Brexit news – live: Ireland forced to ease customs checks as UK fishermen halt exports to EU

Universities and colleges in Scotland have been told to move online until at least the end of February, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Zoe Tidman reports.

Nicola Sturgeon said students should not travel back to their term-time accomodation.

A united Ireland could emerge within the next 25 years given the "disaster" created by Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, a former cabinet minister has said.

Lord Blunkett said the European single market "effectively continues" in Northern Ireland under the terms of the agreement reached between the UK and the EU, with a border in the Irish Sea.

This creates "contradictions" in Northern Ireland's relationship with the EU and the rest of Great Britain, said Lord Blunkett as he warned this bodes "extremely ill" for the future.

“I believe that this deal actually accelerates the possibility within the next 25 years of a united island of Ireland,” he said.

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Seafood Scotland released a statement yesterday on what they called the “perfect storm” of Brexit disruption.

“Weakened by Covid-19, and the closure of the French border before Christmas, the end of the Brexit transition period has unleashed layer upon layer of administrative problems, resulting in queues, border refusals and utter confusion," the chief executive for the Scottish seafood industry’s trade body said.

Find the full comments here:

Nicola Sturgeon has said exporters are already “paying a high cost for Brexit", and this is a “particular worry” for Scotland’s seafood sector.

Fishermen are halting exports to Europe because new border bureaucracy, as Jon Stone reports: 

Shadow business spokesperson Lord Bassam of Brighton said he fears the government's "incompetence" will hamper the UK's ability to take advantage of the EU trade deal.

The Labour peer told the chamber: "This is a thin deal and its flaws will be exposed over time and will need fixing for the future. Labour will guard against any attempts to water down working and environmental protections.

"We accept we will inherit this deal after the next election, but we intend to build from it as a means of promoting British interests."

Lord Bassam continued: "Like my party I am a pragmatist. It was complicated being a member of the EU, it will be a complex world outside it.

"The prime minister's desire for the UK to be world-beating, to go where others fear to tread in the world of trade might be laudable as an ambition.

"My fear and that of our party is that the level of incompetence displayed by the government will be writ large and hamper our ability to take best advantage of even this thin deal."

Cabinet Office minister Lord True said the UK's trade deal with the EU will "protect high-value jobs" and provide certainty for businesses.

Opening a debate on the agreement, Lord True told peers: "From now on, our laws will be determined by our elected politicians and MPs will be accountable to the voters who send them to Parliament to legislate on their behalf.

"The Canada-style agreement takes back control of our laws, borders, trade, money and waters, ends any role for the European Court and protects the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.

"It provides certainty for business, from service providers to our leading world manufacturers - including our car industry - safeguarding highly skilled jobs and investment across our country."

Lord True continued: "We believe the agreement will help unlock investment and protect high-value jobs right across the United Kingdom from financial services through to car manufacturing.

"The UK can now regulate in a way that suits the UK economy and UK businesses, doing things in a more innovative and effective way without being bound by EU rules. We will now take full advantage of the remarkable opportunities available to us as an independent trading nation, striking trade deals with other partners around the world."

The BBC received 500 complaints over a tribute to the Black Lives Matter movement during the New Years Eve fireworks in London, Bethany Dawson reports.

The fireworks show, organised by City Hall and broadcast live on BBC One, featured a number of drones creating images of key themes and people of 2020. One of of the images depicted clenched fists synonymous with the Black Lives Matter movement.

After days of promises by ministers, the government has finally announced that travellers to the UK will have to take a Covid test before departure. But it has not said when exactly the scheme will start.

Travel correspondent Simon Calder reports:

Boris Johnson’s father, Stanley Johnson, has compared the prime minister’s vaccine response to Winston Churchill’s leadership during World War II, Chantal da Silva reports.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Friday, the elder Mr Johnson said he thought his son’s handling of Britain’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was “extraordinary”. 

Lockdown measures will continue in Wales and will "intensify even further", first minister Mark Drakeford has said.

"It means bringing schools into line with the rest of the lockdown regime, so schools in Wales will now remain on remote learning until 29 January at the earliest," Mr Drakeford told BBC Breakfast.

"We are looking at the workplace with our trade union and other colleagues to see if there are further safeguards that we can put in place to make sure that workplaces are safe, given the fact that the new variant is so much easier to catch than the previous version of coronavirus.

"And we're looking at supermarkets and other places where people leave their homes and go to, to make sure that they are organised in a way that keeps their staff and their customers safe."

Mr Drakeford said decisions on those issues would be made by the Welsh government "early next week" following discussions with employers, trade unions and staff.