Chancellor agrees with government policy on Brexit

As forecast here, the Chancellor does support the Lancaster House Speech and White Paper, approved by Parliament, which he helped compose.

The BBC, of course, cannot bring themselves to make that the headline, having forecast the opposite. So they are now trying to suggest the Chancellor disagrees that No deal is better than a bad deal. Yet he clearly stated that a punishment deal would be unacceptable and worse than no deal!

Come on BBC, accept you lost on this one.

47 Comments

  1. Lifelogic
    June 18, 2017

    Well we shall see. Perhaps you are right, but I suspect the real position is the Labour & Keir Starmer want to stay in the customs union (essentially killing Brexit dead) and Hammond does too be he wants to give the new arrangement a new name.

    Hammond also needs to take the blame for the dire election result. With his tax grabbing budget, his attempted NI muggings (ratting on the manifesto promise) and the fiscal and benefit attacks in the absurd punishment manifesto.

  2. The Prangwizard
    June 18, 2017

    There is an opportunity to actually do something about the BBC. Adopt the DUP’s position on it.

    1. Lifelogic
      June 18, 2017

      The absurd lefty political bias of the BBC (like the LibDims they are wrong on almost everything). This and the fact that is is totally unfair competition for the other far more efficient providers, surely means it is time to deal with the BBC properly. Then again we need to deal with the “free” NHS and “free” education and as these are also grossly unfair competition.

      Excellent piece from Booker today on the EU/greenblob influence in relation to the Grenfell disaster. A huge failure of government and officials on so very many different levels.

      http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/17/grenfell-tower-stands-chilling-tombstone-megalomaniac-dream/

    2. Stephen Berry
      June 18, 2017

      I personally, would happily adopt the DUP position, but have sadly come to the conclusion that the Tories don’t want to do anything about the BBC, they just want to moan about it. If they ever do decide to change the Licence Fee, here are a few thoughts.

      The Tories need to make the Licence Fee an issue of freedom, as far as is possible. If I buy a book, I should not have to subsidise a government publisher at the same time. If I want to watch the television, I should not have to subsidise the BBC, the TV channel dependent on government imposed levy.

      There are a lot of people out there, not necessarily Conservative, who in the age of the internet would like to get the Licence Fee off their backs. The right way forward is to call for the Licence Fee to be made ‘voluntary’. Then people who want to watch the BBC can pay the licence fee and people who don’t want to watch, won’t. Simple?

      1. Dennis Zoff
        June 18, 2017

        Too simplistic, too logical, too fair, too obvious…for these very reasons your suggestion will never fly…..sadly!

  3. Newmania
    June 18, 2017

    Conservative Home are gleefully reporting that as Corbyn is an unreconstructed anti EU Bennite who sabotaged the remain campaign and the Conservatives are terrified of an election half the country getting Brexit shoved down its throat whether it likes it or not
    I rest my hopes on the fact that Corbyn`s supporters actually very pro EU and so is Business and so is much of the Conservative Party and Labour Party .Half the country as well; of course and much of the leave vote few of whom wanted to have poverty and disaster forced on them by an alliance of bigots and Communists . They believed, as they were told , they would be richer not poorer , they thought they could stay in the single market and toll pollsters that is what they want ,. They had no idea of what the Brextremists were plotting

    1. Anonymous
      June 18, 2017

      Half the country getting the EU shoved down its throat whether it likes it or not…

    2. Denis Cooper
      June 19, 2017

      Unlike you most of those who voted to stay in the EU have sufficient commitment to our national democratic process to accept the result of the referendum. That is why the eurofanatic LibDems did so badly in the general election, they assumed they would draw extensive support from among the 48% who had voted to stay in the EU without realising that the 48% block in June 2016 no longer existed in June 2017.

  4. Denis Cooper
    June 18, 2017

    This morning I wasted too much of my time watching the BBC (Marr, then Robinson), ITV (Peston) and Sky (Ridge). They were all as bad as each other, both about Brexit and about the fire. Then I looked at the Telegraph website and that was rubbish as well.

