Category Archives: Brexit

Theresa May attacks Boris Johnson over Brexit and Covid quarantine plans

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Former PM warns of security implications of no deal and threat to trade from travel restrictions

Theresa May has launched a double attack on Boris Johnson’s government, speaking in the Commons to first warn about the security implications of a final no-deal Brexit, and then against the coronavirus quarantine plans.

May, who has largely kept a low profile since returning to the backbenches, used prime minister’s questions to express worry at a lack of possible lack of intelligence and data sharing if the Brexit transition period ends without a formal agreement.

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UK fisheries accuse EU of using ‘nuclear option’ in Brexit talks

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Head of trade body warns of French blockades if deal over fishing rights is not agreed

The UK’s fishing industry has accused the EU of using a “nuclear option” to secure a Brexit deal, warning that it is prepared for blockades by the French if trade talks collapse.

Fishing leaders have also revealed they do not support an extension to the transition period despite being hit badly by the coronavirus pandemic, with the closure of restaurants and hotels affecting sales.

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EU has no legal duty to give UK trade privileges, document says

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Paper concludes EU does not have to offer privileges given to others in previous deals

The EU has no legal duty to grant the UK privileges offered to other countries in trade deals, an internal European parliament paper has concluded ahead of a crucial round of Brexit talks this week.

The document, drawn up by officials for the parliament’s UK coordination group, is a short analysis of arguments made by the UK’s chief negotiator, David Frost, in a letter to his counterpart, Michel Barnier. Frost accused the EU of treating the UK as an “unworthy” negotiating partner by denying the UK “the kind of well-precedented arrangements commonplace in modern FTAs [free trade agreements]”.

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Northern Ireland faces ‘potent threat’ from Brexit and Covid-19

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Lords committee warns uncertainty over trading rules may add to economic damage of crisis

Northern Ireland faces a “potent threat” to its prosperity and stability if reduced business confidence due to uncertainty over post-Brexit trading rules compounds the economic damage from coronavirus, a Lords committee has warned.

A fourth round of talks between the UK and EU over a permanent deal begins this week, with little apparent progress made, and the looming deadline of 1 July for the UK to seek an extension to the transition period beyond this year.

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June Brexit summit on cards as talks head for deadlock

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PM and commission president likely to meet with progress unlikely in talks next week

Brexit talks are heading towards deadlock as senior advisers in Brussels and London concede a breakthrough in the final round of talks next week is unlikely.

It means a high-level political summit between Boris Johnson and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, in the middle of June is now almost certain as talks among officials on a trade deal and the future relationship hit the buffers.

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Johnson’s promised Brexit border in Irish Sea ‘will not be ready in time’

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Influential thinktank warns that UK will need to extend transition period in wake of coronavirus or risk very hard border

A new Brexit border in the Irish Sea will not be ready by Boris Johnson’s end-of-year deadline, according to a new analysis that warns more than 60 administrations, government departments and public bodies will be involved in overseeing the new system.

Ministers finally admitted last week that there would be some checks on certain goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK from next January, when the Brexit transition period comes to an end.

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UK and EU clash over crime-fighting database in Brexit talks

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UK set to lose access to Schengen Information System that police across continent use to stop criminals

EU officials have accused the British government of threatening to weaken security cooperation with the bloc unless the UK gets an equivalent to a major crime-fighting database.

The UK is set to lose access to the Schengen Information System (SIS II), a massive EU database, where police across the continent share millions of pieces of information on criminal suspects, at the end of the year.

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No-deal Brexit ‘would overwhelm local emergency teams’

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Leaked report warns local disaster planning already exhausted by coronavirus crisis

Preparing for the impact of a no-deal Brexit later this year would overwhelm local emergency response teams exhausted by the Covid-19 pandemic, a leaked Whitehall report has warned.

A review by a committee set up to review the response to coronavirus said failing to seek an extension to Brexit negotiations threatened to “compound Covid-19 with a second UK societal-wide, economic and social, chronic threat”.

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Brexit: Gove confirms plans for checks on goods crossing Irish Sea

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Minister says checks on animals and food products are needed to maintain island of Ireland’s ‘disease-free status’

The government has confirmed for the first time that there will be Brexit checks on animals and food goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK from next January.

The announcement, detailed in a 23-page document released by the government on Wednesday, comes months after Boris Johnson pledged there would be no checks on trade crossing the Irish Sea – telling businesses that if anyone asked them to fill in new paperwork, they could “throw it in the bin”.

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British negotiator gives EU two-week deadline to drop ‘ideological’ stance

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David Frost says there has been ‘very little progress’ in talks with Michel Barnier as clock ticks on

Britain’s chief negotiator in the talks over the future relationship with the EU has warned Michel Barnier that he must drop his “ideological approach” within the next fortnight, as the latest round of talks ended in stalemate.

The comments from David Frost came as both sides offered a gloomy prognosis for the negotiations on trade, security and fisheries, with little sign of the teams finding common ground.

