Paul McNamara is the Business and Global Trade Correspondent for Channel 4 News, reporting on the UK’s changing relationship with the world.
Paul joined the Channel 4 News Investigations Team in 2015 and reported on the biggest stories in the UK. He has covered three General Elections for the programme, the last as Political Correspondent.
Prior to Channel 4 News Paul was the co-founder of a production company and news agency providing investigations for Channel 4 Dispatches, BBC Panorama, and every newspaper on Fleet Street.
His career started at The Bedford Times and Citizen, before joining national newspapers to cover defence and the war in Afghanistan extensively.
Northern Ireland is facing a health crisis, too, with the highest daily number of deaths since the pandemic began.
Northern Ireland First Minister Arlene Foster has said the reproductive R-rate there has now fallen back below one in Northern Ireland, but warned that the health service remains under huge pressure.
The prime minister has said he would have no hesitation suspending the agreement reached with the EU over checks on food and goods shipped to Northern Ireland if delays to freight get worse.
Ministers in Northern Ireland say they are now living through their worst-case scenario predicted at the start of the pandemic, @PGMcNamara is in Belfast
The Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove has warned that there will be “significant additional disruption” at the country’s borders in the next few weeks.
Business leaders say that won’t be enough to cover immediate costs.
In Dover so far freight and ferries have flowed smoothly.
Industry leaders have warned of administrative chaos.
MPs have voted to back the post-Brexit trade deal agreed between the UK and the European Union with just 73 votes against, as the Government tries to rush the bill through parliament in a single day.
Our business and global trade correspondent Paul McNamara is in Downing Street, where Boris Johnson is expected to emerge with a statement shortly.
Hopes for a Brexit deal are looking significantly higher this evening.
Traffic to Dover had already been disrupted for more than a week, but the travel ban put in place by France last night has piled on the pressure in Kent.
The prime minister has warned that a no-deal Brexit is now “very, very likely”.
New checks on goods travelling between Britain and Northern Ireland will be paused to ensure food supplies aren’t disrupted if there’s a no-deal Brexit.
For businesses, it’s all a waiting game. Meanwhile, the uncertainty continues.