Jeremy Hunt says Brexit deal can still get through parliament if Irish backstop issue is clarified December 28, 2018 Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt has said Theresa May’s Brexit deal can get through parliament if the EU clarifies the so called Northern Irish backstop will be temporary. The backstop, an insurance policy to prevent the return of border checks between Ireland and Northern Ireland, has been a major sticking point in securing the Brexit divorce [...]
MPs demand ‘meaningful’ vote on all trade deals after Brexit December 28, 2018 MPs have called for the power to veto any trade deals negotiated by the government after Britain leaves the EU. In a move likely to be rejected by a government which has already pushed the so-called meaningful vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal back a month to mid-January, the influential International Trade Committee has demanded [...]
Top EU official: MPs could still approve May’s deal in vote next month December 27, 2018 The likelihood of Britain abandoning Brexit altogether and staying in the European Union has increased slightly in recent months, but there is no public support for a second referendum, one of the bloc’s top officials has said. European Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told the Funke Media Group that there is still a chance MPs will vote for [...]
Jeremy Corbyn: Brexit will go ahead if Labour win a snap election December 22, 2018 Leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn has said that Brexit would go ahead if Labour won a snap election in the New Year. Corbyn has insisted he would try and secure a better deal with Brussels should Labour take power but refused to rule out a second EU referendum. "My proposal at this moment is [...]
Here are all the predictions I got wrong in 2018 December 21, 2018 I should have given up making predictions in June 2017. Three months earlier, I had spoken at a conference on Brexit and suggested that the best way forward for Theresa May would be to call a snap election and strengthen her negotiating hand. I don’t know how the Prime Minister got word of my advice, [...]
Grounded: Gatwick airport remains shut down as Army brought in to deal with drone crisis December 20, 2018 The Army has been deployed to assist with the ongoing crisis at Gatwick airport, which has seen flights grounded since Wednesday because of drones flying near the runway. Drones which have grounded all flights at Gatwick Airport are “highly targeted” and have been “designed to close the airport and bring maximum disruption in the run up [...]
Government edits no deal documents to remove the word ‘unlikely’ December 20, 2018 The Brexit department confirmed it had stepped up ‘no deal’ planning by updating government advice to remove the claim it is an “unlikely” outcome. A tranche of technical notices released by the government since the summer repeatedly claimed the chance of leaving the EU without an agreement was “unlikely”. However, following Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, where [...]
A second referendum wouldn’t be undemocratic… but it would be disastrous December 20, 2018 As a Dutch Anglophile and a committed European, my natural sympathies lie with those currently aiming to preserve the ties that bind the UK to the European Union. What the massive street protests and the passionate people’s vote campaign make clear is that many Brits are as attached to their newly-won European rights as they [...]
The government’s immigration proposals aren’t perfect but they include plenty to cheer about December 19, 2018 Yesterday, this column predicted that the government's immigration white paper would be a pretty rum Christmas present for business. Today, we have to acknowledge that while the proposals don't satisfy everyone (or more accurately, every sector) there are elements to cheer. The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, is known for a more liberal approach to immigration [...]
Jeremy Corbyn accused of calling Theresa May a ‘stupid woman’ at PMQs December 19, 2018 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been accused of calling Theresa May a "stupid woman" during Prime Minister's Questions today, as calls mounted for him to apologise. The Prime Minister was mocking Corbyn during a clash over the government's Brexit deal, at which point he was caught on parliamentary cameras muttering words to himself. Speaker John Bercow was [...]