Brexit

The Green Party has accused the government of “ripping up” environmental protections in the UK after Brexit. Co-leader Jonathan Bartley said that it was “clear” that the UK leaving the European Union would leave weaker protections from the environment, and the formation of a new Office of Environmental Protection (OEP) watchdog will not alleviate those […]

Dominic Cummings’ unpaid council tax bill could fund thousands of free school meals, a report has found. Figures from the Evening Chronicle show Cummings’ debts could cover more than 23,000 meals in County Durham. Cummings owes £50,000 in unpaid council tax on two homes built in breach of regulations. Instead of the charges being backdated, Cummings will now only […]

The government’s attempts to put sovereignty over cooperation will leave us all worse off from Brexit. As the UK-EU deal or no-deal drama limps on, most attention focuses on the economic consequences of a new trade relationship. But UK health security – in the sense of measures to prevent and mitigate health emergencies such as […]

The Department for International Trade has come under heavy fire after claiming soy sauce, which Britain currently enjoys tariff-free access to as a member of the EU, will be cheaper after Brexit. Liz Truss’ department used a Japanese-themed episode of the Great British Bake Off to claim that the price of soy sauce in the UK […]

A win for Joe Biden in next week’s US presidential elections could force Boris Johnson to water down his Brexit bill. Peers in the House of Lords are set to vote down six clauses in the internal market bill that would undermine Britain’s divorce deal with the EU during a vote on November 9, almost a […]

Boris Johnson allegedly “hid in his bedroom” to avoid questions on Brexit days before he was set to become prime minister in July 2019. Former Tory adviser Peter Cardwell claimed in his new book The Secret Life of Special Advisers that Johnson and his team ran upstairs to his bedroom to escape questions from Iain […]

Deloitte and McKinsey are among a raft of private companies awarded £180 million in Brexit-related contracts by the government. Data released by the government and analysed by the Byline Times has revealed that six firms were handed identical contracts worth £30 million each for the provision of “strategic programme management” regarding the end of Brexit transition period. […]

Boris Johnson is acting as a “human shield” for the Tories during Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, a political commentator has claimed. Benedict Spence, a Telegraph columnist, has said that the prime minister is “soaking up the political flack” during the pandemic, and he has claimed it is unlikely anyone will manoeuvre to replace him […]

Powers enabling ministers to break international law could be stripped from controversial Brexit legislation by peers within days. The UK Internal Market Bill is undergoing detailed line-by-line scrutiny in the House of Lords, and is currently scheduled for four days of consideration at committee stage. The legislation sets out the way that trade within the […]

The EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier has delayed his return to Brussels and is expected to remain in the UK until Wednesday to carry on intensive discussions with his British counterpart Lord David Frost. Barnier originally arrived in London on Thursday to resume the stalled negotiations and had been expected to return on Sunday ahead […]

Brexiteer Prue Leith has reportedly quit her membership of the Tory Party after the government rejected a motion that would have safeguarded UK food standards. The Great British Bake Off judge has previously expressed concerns about the state of UK standards after Brexit and has called on MPs to not allow countries like America to import inferior food into […]

Did you hear the door slam on Britain’s post-Brexit trade negotiations with the EU27 after Boris Johnson declared them broken off last Friday night? No, neither did deaf old me. But nor did BBC One’s News at Ten which opted to lead its bulletin on Whitehall’s parallel standoff with Covid-hit Manchester, also going badly for […]

Once anticipated as a key milestone on the road to an agreement, this month’s European Council and its aftermath have instead led to greater uncertainty about the prospects of a deal. The signs are not encouraging. With EU leaders standing firm, an expression of disappointment by the UK chief negotiator, Lord Frost, on Friday was […]

The latest phase of Brexit stumbles towards a predictably shambolic end. As with earlier episodes the familiar deluded posturing from the British government is part of the stumbling. After the EU summit, a deadline set by Boris Johnson for a trade deal, Number Ten proclaimed with the usual discordant swagger that the EU negotiators need […]

A German MEP has told Boris Johnson to “stop blaming others for your own actions” as she blasted the prime minister’s handling of the Brexit process. Theresa Reintke, an MEP for the Greens–European Free Alliance in the European parliament, accused Johnson of lying to the British public during a stinging assessment of his management of Brexit trade […]

The contenders are… THE DAILY EXPRESS With fingers crossed and touching wood, the American election that is now less than two weeks away looks to be not going too well for Donald Trump. Unless, of course, you are a reader of the Express online, where recent headlines have included “Joe Biden on brink as Donald Trump […]

