Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

The government has suffered another defeat in the House of Lords on its flagship Brexit bill.

Peers voted in favour of an amendment that would force ministers to keep an EU human rights charter as part of British law after Brexit.

316 voted in support of the motion to retain the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights compared to 245 who opposed it.

It is the third major defeat the government has suffered on its EU Withdrawal Bill in less than a week.

Exclusive: Taking back control of UK waters would lower the price of British-caught fish, new analysis shows – but most of the fish we eat is imported

A hard Brexit that banned EU fishermen from UK waters would lead to many more fish being landed by British boats and a corresponding drop in prices, according to new economic analysis.

But there’s a catch. Two-thirds of the fish UK consumers eat are imported from overseas, and the costs of those would rise, due to the trade barriers resulting from a hard Brexit. Moreover, the fall in the price of UK fish would lead to a drop in earnings for UK fishermen. Overall, the analysis shows closing the UK’s sea borders would be a “lose-lose situation” for both UK and EU consumers and fishing industries.

The issue of fishing has become one of the most highly charged Brexit issues. The current EU system is perceived as unfair, with vessels from other EU nations landing 10 times more fish from UK waters than vice versa.

Ministers have said UK boats will catch hundreds of thousands of tonnes more fish after Brexit. But fishermen have repeatedly expressed fears that the ministers will not “take back control” of UK waters, but instead will trade away access to British waters in exchange for access to other markets. In March, the UK government angered the industry by conceding that EU fishing rules will remain in place until 2020.

The new analysis was conducted by researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) in the Netherlands, rated the world’s top university for agricultural research. It found that 10-15% more fish would be landed by UK vessels in the hard Brexit scenario from 2020-2025, worth £250m over the period. But this increased supply would push prices down, and overall the UK fleet would earn less, the study indicated.

Furthermore, the UK imports almost twice as much fish as it exports, with the top five being cod, tuna, prawns, salmon and haddock. The impact of a hard Brexit on trade would make these more expensive, the researchers found. The impact would also hit UK fish farms, which export most of their products, and the fish processing industry, which relies on imports.

“While the domestic fish price goes down, the price of the imported fish goes up quite a lot,” said Heleen Bartelings at WUR. “There is also an impact on [farmed fish] and processed fish products – both become more expensive. So it is only a small part of the UK fish sector that is less expensive and the rest is more expensive.”

She said the apparent opportunity for the UK to “cash in” by closing marine borders is scotched by the analysis. “Overall, the advantage of an increased fish access is completely outweighed by the costs of protectionism,” the report concluded.

The EU nations that would be most affected by the end of access to UK waters in the analysis were Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands, whose fishing fleets catch 35-45% of their fish in UK. Ireland also imports a lot of fish from the UK. “The Irish consumers will lose out the most, as we see fish prices there rising up to 9%,” said Bartelings.
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Helen McLachlan, at WWF-UK, said the new analysis held no surprises: “We import most of what we eat and export most of what we catch.” She said a good Brexit transition could see new rules enabling both a healthy ocean and a thriving fishing industry.

The WUR analysis employed a widely used economic model and also tested to see how much changing the necessary assumptions affected their conclusions. The overall “lose-lose” outcome of a hard Brexit in fisheries remained in all circumstances, with only the scale of losses being different. “We have good trust in our results,” said Bartelings.

Britain is set to make an offer to the EU on future immigration which would see arrangements “very similar” to current free movement rules put in place after Brexit, The Independent has learned.

UK negotiators would like to put the proposal forward to coincide with a European Council summit in June, in a bid to break a deadlock in Brexit talks.

The plan would see a high level of access to the UK for EU citizens in the future, but would leave the British government power to halt it in certain circumstances.

But it is likely to enrage hardliners who would see anything even mildly like free movement as a betrayal of the 2016 referendum result – on Saturday cabinet minister David Davis, who has fought for a harder Brexit, was reported to be on the brink of resigning over the UK’s apparently softening position on EU withdrawal.

It comes as a leaked legal experts’ report commissioned by politicians in Belfast concluded it will be impossible to stop people coming into the UK at will anyway, if Theresa May stays true to her commitment to avoid a hard border with Ireland.

A Conservative MP has for the first time claimed that the result of the Brexit vote has been thrown into question by the Cambridge Analytica data scandal, increasing pressure for a fresh public vote on the exit deal.

The allegations that the Leave campaign cheated spending limits, and that personal data was misused to illegally target voters, raise “very serious questions” about the fairness of the campaign, Antoinette Sandbach told The Independent.

“We have this British sense of fair play and there is a feeling, a groundswell of unease, that the referendum campaign was not done in a British way,” the MP for Eddisbury in Cheshire said.

Ms Sandbach is the first Tory MP to publicly join growing warnings that the data scandal may have tainted the Brexit vote – although others have done so privately, The Independent has learned.
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Cross-party amendment, passed with support of 19 Tory rebels, is seventh Lords defeat for government on EU withdrawal bill

The government has suffered a heavy defeat on a crucial Lords vote that could pave the way for parliament to send ministers back to the Brussels negotiations if MPs vote down Theresa May’s Brexit deal.

