Yesterday I made the case again for no more U.K. concessions to the EU in the debate on the Internal Market Bill. I will post the speech later this morning.
The Withdrawal Agreement was based around the promise of a future relationship which had its core a Free trade agreement where the EU would respect the UKās sovereignty. There is no good faith by the EU over this. Itās time to leave and to be independent.
September 30, 2020
Good morning
Agreed. But said that over four years ago! What is taking you so long ?
September 30, 2020
John’s preposterous implied premise, that there are only the two extreme options started the day well with a good old laugh.
Thanks all.
The Swiss people have shown good sense, with their 62:38 vote for Free Movement and for membership of the Customs Union.
People should reflect on and examine that position.
September 30, 2020
JR, leaked letter 7/9/2020 about fishing rights from Frost: the EU could be given three more years fishing transition to adjust! That is seven years after we voted to leave!
Is your govt. utterly mad!
October 1, 2020
If that is true the govetnment must be mad and is not following our referendum instruction!
Talking of fishing I have only recently realised that UK waters, fished by other EU countries, include the seas around The Falklands. Once I read this it seemed obvious but perhaps others too have not thought about this, even maps showing EU fishing waters (see Daily Mail yesterday) do not show The Falklands on them.
The person who brought this to my attention said the Spanish fish these waters with Spanish run ships, although some are registered in The Falklands, taking all their catches to Spain. He said these ships provide about 60% of all the squid consumed in the EU and more is sold on by Spain to Asia mostly.
Imagine if we instead fished all our waters. The often said opinion that our fish are only a small matter has always obviously been not true, but somehow adding in these Falklands waters makes that even more apparent .
September 30, 2020
Martin, And that’s not self-serving in what way? The premise is the two offered options: to remain in the EU under the new terms agreed by David Cameron, or to leave the EU. Leaving the EU quite clearly means the UK no longer being controlled by the EU, and therefore outside the EU’s jurisdiction.
September 30, 2020
Swiss voted to continue their limited arrangement, they did not vote for freedom of movement. They had previously, sensibly, voted to limit freedom of movement.
September 30, 2020
āCompare and contrast the speed with which the U.K. government brought The Coronavirus Act into law and the speed with which they have implemented the democratic decision of The Referendum 2016.ā
āYou have two hours.
You may start writingā.
September 30, 2020
+1
September 30, 2020
Agree
September 30, 2020
One does wonder how many liars the Tories have to get rid of in their quest to keep us tied in.
Cameron – lied about giving notice the day after his referendum.
May – lied about leaving the EU on various dates.
Johnson – so far kept his word, but if/when he doesn’t, do we get a Steve Baker to pull us back out?
Now we have “tragedy” for the car industry because they can’t bring in parts from Turkey and call them British. Well maybe that’s another lie that needs correcting by putting up more component plants here. A good thing, surely?
September 30, 2020
SJS,
No he has not. He failed to keep dates, the latest July. Mays deal is dead, there will not be a border down the Irish Sea, oven ready deal etc.
September 30, 2020
+1
September 30, 2020
I think that is fairly obvious. The last parliament would not implement the referendum result and this one is only doing it half-heartedly. They are dragging their feet.
September 30, 2020
You are surely right but will Boris and his team make the right call? I rather fear not.
September 30, 2020
Well, our friends the US have finally lifted their twenty-year ban on British beef owing to BSE – the European Union does not have one – and that market should make up for a small part of the very large one that UK farmers will lose by a No Deal if that happens.
Reel out the bunting.
September 30, 2020
Martin, If the WTO deal goes ahead – and I very much hope it does – then the UK will trade with the EU like it does with the USA already, under WTO rules. Finally we may get what we voted for after four and a half long years – independence. When it should have taken two, but could have been accomplished in one year.
September 30, 2020
Nick C you quite conveniently forget to mention that EU has 35 different trade agreements with US so it is nit pure WTO.
September 30, 2020
Most are trivial items like labelling on packaging.
Trade just carries on.
October 1, 2020
Billy, The WTO rules are the framework to which all other rules must comply.
October 1, 2020
The British Beef ban was lifted after three years, in August 1999, but France decided to maintain it – thereby breaking European law.
MARCH 2006
The worldwide ban on British beef exports is lifted by the EU almost exactly 10 years since it was imposed.
Veterinary experts vote to allow the UK to export live animals born on or after 1 August 1996, and beef and products from cattle slaughtered after 15 June 2005.
This brings the UK back into line with other EU countries.
This makes me wonder if our beef exports ever recovered. “In the year since Brussels lifted its import prohibition, 500 tons of British beef, worth Ā£5m, have been exported to the Continent. This contrasts sharply with the 274,000 tons worth Ā£520m exported the year before the ban in March 1996.” Independent. I wonder how much we exported in 2019?
September 30, 2020
I share your fears. The floundering PM has lost so much authority thanks to his preposterous Covid policy – not to mention HS2, IR35, Huawei and so on – that he will come under pressure over the last, lonely point of light in his lamentable programme: Europe. And being a flake there is every likelihood that he’ll cave. He follows a pattern, don’t forget. He trailed the idea of junking HS2 in the election. In office he dithered and finally opted for the wrong decision. Currently, he’s trailing the notion of appointing Dacre and Moore to top media positions – but will he follow through? If he junks the hard line with Brussels, then his reputation will be little more than a cinder.
September 30, 2020
They undertook to “Get Brexit done”, are being closely monitored, and will be finished in the face of failure.
September 30, 2020
+1
September 30, 2020
John, We have already left 31st January we are independent- nobody voted to have another FTA with them so I don’t know what the problem is? The WA was agreed to allow us depart in an orderly manner- mission accomplished.
It was the other document signed that was about a possible future relationship but it was aspirational only and unlike the WA which is an international treaty it is not binding- so we don’t even have to talk with them anymore if we don’t want. If Boris and Cummings are not happy with the way the talks are going then tell them just leave walk away- we don’t need the EU’s respect for our sovereignty.
September 30, 2020
āā¦.we donāt need the EUās respect for our sovereignty.ā
James: You are right in two respects:
A: Admire someone deeply, as a result of their abilities, qualities, or achievements.
B: Have due regard for someone’s feelings, wishes, or rights.
We maintain our own standards, so donāt need their A for admiration.
They are B overdue on the second one, and we donāt NEED that either!
September 30, 2020
Yes, there’s nothing to stop sovereign countries self-imposing near-blockades if that’s what they want.
The UK was always sovereign in that regard.
It could not have left the European Union – as it has done – by the mere sending of a letter if it were not.
Try chucking out the US bases and see what happens on the other hand.
September 30, 2020
That is nonsense
Blockades are illegal under WTO rules which the EU has signed up to follow.
We could ask the USA to leave its bases if we wanted to.
But no government has ever had that policy.
Would you as an Ultra Corbynista be keen?
September 30, 2020
James, The UK did not leave the EU on 1st Jan 2020 – all we did was swap from the TEU and TFEU then extant, to the Withdrawal Agreement which continued EU control over us. Obviously remaining under EU control isn’t leaving.
No, the Political Declaration is not merely “aspirational” and cannot be dismissed with a hand wave. The PD was written in conjunction with the WA which itself has future effects (not least the EU’s demands for a bribe). The only way of junking the PD is to abrogate the WA entirely – which is legally and actually possible but unlikely.
