Markus Andrews

Brexit has increased the risk of dangerous foods reaching the UK because inspectors are shut out of the EU’s “rapid alert system”, ministers are warned today.The Food Standards Agency is still scrambling to build defences to compensate for the loss of data, the National Audit Office has found – a task made more difficult by the UK scrapping planned import checks.The regulator has admitted it needs a 65 per cent boost to its resources to “deliver the same result achieved with the EU’s system”, the report warns.In common with other regulators, Brexit has had a “negative impact on their ability to assess risks or carry out their work”, the NAO concludes.“Failures in food safety can have catastrophic consequences for human life, public confidence, the wider economy and international trade,” the watchdog points out.The chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee highlighted the big gap between “high-minded talk of new Brexit freedoms and what it means in practice for regulation”.“Government must clearly light the way to prevent regulators fumbling around in the dark,” Meg Hillier said.Until the UK left the EU, it was part of the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), allowing it to exchange information about food safety incidents and responses across the bloc.The FSA is forced to mitigate for the information loss “using other international systems, publicly available data, or by setting up data sharing arrangements on a case-by-case basis”.However, these are at “an early stage” and “there is a risk that it may have less information about food fraud risks”, the body told the inquiry.The problem mirrors the loss of instant alerts about suspected terrorists and organised criminals.Full controls on imports from the EU were seen as part of the post-Brexit defences, but the government has abandoned them over fears of adding to the cost of living crisis.Vets have warned the move is opening the door to diseases such as African Swine Fever and “wreak havoc” on disease prevention.The UK and EU intended to begin talks on “voluntary regulatory cooperation, such as exchange of information on good regulatory practices”.However, little progress has been made, due in part to the battle between the two sides over the Northern Ireland Protocol. A “regulatory cooperation committee” has met only once and will meet only once a year in future.The NAO’s warning comes following a salmonella scare which has seen more than 100 products containing cooked chicken removed from sale by a major supplier.Cranswick Country Foods said they included sandwiches and wraps sold at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Aldi, the Co-op, Pret a Manger and Marks & Spencer.In its evidence, the FSA said it had struck a data-sharing deal, in December 2021, with HMRC to “increase its intelligence on imports from the EU of high-risk food and feed”.“In time, it expects these new data sources to enhance its ability to identify food safety risks, but it is at an early stage in embedding their use,” the NAO stated.Gareth Davies, the head of the watchdog, said: “EU exit has had a major impact on many UK regulators.“They need to overcome many challenges if they are to manage the transition successfully, including recruiting the right specialist skills.”A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “We will ensure our regulators are fit for purpose and working as effectively as possible.” More

Labour is set to force a vote challenging Boris Johnson’s government to bring forward an emergency Budget to tackle the cost of living crisis. It comes amid mounting calls for the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to set out further measures to alleviate the impact of the cost of rising food prices and energy bills on households, with inflation already at a 30-year high. The Bank of England has predicted inflation could soar above 10 per cent, and on Wednesday new data from the Office for National Statistics is expected to show that inflation hit 9.1 per cent in the year to April.In recent weeks, opposition parties at Westminster, trade unions and business leaders have called for an emergency Budget, with Labour’s shadow chancellor asking: “Where is the urgency and action to remedy this?”Just last week, however, cabinet minister Michael Gove dismissed the calls, saying there “won’t be an emergency Budget”, but echoed comments from the prime minister that more support may come in the coming months.Seeking to raise the issue again, Labour will table an amendment to the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday – after the inflation figures measured by the Consumer Prices Index are published. While the measure is unlikely to pass – given the prime minister’s 80-strong majority – it will be an opportunity for Labour to put ministers and Tory MPs on the spot over the issue of an emergency Budget.The party’s amendment expresses regret at the omission of an emergency Budget from the Queen’s Speech, “or to set out a new approach to the economy that will end 12 years of slow growth and high taxation under successive Conservative governments”. Ahead of a debate in the chamber, Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said: “Our country faces a cost of living crisis and a growth crisis. Wages are being squeezed, our tax system is unfair, and there is no plan for the future of our economy.“None of this is inevitable, but a consequence of government policies and Conservative choices. Where is the urgency and the action to remedy this?”She added: “Labour has a new vision for a fairer and more prosperous economy. That’s why the Conservatives must back our motion today, not just for them to come forward with an emergency Budget to tackle the cost of living crisis, but to set out the plan Britain deserves and get our economy firing on all cylinders.” More

Rishi Sunak’s reputation has “crashed like cryptocurrency”, said senior Labour MP Ed Miliband in a stinging attack over the chancellor’s failure to provide fresh help with the cost of living crisis.The shadow climate minister condemned Mr Sunak over his refusal to impose a windfall tax on oil and gas giants, accusing him of being “in denial” and “wholly out of touch”.The criticism came as Mr Miliband’s Labour colleague, the shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, called on the government to abolish the UK’s non-dom tax loopholes. More

A Conservative MP has been arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault. The Metropolitan Police said a man in his fifties was in custody over allegations that date from between 2002 and 2009. The unnamed MP has been asked by his party’s whips not to attend parliament while a police investigation is ongoing. A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police said: “In January 2020, the Met received a report relating to alleged sexual offences having been committed between 2002 and 2009. The offences are alleged to have occurred in London. “An investigation is ongoing, led by officers from Central Specialist Crime. A man, aged in his fifties, was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault, sexual assault, rape, abuse of position of trust, and misconduct in public office. He remains in custody.” The arrest comes just weeks after Westminster was rocked by another round of “Pestminster” allegations against sitting MPs. They led to the resignation of one Tory MP, Neil Parish, after he admitted he had watched pornography in the Commons chamber. Last month, disgraced former Conservative MP Imran Ahmad Khan resigned after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy. His victim said that he had alerted the Conservative Party before Mr Khan was elected an MP, but his warnings had gone unheeded. There were also reports that three cabinet ministers were among 56 MPs said to have been accused of sexual misconduct and referred to parliament’s sleaze watchdog. The Independent Complaints and Grievance Scheme was set up in the wake of the #MeToo movement and after a previous round of allegations against parliamentarians, during which the name “Pestminster” was coined.A Conservative Whips’ Office spokesperson said: “The chief whip has asked that the MP concerned does not attend the parliamentary estate while an investigation is ongoing. Until the conclusion of the investigation we will not be commenting further.”But Garry Graham, the deputy general secretary of the Prospect union, asked “what will it take” for MPs accused of serious offences to be formally banned from parliament. More

Boris Johnson is coming under intense pressure to publish the legal basis for plans to override the Northern Ireland protocol, as the EU raised the spectre of an all-out trade war by warning it was ready to take “all measures at its disposal” in response.Legal experts questioned foreign secretary Liz Truss’s assertion in the House of Commons that a proposed parliamentary bill, which would drive a coach and horses through the finely balanced agreement struck by Boris Johnson in 2019, is “legal in international law”.And there was unease on the Conservative benches over the potential damage to the UK’s reputation if it is seen to be breaching its international obligations.“MPs will want to see the legal advice and know it is sustainable and arguable before going ahead with this,” one former minister told The Independent. “We don’t want to be back in the same battle as we had with the Internal Market Bill, with ministers talking about breaking the law in a limited way.”The row came as the scale of disruption caused by Brexit to trade across the Irish Sea was exposed by Marks & Spencer boss Archie Norman, who said that sending a lorryload of goods to the Republic now required eight hours to be spent on paperwork in order to deal with 700 pages of documentation, some of it in Latin.Ms Truss said that the legislation – due to be published before the summer – would protect stability in Northern Ireland, not only by easing checks on goods arriving from mainland Britain, but also by removing the role of European judges and taking on new powers for Westminster on VAT and subsidies in the country.But the move would blow a hole in Northern Ireland’s special status under the Brexit deal, which uniquely allows it to enjoy the benefits of the single market.European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic said that any UK move to disapply elements of the protocol was “not acceptable”, warning that Brussels was ready to “respond with all measures at its disposal”.And Irish foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney said he “deeply regrets” the UK move, which he said was contrary to the wishes of people and businesses in Northern Ireland.The Conservative chair of the Commons Northern Ireland committee, Simon Hoare, confronted Ms Truss on the floor of the house, telling her: “Respect for the rule of law runs deep in our Tory veins. I find it extraordinary that a Tory government needs to be reminded of that.