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‘They’ve recognised they have made a mistake’ More

‘What the European Commission did was unacceptable,’ former UK prime minister says More

Labour brands comment in 2008 report ‘disgraceful’ More

Michael Gove claims the government is ‘learning in real time’ from its mistakesMichel Barnier has admitted Britain “won” the “situation” over fisheries in post-Brexit trade talks between the EU and UK.Brussels’ former chief negotiator said the UK had “regained sovereignty over their waters” and that it was “reasonable” to say “the British have won over the current situation”.Speaking to the Times magazine on Saturday, Mr Barnier said the two nations could continue having a healthy relationship if the “treaty is applied correctly, in good faith, by both sides”.It comes as reports suggest around two-thirds of lorries travelling from the UK to the EU via Calais and Dunkirk have nothing in them, according to new figures in a blow to Boris Johnson. An average of 3,400 lorries a day travelled from the Port of Dover and Eurotunnel in France – but 65 per cent were empty of goods, according to figures from the Prefecture Hauts-de-France et du Nord, first cited by ITV News.Meanwhile, the prime minister attempts to deal with growing support for the so-called indyref2 – a vote for Scottish independence. Support for independence averages 54 per cent in the opinion polls, boosted by Brexit and coronavirus. Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayShow latest update
1612015434Arrests made after disturbance at Covid-hit military barracksFive men have been arrested following a “disturbance” at a coronavirus-hit military barracks in Kent where hundreds of asylum seekers have been living.Heavy smoke and flames were seen pouring from Napier Barracks in Folkestone on Friday afternoon amid blaring alarms.Kent Police said a “significant amount” of damage was caused to one part of the site following a fire, which is believed to have been started deliberately.A 31-year-old was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a security guard on Friday evening, the force said.A further four men were arrested in connection with the incident the following morning.Detectives are appealing for anyone with information, including mobile phone footage and photographs of the disturbance, to get in touch.Sam Hancock30 January 2021 14:031612014234Barnier receives criticism for claiming UK ‘won’ on fisheriesSam Hancock30 January 2021 13:431612013010‘The EU vaccine disaster has played into Boris Johnson’s hands’Our columnist John Rentoul has said:“It is so unusual to see Boris Johnson on the high moral ground that it might take a while for our eyes to adjust. The prime minister who trashed the UK’s reputation by threatening to repudiate a treaty months after signing it has now been matched by the other side doing exactly the same thing, and with less justification.The prime minister of a country with one of the worst death tolls in the world, who used to be lectured on how the Germans could do test and trace because of their labs, has turned out to be the prime minister of a country that can do vaccines because of its labs.”Read the full story here:Sam Hancock30 January 2021 13:231612010723Barnier: ‘Britain won fisheries argument’ Michel Barnier has admitted Britain “won” the “situation” over fisheries in post-Brexit trade talks between the EU and UK.Speaking to the Times magazine on Saturday, Brussels’ former chief negotiator said: “A third country can always sovereignly, freely, choose to move closer to the single market through different models that remain available. This is the British choice, the sovereign choice of the British, and according to what they consider to be in their interest.“I don’t understand this criticism since the British have gained around 25 per cent more fishing opportunities and we have lost this 25 per cent.”He added: “The British have regained sovereignty over their waters. In the reasonable agreement that we have found, the British have won over the current situation.”He said the two nations could still have a “good” relationship, providing the deal was “applied correctly”. “If this treaty is applied correctly, in good faith, by both sides, I think we can avoid acrimony and I think we have an interest to because we are going to face new and serious events and situations in the coming years and it will be better to face them by co-operating.”It comes amid a row between the EU, UK and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca over the Union’s shortage of AZ’s Covid vaccine. Sam Hancock30 January 2021 12:451612009578UK government must ‘intervene to protect Northern Ireland’ Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken has described the actions of the EU in a dispute over vaccine supplies as a “tipping point” and urged the UK government to intervene to protect Northern Ireland. In a statement, he said:“The EU cynically and deliberately used Northern Ireland in an attempt to cover up their vaccine omnishambles with a political one.“The EU’s actions show that they do not have our best interests at heart. Northern Ireland and its people have been cynically used and exploited as a negotiating chip by the EU and they will do it again in the future for selfish political reasons.