In a joint statement after the meeting of the UK-EU joint committee, the co-chairs, Michael Gove and the European commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, reiterated their commitment to the Northern Ireland protocol and vowed to find solutions to problems caused by the new controls on trade across the Irish Sea.
They also pledged “further joint engagement with business groups and other stakeholders” in Northern Ireland and agreed that the UK could develop a new plan to tackle the issue of supermarket supplies and invest in digital solutions for traders.
The summit took place amid mounting pressure on the EU and the UK from local businesses and civic leaders to soften the impact of the Northern Ireland protocol.
The UK has asked for a two-year extension to all grace periods for checks including those on food, parcels, plants and medicines.
However, there was no breakthrough on the issue with Foster, who attended the meeting, telling the BBC the EU was “tone deaf” to concerns of unionists over checks that have led to shortages in supermarkets and a ban on plants and trees going from Britain to the region.
But the deputy first minister, the Sinn Féin Northern Ireland leader, Michelle O’Neill, who was also at the meeting, described talks as “constructive and pragmatic” with both sides agreeing to work on solutions.
Gove and Šefčovič said: “The UK and the EU underlined their shared commitment to giving effect to those solutions agreed through the joint committee on 17 December 2020, without delay. The UK noted that it would provide a new operational plan with respect to supermarkets and their suppliers, alongside additional investment in digital solutions for traders in accordance with the protocol.”
They added: “Noting the need for ongoing engagement and the shared desire to act at pace, the UK and EU agreed that a further joint committee would be held to provide further steers and where appropriate approvals, and would liaise on timings.”
Businesses hit by punishing new red tape at Britain’s borders are paying the price for Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit, David Cameron says.
The former prime minister dismissed the government’s claims of merely “teething problems”, warning the “bureaucracy” was the inevitable result of leaving the EU single market.
“I hope they can tackle as many of these problems as possible but, ultimately, some of them are because we chose to leave the single market and become a third country,” he said.
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Exports have been hit by a blizzard of bureaucracy, with new requirements for health checks and customs documents – while a ban on shellfish trade is “indefinite”, the EU is warning.
The Independent revealed fears that the appointment of arch-Brexiteer David Frost to lead future talks with the EU will slam the brakes on a possible deal to lift some food checks.
In the interview, Mr Cameron was asked about the “unbelievable problems” Brexit had created, with the economy taking a “massive hit” and the vital services sector excluded altogether.
“I hope the government can address as many of the problems and issues as possible, whether that’s problems faced by British fishermen, whether it’s small businesses finding it more difficult to export to EU countries because of the additional bureaucracy,” he replied.
Senior Tory MP and arch-Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested unionist parties could undo the Northern Ireland protocol his government has agreed to fully implement if they sweep to victory at local elections in 2024.
The North East Somerset MP and leader of the House of Commons said unionist members of NI's Assembly could "get rid of the protocol" by uniting but urged them not to collapse Stormont's institutions.
Mr Rees-Mogg's comments came less than a week after Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove and European Commission vice president Maroš Šefcovic announced in a joint statement that both sides are committed to making the protocol work for the "benefit of everyone" in NI.
Prime minister Boris Johnson said earlier this year he would be willing to trigger a clause in the Brexit deal that would remove the protocol. That position appears to have slipped away following pushback from the EU and the Irish government, which played a key role in the Brexit talks.
Anger has been growing within the unionist, or loyalist, community over the protocol ever since it was implemented in January at the end of the Brexit transition period.
Unionists say it creates trade barriers between NI and the rest of the UK.
In an interview with Sunday Life, Mr Rees-Mogg, who voted for his government's Brexit Withdrawal Agreement and the NI protocol, said unionist parties should "work through the democratic processes" as opposed to collapsing Stormont.
If unionists can win a majority at the 2024 Assembly elections then "then they can vote down the protocol", Mr Rees-Mogg said, adding: "I think Northern Ireland often gets overlooked in the union discussion, but Northern Ireland is part of my country and we should not forget that."
The NI protocol was agreed by the UK government and the EU as a method to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland by keeping NI in the bloc's customs union. In their joint statement on Wednesday last week, Mr Gove and Mr Šefcovic reiterated their desire to find "pragmatic solutions" to the implementation of the protocol
Despite Mr Rees-Mogg's intervention, DUP Brexit spokesman and East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson said his party – which earlier this year launched an official campaign to have the protocol removed – "would not be kicking the issue down the road".
"We will fight guerrilla warfare against this, until the big battle opportunity comes," Mr Wilson added. "We will be challenging the government on a daily basis, telling them to do what they can now to undo the damage done to Northern Ireland."
