Daily Archives: July 5, 2021

The UK and Germany have agreed a 20-point post-Brexit joint declaration of cooperation affirming their commitment to the strategic unity of Europe.

The initiative, which has been under preparation for some time, comes before Fridays visit to the UK by the outgoing German chancellor, Angela Merkel, during which she will meet the prime minister and the Queen.

The agreement, released coincidentally the day after England had dumped Germany out of the European football championships, reflects Germanys strong desire to maintain close relations with the UK despite its disappointment at Brexit. The two sides have agreed to set up a new strategic dialogue that will involve the foreign ministers and political directors from both countries meeting once a year for a specific bilateral summit.

It is probably the first of three bilateral agreements that the UK intends to seal with its largest European partners, which also include France and Italy.

The joint declaration, inevitably a crafted compromise on the two countries stances, shows that the UK does not wish to cut itself off from its main European partners on defence and foreign policy, even though it has firmly refused to negotiate a collective foreign and defence cooperation agreement with the European Union. There is also pressure from Washington for the UK not to become a force for disruption inside the EU through arguments with Brussels over trade or defence policy.

Germany for its part will hope the deal can form a building block towards securing stronger defence and foreign policy cooperation in the longer term. It contains a commitment that it will maintain full transparency with the EU about its relations with the UK.

The overall theme of the document is that the two countries will work together as key defenders of the multilateral rules-based system.

On defence, the declaration states: Nato is the cornerstone of Euro-Atlantic security. It remains the bedrock of our collective defence. We recognise the importance of a stronger and more capable European contribution to this. We remain jointly committed to Nato-EU cooperation.

The statement also reflects Angela Merkels support for reopening a robust dialogue with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, an idea that was rejected collectively by the EU last week. The declaration contains strong words of warning about Russian malign intentions, but adds: We are committed to conducting constructive dialogue with Russia through appropriate channels in order to make clear our expectations and to discuss our ideas for concrete solutions.

On China and the Indo-Pacific, the document recognises the growing influence of China, but promises to hold China to its international commitments, including on human rights. Other areas of cooperation listed include Turkey, Ukraine and Africa.

The Foreign Office also states in the declaration that it supports Germanys application to become a permanent member of the currently five-strong UN security council. British support for a longstanding German demand hardly requires the UK to expend great diplomatic capital, but is seen as important in Berlin.

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UK and Germany sign post-Brexit defence and foreign policy declaration - The Guardian

Jul 3rd 2021

DURING BRITAINS multi-year negotiations to leave the European Union, fights over matters weighty (the status of Northern Ireland) and minor (fishing rights and roaming charges) were never far from the headlines. But for the technocrats in Brussels, among the most concerning issues was one that barely resonated with voters: state aid. Would post-Brexit Britain seek to subsidise its domestic firms in order to help them compete with European rivals, and if so, how? On June 30th, six months after the end of the Brexit transition period, Britain finally gave the Eurocrats their answer. Its plans mark a radical break with the past.

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Restrictions on state aid are essential to the functioning of the EUs single market. They ensure that governments do not use public money to grant their domestic companies unfair advantage over others within the trade bloc. But the rules are inflexible. Any policy with the potential to distort markets is banned unless expressly covered by a so-called block exemption, for example for infrastructure or environmental projects, or unless permission has been granted by the European Commission.

Under the new British system, by contrast, subsidies will be permitted as long as they follow general principles about value for money, do not prop up failing firms and are not designed simply to move jobs from one part of the United Kingdom to another. A new unit at the Competition and Markets Authority, an official watchdog, will offer advice on state aid to central government, and to the devolved Scottish and Welsh administrations and local authorities. But it will not have the final say over whether a subsidy is granted.

Brexit presented Britain with an opportunity to tailor a state-aid system to its needs. But that very opportunity also created a headache for the government. Many Conservative ministers wanted to be free of rules they regarded as overly restrictive, and of the red tape involved in ensuring compliance. On the partys free-market wing, however, some worried that ditching EU rules might enable a return to the dirigisme of the 1970s, when taxpayer cash was splashed freely and governments believed they were clever enough to pick winners.

Whether such fears are justified will take time to become apparent. It is local authorities for which the new rules mark the biggest change, but after a decade of budget cuts, they are in no position to ramp up spending on local firms, even if it would offer a decent return.

Deciding whether a scheme is effective, rather than whether it complies with European law, will require public authorities and ministers to think more carefully. As they consider how to create schemes for incubating new businesses, retraining workers and the like, there should be greater scope for innovation and policy competition between them, says James Webber, a competition lawyer at Shearman & Sterling, a global law firm. The new system might force more candour on politicians too, he adds. Ministers will have to explain why they dont want to spend money, instead of blaming the EU.

Freeing Britains economy from the constraints of the single market is among the biggest benefits its government spies in Brexit. But under the new system, preserving the British single market will bring its own problems. The trouble will come when one of the devolved governments seeks to subsidise a local company, and Whitehall decides to challenge it. EU rules were certainly restrictive, but at least they were clear. And Brussels did the nasty business of saying no.

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Helping handout"

Original post:

Post-Brexit, state aid will be more flexible and less bureaucratic - The Economist

British nationals in France are being urged to apply for post-Brexit residency permits before midnight amid confusion and conflicting messages over whether or not a 30 June deadline to secure their rights has been extended.

A French interior ministry spokesperson last week confirmed to media outlets that the cutoff date for applications for the new permit, guaranteeing local residence, healthcare, employment and other rights had been extended by three months.

It followed statements on the websites of several local prefectures that the deadline had been pushed back to 30 September. While the reference to a deadline change has been removed from some, it remains in place on others.

According to the British in Europe campaign group, at least six prefectures have also since said, by email and in person, that a delay had been agreed, with some adding the new permit would be mandatory only on 1 January 2022, rather than 31 October.

However, there has been no public announcement of the change by the French government and the British embassy in Paris has repeatedly said it had not been informed of any extension, insisting the deadline remained midnight on 30 June.

British in Europe said the situation was chaotic, adding: People have been told by official French sources there is a three-month delay. If today is the deadline, what happens tomorrow to those people told they have three more months to apply?

We call upon the interior ministry and the embassy to clarify the situation publicly. This is our home. We pay taxes, are invested in local communities and deserve better than this. No one should face the misery of becoming undocumented overnight.

Under the terms of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, UK citizens who were legally resident in one of the EUs 27 member states at the end of the Brexit transition period last year are eligible for permanent residence, protecting their basic rights.

Fourteen countries, including Spain, Germany, Portugal and Italy, opted for systems that automatically confer a new post-Brexit residence status on legally resident Britons, with no risk of losing rights if any administrative deadline is missed.

The other 13 chose a constitutive system under which Britons must formally apply for a new residence status, including five France, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands that initially set a 30 June deadline.

Last month, the Netherlands extended its deadline to 1 October and Luxembourg last week delayed its cutoff date by six months, leaving Latvia, Malta and possibly France as the only remaining early deadlines.

According to the latest official figures, 140,900 of an estimated 148,300 UK residents in France (the true number may be higher) have applied for the new permit. In Latvia, 500 have applied out of 1,200, and in Malta 9,200 out of 13,600. The French interior ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Britons in France urged to apply for post-Brexit permit amid deadline confusion - The Guardian

People who have not visited Sunderland recently may have been surprised at the news on Thursday that Nissan is investing 1bn into a futuristic electric vehicle hub in the city.

Known for its heavy industry and shipbuilding history, Sunderland is overshadowed by its industrial past and may not be the first place that comes to mind when imagining the future of manufacturing. But it should be, according to Patrick Melia, chief executive of Sunderland city council. Its a transforming city, he said.

Between the council and national government, 100m is being invested into a hi-tech manufacturing park adjacent to the Nissan plant, which before the announcement from the Japanese carmaker was expected to generate between 500m and 600m of investment from the private sector. With the 423m from Nissan and 450m from battery maker Envision, this target has already been smashed.

We need to be enablers as a local authority. We dont always have a lot of cash to put in but what we have is expertise, and we know how to bring businesses to Sunderland and benefit the wider north-east region, Melia said.

The Brexit effect, which some Remainers had gleefully wished upon Leave-voting Sunderland, has failed to materialise here. Though there is still uncertainty about food production due to shortages of factory, agricultural and haulage workers issues that exist throughout the UK Sunderland seems to have come out largely unscathed.

Despite this, challenges remain, with unemployment higher than the national average and pay significantly lower, at a time when the city is suffering from higher rates of Covid-19 infections than the country at large.

