Mrs Merkel has said the UK does not want to submit any more to the ECJ, accept all the rule making powers of the single market or be in a joint fishery. It has taken a long time to get to this perception, but better late than never.
Anyone following UK politics would have grasped that the UK voters voted for Brexit to regain our independence. They voted for a pro Brexit Conservative government to confirm their wish to be independent after a difficult period of Parliament trying to oppose the will of the people. The aim was always to take back control of our laws, our borders, ourĀ money and our fish. We did not vote to join someĀ EU AssociationĀ Agreement like Turkey, or to recreate UK membership of the single market from outside the EU with no vote over its laws.
It has long been clear we are becoming a separate country. We are willing to have a Free Trade Agreement if the EU wants one, otherwise we will be happy to extend the tariffs they make us impose on non EU countries to them as well on departure, if that is their preference. The UK government is planning anyway to remove a whole swathe of low and fiddly tariffs for all as we leave.
June 27, 2020
She has been very tardy in tumbling to this obvious truth. But some responsibility must be put on HMG for not saying on June 24th, 2016: What improvement can you offer us on WTO?
June 27, 2020
Oh, the irony.
I’m sure that Mrs. Merkel had grasped as a child, many fundamental truths that Tory voters never ever will.
The fanatical obsession with which some Tories are pursuing their puritanical version of leaving the European Union is quite reasonably not easily comprehended by normal, sane people, however.
June 27, 2020
Dear Martin–Normal sane people like you I suppose?
June 28, 2020
Trump has got the measure of her. Merkel refuses to pay 2% GDP for NATO but expects and enjoys all other members to do so primarily to protect Germany from Russia where she buys 52% of her gas and is building a huge gas pipe line! US withdraws 9,000 troops.
JR, explain why the U.K. Let’s her get away with it and explain why U.K. Wants to be tied to EU defense security and intelligence on this basis?
June 27, 2020
The traditional labour heartlands were instrumental in the vote to leave the eurocracy — note, the LABOUR heartlands.
June 27, 2020
Keep abusing leave voters Martin.
Your kind of rhetoric will keep Labour in opposition for decades.
June 27, 2020
I don’t think Martin specifically wants Labour to win, he wants our political system to disintegrate. In many ways he would have plenty of valid points to make (me too!).
June 28, 2020
What used to be our political system has disintegrated, Fred.
The evidence is all around, staring you in the face.
It is going to be some clear-up operation.
June 27, 2020
So, if you can’t beat them, insult them?
Perhaps those reasonable and informed people know something that you don’t? In any event, it might be wise to be pleasant, if you can’t convince.
June 27, 2020
Since Mrs M grew up with Marxist parents ( Lutheran clergyman father) in E.Germany, studied in Berlin and Leipzig, I imagine you are correct- she would have learnt fundamental truths about misuse of voting, manipulation, power abuse, keeping friends close, but enemies closer.
June 27, 2020
Mrs Merkel was an active Communist as a youngster, (google pictures of her marching in her uniform) and her father has the unique distinction of āescapingā West Germany to East Germany. I donāt think Frau Merkel (who took the fridge, their most valuable asset, when she left Herr Merkel) can tell any Brexiteer much.
June 28, 2020
Lynn Atkinson,
I do not think there is anybody on this blog who think they can teach you anything?
June 28, 2020
Oh the irony, Bill.
June 28, 2020
Lynn Atkinson
Your puerile, inane little utterances about Frau Merkel and her family are about as accurate as the rest of your postings.
June 27, 2020
What Frau Merkel grasped as a child is what her papa taught her: that the West was wicked, that USSR was good and benevolent, that marxist socialism was the best of all worlds, that it was OK to join ideological organisations such as the FDJ for the sake of convenience, and that – as she said herself – “Life in the GDR was sometimes almost comfortable in a certain way, because there were some things one simply couldn’t influence.” Her whole political life has been spent in that cynical and opportunistic mindset. One might best describe her as a super-sleeper.
She has nothing to teach anyone.
June 29, 2020
macunius
I fundamentally disagree she has given Germany stability and progress that we do not come close to over a very long period
June 27, 2020
Not really, bearing in mind the appalling hash the Tory government has made since 2016, she would have been daft not to push her line against such supine opposition.
zorro
June 27, 2020
Its taken Mrs Merkel 4 years to fully appreciate our position because for the past 4 years weāve been sending the signals that we may in fact remain in the ECJ and other elements of the EU
She didnāt get it wrong the Tory government did
June 27, 2020
Glen
Exactly.
With May in charge for 3 years no one had a clue what we wanted.
Given we gave in at every break and pressure point during the first 3 years, its no wonder the EU thought all it had to do was sit it out a little longer.
Let us hope Boris does not make any last minute concessions as the pressure builds.
June 27, 2020
I think they can now smell the coffee.
Hopefully Boris isn’t May and our new negotiator is not oilly robins.
June 27, 2020
Yes, that and the fact that reasonable people find it hard to believe that anyone could be a crazy as the English Tory europhobics have demonstrated beyond all doubt that they are.
