Category Archives: Brexit

More could have been done on deregulation since Brexit, as the Government could be "bolder" in areas such as agriculture and financial services, economists have said.

Julian Jessop, an independent economist and former Chief Economist for the Institute of Economic Affairs, told Express.co.uk: With or without Brexit, I think there are lots of things that Government can do to deregulate the economy, things like the planning laws.

Planning laws have nothing to do with the membership of the EU.

"But that's an area where the Government has made good noises, but then backed down a bit.

"So I think there might be a bit of caution about seizing the opportunities of Brexit.

There are lots of things the government could do in areas like agriculture and financial services, where the industry has been held back by what the EU rules had been.

So the Government could be a lot bolder there and that would be, I think, a good example of how the benefits of Brexit can be realised.

Originally posted here:

Brexit LIVE: 'Void it now!' Furious demands hated deal is torn up after Sefcovic threats - Daily Express

Opponents of Britains decision to leave the European Union have often wrung their hands and predicted a whole series of negative consequences.But heres one that hardly anybody foresaw: that the United Kingdom might become a major center for the trade in plundered antiquities.

Among the EU laws that the U.K. has repealed in a bid to differentiate itself from the bloc following Brexitis a measure aimed at suppressing the trade in ancient objects stolen from war-torn countries, like Syria and Iraq.

Critics of the move claim that by scrapping this measure,the U.K. is in danger of further encouraging a trade that is already flourishing in Britain.

The most infamous recent example of a looted artifact was handed back to Iraq at a repatriation ceremony in Washington, D.C., in the fall: a 3,500-year-old clay tablet. Inscribed in cuneiform script,the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet, believed to be the worlds oldest surviving work of literature, was pillaged from an Iraqi museum during the first Gulf War.

It may have been seized and returned by the United States, but as Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite pointed out during the repatriation ceremony, the stolen tablet first surfaced in London.

The tablet turned up in the U.K. in 2001, Polite said. It was then smuggled to the U.S. and sold for $50,000.

The fact that this priceless object, whichwaseventually sold for $1.6 million to an American museum, was traffickedin London does not cause much surprise in the U.K.

For various reasons, London has become an important center in this illicit trade, observed archaeologist Mark Altaweel of University College London. He said the trade in looted artifacts especially in lower-profileitems like coins, mosaics and jewelry has boomed in the British capital in recent years.

Because its very much a global city, its a key point where traders and others have come to. Many people here have connections to other parts of the world, Altaweel said, adding that in his view the laws banning the importation of stolen artifacts are not enforced rigorously enough in Britain.

The post-Brexit decision to repeal EU antiquities legislation makes matters worse, said Fionnuala Rogers, chair of Blue Shield United Kingdom, a group dedicated to protecting cultural property.

Now that the U.K. has left the EU and the EU has brought in much stronger legislation, the U.K. is going to be vulnerable because our legislation is much weaker comparatively, Rogers said.

Unlike the EU, the U.K. doesnt now require an import license to bring antiquities into the country, and anyone caught importing stolen artifactscan only be convicted of an offense if it can be proven that they knew the item was illegal, which is quite a high bar for prosecutors to clear. The disparity between EU and UK law is going to cause trouble, Rogers said.

The problem with having Europe with a much stricter piece of legislation and the U.K. with essentially nothing comparable, it automatically makes the U.K. a gateway, she said.

Her main anxiety centers on one of the most contentious features of the Brexit withdrawal agreement: the unique status of Northern Ireland. The British province retains a wide-open border withthe Irish Republic, and therefore with the European Union.

Rogers fears that criminal gangs may ship looted objects quite easily into the U.K. mainland and then useNorthern Ireland as a backdoor into the EU.

Over time, that backdoor is likely to become an even more attractive option for the smugglers as the EU tightens its controls on every other stretch of its external border.

Neil Brodie, an archaeologist with Oxford University, believes that the EU will enact further measures aimed at discouraging this illicit trade. Two of the key member states demand nothing less.

The European Union includes countries such as Italy and Greece, which historically have been subject to quite heavy looting and the theft of their cultural objects, their antiquities, Brodie said. These countries have a long history of being victims of this trade, and their opinions and policy priorities will always be taken on board by the EU.

