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| Brexit: 'Keep your promises,' Germany tells Johnson, amid EU fears UK backtracking on its pledges – live news | Brexit: 'Keep your promises,' Germany tells Johnson, amid EU fears UK backtracking on its pledges – live news |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the EU agreeing its negotiating mandate for the post-Brexit trade talks with the UK, and the Guardian’s Labour leadership hustings in Manchester | Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the EU agreeing its negotiating mandate for the post-Brexit trade talks with the UK, and the Guardian’s Labour leadership hustings in Manchester |
| Here is the full text (pdf) of the negotiating mandate agreed by the EU for the trade talks with the UK. It has been toughened up a bit since a draft version (pdf) was published earlier this month. | |
| The UK has not published its own negotiating mandate yet – it is due out on Thursday – but we already have a pretty clear idea of what it will say, partly because of what Boris Johnson said in his Brexit speech in Greenwich and partly because of what Johnson said the same day in a written ministerial statement. | |
| The trade talks will be hugely complicated, but there are two issues where the gap between the two sides is widest - on the general issue of the need for a level playing field, and on the specific issue of fishing. | |
| Level playing field | |
| What the EU is now saying: The key passage is paragraph 94. Here it is in full. | |
| How the EU mandate has been toughened up: Paragraph 94 is tougher than the equivalent passage in the original draft, paragraph 89. The original said the agreement should uphold “common high standards” in various areas but now it says the agreement should uphold “common high standards, and corresponding high standards over time with union standards as a reference point” in these areas. This is not the same as “dynamic alignment” - the toughest form of level playing field provision, involving a rule saying regulations would have to remain aligned (so that if, for example, the EU toughened its laws, the UK would have to follow suit). But it is a nudge in this direction. | |
| The original also said that if the UK broke these conditions, the EU should have the power to “apply autonomous interim measures” as a sanction. Now the text talks about the EU being able to “apply autonomous, including interim, measures” in response - implying that non-interim - ie permanent - sanctions could be imposed too. | |
| How this differs from the UK’s demand: The UK is adamant that it will not agree to be bound by EU regulations. In his written statement Johnson said: | |
| In his speech he insisted there was no need to a commitment of this kind, because the UK would maintain high standards anyway. He said: | |
| And, just in case anyone failed to get the message, No 10 said yesterday: | |
| What remains to be seen is whether common ground can be found in the possible overlap between “high standards over time with union standards as a reference point” and Johnson’s determination to “maintain the highest standards”. But if the UK will not legally commit to upholding EU rules, then any agreement will involve the EU trusting the UK to honour its promises. And, as we saw this morning (see 9.50am and 10.11am), trust between the two sides is under strain. | |
| Fishing | |
| What the EU is now saying: The section on fishing starts at paragraph 86. Here are the most important paragraphs: | |
| How the EU mandate has been toughened up: The original version of the mandate just said “the provisions on fisheries should build on existing reciprocal access conditions, quota shares and the traditional activity of the union fleet”. That has now become “uphold existing reciprocal access conditions” etc. EU fishing fleets do not want to lose any of the access they currently have to UK waters, or UK fish, and this new wording implies that the status quo should continue. | |
| How this differs from the UK’s demand: This is what Johnson said about fishing in his Greenwich speech. | |
| British fishermen expect to be allowed to catch a larger proportion of the fish in British waters after Brexit and Johnson fuelled this expectation by saying that British fishing grounds should be “first and foremost for British boats”. The EU is resisting this, because it wants to ensure EU fishermen don’t lose out. | |
| And the EU is pushing for a long-term agreement on access. But the UK wants annual negotiations, which presumably would give the UK the right every year to refuse EU boats access to British waters. | |
| This is from Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president. | This is from Ursula von der Leyen, the European commission president. |
| Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, is due to hold a press conference about the EU’s negotiating mandate at about 1.30pm UK time, the EU has confirmed. | Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, is due to hold a press conference about the EU’s negotiating mandate at about 1.30pm UK time, the EU has confirmed. |
| According to Downing Street, the UK government has now agreed its mandate for the trade negotiations with the EU. The first round of talks is expected in Brussels on Monday, with a second round taking place in London later in March. | According to Downing Street, the UK government has now agreed its mandate for the trade negotiations with the EU. The first round of talks is expected in Brussels on Monday, with a second round taking place in London later in March. |
| This morning the French Europe minister Amélie de Montchalin gave quite a lengthy interview to reporters when she arrived at the general affairs council meeting. But she was speaking in French. The Brussels-based reporter Dave Keating has now posted on Twitter an English translation of her key points. | This morning the French Europe minister Amélie de Montchalin gave quite a lengthy interview to reporters when she arrived at the general affairs council meeting. But she was speaking in French. The Brussels-based reporter Dave Keating has now posted on Twitter an English translation of her key points. |
