Politics
EU negotiator Maros Sefcovic claims bloc should ‘consider’ UK joining tariff-free customs scheme
A top Brussels bureaucrat has claimed the EU should “consider” letting the UK join a tariff-free customs scheme.
However, given Sir Keir Starmer’s red lines on the Single Market and Customs Union, the EU’s new trade chief Maros Sefcovic stresseed such an agreement would represent membership of the Pan-Euro-Mediterranean Convention (PEM).
PEM operates under common rules which enable parts, ingredients and materials for manufacturing supply chains to be sourced from across dozens of countries in Europe and North Africa tariff-free.
The suggestion, rejected by the previous Tory Governments, was touted during Sefcovic’s appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic PASefcovic said the idea has not been “precisely formulated” by London yet and the “ball is in the UK’s court”.
Starmer’s Government is reportedly holding consultations with business leaders over the benefits of PEM but no final decision has yet been made.
Sefcovic also hinted at a full-scale veterinary agreement to reduce frictions on farming and food trade, an updating fisheries deal and mobility plan for under 30s.
Sefcovic said it was hoped the scheme would “build bridges for the future for the European Union and the UK”.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
European Union flags flying outside the European Commission in Brussels
PA Media
“That was the idea,” he said. “[But] we’ve been a little bit surprised what kind of spin it got in the UK.
“It is not freedom of movement,” Sefcovic added. “We have been very clear what we’ve been proposing.”
Despite rejecting previous calls for a return of Freedom of Movement, Starmer could face pressure next month while attending a defence and security focused EU summit.
The Prime Minister is determined to “reset” cross-Channel relations but continues to insist that this will not infringe on the UK’s decision to leave the Single Market or Customs Union.
Keir StarmerPAHousing Minister Matthew Pennycook dealt Sefcovic an almost immediate blow this morning.
Speaking to the BBC, Pennycook said: “We’re not seeking to participate in that particular arrangement.
“I think in general the Government’s been very clear … we do want a closer relationship with our European partners, both in trading terms, but also, importantly … in terms of security and defense cooperation, where we need to work far more closely. So absolutely, yes, we do want a closer relationship.
“As for this particular arrangement though we’re not seeking to participate in it at the present time.”
Politics
Drivers given matter of weeks until Rachel Reeves tax hikes start impacting millions of Britons
Drivers have been warned they have just weeks to prepare for significant changes to motoring laws, with electric vehicle owners set to face the biggest impact from April.
The warning comes as a series of new regulations and tax changes will come into force impacting millions of drivers across the UK.
One of the biggest changes involves EVs losing their Vehicle Excise Duty exemption, while also facing the end of London Congestion Charge benefits later in the year. The changes mark a substantial shift in how vehicle ownership is regulated and taxed in the UK under a Labour Government.
Petrol and diesel drivers will also be affected by various updates, including changes to fuel pricing transparency and new safety requirements.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailingmotoring@gbnews.uk
Electric car tax changes will come in for the first time in AprilPA/DVLA Under the rules announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Budget last year, from April 1, electric vehicle owners will be required to pay Vehicle Excise Duty for the first time, marking the end of their tax-free status. Newly registered EVs will face a £10 charge in their first year of registration.
This will increase significantly to £195 annually from the second year onwards. For luxury electric vehicles priced over £40,000, owners will face an additional expensive car supplement of £410 per year, payable for five years.
The changes are part of the Government’s standard uprating of Vehicle Excise Duty rates, which aims to maintain tax receipts in real terms.
London’s electric vehicle drivers will face another significant change later in the year as their Congestion Charge exemption comes to an end on December 25.
From this date, all vehicles including electric and hydrogen-powered models will need to pay the full £15 daily charge when driving through central London.
This replaces the current system introduced by Mayor Sadiq Khan where EV owners can pay £10 for an exemption from the Congestion Charge.
