British vote to leave eu

The government has toughened its negotiating stance with the EU for the second time in 24 hours today, telling Brussels that British officials will stop attending most meetings from September 1 to free up time to work on Brexit. It comes after Boris Johnson's open letter to Donald Tusk of yesterday - which labelled the Irish backstop 'unviable' and 'undemocratic' and demanded its removal from any deal to be struck before the UK's October 31 departure date - was snubbed by European leaders. The Department for Exiting the European Union said UK officials will now attend only the meetings that 'really matter' of more than 800 scheduled. Brexit Secretary Steve Barclay said British attendance would drop by more than half, freeing up 'hundreds of hours' to work on 'get on with preparing for our departure on October 31 and seizing the opportunities that lie ahead' Boris Johnson, pictured yesterday on a visit to Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro, has told the EU in a letter to European Council … [Read more...] about Britain will break off most contact with EU in NINE DAYS to ‘focus on leaving’ as Donald Tusk puts his feet up and refuses to budge after calling Boris Johnson’s plan to ditch backstop ‘unrealistic’

The election of Emmanuel Macron was met with relief by liberals and progressives across Britain. Not that they were necessarily in love with all the ex-banker’s policies, but it meant that at least France, and Europe, was saved from a hard rightwinger whose election would have sowed division and inflamed tensions. Given such a stark choice, the idea that some on the French left could have abstained or spoiled their ballot papers was, on this side of the channel, met with some bafflement. So why do so many of these same “liberal” or “progressive” voters not use the same logic when considering their own vote in the forthcoming UK election? With every passing day it’s clear we are facing a huge choice on 8 June. Theresa May has channelled her inner Dalek for the past three weeks; “strong and stable”; “strengthen my hand”; “coalition of chaos”. She’s maxed-out on the idea that this election is all about … [Read more...] about Why Corbyn-bashing liberals must vote Labour on 8 June

“History to the defeated / May say Alas but cannot help or pardon.” WH Auden’s lines from the Spanish civil war now apply to the British Europeans. We fought to keep our country in the European Union and we lost. The half of Britain that wants to leave the EU was united around Boris Johnson while the half that still wants to remain in the EU was divided against itself, and weighed down by the electoral liability called Jeremy Corbyn. If the deceptive but effective three-word slogan “take back control” won the 2016 referendum, so the equally effective and deceptive three-word slogan “get Brexit done” won this election. Even if voters knew somewhere in the back of their minds that it was too good to be true, in their hearts they wanted it to be. And let’s be honest: even the most passionate of us remainers had some hidden “get Brexit done” corner of our souls. But now I answer Auden with a great saying from the leader of … [Read more...] about The battle for EU membership is lost, but a European England is still possible

Britain has shown the way for other countries to leave the European Union, precipitating the institution’s eventual fall, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the French far-right, has said. In an interview with the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, the Front National leader, who leads opinion polls in the French presidential election campaign, said the UK had found the “keys to the jail” represented by the EU. “We had been told that it was not possible to leave the EU, and the UK has just demonstrated that, when the people want it, we can set up the conditions to exit the EU. So thank you for showing us the way out of this huge prison,” she told Farage. During the hour-long interview broadcast on Farage’s LBC radio show on Wednesday night, during which Le Pen faced few tough questions, the Front National leader said she felt a “sense of relief” after the Brexit vote. She also insisted that no British immigrants living in France would face … [Read more...] about Marine Le Pen: Britain has shown France how to leave the EU

If one of the world's biggest suppliers of packaged food struggles to win a meaningful price increase from Britain's largest supermarket chain, what chance has the rest of the food industry? Two years ago, British-Dutch conglomerate Unilever, which counts numerous brands from Knorr soups to Walls ice-cream in its portfolio, told Tesco it was putting up its prices by 10 percent, partly as a result of the falling British pound following the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union. Despite a so-called Marmite war, which saw the world's third-largest retailer withdraw new orders of a popular Unilever spread made of yeast extract, and a public backlash against the price increases, the two sides quickly settled their dispute. Read more: The true cost of Germany's cheap food The agreed price hike was never made public; however, Unilever's 2016 financial results showed it had achieved just a 3.6 percent price hike from its UK suppliers that year, leading analysts to question whether it … [Read more...] about Supermarket price wars leave UK food suppliers close to bankruptcy