Category Archives: Brexit

TheConservative MP for Great Grimsby told Express.co.uk there will be red lines regarding UK fisheries during negotiations over a post-Brexit trade agreement. Ms Nici added the UKwants to be able to decide who can and cannot fish in British waters.

Ms Nici said: "We do have red lines with our fisheries and coming from the Great Grimsby constituency that is absolutely vital for us.

"We want our quotas back, we want to be able to decide where our quotas go and who may or may not fish in our waters.

"I am sure there are ways and means of doing that which will work for everyone."

She continued: "The fact of the matter is we have less quota from our own UK owned fisheries than they do in EU owned fishing vessels.

READ MORE:Brexit bombshell: Chance of no deal 'higher than ever'

"We need to address that balance.

"We have been working on the common fisheries policy which was set up in the 1970s.

"We need to make sure we are getting that rebalance so we can rebuild our own fishing industry in our own waters."

During the same interview with Express.co.uk Ms Lici told Michel Barnierto "wind his neck in" and get on with sensible negotiations over a post-Brexit trade deal.

TheConservative MP stated thatMr Barnier is full of bluster and threats regarding Britain's fishing waters.

Ms Nici also warned the EU's chief Brexit negotiator that the UK holds the cards during the trade talks.

The Conservative MP said: "Mr Barnier is full of bluster and threats.

"We have the cards, we are a sovereign nation and we have our fishing waters.

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"At this point the EU fishing vessels are able to fish in our waters but that doesnt have to continue if we cant get on with a sensible deal.

"In my Grimsby words, Mr Barnier needs to wind his neck in and get on with some sensible negotiations."

In June 2016 the UK voted to leave the European Union. The UK officially left the European Union at the end of January this year.

Britain is currently in a transition period until the end of 2020 with the EU while the government negotiates a free trade deal with the bloc.

The transition will come to an end at the end of 2020. Boris Johnson has ruled out extending the transition period, despite the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

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Brexit warning: Conservative MP outlines red lines for UK fishing industry in EU talks - Express

Issued on: 18/06/2020 - 15:49Modified: 18/06/2020 - 15:49

As Europe focuses on reopening its economies after the peak of the Covid-19 crisis, there are other dark clouds on the horizon as the UK and the EU look ever more divergent over the type of relationship they want in future. We speak to the prime minister of the EU's wealthiest member state, Luxembourg. Xavier Bettel tells FRANCE 24 he sees the British government as going back on agreements it put into the Political Declaration, which was meant to form a basis for the final deal.

Bettel also explains why he believes that when it comes to coronavirus,"we haven't won the fight yet, but we've won the first round".

Meanwhile, on the proposed 750 billion EU Recovery Plan, the Luxembourgish prime minister explains why he believes the proposal is "balanced".

Produced by Isabelle Romero, Mathilde Bnzet, and Perrine Desplats

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Talking Europe - Luxembourg's PM on Brexit talks: 'Boris Johnson is disagreeing with his own position' - FRANCE 24

In a mass show of support for British farming and food production, over one million people have signed NFUs petition urging the Government to secure future trade deals in favour of the countrys growers and producers.

The petition comes as Government failed to secure a deal with the European Union that would uphold the standards of British farming and food production. Currently, deals look likely to lead to an increase in low-quality food imports that would be deemed illegal to produce in the UK.

In just two weeks, NFU amassed an overwhelming amount of support for its petition. Whats more, 78,000 people have written to their MP also urging them to support the introduction of a Trade, Food and Farming Standards Commission to review trade policy and create solutions that would hold all imported foods to the UKs high standards.

NFU President Minette Batters said: It has been overwhelming to see this volume of support. The fact that more than one million people have signed a petition urging the government to put into law rules that prevent food being imported to the UK which is produced in ways that would be illegal here is a clear signal of how passionate the British public feel about this issue.

It is now clear that it is simply not credible for the Government to continue to just pay lip service to this issue, when there is such public support for action. They must now give guarantees to the British people that they have listened to their concerns and will make firm commitments to address them.

