The nights draw in but the knives come out for May at Westminster
engulfing The crisis the Government over Brexit dominated in the final months of 2018, as Rob Parsons reports in the final part of our annual review.
Theresa May’s Brexit plans are dealt a shattering blow when Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, said the proposals on trade could not be accepted. Speaking at 10, Downing Street, a day after the EU’s humiliating rejection of her Chequers plan in Salzburg, the Prime Minister described the behaviour of leaders as “unacceptable”, while acknowledging negotiations were at an “impasse”. And introducing the long-awaited Agriculture Bill, Environment Secretary Michael Gove says farmers and land managers will be paid for “public goods” such as higher environmental standards.
Ten years on from the 2008 financial crisis, The Yorkshire Post reveals that funding to small businesses from the banking sector has plummeted in the intervening decade.
All parts of the rail industry including Chris Grayling’s Department for Transport are heavily criticised by a damning inquiry into this year’s timetabling chaos.
A new law designed to protect emergency services workers from attacks, first proposed by Halifax MP Holly Lynch, receives Royal Assent to the delight of campaigners.
Final plans by the UK’s boundary commissions reveal that Yorkshire and the Humber is set to lose four of its 54 MPs, while a shake-up threatens the seats of some of the region’s highest profile politicians such as Tory former Brexit Secretary David Davis.
At Labour’s conference, Jeremy Corbyn set out the most radical left-wing agenda of any mainstream party in a generation, as he declares that Labour now represents “the new common sense”.
The Archbishop of York urges Ministers to “think again” over the introduction of their Universal Credit policy.
OCTOBER
Theresa May insists a Brexit deal is still “achievable” despite a deadlock in negotiations, with talks failing to bridge differences between the UK and EU over the future status of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. And in a speech to close the Conservative Party conference, she promises to plough money into public services by ending austerity if she is supported in getting a good Brexit deal.
A landmark report submitted to Ministers reveals that handing powers and funding to a One Yorkshire mayor could add as much as £30bn a year to the region’s economy by boosting its low level of exports and creating more businesses.
The Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, is told the “fish rots from the head” as MPs line up to call for him to quit after an independent probe lays bare the bullying culture in Parliament.
The Yorkshire Post launches the Love Your High Street campaign to focus attention on what can be done to support small shops and businesses.
Leeds is unveiled as the new home for broadcaster Channel 4 in a move commentators claimed would create huge opportunities and usher in a new era of television.
Philip Hammond uses his Budget to offer early tax cuts for millions of workers and extra cash for Whitehall departments, as he claimed that austerity was “coming to an end” after eight years.
NOVEMBER
A draft Brexit deal is agreed by British and EU negotiators in Brussels. But the Prime Minister’s satisfaction is shortlived as a series of Ministers quit the Cabinet in protest. Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab is followed out of the door by Esther McVey as Jacob Rees Mogg expresses no confidence in Mrs May. Later Jo Johnson, brother of Boris, joins the resignations over Brexit and calls for a second referendum. Analysis by departments across Whitehall says Yorkshire’s gross value added could fall by up to 2.1 per cent if the UK leaves under Mrs May’s Chequers plan.
The PM’s problems are compounded as widelyrespected Minister Tracey Crouch quits the Government over its decision to delay a clampdown on betting machines which have been dubbed the “crack cocaine of gambling”.
Pioneering research suggests that every pound invested by the Government in one of Yorkshire’s National Parks generates a sevenfold return in health and wellbeing benefits for visitors and volunteers.
Sheffield council announces plans for a congestion charge of up to £50 a day to drive in the city centre, following the example of Leeds.
North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Julia Mulligan takes over the oversight of the county’s fire service but is dogged by bullying claims, with one complaint against her already upheld by the area’s Police and Crime Panel and others lodged.
DECEMBER
The constitutional crisis surrounding the UK’s departure from the EU hits a new low as Theresa May dramatically calls off the planned meaningful vote in the Commons on the withdrawal agreement struck with the EU in the face of a likely heavy defeat. The PM is forced to face a confidence vote among her own MPs after 48 letters are received by the backbench 1922 Committee. After winning the vote by 200 votes to 117, with most Yorkshire Tories backing her, Mrs May heads off to Brussels in a bid to get concessions that might win over MPs worried about the controversial Irish backstop, but fails to come back with anything substantial. A rearranged meaningful vote is scheduled for January 15 as fears mount that the UK could crash out of the EU without a deal on March 29.
A planning application for flood defences costing £112m in Leeds is submitted despite the project facing a major funding gap.
British academic Matthew Hedges is sentenced to life imprisonment in the United Arab Emirates after being accused of working for MI6, but pardoned days later.
Sheffield council reveals plans to fell fewer street trees in a bid to end a long-running dispute about the controversial work following talks with campaigners.