Conservative campaigning

He's not the only one.

Apparently one candidate is finding that the dementia tax is going down like a cup of sick on the doorstep. Well who knew that would happen?

Not sure if May is doing a U turn, a stop & rethink or going round in circles. It now looks as if she is not even in the driving seats.

What I do know is that her interview with Andrew Neil was possible the most evasive I have ever heard from a Prime Minster of any shade. She did not give one straight answer, but mainly tried to blame all her problems on Corbyn. She certainly demonstrated she is NOT strong or even stable in providing us with facts on her policies. Bring back DC.

Did JC say that Jane10?

Works both ways welshwife - 'Maybot' ring any bells?

Damian Green is my MP - aren't I the lucky one?

Any thread will do surely? Got to keep having a bash...

Not sure about not mud slinging yet roses - what about all the comments about JC by TM? Or maybe that doesn't count.

Goodness anyone would think you're not very keen on the Conservatives

This is on the wrong thread isn't it!!

"No agreement is better than a bad agreement"

This is the other mantra - but what are the implications?

So imagine the talks have fallen apart and we have not secured membership of the single market.

Britain is out of the treaty that waves tax on imports and exports.Britain is on its own - a scenario that will delight many on the right.

In practice how does it work?

All transport carrying goods to the EU will be stopped at e border and paperwork will need to be checked. Samples will be taken for testing to ensure it complies with EU standards. No entry to the EU will be allowed until all paperwork is satisfied.

Export of animal products - the problem is more severe. They are only allowed into the EU through specially designated entry inspection posts. At the moment none exist. Imagine what that will do to our farming and fishing industry.

These problems will not be restricted to the EU as trade agreements exist with most of the world. All these restrictions to movement will apply to these other countries.

Country of origin is a nightmare as each component has to be checked to ensure that they are paying the right tariff. It is estimated that the country of origin problem will cost 25bn in the first year.

Reference Dunt 2016

At least both campaigns are not mud slinging......as yet.

Perhpas he has hidden depths ( well hidden!)

Tipped to be the next chancellor - long standing friend of May

I'm always surprised that Damien Green is allowed to do any interviews at all as he is so poor at doing them.The last time I saw him on QT he almost seemed to be asleep.

One of the eye catching things relating to Brexit is Mays assertion that "Britain will leave the single market"

Hmm- so in doing so what are the implications?

The single market means that people and businesses are merged into one market.

In order to work the single market requires all EU nations to standardise their regulations, we all play by the same rules.
Remember it only standardises markets - it doesn't affect domestic law like health or crime.
This recognition of standards reflect a key part tf what makes trade work.

It is something that presents the greatest danger to Britain in Brexit - non- tariff barriers.

So the single market is like a supercharged mutual recognition agreement, one that is so strong it binds countries together into one single market structure.
The EU also has mutual recognition agreements with all other major economies.

When we leave the single market we will lose every single one of these agreements. Including those with the rest of the world.
They don't just apply to product standards, they apply to the Labour that went into it as well. Which means that no one country can gain advantage by exploiting its workforce or destroying the environment in producing its goods.

So the question for us is

"Do we want or is it desirable to leave the single market"?

The other thing that needs more looking at is the supposed reason the election was called in the first place, and that is Brexit.

It will be interesting to explore what the manifesto says about Brexit.