Race To The Bottom!

 
 
 

Good afternoon,

In this week's bulletin we report on the Prime Minister meeting with the Irish Taoiseach. The Taoiseach is optimistic for a deal but stumbling blocks remain. Legislation for the UK internal market is due in autumn so we look at key terms that will be used frequently and what some concerns are about the potential bill. As usual we have recommended reading for your Friday.

Enjoy,
Jacob

PLAY

In Politics

Boris Johnson Meets Michael Martin

  • Taoiseach Michael Martin warns against no-deal on top of covid-19

  • “Over my dead body” says Johnson about a border in the Irish Sea

  • If a deal is to be done solutions to disagreements in the negotiations needs to be found quickly

The Taoiseach Michael Martin has warned Boris Johnson to avoid a “second significant systematic shock” of a no-deal Brexit alongside of Covid-19. 

This week Boris Johnson met the Taoiseach for the first time since Martin took office to discuss British-Irish relations post-Brexit. The Taoiseach was optimistic that the EU and the UK would find common ground to avoid a no-deal on the future relationship. He emphasises the need to avoid the potential economic shock of not agreeing a deal on top of the economic damage the Covid-19 pandemic has caused.

According to the Times, the Prime Minister reiterated his desire for a trade deal with the EU but would not agree a deal at any price. David Frost has said “Our assessment is that agreement can be reached in September". There are more rounds of talks scheduled next week but key stumbling blocks of fisheries and the level playing field remain.

Boris Johnson also visited businesses in Northern Ireland this week telling them that business in Northern Ireland would have unfettered access to Great Britain. He said “there will be no border down the Irish Sea - over my dead body”. This comes after the UK Government announced £355 million to help Northern Ireland businesses with the cost of trading as the Withdrawal Agreement creates a customs border down the Irish Sea with the aim to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland.

While the Taoiseach is optimistic that a deal will be agreed there will need to be rapid progress in August and September. October 31st is the practical deadline for a deal to be agreed as it will need to go to the EU Parliament for ratification, and potentially need to go to EU member states legislatures for ratification too. There can be no last minute midnight agreement in December this time round. This is not like the Withdrawal Agreement and has a different process. Therefore if there is to be a deal, solutions to the stumbling blocks of fisheries and the level playing field will need to be found sooner rather than later.

In Policy

UK Internal Market

  • Explainers of key terms used frequently in UK internal market discussion

  • Concern that the bill would create a race to the bottom on standards in the UK

There has been a lot of talk about the UK internal market over the past few weeks after the government released a white paper outlining their plans for a bill to come in autumn legislating for a “UK Internal Market”. 

This is happening because when the UK leaves the transition period at the end of the year the UK will not have to conform to the European Single Market regulations that currently underpin the single market. The UK Government believes there needs to be legislation to underpin trade between the four nations of the UK.

The Institute for Government has published an explainer on the topic “Devolution: UK internal market”. As with lots of Brexit-related issues over the past four years there are unfamiliar terms that will be used a lot for you to wrap your head around.There are several key terms explained in the document, summarised below. 

Common frameworks: agreements between the four governments of the UK to enable a common approach to policy to prevent divergences.

Currently devolved institutions are bound to EU law but at the end of the transition deal many policy areas, such as environmental regulation and agriculture, will fall completely under devolved administrations control. There could then be divergences of these across different bits of the UK. In October 2017 the devolved administrations and Westminster agreed to work together to establish a “common framework” that would enable a common approach to areas of policy returning from the EU as above to prevent divergences. The Institute for Government has a comprehensive explainer on the common frameworks.

Mutual recognition: This is the principle that any good or service that can legally be sold in one part of the UK can be sold in another part of the UK. 

This means that the rules surrounding goods and services in one part of the UK are recognised as being as good as the rules in other parts of the UK and therefore not a barrier to entry to different bits of the UK with potentially different regulations. E.g. An English firm can sell goods in Wales made under English rules even if they are different to Welsh rules.

As the Institute for Government notes there are going to be exceptions due to the Northern Ireland protocol where good produced in Great Britain that do not meet EU standards will not be sold in Northern Ireland 

Non-discrimination: it will be against the law for any of the governments in the UK (Westminster, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland) to make rules and regulations that favour goods and services made in one part of the UK over another.

This applies to both direct and indirect discrimination.

Direct example: A ban on English milk being sold in Scotland
Indirect example: A rule saying Welsh milk can only be transported certain distance

There are concerns with the proposals and the Scottish government have already outlined their issues with such a bill and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said that the UK government was seeking to “ride roughshod over the powers of the Scottish parliament”. This week the Scottish government published their initial assessment of the UK Government’s proposals.

A key concern of the bill is that it will in effect remove powers from devolved administrations. If for example England has lower standards on food safety than Scotland there will be nothing preventing English firms selling food produced under lower standards in Scotland. This means that even if Scotland legislated for higher standards, they could be undermined if other parts of the UK had lower ones. This has in turn the potential to effectively create a race to the bottom when it comes to regulatory standards. 

The bill is due to be released in autumn this year. To engage, the Government has held a short four week consultation over summer during a pandemic when many organisations' minds are understandably elsewhere. As we have written before the relationship is already strained between Westminster and the devolved administrations and this short consultation does little to build trust. We wait to see the exact contents of the bill and whether the UK Government can propose a solution that respects the devolved settlement and brings the devolved administrations with it.

In Events

Why Democracy Matters - A Broken Contract: Business, Citizen, and State

  • Thursday 20th August

  • 17:00 start time

  • Under 35’s only

  • Register here

Unlock Democracy are hosting the next in their “Why Democracy Matters” series. Looking at how do private interests exercise control over democracy? How are people organising for economic justice and against business interests? And what would it take to stop corporate interests from distorting democracy altogether?

the3million #DeniedMyBackup webinar

  • Thursday 27th August

  • 19:00 start time

  • Register here

the3million is hosting a webinar and Q&A on why EU citizens should have the option for physical proof of immigration status. The webinar is for activists and partner organisations - speakers from Age UK, Fragomen, Public Law Project and the3million will attend to present different perspectives on the issue. There will be short statements at the beginning, and plenty of time to ask questions.

The webinar is open to all and will be recorded and live streamed on the3million’s social media. If you have any difficulties receiving your registration details, please email research@the3million.org.uk.

Brexit Civil Society Alliance Survey

The Brexit Civil Society Alliance in its current form will conclude in January 2021.
 
Since the formation of the Brexit Civil Society Alliance in 2017 (then the Repeal Bill Alliance) we have been working together with civil society organisations to protect rights and standards and advocate for transparent lawmaking that places limits on executive powers and respects the devolution settlements during the Brexit process. We have done this through facilitating information sharing, regularly convening civil society organisations, coordinate joint policy asks, responding to Brexit legislation and engaging with policy-makers.
 
We are currently exploring what the role and shape of a UK-wide civil society alliance post-2020 may look like. We are therefore seeking the views of our members and civil society organisations in our wider networks and would welcome your ideas and suggestions as part of this survey. It is available here.

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