Brexit: the UK has left the European Union

[Robert]

Why are paramilitary groups meeting with elected officials? Its pretty blatant the DUP are still up to the neck in the drug running and other wholesome activities they carry out. Imagine the media reporting if SF met the IRA Council, then proceeded to down tools to try destroy an international agreement, then when that didnt work the IRA withdrew GFA support?

The DUP continue to be the most clueless political party on the planet. They held every card and with any strategic vision would've accepted/supported May's deal, won their Brexit and avoided any sea border while remaining Kingmakers for several years, they threw their lot in with the Tory's who, surprise surprise, betrayed them once again (some union) and they've been made to look like absolute mugs. It's beautiful.

The Loyalist paramilitaries never supported the GFA anyway so that statement is rubbish anyway. What's really worth questioning is why they've remained active, high in membership, clearly running drugs and prostitution and PSNI have done nothing to stop it? Hell they've even met them. Compare that to the Provo's who completely disarmed and essentially disbanded with a small skeletal council remaining or something like that.

The Loyalist go to from the very early 20th century has been to use violence when their bigoted, supremacist worldview teeters on the edge of collapse. I've no doubt at some stage they'll try it once again, but for the same reasons the PIRA never united anything through bombings they won't prevent any modernisation through similar means. A dying breed as Alliance hoover up all the young/moderate votes and hopefully in the coming decades that particular stain can be consigned to the history books.

Thanks [MENTION=136108]Donal Cozzie[/MENTION], I always look to you for informed opinion.

It’s great to see the Alliance grow. If I lived in NI, I would be volunteering for them.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-ireland/irish-foreign-minister-says-uk-guilty-of-perverse-nationalism-over-u-s-trade-idUSKBN2B507C

Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney said on Saturday that Britain was demonstrating “perverse nationalism” by seeking to reach a trade deal with the United States before the European Union and questioned whether it was a trustworthy partner.

“This idea that Britain can get there first is narrow minded thinking, frankly. It’s a perverse nationalism when actually Britain and the EU should work together as partners,” he said in an interview with The Times newspaper.

Coveney advocated Britain working with the EU and Canada to reach a joint trade deal with the United States, although the EU does not currently have plans for a major U.S. trade deal.

He also questioned Britain’s trustworthiness following its plans to unilaterally delay imposing checks required by the Brexit deal on some food products travelling from England, Scotland or Wales to Northern Ireland.

“It has reinforced an awful lot of the doubts in Brussels about whether or not this really is a British government we can rely on to be a trusted partner when it comes to implementing what has already been agreed,” he said.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson views the ability to strike trade deals as one of the main benefits of Brexit and sees a deal with the United States as a big potential prize.

Relations between London and Dublin have deteriorated since Britain voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.

Trade arrangements in the British province of Northern Ireland have proved a particular sticking point.

In a separate interview with Northern Ireland’s News Letter newspaper, Brandon Lewis, Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary, indicated that ‘grace periods’ for the food checks should be extended indefinitely until a new long-term agreement was reached.

“My position and the government’s position in terms of the grace period we’ve got for chilled meats at the moment is not that at the end of that grace period there is a cliff edge; it’s that we use the grace period to get a permanent solution to ensure that those products can continue to flow,” Lewis said.

 

[Robert]

UK / EU imports and exports fell by 40% in January.

That’s a 20% drop in U.K. trade overall.

As soon as the warehouses empty of the stockpiled parts, firms are going to start laying off staff.

 

[Technics 1210]

Covid has laid off more people even if you count the financial crisis. Covid has resulted in the biggest drop in GDP. Businesses were closed during world-wide lockdowns so hey presto, imports/exports will be down.

It's better to look at the stats and project fear stories once Covid is out the equation.

 

[Firebat]

EU launches legal case over British Northern Ireland changes

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union launched legal action on Monday against unilateral British changes to Northern Irish trading arrangements that Brussels says breach the Brexit divorce deal agreed with London.

The bloc sent a letter of formal notice to kick-start an “infringement procedure”, which could lead to fines being imposed by the EU’s top court, although that could be at least a year off, leaving time for a solution to be found.

Maros Sefcovic, the top EU official in charge of UK relations, has also sent a separate letter to his British counterpart, David Frost, calling for Britain to refrain from this measure, but also seeking talks on the issue.

The British government earlier this month unilaterally extended a grace period until October 1 for some checks on food imports to Northern Ireland. The period initially ran until the end of March.

The EU’s executive European Commission promised to respond with the legal means established by the Brexit divorce deal and the trade agreement to what it said was Britain’s second threat to breach international law.

Britain says it has not violated the protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland.

Last September, Britain did acknowledge its Internal Market Bill would break international law by breaching parts of the Withdrawal Agreement treaty it signed in January 2020, when it formally left the EU. However, it dropped certain contentious clauses in December, two weeks before the two sides struck a trade deal.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ritish-northern-ireland-changes-idUSKBN2B71PH

 

[sweep_shot]

Green Brexit didn't happen, says environmental coalition

The so-called “green Brexit” promised by the government has not been delivered, a coalition of environment groups says.

In 2017, the Environment Secretary Michael Gove promised: “Leaving the EU gives a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reform agriculture and fisheries."

That, he said, would allow the UK to reshape the way it cares for its land, its rivers and its seas.

“In short,” Mr Gove pledged, “it means a Green Brexit.”

Over four years and 11 reports, an environmental coalition called Greener UK has tracked policies - and concluded that improvement across the board has not been realised.

Environment Secretary George Eustice said Brexit enabled the UK to create "world-leading legislation, delivering better environmental outcomes in an effective and efficient way".

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-56408138.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-eu-barnier/brexit-reality-only-hitting-now-eus-barnier-says-idUSKBN2BN2ZF?il=0

The European Union’s former Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, said on Wednesday the reality of Britain’s decision to leave the bloc was only now being felt, years after the British 2016 referendum on membership. Listing the changes that Brexit has brought since Jan. 1, when Britain ended a transition out of the bloc, Barnier said trade barriers, limits on citizens’ movement and work visas were inevitable.

“For many people the real consequences of the referendum are only now starting to sink in,” Barnier told an event in Switzerland via video link from Paris. “The reality, which has become clear for all to see, is that Brexit means recreating trade barriers that had not existed for 47 years,” he said.

Exports of food and drink from Britain to the EU plunged by 75.5% in January, Britain’s Food and Drink Federation has said, attributing much of the fall to post-Brexit barriers.

The British government says UK-EU trade has been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and problems with companies adapting to the new customs rules, which it expects to improve with time.

Barnier also underlined that British and European citizens no longer enjoy free movement in each other’s territories, highlighting the need for musicians to obtain paperwork for work permits and their equipment in the EU and in Britain.

He also said Brexit was a lesson for the EU, which he said must show its 450 million citizens that the 27-state bloc benefited all, and was not the distant, uncaring bureaucracy it is often portrayed to be by supporters of Brexit.

Barnier defended his record of negotiating the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement signed in January 2020 and the ensuing trade deal clinched on Dec. 24, 2020, although he questioned whether he and Britain’s chief negotiator David Frost really understood one another.

“We managed to conclude an agreement (on trade), though I am still not entirely sure we understood each other all the time,” Barnier said, putting it down to “a certain view on Europe and sharing national sovereignty”.

Frost was seen as the architect of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “hard Brexit” strategy to leave the bloc with a limited trade deal. Barnier, a French conservative former minister and European Commissioner, committed most of his political life to the deeper integration of European states.

 

[Robert]

There has been a riot in South Belfast. Unionists are angry that Ulster has been dragged out of the UK internal market as a result of the Brexit deal.

Interesting, BBC makes no mention of Brexit here. They are following the Tory line more and more.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-56620702

Petrol bombs, bricks and bottles have been thrown at police during sustained rioting in the Sandy Row area of Belfast.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said eight officers have been injured and seven people arrested.
Donegall Road and Bradbury Place were closed to traffic.
Up to 100 people had gathered in the Shaftesbury Square area where a loyalist protest had been expected to take place.
Trouble began before 20:00 BST on Friday, when fireworks and other missiles were thrown at police.
Speaking on Friday night, Belfast's PSNI District Commander, Ch Supt Simon Walls, called for calm after a "small local protest developed into an attack on police".
He said objects that had been thrown at officers included "heavy masonry, metal rods, fireworks and manhole covers".

Ch Supt Walls said the eight injured officers had sustained "burns, head and leg injuries".
"I am appealing to all those involved to stop this appalling behaviour immediately.
"Police are trying to protect those living in the Shaftesbury Square, Donegall Road and Sandy Row areas and it is completely unacceptable that my officers are coming under sustained attack.
"I would encourage anyone who has influence to use it now and stop the rioting before anyone else is injured, or worse."
A small crowd of protestors also gathered in Ballymena at the Larne Road Link, which was closed by police along with the Crebilly Road.

One photographer was injured by flying glass. Some shops and businesses have been damaged.
At the start, about 12 police vehicles and officers in riot gear corralled rioters into Donegall Road.
A line of police jeeps then blocked access at the junction of Bradbury Place.
Dozens of protestors hurled bricks and bottles and a bin, which was set alight, was pushed up against a police vehicle.
grey line
On Friday, a small crowd of protestors also gathered in Ballymena at the Larne Road Link, which was closed by police along with the Crebilly Road.
Speaking to BBC News NI, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA Christopher Stalford, whose constituency office is in Sandy Row, said everyone must "abide by the law".
"Given the actions of the deputy first minister, some may think that it's alright to break Covid guidance in relation to public gatherings - that is not the case," he said, referring to Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill and her attendance at the funeral of Bobby Storey last June.
Earlier this week, the Public Prosecution Service announced that no one would face charges over their attendance at the funeral, provoking a furious political backlash among unionists.

