Brexit

Ireland’s foreign affairs minister has said the EU is negotiating with a partner it “simply cannot trust” after the UK’s latest Brexit move. Simon Coveney described the UK’s government’s unilateral decision to continue Irish Sea border grace periods until October as “very frustrating”. Speaking on RTE Radio 1, Coveney said Downing Street is breaking the […]

The UK government has defended its unilateral decision to continue Irish Sea border grace periods until October as the minimum step necessary. The first of the light-touch regulation schemes on goods from the rest of the UK transiting to Northern Ireland had been due to expire at the end of March. Supermarkets would have had […]

Loyalist paramilitary organisations have told prime minister Boris Johnson they are withdrawing support for Northern Ireland’s historic peace agreement. The outlawed groups said they were temporarily withdrawing their backing of the Belfast/Good Friday accord amid mounting concerns about the contentious Northern Ireland Protocol governing Irish Sea trade post-Brexit. However, they stressed that unionist opposition to […]

MITCH BENN with his weekly look back at some of the highlights and lowlights of recent days… BLAME-DODGE OF THE WEEK So at last we know whose fault the spectacular and ongoing implosion of Brexit is. And it’s a bit of a jaw-dropper.  So who is to blame? The prime minister? The previous prime minister(s)? […]

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, where the government accused the EU of being selfish over shellfish. Environment secretary George Eustice started the tussles by claiming Brussels was flexing its muscles on mussels, […]

The UK’s spending watchdog has said in its latest analysis to accompany Rishi Sunak’s budget that the prime minister’s Brexit deal will shrink the economy by 4%. The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) said there was very little in Johnson’s deal that would change the prediction of a long-term loss to productivity over 15 years. […]

Reverend Nicholas Baines has called on the government to launch a public education campaign on notions of sovereignty following Britain’s exit from the EU. Speaking in House of Lords, Reverend Baines asked why “pooled sovereignty” with the EU was considered unworkable for the UK but not when it is pooled with the United States. “Notions of sovereignty […]

CHRISTINE JARDINE calls for the government to clean up the mess left behind by Brexit and its failed Covid support schemes. This week will be a pivotal moment for our economy and for all our futures. When the chancellor gets to his feet to deliver the budget, millions of people who have seen their lives, […]

Former prime minister David Cameron has claimed that the EU referendum was ‘necessary’ and defended his decision process that led to the vote being held. Cameron defended the vote while speaking to parliament’s National Security Strategy Committee. He explained: “The Brexit referendum was discussed and called in 2013, two years before the general election and three […]

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds has accused the government of “furiously trying to manage expectations down” over its post Brexit trading arrangements for financial services. Ahead of Rishi Sunak’s Budget, the Labour frontbencher said she was “particularly concerned” over the uncertainty surrounding the memorandum of understanding with the EU for the sector. There was she added a […]

The European Commission expects permanent post-Brexit border control posts to be ready in Northern Ireland by the middle of this year. Commission spokesman Daniel Ferrie said the UK had obligations to meet under the Northern Ireland Protocol, which governs the trade in goods from the rest of the UK. Irish Sea checks required under the […]

Vote Leave turned Brexit into its own religion to capture supporters, a recent study by the universities of Birmingham and Warwick has found. Researchers said slogans such as “take back control” used the NHS as the country’s Holy Grail that could be rescued from European forces threatened by Britain’s unique historical place in the world. They also said […]

A post-Brexit move to dilute human rights laws in the UK would undermine Northern Ireland’s historic peace agreement, academics have warned. Amending the provisions of the Human Rights Act (HRA) risks upsetting the delicate constitutional balance achieved in the 1998 Good Friday accord, experts from Queen’s University claim. The concerns of the academics from Queen’s […]

Time and money is being wasted chasing unnecessary paperwork for businesses exporting from Northern Ireland to the EU, a leading cargo firm said. Belfast Port and Northern Irish hauliers are losing out because of red tape associated with duties which do not need to be paid, Quay Cargo Services said. The firm is based in […]

Two out of five small businesses are not clear about new rules for posting goods to the EU since the start of the year, new research suggests. A survey of 500 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) found that one in six were not even aware of new EU posting requirements. Many of those questioned by […]

Boris Johnson has supported calls for a campaign to promote British seafood during a video conference with Conservative MPs from coastal areas. Johnson also promised to address concerns surrounding quotas and the ban on shellfish exports to the EU, following massive trade disruptions for British fishermen. MORE: George Eustice claims EU ‘unexpectedly’ changed its position on […]

Joe Biden’s nomination as trade representative has said she wants to “review” the progress and objectives of negotiations on a UK-US deal. In a confirmation hearing before the Senate finance committee, Katherine Tai said she would examine the situation in the light of the UK’s Brexit deal and against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. […]

Warm words about climate action are one thing. But Brexit means it's likely all we will get is hot air. 

What would one mean, and how do we achieve it?

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 […]