Markus Andrews

Downing Street has poured cold water on the prospect of the UK joining a North American free trade area with the US, Mexico and Canada.The idea of a bid to join the USMCA partnership was floated during Boris Johnson’s trip to America, as it became clear that the prime minister had been forced to give up his dream of a post-Brexit free trade agreement (FTA) with Washington.A senior government source said the “ball is in the US’s court” over expanding the partnership beyond the North American continent for the first time.The expression of interest appeared to mark a fresh step in the reorientation of UK trade ambitions away from Europe, following Britain’s application to join the CPTPP Pacific trade partnership.But Mr Johnson’s official spokesperson indicated that any consideration of a USMCA application was at an embryonic stage and that a stand-alone FTA with the US remained the prime minister’s primary goal.“What we are focused on is the US deal,” said the spokesperson. “There are no plans to go beyond that at this stage. That is the priority for us.”Foreign secretary Liz Truss, who has accompanied the PM on his US visit, is likely to face questions about the UK’s ambitions when she visits Mexico on Thursday for talks with her counterpart there. More

A Brazilian health minister who shook hands with a maskless Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus in New York.Marcelo Quiroga sat with the British prime minister and new foreign secretary Liz Truss during a bilateral meeting with Brazil’s president Jair Bolsonaro on Monday.A statement from the Brazilian government said that Mr Quiroga is currently in good health and will remain in isolation in the US. The health minister received his first shot of a Covid vaccine in January.The 55-year-old cardiologist was filmed shaking hands with Mr Johnson and is also thought to be staying at the same hotel as US president Joe Biden, 78, who is in the city for the UN general assembly.Mr Quiroga also tweeted a picture with first lady Michelle Bolsonaro, and on Monday had breakfast with several employees of investment fund companies in New York.Mr Johnson was hospitalised and moved to intensive care with coronavirus in April last year, and was deputised by the then foreign secretary Dominic Raab while he was unwell. He later made a full recovery from the virus.Since his Covid scare, Mr Johnson has been a strong advocate for the vaccines, and at his meeting with Mr Bolsonaro said: “I’ve had it twice” in reference to the AstraZeneca jab.The Brazilian leader pointed at himself and said “Not yet”, then laughed.In a statement after the meeting, Mr Johnson’s spokesperson said the prime minister had “underlined the importance of vaccines as our best tool to fight the virus and save lives around the world, and emphasised the important role the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has played in the UK, Brazil and elsewhere”.Mr Bolsonaro has cut a defiant figure at the general assembly, despite being widely criticised for his response to the pandemic, which has killed more than 590,000 people in Brazil.The Brazilian president flouted the requirement for attendees to be vaccinated against the virus, and again repeated unproven “early treatment” methods for Covid-19.Additional reporting by agencies More

The UK is considering joining a trade partnership between the US, Canada and Mexico or an Asia-Pacific free trade group after Boris Johnson gave up on his dream of a bilateral deal with Washington. The prime minister accepted a direct free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK was not high on US president Joe Biden’s list of priorities after meeting with his American counterpart in the White House on Tuesday.The UK will instead look to improve trade links with the US by exploring other avenues such as inserting itself as the fourth member of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) or joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), the Independent understands.We’ve taken a look at the two trade pacts and what they could mean for the UK.The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a major free trade area including Australia, Canada, Japan and Singapore.The CPTPP was born out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a group promoted by then-US president Barack Obama as part of Washington’s increased emphasis on relations with Asia.Obama’s successor, Donald Trump, pulled out in 2017 and Biden has not rejoined the group.The UK revealed it was formally applying in January 2021 and negotiations began in June.The CPTPP, which took effect in 2018, includes agreements on market access, movement of labour and government procurement.The Department for International Trade said joining the trade group would cut tariffs on food, drink and cars and improve access to the markets of its members, such as Mexico, New Zealand and Vietnam.Other benefits are said to include easier travel between partnership countries and cheaper visas.If accepted, the UK