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Tag: BREXIT

  • Brexit: UK finally leaves the European Union

    Brexit: UK finally leaves the European Union

    Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed an “astonishing moment” as Britain formally left the European Union (EU) after 47 years on Friday, saying his government had “obeyed the people” who voted for Brexit in a 2016 referendum.

    “For many people this is an astonishing moment of hope, a moment they thought would never come,” Johnson said in a recorded speech.

    The speech was broadcast via his Facebook account one hour before Brexit became official at 11 pm (2300 GMT), or midnight in Brussels.

    “And there are many of course who feel a sense of anxiety and loss,” Johnson added.

    “And then of course there is a third group – perhaps the biggest – who had started to worry that the whole political wrangle would never come to an end.

    “We have obeyed the people [who voted for Brexit in a 2016 referendum,” he said, adding: “We have taken back the tools of self-government.”

    Johnson and the European Union’s top officials earlier pointed to new opportunities ahead after Brexit.

    Thousands of eurosceptics gathered to celebrate Brexit Day in London and other cities, rivalled by smaller groups of pro-EU activists in some areas, but most British people were not expected to mark the date.

    A light show and other events organized by Johnson’s Conservative government at Downing Street was outshone by a nearby “Brexit Celebration: Countdown to freedom” event fronted by veteran eurosceptic and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage in London’s Parliament Square.

    In Brussels earlier, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and European Parliament President David Sassoli said Saturday would mark a “new dawn for Europe.

    The bloc’s remaining 27 member sates will “continue to join forces and build a common future,” they wrote in an op-ed for several European newspapers.

    Leaders across Europe expressed similar sentiments.

    German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Brexit was a “deep cut for us all” but underlined that the remaining EU members would continue to do everything necessary to move forward.

    Brexit is “a historic alarm signal that must sound in all our countries, that must be heard by all of Europe and make us reflect,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

    Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar expressed his thanks for the “enormous solidarity from our European partners.” His country, which shares a land border with Britain in Northern Ireland, is the EU state likely to be most affected by Brexit.

    “Today is a very sad day. People in the north did not consent to Brexit,” Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Irish republican party Sinn Fein, said as she joined a border protest.

    “This is not something that people on the island of Ireland want, bar a small minority,” McDonald said.

    After Brexit, little will change in practice during an 11-month transitional phase, as the two sides seek to negotiate a future relationship spanning trade, security and political cooperation.

    Officials in Brussels warn that the timeline is extremely ambitious, but Johnson has ruled out an extension.

    Fifty-two per cent of voters across the United Kingdom chose Brexit in 2016, but there were majorities for remaining in the EU in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

    Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon, who leads the devolved regional government, insisted on Friday that Scotland is being withdrawn from the EU against its will. She demanded a referendum on independence.

    Opinion polls suggest that 53 per cent of people across the United Kingdom now support the country remaining in the EU, said John Curtice, a political scientist at the University of Strathclyde.

    Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, was among the many Conservatives who welcomed Brexit Day.

    “After more than three years, we can finally say that we have delivered on the result of the 2016 referendum and have kept faith with the British people,” tweeted May, who resigned after lawmakers had rejected her Brexit deal three times.

    Opposition Labour lawmaker David Lammy said Brexit was a “national tragedy.”

    “I oppose it today for the same reasons I have always opposed it,” Lammy wrote. “Brexit is a con. A trick. A swindle. A fraud.”

  • BREXIT: No membership, no benefits – EU leaders tell Britain

    The leaders of the European Union’s three institutions warned Britain on Friday that it cannot expect “the highest quality access to the single market” unless it adopts the bloc’s standards on environment, labor, taxation and state aid.

    European Council President Charles Michel, EU Parliament President David Sassoli and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave a speech on the future of Europe in Brussels, Belgium.

    Saying; “Without being a member, you cannot retain the benefits of membership. Without the free movement of people, there can be no free movement of capital, goods, and services”.

    The presidents were due to comment on Brexit and the future of the EU at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT).

    Britain will no longer be an EU member state from Saturday, but it will enter a transition period until the end of December that is meant to give citizens and businesses time to adapt while an agreement is hammered out on the shape of the future relationship.

    Trade, fishing rights and a raft of other issues are up for discussion.

    Although the aim is to achieve a “zero tariff, zero quota” trade deal, the EU says that it would also require “zero dumping”.

    It will insist that Britain remain aligned on standards and regulations to guarantee fair competition, but London has already indicated it will not be “a rule-taker”.

  • Brexit: Britain finally exits European Union today

    Brexit: Britain finally exits European Union today

    The United Kingdom will finally have its Brexit at 11 pm on Friday, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson expected to deliver an emotional divorce address in a broadcast.

    According to snippets of the broadcast published by Mail Online, Johnson will insist that Brexit marks ‘not an end but a beginning”, as it begins a transition period that will last another year.

    During this time the UK will remain subject to EU laws and free movement of people will continue.

    As part of the rites of divorce from EU, Johnson will convene a symbolic Cabinet meeting Friday afternoon in Sunderland, the first city to declare for Brexit when the 2016 referendum results came out.

    Mr Johnson has ordered only low key events to mark Britain’s departure, the newspaper said.

    Union flags will fly in the Mall and Parliament Square and a light show will be displayed on the front of No10. A Downing Street spokesman said the Prime Minister would ‘celebrate Brexit’ with a small party for staff.

    Leading Eurosceptic Steve Baker called for Brexiteers to avoid triumphalism, saying: ‘I will celebrate in a way which is respectful of the genuine sorrow that others are feeling at the same time.’

    Fellow Brexiteer Peter Bone called for the introduction of a bank holiday named United Kingdom Day so ‘people will have the day off and say thank goodness for that Brexit vote’.

  • Boris Johnson signs deal for Britain to quit EU

    Boris Johnson signs deal for Britain to quit EU

    British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson has signed agreement for the nation to leave the European Union next week Friday.

    Johnson, on Friday hailed “a new chapter” in Britain’s history as he signed its divorce deal with the EU, clearing another hurdle ahead of the country’s departure from the bloc next Friday.

    Johnson signed the agreement in Downing Street in front of European and British Foreign Office officials who had brought it from Brussels.

    EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel had put their names to the treaty at a ceremony held behind closed doors in the dead of night.

    “The signing of the withdrawal agreement is a fantastic moment, which finally delivers the result of the 2016 referendum and brings to an end far too many years of argument and division,” Johnson said in a statement.

    “This signature heralds a new chapter in our nation’s history,” he added on Twitter.

    The treaty would now return to Brussels, where the original would be kept in EU archives along with other international treaties, while three copies would be dispatched back to London.

    On Wednesday next week, the text will go to the European Parliament for ratification and on Thursday diplomats from the EU member states will approve the deal in writing.

    Then, on Friday, January 31, Britain spends its last day in the EU before leaving the bloc at 2300 GMT as clocks strike midnight in Brussels.

    “Charles Michel and I have just signed the agreement on the withdrawal of the UK from the EU, opening the way for its ratification by the European Parliament,” European Commission president Von der Leyen tweeted.

    In a separate tweet, European Council president Michel said: “Things will inevitably change but our friendship will remain. We start a new chapter as partners and allies.”

    The former Belgian premier, whose council represents EU member governments, added, in French: “I’m keen to write this new page together.”

    In another move to prepare Brussels for relations with Britain as an outside power, the European Commission named an ambassador — veteran diplomat Joao Vale de Almeida — to London.

    Johnson signed with a Parker fountain pen, as is traditional for ceremonial signings in Downing Street, with staff including the prime minister’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost present.

    Earlier in Brussels, the signg was conducted before dawn in the European Council’s headquarters, as chief EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier looked on.

    No reporters or photographers were allowed to witness the low key ceremony, despite news agencies offering to organise a pool.

    British voters backed leaving the European Union in a June 2016 referendum, and after lengthy negotiations and several delays Johnson’s new government plans to “get Brexit done” next week.

    Queen Elizabeth II gave her formal assent to the British withdrawal legislation on Thursday and the EU is now expected to complete the final formalities in the coming days.

  • BREAKING: Finally, British MPs approve #Brexit deal

    UK’s House of Commons has voted overwhelmingly in favor of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal, finally paving the way for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union later this month.

