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Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, presented the EU with a proposed withdrawal agreement. It entailed Northern Ireland remaining for a large part in the EU single market, along with Ireland, until January 2025, with the European Court retaining jurisdiction during that time. After that, the Northern Ireland Assembly would be able to choose whether to remain in the single market. In the meantime, there would be a border with Great Britain in the Irish Sea and, with none of the United Kingdom in the customs union, another, invisible border with Ireland, with checks made away from the border on goods in transit. Dominic Cummings said: ‘If they reject our offer, that’s it.’ Eighteen Scottish pine martens were released in the Forest of Dean.
Parliament refused to allow a recess for the Conservative party conference. It went ahead, in Manchester, with Sajid Javid, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, saying that the minimum wage would rise to £10.50 by 2024, from £8.21 now. Robert Buckland, the Justice Secretary, said that automatic release of violent or sexual offenders halfway through their sentences would be replaced by a requirement to serve two-thirds. Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, announced a new team in the British Transport Police to tackle ‘county lines’ drug gangs. About 726 homeless people (sleeping rough or using shelters and hostels) died in 2018, a rise of 22 per cent from 2017; of an estimated 294 deaths related to drugs, 99 cases involved heroin or morphine. The John Lewis Partnership set out to save £100 million a year by cutting 75 senior management jobs out of 225, as it merged operations with Waitrose. Dave Lewis resigned after five years as chief executive of Tesco.
House prices in September stood at only 0.2
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