FOR some time Britain’s vote in June 2016 to leave the European Union appeared to be having little economic impact. Sterling slumped but GDP growth in the second half of 2016 was faster than in the first. Unemployment fell, rather than jumping, as most economists had feared. Yet the notion that the economy would escape Brexit uncertainty was always fantastical. Britain’s economy has gone from a leader to a laggard internationally, as GDP growth has slowed sharply (see chart).

Austria’s chancellor has warned Britain against trying to divide EU countries to gain an advantage in Brexit talks. Speaking at the European Parliament as his country took over the European Council’s rotating presidency, Sebastian Kurz said Austria would “preserve the unity of the 27” in Brexit matters. Austria is taking the reins in setting the agenda at EU summits from now until next year – a crucial period for Brexit talks that...

AMERICA has given Britain an ultimatum to boost its defence spending, or risk the death of the Special Relationship. The bombshell warning was delivered to the US’s Secretary of Defense to his British counterpart, Gavin Williamson, two weeks ago. The letter - which is unprecedented in its bluntness - has been leaked to The Sun. In it, former US Marine Corps general Jim Mattis says Washington DC is “concerned” that Britain’s military prowess is “at risk of erosion”.

European Union member states should prepare their airports and aviation sector for a no-deal Brexit, the European Commission reportedly told diplomats earlier in June. The warning was made during a June 12 meeting chaired by Filip Cornelis, the director of aviation at the Commission's transport department, Politico reported. It was attended by diplomats from the EU27 countries as well as representatives from their civil aviation authorities.

Automakers have called on the U.K. government to back down from its “red lines” in Brexit negotiations, or risk putting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk. In a statement released Tuesday, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) CEO Michael Hawes said Downing Street should “rethink its position on the customs union” and work towards a Brexit deal that delivers “single market benefits.”

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth granted royal assent to Prime Minister Theresa May’s flagship Brexit legislation on Tuesday, ending months of debate over the legislation that will formally end the country’s European Union membership. The House of Commons speaker John Bercow said the EU withdrawal bill, passed by both houses of parliament last week, had been signed into law by the monarch, to cheers from Conservative lawmakers.

A new analysis has found that the U.K.’s decision to exit the European Union has already slowed the nation’s economic growth by a cumulative 2.1% as of the first quarter of 2018, compared to likely results had Brexit been rejected two years ago. The study also found that the referendum vote is now costing the British government £440 million ($584 million) per week in lost tax revenue, challenging longtime claims by Brexit supporters that leaving the E.U. would improve government balance sheets.

Efforts to expose Moscow’s long-suspected meddling in the U.K.’s 2016 Brexit referendum gained substantial ground Sunday after a bombshell report in Britain revealed deep ties between the Kremlin and the Leave campaign — which also had significant links to the Trump election campaign. Investigations by the Sunday Times and the Observer newspapers revealed the Leave campaign’s biggest backer, businessman Aaron Banks, met with Alexander Yakovenko, the Russian ambassador to the U.K., at least three times in the months leading up to the vote to exit the European Union, and even invited him to a Brexit results party in Westminster.

"If deals were brokered with Russian government help, it would raise urgent questions about Russian interference in our democracy.”

Boris Johnson has warned of a Brexit “meltdown” and branded the Treasury the “heart of remain” in unguarded comments at a private dinner. At the gathering of the Conservative Way Forward, a Thatcherite campaign group, he said exit talks were approaching a “moment of truth”. The foreign secretary said he believed Brexit will happen and would be “irreversible” but the “risk is that it will not be the one we want”.

An anti-Brexit campaign group says dozens of MPs have backed its plan to force a second referendum that could stop Britain leaving the EU. Best for Britain said it had secured the backing of around 40 Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Party MPs for a “people’s vote”. The group is calling on the government to give the public the final say on the Brexit deal Theresa May hopes to negotiate with the EU.

Hopes are high for some good news inside the government as the Brexit proposals to the EU were nominated as the best Young Adult Fantasy for the prestigious Hugo Award. The Brexiteer Chronicles, a long saga focusing on a group of unlikely rebels fighting an evil entity hell bent on conquest, has captured the imagination of many devotees of the genre.

The UK would vote to remain in the EU if a second Brexit referendum were held, new polling analysis has suggested. Peter Kellner, former president of YouGov and polling analyst, suggested that up to one million Labour supporters who voted Leave in the 2016 referendum are having second thoughts. In an article for Prospect, he points out that YouGov has carried out 14 polls this year asking people if the UK was right or wrong to vote for Brexit.

Ministers say there will be no change to the rights of the Irish to live and work freely in the UK. But the government doesn't seem to realise that new legislation will be needed. By Patrick Maguire.

As the UK’s divorce from the European Union creeps closer, some Brits are cementing their ties to the bloc. Germany has been a preferred sanctuary, with a 162% jump in UK citizens acquiring citizenship in Deutschland last year. Some 7,493 British became German citizens, up from 2,865 the year before, according to the latest data from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office. In 2015, the year before the UK held a referendum on EU membership, only 622 acquired German passports.

Nicola Sturgeon will consider another vote on independence when Westminster offers greater certainty on Brexit, Scotland’s first minister said Sunday. “Once we get some clarity, which hopefully we will in autumn of this year, about the Brexit outcome and the future relationship between the U.K and the EU, then I will consider again the question of the timing of an independence referendum,” she said on ITV ’s Peston on Sunday program.

Nearly 20 banks have committed to launching new European Union hubs in Frankfurt since the Brexit vote, according to German officials. The economy minister for the state of Hesse, where Frankfurt is situated, said the city was confident it would attract more, with another 60 firms yet to decide on additional EU headquarters.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested on Monday that the British government might have poisoned Sergei Skripal to cover up difficulties over Brexit. Britain has insisted the Russian government was behind the nerve-agent poisoning of the former Russian spy and his daughter March 4 in the English city of Salisbury, a charge the Russians vehemently deny.

Japan is more focused on a securing major trade deal with the European Union than pursuing an agreement with a post-Brexit Britain, a senior minister has said. Shinichi Iida, minister for public diplomacy and media, said his country's "first and foremost priority" was rubber-stamping its historic trade agreement with Brussels – the largest the EU has ever signed – before work could begin on establishing lucrative free trade deals with the UK.

The Canadian whistleblower at the heart of the Facebook privacy scandal says he believes it is "reasonable" to conclude that "cheating" in the Brexit vote through the manipulation of data to influence voters may have altered the outcome.