Babak Belurs

Kamis, 03 Desember 2020

Brexit POLL: Should Boris Johnson walk away if EU insists on taking 40% of UK fish? VOTE - Express

Britain has repeatedly stated that, following Brexit and as a newly independent coastal state, it wants to be in control of its waters and fish.

European fishing vessels fish six times as much in UK waters as British vessels do in EU waters, which means the UK has leverage in the talks.

Brexit negotiations have been deadlocked for months over the issue of fishing rights with talks coming down to the wire ahead of the transition deadline of December 31.

Time is tight to secure a free trade deal between the two sides, with the transition period set to end in just over a month.

Talks stretched late into the night as both sides fought their corners with the clock ticking down to the deadline for a trade deal.

It was reported that several boxes of pizza were delivered to the talks venue on Wednesday night as officials from London and Brussels tried to hammer out an agreement ahead of the end of the transition period on December 31.

"It's about making sure that the UK is able to run its own laws, its own fisheries and so on."

It comes amid warnings talks with the EU have reached a "make or break" point.

Mr Barnier is said to have warned that significant differences remain over fisheries, state aid rules and the governance arrangements for any agreement.

He said negotiations on a trade deal with Britain were reaching "a make-or-break moment", and they urged him not to be rushed into an unsatisfactory agreement.

While both sides have acknowledged that time is running out, there has been no sign that either is prepared to make a decisive move that could resolve the issue one way or the other.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron sounded a warning that he would not accept an agreement that "would not respect our interests in the long term" amid concerns in Paris that Mr Barnier is preparing to give ground over fishing rights.

The news highlighted France's determination to defend access to British waters for French fishermen during talks over Britain's future relationship with the EU.

There are fears in France of a major surrender from Mr Barnier in what would be the first major concession from the bloc in talks on their new relationship after the UK finally unshackles itself from the bloc.

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2020-12-03 08:54:00Z
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COVID news live – latest UK updates: 'The UK did not do it as carefully' - Dr Anthony Fauci criticises Pfizer vaccine approval - Sky News

'I have every confidence we won't be seeing another national lockdown'

Asked whether the approval of the Pfizer vaccine means the government can rule out a new national lockdown, Mr Williamson says: "None of us want to see a national lockdown and none of us expect to see a national lockdown."

He adds he has "every confidence we won't be seeing another national lockdown", if people continue to follow the rules.

Downing Street has suggested the prime minister could get a COVID vaccine live on TV, if it would encourage others to get one.

Asked if he would consider doing the same, Mr Williamson replies: "I'm sure your viewers have better things to watch than me having a vaccine live on TV!"

He also adds he is likely to be "down the pecking order" for a vaccine, with the most vulnerable prioritised.

But, Mr Williamson continues: "If you really think your viewers would be that interested to see me have a vaccine, I'm sure I would do it."

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2020-12-03 07:49:08Z
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Brexit LIVE: Boris Johnson 'sadly mistaken' if he thinks he can 'betray fishermen' to EU - Daily Express

Post-Brexit trade talks between UK chief negotiator David Frost and Michel Barnier continued into the late hours on Wednesday night with outstanding issues over fishing dominating the proceedings ahead of the official December 31 deadline. With time running out, the UK is thought to have handed an olive-branch to the EU and it is understood Mr Barnier told EU ambassadors that Britain could now accept just 60 percent of the value of stocks in its own waters – down from the original 80 percent figure.

Fishing represents less than one percent of the UK economy but has become a symbol of taking back control from Brussels and handing it back to British fishermen who have been bound by strict EU rules for the past 40 years.

In a post on Twitter, former Brexit Party MEP Rupert Lowe, said: “People sneering at fishermen and claiming their industry is worthless prove they're just desperate for Brexit to fail.

“Government after Government have betrayed our fishermen. If this Prime Minister thinks he can get away with doing the same, he's sadly mistaken.”

Tory backbench MP John Redwood added: “Message to government. Set out the many wins from Brexit. Use our new freedoms well.

