Babak Belurs

Minggu, 20 Desember 2020

EU poised to trigger no deal TONIGHT: Brexit talks to collapse over Brussels' deadline - Daily Express

EU poised to trigger no deal Brexit outcome

EU poised to trigger no deal Brexit outcome (Image: Getty)

This week, MEPs passed a deadline claiming Michel Barnier must present them with the trade agreement by December 21. In bold defiance of their resolution, France’s European affairs minister, and close ally of Mr Macron, Clement Beaune insisted negotiations will continue if needed.

But now, a UK source has said the EU has a deadline today which could trigger a no deal outcome.

The source told Express.co.uk: “No deal remains the likeliest outcome.”

They added: “The EU have said that they have a deadline today.

“For our part, we are prepared to keep talking while it remains possible to agree a deal this year."

Today, Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, said the bloc remains “committed” to a “fair, reciprocal and balanced” agreement.

He tweeted: “In this crucial moment for the negotiations, we continue to work hard with @DavidGHFrost and his team.

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

“Both EU and UK must have the right to set their own laws and control their own waters.

“And we should both be able to act when our interests are at stake.”

The UK formally left the EU back in January and negotiations have been ongoing in order to secure a deal before the end of the transition period on December 31.

But both sides are still unable to come to an agreement on fishing, governance and the level playing field.

Speaking of negotiations, Mr Beaune said it was “necessary” to take time and “not to sacrifice our interests” under pressure.

He said: “It would be normal not to say: well it’s Sunday evening so let’s wrap it and sacrifice everything.

“It may be hard and sometimes tough to understand, but it’s necessary to take the time and, at any rate, not to sacrifice our interests under the pressure of a calendar.”

MEPs had indicated they will hold an emergency plenary session on December 28 to ratify any deal agreed between the EU and UK.

With negotiations being led by the EU Commission, some diplomats have stated the December 21 deadline may be disregarded in pursuit of a deal.

National governments could apply the deal provisionally before it is ratified next year by MEPs.

The EU signed the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Canada in 2017.

The UK has also indicated its own desire to continue negotiations as long as possible.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We hope that our EU friends will see sense and come to the table with something themselves.

"If that doesn’t happen, then on January 1 we will be trading on WTO terms.”

Mr Barnier has previously warned EU officials of the lack of time left for a deal to be agreed.

The Frenchman said: “There is a chance of getting an agreement, but the path to such an agreement is very narrow.

“It is the Brits who decided on a very short deadline within which we are now constrained.

"In June, they refused any form of extension of the transition, which was possible, which was on the table, we had agreed to that.

“But they established the date of the 31st of December as that moment of truth.

“What is more important than just the relationship between the UK and the European Union is the European project, which is called into question here.”

This is a breaking story... More to follow.

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2020-12-20 15:10:00Z
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UK warns of tough restrictions for months after discovery of new Covid strain - Financial Times

British health secretary Matt Hancock has warned that the public face tight restrictions for months as the Austrian, Dutch, Belgian and Italian governments banned flights from the UK to try to halt the spread of a new strain of Covid-19 discovered in Britain.

Mr Hancock, speaking hours after the imposition of tough new curbs — particularly in and around London — warned that there could be difficult months ahead until older and vulnerable people are vaccinated.

Prime minister Boris Johnson on Saturday scrapped previous plans to allow five-day Christmas “bubbles” of multiple households in favour of a single-day exemption. Under a new tier 4, covering 16.4m people in England’s south-east, households are now banned from mixing and non-essential shops and leisure facilities have been closed.

Mr Hancock said the government had faced no choice after data showed that the much faster spread of Covid-19 was due to the new more virulent strain, dubbed B.1.1.7.

“It is an enormous challenge, until we can get the vaccine rolled out to protect people. This is what we face over the next couple of months,” he told Sky News, urging everyone in tier 4 to act as if they had the virus.

“The cases in the tier 4 areas have absolutely rocketed in the last few days — the last two weeks or so. We have got a long way to go to solve this.”

Maps showing England’s new tiers. Tier 4 covers areas with the highest case rates, but many places experiencing very high growth of Covid-19 are still in tier 2 or 3

The Dutch government announced that from 6am on Sunday all flights from the UK were banned from entering the Netherlands until at least January 1.

It said it had acted after a recommendation from its public health institute and was now awaiting an “explanation of the epidemiological situation in the UK” from London.

The Belgian government said on Sunday that its own ban on flights and rail connections to and from the UK would begin at midnight.

Italy’s foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said on Sunday that the country was about to sign a provision to suspend flights with the UK. “Our priority is to protect Italy and our compatriots,” Di Maio said.

