Northern Ireland 

Mail
Boris Johnson could be just weeks away from ripping up the UK’s post-Brexit agreement with the EU over Northern Ireland to avoid an eruption of violence in the province’s summer marching season.
Brexit Minister Lord Frost signals in the Mail on Sunday that if Brussels continues to insist on checks on goods arriving from the UK mainland, the Government could trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol to suspend the checks.
No 10 fears that unless it takes such action, unionist violence could flare during the July marching season in protest at an effective barrier down the Irish Sea.
Urging Brussels to ‘stop the point-scoring and work with us’, Lord Frost says the UK’s ‘European friends’ did not appear to share our desire for ‘free trade and friendly relations’. 
He writes: ‘From the unfortunate attempt to put a hard border on the island of Ireland for vaccine exports, to the threats to cut off electricity to Jersey or to retaliate against our financial services, we haven’t always heard much enthusiasm to make things work.’
Lord Frost says he saw the problems caused by EU checks at Belfast’s Arcadia delicatessen, writing: ‘Its shoppers have always been able to choose from a variety of goods… artisan jams, to pork pies, to Norfolk sausages, from all over the UK.’
But he warns suppliers in the rest of the UK are stopping deliveries to such stores as it is ‘too difficult and too time-consuming to deal with the paperwork’, leaving ‘less choice for Northern Ireland consumers than in the rest of the UK’.

Telegraph
The Northern Ireland Protocol is “dead in the water”, a senior ally of Boris Johnson has said as the Government gave the European Union two months to make the system work.
Ministers are increasingly worried about the way that the European Union is enforcing checks when goods move from Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
There are fears among senior figures that unless the EU eases checks in time for when the marching season reaches its peak on July 12, tensions could flare.
A Government source said: “The marching season is a date whereby you would want to have a material improvement in what is happening.
“We need a bit of movement by then because that is when we risk seeing the kind of disruption and the protests that we had recently.” 
The terms of the Protocol, signed as part of the UK’s exit from the European Union, are designed to stop goods originating from Great Britain passing into the Republic of Ireland without any checks.
However the UK Government estimates the EU is carrying out 20 per cent of all its external border checks at the so-called ‘sea border’ in the Irish Sea. 

Trade 

Express
BRITAIN will this week kick off “next generation” trade talks with Canada and Mexico in a bid to unlock new opportunities for growth.
International Trade Secretary Liz Truss will start the process of securing new deals in pursuit of a “bright future beyond Covid”. The UK wants to build on existing arrangements with these countries to “harness the digital revolution, boost innovation and turbocharge our pursuit of green growth”.
The effort comes on the heels of starting work on a trade deal with India with the goal of doubling the value of trade – worth around £23billion in 2019 – by the end of the decade.
Ms Truss says a trade deal with Australia is “now in sight” and it is hoped it will be agreed in the coming weeks.
She said: “It will be our first ‘from scratch’ deal outside the EU, supporting jobs across the country by helping businesses export more of their brilliant goods and services, and will boost ties with a friend and ally that shares our values and beliefs.”
The UK is also preparing to start negotiations to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Ms Truss said: “We will be the first non-founding member to join this high-standards pact, opening a huge gateway for UK businesses to 11 vibrant Pacific markets.” 

Indian variant 

BBC News
No 10 has defended its decision not to ban travel from India sooner, amid concern that the coronavirus variant first discovered there is now spreading quickly in parts of the UK.
India was reporting more than 100,000 cases a day by 5 April, but was not added to the red list until 23 April.
The government said the UK has “some of the toughest border measures”.
It comes after the British Medical Association raised concerns about Monday’s relaxation of Covid rules.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Friday that the B.1.617.2 Indian variant could pose “serious disruption” to the final stage of lockdown easing in England on 21 June – but insisted Monday’s easing would go ahead as planned.
Scientists advising the government are confident the Indian variant spreads more easily, with cases of it nearly tripling to 1,313 in the past week in England.
Asked why the borders were not closed sooner, a government spokesman told the BBC: “We took precautionary action to ban travel from India on 23 April, six days before this variant was put under investigation and two weeks before it was labelled as of concern.
“Prior to India being placed on the red list in April anyone coming to the UK had to test negative and quarantine for 10 days.”
By the time the travel ban came into force, daily Covid cases in India had risen above 330,000.  

