Tag: Britain

UK Angers China With Offer of Citizenship Route to Hong Kong Residents

Newsmax – January 29, 2021

Britain on Friday hailed a new visa offering Hong Kong citizens a route to citizenship after China’s crackdown but Beijing said it would no longer recognize special British passports offered to residents of the former colony.

Britain and China have been bickering for months about what London and Washington say is an attempt to silence dissent in Hong Kong, though Beijing says the West’s views are clouded by misinformation and an imperial hangover.

Britain says it is fulfilling a historic and moral commitment to the people of Hong Kong after China imposed a tough new security law on the city that Britain says breaches the terms of agreements to hand the colony back in 1997.

“I am immensely proud that we have brought in this new route for Hong Kong BN(O)s to live, work and make their home in our country,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, referring to a special British National Overseas (BNO) passport.

“In doing so we have honored our profound ties of history and friendship with the people of Hong Kong, and we have stood up for freedom and autonomy – values both the UK and Hong Kong hold dear.”

But China and the Hong Kong government hit back by saying neither would recognize the BNO passport as a valid travel document from Jan. 31

“Britain is trying to turn large numbers of Hong Kong people into second-class British citizens. This has completely changed the original nature of BNO,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular briefing.

https://www.newsmax.com

New Year brings final Brexit split between EU and UK

DW – January 1, 2021

Britain saw a major reset to its relations with the European Union on January 1, the first day after the end of the 11-month transition phase which served to smooth its exit from the bloc.

The UK officially left the bloc on January 31, 2020, but it effectively remained tied to it in terms of customs and commercial arrangements while it sought a free-trade agreement.

At the stroke of midnight in Brussels and 11 p.m. in London on Thursday, the UK quit the EU’s Customs Union and Single Market. The New Year also ended freedom of movement between the UK and nearly all of the EU states, except for Ireland.

However, special rules are now in place for Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory on the southern Spanish coast. Talks between the governments in London, Madrid, and Gibraltar on Thursday came down to the last hours to scramble a deal that sees Gibraltar enter the Schengen zone.

The first post-Brexit truck carried goods across the border on Friday. The driver pulled in at the new pit stop at the exit of the Channel Tunnel with a new array of documents which will now become standard practice for those passing between the UK and the EU as a result of Brexit.

DW correspondent Barbara Wesel, reporting from Calais, in northern France, said that there was very little traffic on the morning of January 1, but she explained that this was because the bigger companies had had time to prepare and accustom themselves to the new rules.

However, “it is going to hit a lot of the smaller transport companies that carry mixed loads … For them, life is going to be much more difficult.”

She added that the delays might be more noticeable on Monday, after the long weekend and the New Year’s day holiday. “Then we might see those traffic jams that everybody has been warning about,” Wesel said.

https://www.dw.com

Brexit deal is finally DONE as Boris Johnson hails ‘immense moment where we have taken back control of our destiny’

– December 25, 2020

BORIS Johnson hailed “glad tidings of great joy” in a Christmas message last night after sealing his £660billion Brexit trade deal.

The PM gave the nation an early Christmas present yesterday as he secured a historic agreement which finally sees the UK take back control from the EU and ends four years of bitter wrangling.

Mr Johnson last night punched the air as he proudly showed off the 500-page trade deal.

Speaking in a video on Twitter, the PM said: “Tonight, on Christmas Eve, I have a small present for anyone who may be looking for something to read in that sleepy post-Christmas lunch moment.

“And here it is, tidings, glad tidings of great joy because this is a deal.

“A deal to give certainty to business, travelers, and all investors in our country from January 1.

“A deal with our friends and partners in the EU.

“You remember the oven ready deal by which we came out on January 31, that oven ready deal was just the start – this is the feast, full of fish, by the way.

“And I believe it will be the basis of a happy and successful and stable partnership with our friends in the EU for years to come.

https://www.thesun.co.uk

Brexit: Some progress, more gaps as UK, EU race to lock down trade deal

DW – December 18, 2020

Leaders from Britain and the European Commission did not take an overly optimistic tone following talks late Thursday over a trade deal that would keep the UK from crashing out of a transition period with the EU without a deal in place.

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said “substantial progress” had been made on several issues, but fishing rights remained a point of contention. At the same time, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a no-deal outcome was becoming “very likely.”

“We welcomed substantial progress on many issues. Yet big differences remain to be bridged, in particular on fisheries. Bridging them will be very challenging,” von der Leyen said following Thursday’s talks, adding that negotiations will continue on Friday.

With just days to go before the end-of-year deadline, Downing Street opted for a more pessimistic tone.

“The prime minister repeated that little time was left,” a spokesman for the British PM said. “He said that, if no agreement could be reached, the UK and the EU would part as friends, with the UK trading with the EU on Australian-style terms.”

Australia doesn’t have a free trade deal with the bloc.

https://www.dw.com

Boris Johnson Says ‘Strong Possibility’ of UK, EU Failing to Agree on Trade Deal

Sputnik – December 11, 2020

MOSCOW, (Sputnik) – UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said on Thursday that there is a “strong possibility” that his country and the European Union will fail to conclude a free trade agreement before the end of the Brexit transition period on December 31.

During an interview at Downing Street that was screened by UK broadcasters, the prime minister said there was a “strong possibility” that both sides would fail to resolve their differences, and urged citizens and businesses to step up preparations for a no-deal Brexit.

The prime minister said that the EU’s proposals were “not, at the moment, right for the UK,” citing concerns over the bloc’s desire to establish a set of rules and procedures to prevent businesses in one country from undercutting their rivals in another country, also known as the level playing field.

Johnson also cited the ongoing disagreements over fisheries as another major issue preventing a deal being reached.

https://sputniknews.com

Fishing Holds Key to Brexit Trade Deal as Talks Drag on

Newsmax – December 4, 2020

BRUSSELS (AP) — In the decisive final days of talks, the tiny fishing industry is holding up a massive trade deal between the European Union and recently departed Britain, putting at risk hundreds of thousands of jobs and tens of billions of euros in annual production losses.

While fishing is a negligible part of the nations’ economies, it is an important point of national pride for coastal and island nations and has a massive impact on politics.

Arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage put so much stock in the importance of fishing that at one point during his successful 2016 campaign to get Britain out of the EU he steamed up the Thames on a fishing vessel.

Sir Ivan Rogers, a former career diplomat who long was the UK’s man at EU headquarters in Brussels, knows what the task is of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during the final weeks before the Jan. 1 deadline.

“He has to emerge with a win on fisheries,” Rogers told a panel at the EPC think tank this week.

If Johnson cannot expel enough EU fishing boats from U.K. waters, a no-deal Brexit would surely ensue, creating chaos and costs for all and ruin for some.

U.K. vessels landed close to 1 billion pounds of fish last year; the gross domestic product of the United Kingdom last year stood at 2.17 trillion pounds, “It’s not about economics, it’s about politics and the symbolism,” said Barrie Deas, chief executive of Britain’s National Federation of Fishermen’s Organizations.

https://www.newsmax.com

World War III is now ‘a real risk’

Strange Sounds – November 9, 2020

The corona lockdowns had dramatic consequences on the international and local economies. This fallout has made the prospect of World War 3 ‘a risk’, said General Sir Nick Carter, UK’s most senior military commander.

UK and the rest of the world would need to ‘learn’ from history and the international missteps that led to the previous world wars in the last century given the uncertainties caused by the pandemic. 

Here are the arguments of the Chief of the Defense Staff:

  • The coronavirus pandemic and measures to slow its spread had cost the global economy $3.8 trillion (£3 trillion), and put 147 million people out of work.
  • There was a worry that the increase in regional conflicts playing out across the world could ramp up into ‘a full-blown war’, mirroring the run-up to the two world wars in the 20th century when a series of alliances between countries led to years of bloodshed.
  • The world has become ‘a very uncertain and anxious place’ during the pandemic, and thus there is the possibility ‘you could see escalation lead to miscalculation.’

‘We have to remember that history might not repeat itself but it has a rhythm and if you look back at the last century, before both world wars, I think it was unarguable that there was escalation which led to the miscalculation which ultimately led to war at a scale we would hopefully never see again,‘ said Sir Nick.

