UK’s Boris Johnson faces rocky autumn as Parliament returns

LONDON (AP) — British lawmakers returned to Parliament on Tuesday after a six-week summer break, with Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic setting the stage for a turbulent fall.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is trying to coax British workers back to their offices to boost the economy, held a meeting of his Cabinet, with all ministers attending in person for the first time since the U.K. went into a coronavirus lockdown in March.

“Bit by bit this incredible country is getting back on its feet and recovering from this crisis,” Johnson told the Cabinet, acknowledging that both country and government had been through a rough patch.

“In the last few months we’ve been sailing into the teeth of a gale," he said, promising there were "brighter days and calmer seas ahead of us.”

The U.K. political agenda for the next few months would challenge any government. It includes reviving an economy that shrank by a fifth during lockdown and girding for a possible second wave of virus infections. The government must also prepare for a final break with the European Union when a post-Brexit transition period ends on Dec. 31.

Britain officially left the EU on Jan. 31, and the two sides gave themselves 11 months to strike a new trade deal. But negotiations are deadlocked over key issues including state aid for businesses and fishing rights. If there is no deal, 2021 will begin with tariffs and other impediments to trade that could cause major economic damage on both sides of the Channel.

The British government also faces the prospect of a huge increase in unemployment after Oct. 31, when it ends a program to pay the salaries of millions of furloughed workers.

Johnson’s Conservatives have a hefty majority of 80 in the 650-seat House of Commons, but his government has been weakened by its unsteady handling of the...