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May and Johnson hung civil servants out to dry, report finds

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Inquiry into Whitehall’s Brexit role says prime ministers failed to protect officials

Theresa May and Boris Johnson let the former chief Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins and other civil servants hang out to dry after they became “targets for political attacks”, an investigation into Whitehall’s role in the Brexit drama of the past four years has found.

The independent thinktank the Institute for Government (IfG) spent months talking in confidence to Whitehall sources including officials, ministers and special advisers, to shine a light on the behind-the-scenes experience of some of those involved in one of the most controversial chapters in British political history.

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How coronavirus is reshaping Europe in dangerous ways

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From green backlash to reimposition of border controls, pandemic is accelerating tensions that could unravel the EU

We are still in the early chapters of the Covid-19 story and it’s too soon to judge the full impact of the pandemic. But one can tentatively discern six negative trends for Europe. These had all emerged before the virus struck but are now accelerating. In various ways they are all likely to help the cause of anti-EU populists: greater economic autarky, stronger borders and more hostility to green policies.

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Brexit will mean checks on goods crossing Irish Sea, government admits

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Ministers’ letter confirms border control posts at ports of Belfast, Warrenpoint and Larne

The government has privately conceded there will be post-Brexit checks on goods crossing the Irish Sea, months after Boris Johnson insisted there would be no such trade barriers.

In a letter to the executive office in Stormont the government confirmed there would be border control posts in three ports, Belfast, Warrenpoint and Larne.

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UK-EU trade deal with tariffs impossible in six months, say diplomats

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EU officials dismiss Michael Gove’s suggestion deal could be done without longer transition

EU diplomats have dismissed Michael Gove’s suggestion that Brussels and the UK could negotiate a trade deal with tariffs on goods in six months, saying it “will never happen”.

Giving evidence to the House of Lords EU committee last week, Gove said the government could “modify our ask” by giving up on a “zero-tariff, zero-quota” trade deal in order to keep the UK free from a duty to adhere to European standards on workers’ rights, environmental protection and state aid.

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EU wants UK to share more data before it grants access to crime-fighting system

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European committee says Britain should share same amount of fingerprint data as member states

The UK should be denied access to an EU crime-fighting system until it agrees to share more fingerprint data with member states, a European parliamentary committee has said.

The vote, in the European parliament’s justice and home affairs committee on Thursday, is not binding on EU decision-makers, but could prove influential as the UK seeks to negotiate a permanent deal on the exchange of fingerprint, DNA and other data as part of a long-term security relationship with the EU.

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Row over EU office in Belfast threatens to derail Brexit talks

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UK refuses request from Brussels for Northern Ireland presence for second time

The Irish border question threatens to derail Brexit talks again as the depth of the row over the EU’s desire to have an office in Belfast is revealed.

The UK’s paymaster general, Penny Mordaunt, has written to the EU to firmly reject a repeated request for an office in Northern Ireland: “The UK cannot agree to the permanent EU presence based in Belfast,” she wrote.

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Fears Brexit talks could collapse in June but UK still optimistic

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‘Limited progress’ in bridging gaps on fisheries, health, environment and workers’ rights

The UK is still optimistic about striking a trade deal with the EU but warned that talks could collapse in June unless Brussels abandons its demands for a common fisheries policy and a level playing field, a source close to the UK’s negotiating team said.

The source said only “limited progress in bridging the gaps between us” had been made at last week’s talks, but there was “confidence that progress can be made quite quickly”.

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Brussels and UK at odds over proposed EU office in Belfast

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Clashes expected over plan which Britain says would sow division in Northern Ireland

Brussels and UK officials will clash over the increasingly fraught question of whether the European Union can open an office in Belfast.

At the inaugural meeting on Thursday of a special committee of officials charged with enforcing a de facto Irish Sea border, the European commission is expected to press the case to open “a technical office” in Belfast, three days after the government rejected an EU “mini-embassy” in the Northern Irish capital.

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UK will need to extend Brexit transition, Merkel ally warns Britain

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UK will need extension to agree Brexit deal as pandemic derails talks

Boris Johnson must extend the UK’s transition out of the EU for up to two years to avoid compounding the economic damage of the coronavirus pandemic with a hugely disruptive and disorderly Brexit, according to a close ally of Angela Merkel.

In an interview with the Observer, Norbert Röttgen, chair of the Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee, said it was now impossible to see how the UK and other EU countries could agree even a minimal outline free trade agreement this year because the talks were so behind schedule.

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Britain running down the clock in Brexit talks, says Michel Barnier

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EU negotiator expresses frustrations at UK refusal to discuss key issues of transition

Michel Barnier has suggested the UK is running down the clock in talks over the future trade and security relationship with the EU.

The claim by the bloc’s chief negotiator during a virtual press conference at the end of a difficult week of videoconference talks was swiftly denied by the government.

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