Daily Archives: January 9, 2022

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As 2022 gets underway, Britain is marking its first year fully outside of the European Union. POLITICO asked politicians, diplomats and experts on both sides of the Channel to offer their take on what Brexits taught them.

Robin Niblett is director and chief executive of the Chatham House think tank.

Two lessons emerged from 2021 about the future of U.K.-EU relations. First, re-setting 47 years of economic integration will be a slow and costly process. It is hard to distinguish the economic effects of leaving the EU single market and customs union in January 2021 from those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. But, by August 2021, Britains total goods trade with the rest of the world had recovered to7 percent below average 2019 levels whereas it remained 15 percentlower with the EU.

Importantly, 2021 has only been a taster for the border frictions contained in the thin U.K.-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The U.K.s new customs procedures finally came into force on January 1, 2022, and present new headaches for U.K. and EU businesses alike. And the EU has started demanding formal certification of the origins of tariff-free imports from the U.K. on the same date. Economic disruption is likely to worsen in 2022.

But this is unlikely to lead to a political rupture between the U.K. and EU. The second lesson of 2021 was geopolitical: Britain can leave the EU but not Europe. The shock announcement in September of the new Australia-U.K.-U.S. security partnership confirmed for some Britains post-Brexit tilt to the Anglo-Saxon world as well as the Indo-Pacific. However, Russian President Vladimir Putins threatening military build-up on the border with Ukraine since October has brutally reminded Boris Johnson that his global ambitions can only be exercised from a secure European base.

The government will have to work cooperatively alongside the EU as well as the U.S. if Britains successful G7 and COP26 presidencies in 2021 are to evolve into a meaningful global role for Brexit Britain.

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Nick Witney is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

In early December, a Tale of Two Visits played out in Washington. EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager met U.S. President Joe Bidens top economic team for wide-ranging discussions on digital issues from regulation and security to competition, as well as meeting the Chinese technological challenge.

The other visitor was Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Britains new international trade secretary, with a narrower mission an (unsuccessful) bid to get the Americans to remove tariffs on British steel and aluminum exports, as they had already agreed for the EU.

This was not how the first year of Britains recovered sovereignty was meant to conclude. In the Brexit prospectus, the sclerotic EU should be fading into geostrategic irrelevance, if not actually breaking apart. Yet, despite the blocs unpreparedness to sign up for a new Cold War with China, the U.S. and EU have recognized in each other an indispensable partner if the West is to hold its own against the totalitarians. With the battle for the future increasingly fought in arenas like cyberspace, data, artificial intelligence and their regulation, the EU finds its strengths at a new premium.

By contrast, Global Britain was meant to be re-emerging as a great maritime trading power, shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. as indispensable allies and pre-eminent partners. Instead, Brexit has thumped the U.K. economy, whilst the notion of a commercial El Dorado in the Indo-Pacific has been exposed as a pipedream. The U.S. has humiliated Britain in Afghanistan and cold-shouldered it on trade to deter further recklessness over Northern Ireland. Geostrategic irrelevance, and breaking apart, now look like the U.K.s risks, not the EUs.

Britain has what it takes to play an important and prosperous role in shaping the new rules-based international order, triangulating between U.S. and EU, on issues from the climate crisis to globalization. But only if its government sheds the Brexiteers nostalgic fantasies.

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Arancha Gonzlez Laya was Spains foreign affairs minister during the Brexit negotiations.

Brexit was meant to bring back sovereignty, wealth and unity. It was meant to take back control. A year after the Christmas Eve divorce settlement, Santa Claus still hasnt shown up.

The post-Brexit U.K. is poorer: a long-term drop of 4 percent in GDP is the estimated cost of leaving the EU. And this is over and above the economic cost of COVID-19. Labor shortages are the new norm. Trade with the EU is down, with small businesses finding it harder to export. Farmers and fishermen are feeling the brunt of the new relationship.

A year later the United Kingdom itself is less united. And more sovereignty has led to a less sovereign U.K. This is true whether on migration, climate change, innovation, the fight against coronavirus or foreign policy.

It is not that U.K. negotiators werent shrewd enough. Having negotiated with the U.K., I know first-hand that they are extremely smart. It is not that the deal was bad. It is just that it could never live up to the slogans.

Brexit was about sentiments and perception. The divorce deal is about the hard reality of a mid-sized country, the same one that invented market capitalism, which as we all know is based on economies of scale. It may seem contradictory but sovereignty today is not about borders but rather about size. The paradox of todays more interdependent world is that it is pooling sovereignty that gives governments more tools to protect the interests of citizens and businesses.

My wish for the year: that the EU and the U.K. start building on this new relationship and get proudly pragmatic.

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Christian Lequesne is a professor of political science at Sciences Po Paris. He is a former visiting professor at the European Institute of the London School of Economics.

Brexit helps us understand that Britain is more obsessed with identity politics than liberal economy. Greatness, taking back control and national identity are what British Brexiteers are really interested in. For the Conservatives who govern the U.K., economic performance has now become a minor issue compared to the days of Thatcherite neoliberalism. The liberal discourse on Global Britain seems to be a big joke.

As for the EU, I remember a time not so long ago when I had no difficulty in convincing my students that leaving the EU was impossible because membership creates too high policy interdependence. What a mistake! With Europe now a matter of political passion rather than reason, nothing can stop Europeans from leaving it. Arguments that Poles will stay in the EU because of generous budgetary subsidies appear very weak in light of the Brexit experience.

When people are obsessed with national identity and sovereignty, trade and market benefits seem very weak reasons to stay in the EU. From this point of view, pragmatism being a structural value of U.K. politics seems another big myth. Who appears more emotional and distant from rationality than a Brexiteer explaining the reasons for theU.K.s choice?

