Brexit 

Express
A TENSE post-Brexit fishing standoff between France and Britain has become heated after Emanuel Macron ordered ministers to put on “maximum pressure” on the UK regarding Brexit affairs.
Last night, Whitehall said Mr Macron was simply “playing politics” after it emerged the French President said the heat should be turned up following a row over Jersey fishing access for EU vessels.  Express.co.uk has learnt Mr Macron said to his Ministers that France would not “let anything go” when it came to the UK Trade and Cooperation agreement.
Mr Macron also claimed France had put on “maximum pressure” on the UK Government.
The message was also sent to regional ministers in Normandy where angry French fishermen protested over new fishing licensee arrangements on the Channel island following Britain’s departure from the European Union.
At dawn on Thursday, a flotilla of around 50 trawlers had massed in front of the Saint Helier harbour in Jersey, a picturesque self-governing territory that is dependent on Britain for its defence.
Fears of a blockade prompted Prime Minister Boris Johnson to send two Royal Navy gunboats to the area, with France following suit by sending two of its own coast patrol vessels. 

Labour Party 

Telegraph
Sir Keir Starmer on Sunday night reshuffled his shadow cabinet, switching people in seven senior roles in an attempt to reset after disappointing local elections and days of infighting.
The Labour leader removed Anneliese Dodds as shadow chancellor, the highest profile change after criticism that she had not done enough to cut through to voters.
Nick Brown was sacked as chief whip – a post he held under Jeremy Corbyn as well as Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – while Valerie Vaz was removed as shadow Commons leader.
Changes were also made to the positions of party chair, national campaign coordinator, shadow chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and shadow housing secretary.
Angela Rayner, the Labour deputy leader, had been removed from the first two of those roles on Saturday but managed to take on two new positions after 24 hours of talks with Sir Keir.
The context for the shake-up was mounting pressure on his leadership after the disastrous defeat in the Hartlepool by-election to the Conservatives and the loss of more than 300 English council seats on Thursday. 

Mail
An embattled Sir Keir Starmer last night rearranged his deckchairs as he chopped and changed parts of his shadow cabinet in a make-or-break reshuffle.
In a bold but not unexpected move, the stumbling Labour leader demoted party favourite Anneliese Dodds from the key role of shadow chancellor.
She was replaced by Oxford educated former Bank of England  economist Rachel Revees – a trusted ally of Sir Keir.
In the most left-field move of the night, the Labour leader sacked veteran MP Nick Brown as the party’s chief whip.
Then, in a dramatic twist to earlier events, Sir Keir reinstated Angela Rayner to his front bench – hours after axing her from her role as party chair and campaign coordinator.
In what some now consider a promotion from her previous role, the deputy party leader will now take Michael Gove to task as Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. 
Ms Dodds will replace her as party chair. However, according to some reports, Ms Rayner will still have significant influence over internal party matters. 

Times
Sir Keir Starmer last night demoted his shadow chancellor, sacked his chief whip and invented a 24-word job title for his deputy after a chaotic reshuffle that left his authority diminished.
A weekend of anger and bafflement in Labour ranks ultimately produced a shadow cabinet that was overwhelmingly similar to its previous incarnations.
But despite Starmer’s general failure to make wide-ranging changes there were some significant moves.
Anneliese Dodds, Starmer’s shadow chancellor for the past year, has been replaced by Rachel Reeves.
Dodds becomes Labour Party chairwoman, replacing Angela Rayner, Starmer’s deputy.
The reshuffle had begun with Starmer’s decision on Saturday afternoon to remove Rayner from her previous roles as party chairwoman and campaign co-ordinator. 

EU 

Express
THE EU’s most senior diplomat to the UK has warned a “gap of understanding” still exists between London and Brussels over the trade deal agreed last December.
This replaced the Brexit transition deal and restored Britain’s place as a fully independent trading nation. The UK withdrew from the European single market and stopped implementing laws made in Brussels.
However Boris Johnson agreed to some customs checks between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, infuriating unionists.
Speaking to PoliticsHome Vale de Almedia, the EU’s most senior diplomat in the UK, admitted there are still tensions between Britain and the bloc.
He claimed there remains a “gap of understanding” about what parts of the agreement mean.
Exports of some UK farm produce to the EU fell significantly after Brexit as new checks were imposed.
Mr de Almedia argued these are an inevitable impact of Britain leaving the single market.
He commented: “Decisions have consequences and one needs to be aware of that.
“What we need to distinguish between is temporary issues and structural issues that will not go away with time, which are linked to the UK decision to leave the Single Market and the Customs Union.”
Some of the worst tension have been over Northern Ireland with the UK unilaterally deciding to delay introducing some customs checks. 

Express
TOUGH regulations penalising Britons who own holiday homes in Spain and other EU countries may breach international law, and could be challenged in court, a top legal expert has said.
The plight of British expats is currently under the microscope, with strict immigration rules in relation to non-EU citizens now applying to people from the UK in the wake of Brexit. Regulations state that people can visit visa-free for no more than 90 days out of a consecutive period of 180 days.
For British citizens unable to prove they were resident in the relevant EU27 country prior to December 31, this means they would face a 90-day deadline to leave.
Leon Fernando Del Canto, of Del Canto Chambers, in Spain, said the rules had major implications for anyone owning a property in his country or elsewhere in the bloc.
He told Express.co.uk: “The news that Spain is reopening its borders to the UK from June has been met with a great deal of excitement by the 18 or so million British citizens who travel to Spain each year.
However, the reopening of the borders will throw up Brexit-related red tape nightmares for the thousands of British citizens who have been enjoying the freedom of splitting their time between living in Spain and the UK.
Many of these Britons have failed to register their residence in Spain and have been enjoying flying under the radar.
However, the reopening of the borders marks an end to Britons’ ability to live fluidly between two countries with and Brexit’s restrictions being taken very seriously by the Spanish authorities. 

Covid 

Mail
Ministers hailed the prospect of ‘hugging and kissing again indoors’ today as Boris Johnson prepares to announce a major loosening of Covid restrictions.
The PM will use a 5pm briefing at Downing Street to confirm a significant relaxation of rules from May 17, saying the success of the vaccine rollout has given him room to manoeuvre.
With one in three adults now having had two jabs, friends and relatives will be able to hug for the first time in a year.
Pubs, restaurants and cafes across England will be able to seat customers inside again. And gatherings of up to six people or two households will be allowed indoors.
Hotels, B&Bs, cinemas, theatres and museums are to reopen while limits on funeral mourners are scrapped.
In a round of interviews this morning, health minister Nadine Dorries said: ‘I am hopeful that we will all be hugging and kissing again soon indoors.’
Ms Dorries also set hares running by seeming to suggest the June 21 date for ending lockdown altogether could be brought forward – although No10 insisted Mr Johnson will not be making any announcements on that tonight. ‘It is data, not dates and the data is very good,’ Ms Dorries said.
Scientists and Tories have been pushing for a quicker return to normal, pointing to very low infection rates and the high level of protection the population now has. 
Professor Sir John Bell said the nation was in a ‘very strong position’ to move forward with the easing of restrictions which will enable people to ‘try and get back to normal’.
Oxford University’s regius professor of medicine told Good Morning Britain the prospect of people being able to hug their loved ones again was ‘great’.
On the Government’s road map, he said: ‘I think we’ll still probably go steady but perhaps a bit faster, I’ll be interested to see what the Government announces. 

Sun
BORIS Johnson is set to reveal 11 Covid lockdown changes at a press conference at 5pm today.
The loosening of coronavirus rules will give Brits a well deserved taste of freedom – but it’s thought the PM will ask the public to use their “common sense.”
Brits have been starved of embraces for over a year, and will be allowed once more to hug each other sensibly when the next stage of lockdown lifts.
At the moment anyone who doesn’t live together is advised to keep at least 1.5 metres away from others to stop the spread of the virus.
But, as first revealed by The Sun it’s expected that people will be told they can finally hug their close friends and family again – but social distancing rules will be expected to stay for others.
Brits will be told they can decide on their own levels of risk “for their own circumstances” and take decisions into their own hands after months of advice from ministers about what to do.
Number 10 sources have told The Telegraph Mr Johnson is likely to tell the public that everyone should use their “personal judgement” and their “common sense” when it comes to hugging friends and family after May 17.
It is thought that the PM will confirm that from May 17, people will finally be able to meet their loved ones inside their homes again.
It means groups of six or fewer – or two households – will be allowed to meet indoors.
Domestic overnight stays will also be given the thumbs up from this date – but people should still social distance from people they don’t live with. 

Nurses

Guardian
Up to 25,000 nurses are training to become activists to help Britain’s nursing union force Boris Johnson to improve his “pitiful” 1% NHS pay offer.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) hopes the move will help it achieve a turnout of 50% in the strike ballot it has pledged to call if ministers continue to resist calls for a bigger increase.
It has enlisted a renowned expert in healthcare campaigning to teach 25,000 frontline NHS nurses how to become effective advocates. Jane McAlevey has helped nurses in the United States to unionise and win better terms and conditions for 25 years.
Dave Dawes, chair of the RCN’s ruling council, said the nurses would become an “army of activists” that would help rouse its 475,000-strong membership to vote in a ballot, and undertake local campaigns to win public support.
The RCN has brought in McAlevey for what could be a bruising and drawn-out fight with the government over the 1% pay deal it offered to NHS workers in England. Opposition parties, health unions and NHS bosses have all criticised the tiny increase as too low, especially after health workers earned widespread admiration for their work during the Covid pandemic.
Dawes said: “If we are going to be balloting for industrial action later this year, which looks increasingly likely, this training will make a huge difference in what the turnout of the ballot will be. 

Social care 

BBC News
Council leaders from across the political divide in England are urging ministers to make good their promise to “fix social care” by setting out plans in Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech.
The Local Government Association has sent a cross-party letter to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, saying failure to act now would be “a bitter blow”.
The government says improving social care “remains a priority”.
The promise was made by Boris Johnson on his first day as prime minister.
Ministers have previously said plans will be brought forward this year and, when quizzed, have maintained that cross-party agreement on social care reform will be vital – the LGA’s letter shows that at work.
It comes amid increasing concern that long-promised reform will only get the briefest of mentions in the Queen’s Speech, where the government sets out its legislative programme for the coming year.
In the letter, council leaders from across the political spectrum call on the government to put the reform and funding of the adult care system at the centre of its thinking on how we emerge from the pandemic.
Local authorities fund many care services and they want investment which moves the system from being based around care homes and hospitals, to one which focuses on prevention and community support.
The letter says reform needs to pool the risk of having high care costs after developing a condition such as dementia, with funding provided through taxation or a social-care premium. 

Planning laws 

Mail
Boris Johnson is proposing to relax rules on planning so new homes can be built in the biggest shake-up of the system in 70 years.
The Prime Minister will put home ownership at the centre of the proposals to keep his new constituents in former Labour ‘Red Wall’ seats on side. 
A planning bill, which is set to be included in tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech, will aim at expanding property ownership in areas where the Tories have recently won.
It will simplify the planning process, making it more difficult for homeowners to block new housing schemes, according to The Times.
It comes after a row last year over an algorithm that would have meant thousands of extra homes being built in rural Tory heartlands.
A new scheme to give discounts of at least 30 per cent to first-time buyers in their local area will be tested this year in Bolsover, Derbyshire – once a Labour town represented by veteran MP Dennis Skinner.
Priority will be given to key workers as well as armed forces veterans in the ‘first homes’ scheme. 

Mirror
The Queen’s Speech will reportedly include a new planning bill aimed at boosting home ownership across the north and the Midlands. The move is said to be part of a bid by the Tories to further strengthen their position in traditional Labour heartlands after election wins last week.
Conservative leaders reportedly believe the number of people who owned their homes was key to the party’s gains.
Labour received a drubbing in some parts of the country, losing control of a host of councils and suffering defeat at the hands of Boris Johnson’s Conservatives in Hartlepool, with the North East constituency electing a Tory MP for the first time since 1959.
The party also lost control of Durham council for the first time in a century, saw its local leader deposed by the Greens in Sheffield and suffered large-scale seat losses in Rotherham and Sunderland. 

Climate change 

ITV News
Climate change is putting the much-loved British cuppa at risk as extreme weather and rising temperatures hit tea-growing countries, a report warns.
The UK and Ireland drink more tea per person than any other countries in the world, with Kenya alone producing half the black tea drunk in the UK.
But a report from Christian Aid warns that Kenya, the world’s biggest exporter of black tea, faces more erratic rainfall, making floods and droughts more common, and rising temperatures.
Research suggests climate change is going to slash optimal conditions for tea production in Kenya by a quarter (26%) by 2050, and areas with only average growing conditions will see production fall by 39% by mid-century.
Other major tea-producing countries including India, Sri Lanka and China, the world’s largest producer whose green tea is growing in popularity in the UK, also face rising temperatures and new weather extremes, the report said.
A changing climate could hit the taste of tea, as increasing amounts of rain produce inferior quality leaves, and reduce the compounds that make the brew beneficial to health, the report warned.
Big British tea brands and the Fairtrade Foundation have also raised concerns about the impact climate change is having on tea growers and the future of production.
The warning comes as the UK prepares to host the G7 meeting of major economies next month – where Boris Johnson has said climate, and finance for poor countries to cope with global warming, will be centre stage – and key UN Cop26 climate talks in Glasgow in November. 

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