Ed: The “Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site Ltd” issued the following press release on 30 July 2021. West England Bylines have supported the campaign with articles like this in June. SAVE STONEHENGE WORLD HERITAGE SITE LTD[1] High Court Judgement AGAINST A303 Stonehenge scheme! Save Stonehenge World Heritage Site is delighted the High Court has today […]

The post Success for Stonehenge Campaigners appeared first on West England Bylines.

Ed: In Part 2, Colin looked at how we have been enveloped in a throwaway disposable consumer market, with a few examples of the impact of the new legislation and its imposed limitations on the consumer. In this final part of the series, Colin examines how one EU country has adopted the Eco-Design Directive and […]

The post Consumer “Right to Repair” – Part 3 – Learning from other Countries appeared first on West England Bylines.

Report after report is reaching the same conclusion: exporters, including many in the red wall, will be suffering for a long time

Brexit is beginning to take its toll. Trade with the EU is suffering and foreign investment is heading south. Neither trend is temporary and both harm the government’s stated aim of “levelling up” regions that until now have depended on overseas trade to create well-paid jobs.

It’s not clear if the red wall has noticed. Or anyone among the 17.4 million people who voted for Brexit. So far, all the in-depth polling shows there is little movement on the vexed question of EU membership.

The latest changes to travel rules and mixed messaging from the UK government with the Amber Plus list is causing anger for Brits abroad

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: Travel farce: anger from British nationals in Europe

Norky's ramble this week describes his time participating in a choir, attending competitions and meeting people.

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: Norky’s ramblings: choir

Recent anger over limited BBC Olympic coverage comes down to a deal done between the IOC and Discovery, and the Ofcom response

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: Olympic coverage: concern over limited broadcasting with many missed events

While freedom day has come and gone, the consequences of unlocking for England's children are still going to be significant.

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: Freedom day or stolen childhoods? ‘Opening up’ in the time of covid

Dairy industry giant Arla calls on UK government to address driving test backlog, visa issues and self-isolation rules

Supermarkets could face a “summer of disruption” to milk deliveries if widespread driver shortages amid the Covid pandemic are not addressed, according to the UK’s biggest dairy supplier.

Arla, which supplies milk to about 2,400 stores each day in the UK, said it was unable to deliver to 600 shops last Saturday due to dwindling driver numbers.

The Beating Crime Plan will punish more severely the already dispossessed, the poorest and the least able members of our society and it will further victimise black people while having no impact on victims of crime or crime statistics.

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: Beating Crime Plan: tough talk, harsh measures, poor policy

The decision to place France on the Amber Plus list, meaning double-vaccinated travellers will still have to quarantine, is baffling.

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: Dominic Raab confirms France is on the unique ‘amber plus’ list

"Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds."These words were remembered by Robert Oppenheimer, after the first test of an atomic weapon.

The post “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” appeared first on Central Bylines.

The government regularly demonstrates the difference between slogans and strategy. Slogans come thick and fast, the strategy is harder to see

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: Great government slogans, lousy government strategy

For the last couple of months I have been immersed in university final exams, preventing me from writing or paying much attention to current affairs. Despite this, I still saw how quickly the Australian Trade Deal went from being publicly debated to being signed off in June with total disregard for the interests of UK […]

The post Trade Tunnel Vision appeared first on West England Bylines.

You can spout racist abuse and fear people who are different, or be like Marcus Rashford - support equality and make a difference

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: Congratulations England: the race to the bottom

Former No 10 adviser pressed civil service to urgently approve polling contract, saying he had ‘ordered it’ from PM

• Coronavirus – latest updates
• See all our coronavirus coverage

Dominic Cummings personally called a former colleague on the Vote Leave Brexit campaign and asked if his company would work for the government on its response to the Covid pandemic, leading to the award of a £580,000 Cabinet Office contract with no competitive process.

In an email on 20 March 2020, Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser asked the most senior civil servant responsible for contracts to sign off the budget immediately, and that if “anybody in CABOFF [the Cabinet Office] whines”, to tell them Cummings had “ordered it” from the prime minister.

The latest report by the public accounts committee looks at the true cost of the pandemic so far, including the cost of mistakes made.