Trade policy is complicated, but what the public is telling us is quite simple: they care deeply about their food, where it comes from and how it is produced.

They do not want to see chlorinated chicken or hormone-fed beef on their supermarket shelves, nor do they want to see food imported which has been produced in lower welfare or environmental systems than is legally allowed in this country. Farmers, animal welfare groups, environmentalists and now the public have made their voices clear.

There is a simple solution that we are presenting: the introduction of a Trade, Food and Farming Standards Commission. This would be an independent body that can review trade policy and ensure all of our food imports are held to the same standards expected of British farmers.

Given the clear commitments in the Conservative Party manifesto that they will not compromise British farmings high standards, is it not a logical next step to put in place a panel of experts that can carry out that direction?

These are decisions that will leave a legacy for decades and generations to come. It is so important that we get this right. Access to safe, traceable, affordable and nutritious food produced to the highest standards should be a right for all. We must not throw that away in the pursuit of free trade.

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Farmers and producers receive overwhelming support from British public ahead of Brexit | News - Speciality Food

Brexit negotiations have not been materially influenced by Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland and any consultation by Westminster has served only as window dressing, devolved leaders have claimed.

In a scathing attack, Europe minister Jenny Gilruth said there had been no meaningful input from the devolved administrations in talks, and on fisheries she claimed Whitehall had ruled out keeping the Scottish Government in the loop.

The comments come just days after the UK Government rejected calls from the Scottish and Welsh first ministers to extend the Brexit transition period.

Nicola Sturgeon and Mark Drakeford argued in a letter to Boris Johnson that a delay was needed in order to support businesses through their recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

But Michael Gove confirmed there would be no extension beyond December 31.

Ms Gilruth, appearing at an Institute for Government event, said an extension would give business time to plan.

Well do the best we can, but we are being hampered by not knowing what we need to implement because its still being negotiated, and its being negotiated at ridiculously tight timescales.

She added: I think, from a Scottish perspective, it should be said that we have paused our work on independence to focus on the coronavirus crisis; its really deeply regrettable that the UK Government has not paused their work on Brexit to focus on saving lives.

The minister said that the Scottish Government wanted to reboot the way cross-governmental discussions were held.

Were asking for a reboot in the way the UK Government involves the devolved governments in the Brexit process; were not looking for read-outs, we need to have more of a proactive and meaningful discussion, she said.

Our view is that engagement between the UK Government and the devolved governments has often only served as window dressing rather than playing any meaningful role.

Citing fisheries specifically, she said: We tried to get movement on fisheries and requested that our officials were in the room, that has been ruled out.

Its really worrying that these talks are now going to go into detail without us being in the room on that matter.

Welsh Europe minister Jeremy Miles, appearing before the same panel, said: The promise was that once we got beyond the withdrawal agreement, that we would be in the sunlit uplands of closer engagement.

If anything, engagement has become worse and certainly worse jobs under the Johnson government than under the May government.

However this negotiation turns out, for good or ill, it will have been the UK Governments negotiation, theres no sense in which it has been materially influenced by the devolved governments.

The UK Government was contacted for comment.

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Westminster's actions mean devolved governments have had 'no meaningful input' in Brexit trade talks - Press and Journal

The Prime Ministers attempts to show his understanding of Aussies and New Zealanders fell flat this week as have his attempts for post-Brexit trade

While campaigning to become leader of the Conservative Party last year, Boris Johnson made a fascinating and telling remark in an interview with the Spectator that was largely missed at the time.

Brexit, he said, had been informed byloads of people in parts of Oppidan Britain [having] a sense that their lives and their futures werent important.

Before you start reaching for Google, let me explain.

At Eton, Johnson was a Kings Scholar one of the 70 boys who make up the elite within the elite of the most gifted and thus entitled pupils in arguably the most exclusive private school on Earth. Kings Scholars call other boys Oppidans from the Latin word oppidum meaning townie. At other public schools, that derogatory term is used to refer to the local people who dont attend the institution. At Eton, it is used by the academic crme de la crme to describe those who they deem to be intellectually if not socially inferior.

