Brexit pangs
Brexit, once hailed as a grand natural experiment for economists to dissect the repercussions of leaving a low-friction trade environment, has proven messier than anticipated.
Brexit, once hailed as a grand natural experiment for economists to dissect the repercussions of leaving a low-friction trade environment, has proven messier than anticipated.
The light-touch checks under the grace period for supermarket products will expire at the end of September.
Rishi Sunak, the son-in-law of Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy and the MP from Richmond, Yorkshire, since 2015, was virtually unknown even a year ago. “Just five out of 1,191 named Rishi Sunak” in a poll conducted in December 2019 by Tim Bale, a professor of politics at the Queen Mary University.
Half a decade of the British cohabitating with their Continental cousins has now ended, launching the UK on a path of its own making, free from EU laws, able to strike trade agreements with other countries around the world, and reshape its economy, society and governance structures.
The UK was adamant throughout the negotiations that it be treated as a sovereign equal of the EU and have its independence respected. This was particularly important when it came to fishing rights – one of the last issues to be resolved.
The two have accused their government of “embarrassing” the UK by seeking the power to change the details of a treaty agreed last year with the EU. Happily for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the crisis may have blown over for now with his controversial bill having cleared its first parliamentary hurdle by winning the first House of Commons vote by 340 to 263 votes.
David Frost, the UK government's chief negotiator, and his EU counterpart Michel Barnier had a "useful review of the whole agenda before our talks" during informal Brexit discussions on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency quoted the spokesman as saying on Wednesday.
Mr Johnson has described as “absolutely absurd” suggestions that his government was sleeping at the wheel, even as the report highlighted that Russian intelligence views UK as one of its top targets.
The French leader's visit to London came on the 80th anniversary of a famous speech made by French Resistance leader Charles de Gaulle in a BBC radio broadcast directed at people in Nazi-occupied France.
During February and March, opportunities to suppress the spread of the infection by introducing travel restrictions and quarantine requirements were missed, allowing the infection to be brought into the UK on at least 1,300 occasions.
