Inside Politics: Brexit will be ‘great’ for fishing industry, government insists

Thinking about Cornwall for your holidays? You might see Joe Biden there this summer. His first overseas trip as president has been all planned out by Boris Johnson – they’ll get together in the tiny town of Carbis Bay for the G7 in June. The PM may be dreaming of clotted cream, fish and chips and a pint of pale ale with Joe summit, but there’s much do before then. Johnson has to deal with accusations of betrayal from the Brexit-battered fishing industry, roll-out the next stage of the vaccination plan, and address the fact his party is slipping further behind in the polls.

Inside the bubble

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock on what to look out for today:

Labour hopes to inflict a double humiliation on Boris Johnson with votes on halting the planned £20-a-week cut to universal credit and extending free school meals over February half-term. The opposition day votes are not binding, but give Labour an opportunity to highlight the threat to incomes. Meanwhile, ministers will hail the rollout of vaccinations for the over-70s.

Daily briefing

LEFT TO FLOUNDER: Is the government taking the threat to the fishing industry seriously enough? The sector is thought to be losing £1m a day in Scotland alone because of Brexit red tape, incompatible IT systems and checkpoint delays. Yet Dominic Raab appeared utterly oblivious – insisting the trade deal was “great” for the industry. Told on Andrew Marr that some businesses were days away from collapse, the foreign secretary shrugged it off as teething problems. “The agreement … will create huge, sustainable opportunities.” However, the government will now come up with a new package to compensate fishermen for red tape losses – over and above the £100m set aside to help with adjustment, according to The Telegraph. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson will speak with business leaders today about his plans to turn the UK into the “Singapore of Europe”, says The Times. Chancellor Rishi Sunak is set to chair a committee focusing on “regulatory freedoms”.

SEE YOU IN SEPTEMBER: A lot more NHS letters go out today. People in England aged 70 and over will begin getting their vaccine appointment offers this week, along with the clinically extremely vulnerable. Raab said on Sunday that the government aims to have the entire adult population given the jab by September – and pledged that “by early spring, hopefully by March” the government would make decisions on the easing of lockdown. The good news? People are now being vaccinated four times faster than new cases are being detected, according to NHS England’s chief executive Sir Simon Stevens. The bad news is the health service is still dealing with 75 per cent more Covid patients than during last April’s peak. Focus on the vaccine hasn’t stopped efforts to expand testing. The government is considering a plan to send out home testing kits to every home in an entire region, according to The Telegraph. The worst-infected areas would be given priority.

PARLEZ-VOUS ALT-RIGHT? More than a dozen Tory MPs – including some cabinet ministers – had reportedly joined Parler, the now-banned social media network favoured by the alt-right and Trump supporters. The Observer claimed 14 Tory MPs were on the platform, but there’s no evidence any of them posting dodgy content. Speaking of Trump, Boris Johnson sent out a bizarre message to Tory MPs accusing Labour of stoking Trump-style “hatred and bullying” by raising the issues of free school meals and universal credit. Keir Starmer has urged the government to “see sense” and extend the £20-a-week uplift in universal credit – arguing that it would be both morally and economically wrong to “take £1,000 a year from Britain’s families”. Tory MPs have been told to abstain on Labour’s opposition day motion calling for an uplift extension (which won’t change policy) in a bid to “neutralise” the issue for now.

THE MONUMENTS MEN: Protecting incomes? We’ll see, says the government. Protecting statutes? Yes, absolutely. The government will today outline legislation aimed at protecting controversial sculptures from being removed “on a whim or at the behest of a baying mob”, according to Robert Jenrick. “Monuments are almost always best explained and contextualised, not taken and hidden away,” the communities secretary wrote in The Sunday Telegraph. However easy it may be to mock legal rights for slave traders shrines, Keir Starmer will try to avoid getting bogged down in culture war issues. Labour has a poll lead to protect. The latest Opinion survey has the opposition party with a four-point advantage on 41 per cent – the joint highest the company has recorded since 2019. The poll also showed support for the government’s handling of the Covid crisis down by one point at 30 per cent and disapproval up by two points at 50 per cent.

SMART-BREAK HOTEL: No holidays while the NHS remains under such intense pressure, says the government. Travel corridors are now closed until at least mid-February. As of early this morning, arrivals to the UK must isolate for up to 10 days (although the period can be cut short with a negative test after five days). According to The Sunday Times, officials have been told to look at setting up quarantine hotels for arrivals – something Australia has been doing for the past 10 months. Asked about the plan, Dominic Raab did not deny it was being seriously considered, but said the “workability” remained a challenge (again – it’s something Australia has been doing for the past 10 months). Meanwhile, business leaders in London have written to the government calling for financial support for Eurostar. The letter said the pandemic-hit firm had “fallen through the cracks” while attention was focused on the airline industry.

SECURE THE PERIMETER: Big days ahead in Washington. The US is braced for the possibility of inauguration week violence as Joe Biden prepares to take office on Wednesday. Law enforcement officials have ramped up security, while former FBI director James Comey warned of the “very serious” risk of violence breaking out during the hand-over of power. Fears of an “inside attack” has prompted authorities to deploy 25,000 troops in the city. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told the Associated Press that officials have been warned and directed to keep a watch for any problems within their ranks.  Meanwhile, Donald Trump is “still telling people that he won” the 2020 election, according to The New York Times’ White House correspondent Maggie Haberman.

On the record

“As we phase out of the national lockdown, I think we’ll end up phasing through the tiered approach.”

Dominic Raab on the vague ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown.

From the Twitterati

“Hilariously desperate … The only concrete example he can cite of ‘woke militant’ who ‘our history’ needs saving from is Birmingham Council calling a (new) street Humanity Close. The horror.”

Sam Freedman isn’t impressed by Robert Jenrick’s defence of statues and attack on woke politics…

“Maybe Robert Jenrick could focus on sorting out the cladding scandal, fixing the leasehold crisis and getting affordable homes built instead of writing inane drivel like this. You know? His actual job.”

…and Labour MP Charlotte Nichols thinks Jenrick has better things to do.

Essential reading

Tom Peck, The Independent: The government keeps blundering – could it be because it is led by an idiot?

John Rentoul, The Independent: Never mind impeachment – Donald Trump may well end up in court

Nesrine Malik, The Guardian: As Trump departs, Britain should examine its own shift to the right

Michael Signer, The Atlantic: How to break the demagogue cycle

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