Brexit
Express
DEADLOCKED Brexit trade talks are set to run into the Christmas holidays after negotiators missed another deadline for wrapping up the treaty talks. British and Brussels diplomats remained at loggerhead with the EU refusing to back down over hard-line demands on fishing and rules covering industrial subsidies. The epic wrangle is now expected to continue throughout this week and beyond after the two sides look set to fail to come to an agreement in time for tonight’s deadline set by MEPs for ratifying a deal by the end of the year. Ministers now believe a series of mini-deals could be needed to keep UK-EU trade functioning in the New Year without a deal.
Guardian
Negotiators of a Brexit trade deal inched towards a compromise on fishing rights on Sunday but missed a major deadline, raising the prospect of weeks without arrangements from 1 January even in the event of agreement. The teams led by the chief UK negotiator, David Frost, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, were expected to continue talks on Monday despite the European parliament’s notice that it would not vote on a deal if not secured by midnight on Sunday. A UK government source said: “Teams have been negotiating throughout the day and expect to continue tomorrow.
Sun
WEARY British trade negotiators munched mince pies and glugged mulled wine last night amid fears they are stuck in Brussels for Christmas. Any Brexit deal is “still days away” the UK side warned yesterday amid continued deadlock over EU demands for SIX more years of fishing rights. Yet another breakthrough deadline was missed last night after both sides simply ignored loud warnings from the EU Parliament that a deal must be done by Sunday night or they would not rubber stamp it. A “tortured” weekend of talks failed to break the deadlock over “unreasonable” demands from the EU for a further six years of access to UK waters for their fishermen.
Fisheries
Express
THE EU has hinted it could be about to cave in Brexit talks as chief negotiator Michel Barnier admitted the UK needs to “control own waters” as trade talks are set to reach a crucial moment today. Mr Barnier said today the EU remained committed to achieving “a fair, reciprocal and balanced agreement” but said both sides needed to be able to act when their interests were at stake. His comments came after a UK Government source warned that the negotiations would fail unless there was a “substantial shift” in the EU’s position in the remaining days of the talks. The British side has accused the EU of making “unreasonable demands” by not backing down over fishing rights and fair competition rules amid the end of the transition period ending on December 31.
EU
Express
A LEADING EU official delivered a scathing attack on the UK’s “obsession” with national sovereignty in the Brexit negotiations, calling it “totally pathetic”. A senior EU figure has ruthlessly mocked Britain’s key demand for national sovereignty in the Brexit talks. European Parliament Vice President Heidi Hautala told LBC’s Tom Swarbrick that the UK’s fixation on national sovereignty in Brexit talks is “pathetic”. She repeated the claim when Mr Swarbrick challenged the MEP on the stunning remark.
Telegraph
Emmanuel Macron has been accused of risking a no-deal Brexit by making the “massive miscalculation” that Britain will be forced back to the negotiating table in the new year. Downing Street believes Mr Macron is standing in the way of a deal because he is playing to his domestic audience ahead of elections in 18 months’ time. A deadline of 11pm Sunday night – set by MEPs for a deal to be agreed in order for it to be ratified by December 31 – passed without any conclusion to the talks. The UK has said it will not walk away from the negotiations while there is still time to reach an agreement. Negotiators believe Mr Macron is gambling on the theory that no deal will be so unpopular in Britain that Boris Johnson will cave in and accept Brussels’ current offer within weeks of leaving the single market and customs union on January 1.
Express
A GERMAN MEP has warned preparations for a no deal Brexit should now be made in a major climbdown from the EU side after a trade agreement between the UK and Brussels was not signed by the end of the European Parliament’s Sunday deadline. The UK formally left the European Union back in January and negotiations are still ongoing despite the end of the transition period on December 31 looming closer. Issues on fishing, governance and the so-called level playing field have remained. This week, MEPs passed a deadline claiming EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier must present them with the trade agreement by December 21, but this did not happen.
Travel ban
Telegraph
Britain was hit with a travel ban on Sunday night by a host of EU countries to halt the spread of the new, more infectious coronavirus strain. The ban on passenger flights and freight transport from the UK threatened to disrupt food supplies, Christmas gifts and even the Covid vaccine as well as hitting the festive travel plans of an estimated 250,000 Britons. France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland were among 11 European countries to close their borders to flights and most freight lorries, trains and ferries from the UK from midnight on Sunday night, but the ban could be extended to the entire bloc. The EU will hold an emergency meeting on Monday morning to discuss a blanket ban that could cost UK consumers £400 million in cancelled bookings.
