Downing Street has denied an accusation from arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage that leaving the EU “has failed”.
Speaking to BBC’s Newsnight on Monday, the former UKIP leader admitted that the country had “not actually benefited from Brexit economically” and blamed this on “useless” Tory politicians “mismanaging” the departure from the bloc.
Responding, Number 10 pointed to freedoms being enjoyed in the British farming sector as an example of how the divorce from the EU was allowing the UK to take a more tailored approach to policies.
The row comes as the UK economy continues to stagnate, with gross domestic product (GDP) shown to have increased by just 0.1% between January and March.
‘We have mismanaged this totally’
Newsnight presenter Victoria Derbyshire said to Mr Farage: “A poll from last month showed that 53% of people say it was wrong to Brexit – around one in five Leave voters regret it.
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“The OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] forecast a 4% hit to the economy over the medium-to-long-term – that’s £40bn in tax revenues.
“Economically, the UK would have been better off staying in, wouldn’t it?”
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Mr Farage said he “doesn’t think that for a moment” – and blamed the “failure” on the Conservative government’s handling of Brexit.
He said: “We haven’t benefited from Brexit economically when we could have done.
“What Brexit has proved, I’m afraid, is that our politicians are about as useless as the commissioners in Brussels were.
“We have mismanaged this totally.”
He said the decision to increase corporation tax from 19% to 25% in April was “driving business away from our country” and that the UK government was “arguably… regulating our own businesses even more than they were as EU members”.
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Jacob Rees-Mogg on Sophy Ridge on Sunday
Asked whether he would consider a return to frontline politics, Mr Farage said: “I wouldn’t rule it out but it is not at the top of my bucket list.
“But frankly, we have not delivered on borders, we have not delivered on Brexit, the Tories have let us down very badly.”
Mr Farage previously said he would leave the country if Brexit turned out to be a “disaster”.
Downing Street defiant on Brexit benefits
Asked whether Rishi Sunak – who campaigned to leave the EU – agreed with Mr Farage’s sentiments, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “No.”
“I think the prime minister has talked about the benefits of Brexit on a number of occasions,” he added.
“Just thinking about farming alone, we’re talking about some of the benefits of moving away from a bureaucratic cap which skewed money towards the largest landowners, with 50% going to the largest 10%.
“We have a fairer system tailored to British farmers post-Brexit.”
The spokesman was speaking after Downing Street held a UK Farm To Fork summit with representatives from across the food supply chain on Tuesday.
Elon Musk is being sued for failing to disclose his purchase of more than 5% of Twitter stock in a timely fashion.
The world’s richest man bought the stock in March 2022 and the complaint by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the delay allowed him to continue buying Twitter stock at artificially low prices.
In papers filed in Washington DC federal court, the SEC said the move allowed Mr Musk to underpay by at least $150m (£123m).
The commission wants Mr Musk to pay a civil fine and give up profits he was not entitled to.
In response to the lawsuit a lawyer for the multi-billionaire said: “Mr Musk has done nothing wrong and everyone sees this sham for what it is.”
An SEC rule requires investors to disclose within 10 calendar days when they cross a 5% ownership threshold.
The SEC said Mr Musk did not disclose his state until 4 April 2022, 11 days after the deadline – by which point he owned more than 9% of Twitter’s shares.
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Twitter’s share price rose by more than 27% following Mr Musk’s disclosure, the SEC added.
Mr Musk later purchased Twitter for $44bn (£36bn) in October 2022 and renamed the social media site X.
Since the election of Donald Trump, Mr Musk has been put in charge of leading a newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) alongside former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
The president-elect said the department would work to reduce government bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures and restructure federal agencies.
US president-elect Donald Trump has suggested Israel and Hamas could agree a Gaza ceasefire by the end of the week.
Talks between Israeli and Hamas representatives resumed in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday, after US President Joe Biden indicated a deal to stop the fighting was “on the brink” on Monday.
A draft agreement has been sent to both sides. It includes provisions for the release of hostages and a phased Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their “closest point” yet to a ceasefire deal.
Two Hamas officials said the group has accepted the draft agreement, with Israel still considering the deal.