    The British Members of Parliament gave their formal backing to Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal on Thursday after more than three years of bitter parliamentary wrangling over the UK’s departure from the European Union.

    The historic EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill cleared the Commons this afternoon – despite Labour opposition – as MPs gave the draft legislation its third reading by 330 votes to 231, a majority of 99.

    It is the final major Commons hurdle which the so-called WAB had to navigate and it will now head to the House of Lords next week for further scrutiny before the UK leaves the EU on January 31.

    The EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement Bill must still be passed by the unelected House of Lords and the European Parliament, which is seen as a formality, before Britain ends almost 50 years of membership in the European integration project.

    More to follow.

  • Britain votes today, 3rd poll in 5 years

    Polls will open in Britain today at 0700 GMT for the third general election in under five years — and the second since the seismic 2016 referendum vote to leave the European Union.

    Turnout will be vital in Britain’s first December election in nearly a century. Rain and even snow are forecast for parts of election day, while voters in Britain’s most northerly town will have less than six hours of daylight.

    Rival party leaders dashed around the country on Wednesday in a frantic push for votes in the final hours before the highly-charged snap election aimed at breaking the Brexit impasse.

    Parliament’s divided parties — some seeking a swift exit from the EU and others wanting to stay in the bloc — repeatedly rejected the divorce terms former prime minister Theresa May struck with Brussels.

  • Boris Johnson vows to disobey Parliament, insists on Brexit

    Boris Johnson vows to disobey Parliament, insists on Brexit

    British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is bent on not complying with the decision of Parliament to seek Brexit delay.

    According to Daily Mail, Johnson will tell EU leaders not to delay Brexit and will refuse to negotiate an extension – after MPs passed up the opportunity for a fourth time to vote for a deal.

    The Commons voted 322 to 306 in favour of an amendment postponing a decision on the PM’s deal, and activating the Benn Act – a Remainer law that compels him to send a letter by 11pm tonight asking Brussels for a delay.

    But Johnson was defiant in the Commons, sparking confusion over whether he will comply with the legislation or try to find a loophole to keep his ‘do or die’ promise to sever ties by October 31.

    Responding to the result, he defiantly insisted he would not change his stance. ‘The best thing for the UK and for the whole of Europe is for us to leave with this new deal on October 31,’ he said.

    ‘I will not negotiate a delay with the EU and neither does the law compel me to do so.’

    He added: ‘No delays, and I will continue to do all I can to get Brexit done on October 31.’

    The Conservative Party also tweeted: ‘Parliament has voted to delay Brexit again. The Prime Minister will not ask for a delay — he will tell EU leaders there should be no more delays and we should get Brexit done on October 31st with our new deal so the country can move on.’

    The defiant Johnson was apparent in the three letters sent to the EU on Saturday night.

    The first was the letter demanded by the Benn Act, which asks the EU to delay Brexit beyond the October 31 deadline – but not signed by Boris Johnson – using the exact wording specified in the legislation.

    The second was a covering letter, written by Sir Tim Barrow, the UK’s Permanent Representative in Brussels, which made clear that the first letter was from Parliament, not the Government.

    And the third was a letter from Mr Johnson, which was also sent to the leaders of the other 27 EU nations, in which he disavowed the first letter by making clear that he does not want any delay to Brexit.

    In it, the PM said any further hold-up would be ‘deeply corrosive’, and would ‘damage the interests of the UK and our EU partners’.

    He said UK would continue to ratify the deal and urged Brussels to do the same.

    The historic batch of correspondence, which were sent by Sir Tim in both hard copy and electronically, represents the Prime Minister’s defiant riposte to the ‘rebel alliance’ who scuppered his attempt to finally secure Commons support for Brexit today.

    Mr Johnson is also steeling himself for an instant legal challenge from pro-Remain groups to his three-letter ploy on the grounds that he did not sign the Benn missive.

    However, No 10 lawyers have pointed out that the Benn Act only orders the PM to ‘send’ not ‘sign’ a letter.

    ‘Our lawyers have allowed a narrow interpretation of the terms. We are completely entitled to do that,’ a senior Government source said last night.

