Fisheries
Breitbart
The French have threatened to cut off energy supplies and even potentially blockade supply routes into Britain during the Christmas season in response to a spat over post-Brexit fishing access in UK waters.
French fishermen have said that they intend to enact blockades of the English Channel tunnel and the port of Calais to block supplies coming from continental Europe into Britain if the UK does not give in to their demands on fishing access.
“If negotiating fails, we will stop all French and European products reaching the UK, and we will stop all British products reaching Europe. Unless Boris backs down, the Brits will not have so many nice things to eat this Christmas. I hope it doesn’t come to that,” the head of the northern France fisheries committee, Olivier Lepretre, said per The Times.
The French government has also said it will seek to impose restrictions on energy trade after the majority of small French fishing vessels were denied access to operate in inner-British waters.
French Europe Minister Clément Beaune said: “The UK depends on our energy exports, they think they can live alone while also beating up on Europe and, given that it doesn’t work, they engage in aggressive one-upmanship.”
It is estimated that around 47 per cent of energy imports come from France and with energy shortages already being witnessed accross the country, the consequences of a cut from the French could have serious consequences for the lives of ordinary Britons.
Other media reporting the French threat include Mail, Times, UK News,
Illegal migrants
Telegraph
British border guards could be stopped from checking for migrant stowaways in France unless London backs down in its Brexit fish war with Paris, it has been warned.
Jean-Pierre Pont, MP for the Pas-de-Calais county, said the Touquet treaty could be revoked because the French government had to go “all the way” to stop its fishermen taking “the law into their own hands”.
The 2003 treaty effectively moved the British border on to French soil. It prevents many migrants from reaching UK shores, where they can claim asylum, and stops them in France. Either side can revoke the border treaty but there is a two-year period before it can be cancelled.
Mr Pont, an MP for Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche party said: “As for Le Touquet, I think it could go as far as threatening to revoke it.”
“They are all furious and prepared to do everything to get the Brexit accords respected,” Mr Pont added after attending virtual talks with Annick Giradin, the minister of the seas and Clement Beaune, France’s Europe minister.
The Express also has the story.
Article 16
Express
BRUSSELS has been warned of the catastrophic mistake it could make if it continues attacks against the UK following the row over Article 16 and Jersey fishing licences.
Following Britain’s threat to invoke Article 16 of the Brexit deal, the EU has warned it may take out punitive measures if the UK does not hand out more fishing licences to French fishermen. Indeed, French officials have called on the EU Commission to trigger measures within the deal which would hit UK exports with trade tariffs. If the EU does follow through with its threat, one economist has warned French and Irish farmers would be hit particularly badly from the fall out.
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, he said: “France has suggested that the EU could abandon the Brexit agreement if Britain invokes Article 16 over the protocol, which Lord Frost has said we will do unless pragmatic relations are put in place.
“However, it would be a big mistake for the EU to do so.
“The last thing the EU needs is a breakdown of the Brexit agreement, with, for example, tariffs being levied in a reprise of No Deal.
“Tariffs with Brexit Britain would damage EU producers, who would have to cut their prices in the British market to absorb them; but they would give HM Treasury a tidy sum.
Energy
Mail
Millions of Britons are facing a looming winter energy crisis, with experts warning that gas and electricity bills will surge by at least £500 a year.
Soaring energy costs saw gas prices rising by a staggering 37 per cent in a single day and pushing more energy firms to the brink of collapse while the National Grid warned of electricity shortages as the country faces its worst crisis since the first Covid outbreak last year.
Rising inflation driven by labour shortages, growing energy costs, a lack of HGV drivers and gaps in global supply chains are contributing to the problem, as it was revealed hard-pressed families face paying £1,700 more for energy in April and an extra £1,800 for other essentials by Christmas.
Joe Malinowski, founder of TheEnergyShop.com, warned of a ‘gas bill explosion’, adding: ‘As things currently stand, we are headed for another increase of at least £500. If things don’t settle down soon, increases of £600, £700 or even £800 cannot be ruled out.’
Customers of small energy firms could face even bigger increases if their supplier fails. Mr Malinowski warned that ‘energy suppliers are falling like dominos’ and without political action ‘the outcome will be terrible for consumers’.
