Brexit

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

RE: Brexit

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

When even the Daily Express starts coming up with headlines like this, you know that things aren't going well.

"Brexit NOT done as UK faces £1.4tn headache for DECADES"

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1623246/brexit-news-Jacob-Rees-mogg-poisoned-chalice-brexit-not-done

My favourite passage in the article is this.

"The Brexit Opportunities Minister last month revealed Britons had handed the Government 2,000 ideas on how to make the most of the UKs withdrawal from the EU. He published the top nine most interesting proposals, including scrapping regulations on vacuum cleaners, .... "

If that is one of the Top 9 most interesting out of 2000, I shudder to think what the more boring ideas are

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

You've got to laugh - at least the Express is good for something

My favourite line was:

[they came up with 2,000 ideas and published nine]........."the other 1,991 proposals were not put into the public domain not because theyre not interesting but because our hands are tied and they are not possible".

So the Rees-Mogg's thinktank came up with 1,991 proposals that were not possible - good job, guys !!!! biggrin

Shhh · Challenger level

I just read the article myself and what I read is a former Brexit MEP unhappy that Brexit was not hard enough and he/she therefore thinks the UK is going to hell in a hand cart.

Chip paper basically. Meanwhile.......

London-headquartered UK sustainable energy company Octopus Energy has made its first wind farm investment in Germany. It will build Gaishecke near Frankfurt.

British commercial vehicle production rose year-on-year by 27.6% in April 2022 in the best performing April since 2016. During April this year, the UK manufactured 7,879 commercial vehicles, of which 4,728 were exported.

WORLD FIRST! Following a £12m investment, Belfast's Artemis Technologies has launched the worlds first commercially viable 100% electric foiling workboat range. The firm is developing a range of green transport solutions which is set to create more than 1,000 jobs.

Historic British medical equipment manufacturer Smith+Nephew, founded in 1856, is set to build a new £80 million production and R&D facility in Melton, near Hull. "This major investment demonstrates our commitment to the UK."

Builders merchant Selco set to create 1,000 jobs in expansion plans.

etc etc etc wink

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Sorry, Shhh, I love your upbeat look but there are always new investments and good news - of course certain companies are expanding and doing well. Even in the severest recessions, certain companies did well.

The point is whether there is more good news than bad news. And that, I'm afraid, is not so (IMO).

Just as a for instance:

"Based on figures from the OECD, UK GDP grew by 14.3% between Q2 2016 and Q3 2021. This is a smaller growth rate than four of the EUs largest economies. During the same period, Germany had the highest indexed growth rate at 32.2%, followed by Spain (25.6%), France (23%) and Italy (16.3%).

The UK-based Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) states that the long-term impact of Brexit will be worse for the UK economy than Covid-19. The OBR estimates that Brexit will reduce the UKs potential GDP by 4% and the pandemic by a further 2%."

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

There are always positive and negative stories. Neither approach is perfect, but as CD says, you have to weigh up the overall pros and cons. Some research by the Centre for European Reform shows that as a result of Brexit:

GDP down by 5.2 per cent
Investment 13.7 per cent lower
Goods trade reduced by 13.6 per cent

But services are UP by almost 8%

twitter.com/CER_EU/status/1534966243454767114

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Here is a very interesting Brexit positive

www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/business/ulsterbusiness/news/belfast-harbour-bounces-back-to-34m-profit-and-says-trading-aided-by-ni-protocol-41769929.html

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, absolutely, Bob, it's great

But Northern Ireland, of course, is living the dream - in the free market for goods - no checks, no new administrative requirements, complete barrier-free trading with the rest of the EU ...... just imagine....

It's no wonder they're extremely worried about Boris' threats to breach the protocol

Shhh · Challenger level

Macron is dressed exclusively by an eBay seller in Hull. Which, seeing as the French presidency costs about 50% more than the UK monarchy, is yet another Brexit benefit? wink

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

So, the report from the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has confirmed what an utter pig's ear Priti Patel is making of dealing with immigrants arriving across the Channel.

The UK's own government site gives the numbers as follows:

"There were 28,526 people detected arriving on small boats in the calendar year 2021. This compares with 8,466 in 2020, 1,843 in 2019 and 299 in 2018".

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-march-2022/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-march-2022

The figures for this year are set to be even higher, with figures showing about 15,000 arrivals already after only 6 months

Of course, the not-so-delicious irony of this is that the huge increase is basically a result of Brexit

As part of the EU, we were part of the Dublin Agreement which was EU law that imposed a duty on the first receiving country to deal with the immigrant arrivals.

Hence, we only had a few hundred arrivals.

Now we are no longer part of the Dublin Agreement, we are not protected in any way, there is no international law that says the same, and so we have no rights to insist that the immigrants are dealt with in the country where they first arrived, and no political clout or goodwill to try and cajole other countries into doing the same.

And so there will be about 30,000 arriving this year

And, yet, Brexit was supposed to stop irregular immigration????

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
So, the report from the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration has confirmed what an utter pig's ear Priti Patel is making of dealing with immigrants arriving across the Channel.

The UK's own government site gives the numbers as follows:

"There were 28,526 people detected arriving on small boats in the calendar year 2021. This compares with 8,466 in 2020, 1,843 in 2019 and 299 in 2018".

www.gov.uk/government/statistics/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-march-2022/irregular-migration-to-the-uk-year-ending-march-2022

The figures for this year are set to be even higher, with figures showing about 15,000 arrivals already after only 6 months

Of course, the not-so-delicious irony of this is that the huge increase is basically a result of Brexit

As part of the EU, we were part of the Dublin Agreement which was EU law that imposed a duty on the first receiving country to deal with the immigrant arrivals.

Hence, we only had a few hundred arrivals.

Now we are no longer part of the Dublin Agreement, we are not protected in any way, there is no international law that says the same, and so we have no rights to insist that the immigrants are dealt with in the country where they first arrived, and no political clout or goodwill to try and cajole other countries into doing the same.

And so there will be about 30,000 arriving this year

And, yet, Brexit was supposed to stop irregular immigration????

Want an even more remarkable stat ?

The Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration was appointed in March 2021. In that time, he has not been afforded the opportunity to meet Priti Patel even once.

https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1550066344724516865

"I find it frustrating that I've not met her... I think the home secretary should speak to me"

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

You're right, Bob.

But that's a failure of government (which, to be honest, I don't think anyone in their right mind can deny - on many levels). And can be changed.

The huge rise in irregular immigration following our loss of legal protection as a country in Europe is a 'failure' of Brexit - well, a consequence - which is a bigger problem.

christ · Futures qualifying

To be completely honest I have no idea what Brexit was supposed to do, and even more I don't care.

But as regards immigration, (rightly or wrongly) I think Brexit was supposed to reduce _all_ immigration: i.e. the total of regular and irregular immigration. Until we have figures for the combination, then worrying about just one aspect of immigration seems to me to be sort of missing the point. (e.g if regular immigration has gone down by a million, a few tens of thousands of irregulars can be more easily borne).

On a related topic: how long do we think that it will be before "Remainers" stop "I told you so"-ing, and understand that we have left Europe? It is entirely possible that they were right, and that we shouldn't have left, but the fact is that we have and therefore have to get with the programme and make the best of a bad job. I am fed up to the back teeth with politicians (and others) telling me how we were conned, and that we shouldn't have done this, and we were duped into doing that, and if they had been in charge we would have done things differently: but we are here now, and we need a strategy to get out of the mess that we are in, not just wallowing in moaning about how we shouldn't be here.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

It's interesting points but I think Brexit was supposed to reduce unwanted immigration, even more than all immigration.

That may have equated to an overall reduction too but nearly all Brexit supporters accept that immigration is obviously needed - but in specific areas and controlled. Which is a reasonable argument (even if I don't necessarily agree with it).

The problem with the figures is that, for many Brexit-ers, and indeed Remain-ers, it's the very 'worst' sort of immigration that has sky-rocketed. And it was this immigration that made (and makes) the headlines all the time and that was one of the main focuses of taking back sovereignty.

And I agree, both parties have to accept Brexit as a reality otherwise nothing will move forward.

This applies to the Tories who seem to refuse to accept that there could be anything negative about Brexit - and hence refuse to address some major problems - when it's obvious that both being in the EU and not being has advantages and disadvantages - you've got to be lucid about them both, from the position you're in

It also applies to the Labour party, although they've moved away from openly querying Brexit

But the fact that we now have a rather acute labour shortage in many areas but have soaring boat arrivals (who have no right to work, even if they are skilled) seems rather a*se about face, given what was promised

Jajon · Strong Club Player

I mean we could do what other countries do and allow the people who are waiting for their asylum case to be heard to work. If their case flops, bye, if theyre successful (like about 80% are), well happy days, theyre already in a job!