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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Andrew Sparrow and Lucy Campbell

Brexit: PM to meet Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on Wednesday for make-or-break talks – as it happened

Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels on Wednesday for a make or break meeting with Ursula von der Leyen. Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

That’s all from us for today. For a detailed summary of an eventful day for Brexit, see 6.06pm.

Meanwhile, for those who want to follow our coverage of the latest coronavirus updates from around the world, head over to our global liveblog, here:

And here is our story on the news that Britain’s future relationship with the EU hangs on Boris Johnson’s dinner with Ursula von der Leyen tomorrow, which comes after Michel Barnier said the chance of a deal being struck is “very slim”.

If you’re struggling to keep up, the Guardian’s Brussels chief Daniel Boffey has compiled a who’s who and analysis of the key players charged with breaking the Brexit impasse at tomorrow’s make-or-break summit.

The former Tory chancellor George Osborne and self-proclaimed “political casualty of the Brexit wars”, who campaigned for Remain alongside the then prime minister David Cameron, has penned a comment piece in the Evening Standard.

He writes that Britain will find its “splendid isolation is an illusion” and will “likely end up ‘voluntarily’ shadowing the EU rules and standards that we once helped shape”.

Here is are some extracts:

Each step Britain has taken in the post referendum world has been in the direction of a hard Brexit. We now face a rupture with our closest neighbours that only a small minority of a small majority would have supported back in 2016.

We’re out of the single market that Margaret Thatcher pioneered; out of the customs union too, with 50,000 new customs officers and lorry parks in Kent to show for it. None of that was inevitable four years ago — indeed many of the most prominent supporters of Brexit said the reverse. Yes, if there’s a last-minute deal there will be no tariffs on manufactured goods — but there is no trade agreement at all on the services industries like finance that make up 80 per cent of the UK economy.

Like a frog, if we had been thrown straight into the hot water back then, we would have jumped out — or perhaps never jumped in. But slowly, via internal Tory battles and Labour miscalculations, leadership changes and elections, we’ve reached a world where January 1, 2021 will mark the largest act of protectionism in our history. The country is too exhausted to care.

Updated

“Any deal will be a tradeoff between wealth and sovereignty – the proportion and timescale are the only considerations,” writes Guardian columnist Rafael Behr.

There is one Brexit deal. There has only ever been one. It has been there from the start, although hard to see through the fog. Its outline has been discernible behind plumes of rhetoric and misinformation billowing out from the Westminster political machine. It was there on the horizon the morning after the referendum. It has not moved during the thousands of hours of debate that followed.

The deal was already contained in article 50. It was in every bill in every late-night Commons vote. It was in Theresa May’s backstop and Boris Johnson’s alternative. It is the hard kernel of a soft Brexit and the soft underbelly of a hard one. It is the capital of Norwegian, Canadian and Australian-style Brexits. It is this: the UK will give up wealth in exchange for sovereignty.

In what proportions and over what timescale is the only real subject of negotiation. Whether that exchange should be made at all is the essential difference between leavers and remainers. The scenario we now call “no deal” is a way of describing the highest price for the largest portion of sovereignty. The treaty that Johnson might agree in an 11th hour trip to Brussels describes a different transaction using the same formula.

Read the full column here:

From Business Insider’s Adam Payne

And from the Telegraph’s Harry Yorke via RTE’s Tony Connelly

Updated

Here is Gove telling Sky News there will be “a small number of proportionate checks” on food products going into Northern Ireland that will be “as light-touch as possible”.

This is from Times Radio’s Tom Newton Dunn

Michael Gove, the cabinet office minister, will address the Commons tomorrow and set out further detail.

Updated

Here is PA’s report.

Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels on Wednesday to try to reach a breakthrough on a post-Brexit trade deal over dinner with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.

The prime minister and the EU chief will continue their talks in person after the UK government dropped controversial plans that would have allowed ministers to break international law.

The olive branch came after the two sides reached an agreement on the implementation of the Withdrawal Agreement divorce deal.

Meanwhile, the EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier also warned EU foreign ministers that he now believes a no-deal departure is more likely than a trade deal being brokered before the end of the transition period on 31 December, the PA news agency understands. (see 5.09pm.)

But both sides set the stage for a potentially make-or-break meal in Belgium on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, the cabinet office minister Michael Gove and his counterpart on the UK-EU joint committee, Maros Sefcovic, reached an agreement on border checks and trading rules for Northern Ireland.

Their discussions are separate from the trade talks, which remain deadlocked, but the agreement could improve relations between the two negotiating teams.

