Category Archives: Brexit

Reputation, more often than not, is a kind of delusion. To take but one example, the British imagine themselves, of all the nations on earth, to have a unique passion for talking about the weather.

But they have chosen this reputation for themselves, entirely unconcerned by observable reality. If they stopped to think about it, they might wonder whether the billions of other people elsewhere in the world just let the monsoons and the hurricanes and the murderously hot summers just come and go without ever creeping into conversation.

The Tories have a reputation for ruthlessness, in the sense that it has been bestowed upon them entirely by themselves, when the observable reality is the opposite.

Look, its not their fault theyve been made to wait this long to be told what absolutely everybody already knows, before they can summon the courage to do the bloody deed they probably arent going to do anyway.

In the meantime weve been treated to pantomime ruthlessness, as best encapsulated by David Davis doing his little Cromwell cosplay act in the House of Commons. Having stood up and told Johnson to in the name of God, go, the next day he had to admit he hadnt actually handed in his letter of no confidence yet, as that would be a bit mean.

Lucky Johnson. Almost as lucky, in fact, as that prankster who ambushed Theresa May, not with a cake but with a P45 form, during her party conference speech. He was lucky, David said at the time, that he didnt come anywhere near him, or hed have been down for a very long time.

Davis, arguably, is unlucky that there are long seconds, possibly even minutes of live TV footage, in which the lucky Simon Brodkin is crouched directly by Daviss feet, and Davis does not get around to uncrossing his arms, or even legs.

Besides, in the interminable wait for Gray, the Tories have already shown their hand. The hard Brexit gang appear to have concluded that they can hold a weakened Johnson to ransom. Lord Frost has resigned from the cabinet, having been in for well under a year (still has a job for life in the Lords though, what larks) and is now writing threatening opinion pieces in The Sun.

Hes telling Johnson that he cannot turn Britain into a high tax, high regulation, high control society. Frost, for what hes worth, which is not very much, joined the cabinet in March 2021, in the middle of a lockdown, and when hundreds of billions of pounds had already been borrowed in order to directly pay peoples wages. He has now quit the cabinet over policy differences that could hardly have been clearer when he joined.

He has praised a column by Allister Heath in the Sunday Telegraph, instructing Johnson to get rid of the neo-socialists, green fanatics and pro-woke crowd.

This kind of stuff has been coming to a boil for a while now. The Telegraph described Rishi Sunaks last budget, and principally the pledge made within it to raise national insurance to pay for social care as the death of Conservatism.

What these people are struggling to come to terms with is that the Conservatism they know and love has been dead for several decades. They have convinced themselves, not altogether unreasonably, that the referendum victory and the 2019 election victory, were a victory for their ideology. But they werent.

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The honest ones among them make no secret that they needed Johnson to do it, whom they imagine to be some sort of vote harvesting machine. But they cant bring themselves to see that the referendum was won in 2016 precisely because Dominic Cummings wisely binned all of the mad gibberish they believe in about Global Britain, low tax, low regulation, Singapore-on-Thames and so on, in favour of simple populist lies.

He also kept as many of them as possible away from the television as much as possible, rightly knowing them to be not merely ideologically repellent to normal people, but personally repugnant too.

Nor can they see that five months prior to the 2019 election, Johnson prime minister at this point stood outside Downing Street and announced he had a plan to fix social care ready to go. He may not have been telling the whole truth, especially on the ready to go part, but the general direction of travel was clear to see.

Though they may not realise it, not all of them anyway, they are reduced to making threats, rather than taking action, because without him they would suddenly have to face up to the complete irrelevance and electoral toxicity that has been their lot for a very long time, and still is.

They would suddenly realise that, for all the fun they think theyve had since 2016, theyve never won anything at all. And nor will they.

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The hard Brexit gang think theyre holding Boris Johnson to ransom theyre not - The Independent

Britain's pig industry says it faces collapse after an exodus of east European workers led to a shortage of butchers and a backlog in slaughtering more than 170,000 pigs.

National Pig Association (NPA) Chairman, Rob Mutimer, and National Farmers Union (NFU) President, Minette Batters, announced this week that emergency visa measures designed to soften the impact of Brexit and COVID-19 were not working.

"The situation is utterly dire on pig farms, both in terms of the backlog, and financially," the groups said in a joint letter to Britain's environment minister, George Eustice.

In October 2021, the government offered six-month emergency visas to 800 foreign butchers - but the NPA said it was aware of only 105 that arrived, or are due, using the seasonal scheme.

The trade bodies warned that farms were losing money on each pig and at least 30,000 sows had been lost over the last six months, equating to around 10 per cent of the English herd.

"We are already seeing a significant drop in breeding herd numbers, and we fear that if nothing changes, we could see a mass exodus from this industry over the next 12 months. Once we lose that production base, we won't get it back."

The trade bodies say tens of thousands of healthy pigs have been culled on farms by producers who have run out of space on their farms. The are calling on the government to convene an emergency summit with the supply chain to find solutions.

In the first week of 2022, some farmers reported that as few as 50 per cent of contracted pigs were taken by processors. Costs associated with the backlog, record pig feed costs and falling prices, meant farmers have been losing about 25 (30) per pig for nearly a year, they say.

They are also calling on the government to encourage retailers to run marketing campaigns to increase British pork sales, thereby encouraging processors to clear the backlog.

A government spokesperson said it expected progress on reducing the backlog of pigs on farms in the coming months.

The slaughter backlog within the British pig industry is almost certainly down to butcher shortages as a result of Brexit. However - there could be another reason too: the amount of people giving up meat altogether.

2021 was a big year for veganism in the UK and globally. And judging by the promising response to Veganuary this year, this is likely to continue into 2022 and beyond.

A record 500,000 people took the 2021 Veganuary pledge to only eat plant-based food this January, according to The Guardian.

So why are so many people going plant-based? There are three main reasons, according to the Vegan Society.

Eating a vegan diet could be the single biggest way to reduce our environmental impact on earth, a 2018 study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Oxford found that cutting meat and dairy products from our diets could reduce an individual's carbon footprint from food by up to 73 per cent.

Many opt to go vegan to help stop animal cruelty. By refusing to pay for animal products, you reduce the demand for them, which means fewer animals are bred to suffer and die on farms and in slaughterhouses.

Having emotional attachments with animals is a big part of this reason, as vegans believe that all sentient creatures have a right to life and freedom.

Numerous health experts agree that going plant-based is one of the healthiest ways to live. Vegan diets provide protection against diseases like heart disease, cancer, and strokes.

Both the British Dietetic Association and the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recognise that veganism is suitable for every age and stage of life.

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British pig farmers 'fear ruin' over Brexit and the rise of veganism - Euronews

The North West Durham MP said one of his first actions after becoming elected was to ensure an upcoming EU directive on motorhome taxation would not apply to the UK. Mr Holden said the tax would have left some businesses "crippled" over having to pay tax on motorhomes as high as on a new Rolls Royce. The Conservative MP said he was spurred into action by Britain's upcoming departure from the EU at the time, insisting the UK should not have had to keep the diktat despite Brexit.

Speaking to GB News, Mr Holden said: "Within a few days of being elected, I found out that an EU directive was being put in which was going to see a 705 percent increase on tax on a motorhome.

|Basically, taxing the same a 40,000 motorhome, which some might buy as they're approaching retirement, as a new Rolls Royce every year.

"This was going to cripple local businesses, particularly 500 people in my constituency.

|So I thought, this is crazy, we're leaving the EU, and so why aren't we pursuing this?"

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He continued: "So one of the things I did was really push the Treasury, saying we've got to reverse this.

"This was going to have a direct effect on my constituency but also, it's not green to have people flying off when they can do 1,000 miles a year just having a bit of a motorhome holiday here in the UK."

Under the new EU directive, motorhomes would have been moved out of the commercial vehicle tax band to instead be taxed as normal cars.

The change was being influenced by Brussels' push towards greener policies, which included a review of emission regulations seeking to get drivers to opt for cleaner and more efficient engines.

READ MORE: Are you watching, EU? Boris set to land HUGE new Brexit trade deal worth BILLIONS

However, motorhome owners argued against the introduction of the new directive in the UK, noting motorhomes are normally used for short breaks or holidays thus consuming less than cars and should not be taxed the same.

