"I can see no reason why any prime minister in their right mind would ever take us out," says prime minister taking us out of the EU.

“I’ve always argued that the only way you can get frictionless trade is to actually be in the Single Market.”

Wales and the rest of the UK should re-join the single market to undo the economic damage caused by Brexit, Plaid Cymru has said.

This week we chat to Chris. He voted leave on promise that we could keep single market benefits but at the same time boost the NHS.

Andrew was pretty undecided in 2016 but in the end felt he had concerns about the EU commission so voted leave. When he did he thought that UK will remain in Single Market regardless. We chat about why he changed his mind, his experience on the Peoplesvote march on Saturday and what he thinks should happen if UK is asked to reconsider the issue again.

In this week's episode we chat to James from Halifax. He voted leave in 2016 almost as a protest but also on the basis we would stay in the Single Market. He now has drastically changed his mind for so many reasons and he explains why. We also chat about the #remainernow group visit to parliament last week and the NCA investigation of Mr A Banks.

We chat to Josh, he voted leave thinking we would stay in the single market but he has now changed his mind and is a Remainernow. He talks about why he changed his mind and his views in the recently approved brexit deal.

PM dug into a corner by refusing to compromise on sovereignty but EU reached ‘pain threshold’

Distributor of KTM road and mountain bikes shuts citing Brexit red tape as a major factor.

But En Marche's Alexandre Holroyd says the EU is regaining sovereignty over access to its markets.

This is the most chilling explanation of what Brexit will do to the UK economy after December. By @AdamPosen, President of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Uncertainty over UK citizens’ future status is prompting some European employers to steer clear.

Diplomatic cables reveal the monarch also appeared to back the creation of a single market. / The Queen confided to the German ambassador that she believed the future of Britain lay in Europe, newly released diplomatic cables from 1988 have shown.

There has been “greater friction” and “difficulties” over trade since Brexit, Health Secretary Steve Barclay has admitted, as he denied a report that the government is considering adopting a Swiss-style relationship with the EU.

'Hello United Kingdom, it’s the ‘Friendly Five’ here, and can we ask you to cast your mind back to where this all began for us?'

James O'Brien said "I do feel for you" to a fishermen's union chief who confirmed his industry is "worse off" due to Brexit.

Deal or no deal, British companies will have to confront a wall of bureaucracy that threatens chaos at the border if they want to sell into the world’s biggest trading bloc when life after Brexit begins on January 1.

“This represents the death knell for frictionless trade," said one business leader.

The EU's Brexit negotiator has told a seminar in Dublin that there will be no renegotiation of the Northern Ireland Protocol and that the EU will not accept any solution that will cut the region off from the benefits of the single market.

This guerilla email campaign is about sending out brief, succinct and hard-hitting messages at frequent intervals - every day, every week or whenever you choose - to different - but specifically targeted - individuals to convince them that the deal reached by 31st December with the EU MUST include membership of the single market and the customs union.

The leader of Plaid Cymru Adam Price calls on Labour to make the positive case for the single market and customs union.

A Brexit voter from Sunderland has explained to a government minister why he would not back leaving the EU now – arguing it has “been a complete mess from the beginning”.

Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday it was still uncertain if a deal on the future relationship between the EU and the UK could be struck before the end of the year.

Businesses across the West Midlands are facing higher costs, a big increase in paperwork and hold-ups at ports.

The UK is lagging behind European counterparts in terms of growth because of Brexit, the Director of Tax Research UK tells Nick Ferrari.

Tánaiste says it is like saying ‘give me what I want or I’m going to burn the house down’.

"It just so happens that making the British prime minister happy isn't the vocation of sovereign leaders of the 27 member states that chose to remain in the EU."

Krugman rejects the assertions of Brexiteers that leaving the single market and customs union will ultimately help the UK export more to the rest of the world.

Are you a quality manager for a small medical device start-up looking to expand into global markets? Or maybe you are a seasoned device manufacturer preparing to once again traverse quality regulations to deliver a new product to the European market?

The first concerns the United Kingdom. Aside from a few hard-liners, Brexit -- the decision to leave the common market made by Boris Johnson's administration -- has become a disaster.

He said Brexit was supposed to take back control and boost the UK's international position, but we are seeing "pretty much the opposite".

1. The Withdrawal Agreement (WA) is not up for renegotiation / 2. The Political Declaration (PD) might be tweaked cosmetically / 3. The future relationship will be negotiated during the transition period / 4. There will be no transition without the WA 5. / The will be no WA without the Financial Settlement / 6. A backstop cannot be unilaterally ended or it is not a backstop ...

New poll shows 79% think trade deals with Australia and New Zealand are bad. / Just over half (52%) of farmers said Britain should join the EU and 70% of thought we should at least rejoin the single European market, rising to 85% in the case of those working in the ancillary industries.

Single market perks are no conjuring trick, but the result of years of EU legislation.

There is now a dangerous void of leadership and policy at the heart of British politics. Indeed it would hardly be an exaggeration to say that, as regards Brexit, the UK no longer has a functioning government. There are no obvious solutions in sight, and the outcome is completely unpredictable.

It might seem like a small detail, but it marks a serious blow to the push for ‘divergence’.

I loathe the term ‘World Trade Deal’ more than words can express. It is everything I hate about trade politics. It combines a pithy soundbite politicians with an agenda can deliver with confidence, with a layer of deception reliant on the complexity of trade to pass unchallenged on Sunday talk shows.

The largest free-trade in the world, spanning the African continent with its 1.2 billion people, has come into effect, aiming to eradicate tariffs and create single market for a potential market worth $2.5 trillion.

The African Economic Community (AEC) is an organization of African Union states establishing grounds for mutual economic development among the majority of African states. The stated goals of the organization include the creation of free trade areas, customs unions, a single market, a central bank, and a common currency.

