Responses to tweet during Bake Off point out that Britain pays no tariffs on product under EU deal

A government claim that the new UK-Japan trade agreement will lead to cheaper soy sauce has been shot down as it was pointed out that Britain pays 0% tariffs under an EU deal.

The Department for International Trade (DIT) made the claim in a tweet during Tuesday night’s broadcast of The Great British Bake Off, where it was Japanese week and the bakers made kawaii cakes.

Carolyn Fairbairn says the UK economy is in ‘suspended animation’ while issue remain unresolved

The head of the UK’s leading employers’ organisation has stepped up pressure on the government to conclude trade talks with the EU so that the country can move on from the “suspended animation” of the past four years.

Reflecting on her five years as director general of the CBI, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn said her biggest regret was that the issue had not been resolved earlier and warned ministers that businesses grappling with Covid-19 were unprepared for a hard Brexit.

Outcome of next two weeks of talks crucial but uncertain, says Charles Michel

Brexit negotiations have hit their most difficult stage, with Brussels still unsure whether a deal with Boris Johnson is possible within the next two crucial weeks, the European council president, Charles Michel, has said.

The former prime minister of Belgium, who leads the summit of EU leaders, said in an interview with the Guardian that the result still was still hanging in the balance with what he suggested was a further fortnight of talks to come.

Survey finds nearly two-thirds of entrepreneurs believe their business may not survive pandemic

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An estimated 6m small businesses in the UK supporting 16.6m jobs are in a financially precarious position as a result of the pandemic, a London business school has warned.

Nearly two-thirds of entrepreneurs felt their business might not survive the pressures of Covid-19, while more than half predicted they would run out of money within the next 12 months, according to the new study from King’s Business School.

Rather than centralising power, the union should realise that challenging members’ national identities sparks resistance

In fewer than 100 days, Brexit will have been completed. Britain will be outside the European Union customs union and the internal market. But Brexit poses questions for the EU as well as for Britain. It challenges what might be called the ideology of Europe. It is, after all, a serious matter for a democratic organisation when a major member state decides to leave.

“It would,” declared Donald Tusk, then president of the European council, shortly after the Brexit referendum in 2016, “be a fatal error to assume that the negative result in the UK referendum represents a specifically British issue … the Brexit vote is a desperate attempt to answer the questions that millions of Europeans ask themselves daily.”

Why stop at an Australia-style deal? There are far more exotic realms out there

In 1981, tarnished by a legacy of nuclear embarrassments, the leaky Cumbrian atomic power plant Windscale was rebranded as Sellafield and the problems of public perception simply melted away, like hot uranium seeping into a water table. Likewise, we are no longer about to embrace a similarly contaminated no-deal Brexit. We are instead welcoming a nice, new Australia-style deal. But Australia doesn’t have a deal with the EU (even though it wants one). We are embracing a no-deal Brexit in all but name. It is, as the secretary of state Alok Sharma admitted to an unusually uncooperative Nick Ferrari on Monday, “just a question of semantics”. Ah yes. The Conservatives’ old enemies! Words! And their actual meanings!

On Monday evening, I opened my Anglo-Asian tandoori lamb vindaloo delivery and found a request to contribute to one of Dominics Cumming’s blue-sky, out-of-the-box think-boxes inside it, written on my poppadum in mango chutney. Cumming’s omniscient net-lords knew my every move. As usual, Cumming was looking for hot-ass cyber-freaks and batshit Ballardian head-jobs who could furnish him with shamanic sci-fi solutions. Apparently I was such a person because I had both written a comic book about a ghost and sung in 10th-century Anglo-Saxon on a dance record. Cumming needed a way to avoid identifying the incoming no-deal Brexit, which no one had wanted or expected, as the no-deal Brexit it clearly was. Sharma’s public admission that the Australia-style deal rebrand was linguistic smoke and mirrors had proved potentially problematic and threatened to unravel a number of other flimsy, fictional Conservative constructs, the implausible public persona of Boris Johnson having been deemed the most vulnerable to a moment’s scrutiny.

Divide England? Who could seriously propose that? With all that mighty history behind us? Well, it didn’t seem crazy to Winston Churchill in 1912. He said that if we wanted to preserve the UK we “would have to face the task of dividing England into several great self-governing areas”. Southern England was just too Tory – and too big. Churchill saw that in the democratic era an England dominated by this Tory south could not coexist with the Celts. If anyone thinks he was wrong, just look at what has happened over the past year.

By the autumn of 2019, clear majorities of Conservative voters were ready to jettison the UK, and even the Conservative party itself, in pursuit of Brexit. Our very modern, music-hall merry monarch, Boris Johnson, and his tacticians saw the way the wind was blowing. A purged Conservative and Unionist party became the English National party in all but name. Nationalism did what nationalism does, persuading people whose lives are very different that they have mysterious interests in common and many northerners were persuaded to vote, often for the first time, the same way as southerners.

