The Brexit Thread

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Theresa May's speech at the Conservative Party conference was a disaster. :D

'Pretty excruciating': Tory conference reacts to May's speech ordeal

Theresa May’s speech was meant to be the moment she was relaunched as prime minister, shaking off her ice maiden image and showing she had the grit to carry on after the disastrous election in June.

Aides wanted the speech to show the prime minister’s personal sense of duty and her determination to move beyond Brexit to focus on her domestic agenda. But there was no hiding the grim disappointment among No 10 staffers after May’s hour-long speech was torpedoed by three major distractions.

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The first interruption looked surmountable when a comedian managed to breach security and hand her a fake P45. But things got worse as she succumbed to a hacking cough that continued throughout the speech. The final blow came when several letters fell off a slogan behind her.
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Things going swimmingly.

US rounds on Britain over food quotas as post-Brexit trade woes deepen

In a fast-developing second trade spat, Washington has teamed up with Brazil, Argentina, Canada, New Zealand, Uruguay and Thailand to reject Britain’s proposed import arrangements for crucial agricultural goods such as meat, sugar and grains after Brexit.

The fact that the U.K.’s opponents include the U.S., Canada and New Zealand is a significant setback because Britain is trying to style its former colonies as natural strategic and commercial allies after it has quit the EU.
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Ironically, given the fall in Sterling, Carney explained why Europe’s financial sector is more at risk than the UK from a “hard” or “no-deal” Brexit. We wonder whether Juncker and Barnier appreciate the threat that a “no-deal” Brexit poses for the EU’s already fragile financial system?

When asked does the European Council “get it” in terms of potential shocks to financial stability, Carney diplomatically commented that “a learning process is underway.” Having sounded alarm bells about clearing in his last Mansion House speech, he noted “These costs of fragmenting clearing, particularly clearing of interest rate swaps, would be born principally by the European real economy and they are considerable.”

Calling into question the continuity of tens of thousands of derivative contracts, he stated that it was “pretty clear they will no longer be valid”, that this “could only be solved by both sides” and has been “underappreciated” by Europe. Moving on to the possibility that there might not be a transition period, Carney had a snipe at Europe for its lack of preparation “We are prepared as we should be for the possibility of a hard exit without any transition…there has been much less of that done in the European Union.”

Maybe it’s Europe, not the UK, that needs the transition period most.

In Carneys view “It’s in the interest of the EU 27 to have a transition agreement. Also, in my judgement given the scale of the issues as they affect the EU 27, that there will ultimately be a transition agreement. There is a very limited amount of time between now and the end of March 2019 to transition large, complex institutions and activities…If one thinks about the implementation of Basel III, we are alone in the current members of the EU in having extensive experience of managing the transition for individual firms of various derivative and risk activities from one jurisdiction back into the UK. That tends to take 2-4 years. Depending on the agreement, we are talking about a substantial amount of activity.”

Returning to the theme of financial stability, he stated “As a general thing, in an uncooperative outcome, at least initially, the UK will be long financial services. We will have more capacity, capital, individuals, collateral in the UK. The EU will be short of financial services because not all of that capacity will be able to go across. The entire economic impacts are greater for the UK but, from a financial stability perspective, they are greater for the EU.”

On further questioning, Carney outlined the other two major issues, along with derivatives and wholesale banking, which would be affected, i.e. cross-border provision of insurance (UK domiciled entities would be unable to pay out) and data protection and transfer (there is more data in the UK which is relevant to the EU than vice versa).

Summing up, Carney stated “These issues are bigger for Europe than they are for us, but they’re material for us.” That comment prompted the following question “In which case we have much more leverage in order to get a deal?” The diplomatic reply was “I wouldn’t want to use financial stability issues as leverage. I wouldn’t want them to be addressed in a bloodless technocratic way in the interests of all the citizens.” Didn’t he just describe Juncker’s modus operandi.
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I wonder how much longer the EU's going to be playing regulatory hardball... :whistle:

Edit:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-17/carney-reveals-europes-potential-achilles-heel-brexit-talks
 
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Xarog said:
I wonder how much longer the EU's going to be playing regulatory hardball... :whistle:
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I was going to ask what the source of this piece you quoted was, but then I remembered you only ever quote zerohedge so we'll just go with that shall we :rolleyes:
 
Interesting, an interview of Nick Clegg in a french newspaper where he says that Brexit won’t happen.

According to him the Tories would be in agreement to reject May’s and Davis’ agreement to be proposed to the Commons.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/internationa...0232-nick-clegg-le-brexit-n-aura-pas-lieu.php

Strange enough, I can’t find one mention in British newspapers about that interview which is 3 days old.
 
f2wohf said:
Interesting, an interview of Nick Clegg in a french newspaper where he says that Brexit won’t happen.

