Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[The Brain]

The government has appointed a minister to oversee the protection of food supplies through the Brexit process amid rising concerns about the effect of a no-deal departure from the European Union.

How can a government in one of the richest, most globalized and most democratic countries in the world follow a policy where it becomes prudent to appoint a food supply minister? Lunacy.

The EU-boat menace.

[crazy canuck]

The government has appointed a minister to oversee the protection of food supplies through the Brexit process amid rising concerns about the effect of a no-deal departure from the European Union.

How can a government in one of the richest, most globalized and most democratic countries in the world follow a policy where it becomes prudent to appoint a food supply minister? Lunacy.

The EU-boat menace.

[Josquius]

You would have elected a Russian agent as Prime Minister.  It'd be just as bad as Trump.  As Prime Minister he'd still have full control over Britain's foreign policy.

Please note I didn't say a Labour government would be the worst possible option - this is specific to Corbyn.

I've never heard the Corbyn as a Russian agent one. Modern Russia isn't a Marxist country.
The tories are far more serving Russian interests.

And no. Even assuming Trump himself as PM this wouldn't be as bad as Trump as president. The PMs power is very limited.

[Barrister]

You would have elected a Russian agent as Prime Minister.  It'd be just as bad as Trump.  As Prime Minister he'd still have full control over Britain's foreign policy.

Please note I didn't say a Labour government would be the worst possible option - this is specific to Corbyn.

I've never heard the Corbyn as a Russian agent one. Modern Russia isn't a Marxist country.
The tories are far more serving Russian interests.

And no. Even assuming Trump himself as PM this wouldn't be as bad as Trump as president. The PMs power is very limited.

He's like Trump in that there's no actual evidence he's a Russian agent - but that he has consistently taken positions that are entirely favourable to Russia and hostile to the West.

And you're talking to a Canadian - I know how the Prime Ministership works.  And I wouldn't describe that power as "very limited".

[crazy canuck]

You would have elected a Russian agent as Prime Minister.  It'd be just as bad as Trump.  As Prime Minister he'd still have full control over Britain's foreign policy.

Please note I didn't say a Labour government would be the worst possible option - this is specific to Corbyn.

I've never heard the Corbyn as a Russian agent one. Modern Russia isn't a Marxist country.
The tories are far more serving Russian interests.

And no. Even assuming Trump himself as PM this wouldn't be as bad as Trump as president. The PMs power is very limited.

He's like Trump in that there's no actual evidence he's a Russian agent - but that he has consistently taken positions that are entirely favourable to Russia and hostile to the West.

And you're talking to a Canadian - I know how the Prime Ministership works.  And I wouldn't describe that power as "very limited".

What has Corbyn done that favours Putin's Russia?  I would have thought Corbyn and Putin were natural adversaries.

[Barrister]

What has Corbyn done that favours Putin's Russia?  I would have thought Corbyn and Putin were natural adversaries.

Well for starters of course Corbyn wants to decommission Trident.  He refuses to acknowledge the Russians were behind the poison attack.  He does not support sanctions, saying instead they need "dialogue" with Russia.  He has called for the end of NATO.  He blamed the Russian invasion of Ukraine squarely on Ukraine.  He is very public in his support for the Cuban and Venezuelan governments.

[crazy canuck]

Thanks, I did not know that.

[Syt]

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-45673214

Boris Johnson sets out his 'Super Canada' Brexit plan

Boris Johnson has set out his own plan for Brexit, arguing that the UK should "chuck Chequers" and negotiate a "Super Canada" free trade deal instead.

The ex-foreign sectary, who quit over Theresa May's Chequers Brexit plan, called her strategy "a moral and intellectual humiliation".

He said his vision would not lead to a hard Irish border, with any checks carried out away from the crossing.

The PM says her plan is the only one which will avoid carving up the UK.

BBC political correspondent Jonathan Blake said there was little new in Mr Johnson's intervention but the timing - on the eve of the Conservative Party conference - was significant as the prime minister would face further pressure from her own MPs to change her approach to Brexit.

The UK is due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019. The two sides are seeking to negotiate the terms of exit, as well as an outline agreement on future co-operation.

