Roads, bridge washed out as heavy rain and hail pummeled parts of UK - Fox News

A “raging torrent” of rain and hail battered parts of the United Kingdom on Tuesday, washing out roads and damaging structures.

More than an inch of rain inundated North Yorkshire in just a span of hours, the UK’s Met Office wrote on Twitter. Roads were washed out across the region, and a road bridge collapsed near Grinton.

NORWEGIAN RUNNER STRUCK, KILLED BY LIGHTNING DURING ULTRAMATRATHON IN ITALY, OFFICIALS SAY

"The roads were a raging torrent and there were sheds and household oil tanks floating down them," Steve Clough of Swaledale Mountain Rescue told Sky News.

A man looks from the edge of a collapsed road bridge near Grinton, North Yorkshire, after parts of the region were inundated by overnight rain. (Danny Lawson/PA via AP)

A couple climbed 100 feet up a coastal cliff to escape the sudden tide surge at a beach in Filey Brigg Tuesday afternoon, the BBC reported. The man and the woman were found “clinging on by their fingertips” when rescuers arrived. The pair didn’t suffer any injuries, officials told the outlet.

Meanwhile, floodwaters swept through the streets of Bellerby as citizens defended their homes with sandbags. Rescue workers were seen helping a child over the rushing water.

"It started about half-past two, three o'clock, and the rain really started tanking down with hailstones and it got blacker and blacker,” said Dave Ward, a member of Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team. “And within about half an hour I started to defend our cottage because it was just coming off the hills at the back. And within about half an hour the road started flooding up and it's never stopped."

Gareth Walls, of Ripon, described the hail that pummeled the region as “like pickled onion,” and posted a picture of a large hailstone in the palm of his hand.

The Met Office said Wednesday that rain and “thundery downpours” could continue in some places.

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Britain has been getting wetter, according to the Met Office’s U.K. Climate report, with 13% more summer rain falling in the 21st century than the 20th.

The Met Office also said that since records began in 1884, the 10 warmest years in the U.K. have all occurred since 2002. The 10 coldest years were all before 1964.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2019-07-31 14:04:12Z
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UK Finance Watchdog Issues Guidance on Regulation for Bitcoin and Crypto Assets - CoinDesk

The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has finalized its guidance on crypto assets, clarifying which tokens fall under its jurisdiction.

Most of the rules issued Wednesday were proposed in consultation paper CP19, which was released for public comment in January. As widely expected, the final guidance does not drastically alter the regulatory landscape, instead specifying when certain types of crypto assets fall under existing categories.

True cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether, which the FCA classes “exchange tokens,” are not regulated, though anti-money-laundering rules apply.

The FCA said some 92 responses to the consultation paper were received from an assortment of firms, including banks, trade associations and crypto exchanges. Most respondents supported the proposals, said the FCA

Importantly, the guidance provides a definition of security tokens. When issued, these assets behave like shares or debt instruments, including ownership rights, thus falling under the category of a “specified investment” and, in turn, the FCA’s remit. Almost all respondents who answered the question agreed with the regulator’s assessment of security tokens in relation to the regulatory perimeter.

Utility tokens, by contrast, do not grant the same sorts of rights as regulated financial instruments and will generally fall outside the FCA’s remit, except in circumstances when they meet the definition of electronic money and fall within a new category of e-money tokens.

The agency said:

“Any token that is not a security token, or an e-money token is unregulated. However, market participants should note certain activities that use tokens may nevertheless be regulated, for example, when used to facilitate regulated payments.”

Certain stablecoins may also meet the e-money definition, though, and hence would also be subject to oversight by FCA (whose mandate is consumer and investor protection).

Price of BTC last 30 days via CoinDesk data.

The watchdog said, though, that “Market participants should use the Guidance as the first step in understanding how they should treat certain cryptoassets, however definitive judgements can only be made on a case-by-case basis.”

Christopher Woolard, executive director of Strategy and Competition at the FCA, said in a statement:

“This is a small, complex and evolving market covering a broad range of activities. Today’s guidance will help clarify which cryptoasset activities fall inside our regulatory perimeter.”

A firm can issue security tokens without needing a regulatory license, in the same way that issuing shares does not require a license. But in any scenarios in which the tokens are traded, the advisers and brokers handling the tokens, and the financial promotions regime, will need authorization, said the FCA.

If a security token is tradeable on the capital market, said the FCA, it will further be considered a transferable security under the European Union’s Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID), and that regime will apply too.

