Boris Johnson’s plan to walk away from talks with the EU by the end of June unless there is a “broad outline” of a Canada-style free trade deal has been met with dismay in Brussels. EU diplomats reportedly believe a “dramatic crisis” lies ahead this summer.
France’s Europe minister Amelie de Montchalin said the bloc would refuse to accept “artificial deadlines” in trade talks. “We do not accept time pressure,” Montchalin told an audience at Chatham House in London on Friday.
Mr Johnson will convene the government’s Cobra committee in response to a growing number of cases of the coronavirus – but has been ridiculed for scheduling an “emergency” meeting for Monday.
Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of events at Westminster and beyond.
EU diplomats predict summer ‘drama’ over trade talks
Plenty of criticism mounting after Boris Johnson’s government threatened to pull out of trade talks with the EU by the end of June unless there is a “broad outline” of a Canada-style deal. Ministers will then start preparing us all for a no-deal crash out onto World Trade Organisation (WTO) terms at the end of 2020.
EU sources told The Times there would be a “dramatic crisis” over the summer.
One unnamed European ambassador said “there will be a lot of drama” around June, but suggested the possibility of an agreement would rumble on into the autumn.
Mujtaba Rahman, the respected analyst at the Eurasia Group, said “the mood among senior EU officials regarding Monday’s start of UK trade talks is extremely gloomy”.
He added: “Expectations have adjusted that EU might end up trading with UK like US or China, on WTO terms.”
EU’s chief negotiator Michel Barnier said only: “We will stick to all our prior commitments in the Political Declaration. We want an ambitious & fair partnership with the UK in the future.”
Government treatment of EU nationals ‘unacceptable’, says Labour
Campaigners have accused the Home Office of being “less than co-operative” in helping vulnerable people apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.
It comes as the watchdog reviewing the government’s handling of the project described some of its responses to concerns as “less positive and constructive” than hoped.
David Bolt, the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, said: “Given the Home Office’s considerable efforts to date to make the (scheme) a success, I imagined that I would be pushing at an open door.
“Some of the responses are less positive and constructive than I had hoped.”
Maike Bohn, co-founder of the3million, claimed some people were “struggling to apply” or still do not know about the scheme and could miss out. The group Migrant Voice criticised “a lack of transparency and detail in the Home Office data”.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour’s shadow immigration minister, said: “It is unacceptable that government departments have been less than co-operative when the status of millions of EU citizens is at issue.”
The watchdog report highlighted costs which could be incurred through phone operator charges when calling the scheme's helpline and charges imposed by some councils for ID document scanning services.
The department insisted it is free to apply to the scheme and it had not imposed charges but conceded on occasion some applicants may incur costs. It said help and information was available by a variety of means, suggesting the costs could be avoided.
Senior Tory warns PM over ‘ill-judged’ language
Caroline Nokes has criticised Boris Johnson for using “really ill-judged” language about women and ethnic minorities.
The former minister – new chair of the Women and Equalities Committee – claimed some of the prime minister’s previous language had been “unfortunate”, as she singled out his widely condemned comparison of women wearing niqabs to “letter boxes”.
In an interview with The House, Nokes also compared parliament to a “boys’ prep school ... where the inmates haven’t quite got to 13”.
Boris Johnson warned over ‘really ill-judged’ language on women and ethnic minorities by senior Tory
New chair of parliament’s Woman and Equalities Committee Caroline Nokes singles out PM’s widely condemned comparison of women wearing niqabs to ‘letter boxes’Labour leadership rivals clash over antisemitism
Frontrunner Sir Keir Starmer accused his left-wing rival Rebecca Long-Bailey of failing to speak out on the issue in shadow cabinet during last night’s Sky News debate.
Sir Keir claimed “Rebecca didn’t speak out in the same way as I did, in my view” – before adding that it “wasn’t right” to “try to score points now off each other”.
But the attempt to score points continued. Lisa Nandy said the other two faced a “serious question of judgement” on the issue. “We’ve given a green light to antisemites everywhere,” she added – before addressing Starmer.
“If we do not acknowledge how badly the shadow cabinet as a whole got this wrong, we will not earn the trust of the Jewish community.”
Starmer retorted: “Lisa, you were in the shadow cabinet when this issue came up as well.”
All three candidates dodged the question of who will get their second-preference vote in the ballot.
Labour leadership candidates clash over antisemitism in fiery TV debate
‘We’ve allowed high-profile cases of antisemitism to go undealt with and unaddressed, and by doing so, we’ve given a green light to antisemites everywhere that they had a home in Labour,’ says Lisa NandyUniversal Credit has increased mental health problems, report finds
The roll-out of the new combined benefit has led to an increase in mental health problems among unemployed claimants, and could have “major implications for the nation’s health”, a new study has found.
Universal Credit has led to a 6.6 per cent increase in psychological distress among its recipients - equivalent to approximately 63,674 people feeling an impact, according to figures published in journal The Lancet.
The data suggests that more than 21,000 of these people may have become clinically depressed.
