Brexit
Telegraph
Brussels will offer Britain a new Brexit deal on Northern Ireland on Wednesday, but is set to reject demands to strip European judges of their role in the province.
The European Commission will hold a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to launch proposals to resolve the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol once the plans are approved at a meeting of the College of Commissioners.
EU officials are expected to say they can significantly cut the number of checks on British goods exported to Northern Ireland if they are given real-time access to UK trade databases in order to police which products cross into the Republic of Ireland.
“Brussels is going to allow more goods to pass into Northern Ireland without checks in return for having more data to do proper market surveillance,” an EU diplomat said. An EU official said: “The number of checks will go down massively. This is the best way to cut checks, short of a Swiss-style alignment agreement.”
Under the proposals, up to 50 per cent of customs checks on goods would be lifted. The figure was said to be “even higher” for controls on meat and plants entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK, a senior EU diplomat told The Telegraph.
Several media also cover the story including the Express, Times, Guardian, BBC News, Express, City AM, iNews, Sky News, Independent
Trade
Express
FEARS of a trade war between the EU and UK have erupted after Lord Frost said Britain was ready to trigger a safeguard clause in the Brexit deal governing Northern Ireland.
Lord Frost said the UK was ready to suspend the Northern Ireland Protocol through Article 16 in order to safeguard the peace process of the Good Friday Agreement. In a keynote speech in Lisbon, the UK Brexit minister said the protocol, agreed with the EU as part of the UK’s divorce settlement, was not working and that fundamental change was necessary if it was to survive.
The special arrangement left Northern Ireland inside the EU single market for goods, meaning it follows the rules of the European Union in this area, in particular for animal products such as meat and dairy.
As a consequence, paperwork and checks are required for certain goods entering Northern Ireland from mainland Britain, to prevent it from becoming a backdoor for British goods such as sausages getting into the EU without checks.
The Times and City AM have stories about trade.
EU
Express
BREXIT naysayers have been proven wrong yet again after Liz Truss hosted the Foreign Ministers of all three Baltic states, underlining Britain’s credentials as an important player on the world stage, a campaigner has said.
And Leigh Evans, chairman of Facts4EU, has said the visit also represented a significant snub to the EU, given all three opted to “bypass” Brussels in favour of London. Eva-Maria Liimets (Estonia), Edgars Rinkevics (Latvia) and Gabrielius Landsbergis (Lithuania) all met with Ms Truss at Chevening House in Kent yesterday, afterwards releasing a joint communiqué covering closer economic ties, defence, democracy, human rights, and the “malign actors” of Russia and China.
Facts4EU assessed the significance in a report published on its website in which it suggested the three nations – all of which are members of NATO – all have more in common with the UK than they do with the bloc in general, and with many members of EU27 individuallyThe report suggests the Baltic states’ position on the edge of Europe, with all three bordering Russia, not least Lithuania, which has the anomalous Kaliningrad oblast to its west left them particularly exposed to Vladimir Putin.
Fisheries
Mail
Britain was last night accused of ‘taking French fishermen hostage’ by the EU’s former Brexit negotiator.
Michel Barnier demanded the UK stick to its promises made under the agreement the Frenchman drew up with Lord Frost.
In a thinly-veiled reference to the logistical woes gripping the UK, Mr Barnier said: ‘Taking hostage the fishing rights of a few small boats in the Channel will not solve Britain’s Brexit problems.’
The 70-year-old – who harbours hopes of challenging Emmanuel Macron in next year’s presidential elections – added: ‘The Johnson government must respect its signature and international responsibilities, both in spirit and letter.’
His comments came after France failed to win support from other EU governments to back its hardline stance on fishing.
Mr Macron’s government accused Britain of ‘a clear failure to comply’ with the pact hammered out by Mr Barnier last year.
See also the Express.
GPs
Mail
Family doctors will be told to tear up Covid rules to allow them to see more patients in person.
The move is part of a package from Health Secretary Sajid Javid to address the crisis in GP access highlighted by the Daily Mail.
To be published in the coming days, it will focus on cutting bureaucracy, giving doctors more time to see patients face to face.
GP surgeries will be given new Covid guidance, including scrapping the two-metre social distancing rule which ended months ago elsewhere.
Onerous ‘enhanced cleaning’ regimes will also be relaxed in the shake-up.
A Whitehall source said the ‘small minority’ of GPs resisting a return to face-to-face appointments would be ‘held to account’.
See also the Sun.
Social care
Guardian
The NHS faces a mounting beds crisis as care homes suffering unprecedented staff shortages are forced to stop taking patients from hospitals, health and care leaders have warned.
Ministers are desperately trying to free up space in the NHS to tackle a backlog of 5.6 million people – equivalent to almost 10% of people in England – awaiting treatment.
But efforts to speed up the discharge of hospital patients into the community are being hampered by care worker shortages. Britain’s largest not-for-profit care home provider, MHA, has already had to close one in 10 of its homes to admissions from hospitals, its chief executive, Sam Monaghan, told the Guardian.
