More on Brexit
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Environmental legislation in the UK, for example, predates the EU, or Common Market as it was then known. After the ‘Great Smog of London’ in 1952, measures such as the City of London (Various Powers) Act 1954 and the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968, led to a reduction in air pollution.
Writing in today’s Times one of their columnists Philip Collins, once Tony Blair’s speech-writer and who doesn’t normally talk sense, put it rather well:
”In the course of their everyday lives most people are not going to notice Brexit either way. They will have a blue passport and a coin and Brexit will retreat to the list of questions to which the British public pay little attention even though, as the trade talks unfold, there is a lot more Brexit to come … Brexit has been a pathetic spectacle which has encouraged and stoked the worst in British politics. It will be a pleasure to see the back of it.”
Watched the deluded idiots in parliament square last night as they waved the union rag and sang god save the queen and imagined that they had just won freedom and independence. They hadn’t, only some sections of the capitalist class had.
But there’s hope yet. Not all Leave voters are that stupid. Here, according to Katy Balls in today’s i paper, is what focus groups have found about what those in the north and midlands who switched to voting Tory:
”When it comes to these new voters, there is a sense from focus groups that a lot of them hear conversations on trade deals and feel as though it doesn’t help them personally — it’s a preoccupation of the rich.”
Pity they didn’t realise earlier that the whole Brexit saga was essentially about trade arrangements and so just “a preoccupation of the rich.”
Another fallout from the Brexit saga – problems between Spain and the UK over Gibraltar. I noticed on Spanish telly yesterday that on the news there were interviews with Spanish people living in London express concern about their future status in the UK
The looming economic crisis about to hit the EU
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51327611
“economic growth in the region at 0.1% during the three months to the end of December 2019. Two of the eurozone’s largest economies shrank in the period: France by 0.1% and Italy by 0.3%. No separate figures for Germany have been published yet. But Claus Vistesen of Pantheon Macro says that on the basis of the data released so far, growth in Europe’s largest economy was about 0.2%.”
Add the downturn in China because of the coronavirus and it doesn’t appear promising
Another example, I guess, of Britain “taking back control” in the wake of the Huawei decision. LOL
Revealing reaction of business and the media to Johnson’s bluster and bombast in his opening shot in the negotiations with the EU on a future trade deal.
He made a faux pas when he said that he would rather have tariffs than have to follow trading rules decided in Brussels. At the very mention of the word “tariffs” the pound sterling immediately fell against both the dollar and the euro.
It was just rhetoric as the EU is not demanding that the UK should simply follow rules it sets. It is demanding a “level playing field” to prevent unfair competition from UK goods whether through state subsidies or lower regulatory standards. But there are other ways in which this can be achieved eg by the two sides mutually recognising each other’s standards as being equivalent or by the UK unilaterally adopting the same or equivalent standards. As the Times put it on 3 February in its editorial,
“Mr Johnson’s objections to following EU rules have less to do with what these rules are and more to do with whose rules they are.
It is hard to believe that his government really believes that two birds in the bush are worth more than one in the hand and would be so irresponsible from a capitalist point of view to release the one they have got to go after two (or more) in the bush. But then there is the cock-up theory of history.
Interesting Article at the FT
https://www.ft.com/content/883d2044-4806-11ea-aeb3-955839e06441?shareType=nongift
(You might not be able to access), the key part is:
“Mr Johnson regularly appears to be threatening the EU, when in fact he is just reading out agreements already struck in martial tones. The battles Mr Johnson chose to fight this week sounded blood-curdling, but are either fights against an army of straw men or battles in areas where a path towards compromise seems likely to be found. Rhetoric makes the news. It matters. And it suits both sides to appear far apart for now. But the substance of what they said suggests an agreement “similar” to Canada’s is possible and likely.”
The EU are ready to adopt a Canada style deal, so long as there are level playing field conditions, these shouldn’t be a problem for Britain, the only issue will be the appearance of enforcement. So, we’re headed for zero tariffs and quotas, but with Custom checks and rules of origin checks.
The only parts of the EU worth a damn, free movement and transnational democratic institutions, are gone.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-51550421
But of course, the seasonal employment of farm labourers which has had its numbers raised recently. The existing agricultural worker scheme will be quadrupled to 10,000 a year to bring in temporary foreign workers at harvest-time.
As well as “youth mobility arrangements”, which allow 20,000 young people to come to the UK each year.
And again with little or no protection explained
“…in Scotland, which is projected to have more deaths than births over the next 25 years and whose population growth over the next two decades has been expected to come entirely from migration, industry leaders say people already in the country won’t be able to fill roles that would otherwise go to migrants…”
Sturgeon said there was “not a shred of evidence” to support the idea that Scottish jobs had been undercut and called for more powers over employment law to ensure fair working conditions.
She said: “There is much evidence to the contrary including the views of the migration advisory committee – that immigration and EU immigration in particular does not drive down wages, either in the Scottish economy or in the UK economy.
“Migrants make a net contribution to our economy. If we have a problem of low wages or working conditions not being what they should be, that’s about poor regulation in the UK economy.”https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-51600062
No doubt some Brexiteers must be rejoicing that the EU “borderless” principles and passport-free Schengen Area has just disappeared with the very nationalist imposed sovereignty laws being passed due to COVID19
Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland, Czech, Slovakia, Poland, Cyprus, Denmark, Hungary, Portugal,
I may well have missed some who have re-imposed border controls.
Nevertheless, France, Germany, Spain and Italy opt to keep their borders open.
If needs must, EU harmony falls by the wayside
COVID-19, has it been more damaging to EU unity than Brexit?
https://www.dw.com/en/opinion-coronavirus-brings-europes-borders-back/a-53134507
“The most astonishing thing about the coronavirus pandemic is how easily borders can come back.”
Tory pushes American agenda on lower food standards
the government’s own best-case scenario shows a US trade deal would lead to a tiny boost to the UK economy of just 0.16 per cent of GDP
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