However, due to the seasonal closure of the charging zone, the new rules will effectively begin from January 2, 2026, as there is no Congestion Charge between December 25 and January 1.
Meanwhile company car drivers will see Benefit-in-Kind tax rates increase by one per cent from April with electric vehicle rates rising from two per cent to three per cent.
But petrol and diesel vehicles will face even steeper increases in their company car tax rates. New regulations for EV charging providers will require them to meet strict Government standards for reliability and accessibility.
Providers who fail to comply with these standards could face fines of up to £10,000 per charger. The measures aim to enhance the charging experience for EV drivers while ensuring consistent access to reliable infrastructure across the UK.
John Wilmot, CEO of LeaseLoco.com, said: “These upcoming changes show a significant shift in how vehicle ownership is incentivised and regulated in the UK particularly for electric vehicles.
“The removal of key EV financial perks, such as the VED exemption and Congestion Charge discounts, will undoubtedly impact the cost effectiveness of owning or leasing an EV.”
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
EVs attract a two per cent BiK tax rate PAHe added: “For many drivers, these incentives were a major factor in the decision to transition to electric. So its possible that these changes could actually slow the momentum of EV adoption, particularly among drivers who were on the fence about making the switch.”
Additional changes coming in 2025 include the nationwide Fuel Finder scheme, requiring all petrol stations to share real-time fuel prices.
HGV operators in Greater London will need safety permits from May 4 under the Direct Vision Standard, assessing driver visibility of vulnerable road users. Elsewhere, Scotland is set to implement a nationwide 20mph speed limit in urban and residential areas during 2025.
Politics
Kwasi Kwarteng launches scathing attack on Labour’s plans to reduce prison sentences for women
Former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng launched a blistering attack on Labour’s plans to reduce prison sentences for women, branding the proposal as “insane”.
In a furious response, Kwarteng insisted “justice should be blind” regardless of gender or background.
The Senate Banking Committee voted 13-11, along party lines, on Thursday to advance Scott Turner’s nomination to be secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, with Democrats voting no over concerns about Turner’s unfinished FBI background check.
If confirmed by the full Senate, the NFL veteran and former developer would run a department with a $70 billion budget and roughly 8,000 employees at a time when housing has risen to the forefront politically after costs soared in the wake of the pandemic.
Turner told the committee during his confirmation hearing last week that “HUD is failing at its most basic mission,” pointing to the high cost of housing and a recent surge in homelessness. But he offered few specifics on how he would turn things around, saying he wanted first to take stock of which programs are working and which aren’t.
Labour MP Matthew Pennycook has defended the Government’s new planning reforms, insisting that local communities will retain their right to object to developments.
Speaking to GB News, Pennycook emphasised that “no one is saying that the views of local communities should be ignored”.
Politics
Reform UK chairman blasts Tories as a group that ‘deal entirely in deception, falsehoods, and betrayal’
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has expressed disappointment at Suella Braverman’s suggestion for an electoral pact between the populist party and the Conservatives.
Speaking on GB News, Yusuf firmly rejected any possibility of a deal with the Tories, questioning how Reform could work with a group that “deal entirely in deception, in falsehoods, and betrayal”.
READ THE FULL STORY HERE
Politics
Reform UK unveils plan to STOP the boats upon entering No10 as chairman says Royal Navy on standby
Reform UK Chairman Zia Yusuf has revealed how his party would tackle illegal immigration into Britain if it won the keys to Downing Street.
It comes as migrants continue to make their way across the English Channel despite commitments made by the two main parties to bring down the numbers.
More than 1,000 small boat migrants have crossed the English Channel illegally since the beginning of the year, GB News can exclusively reveal.
The milestone figure was reached a week ahead of last year, when 1,000 migrants had crossed by 28 January.
Nigel Farage would call in the Royal Navy to control numbers, says Reform chairman
Getty Images/GB News
Reacting to a new leaked confidential report that found one in 12 – or 6000 – illegal immigrants are currently living in London, Yusuf has revealed how Nigel Farage would attempt to bring down the numbers if he were to win the next General Election.
