Sunday papers – 6 September 2020

Brexit

Our negotiator has spoken to the Mail.

Britain will not ‘blink’ in crunch Brexit talks this week, Boris Johnson‘s chief negotiator has declared, in a marked ratcheting up of pressure on Brussels.
In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Lord Frost warned his EU counterpart Michel Barnier the UK would not become a ‘client state’ of Brussels by accepting restrictions on fishing rights and vetos of our laws.
His comments come ahead of Mr Barnier’s arrival in London for a fresh round of talks on Tuesday. The two sides have just weeks to finalise any legally binding agreement that needs to be in force by December 31 if a No Deal Brexit is to be avoided.
In the interview – his first since being appointed in January – Lord Frost said the EU needed to realise that Mr Johnson’s Government was adopting a more steely and determined approach than Theresa May‘s.
He said: ‘We came in after a Government and negotiating team that had blinked and had its bluff called at critical moments and the EU had learned not to take our word seriously.

Several papers have reported on the interview.  The Sun says:

BRITAIN won’t “blink” in crunch Brexit talks this week and the country will never become an EU “client state”, the PM’s top negotiator has vowed.
Lord Frost said the Government was not “scared” of walking away from talks without a trade deal.
Britain’s chief Brexit negotiator David Frost, in a bullish interview with the Mail on Sunday, warned the UK would leave the transition period “come what may”.

The Telegraph warns that we may be heading for a showdown.

The Brexit negotiations will be over in days unless the EU realises Britain is serious about no-deal, government sources have warned.
The eighth round of talks with Brussels begin on Tuesday, with progress crucial if the two sides are to finally reach an agreement.
It comes as the Telegraph reported on Saturday that the EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier is to be sidelined in a bid to break the deadlock.
But as the deadline on the discussions fast approaches, No 10 insiders say there will be no deal unless the bloc shows “more realism” on the “scale of the change that results from our departure”.
They have accused the EU of blindly “following a self-imposed doctrine of parallelism” without realising that what they are asking for is “completely at odds with what the British people voted for, twice”.

The Express reports a warning to the EU.

BORIS JOHNSON has told the EU to “get real” over the trade negotiations amid revelations that he is considering starving the bloc of access to cheap money on the financial markets in the event of no deal.
As the eighth round of talks is set to begin this week, frustration in Downing Street at the EU’s stalling tactics is reaching boiling point.
The UK negotiating team led by David Frost have warned if talks in London make no progress this week then it will be too late to make a deal.
And the preparation for a no deal has been ramped up with the “brightest and best” civil servants brought into a new Transition Hub.

And there is no possibility of an extension to the negotiations, reports the Independent.

The EU parliament has dashed hopes that Brexit  negotiators could be given more time to avert a no-deal, drawing a red line on an extension to talks.
Bernd Lange, the German MEP who chairs the parliament’s international trade committee, warned “a deal has to be done before 31 October”.
The announcement is a blow to hopes of a late agreement breaking the deadlocked negotiations.
Negotiators are due to meet in London next week for their eighth round of talks, but both sides have suggested the prospect of any serious movement is remote.

It’s all the UK’s fault, says Remain Central, aka the Times, of course.

Britain has ramped up planning for no-deal as senior figures in government have predicted that the chance of securing a Brexit trade agreement with Brussels is now less than 20%.
A senior figure accused the EU of playing “political games” and “treating Britain like a client state” after another round of informal talks between Lord Frost, Boris Johnson’s chief negotiator, and his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier.

There could be a drop in prices, reports the Express.

THE UK has been urged to move quickly to strip tariffs from goods produced to any scale outside of the country in the event of a no-deal Brexit, in a move that could trigger an” immediate bonus to consumers”.
Trade talks between the UK and EU began in March, with the hope of agreeing a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) before the end of the transition period on December 31 – a deadline Boris Johnson refused to extend. But after seven rounds of official negotiations – led by Britain’s David Frost and Brussels counterpart Michel Barnier – progress has stalled, increasing fears no trade agreement will be in place from January 1, 2021.

Immigration

There were protests in Dover yesterday, reports the Mail.

Anti-immigration protesters shouted ‘England ’till I die’ as they clashed with police in Dover today after a record 409 desperate asylum seekers crossed the Channel in one day this week.
Hundreds of campaigners were confronted by groups of pro-migrant protesters in a counter-demonstration following the arrival of 5,600 refugees in small boats this year.
There were fears of violence ahead of today’s demonstrations as many announced their intention to assemble in the Kent town as officers were seen at one stage restraining a protester on the ground before arresting them.

Yahoo News claims many migrants don’t know they’re heading to the UK.

A senior British official has said many migrants crossing the Channel from France to Britain in unsafe boats don’t know where they are when they disembark and “don’t even want to come to the UK”.
“We hear a lot of stories about migrants who are literally forced onto boats, have no idea where they are when they get to the UK, because the facilitators don’t get paid until they’ve done that last leg of the journey,” according to Channel security chief, Dan O’Mahoney, referring to the traffickers who organise the crossings.