Blurred lines

The initial coin offering explosion of 2017-18 has largely abated, removing some of the pressure on regulators, but there are still wrinkles when it comes to the business of defining certain types of crypto assets.

Given the growing popularity of security token offerings, there could be a blurring of the lines between those and utility tokens, according to Jacqui Hatfield, a partner specializing in crypto at the London office of law firm Orrick.

Hatfield pointed to possible cases when a utility token could wind up being dressed in a security token wrapper, telling CoinDesk:

“The interesting thing is where you have got utility tokens that are dressed up as security tokens just to make sure that they don’t fall foul of any promotion type restrictions. So the question is, does that actually change the nature of the token itself when it comes to trading it?”

In this regard, Nick Cook, director of innovation, FCA, reiterated the need to look at the nature of individual tokens and issuances on a case-case basis. “We don’t rely on the labeling, particularly with something like stablecoins, where we find the terminology is not especially helpful, because it could be a security token, it could be an e-money token, or it could be an unregulated token,” Cook told CoinDesk, adding:

“So an individual or entity may attempt to make a token appear, in one way or another, to fit within or without the parameters, but we always look at the underlying characteristics.”

As stated in the original consultation paper, utility tokens might meet the definition of e-money in certain circumstances (as could other tokens), in which case activities in relation to them may be within the FCA’s jurisdiction.

The FCA agreed further clarity between types of tokens was required and said it will separate e-money tokens from the utility tokens and security tokens categories. “This will create a specific regulated e-money token category and an unregulated category that includes utility tokens,” said the regulator.

Price of ether last 30 days via CoinDesk data.

Stablecoins, which are designed to maintain parity with fiat currency, may also fall within the definition of e-money, according to the paper. These may be considered electronic money where the crypto asset is issued on receipt of funds (i.e. fiat currency, not other crypto assets) and is accepted by a person other than the electronic money issuer.

This would include crypto assets that are issued on receipt of British pounds and are pegged to that currency, as long as the asset is accepted by a third party, noted Hatfield.

The FCA refers to cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and ether which have no controlling authority or centralized issuer as exchange tokens and these are outside its parameters of regulation. However, exchange tokens will be caught (along with other crypto assets) by the EU’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (5AMLD), which will be transposed into UK law by the end of 2019.

Bradley Rice, senior regulatory associate at law firm Ashurst, said the more interesting paper will be from the Treasury because this could amend the regulatory perimeter – something the FCA was at pains to state in its response, adding:

“The FCA’s hands are tied.  If the UK wants to bring more crypto assets into the regulatory net, the law has to be changed and that is in the Treasury’s gift.”

Derivatives ban

Perhaps the most controversial move by the FCA – one separate from Wednesday’s guidance – is the proposed ban on crypto derivatives for retail investors, including options, futures, contracts for difference (CFDs) and exchange-traded notes with underlying (unregulated) cryptoassets like bitcoin, for example.

Starting in August, the FCA is making restrictions for non-crypto CFDs and then at the start of September for non crypto CFD-like options. The consultation for how to deal with derivatives with underlying crypto assets ends October 3; the FCA’s proposal on this is a blanket ban.

Hatfield said the notion of a ban on crypto derivatives was the only thing set out in the FCA’s crypto regulations she staunchly disagrees with.

“The intention is that this will become a blanket ban for retail generally in the future,” she said, concluding:

“My view is these should be treated like derivatives on the retail market generally, like any other derivative because these are no riskier.”

Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Conduct Authority, Andrew Bailey, via SIFMA

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2019-07-31 10:00:00Z
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Brexit and Boris Johnson Send the British Pound on a Slide - The New York Times

LONDON — The British pound has long possessed a mystique that transcends its marginal role in the global economy, conjuring memories of its dominance in the imperial age. But lately the currency has devolved into a sign of Britain’s diminishing fortunes in a present dominated by Brexit.

As the country slides toward the European Union’s exits, the latest pressure on its currency comes in the form of the new prime minister, Boris Johnson. Mr. Johnson has insisted he is prepared to accept the expensive chaos of leaving the European Union without a deal governing future relations.

Investors have taken his ascension last week as the impetus to evacuate their money ahead of a potential disaster. They have sold the pound. The currency has lost nearly 3 percent of its value against both the American dollar — it fell to $1.2151 on Tuesday afternoon — and the euro since Mr. Johnson took over.

The slide is expected to continue, perhaps right up until Oct. 31, the day that Britain is scheduled to depart the European bloc.

“The markets see turbulence for the economy,” said Kjersti Haugland, chief economist at DNB Markets, an investment bank in Oslo. “They see the potential for the economy to contract abruptly.”

