International Brexit Discussions v11: U.K and Switzerland sign post-Brexit financial services deal

[Arkain2K]

Brexit: 'Serious consequences' if Article 16 triggered, warns EU

Unionist parties in Northern Ireland oppose the protocol, as they say it undermines their place in the UK.​

There will be "serious consequences" if the UK triggers Article 16, European Commission (EC) Vice-President Maros Sefcovic has warned.

Mr Sefcovic said the move would be "serious for Northern Ireland as it would lead to instability and unpredictability".

His comments follow a meeting with the UK's Brexit minister in Brussels over the protocol dispute.

Lord Frost said progress at the meeting was "limited".

He said gaps could still be bridged through intensive negotiations.

The protocol is the special Brexit deal agreed to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.

It keeps Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods and allows free-flowing trade with the EU.

But it also creates a trade border between Northern Ireland and Great Britain.

The EU has proposed measures to ease the checks and controls for goods crossing the Irish Sea.

But the UK is demanding fundamental reform and there is growing speculation it will trigger Article 16 - which allows parts of the protocol to be unilaterally suspended if they are causing serious difficulties - in the coming weeks.

'Time running out' on talks
Mr Sefcovic said triggering Article 16 would be serious for EU-UK relations "as it would mean a rejection of EU efforts to find a consensual solution to the implementation of the protocol".

He said that despite a "big move" by the EU on its proposals, "until today we have seen no move at all from the UK side".

Following Friday's meeting, a UK spokesperson said Lord Frost had indicated "the EU's proposals did not currently deal effectively with the fundamental difficulties in the way the protocol was operating".

"He underlined that the UK's preference was still to find a consensual solution that protected the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and the everyday lives of people in Northern Ireland," the spokesperson added.

Before the meeting, Lord Frost had warned time was running out on the talks.

He had said the UK was not going to trigger Article 16 on Friday, although this was "very much on the table and has been since July".

What would triggering Article 16 mean?

There is growing speculation that the UK is planning to use Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol in the coming weeks.

The Irish government says such a move would be "reckless and irresponsible", and Maros Sefcovic has warned it could result in "serious consequences".

Ultimately, the EU could impose tariffs on UK goods - but that would only be possible after a lengthy arbitration process.

The arbitrators would first have to find that the UK is in breach of the protocol.

Then the UK would have to refuse to remedy that breach, at which point the EU could retaliate under the terms of the wider Brexit deal, the TCA.

It could require another arbitration process to rule whether the use of tariffs is proportionate retaliation.

There is a potentially faster legal track - known as infringement proceedings - which could lead to the UK being fined.

Lord Frost added that if the gap narrowed, the commission listened to what was said in the UK command paper and looked at the situation in Northern Ireland, that could help move things forward.

He would not give a timescale on how long negotiations could last but said they were trying to reach agreement and were going to "carry on trying".

The European Commission has also ruled out talk about deadlines but it is understood the EU could look to legally challenge any move by the UK to trigger Article 16.

Ultimately, the EU could impose tariffs on UK goods, but that would only be possible after a lengthy arbitration process.

EC spokesman Daniel Ferrie told reporters in Brussels on Friday that the commission was "fully concentrated on finding solutions".

He said the EU's proposals were "far-reaching and ambitious".

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he expected to see decisive action on the protocol before the end of November.

Sir Jeffrey, whose party opposes the protocol, said he would meet Lord Frost next week to discuss the issue.

"The protocol is harming Northern Ireland, it is harming our economy, it is harming our political place in the union and that's why I want to see new arrangements put in place that respect Northern Ireland's place within the UK internal market," he said.

"I hope agreement can be reached but if it can't then within weeks I want to see the UK government taking decisive action."

What are the UK-EU discussions about?
The EU accepts the Northern Ireland Protocol is causing difficulties for many businesses but its proposed measures to ease checks and controls for goods crossing the Irish Sea have not been accepted by the UK government.

It is seeking more wide-ranging reform of the protocol.

Last month, Lord Frost said the UK government would not trigger Article 16 "gratuitously or with any particular pleasure".

Article 16 can be triggered if the protocol is leading to serious "economic, societal or environmental difficulties" that are liable to persist.

If the UK was to use Article 16 to suspend most controls on goods going from GB to NI, that could cause significant problems for Ireland.

It could reopen questions about goods being controlled as they cross the Irish border or as they leave Ireland for the rest of the EU.

Taoiseach (Irish PM) Micheál Martin has said it would be "irresponsible and reckless" for the UK to trigger Article 16.

Meanwhile, a survey has indicated that the protocol is not a top priority for most people across Northern Ireland, including unionists.

Unionist parties in Northern Ireland oppose the protocol, as they say it undermines their place in the UK.

It ranked fourth on the list of priorities behind health, Covid recovery and the economy.

The survey also shows the majority of the 1,000 people asked would support remaining in the UK if a border poll was held "tomorrow".

Reacting to the survey, Sir Jeffrey said he did not agree that people do not care about the protocol, saying it was a "big issue for many people, particularly those businesses that are being harmed".

"They do care about the protocol and they also care, as I do, about other issues like health, like Covid recovery, the economy.

"These things are important and they are all inextricably bound up in our membership of the union."

Commissioned by the University of Liverpool, the survey questioned people across all of Northern Ireland's council areas last month.

Of those who responded, 39% described themselves as unionist, 26% nationalist and 33% neither unionist or nationalist

The survey indicated that just over 9% said the protocol was their biggest concern.

When broken down, just 12% of unionists said the protocol was the important issue for them.

More than 60% also said they wanted the Stormont Executive to remain in place until the Assembly election in May.

When asked how they would vote in a border poll "tomorrow", 58% of those surveyed supported remaining in the UK, with 29% voting for a united Ireland.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-59167024.amp

 

[Arkain2K]

EU, UK divide widens on new Northern Ireland, French fishing deal
By RAF CASERT • Nov 5, 2021

BRUSSELS (AP) — The United Kingdom on Friday rejected European Union proposals to streamline the trade of goods in Northern Ireland as insufficient, further aggravating a standoff between both sides and bringing the prospect of a post-Brexit trade war closer.

The U.K. government said after unsuccessful talks between its negotiator David Frost and his counterpart Maros Sefcovic that the EU offers to revamp the Northern Ireland deal, which the 27-nation bloc saw as far-reaching and unprecedented, “did not currently deal effectively with the fundamental difficulties.”

Beyond rejecting his proposals, Sefcovic retorted that “we have seen no move at all from the U.K. side. I find this disappointing.”

On top of the dispute over how to smooth the trade in goods in the U.K.’s Northern Ireland, where the complicated Brexit deal has left the region also in the EU’s single trading zone, both sides also made no progress in negotiations over symbolically important U.K. fishing licenses off France.

Talks will now continue in London next week.

Frost also continued to wield the threat of suspending the Northern Ireland deal under the so-called Article 16 procedure. He said it was “very much on the table and has been since July.”

Article 16 is a clause in the EU-U.K. protocol on Northern Ireland allowing either side to suspend that part of the deal in exceptional circumstances.

Sefcovic said the impact of such a move would be grave. “Let there be no doubt that triggering Article 16 ... would have serious consequences — serious for Northern Ireland. This is what leads to instability and unpredictability.”

Northern Ireland, part of the U.K., shares a land border with EU member Ireland. The Brexit agreement gives it a special trade status that ensures there is an open border on the island of Ireland. It is a key pillar of Northern Ireland’s peace process since the 1998 Good Friday accord that ended years of violence.

Analysts say it would only be a small step from a suspension of Article 16 to a trade war.

The current deal that Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed has been controversial from the start since it means a new customs border in the Irish Sea for goods entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K., even though they are part of the same country.

That has brought red tape for businesses, and caused problems with some goods reaching Northern Ireland. EU rules on chilled meats led to a brief sausage shortage, and now Britain claims that Christmas crackers — festive noisemakers that are a holiday party staple — are being prevented from reaching Northern Ireland.

The EU said it has already offered major concessions in cutting red tape for trade between Britain and Northern Ireland, but London also wants to get rid of the legal oversight of the EU’s top court, something Brussels has set as a red line.

Issues over fish licenses have further complicated relations. Although fishing is a tiny industry economically for both Britain and France, the issue of boats’ access to waters that divide the two maritime powers has flared into a major irritant on top of the Northern Ireland issue.

