Defence
Guardian
France, Italy and Germany, the three leading European powers, are each trying to reach bilateral post-Brexit agreements with the UK, after Britain said it was not interested in closer security and foreign policy cooperation with the EU.
The behind-the-scenes discussion at ambassadorial and ministerial levels runs in contrast to some of the negative rhetoric from Downing Street about its approach to its EU partners. The discussions have focused on defence cooperation but go far wider, and would be the first signs that the UK was capable of forging positive bilateral relations with its European partners.
Boris Johnson’s willingness last week to host the Hungarian prime minister as the first mainland European leader in Downing Street was regarded as a setback to a gradual normalisation of British-European relations. Viktor Orbán is seen as a disruptor of the EU. The UK rejected a foreign and security component when it negotiated Brexit with the EU in December, leading European countries to improve bilateral relations.
But Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, on his recent visit to the UK for the G7 foreign ministers’ summit, also agreed plans to revive before the summer the annual meeting between French and UK defence and foreign ministers. The last such meeting was in Brittany two years ago, but no meet-up occurred last year as a result of Covid and Brexit.
A similar report appears in the Express
Illegal immigration
Express
THE HOME Office has announced that more than 500 migrants have crossed the Channel in the last four days.
On Friday, 19 boats carrying 336 people were intercepted by UK authorities, while seven boats carried a further 144 migrants on Saturday. One boat with 17 people onboard crossed the Channel on Sunday, and a further 71 people travelled in three boats on Monday.
A Home Office spokesman said gangs helping the crossings were “putting profits before people’s lives”.
The Home Office confirmed French authorities had stopped 3,600 from making the journey so far this year.
It also said officials have guaranteed 65 prosecutions related to small boats since the start of the year.
It comes after a report by Migrant Watch UK revealed that, as of May 16, a total of 3,107 people have crossed the British Channel since January.
A similar report appears in Breitbart.
EU
Express
THE BELGIAN capital descended into chaos on Saturday after thousands of furious protesters marched on the EU’s headquarters in a rally against coronavirus lockdown measures.
Brussels erupted in violence on Saturday as anti-lockdown protesters clashed with police outside the European Union headquarters. Thousands of furious protesters marched on the European Union buildings in Brussels, protesting against ongoing coronavirus lockdown measures. The march called on Europeans “to claim back their freedom,” amid tense scuffles with police.
The protest, which started in a major city park Bois de la Cambre, moved towards the square where EU offices, including the European Commission building, are located.
Dozens of riot police and barricades were deployed to hold back protesters from entering the building.
Scuffles broke out between the riot police and protesters in the afternoon, as police tried to block off access with barbed wire.
Police also used teargas in order to contain the demonstrators in the Rue de la Loi and the Avenue de la Joyeuse Entrée.
Freedom day
Telegraph
Scientists advising the Government have called for a delay to the planned ending of lockdown restrictions on June 21, warning that the UK faces a third Covid wave fuelled by the Indian variant.
Prof Ravi Gupta, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag), said ministers should consider pushing back their target of scrapping all measures on that date “by a few weeks” as new data showed the variant spreading across the country.
The University of Cambridge academic said there had been an “exponential growth” in the number of cases, fuelled by the more transmissible strain, and claimed the high vaccination rate was giving the country a “false sense of security”.
Asked whether businesses should prepare for a delay to the unlocking, George Eustice, the Environment Secretary, said the Government “can’t rule anything out”.
Similar reports appear in The Times, the Independent, the Morning Star, the Evening Standard, ITV News, Breitbart.
Trade
Express
BRITONS are boycotting EU goods in response to the bloc’s hostility over the UK’s decision to quit, a new analysis by a pro-Brexit think tank has suggested, with imports from the rest of the world now outstripping those from the continent.
And Facts4EU’s editor-in-chief Leigh Evans said Brussels must now consider is wisdom of alienating consumers in a marketplace which is often dubbed “Treasure Island” in reference to the vast quantity of goods exported by members of the EU27. Facts4EU used figures from the Office of National Statistics to compare the value of goods imported from EU and non-EU countries in March 2021 with the same period two years ago.
Education
Times
The school day will be extended by half an hour under a £15 billion Covid rescue plan to help Britain’s children to catch up after months of disrupted education, The Times has learnt.
A leaked presentation of a report by Sir Kevan Collins, the government’s education recovery commissioner, calls for all children to receive an extra 100 hours of schooling each year from 2022, with a minimum 35-hour week.
