Brexit

MICHAEL WHITE on a week of confusion, bitterness and a very dangerous way to halt Brexit The very idea of the Democratic Unionist Party’s tribal leaders insisting on ‘regulatory alignment’ with the rest of the sort-of-still-United Kingdom ought to be enough to make an Irish cat laugh. But no one in Brussels on Monday afternoon […]

RICHARD PORRITT on the week’s big stories, including a big victory in Austria, the German foreign minister on the offensive and the prince of letters After all that fuss about Brexit impact statements, it appears they never really existed in any meaningful sense anyway. To widespread shock, David Davis admitted to a parliamentary committee on […]

Just 16 MPs and peers have read the government’s Brexit analysis papers, Andrea Leadsom claimed today. The Commons Leader, Brexiteer and brief candidate for the Tory leadership bemoaned the opposition for causing “enormous headlines and publicity” before adding “only 16 members across both Houses” had viewed them. A reading room has been established to allow […]

Jobs will be moved out of Britain unless Theresa May secures progress in Brexit negotiations at next week’s summit of EU leaders, the CBI warns tonight. The business lobbying group will say more than half (60%) of firms with Brexit contingency plans will activate them by Easter, meaning jobs leaving the UK unless the December […]

Commons speaker John Bercow has apologised after a slip of the tongue saw him dub a pro-Remain Labour MP the “member for Brexeter”. Mr Bercow’s blunder came in relation to Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw, as the speaker answered a series of points of order from MPs over Brexit. Having responded to five points of order, […]

Theresa May has been warned no Brexit deal is “reckless and dangerous”, as “utterly ruthless” dissident republicans would target border officials. Independent MP Lady Hermon (North Down) said a hard border would inevitably exist between Northern Ireland and the Republic if the UK and EU failed to agree a deal. She said the UK government […]

A Brexit deal giving special status to Northern Ireland could have put the entire future of the UK in jeopardy, the Scottish Conservative leader has claimed. Ruth Davidson said such a set-up could have “unravelled the entire United Kingdom”, telling how she had told the prime minister the 13 Scottish Tory MPs at Westminster would […]

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has demanded EU leaders give an immediate green light to talks on post-Brexit trade relations rather than waiting for a breakthrough over the Irish border. Theresa May is battling to break the deadlock over the border after botching a proposed deal on Monday, with the clock ticking ahead of a crunch […]

Theresa May has held telephone talks with Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster in a bid to break the Brexit deadlock over the Irish border issue. Mrs May is battling to get the DUP, who prop up the government in the Commons, to support proposals that would allow the EU to trigger the next stage […]

Scotland’s Brexit minister has called on rival parties to unite and “speak with one voice” in a bid to keep the UK in the single market. Mike Russell said there was “overwhelming support” for the position both at Holyrood and among the public as he urged Labour and the Tories to back the whole UK […]

The negotiating deadlock in the talks on Brexit has been branded a “car crash” by a former Northern Ireland secretary in the Lords. Labour’s Lord Hain asked why anyone was surprised by Monday’s negotiating “car crash” in Brussels after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to accept proposals on a customs border. “Unionists were quite […]

Theresa May has been touted for the vacant Scotland football manager’s job by the SNP for her ability to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”. SNP Europe spokesman Peter Grant mocked the prime minister following the latest Brexit talks, joking that she had been interviewed for the post as a potential successor to Gordon […]

David Davis has insisted Northern Ireland will not be “left behind” in the single market and customs union after Brexit as Theresa May works to get her botched negotiations back on track. The Prime Minister was telephoning Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill today for urgent talks as pressure […]

Theresa May should “rethink her reckless red lines” and consider remaining part of the customs union and single market, Labour has urged. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said there needed to be a UK-wide response to Brexit, after the Democratic Unionist Party refused to accept proposals on a customs border, leading to a deadlock […]

Police do not have the numbers to protect a hard Irish border, a representative body has warned. Planning for a no-deal Brexit needs to begin urgently as it would cost tens of millions of pounds to secure the porous 300-mile (483km) frontier, the Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) said. All sides in the discussions […]

Brexit pressure intensified on Theresa May today as the leader of the Scottish Conservatives warned the prime minister not to cut separate deals for different parts of the UK. The intervention by Ruth Davidson came as Mrs May tried to plot a way forward in withdrawal negotiations after the Democratic Unionist Party refused to accept […]

Labour, the Government and the Democratic Unionist Party have all ordered their senior politicians to stay off the airwaves after crunch Brexit talks ended without a deal, BBC presenter Nick Robinson has claimed. The Radio 4 Today programme host hit back at complaints that representatives from the parties were not appearing on the show for […]

Failure to complete the first phase of Brexit negotiations is costing UK pharmaceutical companies “an enormous amount of money”, industry representatives have warned. With less than 18 months to go until the official date of EU withdrawal in March 2019, companies are having to make preparations now, with some setting up facilities and offices abroad […]

The Democratic Unionist Party has said it will not accept any Brexit deal which “separates” Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, it said today. DUP leader Arlene Foster said the party, which props up Theresa May’s Tory minority Government, would not allow “any form of regulatory divergence” from the UK. She spoke out […]

The EU has set up a working group to prepare for Britain crashing out without a deal, leaked papers seen by a German newspaper show. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is reporting that it has seen papers showing that the European Commission has set up the group reporting directly its president, Jean-Claude Juncker, to prepare the […]

Ireland should use its veto on Brexit negotiations if the DUP attempts to use its Westminster influence to impose a new border on the island, Sinn Fein has said. A senior Democratic Unionist has warned the Conservative Government will not be able to rely his party’s votes in Parliament for any Brexit deal that treats […]

The furore over high street chain Paperchase’s U-turn over advertising with the Daily Mail has caused an almighty row over what is pressure group Stop Funding Hate’s objective. LIZ GERARD investigates ‘The British people relish a good hero – and a good hate.’ Thus spake Sunny Harmsworth, first and only Lord Northcliffe, pioneer of popular […]

It’s Friday, which means the latest episode of The New European podcast is available to download. This week Richard Porritt, Steve Anglesey and Geri Scott share the nation’s outrage at the despicable US president’s retweets of far-right rabble Britain First, ask why Damian Green still has a job and ponder if Labour’s position on Brexit […]

A return of border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic appears inevitable after Britain leaves the EU, MPs have warned. The Commons Exiting the EU Committee said it appeared impossible to reconcile the government’s decision to pull out of the single market and the customs union with its declared intention to maintain a “frictionless” […]

Britain has shifted from “go whistle” to “what’s your sort code” over the Brexit divorce bill, MPs were told today. Pete Wishart, the SNP’s Commons spokesman, claimed the total bill “must now come close to hundreds of billions of pounds” as he criticised “chaotic cluelessness” over Brexit. He asked for a parliamentary debate about the […]

STEVE ANGLESEY counts down the worst Brexiteers of the week 10 ALAN BRAZIL Brushing off the departures of the European Medicines Agency to Amsterdam and the European Banking Authority to Paris, the bibulous Talksport host assured listeners that ‘if we get a good Brexit there will be 5,000 jobs created for every 1,000 lost’. So […]

RICHARD PORRITT with the week’s big stories, including some good news on electric planes, some bad news for the Polish economy and some credit for Emmanuel Macron So we have got to that sad moment in the breakdown of any relationship where the shouting is over, the tears have dried up and all there is […]

Do you, like David Davis, find yourself with a lot of time on your hands? Take back control of the infamous Brexit Bus and see how long you can keep it from crashing Since the EU referendum was announced, the value of the pound has been up and down like a yo-yo. Now you can […]

Taxpayers face a £200m annual bill for thousands of extra staff recruited by HM Revenue and Customs to deal with Brexit, its top civil servant has said. Jon Thompson also revealed around 40-60% of his time is now spent dealing with the consequences of the vote to leave the EU. HMRC will play a crucial […]

Britain will “meet our obligations” as it leaves the EU and pay for financial commitments made as a member, a Brexiteering Cabinet minister has said amid reports that a “divorce bill” of much as £50bn has been agreed. Transport secretary Chris Grayling refused to comment on “speculation” about the final figure but acknowledged “the price” […]

Ministers could trigger a new Commons vote to rule out having to release their secret papers on the economic impact of Brexit in full. Brexit minister Robin Walker today faced repeated demands from Conservative MPs to develop a revised motion guaranteeing that commercial, market and negotiation-sensitive information would be excluded from material given to the […]

The Government has been warned it could be in contempt of Parliament unless it hands full details of its assessment of the potential impact of Brexit on the economy to MPs. Brexit secretary David Davis faced a furious backlash after passing an edited version of the documents, looking at 58 sectors of the economy, to […]