Brexit

Brexit and the UK government’s handling of it has undermined the case for the union and is driving up support for independence, the Scottish Conservative leader has warned. Douglas Ross said there has been a failure to resolve Brexit divisions and the SNP government at Holyrood “benefits from intergovernmental disputes”. He suggested there is a […]

Boris Johnson has pulled out of an appearance at the annual conference of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) after the organisation issued warnings about a second lockdown and Brexit. CBI president Lord Bilimoria said it was only the second time a prime minister had not spoken at the event. The group’s director general Dame […]

A former Brexit Party candidate has accused the EU of being ‘spiteful’ after it rejected a UK request to allow Britons to continue using passport fast lanes across Europe after Brexit. Ex-South Shields Brexit Party candidate and South Tyneside councillor Glenn Thompson accused the EU of “spite [and] nothing else” after it emerged the bloc refused to give […]

Labour peer and political commentator Andrew Adonis has claimed that the US election result next week could spark the “end of Brexit”. Lord Adonis, a TNE contributor, provoked a debate after pointing out that if Donald Trump fails to make it back into the White House it could cause a domino effect with populist politicians – […]

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said that “much remains to be done” to broker a post-Brexit trade deal as negotiations continued in Brussels. He said they are working hard to get an agreement but that there were still significant gaps after seven days of “intensive negotiations” in London. Talks with his Downing Street counterpart, […]

The EU has been so successful in its original aim that is now suffering from a dangerous lack of direction, says Simon Anholt. This can be simply addressed Over the years I’ve encountered many parts of the ‘international system’: the United Nations and its family of organisations, the World Trade Organisation, Nato, all kinds of […]

Dr Balazs Szent-Ivanyi looks at Hungary’s view on the Brexit situation. Like many other EU member states, Hungary saw Brexit as a pivotal event in the course of European integration. However, the Hungarian government has engaged very little with the Brexit process itself, and only focused on a limited set of issues. Following the 2016 […]

As Britain’s future trade talks with the EU 27 edge towards what we hope will be some sort of amicable resolution, at home Boris Johnson grapples over free school meals with a 22-year-old footballer who didn’t win the Eton-and-Oxford Lottery. It made me think of a long-dead trades union activist whom I admired. Moderate but […]

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss has issued a dig about Donald Trump’s approach to trade, and has insisted British values would not be compromised for post-Brexit trade deals. Truss said Britain would reject a Donald Trump-style “Britain First” approach as she criticised “values-free globalisation” in a keynote speech in London. In a Chatham House address Truss said […]

With 65 days to go until the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union, the approval rating of the EU leadership has never been higher among Britons, according to a new poll. The latest Gallup polling finds that 49% of Britons approve of the EU leadership, a 12 point rise from the 37% […]

Questions have been raised over Nigel Farage’s quarantine status after he appeared on stage at a Donald Trump rally in the US. Footage of Farage giving a speech at Trump’s re-election rally in Arizona overnight has raised concerns the Brexit Party leader flouted US quarantine regulations. According to the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the US’s national public […]

Ministers are having to hire consultants to deal with the Brexit process because government fears it will become overwhelmed by a second wave of Covid-19 cases, leaked documents have revealed. According to the Telegraph, the Cabinet Office has requested consultants help it respond “rapidly to any worsening Covid crisis” until March 2021 as the Brexit […]

A cross-party group of MPs and peers have filed legal proceedings against the government, accusing ministers of failing to protect the UK’s democracy against Russian interference during the EU referendum and subsequent elections. The claimants, backed by a former national security adviser, have accused the prime minister of wanting to “keep us in the dark” […]

International Trade Secretary Liz Truss is to rule out a Donald Trump-style “Britain First” post-Brexit economic strategy as she criticises “values-free globalisation” in a keynote speech in London. In a speech which appears to show her manoeuvring towards appealing to US president nominee Joe Biden, Truss will say she wants a “values-driven free trade agenda” in […]

Two-thirds of Britons think the government has failed in negotiations with the EU, while 57% would blame the UK government if the Brexit transition period ended without a deal in place, according to a new opinion poll. The polling, conducted by YouGov, finds that the public thinks that leaving the transition period without a deal in […]

A business minister has sparked concerns about pig semen after his comments on post-Brexit border checks within the UK. Conservative frontbencher Lord Callanan was replying to a question from Labour’s Lord Rooker about how measures in the government’s Brexit legislation would affect pig semen imports, telling the Lords: “I was slightly struggling to understand the relevance […]

Less than a quarter of UK businesses trust the government on Brexit, new polling has revealed. More than 40% said the coronavirus had derailed their plans to prepare for Brexit, a poll commission by City A.M. had shown. In a separate poll by market research group Opinium, only 11% felt confident that a trade deal […]

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 […]