The Brexit Thread

[johnr]

I sometimes don't understand/forget the nuance on this, but didn't Barnier say that he's open to a CU today?
And haven't there been plenty of people saying that Labour/Starmer/Corbyn were stupid for saying they'd try and negotiate one? Or was that just about the SM?

[Diable Rouge]

I sometimes don't understand/forget the nuance on this, but didn't Barnier say that he's open to a CU today?
And haven't there been plenty of people saying that Labour/Starmer/Corbyn were stupid for saying they'd try and negotiate one? Or was that just about the SM?

The EU has always been open to a customs union, but without SM alignment at a minimum, there would still be a hard Irish border.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Johnr, the EU are open to any future relationship as long as the UK is prepared to accept the necessary terms. The terms aren't going to change.

[Tubby Isaacs]

The issue with Labour's customs union is that it's pushing for a say in the trade deals. That sounds a bit cakey.

[johnr]

Thanks all.

[ad hoc]

https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1022755741868937216

[Ginger Yellow]

If there were going to be a "Jo Cox moment", I would have thought it would have been, you know, when she was killed by a Britain First nutter.

[Nefertiti2]

https://twitter.com/carolecadwalla/status/1022624612021141514

[Nefertiti2]

Don’t worry though. The Conservatives have a secret weapon.

Dominic Raab’s war cry

https://twitter.com/cchqpress/status/1022404463569653760

[Flynnie]

The issue with Labour's customs union is that it's pushing for a say in the trade deals. That sounds a bit cakey.

I did read the other day that supposedly Turkey gets a say in trade deals, so maybe it's not as cakey as we thought.

[Ginger Yellow]

As far as I can tell, they don't. They have various consultation rights when it comes to Customs Union matters, but no actual power to influence a deal (nor do they automatically get the benefits of a deal). If consultation is all Corbyn is after, then that could fly, but it's not all that meaningful (other than making it easier to prepare for the outcome).

[Tubby Isaacs]

I remember a while ago reading Christopher Booker talking up "Norway", he produced a flow chart showing the EU having to go through EFTA. If it had been as meaningful as he was implying, he'd have been linking to "Norway tells EU to stuff it" stories. Funny to report now that Booker is the sanest Brexiter.

Same with Turkey's "say". Unless somebody can find me stories about them achieving anything with it, I'm sceptical it matters. I can see why Labour might feel it needs to play this up, given the mess we're in, but I can almost hear the "we were lied to, betrayal" stuff from here.

[Ginger Yellow]

The one thing the hard Brexiteers are right about is that a customs union without membership of the single market really is the worst of all possible worlds. It's nowhere near as beneficial as, say, EEA membership, and it makes any hope (from a Brexiteer perspective) of a Singapore/Cayman Islands/New Zealand on the edge of Europe completely impossible. There is zero reason, even hypothetical, to favour it over continued EU membership. The only reason Turkey agreed to it was that it was a stepping stone to full membership. With that prospect now basically gone, they're trying to get out of it.

[Diable Rouge]

Hoey censured:

https://mobile.twitter.com/VauxhallL...82484071010305

[Diable Rouge]

Public opinion inches towards a second referendum:

http://uk.businessinsider.com/the-br...erendum-2018-7

[Snake Plissken]

Not going to happen, there isn't time and the ERG won't allow it.

[Diable Rouge]

They'll be naming squares in Dublin after Guy Verhofstadt yet:

https://mobile.twitter.com/guyverhof...83471847174144

[Duncan Gardner]

In Dolphin's Barnier?

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Oh Jesus. Oh God no.

[Ginger Yellow]

Can we put Raab in a giant wicker Verhofstadt?

[Benjm]

Are we self sufficient in wicker or are we working to a deadline with this?

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/mrjamesob/status/1022881049146286081?s=19

https://twitter.com/mrjamesob/status...146286081?s=19

[Lang Spoon]

A well placed leak of Foxy’s personal and business connections should surely destroy him. Isn’t that what chief whips are for? His business/political shenanigans could see him jailed by all accounts.

[Duncan Gardner]

Which accounts are those Spoony? The guy"s obv crazy and a bit of a Walter Mitty but are you suggesting he's East Kilbride's equiv of Harold Shipmān (LF was a GP as a young man)? A former regular to this forum was a neighbor and knew him personally but I dont remember any partic terrible scandals mentioned?

[Snake Plissken]

He's resigned once over Adam Werrity.

The problem is that we're through the looking glass now. Esther McVey flat out lies to Parliament, not a sacking offence. Boris slags off his own Prime Minister and flat out laughs at the jokes made at her expense at PMQs, not a sacking offence.