Michel Barnier tells UK to abandon free trade plans to get Brexit deal October 10, 2018 Theresa May must abandon her plans for free trade deals with the rest of the world in order to get a Brexit deal, the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said yesterday. Speaking in Brussels, Barnier said a full customs union between the UK and the EU would solve the controversial Irish backstop issue as no [...]
DUP will vote down Budget if Theresa May compromises in Brexit talks October 10, 2018 DUP MPs are prepared to vote down this month's Budget if Theresa May breaks any of the party's red lines in the Brexit talks, it has been reported. The Northern Ireland party's 10 MPs keep May in power thanks a to a 'confidence and supply' deal agreed after the 2017 General Election. But as time [...]
Conservatives will lose next election unless Theresa May chucks Chequers, David Davis tells MPs October 9, 2018 The Conservatives will lose the next election if Theresa May doesn't change her Brexit policy, ex-cabinet minister David Davis has warned in a stinging letter to Tory MPs. The former Brexit Secretary has written to his colleagues predicting a "dire" result for the Conservatives unless the Prime Minister ditches her so-called Chequers proposal, which would [...]
DUP says ‘no compromise’ on Brexit redlines after meeting with EU’s chief negotiator October 9, 2018 DUP leader Arlene Foster refused to compromise on her Brexit redline today as she shot down the EU's proposal for the Irish backstop. The EU wants Northern Ireland to stay in its customs union and Single Market after Brexit if no other solution can be found to keep the border with Ireland invisible. That suggestion [...]
At least 40 Tory MPs ‘ready to block’ Theresa May’s Chequers Brexit plan October 9, 2018 Fellow Conservatives are prepared to vote down Theresa May’s Chequers plan if it forms the basis of a deal with the EU, a Tory MP claimed today. At least 40 Tories will rebel against an agreement shaped around the Prime Minister’s Chequers blueprint, if it leaves the UK “half in, half out” of the EU, [...]
Downing Street plays down EU rhetoric on a Brexit deal being close October 8, 2018 Downing Street today called for actions, not words from the EU as the clock ticks down on the Brexit talks. Speaking ahead of a crunch summit in Brussels next week, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said there are still "big issues" to be worked out before a deal can be agreed between the UK and [...]
Brand Boris: Johnson needs to shed his disrupter image if he wants to become a leader October 8, 2018 There was a particularly pithy Tweet doing the rounds just after the Conservative party conference last week: “in summary: Boris’s speech not good enough for him to take over; May’s not bad enough to be kicked out”. So, was Boris Johnson really just one speech away from leadership? Possibly. Because Boris, just like Donald Trump, “has [...]
Theresa May urges Labour voters to ‘look beyond’ party labels and back her plan for post-Brexit Britain October 7, 2018 Theresa May has launched a bid to woo disgruntled Labour voters, asking them to "look at her party afresh" and "beyond party labels". Writing in the Observer yesterday, May said she wanted the Conservatives to be a party "for the whole country" and that the Tories were capable of going beyond criticising the opposition. "To [...]
The Tories talk the talk on free markets, but the policies don’t match the rhetoric October 5, 2018 Last year’s Conservative party conference marked a change in tone for the Prime Minister and her relationship with the free market. Perhaps it was the 2017 snap election upset that made her roll back her language around “untrammeled free markets”, or maybe there was increased understanding that after Brexit a commitment to competition would be vital [...]
Plan to keep all of UK in EU customs union after Brexit welcomed by Dublin in Irish backstop row October 4, 2018 A radical plan to keep the whole of the UK in a customs union with the EU after Brexit has been welcomed by Dublin, it has been reported. The proposal, seen as a way of stopping a hard border being created on the island of Ireland, would be the 'backstop' arrangement if no other deal [...]