Now of course when Johnson used the word he was not referring to Old Etonian Brexiters. He was using Oppidan in its broader sense to suggest that the Conservative Party had to reach out to the working people of Britain who had voted to leave the European Union. His use of the term is telling because it suggests that our Prime Minister views this 52% and perhaps all of us as little more than townies.

This week, the Prime Minister addressed us Oppidans directly in two films that set out the Governments plans for free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.

It was classic Johnson. The nation may have lost 42,000 lives to COVID-19 according to the Governments figures and be facing down the real possibility of a catastrophic no deal Brexit. But there is always time for frivolity.

The first broadcast kicked off with Johnson waving a packet of Aussie Tim Tam biscuits while helpfully informing us that we already trade with Australia and even drink their wine. The address was light on detail and big on absurdity. The humorous contempt in which public schoolboys hold townies is as nothing compared to that which they reserve for Antipodeans.

The Prime Minister is an unserious man at the best of times, but in his hands this deal was reduced to a series of crude tropes and caricatures. His reference points conjured up images of a Crocodile Dundee Australia, dotted with lovable idiots in dangly cork hats, drinking VB and tossing shrimps on barbies.

Then he turned to New Zealand and things got even worse. Its exports to the UK included orcs and hobbits and Oyster Bay wine, he said, before claiming that there is so much more that we could do together.

No mention of any detail was made in either video and there was a reason for that.

The Tim Tams and the Orcs were for domestic consumption a desperate attempt to divert from two deals that have all the substance of a packet of fairy cakes.

The Brexiters always claimed that we would only be able to trade with the rest of the world and reconnect with the Commonwealth if we broke free from the clutches of the EU, but it was a lie.

Since 2018, the EU has been negotiating FTAs with both New Zealand and Australia and talks are fairly advanced. By quitting the EU, the UK has removed itself from those negotiations to begin again from a weaker position, further back in the queue.

That presents a massive headache for New Zealand and Australia. Both nations want to prioritise a deal with the much larger EU but now have to go through the unnecessary rigmarole of more negotiations, simply to satisfy Britains imperial vanity.

Johnsons patronising tone and Tim Tam waving wont have helped matters. Twitter users in Australasia, including the veteran New Zealand actor Sam Neill, took offence at the British Prime Ministers condescending tone which seemed to sum up all the very worst excesses of British colonial arrogance.

The Brexit Conservatives are desperate. Desperate for good news and desperate to sell the line that a deal with our old Commonwealth friends is a replacement for our relationship with the EU. Unfortunately, the numbers simply dont add up. However it is spun, there is no equivalence to be made.

Total UK exports to the EU are worth 297 billion a year. Total UK exports to Australia and New Zealand are worth just 6.5 billion. The UK does 10 times more trade with Ireland than it does with New Zealand. And, while all trade is to be welcomed, FTAs dont always benefit both parties equally. In the case of New Zealand, the UK probably wont benefit economically at all. A Government commissioned strategic outline has suggested that, while benefitting the Kiwis, a UK-NZ FTA will have close to zero effect on British GDP and might even make it shrink.

A deal with Australia would fare slightly better, perhaps adding as much as 900 million to the UK economy, in a best-case scenario. That sounds great until one works out that this is an increase of just 0.03% in GDP roughly akin to the turnover of Harrods department store in Knightsbridge.

There is anyway little appetite for increased trade with the UK in either Australia or New Zealand. Both nations now see their destiny in trade with east Asian nations and the EU FTA promises to open up a far larger market than anything the UK can offer. The Ladybird libertarians who set out the case for Brexit were so busy staring at their navels and dreaming of Cecil Rhodes statues that they forgot to ask the members of the Commonwealth if they were on board with the whole Empire 2.0 plan. And they clearly are not.

Brexit was always based on shoddy economics and sold by a wealthy elite to people who didnt understand numbers. None of it or any of these deals are rooted in logic or even common sense. But, as Boris Johnson flies about the world in his Brexit jet surveying the Oppidans beneath him, one has to wonder if he really gives a f*ck. Hes head boy now and thats all that matters.

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Johnson & Brexit Patronising Etonian Alienates the World Byline Times - Byline Times

I NOTE the concerns of Michael Knox (Craven Herald Letters, June 11) - about our economy after the end of the Brexit transition period, but I must challenge him on his impartiality over us leaving the EU.

He places great emphasis on the findings of reports from 'Best for Britain' and the 'Social Market Foundation' about the impact on trade post Brexit. Yet he should make clear that Best for Britain is a campaign group that was against Brexit, it's chaired by a former Labour minister and was co-founded by Gina Miller.

The Social Market Foundation, a 'think tank' is supposed to be entirely independent, but is chaired by someone with close links to the Guardian and Observer, prominent opponents of Brexit and aligned to the Liberal Democrats.

I agree, as I'm sure we all do, that forging a way forward as an independent state, in trade especially, has been made more difficult on the back of a pandemic, but business needs 'certainty' more than ever, to recover the economy, as agreed by the CBI; extending the transition period any further will make matters so much worse.

Moreover, we will need every penny of public money we can muster to prevent the collapse of our economy. For instance, we shouldn't be paying any more 'fees' to the EU, and still bound by its rules eg. on state aid, which has been, and will continue to be, vital for pandemic recovery.

Of course a fair trade deal, like Canada's, that recognises our competitive independence, would be ideal, but the EU seems determined not to allow a new 'sovereign state' to prosper.

We are slowly, but securely and safely, overcoming the coronavirus crisis and many economists predict that we may well 'bounce back' with new energy, innovation and job creation. Let's not let that 'rehabilitation' be compromised by any further unnecessary political interference from the EU.

D. Brooks

Embsay.

Excerpt from:

Letter: Let's not let post Brexit 'rehabilitation' be compromised by any further unnecessary political interference from the EU. - Craven Herald

Pound to US Dollar (GBP/USD) Exchange Rate Hit by Coronavirus, BoE, Brexit

The Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate is on track to end this week lower. It comes as a variety of factors weigh on the Pound (GBP). Meanwhile, the US Dollar (USD) finds support in global coronavirus concerns.

After opening this week at the interbank level of 1.25, GBP/USD trended higher for a few days. Since yesterday though, GBP/USD has come under fresh pressure.

GBP/USD shed over a cent yesterday alone, tumbling to the interbank level of 1.24. This was the lowest level for the pair since the beginning of the month.

At the time of writing on Friday, GBP/USD continues to trend in the 1.24 region.

This morning saw the publication of Britains May retail sales results. The data showed a bigger than expected rebound in activity. Retail sales jumped 12% in May following the 18% contraction in April.

Analysts noted that this optimistic monthly reading still contrasted with a gloomy 13.1% yearly-reading. This figure was also much better than forecast, however.

Other factors continue to weigh on Sterling (GBP) too.

The Pound was hit yesterday, by news that the Bank of England (BoE) was hesitant to do whatever it takes to support Britains economy. The bank has also still not ruled out negative interest rates.

The US Dollar (USD) seems on track to register gains this week. Fears of a potential second wave of coronavirus infections are rising, and investors are looking for safer assets as a result.

The US Dollar is traditionally a safe haven currency. While its appeal has been softened by concerns over how the US economy will be impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, it is still benefitting from safe haven demand today.

There has been a rise in infections in major economies this week.

According to Analysts from Commerzbank:

Even if we do not see a second wave, a renewed rise in infection numbers illustrates that things are not going to return to normal for a long time

The bad news just keeps stacking up on the Pound (GBP) lately. As a result, its unlikely that the British currency will find much ground next week unless upcoming UK data is highly impressive.

Britains June PMI projections will be published on Tuesday. If the data beatsforecastsit could bolster hopes that Britains economy is rebounding from the coronavirus pandemic.