Rees-Mogg's comments were criticised by the former Brexit Party MEP Ben Habib, who is supporting a coalition of unionist politicians who have announced a legal challenge against the protocol.
"It is disingenuous of Jacob Rees-Mogg to say unionists can get rid of the Protocol in the years ahead," Mr Habib tweeted on Sunday. "The onus is not on them to get rid of it. The onus was on Boris Johnson first to gain their agreement. They do not agree".
Tensions escalated on Friday when DUP agriculture minister Gordon Lyons ordered officials to stop construction of permanent facilities for post-Brexit checks on agri-food products arriving in NI from Great Britain.
Mr Lyons said his move was in response to the “practical difficulties” caused by the protocol but opposition politicians accused the minister of a political “stunt”.
A growing number of NI’s unionist politicians have said bringing down the devolved government remains an option in opposing the protocol as anger continues to grow within the community.
But opposition parties in NI argue they are not engaging in constructive efforts to find workable solutions to some of the problems presented by the protocol.
On Monday Mr Lyons's move to halt construction on port facilities will be debated by Stormont MLAs after SDLP deputy leader and minister for infrastructure Nichola Mallon called for an emergency meeting of the executive.
Sinn Fein, the SDLP and Alliance Party – the three pro-remain executive parties – have already heavily criticised Mr Lyons's decision, insisting he does not have the authority to act unilaterally on issues considered controversial.
As well as ordering officials to halt construction of permanent inspection facilities for regulatory checks on agri-food goods arriving from GB, Mr Lyons also stopped further recruitment of inspection staff and said charges would not be levied at the ports on traders bringing goods into Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK.
SDLP leader and Foyle MP Colum Eastwood criticised the action. He said: “It is deeply concerning that DUP ministers are actively trying to sabotage the arrangements and inject further uncertainty into a difficult situation for local businesses to suit their own narrow political interests.
Mr Lyons said his move was in response to the “practical difficulties” caused by the protocol.
He cited uncertainty over the movement of goods when grace periods currently limiting protocol bureaucracy end at the start of April.
Mr Lyons’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has been fulfilling the UK government’s legal duty to construct the facilities under the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement.
Asked about his obligation to fulfil the UK’s responsibilities under the Brexit international treaty, Mr Lyons insisted he was acting in a “reasonable and proportionate” manner in response to the uncertainty around the protocol.
On Friday night, a government spokesman said: “This is a matter for the Northern Ireland Executive.”
Exclusive: total of 112,490 criminal convictions not sent to relevant EU capitals over eight-year period
The conviction of 109 killers, 81 rapists and a man found guilty of both crimes in UK courts was not passed on to the criminals’ home EU countries due to a massive computer failure and subsequent cover-up, the Guardian can reveal.
The most serious cases are among a total of 112,490 criminal convictions not sent to the relevant EU capitals over an eight-year period due to a catastrophic computer glitch, which some fear has put lives at risk.
The scandal largely involves dual nationals, who are only rarely deported even after lengthy prison sentences, leaving EU member states potentially blind as to whether those convicted of crimes in the UK have since entered their country.
The revelation will be highly embarrassing at a time when UK police forces are often relying on goodwill for continued cooperation on the sharing of information after the loss of access to EU databases due to Brexit.
The Guardian can reveal:
• The failure to comply with EU law and notify member states was first discovered within Whitehall at least six years ago, and a provisional plan to update them had been drawn up at that time by the Criminal Records Office. It was not acted upon amid concerns about the “reputational impact” on Britain.
• The lack of notification included 191 individuals who were convicted of either aggravated intentional killing, aggravated rape, intentional killing, rape of a minor, unintentional killing, aggravated cases of intentional killing and intentional killing. Of those, 109 were convicted killers, 81 were rapists, and “one subject was convicted of both types of offences”.
• EU member states were only alerted to the problem last autumn after this newspaper published incriminating minutes of a meeting at the Criminal Records Office. “You may be aware through UK media coverage earlier this year of a number of notifications not sent to EU member states since [European criminal records information system] was implemented in April 2012,” read the letter to member states from the criminal records office. “This is clearly a significant number that will have an impact upon you.”
• Of the total of 112,490 convictions in the UK courts that had not been passed on to the EU member states, documents show that by the end of last month, notification had belatedly been made of 81,706 cases, including 19,565 to Poland, 17,996 to Ireland and 12,466 to Romania.
• The failure relates mainly to dual EU nationals and individuals where a fingerprint is missing from the records. But a series of other glitches in the system have led to a failure to notify. Poland was not told of convictions of 15 of its nationals as they had been erroneously submitted to the police national computer as being from the Pitcairn Islands.
