Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

As it happenedended
5 years ago

Brexit news - Live: EU chief says David Cameron stopped him getting involved in referendum, as Theresa May faces fresh pressure to resign ahead of Tory meeting

Follow live updates from Westminster

Benjamin Kentish
Political Correspondent
Tuesday 07 May 2019 08:15 EDT
Comments
Countdown to Brexit: How many days left until Britain leaves the EU?

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Jean-Claude Juncker has said he made a "mistake" in not intervening to challenge the "lies" told by anti-EU campaigners during the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The president of the European Commission said he had agreed to a request by then UK prime minister David Cameron not to get involved in the debate.

His admission came as Theresa May met with Sir Graham Brady, the leader of the influential 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs, amid growing calls for the prime minister to resign.

Sir Graham was expected to warn Ms May that she must lay out a timetable for her departure or face further efforts to oust her.

As it happened...

Elsewhere, talks between the government and Labour to break the Brexit stalemate resumed this afternoon, with shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer saying they had reached "crunch time". Some Tory MPs have warned Ms May that any move towards Labour’s demand for a post-Brexit customs union with the EU would spur the Conservative Party to force her out “very quickly”.

However, foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt called on the prime minister and the Labour Party to reach a compromise after both main parties lost ground in the local elections in England.

The Tories lost over 1,300 seats, while Labour lost 82. Jeremy Corbyn’s party had expected to make gains but voters turned to the Liberal Democrats and the Greens in an apparent backlash against the Tories and Labour over Brexit.

5 years ago

Conservative former minister Ed Vaizey has said he could join calls for another Brexit referendum.

He told BBC 5Live's Emma Barnett Show: 

“I am warming to the idea. I've always been against a second referendum. I've always thought it was important to respect the referendum result.

“But I think what is changing my mind is this talk about any agreement reached by parliament being seen as illegitimate."

Benjamin Kentish7 May 2019 16:17
5 years ago

Theresa May's spokesman has said the prime minister "deeply regrets" the fact that the UK will have to take part in European Parliament elections later this month.

The government admitted earlier today that it has abandoned hopes of passing a Brexit deal in time for the 23 May polls to be cancelled.

Ms May's spokesman admitted: "Many members of the public will feel great frustration at this".

He declined to say whether the prime minister thought people should vote in the elections - or whether she would take part in any Conservative election campaign launch.

Benjamin Kentish7 May 2019 16:33
5 years ago

Arriving at the Cabinet Office for the latest round of Brexit discussions with the government, Sir Keir Starmer, Labour's shadow Brexit secretary, said the negotiations have reached "crunch time".

He said:

"Talks have been going on for some time as we know, but I think the time has now come to a crunch time where the Government has to decide whether it's serious about significant changes capable of actually carrying a majority in the House of Commons.'' 

He added:

"We're going to be pressing them hard on that this afternoon.

"Obviously the evidence this weekend was not promising but that's what we will be discussing this afternoon, whether we can have that significant change that's actually capable of carrying a majority in the House of Commons.

"That's the substance, but also the process, including how we deal with an incoming Tory leader and of course a confirmatory vote will also be on the agenda, and we're going to discuss that this afternoon."

Benjamin Kentish7 May 2019 16:47
5 years ago

Arlene Foster has said the Northern Irish party leaders had a "good first meeting" with the UK and Irish governments this afternoon as talks designed to restore power-sharing at the Stormont assembly got underway.

Speaking afterwards, the DUP leader said:

"From our part I was very clear with all the other parties that we will not be found wanting in getting a deal to get Stormont up and running again.

"I know we would much prefer to get the assembly back up and running immediately with a parallel talks process, because we believe the people of Northern Ireland want their politicians here dealing with everyday matters, whether that's health or education or jobs or infrastructure.

"But we are entering this talks process to find a way forward. It has to of course be a balanced way forward and one that everyone in Northern Ireland is comfortable with, whether they are unionist, nationalist or indeed other - and I think that's very important.

"We are not looking at the prospect of failure - we want this to work. We hope and indeed expect others to come to the table with that same willingness to make it work because we have all received very strong messages from the people of Northern Ireland that they want devolution up and running as quickly as possible."

Benjamin Kentish7 May 2019 17:10
5 years ago

That's all for today - thanks for following.

Benjamin Kentish7 May 2019 17:27

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in