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Theresa May could be forced to stand down if her Brexit deal is defeated in the Commons next week, a Tory former leader has warned, as a cabinet minister broke ranks to suggest the Norway-plus model as a viable “plan B”. Eurosceptic Iain Duncan Smith cautioned against May and her cabinet deciding to “brazen it out”, saying such an approach would be a “disaster”. “How the PM responds after the vote matters more than anything else she has done,” he told the Daily Telegraph (£). “I believe that if the response is, ‘we’ve lost but we will do this all...

A UK minister has resigned saying a row over involvement in the EU's Galileo satellite-navigation system exposes Theresa May's Brexit deal as "naive". The UK had wanted to stay part of Galileo after Brexit, but the EU said it would be banned from the extra-secure elements of the programme. Mrs May confirmed on Friday that the UK was pulling out of the project. Science minister Sam Gyimah said it was "a clarion call" and that any deal with Brussels would be "EU first". The UK's interests "will be repeatedly and permanently hammered by the EU27 for many years to come",...

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which launched what was eventually to become the European Union. Whatever our European partners may get up to in commemorating this historic moment, in two months time, it is safe to predict that celebrations here in Britain will be pretty muted. It is unlikely that cheering crowds will be turning out to watch fireworks exploding over the Thames. Although all our major political parties are totally wedded to our membership of this vast political project, the EU's own polls have consistently shown that the people of...

The EU recognises the Irish language's resurgence The Irish language (Gaeilge) is set to get official status in the EU on 1 January, bringing the total to 23. The European Commission says Bulgarian and Romanian are expected to get official status on the same day, when the two Balkan countries join the EU. According to Ireland's 2002 census, 1.57 million of the four million population can speak Irish. The commission says the EU will not have to translate all legislation into Irish, "mainly for practical reasons". The EU will have a team of 29 translators and editors to handle...