would become the first European member, joining Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.China has also applied in an effort to increase its influence over international policies, while Taiwan is hoping to join.If China joined, it would quadruple the total population within the group to some 2 billion people.Britain may also bid to join the trade partnership between the US, Canada and Mexico as a fourth member in the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).USMCA came into effect in July 2020 as a replacement for the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), which was torn up by Donald Trump.Covering areas ranging from motor vehicles and steel to agricultural produce and data transfers, Washington said the deal should boost US GDP by $68bn and generate 176,000 jobs.Britain already has trade agreements with Canada and Mexico. therefore the main benefits of joining would be linked to the US element of the deal.There has previously been no talk of extending the three-nation arrangement beyond the continent. More

British lamb exports to the US will soon resume after a ban stretching back more than 20 years to the Mad Cow Disease epidemic, Boris Johnson has said.Washington last year lifted a ban on beef from the UK, and president Joe Biden indicated in talks with the prime minister at the White House on Tuesday that lamb is likely also to benefit from the relaxation.The move would be some consolation for Mr Johnson, who was forced to accept that his long-cherished dream of a comprehensive post-Brexit free trade agreement with the US is firmly on the back-burner.The UK government is considering the alternative of joining the USMCA North American free trade area with the US, Mexico and Canada.But Mr Johnson’s official spokesmperson made clear that this initiative was still in no more than embryonic stage and was not a current priority.“What we are focused on is the US deal,” said the spokesperson. “There are no plans to go beyond that at this stage. That is the priority for us.”Speaking outside the Capitol building in Washington, where he was due to meet leading Democrats and Republicans, Mr Johnson welcomed the expected lifting of the 1996 ban on lamb.He insisted there was a “great deal to be done” on trade with the US but accepted that without White House focus on the issue the UK could hope for no more than “incremental” progress.“I can tell you today that what we’re going to get from the United States now is a lifting of the decades-old ban, totally unjustified, discriminating on British farmers and British lamb,” said the prime minister.“It’s about time too. And what we’re wanting to do is make solid incremental steps in trade.“The Biden administration is not doing free trade deals around the world right now but I’ve got absolutely every confidence that a great deal is there to be done.“And there are plenty of people in that building behind me who certainly want a deal.”Mr Biden appeared to catch the PM by surprise at Tuesday’s meeting when he mentioned the potential for the lamb ban to be scrapped.As Mr Johnson expressed his appreciation for the resumption of beef sales, Biden interrupted to say: “We’re going to be working on lamb too.” More

The government is eyeing a windfall tax on energy generating and trading companies that profit from increases in gas prices, the business and energy secretary has said. Speaking on Wednesday at a parliamentary committee Kwasi Kwarteng indicated that such a levy might be a way of correcting the market.The minister warned MPs that preparations were being made for gas prices to remain high for some time – despite Boris Johnson earlier this week describing the problem as “temporary”.”I think ‘temporary’ means that it’s a position where the price has spiked considerably… I think it has quadrupled in the last six months, seven months,” he said. “You would expect normally that the price would revert to the mean, it’s not something that we think is going to be sustainable. But, of course, we have to prepare for longer-term high prices.”During a round of questioning Labour MP Darren Jones, chairman of the committee, said Spain had imposed a levy on “the generators and traders who are making very significant profits” to fund protections for consumers.Asked whether such a policy was a possibility in the UK, Mr Kwarteng said: “We are looking at all options.”What they are doing in Spain is recognising that it’s an entire system – the energy system is an entire system.”I am in discussion with Ofgem and other officials, looking at all options.”Pushed on the issue of a windfall tax, the business and energy secretary added: “I’m not a fan of windfall taxes, let me just get that straight – but of course it’s an entire system and we have to think of how we can get the whole system to help itself.”Mr Kwarteng was appearing before the committee after meeting with regulators and energy firms in light of sharp increase in gas prices in the UK.The price rise is driving some smaller suppliers out of business because