News
Welcome to your Friday morning Unbound Daily Briefing - here are the stories we'll be covering today:
- First Anniversary of the Chagos Surrender Signing
- Parliament in Recess
- Bank Holiday Getaway, Traffic Concerns for Dover
- Arable Farmers Raise Serious Concerns With EU Alignment
First Anniversary of the Chagos Surrender Signing
It was one year ago today, on 22 May 2025, that the current UK government signed a treaty with the Mauritian government to hand over sovereign control over the Chagos islands archipelago, and to then rent them back for what has since been revealed to be a cost of £35 Billion over a 99-year period.
- Read the Press Association fact-check of the government figures for the cost of the Chagos islands surrender
- Read the Policy Exchange paper on why the Chagos deal was and is unnecessary, and why it should not proceed
- Read the diary entry of our Advisory Council Co-Chair, Lord Redwood, on the Chagos surrender
- Read our news item on the apparent firesale of UK Overseas Territories
Parliament in Recess
The UK Parliament is now in recess, having closed for the Whitsun holiday period from 21st May to 1st June. With the spectre of three upcoming by-elections on June 18th (two in Scotland, one in England), this will likely mean the UK will see a half-term break chock-full of political campaigning.
Bank Holiday Getaway, Traffic Concerns for Dover
As has now become a regular staple of holiday periods going back decades, the news this weekend will see reports of how busy the roads are to get to and from Dover and onwards to Northern France through the Eurotunnel and the Ferry connections. The recent botched rollout of the EU EES (Entry and Exit System) over the last 9 months, has seen multiple EU member states partially or fully pause the new requirements due to excessive impact on border delays, and so with it fears over impact to tourism revenues.
The French border control have partially suspended the EES controls at Dover / Calais, and also have authorisation to fully suspend the process entirely if too much congestion is caused.
- Read our piece on choosing somewhere else to holiday this summer
- Read more about the partial suspension of EES border controls from UK to France
- Read how one French airport has fixed the border control issue for Brits this summer
Arable Farmers Raise Concerns Over Impact of Dynamic Alignment on Crop Yields
As covered by the latest edition of Scottish Farmer magazine, there are great concerns over dynamic alignment with EU Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary laws (SPS), and the divergence having taken place since Brexit in 2021. The article highlights that stricter restrictions on agri-chemical use have been implemented in the EU since the UK left, which would see as many as 60 of the commonly used agri-chemicals in the UK being restricted or even banned. The article goes on to say that even a conservative estimate of the impact would be a 3-6% reduction in gross value added (GVA) of UK crop production in the first year alone.
- Read more about the warnings of this article in our news item
