May Concedes Negotiation Task | 54 comments (54 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

EU and UK Playing Hardball (none / 1)

True scale of #BrexitAusterity also snuck out by @hmtreasury today - the impact that a weaker economy would have on tax revenues revealed:

£80bn of potential cuts to NHS & public services if we don't stop hard Brexit. pic.twitter.com/niyywfOxC8
— Chris Leslie (@ChrisLeslieMP) August 23, 2018

UK warns of red tape, card charges in 'no-deal' Brexit | DW |
In recent weeks, there have been concerns that the country could crash out of the 28-nation bloc without a deal amid infighting within British Prime Minister Theresa May's divided Conservative government.
Raab said he remained confident the UK and the EU would reach a deal, but said that he was releasing the documents to help people and businesses prepare for any disruption caused in case there is no deal.
The guidelines stated that companies trading with Europe would face new customs and excise rules and require paperwork covering customs and safety declarations. If Britain left without a deal, "the free circulation of goods between the UK and EU would cease," the guidance said.
What do the papers say?

Britons will have to pay more to make credit card payments in the EU.

Businesses on the continent could be cut off from investment banks in London.

Britons living in the EU could lose access to their UK bank accounts.

Companies trading with Europe would face new paperwork to cover customs and safety declarations.

Britain will unilaterally accept some EU rules and give EU financial services firms continued access to the UK market.

The UK will recognize EU standards for medicines. This means that drugs from the bloc won't need to be re-tested in the UK.

Contingency plans to avoid shortages of medicines.

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Thu Aug 23rd, 2018 at 07:11:22 PM EST

"Taking back control" (none / 1)

So this is what taking back control looks like...

Index of Frank's Diaries

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Thu Aug 23rd, 2018 at 07:29:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: "Taking back control" (4.00 / 3)

Sweaty and nervous, Raab fumbles his Brexit no-deal announcement - Ian Dunt - politics.co.uk

Ian Dunt at politics.co.uk is always a good read.

[Raab's] task was, to be fair, unenviable. He needed to make no-deal look terrible and also fine, because it is only by the simultaneous maintenance of both of these contradictory propositions that the Tory party can be held together.

On Raab's performance today, he concludes:

It's hard to see what has been achieved today. By outlining what no-deal would entail, it makes it clear that no sane country would do it. Even in this context, the plans themselves require some kind of deal for them to operate, which means that they do not even satisfy the definition of no-deal contingency measures. They admit to the EU now, just as we enter the climax of Brexit talks, that no matter what they do the UK will unilaterally recognise their regulatory standards, thereby giving away the negotiating position which Theresa May claimed to be so keen to protect for the last two years. They do not offer the chance to prepare for no-deal, because the kind of work that would be required is simply too time-consuming to be done in the time available. They do not placate the ERG hardliners, because they are based on reality rather than Biblical fiction. And they do not do the government much good as a scare story, because they toned down the language to mollify the headbangers.
It is another event in which an awful lot of work has been done to accomplish nothing. Just another day in Brexit land.

by oldremainmer48 on Thu Aug 23rd, 2018 at 08:56:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: EU and UK Playing Hardball (none / 1)

The top five U.S. exports to Ireland by value through June [2017] were the categories of Civilian aircraft, parts; Plasma, vaccines, blood; Medicines in individual dosages; Medicines not in individual dosages; and Computers, respectively. They accounted for 51.81 percent of total exports to Ireland. [illustrated]

It sure looks like, Ireland and Luxumbourg are EU ports of entry for US manufactures distributing pharma to rest of EU that demand it. So. To seek savings for the UK market, Tory gov will be negotiating direct delivery and tariff on those medical supplies with the US manufacturers. Any day now, while GBP:USD is advantageous.

archived

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 23rd, 2018 at 08:36:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Van Rompuy Adds His 2 Cents (none / 0)

No-deal Brexit will break up UK, warns Van Rompuy | The Guardian |
Crashing out of the EU without a deal would risk the break-up of the United Kingdom, the former president of the European council has warned.
Herman Van Rompuy, the former Belgian prime minister who was council president until 2014, told the Observer that he believed the threat of a no-deal Brexit was a new "operation fear" tactic being used by the government. But he said it would not work with the EU and warned that such an outcome would end up creating new pressures over Scottish independence.
"The no-deal issue is not just a problem for the UK or Brussels," he said. "It is also an existential threat to the UK itself. One can imagine that a no deal will have a big impact and cause concern in some of the regions. Speaking of regions such as Scotland, it could have consequences for them and others."

○ No-deal Brexit 'would not threaten UK' - Lidington | BBC News- Aug. 23, 2018 |
○ SNP holds first national assembly to debate Scottish independence blueprint | The Scotsman - Aug. 25, 2018 |

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sat Aug 25th, 2018 at 06:39:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

May Concedes Negotiation Task | 54 comments (54 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)