Ministers enraged the EU by requesting the powers to breach international law in overriding parts of the EU in the UK internal market bill, arguing it was needed to protect the trading relationship between Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the event of no-deal.

But Gove and Sefcovic said in a statement that “an agreement in principle” had been reached on all issues and that the government would withdraw the controversial clauses of the bill. They said:

Following intensive and constructive work over the past weeks by the EU and the UK, the two co-chairs can now announce their agreement in principle on all issues, in particular with regard to the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The agreement covers issues including border checks on animal and plant products, the supply of medicines and deliveries of chilled meats and other food products to supermarkets.

There was also “clarification” on the application of rules on state subsidies.

Sefcovic said he hoped the agreement would provide “positive momentum” for the trade talks, although he acknowledged the two sides were still “very far apart”.

It comes after the prime minister said trade talks with the bloc were proving “very tricky” and that it was “very, very difficult” to make progress, but that he was hopeful about reaching a deal.

Updated

From the UK’s chief negotiator for the talks on the future relationship with the EU and Boris Johnson’s Europe adviser, David Frost

This is from Liesje Schreinemacher, a Dutch politician and member of the European parliament

Early evening summary

  • A face-to-face meeting between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen that is likely to determine whether or not a UK-EU trade deal is possible will take place in Brussels tomorrow night over dinner, No 10 and the European commission have said.
  • Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, has told EU ministers that he now thinks the the UK-EU trade talks are more likely to end without a deal than with one. (See 5.09pm.)

That’s all from me. My colleague Lucy Campbell is taking over now, and will be filing more on the Johnson/Von der Leyen meeting tomorrow.

From Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president

Johnson to meet Von der Leyen for dinner in Brussels tomorrow to see if trade deal possible

Number 10 has confirmed Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels tomorrow for dinner with Ursula Von Der Leyen for a make-or-break summit on the future relationship between the UK and the EU. The talks will happen on the eve of the European council, opening the door for an agreement to be signed off by EU leaders.

No deal more likely outcome in trade talks with UK, Barnier tells EU ministers

This is from Reuters.

European Union Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier said on Tuesday he believed a ‘no-deal’ split in ties with Britain at the end of the year is now more likely than agreement on a trade pact, sources in the bloc said.

A diplomat and an official in Brussels, speaking under condition of anonymity, said Barnier made the remark at a meeting with the 27 national European affairs ministers and added that it was time for the bloc to update its no-deal contingency plans.

Michel Barnier (right) coming out of a metro station on his way to a meeting in Brussels earlier.
Michel Barnier (right) coming out of a metro station on his way to a meeting in Brussels earlier. Photograph: Olivier Matthys/AP

Updated

The UK government has updated its coronavirus dashboard. Here are the key figures.

  • The UK has recorded 616 further coronavirus deaths. That is up from 603 a week ago today and it is only the fifth time, in the autumn wave of Covid, that recorded daily deaths have topped 600. Only two other days this autumn have seen a higher recorded daily total: 25 November (696) and 2 December (648). But the overall number of deaths over the past seven days is still 7% down on the total for the previous week.
  • The UK has recorded 12,282 further cases. That is below the total for yesterday (14,718) and below the total for a week ago today (16,170). But over the past seven days there have been 107,158 positive cases in total - a 1.5% increase on the total for the previous week. Until yesterday the week-on-week figures had been going down.

The sun setting behind the Victoria Tower at the Palace of Westminster in London this afternoon.
The sun setting behind the Victoria Tower at the Palace of Westminster in London this afternoon. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images

Scotland cancels higher and advanced higher exams for pupils in 2021

Scotland’s education secretary has announced the cancellation of next year’s higher and advanced higher exams, despite previous insistence that they should go ahead.

John Swinney made the announcement after growing concerns that many pupils – in particular those of poorer backgrounds - have missed out on schooling as a result of repeated self-isolation. He said the “differential disruption to education caused by periods of self-isolation” had been “fundamental” to his decision-making.

He insisted that pupils’ grades “will be anchored in teacher assessment” and that teachers will have “months more” to familiarise themselves with the judgments they need to make, based on classroom work throughout the year.

In October, Swinney announced the cancellation of National 5s – the equivalent of English and Welsh GCSEs – next year.

He also announced that university students would face a six-week staggered return to campus at the beginning of next year, with undergraduates restarting their studies at home, at the normal beginning of term, and only returning to campus and their term-time accommodation when asked to do so by their university.

Updated

The statement today announcing a deal on implementing the Northern Ireland protocol says that, among other things, there has been agreement on “a clarification on the application of state aid under the terms of the protocol”.

In a thread on Twitter starting here, George Peretz QC, a public and EU law specialist, argues in effect that, if this is an attempt to limit the impact of the protocol in relation to state aid, and to prevent it giving the European court of justice jurisdiction over this particular aspect of the protocol, it won’t work legally.

The Law Society, which represents solicitors in England and Wales, welcomed the government’s dropping of three clauses from the internal market bill which would have breached international law.

David Greene, the society’s president, said:

The rule of law underpins our country and our democracy. It ensures that individuals, companies and government remain accountable to each other, and that fundamental rights are protected and enforced.

This an era of unprecedented challenge for our nation as we prepare to end the Brexit transition. It is a time for building new relationships – not for letting the impression go forth that we are not as good as our word.

Proposing to breach an agreement just entered into, breaking international law, even if in a ‘specific and limited way’, was shocking so we welcome this eleventh hour change of heart.

Had this step not been taken, the reputation of the jurisdiction would have suffered greatly. Going on from this, I hope we will still be respected as a country which prides itself on upholding the rule of law.

Large numbers of lawyers had objected to clauses 44, 45 and 47 of the UK internal market bill because they believed the legislation would have undermined the rule of law. It led to several high-profile resignations including that of Lord Keen, the advocate general for Scotland.

Updated

Here is some comment from journalists on the significance of the agreement reached today on the Northern Ireland protocol. (See 1.42pm.)

(Remember, this is not actually a new agreement. It is just an agreement on how to implement an agreement signed less than a year ago, when at the time it was assumed that both sides had a shared understanding of what they had committed to. And it is not even a full agreement. It is just an “agreement in principle”.)

From the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg

From James Forsyth in a blog for the Spectator

This progress should improve the atmospherics ahead of Boris Johnson’s meeting with Ursula von der Leyen this week; the UK is no longer threatening to unilaterally overrule the previous agreement that it signed. But it also means that if the talks fail the UK can walk away with a solution to the Northern Ireland issue and without doing something (going back on the withdrawal agreement) that would bring it into dispute with the incoming Biden administration.

From Tom Newton Dunn at Times Radio

From Stephen Bush in a blog for the New Statesman

We can’t be sure what is happening here: is the United Kingdom removing an important barrier to a free trade agreement, or is the United Kingdom removing an important and dangerous variable in the event of a no-deal Brexit? Are we seeing the political management of a planned no deal exit play out or are we witnessing the collapse of a fact-free, bravado-heavy approach to forcing a deal? Either remains possible at this stage.

Updated

Northern Ireland deal means 'one big obstacle' to trade deal out of way, says EU commissioner

Q: Does this make a trade deal more likely? Or is just the bare minimum of what you expected anyway?

Maroš Šefčovič says reaching an agreement on such wide-ranging issues had been a cause of concern. He says the hard work, and the constructive approach from both sides, allowed a deal to happen.

I hope that this would create positive momentum for the discussions on the free trade agreement. As you know we are still very far apart ...

We removed, I would say, one big obstacle from the way [for a trade deal].

“Positive momentum” is also the phrased used by the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, when describing what impact he thought the Northern Ireland protocol agreement might have on the trade talks. See 2.11pm.

The EU press conference is now over.

Updated

Q: Will the EU have official representation in Northern Ireland as part of the agreement on the Northern Ireland protocol? [The EU has been pressing for the right to open an office in Belfast from which it can check the UK is enforcing the GB/NI border rules properly.]

Maroš Šefčovič says he has to brief his EU colleagues on what is in the agreement. He says the full details will be released once the internal processes have been completed.

He sums up the areas where there has been an agreement. These are summarised in the news release, and include: “border control posts/entry points specifically for checks on animals, plants and derived products, export declarations, the supply of medicines, the supply of chilled meats, and other food products to supermarkets, and a clarification on the application of state aid under the terms of the protocol”.

He says the full details will be published in a few days.

Updated

Back to the press conference in Brussels, and there is a question for Maroš Šefčovič.

Q: You are the commissioner for foresight. [It’s true - he is European commissioner “for inter-institutional relations and foresight”.] What is your foresight about the prospects of a trade deal with the UK?

Šefčovič says the best way to use foresight is to prepare for the future and to be more resilient.

He is an optimist by nature, he says. He says he thinks by negotiation you can resolve your differences. There was a constructive tone on both sides, he says. They resolved their differences by hard work.

