Brexit

Awarding a £13.8m contract for no-deal Brexit ferry services to a company with no ships is an example of the government “supporting new business”, Chris Grayling has said. The beleagured transport secretary defended the decision to do a deal with Seaborne Freight, despite it never having run a Channel service. It was one of three […]

Jeremy Corbyn has refused to back a second EU referendum despite a poll suggesting almost three-quarters of Labour members want one. A survey of more than 1,000 party members found that 72% would like to see their leader throw his weight behind a People’s Vote. But Corbyn has long resisted such calls and, asked today […]

Jeremy Corbyn is facing further pressure to back a second Brexit referendum after polling showed support among Labour members for another vote. The Labour leader has resisted calls from within his party to back a referendum, instead calling for a general election and promising to strike his own “jobs-first” Brexit deal with Brussels retaining all […]

Almost 200,000 Irish passport applications were received from the UK this year. The number from England, Scotland and Wales increased by more than a fifth compared to 2017, Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs said. Minister Simon Coveney said the total had risen since the Brexit vote in June 2016. Out of the total number of […]

The Scottish Government will work “to protect Scotland’s place at the heart of Europe” in 2019, Nicola Sturgeon has said in a New Year message. Scotland’s first minister said she believed the reputation for being a hospitable country “has never been more important”, and said EU nationals who had made Scotland their home would always […]

Jeremy Hunt has been accused of wanting to turn Britain into “a bargain basement for business” after he said the UK should follow the example of low-tax Singapore after Brexit. In what will be seen as an obvious bid to burnish his leadership credentials with Tory hard Brexiteers, Hunt hailed the south-east Asian city state […]

Jean-Claude Juncker has called on the UK to “get your act together” over Brexit, branding some Britons “entirely unreasonable” for expecting Brussels to put forward a solution. The European Commission president also rejected claims of a plot to keep the UK in the EU “by all possible means” and revealed he fears the majority of […]

A government department has spent more than £100m on ferries to ease potential problems in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Documents outlining the £107.m agreements say increased border checks in UK ports after Brexit could “cause delivery of critical goods to be delayed” in the event of no deal. The move was described as […]

Britain’s most senior police officer has suggested Brexit could put the public at risk if security cooperation with the EU is weakened. Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick said she hoped police would have “as much as possible of the instruments” they currently have, such as database access, or something very similar as quickly as possible […]

Business leaders’ confidence in the British economy has plummeted as uncertainty about Brexit continues ahead of the March 29 withdrawal date. The cautious optimism shown by company bosses earlier in 2018 has entirely gone, according to a survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD). Overall optimism, which had briefly reached positive territory following the initial […]

France will overtake the United Kingdom to become the world’s sixth biggest economy next year as the impact of Brexit bites, a reports has said. The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) said “disruption” to the British economy was inevitable due to lower inward and business investment. The United States remains the world’s largest […]

At least 500 crimes mentioning Brexit have been reported to police since the referendum, shocking new figures have shown. Best for Britain, a group which campaigns for a second referendum, examined more than 20 Freedom of Information request responses from police forces across the UK and found a huge number of crimes committed in the […]

Jeremy Corbyn has taken a stance “completely at odds with the will of members” by saying Labour would continue with Brexit if they win a snap election, a former aide has said. Corbyn also hit out at EU laws on state aid which he said blocked investment. Labour passed a motion at its party conference […]

MPs who want to block a no-deal Brexit will have to either vote for Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement or a replacement to do it, Andrea Leadsom has warned. The Brexiteer Commons Leader warned politicians lining up to block efforts to take the UK out of the EU in March without an alternative no-deal was the […]

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has said his party would continue with Brexit if it won a snap general election in the new year. The opposition leader told the Guardian he would “go back and negotiate and see what the timetable would be” with Brussels if Theresa May triggered a vote and lost, thrusting his party […]

The Tory Party is heading for a prolonged period in opposition “unless it engages more with modern Britain” and changes direction on Brexit, George Osborne has warned. The former Conservative chancellor warned that a general election was more likely than many people believed in 2019 in order to break the impasse in Parliament over Theresa […]

Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom has refused to confirm the date of the “meaningful vote” on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. Leadsom faced pressure from Labour and the SNP to give a date for the vote after the government suspended debate on the prime minister’s deal earlier this month. The Cabinet minister, speaking at business questions, would […]