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: ‘Pingdemic’ ending as true costs of pandemic emerge?

There is increasing concern that Johnson’s new Tory government is undermining our democracy. Measures such as voter suppression, weakening of judicial reviews and draconian new prosecution laws for everyone from street protesters and asylum seekers to Extinction Rebellion (XR) poster makers and investigative journalists, are all driving us “ever closer to authoritarianism”.  Our sister publication, […]

The post The Case for a “Progressive Alliance” appeared first on West England Bylines.

The new unitary authorities in North Yorkshire represent the easiest option, with little creativity, but some benefits for Yorkshire.

Yorkshire Bylines Local News: North Yorkshire/York unitary authorities: a basic government decision has been taken

Summary Alfreton is considering allowing a 300 acre solar farm which would both affect local amenity value and remove precious farmland. Is this the right thing to do?

The post Solar Farm Alfreton – right idea, wrong place? appeared first on Central Bylines.

Ed: In Part 1, Colin explored the position the UK government appears to be taking on the Consumer “Right to Repair” legislation and touched on the EU Eco Design Directive. In Part 2, Colin looks at how we have been enveloped in a throwaway disposable consumer market, with a few examples of the impact of […]

The post Consumer “Right To Repair” – Part 2 – Consumer Impact appeared first on West England Bylines.

The effects of Brexit, Covid and tax changes have led to competition for workers between UK supermarkets

Tesco is offering a £1,000 signing-on fee for lorry drivers who join the company before the end of September, as it scrambles to overcome a desperate shortage of workers that has led to gaps on supermarket shelves.

The bonus has been publicised via a job advert posted on Tesco’s site, with the supermarket telling potential candidates: “You’ll play a vital role for our customers and communities, representing Tesco on the highways and byways of the UK.”

CBI survey reports supply problems caused by Brexit, red tape, Covid restrictions and labour shortages

Retailers have warned they could struggle to meet demand and fill shelves into the autumn after months of supply holdups sent stock levels plunging in July to record lows for a second consecutive month.

The CBI said its monthly survey of major businesses across the retail and wholesale sectors found that a spending spree on Britain’s high streets this month has stretched their ability to source vital supplies.

This live blog is now closed. You can read the full report here

• Boris Johnson proposes hi-vis chain gangs in crime plan
• Home Office publishes Beating Crime Plan
• UK Covid cases fall for seventh day in row
• Prof Ferguson says by autumn ‘bulk of pandemic’ will be behind us
• Scotland’s exit from Euro 2020 helped cut Covid cases, says health chief
• Four-fold expansion in daily testing centres for essential workers

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Related: Coronavirus live: UK reports 23,511 cases in seventh daily drop in a row; Russia to test mixing AstraZeneca and Sputnik V jabs

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This is from James Timpson, head of Timpson, the family-run high street shoe repair company which is widely admired for its record employing ex-offenders. His brother Edward is a Conservative MP and a former children’s minister.

Instead of making offenders wear high viz jackets in chain gangs, how about helping them get a real job instead? In my shops we employ lots of ex offenders and they wear a shirt and tie. Same people, different approach, a much better outcome.

Concerns over Formula 1 sponsor The recent British Grand Prix saw concerns raised by campaigners in Towcester. DHL, a British GP sponsor, has applied to build a massive warehouse near the historic town which could change its character, they claim. The group, No DHL at Towcester said the proposed one million square foot centre is […]

The post F1 sponsor to deliver a loss to Towcester? appeared first on Central Bylines.

The civil society report to the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (UNCERD) is dear to my heart. Curated by the Runnymede Trust, it was submitted by a coalition of over 100 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and is a report to the United Nations (UN) on race and racism in England. The […]

The post Racism in England is systemic says UN report appeared first on Central Bylines.

The popularity of Boris Johnson and his Government was boosted by the British people’s gratitude for the vaccine rollout, giving hope that some kind of normality and freedom could be restored.  The British nation, having been imprisoned for months, appeared to suffer some kind of Stockholm syndrome, as the reasons for Britain having the worst […]

The post Boris Johnson’s Summer of Discontent appeared first on West England Bylines.

