Brexit

Express
BRITAIN will be denied access to the European Union single market unless it respects the rules laid down by Brussels in the trade and security deal, a French minister has warned.  responding to claims the UK had achieved a “total victory” against the EU in the last-ditch talks which led to the historic Christmas Eve agreement. The French minister for European Affairs dismissed suggestions Boris Johnson had walked away from the negotiating table with a clean sweep of wins and claimed British fishermen were furious with the agreement he signed. Mr Beaune also insisted Brexiteers had not been handed back the “total sovereignty” they had been promised. He tweeted: “No British access to the EU market without respecting our rules, massive criticism of British fishermen against this agreement.

Fisheries

Express
FISHING laws protecting British marine conservation waters must be strengthened post-Brexit to protect from EU trawlers, according to the UK’s leading charity. Dr Jean-Luc Solandt, principle specialist in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) at the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), has called for increased legal protection for Britain’s seabed. The MPAs have given special status from fishing because of the ecological importance of the seabed. It follows a report from the MCS that pointed out EU boats operating in all but one of the UK’s MPAs.  After Brexit, Dr Solandt said the UK Government now has the power to ban trawling in these areas if they wanted to do so. He pointed to last year’s Fisheries Act, which allows devolved nations to make decisions about British waters, as long as the measures treat EU and UK trawlers equally as a condition of the trade deal struck by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Mail
An Irish trawler was blocked from fishing in UK waters in the first such clash since the post-Brexit trade deal was signed, it emerged last night. The Northern Celt was boarded and its skipper told that he can no longer fish within 12 nautical miles of a contested rocky outcrop in the North Atlantic Ocean. The skipper said that a Scottish patrol vessel told him that due to Brexit he could no longer fish around Rockall, which lies 260 miles west of Scotland’s Western Isles. He said the area counts for 30 per cent of his annual catch. Fishing rights were a key sticking point in achieving the Christmas Eve deal. The agreement states that EU boats can continue fishing in UK waters but with British trawlers catching a steadily increased share up until 2026.

Times
Fishing trawlers are destroying underwater habitat and sealife in 99 per cent of the UK’s offshore marine protected areas, a study has found. Vessels spent at least 90,000 hours between 2015 and 2018 dragging heavy fishing gear across seabed that is meant to be protected inside the areas, according to analysis of satellite tracking data by the Marine Conservation Society. The boats’ activities also released vast amounts of carbon buried in the seabed, adding up to £40 million a year to the cost of reaching the UK’s target of cutting emissions to net zero by 2050, the charity calculated.

Express
AN IRISH fishing vessel has been boarded and expelled from British territorial waters after new Brexit deal rules came into effect. The incident took place off the coast of Rockall in the North Atlantic, which the UK claims as sovereign territory. The Northern Celt was boarded by the Jura, a Marine Scotland patrol boat, and instructed not to fish within 12 miles of Rockall.  It had been preparing to cast its nets when the patrol boat, Jura, arrived.    Adrian McClenaghan, the vessels captain, was informed as an “EU vessel” he was no longer allowed to fish near Rockall. Speaking to Irish broadcaster RTE he said: “We were fishing in Rockall and members of the crew from the Jura boarded us.  “They informed us that we could no longer fish inside the 12-mile limit of Rockall.

EU

Express
EMMANUEL MACRON called for a completely new European project after Brexit, to be validated by an EU-wide referendum.  Last month, Britain and the EU sealed a post-Brexit trade agreement after nine months of fraught negotiations. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen clinched the deal on Christmas Eve, haggling over fishing rights. The mood in Brussels was sober, with Ms von der Leyen saying one of her main feelings was “relief” that “we can finally put Brexit behind us”. Back in Downing Street, Mr Johnson was upbeat as he declared Britain had secured its negotiating objectives. The deal came into force on January 1, guaranteeing tariff-free trade on most goods and creating a platform for future cooperation on issues such as crime-fighting, energy and data sharing. While it is a huge triumph for the Prime Minister, who won a thumping majority in the 2019 general election with the promise “to get Brexit done”, Britain’s departure has dealt a parting blow to the EU, which is experiencing a new rise in euroscepticism.

Telegraph
The European vaccination fiasco has mushroomed into a larger danger for the EU project itself. Brussels acquired powers beyond its competence. Nothing before has exposed so clearly why the nation-state is the proper fulcrum of government. This episode is less obviously threatening than the post-Lehman civil war between eurozone creditors and debtors, a clash of interests that has been papered over for the time being. But it may nevertheless be just as treacherous in different ways.   In a matter of three weeks we have seen the germination – excuse the pun – of a novel, broad-based, Teutonic Euroscepticism. The front pages of Die Welt, Der Spiegel, and much of the German press are a riot of allegations and indignation. The word Katastrophe is being thrown around liberally.  Bild Zeitung took direct aim at Chancellor Angela Merkel in its splash on Monday, accusing her of sacrificing German lives by overriding the vaccine policy of her own government. She handed over the programme to Brussels in order to play the good European as her swansong gesture.