It’s the second year of business on Africa’s biggest trading platform – the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) - and it isn’t going to be business as usual in the continent’s single biggest trading bloc.

Alternative arrangements to inspections on the border in Ireland cannot be a replacement for the backstop, the Taoiseach has told reporters in Brussels.

Speaking on The Andrew Marr Show, Shadow Secretary of State for Energy Ed Miliband said "it will be disastrous for fisheries to have no deal" and clashed with Marr over the future of the UK's fishing fleet if it remained tied to the single market to get a deal.

It appears HM Treasury has realised bringing in a measure that will so obviously lead to higher food prices is not a good idea when the country is in the grip of an inflation spiral.

As UK public feeling shifts back to a pro-European stance, is it time to positively charge the nature of the conversation?

While European businesses are increasingly more confident about investing in ASEAN, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is creating uncertainty for some business prospects according to a recent survey by the EU-ASEAN Business Council.

The African Continental Free Trade Area will enter into force during the next African Union Summit slated for Niamey, Niger, in July, the East African reported on Tuesday.

The U.K. is due to lose the ability to sell fresh sausages to the European Union after Brexit, a sign of the economic upheaval that comes from quitting the bloc’s single market.

PRO-EUROPE groups in Oxford are aiming to place themselves at the centre of the battle to re-join the EU’s customs union and single market, with a Labour peer telling them it needs to happen “as soon as possible”.

A BBC presenter has been praised for his two-and-a-half minute explainer of Brexit - in a clip that some viewers said demonstrates why it "fundamentally won't work".

A BBC Question Time audience member shut down a Tory minister who tried to dismiss the sustained impact of Brexit as “something that happened six years ago”. / "Brexit is a disaster for our economy."

This real-life experience of a small West Yorkshire company, before and after the creation of the single market, provides an insight into our imminent future in the event that we leave the EU without a worthwhile trading deal.

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern has described the tactics of the United Kingdom’s Brexit negotiating team as “deplorable”.

Cabinet Office minister attacks refusal to adopt a ‘laissez-faire approach’ to border controls.

Fantasy world meets reality of a UK industry deeply embedded in EU economy. / Bombardier has put its Belfast plant up for sale, in the process putting a question mark against the 3,600 jobs in the North’s largest private-sector employer.

Post-Brexit transition border checks could cause fresh food supply problems, an industry body has warned.

THE number of people supporting Scottish Yes Tories, who are advocating Scottish Conservative 1 Alba 2 in the Holyrood election, appears to be on the rise thanks to the two Bs – Boris and Brexit.

'This is going to hit us in January....customers are really going to see the problems on supermarket shelves'

Bloc leaders say UK must fully implement post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland.

Critics ask why PM wants to drag the UK out of the EU if the terms of its membership are so beneficial.

Under current PM, government is not Conservative but English Nationalist, says Chris Patten.

Boris Johnson ‘shredding trust’ with three breaches of international law, former top diplomat warns.

The European Union is "open but not convinced" by the UK PM's new proposals for a Brexit deal with the EU, the president of the European Council says.

No 10 frontrunner wrote ‘pro-European letter’ to Tory peer’s widow a year before campaigning for leave.

MPs are increasingly looking to review point of trade deal in 2025 to push for better terms.

Frans Timmermans said it was ‘extremely well-known in London’ that UK demand could not be met.

North’s economy will be closer to Republic’s in terms of rules, regulations and practices.

The sort of minimal deal he is after would be a disaster for an industry that relies on frictionless trade.

Boris Johnson became prime minister on the promise that Brexit would bring prosperity and pride. Did it?

Three years after Brexit, we asked designers, design entrepreneurs and representatives of British design organisations how the withdrawal from the European Union has affected the design industry.

Helmuth Porschen ponders the fate of UKCA and wonders why the government can’t persuade the rest of the world to adopt British standards.

What is the single market and why does it matter in talks about Brexit?

Chief among these is Britain, who in leaving the European Union, has placed a disproportionate emphasis on the potential benefits arising from a new trade deal with the US.

The "only detectable impact" of Brexit on British businesses so far is "increased costs, paperwork and border delays", says the chair of a prominent parliamentary committee.

Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke’s customs union plan is expected to be voted on.

But Brexit minister now claims hard Brexit was ‘essential’.

The UK’s exit from the European Union is damaging business and the difficult trading landscape post-Brexit cannot continue, argues Dan Gyves, managing director at Esska Shoes.

UK drug distributors and those involved in the parallel importing of drugs have told the parliamentary Health Select Committee that they want to see the UK remain in the customs union and the single market.

EU thought to be preparing a ‘take-it-or-leave-it’ offer for Boris Johnson within days.

European Parliament votes to give consent to the Brexit deal. / European Commission president speaks to lawmakers before vote.

Croatia’s prime minister, Andrej Plenković, hinted at move to ensure level playing field.

Rishi Sunak insisted that his new Brexit deal for Northern Ireland addressed the concerns of unionists despite the “small and limited” role for European Union law and its court – while giving Belfast an “unbelievably special position”.

Brexit-related trade barriers have driven a 6% increase in U.K. food prices, adding to a squeeze on consumer spending power, according to a new report.

EU and UK negotiators reach a new Brexit agreement that would avoid a hard border.

This week, the practical realities of what Brexit is going to mean came into central focus for perhaps the first time, with a new government information campaign.

Speaking on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, the former Chancellor implied that he still felt Brexit was the wrong decision after having stood firmly against it during 2016's referendum.

The Centre for European Reform (CER) estimates that leaving the single market and customs union at the end of 2020 has reduced UK trade by £7.7billion, or 11%, since March.

The Tory commitment to self-imposed isolation – and the loss of influence involved in being impacted by Europe’s decisions and yet not shaping them – makes even less strategic sense now than in back in the party’s pro-European days.

Business leaders said improved trade between north and south would "inevitably put pressure on the Union".

