Brexit news – live: Boris Johnson has not read trade deal text, No 10 hints as crisis plan for ports revealed

New regulatory frictions causing disruption to trade with the EU are an “obvious and inevitable” consequence of Brexit – and can be expected to be permanent, Michel Barnier has warned.

The EU’s former chief negotiator said some things have “changed for good”, although he added some “glitches, problems and breakdowns” could be cleared up in the coming weeks and months.

Ministers “privately” expect some rules to tighten before the lockdown ends in England, according to The Spectator. The magazine’s reporter Katy Balls says the government has been knocking around some slogans to discourage takeaway coffee drinking.

“I understand one draft advert being considered for publication reads along the lines of ‘grabbing a coffee can kill’,” she writes. The Sun, meanwhile, reports another line being tested is: “Don’t let a coffee cost a life.”

No 10 has admitted an EU proposal to allow visa-free tours by musicians was rejected, apparently because of a belief it clashed with ending free movement.

After days of arguing that Brussels threw out a deal, Boris Johnson’s government has now acknowledged it did turn down a plan (as The Independent revealed at the weekend) – but has refused to explain the reasons for doing so.

A Downing Street spokesman said the offer “fell short” of what was required, but a source has said the reason was a fear it involved travel rights that undermined the aims of Brexit.

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick – who got the big scoop at the weekend – has all the details:

Downing Street has signalled that Boris Johnson has not yet read the full text of his Brexit trade deal with the EU. His official spokesman has told reporters only that the prime minister was “fully aware” of its contents.

The PM’s spokesman told a Westminster media briefing: “The prime minister is fully aware of the deal that we agreed.” Pressed on whether Johnson expected his cabinet colleagues to read the agreement text, the spokesman said: “The prime minister and other ministerial colleagues are fully aware of the deal we agreed with the EU.”

The Commons leader Jacob Rees-Mogg said he believes fish are “better and happier” at being fully “British” now the Brexit process is complete. “The key is we’ve got our fish back – they’re now British fish!  And better and happier for it!” he exclaimed.

Environment secretary George Eustice has parroted a phrase used by the prime minister, saying that the delayed export of Scottish seafood to the EU this month is down to “teething problems”. 

In response to a question from Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, Mr Eustice said: “We are looking very closely with industry on this matter. We are having twice a week meetings with all the key stake holders, all of the key sectors to help them understand these issues.

“Yesterday we had a meeting with the Dutch officials, earlier this week we had a meeting with the French, on Friday we had a meeting with the Irish to try to iron out some of these teething problems.”

On Wednesday, Boris Johnson admitted there were “teething problems” with the new Great Britain-Northern Ireland trade rules.

Hundreds of trucks could be fast-tracked at UK ports as part of “emergency” measures designed to prevent food shortages in British supermarkets, a government document shows. 

This comes amid growing concerns in Whitehall about the disruption to food supply chains caused by Brexit. 

“We are proposing an emergency contingency measure . . . to expedite the return of empty food lorries from the UK to the EU where they can be restocked with supplies,” the document says.

Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick has the details: 

Keir Starmer has said the government should apologise to Scottish fishing communities for the problems they face from the UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.  

The Labour leader said he had “a lot of sympathy” for these communities because “they’ve been left high and dry” by ministers. 

He added: “The Government left the signing of the agreement to the 11th hour.

“Those communities have been through a hell of a lot already and we owe them a better way of working with this, and I think the Government owes them an apology.” 

The chief executive of Tesco, Britain’s largest retailer, has said the firm has experienced “limited disruption” to its supply chain in Northern Ireland since a post-Brexit trade deal was signed last month. 

Ken Murphy said: “We have seen some limited disruption into the Republic of Ireland and into the north of Ireland, but we’re working very closely with government on both sides of the Irish Sea to smooth the flow of product.” 

He added that this had affected items such as short shelf life ready meals, but that overall product availability “remains strong”. 

Mr Murphy also said there had been “teething problems” with the flow of goods from continental Europe to the UK. 

Northern Ireland’s agriculture minister Edwin Poots has warned that Boris Johnson’s government must act now to avert “a major crisis” in food supplies.

A grace period that limits the level of red tape required to move retail food products from GB to NI runs out at the end of March. With some empty supermarket shelves already in evidence, the DUP politician said things could turn drastic from the beginning of April.

“Whenever it comes to the supermarket side of things it was made very clear to us by the suppliers to both hospitals and schools that if the current arrangement for supermarkets isn’t extended in a few months; time that they will not be able to supply our hospitals and schools with food,” he told BBC Radio Ulster.

“That is a major crisis and I have raised this with [Cabinet Office minister] Michael Gove.”

But the Alliance party’s deputy leader Stephen Farry accused Poots of “scaremongering on steroids”.