Brexit

Is it time to take a leaf out of Nigel Farage’s book to force Rejoin on to the political agenda? Ian Dunt is right (“Time for this eerie silence to end”, TNE #222) that no party is currently advocating rejoining the EU. This puts those of us who campaigned for four years, or more, to […]

A French MEP has accused Boris Johnson over ‘underestimating the determination’ of the European Union during Brexit talks. Mireille Clapot claimed the prime minister had miscalculated the EU’s ability to negotiate and remain united, claiming he was paying the price by risking a no-deal Brexit. She told the BBC’s Newsnight: “Somebody said that strength comes from […]

Of all the bad takes during a busy Brexit period, it is one of the worst, and yet for some reason it is stubbornly popular: the idea that Remainers are responsible for this mess. It’s a thought so stupid a child can see the problem with it, but many professional political commentators cannot. The argument comes from two distinct […]

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has been urged to drop the government’s plan for a Festival of Brexit Britain in 2022. More than 600 cultural workers have signed a joint letter calling for the money to be better spent following the coronavirus pandemic. It reads: “Amidst a background of culture devastation, where thousands have lost their […]

Brexit trade talks could continue beyond the newly-agreed Sunday deadline, foreign secretary Dominic Raab has hinted. Raab was reticent to confirm Sunday’s deadline as a final cut-off, saying that “you can never say never” with EU negotiations. His comment came as Boris Johnson and EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen agreed to scrap Thursday’s deadline in favour of […]

Alastair Campbell on Boris Johnson’s ‘oven-ready’ Brexit pledge – and the ministers who have attempted to spin it. With the possible exception of my good friend Andrew Adonis, has there ever been a politician more misnamed than James Cleverly? Yet it is becoming ever more apparent that in the Johnson government, having a good brain, […]

A leading MEP has claimed that Scotland would be ‘better off’ if it goes independent and rejoins the European Union, hinting it could perform better than England after Brexit. Philippe Lamberts, the Belgian co-president of the Green Party in the European Parliament, compared Scotland’s potential to Ireland which remains an island away from the main […]

A majority of Britons face being barred from visiting the European Union from January 1 2021 when pandemic safety rules that allow freedom of movement within the bloc stop applying to the UK. The European Commission has said that the end of the Brexit transition period will mean that the UK will be subject to […]

Brexit negotiators have been given four days to reach an agreement following crunch talks between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen. The prime minister and European Commission president agreed that a “firm decision” about the future of the negotiations should be made by Sunday. Discussions will continue between the UK and EU’s negotiating teams […]

DONALD MACINTYRE on the squealing and dealing from Boris Johnson’s government over Brexit. We’ve been here before, of course. It was on March 13, 2003, that the cabinet were told “the message that must go out…[is] that we pin the blame on France for its isolated refusal to agree.” This was three days after Jacques […]

JAMES BALL on how the spell is broken for a one-trick phoney. Any man can tell you he can jump off the roof of a building, entirely naked and free of strings, parachutes, or similar, and levitate safely to the ground. An incredibly persuasive man, perhaps backed up by faked video evidence and more, might […]

A former EU diplomat has described Boris Johnson’s last-minute meeting in Brussels as ‘just for show’, claiming the prime minister was adamant about pursuing a no-deal Brexit. Sir Ivan Rogers, the former UK ambassador to the EU, said Johnson had intervened in Brexit talks too late to yield a positive result. Rogers said officials in Brussels believe […]

A Brexiteer MP in the House of Commons has been accused of treating Britain’s EU partners with “patronising contempt” by a Maltese MEP after he claimed Britain was nothing like her country. Daniel Kawczynski took to Twitter to complain about the EU’s handling of Brexit talks. He said: “Mistake EU making is they are treating us as if we […]

Boris Johnson has been told he has “no mandate” for a no-deal Brexit after a petition was handed in urging him to strike a deal with the EU. More than 100,000 people signed the petition organised by European Movement UK, a grass-roots campaign group focused on Britain’s relationship with Brussels. Signatories claimed that “a damaging No Deal […]

Michael Gove has been compared to Bart Simpson for his refusal to accept responsibility for the “chaos” caused by Brexit. But instead the Cabinet Office minister compared himself to Groundskeeper Willie – the fictional Scottish school janitor – only to be told that Willie declared his support for Scottish independence at the 2014 referendum. SNP MP Owen […]

A grammar school in Kent will close for two days after Christmas over fears Brexit will cause debilitating traffic jams. Maidstone Grammar School (MGS) will instead teach pupils virtually between January 4 and January 5. The all boys secondary school is located a mile away from the M20 , which is expected to rammed with lorries […]

