Category Archives: Brexit

Labour needs an ‘honest debate’ about Brexit damage, union warns

Posted on by

Unless Britain develops a closer relationship with the EU it will continue to haemorrhage investment and jobs, says the GMB

The leader of one of the country’s biggest unions has urged Labour to conduct an “honest debate” about the economic damage being caused to working people by Brexit, as evidence grows that it is fuelling inflation and driving jobs and investment abroad.

In an interview with the Observer, Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB union, which is one of Labour’s biggest financial backers, giving more than £1m a year, said politicians of all parties had been too afraid to admit the adverse consequences that leaving the EU was having on jobs and life in working communities.

Continue reading...

UK’s post-Brexit trade deals with Australia and New Zealand kick in

Posted on by

Move called ‘historic’ but agreement with Australia forecast to raise Britain’s GDP by only 0.08% by 2035

The UK’s post-Brexit trade deals with Australia and New Zealand have come into force, a moment lauded by the government as “historic” despite critics arguing they give away “far too much for far too little”.

The trade agreements – the first of those negotiated after Britain’s EU exit to enter into force – come after George Eustice, who was the environment secretary when the UK-Australia trade pact was struck in December 2021, admitted it was “not actually a very good deal” for Britain.

Continue reading...

‘Shops will close’: soaring cost of potatoes batters British chippies

Posted on by

The once humble, low-cost staple more than doubles in price, putting many fish and chip shops at risk

Whether it’s fried, baked or mashed, potatoes have traditionally been a low-cost staple food in the UK – but not any more.

A surge in costs is clobbering high street chippies, while in the supermarket, oven chips and the once humble baking potato are casualties of soaring grocery prices.

Continue reading...

Lords urge Braverman to protect rights of vulnerable British citizens in the EU

Posted on by

Committee highlights serious problems with residence schemes affecting Brits already living in the EU before Brexit

An influential House of Lords committee has urged Suella Braverman to step up efforts to protect the rights of vulnerable British citizens in the EU after the case of an elderly woman with dementia who was threatened with deportation from Sweden.

It also said more needed to be done to ensure the rights of EU citizens in the UK – also guaranteed under the Brexit withdrawal agreement – were protected to prevent a “Windrush-type scenario”.

Continue reading...

Sunak says he wants more information before decision on Braverman’s alleged breach of ministerial code – as it happened

Posted on by

PM has asked for further information before decided whether ethics adviser Sir Laurie Magnus will be asked to investigate Braverman. This blog is now closed

Starmer says Labour would zone in on the biggest killers.

He says it would get heart attacks and strokes down by a quarter within a decade.

Continue reading...

Paralysed Swedish woman in London cannot return home due to bureaucracy

Posted on by

52-year-old, in hospital for more than a year after bike accident, wants to be repatriated but is not listed as a resident in Sweden

A Swedish woman left paralysed after a catastrophic bike accident has been stranded in a London hospital for more than a year after efforts to repatriate her to her home country failed due to Stockholm bureaucracy.

The situation, described by her husband as “shameful”, comes following a similar case in which authorities threatened to deport a 74-year-old British woman with Alzheimer’s because of strict adherence to Brexit red tape.

Continue reading...

Jaguar Land Rover offered £500m in subsidies to build battery plant in UK

Posted on by

Incentive from Jeremy Hunt comes only days after three carmakers issued Brexit rules warning

The government has offered the owner of Jaguar Land Rover £500m in subsidies in an effort to persuade the carmaker to build a new electric battery plant in the UK.

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has put forward a package of incentives to entice JLR, days after three global carmakers warned that Brexit rules on where parts were sourced threatened the future of the British automotive industry.

Continue reading...

Rishi Sunak’s upbeat view on economy stokes claims he is out of touch

Posted on by

On flight to Japan for G7, PM says ‘economic optimism is increasing’ and insists Brexit is working

Rishi Sunak has been accused of being out of touch with ordinary families after claiming the economy was looking up and people’s household incomes were “hugely outperforming” expectations despite the cost of living crisis.

On a flight to Japan for the G7 summit of world leaders, the prime minister said that despite consumers struggling with high inflation and the cost of food and energy, there were “lots of signs that things are moving in the right direction” with the economy.

Continue reading...

Ford, Vauxhall owner and JLR call for UK to renegotiate Brexit deal

Posted on by

Carmakers call on Britain to change rules on batteries that they say threaten electric vehicle production

Three big global carmakers have called on the UK government to renegotiate the Brexit deal, saying rules on where parts are sourced from threaten the future of the British automotive industry.

Ford and Jaguar Land Rover have joined Stellantis, which owns the Vauxhall, Peugeot and Citroën brands, to warn the transition to electric vehicles will be knocked off course unless the UK and EU delay stricter “rules of origin”, due to kick in next year, that could add tariffs on car exports.

Continue reading...

UK will end up like Russia if it ignores European court of human rights obligations, Sunak told – as it happened

Posted on by

President of Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly says UK faces exclusion if it choses to ignore its obligations. This live blog is now closed

Today the BBC is reporting that Javad Marandi, a businessman whose foreign companies were part of a global money laundering investigation, is a major donor to the Conservative party. Marandi, who strongly denies wrongdoing and who is not subject to criminal sanctions, has been named after losing a legal battle with the BBC to protect his anonymity.

There will be an urgent question on the case at 12.30pm, tabled by the SNP MP Alison Thewliss. According to the Commons authorities, she has tabled a question asking a Home Office minister to make a statement “on the implications of the National Crime Agency’s investigation into Mr Javad Marandi”.

Rishi Sunak’s food summit is little more than a stunt to hide years of inaction from his government.

The Tories’ shambolic handling of food security has resulted in huge vegetable price increases across the country.

No ifs, no buts, supermarkets must cut these basic prices now.

Rishi Sunak needs to grow a spine and stand up for struggling families and pensioners by demanding supermarkets slash prices. They have no excuses, wholesale prices are down, yet food prices are up, with their profits soaring.

Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch flying to Switzerland to discuss post-Brexit trade deal

Posted on by

Business and trade secretary to meet Swiss counterpart on Monday to boost trade between two ‘services superpowers’

Kemi Badenoch will fly to Switzerland on Monday for talks with her Swiss counterpart on a new post-Brexit trade deal, describing the two countries as “natural trading partners”.

The business and trade secretary is meeting Guy Parmelin in Berne to discuss a “modern” UK-Switzerland free trade agreement (FTA) that would boost trade between two “services superpowers”, she said.

Continue reading...

Grant Shapps says Brexit lets UK control immigration, as record rise expected

Posted on by

Minister points to arrivals from Ukraine and Hong Kong as government sources confirm record increase is likely

Grant Shapps has stressed the importance of post-Brexit controls on work visas after government sources confirmed that ministers are braced for a record increase in immigration figures this month.

Reports have suggested that official data will show annual net immigration of between 650,000 and 997,000 fuelled by a rise in non-EU immigration from people entering the UK to work and study.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson’s disciples gathered to sing the old hymns. But are they a real threat to Sunak?

Posted on by

Familiar faces on the Tory right met in Bournemouth to pour scorn on the government. And they can certainly make the PM’s life harder

• Read more: Tory anarchy breaks out as revolt looms on Brexit laws

It was billed as the launch of a campaign to hand more power to Tory members. It was not, its organisers repeatedly insisted, a group aiming to reinstall Boris Johnson as party leader – or cause trouble for Rishi Sunak. It was about “taking back control” of the Conservative party for the grassroots.

Yet as the Conservative Democratic Organisation (CDO) met for its inaugural gathering in a sunny Bournemouth on Saturday, it was less than 15 minutes after Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns had belted out the national anthem that Johnson’s name was first uttered on stage.

Continue reading...

Kemi Badenoch criticised by ERG chief and other Tories over ‘massive climbdown’ on retained EU law – UK politics live

Posted on by

Business and trade secretary answers urgent question in Commons on retained EU law

Sir William Cash, chair of the European scrutiny committee, used his follow-up to his urgent question to say that Kemi Badenoch has declined three times to appear before this committee to discuss this issue.

