Fisheries
Express
UK fishermen are demanding “answers” from Boris Johnson and his UK Government over the endless Brexit red tape they claim they are having to fight through to make ends meet, with one rival MP fuming the industry has felt “used” by ministers.
Under the Brexit trade deal agreed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the European Union‘s share of the catch from British waters will fall by 25 percent in stages over the next five years. Following the end of that fishing transition period in June 2026, both sides will hold talks annually to discuss access. But UK fishermen have complained of having to desperately fight their way through endless bureaucratic red tape that has smothered them in the six months since the trade deal was agreed.
Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP for major coastal constituency Orkney and Shetland, has issued a “call for evidence” ahead of a parliamentary debate he is leading on the impact of Brexit on the fishing industry on July 13.
He will present a wide range of concerns and challenges raised by fishermen, processors and exporters since the new fishing deal came into effect.
But Mr Carmichael has launched a furious attack against the Government over their treatment of the UK fishing industry since the country severed all ties with the EU.
In a firm warning, he told Express.co.uk: “The material I have from the fishing industry illustrates a comprehensive failure from the Government.
Divorce bill
Mail
Britain and the EU clashed today over Brussels’ demand for a Brexit ‘divorce payment’ than is billions of pounds more than the UK is willing to pay.
Downing Street rejected a new net figure that emerged in Brussels’ latest accounts of 47.5 billion euros (£40.8 billion).
No 10 insisted the figure Britain owes remains within the range of its previous estimates of between £35 billion and £39 billion.
Downing Street said it does not accept the revised sum, but the EU insisted that the figure was ‘final’, setting up a potentially combustable legal battle over the cost of Brexit.
The bill, buried in the EU’s accounts for 2020, states that 6.8 billion euros (£5.8 billion) is to be paid by the UK this year.
Telegraph
Britain and Brussels are back at loggerheads as a fresh row emerges over the size of the Brexit divorce bill.
European Union accounts put the new net figure for the financial settlement as £40.8 billion, at least £1.8bn more than the highest UK estimate for the payments.
Downing Street rejected the figure on Friday and doubled down on its previous estimates of between £35 billion and £39 billion. More details would be presented to Parliament in the near future, it said
The dispute comes hot on the heels of a string of clashes since the UK left the Single Market and Customs Union at the end of last year.
The UK and European Commission have fought over vaccine supplies, Northern Ireland, fishing rights and come close to triggering a trade war over sausages.
Both sides agreed a method for calculating what was owed by the UK after 47 years of membership but did not settle on an exact figure in the Brexit negotiations.
Similar stories can be read in the Guardian, Express
Northern Ireland
Independent
The UK government does not regard the Northern Ireland protocol it agreed with the EU as part of Boris Johnson’s withdrawal deal as “definitive”, Brexit minister David Frost has said.
Despite the protocol forming part of an international treaty signed by the UK, Lord Frost said it was not “reasonable” to regard its text as the final word on arrangements for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
In comments that will be seen as deeply ironic in the light of the government’s implementation of Brexit on the back of a 52/48 vote, the PM’s senior negotiator argued that the protocol was difficult to operate because it enjoyed only 50/50 support among the Northern Irish public.
He told the Northern Ireland Assembly that “a broader level of consent” was needed to make such fundamental changes work.
Giving evidence to Stormont’s Executive Office Committee, Lord Frost acknowledged that the deal that he negotiated and Mr Johnson agreed in 2019 has had a “chilling effect” on British exports to Northern Ireland and prompted a shift in supply chains towards the Republic of Ireland.
Express
BREXIT minister Lord David Frost has claimed Theresa May left Downing Street with severe difficulties over the UK’s departure from the EU.
Speaking to the Northern Ireland Assembly today, Lord Frost claimed the Government had “inherited” difficulties from Mrs May’s deal. Such is the chaos caused to Northern Irish businesses, DUP member Christopher Stalford claimed Lord Frost had inherited a “dog’s breakfast” of a deal. Mr Salford also added: “You’ve been left to clean up the mess haven’t you?”
In response, Lord Frost claimed the Government had been left with elements of the withdrawal agreement which have done the UK harm.
He said today: “We intend to implement what we signed up to but it’s the fact of implementation that’s causing the problem.
