Category Archives: Brexit

GBP/USD treads water around 1.3255-60 during the early Asian session on Tuesday, following a positive daily performance.

The cable pair fades the recovery strength as sluggish market sentiment and a lack of major catalysts challenge the buyers previous optimism surrounding Brexit and the Bank of Englands (BOE) next move. Also positive for the quote were receding fears of the South African covid variant, dubbed as Omicron, as well as hopes of finding a cure to the virus strain.

The UK Telegraph quotes sources to signal that the British diplomats are ready, even hesitantly, to offer more fishing licenses to the French fishermen to ease the Brexit drama surrounding Channel. The anticipated British move could be in response to the news, shared by the UK Express, that says, Ireland is to receive 920 million from an EU fund set up to mitigate the impact of Brexit.

Elsewhere, Sky News quotes the UKs leading scientist, Professor Francois Balloux, director of the University College London Genetics Institute to mention, The outbreak was now well underway, doubling every three to four days, adding it will quickly put the NHS under pressure. As per the latest official figures, shared by Reuters, 51,459 further cases of COVID-19 and 41 more deaths within 28 days of a positive test were reported versus 43,992 cases and 54 deaths marked the previous day. Britain's Health Security Agency said it found 90 new cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19, taking the total number identified so far to 336, said the news.

It should be noted that the Bank of England (BOE) Deputy Governor Ben Broadbents hawkish comments also strengthened the GBP/USD prices. Inflation is likely to soar comfortably above 5% next spring when the energy regulator Ofgem raises a price cap affecting millions of households, said BOEs Broadbent.

On a broader front, receding fears of the virus variant and hopes of finding a cure joined an absence of Fed rate hike chatters to favor the GBP/USD bulls. However, sluggish market conditions challenge the pairs moves of late, highlighting the need for fresh catalysts. As a result, second-tier UK data concerning Retail Sales and housing may gain attention. Though, headlines covering Brexit and Omicron will be the key.

A downward sloping trend line from late October, near 1.3280 at the latest, directs GBP/USD prices towards December 2020 lows near 1.3135. During the fall, the yearly bottom surrounding 1.3200 my offer an intermediate halt.

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GBP/USD hovers around 1.3250 as bulls doubt Brexit, BOE positives - FXStreet

Britain is thought to be preparing to alter how it implements the Brexit deal in order to give more licences to French fishermen. Environment Secretary George Eustice is planning to offer to let licences earmarked for certain vessels be transitioned to "replacement boats".

Hopes of a breakthrough on the issue come just days before Mr Macron's latest deadline for progress to be made on the matter.

France has for months accused the UK of failing to honour its commitments under the EU trade deal by issuing licences to those with historical access to British waters.

It said if more permits were not granted by December 10 it would take matters into its own hands, blocking ports and increasing customs checks on goods travelling to the UK.

The retaliatory action would risk causing chaos in the weeks leading up to Christmas, with many presents planned to be gifted on December 25 stuck on the continent.

READ MORE ON OUR BREXIT LIVE BLOG

Ministers also argue the actions would break international law.

A Government spokesman said: "Our approach on fisheries licensing has been reasonable and fully in line with our commitments.

"Overall, we have licensed nearly 1,700 EU vessels.

"We will continue to consider evidence in support of the remaining applications and discussions will continue with the European Commission this week."

EU boats must demonstrate they fished in UK waters each year between 2012 and 2016 to be granted a licence.

However, Britain is set to make concessions to France tomorrow by offering to give licences to fishermen even if they have changed vessels since then according to The Telegraph.

READ MORE:Brussels backed to falter as bitter feud with UK escalates

Mr Macron has picked a fight not only with Britain over the licences but also with the Channel Islands, accusing Jersey and Guernsey of also failing to issue correct licences under a similar deal struck with them.

It is hoped a further 49 permanent fishing licences issued last month will appease Paris.

Britain's eagerness to find a solution in the row comes despite deteriorating relations with Mr Macron's government.

Last week it was reported the French President has referred to Mr Johnson as "a clown".

He also intervened in Brexit negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

The President told Brussels not to cave to the British demands, calling talks a matter of "war or peace".

A senior Government source said: "The Prime Minister continues to be a staunch and public advocate for the strength of the UK-French relationship.

"Our approach will not change even if we have to wait until the other side of the French presidential election for a change of tone."

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Boris set to cave to Macron: UK capitulates in Brexit fishing row after France's threats - Daily Express

The Italian Marxist Antonio Gramsci has become an oft-quoted point of reference for commentators struggling to read the signs of these turbulent times. During the political turmoil of the 1930s we have read more than once Gramsci observed that: The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear. During the 2010s, the startling rise of the Scottish independence movement, the shock of the Brexit vote and the unexpected election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader cumulatively lent themselves to a similar style of diagnosis.

It seemed plausible to maintain that in various ways a 40-year settlement, inaugurated by Margaret Thatcher in 1979 and broadly accepted by successive Labour and Tory leaders, was breaking down. From resurgent nationalism on the right to a renewed commitment to nationalisation on the left, a realignment away from an era of economic liberalism and high globalisation has challenged orthodoxies across the spectrum. Something new was struggling to be born. But as 2021 draws to a close, it might be advisable to put the Gramsci away and look up the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsches doctrine of the Eternal Return of the Same.

Following the disorienting years of disruption, a restoration movement is gathering steam on both the Labour and Conservative sides of the parliamentary aisle. Its true that Boris Johnsons political future may depend on successfully shoring up the new electoral coalition forged in the get Brexit done election of 2019; and his instincts urge gamechanging investment in the red wall seats that went Tory two years ago. But small-state Tories are mounting a concerted attempt to reclaim Brexit from what the Spectator describes as the high-tax, high-spend European social democratic model reportedly being pursued by the prime minister.

From the back benches, free-market rebels such as Steve Baker and David Davies are weaponising widespread discontent at National Insurance rises to pay for social care reform. Baker, who is forming a low-tax campaigning group at Westminster, demanded a return to Thatcherite verities recently, telling the Sunday Times: We have to rediscover the kind of conservatism that cuts taxes, not raises them. Rishi Sunaks Treasury has brazenly positioned the chancellor as the frustrated champion of this agenda in a time of Johnsonian apostasy. Burnishing his old school credentials, Sunak breezily generated damaging red wall headlines by ruling out the eastern leg of HS2, and removing state-funded costs from the new 86,000 cap on personal liability for social care. Last month it was reported that no new money would be made available to fund the governments long-awaited levelling-up white paper, the publication of which is likely to be put back to next year. For context, Germany has spent 2tn on the ongoing economic rehabilitation of eastern states following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989; the governments levelling-up fund to deal with an equivalent north-south divide is 4.8bn.

Labour, as the shadow cabinet reshuffle underlined, is also turning to familiar strategies from the pre-Brexit era. Keir Starmer and the shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have begun to channel the spirit of New Labour circa 1996 by attacking Tory sleaze and promising fiscal restraint to be symbolised this time round by the creation of a new office of value for money. Talk of nationalisation of utilities is dismissed as belonging to the anomalous Corbynite interlude, and Ed Miliband has been defenestrated as business secretary after voicing public dissent. In a well-received speech that contrasted with the prime ministers Peppa Pig pratfalls, Starmer told the CBI conference in November that when business profits, we all do. The tone and style was redolent of Labours third way rhetoric in the 1990s. An approving Peter Mandelson subsequently commented: What the Labour party under Keir Starmer has to do is come back to the centre-left political ground and be much clearer about the role of markets and the private sector in partnership with the state. You begin to see that in Keirs speech to the CBI.

The point is not to denigrate understandable political positioning and calculation by Labour, or to present Johnson as a thwarted one-nation idealist who deserves our sympathy. Starmer is, of course, right to see government sleaze and the prime ministers erratic relations with business leaders post-Brexit as a political opportunity. Johnsons levelling-up agenda is the product of electoral circumstance rather than principle. But the restorationist politics of the moment seem dispiritingly small and lacking in ambition, given the challenges of the age.

The twin insurgencies represented by Corbyn and Brexit (in its red wall version) were a profound rejection of the political economy of the status quo ante. The shock caused by the leave vote exposed the extent to which horizons had shrunk at Westminster, rendering invisible a deep disillusionment felt in post-industrial, non-metropolitan England. The astonishing manner of Corbyns election laid bare the simmering outrage on the left at the normalisation of deep inequality, in which Labour was deemed to have been complicit. And the extraordinary rise of the Scottish National party, in the wake of the 2014 independence referendum, foreshadowed both these later shocks to the system. The disruptions held in common a widespread desire to go beyond the economic categories of liberalism and express collective values that had been buried in the preceding decades. Nationhood, sovereignty, pride in community, public ownership, radical devolution and localism: all these themes spoke to a yearning for a new politics of belonging.

