Jacob Rees-Mogg has just unveiled the government’s new, publicly available “Brexit Freedoms Dashboard“, which will allow users to count down and track the government’s reforms to over 2400 pieces of EU legislation still clogging up the UK’s statute books. Watch in real-time as the government cuts through EU red tape, law by law…

The comprehensive table organises the legislation by policy area – of which there are over 300 – and department, allowing the public to keep an eye on the parts of Whitehall still playing by Brussels’ rules. For now, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is at the top with 570 retained EU laws…

Announcing the move today, Rees-Mogg said:

“This dashboard is the supply-side reformer’s El Dorado and, naturally, I am pointing to the treasure trove of opportunity this publication represents… Using our new found freedom to address the over 2400 retained EU pieces of legislation on our statute book, Her Majesty’s Government will be able to remove and amend regulation that is not right for the UK.”

The dashboard will soon be followed by the Brexit Freedoms Bill, which will “allow retained EU law to be amended in a more sustainable way and goes with the grain of the British constitution.” Guido’s keeping score…

Liz Truss has just confirmed the government will set out draft legislation overwriting the Northern Ireland Protocol for the sake of preserving the Good Friday Agreement “in all its dimensions“. Unilateral action the EU is inevitably threatening would “break” international law…

While Truss stressed she is “open to a negotiated solution” with the EU, months of deadlock have finally come to a head, and unless the protocol is changed, power sharing in Stormont will be politically impossible. Truss stressed the changed would be “consistent with our obligations under international law”:

“The Northern Ireland protocol does not have the support necessary in one part of the community in Northern Ireland… practical problems have contributed to the sense that the east-west relationship has been undermined… We need to restore the balance in the agreement.”

The legislation will create a “green channel” for British goods entering Northern Ireland which will not be shipped out of the UK, tearing up the red tape currently in place on those exports. Businesses will also have a choice between aligning with UK or EU standards in a dual regulatory regime. The UK will also be able to set tax and spend policies across the entire country. The new bill will be set out in the next few weeks, before summer recess. “We cannot afford to delay any longer”…

George Eustice has warned France “two can play at that game” following word they could try blocking British trawlers. He also lambasted Macron’s “unacceptable” behaviour this morning as tensions continue to ramp up between the UK and France over fishing licence disputes. They’ve clearly never recovered after their humiliating defeat in Jersey this May…

On Thursday, France seized a British scallop trawler and have threatened to block more British boats from French ports if the UK refuses to hand out more post-Brexit fishing licences by Tuesday next week. The scallop trawler is seen by the British as a ‘prawn’ in the disputes… 

Last night, Liz Truss dramatically summoned the French ambassador to the Foreign Office for a dressing down by the Europe Minister, and the Government is accusing France of breaking international law. Liz Truss has said she expects the ambassador “to explain the disappointing and disproportionate threats made against the UK”. Flexing her mussels…

UK ministers are also considering retaliatory options should Paris press ahead with their threats on November 2nd; including tit for tat measures like restricting French access to UK waters; organising a meeting with Macron at the G20; convincing EU states to put pressure on France; and offering support to British fisherman and businesses hit by French measures. After a week of boring sewerage stories, Boris has turned his attention from water and loos to Waterloo…

Chief Brexit negotiator Lord Frost has lambasted the EU for “look[ing] like an organisation that does not always want us to succeed”, and called for the Northern Ireland Protocol to be completely redrawn. In a blistering speech delivered in Lisbon this afternoon, Frost insisted that the influence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) needed to be rescinded, replaced by “international arbitration” of a kind agreed within the Brexit trade deal. If that doesn’t happen, Frost warned, Britain may well trigger Article 16…

Frost really didn’t hold back:

“The protocol is not working, it has completely lost consent in one community in Northern Ireland… it is doing the opposite of the thing it was set up to do, protect the Belfast Good Friday Agreement.”

“[The UK] is being asked to run a full scale boundary through our country…for the EU now to say that the protocol – drawn up in extreme haste in a time of great uncertainty – can never be improved upon, when it is so self-evidently causing such significant problems, would be a historic misjudgement.”

Punchy stuff. The ball is in Brussels’ court…

Rishi’s just wrapped up his conference speech; it started a little awkwardly and never developed into a barnstorming performance. While it was mostly a routine affair (aside from dashing hopes for tax cuts any time soon), Sunak did take the opportunity to relish in proving a few certain remainers wrong about Brexit:

“I remember over five years ago being told that if I backed Brexit my political career would be over before it had even begun. Well I put my principles first and I always will. I was proud to back Brexit, proud to back Leave. And that’s because, despite the challenges, in the long term I believed the agility, flexibility, and freedom provided by Brexit would be more valuable in a 21st century global economy than just proximity to a market. That in the long term, a renewed culture of enterprise, willingness to take risks and be imaginative would inspire changes in the way we do things at home.”

No prizes for guessing who he’s referring to…

Nicola Sturgeon has accused the UK Government of using Brexit to deliberately make Scotland poorer, in an attempt to block independence. Mr Blackadder, I have a cunning plan…

Delivering her closing remarks to SNP conference (from her living room) this afternoon, Sturgeon said:

“Westminster will use all that damage that they have inflicted as an argument for yet more Westminster control. By making us poorer, they’ll say we can’t afford to be independent. By cutting our trade with the EU, they’ll say we are too dependent on the rest of the UK. By causing our working population to fall, they’ll say the country is ageing too fast.”

She added that “no-one is saying there won’t be challenges to overcome“, though promised that the SNP “will set those out openly and honestly.” Westminster’s plot to make Scotland poorer currently involves subsidising their spending by millions and spending £2,200 per head…