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France threatens to force a no-deal Brexit unless the UK backs down on fishing rights. French fishermen would rather “not have an agreement than a bad agreement,” the country’s fisheries minister said. Emmanuel Macron’s main ally in Brussels said it was time for Boris Johnson to “decide” if he really wants a deal and step in to make it happen.
It comes as Johnson prepares to unveil his new three-tier strategy to curb the coronavirus. Merseyside will face strict Tier 3 restrictions, but there is a growing backlash among northern leaders about bar closings and a lack of financial support.
Elsewhere, Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer condemned a £ 3,300 pay increase for MPs. And culture secretary Oliver Dowden has admitted that a government ad campaign suggesting that a ballet dancer could “restart” her career by moving to cybersecurity was “crude.”
PM Releases Virus Rules That Change As ‘Simplification’ Nationwide
Boris Johnson has laid out his plan for a three-tier system of local lockdowns across the UK divided into medium, high and very high alert levels.
Areas listed as medium will be subject to the same rules as those that currently apply across the country, such as the six o’clock rule and the hospitality curfew at 10 p.m.
At the high alert level, which will apply to most areas that are already subject to restrictions, indoor domestic mixing will be prohibited. However, support bubbles will still be allowed.
The very high alert level will be applied to the areas of greatest concern and social mixing will be prohibited indoors and in private gardens.
Pubs and bars will be closed in very high alert areas unless they can operate as a restaurant. People will also be warned not to travel in and out of the areas.
“Just as we simplified our national rules with the rule of six, we will now simplify and standardize our local rules,” he told Commons.
Vincent Wood12 October 2020 15:45
Boris Johnson has started his comments by saying that the government has taken a “balanced” approach to the virus, ruling out a national shutdown, and likewise saying that the government cannot allow the virus to “tear” the country.
He adds that the virus’s reproduction rate at the national level is 1.2 and 1.5, well below the heights of 3 to which the virus can, in theory, spread.
Vincent Wood12 October 2020 15:42
Johnson leads the Commons
Boris Johnson is in the Commons to make his statement on the government’s response to the coronavirus.
After many complaints from both the president and MPs, the government has come under pressure to tell politicians what is happening before direct public statements.
Vincent Wood12 October 2020 15:38
Late, this is Vincent Wood signing up to get you through the rest of a great day in Westminster.
While the nation’s response to the coronavirus takes center stage, Brexit continues to rumble, with French President Emmanuel Macron’s main ally in Brussels urging Boris Johnson to intervene in the talks.
Vincent Wood12 October 2020 15:32
Prime Minister was told to ‘stop the inflammatory language’ about lawyers
Boris Johnson faces fresh calls from the legal profession to publicly apologize and immediately retract his attack on “left-handed human rights lawyers” he made during the conservative conference.
Amanda Pinto QC, president of the Lawyers Council, has demanded a public apology from both Mr. Johnson and the Secretary of the Interior, Priti Patel, for their statements against the lawyers.
“There should never be a situation where a British prime minister, a home secretary and other government ministers should be called upon to stop deliberately inflammatory language towards a profession that simply does its job in the public interest.”
Over the weekend, it emerged that a London law firm blamed a lawyer for a knife attack over comments made by Patel, who had complained about “activist lawyers.”
Adam Forrest12 October 2020 15:03
Government launches highly mocked ‘cyber’ ad
The government has withdrawn its advertising campaign suggesting that a ballet dancer could retrain as a “cyber” worker, after it met with a huge backlash on social media.
The ad featured a young ballet dancer with a caption that read: “Fatima’s next job could be on cyber (she doesn’t know yet).”
Even culture secretary Oliver Dowden admitted that he was “rude.” The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “This particular content was inappropriate and has been removed from the campaign.”
Adam Forrest12 October 2020 14:48
EU fishermen must have ‘continuous access to UK waters’, say French MEPs
Another senior French official has suggested they would be prepared to live with a no-deal Brexit outcome. French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said Paris does want a free trade deal on Brexit, but will not back it at any price.
“We want and want a deal and this deal must include fishing. (Fishing) should not be tackled separately, ”Beaune said at a news conference Monday. “Our position is simple, firm and clear: there is no fair competition, there is no access to the market.”
Meanwhile, French MEPs Nathalie Loiseau and Pierre Karleskind (chairman of the fisheries commission) have told their colleagues in the European Parliament to vote against any trade agreement that does not guarantee that EU fishermen have “continuous access to British waters and fish. ”
Adam Forrest12 October 2020 14:38
Joe Biden ‘doesn’t like Britain,’ says political expert
Left-wing academic Frank Furedi has suggested that a Joe Biden victory in the US presidential election could have some strange consequences.
“All I know is that Biden doesn’t like Britain,” he said. “People so close to Bident continually portray Britain as a failed state. They continue to talk about the poisonous atmosphere within British society in the post-Brexit environment.
“So certainly if Biden is elected, that’s bad news for the people who supported Brexit, because in their own eyes, in the eyes of Biden and Kamala Harris, Brexit is an insult to everything they stand for. “.
Adam Forrest12 October 2020 14:26
‘Shambles’: Lisa Nandy was not invited to the Greater Manchester MPs briefing
Labour’s shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy has said she was not invited to the government briefing for MPs from Greater Manchester, even though her constituency of Wigan is in the area.
“I suspect this is because they don’t know where Wigan is. What an absolute disaster, ”he tweeted. Nandy said he found out elsewhere that the region will receive Tier 2 status.
Adam Forrest12 October 2020 14:16
Cabinet behind PM as he prepares to establish a three-tier system
Boris Johnson’s cabinet ministers agreed at a weekend meeting that the country was at a critical point in the coronavirus crisis and that it was important to act now, his spokesman said Monday.
“The cabinet agrees that we are at a critical point in facing the second wave of the virus and it is important that we take steps to limit the spread of the virus,” the spokesman told reporters.
It comes as Nick Forbes, the head of Newcastle City Council, said it was unlikely that further restrictions would apply to the northeast of England “for now”.
Remember, we expect Boris Johnson to tell the Commons how his new three-tier system of local restrictions works around 3:30 p.m. Merseyside is expected to have heavy restrictions imposed, including closing pubs and banning households from mixing, as part of Level 3, “very high risk” measures.
Adam Forrest12 October 2020 14:10