Already struggling before the pandemic struck, Sunderland ranked in the top 20 local authorities in Britain for employment deprivation, according to government figures.

The percentage of the workforce claiming unemployment-related benefits had shot up to 7.3% by May this year, compared with a UK average of 6%. And despite progress in recent months as lockdown measures were gradually relaxed across the country, about a tenth of the local workforce is still on furlough.

And yet Sunderland has ambitious plans. In 2023, the city is holding its Future Living Expo, which will showcase 5G-enabled, renewable-energy-powered homes of the future, 1,000 of which are currently planned for Sunderland, built off-site outside the city and assembled in four new neighbourhoods in the north of the city centre.

They will be more sustainable, and the smartest homes in the UK when we build them, Melia said. So were on a transformational journey and you need things like [Nissans investment] to underpin all of that.

In 2019, the financial services company Legal & General pledged 100m to the citys regeneration efforts, aiming to create grade-A office space at Riverside Sunderland, an urban quarter to the north of the city on the bank of the River Wear.

Work on the project will begin next month, at the site of the former Vaux Breweries, which closed in 1999. The site has been empty for two decades, partly due to numerous planning rows for Tesco, which had tried to build a superstore there, until it was bought by the council in 2011.

Legal & Generals chief executive, Nigel Wilson, himself a north-east native, said there were massive shifts going on in the region as it responded to the emergence of green tech and the rise in renewable energy. The companys investment in Sunderland was about seizing a genuine opportunity, he said one that was missed at the turn of the millennium, when the UK failed to support fledgling tech companies and lost ground to the US and China.

He said: We missed the boat. However, this next wave of technology is coming along incredibly quickly.

Legal & General has put 22bn of pensions money into projects such as urban regeneration, clean energy and transport infrastructure across the UK. Weve been saying this for many, many years and weve been practising it for many, many years. But its now become trendy and popular.

Wilson said business had been the catalyst for change in Sunderland but he believed the government had also been supportive.

For a lot of things, [the private sector] can do it, and then there are certain things where the government needs to pump-prime, to be frank.

With taxpayer money underpinning the investment at Nissan, the governments levelling-up rhetoric now has a ring of reality to it here. The sums committed are small but symbolic, suggesting that the interventionist approach that characterised postwar industrial policy is back in fashion.

Within the city, companies still feel a strong attachment to their home turf, determined to resist what is often described as the magnetic pull of the south-east.

At Keel Square, across the road from the Vaux Breweries site, is the new 6.4m head office of Hays Travel, a Sunderland success story.

Founded by John Hays in 1980, the company has grown to become the UKs largest independent travel agent, with a workforce of 500 at the Sunderland head office and 7,000 elsewhere in the UK. It made headlines most recently when it bought the retail arm of Thomas Cook after the holiday giant went bust in 2019.

Dame Irene Hays, the owner and chair of the company, said she and her late husband John, who died suddenly last November, never considered moving the business elsewhere.

We have for 41 years attributed our success to the loyalty, commitment, skills and flexibility of the thousands of lovely people we have been able to employ and develop from this area, she said.

Sunderland was an attractive place to relocate, she said, due to its beautiful coastline and thriving cultural scene which meant the company had been able to recruit a diverse and adaptable workforce.

Part of that cultural scene is the Sunderland Empire, the biggest theatre in the region and the only one that can accommodate the largest touring West End shows.

It directly employs more than 100 people and, with 300,000 visitors in a typical year, supports many further jobs in hospitality around the city. The Empire has been closed for more than a year, with almost all of its staff furloughed, but the box office is open and already taking bookings for the winter-season pantomimes.

The theatres director, Marie Nixon, said the optimism felt by the council and business was translating into a thriving cultural sector, albeit one that had been hit hard by the pandemic. While it remains to be seen what the lasting effects of lockdown will be, Sunderland is creating more opportunities than ever before for artistic types who might have left the city for the brighter lights of Newcastle, Leeds or further south.

Im feeling really optimistic, said Nixon. I think we just need what everybody needs and thats some certainty.

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Sunderland is coming up shining, despite Brexit and the pandemic - The Guardian

London

Marlies Haselton has called Britain home for more than 30 years. The Dutch national married a Briton, had her children there, and considers herself part and parcel of the United Kingdom. Until Britains divorce from the European Union, she had never given a thought to her immigration status in the U.K.

