Tuesday, February 18

Day: January 23, 2020

EU threatens UK with sanctions
Featured, United Kingdom

EU threatens UK with sanctions

    The EU has warned Boris Johnson of “sanctions” if he fails to implement controversial goods checks in the Irish Sea after Brexit, opening up a fresh potential clash with the UK. Brussels will “not tolerate any backsliding or half measures”, the senior adviser to chief negotiator Michel Barnier said – after the prime minister repeatedly claimed checks would not be necessary. Stefaan De Rynck insisted the inspections were a joint legal agreement, as the price for Britain but not Northern Ireland – breaking free of the single market and customs union. “2020 will not just be about the future relationship, but also about implementing the withdrawal agreement  notably the Northern Irish protocol,” he told an event in London. “We will have to be extremely disciplined to ...
EU deal puts London at risk of rule-taking
Featured, United Kingdom

EU deal puts London at risk of rule-taking

    The system that would allow British financial firms to access the EU’s markets after Brexit could lead to indirect rule-taking by the UK, a City of London lobby group has warned. Negotiations over the post-Brexit relationship with the EU will require the UK to decide whether it will change its regulatory regime before or after it asks the bloc for so-called equivalence, the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) argued in its latest report. While seemingly technocratic exercises, decisions concerning equivalence can be politicised or otherwise linked to extraneous factors, the IRSG’s report, to be published on Thursday, reads. Maintaining equivalence with the EU in certain areas could lead to a form of indirect rule-taking by the UK. The calls follow a warn...