He says he is sure Ursula von der Leyen will “do her utmost” to explore all possibilities for a deal.

Updated

West central Scotland will emerge from near lockdown on Friday, but Edinburgh will remain in its current high level of restrictions because of the risk of opening up services in the country’s second biggest city in the two weeks before Christmas, Nicola Sturgeon has said as she announced the weekly review of Scotland’s 5-level system of Covid controls.

All 11 local authorities which have been in virtual lockdown for the last three weeks at level 4, the top level, will move to level 3, with restrictions for retail lifted at 6am and hospitality at 6pm. Sturgeon told MSPs that prevalence in all 11 of those areas had “fallen significantly”.

Travel restrictions remain in place, with travel in and out of level 3 areas still not permitted.

Inverclyde, Falkirk and Angus will move down to level 2 from Friday, but Sturgeon said that after detailed discussions the decision was made to keep Edinburgh in level 3.

She said cases there have risen slightly in recent days, but added that “the imminence of the Christmas period has also had an impact on our thinking”. She went on:

A move to level 2 in Edinburgh would mean opening up significantly more services in Scotland’s second biggest city in the two weeks before Christmas. That move would carry significant risk of increased transmission.

Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders have had consistently low levels of Covid for several weeks now, so will move from level 2 to level 1 from 6pm on Friday.

The opportunity for people to meet indoors in island local authorities – Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles - will be extended to other inhabited islands in the level 1 local authorities – with the exception of islands that are connected to mainland Scotland by road, such as Skye.

Updated

Šefčovič says deal with UK over Northern Ireland protocol has been 'very positive result'

At the press conference Maroš Šefčovič says he told EU foreign ministers about his meeting with Michael Gove yesterday. He refers to the joint statement out today.

Given the limited time before the transition period ends, it was essential to reach a shared agreement, he says.

He says the EU’s intention was to protect the Good Friday agreement and the EU’s internal market.

He says he particularly welcomes the UK’s decision to drop the parts of the internal market bill that would have broken international law. But the EU will be monitoring what the UK does to ensure this happens, he says.

Šefčovič ends by paying tribute to the work of Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator. He says they worked together and achieved a “very positive result”.

Maroš Šefčovič
Maroš Šefčovič. Photograph: EU

Updated

Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission vice-president who co-chairs the joint committee on implementing the withdrawal agreement, is speaking at a press conference in Brussels now. There is a live feed here. It is not specifically about Brexit, but I will be monitoring it for anything that he might say on the subject.

Updated

Here is my colleague Lisa O’Carroll’s story about the UK-EU agreement on implementing the Brexit withdrawal agreement.

And here is the formal announcement from the Cabinet Office.

Coveney says Northern Ireland protocol deal could provide 'positive momentum' for trade talks

Simon Coveney, the Irish foreign minister, has issued a statement welcoming the UK-EU agreement on how to implement the Northern Ireland protocol, and the UK government’s decision to abandon the legislation that would have allowed it to ignore parts of the Brexit withdrawal agreement it signed up to only a year ago. (See 1.42pm.)

He said he hoped it would provide “positive momentum” in the drive to agree a trade deal. He said:

I very much welcome the positive news announced today that agreement in principle has been reached on the outstanding issues on the implementation of the protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland. Of particular significance is the commitment by the UK to withdraw clauses 44, 45 and 47 of the internal market bill bringing it back into line with its obligations under the withdrawal agreement This positive development comes after significant and productive engagement between the EU and the UK on implementation of the protocol, as provided for under the withdrawal agreement.

I look forward to an early meeting of the EU-UK joint committee, chaired by commission vice president Maroš Šefčovič and Michael Gove to formalise the agreements reached.

I hope this may also provide some of the positive momentum necessary to instil confidence and trust and allow progress in the wider context of the future relationship negotiations.

Updated

Johnson backs royal couple in face of criticism of their train tour from Scottish and Welsh governments

Downing Street has now sent out a line saying Boris Johnson fully supports the train tour by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. A No 10 spokesman said:

The PM is delighted to see the warm reception the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have received on their hugely valuable train tour of England, Scotland and Wales.

The tour will be a welcome morale boost to frontline workers who have done so much during the pandemic.

This does not mean there has been a massive U-turn since the lobby briefing earlier. (See 1.20pm.) It just means that the spokesman did not have an agreed line to hand at the briefing earlier, which meant that he gave non-committal answers that sounded like a refusal to endorse William and Kate.

