Markus Andrews

A government deal subsiding a US-owned fertiliser firm providing carbon dioxide to British businesses could cost taxpayers “tens of millions” of pounds, a cabinet minister has admitted.The agreement will be in place for three weeks and business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, insisted last night it would avert “disruption” in critical industries that rely on a stable supply of Co2 — adversely affected by spiralling energy costs.It comes after CF Fertilisers, which produces around 60 per cent of Co2 in the UK, suspended operations last week because of global costs of gas, leading to alarm that consumers could be facing shortages of some foods within days.Speaking on Sky News, George Eustice, the environment secretary, said lawyers were still working on the “final details” of the deal brokered last night, but said: “It’s going to be into many millions, possibly the tens of millions, but it is to underpin some of those fixed costs”.“It’s going to be temporary,” he added. “At the end of the day we need the market to adjust.”He also suggested the food industry would have meet a significant increase in the price of carbon dioxide, “probably going from something like £200 a tonne eventually to closer to £1,000 a tonne, so a big, sharp rise”.In a separate interview with LBC Radio, Mr Eustice also attempted to insist the deal on Co2 supplies would ensure “Christmas is safe” — despite the deal lasting just three weeks.“Christmas is safe, of course,” the cabinet minister said. “But there are challenges in the food supply chain, I’m not denying that. That lack of availability, pressure on logistics — all of these are causing some stresses.“It does mean that in some areas the degree of choice in some supermarkets is down slightly on what it would normally be. But we are working with the industry to make sure that we get all the food that we need on the shelf for those all-important weeks running up to Christmas”.Welcoming the agreement, Iain Wright, the chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, who has been warning that consumers could see shortages on supermarket shelves within days.“I think it’s a temporary solution but it’s a welcome one,” he said. “And means there won’t be many noticeable shortages on the shelves, although there are already some because of staff shortages.”Mr Wright, who said the industry needs to “get its act together”, also warned that although food would continue to enter warehouses in the lead-up to Christmas, the “supply chain is so fragile that any other shock might do it in as well”.Announcing the deal last night, Mr Kwarteng added: “This agreement will ensure the many critical industries that rely on a stable supply of CO2 have the resources they require to avoid disruption.“The quick and decisive action we have taken to resolve the issue shows the seriousness with which we have approached it. In our ongoing response to manage the impact of global gas price rises, we will continue to protect businesses and consumers.” More

Boris Johnson has pressed his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison to lift the Australian travel ban on vaccinated UK adults in time to save this winter’s Ashes tour.The bar on entry to all British nationals was on the agenda when the prime minister met Mr Morrison for dinner in US capital Washington on Tuesday evening.England’s cricket team is facing a revolt by players who are threatening to refuse to travel Down Under if their families cannot come with them.Several senior players who are also taking part in the IPL and the T20 World Cup are reported to be unhappy at the prospect of being away from their partners and children for four months.The team are to be allowed to enter Australia under rules which permit entry to individuals travelling under “exceptional circumstances”. Also unable to visit is Lord Ian Botham, recently named Mr Johnson’s trade envoy to the country.But their loved ones are not being offered an exemption from regulations which currently block entry to all except Australian citizens and permanent residents and their immediate families or those who have been in New Zealand for the previous 14 days.The UK this month announced it will send 4 million Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines to Australia to help accelerate a sluggish jab programme, which has so far seen only 38 per cent of residents receive two doses.The five-test series is due to begin on 7 December and last until 18 January.Also discussed at the talks over dinner at the Australian ambassador’s residence in Washington was the recently-announced AUKUS defence partnership, which will see the UK participate in a programme to provide Canberra with 12 nuclear-powered submarines to enhance Western presence in the Indo-Pacific region.The two leaders dined on Australian delicacies, including zucchini flowers stuffed with haloumi and goat’s cheese, radish salad and basil emulsion Australian wagyu beef, truffle polenta fried, broccolini and jus with Barossa Valley shiraz wine. More

