Northern Ireland
Express
BRITAIN has rejected a compromise offer in the row over Brexit checks in Northern Ireland.
The Government said the European Union’s proposals to maintain supplies of medicines in the region don’t go far enough to alleviate concerns of shortages. It comes after the European Commission published a so-called “non paper” detailing its proposals to protect shipments of drugs between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. But a UK Government spokeswoman said Brussels’ plans were insufficient for the scale of the problems facing the area.
Downing Street has called for a wholesale renegotiation of the Brexit deal’s protocol to avoid a hard border.
To avoid a hard border, Northern Ireland essentially remains part of the single market, with numerous checks on goods shipped by the rest of the UK.
British officials are concerned that the EU-ordered red tape in the region is having a chilling effect on trade with Britain.
And Unionist communities are furious that the measures, which have created a border in the Irish Sea, are driving a wedge between them and the rest of the UK.
The Government says it is only by engaging in Britain’s demands for a renegotiation of the Northern Ireland protocol can the EU can truly protect peace and stability in the region.
Express
BREXIT tension between the EU and UK remains high as an Irish MEP tells Express.co.uk that Lord David Frost is “acting in bad faith”.
The EU and UK are still grappling over the Northern Ireland protocol as Brussels offers up proposals to try and break the deadlock. The bloc published two plans to try and put an end to the post–Brexit deadlock, focused on food imports and medicine. It comes after the grace period – which enabled imports of food to continue flowing into Northern Ireland without checks – was extended a further three months.
However, the UK Government has argued that the EU’s pitch does not go far enough, with London calling for more wholesale changes to the Northern Ireland protocol.
A UK government spokesperson said the EU proposals represented “only a small subset of the many difficulties caused by the way the protocol is operating”.
They added: “We need comprehensive and durable solutions if we are to avoid further disruption to everyday lives in Northern Ireland.”
Meanwhile, Brexit Minister Lord David Frost has argued that the medicines proposed is still too complicated.
But, Irish MEP Billy Kelleher tells Express.co.uk that Lord Frost and the UK Government either didn’t know what the agreement was comprised of or they are “acting in bad faith” due to their failure to abide by the Brexit withdrawal agreement.
He said: “It’s hard to understand Lord Frost because his signature is at the bottom of that agreement, he signed that agreement. Either he didn’t understand what he was signing in the first place or he is now acting in bad faith.
Fisheries
Express
BRUSSELS could usher in an era of overfishing with plans being drawn up for significant rule changes, ministers have warned.
Fisheries minister Victoria Prentis said proposed changes to EU fisheries rules could result in overfishing of critical stocks like mackerel and tuna. She said the suggestion that increased approved margins of error on reporting catches could “elevate the risk and magnitude of underreporting and overfishing with no risk of sanction”. The issue was raised by influential MPs on the Commons European Scrutiny Committee.
Under EU rules, the margins of tolerance for mackerel and tuna currently stand at 10 percent.
But Brussels’s latest plan could increase these to 20 percent and 25 percent respectively.
Ms Prentis said: “This elevates the risk and magnitude of underreporting and overfishing with no risk of sanction for the operator, even although fisheries technology onboard and equipment allowing more accurate estimation of quantities and catch composition have improved.
“A margin of tolerance of 20 percent could lead to 40 percent of potential underreporting of catches of small pelagic species, and a margin of tolerance of 25 percent could lead to up to 50 percent of underreporting of catches of tuna species.”
Express
BORIS Johnson must hit back against Norway’s refusal to sign up for a deal guaranteeing UK fishermen access to its waters by banning imports of Norwegian cod and haddock, industry chiefs have said.
And they have been backed by the chairmen of two influential parliamentary committees, as well as Luke Pollard, Labour’s Shadow Environment Secretary, all of whom have urged to Prime Minister to deliver on his promise of a bright post-Brexit future for British fishermen. Speaking today, Jane Sandell, CEO of UK Fisheries Ltd, which specialises in distant water fishing, ie those outside the UK, said Britain must impose what she called a “temporary trade remedy against Norway” to the nation’s fishermen a chance of earning a living and to restore balance to the economic relationship between the two countries.
UK Fisheries’ vessel, the Kirkella, has been severely limited in the amount of time it can spend fishing off the coast of Norway, where it has previously operated.
Ms Sandell explained: “UK-Norway fisheries talks for 2021 collapsed in June when the Norwegians walked away from the table.
“Not only does this prevent the UK fleet from fishing in Norwegian waters for Arctic cod and haddock for the UK market – but it also means Norwegian fishing boats are free to catch the self-same fish and export them to the UK market.”
Labour Party
Express
LABOUR is demanding Boris Johnson push for a new Brexit deal that would see the UK bound by EU rules indefinitely.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves is pushing for ministers to cave to EU demands on a compromise over the Northern Ireland Protocol. Lord Frost is seeking to renegotiate the Brexit mechanism, warning London and Brussels “cannot go on as we are” with the current deal.
Unionists and businesses have argued bureaucratic paperwork and red tape introduced as part of the Protocol is having a detrimental impact on trade.
Under the terms of the 2019 withdrawal agreement, Northern Ireland is effectively still in the EU single market.
It means customs checks must take place on goods being traded within the UK, crossing from Britain to Northern Ireland.
Brussels has already rejected the UK’s proposals to alter the Protocol to make it more sustainable in the long run.
Guardian
Labour would legislate to make flexible working the default – including working from home or around the school-run – so that “work fits around people’s lives instead of dictating their lives”, Angela Rayner has announced.
Employees already have the right to request flexible hours, but Labour says it would widen the definition of flexible working and give employers a legal responsibility to accommodate it unless they can show it is not workable.
Rayner said as well as flexible hours, such as four-day weeks, the new duty on employers would cover compressed hours and flexibility around caring duties, including taking children to school or caring for them during school holidays.
“Labour will make flexible working a force for good so that everyone is able to enjoy the benefits of flexible working, from a better work-life balance to less time commuting and more time with their family,” Rayner said.
“The new normal after this pandemic must mean a new deal for all working people based on flexibility, security and strengthened rights at work,” she added.
Many white collar workers have been able to work from home during the pandemic, but Labour would like to see more flexibility extended to staff in other jobs.
Rayner is also calling for an end to “one-sided flexibility”, where employers are able to dictate hours to staff at very short notice. She said all employees should have predictable working hours and shift patterns so they can plan their lives.
EU
Express
BRUSSELS rules will continue to apply in the UK even if Lord Frost gets his way on the Northern Ireland Protocol, a new analysis of the proposals indicates.
Unionist Voice Policy Studies have released their conclusions of the command paper unveiled by ministers last week. They claim after careful examination of the command paper, even if the EU agreed to ministers’ demands, the UK would still be in the “wholly unacceptable position” of having laws from the continent forced on Northern Ireland.
On July 21 Lord Frost and Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis outlined their plans to rewrite the Northern Ireland Protocol.
They claimed the UK and the EU “cannot go on as we are” on the implementation of the Brexit mechanism and demanded “significant changes”.
he Protocol was agreed as part of the 2019 withdrawal agreement and effectively keeps Northern Ireland in the single market.
It means the devolved nation is required to still abide by EU laws, despite the UK having left the trade bloc.
Covid
Mail
More than half of people labelled as a Covid hospital patient in England only tested positive after being admitted for a different reason, leaked figures show.
The NHS England data suggests the pressure of the third wave on hospitals may be even less severe than the daily numbers let on.
There were 827 patients admitted for Covid in England last Thursday, according to the Government’s coronavirus dashboard.
But 56 per cent of these were only diagnosed with the virus after being in hospital for a different illness, with some patients only testing positive weeks later, according to data seen by The Telegraph.
