Markus Andrews

A Conservative MP who campaigned for Brexit has said it is “monstrous” that British businesses now have to fill in forms to trade with Europe.Sir Desmond Swayne, a supporter of the Leave Means Leave group, was mocked for complaining about the new bureaucracy Brexit had created.UK businesses wanting to trade on the continent now have to deal with significant extra paperwork since Britain left the European Union, its single market, and its customs union.Speaking in the Commons during a discussion about trade, Sir Desmond said: “UK aid promoted trade in Africa by making borders seamless through digitising all the administrative processes. “Is that on our agenda for trade with the EU at all? It’s monstrous that we’re filling in forms.”Mike Freer, a junior minister at the Department for International Trade, replied that the government planned to improve border systems by 2025.The government’s border strategy will however not remove customs and veterinary checks on goods, which are required by the UK’s new status.Naomi Smith, CEO of internationalist campaign group Best for Britain, said: “Brexit has created mountains of paperwork and costly red tape for businesses and for anyone to claim otherwise is betraying either their own duplicity or ignorance.“We had frictionless trade within the EU but now that Brexit has happened, the government must work to reduce barriers to trade they have created or we will continue to see jobs and businesses move overseas.”Goods leaving UK ports for the continent are now subject to full customs controls, meaning they requite full HMRC declarations, veterinary and market information, and sometimes physical checks.New trade figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday show UK exports to EU countries shrunk by a record £20bn in just 20 months.UK to EU exports fell 12 per cent between January and December of last year, compared to the previous year – with supply chain disruption, new trade barriers and additional red tape caused by Brexit cited as the main reasons.Sales to the EU dropped more sharply in 2021 than exports to any other country in the world, according to the data. Non-EU exports were also down by 6 per cent – suggesting the rest of the world is not stepping in to fill the gap.However, Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg dismissed the ONS figures and said evidence Brexit had hit trade was “few and far between”. More

Vladimir Putin is determined to continue bombing Ukraine “until the end” despite a plea last night from Volodymyr Zelensky for face to face talks to halt the military assault.In a series of phone and video calls on Thursday, the Russian president accused Kyiv of using human shields and behaving “like Nazis”, hailed his fallen soldiers as heroes and claimed the invasion was going “according to plan”. He told members of his Kremlin security council that Russia has only bombed military facilities and his troops haven’t targeted residential areas – despite another day of carnage in which the bodies of Ukrainian civilians were recovered from destroyed homes.Putin reaffirmed his claim that the Russian military was fighting “neo-Nazis”, adding that some Ukrainians were also “fooled by nationalist propaganda”. In a call with French president Emmanuel Macron, Putin was so undaunted by international condemnation that an Elysee official bleakly concluded: “We expect that the worst is yet to come.”The official said Putin initiated the one and half hour call but insisted there would be no let-up in the invasion, blamed the West for the conflict and also “denied having bombarded Kyiv”. More

Former education secretary Gavin Williamson has been given a knighthood, Downing Street has announced.The honour comes six months after Williamson was sacked as education secretary by Boris Johnson in the wake of the fiasco surrounding school exams during the Covid pandemic and a series of U-turns over free school meal policy when he was shamed by Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford. The MP had previously been sacked as defence secretary by Theresa May in 2019 after being blamed for a leak from the National Security Council (NSC).No 10 was not immediately able to provide details of the citation explaining the reason for the award to the South Staffordshire MP. It is understood that the honour was a political award.News of the knighthood was greeted with outrage by some at Westminster, with Labour’s shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson saying it showed “utter contempt” for schoolchildren subjected to exam chaos and denied school meals during lockdown.Lib Dem education spokesperson Munira Wilson described it as “an insult to every child, parent and teacher who struggled through Covid against the odds”.Ms Phillipson said: “Gavin Williamson left children to go hungry, created two years of complete chaos over exams and failed to get laptops out to kids struggling to learn during lockdowns. His record is astonishing and disgraceful.