“Get us out without surrendering our fish, our borders, our laws. We voted to be independent. Once free we can do better.”

The Prime Minister has insisted the UK remains committed to trying to secure a trade deal with the EU but warned it would not come at the detriment to the UK fishing industry.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, Mr Johnson said: "I think our friends know what the UK's bottom line is and what people voted for on June 23, 2016 - they voted to take back control.

"It's about making sure that the UK is able to run its own laws, its own fisheries and so on."

Follow Express.co.uk for live Brexit updates:

8.25am update: Ireland says deal can be completed in the ‘next few days’

Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney says a Brexit trade deal can be signed within the next few days.

Speaking to Newstalk Radio, he said: “It's the time to hold our nerve and trust Michel Barnier.

“And I believe if we do that, there's a good chance that we can get a deal across the line in the next few days.”

8.10am update: Ministers warns UK willing to walk away from EU negotiating table

Gavin Williamson has warned the EU the UK is willing to walk away from trade talks unless the deal is “right for Britain”.

Speaking on Sky News, the Education Secretary added: “If such a deal isn't available then we're not going to sign up to something that is to our detriment."

7.50am update: Williamson says ‘good progress’ being made in EU trade talks

Gavin Williamson says “good progress” is being made in post-Brexit trade talks with the EU and insisted the UK always expected negotiations to go down to the last-minute.

Speaking on Sky News, the Education Secretary said: “We always expect negotiations to go up to the wire, it's a very typical situation when you're having a negotiation with the European Union.

"I'm confident from what I hear that progress, good progress is being made but we're going to do a deal that is right for Britain, if such a deal is available.”

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2020-12-03 07:43:00Z
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Rabu, 02 Desember 2020

Joe Biden REFUSES to sign new trade deal with Britain amid UK’s last minute Brexit push - Daily Express

The Government had hoped an agreement with America, the world’s biggest economy, would demonstrate the benefits of Britain having an independent trade policy outside the EU. However speaking to the New York Times Mr Biden warned: “I’m not going to enter any new trade agreement with anybody until we have made major investments here at home and in education.”

The incoming president added he plans to “fight like hell by investing in America first”.

He named artificial intelligence, biotech and energy as sectors which could receive massive US government investment.

Mr Johnson had been hoping to secure a new US trade deal with Donald Trump, a fervent admirer of Brexit.

However Mr Trump’s defeat in last month’s presidential election means the Prime Minister will soon be dealing with a new administration.

Brexit

"I'm not going to enter into any new trade agreements" (Image: GETTY)

Brexit

Joe Biden will become American president in January (Image: GETTY)

Formally the UK Government cannot begin talks with Mr Biden’s team until he is inaugurated as president in January.

However according to The Guardian informal approaches have been made to key Democratic Party senators.

Britain is currently attempting to negotiate a new trade deal with the European Union.

The Brexit transition period, during which the UK will remain in the European single market, comes to a close at the end of this year.

Brexit

Boris Johnson had been hoping to negotiate a trade deal with President Trump (Image: GETTY)

However during this time Britain has still been contributing to the EU budget, and accepting Brussels regulations in a range of policy areas.

Talks between the UK and EU have become bogged down over European access to British fishing waters and how far Britain can deviate from EU ‘level playing field’ regulations.

If no agreement is reached trade from the beginning of next year will take place under World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules, meaning significant tariffs on the trade of many products.

On Wednesday Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, insisted the UK had lowered its demands on fishing from 80 percent of those in British waters to 60 percent.

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Brexit

Trade talks between the UK and EU are going down to the line (Image: GETTY)

Brexit

Michel Barnier is leading the EU's Brexit negotiating team (Image: GETTY)

He was responding to European concerns the EU is making too many concessions to the UK over the issue.

Speaking to The Telegraph an EU source said: “Some member states are becoming a bit jittery, so this was mostly an exercise to calm nerves in Paris and elsewhere and to reassure member states that team Barnier will continue to defend core EU interests, including on fisheries.”

