Markus Andrews

“Get Brexit done” was British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s slogan when he ran for election two years ago. Since then, the U.K. has pulled out of the European Union after more than four decades of membership and several years of wrangling over divorce terms.And yet the quarrels go on: The U.K. and the EU of now 27 nations are once again trading accusations and insults as they try to resolve rough spots in their relationship.WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?The current conflict centers on Northern Ireland the only part of the U.K. that shares a land border with an EU member — Ireland.While Britain was part of the EU’s vast free trade single market, there were no barriers to people and goods crossing that border. The open frontier helped underpin the peace process that ended decades of Catholic-Protestant violence in Northern Ireland because if allowed the people there, whatever their identity, to feel at home in both Ireland and the U.K.By taking the U.K. out of the EU’s economic order, Brexit creating new barriers and checks on trade. Both Britain and the EU agreed such checks could not take place on the Ireland-Northern Ireland border because of the risk to the peace process. The alternative was putting a customs border in the Irish Sea — between Northern Ireland and the rest of the U.K. But the new sea border has brought headaches and red tape for businesses, and has riled Northern Ireland’s Protestant unionists, who say it weakens Northern Ireland’s place in the United Kingdom and threatens their British identity.WHY IS UK-EU CONFLICT ERUPTING NOW?Problems have been piling up since the U.K. left the EU’s economic embrace, including the bloc’s single market, at the end of 2020.Under the divorce agreement, the British government was required to impose customs checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. It has repeatedly postponed introducing them, to the annoyance of the EU.Specific problems have emerged around agricultural and food products — most prominently a looming ban on chilled meat products entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. that spurred headlines about a “sausage war.”Opposition from Northern Ireland unionists to the deal has hardened. Jeffrey Donaldson, leader of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party said Tuesday that “if it is not replaced, then it will condemn Northern Ireland to further harm and instability.”Anger over the new arrangements helped fuel several nights of violence in Northern Ireland in April, largely in Protestant areas, that saw youths hurl bricks, fireworks and petrol bombs at police.That has led the British government to argue that the Brexit deal itself — negotiated and agreed by the U.K. and the EU — is undermining the peace process. WHAT DOES THE EU SAY?The EU agrees that the Northern Ireland arrangements are not working well. It plans to offer proposals on Wednesday to resolve the trade problems by waiving many of the checks on goods.On the eve of that move, the U.K. raised the stakes again, demanding the EU also remove the European Court of Justice as the ultimate arbiter of the Brexit agreement and instead agree to international arbitration. The EU is highly unlikely to accept that. The bloc’s highest court is seen as the pinnacle of the EU single market, and Brussels has vowed not to undermine its own order.Britain’s demand has led some in the EU to doubt Johnson’s government ever was sincere about sticking to the agreement.WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT?The EU and the U.K. say they will hold several weeks of “intensive” talks on the latest proposals. The talks could lead to a breakthrough or a breakdown; the signals are mixed. On the one hand, there have been moments during Brexit when the U.K. threatened to walk away without a deal, only to compromise at the last minute. This could be another one.But if the British government sticks to its insistence on ruling out a role for the European court, it is hard to see room for compromise.In that case, Britain says it will trigger an emergency break clause that allows either side to suspend the Brexit agreement if it is causing exceptional hardship. Such a move would infuriate the EU, which is likely to respond with legal action and possibly economic sanctions against the U.K. It could spiral into an all-out trade war — one that is likely to hit the U.K. economy harder than that of the much bigger bloc.Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionists, meanwhile, are threatening to collapse the power-sharing Belfast government if the deal is not ripped up, a move that would trigger elections and plunge the region into fresh uncertainty.___Follow AP’s coverage of post-Brexit developments at https://apnews.com/hub/Brexit More

The European Union will today outline proposals aimed at resolving the political stand-off over the Brexit agreement, with an offer to significantly reduce border checks on British goods entering Northern Ireland.It comes after Brexit minister Lord Frost dialled up the government’s hardline rhetoric over the contentious issue in a speech on Tuesday, warning the bloc it would be a “historic misjudgement” not to rewrite the deal.But the minister was accused of stoking tensions by accusing the EU of being “disrespectful” and attempting to reverse the referendum result, as he effectively demanded the cancellation of the Northern Ireland Protocol which he negotiated and Boris Johnson signed in 2019.Reports from Brussels indicate that the bloc will offer the waiver of up to 50 per cent of post-Brexit border checks on goods entering Northern Ireland from mainland Britain, with more than half on chilled meats and plants.European Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic, who will front a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, has previously said the measures will be “very far-reaching” and address issues over the movement of agri-food goods and medicines across the Irish Sea.Brussels has stressed that the proposals being put forward today are the result of consultations with businesses on both sides of the Irish border and are not a response to Lord Frost’s speech.It is understood that in return for allowing more goods to pass into Northern Ireland without checks, Mr Sefcovic will demand more data from the UK to allow surveillance of products which may pass through the province into the EU single market.