The decline in the pound is at once a reflection of the market’s recognition that Britain has been economically weakened by Brexit, and a cause for distress.

The drop effectively raises prices for a vast range of British imports, from fruit and vegetables shipped in from Spain to chemicals and industrial parts made in Germany. It increases the costs of international travel, just as Britons flock to the beaches of the Mediterranean for summer holidays.

In theory, the weaker pound should bolster British exports by making them relatively cheaper than those produced by competitors in Europe, North America and Asia.

But given that Britain imports more than it exports, the net effect is negative. Whatever advantages exporters might gain would almost surely be canceled out by barriers to trade across the English Channel if Britain really leaves Europe without a deal.

Most broadly, the decline in the pound signals that investors see less need for British currency in the future, because Brexit is already reducing the appeal of doing business in Britain.

Economists have produced a dizzying array of estimates on the ultimate costs of Brexit, and especially the disruption to trade if confusing new customs checks are established on both sides of the English Channel. A no-deal Brexit would leave the British economy 2 percent smaller than otherwise by the end of 2021, according to a recent report from Oxford Economics, a research institution in London. The hit would be twice as bad by the calculations of the Office for Budget Responsibility, the official British forecaster.

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A truck carrying Dutch flowers onto a ferry bound for Britain. The pound’s decline effectively raises prices for British imports.CreditAndrew Urwin for The New York Times

From the auto industry to aerospace, major international companies have over decades set up plants in Britain, exploiting its proximity to the single European marketplace. The more likely a rupture across the English Channel, the less valuable Britain becomes as a base of operations.

None of this is new. Mr. Johnson has merely intensified pressures that have been at play since June 2016, when Britain shocked the globe with its referendum vote in favor of abandoning Europe. The pound plunged more than 10 percent against the dollar the next day. Ever since, the currency’s value has served as a gauge of Britain’s overall economic prospects amid the bewildering wrangling over Brexit.

Inflation resulting from a weaker pound prompted households to limit spending, yielding slower economic growth. Businesses have held back on expansions. Major international companies — Nissan and Honda among them — have shifted production beyond Britain.

But if this has become a familiar trajectory, Mr. Johnson has injected a substantial element of unpredictability.

His predecessor, the highly scripted Theresa May, abhorred drama even as it consumed her tenure. Mrs. May initially claimed willingness to accept the turmoil of a no-deal Brexit if the alternative was an unsatisfactory arrangement. She then spent most of three years trying to walk back that formulation through negotiation, capitulation and the finessing of previous positions.

Eventually, Mrs. May forged a compromise with Europe that was almost universally panned. Those opposed to Brexit denounced Britain’s departure from the European single market, which allows trade to proceed from Greece to Ireland as if the European bloc were one enormous country. Those favoring Brexit blasted Mrs. May’s deal as a form of vassalage that would prevent Britain from striking its own trade deals with the rest of the world.

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A factory in Northern Ireland, whose border with Ireland is a point of contention between Mr. Johnson and the European Union.CreditPaulo Nunes dos Santos for The New York Times

In a series of votes, Mrs. May’s deal went down to defeat. Then, she departed, handing the tangled knot that is Brexit to Mr. Johnson, a former journalist whose factually deficient reports from Brussels decades ago helped turn the British public against the European Union.

The new prime minister has a penchant for finding the center of controversy and an eagerness for headline-capturing political fisticuffs. He took office vowing to end what he has portrayed as British deference in the face of vindictive European inflexibility.

He would demand a reopening of negotiations and especially the scrapping of an element of Mrs. May’s deal known as the Irish backstop, a complex bit of maneuvering designed to prevent the reimposition of a border between Northern Ireland — part of the United Kingdom — and the independent Republic of Ireland. The net effect was to keep Britain inside the European customs union indefinitely and retain free-flowing trade until the two sides work out a permanent arrangement that ensures no hard border.

European officials have been resolute that negotiations cannot be reopened, while the backstop must endure. That leaves Mr. Johnson headed toward a collision with Europe, or on the verge of a politically perilous flip-flop.

Mr. Johnson has alternately dismissed the risks of a no-deal Brexit and insisted that he was willing to crash out of the bloc at the end of October if need be. During a tour of the United Kingdom this week, he has toggled between pugnacity and reassurance.

On Monday in Scotland, Mr. Johnson was booed. He declared that there was “every chance we can get a deal” with Europe, but he also pronounced the Irish backstop “dead” — an apparent contradiction. The same day, Michael Gove, a member of Mr. Johnson’s cabinet who is overseeing preparations for a no-deal Brexit, said the government was “operating on the assumption” that this would be the outcome.

