There is a "special place in hell" for pro-Brexit campaigners who demanded Britain leave the EU without a plan for making it happen, Donald Tusk has said.
The European Council president launched the scathing attack as he accused anti-EU campaigners of pushing for Brexit "without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely."
Mr Tusk also dismissed suggestions that the EU might be willing to reopen negotiations over the controversial Northern Ireland backstop, dealing a blow to Theresa May's hopes of securing fresh concessions as she tries to get her deal through parliament.
Speaking in Brussels alongside Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar, he said: "‘I've been wondering what a special place in hell looks like for people who promoted Brexit without even a sketch of a plan how to carry it out safely."
Ms May is hoping to persuade the EU to place a time-limit on the backstop or give the UK the right to exit unilaterally - a key demand of Tory rebels - but Mr Tusk said there would be no "new offer" from Brussels.
He said: "The position of the EU27 is clear, as expressed in the documents agreed with the UK government - that is, the withdrawal agreement and the political declaration. The EU27 is not making any new offer."
Insisting that the backstop was necessary to maintain peace in Northern Ireland he said: "The top priority for us remains the issue of the border on the island of Ireland and the guarantee to maintain the peace process in accord with the Good Friday Agreement.
"There is no room for speculation here: the EU itself is first and foremost a peace project. We will not gamble with peace or put a sell-by date on reconciliation. This is why we insist on the backstop."
Ms May has promised to put forward a fresh plan for maintaining an open border in Northern Ireland, but Mr Tusk warned that any new proposals from the UK must be "believeable".
He said: "Give us a believable guarantee for peace in Northern Ireland and the UK will leave the EU as a trusted friend.
"I hope the UK government will present ideas that will both respect this point of view and at the same time command a clear and stable majority in the House of Commons."
LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit will be heavenly for the United Kingdom because it will be free from bullies iLONDON (Reuters) - Brexit will be heavenly for the United Kingdom because it will be free from bullies in Europe, Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said on Wednesday in a direct riposte to European Council President Donald Tusk.
Britain’s Brexiteers with no plan of how to deliver deserve a “special place in hell”, Tusk said.
“After Brexit we will be free of unelected, arrogant bullies like you and run our own country,” Farage said of Tusk. “Sounds more like heaven to me.”n Europe, Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said on Wednesday in a direct riposte to European Council President Donald Tusk.
Britain’s Brexiteers with no plan of how to deliver deserve a “special place in hell”, Tusk said.
“After Brexit we will be free of unelected, arrogant bullies like you and run our own country,” Farage said of Tusk. “Sounds more like heaven to me.”
My perception is that, despite all the sound and fury, there is still a sizeable political majority advocating Brexit.-
LONDON (Reuters) - There will have to be changes to the Brexit agreement if the European Union wants Britain to leave with a deal, a spokesman for Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday.
Earlier, several EU leaders ruled out reopening the divorce deal to accommodate May’s demands to change the most contentious part on the future border arrangements between EU member Ireland and the British province of Northern Ireland.
Widely claimed as the birthplace of The Beatles, no other German city has the British flair of Hamburg. But with the UK's exit from the EU looming, a post-Brexit future is proving hard to come together in the port city.
On Hamburg's Beatlesplatz, a small group of tourists shiver in the biting wind. The memorial to the Fab Four's early years, spent touring the bars of the German port city, is just one indicator of the city's close ties with the UK, centuries after merchants from Hamburg first started business with London.
With 4,000 Brits now living in the Hanseatic town, fish and chips, a full English breakfast or just a good "cuppa" are never far away. But the long and winding road to Brexit has left Hamburg's 4,000 Brits calling for help.
Among them is Gibbo Kemp. Following in the footsteps of the Beatles, the Liverpudlian first arrived in Hamburg in 1963, where he found work playing in the house band at Hamburg's "Star Club."
Now the landlord of "The English Pub," the 72-year-old has been pulling in punters for the past 16 years. Inside, Union Jacks flags are draped around the windows; photos of The Queen and the Beatles decorate the deep red walls and the sweet smell of old beer soaked into the bar sparks a nostalgia of northern England. But just how long that beer will keep flowing is unclear. A disorderly Brexit could leave Gibbo without the pints to pull.
"My supplier's stockpiling it and then I'll see what happens. Otherwise, I'll have to change my strategy. I haven't got a clue. I really haven't got a clue. They, as one of the world's major brewers, haven't got a clue either."
Gibbo isn't alone in his concerns. Amid the torrent of speculation and uncertainty over worst case scenarios, support group "British in Germany” is working tirelessly to keep Brits in Germany in the know, both on social media and at special information evenings.
"The biggest concerns right now is whether they're going to hit the right criteria to get the permanent residency," representative Ellie Sellwood tells DW. "People are really worried that they're going to fall through the cracks and not going to be given the status they need to stay here."
Since the referendum in June 2016, more than 800 Brits in Hamburg have adopted dual German citizenship. After avoiding the infamous German bureaucracy for months, it's Gibbo's turn.
"I just kept putting it off," he says. "I genuinely thought that Brexit would never happen."
Under the current draft Brexit deal, Brits in Germany would be guaranteed the same rights as other EU citizens until the end of 2020. But on one condition: That the UK leaves the EU with a Brexit deal. A "hard Brexit" – in which the UK would crash out of the EU without a deal – would result in a transition period of just three months.
Despite efforts by many Brits to prepare for the worst-case scenario, many have found themselves in a vicious circle of bureaucracy. Until the UK leaves the EU, most alternative options for residency are out of bounds for Brits while they still have European citizenship.
Despite German Chancellor Angela Merkel's optimism this week that there's still time to avoid a hard Brexit, the UK government remains divided on the draft Brexit deal — leaving frustrated Brits, both in Germany and across the EU, with more questions than answers.
"The government's making a fool of us," says pub landlord Gibbo Kemp. "They're making a complete fool out of themselves. And us lot, who just happen to be British."
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain is due to leave the European Union on March 29, yet in reality the deadline for reaching an exit deal with the European Union is likely to be well before that date if parliament is to pass necessary legislation in time.
The government plans to pass several pieces of major new legislation and hundreds of changes to existing law to adapt Britain to life outside the EU.
May is not expected to bring a deal back to parliament before Feb. 14, when she has promised that lawmakers will next get to debate Brexit. After that, parliament has only 26 sitting days left before March 29.
Several previous bills on Britain’s relationship with Europe, including the 2018 EU Withdrawal Act, which transferred EU law into British law, have taken upwards of 30 sitting days to pass through parliament.
Below is a summary of the Brexit-related legislation that the government intends to pass, although it has not been clear whether it believes all are needed by March 29.
EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL AGREEMENT) BILL
Only needed if Britain is to leave with a deal, this bill must pass in order for the Withdrawal Agreement with the EU to have domestic legal effect. But it cannot be introduced to parliament until lawmakers have voted to approve the deal.
It gives effect to the transition period, due to run until December 2020, as well as the rights of EU citizens, a financial settlement with the bloc and an agreement on how to avoid a hard border in Ireland if a future trade deal with the EU cannot be concluded in time.
Many provisions are expected to be contentious, so the bill’s passage is unlikely to be quick.
TRADE BILL
This bill focuses on transposing outside countries’ trade deals with the EU into bilateral deals with Britain. It does not cover future trade agreements with the EU or others.
It sets up a Trade Remedies Authority and gives British authorities new power to collect and share information on exporters.
Trade minister Liam Fox says he is “increasingly confident” it will pass through parliament by the time Britain leaves, but that otherwise there are contingency plans.
FINANCIAL SERVICES BILL
Only needed if there is no deal, it gives Britain power to implement and amend EU financial services regulations that have been agreed or are in negotiation and due to be implemented within two years of Brexit.
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The following four bills could probably be passed during a transition period. But if Britain looks set to leave the EU without a deal, the government may try to slim them down in order to rush them through.
AGRICULTURE BILL
Sets out farming and environment policy once Britain has quit the EU and its Common Agricultural Policy.
FISHERIES BILL
Creates a domestic fisheries policy governing foreign access to British fishing grounds, the licensing of fishing boats, and grants connected to fishing and marine conservation.
IMMIGRATION BILL
Ends free movement of people from the EU and repeals other EU law relating to immigration; protects the status of Irish citizens in UK immigration law; and gives Britain powers to amend EU law on social security coordination.
HEALTHCARE (INTERNATIONAL ARRANGEMENTS) BILL
Gives Britain power to fund and implement reciprocal healthcare schemes and share data. It is intended to allow the UK to maintain reciprocal healthcare arrangements with EU countries, but is not limited to the EU and could also allow Britain to implement new schemes with countries outside the EU.
STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS
In addition to new bills, parliament also needs to approve hundreds of changes to existing law to prevent legal ‘black holes’ - where laws will fail to function or become invalid after Brexit.
These changes are made through “statutory instruments” (SI), subject to varying degrees of scrutiny by lawmakers.
They can be used to make changes such as altering the name of a regulator where a law refers to an EU body that will no longer be relevant to Britain.
The government estimates it needs to pass around 500 SIs by March 29.
As of Feb. 5, 398 had been submitted and 119 had completed their passage through parliament, according to the Hansard Society, a pro-democracy research body.
The government can, in an emergency, implement an SI with immediate effect, pending approval within a fixed period.
But it can only do that if the documents have been prepared, and parliamentary experts say government departments are having difficulty drafting them quickly enough.
DELAYING THE EXIT DATE
Having notified the EU of its intent to leave the bloc under Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, Britain must exit at 11 p.m. UK time (2300 GMT) on March 29, 2019, unless the other 27 members agree to extend the two-year negotiation period.
Since that date is also enshrined in Britain’s 2018 European Union (Withdrawal) Act, parliamentary approval would also be required to delay the departure.
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES
If Britain leaves with a deal, it will continue to be bound by hundreds of EU international agreements during the transition period. If it leaves without a deal, these will immediately cease to apply, so a large number of replacement treaties will need to be ratified, either before or as soon as possible after March 29.
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday that she saw and heard a desire from European Union leaders to ensure Britain leaves the bloc with a deal.
“What I see and hear from leaders is a desire for us to work together to ensure that we can deliver the UK leaving the European Union with a deal,” May said after meeting Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Council President Donald Tusk.
“It is not going to be easy but crucially President Juncker and I have agreed that talks will now start to find a way through this, to find a way to get this over the line and to deliver on the concerns that parliament has so we get a majority in parliament,” she said.
“I am clear that I am going to deliver Brexit, I am going to deliver it on time, that is what I am going to do for the British public. I will be negotiating hard in the coming days to do just that,” May said.
Theresa May is returning to Westminster facing ministerial resignations after she left talks with EU leaders over her Brexit deal empty-handed.
With another vote in the Commons due next week, a minister said colleagues on Ms May’s own front bench are ready to quit if there is no breakthrough in talks with Brussels.
She was told on Thursday by a string of EU chiefs that the controversial backstop in the withdrawal agreement was not up for negotiation – and that she should instead change her red lines to win Labour support and take the deal over the line.
In a climbdown that is likely to enrage hardline Brexiteers, she also abandoned instructions from Tory MPs to drop the backstop entirely, clarifying in meetings with EU leaders that she was instead seeking “changes” to it.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told the prime minister on Thursday that the EU27 would not reopen the withdrawal agreement – describing it as “a carefully balanced compromise between the European Union and the UK, in which both sides have made significant concessions to arrive at a deal”.
Donald Tusk, the European Council president, said after his meeting with the PM there was “still no breakthrough in sight” and that “talks will continue”, while the European parliament’s Brexit chief Guy Verhofstadt warned: “For us, an all-weather backstop is absolutely key and if there are problems with the backstop as it is absolutely seen, our proposal is to try and solve the problem in the political declaration.”
He added: “Mrs May today in the meeting assured us that there will be a backstop.
“What she said already in Belfast: there’s no question to remove the backstop, because that is absolutely necessary for securing and safeguarding the Good Friday Agreement, internal market and peace process,” he said.
But back in Westminster Stephen Hammond, a health minister, set a deadline of the next crunch Commons votes – on 14 February – for the prime minister to show firm evidence of progress to prevent the “catastrophe” of crashing out of the EU.
“The opportunity to ensure that no deal doesn’t happen by mistake and the opportunity to block that is there,” he told The House magazine in an interview.
He added: “Mrs May today in the meeting assured us that there will be a backstop.
“What she said already in Belfast: there’s no question to remove the backstop, because that is absolutely necessary for securing and safeguarding the Good Friday Agreement, internal market and peace process,” he said.
But back in Westminster Stephen Hammond, a health minister, set a deadline of the next crunch Commons votes – on 14 February – for the prime minister to show firm evidence of progress to prevent the “catastrophe” of crashing out of the EU.
“The opportunity to ensure that no deal doesn’t happen by mistake and the opportunity to block that is there,” he told The House magazine in an interview.
Instead, pro-EU MPs will table a repeat of the Yvette Cooper amendment – to force Ms May to seek an extension of Article 50, if she cannot pass her deal – which was defeated by 23 votes last week.
Cabinet ministers are likely to push again for a free vote, after Greg Clark, the business secretary, said exporters faced a deadline of next week to know a no deal will be averted.
Mr Hammond – a staunch opponent of a hard Brexit until he joined the government in November – pointed out that the Commons had already agreed that “no deal is a calamitous outcome”.
Asked if he would resign to vote for the equivalent of the Cooper amendment on 14 February, he replied: “We will all have to look into our conscience at that stage.
“But I don’t think anyone can doubt my principles and what my view would be if that is the last opportunity.”
He added: “I’ve always argued for what is commonly termed as a soft Brexit. I still believe that no deal would be a catastrophe for this country.”
Mr Hammond is the second minister to set a deadline of next week for firm progress towards passing a deal, after Richard Harrington, the business minister, did the same.
Meanwhile, senior No 10 officials denied the prime minister had told Mr Verhofstadt that her energies were focused on “changes“ to the backstop, rather than replacing it – as she whipped Tory MPs to support last week.
Pointing to a possible time limit, an exit mechanism and technology-based “alternative arrangements”, one said: “There are three options and we continue to work on all of those.”
In a joint statement the British government and European Commission said Ms May had had a “robust but constructive” meeting with president Mr Juncker, and that the pair would meet again before the end of the month.
The two negotiating teams have been formally stood down since the withdrawal agreement was agreed between the two sides last year, with the EU saying it did not anticipate any further meetings. But with MPs in Westminster blocking the ratification of the agreement, officials will begin meeting again.
The joint statement said the gathering was “held in a spirit of working together to achieve the UK’s orderly withdrawal from the EU”.
Theresa May is said to have explained the situation in Westminster to Mr Juncker and raised “various options for dealing with these concerns”.
But Mr Juncker responded by underlining that the EU27 would not reopen the withdrawal agreement – describing it as ”a carefully balanced compromise between the European Union and the UK, in which both sides have made significant concessions to arrive at a deal”.
However, he “expressed his openness to add wording to the political declaration agreed by the EU27 and the UK in order to be more ambitious in terms of content and speed when it comes to the future relationship between the European Union and the UK”, according to the read-out of the meeting.
The statement concluded: “The discussion was robust but constructive. Despite the challenges, the two leaders agreed that their teams should hold talks as to whether a way through can be found that would gain the broadest possible support in the UK parliament and respect the guidelines agreed by the European Council. The prime minister and the president will meet again before the end of February to take stock of these discussions.”
Ms May’s meeting Mr Tusk comes a day after he caused a row by warning that there was a “special place in hell” for those who promoted Brexit without even a basic plan for how to actually enact it. Speaking after her meeting she said: “I’ve raised with President Tusk the language that he used yesterday which was not helpful and caused widespread dismay in the UK. The point I made to him is that we should both be working to ensure we should deliver a close relationship between the UK and EU in the future and that’s what he should be focusing on.”
Speaking on her way back to London, she added: “I’ve had a good series of meetings today. We’ve had robust discussions but they’ve been constructive.
“What I’ve set out is our clear position, that we must secure legally binding changes to the withdrawal agreement to deal with the concerns that parliament has over the backstop. Taking that, changes with the backstop, together with the other work we’re doing on workers’ rights and other issues, will deliver a stable majority in parliament. That’s what I’ve continued to push for.”
With 50 days remaining, here are some of the deadlines and events that will be coming up
[...]
8 February: possible export problems
[...]
14 February: Brexit debate in the Commons.
[...]
14 February: first statutory instrument deadline.
[...]
17 February: more trade woes.
[...]
20 February: international treaty ratification deadline.
[...]
28 February: self-imposed deadline
[...]
Early-mid March: second “meaningful vote”.
[...]
21-22 March: article 50 extension request?
[...]
By 28 March: UK ratification of extension?
[...]
Mid-late March: UK ratification of deal.
[...]
25-28 March: EU ratification.
[...]
29 March: Brexit day?
[...]
15-18 April: EU ratification following an extension.
[...]
23-26 May: European elections.
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The government has started to recruit civilians to work in an emergency command and control centre being set up to make sure Britain runs smoothly in the aftermath of a potential no-deal Brexit.
Briefing notes issued by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to recruitment agencies state the EU Exit Emergencies Centre (EUXE) could stay open “potentially for two years”.
The chief executive of the civil service, John Manzoni, has already said it is looking to second 5,000 civil servants, with volunteers sought in non-Brexit departments including the Department for Education and the Department for International Development.
But with 50 days to go to Brexit, the civil service is widening the net to recruit external contractors to help with what appears to be a military-style “Gold command”, which will operate out of offices close to Westminster.
According to briefing notes seen by the Guardian, the government is looking for “unflappable” individuals to help brief ministers and the Cabinet Office on any unfolding emergencies in a no-deal scenario.
Candidates are being offered between £300 and £400 a day and must be prepared to start by the end of this month.
They have been told the emergency centre could be based at Marsham Street, where several government offices, including the Home Office, are based, and which is a short walk from the Palace of Westminster. The other potential site is Nobel House in Smith Square, also close to Westminster.
Defra is recruiting for at least three different roles: briefing emergency centre officers, liaison emergency centre officers and situation emergency centre officers.
The emergency control centre will have a team of officers producing briefing notes for ministers “at pace” and checking the “battle rhythm” for emerging urgent policy changes.
Whitehall departments were told in December to ramp up their no-deal planning and since then, leaks have emerged from Defra of plans to deal with “putrefying stockpiles” of uncollected waste and of issues in relation to livestock caught in potential gridlock in Kent.
The department will also have to deal with water quality issues that may emerge if there is a shortage of purification chemicals and will have to liaise with local resilience groups on any civil reaction to shortages in the shops.
The recruits for EUXE must be able to “see the emergency trends with little or no information and act appropriately at pace”.
They must also be “a horizon scanner – someone who is looking up and out into the working environment to spot early indications of approaching issues or emergencies”.
The situation officers “must be unflappable” with the “ability to work in an area of high public and media interest” and have the “ability to make sound, logical judgments based on possibly incomplete or imperfect information”.
Applicants are being recruited on a six-month contract with an option for three-month extensions up to two years.
“The EUXE centre is designed to be a temporary measure and the authority expects its lifetime to last about six months, with a potential for further extensions in three-month periods, should an ongoing need arise, potentially up to two years,” said the job description.
A Defra spokesperson said: “As you’d expect, Defra and departments across government continue to work hard preparing for the UK’s exit from the EU. It’s the job of a responsible government to ensure we’re prepared for all scenarios, and we continue to recruit and prioritise our resources accordingly.”