France says Britain is breaking a commitment of the EU-U.K. trade agreement reached last year by not giving sufficient licenses to its Normandy fishermen seeking access to Crown dependencies Jersey and Guernsey. Britain says it still has insufficient proof some of the fishermen have historical rights to go there.

https://apnews.com/article/lifestyl...eland-brexit-405ef4b644d2265b81a4ca93e0475cb4

 

[Arkain2K]

Unionists block new Northern Ireland government over Brexit trade rules
By JILL LAWLESS | May 13, 2022

Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson

LONDON (AP) — Northern Ireland’s second-biggest political party on Friday blocked the formation of a working legislature in Belfast, and said it would keep up the boycott until the U.K. government tears up post-Brexit trade rules it accuses of destabilizing the region.

The Democratic Unionist Party’s move deepens Northern Ireland’s political deadlock, which is fueling a U.K.-EU feud that could balloon into a trade war between Britain and the 27-nation European Union.

The DUP came second in a Northern Ireland Assembly election last week that saw Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein win the most seats — the first time a party that seeks union with the Republic of Ireland has won an election in the bastion of Protestant power.

Under Northern Ireland’s mandatory power-sharing rules, that gives Sinn Fein the post of first minister, with the DUP taking the deputy first minister job. A government can’t be formed unless both roles are filled, and the DUP says it won’t take part unless border checks on goods moving to Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K. are scrapped.

It stymied attempts to elect a speaker for the assembly when they met for the first time on Friday, leaving the assembly unable to function.

“The DUP received a mandate to remove the Irish Sea border and our mandate will be given respect,” assembly member Paul Givan told legislators. “Our message is now clear: It is time for action, words will no longer suffice.”

DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said the party’s concerns over the new trade rules, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, “are not merely some political squabble.”

“The protocol is a direct challenge to the principles that have underpinned every agreement reached in Northern Ireland over the last 25 years” of Northern Ireland’s peace process, he said. “It erodes the very foundations that devolution has been built upon.”

Sinn Fein leader Michelle O’Neill accused the DUP of “disgracefully holding the public to ransom for their Brexit mess.”

Naomi Long, leader of the centrist Alliance Party, the third largest in the assembly, said it was “a shameful day for the DUP.”

“We want to serve the public but are prevented from doing so,” she said.

Arrangements for Northern Ireland — the only part of the U.K. that shares a land border with an EU nation — have been the thorniest subject of contention in the U.K.’s divorce from the bloc, which became final at the end of 2020.

A deal was agreed to keep the Irish border free of customs posts and other checks, because an open border is a key pillar of the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland. Instead, there are checks on some goods, such as meat and eggs, entering Northern Ireland from the rest of the U.K.

The arrangement is opposed by the DUP and other unionists in Northern Ireland, who say the new checks have created a barrier with the rest of the U.K. that is hurting businesses and undermines unionists’ British identity.

Sinn Fein and the other nationalist and nonaligned parties, which collectively got a majority of votes in the election, want to keep the Protocol.

Many people and businesses in Northern Ireland just want a functioning government.

“The uncomfortable truth is, while this continues, the reputational damage to Northern Ireland as a place to invest and work grows daily,” said Paul Murnaghan, president of the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government says the political deadlock in Belfast is proof the regulations — which it agreed to — are destabilizing Northern Ireland’s peace agreement, which relies on support from both Protestant unionist and Catholic nationalist communities. The U.K. says it will act unilaterally to suspend some of the rules if the EU won’t agree to major changes.

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the U.K. will have “no choice but to act” if the EU does not show enough “flexibility.” The U.K. could introduce legislation giving it the power to override the treaty as soon as next week.

The EU accuses Johnson’s government of threatening to break international law by breaching a binding treaty.

“Don’t forget this treaty was designed and ratified and agreed by the British government under this prime minister,” Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney told the BBC. “He stood for election and got a huge mandate from the British people on the back of that deal and now is blaming the deal for the problems in Northern Ireland.”

Amid growing signs the U.K. is planning to scrap at least part of its Brexit divorce deal, Johnson week sent a government minister, Conor Burns, to Washington to try to allay fears among U.S. officials about potential risks to Northern Ireland peace. President Joe Biden has warned that no side should do anything to undermine the Good Friday Accord, the 1998 deal that laid the foundations of peace.

https://apnews.com/article/boris-jo...eland-brexit-9ec2628a8ae7fee706131de52719c822

 

[Arkain2K]

UK warns ‘no choice but to act’ to change Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland
By SYLVIA HUI | May 12, 2022

Britain's Foreign Secretary Elizabeth Truss

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s foreign secretary warned the European Union on Thursday that the U.K. will have “no choice but to act” to revoke parts of a Brexit agreement on Northern Ireland if the EU does not show flexibility.

