Tag: Brexit

Arron Banks, the millionaire businessman who bankrolled Nigel Farage’s campaign to quit the EU, had multiple meetings with Russian embassy officials in the run-up to the Brexit referendum, documents seen by the Observer suggest. • An introduction to a Russian businessman, by the Russian ambassador, the day after Leave.EU launched its campaign, who reportedly offered Banks a multibillion dollar opportunity to buy Russian goldmines. Arron Banks refuses to appear before Commons committee Read more Banks and Wigmore – who was also present at many of the meetings – were due to appear before the select committee for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport on Tuesday to answer questions about Leave.EU’s role in the European referendum. Hours after the Observer contacted them for comment on Friday, they published a letter stating they would not attend the hearing, and accused the committee of colluding with a pro-Remain campaign group. From November 2015, the ambassador, Alexander Yakovenko, courted Banks and Wigmore, inviting them to multiple events and meetings in the run-up to the European referendum, many of which, the documents suggest, they attended. On 16 November, the documents suggest, Yakovenko invited them to an evening meeting at the Russian embassy. Documents seen by the Observer suggest further meetings and discussions took place between the businessman and Banks and Wigmore, including a trip to Moscow in February 2016 during which Banks was scheduled to meet high-level officials from the state-owned bank. The Russian Embassy told the Observer: “The Russian Embassy has not in any way intervened in domestic UK political process, including the Brexit referendum. And this new material raises questions of the most serious nature. We urgently need Arron Banks to answer these and other questions.

The House of Commons will this week on Tuesday and Wednesday consider whether or not to accept the fundamental amendments made by the House of Lords to the EU withdrawal bill. It may be defeated on the amendment requiring it to “inform Parliament of the steps it has taken to negotiate British participation in a customs union”, but it can live with that, since the amendment does not commit the government actually to remain in the customs union. But the most dangerous amendment, from the government’s point of view, is that proposed by Lord Hailsham, which would require both houses to approve the agreement by 30 November 2018, and to pass an act providing for the implementation of the agreement by 31 January 2019. The amendment would also allow parliament to refuse to accept any agreement. The government’s position is that if the withdrawal agreement is defeated by parliament, then instead of re-negotiation, Britain will exit from the European Union on 29 March 2019 without a deal. The Hailsham amendment, therefore, lights a powder keg that threatens both Britain’s negotiating position with the EU and the survival of the government. But it does draw attention to the fundamental problem facing the government, which is seeking to implement an instruction from the British people in the Brexit referendum to which the majority of MPs and peers are opposed. For the first time in British constitutional history, parliament is passing legislation in which it does not believe. But what has been decided by the people can be undone only by the people. All that parliament can do is to give the people a chance to decide on the deal.

Leave supporters are losing faith in the Conservatives to lead the Brexit negotiations, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer. With Brexiters in the cabinet also fearing that the issue is being mishandled by Downing Street, the poll showed that only 41% of leave voters trust the Tories most to lead the negotiations – the lowest level since January 2017. Overall, 32% of voters trust the Conservatives most to handle the Brexit negotiations, compared with 21% who think Labour would do a better job. The Conservative lead of 11 points on this issue is the lowest recorded by the pollster so far this year. In terms of overall voting intention, the Conservative lead has been cut to two points from the four-point lead it enjoyed last month. The Tories are on 42% of the vote, with Labour on 40%. May’s lead over Corbyn on who would make the best prime minister has dropped from 13 points to 10 points. The poll shows the public is shifting towards wanting to stay in the EU’s single market. However, the public remain unmoved on whether or not to have a new referendum. Opinium interviewed 2,005 adults online between 5 June and 7 June.

