Guy Verhofstadt says “Happy Brexit Day”

YOU MUST BE JOKING GUY V!

^ and as one of the largest but poorest European nations they represent an enormous cost to EU funds^

I thought that their large contribution to the world supply of grain helped their GDP (though, of course, this has been disrupted in the past year)

And I'm sure that I read a while ago that Ukraine possibly has valuable lithium deposits.

I thought that the purpose of EU subsidies to poorer regions/countries (which we were in receipt of when members) was to aid their economic development in order to reduce reliance on subsidies?

Johnson is grandstanding to elbow Sunak and hopes to return as PM (God help us). Ukraine won't get anywhere near joining despite being a candidate for maybe ten years. There are other countries ahead of them in the queue and as one of the largest but poorest European nations they represent an enormous cost to EU funds and would turn poor countries like Portugal into net contributors rather than beneficiaries. The EU does not want to be on the hook for post-war repairs. So Johnson knows he can push the case without it happening any time soon - grandstanding without cost!

vegansrock

Can anyone explain why B Johnson is backing Ukraine’s bid to join the EU?

Just the usual Johnson garbage, I think, *vegansrock^

Can anyone explain why B Johnson is backing Ukraine’s bid to join the EU?

Biggest mistake ever. It is costing us far more than we have saved.

I think those who think Brexit was a good thing are swimming against the tide of experts and those who are feeling its effects - locally to me farmers, small shops which import from Europe, many of my artist friends who can no longer afford to send work abroad or buy materials abroad (that applies to me too), my European sketching holidays which I run occasionally have suffered dwindling numbers, fishing industry (so much was exported to Europe and now isn't), manufacturing and financial services moving HQs abroad, the position of the pound, struggling to find anyone I know who has benefitted - oh one, a friend has a job in the port of Dover helping companies with their paperwork, doing 4 days on, four days off, 4 nights on and on minimum wage.

Virtually everyone I know, including family, voted Remain. I still feel sick about what happened and so sad that, though we shall certainly re-join, it won't happen in my remaining years.

Mamie

Well said Dickens. I agree that a return to the EU is unlikely in the short or medium term, but I hope that there will gradually be greater alignment of trading regulations and movement towards the "outer circle" that Macron has suggested. I suspect that is where Labour and the Liberal Democrats are heading, but can't say so without unleashing the venom of the right-leaning media.

Yes

Well said Dickens. I agree that a return to the EU is unlikely in the short or medium term, but I hope that there will gradually be greater alignment of trading regulations and movement towards the "outer circle" that Macron has suggested. I suspect that is where Labour and the Liberal Democrats are heading, but can't say so without unleashing the venom of the right-leaning media.

MaizieD

Leaving the EU has caused immense damage to the UK economy, with all its knock on effects on people's lives and livelihoods and there is little prospect of us being able to repair that damage (apart from in the heads of fantasists) for a long time, if ever.

I think, truly, that our way of life has changed permanently. Talk of re-joining is pie-in-the-sky in any meaningful sense.

If I had to explain it to an alien landing on earth and demanding to know "wassup then?" I'd say that, basically, we Brits are not team-players - we want to be the first among equals. I believe that when people talk about "our once great country" during political debate, they are consciously or otherwise referring to the days of the British Empire. The nation's psyche cannot accept that Britain is no longer top-dog. From that perspective, leaving the EU 'makes sense' - we were re-asserting our 'sovereignty'. Unfortunately, having lost the 'Empire' along with most of our heavy industry and the associated skills that went with it - one has to ask, what price sovereignty? Sure, the EU is no longer "telling us what to do" (aka obeying the rules of a club we joined), but what good will that new-found sovereignty do for the average working man or woman?

Instead of the EU 'dictating our lives' we now have a cabal of mendacious, self-focused politicians representing the Corporate world and its shareholders who want an ever-rising share price, and more than a 'bit' of a dividend each year. And they, of course, will be the main beneficiaries of Brexit.