The Greeks have been at loggerheads with the Brits for decades over this very issue. The government in Athens recently stepped up its long campaign for the return of the greater part of the Parthenons marble frieze, which it says the U.K.stole in the early 1800s and now resides in the British Museum.

The Brits, said Brodie, seem to have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to the trade in looted artifacts.

We have a history in a way of benefiting from it culturally and financially. So the urgency and the impetus isnt there to act against it in the way the Europeans will, Brodie said.

In a statement, the British government said: We remain committed to combatting illicit trade in cultural objects and believe that existing U.K. law is sufficient to deal with this issue.

But the campaign to toughen up the U.K. law goes on.

The campaigners argue that a crackdown is imperative as the illicit antiquities trade causes so much damage, not least providing finance for terrorist groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaida.

This trade is one of the top earners for these violent groups, and they use that money to perpetuate that violence, buying more arms, buying more weapons, recruiting more people, said archaeologistAltaweel, whos worked on excavation sites in northern Iraq.

This trade also damages our knowledge. It destroys the context in which these items were found, he said.

Altaweel has a keen personal as well as academic interest in Iraqi artifacts. He was born in Baghdad and left at the age of 7 when his parents migrated to America. He believes that the theft of antiquities undermines the cultural cohesion of war-torn countries like Iraq and further hobbles their chances of recovery.

Theres a loss of the kind of things that can help heal societies and bring cultures together, he said.

At that repatriation ceremony in Washington in the fall, the Iraqi Minister of Culture Hassan Nazim made the same point as he took possession of the Gilgamesh Dream Tablet and scores of other looted artifacts that the U.S. authorities had seized and were handing back.

Recovering Iraqi artifacts means recovering Iraqs self-esteem, he said. It means restoring Iraqs confidence.

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Will Brexit turn the U.K. into a hub for the trade in looted antiquities? - Marketplace

"I'm not going anywhere. I'm happy here and this is my home."

Ewa Gluza came to the UK in August 2003, the year before Poland joined the European Union. Even with Britain now outside the bloc, she has no intention of going back.

"Immediately after the Brexit vote I thought, 'Oh my God, they don't want us anymore'. I remember going to work and people telling me 'We want you to stay'," she says.

Now 47, Ewa is chair of the Oxford Polish Association (OPA), an accounts clerk at Oxford University's Hertford College and she also runs her own bookkeeping firm for mostly Polish self-employed clients.

About 10 percent of her Polish bookkeeping clients have gone back home since Brexit, including cleaners, health workers and people in construction.

"Of course, a lot of people are going back now. One reason is Brexit, but another is having parents to care for, and of course some people - especially labourers - lost their jobs in the pandemic. Some went back to see how the situation was in Poland, and found it was pretty good," she tells Euronews.

The years since the UK voted for Brexit have seen many EU citizens return to their home countries, a trend accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic. Latest figures show tens of thousands more people left than arrived in 2020 a near-40% rise on the previous year.

Polish people the largest national group are no exception. Official statistics also suggest the number living in the UK has tumbled from over a million in 2017 to 738,000 in 2020.

But some are sceptical about their accuracy. "These figures also feel a bit weird given that at the same time the Home Office has had 1.1 million applications to the EU Settlement Scheme from Poles," says Polish journalist Jakub Krupa.

The fact that so many have sought to remain in the UK is perhaps unsurprising, given how anchored they are in their local communities. Ewa Gluza says when Poland joined the EU, the OPA set up a Polish school with around 20 students. Today, it has some 250, plus a waiting list.

"We set up (the OPA) to try to engage with the community here, and not be outside. We wanted to promote our culture but also to teach people how to live in the UK; we have afternoon teas and Christmas dinners. Some families still struggle with the language barrier and watch Polish TV, but that's very rare now here.

"Most families here in the UK now have decided there's no reason to leave. Sometimes their children don't want to go."

But staying in Britain after Brexit has not been straightforward. Although the divorce deal granted the right to remain, EU nationals have had to apply for residency via the UK's EU Settlement Scheme.

Krzysia Balinska, coordinator for Polish Migrants Organise for Change (POMOC), says the difficulties many have encountered have played a key part in their decisions to leave the UK and go home.

"A critical issue for the Polish people after Brexit is the lack of clarity around the EU Settlement Scheme. Even people who received the Settled Status from the Home Office are facing difficulties that did not exist before Brexit: when applying for jobs, trying to obtain a mortgage or to receive health care people are asked to prove their immigration status," she told Euronews in an emailed response.

The lack of physical proof of residency status it exists only digitally has aggravated the problems, Balinska says. This has also caused trouble for people at borders, especially when people travel with a different document than the one listed on their digital status leading to some being turned away or even sent to detention centres.

"There is a number of people who did not apply for the scheme on time because the government failed to reach them with culturally and linguistically appropriate information," she explained, adding that others had left after experiencing different administrative problems, or for family reasons.

For some Poles, if Brexit was making them consider their future, COVID-19 made up their minds for them. Krzystof Dworny, 51, runs a minicab firm in London, has lived in the UK for 15 years. He told Euronews that many Polish-run firms have gone under.

"I barely survived, only because I had a contract with one large Polish company. Throughout COVID the whole tourism industry collapsed and theyre still robbing people by having them do PCR tests. If it continues like this, tourism will not recover," he said.

Business for Krzystof is also complicated by the UK's strict post-Brexit immigration regime. The labour shortage is affecting his sector too but amid the poor state of UK-EU relations, he sees little prospect of the government extending visa schemes to allow Poles and other Europeans back into the country.

"They will seek help and bring drivers and other workers from the Philippines, Indonesia, Pakistan and so on, he said. "Now they need help because they're drowning. But when they get help, they will thank you as they always do: 'Get out of our country'."

The huge influx of EU workers into Britain was one of the key reasons people voted for Brexit. The irony is that some sectors are finding the departed Poles hard to replace.

"There's a huge shortage of builders now. I get phone calls from building companies almost every day asking me (for contacts), because they can't find anyone. They also have to pay more now. That will continue now because of the expensive visa process," says Ewa Gluza in Oxford.

She believes the UK's offer of visas for HGV drivers this winter should be extended to cover other sectors.

Another factor cited over the departure of Poles from Britain is the essence of Brexit itself: the UK is no longer part of the EU.

"Those who left because of Brexit didnt want restrictions caused by being outside the European Union. Either it was time to go home where there were opportunities, or look for a job elsewhere in Europe where they had more respect for working people," Krzystof Dworny says.

It's clear that the warm welcome and degree of assimilation that Ewa Gluza has experienced is not universally shared.

The phrase her Oxford workmates used after the Brexit vote 'we want you to stay' was famously uttered by then Prime Minister Theresa May, as the rights of EU citizens living in the UK were questioned in the aftermath.

But as home secretary (interior minister), May herself had instigated the policy which many blame for fostering a culture of hostility towards immigrants. Krzysia Balinska of POMOC says this extends to Poles in Britain today.

"Government does not send inclusive messages towards EU nationals which results in increase in discrimination in the workplace and other public areas. It is part of the hostile environment that British institutions are generating towards all migrants."

Excerpt from:

A year since Brexit: How welcome do Poles living in the UK feel now? - Euronews

Former US President Donald Trump had been a big fan of Brexit and regularly talked up the imminent prospect of a lucrative trade agreement between the US and UK. But his defeat in the US presidential election a year ago has seen talks between the two sides seemingly hit a wall, with Mr Biden frequently voicing his frustration at the UK's implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol. During his presidential campaign Mr Biden, who is of Irish heritage, warned he would "ensure there was no US-UK trade deal if the implementation of Brexit imperils the Good Friday agreement.

He has also repeatedly warned the UK to not make the Good Friday Agreement a casualty of Brexit.

Nile Gardiner, a foreign policy analyst and former aide to Margaret Thatcher, has launched a stinging attack against the Biden administration, warning there is now "a lot of tension in the UK-US relationship".

He believes that is a result of perceived "animosity" towards Brexit and an "unwillingness" to press ahead with the free trade deal with Brexit Britain.

Mr Gardiner also claimed Mr Biden's presidency "has been hugely unhelpful" in regards to relations between the two sides, branding his foreign policy a "complete disaster" following the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan earlier this year.

The foreign policy analyst told Express.co.uk: "There is a lot of tension in the UK-US special relationship.

