Brexit

Brandon Lewis is flying to Belfast to hold emergency talks with the main political parties as well as faith and community leaders in an attempt to quell a spate of violence. PA reports that the Northern Ireland secretary will meet with first minister Arlene Foster, from the DUP, and deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill, from Sinn […]

Sir Keir Starmer has urged Boris Johnson to “step up” and convene all-party talks, as he noted Unionist concerns that the prime minister’s Brexit promises are not being kept. The Labour leader, a former human rights adviser to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said there is “no justification” for the rioting. But he acknowledged there […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson has condemned violence that again broke out on the streets of Northern Ireland, after a bus was hijacked and set on fire. The bus was set alight after being pelted with petrol bombs at the junction of Lanark Way and Shankill Road in west Belfast, the PSNI said. It was one […]

JPMorgan may move all of its EU-focused business out of London and into Europe due to Brexit, the bank’s boss has said. Jamie Dimon said the move would be “many years out” but warned London needed to “adapt and reinvent itself” after Brexit. Dimon said “few winners are likely to emerge” from the UK’s decision […]

The slow comeback of normal life is wonderful, it does tend to feel as hollow as a leftover Easter egg when also coming back rapidly is tension in Belfast and Derry. “It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain,” is how this column starts every week, but how can that […]

Critics of the Northern Ireland protocol have failed to provide alternatives, the EU’s ambassador to the UK said as he slammed politicians looking to tear up the agreement. João Vale de Almeida called on unionist leaders to focus on making the protocol work rather than fighting against it, pledging Brussels’ commitment to flexibility on its […]

Labour has written to the International Trade Secretary with more than 230 questions about the implications of the UK joining a mammoth free trade pact that includes Australia, Canada and Japan. Shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry urged Liz Truss to reopen the public consultation on the UK joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership […]

The Stormont Assembly is set to be recalled for an emergency debate following days of violence and disorder in parts of Northern Ireland. Alliance Party leader Naomi Long had called for MLAs to debate a motion condemning the recent attacks on police in loyalist areas. The party secured the required support of 30 Assembly members […]

Violence has broken out on the streets of Northern Ireland again, despite appeals for calm. A car was set alight in Sperrin Park in the Waterside area of Londonderry, while there were also reports of violent incidents in Carrickfergus, near Belfast on Monday night. Both locations have been the scene of violence and unrest among […]

Covid-19 has overshadowed the splits over Brexit that dominated the last general election Boris Johnson was only three months on from his December 2019 election win when a pandemic was declared. The world has changed entirely since then, and the UK has suffered enormously. More than 125,000 people have died of COVID-19. Per capita, this […]

Britons are being accused of ‘ignoring’ new rules to leave Spain after legislation was passed that would mean those choosing to live “under the radar” could face deportation or fines. The British community in Spain are allegedly “burying their heads in the sand” over new Brexit rules on residency that come into effect this week. It comes as […]

A vaccine ban would essentially get Boris Johnson off the hook over coronavirus and Brexit.  Last week’s letters were full of debate about vaccine rates, but one thing is certain: if the EU does go ahead with its proposed vaccine export ban, it will essentially get Boris Johnson off the hook for both coronavirus and […]

A class action has been launched against the government’s post-Brexit Irish Sea trading arrangements, with a DUP MP named as one of those behind the fight. The claim form lodged with the High Court this week names Ballymena haulage company Blair International and North Antrim politician Ian Paisley as the initial claimants. The action, which […]

The UK is poised for a “decade of unprecedented economic change” after Covid-19 and Brexit, a report has claimed. It comes ahead of the launch of a three-year-long inquiry, with economic and policy experts seeking to examine the nature of economic change and what it means for people. The Economy Inquiry 2030 is part of […]

Applications for the right to stay in the UK through the EU Settlement scheme have not yet been made for the majority of EU children in care and care leavers, research has found. Applications for just 39% of known children in care or care leavers eligible for the scheme have been submitted, according to the […]

Ten EU member states have said they will no longer extradite their nationals to the UK following Brexit, the Home Office has said. Countries including France, Germany and Poland have informed the UK of their refusal to allow the extradition of their nationals. Two more – Austria and the Czech Republic – will only hand […]

Flags have dominated the news agenda in recent weeks as debates about national identity rumble on. If you’ve only been casually checking into the news – and after the few years we have all had, who could blame you? – you might be forgiven for thinking that the world is suddenly quiet. What other possible reason […]