We should all abide by the law and I don't want to see a situation where young people end up with a criminal record or their lives destroyed because they've acted out of frustration at recent political developments," Mr Stalford added.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Steve Aiken pleaded for those involved to "please stop this violence".
"It will not achieve anything, and undermines the legitimate concerns that you have and is damaging our own communities," he posted on social media.
'Words have consequences'
Sinn Féin West Belfast MP Paul Maskey said "dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric" from the DUP and political unionism has "heightened tensions".
Mr Maskey said it was "deeply concerning to see these types of incidents at the height of the Covid pandemic and as we are beginning to make good progress".
"This is a time for calm heads and responsible leadership," he added.
South Belfast MP Claire Hanna said it was "sad to see disorder in Sandy Row".

She blamed what she described as "usual suspects with no vision" for creating "tension for electoral gain".
"History repeats, people lose hope, kids get criminal records, communities pull apart. There's a better way," she said.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/may/06/uk-sends-naval-patrol-boats-jersey-french-vessels-st-helier-brexit-fishing-rights

UK patrol vessels to remain off Jersey as French fishers end protest

Boris Johnson has said two Royal Navy patrol vessels would remain in place around Jersey as French fishers ended a six-hour protest at St Helier’s harbour in an escalating dispute over post-Brexit fishing rules.

The French flotilla of about 60 boats departed after a delegation had met Jersey authorities. “It’s rubbish, I’m sorry,” said Cyril Piraud, one fisher who was part of the delegation, according to a reporter from the Ouest-France newspaper who with the Normandy boats.

“I’m not sure why we even went to see them. They are putting all the blame on the French government, who they say did not provide them with the right information. If we do nothing, we’re going to end up being squeezed out, little by little. This can only be sorted out on dry land now. The [French] minister has to carry out her threats.”

In a phonecall to the chief minister of the island, senator John Le Fondré, his deputy and Ian Gorst, the external affairs minister, Johnson reiterated his “unequivocal support” for their efforts to resolve the Brexit row.

The head of the local fishers’ association, Don Thomson, said he was “confident” the Jersey government sent the ships off without concessions but with more time to get their paperwork for the new fishing licences submitted.

HMS Severn and HMS Tamar were deployed off Jersey in the early hours of Thursday as a “precautionary measure” as French fishers upped the ante in a dispute that erupted on Tuesday night when the French hinted they could cut off the island’s electricity in retaliation over new fishing restrictions. In an apparent ***-for-tat development, the French also sent two of their own gendarmerie patrol boats, PCG Athos and PCG Themis, on Thursday morning to the border waters to “monitor the situation and guarantee the safety of people at sea”.

About 60 French vessels amassed off the coast of St Helier at around 4.30am with HMS Severn and HMS Tamar observing about a mile away as they entered the harbour in a sea of red flare smoke at about 7am.

Downing Street said the patrol vessels, which are armed, were sent to “monitor the situation”, but some criticised the decision as a heavy-handed reaction designed to boost the Conservatives’ credentials on the day of local elections across Britain.

The protest was largely peaceful although initially the Commodore Goodwill freight ship was trapped and unable to leave the harbour.

There was also a skirmish when a French boat rammed a British vessel as it tried to move into the harbour at around 7am, witnesses said.

Dimitri Rogoff, who heads the group of Normandy fishers, said about 50 boats from French ports along the western Normandy coast joined the protest Thursday morning, gathering their fleet off St Helier.

They were joined by several Jersey fishers including Chris Le Masurier, the owner of the Jersey Oyster Company, who described conditions placed upon the new post-Brexit fishing licences issued to Breton and Norman fishers as “insulting and discriminatory”. Rogoff said the protest over licences for French fishermen was not an attempt to blockade the port but rather a peaceful method of voicing anger over reduced access to Jersey waters.

“This isn’t an act of war,” Rogoff said in a phone interview. “It’s an act of protest.”

French fishers are protesting over new licences issued on Friday that restrict for the first time the number of days they can operate in shared waters.

The French protest centres on new conditions imposed by the Jersey government on Friday for fishing in shared waters including restrictions on access and fishing equipment.

They have complained that 17 boats have not received any licences and that many of the 41 vessels which do have licences have had restrictions imposed without warning.

France’s EU affairs minister, Clement Beaune, said Paris would defend its fishers’ rights.

“We won’t be intimidated by these manoeuvres. Our wish is not to have tensions, but to have a quick and full application of the deal. That’s the case for Jersey and that’s the case for the licences we are waiting for in the Hauts de France [region]. We’re working nonstop with the European Commission and British authorities.”

A spokesman for the European Commission called for restraint and appealed to Britain and France to deal with the situation “calmly”.

The EU also backed the claims of French fishers. In a statement issued overnight, the European Commission said the conditions set on licences for fishing in the Channel Island’s waters were in breach of the trade agreement struck on Christmas Eve. “Under the EU-UKTCA [trade agreement], any proposed management conditions have to be notified in advance to the other party, giving them sufficient time to assess and react to the proposed measures,” it said.

“The commission has clearly indicated to the UK that the provisions of the EU-UKTCA have not been respected. Until the UK authorities provide further justifications on the new conditions, these new conditions should not apply.”

Jersey’s government had already been reeling from the French minister for maritime affairs, Annick Girardin’s comments on Tuesday, when she warned that the island’s electricity supply could be turned off in retaliation over a lack of access for the French fishing fleet to its waters.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jun/09/eu-uk-talks-to-resolve-northern-ireland-crisis-end-without-agreement

Talks between the EU and the UK over Northern Ireland appear on the brink of collapse as London indicated it was still considering unilateral action to keep unhindered supplies flowing from Great Britain into the region.

The European commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, said patience was “wearing very, very thin” and described the relationship with the UK as “at a crossroads”.

Amid fears that the escalating crisis over Northern Ireland would develop into a trade war, David Frost, the Brexit minister, said there had been “no breakthroughs” over the Brexit checks but no “breakdowns” after a two-hour meeting with Šefčovič in London. They agreed to continue to try to find a solution before 30 June when a ban on chilled meats including sausages and mincemeat is due to come into force.

Late on Wednesday, Boris Johnson insisted that there was no crisis. “I’m very very optimistic about this. I think that’s easily doable,” he said, referring to an issue that was at the heard of the fraught Irish border negotiations two years ago: preventing a border on the island of Ireland while protecting trade within the UK post-Brexit.

Johnson’s optimism could face a challenge at the G7 meeting on Thursday, however, when Joe Biden will warn him and the EU not to “imperil” the Northern Ireland peace process.

The US president landed at an RAF base in Suffolk on Wednesday evening. Earlier his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had said that Biden harboured “very deep” concerns on the issue provoked by Brexit, which would be raised in a bilateral meeting with the prime minister at the summit in Cornwall.

Behind the scenes, UK sources were more trenchant than Johnson about the row with the EU. “All the options remain on the table,” said a senior source close to the talks when asked about the possibility of unilateral action to extend a grace period for checks on chilled meats that ends on 30 June.

On the prospect of retaliation and a trade war, the source said: “We feel like we’ve heard this before. Nobody wants to get into a trade war or anything close to it, obviously.

“Unfortunately we have got used to living in an atmosphere where there are threats made to us, and not just in this context. The EU quite often seems to resort to threats at a relatively early stage in the process.” At a long press conference in London, Šefčovič repeatedly expressed frustration with the UK’s broken promises to implement the protocol in Northern Ireland.

“If the UK were to take further unilateral action in the coming weeks, we will not be shy in reacting swiftly, firmly and resolutely.”

Asked what form that might take, he said it could include legal action, arbitration or other retaliatory measures, including targeted tariffs, which has prompted talk of a UK-EU “sausage war” on the Great British side of the Channel.

But he said: “We don’t want this to happen … It’s not too late. Let’s correct the path.”

He said the UK had had ample opportunities up to January to express concern that the agreed Brexit checks would not work, but insisted they would be implemented.

Šefčovič said he had asked Michael Gove at his first meeting in March last year whether the UK was ready for the checks, as the EU had never outsourced border controls to a third country before.

He was reassured then and again in December that all would proceed as negotiated, he said.

“If you are sending sausage, cheese or meat products to Northern Ireland the very easy solution is to just put the sticker on it: ‘for Northern Ireland only’, and … we agreed on a simplified export health certificate. Do you think that one of these things has happened? No, none, nothing was done,” he said.

He described the meeting with Lord Frost as “very difficult”, revealing the relationship got off to a rocky start when the UK minister announced a unilateral decision to pull the plug on some of the protocol.

It was just “several hours before our first phone call” and “was not the best way how to start a new relationship,” said Šefčovič.

There are now fears that the UK, which first threatened to take matters into its own hands with the internal market bill, may take unilateral action a third time on 30 June.

“The problem we’ve got is the protocol is being implemented in a way which is causing disruption in Northern Ireland and we had some pretty frank and honest discussions about that situation today,” Frost said.

Šefčovič said the UK may not have understood what it was getting into. “It might be that our British partners couldn’t fully estimate the total consequences of the Brexit they have chosen; what it would mean to leave the single market, the customs union, how complex it would be for businesses,” he said.

In a statement, the UK side said no substantive progress had been made on the prospect of a veterinary agreement, which the EU believes could mean 80% of the agrifood checks disappear and could work as a temporary measure.

Ministers have objected to the proposal on the grounds that it would mean London observing EU laws again, just six months after Boris Johnson went ahead with a hard Brexit, severing the country’s links to the bloc’s trade rules.

