UK Politics

From the Northern Ireland protocol to potential ‘opportunities’, questions about Brexit and what it means continue to arise nearly five years after the UK voted to leave the European Union.The Independent’s Adam Forrest, who authors the Brexit and Beyond newsletter, answered questions from readers about all things Brexit during an ‘Ask Me Anything’ event.Here’s a selection of some the questions and answers.The protocol in Northern Ireland is working to the benefit of exporters. Why try and amend it?There’s certainly evidence of a huge jump in trade between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. In February, NI exports to the Republic were up 65 per cent compared with 2020, while exports from the Republic into NI were up 54 per cent. Trouble is, unionists take this as evidence of the six counties moving away from Great Britain’s orbit. While we can’t be sure of the impact of Brexit on trade from GB into NI, there’s little doubt Brexit has hit UK trade as a whole. Trade with the rest of the world is down by 12 to 13 per cent below their 2019 averages, according to the most recent estimate by the Office for Budget Responsibility.How is the EU going to respond to this Article 16 nonsense? Surely they’re going to get fed up of Boris’ antics and do without a trade deal with us. Rather than triggering Article 16, the UK bill looks set to put the ball in the EU’s court. Brussels has already made clear it is prepared for retaliatory measures if the UK tears up its protocol obligations. It could take the “nuclear” option of terminating the Trade and Cooperation Pact (TCA), or use Article 506 to begin imposing new tariffs on British goods. But the protocol-busting bill may not necessarily spark a trade war immediately. Worth bearing in mind that we’ve seen big crises aimed at triggering change, only for things to fall into the muddle of suspended legal action and further talks.How can the government come up with a bill which breaks the law they already signed up to?Ministers are said to be preparing a new bill that would give it new powers amount to “switch off” parts of the protocol that relate to border checks on good moving between GB and NI. There is speculation the legislation may try to repeal Section 7a of the EU Withdrawal Act – the law which enshrines the protocol into UK law. EU diplomats have talked about the idea being “utterly irresponsible” – with Brussels insisting that protocol is a legal obligation. One minister said the “mother of all rows” lies ahead.How far will the British government go to appease anti-democratic unionism and ignore the will of the majority?The timing suggests the protocol-busting bill being drawn up expectats that Sinn Fein will win the 5 May Northern Ireland elections. The unionist parties could potentially withdraw from both the executive and the assembly. The Queen’s Speech comes five days later on 10 May. So the government is likely to try to pounce on the sense of crisis and all the hysterical rhetoric from the DUP in a bid to shock the EU and much closer to the UK position. But the consequences are … uncertain. Brussels patient cannot always be taken for granted.Every time our PM is in trouble, he lashes out to the EU. Frankly it is getting predictable, boring even, this continued chaos … But now? With the situation in Ukraine as it is?It does seem convenient timing for Boris Johnson and his allies, who have tried to use the Ukraine crisis to deflect from Partygate. They may be desperate enough to dismiss the risks involved in this Brexit gambit. Former No 10 adviser Raoul Ruparel says talks on dropping GB-NI trade barriers have actually been “moving slowly in the UK’s direction” – so a big dispute would be “massively counter productive”. It’s also damaging the chances of a US trade deal. And potentially hurts the UK’s reputation with other prospective trade-dealing countries. As one EU diplomat has said: “Why would you then sign anything with the UK ever?”Is the government really going to delay physical inspection checks coming in July again? Surely the uncertainty cannot be good for businesses.The government has now scrapped the inspections on food imports from the EU that were set to come in on 1 July. Jacob Rees-Mogg has announced that they would not be enforced during 2022. Delayed until next year? Hard to say. Rees-Mogg suggested he wants complete overhaul of its border check plans – revealing that end of 2023 was the target for a brand new “controls regime”. Despite remaining uncertainty about exactly what kind checks will come in next year, the Federation of Small Businesses and other industry groups have welcomed the move.What are the benefits and opportunities Jacob Rees-Mogg is going on about it? I thought Brexiters might happy getting blue passports, but seems like this hunt for red tape to axe stuff is going to go on and on for years.Jacob Rees-Mogg’s day job doesn’t seem to be keeping him too busy. He’s had time to leave passive-aggressive notes on the desks of civil servants working from home. Grilled about the