The renewal Britain desperately needs requires borrowing and optimism. Isn’t that what we voted for?

John le Carré, who taught at Eton for a time, once said the trouble with that school was that it taught people to win, but not to rule.

Now, as my Greek master used to say, one should beware of generalisations. Nevertheless, in the case of two recent Old Etonian prime ministers, I think le Carré’s observation was spot on. I refer, of course, to David Cameron’s monumental misjudgment in calling the 2016 referendum that landed us with the mounting cost of Brexit. And to Boris Johnson’s role in that fiasco, not least in wrecking Theresa May’s attempt to save something from the ruins by staying in the customs union, if not the full works of the single market.

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Prime minister hopes to use talks with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen this week to prepare for a reset in the spring

Keir Starmer will use a meeting with the European Commission president this week to pave the way for a springtime overhaul of Britain’s Brexit deal, amid warnings that closer ties will be essential in his government’s desperate search for growth.

The prime minister will meet Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Wednesday. However, it comes with home secretary Yvette Cooper still vehemently opposed to an agreement that would allow young people to move more freely between Europe and the UK – a measure that EU diplomats regard as key to unlocking more serious talks in the spring.

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Exclusive: Unlike the EU, Great Britain has slashed protections for scores of food types

The amount of pesticide residue allowed on scores of food types in England, Wales and Scotland has soared since Brexit, analysis reveals, with some now thousands of times higher.

Changes to regulations in Great Britain mean more than 100 items are now allowed to carry more pesticides when sold to the public, ranging from potatoes to onions, grapes to avocados, and coffee to rice.

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European Centre for International Political Economy outlines a roadmap to bring the two sides closer

The UK must stop being “naive” about negotiations to reset relations with the EU and show more flexibility in its approach to Brussels, a trade policy thinktank has said.

As EU capitals question how much has changed in the UK despite the new government, the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE) has outlined a roadmap to bring the two sides closer after a series of reports that the EU doubted Keir Starmer’s commitment to a reset.

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Shadow chancellor’s remarks mark shift in tone for party, which has preferred to not talk about Brexit so far

Labour would try to improve elements of the UK’s trade deal with the EU, Rachel Reeves has indicated, saying also that most financial services companies have “not regarded Brexit as being a great opportunity for their businesses”.

While Labour remains committed to not making any major changes to Brexit, the shadow chancellor’s comments show the party could nonetheless make more policy moves on EU trade links than previously believed.

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Blow to London’s fashion scene as British creatives find it makes commercial sense to move shows to Italian city

Milan men’s fashion week is where all the big Italian names converge. It’s where Prada dictates what trouser shape everyone will one day be wearing and where Gucci drops the next it-bag. But as the shows got under way at the weekend an unexpected new trend was emerging: the great fashion Brexit.

Just four months after making his debut as creative director of Dunhill at London fashion week, Simon Holloway instead chose the Italian capital for the brand’s spring/summer ’25 show. On Sunday he aimed to recreate “the sense of a beautiful spring day in England” by showing in a garden in Milan.

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Survey finds more people blame Brexit than anything else for supply problems

Almost half of adults in the UK have struggled to get medicine they have been prescribed – and more people blame Brexit than anything else for the situation, research shows.

Forty-nine per cent of people said they had had trouble getting a prescription dispensed over the past two years, the period during which supply problems have increased sharply.

One in 12 people (8%) have gone without a medication altogether because it was impossible to obtain.

Thirty-one per cent found the drug they needed was out of stock at their pharmacy.

Twenty-three per cent of pharmacies did not have enough of the medication available.

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Dutch hauliers say facilities at border posts where some trucks are held for up to 20 hours are inadequate

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Lorry drivers could start rejecting jobs bringing goods from Europe to the UK unless delays are reduced and driver conditions improved at post-Brexit border posts, the biggest trade body for Dutch hauliers has warned.

Transport en Logistiek Nederland (TLN), which represents 5,000 Dutch transport companies, said its members were facing average waits of more than four hours in Britain because of the new checks brought in after the UK’s exit from the EU, with some being held at border posts for up to 20 hours.

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Brexit border checks are just the latest hurdle placed before British farmers. Labour must do more to back our food producers

Just before the election was called, news broke of Sue Gray’s so-called “shit list”: an inventory compiled by the Labour leader’s chief of staff of the immediate challenges an incoming Labour government would face. They include the potential collapse of Thames Water, prison overcrowding and chronic-acute issues with the NHS. One challenge was notable for its absence: the very real risk of empty supermarket shelves. The fact is British agriculture is in crisis. Its absence from the list is not entirely surprising. Historically, Labour has been an urban party. At the 2019 election it won just three of the 100 most rural seats. It has never quite grasped the importance or complexities of agriculture and the food supply chain.

That said, the Tories won 96 of those 100 seats, have many farmer MPs and have still made a bloody mess of it. The first challenge they will bequeath to Labour, should it win, involves untying the tangled knot around imports and exports. The confused introduction of hyper-bureaucratic and horrendously expensive border checks is the result of hardcore Brexit ideology. Boris Johnson could have negotiated alignment with the EU on food standards and animal welfare. Then we would simply be doing internal checks as before, and trade would flow freely.

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