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BREXIT

OPINION: Why Biden’s victory could have a big impact on Brexit negotiations

Sue Wilson of Bremain in Spain believes the change at the helm of US politics will be prove a decisive factor in the UK’s willingness to compromise over a Brexit deal.

OPINION: Why Biden's victory could have a big impact on Brexit negotiations
President Elect Joe Biden. Photo: AFP

You have probably noticed that America is soon to have a new president. The current White House incumbent has his ears and eyes firmly closed and refuses to accept that his days are numbered. According to some sources in the UK media, our own head of state, Boris Johnson, may be in a similarly insecure position.

Since Joe Biden officially became the President Elect on Saturday, after what seemed like days of election uncertainty, he has hit the ground running. Despite not yet receiving any recognition of his win or offer of transitional support from Donald Trump, he has already started to implement important plans.

An urgent task for Biden is the fight against coronavirus. He has created a special task force, comprising health officials, physicians and virology experts. He has also actively encouraging the wearing of face masks by the American public – unlike Trump, who was pictured without one even when he was Covid positive.

The contrast between Biden and Trump could not be starker. In January, the American people will finally have an adult in charge: one who has a heart, a brain and a wealth of experience. The change will leave many UK residents feeling jealous that we are being led by “Britain’s Trump”.

Prime Minister Johnson and Biden have never met, though they have now spoken on the phone.  On Tuesday, Biden spoke with a number of European leaders, including Ireland’s Michael Martin. Biden reassured the Irish Taoiseach that Brexit must not damage the Good Friday Agreement, in a call that Martin described as “warm and engaging”.

On his call with Johnson, Biden stressed the importance of securing a Brexit deal that protects peace in Northern Ireland. Presumably, Biden’s earlier reference to Johnson as a “physical and emotional clone” of Donald Trump, was not mentioned.

Biden has made no secret of his disdain for Brexit and is fiercely loyal to, and proud of, his Irish roots.

Johnson’s Internal Market Bill (IMB) is a cause of consternation in America, as it threatens to break the international treaty of the Withdrawal Agreement (WA).

The deal that Johnson signed with the EU a year ago, settling the early stages of Brexit – including our rights as citizens – is under significant threat, along with the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).

Both Biden and the US government have made it clear that, as guarantors to the GFA, they will refuse any trade deal with the UK if Johnson reneges on his international commitments.

On Monday, the controversial IMB was given short shrift by the House of Lords. In a significant government defeat, even staunch Conservative Brexit supporters expressed their outrage at the government’s plans.

Yet, despite the opposition, Johnson insists that the controversial clauses the Lords removed will be reinstated when the bill returns to the Commons in December. The prime minister and his cabinet insist that the clauses exist for the protection of the GFA, rather than being a threat– an argument accepted by only his most loyal supporters.

Of course, what happens in December depends on the ongoing Brexit negotiations with the EU. The change at the helm of US politics could be a decisive factor in the UK’s willingness to compromise over a deal.

The behaviour of certain Brexiter backbenchers is doing nothing to improve relations with the new political leaders in the USA. Iain Duncan Smith told Biden to “butt out” of UK domestic policy and let the UK “get on with our legislation”.

John Redwood went further, sending a “warning letter” to the president elect, saying that our mandate (for Brexit) was bigger than his mandate (for being president). As if Johnson’s own behaviour, both past and present, isn’t already causing concern across the pond, we have to listen to the Conservative equivalent of my dad is bigger than your dad!

While our prime minister still seems to believe that he – or at least the UK – has a special relationship with America, the Democratic party clearly disagrees. Johnson’s racist comments are coming back to haunt him and his close association with Trump is disliked by the new administration.

When Johnson eventually congratulated Biden in a tweet, former Obama press aide, Tommy Vietor, responded by calling him a “shapeshifting creep”, adding, “we will never forget your racist comments about Obama and slavish devotion to Trump”.

Try as we might, the era of Trump, and the UK’s Poundland version, isn’t so quick to erase from our collective memory.