“Boris Johnson is proving again it’s one rule for him and his mates and another for the rest of us.“This shows utter contempt for the challenges children and education staff have faced during the pandemic.”And Ms Wilson said: “The only award Gavin Williamson should be given is the one for worst education secretary in history.“He failed to get laptops to children who needed them, sleepwalked into the exam crisis and caused chaos for parents and teachers over getting children back to school.“People across the country will be outraged at this reward for his abysmal failures. It is an insult to every child, parent and teacher who struggled through Covid against the odds. It shows this government only cares about those at the top.”Labour shadow cabinet member Peter Kyle said: “The man who, as defence secretary, told Russia to ‘shut up and go away’ is given a knighthood by Boris Johnson seven days after Russia illegally invades a sovereign European country. “Our country is further humiliated with every day these people remain in power.” And Labour’s Yasmin Qureshi said: “Gavin Williamson getting a knighthood. Presumably it’s for services to failure in managing two sets of exam results?”Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran said: “One does have to wonder…does Williamson know where all the horcuxes are hidden? “I can’t think of any other reason why he has been honoured for doing such an abominable job.”A former fireplace salesman, Sir Gavin, 45, was elected to parliament in 2010 and was a parliamentary aide to David Cameron before serving as Ms May’s chief whip from 2016-17, when he became known for keeping a pet tarantula in his office.As defence secretary, he incurred the prime minister’s wrath after information about Huawei’s potential involvement in the 5G phone network leaked from a top-secret NSC meeting, though he denied he was the source. He had already been the butt of ridicule in the wake of the Salisbury poisoning when he said Russia should “go away and shut up”.After supporting Mr Johnson’s campaign to succeed May as leader, he returned to the cabinet following a two-month absence, this time as education secretary.In the summer of 2020, he was forced into a last-minute U-turn on plans to use algorithms to determine the A-level results of pupils unable to take exams because of the pandemic.And in January 2021 he announced the closure of schools amid the Alpha wave of coronavirus, just days after insisting they must stay open.He was ditched by Johnson from his government in last September’s reshuffle. More

The Home Office has refused to reveal the names of wealthy Russian investors given so-called “golden visas” to come to Britain.Kevin Foster, a minister at the department, has refused to release the data, citing “data protection reasons”.The so-called “investor scheme visa” was discontinued in February last month following criticism that it allowed people to buy their way into the country.Anyone who spent £2m could be given the golden visas, which were scrapped amid a “renewed crackdown on illicit finance and fraud”. It provided them with residency for them and their family within five years. Larger amounts could be “invested” to be given residency even more quickly – £5m secured the status within three years and £10m within two years.The government admits the scheme was open to abuse, and the issue has aroused extra interest following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Some MPs fear that some wealthy individuals using the scheme may have had links to the Kremlin.Asked by Labour MP Ben Bradshaw to reveal who with Russian nationality had benefits from the scheme, the minister Mr Foster said:“The Home Office does not, for data protection reasons, publish personal details of those who make an application under the Immigration Rules.” Mr Bradshaw told The Independent: “I think they need to explain why data protection laws prevent them from publishing the names of Russians who’ve been fast-tracked for visas.“When the rest of the world is sanctioning scores of Putin’s crones, the UK government seems to be finding every possible reason not to do so.”Mr Bradshaw added: “These are people who’ve been privileged residence in the UK in return for paying millions of the Treasury.“I think the public have got a right to know how many people have come into the UK on these visas.”Home Secretary Priti Patel had previously suggested the visas might be subject to abuse. When closing down the scheme, she had said: “I have zero tolerance for abuse of our immigration system. “Under my new plan for immigration, I want to ensure the British people have confidence in the system, including stopping corrupt elites who threaten our national security and push dirty money around our cities.“Closing this route is just the start of our renewed crackdown on fraud and illicit finance.”The Independent has a proud history of campaigning for the rights of the most vulnerable, and we first ran our Refugees Welcome campaign during the war in Syria in 2015. Now, as we renew our campaign and launch this petition in the wake of the unfolding Ukrainian crisis, we are calling on the government to go further and faster to ensure help is delivered. To find out more about our Refugees Welcome campaign, click here. To sign the petition click here.  If you would like to donate then please click here for our GoFundMe page. More

A London council has urged the mayor to scrap plans for a new road tunnel running through its borough, which has been called “the most polluted” in the country.Newham Council voted unanimously for Sadiq Khan to stop building the Silvertown Tunnel, saying this project was incompatible with its climate action and goals. Campaigners have estimated the tunnel – which would connect run under the Thames – would attract tens of thousands of vehicles a day into the south London borough and have raised concerns over how it would impact air quality. But Transport for London claims it will benefit the environment by reducing congestion on polluting roads and by giving public transport networks a boost.All 60 councillors in Newham – all Labour expect for three Independents – voted against the project earlier this week and urged the mayor to cancel it amid concerns over how it could work alongside plans to tackle the climate emergency and air quality. “As walking and cycling would not be permitted in the tunnel, it could obviously make no contribution to active travel infrastructure,” the motion said. The tunnel will connect Greenwich in south London to Silvertown on the other side of the river and is expected to start being built in late spring, with a planned opening date of 2025. Rokhsana Fiaz, Newham’s mayor, said ahead of the vote: “Recent estimates show at least 115 people die prematurely each year in our borough because of life threatening vehicle fumes; and that we have the highest rate of child hospitalisation for asthma related conditions in the country.” She also said one in seven people in Newham are exposed to levels of air pollutant nitrogen dioxide “above the UK limit for human health.She added: “That’s why it is a moral and health imperative to do all that we can to oppose the Silvertown Tunnel.”Ms Fiaz later tweeted to say all councillors had voted in favour of the motion opposing the project. Last month, campaigners against the tunnel met with Seb Dance, the city’s deputy mayor for transport. The Independent understands Mr Dance told them any sudden cancellation of the project – as per their demands – would incur a substantial financial cost.Following the meeting, campaigner Victoria Rance said the tunnel would be “devestating” for Newham, which she called “the most polluted borough in UK with the most polluted schools”. It was reportedly named as the area with the worst pollution rates in British Heart Foundation research in 2019.A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Silvertown Tunnel will transform the way people can travel in a part of London that currently has few options for getting across the river. In addition to providing new zero-emission cross-river bus services for an area in need of them, the tunnel will massively reduce the chronic congestion problems currently associated with the inadequate, Victorian-era Blackwall Tunnel.”They said this nearby tunnel is closed 700 times a year on average, which leads to a long line of vehicles “emitting toxic pollutants”. “Both tunnels will be tolled and, when combined with our overall policy of reducing car use across Greater London in favour of active and public transport options, the Silvertown tunnel can help reduce congestion and poor air quality around the Blackwall Tunnel area without increasing the volume of traffic crossing the river,” the spokesperson said. More

As Russia goes to war with Ukraine, all things Brexit are still bubbling away over here in the UK.Earlier this week, Britain signed a trade deal with New Zealand, which could damage some UK industries like farming and food processing. And both Keir Starmer and Jacob Rees-Mogg have been heard uttering the phrase ‘Brexit opportunities’ in recent weeks.So, of course, Independent readers have a lot of questions about Brexit.Journalist Adam Forrest hosted an ‘Ask Me Anything’ and here are his answers to eight reader questions.How can the government claim the New Zealand trade deal will boost the UK economy?The deal agreed this week is going to have a very small impact, overall. It’s is expected help the UK economy grow by 0.02 per cent to 0.03 per cent in the long-term, according to the Department for Trade. But government modellers previously said it would be possible for the economy to contract by -0.01 per cent – mainly due industries like farming being undercut by cheap imports from NZ. Either way, the impact certainly won’t feel small to farmers. Agriculture and other