Brexit

With its dystopian visions and 16-bit images of Somerset pubs clad in UKIP posters, Not Tonight is no Sonic the Hedgehog It had to happen. Edinburgh this year was awash with Brexit-themed plays and stand-up comedy. James Graham’s TV drama on the referendum airs early next year. Even Arron Banks’ simultaneously bombastic and boring book, […]

A three-time UKIP leadership challenger who posed for a picture with a golliwog and had to deny endorsing Hitler has quit the party, citing its move to the right. Bill Etheridge, an MEP for the West Midlands who stood unsuccessfully three times for the party leadership, said the party was now seen by “large swathes” […]

3.3 million Leave voters now support a People’s Vote with the option to Remain, a new poll has revealed. The research, from anti-Brexit campaign group Best for Britain and HOPE not hate, could deal a massive blow to Brexiteers who claim the British public definitively made up their minds in 2016, and adds to growing […]

Campaigners are preparing to launch a legal challenge to demand the government holds a public inquiry into political interference during the Brexit referendum. Pressure group Fair Vote UK wants an independent probe – similar to the Mueller investigation in America – to look at concerns over Russian disinformation, the involvement of data companies and electoral […]

Millionaire Brexiteer Arron Banks, barred from joining the Conservatives, has mounted a campaign to deselect “remoaner” Tory MPs. Insurance tycoon Banks, a former Ukip donor who bankrolled the unofficial leave campaign Leave.EU, said the aim was to “make the Conservatives Conservative again”. Banks and his spin doctor Andy Wigmore launched the campaign by tweeting a […]

EU chief negotiator and Brexiteer nemesis Michel Barnier has ruled himself out of the race to succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission. In a letter posted on Twitter, the 67-year-old Frenchman said running as the so called Spitzenkandidat of the conservative European People’s Party would be incompatible with his role in the […]

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 town hall in Bishop Auckland, where Stan Laurel spent his formative years. But who will get themselves into another nice mess? And who should have kept their big mouth […]

Two senior shadow cabinet members have distanced Labour from a second Brexit referendum just a day after party delegates voted to keep the option on the table. Rebecca Long-Bailey, the shadow business secretary, said the party would not include a new referendum in its manifesto if a general election was called before March. Her justice […]

Jeremy Corbyn set out the most radical left-wing agenda of any mainstream party in a generation, as he declared that Labour now represents “the new common sense” and is ready to govern. To fervent applause from delegates at Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, Corbyn called on prime minister Theresa May to call an early general […]

A new Brexit referendum with an option to remain in the EU is “likely”, the Labour first minister of Wales has said. Carwyn Jones told Wales’ National Assembly that people had “the right to express a view as to whether they wish to leave in circumstances that not one Brexiteer suggested would happen”. It follows […]

Angela Merkel today rejected Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit plan, saying Britain could not have free access to Europe’s single market for goods without accepting the rest of the EU’s four freedoms. The German Chancellor said that Britain had still not expressed a clear position on its post-Brexit relations with the EU, warning that only ‘six […]

Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer has dished out a stinging slap down to Labour’s leadership at conference telling delegates: ‘Nobody is ruling out Remain.’ His speech in Liverpool received the biggest cheers of the conference so far ending with a lengthy standing ovation. And during the speech around two-thirds of the audience spontaneously got […]

Brexit documents have laid bare the grisly prospect of no deal, with the likelihood of chaos at ports, disruption to food supplies and increased business costs, the government has been warned. Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, said his industry would be hit by “ever more” administrative burdens. He said: “Our […]

Former England star Peter Reid has made a scathing attack on Tory Brexiteers, labelling them “absolute dopes” and calling for a People’s Vote on a final deal. The ex-Everton and Manchester City midfielder told thousands at a rally close to Labour’s party conference in Liverpool that the public “did not realise what they were voting […]

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has today dismissed calls for a People’s Vote and vowed that a Labour government would press ahead with Brexit. McDonnell used an interview on the eve of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool to defy demands among party members for a referendum pledge, restating his preference for a general election to put […]

Theresa May has been warned Britain is “staring down the barrel of no deal” after issuing a Brexit challenge to the EU described as “pathetic, painful and petulant”. A day after her humiliating rebuff from EU leaders in Salzburg, the prime minister attempted to come back fighting, saying there could be no further progress in […]

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 Town Hall in Dewsbury, considered to be the smallest town in the country to host a classical concert season. But whose answers will be music to your ears? And […]

A Treasury minister has suggested there is a possibility of a second EU referendum if Theresa May’s Chequers proposals are rejected by the House of Commons. Mel Stride said that fear of a second poll would bring rebellious Brexiteers into line when MPs come to vote on any deal, while Tory Remainers would back Chequers […]

Work and pensions secretary Esther McVey had to be corrected at a cabinet meeting after arguing talks over parts of Britain’s EU withdrawal agreement should be concluded once it had actually left, it has been claimed. The Times has reported that three sources had said that McVey had been corrected by the prime minister after […]

Crossover Day – when the Leave majority will disappear, even if not a single voter changes their mind about Brexit – will now be in January, according to a sensational YouGov poll. Peter Kellner, the former president of the polling firm, said the Leave majority was now declining by 1,350 a day, due solely to […]

A no-deal Brexit will make it harder for police to protect UK citizens as forces fall back on “slower, more bureaucratic” systems, one of the country’s most senior officers has warned. Sara Thornton, chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, spoke as plans were unveiled for a new unit that will oversee how forces use […]

A no-deal Brexit would cost car manufacturer Honda tens of millions of pounds, the company’s European boss has warned. But Ian Howells, the senior vice-president of Honda Europe, said the company remained “right behind” its production facility in Swindon and was not considering moving the plant out of the UK after Brexit. The Japanese company […]

Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has been accused of having “more faces than a town clock” after executing a screeching U-turn on the effects of a no-deal Brexit. Hunt – who has previously said Britain would regret a no-deal Brexit ‘for generations to come’ – claimed today that it would flourish with or without an agreement […]

A leading member of the Scottish cabinet has claimed Westminster is “incapable” of working in Scotland’s interests as he warned of the growing risk the UK will be forced into a “chaotic, blind Brexit”. Scottish constitution secretary Mike Russell accused prime minister Theresa May of “misleading” voters on the prospects for her Chequers plan, saying […]

Theresa May must consider alternatives to her Chequers plan that keep Britain aligned to Brussels to avoid a “chaotic and damaging” no-deal Brexit if it is rejected, MPs have warned. The government should look again at either a customs union or European Economic Area (EEA) membership as a fallback to avoid leaving the EU without […]

The senior civil servant running Northern Ireland’s public services since Stormont collapsed has expressed his deep concern for the region if there is no Brexit deal. David Sterling, the head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, told an event in Brussels that many local firms might find it “impossible” to continue to trade normally if […]

Downing Street has slapped down Boris Johnson after he warned that Britain was heading for a “spectacular political car-crash” if the government stuck to Theresa May’s plans for Brexit. The former foreign secretary’s warning came as May gave one of her most positive forecasts yet for Britain’s future after Brexit, telling the BBC: “I believe […]

Leaving the EU without a Brexit deal would inflict “substantial costs” on the UK economy, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned. In the latest of its regular assessments of the state of Britain’s finances, the IMF said that all likely Brexit scenarios would “entail costs for the UK economy”, but that a disorderly departure […]