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• Navara says:

  31 Dec31 December 20:07

  Happy New Year Rob enjoy the fireworks 💥

• Jonathan says:

  31 Dec31 December 22:59

  Ignoring the rights & wrongs of the principle behind Brexit, the way we’ve gone about it is a joke.

  The fact that fishing was turned into the key issue when it generates 0.02% of GDP & there are 8,000 WTE fishermen in the UK yet services was basically ignored tells you we have a government more interested in generating headlines in the Daily Mail than advancing our national interest. 61% of our fishing industry is also located in Scotland, a country that has never looked more likely to break away from the UK, primarily down to a desire to remain in the EU & therefore be subject to EU quotas… 🤷‍♂️

  If Brexit is to be a success which I imagine 99% of the population want, regardless of voting leave/remain, then it needs to be about objectively advancing the national interest not pointless red lines & irrelevant “principles”.

  • Harry T says:

    31 Dec31 December 23:09

    You mean the populist architects of Brexit pursued a policy driven by irrational ideology contrary to our national interests? Absolutely shocking.

  • TT says:

    1 Jan1 January 09:17

    Pretty sure the French turned fishing into a key issue. If they want to make it into a big deal when it’s such a small percent of gdp and we can extract more valuable concessions, brilliant!

    • James says:

      1 Jan1 January 11:28

      Fully sure it wasn’t, rather Boris and his sabre rattlers in the British press.

      • Dick Steele says:

        1 Jan1 January 11:42

        You forget James how militant French fisherman are.

    • Callum says:

      1 Jan1 January 11:42

      What “concessions” did we extract? My (perhaps biased) interpretation was that the EU got almost exactly what they were asking for and we gained nothing in return?

      The point being made was that a significant amount of time was spent negotiating fishing (it’s rather nonsensical to blame “the French” when it was very obviously the UK that wanted changes, not anyone else…) but not services. Though I’d imagine they would have been incredibly harder to resolve than fishing quotas so I’m not sure you can blame them.

      While it was a common mantra throughout the referendum campaign that the world would roll over and give an independent UK anything we want, I think we can all imagine why the EU may want to help develop their own services industries instead of just letting UK companies continue as usual.

      • Dick Steele says:

        1 Jan1 January 11:45

        I’m afraid you’re wrong, Callum.

        The deal wouldn’t have passed in parliament if the EU had gained everything they wanted.

        Irrespective, the EU has many problems now. It has lost one of its main income contributors.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          1 Jan1 January 11:50

          It passed parliament because there was no other choice.

        • Dick Steele says:

          1 Jan1 January 12:07

          No deal was a choice. The fact that the EU made quite a number of concessions in their demands helped the deal gain approval by Eurosceptic MPs.

        • Harry T says:

          1 Jan1 January 12:17

          Can you list a single meaningful concession? At least quote me the Express or Mark Francois something?

        • J says:

          1 Jan1 January 12:23

          That’s rubbish, the ERG bottled it. Look at the sovereignty tests their ‘Star Chamber’ applied. Not only were they at a lower bar than for previous votes, but even full EU membership would have met their revised targets!

        • Dick Steele says:

          1 Jan1 January 13:43

          ERG didn’t bottle it. Everyone took a pragmatic look at the deal and saw the opportunities it now offers to the UK.

          I think treating all foreigners equally, regarding work visas, is a major plus point. No longer will EU nationals have advantages over non-EU nationals.

        • J says:

          1 Jan1 January 14:11

          Removal of freedom movement was in the three pre-Boris withdrawal agreement votes. The ERG voted against all of these. If the tests they applied to trade agreement were applied back in 2018, a very slightly amended agreement (which was offered, but rejected) would have passed. At the time that was seen as unconscionable to the ERG.

          The deal we now have is fairly appalling (follow EU rules on goods or face sanctions, and reduced access for our biggest industries), and represents a huge failure of negotiation on the part of the current government. Give it a year of so and the Eurosceptics will be criticising the deal that they are probably yet to read – the PM clearly hasn’t!

        • Callum says:

          1 Jan1 January 14:33

          Am I right in assuming that, despite supposedly categorically knowing that we got concessions for it, you’re going to flat out refuse to name them?

          The EU always has many problems… Given their loss from net UK membership contributions is something like 3% of the total budget, I think they’ll just about be able to cope.

• Dick Steele says:

  1 Jan1 January 15:03

  The UK was the EU’s 2nd largest net contributor. The 2017 net contribution of the UK was over £6.5Bn to EU funds. So it is not an insignificant amount and will cause significant angst among the remaining members regarding shortfall.

  • Callum says:

    1 Jan1 January 15:29

    So, to answer my question, no you cannot name a single concession? Why are you either bothering to have this conversation? You add absolutely nothing of substance.

    The EU budget is around £130bn and they’ve been fully aware of this for over 4 years. They will be just fine… Obviously it will cause angst. As someone who supposedly knows so much about this, surely you’re well aware that every single EU budget causes angst yet they always figure it out in the end. (Not that I fully grasp why you care about this?)

    • Dick Steele says:

      1 Jan1 January 15:50

      Good luck to the EU is what I say – it’ll definitely need it to survive in its current form 😂

      • John says:

        1 Jan1 January 18:52

        I believe a number of the sceptic Member States will be impressed at what HMG have got out of the EU and will be watching closely how the next year or so pans out.

        • Dick Steele says:

          1 Jan1 January 19:03

          I agree. Euroscepticism will only rise across the EU now that Britain’s financial contributions are on the wane and every other nation will have to cough up a lot more for nothing extra in return.

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