Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

Nigel Farage has pulled back on his “drop the deal” threat issued to Boris Johnson in an attempt to get the prime minister to sign an election pact with the Brexit party.

Farage began the party’s election campaign last week saying he would put up candidates across the country unless Johnson abandoned his Brexit deal and formed a leave alliance.

He said Conservatives had approached him to say they wanted to see a “compromise” between their party and the Brexit party, which is threatening to take both Labour and Tory votes in key marginals at the general election.

Last week Farage had offered Johnson a deal in which his party would stand down in seats where the Tory candidate believed in a no-deal or “clean-Brexit” and would want to abandon Johnson’s deal. In return, they wanted a free run at Labour heartland seats.

Farage has been criticised for the logic in his strategy to go after the vote in Labour heartlands as the last two elections saw the majority of Ukip’s vote come from ex-Tory voters. His last significant inroad into the Labour vote was in 2010.

Speaking to the Guardian in Blackwood, South Wales, Farage said he would be willing to do a deal with the Tories if they accepted two principles – dropping the clause which allows further Brexit extension and that the deal is treated as a starting point for a trade agreement, with no political elements.

“I think the deal is shocking because it is just not Brexit but is there a way from a leaver’s perspective we can perhaps get this into a position that might be manageable? I think if you drop the clause that allows for endless extension that’s a huge head start, and, secondly, that this is a trade negotiation, not one based on political and economic alignment,” he said.

Asked if his initial starting point with the Tories had been too hardline, he laughed and responded: “How many negotiations have you done?”

All political parties have until 14 November to submit their nominations for candidates.

Farage said there was still time for Johnson to agree to his pact, otherwise his party woud stand in almost all seats in England and Wales. They are still to decide where they want to stand in Scotland.

He said Conservatives had leaned on him to try to find terms the two parties could agree with to avoid splitting the leave vote in marginals.

“A lot of the Conservative Eurosceptics who all voted for this [deal], even though they hate it… they’ve said to me we have to find some sense of compromise and this is what I’ve suggested and they all say ‘you know what, actually that works’.

“It’s up to Boris Johnson’s team as to whether they want to do that or not.”

Farage faced a mixed reception as he toured the Islwyn, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly constituencies. He spoke to more than 100 supporters in a community hall in Little Mill, outside Pontypool, before meeting voters at Ebbw Vale market and Blackwood. On Friday night he was due to address a rally in Newport.

He was heckled as he visited Ebbw Vale by the former Labour council leader Hedley McCarthy, who shouted: “Bevan would turn in his grave.”

The area was represented by Aneurin Bevan between 1929 and 1960, and by former Labour leader Michael Foot from that year until 1992.

“I think it’s outrageous he’s come here. This is the home of Aneurin Bevan and the birthplace of the NHS and this is the guy that wants an insurance system instead,” McCarthy said.

Jennifer Morgan, 71, a local resident and voluntary worker who votes Labour, said: “He’s winding people up coming here.”

She said he wanted to sell the NHS off to Donald Trump.

On accusations he wants to privatise the NHS and his presence in Bevan’s former seat, Farage said: “Number one, Bevan would have been a leaver. No question.

“A, the NHS is not for sale; B, Trump has said it’s not going to be on the table in negotiations very emphatically to be the other week; and C, actually I think for high earners to be encouraged to opt out would be a very, very good idea.”

Rebecca Shaw, 48, who attended the Little Hill event and is a Brexit party member who used to back the Greens, said: “We feel that we can’t really talk about being members of the Brexit party or we get looks at us like we’re racist or thick and it’s got to stop.

“Every single Labour supporter I know round here, like life-long Labour supporters, they are saying they won’t vote for Jeremy Corbyn now.”

Blanaeu Gwent candidate Richard Taylor, a local self-employed businessman, said he was a Labour voter who joined the Brexit party after getting frustrated that Britain had still not left the EU.

He is challenging Labour’s Nick Smith, who has an 11,000 majority. In 2017 the Ukip candidate, when the party was under Farage, got 900 votes.

Business minister Kwasi Kwarteng says PM’s comments were ‘absolutely on the money’

One of Boris Johnson’s business ministers has insisted the prime minister was correct in arguing that businesses in Northern Ireland will not have to fill in forms to export goods to the rest of the UK after Brexit, despite this being an apparent part of the departure deal.

Kwasi Kwarteng said Johnson was “absolutely on the money” when he told Northern Irish exporters last week that they would not need to fill in extra paperwork, prompting accusations the prime minister was misleading the public.

In a video shot in Northern Ireland on Thursday night, Johnson told exporters they would not need to fill in customs declarations when they sent goods across the Irish Sea, adding that if firms were asked to they should call him “and I will direct them to throw that form in the bin”.

This contradicted the view of Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, who told a House of Lords committee that businesses would need to complete “exit summary declarations” for such sending shipments.

Asked on Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday show whether Barclay had been mistaken, Kwarteng said: “I think you’d have to ask him. But I think that the prime minister knows his deal, I mean, he negotiated it.”

Kwarteng said Johnson was correct to say there would be no customs forms and no checks: “As far as I understand I don’t think there will be. I think the prime minister’s absolutely right.”

Labour and the Democratic Unionist party have formed an unprecedented alliance to demand that the government explains whether Northern Ireland’s fishing waters will be controlled from London if Boris Johnson’s proposed Brexit deal becomes law.

In a sign of further confusion over how prime minister’s withdrawal agreement will work, the parties’ fisheries spokesmen have written to the environment secretary, Theresa Villiers, asking why her department appears to claim that fish caught in waters off the coast of Northern Ireland will no longer be classed as Northern Irish fish.

Labour’s Luke Pollard and the DUP’s Jim Shannon wrote that the province’s fishing industry of 300 boats were questioning who will be in charge over customs, taxes, visas and enforcement of rules.

The letter, sent before parliament dissolved for the election and leaked to the Guardian, can be disclosed after Johnson appeared to misunderstand his own Brexit deal on a visit to Northern Ireland on Thursday.

In a video shot in Northern Ireland on Thursday night, Johnson told exporters they would not need to fill in customs declarations when they sent goods across the Irish Sea, adding that if firms were asked to they should call him “and I will direct them to throw that form in the bin”.

This contradicted the view of Stephen Barclay, the Brexit secretary, who told a House of Lords committee that businesses would need to complete “exit summary declarations” for such sending shipments.

In the letter, Pollard and Shannon wrote: “We are taking the unprecedented step of writing a joint letter to you as the Labour and the DUP’s spokespeople on fisheries to raise concern about the Brexit deal and fisheries in Northern Ireland.”

In the final week of October, officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told the Northern Irish fishing industry that direct landings of fish into Northern Ireland would be subject to new obligations as if they were landing in an EU port, they wrote.

“This would include the requirement to issue catch certificates and they [the officials] warned that tariffs could apply to these landings,” the letter said.

The letter points out that the department’s press office attempted to clarify matters by issuing a second statement to the Guardian, which said: “The Northern Ireland protocol in the withdrawal agreement bill applies EU customs legislation in Northern Ireland but excludes the territorial sea.”

The letter continued: “This seems to suggest that Northern Ireland’s territorial waters are excluded from the Northern Ireland protocol, meaning they remain in the GB customs and VAT territory and not in the Northern Ireland/EU customs territory.

“These two statements seem to suggest that the fish caught by Northern Irish fishers off the coast of Northern Ireland may no longer be classed as Northern Irish fish. This would suggest that the border the prime minister promised he would not introduce, but has, is not in the middle of the Irish sea but on the quaysides and beaches of Northern Ireland,” they wrote.

The letter posed a series of questions about regulation and taxes. It added: “If a Northern Irish vessel departs a Northern Irish port and catches fish in what was, until now, Northern Irish waters and returns to the Northern Irish port with their catch, will tariffs, prior notification, catch certificates and additional paperwork be required?”

The government has not replied to the letter, according to Labour sources.

Asked for a response by the Guardian, a government spokesman said: “We have renegotiated a new deal which allows us to leave the EU without disruption. Tariffs will not apply to Northern Ireland exports to the EU, including exports of fish landed by Northern Ireland fishing vessels.”

UK poised to comply with Ursula von der Leyen’s request to propose candidate

Boris Johnson’s government appears to be preparing to nominate an EU commissioner, potentially breaching another Brexit promise after he failed to meet his “do or die” deadline to leave on 31 October.

The incoming president of the commission, Ursula von der Leyen, wrote to the prime minister last week, asking him to propose a British candidate or candidates for EU commissioner “rapidly, in the shortest time possible”.

Johnson’s spokesman said on Monday that the government would comply with the law. “The UK meets its legal obligations, and our officials remain in regular contact with the president-elect’s team,” the spokesman said.

That appeared to suggest that, as with the Benn act that obliged the prime minister to request a Brexit extension, Johnson would comply, albeit reluctantly and at the last minute.

In his first address to the House of Commons after becoming prime minister in July, Johnson told MPs that “under no circumstances” would he nominate a new commissioner – a promise aimed at signalling his determination to leave the EU on 31 October. He also promised to “unshackle” officials from EU meetings.

“Our national participation in the European Union is coming to an end, and that reality needs to be recognised by all parties. Indeed, today there are very many brilliant UK officials trapped in meeting after meeting in Brussels and Luxembourg, when their talents could be better deployed in preparing to pioneer new free trade deals or promoting a truly global Britain,” he said.

“I want to start unshackling our officials to undertake this new mission right away, so we will not nominate a UK commissioner for the new commission taking office on 1 December – under no circumstances – although clearly that is not intended to stop the EU appointing a new commission.”

With less than 12 hours until the lapse of an informal deadline for the UK to submit its nominee, Brussels said it had not yet received a letter from British authorities. “We are in close contact with them on this and indeed we are expecting an answer today,” said the chief spokesperson for European commission president-elect.

Von der Leyen hopes to take office on 1 December, pending approval of her team of commissioners in the European parliament. She needs to fill four EU commissioner vacancies, including the UK’s.

Under EU law, each member state must nominate a candidate or candidates to become European commissioner, a rule supported by Theresa May at her last EU summit in June. When Johnson was granted an extension last month, he also agreed that the UK would have “the obligation to suggest a candidate for appointment as a member of the commission”, as part of a promise not to undermine the workings of the EU.

However, lawyers for the EU institutions have concluded that even if the UK – or any other member state – failed to offer a candidate, Von der Leyen could still take office. But sources say she must ask the UK for a commissioner. “It’s not for us to decide not to have a UK commissioner. We have to follow the rules,” an EU source said.

Von der Leyen has encouraged the UK to propose female candidates in line with her wish to have a gender-balanced top team. That request is not binding, but is less favourable for the UK’s current EU commissioner, Sir Julian King. A career diplomat who now coordinates EU security policy, King took over in 2016 after the former Tory minister Jonathan Hill resigned following the Brexit vote.

The current standoff over a British nominee follows years of attempts to slim down the European commission by ending the requirement for each country to have its own commissioner. European commissioners are not meant to represent their countries and swear an oath to act independently and in the general interest of the EU.

..... The U.K. government has attracted widespread criticism after it announced last Monday that it would not allow a report examining Russian infiltration into U.K. politics to be published prior to the dissolution of Parliament ahead of the election.

The report was compiled by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) and includes analysis from British intelligence agencies. It requires clearance from the government to be released.

A government minister said on Tuesday that the report had not yet been published because of necessary procedure. Speaking to broadcaster ITV, the Deputy Finance Minister Rishi Sunak said "it is absolutely normal that reports like this go through a period of vetting which does take several weeks." He also said all donations to the Conservative party were transparent and fully in accordance with the rules, Reuters reported. For its part, Russia has previously denied meddling in foreign elections.

With political parties in full campaign mode ahead of the general election next month, the government was accused of a cover-up by the opposition Labour Party. The Sunday Times newspaper also reported that nine Russian donors to the ruling Conservative Party have been named in the secret intelligence report. It also said that intelligence agencies are "furious" over the government's block on the publication of the report.

There are some big hurdles to overcome if Boris Johnson is to realise this Brexit ambition

Claim
Boris Johnson declared Britain can have a “super Canada-plus” free trade agreement with the EU and by the end of 2020 and that “there is no need” for political alignment.

Background
Johnson issued the statement on Twitter on Sunday afternoon. Many believe it was part of a behind-the-scenes pact with the Brexit party that led to Nigel Farage’s party standing down 317 candidates in the election, though this has been denied.

Reality
Johnson’s words are a statement of intent, but his ambition could be thwarted be some unknowns – an unfavourable election result, negotiation challenges and time.

Time is his most pressing concern. Trade talks cannot legally begin until the UK leaves the EU, which is currently scheduled for 31 January. Because the scheduled transition period expires at the end of December 2020, this leaves just 11 months to negotiate a deal that Canada took seven years to complete. Theresa May had originally envisaged talks talking two years. Experts say that on average, it takes 48 months to negotiate any trade deal.

