British public want deeper economic ties with EU, business secretary says
The British public are “not nostalgic” for the pre-Brexit past but are pragmatic and want to move forward and “deepen” ties with the EU on trade and the economy, the business secretary, Peter Kyle, has said.Signing an agreement in Brussels to cooperate closely on competition issues, Kyle said he thought the deal was “a real vindication of the reset and the relationships that have emerged between the EU and the UK” since Labour came to power.He said it marked an alignment on strategies on issues such as mergers and acquisitions, the result of frequent conversations the two sides were now having.The European Commission executive vice-president Teresa Ribera said it was “a privilege” to sign the deal, which was “reinforcing the current good cooperation” with the UK.Kyle said the public was behind the pragmatism that was now producing closer ties with Europe, which could drive economic growth.
“The public did vote for a government that had a reset with the EU as its core foreign policy in the election.So I think the public have always been looking forward and they’re not really nostalgic for the past,” Kyle told reporters.Among the initiatives the UK would like to join is a “Made in Europe” scheme, expected to be announced next week.It will prioritise European products in public procurement, but there remains tension around the exact quantity of goods that should be European in procurement contracts.The French-led European Commission’s push was originally scheduled to be presented on Thursday but has been the subject of lobbying from opponents within the EU, who believe France is being too protectionist.
Ribera said the role of the Industrial Accelerator Act was to strengthen the EU’s resilience and loosen dependence on foreign countries in a scheme that could increase local employment and wealth creation.Asked whether the UK would be part of the deal when it was unveiled, she said she did not do “spoilers”.But she added that she always fought battles in favour of “friendships, mutual cooperation and enhanced prosperity and fairness for all”.Kyle said he was in Brussels not to demand a slice of the action, but to listen.“I am not coming here to lecture or to cherrypick but to talk about all the really exciting things happening in Britain … particularly when it comes to manufacturing,” he said, citing existing UK-EU cooperation on Airbus.
He said the trade and cooperation agreement secured by the former prime minister Boris Johnson was “not comprehensive enough or ambitious enough” and it was imperative to improve on that as both sides shared the same challenges.His remarks came as the EU parliament president, Roberta Metsola, said that the UK and Britain must go “even further” than the Brexit reset.Kyle, asked about the disruption to the US trade deal, said he hoped that there would be “clarity” in the “coming days” from the US administration, which might return to the principles of the trade deal secured last May with Donald Trump.The US trade representative Jamieson Greer told Bloomberg TV in the US that he intended to stick to the 10% tariff the UK had secured.“The point is to recreate the policy that we’ve developed over the past year, to give continuity and be able to be in a position where we can honour the deals, but also have enforcement available,” he said.
Public health advocates say more transparency needed in debate over illicit tobacco as industry links questioned
A former Australian Border Force officer who has positioned himself before government inquiries as Australia’s “foremost law enforcement expert” on illicit tobacco also advises nicotine industry-linked organisations – leading public health advocates to argue more transparency is needed.Rohan Pike, who spent more than two decades in law enforcement and now runs a consultancy, has become a prominent media commentator on the illicit tobacco trade, promoting policies that align with those supported by the tobacco industry.Those positions include opposing further excise increases on cigarettes and pushing for the legalisation of nicotine pouches.In May, he was appointed as an illicit-trade adviser to the Global Institute for Novel Nicotine Products (GINN), a UK-based trade association representing manufacturers of alternative nicotine products, including pouches and “heat not burn” nicotine products. Pike said he does not receive funding or payment from GINN
France’s Engie strikes deal to buy UK Power Networks for £10.5bn
A French utility has agreed to buy the owner of the electricity cables and power lines across London, the south-east and the east of England in a deal worth £10.5bn.Paris-headquartered Engie said on Wednesday that it had struck a deal to buy UK Power Networks (UKPN) in a “major milestone” for the company’s ambition to become the “best energy transition utility”.Engie will buy the electricity network operator, which operates about 192,000km of power lines serving 8.5 million customers across London and southern and eastern England, from a Hong Kong-based conglomerate founded by billionaire business magnate Li Ka-shing, which has owned UKPN for the past 15 years
Top US body-camera maker reports record revenue amid Trump immigration crackdown
The largest body-camera maker in the US celebrated its latest financial results on Tuesday – reporting record revenue and forecasting major growth – as it prepares to cash in on the Department of Homeland Security’s planned rapid acquisition and deployment of these devices nationwide.In Tuesday’s earnings presentation, body-camera maker Axon, which also makes the well-known Taser device, announced that it blew past Wall Street expectations with $797m in revenue, up 39% year-over-year.The company attributed its growth to the offerings of its “AI era plan”, which includes a voice-activated companion for its body cameras. Executives also outlined a “major opportunity” for working with federal law enforcement in the year to come, in particular: body cameras and software licenses for the DHS.Asked by investors about his biggest worries, CEO Rick Smith said: “A misstep around privacy and data handling
Meta’s AI sending ‘junk’ tips to DoJ, US child abuse investigators say
Meta’s use of artificial intelligence software to moderate its social media platforms is generating large volumes of useless reports about cases of child sexual abuse, which are draining resources and hindering investigations, said officers from the US Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) taskforce.“We get a lot of tips from Meta that are just kind of junk,” Benjamin Zwiebel, a special agent with the ICAC taskforce in New Mexico, said last week during his testimony in the state’s trial against Meta. The state’s attorney general alleges the company’s platforms are putting profits over child safety. Meta disputes these allegations, citing changes it has introduced on its platforms, such as teen accounts with default protections. The ICAC taskforce is a nationwide network of law enforcement agencies coordinated with the US Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute online child exploitation and abuse cases
English cricket’s hunger for Indian money has led it into a moral and legal minefield | Barney Ronay
The thing about inviting a tiger round for tea is, for all the excitement, the fur, the teeth, the muscles, they do tend to walk off with your dinner and drink all the water in the taps. The thing about saying yes to the person with the biggest stick is, in the end, you don’t get to say yes, or no, or anything at all. And that person still has a very big stick.The thing about closing your eyes and just taking the money is: money passes only in exchange for something of value, and full payment will be taken. Welcome to English cricket in full blind, groping crisis mode, and the first small tremor of what lies in store whatever happens in the next few weeks
Steve Borthwick turns to 2003 World Cup heroes for Six Nations inspiration
Steve Borthwick has turned to England’s 2003 World Cup winners to arrest his side’s drastic decline after enduring another setback with the scrum‑half Alex Mitchell ruled out for the rest of the Six Nations.Borthwick’s squad were due on Wednesday night to have dinner with members of the 2003 team, including the captain Martin Johnson, the Test centurion Jason Leonard and Lewis Moody, who revealed in October that he had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.Borthwick urged his players to use the opportunity to ask how they dealt with setbacks, after England’s Six Nations hopes went up in smoke for another year with the dismal 42-21 defeat against Ireland last Saturday, seven days after they were outclassed by Scotland.Borthwick is under renewed pressure as a result and will lead England into their final two matches against Italy in Rome and France in Paris without Mitchell, who sustained a hamstring injury against Ireland. Jack van Poortvliet is standing by for the No 9 jersey while Ollie Lawrence has had a knee injection and is a doubt for the Italy match
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