While Boris Johnson today brushed off the crisis and used his Manchester Tory conference speech to set out his vision for a ‘high wage, high skilled, high productivity’ economy, the price of wholesale gas surged by £1 a unit to 400p per therm this morning – up 37 per cent in a day and 600 per cent higher than the start of 2021.
Prices reversed course hours later, sending the UK contracts back to £2.87, after Russian President Vladimir Putin sought to stabilise the gas market by saying that state-backed monopoly exporter Gazprom could increase supplies to Europe. Critics accused Mr Putin of trying to stave off allegations that Moscow is trying to ‘weaponise’ gas supplies amid tensions between Russia and NATO powers over Ukraine.
On a day of worsening news, National Grid’s chief executive John Pettigrew told the FT that Britain will face tighter electricity supplies this winter due to a lack of capacity in the system and a colder winter predicted, which means the cost of electricity will increase as gas prices spike to record high.
Further details are in the Times and BBC News.
Immigration
Breitbart
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s claim that the “era of uncontrolled low skilled immigration is over” is deeply misleading, Migration Watch UK claims, which predicts public outrage after the scale of his “disastrous” immigration policies are seen.
Delivering a speech at the Conservative Party Conference in the northern English city of Manchester on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said that his “Build Back Better” agenda will put an end to “uncontrolled immigration”.
“The answer to present stresses and strains, which are mainly a function of economic growth and revival, is not to reach for that same old lever of uncontrolled migration to keep wages low.
“The answer is to control immigration, to allow people of talent to come to this country but not to use immigration as an excuse for failure to invest in people, skills, and the equipment and machinery.”
Responding to the speech, Migration Watch UK accused Mr Johnson of deceiving the public into believing that his policies will actually reduce migration. The think tank noted that while there may be a reduction in migrant workers from the European Union, Johnson’s points-based system has in fact opened the door to many more migrants throughout the world than before.
The government said that the plan was intended to be modelled off of the Australian points-based system, however, unlike Australia, the UK has failed to set a hard cap on number of immigrants allowed in per year, opening up about half of all full-time jobs to competition from foreign labour.
Business
Express
THE European Union is threatening to cut off UK businesses from the rest of the world in a huge blow to the City of London as the Brexit row over triggering Article 16 explodes.
EU member states have been infuriated by a threat from the UK’s Brexit minister Lord Frost to invoke Article 16 if Brussels does not cave on demands to make wholesale changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol. France’s Clement Beaune erupted during an interview on Monday, with Paris threatening to turn off the lights in Britain and cut off its imported energy supply, which is already in crisis under fuel and gas shortages, as well as surging prices.
EU member states are reportedly already floating more subtle measures that wouldn’t hit the general population but could still blow a huge hole in under-pressure finances, such as ending data transfers to UK companies, according to Politico’s Playbook.
During his outburst, Mr Beaune warned the Brexit deal should be “implemented fully” and that if it is not, “we will take European or national measures to exert pressure on the UK”.
He told Europe 1 radio: “Enough already, we have an agreement negotiated by France, by Michel Barnier, and it should be applied 100 percent.
“In the next few days, and I talked to my European counterparts on this subject yesterday, we will take measures at the European level or nationally, to apply pressure on the United Kingdom.”
See also the Times.
Planning
Telegraph
Boris Johnson on Wednesday said houses should not be built on “green fields” as ministers abandoned proposals for a vast overhaul of planning rules.
In a clear signal to Tory heartlands that he had heard their concerns, Mr Johnson used his Conservative Party conference speech to acknowledge fears that the countryside would be “desecrated by ugly new homes”.
The Prime Minister’s comments reveal a change in strategy after a Tory voter backlash over planning reforms saw the party lose the safe seat of Chesham and Amersham in a June by-election.
The Telegraph understands that the most controversial aspects of biggest overhaul of the planning system in 70 years have effectively been ditched, with ministers looking for changes that will be less radical but more palatable to Tory MPs.
The new focus will be on boosting construction on brownfield sites, which have been previously developed and are less controversial locations for housebuilding.