PM drops international law-breaking measures after UK and EU reach deal on Northern Ireland protocol

Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, has announced that he and Maroš Šefčovič, the European commission vice president, have reached an agreement in principle on all the outstanding issues relating to the Brexit withdrawal agreement. This means, primarily, the Northern Ireland protocol - the rules governing trade between Northern Ireland and Great Britain that will apply from next year under the compromise plan (adopted as an alternative to the backstop) that will leave Northern Ireland in the single market.

These arrangements will apply whether or not a trade deal is negotiated. But the very fact that they have been agreed removes an area of dispute, and this will be seen as a move that could make a trade deal more probable.

In his announcement Gove has also confirmed that the government is now abandoning the provisions in the internal market bill that would have undermined the withdrawal agreement, as well as plans for related provisions in forthcoming taxation bill. The Cabinet Office news release says:

In view of these mutually agreed solutions, the UK will withdraw clauses 44, 45 and 47 of the UK internal market bill, and not introduce any similar provisions in the taxation bill.

These were the provisions that the government admitted broke international law (“in a specific and limited way”).

Updated

At the Downing Street lobby briefing the prime minister’s spokesman was also asked if Boris Johnson agreed with the concerns raised by the Scottish and Welsh governments (see 10.38am) about the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s train tour around Britain to say thank you to people who have contributed during the pandemic.

Normally a Conservative government is all too happy to speak up for the royal family, but the spokesman sidestepped the question. He said:

That is obviously a matter for the palace and I would point you towards them. But we set out clearly the tiers and the advice around the current guidelines that we are asking the public to abide by.

Asked if the royal couple had complied with the coronavirus rules, the spokesman said:

I’m making the general point that we have set out the regionalised tier system that is now in place and the guidance that we are asking people to abide by.

When it was put to the spokesman that it sounded as if No 10 was refusing to give its backing to the couple’s trip, he replied: “I would point you towards the palace.”

UPDATE: Soon after these answers started generating headlines on Twitter, No 10 issued a fresh statement. See 1.59pm.

Updated

The SNP’s Martyn Day asks what the government is doing to encourage take-up. And will the government pursue an elimination strategy?

Hancock says that it is only with a vaccine that we can get rid of the virus.

And he says countering misinformation is incredibly important. That is best done with positive information, he says. He urges MPs to talk about the benefits of the vaccine.

He says international surveys show that the UK has one of the highest rates of vaccine acceptance in the world.

Updated

Jeremy Hunt, the chair of the Commons health committee, says what people really want to know is if they can book a summer holiday. Can they?

Hancock says he has “high confidence that the summer of 2021 will be a bright one”, without the restrictions in force this year. Hancock says he has booked his holiday already; he is going to Cornwall.

Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary, is responding now. He has some questions.

When will areas without hospitals get vaccine programmes?

Will vaccination centres be suitable for disabled people?

Will medical students get priority?

And what will happen about hard to reach groups, like the homeless?

Hancock says vaccination will be rolled out to further centres, including Leicester (Ashworth’s constituency city) next week.

It will be available to all people, including the disabled and the homeless, he says.

Updated

In the Commons Matt Hancock is responding to the UQ now.

He says this morning Margaret Keenan became the first person in the world to receive a clinically authorised vaccine.

Today marks “the start of the fightback”, he says.

He says vaccinations will take place in hospitals this week. From next week vaccines will be distributed to GPs. And by Christmas vaccinations will take place in care homes, he says.

But he stresses that is important not to “blow it now”.

There are worrying signs of the virus growing in some parts of the country, including parts of Essex, London and Kent, and over the coming weeks and months, we must all keep following the rules to keep people safe, and make sure we can get through this safely together.

Updated

No 10 won't say when Johnson/Von der Leyen meeting will happen - but rules out EU offer for talks to continue into 2021

The Downing Street lobby briefing has just finished, but reporters were left none the wiser as to when the planned meeting between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen will take place. “In the coming days” was about as specific as the prime minister’s spokesman was willing to be. He said Davod Frost, the UK’s chief negotiator, was meeting his EU counterpart, Michel Barnier, in Brussels today to agree a briefing for the leaders on where the differences remain, and later Frost will return to London to meet Johnson.

But the spokesman did rule out the EU offer for talks to continue into 2021. (See 11.54am.) Asked about this, he said:

We have been clear that the future relationship needs to be concluded by the end of the year, and negotiation won’t continue into next year. That has been our position throughout.

Updated

Matt Hancock's Commons urgent question on vaccine rollout

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will shortly answer a Commons urgent question on the vaccine rollout.

Updated

Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, has told Sky News that even with vaccines being introduced, it could still be necessary next winter for people to wear masks in some circumstances. He said:

This is incredibly important and it is important that we all stick to the rules in the meantime – the rules are what’s keeping the virus down now, we need to keep the virus down while we allow the vaccine programme to roll out.

It may be that next winter, even with vaccination, we need measures like masks in place – we don’t know yet how good all the vaccines are going to be at preventing the transmission of the virus.

Vallance stressed that, although vaccines prevent people getting the disease, it is not yet known if they also prevent people spreading it.

Updated

Former Tory MEP to head post-Brexit EU citizens' rights watchdog

A former Conservative party MEP has been appointed as chair of the new Brexit body to monitor the treatment of EU citizens by the Home Office and other authorities.

Sir Ashley Fox, who was knighted by Theresa May in September 2019, will be the first chair of the Independent Monitoring Authority for Citizens Rights Agreementsm which will start operating from 1 January under the withdrawal agreement.

The appointment of a former Tory politician has raised eyebrows among campaign groups nervous about the future of EU citizens in the country.

Last week the justice committee noted Fox had said he did not intend to “raise hopes” that the body would deal with individual citizens’ complaints even though it is mandated to “initiate investigations” and, if necessary, take action “up to an including seeking judicial review”.

It endorsed his appointment “subject to” the considerations above.

Also appointed by the lord chancellor today as non-executive members of the body are: Punam Birly, a partner at KPMG; Marcus Killick, the head of a Gibraltar law firm; and Leo O’Reilly, a former civil servant in Northern Ireland government departments.

Updated

In an interview with the Today programme this morning Kate Bingham, tje head of the government’s vaccine taskforce, said she thought it should be safe for people to take summer holidays abroad next year. She said that although the virus would never completely disappear, vaccines meant that by the summer of 2021 “we should be in a much better place to get on planes”.

She told the programme:

My gut feel is that we will all be going on summer holidays.

It is likely that those people most at risk will be vaccinated through to April, and then the JCVI [joint committee on vaccination and immunisation] and the Department of Health will then consider how to broaden out the vaccinations to other adults.

I think by the summer we should be in a much better place to get on planes.

I don’t think we’re going to get away from this virus ever – so we’re going to have to maintain sensible hygiene and washing hands, and so on.

I would like this vaccine to be as routine as an annual flu jab and that we manage it rather than get bowed down by it.

Updated

EU says it is willing to continue talks with UK into 2021 in event of no deal

The EU is willing to carry on further talks with the UK in 2021 even if there is no deal before the end of the post-Brexit transition on 31 December, the European commission said this morning.

Daniel Ferrie, a commission spokesman, said the mandate given to officials by the 27 member states and the European parliament would permit further talks. He said:

If that deal is not in place on January 1, then we have a no-deal situation. That does not exclude that negotiations can continue – from our side – and it does not exclude that we can continue on the basis of the mandate that is given to us.

Updated

Eric Mamer, the European commission’s spokesman, told reporters this morning that no date has yet been fixed for Boris Johnson’s meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, the commission president.

He said the conversation between the two leaders yesterday had been “very cordial”, but that it had focused on the “sticking points” in the negotiations.

Brexit 'a university of patience', says Barnier as preparations begin for Johnson-Von der Leyen meeting

Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, told Sky News in Brussels this morning that he has had a meeting with David Frost, his UK counterpart, to prepare the “next steps” – drawing up an agenda for the meeting between Boris Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president. Barnier said “more than ever, Brexit is a school of patience – even a university of patience”.

Michel Barnier
Michel Barnier. Photograph: Sky News

Updated

Here is a (fairly random) selection of tweets this morning from Brexit specialists about the UK-EU trade talks.

From my colleague Daniel Boffey

From Fabian Zuleeg, head of the European Policy Centre in Brussels

From the Wall Street Journal’s Laurence Norman

From RTÉ’s Tony Connelly

From Mujtaba Rahman, Brexit specialist at the Eurasia consultancy

From Wolfgang Munchau, of Eurointelligence

From David Henig, head of the UK trade policy project

Henig is referring to what Boris Johnson said in an interview this morning. See 10.20am.

