Infamy, infamy they've all got it in for me! Kaiser didn't survive. Tsar didn't survive. France was a republic.
As you say, there is hard positioning going on between the UK and the EU, pre negotiation. There is, however, a major difference between the Eurosceptic position pre referendum, and the Europhile position post referendum. That is, that the UK has voted by majority to leave the EU. From that moment, the UK has been in a "contentious" relationship with the EU. The parties face each other adversarially, and will do until a deal is reached, at which point we all become friends again and happy trading parties. For now, the EU leaders would love to hand the UK the worst deal possible pour encourager les autres. However, they have Continental European exporters snapping at their heels, warning the bureaucrats not to prejudice important business with the UK. Bleaters like Soubry, Clegg, Miliband and Sturgeon strengthen the hand of the EU negotiators against this country. Clegg won't even concede that he has to accept the result of the referendum. It's obvious that the May team would take tariff-free trade if it was offered by the EU, but not at the expense of loss of sovereignty, immigration control and right of this country to make and apply its own laws. It just does not help the UK negotiations to have Europhile bleaters yelling to the May team "We can't manage on our own. Just lay back and give in to them..." The key to a successful deal will probably be whether there can there be a compromise on the movement of people that the EU can live with, and allow tariff free trade. It would probably be restricted to skilled workers, but I can't see the May government allowing unlimited numbers even then
However inconvenient it may be, though, external influencers have the right to a voice - helpful or not, fitting in with our personal views or not. I realise some people would like to line up the "bleaters" as convenient scapegoats if the public ultimately doesn't approve of the arrangements we make, but that's politicians for you - taking the credit but avoiding the blame. One could just as credibly say that Eurosceptics expressing their views for the past 20+ years have undermined the ability of pro-Europeans to make the EU more successful, accountable and acceptable to some of the people who then also ended up Eurosceptic as a result. Inconvenient to the governments of the day, obviously, but a byproduct of the democratic process. There were plenty of Eurosceptic Conservative MPs affecting the way Cameron dealt with the EU, weren't there? He was in a weak position and it forced his hand sometimes. I don't approve, but I think Mrs May is playing her cards well by adopting the approach of telling Parliament "I listen to the 52% and not you lot". She has promised that the UK will be free of EU influence in our lawmaking from now on. She has promised to take control of immigration. These are things she can control, perhaps with other unwelcome consequences as a result. We'll see how she gets on and then we can decide if they did a good job or not.
I understand there's a Brexit committee being set up by the government headed by a Labour MP, and comprised of representatives of all parties which will monitor progress in the negotiations. Damian Green mentioned it on Question Time last night. This looks like the way forward, politicians working as a team for this country in such a vital matter, rather than having them sniping from the sidelines and effectively acting as agents for Monsieur Juncker and his mates
Theresa May, mindful that part French owned Nissan has some major investment decisions coming up, has promised them that they will not be adversely affected by Brexit. Which means she will either guarantee that there will be no tariffs on cars or that the taxpayer will compensate a foreign company who's profits are repatriated to Japan and France for any impact.
It's an expression of the Tories being the party of the NHS and public servants Nines. As we were told by their leader a couple of weeks ago. Get with the programme mate.
Lets pour more money into the NHS so Nigerian women can come and have their kids here, why not pay for their travel as well ?
Yes. I'm sure I read the other day that pregnant Nigerian women were costing the NHS £350 million per week in midwifery so we should be no worse off if we just stop that. Good thinking Batman.
how much does it cost to treat health tourists with no insurance or intention to pay for treatment per year
£723m, or two weeks worth of gross contributions to the EU, what was on the bus, about 3 weeks worth of the real figure. The annual NHS budget is about £120bn.
