Category Archives: Brexit

Jeremy Vine lost it on his Channel 5 show as guests argued over whether or not there is a border between Northern Ireland and the UK. Former Brexit Party MEP Ann Widdecombe insisted there was one while commentator Owen Jones slammed down her claims. Ms Widdecombe said: "I do not wish away Northern Ireland's role as a full part of the United Kingdom and that is what is now under threat. We weren't proposing a hard border."

Mr Jones added: "Any border would destabilise the peace process that's the point."

Mr Widdecombe continued: "There is a border there. The idea there isn't a border..."

Mr Vine interjected: "We're heading for the sixth anniversary of this argument.

"We still haven't worked it out because we had a land border with the EU. We're in a big political crisis in all points; north, south, east, and west.

READ MORE:Conservatives hold Southend West but turnout third lowest since 1945

It comes as a High Court judge has issued an interim order suspending a decision by Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots to direct a stop to Brexit agri-food checks at Northern Ireland ports.

Mr Justice Colton said he was making the temporary direction until a judicial review against the DUP minister's decision can be heard in full.

DUP minister Mr Poots acted unilaterally this week to order a halt to port checks that are required under the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Civil servants have yet to implement the instruction, pending legal clarity on their obligations, and checks are continuing.

The judge pointed out that the checks had been ongoing for more than a year and that the order to halt them had been brought at short notice.

A barrister for the Department of Agriculture told the court that their position was that the direction by Mr Poots was "entirely lawful".

He said: "The minister has looked at the matter, he is not prepared to give an undertaking in the meantime.

"The department's position is that the decision taken, and instructions given to officials, were entirely lawful."

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'It's been six years!' Jeremy Vine fed up with people still arguing over Brexit debate - Daily Express

Under pressure from backbench MPs with fears of an imminent leadership challenge and a failure to make a breakthrough in talks with Brussels, the mood in Westminster feels eerily similar to Mrs May's time in No10. And the largest party in the power-sharing Executive of Northern Ireland has warned Mr Johnson risks throwing away the chance to make Brexit a success with his actions.

Sammy Wilson, the DUP's Brexit spokesman, attacked the Prime Minister for "pussyfooting around" as claimed the party had been left with no choice but to take Brexit into its own hands.

Earlier this week the party demanded officials stop implementing Brexit customs checks at the border.

They argued the checks had created trade barriers between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, undermining its position in the United Kingdom.

For months the DUP has held off taking the action, putting its faith in Mr Johnson and the Westminster Government to deal with the problems caused by the Protocol.

READ MORE:Jeremy Vine fed up with people still arguing about Brexit

But Mr Willson accused the Prime Minister of being guilty of repeating the mistakes of Mrs May in dealing with Brussels, forcing them to intervene.

"We were led by the nose when Theresa May was Prime Minister, he's now let himself be led by the nose," the East Antrim MP told Express.co.uk.

"From the very start the Government allowed the EU to dictate the sequencing.

"Up until about three months ago they let the EU dictate the terms that there could be no renegotiation of the Northern Ireland Protocol.

"And now the EU has accepted there can be a renegotiation of the Northern Ireland Protocol, they've allowed them to dictate how long these negotiations are going to take place.

"All along we've simply had the EU pulling the Government's strings.

READ MORE:'Let us down badly!' Britons erupt at Boris and Brexit failures

Despite the party's agriculture minister ordering civil servants for cease checking goods arriving at ports, officials are continuing to do so.

The order is subject to a legal challenge that will be heard by the High Court on March 7.

Northern Ireland's First Minister, Paul Givan, has also resigned in a bid to force the UK Government into action on the Protocol.

The UK Government says while it believes the threshold to trigger Article 16, the legal means to suspend aspects of the Protocol, has been met, it would rather negotiate a diplomatic solution to the problems caused.

Criticising Mr Johnson for failing to trigger Article 16, Mr Wilson said: "I would have thought at a time when his leadership is under some challenge, the very thing he should be doing to secure his leadership is standing up to the EU.

"It would be popular with his own backbenchers but even more, it would be in keeping with the idea he claims we've now taken back our sovereignty.

"It would be actual proof that we have taken back our sovereignty.

"Every day these talks are allowed to go on further is another indication that actually we're not a sovereign nation, we're a nation which still is dependent on the good will and acceptance of whatever changes there are coming from the EU."

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'The same as Theresa May!' Boris warned he's making catastrophic strategic error on Brexit - Daily Express

THE 82% increase in the electricity standing charge is obscene and will take the annual charge to 165.50 per annum before 1Kwh of power is used.

This increase is unrelated to the huge hike in the wholesale price of gas and will disproportionately hit low electricity users the most.

Consumers like pensioners and low-income households, who are unlikely to use dishwashers, tumble dryers and electronics and therefore unlikely to be able cut their usage to compensate will suffer the most.

Boris Johnson stated before Brexit that Britain would be able to ditch VAT on gas and electricity bills as the EU regulations did not permit it. What better time to scrap VAT on energy than now, when we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis with energy, food, interest rates and NI contributions all increasing to unparalleled levels?

Instead, the Tories "kindly" decided to lend us 200 towards the average 700 bill increase on the basis that we pay it back over the following five years ("Fury as energy bills to rise 700 with aid branded inadequate", The Herald, February 4).

However, there are no guarantees that these eye-watering prices will reduce and that hard-pressed families will be able to afford the extra repayments.

Scotland is rich in oil, gas and wind power; however, we are hit with one of the highest energy tariffs in the UK.

If only "Scotland will not be dragged out of the EU against our will" meant what it said on the tin and we had achieved independence.

Iris Graham, Edinburgh.

SNP UNTRUTHS OVER PENSIONS

IAN Blackford in a podcast, and Nicola Sturgeon at First Ministers Questions, have unveiled a brand new SNP orthodoxy on pensions ("Sturgeon vows state pension will not shrink under independence", The Herald, February 4). In 2013, the SNPs referendum White Paper stated unambiguously that "for those people living in Scotland in receipt of the UK State Pension at the time of independence, the responsibility for the payment of that pension will transfer to the Scottish government" (p144). The then UK Pensions Minister, Steve Webb, stated that "the Scottish people would expect their government to take on full responsibility for paying pensions to people in Scotland, including where liabilities had arisen before independence". The SNP prefers to quote an earlier statement by Mr Webb which this later one supersedes.

In recent days, first Mr Blackford and then Ms Sturgeon have spoken publicly about how the "commitment to continue to pay pensions rests with the UK Government" and that "absolutely nothing would change". Unless they can produce evidence of Her Majestys Government having entered a new undertaking on this matter, we can bin and disregard what they have said, which is merely a regurgitation of untruths peddled on the Business for Scotland website.

Mr Blackfords and Ms Sturgeons statements are incorrect. Why these people should spread misleading information at this time is anyones guess.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh.

* THE issue of who would pay state pensions in an independent Scotland prompts this question for the First Minister: if England were to secede from the UK, would rUK (Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) continue to pay the state pensions of the English?

James Quinn, Lanark.

PRIME-TIME STUPIDITY

WE should thank the BBC for its Thursday night entertainment.

First we start with the reality of the news, which is a drama that the Government would like to go away.

Then we get The Apprentice, which unintentionally mirrors Boris Johnson and Co with two-legged mistakes who consider themselves to be clever and worthy of a richly-earned future, no matter an obvious lack of worldly or business nous. Team leaders promise victory and sometimes get initial plaudits when Lord Sugar asks them. However, when things go wrong, this perception is replaced by claims of "well, it was not my idea" or "I pointed out the error but nobody listened". Last night (February 3 )we had three supposedly intelligent adults who could not spell "Arctic" then decided to avoid mentioning it until clients noticed it. Then these three plus three others, including the ambitious and confident team leader, thought that penguins lived at the North Pole (actually they are as common there as integrity in the present Government). The one problem with this reality show is that it must run for a fixed length, so there can only be a limited number of idiots sacked at any one time.

Finally Thursday gives us Question Time, when we must feel sympathy for the one sitting Conservative MP who has to defend the Prime Minister and then his own party who promoted him. Do they toss a coin to decide each week's victim for the firing line, or do they get volunteers like the team leaders in the previously mentioned programme?

One of the supposedly non-party participants stated the very English comment that "remember Boris delivered Brexit". Had he not noticed the rise in costs before Covid struck, the six-mile queues of lorries at Dover or the Irish/NI trade problems? When will we get to the acceptance of the realities of Brexit never mind the stupid party activities at No. 10 and the dishonesty that followed?

JB Drummond, Kilmarnock.

NI'S TURN TO SUFFER FROM PM FOLLY

NOW it is the turn of Northern Ireland unfortunately to suffer from the consequences of the "rhubarb" and "piffle" generated at times by Boris Johnson ("Northern Ireland First Minister resigns in protest over protocol", The Herald, February 4). On a number of occasions he has stated with regard to Northern Irelands protocol that there would be no checks on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Sir Keir Starmer in this context commented: "This is a Prime Minister who either doesnt know the details of the deal he has negotiated or isnt being straight about it."

There are many in Northern Ireland who believe that they deserved better from a British Prime Minister. How many more damaging episodes involving Mr Johnson are the majority of Conservative MPs prepared to put up with before they call time up out of self-interest? Do they really have to await the results of the May local elections?

Ian W Thomson, Lenzie.

COVID TREATMENT CLAIMS DEBUNKED

JOANNA Blythman has informed and entertained Herald readers with her restaurant reviews and her articles on food generally. However, in recent months she has published several articles on Covid-19, its management and sequelae which are controversial and which present an alternative viewpoint to conventional wisdom on the subject.

No one should object to alternative views, but these views should be backed up by genuine rather than spurious evidence, and Ms Blythmans track record in this regard is poor.

In an early article, she misinterpreted the findings of the NHS yellow card scheme on Covid vaccine side-effects and deaths. You subsequently issued a correction of this misrepresentation.

In a subsequent article on December 18, she made further erroneous claims, namely that ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are effective treatments for Covid, which they are not.

For ivermectin, there are poor quality studies, often anecdotal, and without good controls for comparison, which suggested a benefit. However, proper controlled trials (which compared the outcomes of treated and untreated patients) showed no evidence of therapeutic benefit. The verdict of the National Institute for Health in the US is that ivermectin should not be used as a Covid treatment.

For hydroxychloroquine, the evidence is even more dubious. The two original articles suggesting the use of hydroxychloroquine as prophylaxis or treatment of Covid came from a laboratory in Marseilles in 2020. Both studies were largely uncontrolled and both were retrospective, looking at the results of treatment with hindsight. Hindsight allows researchers, if they wish, to ignore patients whose results dont support the conclusions they wish to reach.

These studies have been pilloried by most other researchers, and have resulted in the director of the laboratory, Dr Didier Raoult, being found guilty of misleading the public by the French equivalent of our General Medical Council. He has since retired. No properly controlled studies have found any therapeutic benefit from the use of hydroxychloroquine. This can be confirmed anecdotally by the experience of Donald Trump and President Bolsonaro of Brazil, both of whom contracted Covid despite taking hydroxychloroquine.

So, though Ms Blythman is entitled to her alternative views on Covid, these views should not be backed up by inaccurate information.

Dr Sam Craig, Glasgow.

PROPERTY MANAGEMENT

YOUR report about a house for sale in Clachtoll ("Most expensive croft yet on the NC500 is all yours for over 800k", The Herald, February 4) caught my attention, both because of the asking price of over 800,000 and because thats a part of Scotland I fell in love with many years ago, when I spent student summers working in Lochinver and Loch Loyal, near Tongue.

However, any interest in buying the place was quelled not just by the asking price, but also by the description provided by the estate agents, Strutt and Parker. They say the property (I hesitate to describe it as a croft) is located on a spectacular peninsular jutting into the Atlantic Ocean. I think the noun they were searching for was peninsula, though it may be pronounced with a terminal "r" in the salons of west London. And Id call the body of water they refer to as The Minch.

Then you quote the advertising puff about being overlooked by the dramatic peaks of Suilven, Stac Pollaidh, Canisp, Quinag and Ben More Assynt which dominate the nearby skyline. Fabulous hills all, but none closer than 10 miles from Clachtoll. And, from the selling agents website, the house looks southwest to the bare headland of Rubha Coigeach and has a rocky outcrop behind cutting off views of those "dramatic peaks".

Nice house, but caveat emptor.

Doug Maughan, Dunblane.

DATES WITH DESTINY

ALAN Fitzpatrick's "numerical oddity" (Letters, February 4) can be improved by using full digits for day/month/year as 01, and so on. Using this method, those of us with time on our nerdish hands are looking forward to the imminent palindrome 22/02/2022 and bemoan the need to wait for eight years for the next one: 03/02/2030.

Many wonderful verbal palindromes have been invented, some of inordinate length, but I always return to the original chat-up line in the Garden of Eden: "Madam, I'm Adam."

Tom Rodger, Glasgow.

* ALAN Fitzpatrick asks about any occult or other meaning attributable to Wednesday's date, 2/2/22.

I suggest that instead of Wednesday, it was Twosday.

David Miller, Milngavie.

Read more: We must never repeat the Cameron indyref folly

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Letters: Time to live up to Brexit boast and axe VAT on energy - HeraldScotland

Mr Javid will draw the battle lines today as he has pledged to invest in potential new treatments including coronavirus-style vaccines for cancer. In a speech introducing the proposals at the Francis Crick Institute, the health secretary will announce a call for evidence on a new 10-year Government plan to improve the countrys cancer care.

Mr Javid will also promise to make the UKs cancer care system "the best in Europe".

Mr Javid will announce the use of revolutionary technologies like artificial intelligence to diagnose the disease and clear the massive backlog of cases created due to Covid-19.

While treatment of cancer cases continued at about 94 percent of pre-pandemic levels, there were almost 50,000 fewer cancer diagnoses across the UK between March 2020 and November last year.

Mr Javid will say: Let this be the day when we declare a national war on cancer. We have published the call for evidence for a new ten-year cancer plan for England, a searching new vision for how we will lead the world in cancer care.

This plan will show how we are learning the lessons from the pandemic, and apply them to improving cancer services over the next decade.

It will take a far-reaching look at how we want cancer care to be in 2032 10 years from now. Looking at all stages, from prevention to diagnosis, to treatment and vaccines.

We want to hear views from far and wide to help us shape this work. Please join us in this effort, so fewer people face the heartache of losing a loved one to this wretched disease.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said this 10-year plan would prioritise boosting the cancer workforce and increasing research into technologies which help to detect the disease in its early stage.

READ MORE:World Cancer Day: 12 most common symptoms of cancer

Minister for primary care Maria Caulfield said: Half of us will have cancer at some point in our lives, and many more will have to support someone close to them who has it.

We want to have the best cancer care in Europe and this call to evidence will help us develop a plan to achieve this.

We want to hear from you cancer patients, relatives and NHS staff to see how we can best move forward to deliver better care and treatment.

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Brexit Britain launches 'war on cancer' with revolutionary new plan to be 'best in Europe' - Daily Express

Paul Givan resigned after one of his ministers tried to block the inspection of goods arriving from other parts of the UK.

Northern Irelands first minister has resigned as tensions over the United Kingdoms departure from the European Union triggered a fresh political crisis in the region.

Paul Givan stepped aside on Thursday after one of his ministers tried to block the inspection of goods arriving from other parts of the UK a move that violates the Brexit agreement between the UK and the European Union.

Today marks the end of what has been the privilege of my lifetime, Givan, who spent less than a year as chief minister in the regions devolved government, told a news conference.

The Brexit deal is roiling Northern Ireland once again because of disagreements about language designed to keep trade flowing on the island of Ireland.

Under the so-called Northern Ireland protocol, the UK agreed to inspect some goods entering Northern Ireland from England, Scotland and Wales. That angered many in Northern Ireland because it creates a barrier between the region and other parts of the UK.

Our institutions are being tested once again, Givan said as he resigned. They have been impacted by the agreement made by the United Kingdom government and the European Union, which created the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Northern Ireland is governed by a power-sharing executive created by agreements that ended decades of sectarian conflict in the region.

Givan was a representative of the largest party of voters who want to retain close ties to Britain, the Democratic Unionist Party. He shared power with Michelle ONeill, the deputy first minister who represents Sinn Fein, which seeks to strengthen links to the Republic of Ireland.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald immediately called for new elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly. Elections are scheduled to be held in May.

We cannot stagger on in the months ahead without a functioning executive, and Sinn Fein will not facilitate this, McDonald said. Opinion polls suggest Sinn Fein will pass the DUP to become Northern Irelands largest party for the first time.

Brandon Lewis, the British governments Northern Ireland secretary described Givans decision as extremely disappointing.

Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots, a member of the DUP, ignited the crisis Wednesday when he ordered his staff to stop the inspections, saying they had not been authorised by the regions power-sharing government.

The Republic of Irelands foreign minister, Simon Coveney, said Poots decision was effectively a breach of international law because the protocol is part of an international treaty. The republic is an EU member, and the Northern Ireland frontier is the blocs only land border with the UK.

To deliberately frustrate obligations under that treaty would be a very serious matter indeed, Coveney told Irish lawmakers late Wednesday. Its essentially playing politics with legal obligations.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was scheduled to hold a virtual meeting later Thursday with Maros Sefcovic, the EUs chief negotiator on Brexit issues, as the two sides try to resolve differences over implementation of the protocol. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who negotiated the Brexit deal, has called for the protocol to be renegotiated.

Mairead McGuinness, the Irish politician who serves as the European commissioner for financial services, told Irish broadcaster RTE that she also planned to speak with Truss and Sefcovic later Thursday.

Its very unhelpful, she said. Were working tirelessly with the UK to find solutions.

Originally posted here:

N Ireland first minister quits over post-Brexit trade rules - Al Jazeera English

LONDON Post-Brexit checks at Northern Ireland's ports will continue despite a ministerial order to halt them, the European Commission said.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Commission spokesman Eric Mamer said the EUs experts on the ground were satisfied that the checks the U.K. signed up to as part of the Brexit divorce deal are still being carried out.

On Wednesday, the Democratic Unionist Party's Edwin Poots a long-standing opponent of the post-Brexit trade rules in Northern Ireland saidhe had orderedhis most senior official to stop the sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks at Northern Irish ports from midnight Wednesday.

The checks are required under the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreements Northern Ireland protocol, agreed between the U.K. and the EU. But Poots said he had received legal advice backing his position that he is able to halt the checks in the absence of wider approval of Northern Irelands ruling Executive.

The U.K.s Environment Secretary George Eustice held crisis talks with Poots over his order to halt Brexit checks, according to British Prime Minister Boris Johnsons official spokesman, who also confirmed that checks are continuing to take place in Northern Ireland, as they have done before.

The prime minister told reporters during a visit to Blackpool Thursday that it was crazy to have checks on goods that are basically circulating within the single market of the United Kingdom.

He called for common-sensical practical steps to weed out, to check on goods entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain that might be at risk of entering the EU single market through the Republic of Ireland.

Now we can do that, but without having a full panoply of checks on the GB/NI coast and at the airport, and thats the way forward, Johnson said. I think practical common sense is whats needed.

Addressing the House of Commons Thursday, Eustice said it is entirely unnecessary at this stage for the government to intervene. He told MPs that the overarching responsibility for implementing international agreements rests with the U.K. government, but delivering many of the requirements under the Northern Ireland protocol, including agri-food checks, are a devolved matter and responsibility for doing so falls to the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in the Northern Ireland Executive.

Mamer refused to speculate on whether the EU could retaliate by suspending the Brexit trade deal if the Northern Ireland protocol requirements were not met, stressing that for the moment the Commissions preliminary information is that those checks are continuing.

What concerns us is not what are the arrangements that are found within the United Kingdom on who is responsible for taking what decision when it comes to the checks, but the fact that the provisions that are in the agreement, on the checks which are foreseen by the agreement, will be respected, he said.

Brussels stressed the protocol is the one and only solution the EU and the U.K. have found to protect the Good Friday (Belfast) Agreement, which ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.

Business lobby groups argue they need certainty about what regulations they need to comply with and simplicity to keep moving goods across the border.

The director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium, Aodhn Connolly, said: Even if the checks are not in place there is a requirement to have the correct authorizations.To put it another way, even though the likelihood of getting stopped on the roads is small, we still all have valid insurance.

U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is holding a video call with Commission Vice President Maroefovion making the protocol less burdensome for people and businesses in Northern Ireland.

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EU confirms Brexit checks continue in Northern Ireland - POLITICO Europe

'The Benefits of Brexit: How the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU' was published on Monday to mark the second anniversary of Britain's divorce from Brussels. It aimed to detail a plan for what European Union-made laws will be kept or scrapped, including ambitions to save 1billion for businesses by cutting inherited EU red tape. The 102-page document from the Cabinet Office also details a five-step approach to forging new post-Brexit, UK-specific regulations, vowing to use "our new freedom to act quickly and nimbly" in an attempt to create "better markets".

Other changes proposed in a bid to save billions of pounds for British businesses include making trade documents digital and streamlining procurement rules

Conservative peer Lord Hannan, who was an MEP for more than 20 years from 1999 to 2020 and is currently President of the Initiative for Free Trade, has picked out some of the positives from the huge document.

He wrote in an article for the Conservative Home website: "There are tasty lumps here and there.

"Replacing the Common Agricultural Policy with a subsidy regime that rewards rural stewardship rather than food production is in the interests of farmers, consumers and the countryside.

"Taking back control over our fishing grounds is likewise in the interests of both fishermen and fish.

"Weve tapped some irritating pebbles from our shoes the tampon tax, EU passports, restrictions on Imperial measures."

But overall, he described most of the gains listed in the paper as "aspirational", branding the document "100 pages of civil servantese".

