Brexit

Everybody has a different reason for sitting down and writing a book. Martin Bell wrote his latest because he nearly died.  Almost two years ago the former BBC war correspondent and independent MP suffered head injuries similar to those from a car crash when he tripped over his suitcase at Gatwick Airport after returning from […]

EU president Ursula von der Leyen was forced to abandon a high level summit after 30 minutes after a member of her team tested positive for coronavirus. Von der Leyen was in a room with all 27 EU heads of state before rushing out “as a precaution”. The president had spent time greeting leaders in […]

Radio presenter James O’Brien has called out the duplicity of Brexiteers – who support the UK leaving the European Union at any cost – now opposing a national lockdown to protect the economy. Speaking on his LBC Radio show, O’Brien told listeners: “The people on the wrong side of history insist we can’t have circuit-breaks […]

A long time ago (2004 to be precise) in a galaxy far away (but not that far away) a young right winger established a think tank (as almost everyone was doing at the time). The right winger was called Dominic Cummings and the short-lived think tank was portentously titled the New Frontiers Foundation. All of […]

The Green Party has joined calls for the UK to retain membership of the single market and customs union, as Boris Johnson looks set to abandon his self-imposed deadline for a trade deal. The party wants to see freedom of movement retained, particularly for young people who have the most to gain from working and […]

Believe it or not, I try not to yield too often to the temptation to join the dots between the stance politicians took on Brexit to the ones they now advocate on the appropriate government response to the global Covid-19 pandemic. It’s a bit mean, especially to voters in deprived areas who voted Leave in […]

Let me be very clear about this – what people on the ground are saying is that the response to our last collection of meaningless political cliches has been world-beating. These are not ordinary times and we are all in this together. So the fact of the matter is that here is another collection of […]

Flights between the UK and the EU could be grounded when the Brexit transition period ends, transport secretary Grant Shapps has admitted.   The cabinet minister said it is “critical” that air links are not severed, stressing the “mutual importance of aviation and travel”. Both sides agreed prior to the first scheduled Brexit date of March […]

The government is set to install a series of portaloos along the major roads in Kent to deal with possible Brexit congestion from the delays at ports following the end of the transition period. Transport minister Rachel MacClean was responding to questions about documents which revealed the government is planning for queues of up to […]

Ministers spent £64 million of taxpayers’ money to set up a British equivalent to GPS before it was abandoned and shutdown in September. The UK’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) ran for 18 months until ministers finally decided to shelve the project, official figures have shown. GNSS was established to provide Britain’s first conventional network of […]

Nearly three-quarters of Scots back Holyrood negotiating its own future relationship with the EU, new polling has found. A Survation poll for the pro-independence campaign group Progress Scotland found 74% of the 2,093 people surveyed wanted MSPs to decide how Scotland interacts with the EU in the future when undecided returns were excluded. When included, […]

The contenders are… NIGEL FARAGEThe nicotine-stained man-frog certainly knows a gap in the market when he sees one. Farage has been hinting he will soon revive the Brexit Party – because with only the Tories, UKIP and Laurence Fox’s Reclaim out there, the British people must be crying out for a right-wing grouping that hates […]

A renewed bid to secure the continuation of free movement with the EU as part of future trade links has been launched by peers at Westminster. The government has been pressed in the House of Lords to hammer out a so-called “mobility framework” with Brussels. The Liberal Democrat-led call came during the committee stage in […]

German chancellor Angela Merkel has said that the European Union will not let Ireland down in Brexit talks. Merkel said during a debate on the German presidency of the European Union that the EU wants a trade deal with the UK, but it will stick with Ireland to secure the best outcome from negotiations. She […]

A Tory minister has claimed that businesses have their “head in the sands” over the impact that Brexit will have on their companies. Cabinet Office minister Lord Agnet said “it’s their businesses at stake” if they fail to prepare for the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31. Agnew said that businesses had […]

A new poll has found that a significant majority of Britons think that leaving the Brexit transition period without a trade deal would be a bad outcome for the country. Last month, Boris Johnson said ending Brexit talks without a deal was a “good outcome” for Britain, even though it would lead to new tariffs on businesses, […]

A new contract to provide post-Brexit freight capacity has been handed to four ferry firms at a cost of £77.6 million. The Department for Transport (DfT) announced that it has signed agreements with Brittany Ferries, DFDS, P&O Ferries and Stena Line. This will ensure that vital medical supplies and other critical goods “continue to be […]

The government’s environment secretary has insisted that protections for food and farming standards are not necessary – because it was in the Conservative Party manifesto. On Monday, MPs voted to overturn measures aimed at protecting UK food standards in future trade deals. But defending the decision of government to vote against such protections, George Eustice […]

The UK’s professional services industry is at risk of losing £225 billion in value because of Brexit, a parliamentary committee has warned. A report by the House of Lords’ EU services subcommittee, published on Tuesday, said Britain’s professional firms – including accountants, lawyers, and recruiters – have largely been ignored in negotiations with the EU. MORE: More than […]

MPs voted 332 to 279 to overturn a House of Lords amendment to the Agriculture Bill which would have required agricultural and food imports to meet domestic standards. The Lords had made the change to block the import of foodstuffs produced abroad with lower animal welfare standards, amid warnings over chlorinated chicken or hormone-treated beef […]

Tory MPs have overturned measures aimed at protecting UK food standards after Brexit – despite signs of some rebels in Boris Johnson’s party. The House of Commons voted 332 votes to 279, majority 53, to disagree with a Lords amendment to the Agriculture Bill which would have required agricultural and food imports to meet domestic […]

Microsoft said UK firms risk losing their competitiveness because of the impacts of the coronavirus and Brexit. The tech giant was “ringing the alarm bell” after it said almost half of companies are struggling to remain competitive. New research by Microsoft, alongside academics at Goldsmiths, University of London, showed that 46% of UK companies have seen […]

Rob Davidson of Trade Deal Watch looks at Boris Johnson’s Internal Market Bill and says the result of it will determine how history remembers the era of “Johnsonism”. The people of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland are about to pass a terrifying deadline set by our Prime Minister. Boris Johnson proclaimed that we should […]

Farmers are to hold a protest outside parliament to make their voices heard over the threat of Brexit deals to their livelihoods as MPs prepare to vote on the government’s Agriculture Bill. In a warning to the risk of Brexit to food standards, farmers will assemble at New Covent Garden from 1pm on Monday as […]

Jamie Oliver has called on the government to respect the sovereignty of parliament and abandon any plans to water down Britain’s food standards via secondary legislation. Oliver, who owned his own chain of restaurants and has his own cooking show, said he staunchly opposed to the use of secondary legislation to bypass parliamentary scrutiny and that could lead […]

The deadline for the post-Brexit trade talks between the EU and the United Kingdom UK looms, and with it concerns about a no-deal. The outcome is being closely monitored in South Africa – and elsewhere – where it will have significant implications. The EU as a regional bloc is South Africa’s largest trade partner, and […]

Nine writers from across the continent tell us what ‘Europe’ means to them… Ana Pessoa, Portuguese authorEurope is about multilingualism and multiculturalism. We might not speak the same language, we might not share the same cultural background. Perhaps we don’t laugh at the same jokes even and we live very different lives. But we share […]

A former Brexit Party MEP who has refused to apologise for historical support of the IRA bombing in Warrington that killed two children has taken her seat in the House of Lords. The appointment of Claire Fox to the unelected chamber has sparked controversy, with Labour branding it “an insult to the people of the […]