Britain leaves the European Union

Post-Brexit immigration plan 'will slash EU unskilled arrivals by 90,000 a year' - but the number of skilled workers coming to the UK could RISE

Boris Johnson and Priti Patel signed off on new immigration system last week
Blueprint is due to be rubber stamped by the full Cabinet at meeting on Friday
Plans would cut unskilled EU migration but more skilled workers could come

By James Tapsfield, Political Editor For Mailonline
9 February 2020

The government's post-Brexit immigration system could slash unskilled arrivals from the EU by 90,000 a year.

However, the reduction could be offset by a rise in skilled workers coming to the UK under the Australian-style blueprint.

Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel are understood to have signed off on the new points-based arrangements last week. It will be put to full Cabinet on Friday - after Mr Johnson carries out his long-awaited reshuffle.

They should come into effect on January 1 next year after the Brexit transition period ends and the UK no longer needs to follow Brussels rules.


Boris Johnson (left) and Home Secretary Priti Patel (right) are believed to have signed off on the new points-based arrangements last week

Official figures showed net long-term migration was 212,000 in the year to June

Mr Johnson has insisted he wants to 'bear down' on immigration, but ditched the previous Tory targets of the 'tens of thousands'.

Official figures showed net long-term migration was 212,000 in the year to June.

It is understood the new scheme will scrap the route into the UK for unskilled migrants.

That could cut immediately numbers of unskilled EU migrants by 90,000 a year.

But officials are said to have predicted a rise in skilled migrants coming to the UK - which was 65,000 a year on the most recent estimate.

Under existing rules, skilled migrants from outside the EU must have a job offer with a minimum salary of £30,000.

But this threshold is expected to be lowered to £25,600. That would be in line with a recent report from the independent Migration Advisory Committee.

Workers earning less could still get a visa to work in the UK if they work in a sector with a skills shortage.

Speaking good English or having an 'outstanding' educational background will add 'points' towards getting a visa.

A letter outlining the details of the policy is being sent to Cabinet this weekend, ahead of the meeting on Friday.


Mr Johnson - pictured meeting his Cabinet in Sunderland last month - is due to carry out a reshuffle on Thursday

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-slash-EU-unskilled-arrivals-90-000-year.html

Did anyone tell the French President that Britain has left the EU and doesn't have to do as he tells us?

Now that Britain has officially left the European Union as a member, Ursula Von Der Leyen and the EU Commission have realised that they need us more than we need them. In an attempt to calm things down, the EU have announced that they will give the UK a tailored deal. Meanwhile, Sajid Javid wants to protect the financial services after the December 2020 transition period with a new proposal.

Now that Britain is a non-EU country, it is to end EU free movement:

EU migrants will have to earn at least £23,000 before they are allowed into Britain, as Boris Johnson pledges to end reliance on cheap, unskilled labour with new Australian-style points-based immigration system

In the first meeting with his new cabinet Boris Johnson and his team signed off on a new Australian-style points-based immigration system, which will prohibit any EU migrant earning under £23,000 per year from entering the country in a move to end reliance on unskilled labour.

Home Office analysis estimates the system is expected to slash the number of low skilled workers arriving from the EU by 90,000 a year.

In most cases, skilled migrants will have to have a job offer paying more than £25,600 - a lower threshold than currently applies to migrants from outside the EU.

Migrants will also earn ‘points’ for how well they speak English. In some cases migrants taking jobs paying as little as £23,000 could be granted visas, depending on their skills.

All migrants will need to have a secure job offer in place, with more points awarded for areas there are shortages. Those with higher levels of education, or those who were educated in the UK, will also earn more points.

'The system will be simpler and fairer and will not discriminate between countries and would return democratic control of immigration to the British people,' a Downing Street office spokesman said.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8006103/EU-migrants-earn-23-000-allowed-Britain.html

Mowich said:

Batten the hatches, Blackleaf - was just reading that Storm Dennis is barreling its way towards the UK.
"The storm has undergone bombogenesis, the Weather Channel reported, which means it can be called a bomb cyclone. Bombogenesis occurs when a storm's barometric pressure drops by 24 millibars – a millibar is a way of measuring pressure – in 24 hours."
"Hurricane-force winds of up to 98 mph and monster waves that could reach over 100 feet high were already roaring across the North Atlantic on Saturday, the U.S. National Weather Service’s Ocean Prediction Center said."
"In Britain, airlines have canceled hundreds of flights out of London and other U.K. airports and train lines warned about possible delays and cancellations. Tens of thousands of passengers will be affected on what is a busy travel day for families as most schools in the country closed for a one-week mid-winter break.
The weather is expected to strike all areas of Britain, including parts of northern England still recovering from Storm Ciara last weekend. That storm left at least eight people dead across Europe, including two in the U.K."
www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/02/15/storm-dennis-bomb-cyclone-iceland-united-kingdom/4770947002/
Keep Calm and Carry On.

Click to expand...

Cool.

Dennis the Menace.

Walter said:

Has the UK capsized yet? It's been two weeks since Brexit.

Click to expand...

Project Fear.

Project Bollocks, more like.

Next door in Ireland they may be about to have an IRA Government.

They will, of course, play much more hardball than Varadkar's Fine Gael Government in EU/UK negotiations over a trade deal, making a No Deal Brexit more likely.

Britain talks tough to the EU over trade as Boris Johnson's new negotiator David Frost says the UK will never accept any post-Brexit rules that would undermine 'the point of the whole project' of becoming 'an independent country'

Britain told the EU tonight it was not possible to accept Brussels' rules as part of a free trade deal because it would undermine 'the whole project' of Brexit.

In a brutal assessment of the UK bargaining position, Boris Johnson's new Brexit negotiator David Frost said the UK would rather walk away from talks than accept anything that interfered with 'the fundamentals of what it means to be an independent country'.

The EU is insisting that there can be no 'divergence' from its rules and regulations in areas including financial services and agriculture.

But Mr Frost used a speech in the Belgian capital this evening to warn that the hardline position against this already espoused by the Prime Minister was not just posturing.

He also added that the UK is 'ready for an 'Australia-style' free trade agreement with the bloc if its member states continue to have doubts about the terms of a no-quotas, no-tariffs deal

And he pointed out that if the UK and EU roles were reversed and the EU was forced to follow Westminster laws 'democratic consent would snap – dramatically and finally'.

Mr Frost told students and academics at the Université libre de Bruxelles: 'We bring to the negotiations not some clever tactical positioning but the fundamentals of what it means to be an independent country.

'It is central to our vision that we must have the ability to set laws that suit us – to claim the right that every other non-EU country in the world has.

'So to think that we might accept EU supervision on so called level playing field issues simply fails to see the point of what we are doing.

'It isn't a simple negotiating position which might move under pressure – it is the point of the whole project.

'That's also why we will not extend the transition beyond the end of this year. At that point we recover our political and economic independence in full – why would we want to postpone it?

'In short, we only want what other independent countries have.'



https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...post-Brexit-trade-ahead-year-tough-talks.html

YouTuber "A Different Bias" talks shit about the British fishing industry in the wake of Brexit.

"We Got A Problem" destroys the soy boy shitweasel.

Michel Barnier has rejected a Canada style trade deal with the UK, post Brexit, despite the fact that the EU came up with it three years ago. Boris Johnson’s government have already prepared to quit the trade talks because of this and have a No Deal Brexit. Meanwhile, Home Secretary Priti Patel has introduced a new Australian point based system of immigration. In other news, London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Guy Verhofstadt have outlined plans to have an associate status for EU citizens after the 31st December 2020 deadline.

The workers of Britain should rejoice! The Conservatives have actually done something right with their points-based immigration system.

