News
Good morning and welcome to your Thursday Unbound Daily Briefing - the topics we are covering this morning include:
- Chancellor announces 125 Brexit benefits
- EU Reset negotiations deadlocked
- Tony Blair intervenes on Labour leadership debate
Chancellor Announces 125 Brexit Benefits
As covered in a previous Britain Unbound news item before the items were confirmed, the UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has now confirmed the 125 "everyday essential" items that will have their import tariffs reduced, with the hope of savings UK consumers money during what has been dubbed as a cost of living crisis. These tariff reductions come on top of a set of temporary tariff suspensions on over 100 items earlier this month, and is also accompanied by a consultation into suspending tariffs on some fertilizers to help UK farmers.
The items included in the list of 125 include Garlic; Aubergines; Olives; Bananas; Limes; Dried apricots; Green tea; Olive oil; White chocolate; Cocoa powder; Couscous; Candied fruit; and Tomato ketchup.
At a time when the Labour party is seemingly agonising internally on the topic of EU membership, we at Britain Unbound appreciate the Chancellor repeatedly making use of Brexit freedoms - as none of these tariff changes would be possible within the EU Customs Union.
- Read the full list of 125 items included in the tariff reductions
- Read the full list of over 100 tariff suspensions from earlier this month
- Read the government press release on the 125 items included in the tariff reduction
EU Reset Negotiations Deadlocked
As has been previously reported on as whispers have now been confirmed by the i paper on Wednesday evening. Negotiations on the three deals intended to be concluded at the planned UK-EU Summit this summer have stalled, as key demands from the EU are seemingly a bridge too far for the Labour Government, and the three deals are seen to be an all or nothing selection (nothing is agreed until everything is agreed). The key demands blocking the negotiations are around caps on Youth Mobility, and the wish for EU students to pay less for tuition at UK universities.
- Read the article on the deadlock in the i paper
- Read the Britain Unbound explainer on the EU reset negotiations
Tony Blair Intervenes on Labour leadership
In a scathing 5,700 word essay published on the website of his Institute for Global Change, former Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair attacks the current Labour leadership and the frontrunners in the contest, especially with their "internal politics first, country second" approach to the topic of the EU.
As a cross-party campaign, Britain Unbound is not concerned with the former Prime Minister's opinions on the internal debate of who should lead the Labour Party - however one paragraph within the essay did stand out to the Britain Unbound team:
"If European policy continues in the direction of addressing the dangers rather than seizing the opportunities, i.e. weights technology regulation against the technology sector, it will be impossible for Britain to go back fully into the European Union. We can’t argue that technological innovation and adoption is the key challenge of modern governance and tie ourselves to a technology environment essentially hostile to it."
This certainly sounds like Tony Blair is looking at EU policy and quickly becoming a Brexiteer. We of course welcome him to our side of the fence.
- Read the full essay on the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change website