As a classicist, Boris Johnson will be all too aware of the fate of Pyrrhus of Epirus in the third century BC. He enjoyed a series of victories against the Romans but at such a cost of casualties on his own side that he lost the war, supposedly saying after battle: “One more such victory and Pyrrhus is undone.”

This makes it all the more surprising that Johnson appears to be following Pyrrhus down the same track in his approach to negotiations, seeking victories at any cost. And that cost is going to fall on us as a nation, particularly as we enter the endgame of negotiations on an EU free trade agreement.

Ivan Rogers, former UK ambassador to the EU, says prime minister will think ‘history was going his way’ if Donald Trump is re-elected

Senior figures in European governments believe Boris Johnson is waiting for the result of the US presidential election before finally deciding whether to risk plunging the UK into a no-deal Brexit, according to a former British ambassador to the EU.

Ivan Rogers, who was the UK’s permanent representative in Brussels from 2013 to 2017, told the Observer that a view shared by ministers and officials he has talked to in recent weeks in several European capitals, is that Johnson is biding his time – and is much more likely to opt for no deal if his friend and Brexit supporter Donald Trump prevails over the Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.

Rules which come into force in December quietly published on Thursday by Home Office

The government has quietly reduced the £35,800 minimum salary for migrants to settle in the UK by almost 30%, it has emerged.

Migrants on salaries of £20,480 but with enough points under Boris Johnson’s new Australian-style immigration system to qualify for jobs where there is a shortage of workers will also be entitled to settle after six years and become citizens.

After a week of theatrics, the gaps are still significant and the deal at the end remains thin

British officials close to the Brexit negotiations had said Downing Street would be mindful of the “atmospherics” at last Friday’s EU summit when deciding on the next steps. It was, it would seem, a sniff test. The leaders gathered in Brussels apparently failed it.

The result was a walkout of sorts by the prime minister, only resolved once Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief negotiator, publicly acknowledged that British flexibility in the talks would need to be reciprocated. The negotiation resumed on Thursday.

Exclusive: European commission insists letting UK nationals use e-gates would breach EU law

Boris Johnson has clashed with Brussels over an 11th-hour attempt to save British passport holders from hours of delays at European airports from the end of the year.

The government is seeking continued use by UK nationals of the automatic e-gates used by EU nationals at airports and Eurostar terminals. The move is seen by the European commission as an attempt to keep Britons in faster lanes rather than having to queue up with the rest of the world after the end of the transition period.

Populism can survive a Trump defeat and a disastrous Brexit. Even so, its best days may already be over

Over the four feverish years since the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election, we have got used to thinking of populism as a movement whose time has come. Its loudmouth leaders, constant rule-breaking and seductive promises of national renewal have dominated democratic life in much of the world.

Many people who find populism appalling have also been fascinated, sometimes mesmerised. After the relatively predictable and cautious politics of the 90s and 00s, populism has provided electoral shocks, colourful ideologues, risk-taking governments – and also a potent sense of novelty.

Tariff hit for electric vehicles likely to be £2,800 per car, with risks to UK’s net zero plans

The car industry has said a no-deal Brexit will add thousands of pounds to the cost of electric and conventional cars.

A no-deal Brexit would add 10% to the cost of new cars imported from the EU. The average price of cars imported to the UK from the EU is about £19,000, meaning car buyers could overnight face an additional £1,900 per vehicle, according to sales data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group.

Sector calls for compromise to ensure UK researchers stay in Horizon Europe

The UK’s post-Brexit collaboration with European scientists hangs in the balance after it emerged that the EU offer of staying in the Horizon research programme could leave London with a £3bn deficit.

“The financial negotiations are not in a good position and the offer that the [European] commission has made to the UK is not appealing,” Vivienne Stern, the director of Universities UK International, told a Lords Brexit committee on Thursday.

Policy is ‘huge step backwards’ that will prevent vulnerable people from seeking help, charities say

Foreign rough sleepers face being deported from Britain under draconian immigration laws to be introduced when the Brexit transition period ends.

Under the immigration rules to be laid before parliament and due to come into force on 1 January, rough sleeping will become grounds for refusal of, or cancellation of, permission to be in the UK.

During a debate between lawmakers on Brexit negotiations, the president of the European council, Charles Michel, has said that while the EU is keen to maintain close links with the UK, Britain cannot expect to 'have your cake and eat it'. 

Michel said it was not reasonable for the UK to want 'access to our single market' while also diverging from standards and regulations when it suited

• UK welcomes Barnier's 'significant' remarks on unlocking Brexit talks
• Follow all the day’s political developments – live

Internal borders, criminals on the loose – this is the utopia we’ve dreamed of. Who needs fresh vegetables anyway?