Ms. Haselton is among the millions of Europeans who have freely lived, worked, and studied in the U.K. for decades, but whose rights are no longer automatically granted due to Brexit. Britains government introduced a settlement plan for the countrys large European migrant community in 2019, and the deadline for applications is Wednesday.

From Thursday, any European migrant who hasnt applied will lose their legal right to work, rent housing, and access some hospital treatments or welfare benefits in the U.K. They may even be subject to deportation.

Meanwhile, the freedom of movement that over 1 million Britons have long enjoyed in EU countries is also ending. Those applying for post-Brexit residency permits in France also face a deadline on Wednesday.

Campaigners in the U.K. are worried that tens or even hundreds of thousands of Europeans may not have applied by the deadline.

Many older people who have lived in the U.K. for decades are not aware they have to apply, and official figures show that only 2% of applicants were 65 years old or older. Many parents also dont realize they have to apply for their children, migrants rights groups say.

Other vulnerable people, such as an estimated 2,000 children in social care, also risk falling through the cracks and ending up with no legal status.

For Ms. Haselton and many others, its a moment that drives home the impact of Britains referendum to leave the EU five years ago.

Although Ms. Haselton successfully received her settled status, meaning she can reside permanently in the U.K., she said the whole process has made her feel insecure about the life she built in Britain.

I dont feel settled, she said. Im concerned about the future. I just dont have a safe feeling about growing old here as a foreigner. The sense of home I used to have is gone.

Britains government says some 5.6 million people the majority from Poland and Romania have applied, far more than the initial estimates. While about half were granted settled status, some 2 million migrants who havent lived in the U.K. long enough were told they have to put in the paperwork again when they have completed five years of residency in the country.

And about 400,000 people are still in limbo because theyre waiting to hear a decision, said Lara Parizotto, a campaigner for The3million, a group set up after the Brexit referendum to lobby for the rights of EU citizens in the U.K.

These are the people were hearing from a lot, she said. You want to be secure and safe, you want to continue making plans for your future you can imagine how complex it is not to have that certainty in your life right now when things are about to change so much.

Daria Riabchikova, a Russian woman who applied in February as the partner of a Belgian citizen living in the U.K., said its been incredibly frustrating waiting four months for her paperwork to be processed. She fears the delay will affect a new job she is about to start.

I feel like a third-rate citizen, despite working here and paying taxes with my partner and living here, and contributing to the past year of struggle with the pandemic, she said. Now I cant even have my straightforward application processed on time.

Figures are not available to show exactly how many people will have missed the deadline. But even a small percentage of the European population in the U.K. would total tens of thousands of people, Ms. Parizotto said. In recent weeks, the Brazilian-Italian has travelled with other volunteers across England to urge European communities working in rural farms and warehouses to sign up before its too late.

One key concern is that the immigration policy could leave a disastrous legacy similar to Britains Windrush scandal, when many from the Caribbean who legally settled in the U.K. decades ago were wrongly caught up in tough new government rules to crack down on illegal immigration.

Many in the Windrush generation named after the ship that carried the first post-war migrants from the West Indies lost their homes and jobs or were even deported simply because they couldnt produce paperwork proving their residency rights.

Many Europeans, especially young people whose parents failed to apply, wont necessarily realize they have lost their status right away, said Madeleine Sumption, director of Oxford Universitys Migration Observatory.

For some, it will only become clear later on for example, when they get a new job or need to be treated in hospital, she said. It may be many more years before the legal, political, economic, and social consequences start to emerge.

Britains government has conceded that it will give the benefit of the doubt to people who have reasonable grounds for applying late, but that hasnt eased campaigners worries. Many, including those who secured settled status, no longer feel confident in their future in Britain.

Elena Remigi, a translator originally from Milan who founded In Limbo, a project to record the voices of EU nationals in the U.K. since the Brexit referendum, said many Europeans say they still feel betrayed by how their adopted country treated them.

It is really sad that people who were living here before are now made to feel unwelcome and have to leave, she said. Thats really hard for some people to forgive.

Haselton, the Dutch migrant, said her British husband is mulling moving the family to the Netherlands as a direct consequence of Brexit. She is torn.

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I still love this country, it would break my heart if I had to move, she said. At the same time Im not sure I want to stay. When it comes to a sense of feeling that you belong, that isnt something that you can do with a piece of paper.