| Political parties, police and prosecutors “turned a blind eye” to allegations of child sexual abuse connected to Westminster, ignored victims and showed excessive “deference” to MPs and ministers fighting to clear their reputations, an investigation has found, my colleague Owen Bowcott reports. The long-awaited report by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse into the most politically sensitive section of its work, however, dismisses claims of any conspiracy involving an “organised Westminster paedophile network”. The 173-page review, following hearings over the past two years, names several prominent MPs, including the Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith and the Conservative Sir Peter Morrison, as being “known to be active in their sexual interest in children” but who escaped prosecution. | Political parties, police and prosecutors “turned a blind eye” to allegations of child sexual abuse connected to Westminster, ignored victims and showed excessive “deference” to MPs and ministers fighting to clear their reputations, an investigation has found, my colleague Owen Bowcott reports. The long-awaited report by the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse into the most politically sensitive section of its work, however, dismisses claims of any conspiracy involving an “organised Westminster paedophile network”. The 173-page review, following hearings over the past two years, names several prominent MPs, including the Liberal MP Sir Cyril Smith and the Conservative Sir Peter Morrison, as being “known to be active in their sexual interest in children” but who escaped prosecution. |
| Owen’s full story is here. | Owen’s full story is here. |
| The EU has just published the final version of its negotiating mandate for the trade talks with the UK. It runs to 46 pages and it is here (pdf). | The EU has just published the final version of its negotiating mandate for the trade talks with the UK. It runs to 46 pages and it is here (pdf). |
| In a statement Andreja Metelko-Zgombic, the Croatian Europe minister (Croatia holds the rotating presidency of the EU) said: | In a statement Andreja Metelko-Zgombic, the Croatian Europe minister (Croatia holds the rotating presidency of the EU) said: |
| Tony Blair has not endorsed any of the three candidates left in the Labour leadership contest. Despite being the only person alive to have won a general election for Labour, as he put it in his speech last week “it’s not as if my advice is particularly welcome to today’s party”. He said he would not be endorsing a leadership candidate because he did not want to “damage anyone by supporting them”. | Tony Blair has not endorsed any of the three candidates left in the Labour leadership contest. Despite being the only person alive to have won a general election for Labour, as he put it in his speech last week “it’s not as if my advice is particularly welcome to today’s party”. He said he would not be endorsing a leadership candidate because he did not want to “damage anyone by supporting them”. |
| But he has decided to endorse a candidate for the deputy leadership. He is backing Ian Murray. Explaining why in a statement, Blair says: | But he has decided to endorse a candidate for the deputy leadership. He is backing Ian Murray. Explaining why in a statement, Blair says: |
| Gordon Brown, the only other former Labour prime minister still alive, is also backing Murray. (Brown first announced this last month.) And, in a statement released this morning, Murray has also published endorsements from Lady Smith, widow of the former Labour leader John Smith (or “Labour’s greatest prime minister that never was”, as Murray calls him in the press release), from Roy Hattersley, the former Labour deputy leader and from Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor. | Gordon Brown, the only other former Labour prime minister still alive, is also backing Murray. (Brown first announced this last month.) And, in a statement released this morning, Murray has also published endorsements from Lady Smith, widow of the former Labour leader John Smith (or “Labour’s greatest prime minister that never was”, as Murray calls him in the press release), from Roy Hattersley, the former Labour deputy leader and from Alistair Darling, the former Labour chancellor. |
| My colleague Lisa O’Carroll is covering the National Farmers Union conference in Birmingham. She has been tweeting about the speeches from Minette Batters, the NFU president, and Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI president. | My colleague Lisa O’Carroll is covering the National Farmers Union conference in Birmingham. She has been tweeting about the speeches from Minette Batters, the NFU president, and Carolyn Fairbairn, the CBI president. |
| In his Greenwich speech on Brexit Boris Johnson said Britain would be “governed by science, not mumbo-jumbo” in future when deciding whether imported food was safe. | In his Greenwich speech on Brexit Boris Johnson said Britain would be “governed by science, not mumbo-jumbo” in future when deciding whether imported food was safe. |
| This morning Boris Johnson is chairing a meeting of the cabinet’s EU exit strategy (XS) committee which will agree the UK’s own negotiating strategy. As the official list (pdf) shows, there are now five ministers who attend: the PM, the chancellor, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the foreign secretary and the attorney general. The Brexit secretary used to attend, but that post has now been abolished. | This morning Boris Johnson is chairing a meeting of the cabinet’s EU exit strategy (XS) committee which will agree the UK’s own negotiating strategy. As the official list (pdf) shows, there are now five ministers who attend: the PM, the chancellor, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, the foreign secretary and the attorney general. The Brexit secretary used to attend, but that post has now been abolished. |
| As Mujtaba Rahman, the Brexit specialist at the Eurasia Group consultancy points out, the replacement of Sajid Javid by Rishi Sunak as chancellor makes a significant difference. | As Mujtaba Rahman, the Brexit specialist at the Eurasia Group consultancy points out, the replacement of Sajid Javid by Rishi Sunak as chancellor makes a significant difference. |
| Jack Blanchard makes the same point in his London Playbook briefing. He writes: | Jack Blanchard makes the same point in his London Playbook briefing. He writes: |
| EU ministers at the general affairs council have just approved the mandate for the trade negotiations with the UK, the BBC’s Adam Fleming reports. | EU ministers at the general affairs council have just approved the mandate for the trade negotiations with the UK, the BBC’s Adam Fleming reports. |