Brexit Brief 77

After a landslide victory in the UK General Election on 12 December 2019, Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s first speech committed to honouring his promise to ‘deliver Brexit’ by 31 January 2020. He called for unity in a divided country and stated he would respect the feelings of pro-Remain supporters by negotiating a “new partnership” with the EU.

The Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, promised to stand down as leader before the next election, after a crushing defeat for his Party.

The ensuing days saw responses from the new President of the European Council, Charles Michel, who called for clarity from the new UK Government and said that the EU is ready to enter the next stage of the negotiations.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar indicated that he would be looking for increased EU funding for Northern Ireland and the border after Brexit in the upcoming EU budget negotiations.

Brexit Brief 77, published by the IIEA’s UK Project Group, covers developments in the on-going debate over the UK’s vote to Leave the European Union. It is part of a wider communications programme, which will be highlighted on the Institute’s website.