advantages of Brexit, Rees-Mogg was forced to talk about obscure things like gene-editing rules. Or retreat into silly abstractions like “democracy”. He has promised his Brexit freedoms bill would offer a “mechanism” for diverging from retained EU law in a way that will be much “smoother and faster”. But that stuff is a little … dull. He seems unlikely to find any big, juicy wins that will keep Brexiteers as happy – like getting blue passports.My question on Brexit is: when will it end? When will the government admit that it is damaging the economy? When will the Labour Party open the door to closer ties with Europe, even joining the single market & customs union?Keir Starmer remains reluctant to talk about it – sticking to his vague commitment that a Labour government would be focused on “making Brexit work” by helping businesses (but ruled out re-joining single market and customs union). The Lib Dems have been reluctant too, chastened by their last election performance. But the party’s spring conference recently backed a policy to “seek to join the single market”. So perhaps we’re seeing the start of something interesting.These questions and answers were part of an ‘Ask Me Anything’ hosted by Adam Forrest at 3pm on Thursday 28 April. Some of the questions and answers have been edited for this article. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article.Do you have any topics you’d like to see an expert host an ‘Ask Me Anything’ on? Let us know your suggestions in the comments below. More

Boris Johnson has abandoned his aim to send the first asylum-seekers to Rwanda this month, in the first sign of the controversial deportation plan hitting trouble.When the “one way ticket” agreement was signed last month, No 10 said it expected the first flights to the central African state to take off within “weeks” and before the end of May.But Mr Johnson’s spokesman said it would be a “matter of months” before any would-be refugees crossing the Channel are deported – potentially after the peak summer season for crossings.Asked why the timetable is “slipping”, the spokesperson pointed to legal challenges against the policy – while also insisting court action would not put it “on hold”.Experts had poured scorn on Mr Johnson’s claim that the scheme could start almost immediately, some doubting whether any migrants and refugees will ever be sent to Rwanda.The spokesman acknowledged that the legal action is not “unexpected” and described it as only “one of the variables” affecting hopes for the scheme.“We are working to get the first flights moving – I don’t know definitely what timescale that will be,” he added.After an 11-day pause amid bad weather, around 550 people have crossed from France in small boats in the last two days, scotching claims by some Tory MPs that the Rwanda threat is already acting as a deterrent.The prime minister has argued legal powers already exist to allow asylum-seekers to be sent to Rwanda, but critics argue it breaches both the European Convention on Human Rights and the Geneva Convention.Although it was initially briefed that only single men would be flown out, the home secretary Priti Patel has since admitted that women and children could also be sent.She has also refused to reveal the likely colossal cost of the policy, beyond an initial £120m to be handed to Rwanda under the “partnership” deal.The plan has also embroiled the prime minister in a damaging row with the Church of England, after the Archbishop of Canterbury attacked it as anti-Christian.The Home Office’s top civil servant warned Ms Patel that there is no evidence to back up the claim that deporting refugees to Rwanda will curb trafficking across the Channel.Mr Johnson’s spokesman acknowledged no evidence had been put forward, but told The Independent: “This is an entirely new approach. We were upfront about that from the start.”Asked if the prime minister was disappointed at the Rwanda threat failing to deter crossings, he replied: “It’s too early to judge what the situation will be long term on this policy.”And he said: “We still aim to have the first flights leave in a matter of months but, because of some of those [legal] challenges, it’s hard to put an exact time on it.”This year, 7,240 people have reached the UK after crossing from France in small boats – more than three times the number recorded for the same period in 2021 (2,390), according to an analysis by PA news agency. More

