Wednesday’s front pages look ahead to Boris Johnson’s Brexit plan, as he prepares to send it to the EU. …
By BBC NewsStaff
Image caption Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make his “first and final” Brexit offer to the EU on Wednesday, the Metro reports. The paper says Mr Johnson will tell Brussels talks will stop if the deal is rejected. And at the Conservative Party conference, which is entering its final day, the PM is due to make a speech where he is expected to reveal more details about his Brexit plan. Image caption The Daily Telegraph says it has got hold of some of the details in Mr Johnson’s Brexit offer to the EU. They include a “two borders for four years” plan, which would see Northern Ireland stay partly in the single market until 2025. The plan would mean a “regulatory border” in the Irish Sea and customs union checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic. It is likely to be met with “intense opposition” from the Irish government, the paper adds. Image caption The Sun leads on an interview with PM Mr Johnson who has said he has just 10 days to reach a Brexit deal with Brussels, since 11 October is the day the agenda will be set for the EU summit when leaders would vote on any deal. The paper also says Mr Johnson did not rule out accepting a time limit to the backstop and Downing Street is planning to suspend Parliament next week, but just for three days to prepare for a Queen’s Speech. Image caption Wednesday’s Guardian also leads on Mr Johnson’s Brexit “threat” to the EU, ahead of a “high-stakes fortnight”. No 10 said the PM’s plan – dubbed a “fair and reasonable compromise – was drawn up after 70 hours of talks with EU countries. The paper quotes a senior Downing Street official as saying the government will either be negotiating a deal or working on no-deal – but “nobody will work on delay”. Image caption According to the i newspaper, the prime minister has asked Brussels for complete secrecy over the Brexit negotiations. The paper says UK negotiators want both sides to “enter the tunnel” – meaning a period when both parties do not speak to the media. Conservative Party chairman James Cleverly told the newspaper that the final proposals for the plan have not even been shared with most ministers. Image caption The Daily Mail also reports on Mr Johnson’s “dramatic final Brexit offer”. It quotes a government source as saying: “Officials have made it clear that if Brussels does not engage with this offer, then this government will not negotiate further until we have left the EU”. Image caption Also leading on Mr Johnson’s Brexit plan, the Daily Express looks ahead to his keynote speech at the Tory Party conference on Wednesday afternoon. The PM is expected to hit out at “forces in this country” who are trying to stop Brexit, the paper adds, and say voters are fed up of “being taken for fools”. Image caption The Daily Mirror reports from day three of the Conservative Party conference on Tuesday, describing events there as a “horror show”. It highlights comments from leader Boris Johnson, who has denied a claim he squeezed a journalist’s thigh in 1997 but said he did not remember the lunch where it is alleged to have happened. Meanwhile, MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown was kicked out of Tory conference following a clash, after which he apologised “unreservedly”. And the paper reports on comments from MP Desmond Swayne who described blackface as an “acceptable bit of fun”. Image caption Wednesday’s Times leads on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are suing the Mail on Sunday over a claim that it unlawfully published one of her private letters. The paper calls it an “unprecedented attack on the tabloid press”, with Prince Harry accusing the media of a “ruthless campaign against his wife”. The Times reports the duke is understood to have written the statement personally without the help of any of his staff. Image caption The Daily Star reports on the news that popular bakery chain Greggs is stockpiling pork so that production of its sausage rolls is guaranteed in the event of a no-deal Brexit. “Snack is saved,” the Star reports, saying as well as pork it is hoarding “other key ingredients”. Image caption The Financial Times leads on the protests in Hong Kong, after police shot an 18-year-old protester in the chest “at point blank-range”. The incident came on “one of the most violent days in the wave of protests”, and also on 70th anniversary of Communist rule in China, the paper reports. It says FT journalists also witnessed another protester being “beaten unconscious” by police.