"That is the result of the Biden Administration's animosity towards Brexit and the unwillingness from that administration to move forward with a US-UK free trade deal.

"The Biden presidency has been hugely unhelpful in regards to UK-US relations and Biden's foreign policy has been a complete disaster, as we saw with the Afghanistan withdrawal, damaging the US standing in the world.

"There isn't any momentum from the Administration to move forward with a trade deal.

READ MORE:Brexit Live: Boom! Sefcovic warns Truss of 'collapse' over hated deal

In 2019, then-President Mr Trump hammered the EU with tariffs of 25 percent on steel products and 10 percent on aluminium - when the UK was still a member of the bloc.

The US has since scrapped tariffs on EU steel but has failed to do the same for the UK.

Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported post-Brexit tensions with the EU over Northern Ireland are partly behind the delay in talks over a trade deal between the US and UK.

Government ministers were reported to have acknowledged some US figures are concerned about the UK's approach to Northern Ireland.

But they insisted the trade row with the US is entirely separate to Brexit negotiations.

A Whitehall source told The Telegraph: We want to see tariffs dropped on both sides. But it needs to be on terms that work for the UK steel industry.

It's good their department of commerce released a statement recently saying the administration will engage with the UK on trade issues like aluminium and steel.

"Now it's high time we get on and sort this issue.

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Joe Biden blasted over Brexit 'animosity' and warned over UK-US trade deal 'tension' - Daily Express

Boris Johnson: Brexit to fix 'broken' UK economy model

Goldman Sachs economists have forecast the UK economy will jump by 4.8 percent next year - easily trumping the 3.5 percent predicted for the US, four percent for Germany and 4.4 percent for European Union juggernauts France and Italy. In a further boost, experts from HSBC expect UK GDP to grow by 4.7 percent over the next 12 months, with its forecasts for the rest of the G7 nations ranging from 2.2 percent for Japan and 4.3 percent for Italy.

Britain formally left the EU on January 1, 2021 and, since then, output has surged by almost seven percent as the country battled back from a deep recession. It was triggered by Covid lockdowns that saw GDP plummet by nearly 10 percent in 2020.

The latest forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also show the UK economy is set to outperform the EU's top economies and that of the Eurozone as a whole this year and next.

For 2021, Brexit Britain's economy is forecast to grow by 6.76 percent - more than double that of Germany (3.05 percent) - the EU's largest economy.

EU economies combined are predicted to grow at an average of 5.1 percent, while this number falls even further for the Eurozone to 5.04 percent.

Looking ahead to 2022, UK growth is forecast at 5.01 percent, while this again falls for the EU27 (4.44 percent) and the Eurozone (4.35 percent).

Claus Vistesen at Pantheon Macroeconomics - which downgraded UK growth to 4.2pc and the 3.8 percent for the Eurozone due to the Omicron Covid outbreak - highlighted how the UK is having to make up more ground because of the depth of the recession in 2020, meaning its growth can be quicker.

But in a huge warning to Europe, he told The Daily Telegraph: The Eurozone economy is probably going to be hit harder by Omicron because already in the fourth quarter, before Omicron, we saw restrictions in Europe due to the Delta wave.

So I would say the total hit to output is probably going to be bigger in the Eurozone than the UK.

READ MORE:'Knowingly lied' Macron savaged across France as Covid rules come in

The UK has the added advantage of a faster vaccine booster programme which could help limit some of the severity of lockdown restrictions.

Mr Vistesen added: The booster programmes take time to roll out. The UK is, like early on [in the pandemic] going very fast, but is still staring down restrictions.

I dont think that will be very different in Europe - even as Europe ramps up boosters, which they are, it is not going to prevent restrictions being imposed in the near-term.

Martin Beck, senior economic adviser to the EY Item Club, said the UK's recovery depends on a positive reaction from consumers, who have been willing to buy more goods during the pandemic but whose confidence may have taken hit from the Omicron outbreak.

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The expert has predicted the UK economy should begin to pick up as activity is supported by very strong household finances from savings, paying down debt and higher house prices, combined with traditional British consumer appetite to spend".

A primary reason GDP plummeted so much compared to a number of other similar economies during the pandemic is the country's official numbers go further to estimate public services output as opposed to only money spent on them.

