Brexit: Boris Johnson’s government reels from Amber Rudd’s resignation – live news | Politics

Q: Would Labour support a caretaker prime minster other than Jeremy Corbyn?

It has to be Jeremy, McDonnell said. He claimed Corbyn could unite the opposition and ruled out Labour backing any other caretaker prime minister.

McDonnell confirms that Labour’s commitment to a second referendum and that he would campaign to remain even against a deal to leave the EU negotiated by a future government.

“No deal would be an absolute disaster,” McDonnell said. And he pointed out that Labour’s last manifesto made it clear the party was against leaving the EU without a deal.

McDonnell said all parties had differences on the EU. He said it was better to be honest about those differences, in the same way had Harold Wilson had done in the 1970s with his divided cabinet over Europe.

The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, is up next on the Andrew Marr show.

On Labour’s decision to plan to vote against an early election, McDonnell confirmed that Labour’s priority was to prevent a no-deal Brexit. He said Labour was putting the country before party.

All the indications we’ve had from the EU was that it would grant an extension if the UK asked, McDonnell said. “I believe they would allow that extension” McDonnell said but he stopped short of saying the EU had guaranteed an extension.

Q: were you wrong to join Johnson’s cabinet?

She said she agreed with his strategy but had been undermined by what’s happened since.

Q: will the government ignore the new bill to seek a Brexit extension?

Any government must obey the law, Rudd said. And she predicted it would obey the law.

Rudd revealed she had asked for the legal advice given to the government on its decision to prorogue parliament, but she never got it.

The cabinet were only told of prorogation on the morning it happened. “There is not enough effort going into the cabinet on decision making,” she said.

“The tone of ‘the people against parliament’, is wrong,” Rudd said in a dig against Johnson’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings. She said it was for politicians to calm the nation, not stoke up divisions.

Amber Rudd said she was disappointed by the lack of proposals put to the EU for a new deal by Johnson’s government.

When she asked for evidence of progress she was only given a one-page summary, she told Andrew Marr.

She said she was not accusing the Johnson government of lying about progress on the talks. We should be doing so much more to get a deal, she said. “There is no evidence of a deal.”

The expulsion of the 21 rebels was a symbol that the government rejects moderates, Rudd said. She repeatedly tried to persuade Johnson against the expulsions.

The foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has defended the expulsion of the 21 rebel Tories who voted for the anti-no-deal bill. They made the decision knowing it was a confidence issue, he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge.

Raab said he was sad about the resignation of Rudd but the real “vandalism” was the prospect of ignoring the referendum result. He added: “It’s been a rough week … but the PM is sticking to his guns.”

On Rudd’s concerns about the lack of progress on getting a deal with the EU, he said it was “just not true”. There have been intensive negotiations, Raab claimed.

He refused to give details about any UK proposals put to the EU on alternatives to the Irish backstop. He said the government was reluctant to set out the details in case they leaked.

Welcome to a special Sunday edition of Politics Live following the resignation of Amber Rudd from the government and the Conservative whip.

In a devastating resignation letter, she accused the prime minister of “an assault on decency and democracy” and “an act of political vandalism” for sacking 21 of her Tory colleagues for backing a parliamentary bill to stop a no-deal Brexit.