Re: Brexit-time to scrap it and start again?
Originally Posted by
Copperknickers II
So the current situation is, everything's moving forward at pace because the EU and UK have once again agreed to kick the can down the road. Northern Ireland may yet prove to be the undoing of Theresa May's Brexit plans, as they have now decided that should negotiations hit a brick wall then the default position will be either de facto Norway-style EU 'rules without representation', or a hard border in between the island of Ireland and Great Britain, i.e. a quasi-united Ireland. In other words, once again Theresa May is between a rock and a hard place - if she agrees to a soft Brexit she will be ousted by her own party and be punished at the next election by Brexit voters for having changed pretty much nothing that they wanted changed; if she agrees to hard Brexit then the DUP will pull support and her government will collapse. Either way the Tories are screwed and we're looking at a Labour victory unless we can come up with an agreement for a Switzerland-style cherrypicking deal within the next few months.
I think that's rather spot on, the issue of course to elaborate on your Swiss point, is that the EU hate the Swiss model and have for years been trying to whittle away Switzerland's special status with an aim to make them exactly the same as 'Norway' to streamline EU membership- so even if the UK had an equal power-balance with the EU, its unlikely this could be achieved.
To add to the Tories mess ups also and something that has divided the Scottish Conservatives MSP's and MP's from their southern cousins is over the capitulation over fisheries. Its interesting that the Conservatives who are so reliant on their Scottish arm (Effectively the seats having saved them from being out of power) have almost effectively taken it for granted seemingly that the next election will see these seats lost as they are doing nothing to support them and placate the Scottish wing. But yeah, this has not been a great period for British brexit- apparently Moggs is going to actively join in a the protests on the side of the fishermen at an event on the Thames, directly against May- in quite a public way.
EDIT: Moggs just publicly briefed against May and the current brexit agreement saying its 'destroying peoples lives and livelihoods'.He did not get on the boat itself as Farage did, but still both there, against the government - So indeed, we're back to public splits- the unity lasted all of what a few weeks during those 'brexit' speeches.
What is causing concern today too is the omission from the current agreement of the rights of British citizens living in Europe- Clause 32 iirc....its literally missing- there's a 31 and a 33, but this one is gone. EU citizens are now protected and secure in the UK (Something that should not have taken this damn long), but Davis has now received urgent letters from MEP's from all parties about the fact that the part protecting British citizens is literally absent. Its probably a mistake on the part of both parties- but it does rather question the actual scrutiny from us in that we would 'miss' such a thing until now in negotiations.
Last edited by Dante Von Hespburg; March 21, 2018 at 06:52 AM.
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