The Derbyshire village of Coton in the Elms is the place farthest away from the sea in all the United Kingdom, suggesting it cannot be long before it is selected by Boris Johnson’s government as a border site. We are soon to be so in control of our borders that we will establish them in places long prevented from being borders by such iniquitous entities as the EU, and physical geography.

In recent weeks, the government has announced exciting plans for “inland border sites” in places such as Warrington, Birmingham and Epping Forest. There will be no place too landlocked to be left out of lorry tailbacks and additional layers of red tape – previously the preserve of coastal elites – suggesting the government’s levelling up agenda is already deeply and meaningfully under way.

Michael Gove performed a U-turn at the dispatch box in which he praised a ‘constructive move’ by the EU minutes after declaring the talks ‘effectively ended’. Speaking in the Commons, Gove had claimed a litany of failures of the EU to engage in good faith with the UK, but then welcomed the offer by the EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, to ‘intensify’ talks

• UK refuses to restart Brexit talks despite EU accepting its demands
  

A Brexit statement from the Govester serves to underline that he has no sense of shame

It made a change to have a break from the horrors of the coronavirus. Even if it was for only an hour. The downside was that we got the horrors of Michael Gove giving a Commons statement on Brexit instead. And like almost all of the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster’s performances, it was conducted entirely without sincerity.

At least with Boris Johnson you get the feeling that his past is catching up with him and his untruths are beginning to take their toll on his physical and mental wellbeing. Gove appears to have no vestigial sense of shame. Politics for him is just a theatre in which truth and lies are interchangeable, and he retains an outward appearance where excessive politeness is merely a front for outright contempt. He is the original tabula rasa: every day – or even several times a day – he is the chameleon that reinterprets himself according to his surroundings. His mistakes are not merely forgiven, they are erased from memory.

The prime minister needs to rebuild a political consensus for his pandemic plans, not least because a Tory revolt would see him need Labour support to pass new measures

Like a gambling addict, Boris Johnson racks up losses but keeps laying larger bets, convinced a last big win awaits him. In a casino, this plan might hurt his wallet and his pride. In a pandemic wrapped around the shock of Brexit, such a strategy could cost, unnecessarily, lives and livelihoods. But Mr Johnson has won against the odds before. Faced with a political opponent, the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, who is able to marshall Mr Johnson’s own Conservative backbenchers against him, the prime minister has opted to double down on his plan to test his way out of the coronavirus crisis. But it is not a winning wager.

The prime minister has pinned his hopes on a new saliva-based test that can tell whether a person is Covid-positive within 15 minutes. Speed is essential to contain a pandemic. With wait times for diagnostic test results not coming down fast enough, contact tracers have too short a window to identify coronavirus patients before they have a chance to infect others. The centralised, privately run test-and-trace system is clunky and relies on specialised laboratories. By comparison, the new tests can be done on the spot.

Theresa May reacted in shock as Michael Gove claimed the UK can 'co-operate more effectively' in many areas over border security outside the EU than 'we ever could inside'. The Conservative former prime minister also appeared to mouth 'utter rubbish' in the Commons, after she accused the government of being 'resigned to the prospect of no deal' and asked the Cabinet Office minister about access to security databases.

Speaking in parliament on Monday, May said neither Gove nor Boris Johnson had mentioned security in recent statements, adding: "Will [Gove] confirm that if the UK walks away with no-deal then our police and law enforcement agencies will no longer have the necessary access to databases, such as PNR (passenger name record), in order to continue to identify and catch criminals and potential terrorists in order to keep us safe?'

 Gove responded that 'significant progress' had been made over security co-operation

Supreme court justice Lord Kerr has condemned the government’s ‘unbridled power’. Who can disagree with him?

Boris Johnson is said to be bad at making friends, but he is good at making enemies. This week he has added judges and bishops to his lengthening list. The departing and longest-serving supreme court justice, Lord Kerr, has condemned the prime minister’s persistent abuse of the judiciary as “unbridled power” and a “slippery slope to dictatorship”. This comes on top of a statement from the leaders of the UK’s Anglican churches deploring Johnson’s admission of law-breaking over Brexit as a “disastrous precedent”. Such a breach of political protocol by the church is most unusual.

There is something to be said for abrasion within the British establishment. The constitution is devoid of formal checks and the relationship of the church and the law to government should never be too comfortable. The civil service, another of Johnson’s new-found enemies, needs to be obedient. Apart from that, the media should not stand alone as sole constraint on the executive.

What are the forces at play as the end of the Brexit transition period looms?

British fishing communities have felt that they were sacrificed at the time of the British negotiations to join the European Economic Community 50 years ago.

Government’s refusal to legislate could lead to turmoil in traditionally Tory rural areas

Farmers facing one of their toughest years in recent memory have received little comfort this week from a usually reliable ally: the Conservative party.

