Tag Archives: brexit

Journalist Asks David Cameron Outright If Rwanda Bill Is A Consequence Of Brexit

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David Cameron was asked outright by a journalist if the government’s controversial Rwanda bill is a result of the UK’s departure from the EU.

Speaking shortly after parliament finally passed the legislation to deport asylum seekers to Africa on Monday night, the foreign secretary defended the policy – but dodged the questions about his main legacy, Brexit.

ITV News’ deputy political editor Anushka Asthana asked: “Hand on heart, if this had come up when you were PM, would you have gone for this policy?”

Cameron, who was in No.10 from 2010 to 2016, said: “Well, we had a totally different situation, because we had a situation where we could return people directly to France.

“Now I would love that to be the case again – that’s the most sensible thing.

“People land on a beach in Kent, you take them straight back to France, you therefore break the model of the people smugglers.”

“Shouldn’t you be trying to get that?” Asthana asked.

“Well, that’s not available,” the foreign secretary replied.

The journalist asked: “Because of Brexit?”

Cameron ended up resigning as prime minister in 2016 because his campaign to stay in the EU lost.

He did not answer Asthana directly and just said: “Well, because of the situation we’re in.”

The foreign secretary did not explain what he meant by that.

Rishi Sunak has also threatened to take the UK out of the European Court of Human Rights if its judges try to stop the Rwanda policy altogether.

Cameron told Asthana that the UK has to deal with illegal immigration, but added: “I don’t think it’s necessary to leave the ECHR, I don’t think that needs to happen to make this policy work.”

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Ex-Tory Chair Lord Patten Shreds Party For Becoming ‘More Right-Wing And More Unpopular’

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The Conservative’s former chairman has launched a bruising attack on the party for becoming “more right-wing”.

In an interview on Tonight with Andrew Marr on LBC, Lord Chris Patten, a former cabinet minister, also labelled Brexit the “biggest disaster in British policy making since the Second World War”.

The Conservative grandee, who has also been an EU Commissioner and the last governor of Hong Kong, was asked about the upcoming general election, and whether there was a chance of a repeat of the 1992 vote, when Lord Patten was the Conservative Party chairman and John Major pulled off a victory despite more than a decade of Tory rule.

He said voters would not give the current government the “benefit of the doubt”.

Lord Patten said: “When asked about my experiences of being party chairman of the Conservative Party, and what the relevance is to my views on things today, I make initially the very important point that I was chairman of the Conservative Party when there was one.

“And I think what we’ve seen over the years, is the Conservative Party becoming more right-wing, as it becomes more right-wing, it becomes more populist, as it becomes more populist, it becomes more unpopular, as it becomes more unpopular, it becomes more right-wing.

“And I think what it does in the process is lose something which won John Major the election 1992.”

On Brexit, Lord Patten said: “What nobody is allowed to say is that Brexit was a bloody disaster.

“And you hear politicians, even ones I quite respect, talking about the difficulties in the economy because of the war in Ukraine, and the effect on oil prices, the effects on the economy of Covid.

“What neither of those issues are ones where to use an awful social scientist’s word, we had agency. So, you can perfectly well say that was bad luck for the government. But Brexit we did ourselves. And it was the biggest disaster in British policymaking I think since the Second World War.”

He went on: “I’m 79, I don’t think there’s a chance in hell of us re-joining European Union in my lifetime. .. but I do think there are better ways of organising our relationship with our biggest market, and we should do them, and we shouldn’t when we try to do them, be put off by tabloid headlines’.

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This Image Marks A Major New Era For Northern Ireland. Here’s Why

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Michelle O’Neill has just become Northern Ireland’s first minister – making her the first ever leader of a nationalist party to take on the key role.

She was pictured officially taking up the role on Saturday when the Northern Ireland Assembly formally returned.

It also comes after almost two years of deadlock in the Northern Ireland Assembly – also known as Stormont – which stopped the devolved government from sitting at all.

Although the Good Friday Agreement means both nationalists and unionists have to share power for Stormont to operate, politicians from the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) held the position of first minister for more than 100 years – until now.

Elections held in May 2022 saw nationalist party Sinn Fein secure the largest number of seats, meaning its own politicians could take the top job in the Executive for the first time ever.

The DUP, as the second largest group in the Assembly, are therefore entitled to install a politician in the deputy first minister role.

Technically, Sinn Fein should have been leading Stormont since the last election, but DUP have been boycotting the government altogether.