June 27, 2020
Dear Martin–I realise it is difficult for you, but try to get it in to your skull that, First, “phobic” connotes fear (Greek God thereof) and nobody I have ever met comes close to fearing the EU, Secondly, if we hate anybody it is of course the wretched EU and Brussels not Europe, which I am ultra familiar with (My mother was Italian) and, Thirdly, Like it or lump it, the EU has been an unmitigated disaster for half of Europe in terms of joblessness and all the rest.
June 27, 2020
Leslie
“I realise it is difficult for you, but try to get it in to your skull”
…he hasn’t got one.
June 28, 2020
Leslie
” Like it or lump it, the EU has been an unmitigated disaster for half of Europe in terms of joblessness and all the rest.”
Isn’t it odd then that its people keep voting for pro EU governments?
June 28, 2020
Leslie, a large proportion of the words of one language have no exact translation into those of another.
There is not one in English for the French “bonnheur” for instance, and the term “nuclear family” cannot be translated literally into Italian without being an oxymoron. They use “familial nucleus”, which carries a major implication contradicting the Anglo-American term’s assertion.
The Greek root of “phobia” means an intense, negative emotion which may include both hate and fear.
Europhobic is a perfectly acceptable term therefore, for people such as yourself, I think.
June 28, 2020
Wrong as usual.
It is the EU leave voters dont like.
Europe is lovely.
June 29, 2020
Oh, so what do you suggest for “eurosceptic”, then?
June 27, 2020
See my comment above.
June 27, 2020
Again? You’ll be shouting at the TV next.
June 27, 2020
You class yourself as ‘reasonable people’? – just asking.
June 27, 2020
Dear Martin, there is little I can say to dent your fanatical love of the EU and denial of democracy. You’ve almost certainly been peddling the same boring line since 2016. All I can say is; it didn’t and doesn’t work .. Please belt up
June 27, 2020
They certainly did and for very, very many years. Electing dire lefty, pro EU and economically illiterate leaders like May, Cameron, Major, Heath is unforgivable.
I will give Boris a bit longer but the indications so far are not that good. He has not cancelled HS2 and seem to be a deluded climate alarmist too.
June 27, 2020
Tory members canāt produce the leadership shortlist. We are left with Hobsonās Choice. Perhaps,itās time that was remedied?
June 27, 2020
+1 – rather the same when voting for an MP.
June 27, 2020
Except Hobsonās choice was the next horse in the line no choice really take it or get lost. On the Catz College Cambridge land I understand.
June 27, 2020
The leader of the party has to lead the parliamentary party so it would not work for a leader to be imposed by the members that the parliamentary party did not accept. See the problems that Corbyn gave Labour.
It does not seem unreasonable for caucuses to select candidates for the Chair of the party and narrow it down to two by member voting.
The leader could then select one of those two. It would give the members some leverage.
June 27, 2020
+1
June 27, 2020
+1
June 27, 2020
Quite. And Tory MPs would be unwise to imagine we have forgotten and forgiven. They have borrowed our vote, repayment is due on 31.12.20, and the penalty for default is political extermination.
June 27, 2020
Surely it’s far too early to claim that the UK is really becoming independent of the EU ?
For example, according to media reports, the EU has accepted that former UK fishing grounds return to Britain, but quotas will be agreed annually between London and Brussels relating to future EU catch in UK waters.
If those reports are true, and because the EU has agreed and the EU fishing industry is silent, surely it looks situation unchanged insofar as the end result is concerned ?
After all, Prime Minister Johnson does appear very supportive of international cooperation, and he is very friendly with President Macron.
Polly
June 27, 2020
And of course the quotas will be the same as they are now so with both sides claiming massive victories. Uk voters treated as mugs yet again!
June 27, 2020
Polly
“and he is very friendly with President Macron.”
If so, it will lose the conservatives the next general election.
June 27, 2020
The vote won’t be decided by that alone. A report card so far puts him as a rank outsider.
June 27, 2020
āMrs. Merkel may have got it at lastā
Or maybe itās the old good cop, bad cop routine with Barnier/Macron?
I really fear a last minute fudge with Boris undermining all Frostās good work.
June 27, 2020
Peter
“Or maybe itās the old good cop, bad cop routine with Barnier/Macron?”
I think it is more likely that of the three, Ms Merkel is the one endowed with astuteness.
I look forward to a ringside seat when France is alone in the room
with Germany. Ms Merkel won’t be putting up with their crap.
June 27, 2020
Dear steve–Except that Merkel is history
June 27, 2020
Leslie Singleton
Frau Merkel became Chancellor of Germany in 2005 and won her FOURTH general election 2 years ago after which she announced she was going to retire.
She is regarded as the most powerful woman in the world and saying she ‘is history’ is hardly an appropriate description of her outstanding political career.
June 27, 2020
Leslie
True, very true. But then I doubt Germany will be taking French orders anyway, regardless of whom is chancellor.
June 27, 2020
Yes based on the premise that for appearing to accept these things publicly Boris has whispered in her ear that he will āfudgeā to her benefit!
Uk politicians have truly lost our trust.
June 27, 2020
Nig
“Uk politicians have truly lost our trust.”
We have to see how it pans out, whether or not Boris caves in. Which he could easily do – if he wants the conservatives out of existence.
We shall have to see. Give the guy a chance I say.
