Brexit

Tory hardliners have been dealt a blow after a senior US Treasury department official warned that a hard Brexit could hurt global financial stability. David Malpass, Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, said the US was working with officials in the UK and EU to limit the risks of Britain’s withdrawal from the bloc. The admission […]

Margaret Thatcher’s former press secretary has urged Theresa May to ditch diplomacy in Brexit talks with the EU and claimed the Northern Irish “might be glad of a hard border”. Sir Bernard Ingham, who served as Thatcher’s chief spinner from 1979 to 1990, also bizarrely claimed that the Union’s “Franco-German bosses and their lackeys” were […]

The return of a hard border in Northern Ireland would be a “political failure”, a former head of the Army has said. General Lord Richard Dannatt was commissioned into The Green Howards regiment in 1971, serving in Northern Ireland and receiving the Military Cross at the age of 22. His comments come days after reports […]

Comments like Brexiteer Boris Johnson’s letterbox remarks have fuelled hate crime, a Labour MP said today as it emerged it rose by nearly a fifth last year. David Lammy said politicians like the former foreign secretary must take responsibility for their language as police figures revealed there were 94,098 hate crime offences in total in […]

Older people are significantly less informed about the potentially disastrous impact of Brexit on their pets, a survey has revealed. The poll for the National Office of Animal Health showed just 9% of pet owners over 55 believe that the health of the UK’s pets could decline significantly as a result of Brexit, compared with […]

Theresa May is preparing to update her divided Cabinet on the Brexit deadlock as Brussels warned Britain is “more likely than ever before” to crash out of the EU without a deal. The prime minister has insisted an exit agreement is still “achievable” despite negotiations stalling just days ahead of a crunch summit. European Council […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Yes, it’s the annual Scottish special in which the producers attempt to placate those who complain it ignores matters north of the border, only for […]

Growing numbers of voters want the government to negotiate a “soft” Brexit, new research has found. The survey found more than two fifths of voters (43%) would like Brexit negotiations to end with the UK in a close relationship with the remaining EU, along the lines of Norway’s membership of the European Economic Area. The […]

DUP MPs who prop up Theresa May’s government are preparing to vote against her budget if the prime minister breaks their Brexit red lines. The radical move is one of the options being considered by the DUP if attempts to nail down a deal with Brussels include any proposals that would leave Northern Ireland being […]

Brexit is an “intractable” problem which threatens to undermine America’s role as a major player in Europe’s security, former US vice president Joe Biden has said. Biden, who served as deputy to Barack Obama during his two terms in the White House, told an event in London that the special relationship between the UK and […]

Your holiday flights to Europe could be grounded in the event of an “unfriendly” Brexit, the head of the Whitehall spending watchdog has warned. Sir Amyas Morse, the head of the National Audit Office, said many existing arrangements with the EU would require “goodwill” on both sides if they were to continue if Britain leaves […]

U2 rocker Bono has called on artists to celebrate the “romance” of Europe at a time when the value of the EU has come under question. Visiting the European Parliament in Brussels, the singer hailed the European institutions as both a “brain… working to improve the lives of Europeans” and a “loudly beating heart” bringing […]

Britain is expected to lose around 5,000 City jobs by Brexit Day and could see its £72bn in annual taxes from the sector come under threat, the government has admitted. Treasury minister John Glen told a House of Lords committee that he backed a previous prediction by the Bank of England that around 5,000 financial […]

A university has won a year-long fight sparked after a Conservative MP and leading Brexiteer wrote to universities across the UK asking for the names of lecturers teaching courses on Brexit and the content of their lessons. The University of Worcester won its fight which came after Chris Heaton-Harris, a then government whip and member […]

A skeleton has emerged from the environment secretary’s closet in the form of an odd early 90s Channel 4 programme Remember when Michael Gove stole the rubbish from the front gardens of Sting, David Attenborough and Anita Roddick and rifled through their contents? Or when he compared Prince Charles to Hitler? Chances are you don’t. […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from London’s financial capital Canary Wharf, where the average salary is £100,000, the country’s biggest Waitrose has a temperature-controlled wine cellar and one restaurant, the Boisdale, boasts a cigar menu. But […]

