England

LONDON (Reuters) - Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said on Thursday that he suspected the United Kingdom would remain far too closely aligned to the European Union’s rules after Prime Minister Boris Johnson clinches a trade deal.

“Winning a war is one thing, winning peace is another: I suspect we are going to find ourselves far too closely aligned to EU rules in the years to come,” Farage told Talk Radio.

He said he hoped “this is the beginning of the end of the European Union,” according to a Talk Radio transcript.

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -Britain and the European Union were on the cusp of striking a narrow trade deal on Thursday, swerving away from a chaotic finale to a Brexit split that has shaken the 70-year project to forge European unity from the ruins of World War Two.

While a last-minute deal would avoid the most acrimonious ending to the divorce on Jan. 1, the United Kingdom is set for a much more distant relationship with its biggest trade partner than almost anyone expected at the time of the 2016 referendum.

LONDON, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- British Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Wednesday announced that more areas of the East and South East of England will be put into Tier Four restrictions, the highest level, while revealing that two cases of another new variant of the novel coronavirus have been identified in Britain.

LONDON, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- Rapid turnaround lateral flow tests on lorry drivers with the help of the British military are expected as part of the measures to unblock cross-channel trade between Britain and France, British media reported Tuesday.

A deal to resume travel with France following a shutdown over the new coronavirus variant found in Britain could come later Tuesday, according to Sky News.

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices dropped almost 2% on Tuesday to below $50 a barrel, adding to losses from the previous session, as a new coronavirus strain in the United Kingdom revived concerns over demand recovery.

The detection of the new strain prompted several countries to close their borders to Britain, although a British minister said the UK and France are working to reopen one of Europe’s most important trade routes.

LONDON, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Monday that Britain and France are working to unblock the cross-channel trade "as fast as possible."

Johnson made the statement when he was speaking at a virtual press conference at Downing Street after the French government banned trucks entering from Britain over concerns about the highly transmissible new coronavirus strain.

Johnson said he had just had "a very good call" with French President Emmanuel Macron to solve the issue.

TOKYO/LONDON (Reuters) -Oil prices tumbled by $2 on Monday, as a fast-spreading new coronavirus strain that has shut down much of Britain and led to tighter restrictions in Europe sparked worries about a slower recovery in fuel demand.

Brent crude was down $2.06, or 3.9%, to $50.20 a barrel by 0926 GMT, and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down $1.95, or 4%, to $47.15 a barrel.

Monday’s declines come after seven weeks of gains in prices amid optimism stemming from the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is to chair a meeting of the government’s emergency committee later Monday after France closed its borders to the U.K. to stem the spread of a new strain of the coronavirus circulating in London and the southeast of England.

The meeting of the COBRA civil contingencies committee comes amid warnings of “significant disruption” around the ports in the English Channel, with tailbacks going back miles into Kent, a county in southeastern England.

LONDON (Reuters) - British health minister Matt Hancock repeated Britain’s calls for the European Union to shift its position on Sunday and withdraw its “unreasonable demands” for the two sides to be able to seal a post-Brexit trade deal.

LONDON, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday announced new stricter coronavirus restrictions for London and parts of England to combat an alarming surge in infections linked to a new virulent strain.

The planned relaxation of coronavirus rules for Christmas is scrapped for a large part of southeast England and cuts to one day for rest of the region, Johnson said at a virtual press conference from Downing Street.