Category Archives: Brexit

The former Chief Adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson is a staunch Brexiteer and was formerly director of Vote Leave, a group which successfully executed the 2016 referendum campaign for the UK's exit from the European Union. Now he has shut-down Brexit critics and revealed a central reason why the country will greatly benefit over the coming years from not being tied to Brussels' rules.

Dominic Cummings tweeted: "Another excellent reason why elites wrong on Brexit, why UK will gain so much in coming years from being less entangled in its dysfunction, like on vaccines."

He was referring to an opinion article from Bloomberg energy and commodities columnist Javier Blas, entitled: 'Europes Energy Crisis Will Cost You $200 Billion Probably More'.

The continent is suffering from a crippling energy crisis as a result of Russia's ongoing and brutal war in Ukraine - driving up inflation to massive highs.

Annual maintenance work on the Nord Stream 1 gas line into Europe is due to be completed on Wednesday, but there are growing fears Vladimir Putin could turn off the supply in retaliation to the hard sanctions the EU has hit Russia with.

As a result of spiralling inflation and a struggling euro against the US dollar, there are also growing fears the Eurozone area could plunge into an extremely damaging recession.

Bloomberg columnist Mr Blas claimed in his article that "when the dust settled" the total bill for the European energy market will "easily top" $200billion (169.4billion).

Worse still, he warned that is just a "rough estimate" and doesn't cover "the worst-case scenario of both Russia fully shutting down natural gas supply to Europe and a colder-than-average winter".

Mr Blas took a swipe at leading European politicians for failing to "grasp" with the magnitude of the coming crisis and its costs, but reserved praise for Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz as "the only ones that appear to get it now".

READ MORE:Nigel Farage issues dire warning to Tories over leadership

"But that only moves the bailout down the chain, as households and businesses would then face unaffordable bills and need government help."

The expert continued: "Ultimately, taxpayers will bear the cost either directly and immediately, via higher retail power and gas prices, or later, and over the years, via higher taxes to pay for the bailouts.

"European Governments should be upfront about the costs: They can win the argument that this is money well spent to stop Vladimir Putin."

He said how since the start of the Ukraine war five months ago, Putin has cut gas supply to Germany by about 60 percent, and said utility firm Uniper is losing around 30million (25.4million) each day having to buy the same gas in the "spot market".

Mr Blas warned if Putin does completely shut down the flow of gas, the utility's daily loses will surge to around 100million (84.7million) a day, or more than 35billion (29.7billion) a year.

Germany's Government would therefore come under huge pressure to provide that sum just to keep millions of people's power on.

The expert concluded: "If the utilities are allowed to pass higher gas costs onto the consumers, Goldman Sachs reckons that European households will have to pay 470 per month for electricity and gas, up 290 percent from the typical cost in mid-2020.

"Thats clearly unaffordable to many, perhaps most, and a much bigger bailout will be needed to help consumers get by."

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Cummings silences Brexit doom-mongers and reveals KEY reason UK 'will gain so much' - Express

Davis says Truss is Brexiteer now because it's become 'suitable'

Since leaving the EU, the UK has maintained an alignment with the blocs rules on data protection. However, in June the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published the Governments response to a consultation on the future of the UK data protection regime, laying out a path towards the UK Data Reform Bill.

In the responses to the consultation, most indicated support for the Governments proposals in many areas, including reducing barriers to responsible innovation and reducing burdens on businesses and delivering better outcomes for people.

Now, in July, the Government has set out the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill in the House of Commons.

The law is supposed to ease data protection requirements for companies, saving them a billion pounds over 10 years in costs, according to DCMS analysis.

Companies will no longer need a data protection officer, only a data controller, and will be able to refuse requests from individuals for their own data if the requests are abusive or excessive.

The law also creates the possibility of using personal data as one sees fit for research purposes.

The bill also aims to make things easier for law enforcement agencies, with the police no longer needing to specifically justify why they are accessing certain data sets.

Alexander Fanta, EU correspondent for netzpolitik.org, noted however it is unclear what impact the planned changes will have on data flows to the EU.

He said: For more than a year, the EU Commission has certified that the United Kingdom has a comparable data protection standard in two adequacy decisions - similar decisions have also been taken for Japan, Australia and other countries.

Whether a lowering of the data protection standard could have consequences for the decision was left open by the EU Commission for the time being.

However, the decision provides for an evaluation if there are significant changes to the legal standards in the UK.

Mr Fanta noted EU Commissioner Vra Jourov said in June 2021: This is why we have significant safeguards and if anything changes on the UK side, we will intervene.

READ MORE:Brexit LIVE: Truss masterplan on hated deal expected to clear Commons

Former Chancellor Rishi Sunak, tipped as favourite to succeed Boris Johnson as Prime Minister, said he wanted to scrap the overcomplicated legal framework of the GDPR.

He added the current framework prevents UK tech companies from innovating and the public sector from sharing data to fight crime.

Writing in the Telegraph on Sunday, he also promised he will have scrapped or reformed all of the EU law, red tape and bureaucracy that is still on our statute book and slowing economic growth by the time of the next election if he succeeds Mr Johnson.

Mr Sunak said he would task a Brexit minister and a new Brexit Delivery Department with reviewing all 2,400 EU laws transferred over to the UK statute book after the UKs exit from the bloc.

He would demand the first set of recommendations as to whether each law should be scrapped or reformed within my first 100 days in the job.

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The Governments June announcement included how data-driven trade generated nearly three quarters of the UKs total service exports and generated an estimated 234billion for the economy in 2019.

Nadine Dorries, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, previously said at the time the reformation of the UKs GDPR is an important step in cementing post-Brexit Britains position as a science and tech superpower.

She added: Our new data reform bill will make it easier for businesses and researchers to unlock the power of data to grow the economy and improve society, but retains our global gold standard for data protection.

Outside of the EU we can ensure people can control their personal data, while preventing businesses, researchers and civil society from being held back by a lack of clarity and cumbersome EU legislation.

Jon Baines, senior data protection specialist at Mishcon de Reya LLP, told the Fintech Times about the proposed bill: The proposed reforms to data protection law are very significant for individuals and organisations and will no doubt be the subject of much parliamentary debate before they are passed.

The Government is not taking forward a lot of the proposals it mooted last year, but this is still a major proposed set of changes. Many of the proposed reforms are clearly intended to be business-friendly.

The UK will, though, keep the current UK GDPR framework, which is strongly tied to the EUs GDPR.

There is still a risk, though, that the European Commission will see some of the changes as a step too far and lead it to review the current adequacy framework permitting free transfer of personal data between the EU and the UK.

Additional reporting from Monika Pallenberg

See original here:

GDPR bonfire incoming! Brexit victory as UK to carve up hated EU rules - Express

Penny Mordaunt has Irish Catholic roots, it has emerged, but her staunch support for Brexit makes her an outlier not just among many of those with Irish heritage but among her extended family.

She is the only member of the family brothers, father, uncles, cousins and others that supported Brexit, her uncle Henry Mordaunt said as he revealed that the familys Catholic ancestors fled England and moved to Ireland, possibly to escape religious persecution after Henry VIIIs Reformation.

He said it was a complete surprise to see his niece emerge as a frontrunner to become the UKs next prime minister, given she had a low public profile during Boris Johnsons leadership.

I disagree with her politics, unfortunately, but I would be happy for her if she achieves her ambition, he told the Irish Times.

The MPs paternal grandfather, Edward Mordaunt, was born to Irish parents in Canterbury, Kent.

Her uncle said reports that her grandfather had supported the IRA during the 192223 Irish civil war were incorrect. He refused to take part fighting fellow Irish men in a civil war when he was called up and so he was interned, he said.

His extensive research into the Mordaunt family history found that the Mordaunts were likely to have come to England as part of the Norman invasion in 1066. Some of them fled in the mid-1600s to Ireland.

Records do not exist to confirm the reason why some of the family ended up in Ireland but Henry Mordaunt believes it was part of a substantial movement of Catholic English emigrants to Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries as anti-Catholic laws were not enforced so heavily there.