“Therefore it’s long past time for the UK government to step in to protect Northern Irelands interests.”The reasons given by the EU for triggering Article 16 were unwarranted, however Northern Ireland’s are very real, including disruptions to trade and growing societal anger.”It would be a weak UK government that would continue to sit on the sidelines as an observer and let its people be treated in such a manner.”Sam Hancock30 January 2021 12:261612008319Journalist arrested after photographing protest outside asylum campFreelance photographer Andy Aitchison, 46, has been arrested after attending a demonstration outside Napier Barracks, in Folkestone, and taking photos as protesters threw buckets of fake blood at the gates of the site. The images were later used in local press reports.The protest, which saw demonstrators holding signs reading: “Close Napier now” and “There will be blood on your hands”, came in response to mounting concerns about poor living conditions in the barracks where more than 100 people have contracted coronavirus in the last two weeks.Our social affairs correspondent May Bulman has the story:Sam Hancock30 January 2021 12:051612004053Johnson warned to stay out of debate around Scottish independenceIn an interview with the Daily Record, former head of the Better Together campaign Blair McDougall, who led the No campaign to a 55 per cent victory in the 2014 referendum, agreed with Labour MP Ian Murray who said Boris Johnson poses a “greater threat to the UK than any nationalist does”.His comments come as Scottish independence looks to be one of the key areas heading into May’s Holyrood elections, with Nicola Sturgeon’s Scottish National Party (SNP) holding a strong lead in the polls.The party has outlined its road map to independence if a majority of supportive MSPs are elected, which includes plans to hold another referendum even if Westminster refuse permission, effectively daring them to take legal action to stop it.The PM visited Scotland on Thursday, where he talked up the positives of co-operation within the UK in tackling coronavirus, while claiming the SNP uses independence as a diversionary tactic from domestic problems.With Mr Johnson’s personal ratings in Scotland consistently skewing negative, Mr McDougall told the PM not to give the SNP a foil.“I’d say to him ‘stop being the villain that the SNP want you to be. Step into the background and box clever’,” he said. “You should recognise that this is a battle that will be won or lost in Scotland.”He added: “There is a distinct lack of that artistry from Boris Johnson where every intervention is briefed as being the intervention that will save the Union.“If [former PM] David Cameron understood that he was not the man who was going to save the Union, and that it was going to be saved in Scotland, Boris Johnson certainly isn’t.”In the last 20 opinion polls on the subject, Scottish independence has been the favoured view when undecided voters are removed.Sam Hancock30 January 2021 10:541612002579‘Johnson must replace NI Protocol after vaccine row,’ Foster saysIn some coronavirus-related news, Northern Ireland’s first minister Arlene Foster has urged Boris Johnson to replace the NI Protocol after the EU sparked a row over vaccine controls.The EU caused outrage on Friday evening when it invoked Article 16 of the post-Brexit mechanism, to stop the unimpeded flow of vaccines from the European bloc into the region.Brussels subsequently reversed the move following condemnation from London, Dublin and Belfast.Ms Foster said it was an “absolutely incredible act of hostility towards those of us in Northern Ireland”.“It’s absolutely disgraceful, and I have to say the prime minister now needs to act very quickly to deal with the real trade flows that are being disrupted between Great Britain and Northern Ireland,” she told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday morning.The DUP leader reiterated calls for Mr Johnson to enact Article 16 of the protocol over delays being face by hauliers.“We’ve been asking the PM to deal with the flow problems and indeed, since January 1, we’ve been trying to manage along with the Government the many, many difficulties that have arisen between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and there are actions he could take immediately,” she said.“There is great unrest and great tension within the community here in Northern Ireland so this protocol that was meant to bring about peace and harmony in Northern Ireland is doing quite the reverse.“The protocol is unworkable, let’s be very clear about that, and we need to see it replaced because otherwise there is going to be real difficulties here in Northern Ireland.”Additional reporting by PASam Hancock30 January 2021 10:291612001710Millions of promised government cash for ‘collapsing’ youth services ‘missing’Anger is growing over the failure to open up the flagship £500m Youth Investment Fund – amid fears the money will be redirected to other crisis services as part of a “review” of priorities.Our deputy political editor Rob Merrick has more:Sam Hancock30 January 2021 10:151612000974Scottish Labour facing ‘fight for survival’The Scottish Labour Party is facing a fight for “survival” and its resurgence is critical for Sir Keir Starmer’s chances of forming a majority government in 2024, a candidate in the party’s leadership contest has warned.Fighting to replace Richard Leonard, who quit as Labour leader in Scotland earlier this month, Anas Sarwar told The Independent he was not “naive” about the party’s prospects following a spate of disastrous election results in recent years.If Mr Sarwar defeats the only other candidate in the contest, Monica Lennon, next month, he will be the fifth person to lead the Scottish Labour Party in just five years and will face his first key electoral test just nine weeks later at the Holyrood elections.Our political correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports:Sam Hancock30 January 2021 10:02 More

A senior Conservative politician has drawn comparisons between the EU and Donald Trump after the bloc was forced to withdraw plans to try to block vaccine supply to Northern Ireland for fear it could be a back door route into the UK. The EU had said it would invoke a controversial part of the Brexit deal on Northern Ireland in a bid to control exports.  But it backed down after a furious outcry from Dublin, Belfast and London.  Former Northern Ireland secretary Julian Smith accused Brussels of an “almost Trumpian act” with its threat to override part of Northern Ireland Protocol.  He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme the EU “cocked up big time”.  “Years have been spent trying to ensure goods will flow freely and there will be no hard border and last night the EU pulled the emergency cord without following any of the process that are in the protocol if one side wants to suspend it.