September 30, 2020
So why are we still paying the EU and have to abide with EU rules
September 30, 2020
The Withdrawal Agreement may be an international treaty but it breaks the international treaty known as the Lisbon Treaty. In this it states that the future relationship with a departing member must be agreed at the same time as the leaving arrangements. The EU refused to do this. They broke an international treaty but no-one seems to care about that.
September 30, 2020
Correct – the wording of Article 50 was very clear and concise and yet the EU choose to ignore it
September 30, 2020
The Withdrawal Agreement which Mrs May penned is full of little ways of keeping us tied to the Eu so that we can be sneaked in by a back door later on by the referendum denier remoaners
September 30, 2020
Mick
I get updates from Brexit Watch and Briefings for Britain, and thatās exactly what theyāve been saying all along. Jayne Ayde an economist recently wrote that a pro Eu PM could easily get us back in through the WA as easily as flicking a switch.
September 30, 2020
I bet you two Kent Access Permits, five lorry parks, 10,000 customs pen pushers, an ETIAS visa waiver and an international driving permit that is weāll eventually rejoin.
September 30, 2020
Andy, You used to claim it was “55,000 pen-pushers” not the mere 10,000 you state now. Any explanation why? You’re not even consistent with your absurd threats.
And you have still never explained why Brexit Britain is a basket case (in your opinion) when the rest of the world isnāt, merely for being outside the EU.
September 30, 2020
It is 55,000 pen pen pushers. I am not betting you all of them. I am only betting 5 lorry parks too. And you need at least a dozen.
October 1, 2020
So even you aren’t prepared to back your own absurd claims, Andy.
September 30, 2020
Sir John,
But did Theresa May really expect the EU to play fair, or was the WA a deliberate sell out to keep us under EU control?
September 30, 2020
No, and yes.
September 30, 2020
They are all firmly signed up to every agenda going.
Except the one that sets us free.
And it is soooo funny. We never see the woods for the trees…there are so many uber, uber obvious āinterestsā that just get smoothed over, for ever, by everyone.
Try nicking a pencil from work or saying the wrong thing on social media and see where your job stands.
Poor old Joe knows all about it then!
At one time āsweepingsā were totally legit bounty ( bits of wool, cloth, wood off the floor).
They did away with that pronto and now it is jackboot on the neck time!
September 30, 2020
Probably the former. Daft as a brush.
September 30, 2020
Pominoz, I think Theresa May is both easily persuadable and stubborn at the same time. Where she is equivocal then the right people in the right circumstances can persuade her. Olly Robbins was such a man. Once persuaded she becomes immovable, despite the evidence.
She was surrounded by a Remain civil service. Every obstacle set up by the EU would have been exaggerated by the likes of Robbins. Beset by apparently insurmountable problems, unable to think for herself, and with already existing Remain sympathies, she was easily persuaded to become a hard Remain.
September 30, 2020
The WA and the NI protocol were d rafted in the U.K. by the remain āCivil serviceā for the Remain PM. No wonder the EU are angry, they offered us an FTA and May refused and gave instruction as to how best to screw the U.K. then she did not deliver! šš Bet they love her in the EU!
September 30, 2020
And what about the part of the WA you hastily signed which also says that the UK will respect the integrity of the Single-Market ?
You keep forgetting this one ?
September 30, 2020
Smuggling from the EU to Northern Ireland and in the reverse direction will be small in the grand scheme of things.
Goods and services for sale on either side of the border between these two countries will still be subject to the rules of both sides’ single market.
That is respect @Tab
September 30, 2020
In what way is the U.K. proposing not to respect the integrity of the EUās single market?
September 30, 2020
What does that mean exactly?
September 30, 2020
You can keep the Single Market within your borders and put up armed watchtowers too if you so wish. It wouldn’t be the first ime.
We don’t feel quite that degree of paranoia.
September 30, 2020
Tabulazero, In what way would the UK not “respect” the EU’s single market? If you are referring to the UK/Eire border then the TIR system can be used for legal exports and imports. That allows remote customs checks on both sides of the border which must comply with both UK and EU laws. Smuggling is already illegal under both jurisdictions.
September 30, 2020
Of course we will, itās none of our business and we will trade with the āsingle marketā on an ad hoc basis on WTO terms. Whatās the problem?
September 30, 2020
Lynn Atkinson
You have missed the point of the single market completely againg
October 1, 2020
And what point is that, Bill?
October 1, 2020
Many non EU nations trade with European nations and have no involvement in the single market.
It is you that doesn’t understand how international trade works bill.
September 30, 2020
Tabulazero,
I totally support your statement
September 30, 2020
Bill B, It was a question, not a statement.
September 30, 2020
Sorry? Who is ‘not respecting’ the integrity of the Single Market?
September 30, 2020
A great shame that when Theresa May said āno deal is better than a bad dealā she was (as usual) just lying. A shame too that Cameron (who claimed to be an EUsceptic, and gave us the worthless Cast Iron guarantee, claimed to be a low tax at heart Conservative and that he would stay on and deliver Brexit serving notice the next day) was similarly fraudulent & dishonest.
We should have left with no deal years ago but for all lies, dishonesty and clear treachery or MP and the establishment.
September 30, 2020
Indeed we should have left when Cameron came back with his pathetic and worthless thin gruel. He could have been a great PM had he done so.
September 30, 2020
I’ll simply say that you feeling the need to say this confirms that what I’ve been saying all along is correct.
September 30, 2020
Tim Davie is very unimpressive in front of the Media Select Committee. He did not think the BBC were biased on Brexit! So is he lying or totally deluded? Doubtless he thing they are middle of the road and balanced on climate charge and left/right issue too?
He seem to think there is a problem over BBC staff expressing view on social media. Their views are loud and clear (on nearly every BBC programme) not just on social media mate. The today programme had about 7% (I think it was) pro Brexit and 93% remain.
September 30, 2020
Sir David Clementi (PPE yet again) seemed even more arrogant & complaisant.
Grant Shapps (diploma Manchester Poly) backing a hydrogen fuel cell train project with tax payers money. They seem to be claiming this is zero emission. Sure mate how do they manufacture and store the hydrogen. Another expensive white elephant funded by excessive taxation and unfair subsidy. Either electrify the track or use diesel, it can be quite clean enough and is far cheaper.
Meanwhile it seems councils are using the pandemic to block more and more roads.
Good programme about all the vast volume of water wasted by the EU forcing non siphonic ( so leaky) loo flushes on to us 19 years back. Costing the Earth Radio 4 yesterday.
September 30, 2020
Re the leaky loos, when the UK agreed to accept the EU directive it was widely forecast that it would lead to pretty much invisible but persistent leaks. Prior to that all UK loos had an overflow pipe so it was obvious to the home owner that the cistern was over filling because of a faulty inlet valve. Strange that it has taken 19 years for the basic design flaw in the EU cisterns to be exposed…..
September 30, 2020
Total global energy production from wind and solar after $100bns of subsidies and laws giving them preference over other means of production: <3%. Both technologies are also now close to the limits of their potential efficiencies so the 3% number can only now be increased by huge extra numbers of wind and solar farms. We never hear such stats from the mouth of a politician, these seem to be inconvenient facts which canāt be repeated.
October 1, 2020
+1
September 30, 2020
And remember moths and mites that are no longer killed by plenty of water and high temperatures in EU-approved washing machines.
