Brexit trade deal: Barnier says UK 'blocked progress in key areas'
European diplomats have been told that there are still "fundamental differences" in the hunt for a Brexit trade deal and that the UK has "blocked" progress in key areas while trying to run down the clock.
Crucially, Mr Barnier told the meeting that the most important sticking point was the so-called level playing field - the mechanism that would ensure that, in future, the UK sticks to the same rules as the European Union in areas such as labour law and state aid.
The level playing field - commonly known as the LPF - is seen as crucial by the EU because of fears that the UK might otherwise undercut European laws in an effort to reduce costs and attract foreign investment.
Mr Barnier told the meeting that, despite optimistic claims from British politicians and stories in some UK newspapers, he did not consider that a deal about fisheries had moved any closer.
Brexit: Liz Truss secures tariff wins with her Japan trade deal – for products UK doesn’t export Exclusive: Taxes cut on birds’ eggs, raw hides, fur skins and ultra-strong spirits – but UK does not export them anyway
Liz Truss has been accused of misleading MPs and the public over her new Japan trade deal, because all the tariff “wins” are for goods the UK does not export to the country anyway.
Just 10 of 9,444 products will enjoy lower taxes, experts say, a list of obscure items such as birds’ eggs, raw hides, fur skins, handbags and ultra-strong spirits of at least 90 per cent alcohol.
Crucially, none of the 10 have been sold to Japan for at least three years – which means the gain to British exporters is “zero”, the study has found.
Yet Ms Truss claimed the “historic” Japan deal had achieved “strong tariff reductions on key agricultural products like pork, beef and salmon [that] will benefit farmers and food exporters”.
Emily Thornberry, Labour’s shadow trade secretary, called on Ms Truss to be “straight with parliament and the British people” about the implications of the agreement for British exporters.
“Liz Truss has repeatedly claimed that her deal with Japan goes ‘far beyond’ the EU’s agreement with Tokyo, but – the more we dig into the detail on tariff rates, on projected export growth, or on protected UK brands – the more that claim falls apart,” she said.
“She has a bad habit of over-promising and under-delivering on trade deals, then trying to fill the gap with these misleading claims.”
The undermining of Ms Truss’s boasts about the deal follow the ridicule heaped on the Department for International Trade (DIT) for its false claims about the price of soy sauce.
Ms Truss has also claimed a boost to trade with Japan worth £15.7bn over the next 15 years – but that is in comparison with no deal, not with the EU deal.
The government then acknowledged that 83 per cent of those gains would go to Japanese exporters, with only 17 per cent to the UK’s.
Furthermore, the GDP boost will be a puny 0.07 per cent – a tiny fraction of expected loss of between 5 and 8 per cent from Britain leaving the EU customs union and single market.
UK 'risks becoming international pariah by rewriting Brexit bill'
The UK risks becoming “an international pariah” endangering relations with the US under Joe Biden, Labour has warned, after ministers pledged to press ahead with a plan to break international law by potentially rewriting parts of the Brexit withdrawal deal.
Lord Falconer, the shadow attorney general, said the government was “in a big hole” over its internal markets bill, which the House of Lords is expected to amend this week to remove the contentious proposals.
John Major savages Boris Johnson's 'wretched betrayal' in searing Brexit speech
Sir John Major launched a furious attack on the Prime Minister's Brexit strategy, saying "our bombast, our blustering, our threats and our inflexibility" would leave the UK with a flimsy deal or no deal at all.
The former Tory Prime Minister also lambasted the Government's plans to override key elements of the Brexit deal, which ministers have admitted could break international law.
Sir John said Britain's global reputation has been trashed and lawyers left "incredulous" by the controversial UK Internal Markets Bill, which was "unprecedented in all our history - and for good reason".
"Lawyers everywhere are incredulous that the UK - often seen as the very cradle of the Rule of Law - could give themselves the power to break the law," he said in a pre-recorded lecture to Middle Temple on Monday evening.
Lords vote set to put No 10 on Brexit collision course with Biden
Boris Johnson has put himself on a collision course with the Joe Biden administration in the US after Downing Street said it would press ahead with legislation designed to override the Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.
The Express thinks this will boost hopes of a US trade deal, although the Financial Times cautions the diplomatic niceties were accompanied with a firm message on Brexit and the importance of preserving peace in Northern Ireland.
The Times believes the priority awarded to London will be regarded as an achievement for Dame Karen Pierce - Britain's ambassador to Washington - who has been building relations with the Biden team.
But the paper says Downing Street was left embarrassed after a close analysis of its tweet congratulating Mr Biden on his electoral success revealed it had been superimposed on a message welcoming Donald Trump's win.
Chris York, writing in HuffPostUK, blames "incompetence" and "ineptitude" in Whitehall. A government spokesperson admitted there had been a "technical error".