“I would say that it was the inheritance that we inherited from the previous Government and from the previous negotiating team that has been a significant part of the difficulty and the reason the Protocol is shaped as it is is because we had a particular inheritance from the previous team who could not get their deal, rightly in my view, through Parliament.
“Unfortunately we were not able to go back to scratch and do things in a different way and I think the previous team are to a very large degree responsible for some of the infelicities in this Protocol and the Withdrawal Agreement that we might be better without but unfortunately we are where we are.”
Mirror
Tory Brexit chief Lord Frost has blamed chaos in Northern Ireland on his predecessors under Theresa May.
The Conservative peer and Brexit minister was grilled in person by assembly members on Stormont’s Executive Office Committee, which is scrutinising issues arising from Brexit, on Friday.
Lord Frost argued that the problems with the post-Brexit agreement that has caused a trade barrier in the Irish Sea are largely down to the EU’s implementation of the deal he helped broker.
But he argued that the Protocol could have been better negotiated if it were not for the work done by the team of Boris Johnson’s predecessor as prime minister.
DUP member Christopher Stalford quoted Mrs May’s former chief of staff, Lord Barwell, who has claimed the Mr Johnson’s Government “knew it was a bad deal” but intended to “wriggle out of it later”.
Mr Stalford said that Lord Frost had inherited “a dog’s breakfast of a deal, adding: “You’ve been left to clean up the mess haven’t you?”
Lord Frost responded: “We intend to implement what we signed up to but it’s the fact of implementation that’s causing the problem.
“I would say that it was the inheritance that we inherited from the previous Government and from the previous negotiating team that has been a significant part of the difficulty and the reason the Protocol is shaped as it is is because we had a particular inheritance from the previous team who could not get their deal, rightly in my view, through Parliament.”
Trade
Mail
Exports to the European Union have bounced back following a slump in trade after Brexit.
Britain sold £14.2billion of goods to the bloc in May, a rise of £1.1billion or 8.8 per cent since April, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics.
The May haul was the biggest since October 2019 and followed a sharp fall in trade after the UK finally left the EU at the end of 2020. In January, goods exports to the EU fell to £7.9billion.
But the recovery makes a mockery of claims that Brexit has done irreparable damage to British exporters.
Exports of goods to the rest of the world were also up 5.5 per cent to £15.2billion, the highest level since January 2020.
However, imports from the EU to Britain totalled £18.5billion. While that was the most this year, it was still well below pre-pandemic and pre-Brexit levels and less than the £19.4billion of goods shipped in from the rest of the world.
Britain typically imported more than half of its goods from the EU until January this year when new barriers to cross-border trade went up as a result of Brexit.
A separate report from the ONS showed a global shortage of microchips has hit car production in the UK and held back the recovery from the coronavirus recession.
The ONS said output in the ‘manufacture of transport equipment’ tumbled by 16.5 per cent in May – the biggest fall since April last year when the first lockdown hammered business.
Express
BREXIT has been vindicated as the UK begins to strike several huge technology deals to cement its position as a global leader without the “political interference” of the EU, Chair of the Parliamentary Space Committee David Morris has told Express.co.uk.This week, the owner of Vauxhall, Stellantis, confirmed its commitment to Brexit Britain by unveiling plans to build electric cars and vans at its Ellesmere Port factory. It came after Nissan announced a major expansion of battery production in Sunderland creating thousands of new jobs both directly and in the supply chain. In a further boost, BT has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with OneWeb, the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband constellation backed by the Government to provide “global” Internet coverage.
And Mr Morris, who is also MP for Morecambe and Lunesdale, says the UK should be “very proud of itself” and dubbed the breakthroughs as “encouraging” signs.
He added: “The whole point of the Huawei debate was because we wanted to take control of our own security and Internet.
“It’s all about maintaining our global position now, as well as independence.”
The deal with OneWeb comes after the EU chucked the UK out of its Galileo programme.
EU
Express
GERMAN car manufacturers have been spared fines of £1.1billion by the European Commission related a second emissions scandal – with a pro-Brexit think tank asking whether Britain would have been afforded the same preferential treatment had it remained in the bloc.