Other areas where substantive progress was not made, according to the UK, included freedom of movement for pets without passports, trusted trader status for agrifood suppliers, and tariffs on steel and parcels.

Progress was made on guide dogs entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain and the EU’s repeated request for access to UK customs IT systems. The EU had promised further proposals on the supply of medicines and livestock movements, Downing Street said.

 

[OMB]

'Whatever it takes', UK PM Johnson warns EU over post-Brexit trade

Britain will do 'whatever it takes' to protect its territorial integrity in a trade dispute with the European Union, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Saturday, threatening emergency measures if no solution was found.

The threat by Johnson seemed to break a temporary truce in a war of words over part of the Brexit deal that covers border issues with Northern Ireland, the focus for tensions since Britain completed its exit from the EU late last year.

Despite US President Joe Biden encouraging them to find a compromise, Johnson used a G7 summit to indicate no softening in his position on what is called the Northern Ireland protocol that covers border issues with the British province.

"I think we can sort it out but ... it is up to our EU friends and partners to understand that we will do whatever it takes," Johnson told Sky News.

"I think if the protocol continues to be applied in this way, then we will obviously not hesitate to invoke Article 16," he added, referring to a safeguard clause that allows either side to take measures if they believe the agreement is leading to economic, societal or environment difficulties.

"I've talked to some of our friends here today, who do seem to misunderstand that the UK is a single country, a single territory. I just need to get that into their heads."

His comments came after he met French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and top EU officials Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel at a Group of Seven summit in southwestern England.

The EU told the British government once again that it must implement the Brexit deal in full and introduce checks on certain goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland. Britain repeated its call for urgent and innovative solutions to ease the friction.

The province has an open border with EU member Ireland so the Northern Ireland protocol was agreed as a way to preserve the bloc's single market after Britain left.

The protocol essentially kept the province in the EU’s customs union and adhering to many of the single market rules, creating a regulatory border in the Irish Sea between the British province and the rest of the United Kingdom.

Since Britain exited the bloc's orbit, Johnson has unilaterally delayed the implementation of some provisions of the protocol, including checks on chilled meats, such as sausages moving from the mainland to Northern Ireland, saying it was causing disruption to some supplies to the province.

"Both sides must implement what we agreed on," von der Leyen, European Commission president, said after meeting Johnson alongside Michel, the European Council president.

"There is complete EU unity on this," she said, adding that the deal had been agreed, signed and ratified by both Johnson's government and the bloc.

Germany's Merkel said the two sides could find pragmatic solutions on technical questions, while the EU protected its single market.

Earlier this week, talks between the two sets of negotiators ended in an exchange of threats over the so-called 'sausage wars'. An EU official said at the G7 that there was a need for the rhetoric to be toned down.

The head of the World Trade Organization said she hoped the tensions would not escalate into a trade war.

The United States has also expressed grave concern the dispute could undermine the 1998 Good Friday peace deal.

That agreement largely brought an end to the 'Troubles' - three decades of conflict between Irish Catholic nationalist militants and pro-British Protestant 'loyalist' paramilitaries in which 3,600 people were killed.

Though Brexit was not part of the formal agenda for the G7 summit in the English seaside resort of Carbis Bay, it has more than once threatened to cloud the meeting.

France's Macron offered to reset relations with Britain as long as Johnson stood by the Brexit deal - a characterisation of the meeting that was rejected by the British team.

Brexit has also strained the situation in Northern Ireland, where the pro-British 'unionist' community say they are now split off from the rest of the United Kingdom and the Brexit deal breaches the 1998 peace deal. But the open border between the province and Ireland was a key principle of the Good Friday deal.

https://www.wionews.com/world/whatever-it-takes-uk-pm-johnson-warns-eu-over-post-brexit-trade-391152

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jun/14/uk-and-eu-try-to-settle-standoff-over-northern-ireland-brexit-checks

The Brexit minister Lord Frost and the European Commission vice-president, Maroš Šefčovič, are expected to meet virtually this week to try to break the deadlock over Brexit checks in Northern Ireland.

But as the countdown begins to a 30 June ban on the sale of chilled meats, including sausages, from Great Britain in Northern Irish supermarkets, tensions between the EU and Boris Johnson’s government remain heightened.

The French junior minister for European affairs, Clément Beaune, said on Monday that the current conflict over Brexit was “a test” for Europe while the EU’s former chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, warned that the UK had to implement the Northern Ireland protocol.

“The United Kingdom needs to pay attention to its reputation. I want Mr Johnson to respect his signature,” he said.

Last week Šefčovič accused the UK of not delivering pledges made in March 2020 and in December in relation to many parts of the protocol and warned that “patience was wearing very very thin”.

After a weekend war of words at the G7 summit there is no sign of tensions abating with renewed threats of a trade war.

“Mr Johnson thinks that you can sign deals with the Europeans and not respect them and that Europe will not react. It is a test for Europe,” Beaune told Europe 1 radio on Monday.

“I am telling the British people: [Brexit] commitments must be respected … If it is not the case, retaliatory measures could be taken,” Beaune added.

To avert further deterioration in relations both sides have just two weeks to strike a new deal on implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol, with the UK government threatening to delay what it has called a “bonkers” outright ban on the sale of chilled meats including sausages from Great Britain that is due to come into force on 30 June.

“There is still time,” said one EU diplomat in relation to talks.

A phone or online meeting this week could be followed up by a face to face next week if movement on compromises emerge in the coming days.

The standoff comes against a background of continuing political instability in Northern Ireland following the ousting of the DUP leader, Arlene Foster, who resigned as first minister at lunchtime on Monday. A new survey by Queen’s University shows that 74% of Northern Ireland voters want a closer relationship between the UK and the EU.

Frost has been called to answer “urgent questions” at the Northern Ireland affairs parliamentary committee on Wednesday.

At the same time Ireland is hoping the US administration can continue to exert some influence.

Last week it emerged that the foreign affairs minister, Simon Coveney, had asked the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, to raise the issue of the instability in Northern Ireland with London during a stopover in Shannon airport.

“I spent two hours with him, and an hour of that was talking about Northern Ireland, the polarisation of politics here, the instability here, the frustration, the tension in Northern Ireland, and undoubtedly that message has got back very directly to the White House,” he told RTE.

“I think we’re lucky to have that kind of relationship with Washington but United States are also a very close partner of the UK, we know that that’s a very special relationship as well … I hope that that intervention can move this process on because Northern Ireland needs certainty now more than anything else,” he added.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/21/eu-prepares-cut-amount-british-tv-film-shown-brexit

The EU is preparing to act against the “disproportionate” amount of British television and film content shown in Europe in the wake of Brexit, in a blow to the UK entertainment industry and the country’s “soft power” abroad.

The UK is Europe’s biggest producer of film and TV programming, buoyed up by £1.4bn from the sale of international rights, but its dominance has been described as a threat to Europe’s “cultural diversity” in an internal EU document seen by the Guardian.

The issue is likely to join a list of points of high tension in the EU-UK relationship since the country left the single market and customs union, including disputes over the sale of British sausages in Northern Ireland and the issue of licences in fishing waters, which led to Royal Navy patrol boats being deployed to Jersey earlier this year.

Brussels’ target this time is the continuing definition of British programmes and film as being “European works”.

Under the EU’s audiovisual media services directive, a majority of airtime must be given to such European content on terrestrial television and it must make up at least 30% of the number of titles on video on demand (VOD) platforms such as Netflix and Amazon.

Countries such as France have gone further, setting a 60% quota for European works on VOD and demanding 15% of the turnover of the platforms is spent in production of European audiovisual and cinematographic works.

According to an EU document tabled with diplomats on 8 June, in the “aftermath of Brexit” it is believed the inclusion of UK content in such quotas has led to what has been described as a “disproportionate” amount of British programming on European television.

“The high availability of UK content in video on demand services, as well as the privileges granted by the qualification as European works, can result in a disproportionate presence of UK content within the European video on demand quota and hinder a larger variety of European works (including from smaller countries or less spoken languages),” a paper distributed among the member states reads. “Therefore the disproportionality may affect the fulfilment of the objectives of promotion of European works and cultural diversity aimed by the audiovisual media services directive.”

The European Commission has been tasked with launching an impact study on the risk to the EU’s “cultural diversity” from British programming, which diplomatic sources said would be a first step towards action to limit the privileges granted to UK content.

Industry figures said a move to define UK content as something other than European, leading to a loss of market share, would particularly hit British drama, as the pre-sale of international rights to shows such as Downton Abbey and The Crown has often been the basis on which they have been able to go into production.

Adam Minns, the executive director of the Commercial Broadcasters Association (COBA), said: “Selling the international intellectual property rights to British programmes has become a crucial part of financing production in certain genres, such as drama.

“Losing access to a substantial part of EU markets would be a serious blow for the UK TV sector, right across the value chain from producers to broadcasters to creatives.”

The sale of international rights to European channels and VOD platforms earned the UK television industry £490m in sales in 2019-20, making it the second biggest market for the UK behind the US.

According to the leaked EU paper, entitled “The disproportionate presence of UK content in the European VOD quota and the effects on the circulation and promotion of diverse European works”, it is thought necessary for the bloc to reassess the “presence of UK content in the aftermath of Brexit”.

“The concerns relate to how Brexit will impact the audiovisual production sector in the European Union as, according to the European Audiovisual Observatory, the UK provides half of the European TV content presence of VOD in Europe and the UK works are the most actively promoted on VOD, while the lowest EU27 share of promotion spots is also found in the UK,” the paper says.

It adds: “Although the UK is now a third country for the European Union, its audiovisual content still qualifies as ‘European works’ according to the definition provided by the AVMS directive, as the definition continues to refer to the European convention on Transfrontier Television of the Council of Europe, to which the UK remains a party.”