food related sectors are forecast to take a £150m hit from the deal.What kind of problems are happening in Dover? Surely it will get worse in July when more checks are put in place?There are signs that long lorry queues at Dover are getting less frequent in recent weeks. But custom experts say extra customs paperwork can still take up to 10 minutes per driver. Hauliers caught in the hold-ups have been forced to “s*** in the bushes” and throw bottles of urine out of the window, union bosses say. The big fear is whether Dover and other ports are ready for further checks coming into force in July – when the physical checks for agri-food products become rigorous. Logistics chiefs who appeared at a select committee this week sounded very unsure whether there would be enough staff to carry out sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) checks.Looks like the DUP could lose the election in Northern Ireland. Will that throw a spanner in the works when it comes to protocol talks?It’s hard to know what the DUP will do after the election in May. Sinn Fein have been leading in the polls, and the unionist party has refused to confirm whether it would continue from power-sharing at Stormont if there’s a Sinn Fein first minister. Perhaps London and Brussels will simply ignore the mess and keep on talking for much of 2022? Liz Truss has dialled down the Article 16 rhetoric, the EU has made it clear it isn’t interested in deadlines anymore. Trade expert Sam Lowe says one scenario could see the whole thing rumble on indefinitely while “negotiations begin, stall, and begin again”. I’m inclined to think that’ll be the case, at least for the rest of the year.What about the Brexit benefits that Rees-Mogg has been talking about?Rees-Mogg said he’d received 1,800 ideas from “wise” readers of The Sun on how to take advantage of the opportunities of Brexit. I wouldn’t expected 1,800 changes during his war on red tap – there will be relatively few significant changes. As for the 100 benefits the government boasted of earlier this year, it included blue passports and crown stamps on pint. So mostly pointless, symbolic stuff. The government is now looking into bringing back imperial units of measurement. Which wouldn’t only be pointless and symbolic – it’d probably create yet more unnecessary and costly hassle for businesses.What exactly does Jacob Rees-Mogg think he can change when it comes to red tape?The war on red tape means Rees-Mogg will be scratching around for fairly minor regulatory things. Opposition parties fear some relatively important things on data privacy and road safety standards could be changed through “backstage” regulations, so there will be little scrutiny in parliament. Rees-Mogg will have to leave the big trade stuff with the EU to more senior ministers. His recent comments on controls – Rees-Mogg pointed to the unnecessary inspection of tuna shipments from Thailand – suggests he does not quite understand the bureaucracy of border checks.How does Brexit affect the UK’s role in the current events in the Ukraine?Good question. Ukraine’s certainly a reminder for Brexiteers that we are still part of Europe, and our fate is closely bound up with what happens there. Europe (including the UK) has been pretty united over sanctions, all things considered. It’s hard to argue that Britain would be doing anything substantially different right now if it were still in the EU. Boris Johnson’s government is blaming lawyers for the delay in slapping sanction on more oligarchs. But it will be worth watching whether the approach to individual sanctions diverges from the EU as the months go by.How many Ukrainian migrants will the UK offer to receive [compared with the EU]?Boris Johnson bowed to pressure on Tuesday and expanded the visa criteria to allow more Ukrainians to join family members in the UK as they flee the war zone. He claims more 200,000 people could be eligible under the visa route (though it’s only an estimate) after the scheme was broadened. The PM has claimed the UK’s offer to migrants will be “generous”. But it’s certainly not as generous as the EU, which has dropped all visa requirements. The government has cited security concerns for not following suit. Johnson also told MPs today that the EU’s Schengen border-free zone with Ukraine makes it easier for countries in the bloc to accept refugees without paperwork.Why is Keir Starmer talking about Brexit ‘opportunities’?Keir Starmer said in a recent radio interview he wanted take advantage of the “opportunities” of Brexit. Some may have been tempted to think the casual remarks didn’t mean very much. But the words were carefully chosen. He was due to give a speech in recently – cancelled because of the Ukraine crisis – in which he was set to talk about a Labour government teaming up with the private sector to take advantage of Brexit opportunities. Some Remain voters who may come to feel Labour is taking them for granted. But Starmer is hoping that taking the heat out of the issue will make red wall seats in the north and Midlands much easier to win.These questions and answers were part of an ‘Ask Me Anything’ hosted by Adam Forrest at 3pm on Wednesday 2 March. Some of the questions and answers have been edited for this article. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article.Do you have any topics you’d like to see an expert host an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on? Let us know your suggestions in the comments below. More