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Matthew Elliott was chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign.

One thing alone made Brexit worthwhile in 2021 the vaccine rollout. The U.K. led the way in Europe in getting people jabbed, enabling the government to lift coronavirus restrictions far sooner than any country in the European Union.

Less progress has been made on attaining the economic benefits of Brexit, but this is understandable with the focus on fighting the pandemic, and we did manage to sign a free trade agreement with Australia and lay the foundation for further progress in 2022.

Some people suggest that with David Frost out of government, progress will slow on Brexit, but in appointing Liz Truss to head up Britains EU policy, Boris Johnson couldnt have picked a stronger champion of business and enterprise to lead the charge. Like Frost, she supported Remain in 2016, but the zeal she has shown for free trade demonstrates her understanding of the opportunities that Brexit presents.

Now were reaching the beginning of the end of COVID-19 (touch wood), the government will have more bandwidth to focus on fully attaining these opportunities. And with Goldman Sachs, HSBC, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank all predicting that the U.K. will be the fastest growing economy in 2022 for the second year in a row thats a significant vote of confidence in post-Brexit Britain.

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Matt Goodwin is professor of politics at Rutherford College, University of Kent, and a fellow at the Legatum Institute.

Brexit has fundamentally transformed electoral politics. Both the vote for Brexit and Boris Johnsons election victory in 2019 have led to a restructuring of left and right, whereby the Conservatives have become far more dependent upon the pro-Brexit workers and non-graduates who concentrate in the small, industrial and coastal towns whilst the Labour Party has become more dependent upon the pro-EU middle-class professionals, graduates and young millennials and even younger zoomers.

Many of these trends were already in place before Brexit, but the process of leaving the EU exacerbated them. This handed Johnson and the Conservatives a far more geographically efficient vote while Labour has fallen far too dependent on the university towns and the big cities (for example, of the 20 largest majorities at the last election, 16 came in Labour seats).

So, Brexit has also magnified some of the electoral problems facing the Labour Party. Yet it has also underlined some of the problems facing Johnson and which are now finding their expression one year on from Brexit. While he has become more dependent upon Brexit voters for support, it is these very voters who have recently been abandoning the Conservative Party. Over the last six months, Johnsons support among Leave voters has crashed by around 20 points as they have drifted not to Labour but into apathy, no longer sure who they will support.

This is not just about Brexit but also their unhappiness with the coronavirus restrictions, Johnsons failure to take back control of immigration, especially on the south coast, and his failure to carve out a message and a mantra beyond the original Brexit issue. So while we have learned that Brexit has restructured electoral politics we have also learned that these new divisions are not necessarily as static as some assumed.

Johnsons future, and indeed the future of the Conservative Party, now depends heavily on whether they can find other reasons to keep these Leavers committed and motivated.

* * *

Anna Deighton is a professor of European international politics at the University of Oxford.

Trust in competence, good behavior and honest explanations are central to democratic governance especially when there is exceptional pressure on government. Brexit plus a pandemic offers such a moment, yet trust in the U.K. government is broken inside the Conservative Party, in parliament, and in the country.

Trust must be rebuilt with the EU. The list of post-Brexit policy areas to be settled in 2022 is daunting. Implementing these needs mutual trust, so British diplomats must learn lessons not least in humility. Of course, diplomacy means negotiating national interests, but bad blood makes diplomacy much harder. Northern Ireland is a test case for Brexit success and trust-building difficult, dangerous, but essential. And policy battles between London and Edinburgh have also put the U.K.s union under existential strain.

Global Britain is a policy of grandeur. But the reality is the U.K.s Foreign Office is under strain. Its had five foreign secretaries since 2016, an unpopular internal reorganization, and faces demoralizing cuts in staffing to come. Recent British trade and security deals get talked up, but their value is doubted by those who know. Can the U.K. be trusted to deliver? Right now, a future, grand Global Britain seems merely a comforting mirage. Britain is sliding towards greater but unheralded dependency on the U.S.

At home, Boris Johnsons post-Brexit, post-pandemic leveling up agenda is not understood or trusted. Our shameful societal divide requires a social revolution, but the cost of long-term transformation will be huge, and the government is vague and conflicted on the way forward.

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Shanker Singham is chief executive of Competere, a trade policy and economic policy consultancy, and a former adviser to the U.K. international trade secretary.

The U.K. has done a relatively good job of managing the inevitable Brexit disruptions as much as it can with its new Border Operating Model, including transitional measures for the border that expired as this year began. It has also set out a laudable goal of having the best border in the world by 2025 which will require, among other things, a serious commitment to a streamlined, single trade window.

The U.K. has done very well on the external trade policy agenda, concluding a de novo deal with Australia in record time (with New Zealand to follow shortly), and has become the first country to have an accession group set up for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) with the promise of a concluded deal within a year.

But its on the domestic regulatory reform agenda where it does not yet get a passing grade. There has been almost no progress here and its the area where some of the biggest economic gains are to be had. Unless the U.K. uses 2022 to engage in meaningful, pro-competitive regulatory reform, starting with the body of EU acquis which has been ported into U.K. law post Brexit, the biggest opportunities of Brexit are in danger of being squandered.

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Jennifer Hillman is a senior fellow for trade and international political economy at the U.S. think tank the Council on Foreign Relations.

Negotiating trade deals is proving to be extremely difficult and time-consuming for a Britain that is much smaller than the EU and with much less trade negotiating experience.

In the run-up to Brexit, Conservative leaders evoked the image of a swashbuckling Global Britain striking new deals across the world. To date, however, the United Kingdom has completed just one entirely post-Brexit trade deal. While new agreements will eventually be signed, the difficulties experienced this year, from the United States apparent lack of interest in a free trade arrangement to outcries from certain domestic constituencies, illustrate the variety of hurdles a British free trade agenda will have to overcome.

This year has also shown that Brussels influence will ultimately be difficult to escape. Part of the promise of Brexit was that the United Kingdom could eliminate what were seen as stifling EU regulations in order to unleash new growth. The EUs size and continued economic ties to the United Kingdom, however, make major regulatory shifts in tradeable sectors like agriculture or areas like data governance difficult to envision and the exit deal negotiated by the United Kingdom seems to commit London to continued adherence to significant labor and environmental standards.

Of critical significance for the U.K. is the heavily regulated financial services sector, which, despite employing over 1 million people and accounting for more than 10 percent of the U.K.s tax revenue, received less attention in the final days of the Brexit talks than fishing rights. Despite a March 2021 memorandum of understanding setting out a framework for cooperation, talks to give U.K. financial services firm clear access to the EU market are currently on hold. While liberalizing financial markets or other sectors may accelerate British growth, we should not expect a radical departure from the regulatory status quo.

Between the threat to tear up the part of Brexit relating to Northern Ireland and the failure to make numerous equivalence decisions in the financial services sector, Brexit remains a work in progress, with the devilish details of trade continuing to create a drag on the economy, particularly for small firms attempting to navigate through the confusion and increased administrative workload.

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David McAllister is a German MEP for the European Peoples Party and chair of the European Parliaments committee of foreign affairs.

The main lessonlearned from Brexit is that a complex process such as disentangling a large economy from the market it was so deeply integrated into over the past decades must be carefully assessed, planned and implemented. This process should be based on facts and not on empty promises. Apart from a somewhat abstract reference to taking back control, there have so far been no tangible benefits from Brexit either in terms of trade or in terms of GDP. No free trade agreement can ever match membership nor participation in the single market.

Secondly,the very serious practical difficulties citizens, businesses and supply chains are facing in the United Kingdom stem from the type of Brexit chosen by the U.K. government. The necessary consequences were well known in advance in London.

The Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement have to be implemented on the agreed terms and in good faith. We need to de-dramatize and de-politicize the discussions and focus on real, practical, issues. Engaging with stakeholders in an open and transparent manner is essential. The EU has shown that it can listen and has put forward an unprecedented package of measures that provide flexibility on areas such as veterinary checks, customs facilitation or medicines in Northern Ireland. Triggering Article 16 [of the Northern Ireland protocol] would have a destabilizing effect.

Thirdly,geographically-close neighbors and allies that share so much in terms of history and values cannot afford to get trapped in a permanent crisis mode. It is a waste of energy and resources, and also risky given the growing geopolitical uncertainties. We shouldseek new ways to broaden and deepen the EU-U.K. partnership on foreign affairs and defense. I am convinced it would be beneficial for both sides to maintain a close and lasting cooperation given our shared values and interests.

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Pasquale Quito Terracciano is the head of Italys new directorate-general for public diplomacy and a former ambassador to the U.K.

Brexit could never have happened in Italy. Not just because the EU is more popular here, but because of a constitutional safeguard which prevents a referendum on international treaties. It's a mechanism able to avoid emotional political decisions with unpredictable consequences.

Leaving the EU was a crucial decision, but in the case of Britain it looked irreversible. The U.K. political system left the only opposition to Brexit the Liberal Democrats and the House of Lords with no handbrakes.

No effective interference was possible from abroad. EU partners pointed out that mechanisms already exist to prevent illegal stays by EU citizens in Britain, one of the most sensitive issues for Brexiteers and then-Prime Minister David Cameron achieved significant results in re-negotiating with Brussels. But nobody cared at home.

Brexit was reduced to a domestic political fight with many contradictions. Remaining in the EU was advocated by stakeholders like the financial industry, with little or even counterproductive influence on British voters. The big U.K. businesses were not willing to stand up for the economically wiser solution. After calling the referendum, Cameron decided to lead the Remain campaign, with little credibility and no government discipline, leaving Cabinet members free to stand on either side.

One may argue expending political capital in favor of Remain is difficult in a country where even the most Europhile of think-tanks calls for reform of the bloc in its own name. But judgement is still pending on whether Brexit was the end point of an inevitable trajectory in British history or the result of short-term political missteps.

This article is part of POLITICOs premium policy service Pro Trade. From transatlantic trade wars to the U.K.s future trading relationship with the EU and rest of the world, Pro Trade gives you the insight you need to plan your next move. Email [emailprotected] for a complimentary trial.

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Brexit Britain at 1: Heres what weve learned - POLITICO Europe

Around 48,000 internet domain names belonging to U.K. citizens and organizations including pro-Brexit site Leave.eu have been indefinitely taken offline from Monday, following the revocation of their .eu domain names by the agency in charge of registrations.

The move marks the final step in an ongoing process since the U.K. withdrew from the EU on January 31, 2020.

U.K.-based owners of .eu domains were told that they needed to prove eligibility for an EU domain; otherwise, they would risk suspension, meaning their domains would be unable to support website-hosting or email functionality.

To register a .eu domain, individuals must be either citizens or residents of the bloc, and organizations should be established within the EU.

More than 80,000 websites had been hit with a "suspended" status, following the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31, 2020. By July of last year, those that failed to prove eligibility were placed into a "withdrawn" status until Monday, when their .eu domains were revoked indefinitely.

Over the past 12 months our staff has been working tirelessly to support the holders of these domain names and follow up on the numerous requests to reinstate a domain name into the registered status as soon as the eligibility criteria were met, an EURid spokesman said on Monday.

Those in possession of European Union residency or citizenship will be able to immediately re-register the .eu domains revoked as of Monday.

