The EU’s increasingly nationalist, insular vaccination policy stands in even starker contrast to the UK’s approach this morning, as Britain launches a new drive to support the rest of the world in finding and identifying Covid-19 variants. With Genome sequencing being one of this country’s pandemic success stories – having carried out more than half of the world’s tests for new variants – the Department of Health today launched the “New Variant Assessment Platform” to provide early warning of new mutations that could endanger public health.
Countries who want help “will be offered UK capacity to analyse new strains” and work alongside Public Health England, NHS Test and Trace and academic partners. Not a good day for dogmatic Remainers who want to believe Brexit will bring an end to British internationalism…
Russians, North Koreans, and Saudis are among people sanctioned under the UK’s new Global Human Rights Regime, announced by Dominic Raab in the Commons this afternoon. Raab told the House “Today we’re designating 49 people and organisations for responsibility in some the worst human rights abuses in recent memory.” This is the first time that, free from the EU, the UK has sanctioned people or entities for human rights violations and abuses under a UK-only regime, which will stop those on the list from “profiting from our economy“. The ‘Magnitsky’-style sanctions regime targeted:
- 25 Russian nationals involved in the mistreatment and death of auditor Sergei Magnitsky, who uncovered widespread Russian corruption by a group of Russian tax and police officials
- 20 Saudi nationals involved in the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi
- Two high-ranking Myanmar military generals involved in the systematic and brutal violence against the Rohingya people and other ethnic minorities
- Two organisations involved in the forced labour, torture and murder that takes place in North Korea’s gulags
After he finishes speaking in Parliament, Raab is set to meet with Sergei Magnitsky’s family, along with his friend and colleague Bill Browder. A bold statement from Britain on Russian aggression…
The government has today confirmed that all tariffs will be scrapped on wine and honey – along with 88% of goods imported to the UK – in the event of no deal. Get ready to pop the champagne…
This tariff arrangement would last for a year while a new permanent regime is being worked out and full Free Trade Agreements around the world are struck – and cut tariffs even further than Theresa May’s government planned, ensuring preferential access to the UK market for developing countries.
The Government is pitching this new regime as “a balanced approach”, as whilst the majority of goods will see their tariffs fall to zero, some tariffs will continue, including on bioethanol, fish, some meats, ceramics, cars, and clothing. In any case, No Deal will (temporarily) lead to a land of considerably cheaper milk and honey…
New data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency has revealed that numbers of both EU and Non-EU students attending British universities have risen again, despite Brexit. In 2017/18, 458,490 international students a rise of 16,000 from the year before, and a rise of 20,000 from the year of the referendum. Although both EU and Non-EU numbers have grown, the biggest increase came from non-EU countries…
For the first time ever, the number of Chinese students studying in the UK has gone above 100,000, up from 95,000 last year. It’s worth remembering that even before the referendum, more non-EU students came to the UK to study than EU students, by a margin of 3:1…
The UK has been ranked the world’s second most powerful nation despite Brexit. The Henry Jackson Society‘s Audit of Geopolitical Capability used a model involving four attributes, 33 indicators and 1240 potential data observations and placed the UK after the US but slightly ahead of China.
The Audit’s Chief Analyst, James Rogers, said that the UK voting to leave the EU “has had no discernible impact on the UK’s fundamental ability to apply itself around the World”, but does recommend increased R&D spend and armed forces’ projection capacities to prevent the UK falling behind, particularly in light of China’s naval buildup. Politicians who like to call Britain a small island in the North Atlantic would do well to read the report in full…
Today Philip Hammond announced that passport e-gates will be available to visitors from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. Until now they had only been available to European countries. JACANZUKUS?
