Connect with us

News

UK explores fourth delay to imposing checks on EU imports

Published

on

UK explores fourth delay to imposing checks on EU imports

Downing Avenue is exploring yet one more delay to post-Brexit border checks on items getting into Britain from the EU to forestall what trade has warned can be a provide chain catastrophe.

Ministers are contemplating whether or not to push again for the fourth time the introduction of full checks on imports from the EU, which have been supposed to come back into impact on July 1, as a part of a drive to deal with commerce friction and the disaster in the price of dwelling, officers briefed on discussions stated.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, Brexit alternatives minister, argued at a personal assembly this week that one benefit of leaving the EU can be to permit Britain to use solely free checks on imports. Items arriving from the EU are usually not topic to security and safety declarations, whereas meals and plant merchandise are usually not bodily checked.

Senior figures in Quantity 10 are “sympathetic” to the concept of additional delays past July for the brand new checks, in line with the officers.

Boris Johnson, the prime minister, has not but made a agency determination however is being urged to increase the “grace interval” for EU imports by Rees-Mogg and former Brexit minister Lord David Frost.

Advertisement

“Ministers are taking a look at this once more within the mild of value of dwelling pressures and provide chain pressures. The warfare in Ukraine has additionally modified the financial context,” stated one aide, including that Britain had managed with out checks for the previous few many years.

British exports to the EU have been subjected to the complete panoply of EU border checks for the reason that first day of Brexit in January 2020 — whereas imports from European opponents have loved a far smoother entry into the UK.

Checks have been first delayed in June 2020, adopted by additional deadline extensions in March 2021 and once more in September 2021.

Shane Brennan, chief government of the Chilly Chain Federation, stated imposing full veterinary controls on meals imports from the EU would result in “a collapse in provides” for UK companies that relied on frequent deliveries of small volumes of recent meals merchandise from the EU.

“Given the continuing inflationary prices and provide chain stress, an extra delay is sensible, even when it entrenches the continuing unfairness between the expertise of EU importers and UK exporters,” he stated.

Advertisement

James Withers, chief government of Scotland Meals and Drink, stated any determination to delay would anger many exporters. “There’s a logic given the ripples within the provide chain created by the Ukraine disaster, however there’s little question this may stick within the throat of loads of exporters who are actually 15 months into navigating a tsunami of paperwork that our EU opponents are usually not going through,” he stated.

Nonetheless, the Meals and Drink Federation, the UK’s principal commerce physique for meals processors, stated that whereas full controls have been necessary in the long run, the disaster in Ukraine — which is especially hurting provides of wheat, sunflower oil and white fish — justified a delay.

Britain’s commerce efficiency has recovered from the pandemic way more slowly than equal developed economies.

The Workplace for Finances Duty, the impartial fiscal watchdog, final week held to its assumption that “leaving the EU will end result within the UK’s whole imports and exports being 15 per cent decrease than had the UK remained a member state”.

One individual near Rees-Mogg stated that the “self-imposed prices” have been out of proportion with the dangers on the bottom. “At a time of excessive and rising inflation and provide chain difficulties, we should always not introduce burdensome checks that can impose prices on ourselves, on companies and customers,” he stated.

Advertisement

His place echoes that of Frost, who said final month: “We’ve got to place up with EU controls. However . . . we should always have a light-touch border to the entire world. That’s a Brexit alternative.”

Rees-Mogg has urged fellow ministers to await the conclusions of presidency plans to digitise border processes to create “the best border on the earth” by 2025, which he now has duty for.

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

Israel marks anniversary of Hamas attack as conflict escalates

Published

on

Israel marks anniversary of Hamas attack as conflict escalates

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Israelis on Monday marked the first anniversary of Hamas’s deadly October 7 attack, which ignited a devastating war in Gaza that has spiralled into a multi-front conflict and threatens to destabilise the entire region.

In the year since, the fighting has spread across the Middle East, with Israeli forces exchanging fire with militants in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, launching a ferocious bombing campaign and ground offensive in Lebanon and on the verge of a broader conflict with Iran.

The violence continued on Monday, with Israel bombing targets across Gaza to thwart what the military said was an “immediate” threat of rocket fire, and launching further strikes against the Hizbollah militant group in southern Lebanon.

Advertisement

Ceremonies in southern Israel marking the anniversary of Hamas’s attack began at 6.29am, the same time that the group launched its assault last year. Israeli President Isaac Herzog laid a wreath at the site of the Nova music festival in Re’im, one of the centres of Hamas’s onslaught.

“This is a scar on humanity,” he said. “This is a scar on the face of the earth.”

Two minutes into the ceremony, Hamas fired four rockets at Israel from Gaza. The rockets were intercepted but sent participants at the vigil in Kfar Aza, one of the kibbutzim attacked by Hamas last year, into shelters. Later on Monday, rockets fired from Gaza set off sirens in Tel Aviv.

Other vigils and events are due to be held throughout the country on Monday.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog attends a memorial service in Re’im © Alexi J Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Hamas’s October 7 attack was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, with its militants killing 1,200 people, according to Israeli officials, and taking a further 250 people hostage.

Advertisement

More than 100 people are still being held in Gaza, although Israeli officials have said that not all are believed to be alive. Relatives of hostages holding pictures of their loved ones gathered on Monday outside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s home in Jerusalem, where they held a minute’s silence.

In response to Hamas’s attack, Israel launched a massive assault on Gaza, which has killed almost 42,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, displaced most of its 2.3mn inhabitants and fuelled a humanitarian catastrophe in the enclave.

On Sunday, Israeli forces launched a fresh offensive in Jabalia, bombarding and then encircling the neighbourhood in northern Gaza, with officials saying Hamas was regrouping in the area, where Israel has carried out several large operations throughout the war.

Despite the uptick in fighting in Gaza, in recent weeks, Israel has increasingly focused its forces on its border with Lebanon, where it has been trading fire with Hizbollah since the militant group began launching rockets at Israel in support of Hamas last October.

Flames and smoke rise from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut, Lebanon
Smoke rises in Beirut following an Israeli air strike on Sunday night © Bilal Hussein/AP

Last week, Israel began a ground offensive against Hizbollah, following a devastating bombing campaign that has decimated the group’s chain of command — including killing its leader Hassan Nasrallah — left more than 1,000 people dead and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Overnight, Israeli forces bombed more targets in Beirut, following a round of strikes on Sunday that data from Acled, which has been mapping the attacks, suggested was the most intense night in Israel’s two-week air campaign.

Advertisement

In an indication that Israel was also stepping up its ground offensive in Lebanon, the Israeli military said on Monday that soldiers from a third division — the 91st — had joined the fighting.

Meanwhile, Israeli paramedics said they had treated 10 people for injuries and anxiety after rockets launched from Lebanon landed in Haifa and Tiberias on Sunday night.

The spiralling hostilities have also drawn in Iran, which last week launched 180 ballistic missiles at Israel in a barrage that it said was a response to Nasrallah’s assassination and the killing of Hamas’s political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran in July.

Netanyahu has vowed retaliation for the missile attack, and the country’s defence minister, Yoav Gallant, said on Sunday that the response would come “in the manner of our choosing, at the time and place of our choosing”.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Hurricane Milton 2 AM Update

Published

on

Hurricane Milton 2 AM Update

SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) – The National Hurricane Center’s latest cone shows Milton’s track has stayed on course.

Here is what is new from the update: The 2 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center reports Milton continues to intensify. It has the center of Hurricane Milton moving to the east at 6 mph. Sustained wind speeds remain at 90 mph and the pressure has dropped by 2 mb to 975 mb.