GPs
Telegraph
Only a quarter of retired GPs given their licences back at the start of the Covid pandemic returned to work with patients, a survey has revealed.
Last March, the General Medical Council (GMC) granted temporary emergency registration to around 8,200 GPs who had retired or been off the medical register for five years or less.
Around 4,000 were surveyed in October as the second wave of the pandemic began to take hold – but the majority had not returned to work or received a job offer.
It comes after The Telegraph reported that NHS bureaucracy had prevented some retired medics from returning to the Covid front line.
Doctors trying to sign up to be vaccinators in December found it “absolutely impossible” to apply after 21 pieces of evidence, including evidence of Prevent Radicalisation training, were required. Matt Hancock, then the Health Secretary, vowed to streamline the process, meaning some tick boxes were removed.
Dr John Hughes, the chairman of campaign group GP Survival, told Pulse Today the process for GPs returning to the workforce during the pandemic was “exceedingly challenging and impenetrable”.
So are we still paying for giving the EU access to our market ?
Retaliation No 2 Impound all the Eu cars running around London sans corrrect insurance. ie all of em.
You cant be resident and run a foreign reg car; EU insurance Warsaw shed crap is no longer valid.
I suggest 100 a week to start .
I even chatted to the owner of a UKraine registered VW Transporter this afternoon.
Well! Well! Who could have thought it!!! The French trying to hold the Brits to ransom over fishing by cutting off our energy supply!!! What the hell did the politicians think might happen? They allowed the French to buy into our energy market (I have recently been lumped onto EDF when my supplier went to the wall. EDF is the last company I would have chosen to deal with myself! But I am stuck with them until the whole transfer has been completed!). The French have always been anti British. The Entente Cordiale was always a complete myth. It only works as long as the French get their own way.
Priti Patel witters on about working with the French to stop illegal immigration from France. My Eye! The French will not work with Britain! It suits their agenda to stymie Britain at every turn while they take our money. Why would they not take this opportunity to swamp the stupid Brits with the dross that the French will be glad to have leave their own land!
Either the politicians are completely naive or they are complicit in the move to break Britain! Well it’s a tough choice, but myself I favour the latter option!
I will not by buying anything that’s remotely French – Christmas or not! – they do not produce anything that I cannot live without! We must not let them have out fish! Let them eat cake!!!!
Read those reports again, folks. They are littered with the words ‘threats’ and ‘warned’ and ‘warning’, and ‘if negotiating fails we will stop ….”, and ‘continued mistake’, and ‘serious consequences’, ‘will seek to impose’, and ‘punitive measures’, ‘ blow a huge hole in’. Need I go on? Read and count the aggressive language.
Has nobody noticed that ‘war-ned’ and ‘war-nings’ start with ‘war’? The word merely sets the scene for what follows. Are ALL our politicians and pundits determined to satisfy their ego at your expense and mine, no matter what the cost?
We don’t need more retired doctors to Jab people, we need them to see and treat people.
If the French Government really did cut off energy supplies, or cut off data transfers or other normal commercial transactions, then as far as I am concerned, we are at a state of war with France. All military cooperation to be peremptorily cancelled, seven days warning of leaving NATO (should focus the minds of Eastern members of the EU); immediate 25% tariff on French goods, followed by doubling of tariff every week if this row escalates. Hopefully we see the centre of Paris obliterated before this is over.
Indeed Paul. Our traditional enemy across the Channel has not changed its spots. Not sure about obliterating the centre of Paris; it is the French government we are at war with, not the people. Three good alternative targets are the ECJ, Brussels parliament, Strasbourg parliament and their supporting environs.
Harryagain. Admittedly our ships were wind powered when we defeated Napoleon.
But by the time we ‘rescued the frogs’ in 2 world wars we were using energy from fossil fuels!
We have got to defeat these cowardly frogs. Do not buy any French goods, we do not need them as most are just luxury items. If they block the channel tunnel we must stop the french passenger trains using it as well.
Its time to up the anti and ban their big factory ships from fishing in our waters.
Time to get rid of Johnson Starmer and their globalist build back better out of lives
We study history to avoid the pitfalls of history.