He said some of the "gains" listed include a "new regulatory regime, a new agency or a new subsidy mechanism", adding: "The idea that leaving the EU might mean fewer regulations a major theme of Vote Leave, which went into granular detail in its million-word manifesto Change or Go, has been forgotten."

READ MORE:Staggering difference between retirement age in EU and UK mapped

In conclusion, Lord Hannan wrote: "We paid a high price during the exit negotiations for the right to diverge from EU standards.

"I was one of those who argued for moderation for accepting a Swiss-type deal so as to avoid many of the rows we went on to face over Northern Ireland.

"I lost that argument and we went for absolute regulatory freedom.

"OK, fine: Im happy to get with the programme. But it is idiotic to pay that price and then not use the freedoms it bought.

"There was recently a time when almost every Conservative MP understood that. Where have they all gone?"

In his foreword to the Brexit report, Mr Johnson said the Government plans on "firmly planting the British flag on the world stage once again".

The Prime Minister said the "bolder" the UK is in targeting opportunities afforded by leaving the EU, the "greater the gains will be for us all".

He claimed Britain's departure from the bloc on January 1, 2020 marked "not the final page of the story, but the start of a whole new chapter".

Mr Johnson also predicted a "future in which we don't sit passively outside the European Union but seize the incredible opportunities that our freedom presents and use them to build back better than ever before - making our businesses more competitive and our people more prosperous".

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Lord Hannan lists the five tasty lumps Leave voters can enjoy two years on from Brexit - Daily Express

Amid all the political hubbub in Westminster this week, as current UK PM Boris Johnson struggled to keep his head above the rising tide of partygate, the Cabinet Office snuck out a policy paper with surprisingly little fanfare.

The benefits of Brexit: How the UK is taking advantage of leaving the EU is a 102-page paper that seeks to highlight how the current administration is working to unshackle the UK from the European Union, so the country can achieve great things, in the Prime Ministers words. The White Paper, Johnson wrote, sets out how the country will go about doing this.

His aims, he said, are: Untangling ourselves from 40 years of EU membership, keeping what works, changing what doesnt, supporting new industries, reinvigorating older ones and firmly planting the British flag on the world stage once again.

A section of the document is dedicated to the food and drink sector, an industry that by almost any account has been battered by Brexit. According to the latest Food and Drink Federation figures, released late last year, UK exports of food and drink are down 2.7bn (-15.9%) in the first three quarters of 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels. This is largely due to a drop in sales to the EU of 2.4bn (-23.7%) resulting from new barriers to trade with the EU and the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So, what future does the Cabinet Office foresee for British food and farming?

The chapter dedicated to the industry describes a highly resilient sector.The events of the last two years have taught us how much domestic food production matters and shown that we have a highly resilient food supply chain, it stated (never mind the fact that around 80% of the food Britain eats is imported).

In the future, we are promised a focus on (probably world-beating) food and drink innovation. We will do more to ensure the UK is at the forefront of food innovation globally, giving consumers the choice and ability to consume more sustainable proteins that align with their values, while also supporting our net zero ambitions and strengthening the UKs food security.

Putting aside the arguments from the farming lobby that trade deals allowing imports of food produced to lower standards will undercut British farming, food safety and animal welfare, how does the Government intend to deliver?

All will be revealed when it publishes the Food Strategy White Paper, the Benefits of Brexit paper noted.

Amid reports (first noted in The Times) that Johnson could be preparing to backpedal on restrictions to HFSS promotions (due to come into force later this year) in order to appease Conservative backbenchers still fuming over revelations that parties were held at Number 10 in breach of lockdown rules, the Brexit policy document stated the Food White Paperwill set out how we will empower people, wherever they are, to make healthy and sustainable food choices.

"We will look at optimising food information, such as that on labelling, so consumers are better able to make informed choices. We want to see the agri-food sector go from strength to strength and ensure that the food system provides choice and access to high-quality, nutritious food for all. Along with the plans outlined the Government's obesity strategy, this work means we will go further and faster to support healthier diets and tackle the obesity crisis that has become all too apparent in recent years.

"We will always support our agri-food sector and we will never compromise on our high environmental, food-safety and welfare standards. We want people around the world to be lining up to buy British. With an independent trade policy, we will support our sectors to make the most of opportunities around the world."

While the Paper is thin on policy detail, it does give some indication of the direction of travel the UK government intends to take in food and drink.

This includes making the most of the UK's 'cutting edge' research and innovation capabilities and 'world-leading' (it had to be in there) science infrastructure."We will do even more to coordinate research and innovation priorities across research councils, government, industry and consumers; pull through our research and development to real life application; and draw global investment to the UK."

