Brexit news — live: DUP demands ‘freedom’ from NI protocol as trade deal to wipe £45bn from UK economy

Boris Johnson and home secretary Priti Patel have “absolute confidence” in the Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick, No 10 has said.

A Downing Street spokesperson said of the Met’s flawed investigation into false allegations of a VIP sex abuse ring in Westminster: “This was a deeply concerning case and the PM’s thoughts are with Lady Brittan, her late husband (Leon Brittan) and others affected.”

“The Prime Minister has complete confidence in the Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick, as does the Home Secretary,” they added.

This declaration of trust came after Ms Patel told LBC on Friday that there were “questions” about the force’s performance.

The government should consider changing “old-fashioned” GCSEs, a leading headteacher has suggested.

Jane Prescott, headmistress of Portsmouth High School, said it would be “timely” for ministers to decide whether the qualifications should be ditched.

She expressed her concerns about the consequences of “over-testing on young people’s state of mind”, adding that GCSEs are “not the best measure” for preparing students for their futures.

Her words came after GCSEs and A-Level exams in England were cancelled for the second year in a row because of the pandemic.

The government’s online booking system for mandatory hotel quarantine is still out of action, just three days before the start of the new policy.

The website was meant to go live on Thursday but is experiencing unspecified “technical issues”, according to No 10.

Under the new system, adults travelling from 33 “red list” countries must pay £1,750 ahead of their journey – to cover the cost of staying in hotel quarantine for 10 days upon their arrival in the UK.

On Friday, a Downing Street spokesperson said: “Work is under way to fix a technical issue with the online booking portal. We expect the system to be back up and running today.”

The Brexit trade deal will wipe around £45 billion from the UK economy over two years, new analysis from Brussels has suggested.

If this prediction proves to be accurate, the Christmas Eve agreement – hailed as “fanstastic” by Boris Johnson – could be four times more costly for the UK than the EU.

The latest projection comes amid trade disruptions between Britain and its trading partners in both continental Europe and Northern Ireland.

Home secretary Priti Patel has launched another attack against last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, branding them “dreadful”.

Speaking to LBC, she also criticised sports stars for taking the knee and called into question the work of Metropolitan Police commissioner Cressida Dick.

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick reports:

Transport secretary Grant Shapps ignored official advice by not looking into the environmental ramifications of a £27 billion road expansion scheme, a campaign group has claimed.

Transport Action Network (Tan) believes Department for Transport (DfT) has failed to consider the Paris Agreement in its plans, and is bringing a legal challenge against the government.

First reported in the Guardian, Tan alleges that Mr Shapps overrode civil servants who said he should review the 2014 National Policy Statement (NPS) for national roads.

The campaign group’s director Chris Todd told the paper: “It is clear that the Department for Transport is out of control and needs to be reined in.

“An urgent review of the national roads policy and suspension of the roads programme would be a good place to start,” he added.

A DfT spokesperson said: “The advice to the Transport Secretary set out that the criteria for a review of the National Policy Statement had not been fully met.”

The prime minister will “have some bandwidth” to reopen schools in March before further restrictions can be lifted in April, Professor Neil Ferguson has said.

The Imperial College academic, who is also a scientific government adviser, said that the country “in a better place than I might have anticipated a month ago”, with coronavirus case numbers declining quickly.

He added that he was “hopeful” that the third national lockdown would be the UK’s “final” one.

The comments come as Boris Johnson faces growing pressure from his backbenchers to ease restrictions.

Mr Johnson will announce his “road map” for exiting lockdown in the week beginning 22 February.

Welsh fisherman have been speaking about their fears the sector will be “devastated” by unmanageable changes brought in under the Brexit trade deal.

New rules mean dozens of French and Belgian fleets can now fish within six miles of the Welsh coastline until 2026.

The Welsh Fishermen’s Association said it was worried some of the 600 fishermen in the £39m sector in Wales were “not going to survive” the post-Brexit era.

Fisherman Barry Thomas, who said he voted Leave – told the BBC that Boris Johnson had “bottled” the trade deal agreement with the EU “at the last minute”.

Labour MP Liz Kendall has little time for complaints about the protocol. She told ITV’s Peston that current problems are the “inevitable” consequence of the hard Brexit that Boris Johnson “championed” and the DUP were “cheerleaders” for.

Leaders of a Northern Ireland council are to hold talks with trade unions amid the fallout from its controversial decision to pull staff from post-Brexit port checks.

East Antrim council’s decision to pull workers out of the facilities has been questioned after police went public last week to state there was no credible threat to staff.

DUP mayor Peter Johnson – who had referenced the unions when he highlighted security concerns – has now clarified that it was not the unions who raised the issue with the council.