Brexit news – live: ‘No PM should accept’ current deal, Boris Johnson says as he heads to Brussels for talks

Michael Gove has said the world is “looking on in admiration” at the NHS – in response to a question about why no other countries had followed the UK’s lead in exiting the European Union.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster made the remarks during a Commons sessions in which he made a statement about the Withdrawal Agreement he struck “in principle” over Northern Ireland yesterday. 

The SNP’s Patrick Grady asked: “I’m just wondering, if Brexit is shaping up to be such a success, why is it that four-and-a-half years after the referendum no other European country is seeking to follow the UK out the door?”

To which, Mr Gove replied: “What a remarkable rewriting of history.”

He continued: “I think it is the case… just yesterday I was watching CNN and I saw an amazing man, a 91-year-old gentleman called Martin Kenyon, one of the first people in the world to be vaccinated. And he was vaccinated here in the United Kingdom.

“And it is because of the United Kingdom’s superb regulatory work, because of our vaccines taskforce, because of our NHS, because of our Health Secretary that the first people in the world to be vaccinated were here in the United Kingdom.

“And there are vaccines in Scotland thanks to the UK and the rest of the world is looking on in admiration at our British NHS.”

Downing Street has said that Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen will be joined by their chief Brexit negotiators at a dinner in Brussels on Wednesday night.

“It will be the prime minister, Ursula von der Leyen, the chief negotiators and also a handful of other officials from both sides,” Mr Johnson’s spokesperson said.

They also told reporters that the prime minister would set out at a dinner why the UK would not be able to accept measures which would undermine UK sovereignty.

“He feels that there is a good deal to be done but he and von der Leyen both believe that there needs to be some political momentum now,” the spokesperson said.

“The prime minister is going to be clear this evening that he cannot accept anything that undermines our ability to control our laws or control our waters.

“He is going to put that clearly to von der Leyen and see what her response is.”

They added that Mr Johnson would return to the UK after the dinner and would not be attending the EU Council meeting on Thursday.

Our deputy political editor, Rob Merrick, has more details below on the news that EU officials will oversee checks at Northern Ireland ports:

Progress must be made at the dinner between Boris Johnson and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen this evening to allow post-Brexit trade negotiations to resume, Downing Street has said.

“David Frost and his team yesterday took some time to prepare details of the areas where there are issues outstanding,” Mr Johnson’s spokesperson said.

“It will be those main issues that are discussed tonight and then following that we will have to see how those talks go.

“If progress can be made at a political level this may allow Lord Frost and his negotiating team to resume talks in the coming days.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has tested negative for coronavirus but will remain in self-isolation until 15 December, his spokesperson has said.

Sir Keir went into quarantine at the weekend after a member of his office staff tested positive for Covid-19.

The test was provided by the parliamentary authorities and taken by the leader at his home in north London.

The spokesperson added that Labour would hand in its action plan for implementing the recommendations of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report on antisemitism in the party tomorrow.

On the issue of post-Brexit border checks, Rachel Reeves asked: “Could the minister [Michael Gove] explain why today’s documents confirm that for trade from GB to NI there will indeed be a range of checks?

“Indeed the Trusted Traders scheme will be removed after three and half years and reviewed then with further uncertainty at that point. The exemption of agri-food checks are only available for three months.”

She added: “Can the minister tell us what guarantees there are with prices and availability of fresh food supplies in NI after 1 April and will customs checks be required just three months into 2021?

“This all begs the question, did the PM actually know what he had signed up to last year and give false assurances to this House or did he simply not care?”

In response, Mr Gove said there would be “limited and proportionate” checks on agricultural products moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

“She asked about border infrastructure, let me emphasise, this border infrastructure is there to ensure that sanitary and phytosanitary checks can be made,” he told the Commons.

“As she knows, as the House knows, it is already the case that the island of Ireland is a single epidemiological zone and therefore when live animals move from Great Britain to Northern Ireland there are physical checks.”

Labour’s shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves has said it is time for the government to get a deal with the EU to avoid major disruption in the new year.

Ms Reeves questioned Michael Gove on border infrastructure preparations, business preparedness and the systems needed to make trade flow.

“Ours is a great country and Labour wants to see a good life for all our people, but as great as our country is it cannot afford to be afflicted by government incompetence,” she said.

“Every price rise, every traffic jam, every lost contract and every redundancy caused by this government’s mistakes and poor planning holds our great country back.”

She added: “Next year must be a year of rebuilding and recovering from Covid-19, not dealing with the fallout of reckless decision-makings, tariffs or incompetence. So, this is decision time for this government and it is time to get the deal.”

Michael Gove has said some EU officials will be allowed to be present at Northern Ireland ports but they will not be able to carry out checks themselves.

“There’ll be no Belfast mini embassy or mission, as some in the EU originally sought, and the EU officials will not have any powers to carry out checks themselves,” Mr Gove said.

“There will, instead, be sensible, practical arrangements – co-operation, reciprocal data-sharing – so that both sides can have confidence in these unique arrangements.”

He added that this meant the Northern Ireland Protocol could be implemented in a “pragmatic and proportionate way” and confirmed that controversial agreement-breaking clauses in the UK Internal Market Bill would be dropped.

“Having put beyond doubt the primacy of the sovereignty of this place as we leave the EU, we rest safe in the knowledge that such provisions are no longer required,” the minister said.

Michael Gove has said businesses in Northern Ireland will be free from all tariffs in the UK after the end of the Brexit transition period.

The Cabinet Office minister told MPs: “The deal safeguards Northern Ireland’s place in the UK customs territory.

“As recently as July, the commission had envisaged a default tariff scenario in which, and I quote, ‘all goods brought into Northern Ireland would be considered to be at risk are as such subject to the common customs tariff’

“If that had been implemented, that would have raised the prospect of a 58 per cent tariff on a pint of milk going from Scotland to a supermarket in Strabane or 96 per cent on a bag of sugar going from Liverpool to the shops of Belfast.”

He added: “As we’ve repeatedly made clear, this could never have been an acceptable outcome. So, I’m pleased to say that under the agreement that we’ve reached, Northern Ireland businesses selling to consumers or using goods in Northern Ireland will be free of all tariffs.

“Whether that’s Nissan cars from Sunderland or lamb from Montgomeryshire, internal UK trade will be protected as we promised whether we have a free trade agreement with the EU or not.”

Mr Gove told the Commons that the agreement would also prevent any disruption on the movement of chilled meats next year.

Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove has said there will be no additional requirements placed on Northern Ireland businesses as part of a deal struck with the European Commission on the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement.

“This deal protects unfettered access for Northern Ireland businesses to their most important market as the prime minister underlined,” Mr Gove told the Commons.

“This had to be protected in full and that meant removing any prospect of export declarations for Northern Ireland goods moving from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

“As for what our agreement will do, there will be no additional requirements placed on Northern Ireland businesses with a very limited and specific exception of trade in endangered species and conflict diamonds.”