Hoovers that donāt suck. Food processors that are safety-weak.
And all the dreadful lighting foisted upon us in the home and streets.
And yes!! The loos. Non-standard fittings, non standard size so replacement can be a nightmare ( loo does not fit on soil pipe or some such ..so either a sticking-out loo or much digging!!)
All these years of our hateful politicians selling us out.
Prostituting the entire country to a foreign power.
An absolute plague (!) on all their houses.
September 30, 2020
+1
September 30, 2020
Hear! Hear!
September 30, 2020
Oh boy, would I like to say more, but it wouldn’t get printed!
September 30, 2020
+1
September 30, 2020
Lifelogic,
I am not convinced with the standard view of climate change, nor the going carbon neutral policy. I also recognise that there are currently more inefficiencies in getting from renewable energy supplies to green hydrogen, than from renewable energy supplies to battery storage. That said, given the direction the Govt is going then hydrogen is a reasonable consideration for at least the following reasons:-
less environmentally dodgy than batteries
faster refuelling/no slow charge
lower mass issues than batteries
does not require the investment and maintenance that electrification would for rail – and importantly a failure does not take out a whole line
And the biggy hydrogen is importable/exportable.
I suspect this is important since countries that can produce renewable more easily can export this as compressed hydrogen / ammonia (or whatever means). So, e.g., mid-east countries or Australia (the future trade partner and supporter of democracy and the west), could be providing U.K. with some of the energy it needs. Whether by luck or judgement, this could be an area where Govt could be joined up – fracking for a blue hydrogen transition then Brexit/trade globalization for green with lower energy prices (eventually). That said the U.K.’s political system and politicians now (e.g. stopped fracking) and over the next critical years (e.g. the effect of farming arguments on future trade deals with Aus/NZ) is very able to stuff things up.
September 30, 2020
The European Union did not force bad design or cisterns without inlet filters on anyone at all.
There is no intrinsic reason at all why non-siphonic flushes need be leaky.
The amount of water saved by abandoning leaky ballcock fillers was not examined either.
September 30, 2020
“There is no intrinsic reason at all why non-siphonic flushes need be leaky.”
Oh yes there is mate. They have to have an active seal that stops the water leaking into the pan. This seal only needes a bit of grit, wear, decay, loss of elasticity, calcium deposits, poor seating etc. to start leaking continuously into the pan.
Go and look it up mate. Almost imposible for siphonic ones to leak!
September 30, 2020
Martin has no practical experience LL
I know this.
Its obvious.
They are the same on trade and tariffs.
Useless
September 30, 2020
You could see leaky syphon toilets because they had an external overflow.
September 30, 2020
If the ball cock valve fails or sticks yes but that is noticed quickly and is the same for both anyway.
September 30, 2020
Martin, The “European Union” sounds like the Holy Roman Empire, though in the EU’s case it consists neither of Europe, nor is it a Union, but is definitely an empire.
September 30, 2020
The EU is the new Holy Roman Empire, thatās why the blue with 12 yellow stars, recognized by Roman Catholics instantly. Many sound individuals who irrationally support the EU are RC. (Including, of course the Vatican).
September 30, 2020
No change at the BBC
September 30, 2020
He has a mountain to climb.
Turning around the BBC tanker is even harder than doing the same with the Home Office and all the other public bodies that have been infiltrated by the unelected and unwanted socialists and neo-Marxists.
The enemy within.
September 30, 2020
Tim Davie even thought that the fact that some BBC employees had gone on to work for the Conservative Party showed it was balanced! Hardly mate the Tories are stuffed full of pro EU, greencrap pushing socialists and Libdims just like the BBC.
Did anyone hear Ed Davey’s durge of a speech? I sypathise greatly with the fact that he has a disabled son but I do not vote for people out of sympathy. I want sensible policies and you have none mate. Deluded green crap is his main one. He thought Jo Swinson had done well in getting 11 MPs at the last election and losing her seat – that as more that 50% were women! I suppose with those policies 11 MPs is a good result.
September 30, 2020
Every time you think you have reached peak Brexit someone comes along and does something really silly like blaming Brussels for flushing toilets.
October 1, 2020
Andy, I shall always treasure your view that we must remain in the EU because of CFLs – an underpowered toxic lighting system with an appalling spectrum.
October 1, 2020
Well it was their directives that changed the design.
And that design has defects.
Who would you blame?
September 30, 2020
By “respect the UK’s sovereignty” you seem to mean “give in to all the UK’s demands, even where they are not in the EU’s interests”. Toddlers in the playground learn that you can’t always get your own way – especially when you’re dealing with someone bigger than you. Did you miss that lesson growing up?
September 30, 2020
I think he means negotiate a trade deal in the manner in which other trade deals have been settled without recourse to our fish or claiming jurisdiction over our laws.
Trade is just that, trade. We don’t want to be part of this great project.
September 30, 2020
We want to become a sovereign state. That means being free of EU interference.
We are asking, no demanding no more than any other independent country.
May was and is a remainer.
The WA was all about binding us to Brussels.
September 30, 2020
Ian Wragg- Well demand all you like but we’re not going to get the same or better than other countries that have negotiated for over several years- these countries you’re talking about are converging with EU rules- we are diverging away there is a huge difference- to leave was our choice’ our call- the EU have repeatedly said that we can never be better off outside than we were inside- as far as they are concerned
September 30, 2020
Who said we want to be better off?
Just treat the UK the same as they treat all the other nations they trade with.
September 30, 2020
They are.
October 1, 2020
Andy, The EU are not, and never did.
October 1, 2020
No they are not.
Otherwise we would have a deal similar to the deals they recently signed with Canada and Japan.
September 30, 2020
It is about time that our so-called government and politicians made sure that we get our way.
Toddlersā natural inclination, as with all living things, is to get their own way!
Of course it is.
But our politicians are just too weak kneed and liberal. They have twisted nature out of shape in order to achieve whatever their goal happens to be.
Virtue signalling, greedy and downright disgusting.
There soon will be no UK, no sovereign ..nothing.
So I really would not worry too much.
September 30, 2020
The problem is in all other trade negotiations, whilst they can be adversarial and countries look to protect special interests, the assumption and objective is its win-win. With the U.K.-EU negotiation the EU is understandably and correctly trying to protect what it perceives as itās interests, and the U.K. is doing the same, but the EU has an additional political objective which is that it wants the FTA it signs with the U.K. to be seen to be bad for the U.K.
In the face of that, the only rational course for the U.K. is to say letās do a win-win FTA such as exists around the world, and if that doesnāt work for you then letās just go to WTO terms. Had this approach been adopted 4 years ago there would have been a deal signed on exit in 2018 or 2019, life would have moved on and people would now have forgotten what the term ābrexitā meant.
September 30, 2020
Most trade deals are win win – in that you are correct.
But this post Brexit one with the EU is lose lose.
And the EU will ensure that you lose the most.
October 1, 2020
Andy, The EU cannot ensure we lose the most. Because we can go elsewhere.
October 1, 2020
Just above you stated to me that the EU are treating us just the same as they treat other nations.
Now here we see you stating they are not.
September 30, 2020
Hmm…Yes don’t give in to bullies.
September 30, 2020
They respect the sovereignty of other non EU nations, so they just need to treat the UK in a similar way.
September 30, 2020
What we do from January 1st 2021 is none of the EU’s business. That’s the point.
