Having watched the news briefing that May and Macron gave tonight in Paris, rather embarrassing if you are a Brit, I seriously wonder just what is going on. Macron stressed that the door was open for the the UK to change it's mind, echoing what had come out of Germany earlier. In the UK this came out this afternoon. Steve Baker, one of the most prominent and influential hardline Tory Brexiteers, has been appointed a junior minister in the Brexit department. Intriguingly, shortly before his appointment was announced, he used Twitter to try to recast the debate about soft/hard Brexit by calling for the “softest” version of a real Brexit. Has Mme May realized that she is now stuck in a place that she would rather not be in, without a majority and becoming more and more isolated by the day? Let's face it, if other parties noticed an opportunity to move her on, they would argue that her hard Brexit approach had been rejected by the electorate, and it would be a time to look at all the options. For that to take place as the clock is still ticking away, the only thing to do would be withdraw article 50 notification.
I think May has swung us a lead for years. She didn't use the powers at her disposal when HS to veto some of the excesses of the EU assisting in creating a lot of the acrimony we see today. Classic divide and conquer tactics which nearly blew up in her face and now she's being propped up by a bunch of crackpots. She's engaging in Trumpesque tactics, putting her party and her cronies before the country. I think I'm going to end up hating her more than I did thatcher... and that, on her part, is some f*****g achievement.
I think you are right. She has pled unity etc with platitudes for working together as a cover for an opaque approach and seeking to make deals with out consulting parliament. But now the PCP will not let her get away with this approach particularly over Brexit where there is no political unity.
From a German Publication I think THE LAUGHING STOCK OF EUROPE [Translation by Paula Kirby] If it weren't so serious, the situation in Great Britain would almost be comical. The country is being governed by a talking robot, nicknamed the Maybot, that somehow managed to visit the burned-out tower block in the west of London without speaking to a single survivor or voluntary helper. Negotiations for the country’s exit from the EU are due to begin on Monday, but no one has even a hint of a plan. The government is dependent on a small party that provides a cozy home for climate change deniers and creationists. Boris Johnson is Foreign Secretary. What in the world has happened to this country? Two years ago David Cameron emerged from the parliamentary election as the shining victor. He had secured an absolute majority, and as a result it looked as if the career of this cheerful lightweight was headed for surprisingly dizzy heights. The economy was growing faster than in any other industrialised country in the world. Scottish independence and, with it, the break-up of the United Kingdom had been averted. For the first time since 1992, there was a Conservative majority in the House of Commons. Great Britain saw itself as a universally respected actor on the international stage. This was the starting point. In order to get from this comfortable position to the chaos of the present in the shortest possible time, two things were necessary: first, the Conservative right wingers’ obsessive hatred of the EU, and second, Cameron’s irresponsibility in putting the whole future of the country on the line with his referendum, just to satisfy a few fanatics in his party. It is becoming ever clearer just how extraordinarily bad a decision that was. The fact that Great Britain has become the laughing stock of Europe is directly linked to its vote for Brexit. The ones who will suffer most will be the British people, who were lied to by the Brexit campaign during the referendum and betrayed and treated like idiots by elements of their press. The shamelessness still knows no bounds: the Daily Express has asked in all seriousness whether the inferno in the tower block was due to the cladding having been designed to meet EU standards. It is a simple matter to discover that the answer to this question is No, but by failing to check it, the newspaper has planted the suspicion that the EU might be to blame for this too. As an aside: a country in which parts of the press are so demonstrably uninterested in truth and exploit a disaster like the fire in Grenfell Tower for their own tasteless ends has a very serious problem. Already prices are rising in the shops, already inflation is on the up. Investors are holding back. Economic growth has slowed. And that’s before the Brexit negotiations have even begun. With her unnecessary general election, Prime Minister Theresa May has already squandered an eighth of the time available for them. How on earth an undertaking as complex as Brexit is supposed to be agreed in the time remaining is a mystery. Great Britain will end up leaving its most important trading partner and will be left weaker in every respect. It would make economic sense to stay in the single market and the customs union, but that would mean being subject to regulations over which Britain no longer had any say. It would be better to have stayed in the EU in the first place. So the government now needs to develop a plan that is both politically acceptable and brings the fewest possible economic disadvantages. It’s a question of damage limitation, nothing more; yet even now there are still politicians strutting around Westminster smugly trumpeting that it will be the EU that comes off worst if it doesn’t toe the line. The EU is going to be dealing with a government that has no idea what kind of Brexit it wants, led by an unrealistic politician whose days are numbered; and a party in which old trenches are being opened up again: moderate Tories are currently hoping to be able to bring about a softer exit after all, but the hardliners in the party – among them more than a few pigheadedly obstinate ideologues – are already threatening rebellion. An epic battle lies ahead, and it will paralyse the government. EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier has said that he now expects the Brits to finally set out their position clearly, since he cannot negotiate with himself. The irony of this statement is that it would actually be in Britain’s best interests if he did just that. At least that way they’d have one representative on their side who grasps the scale of the task and is actually capable of securing a deal that will be fair to both sides. The Brits do not have a single negotiator of this stature in their ranks. And quite apart from the Brexit terms, both the debate and the referendum have proven to be toxic in ways that are now making themselves felt. British society is now more divided than at any time since the English civil war in the 17th century, a fact that was demonstrated anew in the general election, in which a good 80% of the votes were cast for the two largest parties. Neither of these parties was offering a centrist programme: the election was a choice between the hard right and the hard left. The political centre has been abandoned, and that is never a good sign. In a country like Great Britain, that for so long had a reputation for pragmatism and rationality, it is grounds for real concern. The situation is getting decidedly out of hand. After the loss of its empire, the United Kingdom sought a new place in the world. It finally found it, as a strong, awkward and influential part of a larger union: the EU. Now it has given up this place quite needlessly. The consequence, as is now becoming clear, is a veritable identity crisis from which it will take the country a very long time to recover. please log in to view this image Lachnummer Europas Vor den Brexit-Verhandlungen sieht sich die EU einer Regierung in London gegenüber, die nicht weiss, was sie will, und die von einer weltfremden Politikerin geführt wird. derbund.ch
Whatever happens the end result will statisfy no-body I suspect! Won't be hard enough for the Brexiters and too much for the remainers..