“We have gone to the outer limits of what member states, particularly France, will wear,” one Brussels source told The Independent. “These proposals are a sensible basis for further discussion, not a take-it-or-leave offer.”While holding open the option of negotiation with the UK, Mr Sefcovic – under pressure from Paris and other capitals – is also preparing contingency plans in the event Boris Johnson suspends the provisions of the protocol by invoking Article 16 of the deal. Many in Brussels expect the PM to do so and fear that, once this line has been crossed, it will be difficult for him to row back to an agreement on the protocol. Under Article 16, the EU could retaliate with the imposition of tariffs on UK exports, potentially leading to a trade war in a worse-case scenario. The European Commission would request permission from the European Court of Justice to take “interim measures” in response to UK non-implementation of the protocol, and these measures would not have to be restricted to the Irish border issues at the heart of the row.The process would take many months and possibly more than a year, but it could involve onerous tariffs on a range of UK products, making them more expensive for European consumers.One EU source said: “We do not want a continuing dispute with the UK. But if the UK plays hardball, we will be ready.” While the measures being unveiled by Mr Sefcovic today may reduce everyday friction between NI and GB, a major point of contention remains over the role of the ECJ after Lord Frost suggested the court’s oversight was a red line for the government.Under the terms of the deal struck by Boris Johnson in 2019 and later hailed by ministers, the ECJ would be the final arbitrator in any future trade dispute between the two parties on the operation of the protocol.The UK government now wants to remove that position and replace it with an independent arbitration process, but Mr Sefcovic has insisted that the EU will not move on the issue.Brussels suspects that the ECJ is being used as a distraction to provide cover for the UK to suspend the protocol by triggering Article 16 after a few weeks’ negotiations.Asked whether the proposals reported would be enough, Oliver Dowden, the Conservative Party chairman, told Sky News: “We’ll wait until we receive the full announcement from the EU.“The government as a whole will engage fully, constructively, with these proposals. It is important there is fundamental change to the Northern Ireland Protocol — let’s see exactly what the EU comes up with.”He added that there were “wider questions about the competence” about the European Court of Justice, adding: “This treaty rather uniquely is governed by the courts of one party to it.”However, he declined to say whether altering this section of the deal would be a “deal breaker”, adding: “It is a major issue for us — I’m not going to start pre-empting, writing red lines here and there.” More

Pro-democracy campaigners have issued a plea to Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle to end Tory domination of a key parliamentary committee amid fears that Boris Johnson is attempting to nobble the UK’s elections watchdog.Changes in the Elections Bill being pushed through parliament by the prime minister will for the first time give ministers the power to dictate the strategy and policy of the Electoral Commission, in what is being seen as a major threat to its independence.Former commissioner David Howarth told The Independent the change will be “catastrophic” to the conduct of free and fair elections in the UK, throwing into doubt the Commission’s ability to act independently on issues like party donations, political advertising and campaign spending.Now campaigners from Unlock Democracy, Fair Vote UK, the Electoral Reform Society and Reboot GB have issued a warning about the role of the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission (SCEC), which is the primary mechanism by which MPs can hold the Electoral Commission to account.For the bulk of the period since 2000, the committee has never had a majority of members from the ruling party, ensuring its independence from the government. But in recent times, it has included five Conservative MPs, giving the party an automatic majority.Two of the Tory members – Karl McCartney and Craig McKinley – were investigated by the Commission, and either acquitted or cleared, over their expenses at the 2015 general election.Now a vacancy has been created after Luke Hall stood down on 1 October, giving Sir Lindsay the opportunity to restore the non-government majority with the appointment of a non-Tory member.In a letter to the Speaker, the campaign groups urged Sir Lindsay to name an opposition MP as the ninth member, and to consider bringing lay people onto the panel to provide independent oversight.“If another government MP is appointed, the committee which oversees the operations of the Electoral Commission will again be dominated by government members,” they wrote. “We consider this a further threat to the independence of the Electoral Commission.  This is already at risk because the Elections Bill will introduce a new power for the government to introduce a strategy and policy statement for the Electoral Commission. This appears to be entirely incompatible with an independent Commission. “The nature of the Electoral Commission, which investigates and enforces decisions against political parties for breaches of electoral law, requires the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission not be dominated by the party of government.”A spokesperson for Sir Lindsay said: “The composition of the committee could be debated during the passage of the bill, so it would be inappropriate for the Speaker to offer a view at this time.”
