News and Opinion

MICHAEL WHITE on a week of confusion, bitterness and a very dangerous way to halt Brexit The very idea of the Democratic Unionist Party’s tribal leaders insisting on ‘regulatory alignment’ with the rest of the sort-of-still-United Kingdom ought to be enough to make an Irish cat laugh. But no one in Brussels on Monday afternoon […]

Brexit negotiations will move on to trade talks after the European Commission agreed ‘sufficient progress’ had been made. The DUP finally gave the green light after changes were made to the wording of the proposals over the Irish border. Leader Arlene Foster said she had been ‘negotiating directly with the Prime Minister’ into the early […]

STEVE ANGLESEY counts down the worst Brexiteers of the week 10. LIAM FOX The International Trade Secretary delivered a tantalising hint of the amazing deals to come post-Brexit when he visited a bassoon shop in Newport. No doubt delighted to meet some other expensive wind instruments, Fox tweeted that Double Reed was an ‘internationally respected […]

GQ editor DYLAN JONES made Jeremy Corbyn his most recent cover star and discovered a man who is part rock star, part grandpa Jeremy Corbyn is a mass of contradictions, a man who has the aura of a rock star when he’s on stage, and who can be a humble, almost ghostly figure in person. […]

RICHARD PORRITT on the week’s big stories, including a big victory in Austria, the German foreign minister on the offensive and the prince of letters After all that fuss about Brexit impact statements, it appears they never really existed in any meaningful sense anyway. To widespread shock, David Davis admitted to a parliamentary committee on […]

Just 16 MPs and peers have read the government’s Brexit analysis papers, Andrea Leadsom claimed today. The Commons Leader, Brexiteer and brief candidate for the Tory leadership bemoaned the opposition for causing “enormous headlines and publicity” before adding “only 16 members across both Houses” had viewed them. A reading room has been established to allow […]

Jobs will be moved out of Britain unless Theresa May secures progress in Brexit negotiations at next week’s summit of EU leaders, the CBI warns tonight. The business lobbying group will say more than half (60%) of firms with Brexit contingency plans will activate them by Easter, meaning jobs leaving the UK unless the December […]

Commons speaker John Bercow has apologised after a slip of the tongue saw him dub a pro-Remain Labour MP the “member for Brexeter”. Mr Bercow’s blunder came in relation to Exeter MP Ben Bradshaw, as the speaker answered a series of points of order from MPs over Brexit. Having responded to five points of order, […]

Theresa May has been warned no Brexit deal is “reckless and dangerous”, as “utterly ruthless” dissident republicans would target border officials. Independent MP Lady Hermon (North Down) said a hard border would inevitably exist between Northern Ireland and the Republic if the UK and EU failed to agree a deal. She said the UK government […]

Martin Amis doesn’t need to look far to find out what went wrong with the world. He’s one of the centrists who have killed liberalism. It must be confusing being Martin Amis. To be presented in the mirror every morning with what looks like a discarded exhibit from Madam Tussaud’s Rotting Cadaver Gallery, and know […]

A Brexit deal giving special status to Northern Ireland could have put the entire future of the UK in jeopardy, the Scottish Conservative leader has claimed. Ruth Davidson said such a set-up could have “unravelled the entire United Kingdom”, telling how she had told the prime minister the 13 Scottish Tory MPs at Westminster would […]

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has demanded EU leaders give an immediate green light to talks on post-Brexit trade relations rather than waiting for a breakthrough over the Irish border. Theresa May is battling to break the deadlock over the border after botching a proposed deal on Monday, with the clock ticking ahead of a crunch […]

Before the referendum voters were blind to the impact. Would they, asks VERNON BOGDANOR, have voted to leave had they known the hit living standards would take? The referendum of June 2016 was ‘unfinished business by a long way’. Because the victory was so narrow, there has been ‘an unstoppable demand for a re-run’. ‘Win […]

Theresa May has held telephone talks with Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster in a bid to break the Brexit deadlock over the Irish border issue. Mrs May is battling to get the DUP, who prop up the government in the Commons, to support proposals that would allow the EU to trigger the next stage […]

David Davis has admitted no assessment of the impact Brexit will have on the UK economy has been done. The astonishing revelation came as the Brexit Secretary faced a grilling from MPs over the state of the country’s bungled attempts to leave the European Union. The news that no time had been spent on a […]

Scotland’s Brexit minister has called on rival parties to unite and “speak with one voice” in a bid to keep the UK in the single market. Mike Russell said there was “overwhelming support” for the position both at Holyrood and among the public as he urged Labour and the Tories to back the whole UK […]

Behind the plots and schemes to achieve the hardest possible Brexit, a tangled web is beginning to emerge. PETER GEOGHEGAN investigates the figures pulling strings behind the scenes. ‘Putin’s link to Boris and Gove’s Brexit ‘coup’ revealed,’ declared a headline in the Mail on Sunday. A few weeks ago, the pair of UK ministers had […]

The negotiating deadlock in the talks on Brexit has been branded a “car crash” by a former Northern Ireland secretary in the Lords. Labour’s Lord Hain asked why anyone was surprised by Monday’s negotiating “car crash” in Brussels after the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refused to accept proposals on a customs border. “Unionists were quite […]

Theresa May has been touted for the vacant Scotland football manager’s job by the SNP for her ability to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory”. SNP Europe spokesman Peter Grant mocked the prime minister following the latest Brexit talks, joking that she had been interviewed for the post as a potential successor to Gordon […]

David Davis has insisted Northern Ireland will not be “left behind” in the single market and customs union after Brexit as Theresa May works to get her botched negotiations back on track. The Prime Minister was telephoning Democratic Unionist Party leader Arlene Foster and Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill today for urgent talks as pressure […]

Theresa May should “rethink her reckless red lines” and consider remaining part of the customs union and single market, Labour has urged. Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said there needed to be a UK-wide response to Brexit, after the Democratic Unionist Party refused to accept proposals on a customs border, leading to a deadlock […]

Police do not have the numbers to protect a hard Irish border, a representative body has warned. Planning for a no-deal Brexit needs to begin urgently as it would cost tens of millions of pounds to secure the porous 300-mile (483km) frontier, the Police Federation for Northern Ireland (PFNI) said. All sides in the discussions […]

Brexit pressure intensified on Theresa May today as the leader of the Scottish Conservatives warned the prime minister not to cut separate deals for different parts of the UK. The intervention by Ruth Davidson came as Mrs May tried to plot a way forward in withdrawal negotiations after the Democratic Unionist Party refused to accept […]

Labour, the Government and the Democratic Unionist Party have all ordered their senior politicians to stay off the airwaves after crunch Brexit talks ended without a deal, BBC presenter Nick Robinson has claimed. The Radio 4 Today programme host hit back at complaints that representatives from the parties were not appearing on the show for […]

MICHAEL WHITE on the Brexit impact papers and the Chancellor’s spending sleight of hand. Be careful what you wish for. After months of campaigning for publication of Brexit impact assessments which Whitehall is supposed to have produced for 58 sectors of the UK economy, MPs finally got 850 pages of paperwork on Monday night. Were […]

Failure to complete the first phase of Brexit negotiations is costing UK pharmaceutical companies “an enormous amount of money”, industry representatives have warned. With less than 18 months to go until the official date of EU withdrawal in March 2019, companies are having to make preparations now, with some setting up facilities and offices abroad […]

‘Irish Border unthinkable’ says Boris Johnson. ‘Isn’t this the same person that said the EU could go a whistle for more money and that £350m a week would go to the NHS…?’ asks reader Tony Howarth. ‘Irish Border unthinkable’ says Boris Johnson. Isn’t this the same person that said the EU could go a whistle […]

The DUP have slammed the brakes on Brexit leaving Theresa May red-faced during crunch talks in Brussels. It had appeared London and the European Union were about to strike a deal that would have allowed discussions to move on to trade. But suggestions the pact might involve Northern Ireland remaining in the customs union and […]