It is hard to escape the sense that, in both the government and the opposition, the radical implications of this period of politics are being closed off in the name of something more comfortable and familiar. The Conservative party seems set to deliver a simulacrum of levelling up, and strains at the leash to revert to type. Labour hopes an impression of competence, probity and fiscal caution can see it over the line at the next election as it did in the past. Dramatic as the political eruptions of the post-crash decade were, the old order may be gradually taking back control.

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British politics suddenly feels small and the old order is taking back control - The Guardian

A SCOTTISH business has revealed how it missed out on a whopping 50,000 worth of EU funding due to Brexit.

The Barrhead-based business growing plants for commercial clients had plans to expand which the owner says were scuppered by the UK leaving the EU.

Founded in 1974, Fereneze employs three people: Ron Murray, his wife Mary and his son Neil.

The 77-year-old is hoping that his son will take over the business, with plans to upscale with the help of EU funds.

They applied for the Leader scheme in 2020, an EU-funded local development scheme that has been described as critical particularly for rural businesses.

READ MORE:Were getting screwed: Highland shop owners fury over Brexits impact on business

As part of the funding, which is distributed by the Scottish Government, Murray said his business would put forward 50,000, which would be matched by the project if successful.

Murray told The National: In 2020, Renfrewshire Council accepted our proposal, saying it was a good one and that they were going to put it forward for financing. The funding involved was around about 100,000 so it wasnt a fly in the ointment or anything like that it was quite a considerable amount of money.

Once the business plan and application form had been submitted, time went on, and coming up to the end of the year 2020, we were getting a bit concerned because we knew that the UK was pulling out of the European community and it could well be the case that we lose it altogether.

At that point, Murray approached Renfrewshire Council for an update over the status of the funding.

The reply we got back was that they were unsure as to what money was going to come forward from the EU because of Brexit, that they were running out and the full sum wouldnt be able to be awarded, if we get anything, he continued.

Consequently, we left the EU in 2021 and shortly thereafter, we found the money had dried up and there were no further possibilities of getting financed through that scheme.

This was directly due to Brexit.

It left us in a quandary with what to do. We put a lot of time and effort into it; we were willing to commit 50,000 to the expansion, but without the financing, it wasnt to go ahead.

These are the consequences of having exited from the EU.

We put a business plan together that was accepted and found to be a good one and was likely to go ahead.

Murray said he approached Business Gateway, which helps small businesses with advice and funding, but was told there was no alternative funding available for him.

He added: We still have the vision in mind that we set out in a business plan but its going to take a lot longer to achieve and is really dependent on how the economy pans out.

We still have it in mind, and it is still very much alive, but the problem is financing, which is just no longer available.

The UK Government has previously said that EU funding such as the Leader scheme will be replaced in full by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.

The SNP have accused the UK Government of bypassing Holyrood with the funding, which is yet to be launched, as it means Westminster will directly fund Scottish councils.

Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work Richard Lochhead hit out at the scheme in response to Murrays plight.

READ MORE:'It's just chaos': Glasgow jeweller on how Brexit has hit his business

He said: The UK Government has consistently refused to engage with devolved administrations in any meaningful way or provide basic information about the Shared Prosperity Fund, despite it being due to start in April 2022.

It is concerning that long-running EU support, which has been of enormous benefit to Scotland, may not be replicated by the UK Governments proposals to replace European funding with the centrally administered Shared Prosperity Fund.

The UK Government is putting the devolution settlement at risk by deciding itself how the Shared Prosperity Fund will be spent in areas of devolved responsibility, when it should be for the Scottish Government to set its own priorities.

The UK Government and Renfrewshire Council were approached for comment.

If your business has been affected by the UK leaving the EU we would like to hear from you! Get in touch at bit.ly/scotnatbrexit or email craig.meighan@Newsquest.co.uk

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'We left the EU and the money dried up': Scots firm loses out on 50k fund due to Brexit - The National

The best way to describe Valrie Pcresse is Emmanuel Macron in a blouse. The newly-elected candidate for Les Republicans (LR) swears she is the French presidents polar opposite, but ideologically there is little to separate the pair.

The 54-year-old Pcresse, who will now stand against Macron in next year's presidential election, has been on the political scene for three decades. She is currently the president of the Paris region, and is not only stinking rich, but a centrist, a globalist and a committed Europhile.

Pcresse was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, the poshest part of Paris, into an upper middle class family. She shares an Alma mater with Macron, cole Nationale d'Administration, the elite technocrat college that is a conveyor belt of European Groupthink.