    1. Fred
      June 18, 2017

      ah well .if you read the Telegraph…are you surprised.

  5. Nig l
    June 18, 2017

    What a shame you didn’t take the opportunity in 2015 when the Charter was renewed, to ‘lance some of the boils’ It regularly features towards the top of organisations that the public trust which makes it even more important it is unbiased. In the last hour the DT on line has a leader about what the Chancellor said, completely at odds to the interview I saw. I think this is just another example of the Press and Media across the political spectrum being out of control which is not good for democracy.

    1. Chris
      June 18, 2017

      The same in the USA.

    2. Dennis Zoff
      June 18, 2017

      “Press and Media across the political spectrum being out of control which is not good for democracy.”

      Were they ever in control?

  6. Beecee
    June 18, 2017

    The anti-Brexit spin the BBC have put on their coverage of the interview is worse than disgraceful.

    It is actually dishonest!

  7. porow
    June 18, 2017

    I wonder if he read your blog this morning before going on the Andrew Marr program ?

    How on earth do we bring the BBC to book ?

    Can you suggest where we can hear or read truthful news ?

  8. pleb
    June 18, 2017

    Maybe Cons need a Media Spokesman at this time, as in the Falklands.
    Someone who is clever and has all the facts in his head thereby letting the others do what they have to do

    1. Chris
      June 18, 2017

      Yes, it seems they lack someone with intelligence and common sense in that role.

  9. Richard1
    June 18, 2017

    Reportedly a Labour MP has tweeted ‘burn neoliberalism not people’ and Mr Corbyn has said if you make cuts you feel the consequences somewhere, in the context of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, attempting to draw a bogus connection between [Tory] ‘cuts’ and the fire. Surely we have never seen elected MPs act in such a despicable way before to try to make political capital out of peoples’ terrible misfortune? I can’t think of a case. Corbyn is also proposing the seizure of properties, also in an attempt to whip up class hatred. We have not seen such actions in Europe since the end of WW2, although we have seen them elsewhere in the world such as in Venezuela under Chavez / Maduro (a regime much praised by Corbyn) and in Zimbabwe by Mugabe. People should be warned.

    1. fedupsoutherner
      June 18, 2017

      Richard1

      Yes, these comments about taking over empty properties frightened me. They are owned by other people who just might be thinking of taking up residence again. Maybe some are empty for a good reason. The owners might be working abroad and not everyone wants to rent out their homes for good reason. It is hardly a democracy if you come back into the country to find your home has been taken over by the local council for housing the homeless. This is not right in a civilized country but then perhaps we are heading for a dictatorship!!

      1. Caterpillar
        June 18, 2017

        Fedupsoutherner,

        You are correct this is a disgraceful suggestion. Whilst a land value tax (properly designed) is a reasonable economic policy, what has been suggested is either

        a) a property/land grab of the Mugabe / Maduro type, a little too revolutionary

        Or

        b) like a wartime requisition admitting there is still much serious economic work to be done / resources or people are in the ‘wrong’ place.

        I think the answer is (a) and it is truly scary that such revolutionary suggestions can be made by a would be PM … still he is denying he lost so it is consistent.

  10. Thames Trader
    June 18, 2017

    The BBC’s portrayal of recent events has been biased – as usual. The election result was portrayed as a victory for Labour despite being beaten on the number of seats won. The only circumstances in which Labour won are when Diane Abbot does the arithmetic.

    1. Dennis Zoff
      June 18, 2017

      Perhaps Diane Abbot could do the EU arithmetic….she may incredulously get that one right! Inverse Logic?

  11. ian wragg
    June 18, 2017

    John, it’s just a shame that you even have to write this article. We all know there is a fifth column just as destructive in the Tory Party as the Marxist Momentum party.
    Looking at the structure of the EU it is plain too see that there is no advantage in Britain being a member. We all would like to know the agenda of the parties.
    Immigration is the root cause of many problems, lower wages, stiff competition for jobs, 3 weeks to see a doctor (unless you are an asylum seeker and you will be seen immediately.).
    Local children being bussed 7 mile to school when the local academy is 45% incomers.
    The list is endless.
    The reason I make these points is if we don’t get out of that corrupt mess, we are going to be even more marginalised by the Euro area members.
    I really can’t see why any sane person would want to be a member of this club.
    It’s telling that only net recipients want to join, no net contributor nations.