Boris Johnson paid tribute to Joe Biden’s well-attested love of the railways by chasing a sleek silver Amtrak train to travel between New York and Washington for his first White House visit as prime minister.The mode of travel was not only a hat-tip to Mr Biden’s decades of rail commuting as senator and vice-president between his Delaware home and the capital, but also a physical reminder of the main purpose of Johnson’s US trip – to drum up support for carbon emission reductions and polluting car use.He was rewarded for his gesture with a rambling anecdote from the president as the two of them sat down together in the Oval Office.In comments which bore the hallmark of having been rehearsed many, many times over the years, the president told Mr Johnson how an Amtrak conductor had approached him to say that he and his colleagues had calculated that over the years, he’d covered more than 2 million miles on the route.As panicky reporters shuddered at the thought that their precious few minutes with the two leaders were about to be swallowed up in their entirety by the older man’s reminiscences, the PM stepped in to steer the conversation back onto matters of policy, telling the president how much he shared his “belief in transport infrastructure”.The three-hour, 225-mile journey from New York to Washington, snaking through the stunning countryside of coastal Maryland with stops in Philadelphia and Baltimore, was a rare break from the conference room and debating chamber for the prime minister in a three-day trip which has been totally dominated by climate change.Unlike on previous trips, the deadly serious purpose of his visit prevented Mr Johnson from indulging in the usual photo-opportunities which have seen him don hard hats, try his hand at various sports or dance with local beauties in the hope of a bit of positive publicity.Instead, his attendance at the United Nations General Assembly has involved an endless sequence of 30-minute bilateral meetings with countries ranging from Ukraine to Colombia, along with a roundtable discussion with countries threatened by the impact of rising temperatures and topped off by a keynote speech on Wednesday in which he will plead with fellow leaders to come up with the emission-cutting pledges he needs to make his COP26 summit in Glasgow a success.There was palpable relief in the UK contingent when Biden doubled his $5.6bn climate finance and the Chinese promised not to build any more polluting coal-fired power stations abroad (though notably not halting the construction of a plant a week at home). Normally poker-faced COP26 president Alok Sharma could barely suppress a smirk as the news of the American offer seeped out.Johnson himself has been in ebullient mood, visibly relieved to be freed of the bounds of Covid restrictions and allowed back into the hurly-burly of in-person political life on which he thrives.Though both he and the president wore black face-masks for their 90-minute chat in the Oval Office, Johnson’s first major international trip since the Biarritz summit of 2019 was characterised by a level of mingling and face-to-face interaction which feels unusual after the era of the Zoom conference.The fact that in his public comments, Biden effectively sounded the death-knell for Johnson’s long-cherished dream of a UK/US free trade deal, as well as admonishing the PM once more for allowing Brexit to put stability in Ireland at risk, did not appear to have soured the prime minister’s trip.He presented the president with a signed copy of astronaut Tim Peake’s plea for the protection of the planet Hello, Is This Planet Earth, while Mr Biden gave him a framed photo of their earlier meeting in Cornwall in June and a White House-branded watchAs he departed the White House for dinner with Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, the mood in Johnson’s camp was that he was delighted to be back on the world stage and to have been given reason to hope that his next major appearance – as chair of the Cop gathering – will end in success. More

A group of families bereaved by coronavirus will be allowed to attend the upcoming Conservative Party Conference after a U-turn. The Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign group were initially told that their application to attend to the conference had been rejected without explanation. But the group will now be allowed to attend the conference, at which charities, trade unions and campaign groups are given the opportunity to meet MPs, after being told their initial rejection was an error. “Funny that the error wasn’t spotted when we initially asked for an explanation for the decision, and only when the news broke in the media,” Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice wrote on Twitter. They went on to describe the initial decision, which they received from the Conservative Party Chairman’s Office six weeks after their application, as “disgraceful”. The Conservative Party did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment. The group, which is the largest represented families bereaved by the virus in the UK, has repeatedly tried to secure a meeting with government officials but has not yet met a single Conservative minister. In September last year, the prime minister said that he would “meet anybody” that is “bereaved” because of the virus after being asked during a TV interview about letters the group had written to him requesting a meeting. But he later said that he could not meet with them because they were in litigation with the government, which the group said was a “poor excuse” and “simply not true”. Mr Johnson has, however, visited the National Covid Memorial Wall which the group created, but did so without meeting any of its members. Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice say that they hope attending the conference means that they will be able to work with the government to prevent the tragedies they have faced from happening again. “The Conservative Party has just U-turned and decided that we can in fact attend their party conference. Their initial decision to disallow bereaved families from attending was disgraceful,” they said. “And we hope that there is a genuine acknowledgement of that and that they are prepared to work with us.” The Conservative Party Conference is set to take place in Manchester between 3 and 6 October. More

Boris Johnson will today issue a call for the world to “grow up” and address the threat of climate change to the future of humanity.Speaking to world leaders at the United Nations in New York, the prime minister will say that mankind has behaved like a reckless teenager with planet Earth, trashing its home in the “infantile” belief that it will not have to suffer the consequences.And he will say that the UN Cop26 climate change summit which the UK will host in Glasgow in November must be “the turning point for humanity”, when the world must show it can limit temperature rises and prevent the planet becoming uninhabitable.A day after US president Joe Biden pledged to double America’s contribution to a $100bn (£73bn) climate finance fund for developing countries, Mr Johnson will boost the UK’s share to £11.6bn by increasing the share of overseas investment which goes towards global warming projects.And the UK welcomed an announcement from China that it will step up its support for poorer nations developing low-carbon energy and will not build new coal-fired power plants abroad.Mr Johnson thanked the president in person for the new US pledge when the pair met for talks in the White House on Tuesday, telling Biden it was “fantastic to see the United States really stepping up and showing a real lead”.He presented the president a signed copy of astronaut Tim Peake’s plea for preservation of the Earth’s natural beauties Hello, Is this Planet Earth?Mr Biden repeated his assurance that he will be among more than 100 world leaders attending the Glasgow gathering, saying the US will be present “with bells on”.But he poured cold water on the PM’s hopes for a UK/US trade deal, saying only that the subject would be discussed “a little bit” in their talks in the Oval Office. The meeting came as it emerged that the UK is considering a bid to join a North American free trade pact with the US, Mexico and Canada.And he once again warned Johnson not to allow Brexit to lead to a hard border in Ireland, telling him: I would not at all like to see – nor, I might add, would many of my Republican colleagues like to see – a change in the Irish accords, with the end result of having a closed border in Ireland.”In his speech on Wednedsday, the PM will tell the UN that humanity is at a turning point, where it can no longer take the health of the planet for granted but instead needs to take urgent action to halt climate change.But he will insist that this is not incompatible with economic prosperity, arguing that clean and green energy will deliver the growth of the future.Mr Johnson’s speech comes a day after talks with Mr Biden at the White House, when the pair agreed to continue pressing the rich world to fill the remaining $15bn gap in the climate finance fund in time for the crucial Cop26 summit.Despite Washington’s failure to consult London over its withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan or its decision to lift coronavirus travel restrictions, Mr Johnson insisted that UK-US relations were in “fantastic” shape.But he was forced to backtrack after risking a spat with the president by suggesting the Afghan pullout was badly handled.Speaking on breakfast TV, the prime minister hinted at dissatisfaction with the US approach, saying: “Could we have done it a bit differently? Maybe we could.” But meeting vice-president Kamala Harris later at the White House, he restricted himself to praising the “brave” US troops who facilitated the evacuation from Kabul airport.Ahead of the UN address, the PM revealed that the UK was putting £100m from its biodiverse landscapes fund into six of the world’s most important wildlife hotspots, including the Congo Basin, the Lower Mekong and the Kavango-Zambezi region, and was inviting some of the UK’s most polluting businesses to bid for a share of a £220m pot of money to help find new ways to reduce their carbon emissions.Speaking to the general assembly, Mr Johnson will say that fossil records show that mammalian species typically exist for around 1 million years before evolving into something else or becoming extinct.At 200,000 years old, mankind is roughly one-fifth of the way through this expected lifespan – the equivalent of reaching its late teens – he will say.And he will tell his audience of world leaders and diplomats: “We have come to that fateful age when we know roughly how to drive and we know how to unlock the drinks cabinet and to engage in all sorts of activity that is not only potentially embarrassing but also terminal.