Brexit

[RTH10260]

BAD NEWS FOR BRITISH SKI INSTRUCTORS

7TH MAY 2021
LAST MODIFIED ON MAY 11TH, 2021

The British Association of Snowsport Instructors says Britons will not be allowed to take the European speed test needed for the top level of qualification required to work in the EU.

The ban applies not just to British citizens, but also to BASI members who hold EU passports.

The Common Training Test (CTT) was previously known as the Eurotest.

It is a tough speed challenge involving a timed Giant Slalom run which students must pass to achieve the highest (Level 4) qualification and be able to work as an independent instructor in the EU.

The news will come as a further blow to Britons attempting to finish their Level 4 qualification.

“Because the UK is no longer part of the EU, if you are a British Citizen, regardless of what association you are a member of, you are not permitted to enter the CTT,” BASI says in a statement on its website.

“This is because this test is a fundamental aspect of the Delegated Act, an Act regulated by the EU, and applies only to EU Citizens due to it allowing Right of Establishment across all EU states as a ski instructor.

“We have also received confirmation that any BASI members with an EU passport are also not permitted to enter the CTT.”



https://planetski.eu/2021/05/07/bad-new ... structors/

[RTH10260]

related to above Guardian article

Brexit could wipe out UK school skiing trips to EU
Ski instructors working the slopes in France, Italy and elsewhere in the EU are now required to have expensive visas to work in Europe.

by Henry Goodwin
03 July 2021 10:07

School skiing trips which rely on British staff to work at EU winter camps could be decimated by Brexit, it has emerged.

Like musicians, ski instructors working the slopes in France, Italy and elsewhere in the EU are now required to have visas to work in Europe – even if it is just for a week at a time.

Before the pandemic, Robert McIntosh – managing director of Interski – would take 250 groups a year, involving up to 12,000 children, to Aosta in Italy.

But now he does not know if he can survive, with visas for instructors costing £300 per visit – and up to 600 instructors required.

“I am facing a battle on two fronts,” he told the Guardian. “Brexit throws uncertainty into everything. The increase in costs because of the visas will be in the region of 100 per cent. You don’t have to be an economist to know that is not going to be viable.”



https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/polit ... eu-279560/

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Out! How Brexit sent one UK tennis kit firm to Romania
A company specialising in children’s sports clothing has relocated to avoid the costs and bureaucracy caused by leaving the EU

Toby Helm
Sun 4 Jul 2021 08.45 BST

During the Wimbledon championships, Steve and Adriana Walkington are run off their feet. Their fast-growing company, Zoe Alexander, which they set up in Canterbury a few years ago, provides chic tennis clothes for children aged between four and 12.

Orders pile up at this time of year from people in the UK, from the European Union, the US, the far east, Canada and Japan. The business is benefiting from a surge in interest in tennis across the globe.

“Off the back of the French Open at Roland Garros things start to go a little frantic, and then with Wimbledon it all goes a bit nuts as the young players want to be in the latest gear,” says Steve.

But expanding a business with worldwide markets to its full potential from the UK these days can mean extra barriers because of Brexit, delays to shipping, and far higher costs to customers. So those placing orders for Zoe Alexander clothes online from the UK and wanting them delivered are now told of a new reality.

“We are now relocated in Europe,” the company tells them. “Sadly, due to Brexit and UK lockdown restrictions, we had to leave England to allow our business to survive and grow.”



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... to-romania

[RTH10260]

UK on the way to a "hard Brexit" that will put them from third country status into a theird world status?

UK-EU relations deteriorate again after ‘strange’ David Frost remarks
Irish foreign minister hits out at Brexit minister over provocative article on Northern Ireland protocol

Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent
Sun 4 Jul 2021 16.48 BST

The EU fears that Boris Johnson wants to “dismantle” the Northern Ireland protocol, the Irish foreign minister has said, as relations between Brussels and London deteriorated again after remarks by the Brexit minister David Frost in the past 24 hours.

Simon Coveney told RTÉ on Sunday that EU leaders feared the worst after what he felt was a provocative article written by Lord Frost and the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, in the Irish Times on Saturday.