Post-Brexit arrangements for border and customs checks in Northern Ireland have become “the greatest obstacle” to forming a new government in Belfast, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said during a call with European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic.

Border issues between Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom, and EU member Ireland have long posed the thorniest problems in the U.K.’s divorce from the EU.

They resurfaced after the Democratic Unionist Party refused this week to help form a power-sharing government with Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein unless the post-Brexit arrangements were substantially changed or scrapped.

An open Irish border is a key part of the peace process that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland, which is the only part of the U.K. to share a land border with an EU country. The EU and the U.K. agreed to keep the Irish border free of customs posts and other checks after Brexit, which became final at the end of 2020.

Instead, there are checks on some goods, such as meat and eggs, entering Northern Ireland from elsewhere in the U.K. The Democratic Unionist Party is strongly opposed to the rules, saying the checks have created a barrier that undermines the British identity of its members.

Truss’ office said Sefcovic reiterated to her Thursday that “there was no room to expand the EU negotiating mandate or introduce new proposals to reduce the overall level of trade friction.”

“The foreign secretary noted this with regret and said the situation in Northern Ireland is a matter of internal peace and security for the United Kingdom,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

“If the EU would not show the requisite flexibility to help solve those issues, then as a responsible government we would have no choice but to act,” the statement said.

Tensions over the trade rules, known as the Northern Ireland Protocol, were ramping up even before Northern Ireland held its assembly elections last weekend.

Northern Ireland has been without a functioning government since February, when the DUP’s leader at the time, Paul Givan, quit as first minister in protest over the trade rules.

U.K. officials have repeatedly warned they might unilaterally suspend the arrangements if the EU did not agree to major changes.

British media reported that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson could announce next week that his government would legislate to override parts of the Northern Ireland deal.

The Times newspaper reported Thursday that Britain’s Attorney General, Suella Braverman, issued advice saying that such a move would be legal because the EU was undermining Northern Ireland’s Good Friday peace agreement by creating a trade barrier in the Irish Sea.

Any move by Britain to unilaterally rewrite the rules would bring legal action from the EU that could escalate into a trade war.

“I am convinced that only joint solutions will work. Unilateral action, effectively disapplying an international agreement such as the protocol, is simply not acceptable,” Sefcovic, the EU’s chief negotiator, said after Thursday’s call.

The DUP’s leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, said his party would decide whether to nominate a Speaker for the Northern Ireland Assembly on Friday, when the legislature is due to have its first session since last week’s elections.

Donaldson has said that the party will not nominate ministers to Northern Ireland’s devolved government until the U.K. government acts over the Brexit deal.

According to rules agreed under Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace agreement, no functioning government could form unless the largest British unionist party and largest Irish nationalist one come together to share power.

https://apnews.com/article/boris-jo...land-belfast-ab9e864dbc5f4baecc9813e5fe498282

 

[deise69]

Who would have thought the UK government would be unhappy with the deal they made and signed ?

IMHO the Brexit trade deal is like the WA. Boris will claim victory, it'll be rushed through the UK parliament before the end of the week and months down the line, he will start complaining again when the consequences become apparent.

 

[Arkain2K]

Britain and the EU struck a Northern Ireland trade deal​

February 27, 2023



LONDON — The United Kingdom and the European Union have signed a new agreement intended to solve one of the thorniest challenges created by Brexit: a long-term resolution for the trading status of Northern Ireland.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reached a deal with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday that will allow goods to enter Northern Ireland freely from other parts of the U.K.

It comes more than six years after British voters chose to leave the EU and three years since the two finally broke up in 2020.

One reason the Brexit process dragged on for so many years was the inability of all sides to address a double dilemma: How to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland that might become a flashpoint given the region's troubled history, and how to ensure Northern Ireland was not somehow treated separately from the rest of the United Kingdom.

Here's how the deal, dubbed the "Windsor Framework" — a change to the original Northern Ireland Protocol — attempts to solve those issues.