“And they did that, in my view, without anywhere near the understanding of the Good Friday Agreement, of the sensitivity of the situation in Northern Ireland, and it was an almost Trumpian act.
Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekday”The relationships are complex, we need to spend much, much more time, much, much more money and much, much more resources in getting this relationship right. The EU cocked up big time last night, but we all need to work in the interests of preserving Northern Ireland.
“It is not just a backdoor for goods going to Britain, it is a very sensitive place and we have a duty of care between the EU and the UK to preserve no hard border and stability in Northern Ireland.”
Northern Ireland’s first minister Arlene Foster urged Boris Johnson to replace the protocol, in the wake of the row.  She described the threat from Brussels as an “absolutely incredible act of hostility”.  The row erupted amid delays to the EU supply of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine.  Ms Foster accused the EU of being willing to breach its own Brexit divorce deal because of “embarrassment around their vaccine procurement.”
“The protocol is unworkable, let’s be very clear about that, and we need to see it replaced because otherwise there is going to be real difficulties here in Northern Ireland.”
Meanwhile, others hit out at French president Emmanuel Macron over his claim that the AstraZeneca vaccine, developed at Oxford University, is “quasi-ineffective” for the over-65s.
Sir John Bell, who is part of the Oxford University vaccine team, accused president Macron of an attempt at “demand management”.  Sir John conceded that the original study tested only small numbers of elderly people, many of whom were effectively shielding themselves from the pandemic.  But he said other studies proved “elderly people responded just as well” as others, adding “there’s really persuasive evidence that this is a protective vaccine in those populations”.
“I suspect this is a bit of demand management from Mr Macron,” he added.
Pressed if he thought the French president was trying to reduce demand for the vaccine amid fears over its supply, Sir John said: “Well, if he didn’t have any vaccine the best thing you could do is reduce demand.” More

Hundreds of millions of pounds of promised government cash for devastated youth services has “gone missing” prompting warnings that many more will disappear.Anger is growing over the failure to open up the flagship £500m Youth Investment Fund – amid fears the money will be redirected to other crisis services as part of a “review” of priorities.
Meanwhile, organisations helping vulnerable young people are facing closure on an unprecedented scale, even as the Covid-19 pandemic fuels a surge in the numbers in critical need of help.
And a requirement on local councils to reveal spending on youth services has been suspended – triggering fears of a fresh round of cuts, piled on top of the closure of at least 763 youth centres since 2012.“Just at the time young people need it most, youth services are being hollowed out,” the National Youth Agency (NYA) warned, adding they “cannot afford to wait” for the promised rescue.
Another organisation said a small pot had been announced for new buildings, but said: “It is no good building spaces that will be empty if there are no services to put in them.”
The fund was first promised in September 2019 and the Conservative election manifesto, three months later, pledged: “We will invest £500m in new youth clubs and services.”Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayCash was expected to start flowing last year, but there will be no money for services until at least April 2022 – with just £30m of capital spending in the 2021-22 financial year.
However, despite the pleas, no money is being released for running youth projects – and the Treasury was unable to say when it would be.Leigh Middleton, the NYA’s chief executive, told The Independent: “The promised funding for youth services has gone missing.“The pandemic has hit young people the hardest, now and for their future. However, just at the time they need it most, youth services are being hollowed out.
