MONDAY 25 OCTOBER 2021 NEWS PROVIDER OF THE YEAR UK £2.90 Channel Islands £3.20; Republic of Ireland €3.

20

Money is no cure-all Lines in the sand Paws for thought

More NHS funds will do little good Saudi Arabia flexes muscle to drive Should staff receive ‘parental’ leave
without staff — JEREMY HUNT, PAGE 25 Riyadh growth — BIG READ, PAGE 23 for new pets? — PILITA CLARK, PAGE 19

Court kick-off Briefing

Super League i Signs of compromise on NI trade deal

heads to ECJ
There are hints of a potential compromise in the
UK’s dispute with the EU over the role of the
European Court of Justice in relation to post-Brexit
trading arrangements for Northern Ireland.— PAGE 2
Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Juven-
tus, the three football clubs behind the i EU diplomats poised to return to Kabul
proposed Super League, are taking legal The EU diplomatic mission in Kabul is set to reopen
action against Uefa and Fifa in an effort within a month, less than 12 weeks after the hurried
to fundamentally reorganise the run- evacuation that followed the Taliban takeover of
ning of the sport. Afghanistan.— PAGE 4
In a landmark case at the European
Court of Justice, the clubs will accuse the i Debt-hit Evergrande resumes building
sport’s governing bodies of breaking EU The indebted Chinese property developer
competition rules. The 12-member Evergrande said it had restarted work on projects in
Super League appeared to collapse soon southern China after meeting an $83.5m interest
after being unveiled in April amid pro- payment on an offshore bond that it had missed in
tests from fans, pundits and politicians, September.— PAGE 11
but the three founders remain commit-
ted to the concept. A victory in the case i Warehouse space running out
could allow the clubs to take more con- Supply chain disruptions and
trol over the finances of the competi- the boom in online shopping
tions they play in. could result in the UK running
Rebels file lawsuit page 8 out of warehouse space within a
Barcelona take on Real Madrid in La Liga yesterday at Camp Nou in a match that ended in a 1-2 defeat for the Catalan side Joan Monfort/AP year, a leading property agency
has warned.— PAGE 2

Poland tells Brussels to stop the

i Brussels risks banking reform clash
The EU risks a fight with global regulators if it
persists with a draft plan to give lenders an extra
two years to comply with the next phase of global
banking rules under Basel III reforms.— PAGE 4

threats as EU tensions escalate i Plan for 30-year fixed-rate mortgage

UK specialist pensions insurer Rothesay is planning
to launch 25- and 30-year fixed-rate mortgages as
borrowers seek protection from the threat of rising
interest rates.— PAGE 12
...............................................................................................................