A spokesperson from EURid, the EUs domain registry manager, said that the 48,000 domain names would become available for general registration on a first come, first serve[d] basis in batches throughout Monday.

One case that caught the headlines last year was the domain Leave.eu registered to the organization of the same name, which had been spearheaded by former Brexiteer MEP Nigel Farage and bankrolled by erstwhile UKIP funder Arron Banks.

Ahead of the Brexit withdrawal date, the organization migrated its registrant address to a location in Waterford, Ireland, in an attempt to prove eligibility for a .eu domain.

However, following an investigation by EURid, the domain was issued with a "withdrawn" status, because the domain holder failed to respond to data verification requests, EURid said on Monday.

As of Monday, the Leave.eu domain name will become available for re-registration by an EU citizen or resident.

This article is part of POLITICOs premium Tech policy coverage: Pro Technology. Our expert journalism and suite of policy intelligence tools allow you to seamlessly search, track and understand the developments and stakeholders shaping EU Tech policy and driving decisions impacting your industry. Email [emailprotected] with the code TECH for a complimentary trial.

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Thousands of websites taken offline in Brexit domain name change - POLITICO Europe

According to Lord Ashcrofts mammoth poll of over 12,000 people, conducted on the day of the EU referendum itself, the propensity to vote for Brexit increased as voters aged. Only from the 45-54 age group upwards was there a majority for leaving.

Map of how Britain divided show most of the bigger Leave majorities concentrated outside London and its prosperous hinterland.

The Ashcroft polling also showed that the AB social group (broadly speaking, professionals and managers) were the only social group among whom a majority voted to remain (57 per cent). C1s divided fairly evenly; nearly two thirds of C2DEs (64 per cent) voted to leave the EU.

In short, the older, less metropolian and poorer you were, the more likely you were to have voted to leave the EU. This was always going lessen the likelihood of a liberal Brexit.

These voters may not be enthusiasts for a bigger state. But a significant slice of them are major consumers of the third or so of public spending that goes on healthcare and social security for pensioners. So they have an interest in preserving it.

Nor are they opposed to lower taxes. However their support for these is balanced by their backing for the NHS, and healthcare was consuming roughly eight per cent of public spending pre-pandemic compared to the year 2000.

Furthermore, the state is a bigger employer outside London and the South East. That will also influence voters views in provinical England. Meanwhile, many poorer voters have less of an interest than richer ones in cutting taxes (or at least some of them) because they are net gainers from the state rather than net losers.

It would be a mistake to see post-Brexit Britain solely through the eyes of those who voted Leave. The votes of the near 50 per cent who voted Remain should and do count for no less.

I cant help thinking that this is just as well for enthusiasts for Singapore-on-Thames, since support for lower taxes is likely to flourish among those who pay a relatively high proportion of them: in other words, voters in London and the South-East, with their many former Remain voters.

Am I suggesting that the vision of a future UK with better-off provinces, more manufacturing, more joined-up cities, better skills, higher producticity and lower immigration in short, levelling-up is an illusion?

No, but reform was always going to be a long slog (just as it would have been had the referendum gone the other way). Covid explains part of the Governments slow post-Brexit start; a lack of focus is responsible for some of the rest. The remainder is bound up with Britains inherent conservatism, small c.

The strength of the farming lobby in rural Conservative constituencies was always going to limit the sweep of free trade deals as will resistance to immigration if the prospect of more is thrown into the bargaining mix.

And while Leave voters outside the Greater South-East undoubtedly wanted the economic levelling up that Im trying to describe (as did Remain ones), the preoccupations of older and and poorer voters were as much cultural as economic with so many seeing themselves, their families and neighbourhoods as losers from globalisation.

Our proprietors polling found the second most prevalent reason for voting Leave was that it offered the best chance for the UK to regain control over immigration and its own borders.

The top reason he cited takes us to the heart of Brexit: why it happened and why it matters. It was the principle that decisions about the UK should be taken in the UK. This is so simple as to be in danger of being overlooked, as elite opinion of all kinds focuses on the economics. It shouldnt be.

In the last resort, voters who cast their ballots to leave were voting for Parliamentary self-government rather than the EU membership model. How can their votes possibly be read otherwise?

You may say that they didnt necessarily vote to leave the Single Market and the Customs Union. The counter-case is that continued Single Market membership would have rendered control of EU migration impossible and that continued Customs Union membership would have rendered new trade deals impossible.

Whether you agree with that view or not, its worth remembering that it wasnt just Brexiteers, or opponents of Theresa Mays deal, who sunk a different form of Brexit.

It may above all have been pro-Remain MPs, largely on the Labour side, who deliberately wrecked various iterations of a Norway option in order to pursue a second referendum. It is possible to believe that a logjammed Commons might have found a majority for Norway had anti-No Deal opinion in the Commons had swung behind it.

The second referendum lobby wanted everything thats to say, their confirmatory ballot and lost everything. Instead of a logjammed and exhausted Parliament eventually settling for one, they got Boris Johnson.

And the voters back him at the next election, we will get him again. If for whatever reason he has gone by then, and is replaced by, say, Liz Truss, we may get a Free Market Britain. If Keir Starmer becomes Prime Minister instead, we will get a socialist Britain. And quite right too, if voters so decide. What part of democracy is so hard to understand?

I opened with a mass of Brexit cant-dos or hard-to-does but end with a has-done: the decision to go it alone on vaccines. It would have been possible in theory had the UK stayed in the EU, but most unlikely in practice.

Some on the Right will cling to Brexit Britain as a kind of Singapore, and we came close in 2017 to it as a kind of Venezuala. The success of the vaccine rollout and Kate Binghams taskforce suggests a different future one no less elusive but better suited to the UK (assuming the Union holds).

