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PM: NO RETREAT ON OUR SAUSAGES We’ll join forces to stop a new pandemic

Row sizzles as he risks an EU trade war with vow to protect Ulster exports Tres cordiale! Macron is hands on with Joe Bid to crush viruses in 100 days

By Jason Groves Political Editor By Political Editor

BORIS Johnson will press ahead with unilateral action to ensure British sausages continue to be sold in Northern Ireland – despite warnings of an EU trade war.

A Whitehall source said the P rime Minister had ‘no alternative’ but to intervene to block Brussels rules that would ban firms in Great Britain sending chilled meat products to Ulster.

The move puts him on collision course with Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, who he will meet for separate talks at the G7 summit in Cornwall today. Mr Johnson yesterday said the EU’s approach to implementing the Northern Ireland P rotocol was ‘excessively burdensome’.

Ministers fear traders face a complete ban when a ‘ grace period’ expires at the end of this month. After months of talks, Mr Johnson is ready to extend the grace period within days, probably until at least the end of the year . A Whitehall source said the PM believed it was ‘unacceptable’ for firms to be barred from trading within the UK’s internal market.

The source added: ‘Given the EU’s posi - tion on this I cannot see any alternative to taking unilateral action.’ The PM’s official spokesman said Mr Johnson would rather see a negotiated settlement, but warned that ‘all options are on the table’.

No 10 also rejected an EU ‘compromise’ proposal for Britain to accept ongoing alignment with Brussels rules on the grounds it would make it impossible to strike ambitious trade deals. European leaders have warned this week that unilateral action would lead to retaliatory measures, including tariffs and quotas. The row is set to dominate the PM’s meetings with Mr Macron, Mrs Merkel and Mrs von der Leyen today.

The three leaders appeared to be co-ordinating their response yesterday when they held an impromptu get-together with Italian PM Mario Draghi and European Council chief Charles Michel at the Carbis Bay resort where the summit is being held. Mr Macron tweeted in a pointed remark: ‘ As always, the same union, the same determination to act, the same enthusiasm.’ He has already been accused of ‘posturing’ after warning the UK that ‘nothing is renegotiable’.

But last night there were signs the EU was backing down over its threats to escalate the crisis.

Irish broadcaster RTE quoted an EU source suggesting the bloc could now take a softly- softly approach for fear of falling into the ‘trap’ of inflaming tensions in the Province as the Unionist ‘march - ing season’ reaches its climax.

The source said: ‘The EU doesn’t want to get sucked into the stupid sausage war type narrative, where we would be seen to be coming on heavy because of things like chilled meat, sausages etc.’ EU leaders hope that US President Joe Biden will pressure the PM to back down in order to avoid increasing tensions in Northern Ireland.

But No 10 said the US P resident was in ‘complete harmony’ with the PM after talks on Thursday.

Mr Johnson yesterday revealed he had given Mr Biden details of the disproportionate checks being imposed by the EU on goods traded from Britain to Northern Ireland.

He told the BBC: ‘T wenty per cent of the checks conducted across the whole of the perimeter of the EU are now done in North - ern Ireland, three times as many as happen in Rotterdam.’ He added: ‘There are ways of enforcing the protocol, ways of making it work that may be excessively burdensome.’ The PM insisted it would be possible to ‘sort out ’ the issues. But officials are pessimistic about an immediate breakthrough.

The dispute arises out of provisions in the Brexit deal that leave Northern Ireland within the EU’s single market for goods. Mr Johnson accuses Brussels of taking a ‘purist’ approach to the deal and applying it to all goods crossing the Irish Sea, regardless of whether or not they are set to enter the EU.

WORLD leaders will commit today to work together to crush future pandemics within 100 days.

The G7 nations will sign what will be known as the Carbis Bay Declaration, after the Cornish resort where the summit is being held.

As part of the strategy, Britain will build a £25million animal vaccine centre to halt the spread of new diseases and therefore prevent them from jumping to humans.

About three-quarters of new human diseases are thought to have started in animals. The Animal Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre at Pirbright in Surrey will be backed by £10million from the UK Government and £14.5million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The centre will draw on the existing Pirbright Institute’s world-leading expertise in preventing and controlling the spread of viruses in order to accelerate the delivery of vaccines for livestock diseases.

Melinda French Gates, as she is now known after separating from the Microsoft founder, and the UK’s chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance will present findings from their work on the pandemic preparedness partnership to the G7 leaders today.

The Carbis Bay Declaration will incorporate the recommendations of their findings, which highlight how the first 100 days after the identification of an epidemic threat are crucial to changing its course and preventing it from becoming a pandemic.

The G7 nations – the UK, US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy – will commit to measures aimed at slashing the time taken to develop and license vaccines, treatments and diagnostics for any future disease to under 100 days.

They will also promise to reinforce global surveillance networks and support reforming and strengthening the world Health Organisation.

Boris Johnson said last night: ‘ To truly defeat coronavirus and recover we need to prevent a pandemic like this from ever happening again. That means learning lessons from the last 18 months and doing it differently next time around. I am proud that for the first time today the world’s leading democracies have come together to make sure that never again will we be caught unawares.’

Covid is thought to have spread to humans from bats, although some now believe it might have escaped from a laboratory in China.

The Seaside Summit

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2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-06-12T07:00:00.0000000Z

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