An Israeli official said a deal is close but “we are not there” yet.
More than 46,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel launched its ground offensive in the aftermath of the 7 October attacks, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
President Biden said it would include a hostage release deal and a “surge” of aid to Palestinians, in his final foreign policy speech as president.
“So many innocent people have been killed, so many communities have been destroyed. Palestinian people deserve peace,” he said.
“The deal would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
Qatari mediators have sent Israel and Hamas a draft proposal for an agreement to halt the fighting.
President-elect Donald Trump has also discussed a possible peace deal during a phone interview with the Newsmax channel.
“We’re very close to getting it done and they have to get it done,” he said.
“If they don’t get it done, there’s going to be a lot of trouble out there, a lot of trouble, like they have never seen before.
“And they will get it done. And I understand there’s been a handshake and they’re getting it finished and maybe by the end of the week. But it has to take place, it has to take place.”
Israeli official: Former Hamas leader held up deal
Speaking on Tuesday as negotiations resumed in Qatar, an anonymous Israeli official said that an agreement was “close, but we are not there”.
They accused Hamas of previously “dictating, not negotiating” but said this has changed in the last few weeks.
“Yahya Sinwar was the main obstacle for a deal,” they added.
Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the 7 October attacks, led Hamas following the assassination of his predecessor but was himself killed in October last year.
Under Sinwar, the Israeli official claimed, Hamas was “not in a rush” to bring a hostage deal but this has changed since his death and since the IDF “started to dismantle the Shia axis”.
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Biden: ‘Never, never, never, ever give up’
Iran ‘weaker than it’s been in decades’
Yesterday, President Biden also hailed Washington’s support for Israel during two Iranian attacks in 2024.
“All told, Iran is weaker than it’s been in decades,” the president said.
Mr Biden claimed America’s adversaries were weaker than when he took office four years ago and that the US was “winning the worldwide competition”.
“Compared to four years ago, America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker,” he said.
“We have not gone to war to make these things happen.”
The US president is expected to give a farewell address on Wednesday.
The deal would see a number of things happen in a first stage, with negotiations for the second stage beginning in the third week of the ceasefire.
It would also allow a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by more than a year of war.
Details of what the draft proposal entails have been emerging on Tuesday, reported by Israeli and Palestinian officials.
Hostages to be returned
In the first stage of the potential ceasefire, 33 hostages would be set free.
These include women (including female soldiers), children, men over the age of 50, wounded and sick.
Israelbelieves most of these hostages are alive but there has not been any official confirmation from Hamas.
In return for the release of the hostages, Israel would free more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees.
People serving long sentences for deadly attacks would be included in this but Hamas fighters who took part in the 7 October attack would not be released.
An arrangement to prevent Palestinian “terrorists” from going back to the West Bank would be included in the deal, an anonymous Israeli official said.
The agreement also includes a phased withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, with IDF troops remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
Security arrangements would be implemented at the Philadelphi corridor – a narrow strip of land that runs along the border between Egypt and Gaza – with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
The Rafah Crossing between Egypt and Gaza would start to work gradually to allow the crossing of people who are sick and other humanitarian cases out of Gaza for treatment.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed to return to their homes, with a mechanism introduced to ensure no weapons are moved there.
“We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all our hostages are back home,” the Israeli official said.
What will happen to Gaza in the future?
There is less detail about the future of Gaza – from how it will be governed, to any guarantees that this agreement will bring a permanent end to the war.
“The only thing that can answer for now is that we are ready for a ceasefire,” the Israeli official said.
“This is a long ceasefire and the deal that is being discussed right now is for a long one. There is a big price for releasing the hostages and we are ready to pay this price.”
The international community has said Gaza must be run by Palestinians, but there has not been a consensus about how this should be done – and the draft ceasefire agreement does not seem to address this either.
In the past, Israel has said it will not end the war leaving Hamas in power. It also previously rejected the possibility of the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited governing powers in the West Bank, from taking over the administration of Gaza.
Since the beginning of its military campaign in Gaza, Israel has also said it would retain security control over the territory after the fighting ends.