“Many in the EU are interpreting the UK’s response as essentially saying: ‘Look, concessions don’t matter. What is required now is to dismantle elements of the protocol piece by piece,’” he said, adding. “That is going to cause huge problems.”

Coveney expressed bafflement over the article, coming just days after a three-month pause was agreed between Brussels and London in the trade dispute over the sale of sausages from Great Britain in Northern Ireland.

In a sign of the continuing fragility of relations between the EU and the UK, Coveney complained that London has barely acknowledged the EU’s flexibility on the protocol including a pledge to remove barriers to the supply of medicines to Northern Ireland. The article states: “New cancer drugs can’t be licensed for Northern Ireland.”

Coveney told RTÉ’s This Week the article was “a very strange way to make friends and build partnerships” coming two days after the EU and the UK agreed to extend the deadline over the sale of sausages and chilled meats.

In the piece, Frost and Lewis say Wednesday’s agreement was “welcome” but that it addressed “only a small part of the underlying problem”, claiming the “process to resolve all these difficulties” was “creating a series of rolling crises as we lurch from one deadline to another”.


https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... rks-brexit

[Uninformed]

Boris’s government has never had any intention of enacting the agreed “border” solution. I have yet to see any evidence of concrete efforts being made to establish the necessary staffing or facilities. They know they can portray the EU as the villains of the piece - trying to break up the “Union” etc.

[RTH10260]

06.04.2021

In Britain, Seasonal Farm Laborers Toil for Subminimum-Wage Piece Rates

JOKUBAS SALYGA

Since the end of free movement within the EU, Britain's farms have relied on seasonal migrants allowed into the country for just a few months at a time. Denied almost any possibility to change jobs, their situation shows how bosses can use visa rules to blackmail a pliant workforce into swallowing the most degrading conditions.


https://www.jacobinmag.com/2021/06/brit ... e-migrants

In March 2019, the UK government responded by announcing the commencement of the SWP scheme for 2019 and 2020, operated by two recruitment agencies — Concordia and Pro-Force. By December 2020, more than nine thousand seasonal workers’ visas had been issued, with Ukrainian workers the overwhelming majority (87 percent) followed by Moldovans (4 percent) and Belarussians (3 percent).

This emerging strategy to recruit cheap and pliable labor from the further peripheries of Europe, outside the EU, signifies a changing composition of the migrant workforce arriving in the post-Brexit UK. Agribusinesses are increasingly likely to draw on this pool of labor, already used to alleviate labor shortages in EU member states that had earlier “exported” their own workforces to the UK, such as Poland, Estonia, or Lithuania.

Under the SWP scheme, migrant workers must pay £244 for a six-month visa and demonstrate £1,270 in savings. The proof of savings must be provided in the form of bank statements — thereby excluding those who do not have a bank account. Moreover, such sums may be beyond the means of temporary migrants. Frequently, laborers have to rely on employers to certify their maintenance funds and arrange transportation. While this entrenches workers’ dependence on their soon-to-be exploiters, seasonal migrants still have to cover the costs of clothing, travel tickets, initial living expenses, and language courses. These high up-front costs exacerbate the risk of debt peonage.

The end of free movement between the EU and the UK prompted the expansion of the SWP’s quota to thirty thousand places — with a consequent need for two additional recruitment agencies to run the pilot. For 92 percent of British fruit and vegetable growers — some of whom announced plans to shift the production to countries like Senegal — the revised quota is a far cry from the estimated seventy thousand picking and packing roles available in the sector.

[RTH10260]

Survey: Brexit drives out 250 broadcast licences
June 17, 2021

The MAVISE Database shows that many of global channels that were based in the UK have now been compelled to move to the continent to maintain their in-EU origin status. In all 250 broadcast licences have, of necessity, been ‘deported’ since Brexit. Broadcasters moving international ops away from the UK include: Discovery, Disney, NENT, NBC, Viacom, Sony, SPI International, Turner as well as the internationally targeted versions of Sky and BBC networks.

The European Audiovisual Observatory’s MAVISE – Database on audiovisual services in Europe now offers information on the application of the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD).

