Rishi Sunak: 'We are by no means done' on Brexit deal - The Telegraph

Rishi Sunak has said “we are by no means done” over his Brexit deal which aims to break the deadlock engulfing the Northern Ireland protocol.

Speaking at the Munich Security Conference the Prime Minister appeared exasperated as he told those gathered: "There isn’t a deal that has been done. There is an understanding of what needs to be done. We are by no means done."

He said: "When it comes to issue of Northern Ireland Protocol there are real issues that need resolving. The way that the protocol has been implemented Its causing very real challenges for families, people, businesses on the ground. 

"Also an Issue of democratic deficit that sits at heart of protocol as is currently constructed. Those are things we need to resolve. I’m working very hard together with my ministerial colleagues … we are working very closely together, we are engaging in those conversations with the European union, all the time.

Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (L) speaks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during their bilateral meeting at the 59th Munich Security Conference on Feb 18, 2023 Credit: Pool

"There is still work to do. There are still challenges to work through. We have not resolved all these issues. No, There isn't a deal that has been done. There is an understanding of what needs to be done, it’s the issues that I outlined.

"We are working through those, we are working through them hard and we will work through them intensely with the EU but we are by no means done."

It comes after Mr Sunak was warned that his Brexit deal “falls short”, as he rushed to get an agreement over the line to present to Parliament on Tuesday.

Rishi Sunak arriving for the Munich Security Conference on Saturday Credit: BEN STANSALL

Mr Sunak added: “When it comes to the issue of the Northern Ireland protocol there are real issues that need resolving. It’s causing very real challenges.”

He cited the issue of the “democratic deficit that sits at the heart of protocol as currently constructed” as one of the major “things we need to resolve”. 

It follows a trip to Northern Ireland on Friday where he hoped to win the support of political leaders. But Mr Sunak faced a setback as Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), told him that the pact as it stands would not win his party’s support. Sir Jeffrey said the deal as described to him “currently falls short of what would be acceptable”.

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2023-02-18 14:30:00Z
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Storm Otto: thousands of UK homes face blackouts as wind gusts reach 80mph - The Guardian

Thousands of homes could be without power over the weekend as food vans were dispatched to the worst-hit areas in the wake of Storm Otto.

A yellow warning for snow and ice was in place for central parts of Scotland until 9am on Saturday, while the Met Office expected the heaviest rainfall by 7am to be around Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend County Borough in south Wales – between 4-8mm.

Gusts of 75-80mph were recorded across parts of northern Scotland on Friday while trains and flights were cancelled and roads blocked by overturned lorries in northern England.

More than 40,000 properties were left without power in Scotland, with around 7,600 still cut off as of 9pm on Friday.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution said it expected its teams to continue to make significant progress in restoring power to customers into Friday evening, but warned some customers in rural areas may be off supply for more than 48 hours.

SSEN said it had sent food vans to the main areas still cut off from supply, and they would serve food and drink from 8am on Saturday.

In England, Northern Powergrid said around 21,000 customers lost power, with 92 still affected as of 9.15pm on Friday.

The Met Office has said Scotland will see heavier rain heading north-east overnight and into Saturday morning, with snow on the hills north of the central belt.

However, the weather will be mild across southern and central areas of the UK.

Heading into Saturday, the rain and snow in Scotland is expected to ease, with sunny spells further south in the afternoon.

On Friday morning, a man was taken to hospital in a serious condition after a tree fell on a street in Sheffield.

South Yorkshire Police officers were called to Endcliffe Vale Road at 8.50am.

A spokesperson said: “A man in his 50s was injured and was taken to hospital in serious condition. A property nearby was also damaged and structural engineers are at the scene.”

A tree toppled on to a Porsche on Granby Road in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, causing anxiety for drivers in the area.

Charlie Lowe, a 29-year-old cake business owner, photographed the crushed Porsche on her way to work, telling the PA news agency: “I felt shocked and I think it’s nerve-wracking.

“I felt a bit nervous driving around Harrogate as a result.”

The storm, the first to be named this winter, was labelled Otto by the Danish Meteorological Institute.

It is the first named storm to directly affect the UK this storm-naming season, which began in September.

The first storm to be named by the Met Office, or the Irish and Dutch weather services, this season will still be Storm Antoni, in accordance with the 2022-23 storm name list.