Their pleas to the government to enshrine in law a commitment to the UK’s high standards of food safety and animal welfare were ignored. In a long and impassioned debate in the House of Commons on Monday, amendments to the agriculture bill that had almost universal backing from farming leaders were defeated, steamrollered under the government’s 80-strong majority.

PM has told firms to prepare to trade with EU ‘based on simple principles of global free trade’

• Latest Brexit and Covid developments – live

The prime minister claimed that due to the stubborn intransigence of the EU he had to conclude that the “Canada-style” trade deal that he was seeking was not going to be successfully negotiated without a “fundamental” change in Brussels’ negotiating position. He said it was therefore important that business prepare to trade with the EU on the basis of “arrangements that are more like Australia’s, based on simple principles of global free trade”.

EU figures say the PM’s heralding of no-deal preparations changes nothing for the negotiations

It was as if nothing had happened. Michel Barnier would be jumping on a Eurostar to London early next week “to intensify these [Brexit] negotiations”, the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, tweeted on Friday.

The EU intended “to focus on the negotiation and these negotiations will continue in the next few days”, the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, told reporters in Brussels.

In a televised speech, the British prime minister accuses the European Union of being unwilling 'to offer this country the same terms as Canada' and that by 1 January, when the Brexit transition period ends, the UK will be more likely to be entering trade arrangements like those of Australia. Without a 'fundamental change of approach' by the EU, Johnson says trade and security talks in Brussels will not progress

• Boris Johnson tells UK: prepare for a no-deal Brexit

Boris Johnson said 15 October was the deadline, but he might not walk away just yet

Boris Johnson said on 7 September that if there was a lack of agreement by the time EU leaders meet in Brussels on 15 October then he could not see any hope of a deal at all, and both sides should at that stage “accept that and move on”.

Scheduled talks between UK and EU have ended and only 90 days remain until end of transition period

This week the last scheduled talks were held between EU and UK negotiators on a Brexit trade and security deal. Only 90 days remain until the end of the transition period, when Britain will leave the EU’s economic system, deal or no deal.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president, says the EU has formally launched proceedings against Britain after Boris Johnson failed to respond to a request to drop parts of draft legislation that would overwrite the Brexit withdrawal agreement and protocols for Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The UK had been put on formal notice by Brussels over the internal market bill, tabled by the prime minister last month. Von der Leyen said the UK had a month to send observations and in the meantime the EU 'stands by our commitments'

• Full report: EU launches legal action against UK for breaching Brexit withdrawal agreement
  

The attorney general, Suella Braverman, has come under fire for calling a fellow female MP 'emotional' – a term often considered misogynistic – during an exchange on the internal market bill.

Ellie Reeves, Labour MP for Lewisham West and Penge, found herself targeted by Braverman when she challenged the government’s plan to reinterpret the special Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, which will break international law.

Braverman hit back immediately telling Reeves: 'I prefer to take a less emotional approach than the honourable lady'. She then questioned Reeves' patriotism and articulated her own emotions declaring herself to be 'extremely proud to support' the bill

• No-deal Brexit will cost UK more than Covid, report finds
  

The internal market bill will face opposition in the Lords and amendments from Tory backbenchers

The internal market bill, described by the government as a key element of Brexit legislation, has cleared its first Commons hurdle, with two Tory MPs voting against it and nearly 30 more abstaining. But why is the bill so significant?

Leak points to significant disruption and added red tape to expect at UK borders from 1 January

• Official report warns of queues of 7,000 lorries in Kent
• Latest politics news – live developments

Brexit has been four years in the making, but with fewer than four months to go before the UK leaves the EU single market and customs union, the country is still without the tools to be border-ready, it has emerged.

A leaked government document seen by the Guardian shows key IT systems continue to be under development, some legislation is still needed to allow information on passengers and freight to be shared, and plans for a national network of advice centres for trucks is currently unfunded.

Brexit negotiations are at risk after the UK refused to withdraw legislation that EU leaders have said may trigger sanctions because it allows Britain to breach the withdrawal agreement.

After a meeting with the European commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, Michael Gove said the UK would not withdraw the legislation and it was 'absolutely serious about implementing the Northern Ireland protocol'.

 Šefčovič had told Gove the bill had 'seriously damaged trust between the EU and the UK'

• Brexit talks on brink as UK rejects EU call to drop law-breaking plan
• Johnson has undermined trust in UK government, says EU

Asked by his Tory colleague Sir Bob Neill for assurance that nothing in the internal market bill being published on Wednesday would breach international legal obligations, Brandon Lewis admits: 'Yes, this does break international law in a very specific and limited way'. The Northern Ireland secretary was answering an urgent question in the Commons about the Northern Ireland protocol

• Government admits new Brexit bill 'will break international law'
  

Negotiations between the EU and Britain on their future relationship did not move significantly forward in the latest round of talks this week, the bloc's chief Brexit negotiator has said. Speaking at a news conference on Friday after two full days of talks in Brussels, Michel Barnier said he was 'disappointed and concerned' because British negotiators had 'not shown any real willingness to move forward on issues of fundamental importance for the European Union'

• Time-wasting UK makes post-Brexit deal unlikely, says Barnier
  

Long-delayed findings on Russia’s influence over UK politics reveals that the British government and intelligence agencies failed to conduct any proper assessment of Kremlin attempts to interfere with the 2016 EU referendum.

