Brexit news – live: Trade deal ‘very unstable’, legal expert warns amid ‘cumbersome’ Irish sea checks

Amid all the kerfuffle in the Commons today, the foreign secretary has put out a statement denouncing the arrest of dozens of pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong.

Dominic Raab said: “The mass arrest of politicians and activists in Hong Kong is a grievous attack on Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms as protected under the Joint Declaration.

“These arrests demonstrate that the Hong Kong and Chinese authorities deliberately misled the world about the true purpose of the National Security Law, which is being used to crush dissent and opposing political views.

“The UK will not turn our backs on the people of Hong Kong and will continue to offer BNOs the right to live and work in the UK.”

This is far from the first time Mr Raab has spoken out over Beijing’s crackdown on dissenters in the territory.

He references the BNOs (British National Overseas) visa scheme, which is a route to UK citizenship that will be available to millions of Hong Kongers at the end of the month.

Homeless charity Shelter and private renter’s association Generation Rent have called on the government to reinstate the ban on evictions to protect renters during the new lockdown.

The eviction ban was introduced last March to protect renters as the pandemic overhauled ordinary life, and similar protections were put in place at the beginning of the November lockdown.

Alicia Kennedy, director of Generation Rent said: “During the first lockdown, renters who had received an eviction notice still felt pressure to move out, which is why we’re calling on the government to do all it can to prevent unnecessary house moves by suspending evictions,” adding that landlords should be stopped from issuing eviction notices in the first place.

Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, said: “We are now back in the same, if not worse, situation as last March. It is just too dangerous to start evicting people from their homes with Covid case numbers so high.

“You cannot follow the order to stay at home if you are evicted and facing homelessness. It’s not safe for people to attend court, nor is it safe for bailiffs to enter people’s homes and forcibly remove them. 

“There aren’t enough genuinely affordable homes for people to move elsewhere, and councils will not be able to cope with an even longer queue of homeless households.”

Shadow education secretary Kate Green has accused her counterpart Gavin Williamson of “chronic incompetence”, suggesting he sows “chaos and confusion” wherever he goes. 

Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, Ms Green lambasted the education secretary for yet another U-turn, which saw primary schools close one day after they opened for the start of term.  

Ms Green said: “It was disappointing (Gavin Williamson) did not make a new year’s resolution to avoid U-turns or chronic incompetence. 

“Once again where the Secretary of State goes, chaos and confusion follows and it’s children, families and education staff across the country who pay the price for his incompetence.” 

The Labour MP also said that the government had treated young people as an “afterthought” throughout the pandemic. 

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) has said that the Brexit deal has been an “unmitigated disaster” for Northern Ireland.

Speaking on Wednesday, Ian Paisley Jr, the party’s communities spokesperson, said: “They’ve basically told us that the protocol and its workings, on day six, is an unmitigated disaster.

“That’s one of the reasons I was against it, because I think a blind man on a galloping horse could have told you it was going to be an unmitigated disaster.”

At a committee hearing on Wednesday, Northern Irish MPs were told about the problems hauliers and retailers face as a result of the new trade arrangements. 

The Independent’s policy correspondent Jon Stone reports: 

GCSE, AS and A-level exams in England will be replaced by teacher assessments, education secretary Gavin Williamson has announced.

The move comes after schools were shuttered this week in England as part of the country’s third national lockdown. 

Our Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin has the story: 

The government must close the UK’s borders to “all but essential travel” to stem the spread of the new coronavirus variants, the SNP has said. 

Ian Blackford, the SNP’s Westminster leader, warned Boris Johnson to “act in a timely manner”, adding that the prime minister had so far been slow to respond “to the threats that we all face”. 

“On travel, is the prime minister prepared to learn from his Government’s past mistakes?” he added. 

Mr Johnson said: “As I said just now, we will make sure that we protect our borders from the readmission of the virus and he has seen what we did already in the case of the South African strain.

“And we’ll bring forward further measures to stop the readmission of the virus.”

Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has urged the government to extend its furlough scheme until “at least” summer. 

Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, Mr Davey said: “We must leave no-one behind as we tackle this terrible virus. Employers and workers need support and certainty and they need it now.”

“So will the Prime Minister instruct the Chancellor to publish an emergency budget to include a business rates holiday next year, an extension to furlough at least until the summer?” he added.

The Liberal Democrat leader also called on the prime minister to help those self-employed people who have “unfairly” not received any financial support to date.  

In response, Boris Johnson said a budget will be set out “in the course of the next few weeks and months”. 

Tory former work and pensions secretary Stephen Crabb asked Boris Johnson not to go ahead with cuts to Universal Credit, recommending that he instead extends support.

He said: “Without question, one of the most important things this government did in the first lockdown was to strengthen Universal Credit.

“And that’s been a lifeline, not just for people who’ve lost their jobs, but also for people who’ve kept going out to work during this pandemic, people on low wages in retail, delivery jobs, people doing cleaning jobs.

“Now our plan is still to cut that support back by £20 per week in less than three months time.

“I know the prime minister understands this issue, but does he agree with me that now is really not the moment to weaken our welfare safety net and that giving families on low incomes greater security for the year ahead by extending, rather than cutting, support is the right thing to do?”

The prime minister responded: “I fully understand the point that my honourable friend makes and all I’ll say is that we’ll of course keep this under review.”

Boris Johnson hinted local and mayoral elections in May could be delayed.

Responding to a question from Labour’s Bambos Charalambous, the prime minister said the elections are scheduled to go ahead but the government will keep the situation under review.

Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick is following up the prime minister’s remark:

Back to the Commons now where former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has asked Boris Johnson to improve financial support measures during the new lockdown, among other things.

“For many, this third lockdown is one of devastating fear,” Mr Corbyn said before asking for an increase in statutory sick pay to £320 a week, assurance that Universal Credit will not be cut,  continuation of protection for private tenants and the provision of laptops for schoolchildren in need.

He ended on a call for universal broadband, a call that was famously ill-received when he made it in the 2019 General Election campaign. That was a pandemic ago, however.