Brexit

[Uninformed]

Sport and Politics

The EU (Italy) just won against the Brits in the Euro 2020 soccer championship

Ha! We’re going to unilaterally retroactively and obviously righteously change the rules. We won, so there.

[jcolvin2]

[quote=RTH10260 post_id=30778 time=<a href="tel:1626041890">1626041890</a> user_id=66]
Sport and Politics

The EU (Italy) just won against the Brits in the Euro 2020 soccer championship

Ha! We’re going to unilaterally retroactively and obviously righteously change the rules. We won, so there.
[/quote]

Did the English penalty kickers diverge from EU standards?

[Uninformed]

Did the English penalty kickers diverge from EU standards?

The revised rules state that if the score is level at the end of extra time the side with the most players with English names wins. We won 14 - 2.

[RTH10260]

[Reality Check]

Sport and Politics

The EU (Italy) just won against the Brits in the Euro 2020 soccer championship

I found I was routing for Italy and was happy with the outcome. Blame it on Brexit.

[RTH10260]

cold turkey...

UK food worker shortages push prices up and risk Christmas turkey supplies

Dearth of delivery drivers, abattoir staff and fruit pickers caused by Covid and Brexit are fuelling wage rises with 5% hike in prices forecast

Sarah Butler
Sun 11 Jul 2021 12.05 BST

Food prices could rise by about 5% by the autumn – and turkeys and pigs in blankets could be in short supply this Christmas – as shortages of delivery drivers, abattoir staff and other workers drive up pay and other costs.

Industry insiders say that pay for lorry drivers and other supply chain workers, including abbatoir workers, plus vegetable and fruit pickers and packers have all risen because of difficulties in finding sufficient staff.

“There is a war for workers,” said Ian Wright, chief executive of the Food and Drink Federation, which represents hundreds of firms across the food supply chain. “The only way to get more HGV and logistics drivers is to put up pay.”

While that is good news for relatively low-paid workers, Wright said it would result in food prices rising around 5%. “In the second half of the year that is going to lead to increased prices for customers with food prices up by mid single digits,” he warned.



https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... y-supplies

[RTH10260]

Note: not all this is Brexit related
wait up to 3 years for dentist appointment

​Dentists warn of exodus from service, as access crisis deepens with 30m appointments missed
25 May 2021



The British Dental Association has urged government to set out a clear route map for reform and relaxation of COVID restrictions, as new survey data points to an exodus from the service as the access crisis continues with nearly 30 million appointments lost since the first lockdown.



According to a new survey of dentists in England:

Nearly half (47%) of dentists indicate they are now likely to change career or seek early retirement in the next 12 months should current COVID restrictions remain in place. The same proportion state they are likely to reduce their NHS commitment.

Working in high level PPE mandated under current infection control procedures is having a devastating impact on dentists’ morale, with nearly 9 in 10 (88%) indicating it is having a high impact on their morale. 78% cite financial uncertainty as having a high impact, and their inability to provide pre-COVID levels of care. Two thirds cite hitting NHS targets imposed by the Government on 1 January 2021. Since the new year the workforce report the highest levels of stress compared to any point since the onset of the pandemic.

Nearly two thirds of NHS dentists estimate they will not meet controversial imposed targets, where they will face penalties for not hitting 60% of pre-COVID activity levels. Those that have made progress have done so unsustainably. 62% say their practice had to invest in new ventilation equipment, without any government support, 41% say they were forced to refocus on routine over urgent appointments, with similar numbers saying they have reduced private work, or reduced or eliminated annual leave.

England remains the only UK nation where government has not committed to or embarked on exploratory work to provide capital funding for ventilation systems to enable practices to increase patient numbers while keeping to infection control restrictions. While securing new kit has been the number one strategy deployed by dentists to meet NHS activity targets, nearly 70% of practices say they now face financial barriers to further investment.

Nearly half of dentists (47%) lack confidence in terms of the business outlook for their practice should current standard operating procedures remain unchanged.


BDA analysis of Freedom of Information data indicates that nearly 70% of appointments – or 28 million courses of treatment – that would have been delivered in NHS services in England in the year from March 2020 have been missed. The BDA estimates by now the figure is likely to have exceeded 30 million. While numbers have increased MPs had expressed concern in January that the current interim system of targets would “prioritise volume over need” and indeed urgent treatment delivered has fallen since the new year.


https://bda.org/news-centre/press-relea ... issed.aspx

[RTH10260]

One company that moved part of its operations to the continent. From other sources I take it that at their main location 60 jobs were lost

New EU Warehouse – All you Need to Know
BRITISH CORNER SHOP 8:47 AM 18 COMMENTS
EU FAQs
Why have you opened a new distribution centre, and where is it?