This means other nations frequently understated the scale of their own economic problems.

Mr Beck said: Measurement of public sector output cast the UK in a bad light during lockdowns, but will be a plus as things get back to normal."

Brexit Britain has also enjoyed a number of huge wins in 2021 in the first full year since it departure from the EU.

Lucrative trade deals have been signed, including one with Australia earlier this month which the UK Government described as an "historic" agreement - the first from scratch since leaving the EU.

Global companies are also being attracted to the UK, including oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, which is scrapping its dual share structure and moving its head office to the UK from the Netherlands.

Last month, car manufacturing giant Nissan announced its huge Sunderland plant will be at the centre of a 13.2billion investment, with the hub being used to develop 23 electric cars by 2030.

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Brexit Britain to outpace every other G7 economy in 2022 - beating the US and Germany - Express

Post-Brexit changes to Britains immigration rules have triggered an unprecedented collapse in bookings for school trips from the continent, organisers say, with countries such as Ireland and the Netherlands now more popular than the UK.

While the pandemic has depressed European school travel in general, the number of short-stay educational visits planned in 2022 to alternative EU destinations where English is widely spoken is significantly higher than inquiries for UK visits.

Operators say that while Britains day two Covid test requirement is a factor, by far the most significant is the UKs decision not to accept EU group passports or identity cards from 1 October, instead requiring full passports plus expensive individual visas for non-EU pupils.

The British government has said the collapse is because of the pandemic and that the measures are needed to strengthen the security of our border, but critics say they are unnecessary for under-18s on short, organised trips with teachers.

They argue the slump will deprive UK host families, hostels and attractions of valuable income, and also inflict longer-term damage since school trips can prove formative experiences, promoting intercultural exchange and forging greater mutual understanding.

Eurovoyages, a big French school trips operator, said that as of last month it had received 53 requests for short-stay visits to Ireland next year, as well as others for the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic.

We have received precisely two requests for the UK, one of which has already changed its mind and decided to visit Ireland, said Monique Tissot Martel, the companys general manager. Schools have forgotten the UK was a destination.

Tissot Martel said that French schools wanting an English-speaking environment were even considering going to Normandy, where British host families and youth hostels with native speakers were offering immersive English stays.

It is really a shame, as trips to the UK were very popular, she said. In 2019 we sent more than 11,000 students to the UK. Next year it will be between zero and 100.

Peter Adam said his company, CTS Reisen in Lemgo, Germany, had sent more than 1,200 school groups and 37,000 pupils to the UK in 2019 but had had no firm bookings for 2022. About 80% of the companys customers that regularly booked trips to the UK were choosing alternative destinations, he said.

The majority see the UK as too difficult now, Adam said. Covid-19 restrictions were not the problem, he added, even if they are tougher in the UK than in other European countries, and parents were often prepared to pay the extra cost of obtaining a full passport instead of an EU identity card.

The biggest issue was the EU list of travellers group passport, which is no longer valid for travelling to the UK, he said. About 4% of all pupils in Germany are not EU nationals. They cant afford a visa. Teachers dont like to leave them at home so are choosing other destinations, such as Amsterdam or Copenhagen, he said.

In the UK, Susan Jones of LinguaStay, a UK homestay accommodation provider that usually welcomes 10,000 continental schoolchildren a year into about 300 host families in Chester, said the slump was absolutely dramatic.

Continental schools typically sent about a million pupils to the UK each year on organised trips, Jones said, with France and Germany alone accounting for 850,000. But for the February to June season, it was now clear that schools across the continent had completely abandoned the UK for other countries, she said.

These children learn English staying in host families, she said. They mix with the local community, take part in workshops such as drama and cookery, have integration days at local schools and guided tours of cities and tourist attractions. They travel off peak, which helps many smaller UK towns and businesses outside peak season.

Verdi Voyages, a French company that in 2019 sent 800 coachloads of schoolchildren to England, said it had received just 146 inquiries for UK trips next year, a fall of 80%. By contrast, inquiries for trips to Ireland were down only 40%.

Requests are down for all destinations because of Covid, said Marie Bayol, the companys accommodation manager. The slump in interest for the UK is due to Brexit, a second impact that makes our main destination almost unsaleable, she said.