Warning an April 2022 start would be two-and-a-half years after the fund was announced – “a huge part of a young person’s life” – Ms Middleton added: “We simply cannot afford to wait that long.”
Sarah Staples, chair of the British Youth Council said: “Given the demand for youth charities is likely to increase as we exit this period, it’s essential that we have guarantees about when we’ll finally receive the highly anticipated Youth Investment Fund.”In September 2019, then-Chancellor Sajid Javid said: “This investment will help build 60 new youth centres across the country, refurbish around 360 existing youth facilities, and provide over 100 mobile facilities for harder to reach areas.
“The fund will also support the provision and coordination of high-quality services for young people, and an investment in the youth workforce.”
The backdrop was almost £1bn of funding cuts to youth services in England and Wales since 2011, forcing more than 1,000 children centres and 760 youth centres to close.
Critics said the consequence was spending skyrocketing on emergency help – such as more young people sent into care.
Fresh NYA research has found that one in four youth charities are on “the brink of collapse”, unable to meet their costs beyond this March.A £16m fund for the youth sector was announced as part of the Covid-19 response, but it is still to be distributed and strict criteria mean many groups will be unable to apply, the organisation said.A government spokesperson said: “We will invest £30m capital this year through the Youth Investment Fund to provide new and refurbished safe spaces, so young people can access support from youth workers and positive activities out of school.” More

Scottish Labour is facing a fight for “survival” and its resurgence is critical for Sir Keir Starmer’s chances of forming a majority government in 2024, a candidate in the party’s leadership contest has warned.Fighting to replace Richard Leonard, who quit as Labour leader in Scotland earlier this month, Anas Sarwar told The Independent he was not “naive” about the party’s prospects following a spate of disastrous election results in recent years.Dismissing calls from the Scottish National Party (SNP) for a second independence referendum, the 37-year-old MSP also insisted the task of the Scottish government over the next five years should be concentrated solely on recovering from the pandemic.If Mr Sarwar defeats the only other candidate in the contest, Monica Lennon, next month, he will be the fifth person to lead the Scottish Labour Party in just five years and will face his first key electoral test just nine weeks later at the Holyrood elections.Aware of the sheer scale of the challenge, with recent polls pointing to a decisive victory for the SNP and the Conservatives under Douglas Ross in second place, he also described the role he is asking Labour members to elect him to as the “hardest job in British politics”.“I’m not naive about where we currently sit in the opinion polls,” he said. “We’re a distant third and we’ve come through our worst every European election result in our history, we’ve come through our worst ever general election result in modern times and we’ve got to take a party that is currently on its knees, get it back up on its feet and get it fit for purpose.”“I’m not naive in thinking you can change one person and automatically it’s going to be the silver bullet and the Labour Party is going to back on track again in Scotland. I don’t believe that, I realise it’s a job that’s going to take rebuilding, and it’s going to take years.”Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayMr Sarwar is no stranger to the party’s misfortune in Scotland. At the 2015 general election Labour lost 40 MPs north of the border amid the SNP landslide and he was ejected from his Glasgow Central seat in the Commons — previously occupied by his father and the first-ever Muslim MP Mohammad Sarwar.Asked whether Scottish Labour was facing an existential threat, he replied: “I think we are fighting for our survival, I think there is no doubt we are fighting for our survival.“The strange thing within that is that we’re fighting for our survival at a time the Scottish Labour Party is needed most. We’ve got deep divisions in our society, we’ve got deep inequality in our society, we’ve got deep injustice in our society. Our country looks like it’s pulling itself apart and the only party I think in Scotland that can credibly try and bring our country back together, to reunite our people and to focus on rebuilding Scotland is the Scottish Labour Party. “If we look at ourselves in the eye in the Labour Party, we’ve got to be honest and say for our members and for the Scottish people, we haven’t given the Labour Party they deserve and need and in recent times. I realise that’s a big job, but I want to give people the Labour Party they need and deserve.”Mr Sarwar added he did not want the Scottish Labour Party to be the “drag on the ticket” at the next general election, which is currently scheduled for 2024. For Sir Keir to form a majority government he must win more than 120 parliamentary seats — a scale of victory not experienced by the Labour Party since 1997 – and Mr Sarwar suggested this won’t be possible without a resurgent party north of the border.“I don’t think there is a route to a UK Labour government without a resurgent Scottish Labour Party,” he added. “I think we can win the next general election, I think we can have a majority Labour government, I think we can have a Labour prime minister, but that requires the Labour Party in Scotland to be up on its feet, fit for purpose and an electable force again.