Weekly policy update from London Chamber of Commerce and Industry
A round-up of key policy changes from the past seven days.
———–
Prime Minister announces 7-week national lockdown in England
• On Monday 4th January 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a seven-week national
lockdown in England.
• Under the new rules, people in England can only leave home if they have a ‘reasonable excuse,’ such as
for work, education or buying essentials, as set out in the guidance.
• All hospitality must close, except for food takeaway services.
• Colleges and primary and secondary schools must move to remote learning until February half term,
except for vulnerable children and children of critical workers. Nurseries and early years providers will
remain open.
• University students on some courses may return to face-to-face learning. Students who do not study
these courses should start their term online until at least Mid-February.
• Childcare and support bubbles can continue.
• Clinically extremely vulnerable people should stay at home as much as possible and only leave for
exercise and health appointments.
• The measures will be put in law and voted on in Parliament on Wednesday 6th January.
• The measures will be reviewed on 15th February, with ministers hoping to lift the restrictions and
return to a tiered system when half term is over in the week of 22nd February.
New grants announced by Chancellor for businesses
• The Chancellor has announced £4.6bn in additional grants for businesses following the introduction of
a new national lockdown.
• One-off top up grants for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses worth up to £9,000 per property.
o £4,000 for businesses with a rateable value of £15,000 or under
o £6,000 for businesses with an RV between £15,000 and £51,000
o £9,000 for businesses with an RV of £51,000 or more
• £594 million discretionary fund also made available to support other impacted businesses. These
schemes will be distributed by local authorities.
• These grants are in addition to the Additional Restrictions Grant funding for Local Authorities and
Local Restriction Support Grants worth up to £3,000 a month.
Labour questions Chancellor’s approach to COVID-19 pandemic
• Labour has released an article entitled “Insecure Britain: Chancellor’s Covid cliff edges push UK
households to the brink”, which decries the Chancellors handling of support for families who are
struggling during the pandemic.
• It outlines the following as key dates which Labour have argued is set to cause further damage to
employment figures, livelihoods and households across the country:
o 11th January: End of eviction ban
o 29th January: Deadline for applications for the third grant under the Self-Employed Income
Support Scheme
o 31st January: deadline for mortgage holidays; end of ban on home repossessions
o 31st March: applications close for government-backed loan schemes
o 6th April: Government cuts £20 a week from Universal Credit
o 30th April: End of furlough scheme.
Ministers considering mandating negative Covid test to enter UK
• International arrivals to Britain will have to present a negative coronavirus test before entering
the country. The Government is set to announce this policy tonight (evening of 5th January 2021).
• Passengers will be required to show a negative result obtained no more than 72 hours before
departure, although measures could be even tighter and include a second test on arrival.
UK and EU sign Trade and Cooperation Agreement (24th December 2020)
• The full text of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement can be found here.
• A useful summary of trade deal can be found here.
• Some quick notes on the different aspects of the deal:
• Free Trade Agreement:
o Zero tariffs and zero quotas.
o Individual agreements on the following.
▪ Investment
▪ Competition
▪ State aid
▪ Tax transparency
▪ Air and road transport
▪ Energy and sustainability
▪ Fisheries
▪ Data protection
▪ Social security coordination.
o A commitment to non-regression on the issues of the environment, climate change, social and
labour rights and tax transparency and state aid.
• Governance
o The EU and UK can engage in cross-sector retaliation in case of violations of the agreement
across all areas of the economic partnership.
o A Joint Partnership Council will make sure the agreement is properly applied and interpreted.
o There will be binding enforcement and dispute settlement mechanism, albeit away from the
auspices of the European Court of Justice.
• Services
o UK service suppliers will no longer have passporting rights allowing automatic access to the EU
single market.
o There will no longer be an automatic recognition of professional qualifications (this must be done individually in each member state).
o But there are facilitations for short-term business trips, and UK public procurement markets
will be open to EU bidders and vice versa.
• Energy & Climate
o The UK leaves the ETS, Euratom and the EU internal energy market.
o But agreement has been reached on energy cooperation in the North Sea, as well as guarantees
on security of energy supply and interconnectors.
• Programmes:
o The UK will no longer be a part of the Erasmus programme, this will be instead replaced by the
“Turing scheme” according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
o The UK will continue to participate in Horizon Europe (R&I), Euratom Research & Training,
ITER, Copernicus and SST services.
• Aviation
o Both sides with have unlimited point-to-point traffic between airports (the 3rd and 4th
freedoms), with scope for member states to agree bilateral 5th freedoms.
o Provisions were also agreed on ground handling, slots and passenger rights.
o But the UK can no longer operate passenger flights onwards to or from the EU such as
London-Amsterdam-Bangkok
• Road Transport:
o Cabotage operations rights have been curbed, but the UK maintains unlimited point-to-point
access for hauliers carrying loads between the EU and the UK.
• Security
o The UK no longer has access to EU databases such as SIS II, but will continue cooperation with
Europol and Eurojust. Mechanisms for exchanges of PNR, fingerprint and vehicle registration
data will be preserved.
o UK passport holders will need visas for long-term stays in the EU. Border checks will apply,
passports will need to be stamped, and EU pet passports will no longer be valid for UK
residents.
• Fisheries:
o The key highlight was that both sides agreed a transition period of 5.5 years during which
reciprocal access rights to fish in each other’s waters remain unchanged, with a gradual transfer
of EU quotas to the UK.