This story was reported by The Associated Press.

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Post-Brexit, migrants at home in the UK must now apply to stay - The Christian Science Monitor

Five years on from the Brexit vote in June 2016, the UK has seen 3 prime ministers, a global health crisis, a divorce from the EU and unprecedented fiscal and monetary intervention which has impacted all asset classes. The pound which fell to a three-decade low post the vote has recovered, but still remains 6% lower than the day of the vote. The UK equity market has been a clear laggard over the period versus other developed markets led by the US, especially the tech heavy NASDAQ index. The pandemic has served to exacerbate market volatility resulting in a difficult landscape to navigate for investors, especially those focused on UK markets.

Brexit discount

The discount applied to the UK by investors has remained throughout the last 5 years and has led to a series of takeovers of UK listed companies including WS Atkins, Scapa, Horizon Discovery, Aggreko, Arrow Global and St Modwen Properties to name a few. The recent attempt by private equity to takeover Morrisons further supports the thesis that the UK market on its current valuation remains highly attractive to investors, especially private equity. The successful vaccination programme in the UK has been pivotal for investors looking at the UK with a very different lens, with a focus on the opportunities that are available in a high quality and well established market which has been unloved for the last 5 years.

Challenges and opportunities

The last 5 years have been challenging for UK fund managers who have had to deal with a bitter divorce with the EU and a pandemic, both events have led to heightened volatility and large changes in asset prices. The sectors that have struggled included Real Estate businesses with meaningful exposure to retail; these have had to weather the challenge from online disrupters and Energy where climate change concerns have come to the forefront. Telecom businesses are facing an environment where they cannot generate enough profits from customers to cover the eye watering costs for building out 5G infrastructure. The sectors that have held up relatively well and are positioned favourably to benefit post Brexit include Healthcare which covers a wide range of industries including pharmaceuticals, animal health and life sciences. The UK retains a leading position in high end industrial engineering serving customers globally. The Materials sector which covers construction and house building are also well set to deliver for investors, with the latter well placed to deliver on the long-standing supply shortfall of new homes in the UK. The high saving ratio which has been built up through the pandemic will unwind, when consumer spending rises once lockdown restrictions are fully lifted and those consumer facing businesses which have embraced digital will be in pole position to benefit.

The challenge for UK fund managers as we move into a post-Brexit world is how to position a portfolio at a market cap level. The small and mid-cap companies are in better position to take advantage of economic growth which is forecast to come through in the second half of 2021 and beyond. And it is no surprise that both the small and mid-cap indices are at a record high, whilst the FTSE 100 has failed to recover to its pre-pandemic high. The large cap index is dominated by more cyclical companies which have been out of favour for an extended period, although could be set for a change if we have a meaningful rise in inflation and a change in monetary policy. In addition, the volatility in Sterling has been a headwind for larger companies, with over 70% of revenues derived from abroad. For those investors who favour an active and quality approach to stock selection, there has never been a better period to build a focused UK portfolio.

Post-Brexit outlook

The unprecedented recent intervention by the Bank of England and the UK government coupled with optimism around the re-opening of the economy in the second half of the year and pent up demand from the consumer materialising augurs well for investors in the UK. The attractive valuations and higher dividend yields which are now coming through after a very tough 2020, which saw a flurry of cuts, deferrals, suspensions and cancellations of pay outs, will help to narrow the Brexit discount. In addition, the pandemic which has resulted in strong headwinds for the UK economy and markets will hopefully fade in time, allowing for normal activity to resume in 2022 and beyond. These factors paint a positive outlook for a market that has been long out of favour with global investors.

For more information on the EdenTree Responsible & Sustainable UK Equity Opportunities Fund, go to http://www.edentreeim.com/uk-equities

The views contained herein are not to be taken as advice or recommendation to buy or sell any investment or interest. The value of an investment and the income from it can fall as well as rise, you may not get back the amount originally invested. Past performance should not be seen as a guide to future performance. EdenTree is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and is a member of the Investment Association. Firm Reference Number 527473.

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Industry Voice: Brexit: the 5 year itch - Investment Week

One of the significant differences between Leave and Remain, in my view, is that the latter can be magnanimous in acknowledging that Nissans decisions in Sunderland are not entirely what we might have expected, but are good news.