I know its selfish ...but please please, let's have a no deal and I hope the £ crashes and burns against the Euro in the forthcoming months...(I've hopefully sold my French cottage and each 0.01 of a change is worth £44!!.....
Canada’s Justin Trudeau says trade deal with UK may not be done
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has cast doubt over the UK securing a trade deal with his country by the 31 December Brexit deadline, which is necessary to avoid punitive tariffs.
Mr Trudeau said Britain was struggling to conclude an agreement rolling over the terms of the existing EU-Canada deal, and suggested that London does not have “the bandwidth” to get it done on time.
Canada is the largest of 15 EU deals that the international trade secretary, Liz Truss, has yet to roll over, with less than 50 days to go until the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union.
This transition will also mean the UK falling out of all free trade agreements that it enjoyed as a member of the EU, moving onto lowest common denominator World Trade Organisation terms for any that are not rolled over in time.
No 10 wanted to pull off a Covid briefing – but they called Alok Sharma
Initially it looked as if the business secretary was going to survive the questions unscathed. A member of the public called Chris got halfway through an intelligent question about how any vaccine would be rolled out before realising that it was Sharma he was talking to so there was no chance of getting an intelligent answer. Sure enough, Alok did not disappoint: confident to admit his ignorance he just burbled on about being sure that those that needed it most would get it first. Fair to say, Sharma is not a details man.
The trouble started with a question from the BBC about reports that Brexit could disrupt the supply chain for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Rather sweetly, Sharma didn’t even seem to sense the danger in the question. Perhaps this was because this was the one part of his brief he does understand and he was keen to share his excitement and wisdom with everyone watching. Yes, he said, Brexit was going to bring huge disruptions to almost every business which was why he had just started a series of webinars so that companies had a chance to prepare.
He didn’t seem to realise there was less than 50 days before the UK left the EU, that there was virtually no chance of businesses being prepared in time as the government hadn’t even yet arrived at a deal or no deal and vaccines wouldn’t be exempt from the chaos. If Covid doesn’t kill you, then Brexit will.
From there, it all went downhill. Asked about the current infighting within Downing St and the resignation of Lee Cain, all Sharma could manage was that everyone was working hard to protect lives and livelihoods. Principally their own. When Dominic Cummings single-handedly destroyed the government’s coronavirus messaging with his jaunts to Durham and his trips to Specsavers he had done so with only the good of the country in mind. Likewise, Cain had only ever wanted to teach the world to sing. Asked who Joe Biden’s chief of staff should call now that Boris didn’t have one, the best that Sharma could offer was that he was sure there was a reassuring answer-phone message about the climate crisis on the Downing Street switch board number.
Powis could tell the presser was falling apart and hurriedly referred subsequent questions about Brexit disruptions to the vaccine supply chain back to Sharma. By now you could see that even the business secretary was beginning to realise he might be in trouble. Even if he didn’t know quite why or just how much. He first mumbled something about being very hopeful about the vaccine but then he couldn’t prevent himself from telling the truth. Because at heart, Sharma is one of the few honest ministers in the cabinet. So he resorted to his first answer of there being problems and was last seen being dragged away by security shouting “webinars”.
You could hear the cries of despair coming from what was left of the Downing Street communications team. They had counted on their man not to mess up, and he had just let them down. It was turning into one of those days. Or, as the rest of us call it, one of those years.
Felixstowe Port in 'chaos' as Christmas and Brexit loom
Retailers, shipping and haulage companies have complained of "chaos" at Felixstowe Port in Suffolk, affecting goods in the run-up to Christmas.
One ship due to be unloaded at the port last week was redirected to Rotterdam because of "unacceptable" delays.
The owner, Hutchison Ports, blames pre-Brexit stockpiling and the pandemic.
Freight manager Matt Hudson warned that "if the chaos continues, increased shipping prices will be passed on to consumers".
Mr Hudson, whose company distributes goods picked up at the port, said containers were being left on the quayside because haulage companies could not book a slot to enter the site.
"It's delaying freight going into shops for consumers to buy," he said. "Shops are struggling anyway at the moment because of the impact from the coronavirus.
"If retail outlets can't sell what is actually en-route at the moment in time for Christmas, potentially they could lose even more money than they have done already this year."
Part of the problem is a shipment of 11,000 containers of PPE ordered by the government that is clogging up the port.
Comments
European diplomats have been told that there are still "fundamental differences" in the hunt for a Brexit trade deal and that the UK has "blocked" progress in key areas while trying to run down the clock.
Crucially, Mr Barnier told the meeting that the most important sticking point was the so-called level playing field - the mechanism that would ensure that, in future, the UK sticks to the same rules as the European Union in areas such as labour law and state aid.
The level playing field - commonly known as the LPF - is seen as crucial by the EU because of fears that the UK might otherwise undercut European laws in an effort to reduce costs and attract foreign investment.
