With talks set to continue this coming week between the UK Government and the EU over the Brexit trade deal, Constitution Secretary Michael Russell said: “It is beyond belief that in the middle of a deep recession, Scottish firms still have no idea what their trading arrangements will be with the EU in less than three months’ time.

WITH BREXIT JUST AROUND THE CORNER and fears of a “no deal” cliff-edge mounting, UK and EU governments have been scrambling to put in place emergency measures that would protect citizens on both sides of the Channel.

Last week the Finnish parliament announced it will be pushing through emergency legislation designed to protect the rights of UK nationals in the event of no deal. The legislation guarantees the residency, work, and study rights of all British nationals currently in Finland up until at least December 2020.

We spoke to the UK’s ambassador to Finland, Tom Dodd, at the British Embassy to find out more about the state of bilateral negotiations between the two countries and what else Brits should be doing to prepare for Brexit. 

THE BRITISH EMBASSY IN HELSINKI has provided the Helsinki Times with a reminder for UK nationals in Finland ahead of the UK's departure from the European Union on Friday. The Embassy has stressed that most things "will not change" for UK nationals this year, and reminds anyone who has not registered their right of residence in Finland to do so immediately. 

A new study conducted by Oxford in Berlin and the WZB - Berlin Social Science Center has revealed that the number of Brits receiving German citizenship has risen by over 1000% since the Brexit referendum in 2016: While 622 British citizens received German citizenship in 2015, numbers jumped dramatically to 7,493 ‘naturalisations’ in 2017 and predictions for 2019 are higher than all previous years. 

Most European citizens will need to show a valid passport to be allowed to enter the United Kingdom from Friday, as the UK government will stop accepting national identity cards as a travel document following the country's departure from the European Union last year, the Home Office announced.

 At the turn of the year, the United Kingdom will be a non-EU country in the same way the United States and China. If you order goods from the UK, parcels sent to you from there must be declared as of 1 January 2021, and possible taxes and customs duties must be paid for them.

Customers of online shops are advised to not decide on purchases merely on the basis of prices given by the shops.

The Scottish Government has launched a public information campaign to provide support and guidance following the change in its relationship with the EU. A factsheet published in the context of this campaign, titled: EU-UK negotiations: outcome analysis,details an early assessment of what the outcome of the EU-UK negotiations means for Scotland.

The consequences of the UK Government’s decision to press ahead with Brexit despite the COVID-19 pandemic are to be debated in the Scottish Parliament.

"Scottish Parliamentdoes not give consent to damaging deal."
"The UK Government’s damaging Brexit trade deal does not have the consent of the Scottish Parliament," says a statement by the Scottish government.