Boris Johnson has insisted that he is an “honest” person who does his best to tell the truth, despite admitting he was “inadvertently” wrong to say all Covid rules had been followed in Downing Street.The prime minister also said he had “no idea” whether he would receive more fines from the Metropolitan Police over rule-breaking government parties in the weeks ahead.Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Johnson said the best way to judge his honesty is to “look at what this government says it’s going to do and what it does”.Are if he was honest, Mr Johnson said: “Yes. I do my best to represent faithfully and accurately what I believe. Sometimes it’s controversial and sometimes it offends people but that’s what I do.”When host Susanna Reid referred to the importance of honesty and telling the truth, Mr Johnson said: “It matters very much to me.”He added: “If you’re talking about the statements I made to the House of Commons, I was inadvertently wrong, and I’ve apologised for that … I’ve apologised for the things we got wrong during the pandemic, and I repeat those apologises.”Mr Johnson is facing an investigation over misleading parliament over Partygate after he told the Commons that no laws were broken in Downing Street.This comes despite ongoing calls for his resignation from opposition MPs as well as some of his own backbenches after police handed him a fixed penalty notice (FPN) for attending a celebration for his birthday in No 10.Mr Johnson then insisted that any news of a further FPN will “not remain secret”, but pleaded for the public to wait until the police investigation and top civil servant Sue Gray has offered her full report on the scandal.He added: “I will make sure that as soon as I’m able to say something on the conclusion of the investigation, you will have a lot more on it.”Asked why he should not resign, as Matt Hancock did as health secretary and Allegra Stratton did as press secretary, the PM said: “I’m getting on with the job that I was elected to do … and I’m proud of what we have been doing.”The PM also admitted the UK could have reacted faster in helping Ukrainian refugees, but said “large numbers” of those fleeing the war are now coming to Britain.“So far 86,000 visas have been issued and 27,000 are already here and I want to say ‘Thank you’ – 27,000 is a lot and it’s growing fast and I want to pay tribute to all those who are helping to look after Ukrainians. Could we have done it faster? Yes, perhaps we could.”Lorraine says the reaction to the PM not knowing who she is has made her morningMr Johnson also asked GMB host “Who’s Lorraine?” as he appeared on the programme for the first time in nearly five years.“Who’s Lorraine? Lorraine is a legend!” Ms Reid fired back on her colleague Lorraine Kelly.Mr Johnson appeared to have misunderstood the situation, thinking he was being passed over to Ms Kelly for another interview. “Fantastic, well I didn’t think I was talking to Lorraine, OK…” he muttered.When the daytime “legend” appeared on the screen, she simply said: “Wow. Thank you, Susanna. A masterclass in a political interview.” More

Local elections are again being held in the UK on Thursday 5 May, with 4,000 council seats in England being contested across 146 local authorities against a backdrop of outrage over the “Partygate” scandal, fresh allegations of sleaze and sexism in Westminster and with the cost of living crisis a growing concern.In both Scotland and Wales, 1,200 seats are up for grabs across 32 and 22 councils respectively as citizens cast their vote on who should run the public services they rely on every day, from waste collection to library and park maintenance.Meanwhile, all 90 seats of the Northern Ireland Assembly are in contention, with five members being elected in each of the country’s 18 constituencies.Thursday’s events will also see four new councils involved for the first time – unitary authorities in North Yorkshire, Somerset and two in Cumbria – and seven mayoral positions up for consideration.The public is widely expected to cast its ballots as a verdict on Boris Johnson’s scandal-ridden leadership, the prime minister’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the prospect of change represented by Sir Keir Starmer – or in reaction to other issues of particular regional significance, from immigration to infrastructure.To find exactly what is happening in your constituency this week, visit the Electoral Commission website and enter your postcode.From there, you will be invited to confirm your postal address, after which you will be presented with all the information you need about the candidates in contention and the location and opening hours of your nearest polling station.The Independent meanwhile has all you need to know about voting, more information on the national picture by region as well as a guide on when the results will be announced.We will be covering the local elections in depth this week and liveblogging both voting day itself and the aftermath on Friday once the results have been counted and compiled. More