New blue British passport rollout to begin in March

22 February 2020
BBC News


Home Secretary Priti Patel holding one of the new blue passports

The first blue British passports for nearly 30 years will be issued next month, the Home Office has said.

The current burgundy design is being replaced, following the UK's departure from the European Union.

Blue passports were introduced in 1921 and phased out after 1988 when members of the then European Economic Community agreed to harmonise designs.

Home Secretary Priti Patel said the passport will "once again be entwined with our national identity".

She said Brexit had given the UK "a unique opportunity to... forge a new path in the world" and enabled a return to "the iconic blue and gold design".

The UK was never formally compelled to change the colour of its passport in the 1980s but did so with other member states.

Securing a change in the design became a rallying point for Brexit supporters, with the government announcing in December 2017 that the blue passport would return.

'Super-strength'

The government estimates that all newly-issued passports will be blue from the summer.

Until then, they will be issued alongside burgundy passports, which will remain valid for travel until they expire.

The UK burgundy passports carried the wording European Union on the cover, although the Passport Office last year began to issue them without such a description as older stocks ran out.

The blue passports will be made by Gemalto, owned by French firm Thales. However, they will be personalised with the holder's details in the UK.

The back cover will carry an embossment featuring the floral emblems of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales.


A new blue British passport alongside the current burgundy design

The Home Office said the manufacturing carbon footprint of the passports will be reduced to net zero, through projects such as planting trees.

It added the new passport will carry updated security features, including a "super-strength" polycarbonate data page, containing embedded technologies to keep personal data secure, and involve the "most secure printing and design techniques" to combat identity theft and forgery.

What's in a colour?

According to the Passport Index, 81 countries have blue passports, including Australia, the United States, Canada, India and Hong Kong.

Several Caribbean countries also favour them, including Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

In Europe, people from Iceland and Bosnia and Herzegovina carry blue passports, while it is a popular colour in central and south America - including in Argentina, Brazil, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Other nations to have blue passports include Israel, Iraq, Syria and North Korea.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51585018

EU gripped by budget chaos after Brexit: Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden REFUSE to pay for one trillion euro plan to help poor regions, fight climate change and plug budget black hole left by Britain's departure



The UK's departure has left the bloc with a €75billion (£63billion) hole in its finances and the budget battle has exposed bitter divisions between EU members.

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: My memo to Michel Barnier - No retreat, baby, no surrender

By Richard Littlejohn for the Daily Mail
18 February 2020

Here we go again. Our so-called European ‘partners’ are already cranking up the rhetoric in advance of talks aimed at agreeing a new post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.

French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian is warning that we are going to ‘rip each other apart’ during the negotiations.

That dismal bureaucrat Michel Barnier insists that Britain will have to obey all EU rules and submit to the jurisdiction of the European Court if we want to carry on doing business on the Continent after December 31.


The whole deal could be tied up in about ten minutes, with goodwill and a bit of give and take on both sides. But the problem is that the Brussels bureaucracy is still fighting the last war. They think they’ve got us over a barrel. Michel Barnier is pictured above

Effectively, they are seeking a ‘no-compete’ deal, which would prevent us lowering taxes and setting our own standards on everything from workers’ rights to subsidising ailing industries.

They want to force us to carry on following the pernicious European Convention on Human Rights, which has proven to be a goldmine for opportunist Left-wing lawyers — like the now-disgraced Phil Shyster — and has provided a get-out-of-jail-free card for terrorists, murderers and illegal immigrants.

Brussels is also making noises about cutting off the City of London’s access to European financial markets with as little as a month’s notice.


It doesn’t seem to have sunk in yet that they are no longer dealing with the defeatist Theresa May, who was prepared to offer any concession and swallow any amount of humiliation in her pathetic, demeaning attempts to stifle a proper Brexit

Oh, and they are demanding that foreign fishing boats continue to enjoy unlimited access to British waters.