Labour said the amendment, which is the seventh Lords defeat for the government on the EU withdrawal bill, would effectively prevent Britain crashing out of the EU with no deal. The cross-party amendment was supported by 19 Tory rebels, winning by a majority of 91.

Ministers have previously warned that should parliament vote down the deal agreed by negotiators, Britain would leave the bloc with no agreement. The amendment, led by former Tory minister Douglas Hogg, would change that scenario, meaning parliament could alter it and ask the government to reopen EU talks.

The measure is designed to enhance Conservative MP Dominic Grieve’s amendment to the EU withdrawal bill, guaranteeing MPs a vote on the final deal, which won a shock victory in the Commons in December.

Keir Starmer, the shadow Brexit secretary, called the vote “a hugely significant moment in the fight to ensure parliament has a proper role in the Brexit negotiations and that we avoid a no-deal situation.”

The leader of the Liberal Democrats in the Lords, Dick Newby, said the amendment “puts parliament in the driving seat.”

Rebel Tory sources have said they hope to attract cross-party support in the Commons for the plan, giving remainers the confidence to vote against a damaging Brexit deal without the fear that it will trigger a “no deal” outcome where the consequences would be worse.
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In October, when polling was conducted just after the EU summit that did not conclude with an agreement on phase one of the Brexit talks because the process was taking longer than the UK government originally expected, the net confidence score was -15 (30% said the talks would end satisfactorily, against 45% who said the opposite.) In December, after a phase one agreement was reached, the net score was -4 (35% minus 39%). But now the net score is down to -19. Only 28% think the talks will conclude satisfactorily, against 47% who think they will end unsatisfactorily.

The president of the European Commission has appealed to Belgium to offer citizenship to the hundreds of British EU officials who face an uncertain future after Brexit.

Around 800 British nationals working for the European Commission in Brussels and an unknown number working for other institutions have not been given a definitive answer to what will happen to them when the UK leaves the EU and they lose their European citizenship.

After a speech by Charles Michel, the Belgian prime minister, in the European Parliament, Jean-Claude Juncker asked him to think of British officials, who he said deserved better than to be booted out.
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Belgian citizenship can be applied for after living in the country for five years and contributing to its social security system. Some applications for citizenship by British EU officials for Belgian citizenship have however been rejected because Commission officials have a special diplomatic tax status.

The European Union is planning to defy Tory Brexiters and retain its offices in London – the former Conservative central office at 32 Smith Square – as an outpost from which to communicate with British citizens after Brexit, leaked documents reveal.

High-profile Brexiters had called last year for the EU to hand back 32 Smith Square, a large red-brick building that was previously Margaret Thatcher’s headquarters and the scene of her general election victories.

The European Union is planning to defy Tory Brexiters and retain its offices in London – the former Conservative central office at 32 Smith Square – as an outpost from which to communicate with British citizens after Brexit, leaked documents reveal.

High-profile Brexiters had called last year for the EU to hand back 32 Smith Square, a large red-brick building that was previously Margaret Thatcher’s headquarters and the scene of her general election victories.

“Although the UK is set to become a third country, as a former member state with many links to the EU, it nonetheless – and whatever the outcome of the negotiations – will remain a special and essential partner of the union: most notably, as of now, more than 3 million non-British EU citizens reside in the United Kingdom,” Welle says.

“Both the London and Edinburgh offices offer unique advantages to particular parliament’s positions and serve as a vehicle for communicating with citizens.”

Welle continues: “The House of Europe in London is moreover ideally suited to host a wide range of external events, thanks to its location and meeting facilities, which may also serve as a means of engaging with civil society in the international setting that London will undoubtedly remain ...

“The cost of the offices of parliament in the United Kingdom – buildings, staff and operations included – is within the normal range of EP [European parliament] liaison offices in larger member states. In the light of the above, it is therefore proposed to continue parliament’s presence in the UK following the example of parliament’s Washington office.”

Welle’s note also says the European parliament will have to examine its contracts with British suppliers, however, when the UK withdraws from the EU.

Rebel Tory MPs believe they now have sufficient support to force Theresa May into effectively keeping the UK in the single market.

Conservatives have told The Independent there would be enough of their party’s MPs to lock in full single market access after Brexit, as long as Labour also backs it.

But in a move set to enrage Labour politicians, Jeremy Corbyn’s front bench will on Tuesday refuse support for just such a proposal in the Lords – preventing it from being voted on in the Commons.

Mr Corbyn is now being warned he risks a major internal row and must explain to pro-EU party members why he is “throwing away a clear opportunity” to defeat Ms May’s plans to abandon the single market.

It follows reports that Tory chief whip Julian Smith has already told the prime minister she lacks numbers in the Commons to defeat rebel amendments aimed at keeping the UK in an EU customs union.

Tory rebels, who joined forces with Labour to shift the government towards closer customs relations with Europe, will now push Ms May towards remaining inside the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) – which would deliver full single market access.

They say up to 15 Conservative backbenchers are now certain it is the best way to ensure the UK’s economic strength, while also staying true to the 2016 referendum result.

EU27 ministers met today with the bloc’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels to discuss the state of talks so far.

