Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

If only there were a vaccine to cure Britain of Brexit ...

Government has not left enough time for promised scrutiny, ministers admit

Brexit trade deals with other countries are likely to be put in force before MPs have a chance to fully scrutinise them, the government has announced.

Trade minister Greg Hands told the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon that it was likely there would not be enough time for a full scrutiny process on the agreements before 31 December, when the UK leaves the EU customs union.

The government has spent the last year trying to negotiate UK-only versions of trade deals Britain enjoyed through its membership of the EU, for when it loses access to the old agreements in the new year.

But the process has been difficult and up to £80 billion of trade with states around the world that was previously covered by EU deals is yet to be covered by replacements – meaning some businesses face worse terms of global trade on 1 January.

Brexit trade deals with other countries are likely to be put in force before MPs have a chance to fully scrutinise them, the government has announced.

Trade minister Greg Hands told the House of Commons on Tuesday afternoon that it was likely there would not be enough time for a full scrutiny process on the agreements before 31 December, when the UK leaves the EU customs union.

The government has spent the last year trying to negotiate UK-only versions of trade deals Britain enjoyed through its membership of the EU, for when it loses access to the old agreements in the new year.

But the process has been difficult and up to £80 billion of trade with states around the world that was previously covered by EU deals is yet to be covered by replacements – meaning some businesses face worse terms of global trade on 1 January.

That means controversial aspects of any trade agreements will be put in place before they can be sent back by MPs. Not applying the available deals from 31 December would mean worse terms of trade for businesses.

"All the signed agreements would be subject to the statutory scrutiny process as set out in the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act providing a guaranteed period for Parliament to scrutinise and debate these agreements," Mr Hands said.

Answering an urgent question on trade deals by shadow international trade secretary Emily Thornberry, the international trade minister added: "As we approach the end of the transition period, it is possible that the scrutiny window for remaining agreements extends beyond January 1 into the New Year.

"This means that we may need to use provisional application for a short period in order to guarantee continuity of trading relationships and avoid any cliff-edges."

Mr Hands told MPs that provisional application was normal practice and that "many EU trade agreements were or are being provisionally applied".

But Labour’s Ms Thornberry said the issue "should never have become urgent" and said the government had made a "mockery" of rules designed to scrutinise the agreements.

"The Government has literally had years to protect our free trade with countries like Canada, Singapore and Mexico and with just six weeks to go until the end of the transition period, 15 of those continuity agreements have still not been secured, leaving £80 billion of UK trade at risk - that is two and a half times our trade with Japan," she said.

More people hold a favourable view of the European Union than not in every member state surveyed in a new poll, while positive opinions in Britain – which left the bloc in January – are the highest on record.

A Pew Research Center study of eight EU countries also found more than half of respondents felt confident Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron would do the right thing, but far fewer showed as much trust in Boris Johnson.

The first survey of the UK since its departure also found 64% of respondents there felt the EU had done a good job handling the coronavirus outbreak – significantly more than the 46% who said the British government had dealt well with the pandemic.

In fact, Pew said, the British public stood out for having the worst assessment of their own country’s response to Covid-19 but also one of the most positive views of the EU’s response.

Schools advised to prepare for ‘changes to food supply chain’ from 1 January as police chiefs warn stalemate will damage crime fighting

Schools have been told to stock up on longer shelf life products in preparation for a no-deal Brexit, as police chiefs warned that such an outcome would damage their ability to fight crime.

Department for Education (DfE) guidance published on Tuesday urged schools to prepare for what was described as “possible changes to their food supply chain” from 1 January “so they can minimise the effect on pupils and young people in their care”.

Stressing that schools would still be responsible for meeting children’s dietary requirements, the guidance said necessary changes might include “varying the timing and number of deliveries to allow for transport delays” and “ordering longer shelf life products during this period, such as frozen foods or foods that can be safely stored at room temperature”.

Schools have been told to stock up on longer shelf life products in preparation for a no-deal Brexit, as police chiefs warned that such an outcome would damage their ability to fight crime.

How could they say that ****?

Millions of children could be at even greater risk of online exploitation and abuse unless the government steps in to replace “vital” funding after Brexit, police, charities and teaching unions are warning.

The UK Safer Internet Centre – a partnership between Childnet, the Internet Watch Foundation, and SWGLF, who run the Revenge Porn Hotline – currently receive half their funding from the EU.

The government are currently refusing to confirm whether they will be replacing this funding after the transition phase of Brexit is complete.

