Updated

Care workers must be prioritised under new migration rules to stop a post-Brexit shortfall in provision that would leave women quitting work to look after elderly relatives, according to a leaked government report. In the “worst case scenario” where EU migrants were stopped from coming to the UK, there would be a shortage of 6,000 […]

Councils across the UK are drafting emergency plans for delivering public services after a nightmare no-deal Brexit, it has emerged. A Sky News report revealed yesterday that Dover District Council and Kent County Council are preparing for a 13-mile Brexit lorry park on the M20 southbound to be in place for at least four years. […]

A food industry boss has called for a meeting with the government as he warned that Brexit is becoming “the stuff of nightmares”. Food and Drink Federation (FDF) chief executive Ian Wright urged ministers to explain the implications of a no-deal Brexit to businesses in the industry. He told the i newspaper: “Brexit is shaping […]

The likelihood of Britain exiting the EU without a deal is “increasing by the day”, Jeremy Hunt has said. Ahead of talks with his opposite numbers in France and Austria today and tomorrow, the foreign secretary insisted that if Brussels fails to strike a withdrawal agreement with the UK it would cause job losses on […]

Fears over the impact of a no-deal Brexit have been raised after it emerged Dover Council is considering converting a 13-mile stretch of the M20 into a giant lorry park to deal with backlogs. A report by the council expresses concern over the levels of readiness for the potential situation and states “urgent clarity” is […]

Boris Johnson appears to have finally accepted that Leave means Leave as removal vehicles were spotted outside the grace and favour home he lived in as foreign secretary. Three weeks after quitting the Cabinet in a row over Theresa May’s Brexit plans, his belongings were being removed from One Carlton Gardens in central London. Mr […]

Police are having to deal with more racist hate crimes following a rise in offences around the EU referendum, figures show. The latest Home Office data shows an increase in the number hate crimes reported to the police, where race is the motivating factor, during the year of the Brexit vote. In the 2016-17 financial […]

Jeremy Corbyn has finally come clean over his views on Brexit. In a speech launching his plans to boost British manufacturing, the Labour leader made the extraordinary claim that there has already been a economic ‘benefit’ of Brexit. The address, which will outrage most Labour voters and MPs, also echoed Donald Trump’s protectionist policies by […]

Donald Trump has looked ahead to his trip to the UK this week, saying the country is in “turmoil” and it is “up to the people” whether or not Theresa May remains prime minister. The US president will have also delighted Mrs May by saying that he might take time during his UK visit to […]

Foreign secretary Boris Johnson has resigned amid growing anger at Theresa May’s Brexit plans. His resignation follows that of Brexit secretary David Davis who quit late last night. Senior Tory sources are now briefing they expect May to face a leadership challenge. The prime minister now faces a crunch meeting of the parliamentary party this […]

Theresa May faces a leadership crisis after David Davis savaged the government’s approach to Brexit while dramatically quitting as the minister responsible for the UK’s departure from the EU. His resignation was warmly welcomed by hardline Eurosceptics in the Tory ranks who were already expressing reservations about Mrs May’s leadership after her Cabinet agreed a […]

Theresa May appears to have faced down Brexiteer Cabinet ministers after securing agreement on plans which will keep the UK closely aligned to Brussels. The proposals, which will now be assessed by the European Union, would result in the creation of a new UK-EU free trade area for goods, with a “common rulebook”. But under […]

A watchdog is expected to find Vote Leave, the official Brexit campaign, breached electoral rules during the referendum, according to reports. The campaign group’s former chief executive, Matthew Elliott, said the Electoral Commission (EC) had concluded that Vote Leave exceeded spending limits and made a donation to a group that it should not have. But […]

Firms are running out of patience over the lack of progress in the Brexit talks, a major business organisation has warned Theresa May. The British Chambers of Commerce said companies still face uncertainty over tax, tariffs, customs and regulation, with time running out ahead of the the March 29 2019 Brexit date. Cabinet ministers were […]

The government’s hopes of achieving world-class animal welfare standards will “evaporate” unless they are written into law as Britain leaves the EU, a new report has warned. Compassion in World Farming said the UK would come under intense pressure to accept lower standards once its food production industry was removed from EU structures which currently […]

The Conservative leader in the National Assembly for Wales has quit the post after seven years following a spat over the future for Welsh jobs after Brexit. Andrew RT Davies said in a statement that he had tendered his resignation “with deep regret” following a meeting of all Conservative Assembly Members (AMs) this morning. Prime […]

