News and Opinion

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 […]

Before the referendum voters were blind to the impact. Would they, asks VERNON BOGDANOR, have voted to leave had they known the hit living standards would take? The referendum of June 2016 was ‘unfinished business by a long way’. Because the victory was so narrow, there has been ‘an unstoppable demand for a re-run’. ‘Win […]

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 […]

David Davis has admitted no assessment of the impact Brexit will have on the UK economy has been done. The astonishing revelation came as the Brexit Secretary faced a grilling from MPs over the state of the country’s bungled attempts to leave the European Union. The news that no time had been spent on a […]

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 […]

Behind the plots and schemes to achieve the hardest possible Brexit, a tangled web is beginning to emerge. PETER GEOGHEGAN investigates the figures pulling strings behind the scenes. ‘Putin’s link to Boris and Gove’s Brexit ‘coup’ revealed,’ declared a headline in the Mail on Sunday. A few weeks ago, the pair of UK ministers had […]

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 […]

MICHAEL WHITE on the Brexit impact papers and the Chancellor’s spending sleight of hand. Be careful what you wish for. After months of campaigning for publication of Brexit impact assessments which Whitehall is supposed to have produced for 58 sectors of the UK economy, MPs finally got 850 pages of paperwork on Monday night. Were […]

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 […]

‘Irish Border unthinkable’ says Boris Johnson. ‘Isn’t this the same person that said the EU could go a whistle for more money and that £350m a week would go to the NHS…?’ asks reader Tony Howarth. ‘Irish Border unthinkable’ says Boris Johnson. Isn’t this the same person that said the EU could go a whistle […]

The DUP have slammed the brakes on Brexit leaving Theresa May red-faced during crunch talks in Brussels. It had appeared London and the European Union were about to strike a deal that would have allowed discussions to move on to trade. But suggestions the pact might involve Northern Ireland remaining in the customs union and […]

In the week Pope Francis met Aung San Suu Kyi, WILL WORLEY speaks to Zahid Hussein at a camp in Bangladesh for Rohingya refugees after he was forced to watch as his village destroyed by Burmese security forces. ‘Of course I have nightmares,’ says Zahid Hussein. ‘It’s constantly in my mind. When it gets too […]

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 […]

Progressive parties must get their act together and address immigration if we are to avoid a Hard Brexit, writes environmentalist and Green thinker JONATHON PORRITT. Will there be a single inflection point – when the grim state of the Brexit balance sheet becomes undeniable to all but a small number of Brexit-at-any-cost ideologues? Probably not, […]

A crunch Brexit meeting is ‘not a deadline’ according to Number 10 as talks over the Irish border continue to stall progress. Theresa May will today meet with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, in what has been described as a ‘crucial’ moment in negotiations. Last month […]

In an open letter to Jeremy Corbyn, Editor-at-Large ALASTAIR CAMPBELL spells out how fighting Brexit could win Labour the next election. Dear Jeremy, I recently drafted a speech which I was hoping you might use to announce a change of Labour’s position on Brexit. Sadly, this seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Undeterred, I […]

Labour has offered hope the party could still back a second referendum on EU membership at the end of negotiations. Shadow International Trade Secretary Barry Gardiner said although it was not current Labour policy to have a second vote he could not rule out the possibility. He stressed that stating support for another referendum would […]

With on-going investigations into Russian links to Trumps election campaign, will his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, be the first of Trump’s family to be charged. PAUL CONNEW reports. It looks like being a far from cushy 2018 for Jared Kushner, Donald Trump’s son-in-law and senior White House adviser. Kushner appears destined to become the first member […]

The public want a second referendum after the Government botched the first round of Brexit negotiations, according to a new poll. The Survation poll showed 50% of people now believe there should be another vote on the final deal. Just 34% think no further referendum is needed. The poll also showed that 41% of people […]

Post Brexit, Unilever and Shell could take advantage of lower corporate taxes in the Netherlands. ANGELA JAMESON reports. While we have all been braced to hear which American and Asian banks will hotfoot it out of London when Brexit comes, we should perhaps be more worried by signs that two huge British companies are thinking […]

Nigel Farage will not give up his £73,000 European Union pension despite demanding Britain should not pay billions for a divorce bill. The UKIP MEP, who has sat in the European Parliament since 1999, is set to pocket £73,000 in pension payments every year in 10 years once he reaches the age of 63. Negotiators […]

In a very personal reflection on Brexit, YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN recalls her own journey of identity from Colonial subject, to Briton, to European. This is a tale of transformation, from inherited historical prejudices to new awakenings, from distrust to ardour, from a wince to a kiss. None of it was planned. I was unaware of the […]

British attacks on the Republic’s stance are wide of the mark and underscore why Ireland, one of the UK’s few potential allies in the exit negotiations, will stay on team EU, writes JASON WALSH. Ireland’s minority Government dodged the bullet of a snap election just two weeks before Brexit negotiations on the border have to […]

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 […]