One of the many lies of Remain was the claim we would lose all the trade agreements the EU has managed to negotiate. Yesterday the government signed the carry over of the EU Partenership agreements with six African countries. Would all those who wrote in to this site and said this would not happen now like to apologise.
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August 29, 2018
Interesting that so many have been able to make this completely false assertion and very good news that they were so completely wrong
August 29, 2018
All “completely false assertion” are gold plated by the BBC.
August 29, 2018
On the face of it this looks encouraging. However, the claim was that these agreements do not roll over automatically and each will have to be negotiated. Consequently, no apology should be called for as signing these agreements actually demonstrates that we lose the existing access to EU agreements with 3rd countries and have to negotiate new deals. As I say it is encouraging that these appear to have been signed but there are many more that haven’t and will be far more complex to agree than these.
Of course it makes no sense to be turning our back on the most developed free trade block in the world. We have always been free to trade with the rest of the world – membership of the EU has been a help not a hindrance to this.
Reply No, they novate, as often explained here. Tell me one country that will not do just that?
August 29, 2018
Is that good news? Are the EU terms ones we would want if doing it independently and can we diverge in terms of tariffs/quotas etc in the future?
Reply It nails the lie that we cannot roll these agreements over. Of course in the future once out we can improve them,. which is what some of the counter parties also want to do.
August 29, 2018
Well, if Therolly got their way then even when we were nominally out of the EU we would still only be able to improve our trade deals as the EU allowed, at least with respect to anything arguably connected with goods:
https://lawyersforbritain.org/staying-in-the-eu-customs-union-after-exit
Quoting the EU Commission:
“The Customs Union is a foundation of the European Union and an essential element in the functioning of the single market. The single market can only function properly when there is a common application of common rules at its external borders. To achieve that, the 28 national customs administrations of the EU act as though they were one.
These common rules go beyond the Customs Union as such – with its common tariff – and extend to all aspects of trade policy, such as preferential trade, health and environmental controls, the common agricultural and fisheries policies, the protection of our economic interests by non-tariff instruments and external relations policy measures.”
But luckily it seems that the EU is set to reject the Chequers plan:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/08/28/two-questions-for-farmers-to-take-advantage-of-brexit/#comment-957605
so then the job will be to stop Therolly pleading and begging and offering yet more concessions to try to get their crazy plan accepted.
August 29, 2018
Thank you. I would not be surprised if such improvements are embargoed in the Withdrawel agreement, the EU being petrified for both political and economic reasons of a nimble, competitive, low tax economy on its doorstep, hence all its attempts to hobble us and, unfortunately, our Prime Minister, seemingly agreeing.
August 29, 2018
They will never apologise.
Meanwhile “Tories fear infiltration by Ukip members” says The Times today. Well the more proper Tories join the party the better. Real, low tax, small government, democratic, pro Brexit Conservatives need to take back control from the daft LibDim currently in control.
They need to do it quickly or we will have to suffer the even more dire Corbyn/Mc Donnall/SNP lunacy.
August 29, 2018
What does today’s Conservative Party stand for ?
Not capitalism and free market economics – it does nothing to promote these.
Not the primacy of the individual consumer – ditto .
Certainly not for the small state and low tax because the size of the state is growing and the tax burden is at its highest for 50 years .
Just a blind belief in Mrs May as the leader of choice despite her lying duplicity.
Meanwhile I saw TM interviewed by Crick on Channel 4 or 5 News purely by mistake ! She was in RSA and looked decidedly uncomfortable on Aaron Banks and entryism .
”Why don’t you allow AB back into the Conservative Party , after all he was a member ”
‘He campaigned against us ‘
”But so did Craig Mackinlay and you allowed him back in ”
Then robot mode repeating the same line in answer to the same question .
She was all at sea over this line and flustered .
August 29, 2018
“Just a blind belief in Mrs May as the leader of choice .”
But exactly who did the choosing? Certainly not the voters.
August 29, 2018
I am not sure Conservatives ‘fear’ infiltration. They will take the £25 and boast about membership increasing. What those members can actually do is fairly limited.
Probably more scope for gaining influence on local issues than affecting Brexit.
Still it makes a good story.
August 30, 2018
Indeed, I joined in February, a natural conservative I wanted to have a say in the new leader and stop a wet getting the top job again. I’m far more conservative in outlook than Soubry, Grieve, Clarke, the awful two faced Wollaston or Morgan. Whilst it is proper that the party vets new members it is concerning that it will choose who can join, clearly Brexiteers need not apply even though they want exactly what was Tory policy at the last GE.
August 29, 2018
Look forward to the usual suspects writing in to say the opposite and come up with the later versions of project fear.
August 29, 2018
Was project fear the one where Turkey was about to join the EU?
August 29, 2018
Margaret Howard, Indeed the intention was that Turkey accedes to the EU, as shown by its 1987 application and previously in the 1963 Ankara Agreement. Both are already members of a combined Customs Union.
The reason it has stalled is largely due to public antipathy in the EU to free movement of Turkish citizens within the EU, exactly as warned by people like Nigel Farage.
August 29, 2018
Who said that?