Boris Johnson has admitted that the financial support offered by his government is not enough to “help cover everybody” through the cost of living crisis in the months ahead.The prime minister again rejected the idea of a windfall tax on the oil and gas giants despite BP recorded record £5bn profits – insisting that fossil firms “have to invest”.Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Mr Johnson pointed to the £200 “rebate” loan set out by the chancellor Rishi Sunak ealier this year to help with soaring gas and electricity bills.“I accept that those contributions from the taxpayer – because that’s what it is, taxpayers’ money – isn’t going to be enough immediately to help cover everybody,” the PM told host Susanna Reid.Mr Johnson added: “So of course that isn’t going to work enough in the short term.”Grilled by the host about the lack of help for hard-pressed families hit by inflation, Mr Johnson largely blamed the Ukraine war for the impact on food and fuel costs – citing the “crazy” price of chickens.“We’re doing everything we can to help with pressure on family budgets. I totally understand and get that what people are going through,” he said.He added: “It is important to set the global context, this is a spike in energy prices. The cost of chickens is crazy …. That has been greatly exacerbated by what’s going on in Ukraine.”Mr Johnson took credit for introducing free bus passes for pensioners after being told some desperate elderly people are using them simply to keep warm.In response to the case of 77-year-old viewer called Elsie – who has cut down to a meal a day and travels on buses all day to reduce her bills – the PM told GMB: “I don’t want Elsie to cut back on anything.”He added: “The 24-hour freedom bus pass was actually something that I actually introduced.”The PM did concede that “there is more that we can do”, and suggested that the government was looking at providing support to families who need to use high levels of energy due to their medical needs.Asked why welfare benefits would not rise in line with inflation, Mr Johnson said the government had to be “prudent” and wary of driving up inflation even further – having hit a 30-year-high of 7 per cent in March.“Although you’re quite right to point out that there is an inflationary risk and it’s very severe, it could get worse and that knocks on to interest rates, and that knocks on to the cost of borrowing for everybody,” he said. “I’m sorry to say this, but we have to be prudent in our approach.”BP announced on Tuesday that its underlying replacement cost profits more than doubled from £5bn from £2.1bn a year ago thanks to the rocketing cost of crude.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said BP’s profits demonstrate that a windfall tax is the “right approach”, telling BBC Breakfast: “Have a windfall tax on that and use that to help people with their energy bills, up to £600 for those who need it most.”Liberal Democrat Leader Ed Davey said: “The Conservative government’s refusal to introduce a windfall tax on the super profits of oil companies is becoming impossible to justify.” More

Boris Johnson has taken credit for introducing free bus passes for pensioners after being told elderly people are using them to keep warm.In an interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain the prime minister was told of a 77-year-old pensioner who rode the bus because she could not afford heating.”To cut down on spending, Elsie has resorted to eating one meal a day. She’s losing weight, she’s 77,” host Susanna Reid said.”She goes to the supermarket at the end of the day to buy yellow sticker discounted items. “She gets up early in the morning to use her Freedom bus pass to stay on buses all day to avoid using energy at home. What else should Elise cut back on?”The prime minister replied: “Just to remind you that the 24 hour freedom bus pass was something that I introduced.”The programme’s host replied: “Marvellous, so Elsie should be grateful to you for her bus pass!”As mayor in 2012 Mr Johnson restored free travel for Londoners aged 60 years and older. Qualification with the benefit had previously been rising in line with the retirement age.As a 77-year-old the pensioner cited on Good Morning Britain would have qualified for the bus pass with or without Mr Johnson’s intervention. The prime minister’s comments come after chancellor Rishi Sunak said it would be “silly” to offer more help with bills despite the mounting cost of living crisis.Desperate Britons are facing an average £700 increase in their gas and electricity bills after April’s energy price cap rise – with another 50 per cent spike expected in October.But Mr Sunak said action should not be rolled out now “when we don’t know exactly what the situation in the autumn will be”. More

Boris Johnson today evoke Britain’s struggle with Nazi Germany as he tells Ukraine’s parliament that their country’s resistance of Russian invasion is its “finest hour”.The prime minister will be the first western leader to address the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv by video link, almost two months after president Volodymyr Zelensky gave his own message to the House of Commons.Mr Johnson will say that the UK is “proud to be among Ukraine’s friends” and will announce a new £300m package of defensive military aid, including electronic warfare kit, a counter-battery radar system, GPS jamming equipment and thousands of night-vision devices.In his live address on Tuesday, Mr Johnson will quote the words of Winston Churchill in 1940, when Britain faced the threat of invasion by Germany and he called on the nation to resist in such a way that in 1,000 years, “men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour’.”Speaking from Downing Street on the 69th day of the war, Mr Johnson will tell Ukrainian MPs: “When my country faced the threat of invasion during the Second World War, our parliament – like yours – continued to meet throughout the conflict, and the British people showed such unity and resolve that we remember our time of greatest peril as our finest hour.