Another Tory MP quits government over Brexit delay

A junior minister has quit Theresa May’s government over a decision to allow a vote on delaying Brexit, calling it “the final humiliation for our country”.

Farming minister George Eustice became the latest MP to abandon Mrs May after her promise this week to allow the vote if her deal is rejected before the UK is set to leave the EU on March 29.

“I fear that developments this week will lead to a sequence of events culminating in the EU dictating the terms of any extension requested and the final humiliation of our country,” Mr Eustice said in a statement.

“We cannot negotiate a successful Brexit unless we are prepared to walk through the door.”

He is the 14th member of Mrs May’s government to quit over Brexit, the BBC reports, although there’s no indication his resignation will play a significant factor in the votes to support or defeat the Prime Minister’s divorce deal when it is set to come before parliament this month.

Meantime, Ireland's deputy prime minister has warned Irish drivers they will need new paperwork to cross the currently invisible border to Northern Ireland if the UK leaves the bloc without an agreement.

The Motor Insurers' Bureau of Ireland says it has issued insurance firms with one million application forms for the internationally recognised "Green Card" insurance document.

British drivers travelling to Ireland or other EU countries will also need the paperwork — just one of a host of new rules and hurdles citizens will need to negotiate if Britain crashes out of the bloc without a framework for departure terms and future relations.

Currently, auto insurance in any EU country covers the whole bloc. If Britain leaves with a deal, there will be no change until at least the end of 2020.

Governments in EU countries, as well as in Britain, have warned citizens and businesses to prepare for potential disruption to trade and travel as tariffs, customs checks and other barriers are erected between Britain and its biggest trading partner.