Brexit

Talks on a post-Brexit trade deal look set to continue into next week after another weekend of tense negotiations failed to achieve a breakthrough. After the lead negotiators Michel Barnier and Lord Frost met in Brussels on Sunday, a UK government source said the discussions had been “difficult”. The source said that “significant differences” remained […]

MPs are on standby to return to Westminster from their Christmas break if an agreement can be struck in the final days of the year. Both Boris Johnson and the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier were playing down the prospects of a breakthrough. The prime minister said the negotiations were proving “difficult” and called on […]

Christmas stockpiling and Brexit uncertainty have again caused huge queues of lorries to stack up in Kent. A long line of HGVs stretched up to five miles on the M20 as freight drivers headed for the Eurotunnel. The latest delays came as the UK marked less than two weeks until 2021 and the end of […]

Ministers have been warned of a series of concerns about the “overall state of readiness” for the end of the Brexit transition period in less than a fortnight. Decisions have been made “too late”, communications with businesses have been “patchy at best” and police may be forced to use “slower and more cumbersome” systems, the […]

Two EU citizens have won a Court of Appeal challenge against the government over post-Brexit access to Universal Credit. The court ruled, by a majority, that a refusal to allow two Romanian nationals to access the means-tested benefit amounted to “unlawful discrimination on the grounds of nationality”. The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) said the ruling […]

As the deadline for Brexit trade talks looms, the man who co-founded a grassroots action group in Hertfordshire against leaving the EU has shared his thoughts on the last four rollercoaster years of politics. On the surface, 49-year-old Richard Scott from Harpenden is like any normal family man who “works hard to put food on the table.” He describes his upbringing […]

Britain will never get a better trade deal with the EU than the one it has as a member state, a German MEP has declared. Theresa Reintke said Britain’s trading relationship with Europe would never be the same once it left “the table in Brussels”. Reintke, an MEP for the Greens–European Free Alliance, told the EU parliament: “No […]

A leading EU politician has taken a swipe at Boris Johnson and fellow Brexiteers by saying that Britain will rejoin the “European family” in a few decades during a passionate speech in the European parliament. Guy Verhofstadt, who served as the EU’s Brexit coodinator, said it would be the “students of Britain” who would eventually bring the […]

Whetherspoon boss Tim Martin has come to the “rapid conclusion” that Boris Johnson and his government have been “incapable of making good decisions” over Brexit.  Tim Martin, a Brexiteer, suggested Johnson would “tie up the country for decades” in agreement he would not fully understand. Discussing the prospect on talkRADIO, Martin said: “I’m rapidly forming the conclusion that Boris […]

Remainers have revelled in a ‘told you so’ moment as a clip surfaced showing a miles-long queue of lorries at Dover port. The 58-seconed video shows a birds-eye views of trucks piled back to back down M20 trying to access the Eurotunnel entrance in Folkstone. This is the fourth consecutive day of heavy traffic along the M20 as companies […]

A prominent MEP has suggested a Brexit trade deal was still possible and could happen “at the end” of December. Guy Verhofstadt said he was “optimistic” a deal between Britain and the EU could be struck at the last moment. Verhofstadt told Sky News: “I’m optimistic by nature. It happens always at the end. “If […]

Boris Johnson and the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said “substantial progress” had been made on a Brexit trade deal following a phone call on Thursday – but both are still warning there are significant obstacles to overcome. As the clock ticks towards the deadline for an agreement at the end of the […]

Former Conservative special advisor BARNABY TOWNS imagines an alternative political universe where the 2016 was never held, or won by Remain.  As Great Britain – England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland – stare down the abyss of casting aside nearly half a century of increasingly integrated trade and security relationships, it is worth […]

A toilet roll manufacturer has insisted they are “equipped to meet increased demand when required” over fears of Brexit panic-buying before the transition period ends on December 31. Manufacturers faced significant demand at the start of the year as the coronavirus pandemic hit, but said they are ready for no-deal Brexit panic-buying at supermarkets. Kimberley-Clark, […]

An MP who picked up the parliamentary mace in a Brexit protest has been branded “silly” by Jacob Rees-Mogg.  The Commons leader described the actions of the SNP’s Drew Hendry as “silly” and “childish”. Hendry, the party’s business spokesman, was suspended from the Commons after protesting against the UK Internal Market Bill. As proceedings on the Bill […]

Brexiteer Kate Hoey has claimed a no-deal Brexit is ‘not the end of the world.’ The former Labour MP and pro-Brexit life peer said she was not ‘too worried’ about the prospect of failing to agree on a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. Hoey had previously criticised Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal as offering a “half in half […]

