Dublin has warned the UK not to break international law over the Northern Ireland Protocol as Liz Truss prepares to unveil legislation to allow the Government to unilaterally tear up post-Brexit border rules.
Simon Coveney, Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister, said he had told Ms Truss, the Foreign Secretary, during a phone call last night that “breaking international law is not the answer to solving Protocol issues”.
Mr Coveney said it is “time to get back to the table” and refocus efforts on negotiating a joint solution to border problems.
Brussels has warned the UK could be in breach of the law if it proceeds with unilateral action and it has also said such action could trigger a trade war. The UK has insisted that any proposals it brings forward will comply with the law.
Ms Truss is expected to set out at lunchtime the Government's plans for a new law which would allow ministers to suspend parts of the protocol without having to seek the permission of the EU.
The UK has stressed its preference is still to agree a solution with Brussels but the Government is increasingly frustrated by the bloc's refusal to give more ground during talks.
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Marks & Spencer chairman Archie Norman was asked if the current border rules are hampering his company's supplies to Northern Ireland.
He told the BBC's Radio 4 Today programme: "No, at the moment we are pretty much okay in Northern Ireland. It is costing more money but, to give you some idea, it takes an hour to prepare the documentation to get into Northern Ireland, eight hours to get into Dublin.
"But the EU proposal is that we should have to do the same background checks to go into Northern Ireland, with the same vets, incidentally that means every piece of butter in a sandwich has to have an EU vet certificate, so it is highly bureaucratic and pretty pointless."
Mr Norman said an EU proposal to label all goods from Great Britain as being only for consumption in the UK to allow Brussels to keep track of any that appear in the bloc would cost M&S about ￡9 million a year and it would be "impossible for small producers to implement".
Archie Norman, the chairman of Marks & Spencer, said EU plans relating to border checks in Northern Ireland could make it "impossible" for small companies to export there.
He told the BBC: "At the moment in Northern Ireland we have got what is called an easement so the controls aren't the same but the EU are looking for us to impose comparable controls for Northern Ireland and were that to happen it would mean that quite a lot of products from the UK simply wouldn't get to Northern Ireland and what does go there would be very, very costly.
"Marks & Spencer is a big company, we can make almost anything work, however bureaucratic, but for the small artisan cheesemaker or cake baker and so on it would simply be impossible to export anymore."
Archie Norman, the chairman of Marks & Spencer, has given an insight into the impact on the ground of EU customs and border checks on the island of Ireland.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Marks & Spencer is very much in the frontline of this problem because we had a business in France, exporting into France, we have had to close that because of the customs rules.
"We have a big business in the Republic of Ireland which we very much want to continue but it is proving very, very tough to make it work so at the moment wagons arriving in the Republic of Ireland have to carry 700 pages of documentation, it takes eight hours to prepare the documentation, some of the descriptors, particularly of animal product, have to be written in Latin... we employ 13 vets in Motherwell to prepare it all, it takes 30 per cent more driver time.
"So it is very, very onerous and costs about ￡30 million."
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said the EU's position on implementing the Northern Ireland Protocol "isn't sustainable".
He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “We agreed a protocol that says in its running paper very clearly its vision is: it won’t disturb people’s everyday lives and their communities, it will respect all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement, respect the UK internal market and state functions as well as the EU single market.
“The implementation the EU wants to put in place breaches four of those things straight off the bat, and that is just something that isn’t sustainable.
“We have got to ensure that products moving within the UK can do so freely and ensure that goods that are moving into the EU via Ireland are properly dealt with, but not products that are staying within the UK.”
Jonathan Ashworth, Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary, said falling wages (see the post below at 09.25) combined with other pressures mean families are facing a "cost of living tsunami".
He said: "Real wages have now fallen to almost ￡300 lower than they were 15 years ago. Alongside a decade of the Conservatives’ failure to grow the economy, their punishing tax rises, surging inflation and real terms cut to support mean people across the country are facing a cost of living tsunami.
“By refusing to take action on the cost of living through an emergency Budget, Rishi Sunak has shown once again the Tories simply aren't on the side of working people."
Christine Jardine, the Liberal Democrats' spokeswoman, said ONS figures showing falling wages (see the post below at 09.25) confirm "families are facing a cost of living nightmare, with wages failing to keep up with soaring energy bills and food prices".
She said: "It is the worst possible time to be raising taxes on struggling families, yet still the Chancellor is ploughing ahead.
"Rishi Sunak has cashed in billions of pounds in extra VAT receipts this year as prices go through the roof. He needs to put some of this money back into people's pockets through an emergency tax cut, instead of cashing in on their misery. Slashing VAT would cut prices, reduce inflation and boost spending, it should be a no brainer."
Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, has responded to the ONS figures on unemployment (see the post below at 09.25).
He said: "The unprecedented support we provided through our Plan for Jobs has led to the jobs market remaining robust despite global challenges, with the unemployment rate near record-lows and the number of payrolled employees at a record high.
“I understand that these are anxious times for people, but it’s reassuring that fewer people are out of work than was previously feared, and we are helping them to keep more of their hard-earned money through tax cuts, changes to Universal Credit and support with household bills worth ￡22 billion this financial year.”
Britain’s jobless rate has fallen to its lowest level for over 47 years but workers have seen their pay fall further behind rocketing inflation, according to official figures.
The rate of unemployment dropped to 3.7 per cent in the three months to March – the lowest since October to December 1974, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.
For the first time, there were fewer unemployed people than job vacancies, although the fall in the rate – down from 3.8 per cent in the three months to February – was also due to a rise in the number of people dropping out of the jobs market, the figures showed.
Meanwhile, regular pay excluding bonuses dropped by 2.9 per cent in March when taking Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation into account – the biggest fall since November 2011.
Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow work and pensions secretary, has urged the Government to “proceed cautiously and delicately” as it tries to resolve issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Mr Ashworth said the UK must avoid a trade war with Brussels - something which unilateral action to change post-Brexit border rules could trigger.
He told Sky News: “I would be cautious about engaging in a trade war with our trading partners but clearly the protocol needs to be improved.
“If you are a sandwich manufacturer in Leicester… there is some bureaucracy if you want to send your sandwiches over to Northern Ireland.
“So obviously these things need to be looked at but we have to proceed cautiously and delicately. We don’t want a trade war with our trading partners.”
Andrew Bailey, the Governor of the Bank of England, yesterday warned of “apocalyptic” global food price rises (you can read the full story here).
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, was asked what his reaction was to Mr Bailey using such a dramatic word.
He said: “I think it does outline what they obviously recognise and they see as a challenge for the future.
“As I say, I was somewhat surprised to see that particular turn of phrase because obviously we can all see that prices can move.
“We have seen over the last few months prices can move one way or another relatively speedily. But we will be doing what we can to put that support in there, as I say, for people across the country.”
Liam Fox, the senior Tory MP and former Cabinet minister, has called for the Treasury Select Committee to launch an investigation into why the Bank of England has consistently underestimated rising inflation.
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, was asked during an interview on Sky News if he would support such an investigation but he would not be drawn.
He said: "The Bank of England is quite rightly independent, it will remain independent. What the Treasury Select Committee does is a matter for them to look at, committees look at a whole range of things so I am not going to comment on the independence of the Bank of England.
"What I would say is that of course we are seeing a pressure on inflation around the world, we are still in the UK below the US, pretty much in line with what we are seeing across Europe, actually slightly below Europe as a whole."
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said the EU's approach to enforcing post-Brexit border rules in "not acceptable".
He told Sky News: “We have always said that we hold nothing off the table, we keep everything on the table to make sure that we can do what we need to do to ensure the people in Northern Ireland can have the same rights and access to goods as anybody else anywhere in the United Kingdom. “At the moment the EU are requiring these checks to be put onto goods that are not going into the EU.
“We absolutely respect and always will the need for checks for products that are moving into the EU but they are doing it for products at the moment, and they want to go further with products that are not moving into the EU. That just doesn’t work, it is not acceptable, we have challenges already.”
Brandon Lewis, the Northern Ireland Secretary, has confirmed that Liz Truss will be announcing the Government's Northern Ireland Protocol plans later today.
He said the UK's preference is to agree a negotiated settlement with the EU to improve the protocol but the Government is willing to work on its own if the bloc refuses to budge during talks.
He told Sky News: “What we have always said is that we will not take anything off the table. We will do what we need to do to ensure that products can move to Northern Ireland in the way they should be able to move to Northern Ireland from Great Britain as part of the United Kingdom internal market, something the protocol itself says it will respect but at the moment it is not working properly.
“We would like to do that by agreement with the EU but as I say, we reserve the right to do what we need to do to do the right thing for the people of Northern Ireland and the wider United Kingdom.”
Good morning and welcome to today's politics live blog.
It is a big day for Brexit in Westminster, with Liz Truss expected to unveil the Government's plans to fix problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The Foreign Secretary is due to set set out the details of a new law which will allow ministers to unilaterally suspend post-Brexit border rules in Northern Ireland.
The announcement is expected at lunchtime in the House of Commons and it is likely to spark a furious backlash from the EU.
I will guide you through the key developments: Up first is the best of Brandon Lewis who is on the broadcast round for the Government.
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