European and world leaders have been enduring a week of intensive diplomacy, with the G7 meeting continuing in Sicily today following the NATO summit in Brussels on Thursday. While the antics and escapades of Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron have delivered the most entertainment from the meetings, Brexit did inevitably make an appearance, albeit only as a secondary point of discussion.
Theresa May used her first bilateral meeting with Emmanuel Macron to reiterate the British Government’s stance that trade talks should take place in parallel with any divorce talks, although both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to sorting the issue of citizens’ rights as a priority.
Meanwhile, the other Donald T. at the summit repeated the EU’s line that the ‘Brexit bill’ was not about the money, not even when it came to the UK being told to pay for English teachers’ salaries in elite Brussels schools after Brexit. “Please believe me, it’s not because of money but because of rules,” said Tusk. The lady doth protest too much, methinks.
Back in the UK, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn faced a grilling from Andrew Neil last night over inconsistencies in his foreign policy, while refusing to commit to reducing immigration after Brexit.
One person who has been left particularly unimpressed by Labour’s vision for Brexit is Michelle Dewberry, businesswoman and winner of the second series of The Apprentice, who is running as an independent pro-Brexit candidate in her home seat of Hull West and Hessle, as she feels that Labour no longer represents working class people on Brexit.
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From: Blanche Shackleton – 38 Degrees <action@38degrees.org.uk>