Like Macron, too, Pcresse is embittered by Brexit and believes those who dared to vote Leave should be punished. In 2017, she threatened a very painful economic future for Britain while reaching out to Remainers by saying it would be possible to rejoin.

Two years later, she said in a speech that Britain should be made an example of, because when we leave [the European Union] it should be painful.

Pcresse is prepared to go to any lengths to protect the EU project. As an MP of Jacques Chirac's centre-right UMP party in 2005, she was heavily involved in the 'Oui' campaign when France had a referendum on the EU Constitution. The 'Non' vote won by 55 per cent, a result that shocked and dismayed Pcresse more than most. In July that year she hosted a debate at the National Assembly, entitled: 'After the Referendum, what perspectives for Europe?'

In her introduction, she said that in her view 'the question of expansion [of the EU] had not been sufficiently explained to the French', and therefore the questions she wanted to explore in the debate were: 'What can we do so that the French love Europe once more? To restore their belief in the European project?'

It was classic Europhile delusion: ask not what is wrong with the E.U, but what is wrong with the people.

Her solution to the victory of the No vote? 'A new procedure could be proposed to draft a new text'. This is exactly what happened in 2008 when, without consulting the people, the French parliament passed the Lisbon Treaty, which was the EU Constitution rejected three years earlier with another name.

Pcresse also shares an idol with Macron none other than Angela Merkel. (A strange choice considering the economic damage that Germany has inflicted on France this century.) During her campaign to become the LR's presidential candidate, Pcresse frequently sang the praises of Mutti, even boasting that she was two thirds Merkel and one third Thatcher.

Pcresse shares Merkel's disdain for nuclear energy (which produces more than 70per cent of France's energy) and wants France to be reliant on renewable energy instead. In 2016, she opened the first wind farm in the Paris region. Incidentally, her husband, Jrme, is head of General Electric Renewable Energy.

Marine Le Pen reacted to news of Pcresse's victory by inviting all disappointed Republican voters to join her National Rally party. But Pcresse rejects the idea that she is simply a continuation of the 'droite molle', the 'wet' wing of the Republicans. In recent debates she has vowed to end France's 35-hour working week, streamline the sprawling civil service and deport those who enter the country illegally.

If those declarations have a familiar ring to them, that's because they've been parroted by every centre-right politician for the last three decades. Gradually, though, they are always watered down or quietly dropped, either when the strikes start or when the liberal left who, as in Britain, control the institutions and most of the media, wring their hands. Hence the disenchantment felt by millions of French people on the left and the right- who believe that no matter where their vote goes, France will forever be governed by a globalist cabal in thrall to Brussels.

'The right is back!' boomed Pcresse on Saturday after she was nominated the LR candidate. It's not. The centre-right has simply chosen a new leader, a woman, which is a first for the party. Ideologically, it's as you were, and if Macron and Pcresse make it through to the second round, all the electorate will need to decide is whether they want a centrist in a suit or one in a blouse.

Originally posted here:

Meet the Brexit-hating Macron clone who could be the next French president - Spectator.co.uk

UK Roll-on Roll-off (Ro-Ro) specialist, Continental Cargo Carriers(CCC), has announced an investment worth 4.2 million to expand its fleet by 42%.

156 brand new trailers will be added to the firms vehicle portfolio in the coming months. This represents the biggest single investment since the company was acquired in 2018 by Europa Worldwide Group.

CCC currently operates 270 trailers from its warehouse bases in Dartford and Belgium. Due to immense demand for the transportation of goods between the UK and Europe following the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions, more vehicles are required to fulfil historic order numbers.

The extraordinarily successful business had always planned to make further investments under its ambitious growth strategy, but recently took the decision to expedite this in response to market needs.

AsCarlo Turner, General Manager at CCC explained:There has been a remarkable increase in our daily full and part load consignment traffic volumes over the past year. As lockdowns eased and the UK economy bounced back, CCC has never been busier.

Were now delivering more than an average 22,000 loads. This increased demand has come from customers of all sizes, across all sectors, and in all countries that we serve.

It was always a corporate objective to expand our operations within the next year, but we have brought the timeframe forward because our revised economic forecasts were so positive.

This news reflects the fact the wider Ro-Ro market has rebounded from the shock of the global pandemic, a trend that is set to continue, according to leading analytical experts.

According to theDepartment for Transport,all major UK ports saw a decline in the number of Ro-Ro vehicles being handled at UK ports in 2020, down 31 per cent on 2019 levels, to 12.3m units. This was the lowest level since records began.