“Could she assure me that support for, and honouring of, the rule of law is what she and the government is committed to?”Mr Johnson claimed that the “higher duty of the UK government in international law” was to the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process, rather than to the deal he had struck with Brussels.He said that the text of the protocol made clear the need to protect trade across the Irish Sea and the integrity of the UK internal market.And he denied he wanted to scrap the agreement, saying: “Let’s fix it. We don’t want to nix it, we want to fix it, and we will work our hardest to do it.”Diplomats in Brussels said it was too early to speculate on how the EU would respond to unilateral action from the UK, though it is thought that any action is unlikely to be triggered until Ms Truss’s legislation clears parliament.But Catherine Barnard, a professor of EU law at Cambridge University, told The Independent that options would go right up to the termination of the UK’s post-Brexit zero-tariff zero-quota trade deal.Article 779 of the trade and cooperation agreement allows this “nuclear” option to be deployed with 12 months’ notice, potentially thrusting the UK into a no-deal Brexit in the run-up to the general election expected in 2024.There is no legal basis to the government’s argument that the Good Friday Agreement takes precedence over the provisions of the protocol under international law, said Prof Barnard.“The mainstream view is that this is likely to be incompatible with international law,” she said. “It will certainly be incompatible with the UK’s withdrawal agreement.”And the government’s former top lawyer Sir Jonathan Jones, who quit over the Internal Market Bill, said: “Unilateral changes which aren’t also agreed with the EU aren’t a ‘solution’ at all; certainly not any settled end state.“Instead, they can only be the beginning of a much more difficult phase in our relationship with the EU, involving (almost certainly, but let’s see the analysis) a breach of international law, undermining of trust, and the prospect of a trade war and other reprisals.”Ms Truss insisted that the UK’s preference remains a negotiated outcome with the EU, and invited Mr Sefcovic to London to discuss the way ahead. Government sources said the bill could be pulled if Brussels complies with UK demands during the course of its passage through parliament, which is expected to take several months.But former Northern Ireland secretary Peter Hain told The Independent that the House of Lords would “put up a No Entry sign” to Ms Truss’s legislation.Peers will not feel obliged to let through a bill which does not feature either in the government’s manifesto or this month’s Queen’s Speech, said Lord Hain.“It looks more like playing politics than serious negotiation,” he said. “There will be a lot of senior judicial figures now in the Lords, as well as former secretaries of state for Northern Ireland, who will not like this, and I think we can expect significant cross-party opposition.”Conservative former deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine told The Independent the move was “the worst manifestation to date of the deceptions of Brexit”.“This is entirely Boris’s fault,” said Lord Heseltine. “He made promises that he was warned would not be deliverable, and he is now going to breach international law, and that is not something a British prime minister should do. It threatens Britain’s reputation as a law-abiding society.” More

Boris Johnson has said he does not share the economic pessimism expressed by Bank of England governor, who admitted to feeling “helpless” amid the worsening cost of living crisis.Andrew Bailey warned on Monday of an “apocalyptic” spike in food prices, predicted unemployment will rise, and conceded that the Bank is largely “helpless” to address inflation.Asked on Tuesday if too he felt “helpless” over living costs, the prime minister said: “No – I think that this country has got a fantastic future.”Mr Johnson told reporters: “What we’ve got to do is fix some short-term global inflation issues caused by coming out of the pandemic – particularly on supply chains, particularly on the cost of energy. But we have the fixes.”In a sign of the tension between the government and the governor, cabinet minister Brandon Lewis said he was “surprised” by the language Mr Bailey used to describe the cost of living crisis.Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson declined to comment on Mr Bailey’s remarks, telling reporters: “It’s for him to justify the words he uses.”However, senior government source made clear that the governor’s decision to use such strong language in a public hearing was not regarded as helpful in No 10.