Brexit has been "catastrophic" for British businesses and the country has "suffered" as a result, the chairman of Asda has said.

While businesses struggle with the red tape of no-deal planning, ministers are busy with commemorative coins.

When the bell tolls at eleven o’clock tonight, ringing out Britain’s membership of the EU, an entire phase of British history will come to a close. For nearly half a century – from 1973 to 2020 – perhaps the single most important fact about British history was its membership of the European Union (or ‘Community’, until 1993).

Economic advantages of NI’s new trading arrangement overlooked by rejectionist rhetoric.

German chancellor makes veiled comment that leaving the EU could lead to the UK losing international influence.

‘The project is probably now unsalvageable’, says former PM’s old employer. / The Conservatives have made such a “hash” of Brexit that the project is probably “unsalvageable”, according to Boris Johnson’s favourite newspaper.

The man who used to run the WTO says the EU single market, set up by Margaret Thatcher, is ‘the top league’.

The International Monetary Fund ruffled feathers across the Irish Sea with its new forecast for the UK economy this week, now expecting GDP growth to slow to a paltry 1.2pc in 2023, by far the slowest amongst the G7 economies.

The former UK Ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rogers, explains why even Brexiteers are dismayed over Brexit.

Since the transition period ended, shops supplying British groceries say they have struggled with extra paperwork and import difficulties.

Goods and services exported to bloc affected by return of customs border, EU commissioner says.

Rees-Mogg’s efforts to reap economic benefits from Brexit has come up woefully short.

Continuing the letter to Jacob Rees-Mogg, reminding him – he seems to need reminding – of the many new opportunities created by Brexit.

Paysend, a UK fintech with a focus in card-to-card consumer payments, has announced the opening of a Dublin office in order to access the EU’s Single Market.

The UK’s decision to separate from the European Union continues to reverberate and is overwhelmingly negative, according to the latest review of the country’s pro-AV market in the May print edition of AV Magazine.

Most popular house plants cost eight per cent more than before Brexit, while garden centres have cut back options.

Gisela Stuart on why she believes exiting the Single Market and Customs Union is the Brexit the UK voted for in 2016. / Liesbeth Kooijman, Dutch Ministry of Agriculture on how much time Brexit could add to foodstuffs travelling from Europe to UK shops in the event of Brexit. / Roel Van't Veld, Dutch Customs Authority on the added burden leaving the Customs Union will have for the UK and Europe.

A leading writer on the economy explains why the underperformance of the stock market should shock and concern everyone.

Findings cast doubt on Boris Johnson commitment to climate action ahead of key summit, Commission claims.

The coronavirus should remind us of just why international cooperation is so important in reducing the threat of infectious disease.

‘Part of the damage done by leaving the EU’, says Hague after firm goes into administration.

“The reason that we have food shortages in Britain, and that we don’t have food shortages in Spain – or anywhere else in the European Union – is because of Brexit, and also because of this disastrous Conservative government that has no interest in food production, farming or even food supply", she said in a video shared this morning.

'Global Britain' could increase emissions by the equivalent of 44,000 transatlantic flights, research found.

While politicians fail to understand the basics of the Single Market and customs unions, retailers are spending millions mitigating the risk of a ’no-deal’ Brexit – this cannot continue.

In our series looking at life after Brexit, the European parliament’s former negotiator Guy Verhofstadt argues that Britain exchanged a Jaguar for a Ford Fiesta in the 2016 referendum.

Mr Drakeford, who is stepping down next month after five years as First Minister, said Brexit had left Wales a billion pounds worse off and cut off from the rest of the world.

Leaving the single market will come as a huge blow to the services sector. Rather than acknowledging that fact, our ruling class have opted to press on.

Brexit “slammed the brake on UK investment”, SNP economy spokesperson Stewart Hosie has said. / Responding to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's Spring Budget, Mr Hosie argued the UK economy was “one of the weakest” in the G7.

Brexiters are often accused of living in the past. That is manifest in the now recurring Brexiter response to concerns about Brexit: ‘but we did perfectly well before’.

On April 14, 2021, the Warsaw Institute, together with The Warsaw Institute Review quarterly, had the honor of hosting another online event – the Diplomacy Talks Series. The title of the discussion, moderated by the president of the Warsaw Institute, Tomasz Kijewski, was “BREXIT and its importance for Europe and the Polish diaspora in Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.

Italy's PM, Matteo Renzi, says it will be "impossible" for Brexit talks to provide a deal that gives British people more rights than those outside the EU.

The YouGov poll comes after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the UK should rejoin the EU to "fix" Brexit.

Brexit has caused a crisis for British manufacturers who export into Europe – and things could be about to get even worse...

The UK Government's recent statements make a deal between the EU and UK less likely, regardless of whether that is the intent or not.

There's been a lot of talk about free trade in the Brexit debate, but what exactly is a free trade agreement and how does it differ from what the UK has had with the EU?

On 7 October last year, there was a defining phone call between Boris Johnson and Angel Merkel.

Six years after the referendum on June 23, 2016, if we put aside the profound political consequences – a divided England, Scotland and Northern Ireland pulling away, a more isolated country – what is the economic toll?

Another day, another ‘no breakthrough on the backstop‘ story. At the eleventh hour, a dose of reality seems to be setting in over the question of the Northern Ireland Brexit backstop.

How will the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union impact the ongoing sovereignty dispute with Argentina over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)?

Deadline to agree regulatory equivalence for financial services and allow business after Brexit likely to be missed.

The Northern Ireland protocol row shows the similarities between two former imperial powers intent on regaining lost glory.

Brexit is a Tory invention and pro-Europeans must still fight the prospect of EU exile, writes Will Hutton.

Ursula von der Leyen says UK must make up its mind.

Despite signs last week of an opening to an agreement on level playing field provisions, the issue remains a major stumbling block in the negotiations.

