Brexit

The Civil Service has been weakened by Brexit and the growth of court politics. But a rearguard action is underway. Plucked from relative obscurity at the age of 41 to become cabinet secretary, Simon Case could hardly have imagined his present role as head of the Downing Street shovel brigade, clearing up mess largely of […]

Agreeing a post-Brexit free trade deal between Britain and the United States will take “some time”, US secretary of state Antony Blinken has warned. Blinken said President Joe Biden’s new trade negotiator, Katherine Tai, would be taking time to review the discussions that had taken place with the Trump administration before progressing with the talks. […]

Britain is facing a post-Brexit “exodus of EU waiters and baristas” with “prospective foreign workers are shunning the UK because of tighter visa rules and higher entry costs post-Brexit.” It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain, as reaction to the Line Of Duty finale reminds us of another long-running […]

Britain’s Brexit trade deal with the EU was determined by “quarrels, low blows, [and] multiple betrayals” by self-aggrandizing Tory MPs, Michel Barnier has written in his long-awaited memoirs. The UK’s problem, writes Barnier in The Great Illusion, was that it began negotiations by “talking to themselves,” leading its negotiating team to “underestimate the legal complexity of this divorce, […]

Jersey has accused France of making “disproportionate” threats after Paris warned it could cut off electricity to the island in a row over post-Brexit fishing rights. Maritime minister Annick Girardin warned on Tuesday France was ready to take “retaliatory measures” after accusing the Channel Island of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French […]

The owners of a supertrawler have hit out at the collapse of post-Brexit fishing talks with Norway, which has left hundreds of crewmen without work. The failure to reach a deal means fish and chip shops will be selling Arctic cod imported from Norway rather than landed in Britain, UK Fisheries said. Its giant vessel […]

An independent Scotland would need to confront border issues with the rest of the UK if returning to the European Union, Nicola Sturgeon has said. Concerns have been raised by critics of Scottish independence who say Scotland rejoining the EU would result in a hard border with England. The first minister told BBC Radio 4’s […]

The scandals surrounding Boris Johnson hide the disaster that Brexit has created It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain as companies continue to pay dearly for two basic yet common business mistakes – not putting a Cabinet minister’s sister on the board or having Boris Johnson’s mobile phone number. […]

Arlene Foster’s future as DUP leader continues to hang in the balance after party colleagues mounted a heave against Stormont’s first minister. It is understood a significant number of DUP politicians have signed a letter of no confidence in Foster that was circulated among party MLAs, MPs and peers. If those numbers are confirmed and […]

The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly to approve the UK and European Union’s post-Brexit trade deal. Before voting on the Trade and Co-operation Agreement reached with the prime minister on Christmas Eve, Brussels politicians were told by the European Commission president that the deal has “real teeth”. Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc would […]

The European Union has said it “will not hesitate” to use dispute resolution mechanisms in the Brexit deal if the UK breaches the agreement. Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, was speaking as MEPs prepared to ratify the deal thrashed out between the EU and UK. Von der Leyen told the European Parliament […]

Michel Barnier, the man who led the European Union’s negotiations with the UK, claimed that Brexit is a “mark of failure”. Speaking in front of MEPs as they prepared to vote on the trade agreement with the UK, he attributed the Brexit vote to “social anger and tensions” in the UK. He said: “This is a divorce. […]

A group of former political and religious leaders have urged the prime minister to “step up” to tackle recent violence in Northern Ireland. Police came under sustained and violent attack on both sides of a Belfast peace wall earlier this month following successive nights of violence. Loyalists staged protests at the so-called border in the […]

An overwhelming majority of Brexit voters back closer ties with Europe on “mutually beneficial” areas such as trade, new polling has revealed. Some 60% of Leave voters said it was important the UK cooperate with Brussels to tackle climate change and deal with threats from Russia and China. The large-scale poll of over 3,000 adults conducted […]

Labour leader Keir Starmer has been encouraged to support making changes to the Brexit deal agreed with the EU to develop a closer working relationship with member states. A report published by the left-wing pro-EU group Another Europe Is Possible strongly supports the case for active engagement with the EU to improve the deal. Starmer […]

Four ponies detained at Belfast Port for almost five weeks due to errors in post-Brexit paperwork have been released to their new owners. Their arrival at the family farm near Ballygowan, Co Down, came after a judge ordered their release this week. The animals, which had been bought from a seller in Wales, had been […]