It was long feared in the industry that the EU would seek to undermine the UK’s dominance of the audiovisual market once the country had left the bloc. The government had been repeatedly warned of the risk to the British screen industry.

Industry sources said they had believed it was a matter of “when not if”, with the government appearing to have little leverage over Brussels on the issue.

EU sources suggested the initiative would probably be taken further when France takes over the rolling presidency of the union in January, with the backing of Spain, Greece, Italy and Austria, among others. There is a midterm review of the AVMS directive due in three years’ time, which sources suggested may be the point at which changes could come into force.

A UK government spokesperson said: “The UK is proud to host a world-class film and TV industry that entertains viewers globally and which the government has supported throughout the pandemic, including through the film and TV restart scheme.

“European works status continues to apply to audiovisual works originating in the UK, as the UK is a party to the Council of Europe’s European Convention on Transfrontier Television (ECTT).”

 

[James]

The above just reads as petty and pitiful.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-could-face-food-shortages-due-lorry-driver-crisis-2021-06-25/

Britain could face gaps on supermarket shelves this summer because of a shortage of more than 100,000 heavy goods vehicle (HGV) drivers, caused by a combination of fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit, industry leaders have warned.

In a June 23 letter sent to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, they called for his personal intervention to allow access to European labour by introducing temporary worker visas for HGV drivers and adding them to a "shortage occupation list".

They warned that without government help Britain's critical supply chains risked "failing at an unprecedented and unimaginable level."

"Supermarkets are already reporting that they are not receiving their expected food stocks and, as a result, there is considerable wastage," said Richard Burnett, the chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, which co-ordinated the letter.

The letter was signed by the CEOs of a raft of logistics groups, including Eddie Stobart, Wincanton, XPO Logistics and KUEHNE + NAGEL, as well as the heads of industry groups including the Food and Drink Federation, British Frozen Food Federation, Cold Chain Federation, British Beer and Pub Association and the British Meat Producers Association.

It said the approaching summer holidays, the continued unlocking of the economy and spikes in demand for food and drink created by hot weather and major sporting events would exacerbate the problem.

The letter also warned that the Christmas build that retailers begin in August/September would be seriously affected.

In response, a spokesman for the government said it had met with industry figures to discuss HGV driver shortages and possible solutions around recruitment and retention.

"Most of the solutions are likely to be commercial and from within industry, with progress already being made in key areas such as testing and hiring, and a big focus towards improving pay, working conditions and diversity," the spokesman said.

"Our new points-based immigration system makes clear employers should focus on investing in our domestic workforce, especially those needing to find new employment, rather than relying on labour from abroad."

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/04/uk-eu-relations-deteriorate-strange-david-frost-remarks-brexit

The EU fears that Boris Johnson wants to “dismantle” the Northern Ireland protocol, the Irish foreign minister has said, as relations between Brussels and London deteriorated again after remarks by the Brexit minister David Frost in the past 24 hours.

Simon Coveney told RTÉ on Sunday that EU leaders feared the worst after what he felt was a provocative article written by Lord Frost and the Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, in the Irish Times on Saturday.

“Many in the EU are interpreting the UK’s response as essentially saying: ‘Look, concessions don’t matter. What is required now is to dismantle elements of the protocol piece by piece,’” he said, adding. “That is going to cause huge problems.”

Coveney expressed bafflement over the article, coming just days after a three-month pause was agreed between Brussels and London in the trade dispute over the sale of sausages from Great Britain in Northern Ireland.

In a sign of the continuing fragility of relations between the EU and the UK, Coveney complained that London has barely acknowledged the EU’s flexibility on the protocol including a pledge to remove barriers to the supply of medicines to Northern Ireland. The article states: “New cancer drugs can’t be licensed for Northern Ireland.”

Coveney told RTÉ’s This Week the article was “a very strange way to make friends and build partnerships” coming two days after the EU and the UK agreed to extend the deadline over the sale of sausages and chilled meats.

In the piece, Frost and Lewis say Wednesday’s agreement was “welcome” but that it addressed “only a small part of the underlying problem”, claiming the “process to resolve all these difficulties” was “creating a series of rolling crises as we lurch from one deadline to another”.

Coveney suggested this was another attempt to lay blame at the EU’s door as it was the UK that had requested a three-month delay.

He said: “Making statements like the EU are taking ‘a theological approach frozen in time that doesn’t deal with the reality that exists’, an exact quote from that article, is essentially blaming the EU for not being able to implement the protocol.

“The truth here is the only side that has shown flexibility … has been the EU. The challenge here is that both sides have to take responsibility and ownership.”

Coveney also accused the UK of stoking political sensitivities in Northern Ireland.

“The contribution from the British government isn’t helping that [peace and stability], because every time Lord Frost or the secretary of state for Northern Ireland says the protocol is not sustainable, that reinforces in the minds of many people who are concerned and frustrated by the protocol, that the protocol needs to change.

“Instead what needs to happen here is that the EU and the UK have got to work in partnership,” Coveney said.

The article states that the UK needs “constructive and ambitious discussion with the EU which deal with the actual reality”. It says “opposition is growing” against the protocol in Northern Ireland, which “is not a stable basis for the future”.

The ministers say that “consent is also fraying because there is a sense that the current arrangements could corrode the link between NI and the rest of the UK”, pointing out that in 2018 inward trade from Great Britain to Northern Ireland was “five times” greater than imports from the Republic of Ireland.

A UK government spokesperson said: “This is not about concessions. It is about finding sustainable arrangements for Northern Ireland and protecting the Belfast [Good Friday] Agreement in all its dimensions.

“The UK government has provided nearly £500m this year to support businesses moving goods under the protocol and we are committed to working consensually with the EU to resolve the issues which are causing significant disruption on the ground.

“We will consider all options available if solutions cannot be found, because our overriding responsibility is to support peace, prosperity and stability in Northern Ireland.”

In separate remarks in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Frost said it was reasonable to suggest resetting the protocol now that the implications of it on the ground were known, with particular opposition in unionist and loyalist communities.

“It just doesn’t seem unreasonable to us to say: these arrangements aren’t working out quite as we both thought. Look at the effects and the way it’s playing out; we really should take another look at how it’s happening.”

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jul/22/von-der-leyen-rejects-boris-johnson-bid-to-renegotiate-irish-protocol

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has rejected Boris Johnson’s move to renegotiate the Northern Irish protocol, raising the temperature of a simmering Brexit row.

“The EU will continue to be creative and flexible within the protocol framework. But we will not renegotiate,” she said after a call with the prime minister on Thursday.

EU sources said the call lasted about 30 minutes, and Von der Leyen made clear they spoke at Johnson’s request.

While not a surprise, her refusal – less than 24 hours after the government set out a plan to renegotiate a core part of the Brexit deal – is a blow to Johnson, who made repeated false claims that there would be no customs checks between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The EU has united against the UK blueprint to rewrite the Northern Irish protocol, a hard-fought agreement with Johnson in 2019 that created a customs border in the Irish Sea.

In an official readout of the prime minister’s call with Von der Leyen, a Downing Street spokesperson repeated the UK government’s case for renegotiation. “The prime minister set out that the way the protocol was currently operating was unsustainable. Solutions could not be found through the existing mechanisms of the protocol. That was why we had set out proposals for significant changes to it.

“He urged the EU to look at those proposals seriously and work with the UK on them. There is a huge opportunity to find reasonable, practical solutions to the difficulties facing people and businesses in Northern Ireland, and thereby to put the relationship between the UK and the EU on a better footing. They agreed to remain in touch.”

The prime minister made the same points in a separate call with Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Johnson’s spokesperson said the prime minister “didn’t expect the EU to take such a purist and maximalist approach” to implementing the protocol but could not point to any breaches by Brussels of the agreement.

“There are real life issues that people are facing on the ground in Northern Ireland that need to be addressed,” the spokesperson said, adding that the government had launched a consultation intended to “slash Brexit red tape”.

Johnson’s spokesperson said the prime minister did not want the protocol scrapped “at this time”.

The UK’s attempt to renegotiate has exasperated EU decision-makers, who have already proposed changes to lessen the impact on Northern Irish citizens. Further tweaks remain possible, but the EU has ruled out a full-scale renegotiation.

In an unusually blunt statement, a German government spokesperson tweeted: “Is it too much to expect the [UK] to stand by what it has negotiated, signed and ratified.”

One EU diplomat said the Brexit minister, David Frost, had produced “a half-baked proposal” with difficult concepts. Lord Frost’s suggestion that traders should be trusted to move goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland with minimal oversight is opposed by Brussels, which thinks such a regime could be exploited by smugglers and firms playing fast and loose with two sets of rules.

The goal to rip the European court of justice out of the protocol has also fallen on stony ground. EU sources argue that Frost has incorrectly characterised the court’s role in the protocol, exaggerating its significance.

The protocol underscores that the court has sole responsibility for adjudicating on questions of EU law, a point officials say is a foundation stone of the EU’s legal order that cannot be changed.

The agreement also allows the British government to be sued in the European court of justice (ECJ), with one legal case already lodged by Brussels over alleged breaches.

UK sources think the ECJ is unusual in such an international treaty and fear the government’s margin for manoeuvre will be crimped by what is seen as the extreme inflexibility of the EU system.

Talks will continue between the two sides. “It would be a mistake to dismiss the political concerns, simply because [the UK] signed up to this,” said the diplomat, “although many of the concerns have been known since the beginning.”

 

[PakLFC]

UK food shortage.

