Brexit

Last year was a record one for the UK’s tech firms. But there may be trouble ahead. By ANGELA JAMESON ​ Two years ago there was no sector more vocal in its opposition to Brexit than the UK’s tech community. In the run-up to the referendum the industry’s leading lights argued that leaving the EU […]

Officials in the UK and US administrations directly involved with trade negotiations are “sceptical” that a deal of any significance between the two countries can be forged after Brexit, according to a report. The report by Harvard University academics, including former shadow chancellor Ed Balls, warns that the kind of free trade agreement (FTA) likely […]

Benedict Cumberbatch will star as Vote Leave’s leading strategist in a Channel 4 drama about the data-driven political campaign for Brexit. The political thriller will be set during the EU referendum. The one-off drama will explore the “myriad tactics employed to swing one of the most surprising referendum results in living memory”. Doctor Strange star […]

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has voted for a referendum on the final Brexit deal. The resolution at the group’s annual meeting in Belfast was passed by 364 votes to 163. It had been proposed by the body’s Greater Glasgow group and mandated the organisation to lobby the government on the issue. The RCN […]

Labour is launching a new parliamentary bid to force the government to release details of its proposals for post-Brexit customs arrangements on the Irish border. The party has tabled a motion in the Commons for debate tomorrow designed to break the “deadlock” over the so-called “customs partnership” and “maximum facilitation” models. The move came as […]

MSPs at Holyrood have formally refused to grant consent to key Brexit legislation from Theresa May’s government. A Scottish Government motion, making clear that Edinburgh Parliament “does not consent” to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill was approved by 93 votes to 30. Despite the vote, Scottish Brexit Minister Mike Russell has vowed this will “not […]

Boris Johnson has insisted he still believes in, and abides by, Cabinet collective responsibility after being mocked for his “crazy” Brexit plans. The foreign secretary answered “of course” when challenged in the Commons about the convention following his public criticism of a customs proposal supported by the prime minister. He also sidestepped Labour questions over […]

A constitutional crisis is looming as the Scottish Parliament appears poised to formally refuse to give consent to Theresa May’s Brexit legislation. After months of wrangling with Westminster over where powers returning from Brussels should go after Brexit, the Scottish Government has submitted a motion making clear it does “not consent to the European Union […]

The recent local election results show that the capital’s Remain vote poses a challenge for both the Conservatives and Labour, writes BARNABY TOWNS Post-election spin about the meaning of May’s local elections is almost as fierce as the contest itself. London’s 2018 all-out local elections — the 14th since the 32 London boroughs were created […]

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 Athenaeum in Bury St Edmunds, where Charles Dickens uses to give readings. But in this age of foolishness and epoch of incredulity, who’s on the panel – and where […]

Britain has always been devious and unjust with immigrants whose lands were colonised, writes YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN The Wikipedia definition of ‘perfidious Albion’ is ‘An Anglophobic pejorative phrase used within the context of international relations and diplomacy to refer to alleged acts of diplomatic sleights, duplicity, treachery and hence infidelity (with respect to perceived promises made […]

The motion put before Parliament this autumn on the final Brexit agreement will be amendable by MPs and its outcome will be binding on the government, David Davis has said. The Brexit secretary said the motion – which prime minister Theresa May has previously described as a “take it or leave it” choice – would […]

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has said that Brexit makes “no sense” and called for a second referendum on Britain staying in the EU. Speaking to the Guardian, the 50-year-old said the EU was not perfect but “was the best idea we had”. The German said: ‘When Mr Cameron had the idea you thought: ‘This is […]

Labour members want a second referendum – so why doesn’t Jeremy Corbyn? Former Labour MP DICK LEONARD thinks pressure from within could still force the leader’s hand​ Are you listening, Jeremy? Your party (our party) wants to have a referendum on the final Brexit terms, with an option to remain. Yet you have turned a […]

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 Chesterfield, the Derbyshire town whose church’s spire is as crooked as the Vote Leave campaign. But who’s on the panel – and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s who […]

Brexit has been made possible by Britain’s constitutional disarray. To fully resolve the first problem, we must tackle the latter, argues philosopher AC GRAYLING In words that could have been written in response to the political and constitutional problem posed by the phenomenon of Brexit in today’s Britain, Alexander Hamilton wrote in the first of […]

Negotiations between the UK, Scottish and Welsh governments over key Brexit legislation are “reaching the end game”, Scotland’s first minister has told MSPs. Nicola Sturgeon said ministers have “days rather than weeks” to reach a deal on the EU Withdrawal Bill, which has entered its final stages in the House of Lords. Scottish secretary David […]

The European Union has issued a fresh warning to the UK that a transitional deal after Brexit will not be secured unless the problem of the Irish border is resolved. European Council president Donald Tusk told MEPs that the UK had created the issue as a result of the Brexit vote and had a duty […]

EEA membership is increasingly looking like the most achievable, and the best we can get, says Labour MP DANIEL ZEICHNER I hate the fact that half our country still seems to want to leave the EU. But if that goes on being the case, we need to find the least worst alternative, and that may […]

The European Parliament is to hold a hearing on citizens who have lost their right to vote in UK elections after living abroad for 15 years. Under the UK government’s “15-year rule” millions of British citizens lose their right after living in another EU nation for more than 15 years. Next week the European Parliament’s […]

Morrissey has claimed that Brexit is “now a dead issue” as “the people said Leave but the EU said no”. The former Smiths frontman and Brexit supporter used a gushing interview with his own website to claim that “England [sic] is today is a country that is not leaving the EU” and that Hungary, Italy, […]

Brexit hardliner Jacob Rees-Mogg began his new LBC phone-in today. We listened in Jacob Rees-Mogg’s new show on what he almost certainly calls the wireless is titled Ring Rees-Mogg. Which is not only pleasingly alliterative, but fitting as it’s entirely plausible that he, or whoever he employs to make his calls, uses an old-fashioned ring […]

Who is on Question Time tonight and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s your guide… The BBC’s flagship current affairs programme returns tonight from the Black-E cultural hub in Liverpool. But who’s on the panel – and where do they stand on Brexit? Here’s who you can expect… Jo Johnson Who? Minister of state […]

Thousands of EU nationals could inadvertently become illegal residents in the UK after Brexit, a new report warns. Domestic abuse victims, children and the elderly are among those at risk of losing their right to remain in Britain despite meeting the required criteria to stay, according to experts. This could be because they struggle to […]

Brexit threatens the very fabric of the Good Friday Agreement, argues Lib Dem MEP CATHERINE BEARDER. But the Brexiteers don’t seem to understand I spent my teenage years watching reports of murders, bombings, fear and terror in my own country, feeling guilty that I was not able to do anything to stop this carnage. So […]

Post-Brexit trade plans will not properly protect the environment, finds a new report from Friends of the Earth – as campaigner KIERRA BOX explains If you like birds, breathing, swimming in the sea, angling, watching nature, a liveable climate, and all the other benefits of strong environmental protections, then you may be shocked to find […]

A council’s website still claims the next elections are for the European Parliament in 2019 – after the date Britain is due to leave the EU. The ‘elections’ page for Conservative-led Vale of Glamorgan Council in South Wales states that “the next scheduled Election is: European Parliamentary Election in June 2019”. The UK is due […]

Barry Gardiner’s comments were arguably worse than Owen Smith’s, but he kept his job. Why? Two shadow cabinet ministers. One, Owen Smith, called for a referendum on the final Brexit deal – admittedly in a break with Labour policy – and was swiftly sacked by leader Jeremy Corbyn. This in spite of the fact that […]

A shadow cabinet minister who described the Good Friday Agreement as a shibboleth has said he is deeply sorry that remarks he made about the deal had led to a “misunderstanding”. Barry Gardiner insisted he “absolutely” did not believe the agreement was outdated and said it was a vital part of the relationship between the […]

DJ Tony Prince has described his new radio station, United DJs, as “the Brexit channel”. So how bad is it? Former Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg DJ Tony Prince has described the new radio station he has founded, United DJs, as “the Brexit channel”. He means it positively. It is “just going to throw out […]

A video of Nigel Farage thanking Steve Bannon and Breitbart for the Brexit referendum result has disappeared from YouTube following the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The short clip shows the former Ukip leader holding a pint of beer and saying: “Well done Bannon, well done Breitbart. You helped with this. Hugely.” Mr Bannon has deep ties […]

Far from saving the BBC, its prostrate position on Brexit could be the destruction of it, says ALASTAIR CAMPBELL All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing.’ These words, most commonly attributed to the 18th Century Irish-born Whig Edmund Burke, may have come from someone viewed by some on […]