Edward Hisbergues of PG Trips, a French operator specialising in English-speaking countries, said that besides the passport and visa issue, business to the UK had fallen more sharply than elsewhere because of Britains day two test requirement.

His company normally books 80% of school trips to the UK and 20% to Ireland. For next year it is more like 10% of requests for the UK and everything else is focused on Ireland, even though it is more expensive, he said.

You only need an EU identity card to travel there, for non-EU students the list of travellers is still accepted, and as far as Covid is concerned the EU health pass is sufficient. People much prefer to pay a little more but not have all the UK constraints.

Jones said the sector was pushing for EU nationals coming to the UK on organised short school trips to be allowed to enter with an ID card, and for non-EU nationals travelling with them to enter with just a passport. It just seems such a small gesture compared to the benefits, she said. Not just the economic benefit, but the soft power.

Morag Anderson of ETSUK, another British homestay company, said the governments stance was shortsighted. Give me a child at 12 years old on a school trip to the UK, Anderson said, and I give you a future higher education student, employee, researcher, entrepreneur, tourist with family and friends And a future parent, encouraging a future child to travel, work and study in the UK. Once this cycle is interrupted, there is no going back.

Read the original:

Almost unsaleable: slump in school trips to UK blamed on Brexit - The Guardian

Published:7:00 AM December 29, 2021

Tim Jones, chairman of North Devon Biosphere Foundation:

Evidence is beginning to emerge on the true effect of the Brexit decision on a wide range of businesses throughout Northern Devon.

In 2020, before we completed the exit, the levels of trade averaged 42 per cent of our regional exports and 52 per cent of our regional imports.

There were no particular countries within the EU who were our strongest trading partners.

In fact, looking at individual countries, it was the USA who were our largest trading partner, accounting for just over 20 per cent of our exports and 13 per cent of our imports.

Since then, the situation has significantly reversed.

UK trade with the EU fell sharply between the end of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.

On average, our exports fell by around 18 per cent and our imports fell by around 25 per cent.

It was always expected that there would be a major correction.

Under the terms of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, most issues were resolved except for that between the European Union and Northern Ireland where the provisions of a special protocol apply.

There has recently been much publicity regarding this and our EU negotiator - Lord Frost - is in some very testing dialogue with officials.

Whilethere are no tariffs on goods traded between the EU and the UK, goods must meet the relevant 'rules of origin', which determine the 'economic nationality'of goods.

Goods are also subject to Customs formalities and must meet all EU standards and are subject to regular regulatory checks.

Our latest research indicates that the paperwork bureaucracy and red tape has dramatically affected trade volumes.

It is estimated that local firms are having to commit one or two of their highly skilled staff to fire fight.

It would seem that many EU businesses cannot be bothered with the whole issue of validating 'proof of origin'.

The UK therefore has a much lower priority.

If you look further into the reasons for these difficulties, then quite quickly it emerges that much of the red tape originates from the UK.

We are supposed to have specialist departments dealing with UK marking and certification, however, the complexity which is largely caused in Whitehall involving such things as Customs Codes and alignment of different digital systems, is slowly squeezing the life out of these previously valuable markets and reducing the motivation for businesses to engage.

These problems also spill over into the recruitment of EU labour.

It is estimated that the South West has lost around 10,000 EU workers.

The Government have recognised the difficulties this is causing, particularly in agriculture and healthcare.

They are rapidly increasing the flexibility of this process, however, the reality is that in order to bring labour into our region from the EU it is still necessary to navigate the 50-page manual for online visa processing.

One of the reasons we left the EU was because of the perception that European bureaucrats imposed huge amounts of red tape.

It has always been known that these regulations have been 'gold plated'by Whitehall.

Now the full facts are emerging as to the extent of this disruption.

It is a simple fact that Northern Devon has had and should continue to have strong trading relationships with our nearest neighbours.

This is a market rich in opportunities and it is currently being stifled for the wrong reasons.

There is growing evidence that we are replacing some of our lost export trade with countries around the world outside the EU.

This is, however, a slow process.There is, for example, no evidence of a trade agreement with the USA.Other countries have achieved agreements but, in many cases, they have taken years to complete.

We should therefore now develop a strong, evidenced based, lobbying initiative with Government.