CHARLIE CONNELLY on a superb new novel which creates a horrifyingly plausible near-future for Margate. There’s a different kind of sky over the Isle of Thanet, a vast canopy, bigger even somehow than that over the flatlands of the Fens. And the light, the light is different there, and when the sun sets over the sea in […]

The UK is no longer a glowing example of tackling climate change - our carbon footprint is growing following Brexit

There are few greater symbols of Britain’s standing in the world than Gibraltar. But, as MARK MARDELL explains, as the UK moves away from the EU the Rock is gravitating dramatically into its sphere. A British warship, the HMS Trent, has arrived at her new permanent base, Gibraltar, Britain’s last remaining European overseas territory. According to her captain, […]

MEPs are set to finally approve the Brexit trade agreement between the UK and EU next week – whilst also warning that it could be cancelled if Number 10 continues to ignore its terms. German socialist MEP Bernd Lange said negotiations over Northern Ireland are “on track” and a solution is “in sight”.  “Ratification makes […]

French fishermen have blocked lorries of UK-landed fish arriving in Boulogne-sur-Mer in protest at the slow granted of fishing licenses in UK waters by the government. Under Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit deal, EU fishermen could continue to fish in British waters, but only once they had received a license. But almost four months since the deal was […]

An industry body representing Scottish salmon producers has insisted that the figures demonstrating a significant drop in exports are “very, very wrong”. The Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation (SSPO) told the Westminster’s Scottish Affairs Committee it believed more salmon had been exported than in January last year despite the UK leaving the EU. New post-Brexit rules came […]

Downing Street has scrapped the Pick for Britain campaign to recruit British workers for seasonal farm roles after as little as 5% signed up. According to The Grocer, the government is now focusing on removing barriers to recruitment rather than running another national campaign. This comes as estimations suggest Britons made up between 5% and 11% of the […]

Brexiteer James Dyson has moved his address to the UK, two years after relocating the Dyson head office to Singapore. Details for Weybourne Limited – Dyson’s parent company – were updated on Tuesday, records on the Companies House website show. The entry is listed as “change of details for Sir James Dyson as a person […]

Campaigners have hit out at an “inhumane” policy introduced to deport homeless people who are not UK nationals. The Home Office strategy was brought in last year as part of changes to the immigration system amid the government’s bid for tougher border restrictions and a “firmer and fairer” immigration system after Brexit. The plan means […]

Academics have urged Number 10 to grant the EU ambassador in London full diplomatic status, warning failure to do so could be emboldening Europe’s enemies. Britain has so far refused to grant the ambassador full status, arguing the EU is an organisation rather than a country. But experts are urging a government rethink, warning the ongoing rift is emboldening […]

A new poll has suggested that people in Northern Ireland would vote to remain in the UK if a referendum was called in the present day. Of those surveyed, 49% said they would vote to stay in the UK while 43% would support a united Ireland. The remainder were undecided. The Lucid Talk poll, which […]

A British fisherman has expressed his regret over voting for Brexit during an appearance on Danish TV. Ian Perkes, a fish exporter from Brixham, Devon, told Danish broadcaster DR that he had been “lied to” about the implications of leaving the EU and the increased costs to business. He said: “Do you think I would […]

A permit required by lorry drivers entering Kent after the end of the Brexit transition period has been scrapped. The Department for Transport also announced that a moveable barrier installed on the M20 will be dismantled over the weekend. The traffic management measures were introduced in Kent amid fears that the UK’s withdrawal from the […]

The DUP leader has said it is “simply not the case” that her party is boycotting north-south political meetings in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol. Arlene Foster’s comments came as other executive parties held a series of meetings on Monday to discuss two DUP no-shows at sectoral meetings of the North South Ministerial Council […]

The prime minister has vowed to take action on the Northern Ireland Protocol if the EU refuses to ditch “absurd” aspects of the post-Brexit trading arrangements. Johnson said his government was currently working on “sandpapering” the Protocol, which governs Irish Sea trade post-Brexit, to address some of the concerns about trade disruption. In an interview […]

It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain… unless, of course, you’re an irony lover who enjoyed Boris Johnson explaining why English football clubs were wrong to want to leave an established, successful European set-up on the vague promise of more riches elsewhere. Boris might not have followed that thought […]