Monthly Archives: March 2022

The Northern Ireland Protocol has cast a "long shadow" over political arrangements at Stormont, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson,DUP leader,has said.

Speaking at a plenary meeting of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (Bipa), Sir Jeffrey said the Stormont Executive would only be restored when issues surrounding the protocol were resolved.

But John Finucane,Sinn Fein MP,said he thought the protocol was a result of the DUP championing of the "hardest possibleBrexit".

Northern Ireland's powersharing Executive collapsed earlier this month when the DUP's Paul Givan resigned as first minister in protest at the protocol.

Sir Jeffrey continued:"Those who claim that the Northern Ireland Protocol is designed to protect the Good Friday Agreement and the political institutions that were created by it surely must now recognise that the three sets of relationships covered by the agreement have been damaged since the protocol was implemented.

"The continued imposition of the protocol upon Northern Ireland has cast its long shadow over our political arrangements at Stormont, as well as on a north-south and east-west basis and the everyday lives of our people.

"The genuine objections to it cannot be wished away, nor simply ignored."

Sir Jeffrey added: "As the leader of Northern Ireland's largest party, I must stress that the problems of the protocol are not confined to unionists, but affect the everyday lives and livelihoods of everyone in Northern Ireland.

"The long shadow of the Irish Sea border must be removed from our politics. It is holding us back."

Mr Finucane said the DUP boycott of the Executive and the North South Ministerial Council amounts to "an assault on the Good Friday Agreement itself."

He said it is a direct result of the "political fallout" between the Tories and the DUP.

He continued: "Both championed the hardest possibleBrexityet take no responsibility for its consequences."

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Brexit: Bitter EU threatens to AXE deal as Britain builds ties with Australia and US - Express

Kenneth Clarkes description of Theresa May as a bloody difficult woman may still be vividly, and excruciatingly, remembered by many of us. It was caught on camera in a TV studio in 2016 just before May made the move from home secretary to prime minister.

That unflattering epithet gives Tim Walkers debut drama its ironic title, though it is not only in reference to May but also to Gina Miller, the businesswoman who took the government to court over its authority to trigger article 50 without parliamentary approval after the Brexit vote.

The drama depicts how May (Jessica Turner) hoped to bypass the Commons vote and how Miller (Amara Karan) stepped in. Process matters, Miller says to her husband, Alan (Edmund Kingsley), and that sentiment resounds across other threatened processes since, from the proroguing of parliament to the police investigation of No 10 over partygate. As Miller says, If those who govern us dont stick to the rules, no one will.

Miller is shown as a reluctant defender, stepping into the breach when no one else is prepared to put their hand up and all the more heroic for it, given the media hostility and death threats she received. May, for her part, is navigating her way through a hostile political system and trying to keep the manipulative tentacles of the rightwing press at bay.

In Stephen Unwins snappy production, both women offer occasional monologues to hammer home the point that they are operating inside a deeply misogynistic system. But while the plays gender politics are in the right place it feels slight. We wish for more insight, and sharper humour, than it gives us, even though it has the promising look and feel of a James Graham play: a slick photographic backdrop of Whitehall and its surroundings (set design by Nicky Shaw) with News at Ten-style music to match (sound design by John Leonard) along with short, punchy scenes.

But there is not the accompanying detail or complexity, and it ends up resembling an episode of Yes, Prime Minister. Miller sounds off to her husband and May does the same with a senior adviser (Graham Seed); her rock of a husband never makes an appearance. There are some pointed foreign secretary gags with Boris Johnson drawn as a political Lord Voldemort he who must never be named in Mays office. This humour carries its own dismal irony but seems a little obvious.

The Daily Mails former editor, Paul Dacre (Andrew Woodall), is given a central role and controls the narrative around the two women demonising Miller and manipulating May even while professing to support her. Dacre is portrayed here as a charmless megalomaniac but his bad language (a machine-gun welter of swearwords) is a dully repeated joke. His newsroom assistant, meanwhile, speaks in old-fashioned cockney rhyming slang. If Walker a journalist himself intends for humour here, his character comes off as a throwback tabloid cliche.

Both Karan and Turner are strong performers but not all the cast was as smooth at a preview show I attended. The highlight comes in the final scene, which brings us to the present day, and a confrontation between the women in which sparks begin to fly.

After Clarkes comment became headline news, May observed: If standing up for what you believe to be right makes you bloody difficult, then so be it. This play proves her point but simultaneously reveals the potholes that leave it so much harder for women, even those as indomitable as May and Miller, to make that stand.

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Bloody Difficult Women review Brexit foes who faced the same prejudice - The Guardian

After half a decade of political wrangling, the UK formally left the EU on January 31, 2020, with the transition period ending at the end of that year.Brexit had a huge impact on the UKs vaccine rollout, as the Government was able to jab their way out of Covid restrictions faster than their European counterparts. However, despite the UK having struck trade deals with over 70 countries, critics claim that little progress has been made on garnering the economic benefits of Brexit.

Dr Bull, who is the Deputy Leader of Reform UK, previously known as the Brexit Party, campaigned for the UK to leave the EU.

He accusedPrime Minister Boris Johnson of failing to take advantage of the extraordinary referendum result.

While he does not regret having campaigned and voted for Brexit, Mr Bull graded the UKs first year outside of the EU four out of ten and stressed the country could do better.

Speaking to Express.co.uk, Dr Bull added: I think thats generous.

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Has anyone really noticed any difference? No is the honest answer.

What worries me the most is youve got this brigade of Remainers that actually should be called Rejoiners, like [Andrew] Adonis, [Peter] Mandelson and so on, and actually they are pointing out the fact that theres no discernable difference at the moment.

And actually I think theyre right, and all weve done by not grasping that nettle is to say, Actually, if there is no discernible difference, we would be better off back in the EU!

When asked what Reform UK may have done differently Dr Bull said: What we should have done is to say, Right, this is where the future begins, were now going to slash tax, were going to get a flat tax across the board for example. Were going to slash VAT, were doing these trade deals, were going to bring in the brightest talent.

The Protocol, which has essentially created a trade border in the Irish Sea, has disrupted trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Dr Bull said: Taking Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom and putting an artificial border in the Irish Sea, I think is catastrophic.

The whole point about not creating a hard border on the island of Ireland, yes I get that, and the Good Friday Agreement, I get all of that.

But essentially the Prime Minister has threatened the integrity of the United Kingdom and I think thats unforgivable.

The Reform UK Deputy Leader also criticised the Tories broken tax promises and insisted that the cost of living needed to be addressed.

He said: I think the current Government has just doubled down on where the European Union is.

Were now a high tax, high regulation, low growth economy and you can see that with the fact were got inflation rising, National Insurance coming in, our tax bills coming up.

This isnt what people voted for.

He continued: I dont think weve taken advantage of the extraordinary vote that we had.

I maintain to this day it was still the right decision. The largest democratic vote in the United Kingdom I think, and it was extraordinary.

The whole point about it was that we became a free and self-governing country where we no longer are held ransom by this ridiculous monolist that is the European Union and that we can decide the rules and the laws that are good for Britain.

I dont think we have done that.

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Brexit betrayal laid bare as shoddy first year graded 'four out of ten': 'Pathetic - Express

On 1 January 2021, the biggest changes to the UKs immigration system in at least four decades took effect. Free movement between the UK and the EU ended (as well as with EEA member states and Switzerland) and a new post-Brexit system was introduced for work-related migration; this new system applies to both EU and non-EU citizens. Meanwhile, the existing immigration rules for students and family members coming from outside the EU now apply to EU citizens after Brexit.

There are two major exceptions: EU citizens who were living here before January 2021 and have registered for the EU Settlement Scheme have most of their existing rights protected, while the status of Irish citizens is essentially unchanged.

As I describe here in a more detailed assessment of the changes:

The new system represents a very significant tightening of controls on EU migration compared to free movement. However, compared to the current system, the new proposals represent a considerable liberalization for non-EU migrants, with lower salary and skill thresholds, and no overall cap on numbers.

We now have a full years worth of data on the operation of the new system. So, what have we learned about immigration after Brexit? Here are five key points.

First, the new system works; that is to say, visas are being processed reasonably quickly, and there are no major complaints about long delays, unreasonable denials of visas, or malfunctioning or unusable IT systems.

Given the magnitude of the changes described above, being made in the middle of a pandemic and the past record of the Home Office in delivering major IT or change projects this is both impressive and surprising. My expectations were considerably more pessimistic, and Im glad to say I was wrong.

Second, work-related migration has recovered strongly. As with the broader economy where worries about persistent long-term unemployment have been replaced with concern about skill and labour shortages as yet theres no evidence that the pandemic has had any permanent negative impact on immigration. And the liberalisation of policy towards non-EU citizens is already evident. The introduction of the new Health and Care Visa (HCV) has had a big impact, with about 65,000 such visas issued in 2021.