Since Brexit was finalised we have successfully resolved several of the new challenges that have come our way. However, it has become clear that there are some logistical issues with shipping our products to EU countries that can only be overcome by having a base in Europe. For example, we have had to significantly reduce our EU product range due to new import regulations, and our delivery timescales for EU countries has also increased because of additional time needed for goods to pass through customs.

We are so excited about our new distribution centre in the Netherlands as it will allow us to resume the excellent service that our EU customers have become accustomed to.

What will be your dispatch times for EU orders?

We aim to dispatch all orders within 1-3 working days from the date that the order was placed. However, we kindly ask you to allow some extra time for your order to be dispatched whilst we perfect the EU ordering process. Please allow extra time for your order to be dispatched during peak times such as the lead up to Christmas. Just so you know, weekends and Bank holidays will not be classed as working days.

https://blog.britishcornershop.co.uk/20 ... d-to-know/

[RTH10260]

apple or oranges?

More Brexit Lies About a Pointless Trade in Apples This Time

A Different Bias
Published on 13 Jul 2021

In their desperation to put lipstick on the brexit pig, the government are now trying to claim that brexit is now allowing us to export apples to the India for the first time in half a century. Not only is this demonstrably not true, but thinking about what exactly is being claimed makes the situation look even dumber.

[RTH10260]

UK border posts in race to be ready for EU import checks
By Joe Whitworth on July 9, 2021
Concerns have been raised again that several border control posts in the United Kingdom may not be ready by January when checks on some imports from Europe are scheduled to come into force.

Physical checks on products of animal origin will begin in January 2022. Import declarations start in October this year while all checks should be in place by March 2022. These dates have already been pushed back by the UK government. Exports to the EU from Britain have been subject to controls since January 2021.

Gary Gould, chair at the Association of Port Health Authorities, said several border control posts have indicated they won’t be ready by Jan. 1.

“What is the plan should everything go pear-shaped and not be ready by Jan. 1 when controls are supposed to be introduced? Our view is that all border control posts should be operational at the same time so if one is not ready, all are not ready, otherwise there would be an impact on trade flows and various other problems as well,” he told attendees at the recent Chartered Institute of Environmental Health’s food safety conference.

A lot still unclear

Port health authorities operate on a cost recovery basis as they charge for the checks undertaken which then funds their operation.

“Unfortunately, if you introduce controls at some point you need to recruit staff before and they need to be trained, so you need some funding to pay for them while they are going through that process and before the controls start and you get the money coming in. Port health authorities are still waiting for direction on what charges can be made. For example, whether to charge from October for documentary screening or will it wait until January when full controls are applied?” said Gould.

He said port health authorities do not record what the volume of trade is, but they need to know how much high risk food is coming through so they can staff border control posts appropriately.

“There is a requirement for veterinary oversight for products of animal origin but does that mean they are present at all times in the border control post when it is operational, should they supervise the checking of documents? Or will there be more flexibility? Those decisions are still waited for. Are there enough environmental health practitioners (EHPs) or vets to go around all the port health authorities? It is well known there is a shortage of EHPs.”

[RTH10260]

a vlogger commenting on above

[RTH10260]

Spanish woman in UK for 44 years sacked over post-Brexit rules
Employee in care home, who arrived as an 11-month-old, unable to prove she has right to work in Britain

Amelia Gentleman
Mon 19 Jul 2021 07.00 BST

A Spanish woman who has lived in England for 44 years has been sacked from her job in a care home because she is unable to prove she has the right to work in the UK, in a case illustrating the difficulties experienced by EU nationals as employers grapple with post-Brexit right-to-work regulations.

The 45-year-old woman, who arrived in Britain as an 11-month-old baby and who has never left the country, said she has tried more than 100 times to get through to the Home Office-run helpline in the past three weeks, but has never been able to speak to an adviser.

She has applied for EU settled status, but her application is stuck somewhere in the backlog of over 500,000 cases the Home Office has yet to process. She is the main breadwinner, with two children to support, and said her dismissal has left her struggling to buy food.

Charities helping EU nationals say the case is not unique. “We’ve seen this time and again when people with pending EUSS applications were asked to take unpaid leave, or were turned down from employment,” Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of the Work Rights Centre, said.

The care worker was called in for a formal meeting with her employers, a large residential care organisation, on 28 June, when managers discovered that she had no documentation proving her right to work in the UK.

“They asked me to prove that I came into the UK legally – it was like they were accusing me of coming here on the back of a lorry, but I came here as a baby. They asked me whether I could provide evidence that I had the right to work in the UK; I’ve been paying tax and national insurance here for almost 30 years. I was very upset – there were lots of tears on my side,” she said. She asked for her name and the name of her employers not to be printed because she hopes to get her job back.

After the meeting, she applied for EU Settled Status on 30 June, just before the deadline for applications – but has never had a British or a Spanish passport.

As a result she was unable to fill in a digital application for EU settled status; instead she had to make a complicated paper-based application, and send in her birth certificate. She received a receipt of the application via email, but has not received the formal certificate that would allow her to continue working while waiting to be granted EU settled status.

On 2 July she was invited to a disciplinary meeting at work and fired after being told the organisation risked being fined if it continued to employ her.

She had been aware that she might need to apply for EU settled status, having seen government advertisements, but was unsure about how to apply because she had no passport; she has previously sought legal advice from immigration solicitors, but was quoted fees of £2,000 and could not afford it.



https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... exit-rules

[RTH10260]

Note to above content:
The British legislation for post-Brexit residency and work permits prohibits as of July 1 any company to employ foreign workers who cannot provide the correct documentation or the company will be fined with huge £££. This is valid even when a worker claims they have applied for the residency and work permit. But the UK government apparatus has been swamped with millions of applications from EU citizens and are unable to proess the paperwork in a timely manner. Looks like they are seriously understaffed. The UK government was unaware of the projected numbers of potential applicants, turns out the number is near twice as many as expected. Add to that that the UK government waited well into January 2021 to make any EU national living in the UK aware, but until very recent only by publishing in newspapers and only in English.

[RTH10260]

Lidl is being boycotted by hauliers for being “inflexible” threatening to leave shelves empty

16th July 2021
Ben Stevens

Lidl is facing a boycott from hauliers across the UK which threatens to see goods including vegetables, bread and toilet roles absent from its shelves.

According to The Grocer, the UK’s leading haulage companies are choosing to boycott the discount grocer as they prioritise more cooperative supermarkets amid the ongoing driver shortage crisis.

The shortage forcing chilled haulage companies like Fowler Welch, FreshLinc and Turners to cut deliveries to certain retailers, prioritising their severely limited resources for companies working with them help alleviate the impact of the crisis.

However, Lidl is understood to have remained inflexible maintaining policies such as rejecting lorries that turn up late to distribution centres.

“There’s a bit of a boycott against delivering to Lidl because they’re being inflexible and not listening to what’s going on,” director at one haulage company told The Grocer.

“If you prioritise who you want to do and who you don’t, then Lidl always falls at the bottom of the list.”

Lidl said that it had been experiencing stock shortages in recent weeks due to “disruptions to supply chain networks”.

A spokesperson added: “Nevertheless, we are aware that there are still ongoing issues for some suppliers, and we are committed to working through these with them to help find suitable solutions.”

Other retailers like Booths and Spar are also understood to have been hit hard by the driver shortage, seeing companies prioritise bigger players.

It comes as communities secretary Robert Jenrick called on local councils to disregard rules which “restrict the time and number of deliveries from lorries and other delivery vehicles” stores can receive over the next six months.

Jenrick urged councils to ensure these rules, designed to protect local residents’ sleep, do not become a “barrier to deliveries” during the crisis.



https://www.chargedretail.co.uk/2021/07 ... ves-empty/

[Volkonski]

[RTH10260]

I thought Gibraltar was free to decide on their own what path to take and made a special deal with Spain independant to the UK mainland. They are very much bound into the EU economy. Nothing that Boris Johnson has the ability to mess with.

[Uninformed]

I think you are underestimating Boris’s ability to create chaos. It’s SOVEREIGNTY you know… blah blah blah.

[RTH10260]

I think you are underestimating Boris’s ability to create chaos. It’s SOVEREIGNTY you know… blah blah blah.

Yeah - block the Gibraltar fishers from catching something or other in the dirty UK costal waters

[Notaperson]

Spanish woman in UK for 44 years sacked over post-Brexit rules
Employee in care home, who arrived as an 11-month-old, unable to prove she has right to work in Britain

Amelia Gentleman
Mon 19 Jul 2021 07.00 BST

A Spanish woman who has lived in England for 44 years has been sacked from her job in a care home because she is unable to prove she has the right to work in the UK, in a case illustrating the difficulties experienced by EU nationals as employers grapple with post-Brexit right-to-work regulations.


https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... exit-rules

That's a heartbreaking story. We live in such a stupid and cruel world.

[Suranis]

The EU will side with Spain now over Gibraltar, as Spain is a member, and the UK is not.

That's the way it works. Rights or wrongs won't enter into it. Spain now has the combined might of every other EU country behind it, whereas the EU was neutral on Gibraltar with 2 members squabbling over it.

