Markus Andrews

Boris Johnson claimed that Brexit was finally “done” just under a year ago, when the trade deal was agreed that replaced the transition arrangements on 1 January this year. The Department for Exiting the European Union was wound up and ministers were instructed to stop using the B-word.As the year ends, however, Brexit has failed to retire quietly to the history books. Within months of the new trading relationship with the EU coming into effect, the UK government said it wanted to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement containing the special rules applying to Northern Ireland – because they were not working as British negotiators had expected.David Frost, the prime minister’s chief Brexit negotiator, was elevated to the cabinet via the House of Lords, and began a new round of never-ending talks, punctuated by weekly public statements of the kind that have been issued for five years now, about how progress had been made but that the two sides remain “far apart”.Meanwhile, relations between the UK and the EU, and particularly between the UK and France, have been characterised all year by diplomatic hostilities. At the start of the year the EU resented the UK’s speed in approving and delivering coronavirus vaccines, with Emmanuel Macron, president of France, publicly questioning the efficacy of the British-partnered Astra-Zeneca vaccine.Anglo-French relations worsened over a dispute about post-Brexit fishing rights in Jersey waters, and then degenerated further as both sides appeared to blame the other for the death of 27 people trying to cross the Channel in November. The increase in dangerous small boat traffic from France to the UK was not caused by Brexit, although Britain’s departure from the EU has complicated attempts to solve it. The EU’s attempt to agree a common approach to asylum, known as the Dublin III Regulation, had not worked well, but now there was no mechanism for EU-level cooperation at all.So far, the Anglo-French disputes over fishing rights and unauthorised Channel crossings have not affected the talks on the Northern Ireland protocol – indeed both sides in those negotiations have sounded more hopeful in recent weeks. But there seems plenty of scope for any of these disputes to flare up. One year on, Brexit is anything but “done”.If you have a question about Brexit, the Northern Ireland protocol or the state of Anglo-French relations, submit it now, or when I join you live at 1pm on Tuesday 7 December for an “Ask Me Anything” event.To get involved all you have to do is register to submit your question in the comments below.If you’re not already a member, click “sign up” in the comments box to leave your question. Don’t worry if you can’t see your question – they may be hidden until I join the conversation to answer them. Then join us live on this page at 1pm as I tackle as many questions as I can. More

Boris Johnson’s policing minister has admitted he would be “surprised” if people weren’t taking illegal substance in parliament, as the government prepares to announce a new crackdown on “lifestyle” drug use.Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has said he will call in police over “deeply concerning” allegations of widespread drug use at Westminster.Sir Lindsay said he wanted to see “full and effective enforcement of the law” after the Sunday Times reported that an investigation found evidence of cocaine in 11 out of 12 locations tested in parliament.Policing minister Kit Malthouse said he would be “surprised” if there were not users of illegal drugs in parliament after the probe found traces of the class A substance in numerous lavatories.“There are obviously several thousand people who work on the estate and I would be surprised if there weren’t some lifestyle users of drugs amongst them,” said the Home Office minister.It comes as the government unveils a £700m plan to tackle problem drug use – including moves which would see middle-class “lifestyle” drug offenders have their passports and driving licences taken away.Asked if some of his own colleagues could be hit by proposals to remove the passports and driving licences of offenders, Mr Malthouse told Sky News: “I hope not.”Mr Malthouse said Britain has “an awful lots of lifestyle users of cocaine … who are driving much of the violence and degradation” – pointing to plans to bring forward legislation next year aimed at tackling middle-class drug use.He told LBC: “Where we want to get to is a situation that when the police are enforcing on drugs, they are as likely to do an operation outside Westminster … as they are outside Tottenham Hale or anywhere else.”Mr Malthouse told the radio station he had never been to a dinner party where someone took drugs. “I would have reported it,” he said.Mr Johnson said the government’s 10-year drugs strategy – due to be published on Monday – will see more “problem users” placed into rehab as part of a plan to spend £700m on recovery over the next three years.Speaking to broadcasters in Merseyside, the prime minister said: “What’s new is that we are putting a lot more investment, number one, into tackling the 300,000 problem drug users who drive about half the acquisitive crime and about half of the homicides in this country.”He added: “You can’t simply arrest them time after time and put them back into prison again and again – you’ve got to do rehab as well.”But Mr Johnson said the government is planning to “come down hard” on those pushing unlawful narcotics – part of a pledge to break up 2,000 county lines drugs gangs.“You’ve got to be tougher on the county lines gangs, you’ve got to be tougher on the criminals who are doing it, but you’ve also got to make sure that you find those 300,000 people and you help them,” he said.Asked about his claim that passports could be taken away from middle-class drug users – made in The Sun on Sunday – Mr Johnson said: “We are looking at doing things to tackle those so-called lifestyle drug users who don’t think they are part of the problem.”Sir Keir Starmer claimed that cuts to criminal justice spending over the last decade are behind many of the problems the government is seeking to address with its latest drugs strategy.“I want the prime minister to take responsibility for the money that’s been taken out of criminal justice in the last 10 years,” said the Labour leader. More

Police should investigate whether Christmas parties were held in Downing Street in violation of Covid restrictions if a report is made, the policing minister has suggested.Home Office minister Kit Malthouse said forces “should be investigating anything that is a historic crime to them”, amid claims that festive events were held at No 10 while strict curbs were in place last year.It follows criticism of justice secretary Dominic Raab after he suggested on Sunday that police “don’t normally look back and investigate things that have taken place a year ago”.But Mr Malthouse told Sky News on Monday: “If reports are made then inquiries should follow and let’s see where it goes after that … we’ll learn more about it in the days to come.”Asked about the reported parties on Times Radio, Mr Malthouse added: “I don’t even know if there was an event. I know these allegations have been made. But if they have and the police have a look, it’s for them to form a view and I shouldn’t really attempt to influence that either way.”The Metropolitan Police is now considering letters of complaints from Labour MPs that Boris Johnson and his staff may have broken Covid rules with parties at No 10 in the run-up to Christmas last year.In a statement, Scotland Yard said it was policy “not to routinely investigate retrospective breaches of the Covid-19 regulations” – but added: “We will however consider the correspondence received.”Mr Raab said on Sunday that if a formal party were found to have been held at No 10 “that is something that is clearly contrary to the guidance”. But the justice secretary also said that police “don’t normally look back and investigate things that have taken place a year ago”.Labour’s shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said she would “look into” what communication there was with the Met about allegations a party took place in No 10 during Covid restrictions last year.Met commissioner Dame Cressida Dick had said on Friday morning that she was not aware of any complaints being received on the issue at that stage. Labour MPs Barry Gardiner and Neil Coyle subsequently wrote letters to the police chief.“I just don’t understand that response because you know, I understand that other MPs have raised it directly with her and also that it has been in the newspapers repeatedly,” said Ms Cooper.The Labour frontbencher added: “I wanted to find out what’s happened because my understanding is that this has actually been raised with her and she has been sent questions about this by other MPs, by other London MPs. So I will look into what has happened here.”Meanwhile, Mr Malthouse said he would be “surprised” if there were not users of illegal drugs in parliament after a newspaper investigation found traces of cocaine in numerous sites.The Sunday Times reported that all but one of 12 lavatory areas in parliament that were tested showed traces of the class A substance.“There are obviously several thousand people who work on the estate and I would be surprised if there weren’t some lifestyle users of drugs amongst them,” said the policing minister.It comes as the government unveils a £700m plan to tackle problem drug use over the next three years – including moves which would see middle-class “lifestyle” drug offenders have their passports and driving licences taken away.Asked if some of his own colleagues could be hit by proposals to remove the passports and driving licences of offenders, Mr Malthouse told Sky News: “I hope not.” More

Boris Johnson wants to weaken the power of courts to overrule decisions by ministers through the process of judicial review, according to reports.The Times reported the PM wants to allow ministers to effectively throw out any legal rulings they do not agree with.It comes after a number of clashes with judges, such as the ruling that Mr Johnson’s 2019 decision to prorogue parliament for five weeks was unlawful.According to the newspaper, justice secretary Dominic Raab has been tasked with toughening plans to reform judge’s powers to rule on the legality of minister’s decisions. Whitehall sources were cited as saying the move would reinforce parliament’s sovereignty over the unelected judiciary.An option drawn up by Mr Raab and attorney general, Suella Bravermen is for MPs to pass an annual “Interpretation Bill” in which ministers will strike out findings from judicial reviews the government did not agree with. The plan has reportedly won the approval of No 10.The move has received backlash from the legal establishment, with one senior QC quoted as saying the prime minister is seeking a “more compliant judiciary.”Labour MP Stella Creasey said: “The one rule for everyone else, no rules for