Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Michel Barnier has warned that the move led by Labour MP Yvette Cooper to block the prime minister from delivering a no-deal Brexit is doomed to fail unless a majority for an alternative agreement is found.
The EU’s chief negotiator, in a speech in Brussels, said the “default” for the UK was still crashing out if MPs could not coalesce around a new vision of its future outside the bloc.
Revised deal – including backstop concessions – could win support to see off ‘Europhile kamikaze MPs’
Tory Brexit supporters alarmed by the prospect of a delay have hinted they could be won over in the coming weeks – if Theresa May can produce a serious concession from Brussels on the Irish backstop.
The numbers may not be enough for May to win support for her deal, given continued opposition from a hardcore of Brexiters who also object to the £39bn financial settlement, those with personal grudges against the prime minister and Tory remainers hoping for a second referendum. However, some Brexiter MPs or those in seats which voted leave have suggested in recent days that there is a path to win their support.
The EU has confirmed it will enforce a hard border on the island of Ireland in the event of a no-deal Brexit, despite the risk it would pose to peace.
In comments that will be highly uncomfortable for Dublin, Jean-Claude Juncker’s chief spokesman told reporters it was “pretty obvious” that border infrastructure would be necessary if the UK were to leave without deal.
PM faces a looming revolt over a no-deal Brexit as Corbyn criticises her talks as ‘PR sham’
Theresa May doubled down on her opposition to a second Brexit referendum on Monday night, claiming it would threaten Britain’s “social cohesion” and insisting the centrepiece of her strategy remained negotiating changes to the Irish backstop.
With just 67 days to go until Britain is due by law to leave the European Union, May exasperated MPs and business groups by offering scant evidence that she was willing to change course.
Critics warn many could be left without legal status to stay if settlement scheme fails
Migration experts have warned that the post-Brexit system for registering EU citizens living in the UK could become a new “Windrush scandal” as the scheme to register an estimated 3.5 million EU citizens living in the UK begins.
From Monday, the third phase of testing will open to EU residents in the UK, who will be able to register for the new post-Brexit “settled status”. The Home Office is extending its live trial to all EU citizens who hold a valid passport and any non-EU citizen family members who hold a valid biometric residence card.
Statement on Monday expected to focus on finding a remedy to issue that threatens to split Tory party
Theresa May is expected to reject calls to forge a cross-party consensus on Brexit when she lays out her plan B to parliament on Monday, choosing instead to back new diplomatic efforts in Brussels to renegotiate the Irish backstop.
The prime minister held a conference call with her bitterly divided cabinet from the country retreat of Chequers on Sunday evening.
Downing Street says it is ‘extremely concerning’ MPs could attempt to override the government
Downing Street has said it is “extremely concerning” that MPs could attempt to override the government to suspend or delay the article 50 process to leave the EU in their effort to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
A slew of backbench amendments are expected to be attached to the prime minister’s statement on Monday on the way forward for the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
Cabinet ministers involved in cross-party talks on how to break the Brexit deadlock have given the first indication that they are prepared to examine plans for a potential second referendum on the UK’s departure from the EU, according to the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Vince Cable.
The offer to examine a possible timetable for a second vote drawn up by the Lib Dems was made during discussions between senior Liberal Democrats and two cabinet ministers involved in the talks, Michael Gove and David Lidington, in the Cabinet Office on Thursday morning.
Tens of thousands take to city streets to protest against violence and the impact of austerity on their lives
Propelled by a mass public rendition of Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves and accompanied by a thudding police helicopter overhead, hundreds of protesters have rallied in central London in solidarity with an estimated 89 Women’s Marches worldwide.
In Athens, Berlin, Washington DC and Los Angeles, to name just a few, tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out to protest against violence against women and the impact of policies of austerity. They also had some choice words for Donald Trump and Theresa May.
Ex-PM urges Theresa May to stage series of ‘indicative’ votes as way out of impasse
Sir John Major has called for MPs to be allowed to have a free vote on a series of options to solve the unfolding Brexit crisis, saying he feared millions will be hurt if Britain leaves the EU with the wrong deal or none at all.
The former prime minister called on Theresa May to stage a series of “indicative” votes in parliament to establish whether any proposals could command a majority.