When hurtful words, deeds and policies have affected so many lives, the healing process will take time. We hope that our own battle with dishonest, racist, self-serving politics will soon be over.

If we could also rid ourselves of the toxicity in the Home Office, so much the better. I never again want to listen to Home Secretary, Priti Patel, gloating about how “delighted” she is to remove our freedom of movement.

A change is coming, whether it’s the Prime Minister’s choice or one forced on him by his “loyal” party. We can only hope the cure isn’t worse than the disease, and that Britain will soon find its very own Biden and see a return to caring, outward-looking politics.

You never know… we might even renew links with our wonderful European neighbours. If there’s one gift President Elect Biden gave us last weekend, it was hope.

By Sue Wilson – Chair of Bremain in Spain

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GIBRALTAR

UK soldiers expelled from Spain after crossing from Gibraltar posing as tourists

Spain has expelled four Royal Navy servicemen who crossed the Spain-Gibraltar border on foot three times in a single day while dressed in civilian clothing, with Spanish media claiming they were checking the porosity of the border.

UK soldiers expelled from Spain after crossing from Gibraltar posing as tourists

Spanish police expelled four British soldiers from Spain on Monday night, removing them from the country and sending them back to Gibraltar after it emerged that the four Royal Navy personnel had entered Spain illegally while “posing as tourists”, as the Spanish press has reported.

The incident comes a week after the British Navy carried out military drills in the waters surrounding Gibraltar, the British overseas territory that Spain still claims sovereignty of, and amid the seemingly never-ending negotiations between Spain and the UK to finally settle a post-Brexit deal.

READ ALSO: Gibraltar Brexit deal ‘close’ as Brits crossing into Spain use fake bookings

The expulsions, now reported in the Spanish press by Europa Sur and confirmed to El Periódico de España by official sources, occurred after the four soldiers arrived in Gibraltar on a civilian flight and entered into Spain. They also had return tickets via Gibraltar.

They then reportedly passed themselves off as tourists and entered Spain on foot, staying at a four-star hotel in La Línea de la Concepción, the town in the Cádiz province of Andalusia that borders Gibraltar.

Stranger yet is that they crossed the border at La Línea on up to three occasions in the space of a few hours.

READ ALSO: What Brits need to know before crossing the border from Gibraltar to Spain

Spanish authorities detected their presence because two of the soldiers tried to return to Gibraltar at night.

At the border, Spanish police officers enquired as to the reason for their entry, to which the soldiers replied that they were on their way to work and brandished British military documentation.

The police decided that their entry into Spain had been irregular because they did not meet the Schengen Borders Code requirements demanded of non-EU citizens entering EU territory.

According to Europa Sur, Spanish police then asked the two soldiers to call their colleagues in the hotel in order to collect their luggage and return to Gibraltar, which took place at midnight on Monday 18th March.

The Spanish press has stated that it is common for soldiers to try to stay in Spanish territory by concealing their military status and entering while posing as tourists.

The motive for the soldiers’ presence, particularly their repeated trips across the border, remains unknown.

The military drills in the area seem to suggest that the soldiers may have taken part in or be due to take part in further exercises and wanted to enter as tourists.

Spanish media also suggests that they could have been testing the porosity of the border, though these claims remain unsubstantiated.

Gibraltar’s post-Brexit status still remains unresolved. The EU and UK government are now onto their 18th round of treaty negotiations after the framework agreement between London and Madrid made on New Year’s Eve 2020 essentially ‘fudged’ the border issue, leaving Gibraltar’s status within the Schengen area undefined.

Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said in late-2023 that “we are very, very close” to finalising a Brexit agreement.

“I would sign a deal with Britain over Gibraltar tomorrow,” Albares told journalists at the time. Yet no agreement was made, despite the Minister’s positivity, nor the appointment of former UK Prime Minister David Cameron as Foreign Secretary.

Albares’ comments came at a time when it was reported in the Spanish press that many UK nationals have been using fake hotel bookings in order to try and bypass the Schengen rules and trick their way through border checks.

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