Times
Britain’s border with France was closed last night with all travellers and lorry drivers blocked from leaving and the EU ready to ban all arrivals to the bloc. Fears were mounting of gridlock on roads in Kent as the Channel Tunnel said that its services would be suspended at 11pm yesterday amid an international scramble to quarantine Britain over a faster-spreading variant of coronavirus. Flights, ferries and trains from Britain are expected to be banned by Brussels after a wave of European countries including Italy, the Netherlands and Ireland implemented bans on arrivals.
Guardian
Miles of lorry queues and travel chaos were expected across Kent on Monday morning after France announced a 48-hour ban on passengers and freight entering from the UK. The prime minister, Boris Johnson, is to chair a Cobra meeting on Monday that will address “the steady flow of freight into and out of the UK”, a number 10 spokesperson said, amid expected significant disruption at ports in the south-east. The European Union is to hold a similar crisis meeting today to coordinate its response to concerns about a fast-spreading new strain of Covid-19 after countries across the continent banned UK flight arrivals.
Express
BORIS Johnson has called an emergency meeting of his Cabinet after France announced a 48-hour ban on lorries travelling across the Channel in response to the emergence of a contagious mutant strain of coronavirus in the UK. The Prime Minister will chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra civil contingencies committee on Monday amid warnings of “significant disruption” around the Channel ports in Kent. Hauliers have been told to stay from the area amid warnings of potential problems as the end of the Brexit transition period looms on December 31.
BBC News
The prime minister will chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee later after France closed its border with the UK for 48 hours. The move, announced on Sunday, means no lorries or ferry passengers will be able to sail from the port of Dover. France said the action was necessary because of the prevalence of a new variant of coronavirus in the UK. Nations including Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Irish Republic, Turkey and Canada are suspending UK flights. Switzerland has also temporarily halted UK flights.
Sun
FRANCE has banned all travel to and from Britain including freight due to the mutant Covid strain — stoking fears of a breakdown in vaccine, food and goods supplies over Christmas. Boris Johnson will meet his emergency Cobra team on Monday to address the 48-hour blockade ordered by President Emmanuel Macron. Supermarkets face major shortages of food and Christmas goods after France closed its UK border. There was chaos at Britain’s busiest port in Dover overnight as people were left stranded in the cold after the sudden closure.
City AM
The French Government has banned all travel from the UK for 48 hours, including freight drivers. The move comes after the Netherlands and Belgium made similar calls after the emergence of a mutant strain of Covid-19 in Britain. The move will cause chaos at Britain’s ports, including Dover, and raises the prospect of truck-borne goods being held up at the border alongside their drivers for a full two days. Only unaccompanied freight will be permitted to cross the Channel. The French Government’s decision will come into force from midnight tonight.
Mail
London’s Heathrow Airport was pictured descending into chaos last night as hundreds of passengers scrambled onto the last flight to Dublin minutes before a Covid-19 travel ban set in at midnight to nations across Europe including Ireland. Boris Johnson will chair a meeting of the Government’s Cobra emergency committee today after more than a dozen countries – initially in Europe and then around the world – announced they were stopping flights from the UK, following the discovery of the ’70 per cent more infectious’ mutant coronavirus strain which plunged London and the south east into Tier Four.
Sun
HUNDREDS of passengers descended on Heathrow overnight as they scrambled to catch the last flights to Europe before borders closed to British travellers. Video footage showed the airport in chaos as the final departure to Dublin left just minutes before the midnight deadline. Several European countries have brought in a travel ban in response to the mutant coronavirus strain that sparked the Tier 4 lockdown in London and the South East. France last night closed its border to all traffic, including freight, causing the Port of Dover and the Eurotunnel to shut overnight.
Tier 4
Mail
Millions of families face living under Tier Four restrictions for months, Matt Hancock has warned. Warning that the draconian lockdown could be extended nationwide, the Health Secretary said coronavirus was now ‘out of control’ following the emergence of a fast-spreading new variant. Boris Johnson imposed a tough new round of restrictions on London and much of the South East on Saturday, effectively plunging more than 16million people into lockdown. Shops, gyms, hairdressers and beauty salons have been ordered to shut again, with residents told not to leave Tier Four.
Telegraph
Tier 4 restrictions could be toughened further and remain in place until close to Easter, Government sources have admitted. Ministers believe at least 20 million people will need to have been vaccinated against coronavirus before any significant relaxing of the measures can be considered, it is understood. Matt Hancock said on Sunday that Britain faces a “very difficult” few months, warning that the spread of the virus across swathes of England is now “out of control”.
Sun
POPULAR shopping strips were today deserted after London was thrown into lockdown just five days before Christmas. High streets and shopping centres that would normally be teeming with Brits doing their last minute festive shopping were left empty after the Tier 4 regulations were brought in at midnight. Images of Regent Street and Oxford Street this morning show just a few Brits – in stark contrast to the crowds that were teeming with shoppers barely 24 hours ago. Yesterday, masked crowds had been pictured walking through shopping streets and queuing for department stores to buy up big for Christmas Day.
Telegraph
Ministers and police chiefs have been warned the ban on Tier 4 Christmas visits is “unenforceable” despite stepping up patrols by officers at rail stations and on borders to stop the spread of the new mutant Covid virus. Officials from the Police Federation, who represent rank and file officers, said there were no powers to prevent people travelling or stop cars to check if motorists and their passengers were on an “unlawful” Christmas visit. The warning came as Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, condemned “totally irresponsible” Londoners who packed stations on Saturday night to flee the capital after Boris Johnson effectively cancelled Christmas for almost 16 million people in southern England.
Mail
Police say a ban on motorists in Tier 4 making Christmas visits between homes is ‘unenforceable,’ as extra officers are deployed at train stations to try and stop a new Covid superstrain from spreading. Around 16million people across London and the south east were plunged into Tier 4 on Saturday, with Boris Johnson’s announcement cancelling families’ Christmas plans. Those living in affected areas are being told to stay at home and not to travel to other areas, unless they have a legal exemption. But senior police figures say officers have little power to enforce the latest restrictions.
ITV News
Areas of London and south-east England which are under tough new Tier 4 Covid rules could be stuck under the lockdown measures until the vaccine is rolled out because the new mutant variant of coronavirus is “out of control”, the health secretary has said. From Sunday, more than 18 million people across the south-east are banned from mixing indoors and outdoors with others and retail, leisure and hospitality businesses all closed. While coronavirus cases are rising across the country, the south-east has been put under the tougher measures due to a new mutant variant of Covid-19 which scientists believe is spreading more quickly than the previous form.
New strain
Telegraph
Cases of the new mutation of Covid grew “exponentially” during the November lockdown, minutes from the Government’s Nervtag committee reveal, in papers which suggest Tier 4 measures may not be able to stop its march. Records of their meeting last Friday detail the scientific findings which led the Prime Minister to order sweeping restrictions. As well as suggesting that the new variant is 71 per cent more transmissible than the previous strain, the analysis suggests that the infectiousness could push up the R by as much as 0.93. Overall, scientists from the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) concluded that the new variant could mean “an absolute increase in the R-value of between 0.39 to 0.93”.
Mail
Scientists are racing to find out if the new mutant strain of Covid-19 is vulnerable to current vaccines as the virus threatens parts of the UK. Ministry of Defence scientists at the secretive Porton Down laboratory, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, are looking into why the new variation spreads so rapidly, why it has become dominant, and if it can be fought off through current vaccines, the Mirror reports. Batches have been dispatched to the site to undergo tests as part of a project called ‘Human Challenge’, but experts warn the process could take as long as two weeks.
BBC News
The rapid spread of a new variant of coronavirus has been blamed for the introduction of strict tier four mixing rules for millions of people, harsher restrictions on mixing at Christmas in England, Scotland and Wales, and other countries placing the UK on a travel ban. So how has it gone from being non-existent to the most common form of the virus in parts of England in a matter of months? The government’s advisers on new infections have “moderate” confidence that it is more able to transmit than other variants.
Telegraph
Italy has detected a patient infected with the new strain of coronavirus that was found in Britain, the health ministry said on Sunday night. The patient and his partner returned to Italy from the UK in the last few days on a flight that landed at Rome’s Fiumicino airport and were now in isolation, the ministry said. It came as the European Union was scrambling to unify its response to the strain that has seen countries close borders ahead of the Christmas holidays. The 27-member bloc will hold a crisis meeting on Monday in an effort to coordinate the travel restrictions and avoid the spread of the new strain, which may be up to 70 per cent more transmissible than its predecessor and may already be present in several countries.