I think we could have a serious food shortage in the UK pretty soon. Many reports coming in of how superstores are struggling coz of Brexit and Covid. There seem to be many empty shelves in major superstores.
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news...ues-uk-food-shortage-warning-ahead-christmas/

 

[Robert]

I think we could have a serious food shortage in the UK pretty soon. Many reports coming in of how superstores are struggling coz of Brexit and Covid. There seem to be many empty shelves in major superstores.
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news...ues-uk-food-shortage-warning-ahead-christmas/

Due also to farmers’ inability to get the harvest in due to shortages labour,

Also the six-month delay on customs declarations will end on 1.1.2022. Inspection of all incoming food cargo will begin at the ports.

 

[PakLFC]

Due also to farmers’ inability to get the harvest in due to shortages labour,

Also the six-month delay on customs declarations will end on 1.1.2022. Inspection of all incoming food cargo will begin at the ports.

What caused the shortage of labour?

 

[Robert]

What caused the shortage of labour?

The East European farm workers all went home after Brexit. British workers don’t want to do the work as it is physically hard and low paid and you get rained on. So the farmers cannot get their crops in.

 

[PakLFC]

The East European farm workers all went home after Brexit. British workers don’t want to do the work as it is physically hard and low paid and you get rained on. So the farmers cannot get their crops in.

British workers will still not want to do such jobs. This is the fear.

 

[Robert]

British workers will still not want to do such jobs. This is the fear.

Yeah, EU membership had papered over cracks in the UK labour market. Now the paper has been ripped off, the fruit and veg pickers have gone home, and born Britons don’t want the tough dirty field work.

Same with the truckers. Their pay and conditions has been declining for years. Poles and Hungarians would put up with that, but now they have gone and Britons don’t want to go into haulage.

 

[IMMY69]

Really struggling with labour/workers at the moment.
Is it a crises? Possibly yes

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Really struggling with labour/workers at the moment.
Is it a crises? Possibly yes

I'm getting quite a lot of work done on my house, prices seem to be going up weekly with claims of building materials going up by 45% since the start of summer. That's if you can get a tradesmen to even give you a quote, many of them are just crying off, " Nah mate, my diary's chocka, won't be able to do anything until next year...."

 

[Robert]

I'm getting quite a lot of work done on my house, prices seem to be going up weekly with claims of building materials going up by 45% since the start of summer. That's if you can get a tradesmen to even give you a quote, many of them are just crying off, " Nah mate, my diary's chocka, won't be able to do anything until next year...."

That could be due to lockdowns - instead of people spending on holidays, they sank money into improving their houses. So the construction guys have full order books.

There is certainly a shortage of building materials though.

 

[IMMY69]

That could be due to lockdowns - instead of people spending on holidays, they sank money into improving their houses. So the construction guys have full order books.

There is certainly a shortage of building materials though.

I work with two companies, both have lost fencers, plasterers and painters.
They left the Uk and are not coming back.

 

[IMMY69]

I'm getting quite a lot of work done on my house, prices seem to be going up weekly with claims of building materials going up by 45% since the start of summer. That's if you can get a tradesmen to even give you a quote, many of them are just crying off, " Nah mate, my diary's chocka, won't be able to do anything until next year...."

Cost has spiralled and getting hold of material is harder.
The builders we work with are now only handling emergencies.

 

[ElRaja]

I'm getting quite a lot of work done on my house, prices seem to be going up weekly with claims of building materials going up by 45% since the start of summer. That's if you can get a tradesmen to even give you a quote, many of them are just crying off, " Nah mate, my diary's chocka, won't be able to do anything until next year...."

That could be due to lockdowns - instead of people spending on holidays, they sank money into improving their houses. So the construction guys have full order books.

There is certainly a shortage of building materials though.

can concur, was having quite a lot of work done on my place, had to extend budget by nearly 25% and theres still little bits and pieces that need to get done. got lucky that my dad found some old contacts from back in pak who are in the UK now and now im hoping one of my mates who was a builder in his teen days might take a day or two off to help me with whats left.

the shortage of builders material isnt local tho, there are shortages on a global level, timber prices in particular have gone through the roof this year. perfect storm scenario here with numerous global supply shocks.

 

[James]

Inflation is forecast to go to around 4% next year. I think it will go even higher. Then the interest rates will begin to increase as well. The world is experiencing a very strange economic event that is largely rooted in labour shortages.

 

[Robert]

I work with two companies, both have lost fencers, plasterers and painters.
They left the Uk and are not coming back.

Trades too? Depressing.

EU membership was disguising a UK labour shortage in so many sectors - health, haulage, agriculture, construction.

We can’t run an economy on just call centre workers. We need to train the people who get stuff done.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Trades too? Depressing.

EU membership was disguising a UK labour shortage in so many sectors - health, haulage, agriculture, construction.

We can’t run an economy on just call centre workers. We need to train the people who get stuff done.

Been saying this for a while now, in fact it's a point I've made to many of our Indian friends on here who keep telling us how their countrymen are much higher calibre of immigrants and much sought after in Australia, US, Canada etc. All well and good, but once you've answered the nuisance calls or got someone to write some code, we still need roads built, drains cleared, and fridges mended.

 

[Robert]

Been saying this for a while now, in fact it's a point I've made to many of our Indian friends on here who keep telling us how their countrymen are much higher calibre of immigrants and much sought after in Australia, US, Canada etc. All well and good, but once you've answered the nuisance calls or got someone to write some code, we still need roads built, drains cleared, and fridges mended.

Yep. No good having an office skill surplus when there aren’t enough nurses, coppers, plumbers, chippies, sparks and brickies.

 

[ElRaja]

Inflation is forecast to go to around 4% next year. I think it will go even higher. Then the interest rates will begin to increase as well. The world is experiencing a very strange economic event that is largely rooted in labour shortages.

as long as the labour shortage is forced into wage inflation, headline inflation is not a big problem. any stop gaps used to address fundamental labour issues will end up hurting uk long term big time. this country has had wages stagnant for nearly 1.5 decades, if it is handled correctly it could be an excellent boon for the country for something other than asset price inflation to drive increase in wealth levels.

 

[PakLFC]

Yeah, EU membership had papered over cracks in the UK labour market. Now the paper has been ripped off, the fruit and veg pickers have gone home, and born Britons don’t want the tough dirty field work.

Same with the truckers. Their pay and conditions has been declining for years. Poles and Hungarians would put up with that, but now they have gone and Britons don’t want to go into haulage.

Well we wanted Brexit and we got it. The fears of those who were against it are being realised. Lets see how Boris gets out of this one.

 

[Robert]

Well we wanted Brexit and we got it. The fears of those who were against it are being realised. Lets see how Boris gets out of this one.

Now the govt is considering plans to provide EU truckers with work visas, to alleviate the short term crisis.

That won’t go down well among the xenophobic element of the Tory base.

 

[PakLFC]

Now the govt is considering plans to provide EU truckers with work visas, to alleviate the short term crisis.

That won’t go down well among the xenophobic element of the Tory base.

I hated the idea of Brexit to begin with. First the gov does it now seems to be regretting it wanting those truckers back.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Now the govt is considering plans to provide EU truckers with work visas, to alleviate the short term crisis.

That won’t go down well among the xenophobic element of the Tory base.

6 month work visas aren't likely to attract EU truck drivers anyway. Other EU countries who believed in the principle will be better placed to offer superior terms to those same drivers.

 

[Robert]

6 month work visas aren't likely to attract EU truck drivers anyway. Other EU countries who believed in the principle will be better placed to offer superior terms to those same drivers.

Plus those countries have decent truck stops with canteens, showers and toilets. It’s just a nicer place to work.

We’ve had eleven years of getting by on a shoestring in the UK and the cracks in services have opened up.

 

[James]

Hearing across social media from British HGV drivers who used to get £220 per day, but in the last 15 years saw their rates plummet to barely £80 per day due to an influx of Eastern European immigrants who were willing to do the big haulage jobs for a lot less cash. This, the British drivers are saying, caused them to leave the profession and retrain in something else — hence the long term HGV driver shortage within our own borders, which EU membership was masking and Brexit has now exposed.

 

[Robert]

Hearing across social media from British HGV drivers who used to get £220 per day, but in the last 15 years saw their rates plummet to barely £80 per day due to an influx of Eastern European immigrants who were willing to do the big haulage jobs for a lot less cash. This, the British drivers are saying, caused them to leave the profession and retrain in something else — hence the long term HGV driver shortage within our own borders, which EU membership was masking and Brexit has now exposed.

Due to the haulage bosses not paying people properly, let’s get that right.

We need a return to strong unions and collective pay bargaining. But lots of British truckers have sole trader status.

 

[James]

Due to the haulage bosses not paying people properly, let’s get that right.

We need a return to strong unions and collective pay bargaining. But lots of British truckers have sole trader status.

Ok. Which is another point. Truckers who were registered as sole traders are far more likely to have been left without work during Covid. Which will have resulted in even more of them leaving the profession. The shortage is beyond chronic. Not sure how it gets fixed, beyond immigration policy reform (less than a year into the new immigration policy)

 

[Robert]

Ok. Which is another point. Truckers who were registered as sole traders are far more likely to have been left without work during Covid. Which will have resulted in even more of them leaving the profession. The shortage is beyond chronic. Not sure how it gets fixed, beyond immigration policy reform (less than a year into the new immigration policy)

No EU drivers will come here for three months, and kicked out by Christmas Day. The Govt has no clue, no foresight, no interest in fixing the structural issues, they just want to play a populist game with the voters to stay ahead in the polls.

 

[IMMY69]

Listening on the radio, plenty of English HGV drivers calling in to say they work five days a week, sleeping in their cabins snd doing 15-16 hours a day (as is the norm), but are unable to take on drivers for the weekends (when their trucks are lying idle) due to insurance and regulations.