“In the words of the Oxford philosopher Toby Ord: ‘We are just old enough to get ourselves into serious trouble.’”Humanity’s teenage sensibility allows it to cling onto “the infantile belief that the world was made for our gratification and pleasure”, the prime minister will say, adding: “We combine this narcissism with a primitive assumption of our own immortality.“We believe that someone else will clear up the mess we make, because that is what someone else has always done. We trash our habitats again and again with the inductive reasoning that we have got away with it so far, and therefore we will get away with it again.”But he will warn that humanity’s adolescence is now coming to an end, and that the Cop26 summit will mark the “critical turning point… when we must show that we are capable of learning and maturing and finally taking responsibility for the destruction we are doing – not just to our planet but to ourselves”.He will say: “It is time for humanity to grow up. It is time for us to listen to the warnings of the scientists – and look at Covid, if you want an example of gloomy scientists being proved right – and to understand who we are and what we are doing.“The world – this precious blue sphere with its eggshell crust and wisp of an atmosphere – is not some indestructible toy, some bouncy plastic romper room against which we can hurl ourselves to our heart’s content.“Daily, weekly, we are doing such irreversible damage that long before a million years are up we will have made this beautiful planet effectively uninhabitable – not just for us but for many other species.“And that is why the Glasgow Cop26 summit is the turning point for humanity. We must limit the rise in temperatures – whose appalling effects were visible even this summer – to 1.5 degrees.“We must come together in a collective coming of age. We must show we have the maturity and wisdom to act. And we can.” More

Britain may bid to join the trade partnership between the US, Canada and Mexico, after Boris Johnson gave up on his dream of a bilateral deal with Washington, The Independent understands.The unexpected initiative comes as London accepted that a direct free trade agreement (FTA) with the UK is not high on US president Joe Biden’s list of priorities, with Boris Johnson admitting: “He has a lot of other fish to fry.”Biden himself gave no cause for optimism about a swift FTA when he met Johnson in the White House on Tuesday, saying only that the pair would talk “a little bit” about trade and that the subject needed to be talked through.He also repeated his warning to the PM not to allow Brexit to derail peace in Ireland, saying he feels “very strongly” that he does not want a change to the “Irish accords” resulting in “a closed border”.London’s interest in joining the North American pact follows the opening of talks, expected to conclude next year, for the UK to become the first European member of the CPTPP Pacific trade group.It reflects the government’s efforts to strike tariff-reduction deals with partners around the world to make up for some of the 4 per cent long-term hit to GDP expected from new barriers to trade with the EU as a result of Brexit.A senior UK government figure said that the current impasse over the FTA would not stop Britain from seeking other avenues for improving trade links with the US.These could include a series of smaller sectoral deals, links via the CPTPP which the White House has recently expressed an interest in joining or even by inserting the UK as a fourth member in the  US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).UMSCA came into effect in July 2020 as a replacement for the earlier Nafta deal on a North American trade deal, which was torn up by Donald Trump. Covering areas ranging from motor vehicles and steel to agricultural produce and data transfers, Washington says the deal should boost US GDP by $68bn and generate 176,000 jobs.There has previously been no talk of extending the three-nation arrangement beyond the continent.But the UK government figure said it was an option London was interested in pursuing, adding: “There are a variety of different ways to do this. The question is whether the US administration is ready.