Labour’s Brexit camps were at odds as Keir Starmer rejected claims he would squander the chance to defeat the government over an amendment to keep the UK in a Norway-style deal, saying his party was too divided to back it. In private conversations, some shadow ministers are understood to have said they might be prepared to rebel should Labour decide to whip in favour, presenting enough opposition to cancel out the number of Tory rebels. Instead, Labour’s frontbench announced a new amendment to the EU withdrawal bill, proposing “full access to the internal market of the European Union”. Read more Several pro-EU Labour MPs said the move would throw away the potential to defeat the government on the EEA amendment because pro-EU Conservative rebels were highly unlikely to back a Labour frontbench amendment, as opposed to a cross-party amendment led by backbenchers. He said MPs such as Chris Leslie and Chuka Umunna who backed the EEA amendment were well aware “it does not command support in their own party”. “The pretence that everyone in the Labour party is in the same place on this, and therefore it is winnable, is a pretence and it really doesn’t help,” he said. Several Labour MPs from leave-voting seats, including John Mann, Caroline Flint and John Spellar, have made it clear in private meetings of Labour MPs over the past fortnight that they oppose Labour giving the EEA option its backing. Jones, the shadow armed forces minister, was pointedly critical of Umunna on Twitter, quoting him saying the Norway model would “hurt UK” and saying: “What a difference 2 years makes, didn’t think EEA was such a shiny proportion during referendum.” Starmer said the vocally pro-EEA MPs “know as well as I do that their own colleagues in the party are indicating they are not prepared to vote for this”. Only the public – not MPs – can force the best possible Brexit | Denis MacShane Read more Umunna said he did not accept Starmer’s argument that there was not enough backbench Labour support for the full-EEA option. An EU diplomat said Labour was “not serious about this amendment” and knew it would self combust.

In a stark sign of the frustration among prominent Brexit supporters over the government’s handling of negotiations with the EU, Crispin Odey, a hedge fund manager who backed the Leave campaign, said he believed the environment secretary had the skills to make a success of Britain’s exit and appeal to voters. “We’ve got to have that self-confidence to make breaches,” he told the Observer. Michael has got lots of attributes that make him a non-traditional Tory. I don’t think May can carry Brexit through any more.” He added: “Italy has confronted the EU – they’ve said they will go ahead and be in breach of its rules. That’s how Elizabeth I would have been leading with this.” His backing for Gove risks reigniting the Tory debate about May’s leadership, with some Brexiters worried that Britain could end up being locked into a customs union with the EU that would prevent it pursuing an independent trade policy. In reality, few Tory MPs want an unpredictable leadership election which could further destabilise the party. A source close to Gove said the environment secretary was “fully supportive of the prime minister and will continue to be so”. He added: “He believes it’s vital we get behind our prime minister to deliver the Brexit 17.4 million people voted for.” Odey, who has also donated to Ukip in the past, said he believed that May was a gifted technocrat, but questioned her handling of Brexit. “The problem is, Theresa May is not good at hitting a moving ball, either. So there is no leadership.

Such a deal would leave Britain free to diverge from EU rules and regulations but that in turn would lead to border checks and the rise of other “non-tariff barriers” to trade. Seven in 10 Labour-held constituencies voted to leave the EU and a recent meeting of the parliamentary Labour party was dominated by a bitter row over the single market, with MPs in pro-Brexit seats warning that supporting it would damage their electoral chances. However, the research suggested there were “only a handful” of seats where more Labour voters backed leave than remain, and that many of these would support the party at a general election irrespective of its position on Brexit. Corbyn under pressure to give members vote on Labour Brexit policy Read more Trickett’s Hemsworth seat in West Yorkshire voted by 68.1% to leave the EU at the 2016 referendum. However, the YouGov data shows that of those who voted in the 2017 election, 11,037 were Labour remainers, greater than the shadow cabinet minister’s 10,174 majority. More Labour voters in the constituency backed remain than leave. Lavery’s Wansbeck constituency in Northumberland backed Brexit with a 56.2% vote, yet the Labour remain tally was 12,392, greater than the Labour party chairman’s 10,435 majority. In 2017, 51% of Labour voters in the election had backed remain at the referendum, while 32% supported leave. The Tory remain vote there stood at 5,444 in 2017. It showed that Theresa May has the second highest Tory remain vote in the country in Maidenhead, with 14,452 of her backers also voting to stay in the EU.

British households are more than £900 worse off after the vote to leave the EU, according to the governor of the Bank of England, in comments that risk a renewed confrontation with senior Brexit supporters in the government. Comparing the current state of household finances with forecasts made by the Bank before the referendum, prepared on the basis of a remain vote, Mark Carney told MPs that household incomes were now significantly lower than expected. Business leaders say economic nationalism is biggest growth threat Read more Speaking in front of the Treasury select committee of MPs, Carney also said the economy was 2% smaller than forecast before the EU referendum, despite the strength of the global economy and the Bank’s emergency cut in interest rates after the Brexit vote. Jacob Rees-Mogg told MailOnline Carney was “crying wolf”, while Boris Johnson, speaking on a visit to Argentina, insisted Brexit had not damaged the interests of the country. “I believe that the chancellor of the exchequer has given a definitive answer on this matter, which is that it is not the case that Brexit has damaged the interests of this country,” Johnson said. However, opponents of Brexit seized on Carney’s remarks as evidence of the pain being inflicted on households by Britain’s EU exit. Consumers have come under significant financial pressure from rising inflation since the Brexit vote, as the immediate drop in the value of the pound pushed up the cost of importing food and fuel to Britain. At the same time wage growth has remained weak despite the lowest levels of unemployment since the mid-70s. But after a year of falling living standards, earnings finally began to rise above inflation in February, signalling the worst of the pressure on household finances could be coming to an end. The strength of the world economy and availability of finance from the banking sector should have helped encourage companies to invest more, boosting the economy, he said.