The inclusion of information about jurisdiction relates to the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and is the result of the cooperation with the European Commission under the EU’s Creative Europe Programme. The availability of this jurisdiction information for EU Member States in a public database is a requirement of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive. The data available in MAVISE are based on the contributions of the audiovisual regulatory authorities of the 27 EU Member States as well as 14 other European countries and Morocco.

In addition, new 2020 data has just been uploaded into MAVISE and the following trends become apparent:



more ... https://advanced-television.com/2021/06 ... -channels/

[zekeb]

Agricultural wages. I remember those from the Ghost of a Past Employer. They were, and probably still are, allowed to pay agricultural workers less than minimum. The premise was based upon paying for a 40 hour work week, even when you couldn't work due to inclement weather. My company was paying mechanics this if the employee was working on an agricultural aircraft. In reality everyone worked 40 hours anyway, rain or shine, and got paid less for doing it.

[RTH10260]

This is the company whose boss was pushing for Brexit and was then wondering why he did not have any EU staff for his pubs

JD Wetherspoon seeking debt waivers from lenders
Pub chain’s food and drink sales still well below pre-pandemic levels despite lockdown easing

Sarah Butler
Wed 7 Jul 2021 14.59 BST

JD Wetherspoon is seeking debt waivers from its lenders for the year ahead, with food and drink sales in its pub chain still well below pre-pandemic levels despite recent lockdown easing and the Euro 2021 tournament.

The company, which has all but 10 of its 860 pubs open, said it expected to make a loss for the year to 25 July. This will be only the company’s second annual loss in its history, coming after it slipped £105m into the red in the previous year.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... om-lenders

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School meals threatened due to shortage of UK truck drivers
June 26, 202109

School meals could be disrupted for the remainder of this quarter by delays and food shortages across the country due to a shortage of truck drivers in the UK.

The warning came as industry representatives told Boris Johnson that the driver shortage – exacerbated by Brexit and the pandemic – was causing a ‘crisis’ in the food supply chain.

Sheffield City Council wrote to schools last week warning them that they may have to rely on emergency relief ingredients such as fish sticks and dried pasta to feed their students.

School cooks would receive two days of spare ingredients in the event of a supply chain failure. “Some last minute changes may need to be made to the menus… This is clearly not what anyone would want in the last few weeks of the school year,” the letter reads.



https://www.fr24news.com/a/2021/06/scho ... ivers.html

[Volkonski]

Who will deliver the fish sticks and pasta?

[RTH10260]

Who will deliver the fish sticks and pasta?

That's the emergency stock, and from the vlog I pulled this link he mentioned that emergency stock lasts for two (2) days ...

Of course teachers could convert this into a live life lesson, an exercise into an insight in living in a third world country, preparing the kids for the cultural shock they may soon experience

[RTH10260]

Brexit ‘divorce bill’ higher than UK’s forecasts, Brussels estimates
Figure of £40.8bn buried in EU’s 2020 accounts dismissed by UK as not reflecting amount it will pay

Jennifer Rankin in Brussels
Thu 8 Jul 2021 22.05 BST

The UK’s Brexit “divorce bill” is €47.5bn (£40.8bn) according to estimates from Brussels that are higher than the government’s forecasts.

The first tranche, €6.8bn, is due for payment by the end of the year.

The final bill, buried in the European Union’s consolidated annual accounts for 2020, is significantly higher than an earlier estimate from the UK’s fiscal watchdog.

In 2018 the Office for Budget Responsibility put the Brexit bill at €41.4bn (£37.1bn). During the Brexit negotiations, British government officials said the final bill would be around £35-39bn.

The bill covers the UK’s share of EU debts and liabilities during 47 years of membership, such as paying for infrastructure projects, pensions and sickness benefits for EU officials.

