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Brexit round-up – 11/01/19

Welcome to this, our latest Brexit round-up. Each week we provide a succinct round-up of the latest news surrounding the Brexit process, so you can keep abreast of the issues which are likely to affect your organisation.

‘Meaningful vote’ on Brexit resumes in Parliament

On 9 January 2019 MPs resumed the ‘meaningful vote’ debate on the EU Withdrawal Agreement, following the Government’s decision to defer the vote on 10 December 2018.  The debates will occur over 5 days, leading to a ‘meaningful vote’ and amendments at the end of the day on Tuesday 15 January 2019. On day one of the debates, a procedural amendment to the plan’s progress was passed through the House of Commons. The Government lost by 11 votes, with 297 MPs voting with them and 308 against. The amendment gives Theresa May 3 parliamentary days to present a new Brexit plan to MPs if her current proposal is voted down next week.

For more information, please click here.

Government publishes Stormont EU power plans

The Government has published plans which give Stormont a say on new EU rules if the border backstop comes into force after Brexit. The backstop is a position of last resort to maintain a soft border on the island of Ireland and would involve Northern Ireland (NI) staying in large parts of the EU single market, unless and until a long-term deal emerged that kept the border as open as it is now. Under the proposals, the NI Assembly would have to be consulted, with its views brought before Parliament ahead of a vote at Westminster and there would be no divergence in rules applied in NI and the rest of the UK before the backstop would come into effect.

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Opposition demand answers after Seaborne Freight contract

Shadow Transport Secretary, Andy McDonald, has asked the Government to provide details on the recently awarded contract to Seaborne Freight as part of its ‘no-deal’ contingency planning. The request follows criticism faced by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling after his department awarded the British firm Brittany Ferries with a £14 million contract that, as Mr McDonald described, was awarded to a company “with no money, no ships, no track record, no employees, no ports, one telephone line and no working website or sailing schedule.”

For more information, please click here.

Lorries complete trials to mitigate post-Brexit traffic queues

On 7 January 2019 a convoy of 89 lorries descended on a disused airfield on a 20-mile route to the Port of Dover. The drivers congregated in a large group at the airfield before being directed by officials from the Department for Transport, Kent County Council and police officers along the A256 towards Dover. However, Road Hauliers Association Chief Executive Richard Burnett said: “[the] trials cannot possibly duplicate the reality of 4,000 trucks being held at Manston airport […]” and added “Its little too late – this process should have started 9 months ago. At this stage it looks like window dressing.”

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Exporting after Brexit seminar (Newcastle)

We are delighted to host this event on Wednesday 23 January 2019 at our Quayside offices in Newcastle. The event will consider exporting, international trade and the regional economy following Parliament’s decision on Theresa May’s Brexit deal. The event will include contributions from the Confederation of British Industry, Department for International Trade, North East LEP, Barclays Bank, NOF Energy and of course, Ward Hadaway.

Please click here for more information and to register your place.

We have created a Brexit checklist to assist businesses with the various challenges and opportunities presented by Brexit. Please click here to view.

Please note that this briefing is designed to be informative, not advisory and represents our understanding of English law and practice as at the date indicated. We would always recommend that you should seek specific guidance on any particular legal issue.

This page may contain links that direct you to third party websites. We have no control over and are not responsible for the content, use by you or availability of those third party websites, for any products or services you buy through those sites or for the treatment of any personal information you provide to the third party.

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