Owners would have been facing hefty bills for owning a motorhome, estimated at 2,125 in the first year of ownership, dropping to 465 a year between years two and six - compounded by an additional 320 annual premium tax and then again dropping to 145.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed the directive would be scrapped in March 2020, two months after the UK effectively left the European Union.

The National Caravan Council (NCC) hailed the decision as a significant victory for motorhome owners and thanked all MPs contributing to the decision.

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NCC Director-General John Lally said: "We have had extraordinary support from parliamentarians too many to mention them all but in particular Richard Holden MP, Sir David Amess MP, Emma Hardy MP, Karl Turner MP and David Davis MP.

"Rishi Sunak MP prior to becoming Chancellor had also indicated support.

Alongside the NCC, its members, and the wider industry, these MPs worked tirelessly to reverse this increase, knowing the impact it would have on British manufacturing, on jobs, and, potentially, on UK tourism.

"We offer our thanks to all of them and to the media, who highlighted how unfair the tax was.

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Taxing a motorhome same as a Rolls Royce! Brexiteer MP pushed to scrap insane EU tax - Daily Express

Boris Johnsons main claim to fame, as opposed to infamy, is (at least in the eyes of half the UK electorate), that he got Brexit done.

A year after Britains messy divorce from the EU, pundits and economists have been totting up the costs and benefits. Remainers and even government economists say weve paid through the nose. The Office for Budget Responsibility says leaving the EU will reduce our long-term GDP by around 4 per cent, compared to a fall of around 1.5 per cent caused by the pandemic.

Brexiters say its too early to gauge the political benefits or even financial outcome.

What about the EU perspective? The views of our leading frenemy, and nearest neighbour France, might be deemed a little jaundiced given the current, dire state of relations between the government of Johnson, the glib populist, and that of Emmanuel Macron, the show-boating Sun King, who has an eye on upcoming presidential elections.

For a more sober assessment of Brexit a year on, i talked to the Italian ambassador to the UK, another of the EUs big three economies, with whom Britain enjoys a steadier relationship, based on a degree of mutual affection and economic necessity (bilateral trade totals almost 40bn).

Raffaele Trombetta is a suave career diplomat and an anglophile, who arrived in London in 2018 with his British wife Victoria, joining their children who already lived in the UK. Back then, he expressed his admiration for the citys dynamism and unparalleled vibe, which already characterised London when he was first here as Consul in the 1990s.

How does the city feel now, post-Brexit?

He notes its difficult to disentangle the effects of Covid from those of Brexit on how London or the UK feels now compared with two years ago. But some metrics do tell a story. Trade between Britain and Italy is down this is not simply due to the pandemic, he says.

Theres been an impact from Brexit as well as Covid its very simple. He notes that exports to the rest of the world have increased since 2019. But unfortunately, not with the UK.

If you then relate 2021 to 2019. Actually, there has been quite a substantial reduction in the trade both ways, he says.

Typical Italian exports to Britain which totaled more than 25bn in 2019 include machinery, cars and car parts, pharmaceuticals, clothing, furniture, food, wine, and clothing. Italys small and medium sized businesses, which form a major part of its export economy, have been hit particularly hard from the extra red tape created by Brexit. These often family-owned businesses have had to make big changes in a small period of time.

Delay and hold ups have spelt trouble for one commodity, in particular: food. Perishables, from fruit to mozzarella and gorgonzola cheeses dont do well languishing in lorry parks.

Those products need to be consumed, he says.

This month new trade rules have kicked between Britain and the EU, with the introduction of full customs declarations and customs controls.

So obviously this is going to add again to the changes. We have been working hard to help Italian businesses.

So bilateral trade has taken a hit from Brexit. What are the upsides from Britains separation from the EU? Mr Trombetta, the diplomat, answers tangentially by complimenting British officials helpfulness in mitigating some of the problems caused by the separation.

Weve had good, very good cooperation from the UK authorities on citizens rights, for instance, he says.

A huge number of Italians over 470,000 still live in the UK. The official figure actually increased over the Brexit period, as those that decided to stay, scrambled to register with the Embassy to retain, among other things, voting rights at home.

This is what Ive been working on to make sure that there are no long-term consequences in our relationship. If you look for the positive side, you know, we have maybe been encouraged to find new areas of cooperation.

And were trying to strengthen those areas we were already working on. Now we have a strategic dialogue on defence issues. Italy and the UK are working together on the big Tempest project.

