Category Archives: Politics

Military planes to fly vaccines in to Britain to avoid ports hit by Brexit

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Officials fear delays even after EU deal as Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen order talks to resume

Tens of millions of doses of the Covid-19 vaccine manufactured in Belgium will be flown to Britain by military aircraft to avoid delays at ports caused by Brexit, under contingency plans being developed by the government.

Both the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and senior sources at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) confirmed to the Observer on Saturday that large consignments would be brought in from 1 January by air if road, rail and sea routes were subject to widely expected delays after that date.

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Brexit negotiations to restart in Brussels after Johnson call

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Phone talk between PM and European commission president Ursula von der Leyen ended without a breakthrough

Brexit negotiations will resume in Brussels on Sunday after Boris Johnson and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, agreed that a trade and security deal was still possible in the immediate days.

In a joint statement, the two leaders said they would talk again on Monday evening, with the two sides searching for a breakthrough with just three weeks until the UK leaves the single market and customs union.

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Carrie Symonds’ friend Nimco Ali given Home Office role without it being advertised

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£350-a-day position as government adviser made via ‘direct appointment process’

A close friend of the prime minister and his fiancee was given an official position at the Home Office without the role being publicly advertised, a freedom of information request has revealed.

Nimco Ali, who is reportedly godmother to the son of Carrie Symonds and Boris Johnson, was appointed adviser on tackling violence against women and girls in October.

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France could veto bad Brexit deal, Macron ally warns

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Close ally of Macron says Paris may act unilaterally if terms not right as negotiations falter

Downing Street has warned that the Brexit negotiations have hit a “very difficult point”, as France threatened to wield its veto to kill a trade and security deal brought back from London by the EU’s chief negotiator.

With the negotiations hitting troubled waters at the 11th hour, Clément Beaune, France’s European affairs minister and a close ally of president Emmanuel Macron, said his country could act unilaterally if the terms were not right.

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Brexit: Johnson and Von der Leyen to take over with direct talks

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UK PM and European commission president to speak on Saturday after negotiators fail to reach agreement

The Brexit talks will enter their final act on Saturday with a shift to direct negotiations between Boris Johnson and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, following the failure to find agreement in London.

In a joint statement, David Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, said they had not been able to come to terms on the final issues and that the historic trade and security negotiation would be paused.

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Brexit talks falter as UK claims EU is hardening negotiating stance

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Progress stalls as robust lobbying from France alleged and tussle ensues over UK subsidies regulator

Brexit negotiations took a sudden step backwards Thursday afternoon Downing Street said, after furious French lobbying pushed the EU to make late demands.

The apparent eleventh hour hardening of the EU position was said to have destabilised the troubled talks, peeling back progress made over the previous 24 hours.

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‘Dirty methods’ in Brexit vote cited in push for new laws on Europe’s elections

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Sites such as Facebook will have to publicly disclose identity of people and entities funding such advertising

The “dirty methods” of the Brexit referendum have been cited as a reason for new EU laws aimed at tackling disinformation and forcing online platforms including Facebook to publicly disclose the identity of people and entities funding political adverts.

Věra Jourová, a vice president of the European commission, said the EU rule-book needed to be updated to deal with on-line political campaigning, as she unveiled draft legislation at a press conference in Brussels.

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Gavin Williamson: UK is ‘a much better country than every single one of them’

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Education secretary lauds vaccine rollout saying scientists in UK better than in France, Belgium or US

The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, has claimed the UK was the first country in the world to clinically approve a coronavirus vaccine because the country has “much better” scientists than France, Belgium or the US.

Williamson said he was not surprised the UK was the first to roll out the immunisation because “we’re a much better country than every single one of them”.

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‘The scientists have done it’: Boris Johnson hails Covid vaccine

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PM says news brings ‘sure and certain knowledge’ that people can reclaim their lives

Boris Johnson has declared that the nation is no longer resting on the hope of a return to normality by spring but instead has the “certain knowledge” that people can reclaim their lives, as he hailed the arrival of the newly approved Covid-19 vaccine.

The prime minister told a Downing Street press conference on Wednesday that “the scientists have done it”, although he stressed that people should not get carried away with “over-optimism”, insisting that they continue to abide by the rules.

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UK coronavirus live: Boris Johnson leads Downing Street briefing after vaccine approved for use

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Latest updates: PM holds press conference after earlier warning people not to ‘get hopes up too soon’ about early vaccination

Stevens is talking about the vaccination guidelines. (See 11.23am.)

The roll-out will be phased, he says.

Johnson urges people in tier 3 areas to take part in community testing.

And people should follow the restrictions, he says.

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Brexit: UK has lowered demands on fish catches, says EU

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Significant gap remains as two sides enter crucial 48 hours of talks

Boris Johnson has lowered his Brexit demands by asking EU fishing fleets to hand over up to 60% of the value of stocks it takes from British waters, but the gap with Brussels remains wide, Michel Barnier has said ahead of what he described as a crucial 36 hours.

In briefings to EU ambassadors and MEPs in Brussels, the bloc’s chief negotiator said Downing Street had revised its demand down from 80%, but that it was unclear whether the divide could be bridged in the time remaining, prompting member states to caution against rushing into a deal.

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Johnson suffers biggest Commons revolt as MPs back tougher Covid tiers

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Fifty-five Tories rebel over new coronavirus regulations as parliament votes 291 to 78 in favour

Boris Johnson suffered his worst Commons rebellion tonight as 55 Conservative MPs opposed the government’s new coronavirus tiers despite the prime minister pleading with them as they cast their votes.

Johnson was forced to rely on Labour’s abstention from the vote to avoid defeat on a tightened system of measures that will plunge 99% of England into the strictest tiers from Wednesday.

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UK likely to be first western country to license a Covid vaccine

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Regulator expected to authorise Pfizer/BioNTech jab for emergency use within days

Britain is expected to become the first western country to authorise a coronavirus vaccine, raising the prospect of immunisations beginning weeks ahead of the rest of Europe.

The UK medicines regulator is set to license the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for emergency use within days, and possibly as soon as Wednesday. Britain has ordered 40m doses, of which 10m are expected to be available this year.

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Europeans urged to quickly set out roadmap on Iran nuclear deal

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Diplomats call on UK, France and Germany to map out task facing incoming Biden administration

France, Germany and the UK must move quickly to set out a roadmap for Iran and the incoming Biden administration in the US to come back into compliance with the nuclear deal, some of Europe’s leading diplomats have said.

They warn that unless the three countries, known as the E3, coordinate a joint public statement setting out what both sides must do to end the impasse, there is a real risk that Joe Biden will come to power facing only escalating tensions with Iran.

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EU will not fall into Brexit ‘negotiating trap’, UK told

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Irish foreign minister also calls for avoidance of blame game as ‘truth of Brexit’ becomes clear

Senior Irish and French and ministers have warned that the EU is not going to fall into a Brexit “negotiating trap” being laid by the UK as both sides entered into what the British foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has described as “the last week or so” of substantive talks.

Simon Coveney, who has had a leading role in the first phase of negotiations over the Irish border, said at the same time both sides must avoid engaging in a blame game as the “truth of Brexit” and its subsequent challenges become clear.

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Pubs in Wales to close by 6pm under new Covid restrictions

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First minister says virus spreading ‘incredibly quickly’ and firebreak gains being eroded

Pubs, bars and restaurants in Wales will be banned from selling alcohol and forced to shut early, as the Welsh first minister said Covid was spreading “incredibly quickly” across the country and that the gains made during its “firebreak” lockdown were being eroded.

Mark Drakeford said that unless strict new rules were brought in now, there could be as many as 1,700 preventable deaths this winter.

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Jamaicans who came to UK as children will be left off deportation flight

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Exclusive: Home Office quietly agrees deal with Jamaica amid outcry over charter plane

A deal has been quietly agreed between the Home Office and Jamaica not to remove people who came to the UK as children on a controversial charter flight to the Caribbean island this week, its high commissioner has said.

Seth Ramocan told the Guardian that following diplomatic overtures to the Home Office, officials agreed not to deport Jamaicans who came to Britain under the age of 12. The Home Office has declined to comment and there has been no public announcement.

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‘It’s impossible’: how Brexit has left British families unable to return to the UK

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Up to 40% of Britons in dual-national relationships likely to want to return fear they do not fulfil the income requirement

When Britain’s new immigration bill became law earlier this month, the home secretary, Priti Patel, tweeted her “delight, after many years of campaigning,” that free movement between the EU and Britain would at last end on 31 December.

But the bill does not just repeal EU citizens’ right to work and live in UK – a key Brexit ask – or British nationals’ right to do the same across the bloc. It will also make it very hard indeed for many Britons who have already moved to ever come home again.

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Culture secretary to ask Netflix to play ‘health warning’ that The Crown is fictional

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Oliver Dowden says younger viewers might take historical drama’s portrayal as fact

The culture secretary plans to write to Netflix and request a “health warning” is played before The Crown so viewers are aware that the historical drama is a work of fiction, he said in an intervention that prompted criticism.

Oliver Dowden said that without the caveat younger viewers who did not live through the events might “mistake fiction for fact” following complaints that the fourth series of the drama had abused its artistic licence and fabricated events.

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Dominic Raab warns UK at risk of third wave of coronavirus – video

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The UK is at risk of a third wave of Covid-19 in the new year if the right balance is not struck on restrictions, Dominic Raab has told BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show. 

The foreign secretary also refused to rule out the prospect of a third nationwide lockdown next year. The Commons will vote on Tuesday on whether to approve the three-tier system replacing the national lockdown

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