UK can avoid euro but must accept free movement to rejoin EU, says former top Brexit negotiator – UK politics live

Good morning. Andy Burnham is back from the Commonwealth summit, but the Commons is on mini-recess until Tuesday, and there is not much in the political diary for today. But Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, will be holding a press conference, which means reporters will have the chance to ask him why his eve-of-poll “I don’t go with the consensus that Trump is going to get smashed” prediction turned out to be so wrong.

Another recent claim from Farage has been that, if the UK were to reapply to join the EU, it would have to sign up to the euro. This allegation was never taken particularly seriously by people who actually know how the EU works; while new members are theoretically obliged to sign up to the euro, six of the 27 current members do not use it, one has a formal opt-out (Denmark), and there is plenty of precedent to suggest the EU would easily accept a fudge giving the UK an opt-out.

This morning this has been confirmed by Michel Barnier, who was the lead negotiator for the EU during the Brexit process. In an interview with Cathy Newman for Sky News, he said it would be “perfectly possible to begin such a negotiation [on rejoining the EU] without any kind of obligation to take part in the euro”.

All EU new member states are legally required to join the euro area. However, Barnier said it would be “possible to negotiate a new relationship without this obligation”.

But the EU would not compromise on free movement, Barnier said:

But what is, and what remains unnegotiable, is the condition to join the single market. There is no negotiation possible. No possible negotiation on any kind of cherry-picking or the single market ‘a la carte’. The UK knows quite perfectly the condition to be part of and to rejoin the single market and the customs union.

10am: Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, and Sir Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, are questioned by the London assembly.

Noon: The Bank of England announces its decision on interest rates. They are expected to go up.

2pm: Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, holds a press conference with Danny Kruger, how is in charge of the party’s preparations for government.

I’m afraid we are no longer able to have comments open below the line every day on this blog. If you want to contact me, please email politics.live@theguardian.com. You can use this email to flag up corrections, comments for publication, questions or complaints.