Sunday newspaper round-up: EU trade deal, Joe Biden, National lockdown

A trade, security and fisheries deal with European Union is “there to be done”, Boris Johnson has said before Brexit talks begin in London tomorrow. Lord Frost, the prime minister’s chief negotiator, has been holding international consultations within the government after a short break in high-level negotiations. “I think it’s there to be done, the broad outlines are pretty clear. We just need to get them to do it if we can,” Mr Johnson said. He pledged to “redouble efforts to reach a deal” after a weekend phone call with Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president. - Sunday Times

Joe Biden is reportedly planning to quickly reverse four years of Donald Trump’s foreign policy by reengaging with multilateral institutions. Acting through executive orders, a legally binding directive from the President that does not require approval from Congress, Mr Biden will, according to The Washington Post, immediately return the United States to the Paris Climate Agreement and the World Health Organisation (WHO). - Sunday Telegraph

Senior Tory MPs have warned Boris Johnson that there would be mass revolts in the party and the country against any attempt to extend the national lockdown beyond 2 December as anger grows in Conservative ranks over government handling of the pandemic. Evidence of growing Tory disquiet has risen since it emerged that data produced by No 10 last weekend to back the case for another lockdown exaggerated the potential number of deaths from Covid-19. - Guardian

Royal Mail and Amazon are scrambling to seize control of Boris Johnson’s “Operation Moonshot” programme to deliver 215,000 home testing kits a day. The duo are this weekend finalising rival bids to win a £550m, one-year contract from the taxpayer to spearhead home testing as part of NHS Test and Trace. The Department for Health has given operators four days warning, prompting a frenzied effort to submit bids ahead of a deadline on Tuesday. - Sunday Telegraph

Joe Biden will not prioritise UK-US trade deal talks in the first 100 days of his presidency, a figure advising his campaign on foreign policy has told The Telegraph. The Democratic president-elect has shown little interest in the negotiations and would focus his early months in office on more pressing pieces of domestic legislation, it is understood. - Sunday Telegraph

“They have absolutely crucified us,” says Steve Holden, when asked what the month-long high street lockdown in England means for his family’s three Essex gift shops. [...] The new lockdown has forced about 363,000 specialist shops to temporarily close, a situation that means retailers will now miss what are traditionally among the biggest sales weeks of the year. - Guardian