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Minister snaps 'get a life' over fears Brexit deal will spark ban on smoky bacon crisps - as PM faces demands for billions and no criminals returned at big EU summit

Minister snaps 'get a life' over fears Brexit deal will spark ban on smoky bacon crisps - as PM faces demands for billions and no criminals returned at big EU summit

A minister snapped 'get a life' over fears Andy Burnham's Brexit deal will lead to a ban on smoky bacon crisps.

Environment Secretary Angela Eagle also accused people of being 'obsessed' with quirky Brussels rules.

The blunt dismissal came as the concessions Andy Burnham might have to make to cosy up to the bloc became clearer. 

Brussels is demanding a block on deporting EU criminals and billions of pounds in contributions to improve living standards in member states, according to documents leaked ahead of a big summit on November 20. 

It has also emerged the PM could agree to 80,000 young people coming to the UK every year as part of a 'mobility' deal – and spend £450million a year subsidising tuition fees for EU students. 

Environment Secretary Angela Eagle accused people of being 'obsessed' with quirky Brussels rules

The blunt dismissal came as the concessions Andy Burnham might have to make – at an upcoming summit with EU President Ursula von der Leyen – became clearer

Shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins said the Government was 'signing away control of our food laws'

A food and farming deal is among three agreements Mr Burnham is on track to sign at the summit in Brussels.

It is expected to see the UK accept EU regulations on plant, animal and food trade standards to remove post-Brexit checks from exports.

But concerns have been raised that crisps could fall foul of planned EU rules prohibiting the use of 'meaty' terms to describe vegetarian food. Manufacturers could be forced to change product names.

Asked whether closer alignment with the bloc could lead to the banning of bacon crisps' labelling, Dame Angela told Times Radio: 'We've had EU straight bananas and now we're talking about banning smoky bacon crisps, I think you should get a life.

'This is actually about ensuring that we can do business with our closest neighbours.

'We've got huge potential growth in our economy if we allow our farmers and food producers to be able to export into Europe again without all the huge uncertainty and the costs and frictions that Brexit brought us.

'This will be a deal that improves that situation and it will enable this economy to grow and for us to have higher levels of prosperity than we've had before.

'If you want to obsess about smoky bacon crisps, I suppose that's your choice.'

But shadow environment secretary Victoria Atkins swiped back on X: 'Smokey bacon crisps matter, @angelaeagle, because your government is signing away control of our food laws to the EU.

'We will have no say, no influence and no veto over the rules they set.'

Ahead of the November 20 summit, a 200-page draft text for a sanitary and phytosanitary agreement has been shared among the bloc's members.

It has also emerged that draft deals on emissions trading and a 'youth experience scheme' are being circulated alongside a 15-page joint UK-EU statement.

The draft statement sets out how British taxpayers' money could be funnelled into projects to build roads, airports and green energy facilities across the bloc's poorer member states.

'We agree that the UK's participation in parts of the EU's internal market requires an appropriate level of financial contribution towards reducing economic and social disparities between the regions of the EU that reflects the degree of the UK's participation in the EU's internal market,' it reportedly states.

The document says 'the UK commits not to proceed with' deportation of offenders to EU countries – part of Labour's desperate efforts to relieve pressure on UK prisons.

Since Brexit, EU students in the UK have been charged higher international fees of between £11,400 and £38,000 a year for undergraduate courses. This is compared to the lower domestic rate for British students of £9,790 a year.

But Brussels is determined to see EU students pay the same rate as British students while they study in the UK.

It has also been reported that between 75,000 and 80,000 18 to 30-year-olds each year will be able to travel to the UK from the EU for up to three years under a proposed youth mobility scheme.

The proposed annual cap is said to be significantly higher than a figure of 50,000 previously offered by the UK's negotiators.

The Government has stressed that nothing has been finalised yet and the UK will not agree to all the EU demands. 

Mr Burnham said the potential economic benefits of the deal were too big to ignore.

He told the Economist magazine that new Treasury analysis suggested that, 'at the high end', easing food and farming exports to the EU 'could add up to 0.4 per cent of GDP' – equal to £12billion a year.

He added: 'Now, that is a number that you cannot ignore… If something can be done to add 0.4 per cent to British GDP, that should be pursued very vigorously – and that's what I'm doing.'

Brexiteers have warned against leaving Britain as a 'rule-taker' and 'surrendering' the freedoms won by leaving the EU.

Meanwhile, former Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier has fuelled the row over Mr Burnham floating rejoining the bloc completely after the next election. 

Mr Barnier, who led the EU team during the bitter divorce proceedings between the UK and Brussels, told Sky News: 'I always thought during the Brexit negotiations that the door will remain open.

