EU ‘will not be rushed’ into doing a trade deal by the end of the year says Ireland’s Simon Coveney

The EU will not be rushed into striking a deal on the future relationship with the UK just because Parliament has passed a law to prevent an extension of negotiations, Ireland’s deputy premier warned today.

Simon Coveney said the timetable set by Boris Johnson of the end of 2020 to achieve a free trade deal was ‘very ambitious’.

He warned the UK that the deal encompassed much more than trade and might take longer than the 11 months that will remain after Brexit takes place on January 31.

‘When people talk about the future relationship, in the UK in particular, they seem to only talk about a future trade agreement, actually there’s much more to this than that – there’s fishing, there’s aviation, there’s data and so many other things,’ he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show. 

Simon Coveney said the timetable set by Boris Johnson of the end of 2020 to achieve a free trade deal was ‘very ambitious’

PM Boris Johnson's Brexit deal includes a clause to block free trade talks after December

PM Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal includes a clause to block free trade talks after December

‘I know that Prime Minister Johnson has set a very ambitious timetable to get this done.

Nigel Farage set for £150,000 payday when Britain quits the EU 

Nigel Farage is in line for a £150,000 payday from the EU when the UK quits at the end of January, it was revealed today.

The Brexit Party leader will get a six-figure ‘transition’ payment because he has spent more than 20 years as an MEP in the heart of Brussels.

But his 29 MEPs elected last May face walking away in a few weeks with nothing because of the short stint they will have put in, the Sunday Times reported.

Mr Farage, who loses his job as an MEP for South East England on January 31, is eligible for 179,000 euros (£152,000) severance pay. 

That is on top of his EU pension for 21 years of service – the 55-year-old is in line to receive 70 per cent of his salary of more than £100,000.

‘He has even put it into British law, but just because a British parliament decides that British laws say something doesn’t mean that that law applies to the other 27 countries of the European Union.’

‘And so the European Union will approach this on the basis of getting the best deal possible – a fair and balanced deal to ensure the EU and the UK can interact as friends in the future.

‘But the EU will not be rushed on this just because Britain passes law.’

Asked about the possibility of a series of side deals on specific areas if time ran out to strike a comprehensive agreement, Mr Coveney raised concern.

‘We would certainly much rather negotiate a comprehensive deal that deals with all of these things collectively and together,’ he said.

‘If we have learnt anything from the first round of Brexit, which has taken a lot longer than it should have, is that we have got to provide certainty for people, we can’t continue to have crisis after crisis and the uncertainty and brinkmanship of Brexit negotiations.’

A key issue in the negotiations will be how the financial services industry in the City of London will be able to serve clients within the EU.

Amid concern the EU might limit the City’s access to its European markets, outgoing Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney has warned that it would not be appropriate for the sector to be regulated by Brussels.

Mr Coveney said it would be impossible to maintain the system as it presently operates.

‘Maybe the penny is finally dropping that when you leave a union that you have been a part of for 45 years that things don’t remain the same and that is inconvenient and it has consequences for the UK,’ he said.

Brexit campaign ‘had racism at its heart’ says Labour leadership outsider Clive Lewis as he lashes out at Leave leaders claiming non-white Britons had ‘a sense of dread’ after the 2016 referendum

A Labour leadership candidate today claimed there was an ‘undertone’ of racism to the Leave campaign which won the Brexit referendum.

Clive Lewis said many non-white Britons suffered ‘a sense of dread’ after the 2016 vote, which will result in the UK quitting the EU in just over a fortnight.

The shadow Treasury minister, who is struggling to make the cut in the competition to succeed Jeremy Corbyn, lashed out at Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage over the way they campaigned three years ago.

The Norwich South MP, whose father was from Grenada in the West Indies, has previously suggested racism was a possible reason why few Labour MPs are backing him.

Speaking to the Sophy Ridge On Sunday show on Sky News, Mr Lewis said: ‘I think part of the Brexit campaign, and part of the undertone of Brexit, from some politicians, Nigel Farage and others, had racism at its core and its heart.

The shadow Treasury minister, who is struggling to make the cut in the competition to succeed Jeremy Corbyn , lashed out at Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage over the way they campaigned three years ago

The shadow Treasury minister, who is struggling to make the cut in the competition to succeed Jeremy Corbyn , lashed out at Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage over the way they campaigned three years ago

‘They used it as a mechanism to divide our communities, to divide our country.’

He added: ‘How many people of colour, how many people of colour, on the day after the referendum with a sense of dread because of what had happened?

‘Ultimately our country had chosen to listen to Boris Johnson, someone who has a track record of racist commentary, of giving credence to racism.’

Mr Lewis also used the interview to suggest the reason Labour has not had a woman leader is because of ‘structural sexism’ in society.

He said: ‘Why do we think there hasn’t been a woman, a female leader of the Labour Party? I would say to answer the question for that (is) because we have something called structural sexism within our society. We have structural sexism and we have structural racism.

‘Do I think if you go to the PLP (parliamentary Labour party) and speak to the members that they are overtly sexist, no I don’t. Just as I don’t believe they are overtly racist.

‘But these issues, these things, run through our society.’

 

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