There are no elected representatives of Northern Ireland with any true power whether in the mess of the assembly, or in Westminster as the DUP hold only 3% of the seats that got the Conservatives in power. The Lib Dems held more seats in the so-called coalition, and look how the Tories destroyed them. How many times since the election have we heard comments from the DUP about Brexit? It also says a lot about the standing of the 4 countries that make the so-called union that Wales and NI have assemblies, but Scotland has a Parliament. I know that the Queen has to remain politically neutral, but she must wonder what the politicians are doing in her name, as it is Her Majesty's Government.
Get in there SH with your friend Farrghio and sort it all out... It is so much easier to mouth off superior wisdom when not actually doing the work.. we see it all over. Brexit is a total mess and now the tensionn in our own internal democratic structures are being really tested.. The whole situation is madness
The DUP were chosen by the electorate of NI as the dominant voice in a democratic election. It is their right and their duty to look after the interest of their constituents. In Germany where there is a different voting system and a coalition has to be formed, minor parties will have additional influence over and above their percentage of votes, this is politics. To preserve the integrity of the UK referendum the whole area must leave on the same terms. The RoI government has been supporting the aims of Sinn Fein for decades, this faulty suggestion is just another ploy towards a united Ireland.
Simply, the only way to obey the Irish and EU demand of no hard border on the island of Ireland is for Northern Ireland to remain in the EU customs union. The only way for May to keep her majority in Parliament is to make sure Northern Ireland (NI) does not leave the EU on different terms than the rest of the UK. So therefore the only way to progress to EU trade talks, and not simultaneously collapse her Government, is for the entire UK to stay in the customs union. It is that simple, and there are no other options.
As you did not want Brexit that is your preference. The problem is there was a democratic referendum by the British people which decided that the UK should have control of its borders, regain sovereignty and trade with the rest of the world without influence of the straightjacket that is the EU. If the UK can achieve all of these objectives I don't mind which trading arrangements we remain in. The Macron boy will also have to forget his idea, although it makes perfect fiscal sense, of much further EU integration that nobody wants.
It is obvious the government is desperate to get a trade deal with the EU otherwise they would have walked by now. I have put forward a way out of the current impasse, so now you can give us the way that you think this can happen.
What it needs is the EU to ditch its overriding requirement to punish the UK for daring to reject its authority. As shown with many incidents with individual member countries the eurocrats have no respect for democratic processes unless they produce the answer they demand. The EU is playing to the audience of the rest of the EU to warn them off trying a dash to freedom. The eurocrats have put dogma over a sensible mutually beneficial trading relationship, hopefully common sense will prevail.
You are simply trying to put it on the EU to find a solution when it is the UK that has created the problem, and it is therefore down to them to get out of the chaotic situation they are now in. What would you do apart from blaming others? The dogma lies very much with May and all her soundbites that could never come to fruition.
What happened to Brexit means Brexit and we leave the single market and customs union? As for control of our borders, why are we going to allow an open border with the EU on part of our territory? It's a complete clusterfuck
No, to complete the democratic process of Brexit it takes two reasonable parties to find a workable solution. The UK has negotiated in good faith, the EU is more concerned with damage limitation concerning the rest of the member states. With hindsight the Tories should have chosen a Brexiteer as leader, somebody who concentrated more on defence than attack (last election). Rees Mogg would be a great appointment.
Ruth Davidson is asking for what I suggested above, that the whole of the UK remains in the customs union. Listening to some of the Scottish Tory MPs last night they are clearly caught between a rock and a hard place. Davidson has phoned May to inform her that she will not be getting support if she continues with her hard Brexit.
With respect, remoaners like yourself are not wishing the UK to leave with a reasonable deal, you cling to any hope of the UK staying in the EU. It will not happen.
She actually said the integrity of the UK should not be jeopardised so Brexit must be introduced uniformly across the UK, exactly what I said earlier.
So how are the UK government going to move forwards towards a deal? Farage and others think that the Norway option could be a way forward, but May has rejected that in favour of her bespoke deal. There are many ways forward and we see today that most require the UK to stop trying to leave the customs union in total. Common sense is slowly getting through to people from all over the UK, but it will require a climb down from the government.
Perhaps this is a good moment to remind everyone that nothing is certain with respect to the future. There is no legally binding unalterable reason why the referendum must be obeyed. In fact one wonders what Parliament is for if a referendum can override the elected representatives ? If you are an MP and it becomes clear , as far as the future is clear, that leaving the EU will be an unmitigated disaster, what would you do ? ( And I do want a reply from anyone saying it won’t be a disaster-I just want an answer to a question that determines the primacy of Parliament. We are told that the referendum was all About returning sovereignty to Parliament. It seems an odd sort of sovereignty if Parliament is forced to oversee the economic ruin of the country-which is possible.
It requires ALL sides to be more creative. Northern Ireland business REJECTS Republic's demand for border in the Irish sea and says talks must be more 'creative'
Parliament voted to hand the decision on EU membership to the people. Parliament voted overwhelmingly to activate article 50. Parliament has supported Brexit at every stage. MPs have enough decency to respect the will of the people, we voted to leave, we should leave on the best terms possible. Remoaners and the eurocrats are trying to wreck any sensible deal for their own ends.
Brexit, as you have conceived it, appears to be dead and buried. Of course this has never been said, officially, but it is clear that Britain is staying in. The decisive words appear harmless when appearing in working papers 'Continued regulatory alignment'. In reality these words are like a bomb because TM has more or less said that all existing regulations of the common market, all existing trade deals, will carry on in unchanged form, with 3rd party states. If Britain stays in the customs union (which appears to be more or less inevitable) then what remains of your Brexit dream ? You can rule out sovereign free trade deals with the big wide World in that case. In addition the Republic of Ireland has one trump card - it can veto any agreement which is made with Brussels. When the British, despite Brexit (which has been reduced to a paper tiger) in fact remain within the customs union then they become de facto a second Norway. Norway actually pays more per head into the EU. coffers than Britain does now. Fact is, at the end of all of this, the only difference will be that the British delegation will not be sitting in Brussels and voting along with the others.....according to some reports, they will not be missed in this capacity. Face it SH. the dream of Brexit which you had imagined, is dead. The only way that Brexit could have been achieved would have been through a clean break without Article 50. and to resort to WTO rules, and accept the economic consequences.