Austria said it would also halt flights from the UK, while the Czech Republic imposed stricter quarantine measures for people arriving from Britain.

The new variant of Covid has been identified in Denmark, the Netherlands and in Australia, according to Maria Van Kerkhove, Covid-19 technical lead at the World Health Organization. But she told BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show that it had originated in south-east England.

Keir Starmer, leader of the opposition Labour party, warned people to expect the new curbs to last a long time. “It’s a false promise to pretend these restrictions are going to be lifted or change in two weeks because I don’t think they are,” he said at a press conference.

Mr Johnson said on Saturday that the new strain of Covid-19 could be up to 70 per cent more transmissible than the previous variant.

His overnight imposition of new curbs prompted a rush of some Londoners out of the capital and crowds at stations including Paddington and Euston. Mr Hancock criticised what he described as the “totally irresponsible behaviour” of those who had chosen to leave the south-east before it entered tier 4.

The announcements prompted anger from business groups, with retailers in particular raising alarm after having hoped to salvage their worst year in living memory in the pre-Christmas rush.

Ministers have not promised any extra compensation for companies forced to shut their doors once again.

But Sir Keir urged the government to reconsider the support for companies caught by the toughest restrictions. “The one-size-fits-all support isn’t good enough for those businesses, and government is going to need to look again at the plan. It has to help businesses through.”

Meanwhile, some Tory MPs called for a recall of parliament to debate and vote on the new measures, including Mark Harper, former whip and leader of the Covid Recovery Group of backbenchers. “These changes must be put to a vote in the Commons at the earliest opportunity, even if that means a recall of the House,” he said.

John Redwood, a former cabinet minister, said: “Recall Parliament. The government should consider other ways of tackling the virus, protecting the NHS and saving more businesses and livelihoods.”

But Mr Hancock said that while there would be a vote on the plans it would not take place until January.

While Mr Johnson’s new restrictions only relate to England, they have been taken up elsewhere in the UK with Wales entering tier 4 on Saturday night and Scotland announcing a travel ban from other parts of the country.

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2020-12-20 13:05:00Z
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COVID-19: Extra police deployed to stop non-essential Tier 4 trips after Londoners flee capital - Sky News

Extra police officers are being deployed at railway stations to stop people from making non-essential Tier 4 journeys after passengers crowded onto trains in London to escape the tightening of COVID-19 restrictions.

People were seen leaving the capital yesterday in vast numbers following the announcement of new Tier 4 measures.

Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced on Sunday that British Transport Police would have an increased presence following Saturday night's chaotic scenes.

He said: "Extra BTP officers are being deployed to ensure only those who need to take essential journeys can travel safely."

Mr Shapps added: "If you are in Tier 4, the law means you must stay at home and you cannot stay overnight away from home. Across the rest of the country, you must stay local."

The Christmas transport tsar, Sir Peter Hendry, said: "At stations we will be deploying extra staff, announcements will make the law clear, and additional BTP officers are in place to ensure that only essential journeys take place.

"People considering driving should also stay at home or stay local."

Mr Hancock earlier let out a deep sigh and shook his head when asked about the footage of a very busy St Pancras station by Sky's Sophy Ridge.

He said: "This was clearly totally irresponsible behaviour, the chief medical officer [Professor Chris Whitty] was absolutely clear that people should unpack their bags if they had them packed.

"I think that it's relatively small numbers, and the vast majority of people throughout this whole pandemic have followed the rules, been responsible and played their part and I want to thank everybody for doing that."

Asked on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday if the police could stop families from driving out of Tier 4 areas to visit relatives, Mr Hancock said the police would uphold the new laws.

Fears over a new strain of coronavirus prompted the prime minister to announce yesterday that all of those areas previously in Tier 3 in the South East - including London - would move to the new Tier 4 today.

This means the closure of non-essential shops, gyms and hairdressers, with people ordered to stay home apart from limited exceptions.

It also bans mixing of households over Christmas - which saw many people make the last-minute dash to slightly lighter rules in other parts of England.

The tougher restrictions were announced by the prime minister on Saturday at a 4pm news conference ahead of them coming into force today.

By 7pm last night, there were no seats available online on trains from several London stations including Paddington, Kings Cross and Euston.

Harriet Clugston was among those on a train from St Pancras to Leeds, a service she described as "crammed".

She wrote on Twitter: "Announcement on tannoy says social distancing 'will not be possible' due to volume and to get off if you are not comfortable with that.

"People have tried to secure social distance by placing (suitcases) on seats but being asked to remove them by other passengers as the train is so full."

She added: "Every person on this train including myself has made what is probably a very silly and irresponsible decision to travel albeit within the law. But that's what people were always going to do to be together at Christmas.