In February 2022, the DUP withdrew from the Northern Ireland Assembly in an effort to make Downing Street act on their concerns that the post-Brexit deal was making the region too separate from the rest of the UK.

Trade going from Britain to Northern Ireland was subject to intense checks, unlike trade going between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

This has been a major sticking point ever since Brexit negotiations began after the EU referendum.

The DUP only agreed to a deal with Westminster to resolve the deadlock on Tuesday, and the legislation was fast-tracked through the UK parliament in a bid to get Stormont restored.

According to DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the new deal means there will “no longer be physical checks or identity checks save where, as normal anywhere in the UK, there are suspicions of smuggling of criminal activity”.

O’Neill celebrated the new deal and the restoration of Stormont, describing Tuesday was a “day of optimism”.

She also told the Washington Post she would be a “minister for all” during her remaining term.

The next Stormont election will be held no later than May 2027.

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Question Time Audience Member Calls Out Claim UK Hasn’t ‘Properly Brexited’

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A Brexit voter appearing on BBC Question Time has called out the excuses made by politicians for leaving the European Union not living up to the promises – as a prominent supporter of quitting the bloc claimed the country hasn’t “properly Brexited”.

The corporation’s flagship politics show on Thursday held a “special” in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex to mark the seventh anniversary of the 2016 vote. Some 70% of people in the area voted to get out of the union and only Brexit voters were in the audience for the programme.

It was held on the same day interest rates were hiked for the 13th month in a row as the UK’s rate of inflation remains higher than other major economies, with Brexit in part being blamed.

On the show, panellist Ben Habib, a businessman and former Brexit Party MEP, who is now part of the successor Reform UK, claimed the country hasn’t “properly Brexited” and blamed former prime minister Boris Johnson for being “loose in his association with the truth when he promised to get Brexit done”.

But it was too much for one audience member, who responded directly to Habib’s comments.

She said: “Literally the first thing that people with your opinion say … it’s like Brexit could be good if it went to a different school. I’m so sick of that.

“Where is the gumption from both Labour and the Conservatives to say, actually, no, this is what we’re going to do about it.

“This boils my blood when all that is rolled out is ‘well, there could have been a good Brexit if …’”

Habib later claimed that Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar and then deputy Simon Coveney “weaponised the border and threatened violence”.

Another audience member also said Brexit “hasn’t started” as a result of the pandemic and war in Ukraine.

Campbell, the Tony Blair-era Labour Party spin chief, said they had been told it “would be pain-free” and “all be upsides”, as he pointed to the fall in the pound, a lack of a trade deal with the US and the claim of more money for the NHS.

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Alastair Campbell Tells Question Time Brexit Voters ‘You Were Lied To’ By ‘Conmen’ Johnson And Farage

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Alastair Campbell has hit out at “conmen” Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage as he told Brexit voters on BBC Question Time they were “lied to”.

The corporation’s flagship politics show on Thursday held a “special” in Clacton-on-Sea in Essex to mark the seventh anniversary of the 2016 vote. Some 70% of people in the area voted to get out of the bloc and only Brexit voters were in the audience for the programme.

Campbell, the Tony Blair-era Labour Party spin chief, has been a fierce critic of leaving the European Union. On the show, the Rest is Politics podcaster said he understood why the audience members wanted to exit the EU – but that they were “lied to” and told it “would be pain-free” and “all be upsides”, as he pointed to the fall in the pound, a lack of a trade deal with the US and the claim of more money for the NHS.

He said: “Look, I understand why a lot of you guys voted for Brexit because you felt that Johnson, Farage … these conmen were coming along offering you something that was going to make your lives better.

“And I was in a school today, just a few minutes away from here. Clacton Coastal Academy. Really bright kids. Really nice teachers. Fantastic school in a very tough area, and I asked the kids what they thought of Brexit and all but two said they would vote to rejoin the European Union if they had the chance.”

He went on: “I don’t blame you for voting. I blame them for lying to you. They lied. They’ve not been properly held to account.

“Johnson’s gone from lying about Covid. He’s still not properly been held accountable for Brexit.

“And we’re all of us paying a higher price in our cost of living and everything else because of the lies that we were told.”

He later said Brexit is “one of the biggest acts of self-harm that we as a country have ever inflicted upon ourselves”, and that Johnson “never believed in Brexit”.

“Boris Johnson went for the referendum as a way of advancing his own career and becoming prime minister,” Campbell said. “The mess he’s left this country in, he should never be forgiven.”