However, due to criticism over the government and Bank of Englands (BoE) handlings of the pandemic, Sterling could remain weak even if data impresses.

On the other hand, weak UK PMI data could knock Sterling down even lower.

The US economic outlook remains filled with coronavirus concerns as well.

However, if global second wave fears continue to worsen, investors may be more and more eager to buy safe havens.

US PMI data and growth results due next week could also influence the Pound to US Dollar (GBP/USD) exchange rate.

Read more:

Bank of England and Brexit Weigh on Pound Sterling to US Dollar (GBP/USD) - TorFX News

There will no extension of the Brexit transition period beyond December 31, 2020, meaning that the European Union and the UK will have to strike a deal in just six months to avoid Britain crashing out of the bloc without one.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed on Monday not to extend the transition, which currently preserves much of the UK-EU relationship from before the UK left in January.

This despite the fact that talks have all but stalled between Europe and the UK, both due to failure to agree on key issues - such as fisheries - and the coronavirus pandemic, which has paralysed the UK and Europe since continent-wide lockdown began in March.

Under the agreement of the deal, the UK had until June to extend the transition period. But in a joint statement yesterday, Britain and the EU confirmed that the UK had declined to do so.

The EU and UK supported plans "to intensify the talks in July and to create the most conducive conditions for concluding and ratifying a deal before the end of 2020," leaders said in a statement.

"This should include, if possible, finding an early understanding on the principles underlying any agreement."

Johnson, speaking to the media after the meeting, said that the UK and the EU were not too far apart but also called for an acceleration in the negotiations.

He said he believed a deal could be agreed in July, adding that he didn't want talks to go on until autumn or winter.

Many politicians and business leaders in the UK and Europe have called for the negotiations to be prolonged, especially in the light of the coronavirus pandemic.

New research revealed that more than half of the nearly 2,000 British people surveyed by pollster Ipsos MORI said the UK should request an extension to the transition period so the government could focus on COVID-19.

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, regretting the deadlocked state of talks, has repeatedly accused the UK of failing to respect commitments made in the divorce deal.

The EU has insisted that the UK must respect the "level playing field" in future competition and that an agreement on fishing must form part of an overall deal. The EU wants to see rights to fish in UK waters retained under the deal, something the UK rejects.

Rejecting accusations that the EU is being intransigent, Barnier said last week that his mandate from the EU27 countries was "sufficiently flexible to find compromises" with the UK.

Sam Lowe, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform think tank, said ahead of the talks on Friday that while "the route towards an agreeable compromise exists", neither side is likely "to commit to finding it until later in the year, when the economic, and political, consequences of the alternative become significantly more tangible."

Georgina Wright, a senior researcher at the Institute for Government, also said that a deal is possible but is unlikely to be reached anytime soon.

"[The] UK wants a deal by the summer (to allow businesses time to prepare), EU can afford to go until 31 October. Both options look ambitious at the moment, she wrote.

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Brexit: UK and EU agree not to extend transition period beyond December 2020 - Euronews

The U.K. reiterated Friday, two weeks before the expiration of a deadline upon which it had to make its intentions clear, that it would not seek an extension of the current extension period that binds the country to the European Union until Dec. 31.

We have informed the EU today that we will not extend the transition period, U.K. Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove tweeted. The moment for extension has now passed.

The government separately said that it would delay implementing full-scale border controls for goods entering Great Britain from Europe, originally scheduled to start Jan. 1, until July. Controls will instead be gradually introduced in three phases in January, April and July to take into account the pressures on businesses triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The U.K.s final decision not to request an extension is in line with the consistent position of the prime minister, Boris Johnson, who had Parliament translate his electoral promise into law last year after the December general election.

The U.K. legally left the EU on Jan. 31 but has been since then in a transition period with the same rights and obligations of any member state save for a presence in institutions where decisions are being made.

Before Goves announcement, the Welsh and Scottish first ministers had written to Johnson demanding an extension, which the European Union has said it is open to.

