Current Affairs EU In or Out

[Joey66]

Don't ever try and learn things, that would be utter madness, just as trying to support your point of view with evidence from respected sources is. You'll never get your NVQs that way.

NVQ = Not Very Qualified - by the way I was once an NVQ assessor before retirement - Never a replacement for City and Guilds stage of London 1 & 2 ...........A four year apprenticeship........= a fully qualified tradesman......

 

[Ruairi77]

Today I have learned via Google that this day in history delivered:

The Beatles’ rooftop concert

The assassination of Ghandi.

Hitler becoming Chancellor of Germany.

Bloody Sunday in NI

My birthday (which I knew beforehand like!)

In all seriousness, I am constantly getting my kids to use Google to read as widely as possible. A worldwide library at your fingertips.

Happy birthday!
In a mad coincidence you share it with both Christian Bale and Dick Cheney.
(thanks google)

 

[Armaghtoffee]

Happy birthday!
In a mad coincidence you share it with both Christian Bale and [Poor language removed] Cheney.
(thanks google)

And Becky Lynch (WWE)

Cheers Ruairi.

 

[Aberblue]

Lest there be any doubt remaining...

May plea for Brexit renegotiation hits wall of resistance from EU

Theresa May's plan to renegotiate Britain's Brexit Withdrawal Agreement has met a wall of resistance from the EU, with the continent's most senior politicians and officials lining up to insist the deal cannot be unpicked. European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament that "the Withdrawal Agreement remains the best and only deal possible". He added: "The debate and votes in the House of Commons yesterday do not change that. "The Withdrawal Agreement will not be renegotiated."
Mr Juncker told MEPs that the backstop represented a "safety net" for the Irish border, adding: "No safety net can ever truly be safe if it can just be removed at any time." He said he sometimes had the impression that some on the UK side hoped that 26 EU states "will abandon the backstop - and so Ireland - at the last minute". But he insisted: "This is not a game and neither is it a simple bilateral issue. It goes to the heart of what being a member of the EU means. "Ireland's border is Europe's border and it is our Union's priority."

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told the European Parliament that "we share the will of the UK Parliament to avoid a no deal". "I agree with Theresa May, voting against a no deal - as happened yesterday - does not rule out the risk of a no deal," he said.
"For us, the Withdrawal Agreement remains the best and only means to ensure an orderly withdrawal of the UK." He added: "The backstop is part and parcel of the Withdrawal Agreement and this agreement will not be renegotiated." Mr Barnier said the backstop was "at the heart" of the EU's efforts to protect the single market after Brexit.

Responding to UK critics of the agreement, he said: "It is tough, I find it hard to accept this blame game they are trying to play against us." Mr Barnier said the EU was ready to work with the idea of "alternative arrangements" once the Withdrawal Agreement has been signed. But he said: "Right here and now, quite honestly, no-one on one side or the other can say very clearly and precisely what form these alternative arrangements will take so they can be operational and they can objectively meet the aims of the backstop. "Calmly and clearly, I will say right here and now - with this Withdrawal Agreement proposed for ratification - we need this backstop as it is. Rejecting the backstop as it stands today boils down to rejecting the solution which has been found with the British. But the problem remains." Mr Barnier said the EU "is ready and will continue to be ready to be more ambitious" in negotiating a future economic relationship with the UK.

Clearly Mrs May is trying to put the blame on her total failure to get anything like as good a deal as what we now have on the EU. I hope nobody falls for this, but seeing some Brexiteers' opinions, I fear they'll swallow it whole.

 

[Armaghtoffee]

Clearly Mrs May is trying to put the blame on her total failure to get anything like as good a deal as what we now have on the EU. I hope nobody falls for this, but seeing some Brexiteers' opinions, I fear they'll swallow it whole.

Well said.

It’s all about the blame game now.

 

[Joey66]

Corbyn today reported a good meeting with her, and support if she hits a Brexit brick wall with Labour alternatives to back her on a Brexit - it was noted his two advisors he chose were anti 2nd referendum advisors no Keir Starmer allowed in.......