Critics of leaving the EU have cited the impact on the pound, imports and labour costs, and other economies on the continent powering ahead. Britain’s higher rate of inflation compared to other major economies has also been blamed in part on Brexit thanks to higher administration costs and a small pool of workers.

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‘You Sound Crackers’: Boris Johnson Ally Called Out For Claiming Downfall Is ‘Revenge For Brexit’

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An ally of Boris Johnson has been labelled “crackers” for suggesting the devastating report that could end the former prime minister’s political career is “revenge for Brexit”.

On Thursday, the privileges committee of MPs found Johnson deliberately misled parliament over partygate.

It recommended a 90-day suspension for the ex-prime minister, which he will escape after resigning as an MP, and said he should not receive a pass granting access to parliament which is normally given to former members.

MPs are expected to have a free vote on the proposed sanctions.

On the BBC’s Politics Live soon after the report was published, Lord Stewart Jackson, a former Conservative MP, echoed Johnson’s words by describing the process as “a sham court” and “a kangaroo court”, and said the MPs had conducted a “quasi-judicial process”.

He added: “And there are people there who were out to get him, and what this is effectively is revenge for Brexit dressed up as a judicial process.”

After Jackson insisted the majority of parliament was “hostile to his position on Brexit”, he faced pushback from Ellie Mae O’Hagan from the Good Law Project, which has launched a number of legal challenges against the government.

She said: “I’m sorry, I really don’t like being rude to fellow guests. But you sound crackers … the things you are saying are just crackers … it as like the idea that this is about Brexit, the idea that Britain is now a banana republic …”

You can watch the full exchange below.

Other Johnson loyalists have taken to the airways to defend Johnson.

Conservative MP Brendan Clarke-Smith told the BBC that the report was “vindictive, spiteful and an over-each”, adding: “90 days and taking their pass off them is the equivalent of putting somebody in the stocks and touring them round the country.”

Former Cabinet minister Simon Clarke was also among Johnson’s allies to indicate they would vote against the report, saying “this punishment is absolutely extraordinary to the point of sheer vindictiveness”.

Johnson was said to have deliberately misled MPs with his partygate denials and accused of being complicit in a campaign of abuse and intimidation, with the former prime minister hitting out at the “deranged conclusion”.

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Sunak Hails ‘Atlantic Declaration’ Despite Abandoning UK-US Free Trade Deal

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Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden have agreed a new partnership that the British prime minister said cements the “indispensable alliance” between the UK and US – but the deal fell well short of a prized and full-blown free trade deal.

The Atlantic Declaration, announced as the PM and US president met in the White House, includes commitments on easing trade barriers, closer defence industry ties and a data protection deal.

UK officials insisted the new, “targeted” approach was a better response to the economic challenges posed by China and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than a trade deal – which has long been hailed by Brexiteers as one of the potential benefits of leaving the EU.

During a joint press conference in Washington DC where the declaration was announced, Sunak was pressed by the BBC’s political Chris Mason on whether the lack of a free trade deal represented “failure” to deliver on a 2019 manifesto promise.

Sunak replied the declaration was a response to the “particular opportunities and challenges we face right now and into the future” and that the UK-US relationship is “strong and booming”.

For the president’s part, Biden said: “It’s a testament to the depth, breadth and I would argue the intensity of our co-operation and coordination which continues to exist between the United Kingdom and the United States.

“There’s no issue of global importance – none – that our nations are not leading together.”

What’s in The Atlantic Declaration?

The deal mitigates some of the issues cause by Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), with proposals for a critical minerals agreement to remove barriers which affected trade in electric vehicle batteries.

An agreement would give buyers of vehicles made using critical minerals processed, recycled or mined by UK companies access to tax credits in line with the IRA.

The Inflation Reduction Act provides a $3,750 incentive for each vehicle, on conditions including that the critical minerals used in its production – principally used in the battery – are sourced from the US or a country with whom the US has a critical minerals agreement.

An agreement could help companies all over the UK, including firms carrying out nickel production in Wales and lithium processing in Teesside.

Biden has committed to ask Congress to approve the UK as a “domestic source” under US defence procurement laws, allowing for greater American investment in British firms.

Work will be carried out to improve the resilience of supply chains and efforts will be stepped up to shut Vladimir Putin’s Russia out of the global civil nuclear market.

The agreement will also include a push for mutual recognition of qualifications for engineers, although this could require state-by-state approval in the US.

A deal on data protection will ease burdens for small firms doing transatlantic trade, potentially saving £92 million.

The two nations will also collaborate on key industries – artificial intelligence, 5G and 6G telecoms, quantum computing, semiconductors and engineering biology.

