Brexit news: Anger as government admits it will fail to strike Japan or Turkey trade pacts by exit day in event of no-deal
Updates from Westminster as they happened
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Your support makes all the difference.The government has been accused of breaking its promises after it emerged that key trade deals would not be ready by Brexit day in a no-deal scenario.
Whitehall documents reveal agreements with Japan, Algeria and Turkey will not be rubber-stamped by March 29 – despite Liam Fox’s assurance that deals would be ready at “one second after midnight”.
Labour MP Stephen Doughty said: “Brexiters promised that voting Leave would mean a bonanza of new international trade deals that would make up for lost trade with the EU.
“Instead, Brexit is costing us the global trade deals we already have as EU members.”
The news emerged as European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said he was “not very optimistic” that a no-deal Brexit can be avoided after meeting Theresa May.
Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay travelled to Brussels with attorney general Geoffrey Cox as the government scrambles to secure a deal, while Jeremy Corbyn and his top team were also in the Belgian capital for crunch talks.
Meanwhile, Labour and the Conservatives were both braced for fresh walkouts after 11 MPs formed a breakaway group in protest at the direction of their parties.
See below for our coverage of events as they happened
Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier has said that Brexit talks remain in "impasse".
Speaking to French newspaper La Croix, Mr Barnier said
"The process is in an impasse at the moment. We are waiting for Theresa May to tell us how she sees things and what she wants.
"But we are not going to reopen negotiations on the Withdrawal Treaty, we will not change the content of the Irish protocol which preserves peace in Ireland and the integrity of the single market.
"It is rather for the UK, as guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, to respect the integrity of our single market and to bring us solutions."
An Italian far-right party has been admitted to the Conservatives’ EU-wide political group – putting the post-fascist outfit in official alliance with Theresa May’s MEPs.
The Brothers of Italy, or Fratelli d’Italia, on Thursday joined the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe, which was set up in 2009 by David Cameron as a eurosceptic breakaway
More here:
The UK government has recorded its largest January budget surplus since records began in 1993, delivering a pre-Brexit boost for the chancellor Philip Hammond.
The public finances were £14.9bn in surplus last month, driven by an increase in self-assessment income tax and capital gains tax receipts.
The surplus is £5.6bn higher than in January last year and well ahead of economists’ forecasts of £10bn.
Jeremy Corbyn has criticised the decision to strip Shamima Begum of her British citizenship and said she should be permitted to return to the UK to face questioning.
The Labour leader said Sajid Javid's action were "very extreme", telling ITV News: "Well she obviously has, in my view, a right to return to Britain. On that return she must obviously face a lot of questions about everything she has done and at that point any action may or may not be taken.
"But I think the idea of stripping somebody of their citizenship when they were born in Britain is a very extreme manoeuvre indeed.
"Indeed I questioned the right of the Home Secretary to have these powers when the original law was brought in by Theresa May when she was home secretary."
The government has been accused of breaking its promises on Brexit after it emerged that several key trade deals will not be ready in time for Britain's exit from the EU.
Whitehall documents (see here) says that deals with Algeria, Japan and Turkey will not be ready by March 29, despite a pledge from Liam Fox that "we'll have up to 40 ready for one second after midnight in March 2019."
Labour MP Stephen Doughty, who backs a People’s Vote, said: “Brexiters promised that voting leave would mean a bonanza of new international trade deals that would make up for lost trade with the EU.
"Instead, Brexit is costing us the global trade deals we already have as EU members. Liam Fox is now finally admitting that his promise to roll over all existing EU trade deals in time for Brexit is going to be broken.
“The Brexit that was promised is a million miles from the one that’s being delivered. It’s already making us all poorer, costing jobs and investment and damaging our reputation as a global trading nation.
“With the Brexit on offer looking so different to the one that was promised, the people must be given the final say. That’s why huge numbers of people from across the UK will be marching through London on March 23rd, calling for a People’s Vote.”
Interesting - Justine Greening has also been in to see the PM today. Theresa May is clearly trying to steady wavering Tories, rather than see another round of splitters.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable said the fact that the trade deal with Japan will not be rolled over in time for Brexit day underlined the dangers of a no-deal break.
"One of the great myths of Brexit was that we could instantly sign new trade deals whilst seamlessly rolling over the existing deals we already have with over 70 countries as a member of the EU," he said.
"This is damaging myth which has proven to be false. Should no-deal materialise, this will cause serious problems for our economy."
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