Brexit

Opposition peers have accepted government assurances over post-Brexit food standards after MPs continued to overturn their amendments to the Agriculture Bill. Ministers have pledged to offer increased parliamentary scrutiny of free trade agreements to ensure consistency of standards on human health, animal welfare and the environment. The Trade and Agriculture Commission, which represents UK farmers, retailers and consumers, […]

Lord Kilclooney has been criticised for describing US vice president-elect Kamala Harris solely as “the Indian”. The former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) deputy leader was ordered to apologise and retract his tweet about Harris, who is the first black and Asian-American person to be elected to the role. The crossbench peer, who previously deleted a tweet […]

A Brexiteer MP has penned what pro-Brexit newspapers have described as a ‘warning letter’ to president-elect Joe Biden over Brexit. John Redwood said he accepted that Biden now has a “clear mandate” in America, but he also claimed there was a “larger percentage mandate” for the EU referendum result, despite both equating to around 52% of […]

Joe Biden’s triumph is a source of great celebration, but it also adds to the sadness I feel about the UK’s self-imposed decline, says ALASTAIR CAMPBELL  Sometimes, it is in emotion that deep truth is spoken. Anyone who, like me, was glued to CNN from Tuesday to Saturday last week, will have seen such a moment […]

Boris Johnson will not back down over the Internal Market Bill, despite it threatening to create early tensions with US president-elect Joe Biden, a cabinet minister has claimed. Environment secretary George Eustice said the government would reinstate controversial clauses that enable ministers to break international laws if Lords try to strip them out. Biden warned […]

Environment secretary George Eustice has admitted that post-Brexit trade talks with America may have to start again following Joe Biden’s win, before claiming a deal is no longer “critical” to the economy. Eustice said it could be possible to pick up on US trade negotiations with Biden’s administration where they were left with Donald Trump, […]

STEVE ANGLESEY lists his the Brexiteers of the Week. MARTIN DAUBNEY“‘Stay at home’? Good luck with that. I, and many others I reckon, would rather face jail than miss honouring Remembrance Sunday next week,” wrote the former Brexit Party MEP, Laurence Fox sideman and self-styled warrior against virtue-signalling woke snowflakes. Martin, it’s possible to remember […]

A Brexiteer has claimed that more British politicians should be like Donald Trump after the US election result showed the president performing better than expected in the polls. Simon Wolfson, the pro-Brexit boss of Next, said Trump’s success should be a “wake-up call” to politicians here. He told Question Time: “It does amaze me that Trump […]

In a deeply personal essay, writer PETER GUMBEL explains how the waning of national identities, combined with Brexit, has led him to reassess his own sense of who he is. November 9 is a day heavy with significance for my family: on that date in 1938, my maternal grandfather was arrested in his German hometown […]

Rory Stewart has called Boris Johnson the “most accomplished liar in public life” in a personal swipe against the prime minister in an article in the Times Literary Supplement. Stewart, who was of 21 rebel Tory MPs fired for voted against Johnson’s Brexit agenda last year, accused Johnson of being an opportunist who created the “historical forces” […]

MICHAEL WHITE on the growing twin nightmares of authoritarianism and incompetence in the week arch-opportunist Nigel Farage returns to frontline politics. Whatever the final outcome it was clear within hours of the polls closing that the result of the US election has not been the decisive repudiation of the Trump Era for which progressive opinion […]

A Brexiteer has fumed about the possibility of Joe Biden entering the White House, claiming the loss of Donald Trump will hit the UK, and that any economic damage will be the fault of Remainers. Express commentator Paul Baldwin sparked anger from pro-EU campaigners after he said it was the “rabble of Remainer cohorts” who would […]

LIZ GERARD is second to no one in her criticisms of Boris Johnson. Yet for all his manifest failings, she cannot help feel some sympathy for his current predicament. But when anger starts turning to pity, how long can a prime minister last? At what point does anger turn to pity? Do we rediscover our essential […]

Michel Barnier has said “very serious divergences” remain between the European Union and UK as efforts continue to strike a post-Brexit trade deal. The EU’s chief negotiator said the main stumbling blocks remained the “level playing field” aimed at preventing unfair competition on areas including state subsidies, fisheries policy and the governance of any deal. […]

MPs have for a second time overturned measures from peers aimed at protecting UK food standards in future trade deals. The House of Commons voted 331 to 272, majority 59, to disagree with a House of Lords amendment to the Agriculture Bill which sought to ensure imported foodstuffs met equivalent benchmarks to those followed by […]

Campaigners are embarking on a fresh bid to get the Brexit transition period extended during the continuation of the Covid-19 crisis. More than ten thousand have already signed a petition requesting an extension, which would also look to hold a referendum on any trade deal agreed with the EU, meaning the government must respond. It comes […]

Boris Johnson’s spokesman has confirmed that the UK government had missed the European Union’s deadline for replying to its formal letter of notice about the controversial Internal Market Bill. It leaves the government facing further legal action for failure to explain why he intends to break international law over Brexit, after ministers admitted an intention to […]

Chris Bird, head of content for Europe at Amazon Prime Video, has revealed how it expects Brexit to impact its streaming service. Giving evidence to the Digital, Media, Culture and Sports Committee in parliament, Bird told MPs: “Brexit will affect Prime Video in a couple of different ways. “Prime Video’s European HQ is located in London […]

SIMON USHERWOOD on the new defining issue in British politics. In the autumn of 1991, a meeting was held in London. Convened by a lecturer at the London School of Economics, it resulted in a commitment by a cross-party group of individuals to stand in elections to protest at the big expansion of powers of […]

The UK is on the verge of becoming a “broken kingdom”, a senior Tory has warned in the House of Lords. Lord Cormack said the government underestimated “at its own potential peril, just what dangers surround us” post-Brexit. He said the Westminster parliament could not behave as if it was the only legislative body in […]

An adviser to Joe Biden, tipped to become the next UK ambassador to the US, has issued a warning over Brexit – saying in almost every area it would have negative consequences for his country. Anthony Gardner, a former American ambassador to the EU, told an audience in Germany that Brexit was the “biggest own-goal” […]

The Brexit transition period will not be extended, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer as he told businesses that it is now down to Boris Johnson to deliver on his promise. Sir Keir struck a strongly more pro-business tone than his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn as he spoke at the CBI conference. Sir Keir, who backed Remain in […]

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 […]