UK envoy: Enforcing executive order on travel ban ‘very important’ in anti-graft war

Paul Arkwright, UK high commissioner to Nigeria, says the implementation of the executive order six is very important in the federal government’s fight against corruption.

On July 5, President Muhammadu Buhari signed the executive order to restrain owners of assets under probe from carrying out further transactions on such assets.

The president said the measure is to stop the suspected corrupt persons from using their proceeds to pervert justice.

Following a recent court judgement affirming the legality of the order, the president directed that some 50 Nigerians should be placed on watch list.

Garba Shehu, presidential spokesman, had said those affected will be restricted from leaving the country until the corruption cases against them are concluded.

In an interview with Channels, Arkwright said implementation of the order will help root out corruption in Nigeria.

“I’ve heard that this is an anti-corruption measure, it’s not for me to say who should or should not be on the list,” he was quoted as saying.

“But what I would say is that it’s very important in continuing this fight against corruption and rooting out corruption where it is happening.”

Two lawyers have appealed against the judgement upholding the order. - THECABLE

Buhari to migrants: Stay at home, Nigeria will be better

President Muhammadu Buhari has appealed to Nigerians taking the risky desert-Mediterranean route to Europe to stay at home as his administration is making efforts to make the country more live-able.

President Buhari spoke today, when he received the outgoing High Commissioner of the Republic of Namibia, Peingeondjabi Shipoh.

“We will do our best to make our country live-able again”, President Buhari said.

He said with Africa’s great potentials, there was no need for the illegal exodus to Europe, done at grave risk to lives and limbs.

According to him, the sheer desperation that makes Nigerian youths dare both the Sahara Desert and the Mediterranean Sea, all in the bid to take up menial jobs in Europe, is hurting the pride of the country.

He said there were vast opportunities for Nigeria and Namibia to cooperate in areas like agriculture and trade.

He also recalled the sacrifices made for the freedom of Namibia, particularly by the administrations of Generals Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo.

The outgoing High Commissioner, who spent four years and eleven months in Nigeria, said the country had become second home for him and his family.

“I enjoyed great support in carrying out my duties. I return home with absolute satisfaction that our two countries are more than ready for intra-African trade and exchange of state visits by the leaders. Our two countries have a lot in common, and Africa can only be developed by Africans themselves.”

Mr Shipoh wished Nigeria successful general elections in 2019.

President Muhammadu Buhari later assured Nigerians and international community that the forthcoming general elections in 2019 will be free and fair, saying it will usher the country into another clime of maturity, peace and unity.

President Buhari, who received Letters of Credence from four ambassadors at the State House, including the Ambassador of the Peoples’ Republic of Japan, Mr Yutaka Kikuta, said the country’s political and electoral institutions have continued to evolve in strength, skill and experience after each election.

“We are currently at the threshold of another general election and after five general elections in the country since 1999, we expect that the 2019 elections will be free and fair.

“The political system is good and if people work hard they will succeed,’’ the President said.

President Buhari also said the increase in number of political parties that will field candidates in 2019 elections indicates more democratic consciousness among Nigerians and willingness to serve the country.

Receiving Letter of Credence from the Ambassador of the Russian Federation, Alexey Shebarshin, the President noted that discussions on reviving the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, partnerships in agriculture and other bilateral interests in trade and economic development will be sustained, commending the country for always standing by Nigeria.

“We have opened discussions on the Ajaokuta Steel Complex, and we will continue,’’ President Buhari added.

The President told the Ambassador of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Richardo Guerra De Araujo, that the historical ties between both countries and the shared potentials for growth will be further explored, with strong emphasis on economic and social development.

He said the number of Nigerians in Brazil already provide a strong reason for deeper and richer discussions for both countries.

Receiving the Letter of Credence of the Ambassador of United Arab Emirates, Fahad Al Taffaq, President Buhari assured him that Nigeria remains committed to strengthening the bilateral relationship that has existed between both countries for many years.