The ambitious plan for England proposes extra tutoring for five million pupils and additional training for 500,000 teachers. It also hints that an extra year of sixth-form should be considered if teenagers cannot complete A-level courses in time.
Similar reports appear in the Mail, Mirror, Sun, Express.
G7
Guardian
The UK government should broaden its ambition for the G7 next week to include agreements that tackle long term unemployment, eradicate insecure jobs and close the gaps in gender and racial equality, according to civil society groups given official status at the summit in Cornwall.
In a letter to Boris Johnson, groups representing unions, women, ethnic minorities, developing world nations and young people said he should focus on avoiding repeating the mistakes that followed the 2008 financial crash.
Then, they said, governments allowed austerity to be the dominant theme and failed to take action that could improve living standards and address the climate emergency.
The prime minister is hosting the G7 this year, and as part of the summit has nominated groups to represent the concerns of civil society. The international development group Bond was appointed to coordinate dialogue between the UK government and these organisations from around the world.
Johnson has said he wants “to unite leading democracies to help the world fight and then build back better from coronavirus and create a greener, more prosperous future”, but until now has focused his efforts on sealing a global digital tax deal.
Child Sexual Exploitation
Breitbart
The British police force which oversaw the Rotherham “grooming gangs” child rape scandal is securing charges for just one in 34 crimes flagged as having links to Child Sexual Exploitation, it has been revealed.
All told, South Yorkshire Police secured just 16 charges out of some 540 crimes officers flagged as Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) related, according to data secured by The Times through the Freedom of Information Act.
West Midlands Police, which has been slated for a wide variety of so-called “grooming” gang failures over the years, disclosed an only marginally less embarrassing figure of one in 28 offences linked to Child Sexual Exploitation resulting in a charge.
Across all 34 police forces which responded to the Freedom of Information requests from The Times, the average number of crimes flagged as having CSE links which “resulted in a charge or summons” was a mere one in 14.
We may well be boycotting the EU goods (and that is vey good news!). But it seems that the most harmful import is still getting through in very disturbing numbers! “The Home Office Announced”…more than 500 crossed the channel in the last four days! ‘Announced”…..like it was a triumphal march!!! No mention of when they are going to be sent back then!!!!!!! No of course not! The government is in cahoots with the EU to take as many as can get here. It is all so that they can leech off the Country and help complete the financial and cultural ruination of Britain that was begun by the use of COVID to shut everything and everybody down!
There is no excuse. The rules require them to seek asylum in the first safe country they enter. That is certainly not the UK and may well be other than France. The only explanation for the failures of government is that they want immigration, especially from Muslims, to continue. As many of us know areas of our country have been changed beyond recognition and it will be hell’s own job to recover it. Boris and others are too ready to cooperate with the EU on many matters.
Australia had the right approach; Boris needs to learn from it.
Freedom day
“Scientists advising the Government have called for a delay to the planned ending of lockdown restrictions on June 21, warning that the UK faces a third Covid wave fuelled by the Indian variant.” (Telegraph)………
Well of course, “new variants” will be needed to justify continuous lockdowns. Lockdowns are needed to maintain the illusion that the Covid Scamdemic is genuine. Then it will be claimed that the lockdowns prevented massive fatalities from Covid.
Endless lockdowns are the purpose behind the New & Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG). The hoaxers are terrified that when lockdown is lifted then people will see that nobody is dying from Covid, apart from those with dubious death certificates. (The Scamdemic hoax has been kept going by recording Covid as “the underlying cause of death” in statistics, even when other diseases are named on death certificates.)
The lockdowns also provide the added bonus that they massively increase deaths from cancer, heart disease, diabetes and other diseases that the NHS has neglected to treat during the Covid Scamdemic – excess deaths that will be attributed to Covid in annual mortality statistics.
Instant reaction. The Guardian seems intent on establishing Huxley’s Brave New World – it’s report on the G7.
What is behind the Telegraph, et al, and the ‘scientists’, intent on keeping us locked down throughout the Summer.
It is known kung flu decreases in Summer, so herd immunity could build up, before other flus take hold.
It looks to me like a concerted attempt to destroy our economy. Maybe any remaining democracy also.
Great ! Our boycott of eu goods and farm produce is starting to be noticed. The rats must now be feeling it bite, keep it up Ladies and Gents, they must be shown they cannot bully Brits.
The next step must be to go anywhere world wide for holidays except eu countries.
Stop them getting any of your money, weaponise your purchases
No to close ties with the EU never again should this country bankrupt itself to protect Europe from itself