they are unable to pass their costs onto consumers due to the government’s price cap. Mr Kwarteng said the cap was here to stay and that firms, some of whom have been lobbying to end the cap, knew that it existed before they decided to enter the market.The business secretary warned earlier this week that it could be a “difficult winter” for many people hit by a rise in bills, especially those who were also hit by the government’s cuts to Universal Credit.Windfall taxes were last imposed on the excess profits of a privatised utilities by Tony Blair’s government in the aftermath of the 1997 general election. That tax produced a one-off income of around £5 billion which was used to fund a workfare programme and capital for new schools. UK gas prices have surged far higher than those in continental Europe; the government says the crisis is global but critics say leaving the EU single market for energy has had an impact. More

Unite union’s new leader has revealed she will not attend Labour’s annual conference this weekend, insisting ongoing industrial disputes with workers will have to take “priority”.Elected leader of the union – one of Labour’s biggest financial backers – on a vow to take the union “back to the workplace”, Sharon Graham insisted the move was not a “snub” towards Sir Keir Starmer.According to the BBC, Ms Graham, who succeeded Len McCluskey last month, is the first Unite general secretary not to attend the party’s annual conference, stressing she’ll instead be with members.“At this time, my place is with workers and my members. So next week I’ll be on picket lines where my members are taking industrial action and not a Labour conference in Brighton.”“We shouldn’t always do what we have always done just because we have always done it,” she told the broadcaster.“I am days into my leadership,” she added. “We currently have 16 industrial disputes going on, from Tesco drivers to Weetabix to locksmiths in Scunthorpe and Wolverhampton. What I need is to be with those workers in dispute and personally take leadership”.Ms Graham insisted the move was “definitely not a snub” to the Labour leader, but rather a “priority decision” and told the BBC she had a “cordial” conversation with Sir Keir Starmer.“I had a useful meeting with Keir earlier this week and told him it was unlikely I would be at conference,” she said.While describing proposed controversial changes to the election of future leader of Labour – outlined by Sir Keir – as “white noise” to Unite members, she criticised the move earlier this week in a letter to MPs.Ms Graham said the proposals to ditch the ‘one member one vote’ system introduced by Ed Miliband in 2014 and reverting back to the electoral college was “deeply disturbing”.“Unite believes in democracy and this proposal to reduce the entire membership to one third of the vote, while inflating the vote of Labour MPs to one third, is unfair, undemocratic and a backwards step for our party,” she said. “Our membership, the lifeblood of our party and many of whom are committed trade unionists, must be respected.”The Unite leader said it was “vital” MPs publicly made clear they do not support the proposal, which the left-wing group Momentum suggested would also mark the start of a “civil war” within the party if Sir Keir took the rule changes to conference.Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, John McDonnell, the former shadow chancellor, expressed his frustration with the proposed rule changes, saying it was a “huge mistake”.“Look at the contrast there’s going to be in the media. You have Boris Johnson strutting the world stage doing deals with Biden and other world leaders – trying to prepare for Cop[26] – and what do we have? The Labour leader in grubby stitch-up deals trying to bounce his own conference.”Pressed on his comments, the senior MP said: “I’m saying what he’s opening himself up to are those charges. Only 18 months ago he was elected leader, he never said this to the members that elected him that he was going to bring forward these proposals.“I’m warning him you’re opening yourself up to these charges, for goodness sake do the right thing which is don’t try and bounce this through conference, have a proper discussion, a proper consultation and allow the members then to decide.”The Unite delegation at Labour conference will be led by its executive council chairman, Tony Woodhouse and national political lead, Rob MacGregor. More