The President said the courtesies extended to Nigerians in the United Arab Emirates was commendable, assuring the envoy that his administration will continue to strengthen business and trade relations between both countries.

In his remarks, the Ambassador of Japan said his country remained grateful for Nigeria’s concern and support during the flooding that devastated the country, promising to work hard to further enhance relations in technology, agriculture and trade.

The Ambassadors of Russia, Brazil and United Arab Emirates assured the president that they will work hard to ensure improved relations in key sectors of the economy, while wishing Nigeria the best in the forthcoming elections. - PM NEWS 

Ogbeni leave story and work !! Kayode Fayemi cries out, says Ekiti economy crashing

The newly inaugurated Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, has declared that the state was in an emergency situation with a huge debt of N120 billion.

Speaking during his inaugural speech in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, the governor said the state was currently battling with more than N120 billion debt piled up by the immediate past government of former Governor, Ayodele Fayose.

The former Minister of Solid Minerals consequently urged the Federal Government to assist in bailing the state out through the Economic Stabilisation Fund.
Urging investors and multi-national corporations to return to the state, Fayemi said, “We should join hands to resuscitate the ailing economy.’’

He said, “We are ready to work with everyone to create a landmark progress.

“We are committing to world best practices and deploy all skills to honestly work for the progress of the state.

“We will work to integrating the aspiration of the state to the programme of the federal government.’’

Fayemi insisted that the state would return to the fold of other states in the West to “fast track economic development.

“We will take full ownership of the challenges ahead of us,’’ he added. - Daily Post

Self-medicating with painkillers ‘could cause kidney failure’

Zumnan Gimba, a consultant in the University Teaching Hospital Jos (JUTH), says the abuse of painkiller, strong antibiotics and self-medication could cause kidney failure.

Gimba, a nephrologist, made this known in an interview with NAN in Jos.

Nephrology is a branch of medicine concerned with the study and treatment of diseases of the kidneys.

He said the indiscriminate intake of drugs such as painkillers and strong antibiotics could damage the kidney and eventually lead to kidney failure.

He warned people who indulged in such acts to desist from it, adding that such abuses were highly detrimental to health.

According to him, if diseases such as hypertension and diabetes are not properly managed, they can also lead to the damage of the kidney.

“People who are in a habit of taking excessive salt and certain herbal concoctions can induce damage to the kidney,’’ he said.

Gimba advised individuals with a family history of kidney diseases to ensure that they have regular kidney function tests as the disease could also be hereditary.

He also urged people to inculcate the habit of ensuring that they check their blood sugar level and blood pressure always.

“My advice to people is that they should ensure they eat healthy food and take only prescribed drugs as directed by medical expert,” he said. -THECABLESTYLE

Food prices push Nigeria’s inflation rate to 11.28%

The consumer price index, which measures inflation, stood at 11.28% in September from 11.28% recorded in August on a year-on-year basis, data from the National Bureau of Statistics have shown.

Going by the inflation report released by the bureau on Tuesday, this is the second consecutive month of inflation rise after 18 consecutive months of decline.

“On a month-on-month basis, the Headline index increased by 0.84 percent in September 2018, down by 0.21 percent points from the rate recorded in August 2018 (1.05) percent,” the report read.

“The urban inflation rate increased by 11.70 percent (year-on-year) in September 2018 from 11.67 percent recorded in August 2018, while the rural inflation rate increased by 10.92 percent in September 2018 from 10.84 percent in August 2018.

“On a month-on-month basis, the urban index rose by 0.86 percent in September 2018, down by 0.14 from 1.00 percent recorded in August, while the rural index also rose by 0.82 percent in September 2018, down by 0.14 percent from the rate recorded in August 2018 (0.96) percent.

“The composite food index rose by 13.31 percent in September 2018 compared to 13.16 percent in August 2018.”

However, the food sub-index was one percent in September compared to the 1.42% recorded in August 2018.

The food items that caused the increase in food inflation were caused by increases in the prices of potatoes, yam, vegetable, fruits, meat, milk, cheese, egg, bread, fish and cereals.

The farmer-herdsmen crisis and most recently, flooding in some parts of the country, have resulted in a drop in food production.

It was on the grounds of the farmer-herdsmen crisis that the World Bank cut its growth projection for Nigeria from 2.1% to 1.9%. - THECABLE

Ireland woos more Nigerians

No fewer than 500 young Nigerians are expected to be admitted into the different Irish educational institutions in the next academic session, Representative of Ireland Enterprise in Nigeria, Mrs Thessa Bagu, said on Monday.

She told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos many Irish universities and colleges were particularly interested in giving Nigerians quality education.

According to her, at a time when other countries are closing their doors to immigrants, the Irish government is ready to receive more of them.

“Let me say that when the entire world is sort of against immigration and closing their doors, the same time, Ireland is saying let us double visas for international students because we need more immigration.

“So, we want more Nigerians to know that studying in Ireland is a path to a better career that will also give the tools to work.

“We also want Nigerians to know that Ireland is one of the safest environment with the slogan “The warmest of welcomes” for international students,’’ she said.

Bagu said that the number of Nigerians studying in different Irish universities and colleges was gradually increasing.

She said that there were about 35000 international students currently studying in different Irish institutions.

Bagu expressed optimism that young Nigerians studying in Ireland would expose them to international employment opportunities.

She said that her organisation, which had since two years ago started promoting a Study in Ireland Education Fair, brought together potential Nigerian students in Abuja and Lagos on Oct. 4 and 6.

“These Nigerians had the opportunity of interacting directly with different representatives of Irish universities and colleges on how to secure scholarships, work visas and quality programmes,’’ she
said. - PM NEWS 

NYSC mobilization : Students lament ban on universities

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has banned Benue State University and the University of Agriculture, Makurdi, from sending their students for the mandatory one-year national service.

DAILY POST gathered that the scheme placed a two-year ban on both schools following an alleged discovery of negligence and evidence of age manipulation.

However, in reaction, the Vice Chancellor of the Benue State University, Professor Moses Kembe, during a meeting with the Scheme pleaded for leniency.

Kembe had in the meeting which ended in a deadlock, maintained that the university management was not involved in age manipulation. He explained that the age limits were manipulated by the students themselves.

Kembe’s appeal was not taken as NYSC believes the only available option is to punish the universities allegedly involved in the act.

Findings by DAILY POST on Monday showed that graduates of the affected Universities were denied access to the NYSC registration portal.

One of the affected graduates, Issac Mbanefo, while calling on the scheme to lift the ban and punish only the culprits involved, told our correspondent that it was wrong for the NYSC to victimize innocent students for an offence committed by a few.

He said, ”How do you correct an offence by placing a ban on innocent students? What do you want them to do at home for two years? In a country where you cannot get a decent job without NYSC, do you expect our parents to continue feeding us?”

Another graduate, identified as Matthew Eboh said, ”Sometimes, I feel NYSC does not understand the plight of the common Nigerian. How logical is it to place a ban that will affect innocent students for two years? Why don’t they ban the suspected students instead of the whole school? I doubt if they thought of this decision.”

Also one Martha Prosper said, ”The ban is not right, some innocent ones might be above service age when the ban is suspended. NYSC should make their findings and punish the culprits alone.”

Below are some other comments DAILY POST gathered on the issue from Facebook.

Stephen Shasu, ”The NYSC is further exposing itself to ridicule with such a hasty and ill-informed decision. Someone or persons were responsible for that action and those to be affected by the ban were certainly unaware of the abnormality.”

Ter Lawrence, ”Its laziness on the part of the NYSC, it is their responsibility to verify age and probably investigate cases of falsification. Generalisation is not a good measure as innocent persons will definitely be the majority of those affected, especially considering the ages of most undergraduates.”

