Brexit news – live: EU may not turn up to trade talks as foreign aid cut to stay for ‘foreseeable future’
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Downing Street has admitted that it does not know if EU negotiator Michel Barnier will turn up for face-to-face Brexit trade talks which are due to resume tomorrow.
The admission came after reports suggested Mr Barnier was pulling out of the talks unless there is a major shift in the UK’s negotiating stance.
It came as Boris Johnson faced a growing backlash from senior Tories over plans to cut foreign aid from 0.7 per cent to 0.5 per cent of gross national income (GNI) - a cut which would account for more than £4bn.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak said in Wednesday's Spending Review that the plans were needed to repair the economy following the coronavirus crisis.
Former foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt and ex-prime minister David Cameron were among those who criticised the proposal, while Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said it was “shameful and wrong” to remove support to some of the world’s poorest people during the pandemic.
And the prime minister risked further antagonising Tory MPs and much of England as the government announced nearly every part of the country would be subject to Tier 2 and Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions upon exiting lockdown.
Cut in foreign aid is temporary, foreign secretary says
Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, has said the government has decided to move to a target of spending 0.5 per cent of national income on foreign aid “as a temporary measure”, and that spending will return to 0.7 per cent when the economic pressures subside.
He said next year’s budget will be prioritised to fight the climate crisis in poor and emerging countries, promote measures to tackle Covid, prioritise girls’ education, focus on resolving conflicts and improve delivery of aid.
Brexit: Time running out to find side-deal on Gibraltar, says Spain
Time is running out to forge a post-Brexit agreement between the UK and Spain over Gibraltar, the Spanish government has warned.
Officials in both countries are hoping to agree a last-minute bilateral deal aimed at making the Brexit process less damaging for citizens in Gibraltar when the transition period ends on 31 December.
Spain’s proposed side-deal aims to preserve some free movement for people coming across the Gibraltan border each day to work in the EU.
Adam Forrest reports:
Time running out to find Brexit side-deal on Gibraltar, says Spain
Warning comes as freight chiefs say prices to deliver goods to UK from EU already rising
Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill has said under the Conservatives, foreign aid has been “diverted away from the world’s poorest” and “squandered on vanity projects”.
She said the government has gone back on its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of the budget on foreign aid. She calls on the government to stop the cut in foreign aid from happening.
Mr Raab has said the government will maintain its commitment to pledges including supporting girls’ education and fighting the climate crisis. He added that the budget will remain in place for this year and that “difficult decisions must be made”.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has refused to commit to a proposal by Tory MP Tom Tugendhat to include a sunset clause on the cuts for foreign aid spending.
Two Tory MPs so far have said they will not vote in favour of the government’s new tiered coronavirus restrictions:
Raab confirms new legislation will be needed to cut foreign aid
New legislation will be needed to reduce the UK's 0.7 per cent foreign aid target, giving MPs an opportunity to vote on the proposal, Dominic Raab has confirmed.
The foreign secretary told the Commons: “The relevant legislation, the International Development (Official Development Assistance Target) Act 2015, envisages circumstances in which the 0.7 per cent target may not be met in particular in the context of economic pressures.
“The Act provides for accountability to parliament in that event and I will of course report to the House in the proper way.
“Equally given the requirements of the Act and the fact that we can't at this moment predict with certainty when the current financial circumstances will have sufficiently improved, and our need to plan accordingly, we will need to bring forward legislation in due course."
Mr Raab added that the proposed Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy would be a chance to re-evaluate the UK's aid priorities.
“With that review, we are setting the long-term strategic aims of our international work based on our values and grounded in the British national interests,” he said.
The minister also said his priorities for aid spending would be tackling climate change and Covid-19, girls education, conflict resolution and expanding in-house management of aid delivery “in order to increase the impact that our policy interventions have on the ground”.
The graph below from Statista shows how well the UK has done with meeting the 0.7 per cent of GNI target for foreign aid spending set by the UN General Assembly in 1970.
Another senior Tory says he will vote against new tiered coronavirus restrictions
Senior Tory MP Sir Graham Brady has said he will vote against the new tiered coronavirus restrictions which are set to go before the Commons next week.
Sir Graham, the chairman of the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs, told BBC Radio 4’s World At One that he could not support the “authoritarian” measures.
“I have severe reservations on so many different levels,” he said.
“I do think that the policies have been far too authoritarian. I think they have interfered in people's private and personal lives in a way which is unacceptable.”
Almost 99 per cent of England’s population will go into tougher Covid tiers next week
The new coronavirus tiered restrictions are notably tougher than the ones put forward in October, with almost every area in the country in either Tier 2 or Tier 3.
The stricter rules have also sparked an angry backlash from some Tory MPs who believe the measures are too stringent following this month’s national lockdown.
Our political editor, Andrew Woodcock, has the full story below:
Almost 99% of England’s population will go into tougher Covid tiers next week
Fewer than 750,000 people in Cornwall, the Isle of Wight and Scilly Isles placed in ‘medium level’ tier 1
Johnson selects former Treasury official as new chief of staff
Boris Johnson has appointed Dan Rosenfield, a former Treasury official who works for advisory firm Hakluyt, as his chief of staff from 7 December.
As the BBC’s Laura Kuennsberg notes, Mr Rosenfield previously worked for former chancellors George Osborne and Alistair Darling.
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