them motif of this government is quite something.”Mr Johnson is reportedly unhappy with the Judicial Review and Courts Bill currently going through parliament – which focuses on subtle remedies such as suspended judgments to give ministers time to tackle problems – because it “doesn’t go far enough,” according to sources quoted by The Times.This is the latest attack on the legal framework by the government.Mr Raab on Sunday said he wants to “correct” the drift towards the principle of free speech being outweighed by protection of privacy.The justice secretary’s intervention comes just days after Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, won an appeal court battle over the Mail on Sunday’s publication of extracts of a letter to her father.Court of appeal judges ruled that the duchess had a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in the contents of the letter which were “personal, private and not matters of legitimate public interest”.Speaking to Times Radio on Sunday, Mr Raab did not directly reference the duchess’s case, but made clear he believes the balance has slipped too far in favour of the ability of rich individuals to protect their secrets.He said: “In the politics of this country, we’ve had a heavier emphasis on free speech, transparency, accountability for politicians, for people in positions of influence. We don’t have the continental-style privacy law protections.“If we were going to go down that route, it should have been decided by elected politicians.”He added: “I think the drift towards continental-style privacy laws, innovated in the courtroom not by elected lawmakers in the House of Commons, is something that we can and should correct.” More

Britain’s leading business organisation has downgraded its economic growth forecasts for this year and 2022, blaming supply shortages and inflation for a slower-than-expected recovery from the Covid lockdowns.And the CBI warned of a “cliff-edge” in 2023, when chancellor Rishi Sunak’s super-deduction tax break for business investment expires and the main rate of corporation tax rises from 19 to 25 per cent.Director-general Tony Danker called for a “booster for growth” in the form of new incentives to invest in technology and skills, to protect the recovery from a retrenchment caused by this double blow to business.The CBI’s six-monthly economic forecast put GDP growth at 6.9 per cent for 2021 – down from 8.2 per cent at the time of its last forecast in June – and 5.1 per cent next year, down from the previous 6.1 per cent. Growth in 2023 was forecast sharply lower at 3 per cent.And there were warnings that the new omicron variant of coronavirus could put even the downgraded growth forecasts at risk if it leads to new restrictions on social and economic activity, reinforcing the need for equitable distribution of vaccines to all parts of the world.The CBI forecast envisaged continued high inflation, peaking at 5.2 per cent in April next year and remaining above the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target until the spring of 2023.Unemployment is expected to rise briefly around the turn of the year before falling back to 3.8 per cent by the end of 2023.Rising prices will hit spending power as inflation outpaces pay rises for most, with a knock-on hit to growth, which is heavily dependent on consumer purchases.Household spending will generate 90 per cent of growth in 2022 and two-thirds in 2023 as consumers splash out using some of the money saved during their enforced stay at home, the forecast suggested.However, the CBI stressed that the longer-term challenge of persistently poor productivity levels must be addressed in order to deliver sustainable growth.The UK lags behind global peers on exports, and needs to “normalise” its relationship with its largest and most important trading partner, the European Union, said the CBI’s chief economist Rain Newton-Smith.Any recovery in exports is expected to be “lacklustre” following disappointing growth this year.And the current surge in business investment, which is expected to rise above its pre-pandemic level to register growth of 8.2 per cent in 2022, is expected to fall back from mid-2023, as the super-deduction comes to an end and the rise from 19 to 25 per cent in the main rate of corporation tax kicks in.Mr Danker said: “Significant headwinds and rising costs of living threaten the extent of recovery and prospects for economic success.“The UK’s new year resolution must be to give firms the confidence to go for growth. We should be raising our sights on the economy’s potential and seizing the moment.“I know from speaking with firms of all sizes that they have an ambitious investment mindset and are anxious to implement growth plans. But while intentions have thawed, we’re coming up to a cliff-edge in 2023.“The super-deduction is a welcome catalyst, but a one-hit wonder isn’t enough to make up for four decades of underperforming business investment. We must build on its success with targeted measures encouraging the scale of investment we need, particularly in green technologies. A booster for growth is needed to protect and build on our recovery.”And Ms Newton-Smith added: “We expect a pretty firm economic recovery ahead, though understandably the emergence of omicron poses another downside risk to our forecast.“Ultimately this underscores the need for equitable distribution of vaccines across the world – supporting lives, livelihoods and freeing our international travel sector, boosting trade too. The emphasis must be on testing and using all the tools at our disposal to keep as many global routes open as possible.” More