Parliament’s intelligence and security committee revealed the findings in a long overdue report that said ministers, in effect, ignored allegations of Russian disruption

• Russia report reveals UK government failed to investigate Kremlin interference

In the transformed global setting of the COVID-19 pandemic, the major pro-EU groups are coming together to campaign for the UK to agree with the EU to postpone by two years the hard end-date of the UK's exit transition period. Colin Gordon (Oxford for Europe) sets the scene.

The UK has the same rules as the EU right now – but EU rules are evolving continuously under the pressure of technological change. The main Directive about trading securities is about to be examined later this year - as part of the normal review cycle. The UK will not be at the table when the EU debates reversing a key concession to the UK after the Great Financial Crash. Very technical yes, but very significant!

The significance of financial services to the UK economy – two handy factoids:

1. Importance of tax revenues: Britain’s financial services sector contributed a record £75.5bn in tax in 2019, according to a new report on behalf of the City of London Corporation, amounting to 10.5 per cent of all government tax receipts.

Importance of exports of financial services: in 2017, there was a surplus in financial services trade of £44 billion (43% of financial services exports went to the EU). Even after this surplus, the UK still recorded an overall deficit of £73 billion on the balance of international payments that year (or 3.5% of GDP – the largest by far amongst the world’s leading economies).

Background:
At the end of this year, UK financial services firms will lose their “passporting rights” to deliver services into the EU. However, they may be allowed to continue to provide some services if the EU decides that UK regulations are “equivalent”. The draft Council negotiating directive makes it clear that this will be a unilateral decision by the EU – as it has always been for “third countries”. Presently, equivalence does not even apply to banking, but is of huge importance for trading in financial instruments – securities, derivatives etc.

However, the FT has reported – with the aid of a long distance camera shot of the UK’s negotiating documents – that “The British government is demanding the EU sign up to a “permanent equivalence” regime for financial services that will last for “decades to come” to ensure the City of London can maintain access to the European market after Brexit.”  The EU’s chief negotiator – Michel Barnier – responded immediately in striking language “I would like to take this opportunity to make it clear to certain people in the United Kingdom bearing authority that they should not kid themselves about this - there will not be general, open-ended, ongoing equivalence in financial services".

The EU has not forgotten that the City was the epicentre of the Great Financial Crash (GFC) that wrought havoc with the EU’s economy (as well as with the UK’s!). A huge wave of post-Crash legislation ensured that the financial stability of the EU would never be imperilled again. Reviewing this legislation to cope with market changes poses a difficulty for the UK. Maintain “equivalence” with EU rules while they are in a continuous process of evolution: be a “vassal state” OR “take back control” and lose “equivalence” – and thus business.

Specific example: Regulation of trading in financial instruments (MiFID II).

The Investment Services Directive (ISD) of 1993 was a key plank of Mrs Thatcher’s drive to create a single market to rival that of the US. So it was enacted just after the single market came into force in 1992. Major changes in the structure of financial markets occurred in the succeeding decade – driven by technological developments - so MiFID I was enacted in 2004 to respond to this.  In the light of bad experiences in the GFC, the Directive was updated in 2014 as MiFID II. It came into in force in 2018 and, as usual with financial services legislation, is now up for review after two years. So a proposal is due later this year. As the UK is no longer in the EU, it will not be at the negotiating table.

At first glance, some of the initial proposals from the European Securities Market Authority (ESMA) to the European Commission are highly technical tweaks on data reporting. However, discussion is rising about repealing aspects of the “open access” rules of MiFID II for settling derivatives trades – where London has overwhelming dominance at the moment. The scale of these markets is mind-boggling: The notional value of euro-denominated derivatives is about 50 time EU GDP! They are at the heart of the provision of liquidity in securities markets – so correspondingly at the heart of concerns about financial stability in the EU.

The UK pushed hard for MiFID II rules to require exchanges to allow traders to have “open access” to settle their derivative trades at whatever EU-regulated clearing house they chose. As London will soon cease to be subject to EU rules, EU players are now arguing – unsurprisingly - against the continuation of that rule. In time, that could well push market liquidity in euros away from London and into the euro area.

Graham Bishop is Chair of the European Movement National Council. 

