Afternoon summary
It is now the afternoon after the night that was: Brexit day+1. The UK has now left the European Union, after 47 years inside the bloc.
Here is a summary of the day’s events:
- The EU will back Spain over its territorial claims to Gibraltar in the next phase of Brexit negotiations by giving Madrid the power to exclude the British overseas territory from any trade deal struck with Brussels. The Spanish government has insisted that the Rock be included in the EU’s opening negotiating position, the Observer has learned.
- Boris Johnson intends to impose full customs checks on all goods coming into the UK from the EU in a break with previous government policy, according to reports. The government’s policy had been to waive customs checks and tariffs on 87% of goods coming into the country and only impose limited checks on goods, reports Lisa O’Carroll.
- Labour leadership contenders Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy have called on the country to accept Brexit and move on at a party hustings in Bristol. While rival candidate Emily Thornberry argued that the party should be led by a remain-backing leader who had been “on the right side of the argument all along”. Yesterday, frontrunner Sir Keir Starmer said he would argue for the reintroduction of EU free movement after Brexit if he becomes the next Labour leader.
- Former Brexit Secretary David Davis said that he believes the UK can strike a trade deal with the EU by 2021. He told BBC Radio4’s Today programme: “It is going to be a fair race to do it right now because it was going to be 21 months, now it is only 11, but nevertheless it can be done in the time period.”
- European leaders issued emotional farewells following the UK’s EU departure. In tribute to the late Terry Jones, from comedy-troupe Monty Python, European council president Charles Michel tweeted: “Always look on the bright side of life.” The European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, told the UK “work to ensure the EU is a project you’ll want to be a part of again soon”.
- Emmanuel Macron issued an open letter to the UK public calling for “a new chapter” between the UK and France based on “the strength of our unrivalled ties”. The French president confirmed that he would visit London in June and vowed to protect the rights of Britons in France and French citizens in the UK.
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PA Media has this report on the Labour leadership hustings in Bristol this morning:
Labour leadership hopefuls Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy have urged the party to accept Brexit and move on, during the first hustings since the UK’s departure from the European Union.
Long-Bailey and Nandy, who represent the leave-voting constituencies of Salford and Eccles, and Wigan respectively, said efforts should now be directed into ensuring a good trade deal is struck with Brussels.
But the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, predicted the trade talks were unlikely to go smoothly and argued that Labour would need a remain-backing leader who had been “on the right side of the argument all along”.
Long-Bailey told supporters at a hustings in Bristol that the party could not campaign at the next general election, expected in 2024, with the message of “we told you so” if the country’s economic fortunes dipped after leaving the EU.
She admitted it was “sad” to see the UK’s divorce from Brussels finalised this week but said the “debate is over”.
“We cannot spend the next four years waiting to tell our constituents ‘We told you so’ and that we knew it was going to be this bad all along,” the shadow business secretary said.
Instead, Labour had to make sure Boris Johnson negotiated the “best possible trade deal” that could help “rebuild our communities”.
Nandy was critical of Labour’s reaction to the referendum outcome, accusing the leadership under Jeremy Corbyn of looking “backwards” after the result, rather than “looking forward to the country we can be”.
“We completely missed the point of that political earthquake, which was a clamour for more power, more control and more agency across this country,” she said.
The former shadow energy secretary, who voted for Johnson’s withdrawal agreement, admitted she had failed in her push for a Brexit deal that kept a close relationship with the EU.
Thornberry took an opposing view to her two rivals and said she suspected the country would be “back in no-deal territory by the summer”.
“What do we do at that stage? We need to have someone leading the fight who was on the right side of the argument all along,” said the Islington South and Finsbury MP, who is the only leadership contender not to have secured enough backing to advance to the final stage.
The shadow Brexit secretary, Sir Keir Starmer, one of the architects of Labour’s second-referendum policy, said the divide between leave and remain voters must end, but accused the government of failing to address the “underlying reasons” why the electorate voted to leave the EU.
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The Agence France-Presse correspondent Marc Burleigh has shared footage of the moment the UK’s permanent representation to the EU had its name plate changed on Saturday.
It is now called the British diplomatic mission.
The British diplomatic mission in Brussels (formerly UK 'Representation') changed its name plate today to reflect Day One of being outside the EU#Brexit pic.twitter.com/1qQsR38uy7
— Marc Burleigh (@marcburleigh) February 1, 2020
The union jack could be seen flying alone outside the building last night, after the European flag was taken down before Brexit.
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There was an increase in police clearances of Calais refugee camps in the days leading up to Brexit, PA Media reports.
Clare Moseley, the founder of the aid organisation Care4Calais, said authorities were clearing people out of tents and fencing off larger areas in the French port town in recent weeks.
Many people stay near the port and Eurotunnel stations in the hope of being able to cross to the UK, but Moseley described the last week as “horrible”.
Before a visit to one of the sites on Saturday, she said: “As always the authorities’ response here is always to do with security and deterrent, so in the run-up to Brexit we’ve seen extra clearances, we’ve seen more brutal attempts to get people out of here.
“Taking away their tents, moving people away from areas, fencing off even more of the areas where they stay.
“It’s been a horrible week, it’s been very rough for a lot of the people here, spirits are very low and unfortunately that’s always the political response.”
Care4Calais has provided for refugees in Calais and other towns across northern France and Belgium since 2016, the same year that the infamous “jungle camp” was evicted.
As well as food and shelter, the charity tries to assist with mental wellbeing, to prevent suicide and self-harm.
Moseley said she believed conditions could worsen, as the post-Brexit political climate will make authorities even keener to evict people from the areas.
“Now Brexit has arrived I can only see things getting worse. Not so much because of Brexit, because the agreements here between France and the UK are just direct agreements, but in the political climate that we’re in now, all they want to do is get rid of the refugees.
“It’s the same policy they’ve been following for the last 10 years.
“It doesn’t work, but what they believe is that if they make conditions hard enough, people will stop coming, so that’s what they do, they make it as hard as they possibly can.”
Moseley said the only way to solve the issues was to provide the means for people to cross to the UK safely.
“The crux of the problem is that there is no safe and legal way for people to make an asylum claim in the UK.
“To make an asylum claim in the UK, you have to physically be there, but there’s no way to do that, so people have to keep trying illegally.”
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Eddie Izzard has called for unity and to “make humanity great again” following the UK’s departure from the European Union.
Shortly before 11pm on Friday, the comedian said in Twitter video that “we must now put divisions behind us”.
To this end, he also announced that he will attempt 28 marathons in 28 European countries over 28 days to raise money for charity.
#ProudEuropean #MakeHumanityGreatAgain pic.twitter.com/bU8nOhrMpU
— Eddie Izzard (@eddieizzard) January 31, 2020
“We Europeans have achieved so much since the end of the second world war, no matter how governmental agreements have changed,” he said.
“We’ve achieved peace, above all peace, trade, friendship, a sharing of our cultures without losing our identities.”
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Brexit trade talks: EU to back Spain over Gibraltar claims
The EU will back Spain over its territorial claims to Gibraltar in the next phase of Brexit negotiations by giving Madrid the power to exclude the British overseas territory from any trade deal struck with Brussels.
The Observer has learned that the Spanish government has insisted on reference to the Rock in the EU’s opening negotiating position, which will be published in draft form on Monday.
Boris Johnson will be presented with the choice of reaching agreement with the Spaniards about Gibraltar’s future or exposing its citizens to economic peril by pushing it outside any EU-UK trade deal.
Read the full story:
Emmanuel Macron has said he would like to begin a new chapter between the UK and France based on “the strength of our unrivalled ties”.
In a letter published in The Times on Saturday, the French president vowed to protect the rights of British citizens in France and French citizens in the UK.
He said it was in our “common interest” to have as “close and deep a partnership as possible” in defence and security, and in police, judicial, environmental, scientific and cultural cooperation.
But added that he must “be honest” that ease of access to the EU market will depend on the UK’s willingness to accept its rules.
“We cannot allow any harmful competition to develop between us,” he wrote.
Macron urged both the UK and the EU to “learn lessons” from Brexit.
One reason for UK political leaders’ rejection of the EU was “to avoid having to deal with their own failures”, he said. Another was that Europe was “seen as not effective enough, not protective enough, distant from the realities of daily life”.
The letter concludes: “Dear British friends, you are leaving the European Union but you are not leaving Europe.
“Nor are you becoming detached from France or the friendship of its people. The channel has never managed to separate our destinies; Brexit will not do so, either.
“At 11pm last night we did not say ‘goodbye’, but an early ‘good morning’.”
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Johnson to impose full customs checks on goods from EU – report
Boris Johnson intends to impose full customs checks on all goods coming into the UK from the EU, in a break with previous government policy, according to reports.