    The fate of Mr Johnson’s deal now lies in the hands of Speaker John Bercow – who today hinted that he might not allow a meaningful vote on it – the rebel MPs and other EU leaders, especially French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    European Council president Donald Tusk has confirmed he has received the extension request from Boris Johnson. He said on Twitter: “The extension request has just arrived. I will now start consulting EU leaders on how to react”.

  • Details of new Brexit deal Boris Johnson struck with EU

    Details of new Brexit deal Boris Johnson struck with EU

    The European Union has agreed a new Brexit deal with Britain.

    Here are the initial details.

    Northern Ireland

    Northern Ireland remains in the United Kingdom’s customs territory but all EU procedures will apply to goods arriving there in this complex system. There will be no customs checks on the island of Ireland – they will be done in ports.

    For goods crossing from Great Britain to Northern Ireland that are deemed to be staying there, no EU tariff will apply.

    No EU tariffs would be paid on personal goods carried by travellers across the Irish frontier and for a second category of exempted goods that can only be for immediate consumption rather than subsequent processing.

    An EU-UK body called the Joint Committee will define this second group of goods more precisely after Brexit.

    The UK will be allowed to reimburse excise duties for companies in Northern Ireland as long as it does not undercut EU state aid rules.

    Northern Ireland will be able to benefit from future UK trade deals around the world. As long as the goods do not cross to Ireland and the EU’s single market, only UK customs tariffs will apply.

    CONSENT
    The Northern Irish assembly will have to give consent after Brexit for the region’s continued alignment with the EU regulatory regime.

    Four years after Brexit, the assembly will have to decide by simple majority of those taking part in the vote whether to apply it. If the vote is positive, the system is extended for another four years.

    If another vote then is positive with cross-community support, the system is extended by another eight years until another vote.

    If consent is not granted, there is a two-year cooling off period during which sides need to find a new solution to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland.

    If the regional assembly does not sit or vote, the system continues as the default position.

    Unlike the “backstop” solution in the original deal, rejected by the British parliament, this system would not be replaced by a new free-trade deal between Britain and the EU. That marks a big concession from the EU side.

    FUTURE TRADE DEAL, LEVEL-PLAYING FIELD

    Sides aim at an ambitious free-trade agreement after Brexit with no tariffs and unlimited quotas. It comes together with a statement that sides will uphold high standards on environment, climate, workers’ rights and other rules.

    REST REMAINS AS IN PREVIOUS AGREEMENT
    Previously agreed settlement on citizens’ rights after Brexit and Britain’s divorce bill stay as they were. That also goes for a transition period of 14 months until the end of 2020, which can be extended by one year or two years.

  • UK PM Boris Johnson unveils final Brexit offer today

    UK PM Boris Johnson unveils final Brexit offer today

    UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Wednesday unveil his final Brexit offer to the European Union and make clear that if Brussels does not engage with the proposal, Britain will not negotiate further and will leave on Oct. 31.

    In his closing speech to his governing Conservatives’ annual conference, Johnson will stick to his hard line on Brexit, offering the party faithful the first details of what he will describe as his “fair and reasonable compromise”.

    With less than a month until Britain is due to leave the EU, the future of Brexit, the country’s biggest trade and foreign policy shift in more than 40 years, is uncertain. Britain could leave with a deal, without one or not exit at all.

    Johnson, who says Britain will leave the bloc on Oct. 31 no matter what, will tell the conference he will send his proposal to Brussels, an attempt to secure a deal to smooth the country’s departure and avoid a potentially damaging no-deal Brexit.

    “My friends, I am afraid that after three-and-a-half years people are beginning to feel that they are being taken for fools. They are beginning to suspect that there are forces in this country that simply don’t want Brexit delivered at all,” he will say, according to extracts released by his office.

    “Let’s get Brexit done on October 31 so in 2020 our country can move on.”

    More than three years after Britain voted to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum, Brexit talks are at an impasse.

    Johnson has been firm that the Oct. 31 deadline will be met, but parliament has put roadblocks in his way – passing a law that requires the prime minister to request a Brexit delay if he fails to secure an acceptable deal at an EU summit on Oct. 17.