He said the new amendments to the bill announced yesterday have not been scrutinised by the Commons.

The amendments published today, apart from her very short written ministerial statement yesterday and her article in the press today, are not accompanied by any explanation to this house despite the utter reversal in vital respects to the bill as passed by this elected house, why not?

The amendments have not been subjected to any analysis or questioning by this house, which is now essential given the fundamental change in government policy. This house is being treated in a manner which is clearly inconsistent with clear promises already made.

Continue reading...

Archbishop of Canterbury’s attack on illegal migration bill ‘wrong on both counts’, says minister – as it happened

Posted on by

Justin Welby says bill is ‘morally unacceptable’ and rules on protection of refugees are not ‘inconvenient obstructions’. This live blog is closed

In the House of Lords peers are just starting to debate the second reading of the illegal migration bill.

Simon Murray, aka Lord Murray of Blidworth, is opening the debate. He is a lawyer who was made a Home Office minister, and a peer, when Liz Truss was PM.

We now face a perfect storm of factors driving more people into homelessness while giving us fewer good options to help them when they do. These factors include soaring private rents (above the benefit cap), private landlords leaving the sector, a national shortage of affordable housing, and a backlog of court cases after Covid-relating housing support was removed. At the same time, we have a cost-of-living crisis which is reducing real-term incomes and putting further strain on relationships.

Continue reading...

EU leaders set out hopes for post-Brexit relations with Britain

Posted on by

Representatives of 27 member states mark Europe Day by calling for further strengthening of trust rebuilt by Windsor framework

EU leaders have signalled their desire to reset relations with the UK, seven turbulent years on from the seismic Brexit vote.

Representatives from all 27 member states said on Monday that they wanted to “develop further ties between the EU and the UK” after a deal sealed on Brexit trade arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Continue reading...

‘I was in tears’: Briton with valid passport barred from flight over Brexit rules

Posted on by

Experts say it is vital to check you meet EU requirements, or you could risk losing your holiday

Travellers who have not used their passport for a while were this week being urged to dig it out and check it conforms to the post-Brexit rules for entering the EU – because if it doesn’t, you will almost certainly be denied boarding this summer.

Despite previous warnings in Guardian Money and some other publicity, UK travellers trying to enter the Schengen zone are being turned away on a daily basis by airline staff at boarding gates – in most cases because their UK passport was issued more than 10 years ago.

Continue reading...

Lords committee urges end to Brexit barriers for musicians and young people

Posted on by

Chair says small changes could make big difference to cultural and educational interests on both sides of Channel

An influential House of Lords committee is urging the government to start working with EU capitals to remove Brexit barriers that block musicians, young people and professionals working easily in Europe.

After six months of research and evidence from 40 witnesses the European affairs committee says it has identified 72 areas where small changes could make a huge difference in areas of cultural and educational interests on both sides of the Channel.

Continue reading...

No 10 says UK ‘extremely attractive’ for business after Microsoft broadside

Posted on by

Downing Street responds to stinging attack from US firm’s president over blocking of $69bn Activision deal

Downing Street has defended the UK as an “extremely attractive” place for tech startups after Microsoft’s president said Brexit Britain was worse for business than the EU, in a stinging attack on the UK’s decision to block a $69bn (£55bn) deal to take over Activision Blizzard.

Microsoft rounded on the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) on Thursday after a surprise decision to block its planned takeover of the Call of Duty games developer, with its president, Brad Smith, describing it as the “darkest day in our four decades in Britain”.

Continue reading...

Labour accuses Tories of turning country into ‘open sewer’ in Commons water debate – UK politics live

Posted on by

MPs debate Labour motion that would set aside parliamentary time to pass Labour’s water quality (sewage discharge) bill

Rishi Sunak is seeking to capitalise on his improved relations with the EU with hopes of an agreement to allow British passport holders to use e-gates when travelling in the bloc, Lisa O’Carroll reports.

On small boats, Starmer told This Morning that he wanted to stop the boats. Labour would focus on two policies in particular, he said.

Continue reading...