“I think you need to be cautious about your language when you’re talking about that sort of stuff if you’re in the Bank of England,” said the source.On the governor’s comments about employers’ being justified to continue with pay restraint, the source added: “I think he was trying to stick to a macro-economic point that he was trying to make, but obviously it’s the forum where you are making it. That’s not where I would do it.”Asked about Mr Bailey’s “apocalyptic” warning on food prices, the Northern Ireland secretary Mr Lewis told the BBC: “I was surprised to see that particular turn of phrase, I have to say.”Mr Lewis’ criticism follows a Sunday Telegraph article which quoted unnamed ministers attacking the Bank and suggesting its independence was being questioned within government.UK is facing a ‘bad situation’ with soaring inflation says Bank of England GovernorHowever, chancellor Rishi Sunak has indicated his support for continued Bank of England independence, telling MPs “whilst we do face challenges at the moment, the record of 25 years of central bank independence speaks for itself”.His comments came as the Tory chair of the Treasury Committee Mel Stride called on Mr Sunak to give a “categoric assurance to the House that there are no plans of any kind to restrain the independence” of the Bank.The Office for National statistics recorded inflation at 7 per cent in March, but the Bank of England has said inflation is likely to peak at 10.25 per cent during the final quarter of 2022.It comes as the chairman of Marks & Spencer warned that food prices could soar by as much as 10% this year. “It’s very negative for consumer discretionary income but it’s perhaps not apocalyptic,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. More

Serving police officers are using food banks because their pay is too low to support their families amid the cost of living crisis, the home secretary has been told.The chair of the Police Federation, which represents almost 140,000 rank-and-file officers in England and Wales, said praise for their actions during the Covid pandemic had “amounted to nothing”.“Over the last decade, we have seen a real term pay cut of around 20 per cent and other costs haven’t stood still – gas, electric and fuel costs all continue to rise, and national insurance contributions increased,” Steve Hartshorn told a conference in Manchester.“Our members are told they are brave; they are told they do a unique job. They were thanked for putting themselves and their families in danger as Covid gripped the country, and yet that acknowledgement amounted to nothing.“It’s frustrating to see and hear from colleagues who are struggling to feed their families and going to food banks.”Mr Hartshorn addressed the home secretary directly during his speech, which received long and loud applause from police officers gathered from across the country.“Home secretary, what has gone wrong?” he asked. “Why are my colleagues one of the only groups of frontline public sector workers being penalised in their pockets?”He said he was “angered” to hear of experienced officers leaving policing “not because they want to, but because they can’t afford not to”, adding: “This cannot go on.”The Police Federation withdrew from the official police pay review body last year, saying it “no longer has confidence” in the home secretary following a pay freeze for officers earning more than £24,000.Ms Patel said the body paid an important role advising the government and urged the body to engage with it, but Mr Hartshorn said its “hands were tied by the government” and called it “anything other than independent”.He said that because police are unable to strike in law, they were being “denied the employment rights” of other public sector workers, adding: “The government cannot continue to treat the police as the poor relation of the public sector.”Police Federation delegates at the Manchester Central Convention Complex clapped and cheered an officer who asked why MPs’ pay had risen from £64,000 to £84,000 a year since 2009, while new police recruits had gone from £22,000 to £24,000.“Each sector has an independent pay review body, why is yours better than ours?” the officer asked.Another officer told the home secretary: “It’s about time you and your colleagues put your money where your mouth is and do something about the terrible state that our colleagues find themselves in.”One female officer challenged the home secretary on whether her family could survive on £1,400 a month but did not receive a direct answer.Another female officer, who said she had 23 years’ service, gave an emotional speech about her struggle with pay and told how she had to borrow £40 from her mother last weekend for petrol and her children’s school lunches.“We are desperately struggling to do the job we love and to make ends meet at home,” she added.Ms Patel said that the police and politics pay panels were separate and had “different” considerations, including the fact that police can take their pension at a lower age.The Police Federation chair called for the relationship between officers and the government to be reset, adding: “We mean no more gimmicks.”Ahead of the conference, the home secretary had announced that she would allow special constables to be armed with Tasers, but it was not among the federation’s priorities for change.They included increases in pay and annual leave provision, better psychological support for officers and the tackling of delays in misconduct investigations.In her speech to the Police Federation conference, Ms Patel said she was a home secretary who “champions many of [officers’] calls in government”.She highlighted the government’s push to recruit 20,000 more police officers, although the figure does not replace those lost in austerity since 2010 or the detectives, experienced officers or specialists who left.Ms Patel also hailed moves to extend the use of suspicionless stop and search and Tasers, saying she wanted to give police the “confidence to use their powers fairly, appropriately and in the right places”.But she also said police need to work to “create a better culture and higher standards” following the murder of Sarah Everard and a wave of scandals involving sexual offending by officers and allegations of misogyny and racism.“The public are in urgent need of reassurance,” the home secretary said. “I am unequivocal that unacceptable behaviour must be rooted out and called out. Lessons must be learned, and every necessary change must be made, without fear or favour.”A public inquiry, led by Dame Elish Angiolini QC, is underway and will look aqt issues including vetting and counter-corruption. More

