Markus Andrews

Plans to force UK firms to put their goods through costly post-Brexit tests before they can go on sale have been plunged into confusion by a cabinet split.Businesses pushing for a U-turn – arguing the tests are needless red tape, where goods have been approved by the EU – had their hopes raised when Jacob Rees-Mogg said there was “no point” to them.But the “Brexit opportunities minister” has been slapped down by No 10, which says the “UKCA mark” will be introduced on 1 January next year, as planned.It means goods will have to be tested even if they already have approval to be stamped with the EU “CE” quality mark – despite criticism it will be a waste of time and money.Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour’s shadow trade secretary, attacked the “confusion”, saying: “It is astonishing that the new Brexit opportunities minister seems to have no idea what government policy has been for the past three years.“Businesses have been crying out for support to help as trading changes come into effect but ministers have ignored their pleas.”And Hilary Benn, chair of the UK Trade and Business Commission, said the tests will be a further blow to companies already hit by post-Brexit import and export checks.“This very confusing episode for the government will give little confidence to businesses who must plan for the standards their products are expected to meet,” he said.Mr Rees-Mogg is under pressure to find “red tape” that can be removed – after Boris Johnson claimed a ‘Brexit Freedoms Bill’ will strip out £1bn of costs.He sparked surprise when he said, last weekend, that “there is no point in us repeating things that other organisations and countries do to a perfectly competent standard”.“If a widget is a good and effective widget, why do we need to put the cost on companies of testing it twice?” he asked, in an interview with The Times.“Doubling up on regulation is a non-tariff barrier. And it will be very bad for the UK because people will simply say, well, we’re not going to bother with that market.”But a Downing Street spokesperson told The Independent there is no intention to change policy, saying: “Products with the CE mark will require a UKCA mark from 1 January next year.”Mr Rees-Mogg’s comments sparked surprise because, only last week, business department officials told industry groups there would be no U-turn.William Bain, head of trade policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, said business groups did not believe the UKCA scheme was necessary or practical.“We need a clear cross-government message that it is willing to listen well and act pragmatically in the interests of UK businesses,” he told The Financial Times.Despite No 10 insisting it will not budge, the deadlines for meeting the new standards’ regime has been postponed twice, after business pressure. More

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has announced it will scrap its weekend coronavirus updates, in what appears to be another part of the government’s push for England to begin “living with Covid”.Starting this week, Covid case and death figures will only be published on weekdays, with Saturday and Sunday’s data being fed into Monday’s update from now on.Previously, the UKHSA gave these updates seven days a week – they include case, death and vaccine figures from the last 24-hour period. In a statement, published on the gov.uk website, it was announced: “The dashboard will be updated as usual from Monday to Friday. “Daily cases and deaths by report date published on Mondays will include figures from the weekend. These will not be separated out to show daily figures for Saturday and Sunday.”The five-day reporting model is one other countries, such as Scotland, have used throughout the pandemic.The change came as it was announced that the number of deaths involving coronavirus in England and Wales fell for the third week in a row.A total of 1,066 deaths registered in the week ending 11 February mentioned Covid on the death certificate, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) – down 14 per cent on the previous seven days. It is also the lowest number since 922 deaths were registered in the week to 7 January.The figures suggest Covid deaths are now on a downwards trend, following a rise in December and early January driven by the Omicron variant. This is likely due to the success of the vaccination rollout across the UK, in particular the rollout of booster jabs.On Monday, Boris Johnson announced an end to almost all Covid restrictions by the end of the month, saying this was only possible due to the high levels of immunity and low deaths currently being seen. As part of his “living with Covid” plan, the prime minister said the legal requirement to self-isolate after testing positive for Covid and £500 quarantine support payments would end in England on Thursday. He also confirmed that free Covid testing for the public will be scrapped in England from 1 April, in a move that has angered health officials. It “fails to protect those at highest risk of harm from Covid-19, and neglects some of the most vulnerable people in society,” Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the British Medical Association’s council chair, said yesterday.“Living with Covid-19 must not mean ignoring the virus all together – which in many respects the government’s plan in England seems to do.”Mr Johnson, on the other hand, stayed positive. “It’s time we got our confidence back … let us learn to live with this virus, and continue protecting ourselves and others, without restricting freedoms,” he said, before admitting England could not yet “claim victory over Covid”. More