“Mr Barnier informed us that since 23 March no significant progress has been made on the three pillars: withdrawal, future framework, and Ireland,” the Bulgarian minister chairing the Council told journalists at an official press conference following the meeting.

The renewed deadlock in Brussels comes as Theresa May’s cabinet repeatedly fails to agree with itself on what customs arrangement it wants with the EU after Brexit, despite publishing two options in August of last year. Both those options were dismissed as “magical thinking” by the EU at the time.

Ekaterina Zakharieva, the Bulgarian foreign minister who led the Brussels press conference, said the EU27 countries wanted more “intensive engagement by the UK government in the coming weeks”, warning that the October deadline was now “only five months from now”.

Theresa May will next meet EU leaders in Brussels at the end of June for a meeting of the European Council.

Ms Zakharieva said: “In June we need to see substantive progress on Ireland, governance, and all remaining separation issues. Our citizens and our businesses on both sides of the channel need more security and predictability for the future. As soon as possible they need clarity about what will happen when Brexit takes place.”

The move could trigger a constitutional crisis, as it would be the first time the UK Government has pushed through laws against the will of Scotland

The paper is an attempt to get on the front foot in Brussels amid fears that EU negotiators too often set the agenda, to re-assure Tory MPs that Ms May has a coherent plan and give civil servants a framework upon which to take decisions.

But it comes amid deadlock in cabinet over customs relations, stalemate in parliament in efforts to pass Brexit legislation and claims from the EU that no progress has been made in negotiations since March.

Over the course of the UK's ongoing Brexit negotiations, new and unforeseen hurdles have often popped up. Many of the disputes are local, like the details over the Irish border or the rights of Europeans living in Britain. But some of the disagreements literally reach to the stars, as is the case with the unfinished Galileo global navigation satellite system.

European Union officials in Brussels have told the UK that after they leave the bloc some of Galileo's functions would no longer be available to them. Yet the uproar is about more than simple access. It's about pride, skilled jobs and money. According to a report in the Financial Times, since 2005 the UK has contributed €1.4 billion ($1.66 billion) to the project's budget.

British firms have also built much of the technology and actual equipment. Airbus' UK arm has been a major contributor to the project and currently runs ground control out of Portsmouth and is bidding for an extension of this contract.

Yet after divorce nothing is the same and UK-based companies will suffer because only EU-based firms are allowed to bid for "security sensitive" work on the Galileo project. Suppliers can either move or forego any future work on the project.
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As a knee-jerk response to the proposed changes, UK officials have threatened less cooperation in general on security and have floated the possibility of creating their own independent system.
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The tit for tat arguments around the satellite system have been slowly simmering to the top. After repeated British treats, Michel Barnier, the EU's head Brexit negotiator, on Monday assured that by leaving the EU, the UK's access to Galileo would be automatically cut. The island nation could only rejoin the system as a third country through a new agreement.

As for blocking non-EU countries' access to work on the satellite program, Barnier also said that the rules were well known and that the UK itself was among the countries to approve such regulations. Despite all this, he nonetheless sees a way forward for the UK pointing to the current Galileo cooperation with the US and Norway.

But like many aspects of the Brexit divorce, the UK wants its Union Jack cake and wants to eat it too. It is demanding unfettered access to all of Galileo's tool and wants to be able to take part in future development of the actual flying hardware and the secure programing — all while being outside of the EU.

In the worst case scenario, the UK will leave the EU with no agreement and simply lose access to Galileo. At the same time the government could try to block UK companies from passing on their designs or ideas, which could cause delays since the system is not complete.

However, in all likelihood the UK will reach an agreement with the EU over the use of Galileo data. Whether it will be able to remain the builder behind the scenes seems less likely. But in the meantime British firms will have to relocate or after March 2019 there may be a failure to launch.

The Irish government does not want a border down the Irish Sea separating Great Britain from Northern Ireland, a senior lawmaker from the country’s governing party has said.

Neale Richmond, the Fine Gael senator who chairs the body’s Brexit committee, said Brexiteers had mischaracterised the country’s approach to solving the border question.

His comments come a day after Taoiseach Leo Varadkar met with Theresa May at a summit on Sofia, where he warned that there was a “serious” possibility of the UK quitting without a deal.

EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has said there would likely be customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland if the so-called “backstop” of keeping NI in the customs union and single market took effect.

But Mr Richmond on Friday morning said the UK should negotiate “the absolute best alignment” with the EU that means there was no border anywhere.

“One thing we’ve been very clear on, we always want it to be an overall EU-UK agreement – we don’t want to see any border on the island of Ireland, something the British government has committed to both in December again and in March – but we always don’t want to see any border in the United Kingdom, we don’t see that a vision, down the Irish Sea, as a lot of Brexiteers are trying to paint our position,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

He added: “Nothing’s gone and nothing’s finished at this stage; that’s what we’re hoping for. We have the confirmation from the British government: they have said there will be no hard border on the island of Ireland.”

The senator warned that the EU had to protect the integrity of its single market, stating that “we’re not going to sacrifice the entire integrity of our single market, of our union, just to satisfy certain opinions in the United Kingdom”.