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Sophie in ‘t Veld, a Dutch MEP who sits on the European parliament’s civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee, said: “The day will come that one of these people commits a very serious crime and then everybody is going to be up in arms and say: how come we didn’t know about it?’
In ‘t Veld said the scandal raised questions over whether or not the UK would abide by the security and data-sharing arrangements agreed in the Brexit deal.
“I’m worried, and irritated. What’s the point in having an agreement if even before the ink is dry, they’re not living up to it,” she said. “Already the UK was not meeting its obligations when it was a member of the EU and now we have less means to enforce it.”
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The German [federal] statistics office said exports from Germany to the UK fell by almost a third in January, pointing to Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic as key drivers of the biggest slump since the 2009 financial crisis.
German exports to the UK fell by roughly 30% in January year-on-year, according to preliminary data released by the country's statistics office on Tuesday, citing Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic.
DeStatis, Germany's Federal Statistics Office, said it was the highest year-on-year decline for any month since the financial and economic crisis in 2009 when exports fell by 17%.
The report also said that since 2016 — the year of the Brexit referendum — German exports to the United Kingdom have steadily declined.
Last year, German companies exported goods and services worth €66.9 billion, In 2015, that figure was €89 billion.
Agricultural exports — in particular food and meat — have been particularly badly hit.
Vendors now need to provide export health certificates signed by a qualified vet, leaving trucks that once moved freely across the Channel facing delays.
One of Britain's largest business groups said last month that many small companies were facing an "existential" threat as they grappled with obstacles Brexit has imposed on commerce.
About half of UK exporters are experiencing difficulties owing to confusion over paperwork, higher costs, and delays to shipments, according to a survey of 465 firms by the British Chambers of Commerce
Imports to Germany from Britain are also suffering, falling almost 10% last year, according to the preliminary German figures.
The statistics agency will publish more complete data for German-U.K. trade on March 9.
Farmers are concerned that a flood of lower-standard imports could undercut British produce, while they must maintain high standards to be able to export to the EU. Food campaigners have warned that consumers could be subjected to unsafe or lower standard products that would promote intensive farming, damage animal welfare and boost diseases such as superbugs that are associated with the overuse of antibiotics in farming.
The British government has signalled it may take unilateral action to give supermarkets and suppliers more time to adapt to post-Brexit trading rules with Northern Ireland.
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland secretary, told the Commons on Wednesday that later in the day he would set out a “new operation plan” for sending goods from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
“We are taking forward a series of further temporary operational steps which reflect the simple reality that there is more time needed to adapt and implement new requirements as we continue our discussions with the EU,” he said.
The announcement will sound alarm bells in Dublin and Brussels that Downing Street may attempt to tweak the Northern Ireland protocol, the part of the Brexit deal that keeps Northern Ireland a part of the EU’s single market for goods.
Boris Johnson, speaking after Lewis, told MPs Northern Ireland’s position within the UK internal market was “rock-solid and guaranteed”. He said the government would reinforce that with operational “easings” to protect food supplies and other areas, pending further discussions with the EU.
Brussels has pledged to take legal action after ministers announced plans to unilaterally change a part of the Northern Ireland Brexit deal to better suit British businesses.
The move would extend a ‘grace period’ designed to allow UK supermarkets and suppliers time to adapt to new trade barriers across the Irish Sea.
But Maros Sefcovic, vice president of the European Commission, said that would be a “violation” of the protocol agreed with the UK.
He also warned it would be the “second time that the UK government is set to breach international law”, following a similar row last year.
Mr Sefcovic plans to convey his concerns directly to the UK government later this evening.
In a statement the European Commission said he would inform Lord Frost, the minister who helped negotiate the Brexit deal, that it would “respond to these developments in accordance with the legal means established by the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.” It added that the EU had “strong concerns over the UK’s unilateral action, as this amounts to a violation of the relevant substantive provisions of the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland and the good faith obligation under the Withdrawal Agreement.
“This is the second time that the UK government is set to breach international law.”
“This also constitutes a clear departure from the constructive approach that has prevailed up until now, thereby undermining … the mutual trust necessary for solution-oriented cooperation.”
The grace period – a temporary relaxation of checks - had been due to expire at the end of this month.
At that point supermarkets in Northern Ireland, which have struggled with supply problems since the government’s Brexit deal came into force on 1 January, had expected to see their woes worsen.
But Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis said the government would be “taking several temporary operational steps to avoid disruptive cliff edges as engagement with the EU”.
Controversially he announced the new grace period would continue until at least 1 October.
Ministers had asked the EU to extend the grace period until 2023, but Brussels had declined to do so so far.