It was one of three big issues the government agreed with the EU in the Brexit withdrawal agreement signed by Boris Johnson in December 2019, after the prime minister won a thumping majority on a promise to “get Brexit done”. The other main elements of the deal were citizens’ rights and the Northern Ireland protocol, which the UK is now seeking to change.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... -estimates

[Volkonski]

[RTH10260]

and Marks&Spencers cannot even get their prepared sammiches over to the expatriates in the EU

[RTH10260]

seems that the UK government has difficulty accepting that they are now a third country vs. the EU

Lord Frost: EU and UK must find solution on Northern Ireland Protocol

The Independent
Published on 10 Jul 2021

The Brexit minister has said the UK and EU need to find a solution on the Northern Ireland Protocol following issues with the process.

The UK government does not regard the protocol it agreed with the EU as part of the Brexit withdrawal deal as “definitive”, David Frost said.

Despite the protocol forming part of an international treaty signed by the UK, Lord Frost said it was not “reasonable” to regard its text as the final word on arrangements for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

[RTH10260]

seems that the UK government has difficulty accepting that they are now a third country vs. the EU

Lord Frost: EU and UK must find solution on Northern Ireland Protocol

The Independent
Published on 10 Jul 2021

The Brexit minister has said the UK and EU need to find a solution on the Northern Ireland Protocol following issues with the process.

The UK government does not regard the protocol it agreed with the EU as part of the Brexit withdrawal deal as “definitive”, David Frost said.

Despite the protocol forming part of an international treaty signed by the UK, Lord Frost said it was not “reasonable” to regard its text as the final word on arrangements for the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

https:// youtu.be/GE2uHSaaXuI

Need to find a solution? Easy, just implement what you signed. Actually, the deal was voted for in Parliament and is therfore part of UK law. Follow the law

[RTH10260]

next year, will your car (or your factory) stand still cause it cannot get the UK certified replacement part?

Why new post-Brexit ‘UKCA’ standard is proving such a headache for industry

The UKCA safety marks must be handed out by UK-based testing or ‘Approved’ bodies and there is not enough capacity in many sectors to handle the applications

Peter Foster JULY 8 2021

Brexit is often explained by its proponents as first and foremost an expression of sovereignty — taking back the right of the UK to make its own laws and not to be controlled by “faceless bureaucrats” in Brussels.

As a political narrative, this has proved successful for Boris Johnson, but it has led the UK into some very counterproductive places, as an approach that prioritises sovereignty above all else excludes many layers of co-operation with the EU, even when they make practical sense.

One of these which is causing particular pain to industry at the moment, but does not receive much publicity, is the transition from the EU’s “CE” mark that certifies the safety of all manner of industrial products for the EU market, to the UK’s new homegrown equivalent, the “UKCA” standard.

At the moment, as Sam Lowe, the trade expert at the Centre for European Reform, explains, this is essentially a duplicative process because UK standards follow EU standards in the “vast majority of cases”. 

(This is because the UK’s BSI standards organisation has remained a member of the European Standards Organisations, which co-ordinates standards in the EU, and co-operates with the European Commission via an agreement, but is not itself an EU body.)

You might think, therefore, that this expression of UK sovereignty (a UK version of a CE mark, for its own sake) is an example of what Lowe calls “performative divergence”, ie of little actual consequence but important to show that Brexit has delivered concrete change.

Alas not. For a number of UK industries that use safety critical products (lifts, cars, medical devices for example) the transition to UKCA marks is a massive and unnecessary headache, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, UKCA marks must be handed out by UK-based testing or “Approved” bodies and there is not enough capacity in many sectors to handle the applications, even if they are essentially “cut and paste” of CE approvals.

Nick Mellor, the managing director of the Lift and Escalator Industry Association describes the shortage of UK approved bodies in his sector as “critical”. There is currently only one organisation in the UK able to undertake certification for lift safety components, but “thousands” of parts that need certifying. 

The system also throws up unresolved anomalies. So for example, if I service a 10-year-old German lift in Birmingham or Brighton, does the replacement component (that was always CE-marked) now need to be UKCA-marked after January 1? If that is the case, it may not even be possible to source the component. Industry is still not clear on this.

The Construction Products Association has issued similar warnings, saying the UKCA process could add to existing shortage problems, highlighting capacity issues around high-spec glass and building adhesives — and, often, it only takes one missing product to hold up an entire project.