Without a deal, the country’s departure from the European Union will be a disaster.

EU negotiator expresses frustrations at UK refusal to discuss key issues of transition. / Michel Barnier has suggested the UK is running down the clock in talks over the future trade and security relationship with the EU.

Businesses will have to adjust to new trading conditions in the middle of a pandemic.

Britain’s economy is forecast to shrink by 0.4% in 2023, more than any other in the Group of Seven richest nations, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Britain is the only G-7 member whose economy has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

THE BRITISH government is thwarting the north's potential to exploit trading difficulties in the Republic created by Brexit, according to Alliance's deputy leader. / Mr Farry said the official statistics illustrated that the "nonsense of Brexit brings wide-ranging consequences", including for large aspects of the supply chain into the Republic.

Loss of free movement rights means UK workers not suitable for many professional roles.

Seven in ten Britons support a closer relationship with the EU than we have now. / As we approach the fourth anniversary of Brexit, 52% of Britons now believe that the UK leaving the EU was the wrong decision. The Labour party – likely to form the next government – have so far resisted calls to move towards rejoining the single market...

As evidence mounts of the long-term harm being inflicted on the U.K. economy by Brexit, the government is coming under pressure to acknowledge the elephant in the room.

‘Prepare for the worst’ EU officials tell business after Sajid Javid’s FT interview.

European Union judges must have a role overseeing Northern Ireland’s Brexit arrangements, a senior EU official has said in rejection to British demands.

Treasury silent on damage being caused by Brexit to Britain’s economy and Bank of England accused of being reluctant to talk about it.

Dmitry Grozoubinski is our guest this week to talk about what the hell a "WTO terms deal" is(n't), and we weigh up the risks and chances of a disorderly Brexit. Plus easily the sexiest Lie of the Week ever.

Chequers Cake, Red Velvet Cake, international cake(ism), and a draft Withdrawal Agreement

Pascal Canfin says UK’s zero tariff demands will be rejected, amid conflicting messages.

When Boris Johnson agreed the Brexit divorce package with the EU, he promised it would unleash innovation, turning Britain into an agile “science superpower”. But rather than boost UK science and technology, Brexit has – so far – damaged it,

Labour have reprimanded a frontbench MP after she told a private meeting she hoped the UK could return to the EU single market if the party formed a government.

The former Green Party co-leader argued the new bill launches "an attack on nature like we've never seen before".

Jeremy Hunt insisted the UK would find a way to improve trading ties with the EU without rejoining the single market. / "The latest evidence suggests that Brexit has had a significant adverse impact on UK trade, via reducing both overall trade volumes and the number of trading relationships between UK and EU firms."

The Chancellor has warned there will be no alignment with EU regulations after Brexit - despite a pledge being made in the North East by Boris Johnson that standards would be protected.

Speaking to Sky News, a former British ambassador to Japan noted the impact of Brexit, saying many companies are maintaining a presence in the UK, but moving the bulk of their operations to Europe. / Asked about the former ambassador's assertion, Labour's shadow environment secretary Jim McMahon told Kay Burley: "To some degree, it's a natural consequence of leaving the single market."

The United Kingdom has passed the point of no return. It has less than six months to reach a new trade deal with the European Union or risk heaping more pressure on companies that are already laying off tens of thousands of workers because of the coronavirus pandemic.

UK PM Boris Johnson had been wildly happy about his new EU exit deal; then he introduced a law undermining both it, and the last round of trade negotiations. Speaking with two former permanent secretaries of the UK’s EU exit department, Matt Ross asks whether Johnson is applying firm leverage – or deliberately sabotaging the trade talks.

BREXIT secretary Michael Russell says failing to halt the exit from the EU during the coronavirus pandemic will leave the UK facing an “economic Stone Age” while the rest of Europe recovers.

Downing Street has blamed an administrative error for the UK's failure to sign up to an emergency EU scheme to help procure vital medical equipment to fight coronavirus.

Britain 'fortunate' it had not crashed out of bloc when coronavirus struck, Commission says – even as Boris Johnson vows to do just that if necessary.

The CBI warns "the job of untangling 40 years of economic and regulatory integration is mammoth and should not be underestimated". / The employers' group said the EU's single market "is one of the most sophisticated systems of economic rules in existence".

The £25m port facility was built to fit government plans but stands empty while new border strategy is delayed.

The U.K.'s anticipated accession to an encompassing trans-Pacific economic agreement in July will provide an "imperceptibly small" boost economically and will not compensate for its exit from the European Union, said Bill Emmott, former editor-in-chief of The Economist, in a recent interview with Nikkei.

On March 21, 2018, in Kigali, Rwanda, Africa took the giant step of creating a large and integrated market by establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)

Cross-border trade in Ireland has increased dramatically since the start of 2021, official data suggests.

MPs will soon table amendments to the Brexit legislation and Labour said it wants to include plans for a customs union arrangement.

The British Chamber of Commerce has called on the government to make exporting easier for SMEs, such as reducing red tape.

The Brexit debate deserves so much better than Economists for Free Trade’s latest offering. Their paper, championed by Jacob Rees-Mogg, tries to make the case for leaving the EU without a deal and trading under World Trade Organization rules.

James O’Brien engages in an exhausting back-and-forth with this caller who struggles to justify why he voted for Brexit.

The CBI has recently called for a new trade deal with the European Union and Rishi Sunak saw himself forced to rule out the Swiss option. These are just examples of how little the UK understands how the European Union and the single market work. Nicholas Sowels lists many of the erroneous assumptions Britain has made ... ignoring that the four freedoms of movement ... are not just abstractions.

The decision was made by the Conservative government, not by the people in the Brexit referendum, says Prof Paul Willner.

Cross-party international trade committee says agreement unlikely to be detectable at supermarket tills.

