Meanwhile Boris Johnson is to take personal charge of a new Brexit unit to be re-branded as the tough-sounding Taskforce Europe in response to the EU’s own testosterone-fuelled re-launch. Jacques Vandenschrik, the president of the European Food Banks Federation, told the Guarian: “I think we must do better for the poorest of the poor. We cannot accept that we must deliver half or 60 percent of the food that they receive now. The explanation is that the overall budget of Europe needs to be tightened up.
“Brexit is one of the arguments. The other is the need for the strengthening of the defence of Europe. But this will have an impact on health and social cohesion. It is a false economy to save on the poor.
The Brussels Brexit negotiating team will now be known as The Task Force for Relations with the United Kingdom.
Not to be outdone, the Prime Minister has also given his team Task Force status. Mr Johnson will oversee the new unit, which will be headed by David Frost, the Prime Minister’s Chief Negotiator.
Mr Johnson is believed to be drawing up a to-do list in Mustique in the Caribbean, where he and girlfriend Carrie Symonds are seeing in the New Year.
He may also be keen to seize the initiative after Ms von der Leyen voiced concern at the tight time frame for negotiating a trade deal prior to the deadline of December 31, 2020.
Ms von der Leyen, who started her job at the start of the month, told French newspaper Les Echos: “It would be reasonable to evaluate the situation mid-year and then, if necessary, agree on extending the transition period.”
In theory the transition period could be extended, by July 1 at the latest, to the end of 2021 or 2022 – although Mr Johnson’s Withdrawal Bill, ratified by the House of Commons earlier this month, contains a clause making it illegal for Parliament to enforce this.
The Mail on Sunday cited a Government source as saying Mr Frost’s team would be based at Number 10 and would be concentrating on hitting the deadline.
The insider added: “In 2020, we will move forward to establish a future relationship and free trade agreement with the EU.
“Following the Election, the Government has a clear and renewed mandate to achieve this.
“We want our new relationship to be based on an ambitious free trade agreement and a close friendship between sovereign equals.”
JUST IN: Signs show EU is preparing for no-deal as ‘They finally get it’
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3.06pm update: European Commission accused of cutting funds for bloc’s poorest people
The European Commission is trying to cut EU funding for the continent’s poorest people by half in order to secure post-Brexit cost savings and more for defence projects.
Jacques Vandenschrik, the president of the European Food Banks Federation, told the Guardian the EU executive’s spending plans for the next seven years risked the stability of wider society.
He added: “I think we must do better for the poorest of the poor. We cannot accept that we must deliver half or 60% of the food that they receive now. The explanation is that the overall budget of Europe needs to be tightened up.
“Brexit is one of the arguments. The other is the need for the strengthening of the defence of Europe. But this will have an impact on health and social cohesion. It is a false economy to save on the poor.
2.14pm update: EU “finally gets it”
New signs at Calais directing lorry drivers into a special BRITISH-ONLY lane have suggested the French believe Britain is on course to leave the EU on World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules at the end of 2020, it was claimed today.
Nigel Farage’s former adviser Trixy Sanderson who spotted the signs on a cross-Channel trip said: “They’re finally starting to get it”.
The signs – marked Sanitary-Phyto Controls – are for lorry drivers arriving from Britain to follow, a fact underlined by a picture of a Union Jack with an arrow pointing to the EU flag.
The confusingly-named Sanitary-Phyto Controls are aimed at preventing spread of disease or contamination from country to country.
2.11pm update: ‘We’ve turned a corner’
Mr Farage, who put the chances of an EU/UK trade deal at just 25 percent, added: “As a Brexiteer, I know I’m not going to get everything I want. That’s just not possible.
“There are going to be all sorts of compromises on fishing, I’m sure.
“But have we turned the corner? Are we heading to the right place? Yes.”
2.08pm update: ‘UK has now got the upper hand,’ says Farage
Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has claimed Britain now has the “upper hand” in negotiations with the EU is a stunning endorsement of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s approach.
Interviewed on LBC, Mr Farage said: “For the first time, I think we’ve potentially got the upper hand in these negotiations. So we could end up leaving with no trade deal.
“But if that happens, so what frankly. Business will adapt, we all adapt to changed circumstances.”
