Daniel Hannon: he has also called for NHS hospitals to be sold to private US companies after Brexit. It makes you wonder whose side he’s on.
We shouldn’t be surprised.
They’ve already backtracked on their promise not to use a pesticide that kills bees (albeit admittedly in conjunction with other EU countries).
And they’ve cancelled our freedoms to travel to and from EU countries – deliberately making it especially difficult for musicians to work there.
So why shouldn’t the Tories follow Daniel Hannan’s demand and ditch the other protections UK citizens have enjoyed as members of the European Union?
Safeguards for the use of data, pay and conditions, GM foods, hedge funds, dangerous chemicals and the disposal of environmentally-damaging vehicles should all be binned, Daniel Hannan said.
He wants to ditch:
the Temporary Workers’ Directive – which guarantees agency staff receive equal pay and conditions with employees in the same business.
the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) – that gives individuals control over their personal data and limits its transfer to other countries.
the ban on products made from genetically modified (GM) crops – potentially allowing US food derived that way into the UK, as part of a future trade deal.
the End of Life Vehicles Directive – to achieve environmentally-friendly dismantling and recycling, with targets for the reuse of vehicles and their components.
the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) – introduced to regulate hedge funds and private equity following the 2008 financial crash.
the ‘Droit de suite’ rules – that pay artists a fee on the resale of their works of art, instead of the American ‘first-sale doctrine’ that removes rights from subsequent sales.
“chunks of” the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) – the legal framework to harmonise regulation of securities markets and trading venues.
He doesn’t say how that makes the UK more competitive.
To This Writer’s untutored eye, it seems he just wants to hurt his fellow UK citizens for no very good reason.
His plans would make the country less competitive as they are backward steps that help nobody.
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Festival: this site stated before Brexit happened that, if you’re a musician who regularly performs at EU events, you can kiss those big crowds goodbye – unless you’re getting paid big bucks for your performance.
This is unlikely to be music to anybody’s ears: not only are musicians facing red tape and costs that make touring in Europe prohibitive after Brexit – it turns out the Conservative government deliberately arranged it that way.
According to the Independent,
The UK rejected an offer of visa-free tours by musicians to EU countries, despite blaming Brussels for what the industry is calling the devastating blow of them requiring permits.
A “standard” proposal to exempt performers from the huge cost and bureaucracy for 90 days was turned down… because the government is insisting on denying that to EU artists visiting this country.
It seems insane. Last year the UK music industry brought £2.9 billion into the country.
Some of that came from tours that went to EU countries. This Writer is willing to bet that more money came from the EU to the UK than in the other direction.
So by denying a reciprocal deal for visa-free tours, Boris Johnson has turned down a huge amount of tax income.
Maybe he isn’t musical.
(More accurately, it seems Priti Patel is the one with the tin ear – as the extra red tape is part of her crackdown on immigration which has introduced tough restrictions on tours by EU musicians.)
If you’re wondering why this is such a problem, the new rules that make touring in the EU under post-Brexit conditions prohibitive are detailed here.
Stars including folk singer Laura Marling and Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess have signed a parliamentary petition demanding visa-free tours, backed by almost 230,000 people.
Burgess explains the problems in another Independentarticle:
Bigger artists putting on stadium shows will more than likely be able to survive, but anyone below that level will be hit hard. Primarily by, you guessed it, “bureaucracy and red tape”.
Those costs mean that the precarious economics of touring Europe would make it impossible for so many artists starting out. Those artists that are lauded when they make it – those future Florences, Adeles and Eds – are having so many more obstacles put in front of them. It puts the music industry everyone is apparently so proud of under serious threat.
The government has said the Independent‘s story is incorrect and misleading.
But the restrictions have been imposed.
So who, exactly, is misleading who?
And how long will it be before the Tories realise they’ve made a mistake?
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I was going to leave the headline as a rhetorical question but too many people would have tried to answer without reading the article.
And who can blame them? It all seems a nasty mess at the moment. But are these really only teething problems?
Here comes the list:
The UK and the EU are heading towards a confrontation over financial services after trading in £6 billion worth of euro-dominated shares started moving to European continental stock exchanges in Amsterdam and Paris.
UK financial service providers and banks have lost the so-called passport that gave them the right to operate without restrictions throughout the EU, and now depend on unilateral decisions from European authorities to extend them an “equivalence” based on regulatory convergence, sector by sector.
Bank of England boss Andrew Bailey has said the UK should not become a so-called “rule taker” by mimicking EU regulations just for the sake of obtaining an access to European markets.
To This Writer’s uncultured eye, he seems to be saying we should lose a lot of business. Or is he he suggesting that trade will come back to the UK if businesses see an advantage in trading outside EU regulations?
This is not likely to sort itself out for several years.
Marks & Spencer has discovered holes in the so-called “zero tariff” trade deal with the EU that means its Percy Pig sweets – manufactured in Germany, transported to the UK, and then re-exported to other countries like Ireland – would face taxation and bureaucratic “red tape” costs.
The firm has already dropped hundreds of products, including chocolate fudge pudding and sweet and sour chicken, from its Northern Ireland stores after it saw competitors’ lorries barred from travelling between the mainland and Northern Ireland.
John Lewis has scrapped deliveries of its products to EU countries (although the firm says this is because of a business decision to concentrate on the UK). Debenhams and Fortnum & Masons have also suspended deliveries to Ireland and the EU respectively, blaming uncertainty over post-Brexit trading rules.
Scottish seafood firms are already facing financial difficulty as new post-Brexit rules demand that every single box has to be offloaded from lorries, opened and checked by vets before leaving Scotland – creating five-hour delays per lorry.
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Wearing the dunce’s cap again: for Gavin Williamson, the reopening of schools at the height of the Covid crisis isn’t a hard decision – he does what he’s told to do by Boris Johnson. That’s why he has made a fool of himself – and why he is deliberately endangering your children and (if you are a parent) you.
Could anything better illustrate the weakness of Boris Johnson and his Conservative government?
They want to keep the UK’s economy going, despite having done everything possible to let Covid-19 rampage through the population while pretending to restrict it.
So they need to keep schools open, so parents don’t have an excuse to stay at home.
That’s why none of their restrictions/lockdowns since September have included schools.
They seemed ready to keep up this farcical charade into the New Year – even though Covid-19 infection rates have soared and schools are the most common vector – right up until January 1, days before the new school term was due to begin.
Then – at the very last minute once again, meaning parents’ plans have been thrown into chaos for no good reason – Education Secretary Gavin Williamson u-turned, signing off on a plan for all primary schools to remain closed for the time being…
In London.
For clarity, you need to be aware that secondary schools and colleges were already set to be closed to most pupils for the first two weeks of term, while primaries in 50 local authorities in London and southern England were also told to remain closed until January 18.
It was only after council leaders in 10 other London boroughs, where Covid transmission rates are high but schools were told to remain open, said they would defy the government and support closures that Williamson agreed to close them all.
He had been backed into a corner. Whatever he did would have led to humiliation so he chose the option that would not result in open defiance.
But his decision only covers those 60 local authority areas in London and the south, prompting education unions – most prominently the National Education Union – to ask:
Why are are children and parents in the rest of England being left vulnerable to Covid?
The National Education Union’s joint general secretary, Mary Bousted, has called on the government to close schools across that country (remember: education is a devolved responsibility so the governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland choose whether their schools will open or not).
In Wales, there will be “flexibility” at the beginning of term, with teaching due to start in most places from 4 January. Schools are expected to offer face-to-face learning for most pupils by 11 January, with a full return by 18 January.
In Scotland, the Christmas holidays have been extended to 11 January, and the following week will be online learning only. A full return to face-to-face learning is planned for 18 January.
Dr Bousted pointed out that it is impossible to stop children from mixing with each other in large numbers and if just one has the virus, then they all may catch it and transmit it to their families – and out into the community:
She added, on Andrew Castle’s LBC radio talk show, that teachers have a legal right to refuse to work if they think opening schools will create a health risk:
Teachers are well within their rights refuse to go to school if they feel their health is at risk, according to joint General Secretary of the NEU Mary Bousted, adding that industrial action should not be an option.@AndrewCastle63 | @MaryBoustedNEUpic.twitter.com/RPjoaOPkcd
For Gavin Williamson, the situation has now become extremely precarious:
NEW: Joint General Secretary of @NEUnion Mary Bousted tells me Gavin Williamson has now “lost the confidence of teachers and parents” and remaining in his post now looks “very difficult”.
Will Williamson cave in again, or will he stand accused of condemning thousands to catch the virus when the NHS cannot take the strain and fatalities are rising?
And what will happen to Boris Johnson’s precious economy if this irrational stubbornness over schools creates knock-on havoc in business and industry?
Whatever happens, responsibility for the result will lie entirely with Johnson and his Conservative government. But we, the people, will pay the price.
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Keir Starmer stood humiliated in Parliament after his reasons for supporting Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal were ridiculed on all sides, and almost one-fifth of Labour’s MPs rejected his call to join the Tory government in voting for it.
In total, 36 Labour MPs who do not currently have the party whip suspended abstained from voting for the deal. Two more, from whom the party whip is currently suspended – Jeremy Corbyn and Claudia Webbe – also abstained. And Bell Ribeiro-Addy went further, voting against the deal.
Perhaps they all agreed with these words:
Every MP who has voted not to have a say on a matter that is important to their constituents – and that is most MPs – has fundamentally betrayed their constituents and undermined our Parliamentary democracy.
He means there was no opportunity to change the deal – it was a matter of taking it or leaving it (“no deal”) so the rights of the UK electorate to have it discussed in a democratic way were trampled.
Mr Corbyn’s decision is particularly embarrassing for Labour’s Chris Bryant, in the light of this:
It’s going to be rather amusing if Bryant votes *for* Johnson’s deal and Corbyn votes against it… pic.twitter.com/4vtj1RosvF
Do I have to point out the obvious – that Bryant did indeed support Johnson’s deal, and Brexit, while Corbyn did not?
But Bryant’s embarrassment is just a symptom of the about-turn that Labour has made under Keir Starmer:
The anti-Corbyn mob told us repeatedly that “@UKLabour is the party of remain”.
Funny, then, that the man they put their faith in (Sir @Keir_Starmer) has now betrayed them all and will vote for a Tory Brexit. Insulting them along the way by pretending it’s to stop ‘no deal’.
It seems his rationale was that any deal is better than no deal at all, But there is a flaw in that argument:
There is no risk of ‘no deal’.
This “excuse” from Labour MPs is poor.
The papers on New Years Day will be filled with guff about how Boris Johnson defeated the odds by getting a deal, that he “Got Brexit Done”- as he said he would- & that he has set the UK on a new course.
It is indeed a poor excuse, as was pointed out to Starmer by Independent MP Jonathan Edwards:
I am afraid the leader of the Labour party has accepted the spin of the Government that this is a binary choice between deal and no deal. It says a lot about the way his position has changed over recent weeks.
He also made a point of noting that Starmer had turned his back on Corbyn’s pledge that Labour would only support a deal that passed six tests:
He used to have six tests for any Brexit deal that he would be willing to support. How many of those tests does he believe the agreement actually meets?
Starmer could not answer.
Turns out, when Jeremy Corbyn said he would only vote for a Tory #Brexit deal that passes Labour's 6 tests, he meant it.
And Keir Starmer didn't.
That's the difference between an MP with principles and an MP with none.
Hope the centrist blue tick brigade are happy.
— Frank Owen's Legendary Paintbrush (@WarmongerHodges) December 30, 2020
It got worse.
David Linden (SNP) said,
If he can point out to me in the Order Paper where I am voting for no deal, I will be very happy. Will he tell me what page that is on?
Starmer could not. He could only make the vain claim that Linden was hoping to avoid the consequences of his “no” vote with the belief that the deal would be passed without his support.
The problem with that is, everybody knew that this would happen. In such circumstances it is perfectly reasonable for MPs to show their disagreement with the legislation by voting against it.
Indeed, a vote that – although positive – shows significant disagreement would leave a message for history that the legislation was controversial. Starmer’s demand for Labour to support it may be seen as an attempt to sabotage that.
Starmer getting slaughtered in the Commons. Now he's gone red and is huffing and puffing. It really should be Johnson getting this humilated.
I did listen with some incredulity to what the Leader of the Opposition said. He said he wanted a better deal. In early 2019, there was the opportunity of a better deal on the table, and he voted against it, so I will take no lectures from the Leader of the Opposition on this deal.
May is widely considered to have been the worst UK prime minister since Lord North (a dubious accolade that she inherited from her immediate forerunner, David Cameron). If that is the case, what does it say about Starmer that he allowed her to have the upper hand in this?
My anger with Starmer is not about him voting for the deal. Its his hypocrisy. Had he called on Labour to vote for May's deal which was arguably better, we would have entered that next GE as the party that respected Brexit & JC could well have become PM
Yes. It says that his loyalties lie more with the Conservatives than with the members of his own party – the vast majority of whom wanted the Corbyn-led government that he helped to ensure could never be.
As for the threat of “no deal” – well:
When there are no Tory rebels, and the deal passes comfortably, @Keir_Starmer’s argument of “we did it to stop a ‘no deal’ Brexit” will be exposed for the lie that it is.
The problems with the deal – and with Keir Starmer’s demand for Labour MPs to support it – were highlighted by Clive Lewis in his speech, most of which he has repeated in this video:
Today MPs were asked to forgo our obligation and responsibility of democratic oversight, to issue this Govt a blank cheque, and rubber stamp an implementation process for a deal we’ve barely had oversight of and no chance to amend. I will play no part in supporting this process. pic.twitter.com/1Ek5IrVoO4
But he was made to look a fool for supporting it and the 39 Labour MPs (with or without the party whip) who did not follow him have emerged as principled, moral … and right.
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Will he call it the “Christmas Eve Agreement” after the day it was reached, or the “New Year’s Eve Agreement” after the day it will be ratified?
Either way, Boris Johnson will try to give his dire Brexit deal a legitimacy it does not deserve by creating an association in our minds with the Good Friday Agreement, which brought huge benefits to the people of Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.
His Brexit deal does no such thing.
Here’s the reason:
FUN FACT. There’s no deal better than the one we already had.
It’s a simple truth, but one that will bear repetition – many times, because Johnson will be pushing his lie for all he’s worth.
While there was certainly much to criticise about the European Union’s demands on the UK when we were a member state, our ability to trade frictionlessly with every other state on the bloc was not part of that and the deal must be, by definition, a huge step backwards.
Just getting to it cost us – that’s you and me, the UK taxpayers, not the Brexiteer businesspeople who sequester their cash in tax havens to avoid being affected, remember – a huge amount of money that the nation could ill afford to lose.
Sadly, not all of us will realise this because they’ll be tranquillised by the Tory-lickspittle press. But some of us do know what it means:
Apparently the deal is done! It’s cost the country £200bn, robbed British citizens of free movement & made us all poorer. That’s quite a deal
Congratulations to Brexiters for your astonishing achievement. After just four years and billions of pounds spent (so far) you have negotiated a deal a whole lot shittier than the one we already had.
While Downing St announces their deal as a victory let’s be clear about what’s happened. A trade deal has been negotiated to make trade less smooth and less simple. The economy will take a hit. In return we no longer have free movement to 27 other countries. BUT blue passports.
On EU agreement, Boris Johnson says "we have completed the biggest trade deal yet" … Nope. The UK as abandoned the biggest tariff-free deal it ever had. From 1st January there be will more costly paper work and administration.
Johnson must know that he can’t fool all the people, all the time – and with trade, which is happening all the time, he must know that people are going to feel the adverse effects of his deal very quickly.
So the smart money reckons he will quit very soon, having achieved what he set out to do:
It adds to the suspicions that Johnson will cut & run as Prime Minister before the damage of his own incompetence over Covid and self serving opportunism over Brexit catch up on him. He will go down as a light weight, self interested political game player than a nation’s leader.
When the world went into lockdown at the start of the year, the Etonian phallus was too busy faffing around with Brexit and Big Ben being able to bong.
He had one job, he’s done it incredibly badly, now he should foxtrot Oscar, rapidly.
The only consolation for the citizens of 3rd world, nonentity Torydom is that the EU will be overseeing/ensuring that Spaffer & his co-criminals adhere to the agreement as they know for sure that a cabal of liars cannot keep their word on anything.
If you enjoyed that bit of Johnsonism, you’d better hope it sustains you when the hardships start to bite.
Here’s a document that summarises the changes in the new, 1,200-page (plus 800 pages of appendices) agreement:
This EU document summarizing what we have lost in Boris Johnson’s trade deal is breathtaking. Factor in getting to this point will have cost the country upwards of £200bn & every one of us will be made poorer, all involved, including the PM, would be sacked anywhere else pic.twitter.com/LXQkBmDMH2
I’ll write them out below and we’ll see what people have had to say about them so far:
Free movement of people
Border checks will be re-imposed between the UK and the EU nations.
Restrictions will be re-imposed on pets travelling between the UK and EU.
Roaming charges will be re-imposed.
Visa-free travel between the UK and EU beyond 90 days’ duration will end.
But visa-free travel up to 90 days may continue. It is the only aspect of this subject heading that remains unchanged.
Work, residence and study in another EU country are now subject to restrictions particular to the new agreement – and they are already controversial, as we shall see shortly.
Trade in goods
Under the new agreement, frictionless trade between the UK and the EU is ended.
Oh, there will be no tariffs or quotas – but the whole purposes of the 2,000-page document is to create barriers that did not exist before January 1, 2021.
The UK will no longer benefit from any of the EU’s international agreements.
Sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures – to protect humans, animals, and plants from diseases, pests, or contaminants – will be re-imposed. It will be interesting to see what they reveal (although let us hope that the find nothing untoward from the UK).
All other matters under this heading will be subject to new bureaucratic procedures – red tape – under the new agreement. Remember years ago, when David Cameron announced a “bonfire of red tape”? It created a huge number of problems as it turned out that those measures were actually necessary – and now Cameron (who demanded the EU referendum) is responsible for much, much more of it:
New customs formalities.
New rules of origin procedures that will check where parts come from.
A new fisheries agreement.
Trade in services
The former financial services passport is abolished.
And there will be no easy recognition of professional qualifications.
That creates more red tape!
Air transport
UK air traffic will no longer be free to travel anywhere within the single aviation area.
And the so-called “fifth freedom” for extra-EU air cargo will be withdrawn from the UK, replaced with new rules in the Brexit deal.
More red tape!
Road transport
The UK is out of the single internal transport market for hauliers. Truckers will need import and export declarations, security declarations and other paperwork for their shipments. New infrastructure is being built at ports to deal with queues and to check loads.
Cross-trade operations will be subject to even more red tape!
Energy
The UK will no longer be part of the single internal energy market.
And energy trading platforms will be subject to yet more red tape!
Access to EU programmes
The UK is out of Erasmus (what’s Erasmus? You’re about to find out!) along with NextGenerationEU and SURE. It will be shut out of the Galileo encrypted military signal.
Did you know the UK was part of any of that?
And access to Horizon Europe (it’s the the European Union’s future framework programme on research and innovation (R&I) for 2021-2027) will be subjected to even morered tape!
There’s another part of this which puts a sinister aspect on the deal, reminiscent of the TTIP – the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership that was stopped because of a “dispute settlement” process that would have given businesses more power than governments.
The UK-EU trade deal includes a dispute settlement mechanism, and both sides will have the right to slap tariffs on the other unilaterally to protect against unfair competition. EU businesses will be able to restrict those in the UK.
That’s a lot of red tape!
It seems the Brexit deal also establishes an organisation for policing the agreements. The joint partnership council has 19 sub-committees and seven working groups. That’s in addition to a Parliamentary partnership assembly, a civil society forum and domestic advisory groups.
I tend to agree with Briefcase Michael’s sarcastic comment: “So it’s goodbye to all that EU bureaucracy!”
And I especially agree with Carole Hawkins who described these red-tape groups as: “Hot air talking shops which will achieve diddly squat as always.”
It might be informative to examine the deal in comparison with what was promised by the organisation Vote Leave, which was the primary motivating force that encouraged more than 17 million UK citizens to support Brexit.
Bear in mind that Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings were the figurehead and mastermind behind Vote Leave, and they ended up running the UK together after the December 2019 general election.
So did they make sure they achieved everything they promised?
That failed comedy double-act? Not a chance!
The website Politico ran an article comparing the bold promises with the bare realities. It listed them as follows:
1. Trade with the EU will be tariff-free and involve minimal bureaucracy
The deal is tariff free for now. But it comes with numerous strings attached and significant bureaucracy. Vote Leave also promised that businesses that do not trade with the single market will not need to follow single market rules… At the very least, Northern Ireland will have to follow single market rules to ensure its land border with Ireland will remain open.
2. Northern Ireland border ‘absolutely unchanged’
The border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland is changing. There will be customs procedures for goods crossing the Irish Sea because Northern Ireland will have access to the EU customs union while remaining in the U.K. customs union. That will involve paperwork checks and border control posts (though not physically at the border) to undertake physical checks on some plant and animal products.
3. End supremacy of EU law and the EU’s Court of Justice
Northern Ireland will remain subject to EU customs union and single market rules, which will be overseen by the Court of Justice. So it would be wrong to suggest the entire U.K. will not be subject to judgments from the court.
4. Take back control on immigration and asylum, and cut migration to the tens of thousands
it is still unlikely that the U.K. will cut immigration to the tens of thousands, as Michael Gove promised Brexit would allow it to do.
5. Britain will take back control of its fisheries
Johnson said he wanted talks on EU fishing access to U.K. waters to take place annually… There is a process to get there. It involves a five-and-a-half-year transition, during which the EU will have full access, but the quantity of fish the U.K. can take out of shared waters will increase. Negotiations would be annual after that, and the EU will be able to retaliate with tariffs if the U.K. refuses to grant it access. So it depends on the definition of “control.” The important detail is exactly how much more fish the U.K. will get to take out of shared waters across 100 or so stocks.
6. £350M for the NHS instead of being sent to Brussels
The U.K. net contribution to the EU budget was more like £230 million a week, but Britain has had to spend huge sums on the divorce bill and on preparations for Brexit. The NHS did get a funding boost – but this isn’t as a result of the EU departure.
7. New trade deals, and access to a European trading zone ‘from Iceland to Russia’
The U.K. has so far failed to sign a single brand new trade deal that it did not have as part of EU membership. The U.K. has agreed a tariff-free, quota-free deal, but the customs barriers have increased, it is still subject to numerous EU conditions, and there are still big gaps on services — for example, many business travelers will need work visas. Britain still needs to lock in trading terms for EFTA states Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, and complete a free trade agreement with Turkey.
8. Continue cooperating on security issues and counter-terrorism
Both sides will continue to cooperate on security and counter-terrorism — but … the U.K. will no longer have direct, real-time access to EU security databases, such as on passenger records, criminal records, DNA and fingerprints. The deal allows for “ambitious and timely arrangements” to share such data, according to an EU document. The U.K. will continue to observe the European Convention on Human Rights, and could see law enforcement and judicial cooperation cut off if it fails to do so. It will also have to adhere to strict data standards. There will be “cooperation” between Europol and Eurojust, but that will amount to nothing more than what other third countries get when dealing with the EU. However, in other areas, such as the extradition of criminals, the cooperation will be closer than with third countries.
9. Financial protection for farmers who get cash from Brussels
The government will implement a new regime in the years to 2025 that will change the rules for funding farmers in England. Cash will be tied not to the amount of land, as in the EU system, but to whether that land is used for public good. It is unclear whether, in the long run, farmers stand to receive the same amount of money as they do now, as Vote Leave promised.
10. Continued participation in EU science research schemes, deeper cooperation on scientific collaboration, plus increased funding for science
The U.K. is retaining membership of the Horizon Europe program, under which EU states pool funding for science projects. It will also continue to participate in the Euratom Research and Training program, the Copernicus space program and others.
11. Wages will be higher
Even government economic forecasters reckon a deal with the EU will hit UK GDP compared with retaining membership. Some wages in some sectors might increase (customs officials?) but others might even lose their jobs.
12. The union will be stronger
In recent months, repeated polls have shown that Scotland would vote for independence if given another referendum, with Brexit a particular grievance for Scottish National Party voters. The debate is turning to whether Johnson will be able to hold off on granting one if the SNP wins big in Scottish elections in 2021.