Political distance from Brussels has been achieved. This is not up for question. However, economically speaking, there is vast room for improvement. The OBR calculates, in its current form, that Brexit is reducing our GDP by four per cent. This compares to around 1.5 per cent caused by Covid.

Downing Street said late last night the UK government is prepared to consider tearing up elements of Northern Ireland’s Brexit deal, despite a Cabinet minister insisting the option would not be used before Christmas.

Although a narrow majority UK-wide (not, of course, in Scotland) voted for Brexit, many have already realised it was a grave mistake. It is the biggest economic, diplomatic and ­constitutional mistake in the history of the ­United ­Kingdom. It is likely to be proximate cause of the ­United Kingdom’s ultimate ­collapse.

The Common Market is the second Regional Integration milestone of the East African Community (EAC), which has been in force since 2010, in line with the provisions of the EAC Treaty. It follows the Customs Union, which became fully-fledged in January 2010.

The five countries in East African Community are pushing to eliminate their borders to enhance an integrated trading block. However, many challenges have to be overcome before making this a reality as CNBC Africa's Beatrice Gachenge discovered.

In September 2018, the East African Community appointed a twelve member Committee of Experts to begin drafting a new constitution for an East African Confederation as a step towards full federation.

ITV News Anglia has been catching up with small businesses across the region to find out more about what the end of the UK's membership of the European Union has meant for their fortunes.

A Brexit involving staying in the customs union would leave the UK £80bn worse off a year than if it had remained in the EU, a report says. / The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said tax income would fall by £13bn a year.

As the EU and UK continue to prepare for the trade negotiations, there are clear signs that all is not well when it comes to implementing the divorce part of Brexit, in particular the Irish Protocol.

Maroš Šefčovič says Brussels will launch fresh legal action against UK over treaty obligations.

Michel Barnier says 'we're not really in a position where we're able to find an agreement'.

Several large-scale smuggling incidents show that EU concerns over the operation of the Northern Ireland Protocol are not theoretical, it added.

"Especially the type as the UK has proposed it, negotiated it, and signed the agreement up on it with us.”

For some weeks the British government has been planning a “shock and awe” campaign to warn British businesses that they have less than six months to prepare for Brexit; but the EU has beaten them to it.

Jean-Claude Juncker was speaking in Brussels after a meeting with the 27 presidents and prime ministers of the remaining EU countries.

‘We goofed it up, you have to fix it’, Ursula von der Leyen tells young people. / European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said young Britons could still reverse Brexit by deciding to re-join the EU in the years ahead.

The European Commission won't rule out suspending the EU-UK trade deal if the UK approves a draft bill that unilaterally overrides parts of the Brexit agreement.

The European Union swiftly rebuffed calls from the UK government that London's financial services firms should enjoy continued access to the single market even if the country breaks away from the bloc's rules after Brexit.

European Commission says failure to apply customs rules in Northern Ireland “significantly increases the risk of smuggling”.

The EU has announced new legal action against the UK government over its plans to scrap parts of the post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland.

Chief negotiator Michel Barnier says 'the EU sets its own conditions for opening up its markets for goods and services'

UK could be fined by the European Court of Justice which - to the likely fury of Tory MPs – will retain the power if there is 'any backsliding'.

New rules would allow Brussels suspend free trade and other benefits agreed with UK.

‘Impossible’ that British alternative NI plan can work, says Italy’s minister for European affairs Vincenzo Amendola.

The European Union is taking a defiant tone as the standoff over resuming post-Brexit trade negotiations with the United Kingdom continues.

The European Union (EU) is the world's largest single market and the EU Trade Helpdesk is your one-stop-shop to access it. The EU is committed to helping exporters like you in its trade partner countries with the information you need ...

An EU official has urged Boris Johnson to take the ‘unique and highly attractive’ offer it has made to the UK which it says has never been offered to any country before.

Michel Barnier adviser Stefaan De Rynck warns that EU "will not tolerate any backsliding or half measures" on PM's Brexit deal.

Prime minister told to stick to agreement, to ‘protect peace and stability on the island and integrity of the single market’

The European Union’s Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said the bloc will only give as much access to its single market to Britain after Brexit as is justified by London ensuring that EU rules and standards are preserved.

"Nobody can be surprised. The British government decided to leave the EU, to leave the single market, to leave the customs union. That means mechanic consequences."

Top European Union and British officials failed to get a breakthrough at talks on Northern Ireland trade rules and said Friday that contact would continue over the coming weeks

MEPs demand UK stays tied to regulations for market access.

But EU warns ‘faithful implementation’ needed by UK amid concerns saga is not over.

The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator rejected the U.K.’s latest proposals for financial firms to do business with the 27-nation bloc after Brexit, accusing Britain of trying to keep as many of the benefits of the single market as it can.

It comes as Brexit means fall in crops and fewer British products in supermarkets. / Leaving the EU has led to a decline in crops and fewer home-grown products on the shelves of Britain’s supermarkets, farming chiefs have warned, reports The Independent.

Pascal Lamy less than subtle with his hand gestures and eye-roll on live TV.

A DEAL for Scotland to access the EU single market is “not in the least bit likely” despite the new post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, experts have said.

‘Bureaucracy’ at the borders is ‘because we chose to leave the single market’ says former prime minister.

Income per-head forecast to fall by 6 per cent – just 2 per cent less than under a no-deal departure.

“Under these extraordinary circumstances, I cannot see how the UK government would choose to expose itself to the double whammy of the coronavirus and the exit from the EU single market, which will inevitably add to the disruption, deal or no deal."

The EU is the largest export market for Britain’s financial firms, but their access will be cut off if no new trading terms have been agreed by January when a post-Brexit transition period ends.

... a cross-party report on the UK's membership of the European Union (EU) in advance of the UK referendum on 23 June. This revealed that the Falkland Islands Government (FIG) had submitted a paper raising concerns about the negative implications for the Falkland Islands' economy and people of a UK withdrawal from the EU.

Customs experts and leading supermarkets warn produce such as meat, fruit and vegetables could be in short supply in Northern Ireland.

Alexander Stubb, former Prime Minister of Finland, and Komal Sri-Kumar, founder and president at Sri-Kumar Global Strategies, examine the process of Brexit negotiations.

The UK food industry is warning that a deluge of new post-Brexit red tape which comes into effect today will increase export paperwork by a third and make some sales to Europe unviable.

In the political realm, no one knows how Brexit’s long-running theater of the absurd will end. But for much of the business world, Britain’s departure from the European Union has effectively happened.

Keir Starmer must be brave and try and reunite us in some way with the rest of our continent.

The prime minister has imperilled peace in Northern Ireland, and every day the economic fallout worsens.

"I do worry that people are starting to imagine that a trade deal with Australia is somehow a substitute for being on the doorstep of a market with 500 million people, it's not" says former Australian PM Julia Gillard.

"The reality is that half of your trade goes to the EU. Britain’s trade with Australia is a very small percentage.”

'The French in the UK had a sense of being abandoned. They said, ‘yesterday we were Londoners and today we are foreigners’

Sweden's Prime Minister, Stefan Lofven, speaks to Mark Urban about the Brexit referendum vote - and how negotiations might go for the UK's exit.

France is preparing for the worst as the clock ticks down to Brexit, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said. / "You can't be out of the EU and getting all the benefits of the single market."

The European Parliament is expected to ratify the post-Brexit EU-UK trade deal, amid tensions including a French threat of reprisals against the UK.

Almost three years after the United Kingdom's formal departure from the European Union, voters are turning sour on the 2016 decision to leave. A recent poll showed that 57% of voters view the departure from the EU as a mistake compared to the 52% who voted for the original Brexit referendum. So what changed?

Germany's biggest business lobby group has warned its members to prepare for 'a very hard Brexit'. Ian King speaks to Nina Schick, the German political commentator and Tomasz Wieladek, senior European economist at Barclays.

Head of employers’ federation says integrity of single market more important than making good business with Britain. / German industrialists have warned that British hopes of their support in Brexit negotiations are misplaced and could backfire with dangerous consequences for international trade.

Germany told European Union nations that relations between the UK and the bloc reached a new low and they should be ready for a serious fight if London enacts the bill it proposed to tear up the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Even if the European Union and the United Kingdom conclude a highly ambitious partnership covering all areas agreed in the Political Declaration by the end of 2020, the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU acquis, the internal market and the Customs Union, at the end of the transition period will inevitably create barriers to trade and cross-border exchanges that do not exist today.

Source says Gibraltar would fall outside any Brexit transition deal unless UK agrees deal with Madrid over its future status

The vision of post-Brexit Britain was one of international trade deals that would propel the country into a new era of prosperity. That vision of “Global Britain” is now dead. Thomas Sampson argues that the only viable alternative is a closer trade relationship with the EU.

In the UK, disillusionment with Brexit has set in. The limitations of Boris Johnson’s Trade and Cooperation Agreement are evident. But Labour’s Keir Starmer, the likely winner of the general election, has only modest ambitions for Britain’s relationship with the EU. Andrew Duff suggests that Labour should be much bolder by adopting a phased approach back to full membership.

Gove says NI now have the best of both worlds as they’ve unfettered access to EU Single Market & UK Single Market. / Hold on. This “best of both worlds” scenario is exactly what we had in 2016. So WTF have we just burned £200bn on Brexit for? Some fish??

The government has confirmed there will be new checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK as part of the Brexit deal.

Lorries will need permission from new HMRC computer system before heading for Dover.

Get Brexit Done’ has unravelled in a spectacular fashion; a significant knock to the economy, removal of rights and freedoms, more red tape for business and – the most heart-breaking of all – trouble has returned to Northern Ireland. The obvious answer to this foreseeable problem is for the UK to be part of the single market and customs union.

Speaking to reporters at the Embassy of Ireland in London, he said the his government has good channels of communication with all parties in Northern Ireland.

It would take just a few to say that it is a "bit of a mess and we are going to have to work together to solve it" to get Britain back on track. / “I thought Brexit was frankly completely nuts,” he said.

Why do so many people talk about a 'hard Brexit' and a 'soft Brexit'? And what do they mean?

It’s been four years since we formally left the EU - and its been eight years of trying to square an impossible circle. How do you keep Brexiteers happy, the EU on board and Northern Ireland’s government up and running, all at once?

FORMER US presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has highlighted the benefits of Northern Ireland’s access to both EU and UK markets.

'...my self-imposed task of documenting the Brexit impact has become a challenge not so much because of the difficultly of weighing up the positives and the negatives, but rather due to the sheer amount of damage Brexit is doing up and down the country, left, right and centre, and across sectors.'

The banks pay huge amounts of tax. If they lose business, then Britain’s economy will suffer.

It’s no secret that COVID-19 and Brexit have had a lasting effect on a wealth of businesses. In particular, the manufacturing sector has been heavily impacted due to the UK’s withdrawal from the single market and the subsequent restrictions on imports and exports.

‘Sovereignty’ and ‘taking back control’ seem a lot less attractive when you’re stuck at an airport or struggling with red tape.

The UK and European Union are poised to enter the final stretch of negotiations over post-Brexit trading arrangements for Northern Ireland. After years of distrust and tension both sides are optimistic that a settlement is within reach.

Three years after the UK officially left the EU, what can be learned by looking back at the Brexit negotiation process, and how has it impacted on the relationship between the EU and the UK?

'It is hard to predict how full Brexit would play out, because this scale of multiple simultaneous renegotiations of global trade agreements is unprecedented – and no country has ever left the EU. It certainly can’t be assumed that Britain is bound to get quick and good deals because it is a large economy.'