The energy regulator has rejected Boris Johnson’s claim that the gas shortage is “a short-term problem”, refusing to predict how long the crisis will last.The prime minister raised eyebrows when he rejected warnings of a cost-of-living crisis this winter, insisting “spikes in gas prices” – like food supply problems – will soon be over.But Jonathan Brearley, Ofgem’s chief executive, refused to echo the prediction, telling MPs. “It’s extremely difficult to predict the future of the gas price.”He pointed to “unprecedented changes over the last few months” – which had seen the wholesale price leap by almost 6 times over the last year – warning: “We are in unprecedented territory I’m afraid.”There were “many, many factors” that were outside the UK’s control, such as rising international demand and supply restrictions, an emergency inquiry by the Commons business committee was told.“It’s very, very hard to predict how long that will last,” Mr Brearley said, warning an end to the supply squeeze was “not something that we at Ofgem would rely on”.But the chief executive played down fears of the UK running out of gas, saying: “You can’t rule anything out, but we have a resilient system that customers can rely on.”Meanwhile, the boss of the Energy UK industry body revealed it warned the government and Ofgem that the sector was fragile at least two years ago.Chief executive Emma Pinchbeck said she had warned that even well-run suppliers might go bust, because of fault lines in the UK energy market.“I took this job a year ago. When I was hired, the chairman of Energy UK said that your biggest challenge is going to be the vulnerability of the retail market,” she told the committee.“And I know that, for a year or more before that, my team had been making the case to the regulator and the government that the sector is fragile.“There’s a short-term crisis here, which is in some ways out of our control – it’s to do with the gas prices – but it’s been exacerbated and arguably caused by our regulatory design.Ms Pinchbeck called for regulators and politicians to stop dismissing suppliers when they say the way the market is designed is flawed.Mr Brearley declined to put a number on how many customers are with a supplier now at risk of collapse.“We do expect a large number of customers to be affected. We’ve already seen hundreds of thousands of customers affected, that may well go well above that,” the Ofgem chief said.“It’s very hard for me to put a figure on it. It’s not unusual for suppliers to go out of the market. I think what is different this time is that dramatic change in the costs that those suppliers are facing.” More

Seeking to demonstrate his eco-credentials and in a nod to Joe Biden’s affection for trains, Boris Johnson chose a sleek silver Amtrak train to travel between New York and Washington DC last night — a move that was rewarded by a rambling train anecdote from the US president. The good-will of the so-called special relationship, however, did not seem to extend as far as welcoming words on a post-Brexit trading relationship between the old partners.Inside the bubbleOur political commentator Andrew Grice on what to look out for todayWith Boris Johnson on his travels, prime minister’s questions will see a tussle between a man with three jobs – Dominic Raab (deputy PM, lord chancellor and justice secretary) and a woman with four – Angela Rayner (deputy Labour leader, shadow first secretary of state, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and shadow secretary of state for the future of work). There won’t be much time for questions if the Speaker reads out all their titles.On the select committee corridor, Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer, will be quizzed about covid vaccines for children; Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, about foreign travel and the shortage of lorry drivers and Matthew Rycroft, permanent secretary at the Home Office, about the Windrush scandal, migrants crossing the Channel and arrivals from Afghanistan.BACK OF THE QUEUE Despite the exchange of pleasantries at the White House last night with Joe Biden, the prime minister’s hope of delivering the long-promised post-Brexit Britain prize of a US-UK free trading agreement appears to be evaporating.Mr Johnson admitted yesterday that his special relationship partner had “a lot of other fish to fry” while the US president himself gave no cause for optimism about a swift agreement, saying only that the pair would talk a “little bit” about trade. Pouring cold water on the prospect while sitting next to the PM in the Oval Office, Mr Biden added: “We’re going to have work that through”. Perhaps former president Barack Obama wasn’t bluffing when he visited the UK during the referendum, warning that Brexit would put the country at the “back of the queue” in any trade deal with the US. Instead, the UK is mulling a bid to join a trade partnership between the US, Canada and Mexico, my colleague Andrew Woodcock reports from Washington. “There are a variety of different ways to do this,” a UK government source said. “The question is whether the US administration is ready. The ball is in the US’s court. It takes two to tango.” Today, the prime minister will also issue a call for the world to “grow up” and address the threat of climate change in his speech to the United Nations.TOXIC COCKTAIL On the domestic front, the prime minister has dismissed growing fears of a cost of living crisis this winter — despite one of his cabinet colleagues, Kwasi Kwarteng, admitting some families may face a “very difficult winter” with energy bills rising and an imminent