It's not a question of regarding the EU as perfect, Meryl. I don't notice much perfection in the UK at the moment, and with the 'Bonfire of EU Regulations that the government is trying to stampede through Parliament things could get a great deal worse.

Had we still been in the EU we could have challenged the lifting of the ban...

Leaving the EU has caused immense damage to the UK economy, with all its knock on effects on people's lives and livelihoods and there is little prospect of us being able to repair that damage (apart from in the heads of fantasists) for a long time, if ever.

It has also deprived people of valued freedoms. No amount of telling them that they can go further afield compensates for that.

Still haven't learned of any advantages we have gained.

Why, when BSE is still with us is the eu lifting the ban on feeding animal remains to livestock.
All is not as perfect as some would like us to believe.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/22/eu-to-lift-its-ban-on-feeding-animal-remains-to-domestic-livestock

I don't know who wrote this (I found it on QUORA). Obviously it was penned some time ago... but it did make me chuckle...

BREXIT EXPLAINED

David Cameron made a promise he didn't think he'd have to keep to have a referendum he didn't think he would lose.

Boris Johnson decided to back the side he didn't believe in because he didn't think it would win. Then Gove, who said he wouldn't run, did, and Boris who said he would run, said he wouldn't, and Theresa May who didn't vote for Brexit got the job of making it happen.

She called the election she said she wouldn't and lost the majority David Cameron hadn't expected to win in the first place. She triggered Article 50 when we didn't need to and said we would talk about trade at the same time as the divorce deal and the EU said they wouldn't so we didn't.

People thought she wouldn't get the divorce settled but she did, but only by agreeing to separate arrangements for Northern Ireland when she had promised the DUP she wouldn't.

Then the Cabinet agreed a deal but they hadn't, and David Davis who was Brexit Secretary but wasn't said it wasn't what people had voted for and he couldn't support what he had just supported and left.

Boris Johnson who hadn't left then wished that he had and did, but it was a bit late for that.

Dominic Raab became the new Brexit secretary.

People thought Theresa May wouldn't get a withdrawal agreement negotiated, but once she had they wished that she hadn't, because hardly anybody liked it whether they wanted to leave or not.

Jacob Rees-Mogg kept threatening a vote of no confidence in her, but not enough people were confident enough that people would not have confidence in her to confidently call a no confidence vote.

Dominic Raab said he hadn't really been Brexit Secretary either and resigned, and somebody else took the job but it probably isn't worth remembering who they are as they're not really doing the job either as Olly Robbins is.

Then she said she would call a vote and didn't, that she wouldn't release some legal advice but had to, that she would get some concessions but didn't, and got cross that Juncker was calling her nebulous when he wasn't but probably should have been.

Urmstongran

Yes Grantanow Nick Clegg certainly threw the WASPI women to the wolves. It’s likely Lib Dems can only gain power through a coalition. When I first started voting 50y ago my dad used to say voting for them was a waste of a vote. Not much has changed in all these years. No wonder some people want PR introduced.

The 1995 Pensions Act increased the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 in order to equalise the age with men, with the change to be phased in over ten years from 2010 for women born between 1950 and 1955.

This transition was later sped up by the 2011 Pensions Act.

Both the 1995 and 2011 changes came as a shock to many, with women discovering that they would have to wait up to six years longer for their state pension, potentially affecting their retirement plans.

In 2015, WASPI was formed by five women to argue for the government to provide transitional payments to women born in the 1950s receiving their pension after the age of 60. They also call for compensation to women who now receive a state pension but had to wait longer.

Three of the original founders stepped down as leaders after a split in August 2016. A further three directors resigned in February 2018 following an emergency board meeting held the previous month where irreconcilable differences led to the resignations.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_Against State.Pension_Inequality

Pensions Act 2011 Sponsoring departments-

Department for Work and Pensions- Lord Freud
Conservative, Life peer

Department for Work and Pensions -Mr Iain Duncan Smith
Conservative, Chingford and Woodford Green

bills.parliament.uk/bills/815

I do realise that Nick Clegg is a favorite scapegoat of the brexiters for everything and anything but I see no mention of his name in relation to the pension changes that affected the WASPI women.