Express
THE EU could find itself without five more members, a largely forgotten paper prepared by the German finance ministry claimed. At the start of 2020, just 48 hours before the UK officially left the EU, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage told the European Parliament that Brexit was a “hammer blow” and that other countries would soon follow suit with exits of their own. In his speech, Mr Farage named Italy and Poland as the member states most likely to follow in Britain’s footsteps. In some respects, he was correct as the current pandemic, lockdown measures and the economic crisis seem to be only exacerbating divisive trends.  Italy has the lowest support for the EU out of Europe’s four biggest economies.

Testing

Mail
Researchers at the University of Birmingham say they have developed a Covid test that delivers results in just five minutes. The development, hailed as a world first, could be the breakthrough to help get crowds back to sporting events and festivals this summer.  It is on course to be fully tested and ready by Easter, say the scientists involved – including a PHD student. Lab analysis shows the test is on a par with the most accurate reliable tests now in circulation, while being much faster, the team claims.   Mass events like next year’s Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games and big concerts and sports gatherings would benefit enormously from the test.

Vaccine

Mail
Tory MPs accused Matt Hancock of playing down the Government’s vaccination ambitions yesterday, amid claims that his department has snubbed an offer by pharmacists to help the biggest vaccination drive in history – and it emerged doses of the vaccine will not be delivered to GPs on a Sunday. The Health Secretary described the prospect of giving the coronavirus jab to the 13million vulnerable people who are most by mid-February as a ‘best-case scenario’ – despite it being the only way the country will get out of lockdown, with the livelihoods and mental well-being of millions riding on it. Many of his parliamentary colleagues were not reassured by his comments to them over Zoom yesterday morning, as fears grow that the government will not be able to move fast enough to hit the target.  One MP who referred to the call as ‘Hancock’s half-hour’ said: ‘He emphasised that the prospect of the vulnerable being vaccinated by mid-February was a best-case scenario.

iNews
Mass vaccination sites will open next week in stadiums and exhibition centres as the NHS pushes to deliver more than 2 million Covid-19 vaccines a week by the end of January. Boris Johnson announced on Tuesday that 1.3 million people have so far been protected against coronavirus, including almost a quarter of those aged 80 or older. He promised to publish daily vaccination statistics in the future after pressure from his own MPs. The UK is understood to have several million doses of the Pfizer vaccine ready to be administered, as well as 500,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca jab. Millions more of the British-made doses are currently undergoing safety checks from the medical regulator and are likely to become available later this week.Health Secretary Matt Hancock is adamant that the NHS is ready to administer all the jabs which are expected to be delivered, with 107 hospital hubs and 595 GP-led sites currently operating and another 280 opening this week.

Sun
TWO million extra coronavirus jabs will hit vaccination centres in just days as booster shots are fast-tracked to get Brits immunised. The most vulnerable will get the jabs in the coming weeks after No 10 prioritised the first injection. Those receiving the Pfizer/BioNTech require two doses to achieve 95 per cent efficacy. However, the decision has been made to prioritise more people to receive their first vaccination. The second, booster shot, will then wait a little longer as the country’s medics battle to make sure the top four most vulnerable groups in the UK by February. Those at the top of the priority list include people who live and work in care homes, with people over the age of 80 and frontline health workers. People over the age of 75 are next in line while those aged 70 and over as well as those classed as clinically extremely vulnerable are also on the priority list.

Times
Millions more coronavirus jabs will reach vaccination centres within days, The Times has been told, as Boris Johnson announced that almost a quarter of the over-80s had been given a dose. Two million doses of the Pfizer jab held back for booster shots will be distributed this week and next after the strategy shifted to prioritising as many people as possible for a first injection. The prime minister promised he was “using every second of this lockdown” to protect the elderly and vulnerable as he came under intense pressure to accelerate the vaccination programme to end restrictions sooner. Britain has more than five million finished doses awaiting distribution or final safety checks and health chiefs insist that both can be speeded up by next week.

Telegraph
High street pharmacies are “desperate” to roll out more than one million doses of the Oxford vaccine every week but have been snubbed by the Government, senior industry leaders have revealed. Ministers have been urged to deploy an army of thousands of trained vaccinators at pharmacies including Lloyds and Boots to help deliver the jabs rather than relying on GPs, nurses and retired volunteers. Simon Dukes, the chief executive of the Pharmaceutical Negotiating Services Committee, which represents high street pharmacies during talks with the Government, questioned why the NHS was “scrabbling around” for vaccinators when his industry stood ready to help. He said there were around 11,400 pharmacies across the country that already administer millions of flu jabs every year, with the capability to vaccinate around 1.3 million people against Covid every week.