“That’s a big, big job in the next four months in the lead up to the election campaign, but it’s also a massive job in the next few years. I don’t want the Scottish Labour Party to be the drag on the ticket. I don’t want us to be the ones that stop us having a Labour government.“I want us to be a key part of us having a Labour government. There’s always been Scottish Labour giants as part of any Labour government, I want there to be Scottish Labour giants as part of the UK Labour government led by Keir Starmer.”Mr Sarwar, who is expected to lay out his policy platform in the coming weeks, dismissed calls for a second independence referendum, suggesting he did not accept the “fatalism” of commentators that an SNP majority and a second vote is “inevitable”.“We’re not spectators, we’re participants,” he said. “That’s why I don’t think we should dance to the SNP tune instead we should try and influence what happens in May and not commentate what might happen after May. “I’m very clear that still going through the collective trauma of Covid, I think it would be a big mistake to go from the trauma of Covid straight into a divisive independence referendum campaign. I don’t think that’s in the national interest, it might be in the nationalist interest, but it’s not in the national interest.”He added: “What you’re voting for in the next election is not what you want for life, it’s for what you want for the next five years. Five years and then if your priorities change for the five years that follow you can vote for new priorities. “And let’s resolve the next five years is whatever your view on independence, whether you are Yes or No, let’s accept that we need a period of healing in our country, and we need to reunite our people and we need to rebuild Scotland so we can focus on the economy and how we get the economy working for everyone.“How we protect and create new jobs, how we need to fight against the climate emergency, how we have an education system that is a global beacon once again, and how we build an NHS that never again has to choose between treating a virus or treating cancer. That should be our national mission for the next five years through a Covid recovery parliament.”Last week, the SNP revealed an 11-point “roadmap” to a second ballot, stressing that a “legal referendum” would be held once the pandemic recedes if May’s Holyrood election results in a decisive victory for the party. The document stated that the Scottish government would request a Section 30 order from the UK government under the 1998 Scotland Act, claiming there would be “no moral or democratic justification for denying that request”.Pressed on whether it would be right for the prime minister to block a referendum, as he has indicated, Mr Sarwar added: “What you’re asking me to do is commentate on a hypothetical when not a single vote has been cast.”“I want to influence people and I think what too many of us forget in politics is where has the politics of persuasion gone? We want to persuade the Scottish people about what we think and why think it and we’ve got to do that with honesty and humility.“My honest view is that I don’t think it is the right thing for us to go from Covid to a referendum. My honest view is that it would only create greater division in our society and my honest view is that we should instead focus… on how we rebuild after Covid.” More

The EU has withdrawn its threat to trigger a Brexit deal clause to prevent coronavirus vaccine exports from Europe entering Northern Ireland as a backdoor route into Britain.The bloc performed a U-turn after the proposed move prompted fury from Downing Street, the Irish government and even the Archbishop of Canterbury. Boris Johnson spoke with the European commissioner Ursula von der Leyen on Friday night to express his “grave concern” at the development.Micheal Martin, the Irish prime minister, held multiple phone calls with Ms Von der Leyen on Friday night. He tweeted: “Welcome decision by the European Commission tonight not to invoke the safeguard clause of the Ireland / Northern Ireland Protocol following constructive discussions with vonderleyen.”
In a statement the European Commission said it would not invoke Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.  However, it warned that should its new export controls be breached it would still “consider using all the instruments at its disposal”.The row was prompted by delays to the EU supply of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine.  Inside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayInside Politics newsletterThe latest news on Brexit, politics and beyond direct to your inbox every weekdayTensions intensified after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) gave its approval for the jab, developed at Oxford University, to be used across the EU.  At the same time the EU took on powers to block exports, in a move that could interrupt the delivery of doses to the UK.There was anger after it emerged the new mechanism, requiring companies to seek the approval of European authorities before shipping vaccines out of the 27-nation bloc, would apply to  Northern Ireland– even though the region is treated as part of the EU customs union under the Brexit divorce deal.Within hours both the UK and Ireland had spoken to the commission to express their concerns.  Labour called on Brussels to abandon the move, which the shadow Northern Ireland secretary Louise Haigh described as “deeply destabilising”.