However referring to Mr Barnier’s comments a second added: “If his intention was to reassure the ambassadors, he didn't succeed.

“Whatever he brings back to Brussels will be scrutinised very heavily.”

Mr Biden also used his interview with the New York Times to announced he isn’t planning to lift any tariffs on China.

He added: “The best China strategy, I think, is one which gets every one of our – or at least what used to be our – allies on the same page.

“It’s going to be a major priority for me in the opening weeks of my presidency to try to get us back on the same page with our allies.”

Tensions between the US and Beijing soured over a number of issues, including trade, under President Trump.

Brexit

Fishing is one of the most divisive issues in UK/EU trade talks (Image: GETTY)

Mr Biden indicated he hopes to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal, with Mr Trump withdrew the US from in 2018.

He warned if this doesn’t happen Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkey will feel under pressure to begin nuclear weapons programmes.

The incoming president added: “The last goddamn thing we need in that part of the world is a buildup of nuclear capability.”

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2020-12-03 00:24:00Z
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COVID-19: Professor Jonathan Van-Tam urges public to take vaccine if they want to see normal life to return - Sky News

The public should take the COVID-19 vaccine when it is offered to them if they want to see an end to social distancing, one of the government's top medical officers has said.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, told a Downing Street news conference that while people were "fed up" with ongoing coronavirus measures, "low uptake" of jabs designed to protect them will "almost certainly make restrictions last longer".

His comments came after the UK became the first country to approve use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine - rollout begins next week after it was signed off by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Prof Van-Tam admitted during the briefing that he became "emotional" when he heard of the independent regulator's decision on Wednesday morning, however he also came to his podium equipped with a few blunt quips to temper expectations that the pandemic could soon be over.

He said: "Do I think there will come a big moment where we have a massive party and throw our masks and hand sanitiser and say, 'That's it, it's behind us', like the end of the war? No, I don't.

"I think those kind of habits that we have learned from... will perhaps persist for many years, and that may be a good thing if they do."

That quasi-prediction did not appear to go down well with the prime minister to his left, who said: "And maybe... on the other hand, we may want to get back to life as pretty much as close to normal."

Prof Van-Tam later acknowledged that Boris Johnson had "picked me up on this occasion", saying: "It's quite alright because it gives me a chance to clarify what I mean here.

"I do not think that the government will continue to have to recommend social distancing, masks, and hand sanitiser forever and a day. I hope we will get back to a much more normal world."

But for the world to reach that point, he said people would have to embrace the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines.

"Nobody wants lockdowns and to see the damage they do," he said.

"But if you want that dream to come true as quickly as it can come true, then you have to take the vaccine when it is offered to you. Low uptake will almost certainly make restrictions last longer."

His plea was notable given a YouGov poll published earlier found that one in five Britons lacked confidence that the newly-approved vaccine was safe.

A snapshot survey found that 27% said they are very confident the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is safe and 43% are fairly confident it is safe, but 11% are not very confident and 9% are not confident at all.

Prof Van-Tam also returned to a long-running train analogy, saying that it had pulled into the station and was ready to start accepting passengers to take them to their destination - being given the jab.

However, he did urge further caution, adding that people should continue to be patient and follow social distancing guidelines until told otherwise.

He said: "We have to be realistic about how long this is going to take - it is going to take months, not weeks. And this vaccine has then got to work in a headwind to get back ahead of the game. And that will make it harder."

Prof Van-Tam also said he believed the virus would be "with humankind forever" and that it may never be eradicated, albeit living on as a seasonal disease like flu, rather than an all-encompassing pandemic.

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2020-12-02 22:25:19Z
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COVID vaccine roll-out turns page on tiers rebellion - but 'deeper mistrust' growing around PM - Sky News

Almost a year living with COVID, finally on Wednesday came a genuinely brilliant breakthrough: the UK regulator became the first in the world to approve the Pzifer-BioNTech vaccine, with the roll-out of jabs to the most vulnerable in our society beginning next week.

