Brexit news – live: UK must ‘be very careful’, Barnier warns in row over EU’s diplomatic status

Michel Barnier has warned the UK government to “be very careful” after the Foreign Office refused to grant full diplomatic status to the EU’s officials and ambassador in London

Speaking at an event hosted by the European Movement Ireland, Mr Barnier, who was the bloc’s chief Brexit negotiator, said that while relations will not be “business as usual”, he insisted the EU cannot be treated solely as an international organisation.

“I hope we will be able together to find a clever and objective solution to the status of the EU in London,” he added. “I think it would be wise in my view for the UK to find a clever solution.  

“We will see what will be the final decision of the UK on this point, but they have to be very careful.”

Our Political Correspondent Ashley Cowburn has followed the story so far:

Taxes totalling £800m could go unpaid this year because of border checks on lorries being scaled back to avoid queues at ports after Brexit, MPs have been told.

HMRC accepts that money will be lost because of a decision to prioritise free flow of traffic over revenue protection, chief executive Jim Harra told the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee. The committee heard that significant queues have so far been avoided at ports like Dover. 

But border delivery group chief executive Emma Churchill said that an average of about 5 per cent of trucks – up to 200 a day – have been turned back for having the wrong paperwork or failing to provide a negative Covid test.

More on this from our Political Editor Andrew Woodcock here:

Downing Street has declined to criticise Joe Biden for removing a bust of Sir Winston Churchill from the Oval Office, despite Boris Johnson’s infamous attack on Barack Obama for the same move.

The prime minister said in 2016 — in comments widely condemned as racist — that Mr Obama removing the sculpture “was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British Empire”.

But Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson on Thursday said the same move by Mr Biden was “up to the president” after the Democrat took over the White House from Donald Trump.

“The Oval Office is the president’s private office and it’s up to the president to decorate it as he wishes,” the spokesperson said.

The education secretary has launched the “Skills for Jobs” white paper, setting out the government’s plan for education reform, focusing on vocational training.

Gavin Williamson said the white paper will ensure skills training matches “what employers want and need” and will help  rebuild the economy after the pandemic.

Labour’s Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, welcomed the plans but said the government had been too slow to recognise the need for reform.

“Even when the government get things right – and there are certainly measures in this White Paper that we on these benches have been calling for, for some time – they come too late, leaving families, businesses, and our country paying the price,” she said.

Labour’s Andy McDonald, the shadow employment rights secretary, said the government’s reported plan to scrap the 48-hour working week could pressure key workers to take on “excessive hours”.

Speaking as Labour revealed a plan to force a vote in the Commons to protect the working hours limit and holiday pay entitlements, Mr McDonald said:  “Scrapping the 48-hour working week cap could mean many key workers feel pressured to work excessive hours. The government should be focused on securing our economy and rebuilding the country, not taking a wrecking ball to hard-won rights.  

“The government’s true colours are on full display once again and it’s clear their priorities couldn’t be further from those of workers and their families. But on Monday MPs across the House will have a chance to vote on the side of working people and protect our key workers.”  

The prime minister has said he cannot rule out the lockdown lasting into summer. His answer was not too easy to follow but he did point to data showing the “contagiousness” of the new variant and suggested the government will wait until the first four priority groups are vaccinated before making further decisions. 

Labour will force a vote in the House of Commons on Monday to protect holiday pay entitlements and safe working limits following business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng’s admission this week that employment protections are being reviewed to see which to scrap and which to keep, Political Correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports.  

Despite repeated but vague promises from ministers that they have no plans to rip up the rights of workers, it has now been revealed that the government will consult on changes which could mean:  

• Ending the inclusion of overtime in how holiday pay is calculated, leaving workers hundreds of pounds out of pocket
• A longer working week, with no legal cap on the number of hours employers can make their employees work
• An end to the legal right to rest breaks at work

Labour’s motion calls on the government to specifically rule out any changes to the 48-hour working week, rest breaks at work, or holiday pay entitlements. The motion also calls on the government to outlaw fire and rehire tactics.  

Taking a wrecking ball to these hard-won rights would leave workers and their families worse off and risk the safety of key workers including hauliers and airline workers who are currently legally protected from working excessive hours.  

New research has warned exposure to a common insecticide, banned in the EU but set for reintroduction to the UK, impacts the sleep of bumblebees and fruit flies, and “may help us understand why insect pollinators are vanishing from the wild”.

More below:

Taxes totalling £800m could go unpaid this year because of border checks on lorries being scaled back to avoid queues at ports after Brexit, MPs have been told.

More below:

A Labour MP asked if the meat industry was “in jeopardy” after newspapers reported that pig heads are “rotting in Rotterdam”.

During environment questions, shadow environment minister Daniel Zeichner told the Commons: “I fear the Secretary of State is living in a parallel universe. He must have seen the headlines ‘pig heads rotting in Rotterdam’ as Brexit delays hit the British meat industry,” and asked if the meat industry was “in jeopardy”.

Responding, Environment Secretary George Eustice said: “He is wrong about that actually. Goods are flowing, particularly when it comes to lamb, which is our principal meat export. Dairy goods are also flowing.

“Yes, there are occasionally delays at the border as border officials in France and The Netherlands get used to these new processes, but we are intervening in all such instances to help the businesses concerned.”