Unleashing Britain's R&I might, the White Paper suggests, could well be linked to an adjustment of the Novel Food rules, which were duplicated from the European Union with responsibility for implementation simply handed off to the Food Standards Agency.

"We will use the freedom Brexit gives us to review our novel foods regulatory framework. This will include working with the Food Standards Agency to update the process for approving novel foods, to create a transparent and effective system that is the best in the world for innovators, investors and consumers and encourages safe innovation in the sustainable protein sector."

But for many in the food industry, this will seem like little more than hot air. Because if you ask food businesses what Brexit is delivering for them, the answer will almost universally come back: extra costs and more red tape.

At the beginning of 2021, the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA) estimated the extra cost to the meat industry of Brexit bureaucracy would be between 90-120 million a year. The industry body predicted it would render British exporters less competitive and cause a permanent 20% loss of trade with the EU.

Figures trickling out into the public domain would suggest these estimates are not overblown. According to the Animal and Plant Health Agency - which is responsible for just one part of the extra bureaucracy - the bill for Export Health Certificates (EHCs) that are now required to ship all products of animal origin comes to just shy of 60 million a year. That reflects a 1,255% increase year-on-year.

But the BMPA said thats just the start. EHCs will only get goods onto a lorry. There are now numerous new costs and overheads that previously didnt exist, like extra administrative staff, additional paperwork, record keeping and systems to support the issuing of EHCs, port charges, customs agents fees the list goes on.

The BMPA revealed costs vary between companies, but all have reported a significant increase. Those same companies are also reporting a persistent loss of trade with the EU around the predicted 20%.

After a year of dealing with the new post-Brexit customs and certification system, our members are reporting a huge rise in cost, which either has to be absorbed or passed on to their EU customers, rendering British exporters less competitive, explained BMPA CEO Nick Allen.

Millions of pounds are being spent on extra paperwork and checks, but for zero extra benefit to British companies. The Government could solve this problem by entering into a Veterinary Agreement with the EU which would instantly negate the need for most of the current bureaucracy and physical border checks and give British exporters a fighting chance to regain the trade theyve lost - trade that simply cant be replaced by selling goods to more distant markets.

The cost of living crisis is already a major issue for UK consumers.Figures out this week from the British Retail Consortium reveal food prices increased 2.7% in January, up from inflation of 2.4% the previous month and the highest rate seen since October 2013.

Food prices continue to rise, especially domestic produce which have been impacted by poor harvests, labour shortages, and rising global food prices, BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson noted.

UK shoppers might want to buckle up because Brexit could be about to make this trend even more pronounced, the BMPA warned.

This is because the rising cost of doing business with the EU which is having such a negative impact on British exporters is about to impact European imports, who currently supply over one-quarter of the food on British shelves.

Until now, the Government has taken the decision to wave through supplies into the UK without requiring the same paperwork and physical checks. But from July, the same extra time and cost burdens to get through customs will be imposed on our EU suppliers. This means that EU imports will suddenly become more expensive, and European exporters will become less inclined to keep supplying to the UK, the association warned.

When you consider that over a quarter of all food on British shelves is sourced from the EU, these new costs imposed by Brexit will only add to the UKs cost of living woes. The new post-Brexit trading regime has added millions in extra cost but provided zero benefit to companies; and its consumers that will be picking up the bill.

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The benefits of Brexit? Hint at Novel Foods shake-up comes amid food inflation warnings - FoodNavigator.com

Britain completed its formal departure from the EU just over a year ago after signing an eleventh-hour post-Brexit trade deal in December 2020. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his closest ministers have continued to insist the UK will thrive and flourish outside of the EU. This hasn't stopped Rejoiners campaigning for the country to one day rejoin the EU - particularly with pressure building on Mr Johnson to resign amid the 'partygate' scandal engulfing Westminster.

But Brexit research firm Facts4EU.Org has brutally shut down Project Fear scaremongering, by listing 11 key benefits that have already become clear with the UK leaving the EU.

If Brexit didn't happen, Britain would have had to decide how to impose 10billion (8.2billion) per annum of new taxes between 2026 and 2030 to help the EU pay back the bonds it is issuing to enable grants of 390billion (323billion) out of its Coronavirus Recovery Fund.

Facts4EU.Org argued there is also no need to factor into the nation's national accounts a "contingent liability as guarantor for the balance of 360billion (298.5billion) of the Coronavirus Recovery Fund, where the money raised by the EU through bonds is on-lent to a member state but where all member states are liable for the bond repayments of those who fail to meet their obligations".