 

[Robert]

Listening on the radio, plenty of English HGV drivers calling in to say they work five days a week, sleeping in their cabins snd doing 15-16 hours a day (as is the norm), but are unable to take on drivers for the weekends (when their trucks are lying idle) due to insurance and regulations.

They are prevented by law from driving more than a certain numbers of hours per day or over several days. This is to protect them from exploitation and motorists from a trucker falling asleep at the wheel.

 

[IMMY69]

They are prevented by law from driving more than a certain numbers of hours per day or over several days. This is to protect them from exploitation and motorists from a trucker falling asleep at the wheel.

Yes that I know. My point was that they are unable to hire drivers for when they are not using their trucks

 

[in_cutter]

Now the govt is considering plans to provide EU truckers with work visas, to alleviate the short term crisis.

That won’t go down well among the xenophobic element of the Tory base.

‘They stole our jobs’ mob will be seething

 

[James]

Listening on the radio, plenty of English HGV drivers calling in to say they work five days a week, sleeping in their cabins snd doing 15-16 hours a day (as is the norm), but are unable to take on drivers for the weekends (when their trucks are lying idle) due to insurance and regulations.

Yes, the working conditions are a real problem. Millennials and Gen Zers demand better than this, which is yet another reason for the lack of backfill into vacant positions and subsequent driver shortage.

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/britain-ireland-argue-twitter-over-brexit-deal-2021-10-10/

Britain and Ireland traded barbs on Twitter on Sunday after British Brexit negotiator David Frost restated his view that the EU must agree "significant change" to the Northern Ireland protocol that governs trade and border rules in the province.

The protocol was part of the Brexit settlement Prime Minister Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU, but London has repeatedly said it must be rewritten less than a year after taking force due to the barriers businesses face when importing British goods into Northern Ireland.

Ireland's foreign minister Simon Coveney on Twitter asked: "Real Q: Does UKG (UK Government) actually want an agreed way forward or a further breakdown in relations?"

That drew a rebuke from Frost: "I prefer not to do negotiations by twitter, but since @simoncoveney has begun the process..."

Frost dismissed Coveney's argument that he was making new demands, saying that Britain's concerns over the European Court of Justice's role in the process were set out three months earlier.

"The problem is that too few people seem to have listened," Frost said.

On Saturday, Frost had released extracts of a speech he is due to make this week again calling for change and signalling a desire to free the protocol from the oversight of European judges.

Responding to that, Ireland's Coveney said Britain had created a new "red line" barrier to progress that it knows the EU cannot move on.

The row comes at the start of an important week in the long- running debate over how to manage the flow of goods between Britain, Northern Ireland and the EU.

The European Commission is expected to present new measures on Wednesday tosmooth trade, while stopping short of the "significant change" London is demanding to the protocol.

The measures are designed to ease customs controls, clearance of meat, dairy and other food products and the flow of medicines to Northern Ireland from the UK mainland.

The Commission will also set out plans to engage more with politicians, business people and others in Northern Ireland.

The proposals could enable supermarkets to supply their Northern Irish stores with sausages and other chilled meat products from Britain that are banned from entry into the European Union - and so in theory into Northern Ireland.

While remaining part of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland has stayed in the EU's single market for goods, meaning exports to the rest of the bloc face no customs checks, tariffs or paperwork. The result is an effective customs border in the Irish Sea, disturbing GB-Northern Ireland trade and angering the province's pro-British unionists.

Under the Commission's plans, British sausages, for example, would be allowed into Northern Ireland as long as they were solely intended for Northern Irish consumers.

On Tuesday, a day before that announcement, Frost is due to give a speech to the diplomatic community in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.

He will say endless negotiation is not an option and that London will need to act using the Article 16 safeguard mechanism if solutions cannot be agreed rapidly.

Article 16 allows either side to take unilateral action if the protocol is deemed to have a negative impact.

 

[Robert]

Problem is that the EU negotiators do not trust their British counterparts, who they believe are not doing what is best for the people of NI, but for the electoral survival of the populist Conservative Party.

 

[Technics 1210]

Problem is that the EU negotiators do not trust their British counterparts, who they believe are not doing what is best for the people of NI, but for the electoral survival of the populist Conservative Party.

Same EU negotiators that were hell bent on overturning a democratic result? If anyone, the EU negotiators cannot be trusted.

 

[Yossarian]

Inflation is forecast to go to around 4% next year. I think it will go even higher. Then the interest rates will begin to increase as well. The world is experiencing a very strange economic event that is largely rooted in labour shortages.

Except that in the EU the labour shortages (eg HGV drivers) can be mitigated by the fact that, due to freedom of movement, shortages in one EU country can be partially reduced by workers from another EU country where the shortage issues, say for HGV drivers, are not so severe. Not so for the UK after Brexit.

 

[Yossarian]

Same EU negotiators that were hell bent on overturning a democratic result? If anyone, the EU negotiators cannot be trusted.

Poppycock. EU negotiators were not "hell bent on overturning a democratic result". Just like at a golf club, or any other private members club, someone leaving the club, and not being a member anymore, is not entitled to carry on receiving all the benefits it had previously as a member, the EU negotiators were ensuring that if the UK still wished to keep some of it's previous benefits as a member, it will now have to offer something back in return.

It was the UK that left the EU, and not the other way around. If the UK didn't like the terms on offer, in return for keeping some of it's previous benefits, it could have simply walked away as it kept threatening to do. But it didn't.

 

[Technics 1210]

Poppycock. EU negotiators were not "hell bent on overturning a democratic result". Just like at a golf club, or any other private members club, someone leaving the club, and not being a member anymore, is not entitled to carry on receiving all the benefits it had previously as a member, the EU negotiators were ensuring that if the UK still wished to keep some of it's previous benefits as a member, it will now have to offer something back in return.

It was the UK that left the EU, and not the other way around. If the UK didn't like the terms on offer, in return for keeping some of it's previous benefits, it could have simply walked away as it kept threatening to do. But it didn't.

Yeah yeah heard the golf anology many times. Should've thrown in the cake anology too.

Donald Tusk hell bent on reversing Brexit during negotiations: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...-idea-that-brexit-can-be-reversed-before-2019

 

[Technics 1210]

Except that in the EU the labour shortages (eg HGV drivers) can be mitigated by the fact that, due to freedom of movement, shortages in one EU country can be partially reduced by workers from another EU country where the shortage issues, say for HGV drivers, are not so severe. Not so for the UK after Brexit.

Pure lies.

The reason why there is a shortage of HGV drivers is not because of Brexit, but because last year the average number of HGV drivers who train to become qualified driver in the UK couldn't due to Covid19 lockdown etc.

 

[Robert]

Except that in the EU the labour shortages (eg HGV drivers) can be mitigated by the fact that, due to freedom of movement, shortages in one EU country can be partially reduced by workers from another EU country where the shortage issues, say for HGV drivers, are not so severe. Not so for the UK after Brexit.

Truth.

While the EU states are heading for the same trucker shortages we experience (ageing workforce, training issues due to COVID) the Transport Commission is able to deal with this for the moment with truckers from central and Southern Europe and there are no food shortages and petrol queues.

The EU is a nicer place for truckers to work with safe overnight stops, canteens, showers and toilets. Plus, the ‘hostile environment’ drove people away.

 

[Technics 1210]

Truth.

While the EU states are heading for the same trucker shortages we experience (ageing workforce, training issues due to COVID) the Transport Commission is able to deal with this for the moment with truckers from central and Southern Europe and there are no food shortages and petrol queues.

The EU is a nicer place for truckers to work with safe overnight stops, canteens, showers and toilets. Plus, the ‘hostile environment’ drove people away.

You do realise you have just admitted that the shortage of HGV drivers in the UK is not down to Brexit, but down to Covid19 and subsequent lack of training due to the lockdowns.

Your second paragraph is just more sensationalism and project fear part 4. UK is not a hostile place, this is the Remainer view, the truth is millions of EU citizens continue to live and work in the UK; why if such a hostile place?

Remember, the Eurozone economy is in the pits; the GBP is still much stronger than the Euro and the fx rate is indicative of economic strength; this is the main reason why EU citizens search for work in the UK - not because of a political union. So much for the world largest single market.

 

[James]

“Polexit” in the news more than Brexit this week.

 

[Yossarian]

Pure lies.

The reason why there is a shortage of HGV drivers is not because of Brexit, but because last year the average number of HGV drivers who train to become qualified driver in the UK couldn't due to Covid19 lockdown etc.

And the shortages in the hospitality sector? Or farmers unable to find seasonal workers to pick their harvest (jobs done to a large extent previously by seasonal workers from the EU)?
The list goes on..and on ..

 

[Technics 1210]

And the shortages in the hospitality sector? Or farmers unable to find seasonal workers to pick their harvest (jobs done to a large extent previously by seasonal workers from the EU)?
The list goes on..and on ..

You do realise the hospitality sector was decimated and will take a few years to recover. How you can claim there's a shortage when the industry is slowly reopening for business is beyond me.

Also, don't forget millions of EU citizens still live in the UK, and jobs are swiftly filled. There's nothing stopping EU citizens in mainland europe from working in the UK, other than paper work - that's it.

 

[Robert]

You do realise you have just admitted that the shortage of HGV drivers in the UK is not down to Brexit, but down to Covid19 and subsequent lack of training due to the lockdowns.

Your second paragraph is just more sensationalism and project fear part 4. UK is not a hostile place, this is the Remainer view, the truth is millions of EU citizens continue to live and work in the UK; why if such a hostile place?

Remember, the Eurozone economy is in the pits; the GBP is still much stronger than the Euro and the fx rate is indicative of economic strength; this is the main reason why EU citizens search for work in the UK - not because of a political union. So much for the world largest single market.