Back in November, Italys Air Force Chief of Staff General Luca Goretti said that thanks to its leading role in developing the Tempest fighter aircraft, Rome could act as a bridge between Nato and Europe; for that read the UK and EU.

The Tempest project which includes BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and the British arm of Italian defence group Leonardo has an annual budget of 2bn from the British government until 2025.

Events on Ukraines borders have thrown the spotlight on European defence collaboration, particularly now that the UK, one of the continents two significant military powers (along with France) is semi-detached.

At a time when EU members, most notably France, are calling for greater defence teamwork within the bloc, Mr Trombetta is keen to flag up continuing UK-European defence co-operation.

Such co-operation, post-Brexit, is sadly lacking.

What we would have hoped for [post-brexit] would have been a chapter in the agreement on foreign policy and security but it didnt happen. For various reasons, Mr Trombetta says.

Other observers have been more direct in their criticism of the British government. Charles Grant, director of the London-based think-tank the Centre for European Reform, told The Guardian: Lord Frost refused to have any form of structured relationship on foreign and defence policy post-Brexit with the EU though the EU wanted one and we are paying a very heavy price as a result.

The UK has been weakened, with its influence and power on the European and world stages diminished. And on issues from climate change to Russia, the EU is missing out on British scientific and security expertise.

The EU has faced other big changes in the past 12 months including the departure of its political rock Angela Merkel. While the new Germany coalition finds its feet, theres been much talk in Brussels of Rome stepping up to assert its status as one of the EUs big three economies and challenge FrancoGermany dominance.

I asked Mr Trombetta if Italy is angling for a bigger role in the EU.

I dont think its a sort of competition, you knowbut it can be a positive thing. Its a fact: Italy is one of the big countries and we have played a key role in the EU.

He considers a key part of his mission to promote unsung Italian innovation in manufacturing, technology and design as well as the things perhaps veering towards cliche pizza, old architecture, and romanticised view of mafia crime, that the Brits love about Italy.

Its the same with Italians, he admits, however. Theyre fascinated with your Royal Family.

He sings the praises of the current occupant of the Prime Ministers office in Rome. Mario Draghi is a political heavyweight; a former President of the European Central Bank, with a contacts book that spans Washington to Beijing.

Draghis status contrasts with the lightweights and laughing stocks that have bedevilled Italys international reputation in the past two decades.

Mr Trombetta is confident that Italy and the EU will prevail although he regrets that it will be without the UK.

As a European and also the husband of a British woman, with two kids living in the UK, I was sad, to be honest with you, when Britain left. I still think it was important for the EU to have the UK within its membership, and also, of course, its my opinion that it was best for the UK to be part of the European Union.

But hes hopeful that the phasing out of the EU withdrawal agreement does not signal the end to constructive dialogue between Britain and the EU. We can build on that. And then well see where we will go and where we are in a few years, he says. Well also see where the EU will be in a few years time.

Some in Italy have wondered whether there could in the longer term be a way back from Brexit. For now, its done, but perhaps this may change in a generation or two, Massimo Ungaro, a London-based MP for Italys Democratic party, who represents Italian ex-pats, told the FT. Besides, they [the Brits] havent yet seen its true cost.

Mr Trombetta puts it another way. In addition to being mostly friends, and key allies and trading partners, we are like it says in that book, prisoners of geography.

Of course, he says Britain and Italy will continue to enjoy excellent relations. But in another positive note he predicts that despite the current bumpy patch, our relations with Paris will improve, too, because, fundamentally, the ties between Britain and France are really, so strong. It is, he says, common sense.

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Brexit a year on: Italys ambassador discusses cheese, trade, security concerns and reasons to be ch - iNews

There was a time, not so long ago, when the Premier Leagues biggest clubs were able to scour every corner of Europe for the continents best emerging talents.

Nowhere was off-limits. They are the great white sharks of football, said Feyenoords technical director Leo Beenhakker after Chelsea had successfully landed a 15-year-old Nathan Ake for the meagre sum of 230,000 in 2010.

Only now, in this post-Brexit age, the sharks find themselves all penned in.

The United Kingdoms formal withdrawal from the European Union (EU) at the end of 2020 brought new entry requirements for all overseas players and, just as importantly, called time on a long-running pursuit of the continents best under-18s.

The game was up and, almost overnight, youth recruitment in the Premier League was forced to evolve.

English clubs, big and small, now find themselves limited to domestic additions at youth-team level and an already fierce competition to find the best youngsters has intensified. Scouting networks are being bolstered and new markets explored.

Manchester City saw fit to spend a reported 400,000 to sign a 13-year-old Leke Drake from League Two club Stevenage this summer, while

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'Theyre looking in places they werent before' - How Brexit has affected academy recruitment - The Athletic

UK companies have lost hundreds of billions of pounds to Covid and an equal amount to Brexit, but the tally from the UK leaving the European Union is now rising faster, according to a report by The Centre for Economics and Business Research. This found numerous coronavirus lockdowns that had inflicted huge damage on businesses throughout the UK had cost them a staggering 251billion by March 2021. It revealed the value of the goods and services produced by the country's under-pressure economy had plunged by 250billion more than it otherwise would have been.

The report cited figures from business insurer Simply Business which said Covid cost small businesses alone an estimated 126.6billion. while a report from the Government in November revealed the country lost almost 365 billion in GDP from Covid overall.

But David Jinks, head of consumer research at delivery firm ParcelHero, said: British businesses have had a torrid few years.

Brexit or Covid, which has been the heavier burden for them to bear?

"The shocking answer is that the entirely avoidable Brexit crisis has had as much of an impact on UK businesses as the unforeseeable Covid-19 tragedy, and its costs are still rising.

No one could have foreseen the arrival of the pandemic and there was little that could have been done to shield UK businesses in advance.

"However, this is certainly not the case for the impact of Brexit on UK businesses."

Before the UK formally left the EU on January 1, 2021, a report from Bloomberg Economics revealed that by the end of the previous year, the economic cost of Brexit had already surged past 200billion in lost revenues for UK companies.

The report had calculated the UK economy had shrunk by three percent than it otherwise would have been.

READ MORE:French open eyes to EU shambles

Also since Brexit, the UK Trade Policy Observatory claimed the loss of trade with the EU has cost UK businesses a further 44billion.

Mr Jinks said: That breaks down to 32.5billion lost in potential imports to the UK and 11billion in exports to the EU."

Further analysis showed the UK Government spent an additional 8.1billion on preparing for Brexit and the end of the transition period in December 2021, according to the Institute for Government.

This means the combined costs of Brexit and the pandemic both equal around 250billion but longer term, it has been claimed the UK leaving the EU could end up costing even more than Covid.

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Thomas Sampson, Associate Professor at the London School of Economics, said: When measured in terms of their impact on the present value of UK GDP, the Brexit shock is forecast to be two to three times greater than the impact of Covid-19.

"Moreover, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) told the BBC last October that leaving the EU would reduce our long-run GDP by around four percent.

It has been reported the impact from the UK pandemic will only see GDP output fall by just two percent.

The latest report from Government Business Insights showed that in December, two-thirds of UK firms experienced challenges with exporting and nearly eight in ten with importing.

Mr Jinks added: This has had a knock-on effect on transport and logistics companies.

"A staggering 36.7 percent of transport and logistics companies either closed, paused trading entirely or continued trading only partially in December."

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Brexit worse than Covid! Project Fear returns as damning report hits out at EU withdrawal - Daily Express

Today marks two years since the UK formally left the EU and entered an 11-month transition period. After years of political wrangling following the Brexit referendum, the country entered a transition period during which it retained many of its privileges of membership, but had no say on rule-making. Then, last year on January 1, the rules governing the new relationship between the EU and UK took effect.

Brexit had a significant impact on the UKs vaccine rollout and allowed the Government to lift Covid restriction sooner than any country in the EU.

However, swathes of critics from across the political spectrum have insisted little progress has been made on garnering the economic benefits of Brexit.

Dr Bull toldExpress.co.ukhe did not regret having campaigned and voted for Brexit, referencing the UKs vaccine rollout as a notable success of Brexit.

However, he claimed the UK had not taken advantage of the extraordinary 2016 referendum result and the Government needed to do more.

Read More:Question Time: 'On brink of WW3!' Brexit row

Dr Bull said: I dont think we have taken advantage of the extraordinary vote that we had.