World War I began in 1914 after the assassination of Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand ultimately led to Europe’s major powers ending up in conflict.

World War II was precipitated by a stand-off between the increasingly aggressive Nazi Germany and the UK.

So do you think there is a real threat of World War III? I’m just saying it’s a risk and we need to be conscious of those risks.

https://strangesounds.org

One Week to Agree a Deal? Brexit Talks go to the Wire

Oliver JJ Lane – November 11, 2020

Yet another Brexit deadline has been floated, this time by European negotiators who have called November 19th the absolute deadline for a draft Brexit deal.

Michel Barnier and his team of negotiators returned to London this week for yet another round of Brexit talks, parts of the final approach to Britain finally decoupling from the European Union. Although the UK officially departed the bloc in January 2020, it has remained a non-voting member of the Union in all but name since as part of the so-called transition period which expires at the end of the year.

While several Brexit deadlines have come and gone — the idea becoming less and less meaningful with many involved increasingly assuming that talks will run to the very moment Britain leaves the transition period, and probably beyond — the EU has named another. European Union leaders are due to meet by video conference on November 19th, and Brexit negotiators from Brussels say there has to be an agreement in principle in place by then for it to be ratified by those leaders.

Left-wing newspaper The Guardian reports a Brussels source who said of the November 19th date: “If there isn’t good news by then, then you really have to say that time is up – it just isn’t possible… The leaders will need to see that it is there.”

The content of the Brexit deal will decide whether, in essence, Britain will actually leave the European Union at the end of this year or if it will remain in perpetual limbo.

https://www.breitbart.com

Brexit Talks Back on Less than Week After Boris Told UK to Prepare for Clean Break

Victoria Friedman – October 22, 2020

Negotiations between the UK and EU recommenced on Thursday less than one week after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced talks had been a failure and told the nation to prepare for a no-deal, clean-break Brexit.

On Friday, the prime minister’s office had gone as far as telling Brussels’ chief negotiator Michel Barnier not to bother coming to London this week to continue trade talks, after Johnson’s deadline of October 15th came and went without significant progress towards signing a free trade agreement. The UK said that negotiations could only recommence if there was a substantial change to Brussels’ position.

For months, the EU has expected the UK to be the only partner in talks to compromise, with the bloc insisting on continued access to Britain’s fishing waters and agreement to anti-competition rules.

There appeared to be movement on the EU’s side, however, when Mr Barnier told the European Parliament on Wednesday: “We will seek the necessary compromises on both sides. In order to do our utmost to reach an agreement, we will do so right up until the last day that it’s possible to do so.”

“We want a deal that will be mutually beneficial to both parties in respect of the autonomy and sovereignty of both sides. A deal reflecting a balanced compromise.

“An agreement is within reach.”

The UK’s negotiator Lord David Frost said in response that “a basis for negotiations with the EU and Michel Barnier has been re-established”.

https://www.breitbart.com

Boris Walks Away! Bombshell Announcement as UK Declares EU Talks Have Failed

Oliver JJ Lane – October 16, 2020

The European Union has shown no intention of accepting entering into a “Canada-style” deal with the United Kingdom in the post-Brexit era and talks have therefore failed, Boris Johnson said on Friday on the second day of a crunch EU summit.

The United Kingdom will now be putting its energy into preparing the country for a full no-deal Brexit on January 31st, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Friday lunchtime, after two days of high-level talks with European leaders appeared to have failed in producing progress.

The talks had stalled for months over very fundamental differences over what both sides wanted out of the future relationship. While Britain wanted a deal with Europe the same as the one the bloc had already struck with Canada — a former British dominion with similar cultural, political, and legal traditions — which would allow easy trade without the EU exerting political control over the nations’ capital, Brussels had different ideas.

Insisting a Canada-style deal was not possible because the UK was in closer geographical proximity to the European Union, Brussels negotiators instead wanted to retain key controls over Britain, including the right to impose EU laws on Britain and to make decisions over British territorial waters.

Noting despite months of talks nothing consequential had changed in that situation as of today, Mr Johnson said the EU insisting it keep those controls were “completely unacceptable to an independent country”.

https://www.breitbart.com