Negotiations will also not start until both sides have a clear idea what their objectives are. The EU follows a strict 33-stage process (pdf) in trade deals starting with consultations, likely to take months, over the impact of a likely deal. The final deal will also have to be ratified by each parliament, again a process that could shave vital months off the real deadline for a Johnson exit by December 2020. The 1,600-page Canada deal was signed on October 2016 but not ratified by the last member state until September 2017.

The UK will want a zero-tariff deal allowing the free flow of goods to and from the UK and the EU.

However, this comes with strings attached. As Sam Lowe, senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, said this “will be dependent on the UK complying with EU level playing field demands on state aid, the environment and labour rights”.

The EU does not want a low-tax, lightly regulated Singapore-on-Thames competitor across the channel. It is also not in a rush. Trade expert David Henig says: “I don’t think the EU could move that quickly because they have not done this kind of thing before and I am not sure we should either as we are setting trade terms for decades.”

Another issue for Johnson will be domestic politics. May’s deal provided for an “association agreement” with deals on security and counter-terrorism as well as as science and education. Would Johnson abandon these just to get a Canada deal?

Verdict
It is possible to get a free trade deal by the end of 2020 but highly unlikely.

Brand's European battery plant will be built near Berlin, with Tesla R&D centre in Germany, too

Tesla boss and serial entrepreneur Elon Musk has revealed that the firm's new European Gigafactory battery facility will be built in Germany on the outskirts of Berlin.

Speaking at Auto Express’s sister title Auto Bild’s Golden Steering Wheel Awards, Musk also revealed that a European research and development base was also planned for Germany, in addition to the new battery manufacturing plant.

However, speaking exclusively to Auto Express after making the announcement, Musk blamed Brexit uncertainty on why the UK wasn’t considered for the new site: “Brexit [uncertainty] made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK,” Musk said.

Brexit might have something to do with Musk’s change of heart over the R&D centre, too. Back in 2014, he told Auto Express that he planned to build an R&D base in the UK. Those plans have since been shelved.

Musk used his appearance at The Golden Steering Wheel Awards, where he was collecting an Award for the Tesla Model 3 – the current Auto Express Car of the Year – to make his announcements. “We’ve decided to put the Tesla Gigafactory Europe in the Berlin area,” he said. “I come to Berlin a lot – Berlin rocks!”

The UK announced today that it will not be nominating a candidate for EU commissioner by December. The news comes despite EU commissioner-elect Ursula von der Leyen's multiple requests for the UK to comply.

"We have written to the EU to confirm that pre-election guidance states the UK should not normally make nominations for international appointments during this period," said a UK official on Thursday.

Lawyers across the EU institutions have been scrambling to analyze the potential ramifications of the U.K. refusing to put forward a nominee, with an eye toward avoiding more delay. Officials have been unwilling to discuss the matter publicly, but have said that some of the EU legal services have reached different conclusions.

A senior EU diplomat said on Tuesday: "So far there have been no signals that the British will appoint another commissioner during the current election campaign. We expect, however, that the appointment of the Commission will not be delayed as a result.”

On Wednesday, the Commission's chief spokeswoman Mina Andreeva refused to answer repeated questions about whether the new Commission could take office without a British member.

“We’re not answering hypothetical questions — it’s a hypothetical question,” Andreeva said.

Brussels has launched legal action against the UK over Boris Johnson's failure to nominate a new EU commissioner to send to Brussels.

In a statement the European Commission said it had issued "a formal letter of notice" to the British government "for breaching its EU treaty obligations" and would be starting infringement proceedings.

Mr Johnson has so far refused to nominate a candidate for the incoming EU executive, stating that it is convention that such senior appointments cannot be made by the government during an election period.

On Thursday evening EU rejected the explanation given by the UK, stating that "a member state may not invoke provisions prevailing in its domestic legal system to justify failure to observe obligations arising under Union law".

The move by the EU may turn out to be a political gift to the prime minister, allowing him to pick a fight with Brussels during an election campaign in which he needs to win over Brexit Party voters who take a dim view of the European institutions.

The Government has been given a week to respond, with a deadline of 22 November.

Under EU treaties all 28 member states must have one commissioner, who collectively form the EU executive. The new Commission wants to take office on 1 December this year, though it is likely to be delayed because of hold-ups in the approval procedure.

Because the UK has not left, under EU treaties it is required to have a Commissioner. If Brexit happens according to the current plan the Commissioner would serve just two months.

On Wednesday Ursula von der Leyen, the incoming Commission president, wrote to Mr Johnson for the second time this month stating that the UK needed to name a candidate.

The UK government replied to the letter on Thursday, stating that it did not with to frustrate the formation of the new EU executive but could not nominate a commissioner during the campaign period. The announcement of infringement proceedings followed on Thursday evening.

A UK government spokesperson said: "‘We have written to the EU to confirm that pre-election guidance states the UK should not normally make nominations for international appointments during this period."

In terms of negotiating a trade agreement before December 2020, it would be difficult but not impossible.

Even though the deal might be agreed, we could run into issues with ratification.

My aim is we will continue to have tariff-free trade with Great Britain, not just Northern Ireland

Russian interference may have had an impact on the Brexit referendum, but the effect was “unquantifiable”, according to a parliamentary report suppressed by No 10.
[...]
The ISC’s 18-month study of alleged Russian interference in the referendum is understood to have criticised British intelligence services for failing to devote enough resources to tackling threats from Vladimir Putin’s regime.

Anti-EU articles disseminated by such Kremlin-sanctioned media outlets as RT and Sputnik in the run-up to the referendum campaign are cited in the report. Social media analysis that was presented to the digital, culture, media and sport committee last year revealed that articles published by the Russian sites had four times more social media impact before the Brexit vote than the official leave campaigns.

More than 260 articles posted by RT and Sputnik in the six months prior to the referendum were shared so widely on Twitter that they could have been seen up to 134m times.

By comparison, tweets from Vote Leave and Leave.eu — the two biggest pro-Brexit campaign groups — generated potential impressions of 33m and 14m.

Intelligence officials who have either seen or been briefed on the document said: “The government’s refusal to publish the report has been very damaging to the British intelligence community, because it suggests that we have something major to cover up.”

British lions aren’t supposed to look like this. They’re meant to be fierce, mighty and indomitable, lords of all they survey. But the three creatures here on Dover Beach look sick, emaciated and exhausted. They seem to be crawling to their deaths.

These sculptures were recently installed beneath the White Cliffs by Jason deCaires Taylor, who calls them The Pride of Brexit. “They convey,” says the British artist, “the sense of profound loss many of us remainers feel.” His installation is meant to be “a monument to one of the most unpatriotic events Britain has ever seen”.

Why lions? Because they are “a symbol in our heraldry, representing the might of the nation”. And why this shoreline? “The White Cliffs are quintessentially British. Vera Lynn, the second world war. But our Pride is washed up on the Brexit tide.” But there’s one other reason: it was in Dover, Britain’s gateway to Europe, that Taylor was born in 1974.

There are more of his sculpted lions, also in their death throes, in London. Across the Thames from Parliament, each sad, slouching beast has been tagged with Brexit slogans: “TAKE BACK CONTROL”, “BREXIT MEANS BREXIT” , “ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE”, “GET IT DONE”. The slogans, says Taylor, were “devised to divide and conquer us. The sculptures are disfigured by graffiti, their ill health clearly contrasted with the majesty of Parliament – an institution trashed by the very forces that advocate ‘taking back control’.”
... ... ...

Preparations for a no-deal Brexit will continue if Conservatives win the 12 December general election, a Treasury minister has said.

Rishi Sunak’s comment amounts to an admission that a no-deal crash-out remains an option at the end of 2020 under the terms of the agreement struck by Boris Johnson with Brussels.

The revelation came amid controversy over Jeremy Corbyn’s announcement that he will be “neutral” between Remain and Leave in the second Brexit referendum which Labour has promised in June 2020 if it wins the election.

Liberal Demcorat spokesman Chuka Umunna said Mr Sunak had "let the cat out of the bag".

"They are trying to take us out without any trade deal at the end of next year," Mr Umunna told Radio 4's Today. That's the big news this morning."

The prime minister insists there is “absolutely zero” prospect of the UK being forced to leave without a trade deal and be forced to operate on unfavourable World Trade Organisation terms when the year-long “transition period” contained in his agreement concludes.

But few trade experts believe the UK will be able to negotiate a free trade agreement (FTA) with the remaining 27 EU states in such a short space of time, as deals of this kind typically take several years to complete.