  12. acorn
    June 18, 2017

    “On the one hand he said that Britain will definitely be quitting the customs union, which will dismay business lobby groups, but the chancellor also hinted that the UK might then want to automatically opt back into Europe’s tariff-free trading block. He said that British exporters should experience trade with the EU “which feels as close as possible to the way it feels now”. (BBC.)

    According to continental number crunchers, there are going to be 27 other EU states, who will demand the same deal; which according to Mr Hammond, appears free of any charges!

    Not looking good for Household finances. The “leave”52%, will soon realise that they have consequentially voted to replace Osborne austerity with Hammond poverty. I told you last summer that the affects of the Brexit vote would not be felt before the second quarter of 2017. It is downhill for the UK economy from here on. Mr Hammond has turned out to be yet another neo-liberal Conservative politician, who, sadly, does not understand the power of “The Magic Money Tree”.

    Reply More lies and false forecasts? We all want to keep tariff free trade with few barriers. Please explain again why French farmers want high tariffs against their dairy exports, Irish farmers high tariffs on their beef exports, German car makers a 10% tariff on their cars, and Dutch market gardeners and flower growers heavy tariffs on their exports to us? Which EU member state has said it wants high agricultural tarfiff barriers across the Channel?

    1. libertarian
      June 18, 2017

      acorn

      Lol….. dream on …. What you know about business, trade and the real economy could be written on the back of a stamp and still leave room for your cv

    2. acorn
      June 19, 2017

      Would you please explain why 26 million UK households want to pay more for those imports in their favourite shops. It will take a decade to replace trade agreements with countries that already have trade agreements with the much larger EU, which they will not want compromised. For instance, what share of the tariff quota will the UK have to take of New Zealand lamb? The EU will want to get rid of as much as possible, that will kill sheep farming in the UK.

  13. Bert Young
    June 18, 2017

    The biased BBC ought to be held to account for their views . They receive financial support from Brussels and this might explain it . The Government must step in , change the management and direction and keep a strong watching brief . The dignity and neutrality that used to exist in the BBC would be welcomed by me ; I would then start watching it more often .

    1. Lifelogic
      June 18, 2017

      But everyone who appears on the BBC (with the possible exception of the fairly central Andrew Neil) is either a very lefty or a very, very lefty.

      They only seem to recruit people who “think” somewhere on the Guardian, Polly Toynbee to Paul Mason. They only seem to interview daft lefty economists, lefty actors, comedians and pop musicians, pushers of green crap or lovers of ever more taxes and government.

  14. James neill
    June 18, 2017

    The last time there was a punishment dea on this size l was following the WW1 with the treaty of versailles nearly a hundred years ago. If there is to be another punishment deal then this time it will be a self inflicted wound on UK. The EU can be expected, without doubt, to absolutely hold the line on the four EU basic freedoms and if we are determined to depart from that reasoning by leaving the customs union then it will be on our own heads..we can hardly blame others then for our own recklessness. Also i might add that loading it onto the BBC is premature- instead it looks very likely that the biggest loser in all of this will be the young british people, this generation and for generations to come.

    1. Anonymous
      June 18, 2017

      How so ? The young are the ones having to compete hardest for jobs and housing with incomers !

    2. Dave Andrews
      June 18, 2017

      The young British people will be the biggest losers, not because of Brexit, but because they have to pick up the tab of serial profligate governments racking up huge public debts, all to appease voters’ demands for more benefits.
      The UK can do very well out of the EU, provided its people are prepared to work.

  15. Caterpillar
    June 18, 2017

    But, knowing what the customs arrangement will be still needs to be sorted with enough time before leaving for businesses to adapt … irrespective of what the arrangements are. Why this isn’t first on the agenda is beyond me.

    1. Denis Cooper
      June 19, 2017

      Well, the EU is above all else a political project and so it will usually put the politics ahead of the economics including trade. If the UK government had any nous it would be making damn sure that the rest of the world understood this.

  16. Patrick
    June 18, 2017

    The continued rearguard action to overturn the referendum decision continues unabated.

    One simple question I’ve not heard advanced elsewhere which I’d like to see offered up as a retort to the remainers favourite statement that leaving the EU is not the same as leaving the single market and/or customs union.

    If the referendum decision had been reversed would remainers accept leavers arguing that they while accepted the democratic decision to stay in the EU they still wanted to leave the single market and/or customs union.

  17. Peter
    June 18, 2017

    It is not just the BBC who are not giving a fair report on this.

    Having set people up to expect discord, many news organisations are selectively editing the Marr interview to suggest that there are differences where clearly there are not.

    There is a constant dripfeed of anti Brexit sentiment by diehard Remainers, while the Brexit stance is usually under reported.

  18. Peter
    June 18, 2017

    I am not happy with May removing Brexit ministers like this :-
    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/13/david-davis-stripped-hardline-brexit-minister-department-clear/

    If there is some sneaky stick up planned, I favour the plan to bring down May even if this does lead to a fresh election.

    Reply Not true.

    1. stred
      June 19, 2017

      Will David Davis be allowed to ask the three Leave ministers who have left government for help, if the two new remain ministers have not had enough time to swot up in the few days before negotiations. Or are they cast out permanently, for their sins? Perhaps the management thought they had gone over their best before date , like whelks in a whelk store.

  19. Dennis Zoff
    June 18, 2017

    BBC no longer produce journalistic political truths, only disingenuous narratives, to which end is anybody’s guess!

    1. Bob
      June 19, 2017

      Dennis Zoff

      “BBC no longer produce journalistic political truths, only disingenuous narratives, to which end is anybody’s guess!”

      Agenda 21.

      The BBC are being used to set the zeitgeist.

  20. Sauly Pauly pudding
    June 18, 2017

    A Damascene conversion.

  21. Mark B
    June 19, 2017

    Good morning

    I read elsewhere that, whilst he agreed that we shall be leaving both the Customs Union and the Single Market, he did provide a few caveats. I believe he wanted to replace them with similar structures.

    Since the EU and its members have categorically stated the the UK will not be able to pick and choose, one is left wondering what he means.

    Perhaps like the Conservative Manifesto he and the rest of the nation won’t know until it is too late.

    1. Chris
      June 19, 2017

      Yes, I was concerned about those caveats. Perhaps he added those to save face? It seems that Hammond’s last minute conversion to leaving the SM and Customs Union has been the price of his get out of jail card, or should I say getting out of the cupboard card?

  22. Deborah
    June 19, 2017

    Listening to all the fake news on the TV and reading the press, I am thinking to circumvent all this noise, there should be a way for independent internet news outlets to flourish.
    Then the ITV and BBC and other bodies would have to change tack
    Just a thought….

  23. A.Sedgwick
    June 19, 2017

    Mr.Hammond was largely on message on AM yesterday, but on listening by chance to a BBC radio summary last night the quote was about his no deal answer rather his no to single market and customs union.

    Sums up the BBC bias.

  24. Bob
    June 19, 2017

    Their Charter obligation is to Entertain, Educate and Inform.

    They seem to be falling short of this.

    Who will hold them to account?

  25. Jacqui White
    June 21, 2017

    I am very confused ! In some reports Philip Hammond is on board with Brexit Policy, then yesterday he said the economy and prosperity is above sovereignty ( this has made me angry) and immigration. We all accept we need immigration but controlled immigration as we don’t have the resources for all and sundry. Sovereignty is and should be the main priority for any government, that is what we voted for. We would be in worse position out of the EU governed by Brussels. That is a betrayal of the public and will be felt by all party’s at the next election if not before. At this rate I fear there will be no party I can vote for! Democracy itself and MPs integrity is on the line here. Labour are a complete mess and going against their manifesto promises on Brexit ! I am very disillusioned with all parties 😞

  26. Peter Davies
    June 23, 2017

    Not like the BBC to make the news yet again

Comments are closed.