It’s also the view of some departed EU truckers if you choose to search YouTube.

Twitter is replete with Germans who have worked here for decades being asked when they are leaving.

That on top of the Windrush fiasco which has dismayed so many black Britons.

The Hostile Environment isn’t “the Remainer view” - it’s government policy. Remember those Home Office vans saying go home? Black people born here were profoundly scared, it’s as though the NF is now in government.

 

[Robert]

And the shortages in the hospitality sector? Or farmers unable to find seasonal workers to pick their harvest (jobs done to a large extent previously by seasonal workers from the EU)?
The list goes on..and on ..

I think more and more Leave voters are starting to understand that they made a big, big mistake, but cannot admit it to others.

It hasn’t fully played out yet and won’t for years. The Dutchies saw what Brexit meant, changed their dock infrastructure and employed tens of thousands more customs officers. We on the other hand are led by Bozo the Clown who could not organise that famous p-up in a brewery, so we don’t have the infrastructure or the customs officers or the vets. The transition period was supposed to end on 1/1/22 but we are not prepared. So there will be a fudge, the can will be kicked down the road. NI is effectively still in the EU. The WTO members see this preferential treatment that UK continues to enjoy with the EU, and are not happy. Soon they will start lodging official complaints.

 

[James]

No offence meant [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] but you have been strongly sucked in by the FBPE Continuity Remainism narrative from Twitter. The Tories are rubbish, yes, I think we all agree on that, but we really aren’t being run by fascists or the National Front. All of the FBPE tropes are there now mate, I’m sorry to say it. Today would be as good a day as any to step back from that dreadful echo chamber.

 

[Robert]

No offence meant [MENTION=7774]Robert[/MENTION] but you have been strongly sucked in by the FBPE Continuity Remainism narrative from Twitter. The Tories are rubbish, yes, I think we all agree on that, but we really aren’t being run by fascists or the National Front. All of the FBPE tropes are there now mate, I’m sorry to say it. Today would be as good a day as any to step back from that dreadful echo chamber.

You’re not addressing my points [MENTION=1842]James[/MENTION], you’re near the bottom of the pyramid of debate here.



Didn’t you see those Home Office vans with your own eyes? Haven’t you spoken to anyone profoundly scared by those, because they hear the government talking like the NF used to shout at them? I have.

As for being run by fascists, the super-hard Tory right are adopting their policies - foreigners go home, leave Common Market, build up the military, scrap overseas aid. The wingnuts from the Brexit Party have joined the Tory constituency parties. While I don’t expect actual fascist takeover we can expect a gradual slide towards oligarchic authoritarianism and Brexit was key to that.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/12/11/form...rily-similar-to-his-time-with-group-13732461/

 

[Technics 1210]

It’s also the view of some departed EU truckers if you choose to search YouTube.

Twitter is replete with Germans who have worked here for decades being asked when they are leaving.

That on top of the Windrush fiasco which has dismayed so many black Britons.

The Hostile Environment isn’t “the Remainer view” - it’s government policy. Remember those Home Office vans saying go home? Black people born here were profoundly scared, it’s as though the NF is now in government.

Some the departed EU truckers? What about the millions of EU nationals still living in the UK? Why aren’t they feeling this hostility you and departed truckers speak of? Please address this point.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer.

I see you trying to trying to turn this thread into a point of racism. We’re talking about the UK finally leaving the EU. The home office vans saying ‘go home’ were targeting illegal immigrants, you know, non-EU citizens living in the UK, illegally. Please stop the sensationalism.

 

[Technics 1210]

I think more and more Leave voters are starting to understand that they made a big, big mistake, but cannot admit it to others.

It hasn’t fully played out yet and won’t for years. The Dutchies saw what Brexit meant, changed their dock infrastructure and employed tens of thousands more customs officers. We on the other hand are led by Bozo the Clown who could not organise that famous p-up in a brewery, so we don’t have the infrastructure or the customs officers or the vets. The transition period was supposed to end on 1/1/22 but we are not prepared. So there will be a fudge, the can will be kicked down the road. NI is effectively still in the EU. The WTO members see this preferential treatment that UK continues to enjoy with the EU, and are not happy. Soon they will start lodging official complaints.

I think you need to wait a few years before the effects of Covid on the UK subside.

Transition period was meant to end on 1/1/22, do you know happened in 2020 after the deal was agreed? Yes Covid. Worldwide lockdown and you expect the UK to be fully prepared? Had the UK prioritised Brexit, then you’d blame the government for prioritising Covid.

You can keep blaming Boris and anyone who doesn’t agree with you, but you are not providing any objective information, it’s just a blame game for you.

 

[Robert]

Some the departed EU truckers? What about the millions of EU nationals still living in the UK? Why aren’t they feeling this hostility you and departed truckers speak of? Please address this point.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer.

I see you trying to trying to turn this thread into a point of racism. We’re talking about the UK finally leaving the EU. The home office vans saying ‘go home’ were targeting illegal immigrants, you know, non-EU citizens living in the UK, illegally. Please stop the sensationalism.

Not sensationalising, telling this board what actual real life South London black people feel - that the government have adopted the slogans of the NF of the 1970s, and this on top of the Windrush betrayal. It’s hard to express this fear and anger because I don’t feel it myself.

What I feel is shame.

I don’t know of these supposed millions. I guess some have managed to convince the Home Office of their right to stay. I bet they didn’t feel good doing that. I wouldn’t. I guess that for every born Briton disgusted by Brexit who left to follow their EU spouse, an EU citizen married to a born Briton has gritted their teeth and stayed.

What I do know is that the girls from Poland and the Baltics who served me in hotels and bars aren’t there any more. When I go back to the Big Smoke the Indian merchant who called his store a Polski Sklep has rebranded and isn’t carrying Polski foods any more - the Poles he served have gone home.

 

[Robert]

I think you need to wait a few years before the effects of Covid on the UK subside.

Transition period was meant to end on 1/1/22, do you know happened in 2020 after the deal was agreed? Yes Covid. Worldwide lockdown and you expect the UK to be fully prepared? Had the UK prioritised Brexit, then you’d blame the government for prioritising Covid.

You can keep blaming Boris and anyone who doesn’t agree with you, but you are not providing any objective information, it’s just a blame game for you.

Here are two pieces of objective information.

1. The Dutch were fully prepared for Brexit before the pandemic hit. They had the port infrastructure built, and customs staff recruited and trained.

2. Their death rate from COVID is half of ours.

A country can achieve a lot quickly, if it elects competent government.

 

[James]

I don’t know of these supposed millions. I guess some have managed to convince the Home Office of their right to stay. I bet they didn’t feel good doing that. I wouldn’t. I guess that for every born Briton disgusted by Brexit who left to follow their EU spouse, an EU citizen married to a born Briton has gritted their teeth and stayed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/56846637.amp

As of 29 June 2021, after receiving 5.6 million applications to remain in the UK from EU citizens, our government has granted Settled Status to 2.75 million people and Pre-Settled Status to 2.28 million.

These numbers do not represent ‘supposed millions’. These are real people, 5.03 million of them, who love their lives in the UK and wished to stay regardless of Brexit. There has been no gritting of the teeth. And they have stayed. They have been granted a right to remain. (By an apparent fascist National Frontesque government, that wants them all thrown into the sea?)

One of these individuals I know very closely and personally. She is Romanian, is married to a Swiss, and they have a British son. They are very happy here and are both applying for British citizenship. They will raise their family in the North of England. This does not sound like much of a hellish xenophobic nightmare scenario to me. It just sounds everyday and normal. Anyone is welcome here in the UK. Whether we are in the EU, or not.

I now move back to my earlier point, which you attempted to dismiss without consideration: you have indeed been hoodwinked by the liberal bubbles of Southern England, and those horrendously vicious sneering echo chambers of FBPE Twitter. Objective, reasonable, and balanced sources have been hidden from you. Your eyes and ears have been shuttered to the facts. Your approach to this issue has become all emotion, and no logic. Please take a step back.

 

[Robert]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/56846637.amp

As of 29 June 2021, after receiving 5.6 million applications to remain in the UK from EU citizens, our government has granted Settled Status to 2.75 million people and Pre-Settled Status to 2.28 million.

These numbers do not represent ‘supposed millions’. These are real people, 5.03 million of them, who love their lives in the UK and wished to stay regardless of Brexit. There has been no gritting of the teeth. And they have stayed. They have been granted a right to remain. (By an apparent fascist National Frontesque government, that wants them all thrown into the sea?)

One of these individuals I know very closely and personally. She is Romanian, is married to a Swiss, and they have a British son. They are very happy here and are both applying for British citizenship. They will raise their family in the North of England. This does not sound like much of a hellish xenophobic nightmare scenario to me. It just sounds everyday and normal. Anyone is welcome here in the UK. Whether we are in the EU, or not.

I now move back to my earlier point, which you attempted to dismiss without consideration: you have indeed been hoodwinked by the liberal bubbles of Southern England, and those horrendously vicious sneering echo chambers of FBPE Twitter. Objective, reasonable, and balanced sources have been hidden from you. Your eyes and ears have been shuttered to the facts. Your approach to this issue has become all emotion, and no logic. Please take a step back.

I dismissed it without consideration because you dismissed my previous one without consideration and launched an ad hominem attack which you are repeating here.

Why do you give me no credit for having reached my own conclusions? Remember that I was going to vote Leave until 48 hours before the Referendum and then my mind changed radically.

FYI the constituency I live in is the most pro-Leave in a pro-Leave rural county. So much for “liberal bubble”. But now the local fishermen and farmers who voted Leave can’t sell their catch or harvest their crops.