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Mr. Johnson campaigning for Brexit in 2016. The new prime minister was touring Britain again this week.CreditChristopher Furlong/Getty Images

On Tuesday, sheep farmers in Wales excoriated the new prime minister for imperiling their livelihoods by jeopardizing exports to Europe. A no-deal Brexit threatens steep tariffs on lamb exports, they said, raising the prospect of the mass slaughter of soon-to-be-unsellable animals.

Experts are divided on what is really going on. Mr. Johnson may be bluffing, seeking to force Europe to reopen talks by convincing officials that he is unafraid to crash out of the European bloc. Or perhaps he is merely seeking to position himself and his Conservative Party as the victims of European intransigence ahead of national elections that are likely to follow if Europe does not budge.

Or maybe he is intent on securing his legacy as a hero among hard-core Brexiteers, the man who finally liberates Britain from killjoy European bureaucrats. But if he pursues a no-deal exit to the end, Mr. Johnson risks a mutiny within the Conservative ranks. A few members of Parliament could join the opposition to bring down the government, and an election would follow. If Mr. Johnson pursues an unexpected compromise — perhaps extending the Brexit deadline or agreeing to version of an Irish backstop — he risks a revolt from the other side of his party.

No one knows what will happen, a phrase that has gotten a vigorous workout since the Brexit referendum. Meanwhile, the markets are absorbing the variables and coming away with a less-than-robust appetite for pounds.

The moves in the currency markets are now gradual, reflecting a continued downgrading of sentiment rather than a meaningful change to the economy. But as Oct. 31 draws closer, bringing the cliff edge into sharp relief, the pound could plunge. Britain could well descend into recession.

“The currency markets are making their own judgment that it will be bad for the economy,” said Peter Dixon, a global financial economist at Commerzbank AG in London. “The more the rhetoric gets cranked up, the more likely that sterling comes under pressure.”

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2019-07-31 04:01:15Z
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For Britain’s vicious tabloids, Meghan remains a constant target - The Washington Post

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, visits Chester Town Hall with Queen Elizabeth II on June 14, 2018, in Chester, England. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Karla Adam

London correspondent covering the United Kingdom

July 30 at 1:13 PM

LONDON — Meghan may have found her prince, but it seems Britain’s media is determined she won’t get the complete fairy tale.

Since the news broke three years ago that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were dating, British tabloid interest in the pair has been incessant, and it’s been nasty. So much so that in November 2016, Prince Harry issued an unusually fierce statement in which he called out racist and sexist media coverage of his then-girlfriend and said he was concerned for her safety.

The former actress — now Meghan, Duchess of Sussex — is a biracial American with a white father and an African American mother. She is proud of her heritage and has not shied away from talking about her racial background.

But, to the scavenging British tabloids, Meghan will always be an outsider.

“Harry’s girl is (almost) straight outta Compton” wrote the Daily Mail in 2016, focusing on the Los Angeles neighborhood of Meghan’s mother, Doria. In 2017, the Sun apologized over its 2016 story headlined, “Harry’s girl on Pornhub.”

In the weeks before the couple’s May 2018 royal wedding, the press zeroed in on Meghan’s family, with particular focus on her rocky relationship with her father, Thomas Markle, and her half sister, Samantha. They dug into her father’s financial problems and his health while intensely speculating about whether he would make the wedding. He did not.

Since marrying into the royal family and officially becoming duchess of Sussex, Meghan has continued to draw bitter media coverage — despite calls from Buckingham Palace for the media to “pause and reflect” on their coverage of her.

According to negative takes in the tabloids, Meghan and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, have been virtually at war — causing a rift between Harry and his brother, Prince William. Royal fans were angry at the couple’s decision to make the christening in May of their son Archie a small and private affair. More recently, the press pounced on Meghan’s guest-edit of the September edition of British Vogue.

“MEG’S LEFTIE ISSUE,” declared the Sun newspaper, which said she was celebrating women with “leftie views.” The Daily Mail’s Piers Morgan labeled the duchess “Me-Me-Meghan” and slammed her project as a “shamelessly hypocritical super-woke Vogue stunt.”

Others demanded to know why Meghan had not included Queen Elizabeth II on the cover as one of the women she admires.

“A guest editorship of Vogue featuring a list of inspirational women, half of whom no one’s ever heard of,” wrote controversial columnist Sarah Vine in the Daily Mail. “You fail to nominate the one truly inspirational woman in your life, the Queen, whose years of selfless devotion to this country knock all of the others into a cocked hat.”