Ireland’s deputy leader said he believes Boris Johnson would be willing to make concessions to get a post-Brexit trade deal, claiming his politics is closer to the “liberal” view he took as mayor of London. Leo Varadkar said the European Union and the UK have “more to gain and more to salvage” from an agreement […]

Number 10 has been left angered after the SNP’s constitution and Brexit secretary branded Boris Johnson and his Tories as ‘extremists’. Michael Russell hit out at the Westminster government for their “damaging and harmful” Brexit ideology. Speaking at Holyrood, he told MSPs: “It is utterly incredible that some 1,629 days since the European Union referendum, […]

Boris Johnson has scrambled together a new unit in Downing Street to manage the government’s response to the “nightmare scenario” of a no-deal Brexit. The winter control and co-ordination cell, based in No 10, will report daily confidential briefings to the prime minister about emerging threats such as a surge in Covid-19 cases and extreme […]

A radio presenter has made a passionate plea for Brexiteers to let go of their “incoherent anger” – insisting they will not be blamed for the outcome of their vote. LBC radio presenter James O’Brien was keen for Brexiteers to drop the anger now that the UK has left the European Union, after still receiving […]

Former Tory chancellor George Osborne has claimed that one of the biggest winners of Brexit will be the European Union. Writing in the Evening Standard, Osborne said that although the “sovereignists” would be clear victors, he said there was so few of them who would actually welcome the outcome of Brexit. He explained: “Even among Eurosceptics, […]

Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe has been accused of making “hollow promises” about the benefits of Brexit after he confirmed the new Grenadier cars will be built in France, and not in Wales, as had been hoped. The firm said the former Mercedes-Benz Hambach factory in Moselle, France, will build the new model of 4x4s following a deal […]

A BBC presenter has clashed with two Labour MPs over a series of “clarifications” about Boris Johnson’s ‘oven-ready deal’ Brexit deal comments after she claimed he had only promised to deliver the Withdrawal Agreement. On Tuesday’s programme, Politics Live presenter Jo Coburn dismissed suggestions from Labour MP Angela Eagle that the prime minister has misled the electorate with […]

A war of words has broken out after a BBC presenter was criticised after issuing two clarifications over Boris Johnson’s ‘oven-ready deal’ Brexit deal comments, claiming he had only promised to deliver the Withdrawal Agreement. On Tuesday’s programme, Politics Live presenter Jo Coburn dismissed suggestions from Labour MP Angela Eagle that the prime minister has misled […]

Michael Gove has been challenged to explain why it is a good thing that Northern Ireland is given the “best of both worlds” with access to the benefits of the UK and European Union, but that it should not apply to England, Scotland or Wales. Gove told reporters that the agreement with the EU will […]

Tory Brexit hardliners have issued a fresh warning to Boris Johnson ahead of his meeting with EU leaders in Brussels. Sir Bill Cash, chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, told the prime minister that they will be “watching” with “great diligence” over what he proposes and they hope their confidence in him will be justified. The MP […]

Tory claims that Boris Johnson’s “oven-ready deal” only referred to the Withdrawal Agreement have been disproven by the re-emergence of a video from the last general election. MPs on the government’s benches have scrambled to dismiss questions about the prime minister’s claims of an agreement “ready to go” by claiming it only referred to the […]

Brexiteers in Spain are “the ones who are moaning the most now” about leaving the EU, a Briton living in the country has said. A caller by the name Gareth has told the LBC’s James O’Brien that Remainers living in Europe had “adjusted” to the Brexit process better than “the Leavers”. Gareth, a Remainer with Veterans for Europe,  said […]

The Belgian prime minister had reminded Boris Johnson that the UK’s Covid-19 vaccine was actually “Made in Europe”. Alexander De Croo trolled Johnson after he tweeted his thanks “to our NHS, to all of the scientists who worked so hard to develop this vaccine, to all the volunteers” as the UK began its roll-out of […]

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has been reminded that he swore on his job that the government would not back down on the Internal Market Bill. Hours after MPs voted to reinstate clauses which break international law into the Brexit bill after the Lords rejected them, Gove announced that it would drop parts of the […]

MPs could be forced to sit in the House of Commons over Christmas to rush through a Brexit deal if one is agreed with the European Union at the last minute ahead of the end of the transition period. It is expected the House of Commons will rise on Monday 21 December to Monday 4 […]

A food and beverage boss has described preparing for Brexit in the middle of a pandemic like “an assault on people’s headspace”.  Ian Wright, chief executive of the UK’s Food and Drink Federation, told a Commons committee on his industry faces a triple whammy of financial hardship if Downing Street proceeds forward with leaving the EU […]