That the conflict in Ukraine has become such a debacle for Vladimir Putin – whose sole responsibility it is – has surprised many in the West. For years we had instinctively believed much of the publicity from Russia about its power. Putin in his arrogance was, like us it seems, woefully ignorant of the real…
The head of Europe’s second-biggest shipping port says any Brexit-related trade disruption has been “better than expected”. Jacques Vandermeiren, chief executive of Port of Antwerp, said that UK trade rose 6pc last year. Controls on goods coming in and out of the UK following have been blamed for long queues at ports and disruption to…
Morrisons has been forced to redesign some of its food packaging after Remainers threatened to boycott the supermarket chain because they were offended by labelling on chicken that mentioned “non-EU salt and pepper”. The supermarket was on Tuesday accused on Twitter of pandering to Brexiteers by advertising British chicken with non-EU seasoning, when in fact…
Why is there a petrol shortage? A lack of HGV drivers forced BP and Tesco to reduce deliveries of fuel and close a small number of petrol stations last week because they could not fully supply all sites. This sparked fears of shortages among motorists and has led to long queues outside many petrol stations.…
Motorists were warned on Thursday night of shortages at fuel forecourts as BP announced it was closing pumps and rationing petrol and diesel because of a lack of lorry drivers. BP said it was cutting deliveries at 90 per cent of its petrol stations in an attempt to ration the fuel it has in reserve.…
The Government’s hopes of agreeing a Brexit trade deal with New Zealand by the end of August failed to materialise as negotiators are still locking horns on key areas such as “digital, financial services and mobility”. The Department for International Trade had said in June that an agreement in principle could be reached before September,…
Relations between the British and French governments have rarely been so dreadful since the origins of the entente cordiale and the long alliance under Lord Aberdeen in the 1840s. The diplomatic earthquake of Brexit has collided with the political character of Emmanuel Macron, who combines ultra-Europeanist ideology (when it suits him) with Bonapartist methods and…
Brussels has been defeated in its bid to freeze the UK out of cutting-edge research programmes in quantum, artificial intelligence and space research. In a move championed by a senior French official, the European Commission wanted a blanket ban on UK participation in certain parts of the €100bn (£86bn) Horizon Europe funding programme deemed particularly…
