Boris Johnson to suspend the Parliament till October 14

LONDON: The Latest on Brexit (all times local):

11:40 a.m.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government has confirmed it will suspend the U.K. Parliament later Monday until Oct. 14.

Spokesman James Slack says Parliament will be prorogued, or suspended, at the close of the day's business.

Johnson has previously said he would send British lawmakers home sometime this week. The suspension limits Parliament's ability to block Johnson's plans for Brexit.

Johnson says the UK must leave the EU on Oct. 31, with or without a divorce agreement.

Lawmakers are trying to stop a no-deal Brexit, and some have branded the suspension a "coup."

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11:10 a.m.

Worries that Britain is set to fall into recession soon as a result of Brexit uncertainty have eased after official figures show that it expanded by a monthly 0.3% in July.

The increase reported by the Office for National Statistics follows a 0.2% contraction in the second quarter which stoked talk of a recession, widely defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

Most analysts also expect output in August to rise, too, as car manufacturers will be at work having brought forward their annual maintenance shutdowns to earlier in the year to deal with the initial Brexit date of March 29.

Though the economy looks set to grow in the third quarter of the year, it remains hobbled by Brexit. Business investment has been particularly weak as firms put off investment decisions while awaiting clarity over Britain's departure from the European Union, now scheduled for Oct. 31.

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10:25 a.m.

The Dutch government's statistics office says that British investment in the Netherlands has soared since the United Kingdom voted in 2016 to leave the European Union, while Dutch investment in Britain has shrunk.

The Central Bureau for Statistics says Monday that the data confirm perceptions "that British companies are moving their activities to the Netherlands because of uncertainty about Brexit."

The bureau says that U.K. investment in the Netherlands was 14 billion euros ($15.4 billion) in 2016. It more than doubled in 2017 and rose to 80 billion euros in 2018.

Meanwhile, Dutch investments in Britain — worth 50 billion euros in 2016 — fell to less than half that total in 2017 and the statistics office says that last year there was a Dutch "disinvestment" of 11 billion euros - meaning that businesses were withdrawing their investments from Britain.

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10:20 a.m.

Germany's foreign minister says he would like Britain's exit from the European Union to be as orderly as possible but that requires London to make clear proposals.

Heiko Maas noted in Berlin that the British Parliament has decided it wants to prevent a "no-deal" Brexit.

He added that "we remain in principle ready to talk, and we have to be in order to make possible as orderly a withdrawal as possible, but that ultimately requires clear decisions and proposals from London."

Maas reiterated that Britain will remain an "important strategic partner" with "extraordinarily close relations" to Germany after Brexit. But he didn't address the possibility of a delay to Britain's withdrawal beyond the current Oct. 31 deadline, which Prime Minister Boris Johnson's opponents want to force.

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10:05 a.m.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told Ireland's leader that a Brexit deal can be reached so Britain leaves the European Union by Oct. 31.

Johnson told Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar that he believes a deal on the Irish border question can be secured in time to enable a smooth British departure from the EU by the scheduled Brexit date.

He said a "no-deal" departure from the European Union would represent a "failure of statecraft."

Varadkar also said at a joint appearance before the start of a meeting in Dublin that Britain has not produced any realistic alternatives to the controversial "backstop" agreement reached by Johnson's predecessor, Theresa May.

Opposition to the backstop was a key reason why Britain's Parliament rejected May's Brexit deal with the EU on three occasions earlier this year.

The backstop is intended to make sure that no hard border is put up between EU member Ireland and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.

The Irish leader says more negotiations are needed and that the Good Friday peace agreement, which states that no hard border is reimposed on the island of Ireland, must be respected.

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8:55 a.m.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to meet with Irish leader Leo Varadkar in search of a compromise on the simmering Brexit crisis.

The two are to meet in Dublin Monday morning for the first time since Johnson took power in July.

Varadkar has said he does not expect a breakthrough in the impasse over how the Irish border will be handled once Britain leaves the European Union.

Johnson plans to press a rebellious Parliament later Monday to back his plan for an early election, but opposition parties have said they will vote the measure down.

A new bill that seeks to force Johnson to seek a Brexit delay before the Oct. 31 deadline is set to become law on Monday.

Johnson has said he will not seek a delay.