Not a German publication Yorkie. It comes from Der Bund, which is a Swiss daily newspaper printed in Bern. No German paper would be quite so forthright about all of this.
The impression I get is that most Germans would want Britain to stay. The tragedy of all of this is that even if Britain had stayed in the EU. they would have gone on moaning from the sidelines and never, really, been an active member. I believe that Cameron knew that the Eurosceptics were not going to go away and that the issue would be a thorn in the side of British politics for years to come - he chose to bring matters to a head in the belief that it was the only way to get it all behind us - he gambled and lost, just as May did. The only 'positive' of all of this is within the EU. Parliament - the British Conservatives were actually the second most represented party in the EU. Parliament and their votes there will not be missed ! Nor will the presence of the Ukip members of the EU. Parliament be missed. The probability is that the political middle in Brussels has shifted a little to the left as a result. The British Tories voted the same way as the German CDU. representatives on nearly every issue but now the balance may have changed.
This is the same text a second time Yorkie. Maybe our friend Christian Zaschke is writing for 2 newspapers concurrently - because it appeared in Der Bund, but I haven't seen the article from the Süddeutsche Zeitung. I am also interested in the expression ''suggested and translated'' by Paula Kirby - it appears that the translator also had an axe to grind. Whilst I was/and am against Brexit (at least at this time and for the reasons it is being done), the fact remains that Britain has a perfectly democratic right to leave the EU. just as anyone else does - and is not even required to give reasons for doing so. The rest of Europe has to accept this fact - including hack writers such as Christian Zaschke. No country is a ''laughing stock'' - countries make mistakes, elect bad governments etc. and normally the consequences are not as dire as this is - but that is all 'just mistakes'. I have not met one single German who echoes this sentiment. We cannot turn the clock back and undo everything now - much as we would wish to. Just make the best of a bad job - try to steer the floundering vehicle to a safe landing. What many of these commentators fail to note are the democratic failings of the EU. and that there was also a perfectly legitimate left wing reason for Brexit (though this was not paramount at the time of the referendum). The fact is that a future left wing programme of nationalization would be very difficult within the context of the EU. We are maybe forgetting that the party of Michael Foot also had exit from the EEC. as one of their aims back in the 80s.
Emmanuel Macron has confirmed in an interview today that France will no longer want to keep the existing arrangements at Calais after Brexit. He has said in the past that he believes that the UK should control it's own borders if that is what they want.
The PM is off to an EU leaders summit tonight where citizens rights are due to be discussed. Also on the agenda are where to relocate the European Medicines Agency and the European Banking Authority away from London. The agencies employ hundreds of people and there are many related jobs in their various committees, so it is little wonder that 20 countries are hoping to see them settle down in their cities. The agencies are not only seen as prestigious, but the regular flow of visitors is a reliable boost for hotels and local businesses. Every year about 36,000 scientists and regulators visit the medicines agency, which was set up in 1995 to monitor and supervise medicines across the EU.
Businesses are already pulling investment because of Brexit, the Chancellor has admitted - as he again urged Theresa May to agree a “transitional arrangement”. “The sooner we can reassure businesses that there is going to be a smooth path from where we are now to the future arrangements we put in place with the European Union, the sooner we will have that sigh of relief and start seeing businesses investing again.” In his Mansion House speech in the City of London, he dropped any pretence that he sees economic benefits to EU withdrawal. I think I would trust him to know rather more than some who still think the cliff edge is a viable option.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...r-partnership-bbc-radio-4-today-a7802381.html A candidate for Plonker of the Year? Farmer who voted Leave says his business will fail if he can't keep his 2500 European workers...