June 27, 2020
JR
“Anyone following UK politics would have grasped that the UK voters voted for Brexit to regain our independence”
Except remainers who loathe the idea, and think we can be humiliated by being called ‘Little Englanders’.
They will soon find out what ‘Little England’ can achieve, as I suspect Ms Merkel fully realises. Hopefully she will have advised Barnier & Macron not to mess with us.
June 28, 2020
Yes, they might get a passive aggressive note pegged under their windscreen wipers.
June 27, 2020
Sir John, you can not know exactly what people voted for in the referendum as the question on the ballot paper was not nuanced in the way you suggest. Parliament did not oppose the will of the people, it could not agree on what form the exit should take. The ERG prevented us leaving the EU earlier than we did. I accept however that the question of our future relationship with the EU was settled by the December election and it is to be exactly as you state in your last paragraph. Mrs Merkel has now got this message having previously been steered in a different direction by Mrs May’s government. I don’t think it’s fair to criticise her, of course it takes a little time to absorb when the UK government changes tack after years of leaning towards a closer relationship. I am less sanguine than you on the supposed benefits of trading on WTO terms with our major trading partner but let’s see.
June 27, 2020
The Referendum question had no nuances. It was simple and pellucidly clear that we stayed a member with all that entailed or we left, with all that entailed. There was no halfway house proposed.
Only the purblind refuse to see that the British have voted 6 times to leave the EU.
June 28, 2020
“Leave the European Union”. What could be clearer? Remaining subservient to the EU in any way is not leaving.
June 27, 2020
This good news indeed Sir John . However , I do so love that word , we all know the EU can say one thing and give a positive nod , only to completely change their stance the following day . The devil as always will be in the political detail . But hey,so far so good . Mr Frost should be highly commended for all of his efforts .
June 27, 2020
Merkel is out of touch with many people coming from East Germany where rules and life was strict. The very thought of her pulling strings in Brussels and EU against Britain’s best interests was too much for many here.
Many now fear Boris will cave in and not stand firm and be a paper tiger instead of a Churchill or courageous Madam Thatcher when the final poker game occurs.
June 27, 2020
Sir John,
Whilst, to those of us who voted for Brexit, you are stating the blooming obvious, (and thank you) there are many who still lie semi-awake at night, fearsome that the bogeyman (aka Boris) will come along and turn a wonderful dream into a nightmare.
Please do all you can to keep him on course to finally get Brexit (as so many here understand it) done!
June 27, 2020
From Owen Paterson to Michael Gove, Dan Hannan to Boris Johnson, David Davis to Nigel Farage, all the leading Brexiters said we would stay fully part of the free trade zone created by the EU single market. The one thing all agreed on was that we would not leave without a deal granting us the exact same benefits as we had as an EU member. So please do not insult us by trying to rewrite history.
Reply Not True. I made very clear at many meetings pre referendum we would leave the customs union and single market, as did the official Leave and Remain campaigns! I also made clear we were likely to offer a FTA but it would only happen if both sides wanted it
June 27, 2020
David Cameron said several times in interviews that leaving the EU meant leaving the single market.
June 27, 2020
Reply is accurate not for just JR speaking for himself but for all Brexiteers. Only Richard North (not a Brexiteer in my view) proposed āFlexitā effectively Mayās Chequers.
June 27, 2020
@Lorna – where did you dream up that theory?
June 27, 2020
The actual wording on the Vote.Leave pamphlet included;
“We negotiate a new UK-EU deal based on free trade and friendly cooperation. We end the supremacy of EU law. We regain control. We stop sending Ā£350 million every week to Brussels and instead spend it on our priorities, like the NHS and science research. We regain our seats on international institutions like the World Trade Organisation so we are a more influential force for free trade and international cooperation.”
There was no statement from Brexiteers about staying in the single market. and Leaving was not conditional on getting a deal, this was all a fabrication by the Remainders.
Stop trying to put words in peoples mouths and rewriting history.
June 28, 2020
Lorna
“From Owen Paterson to Michael Gove, Dan Hannan to Boris Johnson, David Davis to Nigel Farage…”
All people we can trust implicitly to tell the truth…… -:)
June 27, 2020
Mrs Merkel would have “got it” a lot sooner had Mrs May not been so brazen about thwarting the leaving process.
June 27, 2020
If Mrs Markel feels a nation should have its affairs ultimately decided by an overseas power, she could seek to subject Germany’s to The Scilly Isles parish council’s permission for authority, without prejudice.
June 27, 2020
By their deeds shall ye know them; or in this case, know her.
Regrettably Frau Merkel’s words frequently differ from her actions.
With the EU, Germany has achieved what the German Empire, in whatever guise, always craved, dominance of Eastern European markets. It has had the added bonus of dominance also over Western Europe.
The EU was meant to “contain” Germany, which it did until the threat (if such it ever was…) of the USSR collapsed. Thereafter Germany was certain to dominate, because of its economic strength.
The involvement of the UK in the then EC was a strategic mistake. The expansion of EFTA should have been the UK’s goal.
June 27, 2020
If such it ever was……
You must be a child. I spent years at sea in the 60’s and I can assure you the threat was very real. As it is today from various quarters.
