Euphoria in Brussels but the devil is in the detail

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/dec/08/sufficient-progress-in-brexit-talks-announced-after-mays-dash-to-brussels

'Sufficient progress' in Brexit talks announced after May's dash to Brussels

Peeling away the euphoria of this morning's news from Brussels and the sketchy reports of late night or early morning meetings involving Theresa May, Arlene Foster, Jean Claude Junker, Leo Varadkar, Donald Tusk et al, there seems to me at least, to be a number of issues which remain outstanding and have perhaps been "kicked into the long grass" for resolution at a later date, if ever. The most contentious of these is the question of the border between Ulster and the Irish republic. Arlene Foster has said within the last few minutes that "there are still issues which need to be clarified".

Image result for irish border brexit deal

It seems to me that the statements, "no hard border between the Republic and Northern Ireland" and "no border down the Irish Sea", certainly implies that Northern Ireland will remain as part of the single market and customs Union which is certainly contradictory to the position held by Theresa May and the hard line Brexit wing of her cabinet and party. I do not believe that the majority of the 17.4 million people who voted to leave the European Union on the 23rd June 2016, actually agreed with a "Hard Brexit" departure, since so many issues not least of all the Irish border question, remained unresolved. From today's "Agreement" it is not possible to draw any other conclusion than Northern Ireland will remain part of the single market and customs union after March 2018. If this is in fact the intention of today's agreement, how does this reconcile with the "Hard Brexit" scenario which has become the objective of many conservative MP's and cabinet members over recent months. "Brexit means Brexit" has been the standard response to any question on customs union, workers rights, EU nationals, single market and all the other issues associated with leaving the EU. The problem facing Theresa May is the fact that if special arrangements are granted to Northern Ireland to resolve the Irish border problem, then the rest of the United Kingdom such Scotland and even London would have compelling arguments for demanding that they too should have their own arrangements for remaining at least in part as members of the single market and customs union. The hardline Brexiteers in government and cabinet, and also certain parts of the United Kingdom media, would never accept this as a part of a solution.
What is abundantly clear, is that any solution must be the same for all parts on the United Kingdom. To have one area treated differently from another area is completely unacceptable and therein lies the problem. On the one hand there are those who demand a complete withdrawal from the EU seeking to rely on creating some form of trading agreement at a later date, and on the other, those demanding that issues regarding customs union, single market, workers rights, EU nationals and all other issues should be resolved before we depart the EU.
Theresa May has a huge problem. It will be interesting to see her soulutions.

Northern Ireland and Brexit. The return of "The Troubles"

Northern Ireland: police attacked in another night of disturbances | Northern Ireland | The Guardian When the "Brexit" debate was still filling our newspapers and our television screens, readers may remember why I had changed my mind since voting to leave at the referendum vote. Apart from the economic arguments, which had become crystal clear after peeling away all the lies and misrepresentations trotted out by Bozo Boris and his "Get Brexit Done" conspirators, there was always the problem of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Would it be possible to have a border between the European Union and the United Kingdom where people, goods and services could pass freely between the two nations without customs restrictions, tariffs, duties and all the other formalities? Would it be possible to have one part of the United Kingdom treated differently from other parts of the United Kingdom, particularly when Scotland for example had voted overwhe...

Enough of this hysterical nonsense

http://style.uk.msn.com/royal-baby/how-will-the-royal-baby-look-as-he-grows-up Media generated hysteria. This is too much. For the last 36 hours (thought it seems more like 36 days) there has been wall to wall news coverage, media and television comment and reporting, with Sky News taking first prize for frenzied minute by minute reporting from the Palace, the hospital, from a village somewhere in England, from the studio and anywhere else that Burley, Botting and company could stick a microphone into some obscure "celebrity's" face and ask for yet another banal quote. All this galvanising the mass hysteria of some elements of the public, (who the media would have you believe is the reaction of "the whole world",) with their flag waving, dancing, singing and cheering over what is after all, no more than a woman having a bab...

A perverse and rather sinister media obsession to discredit, smear and undermine Jeremy Corbyn

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/venezuela-jeremy-corbyn-blasted-for-not-condemning-president-maduro-a3606156.html#commentsDiv Venezuela: Jeremy Corbyn blasted for not condemning socialist President Nicolas Maduro as violent conflict escalates There is a perverse and rather sinister obsesseion with the media and particularly television "interveiwers", in seeking to secure from Jeremy Corbyn a "condemnation" of some person or organisation or event. This time it is connected with events in Venezuela and the actions of President Nicolas Maduro and the bloody crackdown on protests against the result of last weeks poll which inaugurated a constituent assembly . The media "stories" and the interrogation by the television interviewers, are as subtle as a sledgehammer being nothing more than a variation on the "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" question, which so many repoters use in order for them to make themselves appear very ...

Agenda 2019

Search This Blog