Brexit

Tory Brexiteers have called on Boris Johnson to scrap the arrangements for Northern Ireland which he agreed with Brussels. The European Research Group (ERG) has published a report which concluded the Northern Ireland Protocol had a “profound and negative effect”. The protocol was designed by the EU and UK to avoid a hard border on […]

Brexit latest… Your weekly check on how Project Fear is becoming Project Reality. It has been another gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain, as a senior minister accused the EU of seeking “petty revenge” – and then hinted that the government might ban imports of European mineral water and seed potatoes. The grandstanding […]

Boris Johnson is “an unrepentant and inveterate liar” who is not subject to the same rules as others, a former French diplomat to the UK has said in her new book. Sylvie Bermann, the French ambassador to the UK during the Brexit vote, also claimed Brexiteers were consumed with a hatred for Germany and were […]

The European parliament has been given an extension to scrutinise the Brexit deal between the UK government and EU. The UK has given the parliament until April 30 to debate the deal after MEPs called for more time. Despite coming into effect on January 1, the agreement has only been provisionally implemented, with a deadline to […]

The SNP has warned Downing Street against implementing “tit-for-tat” trade barriers following reports that ministers may restrict imports on certain goods from the EU in retaliation for its ban on shellfish. The Sunday Telegraph reported No 10 was exploring ways to end a number of agreements to export mineral water and seed potatoes to the EU […]

Ireland’s premier insisted the Northern Ireland Protocol offers many benefits and opportunities for the region as he stressed the importance of its full implementation. Taoiseach Micheal Martin welcomed efforts by the UK and EU to find ways to resolve some of the trading problems created by the protocol since it came into force at the […]

Labour MPs have expressed a sense of bewilderment at orders from the party’s high command to remain silent on Brexit issues. MPs are being asked not to focus on problems caused by Brexit when asking questions in parliament, dealing with the media, or posting on social media, sources in the parliamentary party have said. Senior party figures were also […]

Pro-Europeans are planning to declare themselves proudly European in the forthcoming census as the result of a new campaign. The survey, which happens every 10 years, will question all of the people and households in England and Wales about issues surrounding society. The responses stay on record for 100 years and help to paint a picture […]

Bookmakers have given their verdict on the likeliness of the UK attempting to rejoin the European Union. Betfair now believes the odds on the UK re-entering the bloc by 2026 stands at 5/1, as frustrations around the Brexit agreement grow.  By contrast, the firm believes there is a 10/1 chance of Brexit not being reversed […]

The world’s largest daffodil farm, which is based in Cornwall, is being forced to let hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of flowers rot after encountering troubles hiring staff since Brexit. Varfell Farms, at Long Rock, Penzance, produces 500 million stems a year and needs 700 workers to pick them. However, since Covid and the end of free […]

Another layer of Brexit red tape associated with the Northern Ireland Protocol has come into effect, with health certificates on Great British sausages and mince now required. The UK government-designed export health certificates to allow such products to enter Northern Ireland are only temporary, as from July 1 they are set to be banned from […]

DUP leader Arlene Foster and senior party MPs are launching legal action challenging the post-Brexit agreement surrounding the Northern Ireland Protocol. They will be joining other unionists from across the UK in judicial review proceedings unless alternative trade arrangements are put in place which secure their consent. DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds, the party’s Westminster […]

Historian JAMES HAWES reviews Gavin Esler’s new book foretelling the imminent end of the UK. Things that have been a long time coming, finally come suddenly. And the end of the UK has been a long time coming. The band may still be playing, but it is playing on the deck of the Titanic: we […]

A man has been charged with sending threatening emails to a series of anti-Brexit politicians – including former Commons speaker John Bercow and European Movement leading campaigner Dominic Grieve. Court documents show Paul Ritchie, 34, has been charged with nearly 30 counts of sending a letter, communication or article conveying a threatening message against a […]

Brexit has caused hauliers to become “their own customs agents” due to shortages, MSPs have been told. Appearing before the Culture, Tourism, Europe and External Affairs Committee at Holyrood, Martin Reid, the Scotland and Northern Ireland director for the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said his members had been forced to recruit and train administrative staff […]

The number of companies moving to the Netherlands because of Brexit remained consistent in 2020, despite foreign investment falling by a quarter due to the coronavirus pandemic. Amsterdam topped the list of favoured Dutch cities by companies looking to relocate, after it overtook London as the largest trading hub in Europe last month. The Dutch capital has lured […]

