Brexit news – live: Deal possible if EU ‘sees sense’, says Johnson as Von der Leyen heralds ‘good news’

Downing Street has said that leaving the Brexit transition period without a trade deal remains the most likely outcome but noted that “we have made some progress”.

Boris Johnson’s official spokesman said: “We have made some progress in some areas but it still remains that there are some significant gaps.

“Our position is still that we want to reach an FTA (free trade agreement) but it is still the case that the most likely outcome is still leaving on Australia terms.”

Following reports earlier today, the campaign team behind Tory London mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey has been sent a “formal complaint”. It comes from an election rival, who accused Mr Bailey of distributing campaign flyers disguised as official warnings from City Hall about council tax rises.

In a complaint addressed to MP Greg Hands, who serves as Mr Bailey’s campaign manager, Liberal Democrat mayoral candidate Luisa Porritt condemns the flyer campaign as a “heartless and cheap trick” aimed at misleading Londoners already struggling to make ends meet.

My colleague Chantal da Silva has all the details:

Boris Johnson’s press secretary has reportedly said Dominic Cummings deserved his 40 per cent pay rise before leaving Downing Street because he was one of the government’s “most important” advisers.

According to the Daily Mirror, Allegra Stratton said she did not know whether the PM was aware of Mr Cummings’ pay hike but argued it reflected the former adviser’s “correct salary”. 

“It’s the case that Dominic Cummings’ revised salary reflected the fact that he was one of, if not the, most important special advisers,” she is believed to have said. 

Ms Stratton added that the wage of at least £140,000 a year was the “correct level of salary” for his role.

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer berated the move to give Mr Cummings such a large pay rise in Wednesday’s PMQs. 

“Why, when policemen and other public service workers are being paid less” would you give Mr Cummings such a large pay hike, Sir Keir asked the PM – to which Mr Johnson did not give a clear answer. 

Downing Street has confirmed that Boris Johnson will hold a press conference with Chris Whitty in No 10 at 3.30pm today.

It follows four-nation discussions over Christmas, and speculation over whether England will follow Scotland and Wales in *advising* that just two households take advantage of the festive amnesty, rather than the three permitted by law.

The government has reportedly allocated its Port Infrastructure Fund, devised to help English ports avoid delays post-Brexit.

But the FT’s Peter Foster reports that following bids totalling £450m, the amount actually awarded reaches just over £194m, leaving some ports “bitterly disappointed” – not least Dover, which applied for £33m to help alleviate post-Brexit strains and have allegedly been allocated £33,000.

The Bank of England is expected to keep interest rates unchanged today amid hopes of an eleventh-hour Brexit deal and signs the economy is holding up in the face of a second wave of the pandemic.

Economists predict the Bank will sit tight at its final meeting of the year, holding rates at 0.1 per cent and keeping its quantitative easing programme at £895bn after unleashing another £150bn last month.

The agreement on the operation of post-Brexit Irish Sea trade arrangements struck by Michael Gove has only pushed some of the main problems down the road, Stormont’s economy minister has warned.

The agreement provides three and six-month grace periods to allow retailers to adjust in some areas, but Diane Dodds said there remained a need to find long-term solutions to issues around export health certification and the potential of certain chilled meats being prohibited from entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain.

Ms Dodds said the outstanding issues around the protocol emphasised the need for the UK and EU to strike a comprehensive trade deal before the transition period runs out.

The FT’s eagle-eyed Whitehall correspondent reports that Downing Street is advertising for the prime minister’s official spokesperson role, after an internal shuffle last month following the noisy departures of Lee Cain and Dominic Cummings.

Here’s the footage of Keir Starmer accusing Boris Johnson of “ignoring medical advice” over Christmas plans at PMQs.

The PM retorted that he wished the Labour leader “had the guts just to say what he really wants to do – which is to cancel the plans people have made and to cancel Christmas”.

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has the details here.

The SNP’s Westminster leader has said it is “disgraceful” that two weeks before the end of the Brexit transition period, a deal has still not been reached.

Ian Blackford told MPs during PMQs that Boris Johnson was putting businesses at risk, and specifically warned that Scotland had already lost a huge amount of money over ongoing Brexit blunders. 

The PM responded by saying: “There is every chance and every hope that our friends across the channel will see sense and do a deal.”

Mr Johnson said “all it takes is for them to realise that – like every other country – the UK has a right to control its own land and waters”. 

It comes after EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday morning that the EU does not dispute “UK sovereignty on its own waters”.