More on Brexit
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The Irish view
The Irish Government “does not know how many times it has to say it” before Westminster really believes the withdrawal agreement between the EU and Britain is not for changing, Tánaiste Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney says. “The withdrawal agreement from an Irish and EU perspective has already been negotiated. The compromises have already been made…The deal was thrashed out over two years and is no longer a negotiation, but a ratification process.”
‘Indecisive’ Britain
May is seeking tweaks to the accord and to a parallel political declaration on future EU-British relations in the hope of belatedly winning domestic support. The remaining 27 EU member countries have meanwhile been intensifying their preparations for a no-deal Brexit. Italy’s Finance Ministry said last week that it had drafted no-deal measures to protect the country’s finance industry.
Britain risks an accidental crash-out of the EU, warned the deputy to EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier on Monday. In some of her toughest remarks, Sabine Weyand slammed Prime Minister Theresa May’s handling of the divorce talks.
“There is a very real risk of crash out. Not by design but by accident,” Weyand told an audience invited by the European Policy Centre think tank. Weyand said that May had kept members of her own government in the dark during 18 months of intense negotiations.https://www.dw.com/en/brexit-britain-faces-accidental-no-deal-eu-warns/a-47270554
Another EU politician saying the UK is on a loser
“The European Parliament will block the withdrawal agreement if British MPs try to amend it, the body’s Brexit chief has warned ahead of a series of key votes in Westminster. Guy Verhofstadt told The Independent that the EU’s legislature, which has to approve any deal, would not consent to a “watered down” agreement and that the controversial Irish backstop could not be ditched.”
“The European Parliament will not give its consent to a watered down Withdrawal Agreement,” Mr Verhofstadt told The Independent. “The deal we have is fair and cannot be re-negotiated.”
The Vultures Gather
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47036119
US lobby groups for agriculture and pharmaceutical firms want UK standards changed to be closer to those of the US in any post-Brexit trade deal.
PhRMA, which represents drug makers in the US said it wanted a deal to address the barriers to access it currently faces in the UK, pointing to items such as government price controls. It heavily criticised the current NHS drug approval system, pointing to the cap on the price of drugs as too restrictive, and highlighting insufficient healthcare budgets and “rigid” national processes. The organisation, as well as some other groups, are also hoping to secure patent protections for certain types of drugs for at least 12 years, among other demands.
The farming groups say any deal should move away from EU standards, including rules governing genetically modified crops and pesticides and herbicides, such as glyphosate. They also want to limit geographic labelling rules, such as those that bar US companies from using terms such as Prosecco. The meat lobby wants the sale of growth hormone-fed beef, currently banned, to be allowed in the UK.
Tech companies are against the UK’s proposed digital tax.
The repercussions of a no-deal Brexit – you lose free healthcare if you live in Europe and retain your UK nationality. You will have to depend entirely on private healthcare. I dont know if this is even strictly legal. Thoughts?
It is not to do with nationality. As a non-UK, non-EU resident, I am no longer eligible for NHS care other than immediate emergency treatment. It takes 6 months living in the UK for me to regain residency status.
I assume once UK is no longer in the EU then the reciprocal health agreement will no longer apply unless provided by a new bilateral country deal.
And if the NHS decide that you are not a resident of the UK, returning from your Italian villa for a hernia or hip replacement means a 6 month wait on top of the existing hospital waiting list.
I suggest as alternative, health tourism to a private hospital in India. Will be cheaper.
Yes, the vultures are indeed gathering and according to this article in last Thursday’s Times that’s what the extreme Brexiteers really want:
As Simon Nixon explained:
They complain that a close relationship with the European Union will require Britain to remain closely tied to rules over which they will have no say. But the real problem is that Brexiteers know that a deep free-trade deal with the EU would preclude their real prize, a deep free-trade deal with the US, which is keen to extend its own legal order and is sure to make any future deals contingent on Britain recognising American rules, not least in controversial areas such as agriculture.
I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them weren’t on retainers from US drug and agribusiness corporations. Somebody should check.
This, incidentally, will be the reason why the EU will not concede on the Irish backstop. UK politicians are concerned that it could theoretically tie the UK permanently into the EU customs union. The EU is afraid that, without it, Ireland could become the point of entry for products that don’t meet EU rules (eg chlorinated chickens and, in particular, GM crops). Especially as May is now reneging on something the UK had already signed, a classic case for them of perfide Albion
Associated with Brexit has been the Tory immigration bill which turns the screws on the free movement of workers by imposing the pay threshold on skilled workers visas and more than likely inflicting the “hostile” environment on all others.
What was Labour’s response?
First to abstain and not vote against it.
A quick U-turn but still 76 Labour MPs didn’t bother to vote.
Listen to this MEP (from the Belgian Green Party) explain that the EU insists on the backstop to prevent Northern Ireland being used as a backdoor to dump products that do not meet the rules of the Single Market and why they can’t give way on this point:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsGuZGjtkrc
If May wants a legally binding document that the backstop won’t be permanent then the EU will demand a legally binding document from the UK that they won’t allow goods that do not meet the rules of the Single Market to be introduced into it via Northern Ireland (which is what the backstop amounts to and which they thought they’d got).
As we’ve been saying, it’s all about the trading arrangements of the capitalist class. It’s very sad to see workers demonstrating outside Parliament taking sides in this.
Robbo, further to your earlier message on NHS and BREXIT
Now the government is resorting to what the Americans call “pork barrell” politics to try to get its deal through, with a Labour MP demanding money for areas that voted Leave in return for voting for the deal:
Of course they’d already done this to win the support of the DUP. As their leader in Westminster said after the vote of no confidence in the government was rejected.
The DUP props up the government with a Confidence and Supply Agreement in parliament.
After the vote, Mr Dodds tweeted: “The result of tonight’s vote shows the importance of our Confidence and Supply Agreement. DUP votes once again make the difference.”
He later added: “I’m always delighted when our opponents illustrate the strength of that relationship that we have, and what is delivering for Northern Ireland.
“When the people of Northern Ireland see the investment in education, in health and infrastructure they will thank this Parliament and this party and this Government for that extra investment.
It might work,
The Return of Farage – The Brexit Party
Farage’s new party has received pledges of support worth £1m and has more than 200 potential candidates on standby for elections, it has said.
The Brexit Party was registered with the Electoral Commission three weeks ago by former Ukip activist Catherine Blaiklock.
Some capitalists are gearing up to quit the UK
EU Ex-pats
“MEPs want them to have rights including ongoing inflation-linked pensions and healthcare rights, and residency and employment rights, such as so-called frontier worker rights that would allow British nationals living in one country to take a job or offer a service in another member state after Brexit…The letter said they would urge the UK to do the same for EU citizens in Britain… they are worried member states are working at different speeds and that the UK will rely on 27 bilateral agreements, which may not be signed in time or be uniform in nature…”
The ex-pats in Spain
“… I am dependent on UK healthcare and a pension. Could these be withheld from foreigners in a post-Brexit future? We are all scared and paranoid now.”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/feb/03/fear-anger-stalk-britons-costa-del-sol-brexit
“It’s project fear. I don’t believe any of it. For people like us, I don’t think anything is going to change at all. If Spain expels all the British expats, the economy will tank.”
“What will be, will be,”
Spain does not generally allow dual nationality. So, to become Spanish, people have to give up their British passports.
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