Mail
Boris Johnson has today pledged to increase the speed of Britain’s vaccine rollout to a million jabs a day in an attempt to beat the increasing prevalence of the Indian variant of the virus amid fears it could derail the country’s exit from lockdown. 
Growing questions are also being asked about the failure to make people arriving into the country from India quarantine earlier, after it emerged the government failed to put India on the ‘red list’ even though infection rates were nearly 50 times higher among arrivals from the country than the rest of the UK. 
Of the 3,345 people touching down in Britain from India between March 25 and April 7, some 4.8% tested positive for Covid, compared to just 0.1 per cent of people in England, Public Health England data shows.  
It is the latest statistic to be brandished at the Prime Minister, with pressure growing over his decision to delay banning travel from the Asian nation until late April, even though flights to and from neighbouring Pakistan and Bangladesh were restricted two weeks earlier. 
Meanwhile, it was also claimed today upwards of 20,000 passengers who may have been carrying a virulent strain were given the green light to enter the country without quarantine as Mr Johnson put off enforcing a travel ban.
Fears are growing that the Indian variant of coronavirus is up to 50% more infectious than the Kent strain, which would mean it could spread widely enough through the younger unvaccinated members of the population that it could still serious third wave despite the success of the vaccine drive. 
Ministers are hoping to accelerate the vaccine drive because the jab is still effective against the Indian variant and wider levels of vaccination could halt its spread, but as it stands lockdown restrictions will still be eased further on Monday. 
Critics have this weekend branded the delay to closing the borders ‘reckless, misguided and dangerous’ with 122 cases of the rapidly-spreading variant already entering the UK by the time India was finally added to the red list. 

Sun
MORE than 20,000 passengers who may have been infected with a powerful new Covid strain arrived from India as Boris Johnson delayed imposing a travel ban. 
The country was not added to the red list until April 23 – almost a month after the variant was first detected in the UK. 
The PM on Thursday warned that the planned easing of lockdown restrictions on June 21 could be delayed amid fears of a new wave of infection sparked by the strain.
The variant, named B.1.617.2, is thought to be more transmissible than the Kent strain that drove the UK’s devastating second wave of infections in January – though scientists do not believe it is resistant to vaccines. 
Senior government sources told the Sunday Times that Brits could face an agonising wait to know whether Step Four of lockdown easing could go ahead. 
The insider suggested the decision may not be made until “a week before” the planned unlocking – plunging music festivals, summer holidays and other large-scale events into uncertainty.  

Telegraph
The Government wants to vaccinate as many as one million people a day as part of a drive to beat the Indian variant of Covid-19 and save the British summer, The Telegraph can disclose.
As a first step, ministers have told MPs they “safely” expect to increase daily doses from 500,000 to 800,000 within a fortnight, by drawing on a stockpile of 3.2 million doses.
Government insiders hope this daily run-rate could be further increased, with the possibility of reaching a peak of around one million during some days over the summer.
A further boost to the vaccination push could come this week when MHRA, the medicines regulator, is expected to give the green light for Johnson & Johnson’s single dose Janssen vaccine.
On Saturday night there were fears that the Government’s decision to bring forward second doses for over-50s could impact younger people, with the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) warning they might have to wait “a while longer”.
But ministers hope to keep daily doses at “800,000 and above”, putting the possibility of hitting one million first and second jabs a day in sight. 

France 

Express
MICHEL Barnier’s hopes of replacing Emmanuel Macron as the next President of France have been dismissed by a leading French political journal, which questioned whether voters know who he is.
The EU’s former Brexit negotiator was rarely out of the headlines in the UK as he locked horns with Lord Frost during post-Brexit trade negotiations. Since stepping down as head of the UK Task Force, Mr Barnier has written a book about the protracted and fraught talks between the EU and the UK. Billed as a “secret Brexit diary”, the 500-paged ‘La Grande Illusion’ gives a behind-the-scenes insight into the negotiations that led to a trade deal last Christmas.
The 70-year-old ex-EU commissioner has also hinted at a political career post-Brexit, declaring that he would be an “actor in this presidential debate.”
It is thought that Mr Barnier is seeking the endorsement of the centre-right Republican Party to run as a presidential candidate in next year’s elections.
To that effect, he has created a parliamentary group called Patriot and European for Republican MPs. 

EU 

Express
THE EUROPEAN UNION was under threat after a political commentator warned Sweden’s “mourning” for the UK over Brexit “could quickly morph” into the country’s own divorce from Brussels.
Tensions inside the bloc continue to grow, despite Brussels now appearing to have its vaccine rollout more under control. Statistics for May shows that more than 20 percent of the population of member states had now received a vaccine, with Malta leading the way with half of its citizens having the jab. Yet, this has not stopped a rise in euroscepticism throughout the EU, with the memories of the European Commission – led by President Ursula von der Leyen – and its handling of the pandemic still fresh in some people’s minds.
The rollout threatened diplomatic ties with nations such as the UK and Australia, as a row over whether vaccines made inside the bloc should be released before member states had received their share of the jab. 

Israel 

Mail
Israel last night targeted the home of a top Hamas leader, as its president vowed to continue the launching of airstrikes on Gaza. 
As the crisis in the Middle East deepened, and with rocket strikes having now taken place for almost a week, Israeli military chiefs last night ordered a missile strike on the home of Yehiyeh Sinwar. 
Sinwar, whose home was in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza Strip, is the most senior Hamas leader inside the territory. The Israeli military also launched a strike on the home of his brother.
It comes as the UN Security Council – the UN body charged with ensuring international peace and security – is set to meet today to discuss the conflict.The meeting will be public and is thought will include both Israeli and Palestinian participants, according to the Associated Free Press (AFP). 
It also comes as the White House warned Israel that journalists’ lives are ‘paramount’ after the owner of a Gaza tower block housing international news media was given one-hour to evacuate it, before it was destroyed by an IDF air strike.
Israel pounded Gaza with air strikes into the early hours of Sunday, with the destruction of the 12-storey building that housed the U.S. Associated Press and Qatar-based Al Jazeera media operations drawing international rebuke. 
The United States told Israel ‘that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility,’ White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Saturday.
U.S. President Joe Biden later spoke to both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in an effort to restore calm.
However Mr Netanyahu and Hamas leaders have both insisted they would pursue their campaigns, leaving no end to the hostilities in sight.
‘The party that bears the guilt for this confrontation is not us, it’s those attacking us,’ Netanyahu said in a televised speech.
‘We are still in the midst of this operation, it is still not over and this operation will continue as long as necessary.’    