There was a continuum between Nick Timothys small, smart and strategic state and Dominic Cummings fiercely illusionless Vote Leave vision, based on an eclectic mix of state intervention, science, markets and radical reform.

Cummings has gone, wont be coming back to the Conservative Party any time soon, and there is little to be gained by going back over how Boris Johnson mistakenly froze him out (and how Cummings then burnt, or rather lasered, his boats). All the same, the benefits of Binghams work endures.

And there are lessons in it for building resilience elsewhere in energy provision, supply chains, hospitals; in our institutions, procurement, skills base and border control. The work of Brexit is only just beginning.

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The point of Brexit - ConservativeHome

Lord David Frost stunned Westminster in December when he quit as chief Brexit negotiator, but his predecessor David Davis has revealed the real reason behind the move. Speaking to LBC's Camilla Tominey, Mr Davis complained that Britons had not seen enough benefits from Brexit yet. He urged Boris Johnson to "get more aggressive" and take advantage of the deregulation that Brexit offers.

Camilla Tominey asked: "What do you think about the fact we don't seem to have seen any Brexit dividend?

"We were meant to be emerging from the bloc as this global, competitive free-trade leader.

"But now our corporate tax is as high as France."

Mr Davis responded: "That is what triggered David Frost's resignation."

JUST IN:'Churchill is a killer!' Activists demands ex PM's statue 'torn down'

He continued: "Like me, he saw that there were opportunities to be had out of Brexit but you had to grasp them!

"There weren't just going to land in your lap."

Ms Tominey pressed: "Was he not been aggressive enough in grasping them?"

Mr Davis said: "I don't think the Government has generally.

This comes as Lord Frost used his first major interview since leaving the cabinet to warn Mr Johnson to commit to low taxes and the free market or risk losing the next election

The Tory peer told the Mail on Sunday: We need to get the country going economically again and that means free markets, free debate and low taxes.

People need to look at this country and think: yes, something is changing here. Youve got to set the direction of travel.

"If were going to get out of this little trough and win the election in a couple of years time, then weve got to develop that.

Senior members of the cabinet like Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, have also pressed Mr Johnson to scrap his plans for a rise in national insurance contributions this April.

The rest is here:

Tories urge Boris to 'more aggressively' use Brexit freedoms to turn UK into world-beater - Daily Express

Brexit Britain is set for a massive win as Sweden has based its international Office of Science and Innovation in the UK.

Sweden, which is in the EU, established its seventh international Office of Science and Innovation at its embassy in London last weekend.

According to their press statement, the Swedish Science Office will develop and strengthen collaboration between the UK and Sweden on issues linked to the Governments life sciences strategy, its export and investment strategy, the Research and Innovation Bill, and the Governments strategic partnership programmes.

Karl-Petter Thorwaldsson, Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation, said: The London Office is an important and strategic initiative for a country like Sweden where export and innovation issues are of vital importance.

Establishing the Office is an effective way to meet the objectives of Swedens life sciences strategy and is completely in line with efforts to help the Governments partnership programmes achieve an international impact.

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Truss sends Coveney reeling in talks demands EU back down on hated deal - Daily Express

Skipper James Chunky Chown makes the tricky task of boarding his trawler, the Ajax, at Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall, look easy.

The fisherman moves from the quay, descends 10 metres down an iron ladder over a widening gap of turquoise sea, and onto the boat in a single fluid motion.

When it comes to fishing, he tells i, everything is difficult now, due to the new post-Brexit rules the paperwork, the legislation, the endless bureaucracy. It takes time and it costs money.

It wasnt supposed to be this way. Polls suggested that 92 per cent of the UK fishing industry voted to leave the EU, amid promises that they would benefit from taking back control of British waters.

The new post Brexit fishing rules that came into force at the start of last year were described in July by the National Federation of Fishermens Organisations as a sell out. Today, the mood is sangfroid.

A year on from the new rules at Newlyn Englands busiest fishing port Chown says he is somewhat resigned to them. Still, he is clear Brexit has brought new pressures.

The first time we tried to land pollock in Roscoff, Brittany, we were told to go over to Brest [a port further South], apparently for no reason whatsoever, he says. The French seem to enjoy these new regulations.

We lost about 12,000 worth of fish that day, Chown adds. These days we dont land in France at all.

Fishing boats still operate traditionally. Crews go out to sea, catch fish, and land it where the market price is best. Different fish are worth more or less on any given day, at any given port.

For Chown, a fisherman who likes to catch a variety of fish and seasonally, being restricted to one market can be inefficient and constraining.

We were the first boat to land in France after Brexit, he says. Complications were immediately there. The French can be very militant. If they dont get their way, theyve been known to unload fish from lorries and pour diesel on them set them on fire.

Changing between pollock and hake is more sustainable but we cant do that now. We get a very good price for hake here, so were doing okay financially, but I think things need to change long-term. I want to catch pollock too. British people buying more fish would be good being less reliant on European trade.

Wed also like to see different ports open up. Why do we have to go through France? Id like to land straight into Santander (Spain). That would make life far easier.

Still today, 60-70 per cent of fish caught and landed in Britain heads to France, Spain, Italy, and beyond. There remains an urgency to trade with Europe, even if theres new-found ambivalence.

Fishing has never been plain sailing. Maybe the Brexit vote among those in the industry should be no surprise. For years, communities by the sea have felt disconnected and forgotten. But Government pledges have failed to transpire.

Paul Trebilcock, manager at the 300-year-old Cornish fishing company, Ocean Fish, says: Senior people from the Government came down here and made us promises. We had Michael Gove standing here on the harbour telling us we would have greater control of our seas, and a greater share of fish. Nothing has changed. Were pretty much in the same position as we were before. Maybe were a little worse off.

He says the Scottish industry has benefited from Brexit. The quota share for multi-million-pound trawlers catching fish like mackerel in the North Sea and north Atlantic has increased. But West Country boats were sold a dream.

Ahead of the EU Referendum, ministers championing the patriotic ideal of the UK becoming an independent coastal state like big fishing nations like Norway and Iceland one of the main selling points was reclaiming our seas. Today only waters up to six miles from land are reserved for UK fishing boats. Fishermen had been told this would be increased to 12 miles post-Brexit.

We have been massively short-changed and it does seem like boats down here have been hung out to dry, says Trebilcock. The increase in quota share for various species has been marginal. Theres also the issue of the 6-12 mile limit, which we were told would be ours, but that hasnt happened.

He says West Country fishermen want the Government to be braver. Trebilcock backs a tougher stance from the UK on pushing for a bigger share, even if it means the French retaliating and making trade even more difficult.

We want the Government to stand up for us, he says. Yes, the EU could respond (by raising taxes, for example) and we need avenues to trade. But they need us, too. British waters are full of beautiful fish. We should be the ones to catch them and to sell them.

Anthony Hendy, 30 years a fisherman, only goes out a day at a time from Newlyn making his situation different to larger boats like the Ajax, which can leave port for a week.

The first half of the year was really hard, he tells i. In the last six months, Ive made more money, because fish has been getting a good price at market I suppose demand shot up. But I do see the landscape changing here. The fleet has diminished, and its much harder to get a boat and go out to fish.

The six mile limit is a big problem for us because a lot of our fleet here is smaller boats which dont go out in terrible weather not usually anyway.

The Belgians and French go out in any conditions because they have huge trawlers subsidised by the Government and it makes no difference to them. Its hard being sat here seeing them coming up within six miles from the coast getting all the fish. That should be ours. Its not sustainable trawling the seas every day anyway.

When trade negotiations reopen in 2026, everyone is hoping for a fairer deal.

There was a lot of anger down here when promises werent kept, says Chris Ranford, the new CEO of the Cornish Fish Producers Organisation. Its no secret that fishermen supported Brexit for the most part because they were told their livelihoods would improve. Nothing has changed and wont for five years. But theres hope.

Theres a feeling of getting on with it now There are positives. We can find solutions and work towards 2026. I think everyone will push for the 12 mile limit to be imposed and quota share of certain species will be discussed. Hopefully the bigger boats get an easier ride too and can land in Europe and get a fair price for their bigger hauls.

The mood might have been morose 12 months ago. It isnt now. Discontent is here, but the fishermen of Newlyn carry on, dropping their nets in the hope of catching Cornish fish.

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A year since Brexit, fishermen in Cornwall say they were sold a dream - iNews

Britains manufacturers have suffered a drop in export demand amid pressure from Covid and Brexit, according to fresh data that shows supply chain disruption and staff shortages held back the economy in December.

The latest snapshot from IHS Markit and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (Cips) showed growth in UK factory output was limited last month by Covid restrictions and Brexit weighing on orders and pushing up costs.

According to the survey of 650 manufacturers, which is tracked by the government and the Bank of England for early warning signs from the economy, inflows of new work from overseas dropped for the fourth month in a row.

While firms reported continued growth at the end of last year and a slight easing of supply chain delays, manufacturers said logistics issues, Brexit difficulties and the possibility of further pandemic restrictions at home and overseas had damaged export demand at the end of the year.

New trade restrictions since leaving the EU and the impact of the pandemic mean that Britains exporters are on track to be the slowest among big European economies to recover from Covid-19, according to research by Euler Hermes.

The Paris-based trade credit insurer forecasts UK exports will not recover to pre-pandemic levels until 2023, leaving the UK lagging European counterparts, with data expected to show that Germany and Italy have already recovered in 2021 and other nations will do in 2022.

The forecast comes despite a rise in demand for manufactured goods across advanced economies as consumers turn to purchasing physical products while pandemic restrictions limit appetite for services.

Ana Boata, the head of economic research at Euler Hermes, said: Our forecasts show that Brexiting in times of Covid-19 has hindered exporters capacity to benefit from the strong upswing in demand that lockdown has presented.

She said fresh post-Brexit border controls on UK imports at the start of 2022 would bring further disruption, while the Omicron coronavirus variant would add to severe uncertainty facing firms.

British exporters have been tasked with sailing increasingly perilous trade waters in recent years another 12 months of headwinds could be enough to sink many, she added.

According to the latest snapshot from IHS Markit/Cips, UK-based firms suffered from rising costs for freight, shipping and air transportation amid supply chain disruption.

However, firms also recorded further growth of production, new orders and employment at the end of 2021. Hiring increased for the 12th successive month in a row in December, as firms battled to meet improved demand, rising backlogs of work and efforts to address staff shortages.

The IHS Markit/Cips manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) rose to 57.9 in December, little changed from a three-month high of 58.1 in November. A mark above 50 signifies growth as opposed to contraction.

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Inflationary pressures remained high, and companies reported a sharp increase in costs for chemicals, electronics, energy, food products, metals, timber and wood.

Although firms were optimistic that disruption linked to Covid and Brexit should gradually fade over the course of 2022, experts warned headwinds for UK factory output and exports remained.

Dave Atkinson, a regional director at Lloyds Bank, said: There are tentative signs as the pace of output growth builds that some supply chain pressures, which have dragged on the sector for months, are starting to ease. But manufacturers expect supply headaches to persist throughout 2022, with chip shortages in particular likely to be prevalent even into next year.

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Brexit and Covid hit demand for exports from UK factories - The Guardian

Lord Frost gives update on UKs participation in Horizon Europe

It's a drop in the ocean compared to the bloc's 80bn arsenal of funds, but experts have told Express.co.uk that they are "relieved" to see the UK get the ball rolling on overseas collaborations. It comes after Britain was excluded from the EUs key research and innovation project, Horizon Europe, and was told it cannot re-join until Brexit disputes are resolved. This tough stance was taken even though the UKs participation was a feature of the EUUK Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson had also promised that Britain would be included in the project.

Britain was supposed to contribute 15billion over seven years so scientists could access that funding and collaborate with partners in the bloc.

With the delays hurting British experts minute by minute, Science Minister George Freeman reassured that he was drafting up a bold Plan B as a backup.

There have been fears that if the new Brexit Minister, Liz Truss, fails to strike a deal with the EU over the Northern Ireland protocol and fishing licenses, then Horizon Europe could be permanently off the cards.

But now, Mr Freeman appears to have started rolling out the red carpet for UK scientists.

12 projects have been funded by a 17million investment from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Each brings together some of the worlds leading research groups, both in Britain and internationally.

They will use the funding for cutting-edge research and are looking to make important moves in technological and engineering spaces.

Prof Philip Withers from the University of Manchester is leading the Manufacturing by design project, which has partnered up with the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in France.

The project received 1.6million from the EPSRC.

He told Express.co.uk: The European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) has just undergone a 150million upgrade to make it probably the most advanced X-ray facility in the world.

By having a team located in Grenoble and partnering directly with the ESRF, we will be able to undertake some of the most advanced experiments to understand manufacturing processed and the behaviour of manufactured components ever undertaken.

READ MORE:Russian rocket part makes uncontrolled re-entry into Earth

Prof Withers and his team were relieved to receive the much-needed funding.

He said: It was a relief because it is increasingly difficult to take people and equipment to the ESRF to do experiments.

This will mean we have a permanent on-site presence there and we can do some really challenging first of a kind experiments in support of the UK industry.

Prof Withers said of the partnership with France: It is a fantastic example of working together across Europe."

He added: Our project will help UK manufacturers by providing unique insights into their products and their processes.

The Internet of Energy (IoE) is being led by Prof Rajiv Ranjan from Newcastle University and Prof Omer Rana from Cardiff University.

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Their project was handed 1.5million in EPSRC funding and involves a partnership with Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia.

Prof Ranjan told Express.co.uk: This funding will allow us to bring the best brains and the best companies and the best in the industry together to solve this very critical problem the UK society and UK economy is facing.

The IoE project will use sophisticated technology to develop approaches needed to make electric vehicles and their related infrastructure cyber secure, as well as process data on energy consumption and generation.

The professors said they were very excited to receive the funding, and stressed the importance of international collaborations.

Prof Ranja told Express.co.uk: It is a good approach to look for partners outside of the EU, not to just restrict ourselves to European partners.

I believe after working with Australia and other places that they [the EU] are missing a research culture or research excellence, they dont really inform top scientific publication or top scientific fact the way other countries like the US, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Prof Rana believes "we have to look beyond Europe".

He explained: But it should be Europe plus international, we need to work with the best teams around the world.

The 12 projects include three quantum science and technology projects that build on the UKs 1billion public and private investment in this field as part of the National Quantum Technologies Programme.

This includes a 650million investment through UKRI.

But experts have warned that this won't be enough yet to replace Horizon Europe.

One of those projects is being led by Professor Gerald Buller, Heriot-Watt University.

His Ultrafast Single-photon detection for Quantum Applications (USQA) project was handed 1.3million in funding from the EPSRC.

The project will link three centres of excellence in quantum photonics, two of which are in the US.

Prof Butler told Express.co.uk: Its always a relief to get research funding. I see this funding as separate from Horizon Europe, given that this is a fully UK/US collaboration.

This is one of the very few funding mechanisms available that would allow substantial long-term support of US UK collaborations.

He said that the new funding will help strengthen the UKs ties with the US as a collaborator in the field of research and innovation.

Prof Butler added: The funding means a much stronger, long-term collaboration with our US partners at the Jet Propulsion Lab and Caltech.

Although we already have a good relationship with our partners, a five-year project allows for longer-term planning of much more ambitious goals.

Prof Butler said that this collaboration will let Britain access state-of-the-art single-photon detectors that are not available elsewhere.

He said that this will inevitably lead to major advances in some quantum technology applications such as quantum communications and quantum-enhanced imaging.

When asked why quantum photonics is an important area for the UK to explore, Prof Butler responded: Quantum photonics includes a range of application areas that will ultimately affect everyday lives.

For example, the use of the detectors developed in this project can help implement a global distribution network of encryption keys that are verifiably secure by the laws of quantum physics.

There is a range of quantum sensing applications also which can help improved medical diagnosis and treatment.

"These are just some of the possible applications areas that span sectors such as telecommunications, aerospace, defence and medicine.

"UK industry already has good engagement with the national academic community to exploit some of these quantum technology advances as they progress..

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It's a relief' UK scientists handed 17m lifeline as EU threatens to BAN them over Brexit - Daily Express

Since the UK departed from the EU in January 2021 with Brexit, Britain is no longer part of the EU's Erasmus scheme. But the Government announced the Turing scheme which will provide funding for an estimated 40,000 students across universities, colleges and schools.

It allows students to participate in placements around the world.

The scheme has been extended by the Government for a further three years with a budget of 110m for 2022/23.

It provides placements for British students across 159 destinations, including Canada, Japan, Australia and the United States.

Nexit campaigners in the Netherlands hailed the scheme, accusing Remainers of scaremongering when they warned the UK would lose out outside the Erasmus programme.

They said: "Erasmus is the EU program that offers students the opportunity to study in other EU countries.

"It was feared that the British would no longer be able to do this after Brexit.

"The UK now has its own student programme (Turing) that is cheaper and more global.

"It was scaremongering again."

Wider-reaching than the placements on the Erasmus scheme, it has been hailed to be cheaper than the EU's scheme.

READ MORE:Sturgeon compared to Hirohito in attack on Scottish lockdown

The Scottish government claimed this is because of Britain pulling out of the Erasmus Plus exchange programme.

In May last year, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: "It is baffling, and, to be frank, an act of cultural vandalism, that the UK Government has chosen not to participate in the Erasmus+ programme, something it could have continued to do despite Brexit."

She added: "The Brexit vote and the decision by the UK Government to pursue a hard Brexit has prompted renewed debate in Scotland about our constitutional future.

"The Scottish Governments position is that the people of Scotland have the right to decide whether they wish to become an independent country."

Nexit Denktank campaigners added: "The Scots, generally more pro-EU than the rest of the UK, wanted to continue participating in Erasmus.

"The EU refused: 'There will be no special treatment for Scotland as the UK is now a country outside the EU'."

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'Cheaper and more global' Brexit Britain hailed as new scheme trounces EU's Erasmus - Express

This March marks 65 years since the signing of the Treaty of Rome, a visionary document that brought six European nations still recovering from the ravages of war into a project to forge peace and prosperity across the continent.

That is a grand anniversary: most people reaching 65 are looking at retirement. But the age of the European Unions founding document has not withered the threats to the bloc, and 2022 will see an array of challenges that could shatter the unity of the clubs 27 countries.

These could include a shock, far-right election win in France; a new, more deadly coronavirus variant; a joint Polish and Hungarian blockade of EU decision-making; and a Russian military assault on Ukraine. While each are unlikely, none are improbable, and even one of them could paralyse the EU, sending it into a tailspin.

The EUs democratic challenges will be critical: as a union, the bloc relies on the integrity of each of its member states and elections always raise the prospect however rare that an anti-democratic candidate wins.

2022 will be another tumultuous year for democracy, says Michael Meyer-Resende, the executive director of the Berlin-based NGO Democracy Reporting International. Many important elections in 2022 will be more like referenda on democracy rather than offering voters choices of different democratic currents.

The most important is in France where President Emmanuel Macron is seeking re-election in the presidential vote in April, before the country decides on a new parliament come June. Frances fragmented political landscape means that a far-right candidate has a good chance to reach the run-off second round in the presidential vote, as Marine Le Pen did in 2017.

Ms Le Pen, who leads the National Rally party had long looked set to repeat her 2017 feat, at least until another extreme-right figure emerged, TV pundit-turned-politician Eric Zemmour. Both are nationalists flirting with racism, with little regard for traditional democratic values, let alone supranational organisations like the EU: they talk about removing France from the blocs strictures.

If Le Pen or God help us, Zemmour wins, then the EU is plunged into crisis. That is the nightmare scenario, says John Springford, the deputy director of the Centre for European Reform (CER) in London.

But another European election looms, with critical consequences for democracy: Hungary. Viktor Orbn has been dragging the country towards hard-right authoritarianism since returning for a second stint as prime minister in 2010.

If Orbn wins again, then he will be emboldened to continuing suppressing dissent, Mr Springford says. If he loses, champagne corks will pop in Brussels, as it shows pro-European forces can win although it will not mean that populism is gone.

Another victory by Mr Orbn would also cheer the EUs other would-be dictators, mainly eastern European. Along with Hungary, Poland has faced regular reprimands from Brussels for eroding democratic institutions, to little effect. The EU finally has a tool to use against them, a rule of law mechanism to hold back billions of euros of funding from countries that fail to uphold the EUs values. But this is an extreme option, and officials fear that if it is activated, it could trigger a crisis within the EU: Budapest and Warsaw could retaliate by blocking decision-making inside the bloc.

Further east, the EU faces threats from an increasingly belligerent Russia, which has amassed troops along its border with Ukraine, and this week sent military support to neighbouring Kazakhstans embattled leaders to crush street unrest. Russian President Vladimir Putin, who reveres the old Soviet concept of a near abroad, has also menaced bordering EU countries Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania but even an incursion into Ukraine would split the bloc, and undermine its aspirations as a global political player.

Meanwhile, the Covid-19 pandemic is still upending life two years after first emerging, and the shadow of the Omicron variant will continue to throw the EUs plans into uncertainty. The EU needs to find a balance between keeping people safe and protecting the economy a tension that erupted this week when Mr Macron said he wanted to piss off Frances unvaccinated people. With inflation slowly creeping up, this will spill into the EUs plans to reform budget rules and channel investment into the green economy.

All these events and trends make for a potentially perilous 2022 for the EU. But the bloc has faced other major crises in the past decade, from Brexit to euro strains and refugee influxes, and weathered them. Officials are cautiously optimistic that they can dodge the worst-case scenarios and rebuild. Indeed, if everything goes right, the EU can emerge stronger than ever.

Re-election for Mr Macron (or even his centre-right opponent, Valrie Pcresse) would set the scene for a renewed Franco-German motor with new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In Hungary, Mr Orbns opponents have united behind a single candidate and have a good chance to oust him: his defeat would transform Budapest as well as the EU. Mr Putin is sensing pushback from its former Soviet allies while his threats have galvanised the EU to fortify defence ties. Authorities are getting better at dealing with new Covid-19 waves and variants.

Finally, Brexit, which was a body blow in 2016, is no longer an existential issue for the EU: the UK has left the bloc, and no-one seems minded to follow them out the door. The EU has moved on from Brexit, says Paul Adamson, the chairman of the EU-UK Forum and visiting professor at Kings College London. People see whats happened to Britain since it left. They see how undesirable and messy leaving the EU is.

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EU hopes to emerge stronger than ever after undesirable Brexit as it battles Russia, Covid and the far-r - iNews