With its dystopian visions and 16-bit images of Somerset pubs clad in UKIP posters, Not Tonight is no Sonic the Hedgehog It had to happen. Edinburgh this year was awash with Brexit-themed plays and stand-up comedy. James Graham’s TV drama on the referendum airs early next year. Even Arron Banks’ simultaneously bombastic and boring book, […]

A three-time UKIP leadership challenger who posed for a picture with a golliwog and had to deny endorsing Hitler has quit the party, citing its move to the right. Bill Etheridge, an MEP for the West Midlands who stood unsuccessfully three times for the party leadership, said the party was now seen by “large swathes” […]

3.3 million Leave voters now support a People’s Vote with the option to Remain, a new poll has revealed. The research, from anti-Brexit campaign group Best for Britain and HOPE not hate, could deal a massive blow to Brexiteers who claim the British public definitively made up their minds in 2016, and adds to growing […]

Campaigners are preparing to launch a legal challenge to demand the government holds a public inquiry into political interference during the Brexit referendum. Pressure group Fair Vote UK wants an independent probe – similar to the Mueller investigation in America – to look at concerns over Russian disinformation, the involvement of data companies and electoral […]

Millionaire Brexiteer Arron Banks, barred from joining the Conservatives, has mounted a campaign to deselect “remoaner” Tory MPs. Insurance tycoon Banks, a former Ukip donor who bankrolled the unofficial leave campaign Leave.EU, said the aim was to “make the Conservatives Conservative again”. Banks and his spin doctor Andy Wigmore launched the campaign by tweeting a […]

EU chief negotiator and Brexiteer nemesis Michel Barnier has ruled himself out of the race to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission. In a letter posted on Twitter, the 67-year-old Frenchman said running as the so called Spitzenkandidat of the conservative European People’s Party would be incompatible with his role in the […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme tonight comes from the town hall in Bishop Auckland, where Stan Laurel spent his formative years. But who will get themselves into another nice mess? And who should have kept their big mouth […]

Two senior shadow cabinet members have distanced Labour from a second Brexit referendum just a day after party delegates voted to keep the option on the table. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, said the party would not include a new referendum in its manifesto if a general election was called before March. Her justice […]

Jeremy Corbyn set out the most radical left-wing agenda of any mainstream party in a generation, as he declared that Labour now represents “the new common sense” and is ready to govern. To fervent applause from delegates at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, Corbyn called on prime minister Theresa May to call an early general […]

A new Brexit referendum with an option to remain in the EU is “likely”, the Labour first minister of Wales has said. Carwyn Jones told Wales’ National Assembly that people had “the right to express a view as to whether they wish to leave in circumstances that not one Brexiteer suggested would happen”. It follows […]

Angela Merkel today rejected Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit plan, saying Britain could not have free access to Europe’s single market for goods without accepting the rest of the EU’s four freedoms. The German Chancellor said that Britain had still not expressed a clear position on its post-Brexit relations with the EU, warning that only ‘six […]

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has dished out a stinging slap down to Labour’s leadership at conference telling delegates: ‘Nobody is ruling out Remain.’ His speech in Liverpool received the biggest cheers of the conference so far ending with a lengthy standing ovation. And during the speech around two-thirds of the audience spontaneously got […]

Brexit documents have laid bare the grisly prospect of no deal, with the likelihood of chaos at ports, disruption to food supplies and increased business costs, the government has been warned. Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, said his industry would be hit by “ever more” administrative burdens. He said: “Our […]

Former England star Peter Reid has made a scathing attack on Tory Brexiteers, labelling them “absolute dopes” and calling for a People’s Vote on a final deal. The ex-Everton and Manchester City midfielder told thousands at a rally close to Labour’s party conference in Liverpool that the public “did not realise what they were voting […]

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has today dismissed calls for a People’s Vote and vowed that a Labour government would press ahead with Brexit. McDonnell used an interview on the eve of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool to defy demands among party members for a referendum pledge, restating his preference for a general election to put […]

Theresa May has been warned Britain is “staring down the barrel of no deal” after issuing a Brexit challenge to the EU described as “pathetic, painful and petulant”. A day after her humiliating rebuff from EU leaders in Salzburg, the prime minister attempted to come back fighting, saying there could be no further progress in […]