It revises trade rules​

Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's government opted to let the EU grant Northern Ireland a rather unique status, meaning that goods produced elsewhere in the U.K. — England, Wales or Scotland — would need to be inspected by officials before they could enter Northern Ireland.

Leaders were trying to avoid creating a hard border between Northern Ireland, which was leaving the EU, and neighboring EU-member state Ireland. But their solution also created a fresh set of challenges.

People in Northern Ireland who strongly want to remain part of the U.K. saw this as an affront. One of the main political parties there, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), has consequently refused to participate in local government ever since. It has helped reignite some tensions between different communities.

At the same time, some members of the Conservative Party also resented the idea that even after Brexit — with its slogan to "take back control" of Britain — EU bureaucrats would continue to have the power to intervene in trade flows within the United Kingdom.

The new plan involves the introduction of red and green lanes for goods arriving in Northern Ireland from other parts of the U.K.: green for British products, including medication, that are staying in Northern Ireland; red for those goods and products that will be sold on to the Republic of Ireland, thus entering the EU.

Business groups welcomed Monday's changes.

It might break the deadlock in Northern Ireland's politics​

Sunak has called this a "decisive breakthrough" and says that the U.K. Parliament will get a vote on the plan at the "appropriate" moment. But several lawmakers who opposed the previous agreement said they want some time to digest the new details before passing judgment.

In a parliamentary debate that followed the deal's announcement, one of Sunak's predecessors, Theresa May, who struggled to solve the Northern Ireland dilemma and ultimately failed to win lawmakers' approval for a Brexit deal, said the newly agreed measures will "make a huge difference."

Meanwhile, Sunak's chief political opponent, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer, said he would support the new deal, which would boost Britain's international standing and hopefully put an end to the country's "endless disputes" with its neighbors.

Sunak has also promised that the local legislature in Northern Ireland, known as the Stormont Assembly, will have the ability to diverge from European Union laws, in a way that was difficult under the previous deal.

The DUP has, over the past two years, refused to take part in the power sharing agreement in Northern Ireland, essentially grinding local governance to a halt, and thus potentiality endangering the 1998 Northern Ireland peace agreement.

Sunak will be hoping this breaks the gridlock and calms some of the tensions that the entire Brexit process has reawakened in the region — only last week gunmen tried to kill a senior police officer in Northern Ireland.

 

[Arkain2K]

EU’s von der Leyen urges youth to reverse Brexit ​

European Commission president says politicians ‘goofed it up’ in 2016 and the next generation will ‘have to fix it.’ But both Tories and Labour shun the idea.
By Jamil Anderlini and Jon Stone | November 29, 2023


The U.K. is on a clear “direction of travel” toward rejoining the EU, the president of the European Commission said — as she urged young people to reverse Britain’s departure.

Ursula von der Leyen said she had told her children that it was up to the next generation to “fix” the mistake of Brexit.

Asked during an interview at the POLITICO 28 awards in Brussels on Tuesday night whether Britain could ever rejoin the EU, von der Leyen said: “I must say, I keep telling my children: ‘You have to fix it. We goofed it up, you have to fix it.’ So I think here too, the direction of travel — my personal opinion — is clear.”

Von der Leyen described the Windsor Agreement on Northern Ireland, struck between Brussels and London earlier this year, as “a new beginning for old friends.”

But her comments on young people sparked a swift reaction in London, with a spokesperson for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak disagreeing that Brexit needs to be “fixed.”

The spokesperson said Britain has “a prime minister who championed Brexit before it was in his career interests to do so because he believes in it passionately.”

The notion that young people are driving the U.K. towards the EU was also rejected, and the spokesperson insisted Sunak is “focused on delivering the benefits of Brexit.”

Polling consistently shows a majority of voters in the U.K. would back rejoining the EU if asked to do so at a referendum. The latest survey by Deltapoll published in late November shows rejoining on 48 percent and staying out on 36 percent — a 12-point lead.

But broaching the subject is considered toxic in Westminster and no major political party with a chance of power is suggesting rejoining the bloc.

The opposition Labour Party, which has a commanding lead according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls and is currently on course to form a majority government after the next election, says it wants a closer relationship with Europe, but has ruled out rejoining the single market or reintroducing free movement of people.