Facts4EU highlighted the eyebrow-raising decision in a report published on its website in which it accused the Commission of “letting Germany off the hook”. The report pointed out the legal case launched by the Commission was separate from the diesel emissions scandal whereby some German car companies allegedly falsified the emissions data for their new diesel cars.
Instead it relates to “car manufacturers illegally colluded to restrict competition in the area of emission cleaning technology for diesel cars”, according to a statement published by the Commission yesterday.
The statement adds: “All companies acknowledged their participation in the cartel and agreed to settle the case.
Express
BRUSSELS boss Ursula von der Leyen will support Italy on Sunday in the Euro 2020 final against England.
The European Commission President’s chief spokesman confirmed she would be backing the Azzurri in the crunch tie. He boasted: “Her heart is with the Squadra Azzurra, so she will be supporting Italy on Sunday.” Mrs von der Leyen’s support for Italy is in no small part down to Brexit, with her keen to see one of the EU’s member states clinch the title.
Her homeland, Germany, were knocked out of the European Championships by England in the earlier stages.
EU officials have a long tradition of supporting their member states in sporting competitions.
The European Commission claimed victory for the EU in the 2018 World Cup after four of its nations – including departing England – reached the semi-finals.
“Football is staying home in the European Union,” proclaimed Jean-Claude Juncker’s former spokesman Margaritis Schinas at the time.
Illegal immigrants
Breitbart
French Migrant transport NGO SOS Mediterranee demanded port access to drop off 572 migrants, claiming that food supplies are running low aboard the vessel.
The NGO wrote on Twitter that their ship, the Ocean Viking, required access to a port to drop off the hundreds of migrants the NGO had picked up in the Mediterranean Sea.
“On the aft deck of the Ocean Viking, 572 survivors are in urgent need of a place of safety to disembark. We will run out of prepacked food rations in a couple of days,” the NGO stated on Tuesday.
The Italian state acceded to the demands on Thursday and opened the port of Augusta, Sicily to the migrant taxi. Disembarkation began on Friday.
According to a report from the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants, the NGO picked up the migrants in nine separate missions and has been searching for a port to land their vessel since earlier this week.
The website claims that the migrants on board are largely from Egypt, Gambia, Libya, South Sudan, and Syria but noted that migrants of other nationalities could be on the vessel.
SOS Mediterranee’s rescue coordinator Luisa Albera, meanwhile, had stated that they expected food rations aboard the ship to be depleted by as early as Friday, and fights have already broken out among the migrants on the ship.
Covid
Mail
Britons will need Covid certificates to enter pubs, bars, restaurants and clubs under plans to stop a fourth wave of the virus in the autumn.
Experts hope the move will boost the stalling vaccination rates among young people and stave off another surge in cases.
The proposals would see entertainment venues in England demanding vaccination passports as proof of either two doses or a recent negative test.
The Government’s certification review release earlier in the week said although the so-called vaccine passports would not be mandated now, it did not rule out the prospect if England faces ‘a difficult situation in autumn or winter’.
It comes amid a reduction in the vaccine take-up, with first doses halving in two weeks as numbers drop below 100,000 a day for the first time since April.
Sun
PUNTERS may need to present Covid vaccine certificates to enter bars and restaurants after summer amid fears of a fourth wave.
The Government shelved plans for jab passports to be compulsory when the country unlocks on Freedom Day – but refused to rule out the need for them in the future if cases spiral.
Ministers scrapped plans to make the use of certification to gain entry to some public spaces into law from July 19 as it would have been unfair on youngsters yet to have their second dose.
A No10 review of the proposed mandate also shined a light on the “burden” it would cause businesses hard-hit by months of lockdown.
But while Boris Johnson announced that jab passports will not be needed when Covid restrictions are lifted this month, No10 has hinted they made be used in coming months.
Similar stories can be read in the Mirror, Times, Evening Standard
Mail
One cup of coffee a day cuts the risk of falling ill with Covid-19 by around a tenth, according to a major study.
US scientists, who analysed the records of 40,000 British adults, think the drink protects against the virus.
They believe it contains health-boosting plant chemicals that may turbocharge the immune system.
A daily portion of vegetables has a similar effect, the study added.
