News from the Brexit Cliff Edge

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UK factory exports tumble as Brexit chaos takes toll

• UK manufacturing exports declined at the second fastest rate in four and a half years in April, amid a slowdown in factory output, figures from IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) show

Brexit drains $30bn from UK funds

• Investment funds based in the UK haemorrhaged £30bn in the 12 months up to the end of March, as Brexit uncertainty prompted investors to spurn UK assets and shift money to EU regulated products. Research by Morningstar indicated that funds domiciled in the UK lost £5bn in assets in March and £30bn across the course of the last twelve months

Car Industry warns of a return to the 'dark days' as manufacturing falls again

• UK car manufacturing fell for the tenth month in a row, as industry warned that output from the sector could fall back to 1980's levels in the event of a No Deal Brexit. The SMMT released a report which underpinned the gloom and concluded with the fact that car exports represent nearly four fifths of all UK car production, which demonstrates how critical the importance of free and frictionless trade is to the UK car manufacturing industry

No Deal brexit ferry contracts to be scrapped at an eye-watering cost of £50m to the UK taxpayer

• The UK government ended the contracts for £89m worth of ferry capacity from Brittany Ferries and DFDS. Some of the capacity may be sold on, but millions of pounds look likely to be lost. The government has also been forced to pay £33m to Eurotunnel to settle a case in which the company challenged the procurement process for the ferry contracts. The DfT is also facing an additional legal action from P&O Ferries, which says its rival, Eurotunnel, was given an unfair competitive advantage by the government

Fiona Onasanya is booted out as an MP, after her recall petition, over her recent conviction, met the voter recall threshold

• The MP for Peterborough will be forced to stand down as an MP and a by-election for the seat will be called. This is the second time ever a recall petition has been used by Parliament. It is the first time an MP has been recalled

UKIP support melts away in its Kent heartland - Thanet

• UKIP won Thanet on an anti-establishment platform last time around, a pledge which included plans to reopen Manston Airport, which never materialised. In the local elections later today, UKIP has just three candidates for the 56 seats on Thanet Council. The local party's infrastructure has disappeared and candidates, supporters and activists have fled

Gavin Williamson - a man who leaked ambition

• Theresa May sacked her Defence Minister Gavin Williamson over the handing of sensitive UK National Security Council papers to a journalist, putting national security at risk. Now, MPs are calling for a police investigation and Mr Williamson to step down and trigger a by-election

Are Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn about to give birth to a Brexit compromise deal?

• With the PM stating that her aim is to wrap up Brexit talks by the middle of next week, hints are emerging, from sources on both political sides of the discussion, that a compromise Brexit plan is close. Theresa May told a parliamentary committee on Wednesday that 'there is a greater commonality between ourselves and the official opposition,' going on to say 'can we come to an agreement on customs union? I hope we will be able to'
• Rebecca Long-Bailey told BBC Radio4 Today programme listeners that 'the Tories have no option but to shift their red lines if they want to get a Brexit deal through the Commons.' A Tory source said the key question was whether Corbyn and McDonnell are 'willing to dip their hands in the blood of Brexit' and risk a split with pro-EU colleagues

Corbyn's attempt to play the electorate over Brexit look to have backfired. Now neither side needs Labour to get to do what they want

• Grassroots supporters of Jeremy Corbyn and his progressive campaign to reform the Labour Party are starting to think about 'life after Corbyn' now and many believe the recent NEC decision to reject grassroot calls for a Final Say referendum risks Corbyn alienating himself from the very members who ensured his victory

Theresa May is weighing up remaining in an EU customs union

• The FT reports the PM is considering keeping the UK inside the EU's tariff wall to secure a Brexit deal, which would restrict the country's ability to do trade deals, but allow it to strike agreements on services around the world. The PM has been warned by the Chief Whip 'that unless she strikes a trade deal with Labour a second referendum becomes highly likely'
  

Tory Cabinet ministers are split over a customs union Brexit deal with Labour

• A senior Tory cabinet minister suggested a deal involving a customs union could be backed by as few as 90 Tory MPs and that it would mean a slew of resignations from the government payroll. It would be opposed by the SNP, Lib Dems and other smaller parties - alongside dozens of Labour MPs who would only back a deal if it included a confirmatory referendum

Michael Gove tells the Cabinet it would be better to have an unpalatable deal with Labour than no Brexit it all

• Gove told cabinet colleagues it was time to give ground in the Brexit cross-party talks so that a Brexit agreement can be reached. Gove went on to say an unpalatable deal would be better than the disastrous outcome of Brexit being shelved altogether

MPs in the UK's parliaments make history by passing a motion to declare an environmental and climate change emergency

• Leading the debate, Jeremy Corbyn said 'there was no time to waste as the climate crisis looks set to spiral out of control unless we take rapid action to reverse it now.'

• A Russian oligarch's wife paid £135,000 for dinner with Theresa May and six female Cabinet ministers
• Nearly 8m UK voters were said not be registered to vote ahead of the European elections - according to a Best for Britain commisioned study
• The Daily Mirror reported that 'Labour is winning the ground war in the local elections as the Tories 'have gone missing'
• The Brexit Party candidate Claire Fox is coming under fire for her past views as a member of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Fox and her group publicly backed the IRA bombing Warrington in 1993, where two young boys were killed.