“We are planning full checks on all EU imports – export declarations, security declarations, animal health checks and all supermarket goods to pass through border inspection posts,” the Daily Telegraph reported a senior Whitehall source as saying. “This will double the practical challenge at the border in January 2021.”
The paper reports that businesses will be informed of the policy on 10 February.
This would be a complete departure from Theresa May’s policy. Last year in its no-deal planning, the government said it would waive customs checks and tariffs on 87% of the goods coming into the country and only impose limited checks on goods.
Read the full story:
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Maldives has rejoined the Commonwealth, bringing the total number of nations in the global organisation to 54, it has been announced.
The change came into effect at one minute past midnight GMT on 1 February, just over an hour after the UK left the EU.
The republic quit the Commonwealth in 2016 after being threatened with suspension over its human rights record and lack of progress on democratic reform.
Read the full story:
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In other – non-Brexit-related – news, one of two people in the UK who tested positive for coronavirus has just been confirmed to be a University of York student.
The university was continuing to operate as normal, a spokesman said.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and we continue to provide as much advice, care and support as we can to our university community.”
You can follow all the latest developments on our separate live blog.
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The word “thick” is trending at No 1 on Twitter on the UK’s first morning outside of the EU.
Those lamenting Brexit are ridiculing the apparent ignorance displayed by leave voters who appeared in media reports from last night’s celebrations. While those levelling accusations of stupidity are themselves being accused of self-righteousness.
Tom Peck, the Independent’s political sketch writer, describes the scenes at 11pm on Friday in Parliament Square as a “knuckle dragging carnival of irredeemable stupidity”.
On the one hand, we must start the healing as a nation. On the other, a writer is meant to have the courage to tell the truth.
— Tom Peck (@tompeck) February 1, 2020
And so here is my sketch from last night’s static knuckle-dragging carnival of the irredeemably stupid in Parliament Square.https://t.co/i8KmtRsfEx pic.twitter.com/Q9q6HUFoLo
The LBC presenter James O’Brien has said that the lack of knowledge being displayed should come as no surprise.
On reflection, I am a little dismayed at the level of shock being expressed at the level of ignorance being displayed at Brexit celebrations.
— James O'Brien (@mrjamesob) February 1, 2020
This shouldn’t be a surprise.
Piers Morgan responded:
Perhaps if the self-righteously ‘superior intelligence’ populous were less sneering about the ‘thick stupid’ populous who vote a different way to them.. they might avoid losing all the time? https://t.co/lCtFrHaDk4
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) February 1, 2020
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s Helen Barnard, deputy director of policy and partnerships, has added:
Some deeply unpleasant ridiculing of a few leaver voters vox-popped at celebrations at the moment, especially the lady who seems to be being used as a symbol of sneering. Whatever your view of Brexit it is not ok to pillory members of the public like this. Please stop.
— Helen Barnard (@Helen_Barnard) February 1, 2020
This has been a familiar refrain over the past three-and-a-half years – a sign of the huge task at hand in uniting a divided nation.
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‘The most pointless, masochistic ambition in our country’s history’
Ian McEwan paints a grim picture of what lies ahead now that Brexit is “done”, writing:
We sense damage and diminishment ahead. In a dangerous world crowded with loud-mouthed ‘strongmen’, the EU was our best hope for an open, tolerant, free and peaceful community of nations. Those hopes are already threatened as populist movements have swept across Europe. Our withdrawal will weaken resistance to the xenophobic tendency.
The lesson of our nation’s history these past centuries is plain: turmoil in continental Europe will draw us into bloody conflicts. Nationalism is rarely a project for peace. Nor does it care to counter climate change. It prefers to let tropical forests and the Australian bush burn.
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John le Carré reflects on how a lack of leadership today has allowed us to “sleepwalk” into Brexit.
Here is a taste of his piece:
We Brits are all nationalists now. Or so Johnson would have us believe. But to be a nationalist you need enemies and the shabbiest trick in the Brexiteers’ box was to make an enemy of Europe. “Take back control!” they cried, with the unspoken subtext: and hand it to Donald Trump, along with our foreign policy, our economic policy, our health service and, if they can get away with it, our BBC.
The novelist this week won the Olof Palme prize for achievement in the spirit of the assassinated Swedish statesman.
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Brexit night passed in a largely peaceful manner, despite the at-times bitterly divided lengthy run-up to 31 January, PA Media reports.
As people both celebrated and mourned the UK’s departure from the EU at major events across the country, there were just a handful of arrests.
Police dealt with five people in Whitehall in London, including one man who was charged with criminal damage, and being drunk and disorderly.
Kevin Murphy, 52, of north London, was due to appear at Westminster magistrates court on Saturday, the Metropolitan police said.
A 28-year-old was arrested on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, a 52-year-old was arrested for the same offence as well as obstructing a constable, and a 33-year-old was arrested under section 5 of the Public Order Act, and for failing to appear. All three men remain in custody.
A 47-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of threatening behaviour but later released from custody and will not face any further action.
In Glasgow, there was a heavy police presence in the city centre as groups for and against Brexit held events near each other.
Pro-EU campaigners gathered at the Donald Dewar statue on Buchanan Street before the official departure time of 11pm.
Police said one 25-year-old man was arrested for a minor disorder offence.
Supt Mark Sutherland said: “A proportionate policing response was in place to ensure public safety and minimise disruption to the wider city centre community. The events passed peacefully with only one arrest.”
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said there had been no arrests at a celebration in Belfast.
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The Green MEP Catherine Rowett marks her return from Brussels this morning with a “European breakfast”.
Still on my way home. Still European but sadly disenfranchised and stripped of rights and citizenship. A European breakfast with view of the departing @Eurostar trains. Next stop Stowmarket. pic.twitter.com/a0JoCVCuzN
— Catherine Rowett 💚 MEP (@catherinerowett) February 1, 2020
In case you missed it, here we answer all your questions about your post-Brexit rights.
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Welsh remainers mourning the UK’s departure from the EU are set to hold a rally in Cardiff this morning.
#AlwaysEuropean Rally, Nye Bevan Statue, Queen St, 11.15 today.
— Cardiff For Europe #FBPE (@Cardiff4EU) February 1, 2020
Whether you've woken up feeling despondent, furious, lost or deeply saddened - rally with us at 11.15 today to say 'We will always be European' and 'Our European friends, neighbours and colleagues are welcome here'. pic.twitter.com/W9EwRWLcMZ
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Former Labour leadership contender Jess Phillips on how she feels on the UK’s first morning outside of the EU:
Woken up exactly as British as I was yesterday...now I'm off to do an advice surgery where I am sure no one will have a complaint against a european institution (so far in 5 years no one ever has) but plenty will have been let down by the British government.
— Jess Phillips MP (@jessphillips) February 1, 2020
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This is from the BBC Brussels correspondent Adam Fleming, who has been among the team presenting BBC’s Brexitcast for more than two-and-a-half years.
#Brexitcast is going into a transition period to become Newscast. At our big live show on Thursday we signed this historic deal for the future relationship between us and you. Here's a cut-out-and-keep copy. (Some hidden messages in there too, BTW). 📜✂️🎙️ pic.twitter.com/LddarrBRum
— Adam Fleming (@adamfleming) February 1, 2020
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Parliament Square has returned to normal following the Brexit celebrations on Friday night.
Little remained of the Leave Means Leave event other than some discarded union jacks and muddy footprints on the grass.
Street cleaners were sweeping away the remnants of the party while staging used by speakers including Nigel Farage had been removed overnight.
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The European council president, Charles Michel, has responded to Brexit with a Monty Python reference, tweeting: “Always look on the bright side”.
Above a picture of the white cliffs of England’s south coast, Michel said it was a “tribute to the late Terry Jones”, the Python star who directed Life Of Brian, the film featuring the song Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.
Always look on the bright side! #SaturdayMood - a tribute to the late Terry Jones #MontyPython pic.twitter.com/wB6hsj2y9P
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) February 1, 2020
In a message to Britons, the European parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, said he would “work to ensure the EU is a project you’ll want to be a part of again soon”.
We will look after your star & work to ensure the EU is a project you'll want to be a part of again soon! 🇪🇺❤🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/QRdxGb5cCC
— Guy Verhofstadt (@guyverhofstadt) February 1, 2020
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Earlier on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the former Brexit secretary David Davis said it would be a “fair race” to strike a trade deal with the EU by 2021 but that it “can be done”.
He said extensive work had already been completed when he was in the cabinet to analyse every free trade deal Brussels had previously struck with other third countries.
Davis said: “There’s the possibility of a trade deal taking pieces from all the other trade deals that the European Union has done and therefore cannot undermine the single market.
“It is going to be a fair race to do it right now because it was going to be 21 months, now it is only 11, but nevertheless it can be done in the time period.”
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On what more border and customs checks will mean for Northern Ireland, the Fine Gael senator Neale Richmond told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:
Well certainly that responsibility is up to the British government.