In an unexpected development the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby tweeted that the EU had been inspired by Christian social teaching “at the heart of which is solidarity. Seeking to control the export of vaccines undercuts the EU’s basic ethics. They need to work together with others.”
Despite the U-turn, the EU will still take measures to ensure vaccines do not travel to other “third countries”, like Britain. Although Brussels insisted that the new mechanism was not directed at any particular country, the UK was the only one of the EU’s neighbours not to be included on an exemption list from the mechanism, widely seen as a precursor to a possible export ban if the bloc runs short of vaccines.Mutual mistrust was fuelled by the suggestion of the EU justice commissioner, Didier Reynders, that “maybe the UK wants to start a vaccine war”.
There were fears the mechanism could be used to halt the delivery of 3.5 million jabs that are due to be sent to the UK from Pfizer’s plant in Belgium over the coming weeks.The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “The pandemic is having devastating effects in Europe and all around the world. Protecting the health of our citizens remains our utmost priority, and we must put in place the necessary measures to ensure we achieve this.”
But the French president, Emmanuel Macron, threw doubt on the value of the Oxford jab, describing it as “quasi-ineffective” for over-65s, despite the EMA’s assurance that it could be used safely on the elderly. Germany also confirmed that it will only give the vaccine to people aged 18-64.
Professor Andrew Pollard, director of the Oxford Vaccine Group, insisted that the AstraZeneca jab “can be used on all ages” and would deliver similar immune responses among both older and younger adults.Mr Macron claimed the jab “doesn’t work the way we were expecting to” and also questioned the decision of countries such as the UK to leave a long gap between the initial and booster doses of the vaccine.
“The goal is not to have the biggest number of first injections,” said the French president. “When you have all the medical agencies and the industrialists who say you need two injections for it to work, a maximum of 28 days apart, which is the case with Pfizer/BioNTech; and you have countries whose vaccine strategy is to only administer one jab, I’m not sure that it’s very serious.”
The health secretary, Matt Hancock, welcomed the EMA’s approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine on a dosing schedule of up to 12 weeks, which he said showed that “British science and global collaboration is saving lives”.
But there was growing anger in the UK over the EU’s demand for the company to divert doses produced in Oxford and Keele to make up for a shortfall.
The European Commission published a partial copy of the contract it signed last year with the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, which stated that AstraZeneca must use its “best reasonable efforts” to manufacture 300 million vaccine doses for the EU, with an option for 100 million more.
The 41-page document said that capacity for production would be “at manufacturing sites located within the EU (which for the purpose of this section … shall include the United Kingdom)”.
Ms Von der Leyen said that this amounted to “binding orders” to deliver in full, while AstraZeneca insists that it is not committed to any timetable and that its separate contract with the UK gives Britain first claim on vaccines produced domestically.
Downing Street made clear that Britain is not willing to accept interruptions to its supplies, saying it expected all contracts for vaccines that it has struck to be “facilitated”.
Conservative MP Peter Bone accused Brussels of “bullying”, telling The Independent: “The EU is in a big hole because of its own incompetence and instead of trying to work with the vaccine companies, it is digging itself deeper.“They are not cutting off supplies, but there is an implied threat there. I call that bullying and the only way to deal with bullies is to stand up them.”
Eurosceptic former cabinet minister David Jones, said: “The EU have a dispute with AstraZeneca Sweden, so decide to respond by blocking the supply of vaccines to the UK, which is not a party to the dispute. Do the EU not care that they are trashing their international reputation? They were once so keen to talk about the rule of law.”And European elder statesman Carl Bildt, the former prime minister of Sweden and current co-chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations, said: “I had hoped not to see the EU leading the world down the destructive path of vaccine nationalism. Our continent’s entire history of success has been one of open global value chains.”
AstraZeneca’s chief executive, Pascal Soriot, said the company was “working 24/7” to improve supplies to the EU, after being forced to slash planned deliveries from 80 million to 31 million for the first quarter of 2021 because of production problems at a Belgian factory.
Mr Soriot said: “We have millions of doses that we are ready to start shipping to the EU over the next few days and weeks.
“We have identified additional sources of drug substance that we are redeploying from other parts of the world so we can top up the supply in Europe and make sure we can vaccinate as many people as we can as quickly as we can.” More