Boris Johnson has sparked anger from unions and fuelled calls for improved sick pay rates after telling Britons to “learn” from “disciplined” Germans by remaining off work when ill.The prime minister’s comments came during a Downing Street press conference in which he announced plans to lift coronavirus restrictions and move towards the UK “living with Covid” Asked about his decision to end Covid support packages and force those sick with the virus to wait until the fourth day of their ilness before they can claim statutory sick pay, Mr Johnson said: “In this country, I often heard it said over the last couple of years that we have a habit of going back to work or going into work when we are not well.”“People contrast that with Germany for instance where I am told they are much more disciplined about not going into work if you are sick and I’m suggesting that is something we could learn.”Union leaders were quick to point out stark differences between the UK, which has one of the lowest sick pay rates in Europe, and Germany, which has among the highest.Unison general secretary Christina McAnea said: “Boris Johnson could learn much from Olaf Scholz’s government. Sick workers in Germany receive their full wages if they’re poorly. Here many employees are expected to survive on less than £96 a week or nothing in some cases.“If the prime minister wants people to do the right thing and stay home to stop the virus spread, fixing the UK’s busted sick pay system should be a top priority.”In the UK, employees are entitled to only £96.35 per week in statutory sick pay. In Germany, workers receive 100 per cent of their earnings for eight weeks..Only employees earning at least £120 a week qualify for SSP in the UK, which Trade Union Congress (TUC) research concluded left around 2 million low-paid workers, mostly women, excluded from the benefit.In 2020, OECD analysis also found that UK employees with Covid received the lowest rates of mandatory SSP among member states.Dan Shears, GMB national health and safety director, said: “Comparing the UK to German workers is a bad joke – German workers can afford to stay at home when they need to because they have proper sick pay protection.“Making this crass statement at the same time as taking protections away adds insult to injury. Asking people to exercise responsibility whilst taking away a key workplace provision for them to do that just shows how incompetent this government is.“The UK’s poverty statutory sick pay rates, among the lowest in Europe, are a public health hazard as workers cannot afford to stay home when they are ill. The situation will be made even worse in April when SSP is cut in real terms against a backdrop of rampant inflation. Restoring the three-day limit is an act of national self-sabotage. It’s time for wholesale reform of statutory sick pay rates.” More

Boris Johnson has been accused of misleading MPs after he said Russian billionaire and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich is “already facing sanctions”.The prime minister said out sanctions against five Russian banks and three wealthy Russian individuals in response to Vladimir Putin’s military incursion into Ukraine, but Mr Abramovich was not on the list.Challenged by Labour MP Margaret Hodge on why dozens of others had not be targeted, Mr Johnson appeared to suggest Mr Abramovich was subject to sanctions – sparking claims he had misled the House.Labour MP Chris Bryant said the prime minister’s claim was “untrue” and challenged him to quickly “correct the record” to clear up any confusion.Ms Hodge had told MPs that she had received legal advice that there were “serious flaws” in the sanctions legislation which would allow many “close to Putin” to escape financial penalties.She said most of the people on the so-called “Navalny’s list” – a list of 35 individuals compiled by opposition figurehead Alexei Navalny’s foundation – would not be hit by the UK’s sanctions regime.Mr Abramovich is one of those on Navalny’s list. “Will the prime minister look again at the sanctions regime so in the words of the foreign secretary, nothing is off the table?” Ms Hodge asked.Mr Johnson replied: “I believe she’s in error in what she says, because we can certainly target members of the Duma [Russian parliament]. Abramovich is already facing sanctions.”Mr Abramovich does not appear on the government’s full, official list of Russia-related sanctions.Raising a point of order in the Commons, Mr Bryant said: “The prime minister said that Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned. As I understand it, that is not true.”The MP, chair of the standards committee, added: “I’m sure the PM was completely inadvertent in giving a false indication. It would be helpful if he could correct the record.”The senior Labour figure also tweeted: “The PM told the House that Roman Abramovich has already been sanctioned. He hasn’t. It’s untrue.”Replying to Mr Bryant’s request that the record be corrected, Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “If a correction is necessary, I’m sure it will be forthcoming.”The government’s sanctions were dismissed as “feeble” by MPs within moments of being announced by the prime minister on Tuesday.Tom Tugendhat, the Tory chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: “These are not the biggest banks. I’d like to see this go much further and much faster.”As well as hitting major Russian banks and three individuals, the government has also vowed to sanction members of the Russian parliament who voted to recognise the independence of separatist areas of Ukraine.Meanwhile, Mr Johnson has signalled Russia should be stripped of hosting this year’s Champions League final following the “renewed invasion” of Ukraine.The PM told MPs there is “no chance” of holding football tournaments in a Russia that “invades sovereign countries”. More

