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EU leaders have deplored UK government intentions to take unilateral action and override the Northern Ireland Protocol, with one warning: “Don’t touch this”.It comes after Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, rejected proposed EU solutions to fix issues related to the post-Brexit trading arrangements, claiming they would “take us backwards”.The cabinet minister said her preference was for a negotiated solution, but added: “We will not shy away from taking action to stabilise the situation in Northern Ireland if solutions cannot be found”.Ministers are said to be preparing a draft legislation to unilaterally remove the need for checks on all goods being sent from Britain for use in Northern Ireland — a breach of the treaty signed by Boris Johnson in 2019 and a move that would put the UK on collision course with the EU.Last night, Belgium’s prime minister, Alexander De Croo, raised the prospect of retaliatory measures, as he warned the UK: “Our message is quite clear. Don’t touch this, this is something we agreed on.”“If that agreement would be revoked, then I would think the whole system will be revoked. I would not see any other solution,” he added, according to The Telegraph.Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, added: “No one should unilaterally scrap or break or in any way change the agreement we agree on together”.Maros Sefcovic, the vice-president of the European Commission, also stressed that the Northern Ireland Protocol is a “cornerstone” of the Brexit deal and “renegotiation is not an option”.“The European Union is united in this position,” he said, insisting the bloc had worked “tirelessly” to propose solutions,” he said in a statement.Mr Sefcovic added: “The EU has been open to joint work with the UK on implementing the Protocol to bring long-term legal certainty and predictability to the people and business in Northern Ireland.“The EU remains open to such discussions. Only joint solutions will work. Unilateral action by the UK would only make our work on possible solutions more difficult”.Speaking on Wednesday, the cabinet minister Michael Gove reiterated that “no option is off the table”, but stressed the UK would continue to negotiate to resolve differences.Asked on BBC Breakfast if the government was going to “tear up” the agreement, Mr Gove said: “No. We are going to negotiate with the EU in order to get the best possible outcome for the people of Northern Ireland, but no option is off the table.“Liz Truss will be meeting Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission vice president, tomorrow. They have a good relationship. They will try to make progress tomorrow. I know that both of them are fully committed to making sure we resolve some very difficult issues that have arisen.He added: “You would expect a UK government when it is thinking about the security of the entire United Kingdom to say that there is no option that is off the table and that is absolutely right.” More

A former Polish dissident and human rights activist who is editor-in-chief of one of Eastern Europe’s most popular newspapers has won a prestigious Spanish award.The jury that decides the Princess of Asturias Awards announced Wednesday that Adam Michnik won its annual prize for communication and humanities.The jury said that the 75-year-old was honored “for his commitment to quality journalism and for his influence in restoring and defending democracy in Poland.”The citation noted that Michnik was a prominent figure in Poland’s Solidarity pro-democracy movement and was imprisoned in the 1980s for his efforts to end his country’s repressive communist rule.After Poland’s communist leaders were toppled in a 1989 election, Michnik took a seat in parliament and was a co-founder of the newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza.“Michnik, whose idea of Europe helped democratic values take root in his country, is today a symbol of freedom of expression and humanism, as well as a moral example of resistance against authoritarian threats,” the jury citation said.Poland and the European Union have for years been at odds over issues linked to the respect of democratic standards and the separation of powers in the eastern country. The 50,000-euro ($53,000) award is one of eight prizes, including in the arts, social sciences and sports, handed out annually by a foundation named for Spanish Crown Princess Leonor. More