Newly-released UCAS statistics show that the number of EU citizens applying to study in the UK has dropped by 40% since Brexit. UCAS reported a 26,010 drop in the numbers of students from the European Union looking to study here this September. It is a 40% drop and UCAS reports it reflected the uncertainty surrounding the UK’s […]

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has been given a new role as a government adviser following Brexit. The Brexiteer rejoins government to become an adviser to Boris Johnson on regulatory reform after the UK departed from the European Union. He will chair the Taskforce on Innovation, Growth and Regulatory Reform (TIGRR) alongside Theresa Villiers and George Freeman. […]

There is an urgent need to reboot security cooperation with the EU in the wake of Brexit deal which has left the UK “less safe and less secure”, a group of former Tory MPs have told Boris Johnson. The prime minister is being accused of “not being ambitious enough” after his deal shut down access […]

Boris Johnson has created a minister for Brexit post – months after claiming he had got the issue “done”. Former negotiator Lord Frost will become an unelected member of the cabinet, overseeing the future relationship with the European Union. Downing Street said that the Conservative peer will become a minister of state in the Cabinet Office, reporting […]

We must not forget the plight of EU citizens in the UK. The Sun has been full of praise for the government’s treatment of European citizens in the UK. A recent piece celebrated the fact that “five million EU citizens apply to REMAIN in Britain despite us leaving the bloc”. It had all been an extraordinary […]

Steve Anglesey brings you your weekly check on how Project Fear is becoming Project Reality. It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain, with Brexit red tape causing trade to take a Monty Python turn. There are empty shelves in some smaller UK cheese shops, with Michael Harte of importer […]

A majority of the public is unhappy about the post-Brexit trade agreement that Boris Johnson secured with the EU, a new survey has found. The report, published by the British Foreign Policy Group, an independent think tank advocating for a stronger UK global presence, shows that under a quarter of respondents believed the prime minister’s […]

A DUP minister has said she would not oppose an EU/UK deal on agri-food movement similar to the one the bloc has with Switzerland. Stormont economy minister Diane Dodds she would not be against anything that offered “short-term relief” from recent Irish Sea trade disruption. However, Dodds expressed doubt about whether the UK government would […]

Michel Barnier has launched his own political faction, fueling speculation he could be preparing to challenge Emmanuel Macron in next year’s presidential elections in France. The EU’s former Brexit negotiator announced on Tuesday that he would be establishing a new political group within the French Conservative party, Les Républicains – mere weeks before his mission in Brussels […]

A senior Tory MP has ridiculed Boris Johnson’s plans for a 25-mile undersea tunnel connecting Scotland and Northern Ireland – calling for ministers to focus on the issues surrounding the Brexit deal instead. The tunnel – dubbed the ‘Boris Burrow’ – could cost £10 billion to create and was seen as a compromise to a […]

Is the Remain cause destined to share the same fate as the Jacobite one… romantic but doomed, and destined for the dustbin of history? Writer JAMES HAWES explores the parallels and decides probably not.. at least not yet. Consider a time when a great part of us Britons has been led by vain and tactically catastrophic leadership into epochal […]

A French journalist has called into question Britain’s vaccine strategy after pointing out the UK lagged behind the EU in fully immunizing its population. Writing in the Guardian, Jean Quatremer, of the French newspaper Libération, said the reality of the UK’s vaccine drive was “a little more complex – and not quite such a stunning UK […]

MITCH BENN gives a pro-European take on why he’s keeping the Union flags in his Twitter handle. Those of you who follow me on Twitter may have noticed that I have two little flag emojis appended to my Twitter handle: the EU flag and the Union flag. I hope you’ll forgive my observation of the […]

The EU has admitted that mistakes were made in the process leading up to its recent attempt to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol – but pointed out it resolved its mistake within a matter of hours. The European Commission’s vice-president Maros Sefcovic said that the commission “deeply regrets” how it handled the […]

Liz Truss has been accused of refusing to answer questions about post-Brexit trade with Europe at the despatch box. The international trade secretary has reportedly “transferred” all questions about the topic at a forthcoming session of the Commons to other departments, despite the fact it is her job as minister to answer enquiries on trading […]

Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Patrick Stewart and Dame Julie Walters have joined some of the biggest names in British theatre to urge Boris Johnson to change post-Brexit visa rules to allow more flexible travel for artists. In a letter from the Equity union, the new rules are described as a “towering hurdle” for the industry. […]