Amazon halts alcohol sales to Northern Ireland – follow live

The row deepens. The UK-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has pulled out from a meeting with EU officials scheduled for Wednesday to discuss the disagreement over Covid vaccine supplies, according to a Brussels official.

The official added that the EU keeps asking the company to provide further explanations about its announcement to cut vaccine deliveries to the bloc in the first quarter.

Discontent in loyalist communities in Northern Ireland is “growing” over the protocol arrangements forged as part of the Brexit withdrawal agreement, a senior police officer has said.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Mark McEwan said: “We are seeing signals, there are signal incidents that have happened, particularly in recent days.”

He told MPs: “We are starting to see graffiti, we are picking up social media sentiment of a growing discontent, particularly within the Protestant-loyalist-unionist community … That has not manifested itself in any outworkings at this point.”

A supertrawler which normally catches around 10 per cent of all the fish sold in the UK’s chip shops has left port for a one-off voyage to the island of Svalbard, as its owner demands a deal with Norway over distant waters fishing rights.

The Kirkella – which has been described as the pride of the UK’s distant-waters fishing fleet – has been tied up in St George’s Dock, Hull, since returning from her last trip at the beginning of December, leaving her 100-strong crew at home.

The vessel’s owner, UK Fisheries said detailed agreements are still needed with the non-EU countries involved in the post-Brexit distant waters arrangements – including Norway.

UK Fisheries chief executive Jane Sandell said: “We’re glad to be going out fishing at last, but this is only a sticking plaster … unless something changes very soon, we’ll have no more work for our crews for the foreseeable future.”

Some EU citizens who live in the UK have reportedly been questioned at the border and asked to show some evidence about where they live and whether or not they have settled status.

Politico has reported on cases involving at least four EU nationals – from Finland, Romania and Malta – who were stopped on their return home to the UK and asked questions about their residence. “It was more like the border control feeling you get in the US,” said one.

EU diplomats told the website border officials could be in breach of the law with their questions.

“The Border Force officials have the authority to try to determine who you are and even to ask you for details of your residence, but they cannot ask you for proof of your settled or pre-settled status,” one said.

The UK’s loss of financial business to the EU due to Brexit has been “disappointing”, a leading figure in the City of London has said.

London has seen major asset and job losses over the past year and the sector was largely during the divorce deal negotiations, cutting off the City from its biggest single customer.

“It’s disappointing to lose business but it’s not at all catastrophic,” said Catherine McGuinness, who is the political leader of the financial district’s ruling body.

“We are very confident in London’s basic strengths and that we will make up business elsewhere,” said told Reuters. “No matter what happens, London will continue to thrive.”

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth said Boris Johnson had “shown he’s not up to the job” during his handling of the Covid crisis – but he stopped short of calling for his resignation. “Please learn – don’t make these mistakes again.”

Piers Morgan challenged the Labour frontbencher whether he wanted the PM to step down after a poll of Good Morning Britain viewers found 64 per cent wanted Johnson to go.

Priti Patel won’t like this one. Refugees living in Calais believe Brexit has made it easier to secure asylum in the UK, a new poll has found.

About 1,000 people are staying in makeshift camps along the French coast. A survey of migrants in Calais carried out by Humanitarian charity Care4Calais revealed that more than half (55 per cent) think they have a better chance of getting asylum in the UK after Brexit. Only 18 per cent thinking they had a worse chance.

If nothing else, the results show hope springs eternal among the most desperate.

More than one million self-employed workers locked out of government coronavirus support could be helped by payments which would cost a tiny fraction of the current furlough scheme, a respected think tank has calculated.  

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said small changes could save many from severe financial hardship. The group argues that the government could help the 1.3 million people who receive less than 50 per cent of their income through self-employment.

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin has more details:

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick has defended Boris Johnson’s handling of the Covid crisis, as the government comes in for heavy criticism in the wake of the death toll surpassing 100,000.

Sky News host Niall Paterson suggested Johnson had waffled and failed to admit to costly mistakes, saying “it feels like the prime minister is gaslighting the entire nation at the moment”.

Jenrick replied: “No, I think that’s extremely unfair … Nobody has worked harder than the prime minister. The prime minister himself was particularly ill as a result of Covid. He’s worked extremely hard to guide the country through this period. There were no easy answers.”

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth has criticised the government for failing to impose strict measures at the borders sooner. “We should have had comprehensive border controls in for the past year,” he told BBC Breakfast.

Referring to last spring, he added: “Priti Patel and Boris Johnson, they tell us they want to take control of their borders, but the one time it actually mattered, and they needed to take control of our borders to protect us, they failed.

“I would urge the government to look at a comprehensive policy, not just the hotspots.”

Labour leader Kier Starmer has said the imminent quarantine plan should apply to all arrivals. “It’s very clear that we need to have quarantine comprehensively in hotels for everybody coming into the country – we need much stronger defences at our borders.”