Brexit. Why do Brits want Out of the EU?

Weekend seen as new deadline to avoid-no deal fallout on 1 January

There are still “big differences” preventing a trade deal between the EU and UK, the European Commission president has said following talks with Boris Johnson.

Ursula von der Leyen spoke with the prime minister over the phone on Thursday evening where the pair “took stock” of negotiations, which have been continuing throughout the week up against a new deadline.

But there was no sign of a breakthrough as she warned that bringing the divide, particularly on fishing, would be “very challenging”.

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday morning told senior MEPs that a deal was possible over the next few days, though UK sources have been consistently less upbeat and say there are still key differences in major areas.

The latest top-level conversation took place via telephone, in contrast to an in-person visit by the prime minister to Brussels last week. Negotiations between the two teams of negotiator are however continuing in person in the Belgian capital.

Delays in Brexit preparations risk ‘worst possible start’ to 2021, report warns

Government delay in preparing Britain for the transition to Brexit risks “the worst possible start” to the new year for UK businesses and citizens, a House of Commons report has warned.

With just seven working days left until the UK leaves the EU’s single market and customs union, there are “significant concerns” about how border arrangements will work, said the report by a cross-party committee of MPs.

With no certainty over whether the UK will strike a free trade agreement with Brussels in the final days of 2020, the Committee on the Future Relationship with the EU warned of traffic disruption at ports, more red tape and extra costs for business.

And it said it was “critical” that the government act swiftly and robustly with contingency plans to resolve problems likely to emerge as soon as the transition to the new arrangements takes place at 11pm on 31 December.

The report said that key decisions on border operations had been taken “very late”, including the announcement of grants under the Port Infrastructure Fund – which this week saw Dover awarded £33,000 for new customs facilities when it had requested £33m – and the choice of location for lorry parks to deal with expected tailbacks of trucks at the UK’s second-busiest roll-on/roll-off port Holyhead.

And it said that new HM Revenue and Customs IT systems were being rolled out “with very little time remaining”, meaning that not all businesses and traders will be able to update systems or train staff in time.

The committee heard evidence that the estimated 50,000 private sector customs agents needed to deal with additional red tape caused by Brexit will not be fully recruited and trained by the end of the year.

Britain risks weeks without trade transition plans from 1 January after missing EU parliament Sunday deadline

Negotiators of a Brexit trade deal inched towards a compromise on fishing rights on Sunday but missed a major deadline, raising the prospect of weeks without arrangements from 1 January even in the event of agreement.

The teams led by the chief UK negotiator, David Frost, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, were expected to continue talks on Monday despite the European parliament’s notice that it would not vote on a deal if not secured by midnight on Sunday.
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The failure to meet the European parliament’s deadline means that ministers on the EU council representing the bloc’s capitals may need to “provisionally apply” a deal on 1 January to avoid a no-deal exit until parliament votes later in the month.

If the talks go much deeper into December, however, there may not be time for the EU capitals to translate and scrutinise the agreed text, leaving the UK to leave the transition period without new trade and security arrangements with Brussels.

Contingency measures would have to be agreed to bridge the gap before a deal could come into force, but such a scenario raises the danger of ports and security services being left in legal limbo.

Bernd Lange, the German chair of the parliament’s trade committee, the key body in the chamber’s ratification process, tweeted: “The consequence of no deal tonight is obvious: the [European parliament] does not know the consolidated text, is not in a position to scrutinise before the end of the transition period. So make preparations now for a no-deal period and agree emergency measures with UK.”

A major sticking point in the talks remains the EU’s demand to be able to apply tariffs or entirely block the entry of British goods in the event of the government closing off access to UK seas after a transition period to phase in new fishing arrangements for European vessels.

Under the British proposal, Boris Johnson insists that UK-flagged vessels have exclusive access to the six-to-12 nautical mile zone off the British coast, fished for centuries by French and Belgian vessels. Such a move would lead to some British exports being kept out of its biggest market under the proposal Brussels has tabled.

Barnier tweeted: “In this crucial moment for the negotiations, we continue to work hard with David Frost and his team.

“The EU remains committed to a fair, reciprocal & balanced agreement. We respect the sovereignty of the UK. And we expect the same.

“Both EU and the UK must have the right to set their own laws & control their own waters. And we should both be able to act when our interests are at stake.”

His comments indicate that there has been some movement on the issue, with both sides able to take measures should their interests be threatened, but UK sources downplayed any suggestion of a breakthrough.

Downing Street has rejected calls from some Conservative MPs and the mayor of London to consider extending Brexit talks beyond the new year, saying any trade deal had to be in place and approved before 31 December.

Boris Johnson’s spokesman also dismissed the idea of allowing MPs to ratify a trade deal retrospectively as time was too short, saying the Commons would have a vote on any agreement before it came into force.

With talks between EU and UK negotiators still ongoing and bogged down in disagreements over areas including fishing and common rules and standards, there is little more than a week until the end of the post-Brexit transition deal.

Some Conservative MPs argued on Monday that with the UK still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and freight already disrupted by a halt imposed by France due to the spread of a fast-transmitting variant of Covid, leaving without a trade deal on 1 January should be avoided.

Tobias Ellwood, the former defence minister, tweeted: “Let Brexit trade talks continue. These are far from ideal conditions to rationally determine our future prosperity and security terms. If there’s no deal by new year let’s do what’s best for the UK and pause the clock.”

Simon Hoare, the North Dorset MP, tweeted that it was “time for maturity”, saying: “There’s no parly time to scrutinise and agree a deal, and daily clarity of the dangers to our already pressured economy of no deal is alarming.”

In a statement, Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, said the idea of leaving the EU without a trade deal “was reckless even before the latest surge in Covid cases”, saying this should not be allowed to happen.

However, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, declined on Monday to back a possible extension, saying only that he wanted Johnson to deliver a deal this week.

Asked following a speech on devolution if he agreed with the calls, Starmer said: “I don’t want an extension. I want the deal. The prime minister said he had an oven ready deal … I say to the prime minister, ‘Get on and deliver the deal you promised.’”

Speaking after his first major policy speech on the union, in which he pledged to “make devolution a reality” under a Labour government, Starmer added: “It would be far better for the government to get the deal over the line today, tomorrow or some time this week.”

Johnson will face fury from Brexit-minded backbenchers if he does agree any delay. His spokesman said this would not happen, while saying talks with the EU “remain difficult”.

Police are preparing for the consequences of potential disruption at every air and sea port in the UK when the Brexit transition period ends, senior officers have revealed.

The head of counter-terror policing, Neil Basu, also warned of intelligence gaps when Britain is cut out of key EU databases and law enforcement mechanisms.

On Monday, the security minister told MPs that negotiations were in a “very difficult place” and that the government was preparing for a no-deal Brexit as “the most likely outcome”.

James Brokenshire insisted the UK will remain “a global leader on national security”, but Mr Basu told The Independent none of the replacements for lost European tools “are as good as the security protocols we currently have”.

Police are bracing for:

Potential protests and disorder
• The loss of information on European criminals in the UK
• “Gaps in intelligence” on terrorists and serious criminals
• Delays in obtaining information needed for investigations
• A significant impact on “day-to-day” policing
• Using “cumbersome, less efficient and less effective” systems after losing access to EU tools and databases

Extra officers will be deployed to Kent after the local chief constable requested assistance, amid fears of huge lorry queues and delays to passenger traffic from 1 January.

Disruption arrived earlier than expected over the weekend, after news of a rapidly spreading new strain of coronavirus caused France to close its border.

The president of the Police Superintendents’ Association told The Independent that while Brexit preparations had focused on Kent, there were also specific concerns over Welsh ports that link to Ireland, and other locations.

“It’s every port and access point from Europe,” said Chief Superintendent Paul Griffiths. “Kent are used to lorry stacking but this could be on a different scale to what we’ve experienced in the past.”

Operation Yellowhammer, the British government’s planning document for the “reasonable worst case scenario” in the event of a no-deal Brexit, said traffic jams from Dover could cause fuel shortages across the country.

It added: “Protests and counter protests will take place across the UK and may absorb significant amounts of police resource. There may also be a rise in public disorder and community tensions.”