I maintain to this day it was still the right decision.

The largest ever democratic vote in the United Kingdom I think, and it was extraordinary.

The whole point about it was that we became a free and self-governing country where we no longer are held ransom by this ridiculous monolist that is the European Union and that we can decide the rules and the laws that are good for Britain.

Were now a high tax, high regulation, low growth economy and you can see that with the fact weve got inflation rising, national insurance coming in, our tax bills coming up.

This isnt what people voted for.

When asked to rate the first year of Brexit out of ten he gave it a four and insisted the UK could do better to make the most of the referendum result.

Dr Bull said: I think thats generous.

Has anyone really noticed any difference? No, is the honest answer.

What worries me the most is youve got this brigade of Remainers that actually should be called Rejoiners, like [Andrew] Adonis, [Peter] Mandelson and so on, and actually they are pointing out the fact that theres no discernable difference at the moment.

And actually I think theyre right, and all weve done by not grasping that nettle is to say, Actually if there is no discernible difference we would be better off back in the EU.

What we should have done is to say, Right, this is where the future begins, were now going to slash tax, were going to go to a flat tax across the board for example. Were going to slash VAT, were doing these trade deals, were going to bring in the brightest talent.

Then, there would be no discussion about going back. But they didnt do it.

Dr Bull then revised his grade to three-and-a-half, and added: A bit like fishing, yes weve reduced the licences by three boats or something. Its pathetic.

I think my report if I was the teacher would be could do better.

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'Extraordinary' Brexit achievement MUST be capitalised on to shut up Rejoiners - Daily Express

The Centre for Policy Studies has today welcomed the Government white paper The Benefits of Brexit.

The new paper sets out how the government plans to take advantage of Britains exit from the European Union.

The think tank said it supported the papers intention to make Britain the best regulated economy in the world but warned that more needed to be done to put meat on the bones.

CPS praised the Government for its commitment to keeping the costs of regulation as low as possible, to regulate only where absolutely necessary, and to involve business as an equal partner when drawing up new regulation that affects it.

It also welcomed the adoption of specific CPS recommendations, such as ensuring regulators take account of the impact of their decisions on competition, growth and innovation; simplifying reporting burdens for small and medium sized companies; and pushing forward with the freeports agenda.

But it warned that much tougher deregulatory targets will be needed, as well as a sustained push from the centre.

Robert Colvile, Director of the Centre for Policy Studies, said: Fixing our regulatory system is one of the great opportunities of Brexit. But that needs to apply to all regulations, not just those inherited from Brussels.

The 1 billion target for cutting post-Brexit regulation is headline-grabbing but relatively unambitious. We need more detail on what will replace the current system of regulatory budgeting and business impact targets, which are due to expire. It is especially concerning to note that a one-in-two-out system was considered but rejected apparently because it will be too difficult to implement alongside Net Zero.

Above all, the better regulation agenda needs a strong and dedicated champion at the centre of Whitehall, with the power to hold others feet to the fire. The lesson of the past is that if departments and regulators are left to mark their own homework, any push for deregulation will have only a limited impact.

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Centre-right think tank calls for 'greater ambition' on post-Brexit regulation - Politics.co.uk

There is a lesser-known Robert Redford film, The Candidate, in which he plays a no-hope Democrat taking on a popular and well-liked Republican in a Californian election. After engaging unexpectedly well with the public and winning an improbable victory, he turns to one of his aides and asks, bewildered: What do we do now? The question is left hanging in the air like the back end of the bus in The Italian Job.

The script might as well have been written about Boris Johnson and the Brexit referendum campaign. It is nearly six years on from that victory, and two years on from Brexit itself. And yet it is still far from clear what if anything the Prime Minister intends to do with his victory.

We thought we knew what he wanted from Brexit. Had he not spent the referendum campaign advocating how leaving the EU would help us open up to the rest of the world? Had he not spent his early months as foreign secretary banging on about global Britain and how it was his mission to help Britain be more outward-looking and more engaged with the world than ever before?

Then there were the promises to take action on over-regulation, a subject which he had spent 25 years railing against and which formed an important part of the Daily Telegraph piece in March 2016 in which he explained why he had decided to campaign for Leave. The example he singled out then was of lorries, which he said could not be redesigned to make them safer for cyclists because of EU rules. There was the issue of tax, too. One of the benefits of leaving, he declared in May 2016, was that it would allow Britain to remove the 5 per cent VAT on household energy bills the lowest rate allowed under EU rules.

