Brexit news – live: Economic impact of deal ‘ought to focus minds in last few days’ of trade talks, Raab says

A junior NHS doctor has penned a passionate op-ed in which he urges the government to “cancel Christmas this year” to avoid allowing coronavirus “infection rates to bloom”.

“After seeing such tragedy, the suggestion of relaxing Covid rules for Christmas is a difficult pill to swallow,” Richard Gilpin wrote on news website HuffPost, adding: “In a system with an exhausted workforce, having to cope with a spike in Covid-19 infections, goodwill will vanish and the patients who need us at this time will suffer.”

Mr Gilpin said that NHS staff are in “desperate need of a scientific approach to the management of this pandemic” and while he said he understood the sentiment of Boris Johnson’s decision to relax rules around Christmas, he also said it “can only be detrimental for the health service”. 

He said that considering the government cancelled Eid celebrations earlier in the year, “it feels culturally insensitive that special rules for Christmas are made when this consideration was not forthcoming for the festivities of other faiths”.

The doctor, who specialises in caring for older people, ended the piece with a suggestion for No 10: postponing Christmas. 

“Arrange a day once we have a working vaccine and infection rates are under control to ensure that there are fewer empty chairs at Christmas dinner in 2021,” he said. 

Mr Gilpin is not alone in this thinking – leading government advisers have also warned of the dangers that relaxed social distancing measures could have. Professor Andrew Hayward, a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said last week that the government’s plan to allow three households to meet over several days during Christmas is “throwing fuel on the Covid fire”.

Prof Hayward issued a stark warning to families and groups of friends across the UK, he said that these relaxed measures could lead to a “third wave” of Covid. 

SNP members have said that an independent Scotland would pledge 0.7 per cent of gross national income (GNI) to foreign aid.

A motion at the party’s virtual conference on Sunday, which condemned the UK government decision to drop the aid budget to 0.5 per cent this week, was passed by members.

Stirling MP Alyn Smith, Anniesland MSP Bill Kidd and Shetland’s candidate at next year’s election Tom Wills, who all moved the motion, attacked the move by Boris Johnson, describing it as “yet another example of the isolationist policies of Westminster as the Tory party strives towards an inward-looking UK”.

It added: “Conference commits an independent Scotland to recognising its responsibilities as one of the wealthiest nations on the planet and to invest meaningfully in international development projects the world over for the protection and betterment of humankind.”

Mr Smith said: “The Tory Government’s shameful decision to ditch its manifesto and legal commitment of spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on overseas development aid marks yet another stain on the UK’s record.

“The move is a betrayal of some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world who have been disproportionately hit by the pandemic, as well as the impact of climate change.”

He added: “While the Tories at Westminster turn increasingly insular, an independent Scotland – because of our history, our interests, and our progressive ambitions – will put international development at its heart and will be committed to the 0.7 per cent target.”

Mr Kidd went as far as accusing Downing Street of “turning their back on the world”.

He said: “Rather than recognising the global threat posed by the pandemic, as well as the other difficult challenges including poverty, hunger and climate change facing communities, the Tory government is instead turning its back on the world.”

“There is a lesson to be taken from Joe Biden,” Scottish constitution secretary Mike Russell has told the SNP annual conference, as his party mounts its challenge to Boris Johnson’s denial of a second independence referendum.

“Confronted with anti-democratic ravings from Donald Trump he didn’t match them with threats, or lawsuits.

“He matched them with a confident and flawless commitment to the democratic process. And that ensured his success.”

With 70 members of the Tories’ Covid Recovery Group having written last week to the PM asking him for a cost-benefit analysis of the coronavirus tier system, the group’s chair Mark Harper has reiterated this call, insisting: “We need hard evidence not hyperbole.”

“Show us that the measures that are being proposed are going to be effective and show us the cost of those measures,” he said.

Boris Johnson has written to all Tory MPs pledging “further analysis of the health, economic and social impacts of Covid, and the measures taken to suppress them” ahead of Tuesday’s Commons vote.

The European Commission has begun to “lean on” Michel Barnier to secure a trade deal, according to a report in the Sunday Times, which suggested that this development has bolstered Downing Street’s hopes of a deal being struck next week.

It cites senior government sources as saying that president Ursula von der Leyen is now being “quite helpful” and is “keen to unblock things”.

Labour’s shadow transport secretary has said his party wants to be able support a Brexit trade deal if one is reached.

“We want to see a deal, it would cause untold economic harm if we were to leave without a deal. It’s not what the EU want, it certainly not what the Irish government want and it’s definitely not what we want, so we do want to see a deal, but until we see the construct of a deal, we can’t confirm our support for it,” Jim McMahon told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge.

He added: “We want to see a deal that we can support and what we would say is that we would consider a foundational agreement, which is something to build up from, so providing there’s nothing in there that causes significant concern.”

“Obviously there are still big question marks about the Irish border and the peace process, making sure that that isn’t sacrificed as part of any agreement that’s reached. Our view is: with good will, with time put into it, that we can get to a point where there is a deal that we can look at supporting.”

The government is being urged to “take responsibility” for the UK’s share of carbon emissions from international shipping after it quietly agreed to let the sector spew out even more CO2, our policy correspondent Jon Stone reports.

Labour says maritime emissions must be included in emissions targets and has written to ministers criticising them for signing up to “another decade of virtually unchecked emissions growth”.

Sea transport accounts for around 3 per cent of the UK’s emissions, but is currently not included in climate targets, despite repeated recommendations from the government’s own experts that it should be.

As delegates meet virtually for the SNP’s annual conference, Nicola Sturgeon is mounting an increasing challenge to Boris Johnson over IndyRef2, laying the grounds to use the results of May’s Holyrood elections as a mandate for another vote.

“I’m going to do the old fashioned, traditional, democratic thing and ask the people of Scotland in May for their authority for a legal referendum to allow the people of Scotland to choose their own future,” the first minister told Andrew Marr.  

“It is not for Boris Johnson to stand in the way of people choosing their future”.  

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has the full story here:

Also pointing to the Office for Budget Responsibility’s somewhat damning assessment of the cost a no-deal Brexit this week, former FT editor Lionel Barber suggested unemployment is the “missing story” in discussions over the negotiations.

As negotiators battle it out in London to seek a smoother post-Brexit transition, those speaking at the SNP’s virtual conference appear to be struggling with some transitions of their own.