BCC and City of London urge government to come together and deliver on Brexit July 3, 2018 Pressure is building on Theresa May to bring her Cabinet together and sign off the UK's position on Brexit after divisions were laid bare again yesterday. Yesterday three ministers publicly slapped down Jacob Rees-Mogg for threatening to rebel if May did not stick to her existing positions of leaving the Single Market and customs union [...]
Brexit: UK’s services sector pleads for mutual recognition deal in letter to Prime Minister July 3, 2018 Some of the biggest firms in the UK's services sector have written to the Prime Minister, urging her to secure a future trade deal that puts mutual recognition at its heart. The letter, coordinated by the Professional and Business Services Council and signed by the likes of KPMG and Deloitte, Allen & Overy and Clifford [...]
Exclusive: Fresh Cabinet divisions appear over post-Brexit immigration system July 2, 2018 New battle lines have been drawn within Theresa May’s Cabinet over Britain's post-Brexit immigration system, stoking divisions even further and presenting the Prime Minister with yet another headache. Home secretary Sajid Javid is understood to have dropped one of two models being considered under his predecessor, which would have favoured EU citizens by effectively granting [...]
Brexit: Norway or bust for trade deal, Cabinet ministers told ahead of Chequers away day July 2, 2018 The government must accept an off-the-shelf trade deal with the European Union, most likely the Norway-style EEA option, Theresa May's chief Brexit negotiator has warned. Olly Robbins, who has been meeting with his EU counterparts regularly in place of Brexit secretary David Davis, has told Cabinet ministers there was no chance of striking a bespoke [...]
Deliver Brexit as promised or risk revolt, Eurosceptic backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg warns July 2, 2018 Eurosceptic backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg has delivered another ultimatum to Theresa May, warning of outright rebellion among his colleagues unless the Prime Minister delivers the Brexit she promised from the outset. The arch Brexiter and leader of the European Research Group has warned that Conservative MPs would vote against the final withdrawal agreement if the UK [...]
Freedom of movement not on table at divided Cabinet’s crunch Brexit meeting says Brokenshire July 1, 2018 Extending freedom of movement is not up for negotiation ahead of a crunch meeting of a divided Cabinet to thrash out its Brexit position, housing minister James Brokenshire said today. Freedom of movement between EU nations is a key point of tension within government, with official policy still that total annual immigration will be reduced [...]
Angela Merkel faces a make-or-break moment of her own making June 29, 2018 Angela Merkel had a message for her parliamentary colleagues on Thursday: the future of the EU rests on finding a solution to the migration issue. The German Chancellor is right that today’s summit is a make-or-break moment for the EU. What she neglected to mention, however, is that the migration crisis is the direct result [...]
Theresa May is ready for Brexit negotiations to ‘accelerate and intensify’ but Michel Barnier says big divergences remain June 29, 2018 Theresa May has told European Union leaders the UK is ready for Brexit talks to pick up, with the publication of a much-anticipated Brexit white paper to be published shortly. But EU chief negotiatior Michel Barnier said today that while progress had been made – big differences remained. He added that he hoped a British [...]
Chequers Brexit meeting to result in ‘softest of hard Brexits’ as full Cabinet tips balance away from pro-Leave ministers June 27, 2018 Next week's crunch meeting to thrash out a final position on the customs union is likely to result in "the softest of hard Brexits" after the balance has been shifted away from favouring government's most ardent Brexiters. While it had originally been planned as a two-day overnight stay at the grace-and-favour Buckinghamshire mansion, the first [...]
KPMG says audits for scandal-hit Malaysian 1MDB fund not ‘true and fair’ assessment June 26, 2018 Big four accountant KPMG has told under-fire Malaysian state fund 1MDB that its audits for three years do not provide an accurate picture and should not be relied upon. The fund is at the centre of a massive political and financial scandal and currently faces money laundering investigations in six countries including the US. It [...]