It is all nerdy stuff, but according to the engineering services alliance Actuate UK, in another product area — “heat emitters” — where there are eight EU “notified bodies”, the UK equivalent would need to complete “64 years’ worth of retesting” in less than seven months to certify all EU products for the UK market.

Which brings us to the second issue. This does not just impact UK businesses. EU businesses placing goods on the UK market need a UKCA mark, meaning UK businesses need to convince their EU suppliers to do the paperwork. For some the size of the UK market will be worth it; for others, not. That could impact UK supply chains.

Thirdly, there is a legal issue. After January 1 UK companies placing EU products on the GB market (that will now bear a UKCA mark) must take legal responsibility for those products — and vice versa for EU companies putting GB products on the EU market. So companies on both sides of the Channel are now also having to weigh up legal issues, and draw up agreements with EU suppliers over what happens if a product from the other jurisdiction is subject to court action.

And all of this before the UK does actually diverge. When that happens, industry will face the cost of two separate testing regimes for companies that sell in both EU and UK jurisdictions, which could lead to some tough decisions on the viability of some products for the UK market.

All of which explains why there is a rising chorus of industry trade groups calling for the government to extend the January 1 2022 deadline by which all CE-marked goods on the GB market must carry a UKCA mark in order to be legal.

The government has done this already for a small group of products, such as marine equipment and medical devices, giving those companies until the end of June 2023 to comply, which sets a precedent that other industries now want followed.

Russell Beattie, the chief executive of the Federation of Environmental Trade Associations, is at pains to say that industry does not want to come across as “remoaning”, but as everyone comes out of the Covid-19 crisis, he urges the government to be pragmatic. “We’re not remoaners. We need some sensible discussion about the consequences,” he added. 

As Tim Figures, a former senior business secretary adviser during the Theresa May era who now advises the Boston Consulting Group, observes, diverging from the EU regulatory framework brings “little or no benefit” in safety-critical industries that export to the EU like automotive, aerospace and chemicals.

Looking to the future, he adds, there may be some sectors — artificial intelligence, life sciences and possibly some financial services — that could benefit from divergence.

But that does not help those grappling with apparently senseless bureaucracy now. 

The wider politics of all this is baffling. It is hard to imagine anyone in the “red wall” or pro-Brexit Tory shires ever itching for a UKCA mark when they voted for Brexit, or care a jot about it now. There is no obvious benefit to this process. It is not making UK products safer (they are the same EU standards as before) but it is very likely to make them more costly and less competitive overall. 

Which is why Lowe bets the government will have to move on this one, at least in the near term. “It wouldn’t surprise me if the UK decides to continue recognising CE marking well beyond the end of this year,” he says. 

But with logistical lead times on many products measured in months, not weeks, the time for the government to take that decision is approaching fast.



https://www.ft.com/content/7245919b-78c ... a216502b81

[RTH10260]

[Uninformed]

I don’t think even the DFO reneged on a treaty he was responsible for, let alone hustling it past the “legislature”. I hope the EU stand firm although I’m not sure what can be done in such a politically difficult situation. An Englishman’s word is his bond”. I am so utterly disgusted with, and embarrassed by, this blatant chicanery. Ashamed to be British.

[RTH10260]

a couple of weeks old

Meat sector warns of Brexit production squeeze
By Tom Espiner
Business reporter, BBC News
Published 18 June

The UK faces shortages of British-produced meat as problems with recruitment continue, the industry has warned.

Brexit and coronavirus have meant many EU workers have returned to their own countries, putting a squeeze on production.

The poultry industry is reporting a 10% fall in the number of birds being slaughtered for meat in recent weeks.

But vegans said the labour shortage could "spark much-needed change".

About a billion birds are slaughtered, prepared and packed in the UK per year, with the industry heavily reliant on EU nationals, especially for lower-skilled jobs.

But migrants have been returning to their home countries due to Brexit effects including a weaker pound, a trend exacerbated by the coronavirus crisis, the British Poultry Council (BPC) said.

Once they get home, many decide not to return.

Meat producers have been trying to counter these effects by increasing automation and raising wages for workers.

Nevertheless, skill shortages persist, especially in rural areas with high employment rates, the BPC said.

