Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[Josquius]

Doesn't that rely on registration in your local area though? Which is the way most EU members control intra-EU migration if they need to, but is something that's absolutely anathema here.

Oh sure. It's entirely an ideal world thinking bad faith "are you sure this is what you want?" unrealistic suggestion :p

In Switzerland it's even more messed up as citizenship is handled on a cantonal level even. The Geneva citizenship test is hilarious; lots of questions about on what street you find certain buildings and the like.

[HVC]

Why do they need to attract unskilled labour from overseas?

Probably construction and farm jobs

Farm jobs are a hard fix since they are so seasonal but Construction jobs...pay more.

If Canada is an example construction pay is great and unionized, but locals don't want to do it.

Not the experience here.  Construction employs large numbers of local people in this province 9% of total employment and the most employees in the goods sector of the economy - or so says the government in its budget documents released yesterday.

Maybe its just a Toronto thing. Here they're all Italian and Portuguese immigrants (many i'm related to lol)

[The Larch]

Why the obsession with PhDs? Any lower education level doesn't count at all?

That is bizarre. Especially because I always thought you'd have PhD/academic/researchy people on a separate visa stream.

Or they just assume that people with PhDs (they're not necessarily all of them academics) are the ones that will apply for a "highly qualified job". As if more degree inflation was needed.

Salary bands seem pretty narrow too. Roughly 5k per year more or less is the difference between 0 and 20 points.

[Sheilbh]

The 20 pointer on salary is also below the national average salary (just about) which is interesting as I think the previous policy for non-EU migrants used to be that it was very difficult if you didn't earn over the national average (with huge exceptions for NHS staff like junior nurses etc).

[The Minsky Moment]

I actually agree with the brexiters on this one; a labour shortage favours the mass of the populace and if a business cannot cope with that then it deserves to go under.

What any single business does is irrelevant. If an economy suffers from labor shortages, the result will be lower output and higher prices.   That's bad for everyone.

[Hamilcar]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/elgin-marbles-brexit-trade-deal-greece-parthenon-british-museum-a9343406.html

UK refuses to include Elgin marbles in Brexit trade talks after EU negotiation draft leak
'They are the legal responsibility of the British Museum,' says Downing Street


Jon Sharman

The return to Greece of marble sculptures from the Parthenon will not be discussed during Brexit negotiations, the government has said, after a leaked draft document suggested the EU would insist on "cultural objects" forming part of a divorce deal.

A leaked draft of Brussels' negotiating mandate had reportedly included a stipulation that Britain should "return unlawfully removed cultural objects to their countries of origin" – believed to be a reference to the so-called Elgin marbles.

The ancient Greek artefacts are housed in the British Museum. Part of an extensive set of sculptures that adorned the Parthenon temple and other buildings on the Acropolis in Athens, the 500BC marbles were brought to the UK by Lord Elgin in the early-19th-century.

The peer said at the time that he had received permission from the Ottoman Empire, which then occupied Greece, to transport the items.

A government spokeswoman ruled out any discussion of the marbles' repatriation during trade talks that are to begin in March.

She said: "The EU are still finalising their mandate – this is currently in draft. The UK's position on the Parthenon sculptures remains unchanged. They are the legal responsibility of the British Museum. That is not up for discussion as part of our trade negotiations."

The Guardian reported that the proposition had been argued for by Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Greece, but was about a desire to stop the fraudulent movement of antiquities around Europe rather than a direct reference to the marbles.

It came as a cross-Channel row erupted over whether the UK will sign up to a "level playing field" on regulations in any future trade deal with the EU.

Boris Johnson's top negotiator, David Frost, said in a high-profile speech that it would be "undemocratic" for the bloc to insist on such a move, adding that the ability for Britain to diverge from EU rules was the main point of Brexit.

Michel Barnier, Mr Frost's opposite number, noted that the PM had personally approved the idea of "robust" level playing field arrangements in the political declaration he agreed some months ago.

Ahahahahahahahaha *wheezes* haaahhaaaaaaaahhahahahah

[garbon]

What's the funny bit?

[Barrister]

What's the funny bit?

That this is what you get when you renegotiate your relationship with the EU from the ground up - long settled issues can now be brought up again.

I imagine Spain is going to try and get Gibraltar too.  After all, Johnson caved pretty much when it came to Northern Ireland, so maybe he'll cave over Gibraltar too.

[Josquius]

That whole article stinks of the sort of thing the Tories manufacture to drum up jingoism.
It just doesn't make sense.

[alfred russel]

What any single business does is irrelevant. If an economy suffers from labor shortages, the result will be lower output and higher prices.   That's bad for everyone.

Inflation.

[Sheilbh]

I imagine Spain is going to try and get Gibraltar too.  After all, Johnson caved pretty much when it came to Northern Ireland, so maybe he'll cave over Gibraltar too.

Except in those negotiations his majority was -46 and Parliament wouldn't vote for no deal and legally required that he get extensions until he got a deal. Now he has a majority of over 80 (all Tories) who will vote for no deal if that's his choice (and the possibility was in their manifesto).

[Sheilbh]

That whole article stinks of the sort of thing the Tories manufacture to drum up jingoism.
It just doesn't make sense.

Other countries have politics too.

[Barrister]

Anyways, don't the Greeks kind-of have a point when it comes to the marbles (which really are stunning by the way)?  I mean even if you accept that Elgin did have permission from the Turks to take them, the Turks were foreign rulers of what is now Greece.  The marbles are an important part of greek history, and would be able to display them in their proper historical context at or near the parthenon.

Less of a "You Brits stole the marbles from us", but rather a "thanks for looking after our valuables while we couldn't, but we've got it from here".

[Sheilbh]

Yeah. Though they're probably the least dodgily acquired bit of the British Museum

[alfred russel]

UK is at less than 4% unemployment, I doubt there's going to be a huge mass of unemployed locals gushing at shit menial jobs.

Pay them better?

According to this (https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/work-pay-and-benefits/unemployment-and-economic-inactivity/unemployment-by-qualification-level/latest#by-ethnicity-and-qualification-level) the unemployment rate for the uneducated is 5%. It seems to me the UK does need to import unskilled labor.

Which is higher than the 3 percent overall. If they are going to have immigration caps with 3 percent overall unemployment, why would you bring in the most unemployed group?