However, the situation has now improved significantly. More recentNational Statisticsdata from mid-2021 indicates Ro-Ro increases can be interpreted as a return to the more normal levels seen prior to the pandemic.

The entire UK logistics industry worked incredibly hard to claw back the huge reduction in volumes seen at the peak of the crisis. However, the industry continues to face a different challenge, namely the growing skills shortage across the entire sector.

Increasing the number of staff and training were the highest Human Resources (HR) priorities forUK logistics firmsthis year, something which is also a major focus at CCC.

As well as investing in its stock to expand its logistics capabilities, CCC is also bolstering its 32 strong workforce. The company is set to embark on the first phase of its human capital development plan, with the recruitment of four individuals.

These new starters will sit within the business development, managerial and operational divisions.

They will be responsible for helping the team generate innovative ideas and initiatives that lead to greater efficiencies whilst also building up new and exciting strategic partnerships.

Carlo continued: Increasing the scope of talent within CCC is a further priority for the business. As we move our expansion strategy up a gear, it is crucial that we have the right team in place so we can harness the skills within our dedicated team and push towards our growth objectives.

We have always prided ourselves on our long history of delivering high-quality, streamlined logistics services to our customers, but with a personal touch.

The time is right to enhance our existing workforce as CCC continues to go from strength to strength. It is vital that we plan for the future to stay ahead of the curve.

Carlo added: It has been a tough few months but we have weathered the combined Covid and Brexit storm. We are delighted to now be focusing our attention on these exciting investment plans, whilst consolidating our position in the UK and European markets as one of the safest and most trusted logistics partners.

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CCC: we have weathered the combined Covid and Brexit storm - Post and Parcel

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Santa Claus, Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, or Kris Kringle;whatever you call the jolly man in red at Christmastime, we can allagree on one thing; he is magic. Travelling the entire world injust one night, he delivers presents to good children and demandsnothing in return (although he will gratefully accept offerings ofrefreshment).

The origins of Santa Claus are uncertain. Some trace him back tomodern-day Turkey, others to Dutch folklore. There are those whoswear that he lives in Lapland, more claim his base is the NorthPole. Does it matter? Maybe; the Ho-Ho-Home Office determines thepermission a person needs to enter the UK starting with theircountry of origin. If we assume that Santa is European (that wouldcover origins in Scandinavia including Finland, the Netherlands,)or perhaps from North America (covering Greenland, arctic areas ofCanada, even New York, where our understanding of Santaoriginates), then he will be a non-visa national. Thismeans travel to the UK is permitted for short trips withoutobtaining a visa in advance. If Santa's true nationality issomething else Turkish, as many believe unless heholds a diplomatic passport, a visa is needed before arrival at theUK border.

We never see Santa come through passport control but let usassume he is a law-abiding citizen who makes sure to comply with UKBorder rules. On what basis is he then admitted to the UK? Is hecomplying with the restrictions of any permission he is granted? Welooked at this issue in brief last year, but since then Brexit hastaken effect and much has changed in UK immigration law. How isSanta staying within the rules in 2021?

Santa travels to the UK for business activity, and that istricky because such activities are heavily restricted, especiallyfor visitors; providing goods and services to the public isexpressly prohibited, for example. There are exceptions for"drivers on a genuine international route between the UKand a country outside the UK," allowing for delivery ofgoods and/or cabotage operations. However, these drivers"must be employed or contracted to an operator registeredin a country outside the UK or be a self-employed operator anddriver based outside the UK and the operator must hold anInternational Operators Licence or be operating on an own accountbasis." If Santa does not meet these requirements even if he is accepted as a "driver" on a "genuineinternational route" then his activities in the UKcannot validly be conducted as a business visitor.

Santa does not receive UK payment, although arguably he receivessupport towards his subsistence in the UK via donations fromindividual households. This is acceptable under UK visitor rulesproviding there is a genuine personal or business relationshipbetween Santa and the person making the donation. That must be thecase; Santa knows when we are sleeping and when we're awake,which is a clear indication of a genuine relationship.

What to do if Santa's business activities fall outside thepermitted scope of the visitor route? In December last year the UKintroduced the Frontier Worker Permit scheme. This couldbe a good option for Santa. He should be eligible if it is acceptedthat he is from the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, orLiechtenstein; he is based outside the UK; he began working in theUK by 31 December 2020; and he has undertaken effective work in theUK at least once every 12 months since he started working here.None of this should present a particular difficult to our SaintNic. However, Home Office guidance confirms that evidence of work,such as a contract, is required; and to be genuine and effective,Santa's activity should not be "marginal orancilliary" requiring little time being spent in the UK. Ashis work in the UK is logically concluded within an hour or two atmost, this is where his case may founder. He should also be paid benefits in kind such as mince pies and carrotswouldn't be sufficient.