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2023-02-18 07:20:00Z
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Police may have broken law in releasing Nicola Bulley's personal information - Evening Standard

Ms Bulley, 45, vanished after dropping off her daughters, aged six and nine, at school on January 27 in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire. The investigation, launched exactly three weeks ago, has been criticised by MPs, retired senior officers and campaign groups.

Following a press conference in which they revealed Ms Bulley was classed as a high risk missing person Lancashire police released a statement saying that the mother-of-two has “some significant issues with alcohol” and “ongoing struggles with the menopause”.

Officers have been widely criticised for releasing such personal information and Home Secretary Suella Braverman has reportedly demanded and explaination.

Information commissioner John Edwards told the World at One that information surrounding health was classed as “special category data” and was “treated to an even higher standard”.

Read More

Asked if it was against the law for police to disclose this information without sufficent justification Mr Edwards said: “Yes, that’s right.”

Mr Edwards said data protection laws existed “to ensure personal information is used properly and fairly”.

“Police can disclose information to protect the public and investigate crime, but they would need to be able to demonstrate such disclosure was necessary,” he said.

“We recognise that at this stage of an intensive, live investigation, the force must focus all their energies on the inquiry.

“But given the high profile nature of this case, we will be asking Lancashire Police to set out how they reached the decision to disclose this information in due course.”

Mr Edwards said he would not comment specifically on Lancashire Police, but to release personal information about a person’s health there “would need to be a really clear and demonstrable need and a clear link between that disclosure and a legitimate police objective”.

Former victims’ commissioner Dame Vera Baird accused the Lancashire force of making a “sexist” error in divulging the mortgage adviser’s vulnerabilities.

Ms Bulley was last seen at 9.10am walking her springer spaniel alongside the River Wyre. Her phone, still connected to a work Teams call, was found just over 20 minutes later on a bench overlooking the riverbank, with her dog running loose.

Dame Vera said the way personal information about Ms Bulley was given out was a “dreadful error”. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “A future family like this is going to face the torment of not knowing whether to run the risk of gratuitously wrecking your relative’s reputation by giving every detail away… or missing the chance of catching whoever has got them, or getting her back. So, I’m afraid this is the biggest error that I have seen for quite a long time. It’s going to just, you know, very sadly, undermine trust in the police yet further.”

Asked if it was an error that would have been made if the potential victim was a man, she said: “I do not think that it would. Would we have had police officers saying, you know, if it was Nicholas, he’s been unfortunately tied down with alcohol because he’s been suffering from erectile dysfunction for the last few weeks? I think not.”

A source close to the Home Secretary said she had received an explanation from police last night. The Home Office also said it was receiving regular updates from the force about its handling of the case — including “why personal details about Nicola were briefed out”.

Lancashire Police has referred itself to the police watchdog over contact they had with her prior to her disappearance. Ms Bulley’s relatives said people needed to stop “making wild theories up” about her private life and issued a direct plea for her to return, adding: “Your girls want a cuddle.”

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2023-02-17 14:51:33Z
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Russian spy working in British embassy in Berlin jailed for more than 13 years - Sky News

A British embassy security guard caught spying for the Russians has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.

David Ballantyne Smith, 58, pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911 and 1920 but claimed he did not intentionally cause any harm.

He was sentenced to 13 years and two months but can serve the term in either Germany or the UK.

Image: David Ballantyne Smith

Smith, from Paisley, Scotland, claimed he was depressed, lonely and drinking up to seven pints a day when he started leaking embassy secrets in an effort to cause embarrassment.

Mr Justice Wall dismissed this during sentencing at the Old Bailey, saying he collected "a significant amount of material" to "damage British interests" and provided that information to a "hostile power".

"It was your job to ensure the embassy was secure and its staff safe. It was the most obvious breach of the trust placed in you," the judge said during the televised sentencing.

He said Smith's "persistent, and to an extent, sophisticated" information gathering had caused "understandable anxiety and stress" to the embassy's staff and their families.

The judge said Smith was "paid by Russia for [his] treachery" but there was no evidence the payment amounted to "life-changing sums of money".

Image: David Ballantyne Smith, during his meeting with "Irina"

Smith took photographs and documents from desks and drawers, as well as filming CCTV footage.

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He provided names, photographs and personal details of embassy staff to Russian officials, as well as secret documents including correspondence to then prime minister Boris Johnson.

He also filmed an extensive walk around the embassy which revealed the layout of the building and its offices, taking care to film through windows.