By the time you read this, the UK will have formally left the EU. There are no real words to describe the magnitude of this historic mistake and the range of feelings we are all going through. Sandra Khadhouri, Campaigner and Communicator and L4E Committee Member, searches for hope.

As I was in Brussels for business, I was able to pop in to the European Movement International’s (EMI) meeting with Carnegie Europe in the European Parliament last Wednesday. The triggers for the meeting were two-fold: Carnegie has just published its Report on “Six ideas for rejuvenating European democracy” whilst the European Commission that day had formally adopted its Communication on the Conference on the Future of Europe. EMI’s President – Eva Maydell MEP – hosted the event and Commission Vice-President Dubravka Šuica introduced the Commission’s paper.

She was at pains to say that there must be no “pre-judging” of the outcome of such a consultation exercise. The history of these “conferences” is that they acquire a life of their own and massive change can emerge. Could this make the EU become an attraction to British voters again in the fullness of time?

The topic was irresistible after Dave Rowen had introduced his recent survey of Branch Chairs to the National Council two weeks ago.  They put the top priority – by far – for EM (UK) as “promoting the EU, its values and its benefits”, along with “democracy” as a major wish. So it was a great privilege to listen to an author of this new project in the Parliament buildings where the project was launched only in October 2019. The plan is for a formal launch of the Conference on Europe Day – 9^thMay – with completion in 2022 so that the output can be in force and operational for the European Parliament elections in 2024. A demanding timetable if history is any guide!

Are our supporters fully aware of this project? Doubtful. A quick Google search only produced coverage in the FT and Guardian – highlighting the risk that UK media will now cut coverage of the EU down to the bare essentials of the negotiations. I can recommend the free content from Euractiv– and their coverage of the Commission’s launch. We will need access to this calibre of factual journalism as the UK press cuts the news flow from the EU.

The Communication described the Conference as “As a major pan-European democratic exercise, the Conference will be a new public forum for an open, inclusive, transparent and structured debate with citizens around a number of key priorities and challenges.” The scale of the ambition is also clear from the European Parliament’s recent resolution:

 -  European values, fundamental rights and freedoms,

-  Democratic and institutional aspects of the EU,

-  Environmental challenges and the climate crisis,

-  Social justice and equality,

-  Economic and employment issues including taxation,

-  Digital transformation,

-  Security and the role of the EU in the world

Carnegie’s six ideas also illustrate the breadth of the ambition for this project:

• Craft a compelling democratic narrative against the rise in illiberal values.
• Establish a more democratic way to elect European leaders.
• Foster a more transnational form of European party politics.
• Improve direct citizen consultations and democratic participation.
• Embrace a more positive approach to digital democracy that not only manages the risks of new technologies but also harnesses their potential.
• Strengthen public participation through a revamped European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI).

Graham Bishop is the Chairman of The European Movement National Council.

In Greek mythology, the King of the Gods, Zeus, fell in love with a Phoenician princess called Europa. He presented himself in the form of a bull, and whisked her away on his back, as shown in pictures from antiquity.

We know Jo Pye as London4Europe’s Volunteer Coordinator, who energetically manages our Volunteer Support Group. But one of her other many hats is a Bereavement Counsellor for women and families who suffer Early Pregnancy Loss. In this remarkable contribution, she applies what she has learned in that field, to handling the latest outcome of Brexit.

When the history of Brexit is written, the Lib Dems’ decision to let Johnson hold this election will be seen as a key strategic error.

The post Why we lost – and where we go from here appeared first on InFacts.

We can kick Johnson out. So brave the elements and vote for the candidates with the best chance of beating the Tories.

The post 7 reasons to vote Johnson out appeared first on InFacts.

Relying on the WTO for our trade was always a terrible idea. Now that the US president has ripped a hole in it, it’s economic suicide.

The post Trump sabotages Brexiters’ last-ditch safety net appeared first on InFacts.

Good news from YouGov poll is Tory lead is shrinking. Bad news is they are still ahead because too many pro-European votes are being wasted.

The post With a final tactical voting push, we can beat Johnson appeared first on InFacts.

We are one day from decision day. The stakes have never been higher. This is what a victory for the Tories tomorrow will mean. Please circulate this widely - and above all - persuade somebody that a vote for Johnson will not "Get Brexit Done". Andy Pye, L4E Secretary makes a final plea.

The torrent of words, inane slogans repeated ad nauseam, exaggerations, blatant mistruths and inventions might soon be behind us, hopes Richard Wassell, Vice-Chair of London4Europe.

A Tory victory means more chaos. The only way to end the arguments over Brexit and fix our real problems is to vote them out.

The post Johnson won’t stop the chaos – that’s just propaganda appeared first on InFacts.

Johnson yesterday hinted he would axe the licence fee. This had two purposes: cover up his NHS blunder and pummel the BBC into submission.

The post Tories bully BBC because it’s easily cowed appeared first on InFacts.