How are we doing when it comes to taking advantage of Britains newfound freedoms? The government has negotiated new trade deals with Australia and New Zealand. There are minor differences in the deals it has agreed with Canada and Japan compared with the deals to which Britain was party as a member of the EU. In the case of a further 70 countries, EU-negotiated deals have been rolled over, but no more. There has been no deal with the US, and none, it seems, is in prospect any time soon. There are negotiations with India and an application was submitted a year ago to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

There are, then, at least some signs of ambition over trade although we could be going more rapidly. Some have implored the government at least to establish some quick, basic trade deals or even unilateral tariff removals involving goods which we dont make in Britain anyway. Under EU membership, for example, we were hampered in making trade deals thanks to trainer manufacturers in Italy. But we dont make trainers in Britain and neither do we grow oranges, avocados and many other foods which we could open to free trade without offending a single UK producer.

With tax and regulation, perversely we seem to be drifting further towards the EU model, in spite of leaving the bloc. Given the perfect opportunity to enact his proposed elimination of VAT on fuel the prospect of bills rising by 50 per cent or more in April, as the governments price cap is raised and sharp inflation in wholesale energy prices is allowed to work itself through the Prime Minister has refused to act, saying there is no need for a tax cut for people who can afford higher energy bills.

What about the Common Agricultural Policy, which forms by far the biggest slice of the EU budget? Brexit gave Britain the chance to chop the 3 billion a year paid to farmers under the scheme payments not for producing food but simply for owning land. Cut out that bill and we would be a sixth of the way to doing what it said on the side of the Vote Leave bus (We send the EU 350 million a week; lets fund our NHS instead): farm subsidies work out at 58 million a week. Yet the government has instead reinvented CAP at a UK level, with landowners receiving money for sustainable farming and, more controversially, for rewilding. In other words, wealthy landowners will continue to receive fat sums from the public purse not to produce food on their land, just as they did under the CAP.

For years, Britain was instrumental in shaping the EUs antipathy to state aid for industry, making it more difficult for governments to use taxpayers money to give companies an unfair advantage or to bail out failing industries. You might expect, therefore, an independent Britain to be moving in a more laissez-faire direction. Instead, we have the Subsidy Control Bill, the whole ethos of which is to make it easier for public bodies, including local authorities, to provide aid for favoured companies.

What about the EUs social chapter, which Britain was allowed to opt out of when agreeing to the Maastricht Treaty but which Tony Blair later signed up for anyway? If Johnson has any intention of rowing back on some of its rules there is scant sign of it yet. No piece of legislation has been proposed along those lines, and nor should employers expect any. Indeed, if anything, we can expect more EU-style employment rules to be piled on business in coming years the Conservatives 2019 manifesto, for example, promised to encourage flexible working and consult on making it the default unless employers have good reasons not to. Then there is the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which duplicates existing welfare legislation as well an imposing a ban on exports of live animals and which an earlier Johnson might have attacked like red meat thrown to a starving dog.

As for the tax burden, membership of the EU didnt stop us from having one of the lowest rates of employment taxes in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development with a worker on the national average wage paying 31 per cent of their earnings, compared with 47 per cent in France, 49 per cent in Germany and 52 per cent in Belgium. Anyone who fooled themselves into thinking that Brexit would free us to move to a lower tax burden, perhaps rivalling that of Korea (23 per cent) or Chile (just 7 per cent), will be disappointed in April rates will be going up as National Insurance is raised by 1.25 percentage points. Corporation tax, too, will be rising over the coming years from 19 per cent to 25 per cent not, of course, that being members of the EU prevented us from attracting business investment through low rates (as Ireland shows). The only EU-related tax cut we have had so far is the removal of VAT on tampons.

The one thing that can be said to have changed since Brexit is migration. EU citizens can no longer automatically come to Britain to live or work they require visas and sponsors, and, in most cases, a job which pays them a salary of at least 25,600 a year. We dont yet have a whole years data to show the effect of this the most recently published figures are for the year ending March 2020, when 715,000 people came to live in Britain and 403,000 left, giving a net migration figure of 313,000. Migration is widely believed to have fallen since then, and this has certainly been blamed for shortages of some workers, as well as for increased wages for some British workers such as lorry drivers although the pandemic has rendered it impossible to judge the real effect of Brexit on EU migration.

