Current Affairs EU In or Out

[Armaghtoffee]

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.

He used to be Finance Minister for the North.

His qualification for this role was that he used to teach Economics at High School.

Yes I am aware this says more about us than him

I personally endorse your scum comment though.

 

[magicjuan]

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. ?

From the get go the EU held the balance of power once the referendum result was announced. That it's taken 2 years of self indulgence by Westminster to find itself here is nothing short of criminal.
There has been no urgency or recognition of the magnitude of the process whatsoever until the last few weeks.
N.I. was always going to be a contentious part of any deal, then to agree an unacceptable one, to parliament it seems, cannot be stupidity alone, it smacks of intent.

 

[Mutzo Nutzo]

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. ?

Now that labour is talking to May there is a possibility of the Govt adopting a softer Brexit where we stay in the customs union - swerving the need for a hard border or backstop.

However it would require May to go head to head against the ERG and other nazi nutters in the Conservative party.

It will effectively destroy the Tory party so not sure if May has a pair of brass ones hidden down below as she’s gonna need them if she takes this path.

 

[Armaghtoffee]

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.

Not negotiated it Roydo, agreed it.

Then the UK reneged on it. Fault lies very close to home for this debacle.

 

[Number_25]

None of this matters anymore.

The defeat of the Boles/Cooper amendment yesterday has put an end to anything any opposition party can do. The simple fact of the matter is that it's going to be a binary choice between May's deal and a No Deal.

I'm sick at the thought of the Labour Party voting for this deal, but I don't think they'll have any real alternative come March.

 

[Number_25]

Ugh.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...-longer-be-trusted-european-press-condemns-pm

We've made utter mincemeat of our relationship and reputation with our European neighbours. Cretins.

 

[Carl O'Ancelotti]

Now that labour is talking to May there is a possibility of the Govt adopting a softer Brexit where we stay in the customs union - swerving the need for a hard border or backstop.

However it would require May to go head to head against the ERG and other nazi nutters in the Conservative party.

It will effectively destroy the Tory party so not sure if May has a pair of brass ones hidden down below as she’s gonna need them if she takes this path.

Allelujah! But why has it taken nearly 3 years for this to happen with only 6 weeks remaining until the cliff edge is reached ? Should have happened donkeys ago and we would be nowhere near this situation. Hopefully its not too late, it's certainly a way out. Shows that this was always about an internal war in the Tory party, and it's a crying shame no politician was able to put their country's national interest first.

 

[Mutzo Nutzo]

Allelujah! But why has it taken nearly 3 years for this to happen with only 6 weeks remaining until the cliff edge is reached ? Should have happened donkeys ago and we would be nowhere near this situation. Hopefully its not too late, it's certainly a way out. Shows that this was always about an internal war in the Tory party, and it's a crying shame no politician was able to put their country's national interest first.

Absolutely.

This has always been about internal Tory politics.

However cometh the hour, cometh Jezza. He has sat on the sidelines for too long, happy for Brexit to happen and happy for the Tory’s to own that process. Only now he is the only one who can persuade May to get this soft Brexit deal going. The E.U. will reject any amendment on the backstop with the current deal and given there’s no appetite for a no deal in Parliament the only way out is a softer Brexit.

As I said earlier this will mean all out war in the Tory party, but May has to ask herself Country or party.

 

[peteblue]

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.

The withdrawal agreement does not have to be ‘re-opened’. An attached amendment will suffice.....

 

[peteblue]

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.

Hahaha, It’s not even the ROI’s border anymore. It belongs to the EU, the ROI are just an interested party with no voice.....

 

[peteblue]

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.

Why can’t it be renegotiated. Exactly what is it, physics, the law, exactly what stops an organisation from negotiating anything.....can’t wait for the reply.....

 

[Armaghtoffee]

None of this matters anymore.

The defeat of the Boles/Cooper amendment yesterday has put an end to anything any opposition party can do. The simple fact of the matter is that it's going to be a binary choice between May's deal and a No Deal.

I'm sick at the thought of the Labour Party voting for this deal, but I don't think they'll have any real alternative come March.

Corbyn sold Labour’s soul with his DUP overtures.

It will be a generation before Labour has a political opportunity like this to exploit.

 

[Armaghtoffee]

Hahaha, It’s not even the ROI’s border anymore. It belongs to the EU, the ROI are just an interested party with no voice.....

It never was our border Pete, it was London’s and we have always been at the mercy of its manifestations.

 

[DanEFC92]