Meghan fans, however, believe she did everything right: She opted not to appear on the front cover herself, saying it would be a “boastful” of her to do so. She spotlighted 15 important women to know — from Ni­ger­ian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie to 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

She even included a mirror in the cover’s 16th spot, signaling to readers that they, too, have the power to create change.

Morgan, who, like Vine, is known for penning particularly controversial pieces for the Mail, accused her of caring more about “promoting herself than the Royal Family or Britain.” Morgan also noted that Meghan did not meet President Trump during his summer state visit to Britain but found the time to work with Vogue. Meghan worked on the project for seven months, starting in January.

Days after the birth of Archie, British radio host Danny Baker was fired from the BBC after writing a racist tweet that compared the newest royal to a chimpanzee. He later apologized following a slew of complaints and defended his actions, saying he had meant to compare the royals to circus animals.

[British radio host fired for racist tweet comparing Archie Harrison to a chimp]

In the September edition of British Vogue, Prince Harry talked openly about how many people don’t understand the “unconscious bias” at play with racism, how they can be biased without knowing it. Harry’s comments were made in a question-and-answer interview with primatologist Jane Goodall, published Tuesday on the magazine’s website.

The two spoke about climate change, the environment and how Harry plans to have only “two, maximum!” children. They also spoke about how, as Harry put it, “stigma is handed down from generation to generation.”

Harry described “unconscious bias” as “something which so many people don’t understand, why they feel the way that they do. Despite the fact that if you go up to someone and say, ‘What you’ve just said, or the way that you’ve behaved, is racist’ — they’ll turn around and say, ‘I’m not a racist.’"

The prince added: “I’m not saying that you’re a racist. I’m just saying that your unconscious bias is proving that, because of the way that you’ve been brought up, the environment you’ve been brought up in, suggests that you have this point of view — unconscious point of view — where naturally you will look at someone in a different way.”

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2019-07-30 17:14:11Z
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Newt Gingrich: Boris Johnson has already made a huge imprint on British government and politics - Fox News

New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has taken charge with historic speed and decisiveness. Whether he can finish Brexit by Oct. 31 – and win a general election – remains to be seen.

However, Johnson has already made a huge imprint on British government and politics in his first days in office.

During his first appearance in the House of Commons, Johnson spoke for two and a half hours and answered 129 questions. It was a tour de force for a man whose personality is so strong and so unique it is easy to forget how smart, how strategic, and intelligent he is.

BORIS JOHNSON TO RECRUIT 20,000 POLICE OFFICERS AMID KNIFE PROBLEM GRIPPING LONDON, REST OF UK

His friends from college recount that he was already thinking about becoming prime minister as an undergraduate, and they all assumed he would get to No. 10 Downing Street.

When Prime Minister David Cameron resigned after losing the referendum on staying in the European Union, it was widely thought that the choice of Theresa May to be prime minister might have meant the end of Johnson’s ambitions. However, he may have been fortunate in letting her go first because her exhausting failure and humiliating collapse as a leader created a vacuum in which the vast majority of Conservatives were eager for a strong, aggressive, and personally dynamic leader. Johnson’s moment had come.

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He made clear in his first hours as prime minister that he was about much more than simply leaving the European Union. In the Johnson world, Brexit is a first step toward a better future and not an end in itself.

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Much like President Trump's "make America great again" slogan, the new prime minister announced that his goal was to make Britain "the greatest place on Earth."

The new prime minister is a natural ally for President Trump, and their enthusiasm, energy, and risk-taking personalities make them remarkably compatible.

Britain's left-wing media is as anti-Johnson as the American media is anti-Trump. However, Johnson destroyed all effort to describe his movement as racist, white, anti-immigrant and so on by choosing a remarkable cabinet.

As The Telegraph described it, Johnson assembled the "youngest and most ethnically diverse" cabinet in history. The number of women in the cabinet tied the largest number in history. Two of the top government posts are held by individuals who have Indian and Pakistani backgrounds.

On his first day in office, Johnson outlined a program that set the stage for a general election campaign, if one is needed. He announced amnesty for 500,000 people in the United Kingdom illegally, a secure transition for the 2.5 million Europeans currently living in Great Britain, a program to hire 20,000 more police to counter a crime wave that has been growing, along with an increase in funding for both education and the National Health Service.

As his first step toward leaving the European Union and implementing Brexit, Johnson announced that there would be no special arrangement at the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. This was one of the difficult provisions which had destroyed Theresa May’s prime ministership. Strong supporters of Brexit see a special deal on the Irish border as a back door way to keep Britain under the thumb of the European Union.

