European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic with some warm(ish) words following his meeting this morning with Lord Frost. He says he acknowledges and welcomes Frost's "changing tone" in talks over the Northern Ireland Protocol after a fairly tense few weeks.
Sefcovic once again welcomes Lord Frost's "change in tonality," saying talk of the UK potentially triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol had featured "too often" in their discussions prior to today
And the UK statement: Frost told Sefcovic Protocol talks have been conducted in a “constructive spirit” but there must be “new energy and impetus.” Negotiations will be intensified next week, with particular focus on medicine and customs. “Significant gaps” remain, of course.
UK statement says Frost told Sefcovic A16 provisions were a “legitimate part” of the Protocol but the former’s change in tone is significant, and will encourage those who want a negotiated agreement. What prompted it? US? Prospect of trade war? V long way to go on substance, ofc.
Sefcovic welcomes a change in tone from Lord Frost in their Northern Ireland Protocol talks
A rare outbreak of warmth after a particularly icy few weeks in UK-EU relations
Duncan Buchanan of the Road Haulage Association tells @CommonsBEIS he expects supply chain disruption resulting from labour shortages to last another 12 months
The @Foodanddrinkfed's Ian Wright: supply chain issues are "long-term" and will continue to result in "very odd shortages." He says some supermarkets are filling seasonal shelves with Lynx because they are low on stock, "not because the nation has suddenly become really smelly"
Wright adds inflation is the biggest thread to Boris Johnson's levelling-up agenda. It's between 14% and 18% in hospitality at the moment and "that's terrifying," he tells @CommonsBEIS
The EU reveals its substantial offer on the NI Protocol
- reduce SPS checks by 80%
- cut customs paperwork by half
- free flow of medicines
But it's standing firm on the ECJ. "Big gap" remains if UK sticks to its line, EU source warns
Sefovic & Frost to meet next few days
On SPS, as @tconnellyRTE reported last night, lorries carrying mixed consignments (e.g meat, fish, cheese) would just require just one piece of paperwork to enter NI under the EU proposals, whereas now there can be any number of documents depending on the number of items
An EU source says the ECJ must stay because it has little to do with GB-NI trade issues
That key difference aside, NI business groups are encouraged by the package of measures offered by Brussels
Lord Frost in his Lisbon speech, philosophically titled Observations on The Present State of the Nation, says UK-EU relations are "fractious" and that resolving the Northern Ireland Protocol is a "prerequisite" for them improving
Frost says going for what some people dubbed a "hard Brexit" - i.e leaving the Single Market and Customs Union - was "essential" because only that form of Brexit would give the UK the freedom "to experiment and act"
Frost says too often the debate about Brexit is "technocratic" and focused on trade, rather than democracy
New: I’m told the Home Office has changed the visa scheme so it no longer ends on Xmas Eve. Driver visas will last the full 3 months from the day work starts, industry told today. @politicshome reported this wk industry concern that the scheme would be <three months in practice.
The government believes EU workers will begin arriving in early November, as @politicshome reported. A Home Office plan shown to industry figures today says ministers expect lorry drivers to be in the UK until the end of February, and poultry workers until the end of January
EU poultry workers are expected to be here until December 31, not the end of January. The slide shown to industry earlier was wrong and has been corrected.
Ministers could decide as soon as today to deploy soldiers to drive tankers
There are reports of cars tailgating lorries on the motorway amid panic buying
Meanwhile, industry was this morning still waiting for details of how the visa scheme would work politicshome.com/news/article/m…
However, industry leaders are confident that panic buying will subside in the next few days
They have also expressed doubt over how impactful bringing in the army would be, with low numbers of soldiers actually qualified to drive tankers
Downing St confirms Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Stephen Barclay, who inherited the supply chain brief from Michael Gove, will chair a meeting of ministers this afternoon to discuss the fuel crisis