UK ready to agree Irish backstop deal to speed Brexit talks October 20, 2018 UK Prime Minister Theresa May is reportedly prepared to agree a backstop deal for the border between the UK and Ireland which does not have a time limit. Bloomberg reported yesterday that May is willing to make the move to help speed Brexit talks. Read more: Varadkar says even with Brexit transition extension Irish ‘backstop’ [...]
Irish premier Varadkar says even with Brexit transition extension Irish ‘backstop’ needed October 19, 2018 Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said today that even if the UK’s post-Brexit transition period were extended Ireland would still need a backstop arranged to prevent a hard border with Northern Ireland. Speaking on the third day of the EU summit meeting in Brussels, Varadkar said without an Irish backstop any withdrawal treaty may fail to [...]
Tory MP says he wouldn’t vote for his own party today October 19, 2018 A Conservative MP has said he wouldn't vote for his party if he wasn't already in parliament, labelling Theresa May's government a "s**tshow". Johnny Mercer, elected in 2015 as the representative for Plymouth Moor View, told the parliament's The House magazine yesterday that there was "absolutely no chance" he would run for a Tory candidacy [...]
Singapore Prime Minister says EU-Singapore trade deal could be extended to UK post-Brexit October 19, 2018 Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said today he would be prepared to extend the terms of Singapore’s recently agreed trade with the European Union to the UK. “We hope we will be able to continue arrangements with Britain whether or not it is inside the EU… And then we have time to work some [...]
Brexit deal is 90 per cent agreed, says Barnier, but Northern Ireland impasse may scupper it October 19, 2018 A Brexit deal between the UK and the EU is very close to completion, politicians on both sides of the table said this morning. However, the prospect of reaching an agreement is still in doubt, said the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier. “Ninety per cent of the accord on the table has been agreed with [...]
How dare MPs be such brazen hypocrites over abuse claims October 19, 2018 Inappropriate touching. Groping. Sexual slurs. Men trying to kiss unwilling women, dragging them into secluded spaces, making derogatory, objectifying comments about their appearance. Telling them to be “sexier”. Similar, though less widespread, harassment of junior men. When the news broke that this toxic behaviour was widespread in Hollywood, it was met with an international outcry and [...]
No one in their right mind wants another year of Brexit transition – except the EU October 19, 2018 Who is smiling on the Prime Minister’s announcement that the transition period after exiting the EU could be extended by an extra year? Not the hardline Brexiteers, many of whom think that the UK should have left the bloc yesterday. Not the ultra-Remainers either – an extension of the transition still leads to the inevitable [...]
UK not heading for derivatives cliff edge after Brexit, say EU officials October 18, 2018 European officials have said there will be no cliff-edge drop for derivatives markets if Britain leaves the EU without a deal. Olivier Guersent, an aide to the bloc’s head of financial services, told a Politico event: “There is no cliff edge." He made the remarks after his boss, Valdis Dombrovskis, had said that derivatives clearing [...]
Theresa May’s bungled Brexit backstop plan means that once again nothing has changed October 18, 2018 The gathering of EU leaders in Brussels this week was supposed to bring clarity, not confusion, to the Brexit negotiations. After the PR disaster of Salzburg, both sides needed to at least act like the talks were going in the right direction and a deal was doable. But as with so much of the Brexit [...]
Theresa May rows back from Brexit transition extension after Tory backlash October 18, 2018 Theresa May has tried to downplay anger over a plan to extend the UK’s post-Brexit transition period, just hours after flagging the idea to EU leaders. Speaking in Brussels, the PM claimed keeping the UK signed up to EU rules for a further year was not her idea – but could indeed be a solution [...]