FWIW I am glad your friends feel safe. I have spoken to others who don’t. They got “When are you leaving?” the day after the Referendum. If everyone is welcome in the UK, how can you explain the Windrush debacle?

 

[James]

In other Brexit/Covid related news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58894904

The UK economy has made an incredible recovery and is now within 0.8% of its pre-pandemic size.

It would thus not be unreasonable to predict that the Christmas period will stimulate an overall larger UK economy than was present in 2019.

Meanwhile, Pound Sterling has been staying reasonably robust in its performance against both the Dollar and the Euro over the last 12-24 months.

This situation is not perfect, but it also does not read as anything like a crisis scenario to me. Seems like we are in quite a solid position on the whole.

 

[Technics 1210]

Here are two pieces of objective information.

1. The Dutch were fully prepared for Brexit before the pandemic hit. They had the port infrastructure built, and customs staff recruited and trained.

2. Their death rate from COVID is half of ours.

A country can achieve a lot quickly, if it elects competent government.

Netherlands has less than a 3rd population that of the UK, so it stands to reason they can deal with Covid19 more efficiently.

A competent government isn’t the issue, then problem in the UK is how our government and values are structured. For example, the 3rd runway at Heathrow is still undecided despite over 25 years of ‘debate’ by the government (past and present), HS2 has become a debacle too; hospitals chipped away over decades; our ports were decimated given cargo was entering mostly via the Channel Tunnel but then Macron blocked access.

Meanwhile an authoritative government like China are building to no end. This is precisely why the UK infrastructure is crumbling, too many liberals crying about nothing, delaying one thing after the next. 4 years wasted after the Brexit vote, Liberals, Labour, Remainers hellbent on overturning a democratic result. Then you wonder why the UK was not even primed?

As for Covid, the scientific consensus in the UK was - wash your hands, wash your face, and maintain social distancing BEFORE any lockdown. The government listened to the scientific advice. The government were also listening to the misleading advice of the WHO.

It was the science that was incompetent, not the government.

 

[Technics 1210]

In other Brexit/Covid related news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58894904

The UK economy has made an incredible recovery and is now within 0.8% of its pre-pandemic size.

It would thus not be unreasonable to predict that the Christmas period will stimulate an overall larger UK economy than was present in 2019.

Meanwhile, Pound Sterling has been staying reasonably robust in its performance against both the Dollar and the Euro over the last 12-24 months.

This situation is not perfect, but it also does not read as anything like a crisis scenario to me. Seems like we are in quite a solid position on the whole.

The UK economy is recovering well; it will take a few years but no doubt the economy is far more resilient and robust compared with the Eurozone which is struggling with negative interest rates, high youth unemployment including the powerhouses of Germany and France, and the Euro is clearly a failed experiment which is why the GBP remains stronger - so much for the largest single market on earth - cannot help its own, but expect to benefit others. The UK has been nothing but a cash-cow for the EU - and it’s easy to see why.

 

[Robert]

Netherlands has less than a 3rd population that of the UK, so it stands to reason they can deal with Covid19 more efficiently.

Whereas Germany has a larger population, so standing by your reason they should have a higher COVID death rate that UK, but they don't they have half the death rate. Despite having open borders.

The difference is, in part, competent government - locking down earlier and harder, getting PPE for the hospitals.

A competent government isn’t the issue, then problem in the UK is how our government and values are structured. For example, the 3rd runway at Heathrow is still undecided despite over 25 years of ‘debate’ by the government (past and present), HS2 has become a debacle too; hospitals chipped away over decades; our ports were decimated given cargo was entering mostly via the Channel Tunnel but then Macron blocked access.

We can manage with great efficiency given decent leadership. Setting up the NHS, for example.

News to me that most cargo enters via the Channel Tunnel, fleets of lorries cross on the ferries, I've seen them lined up at Calais.

Meanwhile an authoritative government like China are building to no end. This is precisely why the UK infrastructure is crumbling, too many liberals crying about nothing, delaying one thing after the next. 4 years wasted after the Brexit vote, Liberals, Labour, Remainers hellbent on overturning a democratic result. Then you wonder why the UK was not even primed?

And plenty of Remain Tories who understood the damage that would follow. May could have sorted this in 2017 but getting a working majority but ended up with a hung Parliament due to her robot display and policies attacking her own voter base. But even then, Corbyn whipped his MPs to Abstain on Brexit bill after bill so he was hardly an obstacle.

What infrastructure? The hospitals? They were modernised under Blair and Brown.

As for Covid, the scientific consensus in the UK was - wash your hands, wash your face, and maintain social distancing BEFORE any lockdown. The government listened to the scientific advice. The government were also listening to the misleading advice of the WHO.

It was the science that was incompetent, not the government.

And yet the other nations have lower death rates, when they listened to the same WHO.

 

[Robert]

In other Brexit/Covid related news.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58894904

The UK economy has made an incredible recovery and is now within 0.8% of its pre-pandemic size.

It would thus not be unreasonable to predict that the Christmas period will stimulate an overall larger UK economy than was present in 2019.

Meanwhile, Pound Sterling has been staying reasonably robust in its performance against both the Dollar and the Euro over the last 12-24 months.

This situation is not perfect, but it also does not read as anything like a crisis scenario to me. Seems like we are in quite a solid position on the whole.

Like I said - a slow puncture not a high speed blowout. All the G7 nations are growing faster than we are as our tyres soften.

And we aren’t out of the transition period yet.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

You do realise the hospitality sector was decimated and will take a few years to recover. How you can claim there's a shortage when the industry is slowly reopening for business is beyond me.

Also, don't forget millions of EU citizens still live in the UK, and jobs are swiftly filled. There's nothing stopping EU citizens in mainland europe from working in the UK, other than paper work - that's it.

Why would we need EU workers living in Britain to do the jobs? Wasn't the whole point of Brexit to get rid of them so British workers could do them instead. Presumably for much higher pay which will lead to inflation I would have thought.

 

[Technics 1210]

Like I said - a slow puncture not a high speed blowout. All the G7 nations are growing faster than we are as our tyres soften.

And we aren’t out of the transition period yet.

G7 were always growing faster than the UK, even before Brexit!

The comparison is with EU/Eurozone states as a whole.

Why do you ignore the economic state of the Eurozone?

 

[Technics 1210]

Whereas Germany has a larger population, so standing by your reason they should have a higher COVID death rate that UK, but they don't they have half the death rate. Despite having open borders.

The difference is, in part, competent government - locking down earlier and harder, getting PPE for the hospitals.



We can manage with great efficiency given decent leadership. Setting up the NHS, for example.

News to me that most cargo enters via the Channel Tunnel, fleets of lorries cross on the ferries, I've seen them lined up at Calais.




And plenty of Remain Tories who understood the damage that would follow. May could have sorted this in 2017 but getting a working majority but ended up with a hung Parliament due to her robot display and policies attacking her own voter base. But even then, Corbyn whipped his MPs to Abstain on Brexit bill after bill so he was hardly an obstacle.

What infrastructure? The hospitals? They were modernised under Blair and Brown.



And yet the other nations have lower death rates, when they listened to the same WHO.

I didn't mention covid death rates, I mentioned efficiency in dealing with Covid.

1 in a million deaths, 500 out of a million infected, rolling 7 day average - is way better than peak Covid in 2020. As for lockdown, i've already mentioned how liberals were against a complete travel ban to/from the UK in 1st quarter of 2020. Too much red tape in UK politics.

As for WHO. How's USA doing? India? Or even China - do you believe their figures after following WHO's advise? Did you see the state of India after the second wave hit? Nations have lower death rate after listening to the WHO? You now believe what China has to say about Covid deaths?

The point is WHO were not sure themselves and these lot are meant to guide the world!

As for infrastructure in the UK; transport (hospitals are not infrastructure). How's the expansion of the railways? Roads? Air routes coming along? Again, too much red tape and noise from the liberals.

No, May didn't stand a chance against the remainers who were hell bent on reversing Brexit. You know this. Libdems campaign on a second referendum, as did Labour, and here we are. 4 years of delay because the losing couldn't and wouldn't accept a democratic result.

 

[Technics 1210]

Why would we need EU workers living in Britain to do the jobs? Wasn't the whole point of Brexit to get rid of them so British workers could do them instead. Presumably for much higher pay which will lead to inflation I would have thought.

Nice try. The point of Brexit was not to get rid of EU citizens, The point of Brexit was to regain political and economical sovereignty.

Again, nothing stopping EU citizens from working in the UK other than paperwork. The question you should be asking is why did EU citizens flee the UK when offered a chance to stay in the UK in presence of paperwork and proof of residence? Remember, the UK enshrined EU law.

 

[IMMY69]

Nice try. The point of Brexit was not to get rid of EU citizens, The point of Brexit was to regain political and economical sovereignty.

Again, nothing stopping EU citizens from working in the UK other than paperwork. The question you should be asking is why did EU citizens flee the UK when offered a chance to stay in the UK in presence of paperwork and proof of residence? Remember, the UK enshrined EU law.

Well I gather a lot of them felt unwanted and then others who didn't have the money to apply and, to a lesser extent, some didn't pass the 1000 question quiz which by the way even I would struggle to pass.

Finally, covid struck and those that went back to their motherland didn't want to come back and have to spend time in quarantine as they couldn't afford it.

But the issue is not so much people leaving the country, but more to do with people that are needed to come in inspire of the people that were already here.

The head planner at my council told me that planning was set in 2010 to account for a 9-11pct growth in population that required new housing. This was on the basis that there would be a shortage of skilled people and so they were trying to ensure sufficient housing was in place to accommodate the population growth in the Borough. Then Brexit happened.