The industry group called on the government to ease post-Brexit immigration rules to make it easier to attract EU workers.

Chief executive Richard Griffiths said: "We generally operate in areas of high local employment so there is a limit to availability of UK workers and there is negligible appetite from UK workers to move from other parts of the country.

"When it comes to non-UK labour - either from the EU or further afield - we have seen reducing numbers willing to come to the UK, the immigration barriers of salary and skill have been raised way beyond what we can manage, and the cost of bringing people is prohibitive."

Mr Griffiths warned that lack of supply could push up the cost of British meat.

This risks creating a "two-tier" system where the UK imports food produced to lower standards, such as chlorinated chicken from the US, and only the affluent can afford higher quality British meat, the BPC said.



https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57512243

[RTH10260]

a couple of weeks old

Meat sector warns of Brexit production squeeze

But vegans said the labour shortage could "spark much-needed change".



https://www.bbc.com/news/business-57512243

While the workers to plant and harvest the veggies are neither to be seen anywhere

[RTH10260]

10TH JULY 2021 BY GARY SEARCHLIGHT
BREAKING : Downing Street orders U.K. supermarkets to remove empty shelves to conceal food shortages
THERE WILL BE ADEQUATE FOOD : Great news for people hungry to eat sovereignty today with fresh orders from 10 Downing Street to the UK’s food retailers.

Lately social media accounts in the U.K. are filling up with gloating remoaners boasting about how their push for a confirmatory vote has disrupted food supply chains. Downing Street is hitting back!

The hit back is in the form of a directive to the big supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, that one the Americans want to asset strip and others to do their “patriotic part to help ensure the success of Brexit”.

Specifically the supermarkets are to be put on a “war footing” and activate Operation Minced Meat.

The secret plan involves the concealment of empty supermarket shelves so “the French and Germans don’t think they can invade us”.

Clearly the threat of invasion is ever present, ever since everyone in Europe agreed it was a horrible idea and committed to working together for peace.

“That was until the Brexiters and Lexiters got a hold of the UK’s reigns of power. Now we need to move swiftly before we’re carpet bombed with croissants and bratwurst to lure U.K. citizens away.”

From midnight Sunday all supermarkets will be required by law to conceal the lack of food. This will be done by removing empty shelves.

“This way shoppers will only see shelves full of produce. Wherever you look there will be adequate food. Additionally the extra room created in the stores will help with social distancing.”

Although Operation Minced Meat is to be triggered for the first time post Brexit, it does follow on from the trials of Operation Food Foto which have been “creating a beach head to baffle the public”.



https://lcdviews.com/2021/07/10/breakin ... 973efae42d

► Show Spoiler

LCD VIEWS

Government mocking and Brexit related satire, as well as general nonsense now and then. They're playing us all for fools so let's laugh in their faces

.

[RTH10260]

Recipe for inflation: how Brexit and Covid made tinned tomatoes a lot dearer

Tinned tomatoes are rising quickly in price, with a 50% increase forecast by autumn.
Combine the pandemic with rising raw material costs, stir in a labour shortage, a twist of Brexit, add a pinch of poor weather and voila …

Zoe Wood
Sat 26 Jun 2021 08.00 BST

Tinned tomatoes are a taken-for-granted store cupboard staple, relied upon by Britons to whip up home cooked favourites such as spaghetti bolognese. But the price could soon make you take notice, amid warnings of higher shopping bills, set against a backdrop of soaring global food prices.

From the packaging to the transportation and the energy used in manufacturing, nearly all aspects of the production of this popular ingredient now cost more. The crushed tomatoes alone are 30% dearer than a year ago, at €0.48 per kilo. The same pressures are driving the prices of many foods higher, meaning Britons will probably face bigger bills for groceries or meals out this autumn.

Two big drivers of food inflation, in the UK at least, are the spike in demand for goods as bars and restaurants reopen, and the fallout from Brexit, which has caused shortages of workers on farms and in warehouses and food processing centres, and hindered the flow of goods into the country.



https://www.theguardian.com/business/20 ... lot-dearer

[RTH10260]

Sport and Politics

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