Mordaunt has not mentioned her Irish links during her campaign nor revealed her views on the Northern Ireland protocol bill tabled by her leadership rival Liz Truss last month.

If it becomes law, it would result in Britain tearing up part of its deal with the EU and giving hard-Brexiters including David Frost, Steve Baker and Mark Francois the clean break they have wanted from Brussels.

Each of the five candidates has sought to burnish their Brexit credentials and maintain support from the right of the party but only three Mordaunt, Rishi Sunak and Kemi Badenoch voted for Brexit.

Only Truss, who voted remain but now presents herself as a hard-Brexiter, has mentioned the Northern Ireland protocol during the campaign.

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Advertising his Brexit purity, Sunak released a slick video over the weekend reminding party members he had gone against the advice of the then prime minister, David Cameron, and supported leave in the 2016 referendum campaign.

Sources say Sunak has expressed reticence on the protocol bill in the past because of the risk of triggering a trade war with the EU.

Last year Mordaunt spoke of the unique disadvantages Northern Ireland was suffering because of the protocol and the disruption to years of trade with Great Britain.

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Penny Mordaunt only one in her family to support Brexit, says uncle - The Guardian

Essentially, he claimed that the entire belief system that Britain is a self-sustainable island that is being held back from its true potential due to ties with Europe originated in the Reformation.

Alongside Henry was another prominent figure of the time, his chief minister Thomas Cromwell who would draft two acts of Parliament in the 1530s that would cement this ideology, albeit based somewhat on fables rather than facts.

The first act, titled the Act in Restraint of Appeals, banned appealing to the Pope in ecclesiastical matters and meant that final authority would now be found in Londons parliament rather than in Rome with the Pope.

The wording of this act stated the realm of England is an empire according to chronicles of history.

However, the chronicles of history that Cromwell was reliant upon to justify this claim was The History of the Kings of Britain, a pseudo-history book written by a Welsh monk that included tales like King Arthur and the knights of the round table.

See the original post here:

'Origins of Brexit' linked back to 16th century Kings: 'Look no further than Henry VIII' - Express

In a blow to researchers, academics and scientists based in the UK, the EU recently revealed that it would be scrapping 115 grants that form part of its 95.5 billion Horizon Europe programme, as Brexit tensions between the EU and the UK continue to grow. However, today the UK published counter plans to plug the funding gap in what is likely to be seen as an attempt to stop some of the UKs smartest people from relocating to the EU.

The British Government has been trying to position the UK as a science and innovation superpower and losing ties with Europes largest research and innovation programme is a blow to its ambitions. Some researchers have explicitly said that they are planning to move to EU institutions as a result.

In December 2020 the UK had initially negotiated to remain part of Horizon and committed to investing in the programme. However, with the UK seeking to amend the Northern Ireland protocol, without using the official dispute-resolution system that was agreed as part of the Brexit process, legal action has been triggered by the EU and barriers on both sides are beginning to go up.

With this in mind, the UK has this week announced a new package of transitional measures that it hopes will ensure stability and continuity of funding for researchers and businesses, if the UK is not able to associate to Horizon Europe in the coming weeks and months.

The UK is (predictably) positioning this as the EUs doing and this week said that the funding being pulled is a result of the EUs continued delays, whilst failing to mention the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Commenting on the transitional plans announced this week, Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwai Kwarteng, said:

The UK Government has always been clear that our departure from the European Union (EU) does not mean leaving the flagship Horizon, Copernicus, Euratom Research & Training and Fusion for Energy programmes. The UK has always been a major financial and intellectual contributor to these programmes and seeks to continue that partnership.

Unfortunately, the EU has still not formalised our association to these programmes as agreed under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), linking them to resolution of wider political discussions. I am concerned that the continued delays are causing intolerable uncertainty for our research and business community. To help minimise the uncertainty and signal our good faith commitment to association, the government set out our Horizon Europe guarantee in November 2021, and then extended it to the end of this year.

Over the last few months, we have made clear that the UK is more committed than ever to strong research collaboration with our European partners, and that close scientific collaboration is key to our wider shared security. Despite widespread support for UK association across member states and the EUs research community, association continues to look unlikely while the EU links it to wider political issues.

The British Government has said that it is prepared for all scenarios and that it is developing a long-term Horizon alternative, which it says will draw on the best features of Horizon and add some improvements. However, if the UK is not able to associate to Horizon Europe in the short term, the focus will be on the transitional measures announced this week.

Kwarteng added:

The Governments position remains to associate to all 4 EU programmes. Given the ongoing delays, however, whatever happens we need to ensure that we are making the most of the UKs science and innovation strengths, and so we need to prepare for an alternative future. In developing these programmes, we will need the support of the whole UK R&D community. This is a vital moment for UK research in which I and the Government are determined we will strengthen, deepen, and widen our commitment to international research.

The British Government has said that its preference is for the UK to associate to Horizon Europe, but that given the uncertainty, it will be introducing these transitional arrangements in an attempt to provide some certainty to the UK-based research and innovation community. These include:

The Horizon Europe Guarantee the government has said that if it is unable to associate, it will fund applications that are submitted to a Horizon Europe funding call with an EU final call deadline date before the point of non-association, and are successful in the EU evaluation and meet the eligibility criteria of the guarantee. This includes those where grant signature dates fall beyond the end of 2022.

Funding for successful, in-flight applications - the government will also support UK entities with eligible in-flight applications to Horizon Europe (to calls that have closed or are open at the point of non-association, where such applications are not being evaluated by the EC), by assessing such applications domestically, to ensure the best get funded should the EC no longer carry out the evaluation

Uplifts to existing talent programmes - the government has said that it will increase funding for its best existing talent schemes covering a broad range of disciplines via National Academies and UKRI. This will be followed by the creation of a new UK fellowship and award programme, designed to retain and attract top talent in the UK.

Uplifts to innovation support the government will increase funding for a range of its innovation schemes targeted at small and medium sized businesses (SMEs), delivered by Innovate UK, and go on to create new mechanisms.

The Talent and Research Stabilisation Fund the government will use formula funding to support a range of eligible UK institutions who have been most affected by the loss of Horizon Europe talent funding. The fund will enable eligible research organizations and universities to support talent retention and target funding vulnerabilities at a local level

Third Country Participation - around two thirds of Horizon Europe calls are open to UK researchers and companies as Third Country applicants, as part of consortia with at least three other applicants from EU member states or associated countries, provided they bring their own funding. As this is a priority for businesses and researchers, the government will fund all eligible UK entities participating in any such consortia signing grant agreements before 31 March 2025.

It will no doubt be welcome that the government has announced some measures to plug gaps for researchers and academics in the UK, who have been in limbo for months not knowing if their funding will be pulled. Whether or not this will be enough to convince some researchers to stay in the UK, remains to be seen. Equally, there should still be an ambition to associate to Horizon, despite this announcement, as funding isnt everything. Collaboration and access to institutions across the EU is vital for many of these researchers and Horizon enables much of that. The UKs plan to create a programme that rivals Horizon - on its own - seems ambitious in the extreme and shouldnt be the end goal here.

Read the original here:

UK reveals plans to fund research and innovation as EU pulls plug on Horizon support amid Brexit row - Diginomica

The right kinds of pro-competition rules set standards so contracts can be enforced, staff aren't exploited, our environment is preserved and food is safe to eat. They stop monopolies and cartels, and create jobs, wealth and economic growth by putting customers first, rather than politicians, bureaucrats or company bosses.

The Conservative Party is the party of enterprise. It was this party that unleashed the enterprise revolution in the 1980s. But most business leaders will tell you they are being held back by dense thickets of red tape and quangos that go well beyond those pro-competition rules and standards, and which slow businesses and wealth-creators down by focusing them on form filling instead of customers, making them less nimble, creative and efficient as a result.

So cutting the size and weight of these regulatory millstones around the neck of our economy is vital. But it isnt easy because every system in Whitehall and Westminster is set up to produce new rules. Its how politicians, civil servants and regulators forge their careers, and its why reducing red tape never comes naturally.

Recent history teaches some bitter lessons. We cut red tape successfully between 2010 and 2015 with aone-in-one-out'system that worked okay and later becameone-in-two-out, even though it couldnt apply to all the EU rules that came from Brussels. But then we abandoned it and surprise things went into reverse: in 2018 we tried to cut red tape costs by 9bn but they rose by 8bn instead.

And even though Brexit is now legally done, theres been no bonfire of all that EU red tape so far.

The optimist in me says that the opportunities for post-Brexit Britain to cut red tape costs ought to be immense, because no-one has dealt with 40 years of EU rules and regulations that have piled up on our books.

Scraping all those barnacles off our economys hull ought to be a massive and economically-vital Brexit dividend that will make our exporters and wealth-creators much, much more competitive than before. But, six years after the Brexit referendum, the realist in me says it wont happen automatically.

We will have to grab Government by the scruff of its neck to make the changes we need.

So thats what well do. My Government will reintroduce the one-in-one-out system to begin with, because its the only thing thats proven to work. And why shouldnt we aim even higher in future, by going back to one-in-two-out after that too, like we did before?

Either way, no Minister or regulator will be able to introduce new rules or regulations until theyve found a barrowload of red tape cost to get rid of first.

For example, we can rebuild our natural ecosystems faster and more effectively. Well achieve this by repealing EU rules which force water companies to solve water quality problems by building expensive, high-carbon water treatment plants, when striking deals with local farmers to reduce pollution risks or slow water runoff upstream could be both a greener and far more economically efficient and productive solution instead.

And we should extend the hugely-successful Open Banking project, which has freed up High Street banking and created gale-force winds of competition from new high-tech online banking challenger firms, which have used the extra freedoms to give customers more choices of ultra-modern, cheap and convenient banking apps than anyone would have dreamed of a few years ago.

The next steps should be to extend the same rule-changes to help customers in other areas of finance like pensions and mortgages, and then move on to lots of other parts of our economy too.

Then we should launch a project with British businesses to make our customs processes the easiest, quickest, cheapest, simplest and most digital in the world, reducing frictions and improving productivity for all British exporters and importers too.

If Britain is the easiest, simplest and most convenient country in the world to trade with, it will make us a natural hub for many global industries.

Put alongside our existing strong reputation for reliable business conditions, with easily-enforced contracts, a widely-used legal system, global product standards and the English language, it will make Global Britain easier and quicker to build.

These are just three examples, but there are many more as was set out in the recent Taskforce on Innovation Growth & Regulatory Reform.

Its time to stop talking aboutBrexit dividendsand get on with delivering them instead.

Read more here:

'We've waited too long to cut EU red tape!' Penny Mordaunt's Brexit blueprint for Britain - Express

There is a British connection to Irelands refugee accommodation problem, although it is not fear of being deported to Rwanda, as Taoiseach Michel Martin claimed last week.

Ireland made its open-door offer to Ukrainian refugees as part of its self-image as a progressive European nation, an image it has tended to define against Britain, especially since Brexit.

When the Republic threw open its doors in March, pious comparisons were made including by Government figures with the UKs draconian visa requirements.

[Newton Emerson: Tory leadership contest may blow open argument on funding for Northern Ireland]

[Newton Emerson: Brussels remains intoxicated by EU nationalism Brexit helped to crystallise]

London took umbrage: there were anonymous briefings of a security threat to Britain via the Common Travel Area, which Ministers in Dublin had to dismiss.

Of course, the UK has begun defining itself against the EU post-Brexit, notably on its military support for Ukraine.

So Irelands refugee policy was competitively framed from the outset. This appears to have provoked a reflexive outburst against Britain as demand for accommodation outstripped supply.

The UKs Rwanda policy is wrong and shocking, the Taoiseach added. Ironically, it was copied from Denmark, the usual ideal of a progressive European nation.

There is no evidence asylum seekers are being diverted from the UK to Ireland. Martins claim, which he admitted was based on anecdote and intuition, has been denied by the Dublin office of the UNHCR.

Numbers entering the State have risen but only back to the pre-pandemic trend. The same is true in the UK. The Taoiseach is fortunate the British government is in too much disarray to laud his claim from the rooftops. Nobody in the UK thinks the Rwanda policy is working: migrant channel crossings have doubled this year.

The Irish public does not believe it either. There was obvious scepticism at blaming Britain for the accommodation shortfall, making this an instance of unpopular populism: nationalist begrudgery from the top that fell on stony ground.

It is striking to see Martin, normally a conciliatory figure, resort to such finger-pointing. Attitudes to Britain across the rest of Government can only be worse, as another immigration policy suggests.

Offering Irish-Americans visas to retire in Ireland was a 2018 proposal developed by Fine Gael Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan and his successor, Simon Coveney.

It was intended to be a quid pro quo for more US working visas for Ireland, until that was blocked by Congress.

In February this year, Flanagan proposed reviving it unilaterally, as its advantages in strengthening cultural and economic ties justify themselves.

Tnaiste Leo Varadkar officially unveiled the scheme last weekend in an online address to an Ancient Order of Hibernians conference in Pittsburgh.

This is a huge policy announcement for Ireland, with potentially significant social impacts. The first question most people will have is if any planning has been done to provide American immigrants with accommodation. That question has also been raised previously in the press.

Few US pensioners retire abroad and almost none stray beyond North America but it is difficult to predict how much pent-up demand might be released once an accessible retirement option in Europe becomes available. It would not take many cash-rich retirees to impact rural and coastal housing markets, where most would want to live. One-third of Irish-Americans have told surveys they would be interested in any scheme to reside or buy property in Ireland.

The Government still has nothing to say on this question. However, Varadkar told the Pittsburgh conference: Our friends and allies in Washington have stood behind us and have not faltered when it comes to protecting the Northern Ireland protocol and the Good Friday agreement. This vital relationship needs to remain strong.

Introducing a policy so momentous as a thank you to Irish America for helping to stand up to Britain over Brexit reveals a complete disconnection between the fixations of the Government and the priorities of the population.

As taoiseach in 2019, Varadkar brought Irish America into play to dissuade the UK from flirting with a no-deal Brexit. It was a diplomatic triumph that continues to consume official efforts, as the UK threatens to disapply the protocol and seemingly abandons hopes for a US trade deal. American support has undoubtedly been welcomed across Ireland.

But none of it registered in the 2020 general election, nor has it in opinion polls since.

Varadkar fought the election on his Brexit record, yet fewer than 1 per cent of voters mentioned Brexit in the exit survey. Still, he fights on, as does the Coalition, on every chance to emphasise the issue, while its support plummets.

Anglophobia is the wrong term for this: the Government is suffering from Anglomania, an obsession with Brexit Britain. It is not shared by the public, or reciprocated in Britain, where the political establishments Euromania is similarly alienated from public concerns. A chasm is opening for real populists to exploit and Ireland is not immune.

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Irish Government is obsessed with Brexit Britain despite the risks this brings - The Irish Times

The Tory MP was handed the new Cabinet role of Brexit Opportunities Minister earlier this year following the departure from Government of former Brexit Minister Lord Frost.Since this time, a Freedom of Information request has found that he has five civil servants working for him as part of his role.

The cost of this employment, on top of Mr Rees-Moggs ministerial salary, would be 202,000, according to the SNP.

Michelle Thomson MSP described the cost as obscene given that Brexit opportunities, in her view, do not exist.

She, quoted in the Daily Record, said: The Tories would be as well searching for a crock of gold at the end of a rainbow as they are looking for Brexit opportunities neither of them exists.

"The money they have spent is obscene and the only difference they can claim so far is selling apples and bananas in pounds instead of kilos.

Mr Rees-Mogg was earlier this month mock after he told LBC that one advantage of the UK withdrawing from the UK was that the country had avoided a two percent price increase for fish fingers.

Mrs Thomson added: Jacob Rees-Mogg is on a fool's errand there are no opportunities from Brexit, only downsides.

"As a result, Scotland is being held back by the UK.

European Movement UK, an anti-Brexit campaign group, agreed that this amounted to a complete waste of wages.

READ MORE: Fury as 'schizophrenic' Brussels buckles to Putin

"Westminster control means Scotland is being held back compared to independent countries of a similar size. The only way to unlock Scotland's full potential is with independence."

Responding this week to a new paper from the Scottish Government which argues the country would be more democratic outsiders the UK, James Mitchell, Professor of Public Policy, Edinburgh University, noted: The fear for supporters of self-government is that an independent Scotland would simply replicate much of the worst of Westminster.

What is on offer is not a proposal to renew democracy. This dismal, negative, uninspiring document suggests that the SNP would recreate a warped and discredited form of democracy, an independent Scotland that would simply be a little Britain.

Express.co.uk approached the Cabinet office for comment.

Read more from the original source:

Waste of wages SNP savages Jacob Rees-Mogg over cost of Brexit opportunities job - Express

If youve been following the Tory leadership contest closely, one or two questions have almost certainly crossed your mind: such as why the candidates are so intent on fighting over Brexit, or so-called culture war issues like trans rights rather than the cost of living or inflation. And thats entirely intentional.

Liz Truss and her backers have tried to portray her as the true Brexit candidate, even though she voted Remain, while Penny Mordaunt has claimed she would get Brexit "re-done". Then Rishi Sunak offered yet another bonfire of EU regulations that have apparently held Britain back. Kemi Badenoch came closest to saying it was time to move on, but the Tories just ignored her. In other words, the next election will also be fought over Brexit.

Brexit was more than just about our trading relationship, it illustrated our cultural divide. We got bitterly angry over it because the EU came to symbolise a set of cultural values for both Remainers and Leavers that they either embraced or loathed. Values such as internationalism, multiculturalism, liberalism and globalisation which became tied to our sense of identity.

You can give them labels if you like: immigration, sovereignty, cooperation, freedom of movement, etc, but they are still codewords for cultural values. People dont get that bitterly divided over trade deals, only when its about their identity. If Brexit had just been about the economy, the Remainers would have easily won.

Brexit, and the election of Trump, were not an aberration, a one-off event or a bad dream we can put behind us. Both were the culmination of a growing divide that we didnt see coming one less about class and more about education.

Im not the first person to say this: a growing number of political scientists have now shown the Brexit divide was most strongly defined by whether we graduated from university or not. In 2016, the American political scientist Nate Silver explained how, Education, not income, predicted who would vote for Trump. Four years later, USA Today wrote the 2020 election had widened the education polarisation and had come to define American politics.

This divide didnt just spring upon us, it has slowly come to dominate our society over the last 30 years due to the expansion of higher education. Graduates developed a different set of cultural and economic values to non-graduates, and this divide exploded out into the open when these votes came up.

Graduates largely voted against Trump and Brexit, while non-graduates voted for it. Education was the strongest indicator for how a person or an area voted, way better than social class or age. In other words, Brexit and Trump are less a one-off event and more a Pandoras box that cant be closed so easily.

Politics makes it necessary to fight these battles over and over again. The Conservative Party has to keep going back to Brexit to rally its voting coalition of 2019. The Labour Party will always, no matter how far Starmer goes, be accused of trying to undo Brexit. But the Brexit the Conservatives refer to isnt about trade deals or the Northern Ireland Protocol which are regarded as irritating side issues by true Brexiteers but our identity as a nation.

Leave voters may not see any economic benefits from Brexit, but they may be persuaded by what are being sold as cultural benefits like the Rwanda policy, for example. After all, Brexiteers want more closed borders and they want everyone to know that.

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So how did the rights of trans people get caught up in this battle? I suspect the Conservatives see it as another sign of the lefts cultural zealotry, and a way to attract gender critical feminists into their camp. They see it as a way to divide the left and attract more votes. Theyve already gone on record for being hardline with their refusal to ban conversion therapy for trans people.

I suspect Rishi Sunak represents the only hitch in the Brexiteers plan. The frontrunner is more focused on the economy than culture war issues, which is why he is still unpopular with the grassroots and many Tory MPs.

My colleague John Rentoul wrote last week that Rishi Sunak is the Tory David Miliband: the boring but economically-focused candidate who is ideologically out of step with his party. For that reason, I suspect the Conservative grassroots will ensure that he loses against Mordaunt, Truss or even Kemi Badenoch.

The Tories want a Brexiteer. They want a culture warrior (on their terms). Not just because it will help them retain voters, but because they want to reshape the country in their image. And thats why these debates will continue to haunt Britain and the next prime minister.

See the original post here:

Why Britain is destined to keep fighting over Brexit and culture wars - The Independent

CUSTOMERS in the Republic of Ireland have been forced to order parcels to Northern Ireland in a bid to skirtBrexitred tape, a Scottish business owner has said.

David Shand, one of the owners of specialist clothing firm Hilltrek Outdoor Clothing, told The National it was cheaper for many of his customers in the Republic to have their items delivered to Northern Ireland then collect them than it was to have them delivered to their own address.

The company, based in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, designs bespoke clothing garments, from custom smocks to outdoor jackets.

Shand said problems had begun to arise for his customers across the EU after Brexit took effect, with deliveries being a key issue.

READ MORE:'We've been really hard hit': Scots firm sacks half of staff due to Brexit impact

Before Brexit, the European Union accounted for 15% of the business'sturnover. Now its just 8%.

He said: Selling to the EU was a doddle prior to Brexit. The administration involved in selling to customers in Dusseldorf was the same as that to Dundee. Now it is a horror.

Shipments are taking longer, goods are getting lost, our administration costs are increasing, shipment costs are increasing.

We had one customer in Germany who ordered clothing in February for a canoe trip he was doing in April. We shipped the garments in March allowing three weeks for delivery because of the experience we were having with other customers.

The Aberdeenshire business sells a variety of sports clothing

He finally received them in June. His shipment was trapped between UPS and German customs, bouncing between them on a daily basis. Pressure from our courier on UPS didnt achieve anything.

"Finally, goods were released to the customer with no explanation why there had been a delay.

He obviously had done his canoe trip without our clothing."

While Shands customers arent alone in experiencing post-Brexit delivery issues, the 69-year-old said some in the Republic of Ireland have come up withcreative solutions to the problem.

Many of Hillrek Outdoor Clothing's EU customers have gone elsewhere following Brexit

Weve experienced the same sort of issues with Ireland as we have experienced in with Germany and the Netherlands and Sweden and so on, he said.

But the Irish have uniquely found a way around it, and that's for us to send the goods to Northern Ireland to pick up from a friend in Northern Ireland and drive it across the border or get them to send it over.

Because the customs between Northern Ireland and Ireland are simpler they probably find it easier to do it that way."

Shand said it was crazy customers felt forced to have their clothing delivered this way but it seemed to work better for many than sending it directly to their homes.

Hilltrek Outdoor Clothing makes bespoke activewear

Due to the Northern Irish Protocol, the country has in effect remained inside the EU's Single Market. This means that, unlike the rest of the UK, goods can freely travel between the EU and Northern Ireland.

On top of delivery issues, Sand's firm has faced problems with sending repaired clothing back to customers, with some countries, such as the Netherlands, charging customers VAT for the price of the original item and not the repair.

The Aberdeenshire man said Brexit red tape is one of the reasons customers are now opting for competitors.

He said: Some customers in the EU have told us that despite favouring our products they are now sourcing from competitors in the EU because of import processing charges.

There was much noise from the UK Government about finding alternative markets outside the EU but we were already addressing these markets.

Much vaunted trade agreements, especially with the US which could have offset the loss in EU business, have failed to materialise.

READ MORE:Brexit impact causes successful Scots firm to end all international trade

Theres no doubt we are losing out to competitors. Some customers will say its just now too expensive to buy from you and well go elsewhere.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokespersonsuggested the Northern Irish protocol is the reason it's often easier for some customers in the Republic to send their parcels up north.

They said: The Northern Ireland Protocol is not working as intended and has caused economic and political problems in Northern Ireland which need to be fixed. We'd prefer to do thisthrough negotiations, however the EU have repeatedly refused to change the protocol.

That's why we introduced the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill, which will protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, address the problems facing businesses and protect the EU single market.

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Hilltrek Outdoor Clothing says Brexit has almost halved business with EU - The National