Category Archives: George Eustice

Former Minister Admits UK’s Post-Brexit Trade Deal With Australia Is ‘Not Very Good’

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Former environment secretary George Eustice has admitted the UK’s post-Brexit trade deal with Australia is “not very good” in a barely disguised attack on Liz Truss’s time as international trade secretary.

Eustice served in the cabinet under Boris Johnson, but was sent to the backbenches when Truss became prime minister.

Speaking during a general debate on the Australia and New Zealand deals in the Commons, Eustice said he is enjoying “the freedom of the backbenches”, particularly as “I no longer have to put such a positive gloss on what was agreed”.

Eustice blamed Truss, who served as international trade secretary from 2019 until 2021, for setting an arbitrary target.

He warned that “unless we recognise the failures that the Department for International Trade made during the Australia negotiations, we won’t be able to learn the lessons for future negotiations”.

The first step, he said, is “to recognise that the Australia trade deal is not actually a very good deal for the UK”, adding: “It wasn’t for lack of trying on my part.”

Eustice went on: “The UK went into this negotiation holding the strongest hand, holding all of the best cards, but at some point in early summer 2021, the then trade secretary (Truss) took a decision to set an arbitrary target to conclude heads of terms by the time of the G7 summit, and from that moment the UK was on the back foot repeatedly.

“In fact, at one point that then trade secretary asked her opposite number from Australia what he would need in order to be able to conclude an agreement by G7, and of course the Australian negotiator very kindly set out the Australian terms, which then shaped eventually the deal.”

Truss became notorious for the photoshoots during her overseas trips when trying to forge new trading partnerships. Perhaps the most infamous came when she posed with a Union Jack umbrella atop a London-made Brompton bicycle in front of Australia’s iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge. “Get on your bike and look for exports,” Truss tweeted.

Eustice also has called for the resignation of the interim permanent secretary for the Department for International Trade, Crawford Falconer, after telling the Commons he “resented” people who understood technical trade issues better than he did.

The ex-cabinet minister said Falconer’s approach during the negotiations was to “internalise” Australian demands even if they were against UK interests, and that his advice was “invariably to retreat and make fresh concessions”.

Eustice insisted on having always been a “huge fan” of the British civil service, but added: “I do want to make comment about personnel within the Department for International Trade, because Crawford Falconer, who is currently the interim permanent secretary, is not fit for that position, in my experience.

“His approach always was to internalise Australian demands, often when they were against UK interests, his advice was invariably to retreat and make fresh concessions and all the while he resented people who understood technical issues greater than he did.

“He has now done that job for several years. I think it would be a good opportunity for him to move on and to get a different type of negotiator in place, somebody who understands British interests better than I think he’s been able to.”

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Tory Council Leader Calls For Boris Johnson To Go After Labour Wins Cumberland

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A Conservative council leader has said Tory MPs should try to oust Boris Johnson after his party suffered a humiliating defeat in a local election.

Conservative leader of Carlisle City Council, John Mallinson, vented his frustration after Labour picked up control of the new Cumberland authority after Thursday’s round voting.

The Tories lost 14 seats on the council in north west England, while Labour gained 12 and took overall control.

Mallinson, who will see the council he led replaced by the new Cumberland authority, told the BBC that he had “lost some very good colleagues” in the election, and had found it “difficult to drag the debate back to local issues” while campaigning because of partygate and the cost-of-living crisis.

Mallinson said: “I don’t think it was helping to get comments from people like George Eustice talking about people using value brands to ease their shopping bills. That just seems to have come over very patronising.”

He added: “I think it is not just partygate, there is the integrity issue. Basically I just don’t feel people any longer have the confidence that the prime minister can be relied upon to tell the truth.”

Asked if he thought Conservative MPs should oust the PM, Mallinson said: “That would be my preference, yes.”