Mr Barnier told the meeting that, despite optimistic claims from British politicians and stories in some UK newspapers, he did not consider that a deal about fisheries had moved any closer.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/brexit-trade-deal-barnier-says-uk-blocked-progress-in-key-areas/ar-BB1aIVFj?ocid=msedgntp
Exclusive: Taxes cut on birds’ eggs, raw hides, fur skins and ultra-strong spirits – but UK does not export them anyway
Liz Truss has been accused of misleading MPs and the public over her new Japan trade deal, because all the tariff “wins” are for goods the UK does not export to the country anyway.
Just 10 of 9,444 products will enjoy lower taxes, experts say, a list of obscure items such as birds’ eggs, raw hides, fur skins, handbags and ultra-strong spirits of at least 90 per cent alcohol.
Crucially, none of the 10 have been sold to Japan for at least three years – which means the gain to British exporters is “zero”, the study has found.
Yet Ms Truss claimed the “historic” Japan deal had achieved “strong tariff reductions on key agricultural products like pork, beef and salmon [that] will benefit farmers and food exporters”.
Emily Thornberry, Labour’s shadow trade secretary, called on Ms Truss to be “straight with parliament and the British people” about the implications of the agreement for British exporters.
“Liz Truss has repeatedly claimed that her deal with Japan goes ‘far beyond’ the EU’s agreement with Tokyo, but – the more we dig into the detail on tariff rates, on projected export growth, or on protected UK brands – the more that claim falls apart,” she said.
“She has a bad habit of over-promising and under-delivering on trade deals, then trying to fill the gap with these misleading claims.”
The undermining of Ms Truss’s boasts about the deal follow the ridicule heaped on the Department for International Trade (DIT) for its false claims about the price of soy sauce.
Ms Truss has also claimed a boost to trade with Japan worth £15.7bn over the next 15 years – but that is in comparison with no deal, not with the EU deal.
The government then acknowledged that 83 per cent of those gains would go to Japanese exporters, with only 17 per cent to the UK’s.
Furthermore, the GDP boost will be a puny 0.07 per cent – a tiny fraction of expected loss of between 5 and 8 per cent from Britain leaving the EU customs union and single market.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-japan-trade-deal-liz-truss-exports-b1619263.html
The UK risks becoming “an international pariah” endangering relations with the US under Joe Biden, Labour has warned, after ministers pledged to press ahead with a plan to break international law by potentially rewriting parts of the Brexit withdrawal deal.
Lord Falconer, the shadow attorney general, said the government was “in a big hole” over its internal markets bill, which the House of Lords is expected to amend this week to remove the contentious proposals.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/uk-risks-becoming-international-pariah-by-rewriting-brexit-bill/ar-BB1aPCME?ocid=msedgntp
Sir John Major launched a furious attack on the Prime Minister's Brexit strategy, saying "our bombast, our blustering, our threats and our inflexibility" would leave the UK with a flimsy deal or no deal at all.
The former Tory Prime Minister also lambasted the Government's plans to override key elements of the Brexit deal, which ministers have admitted could break international law.
Sir John said Britain's global reputation has been trashed and lawyers left "incredulous" by the controversial UK Internal Markets Bill, which was "unprecedented in all our history - and for good reason".
"Lawyers everywhere are incredulous that the UK - often seen as the very cradle of the Rule of Law - could give themselves the power to break the law," he said in a pre-recorded lecture to Middle Temple on Monday evening.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/john-major-savages-boris-johnson-s-wretched-betrayal-in-searing-brexit-speech/ar-BB1aQDdv?ocid=msedgntp
Boris Johnson has put himself on a collision course with the Joe Biden administration in the US after Downing Street said it would press ahead with legislation designed to override the Brexit deal on Northern Ireland.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/lords-vote-set-to-put-no-10-on-brexit-collision-course-with-biden/ar-BB1aQv4k?ocid=msedgntp
The Times believes the priority awarded to London will be regarded as an achievement for Dame Karen Pierce - Britain's ambassador to Washington - who has been building relations with the Biden team.
But the paper says Downing Street was left embarrassed after a close analysis of its tweet congratulating Mr Biden on his electoral success revealed it had been superimposed on a message welcoming Donald Trump's win.
Chris York, writing in HuffPostUK, blames "incompetence" and "ineptitude" in Whitehall. A government spokesperson admitted there had been a "technical error".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-54897657
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has cast doubt over the UK
securing a trade deal with his country by the 31 December Brexit deadline, which is necessary to avoid punitive tariffs.
Mr Trudeau said Britain was struggling to conclude an agreement rolling over the terms of the existing EU-Canada deal, and suggested that London does not have “the bandwidth” to get it done on time.