According to him the Tories would be in agreement to reject May’s and Davis’ agreement to be proposed to the Commons.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/internationa...0232-nick-clegg-le-brexit-n-aura-pas-lieu.php

Strange enough, I can’t find one mention in British newspapers about that interview which is 3 days old.
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Here’s one link:

https://inews.co.uk/opinion/brexit-spell-lifting-mps-finally-standing/
 
Universities deplore ‘McCarthyism’ as MP demands list of tutors lecturing on Brexit

Academics are accusing a Tory MP and government whip of “McCarthyite” behaviour, after he wrote to all universities asking them to declare what they are teaching their students about Brexit and to provide a list of teachers’ names.

Chris Heaton-Harris, Conservative MP for Daventry and a staunch Eurosceptic, wrote to vice-chancellors at the start of this month asking for the names of any professors involved in teaching European affairs “with particular reference to Brexit”. Neatly ignoring the long tradition of academic freedom that universities consider crucial to their success, his letter asks for a copy of each university’s syllabus and any online lectures on Brexit.

Prof David Green, vice-chancellor of Worcester University, felt a chill down his spine when he read the “sinister” request: “This letter just asking for information appears so innocent but is really so, so dangerous,” he says. “Here is the first step to the thought police, the political censor and newspeak, naturally justified as ‘the will of the British people’, a phrase to be found on Mr Heaton-Harris’s website.” Green will be replying to the MP but not be providing the information requested.
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UK contributions to EU half the amount claimed by pro-Brexit camp

According to data published by Britain's National Office for Statistics on Tuesday, the UK's contributions to the European Union were at a four-year low of 9.4 billion pounds (€10.7 billion, $12.4 billion) in 2016. This means that the UK paid only half the amount Brexit advocates claimed in the run-up to the country's referendum on leaving or staying in the bloc.

Proponents of the campaign to leave the European Union, like Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, made much of the number 350 million pounds – the amount they claimed that Britain paid to the EU each week, and thus the amount that would be saved if the country left the bloc.

However, the Leave campaigners often neglected to mention a 1984 rebate deal that saw the actual number come out much lower, at only about 181 million pounds, or just 1.2 percent of government spending. Figures like Johnson also left out the funds that Britain received from the EU for infrastructure and development projects, including money for universities and other key institutions.
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f2wohf said:
NHS is now claiming it’s 350 million £ bonus.

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-41908302
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Even £350mil a week won't save the NHS. There's simply still too many people coming through the front door every day for it to cope. Everyone I know here who's been to a GP has the same complaint: wait ages to try and get an appointment, and when you do, your maximum time with the doctor is 10mins. You literally have no time to discuss anything. I've experienced the same thing, actually - but I was told my time was up after 15mins, so I guess I got lucky.

Additionally, I'm unable to find anyone ever saying they'd take the £350mil and put it directly into the NHS? I always thought it was just an example they were using of what could be done with the money instead of sending it to Brussels.

Of course, when the socialists eventually take over here (and they will), the NHS and most public services will collapse anyway - may as well enjoy it while we have it, I guess?
 
The Voice said:
Everyone I know here who's been to a GP has the same complaint: wait ages to try and get an appointment,
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You know how generalisations always fall down?

I made a GP appointment this morning, first one offered was next Monday...

By the way, if you feel 10 minutes isn’t enough they can book you a double appointment, it’s quite allowed...
 
Dave said:
You know how generalisations always fall down?

I made a GP appointment this morning, first one offered was next Monday...

By the way, if you feel 10 minutes isn’t enough they can book you a double appointment, it’s quite allowed...
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I live in London, not some dorp in the North. ;)
 
The Voice said:
Even £350mil a week won't save the NHS. There's simply still too many people coming through the front door every day for it to cope. Everyone I know here who's been to a GP has the same complaint: wait ages to try and get an appointment, and when you do, your maximum time with the doctor is 10mins. You literally have no time to discuss anything. I've experienced the same thing, actually - but I was told my time was up after 15mins, so I guess I got lucky.

Additionally, I'm unable to find anyone ever saying they'd take the £350mil and put it directly into the NHS? I always thought it was just an example they were using of what could be done with the money instead of sending it to Brussels.

Of course, when the socialists eventually take over here (and they will), the NHS and most public services will collapse anyway - may as well enjoy it while we have it, I guess?
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It's only been going 69 years. If it collapses it'll be because the Tories sabotage it. They've been trying for a long time, after all.

You could always get private health insurance if the dreaded "socialism" horrifies you so.

Also, those people 'coming through the door' are part of what keeps the health system afloat:

A report warning that the NHS would collapse if it wasn't for EU nationals has urged the Government to make them a "particularly generous citizenship" offer.

The Institute for Public Policy Research says there are currently around 55,000 EU nationals working in the English NHS, and one in 10 of the UK's registered doctors is an EU national.

"Without them, the NHS would collapse," the report said, calling for them to be offered automatic citizenship as part of efforts to head off a "brain drain".
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buka001 said:
http://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/news/grimsby-news/brexit-exemption-sought-grimsby-seafood-736984

Reality hits Grimsby. They voted to leave by a 70% majority.

Now looking for exemption from Brexit.
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:crylaugh:

Maybe they could get an exemption for the whole country.
 
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