UK sanctions against Russia after its partial invasion of Ukraine have been dismissed as feeble within moments of being announced by Boris Johnson.A Labour politician who has investigated the hidden wealth of Kremlin allies in London said her “expert legal advice” was that most kleptocrats “would not be caught” by any further action.Senior Tories joined opposition parties in calling for much tougher action now – while a businessman long-identified as one of Vladimir Putin’s most high-profile enemies branded the measures “tepid”.Last week, Mr Johnson vowed that sanctions would “come down like a steel trap in the event of the first Russian toecap crossing into more sovereign Ukrainian territory”.However, in response to the Kremlin ordering troops into two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, the UK is targeting five Russian banks and three super-rich Russians only.The bank’s UK assets – Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank – will be frozen and the plutocrats banned from travelling to the UK, or from “having any dealings” with UK citizens or organisations.But Margaret Hodge, the former chair of the Commons public accounts committee, warned UK sanctions legislation had “serious flaws”, according to her legal advice.“It may not affect oligarchs close to Putin who do not hold a position at a company or who own less than 50 per cent of shares,” she told the prime minister.“Unlike US legislation, it is limited in how we can sanction Russian government officials and the definition of the government of Russia excludes the legislative branch, like the Duma.“That means that kleptocrats who have stolen from the Russian people and support Putin would not be caught.”Mr Johnson insisted Ms Hodge was “in error”, saying: “We can certainly target members of the Duma” – also arguing Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is “already facing sanctions”.But senior Conservatives echoed the criticism, Iain Duncan Smith calling for the government to “hit them with sanctions hard and hit them now”, adding: “They need to feel the pain.”And Tobias Ellwood, the Tory chair of the Commons defence committee, warned: “Sanctions alone will not be enough. Indeed, untargeted sanctions may play into Putin’s plan to pivot Russia ever closer to China.”Tom Tugendhat, the Conservative chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said: “These are not the biggest banks. I’d like to see this go much further and much faster,“You allow people to think that you’re not serious if you don’t respond seriously, quickly.”Bill Browder, whose Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky was killed after uncovering a £174m fraud believed to have involved Russian officials, tweeted: “Pretty tepid if you ask me. The oligarchs have been on the US sanctions list since 2018.Referring to Russia’s biggest banks, he added: “Where is VTB and Sberbank? Where are the other 50 oligarchs? The ones whose names we can’t mention out of fear of libel.” More

France has dumped Australia from its list of close “strategic partners” after a row over a side-deal with the UK and US.In an updated version of its official Indo-Pacific strategy the European country said it would now cooperate with Australia on a “case-by-case basis”.The move comes after Australia and the United Kingdom announced the new trilateral AUKUS agreement with the US in September last year.Under the deal, the UK and US will help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines and cooperate on other security matters such as cybersecurity. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian at the time called the pact a “stab in the back”.France had been due to help Australia build 12 diesel-powered submarines of its own, under a previous £27 billion pound agreement, which will now not go ahead because of the AUKUS deal.In its new regional strategy, updated in February 2022, the French foreign ministry now lists Australia under “other bi-lateral partnerships” instead of a strategic partner.”Australia’s decision in September 2021, without prior consultation or warning, to break off the partnership of trust with France that included the Future Submarine Program (FSP), has led to a re‐evaluation of the past strategic partnership [between] the two countries,” the French government explains.”France will pursue bilateral cooperation with Australia on a case‐by‐case basis, according to its national interests and those of regional partners. “France intends to maintain close relations with the United States, an ally and major player in the Indo‐Pacific, and to strengthen coordination, including on issues raised by the announcement of the AUKUS agreement.”Boris Johnson had previously defended the deal from French criticism and said it was not “exclusionary” or “divisive” even though it excluded France.”This is just the way of the US, the UK and Australia of sharing certain technologies because that is the sensible thing to do in the world in which we find ourselves,” he said at the time.He also later said that Australia should “prenez un grip [get a grip] about all this and donnez-moi un break [give me a break]”. More

