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Political commentator John Rentoul to host Brexit ‘ask me anything’ as EU prepares for worst

As a Christmas showdown looms while Brussels sets out plans to resolve Northern Ireland crisis by end of year, John Rentoul will be on hand to answer your latest questions on Brexit

Wednesday 13 October 2021 17:00 EDT
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Britain’s Minister of State for EU Relations David Frost
Britain’s Minister of State for EU Relations David Frost (AFP via Getty Images)

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Brexit is still very much not done, with the British government demanding that the European Union renegotiate the Northern Ireland protocol, a crucial part of the withdrawal agreement.

Some Remainers, meanwhile, point to the many ways in which Brexit has made the economic recovery from Covid lockdowns more difficult as evidence that “Brexit isn’t working”.

This week Lord Frost, the Brexit minister, travelled to Lisbon to deliver a speech warning the EU not to make a “historic misjudgement” in dismissing the UK government’s case for a rewriting the Brexit deal – the day before the EU published its own proposals to make the protocol work better, but without a new treaty.

What will happen next?

Why is Boris Johnson trying to tear up an agreement he signed just two years ago? Is it because he wants to fight a forever Brexit campaign, or because, as Dominic Cummings, his former chief adviser, claims, he signed up to a deal without understanding it? Is the prime minister lazy and dishonest, as Mr Cummings says, or did he genuinely not realise how the arrangements for Northern Ireland would work out?

Then there are the questions about how Brexit more generally is working out. How politically effective is Mr Johnson’s claim that ending free movement will mean that British workers get a pay rise?

What should Sir Keir Starmer do? How should Labour promise to “make Brexit work” by the time of the next election?

Why won’t even the Liberal Democrats touch the question of rejoining the EU?

If you have any questions about Brexit, I’ll be here at 1pm on Friday (15 October) to try to answer as many of them as I can.

Register to submit your question in the comments box below. If you’re not already a member, click “sign up” in the comments section to leave your question.

Don’t worry if you can’t see your question – they will be hidden until I join the conversation to answer them.

Join us live on this page from 1pm on Friday, 15 October, as I tackle as many questions as I can.

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