September 30, 2020
Thats why my perferred option is WTO
September 30, 2020
What are these ‘UK demands’? We have agreed to take the trade deal initially offered to us by Barnier and later by Tusk. It is the EU which is demanding control of our territorial waters and economic policy before a trade deal is discussed. Long past time to just walk away (without ‘demands’) and leave the EU to come to its senses.
September 30, 2020
“Toddlers in the playground learn that you canāt always get your own way ā especially when youāre dealing with someone bigger than you.”
What are you saying here Garland that if someone is bigger than you, you should let them bully you and just give them everything they ask of you? Is that the advice you’d give to your toddler?
September 30, 2020
Garland, It means respecting the UK’s sovereignty as much as Canada’s or Japan’s. Nothing more.
September 30, 2020
No it means we donāt give in to their demands. They can have a free trade agreement or WTO. Easy – letās hope they go for WTO because they will pay the U.K. Ā£13 billion pa if trade remains as it was.
September 30, 2020
Don’t give in to bullies is the lesson from Napoleon and successors Mon Amie!
September 30, 2020
I don’t think the UK is “demanding” anything and will not be in a position to “demand” anything once it becomes a normal independent state.
We will simply be friends with our European neighbours who may wish to enter a trade agreement or may not.
September 30, 2020
Did you miss the parable of David and Goliath?
September 30, 2020
I rather think it is you that needs to grow up. The EU must respect the Sovereignty of the UK and should desist in seeking to impinge on that Sovereignty in defiance of international law and accepted norms. Personally I would never have signed nor agreed to the Withdrawal Agreement and as the EU has acted in clear bad faith in its negotiations I would repudiate the WA before the 31st December.
September 30, 2020
…………just another anti British, pro EU remoaner. Go live there and leave us to live our lives as a free independent sovereign Nation without having to read remoaner comments. Trade and friendship only or WTO. Enough already!
September 30, 2020
Okay, they are bigger than us. But we don’t want to be bullied. So, let’s just leave the playground and play with others who are not bullies.
I’m past caring now. I used to think the EU was a great thing – a wonderful thing in the light of two world wars. But, not any more. The original idea of making sure trade links ensured there were no further wars has long been superceded by a desire to be a supra government.
September 30, 2020
The U.K. is 800 years old. The EU is 50 years old. Itās a child!
October 3, 2020
Wales, as a group of Celtic kingdoms, was formally united with England by the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542. Scotland ruled from London since 1603 (was) formally joined with E & W in 1707 to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain. Ireland had been under English control since the 1600s and was formally united with the UKGB through the Act of Union of 1800.
Even taking the first union with Wales into consideration, that makes 2020- 1536 = 484 years. So your comment about a 800 years old UK is wrong by 65%.
September 30, 2020
Time to just get on with it and pull out. Nothing is forever; at some future point weāll cut a deal, but it wonāt be a mutually beneficial one unless we have been WTO for a few years or more.
September 30, 2020
+1
September 30, 2020
No member country is a “colony” of the European Union.
It is not a nation, nor has a nationality, so could not colonise others, as did the Spanish, the British, the French etc.
Its institutions are dependent entirely on the member nations’ combined consent and will for their existence, not vice-versa.
September 30, 2020
The EU has a currency, a flag, a anthem of Europe, a military command HQ, foreign ambassadors, a nation bank, a parliament, a police force, a border force etc etc ā how can anybody with eyes to see that the EU isnāt a nation
September 30, 2020
Disney World has a currency, a flag, an anthem and its own security forces and bank. And itās not a country either.
October 1, 2020
Twaddle
It uses the dollar.
It has a song not an anthem
The bank in Disney parks isnt anything like the ECB.
Your defence of the EU is getting beyond silly
October 1, 2020
I’m going to try and trade disney-world currency on the FTX market today
September 30, 2020
You’re a bit behind the times, as usual, Martin. Employees of the EU chortled that they had finally made the UK a “colony” of the EU in early 2019. It’s there on the BBC video “Inside Europe” (that should have been ‘inside the EU’, but you know the BBC). And you can see how difficult it is to get out so “consent” gets rather taken for granted.
September 30, 2020
The EU is a āpolitical personalityā. Ask the Cypriots whose bank accounts they plundered with their bale-in law, if the EU writ is not all powerful!
October 3, 2020
Most of the Cypriot individuals with assets below ā¬100,000 did not lose a cent in the 2012-2013 crisis. You might want to consult a number of Forbes articles of these years on the topics. Regular accounts were moved from Laiki Bank to the Bank of Cyprus with minimum losses to ānormalā people.
However it is absolutely true that the Russian (and other) speculators who had inflated the deposits in the Laiki Bank lost some money (ā¬3.4bn). It amounted to 51 (fifty-one) people who actually tried to sue and lost their case.
Most ānormalā assets over ā¬100,000 were transformed into equity, and within a couple of years had essentially recovered.
Lynn, do you sometimes know anything about the topics you are commenting about?
Reply Great for business accounts was it?
September 30, 2020
That sounds like a summary of the referendum question – and what the people expected
September 30, 2020
Beebtax, You are right. The EU will not treat the UK as sovereign and independent until they have had a few years to get used to it.
September 30, 2020
When you sup with the EU, use a long spoon.
September 30, 2020
count your cutlery and crockery!
September 30, 2020
Negotiating with the EU was always going to be a complete waste of time and money, as Yanis Varoufakis documented at length in his book Adults in the Room.
No Deal is Johnson’s only chance of political survival.
September 30, 2020
The EU is a left wing dictatorship and they finally broke cover in the summer. Barnier must be kicking himself for being found out and then confirming it with his trip to Ireland.
We should not and must not give an inch. We might as well walk away now as nothing will be achieved in the last 15 days except nausea and fake news from our left wing media and those ardent disingenuous remainers who still cannot accept the result of the 2016 referendum
September 30, 2020
Happy with that – but I would want to know what goes on at the first EC meeting AFTER we decide to leave without an agreement. Oh to be a fly!
I’ll repeat my view that, from this point on, you, and other MPs, need to ensure that ANY agreement with the EU includes a simple exit clause, that the government can execute, without having to kowtow to a Commons that still has too many Remainers in it.
P.S. Would you care to write a little about the Swiss referendum over the weekend?
September 30, 2020
And if the Govt is Remain rotten? Do you think May was not the problem? You want to weaken the Commons which saved us? No Nelson are you!
September 30, 2020
We only ever voted for a ‘Clean Break’.
In a Free Democracy the only people that can impose rules, laws and regulations that affect the internal running of a Country can only come from its people via their elected representatives.
Simples! – no say, no meaning.
September 30, 2020
From Guido
Quoting Theresa May
” The UK Parliament would scrutinise this legislation in accordance with normal legislative procedure, respecting the principle that a sovereign Parliament has complete control over domestic law.”
It is the People through Parliament that create Laws, amend laws, repeal Laws. Change the Government is the People cancelling previous Laws and impositions.
Any Government not recognising this, as now, puts itself in jeopardy. This applies to Brexit and Corvid equally
September 30, 2020
Fully Agree
September 30, 2020
I await 15th October, Boris’s cut off date. If a FTA materialises I want it forensically disected before being agreed by the HoC. I do not want our fishing rights or an oversight of our legal system to be part of it. Nor should there be any EU say in how we support industry which henceforth should be within WTO rules. The greatest subsidiser and offender of WTO rules being the EU. If none of the above can be agreed, like you, I am happy to have a surgical break, no deal being better than a bad one.
