Brexit in Bern: EU immigration row heats up as Switzerland threatens to leave Schengen area February 10, 2022 Switzerland is threatening to leave the Schengen zone if the EU countries that are part of the visa treaty move to strengthen their border force Frontex, which Brussels is pushing for. Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard, is the collective term for national border and coast guard forces within the EU’s Schengen Area, as [...]
Govt told: ‘Don’t overpromise but be honest’ about Brexit as red tape, costs and delays hit UK firms February 9, 2022 The public spending watchdog warned this morning that UK trade with the EU has been knocked by Brexit and businesses have faced higher costs, more paperwork and border delays since Britain’s withdrawal. A report by the Public Accounts Committee found that while it was difficult to untangle how much of the hit to trade since [...]
Global Britain: £500bn Brexit boost and 5m jobs via supercharge of UK exports and new trade ties February 8, 2022 Supercharging UK exports may result in a £500bn Brexit boost and could create up to 5m new jobs, according to a group of business leaders. The Global Britain Commission, which was set up by former trade minister Liam Fox, has set out detail for a blueprint for Global Britain in a post-Brexit world. If Britain [...]
UK swerves away from EU car safety rules following Brexit February 8, 2022 The government has said it could use its new Brexit “freedoms” to avoid complying with EU car safety rules. Following Brexit, the UK no longer needs to follow the General Safety Regulations, which include higher standards for cars and lorries to make them less deadly for pedestrians. The UK agreed to be follow the regulations [...]
Court attempts to end Brexit chaos in Northern Ireland by ordering immediate end to end of food checks February 4, 2022 The High Court intervened in the ongoing Brexit chaos in Northern Ireland this afternoon after a judge issued an interim order suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports. Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review [...]
Disbelief and outrage across EU as UK says it won’t do anything to stop end to Brexit food checks February 3, 2022 European media responded with shock and disbelief this morning after a minister in Northern Ireland ordered to end checks on food in his country and the UK declared it won’t do anything about it. Moreover, Northern Ireland First Minister Paul Givan is expected to announce his resignation by the end of the week, potentially later [...]
Northern Ireland minister calls for food border checks to end at midnight as Brexit row heats up February 2, 2022 Irish Sea border checks on British agri-food exports to Northern Ireland have been ordered to stop from midnight tonight by the Democratic Unionist Party, undermining the hard Irish border. Agriculture minister Edwin Poots has called on his officials to halt the checks, which are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol. Poots has initially made the threat [...]
‘Brexit has failed to deliver a single benefit while communities bear the brunt’, angry Scottish minister tells UK govt January 31, 2022 Scotland has not seen any benefits from Brexit, a minister has said ahead of a meeting with the UK Government. Scotland’s Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon hit out at the UK leaving the EU two years on from the finalisation of a deal to leave the bloc. Ahead of a meeting of the inter-ministerial group [...]
Brexit: UK share of EU export and import trade tumbles further as cross-Channel trade declines January 31, 2022 The UK’s share of EU27 goods exports fell from 6.2 percent in 2019 to 5.2 percent last year, while its share of EU27 goods imports fell from 3.9 percent to 2.6 percent over the same period, according to new figures published in Germany today. The decline comes after Britain’s share of exports dropped from 7.1 [...]
Weekend Read: Brexit and the pandemic have cost UK businesses £250bn, each January 30, 2022 The political choice of Brexit has cost UK businesses as much as the unforeseeable Covid pandemic. British companies have lost over £250bn to Covid and an equal amount to Brexit by the end of 2021, but the Brexit tally is now rising faster, The Centre for Economics and Business Research found that Covid-19 lockdowns had [...]