Can you substantiate your accusation UG?

Fleurpepper

Do you think chocolate which contains more fat (palm oil), tons of sugar and flavourings, and practically no chocolate, should be called 'chocolate'. Pedantic would you say for EU to say that would be unfair cheap and nasty competition for the real thing?

Casbury’s greasy chocolate comes to mind, so no!

Urmstongran

Yes, very interesting DaisyAnne and therefore it’s good that the UK government have set such a target for 2030. Seems the students still want to come here to study then.

I wouldn't get too enthusiastic. It is good to look at all sides of something you are forming an opinion about. Unfortunately, there is another side to this; that is the usual underfunding of education.

I'm not going to find the figures; I'm sure you can find them if you are interested. This government's idea to turn everything into a business has not served them well, although my understanding it come only from family anecdotal evidence and what I have read.

I think those in power are very different to previous Conservatives. They don't seem to have experience setting up a business from scratch. None of the you and the family painting out your first premises, and often taking less than your employees while you build it up. And none of the knowledge that your employees are your greatest asset. Any public service is something very different.

With those we have in power now, the greater number who say they know about business are people who have played the stock market and think they are entitled to take money from wherever they can find it.

I know running a country is not like running a business, but knowing how they run is bound to be helpful. My New Statesman* morning email suggested Sunak is the CEO of managed decline. I think the way in which they behave towards the public services shows us this may well be true.

*New Statesman was described by Marr recently as writing from a social, liberal, democratic point of view. Just to let you know where they are coming from. (Notice social, not socialist )

Of course eggs should be properly labelled.

Do you think chocolate which contains more fat (palm oil), tons of sugar and flavourings, and practically no chocolate, should be called 'chocolate'. Pedantic would you say for EU to say that would be unfair cheap and nasty competition for the real thing?

Easy to stick a label on top- eggs in Europe are sold in recycled cardboard boxes- a sticky label on top is hardly an ecological or economical disaster! No need to re-package anything.

BTW, re hens and eggs- avian flu has also been a problem ibn Europe, and European egg producers who have had to keep hens in barns have had to change their own labelling!!! DOH!

Simple - or pedantic? All that extra cost for ‘repackaging’ too! Not very ‘green’ is it?

Brilliant speech by Alyn Smith about the proposed Bill allowing the Governement to get rid of all Rules that emanated from the EU. Perfectly said.

Now, as far as eggs are concerned- the EU is quite rightly concerned that eggs can be produced in the UK with feeds which are banned in EU, and with husbandry and conditions which are not as strict as in the UK. If eggs are produced by hens kept in barns- then they are not free-range, by definition, even if due to avian flu. Quite simple, really.

Same for other meats, feeds, antiobiotics, husbandry, etc.

Same for so called chocolate full of sugar, palm oil and practically no chocolate. Why should they accept unfair competition from poor products with poor ingredients and worse conditions, be it for animals or for workers?

fb.watch/irz13bmcK-/

Another sector wishing to rid itself of what it calls ‘EU red tape’.
Source: The Telegraph today.

“BRITISH farmers have blamed EU red tape left over from Brexit for forcing them to relabel their free range eggs.

The Government told farmers yesterday that they must remove free range labels from their packs as they continue to grapple with the worst outbreak of avian flu in British history.

Eggs laid by free-range hens must now be labelled barn eggs, as a government order to keep flocks indoors extends into its fourth month in England.

However, chicken farmers said the requirement to relabel their eggs was a hangover from EU legislation.

Robert Gooch, chief executive of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association, said: “It’s EU legislation that, post-Brexit, we would have liked to have got rid of.”

Yes Grantanow Nick Clegg certainly threw the WASPI women to the wolves. It’s likely Lib Dems can only gain power through a coalition. When I first started voting 50y ago my dad used to say voting for them was a waste of a vote. Not much has changed in all these years. No wonder some people want PR introduced.