Minimum wage

A planned rise in the minimum wage may have to be shelved, reports the Telegraph.

Britain may be unable to afford a planned increase to the national living wage as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, The Telegraph can disclose.
Ministers and officials have been discussing applying an “emergency brake” to the minimum pay rate, which was expected to rise from £8.72 to to £9.21 per hour in April.
The change would be announced by Rishi Sunak in the autumn budget.
The Chancellor had set a target which would see the rate increased to the equivalent of two-thirds of the country’s median earnings by 2024.
But members of the Low Pay Commission, which advises Mr Sunak on annual increases to the rate, believe an increase to £9.21 in April could now be unaffordable for many companies and result in increased unemployment.

Extinction Rebellion

The Telegraph reports a huge demonstration which stopped newspaper presses.

Extinction Rebellion could be treated as an organised crime group as part of a major crackdown on its activities that may also include new protections for MPs, judges and the press, The Telegraph can disclose.
Whitehall sources said Boris Johnson and Priti Patel have asked officials to take a “fresh look” at how the group is classified under the law, after the Prime Minister described its blockading of major printing presses as “completely unacceptable”.
On Saturday, police were criticised for failing to act more quickly after the blockade began on Friday evening.

Cabinet members have spoken up for press freedom, says the Times.

Cabinet ministers spoke up for press freedom after a blockade of printing plants by climate change activists prevented 1.5 million newspapers from leaving the sites yesterday.
Boris Johnson, Priti Patel, the home secretary, and Robert Jenrick, the housing secretary, condemned Extinction Rebellion, as did Labour’s Emily Thornberry.
The prime minister branded the barricades “completely unacceptable” and last night ordered new laws to be drawn up to protect freedom of the press, with protesters treated as saboteurs of democracy.

The Home Secretary was cross, says the Independent.

A blockade of three newspaper printing plants by climate change protesters was an “attack on our free press”, the home secretary has claimed.
Priti Patel said the action by Extinction Rebellion (XR) activists was “completely unacceptable”, while other government ministers branded the protesters an “intolerant minority”.
Prime minister Boris Johnson also reacted angrily, warning that activists should not seek to “limit the public’s access to news in this way”.
Print runs for newspapers including The Sun, the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and the Times were disrupted after dozens of activists blockaded factory gates late on Friday night and in the early hours on Saturday.

And the Sun claims such demos will be banned.

MASS protests which disrupt everyday life or hamper free speech will be banned after an Extinction Rebellion print blockade prevented millions from buying a newspaper.
Boris Johnson ordered tough new anti-insurgency laws last night to curb militants.
The eco-extremists blocked roads with scaffolding or glued themselves to delivery vans to stop papers — including The Sun — reaching shops across the country.
The PM declared the action “completely unacceptable” and promised to stop blockheads targeting critical national infrastructure or symbols of free speech.

The Mail details the number of arrests.

Boris Johnson is drawing up plans for a new crackdown on disruptive demonstrations after climate activists delayed the distribution of hundreds of thousands of copies of national newspapers yesterday.
The Prime Minister, who branded the action by the Extinction Rebellion (XR) group a ‘completely unacceptable’ attempt to ‘limit the public’s access’ to a ‘vital’ free press, is understood to have consulted colleagues, including Justice Secretary  Robert Buckland, about drafting new public order laws in the wake of the disturbances.
More than 70 arrests were made after dozens of activists chained themselves to the gates of Newsprinters in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire and blocked access to presses in Knowsley near Liverpool, delaying the arrival of hundreds of thousands of papers, including the Daily Mail, to newsagents.

But a Labour MP has praised the demo, reports the Telegraph.

A Labour MP has been condemned after praising Extinction Rebellion for ‘excellent work’ after they blocked the printworks of most of Britain’s major newspapers.
Dawn Butler, the Member of Parliament for Brent, tweeted applause for the attack on the free press, after the blockade meant many were unable to receive their newspapers, including The Telegraph, this morning.
Some questioned whether she would be sanctioned by the Labour leadership for her tweet, which was hastily deleted after she received thousands of angry replies.
Conservative MP for Guildford Angela Richardson responded, tweeting: “Anyone who applauds this behaviour genuinely fails to understand the gravity of this action. It’s utterly unacceptable.”

Care homes

There could be further problems in care homes, reports the Times.

Care homes need protection from being sued by the bereaved families of residents who catch the coronavirus from visitors, experts have warned.
They fear that, without this safeguard and delivery of the government’s promise of regular coronavirus testing in care homes, the widespread isolation of residents will continue.
Some care homes are allowing short visits, but in others elderly residents have gone six months without seeing their relatives face to face, fuelling loneliness.

BBC

In an exclusive report, the Telegraph claims analysis shows the full bias of the broadcaster.