Downing Street says Brussels overtures are insufficient and ‘comprehensive’ solutions needed

Boris Johnson has rejected Brussels’ latest attempt to iron out problems with the post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, insisting that the withdrawal agreement signed last year must be renegotiated.

Related: If Britain wants to resolve the Northern Ireland protocol, this is not the way to do it | Anand Menon and Jill Rutter

The battle against Covid increasingly resembles a rather bizarre episode of Dad’s Army mocking the idea of British genius and resolve.

The post Dad’s Covid Army appeared first on Central Bylines.

One of a series of articles addressing the UK’s haulage and looming supply chain crisis. Central Bylines has already written about the UK’s shortage of HGV drivers. According to the Road Haulage Association, the profession is about 100,000 drivers short. In brief this is mainly because European drivers formerly based in the UK have returned […]

The post EU haulage firms now avoiding the UK appeared first on Central Bylines.

The UK has legitimate concerns about the deal, but threatening to tear it up will destroy the trust that’s so vital

Taking responsibility should be the flipside of taking back control. But admissions of responsibility are in short supply in the government document published on the Northern Ireland protocol on Wednesday. According to this, the protocol was the responsibility of (delete according to taste) Theresa May, Hilary Benn or indeed the 2019 parliament. Anyone, in other words, except the people who negotiated it – the prime minister and his chief negotiator, David Frost.

The blame shifting should not, however, lead us to ignore the fact that the British government has legitimate concerns about the way the protocol has functioned.

A Brexit and Covid-induced pay boom won’t last long while employers hold all the the cards

The past few days have had a hint of the late 1970s about them. A shortage of lorry drivers has led to fears of food shortages. Nurses are thinking about taking industrial action over pay. The Bank of England has been fretting about rising inflation.

Holed up in Chequers, the self-isolating Boris Johnson has been as unconvincing as a bronzed Jim Callaghan was on his return from Guadeloupe in January 1979, when he was misquoted as saying, “Crisis? What crisis?”.

Last Sunday was Sea Sunday, when the hymn, ‘Eternal Father strong to save’ is sung by seafarers around the world. It is perhaps better known by its other name – ‘For those in peril on the sea’. My Aunt Teresa had been chief cashier at the Shell (now Essar) Refinery in Stanlow. When she retired, […]

The post For those in peril on the sea: the Seafarers Centres appeared first on Central Bylines.

In Northern Ireland, the Leavers’ folly is now manifest. How can the opposition stay silent about the root cause of the crisis?

‘He did not want to die until Brexit was reversed.” These words were spoken at the funeral last week of my dear friend and former Observer colleague Dick Leonard.

Dick died a month ago at the ripe old age of 90. The speaker was his widow, Irène Heidelberger-Leonard, before a group of mourners who included the Labour leader Keir Starmer, to whom Dick had been something of a political mentor.

Roman emperor and philosopher, Marcus Aurelius, once wrote that one should endeavour to: “Speak the truth as you see it. But with kindness. With humility. Without hypocrisy”. The “truth” as I see it is that there is a lack of funding for low-income students in England who seek to undertake a Masters degree. As such […]

The post Limited Funding for Postgraduates hinders Social Mobility appeared first on West England Bylines.

Ed: This is the first of three articles exploring what we know about the proposed UK legislation on the Consumer “Right to Repair”, its impact on the consumer and how another country legislates within the EU “Eco Design Directive”. If you belong to my generation (well over 25!), I’m pretty sure you will have at […]

The post Consumer “Right to Repair” – Part 1 – UK Legislation appeared first on West England Bylines.

Asda, Tesco and others forced to pay delivery drivers more because of scarcity caused by Covid and Brexit

Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury’s are asking some suppliers for extra payments to cover increased costs after being forced to raise wages for delivery drivers because of widespread shortages.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, Asda wrote to suppliers that use its collection service asking for a 5% rise in payments for transport costs and blaming the national HGV driver shortage.

The post-Brexit Australian Deal is going to affect the future of British farming, whether you’re a small farmer or a mass producer. Matt and Laura Elliot are two farmers who run the National Trust Sandy Hill Mob farm in Gloucestershire. They are regenerative farmers, which means they use the cattle to regenerate the soil and […]

The post Local Farmers discuss the Australia Deal appeared first on West England Bylines.

“He’s taking us back to the 1980’s” was a criticism I heard time and time again about Corbyn the man and his policies. Yet in the quagmire of mudslinging that occurs between Government and the opposition there was a party, quietly sat in the middle, bumbling along as always hoping desperately that no one would […]

The post Liberal Democrats – Stuck in the Past but perhaps not far enough? appeared first on West England Bylines.

Supermarket shortages deepen as Britain’s supply chain is on the brink of collapse.

The post Supermarket sweep appeared first on Central Bylines.

Someone tell Boris Johnson: you can’t bake your ‘oven-ready deal’ and then remove a key ingredient (even if it’s a sausage)

Ask a stupid question and you get a stupid answer. The Northern Ireland protocol is a stupid answer: it imposes a complex bureaucracy on the movement of ordinary goods across the Irish Sea. But it is the only possible response to a problem created by Boris Johnson. The reason it keeps coming around again and again, like a ghoul on a ghost train, is that it requires Johnson and his government to do something that goes against the grain of the whole Brexit project: to acknowledge that choices have costs.

There used to be a gameshow on American radio and TV called Truth or Consequences. It was so popular that a whole city in New Mexico is named after it. It’s where we live now. In each episode, the contestant was asked a deliberately daft question – and when they failed to answer it, they had to perform a zany or embarrassing stunt.

Lords report calls on the government to ensure support remains in place to help late applicants secure their status

Significant numbers of Europeans in the UK aged over 65 failed to apply to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS) before the deadline, a parliamentary report has found, warning that this could make thousands of retirement-aged EU nationals vulnerable to Britain’s hostile environment policies.

Just 2% of all applications for the settlement scheme were submitted by people aged over 65, a percentage that is unlikely to reflect the population of older EU nationals living in the UK. Charities supporting older Europeans to apply said they had “encountered many individuals who have no mobile phone, no digital access and inappropriate or no documentation”, and the report warned that people who struggled with the digital technology required to apply were more likely to have missed the deadline for applications at the end of last month.

Dawn Butler ordered to leave the House of Commons after refusing to withdraw claims Boris Johnson ‘lied to the country’. This live blog is now closed – for coronavirus updates, please follow the global live blog

• MP ordered out of Commons for saying PM lied ‘over and over again’
• Supermarkets struggle to stock shelves as ‘pingdemic’ havoc spreads
• Zahawi says Covid pass could be made compulsory for large events
• CBI calls for urgent change to isolation rules
• Summary of Downing Street lobby briefing
• NI protocol ‘wasn’t going to last forever’, says Kwarteng

5.04pm BST

Related: Coronavirus live: more than half of all European adults fully vaccinated; more Olympic athletes test positive in Tokyo

5.00pm BST

Scotland has recorded its highest daily Covid fatalities figure since March, after NHS figures showed that 22 deaths of people with confirmed Covid infections were recorded in the past 24 hours.

That brings the death toll of those who died within 28 days of a positive Covid test to 7,842. The latest fatalities figure comes after a sustained drop in detected infections: 1,825 people tested positive in the past 24 hours.

1/ Cases continue to fall in (positivity today down to 6%) - to everyone helping achieve this. However, there’s always a lag before we see hospital admissions and deaths reduce too. A further 22 deaths reminds us of toll virus can take - my condolences go to those grieving https://t.co/6k77XQUfvq

EU has already proposed changes to lessen impact on Northern Irish citizens, say officials

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has rejected Boris Johnson’s move to renegotiate the Northern Irish protocol, raising the temperature of a simmering Brexit row.

“The EU will continue to be creative and flexible within the protocol framework. But we will not renegotiate,” she said after a call with the prime minister on Thursday.

Blueprint for alternative arrangement published as sources say protocol was flawed at conception

The UK has launched an audacious bid to rewrite a key plank of the Brexit deal, saying the Northern Ireland protocol was flawed at conception but served its purpose to get the UK out of the EU as “one country”.

The European Commission immediately ruled out a renegotiation of the deal, which was trumpeted by Boris Johnson as a solution to the Irish border impasse two years ago. The commission is understood to be open to some changes on the special arrangements for Northern Ireland, however.