Education
Telegraph
School closures cannot be ruled out, ministers warned on Sunday, as unions demanded a delay of up to two weeks before they opened in January. Asked to confirm plans for a staggered school opening from January 4, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said: “I’ve learnt not to rule anything out in this pandemic.” The hint of a potential backdown was echoed by a Downing Street source who said: “You can never rule anything out.” However, both Mr Hancock and Number 10 maintained that the Government still intended to press ahead plans for all children to have returned by January 11 through mass testing of pupils. “The Education Secretary (Gavin Williamson) has set out the plans for schools in January and because of testing and because we know the tests work on this new variant, we’ve got plans to keep the schools open that are essential in a way, that can stop them from transmitting the virus by using very extensive testing in schools,” Mr Hancock told Sophy Ridge on Sunday.
Mail
Matt Hancock yesterday refused to rule out keeping schools closed after the Christmas holiday in the parts of England under the toughest lockdown. Schools closed nationwide in the first lockdown, and ministers have since vowed to keep them open, saying children’s learning was suffering. But asked to guarantee schools in Tier Four areas would remain open, the Health Secretary said: ‘I’ve learned not to rule anything out in this pandemic.’ He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme: ‘The plan is not for normal opening. It’s for a staggered start in order to ensure that there’s testing so that we can isolate the children who are positive and therefore keep people safe.’
Testing
Telegraph
Nearly two million residents in Tier 4 areas were unable to access coronavirus tests on Sunday (December 20) amid a surge in demand across the South-East. No walk-in or drive-in tests in Kent were shown as available by 3pm on Sunday, a Telegraph investigation found, with residents asked to travel to London testing centres instead. It comes after fears emerged that England’s testing infrastructure could be on the brink of collapse after not a single test was available in London just hours before the city was plunged into tougher restrictions on Saturday (December 19).
And the next part of this diatribe about the constitution So why are we such a stable and successful government if we are ruled solely by the Parties.
Decency, and the playing fields of Eton.Never let the side down. Honour. Patriotism. The values that used to be taught in schools. God knows what they teach now in the effort to appear as they do now. Whatever that is . That’s all. But enough for them to do their best. ( As long as it doesn’t affect the pocket .. Hence Tax never goes down )
That is why Blaire , who attecked everything of value, always looks hunted. Other countries all over the world recogniseand attempt to get their kids into British institutions. Or even as in many countries attempt to do the same in their countries. Education is that important on so many levels unseen by most.
Words on the wind
TGS. Oddly enough, I asked myself, an hour ago, why it is that Britain has done so much better than other Countries over the last, say 3 Centuries.
I think it is partly because our Constitution has sort of grown and developed for many centuries without anything being ‘written in stone’.
As for Parties – well new Parties have sprung up. Eg.Labour, start of 20th Century, I believe. Others have changed. The Conservatives are not actually anything like the old style Tories. Liberals? Surely they’ve died!
Whether present restrictions on what a political party is allowed to do, or call itself, or how it is funded etc. Whether that is good or bad, I don’t know.
While I’m on about Civil servants and their loyalties lets look at MPs. 650 all lying ( instantly, constantly, shamelessly )pretending to represent their constituents. Nothing could be a bigger lie. Their loyalty first last and every step between is to Their party. Who finds them their job ? The Party! who places them in their constituency ? The Party. Who tells them what to say ?. Their party! .Who gets them promotion.? The head of their Party, , Who deselects them if they misbehave ?
And what is their party? A committee of themselves. What is its responsibility ? None.
And UKIP is even worse.
What hope is there ? None.
Two questions have been in my head.
1) Is Hancock actually working to frustrate a genuine Brexit. Quick search on google threw up one press report he voted Remain in the referendum. And he also supported May’s BRINO.
Of course like the snake he is he changed sides to back Boris after failing in his own bid for leadership.
2) The other question is – while there is some logic to EU preventing us exporting the new strain to them, what possible excuse is there for preventing goods coming from EU to UK?
Why did Hancock make such a big thing of the new strain?
Why have EU grabbed hold of the issue so fast?
If you’re under 60, its all b*ll*cks. If you’re over 60 go and moan to A&E not me. The only reason they’re shutting pubs is to prevent organised insurrection against the sacred Civil Service and the whole of politics.
500,000 present civil servants
minus 50.000 on street corners in every town and village centre give em a coppers helmet
minus100 000 into the armed forces with ’em..
minus 20,000 to Prison service.
Minus 200,000 Sack all non responsible committee members. Including Quango and other institution paracites.
Minus 50,000 Into teaching
Minus 30,000 to mending pot-holes
The remaining 50 000 can recite after me ” I am not the Archangel Gabriel ” .
Then advise or shut up.