Austerity in the UK has been a political choice, made by this Tory Government, and has nothing to do with the EU or single market rules. EU rules impose no restriction whatsoever on the level of public spending

Brexit has not only failed to deliver on its promise of reducing immigration and controlling borders, but it has also made the immigration issue worse and more difficult to manage. The government’s chaotic and ineffective immigration policies, such as the Rwanda policy, have only added to the problem.

Companies in Great Britain that want access to the EU single market should invest in Northern Ireland, senior Tory MP Andrea Leadsom has said. / Northern Ireland firms will continue to be part of the single market under Rishi Sunak's Brexit deal with the EU.

The British government appears to have no political will to resolve its festering trade dispute with the European Union and risks endangering the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Wednesday.

Prime minister’s ‘take it or leave it’ proposals described as unworkable and illegal.

Britain has been an object of international derision in recent months. / Britain, said some outside observers, had turned into an emerging market — even a banana republic. But why has a country, traditionally renowned for its stability, been engulfed by such turmoil? / Brexit is the reason, according to critics of Britain’s departure from the European Union.

A 19th Century trade agenda will decimate the most productive parts of the 21st Century economy.

If so, Ireland would risk being seen as less than a full member of the EU single market.

Having been grossly misled in the referendum, Britons’ anger is mounting as the reality of our plight becomes clear.

We are stuck in the Tory game of make-believe that everything is coming up roses in an English country garden. The reality is that following Brexit the rest of the world looks at England with a mixture of perplexity, pity, and amused contempt.

The biggest crisis of Brexit to date actually still lies ahead of us in late 2020.

Political leaders have paid tribute to former European Commission President Jacques Delors, who has died aged 98. / Serving from 1985 to 1995, Delors helped create the single market allowing the free movement of people, goods and services around the bloc. / He also laid the groundwork for the single European currency, the euro.

James O'Brien labels Rishi Sunak's speech in Belfast on Tuesday "unbelievable", after the PM said the amended EU deal put Northern Ireland in "the world's most exciting economic zone".

This is the moment James O'Brien reacts to former Brexit Secretary David Davis telling LBC that the haulage industry's failure to act has led to post-Brexit tanker and HGV driver shortages.

Japan's government has warned that Brexit could result in the country's firms moving their European head offices out of Britain.

Japan's ambassador to Britain has said that Japanese businesses in the UK expect continued access to the European Union market after Brexit. Tsuruoka said Japanese firms based in Britain counted on access to the EU market.

The UK's finance minister has said he recognises that Brexit has brought trade barriers with the EU, but rejected calls for Britain to rejoin the single market, arguing that most obstacles can be removed over time.

Jeremy Hunt conceded there have been damaging trade barriers with the EU created by Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal.

No hint of contrition or constructiveness in article by Lord Frost and Brandon Lewis... just menace.

The former prime minister accused hardline leave campaigners of ‘shouting down anyone with an opposing view’.

A TORY MP provoked waves of laughter in the House of Commons this afternoon after inadvertently revealing her lack of knowledge on the European Union.

A number of Labour MPs believe there is a palpable shift in public opinion on Brexit due to comparatively worse inflation figures in the UK to Europe and ongoing issues with the trade deal with Brussels.

Keir Starmer’s plans to bring the UK closer to the EU could solve Labour’s Brexit conundrum.

"Britain can no longer afford to have one hand tied behind our back with new red tape, new costs and lost opportunities from Brexit," Naomi Smith said.

Labour big beast Neil Kinnock has warned Keir Starmer he might struggle to meet a key election pledge without rejoining the EU’s Single Market.

Taoiseach says Corbyn’s renegotiation plan would not be a problem.

Billionaire founder of think tank that advocates leaving single market obtains right to work anywhere in Europe.

It is increasingly evident that leaving the European Union — the world’s richest single market — was a monumental act of self-harm for the UK. African countries should take heed and cooperate to ensure the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The evidence shows that Brexit isn’t working and, despite what Starmer claims, it cannot be made to work until we rejoin the single market.

The recent report from Fox’s Global Britain Commission sets out Britain’s productivity problem but offers no answers to it.

The Liberal Democrats are to set out a roadmap for Britain to rejoin the European Union single market – reversing the most damaging parts of Brexit. / The proposed policy would ultimately reinstate free movement and trade.

Marks & Spencer has warned that up to 15% of its food product lines could be unavailable in its Northern Ireland shops in January.

What the former Prime Minister warned BEFORE the referendum.

Medical supplies crucial to fight a second wave of coronavirus face being disrupted by a no-deal Brexit, a leading health think tank has warned.

Philippe Lamberts says Ireland is between ‘a rock and a hard place’ in Brexit negotiations.

Realities of leaving single market and customs union revealed to businesses - after controversy ducked during election campaign.

EU chief negotiator responds to PM’s claim that UK will now be free from Brussels regulations.

There’s a growing understanding in Britain that the country’s vote to quit the European Union, a decisive moment in the international rise of reactionary populism, was a grave error.

Simply Red has taken to Twitter to label Brexit a "shambles" in an unlikely message to Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer. The band, led by flame-haired frontman Mick Hucknall, made the comment ahead of their concert at Plymouth's Central Park on Sunday night.

Equivalence permits for UK financial services unlikely to be ready by January 1st.

Sir Ivan Rogers said extending Article 50 is "not a given" and extreme Leavers and Remainers were pushing UK to cliff edge.

EMPTY SUPERMARKET SHELVES, queues at petrol stations and pumps running dry is far from what one would expect from Britain in 2021.

'American companies in Europe support a deep and comprehensive economic partnership between the EU and the UK'

Exports to Britain rose by €2.27bn in the first 11 months last year while all-Ireland trade continued to expand, suggesting the economy north and south has benefited from Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol deal.

Government legal adviser warns it cannot be argued ‘credibly’ that there is no alternative to unilateral move.