Parliament is to vote on any withdrawal deal.

In an article for the Telegraph titled "a better plan for Brexit", Mr Johnson wrote there had been a "collective failure of government, and a collapse of will by the British establishment, to deliver on the mandate of the people".

He said the Chequers proposals - which would keep the UK closely aligned with the EU in trade in goods - represented "the intellectual error of believing we can be half-in, half-out" of the EU.

UK firms would be exposed to EU regulations that could disadvantage them, and free trade deals would be made more difficult.

This, he said, was a "democratic disaster" and would "cheat the electorate" if implemented.

He proposed a looser free trade agreement, "at least as deep as the one the EU has recently concluded with Canada".

Canada's deal with the EU, signed in 2016, removes the vast majority of customs duties on EU exports to Canada and Canadian exports to the EU.

Mr Johnson said a Super Canada deal would involve:

- "zero tariffs and zero quotas" on all imports and exports
- mutual recognition agreements covering UK and EU regulations to ensure "conformity of goods with each other's standards"
- technological solutions to keep supply chains operating smoothly
- a deal covering goods as well as services

Mr Johnson argued that it should be "relatively straightforward" to negotiate membership of the EU's aviation area, with a process for recognising each other's rules and a dispute mechanism in which neither side's institutions had power over the other.

He also said cooperation between the UK and EU would be closer on areas such as security and defence.

On the issue of Northern Ireland, he said any "extra procedures" could be carried out away from the border with Ireland.

But Mr Johnson said the UK would have to "buy some time" to negotiate such a deal, pointing at the possible need to extend any transition period beyond 2020.

Mrs May set out her proposals on the key issue of future trade with the EU after a Chequers summit in July.

It has been fiercely criticised by some Brexiteers, who say her plans for a "common rulebook" on goods would compromise the UK's sovereignty.

Up to 40 Tory Brexiteers have said they will oppose her plan if it comes to a vote in Parliament.

And European leaders warned her last week that key parts of her strategy were not viable.

Mrs May has dismissed previous suggestions that checks could be carried out away from the border between Northern Ireland and Ireland, insisting that any system of checks was "still a hard border".

"You don't solve the issue of no hard border by having a hard border 20km inside Ireland," she told the BBC last week.

Can someone explain to me what "technological solutions to keep supply chains operating smoothly" means?

[The Brain]

The ex-foreign sectary

Burn!

[Zanza]

- mutual recognition agreements covering UK and EU regulations to ensure "conformity of goods with each other's standards"
- technological solutions to keep supply chains operating smoothly
- a deal covering goods as well as services

Mr Johnson argued that it should be "relatively straightforward" to negotiate membership of the EU's aviation area, with a process for recognising each other's rules and a dispute mechanism in which neither side's institutions had power over the other.
[...]
But Mr Johnson said the UK would have to "buy some time" to negotiate such a deal, pointing at the possible need to extend any transition period beyond 2020.

The EU has already rejected all of these, so this is only for consumption by the Tory conference attendees, not actually relevant for negotiations with the EU.
Ideas like mutual recognition of standards are so harebrained and show such a lack of understanding of the single market that it is just insulting everybody's intelligence to just suggest them.

[Admiral Yi]

Boris, you're a dumbass.

[Tamas]

6 month's from exiting and internal debate keeps rehashing options declined by the EU at least a dozen tones just this year alone.

This is getting very embarrassing. I don't think most Brits realise how their reputation plummeted over this.

[Richard Hakluyt]

The brexiters don't care what foreigners think and the people who voted to remain get the embarrasment.........t'ain't fair 

[garbon]

The brexiters don't care what foreigners think and the people who voted to remain get the embarrasment.........t'ain't fair 

They should, of course. After all while espousing that sentiment might be not a grave matter for a nation as powerful as the US, seems like it could be more of a mortal blow to a nation like the UK.

[Tamas]

The brexiters don't care what foreigners think and the people who voted to remain get the embarrasment.........t'ain't fair 

They should, of course. After all while espousing that sentiment might be not a grave matter for a nation as powerful as the US, seems like it could be more of a mortal blow to a nation like the UK.

It's ok they'll just send a couple of dreadnoughts to impress.