Third, the figures are even more dramatic for students. Student visa numbers have soared to above 400,000. Theresa May and Nick Timothy, based on data theyknew to be misleading, were determined to use the pretext of abuse of the student visa route (which certainly existed, but on nothing like the scale of their baseless claims) to choke off the ability of international students to come to the UK; the collateral damage to the UK economy wasnt their problem.

Ten years on, that approach has been definitively binned. From my perspective, particularly welcome is the introduction of the Graduate Route effectively the reintroduction of the Post-Study Work Route, which Treasury colleagues and I devised in the early 2000s, and which allows international students graduating from UK universities to remain here for up to two years and work. Its only been operating for six months; so far about 12,500 visas have been issued but expect the numbers to grow.

Fourth, these increases are not primarily driven by the fact that EU citizens now have to apply for visas. They only make up a bit more than one in 10 of work visas, and five per cent of student visas.

In part, this may be because many EU citizens coming here had already acquired settled status based on a past period of residence here, and some of those intending to move here in 2021 would have tried to get here in 2020, so as to be eligible for settled status. The proportion of work and study visas going to EU citizens will certainly rise in the future but how far remains a big unknown.

Finally: if its not EU citizens, where are these increases in immigration coming from after Brexit?

As before the pandemic, India is by far the largest single source country for work visas, making up about 40% of the total. But there are big increases for Nigeria and the Philippines, probably reflecting the HCV; the Philippines is the largest source country for nurses in the world. [As an aside, for those who not unreasonably worry about the impact of skilled emigration on source countries, an important new paper shows that nurse emigration from the Philippines actually increases the domestic supply of nurses. Brain gain, not brain drain.]

For students, while China remains the largest single source country, the scale of the increases in those coming from India, Nigeria and Pakistan is very large indeed:

Theres a lot more in the data. I havent discussed asylum, where applications are now at their highest level since 2003, and the backlog of unprocessed applications has now exceeded 100,000: an inexcusable act of what (given reasonably speedy performance elsewhere in the system) appears to be deliberate cruelty. Nor the new BN(O) visa route for Hong Kong residents with British Overseas citizenship, where more than 100,000 applications have now been received. Nor the special routes for HGV drivers and so on, which have been widely derided and the impact of which appears to have been minimal.

But the current picture appears to be a UK immigration system rapidly (re)-orientating from Europe to the rest of the world, especially South and South-East Asia. How will that affect the UK labour market, and indeed UK economy and society more broadly? This is likely to be a central focus of the debate on the impact on immigration after Brexit over the years to come.

By Jonathan Portes, Senior Fellow at UK in a Changing Europe.

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Immigration after Brexit one year on: changing places? - UK in a Changing Europe

The former MP and broadcaster claimed the UK should be playing an "independent, bridging role" towards China and Russia. He hit out at the Labour leader for lending his "full support" to what Mr Galloway called "going full-Tonto" in its approach to Russia. The broadcaster, who has his own show on Russian state-sponsored media channel RT, wrote on Twitter: "It would have benefited Britain, if post-Brexit, we had played an independent, bridging role towards #China #Russia etc.

"Instead (with Starmers full support), HMG have gone full-Tonto.

"Apparently with wide public support.

"Whether that will continue when the bills come in..."

This comes after the UK Government imposed further sanctions on Putin's Russia last night.

Three more Russian banks were sanctioned, including Russia's largest bank, Sberbank.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss also announced the UK will ban exports to Russia across a range of "critical sectors".

Meanwhile, Russian ships have been banned from UK ports, with authorities being given new powers to detain Russian vessels.

Ms Truss acknowledged the conflict "could end up lasting months and years", saying the UK was "prepared to suffer economic sacrifices" in order to support Ukraine.

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for Putin's war on Ukraine.

His co-founder, Jamie Blackett said his alliance with Mr Galloway was "at an end", after he appeared to blame the West for Russia's invasion of Ukraine during his programme on RT.

Mr Galloway accused the US of being behind a "fascistic coup" in Ukraine in 2014, claiming the country had banned the Russian language.

In response, Mr Blackett issued a statement describing Mr Galloway's comments as "wrong and counterproductive".

He said: "A4U was set up as a very broad alliance of people from across the political spectrum to counter separatism in Scotland.

"I do not speak for George Galloway and he does not speak for me on issues unrelated to Scottish domestic politics

"But I am aware that his view of events is very different from mine.

"I believe some of his comments have been wrong and counterproductive and therefore, in order to make it absolutely clear that I disagree, our alliance is at an end."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said Mr Galloway had form in finding himself on the wrong side of history and his association with RT has lent legitimacy and influence to the propaganda apparatus of a hostile power.

He added: By acting as an apologist for Russian expansionist aggression, Galloways reputation lies in tatters, as does his political career."

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'Would have benefitted Britain' Galloway launches scathing attack on Starmer over Brexit - Express

Reports are suggesting that Bitcoin could be boosted as Russians turn to crypto to avoid the West's sanctions on their country. Russian forces are a week into their invasion of Ukraine, and Western leaders have isolated Moscow with hard sanctions, which will have a big impact on the country's economy. Trading data suggests that Russians are increasingly turning to digital assets to avoid the Western sanctions. According to Kaiko, a firm that analyses crypto markets, trading volumes between the Russian rouble and tether, a leading cryptocurrency, hit a record high on Monday.

Crypto and blockchain technology remains a polarising concept, with critics raising concern about the unregulated nature of assets such as Bitcoin.

But those who support crypto technology believe it can revolutionise the way markets work for the better.

Matt Hancock, MP for West Suffolk, has been a vocal voice in Parliament backing the use of crypto.

Speaking to the Citywire Wealthtech Show on Friday, Mr Hancock argued that other leaders, such as those in the EU have been too restrictive on crypto and Fintech.

He said: Innovation is the way we build the future of people's prosperity, that is the big picture. I was listening to a debate in Parliament and I thought, 'we need to be more positive, we need to be more energetic'.

"These innovations are going to happen, so let's have them happen here. It's that sort of attitude which is the right one for the UK to take."

On the EU's approach to new technologies, he added: "The EU is clearly moving in this space, and is proposing a regulatory regime which I think is too restrictive.

"In buying risk assets, crypto that isn't anchored for instance, we should allow people to buy and trade this stuff. That is a liberal regime.

"Yes there needs to be some standards around this stuff, for instance advertising and tackling money laundering.

"There is an attitude in some parts of the world and in the UK that we should only let sophisticated investors near this stuff because you can lose money.

Well, you can lose money buying equities, so let's treat this asset class in a way that is open to investment and allows people to make choices for themselves."

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In January, one of the EU's leading financial regulators said the EU should ban the energy-intensive system used to mine Bitcoin.

In an interview with the Financial Times, vice-chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Erik Theden called for a bloc-wide ban on "proof of work" crypto mining, saying the industry's energy usage was becoming a "national issue" in his native Sweden.

He said: "Bitcoin is now a national issue for Sweden because of the amount of renewable energy devoted to mining.

"It would be an irony if the wind power generated on Swedens long coastline would be devoted to Bitcoin mining."

Meanwhile, Mr Hancock told Express.co.uk he would consider investing in Bitcoin.

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He also argued that the cryptocurrency could play a role in a post-Brexit economy.

When asked if crypto can play a role in a post-Brexit economy, Mr Hancock said: "Yes. We now dont have to just take the EUs restrictive regulatory regime and instead can design our own that is more dynamic."

He added: "Crypto is already here and in use. Its expanding rapidly in the UK and around the world. We dont have a choice as to whether it is happening. The choice we have is how we shape it best to benefit people.

"Britain has long prospered by being the home of financial innovation. Hundreds of years ago, we were the first place in the world to establish a central bank.

"In the Eighties, we pioneered the eurobond market, and we have been the leading place in the world to trade currency for decades. So it is natural that with a liberal regulatory system we should be the home to cryptocurrencies too."

Express.co.uk does not offer financial advice. The journalists who worked on this story do not own crypto.

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EU's Bitcoin regime 'too restrictive' as Brexit Britain told to capitalise on crypto - Express

By Martin Croucher (March 2, 2022, 6:08 PM GMT) -- The government will ensure that regulators will still prioritize financial stability over a new requirement to consider international competitiveness and growth, the City minister told MPs on Wednesday, as the U.K. charts a post-Brexit course for financial services.

John Glen told the Treasury Select Committee that the government did not intend to "neuter" the powers of U.K. financial watchdogs by making them consider the wider effect on the market of regulatory action.

The government is considering whether to introduce a requirement for watchdogs to consider how globally competitive Britain's financial sector is when it drafts new regulation. The proposed new guiding...

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Gov't Says Stability Will Still Trump Growth In Brexit Shakeup - Law360