Off Topic UK / EU Future

There's a lot of arrogance, hatred and downright deceit going on all right - and it's not coming from Brussels The victim mentality from some Brexiteers is pathetic quite frankly. What on earth did they expect?

 

Macron's interfering arrogance over Brexit clearly shows why the French accuse him of being arrogant and out of touch. It is easy to see why he is the least popular French President in history.

 

The EU eurocrats and some EU member state leaders yesterday did a great job increasing the number of eurosceptics in the UK. Their bullying smacked at desperation, some moderate leaders were clearly embarrassed by their insulting behaviour.

 

When Robbins and his fellow feeble civil servants took over the negotiations we did not expect much at all, which was duly delivered. They need to return to counting pencils.

 

Wonder how much this has cost the Government - to basically end up agreeing on nothing at all?

 

No matter who the editor of a paper is, they are still at the whim of their employer - the "who reads the papers" section from Yes, Prime Minister is still as true today as it was then. In some ways, it's better to be the sports editor.

 

Seems that while I have been on my travels, the PM has made herself look even more foolish than she did before if that is possible. The comments suggest that the Downing Street cat would be more competent than anyone in the Tory party. You can get a lot of cat food for £25.

 

I'm not sure about that Frenchie. Larry, the chief mouser at number 10, has been caught several times fighting with Palmerston (chief mouser at the Foreign Office) - with fur and collars being ripped off. It appears that the divisions in British politics run deeper than we thought.

 

I'd rather spend £25 for taxis for the useless civil servants who gave her such bad advice. Rees Mogg now needs to step in to salvage the talks ably helped by Davis and Baker. Plan B should have been her plan A.

 

Not another £25 on the Tory party SH. You could feed your family for a slap up meal down at your local Spoons for that. £50 so far. When will your generosity come to an end? A further donation or two should be enough to convince the PM she is onto a winner with you.

 

No May is on the way out, she is nearly as unpopular as the lame duck in France. The difference is you are stuck with your clown for years to come.

 

The UK PM has announced a new pledge to guarantee the rights of EU citizens living and working in the UK, even in the event of a no deal Brexit.

I wonder if the EU negotiators will continue to use UK expats as pawns in the negotiations or do the decent thing?

 

You really have no clue at all about how international politics work do you? A deal of this magnitude takes years and comes in small steps. We can crash out and destroy the country or be patient and get a deal that may reduce the hurricane to a big storm. I know what anyone working on logic and facts would prefer.

 

Theresa May and David "sorry barman the meeting started three hours ago I'd better have my bill" Davis were the ones who started using expats as pawns first. But you knew that anyway.

 

Have you forgotten May's offer to sort out migrants rights soon after article 50 was affected. The offer was snubbed by Merkel. You have a short memory.

 

As we already have current alignment on almost everything a deal could be done relatively quickly. The hold up would be the EU's requirement to make it more difficult than necessary.

The country voted to ditch this imploding rabble. Eurosceptic political parties are gaining popularity in almost every member state, their electorate have obviously realised it is a busted flush way before some on here.

 

Migrants rights in the UK. and the rights of British ex pats in the EU. are two different themes. UK. citizens are also currently citizens of the European Union as well - the question is - can citizenship, once given, be revoked ? The ECJ is currently working on this question at the bequest of the courts in the Netherlands, and, until there has been a decision on this, and regarding so called ''acquired rights'' of residence according to the Vienna Convention neither the UK. nor the EU. can really take steps on this until the legal situation is clear. There is also the question of voting rights for UK. citizens living in the EU. at local, and at Euro elections - can citizens be disenfranchised in this way ? This is all different to the situation of EU. citizens in the UK.

 

I'm curious how things are going to work with those who are ex-pats from CI or migrant workers into CI. We have a sizable Portuguese population here, mostly from Madeira, and originally they had permits to work here for 9 months of the year and had to return for the other 3, which suited everyone as we had our seasonal workforce, and they were earning more here and, as a result, quite a few were building new homes in Madeira. The EU then said that they had to be given the right to work here all year and that the permits were to be scrapped, given that we are in the EU "by association", which caused a fair bit of resentment from the "true" Jersey people, and the British who had moved here. What is to stop the return of the permit system when Britain leaves the EU? In my 22 years here, there has never been a States member of Portuguese ancestry - I'm aware of only one person standing for election in that time. I think that is why a lot of them don't vote, and as most of them live in St Helier, the turn-outs are low.

 

This is a really interesting one, will the EU assess your association is stronger with the UK or the EU.

I have long advocated a short term or controlled work permit system for the UK to solve much of the low skilled labour demands. Many UK youngsters are quite happy to go to a country like Australia to experience a different culture while earning money, for a limited period. The high levels of unemployment on the continent would ensure an adequate supply of labour. They would need to compete on equal terms to non EU applicants.

 

The problem is SH. that you see Europe as nothing more than a source of cheap labour. Time to destroy a few myths here. Many do actually go to the UK. because they think the possibilities of finding casual, semi legal, cash in hand jobs is higher there - and they are probably right. Britain already has an estimated quarter of a million illegal immigrants currently working in the country - non EU. (otherwise they would be legal), and working in 3D jobs ie. dirty, difficult, and dangerous - including hotel work, catering, pub work and construction. Britain has failed to regulate this. In contrast migrants who are working legally (which would include those from the EU.) earn, on average, around 12% more than British born workers. Altogether, Britain's foreign born population pays 10% more to the state than they receive in benefits and is worth 2.6 Billion net. to the British economy. With falling birth rates, and increasing longevity Britain needs 125,000 additional immigrants every year to maintain the current ratio between working and non working population. Otherwise there would need to be a radical change to its pension and benefits system. The argument that these migrants will not always be young and will, eventually, also be a burden for our pensions system lends support to the idea that they should be European. Because migrants from Poland or Rumania are more likely to return to their homeland, than those who have migrated longer distances.