June 27, 2020
And what, pray, was the bankrupt USSR ever likely to do? It could barely feed itself.
It could, of course, seek to subvert and I admit that current circumstances may prove it was remarkably successful at that!
June 27, 2020
North Korea can also not feed itself, and masses a dangerous and aggressive armed force and weapons against the West – just as the USSR did. It built up a formidable threat with its SS20 missiles, and it was only NATO’s determined response in rearming and restoring the MAD scenario that forced the USSR to agree disarmament in 1987.
There were various phases (e.g. 1951-56, 1961/4, 1978/1979) in which the objective danger of a Soviet nuclear strike was extremely high.
June 27, 2020
The strategic mistake happened after the War when Germany was not divided into its constituent parts, then it would not have been at its neighbours throats in short order – yet again!
June 27, 2020
Quite so!
June 27, 2020
Political naivety at the world’s top table, the Marshall Plan, and the average German’s will to rebuild evolved to determine they could win an economic battle, putting military might behind them.
June 28, 2020
ā..mentioned the war …ā my confused intervening again. Sorry.
June 27, 2020
micke
“The EU was meant to ācontainā Germany…”
Seeing that Germany was one of the 6 EU founder members how do you make that out?
As for your idea that “With the EU, Germany has achieved what the German Empire, in whatever guise, always craved…” – ever heard of the Holy Roman Empire?
June 27, 2020
NATO one side and the USSR was meant to contain Germany.
June 28, 2020
Germany wanted to be re-admitted to the ranks of civilised nations. Agreeing to be junior partner to France was the price it was prepared to pay.
As for EFTA, of course many members joined the EC when the UK gave up on it.
June 27, 2020
micke
” The expansion of EFTA should have been the UKās goal.”
Wiki:
“Since 1995, only two founding members remain, namely Norway and Switzerland. The other five, Austria, Denmark, Portugal, Sweden and the United Kingdom, joined the EU at some point in the intervening years”
June 28, 2020
Margaret H, That was MickC’s point – that the UK abandoning the EFTA and joining the EU happened, and was a mistake.
June 28, 2020
Oh. Why not rejoin it then?
June 27, 2020
Good comments, Sir John.
There is a good article today on the BrexitFacts4EU website on this same topic:
‘…. One might have thought that if a trade deal were at all likely, the teams on each side would be talking to each other a great deal next week. Instead we get two hours on goods trade and two hours on services trade. Hardly very impressive, nor anything which could really be described as āintensifiedā. Perhaps David Frost approved the agenda because he knew there was little point in wasting more time on areas where the EU is clearly never going to behave normally.
If this carries on, there seems little point in pretending. The Government could simply announce to the world that there is no prospect whatsoever of the EU behaving reasonably. The EU is demanding continued jurisdiction over the UK. It demands the UKās waters, and it demands effective control over the UKās policies on industry, taxation, state aid, social laws, and the environment.
Boris Johnson could score major brownie points with the British public ā and with large parts of the EU populace come to that – if he simply went on television at the end of next week and said:
āThese unelected Eurocrats are quite extraordinary. Itās impossible to negotiate with them, as so many other nations have found. Blow this for a game of soldiers. Weāre off.
āHello World, Great Britain is Back!ā ‘
Will it be Bulldog Boris or Bedwetter Boris who turns up to the talks next week?
June 27, 2020
James – – ‘Boris Johnson could score major brownie points with the British public ā and with large parts of the EU populace come to that ā if he simply went on television at the end of next week and said:
āThese unelected Eurocrats are quite extraordinary. Itās impossible to negotiate with them, as so many other nations have found. Blow this for a game of soldiers. Weāre off.
āHello World, Great Britain is Back!ā ā
That is exactly what he should do – well said!
June 28, 2020
Thanks, Fred – but I can’t take credit for that. It was an extract from the BrexitFacts4EU team. They often make excellent points and commentary that you rarely find reported in the mainstream media.
June 27, 2020
āthe will of the peopleā
Interestingly, I saw 2 polls over the last few days, about what the British would vote now if they had a chance:
Kantar: remain:56%, leave:44%
ESS(as reported by CNN):remain:56.8%, leave:34.9%, no vote:8.3%
Obviously too late now for the British, but it tells me that, say in 5 years, in a post-Cummings UK government, the UK may seek a closer trade relationship or association agreement than the current expectations are (of an extremely āskinnyā deal š ).
As Mrs Merkel said in her interview:
“We need to let go of the idea that it is for us to define what Britain should want. That is for Britain to define ā and we, the EU27, will respond appropriately.”
June 27, 2020
Did you miss the GE vote Peter. An 80 seat majority on ” Get Brexit Done”
June 27, 2020
Can you find out if any surveyed would have been unable to vote in the actual referendum.
June 27, 2020
I think you might find in 5 years that the “EU27” with be the “EUconsiderably less”
June 27, 2020
Europhobes have been saying this exact sort of thing for nearly 30 years now. And you have been wrong every time.
If anything there will be more than 27 in 5 years time – as a couple of candidate states are close to membership. Nobody will leave – though it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Hungary might be expelled.