However, the suggestion that the army being brought in to ensure food supplies must rank as the most significant manifestation of the so-called "Project Fear" that we shall see.

We did tell you that there would be an exodus of labour, and this will surely be a process that will bring Brexit right into our daily lives. It is sobering to think that the Brexit-related shortages of labour in the hospitality and delivery industries are caused by hundreds of thousands of individual decisions not to remain in the UK, not the decisions of big business.

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Given talk of labour shortages in the wake of Brexit it's clearly time to upgrade my driving licence - The Independent

The body created to regulate, monitor and enforce environmental standards in the UK post-Brexit will be shielded from scrutiny as a result of prohibitions on access to information, campaigners say.

The Office for Environmental Protection (OEP), which is being set up under the environment bill, should offer independent scrutiny of government and public bodies, and investigate public complaints about environmental matters.

But as the bill goes through the House of Lords, campaigners say it contains prohibitions on access to information from the new watchdog, which will shroud its work in secrecy. The prohibitions, according to the Campaign for Freedom of Information, would affect requests made under the Freedom of Information Act and environmental information regulations (EIR).

An amendment to the bill to remove these prohibitions was due to be debated on Wednesday in the Lords.

Maurice Frankel, of the Campaign for Freedom of Information, said: The government has created new prohibitions and the effect will be that if you want to gather information from the OEP on monitoring, or progress towards improving environmental standards, or on environmental hazards, [that] would be subject to prohibition on disclosure that would appear to override the right of access to environmental information under the EIR, and to breach the Aarhus convention, the international treaty to which the UK is a signatory, and the right of access under the Freedom of Information Act.

He said the prohibitions relating to information about enforcement action taken against public bodies would end once the OEP decided to take no further action about a matter.

But this could take many years, said Frankel. In the meantime even information which could cause no harm to any investigation, or whose disclosure would be in the public interest, would be withheld.

These provisions will cause unnecessary secrecy and reduce the opportunity for informed debate on environmental matters.

On Wednesday, Lord Wills will table amendments to the bill seeking to have the prohibitions contained in clause 42 removed.

Frankel said the main impact of the prohibitions would be to stop information being released under environmental information regulations. These already allow information to be withheld where disclosure would adversely affect specified interests. But the decision has to take into account the public interest in releasing the information and a presumption in favour of disclosure.

These safeguards will not apply to the Office of Environmental Protection under the prohibitions.

The government, in its explanatory notes for the bill, denies it contains such prohibitions.

It states the bill does not override the EIR which will still apply to the OEP and other public bodies and will also not override or disapply other existing legislative provision on public access to information such as the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Data Protection Act 2018.

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Alarm over plans to shield post-Brexit environment watchdog from scrutiny - The Guardian

Labour has announced a new post-Brexit economic vision for the UK involving ambitious plans to make, sell and buy more in Britain as it seeks to build a strongly patriotic policy platform with which to take on the Tories.

Emboldened by its morale-boosting victory in Thursdays Batley and Spen byelection, when the party halted Tory advances into its strongholds in traditional manufacturing areas, the move marks the opening shot in a new campaign to be led by Keir Starmer focused on jobs and the battle against crime in all local communities.

In her first major intervention since being appointed shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves also said that Labour would ensure far more public contracts were awarded to British businesses, as opposed to handing them to overseas firms. This would be tied in with an emphasis on securing more high-skilled UK jobs for the future in the green, financial technology, digital media and film sectors, and other industries in this country.

Since Starmer, who was strongly against Brexit, became leader, his party has lacked a clear economic argument. Meanwhile, the Tories have pursued the goal of what they call global Britain, identifying new trade deals to replace UK access to the EU single market.

Reevess idea aims to develop a more realistic plan than that advanced by the Conservatives, but with an equally patriotic message at its heart. Under the plan one of the boldest since Starmer became leader every public body in the country would be told to award more contracts to British firms, underpinned by a new law that would require public organisations to give details of how much they are buying from UK firms, large and small.

Labour would also institute an immediate review of all major public infrastructure projects such as rail and road works to identify how more materials could be provided from the UK and how UK workers could be up-skilled to work on them. In the award of contracts, public sector organisations would also have to examine the social as well as the economic benefits of any projects, including what they would do for local areas and job creation.