August 29, 2018
Boris Johnson springs to mind. After using such talk in the referendum campaign he then came out in support afterwards. A quick internet search for “Boris Johnson Turkey EU” reveals his multiple changes of opinion on the matter (for, against, then for again).
August 29, 2018
Wasn’t he also a Remainer until shortly before the referendum?
Huffington Post 22/06/2016
EU Referendum: How Boris Johnson Has Changed His Tune On Britain Remaining In The European Union
==
Daily Telegraph column just two weeks ago, in full.
“It is also true that the single market is of considerable value to many UK companies and consumers, and that leaving would cause at least some business uncertainty, while embroiling the Government for several years in a fiddly process of negotiating new arrangements, so diverting energy from the real problems of this country – low skills, low social mobility, low investment etc – that have nothing to do with Europe.”
August 29, 2018
So when was he, or anybody else, ever silly enough to say that Turkey “was about to join the EU”? Let’s have a link.
It is undeniable that Turkey is a candidate to join the EU:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/enlarg/candidates.htm
“Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (fYRoM), Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey are candidate countries.”
“Turkey was declared a candidate country in December 1999. Negotiation talks were opened on 3 October 2005 and Chapter 27 was open for negotiations on 21 December 2009. Technical discussions are on-going in areas such as water, waste, nature protection or horizontal legislation.”
Just as it is undeniable that all of the major UK political parties were, and probably still are, officially in favour of further EU enlargement, and with the Tory leader David Cameron openly expressing an even more insane aspiration for the EU to stretch from the Atlantic to the Urals, see some of the comments here in February 2014:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2014/03/04/mrs-merkel-finds-holding-together-the-eu-empire-is-difficult/
“The EU visionaries want an EU empire from the Atlantic to the Russian border. I assume even they do not wish to push on to the Urals, well inside Russia’s own territory, though sometimes rhetoric says otherwise …”
And so rhetoric did say, but nobody was expecting that this long term plan would be completed soon.
August 29, 2018
I am amazed to see John Redwood backing Boris for leader. Is Boris straight? Is he honest?
August 29, 2018
Peter Parsons
As you are one of the very people that says voters can change their minds , why can’t a politician? Hypocrisy old boy
Anyway back to the point of this thread, you were one of the ones that said it would take decades to get trade agreements in place and we wouldn’t be able to roll over existing EU agreements. Seems not for the first time you’re wrong.
August 29, 2018
Cameron springs to mind too.
Dec 2014, Daily Telegraph:
He said: “In terms of Turkish membership of the EU, I very much support that.
“That’s a longstanding position of British foreign policy which I support. We discussed that again in our talks today”.
In a speech at the Turkish parliament in Ankara in July 2010,
Mr Cameron said: “I’m here to make the case for Turkey’s membership of the EU. And to fight for it.”
He added that he wanted to “pave the road” for Turkey to join the EU, saying the country was “vital for our economy, vital for our security and vital for our diplomacy”.
A European Union without Turkey at its heart was “not stronger but weaker… not more secure but less… not richer but poorer”.
Reply Remember Turkey signed an extensive Association Agreement with the EU including freedom of movement. The UK and other EU contributors then had to pay money to build fortified walls along Turkey’s southern border.
August 30, 2018
Libertarian, please find just one instance where I have made any reference to rolling over existing EU trade deals (or not). I think you’ll find I’ve never made any such comment.
As for Boris Johnson, he was one of those using Turkey’s potential membership as a campaign tactic for leave which then being openly supportive of them joining as a leave-supporting foreign secretary. If Turkey joining the EU was such a bad thing, why has he subsequently come out in favour. That’s about principle – either being in the EU is a good thing or a bad thing, you can’t be both in favour and against at the same time, which has been his most recent position. Boris Johnson seems to have one main principle – whatever Boris thinks is good for Boris at that moment.
August 29, 2018
Turkey joining was something totally denied by remain
Clegg was adamant that it would never happen
Yet we see regular talks going on and moves to ease Turkey into the club.
It is the policy and objective of both the EU and Turkey.
Expansion of the empire is the plan.
Read all about it in the 5 Presidents report.
August 29, 2018
margaret howard
So typical, your earlier missives are thoroughly debunked and proved to be garbage, so change the goal posts and talk about something else. Pathetic
August 31, 2018
Libertarian
Behave
September 1, 2018
when are you going to tell Andy to behave Hans?
August 30, 2018
That was the EU’s declared intention, although the Remain camp mendaciously denied this throughout the referendum campaign: the firm promises to speed up accession talks were renewed in March and May 2016: on 30 June 2016, immediately after the referendum, the EU Commission published its already-prepared plan for speeding up accession and opened the new chapter in negotiations for Turkish membership.
August 29, 2018
“Would all those who wrote in to this site and said this would not happen now like to apologise.”
Of course they won’t.
If you said that Brexiteers stated that water is wet they would say Junker never drinks wet water.
August 29, 2018
🙂
August 29, 2018
Wow! So we have agreed with Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique that we will continue to trade with them on the same basis as we do now. Wow! What a Brexit boost! So Mr Redwood, how about rolling over the FTAs with Canada, South Korea, Japan etc etc, the cooperation agreements with the US, China, India etc – the hundreds and hundreds of deals we lose on Brexit day, which is just 7 months away? Is Mrs may going to be scurrying round rescuing them too? Have you seen Dr Fox at all lately?