cut to the £20-per-week uplift in universal credit — introduced at the onset of the pandemic. Asked if people are “really going to struggle”, Mr Johnson told reporters: “No, because I think this is a short-term problem”. This claim has been rejected by the anti-poverty think tank, the Resolution Foundation, which warned of a “cost of living crunch”, even if the immediate gas supply problems ease. Director of policy at the fuel poverty charity the National Energy Action added: “This cocktail of challenges will leave millions of households struggling to cope with less income and higher costs. For many, it will be an impossible task.” Labour are again seeking to highlight what they have described as the cost of living “triple whammy” facing families. Elsewhere, the government is reported to have a struck a deal with CF Industries to restart carbon dioxide production at its UK plants, after they were closed last week due to spike in global natural gas prices.CIVIL WAR Given the Labour Party actually votes on issues at its annual conference — in stark contrast to the Conservatives’ selection of speeches — it is perhaps no surprise there’s usually an internal battle over the party’s rulebook, despite repeated vows to stop “navel gazing”. On the eve of the last in-person Labour conference in 2019 there was an extraordinary attempt to abolish the position of deputy leader. This year, Sir Keir Starmer eyes changing the way leaders of the party are elected — reverting to the old electoral college system last used in 2010. Under the new (or rather old) proposed system, the vote for the leader would be split one third between MPs, one third between unions, and one third between members — in contrast to now where all party members get a single vote. The party’s governing body — the National Executive Committee — is expected to hear the plans on Friday, but they have already triggered an almighty row on the eve of conference. Left-wing group Momentum said the rule change “would mark the start of a civil war in the party”.GUERRILLA CRACKDOWN Police made 38 arrests and dragged Insulate Britain protesters from the M25 after members of the group stormed onto the country’s busiest motorway once again. Footage taken at the scene by LBC showed the climate activists walking on to the motorway and sitting down  — forcing traffic to stop. Writing in the Daily Mail, the home secretary, Priti Patel, alongside her cabinet colleague, Grant Shapps, said the protestors had “broken the law, undermined the cause they believe in, alienated the public, and created extra pollution, in one of the most self-defeating environmental protests this country has ever seen”. The duo also insisted the government was giving the police “powers to better manage such guerrilla tactics in future”. According to the reports, the cabinet ministers are seeking a court injection to prevent protestors causing gridlock and is likely to be sought by National Highways at the High Court on Thursday. One protester told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme they were “consulting lawyers”.KERCHING An investigation has found that Whitehall departments spent at least £500,000 since 2016 attempting to block the release of information under transparency laws, with government legal staffers challenging rulings by the Information Commissioner. Three cheers for transparency. The greatest one-off spend award goes to the Department of Health and Social Care, which raked up legal bills exceeding £129,000 fighting a single case to prevent the release of ministerial diaries. The judge in this particularly case eventually ruled against the wishes of the government. “At the same time when the public are concerned about government secrecy it is deeply ironic that government departments are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of public money to hide information from the public,” said the editor-in-chief on the investigative outfit openDemocracy. A government spokesperson defended the approach saying they were “committed to being as transparent as possible” but added: “When considering FOI requests we have to balance the need to make information available with our duty to protect sensitive information”.From the Twitterati“Moving to an electoral college for Labour leadership elections – ending one member one vote and hoarding power in the hands of MPs in Westminster – would be a shameful attack on democracy”Labour MP Zarah Sultana on Sir Keir Starmer’s proposed changes to leadership electionsEssential readingGloria de Piero, The Independent: Why is a lefty like me working at GB News?Tom Peck, The Independent: What a surprise that the UK is, yet again, overly exposed to a global crisisVince Cable, The Independent: A terminal crisis is looming for Boris Johnson’s doctrine of ‘cakeism’Polly Toynbee, The Guardian: Labour should be approaching its party conference with hope, not despairSign up here to receive this daily briefing in your email inbox every morning. 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