Smith's spying could have harmed Britain's international trade negotiations and came at a time the UK was "calling out" Russian actions, including amassing vast numbers of troops on the Ukraine border, the judge said.

Mr Justice Wall also provided details about the sting operation that led to Smith's arrest.

A British agent visited the embassy posing as a Russian defector named Dmitry. He offered to pass sensitive information to British authorities in front of Smith.

Read more on Russian spy:
Spy was 'hedging his bets' when accosted by fake agents
Embassy guard was paid 'substantial amounts of cash'

During the visit, Smith was told to copy what he believed was a secret Russian document and destroy packaging from a SIM card with the defector's phone number on it. Smith fell for the ruse and an extra copy of the document as well as the SIM packaging was found in his home.

The cost so far of securing the British embassy in Berlin after Smith's crimes stands at £820,000.

Mr Justice Wall said Smith "developed decidedly anti-British and anti-Western feeling" and that this was the "direct cause" of the offending.

Colleagues heard Smith criticise the UK and Germany and felt he was sympathetic to Russia and President Putin.

He admitted to openly supporting Russian-backed forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

While Smith's sentence relates to crimes committed from 2020 to his arrest in 2021, the judge said he was sure the former security guard began collecting information in 2018.

Home secretary Suella Braverman said Smith's sentencing was a "great result for British justice".

"He betrayed our country and it's credit to the brilliant work of MI5, our police, and their cooperation with German authorities that he's now been sentenced to 13+ years in jail."

In a Twitter post, security minister Tom Tugendhat called Smith "a traitor".

"He betrayed us all and put our embassy and our country at risk. I'm grateful to MI5 and their amazing officers, the police and our German partners for seeing him put on trial and sentenced," he said.

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2023-02-17 14:03:45Z
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Russian spy working in British embassy in Berlin jailed for more than 13 years - Sky News

A British embassy security guard caught spying for the Russians has been sentenced to more than 13 years in prison.

David Ballantyne Smith, 58, pleaded guilty to eight charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911 and 1920 but claimed he did not intentionally cause any harm.

He was sentenced to 13 years and two months but can serve the term in either Germany or the UK.

Image: David Ballantyne Smith

Smith, from Paisley, Scotland, claimed he was depressed, lonely and drinking up to seven pints a day when he started leaking embassy secrets in an effort to cause embarrassment.

Mr Justice Wall dismissed this during sentencing at the Old Bailey, saying he collected "a significant amount of material" to "damage British interests" and provided that information to a "hostile power".

"It was your job to ensure the embassy was secure and its staff safe. It was the most obvious breach of the trust placed in you," the judge said during the televised sentencing.

He said Smith's "persistent, and to an extent, sophisticated" information gathering had caused "understandable anxiety and stress" to the embassy's staff and their families.

The judge said Smith was "paid by Russia for [his] treachery" but there was no evidence the payment amounted to "life-changing sums of money".

Image: David Ballantyne Smith, during his meeting with "Irina"

Smith took photographs and documents from desks and drawers, as well as filming CCTV footage.

Advertisement

He provided names, photographs and personal details of embassy staff to Russian officials, as well as secret documents including correspondence to then prime minister Boris Johnson.

He also filmed an extensive walk around the embassy which revealed the layout of the building and its offices, taking care to film through windows.

Smith's spying could have harmed Britain's international trade negotiations and came at a time the UK was "calling out" Russian actions, including amassing vast numbers of troops on the Ukraine border, the judge said.

Mr Justice Wall also provided details about the sting operation that led to Smith's arrest.

A British agent posed as a Russian official named Dmitri and offered to pass sensitive information to British authorities knowing Smith could overhear.

Read more on Russian spy:
Spy was 'hedging his bets' when accosted by fake agents
Embassy guard was paid 'substantial amounts of cash'

Smith was then instructed to create copies of what he believed were classified Russian documents and dispose of packaging from a SIM card. Smith kept an extra copy of the document as well as the SIM packaging.

The cost so far of securing the British embassy in Berlin after Smith's crimes stands at £820,000.

Mr Justice Wall said Smith "developed decidedly anti-British and anti-Western feeling" and that this was the "direct cause" of the offending.

Colleagues heard Smith criticise the UK and Germany and felt he was sympathetic to Russia and President Putin.

He admitted to openly supporting Russian-backed forces in the Donbas region of Ukraine.

While Smith's sentence relates to crimes committed from 2020 to his arrest in 2021, the judge said he was sure the former security guard began collecting information in 2018.