BBC topical comedy shows appear to be overwhelmingly biased against figures and institutions on the political right, analysis by the Sunday Telegraph has found.
Episodes of the long-running Have I Got News For You on BBC1 and the News Quiz on Radio 4, together with the more recent Mash Report on BBC2, which were broadcast during lockdown, featured 13 times as many jokes aimed at Right-wing figures and issues as opposed to those on the Left.
They were largely aimed at the Conservative Party, Brexit and President Donald Trump, with just ten jokes across six episodes criticising Left-wing figures, including the Labour Party, its leader Sir Keir Starmer, and the US Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.

The BBC’s new boss has suggested a two-tier licence structure, reports the Sun.

NEW BBC boss Tim Davie has drawn up a scheme for a two-tier licence fee in a fight for the corporation’s future.
Under the proposal, viewers would be given the option of taking up a premium or standard package as part of long-term plans being discussed.
Marquee shows such as The Night Manager, costing an estimated £3million per episode, Bodyguard and Normal People would likely be part of any elite package.
A more affordable option, including news and kids’ channels, would be aimed at those who mainly watch subscription services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Working from home

Is it safe to go back to work?  The Mail reports:

Civil servants are making a ‘mockery’ of Boris Johnson’s push to get staff back into the office by advertising ‘work from home only’ jobs, MPs said last night.
While Ministers have ordered officials to return to their desks, Whitehall departments are putting up recruitment adverts saying office work will not resume any time soon. MPs said this ‘deliberately undermines’ Government efforts to get Whitehall working.
The Ministry of Defence, the Department of Health, Public Health England and the Food Standards Agency are among those advertising work from home only jobs, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

And Sky News reports a letter ordering civil serpents to go back to work.

Four out of five civil servants should be at their desks for some of the week by October, a letter from the UK’s top mandarins has said.
Bosses of English government departments have been told the government is “now strongly encouraging” increased workplace attendance by the end of this month, in a bid to get those working for the state to return to their offices.
Many have been working from home as a result of the coronavirus crisis.

BBC News has also seen the letter.

The government has urged Whitehall bosses to “move quickly” to get more staff back into the office.
In a letter seen by the BBC, it says it is “strongly encouraging” attendance through rota systems, arguing this would be “hugely beneficial”.
The government says it wants 80% of civil servants to be able to attend their usual workplace at least once a week by the end of the month.
But unions have described the government’s attitude as outdated.
They said most civil servants should expect to keep working from home until the end of the year, and they would consider strike action if staff were forced to return when it was unsafe.

Education

The Telegraph reports comments by a former headteacher.

Teachers who fail to pull their weight with remote learning must not be allowed to “put their feet up and watch Netflix”, a former headteacher has said.
Pauline Wood, who was suspended earlier this year from Grange Park Primary in Sunderland for remarking that some teachers had been “sat at home doing nothing” during lockdown, has spoken out about her concerns for future lockdowns.
She said that rather than “shoot the messenger”, headteachers must face up to the issues they faced during the last period of school closures and make sure lessons are learned from it.
The majority of schools across the country reopened this week for the first time since March, with the remainder opening by the start of next week.
But, according to official public health guidance, if a school has at least two cases of coronavirus within two weeks it could be viewed as a possible outbreak.

And the unions are also complaining, reports the Times.

Some universities are to delay face-to-face teaching and step up testing of students for Covid-19 after pressure from a union representing 120,000 lecturers and academic staff.
St Andrews has agreed not to offer direct teaching to most students as the autumn term starts this week. University College London will conduct all teaching online until January — though it had planned to do this before union action began.
The left-led University and College Union (UCU) has urged universities to teach online until “regular universal testing” can be introduced on campuses. Many universities are now offering most teaching online.

A union leader has called for students not to return to university, says the Mail.

A prominent union leader has called for university students to stay at home this autumn to help prevent a second wave of coronavirus – unless they are poor, black, disabled, gay or transgender.
Larissa Kennedy, president of the National Union of Students, warned it was too dangerous for undergraduates to flood campuses but said exceptions should be made for those from certain backgrounds.
During a webinar last week hosted by the University and College Union (UCU), which has been accused of scaremongering after claiming that universities could become ‘the care homes of the second wave’ if they reopen as normal, Ms Kennedy said students had been ‘sold a lie for months’ that ‘going back to [university as] normal is possible, viable, safe’.

And the Times has an interesting story about how students have spent lockdown.

Many children have played computer games for so long during lockdown that their fingers and thumbs have not stopped twitching since they returned to school last week.
Some schools said they have had to take children outside for runs and other forms of physical exercise to try to calm their compulsions.
After nearly six months at home — sometimes going to bed as late as 5am after hours spent online gaming — many are struggling to cope with the rigours of a traditional school day. Some fell asleep at their desks.

Rail travel

Trains have been hit, says the Times.

Britain’s railways are to operate an autumn timetable of services that will be 10% below the pre-pandemic level, leaving passengers to struggle with longer waiting times and the loss of some routes.
Some trains that ran hourly will run only every two hours; some direct routes connecting the regions to London are being suspended and some high-speed services for airports and commuters will disappear.
Some lines will have cuts of up to 35%. Evening and weekend trains will be hit hardest as operators focus resources on commuter and school services.