As well as Brussels, the Irish government has also criticised the UK government’s plans, branding them “deeply unhelpful”.
Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said unilaterally continuing the grace period undermined the UK’s commitment to the protocol.
He said: “A unilateral announcement is deeply unhelpful to building the relationship of trust and partnership that is central to the implementation of the protocol.”
The UK has “systematically and persistently” broken legal limits on toxic air pollution for a decade, the court of justice of the EU (CJEU) has ruled.
Levels of nitrogen dioxide, mostly from diesel vehicles, remain illegally high in 75% of urban areas and on Thursday the court said the UK had failed to tackle the problem in the shortest possible time, as required by law.
The case began before the UK left the EU and the legal limits remain in UK law. The UK could face financial penalties if it still fails to take action to comply. The court also ordered the UK to pay the legal costs incurred by the European commission. UK ministers had already been defeated three times in British courts by environmental lawyers ClientEarth.
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If the UK fails to end illegal levels of pollution within a reasonable period, the European commission could issue a formal letter requiring the UK to remedy the situation. If the UK fails to do that, the commission could seek the imposition of financial penalties by the CJEU, although it is uncertain whether it will have the power or the inclination to do this, now the UK is no longer an EU member.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson did not raise the prospect of breaching the terms of the Northern Ireland Protocol when he spoke to Taoiseach Micheal Martin about a joint Ireland and UK bid for the 2030 World Cup.
Mr Martin and Mr Johnson spoke on Tuesday about proposals to host the World Cup on the two islands – the day before the UK announced the decision to extend grace period on checks on goods being transported into Northern Ireland without seeking EU agreement.
During the call, the two leaders discussed the Northern Ireland Protocol and the Taoiseach emphasised the need for tensions to be deescalated in the north after months of tension following the signing of the Brexit deal.
Mr Johnson said there was a need for a pragmatic approach to specific concerns about the transport of food between Britain and Northern Ireland.
However, the Prime Minister did not mention his decision to break with the EU Brexit deal by extending the grace period on checks on goods being transported into Northern Ireland until October.
"There was no mention of potential unilateral action,” a senior Government source said.
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Speaking this morning, Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney said he doesn’t favour legal action against the UK but that if it takes unilateral action in regards to Northern Ireland protocol then the EU has no other choice.
The European Commission has accused London of breaking international law for the second time, by reneging on EU-UK special agreements on the North’s status.
This followed an announcement by the UK, without consulting Brussels, that it would unilaterally extend the grace period until next October for checks on supermarket food movements from England, Scotland and Wales to Northern Ireland.
Minister Coveney said today that he “strongly advised” Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis against the UK’s unilateral decision to extend this grace period for post-Brexit checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain.
Speaking on RTE Radio 1’s Morning Ireland, he said: “No, I don’t favour legal action, I favour engagement and engagement on the basis of it being between both sides.
"But, if the UK simply cannot be trusted because they take unilateral action in an unexpected way without negotiation, then the British government leads the EU with no option and this is not where we want to be, but the British government is leading us towards it.”
The European parliament has postponed setting a date for ratifying the trade and security deal with Britain after Boris Johnson was accused of breaking international law for a second time over Northern Ireland.
The chamber’s political groups agreed on Thursday to wait in light of the latest row with Downing Street, with some senior MEPs warning that the Christmas Eve deal will not be passed at all if the UK goes ahead with its plans.
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Sources in the European parliament said that as a result a decision on when the trade and security deal would be ratified had been delayed. It had been expected that a vote would be held on 25 March but after a meeting on Thursday it has been left off the parliamentary agenda for now.
The vote could potentially be delayed until late April to allow MEPs to follow how the row over the Northern Ireland border develops.
The trade and security deal with the UK is provisionally in force but it is yet to be formally ratified by the parliament. Its provisions would fall away if MEPs failed to give it their backing, leaving the UK with a no-deal outcome, including tariffs on goods.
The MEP Bernd Lange, the chair of the parliament’s trade committee, tweeted an excerpt of a previous parliamentary resolution in a sign of the anger at the UK’s move.
“Still valid: ‘Should the UK authorities breach – or threaten to breach – the withdrawal agreement, through the United Kingdom internal market bill ... or in any other way, the European parliament will, under no circumstances, ratify any agreement between the EU and the UK,’” he wrote.
Cabinet Office used ‘unverifiable data’ to rebut a Road Haulage Association survey showing export volumes dropped by 68%
The Cabinet Office run by Michael Gove has been officially reprimanded by the UK Statistics Authority for using unpublished and unverifiable data in an attempt to deny that Brexit had caused a massive fall in volumes of trade through British ports.