The prime minister, in characteristically flamboyant language, used a press conference to praise scientists for performing "a kind of biological jujutsu" on the virus.

"All the time we have been waiting and hoping for the day when the searchlights of science would pick out our invisible enemy and give us the power to stop the enemy from making us ill - and now the scientists have done it," he said.

And now in the coming weeks and months the NHS will embark upon the biggest programme of mass vaccination in the history of the UK.

The process of developing and approving a vaccine - normally a decade in the making - done in 10 months, is a truly great achievement.

Professor Jonathan Van-Tam, deputy chief medical officer, said he was emotional upon hearing about the development and approval of the vaccine, which he described as a "momentous journey".

But the hope tempered with a hefty dose of realism too.

The vaccine will take months to roll out. Scientists don't know if it stops transmission, and we are probably going to have to live with COVID forever - although more like we would a seasonal virus like flu, rather than the life-stopping restrictions brought about by this pandemic.

And in the meantime, the tier system so loathed by Tory MPs looks set to stay.

When I asked the prime minister whether he'd roll the system over on 3 February, when the current restrictions legally expire, he said this: "We will judge the situation on the basis of the data, but I think for the time being you've got to take it that tiering is going to be a very important part in our campaign against coronavirus and it's absolutely vital that people stick to the guidance and follow the rules."

The vaccine news turned the page on the Conservative rebellion over the policy on Tuesday night, when 55 Conservative MPs voted against the government and a further 16 abstained.

A year ago, Boris Johnson was elected with an 80-seat majority and on the eve of that election victory he lost that majority - a serious blow to his authority.

And that authority could be challenged quickly again in the coming days and weeks.

On Brexit, MPs are watching to see whether the departure of Dominic Cummings means a compromise is about to be rolled out, which could prove very problematic indeed with his MPs.

And what about COVID?

MPs were unconvinced about the PM's hints that their areas could be moved down the tier system. Or that the country could be at a different point in February, when just days before the PM had argued in his winter plan that "January and February [my italics] are traditionally the hardest months for the NHS, the depths of winter, when our hospital wards are under the greatest pressure".

Everything points to the tiers system rolling over, even in the PM doesn't want to say it.

The PM obviously promised a sunset clause on the current round of restrictions in order to placate his party. But he can't promise there won't be a rollover because he can't predict how COVID - or all of us - will behave over December and into January.

How much longer-term difficulty is he in?

There is a party management issue brought about by the disdain the Dominic Cummings-led Number 10 showed towards the parliamentary party. His sacking last month is a start in repairing relations with MPs.

But there is a deeper mistrust, too, growing around this prime minister.

Mr Johnson is undoubtedly a charismatic, vote-winning campaigner, but on the business of governing many of his MPs think the administration has lacked competence.

Those misgivings are more deep-seated that character clashes of personnel because they speak to the essence of the leader himself.

In good times, such shortcomings can be overlooked, but in crisis they are amplified in the sorts of missteps that have defined much of the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis.

Of course, as the vaccine is rolled out, optimism returns and the economy begins to recover, the prime minister could well be afforded a big bounce in the country and within his party, and this rebellion might be a distant memory.

But this week put down a marker, and as this crisis moves from a public health one to an economic one, there will be plenty more difficult, divisive decisions for the prime minister to make around tax and spending policies and where to distribute wealth and investment as he juggles the competing demands of his new Blue Wall seats and traditional Tory shires.

The prime minister may have a big majority, but this week proved that this will not be an easy parliamentary term.

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2020-12-02 22:00:26Z
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Brexit: It's nearly now or never for UK-EU trade deal - BBC News

Whether they were double pepperonis, Hawaiians, or even just basic cheese and tomato, there was a telltale suggestion tonight that the Brexit negotiating teams were hard at it.

They don't work late into the night if there is nothing to talk about, and if there is no pressure.

So a delivery of boxes and boxes of pizza arriving at the venue where the talks are taking place in central London suggest, at least, they believe there is stuff that's worth chewing over (sorry) and that needs to be concluded urgently.