Updated

From the BBC’s Hugh Pym

Boris Johnson speaking to Lyn Wheeler (right) before she received the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Guy’s Hospital in London this morning.
Boris Johnson speaking to Lyn Wheeler (right) before she received the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine at Guy’s Hospital in London this morning. Photograph: Frank Augstein/PA

Alexander De Croo, the prime minister of Belgium, is trolling Boris Johnson ...

One in four deaths in England and Wales involved Covid by end of November, ONS figures show

One in four deaths in England and Wales registered at the end of November involved coronavirus, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

As PA Media reports, this is 24.4% of the total deaths registered during the week ending 27 November, and the highest number of deaths involving Covid-19 since the week ending 15 May.

Today’s figures also show all regions in England recording excess deaths – deaths above the five-year norm for this time of year – for the third week in a row. Here are the figures.

Excess deaths in England and Wales, by region, in week ending 27 November
Excess deaths in England and Wales, by region, in week ending 27 November Photograph: ONS

Updated

Here is the latest story from my colleagues Daniel Boffey and Jon Henley on the UK-EU trade negotiations.

Covid-related deaths in UK reach 77,707

Almost 78,000 deaths involving coronavirus have occurred in the UK since the beginning of the pandemic, according to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics.

Deaths due to Covid-19 have risen since early September after looser restrictions on movement during the summer drove an increase in cases and hospitalisations from the virus. A total of 77,707 deaths involving the virus have been recorded to date.

Coronavirus deaths continued to rise across England and Wales late last month, with 3,040 deaths registered in the week ending 27 November. The number of deaths involving Covid-19 increased in all English regions except the north-west.

A total of 75,092 Covid-19 deaths have been registered by statistical agencies across the UK since the beginning of the pandemic. Those figures account for deaths where the virus was mentioned on the death certificate.

However the government death toll for England, which counts people who died within 28 days of a positive test, stands at 50,804. A total of 2,615 deaths have been recorded across the UK since the ONS figures were tallied.

Welsh government minister implicitly criticises 'unnecessary' visit by royal couple

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are visiting Cardiff this morning, on the final day of a train tour around Britain intended to allow them to thank people for their contribution during the pandemic.

But they have not had a warm welcome from the Welsh government, which has imposed a ban on travel to and from high Covid areas in the rest of the UK.

In an interview on the Today programme, when asked if he thought the royal couple should visit Wales, Vaughan Gething, the Welsh health minister, implied they should have stayed away. He said:

I’d rather that no one was having unnecessary visits, and people always have divisive views about the monarchy, but their visit isn’t an excuse for people to say that they are confused about what they are being asked to do.

When asked if they should still come, Gething said:

I’m not particularly bothered or interested because I don’t think that is going to be an excuse for people to say: ‘I should go and behave in a different way and I should act as if the harm that is being seen in front of us in every part of our healthcare system is not taking place.’

Yesterday Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, sounded equally unenthusiastic when asked about William and Kate’s visit to Scotland as part of their train tour.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visiting Cardiff Castle this morning.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visiting Cardiff Castle this morning. Photograph: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Updated

Johnson says there are 'limits' to what a 'sensible, independent country' might accept in a trade deal

In his broadcast interview this morning Boris Johnson also said that, although the government would try anything to get a trade deal with the EU, there were “limits” to what a “sensible, independent country” would do. He said:

We will see where we get to in the course of the next two days, but I think the UK government’s position is that we are willing to engage at any level, political or otherwise, we are willing to try anything.

But there are just limits beyond which no sensible, independent government or country could go and people have got to understand that.

Updated

The Sky News presenter Kay Burley did not present her breakfast show on Tuesday morning after being placed under review when she admitted to holding a 60th birthday party that broke Covid regulations, my colleague Archie Bland reports.

In his broadcast interview Boris Johnson was also asked if he would keep working for a deal with the EU “right up to the wire”. He replied:

Of course. We’re always hopeful. But there may come a moment when we have to acknowledge that it’s time to draw stumps, and that’s just the way it is. But we will prosper mightily, as I’ve always said, under any version, and if we have to go for an Australian solution, then that’s fine too.

Johnson tells firms worried about no deal that terms of trade changing from January anyway

This is what Boris Johnson said in his broadcast interview this morning (see 9.44am) when he was asked if he had a message for businesses who are “terrified” by the prospect of the UK and the EU failing to agree a trade deal. He replied:

Everybody needs to understand that, on any view, there’s going to be change on 1 January. And if we have to come out on Australian terms, as they are called, then we will make sure that we look after everybody in this country, of course. But also we need to recognise that this is a big, big opportunity for this country, on any view, and, yes, we will be able to do things differently, but we will be able to do many things better as well.

