Inside Politics: Brexit treaty flown in by RAF, as MPs return to vote

Enjoy Christmas? While us plebs have been stuck at home, Britain’s celebs have been flying out to Dubai, St Barts and Barbados – getting around the Covid rules by making VIP “business” trips to sunnier climes. One very important document is getting the special business trip treatment today. The Brexit trade deal treaty will be flown from Brussels to London by the RAF so it can be signed by Boris Johnson. No special treatment for our MPs, called away from the mince pies and telly so they can vote the deal into law.

Inside the bubble

Policy correspondent Ashley Cowburn on what to look out for today:

Boris Johnson will open the debate on the EU Future Relationship Bill – covering his Brexit trade deal – in an address to the Commons at 9.30am, before MPs vote on it around 2.30pm. As the bill moves to the Lords, Matt Hancock will then will update MPs on the latest Covid-19 situation and announce the conclusions of a review of England’s tiers.

Daily briefing

NEVERENDING STORY: Boris Johnson will tell MPs that Britain is ready to “open a new chapter in our national story”. Unable to resist a spot of triumphalism, the PM is expected to say his Brexit trade deal achieves what “we were told was impossible”. The 85-page bill based on the deal won’t receive any trouble in the Commons today, after Tory backbenchers’ in the ERG found the agreement “preserves the UK’s sovereignty as a matter of law”. Mark Francois said it passes the “acid test” on independence. So after heading to the Lords, it should receive royal assent late on Wednesday or early Thursday morning. Over in Brussels, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and European Council boss Charles Michel will sign the formal treaty this morning before it’s flown over the Channel for Johnson to sign too. EU negotiator Michel Barnier said he will now “use my energy to work for my country” – although the Frenchman has his book on Brexit to finish first.

ROTTEN IN THE STATE OF STARMER: Keir Starmer cannot wait for Brexit to be over. His decision to whip Labour MPs to back the deal has caused considerable anguish among the PLP and wider Labour movement. Around 20 MPs are expected to rebel today, reports suggest. A group of critics led by ex-shadow chancellor John McDonnell pleaded with Starmer leader not to back No 10’s “rotten” deal. McDonnell, Lord Adonis, councillors and activists called it “an act of vandalism against our livelihoods”. Adding to the split, Scottish Labour MSPs confirmed they would be voting against the deal at a Holyrood debate today. Writing in The Independent, shadow cabinet minister Rachel Reeves said “the next Labour government will seek to build on this deal, not cheerlead for it”. Starmer, meanwhile, told The Guardian: “I’m determined the next general election will be fought on our terms, not somebody else’s.” He said it was unlikely Europe would even be on the party’s election leaflets.

THINGS ONLY 90S’ KIDS WILL REMEMBER: Amid today’s pomp and ceremony, a spot of absurdity. It’s emerged that the Brexit trade deal contains references to computer software which died out in the 1990s. The historic document mentions Netscape Communicator and Mozilla Mail as being “modern” services – leading experts to conclude exhausted negotiators copied and pasted chunks of text from 1990s legislation. No 10 hasn’t yet commented on the small but embarrassing error. More seriously, the Hansard Society has warned about the dangers in rushed Brexit legislation, saying the lack of scrutiny amounts to an “abdication of parliament’s constitutional responsibilities”. What about the dangers brought by the end of the transition period? More chaos at the border this weekend? Only about one in eight small exporters in the UK have completed customs preparations, according to the Federation of Small Businesses.

AS TIERS GO BY: Millions more people in England are set to be placed under tier 4 restrictions when health secretary Matt Hancock announces the latest changes this afternoon. And reports suggest No 10 is considering further, so-called “tier 5” tightening of the rules in London and the south (though any changes are unlikely to be called tier 5). Boris Johnson will chair a meeting to decide whether to delay the reopening of secondary schools in England until 18 January. Hancock said the NHS was facing “unprecedented pressures”, with hospitals in England and Wales now treating more coronavirus patients than at the peak in April. Prof Andrew Hayward, of the government’s Nervtag group, said decisive action was needed now “to prevent a catastrophe in January and February … so tier four restrictions are likely to be necessary – or even higher than that.” The good news is that the government’s MHRA regulator has approved the Oxford University/AstraZeneca’s vaccine for use. It will be distributed across the four nations from Monday.

HOUSE OF CARDS: Some non-Brexit, non-Covid news now. An end-of-2020 report by the Green Alliance think tanks finds a “significant gap” between Boris Johnson’s climate promises and his policies. “The UK can only lead if it has its own house in order,” said the Green Alliance. It comes as Ed Miliband calls for “the biggest climate mobilisation we have ever seen”. Speaking to The Independent, the Labour frontbencher said now was the time for Britons to send message to No 10, ahead of the 2021 UN conference in Glasgow. Meanwhile, impressionist Rory Bremner has been on the airwaves this morning talking about how he accidentally “saved John Major's bacon” when he thwarted a Tory revolt against the then-PM in 1993. Newly-released National Archives documents reveal how Bremner’s calls to eurosceptic Tory MPs – pretending to be Major and asking for their support – actually led them to back down.

DO NOT GO GENTLE: Just when you thought he was out, he pulls you back in. Donald Trump’s campaign has filed a brand-new lawsuit with the US Supreme Court to challenge the election results in Wisconsin. The outgoing president also released a new, campaign-style video despite it being months after the election. It comes as Trump slammed Republican leaders as “weak and tired”, saying they must have a “death wish” for not supporting his idea of stimulus checks of $2,000. It comes as Joe Biden has warned of the “massive damage” being done to national security because of officials’ putting up “roadblocks” for his transition team. Biden said: “Right now we just aren’t getting all the information that we need from the outgoing administration in key national security areas. It’s nothing short, in my view, of irresponsibility.”

On the record

“This is an endorsement of the deal of stunning clarity and underlines how Boris has pulled off what so many insisted was having your cake and eating it, or was never going to be granted.”

ERG member Sir Bernard Jenkin on the ‘stunning’ deal.

From the Twitterati

“Tories already running scared that we will reverse Brexit! Yes, we will!”

Philosopher AC Grayling shares petition on re-joining the EU…

“Remoaners will now be renamed Rejoiners...”

…while the Tories’ Lord Ashcroft has a new name for Grayling and friends.

Essential reading

Andrea Mammone, The Independent: Can the UK move on from Brexit? I find it hard to believe

Caroline Lucas, The Independent: Why I’m voting against the Brexit deal today

Martin Fletcher, New Statesman: Brexit is no cause for celebration – it is a moment of national shame

Ed Yong, The Atlantic: Where year two of the pandemic will take us

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