EU trade commissioner Maros Sefcovic has been laying out the bloc's demands ahead of the summit  

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'If it is the choice of the UK to ask for a new negotiation to rejoin, it's perfectly possible to begin such a negotiation without any kind of obligation to take part in the euro.'

He added: 'But what is and what remains unnegotiable is the condition to join the single market.

'There is no … possible negotiation on any kind of cherry-picking or the single market 'a la carte'.

'The UK knows quite perfectly the condition to be part and to rejoin the single market and the customs union.'

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to visit Brussels next week as they resume public appearances in the wake of child sexual abuse image allegations facing Meghan's father.

Prince Harry and Meghan will deliver a joint keynote address at the opening of the Lost Screen Memorial in the European Parliament on Tuesday.

It is expected to be the first time the pair will have been seen in public since Thomas Markle Sr was reported to police in the Philippines and the FBI over a haul of suspected child abuse images.

The brief trip abroad will see Harry and Meghan listen to addresses by European Parliament president Roberta Metsola and MEP Antonio Lopez-Isturiz, the first vice-chairman of the Child Rights Intergroup, before delivering their own speech.

The Sussexes will have between 15 and 20 minutes for their rare dual-address, which they will use to speak about the importance of children's digital safety.

Harry and Meghan will also be shown the memorial exhibition, which remembers children who have lost their lives as a result of the harm they suffered on social media.

The Duke will later join a panel discussion called Beyond Promises: Building A Digital Future That Works For Children to discuss how to protect children online.

Prince Harry and Mehgan arrive for a visit to Himmah Hub in Nottingham on October 15

The Philippine National Police (PNP) has said videos of alleged child sexual abuse and exploitation were among files found in four storage boxes that allegedly belonged to Mr Markle Sr, after he was reported by his son Thomas Markle Jr last month.

Major General Wilson Asueta of the PNP said it had yet to be confirmed who owned the devices, which included nine mobile phones, three memory cards, five hard drives and a camera.

The 82-year-old was reported to police in the Philippines and the FBI last month by Mr Markle Jr, who handed over a haul of alleged child abuse images he said he found in his father's belongings in Cebu City.

A second hoard was discovered last Friday in a storage unit Thomas Markle Sr is said to have rented near his former home in Rosarito, Mexico, during a raid by Mexican police.

Reports have since claimed Mr Markle Sr was moved into a care home for dementia patients in Florida, described as a specialist 'memory care' facility.

It has raised concerns the FBI may never be able to interview Meghan's estranged father because of the legal barriers over interrogating suspects with cognitive issues in care homes.

Meghan was left 'deeply distressed' at the allegations and revealed she was sent a letter via the Metropolitan Police and Royalty and Specialist Protection seven years ago which made 'troubling and disturbing allegations' about her father, but that she was given assurances these were being investigated.

Harry and Meghan are set to be seen in public for the first time since her father Thomas Markle was reported to police over a haul of alleged child sexual abuse images

The Metropolitan Police has admitted it never shared the details with other law enforcement agencies, with the police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, now investigating the force's conduct.

The Duchess had wanted to 'speak out' immediately after reading the letter but police advised her against this, sources said.

Meghan has been estranged from her father since the run-up to her 2018 wedding when he was caught staging paparazzi photographs and then had a heart attack, meaning the King, then-the Prince of Wales, stepped in to walk Meghan down the aisle.

When former TV lighting director Mr Markle Sr had his leg amputated in the Philippines last year, he made pleas for the duchess to contact him, saying he did not want to die while they were still estranged.

A spokesperson for the duchess confirmed at the time she had 'reached out to her father'.

Last week, it emerged Meghan wrote in this final letter that she knew he was an abuser and that he would never see his grandchildren Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.

Mr Markle Sr, who returned to the US in May, has admitted to paying for sex in the Philippines but denied ever possessing child abuse imagery.

READ MORE: Harry and Meghan lose another key member of staff as Archewell's head of factual programmes steps down after more than five years

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Blake Lively looked as if she had some new pep in her step when she was spotted out in New York City on Tuesday night in a stunning little black dress.

The 39-year-old Gossip Girl star was spotted out in Manhattan's Upper East Side for an event celebrating the launch of jeweler Brent Neale's new holiday collection, according to E! News.

Although Lively was reportedly joined by friends, her husband Ryan Reynolds, 50, didn't appear by her side.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Lively's representative for comment but hasn't yet heard back. 

Lively – who recently revealed her over-the-top beauty regimen – channeled classic glamour in her skimpy black dress, which was decorated with glittering sequins.

The off-the-shoulder minidress featured a playful black bow that covered her cleavage for a touch of modesty.

Blake Lively looked as if she had some new pep in her step when she was spotted out in New York City on Tuesday night in a stunning little black dress

The 39-year-old Gossip Girl star was spotted out in Manhattan's Upper West Side for an event celebrating the launch of jeweler Brent Neale's new holiday collection, according to E! News

Lively – who recently revealed her over-the-top beauty regimen – channeled classic glamour in her skimpy black dress, which was decorated with glittering sequins

Lively's short skirt showcased her toned legs, which culminated in clear Louboutins that strapped around her ankles and featured black-tipped toes.

The It Ends with Us star, who is stepping out in the wake of her bruising legal drama with her former costar and director Justin Baldoni, wore her long blond hair in dramatic waves cascading down her shoulders.

She completed her glamorous ensemble with a simple black leather hobo handbag, and she added some extra sparkle with dangling earrings and multiple enormous sparkling rings.

Lively looked as if she was on top of the world as she beamed for photographers outside the shindig.

The outing comes after Lively revealed the secrets of the beauty regimen she uses to look as if she's in the 'first trimester of life' last week.

The actress took to her Instagram Story to share a candid clip of the nighttime routine she uses to maintain her 'natural beauty.'

She appeared to be wearing headgear with red-light therapy over her hair, in addition to a sheet mask with extra pieces she had pasted to her bare face. 

The Gossip Girl alumna was also bundled up in a brown fleece hoodie while seemingly winding down for the night with her beauty routine.

The off-the-shoulder minidress featured a playful black bow that covered her cleavage for a touch of modesty

Lively's short skirt showcased her toned legs, which culminated in clear Louboutins that strapped around her ankles and featured black-tipped toes

The It Ends with Us star wore her long blond hair in dramatic waves cascading down her shoulders

She completed her glamorous ensemble with a simple black leather hobo handbag

Lively added some extra sparkle with dangling earrings and multiple enormous sparkling rings

Lively looked as if she was on top of the world as she beamed for photographers outside the shindig

The outing comes after Lively revealed the secrets of her beauty regimen last week

She joked that her go-to products make her look as if she's in the 'first trimester of life'

The actress took to her Instagram Story to share a candid clip of the nighttime routine she uses to maintain her 'natural beauty' 

Lively gave a glimpse into her cozy wind-down routine shortly after the drama involving her film It Ends With Us and her director and costar Justin Baldoni. 

'Natural beauty is effortless,' she quipped at the bottom of her post, which pictured her taking a deep breath while the mask covered her face.

Lively also drew thought bubbles around her face, and in one, she wrote: 'If I don't look like I'm in the first trimester of life after this much effort I quit.' 

She continued: 'I miss the 2000s when we just used that handsoap with fish characters on it on our face & called it a day.' 

The Gossip Girl star also noted the lights in the background of her room in another thought bubble: 'My kids' star projector that I stole is a vibe tho.'

She set her candid post to the tune of Fergie and Ludacris' 2006 smash hit Glamorous.

The mother of four – who shares James, 11; Inez, ten; Betty, seven; and Olin, three, with her husband Ryan Reynolds – often shares snippets of her hair and beauty routines on social media.

In August, she shared a video of herself getting ready in her bathroom before rushing out the door as a busy mother and businesswoman. 

The mother of four – who shares James, 11; Inez, ten; Betty, seven; and Olin, three, with her husband Ryan Reynolds – often shares snippets of her hair and beauty routines on social media; above with Reynolds in April 2025 in NYC

In August, she shared a video of herself getting ready in her bathroom before rushing out the door as a busy mother and businesswoman

Her post comes after she was in a legal battle with Baldoni, and the former costars settled right before their trial was set to begin. Baldoni was ultimately ordered to pay $400,000 of Lively's legal fees earlier this year; pictured together in It Ends With Us

'The look: no time but need to look cute while ALSO raising children,' the movie star, who was seen using products from her Blake Brown haircare brand, wrote over the clip. 

'Moment of truth: bun out after running around the city,' she continued, before almost running out the door with her pants unbuttoned.

Her post comes after she was in a legal battle with Baldoni, and the former costars settled right before their trial was set to begin. 

Baldoni was ultimately ordered to pay $400,000 of Lively's legal fees. 

Lively previously sued Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer in December 2024. 

Right before their trial was set to begin earlier this year, Lively was awarded just over $400,000 of the $8 million she sought in legal fees from their dispute due to his countersuit. 

In her lawsuit, Lively asserted that she was subjected to sexual harassment as well as retaliation, alleging he orchestrated a smear campaign to harm her reputation after she brought up complaints about his behavior on set.  

In response, Baldoni denied harassment and claimed Lively made complaints to seize creative control of the movie. 

In June 2025, the countersuit was thrown out. In May of this year, just two weeks before the scheduled trial date, the former costars reached their settlement.

They also released a joint statement, writing that they 'remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments.' 

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