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Only around 20 applications for temporary visas from foreign lorry drivers have been processed during Britain’s supply chain crisis, a senior government figure has revealed.Conservative Party co-chair Oliver Dowden admitted that the UK had been able to attract a “relatively limited” number of heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers from overseas.The minister said the government had received around 300 applications from foreign drivers, but just over 20 hauliers have been processed and are now “on the roads”.Dowden told LBC Radio: “We have 300 who have applied for these visas. I believe the number is just over 20 who have actually received them and are on the road. I expect this number to increase over time.”Taken aback, LBC host Nick Ferrari said the rate of success in attracting foreign drivers was “hopeless”, adding: “You’d get booted out of school for that, minister.”Dowden said ministers were “not in the business of setting arbitrary targets” as he defended the government’s reluctance to bring in more foreign drivers to meet the drastic shortfall.Asked how far the government will have got to addressing the shortage of 100,000 HGV drivers by Christmas, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re not in the business of setting arbitrary targets.”The Tory chair added: “What I can assure you is that the government is straining every sinew and the government is committed to making sure we increase HGV driver capacity through a whole range of different measures.”Alistair Carmichael, the Lib Dems’ home affairs spokesperson, said it was “staggering” that only just 20 drivers from abroad who applied under the temporary scheme are now on UK roads.“The government needs to end their arbitrary rules that shut out lorry drivers as ‘unskilled’ and take visa applications away from the Home Office to get them decided quickly and fairly,” the MP said.It comes as toy shop owners has warned consumers to “buy now” to avoid Christmas disappointment amid fears ongoing supply chain problems will result in higher prices and empty shelves.Shipping giant Maersk has said it is diverting vessels away from UK ports because of a build-up of cargo, citing the shortage of HGV driver shortages.Asked about potential Christmas shortages, Dowden said: “The situation is improving, I’m confident that people will be able to get their toys for Christmas.The Tory MP added: “Some buy people buy very early for Christmas, my wife is quite an early Christmas buyer, others buy later. I would say just buy as you do normally.”The government announced earlier this month that a visa scheme for nearly 5,000 foreign food haulage drivers – who can arrive from late October – would be extended to the end of February in a desperate bid to avoid chaos over the festive period.Some 300 of the haulage drivers were encouraged to come to Britain immediately and allowed to stay until the end of March.Dowden also defended Boris Johnson’s decision to take a holiday in a Spanish villa this week while the UK faces energy shortages and problems recruiting drivers.“I’ve worked closely with three prime ministers and I can assure you that there’s no such thing as a holiday for a prime minister,” he told Good Morning Britain. “I know the prime minister will be and is working out there and is engaged with issues going on in the UK.”The Tory chair added: “So this is a just a short break and he will be returning to the UK and I am expecting to see him later this week.”Labour leader Keir Starmer, who visited the Mantra Learning HGV driver training centre in Middleton on Tuesday, hit out over the “absolutely foreseeable” shortage of lorry drivers.Starmer got behind one of the big wheels and crashed into a fence during his visit, with the driving instructor telling the Labour leader: “You would’ve failed your test.” More

Dominic Raab and Liz Truss have been told by Boris Johnson to share access to the 15-bedroom Chevening house after a tussle between the cabinet colleagues.It comes after the prime minister dismissed the squabble between the foreign secretary and deputy prime minister over the 17th-century Kent manor, saying “frippery” would not distract him from his policy priorities.The row was reported to have emerged when Mr Raab — demoted at the reshuffle last month —argued that his new title of deputy prime minister entitled him to hold onto it.Appearing to demonstrate her claim to the estate, however, Ms Truss invited her counterparts from Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, to Chevening house this week and posted photographs of herself walking around the manor on social media.On Monday, the prime minister’s official spokesperson declined to say whether Mr Johnson, who must nominate someone to occupy the residence, had adjudicated on the issue.However, according to The Times, the prime minister, who is currently on holiday in Costa del Sol, has resolved the matter telling the deputy prime minister and the foreign secretary to share the estate.A government spokesperson confirmed the decision, telling The Independent: “The deputy prime minister and foreign secretary will share access to Chevening as has happened in previous administrations”.When asked just three weeks ago who get access to the house — or whether the two ministers would be asked to share — Mr Johnson replied: “The people’s government does not bother with fripperies and foibles of this kind.“These types of questions, we will address in due course,” he added. “But as I say, we are focused on the people’s priorities.”The tussle was highlighted by Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, as she stepped in for Sir Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions last month – contrasting the issue to the “government making choices that are making working families’ lives harder”.“Families across the country are worried about heating their homes while he’s [Mr Raab] complaining about having to share his 115-room taxpayer-funded mansion with the foreign secretary,” she added.Chevening, which was passed on to a trust in 1959 to serve as a country residence for a royal or cabinet minister nominated by the prime minister, has almost always been occupied by the serving foreign secretary.Nick Clegg, the former deputy prime minister during the coalition government, shared the residence, however, with the then-foreign secretary William Hague between 2010 and 2015.While serving as foreign secretary under Theresa May’s administration, Boris Johnson was also asked to share the estate with the international trade secretary, Liam Fox, and the Brexit secretary, David Davis, on the premise that each may have to host and entertain foreign visitors and leaders. More

Ministers and government officials have been told to delete instant messaging conversations automatically, court documents have revealed.A legal challenge by the Citizens campaign group – which condemned the use of disappearing messages and accused ministers of “government by WhatsApp” – was given the go-ahead by the High Court.Transparency campaigners claim the routine use of WhatApp and Signal, which have options to make messages disappear, have been used to avoid scrutiny of decisions made during the Covid crisis.A High Court granted a judicial review into the rules, and revealed new details of the Cabinet Office’s “information and records retention and destruction policy” for ministers and civil servants.The government policy stated: “Instant messaging is provided to all staff and should be used in preference to email for routine communications where there is no need to retain a record of the communication.”It added: “Instant messages history in individual and group chats must be switched off and should not be retained once a session is finished. If the content of an instant message is required for the record or as an audit trail, a note for the record should be created and the message content saved in that.”The Citizens, supported by the legal group Foxglove, said it was challenging the lawfulness of the use of instant messaging services that allow messages to be automatically deleted while carrying out government business.Clara Maguire, director of the Citizens, described the decision to grant as judicial review as “a good day for democracy”, adding that a lack of transparency “has been at the heart of the UK government’s disastrous handling of the Covid catastrophe”.She added: “We believe this case goes to the very heart of this [transparency] problem and we look forward to proving government by WhatsApp is not only dangerous but also unlawful.”Cori Crider, director of Foxglove, said: “We’re delighted we’ve won the right to take WhatsApp government to court. This is the first case of its kind, and it raises a critical issue in modern government … We can’t learn from history if the evidence has vanished into thin air.”Labour’s deputy leader, Angela Rayner, said ministers “must not govern by private messages that are then deleted … This is completely undemocratic and an attack on transparency and accountability”.A Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “Ministers will use a range of modern forms of communication for discussions, in line with legislative requirements, and taking into account government guidance.” More

England must prepare itself for more floods and droughts, rising sea levels and greater pressure on water supplies due to climate change, the Environment Agency has said.In a stark warning ahead of the Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow, the government agency claimed that adaptation measures – making sure the country is resilient to the inescapable effects of climate change – are now just as important as action to cut carbon emissions.More and worse environmental incidents – such as flooding, water shortages and pollution – are now inevitable, since the natural world cannot adapt as fast as the climate is changing, the agency warned.Its chair, Emma Howard Boyd, said it was a case of “adapt or die”, warning that England would face the sort of deadly flooding seen in Germany this summer if the country did not prepare itself.Ms Howard Boyd also said that, despite the UK government’s intention to focus on adaptation at Cop26 next month, the issue was in danger of being “grievously undercooked” by the world at large.In a gloomy report handed to Boris Johnson’s government, the public body said traditional flood defences would not be able to prevent all flooding and coastal erosion across England.Population growth and climate change will also increase the demand for water, meaning that if no further action is taken between 2025 and 2050, more than 3.4 billion extra litres of water per day will be needed for resilient public