In 1806, Napoleon issued the aptly named Berlin Decree.
Sir Graham Brady vows to Resist Vaccine Passport Social Credit Scores ‘At All Costs’:- https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/10/07/exclusive-top-tory-mp-vows-to-resist-vax-pass-social-credit-at-all-costs/
Well, he is a bit late, isn’t he
Yesterday “Our Boris” was accused by Migration Watch of misleading the public… Fair comment.
But there, across the podium, is the slogan “Build Back Better”.
That is NOT misleading. It’s up there and in your face. It is NOT a Conservative slogan, it is direct from Klaus Schwab and the WEF.
We are well on the way towards the Chinese style Totalitarian State.
The only solution is to get rid of Boris and his clique of co-conspirators… and talking about it is not enough.
Thanks Dickatbarn for publishing that link to the Sir Graham Brady interview, apparently he is still classed as leader of the powerful/influential 1922 committe and in the lower Breitbart commentary he reaaly blows the gaff on the governments permanent seeming maintenance of 3 months temporary Covid legislation morphing into passports where there is access for all and sundry officialdom to peruse population medical records and in effect direct their every action.and thus lose their civil liberties.
Much what has been reported on Independence Daily
This is an absolute MUST read and I would suggest MUST pass on as widely as possible
(unless we don`t trust Sir Graham Brady either personally or the 1922 Committee is not as powerful as they would have us believe)
Last para; I don’t trust any Tory and just regard it as posturing and theatre to make it look as if the party isn’t quite entirely full of scoundrels. . Am I too cynical?
Yes Dickatbarn. I noticed that ‘Build back better’ came straight from W.E.F.
We are indeed well on the way to the Chinese style of totalitarian state.
The Chinese meanwhile, are remaining aloof. The Western so called democracies are destroying themselves helped by the Wuhan virus, while China gets stronger.
Getting rid of Boris and his clique would be a good first step.
Indeed Dick, Boris is simply a puppet, although clearly a willing one, and the latest in a line of PMs driven by loyalty to the globalists rather than their own people.
Yes indeed Jack but Boris Johnson is not just a puppet ……he is an out and out traitor! Now that’s not a word you hear every day. Has it been banned? Let’s call a spade a spade! Johnson is not the only traitor either. But at this present time he is the top traitor! The buck stops with him!
Energy/gas prices…. The reason why we need more uninterruptable (by nasty foreigners )renewable energy.
You never think we’d rescued the frogs from tyrants on so many occasions in the past.
Gratitude!
Could you explain the oxymoron: ‘uninterruptible renewable’ energy?
I am not being facetious; if there is such, I would love to know about it.
Yes, you said uninterruptable ‘by nasty foreigners’, which is true; I have argued for years for security through energy self-sufficiency. What sane government gives such damaging levers, on our energy of ANY kind, to potential enemies, whether commercial or politically hostile. But you still referred only to renewables.
Wind is by its nature interruptible, irregular and intermittent in scale and frequency.
Solar is interrupted by, well, nights – long in winter when we need it most.
Hydro has an outside chance of being hit by low levels after prolonged drought and we don’t have the scale needed.
Pumped hydro is by its nature short term, mostly used to balance the grid not serve it, and can be hit by, ironically, a power cut unless they use diesel pumps which in your terms is not renewable.
Nuclear (Small Modular Reactors, not the monolithic kind) would seem to fit the bill, and could provide a significant proportion, but, ironically again, nuclear is too stable, too inflexible to provide the quick ramps up or down to balance and stabilise the base load and frequency.
So we are back to good old fossil fuels that have brought us health, wealth and (though you would never know it from the MSM) happiness, for the main component of our supply.
BTW, high coal and gas prices is not an excuse for renewables: those prices have been artificially created to make ruinable[sic] energy look good, and gift vast fortunes to the elites, for zilch value to the world, through the criminal carbon credit scam. And neither is their ‘carbon footprint’, another scam, the reprehensible euphemism for CO2, a gas the world needs more of not less.
And there you have it. Well said, Phil
Scams indeed which are intended as tools of oppression.