If we were to agree to any of this extensive shopping list, it would make a mockery of the whole point of Brexit — taking back control.

Fortunately, Boris appears to have no intention of complying with these outrageous conditions — a position amplified by our chief negotiator David Frost in a speech last night.

All we are seeking is a fair deal, based on friendly co-operation, not special treatment.

But as far as the EU apparat is concerned, friendly co-operation is not on the table.

They aren’t even prepared to offer the same tariff-free trading terms they have agreed with countries such as Canada, South Korea and Japan.

Such sabre-rattling is, of course, only to be expected. But it’s all so tiresome and unnecessary.

The whole deal could be tied up in about ten minutes, with goodwill and a bit of give and take on both sides.

But the problem is that the Brussels bureaucracy is still fighting the last war. They think they’ve got us over a barrel.

It doesn’t seem to have sunk in yet that they are no longer dealing with the defeatist Theresa May, who was prepared to offer any concession and swallow any amount of humiliation in her pathetic, demeaning attempts to stifle a proper Brexit.

There’s a new sheriff in town. He’s the man who led the Vote Leave campaign and has just been re-elected Prime Minister with a thumping 80-seat parliamentary majority after an election fought on the simple slogan: Get Brexit Done.


Brussels is also making noises about cutting off the City of London’s access to European financial markets with as little as a month’s notice. Oh, and they are demanding that foreign fishing boats continue to enjoy unlimited access to British waters. A fishing boat is seen in the English Channel

His sidekick is a sociopath who masterminded both the victorious Leave and recent Tory General Election campaigns.

Dominic Cummings would probably prefer to accept Brussels’ surrender in a railway carriage in the French countryside rather than cede an inch in the coming negotiations.

Does Barnier really think this administration will ever agree to Britain remaining a vassal state of the EU? If so, he’s been hitting the Pernod too hard lately.

Mother Theresa was willing to postpone our departure until the Twelfth of Never if necessary. Boris is determined we won’t linger one second past midnight on December 31.

This time we hold the winning hand. There’ll be no retreat. We are prepared to walk away, Renee — or Michel, or Jean-Yves, or whoever Brussels fancies sending along to cross the I’s and dot the T’s.

It’s time we stopped referring to the EU as our ‘partners’ and started calling them our ‘rivals’ or ‘competitors’.

If they want continued access to their biggest export market and our co-operation in military and security matters, they have to get real. Fast.

There’s a new sheriff in town. He’s the man who led the Vote Leave campaign and has just been re-elected Prime Minister with a thumping 80-seat parliamentary majority after an election fought on the simple slogan: Get Brexit Done. Boris Johnson is pictured above in a Cabinet meeting with new Chancellor Rishi Sunak

We won’t be bullied. The City is big enough, ugly enough and powerful enough to look after itself.

If Boris sells out the fishermen it will kill him in those coastal constituencies which voted Tory for the first time. And he knows it.

The EU is facing an existential crisis and is terrified that Britain will make a roaring success of Brexit, while Europe implodes.

On the other side of the Channel, Babylon is burning. But that’s not our immediate problem.

We are once again masters of our own destiny. There’s a whole wide world out there, gagging to do business with us.

The EU has far more to lose than we do. Our Man Frost is not going naked into the negotiating chamber. He should simply tell Barnier and his buddies:

Enough of the empty threats. We’re off whether you like it or not. If you want to rip yourselves apart, have a nice day.

But if you want to carry on selling your cars, fridges, food and wine in Britain, it’s time to cut out the grand-standing and cut a deal.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/...hel-Barnier-No-retreat-baby-no-surrender.html

The Remainers told us Britain would suffer because of Brexit, but it's the EU which suffers. Boris Johnson rejects EU’s demands on level playing field. Ireland argues with the EU over the European budget as Leo Varadkar resigns as Irish PM. French fishermen beg Macron to save them from Brexit.