My Caveat is be prepared to defend fishing with legal force if necessary. The french will not accept any restriction we impose, just as they aid the passage of illegal migrants. The law to them is what they decide on the day.
September 30, 2020
The government missed a trick with regards to fishing. It should have insisted on sequencing – stating that fishing talks would only be open when the FTA had been agreed. If my memory serves me correctly, the EU is happy with such a negotiating strategy.
September 30, 2020
How wonderful this would all have been had we had not actually been handed over lock, stock and barrel to globalism.
I thought that the EU was the threat but now it is obvious that our every move will be dictated by the UN, WEF, WHO….and probably others.
They want as much if not more control over us than the EU ever has. Or do they control the EU?
It is astonishing to read about. But few do!
Every law/bonkers idea that ever sent a shiver of dread down oneās spine comes from globalists. We have been sold out.
Ministers donāt even bother to hide it. They even use the globalistsā Newspeak..
āBuild Back Betterā, āTools in toolboxā, āResetā, and other ludicrous, yet dangerous nonsense.
I have read that many ministers dismiss all this as conspiracy ( as taught to do).
But it is coming true!!
Our country is in ruins.
September 30, 2020
Davos: WEF (World Economic Forum) Latest News and Headlines:
https://www.cnbc.com/davos-world-economic-forum/
September 30, 2020
The EU, AU ets always were the stepping stone to World Government, because āwe would give them us more easily than our own countries.ā
Because the British people have scuppered that, they are pressing on with the end objective.
Easier to get people to reject World Govt than a āgroup of friendly countries helping each other while remaining entirely sovereignā – which is how the EU was successfully sold.
September 30, 2020
Boris will blink again, he’s just another Tereasa May. He didn’t follow through with threat of if there wasn’t as deal in June he would withdraw and has also pushed the bill out until December. I voted for Boris but I wouldn’t do it again. Based of his current performance I predicted labour will win the next election.
September 30, 2020
Agreed.
However, like others above, I fear there will be a last minute fudge which will be hailed as a victory.
September 30, 2020
A rather pathetic notion- āa colony of the EUā – both sides are negotiating to gain an advantage and an FT A seems to be the best outcome. What will you tell all those workers who lose their jobs if a no deal scenario plays out. It seems the government had a sensible deal under Theresa May that is being unwound; viz. the difficulty with foreign components in UK manufactured vehicles that would have been resolved in her plan.
September 30, 2020
You mean if we did not exist at all there would be no problem with Turkish goods. Wow, are we mean!
September 30, 2020
Boris promised he would stop negotiations months ago if there was no agreement and yet here we with the same stale arguments that the people decided years ago. Get us out now.
Or maybe this is just another storm in a teacup to distract the people from realising what a scam the pandemic is. Too many people waking up perhaps? The trouble is once people know they’ve been lied to they start to question everything they’ve been told.
September 30, 2020
We were never going to get an acceptable deal for UK patriots, proud of the virtues of being British. Successive PMs and hordes of Civil Servants have twisted messages and legal constraints to try to ensure permanent subjugation to the monster EU.
Leave now – walk away – what was clear years ago it would come to this!
September 30, 2020
+1
September 30, 2020
It’s better to be a colony of the EU than a laudromat for dodgy Russian money.
September 30, 2020
Tabulazero, It’s better to be independent of both. And you need to have a word with your mate Martin in Cardiff who thinks the EU does not have colonies.
September 30, 2020
Are you getting a Mutti and her pipeline again? My Armeanian friend who is a diplomat says EU representatives were in Russia constantly through the āsanctionsā talking the U.K. down!
September 30, 2020
All these international treatise represent a loss of sovereignty which binds the hands of future generations , and some, like aid and asylum, end up as albatrosses around our necks. They represent a block to any evolutionary change in policy , where the political class are too frit to change them, and it’s only when the public get their say in a referendum, like on the EU, can we get some change.
I keep hearing British politicians boast about us being leaders in creating an international rules based system, which to me smacks of world government in which we have no say.
Better to have no deal than exchange one prison of EU membership with another in the form of a treaty .
September 30, 2020
Sir John of topic today, but seems to follow up on the battery car question.
In the Telegraph from Transport Secretary Grant Shapps. New hydrogen-powered trains are being trialled on British rail lines for the first time, and the Government has said they could be carrying passengers by 2023.
This technology also overcomes all the obstacles that come from batteries in personal transport. It also ties in with the already existing Hydrogen Buses and other Council transport in London. We have been dancing around the solution for far to long
September 30, 2020
How is the hydrogen made?
September 30, 2020
we’ll buy it from the EU – – – –(grin).
September 30, 2020
Various methods at the moment and yes some use fossil fuels. The Big However is that the wind turbine Company’s have found that to transport and store the power they produce is by directly turning it in to Hydrogen. Wind power had a problem to overcome, sometimes its their sometimes its not, so if you can store what’s produced you get ahead.
The instant problem with cars is recharging time, battery life and so on and of course how is the electricity for the batteries produced.
October 1, 2020
How is it that folk with clearly so little engineering or scientific knowledge feel compelled to make comments on highly complex and technical problems?
September 30, 2020
But is it GREEN enough – has it been signed off as suitable by the green lobby and extinct rebellion
September 30, 2020
Ian
Agreed, and certainly not enough publicity in the media about this possible option, whilst I am sure there are still some significant problems to overcome, you will not have to dig up the Country to put power lines in for recharging, or indeed build more power stations just for car charging.
September 30, 2020
Brings to mind St. Bees alumni William Leefe Robinson VC (14 July 1895 ā 31 December 1918) who was the first British pilot to shoot down a German airship (hydrogen), it was over Cuffley during the First World War. He kept shooting at the same spot until the hydrogen caught. Then .. Poof! He was airborn, in an open plane for an hour every sorte. It took a lot of sorties to get the hang of it. Sheepskin and gloves, goggles over the eyes.
Have these Germans not caused us enough trouble?
WTO for Gods sake, use the EU payments for access to our market to reimburse our motor manufactures.
September 30, 2020
The news that the EU wonāt allow a FTA to include British built cars with non-EU parts shows the only thing on offer is a one-sided arrangement that allows their goods into the U.K. market while excluding British goods and services. There is no point in having such a deal. Far better to trade on WTO terms with independent and tried & trusted WTO arbitration. The tariffs on their trade surplus are much needed revenue for the Exchequer and voters in English and Scottish fishing ports will reward a government that stands up for their interests.
September 30, 2020
JR, I fully support your views on this. The EU would not dare treat any other nation as badly as they have the UK because they would be given short shrift if they tried. The vote to Leave clearly means we should no longer, as a nation, be subject to EU control over us. It’s time for the EU to stop its bully boy posturing and accept our independence.
September 30, 2020
How has the EU treated you badly? It has treated you exactly the same as it has treated every other third country. It is not the EUās fault that you continue to demands special treatment without offering special concessions in return.
October 1, 2020
Andy, It’s normally worth the EU being vindictive and hostile because they have learnt that, with Remains in charge, the UK always capitulates. Frankly, this is the first time in half a century that the UK has stood up for itself. I think the EU, and its fellow travellers like you, are a little bit nonplussed.
October 1, 2020
We are not being treated the same.
They want access to our coastal waters.
They want us to follow all future trade rules and be bound by their Court rulings.
No other nation is subject to this.
September 30, 2020
Totally agree Sir John.
The UK should simply leave and let EU producers apply pressure for the Article 24 option. If not some EU tariffs will replace lower tariffs from the RoW.
It would be great to get back to making the most of Brexit. But to do that we need to end the completely pointless Lockdowns, curfews & other illogical restrictions now decimating our economy.
The truth will let and using deceit to keep people fearful until a rushed vaccine arrives in 2021 or later is the route to obliteration & purgatory!
September 30, 2020
The truth will out… (autocorrect)
September 30, 2020
+1
September 30, 2020
You have already left and GATT 24 is not a thing. At least not a thing that helps Brexiteers.
October 1, 2020
Andy, Leave does not consist of merely swapping treaties only for the EU to remain in control of the UK. We have not left yet. It’s stuff that a normal 8 year old could understand.
October 1, 2020
We leave on 31st December 2020
Still paying billions to the EU
Still following EU laws, rules, directives and regulations.
September 30, 2020
As Sammy Wilson sets out in his Times article today, ‘no deal’ would not prevent us being a colony of the EU – unless the WA agreement is dissolved.
September 30, 2020
Surely if we go WTO the WA would be repealed…..nothing is agreed until everything is agreed
September 30, 2020
Indeed, Sir John used these very words in the House yesterday to great effect.
September 30, 2020
Well said Sir John…..is the 15th October still a trigger date
September 30, 2020
THERE SHOULD BE NO QUESTION OF PANDERING TO THE EU WITH ANY CONCESSIONS
The EU will only take advantage — How long does it take for us to learn that!
September 30, 2020
Apparently the Home Secretary has considered sending asylum seekers to Ascension Island.
Just in case anyone needs a reference point in how bonkers these clowns in government are.
September 30, 2020
She should be sending them straight back to their homelands – many of which are closer than Ascension. But I agree with your ‘bonkers’ assessment. Ministers really are finding this policy-formulation thingy hard-going.
October 1, 2020
Andy, They are migrants, not asylum seekers. And it’s you who wants to let them in. That’s truly bonkers.
September 30, 2020
The EU is founded on the idea of a United States of Europe, non populist (ie run by experts) non nationalist (ie individual countries do not matter). It is deliberately made to work in secret because the two ideas it hates (see last sentence) are very popular. It has one market, one justice system, one Committee and they call the shots. It cannot adapt because these are its founding principles. Think China, USA or the Vatican.
UK believes firmly in nationalism and our glorious record of fighting tyranny from abroad and, yes, our glorious Empire which brought the world such prosperity and peace for such a long time. We also believe in representative democracy which is bad until you consider the alternatives.
Oil and water will not mix.
September 30, 2020
Quite so!
September 30, 2020
The move to a Brexit referendum was to stop the Brexit Party from taking Conservative votes and gifting Labour the election.
Does the Conservative Party not realise that the technocratic and authoritarian way they have dealt with the covid crisis opens the door for Farage to gift the next election to Labour.
It appears to me that the technocrats in the civil service are simply steering power back to the Labour Party now that Corbyn has left office.
September 30, 2020
Javelin, It was UKIP, not the Brexit party, that was instrumental in “the move to a Brexit referendum”.
September 30, 2020
Rubbish – it was the few proprietors of much of the UK press who were instrumental.
Without their decades of groundwork, Farage would rightly have been laughed out of the country with his ridiculous claims and smears against the European Union.
And no one would have heard of A.B. De P. Johnson.
October 1, 2020
Rubbish, Martin. It was the anti-democratic, dirigiste EU, stealing our fish and our rights, which was the real culprit. The MSM was almost all on the EU’s side. As were the main political parties. You had it all, and still failed. UKIP simply gave a political voice to those of us who realised the EU empire had no clothes.
October 1, 2020
Nick is right.
Cameron was frightened of losing seats so he promised a referendum.
September 30, 2020
“Let them eat cake” springs to mind.
Time to bite the bullet Boris – after years of trying to reason with unreasonable bully boys from bureaucratic Brussels.
They don’t want to lose face but more importantly lose the cash contributions of “Treasure Island UK” / le Royaume-Uni generous contributions to “le Grande project”.
September 30, 2020
Just ‘un petit conseil’ (a little bit of advice): If you want to spice your comment with some specks of French to show how ‘cultured/cultivated’ you are, what about checking first with an online dictionary (there are tons/tonnes of them on the web) and come up with ‘le grand projet’. Otherwise French people reading this blog either from the UK or from across the Channel will wonder how bad the teaching of French can be on these islands.
Hey Edward2, I am expecting a (‘desobligeant’) comment from you. Don’t disappoint me.
September 30, 2020
All that huffing, Hefner, over a single letter “e”? You’ve made more and worse mistakes yourself.
September 30, 2020
Yet another snobby pompous comment desperately trying to demonstrate your self considered superiority.
Is that OK for you hef?
September 30, 2020
Edward 2
Hefner is superios in knowledge and intellect to oyu , just afact of life, live with it
October 1, 2020
Thanks bill for another brilliant incisive comment.
September 30, 2020
NickC, the e and the c.
Ed2, Thanks a lot, really appreciated.
October 1, 2020
Hefner, True, I missed the c.
October 1, 2020
You are most welcome hef.
You did ask.
September 30, 2020
I did not read it as an attempt to display of culture I read it as a reference to the project being a French construct.
The view really does change depending on where you stand vous ne trouvez pas?
September 30, 2020
I deliberately misspelled it for you to get your undivided attention Non Amie – word processor takes over with a mind of its own.
September 30, 2020
I can’t be alone in not wanting yet another deadline to slip. The media seem to be working flat out to convince us it will.
September 30, 2020
Boris said it himself – 15th October or we walk
October 1, 2020
Well walking is an improvement over laying in a ditch
š
September 30, 2020
Always the reasonable and sensible ideas put forward on your blog Sir John so why do we so often see the Government pulling in another direction?
I expect a flurry of last minute activity followed by ‘compromise’, in other words cave in, while ministers will claim success!
September 30, 2020
Sir JR,
We are still negotiating and from where I am sitting , there has been bad faith on both sides.
So, actually using the word Colony is totally out of order and has never been the case for members or non-members of the EU. For member nations in Europe who are according to teh EIU more democratic and more transparent than we are as a nation.
Reply Colony was the word the EU used in a documntary.
September 30, 2020
It was the word used in a frivolous conversation by two members of backroom staff among the thousands, as I recall.
It was never used by a spokesperson for any European Union institution, nor by any leader of a member nation, a voice on the European Council that is.
This is just yet more repetition of silly brexit central misrepresentation.
September 30, 2020
Keep digging.
September 30, 2020
It was smug, insulting and showed clearly what the support team to the front team of the EU REALLY wanted.
September 30, 2020
Bill B, Neither you, nor I, have ever had the right to help vote the central EU government out of office. The EU is not democratic. Nor is the EU just a cosy bunch of independent nations occasionally co-operating. It is dirigiste with a central government, its own constitution, central court, and commercial, foreign, internal, and defence policies. The EU is therefore an empire. Though an empire acquired bureaucratically rather than by war.
September 30, 2020
Nick C
you can do better than that as all naitons ahve veoted to participate
October 1, 2020
Bill B, Have you ever been able to help directly vote the EU central government out of office? When did these elections occur?
