Brexit news: EU leaders vow to block any trade deal if Boris Johnson breaches withdrawal agreement as Ireland accuses PM of ‘unprecedented provocation’

600,000 Scots sign up for contact-tracing app, says Sturgeon

More than 600,000 people have now downloaded the Protect Scotland mobile phone contact tracing app, Nicola Sturgeon has announced. “We need as many people across Scotland to download it and use it,” said the first minister.

Sturgeon said the new app would enhance the existing contact tracing system. “We need as many people across Scotland to download it and use it.”

She said the numbers signing up to use the app had been “excellent” and “probably beyond our initial expectations”.

A total of 175 people have tested positive for coronavirus across Scotland in the past 24 hours, but no more deaths of confirmed patients have been recorded in the past 24 hours.

NHS contact-tracing app to finally launch this month

The government has announced that its NHS contract tracing app will finally be rolled out in England and Wales on 24 September.

The project has been beset by delays after No 10 was forced to drop its own custom-made version of the app before later partnering with Google and Apple for the new design.

Trials have been ongoing in the London Borough of Newham, on the Isle of Wight and with NHS Volunteer Responders to establish the effectiveness of the app.

The Department for Health and Social Care said it is “highly effective when used alongside traditional contact tracing to identify contacts of those who have tested positive for coronavirus”.

EU boosts ‘no-deal’ planning  

The EU is stepping up its planning for a no-deal Brexit on Friday after Boris Johnson’s government refused to revoke a plan to break the divorce treaty that Brussels says will sink four years of talks.

“As the United Kingdom looks to what kind of future trade relationship it wants with the European Union, a prerequisite for that is honouring agreements that are already in place,” said Pascal Donohoe, chairman of euro zone finance ministers.

“It is imperative that the government of the United Kingdom respond back to the call from the Commission.”

EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said after talks in London that the bloc was increasing its planning for a no-deal Brexit at the end of this year after trade talks made little progress.

“The UK has not engaged in a reciprocal way on fundamental EU principles and interests,” Barnier said. “Nobody should underestimate the practical, economic and social consequences of a ‘no deal’ scenario.”

Barnier’s team will brief the 27 members of the EU on the progress of trade talks on Friday.

PM will try to ‘reassure’ Tory MPs in Friday conference call

Boris Johnson will seek to reassure Conservative MPs concerned about his plans to override key elements of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement, Downing Street has said.

The PM’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson would use a conference call with Tory MPs on Friday to reiterate his commitment to implementing the provisions in the agreement relating to Northern Ireland.

The spokesman added: “But he will also be setting out as a responsible government we must provide a safety net that removes any ambiguities and ensures that the government can always deliver on its commitments to the people of Northern Ireland.”

Downing Street has insisted a post-Brexit free trade deal with the EU is still possible, despite the threat of legal action by Brussels.

“We have engaged constructively with the EU throughout this process. We have negotiated in good faith and we will continue to do so,” the spokesman said. We do still believe that there is a deal to be reached. We will work hard to achieve it.”

No 10 defends test and trace, as R rate 1.7

Downing Street defended the Test and Trace programme amid rising coronavirus cases.

Coronavirus cases in England are doubling weekly in England, according to a major testing programme commissioned by the government.

Researchers at Imperial College London found the R rate in England is now 1.7, based on swab tests from volunteers.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “What test and trace is doing is testing hundreds of thousands of people a day and is helping to identify people who would otherwise inadvertently be spreading the virus and that is helping to control infection rates.”

Asked if the public should expect further restrictions, the spokesman said: “We keep all measures under review but it was on Wednesday that we set out the steps which we think are currently required in order to help us to bring the virus under control.”

Founder of pro-Brexit think tank ‘buys EU passport via Malta’

A New Zealand-born backer of a think tank advocating a hard Brexit has obtained an EU passport through Malta, it has been reported.

Christopher Chandler founder of Legatum – which backs leaving the single market and the customs union – has become a citizen of the Mediterranean island.

The names of Mr Chandler and family members appear on a list of individuals who became naturalised citizens of Malta in 2016, the Financial Times reported.

Critics branded the move double standards as the passport would give him the right to live and work in any European country. A hard Brexit is expected to leave Britons without that same privilege.

Another poll finds majority support for Scottish independence

Support for Scottish independence has sustained a majority despite a rise in coronavirus cases, according to a new survey.

The poll by Survation shows 53 per cent in favour of breaking with the union, with 47 per cent against.

It is the latest in a series of surveys since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic showing a majority of Scots in favour of independence - including one by Panelbase which held support at 55 per cent last month.

UK-Japan deal ‘unwelcome precedent’, says Scottish minister

Scottish government’s trade minister Ivan McKee said the UK-Japan free trade agreement sets an “unwelcome precedent” for future deals.

“Japan is an important market for Scotland and one where we currently benefit from an existing EU trade agreement," he said.

But McKee also pointed out it had taken a long time just to attempt to replicate previous arrangements.

“The fact that the UK government is having to spend so much time and energy trying to replicate the advantages of EU membership underlines what Scotland has lost by being taken out of the EU against its will.”

He also complained: “Despite repeated requests to the UK government, there has been a lack of comprehensive engagement with ourselves and the other devolved administrations … it sets an unwelcome precedent for future deals.”

PM’s plan ‘in tension with the rule of law’, say Lords committee

The House of Lords constitution committee has written to the justice secretary Robert Buckland asking him to explain how the plan to override key parts of the withdrawal agreement complies with the law.

The committee says the government’s plan “appears to be in tension with the constitutional principle of the rule of law”.

‘Welsh government will lose whole slew of powers’

The controversial Internal Market Bill will do “significant damage” to the union if it becomes law, the first minister of Wales has said.

The bill transfers powers from the EU to the UK government to spend on areas such as economic development, infrastructure and sport, and would replace existing EU funding programmes.

Drakeford told reporters: “The Welsh government will lose a whole slew of powers. There is no excuse for the secretary of state’s mystification because this has been pointed out to him many times.”

The UK government’s Welsh secretary Simon Hart told the Welsh affairs committee on Thursday that he was “mystified” by claims from the Welsh government of a power grab.