But tea and fruit does not seem to help, while a diet heavy in processed meats – such as sausages and bacon – increases the chances of becoming severely ill.
The results were published in the journal Nutrients.
NHS
Independent
NHS emergency services are bracing for a flood of call-outs this weekend as England prepares to take on Italy in the Euro 2020 final in the middle of a summer crisis for hospitals.
The Independent has learned that patients have been forced to queue for up to an hour outside one A&E department, with some waiting up to 20 hours for a bed earlier this week.
In Scotland, call volumes to the NHS 24 telephone helpline are up to 60 per cent higher than a year ago, with waiting times of up to 90 minutes to get through.
Meanwhile, rising pressure on England’s NHS 111 system has been blamed on a decision by NHS England to scrap a dedicated Covid telephone assessment service as cases began rising across England.
The South East Coast Ambulance Service has declared a “black alert” this week along with four other ambulance services in England, and is preparing for an increase in calls this weekend to coincide with the Euros final at Wembley.
After England’s semi-final win, the service saw a 50 per cent spike in ambulance call-outs in the hour after the match, compared to the hour before.
BBC News
Ministers are considering exempting fully vaccinated NHS staff in England from having to self-isolate if they are traced as a Covid contact.
Health bosses have been urging the government to change the rules amid fears of staff shortages.
Sources said no decision had been taken and ministers wanted to see evidence the move would be safe.
If it goes ahead, self-isolation would be replaced with daily tests from 19 July, when wider curbs are eased.
The idea echoes a similar policy that would apply to all fully vaccinated people and children in England from 16 August.
Freedom Day
Guardian
Boris Johnson is expected on Monday to urge the public to behave responsibly as he confirms plans for the 19 July reopening in England amid government jitters about the risks of the big-bang approach.
The final decision about 19 July will be taken on Monday morning, based on modelling from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) about Covid cases and pressures on the NHS.
The prime minister still believes it is “now or never”, with a later reopening potentially posing even higher risks as cases could peak as children return to school and winter looms.
Two Whitehall sources told the Guardian that ministers had been spooked by internal polling. One said the data showed just 10% of the public support the policy of scrapping all restrictions at once, while another said substantially more people believed the government was moving too quickly than at the last reopening step on 17 May. These accounts were denied by No 10.
A cabinet minister said the health secretary Sajid Javid’s admission that there could be 100,000 new Covid cases a day over the summer had raised eyebrows among some colleagues. Medical advisers were fighting a rearguard action to slow down the reopening plan, they added.
Breitbart
A combined 79 per cent of Britons have admitted that they feel some level of nervousness about the end of lockdown this month, in another poll pointing to Britons living in a state of fear over the Chinese coronavirus.
The YouGov poll taken on Thursday found that more than one in five — 21 per cent — said they felt “very nervous” about COVID-19 restrictions lifting. A further 34 per cent felt “fairly nervous” and 24 per cent “not very nervous”, making a combined 79 per cent expressing some form of nerves over the end of lockdown. Just 21 per cent said they were “not nervous at all” (with two per cent responding “don’t know”).
The figures come in a week of similar surveys by the polling company finding Britons reluctant to see the end of restrictions. A survey from Tuesday found that more than eight in ten Britons would choose to continue wearing a mask if they were not mandatory today.
An excellent blog post I read today:
Imagine a depopulation plan so diabolical and so perfect, you could literally pull it off without 90% of the herd even knowing what was going on. Or even better, get the herd to ignore their own fate and actively participate in it. You are watching it in real time right now.
Bang on Lisa, the privileged sleepy joe traitor politicians are happy to have an easy life by letting the Commies walk in and dictate our future.
OMG Debbie how do you do it! Trawling through all this stuff makes me queasy ….and that’s after you have ‘potted’ it into order111
The thought that the Nation is waiting with bated breath to be told by he PM to behave responsibly on ‘Freedom Day’ is ludicrous! Especially as they are now trying to say that the repudiation of COVID passports will not necessarily be the final word and they may still implement them at a later date! The war is clearly not over by a long chalk!!!
No wonder they all want to keep COVID going as long as possible….with all the things piling up that are going wrong with Britain under Johnson’s watch it must be giving the government nightmares! Fishing; the Brexit bill for separation and the Northern Ireland Protocol would be enough to sink most administrations if only there was a half credible opposition!
Get Britain Out have sent me an email about the EU’s Divorce Bill demand. I’m sure all you clever people can find their post and it’s worth reading.
It’s headed More and More EU Demands.
I too was on their mailing list . They do some good stuff as far as I can see but then I got an email from them saying “One of Brexit’s biggest triumphs is the successful vaccine rollout.”
For one thing we haven’t got Brexit if you look at the following criteria at least ; military autonomy,, control of laws and borders, , plus we’ll be paying a big divorce bill for no good reason. I think also we’re still liable for a hefty sum if say EU banks fail?
Then they may have made a success of the logistics and “marketing” of the vaccine , even if it meant every dirty criminal trick in the book. But you can hardly say it will have been a success in the sense that it was a Good Thing.
PS ( to my comment answering Pauline B ):
Yes sure I would describe the vaccine rollout as a” successful operation”…. by a huge extremely sophisticated international crime ring !!!!!!!!
But-er-didnt we agree to giving up our rights of Habeas Corpus etc , re EU Arrest Warrant for example, to that mafia’s middleman the EU : because, as the politicians say, we need to cooperate with them in order to tackle ….international crime !!!!!! Don’t you see the
irony ????
THINK ABOUT IT !!!!!!!
BTW here’s Amazing Polly showing the vast network involved as she often does. The sophisticated planning for years that has gone into the whole agenda is staggering. Not least the very subtle psy-op’ing of the public that has gone on for years.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/8QClDbzxpt22/
mary. I don’t GIVE any MONEY to ‘Get Britain Out’.
I also received the mail about the vaccine rollout. Some of the rest of what you say I agree with.
But I see NO REASON to UN-SUBSCRIBE from Get Britain Out.
Some of their articles are of interest to me and may be of interest to others on here.
you’re right. why throw out the baby with the bathwater. I just suspect they’re largely Tories trying to make the party look good, which means you have to read it particularly critically.
Another excellent film by Zachary Denman about the Freedom March in London that the MSM somehow ‘missed’.
Ceri. MSM have clearly all gone blind. Just the opening picture proves that!
“A combined 79 per cent of Britons have admitted that they feel some level of nervousness about the end of lockdown this month.”
Yeah, yeah. Does anyone else here know anyone, or anyone who knows anyone, that feels like this? I don’t, and in my village we have not yet had a single case nor spurious case (positive test) that I am aware of; and word gets around in a small village. And the way people rip-off their masks as they clear the steps out of the village shop, speaks volumes.
So apart from the brief forays into the shop, and the mostly bemasked children queuing for the school bus poor souls (no wonder children’s respiratory illnesses are sky-rocketing as predicted), you would never know from here that there was a pandemic. Mind you there is one masked lady who jumps off the pavement, like a startled rabbit, as you approach. I am guessing she still watches the BBC.
Thanks Phil. It really would be L.O.L. if only . . . ..
That 79 per cent was presumably from a ‘poll’. We all know about ‘lies damn lies etc.’.
One of the proper jobs of the media, I suppose, is to hold TPTB ‘to account’. To criticise them and expose corruption and the like. However, I’m sure there are also safeguards within our legal systems that should prevent the media propagating lies and propaganda.
Two days ago in Thursday’s News Review (Independent) we were told that there was a huge new surge in Covid infections from the Delta variant, just as Freedom Day is approaching (well fancy that, what a surprise !).
By trying to cancel Freedom Day with that scare story, it is made clear clear that the vaccines aren’t much good. They can’t be much good if they’re beaten by a Delta variant almost identical to the original Covid-19 virus.
But in today’s News Review we learn that there will soon be vaccine passports for pubs anyway. Why should there be, if the vaccines aren’t much good? It makes you wonder if they really are vaccines at all. Or if they are something else altogether.
Could be Ralph, like Big Pharma’s bid for Global Control for instance.
On the other hand it might just be a symptom of BJ and co dithering, vacillating etc., being spineless.
The new Brexit bill is £40.8bn. too high.
Not ‘arf Jim R. Is there any way, even now that we can get out of it? Repudiate the whole W.A. for instance?