TG Spokes…..how many bottles of whiskey and kippers have you had today. Exactly what is the b*ll*cks you are referring to if under 60, and indeed what is it that one would need to go to Accident and Emergency if over the age of 60. I just don’t get it. Its obviously code for something and I don’t have an Enigma machine at hand, nor is Bletchley Park just around the corner. We don’t want civil servants joining the police otherwise nothing will ever get done, and do you really want them in the Prison Service or in Teaching. Mention yet again of ‘committees’, but you held back from mentioning UKIP and its NEC, so well done for that. Why don’t you sit back and relax and have a cup of tea and a hot buttered tea cake with lashings of Scottish marmalade on it….
Waking up at daybreak every day, half way up a mountain, by a bloke playing his bagpipes.
To his sheep.
It begs the question why are you asleep half way up a mountain in the company of a piper and some sheep. I suppose it could explain a lot of things………
The EU has had to resort to mocking and insulting the UK like juveniles. That shows that they know they are now on uncertain ground and those wretched dissident Brits might just have gotten the bit between their teeth and are making a headlong break for the exit! If only we had been blessed with a strong and patriotic leader we would have been out through that stable door long ago!
The travel ban……I cant stop laughing……in a wry sort of way. I am sorry, of course, for all those who are now caught up in traffic jams or who cant get home for Christmas or wherever they were headed but…..talk about the law of unintended consequences!!!! I wonder whether Hancock or his hapless boss really had any remote idea of the chaos that this particular mutant ninja genie was going to unleash when they let him out of the COVID bottle!!!!
Happy Christmas Debbie. You have done such sterling work analysing and dissecting all the ‘news’ emanating from the MSM in all its awfulness throughout this dreadful year in order to keep all the rest of us updated with the most salient points. I can’t think of a more unwelcome task day after day than to have to sort through all the bias that personifies the MSM. I don’t think they go the press on Christmas Day do they? So put your feet up, open a bottle of something wonderful and chill out!!!
Thank you Frederica. No, no newspapers on Christmas Day but the broadcast media will be doing their thing. However, Viv has given me the day off that day – first time in four years!
And as for opening a bottle, did you know that at one time Fleet Street had the greatest number of hostelries per mile in the country? So much of journalists’ work was done in them, and I certainly can’t let my profession down! Cheers!
Enjoy!! ?
I remember the late, great Keith Waterhouse! He often referred to his ‘waterhole-workplaces’. I have many of his highly amusing and very aptly ironic cuttings pasted in my political scrapbooks. I have been politically scrapping since the early ‘90s!!!! The heap of books is now extensive!!!
That made me smile. Happy Christmas and thanks.
JF
🙂 Seasonal felicitations to you too, Julian.
You are right Frederica, if only we had a man who was willing to slay the monster they are defeated. by the way who is Heidi Hautala I’ve never heard of her what stone did she slide from under.
Happy Christmas everybody, as we used to say in the corps. Don’t let the b’stards grind you down, smile it annoys them!
Frederica. Last para. I wholeheartedly endorse this. The Nation should have been clapping the likes of Debbie and Viv, not the NHS !!
Thank you Mary. We do our best and such compliments from our readers make it all worthwhile. Merry Christmas.
The fact that “negotiations” with the EUrocrats are still going on is surely indicative of a coming stitch-up. It has been clear for a long time that the EU is after maintaining the maximum possible level of control over us. Boris, by his continuing procrastination, must surely be in on the plot.
Including stitching us into the horrendous EU Criminal Code with the abominable EAW unreformed, and well on the way to giving EU full control of our military security.
Then the UN Global Migration Compact is a time bomb also waiting to go off…….
‘Oh surely not!’ That can’t be right , dinghies are still arriving in Dover apparently so the borders can’t be closed 🙂
It’s OK their occupants won’t be returning to spread the Hancock Variant to the EU and kill Grandmère.
So France has closed its borders to our lorries, ostensibly because of the new Covid variant. This is not part of the Brexit negotiating tactics, is it? They wouldn’t do that just to punish us for failing to give them our fish, would they? Naahh …..?
Oh yes they would……
Presumably those lorries are also French, German and Italian and so on and so forth, which will also be the case for those returning to the continent. Couldn’t we use the opportunity and just load the French lorries up with the illegal English Channel migrants and their dinghies whilst waiting on the M 20 to return to France. A bit of lateral thinking needs to be applied here, but then we are talking about Boris Johnson and co…….
Colin. It’s not Bojo and co. It’s bl**dy Hancock. By publicising the new variant at that moment, making such a big thing of it, he has given EU a new stick to beat us.
And it seems to have worked. Apparently today Tuesday we are to give away more of our fish!
Good idea to ship all those illegal migrants back in the wagons. Like it.