water supplies.The agency’s report warns that with 2C of global warming – below the level of warming for which the world is currently on track – England’s winter rainfall will increase by around 6 per cent, but summer rainfall will be down 15 per cent by the 2050s.It also predicts that with 2C of warming, London’s sea level could rise by between 23cm and 29cm by the 2050s, and around 45cm by the 2080s. The sea level could rise by 78cm by the 2080s if global temperatures soar beyond 2C.The Environment Agency said it was working with government, businesses and communities on boosting flood protection, and with watchdog Ofwat on water supplies.The public body said it was also focusing on restoring and creating peatlands, wetlands and other habitats to create resilient places for wildlife, reduce the risk of flooding, improve water quality and boost access to green spaces for people.Ms Howard Boyd said: “The climate crisis is global, but its impacts are in your village, your shop, your home. Adaptation action needs to be integral to government, businesses and communities too, and people will soon question why it isn’t.”She added: “While mitigation might save the planet, it is adaptation, preparing for climate shocks, that will save millions of lives. Choosing one over the other on the basis of a simple either/or calculation is like telling a bird it only needs one wing to fly.”The Environment Agency leader said the country was “running out of time” to bring in effective adaptation measures, adding: “Significant climate impacts are inevitable. We can successfully tackle the climate emergency if we do the right things.”The warnings in the Environment Agency’s third adaptation report come as Labour urged the prime minister to “start being a statesman” or risk failure at Cop26.Mr Johnson has failed to take the summit seriously enough or be “candid” enough with the British public on the scale of action needed to address the climate crisis, the opposition party claims.And in a broadside aimed at Mr Johnson’s decision to take a holiday in the run-up to the talks, Labour’s shadow business secretary Ed Miliband will say, in a speech on Wednesday: “It’s time for the prime minister to get off his sun lounger, be a statesman and make Glasgow the success we need it to be.” More

Council housing waiting lists “could double” by next year, the Local Government Association (LGA) has warned – a situation it said was avoided last year due to extensions to pandemic support measures that are now winding down.The organisation, which represents councils in England and Wales, is calling for the government to use this month’s spending review to give councils the powers and funding to build 100,000 social rent homes a year, which it says will deliver benefits to the public purse over the long term.A report commissioned by the LGA, the Association of Retained Council Housing and the National Federation of ALMOs, called Building Post-Pandemic Prosperity, highlighted how one in 10 households were in need of housing but stuck on council waiting lists for more than five years, according to government figures released in March.The report also said that more than 100,000 fewer new homes will be built across all tenures – social and market housing – by 2023 than would have been the case without the pandemic.And the LGA said that as a result of the pandemic council housing waiting lists could almost double next year to as many as 2.1 million households.The LGA issued a similar warning in November last year. It said the extension of Covid support schemes, such as the eviction ban, helped prevent such an increase but that now some support schemes are winding down there is a heightened risk of problems with the system.The report said that every 100,000 new social rent homes built delivers the equivalent of £24.5bn to the public finances over 30 years, which includes savings in housing-related benefits, tax receipts from the construction industry, and the wider impacts of getting people into higher quality and more energy efficient housing.The LGA is calling for the government to reform Right to Buy and allow councils to retain 100 per cent of receipts.LGA spokesperson Councillor David Renard said: “We are concerned that as life returns to normal there could be an increase in homelessness cases in the coming months.”We want to work with government on a cross-departmental long-term homelessness prevention strategy and tackle our housing shortage as we recover from the pandemic.”Giving councils the powers and resources to build 100,000 social homes for rent each year, including further reform to Right to Buy, would not only help to reduce homelessness but deliver a third of the Government’s housing target.”Mr Renard added: “There is a desperate need to build more social housing in this country, which should be a central part of the Government’s ambition to level-up and build back better following the pandemic. Social housing gives families the security and stability of a decent home, as well as being a route to owning your own home through Right to Buy.”Now is the time to reverse the decline in council housing over the past few decades. The benefits are clear – a programme of 100,000 social homes a year would shorten council housing waiting lists, reduce homelessness and cut carbon emissions, while delivering a multi-billion long-term boost to the economy.” More