The track remains nearly the same, but the satellite view shows the eye beginning to develop. Milton is expected to become a category 4 storm in the far Gulf waters before running into shear. That should weaken it to a category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall on the west coast of Florida on Wednesday, as a major hurricane capable of life-threatening impacts.

Milton Satellite 2 AM(station)

All preparations should be completed no later than Tuesday afternoon.

Areas of heavy rain will impact Florida in advance of the storm’s arrival. Hazards include storm surge, dangerous winds, heavy rains, possible tornadoes, and more.

Advertisement

Expect watches and warning to be issued for Florida later today. Mandatory evacuations will begin after 2 p.m. for level A and B in Manatee County, level A in Sarasota County, and all mobile homes and recreational vehicles in both counties.

Continue Reading

News

Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas attacks

Published

on

Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas attacks

This article is an on-site version of our The Week Ahead newsletter. Subscribers can sign up here to get the newsletter delivered every Sunday. Explore all of our newsletters here

Hello and welcome to the working week.

It is going to be a difficult start to the next seven days for many as Israel marks the first anniversary of the Hamas attacks when more than 1,200 people were killed and 251 people were taken hostage. Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and military leaders hit back and the conflict has escalated over the past 12 months.

But on Monday, people will stop to remember. Thousands of Israelis are expected to pay their respects at the Nova Music Festival memorial, the location of a rave where Hamas killed 364 and kidnapped 44 partygoers and staff a year ago. Others will travel to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, where families and supporters have campaigned for the release of those taken. Memorials will be held in various communities that lost neighbours and relatives in the attacks, notably Kibbutz Be’eri, where more than 100 people were killed and 32 taken hostage.

On a more uplifting track, this week will bring rolling announcements on the winners of this year’s six Nobel Prizes. Given the war in the Middle East and beyond, interest in the Peace Prize, announced on Friday, is likely to be high.

Advertisement

The corporate world takes up a lot of the news diary slack this week as we find ourselves deep in the earnings season. The big moment will be the Wall Street banks, which begin reporting on Friday. I’m not sure they will be mentioning this, but I’d recommend reading the excellent analysis of the rise of secretive trading firms such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities by US banking editor Joshua Franklin.

And then there is the long-awaited Robotaxi launch event by Tesla in Los Angeles on Thursday. What will they cost? When will they be ready to hit the streets? And does this mean Tesla owners can list their cars to be used for ride-hailing? All important questions.

Economic data is on the thin side this week, with US and German inflation figures and a UK monthly GDP estimate about the best of it. More details below.

One more thing . . . 

The matter of Parkrun is also a cause of division, but thank you to everyone who got in contact about it to share your passion for getting your running shoes on or about other group outdoor pursuits. Saturday will bring an outdoor event I could get into: The Peckham Conker Championships. Organisers are promising a 22-carat golden conker — I think it may be spray painted — but it does sound fun.

I’m interested in your priorities for the week ahead. Drop me a line at jonathan.moules@ft.com or, if you are reading this from your inbox, hit reply. And have a good week.

Advertisement

Key economic and company reports

Here is a more complete list of what to expect in terms of company reports and economic data this week.

Monday

  • Germany: August manufacturing, new orders and sales index

  • UK: Halifax House Price Index

  • Results: Ferrexpo Q3 production report, Grainger trading statement, Repsol trading statement, Shell Q3 quarterly update

Tuesday

  • October Prime Day, a global ecommerce shopping event by Amazon, offering deals to its Prime members in 19 countries

  • Germany: August industrial production index

  • UK: British Retail Consortium-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor

  • Results: Imperial Brands pre-close trading update, OMV Q3 trading update, PepsiCo Q3, S&U HY, Unite Group trading update, XP Power Q3 trading update

Wednesday

  • Witan Investment Trust hold a second general meeting of shareholders to vote on the proposed winding-up of the company and combination with Alliance Trust. If approved, the deal is expected to complete shortly after the meeting by means of a voluntary liquidation of the company and combination of the two companies to create Alliance Witan