He told GB News: “We’ve been very clear that if you come here illegally, if your first act on coming is to break our laws, you will be deported. But first of all, you need to stop the tap. So if the bath is overflowing, you need to stop the water from coming in.
“The first thing Nigel will do when he becomes the Prime Minister of this country, is to pick up the phone to the First Sea Lord and issue an order to His Majesty’s Royal Navy to ensure that not a single unauthorised vessel crossing the English Channel makes it to the shores of the United Kingdom.
“It will be a humanitarian mission. I speak to many people at the most senior levels inside of His Majesty’s Navy who say all they need is political clarity. They keep using that word. Give us political clarity. We will ensure those boats stop coming, nobody’s harmed, they are taken back to France.”
Is this doable?
The Navy would face considerable legal and ethical challenges if it deployed forces to take boats back to France.
International maritime laws, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, stipulate that countries must assist any person in distress at sea, which complicates any policy of turning back migrant boats.
There would also be concerns about the humanitarian aspects, where such actions could lead to loss of life or further endanger migrants.
Furthermore, it would require buy-in from the French, who have raised legal and humanitarian concerns about any strategy involving turning back boats and pushed back against unilateral efforts by the UK to control immigration.
However, Reform’s proposal has considerable backing in Britain, polling suggests.
LATEST MEMBERSHIP DEVELOPMENTS
A whopping 99 per cent were in favour of the policy, while just one per cent disagreed
Getty Images
At the end of last year, GB News Members were asked whether they think Britain should turn boats back to France.
A whopping 99 per cent were in favour of the policy, while just one per cent disagreed.
Proponents point to the continent as evidence that turning back the boats brings down the numbers.
The Italian government recently struck a £90million deal with Tunisia, allowing their border force and coastguard vessels to turn boats around and return them to the Tunisian coast.
This has reduced Mediterranean crossings by more than 60 per cent since taking effect.
GB News has approached the MoD for comment.
Politics
Robert Jenrick’s ‘cynical’ call for Attorney General Lord Hermer ‘conflict of interest’ investigation REJECTED
Solicitor General Lucy Rigby has confirmed Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick’s call for an investigation into Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer has been rejected.
Jenrick had penned a letter to Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald over the weekend demanding answers to the Attorney General’s work with previous clients.
In the letter, seen by GB News, the Shadow Justice Secretary, Lord Hermer’s listed clients included Sri Lankan asylum seekers in the Chagos Islands, ex-Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, Afghan families associated with the ongoing Afghan inquiry and parties interested in Shamima Begum’s citizenship case.
Dismissing Jenrick’s calls for a probe, Rigby told MPs: “I have outlined the rigorous process that exists in the Attorney General’s Office and has existed across administrations of all colours.
Attorney General Lord Richard HermerPA“The House may be aware that the shadow justice secretary [Robert Jenrick] has written to the Cabinet Secretary [Sir Chris Wormald] seeking clarity… on that process and an investigation into it, the Cabinet Secretary has today confirmed by reply that the Attorney General’s Office has a rigorous system in place to ensure that a law officer would not be consulted on any matter that could give rise to a potential conflict of interest.
“He has restated that these arrangements are long standing and part of a standard practice that has applied in successive administrations.”
Rigby also accused the Tories of being “cynical” by linking the Attorney General to his previous clients, including ex-Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.
However, Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty questioned if Lord Hermer’s role as Attorney General remained tenable.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Robert Jenrick
PA
He said: “The current Attorney General has a track record of taking up multiple cases against the British government. Given his previous work both with regard to Gerry Adams and the families of those making claims against UK special forces, on which matters will the Attorney General recuse himself from advising ministers owing to clear conflicts of interests?
“And if he is not able to fulfil the full scope of his role owing to his prior career, is his position even tenable?”