The criticism follows a story in the Observer on 7 February that cited a survey by the Road Haulage Association (RHA) of its international members showing export volumes had dropped by a staggering 68% in January through British ports and the Channel Tunnel.
The RHA wrote to Gove at the time saying: “Intelligence that we are collecting on an ongoing basis from international hauliers suggests that loads to the EU have reduced by as much as 68%, which can also be evidenced by the increased number of empty trailers which are not currently considered in the statistics.”
The RHA also accused Gove of failing to heed its warnings that trade would be damaged unless there was a dramatic increase in the number of customs officials.
The Cabinet Office had responded to the Observer’s story with a point-by-point rebuttal of the RHA’s claims on its website, stating that “inbound and outbound flows (across all UK ports) were close to normal, at 95% outbound and 96% inbound, in spite of the impact of Covid lockdowns on trade.”
But in a letter to Richard Laux, chief statistician at the Cabinet Office, sent on Friday – following an investigation – Ed Humpherson, director general for regulation at the Statistics Authority, expressed serious concerns at the way the department had used data to rebut the RHA’s information.
The letter said the Cabinet Office’s strong rebuttal contained “claims based on unpublished data, and as such these figures cannot be verified. It is our expectation that any data used publicly by government should be published in an accessible form, with appropriate explanations of context and sources.”
While Humpherson suggested that the Cabinet Office has given assurances that it would provide more information about where its information came from, he added: “The Cabinet Office should consider how, in future, it can be more transparent through the release of data.
“For example, it should ensure that where there is a significant reason to use unpublished management information in a public statement, the underlying data is published before or at the same time as the public statement. If there is continued or anticipated public interest in the data, it should consider whether there is need for a new ad hoc or regular statistical release.”
The authority, which is independent of ministers, has a statutory objective to “safeguard the production and dissemination of statistics by government.” Its terms of reference state that it will intervene (raise concerns) if “official statistics in a document or statement are presented in such a way that, in the authority’s opinion, they are liable to mislead the public or undermine the integrity of official statistics.”
Rachel Reeves, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, said: “Our British businesses are under huge strain from the pandemic and reams of costly new red tape as a result of the government’s deal with the EU – the government should spend less time arguing with our businesses and spinning against them, and more time working with them to help.”
Trade experts and industry sources said ministers had deliberately tried to deny there was a serious fall-off in trade caused by Brexit by claiming that “flows” of lorries had been largely unaffected, rather than the volume of goods contained in them.
The RHA had made clear, however, that it was referring to the “volume” of goods carried, and stressed that very high numbers of lorries which travelled to and from the UK were returning to the continent empty because of problems faced by UK exporters as a result of post-Brexit rules and regulations. Industry sources said last night that while there had been an improvement since January, there was evidence that the number of lorries returning empty to the EU was still around 50%.
The first official statistics on the level of trade to and from the EU since 1 January are due to be published later this month.
Nigel Farage has announced he is quitting politics after resigning as leader of the Reform UK party.
The former MEP claimed that he would not come back again - as he did after two previous resignations - because Brexit "won't be reversed".
In a video message to his followers on Twitter, he said: "We've done it, we've achieved it. For me, I feel my political career, in the sense of actively leading a political party, fighting election campaigns... I think now's the moment to say I have done it."
He said he would continue to support Reform UK after handing over leadership to the party's chairman Richard Tice.
Nigel Farage has announced he is quitting politics after resigning as leader of the Reform UK party.
The former MEP claimed that he would not come back again - as he did after two previous resignations - because Brexit "won't be reversed".
In a video message to his followers on Twitter, he said: "We've done it, we've achieved it. For me, I feel my political career, in the sense of actively leading a political party, fighting election campaigns... I think now's the moment to say I have done it."
He said he would continue to support Reform UK after handing over leadership to the party's chairman Richard Tice.
However Mr Farage warned that he was "not going away" as he was going to continue with his media career.
He also said he wanted to campaign against "the increasing influence of the Chinese communist party over our whole way of life" and "the indoctrination of children at school", which he claimed meant many pupils were "encouraged to hate this country".
Mr Farage also claimed he cared strongly about environmental causes such as the health of our oceans, adding: "Let's get planting trees!".
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Mr Farage was originally a member of the Conservative Party but left after John Major signed the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.
He first became leader of the UK Independence party in 2006, only to quit in 2009 in a failed bid to be elected as an MP. After returning as leader in 2010, he resigned a second time after the Brexit referendum in 2016, only to become leader of the Brexit Party in 2019. It changed its name to Reform UK in January 2020.