PM rips off Love Actually in his video but misses out the punch line: “Just because it’s Christmas and at Christmas you tell the truth.”

The post At Christmas you tell the truth, but not if you’re Johnson appeared first on InFacts.

Right-wing press has branded Corbyn unelectable. They are right - he is. Not for the reasons they suggest, but because of simple maths.

The post Don’t worry about voting tactically for Corbyn. He won’t win appeared first on InFacts.

To cover up Johnson’s NHS disaster, Tories fabricate story about Labour activist punching Hancock aide.

The post Tory “punch” propaganda backfires appeared first on InFacts.

Not only is Johnson lying about surrendering to the EU demand for an internal UK border, he isn’t ready to deliver a deal by December 2020.

The post Johnson’s dishonesty and disorganisation on Irish Sea border appeared first on InFacts.

One thing we can all agree about Brexit is our wish for it to end. However, it is hard to identify much further common ground. Some believe the best way to end the uncertainty is to elect a Conservative Government on 12 December, and so get it over with. That is just plain wrong, says Vice-Chair of L4E Nick Hopkinson.

As we prepare to leave the European Union, a £3.5 billion fund to provide equity and grant funding for start-ups in so-called deep tech industries is about to be launched. Andy Pye, technical writer and L4E Secretary is trying not to cry.

What an evening!  Six great local speakers, passionate about the EU, and passionately explaining why.

it comes naturally for us to trust each other. Reciprocal trust is fundamental to the smooth working of the societies in which we live. But untrustworthiness has become so widespread that it is no longer being automatically condemned, argues our correspondent Future of Our Children.

"Make It Stop" or, alternatively, “Make Brexit Stop" are logos you’re bound to see more of over the next few weeks, says Jo Pye, London4Europe's Volunteer Support Coordinator.

Tees4Europe Chair Scott Hunter reflects on Andrew Adonis visiting his group, and how the group's youngest campaigner highlighted the one good thing about Brexit. 

On 16 September, Andrew Adonis kindly agreed to come to address an audience at an event hosted by Tees4Europe. We booked the hall, circulated tickets, picked Andrew up at the station, and   then promptly upstaged him. We had decided that among our other speakers there should be a young person. One name was suggested, and, without asking too many questions, we booked her. Millie, it turns out, was not the sixth former we were expecting. She is 14. It would be an exaggeration to say that at this point that I started to panic, but it certainly had me on edge. But I needn’t have worried.  In the space of five minutes, Millie spoke cogently on just about every Brexit-related topic you could think of. It was a breath-taking performance.  It hasn’t been easy to select highlights to present here, as there were so many, but here goes …

“As an aspiring Royal Navy engineer and somebody with a keen interest in STEM, standing for science, technology, engineering and maths, the effects of leaving the EU on the UK’s defence, military and STEM is of great concern to me. The EU’s member states work together on a number of defence-related issues, such as researching new defence technologies and joint military deployments. The UK contributes financial support to EU security activities, which fund numerous missions such as the combat of piracy off the Horn of Africa and the prevention of human trafficking in the Mediterranean to name but two. Therefore, it worries me deeply that our exit from the EU will damage both the UK’s military and defence, as well as that of the EU. We are stronger together; we are safer together …

“Now, there is one good thing about Brexit. I know, I know, I’ve been talking about what a disaster leaving the EU would be for the last 5 minutes, but don’t panic. In the past, I think young people have viewed politics as something they need to worry about when they’re older, and something for adults to deal with. Since the Brexit referendum, I believe that young people have become increasingly interested and invested in the politics that will affect their futures, and much more willing to make their voices heard…”

And thus Millie Sheridan brought the house down.

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No Deal is not democracy

Despite some awful weather forecasts in the preceding days and the start of the school holidays, big crowds gathered at noon in Park Lane last Saturday. As publicity had been limited everyone was pleasantly surprised by the turnout - given the inevitably short timescale to protest against the seemingly unstoppable coronation of “Boris” -. Yet it was on a scale that enabled us all to march comfortably all the way to Parliament Square and hear the excellent speeches (and music!)

1066 Branch was delighted to have the new EM campaign banner – vividly stating “I’m a European!” It drew great attention as we waited in Park Lane. We were delighted to be joined by three ladies from Bath for Europe to help carry it – essential given the size! While we were waiting, we handed out huge wadges of the new EM leaflets round the March. They flew out of our hands!

A great aura permeated the warm streets of London – with a wonderful feeling of togetherness by an amazingly diverse crowd. But it was tinged with a slightly harder edge this time - people like us will not permit such a folly as Brexit to happen – many banners called for “revolt”.

Together, we marched to Parliament Square and managed to hold up our banner at the foot of the Churchill Statue. Judging by his great European speeches founding the European Movement, he would have approved thoroughly!