    The EU has repeatedly asked Britain to come up with “legal and operational” proposals for the changes Johnson wants to a deal his predecessor negotiated with the bloc last year.

    ‘NOBODY WILL WORK ON A DELAY’
    Following its rejection three times by parliament, Johnson has demanded changes to the Withdrawal Agreement, especially over new arrangements with the bloc for the border between the British province of Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.

    But after weeks of talks since Johnson took power that have made little headway to break the Brexit stand-off, the prime minister will make his last gambit – a new proposal which British officials describe as a final offer.

    The Telegraph newspaper cited a briefing to European capitals that Britain was suggesting a plan that would leave Northern Ireland in a special relationship with the EU until 2025, after which Belfast would decide whether to remain aligned to the bloc or return to following British rules.

    The proposal would be aimed at replacing the so-called backstop — an insurance policy to prevent the return of a hard border on the island of Ireland — that has become the biggest hurdle to securing an agreement with Brussels.

    A senior British government official said: “The government is either going to be negotiating a new deal or working on no deal — nobody will work on delay.”

    “We will keep fighting to respect the biggest democratic vote in British history. The EU is obliged by EU law only to negotiate with member state governments, they cannot negotiate with parliament, and this government will not negotiate delay.”

  • BREXIT: Another minister resigns from Boris Johnson’s cabinet

    BREXIT: Another minister resigns from Boris Johnson’s cabinet

    Britain’s Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd resigned from the government and the ruling Conservative Party on Saturday in a protest over Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s handling of the country’s departure from the European Union.

    She was the second cabinet member to quit, after Jo Johnson, brother of Boris also quit.

    Johnson says he wants to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31 with or without a deal with the bloc. But he lost his parliamentary majority this week and expelled 21 lawmakers from his Conservative Party’s group in parliament after they supported an opposition plan to try to block a no-deal exit.

    Rudd, also a former interior minister who voted remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum, said the ousting of the rebel lawmakers, who included the grandson of Britain’s wartime leader Winston Churchill and two former finance ministers, was an “assault on decency and democracy.”

    “I have resigned from Cabinet and surrendered the Conservative whip,” Rudd said on her Twitter account.

    “I cannot stand by as good, loyal moderate Conservatives are expelled. I have spoken to the PM and my association chairman to explain,” she said.

    Brexit remains up in the air more than three years after Britons voted to leave the EU. Options range from a turbulent no-deal exit to abandoning the whole endeavour.

    In her resignation letter to Johnson, who succeeded Theresa May as prime minister in July, Rudd said: “I joined your cabinet in good faith: Accepting that ‘no deal’ had to be on the table, because it was the means by which we would have the best chance of achieving a new deal to leave on 31 October.

    “However I no longer believe leaving with a deal is the government’s main objective.”

    The Sunday Times reported that at least six cabinet members share Rudd’s views, with at least one also considering resigning.

    Rudd’s resignation caps a tumultuous week for Johnson that has also seen his own brother Jo quit the government, saying he was “torn between family loyalty and the national interest.”

    “The prime minister has run out of authority in record time and his Brexit plan has been exposed as a sham,” said Ian Lavery, chair of the main opposition Labour Party.

    “No one trusts Boris Johnson. Not his Cabinet, not his MPs, not even his own brother.”

    Johnson says the only solution to the Brexit impasse is a new election, which he wants to take place on Oct. 15, allowing him to win a new mandate with two weeks left to leave the bloc on time. He needs two-thirds of parliament’s lawmakers to back an early election.

    But opposition parties, including Labour, said they would either vote against or abstain on calls for an election until a law to force Johnson to seek a Brexit delay is implemented.

    On Saturday it emerged lawmakers are preparing legal action as they believe Johnson could try to defy the legislation compelling him to seek a further delay to Brexit.

    The Sunday Telegraph reported that Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s top aide, is creating a shadow team of advisors to work on plans to fight an expected emergency judicial review in Britain’s highest court, the supreme court, next month if Johnson is unable to secure an election next week.

    An opinion poll on election voting intentions carried out by YouGov for the Sunday Times put the Conservatives on 35%, Labour on 21%, the pro-remain Liberal Democrats on 19% and the Brexit Party on 12%.