Rigby replied: “I am afraid I couldn’t be more clear. I have already said that where the Attorney General has conflicts he will recuse himself.”
Today’s row came after the Tories secured an urgent question in the House of Commons.
Attorney General Richard Hermer and Leader of the House of Lords Baroness Smith leave 10 Downing StreetPALord Hermer came under fire last week after it was revealed that Labour’s will repeal a law that blocked Adams from claiming compensation for his detention.
The Attorney General represented Mr Adams in a separate case where the former Sinn Fein president was being sued by the victims of three IRA bomb attacks.
However, Hermer insisted his work with Adams was unconnected to the legislation.
Rigby said: “It is a central and well understood aspect of the British legal system… that barristers are required to accept instructions if they are available and qualified to do so.”
She added: “She will also be very aware that put simply barristers are not their clients.
“As the Bar Council states, barristers do not choose their clients, nor do they associate themselves with their clients’ opinions or behaviour by virtue of representing them.”
Politics
Reform UK: Chairman Zia Yusuf REJECTS Suella Braverman’s offer of a Tory-Reform pact: ‘Betrayed British people!’
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has expressed disappointment at Suella Braverman’s suggestion for an electoral pact between the populist party and the Conservatives.
Speaking on GB News, Yusuf firmly rejected any possibility of a deal with the Tories, questioning how Reform could work with a group that “deal entirely in deception, in falsehoods, and betrayal”.
Yusuf’s comments came after the former Home Secretary called for unity on the right during a visit to Washington DC for Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Speaking on GB News, Yusuf said: “I agree with her that there isn’t space for two, and the reality is Reform has already overtaken the Conservative Party.
Zia Yousef said that Reform will never have a pact with the Tories
GB News
“Look, how can you do a deal? How can you do a pact with a group, with a tribe who deal entirely in deception, in falsehoods, and betrayal?
“They have betrayed the people of Britain to such an extraordinary degree that they will fully deserve the extinction event that’s now facing them.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
“The pollsters have a great deal of discretion to flex things up and down and none of the pollsters want to go first, because pollsters largely have no interest in being correct. They just want to not be demonstrably wrong. You’ll see in the coming weeks, Reform surging ahead of the Tory party, as we already have done in several polls.
“But look, just look at the Tories’ track record here. Over the 14 years that they were in government, they grew the size of the population of the United Kingdom by six and a half million people.
Suella Braverman suggested a pact between the parties
PA
“They built no new net prison places, which is why we have violent criminals running rampant around the United Kingdom and people feel terrified to leave their homes, particularly women. The 2010, the 2015, the 2017, and the 2019 manifesto, they promised to bring that migration down to the tens of thousands. What did they do? They left office with that number at one million.”
He added: “We will never do a deal with the Tory party, because they will never again get a chance to betray the British.”
Braverman made her comments while attending Trump’s inauguration in Washington DC, where she praised the former President’s style of “unfiltered conservatism”.”
“Donald Trump has not just shifted Overton window, he’s shattered it,” Braverman told The Telegraph.
Zia Yousef said the Tories have “betrayed the British people”
GB News
“He’s made the unsayable mainstream and he’s made the radical much more acceptable to the moderates.”
Braverman added she was open to various forms of cooperation, including “a merger, a coalition, a supply and confidence agreement, or a non-aggression pact”.
The former Home Secretary also aligned herself with Reform UK’s position on leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
Robert Jenrick has highlighted a severe crisis in England’s court system in his latest episode of Common Sense.
He explained that nearly half of all courtrooms at London’s Central Criminal Court are currently empty in a shocking revelation.
Speaking outside the Old Bailey, Jenrick pointed to 11 vacant courtrooms in the building, describing it as “the beating heart of our legal system”.
The situation is even more dire in Carlisle, where 67 per cent of courtrooms stand empty, while Bristol sees 40 per cent of its courtrooms unused on average each week.