So, we may have found workable options for a European Santa, butwhat about other nationalities? They cannot benefit from theFrontier Worker Scheme, so unless their activities can berestricted to those expressly permitted under the visitor rules,there are limited options. Formal sponsorship feels excessive foractivities which only cover one night of the year, and who wouldact as Santa's sponsor in the UK? The Queen maybe, but she doesnot appear to have a sponsor licence already, and delivery driversare not sufficiently highly skilled for sponsorship.

The government could step in. In the past few months, we haveseen the introduction of temporary migration routes for HGVdrivers, some farmers, and abattoir workers. A similar approachcould see a special time-limited category for Santa Claus alone,although it would be better to have a long-term option that couldbe used every year.

Santa has always found a way to get the job done in the past, soI am not worried about whether he will be visiting homes in the UKthis Christmas. As the song goes, everybody's waiting forthe man with the plan, and I am sure Santa has his visa issuescovered. If not, Santa, call 0161 234 6800 and speak to one of ourexperts today.

The content of this article is intended to provide a generalguide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be soughtabout your specific circumstances.

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Almost 1,000 EU nationals have been refused permission to stay in Glasgow after Brexit, figures reveal.

Home Office data published for the first time, shows around 910 people who applied to continue living in the area by September 30 had their application rejected.

Applicants can challenge a negative EU Settlement Scheme application by launching an appeal.

But the3Million, which campaigns for EU citizens' rights, is concerned about the status of those who are left "in limbo" waiting for their appeals to be concluded.

The EU Settlement scheme launched in March 2019 to regulate the immigration status of European citizens who live in the UK.

READ MORE:UK migration fell by staggering 88% in 2020 due to Brexit and Covid

Those who have lived in the UK for five years, and meet the criteria, can receive settled status and remain in the country indefinitely.

Others who have lived in the country for less time can receive pre-settled status, which allows them to remain for a further five years. They can later apply for settled status.

The figures show that since applications opened, 51,010 people applied to continue living in Glasgow, with 48,060 receiving a conclusion by the end of September.

Of them, 23,440 (49%) received settled status and 22,420 (47%) pre-settled.

The highest number of applications came from citizens of Poland (13,270), Romania (5,310) and Italy (5,070).

Monique Hawkins, policy and research officer at the3million, said many people had lost their job or rental opportunity while waiting for application and appeal outcomes.

She said: "Many people report not being able to get through to helplines, and find it next to impossible to get progress updates on their applications.

"For those who have been refused, the administrative review and appeals process face their own lengthy delays.

"We are extremely concerned about the length of time it is taking to unite people with their lawful status, and thereby their rights to continue living and working in the UK."

READ MORE:John Swinney 'Boris Johnson is using Brexit to undermine Holyrood'

Though the scheme officially closed on June 30, EU citizens with limited reasonable grounds for missing the deadline can still apply to secure their rights.

Around 1,280 applications were submitted after the deadline in Glasgow.

The Home Office said people with a pending application, are protected while the outcome of their application is unknown.

A spokeswoman said the EU Settlement Scheme has been an "overwhelming success", with 6.3 million applications received and 5.5 million people being granted permission to stay so far.

She added: Caseworkers will always look for reasons to grant rather than refuse.

"Individuals can be refused on eligibility or criminality grounds, and if a refused applicant disagrees with our decision, they can apply for an administrative review or appeal.

We have published non-exhaustive guidance on reasonable grounds for making a late EUSS application and take a flexible and pragmatic approach to considering them, and weve made millions of pounds available in funding for organisations to support vulnerable applicants.

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Almost 1000 EU nationals refused permission to stay in Glasgow after Brexit - HeraldScotland

In the shadow of Brexit, this ideal seems far from reality in the UK, many Britons have come to view politics through an antagonistic lens.

US President Joe Biden is billing his 'Summit for Democracy' as an opportunity "to prove democracy still works and can improve people's lives in tangible ways". In the shadow of Brexit, this ideal seems far from reality in the UK.

Many Britons have come to view politics through an antagonistic lens. They've lost trust in politics and the quality of political leadership, perceive an increase in the level of corruption and a failure to address severe economic inequalities. And this highly negative view is affecting how they engage with democracy.