  • US: Federal Open Market Committee meeting minutes published

  • Results: CMC Markets HY pre-close trading update, Marston’s trading update

Thursday

  • Tesla due to unveil its Robotaxi, a launch event postponed, according to post on X (formerly Twitter) by chief executive Elon Musk, because of a design change

  • UK: Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors Residential Market Survey

  • US: September consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate data

  • Results: Delta Air Lines Q3, Domino’s Pizza Q3, Fast Retailing FY, Liontrust Asset Management HY trading update, Seven & i Holdings Q2, Tata Consultancy Services Q2, Treatt FY trading update, Volution Group FY

Friday

  • Germany: final September CPI and Harmonized Consumer Price Index inflation rate measures

  • UK: August GDP estimate

  • US: September producer price index (PPI) inflation rate data. Plus, University of Michigan consumer sentiment index

  • Results: Bank of New York Mellon Q3, BlackRock Q3, Hays Q1 trading update, JPMorgan Chase Q3, Jupiter Fund Management Q3 trading update, Wells Fargo Q3

World events

Finally, here is a rundown of other events and milestones this week.

Monday

  • Israel: first anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Israel that caused more than 1,200 deaths with hundreds taken hostage

  • Laos: Asean Business and Investment Summit bringing together more than 1,000 CEOs and senior executives with world leaders begins, running alongside the Asean Summit

  • Philippines: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol meets President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for bilateral talks in Manila. The two are expected to sign an agreement and issue joint statements after the meeting

  • Sweden: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine announced, the first of several science prizes that will be given out over the coming todays. Tomorrow is physics, followed by chemistry on Wednesday

Tuesday

  • Luxembourg: Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) meeting of EU finance ministers.

  • UK: Alexander Darwall and his wife Diana Darwall bring an appeal against the decision of the UK Court of Appeal that the Dartmoor National Park Authority can allow wild camping in the national park. The Darwalls own the 4,000-acre Blachford Estate in Dartmoor and previously won a High Court case ruling that there was no right to wild camp on Dartmoor without the landowner’s permission. The Court of Appeal overturned that decision

  • US: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump participates in a town hall presented by Spanish-language network Univision

Wednesday

  • 150th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union under the Treaty of Bern, which unified a complex maze of postal services and regulations into a single postal territory and allowed for the growth of global post deliveries

  • Mozambique: presidential and parliamentary elections

  • UK: Conservative MPs start voting to determine the final two candidates vying to become the party’s next leader, after Rishi Sunak announced his resignation in the wake of the party’s heavy general election defeat. The outcome is announced tomorrow. Party members will then vote on these two options

Thursday

  • World Mental Health Day, raising public awareness about mental health issues

  • Sweden: Nobel Prize for Literature announced

  • UK: Unleashed, a memoir of former prime minister Boris Johnson, is published. The pre-publication publicity promises revelations on campaigning for Brexit, how he nearly died from Covid-19, bikes, buses and the London Olympics

  • US: President Joe Biden begins trip to Germany and Angola

  • US: Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris participates in a town hall presented by Spanish-language network Univision

Friday

  • Greece: government due to present a revised national climate plan, with more ambitious targets for the share of renewable power in its electricity mix and lower carbon emissions

  • Sweden: Nobel Peace Prize winner announced

Saturday

  • Spain: National Day, aka Dia de la Hispanidad, commemorating the day in 1492 when Christopher Columbus caught sight of the New World. Includes annual military parade in Madrid

  • UK: Peckham’s annual conker championship returns

Sunday

  • China: publishes September CPI and PPI inflation rate figures

  • Lithuania: parliamentary elections

  • UK: Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s first 100 days in office

  • US: John Donahoe retires as Nike president and chief executive. Elliott Hill succeeds him tomorrow

Recommended newsletters for you

Inside Politics — What you need to know in UK politics. Sign up here

US Election countdown — Money and politics in the race for the White House. Sign up here

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Trending