The president of the European Commission has indicated that funding for Ireland's cross-border projects will continue after Brexit. Jean-Claude Juncker said he could see no more important use of the European budget than maintaining the peace process in Ireland. He was speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
The Foreign Office Director of the Economic Diplomacy Directorate Hugh Elliot is currently in Chile on a two day visit to discuss the UK’s transition process from the European Union with the Chilean Government. Mr. Elliot is the UK's government main interlocutor for the transition program of agreements and third countries.
The European Union chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker renewed an offer to Britain on Wednesday to stay in the European Union and said he hoped that even if it goes through with Brexit it would apply to rejoin the bloc.
First Minister Carwyn Jones has said he will take steps to protect Welsh powers after Brexit if UK ministers do not change their EU withdrawal bill. He claimed the way Theresa May planned to bring powers back from Brussels was a fundamental assault on devolution.
Europe’s top two bureaucrats believe the UK could still yet change its mind on Brexit. Donald Tusk, the European Council president, said “our hearts are still open” to “our British friends” to remain in the bloc. And quoting the UK Brexit secretary, he added: “Wasn’t it David Davis himself who said ‘if a democracy cannot change its mind, it ceases to be a democracy’? We here on the continent haven’t had a change of heart – our hearts are still open to you.”
Scotland's economy would be £12.7bn a year worse off under a so-called hard Brexit, according to analysis by the Scottish government. The figure is contained in a paper on the impact of UK withdrawal from the European Union. It calculates the cost to Scotland of the UK leaving the single market with or without a trade deal.
Nicola Sturgeon has said she will be able to make a judgment on whether to back a second referendum on Scottish independence by the end of this year. The first minister said her decision would be made when the shape of a deal between Britain and the European Union became clear in the autumn.
Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage says he is close to backing a second EU referendum to end the whinging and whining of anti-Brexit campaigners. Mr Farage told Channel 5's The Wright Stuff a fresh vote could kill off the Remain campaign for a generation.
The German government on Wednesday sought to pour cold water over Britain's hopes of a bespoke post-Brexit arrangement for financial services. German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman told reporters that Berlin's focus would remain on preserving a unified stance among the 27 EU nations as Brexit negotiations prepare to enter a critical phase. Britain's financial services industry is expected to be one the main battlegrounds in the next stage of talks.
Nigel Farage, who as leader of the UK Independence Party was one of the leading campaigners for Britain to leave the European Union, crossed swords with one of his main EU adversaries. After meeting Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, for about 30 minutes in Brussels, Farage said he was convinced that the Frenchman doesn’t understand why more than 17 million people voted for the UK to leave in the 2016 referendum.