The Government has today (Thursday 10 December) published a Command Paper setting out details of an agreement in principle on the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol between the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, and the EU Commission Vice President, Maroš Šefčovič. The agreement in principle draws on months of UK Government engagement with businesses and technical engagement with the EU and the Northern Ireland Executive.

The paper outlines how this meets the Government’s three key commitments to the people of Northern Ireland as the Protocol takes effect:

• Unfettered access guaranteed for Northern Ireland businesses to the rest of the UK market – with no export declarations required as goods move from Northern Ireland to Great Britain.

• Northern Ireland’s place in the UK customs territory secured – with a new UK Trader Scheme to ensure there are no new tariffs for businesses and consumers on internal UK trade, and the means to maintain the UK’s VAT area.

• Smooth flow of trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland maintained – with critical flexibilities to maintain the flow of food supplies and medicines, and avoid the need for any new physical customs infrastructure.

The UK Government is also launching a new element of its Comprehensive Support Scheme for Traders. The Movement Assistance Scheme (MAS) will complement the existing Trader Support Service, which now has over 19,000 businesses enrolled. The MAS will provide assistance for traders moving food or agricultural products for which specific SPS controls apply – meaning the Government will cover, for example, reasonable costs for obtaining Export Health Certificates. Businesses can be assured that despite the new requirements of the Protocol, businesses will be supported to deal with new direct costs.

The deal means the whole of the United Kingdom will be able to make the most of the freedoms that come with the end of the Brexit transition period, including giving the Northern Ireland Executive the scope it needs to support its agricultural and fisheries producers outside the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). It also provides a solution to the inadvertent risk of “reach back” of the Protocol’s state aid provisions to companies in Great Britain, requiring a “genuine and direct link” to commercial operations taking place in Northern Ireland.

This agreement in principle means the Protocol can be implemented in a pragmatic and proportionate way – protecting the territorial and constitutional integrity of the United Kingdom, upholding the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and helping to ensure there is no hard border on the island of Ireland.

The Chancellor the Duchy of Lancaster, Rt Hon Michael Gove, said:

This agreement with the EU provides stability and security for the people of Northern Ireland. We have guaranteed unfettered access for Northern Ireland businesses to the whole of the UK market, protected Northern Ireland’s place in the UK customs territory and ensured the smooth flow of trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.

The UK Government has been working closely with ministers and officials from the Northern Ireland Executive on the implementation of the Protocol. And we have listened to the concerns raised by Northern Ireland businesses in designing our Trader Support Service, and the complimentary Movement Assistance Scheme we are launching today.

Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Brandon Lewis, said:

The Government’s top priority has been to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and the gains made through the peace process. Our approach has been guided by this principle as we delivered against the commitments set out in our May Command Paper.

The agreement announced this week provides certainty to businesses in Northern Ireland, protects their interests and recognises Northern Ireland’s integral place in the United Kingdom.

Coronavirus press conference (10 December 2020)

Good evening, and welcome back to Downing Street for today’s coronavirus briefing.

Today I’m joined by Chief Medical Officer, Chris Whitty, and Professor Steve Powis, Medical Director of NHS England.

The start of our COVID-19 vaccination programme on Tuesday was the latest in a long line of firsts for the NHS. The NHS was the first health care system in the world to roll out the vaccines for other deadly diseases like TB, measles, mumps and rubella, and meningitis C.

So I’m so proud we can now add COVID-19 to that list.

Before updating you on vaccine deployment, I’d like to go through the latest coronavirus data.

The average number of new cases each day is now 16,236 – that has risen over the last week.

Today, there are 15,242 COVID patients in hospital across the UK – which is slightly less than last week. And sadly, 516 deaths were reported yesterday.

Vaccine deployment

The fall in the number of cases has flattened off – and is rising in some parts of the country like Kent, Essex and some parts of London.

It shows us this fight is far from over and how we must all play our part and stay on our guard, now and through Christmas.

We’ve got help on the horizon and we can all see that with the vaccine – so don’t blow it now. And of course, this shows why the deployment of a vaccine is so important.

I just want to take a moment to thank everyone involved in the vaccine rollout so far, which has been done with such professionalism and skill.

And today I want to pay a special tribute and thank pharmacists, who are working with such a tricky vaccine. Must be kept cold at -70 degrees. They have done so much work to get ready for this moment at such pace.

As of today, we are vaccinating in 73 hospitals across the UK. Tens of thousands of people have had the jab.

I want to set out the next steps.

I can confirm that we will shortly expand our vaccination programme further to 10 more locations in England and from next week we will begin vaccinations in GP-led sites and vaccinate in care homes by Christmas.

We will keep on expanding this roll out to reach more and more people.

As more vaccines come on stream, we will open vaccination centres in larger venues, like sports stadia and conference halls next year and that’s when most people can expect to get their jabs.

When the time comes, the NHS will get in touch with you – so you don’t need to come forward and get in contact with the NHS.

Get the jab

On Tuesday in Milton Keynes, it was great to meet some of the patients and the staff involved.

And I loved what Barbara – who’s 82 – said. When she got her jab there she said: “I’d much rather get the vaccine than COVID-19 itself”.

I’m with Barbara. It’s free according to need – and it’s the very best way to protect you and to protect those around you. And when enough people get vaccinated – and we see those hospitalisations coming down – we can then start lifting those restrictions which have made this year so tough.

And I felt so proud when I sat with Muhammad Hassan, I sat with him while he got his jab. He’s a doctor at Milton Keynes Hospital who volunteered to treat COVID patients – and himself caught COVID in the first peak.

He said the jab was painless.

But we also talked about the challenges that we still face right now while we roll out the jab across the country.

Protect the NHS

Even with this mass vaccination programme, for the next few months, we will not have sufficient protection through the vaccination programme.

This is always the most difficult time for the NHS anyway for the winter months.

And with the number of cases flattening again, we’ve all got to do our bit and not put more pressure on the NHS.

To do that, we must keep respecting the rules where we are and take those sensible steps that we can all take: washing our hands, covering our face and making space between people, respecting that social distancing and the rules that come with it.

We can’t stop that now, just because the vaccine is here.

And even if you’ve had the jab, you are not immune. The vaccine will not fully protect you until 7 days after you’ve received the second dose and we don’t yet know if it will stop you from passing on the disease to other people.

So we all have to keep acting as if we still can pass it on. That is the safest way to get the number of cases down and keep people safe.

London, Kent and Essex

I’m particularly concerned about the number of cases in London, Kent and Essex.

Cases are rising – and in many areas, already high.

Looking into the detail, the testing results and surveys show us that by far the fastest rise is among secondary school age children, 11 to 18 year-olds while the rate among adults in London is broadly flat.

But we know from experience that a sharp rise in cases in younger people can lead to a rise amongst more vulnerable age groups later. We’ve seen that happen before.

So we need to do everything we can to stop the spread among school-age children in London right now.

We must not wait until the review which will take place on the 16 December.

We need to take targeted action immediately.

Having spoken to the leaders of London’s councils, and to the mayor, we have decided to put in place an immediate plan for testing all secondary school aged children in the 7 worst affected boroughs of London, in parts of Essex that border London, and parts of Kent.

We want to keep schools open, because that’s both right for education and right for public health.

We are therefore surging mobile testing units and we will be working with schools and local authorities to encourage these children and their families to get tested over the coming days.

More details will be set out tomorrow.

And I want to urge all those involved to step forward for testing.

It is important that 11 to 18 year-olds get tested in these boroughs irrespective of whether they have symptoms – this is a really important point, because we know that you can have COVID – and you can still pass it on – even without symptoms.

Around 1 in 3 people with COVID have no symptoms at all but they can still pass it on to others.

I know that nobody wants to be responsible for endangering those around them so I urge everyone involved to get a test.

We surged testing in Leicester. We surged testing in Liverpool.

We know that community testing can work and it requires a collective spirit of determination and resilience, and of people coming together to do the right thing. Something I have confidence that everybody involved will find in the days to come.

This sort of community testing deployment is not just available in London, Kent and Essex, where cases are rising, but also across the country to help get cases coming down.

We are now working with over 100 local authorities across England – and with the 3 devolved administrations – to help get cases down using community testing.

This includes Manchester, Kirklees and Lancashire, who are planning to mobilise community-based testing in their areas before Christmas. As are Manchester and Kirklees.

This offer remains available across the UK to be done in partnership with local authorities and devolved administrations.

Test and Trace 2.0

We can deploy this sort of massive testing, because of the work NHS Test and Trace have done so effectively to build our vast testing capacity.

Our new NHS Test and Trace Business Plan, which we published today, sets out how we will grow this yet further.

Today’s figures on testing and tracing show that – thanks to improvements in the way we do contact tracing – by reducing the number of repeat calls that are made to individual households, which has been one of the pieces of feedback that we’ve received, our contact tracing now reaches 86% of contacts, and that’s up from around 60% just a few weeks ago.

I want to pay tribute to the contact tracing team, working under Dido Harding, for delivering on this very significant improvement.

From today, I can confirm that people instructed to isolate by the COVID-19 app, and are eligible, can claim the £500 Test and Trace Support Payment directly through the app too.

Hospital upgrades

Even as we work to overcome these immediate challenges, I’m determined that we also lose no time in modernising our hospitals.

Today, I can announce 1,800 projects, which are being funded from our £600 million package to upgrade and refurbish hospitals across 178 NHS trusts this year.

This will include projects for fixing roofs, for new MRI machines. These projects, which will be completed over the winter period, will make a real difference for staff and patients alike and help our NHS build back better.

Close

These announcements that I’m making today show just what a massive effort is needed every day to tackle coronavirus even with the vaccine on the horizon.

I’m very grateful to all those working in schools, local authorities, delivering the vaccine rollout, our pharmacists, NHS Test and Trace and the hospital improvement programme for the efforts that will be needed to deliver all of this.

It shows that every part of our NHS – from GP surgeries to hospitals – and every part of government – local and national – is all playing its part in the battle against this virus.

We’ve got to remember, in this battle, that we’re all on the same side.

And, especially with Christmas coming, there’s something we all can do which is to respect the rules, and all of us, at all times, do all that we can to stop the spread of the virus.

This is a marathon, not a sprint.

We’ve got to keep going.

The finish line is in sight.

And I know that, together, we can get there.

People arriving in the UK from the Canary Islands from 4am Saturday 12 December 2020 will need to self-isolate for 2 weeks as the islands are removed from the travel exemptions list.

Ministers’ decision to remove the Canary Islands from the list of travel corridors has been based on a sharp increase in test positivity, currently at 7.1% for the Canaries collectively and 8.8% for the island of Tenerife.

The government has made consistently clear it will take decisive action if necessary to contain the virus, including removing countries from the travel corridors list rapidly if the public health risk of people returning from a particular country without self-isolating becomes too high.

From 15 December, passengers arriving into England from countries not featured on the government’s travel corridor list – including the Canary Islands – will have the option to take a test from a private provider after 5 days of self-isolation, with a negative test result releasing them from the need to self-isolate.

A range of factors are taken into account when deciding to remove a country from the travel corridor list, including the continued increase of coronavirus (COVID-19) within a country, the numbers of new cases, imported cases, information on a country’s testing capacity, testing regime and test positivity rate.

Saudi Arabia and Botswana have been added to the government’s travel corridor list following in-depth analysis of the coronavirus epidemic in these countries.

From 4am on Saturday 12 December 2020, passengers arriving to England from these destinations will no longer need to self-isolate so long as they haven’t been in or transited through any other non-exempt countries in the 14 days preceding their arrival.

People currently in the Canary Islands are encouraged to follow the local rules and check FCDO travel advice for further information. The government is urging employers to be understanding of those returning from these destinations who now will need to self-isolate.

COVID-19 has profoundly changed the nature of international travel. Travellers should always check the latest advice, given the potential for changing coronavirus infection rates to affect both the advice about travelling to other countries and rules about self-isolation on return.

All travellers, including those from exempt destinations, will still be required to show a complete passenger locator form on arrival into the UK unless they fall into a small group of exemptions.

Penalties for those breaching the self-isolation rules when returning from non-exempt countries are £1,000 for first offences, rising to up to £10,000 for subsequent offences, mirroring penalties for those breaching self-isolation following a positive COVID test or contact from Test and Trace.

Thank you Mr Chair. We share the concerns expressed today by the EU and other international partners on Russia’s continued violation of OSCE principles and commitments in illegally annexed Crimea and in eastern Ukraine. Following the anniversary yesterday of the Normandy Four leaders’ Summit held in Paris, my statement will focus on two key commitments made at the summit: prisoner exchanges and the opening of new Entry Exit Checkpoints.

However, I would like to start by thanking the Albanian chairpersonship for rightly keeping a high focus on the conflict instigated and fuelled by Russia at this year’s Ministerial Council. The UK welcomed the opportunity to join international partners for a discussion, hosted by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba, on Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. We were also proud to join 34 other co-sponsors in putting forward a draft decision on strengthening OSCE monitoring at the uncontrolled segment of the Ukraine-Russia border; we regret that Russia refused to engage constructively on the text.

The UK continues to welcome the significant reduction of violence since the strengthened ceasefire came into effect on the 27th July, which was a key commitment of the Paris Summit. However, we were concerned to see that the SMM’s weekly report of 8th December registered a two-fold increase in the weekly total of ceasefire violations, compared with the previous week, and more than a three-fold increase in the number of explosions. We were also saddened to read in the SMM’s recent reporting, for the first time since the 27th July, of two civilians who have sustained injuries due to shelling, as well as of the first damage to civilian property recorded by the Mission. We must not be complacent.

Less progress has been made on other key commitments. As the holiday season approaches, we cannot forget those who remain in detention, separated from their families. At the Paris Summit, all sides agreed to promote the release and exchange of detained persons associated with the conflict. The prisoner exchanges in December 2019 and in April of this year clearly demonstrated what is possible when there is political will; however, there have been no further exchanges since and progress appears stalled. We remind Russia of its commitment and urgently call on it to match the political will Ukraine has shown on this issue.

We would also like to highlight the urgent need to make progress on another key Paris Summit commitment to open new Entry Exit Checkpoints. EECP’s are essential for Ukrainian civilians to access jobs, education, pensions, medical care and to see their families. It is entirely unacceptable that a month after the agreed opening date, the Russia-backed armed formations are blocking the opening of the two new checkpoints at Shchastia and Zolote. We call again on Russia to use its influence to ensure that there is a simultaneous and coordinated opening without any further delay.

We are also deeply concerned by reporting of international organisations that the majority of entry-exit checkpoints remain closed on the non-government controlled side under the pretext of COVID-19 measures. As a result, the number of people crossing the line of contact continues to fall, with only around 21,000 crossings recorded by the UNHCR in October, compared to over 1.4m crossing during the same period last year. While reasonable precautions should be taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the pandemic should not be used as a pretext for unnecessary limitations on freedom of movement.

The UK reiterates our support for the Minsk agreements and our firm commitment to see the peaceful resolution of the conflict in full respect of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. We welcome the work of the Normandy Four and the Trilateral Contact Group in this regard, and we thank Ambassador Grau and her team for their efforts to make progress on the issues I have addressed today. We call on Russia to engage productively, and match the political will demonstrated by Ukraine, so that real progress can be made. 

We repeat our call on Russia to withdraw its military personnel and weapons from the territory of Ukraine; to cease its support for the armed formations it backs; to stop access restrictions and intimidation of the SMM in areas held by Russia-backed armed formations and to reverse all unilateral measures that undermine the Minsk agreements. 

The UK strongly supports Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, including its territorial waters. We do not and will not recognise Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea. The UK has consistently stood with Ukraine in opposing all instances of Russian aggression towards Ukraine and we will continue to do so, including through sanctions with our international partners.