Another Benefit of Brexit?

The UK has a very long list of exports to Italy available online. It’s quite extensive and worth a look.

As I mentioned the other day, sterling hasn’t tanked against the euro, there has been no major change since 2008.

I agree that countries and the EU will prioritise their own supplies when times are difficult, but it isn’t related to the exchange rate.

And of course, if there are shortages, of anything, they will prioritise their own, quite naturally. The tanking of Sterling is a huge factor too- everything we import costs so much more now. Feeds, cereals, all staples, chemicals for water purification, medicines, etc- if the war in Ukraine and other factors worsen- they will not export any, but share among themselves- in times of shortages, you look after your own. Very normal.

Katie59

There is no bar to trade with EU nations we just obey their rules, tariffs and quotas, fill in the paperwork and tick the boxes
That’s what we voted for

The cost is enormous though and makes it non viable commercially in many cases. The UK has not even implemented the rules that we 'voted for' for imports, as it would be so so costly and damaging.

But it is not as 'simple as that'- if they are not happy with standards, be it safety or feeds, or husbandry, or whatever, they can just refuse imports from UK at any time.

We import quite a lot from Italy, manufactured goods as well as food and wine, we export around half that amount, probably a lot of that is Scotch.

There is no bar to trade with EU nations we just obey their rules, tariffs and quotas, fill in the paperwork and tick the boxes
That’s what we voted for

MaizieD yes it’s a MoU. So do we export our cars and power generating equipment to Italy under an MoU or a different trade deal do you know?

What have we promised to trade under the MoU?

Whitewavemark2

How come Italy can sign a trade agreement independently from the rest of the EU.

Another load of lies the leave camp sold us.

It's not a trade agreement.
It's a 'memorandum of understanding', which is different.

Didn't we sign one, to great tory self congratulatory acclaim, with a US state last year?

memorandum of understanding ( MoU) is a type of agreement between two ( bilateral) or more ( multilateral) parties. It expresses a convergence of will between the parties, indicating an intended common line of action. [1]

MoUs are not bound by international law and don't require any parliamentary scrutiny, unlike a trade deal.

They have re established Erasmus under a different name I believe. But it’s nowhere near as good as Erasmus. Didn’t our wonderful Home Secretary benefit from Erasmus?

PS, did the Sun post the pic of the Queen's hat or "forget"?

Remedies: re-establish good trade and custom relations with our EU partners asap for starters. Restablish trading standards. Re-etablish the Erasmus scheme before it disappear altogether. Look carefully on re-introducing a limited scheme of freedom of movement in order that our young people have opportunity abroad and vice-versa.

It broke my heart and has certainly contributed to breaking the economy. Good for the Queen, an unmissable statement

How come Italy can sign a trade agreement independently from the rest of the EU.

Another load of lies the leave camp sold us.

According to Badenoch we are going to have a bonanza selling carbon capture and green technology to Italy, tariffs, quotas and other EU formalities will still have to be satisfied.

So, what is this wonderful trade deal we have just signed with Italy?

growstuff

The departments which have experienced the biggest cuts are those with the biggest operational delivery load, such as the DWP and HMRC. This has affected the number of people employed dealing with the public. In many cases, they have been replaced by online services, which has directly impacted on the service experienced by the public.

Growstuff there’s a loss of 5 to 6k civil servants in Inland Revenue and a shortfall in total tax collected of 5 per cent of total figure. My local mp thought this was acceptable. I don’t think it is especially with limited budgets for public service pay etc.

Dickens

Fleurpepper

Would you mind if I shared it elsewhere? If you don't mind, how do you want me to quote it? (as in 'a friend elsewhere said' or ?!? your choice of words.

Fleurpepper

Of course - and you can put your own interpretation on it too because I'm not sure I really have it 'quite right'.

... "a friend elsewhere" is fine. I like to be as anonymous as possible .

Thanks. I wouldn't have shared without your permission. It is just right.

HousePlantQueen

Oh Cummings, that's a name I had managed to stick in the dark cupboard of my memory.

Dickens, your post sums up eloquently what I think about this whole Brexit business.

Unfortunately, he did an enormous amount of damage and we're still living with the consequences. People should be careful what they wish for, if they want senior civil servants to be political appointments. Politicians have budgets for personal assistants anyway.

Oh Cummings, that's a name I had managed to stick in the dark cupboard of my memory.

Dickens, your post sums up eloquently what I think about this whole Brexit business.

Yes, that's my understanding Casdon. Dominic Cummings was a SpAd and was given far more power than civil servants.

According to the government website:
‘Special advisers are a critical part of the team supporting Ministers. They add a political dimension to the advice and assistance available to Ministers while reinforcing the political impartiality of the permanent Civil Service by distinguishing the source of political advice and support.’
They are effectively temporary civil servants, with no managerial responsibility within the Civil Service if I understand correctly growstuff?
I guess that if anybody could be said to be equally culpable as the government for what’s happened, it is them - but they change with each minister.

The irony of course is that Brexit has meant that the civil service has a bigger workload because it has had to take on some of the tasks previously done by the EU.

The departments which have experienced the biggest cuts are those with the biggest operational delivery load, such as the DWP and HMRC. This has affected the number of people employed dealing with the public. In many cases, they have been replaced by online services, which has directly impacted on the service experienced by the public.

Casdon

It claims to be politically neutral ronib - but difficult to tell. I could only find an update on their site, the Maude review seems to have been quietly dropped by the government - or, at least it didn’t report back in the autumn of 2022 as it was meant to, and hasn’t been mentioned in dispatches since July.

I have two close relatives who were very senior Civil Servants before retirement and the son of a friend who is one now. On a personal level, they're politically old-fashioned Tory, but they go to great pains to explain that professionally they're politically neutral.

My daughter was on the Civil Service's Fast Stream after she graduated. Her own politics are left of centre and she found that most of her fellow appointees were conservative (with a small 'c'). They tended to be people who would follow orders and didn't want to upset the apple cart, while having a deep sense of professional pride and love for their country.

ronib

Lord Maude on 27th July 2022 was to lead the review into Civil Service governance and accountability. I can find no finished report.
I have found mention that the heads of civil service departments should not be civil servants but political appointees.
I have no way of knowing what the current state of play might be.
There seems to be some dissatisfaction with the relationship between government and Civil Service but I don’t believe there’s enough whitewash to absolve either group.

This was Dominic Cummings' big idea.

He hated the idea that the Civil Service had any influence at all over government ministers. They don't formulate policy, although they have a duty to advise ministers because they know far more about their specific areas than politicians do. They're also responsible for implementing policy and know what unforeseen consequences there might be.

Therefore, he put pressure on some senior Civil Servants to resign. He was also responsible for an explosion of SpAd appointments. These are political appointments and have effectively taken over the role of civil servants, so ministers no longer have "critical friends" but nodding lapdogs.

Fleurpepper

Would you mind if I shared it elsewhere? If you don't mind, how do you want me to quote it? (as in 'a friend elsewhere said' or ?!? your choice of words.

Fleurpepper

Of course - and you can put your own interpretation on it too because I'm not sure I really have it 'quite right'.

... "a friend elsewhere" is fine. I like to be as anonymous as possible .