And there are big, big opportunities for the UK, whether it’s Canada or Australia [ie, whether it’s a Canada-style free trade deal, or no deal].

Johnson referred to “Australian terms, as they are called”. But it is Downing Street itself that coined this euphemism. Other people do not use it because it’s misleading. Australia does not have a trade deal with the EU, and so an Australian-style deal is actually no deal, which means trading with the EU on World Trade Organisation terms.

Updated

Johnson says achieving trade deal with EU looking 'very, very difficult at the moment'

Boris Johnson has been speaking to broadcasters at Guy’s hospital in London, where he has been visiting people getting vaccinated. He struck a cautious note in his first public comments on Brexit since it was announced last night that he will be travelling to Brussels later this week for last-minute talks with Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, which will determine whether or not there is a trade deal. He claimed he was optimistic, but he also stressed that the situation was “very, very difficult”.

Asked how confident he was that a personal meeting would make a difference, he replied:

You’ve got to be optimistic, you’ve got to believe that the power of sweet reason [can] get this thing over the line. But I’ve got to tell you, it’s looking very, very difficult at the moment.

At another point, when asked if he was hopeful he would get a deal, he said:

I’m always hopeful, yes, I’m very hopeful, but I’ve got to be honest with you, I think the situation at the moment is very tricky.

I think that our friends have just got to understand that the UK has left the European Union in order to be able to exercise democratic control over the way we do things.

And then there’s also the issue of fisheries, where we’re a long way apart still. But hope springs eternal, and I’ll do my best to sort it out if we can.

When asked if he had a message for businesses who were terrified by the prospect of there being no deal, Johnson stressed that, whatever happened, there would be change on 1 January.

UPDATE: Here is the video clip.

Updated

Hancock says Covid rules could toughen in some areas next week as he warns against complacency

Good morning. As my colleague Jessica Murray reports, Margaret Keenan, 90, became the first non-trial patient in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine as the UK’s vaccination programme started to roll out.

It’s a proper landmark moment, and “a turning point in this pandemic”, as Prof Stephen Powis, NHS England’s national medical director, told the Today programme. He explained:

This is the way out of it, the beginning of the end. It’s not going to happen tomorrow, it’s not going to happen next week or next month.

We still need to socially distance, we need to follow all those restrictions in place. But in 2021 vaccination programmes will mean we can get back to normality.

Ministers have been keen to stress that this does not mean people can abandon the restrictions now. And, in a separate interview, Matt Hancock, the health secretary, said that when the government reviews the tier restrictions for England next week, some areas could even find themselves moving up to a higher tier. When asked if it was possible that restrictions could get tougher next week, Hancock replied:

Well, that’s right. What I’d say is that this is an incredibly important moment on the march out of this pandemic, but we’ve still got a long march to go this winter.

And people need to keep respecting the rules and try to live in a way that, if you have the virus, infects as few people as possible.

And we are seeing rising numbers of cases, in parts of Essex, parts of Kent and parts of London in particular, and we’ve got to keep this under control.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Boris Johnson chairs cabinet.

9.30am: The ONS publishes its latest weekly death figures for England and Wales.

12pm: Downing Street is expected to hold its daily lobby briefing.

12pm: The Department for Education publishes its latest pupil attendance figures.

12.30pm: Matt Hancock, the health secretary, answers a Commons urgent question about the vaccine rollout.

After 2pm: Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, gives a statement to the Scottish parliament updating the coronavirus restrictions for Scotland.

After 2pm: MPs begin a debate on resolutions relating to the taxation (post-transition period) bill.

2.15pm: Robert Buckland, the justice secretary, gives evidence to the Commons justice committee about the government’s constitution, democracy and rights commission.

2.30pm: George Eustice, the environment secretary, gives evidence to the Commons environment committee.

Politics Live is now doubling up as the UK coronavirus live blog and, given the way the Covid crisis eclipses everything, this will continue for the foreseeable future. But we will be covering non-Covid political stories too, like Brexit, and when they seem more important or more interesting, they will take precedence.

Here is our global coronavirus live blog.

I try to monitor the comments below the line (BTL) but it is impossible to read them all. If you have a direct question, do include “Andrew” in it somewhere and I’m more likely to find it. I do try to answer questions, and if they are of general interest, I will post the question and reply above the line (ATL), although I can’t promise to do this for everyone.

If you want to attract my attention quickly, it is probably better to use Twitter. I’m on @AndrewSparrow.

Updated

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