“Last year, we didn’t bottle till March,” says Gavin Quinney, who with his wife, Angela, has been producing a range of critically acclaimed Bordeaux blanc white and Bordeaux supérieur red wines from their 25 hectares (62 acres) of vines since 2000.
“This year, we’ve brought it forward. We have to get enough stock, at least six months, into the UK before the end of March. It’d just be dumb not to. There’s no Brexit that’ll be good for this business. But a no-deal Brexit will be a catastrophe.”
Roughly 60% of the Quinneys’ production of about 150,000 bottles a year, all mis en bouteille – bottled – on the estate, goes to customers in Britain, where the restaurateurs Gordon Ramsay and Rick Stein have served Château Bauduc’s trademark sauvignon blanc as their house white for more than 15 years.
Quinney’s immediate concerns are technical and logistical, but crucial. The European commission and the British government have already confirmed that if the UK falls out of the EU without a deal on 29 March, Britain will leave the bloc’s electronic excise movement and control system (EMCS).
“The consequences of that don’t really bear thinking about,” he says. “It’s the online system for moving alcohol round Europe. It makes the business seamless, gets trucks through Calais and Dover with a minimum of checks, means governments are confident they’ll get their VAT and duty.”
Without EMCS, Quinney says, the only feasible fallback – until a new system arrives, which could take months or even years – will be pieces of paper, and pieces of paper spell long, long delays. “We know that no deal will mean logjams, complete chaos, at Calais and Dover for everyone,” he says.
“Pretty soon, it would be hard to find a transporter willing or able to take the job. Plus, in warm weather you really can’t have quality wine stuck for two or three days at the border unless it’s in refrigerated trucks, which cost a fortune. We have no option but to shift what stock we can now.”
EMCS is what makes it feasible – and profitable – for Adrian Munns to spend several days filling an articulated lorry with wine from more than 20 different Bordeaux producers, including Château Bauduc, then drive it, twice a month, to four or five different destinations in Britain.
“Without it, my job would be impossible,” says Munns, 62. “I’d just give up if that went, I think. Retire. I can’t imagine going back to the old forms; it’d be a nightmare. They won’t be able to come up with a similar system for years.”
Munns says Château Bauduc is far from alone in building up stock in Britain. For his UK trade customers, Quinney aims to have tens of thousands of bottles – at significant extra cost – stored in bonded warehousing by mid-March.
He is also launching a promotional deal for private customers, offering them duty and tax-free collection from a Calais warehouse before Brexit day. “Our bottom line is: buy your wine now,” he says. “Fill the garage and the spare room. Because frankly, nobody has the faintest clue what happens next.”
In his offices in an old stone wine warehouse on the Quai de Bacalan in central Bordeaux, Allan Sichel, the president of the Bordeaux Wine Council, which represents both the region’s 6,500 winemakers and the 300-odd wine merchants who market 75% of their output, says Quinney’s alarm is widely shared.
The industry is “very concerned indeed” by Brexit, and particularly the prospect of no deal, says Sichel, who also runs the family’s 135-year-old wine merchants. “When we know what we have to do, of course we’ll be able to do it,” he says. “But right now we don’t know what will change, and we may not have time to get ready for it.”
The UK is the fourth biggest global market for Bordeaux wines, accounting for nearly 24m bottles last year – a trade that dates back to the three centuries after 1154, when much of Aquitaine in south-west France was ruled by the kings of England and profits from the sale of clairet, or claret, were the crown’s main source of income.
... ... ...
A controversial ferry contract awarded to a company with no ships as part of no-deal Brexit plans has been scrapped, the government has said.
Ministers had faced criticism for the £13.8m deal with Seaborne Freight, which the BBC found had never run a ferry service.
The Department of Transport said it decided to axe the deal after the company's Irish backer pulled out.
The government says it is in "advanced talks" to find another ferry firm.
Responding to the cancelled contract, Labour has called on Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to resign or be sacked, describing him as "the worst secretary of state ever".
LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May will pledge this week to give parliament another chance to voice their opinions on Brexit by Feb. 27 as she tries to buy more time to negotiate a new deal with the European Union.
As the clock ticks down to Britain’s scheduled exit on March 29, May is trying to persuade the EU to change a deal that was agreed between London and Brussels late last year but overwhelmingly rejected by parliament in January.
May wants to win over lawmakers in her Conservative Party with changes relating to the Northern Irish border, but the EU has refused to reopen that part of the deal and instead wants May to pursue a compromise with the main opposition Labour Party by agreeing closer UK-EU ties.
The impasse has left the world’s fifth largest economy facing an uncertain future, rattling financial markets and businesses about the prospect of a disorderly exit from the bloc that could damage the economy.
Housing minister James Brokenshire said on Sunday May would commit to giving parliament another debate on Brexit with the chance to vote on alternative options, if a deal had not yet been agreed and voted upon by then.
May is already due to update parliament on her progress toward a deal on Wednesday and then on Thursday to give parliament a chance to express their opinion. The new pledge would be for a repeat of this process by Feb. 27.
Thousands of British lorry drivers face the prospect of being barred from entering the EU after missing out on permits that will be required after Brexit.
Figures show more than 11,000 HGV operators applied for a European Conference of Ministers of Transport (ECMT) permit but less than 1,000 of the annual passes were made available.
The Department for Transport said an additional 2,832 one-month permits “will start to be allocated” by the end of the month, although this is still short of how many are required.
The Road Haulage Association (RHA) criticised the decision, describing the current state as an “intolerable position”.
“When the bidding process for permits was first announced, we said that it amounted to nothing more than a lottery system,” RHA chief executive, Richard Burnett said.
“Even with the new allocation, ECMT will only supply permits for around 10 per cent of the sector’s needs.”
Applicants who have been unsuccessful in this bidding round will be automatically entered into the next allocation round for ECMT permits but the RHA have claimed not all operators who require the passes applied the first time round.
“To say that many international hauliers will be disappointed is an understatement. How can they be expected to maintain the flow of exports to the rest of the EU if they do not have and cannot have enough permits to allow access to Europe?” Mr Burnett said.
“We need the alternatives to be put in place, or even better, we need a full transition period so practical measures can be achieved to maintain our supply chains.”
LONDON (Reuters) - The 2016 Brexit vote spurred British companies into increasing investment in European Union countries sharply, likely at the expense of spending at home, an academic study showed on Monday.
The referendum result led to a 12 percent increase in foreign direct investment transactions from Britain into the EU between mid-2016 and September 2018, researchers from the London School of Economics’ Center for Economic Performance said.
That translated into an increase of around 8.3 billion pounds (10.7 billion), concentrated entirely in the services industry.
Although the authors could not be certain if this would have otherwise been spent in Britain, they cited business survey evidence and media reports that suggested spending often took place at the expense of British.
Conversely, the research pointed to an 11 percent drop in investment transactions from the EU into Britain, worth around 3.5 billion pounds.
“The data show that Brexit has made the UK a less attractive place to invest,” said Thomas Sampson, one of the report’s authors.
“Lower investment hurts the economy and means that UK workers are going to miss out on new job opportunities.”
London and Brussels are arguing over whether a deal clinched in November can be changed, raising the possibility of either a delay to Brexit, a last-minute deal or a no-deal exit.
Britain voted 52 to 48 percent to leave the EU in a 2016 referendum.
Supporters of Brexit point to the fact that widespread forecasts of recession from economists in the aftermath of the June 2016 referendum failed to materialize, and that Britain will be able target trade with faster-growing economies outside the EU.
The researchers on Monday said there was scant sign that British firms had upped investment into developed countries outside the EU in preparation for Brexit.
Investment into the EU by British manufacturing firms remained little changed by the Brexit vote, the report showed.
“This suggests that firms expect Brexit to increase trade barriers by more for services than for manufacturing,” the authors said.
Services account for about 80 percent of Britain’s private sector economy.
Last week Bank of England Governor Mark Carney said Britain had lost around 1.5 percent of economic output compared with the central bank’s expectation prior to the referendum.