Telegraph
Israel bombed the home of Hamas’s chief in Gaza early on Sunday and the Islamist group fired rocket barrages at Tel Aviv as hostilities stretched into a seventh day with no sign of abating.
At least four Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes across the coastal enclave, health officials said, and many were injured as the sounds of heavy bombardment roared through the night.
Israelis dashed for bomb shelters as sirens warning of incoming rocket fire blared in Tel Aviv and the southern city of Beersheba. Around 10 people were injured while running for shelters, medics said.
At least 149 have been killed in Gaza since the violence began on Monday, including 41 children, health officials said. Israel has reported 10 dead, including two children.
Envoys from the United States, United Nations and Egypt were working to restore calm but have yet to show any signs of progress. 
The UN Security Council is due to meet later on Sunday to discuss the worst outbreak of Israeli-Palestinian violence in years. 

Times
Israel blew up the Gaza offices of international news organisations in a spectacular air raid yesterday as its offensive against the tightly populated Palestinian enclave showed no sign of relenting.
The tower block — used by America’s Associated Press news agency, the Middle Eastern broadcaster Al Jazeera and other organisations reporting on the week-long conflict — was destroyed.
Although nobody was killed, the attack on the building, which towered over other blocks in Gaza City and bristled with television masts, drew an immediate reaction from the White House.
“We have communicated directly to the Israelis that ensuring the safety and security of journalists and independent media is a paramount responsibility,” the White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted. 

The City 

Telegraph
Britain is drawing up plans to axe swathes of pre-Brexit financial rules after giving up hope that Brussels will grant the City widespread access to the Single Market, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
The Treasury has begun scrutinising the whole suite of finance regulations which were kept in British law after our departure from the European Union, with a view to weeding out cumbersome red tape and enhancing London’s role as a global trading hub.
It comes amid growing acceptance in the Government that Brussels is not prepared to offer market access to enough UK financial industries to make sticking closely to its regulations worthwhile.
The European Commission has demanded details of Britain’s plans to diverge from EU rules before it considers granting access through a system called equivalence, which can be unilaterally withdrawn with as little as 30 days notice in some cases.
However, senior figures in Brussels are suspected of seeking to stall the equivalence process in a bid to steal business from London or extract concessions in other areas.
One Whitehall source said that a bare-bones deal on finance has now been priced in, and ministers believe that the City is fully prepared for it.
The source said: “The situation was always going to be that we weren’t locked into their evolving rulebook. It was always going to be thin.”
While a number of significant reforms are likely, the Treasury remains of the view that there should not be divergence for its own sake.
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, offered equivalence to EU firms in a slew of areas last November but there was no reciprocal move from Brussels.
He is now eyeing a number of changes to maintain the City’s attractiveness post-Brexit and will give a major speech later this summer, most likely in July. This is likely to include a reduction of the bank corporation tax surcharge, which is set at 8pc and applies to all banks with annual profits of over £25m.
Brussels has warned it is in no hurry to begin considering whether or not to grant equivalence, with a decision not expected before the middle of the year at the earliest. It is widely suspected to be going slow on access to encourage more businesses to shift offices to the Continent.  

‘Ladies’ 

Telegraph
Public buildings will have to have separate ‘ladies’ and ‘gents’ lavatories in the future in a blow for campaigners who want more gender-neutral facilities.
Robert Jenrick, the Communities secretary, is to amend building regulations and planning guidance to ensure separate ‘ladies’ and ‘gents’ facilities are installed in new buildings or those being developed, the Telegraph can disclose.
Buildings which already had unisex lavatories, which are shared by men and women, also face having to install partitions to ensure the privacy of the occupants is “fully respected”, sources said.
Mr Jenrick’s department launched a review last November to “ensure better provision of toilets for women and men”.
That came after an outcry over the way that companies and authorities had ripped out male and female lavatories and replaced them with gender neutral ones.
Evidence has shown that women face increasing difficulties accessing single-sex lavatories because many have been converted into “gender neutral” ones.
The Home Office installed gender-neutral lavatories in 2018.
The BBC has gender-neutral lavatories in all of its buildings, in addition to lavatories for men and women. Channel 4 installed gender neutral facilities in 2017.
The changes will apply to new buildings or existing buildings, such as offices, shops and entertainment venues, as well as publicly funded buildings such as hospitals, undergoing major refurbishment when building regulation consent is required for the works.

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