Brexit news – live: UK’s biggest fish market left ‘like ghost town’, as Eurostar under threat

Boris Johnson is facing calls to compensate the UK’s meat industry, as tonnes of product is left rotting at European ports as a result of “eye-watering” Brexit paperwork, reports our Political Editor Andrew Woodcock.

It comes after the prime minister promised a £23m compensation fund to fish traders whose exports to the EU have been disrupted through no fault of their own.

Read more about the challenges thrown up by Brexit below:

A bottle of Vidigal Porta 6, a best-selling wine to the UK market, sold by a Portuguese wine merchant is set to almost double in price from around £4.70, including all taxes and shipping fees, to between £7 and £8.

Portugal Vineyards explained the new rules and price changes for its products sold to the UK market, which includes excise duty and additional shipping costs due to exportation customs dispatch.

Shared by BBC’s Northern Ireland business editor John Campbell, the merchant states that its products are now shown without VAT in their store, but are subject to 20 per cent VAT tax upon arrival in the UK.

All alcoholic products are subject to excise duty. For wines up to 15 per cent alcohol volume, this amounts to £297.57 per hectolitre - equivalent to £2.23 per 750ml bottle and twice that for a magnum bottle.

Sparkling wines are subject to a different excise, which makes it £2.68 per 750ml bottle.

Fortified wines such as port have an excise duty of £2.97 per 750ml bottle. The duty on spirits are £28.74 per litre of alcohol volume, so a 700ml bottle of spirit with 40 per cent alcohol volume would carry a duty of £8.05.

The merchant explained that the Vidigal Porta 6, one of its best sellers to the UK market, cost £3.50 plus shipping pre-Brexit, but will now cost £3.19 plus £2.23 excise and 20 per cent VAT tax, making it £6.50 per bottle.

Shipping costs are the same in terms of transport costs, but each order has an additional fee of £9.79 for the exportation customs dispatch, said the company. Customers who order more than one case of 12 bottles would save money “since it’s a flat fee per order and not per case”.

“This information is very important because if a client refuses to pay the importation duties, the parcels will be returned to us and we will have to deduct the return costs to the value paid for the order,” said Portuguese Vineyard.

The prime minister has narrowly avoided a Commons defeat as he suffered a significant Tory rebellion with MPs seeking to block trade deals the UK has made with countries rules to be committing genocide.

The amendment to the Trade Bill would have forced the government to withdraw from any free trade agreement negotiated with a state which the High Court has deemed guilty of genocide.

Our Political Correspondent Ashley Cowburn reports:

A Labour politician has been suspended after he and a group of Conservative members including the party's leader were found to have consumed alcohol at the Welsh Parliament.

Former Welsh Government minister Alun Davies drank glasses of wine with Tory leader Paul Davies, chief whip Darren Millar and the party's chief of staff Paul Smith in a Senedd tearoom.

The incident happened on 8 December, four days after pubs were forced to stop selling alcohol under the Welsh Labour-led government rules to help prevent the spread of coronavirus, although off-licences were allowed to sell alcohol until 10pm.

All four men deny breaking any Covid-19 rules and say they observed social distancing while meeting to discuss working together on a proposed bill before consuming alcohol not bought from parliament premises.

The number of daily coronavirus deaths will not see a substantial fall for weeks yet, according to a member of the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage).

Professor Andrew Hayward, who is also director of the University College London (UCL) Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care, told the BBC he thinks the death rate will lessen partly due to the fact infections are falling more slowly among vulnerable older people than among younger people.

Deaths from coronavirus hit a grim record on Tuesday, with daily fatalities reaching a high of 1,610 across the UK as a government scientific adviser warned that it could be weeks before significant reductions are seen, our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports.

The highest daily tally of the pandemic brought the total official figure for deaths above the 90,000 mark to hit 91,470. But a separate measure of death certificates on which Covid-19 is mentioned put the total at 108,000.

The "deteriorating" state of some NHS buildings could be having an impact on the supply of oxygen, health leaders have said.

NHS Providers called for "vital capital investment" to address the NHS maintenance backlog.

The request comes after health investigators launched a probe into the provision of piped oxygen gas supplies to hospitals.

The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) launched a national investigation after a hospital trust declared a major incident when demands on its oxygen supply led to patients being diverted to different hospitals and a need to transfer patients between clinical environments.

The trust had sufficient supplies of liquid oxygen available but its piped oxygen system was unable to deliver the volume of oxygen gas required to meet all patient needs, the HSIB said.

The HSIB said there has been increased demand for oxygen during the pandemic.

It warned that insufficient oxygen supply to seriously ill patients can have very severe consequences, including death.

PA

The government's programme to test pupils and staff daily if they come into contact with confirmed cases of Covid-19 carries a "hypothetical risk of increasing transmission", a senior adviser has said.

Dougal Hargreaves, the Department for Education's (DfE) deputy chief scientific advisor, said there should be a more "detailed evaluation" process on the use of rapid lateral flow tests for daily checks in schools.

Addressing MPs on the education select committee, Dr Hargreaves said the aim of the scheme - of daily contact testing for pupils and staff who have been in contact with a case - was to "improve attendance".

He said: "The concern, which is worth mentioning here, is around the separate programme, which is around daily contact testing for those who've been in contact with a proven case.

"Now there the aim is different [to two tests a week]. The aim is to improve attendance. And there is at least a hypothetical risk of increasing transmission."

Dr Hargreaves added: "So where we are now is that I think we need to be looking at a more detailed evaluation process and we've got the time until half-time to do that."

PA

A Welsh politician has been suspended and three others are under investigation after they were reportedly seen drinking on parliament premises.

Former minister Alun Davies was seen drinking wine with Tory leader Paul Davies, chief whip Darren Millar and the party’s chief of staff Paul Smith in a Senedd tearoom on 8 December.

Their actions could potentially be a breach of coronavirus regulations, however they have insisted they did not break any rules because they were drinking alcohol bought elsewhere.

Sam Hancock has more details in this article:

Boris Johnson has said he looks forward to working closely with Joe Biden as America's president-elect prepares to take office.

Mr Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday amid unprecedented security after Donald Trump's supporters stormed the Capitol earlier this month.

In a statement ahead of his inauguration, Mr Johnson declared his intention to work "hand in hand" with the new incumbent of the White House on promoting their shared goals.

He pointed to the continuing common interests the UK and the US share on defence, security and "defending democracy".

At the same time, he highlighted Britain's upcoming role in chairing the G7 summit in Cornwall and the Cop26 climate change conference in Glasgow - both priorities for the new administration, as the world recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.