Brexit news – live: Barnier says ‘Britain won fisheries argument’ as support for Scottish indyref2 mounts

Five men have been arrested following a “disturbance” at a coronavirus-hit military barracks in Kent where hundreds of asylum seekers have been living.

Heavy smoke and flames were seen pouring from Napier Barracks in Folkestone on Friday afternoon amid blaring alarms.

Kent Police said a “significant amount” of damage was caused to one part of the site following a fire, which is believed to have been started deliberately.

A 31-year-old was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a security guard on Friday evening, the force said.

A further four men were arrested in connection with the incident the following morning.

Detectives are appealing for anyone with information, including mobile phone footage and photographs of the disturbance, to get in touch.

Our columnist John Rentoul has said:

“It is so unusual to see Boris Johnson on the high moral ground that it might take a while for our eyes to adjust. The prime minister who trashed the UK’s reputation by threatening to repudiate a treaty months after signing it has now been matched by the other side doing exactly the same thing, and with less justification.

The prime minister of a country with one of the worst death tolls in the world, who used to be lectured on how the Germans could do test and trace because of their labs, has turned out to be the prime minister of a country that can do vaccines because of its labs.”

Read the full story here:

Michel Barnier has admitted Britain “won” the “situation” over fisheries in post-Brexit trade talks between the EU and UK.

Speaking to the Times magazine on Saturday, Brussels’ former chief negotiator said: “A third country can always sovereignly, freely, choose to move closer to the single market through different models that remain available. This is the British choice, the sovereign choice of the British, and according to what they consider to be in their interest.

“I don’t understand this criticism since the British have gained around 25 per cent more fishing opportunities and we have lost this 25 per cent.”

He added: “The British have regained sovereignty over their waters. In the reasonable agreement that we have found, the British have won over the current situation.”

He said the two nations could still have a “good” relationship, providing the deal was “applied correctly”. 

“If this treaty is applied correctly, in good faith, by both sides, I think we can avoid acrimony and I think we have an interest to because we are going to face new and serious events and situations in the coming years and it will be better to face them by co-operating.”

It comes amid a row between the EU, UK and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca over the Union’s shortage of AZ’s Covid vaccine. 

Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken has described the actions of the EU in a dispute over vaccine supplies as a “tipping point” and urged the UK government to intervene to protect Northern Ireland. In a statement, he said:

“The EU cynically and deliberately used Northern Ireland in an attempt to cover up their vaccine omnishambles with a political one.

“The EU’s actions show that they do not have our best interests at heart. Northern Ireland and its people have been cynically used and exploited as a negotiating chip by the EU and they will do it again in the future for selfish political reasons.

“Therefore it’s long past time for the UK government to step in to protect Northern Irelands interests.

“The reasons given by the EU for triggering Article 16 were unwarranted, however Northern Ireland’s are very real, including disruptions to trade and growing societal anger.

“It would be a weak UK government that would continue to sit on the sidelines as an observer and let its people be treated in such a manner.”

Freelance photographer Andy Aitchison, 46, has been arrested after attending a demonstration outside Napier Barracks, in Folkestone, and taking photos as protesters threw buckets of fake blood at the gates of the site. The images were later used in local press reports.

The protest, which saw demonstrators holding signs reading: “Close Napier now” and “There will be blood on your hands”, came in response to mounting concerns about poor living conditions in the barracks where more than 100 people have contracted coronavirus in the last two weeks.

Our social affairs correspondent May Bulman has the story:

In an interview with the Daily Record, former head of the Better Together campaign Blair McDougall, who led the No campaign to a 55 per cent victory in the 2014 referendum, agreed with Labour MP Ian Murray who said Boris Johnson poses a “greater threat to the UK than any nationalist does”.

His comments come as Scottish independence looks to be one of the key areas heading into May’s Holyrood elections, with Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP) holding a strong lead in the polls.

The party has outlined its road map to independence if a majority of supportive MSPs are elected, which includes plans to hold another referendum even if Westminster refuse permission, effectively daring them to take legal action to stop it.

The PM visited Scotland on Thursday, where he talked up the positives of co-operation within the UK in tackling coronavirus, while claiming the SNP uses independence as a diversionary tactic from domestic problems.

With Mr Johnson’s personal ratings in Scotland consistently skewing negative, Mr McDougall told the PM not to give the SNP a foil.

“I’d say to him ‘stop being the villain that the SNP want you to be. Step into the background and box clever’,” he said. “You should recognise that this is a battle that will be won or lost in Scotland.”

He added: “There is a distinct lack of that artistry from Boris Johnson where every intervention is briefed as being the intervention that will save the Union.

“If [former PM] David Cameron understood that he was not the man who was going to save the Union, and that it was going to be saved in Scotland, Boris Johnson certainly isn’t.”

In the last 20 opinion polls on the subject, Scottish independence has been the favoured view when undecided voters are removed.

In some coronavirus-related news, Northern Ireland’s first minister Arlene Foster has urged Boris Johnson to replace the NI Protocol after the EU sparked a row over vaccine controls.

The EU caused outrage on Friday evening when it invoked Article 16 of the post-Brexit mechanism, to stop the unimpeded flow of vaccines from the European bloc into the region.

Brussels subsequently reversed the move following condemnation from London, Dublin and Belfast.

Ms Foster said it was an “absolutely incredible act of hostility towards those of us in Northern Ireland”.

“It’s absolutely disgraceful, and I have to say the prime minister now needs to act very quickly to deal with the real trade flows that are being disrupted between Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday morning.

The DUP leader reiterated calls for Mr Johnson to enact Article 16 of the protocol over delays being face by hauliers.

“We’ve been asking the PM to deal with the flow problems and indeed, since January 1, we’ve been trying to manage along with the Government the many, many difficulties that have arisen between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and there are actions he could take immediately,” she said.

“There is great unrest and great tension within the community here in Northern Ireland so this protocol that was meant to bring about peace and harmony in Northern Ireland is doing quite the reverse.

“The protocol is unworkable, let’s be very clear about that, and we need to see it replaced because otherwise there is going to be real difficulties here in Northern Ireland.”

Additional reporting by PA

Anger is growing over the failure to open up the flagship £500m Youth Investment Fund – amid fears the money will be redirected to other crisis services as part of a “review” of priorities.

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more:

The Scottish Labour Party is facing a fight for “survival” and its resurgence is critical for Sir Keir Starmer’s chances of forming a majority government in 2024, a candidate in the party’s leadership contest has warned.

Fighting to replace Richard Leonard, who quit as Labour leader in Scotland earlier this month, Anas Sarwar told The Independent he was not “naive” about the party’s prospects following a spate of disastrous election results in recent years.

If Mr Sarwar defeats the only other candidate in the contest, Monica Lennon, next month, he will be the fifth person to lead the Scottish Labour Party in just five years and will face his first key electoral test just nine weeks later at the Holyrood elections.

Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports: