Brexit - The African Mirror

Oct

2022

‘How’s Brexit going?’ British politics mocked at home and abroad

GAVIN JONES BRITAIN'S political and economic turmoil has been greeted with thinly veiled satisfaction among pro-European and leftist politicians abroad, with some commentators drawing parallels to chaotic Italy. New British finance minister Jeremy Hunt will set out tax and spending measures on Monday, two weeks earlier than scheduled, as he races to stem a dramatic loss of investor confidence in Prime Minister Liz Truss's government. "How's Brexit going?" tweeted veteran Belgian politician Guy Verhofstadt, an ardent pro-European, on Saturday. "One thing is for sure: the mess didn't start in 2022 but in 2016," he added, in reference to Britain's referendum…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

The impact of Brexit on British Premier League

SPORT

BOITUMELO RANTAO FOR talented African football players, the English Premier League is viewed as one of the elite football leagues in the globe, an aspiration that has now been marred by various barriers. The political decision by the British government to leave the European Union (EU) has created an atmosphere of uncertainty for non-UK players on a journey to the highest-level of football. The call to push into Brexit unknown has plunged players and football clubs into uncertainty, amid already strict regulations that foreigners face after receiving a callup from Premier league teams. Prior to Brexit, eligibility was subject to…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

UK and Ghana to miss Brexit trade deadline, but deal close

BUSINESS

BRITAIN and Ghana are close to announcing an agreement on post-Brexit trade but a deal will not take effect in time to prevent a period of operating on default terms, according to a source close to the negotiation. Once active, the deal will replicate the terms of trade Britain previously benefitted from as a member of the European Union. EU trade rules will cease to apply to Britain from Jan. 1 when it completes its exit from the bloc. Ahead of that deadline Britain has signed "continuity" agreements with 63 countries to safeguard terms on 885 billion pounds ($1.21 trillion)…

Jan

2021

By The African Mirror

A divided United Kingdom exits EU orbit, heads into the Brexit unknown

WORLD

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE THE United Kingdom has exited the European Union's orbit, turning its back on a tempestuous 48-year liaison with the European project for an uncertain Brexit future that will shape the fortunes of its people for generations to come. Brexit, in essence, took place at the strike of midnight, when the United Kingdom left de-facto membership that continued after it formally left the bloc on January 31. For five years, the frenzied gyrations of the Brexit crisis have dominated European affairs, haunted the sterling markets and tarnished the United Kingdom's reputation as a confident pillar of Western economic and…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’: EU and UK clinch narrow Brexit accord

WORLD

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE, ELIZABETH PIPER and JOHN CHALMERS BRITAIN clinched a narrow Brexit trade deal with the European Union just seven days before it exits one of the world's biggest trading blocs in its most significant global shift since the loss of empire. The deal, agreed more than four years after Britain voted by a slim margin to leave the bloc, offers a way out of a chaotic finale to a divorce that has shaken the 70-year project to forge European unity from the ruins of World War Two. It will preserve Britain's zero-tariff and zero-quota access to the bloc's single…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

On cusp of Brexit trade deal, EU and UK haggle over fish

WORLD

GUY FAULCONBRIDGE, ELIZABETH and JOHN CHALMERS BRITAIN and the European Union were on the cusp of striking a narrow trade deal on Thursday, swerving away from a chaotic finale to a Brexit split that has shaken the 70-year project to forge European unity from the ruins of World War Two. While a last-minute deal would avoid the most acrimonious ending to the divorce, the United Kingdom is heading for a much more distant relationship with its biggest trade partner than almost anyone expected at the time of the 2016 referendum. Sources in London and Brussels said a deal was close…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

Brexit goes down to the wire: EU and UK say big differences remain

WORLD

GABRIELA BACZYNSKA and GUY FAULCONBRIDGE THE European Union and Britain said on Friday there were still substantial differences over a Brexit trade deal as the EU chief negotiator prepared to travel to London in a last-ditch attempt to avoid a tumultuous finale to the five-year Brexit crisis. With just five weeks left until the United Kingdom finally exits the EU's orbit on December 31, both sides are calling on the other to compromise on the three main issues of contention - fishing, state aid and how to resolve any future disputes. The two sides will shortly resume face-to-face negotiations after…