Brexit news live: Latest updates as trade deal delayed

The Northern Ireland Protocol could cause “political instability” and the government must work to restore the nation’s ability to trade freely with the rest of the UK following the end of the Brexit transition period, a senior DUP MP has said.

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson told MPs on Monday evening that Northern Irish businesses were experiencing “enormous difficulties” with their supply chains, adding that there was enormous strength of feeling on the issue.

“This is the UK internal market, the difficulties are within that market,” Sir Jeffrey said.

“It is the responsibility of the UK government to act and that is why we are calling on them to use their powers under the protocol to take the necessary action through Article 16 to resolve the diversion of trade, the disruption in trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and to restore the citizenship rights of the people of Northern Ireland to trade freely with the rest of the UK, a freedom they have enjoyed for 200 years.”

He added: “In this, the centenary year of Northern Ireland, we expect the government and the prime minister to act to address and resolve these issues and to replace the protocol with arrangements that respect Northern Ireland’s place within the UK.”

In response, Robin Walker, minister of state for Northern Ireland, said work was “underway at pace” with the EU “with the shared objective of finding workable solutions on the ground”.

“A meeting of the UK EU withdrawal agreement joint committee will be convened this Wednesday to provide the necessary political steer, and approval for this work,” Mr Walker said.

Scotland’s former first minister Alex Salmond has claimed that there was a “malicious and concerted” attempt to remove him from the public life in relation to the handling of harassment allegations against him.

In his submission to a Scottish parliament inquiry, Mr Salmond alleged that members of the SNP were involved in efforts to damage his reputation.

Our Whitehall editor, Kate Devlin, has the full story below:

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will urge the government to back British farming by encouraging people to buy more British food, as part of his speech to the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) today.

Sir Keir is expected to seek to highlight Labour’s support for high food and farming standards, which the NFU has fought to maintain after Brexit, and argue that 10 years of Conservative government has weakened rural communities.

“No party can claim to represent the country if we don’t represent the countryside,” he is expected to say.

“Farming matters to Labour, the British people and to the families and communities that make farming possible.”

The Labour leader will also call on the government to look at whether more of the £2.4bn public spending on catering could be spent with British producers, addressing concerns that the post-Brexit farm funding scheme will not keep farmers afloat.

In addition, he will say that Labour’s proposed British Recovery Bond to boost investment in the aftermath of the pandemic will tackle the “permanent insecurity” faced by businesses and landowners in flood-hit communities.

The UK’s unemployment rate rose to 5.1 per cent last month – a five-year high – as the coronavirus pandemic continued to inflict economic damage, new figures have shown.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Tuesday morning that the jobless rate was up 0.4 percentage points on the previous quarter and up 1.3 percentage points on a year earlier.

Our reporter, Tom Batchelor, has the full story below:

Former Cabinet minister Chris Smith has spoken about his experience of becoming the first public HIV-positive MP in the UK.

The former Labour MP, who served as culture secretary from 1997 to 2001, told Times Radio about the phone call he shared with Nelson Mandela after revealing his diagnosis.

You can find his comments below:

Scotland’s first minister Nicola Sturgeon will set out more detailed plans for lifting her nation’s lockdown restrictions today as part of efforts to move back to normality amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Sturgeon has said her plan will be “broadly similar” to the one announced by Boris Johnson for England on Monday, although regional restrictions will eventually return in Scotland.

Our reporter, Matt Mathers, has the full story below:

Foreign ministers from G7 nations have condemned the “intimidation and oppression” of protesters in Myanmar following a military coup in the country.

The group, including foreign secretary Dominic Raab, warned on Tuesday that anyone responding to peaceful protests with violence “must be held to account”.

Protests against the junta continued on Tuesday after two demonstrators were shot dead over the weekend.

“Use of live ammunition against unarmed people is unacceptable. Anyone responding to peaceful protests with violence must be held to account,” the joint statement said.

“We condemn the intimidation and oppression of those opposing the coup.

“We raise our concern at the crackdown on freedom of expression, including through the internet blackout and draconian changes to the law that repress free speech.”

It added: “The systematic targeting of protesters, doctors, civil society and journalists must stop and the state of emergency must be revoked.”

The UK currently holds the presidency of the G7, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, plus the European Union.

On Monday, Myanmar’s ambassador to the UK was summoned to the Foreign Office for the second time this month.

Labour’s shadow justice secretary has called culture secretary Oliver Dowden an “authoritarian minnow” over reported plans to warn heritage organisations against focusing heavily on Britain’s imperial history.

Mr Dowden will be holding a round table event with 25 heritage organisations on Tuesday to discuss the presentation of the UK’s history, with a focus expected on the country’s role in slavery.

“Oliver Dowden is an authoritarian minnow for threatening to withdraw funding from our cultural institutions that don’t toe the government’s line,” David Lammy wrote on Twitter.

“Perhaps he should apply to be culture secretary in Russia?”