Professor Dame Margaret Whitehead, co-author of the report, called on the government to make changes to the system.
The University of Liverpool academic said: “Given the mounting evidence of substantial mental health harms related to Universal Credit, it is crucial that the government conducts a robust health impacts assessment of all welfare reforms.
“With nearly two thirds of households in the UK receiving some kind of welfare benefit, any changes to the welfare system - even those with small individual effects - could have major implications for the nation’s health.”
‘Authoritarian measures’ won’t be necessary to contain coronavirus, says Jeremy Hunt
The chairman of the Commons Health Committee and Tory former health secretary said people need to consider the social and economic trade offs they are prepared to make to try and contain the speared of the coronavirus.
Referring to the situation in China, Jeremy Hunt told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “In Wuhan, it appears that it has peaked at less than 5 per cent of the population getting it.
“And we are having to make contingency plans for 70 per cent of the population getting it, and in terms of the number of lives lost, there is a massive difference, hundreds of thousands of lives difference, if you can contain it to less than 5 per cent.
"And, so, the question we have to ask ourselves, and I think the government is right to start to spell this out - but I think they need to go further - is what are the social and economic trade-offs that we are prepared to make to keep the spread of the virus at that low level.
“We are starting to hear some of the things that the government is considering.
“We are a mature democracy and I think it is perfectly possible to count on the co-operation of the public to comply with guidelines and recommendations made by the government without the kind of authoritarian measures that we have seen on our TV screens.”
PM needs to go on ‘war footing’ over coronavirus, says George Osborne
The former chancellor has offered some implied criticism of the government’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
“The British Government now needs to go onto a ‘war footing’ with the coronavirus: daily NHS press briefings, regular COBRA meetings chaired by the PM, Ministers on all major media show,” Osborne tweeted.
“The public is fearful, wants information and needs to know their leaders have got a grip.”
IDS’ universal credit legacy ‘disastrous’, says AlastairCampbell
Tony Blair’s former communications supremo has had a pop at the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith. He urged people to ask the former work and pensions secretary about “the massive rise in mental health problems reported in the Lancet today as a result of his disastrous Universal Credit policy”.
It follows an interview with The Sun in which IDS claimed: “The EU is going to become the sick man of the world... We have the whip hand in these negotiations.”
Trident weapons system ‘obvious’ success, says defence minister
Defence minister Baroness Annabel Goldie has said she would be “utterly astonished” if the government’s review of defence policies recommends scrapping Trident.
Boris Johnson has announced a post-Brexit review of the UK’s foreign policy and defence capabilities to set the country's national security strategy.
Baroness Goldie told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “The review will have to take place and come to its conclusions but I would be utterly astonished if there was any suggestion that we should reconsider that.
“The success of the deterrent is obvious. It is an essential part of our global alliances not least in Nato, where remember we are not just the biggest defence spender in Europe, we are the second-biggest defence spender in Nato.
“That deterrent is an important component of stability throughout the global territory.”
The SNP has repeatedly called for the weapons system – based on the Clyde – to be scrapped, with first minister Nicola Sturgeon describing it as “immoral” and “a massive waste of money”.
But Nato general secretary Jens Stoltenberg said Britain’s Trident system is “important” to the organisation.
Government ‘may be breaking own climate change laws’ with roads programme
Boris Johnson’s government could be challenged in the courts over breaching its own climate change laws with a £28bn pound road expansion programme.
It comes after the Court of Appeal ruling plans for a third runway at Heathrow were illegal – as ministers had not adequately taken into account the legal commitments to combat the climate emergency.
Transport Action Network – a group opposing “damaging road schemes” – told The Independent it is now seeking legal advice “to see whether the government is also acting outside the law in pursuing its road building programme”.
A report suggests the current assessment of the lavish investment in roads across the country was done under guidelines last updated in spring 2019 — several months before Theresa May’s administration introduced the legally binding target to eliminate carbon emissions as one of her last acts as PM.
All the details here:
Boris Johnson government 'may be breaking own climate change laws' with £28.8bn roads programme
Transport Action Network is now seeking legal advice 'on whether the government is also acting outside the law in pursuing its road building programme'PM calls emergency coronavirus meeting – for three days’ time
Boris Johnson will convene the government’s emergency Cobra committee in response to a growing number of cases of the coronavirus across Europe – but it won’t meet until Monday, 2 March.
Boris Johnson calls emergency coronavirus meeting - for three days time
Ministers will discuss rapidly escalating global coronavirus crisis, to be held on Monday‘Completely decent’: Lawyers praise Starmer
Some of Labour leadership contender Keir Starmer’s old colleagues in the legal profession have been speaking about his years as barrister for a lengthy profile piece inProspectmagazine.
Gavin Millar, now a QC at Matrix Chambers, said he was “obviously brilliant” and “the hard workers’ hard worker”.
Ken Macdonald QC added: “I still find it hard to think of him as a politician … because he is so completely decent.”
Former Tory attorney general Dominic Grieve said Starmer was easy person to deal with when he was in charge at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). “He was 100 per cent professional and very good at his job. We had a very good working relationship.”
Not everyone was entirely complementary, however. “There’s something slightly missing where the rousing stuff might need to be,” said one anonymous legal professional.
“Keir’s real speciality is getting it right. He can unpick an argument brilliantly, but he’s not such a natural at the passion behind the argument.”
PM heading to Chequers this weekend
Boris Johnson is working at No 10 on Friday and will be at his country residence Chequers over the weekend.
A Downing Street spokesman gave no explanation of why the Cobra meeting on the coronavirus was not being held earlier, but said that so far during the outbreak there had been one meeting a week led by the health secretary Matt Hancock.
Asked why the PM was taking the chair of Cobra for the first time, the spokesman said: “If you look at the increased number of cases on mainland Europe, the prime minister is keen to chair Cobra to be sure that everything that can be done is being done."
The PM last night visited Kettering Hospital in Northamptonshire to discuss preparations for possible coronavirus cases with senior clinicians.
Johnson joined the night shift and stayed at the hospital from 11pm to 3am, spending time with staff in the accident and emergency department, intensive care unit and paediatrics ward, said Downing Street. “Staff talked him through the processes in place for if there is a suspected case,” said the spokesman.
The No 10 spokesman declined to give a breakdown of Johnson’s activities over the weekend.
European minister rejects PM’s ‘artificial’ June deadline for trade talks
France’s minister for European affairs Amelie de Montchalin said on Friday the EU would not accept “artificial deadline” in trade talks.
The rebuttal follows the UK government’s threat to walk away by June if there the outline of free-trade agreement in place.
“We do not accept time pressure,” Montchalin told an audience at Chatham House in London.
She also said: “We did not accept cherry-picking from the UK in the first half of negotiations, we will not accept it now.”
Montchalin added: “Don’t underestimate the unity of the 27 members.”
Foreign Office considering airlift option for tourists in Tenerife, says No 10
On the Britons stuck in a Tenerife hotel hit by the virus, a No 10 spokesman said: “We are working closely with the Spanish authorities to ensure British nationals are being looked after. Our priority will always be their wellbeing.
“It is for local authorities to contain and manage outbreaks locally. We will continue to work with Spain to support them as needed.”
Asked if there could be an airlift of UK nationals, the spokesman said: “The Foreign Office will keep all options under review.
“We are working with airlines such as Jet2 to work out what assurances they need from the Spanish authorities in order for people to come home.”
London mayoral candidate proposes hotel tax
Conservative mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey says he will introduce a hotel tax in London to help pay for almost 9,000 extra officers in the capital.
Bailey, who is vying to replace Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London in May, is pledging to boost the Metropolitan Police’s numbers from 31,321 to 40,000 if he gets into office.
Bailey said he will lobby the government to introduce a 1 per cent hotel levy in London to generate about £48m per year.
He acknowledged that hoteliers “don’t want” the tax, but argued that every major city in the world has introduced a levy. “I will definitely be lobbying for a hotel levy. London needs to be safe, we invite people here, and paying a levy towards safety is a great thing.”
PM warned Brussels will not bow to ‘artificial deadlines’ in trade talks
More now on the big speech by France’s Europe minister Amelie de Montchalin. Speaking at Chatham House in central London, De Montchalin said Brussels will not be pressurised by “artificial deadlines” in the post-Brexit trade talks between the EU and UK.
Her comments come after the UK government warned in its negotiation mandate on Thursday that it could walk away from trade talks with Brussels in June unless there is the “broad outline” of a deal.
De Montchalin said the EU would “not accept time pressure” and is “not ready to sign any kind of a deal on December 31 at 11pm”.
“We cannot let our level of ambition be affected by what I would call artificial deadlines,” she said. “If the UK decides to shorten the negotiating period, it will be the UK's responsibility.
“It will not be our choice on the European side, and that choice will have consequences in terms of the breadth and depth of the relationship we can build.”
De Montchalin also spoke of the importance of trust in the negotiations. “A swift negotiation could be impacted by a degrade in implementation of the former agreement which we just reached three months ago - the Withdrawal Agreement.
“Ensuring that our citizens are protected and are never bargaining chips in the future. Ensuring that the Northern Ireland protocol is fully implemented is for us an absolute priority.”
‘Boris needs three days off before Cobra meeting’
There’s been a fair amount of mockery for Boris Johnson’s decision to call an emergency meeting over the coronavirus outbreak – but timetable it for Monday.
Conservatives avoiding the phrase ‘no-deal Brexit’
The government’s latest move in the Brexit process – threatening to quit talks in June – has increased the chances of coming to the transition period without a deal. It’s widely known as “no-deal” scenario. But not to loyal Tory MPs.
Former minister and staunch Brexiteer Theresa Villiers appeared on BBC Radio 5 Live this week and kept referring to an “Australian-type deal” in an interview, explaining that: “The reference to an Australia type trading relationship with the European Union does indeed reflect not having a free trade agreement and trading on WTO terms is something we do with many of our trading partners very successfully.”
