Brexit

Express
HOPES of reaching a Brexit trade deal were “receding” last night after last-minute demands by the EU. The latest round of talks “did not go well” after Brussels shifted position to appease France over rules on state aid subsidies and standards. British negotiators were thrown when the EU side introduced “new elements” that further complicated sealing a deal. It was hoped agreement might be reached this weekend but a UK government source said: “At the 11th the EU is bringing new elements into the negotiation. A breakthrough is still possible in the next few days but that prospect is receding.”

BBC News
Britain and the EU will resume talks on a post-Brexit trade deal on Friday despite a senior UK government source saying the prospect of a breakthrough is “receding”. Sources suggested Brussels had hardened its stance on how common rules and regulations should be enforced with time running out. But an EU source told the BBC “there were never any surprises or new demands” from their side. Current trade rules end on 31 December. Both sides are urgently seeking compromises in key areas, including fishing rights and competition rules.

Sun
BREXIT talks took a turn for the worse last night after the EU tabled fresh demands at the 11th hour. High hopes of a deal fuelled by late night takeaway pizza looked dashed as the UK said the prospect of a breakthrough was “receding”. Talks hit a snag yesterday afternoon when EU negotiators introduced new demands for Britain to stick to EU standards after Brexit. The terms would severely limit the UK Government’s ability to support struggling industries and keep us tied to EU rules for years.

ITV News
Brexit talks are due to continue on Friday amid warnings the prospect of a breakthrough is “receding”. Negotiations between the UK and EU seemed to stall on Thursday – with Britain claiming Brussels was calling for fresh concessions at the 11th hour. And with the Brexit transition period due to end on December 31, there is little time to get a deal agreed by negotiators and approved by the EU’s leaders, Westminster and the European Parliament. A senior UK Government source said: “At the 11th hour, the EU is bringing new elements into the negotiation.

Telegraph
Brexit talks are heading for a showdown between Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron this weekend with the prospect of an EU deal now dependent on French access to fish in British waters. The two leaders are at odds over the right to fish in British waters with senior Downing Street sources unsure as to whether the French president might “torpedo” the proposed Brexit deal at the last possible moment. They fear he may be tempted to scupper a compromise fishing deal ahead of the French presidential election in 2022.

Guardian
Brexit negotiations took a sudden step backwards on Thursday afternoon, Downing Street said, after furious French lobbying pushed the EU to make late demands. The apparent eleventh hour hardening of the EU position was said to have destabilised the protracted talks, peeling back progress made over the previous 24 hours. UK sources said the EU had started pushing for further and harder assurances over the role of a domestic regulator of subsidies after the transition period, a claim dismissed outright by Brussels.

Mail
Hopes of a post-Brexit trade deal were fading last night as the UK accused the EU of derailing negotiations by tabling fresh demands at the last minute. With the clock ticking to strike an agreement before Britain severs ties with the bloc on December 31, crunch talks in London are going right down to the wire. They appeared to hit a snag yesterday after a sandwich-fuelled sit-down between the two teams, led by Lord Frost and Michel Barnier, ended in stalemate.  A senior UK Government source pointed the finger at Brussels and said: ‘At the 11th hour, the EU is bringing new elements into the negotiation. ‘A breakthrough is still possible in the next few days but that prospect is receding.’

Fisheries

Telegraph
Brexit talks are heading for a showdown between Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron this weekend with the prospect of an EU deal now dependent on French access to fish in British waters. The two leaders are at odds over the right to fish in British waters with senior Downing Street sources unsure as to whether the French president might “torpedo” the proposed Brexit deal at the last possible moment. They fear he may be tempted to scupper a compromise fishing deal ahead of the French presidential election in 2022. There had been growing hopes that a deal was about to be agreed but the British delegation was taken aback after the EU made a series of “destabilising” last-minute new demands on fishing and other issues.

Express
THE EUROPEAN UNION has been accused of demanding a “colonial” relationship with Britain during ongoing talks for a Brexit trade deal.  Talks are currently deadlocked over Brussels demand for continued European access to British fishing waters. There is also a major dispute over how far the UK will be able to deviate from the EU’s regulatory ‘level playing field’.  On Thursday’s edition of BBC Question Time the European position was savaged by economist and writer Liam Halligan. Mr Halligan claimed the EU currently has a “kind of colonial relationship” with the UK over fishing and is demanding this is maintained after Brexit. Britain gave up control over its fishing waters in 1972 when it joined the European Common Fisheries Policy (CFP).

Times
Britain has accused the European Union of making “eleventh hour” demands to seal a Brexit deal, warning it could scupper an imminent agreement. Government sources said that Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, had called for further concessions from Britain on post-Brexit subsidy rules at a meeting with Lord Frost yesterday afternoon.  One suggested that the move was prompted by France. The source accused Paris of “agitating around EU capitals” as both sides closed in on a deal. The insider warned that with the two sides “still some way away” on fishing rights, the new demands had set back the talks by “at least 24 hours”.