Our MPs and public sector bodies will want to support this work, as it will define the future growth for Northern Devon.

The urgency of developing a strong advocacy document is extreme.

This should therefore be a high priority for the first few weeks of the New Year.

Read this article:

Brexit decision was this good or bad for Northern Devon? - North Devon Gazette

On 13 December 2021 the Dutch government answered parliamentary questions concerning the recognition and enforcement of post-Brexit UK judgments in the Netherlands (the Answers). Whilst some Dutch practitioners, legal scholars and at least one particular court argued that parties could revert to the old 1967 Convention on the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil matters between the UK and the Netherlands (the 1967 Convention), the Dutch government takes the position that the 1967 Convention no longer applies. How then are post-Brexit UK judgments recognized and enforced in the Netherlands?

UKs exit from Brussels I Regulation Recast and 2007 Lugano Convention

In our previous Brexit Blog 12 we discussed that the Brussels I Regulation Recast and 2007 Lugano Convention are no longer applicable to the UK.

Despite attempts by the UK to rejoin the 2007 Lugano Convention, the European Commission prevented it from doing so, arguing that the convention is an auxiliary measure for the EUs economic relations with countries that are members of the European Free Trade Association. Fundamental freedoms and policies of the single market are not included in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement between the UK and the EU. The European Commission considers the multilateral 2005 Hague Choice of Court Convention (the 2005 Hague Convention) and the 2019 Hague Conference Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Judgments (2019 Judgments Convention) a suitable framework for judicial cooperation with the UK in civil and commercial matters.

The Dutch government has argued that in view of the intensive legal services and trade relationship between the UK and the EU (and the Netherlands in particular), the UKs accession to the 2007 Lugano Convention would offer businesses and citizens legal certainty in cross-border disputes. For now, however, accession of the UK to the 2007 Lugano Convention seems unlikely. The Dutch government has indicated in its Answers that it will strive to ensure that further discussion on the UKs request for accession to the 2007 Lugano Convention can take place at a later moment, taking into account all relevant considerations.

Recognition and enforcement of post-Brexit UK judgments in the Netherlands

Legal practitioners, scholars and one Dutch court (ECLI:NL:RBOVE:2018:4365) have assumed that the 1967 Convention would govern the recognition and enforcement of post-Brexit UK judgments in the Netherlands. The Dutch government has now made it clear that following the UKs accession to the 1968 Brussels Convention the 1967 Convention was replaced and lost its relevance for the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. To this day, the 1967 Convention only remains in force and effect in respect of (i) the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey and (ii) the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The question then remains which (international) rules govern the recognition and enforcement of UK judgments in the Netherlands. The Answers of the Dutch government provide for some guidance:

In other words, post-Brexit judgments obtained in the UK can still quite easily be recognized and enforced in the Netherlands pursuant to the 2005 Hague Convention (if applicable) and in any event based on article 431 DCCP, with the side note that a Dutch judgment (in Dutch legal proceedings) needs to be obtained first if the latter route is followed.

Finally, the government states in its Answers state that the Dutch State Commission on Private International Law is expected to present its recommendations on a revision of article 431 DCCP by spring 2022. The aim will be to introduce a fully-fledged statutory regulation for the recognition and enforcement of judgments from countries with no enforcement treaty with the Netherlands.

Read the original:

Brexit Blog 13: Recognition and enforcement of UK judgments in the Netherlands: the Dutch government gives some guidance - Lexology

L-charge is planning to bring its mobile superchargers to London in 2022. The Russian company will be hoping to take advantage of the growing EV market and benefit from the limited charging infrastructure that exists in the capital. The start-ups truck-mounted chargers run on liquefied natural gas (LNG), hydrogen or a mixture of the two and do not need to be connected to a power grid.

L-charge founder Dmitry Lashin has claimed the company runs the world's only mobile supercharger using LNG/hydrogen, which it operates in Moscow, where it receives five to six charging requests a day from the city's 1,000 EVs.

While the green plans may seem appealing, the reliance on Russian gas to power the vehicles may present an issue.

Thats because we have already seen what Russia is capable of when it comes to denying gas to the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been diverting gas flow to the East through pipelines which usually transit gas additional volumes Westward.

