Good Morning and welcome to the first ever edition of the Byline Supplement.

The Supplement is a brand new newsletter and website from the Byline Times team. Here you will receive exclusive investigations, news and analysis direct to your inbox at least five times a week.

As a subscriber you will get first sight of our investigations into Government corruption, cronyism, and the devastating impact of Brexit and austerity on the UK.

We will also host regular pieces from across the Atlantic, revealing the alarming rise of autocracy and the far-right in the US.

A NEW COMMUNITY

As well as providing stories you simply won’t find anywhere else, we also want this to be a space where we can hear direct from you.

Over the coming weeks we will host regular Q+As with our editors and writers so that you can help shine a light on the stories that really matter.

While we plan to keep at least one edition of the Supplement free to read each week, most of what we post here will only be available to full subscribers.

So if you would like to be a part of this mission, please sign up for a full subscription below at a specially discounted rate for the next few days.

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BREXIT EXCLUSIVE: 81% BACK SWISS RULES

The British public is overwhelmingly in favour of realigning the UK’s trading rules with Europe, according to exclusive new polling commissioned by the Supplement.

Last week the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ruled out ever negotiating a so-called ‘Swiss-style Brexit’ with Brussels, in which post-Brexit trade barriers would be lifted.

"Under my leadership the United Kingdom will not pursue any relationship with Europe that relies on alignment with EU laws”, Sunak said.

However, our polling finds that an overwhelming majority of voters now disagree with him.

Among all decided voters, 81% said they would like the UK to align with EU rules if it means a closer trading relationship with Europe, with just 19% disagreeing.

63% of decided voters said they would like the UK to go even further and fully re-enter the European Single Market.

Although overall, most voters backed closer relations with Europe, a sizeable minority remain undecided. Among all voters around a quarter said they neither opposed, or supported, a Swiss-style Brexit, with a further 12% unsure.

However, the polling, which was conducted last week by pollsters Omnisis, also found that a majority of voters now believe Brexit has harmed the economy.

55% of all voters said that Britain’s exit from the EU had harmed our economy, with just nine per cent saying it had benefited it.

Overall 53% said that Brexit had been bad for the UK as a whole, with just 17% saying it has been positive.

THE UK IS BEING HELD HOSTAGE BY BREXITEERS

The new polling shows clearly for the first time how the extreme position taken by Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives on Europe is now only shared by a small minority of British people.

Faced with rising prices, overwhelming bureaucracy, and a declining economy, most British people are now in favour of a major rethink of the UK’s relations with Brussels.

Even within Sunak’s Government, realisation of the disastrous nature of Brexit is starting to dawn.

In recent weeks figures within Jeremy Hunt’s Treasury briefed that the Government was considering negotiating a ‘Swiss-style’ Brexit in order to tear down trade barriers with our European neighbours.

However, within minutes of the briefings emerging, Sunak’s Government suffered a major backlash from Conservative MPs and other prominent Brexiteers, such as Nigel Farage.

Yet rather than face down this shrinking minority who still desire full isolation from Europe, Sunak has instead retreated to his Government’s former position.

By ruling out even a modest rapprochement with Europe, Sunak is allowing a minority of Brexiteers to hold the rest of us hostage inside what is increasingly obviously a failing economy.

As a result we are all being made poorer against our will.

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HOW FASCISM WORKS

In today’s special edition of the Byline Times podcast, Adrian Goldberg is joined from the United States by Jason Stanley, author of How Fascism Works – The Politics of Us And Them. The book, which was first published in 2018, has become increasingly relevant following Donald Trump’s announcement that he plans to stand again for President.

In a wide ranging conversation, which we are making available first to Supplement subscribers, Jason talks to Adrian about Brexit, the UK’s inglorious fascist past, the role of the media, and how authoritarianism on the left differs from that on the right.

You can listen to all of our previous episodes of the Byline Times podcast here.

A New Mission - Exclusive Brexit Poll - How…