The court system is facing a mounting crisis with a backlog of 73,000 cases, which is increasing by 500 cases every month.
In episode two, Jenrick speaks to James from the Criminal Bar Association, and highlights “the right to a fair trial in a reasonable time frame”.
Watch the second episode of ‘Common Sense with Robert Jenrick’ above
A Labour peer has warned that the Palace of Westminister could be at risk of “catastrophe” after a worrying number of fires over the last decade.
Fire has broken out 45 times in Westminster over the last 10 years, latest figures show.
Labour former cabinet minister Lord Hain said that he fears the site could become a “Notre Dame inferno incubating”, referring to the blaze that devastated the famous cathedral in Paris in 2019.
He criticised the numerous delays that have plagued a multibillion renovation project aimed at revamping the Houses of Parliament.
Lord Hain said Westminster is a ‘catastrophe’ waiting to happen
GETTY
Hain, who obtained the breakdown of incidents in Parliament, said the “prevarication and delay” could have “catastrophic consequences”.
Upon learning of the number of fires through a written parliamentary question, Hain said he was “horrified”.
The peer, who served as Commons leader for two years during his time as an MP, said: “I am horrified and these fires demonstrate that there’s a Notre Dame inferno incubating in the palace.
“Parliament decided years ago to a full decant for the proper restoration and renewal of the whole precious world heritage site.
FIRE LATEST:
Hain, who obtained the breakdown of incidents in Parliament, said the ‘prevarication and delay’ could have ‘catastrophic consequences’
PA
“But ever since then, there has been prevarication and delay which could well have catastrophic consequences.”
Proposals for the multibillion-pound restoration will not be published until the end of 2025.
They will include plans for three options; These are either a full decant of both Houses, the Commons chamber remaining in “various locations” within the Palace or a much cheaper “enhanced maintenance … rolling programme of works”.
Historic England has previously said that the work could last 43 years and cost more than £20billion.
He said the site could become a ‘Notre Dame inferno incubating’, referring to the blaze that devastated the famous cathedral in Paris in 2019
Getty
The public body said that the project would require nearly 3,000 specialist workers each year, devouring the UK’s supply of plasters and window experts.
Carpenters and joiners will also be in demand, Historic England’s report said.
A spokesman for UK Parliament said: “Work is already happening across the parliamentary estate to ensure the safety of those working here and visiting, including refurbishment of historic office buildings and fire safety improvements such as fire door upgrades, compartmentation, fire safety signage and a high-pressure water mist system.
“We remain on track to bring costed proposals for the restoration of the Palace of Westminster to both Houses by the end of the year detailing costs, timescales, risks and benefits of three delivery options, all of which represent a significant, multibillion-pound investment in the palace.”
Trump’s new meme-coin sparks anger in crypto world
Shein exec Donald Tang says Trump tariffs should be applied equally
The Proud Boys Are Plotting a Comeback. And They Want Revenge
-
Fashion8 years agoThese ’90s fashion trends are making a comeback in 2025
-
Entertainment8 years agoThe Season 9 ‘ Game of Thrones’ is here.
-
Fashion8 years ago9 spring/summer 2025 fashion trends to know for next season
-
Entertainment8 years agoThe old and New Edition cast comes together to perform You’re Not My Kind of Girl.
-
Sports8 years agoEthical Hacker: “I’ll Show You Why Google Has Just Shut Down Their Quantum Chip”
-
Business8 years ago
Uber and Lyft are finally available in all of New York State
-
Entertainment8 years ago
Disney’s live-action Aladdin finally finds its stars
-
Sports8 years ago
Steph Curry finally got the contract he deserves from the Warriors
-
Entertainment8 years ago
Mod turns ‘Counter-Strike’ into a ‘Tekken’ clone with fighting chickens
-
Fashion8 years ago
Your comprehensive guide to this fall’s biggest trends
You must be logged in to post a comment Login