It also commits the UK and US to partnership across all forms of space activity, including on communications and space nuclear power and propulsion.

Why not a proper trade deal?

Officials believe the deal is a less sentimental and more pragmatic approach to the UK-US “special relationship”, based on the need to ensure the allies can maintain their economic power and security.

The global energy shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine illustrated the vulnerability of major economies reliant on supply chains beyond their political allies.

There are fears that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could cause a similar economic meltdown due to the disputed territory’s significance in global semiconductor supplies.

Labour said the absence of a trade deal in the Atlantic Declaration represented a “failure”.

Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy said: “This statement shows the Conservative government has failed to deliver the comprehensive trade deal they promised in the 2019 manifesto, or to secure the ally status under the Inflation Reduction Act that is so important for the automotive sector and for the green transition.

“While the Biden administration have enacted the Inflation Reduction Act to de-risk its economy from China and create jobs at home, the Conservatives have left Britain’s cupboards bare. Instead of taking similar action, the chancellor has attacked the US approach as ‘dangerous’ and ‘not the British way’.”

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‘The Benefits Are Pure Fantasy’: MPs Debate Brexit Impact For First Time

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The benefits of Brexit have been written off as “pure fantasy” as MPs debated the consequences of leaving the European Union amid growing concern over the decision.

On Monday, a three-hour debate took place in Westminster Hall triggered by 183,000 people signing a petition calling for a public inquiry into the impact of Brexit.

Brexit and its consequences have been discussed periodically in parliament, but it is thought this is the first time a full debate has examined what leaving the bloc has led to.

Brexit has been cited repeatedly as the UK’s economy is expected to perform the worst out of any G20 economies apart from Russia this year and next, an IMF analysis has suggested.

On the same day as the debate, Gerry Murphy, the chairman of Burberry, said leaving the EU had been a “drag on growth” as he hit out at the “spectacular own goal” of a post-Brexit VAT change during a Q&A with Rishi Sunak.

Ministers have previously rejected a call for an official probe into the effects of leaving the EU.

The debate was opened by SNP MP Martyn Day, speaking in favour of the petition.

He told parliamentarians: “Nearly seven years on from the Brexit referendum, the UK public are still waiting for the elusive ‘Brexit benefits’ that were promised.

“It seems to me, having raised just some of the areas where leaving the EU has impacted on the UK, that the benefits of Brexit are pure fantasy.

“The economic fallout from Brexit is stark and it has been made starker by the current cost of living crisis that is being inflicted on households up and down the country.

“From my perspective, Brexit has been an unmitigated disaster—politically, economically and socially, for Scotland and the rest of the UK.

“The UK government, of course, have a means to refute this.

“When major events occur, public inquiries can be held into matters of public concern to establish facts, to learn lessons so that mistakes are not repeated, to restore public confidence and to determine accountability.”

Speaking against the petition, Conservative MP Adam Holloway said the biggest benefit was that “our sovereignty has been repatriated”.

“It is easy to disdain patriotism if you’re economically and socially mobile and derive your self-worth from a well-paid job, or if you life is made easier by cheap labour brought by free movement,” the MP said.

Labour MP Hilary Benn picked up on sovereignty issue as he argued proponents of Brexit were “in a state of confusion and denial”.

He said: “I met many people during the campaign who made that argument. Indeed, they said, ‘I don’t care about the economic impact. My sovereignty is more important.’ I respect people’s right to hold that view; I fundamentally disagree with it.

“But what was unforgiveable was to claim that we could have all our sovereignty, keep all the benefits of being a member of the European Union and get further benefits on top of that. It simply was not true, and we now know it was not true. Therefore, those who argued for us to leave the European Union are now in a state of confusion and denial.

“That is what is going on, particularly around the economic consequences. If we do not understand what those are, how on earth are we going to build a different relationship with our European colleagues over the months and years ahead?”

Labour’s Fleur Anderson hit out at “delusion” ministers.

She said: “In December 2021, I called for a debate on the impact of Brexit and a region-by-region report. The then leader of the House (Jacob Rees-Mogg) gave me this response: ’We can start prayers every morning…with a celebration of Brexit. We should have the Brexit prayer and perhaps even the Brexit song…because it has been a triumph for this nation in reasserting its freedom.′

“He said that we now have ‘happy fish’ and that across the country ‘there is general celebrating and rejoicing’.