Ben Pever, ”On the NYSC Ban on BSU, the NYSC should limit its punishment to only the culprits. Why are they punishing the innocent majority for the offence of a few? The innocent students who are affected should not just keep quiet. Approach the courts for judicial review. Petition the National Assembly. The action of the NYSC Management is unacceptable and ought to be challenged.”

Vitalis Alabi, ”I never believed this news but if it happens that the news is true, then how can they punish the innocent students; forgery is an offence against the law; so if some students forged their age in order to go for NYSC, they should be arrested and prosecuted in the law court and if the authority is aware but didn’t fish out those responsible, they should also be arrested and prosecuted for abetting crime instead of punishing the whole students.”

Okworo sunnybase: I think this is political, they want to intimidate us in Benue, it is because of the anti-grazing law but we are not afraid. I think NANS should wade into this because NYSC have 101 ways of curbing any form of fraudulent practice and not punish everybody for one man’s sin.”

Ogwuba Onche: ”This is not the best measure. If anyone is caught let the person face the penalty instead of tying others down. In fact, Nigeria has a long way to go with this kind of funny law.” -DAILY POST

Saudi Arabia preparing to say Journalist was killed during interrogation gone wrong

The Saudi government is preparing to say that the death of prominent journalist Jamal Khashoggi was the result of an interrogation by Saudi operatives that went wrong, two sources close to the Saudi kingdom tell CBS News. Khashoggi vanished after entering a Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, igniting a global firestorm over the circumstances of his disappearance.

Saudi officials are expected to claim that the mission was initiated to interrogate Khashoggi, a frequent critic of the government, not to kill him. 

The admission would mark a departure from the kingdom's repeated insistence that it had no knowledge of what happened to Khashoggi, who was picking up paperwork needed to marry his fiancée. CNN first reported that the Saudis were planning to admit Khashoggi died in the consulate.

As recently as Monday morning, Saudi leaders were still not admitting any wrongdoing. President Trump tweeted Monday morning that he had spoken by phone with King Salman of Saudi Arabia and that the king "denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened" to Khashoggi. Speaking to reporters later in the morning, Mr. Trump suggested Khashoggi may have been murdered by "rogue killers" operating outside the authority of the Saudi government.

The Saudis also initially claimed Khashoggi left the consulate on his own accord. Surveillance footage from cameras surrounding the consulate showed Khashoggi entering the complex but did not show him leaving.

The Turkish government believes Khashoggi was killed and dismembered inside the consulate, and his body removed in suitcases or boxes. Turkish officials have also said they have audio and video recordings of Khashoggi's interrogation.

Turkish officials have said that two private planes carrying 15 Saudi operatives flew to Turkey and the men were seen arriving at the consulate shortly before Khashoggi entered the compound. Surveillance footage showed two vehicles leaving several hours after Khashoggi arrived. The New York Times reported that a top forensic and autopsy expert was among those who traveled to Turkey.

On Monday, a team of Saudi and Turkish investigators entered the consulate in Istanbul to inspect the diplomatic compound. Saudi King Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by phone on Sunday and agreed to cooperate in the investigation.

International pressure on the Saudi government has been steadily increasing since Khashoggi's disappearance. Lawmakers in Washington have warned of sanctions against the Saudi leadership and said arms deals with the kingdom could be terminated. Saudi Arabia is the largest purchaser of U.S. weapons, accounting for nearly one-fifth of U.S. global arms sales.

Khashoggi had been one of the most prominent critics of the Saudi government under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He left the country last year and was living in self-imposed exile in Washington, where he used his platform as a contributor to the Washington Post to question the Crown Prince's stated commitment to reforms. - CBS NEWS 

Republic of rob them make I rob you ! Two men in court for allegedly defrauding Osun lawmaker of N38m

Two men, Olakunle Muhammed, 41, and Rasheed Bakare, 55, on Tuesday appeared in an Osogbo Chief Magistrates’ Court for allegedly defrauding an Osun lawmaker, Timothy Owoeye to the tune of N38 million.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the accused are facing a three-count of conspiracy, theft, and fraud.

