Portrait of the week | 1 February 2018

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The EU published its negotiating position on Britain’s period of transition, from 30 March 2019 until 31 December 2020. Britain would have to abide by the rules of the single market, customs union, free movement and decisions of the European Court of Justice, as well as new EU laws. Britain would have no representatives at the table. Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chairman of the European Research Group among the Conservatives, said: ‘This will be the first time since the Norman Conquest the UK has accepted rules imposed by a foreign power without having any say over them.’ The UK economy expanded by a half per cent in the last quarter of 2017 according to the Office for National Statistics, which was better than expected. Capita said it would pay no dividend but make a £700 million share issue, only to see its share value fall by 40 per cent. Wetherspoon’s took steak off the menu temporarily after the Food Standards Agency stopped meat leaving the suppliers Russell Hume, although there was no indication that anyone had become ill.

The Crown Prosecution Service is to review all current rape and serious sexual assault cases in England and Wales, following the collapse of several trials through evidence not being disclosed to the defence. All 1.6 million people receiving Personal Independence Payments will have their claims reviewed after a court ruled that changes to its application were unfair to people with mental illness. There is ‘no gender bias’ in pay decisions at the BBC, according to a report by the auditors PWC. Claire Kober resigned as the leader of Haringey Council in the face of an influx of Momentum activists. Mark E. Smith, the lead singer of The Fall, died aged 60.