Brexit news: Sunak quashes talk of Swiss-style deal and insists current plan ‘delivering’

If you thought Brexit was done, think again. The coming recession has put Britain’s relationship with the EU back on the agenda.

There’s strong evidence the current hard Brexit relationship, negotiated by Boris Johnson, is doing Britain serious economic damage and getting in the way of trade.

As such, it was not a huge surprise to read reports this weekend that some inside government want the UK to get on the path to a Swiss-style Brexit deal.

But what would a Swiss-style deal look like? Our policy correspondent Jon Stone takes a look:

Downing Street has said businesses were being encouraged to invest in Britons rather than rely on migrant workers.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said tackling the issue of small boats was “the key issue to address before we can start talking about overall reductions of net migration”.

He added: “I think on legal migration, the prime minister has been clear that he wants to bring migration levels down over time and have a system that works best in the UK’s interests.

“That’s why we have the points-based system, it’s why we’re encouraging businesses to invest in British people.

“We have significant labour market inactivity in this country and we’re taking steps to encourage more people to help that fill the vacancies we need.

“Clearly with our system, and control over our system, we are able to ensure we get the right type of people, the right skills, coming into it to fill some of those vacancies as required.”

Downing Street has insisted that Rishi Sunak and chancellor Jeremy Hunt were “absolutely” in agreement on Brexit policy.

Mr Hunt has said he wants to “remove the vast majority of the trade barriers that exist between us and the EU”.

The PM’s official spokesman said Mr Hunt had been clear “we will pursue any options outside of the single market” and “you have got the very clear comments from the prime minister this morning”.

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Brexit has failed to deliver any notable economic benefits, more than six years after the vote to leave the EU, David Davis has admitted.

The former Brexit secretary – a key figure in the push for withdrawal and the negotiations that followed – blamed the Covid pandemic for the absence of any gains from the upheaval.

Our deputy politics editor Rob Merrick has more:

As MPs prepare to debate the Autumn Budget this week, a new poll shows that chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s statement has left Britons less than reassured Adam Forrest, our politics correspondent, reports.

Only 25 per cent said they felt reassured by the Budget.

Four in 10 (40 per cent) said the statement made them feel more concerned about Britain’s economy (23 per cent said they were neither reassured nor concerned).

The Ipsos survey also found that only 26 per cent are in favour of proposed cuts to public spending, with 45 per cent against.

The key causes of economic woes are seen as Covid (84 per cent), the state of the global economy (80 per cent), decisions made by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng (79 per cent) and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (78 per cent).

MPs have criticised both the FA and FIFA after England and Wales decided not to wear OneLove armbands at the World Cup 2022 in Qatar over the threat of sporting sanctions.

Politicians and fans groups have also expressed “contempt” for FIFA after plans to wear the armbands were dropped under threat of yellow cards for captains Harry Kane and Gareth Bale.

Our politics correspondent Adam Forrest reports:

Rishi Sunak said an increase in productivity through developments in robotics and automation could reduce some pressure on the labour market.

“If we can get that right with more robotics and automation, then we can drive up productivity,” he said.

“It reduces some of the pressure on labour, creates good jobs for people.

“It’s something that we lag behind in – I think there was a study from the Robotics Federation, or whoever it was, a couple of years ago which showed that we under-index for the amount of automation and robotics, even when you control for the sectoral mix of our economy.

“So that, to me, is actually low-hanging fruit when we talk about how do we drive up growth, we’ve got an opportunity there to do it, and to do it relatively quickly, I hope.”

Rishi Sunak has urged businesses to keep ministers informed on the “pinch points” holding the UK back when it comes to talent acquisition.

Asked what his message would be to firms attending his speech at the CBI annual conference, he said: “The first is to continue investing in R&D, because that’s something where we need to do a better job of.

“Ultimately, it’s you, it’s free enterprise, it’s the private sector that (drives) growth. And I think we need to do a better job of investing in R&D.

“The government’s going to do its bit but that’s not sufficient. We need all of you to keep investing in innovation and prioritising it in the way that we have.

“The second thing is around regulation … we need your ideas. So, when it comes to the industries of the future, where you’re all working, you’re going to be far faster than someone sitting in Whitehall to see where the new barriers are or where the regulations aren’t keeping pace with what you’re trying to do.

“The third thing is on talent. I think when I talk to all of you the number one thing you all talk to me about is talent, is how do we get access to the skilled people we need? But what I need from you is the specific areas, the pinch points, that are holding our growth back.”