The prosecuting counsel, Mr Moses Faremi, told the court that the two accused committed the offences between April and July at Oluajo area, Osogbo.

Faremi said the defendants conspired to defraud one Timothy Owoeye of N38 million, under the pretence of organising a special prayer to avert a revelation concerning death.

He said the offence contravened Sections 516, 418 punishable under sections 419 383(1) and 390(9) of the Criminal Code cap 34 vol.11 laws of Osun, 2002.

The defendants, however, pleaded not guilty to the crime, while the defense counsel, Mr Ajibade Shittu, urged the court to grant his clients bail in the most liberal and affordable terms.

The prosecutor, however, prayed the court to reject the bail application by the defence counsel but the Magistrate, Mr Olusegun Ayilara, overruled, saying the offence was bailable.

The magistrate, therefore, granted the defendants bail in the sum of N1 million each and two sureties in the like sum.

Ayilara said the sureties must reside within the court’s jurisdiction with evidence of tax payment and three passport-sized photographs, attached with an affidavit of means.

He also said that one of the sureties must be a civil servant on grade level 12 while the other should be a close relation of the accused with land as a property and adjourned the case till Nov. 9 for hearing.- Daily Post

The epic Facebook hack could affect you well beyond Facebook

“Two-factor authentication” is a reassuring phrase. Setting it up feels like installing a brand-new, heavy-duty deadbolt on your door. Until you realize that there is a single building that stores the working keys for millions of deadbolts, paired with your name and address, and that that place is guarded by people who don’t understand locks very well.

That is basically the realization millions of Facebook users are having (or should be) as the result of the company’s latest massive security breach. In an Oct. 12 post cryptically and unhelpfully titled “An Update on the Security Issue,” Guy Rosen, Facebook’s VP of product management, wrote that for “15 million people, attackers accessed two sets of information—name and contact details (phone number, email, or both, depending on what people had on their profiles).”

That effectively compromises two-factor authentication for all of those users, not just on Facebook, but on any service that allows only text messages as the second form of authentication. 

Security freaks have long been telling us not to rely on text messages for two-factor authentication. It might seem safe—your phone is Face ID’d, or has a long password, or an especially elaborate gesture thingy. But the technology that causes a text to get to you in the first place is not itself secure.

As Wired wrote in 2016, “Attacks on political activists in Iran, Russia, and even here in the US have shown that determined hackers can sometimes hijack the SMS messages meant to keep you safe.” Last year, security researchers at Positive Technologies made a video in which they easily intercept SMS messages and gain access to the Gmail and Coinbase accounts of a hypothetical target, using just their name and phone number.

For the 15 million people mentioned, any service they are registered with that uses text messaging for two-factor authentication effectively has been reduced back to one factor—the bad old password. And that is the case for many services. Only days ago did Instagram, which is owned by Facebook, move away from using only text messages for 2FA.

The Facebook hackers would have at least the names and phone numbers or emails for those 15 million. But they have a lot more, too. The post continues:

For 14 million people, the attackers accessed the same two sets of information [as in name, number and/or email], as well as other details people had on their profiles. This included username, gender, locale/language, relationship status, religion, hometown, self-reported current city, birthdate, device types used to access Facebook, education, work, the last 10 places they checked into or were tagged in, website, people or Pages they follow, and the 15 most recent searches.

 That has the makings of an epic phishing expedition. It might even be enough to answer other, more personal forms of authentication, like the “only you know the answer” security questions banks often use.

Facebook compromising text-based SMS is made even worse by the fact that, as was recently revealed, it allowed advertisers to target users based on their phone numbers, even if they had only shared those numbers with Facebook for the purpose of… setting up two-factor authentication.

It’s no wonder that, after that came to light, CEO Mark Zuckerberg couldn’t really answer when asked whether users should still trust his company. - QUARTZ

Boko Haram: What Hauwa Leman’s death proves about Buhari’s govt – Donald Duke

Donald Duke, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, has condemned the killing of Hauwa Leman, an aide worker with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

DAILY POST reports that Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction of Boko Haram after threats to federal government, executed Hauwa Leman, an aide worker with the ICRC on Monday.

The terrorists, however, promised to keep Leah Sharibu, one of the Dapchi schoolgirls who is still being held captive in their custody.

Reacting, Duke in a post on his Twitter page described the death of Hauwa as an indictment on Buhari’s government over its inability to secure lives of Nigerians.

According to him, the war against Boko Haram has cost more lives than the Biafra war.

He wrote: “The execution of Hauwa Liman by Boko Haram is an indictment on our government’s inability to ensure the safety and security of it’s citizens.

“Yet, our government says it is winning the war on Boko Haram. A war that has gone on longer, cost more in expense and lives lost than the Biafran war. Pitiful!” - Daily Post

Journalist appeals for financial assistance to treat wife’s breast cancer

A Benin-based journalist, Mr. Lucky Ighomuaye, has appealed to well-meaning Nigerians for financial assistance to enable him treat his wife, Mrs. Benedicta Ighomuaye, who is suffering from breast cancer.

Ighomuaye, who hails from Delta but resides in Benin, said his wife had successfully undergone surgery and Chemotherapy sessions at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH).

He further disclosed that their​ doctor said to avoid further spread, his wife needed to repeat the process due to some complications and it will require about N1 million for another round of complete chemotherapy.

“I have spent all my savings on the previous exercise. I appeal to the Edo State government and other well-meaning Nigerians to come to my assistance to enable me give her the needed treatments,” he said.

Donations to Lucky Ighomuaye should be made to his account at Heritage Bank, number 5000434689, and could be reached through this telephone number 08058002402. - PM News 

Emefiele: More national assets will be privatised

Godwin Emefiele, governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), says more state-owned enterprises will be privatised.

The governor made this known to journalists at a press conference to mark the end of the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, in Bali, Indonesia.

Udoma Udo Udoma, minister for budget and national planning, Zainab Ahmed, minister for finance and Mary Uduk, acting director general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), also gave feedback from the various meetings they attended.

“As you all know, CBN is the majority shareholder in mint and it was thought fit that being the majority shareholder and given that mint is an important national asset, that Bureau of Public enterprises should divest from mint and that is why that happened,” Emefiele said on Sunday.

“On this issue of whether more and more of this will be coming, I am aware as a member of the national council on privatisation that more are coming and I believe in due course the BPE will make this available for us.

“I’m also aware that ASCON is also in the cart for a total review of the process of privatization so that our aluminium sector can eventually come to live.” - TheCable

UK PM faces frantic 48 hours to save Brexit plan as talks stall

Theresa May faces a frantic 48 hours to try to save her Brexit negotiating strategy after she admitted talks had ground to a halt because of the EU’s insistence upon a Northern Ireland-only backstop.

The prime minister is expected to plead with EU leaders to drop their Irish backstop proposal at a make-or-break summit dinner on Wednesday night after seeking the support of members of her cabinet on Tuesday morning.

With time running out before Wednesday’s meeting, May used an emergency Commons statement to say the EU’s plan “threatens the integrity of our United Kingdom” because it could lead to the creation of a customs border in the Irish Sea.

She told an audience of largely sceptical MPs that the EU had stuck to its backstop proposal because Michel Barnier’s negotiating team had told her there was not time to evaluate a British UK-wide counter-proposal “in the next few weeks”.

The prime minister was due to speak to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Monday night as she tries to lobby EU leaders to change their minds. May has already also spoken to the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, in recent days, according to No 10.

A group of eight Brexiter ministers met on Monday night at a meeting dubbed the “pizza summit”, organised by Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the house, to discuss May’s strategy before Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, amid separate concerns from the Tory right that May’s all-UK backstop plan needed to be clearly time limited.

The strength of the turnout - including the Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, and the environment secretary, Michael Gove - is likely to concern Downing Street. They are understood to have aired concerns about May’s negotiating strategy, although one of those present said no strategy for the cabinet meeting was agreed.