Many analysts claim he has done so in the hope to speed up the certification on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will transit gas from Russia to Germany, bypassing Poland and Ukraine, once it is up and running.

But the pipeline has been hit with delays and last month, it had its certification suspended by German regulators.

Russias state-owned gas conglomerate, Gazprom, and Mr Putin have claimed that Nord Stream 2 would be able to ramp up Europes gas supplies and would ease pressure on prices.

Their comments came after gas prices soared to record highs across the bloc, and even in the UK, as a result of the diversion of gas flows that took place last week.

This is why some may find a reliance on Russian gas to charge EVs in London a worrying prospect.

Anas Alhaji, an energy markets expert, wrote on Twitter in response to the news about L-charge: "Future of Europe?

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Back in July 2021, WhichEV reported that the UK had around 25,000 charging points for EVs.

While there is still uncertainty forecasts suggest more than 10 times this amount will be needed by 2030, according to WhichEV.

Mr Lashin said his privately-owned L-charge raised $1.5million (1.12million) in September and is seeking a partner to help it increase production to 2,000 mobile and stationary devices annually.

The company is also reportedly close to finishing production of two other superchargers.

While the LNG-powered chargers emit three times less CO2 per 100 kilometres than diesel cars, but more than grid-connected chargers in Europe, where L-charge intends to launch after London.

Britain currently has around 705,000 plug-in vehicles, 365,000 of which are fully electric, the ZAP-MAP platform for electric car drivers shows.

Of the 28,000 public charging devices, more than 9,000 are in Greater London.

But L-charge is not the only company planning to make its mark in Britian.

Back in March, InstaVolt documented its record number of charging activations, installing an additional 62 rapid chargers throughout the UK one month.

It plans for 5,000 chargers to be installed by 2025.

And last month, EV charging specialist Connected Kerb announced plans to deploy 190,000 EV chargers by 2030 as part of a 1.9billion rollout to level up access to EV charging in the UK.

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Brexit Britains net zero plans exposed as supplies to be 'dependent' on Russia - Daily Express

Britain and France have squabbled for decades over access to the rich fishing grounds around their Channel coasts. Under new rules enforced after Brexit, French fishermen must apply for a permit to enjoy unfettered access to UK waters.

Britain has so far approved more than 90 percent of fishing licences France has applied for.

But France has claimed UK officials are still withholding another 73 permits.

The UK Government issued 23 additional licences, but France has remained furious at the actions of the British.

Mr Macron's government has threatened to take retaliatory measures against Britain if more licences are not granted.

They accused the Government of failing to honour the terms of the EU trade deal.

Now, in his latest column in the Spectator, Professor John Keiger, warned Mr Macron has the most to lose if he continues with his anti-Brexit stance.

The former professor at the University of Cambridge said: "The one European power with the most to lose from Britain turning its gaze from the European continent is France.

"Irony indeed, given Emmanuel Macrons five-year anti-Brexit vendetta, further encouraging Londons pivot overseas.

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They must prove they accessed the waters at least one day a year between 2013 and 2016.

On December 9, Downing Street refused to back down in the face of fresh French threats of EU-wide retaliation if more licences were not granted.

On Christmas Eve, the French Europe minister, Clement Beaune, said will be a high-profile meeting with European Union representatives on January 4 and litigation at a special tribunal put in place by the Brexit accords will start in "the very first days of January".

France had initially warned it would sue Britain within a matter of days over the long-running row over post-Brexit fishing licences.

Mr Beaune - one of French President Emmanuel Macron's closest aides - had urged the EU to begin legal action after accusing the UK of refusing to grant enough fishing boat access.

He said: "We are going to ask the European Commission to initiate a legal procedure for the remaining licences that we feel that we are entitled to."

A European Commission spokesman had said they would "examine together with the French authorities the legal circumstances around every requested licence which has not been granted".

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is under fire for "betraying" the fishing industry to get Brexit done.

Former MEP June Mummery told Express.co.uk: "I can't tell you how betrayed I feel by Boris.

"He has betrayed the fishing industry and coastal communities.

"But the biggest betrayal is our ocean and Mother Nature. He has betrayed them as well.

"Our ocean is in crisis. It is betrayal."

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Macron has the most to lose from his Brexit 'vendetta' - Cambridge prof picks apart stance - Daily Express