Paphos Life

Michel Barnier says a UK-EU trade deal is 'UNLIKELY' this year and blasts British refusal to compromise over fishing as negotiator David Frost warns that 'significant gaps' exist between two sides
By DAVID WILCOCK, WHITEHALL CORRESPONDENT FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 12:47, 23 July 2020 | UPDATED: 12:48, 23 July 2020

EU negotiator Michel Barnier blasted the UK today as he warned a trade deal is 'unlikely' before the end of the year.

He lashed out at Britain over its hardline position on fishing rights in territorial waters after the transition period ends on December 31 as talks ended without breakthrough in London.

Mr Barnier used a press conference to warn that the EU would not accept a deal that resulted in the 'partial destruction' of the EU fishing industry, but would continue with talks to 'the last moment'.

'By its current refusal to commit to conditions of open and fair competition and to a balanced agreement on fisheries, the UK makes a trade agreement - at this point - unlikely,' Mr Barnier said.

Speaking after this week's round of negotiations in London, Barnier said there been no progress at all on the question of ensuring fairness on state aid.

'The time for answers is quickly running out,' he told a news conference, referring to the five months left before the end of Britain's transition period since it formally left the EU at the end of January. 'If we do not reach an agreement on our future partnership there will be more friction.'

UK negotiator David Frost admitted 'considerable gaps' remain between the two sides but help out hope for a deal to be struck after some concession in other areas of conflict.

But he confirmed the two sides remained at loggerheads over fishing rights in UK waters and the 'level playing field' on standards.

Minister who pocketed £48,000 in Russian-linked donations insists they were from 'British citizens' - as it's revealed Rishi Sunak, Alok Sharma and Robert Buckland are among 14 Tory MPs to take cash
British politicians have been pictured with controversial Russian oligarchs

• Lubov Chernukhin is biggest female donor in the history of Conservative Party
  She has a reputation for making big bids to have dinner or play sport with Tories
  Alexander Temerko, former chief of Russian state arms company, now in energy
  Both have made donations to more than a dozen Tories, new figures reveal

A senior Cabinet minister dismissed fears over Russian-linked donations worth tens of thousands of pounds made to top Tory MPs today, insisting they came from 'British citizens'.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis, who received payments of £48,000 from two donors with links to the country, said that they were all above board and those who made them were entitled to play a part in UK politics.

Fourteen Conservative ministers including six in the Cabinet have accepted tens of thousands of pounds in donations from Russian oligarchs including the wife of one of Vladimir Putin's ex-ministers who played tennis with Boris Johnson, it was revealed today.

Mr Lewis, International Development Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Justice secretary Robert Buckland, Chancellor Rishi Sunak and Business Secretary Alok Sharma have all been handed between £5,000 and £58,000 personally or via their constituency parties in the past six years, according to figures obtained by The Times.

The donations, all legal under electoral rules and properly declared, emerged just a day after the intelligence and security committee (ISC) published its long-delayed Russia report which warned the UK is at risk of being exploited by Moscow because of the cosy relationship with its oligarchs.

Mr Lewis told the BBC today the donations were 'properly declared.

The Times listed him as Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis as having personally received £25,000 from Lubov Chernukhin, a banker and the wife of Mr Putin's former deputy finance minister, and £23,000 from Alexander Temerko, a former chief of a Russian arms company.

Mrs Chernukhin is said to have previously placed a winning bid of £160,000 at a 2014 Tory fundraiser to play a doubles game of tennis with Boris Johnson and then prime minister David Cameron.

The Cabinet minister told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I think we need to be fairly clear about this so we don't get the facts wrong - these are British citizens.

"They are properly declared, we do not accept funds from foreign nationals.

"These are British citizens and I would absolutely defend the right of any British citizen, including the people you've outlined who have donated to myself and others, to play their full part in our democracy.

"That doesn't just mean voting, that means supporting, if they want to, political parties and political candidates, and I'm very proud of the fact that, as a country, we allow British citizens to do that."

Boris Johnsons insisted this week that the UK 'leads the world in caution about Russian interference'.

Two Tory MPs sitting on Britain's top spy committees today also face calls to hand back donations they received from former Russian arms chief Mr Temerko and Mrs Chernukhin, whose husband Vladimir once served under Putin in Moscow's Government. She describes herself as a banker and consultant.

Very flimsy reasoning by Brandon Lewis, they may have British citizenship which can be bought, just like in Cyprus and it's just a means to an end.
I like Russians, I count many as close personal friends but at the end of the day their loyalty lies with Russia.
There are three ways these Oligarchs got their money, they stole it, are part of the Russian Mafia or were given it by the Russian government to undermine the West.
Now if it's obvious to the Moscow watchers it should be obvious to the Tory Party that they are accepting dirty money.

Jim

JGW

This is one reason why we must take back control of our territorial waters. Hard line ? I should damn well think so !

"Some sections of the European fishing industry were so dismayed at losing access to British fishing grounds that they have openly stated that they will ignore any attempts by the UK to take back control of its waters. Gerard van Balsfoort – the head of the European Fisheries Alliance which represents over 18,000 European fishermen – said in an interview with the BBC that his members would simply ignore any attempts by the UK to take back control of its own fishing grounds stating: “If our boats were suddenly barred from UK waters, we would just carry on fishing there regardless … We know that the Royal Navy is not able to patrol or control all your waters.”

The EU intend to ride rough shod over the UK even after Brexit. They are Arrogant and Ignorant. Thank goodness we will soon be rid of them....hopefully.

Jackie

Firefly wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:31 pm JGW

This is one reason why we must take back control of our territorial waters. Hard line ? I should damn well think so !

"Some sections of the European fishing industry were so dismayed at losing access to British fishing grounds that they have openly stated that they will ignore any attempts by the UK to take back control of its waters. Gerard van Balsfoort – the head of the European Fisheries Alliance which represents over 18,000 European fishermen – said in an interview with the BBC that his members would simply ignore any attempts by the UK to take back control of its own fishing grounds stating: “If our boats were suddenly barred from UK waters, we would just carry on fishing there regardless … We know that the Royal Navy is not able to patrol or control all your waters.”

The EU intend to ride rough shod over the UK even after Brexit. They are Arrogant and Ignorant. Thank goodness we will soon be rid of them....hopefully.

Jackie

A bit like what the British Fishermen tried to do to Iceland during the Cod Wars I suppose.
The British fish in EU waters, it's a two way thing and most of British catch goes to Europe as most of EU catch goes to the UK.
A win win situation at the moment but very soon a lose lose situation for everyone.

Jim

I thought the territorial water was always non-negotiable. So why the hands up in horror by Barnier all of a sudden?

The point is any failure to reach a Brexit Deal will affect the British fleets just as badly, if not worse than the EU fleets. The British Fleets are also in many cases the authors of their own misfortunes by selling their license to foriegn fleet owners in Spain and Portugal and those that are left, in some cases presently sell up to 90% of their catch to the EU which will become a much more difficult market to sell to.
Fishing is less than 1% of British GDP.

Jim

Jackie
I think all this talk of Fishing Rights is a bit of a Red Herring, Most of us were discussing the bribery and bankrolling of Tory MPs.
Strangely it's all gone quiet over there shall we say.
All you Blue Bloods must agree with the Tory Party being bankrolled by the Russians and who are also bankrolling the Taliban to kill our troops because I've not seen any condemnation from the Tory Party supporters on here, only from us lefties.
There are 14 Tory Ministers who have been named, 6 of them Cabinet Ministers and two of them are on the intelligence and Security Committee; if I wrote a book about I'd be told it was too far fetched.
These people are Traitors.


https://www.businessinsider.com/russia- ... ?r=US&IR=T

Very easy, he can get his wife into the UK if he has an income of more than £22,500 if he doesn't have kids and theres an additional pro rata rate for each child or you can put £66,000 in a British Bank Account for 6 months and you meet the criteria. A pal of mine did that, he moved the 66k from an offshore account into his UK account for six months rather than declare his income and pay a massive tax bill. His Russian wife now has a British passport after a four year wait.
If you buy a property for around 3 million pounds like the Oligarchs do they get a passport thrown in for free, same in Cyprus.
Jim

Another link to show the close cooperation between the Tories and the Russians. Unfortunately it's more than two sentence long so maybe beyond the concentration span of some of our contributors.

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/07/24/swee ... ttingdale/

They probably stopped reading your insulting posts some time ago.

Quite.

Well this one might get them In The huff as well

https://www.thearticle.com/brexit-pm-jo ... in-decline

Jim B wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:45 pm Another link to show the close cooperation between the Tories and the Russians. Unfortunately it's more than two sentence long so maybe beyond the concentration span of some of our contributors.

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/07/24/swee ... ttingdale/

A rather cheap and nasty shot from you. I could respond in kind, but will show more class in restraint instead.

I thought this thread was about Brexit?

It is and about how the Russians, who are bankrolling the Tory Party who failed to investigate Russian interference in the referendum.

Jim

Jimgym wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 10:29 pm

Jim B wrote: ↑Sat Jul 25, 2020 7:45 pm Another link to show the close cooperation between the Tories and the Russians. Unfortunately it's more than two sentence long so maybe beyond the concentration span of some of our contributors.

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/07/24/swee ... ttingdale/

A rather cheap and nasty shot from you. I could respond in kind, but will show more class in restraint instead.

No, last time I posted a long article there were complaints about its length by some of your fellow Tories rather than on the content of the article so I thought I'd give a heads up to save people time.
By all means respond if you wish.
I forgot to say I find it strange that you can find time to write a criticism of me on a supposed slight with some venom but can't find time to criticise or defend the Tory Party for taking backhanders from the Russians who have been interfering and affecting British politics for the last ten years.
Jim

K-Noble wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2020 6:37 pm Can someone elaborate on how to get a British Passport for the price of a house, so i can tell my nephew who is stuck in Asia with his wife, due to UK immigration refusing his wife a spouse visa, even though his company have a position for him in there UK offices and he owns property in the Uk

K-Noble
I was thinking about your nephews problem over the last couple of days and if he can meet the two criteria, I.E. earn in excess of £22,500 or have a minimum of £66,000 in a British bank account for a minimum of six months then there shouldn't be a problem. I have many friends who are happily married and living in the UK who are married to foriegn wives.

Unfortunately the hostile atmosphere at the Home Office makes it very difficult for young people who cannot meet the required criteria and the present laws set up by T May are only advantageous to the rich and powerful, not for Joe Public.
I can only think that if your nephew meets one of the criteria his wife must have applied incorrectly and it may be worth reapplying using a solicitor familiar with the application procedure.
Many of the people I know brought their wives in on Tourist Visas and then applied for a spouse Visa which was issued, I did this in Cyprus.
In 1994 the then government brought into law the opportunity for ultra rich people to obtain a passport when buying a property for 2 million pounds (not three as I said earlier) , this was around the time the Russian Oligarchs were trying to get their ill gotten gains out of Russia that's why I commented about getting a passport for the price of a house.

I hope this information helps.

Jim

PS. Varky sorry for going off on a tangent against but the question was asked earlier in the thread.

Interesting


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NagaN7zyz ... e=youtu.be