Bonkers brexit

Kati Piri, the EU parliament's rapporteur charged with responding to the negotiations, said consent for the final deal would be "conditional" on a strong "level playingfield" condition, as well as an agreement on fishing.

As rapporteur Ms Piri is responsible for coordinating the parliament's view on negotiations across political groups and steering the consensus through parliament as a motion.

On Wednesday she told a plenary meeting in Brussels: "I'm proud to say that parliament is united on a strong text with a clear political message, and that message is simple: yes we want a deal, but we will not simply consent to any deal.

"Our consent is conditional on the UK government's adherence to its own commitments. The UK must respect the political declaration and ensure the full implementation of the withdrawal agreement.

"Let me be very clear: the UK's expectation to keep the benefits and rights of member states without agreeing to any obligations is not realistic.

"It's only logical that if you want to have access to the market of 450 million citizens then this will come with conditions. The UK government made a conscious decision to leave the single market. We respect this, but so should the United Kingdom. Without a level playing-field and fisheries there cannot be a trade agreement."

The Dutch socialist MEP said accused the British government of continuing "to put ideology over the interests of its own people".

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-uk-eu-trade-deal-standards-boris-johnson-a9571846.html

The Brexiters always claimed that we would only be able to trade with the rest of the world and reconnect with the Commonwealth if we broke free from the clutches of the EU, but it was a lie.

Since 2018, the EU has been negotiating FTAs with both New Zealand and Australia and talks are fairly advanced. By quitting the EU, the UK has removed itself from those negotiations to begin again – from a weaker position, further back in the queue.

And three Australian former PMs have gone on record to say that any UK - Aus. trade deals wouldn't be worth very much anyway.

So humiliating to be scratching around for crumbs...

Minister opposed to chlorinated chicken gets expelled from security committee

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8442473/amp/PM-drops-anti-chlorinated-chicken-Tory-MP-intelligence-committee.html#referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&_tf=From%20%251%24s

Do you mean crumbs from the Tim Tams MazieD?

Good News, Brexiteers! As you pointed out (wrongly) during the Referendum, the European Commission is 'over-bureaucratic', employing a total staff of 32,000. You'll be delighted to learn that the number of UK Customs Agents required to deal with additional bureaucracy after the end of the transition period is, according to the Govt., 50,000. (Private Eye, no 1524, June 2020).

Brilliant news ^Varian* 50,000 new jobs created in the UK ??

Some of them would already have been working for EU institutions. How much will these new jobs cost and how will they make a positive contribution to the UK's economy? How much will it cost to retrain farmers, fishermen and car assembly line workers, amongst others, and to relocate them to where they're needed?

The great Brexit irony: leaving will mean more bureaucracy, not less.

The ability to cut red tape was a key Brexit prize—but Eurosceptics are in for a nasty shock

www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/economics-and-finance/the-great-brexit-irony-leaving-will-mean-more-bureaucracy-not-less

"But the truth is Brexit will create a more bureaucratic state rather than a more agile one. The UK now needs to build its own regulatory functions in Whitehall to replace those that were delegated to Brussels. From medicines to chemicals to aviation, the UK will need to replicate European agencies, no matter the chancellor’s ideological bent. Instead of sharing these regulatory functions with 27 other states, Britain will now need to shoulder the responsibility alone. Brexit will be a boon for British bureaucrats."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/07/brexit-regulation-britain-eu-agencies-sajid-javid

This dates from February, before the UK government had registered that we were entering a disastrous pandemic, but is even more true now.

Anyone who believed there would be less red tape was a fool, regardless of that however much there is it will be “our” red tape.
The CAP farm payments scheme was a quite straightforward framework until it got to Whitehall who then gold plated everything, making it unworkable.

We have already spent more on Brexit than our contributions to the EU during our whole membership.

I see Japan have presented the U.K. with the terms for a trade agreement, which is apparently far less advantageous that the agreement with the EU..

We have 6 weeks to make up our minds.
No ifs or buts.

Take it or leave it.

It is bonkers as we already had an agreement with Japan as EU members. Now they are bound to trumpet a worse deal as some sort of success.

The point is that it seems that Japan are indicating that because of alleged lies told by Johnson the Japanese (who are clinically honest, to the point of rudeness) are really not bothered about a trade agreement with the U.K. They feel that they can’t trust us.

Good point.

The world sees the U.K. as a country who inexplicably has chosen its own de line and decay.

“A report by the Bank of America says ‘We believe sterling is evolving into a currency that resembles the underlying reality of the British economy: small and shrinking with a growing dual deficit problem.’“

Link to above

t.co/nQHrBNkmSf?amp=1

If the Japanese Government really is thinking that way, the 3 car manufacturers that make the majority of cars in the UK are going to think the same, that is very bad news.

Why shoot ourselves in both feet.

Yes david they have indicated that they are only interested in a deal and that includes the Japanese car industry if the U.K. has a presence in the EU. It is the 500 million customer base they are after. They are not really interested in our whisky etc. We have nothing that interests them.

The Japanese central bank has been advising Japanese companies not to invest in the UK since just after the referendum. Japan has its own trading partners and was never going to be attracted to whatever the UK offers.

Words fail me about the whole sorry mess!

Whisky. Some time ago I found out that Japan itself is the worlds largest whisky producer. Most folks think all they drink is Saki.
So no, they are not interested in Scotch whisky much, or indeed most of the other stuff we produce.

Japan is more interested in the agreement that the UK reaches with the EU. If Japan has to pay tariffs on UK/EU trade, it will pull investment out of the UK. It's been saying that all along.

New poll finds 57% of British people now want to rejoin the EU, with just 35% still backing Brexit.

Survey finds increased support for EU membership right across Europe, despite predictions that Brexit would trigger a wave of further exits.