‘BREXIT BRIEF’ – ISSUE 114, 10 April 2020

Time to heed the public mood

It has been another horrendous week for the UK, as it has for so many nations across the world. At the time of writing, almost 8,000 people have lost their lives to coronavirus in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with that number expected to grow significantly in the coming days. My deepest condolences are extended to their families and friends, whilst my thoughts are with those who continue to battle the disease.  I was pleased to learn last evening that Boris Johnson had been moved out of the Intensive Care Unit at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. My sincere good wishes go to him for a full and enduring recovery.            

It will take the UK Prime Minister a significant period to catch up with what he’s missed. When he does summon up the strength to open his Ministerial red box, I hope his advisers have placed a copy of a new poll near the top which found that just 19 per cent of people support his Government’s plan to cut ties with the EU on 31 December 2020. In contrast, more than two thirds of the 2,016 individuals surveyed by JL Partners for WPI Strategy want the post-Brexit transition period to be extended. Commenting on the findings, WPI Strategy Director Nick Faith said: “While one in five people do support the Government’s current stance to leave the EU with or without a future trade deal in place before the end of the year, it’s clear that the majority of Brits do not share that view.” Indeed so.

Asked to respond, Johnson’s spokesperson stuck to the tired old line that the transition period would end on December 31. He also claimed that the UK-EU trade talks were “continuing to take place between the negotiation teams remotely."  However, as I reported last month, both Chief Negotiators – David Frost for the UK and Michael Barnier for the EU – have been floored by coronavirus and not spoken for weeks.  In the interim, two rounds of talks, one in London and one in Brussels, have been postponed. And whilst the Johnson Government believes that the discussions can be resumed via video link, the EU is sceptical. A spokesman for Barnier said this week that he would talk to Frost “to try and reach agreement on a timetable for the next steps in order to move the negotiations forward.” But given the understandable preoccupation of most EU states with protecting their citizens from the spread of coronavirus, together with the ever-deepening economic consequences that it is causing, satisfying the whims of a rump of ideological British Tories is hardly a priority.  Hopefully a fully recovered UK Prime Minister will finally see sense.  

Our overseas workers are essential  

Last week I referred to UK Home Secretary Priti Patel’s announcement that thousands of essential workers from overseas would have their visas extended to enable them to continue their heroic efforts in dealing with coronavirus.  And I said that she should now draw a line, think again and inject some common sense into UK immigration policy.  I must therefore leave it to your imagination to guess how I reacted to yesterday’s news that she had quietly slipped-out new guidance on the UK Government’s “points-based immigration system” – which does not provide a route for essential workers into this country.  

True to form, Ms Patel lacked the courage to offer herself up for media interviews on the subject. But Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour’s newly appointed Shadow Home Secretary, had plenty to say. “These last few weeks have been a stark reminder, not that one should be needed, of the incredibly important contribution frontline workers make in our communities,” he commented.  â€œWorkers like nurses, carers, supermarket staff and refuse collectors are playing a vital role in saving lives and keeping our country running, often at risk to themselves.  It will be a slap in the face to many of these workers to see themselves classed as low skilled and unwelcome in Britain.” I will set out the likely effect of the new guidance in a ‘Brexit Made Simple’ next week. And I may have a bit more to say in the media. These ludicrous plans must be halted.

Meanwhile in America…

In the week when figures showed that the United States now has more than twice as many confirmed coronavirus cases as any other country and another 6.6 million American citizens filed their first claims for unemployment benefits, Donald Trump revealed plans to mine the moon.  The President signed an executive order which stated that the US “should have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery and use of resources in outer space.” It added that America would object to any attempt to use international law to hinder its efforts to remove chunks of the moon. This is not the first time the Leader of the Free World has taken an active interest in the final frontier.  Last year he tweeted that NASA “should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part).” A quick glance at an average encyclopaedia would have informed him that the moon, which is not a planet (because it’s a moon) is around 238,000 miles away from the planet he allegedly lives on, whilst Mars is an average of 140 million miles away from Earth (which is also not part of Mars). But Donald Trump doesn’t read books, especially really big ones.

Have a safe and enjoyable Easter.

Jason

Dr Jason Aldiss BEM BVSc MRCVS

Managing Director, Eville & Jones

You can follow me on Twitter @JasonAldiss