Responding to von der Leyen’s comments, a spokesperson for Labour Leader Keir Starmer said Wednesday lunchtime: “We’re not rejoining the single market or customs union. We’re not returning to freedom of movement.

“Of course we want a good working relationship with the European Union, we want to improve some of the issues there are on subjects like trade, but no, we’re not rejoining in any form.”

EU’s von der Leyen urges youth to reverse Brexit

European Commission president says politicians ‘goofed it up’ in 2016 and the next generation will ‘have to fix it.’ But both Tories and Labour shun the idea.

www.politico.eu

 

[Arkain2K]

Younger Britons are more pro-EU but ‘fixing’ Brexit not their priority​

By Robert Booth, Social affairs correspondent | Nov 30, 2023

“We goofed it up, you have to fix it,” the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Tuesday in a message to the younger generation about Brexit.

Fixing it would be “the direction of travel” with regard to the UK rejoining the EU, she told an audience in Brussels. But as the fourth anniversary of Brexit approaches, is it likely that Britain’s millennials and generation Z will demand a rapprochement?

For those hoping so, there is good news from polling for the Policy Institute at King’s College London, which shows these age groups (gen Z, roughly 11 to 26 years old today, and millennials, 27 to 42) have the greatest and growing confidence in the EU. Older generations are also showing progressively greater faith in the bloc, probably bolstered by the EU response to Russia’s invasion on Ukraine.

Then there is polling involving more than 1,000 18- to 24-year-olds by the Best for Britain campaign group that showed in May that 58% wanted a closer relationship with the EU – almost twice as many as those who wanted things to stay as they were or become more distant. Across the whole population, 52% want things to be closer. Again, the youngest voters are more EU-friendly.

And last weekend YouGov pollsters found that 60% of people aged 18 to 24 believe in hindsight that the UK was wrong to leave the EU. The poll was a relatively small sample size, but other polling reflects the same sentiment.

“Young people are more likely to see Brexit as having caused more problems than it has fixed,” said Tom Brufatto, the director of policy and research at Best for Britain, which is seeking closer ties with the EU when the post-Brexit trade deal is reviewed in 2025 and 2026. “It gives us hope. Lots of the cohort of gen Zs were not able to vote in the 2016 referendum and it’s very positive to know young people have a better view of the EU and do want a better relationship with the EU. Younger people benefit from Erasmus [the university exchange funding programme that the UK quit after Brexit], from freedom of movement and all of the economic opportunities that a closer relationship would bring.”

But digging deeper, attitudes become more complex. In last weekend’s YouGov polling, when asked what the UK should do “when it comes to our future trading relationship with the European Union”, only 36% of 18- to 24-year-olds said they would want to rejoin the EU. A significant minority, one in five, said the right thing would be to increase the trading relationship but not rejoin the bloc.

Ipsos polling for The Rest is Politics podcast, helmed by the remainers Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, found that 49% of people in the 18-34 age group support a referendum on the UK joining the EU in the next five years. That does not sound like a great level of enthusiasm either. Only a third thought rejoining would improve the UK’s ability to control immigration and almost a quarter said it would get worse.

“Even this age group is sceptical about the benefits in some areas, such as immigration and the UK’s ability to make its own laws,” said Ipsos’s director of politics, Kevin Pedley. “Furthermore, with a referendum … not a political reality any time soon, it is impossible to say for certain how a future vote might go. Public views on Brexit are negative today but even younger cohorts do not see it as the most important issue to them right now.”

Younger Britons are more pro-EU but ‘fixing’ Brexit not their priority

Ursula von der Leyen hopes young people can drive a rapprochement but polls show they have other things on their minds

www.theguardian.com

 

[Arkain2K]

Has Brexit been a failure? A majority of Brits think so ​

By Saskia O'Donoghue | 31/12/2023

A new opinion poll has found that most British voters see leaving the EU as a huge failure for the country, especially around broken promises on NHS funding.

A significant majority of British people believe the country’s decision to leave the European Union has been bad for the UK.

They also believe Brexit has driven up prices in shops, as well as thwarting government attempts to control immigration and damaging the economy.

That’s according to a poll by insight research agency Opinium, undertaken to mark the third anniversary of the UK leaving the EU single market and customs union.

The survey asked more than 2,000 UK voters if they believe Brexit has benefited them or the country.

In a new headache for Rishi Sunak’s much-maligned government, results show starkly low numbers who agree with that scenario.