Jacob Rees-Mogg claims the British elector is ‘very pleased with the leader that it’s got’Top civil servants should remain “completely apolitical” and should not be allowed to express support for Black Lives Matter, Jacob Rees-Mogg has argued.The Brexit minister said permanent secretaries should be allowed to celebrate events like the Queen’s Jubilee and Remembrance Sunday but not publicly back the anti-racism movement.Asked about the historic use of the #blacklivesmatter hashtag by two permanent secretaries, Stephen Lovegrove and Jonathan Slater, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “Permanent secretaries should be completely apolitical. They can remember state events, they can remember Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday and the Queen’s Jubilee.”Mr Slater, a former top civil servant at the Department for Education, used the hashtag in a social media post in 2020 while Sir Stephen had spoken on the issue in the same year, saying “systemic racial inequality is not unique to America but also has deep roots within UK society…”Show latest update

1645539945Nicola Sturgeon to announce Scotland’s plan for living with CovidNicola Sturgeon is preparing to set out her new strategic framework for dealing with coronavirus.The first minister will speak in the Scottish parliament on Tuesday afternoon as the Scottish government’s blueprint for managing and recovering from Covid is published.More on the story here:Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 14:251645538505UEFA must pull Champions League final from Russia, say senior MPsSenior MPs have called on Uefa to strip Russia of this year’s Champions League final set to be held in St Petersburg, after Vladimir Putin ordered the deployment of troops in eastern Ukraine.The prime minister appeared to signal he would back a change of venue for the final, saying in the Commons there was “no chance of holding football tournaments in a Russia that invades sovereign countries”.Here is the story: Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 14:011645537125Emily Maitlis and Jon Sopel leaving BBCEmily Maitlis and Jon Sopel have announced they are leaving the BBC to join media group Global, and will front a podcast and co-host a radio show on LBC.Maitlis has served as the lead presenter on Newsnight while Sopel was formerly the broadcaster’s North America editor.The pair also host the BBC’s popular Americast podcast about US politics.Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 13:381645535925Jacob Rees-Mogg says senior civil servants should not endorse Black Lives MatterSenior civil servants should not be allowed to publicly express support for Black Lives Matter, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.The Tory MP, who was appointed Brexit minister earlier this month, said permanent secretaries should remain “completely apolitical” and not back the anti-racism movement.He said they should instead be allowed to celebrate state-sanctioned events like the Queen’s Jubilee and Remembrance Sunday.Here is the story: Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 13:181645534979Further interest rate hikes needed to cool soaring inflation, says BoE deputy governorFurther “modest” interest rate hikes will likely be needed to cool soaring inflation, according to a Bank of England deputy governor.Sir Dave Ramsden – deputy governor for markets, banking and resolution – said more rate hikes are set to be on the cards in the coming months as the Bank faces its biggest inflation challenge since being made independent in 1997.He said rates were not expected to reach levels seen before the financial crisis or the historical heights endured in previous inflation spirals.The Bank raised rates to 0.5 per cent from 0.25 per cent earlier this month after an increase at its previous meeting in December.Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 13:021645533860Johnson announces Russia sanctionsBoris Johnson has announced sanctions against five Russian banks and three “very high net wealth” individuals under his “first barrage” of measures aimed at punishing the Kremlin for the Ukrainian incursion. Speaking in the Commons, the prime minister said Vladimir Putin had “calmly and deliberately” been plotting the “destruction of a peaceful neighbour”.For more on Mr Johnson’s remarks, visit our Ukraine liveblog here.Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 12:441645533405Javid declines to comment on whether PM should resign if found to have broken Covid rulesSajid Javid has declined to comment on whether the prime minister should resign if he is found to have broken the law over Covid rules.Asked about the investigation into No 10 parties during lockdowns, the health secretary told Sky News: “I’m not going to get into this, we’ve discussed this so many times. “The official authorities are looking into this whole issue, rightly so, and the prime minister himself has come to parliament and apologised and set out what is happening.“But also he is rightly not getting involved in what the authorities are doing. We should let the authorities do their work. I don’t think it is appropriate to get into it.”Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 12:361645532773Russian ambassador summoned to UK foreign officeForeign Secretary Liz Truss said Russia’s ambassador Andrei Kelin had been summoned “to explain Russia’s violation of international law and disregard of Ukraine’s sovereignty”.“We are imposing severe sanctions in response,” she added.Mr Kelin was meeting the senior official at the foreign office, permanent under-secretary Sir Philip Barton.Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 12:261645531824Putin’s troop deployment ‘amounts to renewed invasion’ of UkraineMy colleague Rory Sullivan has all the latest updates on the Ukraine crisis in the dedicated liveblog here. But the morning’s lobby briefing has been taking place over the last half hour, and with much of the focus on the situation along the Russian border here is the latest from No 10:The deployment of Russian troops to two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine “amounts to renewed invasion of the country”, Downing Street said. However the UK does not currently view the move as a “full-scale invasion”, according to the prime minister’s official spokesman.Asked for the government’s assessment of what will happen next, he told reporters: “There is no doubt that the deployment of these forces that we’ve seen reported in sovereign Ukrainian territory amounts to renewed invasion of the country. President Putin has sent his troops in, he’s broken international law, he’s repudiated the Minsk agreement.“We believe that Russia’s actions overnight could well be a precursor to a full-scale invasion. But clearly, we want to continue to pursue any diplomatic avenues that exist and we’ll be speaking to other world leaders, as I say, and urging Russia to step back from this action.”The PM’s spokesman went on to say: “I think what is true is that we do not see a full-scale invasion currently taking place. As I say, we have seen the deployment of these forces, which does amount to an invasion in that area. I wouldn’t say necessarily it’s a two-step process, but we will continue to see if there are ways to get Russia to pull back.”Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 12:101645530175Ministers criticised for ‘pursuing trade deals which support lower standards’Minette Batters, NFU president, has also told her organisation’s annual conference that the government has “completely contradictory” policies for the agricultural sector.She said these included raising the bar for environmental standards at home but pursuing trade deals which support lower standards overseas, as well as making it difficult to find workers to harvest or process domestic food.“While there is a cost of living crisis looming and an increasingly unstable world, the UK government’s energy and ambition for our countryside seems to be almost entirely focused on anything other than domestic food production,” she said.The NFU conference is also set to hear from Environment Secretary George Eustice.Tom Batchelor22 February 2022 11:42 More

