More Brexit woes now. Sarah Braithwaite, owner of horse feed firm Forage Plus, was selling into 20 European countries before 1 January.

This month her stock has failed to get to the EU, or been rejected by customers over unexpected customs bills and taxes. She has now halted European orders – making up to 30 per cent of her sales – and is refunding £40,000 to customers.

Braithwaite told Reuters she called the government for help – but said her business is too small to build a presence in Europe to overcome the new barriers. “The trade that we’ve got now wouldn’t support the cost of setting all that up,” she said.

It follows reports some firms have been told to set up subsidiaries in the EU to avoid trade disruption. Truck volumes between Britain and the EU were down 29 per cent in the first 20 days of the year, according to data firm Sixfold. 

Boris Johnson will visit Scotland this week to plead with Scots to reject separatism, The Sun Newspaper reported. A sign of desperation perhaps?

The newspaper reports that it will be part of an “all-out bid to save the Union of the United Kingdom,” adding that the PM will “hail the benefits of being in the UK”.

It follows yet another poll showing majority support for independence north of the border, and the launch of the SNP’s plans for indyref2.

Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross said politicians from union-backing parties should boycott any “wildcat” independence referendum arranged by the SNP without approval from the UK government.

He stressed the stressed the 2014 vote had been the “gold standard of referendums” – saying a Section 30 order from Westminster would be the only “correct mechanism”.

Ross added: “No-one who believes in democracy should enter into this wildcat referendum that would have no actual bearing in terms of the outcome, would not be enforceable.”

Asked about the matter on Monday, Boris Johnson refused to say whether he would mount a legal challenge if Nicola Sturgeon pressed ahead with a vote.

International trade Liz Truss is launching a new round of trade talks with her counterparts from New Zealand today, and officials are reportedly confident an agreement can be wrapped up before Easter.

Speaking about the roll-over deal (another which essentially replicates the tariff-free arrangements the UK had with the country as part of the EU), Truss told The Sun: “We have made great progress so far, and I look forward to taking negotiations up a gear.”

Truss could be given a more senior cabinet post at the next reshuffle after “impressing” Boris Johnson by securing a series of roll-over deals last year, according to The Mail.

Downing Street did not deny reports that a £1,000 one-off payment was being considered as a one-off replacement for the £20 weekly universal credit uplift, rather than risk making it a permanent £6bn-a-year rise.

Asked whether Boris Johnson backed a £1,000 lump-sum payment, the spokesman said: “It is a matter for the chancellor, but again I would point to the support that we have provided to people on low incomes and those who are the most vulnerable in society throughout the pandemic.”

“What is striking is how few Tories are really worried about this,” said The Spectator’s editor Fraser Nelson on rising public debt. “So many Tories actually think there is a magic money tree.”

The only way towards what Gordon Brown calls a ‘reformed state’  – is giving Scotland a veto, Sean O’Grady argues:

Car manufacturers based in the UK will be uncompetitive without more post-Brexit investment in electric car battery production, peers have been told.

Alessandro Marongiu, international trade policy manager at the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said last week’s decision by Nissan to move battery production of its Leaf cars to its Sunderland factory does not guarantee similar measures will be forthcoming.

He told the House of Lords’ EU Goods Sub-Committee: “We will need additional investment, for example in the production of parts that are incorporated in electric power trains, and we will need bigger investment in ‘gigafactories’ in the future if we want to remain competitive.”

Matt Hancock, the health secretary, will lead a Downing Street press conference at 5pm today, with deputy chief medical officer Jenny Harries and Public Health England’s Susan Hopkins.

A busy start to the week. So what has been said so far?

Boris Johnson said the government was “definitely looking at” the possibility of travellers arriving in the UK being required to quarantine in hotels. The PM also said he was “looking at the potential of relaxing some measures” – but refused to guarantee schools would return before Easter.

Gordon Brown, former Labour PM, urged Johnson to go further on devolution – but said he did not think the SNP had a democratic mandate to hold a referendum on Scottish independence.

Therese Coffey, the work and pensions secretary, said the government would decide “soon” whether to extend the £20-a-week increase in universal credit – but abruptly ended her GMB interview after a dispute after Covid death rates.

Lib Dem MP Jamie Stone is leading calls for the government to ditch its planned £120m ‘Festival of Brexit’ – arguing it is “sick” to spend money on it during the pandemic.

The Highlands MP has launched a petition to urge the government to cancel the post-EU cultural celebration – and has already gathered thousands of signatures. “Britain’s culture calamity is real thanks to Brexit, yet the taxpayer is being asked to cough up £120m for bread and circuses.

He added: “Frankly, I thought this Brexit festival was sick before a pandemic – but given we’ve got kids starving, carers suffering on a minimum wage and millions of people out of work and locked out of financial support, well, it’s testament to how skewed the Tory moral compass really is.

Stone and fellow campaigners want the money to be redirected to a Covid-19 recovery fund. The MP called the idea of the festival “just mad” on Twitter on Monday.