“That level of delusion, flippancy and not taking the issue seriously is very frustrating for people across the country, and it is why they signed the petition in such large numbers. This cannot be the last word—just writing it off and saying that Brexit has been a success without giving evidence.”

The UK government has said: “The UK’s departure from the EU was a democratic choice, and the UK-EU institutions are functioning as intended. The Government does not believe this to be an appropriate subject for a public inquiry,”

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Historic Firm’s Letter Goes Viral Over Fears Of Being ‘Killed Off’ By Brexit

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An historic lace manufacturer has said it faces being “killed off by our own side” thanks to levies brought about by Brexit.

In a letter published in the Financial Times that has since gone viral, Chris Mason, managing director of Derbyshire-based The Cluny Lace Company, says the taxman has imposed an 8% duty on the return of all the lace it has sent to France for dyeing.

He adds the levy has been backdated to when Brexit came into force two years ago.

In the letter, he writes: “We have spent more than 200 years building our business, fought for 30 years against the global textile trend of moving to the Far East and have now been killed off by our own side in a couple of years. We all lose.”

It was quickly seized upon on social media.

Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Deborah Meaden wrote: “Absolutely devastating…a pin sharp arrow to the futility and harm of leaving the EU…for so many businesses.”

Earlier this month, the government set out plans for how post-Brexit border checks on goods coming into the UK from the EU will work.

Ministers published a draft border operating model, designed to bring in the checks the UK is required to make under its Brexit trade agreement with the EU.

Ministers have delayed implementing the checks on several occasions since the UK officially withdrew from the trade bloc on January 31, 2020.

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Travel Chaos Returns As Long Queues Form At Dover Ahead Of Easter Weekend

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Dover has been blighted by travel chaos again as long queues were reported at the major port linking the UK with continental Europe.

Last weekend, a political row kicked over the thousands of people who were delayed at the Kent travel hub, reportedly by up to 14 hours.

The delays were blamed on French border officials carrying out extra checks and stamping UK passports following Brexit, though home secretary Suella Braverman dismissed the link to leaving the EU.

On Thursday, ahead of the long Easter weekend, queues of “approximately 90 minutes” for passport checks were reported by ferry operator DFDS.

The queue had eased by 1pm, with DFDS saying “traffic is free flowing through border controls and check-in”.

Port officials said they held a “urgent review” with ferry operators and the French authorities in an attempt to avoid a repeat of last weekend’s delays.

Ferry companies are asking coach operators booked on sailings on Good Friday – expected to be the busiest day for outbound Easter travel from Dover – to “spread the travel” across the three-day period from Thursday to Saturday.

Additional “temporary border control infrastructure” has also been installed.

A general strike in France in a row over pension reforms is also causing disruption.

Lorries queue for the Port of Dover along the A20 in Kent as the getaway begins for the Easter weekend.
Lorries queue for the Port of Dover along the A20 in Kent as the getaway begins for the Easter weekend.

Gareth Fuller via PA Wire/PA Images

Lorries queue for the Port of Dover along the A20 in Kent as the getaway begins for the Easter weekend.
Lorries queue for the Port of Dover along the A20 in Kent as the getaway begins for the Easter weekend.

Gareth Fuller via PA Wire/PA Images

Last Sunday, Bravermandenied that Brexit was to blame for the travel chaos at Dover.

The home secretary instead urged holidaymakers stuck in huge queues as they try to get to France that they need to “be a bit patient”.

Appearing on Sophy Ridge on Sunday on Sky News, Braverman rejected comments by Doug Bannister, the chief executive of the port at Dover, who said that the “post-Brexit environment means that every passport needs to be checked”.

Ridge asked the home secretary: “Do we need to, after Brexit, just get used to this happening at busy periods?”

Braverman replied: “I don’t think that’s fair to say this has been an adverse effect of Brexit.

“I think we’ve had many years now since leaving the European Union and there’s been on the whole very good operations and processes at the border.

″What I would say is that at acute times, when there is a lot of pressure crossing the Channel, whether that’s on the tunnel or ferries, then I think that there’s always going to be a backup and I just urge everybody to be a bit patient while the ferry companies work their way through the backlog.”

HuffPost UK has reported ministers turned down a bid by the Port of Dover for funding to build more passport booths.

Officials at the port applied to the Cabinet Office for £33 million from a special infrastructure fund in 2020.

The cash would have paid for “additional French passport control booths to compensate for slower transaction times and a reordering of controls within the port” following Brexit.

But a press release issued by the port in December 2020 says that “at the eleventh hour the port [was] offered just one tenth of one per cent of what was needed”.

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