Plaid Cymru’s Spokesperson for Trade and Business, Hywel Williams MP, has called for the UK to re-join the Single Market and Customs Union as “a vital first step to improving our moribund economy.”

A majority of people on both sides of the Irish border believes Northern Ireland will have left the UK within 25 years, a poll suggests.

The UK government has announced further delays to some Irish Sea border checks. / The checks are a requirement of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a deal reached by the UK and EU in 2019.

NICOLA Sturgeon has told leaders in Brussels that she will use the powers of Holyrood to ensure Scotland keeps a close relationship with the EU.

Downing Street has been forced to stress that Rishi Sunak’s hailing of Northern Ireland’s access to both EU and British markets should not be seen as an endorsement of single market benefits for the whole of the UK.

Meanwhile, in the real world, we have seen a catastrophic slump, by 41%, of all our exports to the Continent. / Trade between Welsh ports and Ireland (which remains in the single market) has seen a decline of 50% in Holyhead, and 40% in Pembrokeshire.

Contrary to recent reports, the European Union knows Britain could walk away and is preparing accordingly.

Northern political leaders face major challenge after striking deal.

EU leaders have stressed the Northern Ireland protocol must be implemented fully by Boris Johnson to respect the 'rule of law' during a press conference at the G7 in Cornwall on Thursday.

The Northern Ireland Protocol can give the region an economic advantage but will require further moves by both sides, the head of the UK's biggest business association has said.

With a potential trade war looming, Conservatives are stuck in an ever-more destructive disagreement over what Britain should look like outside the EU.

The British government has chosen unilaterally to break the protocol, which it signed two years ago – but Europe stands by it.

A summit crucial to the issue of climate change is instead mired in disentangling the mess of Britain’s exit from the EU

The JCWG on Ireland/Northern Ireland meets for the first time today. What is it and why should we care?

Having left the largest internal market in the world, the search is on to give the impression that there are many new trade partnerships out there to compensate for the already very real loss of cross-Channel trade. / At the moment, Britain’s trade with the CPTPP countries is less than our trade with Germany alone.

We believe the UK must seek to negotiate the trading arrangement with the EU which minimises the economic cost of leaving, and that means remaining a member of the Single Market.

The sole economic modelling exercise showing material benefits for the UK from Brexit has been debunked as “doubly misleading”, further demolishing the argument that for Britain “no deal would be better than a bad deal” when it comes to the EU.

Government’s new trade red tape likely to hit long-term productivity, trade economists warn.

Brexiteer Owen Paterson sensationally quit the House of Commons amid fury at a lobbying scandal last week – triggering a by-election in his North Shropshire seat.

It’s probably fair to say that Owen Paterson was not a household name until the events that led to his resignation last week. However, he played a significant role in the Brexit saga, albeit of a particular sort.

Kirsty Wark interviews Pascal Lamy, former EU trade commissioner and former director general of the World Trade Organisation.

The SNP leader in the House of Commons tells Boris Johnson his plans are unworkable, unacceptable and undeliverable. He says that if the Northern Ireland assembly can have a veto on the Brexit plans, Scotland should get one too.

Infrastructure work has taken nearly a year in the past, but just six months will be available - even if the cash is there

A "perfect storm" of Brexit, covid and poor macroeconomic fiscal policies by the Conservatives has weakened Britain's economy and diminished the UK's standing in Europe, says economist Duncan Weldon.

British seeking ‘foothold’ in EU single market to ease red tape burden.

There are a number of measures that the UK Government must take in order to address the challenges of leaving the EU's single market.

Prime minister expected to press EU leaders to dedicate attention to faltering negotiations.

Labour shortages caused by Brexit and accentuated by the COVID pandemic have badly affected businesses across the food and farming sector and could cause ‘permanent’ damage, UK lawmakers stated in a report published on Wednesday (6 April).

‘We believe sterling is in the process of evolving into a currency that resembles the underlying reality of the British economy: small and shrinking,’ say Bank of America currency analysts

EU Law expert Professor Michael Dougan has analysed Theresa May's Brexit speech.

It has now been three years since the UK exited Europe, but Michel Barnier, the man who helped broker the divorce for Europe, and the author of a new book ‘My Secret Brexit Diary’ – says there are still lessons to be learned from the whole experience.

Brexit now considered a mistake by significant majority of the population as UK’s economic fortunes fade.

THERE is no plan to curb Ireland’s access to the EU single market as a fallback to resolve the Brexit crux over the North, the Irish Commissioner Mairead McGuinness has insisted.

Leaked papers obtained by the Guardian show extent of fundamental objections Brussels has raised.

Richard Corbett, former Labour MEP, linguist, author and fluent and well-informed speaker will explain the background to Boris Johnson's Brexit deal and discuss the fallout. There are numerous consequences of Brexit which are not receiving sufficient publicity. Leaving the EU came at a huge cost to the UK economically, culturally and in terms of our standing in the world.

Rishi Sunak claimed the UK offers a “very special status” to Scotland when challenged to replicate Northern Ireland’s “special” EU single market access for other home nations.

The prime minister said his new Brexit deal puts Northern Ireland in an "unbelievably special position" because it gives it access to both the UK and European Union markets - creating "the world's most exciting economic zone".

He also criticised the UK government and what he called “the disaster” of Brexit, which had stopped airlines easily recruiting European workers, and thus worsened staff shortages this summer. “This is without doubt one of the inevitable consequences of the disaster that has been Brexit,” he said.

Video gives details around SADC areas of concern and potential improvements.

The London Mayor will call for greater alignment with Europe, putting him at odds with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer.

The UK Chancellor said the Treasury would not lend support to manufacturers that favour EU rules.

SNP leadership candidates faced off in the first of 13 hustings events to take place in the campaign on Wednesday in Cumbernauld.

SCOTLAND's economy has taken a major hit while Northern Ireland has outperformed the rest of the UK while staying in the EU’s single marker, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.