October 1, 2020
First we are told the EU armed force is totally ridiculous then we are told that it might happen then we are told plans are under way.
I reckon five years and with a bit of increased QMV and a bit of arm twisting the EU will have it’s own “peace keeping force”
October 1, 2020
bill watch yourself or hefner, today’s spelling police will pounce.
Nations
have
vetoed? = verb (used with object), veĀ·toed, veĀ·toĀ·ing.
to reject (a proposed bill or enactment) by exercising a veto.
to prohibit emphatically.
or should the word be voted?
If the word is ‘voted’, the UK public didn’t vote for the UK’s EU commissioner? It didn’t vote for Brown to sign the Lisbon Treaty in a back room.
Who voted for any of the Council of Ministers?
September 30, 2020
Sir JR
Using a docuemntary phrase as colony is alright or justa bit of nonsense?
October 1, 2020
Bill B, The use of the word “colony” was not inserted by the documentary, it was chortled by EU employees.
October 1, 2020
It is a fact recorded and stated in a TV programme from inside the EU HQ.
It gives us a glimpse of how the EU thinks and how it views the UK
September 30, 2020
Where are you sitting Bull? Mainz?
September 30, 2020
Any deal that the EU will agree will be a bad deal for us. Just don’t deal with them, agitate for the break up of the EU.
September 30, 2020
Andy,
Simple not particularly useful as they are till our biggest trading partner. So actually very unhelpful as it is not going to happen anyway
September 30, 2020
Bill B, The EU is only “our biggest trading partner” if it is a single entity – an empire in point of fact. If you look at the state level, our biggest trading partner is the USA.
September 30, 2020
Nick C
no empie there was a British empire and a Roman Empire by way of occupation
October 1, 2020
Bill B, The EU is an empire by bureaucratic conquest rather than military takeover.
October 1, 2020
You are very touchy about anyone calling your beloved EU an Empire bill.
You ought to look up a definition of the word.
September 30, 2020
Bull you know well that half of the ātradeā With the EU is fraudulent (exports to the rest of the world channelled via the EU) or forced (quotas that donāt allow us to provide for ourselves eg milk, fish). Tot siens.
October 1, 2020
Lynn Atkinson
Half of teh trade is fradulent?
Please kindly prove your statement
September 30, 2020
The EU knows only too well that part of the UK strategy was the break up of the EU but it did not happen, it will not happen- could be they will lose some stragglers and deviants along the way – like Hungary for instance but that will only make the bloc stronger. The EU are only too well aware of Brutish bad intent towards the bloc and that is in part what’s making everything so difficult now
September 30, 2020
Hold on Jacob; Margaret, Martin, Andy, Bill, etc. have been regularly on here telling us we’re Little Britain, the rump, insignificant, a laughing stock in Europe. Acorn the other day saying the UN are going to eject us from a seat on their top table over Brexit we’re so insignificant. So how on earth has such an insignificant rump got any ‘Brutish bad intent to the bloc’ whatsoever and wouldn’t it be like a flea bite anyway?
Who said No, Ireland you can’t have your independence. Britain just seems to back down and get trampled on left, right and centre.
September 30, 2020
Actually until Brexit we did not qualify for a seat in the UN because we did not comply with their criteria to qualify for a seat (Sovereign nation).
September 30, 2020
Well I don’t agree with those guys Margaret Martin Andy Bill etc and there is nothing insignificant about Britain but somehow you’ve gone on the wrong track and we only have to listen to the rhetoric from the ERG crowd over that past few years to know about bad intent- problem is that the EU is listening in as well
For the record Ireland wasn’t granted independence- after many decades looking for Home Rule in the HoC it just took it
September 30, 2020
Jacob, That’s a change from the usual Remain rant where we have been threatened with retribution because the EU is so much bigger and stronger than us. The UK being able to break up the EU, eh? Whatever will Remain dream up next?
September 30, 2020
That was a fake Andy. The UK will break up before the EU does.
October 1, 2020
That was Jacob, not Andy, Andy. And both Jacob and Dougg claim that the UK is a bully which always intended to break up the EU. You Remains will have to get your act together. Or did you miss the latest circular?
September 30, 2020
It is quite the other way around: the EU are trying to break up the UK in revenge. Herr Selmayr said Northern Ireland must be the price for Brexit. President Hollande said, āThere must be a threat, there must be a risk, there must be a price,”. When have we ever carried on like that?
September 30, 2020
The Other Andy.
That was what brexit was supposed to achieve above all, the collapse of the European Union.
Farage etc. and the other right-wing US supremacists staked their all on a hoped-for domino effect.
They failed utterly.
The European Union is solidaritised, whereas the UK is severely damaged.
And their only bolt is shot.
It’s not surprising that Farage ran away.
October 1, 2020
He did all he needed to do.
Soon we will have left the EU.
October 1, 2020
Martin, So you’re on the remain circulation list too? Once the UK was so feeble, small, and weak, according to Remain, that we desperately needed the EU to hold our hand. Now the new Remain mantra is the UK is so virile, large, and strong that the EU cowers before us. Give us a break!
September 30, 2020
Surely No Deal gives many advantages –
1. With SNP wanting to join the EU, an independent Scotland would have to face having tariffs exporting to the rest of the UK, and with %90 of its exports is with the UK surely this would dampen any arguments they have.
2. Let’s formalize CANZUK – trade and free movement of people, make education free, and unfettered access between the countries. This would allow CANZUK to mitigate China’s divide and isolate policies and make CANZUK an icon for democracy, trade, and rule of law.
3. Ireland: let us invite Ireland to leave the EU and join CANZUK. This would solve the border and historical issues.
We must stand firm and be bold in our vision and realize China’s belt and road policy must be dealt with in Africa and around the world. CANZUK and the Commonwealth must do more.
September 30, 2020
1/ Not at all- taking Scotland in to the EU will be a gradual but progressive thing- the EU has plenty of experience in managing these things
2/ CANZUK- what an awful name- sounds more like CANSUX
3/ Not in a million years
September 30, 2020
Losing UK 67m people and 15% of EU trade, but getting the noisy Scots 5m people trading what? whisky and tartan? Great deal – EU will want Scotland to jump the Queue.
September 30, 2020
1 With UK and a no-deal scenario makes SNP arguments even more hollow and will show the Scottish people the truth about the SNP.
2 CANZUK a formal organization to bring UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand into alignment similar to arrangments between Australia and New Zealand. This is supported and instigated by Australians, Canadians, and New Zealanders. The landmass of the 4 is greater than Russia and its combined GDBP makes it 3rd/4th largest economy.
We have shared language, history, common legal systems, similar economies and shared queen as head of state and shared values. The young support it and ITS TIME HAS COME. Its counter weight to values of China and EU is what this world needs right now.
3. There are voices in Ireland who openly question EU membership and publish papers to show Ireland out of EU can be done and if invited to join CANZUK then need for EU is gone. What hard border?? No hard border and Northern Ireland can remain in the UK knowing it southern neighbour is finally aligned with UK and CANZUK and not to EU. Under these circumstances a free trade agreement bewteen CANZUK and US on more equivelant levels and the Irish question is lost in dim annals of history with a bright fuure for all, Not bad at all.
