Brexit: Boris Johnson planning official events to mark departure from EU, No 10 suggests

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is hoping to stage a ‘celebration’ in Parliament Square on 31 January

Boris Johnson is planning official events to mark the UK’s departure from the European Union on 31 January, Downing Street has indicated.

The prime minister’s official spokesperson said that details of Mr Johnson’s plans for Brexit Day would be announced “shortly”.

But he declined to say whether Mr Johnson will give the government’s support to a parliamentary move by Brexit hardliners to require Big Ben to be sounded at 11pm on Brexit Day as the UK’s membership lapses.

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage is planning to throw a £100,000 “celebration” party in Parliament Square on the night of EU withdrawal, with fireworks, bands and speakers.

Mr Farage told The Daily Telegraph the event would be an “upbeat, optimistic, genuine celebration with no direct political edge whatsoever”.

Richard Tice, the Brexit Party chairman, said he hoped tickets for the event would be “extraordinarily affordable, almost zero”.

Asked about Mr Johnson’s intentions for the evening, the prime minister’s spokesperson told a regular media briefing in Downing Street: “In terms of our departure on 31 January, we will set out our plans shortly.

“It’s clearly a significant moment in our country’s history, but we will set all of our plans out shortly.”

The spokesperson also indicated that trade talks with the US will begin as soon as the 31 January date of Brexit has passed, and will not be delayed until the conclusion of a free trade agreement with the EU, which both sides say they hope to complete by the end of 2020.

“Once we have left the EU on 31 January, we will be free to hold trade discussions with countries across the world and not just focus on discussing the future partnership with the EU,” said the spokesperson.

A group of Brexit-backing MPs, including Tories Mark Francois, Nigel Evans, Sir David Amess, Laurence Robertson, Andrew Rosindell and Henry Smith as well as the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson, has tabled an amendment to the EU withdrawal agreement bill to require Big Ben to chime on Brexit Day.

Farage is planning a £100,000 ‘celebration’ in Parliament Square (Reuters)

The totemic parliamentary clock is currently silent during renovations to the Elizabeth Tower, and is sounded only for key national events such as Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve.

Mr Johnson’s spokesperson said the prime minister would not indicate the government’s position on any amendments to the bill until speaker Lindsay Hoyle has announced which will be debated as the legislation completes its final stages in the Commons over the next three days.

Other amendments include a Labour demand for the post-Brexit transition period to be extended by two years to December 2022 if the prime minister fails to secure a free trade agreement with the EU by the end of this year.

And Northern Irish parties from across the communal divide have united to table changes to the bill to require unfettered access for the province’s goods to markets on the British mainland.

The bill will return to the Commons on Tuesday for three days of debate concluding on Thursday, and is due to receive its second reading in the House of Lords next Monday, with the goal of securing Royal Assent before the end of the month.