Tag: Brexit

• Monday, August 21st 2017 - 10:42 UTC

  Warnings about Northern Ireland peace funding and Brexit negotiations

  

  Lord Peter Hain has called on the government to “soften” its approach to ”taking the UK out of the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).” The former secretary of state claimed that such a move could result in Northern Ireland losing millions of pounds of peace funding. The ECJ oversees reconciliation grants to North Ireland in the region of £240 million.

• Monday, August 21st 2017 - 08:45 UTC

  Hard Brexit proposal to remove all trade tariffs and barriers sparks strong controversy

  

  Removing all trade tariffs and barriers would help generate an annual £135bn uplift to the UK economy, according to a group of pro-Brexit economists. A “hard” Brexit is “economically much superior to soft” argues Prof Patrick Minford, lead author of a report from Economists for Free Trade, which insists that eliminating tariffs, either within free trade deals or unilaterally, would deliver huge gains.

• Saturday, August 19th 2017 - 06:42 UTC

  Lord Hague: Brexit, “the most complex task”, any government has faced since the WW2

  

  Lord Hague has compared Brexit to taking control of a gun, saying it is possible to find a solution without using it to “shoot your foot off”. The former Conservative leader said he believes there is sufficient common ground among the different political parties to negotiate with the EU.

• Saturday, August 19th 2017 - 06:32 UTC

  Number of students accepted at UK university drops: demographics, funding and Brexit

  

  The number of students accepted on to UK degree courses has fallen this year, early UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) figures show. In total, 416,310 people have taken up places, down 2% compared with the same point last year.

• Thursday, August 17th 2017 - 12:05 UTC

  Scotland and Wales coordinate opposition to Brexit “green” legislation

  

  Scottish and Welsh environment ministers are to meet to co-ordinate opposition to Brexit legislation. The two administrations fear the Westminster government is planning to take over powers which are currently devolved, but exercised in Brussels.

• Thursday, August 17th 2017 - 07:34 UTC

  Theresa May writes for The Irish Times: Brexit, the border and Irish citizenship

  

  Over the past 12 months, I've said many times that while the UK is leaving the EU, we are not leaving Europe. No one voted to end the special ties between the UK and Ireland or to undermine the unique arrangements between Ireland and Northern Ireland which have underpinned the peace process and have been in place well before our membership of the EU.

• Wednesday, August 16th 2017 - 13:45 UTC

  Calls for a Brexit minister in Welsh cabinet: “the biggest constitutional challenge of our time”

  

  A Brexit minister should be appointed to put Wales' interests “at the centre” of negotiations, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies has said. Mr Davies said the first minister could not handle the “biggest constitutional challenge of our time” alone and insisted the Welsh government should be reconfigured to give “strong and constructive representation” to UK ministers on EU negotiations.

• Wednesday, August 16th 2017 - 10:29 UTC

  UK post-Brexit customs plan “is almost laughable” says Scottish First Minister Sturgeon

  

  First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon has dismissed the UK government's plans for a post-Brexit customs deal with the EU as a “daft 'have cake and eat it' approach”. UK ministers have set out plans for an “ambitious new customs arrangement” with the EU after the UK leaves.

• Wednesday, August 16th 2017 - 09:22 UTC

  UK rejects any border posts between Ireland and Ulster, according to Brexit paper

  

  The United Kingdom government has said it does not want any border posts between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in its new position paper on Brexit. The paper is part of its negotiations with the European Union and the broad ideas in the document appear familiar.

• Tuesday, August 15th 2017 - 09:24 UTC

  Theresa May back from holidays; Brexit papers on the table in anticipation of new round of negotiations

  

  Theresa May is expected to be back in Downing Street this week as ministers prepare to flesh out their negotiating position on Brexit. The return of the Prime Minister, who has spent three weeks on holiday in Italy with her husband Philip, coincides with the publication this week of a series of new position papers on Brexit – including one on the fraught issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.