“I’m skint,” said Nigel Farage three years ago, blaming “20 years of spending more than you earn”. Who better, then, to launch a new service advising people on what to do with their money? With a characteristically breezy lack of shame, this is exactly what the nicotine-stained man-frog has done. Fortune & Freedom With Nigel […]

UK Business leaders on a call with the prime minister Boris Johnson and Michael Gove on Brexit have described the meeting as “pointless”. The virtual meeting to discuss how the government aims to support businesses after the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31 was scheduled on Tuesday morning for 3pm the same day. […]

A Eurosceptic MP has said Boris Johnson should consider cutting ties with the Church of England after his Brexit bill was heavily criticised by senior figures of the church. Former European Research Group chair Steve Baker said the prime minister should think about “paving a motion on the disestablishment of the Church of England” following opposition […]

Theresa May has branded Michael Gove’s claims over a no-deal Brexit as “utter rubbish”. The Conservative former prime minister repeatedly said “what?” in disbelief and appeared to mouth her thoughts as Gove outlined how the UK will be expected to boost its security outside the EU. Cabinet Office minister Gove claimed there are “many, many […]

Former House of Commons speaker Betty Boothroyd has delivered a devastating assessment of Boris Johnson’s government in a speech in the House of Lords. Baroness Boothroyd, who previously said she could not trust Johnson to even run a bath, said in 47 years in parliament she has “never seen trust in a government fall so far […]

The Royal Mint is to produce more commemorative Brexit coins over the next two weeks after MPs complained they were unable to get hold of them. More than two million of the special edition 50p coins – originally distributed on January 31 – will be produced for shops in the coming weeks, despite many restricting the […]

Boris Johnson is pursuing a “Narnia deal” with the EU, Labour warned as they urged the UK government to secure a trade agreement. Shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves said the opposition expects the prime minister and his team to broker an arrangement to enable the UK to trade freely with the EU. Speaking in […]

A Labour MP has called for an apology from the government over its “false promises” of delivering an “oven-ready” deal with the EU. Appearing before Michael Gove at the despatch box, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi said: “The prime minister promised the nation an oven-ready deal and it was avowedly the easiest trade deal in history to […]

A Brexiteer has been accused of “unintentional honesty” after he told a radio presenter that he believed the term “Australia-style” was designed to “pull the wool over voters’ eyes”. Trying to explain to James O’Brien why Boris Johnson was not using the term “no-deal Brexit”, caller Alastair said that it was just a continuation of […]

The EU expects the deadlocks over Brexit talks to last just a matter of days, with the expectation there will be a resumption next week. The Times says EU officials are briefing that a “time out” of no more than a week will give a “cooling off” period after the conclusions of the EU Council summit […]

Brexiteer James Dyson is set to sell his million-pound penthouse in Singapore at a loss – days after claiming people had “got it wrong” that he had abandoned Britain after the Brexit vote. Singapore’s Business Times reports that he is to sell the property at a loss after he accepted an offer of $62 million […]

Former Australian former prime minister Tony Abbott is set to attend his first post-Brexit trade meeting as the government’s new Board of Trade meets for the first time. The new-look panel of politicians, economists and industry figures comes as international trade secretary Liz Truss said it was a “critical moment for the UK and our […]

A minister has finally conceded that an “Australian-style deal” is a no-deal Brexit, after claiming it was a “question of semantics”. Business secretary Alok Sharma appeared on LBC to announce plans to prepare the UK for the “Australian-style deal” which will leave the UK without a trade deal with the European Union. But questioned on what […]

A Brexiteer has attempted to pin the blame for Boris Johnson failing to secure a good Brexit deal on Remainers. LBC Radio caller Steve called David Lammy’s show was a Labour supporter but moved to the Brexit Party over its policy for a second referendum. Asked how he felt about the current situation, he said […]

The government’s controversial new Brexit legislation could set “a disastrous precedent” if passed in its current form, the UK’s archbishops have warned in a rare joint letter. The five senior church leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, said the decisions implemented in the UK Internal Market Bill would “profoundly affect” the relationship between […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called on Boris Johnson to deliver the “oven-ready” Brexit deal he had promised. Sir Keir told the BBC’s Politics Wales show the UK gGovernment should sit down and talk to the EU about differences on fishing quotas and state aid. “I think it is very important that the remaining […]