June 28, 2020
So, Andy, even you have to accept that at least one more EU member may leave? And I don’t see many of the non-Euro states clamouring to join the Euro, do you?
June 29, 2020
Nick C
Read the treaties some of them do not have to join the EURO
June 29, 2020
Recent polls show about 80% and 89% pro-European Union sentiment in Hungary and in Poland respectively.
However, they are in danger of expulsion and quite rightly so.
The people of Serbia and of Montenegro want to join along with others too.
June 27, 2020
Peter, the devil is always in the detail, and any decent polling organisation can deliver the result a client wants by priming the debate.
The UK is leaving, and our own polling organisations, in particular Professor John Curtice from the University of Strathclyde, maintain that opinions have not really shifted since the Brexit vote in 2016.
Unless the EU changes dramatically I see little prospect of the UK ever rejoining the EU, regardless of which party is in government, as no party will be able to win a majority unless it attracts a significant portion of leave voters.
June 27, 2020
the quite numerous people we know, and nearly all wanting to LEAVE, are more entrenched of that opinion than before. The years long saga and shocking treatment from EU convinces them that we want out more than ever…..get us out Boris!
June 27, 2020
The UK has already left.
And unless you find a way to bring Brexiteers back from the dead or to stop elderly Baby Boomers from dying then there is 100% chance the UK will try to rejoin the EU.
This is demographically inevitable. The vast majority of under 50s do not want Brexit and we will not change our minds. And with fewer of you around you will not be able to stop us.
The question is after the appalling way the Tories and Faragists have treated the EU whether our friends across the channel would want us back.
June 27, 2020
Trouble is Andy, Rejoin is a lot harder case to make than Remain. All the arguments about disruption caused by abandoning the status quo will be reversed. You will be standing on your soapbox saying ‘Let’s abandon the trade deals we’ve made around the world, let’s destroy our regenerated fishing industry, let’s give billions of euros each year for things like Folk Dancing in Latvia, become subservient to foreign courts and unelected bureaucrats, and LET’S JOIN THE EURO’.
June 28, 2020
Andy, The UK has not left the EU. Your EU empire still controls us via the WA treaty. Though only for another 6 months, thank God.
June 29, 2020
NickC
What empire?
June 27, 2020
Northern Monkey:
“John Curtice from the University of Strathclyde, maintains that opinions have not really shifted since the Brexit vote in 2016”.
That holds for the people who voted in 2016. Younger people who didnāt yet vote in 2016 are apparently strongly of the remain conviction.
Not that I mind as a non-British: The EU27 is better off without Britain, it has to move on now – e.g. the 750bn recovery plan would not have happened.
June 27, 2020
Youāre right there. The ā¬750bn disguised euro bailout would most likely not happen with the U.K. still in, or at least would get more opposition. The fact is the federal european dream has no material support in the U.K. so if thatās what the populations of the EU want to do its better they carry on without us.
June 28, 2020
PvL, Every UK general election and Referendum from 2015 has been in favour of Leave.
June 28, 2020
No, Peter, it holds for the electorate since 2016 through to today. Do you not remember how remaniacs assured us that within months the Brexit majority would die off to be replaced by young, keen europhiles?
It hasn’t happened, and won’t happen, “fool me once, shame on you…”
June 27, 2020
Would we?
I think they said that in 2016 too!
June 27, 2020
šš even Kier Starmer knows that we will vote for Brexit a 7th time if you like?
June 27, 2020
Peter, the UK spent decades getting a cheap living out of its Commonwealth colonies, until the colonies wised up and went their own way for the benefit of their own citizens. (They will only come back at world prices for their goods.)
The UK then needed another organisation that could supply it with a cheap living via imports using a currency that still meant something in those days; hello pre Euro EC/EEC/EU membership.
Since the Brexit vote, Sterling has been bouncing around and trending down, like a third world currency. The UK’s large volume of imports will become expensive in 2021, as exporters to the UK, start thinking that getting paid in Sterling and holding it in Sterling denominated assets is too risky.
June 28, 2020
Acorn, Would you like to supply evidence to show that all our imports from Commonwealth countries in the 1960s/70s were below world prices?
June 29, 2020
Whose currency were they using? When you are forced to use someone else’s currency, you are a colony; a vassal state in Rees-Mogg parlance.
June 27, 2020
Itās possible but it would need 2 things to happen: 1) Brexit fails to deliver its promises and 2) the eurozone outperforms the U.K. at the moment there is no reason to expect either.
June 27, 2020
You really shouldn’t depend on polls, they are misleading as the remainiacs discovered in 2016.
The only tests that mattered was a referendum and general elections.
As long as I have a vote I will never support a closer relationship with the EU much less an association agreement. You simply cannot be trusted on any level or any matter.
June 28, 2020
Dixie, Exactly right – the EU cannot be trusted because it is only a rootless ideology designed to enhance its own power. It is therefore naturally amoral, if not immoral.
June 29, 2020
NickC
I would look up ideology, before using it in this context
June 27, 2020
You would have to be really dim not to understand what the English word “Leave” means. And of course Mrs Merkel is highly intelligent. So her pretence was merely self-serving. It was a position universally adopted within the EU, and by Theresa May and other Remains here.