The prime minister needed a Northern Ireland deal for political reasons ahead of the general election. He now wants to dump it because it’s bad for Britain

Boris Johnson’s proposal to rewrite the Northern Ireland protocol he signed in 2019 suggests that he has still not come to terms with the implications of his red lines on Brexit. Mr Johnson’s delusions on the issue run deep. In October 2019, the prime minister repeatedly told MPs that “there will be no checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland” despite his own government’s impact assessment saying precisely the opposite. These hurdles, Mr Johnson knew full well, would not be insignificant, as shoppers in Northern Ireland are now finding out. They are the predictable consequences of customs and regulatory deviations between the UK and the EU. Divergence required a border somewhere; the extra bureaucracy was baked into the protocol.

Mr Johnson needed a deal for political reasons ahead of the 2019 general election. He now wants to dump it because it’s bad for Britain. This has much to do with his government’s own behaviour, which has often been lazy, surly and chaotic. What has kept the show on the road has been grace periods, accepted by the EU, where rules of the deal are not applied. These are coming to an end. Without a breakthrough after months of talks behind closed doors, Mr Johnson has decided to conduct negotiations with Brussels in public.

Archaic power relations allow the Westminster elite to get away with anything – even the deaths of thousands of people

Dominic Cummings’ latest utterances should not be treated as revelations, but rather as corroborating evidence of what should, in a functioning democracy, be treated as Britain’s gravest peacetime scandal. A prime minister sent tens of thousands of his own citizens to premature graves because he valued other considerations more highly than human life.

We knew Boris Johnson resisted demands from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies for a national lockdown in September, even if Johnson’s former senior adviser now fleshes out the prime minister’s reasonings: that most of those dying were in their 80s, whose disproportionate political loyalty to the Conservative party was rewarded by its leader caring not whether they lived or died. It was already clear that Johnson’s administration wanted Covid to “wash through the country”, because they briefed favoured journalists that “herd immunity” was their official strategy more than 17 months ago. Britain has a more severe death rate per million inhabitants than the United States in part because Johnson – alongside Rishi Sunak, whose reputation Cummings has sought to whitewash – wanted to prioritise the economy over life, and ended up devastating both.

Analysis: EU flatly rejects rewrite call as command paper finds fault with everyone except Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson became prime minister two years ago this week and later won an election promising to “get Brexit done”.

On Wednesday his minister in charge of EU relations, David Frost, set out plans to rework a central part of the withdrawal agreement the pair negotiated and agreed with Brussels. “The difficulties we have in operating the Northern Ireland protocol are now the main obstacle” to a good relationship with the EU, Frost told the House of Lords. He regretted that the relationship was “punctuated with legal challenges” and “characterised by disagreement and mistrust”.

Trading arrangements continue to be a significant flashpoint in relations with Dublin and Brussels

Just seven months after it came into force, the Northern Ireland protocol is once again a significant flashpoint in the UK’s relations with Dublin and Brussels.

On Wednesday, the UK published a “command paper” on the protocol. Some will see it as an attempt to tear up the agreement Boris Johnson struck in 2019; others will see it as a serious attempt to fix a deal they argue was flawed from the beginning but signed to help the British prime minister to get Brexit done, as he had promised.

Falling numbers of HGV drivers while demand rises could lead to rolling shortages in UK shops.

The post Where have all the HGV drivers gone? appeared first on Central Bylines.

The UK has launched an attempt to substantially rewrite the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol that Boris Johnson signed up to in 2019.

But as the Brexit minister published the UK’s blueprint for an alternative, he stopped short of ripping up the document completely or arguing the time was right to trigger the article 16 provision that enables either the UK or EU to suspend part of the arrangements in extreme circumstances.

'These proposals will require significant change to the Northern Ireland protocol,' David Frost said. 'We do not shy away from that. We believe such change is necessary to deal with the situation we now face'

• UK says it wants to substantially rewrite Northern Ireland Brexit protocol
• Brexit: Labour says government approach to Northern Ireland protocol has been ‘shambolic’
• Why is UK publishing a ‘command paper’ on Northern Ireland protocol?
  