Friends of another one of those attending, Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, said she was remaining loyal to the prime minister for now. Others present included the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, the attorney general, Geoffrey Cox, and the chief secretary to the Treasury, Liz Truss.

EU leaders acknowledged that the Brexit talks had hit a roadblock, although some insisted the problems could still be overcome. Donald Tusk, the EU council president, said a no-deal scenario was “more likely than ever before”.

Merkel said: “We were actually pretty hopeful that we would manage to seal an exit agreement … at the moment, it looks a bit more difficult again”. Speaking to the German Foreign Trade Federation, she said a breakthrough was still possible but would need “quite a bit of finesse and if we aren’t successful this week, we’ll just have to keep negotiating”.

The cautiously optimistic tone was further echoed by Macron, who had demanded “maximum progress” by the time of this week’s leaders’ summit to allow an extraordinary Brexit summit to be called in mid-November. “I believe in our collective intelligence, so I think we can make progress,” he said.

A backstop is required to ensure that there is no hard border in Ireland if a comprehensive free trade deal cannot be signed before the end of 2020. The EU plan would mean that Northern Ireland would remain in the single market and the customs union, prompting fierce objections from Tory hard Brexiters and the Democratic Unionist party, which props up her government.

That prompted May to propose a country-wide alternative in which the whole UK would remain in the parts of the customs union after Brexit, but she admitted in the Commons that, despite months of talks, her counter-proposal had not been accepted.

“The EU still requires a ‘backstop to the backstop’ – effectively an insurance policy for the insurance policy. And they want this to be the Northern Ireland-only solution that they had previously proposed,” May told MPs on Monday.

Raising the stakes, the prime minister insisted that the EU’s insistence amounted to a threat to the constitution of the UK: “We have been clear that we cannot agree to anything that threatens the integrity of our United Kingdom,” she added.

The prime minister insisted that she was demanding of the EU that the UK backstop was time limited: “I need to be able to look the British people in the eye and say this backstop is a temporary solution.”

May had gone to the Commons to clarify the status of the Brexit negotiations a day after a deal had been thought to be close. The Brexit secretary, Dominic Raab, was dispatched to Brussels on Sunday afternoon, only to return empty-handed with No 10 warning that the talks had reached an impasse.

Few MPs in the Commons spoke in support of May. Tory Brexiters, led by former cabinet ministers Iain Duncan Smith, repeatedly pressed her to confirm there would be a specific end date for the temporary backstop plans.

The prime minister avoided answering the question, telling MPs: “I continue to believe that we should be working to ensure that the backstop never does come into place.”

Simon Clarke, the Conservative Brexiter MP for Middlesbrough South, told her she had “failed to reassure the house”.

The prime minister also came under pressure from the remain wing of her party. The former home secretary Amber Rudd urged her to deliver a Brexit that also worked for the 48% who voted to remain and the former education secretary Nicky Morgan warned may there was no majority for no deal in the Commons and that MPs would have to “step in” if she failed to get one.

May highlighted a concession she had already made on the EU withdrawal bill, telling MPs: “If it were the case that at the end of the negotiation process actually it as a no deal … then that would come back to this house and then we would see what position this house would take in the circumstances”.

About 15 MPs, including four Conservatives, used the debate to urge May to reconsider holding a second referendum. Former cabinet minister Dominic Grieve, who has led previous rebellions against the prime minister’s plans, said he would not back the transition period, which he described as a “condition of vassalage”, unless there was another vote.

Nigel Dodds, the DUP’s Westminster leader, pressed May to reiterate the UK would leave the EU “together with no part hived off either in the single market or customs union differences”.

Dodds was visibly unhappy with May’s answer, shaking his head when she replied in general terms: “We will be leaving the European Union together.”

Jeremy Corbyn urged May to “put the country before her party” and stand up to the “reckless voices” on the Tory benches. “It is clear that the prime minister’s failure to stand up to the warring factions of her own side have led to this impasse.” - The Guardian  UK