Not only would it enable the EU empire to make us their colony – as Verhofstadt’s staffers gloated – but also make the UK serve as a warning of EU vindictiveness and power to others thinking of jumping ship. Amazingly some Remains here fell for it, believing their own propaganda.
June 27, 2020
I think some of these Red Wall Tories who stretched their wings and rebelled this week, will take more notice of Mrs Merkel than the ERG 62 brexiters. What are the chances of a similar rebellion for another Brexit referendum before Christmas? š·
June 27, 2020
Nil.
June 27, 2020
Zero.
June 27, 2020
Nil
June 27, 2020
None at all. The Tories won the election solely because their new leader declared we would completely leave all the EU’s institutions and control – FTA or no FTA – by 31.12.20. Even the most callow and complacent MPs have finally understood that they have had amazing luck, and that one more betrayal of their main pre-election manifesto platform will kill off the Conservative Party for good.
We know who are the dissemblers in the Commons – one hopes the whips do too, for one mis-step and this government is electoral toast.
June 28, 2020
What a silly comment.
A pie chart of why people mainly voted Tory would have many slices, of which the brexit one – though perhaps one of the larger ones – would be but one.
You could have removed others and they would have lost too.
June 27, 2020
Mrs Merkel will be taking over the presidency of the EU for the rest of the UK transition period; that means she will be setting the EU agenda till next January.
As far as I can gather sur la continente, the virus will be top of Mrs Merkel’s agenda along with the virus mitigating Euro bailout funds. Trying to please pompous arrogant Eton School Boy Brexiteers, will be a long way down her to-do list.
Merkel will be saying to the UK, make me an offer and I will think about it; but no promises. Otherwise, piss off, because I have much bigger EU27 problems to sort out.
June 27, 2020
OK, the offer is the same trade deal as the EU has with Canada, South Korea and several other countries, the one Barnier and Tusk said we should have before Maybe screwed it up. Brilliant deal for the EU as they have a trade surplus with us, even before the Golden Goodbye payment we have agreed to give them. They would have to be mad not to take it…
June 28, 2020
acorn, just because Frau Merkel is dominant in the EU, you didn’t have to feminise le continent.
June 28, 2020
Acorn, You mean Germany hasn’t been setting the EU agenda up till now?? Personally I would much prefer than we piss-off – as you so inelegantly put it – because the EU cannot be trusted, other than to be vindictive and incompetent.
June 29, 2020
NickC
You mean incompetent like our government dealing with Covid 19. According to OECD.)
June 27, 2020
Love the emoji. Very apt for these times š
June 27, 2020
Yes absolutely JR – but keep Kim Jong Son away from the negotiations. He will only undermine our position by trying to please Macron. I suspect that they taste blood after the last few months of his decison making.
zorro
June 27, 2020
Again such disingenuous nonsense from Merkel.
She is fully aware of the detailed circumstances of Britain’s departure, oft discussed in German media.
The British media needs to get to grips with data flow from Europe, else we can only assume we are being blind sided deliberately…and we all know there is no such possibility of that ever happening, right?
June 27, 2020
I do hope, Sir John, that you and our other allies in Parliament can persuade Boris to give us the clean exit that we voted for. I am particularly concerned that he will agree to some form of ongoing military cooperation that will compromise our independence.
June 27, 2020
I’ve never thought or been informed that JR is in any close contact with Boris and it seems JR has no chance of speaking with him except the odd question in PMQs which never get answered anyway. Am I wrong?
June 27, 2020
none so deaf as those who do not want to hear. Come Election day he’ll hear it alright!
June 27, 2020
wise words indeed
June 27, 2020
Yes.
June 27, 2020
What “independence”?
The UK appears to do much as directed by the US militarily.
June 27, 2020
in much the same way Germany/Austria/France etc wouldn’t dare to pull Putin’s tail. Nepal, India, Australia, NZ etc feel the backlash quickly if they try to comment adversely on China. The Middle East gets a message sharpish when they ‘attack’ Israel. Others get a sting from Iran ……
Its all a pecky order in relation to economic reliance, military support, who will honour defence pacts etc.
If you knew history Martin you would recognise these alliances existed centuries ago, shift according to trading changes, military might, political and religious developments , even families inter-marrying!
June 28, 2020
Quite – so no independence.
June 28, 2020
but you don’t want the UK to be independent, do you!
Subservient to EU you bang on about, over and over.
Just a question of who we are better friends with. The last 3 ‘negotiating’ years help us with that one!
June 28, 2020
Martin, Oh the irony! – you are the one who does not want the UK to be independent.
June 28, 2020
The UK was far more independent, and greatly more influential, as a European Union member nation, than it ever will be outside.
That’s just a couple of its many benefits too.
June 29, 2020
You are plainly not independent whilst in the EU
Stop your nonsense.
June 30, 2020
Independence is a relative not an absolute – but you can’t grasp these things.
June 27, 2020
Stay on the case John. I suspect there are many who would have the country some way still connected to the parasitic EU.
June 27, 2020
The fact we have not already stopped talking and gone to WTO terms by now must give the EU hope that Boris will cave in.
June 27, 2020
Well yes, I think quite a lot of people – about 57% of Brits according to current polls – want us to have a connection with our nearest neighbours and the biggest bestest free trade area ever created on planet Earth.
June 27, 2020
How ‘free’ is it?
zorro
June 27, 2020
depends how you understand free to mean!
June 27, 2020
This bbfta, is that the one that costs us cĀ£20+ billion a year,and rising, to get not so free trade. We’d be better off on a tariffs system as we import far far more from them than we export to them.
June 27, 2020
It is dim beyond belief to think we will have no connection at all to the people who live next door. Still dim beyond belief is apt when it comes to Brexit.
June 27, 2020
Connection is fine.
Legal power over the UK is not fine.
June 27, 2020
Mrs M has got it at last we read and already issuing her warning words that we shall ‘ have to live with the consequences’. We already are Mrs Merkel. I for one am sick of threats. Our borders are a farce. The rest of it ? – I despair. David J above: There should be no need for anyone to ‘persuade’ Mr Johnson. If he does not know by now after 4 plus years, what he needs to do then faith in him & the party in general will sink to rock bottom, not quite there yet but not much headroom left in my opinion & I can’t be alone in thinking that. Like many, I fear fudge and capitulation, to use polite terms but if this is all a charade, I think we can rest assured, toast is on the menu!
June 27, 2020
Hip Hip Hip Hurray, lets hope that the message gets through to Michael Barnier. Then our Mr Frost can start talking realities for the best mutual ongoing relationship.
June 27, 2020
+Anyone following UK politics would have grasped that +
Really?
I think they’d be wondering why we had a Prime minister for 3 plus years who hadn’t grasped that herself.
June 27, 2020
It is welcome that Mrs Merkel has seen the light.
My concern has never been whether or not anyone in the EU understood that we voted to become an independent country once more, but that people in power in the UK did not ‘get it’.
I will not feel that we are safely out without a fudge until 1st January next year.
June 27, 2020
If only the UK so-called establishment could also get their heads around what and independent self governing country meant as well. We would then have an accelerating economy, as everyone would be invested in it.
June 27, 2020
There has not been a British Government for 48 years. They only know the theory. Give us all a chance, quality people will not come forward to be MPs as we now have a Parliament.
June 28, 2020
Correction āquality people will NOW Come forward …ā
June 27, 2020
Nothing is agreed until every thing is agreed, so if no agreement the EU should stop all UK flights over Europe and end all trade.
June 27, 2020
Why would they do that? Can you think of any other case of a country or group of countries taking such action other than at a time of war? Your petulant attitude is revealing.
June 27, 2020
the EU have no powers to stop all flights … I fell about laughing at the idea of the EU wanting to stop all trade with us. But, please go ahead !! The Germans and French are already noticing none of their cars being wanted here. The BMW mini exporting trains are now daily sending long freight deliveries ‘over there’.
June 27, 2020
Fred H
“The BMW mini exporting trains are now daily sending long freight deliveries āover thereā”
Are they taking the workers with them?
June 28, 2020
stupid remark. The workers have always worked in car assembly/manufacture and are prized by BMW owned Oxford factory.
June 28, 2020
After one example of global(bad practice ed) VW is slowly imploding and now we have another example of global (Possible ed)fraud from the German finance sector courtesy of Wirecard.
Reasons not to trade with the EU, to buy goods and services from them are mounting up.
June 27, 2020
Yes they can do that or just fall on their sword – Same result.
June 28, 2020
Lynn Atkinson
What are you actually trying to say?
June 27, 2020
Rejoice, rejoice!
June 27, 2020
Good evening.
Err, to be fair, it took the near annihilation of the Tory Party at the Europarl Elections to get rid of the pro-EU Remain PM that was T.May and force the Tories on a reluctant path to independence. But even now I fear a last minute betrayal as they seek to recreate EU membership in all but name.
The price of freedom is eternal vigilance and, those in the Remain camp will not give up on their dream of being subsumed into a Federal EU, and the EU will never accept losing one of its most prized possessions.
June 27, 2020
Mark B
“the EU will never accept losing one of its most prized possessions.”
Oh dear! Prized possessions? More pain in the neck and good riddance. De Gaulle was right to veto our application 3 times.
When we joined we were known the the ‘sick man of Europe’ and the EU paid out 25% of its development fund to get us up to scratch.
The Germans should have listened to the old saying about doing people a favour before they supported our application.
June 28, 2020
Margaret If they thought we were that bad then why still negotiate? They could have sent us packing a long time ago. Still I would expect nothing more from you than the usual anti UK comment.
June 28, 2020
Margaret H, You’re on very dodgy ground claiming we gained from EU (EEC) largesse. The UK always paid more into the EU than we got back (except for one year). And we were known as the sick man of Europe in the 1970s when we had already joined your EU (EEC). It was Thatcher that cured us, not the EU.
June 29, 2020
NIck C
Where is your historical perspective we were known as the sick man of Europe in the 60’s, before we joined the EU.
Like the empire without wars, you should read up on your history Nick C
June 27, 2020
Dear David, I have to diss agree,quite the opposite is the truth,
We simply spend so much more buying from THEM by a huge margin, we have always held the winning hand, it is just that the Remainers in Westminster have been flying against the People of this Country, this used to be called Treacherous years ago, and it was dealt with accordingly.
Now it seems that our MrFrost is now using our bargaining power, and so he should, the EU has no cards at all.
As for it being the best market for us, sorry not on there terms.
Nothing to fear but fear it self.
I also feel that this PM is not much better than those before him.
For him to let us win, he will have to go against his family.
His father was a diplomat, they are Globalists, they do not like Nations as such.
We must stay awake, this is by no means over yet, The last PM is looking far to smug for my liking, but then from her background what would you expect ?
June 27, 2020
Why do you keep talking about getting our independence- the UK had an Empire and most of the other countries in the empire had to fight mostly by insurgency for their independence to get free- as far as the EU is concerned we joined willingly and could leave anytime willingly so don’t know how you can equate it with looking for independence.
On the other hand Mrs Merkel says the door has closed on negotiations and we will have to live with the consequences – I think she means our independence- she said something else about how we can’t make up our minds about what we want? and I think she’s right- for myself- I don’t think the cherry picking deal we were promised by Gove Fox and IDS is going to come about either
June 27, 2020
The British never fought to keep its Empire. We invested heavily and sacrificed much to give them all they needed to succeed in the modern world, and we gave them their independence.
June 28, 2020
I don’t think that you believe that nonsense any more than I do.
But claiming that you do gives you a moral excuse for the rest of the silly things that you say.
You should ask e.g. the Kenyan survivors of torture, what the British did to keep their empire.
June 28, 2020
Martin, I donāt think that you believe that simplistic nonsense any more than I do. Whilst the British Empire was partly gained, imposed and maintained by military power, the dissolution of the Empire was largely peaceful on the part of Britain (though some natives engaged in civil war at the time – eg Muslims vs Hindus).
June 28, 2020
Nick C
So, what happen in Kenya?
June 28, 2020
Lynn Atkinson
So we gave the Kenyan independence did we ? or did they have to fight a war first?
June 28, 2020
Yes the Mau Mau war certainly was a war
June 28, 2020
Lynn
“…and we gave them their independence….”
which we had taken away in the first place when we invaded them and forcefully annexed them. Nations like India who had glorious civilisations while we were still painting our faces with woad and living in caves.
Have a look at the battles we had to fight to occupy them and the further uprisings to put down to force them to be a part of that ’empire’.
We won most of them because we had guns and cannons against their inferior weapons.
Might is right won the day.
June 28, 2020
No Lynn we sucked the life out of Africa and other places and left them with nothing- I know- because I was there
June 27, 2020
What is lacking is this declaration from the UK PM:
“The EU has wasted far too much time in pretending to ignore the basic preconditions of any treaty with any independent state, and in trying to put its own self-interested interpretation on the generalised and legally non-binding language of the Political Declaration. It appears that the EU is in no hurry to conclude a treaty, and as a consequence, while continuing to negotiate with the EU, we shall now begin our plans for a WTO Brexit. If the EU continue to make the ridiculous claim that the UK must be submitted to any aspects of their legal and political regime, we shall take that as a hostile act, and immediately cease negotiations. If we do halt FTA talks, we shall not resume them until mid-2022 at the very earliest. Meanwhile we shall pursue FTAs with every other world country outside the EU.”
June 28, 2020
sounds good to me.
June 28, 2020
Sir JR.
I think Mrs. Merkel got it a long time ago but has been and is playing tactical politics as long as the negotiations are going on and there will eventually be some sort of deal
June 28, 2020
bill brown
I shouldn’t be at all surprised if Frau Merkel is just biding her time seeing that the break up of our union is imminent.
The corona virus tragedy has led to an unprecedented departure by Wales, Scotland and Ireland from the strictures of the London government. They have been spreading their wings and smelled freedom after centuries of servitude after their forced annexation.
June 28, 2020
Whatever Frau Merkel says, or indeed whatever position she takes, one thing is for sure – it will be to her advantage in some way. Even if it is only to establish her EU leadership credentials.
Merkel has only one ambition for Europe, and is one the architects of the tragedies befalling all European countries. She was not awarded the Charlemagne Prize because she had a pretty face. She has worked tirelessly to implement her version of the Kalergi plan, and ex-PM May was backing her all the way.
The ultimate goal of Merkel and so many others like her is the implementation of the UN-NWO.
We should never forget that Frau Merkel has an ulterior motive for everything she says.
June 28, 2020
Bryan Harris
Most politicians do
June 29, 2020
JR, you may want to be prepared for an upcoming HoC debate…
I see that a report is due for debate in Parliament, prepared by the HoC Library, author “Matthew Ward”. The report is here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7851/
However, this report and its associated spreadsheet do not mention that the claimed “43% of all exports go to the EU” is actually a rather disingenuous figure. A percentage of these “EU exports” in fact merely transit through Dutch and Belgian ports on their way to the rest of the world.
In fact only 7% of our GDP comes from trade in goods with the EU and 5% from services, most of our GDP is from out internal market. These guys have crunched the numbers “properly” (from official sources, the ONS and Treasury):
https://facts4eu.org/news/little_eu_big_britain
Hope this helps.
June 29, 2020
Some did. Not that many, really. First past the post hides a multidude of misleading information.