The luxury business run by the chairman of the Conservative party has deleted a webpage spelling out its Russian “elite” connections.Ben Elliot, founder of luxury concierge service Quintessentially Group, has co-chaired Boris Johnson’s governing party since 2019.This week it emerged that Mr Elliot’s company had deleted a webpage spelling out how the it had catered to the needs of Russia’s wealthy for over a decade.The firm had worked with former Putin advisors, as well as figures like Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich, according to The Sunday Times newspaper.”Quintessentially Russia has nearly 15 years’ experience providing luxury lifestyle management services to Russia’s elite and corporate members,” the website explained, spelling out the services available. But following the invasion of Ukraine page is now missing from the firm’s website and offers only a standard “error 404” message. It is still visible by looking at a cached and archived version of the website.The Conservative party has raised over £70m since Mr Elliot took over as chair, in part by targeting the world’s ultra wealthy for contributions.Boris Johnson and his ministers have been pressed in recent days on whether they will give back or pass on donations from people with connections to the Kremlin.Mr Johnson rejected such a suggestion this week, telling MPs in the Commons on Wednesday: “It is absolutely vital, if we are to have a successful outcome in what we are trying to do, collectively united with Ukraine, that we demonstrate that this is not about the Russian people. This is about the Putin regime.” The prime minister has also said: “I do hope that those who have any links with the Putin regime, whatever, any so-called Oligarchs, all those that are in any way associated with the regime, take this opportunity as some brave individuals already have, to disassociate themselves from this barbaric invasion.”The party says all donors “are registered, are legitimate” and suggested Russia-linked donors “support our aims or objectives.”The Independent has approached Quintessentially for comment on this story. More

The UK has given the green light for a “bee-killing” pesticide banned in the EU to be used on a type of crop – sparking criticism from environmental groups. The British government said this was because of the spread of yellows viruses throughout the country and the threat this posed to sugar production. But the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said it was “sad” to share the news of the move. “Without bees, our farming system will collapse,” it said. Last year, the UK government authorised the emergency use of a neonicotinoid pesticide treatment for sugar beet crops due to the risk from yellows viruses. This would only come into practice when a certain threshold for its use was reached. The Department for Food, Environment and Rural Affairs (Defra) said on Tuesday the conditions had been reached, with modelling predicting a 68 per cent level of virus incidence.It said this meant “the threshold for use has been met and the seed treatment can now proceed under strict conditions”. Evidence suggests neonicotinoids harm brain development and weaken immune systems in bees, and can also leave the animals unable to fly. A wildlife charity said these pesticides can also harm butterflies and other wildlife. Julie Williams, the Butterfly Conservation chief executive, said: “The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and it is simply unacceptable for the government to allow the demonstrable harm of pollinators and other wildlife at a time when nature is already in crisis.”“The time has come for neonicotinoids to be completely banned with no exception,” she said, calling them a group of chemicals “simply too toxic and too damaging to use in any circumstances”. A Defra spokesperson said: “The decision to approve an emergency authorisation was not taken lightly and based on robust scientific assessment. We evaluate the risks very carefully and only grant temporary emergency authorisations for restricted pesticides in special circumstances when strict requirements are met and there are no alternatives.They added: “The threshold for use has now been met according to the independent scientific modelling conducted on the virus spread. Under the terms of this authorisation seed treatment can go ahead with strict controls in place to mitigate risks.” More