Alarm at Facebook
ALLEGATIONS about the mass harvesting of Facebook users’ data are “very concerning”, Downing Street has said.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s official spokesman called on the social media giant and data firm Cambridge Analytica to co-operate fully with an investigation by the Information Commissioner.
CA was suspended from Facebook last week after it emerged that data on millions of users had not been destroyed as agreed. BRITAIN and the European Commission have reached agreement on a transition deal to allow talks on the future trade relationship to be triggered later this week.
Brexit Secretary David Davis hailed the agreement as a “significant step” following talks with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier in Brussels.
But Mr Barnier cautioned that some issues remained to be settled, including the Irish border question and the governance of the eventual withdrawal agreement.
Under the terms of the joint legal text agreed by Mr Barnier and Mr Davis, the UK will be able to negotiate and ratify trade deals with outside countries following Brexit Day in March 2019, to enter into force after the end of a transition period lasting until the end of 2020.
EU citizens arriving in the UK during the transition, as well as Britons settling on the continent, will have the same rights as those in place before Brexit Day, said Mr Barnier. The agreement must be approved by EU leaders meeting at the European Council summit on March 22 and 23. This will allow vital negotiations on trade relations to get under way in earnest. Talks will continue on outstanding issues over the summer, before a final withdrawal text is agreed in October and sent to the European and UK Parliaments for ratification.
Speaking alongside Mr Barnier at a Brussels press conference, Mr Davis said: “The deal we have struck today, on top of that agreed in December, should give us confidence that a good deal is closer than ever.”
The pound jumped by almost 1% against the dollar to 1.40 US dollars following news of the agreement. Sterling was trading up 0.7% against the euro at 1.14 euros.
Prime Minister Theresa May said: “Prior to December, people questioned whether we would get agreement then. We did. People questioned whether we would get agreement now. We have. I think what this shows is that, with goodwill on both sides, we can get an arrangement for the future which will be in the interests of the UK and in the interests of the European Union and it will be good for all parts of the UK.”
The European Commission’s proposals for “backstop” arrangements for the Irish border remain in the new text, despite being angrily rejected by Mrs May when first published last month. They will be the subject of intense negotiation in the months leading up to the deadline for a final agreement in October.
On the key issue of fishing rights, the new text states that the UK will be “consulted” on the allocation of quotas during the transition period.
Shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said: “This agreement could have been signed months ago but ministers wasted time fighting among themselves.
“It is welcome that they have finally struck a deal on transition and now the Government must prioritise negotiating a final agreement that protects jobs, the economy and guarantees there will be no hard border in Northern Ireland.”