British Foreign Secretary confirms that Britain has no plan to hinder EU defence co-operation

British Foreign Secretary confirms that Britain has no plan to hinder EU defence co-operation

World Unknown   13:37

In a swift reaction to the allegation levelled against him, the UK’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson has come out to clear the air saying the UK is not seeking to block closer European Union military co-operation. Mr Johnson instead made affirmed that Britain is "not going to stand in their way".

Though he affirmed the UK’s concerns over "some of the language" he insisted that the UK would not look to reject efforts being made to forge deeper defence ties.

This report comes as a it was told the UK was making some efforts to put the brakes on the planned command centre as a result of objections to it being mentioned as an" operational headquarters".

Upon his arrival for the summit in Brussels, Mr Johnson stressed that: "We understand the vital importance to us all as European countries working together to strengthen our defences.

"We all want to see our European friends and partners spending more on defence. If they can get up to 2%, that is terrific. We really want to encourage that as fast as possible.

"If they want to come together with other arrangements, we are not going to stand in their way.

"We are just working on some of the language to make sure that we get it totally right."

A lady who living disability benefit confronts Mrs May in the open, telling her £100 a month is not enough for her

A lady who living disability benefit confronts Mrs May in the open, telling her £100 a month is not enough for her

World Unknown   10:59

British Prime Minister confronted publicly by a furious lady living on disability benefit in Abingdon, Oxfordshire as she points out to Mrs May that: "I can't live on £100 a month."

She stopped Mrs May in the town's market, telling her the "fat cats get the money and us lot get nothing".

She added: "I'm talking about everybody. Everybody who's got mental health - and everybody who's got learning disabilities - I want them not to have their money taken away from them and being crippled."

Because so many people complain that the move from disability allowances to PIPs (Personal Independence Payment) has left them struggling to get by.

"I want my disability living allowance to come back, not have PIPs and get nothing. I can't live on £100 a month," Ms Mohan said.

"Who's going to help me?" she pleaded.

The exchange happened as the PM was walking through a market with the constituency's Tory candidate, Nicola Blackwood.

Mrs May made some efforts to reassure Ms Mohan, telling her: "Nicola can help you specifically. What I can do is ensure we're giving more help to people with mental health and learning disabilities.

"And that's exactly what we've done, we made an announcement the other day... When we look at the help we give to people with any disability, it's particularly we focus on those who are most in need."

PIPs payments currently vary from around £22 a week to £141.10, and depends on the severity of a person's disability.

When they were being introduced, the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicted 370,000 people would be affected, leaving them each an average of £3,500 worse off.

David Davis insists the UK will not need the ECJ after Brexit

David Davis insists the UK will not need the ECJ after Brexit

World Unknown   08:05

ITV host asserts even after the Britain finally leaves the EU, the European courts would still be necessary.

This was said as reaction to the Brexit Secretary David Davis, after he stated that the UK would no longer need the services of the European Courts, as he attacks those saying British courts were good enough to sort out the effect Brexit.

The Brexit was also resolute about a rational deal over the rights of all EU nationals living in the UK, and British nationals living in other EU nations.

 Mr Davis also confirmed how he will "have an argument" with Michel Barnier on how to deal with EU citizens after Brexit.

On his part, Mr Barnier has also said that the European Court of Justice "must absolutely" oversee the rights of EU citizens in the UK after the country leaves the bloc.

Conversely, Mr Davis ripped into this red line and said Britain will not stand for it ahead of his planned meeting with Mr Barnier at the end of June.

He told Peston: "There will be arguments over fine detail such as whether the European Court of Justice oversees these rights after we've left."

When pressed by Peston on the "need for the ECJ", Mr Davis hit back: "We are not prepared to accept that. We'll have an argument about that.

"The simple truth is that we are leaving, we are going to be outside the reach of the European court. We do not want the ECJ getting involved in our affairs.

"I take slight offence to the idea that the Supreme Court couldn't oversee this. We have very good courts in this country."

 Britain's Secretary for leaving the EU stressed that the British public voted for a future without the single market, the customs union, the European Court of Justice, and returned control over immigration.

Mr Davis added: "Both sides knew that if we leave, we leave it all!

"We are seeking a comprehensive free trade agreement covering all products and alls services, and a customs agreement to go along that.

"We want the most beneficial economic outcome while respecting the referendum."

Later in the interview, Mr Davis mocked those who claimed a bad deal with the EU was better than no deal.

He told Peston: "Nobody wants no deal, but you need the option. We have to the option to walk away, or else we will be blackmailed.

"When you go buy a house and say I will buy this house no matter what, you'll be charged a fortune!"

Michael Barnier assures the Irish people that Brussel with work hard to protect their interest post-Brexit

Michael Barnier assures the Irish people that Brussel with work hard to protect their interest post-Brexit

World Unknown   08:52

Delivering his speech to both houses of the Irish parliament yesterday, Michael Barnier again reassured the people of Ireland how he try his possible best to avoid a hard during Brexit.

He used the moment to also acknowledge saying: "I am fully aware that some member states will be more affected than others.

"I want to reassure the Irish people: in this negotiation Ireland's interest will be the Union's interest ... Brexit changes the external borders of the EU.

"I will work with you to avoid a hard border."

In addressing both houses of parliament, Mr Barnier was given a privilege normally only afforded to visiting heads of state and prime ministers, joining luminaries like Nelson Mandela and Bill Clinton.

He further stated that there was no reason why the EU and Britain cannot maintain a "strong relationship" post Brexit, but Brexit will unavoidably have costs.

Resounding comments made last week, Mr Barnier said Brexit would "come at a cost" to both the UK and the remaining 27 members of the EU, but his objective was to reach a "fair deal" with London.

Mr Barnier said: "If we put things in the right order, if we negotiate with mutual respect, without any kind of aggressivity ... if we are open to finding solutions, there is no reason why a strong Europe cannot maintain a strong relationship with the UK."

Knowing that Brexit poses particular issues to Ireland, he said: "I want to reassure the Irish people: in this negotiation Ireland's interest will be the union's interest.

"We are in this negotiation together and a united EU will be here for you."

He repeated the EU's position that the issue of the UK-Ireland border, citizens' rights and "the financial settlement" must be the first priorities for talks.

"We first must make sufficient progress on these points before we start discussing the future of our relationship with the UK.

"The sooner this will happen, the better.

"If the conditions are right, a close partnership with the UK is in everybody's interest. And in Ireland's interest in particular."

A barrister in France launches legal action against Brexit, saying it is illegal

A barrister in France launches legal action against Brexit, saying it is illegal

World Unknown   10:21

More trouble stirs in the atmosphere as a French legal expert files a legal action to prove the illegality of the Brexit Referendum

Several British nationals residing in France who were restrained from voting during the referendum as a result of the ’15-year’ have been spoken to by Julien Fouchet, of Cornille-Pouyanne avocats based in Bordeaux, with respect to have such a decision might have affected their lives and rights.

The barrister claimed he is not against Brexit, however, he is of the opinion that another referendum should be organised, so that all British adults can participate.

He said: “A lot of people have explained their situation – that they have been in France a long time and could not vote, and they encouraged me.

“Now, I’ve been writing to them all and I have explained that if they want to help as much as possible they could take legal action with me; but I’ve not had much response to that so far.

“People have given their experiences but don’t necessarily want to go to court.”

He also said: “Personally I am doing this out of European solidarity, not to enrich myself."

Nevertheless, he is likely to face a hard task in trying to convince the General Court of the EU to accept his case.

In the meantime, he said he is preparing an English translation of his letter that he will also be sending to those who got in touch to help clarify the French legal terms.

The EU will be digging their own grave, if they failed to reach a deal with the UK – Professor Minford

The EU will be digging their own grave, if they failed to reach a deal with the UK – Professor Minford

World Unknown   08:02

An economist analyst has warned the EU that failure to reach a deal with the UK could result to an overwhelming recession within the continent, reason being that the UK has an upper hand in the Brexit talks billed to commence June.

Professor Patrick Minford speaking further, also predicted that due to the huge debt owed by Greece, the recession would collapse due to colossal fall in tourism and tariffs imposed on the country’s exports.

Because of the fear of losing other member nations, the EU is pressing towards a ferociously hard hard Brexit negotiations in order to protect the union.

Speaking to express.co.uk he said: “The people who have got the most to lose from not having a deal with the UK are the Europeans.

“They are going to do themselves a lot of damage. They’ve just come out of recession, they don’t need a recessionary shock like this any more than one needs a hole in the head.

“The banking system there is as rickety as hell and they are stuffed to the gills with government debt.

“The whole situation is very fragile and it just needs a shock pushing it back into recession to make it quite a mess, and the euro would fall in those circumstances.”

Also in his conclusion, he stated that: “So all this talk of punishing Britain is very silly and very immature. This really looks like an own goal from their point of view.”

Speaking further, he said: “The Greece problem isn’t going away, but it’s not getting any worse for now.

“But a blow which knocks their exports is potentially quite a recessionary impact and the particular impact in Greece could be very significant because it’s always teetering on the edge of chaos because of the way they’ve treated it.”

Prof Minford, who does not believe any other countries will leave the EU said: “If we don’t get a deal with the EU we’ll be in a perfectly good position as we’ll simply free trade with the rest of the world.

“For them the big problem is actually that we go to no deal and we have free trade with the rest of the world.

“They will find this is a very competitive market indeed and they will sell far less in it because stuff will be coming in from the rest of the world without those protectionist barriers.”

Saying the election of Emmanuel Macron was a good thing for the Brexit talks, he added: “We do want a strong Europe, we’d like them to sort themselves out. It’s not in our interests to have them falling apart at all.”