"My mother lives alone and there's no way I could not be with her at Christmas."

A woman, who did not wish to be named, said she and her partner had made a "split decision" to take their young son to her parents' home on the coast.

"We just made the decision to leave based on the fact that my parents said come, and we couldn't bear the thought of no fresh air and a toddler going rogue round a small flat for the foreseeable," she said.

"We also really just felt we wanted to get the baby somewhere a bit safer with a garden, though we know a lot of people won't have that luxury.

She added: "The grandparents are just desperately happy they'll see their grandson.

"We obviously worry about taking something down to them, but they seem happy to take the risk."

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2020-12-20 12:33:45Z
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COVID-19: Belgium joins Netherlands in halting air travel from UK following new virus strain discovery - Sky News

Italy has joined the Netherlands and Belgium in banning air travel from the UK due to fears over the new strain of coronavirus.

The move comes after Dutch health authorities confirmed at least one case of the same variant that has prompted London and large parts of southeast England to return to lockdown rules.

UK flights to the Netherlands have been stopped, a move that Belgium has mirrored while also halting rail connections.

Italy announced their measures shortly after midday on Sunday, but it is not known how long they will be in place for.

Live updates on coronavirus from UK and around world

The Dutch measures are expected to last until at least the new year.

Germany is also understood to be considering action, with a German government official telling the dpa news agency that restrictions on flights from Britain are a "serious option".

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said on Sunday he was issuing the order for 24 hours starting at midnight "out of precaution," and that he hoped to have more clarity on Tuesday.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced it was in "close contact" with the UK about the new mutation of the virus, and they have both shared information and results of analysis about the novel outbreak.

England's chief medical officer, Professor Chris Whitty, said the UK had told the international healthcare body about the development after modelling showed a rapid spread of the new variant in southeast England.

Maria Van Kerkhove, from the WHO, said earlier this week the strain bore similarities to a variant initially discovered in mink in Europe.

A new report published by the organisation has called for "enhanced" surveillance worldwide in light of the recent developments.

The Dutch health ministry said the case there had been identified at the beginning of December and is being investigated.

Meanwhile, it said "any introduction of this virus strain from the United Kingdom should be limited as much as possible by limiting or controlling passenger movements from the United Kingdom as much as possible".

The air traffic ban for passengers from the UK began at 6am today and will apply until 1 January at the latest.

The Dutch government said: "The cabinet is closely monitoring the developments of the COVID-19 virus abroad and is investigating the possibilities for additional measures for other modes of transport.

"In the coming days, it will, in close collaboration with other EU member states, look into the possibilities of further restricting imports of the virus from the United Kingdom."

The new strain of coronavirus - known as VUI-202012/01 - is believed to spread more quickly than the original strain and is thought to be the reason for rapidly-rising infection rates in London and the South East.

Boris Johnson warned on Saturday that the new strain might be "up to 70% more transmissible".

"While we are fairly certain the variant is transmitted more quickly, there is no evidence to suggest that it is more lethal or causes more severe illness," the prime minister said.

"Equally there is no evidence to suggest the vaccine will be any less effective against the new variant."

Sir Patrick Vallance, the UK government's chief scientific adviser, said the new variant is thought to have emerged in the UK in mid-September.

By December, it was responsible for more than 60% of infections in London, he said.

Mr Johnson announced that millions of people in London and many parts of the South East will not be allowed to mix with other households at Christmas as they are now under a new Tier 4 level of restrictions.

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2020-12-20 11:26:15Z
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COVID-19: Londoners flock to trains and cars in effort to flee the capital ahead of new rules - Sky News

Trains were packed and roads were jammed yesterday evening as Londoners tried to flee the capital ahead of tougher coronavirus restrictions, in what has been branded "totally irresponsible behaviour".

Health Secretary Matt Hancock let out a deep sigh and shook his head when asked about the footage of a very busy St Pancras station by Sky's Sophy Ridge.

He said: "This was clearly totally irresponsible behaviour, the chief medical officer [Professor Chris Whitty] was absolutely clear that people should unpack their bags if they had them packed.

Fears over a new strain of coronavirus prompted the prime minister to announce on Saturday that all of those areas previously in Tier 3 in the South East - including London - would move to the new Tier 4 today.

This would mean the closure of non-essential shops, gyms and hairdressers, with people ordered to stay home apart from limited exceptions.

It would also mean no mixing of households over Christmas, which saw many people make the last-minute dash to slightly lighter rules in other parts of England.

The rules were announced by the prime minister on Saturday at a 4pm news conference ahead of them coming into force at midnight.

By 7pm, there were no seats available online on trains from several London stations including Paddington, Kings Cross and Euston.