Brexit

Brexit minister Lord Frost and the European Commission’s Maros Sefcovic will hold talks in Brussels on Thursday as efforts continue to resolve issues around Northern Ireland. The meeting was confirmed by the European Commission, which said the pair will “take stock of ongoing technical work” on the Northern Ireland Protocol. The minister and the commission […]

UK trade with the EU has slightly recovered in February after it had seen a record slump following its exit from the trading bloc. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that exports to the EU rose by £3.7 billion – or 46.6% – following a £5.7 billion decline in January. It said the increase […]

Northern Ireland is still a peacemaking success story. But 23 years after Good Friday Agreement, the region should be further towards reconciliation and social justice There is no mystery about the grassroots unionist anger that has led to street violence in Northern Ireland in recent weeks. Telling communities to be angry has been the political […]

Significant differences remain between the government and the European Union over the operation of the Brexit deal in Northern Ireland, No 10 has said. Talks have continued between the two sides, with European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic and Brexit minister Lord Frost picking up the phone last week. But Downing Street said there are still […]

A new cross-party group comprising of MPs, business leaders and economic exports is being established to provide independent scrutiny of the UK’s trade deals with Europe and the rest of the world. The Trade and Business Commission will be co-convened by Labour MP Hilary Benn and the chairman of Virgin Group, Peter Norris. It will […]

Leading pollster PETER KELLNER on the ways that public opinion on the issue has changed, and what it means for pro-Europeans. Two big lessons can be learned about public opinion since Britain’s agreement with the EU came into force in January. The first is that there has been a clear rise in support for Brexit. […]

Jacob-Rees Mogg, Boris Johnson and Matt Gaetz are in the firing line as comedian Mitch Benn hands out another set of his weekly awards. MASSIVE BRASS ONES OF THE WEEK …were to be found clanking away beneath the oddly-cut pinstripes of Britain’s Best Christian, Jacob Rees Mogg.  He welcomed the dawn on Easter Sunday by, […]

The SNP has described the comments made by Scottish Tory candidate Douglas Lumsden on Brexit as “appalling”. Lumsden, who is standing in Aberdeen Central, told BBC’s Newsnight that Brexit was “out of the way now”. The Aberdeen City Council co-leader also said that there were “some hiccups at the start of Brexit” but “we’re through […]

Britain - with one of the highest death rates in the world - is not the country that should be pointing accusatory fingers.

There have been further calls for calm after another night of violence in Northern Ireland which left another 19 police officers injured. Secretary of state Brandon Lewis is to meet Stormont political parties to discuss the situation. The violence was at a lower level on Thursday evening than it had been on Wednesday, but officers […]

Northern Ireland’s former police ombudsman Baroness Nuala O’Loan has criticised first minister Arlene Foster for calling for the resignation of the police chief. Lady O’Loan also criticised the UK government for acting on the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland without agreement from Brussels, saying if ministers take the law into their own hands “it does […]

Rioters have been blasted with a water cannon by police as unrest continued on the streets of Northern Ireland. After shocking scenes provoked calls for calm this week, violence again flared up on the streets of west Belfast, amid rising tensions in the area. Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths […]

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 […]