Brexit and logistics

If there was any mileage in that, then wouldn't that simply be admission that the entire concept was a dismal failure?

Interesting:

Post-Brexit checks on goods between Britain and Northern Ireland set to end under new plans

Given that this would appear to be in flat contradiction of the Windsor Framework, the interesting bit is this:


...sources close to negotiations say they "will come as no surprise" to Brussels, which has been kept informed. Words like "flexibility" and "pragmatism" are being used a lot by players on all side, "conversations have produced trust."

Which suggests that having reasonable adults at the table has produced a level of trust flexibility that the likes of Frost, Johnson and Davies were never able to get buy in to.

Maybe. But I do recall that initially, even pre-referendum, Barnier had drawn up a template for a possible agreement that was much more open/soft than where we got to. But it got chucked in the bin because of a myriad of redlines and deliberate negative showboating from the UK. I might have this wrong, but I do recall it being so. 

Or, trying to inject a sense of balance, let's ask why Monsieur Barnier was able to make our team look like toothless amateurs.

Barnier was astute, impeccably polite, diplomatic, and well prepared as you say. A worthy and quite likeable adversary. However, let's not forget how our side were fighting in these negotiations with one hand constantly tied behind their backs.  They were hamstrung by our own parliament, so many of whom were hell-bent on thwarting the outcome the British people had decided upon.

Remember the oh-so-clever antics played by Benn, Grieve and many others determined to derail the process wherever they could?  Then we had the idiot May trying to convince everybody that leaving with a clause that held us in Europe in perpetuity really was a great idea, until each of the 27 member states agreed that we could leave - like that was ever going to happen to a net contributor!  It may have just about been viable had she inserted a sunset clause, a provision for us to leave of our own volition at some future date, but no.

All ably assisted at every opportunity by the clearly biased Bercow as Speaker, driving round with his hilarious "B*llox to Brexit” bumper sticker - oh, how the Remain camp must have rolled on the floor with mirth.  But wait, I nearly forgot, of course it was his wife’s car, nothing whatsoever to do with his own views…. The man was a disgrace to his position, the primary requirement for which is utter impartiality above all else.

And undermining our position all the while was the disloyal, some say treasonous, Tony Blair, with his multiple visits to Brussels, meeting with the enemy at every opportunity to reveal our soft underbelly and give away whatever few cards we may have held.

Is it really any surprise that our team couldn’t hold a candle to the likes of the admirable M.Barnier?

 

Black is white in in latest gvt report on the Abject failure of Brexit.


www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/04/brexit-trade-perks-firms-business-department-leaving-eu-companies?utm_term=65c0996617777fece06dfb62579aaa5b&utm_campaign=BusinessToday&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=bustoday_email

You whine about how terrible it is that the EU is planning a military (which it isn't)... then complain that the EU military (which doesn't exist) isn't doing anything.

You could complain, perhaps, that Belgium and Germany don't seem to want to do anything off their own bat - but that's a purely internal decision for those countries and their governments. After all, several EU countries are in there already...

If we'd still been members, do you think the UK response would have been any different? Did EU membership affect how the UK reacted to, say, Iraq or Afghanistan?

You should write a script to save you the work.