PMQs.
After 12.30pm: MPs resume their debate on the EU (withdrawal agreement) bill.
3.30pm: Von der Leyen meets Johnson in Downing Street.
The Iran crisis is likely to come up at PMQs, and of course I will be covering what gets said there, but generally I will be leaving coverage of developments in this story to our separate live blog, which you can read here.
As usual, I will be covering breaking political news as it happens, as well as bringing you the best reaction, comment and analysis from the web. I plan to post a summary when I wrap up.
You can read all the latest Guardian politics articles here. Here is the Politico Europe roundup of this morning’s political news. And here is the PoliticsHome list of today’s top 10 must-reads.
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