And while I have every sympathy if you read this and just feel you have seen it all before, there is more than just the takeaway that tells us it's nearly now or never.

After months and months, and yes, months, of talks, several sources have told me today that the process is likely to be concluded in the next few days.

One ambassador told me there was a hope the agreement could be finalised on Friday, with another diplomatic source confirming a deal at the end of this week is a possibility - suggesting the agreement is basically done, even though "it could all still fall apart".

As my colleague, BBC Europe editor Katya Adler, wrote earlier, the EU chief negotiator updated the bloc's members in a video call today, and it's certainly the case there are nerves on that side about how much he might give away.

It's certainly not the case though the negotiators have managed to find ingenious solutions to every single issue raised in these vast talks that will placate both sides 100%.

But there are two very good reasons - aside from whispers from those involved - that a conclusion is now very near.

Time ticking down

There is a real fear that the deal, if it's done, can't be turned into law in time unless that process starts by the middle of next week.

The deal will have to go through Parliament here, and in the EU, before the transition period ends in a few weeks' time.

There's always been a mythical threat around this, and be wary of a politician claiming a deadline, but simply, given the number of days that Parliament is due to sit between now and the end of the year, it becomes pretty much impossible unless it gets going next week.

It is also the case that if there isn't a deal, which still could come to pass, then ministers are worried about scrambling to get businesses prepared to cope with what might happen.

They are concerned about that frankly in any case, because even with an agreement, a big change is on the way.

But one cabinet minister confident that a deal will be done by early next week, told me Boris Johnson had become increasingly worried about reaping the political consequences of failing to reach a deal - he doesn't want queues of lorries in Kent to be blamed on him.

There is another technical reason for speed now, as alongside that, the government plans to bring in a new Taxation Bill and continue its fight over the UK Internal Market Bill soon too.

The first might make an appearance in the middle of next week, and happily the BBC's economics editor, Faisal Islam, has written about it here.

And the UKIM, that caused such a stink over ministers' admissions that it could lead them to breach international law, is likely to be back in the Commons the week after next.

Those draft laws could provoke such a storm in the EU - essentially undermining the deal the UK did with Brussels last year - that they could torpedo the talks at the last moment.

Two well-placed EU sources were clear in conversation today that if the government pressed ahead with the controversial clauses in those bits of legislation before a deal had been done, it would kill the chances stone dead.

But, despite nudges and winks around the place that the process is nearly there, despite the solid reasons that point to a finale in the next few days, there is still a question about whether the two sides have ever come to understand each other.

One minister involved in one of the tricky aspects of the talks is absolutely adamant the EU was still being downright unreasonable.

One member state source told me that it feels like "doing a pre-nup agreement", adding: "We want a long and stable marriage, but Boris Johnson is trying to get enough freedom to cheat."

It seems like the two sides are just about ready to commit. But the mantra we have learned in this last four years is as instructive as it was at the start - "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" - and more pizza nights might still be required.

What will Labour do?

P.S. If a deal is done, then as I mentioned, it will have to then pass through Parliament, which will throw up its own intrigue.

There is likely, of course, to be some belly aching among the true believers in the Brexit camp. There have been fears about Boris Johnson conceding too much, so don't expect there to be no pushback.

But given this time last year Tory MPs were elected on their promise to "Get Brexit Done", it seems unlikely - unless the deal is a true shocker from their point of view - that the prime minister will have significant trouble from his own side.

What will also be interesting to watch, however, is how Labour responds.

Most of the party's MPs thought the idea of leaving the EU was crackers, and their leader, Sir Keir Starmer, was one of the strongest voices pushing for another referendum.

But, given the choice in Parliament before them will hypothetically be between a deal or not having an agreement at all, it seems most likely they will choose to back an agreement and move on.

However, there is likely to be tension over the decision, with some senior voices perhaps pushing to abstain.

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2020-12-02 21:23:00Z
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Kamis, 03 Desember 2020

Rabu, 02 Desember 2020

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What will Labour do?