Brexit news – live: Potential for border ‘catastrophe’, MPs warn as talks go down to wire

Boris Johnson’s press secretary has suggested that he may be open to receiving the vaccine live on-air, The Mirror’s Lizzy Buchan reports.

Belfast South MP Claire Hanna has accused Westminster of appearing to have an “unlimited disregard” for the Good Friday Agreement, as she urged the government to rule out breaching international law in its upcoming Taxation Bill and thus undermining the prospect of a deal.

“We know that the Internal Market Bill intends to breach international law and yesterday it was indicated that a further breach of international law was likely to come in the Taxation Bill,” the SDLP MP said in the Commons.

“Far from being limited and specific, it seems to people here the disregard for the Good Friday Agreement is unlimited while people desperately want certainty and a deal.”

Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis responded: “I would just say to [Ms Hanna], if she looks at the clauses in the UK Internal Market Bill that we put in there, they are about actually protecting and delivering on the Good Friday Agreement to ensure there are no borders and it is important that we have no border, not just North-South but East-West as well to deliver that.”

Stalled talks have reached a point where the EU must now proceed with preparations for a potential no-deal outcome, Ireland’s Taoiseach has told parliament.

“We are in the final critical phases. I’ve every confidence that our chief negotiator Michel Barnier will use every best endeavour and every opportunity this week to try and deliver a deal,” Micheal Martin said.

“One month out from the end of transition, we have reached a point in time where prudence demands we must proceed with preparations for European Union contingency measures in case of no deal. I expect to see this being discussed in Brussels in the coming week and in advance of the December European Council.”

In his meeting with EU envoys this morning, Michel Barnier acknowledged reports that the UK’s looming finance bill may contain clauses in breach of the Northern Ireland protocol, according to RTE. 

The broadcaster’s Europe editor said the EU’s chief negotiator had told ambassadors such a move would plunge the talks into “crisis”.

It is misplaced to celebrate – as Matt Hancock and Michael Fabricant have – the UK’s swift approval of a vaccine as a benefit of Brexit since the vaccine was itself a product of the European Union that Britain has left, Germany’s health minister has said.

Jens Spahn told journalists that while Britain had been the first to approve the vaccine, he was optimistic that the European Medicines Agency would soon follow. The time difference was due to Britain and the US having conducted an emergency approval process, while the EU was using a regular process.

“But a few remarks on Brexit to my British friends: Biontech is a European development, from the EU. The fact that this EU product is so good that Britain approved it so quickly shows that in this crisis European and international cooperation are best,” he said.

Shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds has promised that a Labour government would work “hand in hand” with the finance industry.

In a marked break with the approach of Jeremy Corbyn as leader, Ms Dodds said Labour was ready to form a “genuine partnership” with the financial services industry if it was ready to play a “responsible” role in the UK’s recovery from coronavirus and the development of a green economy.

The move has been called an attempt by the Labour Party to launch a “charm offensive” on the financial sector, reports our political editor Andrew Woodcock:

DUP Westminster leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson today asked Northern Ireland’s secretary of state, Brandon Lewis, for an update on post-Brexit agreements.

Sir Jeffrey specifically wanted to know what – if any – progress had been made on securing  a “grace period” to allow Northern Ireland businesses time to adjust to the post-Brexit measures that will come into effect early next year.

He told the Commons: “I’m sure (Brandon Lewis) will agree with me that those who talk loud about the Good Friday Agreement are the people who are threatening the economic prosperity of Northern Ireland by insisting on measures that are completely unnecessary in terms of protecting the Agreement.

“So can (Mr Lewis) indicate what progress has been made in securing a commitment from the EU to a significant grace period to allow Northern Ireland businesses sufficient time to adjust to new arrangements that will be introduced when the transition period ends on December 31?”

Mr Lewis responded by saying “we are working with the EU and both the UK and the EU have committed to that intensified process that colleagues will have seen to resolve all outstanding issues with the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol”. 

He went on to clarify that this “includes securing the flexibilities that we need to see for trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland”.

Concerns about the trade of goods, under new Brexit laws, are intensifying as the date for their implementation gets closer and closer. 

With less than a month before the end of the Brexit transition, there is no sign of a replacement for the European Health Insurance Card (Ehic) that the government promised.

But The Independent has confirmed that millions of British residents will qualify for free or very low-cost medical treatment from 2021.

All EU nationals who live in the UK are entitled to a new Ehic issued by the British government. They will receive free cards for use from New Year’s Day 2021.

Read our travel correspondent Simon Calder’s full report here:

An Oireachtas committee has been warned that Ireland’s food and drink industry could face “unbearable” additional costs of €1.5bn in tariffs without a UK-EU trade deal.

Fergal O’Brien, director of policy and public affairs at employers’ group Ibec, said: “Given that it’s less than four weeks out, how are companies expected to price their products operationally and from a commercial perspective into a UK market when we don’t know whether there will be tariffs?”

He added: “The big challenge for the Irish economy from Brexit is risk to our competitiveness.

“When you look at the benefits that the UK and all of us being in the single market and the customs union had over a period of decades, those benefits have been very substantial for businesses and consumers.

“The untangling over that is now going to happen almost overnight and it’s going to bring a lot of extra costs to doing business.”

Welcoming the MHRA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine, the SNP’s Ian Blackford said: “For many, that hope on the horizon remains far too distant. 

“There are millions that still haven’t had a single penny of support from this UK government. As others rightly received help, they received none.”

Eight such people have taken their lives in the past 10 days, Mr Blackford said he had been told by ExcludedUK – who say three million people have gone without meaningful government support.

The prime minister cited “massive” investment in mental health support and added that “hard-to-reach” people are also supported by Universal Credit.

Despite ExcludedUK’s existence showing otherwise, Boris Johnson said: “We have abandoned nobody … the best way to help the self-employed, to help the economy of this whole country, is to get us moving again” with the tier system.