Inside Politics: EU set to agree truce in sausage war

Boris Johnson’s government is expected to get a three-month delay, but Brussels wants more ‘energy’ on long-term solutions, writes Adam Forrest

The UK has asked for a three-month extension to temporary measures (Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

Goodbye yellow brick road, hello bright red tape. Elton John has announced the final dates of his final tour, extending his run to include a grand finale at LA’s Dodger Stadium – the place where he hit the big time. Will young British performers ever get the chance to hit the big time? As Britain marks five years since Brexit, musicians have urged Boris Johnson to fix the touring crisis holding back new artists. It looks like sausages will get to tour across the Irish Sea for a little longer, with the EU set to agree to another delay in implementing Brexit deal rules. It also looks like Russia will be off the touring schedule for quite a while. Relations between London and Moscow have hit a new low over skirmishes in the Black Sea.

Inside the bubble

Policy correspondent Jon Stone on what to look out for today:

Boris Johnson will meet with senior ministers and top scientific advisers to approve changes to the travel list, with an announcement expected this afternoon. Worth looking out for the Lords Brexit committee, where the EU’s ambassador to the UK Joao Vale de Almeida will be giving evidence on the latest negotiations.

Daily briefing

POKING THE BEAR: As if didn’t we have enough going on – now there’s a military stand-off in the Black Sea to worry about. Russian aircraft and coastguard vessels “harassed” a British warship sailing near Crimea on Wednesday. Both Downing Street and the Ministry of Defence denied Moscow’s claims that warning shots were fired in the path of HMS Defender. BBC footage showed that shots were fired – but thankfully well out of range. Russia claims the waters off the annexed peninsula are its territory, but No 10 insisted the ship was taking “an internationally recognised route between Ukraine and Georgia”. The British ambassador has now been summoned to the Russian foreign ministry for some stern words. “London has lost its manners,” said the ministry. Defence secretary Ben Wallace attacked Russian “disinformation” and pledged to “uphold international law”.

CHILL-OUT ZONE: It looks like Great British sausages will stay on the menu in Northern Ireland this summer. The EU is expected to agree to the UK’s request for a delay on the introduction of a ban on chilled meat imports. The EU Commission is said to have recommended a three-month delay, setting up an agreement next week. But Brussels is very keen for London to get real about solutions beyond marching season. “It’s about time we also get some energy from the UK negotiators, who seem to spend all their time talking to British journalists,” one senior EU diplomat complained. It comes as Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald warned the DUP’s leader-designate Sir Jeffrey Donaldson that it would be a “huge error” for his party to collapse power-sharing arrangements over the protocol. On the fifth anniversary of the Brexit vote, millions of Britons were hit with the return of mobile phone roaming charges. That wasn’t on the side of the bus, was it?

THERE’S NO OTHER WAY? Blur, Radiohead and Wolf Alice and other music stars have joined a new campaign urging Boris Johnson to fix the touring crisis caused by his Brexit deal. More than 200 artists demanded help with the daunting red tape barriers – costly visas and work permits – that have “put one of UK’s finest exports at risk”. David Rowntree, Blur’s drummer, said the band wouldn’t have toured the EU if the obstacles had existed in the 1990s. “If we were starting out today … we simply wouldn’t be able to afford it.” Meanwhile, MPs warned that festival face “devastating consequences” unless the government provides more support. The Public Accounts Committee said many festivals faced a “survival threat” unless ministers establish a cancellation insurance scheme. Speaking of survival threat, Keir Starmer is hoping his new interim director of communications can help save the Labour Party. Ex-Tony Blair aide Matthew Doyle comes in as part of a backroom shake-up.

GOING TO IBIZA? More changes to the traffic-light system are expected today. Fully-jabbed Britons may not have to quarantine when they return home from amber destinations, according to reports. And Malta and Spain’s Balearic islands – including Ibiza – are slated for the green list. We’ll have to wait until later this afternoon for transport secretary Grant Shapps to make an announcement. But Angela Merkel might just have put the kibosh on the whole holidays-in-Europe thing. She suggested all EU countries should consider enforcing quarantine on British tourists to help halt the spread of the Delta variant. “That’s what I would like to see,” said the German chancellor. Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi hailed the fact that third of 18-24-year-olds have now their first doses. But the latest figures show Covid cases continue to rise in the UK – an almost 40 per cent increase in just 24 hours. It comes as more than 40 cases of the potentially worrying ‘Delta Plus’ variant were detected.

WEMBLEY WAY: UEFA officials coming to London for the Euro 2020 final without having to quarantine will still be subject to restrictions, media minister John Whittingdale has insisted. Labour raised concerns after reports suggested up to 2,500 people could be allowed in for the big match. Labour frontbencher John Healey said any special agreement for VIPs would be “one rule for important people ... and one rule for the rest”. But Whittingdale said they wouldn’t be free to travel around the UK. The media minister also suggested that Channel 4 could indeed be flogged off to streaming giants like Netflix. “We think that it is sensible to look at alternative ownership models,” said Whittingdale. Meanwhile, the government has been mocked for its extremely low-brow venture into culture, after it emerged schoolkids will be made to sing a weirdly terrible patriotic song to celebrate ‘One Britain One Nation Day’ on 25 June. The Lib Dems dubbed it “Boris Johnson’s barmy brainwashing event”.

SNEER JEER: Nicola Sturgeon has accused Michael Gove of “sneering, arrogant condescension” after the Cabinet Office minister said another indyref2 was off the table before the next general election. The SNP chief said his remarks would only boost support for a breakaway. The SNP is also livid about the UK government using a publicly-funded Covid survey to ask questions about attitudes to the union. Market research agency Public First’s survey covered themes including “attitudes to the UK union”. SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford, who demanded a “full public inquiry”, accused the government of “secretly directing funds”. Speaking of secret, we got a little glimpse of the PM’s normally private audience with the monarch. The Queen was heard referring to Matt Hancock as that “poor man” during her first in-person weekly audience with Boris Johnson since lockdown began. “He’s full of...” she said, before the PM interjected with the word “beans”.

On the record

“Five years on, Brexit is far from ‘done’. It has only just begun and the forecast is ominous.”

Michael Heseltine on the fifth anniversary of Brexit.

From the Twitterati

“5 years ago, if anyone had predicted that Brexit would be such a disaster, with riots in Belfast, gunboats in Jersey to keep out the French, and our trade with the EU in precipitate decline, I would have demurred. But it has happened.”

Andrew Adonis is surprised how bad Brexit has been…

“Five years after the Brexit referendum … the most surprising thing for me is what a small political price the governing party has paid for the biggest blunder in modern history.”

…while Anton Spisak is surprised how little damage the Tories have suffered.

Essential reading

Andrew Grice, The Independent: Boris Johnson has no intention of uniting the country over Brexit

John Curtice, The Independent: The public is far from ready to ‘move on’ from the Brexit vote

Jane Green, The Guardian: The Batley and Spen by-election will reveal the depth of Labour’s predicament

Rachel Johnson, The Spectator: GB News will succeed – even if it fails

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