[Uninformed]

“Brexit: UK to warn it could override Northern Ireland Protocol”:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-57911148

One again, it comes as no surprise that the UK never had any intention of implementing its own “solution” to the border issue. There have been no reports of substantive efforts to do so. This is a disgraceful episode and will be accompanied by the type of gaslighting the DFO is so fond of. Politics is a convoluted business but how will the EU, or anyone else, be able to trust anything the UK says or signs.

[MisterC]

One summation I've heard used, is that the UK wants the EU to open the backdoor, with a promise that they won't try to exploit it.

No siree, not this famously principled bunch of Tories...

[RTH10260]

Tariffs axed immediately on Australian beef and lamb, triggering fears that farmers will be sent ‘to the wall’
Small print – revealed by Canberra, but suppressed in London – reveals pledge to protect farmers for 15 years has been dropped

Rob Merrick Deputy Political Editor
Wednesday 16 June 2021 12:24

Tariffs will be scrapped immediately on imported beef and lamb from Australia, triggering accusations that the trade deal struck by Boris Johnson will send UK farmers “to the wall”.

The small print of the first major post-Brexit agreement – revealed by Canberra, as the UK government tried to keep it under wraps – revealed a pledge to protect farmers for 15 years has been dropped.

Instead, Australian farmers will effectively be handed tariff-free access from day one, up to a “cap” on sales that is 60 times the current level of imported beef.

The detail was revealed as experts warned the overall economic boost from the deal would be “close to zero” – and the government admitted the average household would be just £1.20 a year better off.

The National Farmers Union demanded ministers come clean on exactly what has been agreed, “to ensure our high standards of production are not undermined by the terms of this deal”.



https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/p ... 66496.html

[RTH10260]

UK says it wants to substantially rewrite Northern Ireland Brexit protocol
Blueprint for alternative arrangement published as sources say protocol was flawed at conception

Lisa O'Carroll, Jessica Elgot and Jennifer Rankin
Wed 21 Jul 2021 19.27 BST

The UK has launched an audacious bid to rewrite a key plank of the Brexit deal, saying the Northern Ireland protocol was flawed at conception but served its purpose to get the UK out of the EU as “one country”.

The European Commission immediately ruled out a renegotiation of the deal, which was trumpeted by Boris Johnson as a solution to the Irish border impasse two years ago. The commission is understood to be open to some changes on the special arrangements for Northern Ireland, however.

EU officials expressed exasperation at the UK’s move, unveiled in a 28-page command paper by the Brexit minister, David Frost, on Wednesday. He told peers the protocol was unsustainable and said the UK “cannot go on as we are” given the “ongoing febrile political climate” in Northern Ireland.

With supermarkets warning they may pull out of the region unless there are changes, Lord Frost warned that the “burden” on shoppers and manufacturers would get worse without significant changes.

The proposals centre on four main issues, which would involve rewriting of articles 5 and 12 of the protocol:



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... t-protocol

[RTH10260]

Thousands aged over 65 failed to apply for EU settled status – report
Lords report calls on the government to ensure support remains in place to help late applicants secure their status

Amelia Gentleman
Fri 23 Jul 2021 00.02 BST

Significant numbers of Europeans in the UK aged over 65 failed to apply to the EU settlement scheme (EUSS) before the deadline, a parliamentary report has found, warning that this could make thousands of retirement-aged EU nationals vulnerable to Britain’s hostile environment policies.

Just 2% of all applications for the settlement scheme were submitted by people aged over 65, a percentage that is unlikely to reflect the population of older EU nationals living in the UK. Charities supporting older Europeans to apply said they had “encountered many individuals who have no mobile phone, no digital access and inappropriate or no documentation”, and the report warned that people who struggled with the digital technology required to apply were more likely to have missed the deadline for applications at the end of last month.

The House of Lords European affairs committee report called on the government to ensure that support remained in place to help late applicants secure their status.

“The fact that only 2% of applicants are aged over 65 suggests older people may have been missed or simply couldn’t apply by the deadline. These people need more comprehensive legal safeguards to ensure late applications do not count against them securing their rights to remain here,” Lord Kinnoull, the chair of the committee, said. The Citizens’ Rights report noted particular concern for Italian nationals who had emigrated to Britain after the second world war.

The report echoed calls made repeatedly by campaigners for the scheme’s digital-only approach to be scrapped, and for an option of a physical document to prove status and rights in Britain to be granted.

“Without physical documents, EU citizens living here may have challenges securing tenancies, for example. Our government has welcomed the EU’s decision to issue a physical document to all UK citizens in Europe while resisting calls to do the same for EU citizens in Britain. Ministers must explain this contradiction,” Kinnoull added.




https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... tus-report