Chancellor Philip Hammond has warned the EU that Britain will “fight back” and not “slink off like a wounded animal” if it does not get the Brexit deal it wants. In some of the toughest talking yet ahead of the UK triggering the Article 50 negotiations on terms of withdrawal, the Chancellor said Britain would “do whatever we need to do” to be competitive in the event of leaving the EU without a trade agreement.
Britain's House of Lords dealt a defeat to Theresa May's government on Wednesday, voting for a change to her Brexit plan that says she can only trigger divorce talks if she promises to protect EU citizens' rights.
The government of Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a first defeat for its Brexit bill in the House of Lords later. Peers are expected to agree to amend the draft legislation to protect the rights of EU citizens living in the UK.Home Secretary Amber Rudd had sought to reassure members that EU nationals' status would be a priority once Brexit talks begin.
The EU’s negotiators will work to keep the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland “as open as possible” after Brexit, the President of the bloc, Jean-Claude Juncker, said after meeting Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.
The impact of Brexit on the Falkland Islands and the economy in general were subjects raised with visiting Members of Parliament this week. The delegation of four made a flying visit to the Falkland Islands last weekend accompanied by FI Representative in London Sukey Cameron.
Theresa May has taken the highly unusual step of sitting in the House of Lords to hear peers being told by the UK Government not to “frustrate” Brexit. The Prime Minister sat on the steps in front of the Royal Throne as Lords leader Baroness Evans of Bowes Park told peers to respect the decision of the British people in last year’s referendum and the “primacy” of the elected House of Commons.
The House of Lords are to begin debating the bill paving the way for the start of Brexit. MPs agreed the proposed law unchanged, authorizing Theresa May to inform the EU of the UK's intention to leave. But the government does not have a majority in the House of Lords and eight amendments have been tabled by Labor's front bench.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has defended his government’s co-sovereignty proposal for Gibraltar and reiterated that Spain will use Brexit to push its sovereignty aspirations over the Rock. Rajoy made the comments during a wide-ranging interview with Agence France Presse. “I think that our proposal of shared sovereignty is very reasonable,” he said.
Tony Blair has called on pro-Europeans to form a new cross-party movement to persuade the public they were wrong to vote to leave the EU. In an impassioned speech, the former prime minister said “progressives” should make it their “mission” to reverse the outcome of the referendum last June.
British ministers are braced for a parliamentary battle and are prepared for the Article 50 legislation to be rewritten by the House of Lords, David Davis has indicated. The Brexit Secretary said he expected some parliamentary “ping pong”, with the Bill being sent back and forth between the Commons and the Lords, suggesting he expected peers to defeat the Government and make changes to the tightly-worded legislation.