Boris Johnson is to promise to invest £300m in “wiping out” the county lines drug gangs responsible for distributing and selling illegal substances across England.The crackdown forms part of the government’s new drugs strategy, which also includes an expansion of drug testing after arrest for other offences and a behaviour change campaign to be piloted in universities in the hope of turning young people away from narcotics.The launch of the strategy on Monday comes after evidence emerged that around 300,000 heroin and crack addicts in England are responsible between them for nearly half of all acquisitive crime – such as burglaries and muggings – while drugs are linked to almost half of homicides.The total cost to society of illegal drug use is estimated by the government to be nearly £20bn a year in England alone.Mr Johnson said that the police county lines programme had already closed down 1,500 “lines” responsible for spreading drugs from the cities to every corner of the country, making more than 7,400 arrests and safeguarding more than 4,000 vulnerable adults and children.The new campaign will aim to dismantle a further 2,000 county line operations over the next three years.The prime minister said: “Drugs are a scourge on our society, fuelling violence on our streets, which communities across the country are forced to endure.“That’s why, to cut crime and truly level up across the country, we must step up efforts to wipe out the vile county lines gangs who are blighting our neighbourhoods, exploiting children and ruining lives.“Backed by record investment, the strategy we’re setting out today will attack supply and break the county lines model, which sees criminals profit from people’s misery. Those who break the law will have nowhere to hide.”Home secretary Priti Patel added: “It is clear that the drugs trade is still driving so much crime – we must do more to prevent these ruthless gangs ruining lives, tearing apart communities and exploiting young people.“This strategy will help to relentlessly pursue the kingpins behind these supply lines, making our streets safer.”Other elements of the strategy include:• Carrying out 6,400 disruptions against the activities of organised criminals• Strengthening organised crime partnerships preventing the wholesale supply of drugs to neighbourhood dealers• Out-of-court interventions including mandatory attendance of drug awareness courses for those who continue to use substances• Powers for judges to order drug testing of anyone serving a community sentence whose offending is related to drug use• Contacting phone numbers found on drug dealers’ seized mobiles with a range of messages to discourage drug use and direct users to supportChris Farrimond, director of threat leadership at the National Crime Agency, said: “So far this year, over 120 tonnes of cocaine have been seized as a result of NCA activity. We have more than 300 ongoing investigations, both at home and abroad, specifically focusing on class A drugs.“We have worked with government partners on the 10-year drugs strategy and will continue to suppress the dynamic drugs market, taking out of circulation those exploitative, violent and connected individuals and crime groups intent on causing harm to our communities.”The National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for county lines, deputy assistant commissioner Graham McNulty, said: “County lines drug dealing is linked to the most serious violence and abuse of vulnerable young people, and we are committed to doing everything we can to bring these criminals to justice.“Additional funding will support police in stopping these abhorrent criminals, protect young people, and protect our communities from the misery caused by county lines.” More

Dominic Raab has said he wants to “correct” the drift towards the principle of free speech being outweighed by protection of privacy.The justice secretary’s intervention comes just days after Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, won an appeal court battle over a newspaper’s publication of extracts of a letter to her father.Court of appeal judges ruled that the duchess had a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in the contents of the letter which were “personal, private and not matters of legitimate public interest”.But critics have accused the courts of creating extensive privacy rights which were never legislated for in parliament, by their far-reaching interpretation of the right to private and family life enshrined in the European Convention of Human Rights and translated into UK law through the Human Rights Act.Speaking to Times Radio on Sunday, Mr Raab did not directly reference the duchess’s case, but made clear he believes the balance has slipped too far in favour of the ability of rich individuals to protect their secrets.He indicated that his planned overhaul of the Human Rights Act could shift Britain away from “continental-style privacy laws” developed by judges rather than parliament.“We do in this country have a tradition which emphasises and prioritises free speech and open debate,” said the deputy prime minister. “I think that’s something which is pro freedom that we’ll look at.”Citing British philosophers John Locke, John Stuart Mill and Isaiah Berlin, Mr Raab said: “In the politics of this country, we’ve had a heavier emphasis on free speech, transparency, accountability for politicians, for people in positions of influence. We don’t have the continental-style privacy law protections.“If we were going to go down that route, it should have been decided by elected politicians.” He added: “I think that’s a good example of the kind of balance that we can strike with our own home-grown approach to this, rather than the over-reliance on a continental model, which is effectively what the Human Rights Act has left us with.“What I want to see is stronger respect for the democratic prerogatives of parliament to legislate in those areas.“So it’s about getting the balance right. But certainly, I think the drift towards continental-style privacy laws, innovated in the courtroom not by elected lawmakers in the House of Commons, is something that we can and should correct.” More

Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has said he will call in police over “deeply concerning” allegations of drug use in the Palace of Westminster.And in a warning to anyone bringing cocaine or other illegal substances into parliament, the Speaker said he was treating the matter as a priority and wanted to see “full and effective enforcement of the law” with serious sanctions for those flouting the rules.Sir Lindsay’s move comes after the Sunday Times reported that an investigation found evidence of cocaine in 11 out of 12 locations tested in the building.One senior MP said it was time to consider bringing in sniffer dogs to detect illicit substances.The Speaker said: “The accounts of drug misuse in Parliament given to the Sunday Times are deeply concerning – and I will be raising them as a priority with the Metropolitan Police next week. “I expect to see full and effective enforcement of the law.”Sir Lindsay added: “While parliament provides extensive support services for any staff or members who may need help with drug misuse – and I would encourage anyone struggling with such issues to take up such help – for those who choose to flout the law and bring the institution into disrepute the sanctions are serious.”The Sunday Times reported that Commons officials had received reports last month that cannabis could be smelt in an open space – often used by staff for cigarette breaks – between two parliamentary buildings housing MPs’ offices and committee rooms.Cocaine detection wipe tests carried out in a single evening on 12 locations in parliament found evidence of the class A substance in lavatories near the offices of prime minster Boris Johnson and home secretary Priti Patel, as well other washrooms, the paper said.And the newspaper quoted anonymous Westminster sources as claiming that drug use was rife among some staff and MPs.One was quoted as saying: “I have seen an MP openly snorting cocaine at a party. There were journalists present and I warned them that what they were doing was extremely dangerous and they could be exposed but they seemed to get off on the power trip.”And another said: “MPs tend to be more careful than staff and will go back to their office to do it rather than doing it in any of the public spaces, but I have heard of one staffer who walked in on their MP doing a late-night line at their desk.”One Westminster veteran told the paper: “There is a cocaine culture in parliament. Some people are at it all the time and are totally blasé. Others dabble. Some are household names, some are ambitious young MPs and officials, but all of them risk throwing away their careers. They think they are untouchable, protected by their friends in the bubble. It’s shocking but also sad. Lots of them need help.”Sir Lindsay raised concerns about the scale of drug use at Westminster during his campaign to succeed John Bercow as Speaker in 2019, telling MPs: “It’s not just drink we’ve got to catch out, there is a drug problem.”Since then, figures released by the Metropolitan Police under freedom of information laws have shown that there were 17 drug crimes detected in or near the parliamentary buildings in the past year. Police investigated 38 drug offences on the estate between 2015 and 2018.Conservative MP Charles Walker, who chairs the administration committee, said that the issue would be discussed by the House of Commons Commission next week and sniffer dogs could be brought in.“The House of Commons has a long history of using sniffer dogs to detect explosives,” he said. “It may be that we now need to broaden the range of sniffer dogs … to include those which can detect drugs.”The issue has blown up as Mr Johnson steps up action against drugs, warning middle-class cocaine users they could have their passports or driving licences confiscated if fines prove no deterrent.He is also expected in the coming week to announce a new clampdown on county lines drug operations moving crack and heroin from England and Wales’s cities into every area of the country.Jenny Symmons, who chairs the GMB union branch for parliamentary staff, said: “Parliament is a microcosm of the country so of course drugs will be a problem, but the working culture of late nights and short deadlines can create a pressure that feels unmanageable. Support must be available for those who have turned to drugs and we must continue to improve working conditions for staff.”Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Commons leader, said: “The palace of Westminster ought to be the bastion of lawfulness. There are a lot of police on the parliamentary estate who should enforce the law using all the tools at their disposal to stop drug dealing and drug abuse within the palace.” More