Campaign group urges recognition for women affected by sexual violence of Korean troops and the children born as a result
Tran Thi Ngai was 24 and alone at home in her village in Vietnam’s Phu Yen province when a South Korean soldier forced his way into the house and raped her.
“He pulled me inside the room, closed the door and raped me repeatedly. He had a gun on his body and I was terrified,” said Tran, now almost 80, and still waiting for South Korea to acknowledge sexual violence by its soldiers during the Vietnam war.
Ministers have been urged by top doctors to reveal the extent of national drug stocks, amid growing evidence patients are stockpiling medication in preparation for a no-deal Brexit.
The Royal College of Physicians (RCP), which represents tens of thousands of doctors, urged the government to be more “transparent about national stockpiles, particularly for things that are already in short supply or need refrigeration, such as insulin”.
Jon Henley answers Brexit queries from confused readers around the world
Having asked those of you living outside the UK if you were confused by the latest news from Brexitland, I got so many responses (thank you all) that I have grouped and paraphrased the most common ones so as to be able answer, at least approximately, as many as possible.
And I’ve mostly stuck to factual questions on the Brexit process. “Will Brexit finally teach Britain it no longer rules the world?” from (among others) Steve Norman in Canada, Ferdy in Dublin and Thijs in the Netherlands, warrants a book-length response, but not now.
Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including Boris Johnson’s Brexit speech
Here is Tom Brake, the Lib Dem Brexit spokesman, on Boris Johnson’s speech.
No one will take lessons from Boris Johnson on eroding trust in our democracy. The fact he is still peddling mistruths about money from Brexit going to our NHS is shameful. Brexit will make us poorer.
As exit day approaches, with Theresa May’s deal soundly defeated, extending Article 50 is the only responsible course of action left.
And here are some more examples of Boris Johnson raising Turkey as a leave campaign issue in 2016.
I am very pro-Turkish but what I certainly can’t imagine is a situation in which 77million of my fellow Turks and those of Turkish origin can come here without any checks at all. That is mad - that won’t work.
Here's Boris during a HuffPost/Tele referendum debate suggesting British public should be given referendum on any Turkish membership of the EU. And that he is 'all in favour' of Turkey joining the EU as long as the UK 'comes out'. (1hr 12mins)https://t.co/jBMWY530mw
A number of Labour frontbenchers say they would consider their positions if leader backed idea
Jeremy Corbyn could face up to a dozen resignations from the Labour frontbench if the party backs a second referendum as a way out of the Brexit crisis.
A string of junior shadow ministers have told the Guardian they are strongly opposed to the idea of a second referendum, which they fear would expose Labour to a vicious backlash in leave-voting constituencies.
The public is “aghast” at the “Brexit pantomime” in Westminster, Sinn Féin’s deputy leader, Michelle O’Neill, has told the Northern Ireland secretary, Karen Bradley, in what the former termed a “frank discussion”.
With each passing day, our business community, our farmers, our community and voluntary sector are growing more concerned at where this shambles will ultimately end up. And it is they who will pay the price of a no-deal crash Brexit.
Unfortunately, that is where we are likely to end up if Karen Bradley’s government pursues a solution by attempting to placate and appease the DUP and the hard Brexiteers.
It is crucial, now more than ever, that the Dublin Government and the EU27 stand firm on the position that there can be no agreement without a backstop that prevents a hard border in Ireland and protects our peace and political process.
Paris agreement for the sea recommended as rates of plastic pollution to skyrocket
A new global agreement to protect the seas should be a priority for the government to stop our seas becoming a “sewer”, according to a cross-party group of MPs.
Plastic pollution is set to treble in the next decade, the environmental audit committee warned, while overfishing is denuding vital marine habitats of fish, and climate change is causing harmful warming of the oceans as well as deoxygenation and acidification.
They led to radical change in Ireland’s view on abortion and spurred Texas to get behind wind power. Could a group of ordinary people do for Brexit what Theresa May can’t?
In the summer of 1978, George Bishop and a team of researchers in Cincinnati, Ohio, conducted a poll on some of the big political topics of the day. One question went as follows: “Some people say that the 1975 Public Affairs Act should be repealed. Do you agree or disagree with this idea?” It turned out that 16% did agree, and 18% didn’t. This was surprising. There should have been no controversy about the 1975 Public Affairs Act because it did not exist.