Welsh nationalism is on the rise as a result of Johnson’s cack-handed Brexit negotiations, and also due to his failure to control Covid-19. And who can doubt that Northern Ireland will come closer to the Irish Republic after this?
13. Cut VAT on energy bills to save the average household £64 a year
Outside the EU [the UK] can. But Chancellor Rishi Sunak, who also backed Brexit, has not announced that the government will make the change. The promise remains outstanding.
14. Scrap VAT on sanitary products
The EU has long insisted it will scrap VAT on sanitary products but is still yet to do so. Sunak announced in his March budget that it would be scrapped in the U.K. Johnson won a concession from Brussels when he struck the Withdrawal Agreement that the so-called “tampon tax” would not apply to Northern Ireland if it remains in the customs union, which it will. So that’s a checkpoint for Vote Leave.
15. The new treaty should be ready within two years and before the next election (which was May 2020)
Well…
For a snapshot of the way people have responded on particular issues, let’s consider the Erasmus scheme.
Erasmus is an exchange programme that allows UK students to study and work across Europe. More than half the UK students abroad are there as part of the Erasmus scheme.
But Boris Johnson has ended the UK’s involvement in it – after promising to Parliament that this would not happen:
Boris Johnson has stripped our youth of the enrichment of Erasmus
Here is the truth twisting charlatan promising Parliament that we would stay part of Erasmus.
This is every kind of disaster for our young people and will push modern foreign languages even further down the academic hierarchy. https://t.co/SGCAyXobmj
Johnson says he is replacing Erasmus with a new scheme called Turing – after Bletchley Park Omega device solver Alan. Also named after Turing is the test to distinguish human beings from artificial devices created to fake it. One gets the impression Johnson would fail:
I suspect Alan #Turing would have been in favour of maintaining #Erasmus.
Given all of the above, what is one supposed to think of this deal that Boris Johnson claims is so good?
Earlier this month This Site published a piece asking whether Johnson became the figurehead for the Brexit campaign purely to stop the European Union clamping down on the City and its role in money laundering and financial crime across the globe. Was it his intention to preserve the City of London as the financial crime centre of the world’s economy?
What do you think?
Personally, I’m wondering if it’s the first time in history a nation has been asked to celebrate spending a huge amount of time and money on a plan to waste even more time and money – with absolutely no profit in it for us.
What was the point?
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Silent: did Boris Johnson force Brexit on us all, just to protect crooks in the City of London? If so, he’ll never admit it.
Beastrabban found this in conspiracist magazine Lobster, so take it as you like.
The claim is that Boris Johnson set his mind to return to the House of Commons after his term as London Mayor ended, purely to stop the European Union clamping down on the City and its role in money laundering and financial crime across the globe.
By taking the UK out of the EU, the theory states, he was preserving the City of London as the financial crime centre of the world’s economy.
The Beast points out that such a desire to protect the Tories’ city backers (as well, no doubt, as any financial criminals that might happen to be hanging around) “is going to wreck our manufacturing industry and agriculture, raise food prices, and create shortages of food, medicines and other goods”.
When you consider the kind of people with whom Johnson has been spending his free time recently, one has to wonder whether there might be a smidgen of fact to this…
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Jim Ratcliffe: the people of Bridgend would probably like to see the Ineos boss jump head-first off that parapet.
Another Brexiteering boss shafts the working people of Britain.
A majority of people in Bridgend voted for Brexit back in the 2016 referendum – possibly on the recommendations of people like Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe (himself a Brexiter).
Ineos promised to manufacture a new 4×4 vehicle in Bridgend, as a successor to the Land Rover Discovery. Production was due to begin in 2021.
Except it turns out that Ratcliffe has now had a better offer from Europe and the car will now be built at the former Mercedes-Benz Hambach factory in Moselle, France.
We can confirm today that we have acquired the manufacturing facility at Hambach from Mercedes-Benz. Manufacturing at Hambach ensures we remain on track to meet our plans to deliver the Grenadier to customers in early 2022. Full statement: https://t.co/a2RKd98O32pic.twitter.com/NHf1lSWXxP
🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺🇪🇺 Brexit supporting boss of Ineos decides to build his cars in France instead of Leave voting Bridgend because of Brexit. You couldn't make it up. #BrexitShamblespic.twitter.com/aQNrlOhN3f
Ratcliffe rubbed salt into the wounds with his comment on the new deal:
“Hambach presented us with a unique opportunity that we simply could not ignore: to buy a modern automotive manufacturing facility with a world-class workforce.”