“The ball is in the US’s court. It takes two to tango.”Coupled with the distractions of Covid and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, Britain judges that part of the reason for FTA talks running into the sand is the time needed for Mr Biden to establish an administration and determine priorities. Key potential interlocutors are yet to be appointed.London has tried to make a merit of the embarrassing stalemate in US talks, insisting that it demonstrates the wisdom of pursuing a multi-track approach of exploring opportunities with multiple potential partners, such as the CPTPP Pacific group and India, which now appear more likely to be concluded swiftly.To some scepticism, Mr Johnson claimed it was his preference to take the time needed to get “a deal that works for the UK” rather than rushing into a quick agreement as he had originally attempted.Mr Johnson said in 2017 that the UK was “first in line” for an FTA with the US after Brexit-backing Trump’s election as president.The UK opened trade talks with the US immediately after the official date of EU withdrawal in January 2020, but the drive for what was billed as the greatest prize from Brexit foundered over differences about chlorinated chicken, hormone-pumped beef and access to the NHS.The wind was taken out of the sails of talks by Mr Trump’s replacement as president by Biden, who has shown little of his predecessor’s appetite for deal-striking.Ahead of his meeting with the president at the White House on Tuesday, Mr Johnson accepted a US FTA was not in prospect for the foreseeable future, telling reporters: “The reality is that Joe has a lot of fish to fry,” said the PM. “He’s got a huge infrastructure package, he’s got a ‘build back better’ package.“We want to do it, but what we want is a good FTA, a great FTA. And I have quite a lot of experience of American negotiations, and they are pretty ruthless, the American negotiators. And I would much rather get a deal that really works for the UK than get a quick deal.” More

US president Joe Biden has poured cold water on the prospect of a free trade agreement with the UK as he met Boris Johnson for talks in the White House.Sitting alongside the prime minister, Mr Biden said that the pair would talk about trade “a little bit” and said that the issue would have to be “worked through”.And he again cautioned Mr Johnson not to allow rows with Brussels over the implementation of Brexit to put at risk peace in Northern Ireland by closing the border with the Republic.His comments came shortly after Mr Johnson was forced to accept that his long-cherished dream of a swift post-Brexit trade deal with the US was dead.Speaking ahead of the Oval Office meeting, Mr Johnson admitted the deal was low on the president’s list of priorities, telling reporters: “Joe has a lot of fish to fry.”Asked by UK reporters about the potential for an FTA, Mr Biden said: “On a Brexit free trade… We’re going to talk a little bit about trade today and we’re going to have to work that through.”Mr Biden said he feels “very strongly” that he does not want a change to the “Irish accords” resulting in “a closed border”.Asked about a UK-US trade deal, the US President told reporters in the Oval Office: “To do with the UK, that’s continuing to be discussed.“But on the protocols I feel very strongly on those. We spent an enormous amount of time and effort, the United States, it was a major bipartisan effort made.“And I would not at all like to see, nor I might add would many of my Republican colleagues like to see, a change in the Irish accords, the end result having a closed border in Ireland.”Mr Johnson responded: “On that point, Joe, we are completely at one. Nobody wants to see anything that interrupts or unbalances the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.”In more welcome comments for Mr Johnson, Biden repeated his assurance that he will attend the UN COP26 climate change summit being hosted by the PM in Glasgow in November, saying the US would be there “with bells on”.The US president said: “As we look ahead to the UK hosting Cop26, which I’m really anxious to attend in Glasgow in November.“We’re going to be there with bells on, as they say.” More

US president Joe Biden has defended the diplomat responsible for the death of British teenager Harry Dunn, saying that the crash which killed him was “not an intentional act”.Challenged over the case by reporters during Boris Johnson’s visit to the White House, Mr Biden gave no indication that he was ready to reverse US refusal to extradite Anne Sacoolas.Asked whether the State Department employee would be sent to the UK to face justice in a criminal court, he said only that the case was being “worked on” and he was not aware of its current status.Mr Biden’s comments came shortly after the family of 19-year-old Harry reached a resolution with Ms Sacoolas, who was driving on the wrong side of the road when her car knocked him from his motorcycle in Northamptonshire in 2019.“Based on what I’ve been told it was not an intentional act, it was someone who was new to driving on the wrong side of the road,” said Mr Biden.“I expressed my sympathies but I don’t know the status of that case right now.”Mr Johnson said he was “grateful” for Mr Biden’s efforts on the Dunn case.“On the Harry Dunn case –  which is a very, very, very sad case and everybody’s sympathies are with the family – I know that the President has been personally trying to move things along,” said the PM.“I’m grateful for that.”A spokesman for the teenager’s family said both parties had reached an agreement in a lawsuit filed by the family.“It’s a milestone for us that we’ve achieved a resolution in the civil case,” the spokesman, Radd Seiger, said. “We can now look forward and focus on the criminal case, which we are very confident is coming soon.” He declined to disclose any details of the settlement. More