Experts slammed the finding as ‘misleading’ and said officials must do more to differentiate between actual Covid admissions and ‘incidental’ cases.
Increased testing – officials are doing more now than ever before – and high levels of transmission in the community will have played a role, they said.
A similar story appears in the Sun.
Telegraph
Britain is to drop restrictions for fully vaccinated people and reopen its borders to European and American travellers from next month.
Boris Johnson has decided that, from August 16, those who have been fully vaccinated will not be required to take a test if they come into contact with someone with Covid unless they have symptoms.
It had previously been reported that workers would only be released from self-isolation after a negative test, and health officials had been planning for a major new system of compulsory testing to free people from isolating.
With Covid cases falling for a seventh successive day, Mr Johnson has also decided to reopen the country to foreign tourists from the EU and North America who have been fully vaccinated. Travel to the UK was previously only possible without quarantine from a handful of green list countries.
It is understood that Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, and other ministers had argued that the costs of stopping inward tourism and business trips were harming the British economy at a time when most of Europe has reopened.
Similar stories appear in the Sun, Times, BBC News
Mail
Covid’s grip on the UK is ‘all over bar the shouting’, a senior minister has said tonight.
Virus cases plunged for a seventh straight day today and are now barely half the level seen just a week ago.
Boris Johnson warned it was ‘premature’ to assume Covid was beaten but many of his colleagues privately think the nation is firmly on the road to recovery.
Tory MPs last night called on the Prime Minister to immediately scrap self-isolation rules that have forced businesses to close and left supermarket shelves empty.
The senior minister told the Mail that the vaccination programme, coupled with more than 5.7million infections, meant the virus was struggling to find new hosts.
‘It is all over bar the shouting, but no one has noticed,’ the minister said. ‘Of course we have to guard against the emergence of some terrible new variant. But otherwise Covid is on the point of becoming something you live with.
‘It drops into the background, but it does not change anything terribly – maybe you have to take a test once in a while.’
Asked whether Britain was at the point of herd immunity, the minister added: ‘Factually we are. We are there It’s just a fact, as around 90 per cent of adults have had a first dose of a vaccine. We are there.’
Professor Neil Ferguson, whose models were the basis for the original lockdown, said he was now ‘positive’ the UK would be past the worst of the pandemic by October.
Child exploitation
Mail
Social workers in Bradford turned a blind eye when a 15-year-old grooming victim took part in an Islamic marriage to one of her abusers, a damning report revealed yesterday.
Despite the teenager not coming from a Muslim background, professionals meant to protect her then allowed the parents of her ‘husband’ to foster her after she became pregnant, it revealed.
One of her social workers allegedly even attended the wedding ceremony.
The terrified girl – referred to as ‘Anna’ – was left in a state of ‘domestic slavery’, too scared to leave the controlling relationship for fear she would be the victim of an honour killing, she told the report’s authors.
Details emerged yesterday in an independent report into the treatment of five abuse victims in the West Yorkshire city over the past two decades, which found that ‘children suffered abuse no child should have to experience’.
Alarmingly, it concluded that some youngsters in Bradford ‘remain unprotected’ from sex exploitation.
The report – described by the body which commissioned it as making ‘difficult and, at times, distressing reading’ – began two years ago after nine men of Pakistani heritage were jailed for more than 57 years over the sexual exploitation of girls who had been in Bradford Council’s care.
Anna was placed in residential care as a teenager in 2002 but went missing more than 70 times, according to the report. She disclosed details of sexual abuse – including rapes – to a confidential support service for girls involved in prostitution, but nothing was passed on to police or social workers.
Crime
Telegraph
Boris Johnson has promised more “fluorescent-jacketed chain gangs” so criminals can visibly pay their debt to society, leaving aides forced to clarify that offenders would not be literally shackled.