Boris Johnson says legislative solution needed for NI protocolThe EU has warned of retaliation if the UK presses ahead with the foreign secretary’s plans to ditch the Northern Ireland protocol.Liz Truss today announced the government will bring legislation to unilaterally ditch the protocol, despite a plea from the Bank of England to avoid a damaging trade war with Europe.European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic, who has been involved in negotiations with the foreign secretary about the protocol, said he had “significant concerns” about the plan and warned “unilateral actions are not acceptable”.He added: “Should the UK decide to move ahead with a bill disapplying constitutive elements of the protocol as announced today by the UK government, the EU will need to respond with all measures at its disposal.”Ms Truss proposed the bill – due to be published in weeks – as a means of upholding the Good Friday Agreement and re-establishing powersharing in the Northern Ireland Executive.She made the same case in calls held last night with Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, and Mr Sefcovic.Show latest update

1652798671NI Brexit business group says UK protocol solution ‘sub-optimal’The Northern Ireland Business Brexit Working Group – an umbrella body of 14 leading groups – has responded to Liz Truss’s statement by condemning the idea of unilateral action on post-Brexit arrangements as “sub-optimal”.The group said it would “study” the UK government proposal, but stated: “While we are frustrated with the ongoing failure to resolve the outstanding issues, it is our shared view that anything other than a negotiated outcome is sub-optimal.”Calling for a negotiated compromise, the group added: “It is incumbent on the EU and UK to recommence discussions without delay. It will require movement and compromise on both sides to secure the workable and lasting solutions we all need to see.”Ms Truss earlier said the government would introduce legislation to override the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit deal. Britain wants to change elements covering the movement of goods, goods regulation, VAT, subsidy control and governance.Liam James17 May 2022 15:441652797531Boris Johnson rejects Bank governor’s claim of ‘helplessness’ over cost of living crisisBoris Johnson has said he does not share the economic pessimism expressed by Bank of England governor, who admitted to feeling “helpless” amid the worsening cost of living crisis (Adam Forrest writes).Andrew Bailey warned on Monday of an “apocalyptic” spike in food prices, predicted unemployment will rise, and conceded that the Bank is largely “helpless” to address inflation.Asked on Tuesday if too he felt “helpless” over living costs, the prime minister said: “No – I think that this country has got a fantastic future.”Mr Johnson told reporters: “What we’ve got to do is fix some short-term global inflation issues caused by coming out of the pandemic – particularly on supply chains, particularly on the cost of energy. But we have the fixes.”Liam James17 May 2022 15:2516527963917 in 10 say government handling the economy badlySeven in ten people (72 per cent) say the government is handling the economy badly, including more than half of Conservative voters (54 per cent), a YouGov poll has found.The economy has been a growing concern in Britain since November and became the foremost issue in the public mind in January as the cost of living crisis set in.The number of British adults who think the government is handling the economy badly is the highest in Boris Johnson’s time as prime minister and is 32 per cent higher than this time last year.YouGov surveyed 1,810 UK adults from 14-16 May.Liam James17 May 2022 15:061652795417Power sharing in Northern Ireland will not be restored until EU ‘power grab’ to ‘crush’ businesses resolved, ministers toldPower sharing in Northern Ireland will not be restored until an EU “power grab” to “crush” business in Northern Ireland is resolved, ministers have been warned.DUP MP Ian Paisley (North Antrim) told the Commons about the paperwork faced by Marks & Spencer chairman and former Tory MP Archie Norman to do business on the island of Ireland.Mr Paisley said: “His business in the Republic of Ireland to export goods has to fill in 700 pages.”It has to do that within an eight-hour period, it has to do some of that wording in Latin to satisfy the European community, and it also has to do it in a certain type font or else it will not be allowed.”It costs him an additional £30 million. He has said this morning on the radio that the EU has told him they would like the same procedures for his businesses in Northern Ireland.”He added: “This is power grab. People talk about trade war. This is a trade war to crush business in Northern Ireland. Will the foreign secretary ensure that whenever she is