Monthly Archives: July 2020

BORIS Johnson is set to reward Brexit supporters including Sir Ian Botham with life peerages, it has been reported.

It comes as British and EU negotiators have agreed 80 per cent of a Brexit deal.

A report from MakeUK and BDO revealed regions that had previously been Labour constituencies were now at most risk from a no-deal Brexit.

Areas such as Wales, north-east of England, and Yorkshire and Humber face losing out as nearly two-thirds of their exports go to the EU.

Experts warn that along with the coronavirus pandemic, it could be 'fatal' for some companies.

This latest report comes days after a furious exchanges in the House of Commons regarding the future of Brexit - with the Scottish National Party accused by the government of "stirring up division" as they debated an extension to the transition period beyond 2020.

Scottish Government analysis has found ending the transition period in 2020 could remove 3 billion from the Scottish economy in two years on top of the impact of coronavirus.

Meanwhile Home Secretary Priti Patel announced on Thursday the criteria for the points-based immigration system.

She revealed that foreign nationals coming to the UK for work purposes must have 70 points to successfully apply.

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Brexit latest: Ex-cricketer Ian Botham to be made peer as 80 per cent of deal agreed LIVE updates - The Sun

Russia not only meddled in the Brexit vote, but also in the Scottish Independence referendum

A report on Russian interference into British politics was finally published Tuesday, more than a year after allegations surfaced that Moscow sought to meddle in Britains 2019 general election and following similar claims about its2016 Brexit vote to leave the European Union and a 2014 failed referendum on Scottish independence.

The report published today stated that: the Kremlinhas used espionage and diverse forms of subversion, including cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and state-sponsored assassinations to undermine British democratic processes and divide alliances such as NATO and the EU.

Russia has been adamant and repeatedly denied any such wrongdoing, and has said that the allegations are completely unfounded.

Although the report was initially given to Boris Johnson last October , he said it couldnt be released until it had been reviewed for national security issues.

The opposition Labour Party has accused Johnsons government of failing to publish the report because it would lead to further questions about links between Russia and the pro-Brexit campaign in the 2016 referendum on European Union membership, he said: Whats in the report that Johnson does not want us to see?

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Russia did meddle in the Brexit, Scottish Independence and the 2019 General Election - Euro Weekly News

PUBLISHED: 08:23 21 July 2020 | UPDATED: 16:56 21 July 2020

Results of a vote is announced in the House of Commons. Photograph: Jessica Taylor/House of Commons.

HOC/JESSICA TAYLOR

An amendment to the governments Trade Bill intended to protect the NHS and publicly funded health and care services from any form of control from outside the UK has been defeated.

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The government insisted UK law offers such protections and any changes would have to come before parliament.

But for Labour, shadow international trade minister Bill Esterson said the lack of scrutiny threatens to leave the health service wide open to pharmaceutical giants.

MPs voted by 340 votes to 251 against supporting the amendment.

We Own It campaigns officer Ellen Lees said: Its frankly sickening that at a time when were more reliant on our NHS than ever before, the government has steamrollered through parliament a Trade Bill that offers absolutely no protection for our treasured NHS. Were now at risk of higher drug prices, private companies being able to sue the government if it tries to limit their ability to profit from our healthcare, and Donald Trump getting his hands on our NHS.

Worse still, parliament wont even get to have a say in any future trade deals - meaning our NHS could be offered up on a silver platter to the highest bidder, and we wouldnt know a thing about it before a trade deal is signed and sealed.

This government promised to take back control but theyre doing the opposite. They promised to keep the NHS off the table. Theyre doing the opposite. Now its time for the House of Lords to step up to the plate and fight back against this totally undemocratic power grab from the government.

These MPs voted against the proposal:

Ada, Nigel

Afriyie, Adam

Ahmad Khan, Ian

Aiken, Nickie

Aldous, Peter

Allan, Lucy

Amess, Sir David

Anderson, Lee

Anderson, Stuart

Ansell, Caroline

Argar, Edward

Atherton, Sarah

Atkins, Victoria

Bacon, Gareth

Bacon, Richard

Badenoch, Kemi

Bailey, Shaun

Baillie, Siobhan

Baker, Duncan

Baker, Steve

Baldwin, Harriett

Baron, John

Baynes, Simon

Bell, Aaron

Benton, Scott

Beresford, Sir Paul

Berry, Jake

Bhatti, Saqib

Blackman, Bob

Blunt, Crispin

Bone, Peter

Bowie, Andrew

Bradley, Ben

Bradley, Karen

Braverman, Suella

Brereton, Jack

Bridgen, Andrew

Brine, Steve

Bristow, Paul

Britcliffe, Sara

Brokenshire, James

Browne, Anthony

Bruce, Fiona

Buchan, Felicity

Buckland, Robert

Burghart, Alex

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Burns, Conor

Butler, Rob

Cairns, Alun

Carter, Andy

Cartlidge, James

Cash, Sir William

Cates, Miriam

Caulfield, Maria

Chalk, Alex

Chishti, Rehman

Churchill, Jo

Clark, Greg

Clarke, Simon

Clarke, Theo

Clarke-Smith, Brendan

Clarkson, Chris

Cleverly, James

Clifton-Brown, Sir Geoffrey

Coffey, Dr Thrse

Colburn, Elliot

Collins, Damian

Costa, Alberto

Courts, Robert

Coutinho, Claire

Cox, Geoffrey

Crabb, Stephen

Crosbie, Virginia

Crouch, Tracey

Daly, James

Davies, David T. C.

Davies, Gareth

Davies, Dr James

Davies, Mi

Davis, David

Davison, Dehenna

Dinenage, Caroline

Dines, Miss Sarah

Djanogly, Jonathan

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These MPs just voted against protecting the NHS from a post-Brexit trade deal - The New European

Westminster has ruled out holding an investigation into meddling by Russia in the EUreferendum.

In a response published this morning, timedto coincide with the publication of a long-awaited report into Russian interference in UK democracy, the Government said an investigation is "not necessary".

It comes despite harsh criticism by the Intelligenceand Security committee (ISC) members that government officials ignored prior warnings,and decided actively to ignore the threat posed by Russia in the EU vote.

Boris Johnson'sofficial response to the Russia report states: "We have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU Referendum.

"The Intelligence and Security Agencies produce and contribute to regular assessments of the threat posed by Hostile State Activity, including around potential interference in UK democratic processes.

READ MORE:Nicola Sturgeon accuses UK Government of 'negligence' over Russia

"We keep such assessments under review and, where necessary, update them in response to new intelligence, including during democratic events such as elections and referendums.

"Where new information emerges, the Government will always consider the most appropriate use of any intelligence it develops or receives, including whether it is appropriate to make this public.

"Given this long standing approach, a retrospective assessment of the EU Referendum is not necessary."

The decision has sparked criticism by SNP MP Stewart McDonald, the party's defence spokesman, who said:"It is clear that the Tory government deliberately failed in its duty to assess the level of Russian interference in the EU referendum, and the potential impact that had on the Brexit result - seemingly because it didn't want to know the answers. An independent inquiry must now happen.

Despite the growing threat posed by sophisticated Russian misinformation campaigns, the report found that the UK government only belatedly realised the level of threat after the DNC hack and leak operation. The Tory government clearly took its eye off the ball.

"During the election campaign, Boris Johnson claimed 'There is absolutely no evidence that I know of to show any interference in any British electoral event'. The report which the Prime Minister had already read at that point - now makes clear that this is because the Tory government was not looking for it. This botched attempt at a cover up by Downing Street has been laid bare by the committees findings.

READ MORE:Committee asked if Alex Salmond is 'defacto agent' of Russia

"The UK government must now work withour international allies and set out how it will get a grip of Russian interference. Any narrow party-political attempt to use this report to stymie democracy intheUK would be unacceptable.We need a sober reflection from government and parliament, and a thoughtful way ahead. The public would expect nothing less."

The relationship between Downing Street and the ISC has been strained since former Conservative MP Julian Lewis was elected as chairman last week, after receiving votes from opposition politicians. The Prime Minister had nominated MP Chris Grayling for the post, and after his defeat Mr Lewis was ejected from the Tories.

During this morning's press conference, Mr Lewis said: "This committee has been subjected to unprecedented delay and dislocation.

"This really must never happen again. As soon as normal relations are restored between this committee and the government, the better it will be for all concerned.

"Yet that prospect has not been helped by the Government refusing to tell us what was in the written ministerial statement about this Russia Report, which the government chose to table in the commons at 10.30 this morning to clash with the start of this event.

"Maybe I'm being unfair to them. Maybe they have another plan, maybe they're going to add to their written ministerial statement by making an oral statement on this subject perhaps tomorrow so that the Commons can have its say and ask it's questions. That would be a very positive sign. Let's hope it happens."

Original post:

Westminster rules out probe into Russian meddling in Brexit - HeraldScotland

8.4 million it was the biggest ever political donation in British history, and made by an insurance salesman made uneasy by immigration and who opposed Britains membership of the European Union. Arron Banks gave this enormous sum of money to the 2016 Brexit campaign.

If that money came direct from Bankss bank account, then it was perfectly legal. (Banks has not been found to have breached electoral law). Foreign donations to elections and referendum campaigns have to be declared and identified. One of the biggest failures of the 1997 Labour government was not to adopt clear laws limiting political donations. Britain failed to ban donations by rich individuals or rich trade unions who want to buy influence.

Instead money continues to flow into political parties from the super rich, in exchange for access, peerages, and contracts.

Bankss close associations with the Russian government are not disputed. His own published accounts of his involvement in the Brexit campaign recorded meetings with the Russian ambassador Alexander Yakovenko, a close Putin associate. A Russian spy, Alexander Udod, was tasked with getting close to Nigel Farage, Ukip and Aaron Banks. Udod was expelled from the UK in 2018 following the attempted murder of Sergei Skripal in Salisbury.

The Skripal killer squad came from the GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency, headed up to 2016 by Igor Sergun. He was a strong advocate of Brexit, not from any reasons of taking back control or other anti-EU arguments advanced over many years by British politicians and journalists of right and left but simply because Putin intenselydisliked the role of the EU as a supra-national body which imposed sanctions on Russia after Putins invasion and annexation of Crimea.

Putin also disliked the EU Commissions competition directorate using EU law to stop Gazproms monopolistic practices in EU energy supply chains. Putins foreign policy is easily summed up. Russia up. America down. Europe out.

Putin had funded other anti-EU politicians like Marine le Pen in France, the Alternative fr Deutschland in Germany and the anti-EU Lega party of Matteo Salvini in Italy. In a sense this was no more than the continuation of a long-standing Russian practice since the 1920s of providing money for politicians and organisations which sympathised with Russian foreign policy objectives.

In evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport, Banks and his associate, Andy Wigmore, denied any Russian connection.

Banks had been in Moscow and at least three business deals were offered at the Russian embassy or by Russian agents to the pair. The Russian ambassador and the spy Udod were invited to parties hosted by Banks.

The Electoral Commission did refer Banks to the National Crime Agency but Theresa May did not order the intelligence agencies help provide evidence. She refused to accept that any question mark might be placed over the very narrow win for Brexit when 36 per cent of the total registered electorate voted to leave the EU. Jeremy Corbyn has been a life-long opponent of EU membership and had voted against every EU treaty in the House of Commons since 1983.

With the arrival of Boris Johnson and a 100 per cent Brexit cabinet, the political establishment began to instinctively retreat from the notion that Russia may have influenced Brexit. Labours new leader, Sir Keir Starmer, also wants to shut down Brexit, believing that to challenge it would alienate Labour Red Wall voters who voted out in 2016.

In a new bookGoing Dark, Julia Ebner, a researcher at Londons Institute for Strategic Dialogue, reports on Russias Internet Research Agency, a Putin trolling operation that reached one in three Americans between 2015 and 2017 when Putin tried to get Trump elected. The Internet Research Agency set up 3,841 fake twitter accounts to pump out Kremlin lines on Trump and also Brexit. The Russian state-controlled TV station, RT, and linked news agency, Sputnik, based in in Edinburgh, provided endless platforms for anti-EU commentators, economists and politicians.

Banks may have gone too far with the chutzpah of his latest demand that he be allowed to see and challenge the suppressed Russia report that the Intelligence and Security Committee of the House of Commons produced last year, and which is released today. Johnson delayed publication but after the farce of his failed efforts to impose Chris Grayling as ISC Chair, we will now get to read it. The ISC Chair is Julian Lewis, a pro-Brexit Tory MP who has spent his political life seeking to expose the baleful Russian interference in democratic politics.

In the end Banks will survive as it was his legal right to give money to a political campaign. The fate of Brexit will be settled not by uncovering the origins of that 8.4 million, but on whether in 12 or 24 months time Brexit has brought us freedom, as the Brexiters always claimed it would, or whether we are left out in the cold.

Read more from the original source:

The Russia Report who paid for Brexit? - TheArticle

LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit will make markets less efficient but it wont be disastrous for Britains economy, an appointee to the Bank of Englands Financial Policy Committee (FPC) said on Monday.

FILE PHOTO: A small toy figure is seen in front of a Brexit logo in this illustration picture, March 30, 2019. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Britain left the European Union in January, with transition arrangements that afford continued full access to the bloc ending in December.

Jonathan Hall told the Treasury Select Committee that Brexit represented a longer term risk of increased fragmentation and complexity in financial services.

This would increase friction costs for the economy, the supervisory burden, Hall said in a questionnaire he completed for the lawmakers.

Faced with an economy slammed by the COVID-19 crisis, Hall, a former Goldman Sachs banker, is due to start a three-year term on the FPC, a body set up after regulators failed to spot the last financial crisis coming a decade ago.

Britains financial sector is quite different in size and complexity compared with its European peers, Hall told the online meeting.

Future direct EU access for financial firms in Britain will hinge on Britain remaining equivalent or aligned with rules in Europe, but Hall said Britain cant be a rule taker.

Its very important that the UK does remain the regulator for the financial market in the UK, he said.

Britains banks, some of whom needed rescuing by taxpayers in the last crisis, were in good shape when the COVID-19 shock hit markets in March, he said.

It was so far, so good and there is no evidence that tougher capital rules brought in after the last crisis were restricting the ability of banks to lend to help businesses recover from the impact of COVID, Hall said.

Britain is looking at ways for insurers, pension funds and others to invest in firms struggling to repay loans taken out during the pandemic.

You can imagine some kind of closed-end fund that has a very diversified pool of small and medium sized businesses. But does the public sector need to do anything to help that along given this needs to move faster? Hall said.

(This story replaces Hall quote in paragraph 3 on fragmentation after BOE clarified it referred to clearing houses with new paragraph 3 and 4 from a questionnaire to lawmakers)

Reporting by Huw Jones; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Ken Ferris and Alison Williams

Original post:

Brexit will split financial markets, says Bank of England appointee - Reuters

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Claims that Holyrood powers are under threat by post-Brexit legislation are "absolute scaremongering", the Scottish Secretary has said.

Alister Jack told BBC Scotland plans for a UK "internal market" amounted to a "power surge" and not a "power grab".

The proposals have been set out in a white paper, with legislation to follow later in the year.

Scottish Constitutional Affairs Secretary Mike Russell said any assurances from the UK were "not true".

Plans for how a UK-wide "internal market" will operate after the country leaves the EU were published earlier in the week.

UK Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the move would see "the biggest transfer of powers in the history of devolution".

But the Scottish government has said the plan would "strip power" from the Scottish Parliament.

Speaking on BBC Scotland's Sunday Politics programme, Mr Jack said the objections raised by Mr Russell were a "confected red herring".

He said there was "absolutely no threat" to Scottish government policies like free university tuition or alcohol minimum pricing.

"There is not a single power being taken away from Holyrood or any of the other devolved administrations and when challenged in parliament this week, they couldn't come up with a single power they're losing," he said.

"This is absolutely a power surge for them, not a power grab."

Much of the debate over powers has focused on food standards and whether chlorinated chicken would ever be sold in the UK.

But Mr Jack said this was "not going to happen".

"Chlorinated chicken can't be sold in the UK. Nor can hormone-induced beef. We're quite clear about that. They are illegal products," he said.

"We're going to bring all the EU food standards into UK domestic law at the end of this year in the Withdrawal Act. And then we intend to increase our food production standards and our animal welfare standards which are already the highest in Europe."

Mr Jack told the BBC that the only future changes would be to improve food standards and not "diminish" them.

He added: "Were it ever to come to pass that a future government did something on food standards that didn't satisfy the other devolved administrations first of all there would be a bill to go through the UK Parliament on that trade deal and then there would be consent motions sought from the other administrations."

However, Mr Russell said he had "no doubt" that under the current proposals chlorinated chicken could be sold in Scotland, even if the Scottish Parliament did not want it.

Speaking earlier on the programme, he said the proposals were there because the UK wanted to be able to do "bad trade deals" with other countries as they were the "only trade deals left to them".

"To do so they want to make sure that neither the Scottish Parliament or the Welsh Parliament or the Northern Irish Parliament can interfere with that," he said.

"That won't just be bad for consumers, it'll be very bad for business. It will put Scottish businesses out of business if they go ahead."

Mr Russell said he had heard many assurances in the past from the UK government but they had "come to nothing".

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Alister Jack: 'No threat' to devolved power in post-Brexit laws - BBC News

MACHIAVELLI is more of a moralist than we recognise. Everyone can run off his bon mots about fear and power, but no one bothers to recall his underlying warning-fear the public; you need them. A heavy-handed rule will only get you so far. Do not undertake actions that will offend the sensibilities of society. It is only better to be feared than loved because you cannot supply "freebies" forever.

And the latest "Brexit transition" videos are a case and point. They're hokey and rife with hawkish gibberish about "taking back control" and "unleashing" our potential. After 40 years, the good times are being ripped away and replaced with empty rhetoric about "significant opportunities".

Why are they needed at all? Finally, the Brexiteers realise what Remainers knew all along: paperwork for holidays to Spain, roaming charges and snail-pace airport queues are more pressing than bargain bucket notions "sovereignty".

READ MORE:UK government damned over lack of action over Russian interference

The UK Government is playing the oldest trick in the book with how it paints Brexit. Machiavelli knew leaders and governments could be saved or ruined by ideas of "us" and "them". He understood identity politics and how people are vicious in packs when there's a political purpose. The government is igniting a faux collective crisis to burn away the memory of what Brexit it.

Governments need the people; we seldom need them. History is replete with the names for how they've cultivated and fostered it - nationalism, patriotism, manifest destiny, revanchism, irredentism, empire: always, continually, cyclically "us", and "them".

International Relations has evolved as a field of study to explain power politics. Classical Realismfamously purports the international "system" is a continuance of human nature - fearful, reactionary and shattered along identity lines. Higher notions of "idealism" are utterly perfunctory to questions of survival.

Brexit is viscerally anathema because it goes against the grain of that self-interest. Not only are we giving up the benefits of international cooperation that make us feel safe, but we're also giving up opportunities for our children. If we're not at war or dealing with real economic challenges, then "national survival" is the argument of tyrants: you're against "us" if you're not playing for the "team". Look over there at those Europeans holding "us" back. Look further still at those dangers to "us".

READ MORE:Trade Bill: Tories reject effort to keep NHS off negotiating table

It's utterly arrogant to imply "nasty" nationalisms and arguments over race, ethnicity, language and history are a cliche of the Balkans. What we call citizenship is another name for gang warfare in a world of competing interests. For Aristotle, human beings are political animals, with an innate propensity to create and develop more complex communities. There are countless sociological, biological and anthropological arguments which state political affiliation is an inevitability of the human condition.

Political scientist Alexander Wendt famously built on this, claiming that the "anarchy" of international relations is all human-made. Political groups and states don't just exist before encountering the world; they evolve and change in response to other communities. Our operation within this system is a tactical choice between cooperation, war, defence - and peace.

All the softly spoken Brexit videos are designed to generate the kind of false unity that is both deluded and dangerous. The Downing Street countdown, the withdrawal coin, the calls for an independence day and now the latest media campaign are all designed to engender the people with a false consciousness that says it's counterproductive to go against it. Social media fact-checking, the contentiousness of the 2016 referendum (to say nothing of devolution and the national stay/leave splits) make it futile.

Worst of all, there's no excuse for it but to cover-up a monumental folly. We are neither at risk of annihilation or hemmed into a corner. Rightly or wrongly these kinds of national fictions are deployed throughout history to reshape the world. They're the beginnings of wars, the start of revolutions.

Brexit isn't even that cerebral. It's neither clever nor brave, ambitious nor bold. We must, must see these adverts, these campaigns for the nightmare they are. There's only an ideological illusion that a pyrrhic nationalism is a freedom from - well, freedom from what, exactly?

The biggest sin we can ever let come to pass is accepting it is unpatriotic to criticise a government because it goes against national morale, national purpose or national unity. That is unequivocally the beginning of tyranny, and governance by diktat. And that is the real lesson in all of Machiavelli's writings.

Alastair Stewart is a public affairs consultant with Orbit Communications. He regularly writes about politics and history with a particular interest in the life of Winston Churchill. Follow him on Twitter at@agjstewart

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The UK Government is playing the oldest trick in the book with Brexit - The National