The UK has reached an agreement with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway which protects the rights of our citizens who have chosen to call each other’s countries home, as well as resolving a small number of other issues arising from the UK’s exit from the EU. This agreement largely mirrors the Withdrawal Agreement agreed with the EU.

This means that UK and EEA EFTA citizens living in each other’s countries at the end of the implementation period will be able to continue enjoying broadly the same rights as they do now. This includes arrangements on residency, healthcare, pensions and education, social security coordination and mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Over 15,000 nationals from EEA EFTA countries living in the UK and approximately 17,000 UK nationals living in the EEA EFTA countries will benefit from these arrangements.

As these countries participate in the single market and other EU-led initiatives, this agreement will mirror a small number of the other relevant separation issues that we have agreed with the EU in the Withdrawal Agreement. The separation issues covered by this agreement are: arrangements on goods placed on the UK or EEA EFTA markets, intellectual property, ongoing police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, data protection, public procurement, and ongoing judicial procedures. This is significant, given that total UK trade with the EEA EFTA states amounted to almost £30bn in 2017.

The agreement will be concluded before exit day and, alongside the EU Withdrawal Agreement, it will be legislated for through the EU (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill. However, the rights and obligations of the EEA Agreement and other international agreements with these countries will continue to apply to the UK for the duration of the implementation period. This means that businesses and citizens will face no immediate changes in existing rules. EEA EFTA nationals living in the UK will be able to apply to the UK’s Settlement Scheme in the same way as EU citizens.

In the unlikely event of ‘no deal’ with the EU, the UK would still pursue a citizens’ rights agreement with the EEA EFTA states. We are discussing this with the EEA EFTA states. In any scenario, EFTA nationals will be able to stay in the UK post-exit.

The Governments of the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein issued the following joint statement on this announcement:

We are pleased to have reached this agreement. It will protect the rights of our citizens as the UK leaves the EU, and it will provide certainty to businesses. We want to put in place new arrangements from the end of the implementation period to protect our historic relationships, including in the area of trade.

The UK has reached agreements with Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and with Switzerland to address separation issues including protecting the rights of our citizens who have chosen to call each other’s countries home.

The Swiss deal protects the rights of the 40,000 UK nationals living in Switzerland, 14,000 Swiss nationals living in the UK, and around 2,600 UK nationals who frontier work into Switzerland (mainly from other EU Member States). Their rights will also be protected in a no deal scenario.

The EEA/EFTA deal protects the rights of the 17,000 UK nationals living in the EEA EFTA states and 15,000 EEA EFTA nationals living in the UK. We are discussing no deal arrangements with the EEA EFTA states.

The separation issues covered by this agreement are:

• Arrangements on goods placed on the UK or EEA EFTA markets

• Intellectual property

• Ongoing police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters

• Data protection

• Public procurement

• Ongoing judicial procedures

This is significant, given that total UK trade with the EEA EFTA states amounted to almost £30bn in 2017.

In a joint statement, the Governments of the UK, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein said:

We are pleased to have reached this agreement. It will protect the rights of our citizens as the UK leaves the EU, and it will provide certainty to businesses. We want to put in place new arrangements from the end of the implementation period to protect our historic relationships, including in the area of trade.

In a joint statement, the UK and Swiss governments said:

In light of the UK’s exit from the EU, Switzerland and the UK have been in discussions on a citizens’ rights agreement. The legal text of this agreement has now been finalised and agreed by both governments. This will ensure citizens can continue living their lives broadly as now, and secure the rights Swiss and UK citizens currently enjoy. We want to put in place new arrangements from the end of the implementation period to protect our historic relationships.

EEA EFTA and Swiss nationals who want to stay beyond the end of the implementation period will be apply to the UK’s Settlement Scheme in the same way as EU citizens, and will need to do so by June 2021.

Retail industry experts have called for a community-focused approach to tackling the challenges facing high streets and town centres.

Retail industry experts, including Sir John Timpson, have called for a community-focused approach to tackling the challenges facing high streets and town centres in a new report published today (20 December 2018).

The government-appointed panel made up representatives from the retail, property and design sectors has published practical recommendations to reinvigorate town centres by creating a community hub which, alongside retail, includes leisure and social services and more residential property.

The report puts community involvement and local leadership at the centre of a plan to create the town centres of the future.

Panel chair Sir John Timpson called for an ‘Upside Down Government’ approach which would empower local leaders to implement their plans to reinvent their town centres. They would be supported with expert advice from a Town Centres Task Force and funding from the government’s Future High Streets Fund.

Another recommendation includes calling on local communities to celebrate their town centres with a ‘National High Street Perfect Day’ to tackle litter and graffiti so people can take pride in their local shopping centres.

Chair of the expert panel, Sir John Timpson said:

When the panel was formed, we knew high streets would never be the same again, but we were delighted to discover places where imaginative developments have increased footfall and reduced the number of empty shops.

By helping our towns create their own individual community hub, I believe we will have vibrant town centres to provide a much-needed place for face to face contact in the digital age.

I have learnt, from my own business, that the best way to get things done is to give people on the front line the freedom to get on with the job in the way they know best. We are applying the same Upside Down Government principle to the development of our town centres, with our Town Centre Task Force there to mentor, encourage and clear any obstacles out of the way while giving the clear message to inspirational local leaders that they are free to turn their plans into reality.

High Streets Minister Jake Berry MP said:

High streets and town centres play an important role in the life of our communities.

I thank Sir John and the panel members who have worked extremely hard and proposed tangible ways to keep these treasured spaces alive and thriving for generations.

We have already taken action by announcing plans to set up a Future High Streets Fund and Task Force, alongside slashing business rates for up to a third of small retailers. We will carefully consider these recommendations.

The panel was appointed by High Streets Minister Jake Berry MP earlier this year to diagnose issues affecting our high streets and town centres and advise on measures to keep them thriving.

In October, the panel provided interim recommendations, which the government responded to by announcing the creation of a £675 million Future High Streets Fund to help improve and restore high streets as well as a Town Centre Taskforce to give local leaders support in implementing local schemes. Today’s report sets out further advice of how to implement this funding.

Recommendations

The panel’s recommendations include:

• The creation of the Town Centre Task Force supporting local leaders to act as a single voice in finding unique solutions for communities.

• The Future High Streets Fund to help local authorities with both finance and resource. In October’s Budget, the Chancellor announced a £675 million Future High Street Fund towards better spaces for communities in response to Sir John Timpson’s interim recommendations made earlier this year.

• Immediate measures to help high streets and town centres including a ‘National High Street Perfect Day’ – one day a year where local communities would take ownerships of ensuring their town centre looked as good as possible.

• The panel encourages local communities to think innovatively about empty properties and welcomes the government’s Open Doors scheme which opens empty shops to community groups.

• Local authorities are also encouraged to review parking provision in favour of local businesses to encourage footfall.

Read the full report.

Members of the Expert Advisory Panel on High Streets:

Sir John Timpson (Chair)

Chairman of Timpson, the UK retail service chain with over 2,000 shops.

Vidhya Alakeson, CEO, Power to Change

The independent trust dedicated to supporting community businesses to create better places across England. Vidhya was formerly Deputy CEO at the independent think-tank, the Resolution Foundation.

Gi Fernando MBE, Founder & CEO, Freeformers

Gi is an engineer, social impact entrepreneur and investor, who founded Freeformers in 2012. Freeformers is a workforce technology and transformation company.

Councillor Graham Galpin (Cons) from Ashford council

Graham has been a councillor in Ashford since 2011 and a cabinet member since 2013. He has had responsibility for the town centre’s economic vitality for almost all of that time.

Emma Mackenzie, Director, NewRiver

NewRiver is a property investor, asset manager and developer specialising in the UK retail and leisure sector. Emma is a member of the Executive Committee sits on the NewRiver REIT (UK) Limited Board and is principally responsible for NewRiver’s Scotland and Northern Ireland Portfolio which includes acquisition, asset management, development and disposal.

Eric Reynolds, Founding Director of Urban Space Management

Eric established and ran some of the most significant regeneration projects in London since the early 1970s including Camden Lock Market, Merton Abbey Mills, Spitalfields Market, Gabriels’ Wharf, Bishopsgate Goodsyard and Trinity Buoy Wharf. He won the Regeneration & Renewal “Lifetime Achievement Award” for Regeneration in 2012.

Stephen Robertson

Stephen has spent most of his working life in retailing, including roles at B&Q and Screwfix, before becoming Director General of the British Retail Consortium. He is now a non-executive director of a number of companies including Hargreaves Lansdown plc and Timpson Group.

Sophia de Sousa, CEO, The Glass-House

Sophia is Chief Executive at The Glass-House Community Led Design, a national charity that supports communities, organisations and networks to work collaboratively on the design of buildings, open spaces, homes and neighbourhoods.

The Queen has approved the nomination of the Venerable Sarah Elizabeth Clark.