Reply Still seeking bad news where there is none! I know of no country which has a trade agreement with the EU that does not want to roll it over to the UK when we leave
August 29, 2018
FTAs cannot be signed or even negotiated until the UK has left the EU as has always been clear. Various parties who post here – is Helena reading this? – have repeatedly asserted that existing EU agreements would not be novated to the UK. This is now shown conclusively to be wrong, so those who have made such assertions should acknowledge it.
August 29, 2018
I would suggest that there are “Negotiations” and negotiations 😉
August 29, 2018
Dominic Raab: No deal could still mean a Brexit bill. The Brexit secretary said that even with no deal there would be a ‘question’ around the UK’s financial obligations. (Politico)
Bloody right there will be. No pay the divorce bill; no get trade deal with any WTO member.
August 29, 2018
How many countries which have a trade agreement with the EU DO want to roll it over to the UK when we leave? All the big ones are staying very quiet. They intend to take the UK to the cleaners once the EU doesnt have our back. Chlorinated chicken for tea?
August 29, 2018
Chlorinated chicken is from the USA. Under May’s proposed deal if the EU agrees to take it then we have to take it too. Under WTO we don’t. Anyway, I’m happy to take it as it reduces the risk of salmonella poisoning, the arguments against it are only to do with lower animal welfare standards in USA that are enabled by its use.
August 29, 2018
As Caroline Lucas acknowledged in the Commons. I suppose we could tell the US that we have no problem with the final disinfectant wash but we still want the higher animal welfare standards.
August 29, 2018
@Denis
People don’t seem to have a problem eating meat of all sorts when on vacation in the US. What a fuss over nothing. If they prefer their chicken with salmonella for desert then they are welcome to it.
August 29, 2018
We use chlorinated water for our tea.
August 29, 2018
Yes far better to have EU bacteria invested chicken eh ?
August 29, 2018
EU salmonella?
1988: Egg industry fury over salmonella claim
“Health minister Edwina Currie has provoked outrage by saying most of Britain’s egg production is infected with the salmonella bacteria”
They sacked her when she said that
August 30, 2018
The EU started in 1993 Margaret.
Have you forgot the horse meat scandal of recent years?
August 30, 2018
I have no problem with chlorinated chicken. I assume you avoid salad leaves when out as they are all washed in chlorine?
August 29, 2018
Roll over the current arrangements now is fine, then work through them and improve or make more relevant to UK trade requirements with future fine tuning…
August 29, 2018
To the reply. Indeed, why would they not want to roll them over as it is clearly in their interest to do so.
Just as it is in the interests of the 27 EU countries to roll over free trade with the UK. But not it seems the interest of the “all power to the anti democratic EU bureaucrats”.
August 29, 2018
The countries you mention have much to offer;
Botswana- Diamonds ,Copper, Nickel, Soda Ash, Beef ,and Textiles.
Lesotho-Diamonds, Clothing, Wool, Mohair.
Namibia- Diamonds, Copper ,Gold, Zinc, Lead, Uranium, Fish.
South Africa-Diamonds, Gold, Platinum, plus a vast array of manufactured goods and foodstuffs.
Swaziland- Sugar, Wood Pulp, Cotton, Beef, Soft Drink Concentrates, Sugar, Wool, Fruit.
Mozambique- Petroleum, Chrome Ore, Aluminium Oxide ,Rice, Sugar, Palm Oil , Ferrous Alloys.
FTAs with them enables the UK to export to them and improve the industries they have. As I have said before , much better than aid which can end up in the wrong bank account.
August 29, 2018
“…improve the industries that they have”.That may or may not be true (and is a little patronising!)but it also assumes that the Chinese and Russians haven’t got to them first.
The Chinese involvement is well known but Russia is also showing renewed interest in Africa(I suspect acting in concert with China)and has recently floated the idea of a pan-African trade conference in Moscow next year.
August 29, 2018
We’ll need to start up Palm Line again and Elder Dempsters also City Line. .Then conduct a huge training programme for seafarers..Ships navigating the West African creeks takes a special know how..so no time to lose
August 29, 2018
So Mr Redwood, how about rolling over the FTAs with Canada, South Korea, Japan etc etc
The EU-Japan was rushed through so it would include the UK before Brexit.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-eu-japan-trade/eu-japan-seek-to-push-through-trade-deal-before-brexit-idUSKCN1GC2CA
So we’ll have these trade deals without needing to pay a huge contribution to the EU.
August 29, 2018
@Henry Spark
Did you mean to demean those countries?
If not perhaps a double apology would be in order.
August 29, 2018
At least he didn’t repeat President Trump’s description of them!
August 29, 2018
From February …
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/02/25/the-uk-as-a-leader-for-free-trade/#comment-921097
Henry Spark:
““The Free Trade Agreements the EU has with third countries can novate to us as well as to the rest of the EU.” This is a lie. The agreements are between the EU and third countries. Once the Uk is not a member of the EU, the agreeemnst do not apply to the UK.”