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2023-02-17 11:26:15Z
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Brexit: PM meets Stormont parties over NI goods deal - BBC

Sinn Féin

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is meeting Northern Ireland's political parties amid speculation a deal on the Northern Ireland Protocol could soon be struck.

Sources suggest a deal could be reached as early as next week on post-Brexit trading arrangements.

Mr Sunak is meeting party leaders at a hotel near Belfast before travelling to meet EU leaders in Germany.

Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said she believed "very significant progress has been made".

Sources suggest a deal could be reached as early as next week on post-Brexit trading arrangements.

However, the prime minister's meeting with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is taking longer than expected.

The DUP delegates have yet to emerge from talks with Mr Sunak.

The foreign secretary has also met European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in Brussels.

After the meeting, James Cleverly said they discussed the work ongoing between Great Britain and the EU to find a solution to the protocol.

Mr Sefcovic said it had been a constructive engagement, but that "hard work continues".

Stormont crisis

The Northern Ireland Protocol is the trade deal that was agreed to ensure the free movement of goods across the Irish land border after Brexit.

It is at the heart of a political impasse in Northern Ireland, with unionist parties arguing that placing an effective trade border across the Irish Sea undermines Northern Ireland's place within the UK.

The largest of those parties is the DUP which refuses to take part in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government - introduced in the 1990s as a way of ending decades of violence - unless its concerns are resolved.

Speaking ahead of his party's meeting with the prime minister, DUP MP Sammy Wilson said Northern Ireland should not be legally separate to the rest of the UK.

Even though the DUP came second in May 2022 elections to Sinn Féin - a republican party that accepts the protocol - a new Northern Ireland government cannot be formed without its support.

The DUP has said it must be satisfied with any settlement before it agrees to return to power-sharing.

But the deal has split political opinion and the UK and the EU have been in lengthy negotiations about making changes to how it operates.

It is understood the prime minister held some discussions with the DUP on Thursday evening.

Is a deal done? From what I hear, not quite.

In a way that is obvious because an agreement is not sealed until both sides sign on the dotted line. But diplomats in Brussels agree that a compromise plan isn't quite there, yet.

The political tour that Rishi Sunak and his ministers are going on may be read as the kind of end-game choreography you'd expect to see before an announcement.

But an alternative reading is that the prime minister is going to use today's talks with parties in Northern Ireland, particularly the DUP, to try and then press the EU for final concessions.

It would be a bold play at this stage when multiple sources, close to the talks, have indicated that an announcement next week is within reach.

But this is politics and it's Brexit; it could all still fall apart.

Many eyes will be on Mr Sunak's meeting with the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, in Munich this weekend.

That discussion, I hear, is set to focus on any remaining differences.

PA Media

What are the main stumbling blocks?

There are two main areas of focus in the UK-EU negotiations: the movement of goods and how any disputes should be resolved.

As far back as October 2021 the EU and UK had some form of agreement on the movement of goods.

They both had proposals that goods coming into Northern Ireland from Great Britain, and which are being consumed there, should face only light touch controls.

However, there has been no deal on what this would mean in practice.

• A simple guide to the Northern Ireland Protocol

Dispute resolution is mostly about the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which is the ultimate arbiter of EU law.

The UK government appears to want an arrangement where the ECJ's role would be diluted or put at arms length.

Some Conservative MPs want the ECJ removed from protocol disputes altogether but the EU has said that would be impossible.

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'Not over the line yet'

Ahead of Mr Sunak's visit, No 10 said: "Whilst talks with the EU are ongoing ministers continue to engage with relevant stakeholders to ensure any solution fixes the practical problems on the ground, meets our overarching objectives and safeguards Northern Ireland's place in the UK's internal market."

Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald said it was her understanding following her meeting with the prime minister that "very significant progress has been made" and it was "game on".

"I believe that a deal is absolutely possible and absolutely necessary and I hope that we see a speedy successful conclusion to matters," she told reporters.

The Alliance Party's leader, Naomi Long, the first to meet the prime minister, said she had "a very constructive and very positive meeting".

"It seems apparent that while he was not in a position to brief us about the detail, that things are gradually moving in the direction of a potential deal, but we are not over the line yet," she said.

PA Media

Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said: "I don't leave here knowing much more than I did when I went in, but certainly the prime minister was enthusiastic, engaged and positive."

He added: "There is a nervousness, I would say, between the EU and the UK that there would be a running commentary on this and that could end up with things backsliding."

Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Colum Eastwood MP said "detail was scant" in his talks, but he was "fairly optimistic" that an agreement was close.

After the meetings the prime minister will travel to Munich for a security summit, during which he will meet the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

This meeting is currently planned for Saturday.

PA Media

The pair will "address the state of play" of the Northern Ireland Protocol talks - amongst other issues, her spokesperson said.

Negotiations on the protocol are "ongoing" according to the European Commission.

'No deal better than bad deal'

The prime minister's efforts to reach a deal on the protocol have exposed tensions within his Conservative Party.

Former Brexit Minister Lord Frost told the Telegraph that a "feeble deal now" would "make things worse not better", adding that "no deal is still better than a bad one".

David Jones, deputy chairman of the European Research Group - a Eurosceptic group of Tory MPs - tweeted that Northern Ireland "must cease to be subject to laws made in Brussels". "It's as simple as that," he said. "Anything less won't work."

Speaking on Thursday night, Tánaiste (Irish deputy prime minister) Micheál Martin said the latest stages of the protocol talks had been "serious and substantive" and trust had been built between UK and EU negotiators.

The Northern Ireland Protocol was put in place as part of the post-Brexit deal agreed between the UK and the EU in December 2020.

It was required because Northern Ireland has a land border with the Republic of Ireland, which is an EU country.

It aims to ensure free movement of trade across the Irish land border by conducting checks between Northern Ireland and Great Britain instead but it has been a source of tension since it came into force at the start of 2021.

Despite concerns among unionist parties, many members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are in favour of the protocol in some form remaining in place.

Sinn Féin, the Alliance Party and the SDLP have said improvements to the protocol are needed to ease its implementation.

Related Topics

• NI Brexit
• EU-UK post-Brexit trade deal
• Rishi Sunak
• European Union
• Brexit

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2023-02-17 12:14:35Z
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Tens of thousands of nurses to stage 48-hour strike which will include A&E workers - Sky News

Tens of thousands of nurses will stage a 48-hour strike at the start of next month, their union has announced, in a worsening dispute over pay and staffing.

The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said no services will be exempt, meaning the strike will involve for the first time nursing staff working in emergency departments, intensive care units, cancer care and other services that previously were not involved.

The union has accused the government of refusing to engage in negotiations.

The strike will run continuously for 48 hours from 6am on 1 March.

A series of two-day strikes held by the RCN in December, January and earlier this month ran for 12 hours each time only during the day shift.

The RCN said it will reduce services to an "absolute minimum" and ask hospitals to rely on members of other unions and other clinical professions instead.

Read more:
Who is taking industrial action in 2023 and when?

Image: Pat Cullen (centre) joins RCN members on the picket line (file pic)

'Choose talking over strike action'

RCN general secretary Pat Cullen told Sky News it was "with a very heavy heart" she was announcing the escalation.

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"It is simply because we can find no resolution with this government," she said.

"What I'm saying to the prime minister today is please choose talking over strike action and saving the NHS is really important to every single nurse that I have written to today."

She said she would be "absolutely delighted" if Prime Minister Rishi Sunak or the government would sit down for talks.

"I will be there to represent the 100,000 plus nurses in England that will have to take part in this strike action in the beginning of March if this government continues to not get into a room and start to negotiate.

"So we will not be found wanting within the Royal College of Nursing to try and bring an end to the strike. We will do that on behalf of every single nurse and every patient that deserves better in this country."

The RCN initially demanded a pay increase of up to 19% to cover soaring inflation and falls in real term wages over the past decade, but last month Ms Cullen said it could accept a pay rise of around 10% to end the ongoing dispute.

The government has refused to re-open pay negotiations, saying it was right to stick to the recommendation of the independent pay review body of around 4% when public finances are struggling.

Image: Striking nurses earlier this month

Escalation 'will risk patient safety'

Health Secretary Steve Barclay said: "Failure to provide cover during strike action for key services like cancer care is a significant escalation from the Royal College of Nursing that will risk patient safety.

"We are working closely with NHS England on contingency plans, but this action will inevitably cause further disruption for patients.

"I've had a series of discussions with unions, including the RCN, about what is fair and affordable for the coming year, as well as wider concerns around conditions and workload."

Increased financial support

The union also announced the initial strike benefit rate will be increased from £50 to £80 per day, with the rate increasing to £120 from the fourth day of action.

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2023-02-16 16:54:59Z
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