We have a situation whereby we will limit the checks as much as possible. But they would be between Northern Ireland and Great Britain. We want to work with the British government [and] our European partners to ensure they are limited.
But if the British government do want to go for this very hard Brexit then it is the people of Northern Ireland that will be separated more greatly from Great Britain.
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Brexit becoming a reality is splashed across the papers this morning, but the front page treatments vary wildly. From “Rise and shine” in the Daily Express to “What next?” in the i, here is our wrap of what the papers say about Britain leaving the EU.
Keir Starmer said he would argue for the reintroduction of EU free movement after Brexit if he becomes Labour’s next leader.
The shadow Brexit secretary said his party must not be afraid to argue for free movement, and that EU citizens should receive “rights, not tolerance” from the UK.
“We need to make the wider case on immigration,” he told a leadership event at Westminster Cathedral in London on Friday.
“We welcome migrants, we don’t scapegoat them. Low wages, poor housing, poor public services, are not the fault of people who come here: they’re political failure. So we have to make the case for the benefits of migration; for the benefits of free movement.”
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In 2016, the Guardian spoke to jubilant leave campaigners featured on the Daily Mail’s front page the day after the referendum.
Some of those in the photograph criticised David Cameron for his decision to quit as prime minister, expressed concern at racist attacks in the wake of the poll, and wondered whether anyone actually had a plan.
Frances Perraudin and Matthew Weaver went back to ask for their reflections on one of the most turbulent periods in British political history.
The Guardian’s Brussels bureau chief spoke to the UK’s nine surviving permanent representatives to the EU before Brexit.
Spanning the premierships of Ted Heath to Boris Johnson, it’s a fantastic insight into the often uneasy relationship Britain has had with the European Union.
Nicola Sturgeon, meanwhile, has urged supporters of Scottish independence to stay “focused and united”, while ruling out – for now – holding a consultative referendum that would inevitably be challenged in the courts.
Two weeks after the prime minister formally rejected Sturgeon’s request for the legal powers to hold a second referendum, and as a poll put support for independence in the lead – by 51-49 – for the first time since 2015, Sturgeon told an audience of Scottish National party politicians and activists in Edinburgh that she would not “pretend that there are shortcuts or clever wheezes that can magically overcome the obstacles we face”.
Describing Brexit day as “one of real and profound sadness … tinged with anger”, Scotland’s first minister said: “What we in the independence movement must not do is allow a sense of frustration – understandable though it is – to take us down dead ends or weaken our sense of purpose.”
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Have we actually left, then?
Jon Henley has written a good explainer on what has actually changed, why Brexit is far from “done” and what to expect over the coming months.
Here is a taste of his piece:
Have we actually left, then?
Yes. The UK has ceased to be a member of the EU. British citizens are no longer EU citizens; there are no British MEPs or commissioner; British ministers will play no further part in EU law-making; no British prime minister will now attend EU summits. The change is legal and constitutional.
Why does it feel like nothing has changed?
Because we have entered an 11-month transition period during which pretty much everything will stay as it was while the UK and the EU negotiate their future relationship. Until at least the end of December 2020, Britain will remain in the EU’s single market and customs union and continue paying into its budget; people, goods, capital and services will continue to move freely across the bloc – including Britain – as before. In their daily lives, most people will not notice any difference.
Is there a timetable for the year?
The political declaration, part of the withdrawal agreement, provides for a June summit to allow both sides to assess how the talks are progressing. By 1 July Britain must decide whether it wants to ask for an extension. A deal on fisheries is also required by the end of June. Beyond that, the EU has said late November is the last date by which an agreement can be concluded if it is to be checked, translated, approved and ratified by the end of the year. In reality, this leaves only about six months of actual negotiating time.
Here is the full piece:
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The morning after Brexit day
Welcome to our live coverage of Brexit day +1. It’s the morning after the UK has left the European Union.
Britain is now formally no longer a member of the EU but everyday life will remain the same and the UK will remain in the single market and the customs union until the end of the year as part of transition arrangements.
We know little of the UK’s plans for the negotiations of the future relationship but EU leaders have told Britain to expect tough trade talks. On the eve of Brexit, Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, said she wished Britons well, but vowed to fight for the EU’s interests in the coming negotiations over the future relationship.
The Guardian’s economics editor, Larry Elliott, has written an analysis, saying Brexit is a chance to fix the British economy’s long-term problems. You can read it here:
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