3 PM bridles at rule of law warnings 3 Bloc weighs sanctions 3 Risk of ‘Polexit’ dismissed
HENRY FOY AND SAM FLEMING
BRUSSELS
Poland’s prime minister has accused the
EU of making demands of Warsaw with
a “gun to our head”, urging Brussels to
withdraw threats of legal and financial
sanctions if it wanted to resolve the
country’s rule of law crisis.
In a move to ease tensions in the long-
running dispute, which has raised fears
of a Polish exit from the EU, Mateusz
Morawiecki promised to dismantle a
disciplinary chamber for judges that the
European Court of Justice found to be
illegal by the end of the year.
But he warned that if the European
Commission “starts the third world
war” by withholding cash to Warsaw, he
would “defend our rights with any
weapons which are at our disposal”.
i Crossword and Lex
The Lex column, Business Life and the Crossword
The commission has threatened Morawiecki said any move to reduce added. Morawiecki said that talks with have moved inside this week.— PAGE 19
Poland with sanctions after the coun- “cohesion funds” would be met with EU leaders including Angela Merkel of
try’s top court ruled this month that key strong retaliation. He was speaking to Germany and Emmanuel Macron of
elements of EU law were incompatible the Financial Times after a week in France, in which he laid out Warsaw’s Datawatch
with its constitution. which he held several meetings with argument that the EU was overstepping
The ruling marked a significant esca- commission president Ursula von der its legal competences, were “satisfying”.
lation of a legal battle over changes to Leyen and participated in a two-day Mateusz But he said that if the commission Global leaders’ popularity At 71 per cent,
Poland’s court system that Morawiecki’s summit with his fellow EU leaders that Morawiecki: wanted to find a compromise, it must Net approval ratings (%) Indian prime
ruling Law and Justice party says are included a debate on the Polish crisis. ‘If they start reverse its decision to seek daily fines India Modi minister Narendra
Mexico López Obrador Modi’s net
necessary to increase efficiency. Brus- “What is going to happen if the Euro- the third world against Warsaw until it implements a
Italy Draghi approval ratings
sels says they threaten judicial inde- pean Commission will start the third war, we are number of ECJ rulings related to its judi-
Germany Merkel are the highest of
pendence and the fundamental legal world war? If they start the third world going to defend cial reform. The commission declined to US Biden 13 world leaders
bonds that hold the EU together. war, we are going to defend our rights our rights with comment. Canada Trudeau surveyed by US
The stand-off has already delayed with any weapons which are at our dis- any weapons Morawiecki dismissed fears that the Japan Kishida research firm
Poland’s €36bn Covid-19 economic posal,” he said when asked if Poland which are at stand-off could provoke a public cam- UK Johnson
S.Korea Moon Morning Consult.
recovery package from Brussels. Some could veto critical decisions on legisla- our disposal’ paign that would see Poland leave the Brazil Bolsonaro His ratings fell 13
member states and parts of the commis- tion such as the EU’s climate package. bloc. “We are absolutely convinced that France Macron percentage points
sion have also called for a conditionality “[But] if someone will attack us in a Poland has to stay . . . There are no risks 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 after peaking in
mechanism that could threaten tens of completely unfair way, we will defend of Polexit.” Source: Morning Consult May 2020.
billions of euros in EU funds to Warsaw. ourselves in any possible manner,” he FT View page 24

Windfall helps Sunak put NHS, skills

London’s wider emission
zone takes effect today
London’s ultra low emission zone,
designed to drive older, more polluting
cars off the road, is expanding to
almost 20 times its original size from
today. Those within the new
boundaries will face a daily levy of
£12.50 to drive, regardless of whether
they are a resident or business owner.
Some local businesses complain that it
will mean higher prices for customers
but clean air campaigners want it
extended to all London boroughs.
Anti-pollution drive i PAGE 2
and levelling up at top of Budget list
GEORGE PARKER, CHRIS GILES
AND JIM PICKARD
Rishi Sunak will use this week’s Budget
to shore up the fragile public finances
while focusing remaining resources on
the NHS, the “levelling up” agenda,
skills and helping hard-pressed
families.
The chancellor is expected to be given a
short-term Budget windfall by the
Office for Budget Responsibility, which
is set to upgrade its forecasts to show
stronger growth in 2021 and 2022.
Sunak will use some of this fiscal
boost to pay for government priorities —
including helping families through a
cost-of-living crunch this winter — but
he will also bank some of it as insurance
against economic shocks.
The chancellor admitted yesterday
that Britain’s public finances were more
exposed to changes in interest rates
than most other advanced economies,
while the Covid crisis remained a threat
to the economy.
“It’s part of what having a strong econ-
omy means: having that protection and
resilience to future shocks that might
come our way,” he told Times Radio.
Sunak said a 1 percentage point rise in
both inflation and interest rates could
cost the exchequer £25bn a year, largely
because of the cost of servicing short-
term public debt now standing at almost
100 per cent of national income.
In the run-up to next week’s Budget,
the Treasury has announced how Sunak
intends to carve up public spending over
the next three years, setting out the gov-
ernment’s priorities for the rest of the
parliament.
He has allocated £7bn to public trans-
port in larger cities, £3bn to help pay for
a “skills revolution”, £850m for galleries
and cultural centres and £700m to
improve sports and youth clubs.
The waiting list crisis in the NHS
remains an overarching concern. Sunak
will provide £6bn over the next three
years to tackle NHS treatment backlogs
in England.
His Budget will also deliver cash for
the levelling up agenda, including
£150m of funding for regional “angel
investors” to help small businesses out-
side London access early funding.
The Tees Valley Combined Authority,
run by Tory mayor Ben Houchen, has
secured the first loan from the new UK
Infrastructure Bank for a flagship free-
port on the river Tees. The state-owned
bank will lend £107m for the South
Bank Quay project, providing facilities
for servicing the offshore wind sector.
Five things to watch page 3

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