As a sign of his decisiveness, Johnson simply announced flat out that the provision was dead, and he would not even negotiate with the European Union unless they agree to drop it. The Brussels bureaucrats responded – predictably – and attacked the Johnson proposal as “hostile, aggressive, and a non-starter.”

In his opening days, the new prime minister is sending two defiant signals.

First, to the European bureaucrats in Brussels, he is saying he is serious about leaving and that the U.K. will leave on Oct. 31. Brussels can negotiate or just say goodbye. By the way, if there is a hard Brexit, the U.K. will keep the 34 billion euros ($38 billion) which the last government promised to pay the European Union as a farewell fee.

Keeping the euros also gives the new prime minister a lot of money to spend on tax cuts, schools, health services, etc. As one British observer noted, the U.K. should let the European Union sue. They can’t collect the money, so the U.K. can keep it and spend it.

Second, to his competitors in Great Britain, Johnson is saying, he’s happy to have a general election. He is already laying out a general election set of campaign promises with a young, enthusiastic, ethnically diverse cabinet that is eager to campaign and eager to take the argument to the British people.

This is clearly not going to be a timid or cautious leader.

A key part of the Johnson belief in making Britain a great place is the combination of technology and the United States. Johnson knows that many of the best universities in the world are in Great Britain, and Britain still has the fifth largest economy in the world.

He sees the potential for a science — and technology — oriented Britain combined in a free trade zone with the United States (and presumably therefore with Canada and Mexico) as a powerful alternative to the European Union.

In the Johnson worldview, as the Brussels bureaucrats cripple the European economies with red tape and bureaucratic inertia Great Britain can join the Trumpian entrepreneurial world of deregulation, lower taxes, and advanced technology.

The new prime minister is a natural ally for President Trump, and their enthusiasm, energy, and risk-taking personalities make them remarkably compatible.

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It is going to be a wild ride for Britain – and a very enjoyable partnership for the United States.

Stay tuned.

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2019-07-30 11:00:26Z
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Could Boris Johnson’s ‘no-deal’ Brexit crack up the United Kingdom? - The Washington Post

LONDON — On Boris Johnson’s first day as Britain’s head of government, the loquacious Ian Blackford stood in the House of Commons and welcomed “the last prime minister of the United Kingdom.”

Blackford, the Scottish National Party’s leader in Parliament, was not being subtle. He was suggesting that with Johnson as prime minister, the United Kingdom might soon crack up, beginning with Scotland.

Scotland voted against independence in 2014, but there is much animosity toward Johnson north of the border, and a palpable dread over leaving the European Union — especially the hard, “no-deal Brexit” that the new prime minister says Britain must prepare for.

In the country’s 2016 Brexit referendum, Scotland voted to remain in the E.U. by a wide margin, 62 percent to 38 percent.

Johnson dashed up to Scotland on Monday, with a scheduled stop at a military base and a speech in the afternoon. 

The new prime minister is a divisive character — loved and very much disliked — across the United Kingdom, a political union comprising four nations: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Or as Johnson called it on the steps of Downing Street last week, “the awesome foursome that are incarnated in that red, white and blue flag,” the Union Jack.

In Scotland, Johnson is expected to praise “the most successful political and economic union in history” and to assure the north that “we are a global brand, and together we are safer, stronger and more prosperous.”

It has become something of a ritual for British leaders to visit each of the nations early on as a way to demonstrate their commitment to the union — and their understanding of the devolved, power-sharing governments, which allow Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to maintain their own parliaments with some power over regional spending and decision-making.

But some are concerned that the “awesome foursome” could get wobbly, especially without an E.U. withdrawal agreement. Johnson says he wants a new better Brexit deal with Europe but has promised to leave the E.U. at the end of October “no ifs, no buts.” The current legal position is that Britain will leave without a deal, something many economists think could hurt the country.

In a rare intervention into domestic British politics, Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, recently warned that a hard Brexit could undermine U.K. unity. 

“One of the things, ironically, that could really undermine the union, the United Kingdom union, is a hard Brexit,” Varadkar said Friday. The leader of the Republic of Ireland, which will remain in the European Union, warned that Northern Ireland could seek to exit the United Kingdom.

“People who you might describe as moderate nationalists or moderate Catholics, who were more or less happy with the status quo, will look more towards a united Ireland,” Varadkar said.

