Markus Andrews

An additional Brexit agreement to reduce checks on food and animals moving between the UK and EU should be the “direction of travel” in resolving the Northern Ireland issue, the Taoiseach has said.Speaking at a press conference after a meeting of the British-Irish Council Irish leader Micheál Martin said statements by the US that such a treaty would not affect the UK’s chances of landing a transatlantic trade deal raised the “potential for progress”.The US commitment was part of an intervention by Joe Biden at the G7 summit in Cornwall attempting to cool the Northern Ireland border issue and stave off a looming trade war between the UK and EU.”I think it’s a significant intervention, a significant point rather, to make because I understand the importance for the United Kingdom government in terms of its capacity to do trade deals in the post-Brexit world,” Mr Martin said.”From our perspective, we believe that the mechanisms exist within the trade and cooperation agreement and within the withdrawal agreement and the protocol to facilitate a working out of these issues – and there are issues to be refined and resolved, we acknowledge that.”Mr Martin said he had spoken to Boris Johnson and Michael Gove about the issue and added: “I do believe that the SPS [sanitary and phytosanitary] is certainly the direction of travel that we should pursue as constructively as we possibly can. “And I think if the US is saying that certainly arriving at an SPS agreement doesn’t in any way negatively impact on the potential of the US-UK trade deal, then I think that definitely offers up potential for progress here.”The EU has said it is open to a Swiss-style veterinary agreement, which would align the UK to EU rules on food, plant and environmental standards.This would remove inspections for food being moved into Northern Ireland and reduce bureaucracy for trade across the Irish Sea and see the EU ease controls. But Boris Johnson has preciously said such “dynamic alignment” would not be compatible with his vision of Brexit and there are concerns in Whitehall that closely aligning to EU rules could limit the the UK’s ability to do trade deal with other countries like the US. Mr Martin had previously highlighted the comments by US charge d’affaires Yael Lampert, made at an earlier meeting with UK Brexit chief Lord Frost in London.The British Irish Council meeting in Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, was the last for Arlene Foster, the Northern Irish first minister, who has been ousted by her DUP colleagues.Ms Foster burst into song at the press conference, reciting Frank Sinatra’s “That’s life” as she was asked about her experience at her last major meeting in office.”I’m very pleased that everyone is here,” she said, breaking into song: “That’s life, that’s what all the people say, you’re riding high in April, you’re down in May. Is that enough?”The singing prompted Ms Foster’s Sinn Fein deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill to say: “Now we know what Arlene’s next move is.” Ms Foster replied: “Yes, The Masked Singer.”The Council was attended by the heads of government of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Isle of Mann, Jersey, and Guernsey. Michael Gove represented the UK government while Boris Johnson was at the G7. The UK prime minister has not attended the annual meeting in recent years, instead sending deputies and ministers. More

Police records of Priti Patel’s contact with senior officers over an Extinction Rebellion protest were lost because of an “IT glitch”, a court has heard.Defence lawyers representing protesters charged over the blockade of a Rupert Murdoch-owned printing works in September argue they cannot have a fair trial because the extent of alleged political interference is unknown.St Albans Magistrates’ Court heard that the home secretary was alerted to the protest in Broxbourne “by contacts in the media”.It was told that she called Hertfordshire Police chief constable Charlie Hall several times during the protest, and sent a text message to the operation’s gold commander, Matt Nicholls, the following afternoon.In a statement read to a hearing on Friday, Mr Hall said he was woken up by the first call from the home secretary at 11.40pm on 4 September.He said he did not make any note of the conversation or record it, and then had further contact with Ms Patel in the “hours of darkness” updating her on the protest.Mr Hall said: “My phone has updated itself since that time and removed any messages or all records from this period.”Mr Nicholls, who was the police gold commander for the protest operation, said in a statement read to the court that he had received a text from Ms Patel during the afternoon on 5 September.He said it was a supportive message thanking police for their work, adding: “These texts to my work phone have been deleted … a number of work phones were erroneously reset to factory settings after an IT glitch.”Barrister Raj Chada said the defence would be asking how phone records belonging to two senior officers and relating to “the very issue at the heart of this case” came to be deleted.“We say in light of that the defendants cannot receive a fair trial,” he added. “It is only when the extent of the political interference is determined that this court can scrutinise the effect.”Later in the hearing, District Judge Sally Fudge said she had seen screenshots of text messages between some police officers and the home secretary but did not make clear where the records were from.She ruled that the messages did not have to be disclosed to the defence and were not “reasonably capable of undermining the prosecution case”.The judge said the messages included exchanges between Mr Patel and Mr Hall at around 4.30am, 8.20am and 11.20am on 5 September, and on the morning of 6 September. More