Slowing down low-skilled migration from the EU, however, is only one side of the ledger. The other side, promised as part of global Britain, was supposed to be making it easier for high-skilled workers from other parts of the world. How is that going? In early January the Prime Minister appeared to row back on promises to make it easier and cheaper for Indian citizens to come to study or work in Britain, saying that he wont be including the subject of visas in negotiations for an Indian trade deal. So, for the moment, Indian citizens must continue to pay 1,400 for a work visa and 348 for a student visa. So much for going out of your way to attract global talent.

The purpose of Brexit, surely, was to decouple from the European model of social democracy and to become something different: either a socialist economy or a more liberal one. You can be sure that if Jeremy Corbyn had won the 2019 election Britain would be well on its way to the former. But there is scant sign of Johnson taking us anywhere close to the latter. If we were going to become simply a different brand of European social democracy, it is hard to tell what it was all for. But that is, for the moment, exactly what we are becoming: we are the Pepsi to the EUs Coca-Cola close your eyes and taste it and you would struggle to tell the difference. If that is all we are going to aspire to be, it is perfectly reasonable to ask: wouldnt we be better off inside the EU?

True, we are still in a pandemic, as we have been for almost all the time since Brexitday on 31 January 2020. There has been a limit to how much other business the government has been able to get done. But at the very least we ought to have expected the Prime Minister to signal his intentions, to provide us with a vision and some kind of timetable. Instead, like Robert Redfords character, he seems lost, befuddled by the realisation he now has to achieve something for his voters. Fewer eastern Europeans and no tampon tax doesnt seem quite enough to justify the whole agonising business of Brexit.

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The abandoned revolution: has the government given up on Brexit? - Spectator.co.uk

Monday 31 January 2022 9:48 am

Scotland has not seen any benefits from Brexit, a minister has said ahead of a meeting with the UK Government.

Scotlands Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon hit out at the UK leaving the EU two years on from the finalisation of a deal to leave the bloc.

Ahead of a meeting of the inter-ministerial group for environment, food and rural affairs which brings together ministers from the devolved administrations and the UK Government Ms Gougeon pointed to the impacts of leaving the EU on the food and drink industry north of the border.

Two years on, Brexit has failed to deliver a single benefit for Scotlands rural communities, or the countless food and drink businesses that support them, she said.

Fragile rural and island communities are bearing the brunt of a hard Brexit, recklessly pursued while a global pandemic has ravaged our society and our economy.

Scotlands food and drink sector has been a global success story, providing highly paid, highly skilled jobs, and businesses, often in remote rural and island communities.

Brexit has caused labour and skills shortages and created barriers to trade that have harmed many businesses and communities in the short term, with research suggesting a significant risk to their success in the longer term too.

The Scottish Government has previously called for a 24-month visa for temporary workers to alleviate pressure on the sector.

Ms Gougeon also pushed for the UK Government to engage with the EU to ease the red tape faced by exporting businesses.

Scottish exporters are also being forced to cope with a mountain of complex, time-consuming and costly customs and borders arrangements, she said.

Businesses put in huge amounts of preparation for the new Export Health Certificates introduced this year, but they still face uncertainty around the level of certification needed to ensure valuable seafood exports enter the EU without delay.

The UK Government must listen to the needs of Scottish businesses and re-engage in good faith with the EU to find pragmatic solutions to the problems still facing businesses, before they and the communities they support endure further unnecessary pain.

A spokesman for the UK Government said: Our zero tariffs and zero quotas trade and cooperation agreement has allowed us to take back control of our money, borders, laws, and our waters, as well as enable us to strike trade deals with the worlds fastest-growing markets.

We want to ensure that businesses get the support they need to trade effectively with Europe and to seize new opportunities from our trade deals.

Thats why in addition to the 20m SME Brexit Support Fund we are operating export helplines, running webinars with experts and offering businesses support via our network of 300 international trade advisers.

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'Brexit has failed to deliver a single benefit while communities bear the brunt', angry Scottish minister tells UK govt - City A.M.