Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
There’ll be Brexitears before bedtime, Boris
He’s set to take on PM Jaguar job cuts warning Choc block threat to UK
BORIS Johnson and his Tory pals look like their Brexiteering has left them exhausted.
He resurfaced in Westminster yesterday and fuelled rumours he could challenge Theresa May for the party leadership.
In his first Commons appearance since announcing he is getting divorced, Mr Johnson said Mrs May’s proposed Brexit deal would be “substantially worse than the status quo”. Mr Johnson, 54, who has been linked to ex-tory communications chief Carrie Symonds, 30, was a surprise guest as hard Brexiteers attended the launch of a report saying Britain has nothing to fear from crashing out of the EU with no deal. It came as Jaguar Land Rover’s boss said the company could suffer a £1.2billion annual hit and be forced to cut tens of thousands of jobs if there is a hard Brexit.
Ralf Speth, talking at an event where Mrs May was the main speaker, said: “Brexit is due to happen on March 29. I do not even know if any of our manufacturing facilities in the UK will be able to function on the 30th.”
Investment bank JP Morgan said 4,000 of its jobs here depend on the type of deal secured.
Mr Johnson appeared alongside Tories such as Iain Duncan Smith, ex-brexit Secretary David Davis, Jacob Rees-mogg and Peter Bone as the Economists for Free Trade report was unveiled.
Chancellor Philip Hammond last night told peers Britain would still have to pay part of its £39billion divorce bill even without a withdrawal deal.
And the National Audit Office said plans to strengthen fisheries protection are unlikely to be ready by the time Britain leaves. CADBURY is stockpiling chocolates and sweets amid fears a no-deal Brexit will lead to shortages of the favourite treats.
Items at risk include its Dairy Milk bar, Creme Eggs and Roses chocolates.
The confectionary maker is also storing ingredients such as cocoa and sugar.
Hubert Weber, European boss of parent company Mondelez, said: “Britain was “not self-sufficient in terms of food ingredients”.