Some in government sounded similar alarm bells. Theresa May’s de facto deputy prime minister, David Lidington, told the BBC earlier this month that the union “would be under much greater strain in the event of a no deal.”

He added: “My view comes not just from Scottish nationalism and pressure for Irish unification — it comes from indifference among English opinion to the value of the union.”

Gordon Brown, a former Labour Party prime minister, said at an event in London last week that Johnson could be remembered “not as the 55th prime minister of the UK but as the first prime minister of England.”

Nationalists in Scotland who want the U.K. to split are hoping that Johnson’s premiership is equivalent to Christmas coming early. Blackford has called Johnson a “recruiting tool” for the cause.

Johnson certainly attracts attention.

Within hours of his winning the Conservative Party leadership race, hundreds of protesters gathered in central Glasgow for an “anti-Boris, pro-independence” rally, some carrying placards that read “Boris No! Independence Yes!” and “Eton mess.”

Gary Kelly, 44, started planning the protest a week before when he said it became clear that Johnson was likely to be selected as Conservative leader by the party’s 160,000 dues-paying members — about 0.25 percent of the British electorate — who largely live in the southern half of England. Johnson bested his rival, drawing 92,153 votes.

“Not exactly a stonewalled mandate, is it? It’s an English vote, an English prime minister,” said Kelly, who predicted that a Johnson government would be a boost for Scottish independence, which he supports. “Boris is a racist, a homophobe. He’s a bigot. He’s not the kind of person Scotland wants representing them.”

A poll last month found that 49 percent of Scots favored independence but that the number would rise to 53 percent in the event Johnson became prime minister. 

It's far from clear whether a Johnson administration could continue to tip the scales in favor of independence, or whether the new prime minister may yet win over Scots with his shiny optimism and numerous public-spending pledges. But a chaotic no-deal Brexit could help the Scottish National Party (SNP) to make its case. 

John Curtice, a politics professor at the University of Strathclyde, said that if a Johnson government leaves the bloc without a deal, “and if it’s as bad as some claim it will be, then obviously it’s easier for the SNP to pursue the independence argument.” 

Since the independence referendum five years ago, support for independence has generally hovered around the mid-40 percent range.

He also added that Johnson — who was the leader of Brexit campaign in 2016 — is deeply unpopular across the United Kingdom with people who voted against Brexit. Of the four nations, Scotland and Northern Ireland voted against Brexit; England and Wales voted for it. 

Johnson has dismissed accusations that he is unpopular in Scotland. When asked about it in Parliament last week, he responded by explaining “why I seem to get a good reception in Scotland.”

“It may be because the people of Scotland recognize that they have a common-sensical Conservative approach, which would not hand back control of their fisheries to Brussels just as Scotland has regained control of its fantastic fish,” he said.

A YouGov survey last week showed that 65 percent of Scots thought that Johnson would be a “poor” or “terrible” prime minister.

Leafing through different regional editions of the same newspaper does seem to suggest that there are varying views on Johnson across the British Isles.

Roy Greenslade, a media commentator, said in an interview with The Washington Post that the news coverage of Johnson has been negative in Scotland, where Johnson’s background — he studied at the elite Eton College before going on to Oxford — does him no favors.

“Boris embodies all that the average working-class Scots person finds disagreeable,” he said. “Eton, Oxford, being a Westminster person — it all conjures up for the Scots English privilege.”

And it’s not just Johnson. Scotland is largely an anti-Conservative part of the world. The Scottish National Party has dominated the landscape for about a decade. For half a century before that, Scotland was a Labour Party stronghold.

But Ruth Davidson, the charismatic leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has helped to transform her party’s fortunes north of the border, winning 13 seats in Parliament in the last election — not an insignificant number for the Tories, who have a paper-thin working majority of just two.

Davidson has been notably lukewarm on Johnson.

“He’s a disaster for her,” said Thomas Lundberg, a lecturer in politics at the University of Glasgow. Johnson, he told The Post, represents the “quintessentially English posh person who has made it through privilege and contacts, rather than merit.”

Davidson is not Johnson’s biggest fan. She reportedly banned him from attending the recent Scottish Tory conference. She backed his rivals in the leadership contest. During the 2016 E.U. referendum, she fired up the pro-E.U. side during a televised debate by saying that Johnson’s side had told a series of lies.

After Johnson became prime minister, Davidson told BBC Scotland, “I’ve been a critic of Boris Johnson when our ideas have differed and when I thought he merited it, and I will continue to be so.”

But now that he is leader, she said, she would judge him “by his actions in office.”

Read more

Scotland dreads Brexit. But is it enough to boost sentiment for Scottish independence?