The warning comes as a comprehensive assessment on Wednesday reveals that care homes in England are facing the biggest staff shortage on record, with 105,000 positions unfilled according to the 2021 State of the Adult Social Care Sector and Workforce report by Skills for Care, an industry body.
BBC News also reports.
Energy
Mail
Four more energy suppliers could collapse this week amid soaring wholesale energy prices leaving thousands of homes facing higher bills.
According to Sky News, Ofgem could make the announcement as early as today, after the watchdog warned last week that more companies are at risk of going bust.
Several British suppliers have ceased trading in the past few weeks as prices touched record highs and tariff caps hit smaller firms struggling to keep up with increasing costs.
At least four suppliers were in talks with Ofgem on Tuesday about entering the regulator’s Supplier of Last Resort system, where customers of a failed energy company are passed on to a rival, the Sky News report said.
Ofgem declined to comment on the report.
Wholesale gas prices have soared in recent months as economies reopen from COVID-19 lockdowns and high demand for liquefied natural gas in Asia pushed down supplies to Europe.
Some 12 British energy suppliers have already collapsed this year, affecting more than 2 million customers.
See also the Express.
Telegraph
The Government wants to replace gas boilers with green alternatives in the coming years, but many households fear they will be left to pick up the bill.
By 2025 builders will be banned from fitting conventional gas boilers in new-build homes, and ministers are reportedly considering outlawing the sale of the devices completely by the mid-2030s.
Instead homes in Britain will likely be heated by heat pumps, which can be prohibitively expensive to install, or hydrogen systems, which are still in development.
Millions of draughty homes will also need to be better insulated in order to preserve energy and keep homes at optimal temperatures.
But will you be forced to replace your existing boiler, and how much will it cost you? Telegraph Money takes a look.
The Mail has more details.
COP26
Guardian
China plans to build more coal-fired power plants and has hinted that it will rethink its timetable to slash emissions, in a significant blow to the UK’s ambitions for securing a global agreement on phasing out coal at the Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow.
In a statement after a meeting of Beijing’s National Energy Commission, the Chinese premier, Li Keqiang, stressed the importance of regular energy supply, after swathes of the country were plunged into darkness by rolling blackouts that hit factories and homes.
While China has published plans to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030, the statement hinted that the energy crisis had led the Communist party to rethink the timing of this ambition, with a new “phased timetable and roadmap for peaking carbon emissions”.
China has previously set out plans to be carbon neutral by 2060, with emissions peaking by 2030, a goal analysts say would involve shutting 600 coal-fired power plants. President Xi Jinping has also pledged to stop building coal plants abroad.
“Energy security should be the premise on which a modern energy system is built and and the capacity for energy self-supply should be enhanced,” the statement said.
Breitbart and iNews also have details.
Education
Breitbart
The British government has embarked on a pressure campaign to make parents get their children vaccinated or potentially risk losing the ability for their kids to attend school in person.
While the Boris Johnson administration has not mandated coronavirus vaccines for children, Health Secretary Sajid Javid and Education Secretary Nahdhim Zahawi have written to parents warning their children might be prevented from face-to-face lessons.
The letter said that parents should encourage their children to “come forward for the Covid-19 vaccine”, as it is “one of the best things young people can do” to ensure the protection of themselves and others, according to The Telegraph.
Though the government ministers acknowledged in their letter that young children face limited risk from the Chinese virus, they still should get the jab in order to “reduce the spread” of COVID-19.
“That is why we are encouraging you all to support your children to get vaccinated and to continue to test regularly. This will help to detect cases early, reduce spread, and keep students in education.”
“We know that students have missed a lot of time in school and college since the pandemic started, and that there is no substitute for face-to-face learning,” the letter said, adding that the government needs the help of parents encouraging vaccination in order to keep schools open to all.
Flooding
Mail
The UK must ‘adapt or die’ as flooding and droughts become more frequent due to climate change, the Environment Agency has warned.
Deadly events such as this summer’s flooding in Germany will hit here if our country does not make itself resilient to the more violent weather the eco-emergency is bringing, said the organisation’s chairman Emma Howard Boyd.
In her speech, made ahead of the UN’s Cop26 climate summit in Glasgow, she stated that flood barriers or reducing water use are just as important as lowering our greenhouse gas emissions.
She also warned that adaptation to climate change was being neglected by most of the world, with the focus on reducing emissions.
In a report to Parliament on how Britain will adapt to the problem, the EA said water supplies – which are already challenged by pollution – would come under greater pressure, and make it harder to ensure clean and plentiful water.
Traditional flood defences will not be able to prevent all flooding and coastal erosion.
The natural world cannot adapt as fast as the climate is changing, the EA said.
Population growth, hotter drier summers and rising sea levels will also increase water demands.
COP26:
Let’s be clear here. “UK’s ambitions” are really “Boris’ ambitions” supported by the uninformed masses and his idiotic wife.
As mentioned by Roger Turner, it’s the threat against children being “educated face to face” if you can call it that, that is a serious issue and one which must be stamped on without delay. Are they quite insane? Don’t bother to answer that it’s obvious they are. This smells of Union diktats although it will also put more pressure on parents who don’t want the clot shot for very good reason.
The clot shot, I like that Lisa
An easy rememberable rallying reply
It is really strange the way the government is acting these days. Obvious symptoms are everywhere about threats of all kinds and they go haring off about nonsenses.. I understand that for an elite, things are going beautifully along as expected. They have no thoughts about the lower orders. Why should they ?Their business of some 500 employees that he bought cheap needs their importance and pronouncements.And he wants to get to know them and reward them if they do something of which he approves., And there are plenty of other factories he can buy if they appeal to him.. All he has to do is phone up his fathers friend at Lloyds and working capital and a place on the board are exchanged.Nice.. BUT
Soon he discovers some bad vibes.. He seems to be writing out excessive cheques ( Remember those ) for large sums for VAT. Inland revenue, Rates, Petrol, IT, HR, consultants. Cousin was talking about that. RELOCATE. easy and not unpleasant and there are several cost reduction options open, and he can always send a small boat full of something back to Britain to our nearest seaside town to be met by my chap Fred
Over the years I have lectured pompously about the essential part an elite plays in any sizeable increase in prosperity.
BUt it aint gonna happen this time. No Chance.Too much has been wasted and gone of our economy. And our Super Important are not allowed to do it. The threat of exposure is too big with too many avenues which even an untrained policeman could follow. And the education of the young has been spoiled. Talk about Reform. Hilarious.Too many snouts.
The heading Education
Why has nobody commented on this item?
In my opinion this is the most dastardly attack on our children, putting pressure on them to get vaccinated or they might not be allowed to go in to school and have face to face education at all.
An attack on their health in my opinion is even worse than the indoctrination they are getting on gender and other no noes.
RT Education is paramount, or at least as it is now, in need. I believed in 2015 that Kurten in UKIP was going to be UKIP spokesperson ( An idiotic concept dreamed up by a variety of unrealistic pseudo leaders to cover their inadequacies and inabilitys ) for education. enough to lead a speciality He is now more mature and fully experienced enough to lead a protest for education. But much more is needed
Everybopdy and his pig have a protest…Why not call together several ex Ukip with real weight like Hookem and fish, Etherington and his speciality, and Yes Anne Marie and or Jane Bishop for Womens stuff, etc under the Non political figurehead of Nigel or similar ( To keep them in line and not poaching ) but giving them their own income streams and memberships and still members of the Platform/mother party. And Not Shy and called The Protest party .Reconstituted to be democratic and without executive committees
The existing partys are vastly clever, more experienced, wealthy and canny. But we Need a visible opposition with balls and honesty and visible to fight on one hand dishonesty a nd on the other stupidity. Protesting in ignorance is understood and accepted by Authority. A protest party with legal standing would also be new as well, would be new and not understood but would interest everyone.
And ukip is definitly not it. and GB News is brave and gives a voice, but not a party of substance.
Done right money will walk in and queue for sanity even without nods or winks
Now this is a story that seems to be valid.
https://www.spiked-online.com/2021/10/12/locking-down-sooner-was-not-the-answer/
I am trying to compose a mail to ‘the cabinet office’, (nearest we can get to B.J.), pointing out that China’s ‘premier’, Li Keqiang seems to have more sense than our ‘premier’.
Apparently China’s has said ‘Energy supply should be the premise on which a modern energy system is built and the capacity for energy self supply should be enhanced’.
As for the Environment Agency – like many other useless bodies funded by us taxpayers – it should be abolished.
Next time some low life pours poison into your nearby stream and you want to know what the stuff was, you’ll be grateful for their guidance. And when your water company leaks sewage into a lake you can cheer the EA when they prosecute.
JF
Indeed JF. As a former water company employee I can confirm that they live if in fear of OFWAT (or they did…).
It’s the private office, not the cabinet office.
Brexit
Telegraph
Brussels will offer Britain a new Brexit deal on Northern Ireland on Wednesday, but is set to reject demands to strip European judges of their role in the province.
BUT what do the people say?
Quite Michael D.
It’s obvious that EU are seeking to prolong talk and hang on to their judicial role. Thus enabling them to turn the screw some other way.
Let’s hope Frosty is allowed to turn them down flat.
Well, HAdolf you could demonstrate that by example, and reducing it by one.
Flooding:
How much more propaganda and outright BS must we endure from the EA and others? It would be laughable if it weren’t a threat to life as we know it. A true instance of the cure causing more damage than the alleged problem. .
Well the population growth could be fixed simply enough.
I’ve told you before Harryagain, you should stop breathing because it produces carbon dioxide.