UK and the UN
According to the UN, the British Government may have breached a major “environmental democracy” law by failing to consult the public when drawing up the EU (Withdrawal) Bill legislation.
Evaluation of UK’s international obligations
According to a former UK and Nato official, Foreign Office ministers inadvertently helped neutralise the Iraqi Kurds, one of Britain’s most effective allies in efforts to limit Iranian influence in the Middle East.
UK’s post-Brexit relationship with the EU
Meeting Michel Barnier, Nigel Farage has sought to cast himself as the voice of the 17.4 million leave voters, stating that immigration was the main factor driving the vote.
The Telegraph reported Theresa May was to create a ‘No Deal’ Brexit minister as part of her reshuffle, tipped to be Steve Baker, giving him a budget and attendance at Cabinet to lend credence to the idea that she really will walk away from the negotiations if she doesn’t get the deal she wants.
For the UK in a Changing Europe, John Speed and Stephen McCarthy have argued that the UK should forget transition and extend the art 50 period instead.
David Davis has consulted lawyers over the EU’s preparations for a no-deal Brexit, claiming Brussels’ planning is harming British businesses and breaching the UK’s rights as a member state. However, this leaked letter claiming that the EU is discriminating against the UK through its preparations has been met with flat denials and accusations of hypocrisy in Brussels.
Philip Hammond is to argue for a deep post-Brexit economic partnership between Britain and the EU, and warn the EU against punishing the UK in negotiations when he addresses Germany’s business community. Meanwhile David Davis is to meet senior industry bosses in Munich to try to mobilise German business to lobby for a deal that maintains close economic ties.
According to an article by Shakuntala Banaji and Sam Mejias for the LSE Brexit Blog, young people are highly critical of Brexit and fear the insularity it could bring.
In a speech at the Trends Manager of the Year 2017 event, Michel Barnier gave a speech considering the future relationship with the UK.
Nigel Farage has backed the idea of a second referendum on Brexit as he thinks the outcome will be the same and therefore this would settle the matter for a generation and ‘kill off the issue’. However according to the ComRes survey, if there were a second referendum, 55% would vote to remain in the EU, 45% to leave.
In a response to the European Scrutiny Committee’s letter on the disapplication of primary legislation by the courts under the EU (Withdrawal) Bill, Theresa May has reiterated that where a conflict arises between two pre-exit laws, one of which is retained EU law and the other not, and if the retained EU law could have taken precedence over the other before exit, then it will continue to do so.
EU ambassadors have begun to discuss the possibility and price of a longer Brexit transition period, considering whether to make the possibility explicit in instructions to Michel Barnier.
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