He’s saying that facilities at Bridgend aren’t modern and the workforce is second-rate. What a charmer.
Perhaps we should have seen this coming, considering what Jacob Rees-Mogg said about Ineos on the BBC’s Question Time, and what actually happened:
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Gove: this image was made for a completely different story but… oh, it fits this one so well, don’t you think?
Will he or won’t he?
Once upon a time, after the Johnson government reneged on the Withdrawal Agreement by launching a new Bill that promised to break international law by changing border rules for Northern Ireland that had been agreed with the EU, Michael Gove said a very silly thing.
You can see it in this clip, around 19 seconds in:
Time for Govey to toddle on then: Once upon a time, a man called Michael Gove said he'd quit his job if the government made a u-turn on the Internal Market Bill. pic.twitter.com/vrUPbEKzDR
Last night it seemed his job was safe, when 357 Tory MPs reinstated those clauses in the Internal Market Bill after the Lords had removed them.
Today? Not so much… Gove himself cut them right back out again, in a desperate bid to appease EU officials who won’t sign a trade deal otherwise.
This is a major defeat for the Conservatives and for Gove in particular. They all swore that they would never let the EU dictate the UK’s internal borders and they have all buckled under and done as they were told, like a flock of expensive-suited sheep.
NEW – UK is dropping all controversial clauses in the IM bill and taxation bill that break international law.
Deal done in Joint Committee between Michael Gove and Maroš Šefčovič
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Brexit lies: Boris Johnson said he had an “oven-ready” Brexit deal waiting to slot into place with the EU.HE LIED.
When you’re thinking about the Brexit trade deal, the thing to remember at all times is that Boris Johnson won a general election with a claim that he had one, “oven-ready”.
He didn’t.
Very nearly an entire year later, with the latest attempt to reach agreement teetering on the brink because of fisheries, the rules governing state subsidies for business and how the agreement is policed.
As far as fisheries and state subsidies are concerned, if the EU is trying to dictate what we can do in our own sovereign waters and with our own sovereign tax money, This Writer thinks the EU can – politely – get stuffed.
I fear that the UK may be trying to pull a fast one on how the agreement is policed – Tories always want light-touch regulation so they can get away with more than they should (in my experience).
But Johnson told us he had an “oven-ready” deal. All these issues should have been addressed and resolved before last year’s general election – because that’s what he was telling us then.
If the deal falls through, then, it will be his fault.
He is being called to talk with European Commission chair Ursula Von Der Leyen, to see if they can find a way through.
All will not be lost because the UK will try to ratify those elements that have been negotiated and agreed. But the EU may decide to reject the lot. Indeed, France’s Emmanuel Macron is threatening to use his veto.
So we could end up trading with our most valuable partners on the worst possible terms from January 1, 2021 – after Boris Johnson won an election by telling us he had an advantageous deal ready to go.
And he’s being called out on it:
BBC have been reporting 'Agreement Imminent' for months, parrotting Downing St. briefings. Watch out for reports saying 'agreement' meant agreeing to have no deal.
With #NoDealBrexit never more close, @BorisJohnson would be very angry with you if you share this footage of him saying no sane government would drag the UK out of the single market.
Let us be very clear, explicit and persistent about this. If it ends up being a #NoDealBrexit, then it is @BorisJohnson and the ruling #Tory party that own this, nobody else.
Poor farmers. They were really fished in. Most of them voted for Brexit all the way down the line, thinking they were going to get better subsidies and more cash for their produce.
Now it seems they are to get the exact opposite. And their story is reproduced right across British industry.
Way back around the time he was campaigning to become Tory leader, Boris Johnson was accused of being in collusion with a group of hedge fund managers who wanted a “no deal” Brexit because they had bet heavily on such a situation killing off many household-name UK firms and stood to make around £8 billion.
If the story is true, they’ll be the only ones to profit – and he should be jailed (although on what charges, I do not know).
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