‘Prove no deal is better’

Tourism body calls for visa-free EU travel after Brexit

LONDON, April 4, (RTRS): British Prime Minister Theresa May must prove that “no deal is better than a bad deal” by offering an economic assessment on the impact of leaving the European Union with no agreement, a parliamentary committee said on Tuesday.

Just days after May triggered the formal divorce procedure with the European Union, the committee, made up of lawmakers from the prime minister’s Conservatives and other parties, also called on the government to publish its contingency planning for failing to strike a deal after two years of talks.

May enters the unprecedented talks with an ambitious game plan, wanting “frictionless” trade and good cooperation with the bloc while gaining control over immigration and returning sovereignty — a wish list EU officials have balked at.

But she has also said she is prepared to walk away from the talks without a deal rather than accepting a “bad” one, a term her government has so far declined to elaborate on despite fears among manufacturers over new trade barriers if Britain has to revert to World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

“Without an economic impact assessment of ‘no deal’ and without evidence that steps are being taken to mitigate the damaging effect of such an outcome, the government’s assertion that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal’ is unsubstantiated,” said Hilary Benn, chairman of the Committee on Exiting the EU.

“Parliament must be in an informed position to decide whether a proposed deal is, in fact, better or worse than no deal,” he added in a statement.

May has been reticent about what she hopes to achieve in the talks so as not to give her hand away.

“I’m very clear that we will be working to get the best possible deal

The aid to the flood-stricken regions will come from the EU Solidarity Fund, which is used to help countries hit by natural disasters. It is the second time that Britain has received financial support from the fund since it was set up in 2002. (RTRS) for the UK,” May told Sky News. “I set out (in the formal letter to the EU triggering Brexit) what would be a no deal situation but I also said I don’t think that’s in anybody’s interest.”

Government officials, lawmakers and analysts say privately that she believes she has some strong cards to play, while also hoping that EU officials will favour pragmatism over punishment.

Meanwhile, Britain should aim to secure visa-free travel between the UK and the European Union in upcoming negotiations to leave the bloc, an association of travel agents said on Tuesday, adding that a transitional deal could also help the sector.

Britain formally began its divorce from the European Union last Wednesday, and airlines have demanded that their sector is prioritised in the forthcoming two years of negotiations to ensure there is no disruption to flights.

The Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) said the maintenance of visa-free travel between the EU and UK after Brexit was among its key priorities.

Other goals for ABTA included the protection of Britons’ ability to travel freely to Europe and beyond and safeguards for consumer rights, as well as stability and growth opportunities for British businesses.

Vital

“Travel and tourism is one of the UK’s largest industries and it is vital that the Government makes sure it can continue to thrive during and after the negotiations,” said Mark Tanzer, Chief Executive of ABTA.

Meanwhile, just days after May formally served the European Union with divorce papers, a powerful affliction appeared to strike some in Britain: Brexit fever.

Beside headlines about war over “the Rock” in Britain’s Eurosceptic press, there was also enthusiasm for an as yet unconfirmed plan to ditch European burgundy passports and return to the sturdy blue British passports of the past.

Readers of the Daily Telegraph were told that while the once mighty Royal Navy was weaker than it used to be, it could still “cripple” Spain if required.

A columnist in The Sun suggested May should threaten to expel all 125,000 Spaniards from Britain and tax Rioja wine unless Madrid backed off over Gibraltar, ceded to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713 but which Spain wants back.

So is Brexit fever sweeping Britain?

“Some people are getting a bit overexcited and I would take everything that was said over the weekend with a massive pinch of salt,” Anand Menon, professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King’s College in London, told Reuters.

The prime minister, an initial opponent of Brexit who won the top job in the political turmoil that followed the referendum, now has two years to sort out the terms of the divorce before it comes into effect in March 2019.

May, 60, has one of the toughest tasks of any recent British prime minister: holding Britain together in the face of renewed Scottish independence demands, while conducting talks with 27 other EU states on finance, trade, security and other issues.

May’s spokesman sought to calm matters down, saying that what Howard “was trying to establish was the resolve that we will have to protect the rights of Gibraltar and its sovereignty”.

Asked if that would include ultimately sending a naval task force to protect Gibraltar as Britain did to the Falklands 35 years ago, he said: “That isn’t going to happen.”

said he was lucky to survive.

The 17-year-old Kurdish Iranian boy, named by media as Reker Ahmed, was set upon by a group of up to 30 people shortly before midnight on Friday as he waited at a bus stop with two friends near a pub in Croydon. Police said the suspects had asked the victim where he was from and once when they discovered he was an asylum seeker they chased him before launching the assault which left him with a fractured skull and blood clot on his brain.

Immigration has been a major political issue in Britain and was one of the factors that swayed voters to back leaving the European Union in last year’s referendum in order to have more control on the numbers coming to the country. The Brexit vote also led to a spike in hate crimes.

Five people, three aged 20 and two aged 24, appeared in court on Monday charged with violent disorder over the attack on Ahmed. Detectives said another eight, including two boys aged 15 and 17 and a 17-year-old girl, would appear on court accused of the same offence on Tuesday.

Two men and one of the teenage boys are additionally charged with racially aggravated grievous bodily harm. Detective Superintendent Jane Corrigan said as many as 30 people were involved in the apparently motiveless attack and the teenager was lucky not have been killed. In a tweet after the attack local lawmaker Gavin Barwell described those responsible as “scum” while London Mayor Sadiq Khan vowed the perpetrators would be brought to justice. (RTRS)