Major job losses will occur if the government allows service industries to “fall off a cliff edge” after Brexit, London mayor Sadiq Khan has told MPs. Mr Khan called for much greater emphasis to be put on the sector during withdrawal negotiations with Brussels as services account for 40% of UK exports to the EU […]

Ireland’s deputy premier has warned the UK there will be no Brexit withdrawal deal without an agreement on the Irish border. Ahead of a visit by European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker to Dublin, Tanaiste Simon Coveney indicated that a no-deal scenario was now being seriously contemplated within the EU. “This is a question many people […]

Britain’s plan for a temporary customs “backstop” to solve the Irish border issue is “not acceptable” and any fall-back option cannot be time-limited, the European Parliament’s chief Brexit co-ordinator has told MPs. Guy Verhofstadt said the government’s position that the backstop of continuing UK alignment with the EU customs union would cease by the end […]

Non-UK EU nationals make up more than a quarter of the construction workforce in London, according to official analysis. It found 28% of those employed in the industry in the capital are from one of the 27 other EU member states. Nationally, around one in 14 construction workers are non-UK EU citizens – referred to […]

The UK will not be able to take part in the European Arrest Warrant after Brexit, Michel Barnier said today as he hit out at British politicians who sought to blame Brussels for the consequences of the Leave vote. The European Union’s chief negotiator said Theresa May’s “red lines” meant it was impossible to remain […]

The SNP have called for all MPs to have suicide awareness training after an alleged Tory jibe. The call came following yesterday’s Brexit bill debate in which it was alleged Ian Liddell-Grainger shouted “suicide” when SNP leader Ian Blackford asked what options were open to Scottish parliamentarians to debate the devolution amendments to the EU […]

Disagreement with Britain’s decision to quit the European Union has reached its highest point since the 2016 Brexit referendum, according to a new poll. The YouGov survey found 47% of voters thought the decision to leave was wrong, against just 40% who said it was the right thing to do – the widest margin since […]

The UK will be “fully prepared” for leaving the EU without a deal, Downing Street insisted today, after reports civil servants have been drawing up scenarios for a “Doomsday Brexit” that would leave the country short of medicine, fuel and food. Prime minister Theresa May still believes that “no deal is better than a bad […]

Stanley Johnson has said the Brexit referendum should be held again if there is evidence there was Russian interference in the vote. The I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! contestant – and father of foreign secretary Boris Johnson – said he was sceptical that there was not interference. He told ITV’s Good Morning […]

Peers have inflicted another three major defeats on the government asking for more changes to the Brexit Bill – and demanding the UK retains key aspects of the single market. In a ‘stunning victory’ for Remainers the House of Lords backed retaining elements of the single market by continued participation in the European Economic Area. […]

The motion put before Parliament this autumn on the final Brexit agreement will be amendable by MPs and its outcome will be binding on the government, David Davis has said. The Brexit secretary said the motion – which prime minister Theresa May has previously described as a “take it or leave it” choice – would […]

A council’s website still claims the next elections are for the European Parliament in 2019 – after the date Britain is due to leave the EU. The ‘elections’ page for Conservative-led Vale of Glamorgan Council in South Wales states that “the next scheduled Election is: European Parliamentary Election in June 2019”. The UK is due […]

Thousands of anti-Brexit campaigners demonstrated across Britain this weekend calling on the government to halt the rush to quit the European Union. Exeter March. Picture: John Presley – Credit: Archant The protests kicked off on Friday in Oxford at Christopher Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre where Andrew Adonis and Will Hutton previewed their new book. Lib Dem […]

Embattled Ukip leader Henry Bolton has resisted calls to quit, insisting that he was focusing on the fight for Brexit. Despite a vote of no confidence in his leadership by the party’s national executive committee (NEC) and the resignation of a series of key figures, Mr Bolton insisted he would fight on. Mr Bolton hit […]

Brexit will “not be sustainable” if it does not work for young people, Justine Greening has said in her first remarks after being forced out of Theresa May’s cabinet. The former education secretary said that future generations of MPs could seek to “improve or undo” what the the current parliament implements. The intervention came just […]

Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has urged Europe to stick together to protect and spread its values. Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg – the first leader to speak in the debate on the European Union’s future – Mr Varadkar warned that guarantees secured in the Brexit talks to protect the Irish border cannot be reneged […]