My goodness - that was a truly inspiring speech just now from Boris! ‘UnLeashing Britain’s Potential’.

No one at this juncture can foresee with any accuracy whether Brexit, having now taken place, will be a benefit to the British economy or cause damage. The foregoing will become apparent over the next two to three years should there be a trade agreement signed with the EU or not.

At this point in time, all is speculation as it is impossible to foresee how the trade talks with the European Union will progress, and whether trade agreements with other nations and trade blocs can be concluded which will be beneficial to the overall economic interests of the United Kingdom.

In the meantime perhaps in terms of the UK economy more may be gained by looking at the effects the Coronavirus is having as many companies are already reporting that the epidemic and the necessary restrictions imposed are having a large effect on supply chains.

That problem may well have a far larger consequence for British businesses than Brexit could possibly have in the coming weeks and months.

Any supply or other problems due to Coronavirus will no doubt be blamed on Brexit! ? (not a personal accusation to other posters, but from bitter remainers 'out there' who will take every opportunity to do this).

I see he’s still pretending the EU doesn’t get a say in any deal.

I look forward to Micheal Spicer doing something with that.

Laura Kuenssberg on Twitter: When it comes to likely Brexit deal, we've gone from 'exact same benefits', to 'frictionless trade', to some friction, to now a choice btw Canada style deal OR what govt is calling Australia deal which is not a deal, but WTO arrangement with tariffs and the Irish protocol

She’s finally cottoning on.

Boris makes a good speech and I do think he is excellent at morale boosting but we need to see action too.
Don't worry, though, @Nortsat46, the bits about Cobden will go right over the President's head

Political journalists walk out of no 10 briefing - if we were hoping for some peace and quiet after the last 6 months doesn’t look like we’re going to get it:
www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/feb/03/political-journalists-boycott-no-10-briefing-after-reporter-ban

Growstuff said:

'He seems to think everybody is stupid'

Apparently, an awful lot are!

I'm not hoping for peace and quiet at all, Nezumi. I'm hoping for the press to wake up and do their job.

Perhaps we could have the Russian report leaked released

And the results of the investigation into the sources of Arron Banks' funding of a Leave campaign.

Not to mention the result of any investigation of Johnson arranging public funding for his 'very good friend' Jennifer Accuri...

Yep - agree.

I’m surprised the Russia report hasn’t already been released.

I had hoped that with a large majority Johnson may return to being the remainer he always was and give us a soft Brexit. But today put paid to those hopes.

Making and inspirational speech is the easy part. Politicians do that all the time. Doing what you say is a different matter and Boris doesn't really have a good record in that aspect. That's not me being anti-Brexit. It's just that Boris has been caught lying several times.

But Nezumi, he's not in charge - merely a puppet!

socialistworker.co.uk/art/44695/Who+really+rules+Britain

Aspirational would be a good description and I hope we get a good deal, the fly in the ointment is not accepting EU standards.
For instance all goods from toys to cars are approved to CE standards are we really going to dump all that, no of course not. Not accepting EU rules is just bluster, there is no prosperity in cold shouldering your largest and nearest market.
Any environmental and welfare differences are quite small with Europe, within the rest of the world there are massive differences

Nezumi65: I had hoped that with a large majority Johnson may return to being the remainer he always was and give us a soft Brexit. But today put paid to those hopes.
As Boris has always campaigned to leave what do you base that comment on? He promised a hard Brexit, so presumably you expected that was a lie, well maybe he's not such a liar after all ?

”Get Brexit Done” has now been replaced with ”Unleashing Britain's Potential”. Another meaningless soundbite. By all means, unleash this potential. I'm trying to visualize how you unleash potential, presumably you don't just press a button.

You do it by Making Britain Great Again Greta - it’s really very simple

And that was written before Cummings came onto the scene. Understanding his backers would be really interesting

Oh - and by Taking Back Control.

This sort of thing Chestnut? youtu.be/DFDtEssC2rE
Johnson’s Brexit stance was to advance his own career (& it seems to have worked - he’s out of his depth now though).

Negotiations are all about finding constructive ambiguities, and there are still potential landing zones beneath the rhetoric given Mr Johnson’s pledges to maintain or even better EU standards, but at the outset there can be little to disguise how fundamentally different the tone is on both sides!

We need to buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride till December.

What if you don't have a buckle?

I agree with much that Davidhs stated in his/her post @18:46 today. Gaining a trade agreement with the European Union should be straightforward provided that Britain is willing to abide and maintain almost all of the many standards slowly drawn up by the EU over very many years.

However, I feel if Britain wishes to conclude free trade agreements with such countries as India, China or any of the emerging nations then the United kingdom may well find it has to accept lower standards and in that implement lower standards within our own industries.

The foregoing may well mean a lowering of standards in workers rights, workplace safety and minimum wage regulations etc.

Johnson in his speech today assured the country that such lowering of standards would not come about, but it is difficult to see how free trade agreements can be concluded with many nations without such a lowering of principles.

Therefore it is going to be an extremely difficult balancing act, I feel, to draw up and maintain a free trade agreement with the EU recognising their standards, while at the same time conclude trade agreements with other nations and blocs on lower standards.

Therefore as Urmstongran states in her post today @19:21, We need to buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride until December." That statement I also very much agree with.

Ref Nezumi's post 19.00. Here's some more:

twitter.com/JamesMelville/status/1224428510577676288

Click on the pictures in the first tweet, they'll come up larger and readable.

Of course, we all know, don't we, that just before the referendum he wrote two pieces, one arguing for remaining in the EU and one against. Chose to go with the route that promised him a sniff at the PM's job...

Now. Which set of his lies do we believe?

MaizieD in regard to your post @20:44 today, what Johnson stated and did prior to the 13th of December last year is all now "water under the bridge." This government was elected on a ticket of withdrawing Britain from the European Union and that it has now carried out.

So, "we are where we are" as a nation and we have to move forward from that position. As someone who voted leave in the referendum, I certainly wish the above was not the case. However, I also always believed that the result of the EU referendum had to be upheld, and remain supporters continuing to fight a lost battle will not change anything, and in that, looks foolish.

The new battle will be in the fight to maintain present standards in many sectors, and all efforts by those who believe that should be the paramount fight should now be placed into that.

Apologies that should be "as someone who voted remain" in my above post, not "someone who voted leave". ??