On Sky News, he said: “(Johnson) must shoulder a lot of the blame. I have been canvassing in rural areas over the last few weeks and it’s been the one issue that people have brought up time and time again. Partygate, the cost of living crisis, the feel that the government were not in touch … and sadly I have to say the prime minister cannot be relied upon to necessarily to be telling the truth.”

He added: “I think he should consider his position now.”

When asked whether the areas three Tory MPs in the region should attempt to oust Johnson, he replied: “I call upon them to do what they think is right.”

Meanwhile, Johnson’s Tories face losing control of a flagship London authority to Labour – but there was a mixed picture for Keir Starmer’s party outside the capital.

Wandsworth, which has been a Conservative authority for more than 40 years, looks set to fall to Labour, with the Tories fearing other boroughs will also be lost.

But outside London, the Liberal Democrats won Hull from Labour, while the Greens also picked up seats in contests around England.

Council seats are up for grabs in Scotland, Wales and many parts of England, while there are elections to Stormont in Northern Ireland.

Votes were only being counted in some of the English contests overnight, including key authorities in the capital.

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‘Buy Value Brands,’ Minister Tells Families Struggling With Cost Of Living

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Families struggling with the cost of living crisis should consider buying value products, a cabinet minister said today.

George Eustice said that by going for cheaper “value” goods, families can “contain and manage their household budget”.

The environment secretary said household spending on food in the UK was “the lowest in Europe” but sharp rises in other costs “adds to household pressures”.

He made the comments as shop prices increased at their fastest rate in more than a decade last month, according to the British Retail Consortium.

Asked what his advice was to people who want a Sunday roast with a chicken but cannot afford it, Eustice told Sky News: “Generally speaking, what people find is by going for some of the value brands rather than own-branded products – they can actually contain and manage their household budget.

“It will undoubtedly put a pressure on household budgets and, of course, it comes on top of those high gas prices as well.”

He said rising fertiliser and feed costs had hit the farming industry, partly as a result of soaring energy prices.

Eustice said the better news was that the UK has a “very competitive” retail market with 10 big supermarkets and the four main ones competing “very aggressively”.

He said this meant they competed to keep costs down on everyday value items such as spaghetti.

Eustice added: “Where it gets harder is on things like chicken and poultry, and some fresh produce, where those increased feed costs do end up getting passed through the system because these people work on wafer-thin margins and they have to pass that cost through.”

Shop prices are up 2.7 per cent on last year marking their highest rate of inflation since September 2011, figures show.

The impact of rising energy prices and the conflict in Ukraine continued to feed through into April’s retail prices, with no sign of them abating, according to the BRC-NielsenIQ Shop Price Index.

Global food prices have also reached record highs, seeing a 13 per cent rise on last month alone, and even higher for cooking oils and cereals amid warnings that they will place further upward pressure on UK food prices as they filter through the supply chain over coming months.

Non-food products, particularly furniture, electricals and books, have seen the highest rate of inflation since records began in 2006, accelerating to 2.2 per cent in April from 1.5 per cent in March, exacerbated by disruption at the world’s largest seaport, following Shanghai’s recent lockdown.

British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Retailers will continue to do all they can to keep prices down and deliver value for their customers by limiting price rises and expanding their value ranges, but this will put pressure on them to find cost-savings elsewhere.

“Unfortunately, customers should brace themselves for further price rises and a bumpy road ahead.”

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Why Did World Leaders Fly Hundreds Of Miles To Glasgow? The Environment Secretary Can’t Quite Explain

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Twitter @LBC

Environment secretary George Eustice put his foot in it on LBC

George Eustice struggled to justify why world leaders had flown from around the globe to attend COP26 on Tuesday.

The UN’s summit in Glasgow has been hailed as a last-gasp bid to stop catastrophic climate change – and yet hundreds of delegations flew into the city via private jets, one of the most damaging modes of transport, seemingly undermining the very message of the conference before it even began.

LBC’s Nick Ferrari asked the environment secretary: “Do we really need somewhere in the region of 200 to 300 private jets, a motor convey for the [US] president of 22 cars and a fleet of helicopters.

“This is rather hypocritical isn’t it, secretary of state?”

“Well, look, it’s always possible to see it in those sort of terms,” Eustice replied.

“I take a slightly bigger picture view on this. We’re only going to tackle this crisis if we can get governments around the world to make the right commitments and take the necessary steps to hit them.

“Having an event like this over two weeks where the world works together on a shared endeavour is an important thing to do and that does require people to travel.”

Ferrari persisted and pointed out: “But Mr Eustice – they [world leaders] seek to lecture us – they lecture the good people of Camborne and Redruth as they arrive in convoys of 22 cars, private jets which are gobbling out goodness knows how much CO2 emissions – and they lecture us.

“It’s ludicrous – isn’t it?”

Eustice still denied that the government is lecturing the public, claiming they were actually supporting technologies and decarbonising electricity to get to Net Zero CO2 emissions.

“It’s not really about lecturing people abut how they live their lives, but it is about having the policy agenda at government level,” the environment secretary claimed.

Ferrari then suggested there could be a danger that the government is turning people against it with “this level of hyperbole”.

Eustice’s colleague foreign secretary Liz Truss also fought back over questions about the methods world leaders had travelled to Glasgow on Monday.

She told Sky News that giving up flying is not the solution to reducing CO2 emissions – even though it is one of the most polluting activities out there.

She also claimed, “it’s really important that we do have people face to face”, when asking global leaders to make serious pledges about climate changes.

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Now Health Minister Says Holidays Abroad Are ‘Dangerous’

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A health minister has added to the confusion over coronavirus travel rules after saying going abroad is “dangerous” and “not for this year”.

Lord Bethell’s comments come after environment secretary George Eustice was slapped down by No.10 for suggesting people could travel to so-called “amber list” countries to visit friends.

Boris Johnson also later stressed that amber list countries were “not somewhere you should be going on holiday”.

But Bethell went much further than government rules, which allows people to travel to Portugal, Iceland and nine other countries without having to quarantine on their return, opening the door to summer holidays.

The peer’s comments are the latest example of chaotic messaging on foreign travel from the government, and are likely to fuel confusion following the lifting of the ban on foreign holidays on Monday.

He made his remarks amid continuing concern over the rise in cases of the potentially more transmissible variant that originated in India in parts of England.

Labour said the confusion had created “dangerous chaos” and called for “a pause on international travel”, while Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings has labelled the UK’s border policy a “joke”.

Going much further than the government position, Bethell said: “Travelling is dangerous. That is not news to us or to the people who get on those planes in the first place.

“We do ask people, particularly as we go into the summer, travelling is not for this year, please stay in this country.”

Gareth Fuller – PA Images via Getty Images

Passengers prepare to board an easyJet flight to Faro, Portugal, at Gatwick Airport on Monday

Earlier, Eustice struck a markedly different tone, suggesting people could travel to even amber list countries if they “feel the need” to visit family or friends.

But the prime minister’s official spokesperson said travel to amber list countries was only permitted for a very limited number of reasons.

“The position remains that people should not travel to amber list countries and that is to protect public health,” they said.

“We recognise that the restrictions that have been placed are difficult for the public. 

“There may be essential reasons for which people still have to travel to amber list countries but of course strict quarantine and testing measures will apply.

“There are some limited reasons why it might be acceptable to travel – for work purposes, protecting essential services or compassionate reasons such as a funeral or care of a family member but otherwise people should not be travelling to these countries.”

Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “The Conservatives’ border policies have unravelled into dangerous chaos within a matter of hours since international travel was opened up.

 “There is a lack of strategy, which has meant the UK government, and their own ministers, are giving out conflicting and confused advice about whether people are allowed to travel, especially between ‘amber list’ countries.

“Labour has been clear that there should be a pause on international travel, to guard against further importing of dangerous strains, setting back hopes for ending restrictions.”

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