Day: February 25, 2019

    The UK’s claim to sovereignty over the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean has been ruled to be illegal by the United Nation’s highest court. Although the majority decision by the international court of justice in The Hague is only advisory, the judges announcement is a further, severe blow to Britain’s prestige on the world stage. The case was referred to the court, which hears rival legal submissions over international boundaries, after an overwhelming vote in 2017 in the United Nations assembly in the face of fierce opposition from a largely isolated UK. In its submission to the ICJ last year, Mauritius argued it was coerced into giving up a large swath of its territory, the Chagos Islands. That separation was in breach of UN resolution 1514, passed in 19...

    Secret plans have been drawn up by Downing Street to delay Brexit for up to two months, it emerged today. The bombshell plan comes hours after Theresa May sparked MPs' fury by delaying their final Brexit vote until as late as March 12. And facing no chance of a deal in the desert at an EU summit in Egypt today, the Prime Minister admitted it's now only "within our grasp" to leave on March 29 not guaranteed. Her comments sparked furious claims she is running down the clock and an angry row among Tory Brexiteers over fears we will no longer leave on time. Now a delay to Brexit is one of three options in a paper being considered by No10, according to the Daily Telegraph. The others are said to be a meaningful vote on the Brexit deal, as planned, or a conditional vot...