speaking to the Cabinet, that they know clearly that if they keep the protocol, power sharing isn’t coming back?”Foreign secretary Liz Truss said the government’s proposed new Bill would “deal with the bureaucracy that we are seeing”, adding the government was “open” to talks over a “negotiated settlement” in the meantime.Chiara Giordano17 May 2022 14:501652794817Ireland’s Simon Coveney says he ‘deeply regrets’ UK government’s introduction of legislation that will disapply elements of protocolIreland’s foreign affairs minister Simon Coveney has said he “deeply regrets” the British government’s decision to introduce legislation that will disapply elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol.Mr Coveney said such unilateral action “is damaging to trust and will serve only to make it more challenging to find solutions to the genuine concerns that people in Northern Ireland have about how the protocol is being implemented”.He said the unilateral action from the British government is “contrary” to the wishes of people and businesses in Northern Ireland, but welcomed foreign secretary Liz Truss’s preference for a negotiated solution with the EU.Chiara Giordano17 May 2022 14:401652794217Government asked to take action to ensure European judges have no ‘adverse influence’ over NI tradeThe government has been asked to “take action” to make sure that European judges do not have “adverse influence” over trade in Northern Ireland.Conservative MP Mark Francois (Rayleigh and Wickford) said Lord Trimble, who helped bring about the Good Friday Agreement, had raised the issue of the European Court of Justice’s (ECJ) role as an arbiter for disputes over the Northern Ireland Protocol in a newspaper article.He said: “As an architect of it with John Hume nearly a quarter of a century ago, he also raised the issue of the adverse influence of the European Court of Justice in Northern Ireland.”Can the Foreign Secretary assure the House that under her sixth heading, which I think she called governance, she will take action on that issue as well please?”Liz Truss replied: “I can assure him that we will take action to ensure the arbitration mechanism is in place for Northern Ireland as it is in the Trade and Co-operation Agreement, rather than having the ECJ as the final arbiter which it is as present.”Chiara Giordano17 May 2022 14:301652793917Liz Truss says plan ‘will actually save costs’ when challenged in CommonsThe solution the government is putting forward “will actually save costs”, foreign secretary Liz Truss has said.Ms Truss’ comments came as Labour MP for Putney Fleur Anderson asked her in the Commons: “So much for getting Brexit done, so much for oven ready. What is the cost of the proposed actions? The Treasury has drawn up economic impact assessments for this course of action. When will the government release them for the House?Ms Truss replied: “Well, the solution that we are putting forward will actually save costs by reducing the bureaucracy that traders are currently facing shipping goods into Northern Ireland.”So, our overall proposal benefits traders into Northern Ireland. It benefits the people of Northern Ireland. It doesn’t make the EU any worse off and it helps protect the single market.”Chiara Giordano17 May 2022 14:251652793617NI trade barriers ‘relatively minor’, admits PMBoris Johnson has been speaking about the government’s plan to override parts of the protocol to reporters during a visit to see the new Elizabeth line at Paddington Station.Asked about the possibility of a trade war with the EU, the prime minister said: “I don’t think that is likely … We need to address the problems with the protocol. What that actually involves is getting rid of some relatively minor barriers to trade.”He added: “And I think there are good, common sense, pragmatic solutions. We need to work with our EU friends to achieve that.”The PM said the “higher duty” of the UK government was to the Good Friday Agreement and the peace process, adding: “Of necessity, we can make some changes, I think, to the protocol … “It makes it very clear on the face of the text that you should ensure east-west trade, and the integrity of the UK internal market.”He added: “Let’s fix it. We don’t want to nix it – we want to fix it. And we’ll work with our EU partners to do it.”Adam Forrest17 May 2022 14:201652793066EU warns it will use ‘all measures at its disposal’ if UK overrides Northern Ireland protocolThe European Commission has warned it will retaliate and use “all measures at its disposal” if the UK presses ahead with a threatened bill to override the Northern Ireland Protocol.Vice-president Maros Sefcovic said he had “significant concerns” about the plan and that “unilateral actions contradicting an international agreement are not acceptable”.Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn has the full story:Chiara Giordano17 May 2022 14:111652792749Boris Johnson urges all political parties to help get Stormont ‘up and running’Prime minister Boris Johnson said: “I think that it’s important that all political parties who believe in the government of Northern Ireland get back round the table and get Stormont up and running.”Northern Ireland has got amazing opportunity now. Parts of the Northern Irish economy are going really, really well.”What they need is leadership. They need their politicians to focus on the things that matter to the people of Northern Ireland.”Chiara Giordano17 May 2022 14:05 More