Opinion: No-deal Brexit raises its ugly head again

The EU and U.K. are currently negotiating a treaty on their future relationship, with talks seemingly at a dead end. Major disagreements persist on future access to the U.K.s fishing waters and on the level playing field requested by EU negotiators in areas such as state aid, competition law, and labor and environmental regulations.

The U.K. separately began negotiating a free-trade agreement with the U.S. on May 5.

Chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier wrote in May to indicate that the European Union was open to extending negotiations, but said on Twitter on Friday that the commission took note of U.K.s decision not to extend.

To give every chance to the negotiations, we agreed to intensify talks in the next weeks and months, he added.

Read:Pound slips as lead U.K. negotiator says little progress made in Brexit talks

Fridays announcement increases the likelihood of the transition period ending with a no-deal Brexit, meaning an exit from the European Union without an agreement in place.

By ruling out any extension decision now, the U.K. is basically saying that transition ends this year, Michael Dougan, professor of European law at the University of Liverpool, told MarketWatch.

The chances of reaching a meaningful deal, ready to enter into force by 1 January 2021, appear very slim, i.e. given the fundamental differences between the EU and U.K. positions and bearing in mind the unprecedented nature of the task at hand as well as the time scale available, he said.

Johnson is expected to meet European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and other EU leaders on Monday to discuss the disagreements and try to jump-start Brexit talks.

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Its official: U.K. wont require an extension of Brexit talks, even as negotiations with EU hit gridlock - MarketWatch

Brexit has squeezed the political middle ground in Northern Ireland and pushed more people into their unionist and nationalist trenches.

A post-Brexit opinion poll has found that those in the region deeming themselves neither unionist or nationalist has fallen to 39%. The Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey revealed that this figure was the lowest in 15 years. As late as 2017, 50% surveyed said they were neither.

The poll of 1,200 people taken from September 2019 to February this year also reveals that more Catholics now describe themselves as nationalist since Brexit. Just under 60% of Catholics in Northern Ireland now categorise themselves as nationalist compared with 50% two years ago.

At the same time, the researchers from Queens University Belfasts Ark project found 67% of Protestants now classified themselves as unionist compared with 55% in 2018.

The Brexit effect however has not created any real sense of existential threat to the union among unionists, according to the NILT.

Among unionists, 62% think a united Ireland is unlikely within the next 20 years. Significantly, 37% of nationalists also think there will not be Irish unity within the next two decades.

The report concludes: we are seeing a retrenchment of identity positions in relation to traditional political allegiances.

Brexit has not dramatically affected unionists thinking, even among those who were pro-EU in the 2016 referendum. While there was a slight increase of 7% among unionists who said dont know to the prospect of a united Ireland, Brexit made no difference to the overwhelming majority of those in favour of remaining British.

Yet all three political categories unionist, nationalist and neither appear to continue to support the devolved institutions at Stormont.

Just under 70% of the population still support the Good Friday agreement and power-sharing government. The poll showed that 35% were happy with the agreement and did not want it changed; 33% were positive about the peace accord but wanted minor changes.

The authors of the report found this robust backing for devolution surprising given that for three years the local assembly was deadlocked with the main parties, Sinn Fin and the Democratic Unionists, unable to form a government.

Despite widespread cross-community anger over the three years of deadlock at Stormont, only 10% of those surveyed said they would like to see the UK parliament in London make all the decisions for Northern Ireland.

Among the overall population, only 30% said a united Ireland was likely within the next 20 years, while 46% said Irish unity was unlikely in the same time frame.

Dr Paula Devine, the co-director of Ark from the school of social sciences, education and social work at Queens, said: From this data, we can see that support for the Good Friday/Belfast agreement and the devolved institutions has been maintained among people of all backgrounds.

However, it is striking that 2019 also saw a strengthening of unionist and nationalist identities and growing pressure on the so-called middle ground.

The Ark NILT survey has been running since 1998 and provides an important source of data on how opinions in Northern Ireland have changed over the past 21 years.

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Brexit revives unionist and nationalist divide in Northern Ireland - The Guardian