New Year Of Truth

LauraNorder

The UK has brought forward the ban on pulse trawling in UK waters, it will continue elsewhere until the EU ban comes in to force in six months. The Dutch are the biggest users of this harmful practice. Our government are also likely to ban the use of huge super trawlers and move further to protecting marine life.
No lies on fishing that I heard.

In which case....no lie that I can see.
Think you have shot yourself in the foot here whitewave?

MaizieD

^Tax on sanitary products abolished.^

Could have happened at least 5 years ago. Tories chose not to implement it.

In fact, all the tory MPs slapping their own backs about this on twitter yesterday actually voted against removing VAT from sanpro in 2015.

We've had Freeports before, while we were in the EU, and some still exist in the EU. They haven't been particularly successful so I'm not sure what the tories are hoping to get out of them this time. Apparently they do tend to be a vehicle for money laundering and tax evasion.

Banning live animal exports is probably economically neutral, but it pleases some people.

OTOH, businesses have been hit with an estimated £7billion hit from extra red tape for exporters. SMEs will be particularly affected as they they're likely to not have the financial or HR capacity to take on the extra work. Then there's the need for phytosanitary checks for any thing exports involving plants or animals (dead or alive)

SMEs also likely to lose ROW suppliers because of the absurd new VAT rules which say that ROW exporters have to register with HMRC and collect VAT on all goods they export to the UK. It's highly likely that many will refuse to do it, cutting UK businesses off from suppliers. I'm not sure that that is a specifically Brexit 'thing' but it's certainly a further complication for trade...

Can't see much in that lot that will help us 'flourish'.

Would be happy to see some detail of how we're going to recoup the loss to GDP which is forecast post Brexit, 5%+ isn't it?

Perhaps we could look at all this in 12 month's time and make a judgement.

Banning live animal exports will certainly please me and plenty of others, it has gone on for too long as it is, and is cruel and unnecessary!
We have always had better animal practises in the UK than other EU countries.

Very silent about the other points, though, lemon.

Looking forward to lots of small businesses going bust?

MaizieD, surely many will - due to Covid rather than Brexit. How will we know what caused it?

How can Boris say schools are safe, does he have some inside info that guarantees this . IMO they aren’t safe , and there will be another rise in cases within a couple of weeks in to term I am sure ,

We may be ahead of the EU wide ban, Laura by a number of months but the French are ahead of us having banned it last summer. They actually banned it immediately the EU passed the motion. We, on the other hand decided it was a good move to imply it is a result of Brexit.

This is the manipulation of truth that many of us really don't like.

We are beginning to see the result of lies, uncertainty, incompetence and obfuscation.

The country is taking back control and making decisions for themselves.

HMG is watching as LA after LA and area after area is ignoring government pronouncements and making decisions in their best interest, which is largely to protect its population as far as is possible.

Perhaps UG would like to give us a list of the high points and successes of the Tory government.

Getting Brexit done is good enough for me.

Ah so now we have the old “leftie” jibe.

Urmstongran

On GN we are in the minority.
?
Political threads are usually an echo chamber of anti Boris cheerleaders all lined up, waiting for a peck.

Only quoting you as an example, nothing personal, but please can we stop this fiction that GN is overrun by left wing voters ? I could bring to mind as many from the right as from the left. Not to mention many who are centrist but happen to find plenty to dislike about the PRESENT government.

Absolutely right Lucca, or should I say absolutely correct, just in case anybody thinks saying right in this context is a political statement too.

Casdon

Absolutely right Lucca, or should I say absolutely correct, just in case anybody thinks saying right in this context is a political statement too.

??

If anyone doubts the facts of Johnson’s lies I recommend that you look up fact check on the BBC site.

All his lies are exposed in their gruesome glory.

Hetty58

MaizieD, surely many will - due to Covid rather than Brexit. How will we know what caused it?

I think that covid will make a very good excuse for the government and the pro Brexit lot, but it won't explain the demise of previously successful on line businesses which won't be able to source from abroad because of the new VAT rules, or will find it too expensive to send goods abroad because of the customs declarations and phytosantitary requirements. They will have been doing fine up until now...

Jaberwok

Getting Brexit done is good enough for me.

Me too Jaberwok I have to pinch myself to remember it really did happen last week, finally!

Here we go.

“While Britain started to vaccinate in droves, the EU’s vaccination campaign was delayed for weeks because they chose to buy from six suppliers equal amounts of doses even though three of those – national champions like France’s Sanofi – are years away from producing a vaccine.

Germany’s excellent health minister, Jens Spahn, eventually forced his government to buy separately tens of millions of Pfizer vaccine doses. I’m afraid we French went the opposite way.

Our vaccination czar was wheeled out to say that it was a good thing that the process was so slow – just as back in March we were told that we didn’t need masks because we had none available – because the logistics chain for the Pfizer vaccine was not fit for purpose.

In both cases, we have needed the EU like a fish needs a bicycle. British friends, you were right all along.

The arrogant EU establishment has convinced me finally I was wrong to view leaving as a mistake.”

Anne-Elisabeth Moutet
(A woman who over the past four and a half years, has taken part in scores of French television debates)

Someone who has inside knowledge of the EU and now concedes the UK was right to Brexit.
?

If you search hard enough for long enough you will always manage to find someone who agrees with brexit, but it's got more and more difficult for the last four years.

Anne-Elisabeth Moutet

Aahh. Daily Telegraph columnist, 'provocative' French writer and broadcaster. Looks a teeny bit racist too.

What great company you keep, UG

She was against Brexit though!
And her comments about the French uptake of vaccines is damning.
Not all columnists who write in the Telegraph voted to Leave.
It adds a certain flavour to read different POV.
For the last 4 years she has derided Brexit.

Anyway I thought it illustrated Macron’s vaccine bungling.

She is a recent convert varian! Staunchly EU beforehand. By your reckoning, 4 years later we would find it harder to find people who had changed their mind?

Whitewavemark2

If anyone doubts the facts of Johnson’s lies I recommend that you look up fact check on the BBC site.

All his lies are exposed in their gruesome glory.

I'm really not sure that "fact check" and "BBC website" should appear in the same sentence - more like "left wing spin" than facts.

And for all of you Boris haters, just take a look on Sky News at the interview with Keir Starmer - can't or won't answer whether schools should be shut, evading the question repeatedly. He could give Boris a lesson in bluster!

Yes Starmer sitting on the fence as usual but what's new, a change I suppose from being Mr Hindsight.

Opal

Whitewavemark2

If anyone doubts the facts of Johnson’s lies I recommend that you look up fact check on the BBC site.

All his lies are exposed in their gruesome glory.

I'm really not sure that "fact check" and "BBC website" should appear in the same sentence - more like "left wing spin" than facts.

And for all of you Boris haters, just take a look on Sky News at the interview with Keir Starmer - can't or won't answer whether schools should be shut, evading the question repeatedly. He could give Boris a lesson in bluster!

?

I like Starmer, but of course he’s saying what you would expect ( it’s politics innit?) but he remained unclear about the schools question, not answering.It would have been better if he had said ‘yes, in my view schools should close’.
It’s far easier to oppose than to actually govern ( as he will find out perhaps one day.)