Telegraph
Public Health England has decided not to work on Sundays to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to NHS hospitals, according to leaked documents, amid growing questions over the urgency of the UK roll-out. Guidance issued to NHS Trusts warns that PHE will not deliver vaccines on Sundays or after agreed “cut-off points” every lunchtime, even if supplies are running low.  It comes despite the Boris Johnson’s pledge to use “every second” in the coming weeks to put an “invisible shield” around the vulnerable and elderly through mass vaccination.  The standard operating procedures issued to NHS Trusts for ordering vaccine supplies from PHE warn that next-day deliveries should only be expected from Monday to Friday, as long as orders are placed before 11.55am. Orders placed on the PHE portal on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings will not arrive until Monday, while orders placed on Saturday afternoons will not be delivered until Tuesday, according to the documents seen by The Telegraph. “An emergency delivery schedule is not available,” the guidance warns. “Orders after cut-off will be processed the next day.”

Travellers

Mail
Passengers trying to get to the UK will need a negative coronavirus test within 72 hours of departure or they will be barred from flying. Boris Johnson said ministers will be bringing in measures to ensure people arriving in the country are Covid-free. Government sources told MailOnline the detail of the policy was still being ‘firmed up’. An announcement is expected in a ‘couple of days’, with the rules likely to be in force by the end of the week. It has sparked fears there will be a stampede of Britons – such as Vogue Williams in St Barts and Towie’s Amber Turner in Dubai – trying to get home. But Labour and some senior Tory MPs have called for further action as England entered its third national lockdown. It comes as Home Secretary Priti Patel was accused of leaving the ‘nation’s doors unlocked’ to alarming new coronavirus variants. Meanwhile ministers faced a barrage of criticism from the travel industry over the plans to test passengers for Covid-19 before they arrive.

Sky News
Foreign travellers may need to test negative for coronavirus before being allowed into the UK if ministers back plans to tackle surging cases. The prime minister told the Downing Street press conference on Tuesday that the government will be “bringing in measures to ensure that we test people coming into this country and prevent the virus from being readmitted”. Ministers are understood to be considering introducing a requirement for international arrivals to provide a negative PCR test result, taken no more than 72 hours prior to their departure.  It will apply to those travelling by plane, ferry and train – but UK nationals and those who live there will be exempt. It is understood that hauliers will be, too.

BBC News
Travellers to the UK from abroad could soon be required to prove they have had a negative coronavirus test. The Department for Transport (DfT) said the measure is one of several being considered to “prevent the spread of Covid-19 across the UK border”. “Additional measures, including testing before departure, will help keep the importation of new cases to an absolute minimum,” the department added. It is thought that haulage drivers coming through ports would be exempt. However, the DfT said full details are still to be agreed and will be set out in “due course”. Any such measure would be a devolved issue, so the the DfT would need to agree a path forward with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to make it UK-wide. A spokesperson said: “With a new strain of the virus on the loose in South Africa and a more infectious variant already widespread in the UK we need to do more.”

Telegraph
Airlines flying into the UK will be required to bar passengers from boarding if they do not have a negative Covid test within 72 hours of departure. Every traveller coming into any UK port or airport will be expected to have a negative PCR test in order to enter the UK as part of a significant toughening of border controls. It will cover all countries, including those with travel corridors under which peoples are currently exempted from quarantine on arrival in the UK. Although the policy has yet to be finalised, it is expected that travellers coming from “red list” countries with high rates of Covid will still have to quarantine on arrival even if their 72-hour test is negative. Those required to self-isolate will be able to leave quarantine if a second test, which can be taken from the fifth day, proves negative. All arrivals will still have to fill out the passenger locator form and will be liable to £10,000 fines if they breach their quarantine.

Deportations

Yahoo News
The Home Office is pushing ahead with charter flights despite the UK’s new lockdown and soaring levels of coronavirus, in what campaigners say shows “contempt” for both deportees and the wider public. Boris Johnson announced new, stricter coronavirus measures on Monday in an effort to slow the spread of the new, more transmissible variant of the virus, saying “everyone should now stay at home and only leave the house where absolutely necessary”. Under the new rules, people are told that they should not travel abroad, and that they can only do so where they have a “legally permitted reason” to leave home, such as for work. However, two deportation flights, each carrying up to 30 individuals, are due to leave the UK next week – one to Romania on Wednesday and one to Poland on Thursday. The Home Office said it would “continue to progress operations with appropriate measures in place”. Flights to Poland from the UK are currently banned and the Polish government has not confirmed to The Independent whether it will accept the charter flight. A travel ban in Romania was lifted on Monday.

Independent
The Home Office is pushing ahead with charter flights despite the UK’s new lockdown and soaring levels of coronavirus, in what campaigners say shows “contempt” for both deportees and the wider public. Boris Johnson announced new, stricter coronavirus measures on Monday in an effort to slow the spread of the new, more transmissible variant of the virus, saying “everyone should now stay at home and only leave the house where absolutely necessary”. Under the new rules, people are told that they should not travel abroad, and that they can only do so where they have a “legally permitted reason” to leave home, such as for work.

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