International partners imposed a first tranche of targeted sanctions against Russia on Tuesday, after the country ordered what it termed “peacekeeping” troops into breakaway regions of Ukraine.This is not, as yet, what one UK official termed the “seismic” hit. Instead, it is a “signal of intent”, they added.Boris Johnson told MPs that the UK would sanction three high net worth individuals and five Russian banks; Rossiya, IS Bank, General Bank, Promsvyazbank and the Black Sea Bank.Russia’s central bank listed Promsvyazbank as a systemically important financial institution in 2021.Three figures will see their assets held in the UK frozen; Gennady Timchenko, Boris Rotenberg and Igor Rotenberg,”Any assets they hold in the UK will be frozen, the individuals concerned will be banned from traveling here and we will prohibit all UK individuals and entities from having any dealings with them,” Mr Johnson said. Other measures were “at readiness” he added.These are aimed at the “fretwork” of energy infrastructure and financing on which Russia depends, according to a UK Whitehall source.The two Rotenbergs and Mr Timchenko both have significant investment in energy infrastructure. Mr Timchenko founded Volga Group, a Russian based organisation which described itself as “one the largest investment groups in Russia” according to an undated presentation.Boris and Arkady Rotenberg co-own StroyGazMontazh, one of the biggest oil and gas infrastructure companies in Russia.However, two senior City figures told The Independent that they regarded the step, which was limited – Promsvyazbank, to relatively small banks and a clutch of oligarchs, went less far than expected, even as an interim measure.Targeting energy infrastructure is informed by Russia’s role as an energy export powerhouse; it’s the world’s second biggest natural gas exporter and third largest oil producer, according to the US Energy Information Administration, accounting for 11 per cent of global supply in 2020. Analysts believe that, should it shut off supplies to the West, Brent crude would hit $110 a barrel.Russia’s announcement that it formally recognised two separatist republics in Ukraine drove up the price of oil to a seven year high, with the Brent crude oil-price benchmark closing in on $100 a barrel. Meanwhile, the Russian ruble has dropped to a near two-year low against the dollar.Market concerns were further inflamed after Germany announced that it would halt the final stage of its $10 billion Nord Stream II natural gas pipeline from Russia. The step followed US sanctions targeting financial flows into the breakaway regions of Ukraine.Further details of EU sanctions on banks and individuals are expected later Tuesday.Russia also holds significant sway over food-related goods. It accounts for 38 per cent of global potash supply, along with Belarus, according to figures gathered by the Canadian government and 30 percent of global wheat exports when combined with Ukraine.A two month block on exports of ammonium nitrate imposed on the Kremlin in February 2022, a key component on fertilizer, has driven up costs for farmers across Europe including the UK. More