Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has said Londoners who are “heartbroken” over Brexit should be allowed to keep their EU citizenship – claiming “associate” citizenship could give them the right to move freely between EU member states.
Boris Johnson’s chief negotiator David Frost has revived the threat of a no-deal crash-out at the end of the Brexit transition period, saying the UK was prepared to accept an “Australia-style” trade arrangements with the EU if Brussels continue to insist on “level playing field” rules.
It comes as Tory minister Kwasi Kwarteng broke with No 10 and demanded changes to the way Downing Street recruits staff after adviser Andrew Sabisky was forced to resign because of his “reprehensible” views on eugenics, race and enforced contraception.
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Tory MP ‘disappointed’ in No 10 silence over Sabisky’s views
Caroline Nokes, chairwoman of the Commons Women and Equalities Committee, said she was “relieved” Andrew Sabisky had resigned from No 10 – but criticised Downing Street’s silence over his “abhorrent” views.
The Tory MP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I was disappointed that yesterday there was silence from Downing Street regarding his previous comments and it does seem that when the call went out for misfits and weirdos that was exactly what Downing Street got.”
She added: “I think he needed to come out earlier and explain himself, he needed to apologise for those comments and unfortunately we had 48 hours of almost complete silence and no comment from Downing Street, who could have distanced themselves from his youthful comments at any point, but they chose not to do so.”
Nokes also said: “I think you want to have exciting ideas and energy around policy-making in Downing Street, what you don’t want is racism, sexism and the sort of abhorrent ideas that were present in this young man’s tweets.”
On the handling of the appointment by No 10, she said: “I think it’s important that we have the highest standards of integrity in Downing Street, that the bar be set very high, not low, and I’m disappointed that it took this long for either this young man to resign or for Downing Street to take action.”
UK will get Canada-style free trade deal ‘with a bit of luck’, says ex-Brexit department official
Philip Rycroft, former permanent secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union from 2017 to 2019, said comments by Boris Johnson chief Brexit negotiator will be seen as a “hardening of the government’s position”.
David Frost used a major speech in Brussels on Monday to state that Britain will not accept EU supervision to create a “level playing field”.
Rycroft, a strategic partner at Flint Global, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think what David was doing last night is explaining the government’s interpretation of that (level playing field), and some people will see that as a hardening of the government’s position.”
Rycroft said the UK government “will stick to its guns” over dynamic alignment.
He said: “We’re heading towards a basic Canada-style agreement, there’s been no doubt about that for some months now.
“With a bit of luck and a following wind, it may be zero tariff and zero quota, but there will be regulatory barriers to trade and so the conditions for doing business between the UK and the EU will change.”
On the EU’s stance, he added: “Their big concern is the UK getting what they would see as an unfair competitive advantage over businesses in the EU.
“So while they may allow access similar to the Canadian or indeed the Japan deal, the conditionalities on that are likely to be tougher, the UK is a bigger trading partner right on their doorstep.”
Cummings taunts pundits with ‘superforecasting’ tip
Asked if he regretted the appointment of Andrew Sabisky, the No 10 “super forecaster” who resigned on Monday, Dominic Cummings told reporters: “Read Philip Tetlock’s ‘Superforecasting’ instead of political pundits who don’t know what they are talking about.”
The blurb for the Tetlock book Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction says it draws upon “decades of research and the results of a massive, government-funded forecasting tournament”.
Racists must not be allowed to enter No 10, minister says
A minister has suggested Dominic Cummings’ power to recruit No 10 staff needs to be challenged after adviser Andrew Sabisky was forced to resign.
Kwasi Kwarteng broke with Boris Johnson – who has thus far refused to condemn the departing aide – by branding his past comments “racist”, “offensive” and “reprehensible”.
Calling for an overhaul of recruitment, Kwarteng said: “I think we should prevent racists from coming into No10 or wherever he was working. I think we do need to look at these processes.”
On Sabisky’s past writings, Kwarteng said: “It was completely reprehensible – they were racist remarks.”
Labour says PM still has ‘questions to answer’ after adviser quits
A controversial Downing Street aide who suggested black people were mentally inferior has resigned from his post.
Andrew Sabisky announced he was quitting his role as a contractor for No 10 following a major backlash over his past comments on eugenics, race and the enforced uptake of contraception.
He tweeted: “I know this will disappoint a lot of ppl [sic] but I signed up to do real work, not be in the middle of a giant character assassination: if I can’t do the work properly there’s no point, and I have a lot of other things to do w/ [sic] my life.”
Labour party chairman Ian Lavery welcomed his resignation but said Boris Johnson had questions to answer on the appointment and whether he agreed with Sabisky’s ”vile views”.
He said: “It’s right that Andrew Sabisky is no longer working in government. He should never have been appointed in the first place.
“After No 10 publicly stood by him … Boris Johnson has serious questions to answer about how this appointment was made and whether he agrees with his vile views.”
UK won’t take rules from EU, No 10 negotiator insists
Boris Johnson’s chief negotiator said the UK must be able to set its own laws as the battle with the EU over the future trading relationship begins in earnest.
David Frost told an audience in Brussels that anyone who believes Britain could abide by the bloc’s rules “fails to see the point of what we are doing” – reviving the threat to walk away if the EU insists on so-called level playing field issues on workers’ rights and the environment.
“It is central to our vision that we must have the ability to set laws that suit us – to claim the right that every other non-EU country in the world has,” he said.
“So to think that we might accept EU supervision on so called level playing field issues simply fails to see the point of what we are doing.”
Sadiq Khan: Let Londoners keep EU citizenship
Londoners who are “heartbroken” over Brexit should be allowed to keep their EU citizenship, Sadiq Khan has suggested.
Ahead of a visit to Brussels on Tuesday, the Mayor of London urged the government to allow all British nationals to have “associate citizenship” of the EU. This would allow British citizens to keep many of the rights they held before Brexit, including the right to move freely between EU member states.
Khan said: “Like so many Londoners, I am heartbroken that we are no longer a member of the European Union, but that doesn’t mean our country’s future can’t be closely linked with the rest of Europe.
“The prime minister says his job is to bring the country together and move us forward and I cannot think of a better way of reconciling the differences between British voters who wanted to leave, and the millions of Londoners and British nationals who still feel and want to be European.
“There would be support from millions of Londoners and British nationals who are devastated they are losing their rights as EU citizens.”
“As the UK and EU start their next phase of negotiations, I want this issue of associate citizenship to be at the heart of talks about our future relationship.”
Khan will meet the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, and the president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, during Tuesday’s visit to the Belgium capital.
The idea of European citizenship has been backed by the former chairman of the European Parliament’s Brexit steering group, Guy Verhofstadt.
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