Canada is the largest of 15 EU deals that the international trade secretary, Liz Truss, has yet to roll over, with less than 50 days to go until the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union.
This transition will also mean the UK falling out of all free trade agreements that it enjoyed as a member of the EU, moving onto lowest common denominator World Trade Organisation terms for any that are not rolled over in time.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/canada-s-justin-trudeau-says-trade-deal-with-uk-may-not-be-done/ar-BB1aWnwC?ocid=msedgntp
"Short break from intense EU-UK negotiations in London," he commented, adding: "Went looking for level playing fields..."
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/michel-barnier-taunts-boris-johnson-with-photo-op-at-level-playing-field-as-brexit-talks-drag-on/ar-BB1aXdrp?ocid=msedgntp
Initially it looked as if the business secretary was going to survive the questions unscathed. A member of the public called Chris got halfway through an intelligent question about how any vaccine would be rolled out before realising that it was Sharma he was talking to so there was no chance of getting an intelligent answer. Sure enough, Alok did not disappoint: confident to admit his ignorance he just burbled on about being sure that those that needed it most would get it first. Fair to say, Sharma is not a details man.
The trouble started with a question from the BBC about reports that Brexit could disrupt the supply chain for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Rather sweetly, Sharma didn’t even seem to sense the danger in the question. Perhaps this was because this was the one part of his brief he does understand and he was keen to share his excitement and wisdom with everyone watching. Yes, he said, Brexit was going to bring huge disruptions to almost every business which was why he had just started a series of webinars so that companies had a chance to prepare.
He didn’t seem to realise there was less than 50 days before the UK left the EU, that there was virtually no chance of businesses being prepared in time as the government hadn’t even yet arrived at a deal or no deal and vaccines wouldn’t be exempt from the chaos. If Covid doesn’t kill you, then Brexit will.
From there, it all went downhill. Asked about the current infighting within Downing St and the resignation of Lee Cain, all Sharma could manage was that everyone was working hard to protect lives and livelihoods. Principally their own. When Dominic Cummings single-handedly destroyed the government’s coronavirus messaging with his jaunts to Durham and his trips to Specsavers he had done so with only the good of the country in mind. Likewise, Cain had only ever wanted to teach the world to sing. Asked who Joe Biden’s chief of staff should call now that Boris didn’t have one, the best that Sharma could offer was that he was sure there was a reassuring answer-phone message about the climate crisis on the Downing Street switch board number.
Powis could tell the presser was falling apart and hurriedly referred subsequent questions about Brexit disruptions to the vaccine supply chain back to Sharma. By now you could see that even the business secretary was beginning to realise he might be in trouble. Even if he didn’t know quite why or just how much. He first mumbled something about being very hopeful about the vaccine but then he couldn’t prevent himself from telling the truth. Because at heart, Sharma is one of the few honest ministers in the cabinet. So he resorted to his first answer of there being problems and was last seen being dragged away by security shouting “webinars”.
You could hear the cries of despair coming from what was left of the Downing Street communications team. They had counted on their man not to mess up, and he had just let them down. It was turning into one of those days. Or, as the rest of us call it, one of those years.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/no-10-wanted-to-pull-off-a-covid-briefing-but-they-called-alok-sharma/ar-BB1aXy12?ocid=msedgdhp
https://uk.yahoo.com/news/dominic-cummings-boris-johnson-brexit-uturn-144054016.html
Retailers, shipping and haulage companies have complained of "chaos" at Felixstowe Port in Suffolk, affecting goods in the run-up to Christmas.
One ship due to be unloaded at the port last week was redirected to Rotterdam because of "unacceptable" delays.
The owner, Hutchison Ports, blames pre-Brexit stockpiling and the pandemic.
Freight manager Matt Hudson warned that "if the chaos continues, increased shipping prices will be passed on to consumers".
Mr Hudson, whose company distributes goods picked up at the port, said containers were being left on the quayside because haulage companies could not book a slot to enter the site.
"It's delaying freight going into shops for consumers to buy," he said. "Shops are struggling anyway at the moment because of the impact from the coronavirus.
"If retail outlets can't sell what is actually en-route at the moment in time for Christmas, potentially they could lose even more money than they have done already this year."
Part of the problem is a shipment of 11,000 containers of PPE ordered by the government that is clogging up the port.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54908129
Test and Trace boss having to self-isolate after alert from her own app
The under-pressure head of NHS Test and Trace is having to self-isolate after being pinged by the scheme's smartphone app.
Baroness Dido Harding revealed on Twitter she would have to quarantine until 26 November after receiving an alert.
Alongside a screenshot of the NHS Test and Trace app, she posted: "Nothing like personal experience of your own products ....got this overnight.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/coronavirus/test-and-trace-boss-having-to-self-isolate-after-alert-from-her-own-app/ar-BB1b7H95?ocid=msedgntp
Anyone maybe.