Lets all go for it and be brave with vision,regain our sovereignity and boldness to build a world not based on subservience to the EU but striking out to regain a new path that harmonises our histories with CANZUK counties. There is trust bewteen the four unlike what we find in the EU. Ireland has nore in common with CANZUK and US than the EU period.
September 30, 2020
Don’t worry we’re not going to be a colony of anyone- instead more like a backwater- since this Government led by Cummings Boris is in the business of breaking treaties I don’t think there will be many who will trust Britain to keep its word on anything so promises about the future or respect for sovereignty doesn’t really matter. Only thing now is to trade a la Liz Truss by WTO rules with countries far away and wait for another more enlightened generation.
September 30, 2020
Actual experts from industry have been giving evidence to MPs about Brexit trade talks today.
The pharmaceuticals industry says there may be shortages of drugs – particularly in Northern Ireland. The chemicals industry says there is zero benefit to a one billion pound attempt by the Brexiteers to duplicate regulation. The aviation industry says it is pointless to replicate safety agencies. They have collectively said day to day business will be struggling to survive.
The Tories who chose this will be the ones we send to prison in the end.
September 30, 2020
Incorrect, those so call industry experts today where in fact CEOs of industry bodies and large European industry conglomerates ā all had an vested interest in the EU
September 30, 2020
And you will hold the keys to the cells?
September 30, 2020
No. But I will gladly help throw them away.
September 30, 2020
“Britain has offered a three-year transition period for European fishing fleets to allow them to prepare for the post-Brexit changes as part of an 11th-hour deal sweetener.
While the policy would deliver the extra catches promised as a Brexit bonus, it is understood the government is also making new commitments on maintaining EU sustainability standards and cooperation on the collection of data.” (Guardian)
PS. As I have said before, three years from now the UK’s post Brexit fishing policy will look little different to the current ‘EU-Norway agreement. Norway pays circa ā¬120 per capita for access to the EU Single Market as an EEA member, with no access to the EU customs union. The UK pays net ā¬143 per capita for both in the EU.
September 30, 2020
And gets a Ā£90 billion a year trading deficit.
September 30, 2020
The UK had an overall trade deficit of Ā£72 billion with the EU in 2019. A surplus of Ā£23 billion on trade in services was outweighed by a deficit of Ā£95 billion on trade in goods.
The UK had a trade surplus of Ā£46 billion with non-EU countries. A surplus of Ā£81 billion on trade in services outweighed by a deficit of Ā£35 billion on trade in goods. (Commons BP 7851)
Ā£130 billion of produced goodies we import from foreigners who are still prepared to get payed with Pounds Sterling and invest them in Gilts, Chelsea mansions, UK factories, political parties etc.
Just think, if the UK wasn’t buying their stuff, how many more unemployed those foreigners would have back home.
October 1, 2020
That’s what I said
We have a Ā£90 billion trading deficit.
You say it is even worse at Ā£95 billion.
We pay billions in membership fees to lose this sum.
September 30, 2020
They are not going to be moved by a three year sweetener as part of an 11th hour deal- and truthfully speaking we have gone way beyond the 11th hour- more like one minute to midnight. Thinking now in Brussels is there will be plenty of time for talking after midnight- next year or the year after
September 30, 2020
How do you know what the ‘thinking now in Brussels is’ Jacob? Do you work for the top brass in the EU?
October 1, 2020
The EU will demand more.
Give an inch and They will take a mile.
September 30, 2020
A colony ..oh come on you can come up with a more absurd comparison, why not a Satrapy , sounds a bit classical and as we all know a smattering of classical education beats basic competence hands down.
Personally I would go old school ,and drag out the old favourite ‘Puppet Government’ .No opportunity to mention Quisling or Vichy should be missed . As we know almost anyone reading the Financial Times of Guardian or found in possession of a degree ( in a built up area ) is plotting to flood the country with Syrians ( or something )
Old WS Gilbert would have loved this material
October 1, 2020
Satrapy – a new word for me thank you.
Satrapy means – a province governed by a satrap.
Satrap – a provincial governor of the ancient Persian empire.
Well that doesn’t bode well for the EU if that’s what its followers think it is, does it?
September 30, 2020
The big sell out starts with a proposed 3 year fishing agreement allowing EU boats to fish our waters. I’ll be expecting further sell outs on the other points of disagreement. This is not the Brexit I voted for. Yet again we see parliament putting EU interests ahead of the UKs.
September 30, 2020
You didn’t vote for or against any particular post-exit arrangements with the European Union.
You have NEVER been asked, Christine.
Grow up and stop pretending that you were.
Make-believe games are for little children.
September 30, 2020
Even little children learn to mistrust adults who keep on letting them down. And lying to them too!
September 30, 2020
You are getting more hysterical as Brexit approaches.
September 30, 2020
We voted for no deal with the EU. The PM spelled that out in person and in writing.
September 30, 2020
Actually Martin thatās not quite true is it? Labours manifesto in 2019 gave people the choice on the post-exit arrangements. If I remember correctly they offered to attempt to secure a new deal within 3 months of being elected, putting it to another vote for the public to decide to proceed with or to remain. The public didnāt vote for this in sufficient numbers to get a majority.
September 30, 2020
Christine, people put their faith in the Conservatives, even red wall voters who never usually vote Conservative. Boris has a lot on his plate, I hope he realises that.
September 30, 2020
Christine,
we are still negotiating so you obviously better informed than the rest of us, as you seem to have all the answers
September 30, 2020
It is just a prediction of the near future by Chrustine.
Can you allow people to do that?
Thanks in advance.
September 30, 2020
Bull be honest and when you say āweā acknowledge that you are speaking of the EU.
September 30, 2020
Sir John
Most of us joining in here fear this Government will sell us short and not permit us to become a Free Democracy.
If the EU finishes up with any laws, rules and controls no matter how seemingly small of what happens inside the UK then this Government and all those in the HoC would have lost their purpose. Rolling over and accepting Rule from outside however they want to word it is surrender. We know the EU they have form, salami slice power from others until they assume total control for their Political Class.
September 30, 2020
Sir John has just shown us it is possible to get up a back bench army in Parliament quite quickly if there is any sign of capitulation.
September 30, 2020
As we speak the horrible remoaner rag The Guardian reports that UK has offered EU to continue their currrent fishing quotas for three more years. As a trade sweetener. Isn’t it lovely?
October 1, 2020
Isn’t it funny how ‘the Guardian’ got this out first too?
September 30, 2020
What is all this about their being allowed to fish free in our waters for three years? By then we will have a remainiac government and the arrangement will be extended indefinitely. If the fishing grounds are ever to recover, we must walk now, taking them firmly with us.
September 30, 2020
Reading of the encroachment by EU members into Canadian waters to net their protected and severely depleted stocks of “Turbot” fish, I wonder just what penalties were levied by Brussels upon the offending Spanish trawler, whose illegal nets were so large they would cover a football pitch?
Surely, “Bringing the EU’s good name into disrepute” is enough for the EU Commission to severely punish them for this criminal act?
And should that action by that trawler, be good warning to us, here in the UK? That EU members completely disregard any agreements their leaders have secured?
Just who is really in charge of the European Union?
September 30, 2020
Spot on!
I actually believe that WTO would be better at least initially. We must concede nothing on State aid. It seems that we have offered a 3 year gradual reduction on fishing quotas, which is concerning, largely because any similar concession on State aid could negate the whole point of Brexit.
Not to mention… breathing new life into the Brexit party.