Brexit

The government has moved to unilaterally ease another element of the contentious Brexit arrangements governing trade to Northern Ireland. A ban on importing plants potted in soil from Great Britain to the region has been temporarily lifted. While most agri-food goods are, or will be, subject to extra regulatory processes to enter Northern Ireland under […]

The Northern Ireland Protocol undermines the guiding principles of the region’s historic peace deal, a former No 10 chief of staff has warned. Jonathan Powell, who worked for Tony Blair and was involved in negotiations that forged the Good Friday Agreement, said he understood why loyalists and unionists were upset by the economic border in […]

Readers have their say on the damage Brexit is causing Britain.

Brussels has warned it will launch legal action “very soon” following a move by the UK to unilaterally delay implementation of part of the Brexit deal relating to Northern Ireland. European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic said the announcement by Government on Wednesday had come as a “very negative surprise”. The Cabinet Office Minister Lord […]

Former French ambassador to the UK Sylvie Bermann made recent headlines with her very undiplomatic comments about Boris Johnson. She talks to TIM WALKER about how the country changed in her time here, and what she sees for its future. Almost a month after the EU referendum, the newly-appointed foreign secretary Boris Johnson bounded into the opulent residence […]

The Police Service of Northern Ireland is investigating sinister graffiti in a loyalist area of Belfast mentioning Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove. The message painted on a wall in Sandy Row included Gove’s name and an address above the words “We don’t forget, we don’t forgive”. It is the latest example of anti-Northern Ireland Protocol graffiti […]

MEPs have dropped plans to approve Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal after the UK government was accused of violating the agreement. The UK’s latest Brexit move saw the government unilaterally extend the Northern Ireland Protocol grace period until October, despite on-going conversations with the EU. In a damning statement, Maroš Šefčovič, vice president of the European Commission, said the move announced […]

Labour’s shadow environment secretary has called on George Eustice to apologise for Brexit trade barriers which have left seafood companies on the verge of collapse. Luke Pollard said the deal had left the shellfish industry in a “mess” and that many fishermen felt “betrayed” by the government’s handling of their interests during the Brexit negotiations. The EU has […]

Ireland’s foreign affairs minister has said the EU is negotiating with a partner it “simply cannot trust” after the UK’s latest Brexit move. Simon Coveney described the UK’s government’s unilateral decision to continue Irish Sea border grace periods until October as “very frustrating”. Speaking on RTE Radio 1, Coveney said Downing Street is breaking the […]

The UK government has defended its unilateral decision to continue Irish Sea border grace periods until October as the minimum step necessary. The first of the light-touch regulation schemes on goods from the rest of the UK transiting to Northern Ireland had been due to expire at the end of March. Supermarkets would have had […]

Loyalist paramilitary organisations have told prime minister Boris Johnson they are withdrawing support for Northern Ireland’s historic peace agreement. The outlawed groups said they were temporarily withdrawing their backing of the Belfast/Good Friday accord amid mounting concerns about the contentious Northern Ireland Protocol governing Irish Sea trade post-Brexit. However, they stressed that unionist opposition to […]

MITCH BENN with his weekly look back at some of the highlights and lowlights of recent days… BLAME-DODGE OF THE WEEK So at last we know whose fault the spectacular and ongoing implosion of Brexit is. And it’s a bit of a jaw-dropper.  So who is to blame? The prime minister? The previous prime minister(s)? […]

Steve Anglesey brings you your weekly check on how Project Fear is becoming Project Reality. It has been a gloomy week on the sunlit uplands of sovereign Britain, where the government accused the EU of being selfish over shellfish. Environment secretary George Eustice started the tussles by claiming Brussels was flexing its muscles on mussels, […]

The UK’s spending watchdog has said in its latest analysis to accompany Rishi Sunak’s budget that the prime minister’s Brexit deal will shrink the economy by 4%. The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) said there was very little in Johnson’s deal that would change the prediction of a long-term loss to productivity over 15 years. […]

Reverend Nicholas Baines has called on the government to launch a public education campaign on notions of sovereignty following Britain’s exit from the EU. Speaking in House of Lords, Reverend Baines asked why “pooled sovereignty” with the EU was considered unworkable for the UK but not when it is pooled with the United States. “Notions of sovereignty […]

CHRISTINE JARDINE calls for the government to clean up the mess left behind by Brexit and its failed Covid support schemes. This week will be a pivotal moment for our economy and for all our futures. When the chancellor gets to his feet to deliver the budget, millions of people who have seen their lives, […]

Former prime minister David Cameron has claimed that the EU referendum was ‘necessary’ and defended his decision process that led to the vote being held. Cameron defended the vote while speaking to parliament’s National Security Strategy Committee. He explained: “The Brexit referendum was discussed and called in 2013, two years before the general election and three […]

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds has accused the government of “furiously trying to manage expectations down” over its post Brexit trading arrangements for financial services. Ahead of Rishi Sunak’s Budget, the Labour frontbencher said she was “particularly concerned” over the uncertainty surrounding the memorandum of understanding with the EU for the sector. There was she added a […]

The European Commission expects permanent post-Brexit border control posts to be ready in Northern Ireland by the middle of this year. Commission spokesman Daniel Ferrie said the UK had obligations to meet under the Northern Ireland Protocol, which governs the trade in goods from the rest of the UK. Irish Sea checks required under the […]

Vote Leave turned Brexit into its own religion to capture supporters, a recent study by the universities of Birmingham and Warwick has found. Researchers said slogans such as “take back control” used the NHS as the country’s Holy Grail that could be rescued from European forces threatened by Britain’s unique historical place in the world. They also said […]

A post-Brexit move to dilute human rights laws in the UK would undermine Northern Ireland’s historic peace agreement, academics have warned. Amending the provisions of the Human Rights Act (HRA) risks upsetting the delicate constitutional balance achieved in the 1998 Good Friday accord, experts from Queen’s University claim. The concerns of the academics from Queen’s […]

Time and money is being wasted chasing unnecessary paperwork for businesses exporting from Northern Ireland to the EU, a leading cargo firm said. Belfast Port and Northern Irish hauliers are losing out because of red tape associated with duties which do not need to be paid, Quay Cargo Services said. The firm is based in […]

Two out of five small businesses are not clear about new rules for posting goods to the EU since the start of the year, new research suggests. A survey of 500 small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) found that one in six were not even aware of new EU posting requirements. Many of those questioned by […]

Boris Johnson has supported calls for a campaign to promote British seafood during a video conference with Conservative MPs from coastal areas. Johnson also promised to address concerns surrounding quotas and the ban on shellfish exports to the EU, following massive trade disruptions for British fishermen. MORE: George Eustice claims EU ‘unexpectedly’ changed its position on […]

Joe Biden’s nomination as trade representative has said she wants to “review” the progress and objectives of negotiations on a UK-US deal. In a confirmation hearing before the Senate finance committee, Katherine Tai said she would examine the situation in the light of the UK’s Brexit deal and against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic. […]

Warm words about climate action are one thing. But Brexit means it's likely all we will get is hot air. 

What would one mean, and how do we achieve it?

Tory Brexiteers have called on Boris Johnson to scrap the arrangements for Northern Ireland which he agreed with Brussels. The European Research Group (ERG) has published a report which concluded the Northern Ireland Protocol had a “profound and negative effect”. The protocol was designed by the EU and UK to avoid a hard border on […]