An asparagus farmer whose produce looks set to be served at Saturday’s royal wedding has warned he faces going bust because of Brexit. Royal protocol prevents Allen from confirming his Portwood Asparagus farm has been chosen but he said: “We are certainly in the frame and I do know there will be a story to tell on Monday.” Lack of migrant workers left food rotting in UK fields last year, data reveals Read more Supplying the royal kitchens provides a huge boost to Allen’s business but he warns it will not help him plug the gap in migrant workers he needs to stay afloat after the the UK leaves the European Union. “We are completely reliant on seasonal migrant workers. If we can’t get that labour I’ll have to pack up. There is not the technology to pick asparagus with robots.” Allen’s fears highlight the plight of many fruit and vegetable growers who rely on the EU’s free movement rules to find cheap labour for seasonal jobs shunned by British workers. Relatively high employment around Allen’s farm near Attleborough means he cannot attract local people to work at the minimum wage for the three months of the asparagus season. We don’t care if it comes from the rest of the world or the EU, we just need a supply of labour.” He added: “I know I sound like a whingeing farmer making too much of this, but this is reality and politicians really haven’t got a handle on it.” Allen is so concerned about finding workers next year that he has restricted planting on a crop that takes three years to grow. “If I knew we were going to vote for Brexit and the whole thing was going to into uncertainty would I have done this? “I’m certain that from now on there are going to be big shortages – because migrant workers are looking at Britain and thinking what’s going to happen and going to mainland Europe instead.” Jersey Royal potato crop could be hit by shortage of EU workers Read more Allen’s workers are sourced by the migrant labour charity Concordia, which supplies about 10,000 mostly EU workers to 200 farms. The public voted to not have enough workers to pick fruit and veg in this country.

Politics always features, however. Some are brilliant at building a national brand through Eurovision. In the last century, Europe loved Brand UK. He resigned after the 2008 contest. The UK ended up mid-table, with over 100 points. “Not winning” won’t show this. If the professionals like Storm but the public do not, we can read that as disapproval. Songs in English have dominated the contest this century, winning every year except 2007 – and last year, when the winner was in Portuguese. Eurovision, like political Europe, is a liberal project. The professionals’ votes are announced first, so we shall have to wait till the end of the evening to see what Eurovision’s public voters have to say about SuRie – and by extension about Britain.

Labour has accused the government of “effectively subverting democracy” after an announcement of coming government business made no mention of any major Brexit-related legislation to be debated in the House of Commons. Announcing the Commons schedule for the next fortnight, Andrea Leadsom, the leader of the house, gave no timings for the return of the EU withdrawal bill from the Lords, or any news on three other key Brexit-connected bills. The inaction will reinforce the sense of a government gridlocked over the Brexit process, with no agreement in cabinet over a future customs deal with the EU, and speculation ministers might seek to delay decisions still further. On Thursday, Nick Timothy, Theresa May’s former joint chief of staff, argued that this could happen, an idea immediately rejected by Downing Street. Instead of offering any progress on Brexit, the Commons timetable offers a series of general debates on subjects such as housing and homophobia. The EU withdrawal bill, during which the Lords have inflicted 14 defeats on the government over amendments, has its third reading in the upper house next Wednesday. However, Leadsom gave no information as to when the amendments would be considered again by MPs, when there would be a series of potentially crucial votes on areas including future trade and customs arrangements, and a final say for MPs on an eventual deal. There was also no information about progress for the trade bill and customs bill – Leadsom said this would happen “in due course” – or when a promised bill to enshrine the departure agreement in UK law would be introduced. “Can the leader confirm that the government is not being cynical and parking the trade and customs bills and the EU withdrawal bill, and introducing the legislation to enact EU law under the withdrawal and implementation bill, until after the negotiations are complete so as to avoid any rebellions?” Vaz said. She said: “Other EU Brexit bills will be coming forward in due course also.