UK and EU aim for final deal to end Brexit clash in fresh talks

Bloomberg

The European Union and the UK are preparing to enter an intense phase of negotiations starting next week aimed at overcoming the dispute over the post-Brexit trading relationship well ahead of the anniversary of Northern Ireland’s peace agreement in April, according to people familiar with the matter.
The aim is to move into a negotiating “tunnel” after UK foreign minister James Cleverly and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic take stock of talks on January 16, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private talks.
Cleverly and Sefcovic announced earlier this week that the EU had agreed to use the UK’s live database tracking goods moving from Great Britain to Northern Ireland. This was a first sign of progress in a long-running dispute on post-Brexit trading rules and a step that paves the way for negotiations on other more complex issues, such as checks on agri-food goods, state aid and VAT.
Other outstanding issues include disagreement over the governance of the Northern Ireland protocol, with the UK demanding that the European Court of Justice be totally stripped of its role in settling Brexit disputes in the region. That remains a red line for the EU. Stephen Kelly, CEO of Manufacturing NI, said after talks with Cleverly this week that he expected the UK and EU would announce “a deep scoping exercise, deep conversation — what’s traditionally known as a tunnel” after Cleverly and Sefcovic meet on Jan. 16.
The two sides are hoping to unlock an agreement by the end of next month, ahead of the April anniversary of the 1998 Belfast peace agreement, Bloomberg previously reported.
The dispute stems from the original Brexit deal, when both sides agreed to avoid a land border on the island of Ireland. The mechanism to that effectively placed a frontier in the Irish Sea, and allowed Northern Ireland to remain in the bloc’s single market and customs arrangements. The UK has so far failed to implement parts of those accords and in response the EU has opened several infringement procedures.
London mayor Khan
warns of ‘immense’ Brexit
damage to city
London Mayor Sadiq Khan was expected to warn of the “immense damage” Brexit is doing to the capital’s City financial district, and accuse the government of ignoring the wider impacts on Britain.
In a keynote speech to City leaders on Thursday evening, Khan was to say it’s wrong to “pretend” that the UK’s exit from the European Union isn’t causing harm, according to a statement from his office.
“The reality is that the City of London is being hit hard by the loss of trade and talent to our competitors because of Brexit,” he will say. “London cannot afford to fall behind any of our international competitors.”
Khan’s comments follow polling showing many of those who voted for Brexit in the 2016 referendum are having second thoughts. A YouGov survey last week found that a quarter of those Leave voters who regret their decision blame a general sense that things have got worse since Brexit. YouGov polling in November found that the wider public now think Britain was wrong to leave the EU, by 56% to 32%.
Khan, who campaigned for Remain and has long been vocal about the negative consequences of leaving the EU, was to say he “simply can’t keep quiet about the immense damage Brexit is doing,” according to a draft of his speech briefed by his office.
“Ministers seem to have developed selective amnesia when it comes to one of the root causes of our problems,” he was expected to say. “Brexit can’t be airbrushed out of history or the consequences wished away.”