Boris Johnson news – live: PM urged to scrap ‘sick’ Festival of Brexit, amid warning of ‘failed state’ risk

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said politicians from union-backing parties should boycott any “wildcat” independence referendum arranged by the SNP without approval from the UK government.

He stressed the stressed the 2014 vote had been the “gold standard of referendums” – saying a Section 30 order from Westminster would be the only “correct mechanism”.

Ross added: “No-one who believes in democracy should enter into this wildcat referendum that would have no actual bearing in terms of the outcome, would not be enforceable.”

Asked about the matter on Monday, Boris Johnson refused to say whether he would mount a legal challenge if Nicola Sturgeon pressed ahead with a vote.

International trade Liz Truss is launching a new round of trade talks with her counterparts from New Zealand today, and officials are reportedly confident an agreement can be wrapped up before Easter.

Speaking about the roll-over deal (another which essentially replicates the tariff-free arrangements the UK had with the country as part of the EU), Truss told The Sun: “We have made great progress so far, and I look forward to taking negotiations up a gear.”

Truss could be given a more senior cabinet post at the next reshuffle after “impressing” Boris Johnson by securing a series of roll-over deals last year, according to The Mail.

Downing Street did not deny reports that a £1,000 one-off payment was being considered as a one-off replacement for the £20 weekly universal credit uplift, rather than risk making it a permanent £6bn-a-year rise.

Asked whether Boris Johnson backed a £1,000 lump-sum payment, the spokesman said: “It is a matter for the chancellor, but again I would point to the support that we have provided to people on low incomes and those who are the most vulnerable in society throughout the pandemic.”

“What is striking is how few Tories are really worried about this,” said The Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson on rising public debt. “So many Tories actually think there is a magic money tree.”

The only way towards what Gordon Brown calls a ‘reformed state’  – is giving Scotland a veto, Sean O’Grady argues:

Car manufacturers based in the UK will be uncompetitive without more post-Brexit investment in electric car battery production, peers have been told.

Alessandro Marongiu, international trade policy manager at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said last week’s decision by Nissan to move battery production of its Leaf cars to its Sunderland factory does not guarantee similar measures will be forthcoming.

He told the House of Lords’ EU Goods Sub-Committee: “We will need additional investment, for example in the production of parts that are incorporated in electric power trains, and we will need bigger investment in ‘gigafactories’ in the future if we want to remain competitive.”

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will lead a Downing Street press conference at 5pm today, with deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries and Public Health England’s Susan Hopkins.

A busy start to the week. So what has been said so far?

Boris Johnson said the government was “definitely looking at” the possibility of travellers arriving in the UK being required to quarantine in hotels. The PM also said he was “looking at the potential of relaxing some measures” – but refused to guarantee schools would return before Easter.

Gordon Brown, former Labour PM, urged Johnson to go further on devolution – but said he did not think the SNP had a democratic mandate to hold a referendum on Scottish independence.

Therese Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, said the government would decide “soon” whether to extend the £20-a-week increase in universal credit – but abruptly ended her GMB interview after a dispute after Covid death rates.

Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone is leading calls for the government to ditch its planned £120m ‘Festival of Brexit’ – arguing it is “sick” to spend money on it during the pandemic.

The Highlands MP has launched a petition to urge the government to cancel the post-EU cultural celebration – and has already gathered thousands of signatures. “Britain’s culture calamity is real thanks to Brexit, yet the taxpayer is being asked to cough up £120m for bread and circuses.

He added: “Frankly, I thought this Brexit festival was sick before a pandemic – but given we’ve got kids starving, carers suffering on a minimum wage and millions of people out of work and locked out of financial support, well, it’s testament to how skewed the Tory moral compass really is.

Stone and fellow campaigners want the money to be redirected to a Covid-19 recovery fund. The MP called the idea of the festival “just mad” on Twitter on Monday.

In case you missed some of the big Brexit developments over the weekend, businesses revealed that UK government officials are encouraging them to set up new hubs in the EU to avoid Brexit trade disruption.

The firms say they were advised to establish subsidiaries in the bloc by both the Department of International Trade and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

Meanwhile, at least £100,000 of tariffs have been slapped on Fairtrade bananas from Ghana because of Brexit. Ministers are under pressure to explain why the levies are being charged, despite an announcement a last-gasp deal was struck between the UK and Ghana on New Year’s Eve.

And MEPs in the European Parliament voted to add British overseas territories to a tax havens blacklist. Robert Palmer, director of the Tax Justice UK campaign group, said: “Post-Brexit the UK tax havens have lost their protector within the corridors of Brussels.”

Haggis makers say they have seen many of its direct exports to the EU blocked at the border, with around 50 per cent of parcels said to have been rejected because of new rules. And some supermarkets in Europe have reportedly run out of haggis ahead of tonight’s Burns Night festivities.

Macsween’s managing director James McSween told The Daily Record it had experienced “quite significant difficulties” exporting to individual customers, and around half of parcels had been rejected.

Martin Morgan, from the Scottish Meat Wholesalers Association, said the volume of exports was down because of red tape woes. “Our biggest challenge is getting consistency on how the rules are applied before the product is dispatched to Europe.”