‘Blustering’ Boris Johnson can get deal, Tory MP says as farmers fear high tariffs – follow live

Nicholas Le Poer Trench, the ninth Earl of Clancarty, has said the EU is an “irreplaceable” trading partner for the UK, in terms of service industries.

Speaking on Tuesday in the House of Lords, he said the government and the media “had consistently underestimated the importance of service industries, both to the country and to our trade with Europe”.

“We don’t know if we are going to get a deal with the EU – or what it will look like if we do. What we do know is that a no deal on services will be a no deal for the country,” he told the House. “Services are 80 per cent of our GDP – a statistic we have repeated many times – and our services trade with Europe makes up 51 per cent of our services exports.”

He added: “So, as it stands, Europe is a hugely important market for services. The most important. And because of the significance of geography to the service industries – the EU is frankly one that is irreplaceable.”  

It comes as Boris Johnson reportedly continues to tell his Cabinet that a no-deal Brexit is the “most likely outcome” of the ongoing negotiations. 

Michael Gove is set to hold a call with the devolved nations later this afternoon to discuss next week’s relaxation of the Covid rules over Christmas, the BBC is reporting.

A government source is thought to have confirmed the news to the broadcaster. 

It comes as No 10 confirmed on Tuesday that the government has the relaxed measures “under review”. 

The government wants to press ahead with relaxed coronavirus restrictions over Christmas but is keeping its guidance “under review”, Boris Johnson’s official spokesman has said.

He refused to confirm or deny reports that ministers are discussing the options of reducing the number of days of relaxed restrictions from five to three or cutting the number of households allowed in a “Christmas bubble” from three to two.

But he said that guidance was constantly under review in the light of the latest data on issues like transmission rates, hospitalisations and deaths from Covid-19.

Our political editor Andrew Woodcock has the details here:

Boris Johnson has repeated to his top ministers that failure to secure a trade deal with the EU is “the most likely outcome”, but his team would still try to reach agreement, his spokesperson said.

During an update for his cabinet team, Mr Johnson “re-emphasised the desire to reach a free trade agreement, but not at any cost, and reiterated any agreement must respect the independence and sovereignty of the UK”, the spokesperson said.

“The prime minister made clear that not being able to reach an agreement and ending the transition period on Australia-style terms remained the most likely outcome but committed to continuing to negotiate on the remaining areas of disagreement.”

With just 16 days left until the Brexit transition period ends, Euronews’ Europe correspondent reports that “it’s pretty clear” MEPs won’t “won’t countenance debating or ratifying any EU-UK trade agreement before” 31 December.

As such, a “new treaty between the EU-UK allowing for some sort of extension of current arrangements will be drawn up until the deal is ratified by the parliament”, Shona Murray reports.

Greenwich Council has told schools to reopen to all pupils after being threatened with legal action by the education secretary for switching to online learning over coronavirus fears, our political editor Andrew Woodcock reports.

Council leader Danny Thorpe said that Greenwich believes Gavin Williamson’s order was wrong at a time of rapidly rising cases and was being complied with only “reluctantly”.

But Mr Thorpe said the council could not justify the use of taxpayers’ cash to fight the Department for Education in court and had no choice but to ask headteachers to reopen classrooms to all.

The emergence of a new coronavirus strain “is not a disaster” for the UK and won’t lead to “a breakdown in all our plans”, a scientific adviser to the government has said.

A total of 1,108 cases related to the variant have been identified, predominantly in the south and east of England, PHE has announced, and scientists at the Covid-19 Genomics UK consortium are investigating it.

Calum Semple, a Sage member and professor of outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool, has told the BBC: “People should not be losing sleep about this, they really need to leave the virology to the scientists because we’re at the very early stages of understanding what’s going on here.”

Samuel Lovett has the full story here:

With Boris Johnson’s government having announced a decision to scrap unconscious bias training, junior cabinet office minister Julia Lopez told MPs that a report by the Behavioural Insights Team found that “there is currently no evidence that this training changes behaviour in the long term or improves workplace equality in terms of representation of women, ethnic minorities or other minority groups”.

“It also states that there is emerging evidence of unintended negative consequences,” she told MPs.

“In light of its findings, ministers have concluded that unconscious bias training does not achieve its intended aims.

“It will therefore be phased out in the civil service. We encourage other public sector employers to do likewise.”

Aside from ongoing Brexit negotiations in Brussels, there is a lot going on in and around Westminster on Tuesday. Here are the schedules for today:

11.30am: Business, energy and industrial strategy questions.

12.30pm: A business statement from Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg.

12.45pm: A statement from culture Secretary Oliver Dowden on the government’s full response to the online harms consultation.

1.45pm: A 10-minute rule motion on the prohibition of Virginity Testing.

2pm: United Kingdom Internal Market Bill – consideration of Lords amendments.

Also 2pm: Taxation (Post-Transition Period) – remaining stages.

Also 2pm: A short debate on the 125th anniversary of the National Trust.

11am: Commonwealth War Graves Commission staff.

2.30pm: Planning for the Future White Paper.

4pm: Welsh food and protected status.

4.30pm: Effect of the Covid-19 outbreak on people with learning disabilities.

1pm: Trade Bill – report stage (day two).

Also 1pm: A statement on Covid-19.

Boris Johnson’s government has decided to scrap unconscious bias training for civil servants in England, with ministers claiming it does not work.

The training is aimed at addressing patterns of prejudicial thinking when it comes to race, gender and sexuality, and is widespread in workplaces across the UK. But the Cabinet Office said there is no evidence it changes any attitudes, and has urged bodies across the public sector to ditch the training exercises.

The move has been criticised by race equality campaigners and the FDA civil servants’ union, reports my colleague Adam Forrest: