Brexit news – live: EU firms refuse UK deliveries as Boris Johnson’s India trade trip scrapped

Nine months after the aviation industry called for testing to reduce the spread of the Covid, the government is set to make a negative test result compulsory for travellers coming to the UK.

But The Independent understands that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests taken no more than 72 hours before departure to the UK may be mandatory only for foreigners – some government figures are pressing for British nationals and those resident in the UK to be exempt.

Our travel correspondent Simon Calder has all the details:

First minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would not allow Donald Trump into Scotland to escape Joe Biden’s inauguration later this month (there has been some speculation the outgoing president will head for Turnberry).

“We are not allowing people to come into Scotland … and that would apply to him as well as anybody,” she said. “Coming to play golf is not what I would call an essential purpose.”

The SNP leader joked that she expects Trump’s “immediate travel plan is to exit the White House” – adding that she had “no doubt dug several deep holes for myself”.

More now on EU firms refusing to deliver to the UK because of the extra bureaucracy and costs. University of Essex’s accounting professor Prem Sikka said: “Brexiteers never told people about this. There were no banners on buses.”

It comes as some international shipping companies used by all kinds of businesses, including TNT and Federal Express, have placed extra charges on deliveries between the UK and the EU.

TNT said there would be a surcharge of £4.31 on shipments between the two due to investments the company has made in adjustments and “cost of customs clearance”.

The government’s handling of schools during the Covid crisis has been denounced as a “huge shambles” by senior Tory MP Robert Halfon – chair of the education committee.

“What I want now to happen is for the government to use this time to roll out a vaccine programme for teachers and support staff, get the testing regime working, set out an educational route map out of coronavirus and a long-term plan for education and skills,” said Halfon.

Education secretary Gavin Williamson was today writing to regulator Ofqual to inform them GCSEs and A-levels must not take place and ask them to draw up alternative arrangements for this summer.

Williamson is now facing demands for the cancellation of vocational and technical exams due to take place through the rest of January. The Association of Colleges said it was “simply untenable” for the exams to go ahead as planned.

In news from Westminster, a Tory minister has been branded “out of touch” after suggesting people to drown the sorrows of 2020 with a £170 bottle of champagne. Housing minister Christopher Pincher said Krug Grand Cru Cuvee is “ideal for lifting the spirit and lighting up a darkening winter afternoon”.

Bethany Dawson has the full story:

Rob Merrick has more on the PM’s cancelled trip to India. The move will heighten criticism that Johnson was unprepared for the dramatic surge in infections – triggering a third – when the trip was arranged for later this month, he writes. At one time, Brexit supporters earmarked India as among the major new trade deals they hoped to secure once the UK had left the EU.

The Unite union has called on French automaker PSA to build electrified vehicles at its Vauxhall-Opel car factory in the UK following the Brexit trade deal.

Peugeot parent company PSA bought Opel, which trades as Vauxhall in Britain, in 2017, and said in 2019 that future investment in the northern English Ellesmere Port plant would depend on the final terms of Britain’s exit.

“We call upon PSA to look at a longer-term plan to build electrified vehicles at both Luton and Ellesmere Port with future regulatory and legislative changes in mind,” said Unite national officer for automotive industries Des Quinn.

Boris Johnson has told to India’s prime minister Narendra Modi he will be unable to visit India later this month as planned.

Johnson said it was important to stay in the UK “so he can focus on the domestic response to the virus”, according to a No 10 spokesperson.

“The prime minister said that he hopes to be able to visit India in the first half of 2021, and ahead of the UK’s G7 Summit that prime minister Modi is due to attend as a guest.”

Marks & Spencer said new trade rules in place since Britain left the EU were delaying deliveries of some fresh food to its stores in France – where at least three branches had empty shelves on Tuesday.

The items out of stock at three Paris branches of M&S included sandwiches, black rice and edamame bean salad, and turkey tortilla with curry, according to labels on the empty shelves.

M&S said: “As we are transitioning to the new processes, it is taking a little longer for some of our products to reach stores – but we are working with our partners, suppliers and relevant government agencies and local authorities to quickly improve this.”

A spokeswoman for Lagardere, the French firm which holds the franchise for some of the stores in France, said it was working with M&S on the supply disruptions and expected the problems to be fixed by the end of January.

What about the Brexit “teething problems” for Britons trying to enter EU countries? Travellers heading for Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden have all been held up at borders since the start of the year – despite claiming to have the correct paperwork.

Police in the Netherlands confirmed that 10 British citizens were refused entry into the country.

Mike Hofman, from the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee force, told the PA news agency: “British citizens are no longer subject to EU rules now that Brexit has started and due to corona they are only allowed to enter the Netherlands if it is strictly necessary.”

And British ambassador to Sweden Judith Gough said she was “very concerned” to hear of UK nationals being refused entry to the Scandinavian nation.

She said: “It is clear that there have been teething problems … we are asking the Swedish authorities to provide greater clarity and consistency for UK nationals, who wish to return home to Sweden.”