Britain marks five years since Brexit today (January 31) with little fanfare as the Government pursues closer relations with the bloc.

The UK officially left the EU at 11pm, which was midnight in Brussels, on January 31, 2020, after three-and-a-half years of political wrangling after the 2016 Brexit referendum.

The Conservatives have celebrated the anniversary with shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel saying it marked five years since her party “honoured the democratic will of the British people and got Brexit done”.

She said: “Since then, our country has reaped the benefits – securing new trade deals with dynamic, fast-growing markets across the world and reclaiming sovereignty from Brussels.”

Dame Priti went on to warn that Labour, “driven by socialist ideology and blind to the will of the people”, was “determined to dismantle Brexit and drag us back into the EU’s grasp” and........

© South Wales Argus