EU

Express
BREXIT negotiations have entered their final stage and as tensions rise, proof that the EU never wanted a single EU member state to leave has recently resurfaced. Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has warned that the next hours of trade talks with the UK will be crucial. As he briefed EU ambassadors and members of the European Parliament on Wednesday, he made clear that the two sides have not yet overcome their divisions. He said Brussels and London need to assess by the end of this week whether there is a possibility to reach agreement in the future-relationship discussions, warning that key sticking points remained in the areas of “level playing field” conditions for business, EU fishing rights in UK waters and how any trade deal might be implemented.  Mr Barnier cautioned: “As issues stand, it is not possible to say if a deal will be there.”

Express
EMMANUEL MACRON has backed Boris into a “position he cannot accept” with a new legal demand to toughen the EU’s stance on an independent regulator. With less than a month until the Brexit transition period ends on December 31, crucial talks are ongoing in a bid to secure a trade deal. But neither side has been able to agree on issues including state aid and fishing quotas.  Brexit negotiators on both sides have been trying to reach an agreement for months on how widespread the level playing field should be once the UK is no longer part of the single market. The level playing field is a set of common rules and standards preventing businesses in one country gaining a competitive advantage over those operating in other countries.

Express
THE EU has been a dealt a major blow by Hungary after its Prime Minister paved the way for more rebellion as he refused to back down on his threats over the bloc’s seven-year budget to fight the coronavirus crisis. Authoritarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Hungary still cannot accept rule of law criteria attached to the EU’s budget and its coronavirus recovery fund. He said the political rules on respecting the rule of law should be dealt with separately.  He warned the explanatory declaration attached to the regulations, which prompted a senior Polish government member to say Poland might accept the package, would be unacceptable to Budapest.

Politico
With the EU’s plans for a landmark €1.8 trillion budget-and-recovery package stalled, a first glimpse emerged Thursday of a way out of the crisis. A Polish deputy prime minister, Jarosław Gowin, told reporters that Warsaw could potentially accept a “binding” declaration — approved by the EU’s 27 heads of state and government — to clarify how Brussels would use a new “conditionality” mechanism tying EU budget funds to respect for the rule of law. With Hungary and Poland blocking the historic spending program over opposition to the rule of law mechanism, Gowin’s comments came a day after the European Commission warned that it was prepared to push ahead and create a new coronavirus recovery fund without the support of Warsaw and Budapest.

Migration

Breitbart
There has been no agreement reached between the United Kingdom and France that would see illegal migrant boats returned to France despite the British taxpayer sending some £28 million in payoffs to the French government. Chris Philp, the government’s Minister for immigration compliance told the Home Affairs Committee in the House of Commons on Wednesday that it is “currently correct” that no boat return deal has been struck between the two nations. “The French operational posture on the water is that they don’t forcibly intercept migrant boats,” Philp said in comments reported by the BBC. “They will rescue them if they start sinking and if the migrants request assistance but they do not currently forcibly intercept migrant boats while in French waters,” he added.

Covid

Times
Coronavirus cases have halved in the past two weeks among people in their twenties and seventies, with falls continuing in all age groups. Test and Trace figures also show a drop of more than a quarter in the week, with hospitals hoping for a big fall in coronavirus patients before Christmas. Testing chiefs believe that they have enough capacity for people to get tested before seeing elderly relatives as millions of families consider how best to take advantage of a festive relaxation. The latest figures to show the effect of the national lockdown come from the test and trace system, with 110,620 people testing positive for coronavirus in the week to November 25, down  from 152,719 the week before and 168,348 a week earlier.

Vaccine

Telegraph
People who receive the coronavirus vaccine will not be exempted from self-isolation if they are contacted by NHS Test and Trace, it has emerged. Although the vaccine will give recipients immunity from the virus, scientists do not yet know whether it will stop them being carriers. Government sources said it was likely to be months before there was any prospect of the vaccine negating the need for self-isolation. It means that even if someone has been vaccinated, they will still have to remain at home for 14 days if they come into contact with someone who has the virus. A Government source said: “People who get vaccinated will have to stick to the same rules as everyone else because we don’t know if it stops people being carriers and passing the virus on to others.

Mail
Care home residents are expected to begin receiving Covid jabs within days after all. Officials have devised a way to split the  Pfizer vaccine into small batches suitable for distribution to them. Initial plans to make vulnerable social care residents the first to get the jab were derailed when regulators put a limit on the number of times doses could be moved.  The vaccine contains a fragile strand of RNA – the genetic material that carries messages between cells – sheathed in a droplet of fat. That makes it very unstable and means it needs to be stored at a super-cold -70C (-94F) to ensure it does not break down before it gets to patients. The logistics of transporting and storing a vaccine at such temperatures means the initial doses will be given out at one of 50 major hospitals across England.

Yahoo News
NHS staff will no longer be among the first people to be vaccinated against Covid-19 after a rethink about who should be given priority. Hospitals will instead begin by immunising care home staff, and inpatients and outpatients aged over 80. The change is likely to disappoint and worry health service staff, some of whom had already booked appointments to get immunised. Frontline personnel were due to have the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine when the NHS starts rolling it out, probably next Tuesday, after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved it on Wednesday. Separately, NHS bosses said the 800,000 doses that comprise the UK’s first consignment from Pfizer’s manufacturing plant in Belgium may be “the only batch we receive for some time”, raising questions about how soon further supplies will arrive.

Sun
HOPES rose last night that millions of grandparents will be vaccinated within weeks after the first Covid jabs arrived in Britain. Lorries loaded with the vaccine travelled from Puurs, Belgium, to a warehouse in the north of England yesterday. The “game-changing” jab from Pfizer/BioNTech will be distributed to 50 hospital hubs. And officials are increasingly confident millions of elderly people — including those in care homes — will get it by Christmas. Last night regulators indicated they will allow packs of 975 doses to be split so they can be taken to individual homes. This would remove a major barrier to distribution.

Telegraph
NHS front-line staff will no longer be prioritised for the coronavirus vaccine, amid confusion over the number of doses that will arrive by the end of the year. Chris Hopson, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said that an initial 800,000 doses “could be the only batch we receive for some time”.  This is despite the UK originally expecting 10 million shots by the end of the year, and the chief commercial officer of the vaccine creator BioNTech Sean Marett saying on Wednesday that the UK was likely to get at least five million doses by the New Year.

Asylum

Telegraph
Murderers and rapists to be prevented from claiming asylum, says Priti Patel, after the Jamaican deportation flight row. In an interview with The Telegraph, the Home Secretary said it was “completely wrong” that convicted killers and rapists released from jail should be able to exploit the asylum system to remain in the UK. She also indicated that asylum will be “streamlined” to prevent migrants making multiple claims that can be lodged and heard hours or even minutes before their removal. It will be part of a major reform of Britain’s “completely broken” asylum system, which is due to be unveiled in the new year.

Mail
Priti Patel tonight accused Labour MPs and ‘do-gooding’ celebrities of insulting Windrush victims. She said it was ‘deeply offensive’ to liken those unjustly caught up in the scandal to Jamaican rapists, murderers and thugs who are trying to avoid being kicked out of Britain. ‘The Windrush scandal is a stain on our country’s history,’ said the Home Secretary. ‘That generation made an enormous contribution to our country and were wronged by successive governments. To see ill-informed Labour politicians and do-gooding celebrities attempting to conflate the victims of Windrush with these vile criminals set for deportation is not only misjudged and upsetting but deeply offensive.’

Independent
Boris Johnson has vowed to sharply step up the pace of the UK’s decarbonisation efforts, by setting a more ambitious target for reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decade. Ahead of a crucial United Nations climate summit to be co-hosted by the UK later this month, the prime minister pledged to cut emissions to 68 per cent below 1990 levels by 2030, up from the previous commitment of 53 per cent. Mr Johnson, who last month set out a 10-point plan for green growth, said the new target would put the UK on the fastest carbon-reduction track of any major economy as the UK progresses towards net-zero emissions by 2050.

Constituency boundaries

Times
Boris Johnson will fight the next election with an advantage of up to ten seats under a redrawn constituency map compiled from figures to be published next month. He is also set to lift the national campaign spending cap from £19.5 million to about £33 million — in line with inflation — in time for the next election.  The boundaries for Westminster elections are long overdue an overhaul after two previous efforts to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 were abandoned in 2013 and 2018. Although parliament has decided to stick with 650 MPs, a third attempt to equalise the UK’s constituencies so that each contains 73,000 voters with a permitted margin either side of five per cent is under way.

Aliens

Mail
The existence of two classified Pentagon reports on UFOs has been revealed, the contents of which include a leaked photo depicting a mysterious object hovering over the Atlantic. The DoD’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force issued the two classified intelligence ‘position reports’ in 2018 and the summer of this year, and they circulated widely in the U.S. intelligence community, according to a detailed account from The Debrief based on interviews with multiple intelligence sources. The position reports’ startling contents included a leaked photo that has never before been made public, accounts of ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena’ (UAP) emerging from the ocean and soaring through the sky, and an admission that extraterrestrial origins for the objects cannot be ruled out.

Sun
A LEAKED Pentagon photo of a mysterious “silver cube” hovering over the Atlantic has sparked fears of possible aliens living within the ocean.  The Defense Department’s Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Task Force issued two classified intelligence “position reports,” one in 2018 and one last summer,” The Debrief reported on Wednesday. A cockpit photo was apparently included in the 2018 position report that showed an “unidentified aerial phenomena,” or UAP.  The Debrief on Thursday shared the Defense picture and reported it was taken “from within the cockpit of an F/A-18 fighter jet with a pilot’s personal cell phone” on the East Coast of the US.

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