Dominic Cummings may be in breach of the official code of conduct for special advisers if he releases government information in his new newsletter, Downing Street has suggested.Boris Johnson’s former top aide has launched a £10-a-month subscriber service on Substack.In a post he said he would reveal information on the battle to tackle the coronavirus pandemic for free, alongside some details of his time inside Downing Street. But “more recondite stuff on the media, Westminster, inside No 10, how did we get Brexit done in 2019, the 2019 election etc” would be available only to those who paid, he said.Subscribers have been told they can pay £100 annually or £10 monthly. Those who pay £200 a year will have “founding member” status. The newsletter emerged yesterday as the health secretary Matt Hancock defended himself against allegations made by Mr Cummings, including that he had lied over testing for care home residents.Mr Hancock told MPs that the government had “operated better in the past six months”, after Mr Cummings’ dramatic resignation in November.In a message on Substack, Mr Cummings said he would use the platform to expand “soon on the evidence I gave to MPs and publish evidence to encourage MPs to take responsibility and force such an inquiry to happen as soon as possible.”Asked if No 10 would respond if government documents were released by Mr Cummings in the newsletter, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I’m not going to get drawn on that issue, I don’t think you’d expect me to comment on that, but as you’re aware all current and former special advisers are asked to act in full accordance with the special advisers’ code of conduct.”Asked whether No 10 thought releasing the evidence Mr Cummings says he has which backs up his allegations would breach the code , the spokesman said: “I’m not going to get into hypotheticals, as I said, we expect all current and former special advisers to act in full accordance with that code of conduct.” More

Boris Johnson has called on England fans to get behind the national team and not boo players who take the knee in protest at racial injustices.Downing Street said the prime minister “respects the right of all people to peacefully protest”. A spokesman added: “The prime minister wants to see everyone getting behind the team to cheer them on and not boo.”Mr Johnson had been under pressure to set out his position after former prime minister Gordon Brown said it was time for him to offer public and unequivocal backing for the England players’ protest.Fans have booed players taking the knee before recent England games in a controversy which threatened to mar the start of the team’s campaign to win the Euro2020 competition, which begins tonight.On Thursday night one of Mr Johnson’s ministers risked stoking tensions further when she claimed that taking the knee was “creating new divisions” in sport. Education minister Gillian Keegan told the BBC’s Question Time programme: “Do I think it’s symbolism more than action? Of course it is … but we’ve seen it’s creating division.”She added: “There are some Conservative MPs (that) are very much against it, why? Because Black Lives Matter stands for things that they don’t stand for. It’s really about defunding the police and the overthrow of capitalism, which is, you know, Black Lives Matter the actual political organisation.”Within hours the vaccines minister had clarified that the government does support the players who take the knee at the Euros this summer – but does not support Black Lives Matter.Nadhim Zahawi said it was “only right that we back our team” when asked if the prime minister supported the England squad’s decision to take the knee before matches.He said he wanted to “differentiate” between an anti-racism gesture and the Black Lives Matter “political” movement, however.But Downing Street went further, saying the prime minister called on England fans not to boo the team for making the protest. Tory MP Lee Anderson has said he will not watch England’s games at the Euros because of players’ protests.Fellow Conservative Brendan Clarke-Smith also claimed fans are “sick and tired of being preached and spoken down to” and just want to see a game, “not to be lectured on morality”.It is unclear whether or not Mr Johnson will be able to watch England’s first match on Sunday, however. The prime minister is hosting the leaders of the G7 nations in Cornwall this weekend. Downing Street said that details of his schedule on Sunday would be set out closer to the time. No 10 also said Mr Johnson wished all the home nations success in the championships. As well as England, Scotland and Wales have qualified for the event, which was postponed from last summer because of the coronavirus pandemic. More

Brexit is continuing to depress UK trade with the EU, with total imports and exports of goods in the first four months of this year down by a quarter compared to 2019, according to new official figures.Calamitous trade figures in January – when exports fell by 38 per cent compared to the previous year – were blamed by ministers on “teething problems” after the abrupt transition out of the EU single market and customs union on New Year’s Day.But after rallying in February as businesses came to terms with onerous new Brexit red tape, figures for the following two months showed what one expert described as “stagnation at below pre-Covid levels”.Data from the Office for National Statistics show trade with the 27-nation bloc in April was 12 per cent below the same month in 2019 – the last year before Covid-19 disrupted trade patterns –  while the total figure for the four months since the UK transitioned out of the EU was 25 per cent.By contrast, trade with non-EU countries fell by just 4 per cent over the period January-April and rose by 3 per cent for April alone, compared to 2019 – indicating that the slump in commerce with Europe is unlikely to be caused by coronavirus.Trade expert Thomas Sampson, associate professor at the London School of Economics, said that the data “continues to depress UK trade with the EU.”Dr Sampson said: “Comparing changes in trade with EU versus non-EU gives a rough estimate of the Brexit effect, controlling for common supply shocks such as Covid-19.“By this metric, Brexit cut goods trade with EU by 21 per cent so far in 2021 versus 2019.“Or comparing April 2021 to April 2019 implies a minus-15 per cent Brexit effect.”Dr Sampson told The Independent that the new figures appeared to show that the bounceback hailed by ministers in February has run out of steam, with trade settling down to a new normal below pre-Brexit levels.And he said that further hits to trade could be expected with the expiry of UK government grace periods before the introduction of full controls on imports.“As time passes, it becomes less likely that these are teething problems and more likely that we are seeing persistent effects of the TCA (Trade and Cooperation Agreement) on trade with the EU,” said Dr Sampson.“The full adjustment is going to take years rather than months, and I would expect further changes over time.“There was a bounceback in February and the hope was that this would continue in March and April. It is now clear that that did not happen.“That is indicative that these are likely to be persistent effects and over time we will see those continue.” More

The European Union is being “excessively burdensome” by enforcing trade checks included in the Northern Ireland Brexit deal, Boris Johnson has claimed.In an interview at the G7 summit in Cornwall the prime minister insisted he was not trying to back out of the deal he had negotiated and signed just over a year ago.It comes after the EU hinted on Thursday that trade sanctions are a possibility if the UK fails to stand by what it signed.Mr Johnson’s own Brexit chief Lord Frost has said the UK could take further unilateral action to ignore parts of the deal, including refusing to impose checks on processed meats due to come into force at the end of the month.Britain has already extended grace periods included in the accord, effectively overriding parts of the deal to suit British businesses.The prime minister told the BBC: “You will understand that there are ways of enforcing the protocol, ways of making it work, that may be excessively burdensome.”I just give you one statistic: 20 per cent of the checks conducted across the whole of the perimeter of the EU are now done in Northern Ireland, three times as many as happen in Rotterdam.”Mr Johnson insisted: “I think we can sort it out”.The EU’s insistence on checks and export prohibitions on processed meats for food safety reasons will come as little surprise to the UK, as Mr Johnson signed a unilateral declaration saying the UK understood there would be exactly that.But Lord Frost admitted last weekend that the Northern Ireland protocol had been more damaging to businesses in the territory than UK negotiators had expected. Businesses and the loyalist community have expressed varying degrees of concern and anger over the new arrangements, which effectively keep Northern Ireland in the EU’s customs territory and single market, and have disrupted supply.The approach, put in place to avoid the need for a hard border with the Republic of Ireland, effectively puts a customs border down the Irish Sea between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. As a result of the new bureacracy created by Mr Johnson’s deal, some suppliers have simply stopped doing business in Northern Ireland.US president Joe Biden was reportedly set to warn Mr Johnson about the UK’s approach at the G7 summit, having previously expressed concern about the British approach. Mr Biden, who has Irish heritage, has taken an interest the Northern Ireland border issue, following his predecessor Bill Clinton’s role in finalising the Good Friday Agreement.But Mr Johnson downplayed Mr Biden’s concerns, stating after their meeting: “The president didn’t say anything of the kind”.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Mr Johnson was eager to raise the protocol with the president so he could be “very clear on our position”. Mr Raab told Sky News the Prime Minister wanted “a flexible, pragmatic approach”.”But for that to happen the EU must be less purist, more pragmatic and more flexible in the implementation of it. The ball is very much in the EU’s court in relation to that,” the Foreign Secretary said.”The bottom line for us is that the threat, the risk, to the Good Friday Agreement comes from the approach the EU has taken – a particularly purist approach.”Even outside Northern Ireland, the new Brexit status quo appears to be suppressing trade with the EU in general. Figures released today show trade between the UK and EU is down 25 per cent over the first four months of 2021 compared to 2019 – with the fall 21 per cent greater than for non-EU countries. More