Ch Supt Griffiths said that contingency plans for potential protests and civil unrest had been drawn up, but there was “no indication or intelligence” that they would be needed.

“The throughput of traffic and trade is the key concern at the moment,” he added.

Continued restrictions on gatherings imposed under coronavirus laws are expected to make large-scale demonstrations less likely, but the pandemic has also left police officers increasingly stretched.

Ch Supt Griffiths said his greatest concern was the changes to information exchange, as the UK will lose access to the Schengen Information System II (SIS II) database.

It contains 4.6 million UK alerts relating to people and objects and is currently searched automatically alongside the Police National Computer (PNC).

Steve Rodhouse, the National Crime Agency’s (NCA) director of operations, told MPs 185,000 alerts from EU countries must be deleted from UK systems, and that officers were trying to save the data by encouraging other nations to upload them to Interpol.

He warned that the system will only be “as good as the data put into it” last week, telling the Home Affairs Committee: “I cannot be sure of the extent to which every member state will make use of the Interpol route.

“There will be some states in some circumstances who don’t use Interpol alerts and that provides a gap for us.”

Officials have been working to upload Interpol notices to the PNC and a warnings index used by Border Force to assess people entering the country.

The UK will also be cut out of the European Arrest Warrant, which allows the immediate arrest of wanted EU criminals in Britain and vice-versa, and has not yet negotiated replacement extradition agreements. Germany, Austria and Slovenia have already said they will not extradite their own nationals to the UK.

Britain also faces losing access to the Prüm database for DNA, fingerprints and vehicle registration data, the European Criminal Records Information System (Ecris), Passenger Name Records (PNR) database and Europol policing coordination body.

Mr Rodhouse said that without the tools, investigations involving international crime networks will take longer, adding: “That can mean that serious criminals are not held to account as quickly.“

The International Crime Coordination Centre was set up to prepare contingencies, but Ch Supt Griffiths said the public “shouldn’t be under any illusion around the fact that they will be more cumbersome, less efficient and less effective”.

“It will affect day-to-day policing across the entire landscape,” he added. “Every day, all over the country, officers are stopping vehicles and people and using databases we share with our European partners.”

Government ministers have repeatedly insisted the UK will “remain one of the safest places in the world”, and was falling back on “tried and tested mechanisms”.

But the head of UK counter-terror police, Mr Basu, said: “The mitigations will be in place by 31 December but they won’t be as effective as what we’ve got now.

Difficulties created by the pandemic and departure from the EU threaten to converge – and promises of a bright future are not reassuring

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That it didn’t have to be like this goes without saying. The Guardian argued in March that, in view of the economic shock and policymaking demands of the virus, the transition period ought to be extended. That is not due to a desire to put Brexit off. The point was, and remains, that the government should be concentrating on its response to this emergency. The suggestion has been repeated many times, including by Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, on Monday. Yet, not only has the UK government rejected every proposal to ease the Brexit timetable to give ministers a chance to improve their dismal management of the virus, it has arrogantly refused even to discuss it.

The situation now facing the UK is grave. The number of people hospitalised with Covid has risen to almost 19,000 – not far behind April’s peak. The NHS is under huge pressure, with hopes for next year resting on a successful vaccine rollout. So far, there is no evidence that the mutated form of the virus will render the vaccine less effective, but complacency could prove disastrous. Testing and tracing arrangements remain shambolic, even as the new, more contagious Covid strain means they are desperately needed – most urgently in Kent, where rapid testing is likely to be the fastest route to reopening cross-Channel transit.

With Christmas plans cancelled at short notice and warnings of a national lockdown to come, millions of people are disappointed and scared. Yet the government remains fixated on a 31 December exit from the EU. The prime minister reiterated in Monday’s press conference his view that the UK will “prosper mightily” even without a deal and told journalists that they should follow his example by being hopeful about the future. As France and the rest of the EU struggle to hold at bay a British variant of a deadly virus, it is hard to imagine circumstances less conducive to resolving the deadlock over fishing rights. Yet this is the conjunction we confront, under a prime minister who appears constitutionally unable to admit the dangers.