Just one in 10 people surveyed say leaving the EU has helped their personal financial situation. Another 35% say it has been bad for their finances.

Only 9% of respondents said they believed Brexit has been good for the NHS - in contrast, 47% answered it has had a negative impact on the health service.

Sunak has long backed Brexit and claimed it would provide an economic boost for the UK.

Just 7% of people think it has helped keep prices low in UK shops, while 63% believe it’s been a significant factor in both the ongoing cost of living crisis and in fuelling inflation.

The findings come seven and a half years on from the divisive referendum, which remains a controversial issue in the country.

Overall, just 22% of voters said they believe leaving the bloc has been good for the UK in general.

The Vote Leave campaign led by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised that Brexit would boost the economy and trade while ‘taking back control’ of the UK’s borders.

Controversially, it also claimed that leaving the EU would bring back £350 million (about €403m) each week into the NHS. This money has not materialised.

Experts now say that aspects touted as benefits of leaving the EU have mostly failed and public perception has shifted from positivity to an overwhelming lack of support for Brexit.

Political pundits say that Brexiteeers’ promise that leaving the EU’s customs union and single market would be the start of a new, profitable global trade system.

Fifteen per cent of respondents in the poll 15% say the choice to leave the bloc has been good in terms of the ability of UK firms to import goods from outside the EU.

Has Brexit been a failure? A majority of Brits think so

A new opinion poll has found that most British voters see leaving the EU as a huge failure for the country, especially around broken promises on NHS funding.

www.euronews.com

 

[Arkain2K]

UK and Switzerland sign post-Brexit financial services deal​

By Karen Gilchrist



LONDON — The U.K. and Switzerland on Thursday signed a post-Brexit financial services deal designed to bring two of Europe’s largest banking centers closer together.

British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt told CNBC that the “first-of-its-kind” deal was a win for post-Brexit Britain that “wouldn’t have been possible to sign” inside the European Union.

He added that the mutual recognition accord, dubbed the Bern Financial Services Agreement, would provide a “blueprint” for future deals with other countries.

“This is a new type of trade agreement that we can use as a model for future agreements that we have with other markets as well,” Hunt said during a news conference announcing the deal.

Hunt was in Bern, Switzerland, to sign the agreement with his Swiss counterpart, Karin Keller-Sutter, who said it would “boost the international competitiveness” of both markets over the long term.

The deal, which follows more than two years of negotiations, aims to streamline business ties between financial firms and wealthy individuals in the two markets, and improve cross-border access to a range of financial services sold by banks, insurers and asset managers.

It follows a so-called deference model, which allows firms to operate in the partner country while following just one set of regulations and without necessarily having to open a local base. As such, financial services providers and insurers will be able to offer certain cross-border activities in both Switzerland and the U.K.

The terms will also allow Swiss firms to serve wealthy individuals within the U.K., either locally or cross-border, replicating privileges currently available to British firms in Switzerland. Meanwhile, U.K. advisors will be permitted to “temporarily serve” wealthy clients locally in Switzerland without registering in the country.

Hunt described the plans as a “light-touch, progressive, future-leaning way of opening access,” which would provide a significant boost for the City of London. Hunt added that the deal could potentially be extended to include retail and sustainable finance in the future.

The deal will need to be approved by parliaments in both countries before entering into force next year. However, some commentators were optimistic that it would mark an improvement on the equivalence framework Britain had with Switzerland while in the European Union.

David Henig, U.K. director at independent think tank the European Centre for International Political Economy, said the deal was “broadly good news” which would leverage Britain’s heft in financial services.

It comes as Britain aims to reposition itself post-Brexit and Switzerland seeks to shake off the reputational hit to its financial services sector following the collapse of Credit Suisse in March.

U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak initially launched talks with Switzerland in 2020, when he was finance minister, claiming that the accord would demonstrate the countries’ shared vision of an “open, global and free” economy.

The current Conservative government in Britain has long positioned signing new trade deals as a key benefit of Brexit. In June, Britain signed a deal to join an 11-nation Asia-Pacific free trade bloc that includes Australia, Singapore, Japan and Canada, marking its third new trade deal since formally exiting the bloc on Jan. 31, 2020.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/21/uk-and-switzerland-to-sign-post-brexit-financial-services-deal.html