Without this money, which amounts to £1.3million, there are fears children could be left vulnerable to online abuse, sexual exploitation, and bullying.

A UK book publisher says congestion at Felixstowe Port has left it with no books to sell in the lead up to Christmas.

Colin Hoad and Matt Green run a publishing company, Idesine, which has 4,000 books stuck on a ship that has been trying to dock since 31 October.

They are one of many businesses encountering problems importing goods.

Importers say congestion issues at UK ports have led to shipping firms quadrupling their freight costs.

"People are contacting us saying they've paid for books on pre-order as gifts, and we ultimately can't guarantee delivery," Mr Hoad said.

Delays at Felixstowe have been caused by a surge in import traffic as companies increased orders after the initial lockdown and some looked to stockpile goods before the end of the Brexit transition period.

The port's owner, Hutchison UK, has said it is in the process of recruiting an additional 104 equipment drivers plus a number of engineers to help solve the problem.

But congestion at England's ports is now so bad, some shipping firms have limited the amount of cargo they will bring to the UK.

One of the world's biggest shipping lines, CMA CGM, told the BBC it was allocating less space on its fleet for UK imports for the time being.

Most key issues largely agreed, but there is still a danger of no deal by accident, envoys hear

A trade and security agreement with Britain is close to being finalised but the risk remains of an accidental no-deal Brexit in six weeks, with gaps on the contentious issues “slowly shrinking”, EU ambassadors have been told.
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The European commission’s most senior official, Ilze Juhansone, told representatives of the 27 member states in Brussels that the majority of the 11 key negotiation issues now had “joint legal texts with fewer and fewer outstanding points”.

The European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, offered fresh cause for optimism during a press conference. “After difficult weeks with very, very slow progress now we have seen in the last days better progress, more movement on important files. This is good,” she said.

“Within the frame of the level playing field, progress, for example, has been made on the question of state aid, but there are still quite some metres to the finish line so there’s still a lot of work to do.

“Where the timelines are concerned, time pressure is high without any question at the moment.

“There’s a lot to work on, because there is now substance where you can go through line by line, word for word.
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It is understood that the UK’s insistence that it needs to be able to set its own environmental, labour and social standards without any prior approval remains difficult, as does the definition of the current standards from which both sides say they will not regress.

The details of the treaty’s dispute resolution system is also proving hard to thrash out, with the UK wanting fisheries to be outside any sanctions regime.

A UK official said: “Although there has been some progress in recent days, there is much work to be done and time is now very short. We now need to see more realism from the EU on what it means for the UK to be an independent state.”

EU sources said they were increasingly optimistic that agreement could be found, although time was said to be a concern.

Guidance branded ‘beyond belief’ when firms still in the dark about tariffs, new paperwork and Irish Sea checks

Business groups have lashed out at new government instructions to “follow” post-Brexit trading rules – when those rules are mired in confusion.

Firms still do not know whether tariffs will be levied on goods in six weeks’ time – the prospect if the UK fails to strike a trade deal – and many procedures for Northern Ireland are unknown.

Yet, a letter sent to numerous sectors tells bosses: “Your business could face delays, disruption or administrative costs if you do not comply with new customs procedures from 1 January 2021.”

Penned by Alok Sharma, the business secretary, it adds: “If you are moving goods into, out of, or through Northern Ireland, check the latest guidance.”

The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) attacked the new guidance as “beyond belief”, while the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) criticised “exhortations” in place of meaningful help.

The letter was sent as manufacturers in Belfast protested that an astonishing 60 questions they had asked about future trade across the Irish Sea had not been answered.

Construction of border inspection posts for checks on animal products crossing the Irish Sea has not yet started and will take up to six months to complete, an inquiry was told this month.

Meanwhile, hauliers have warned they are in the dark about the mountain of new red tape that will be required to transport goods across the Channel when the transition period ends on 31 December.

Plans for police to patrol the Kent border – to turn away lorries without an “access permit” and fine drivers failing to comply – are still being worked up.

The governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, has warned that the economic cost of a no-deal Brexit would be bigger in the long term than the damage caused by Covid-19.

Bailey said failure to agree to a deal before the Brexit transition expires at the end of December would cause disruption to cross-border trade and damage the goodwill between London and Brussels needed to build a future economic partnership.

Speaking to MPs on the Commons Treasury committee, he said the fallout from the pandemic and the second national lockdown in England was having a much bigger short-term impact on the economy. However, “the long-term effects, I think, would be larger than the long-term effects of Covid. But … it would be better to have a trade deal, yes, no question about it.”