Brexit has made criticism of Boris Johnson and his government seem like “an act of disloyalty”, a national radio host has said. James O’Brien, a presenter on LBC radio, argued a lack of oversight had caused Britain to become one of the worst-hit victims of Covid-19 around the world. He said confusing messaging around what the public […]

Former Europe minister DENIS MACSHANE suggests the Brexit bluster is fading as the final deadline looms and predicts a feeble deal similar to the one offered to Theresa May The Brexit signals emerging from both London and Brussels are now pointing clearly to a deal largely on the terms that Michel Barnier, the EU negotiator, […]

Big Ben is to be reconnected so that it can ring in at 11pm on New Year’s Eve – the moment the UK leaves the European Union’s single market and customs union. The famous bell has been largely silent since 2017 due to repairs on the clock and Parliament’s Elizabeth Tower which houses it, only […]

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has clashed with a former Tory minister for suggesting his party may not back Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal. Former home secretary Amber Rudd, appearing on Politics Live, told the pro-European that he should have originally backed a soft Brexit which Theresa May proposed. She explained: “I’m very very sad that […]

European Parliament group leaders have adopted a declaration setting a Brexit deadline date of Sunday to ensure a deal is achieved. The declaration from the Conference of Presidents, initiated by Spanish member Iratxe Garcia Perez, states they are ready to hold an extraordinary session at the end of December if an agreement is reached by […]

Twenty five years after a court ruling relating to an obscure Belgian midfielder transformed football here, is Brexit is about to reverse some of the changes? ROGER DOMENEGHETTI reports. In an era when footballers have the freedom to force moves between clubs and demand multi-million-pound salaries, it’s easy to forget that as recently as the early 1990s they were still effectively treated […]

Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has admitted there might not be “appetite” amongst the public for him to run in an election again – even if Boris Johnson delivers a ‘Brexit in name only’. The politician – who lost in all seven elections he stood in and dropped out of the latest – said although […]

Priti Patel has sparred with a Sky News presenter after he suggested Britain could be “less safe” after Brexit. The home secretary threw aside claims Britain’s security and intelligence operations would be jeopardised by a no-deal Brexit. She appeared on Sky News to assuage concerns. Presenter Niall Paterson asked: “As things stand we do not […]

LIZ GERARD offers a lexicon for the last year, including many words you will never want to hear again. Activist lawyers Misguided solicitors and barristers who want the courts and the law, rather than Priti Patel, to determine whether migrants she doesn’t like should be deported. Anti-vaxxers Vocal ‘libertarians’ with a death wish for others. Often also […]

Things look particularly bleak this Christmas, but JAMES BALL finds some cause for optimism.  The midwinter is notoriously a bleak season – not for nothing is there a whole song along that theme. Similarly, it’s not coincidental that most cultures and religions mark some celebration of light or of joy in the middle of this […]

Once a fervent Eurosceptic, ED WEST explains why he has come to believe that leaving the EU will be a terrible blunder, in a thoughtful essay that will be a difficult read for Brexiteers and Remainers alike. Like a never-ending television series that should have been cancelled years ago, the Brexit saga reaches yet another season finale […]

Donald Trump is looking to secure a series of ‘mini’ Brexit trade deals with the UK, his trade chief has claimed. Trade representative Robert Lighthizer suggested that the US and UK could agree deals which reduce tariffs on items such as Scotch whisky if a pact is successful. The government hopes to broker a full free trade […]

An SNP MP has been suspended from a House of Commons sitting after he protested against the approval of controversial Brexit legislation. The party’s business spokesman Drew Hendry shouted “this is an outrage” as proceedings on the UK Internal Market Bill came to a conclusion following a lengthy parliamentary battle in recent weeks. Deputy speaker […]

Remainers are patriots who will be as pained as anyone by the damage that Brexit is about to cause their country, says IAN DUNT. The trap is right there waiting for us. Next month, Brexit goes from a theoretical issue to a practical reality. It will play out in declining GDP growth, investment, productivity and […]

ALASTAIR CAMPBELL on how the UK needed someone serious to take charge of Brexit – but ended up with Boris Johnson. When Boris Johnson first became prime minister, I called round a few contacts in European capitals, to get a feel for how they viewed what was by any calculation quite a major change from […]

Despite his establishment credentials the author John le Carré remained an outsider all his life, says CHARLIE CONNELLY, and was increasingly radicalised by Europe and Brexit.  There’s a broad perception that people become calmer politically as they grow older, the youthful firebrand activist gradually sensing the flames of radicalism dying down towards a dotage of faintly glowing […]