“This is Ukraine’s finest hour, an epic chapter in your national story that will be remembered and recounted for generations to come.“Your children and grandchildren will say that Ukrainians taught the world that the brute force of an aggressor counts for nothing against the moral force of a people determined to be free.”Ministers last week confirmed plans to send Brimstone missiles and Stormer air defence vehicles to Ukraine.At the request of the Kyiv government, the UK is also due to supply heavy-lift drones to provide logistical support to isolated forces as well as a dozen Toyota Land Cruisers to help protect officials in eastern Ukraine and evacuate civilians from frontline areas.A report by the Tony Blair Institute today called for the establishment of a joint coordination group so that western allies can help Ukraine close the “weapons gap” between the equipment they have and what they need to deploy as Russia continues its assault on the east of the country.An emergency response and assessment team, taking in the US, UK, France, Germany and Ukraine, could streamline the process of identifying and delivering the arms needed, rather than have President Zelensky go from country to country with a list of requests, said the report.Working closely with allies such as Poland, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Slovakia the team would provide a single port of call for Ukrainian needs to be quickly and coherently filled, not only for supply but also training and maintenance of weapons.In a foreword to the report, Justin Bronk, senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said: “The Russian army has taken catastrophic losses during the first two months of its invasion and has limited regular forces which it can still draw on for reserves.“If Ukraine can be supplied with enough of the necessary equipment, it can exhaust the Russian army’s capacity for offensive operations and start to take back territory. However, it will have to be a sustained effort, and the best time to start was yesterday.” More

Labour has written to Rishi Sunak demanding to know whether he or his family benefit from the continued presence of a company in Russia in which his wife holds a £400m stake.Reports on Monday suggested that Indian-based IT giant Infosys – founded by the father of Mr Sunak’s wife Akshata Murty – is still operating in Moscow despite promising a month ago it was leaving.Shadow economic secretary Tulip Siddiq called on the chancellor to clarify when the company’s Russian office will be shut down and whether he or any of his immediate family are benefiting from its continued operation.Ms Murty – who last month gave up her non-dom tax status after it was revealed by The Independent – retains a 0.93 per cent share in Infosys, meaning she could gain from any profits made in Russia.In her letter, Ms Siddiq said Mr Sunak would be aware that most professional services companies left Russia immediately after the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.But she said that, despite the chancellor’s call for companies to “inflict maximum economic pain” on Vladimir Putin’s regime and its own announcement that it would leave, there is evidence it has not yet done so.“The Labour Party agrees that British and other multinational businesses should not be operating in Russia,” wrote Ms Siddiq. “The situation with Infosys is all the more urgent because members of your immediate family retain a stake in the firm. This means they could be profiting through companies operating in Putin’s terrible regime.”She called on Mr Sunak to confirm whether he had sought to clarify when Infosys would pull out of Moscow, whether any of his family members were benefiting from its presence – including via the blind trust which oversees his financial affairs – and whether they would divest themselves of their stakes if this was the case.“It is really important that the chancellor clarifies what is happening here and whether his immediate family is benefitting from Infosys’s continued presence in Russia,” said Ms Siddiq. “We can’t have a situation where a UK chancellor and his family maintain economic interests in the Putin regime.”In a statement, Infosys said: “During the quarterly results, Infosys announced its decision to transition services from Russia to its global delivery centres. “While the company does not have any active relationships with local Russian enterprises, we have a small team of fewer than 100 employees in Russia, which services some of our global clients. We are currently working closely with those clients that are being impacted to enable a smooth transition.” More