British Prime Minister Theresa May yesterday won support from big business for her draft Brexit deal ahead of “intense negotiations” with Brussels in the coming week.
May told the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the UK’s main business lobby group, that she was “determined to deliver” her Brexit deal as she prepares for Sunday’s European Council summit to sign Britain’s divorce papers.
“We now have an intense week of negotiations ahead of us,” she told about 1,000 business leaders at the CBI annual conference in central London.
Photo: Bloomberg
“During that time I expect us to hammer out the full and final details of the framework that will underpin our future relationship,” she said. “I am confident that we can strike a deal at the council that I can take back to the House of Commons.”
However, she said that the final phase “was always going to be the toughest.”
The Brussels negotiations will finalize a parallel political declaration setting out a road map for post-Brexit negotiations on future EU-UK ties.
CBI chief Carolyn Fairbairn gave qualified support for May’s draft deal, telling the conference that “it is not perfect, it is a compromise, but it is hard-won progress.”
“It offers that essential transitional period as a step back from the cliff-edge,” she said.
Responding to reports that European Chief Negotiator for the UK Exiting the EU Michel Barnier had raised the prospect of extending the transition deal until the end of 2022, May said it was “important that we are out of the implementation period by the next general election,” scheduled for May 2022.
Turning to immigration, May promised to introduce “more streamlined application processes” that will “attract the brightest and the best from around the world.”
“But the difference will be this: once we have left the EU, we will be fully in control of who comes here,” she said.
“It will no longer be the case that EU nationals, regardless of the skills or experience they have to offer, can jump the queue ahead of engineers from Sydney or software developers from Delhi,” May said.
Meanwhile, several Conservative Party rebels yesterday continued their efforts to gather the signatures of 48 lawmakers needed to trigger a no-confidence vote in May.
Lawmaker Simon Clarke urged wavering colleagues to help trigger a leadership challenge.
“It is quite clear to me that the captain is driving the ship at the rocks,” Clarke said.
Additional reporting by AP
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique