Brexit news – live: ‘More trade disruptions to come,’ economists warn as export issues harm Scottish whisky

Good morning, and welcome to The Independent’s rolling coverage of everything Brexit-related.

A Scottish minister has called for additional support for its whisky industry from the UK government in the face of exporting setbacks, caused by Brexit.

Rural economy secretary Fergus Ewing told rural affairs minister George Eustice the issue must be resolved as a “matter of urgency” in an open letter.

“It’s been a particularly difficult year for Scotland’s food and drink sector. A once booming whisky industry has seen overseas exports drop by 23 per cent in the last year alone,” the message said.

“The whisky industry was already reeling from the triple threat of US import tariffs, the coronavirus pandemic slowing global demand, and a complicated alcohol duty system before Brexit compounded matters.

“Like many food and drink businesses, the sector is struggling with complicated bureaucracy post-Brexit and it is vital that such issues are resolved as soon as possible.”

A UK government spokeswoman said on the issue: “Scotch whisky is world-renowned, and we are working closely with the industry to help them take advantage of new export markets.

“The UK government promotes the Scotch whisky through the Food is Great campaign.

“Last year, we announced £1m dedicated to showcasing Scottish food and drink exports around the world. We are confident the sector is well-positioned to benefit from the expansive trade deals that we are now striking.”

A organisation in East Belfast for former loyalist paramilitaries has announced its support for a plan to “free” Northern Ireland from the protocol, which was announced by the ruling DUP last week.

Reach UK said it “endorses the five-point plan from [Arlene Foster], and call on all to engage with it as a first step to resolving the divisive Irish Sea border and Northern Ireland protocol”.

The plan includes the boycott by the DUP of all cross-border activity related to the protocol and the opposition of all protocol-related measures in NI’s Assembly.

According to reports in the Irish Times, this newly announced support is backed by loyalist paramilitary groups the UDA, UVF and Red Hand Commando, and by loyalist community groups.

An online petition by the DUP, which called for article 16 to be triggered in order to secure “unfettered” trade between Britain and NI, previously reached the required 100,000 signatures within 24 hours. The party was informed on Friday that it would be debated in Westminster later this month.

But a joint statement released by the EU and UK following talks on Thursday night suggested neither side was prepared to abandon the protocol. Michael Gove and EU vice president Maros Sefcovic told reporters their “full commitment” to the backstop remained with the pair agreeing to find “workable solutions on the ground”.

Priti Patel continues to face backlash for comments she made about Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests on Friday.

The home secretary branded BLM demonstrations “dreadful” and said she was opposed to taking the knee as an anti-racism protest. She also said the movement was “not the right way at all” to fight systemic racism.

Ms Patel made the remarks in an interview with radio station LBC:

In response, lawyer and women’s rights activist Shola Mos-Shogbamimu has argued cabinet minister Ms Patel “is unfit to hold a position of power”.

In a powerful article for The Independent, Ms Mos-Shogbamimu said: “It is an abrogation of duty for a sitting home secretary to describe the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests as ‘dreadful’ and to denigrate the symbolism of ‘taking the knee’.”

She added: “Patel either has an unexplained indifference to what Black Lives Matter and ‘taking the knee’ symbolises or is intentionally discrediting the movement. Either way, the impact of her words and actions are the same.”

Read the full piece here:

A Comber-based vegetable producer has been given the go ahead to supply M&S stores across Ireland amid ongoing stock logistic issues between Britain and Ireland, caused by Brexit.

Mash Direct will supply eight of its products to the retailer, according to reports in the Belfast Telegraph, including its signature mash potato and potato cakes in its own brand sleeves and packaging.

Last month M&S was forced to temporarily drop hundreds of products from its stores in the Republic after the company saw competitors’ lorries barred from travelling between Britain and Northern Ireland.

Freight flows in Kent have returned to normal meaning the lorry queue crisis has now been avoided, according to government officials.

Figures seen by the BBC show outbound lorry traffic for Britain for the month so far at 98 per cent of last February’s levels, while inbound traffic is at 99 per cent of last year's levels.

One official told the broadcaster the government is “pleased that overall flows are back to normal” as it was announced some 80-90 per cent of laden lorries were arriving “border-ready”.

Disruption to trade seen so far as a result of Brexit represents the first signs of structural issues which will cut UK GDP for years to come, senior economists have said.

Experts speaking to The Independent said they had seen nothing during the first six weeks of 2021 to persuade them to amend forecasts of tens of billions of pounds of damage to the economy over the coming years.

The gloomy assessments came after the European Commission released the first formal analysis of the impact of Brexit to be compiled since the transition out of the EU, which predicted a 2.25 per cent hit to the UK economy by 2022 - equivalent to £40bn in lost growth over two years.

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports:

Conservative MP John Redwood has urged Boris Johnson to do more for the fishing industry, saying there were “plenty of options” to help British workers “sell more of our fish” which are not being carried out.

The Brexiteer tweeted: “Let’s have more determination from our government to boost our fishing industry.

“There are plenty of options to help them to land, process and sell more of our fish as we take control of our waters effectively.”

It comes after Michael Gove said on Thursday that Britain is prepared to do “whatever is required” to support its fishermen post-Brexit. Though he admitted there were “bureaucratic obstacles” to “negotiate and navigate” with the EU.

A government U-turn means regulations aimed at preventing excessive payments to the highest earners have been revoked.

It comes after court action by trade unions which demanded the £95,000 cap on public sector redundancy payments be reversed.

Unions said the rules would have hit low-paid workers the hardest, affecting long-serving local government workers who earned just £23,500 and were made redundant.

Unison’s general secretary, Christina McAnea, told The Guardian on Saturday: “It’s great the government has finally seen sense and stepped back from this damaging regulation that threatened to blight the retirement of millions of workers.

“Through no fault of their own, long-serving staff over the age of 55 and facing redundancy would have been hit by the regulation. Because they’re obliged to take their pensions if they lose their jobs, when combined with redundancy payments the final amount could have exceeded the £95,000 cap.

“All along the Treasury was told that the regulations were flawed, and they would hit ordinary workers. Unfortunately, ministers wouldn’t listen, so Unison had to take them to court.

“The government has wasted much time and money and should now abandon any plans to reintroduce the regulations.

“Instead, ministers should concentrate on supporting dedicated public service workers who are delivering for their communities in the most challenging of circumstances.”

Pressure continues to mount on Priti Patel after she branded the anti-racism protest movement Black Lives Matter “dreadful” and criticised the practice of taking a knee.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, Labour’s shadow home secretary, said his counterpart’s comments were “unacceptable” and that the BLM movement was “a powerful call for change from across society”.

“To be dismissed like this by the Home Secretary is unacceptable,” he added.

Our policy correspondent Jon Stone reports: