Brexit news: Irish PM says still possible to find ‘sensible solutions’ to NI Protocol issues
Updates as they happened from Westminster and beyond
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Your support makes all the difference.The UK and the European Union can still find sensible solutions to issues over Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading arrangements with the right political will, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin has said.
“A positive and constructive future partnership is in everyone’s interests but it will only be delivered if there is a relationship of trust and a willingness to deliver on commitments entered into,” Mr Martin said after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron.
The EU had “demonstrated commitment, patience and creativity in its work to implement the withdrawal agreement and the protocol,” he added.
It comes as supermarkets and hauliers have issued a warning to shoppers that supply struggles could mean they face long-term higher food prices.
A shortfall of around 100,000 drivers, which has been driven by thousands of European drivers leaving during the pandemic and not returning, as well as “high numbers” of workers retiring, is being blamed for the trouble, hauliers told PA.
Plans to reform post-Brexit data rules unveiled
Further to my post at 9.42am, here’s a bit more detail on the UK’s plans to reform privacy rules post-Brexit.
Martyn Landi reports:
Plans to reform post-Brexit data rules unveiled
Ministers want to diverge from some EU data rules in order to boost trade with other nations.
All the chains reporting food shortages due to HGV crisis
Brexit and other factors have led to shortages of both food supplies and workers in recent weeks, with supermarkets now warning of potential disruption to Christmas supplies.
Britain’s EU exit has contributed to a massive fall in the number of lorry drivers available to move goods, as have rising wages in their home countries, according to the boss of Tesco.
Here, Jon Sharman looks at which chains have been affected, and what they have had to say about the crisis.
The chains reporting food shortages due to post-Brexit HGV crisis
Many European drivers have left the country, Tesco chief explains
UK ‘drastically short’ of nurses, doctors and care workers, says author
Bestselling author Stephen Cobb says the shortage crisis is much worse than food.
Major hospital warns blood tube shortage is now critical
Following my last post, hospitals have told staff the shortage of blood collection tubes hitting the NHS has now reached “critical” levels with a ban on all but urgent blood tests being imposed in some parts of the health service.
A message to staff at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust, seen by The Independent, warned staff they must not order blood tests unless it was “absolutely clinically urgent”.
It warned: “The on-going shortage of blood collection tubes is now critical. Your urgent attention is needed to help control our testing and supply. Only request a blood test if absolutely clinically urgent. There must be senior clinical oversight around the ordering of tests.”
Our health correspondent Shaun Lintern reports:
Major hospital warns blood tube shortage is now critical
‘We need to have adequate supplies of these tubes resumed, without further delay’
Ministers must fix supply chain ‘chaos’, says Labour
My colleague Adam Forrest reports the following:
Labour has blamed the government for the supply chain crisis causing food shortages and said the problems “are only going to get worse” without action.
Seema Malhotra MP, shadow minister for business and consumers, said: “The chaos hitting supply chains is of the Conservative’ making. Their failure to keep their promise to cut red tape for businesses, which are struggling with more paperwork and higher costs, combined with worker shortages, has created a perfect storm.”
She said ministers must put in place “short-term solutions to deal with this acute crisis,” adding: “They must also end their chronic dismissal of these concerns, having accused the industry of ‘crying wolf’ over driver shortages, and take action to deliver on the promise of post-Brexit Britain.”
More than third of UK citizenship applications from EU nationals
Amid the shortage of workers left in the UK, statistics show EU nationals now account for more than a third of all applications for British citizenship.
Some 37 per cent of all applications submitted in the year ending June 2021 were from EU nationals, compared with 12 per cent in 2016, according to data published by the Home Office on Thursday.
Applications for British citizenship by EU nationals rose by 83 per cent in comparison with the previous year, to 74,384 - the highest number in a 12-month period since comparable records began in 2004.
The Home Office said this increase is likely to reflect more people seeking to confirm their status in the UK following Brexit.
The latest data from the scheme show that 6.09 million applications had been received up to 31 July 2021, according to the Home Office.
Overall, statistics show there were 200,177 applications for British citizenship in the year ending June this year, 35 per cent more than in the year ending June 2020.
Lib Dems want immigration rethink so EU workers can return
My colleague Adam Forrest reports the following:
The Liberal Democrats said the government must rethink its immigration policy and scrap its “arbitrary” threshold on salaries for skilled worker visas to help address the shortage of factory workers and lorry drivers.
“The chaos and incompetence of this government is now causing food shortages on supermarket shelves,” said Alistair Carmichael, the party’s home affairs spokesperson.
“Priti Patel needs to admit she got this wrong and change the rules so British businesses can recruit the workers they need.”
He added: “The government should scrap its arbitrary salary threshold and end the ludicrous system that rejects carers and other key workers as ‘unskilled’. It’s time for Tory ministers to put the needs of the British economy above their anti-immigration ideology.”
Scottish green co-leaders to become ministers under SNP deal
Scottish Green co-leaders Patrick Harvie and Lorna Slater will serve as ministers in Nicola Sturgeon’s government as part of a powersharing agreement, a report suggests.
The deal, which was negotiated over the summer after the SNP fell one seat short of an overall majority in May’s election, was announced last Friday and has since been backed by the ruling party’s national executive committee.
A shared policy platform was published which the two sides agreed to support, with the Greens also pledging to back the Scottish government in confidence votes and annual budgets - if they have sufficient input into the process.
The Greens have now confirmed their co-leaders will be the ones appointed as ministers.
They will hold broad portfolios, with one position responsible for decarbonising homes and transport and the rental sector, while the other will focus on green skills, the energy industry and the natural environment.
The Scottish government will announce who will take each portfolio next week if the deal is confirmed.
Mr Harvie, who has been in Parliament since 2003, said: “With Greens in government we would be able to deliver positive change like tackling Scotland’s emissions, protecting nature, advancing tenants’ rights. Bringing forward overdue equalities legislation and delivering an independence referendum.
“I am proud of our vibrant party democracy and look forward to discussing and debating this deal with members on Saturday and if they back it, they can be assured that we’ll waste no time getting to work to deliver on this transformative agenda.”
Additional reporting by PA
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