The UK would also have had to contribute to the eye-watering EU Budget, especially troublesome with the UK's GDP rising quicker than the EU's average and Britain's historical share of the budget of 12 percent subsequently increases.

Brexit means there is now no longer a need to worry about the costs and other implications for the UK through countries joining the EU and expanding the size of the bloc.

Britain does not have to consider new risks being taken on by the European Investment Bank that might force the country to pay in more capital

Facts4EU.Org said the UK no longer needs to worry about the direct cost of the "over-indebtedness of the Eurozone" and that Britain no longer need to "bail out one of the many shadow domains of EU public sector indebtedness".

This would include "securitisations of banks' Non-Performing Loans, bank capital deficits, publicly-owned private companies, companies owned by multiple public entities but each with a minority share, and schemes where debt service depends on a public sector entity but under a commercial contract rather than a loan agreement".

READ MORE:Rishi Sunak announces 150 council tax rebate

In conclusion, Facts4U.Org summarised: "Brexit is not about saving taxpayers money, although thats nice.

"Its about making decisions for ourselves and for our politicians being held accountable for their decisions rather than faceless technocrats making decisions that are thrice removed from our democratic processes and laws.

"Realising the full benefits of Brexit will therefore take years and decades, not one parliamentary term.

"That said it is important we lay down from the beginning what is being achieved so we can readily calculate the accumulating benefits in total.

"Unlike the estimates and modelling that emanate from the scaremongering, these benefits will be real money and tangible in their outcomes.

"It will take time for all these benefits to come through, it will take time for the behaviour and attitudes of our civil service and media to accept these changes.

"And it will take time for the public and third sectors to adjust but politicians should have no excuses, it is their job to drive the change and to lead it from the front."

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Brexit WINS! Rejoiners silenced as '11 extra benefits' of leaving EU spelt out - Daily Express

Novelist Tony Parsons once boasted of the benefits of exiting the bloc, visualising a very bright and prosperous future for Brexit Britain. Such was the faith of Mr Parsons that, in 2016, writing in GQ magazine, he said: The UK has thrown off the shackles of a failed twentieth-century idea."We are no longer bound to the terminally sick European Union, just one more timid little member of 28 chairs around an unhappy, overcrowded table.

Taking to Twitter today, the same author painted a very different picture of Brexit, casting the blame on the incumbent Prime Minister.

He said: I cant think of one Brexit promise that has been kept.

Not one. Slashing taxes? No. Reducing energy bills? No.

Taking back control of borders? No Making a bonfire of EU regulations? No.

This Government has broken every big bold Brexit promise.

Ever feel like youve been cheated?

His critique comes as taxes in the UK are on the rise.

The Government has proposed and supported the notion of a rise in National Insurance contributions.

With rising energy costs, the reality of fuel poverty is causing panic among the public.

Border control is also a contentious issue, with last year seeing record numbers of illegal migrant crossings making onto the shores of Britain, in spite of promises to quell the flow.

READ MORE:Have your say: Has Britain been CHEATED on Brexit?

As for EU regulations, just last night, the DUP vowed to cease customs checks on the Northern Ireland border, a move that will no doubt inflame the ongoing NI Protocol talks between Britain and the EU.

Back in 2016, Mr Parsons also spoke of the optimism that Britain can look forward to when it comes to trade.

He said: Like Canada, Japan and Australia we are now free to cut our own trade deals.

Now we are free to trade with India, China and Brazil.

The German car industry is free to continue to sell 20 percent of their lovely motors to us.

The world will not stop trading with us. The world will want to do big business with us.

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Yet, commenting on Mr Parsons recent tweet, some people felt that there was still time.

The Tartan Unicorn said: Manufacturing output up for the 20th month in a row.

Largest growing economy in the G7. Unemployment at its lowest in years.

Does everyone think Brexit benefits were going to happen overnight? It may take a number of years.

And Gavin Richards said: No longer being controlled by unelected EU commission was the only thing I wanted.

The rest is up to us to vote for UK Government that serves us.

Defending the lack of action by Mr Johnson, a user named Jake said: Its a lazy statement.

"Covid recovery means taxes cannot be slashed.

"Energy prices is not a domestic issue.

"Borders are an impossible task when the French are not cooperating.

"EU laws are being processed out but cant happen quick.

"Im not a Brexiteer but these are obvious answers.

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Boris feels wrath of Leave voters over Brexit promises - 'Not one has been kept!' - Daily Express