The Prime Minister said people should be able to identify those who have been sentenced to community service for anti-social behaviour carrying out their unpaid work cleaning up streets of litter and graffiti.
However, his use of “chain gangs” – which raised memories of the convict era in Australia and southern United States – led to a correction from government sources who pointed out it was a “turn of phrase”. “It’s not going to be literal chain gangs,” said one.
Under the plans, first revealed by The Telegraph in June, offenders in high-visibility vests are to be set to work on community clean-up projects to demonstrate to the public that justice is being done.
In a major revamp of community sentences, offenders convicted of theft, assaults and criminal damage will be required to clear litter-strewn roadside verges, scrub graffiti off buildings and tidy up parks, canals, waterways and other public spaces
Similar stories can be read in the Guardian, Times
Tube strike
Mail
A tube strike is set to go ahead in August over plans to scrap the Night Tube train drivers’ pay grade after negotiations broke down between the union and London Underground.
The changes would mean that instead of having a separate role for Night Tube train drivers, all drivers would be expected to work a combination of normal and night shifts.
Strike action was first proposed earlier this month but the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, which represents tube drivers, has now confirmed it will go ahead next month.
The union has asked all drivers not to book into work after midday for 24 hours on four separate dates – August 3, 5, 24 and 26.
The union says London Underground proposes to axe the grade in ‘a cash-led move’ which will threaten the loss of 200 jobs and destroy the work life balance of 3,000 Tube drivers.
Strikes had been announced earlier this month but both parties had entered into negotiations through ACAS – the arbitration service – in a bid to reach an agreement.
However, the union has said that these talks have been unsuccessful and so has confirmed the strike action will go ahead.
It reads to me that Starmer’s Labour Party is as much Remainer as Corbyn’s was.
The NON conservative Party are gradually accepting that the Scamdemic can’t be maintained forever but are getting more and more insistent on jabbing us all.
So we are accused of bad faith ‘eh
Thank goodness we learned something after a four year Master Class given by the EU, how clever of them to recognise it.
And yes I suppose a signature on the bottom of a document that is clearly meant as a trap, does entitle the claimant to his/her contractual pound of flesh, but I don’t suppose the Merchant of Venice was able to enforce it and equally I don’t suppose “real” world opinion will condemn the UK for being mugs enough to give way (Remainers and the MSM will have a field day of course)
When dealing with the EU the phrase was “up yours Delors” Frost should continue to raise the appropriate digits and for starters apply the Nelson touch and hoist the signal ” up yours VdL”
So when are the Wokies that failed our children losing their jobs or going to jail?
Harry – the answer is – probably not until we restore Common Law Courts with Trial by Jury and Nullification by Jury of bad law.
Read about it on http://www.democracydefined.org is my recommendation.
If this fiasco With the eu was down to me to repair, I would declare WTO and tell the eu bullies the problem they have must be fixed on their territory and by the way ! The fishing licences to the eu are now null and void- keep out of our waters
Absolutely Mike Durrans ! That’s exactly what should happen and it should happen ASAP !
A bit more Covid news from The Herald. You need to watch out for severe food shortages apparently.
“Warning to people shopping at Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons or Sainsbury’s”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19470605.warning-people-shopping-tesco-asda-aldi-lidl-morrisons-sainsburys/
Bits of information about the Covid fraud are coming out daily, here’s an example:
“Following a citizen’s petition, a Lisbon court was forced to provide verified COVID-19 mortality data, reports AndreDias.net.
According to the ruling, the number of verified COVID-19 deaths from January 2020 to April 2021 is only 152, not about 17,000 as claimed by government ministries.
All the “others” died for various reasons, although their PCR test was positive.
“We live in a fraud of unprecedented dimensions,” wrote Dias.”
https://americasfrontlinedoctors.org/frontlinenews/lisbon-court-rules-only-0-9-of-verified-cases-died-of-covid-numbering-152-not-17000-claimed/
We’re being played here, criminal behaviour or what.