Just 28 percent of those surveyed in a May 2020 TrustGov UK poll expressed confidence in the government and politicians looking after their interests, or the public interest.

In contrast, mistrust (a skeptical attitude towards government and politics) and distrust (an assessment that government and politicians do not have your interests at heart) are dominant in UK politics. In the same survey, nearly two-thirds of citizens displayed mistrust and nearly half expressed distrust in their responses to statements about politics and government.

The question in citizens' minds has become less 'what is democracy doing for me?' and more 'how is politics doing me down now?' It turns out this cynicism was a key factor in the divided Brexit vote in particular, how citizens reasoned their way to a choice over whether to vote Remain or Leave.

Generally, in high political trust contexts, there is a positive relationship between the endorsements of political elites and the voting patterns of citizens.

Take the 1975 Referendum that led to the UK joining the Common Market, the forerunner to the EU. Voters 'followed the leader' and backed 'Yes' because that was largely what the two main Conservative and Labour parties and especially the party leaders recommended.

By contrast, in the current low political trust context, 'negative elite cues' were important in driving votes for both Leave and Remain camps. Voters used politicians as proxies not for positions they wished to support, but for positions they wished to vote against.

The result of the 2016 Brexit vote in turn appears to have had a real impact on British citizens' satisfaction with the way democracy works in the UK. That shows through in public opinion surveys, including the British Election Study (BES) internet panel study.

In 2014, two years before the referendum, Remain supporters were modestly more satisfied with the workings of democracy than Leave supporters, but within both groups about half said they were 'very' or 'fairly' satisfied with democracy.

After the 2016 referendum, the satisfaction of Remainers in democracy slumped and remained low and even declined further in the coming years, with only about a third of this group presently expressing satisfaction with UK democracy. Leavers, in contrast, became much more satisfied soon after the referendum, but this boost faded as the protracted negotiations over the Brexit deal were seen as a betrayal by the political establishment in the referendum's outcome. However, the level of satisfaction of Leavers with UK democracy reached new heights after the election of the Conservative government led by Boris Johnson in December 2019 which pledged to 'get Brexit done and delivered on that promise in January 2020. Before the referendum, citizens with different levels of education expressed roughly similar levels of satisfaction, but since the referendum, citizens with lower levels of educational attainment have been more satisfied with UK democracy and those with university education have been least satisfied. One interpretation of these trends is to view it as an example of the democratic process at work. Leave voters finally got something they wanted from the political system and responded with greater satisfaction. Remain voters found themselves on the losing side of a decision for once and their satisfaction slumped. But this interpretation, framing the Brexit vote as a sort of bloody nose for political elites and their supporters, underplays the undercurrent of the low trust environment. For Remain voters it is difficult to see what could help recover their sense of satisfaction with UK democracy, given how many of them, especially those of younger generations, tend to see the Brexit campaign and the maneuvers of its leaders (including the current Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson) as a betrayal. Meanwhile, Leave voters' sense of imminent treachery is never far from the surface; especially if the claimed benefits of Brexit whether cultural or economic are not delivered. What's next? Brexit's legacy sees renewed calls for another vote on Scottish independence and a destabilizing impact on the Northern Ireland peace process.

In the context of recent revelations of low-level corruption in the allocation of contracts during the COVID-19 crisis and concerns about the lobbying practices and second jobs taken by MPs, polling suggests that see the moral standing of MPs among the British public is at an all-time low compared to the 1980s and 1990s.

The UK, like most countries, is in a complex struggle to recover in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges involved in moving to a low carbon economy. Withdrawal from the EU has added to the sense that the UK is struggling to find its way. The "sunlit uplands" and leveling-up of regions and economic fortunes promised by Prime Minister Johnson may yet appear, but until they do, a grinding sense of skepticism stretching to cynicism about politics and UK democracy will dominate. That cycle needs to be broken if the future of democracy is going to be secured.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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Brexit fractured the UKs democracy and cynicism now reigns - Devdiscourse

Dec 4th 2021

A VISITOR PICKING up a newspaper at the Eurostar terminal would be puzzled. Why, five years after the Brexit referendum and two years after agreeing on an exit treaty, are the British still arguing over the same vexed issues of customs, subsidies and courts? Why, as a pandemic rages and straining supply chains threaten to ruin Christmas, is its government risking a trade war over issues it had promised voters were fixed?