Britain and the European Union were once again at loggerheads over Brexit on Wednesday, after the U.K. government ramped up threats to scrap parts of its trade treaty with the bloc, saying the rules are blocking the formation of a new government in Northern Ireland.Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the government would “not shy away from taking action” if it can’t reach agreement with the bloc. The EU warned that renegotiating the legally binding agreement “is not an option.” Any move by Britain to unilaterally rewrite the rules would bring legal action from the bloc that could escalate into a trade war.Arrangements for Northern Ireland — the only part of the U.K. that shares a border with an EU nation — have been the thorniest subject of contention in the U.K.’s divorce from the 27-nation bloc, which became final at the end of 2020.A deal was agreed to keep the Irish border free of customs posts and other checks, because an open border is a key pillar of the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland. Instead, there are checks on some goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.The arrangement is opposed by many of Northern Ireland’s British unionists, who say the new checks have created a barrier with the rest of the U.K. that undermines their British identity. The Democratic Unionist Party, which came second in last week’s Northern Ireland Assembly election, is refusing to help form a government until the arrangements, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, are substantially changed or scrapped.Under Northern Ireland’s power-sharing rules, a government can’t be formed without the support of both the main unionist and nationalist parties. Sinn Fein won the most seats last week, the first time a party that seeks to unite Northern Ireland with the republic has topped the voting.U.K.-EU talks on resolving differences over trade rules have reached an impasse. Britain’s Conservative government has accused the bloc of being needlessly “purist” in its approach to the rules, while the EU says Britain is failing to honor a legally binding deal that Prime Minister Boris Johnson agreed to.EU chief Brexit official Maroš Šefčovič said Tuesday that the bloc had “worked tirelessly to propose creative and durable solutions, showing flexibility on how the Protocol should be implemented.”He warned that “the Protocol, as a cornerstone of the Withdrawal Agreement, is an international agreement. Its renegotiation is not an option. The European Union is united in this position.”Truss, who is in charge of negotiations with the bloc, said in a statement that EU proposals “fail to properly address the real issues affecting Northern Ireland and in some cases would take us backward.”“Our preference has always been for a negotiated solution but we will not shy away from taking action to stabilize the situation in Northern Ireland if solutions cannot be found,” she said.___More AP coverage of Brexit: https://apnews.com/hub/brexit More

Michael Gove has said a government plan to give neighbours the right to veto housing in their area will help build support for new development.The cabinet minister defended the watering down of housing plans in the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill – suggesting that the so-called “street votes” move will boost much-needed supply of new homes.Mr Gove said “local democratic ballots, sometimes street by street” would help boost the quality of homes – allowing residents to become “partners” in building projects.The levelling up secretary admitted the government would fail to meet its target to build 300,000 new homes this year – but claimed planning changes would lead to more development.“Communities have been understandably resistant because new buildings haven’t been beautiful, they haven’t been built with the quality required,” he told the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.The minister said people are “resistant to development” because the environment hasn’t been protected and authorities were too often driven by arbitrary targets for numbers.Mr Gove added: “People, when it comes to housing development, should be partners. We are going to do everything we can in order to ensure that more of the right homes are built in the right way in the right places.”“I think it is critically important that even as we seek to improve housing supply you also seek to build communities that people love and are proud of.”People could be given the right to vote on proposed property extensions as well as new homes, according to the government’s plan for the bill.The Times reported that local residents will be permitted to hold referendums over both the style and size of extensions, conversions and new homes on their street, as well as deciding whether more conservatories can be built without full planning permission.Labour MP Clive Betts, chair of the housing committee, said the “street votes” plan was a gimmick, arguing that it was not possible for residents to “decide absolutely everything” about building in their area.The government has ditched a previous proposals which would have made it harder to block housing development after a backlash from Tory MPs worried about voters in leafy shire constituencies.There was a plan to bring in a zonal system where councils would be expected to identify “growth areas” for housing where planning restrictions would have been relaxed.Former Tory housing secretary Robert Jenrick, who had proposed the zonal system, warned that the government will now miss its 300,000 homes-a-year manifesto pledge “by a country mile”.Mr Jenrick raised concerns that the number of homes built under Boris Johnson’s first year in office will be the “high-water mark” for “several years to come”.“It is a matter of the greatest importance to this country that we build more homes. Successive governments have failed to do this. There’s always an excuse,” he told the Commons.Mr Gove responded to the criticism on Wednesday, telling the BBC: “It’s no kind of success simply to hit target if the homes are shoddy, in the wrong place, don’t have the infrastructure required, and are not contributing to beautiful communities.”He said did not want to be “tied to a Procrustean bed” – a reference to the Greek myth of Procrustes who tortured people to make them fit into a one-size-fits-all bed.Meanwhile, the levelling up secretary’s department has again pledged to reform renters’ rights by scrapping no-fault evictions, several years after promising to take action.Mr Gove also highlighted further protections for leaseholders as among the measures his department had taken on the cost of living crisis. More

Sadiq Khan has said Donald Trump’s period as US president led to a rise in racial abuse directed at him, as he urged Elon Musk to consider whether to let him back on Twitter.Khan used his appearance at the Stanford University on his US trade mission to offer Musk some advice about allowing Mr Trump to return to the platform he plans to buy.The Tesla boss has said he will reverse the ban imposed on Trump as part of his plan to make permanent suspensions a “rare thing” if a £34.5bn takeover deal is finalised this year.“Let’s wait and see if Donald Trump has learnt his lesson,” Mr Khan told Stanford students. “If it’s the case that Donald Trump is going to use Twitter responsibly, I think that’s all well and good.”“If he breaks the rules, there needs to be consequences and we can’t afford a situation where people think social media is where people behave irresponsibly, where you see an increase in not just racism, sexism and misogyny but also division.Khan added: “I hope Elon Musk, now he’s in charge of Twitter, understands that.”Speaking at Stanford University on his US trade mission, the London mayor temporary and permanent banning of Mr Trump from Twitter led to a sharp drop in such abuse.“During those four years he was president, that led to me having to receive police protection and a lot of racial abuse,” Mr Khan said in comments carried by the BBC.“In the last year of him being president, once he was banned from Twitter, I received the least racial abuse of any time over five years.“On the one hand, social media – Facebook Twitter – great. On the other hand, that’s the consequence of lack of control and lack of regulation.”Mr Trump first criticised the London leader in 2016 for his response to the London Bridge terror attacks, then during a visit to the UK in 2019 called Mr Khan a “stone cold loser” who had failed to manage crime rates in the capital.Mr Khan threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Major League Baseball game on Tuesday and met with officials from Google and LinkedIn in Silicon Valley, before he concludes the trip in Los Angeles.He also visited the US HQ of Plug and Play, the world’s largest early-stage investor and a global innovation platform, which has announced its first UK operations in both London and Warwickshire.Plug and Play, which was an early investor in Google, PayPal, and Dropbox, also aims to make up to 30 investments per year into UK early-stage start-ups.Palo Alto-based artificial intelligence software provider SambaNova Systems has announced an expansion in the UK with the opening of its first London office over the coming months.The mayor was joined on his visit to the Bay Area by 11 founders from some of London’s women-led tech companies who are looking to explore investment and expansion opportunities in the US market.Mr Khan, said: “I’m delighted to be in Silicon Valley today to bang the drum for even more investment in London by American tech companies … I want to invite businesses from across the sector and beyond to set their sights on London.”On the next part of his trade mission, the mayor will travel to Los Angeles to discuss export opportunities for London’s creative technology businesses. More

Boris Johnson is to fly to Finland and Sweden to discuss the Nordic countries’ ambitions to apply for membership of Nato.The visit will be seen as a red rag to Moscow, after Russian president Vladimir Putin used fears of an expanded Nato alliance as a justification for his invasion of Ukraine.Finnish president Sauli Niinisto is expected to confirm his country’s stance on membership on Thursday, while an announcement is expected from Sweden’s ruling Social Democrats on Sunday following consultations over the weekend.Mr Johnson will meet his counterparts in Stockholm and Helsinki during a one-day trip on Wednesday, taking questions from the press in both countries.After decades of neutrality, the question of Nato membership was thrust to the top of the political agenda in both Sweden and Finland by the invasion of Ukraine in February, which threw a harsh spotlight on the vulnerability of Russia’s neighbours to aggression from Moscow.A formal application to join Nato could be made at the alliance’s June summit in Madrid and is likely to be fast-tracked, though getting the signatures of all 30 alliance members could take up to a year.Setting out the UK’s position ahead of Mr Johnson’s visit, the prime minister’s official spokesperson said: “We support countries’ democratic capability to decide on things like Nato membership.“We understand the positions of Sweden and Finland and that is why the prime minister is going to discuss these broader security issues.” More

Some of the European Union’s proposals on the Northern Ireland Protocol would “take us backwards”, Liz Truss has claimed, in a seeming bid to set the stage for the UK to take unilateral action on the post-Brexit treaty.Dismissing the ideas set out by the bloc in October aimed at resolving the problems with the protocol, the foreign secretary warned on Tuesday that “the answer cannot be more checks, paperwork and disruption”.After the government used the Queen’s Speech to declare its continued negotiations with Brussels would not “stand in the way of protecting peace and stability in Northern Ireland”, EU commissioner Maros Sefcovic responded that “renegotiation is not an option” – and urged London to match Brussels’ “determination and creativity” to finalise solutions to the dispute.But in her statement, issued hours later, Ms Truss said “the current EU proposals fail to properly address the real issues affecting Northern Ireland and in some cases would take us backward.“Prices have risen, trade is being badly disrupted, and the people of Northern Ireland are subject to different laws and taxes than those over the Irish Sea, which has left them without an executive and poses a threat to peace and stability.”Ms Truss added: “Our preference has always been for a negotiated solution but will not shy away from taking action to stabilise the situation in Northern Ireland if solutions cannot be found.”Her comments came just hours after Tory former prime minister Theresa May cautioned Boris Johnson over taking any unilateral action on the protocol, urging him to consider the “wider sense of what such a move would say about the UK and its willingness to abide by treaties which it has signed”.Intervening on Ms May’s speech in the Commons, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson insisted that the protocol “needs to be dealt with” and was “undermining political stability in Northern Ireland”.Pressure over the protocol has come to a head in the wake of the local May elections, which saw the DUP come second in Northern Ireland behind the nationalist Sinn Fein party in a landmark result, with Sir Jeffrey’s unionist party warning Boris Johnson it will not nominate a deputy first minister to form an executive at Stormont until “decisive action is taken on the protocol”.In a call with Ireland’s premier Micheal Martin this week, Mr Johnson warned that the situation was “now very serious”.Asked after his own call with the prime minister, whether the DUP thought action should be taken on the protocol “within weeks”, Sir Jeffrey said: “I’m not setting a time frame for this – what I am making absolutely clear [is] it is decisive action that we need, and we need that to happen quickly.”But Sinn Fein’s vice president Michelle O’Neill said on Tuesday that the protocol is “here to stay” and called on the DUP to join an executive at Stormont.However, alongside Ms Truss’s comments on Tuesday night, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) warned that the EU’s proposals would mean “unacceptable burdens on business and communities in Northern Ireland coming into force”, with “everyday items disappearing from shelves”.In a move to highlight the impact full implementation of the protocol could have, Foreign Office officials said that if grace periods in the so-called “sausage wars” were not in place then Lincolnshire sausages and other chilled meats from Great Britain would need a veterinary certificate to enter Northern Ireland.The department cited figures suggesting that at least 200 retailers in Great Britain have stopped delivering to customers in Northern Ireland amid increased trade friction.The FCDO said full protocol controls would also provide powers to search people’s bags for food, such as ham sandwiches, on departure from the ferry to Northern Ireland, while pet owners would need to pay up to £280 for certificates and jabs for their pets to go on holiday in the UK.The UK government has also lamented that some VAT cuts – such as the relief for energy-saving materials announced in Rishi Sunak’s spring statement – cannot be applied to Northern Ireland as the protocol means EU rates still apply there for goods.The latest comments from Ms Truss and her department follow reports that she is set to move to discard large portions of the protocol after giving up on Brexit negotiations with the EU.In a release on Tuesday, the FCDO said Mr Sefcovic had “made clear” in a call to Ms Truss last week that the EU “did not have, and in his view would never have, a mandate to renegotiate the protocol” or to go beyond the existing proposals.But The Times reported that officials working for Ms Truss have drawn up draft legislation to unilaterally remove the need for checks on all goods being sent from Britain for use in Northern Ireland – a breach of the treaty negotiated by Mr Johnson in 2019.The move has reportedly triggered an internal row among senior ministers, but Commonsleader Mark Spencer said the UK government could not rule out needing to unilaterally suspend parts of the protocol if “the EU won’t come to the table and won’t help us solve the challenges that Northern Ireland is facing”.The EU’s Mr Sefcovic, in a statement, said: “The protocol, as a cornerstone of the Withdrawal Agreement, is an international agreement. Its renegotiation is not an option. The European Union is united in this position.”Additional reporting by PA More

Oil, gas and electricity companies have raked in billions of pounds in extra profits this year as families struggle with massive rises in fuel prices and gas bills.Shell, BP, Exxon Mobil and Chevron have all seen profits rise, boosted by high oil prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Between them, the four companies reported $27.3bn (£22bn) in profits during the first three months of this year.Energy suppliers have also enjoyed bumper earnings, with British Gas owner Centrica updating the stock market on Tuesday to say it expected profits to be at the top end of previous guidance.It came on the same day that the chairman of Tesco – Britain’s largest fuel retailer – said there was an “overwhelming need” for a windfall tax on energy companies after seeing the supermarket’s customers “extremely stretched”.Tesco sold £6.6bn of petrol and diesel in its latest financial year – a 48 per cent increase on 2020/21.Forecourt prices have surged to record highs this year while the price cap on domestic energy billed jumped 54 per cent last month.New estimates from consultants Cornwall Insight predict that the cap will rise again from £1,971 to £2,395 for the average household, putting extra pressure on consumers. Prices are expected to remain elevated until at least the end of 2024.The latest profit figures will lend further weight to calls for a windfall tax on energy companies. Labour has pushed for a tax on North Sea oil and gas revenues which it claims would raise around £1.2bn to help households with bills.Tesco chairman John Allan told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ahead of the Queen’s Speech that he thinks oil and gas companies are “expecting” a windfall tax and doubts “they would actually be much fazed by it”. The speech laying out Boris Johnson’s legislative agenda for the year has been criticised for not including adequate measures to tackle the cost of living crisis.The UK’s “Big Six” energy suppliers have yet to report results for the first quarter of this year but British Gas is not alone in forecasting stellar financial performance. Rival supplier and energy network operator SSE recently upgraded its profit outlook to £1bn for the year to 31 March, a rise of 10 per cent on last year’s performance.E.On is set to deliver its results on Wednesday with analysts forecasting earnings from the group’s core business to jump from £1.6bn in 2021 to £2.1bn in 2022.BP boss Bernard Looney likened the oil giants’ business to a “cash machine” last year, as sales bounced back after being hammered by the pandemic. Underlying profit rose to $6.2bn (£5.3bn) in the first three months of this year, more than double the $2.6bn (£2.1bn) BP made in the same period last year.It was the firm’s best quarterly result in a decade and helped Mr Looney to a big pay rise as he collected an annual package of £4.5m, up from £1.7m a year earlier.Exxon Mobil, the ultimate owner of Esso, reported profits of $5.5bn (£4.4bn) during the first quarter of this year, up from $2.7bn (£2.1bn) in the same period during 2021.Revenue for the Texas-based oil major came in at $90.5bn (£73bn) during the latest period, up from $59.1bn (£48bn) a year ago when sales were impacted by Covid restrictions. Esso has more petrol stations than any other operator in the UK, with 1,227.Shell has also benefited from rising oil prices. Its adjusted earnings – which exclude one-off costs – rose to $9.1bn (£7.3bn) in the first quarter from $3.2bn (£2.5bn) in the same period last year.Chevron, which owns the Texaco brand, reported its profits had quadrupled to $6.5bn (£5.2bn), the company’s best performance in 10 years.Oil companies argue that their profits have always been cyclical – rising when the price of crude is high and falling when it is low. All major oil companies saw sales plunge during the early part of the pandemic. Several firms, including Exxon, Shell and BP, have written off billions of dollars as they hurry to exit investments in Russia.However, as financial pressures on consumers mount, political pressure to tax this year’s bumper revenues is growing. BP and Shell have both committed to making backing future projects in the UK, undermining arguments that a windfall tax would deter investment.Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow climate change and net zero secretary, said government plans to tackle spiralling fuel bills, including a “buy now pay later” scheme of rebates, were “wholly inadequate to meet the scale of needs. And they refuse to implement a windfall tax on the oil and gas producers making record profits, that could fund real support for families.” More