Talks are to be held with Brussels over post-Brexit trade difficulties between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, cabinet office minister Lord Frost has said. The Tory frontbencher told peers at his first dedicated question time in the Lords, that a “specialised committee” would meet on Friday March 26, to consider “all the issues” related to implementing […]

The loss of access to EU policing data has been branded concerning by peers, who fear new law enforcement arrangements put in place after Brexit are “complex” and “untested”. The Lords EU Security and Justice Sub-Committee examined security provisions in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) introduced after the UK left the EU, warning “significant […]

There remain “substantial barriers” for UK trade with Europe, with small businesses bearing the brunt of the post-Brexit strain, according to peers. A report by the House of Lords’ EU Goods Sub-Committee has warned small firms are “feeling the squeeze” since the Brexit deal with Brussels came into force in January. The committee is calling […]

It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain, where trade and vaccine squabbles with the EU are threatening to overwhelm our nation’s jab euphoria. Exactly what might have made the Europeans so suspicious of the lie-telling, law-breaking, flag-hugging UK will remain a mystery, but while Boris Johnson and David Frost […]

Touring could become “prohibitively bureaucratic and expensive” for musicians and other performers based in the UK because of Brexit, a committee of peers has warned. The Lords EU Services Sub-Committee also warned in a report on Wednesday that significant gaps remain for the services sector trading with the bloc, causing a prolonged period of uncertainty. […]

British weather and “grow-your-own food” will be among the themes celebrated during the Festival of Brexit, organisers have announced. A total 10 teams have been chosen to host events which includes showcasing the largest home-made vegetable patch project in modern times. The carnival remains a contentious issue among the public who say it is ‘politically motivated’ and a waste of £120million […]

The home secretary has said she will make “no apology” for tougher immigration rules as she announces “the biggest overhaul of the UK’s asylum system in decades”. Details of Priti Patel’s new plan for immigration, detailing how the government intends to deal with people entering the UK “illegally”, will be set out on Wednesday. The […]

Brexit has contributed to a shortage of flower pickers in the UK, a bulb grower has said. Ordinarily, Taylors Bulbs in Holbeach, Lincolnshire, harvests around 2.5 million cut daffodil flowers per year. Kevin Haynes, horticulture manager, said he expects the firm to harvest around a third of that this year due to a lack of […]

The Brexit vote and subsequent negotiations have reinforced an image of the UK as insular and exceptionalist. It will need a rebrand if it wants continued success away from the EU. As the UK prepares for economic recovery from COVID and makes the best of Brexit, it is striking that there has been no talk […]

Conservative rebels have failed in their bid to prevent ministers from signing trade agreements with countries implicated in genocide following Brexit. The House of Commons voted 319 to 297, majority 22, to disagree with a Lords amendment to the Trade Bill. This would have established a parliamentary panel of judicial experts to determine whether any […]

The government has acquired a second plane painted in the colours of the Union flag to ferry the prime minister and other dignitaries around on short-haul trips. The six-month-old Airbus A321 was captured at Stansted Airport at the weekend with the new red, white and blue paintwork, The Independent revealed. Downing Street came under fire last […]

Sir Keir Starmer said Labour would not fight “yesterday’s wars” after rejecting criticism of a pro-EU choice for the Hartlepool by-election. Dr Paul Williams, who was an opponent of Brexit and backed a People’s Vote, is standing in the constituency in which almost 70% voted to Leave in the 2016 referendum. But the Labour leader has […]

Independence for Scotland would be like Brexit on a rocket to Mars, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has said. Speaking at the UK Liberal Democrat spring conference, Rennie said now is not the moment for the “long, divisive, argumentative, exhausting, all-consuming event” of another referendum on the issue. SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford has […]

MPs can “send a signal” to China and “give hope” to victims of human rights abuses by supporting a House of Lords amendment to the post-Brexit Trade Bill, a former Conservatives leader said. The government will seek in the Commons to overturn the amendment which would limit its ability to strike agreements with countries involved […]

As the pride of the British fleet prepares to sail to the South China Seas, MARK MARDELL offers a timely analysis of what ‘Global Britain’ might actually mean. There’s little that says ‘Global Britain’ so well as traveling halfway around the world to deliver the message “Come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough!” The Royal […]