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British officials are once again pacing Brussels conference rooms, seeking to rewrite the settlement on Northern Ireland that bedevilled Brexit talks. Unless radical surgery is undertaken to allow food and medicine to move freely, warns David Frost, Britains chief negotiator, Britain will invoke Article 16, an emergency clause that could lead to parts of it being unilaterally suspended. To understand why means seeing the world through the eyes of Lord Frost, a former diplomat-turned-whisky lobbyist whom the prime minister, Boris Johnson, ennobled and promoted to the cabinet. In the referendum of 2016 there were a dozen varieties of Brexit, contradictory and vaporous. Now there is only one, diamond-hardand it is Lord Frosts. His negotiating partners, who struggle to understand him, think it fanaticism. He would call it simply Brexit.

European observers tend to think Brexits historical lodestar is the second world war, or perhaps the British empire. In Lord Frosts telling the story begins with Edmund Burke, a conservative philosopher of the 1700s who warned of a conflict between an organic constitution built on custom and traditions, and the cruel, hyper-rational order the French Revolution would unleash. For him Brexit is the product of a clash between an adaptable British Parliament and an artificial, brittle European edifice unable to adapt to voters demands. Those who argue that the bloc is a British project are suffering from a false consciousness, he has said. Across the continent, he detects a stirring of the nation state. Brexit is not a freakish accident, but a restoration of the natural order.

British diplomats long saw the question of whether Britain was truly sovereign inside the European Union as a dinner-party thought experiment. What mattered was influence. But according to the Frost doctrine, sovereignty is real and hard, to be clawed back and keenly guarded. EU membership was to him a long bad dream; only when Britain left did it become independent and free. To his interlocutors this seems quixotic, and to those who have experienced real dictatorships, a touch insulting. Nobody expected such a crude nationalist to emerge out of the Channel tunnel, says one Brussels-watcher.

Shielding Britains autonomy means a thin trade agreement and pain for businesses, for which Lord Frost has offered few apologies. Fix the constitution, his logic runs, and prosperity follows. He seems unembarrassed to be unstitching a deal on Northern Ireland that the prime minister signed. As he sees it, the deal was a flawed means to an endto save Brexitand one that has unravelled surprisingly quickly. Nor does he see its terms, which create a trade barrier down the Irish Sea, as his fault. He argues that negotiations were hobbled from the start after Theresa May, Mr Johnsons predecessor, gave away too much, and the Europeans exploited chaos in the British Parliament to drive a lopsided deal. He regards those years as epic humiliation caused by British negotiators who were too cosy and too needy. He tells his staff to stand up for their country, and to repeat their demands until they sink in.

Lord Frost is softly-spoken and courteous, and a keen student of Flemish history. But noble ends justify rough means, say his allies. Only if Britain threatens to blow up the talks or tear up agreements will the Europeans give way. He does not see negotiations as how do we write nice communiqus that dont do very much, says a former official. On Article 16, he is absolutely willing to pull the trigger. His cabinet colleagues are more squeamish. No one knows whom Mr Johnson will heed.

Lord Frost denies that he is refighting yesterdays battles in order to whip up Eurosceptic voters. Only if the deal is fixed, he has argued, can the new relationship with the EU so desired by his Europhile colleagues flourish. But his approach excites his party, which has become disillusioned by the prime ministers fumbling.

A survey of Tory members by Conservative Home, a website, ranked Lord Frost as the second-most-popular member of the Cabinet behind Liz Truss, the foreign secretary. Mr Johnson was second from bottom. Lord Frost delighted them with an address on November 22nd in which he warned against wasting Brexit by missing a chance to abandon the European social model and embark on radical regulatory reforms. Among his fans on the backbenches is David Davis, who served as Mrs Mays Brexit secretary. Things would have gone a lot better if Lord Frost had been in charge from the start, he says.

Born in Derby and educated at a private school in Nottingham before a long but relatively unglamorous career in the Foreign Office, Lord Frost looks more like the middle-class provincials who predominate on the Tory benches than like his boss, who was born in New York and educated in Brussels and at Eton, and for whom Brexit appears more a wheeze than a cause. He was condescended to by EU negotiators, who thought his threats to walk out theatrical and childish. The old guard of the diplomatic service are crueller: they think him a third-rater. No great surprise, says one former colleague. They hate his guts, because hes proved them all wrong and destroyed their lifes work.

For more coverage of matters relating to Brexit, visit our Brexit hub

This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline "Portrait of a Brexiteer"

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To understand Lord Frost is to understand Britain's approach to Brexit - The Economist