Most encouragingly, we Remainers are clearly getting kitted up for demos now – judging by the intensity of flags, hats, whistles etc. The whistling outside Downing Street was almost painful in its intensity. 

Graham Bishop is Vice-Chairman of European Movement UK and Board member of the Kangaroo Group.

Eastbourne European Movement Dinner July 2019

Clive Black was the speaker at our July dinner. He opened his talk by stating that the legal

services sector is a UK success story. It is the second largest legal services market in the

world, the largest within the EU, contributes over £26 billion to the economy and is the

jurisdiction of choice for international commercial transactions, dispute resolution and

arbitration.

Thanks to a series of ground-breaking directives which apply across the EU, law firms and

lawyers are granted many rights including being able to: practice as a solicitor on a

permanent basis, give advice on English, EU & international law, to appear in national and

European courts in conjunction with a local lawyer, and to requalify, without an equivalent

exam, after 3 years of practising host state law. He illustrated this liberating effect by stating

that it is easier for a lawyer qualified in Estonia to set up a legal practice in Portugal than it is

for a lawyer in New York State to set up practice at the California Bar.

He went on to explain the challenges Brexit poses to this remarkable achievement. After

Brexit, these ground-breaking directives which allow so much freedom, will be replaced by a

system whereby the professional bodies such as the Law Society and Bar Council may need

to negotiate with 31 national regimes, lawyers will face challenges over market access and

practice rights, individuals over judicial cooperation and the UK over its global status of

English and Welsh law.

He gave an analysis of the impact of Brexit on a number of scenarios including a ‘no deal’

Brexit which could cost the sector up to £3 billion by 2025. The impact could also mean that

judgements made in UK courts not being enforced in EU countries, consumers not being able

to enforce their contracts in EU states, difficulty in claiming for motor insurance accidents,

loss of cross border co-operation in family law matters and could lead to the end of

collaboration on security and policing. His talk gave a fascinating and informative insight

into the UK legal sector and how it might be impacted by Brexit.

Our next dinner is on 11 September where Prof Anwan-Scully will talk about Brexit and the

Disuniting Kingdom. If you would like to come along please call our Chair, Paula Welch on

07510 851722 or visit www.europeanmovementeastbourne.uk

Tim Bale, Professor of Politics, Queen Mary University of London, was the speaker at our June dinner held at Eastbourne's Hydro Hotel and attended by over 80 members and their guests.

He opened his talk, ‘How to win a second referendum’ by saying that lessons needed to be drawn from the Leave and Remain campaigns of 2016. He looked at the reasons why the Leave campaign had won. In 2016 the campaign was at an immediate advantage following many years of negative messages in the media. Polls showed that the British never felt as European as other EU countries and politicians never made much of an effort to sell the upside of EU membership.

The message of ‘Take Back Control’ was simple and powerful as was the counter message ‘Project Fear’. The outcome of Brexit was deliberately vague so the Remain campaign found it difficult to counter. The Leave campaign was well planned, had charismatic leaders, very good data gathering and technical ability and was clever about using it, targeting people who wouldn’t normally vote.

He then looked at the reasons why the Remain campaign lost. It was predicted that Remain would win and it was just assumed that people would think the economic risk too high. The messages were complex and not easy to get across and the thrust of the campaign was overwhelmingly negative.

The Chancellor’s claim that each person would lose several thousand pounds was not credible. Many businesses did not want to come out publicly on the side of Remain. David Cameron made demands on the EU that were never going to be met. The campaign had no counter attack to the immigration issue. Jeremy Corbyn sat out the campaign and Labour voters were not given the cue from their party and the campaign did not target people who rarely vote.

Finally, he made suggestions that might help any future Remain campaign: use real working people, not celebrities, use simple, powerful messages about people who are disenfranchised, utilise SME rather than big businesses, don’t let outsiders get involved or interfere. The speaker at our next dinner on 10 July 2019 will be Clive Black talking about Brexit and the Business of Law.

If you would like to come along please call our Chair, Paula Welch on 07510 851722 or visit www.europeanmovementeastbourne.uk

Harpenden for Europe, our neighbouring group, organised an event on Tuesday 2 July entitled 'Europe - What next?'. Judith Leary-Joyce, one of St Albans for Europe's founder members, reports on the evening.

On a balmy May evening, European Movement members were invited to an event introducing Lord Heseltine as the new President of European Movement UK, the parent organisation of St Albans for Europe. It took place at Church House just behind Westminster Abbey. Although our group was only set up in 2017, European Movement has been going since 1949, advocating all that time for Britain’s future at the heart of a united Europe. As the Rt Hon Stephen Dorrell, Chair of European Movement explained, Lord Heseltine is in illustrious company – the first President was Sir Winston Churchill and a number of former Prime Ministers from Harold MacMillan to Ted Heath followed.