Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Tamas]

Funnies thing is, people reporting on this will think they are hurting Boris. They might just be cementing him in as the next PM. I mean, let's be real, people who voted Leave, had "fuck business" as motivation, aside from "fuck migrants".

[Richard Hakluyt]

Funnies thing is, people reporting on this will think they are hurting Boris. They might just be cementing him in as the next PM. I mean, let's be real, people who voted Leave, had "fuck business" as motivation, aside from "fuck migrants".

I've been using the Daily mail comments to see how the other half of the population might be viewing Boris and his current antics. Click on the "most rated" to get a fairly unscientific view of their opinion. At the moment it is many to one against him.

[Tamas]

Funnies thing is, people reporting on this will think they are hurting Boris. They might just be cementing him in as the next PM. I mean, let's be real, people who voted Leave, had "fuck business" as motivation, aside from "fuck migrants".

I've been using the Daily mail comments to see how the other half of the population might be viewing Boris and his current antics. Click on the "most rated" to get a fairly unscientific view of their opinion. At the moment it is many to one against him.

Well, that's good to hear. I hope it's not Rees-Mogg who is their hero instead, though?

[garbon]

Didn't Boris just look very silly over his flee to Afghanistan to avoid voting against the gov't or breaking his promise to his constituents?

[Zanza]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jun/26/france-and-germany-will-block-mays-single-market-plan-says-spain

Theresa May's plan to protect British industry by keeping the UK in a single market for goods without respecting the free movement of people after Brexit will be rejected by an "angry" France and Germany, despite some sympathy within the EU to Downing Street's cause, Spain's foreign minister has said.

The new Spanish government would also block such a political fix, Josep Borrell told the Guardian, ahead of both a summit of leaders in Brussels and a summer tour by the prime minister of EU capitals during which May hopes to convince leaders of her economic case.

Of those member states who might see value in a deal on single market access for goods without free movement, Borrell said: "They will not win the battle. They have not enough power. Germany will say no, France will say no, Spain will say no."

[...]

The prime minister is expected to publish a white paper on the UK's vision of the future relationship, including a proposal for regulatory alignment on goods, for the benefit of UK industry and European-wide supply chains, shortly after a meeting of the cabinet at Chequers, the prime minister's country retreat, on 6 July.

Whitehall sources insist that a deal should be eagerly accepted by European countries, given that they sell more into the UK than British companies sell into the continent.

Of the response that the UK is seeking to "cherrypick" EU membership, one senior UK cabinet source said: "But they [the EU] want a form of cooperation that goes beyond a normal free trade agreement. They want level playing field [measures] and fisheries. The bid is coming from the EU side, not just the UK, to go beyond existing practice."

[...]

I don't think France or Germany will accept that. They are quite angry with the United Kingdom. Because of all this mess, all the trouble created, all this time lost on negotiations. When we should be discussing eurozone and immigration, we are discussing what to do with someone who wants to leave. It is really a very bad allocation of intelligence, resources and money."

The EU will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to discuss what Borrell described as the "hot topics" of migration and eurozone reform, along with the UK's withdrawal, which is swiftly dropping down on the list of the bloc's priorities.

"Brexit is not a political problem but it is a pain in the ass," Borrell said. "Brexit is considered a past problem. We know they are leaving, it is a matter of how. Brexit is just implementation."

I guess, Leave means Leave. It's interesting to see that the best ally of Jacob Rees-Mogg are the big countries on the EU Council. The EU can be quite flexible when someone is converging into its orbit, e.g. on Ukraine or even Switzerland. But now that someone leaves, they are completely intransigent and not willing to compromise their position at all. I think the EU will only offer a Canada style FTA with a de facto annexation of Northern Ireland into the Single Market or full EEA membership. Neither of which are acceptable to the British government. I wouldn't have thought that a "no deal" scenario would arise from this set of circumstances two years ago when the referendum was lost.

[Josquius]

The American embassy in London is absolutely spot on with their analysis:

https://twitter.com/davemacladd/status/1011636382786314240

Oh how a sane man in the white house could help us now

[Valmy]

Yeah well when we said that back during the vote we were accused of fear mongering which would make everybody vote for Brexit just to spite us or something. Well you sure showed me Brits. Consider me spited. I hope it was worth it.

[Tamas]

Yeah well when we said that back during the vote we were accused of fear mongering which would make everybody vote for Brexit just to spite us or something. Well you sure showed me Brits. Consider me spited. I hope it was worth it.

Well now that Airbus, BMW, and the entire service sector are raising their voices basically begging the government not to crash out without a deal, the conservative press has declared all of that Project Fear 2.

[Zanza]

Between the EU summit and next week's Chequers meeting, Mrs May is expected to travel to European capitals to prepare the ground for the kind of Brexit plan she hopes to negotiate with her cabinet.

The aim will be to ensure that whatever compromises she manages to engineer at Chequers are not dismissed out of hand by EU leaders, who have consistently warned Mrs May against trying to "cherry pick" the advantages of membership.

That is not how foreign policy works.

[The Larch]

She still doesn't know what gets rejected out of hand and what can be deemed acceptable?

[celedhring]

What I find outrageous is that she has to negotiate with her own cabinet, two years after the referendum. The one-party cabinet she's supposedly appointed.

[garbon]

What I find outrageous is that she has to negotiate with her own cabinet, two years after the referendum. The one-party cabinet she's supposedly appointed.

It would be great if the Conservatives actually felt a backlash on this given that all of the most recent political history has all been about Tory infighting that is still not resolved.

Alas, with Corbyn still manning the helm, that seems unlikely.

[Richard Hakluyt]

I'm hoping that she does the dirty on the brextremists and gets the softest brexit possible with the support of the 75% of MPs who totally disapprove of brexit.

[Josquius]

I'm hoping that she does the dirty on the brextremists and gets the softest brexit possible with the support of the 75% of MPs who totally disapprove of brexit.

75% who disapprove of it personally.

How many of those care more for their jobs than the wellbeing of the country though.....It isn't good I fear

[mongers]

Don't worry chaps it's all going swimmingly well; those transatlantic trumpian sunlit uplands are all just around the next corner.