Reeves highlighted a series of recent government decisions in which major contracts have gone to overseas companies without consideration of the positive effects on local communities of keeping the work in this country.

Examples included the award of a contract to make new blue UK passports to a French company, which led to the loss of 171 jobs in Gateshead. Labour will also highlight how only one UK-based firm was shortlisted for 2.5bn of contracts for track and tunnel systems of the new HS2 high speed rail network.

Reeves said the post-Brexit, post-pandemic world offered new opportunities for a radical rethink of attitudes to job creation, raising standards and developing skills.

As we recover from the pandemic, we have a chance to seize new opportunities and shape a new future for Britain, she declared.

Labour will get our economy firing on all cylinders by giving people new skills for the jobs of the future here in the UK, bringing security and resilience back to our economy and public services, and helping our high streets thrive again.

Post-pandemic and post Brexit, we should be rethinking how we support our businesses, strengthen our supply chains and give people the skills they need to succeed. The decade ahead is crucial.

On a victory visit to Batley and Spen after first-time candidate Kim Leadbeater held the seat for Labour in a byelection, Keir Starmer stressed the value of communities.

In the coming weeks he will tour the country stressing the need to protect local people from crime and boost their job prospects with the emphasis on making, selling and buying more in Britain. He announced: My message is, when the Labour party sticks to its core values, is rooted in its communities and pulls together, we can win just as weve won here. This is the start, Labour is back.

TUC general secretary Frances OGrady welcomed the move, saying: We need to build a fairer and more resilient economy as we emerge from this pandemic. That means strengthening UK manufacturing and investing in homes, transport and other vital infrastructure.

The TUC has been campaigning for government to use public money to create decent jobs in every part of Britain. Its great to see that Labour is taking forward this agenda too.

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Keir Starmer takes on Tories with buy British economic plan - The Guardian

A recent report by a joint UK-EU committee of citizens rights indicates there were 1,500 refusals of cartes de sjour by France as of May 28, 2021 however the small print casts doubt on the figures accuracy.

The Connexion was surprised to read the figure (see here, page 33) which is shown to be the highest among EU states that require an obligatory Withdrawal Agreement (WA) residency card application and that supplied data on this to the committee (several did not).

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk / Specialised committee on citizen's rights, fourth report

The Connexionhas not been told of refusals in France by our readers.

British in Europe co-chair Jane Golding toldThe Connexion: As far as I am aware we dont have reports of refusals in France. She said they are raising the numbers with the European Commission.

Kathryn Dobson of France Rights, one of the British in Europe (BiE) groups focused on France, said the reason for the apparently high figure is likely to be in a footnote to the data supplied by France.

The footnote says: These figures do not systematically reflect the number of applications refused and include in particular duplicates (cases where the same application was submitted more than once).

Ms Dobson said: We think that it is false if you look at the footnote as it includes duplicates.

We've asked for clarification. The British Embassy in Paris confirmed to us that they only know of a few refusals.

Asked her interpretation of how duplicates could arise, she said: There could be two reasons for duplicates: Firstly, the applicant was worried that an early application has been lost [and so resent it] and secondly, some people saved their application when they were part-way through completing it and then couldn't access it, so restarted it.

However we have no transparency so have no idea what duplications they mean but we do know there have been some and I would not be surprised if there were more than 1,500 of them.

She added: The figures are worthless really, we need far more detail across the board.

We would have heard if people were being refused so I'm reasonably confident there is a problem with the figures.

An embassy spokeswoman said: Questions about these figures would be best directed to the French authorities who provided them, but we do know they are looking to grant residency wherever possible.

We have asked the Interior Ministry if it is possible to explain further how they were compiled and if they can comment further on refusals in France.

The joint committee report states that refusals of Britons' residency cards by EU states may be due to peoples personal circumstances not meeting the criteria for a card, or related to criminal records.

Other statistics shown include applications that were withdrawn by the applicant or void, the latter meaning that the applicant is someone who is not eligible for the WA residency card status, for example because they are not British.

Incomplete applications are also shown, which means key information or supporting documents were not supplied.

While high compared to the other EU states show in the report, the French figure is nonetheless far fewer than refusals for the equivalent settled status for EU citizens in the UK. Out of 5.27 million applications, 94,000 were refused, according to the report.

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Has France rejected 1500 Britons' Brexit residency card applications? - The Connexion