Reply:
“No, you are telling a lie when you say these agreements do not novate to us as well as to the rest of the EU, subject IN EACH CASE to the consent of the other country to the agreement.”
Denis Cooper:
““The agreements are between the EU and third countries.”
Nope, they are between the EU and each of its member states separately on the one hand, and the various third countries on the other.
For example:
http://publications.europa.eu/resource/cellar/a2fb2aa6-c85d-4223-9880-403cc5c1daa2.0022.03/DOC_1
“FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
between the European Union and its Member States, of the one part, and the Republic of Korea, of the other part … ”
Yesterday, about that particular deal:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/08/27/how-theresa-may-could-have-a-good-party-conference/#comment-957395
““… the EU trade deal with South Korea … of very little overall economic value to South Korea and close to zero overall economic value to the EU and its member states … also has another interesting feature, namely that it was signed on October 6th 2010 but because of Italy delaying ratification it only came into full legal force five years later … However in the meantime there was provisional application of most it from July 1st 2011 … ”
I find that EU loyalists remind me of SNP activists, always citing this or that aspect of law but usually in a dishonest and misleading way.”
August 29, 2018
Henry Spark, The EU hasn’t even fully implemented its own 2006 Services Directive. The Canada (2017) and S.Korea (2011) trade deals will take about a decade to implement, and the Japan deal has only just been signed and is not even listed by the WTO.
Moreover there are not “hundreds and hundreds” of such EU deals. There are only about 300 RTAs registered at the WTO for the whole planet. There are only 48 RTAs EIAs and CUs listed at the WTO for the EU, and that includes the EU and EEA themselves. The few deals the EU has done are with mostly minor economies like Albania, the Faroes, San Marino, etc.
August 29, 2018
Sparky
A little while back you were crowing about the EU’s trade agreements, well they included all those countries that you now disparage . Plus the biggies like Pitcairn Islands, Moldova etc. By the way the Canadian and Japanese agreements have only just been signed. The EU still doesn’t have an agreement with its biggest customer the USA or the second biggest China, or Australia, or … well in facts loads of counties. Oh and it doesn’t have an FTA with the worlds 5th largest economy either. You remainers are truly pathetic
I guess you never brush your teeth then Henry? Our drinking water is chlorinated
August 29, 2018
Reply to reply..just wondering where some of these great cheerleaders for brexit are going to make their apologies from when they see it all go South..probably sometime around April next year
August 30, 2018
plentytodo
Well of course it would all have to go spectacularly wrong first in order for us to you know actually be wrong
So tell you what why dont you list what indicators you expect to see to show it has all gone south?
August 29, 2018
Actually Remain was correct. We will lose them UNLESS the other parties involved agree. Six African countries with small economies have agreed. There are plenty more that still need to. Some might. Some might not.
This is just part of 750 or so international agreements that need renegotiating as a part of your Brexit. All at huge expense to taxpayers. It turns out that we pool sovereignty in all sorts of ways for mutual benefit. Indeed, even North Korea – which is clearly your model for retaining as much of its own sovereignty as possible – has signed many dozen international agreements.
Of course your government could be spending time fixing Britain instead it is trying to reinvent the wheel – and you are reinventing it from round to square, with predictable consequences.
Reply Remain simply said we would lose them. I said the other countries would agree to roll them over. So they will.
August 29, 2018
A predictably negative response from this mendacious EU loyalist, who has still not offered any response to this from two days ago:
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/08/27/how-theresa-may-could-have-a-good-party-conference/#comment-957312
“So which WTO rules would they be, then, Andy? Let’s see chapter and verse …. oh, hang about, you’ve said this on several previous occasions, and on August 5th, more than three weeks ago now, I actually replied to you … “
August 29, 2018
“Of course your government could be spending time fixing Britain …”
And of course Frau Merkel could be spending time fixing the damage she has done to Germany, where she is in coalition with the AfD and far right mobs bear torches and chase anyone who looks foreign down the street.
(Similar in countries such as Poland and Hungary)
When it comes to xenophobia Germany leaves Brexit Britain for dust but from your spewings of visceral hatred for old English people (who used nothing but due democratic process) you’d think we were worse and thus everything else you say is discredited.
August 29, 2018
“Finally, we recognise that the affirmations set forth in this political understanding are not intended to be legally binding and remain ‘without prejudice’ to the technical discussions currently underway.” (Joint statement on UK, SACU and Mozambique EPA)
None of these 700+ agreements will be “rolled over” until the counter-parties know exactly what the final deal (or no deal) will be, between the UK and the EU27. They are not going to risk upsetting the EU and losing TRQs.
BTW. You probably missed the bit about resuming Visa free travel to the UK for South Africans. They don’t want us to run out of Strawberry pickers when the EU lot go home.
August 29, 2018
acorn
I did miss that about Visa free travel from SA. Great news, experienced farmers will be very welcome here
August 29, 2018
Six small countries, but why do you highlight the fact they are six small African countries ? Why is that relevant to your argument ? Or do you have some sort of bias which makes you view African countries as inferior to, say, European countries ?
August 29, 2018
And South Africa, despite its very evident and severe government problems, is the biggest economy in the Continent; handled well, the UK could be a massive influence for the good of all here, which would benefit both SA and the UK.
August 29, 2018
We were there before and we ran away..as fast as we could
August 29, 2018
sm..anyone would think we were never in SA before..Mrs May knows from history the full extent of our previous involvement there..and so do the Africans and the Boers..so don’t hold your breath. The British were never a force for good certainly not to the Africans.
August 30, 2018
Malaria, sanitation and control of disease. Rule of law. Parenting. Contraception.
We showed them some of those things. The responsibility thereafter was theirs.
Sadly we have given up on several of those things ourselves.
August 30, 2018
South Africa and Rhodesia were the two most advanced African countries.
August 29, 2018
Andy, No nation with which we have agreements unilaterally extends those agreements, unlike the EU which constantly makes new law. It is bad faith on your part to deliberately confuse the two.
September 1, 2018
New Zealand, Canada and the US have already rejected the UK’s proposed split of quotas
What say you about that ?
So much for the warm embrace from the Anglo-sphere.
Reply All 3 want an FTA with the UK and will agree tariff quotas
September 2, 2018
Reply to reply: everyone want an FTA with the UK on terms that are more beneficial to them than the current one the UK negotiated as part of a much bigger trading block.
The US, Canada or New Zealand are already positioning themselves for that. Hence the rejection of the schedule
August 29, 2018
Allow me to ask this question:
If you were still in business, who would you prefer to do business with, the Germans or the Guineans. The Swedes or the South Africans?
PS I have no need to apologise because I support the Efta/EEA solution which, as you know, allows member states to trade freely with any country they like inside or outside the EEA.
August 29, 2018
Mike
Why do you suggest anyone needs to choose.
When I was in business and before I retired, I would sell my products and services to anyone who wanted them, and who was prepared to pay what I wanted for those goods or services.
If shipping costs are higher for some Countries than others then you simply add on what it costs.
It is not an either/or situation, you simply sell to as many people who want them if you do not want to limit you business, income or profit.
August 29, 2018
You can support that idea Mike but the EU isn’t going to allow it.
August 29, 2018
Edward2 All the more reason to get out from under their dictatorship.
August 29, 2018
And still ties us to the four freedoms that the EU covets so much. More like shackles than freedoms, IMHO.
August 29, 2018
So you support uncontrolled and unlimited mass immigration into our country, either as a benefit in its own right or as a price worth paying for somewhat easier external trade, and at best a marginal enhancement of our GDP but more likely a negative net effect on our prosperity. You are of course in a minority among your fellow citizens on that, and not just the minority who support continued EU membership but the much smaller minority who agree with your anti-democratic views on mass immigration. So I think in fact you should apologise, for your constant, deceitful, promotion of a policy which is opposed by the great majority of your fellow citizens.
September 2, 2018
There are 1mm Brits living in the EU. Talk about uncontrolled mass immigration.
And how is the control of the non-EU immigration which is the sole remit of the UK government doing, Denis ?
Good ?
August 29, 2018
Mike Stallard
I am still in business, why do I need to chose? I will sell my products and services to who ever wants to buy them at the price I’m selling. Its always been like that, it will always be like that.
There is absolutely no point in being in the EEA/EFTA it doesn’t help and it puts us right back into the things we voted to leave
August 29, 2018
There will be no need to choose. Before the referendum nobody was suggesting that not have a FTA meant we couldn’t trade with the USA or China or India because it clearly wasn’t the case.
August 29, 2018
Talking of apologies.
What have you done with the trillions people have paid you for their old age?
How much do you owe them?
Who are you going to screw in order to try and make good on your promises?
Currently 30% of taxes go on the debts. That’s austerity.
A trade agreement doesn’t compensate for those losses.
August 29, 2018
The Tax Payers Alliance has just highlighted again the vast discrepancy between public sector pensions and private sector pensions. It is a time bomb, which politicians prefer to kick down the road. It is said 25% of Council Tax bails out that shortfall. Another huge can being kicked is the rail unions, how train/tube drivers think they deserve their inflated incomes in comparison with the much more skillful job of truck driving is beyond me. Long live HS2!
August 29, 2018
Have you done any of those jobs ? I’ve done two and I know which nèeds the more knowledge.
August 30, 2018
Dr GP will confirm how much more stringent drugs laws are for train crew than lorry drivers. There is a reason.
August 29, 2018
Another way to look at it: do we want a race to the bottom with public sector people getting to the level of private sector pensions, or would it not be preferable if the private sector were not twisting to pay the minimum for its workers’ pensions?
It is always interesting to see that when a private company is in difficulties, its workers’ pensions is almost always the first element to be put aside in discussions for it being taken over by another company. Remember “Sir”Philip Green.
August 30, 2018
Yes that would be nice Hefner, but in an era of increased life expectancy, low inflation, low yields and governments attacking pension funds for taxes, the private sector and self employed pensions are a the norm.
Reality has hit these pensions with firms having to close final salary schemes, close inflation protected pensions and stop most early retirement generous offers.
Because it isn’t affordable for either the company nor the individual paying in.
But in the public sector we still have an unreformed pension industry.
It is a time bomb which no one in the public sector has the guts to stop.
My local council now spends over a third of its annual income on pensions and it is rising fast.
August 30, 2018
hefner
Workplace pensions were introduced by the government in 2017 so private sector employers now pay National Insurance and workplace pension an in lots of cases their own pension scheme too. How many more pensions do you want us to pay ( baring in mind that its always the customer who ultimately pays )
August 29, 2018
Indeed. All the wrong behaviours have been rewarded since the ‘progressive’ ’60s.
Here’s my advice:
– don’t pay into a pension
– teach your kids how to build muscle, throw a punch and get tattoos on their necks and faces… this way they might be happier in the post civilised era.
Of course, a cossetted Remainer living in, say, Lewes or Beaconsfield might not understand this.
August 29, 2018
Andy understands it, I’d guess. Because he’s never going to grow old.
August 29, 2018
” What have you done with the trillions people have paid you for their old age? ”
Go to any city and you will see them walking round, anytime of the day, not working, enjoying their life on the UK taxpayer. Every minute of every day of every week of every month – more arrive, hands out. Slavery hasn’t been abolished – just changing colour.
August 29, 2018
That is why I made my own provision for retirement..i could see it twenty years ago..britain is bunched..too much debt..population is too large for country size..demographics not good..farming and manufacturing on the down..and useless politicians and govetnments
August 29, 2018
My mantra has always been, “Trade is better than aid”, so the more developing countries we can support with trade the better. We should systematically work through the EU Partnership Agreement countries offering them a better deal than they get from the EU. If the basis of the creation of the EU was that countries who trade together do not indulge in war, then the more trade we can encourage with Africa and the Middle East the better for all concerned.
August 29, 2018
Agreed…
August 29, 2018
agricola
Exactly !
But I think Mrs May is promising them both, which is more than unfortunate.
Why is it that every time in the past couple of decades a Prime Minister travels abroad they seem to hand out more and more of our money, for very little in return.
August 29, 2018
They do too.
I once suggested on here that Cameron’s passport be taken away, because every time he visited countries like this he came back with another multi billion pound bill. Seems like the Maybot is doing the same – the politicians beloved virtue signalling at our expense. Funny how the billions can be found just like that down the back of the Downing Street sofa for some things, but not for things needed at home (pot holes, social care, tax cuts the list is endless).
August 29, 2018
Very well said and as our trade increases and they become more affluent so our aid should decrease, indeed that should be in the contract.
Unfortunately wedded to spending a fixed amount, as we are, that seems unlikely.
August 29, 2018
There was a very good article by Xan Smiley in The Spectator,11/8/18:”Britain should spend more on diplomacy in Africa and less on aid”,looking at how our diplomatic clout with the countries of that continent has collapsed,at least partly due to :-
“the latest trend is for DfID officials to be promoted to ambassadors…who are better at dishing out aid than actual diplomacy.”
Will the May regime be making the necessary people changes for it’s putative new strategy of “investing” in Africa in our national interest to actually work?
August 29, 2018
When it comes to giving aid to Africa you may as well pour it into a hole in the ground for all the good it will do.
August 29, 2018
The rolling over of those agreements is mutually beneficial should have come at nil cost. I do wish TM would stop giving our money away.
August 29, 2018
Why did we have to give Africa an extra 4 Billion to secure these deals.
Just asking.
August 29, 2018
Same reason 39 billion for the EU – a bribe. They don’t have the nous to do things on their own merit.
August 29, 2018
A valid question. Isn’t it illegal to pay foreign officials for trade? Isn’t that bribery?
August 29, 2018
Remainers are demagogues and demagogues never apologise. It is not in their DNA because they force their will by shutting down any opposition. Just like The Brussels cabal.
August 29, 2018
The man from Aston Martin this morning had no problem with the question – ‘… but what about post Brexit…’
He did not think it was a problem because Aston Martin traded all over the World now and would continue to do so.
Or that was my impression.
August 29, 2018
John
The only issue of concern appeared to be related to quotas. That is, a number of countries were not happy about the EU and UK sharing out agreed quotas without them being consulted.
August 29, 2018
John Finn, No that was not the “only issue of concern”. Remains on here specifically and repeatedly claimed we would not be able to roll over the trade agreements made by the EU. They were wrong. Just as they were wrong about the economic consequences post the Brexit vote. In fact Remain have not been right about anything so far, which takes some doing.
August 29, 2018
A Canada-style free trade deal appeared to be acceptable to Donald Tusk and was favoured by the Brexit Department. It is a free trade deal pushed aside by the Chequers Brino agreement which Brussels have said they will not accept.
Mike Stallard keeps popping up suggesting the EFTA route which is the Norway option, rejected before and since the referendum. It demands freedom of movement and Government by FAX.
August 29, 2018
Tusk offered a Canada free trade deal for mainland UK only, not Northern Ireland. So it was not an offer at all, just political posturing intended to destabilise the UK government coalition.
August 29, 2018
Why should we want it? How much would it be worth to us, and what would our government be willing to concede to get it? And would that be the best use of the limited time and energy available for negotiations?
http://johnredwoodsdiary.com/2018/08/27/how-theresa-may-could-have-a-good-party-conference/#comment-957291
“Far more important than trying to get that one-off gain of maybe 0.4% of GDP or less, equivalent to the natural growth of the UK economy over less than two months at the long term trend growth rate of 2.5% a year … would be to make sure that all practical and legal arrangements had been made for a smooth and orderly transition to the default position of the trading on the basis of the WTO treaties … “
August 29, 2018
” Yesterday the government signed the carry over of the EU Partenership agreements with six African countries.”
Are those the ones?:
“But the Independent website is not impressed, saying the six southern African countries involved account for 0.7% of British exports. “Just the rest of the world to go,” it says.”
Reply So why did Remain say this could not be done, and why did they think it mattered?
August 29, 2018
Did they? Maybe 0.7% was too insignificant a figure to bother with.
August 30, 2018
Significant enough to the EU that it’s trade agreements with 5 of the 6 countries involved were ratified earlier this year. So important enough for the EU but not for the Independent.
August 29, 2018
Africa will not in any way compensate for our loss of trade with EU countries
August 30, 2018
Who said it did.
The point is remain said deals could not or would not be done.
Here are examples to prove that remains project fear has been proved wrong yet again.
August 29, 2018
Nobody in Remain said it could not be done. They simply pointed out – correctly – that it was an issue. And it is still an issue because there are dozens more trade deals we need to carry over – and not all the other parties are keen. What no Brexiteer seems to have figured out is that you can scream ‘I want, I want, I want’ as much as you like but there is no guarantee you will get. Trade deals are a two way street. They involve give and take – not just take.
August 29, 2018
You have never used the word “issue”
You have claimed deals would not be done and that they would take many years.
All trade deals are a matter of give and take.
Meanwhile modern international trade just carries on.
August 30, 2018
“Nobody in Remain said it could not be done.”
Another lie.
I am seriously considering whether some Remoaners have gone so far with their disloyalty that they should stripped of their UK citizenship.
August 29, 2018
I wonder whether you have seen this silliness from a Swedish minister?
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/aug/28/irish-border-question-must-be-solved-by-uk-not-eu-says-sweden
“Irish border question must be solved by UK, not EU, says Sweden”
“Swedish EU affairs minister Ann Linde says it is regrettable issue has become ‘a matter of ideology’ in UK”
I look in vain for any response from the UK government, such as:
“It will be up to you to protect your Single Market”
“If anybody has made this “a matter of ideology” then it is an Irish government which likes to pretend that at present there is no border and has said that it will not tolerate anything which would imply a border.”
But of course we need not expect to get anything remotely like that from our government which is actually on the EU’s side not ours.
August 29, 2018
Denis..it’ not really an Irish border..it was made and maintained over the years by the British..the Irish never wanted it..so somehow or other Britain is going to have to deal with it
August 30, 2018
So you aren’t aware that the Irish Garda and Customs regularly stop traffic from NI into the Republic. Tax; fuel duty etc…
August 30, 2018
Even with plenty to do you can still find time for this tripe …
August 29, 2018
We have solved it. She needs to catch up.
August 29, 2018
John, an idea you might consider promoting. A biannual or perhaps five yearly exhibition of all that the UK can offer the World in the fields of manufacturing and services. The NEC would be a good place to hold it. I would also suggest that government subsidise small and medium size businesses to take part as they are the future. You might also consider favourable rates for overseas attendees in travel and accommodation. It could be a mighty big sales pitch for UK Ltd, much as the Farnborough Air Show is for aerospace.
August 29, 2018
It would take them one journey on the M-ways round there (W. Midlands) to conclude “never again”. The M6 is currently virtually impassable. If you really want to put investors off the UK that is where to take them.
August 29, 2018
agricola
Posted August 29, 2018 at 11:21 am | Permalink
agricola says
”
John, an idea you might consider promoting. A biannual or perhaps five yearly exhibition of all that the UK can offer the World in the fields of manufacturing and services. The NEC would be a good place to hold it. I would also suggest that government subsidise small and medium size businesses to take part as they are the future. You might also consider favourable rates for overseas attendees in travel and accommodation. It could be a mighty big sales pitch for UK Ltd, much as the Farnborough Air Show is for aerospace.”
Seems a good idea.
The Farnborough Air Show is bi-ennial and has just built permanent exhibition halls. Why not alternate years? Motorway links to all parts, live airfield suiting executive jets up to A320 ,within Thames technology valley, premium quality hotels in locality,
August 29, 2018
Another’ Great Exhibiton’! What a wonderful idea!
Though perhaps we’re not supposed to shout ”Buy British!” at the moment – is there something in the EU rules that forbids that sort of competitive exhibitionism? Still – we’ll soon be free of such constraints!
August 29, 2018
The BBC says French fishermen are physically attacking our Scots and English fishermen legally fishing in the English Channel lobbing stones causing real damage .
Aye, there’s the rub!
The BBC added “This has been going on SOME …TIME!” So, why just now they release video footage? Why not SOME TIME AGO????? First I’ve heard about it!
August 29, 2018
The BB has adjusted “attacking Scots and English fishermen” to
“A fight BETWEEN French and English fishermen”
Well, it was reported at first and SEEN as ramming us and lobbing “rocks”. The latter word of one of OUR skippers.
Fake News is getting quicker in editing.
Have our Scots fishermen been sunk? Or have the BBC just forgot to mention them within a few minutes of saying they were there?
Not the Flying Scotsman..The Disappearing Scotsman”…Hidden by Scots Mist????
August 29, 2018
Yeah but when we get back our own fisheries waters like we had before 1973..we’ll be able to fish out to twelve miles from a baseline around our coast..it will be our own fishing area exclusive to us but won’t extend as far as Normandy waters so that should prevent future conflict with the french
August 29, 2018
Prigger. That doesn’t surprise me. They’re French after all.
August 29, 2018
C4 interviewer explained carefully from Le Havre how those nasty big English boats were bullying the poor little French ones, who only wanted to make a decent livelihood.
August 29, 2018
43 French trawlers attacking.. The 43 disappeared too!!! It’s a question of numbers????
August 29, 2018
It seems as though Chequers will not be chucked and the Remainers will win the day. Raab refers to the White Paper plus some pragmatism. Utter betrayal.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1010143/Brexit-news-Michel-Barnier-UK-EU-third-country-future-partnership-no-deal-latest
However, the Brexit Secretary did admit there could be a delay amid fears Britain could crash out of the EU without a deal.
He said: “It’s important as we enter the final phase of the negotiations to the lead up to the October council and the possibility that it may creep beyond that, we want to see some renewed energy.
“We are bringing the ambition and substance of our white paper on our future relationship, and also some pragmatism to go the extra mile to get the deal that I think is in both sides’ interest.
“We need that to be matched, obviously.”
August 29, 2018
JR,
this is great news for the UK, but it is 1.5% of our trade so we still have a few countries to do
August 29, 2018
JR, French fishing boats attacked British boats.
Was this piracy?
Did the French police boats just look on?
Are we well within our legal rights to fish these waters?
What will UK authorities do to protect our fisherman?
Does this action reflect Brexit and the fear of French fisherman that they will no longer be able to plunder UK fishing waters post Brexit?
Will this single event lead to further hostility by the French?
September 1, 2018
Yes… British fishermen fish in the months when stocks are supposed to be left alone so they can repopulate and dredge the bottom of the sea which destroys the environment.
Why do you think they had to go to the French side of the Channel ?
When Boris sold the idea of Brexit unleashing a bucaneering Britain, I don’t think he meant it quite literally.
Gove will of course say nothing for fear of angering the poster boys of Brexit: the British fishermen.
August 29, 2018
These are not major agreements. What about the EU’s apparently successful negotiations with Australia and New Zealand? Are we going to do as well with these countries? It doesn’t sound like it but maybe you could enlighten us.
Reply The issue of novating existing trade agreements was one of will this happen or not, and the answer as I always argued is yes it will. You are right that the EU has failed to do deals with large players like China, USA and India.The propsects for a UK/Aus and NZ deal are very good.
August 30, 2018
Reply
“The propsects for a UK/Aus and NZ deal are very good”
Are you sure? I can remember that both countries were very bitter when we ditched them overnight in our eagerness to join the EU.
Dairy farmers in NZ lost their trade in butter and those in Australia that of their lamb export, Britain being their main outlet at the time. They had to look towards other markets, mainly in the East.
I doubt they will drop those in favour of a return. After all what guarantee could we give them that the same might not happen again in the future?
Reply Try reading what they write and listening to what they say! They want a deal.
August 30, 2018
The headlines and front pages in previews of newspapers of 30th August 2018 are absolutely not full of the the fishing event. It would seem that yes it is very important indeed in fact, one way or another. Something happened which we would prefer not speak about just now…it is THAT bad!
August 30, 2018
Teresa May was supposed to be on a trade trip to Africa, yet every country she visited she showered Aid and other goodies on them. I always thought trade trips were supposed to be about selling stuff, not giving away stuff . We are going to have to sell a lot of stuff to others to make up for the £4 billion that May has given away ( was this £4 billion given away voted for in Parliament?) Trump never left the White House, met with Uhuru Kenyatta and agreed to have Bechtel build the new Mombasa to Nairobi highway, May went to Kenya, gave away a load of stuff, and got nothing, may be she didn’t ask for anything. It seem all these African leaders have to do is lay on some dancing and singing children and out comes the British people’s cheque book.
In this May isn’t much different from other Prime Ministers , for Gordon Brown also got a terrible dose fiscal incontinence every time he went abroad. It seems our PMs believe that giving stuff away is great for their image , unfortunately it does little for our nations wealth. As such we would do our nations financial position a lot more good if we confiscated Prime Ministers passports as soon as they got to office, rather than worry about trade deals.
August 30, 2018
This is of course good news. Nobody is served by disruption of trade.
The more interesting time will be when actual new FTA are negotiated between UK and other countries. In such cases, size will matter. Time will tell whetehr this would be to the advantage or disadvantage of Britain
September 1, 2018
What % of the UK’s export do those 6 economic powerhouse represent ?
None.
Surely you can do better Mr Readwood.