The government says it is the champion of free speech in universities. But its actions tell another story

Academic freedom should be sacrosanct. To foster a culture of intellectual inquiry, and develop expertise, is the point of universities. In a society that values education, those engaged in the production of knowledge – both teaching and research – must be supported. If academics or students say that restrictions are being placed in their way, this is a serious problem.

Ministers say a climate of intolerance has developed in the UK’s higher education sector. Introducing a bill aimed at reversing this trend, the education secretary, Gavin Williamson, quoted the 17th-century poet John Milton: “Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties.” Sadly, such claims to cherish free speech above all else cannot be taken at face value. On the contrary, the government is treating universities as a battleground in the anti-left culture war that it is waging.

The sight of Winston Churchill’s grandson being threatened with legal action for passing on warnings about a political influencer’s dealings with a hostile foreign power ought to stir the national memory. A tingle of an alarm perhaps. A feeling that patriots should be given a hearing, not shut down by London lawyers charging £500 an hour to any passing member of the global super-rich.

Last week, the Financial Times told how the former Conservative MPs Sir Nicholas Soames and Charlotte Leslie passed memos that reportedly dealt with the past dealings in Russia of a businessman and philanthropist named Mohamed Amersi to Ben Elliot, the co-chairman of the Conservative party.

Long Covid is a debilitating disease affecting those who have had Covid-19. What is it, who gets it and how might it affect society in the long term? Long Covid Coronavirus Disease 19, also known as Covid-19, can cause symptoms that last for weeks or months, even after the infection has cleared. This is called […]

The post Long Covid – what is it and who gets it? appeared first on Central Bylines.

Home Office figures caused speculation that number had been underestimated

Last week, the Home Office announced it had received 6m applications for the EU settlement scheme, prompting some to conclude the number of non-British Europeans living in the UK was almost double previous estimates.

Some on social media claimed that it meant 9% of the UK’s population of 67 million was now made up of EU or European Economic Area (EEA) citizens.

Expectations, influenced by Hartlepool, were low, but demographics of the West Yorkshire seat are much more mixed

Expectations matter in politics. A narrow byelection victory for the opposition, with a swing against them in a seat they have held for over 20 years, would not normally be treated as a triumph. Yet, because the consensus expectation was that Labour was doomed in Batley and Spen, this is how Friday morning’s victory in the seat has been received.

Two factors drove the belief that Labour would lose last week: Hartlepool and Galloway. Labour’s dramatic byelection defeat two months ago in a heavily Leave-voting northern seat led many to believe the party would face similar trouble in another Leave-voting northern seat. And Galloway, who has form as a disruptive force in Labour byelections, looked set to weaken the party’s principal advantage in Batley and Spen – a substantial and hitherto heavily Labour-voting Muslim community.

With a week to go before the cut-off date, here’s the latest information about applying for UK settled status

With just one week to go before the cut-off date for applying for settled status, many EU and European Economic Area citizens are concerned about their future rights and find it difficult to make contact with the helplines set up by the Home Office.

Here is the latest information from a Home Office press briefing on the EU settlement scheme (EUSS). It says it has been inundated with applications and has had 1.5m calls to its helplines. It has recently changed its messaging to stop people repeatedly calling and clogging the lines.

David Frost claimed any attempt by Brussels to take UK content out of the protected quotas would not be good for European TV viewers, adding the government was in favour of 'free circulation of audiovisual goods'.

Speaking to MPs on the foreign affairs select committee, Frost said he and other Brexiters may not have expected the UK's relationship with EU to be as difficult now as it is

• Lord Frost: we can’t stop EU cutting amount of UK content on European TV

• UK politics latest updates

Key elements of the ‘historic’ post-Brexit deal signed by Boris Johnson and Scott Morrison

Boris Johnson has hailed a “historic” trade deal with Australia as a “new dawn” for the two countries, but what is the deal about?

The UK has agreed the outline of a trade deal with Australia, with Boris Johnson promising the deal 'will benefit British farmers' and contain strict rules on animal welfare.