There is a “plausible argument” for the public to be asked to vote again on Brexit if MPs remain deadlocked, a Cabinet minister has said. Amber Rudd acknowledged her comments would “distress” some of her Tory colleagues and stressed she was fully committed to Theresa May’s Brexit deal. But Commons leader Andrea Leadsom hit back […]

Judges at Scotland’s highest civil court have rubber-stamped a European Court of Justice decision allowing the UK to unilaterally revoke its withdrawal from the EU. The Luxembourg court ruled last week that the UK can go back on its decision to trigger Article 50, which started the Brexit process, without the agreement of the other […]

Embattled Theresa May finally found somebody willing to back her Brexit deal today – Russian president Vladimir Putin. Putin used his annual televised press conference to say the UK should not hold a second referendum insisting May must ‘fulfil the will of the people’. The president said he ‘understood’ May’s position in ‘fighting for this […]

The UK Government has failed to recognise the reality of devolution in its “amateurish” approach to the Brexit negotiations, a Holyrood minister has said. Scottish constitutional relations secretary Mike Russell said Theresa May’s failure to work effectively with leaders of the opposition parties at Westminster, as well as with the devolved governments, had created the […]

Fiona Onasanya’s conviction could shift the political balance in the House of Commons and even have an influence on the outcome of Brexit. Labour has suspended former whip Fiona Onasanya and said she should resign as an MP after she was convicted of lying to police to avoid a speeding charge. The 35-year-old solicitor, who […]

If the prime minister wanted to use PMQs to scotch the idea her no-deal planning is a ruse to coax MPs into voting for her deal, she didn’t do a very good job of it. There is a view common among MPs that, rather than no-deal Brexit planning being a serious contingency measure – after […]

Brexit poses a “grave danger” to the NHS and is distracting attention away from the urgent issues facing the service in what could be the “toughest winter yet”, senior doctors have warned. The British Medical Association is marking the 100 days until Brexit milestone by repeating its call for a second referendum. The doctors’ union […]

Theresa May’s deputy has been forced to deny Brexit has forced the government to put any of its functions into “deep freeze”. Cabinet Office minister David Lidington issued the denial as Labour warned the Tory administration was in an “advanced state of decay” and seeking to abandon “non-essential” government business as it advanced preparations for […]

The European Commission has triggered an action plan to protect EU citizens and businesses from “major disruption” if the UK crashes out without a deal on March 29. With just 100 days to go the scheduled date of Brexit, and the UK Parliament far from ratifying Theresa May’s Withdrawal Agreement, the commission said it was […]

Britain will drop from the world’s fifth largest economy to its seventh next year as Brexit hits growth, a new analysis says. The country will drop two places in the rankings of the world’s largest economies in 2019, falling behind India and France as Brexit and the relatively weak pound knocks the country’s comparative status, […]

Britain’s army of small firms are being hung out to dry by the government and should ready themselves for the hardest EU divorce imaginable, a business adviser has warned. Speaking as the clock read 100 days to Brexit, Paul Hodges, who runs the company Ready For Brexit, warned that “all roads lead to no deal”. […]

Britain’s five main business groups have issued an urgent warning about a no-deal Brexit, saying many firms are now reaching “the point of no return”. Contingency plans are being put in place for the UK leaving the EU without a deal, which are a “significant drain” on companies’ time and money, the government was told. […]

Health officials lack a clear post-Brexit recruitment plan which could intensify current medical staff shortages, MPs have warned. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it had not been reassured by a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) “assertion” that there had not been a large exodus of staff since the 2016 referendum. In a […]

A Tory former minister has threatened to resign the party whip and vote against the government if it adopts a policy of seeking a no-deal Brexit. Grantham and Stamford MP Nick Boles said on Twitter that he would “vote in any way necessary to stop it from happening”. The former skills minister under David Cameron […]

The government is playing the “ultimate game of brinkmanship” over Brexit, a Tory backbencher has warned. Former business minister Anna Soubry branded the delay to Parliament’s meaningful vote on the prime minister’s Brexit deal “deeply irresponsible”. Her comments were echoed by fellow Tory Justine Greening, who said she would be “happy to sit through Christmas […]