News from the Brexit Cliff Edge

Welcome to the Brexit Cliff Edge

Department of Transport sued because of its cross channel No Deal Brexit plans

• P&O Ferries has begun legal proceedings against the government, after being excluded from the No Deal preparations. The claim involves a £33m payment by the Department of Transport to Eurotunnel to settle claims Eurotunnel had been unfairly excluded from government plans to keep cross-channel routes open during a No Deal Brexit
  

Business investment plans are plummeting

• Research by Banco Santander suggests that the proportion of companies planning to invest in business development has fallen to 33%, from 74% six months ago. The survey results back up the British Chambers of Commerce warning, from last month, which said the UK could see the worst business investment climate since 2009
  

EU scientific research grant agency tightens the screw on the UK

• An EU funding agency (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) COST, has changed a policy which directly impacts grants in the UK. COST is demanding that UK grant holders shift administration of the grant facility to an EU-based partner by May 1st. UK grant holders say its premature and disruptive to research and has led to layoffs

MPs warn government post-Brexit environmental plans fall 'woefully short'

• The MPs report says the UK proposals severely downgrade the environmental principles that currently underpin EU rules. It said the new Office for Environment Protection is too tightly linked to the government and has limited powers

The Japanese are not very happy about Brexit

• Japanese PM Shinzo Abe said legal stability in the UK, by avoiding a hard Brexit, was vital to Japanese firms investing in Britain. He added that Japanese firms had traditionally seen Britain as 'the gateway to Europe' but a hard Brexit would trash that prosperous trading relationship

The Irish Border Question Looms Large

• The Shadow Foreign Secretary, Emily Thornberry, told the House of Commons to accept a customs union with the EU, as it was a very important step in avoiding a hard Irish border and, thus, preserving peace. The Tories David Liddington rejected the link between border customs arrangements and the recent murder of journalist Lyra McKee

We've got it all wrong on immigration

• New academic research into the public debate on immigration has evidence which shows the three most common ideas about immigration are simply not true. Employers do not favour migrants because of cost and superior work ethic. The public is not opposed to all migration except highly skilled migration. Migrants are not people with no aspiration beyond low-skilled work

Fury as Corbyn's European Election draft leaflet suggest Labour backs Brexit

• The leaflet said the party would press ahead with Brexit. There was no mention of the party's push for a second referendum on the leaflets sent out to MEP candidates on Thursday. Pro-EU Labour members are furious arguing that 'standing in the middle' of a highly polarised European election would be a very bad move

Political Shenanigans

• Sir Graham Brady urges the PM to support a bid to strip the Irish backstop from the Brexit Withdrawal deal

Will she won't she - Is Meaningful Vote 4 on May's Brexit deal imminent?

• Sky News reported that Theresa May is planning to get MPs to vote on a piece of legislation to take the UK out of the European Union as early as next week.
• The Financial Times disagrees with Sky. It understands that the Withdrawal Agreement has not been included in the House of Commons 'next week's business plan' because it would face certain defeat just days before the local elections across the country

The next Tory leader must 'believe in Brexit' acording to Jeremy Hunt

• The slightly cult-like aura growing round the notion of Brexit inside the Tory Party grows ever more unsettling. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt went on to say 'No deal Brexit is better than no Brexit at all' as if to underline this point

Scottish independence - the UK government refuses to grant its consent for a 2nd referendum

• Cabinet Office Minister, David Lidington, said there was no evidence of a surge in support for another vote, adding the 2014 referendum settled the matter for a generation

Nigel Farage says his Brexit Party will stand in the next General Election

• The Brexit Party is planning to take on the Tories and Labour at the next General Election. In an interview with The Sun, Farage said these European elections are just a springboard to take the party into power inside Westminster

The Guardian comment said there will be no soft Brexit now and the choice is now no deal or another vote

• With the centre option collapsing as the Conservative-Labour talks on Brexit dissolve, the decision on Brexit returns to its extremes once more: No Deal Brexit or a second vote

May wants the UK out by the end of June

• Theresa May has given up shutting down the European Elections and has now set herself the target of getting a withdrawal agreement agreed by June 30th

Labour's National Policy Forum unanimously backs a campaign for a Brexit referendum

• Friday's Labour Party Trade Union Liaison Organization is likely to also vote the same as the National Policy Forum. So the emergency NEC meeting, next Tuesday, will see Corbyn coming under enormous pressure from the membership to back a confirmatory referendum with an option to Remain
• It was confirmed that Lord Andrew Adonis was forced to 'recant his previous opinions' under threat of de-selection as a Labour Party candidate

Candidate with criminal convictions wants to become an MEP

• The Far Right's Tommy Robinson is running to become an MEP in next month's European Elections

Someone did it Huawei

• A row broke out over who leaked a report from the UK government's National Security Council to the Daily Telegraph - discussing recommendations for using Huawei Technologies to power the 5G technology roll out in the UK

EU citizens' right to vote under threat

• European Elections - government could face a legal challenge over its appalling handling of EU citizens and their right to vote in the EU elections

Electoral Commission accuse Theresa May of 'risking the public's faith in politics'

• The watchdog said May risks undermining the public's faith in politics by going ahead with the European elections, despite publicly seeking she wants to cancel them and stop MEPs taking their seats

Britain's embrace of Huawei is really all about Brexit

• Bloomberg said the UK needs not to upset China as a potential trading partner, because it urgently seeks post Brexit trade deals. This is one of the reasons behind the UK's surprising move not to ban Huawei Technologies but permit them to be front and centre for theUK's 5G plans