 

[Ruairi77]

Proud of my local MEP here

 

[Carl O'Ancelotti]

Clearly Mrs May is trying to put the blame on her total failure to get anything like as good a deal as what we now have on the EU. I hope nobody falls for this, but seeing some Brexiteers' opinions, I fear they'll swallow it whole.

It is scandalous that she will now go back to Brussels to apparently renegotiate something which can't be renegotiated. It just ain't happening. It is an attempt to dupe the UK public so that when she fails she will claim that she tried everything and that the blame lies squarely with the EU and Ireland.

Just when you think that this mess can't get any worse it does.

 

[davek]

DUP MP Sammy Wilson made the throw-away remark in the Commons earlier today after the SNP’s Ian Blackford cited a warning from the British Retail Consortium that there is potential for food shortages, after the main supermarkets voiced fears this week.

As Blackford told MPs: “Just dwell on this, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, Waitrose, Costcutter all warning of not being able to have sufficient supplies, of shelves lying empty,” the East Antrim MP shouted: “go to the chippy!”

Utter scum.

 

[roydo]

It is scandalous that she will now go back to Brussels to apparently renegotiate something which can't be renegotiated. It just ain't happening. It is an attempt to dupe the UK public so that when she fails she will claim that she tried everything and that the blame lies squarely with the EU and Ireland.

Just when you think that this mess can't get any worse it does.

I guess we are into the 11th hour brinkmanship so beloved by the EU, so lets see who, if anyone, blinks.

Given the cards dealt, and the maths in the HOC, I am not convinced that anyone could have done much different or better, despite the siren calls from others who reckon they could,

Still, at least we can make our own rules now, or in a month or 2 anyrate.

 

[bigbadjeff]

This is looking more & more like a one way negotiation. The EU say, come up with a solution, they don’t like it and say come up with another solution. I thought bargaining was a two way street, obviously not for the EU. I can see a no deal looming which will be no good for anyone.
How do we bang their heads together if the EU won’t negotiate. ?

 

[Carl O'Ancelotti]

DUP MP Sammy Wilson made the throw-away remark in the Commons earlier today after the SNP’s Ian Blackford cited a warning from the British Retail Consortium that there is potential for food shortages, after the main supermarkets voiced fears this week.

As Blackford told MPs: “Just dwell on this, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Marks & Spencer, the Co-op, Waitrose, Costcutter all warning of not being able to have sufficient supplies, of shelves lying empty,” the East Antrim MP shouted: “go to the chippy!”

Utter scum.

lol Sammy Tache strikes again.

I'm afraid ol' Sammy has been to the chippy far too many times than is good for him, hence that remark.

 

[davek]

lol Sammy Tache strikes again.

I'm afraid ol' Sammy has been to the chippy far too many times than is good for him, hence that remark.

...been the ale house too often by the look of that boozer's nose.

 

[roydo]

This is looking more & more like a one way negotiation. The EU say, come up with a solution, they don’t like it and say come up with another solution. I thought bargaining was a two way street, obviously not for the EU. I can see a no deal looming which will be no good for anyone.
How do we bang their heads together if the EU won’t negotiate. ?

I would guess they reckon they negotiated the leave/transition deal over 8 months or so, hardly their fault if we were crap at negotiating/the deck was bent.

 

[Carl O'Ancelotti]

I guess we are into the 11th hour brinkmanship so beloved by the EU, so lets see who, if anyone, blinks.

Given the cards dealt, and the maths in the HOC, I am not convinced that anyone could have done much different or better, despite the siren calls from others who reckon they could,

Still, at least we can make our own rules now, or in a month or 2 anyrate.

The 11th hour brinkmanship though tended to be when heads of government were banging their heads together to come up with a compromise to a treaty.
This is totally different, a member state is leaving. The isn't one chink of light in anything that has come out of the EU during the last 24 hours which would suggest that the Withdrawal Agreement will be re-opened. The UK public are being led up the garden path by their own government if they think that it will.