Conservative MP has been urged to resign over “extremist” remarks he made about Travellers in a Commons committee – with leading charities accusing him of “hate speech”.Lee Anderson suggested some of the Travellers seen in his Ashfield constituency were thieves who would steal “your lawnmower and half of your tools” during a debate on Thursday.The Tory MP said: “The Gypsy encampments that we are talking about in places such as Ashfield are not the traditional, old-fashioned Gypsies sat there playing the mandolin, flogging lucky heather and telling fortunes.“The Travellers I am talking about are more likely to be seen leaving your garden shed at 3 o’clock in the morning, probably with your lawnmower and half of your tools. That happens every single time they come to Ashfield.”The Traveller Movement charity said the remarks amounted to “hate speech against an ethnic minority” and called on Mr Anderson to quit. “He needs to resign,” a spokesperson said.Friends, Families and Travellers, an organisation working to support the rights of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, also said he should step down.“Anderson assumes all Travellers to be criminals and by that token would have all Travellers locked up – simply for existing. This is an extremist view and Anderson should be ashamed of himself,” said Sarah Sweeney, the charity’s policy manager.“Politicians should be working to identify solutions to support communities to live happily alongside one other – not fanning the flames of racial tension. Lee Anderson should resign – he is clearly not fit for a role in parliament.”However, Mr Anderson has defended his remarks, claiming anyone calling for his resignation “needs to take a journey into the real world”.“Come to places like Ashfield and speak to residents who have to put up with the destruction, the anti-social behaviour and increasing crime every time an illegal camp sets up in the area,” he told his local news website, Nottinghamshire Live.“For the last few weeks I’ve been sat on the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill committee, and we’ve been talking about travellers this week.“This new legislation will actually sort this problem out, it will give police and local authorities greater powers and once a traveller camp sets up they can get them straight off.“Anybody who thinks it’s a good idea to have these camps in Ashfield, feel free to email me your full address, dimensions of your lawn or back yard, and I will send the next encampment to your house.”Mr Anderson made the comments during a debate on the government’s Policing Bill, which would give the police new powers to force Traveller camps to move on, issue heavy fines and even seize property.The bill would create a new offence of “residing on land without consent in a vehicle”, and broaden police powers to seize caravans and other property.“The proposals in the Policing Bill to fine, imprison and remove the homes of nomadic families are rotten to their core,” said Ms Sweeney of the Friends, Families and Travellers group.Mr Anderson raised eyebrows earlier this week when he vowed to boycott England games during Euro 2020 if the team continues to take the knee before kick-off.“For the first time in my life I will not be watching my beloved England team whilst they are supporting a political movement whose core principles aim to undermine our very way of life,” The Tory MP said. More

Boris Johnson’s plan to host Joe Biden at St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall ahead of the official start of this week’s G7 summit was scuppered on Thursday by an outbreak of afternoon “mizzle”.The Cornish dialect word meaning “misty drizzle” was no doubt unfamiliar to the American delegation or much of the press pack, but conditions were severe enough at sea to render it unsafe for the US president’s V-22 Osprey to make the short hop from the Tregenna Castle Hotel near St Ives where he and the first lady are staying.Instead, the prime minister’s team were forced to relocate the talks on Brexit and Northern Ireland away from the historic tidal island to Carbis Bay.Follow the latest on the G7 in our liveblog“Anyone caught in mizzle will know that despite its cute name and initial feeling of light rain it will have you saturated within seconds,” Cornwall Live’s chief reporter Lee Trewhela explained, later tweeting his delight that his description had been picked up by The Washington Post to define the phenomenon for its justifiably-baffled American readers.Local MP for Truro and Falmouth Cherilyn Mackrory meanwhile tweeted her apologies to Mr Biden regarding the weather, writing: “Welcome to Kernow, Mr President, sorry about the mizzle!”When Mr Johnson, Mr Biden and their wives did meet up, the US president was gifted a framed mural portrait of 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass while Dr Jill Biden was presented with a copy of Daphne Du Maurier’s Gothic novella The Apple Tree (1952), the British author famous for her love of the coastal county where she set several of her best-known works.After the quartet had strolled along the beach and were preparing to return to their hotel, Mr Biden cast a final glance out towards the iron-grey sky above the waves and commented, rather sweetly: “It’s gorgeous. I don’t want to go home.”Asked later about what the pair had discussed, Mr Johnson was full of praise for his Washington counterpart.“It’s wonderful to listen to the Biden administration and to Joe Biden because there’s so much that they want to do together with us – from security and Nato to climate change,” he said.In an apparent allusion to Mr Biden’s disgraced predecessor, Donald Trump, the prime minister said. “It’s fantastic, it’s a breath of fresh air. There’s a lot of things they want to do together.”Mr Johnson also championed the rude health of the “special relationship” – as did Dr Biden and Carrie Symonds – and denied that the US president had reproached him for jeopardising the peace in Northern Ireland over Britain’s messy withdrawal from the EU.“No he didn’t,” he answered. “But what I can say is that the United States, Washington, the UK, plus the European Union have one thing we absolutely all want to do, and that is to uphold the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and make sure we keep the balance of the peace process going.“That’s absolutely common ground and I’m optimistic that we can do that.”Let’s hope the Bidens really did enjoy the scenery because they are now being invited to attend a beach barbecue in the company of Mr Johnson, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel, which promises to be a chilly and dismal affair should the sea breeze pick up. More