Brexit has depressed UK exports to the EU by 12%, and rejoining the customs union would undo only a fraction of the damage, research shared with the Guardian shows. With the UK’s future relationship with the bloc likely to feature prominently in a potential Labour leadership contest, the economists John Springford and Anton Spisak, of … Read more
What story does Britain tell itself about Brexit, 10 years after the vote that transformed the country? Watch TV or read the papers and you find one of two viewpoints: from the common room or the conference room. The common room story is about chums and how they fall out. Friendships forged on hallowed playing … Read more
The Norwegian monarchy is in crisis. Not because its future queen is gravely ill, nor even because her son has this week been convicted of serious crimes, but because the institution’s greatest asset – public trust – has been eroded by a series of self-inflicted mistakes. Yesterday, it was announced that Norway’s crown princess, Mette-Marit, … Read more
The Lib Dems will urge Andy Burnham to end Labour’s “torpor and timidity” towards the EU as they call for the UK to rejoin the single market, in a notable strengthening of their own position. Ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Brexit vote next week, Ed Davey will challenge Burnham to scrap Labour’s red … Read more
Musk’s Next Move May Be a Mega-Merger of SpaceX and Tesla
The UK and the European Union should not waste time “looking backwards” to Brexit, Keir Starmer said on Wednesday, as he comes under pressure to reconsider rejoining the EU. The prime minister reaffirmed his government’s manifesto commitment to not re-enter the bloc, but said there had been “real progress” with the relationship, which was “slowly … Read more
The EU and the UK have announced they will hold their next summit to discuss the “reset” in relations between London and Brussels on 22 July. The summit, which will be held in Brussels, has been delayed several times, with talks over a youth mobility scheme allowing under-30s to work, travel or study in each … Read more
Starmer says Labour should not hold leadership contest when it should be fighting Greater Manchester mayoral byelection Speaking to reporters at the G7 summit, Keir Starmer said it would be wrong for Labour to hold a leadership challenge ahead of a likely election to replace Andy Burnham as mayor of Greater Manchester. If Burnham wins … Read more
Labour arrived in power with no big idea on the future relationship with the EU, a former British ambassador to Brussels has said. Ivan Rogers, Britain’s EU ambassador from 2013 to 2017, said Labour presented “a ragbag of issues” on the EU in its manifesto, which didn’t “remotely measure up to the challenge of the … Read more
The wait for Keir Starmer’s first session of the G7 gathering in Évian-Les-Bains was undoubtedly awkward. A meeting about the future of Ukraine had been due to start at 9am but more than half an hour later Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Emmanuel Macron were nowhere to be seen. On a live Reuters feed, Starmer … Read more