Trump to stay at Doonbeg, his money-losing golf course threatened by climate change

This U.K. hike is sublime. Just avoid the bombs, tides and quicksand.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/could-boris-johnsons-no-deal-brexit-crack-up-the-united-kingdom/2019/07/29/b871ebac-b1e6-11e9-acc8-1d847bacca73_story.html

2019-07-29 12:35:53Z
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Vauxhall owner could move Astra production 'from UK' - BBC News

The chief executive of Vauxhall-owner PSA says it could move all production from its Ellesmere Port factory if Brexit makes it unprofitable.

Carlos Tavares told the Financial Times that the carmaker has alternatives to the plant which it could use.

The move would probably lead to the closure of the site, the FT said, threatening 1,000 jobs.

That would leave Vauxhall's Luton-based van plant as its last presence in the UK.

"Frankly I would prefer to put it [the Astra car] in Ellesmere Port, but if the conditions are bad and I cannot make it profitable, then I have to protect the rest of the company and I will not do it," Mr Tavares told the paper.

"We have an alternative to Ellesmere Port."

In June, the carmaker announced plans to manufacture the next generation of the Astra, its best selling car, in Ellesmere Port and another factory in Germany. At the time, it warned that its decision would depend on the final Brexit terms.

However, Mr Tavares has now gone further, indicating that the firm has another plant in mind should the UK leave the EU without a deal.

'Catastrophic'

In an official statement on Monday, PSA confirmed the group was still looking to manufacture the next-generation Astra at Russelsheim and Ellesmere Port.

But it warned that the final decision on the role of the Ellesmere Port plant would be conditional on the "final terms of the UK's exit from the European Union".

"PSA Groupe has put in to place a comprehensive 'no-deal' contingency plan that covers human resources, taxation, customs, logistics, production, regulation, supply chain and IT," it added.

The firm said it would closely monitor political developments and engage with politicians to understand the various potential Brexit outcomes.

At the weekend, Michael Gove, who has been charged by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to prepare for leaving the EU with no deal, said the government was now "working on the assumption" of a no-deal Brexit.

Mr Gove said his team still aimed to come to an agreement with Brussels, but writing in the Sunday Times, he added: "No deal is now a very real prospect."

Steve Turner, assistant general secretary of Unite, said the union and PSA had been in positive discussions about a new vehicle agreement and securing new models for the Ellesmere Port plant.

"All that hard work is now hanging by a thread as Boris Johnson and his government of hard Brexiteers play no-deal roulette with the livelihoods of thousands of Vauxhall workers and their colleagues in the supply chain," he added.

"A no-deal Brexit, or a deal that throws up barriers and tariffs, would be catastrophic for Vauxhall's Ellesmere Port workers and the UK car industry and make plants inefficient, components less attractive and cars built in the UK more expensive for export."

Analysis:

By Theo Leggett, BBC business correspondent

This isn't the first time Carlos Tavares has warned about the impact of a no-deal Brexit on Vauxhall, but it is the most explicit threat he's made so far.

Last year, for example, he told me there could be "dramatic consequences" for the firm's UK plants, but refused to specify what those consequences might be.

Now he is being specific. Production of the next generation Vauxhall Astra could be moved from Ellesmere Port to another plant in southern Europe.

Yet it is only a month since PSA Group first unveiled its plans to build the new car in Cheshire. So what's changed?

In a word, nothing. That decision was always contingent on a suitable Brexit arrangement being reached to safeguard frictionless trade across the Channel. At the time, company insiders said no-deal was not an option.

Now, with a new Prime Minister in office, Mr Tavares is offering him a clear-cut choice. Get a deal, and the future of the plant could be secured. Go for no-deal and - he says - the work will go elsewhere.

'Not an option'

The Confederation of British Industry has warned the government that neither the UK or EU is ready for a no-deal Brexit.

And the car industry lobby group, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders warned on Friday that "no-deal Brexit is simply not an option."

Car production has been falling in the UK over the past year, amid increasing pleas from the industry for a Brexit deal.

The UK's automotive industry has received a series of blows in recent months, with Honda announcing it will close its Swindon plant in 2021.

Ford also said its Bridgend engine plant in south Wales would close in September 2020 with the loss of 1,700 jobs.

Japanese car producers, including Nissan, have said that Brexit uncertainty is not helping them "plan for the future".

Earlier this year, Nissan opted to build the next X-Trail model in Japan, rather than in Sunderland.

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https://www.bbc.com/news/business-49146645

2019-07-29 10:43:51Z
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