Speaking alongside Scott Morrison at No 10 on Tuesday, the leader said: 'It will be good news for British car manufacturers, it will be good news for British services, for British financial services, and it will be good news for the agricultural sector on both sides'

• UK-Australia trade deal to include 15-year cap on tariff-free imports

EU leaders have stressed the Northern Ireland protocol must be implemented fully by Boris Johnson to respect the 'rule of law' during a press conference at the G7 in Cornwall on Thursday.

Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said the bloc would be flexible and did not expect a hard border between Ireland and Northern Ireland, but that unilateral decisions by the UK endangered the EU's single market

• Boris Johnson must respect rule of law and implement Brexit deal, says EU

Boris Johnson says he does not expect deadlocked talks with the EU over Northern Ireland protocol to overshadow the G7 in Cornwall. The PM insisted he was 'very optimistic' that  differences between UK and EU could be reconciled

• Politics live
• EU-UK relations deteriorate as Northern Ireland talks end without agreement
• EU-UK talks offer small signs of compromise in the making

David Frost, the Brexit minister, has said there has been 'no breakthrough' after more than two hours of talks with the EU over customs checks in Northern Ireland. Amid fears that the escalating crisis could develop into a trade war, Lord Frost said the UK wanted a negotiated settlement but was 'considering all options'

• EU-UK talks to resolve Northern Ireland crisis end without agreement
• Politics live

'Patience is wearing thin' with the UK on the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol, the European Commission's vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, has warned, adding the EU could retaliate by suspending some cooperation and imposing tariffs. 

The UK Brexit minister, David Frost, has put forward concerns around maintaining peace in Northern Ireland. Šefčovič has said while maintaining peace was of utmost importance, Brexit could not now be renegotiated 

• UK politics - latest updates

Rules designed to prevent a border on the island of Ireland have tarnished UK-EU relations and raised the prospect of a trade war

Just six months into Brexit and relations between Brussels and London have hit a new low with veiled threats of trade wars from the EU if the UK does not comply with an agreement Boris Johnson signed over Northern Ireland almost 18 months ago.

What is the row about?

French fishers ended their protest around the Channel island of Jersey on Thursday.

French trawler crews, angered by limits on access to British fishing grounds, had sailed in a flotilla to Jersey earlier on Thursday to register their protest.

Representative Hugo Lehuby said the French government needed to proceed with retaliatory measures such as the one suggested by France's sea minister, Annick Girardin, to cut power supplies to Jersey if its fishers are not granted full access to UK waters under the post-Brexit trading terms

• UK navy vessels to remain off Jersey as French fishers end protest

British naval patrol vessels arrived in the waters around Jersey on Thursday as scores of French boats gathered at the port in St Helier to protest about post-Brexit fishing rights. 

It followed French threats to cut off electricity to Jersey, a self-governing dependency of the UK off the tip of northern France. French fishers are protesting over new licences issued on Friday that restrict for the first time the number of days they can operate in shared waters

• UK sends patrol vessels as 80 French protest boats gather off Jersey
  

British navy patrol boats, protesting French fishers and Brexit – a summary of the escalating row

The immediate threat to which the prime minister was apparently responding when he dispatched the patrol vessels on Wednesday evening was a mooted blockade by French fishing boats of the port of St Helier, Jersey’s main entry point for supplies. French fishers accuse the Jersey authorities of limiting access to the waters around the Channel Island – and being in breach of the post-Brexit arrangements agreed between the EU and the UK in its Christmas Eve trade and cooperation agreement. A flotilla of boats full of angry fishers did indeed gather at the port on Thursday morning under the watchful gaze of two Royal Navy River class patrol vessels. The bigger picture, however, is the rancour and tension between Britain and EU member states after a bruising few years since the June 2016 referendum result.

The French maritime minister, Annick Girardin, warned on Tuesday that France could cut off electricity to the British island of Jersey in a dispute over fishing rights. The warning followed claims from Paris that Jersey was  stalling in issuing licences to French boats under the terms of the UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with the EU. 'The agreement provides for retaliatory measures and these measures of retaliation we are ready to use,' Girardin told French lawmakers.

• France threatens to cut off power to Jersey in post-Brexit fishing row
  
• Jersey hits back at ‘disproportionate’ French threat to cut electricity
  

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.

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.