Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Options

politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » EU Referendum punters unmoved by by drop in REMAIN phone po

SystemSystem Posts: 11,704
edited February 2016 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » EU Referendum punters unmoved by by drop in REMAIN phone poll position

With all eyes this week on the final stage of the EU talks there has been very little movement on the referendum outcome betting in spite of the movements away from REMAIN in the latest online and phone polls.

Read the full story here


«13456

Comments

  • Options
    MattWMattW Posts: 18,717
    1st as usual.
  • Options
    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.
  • Options
    WandererWanderer Posts: 3,838
    I was moved by it sufficiently to bet on Leave.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,002
    Vote winner in Tower Hamlets and Newham, probably not so much elsewhere

    https://twitter.com/jakewsimons/status/699572539547320320
  • Options
    The market has moved the wrong way given the polling. Either there's a rabbit on the way, or someone is supporting the market.

    I would not be surprised at all to see this market supported by agents of the powers that be (on Betfair and elsewhere). Part of the appeal of Remain is that it is favourite, and that by implication Leave is a minority position.
  • Options
    Czech government saying child benefit will be paid in full to all those currently in UK.
  • Options
    Wanderer said:

    I was moved by it sufficiently to bet on Leave.

    I was not.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,002

    The market has moved the wrong way given the polling. Either there's a rabbit on the way, or someone is supporting the market.

    I would not be surprised at all to see this market supported by agents of the powers that be (on Betfair and elsewhere). Part of the appeal of Remain is that it is favourite, and that by implication Leave is a minority position.

    I wonder if there are similar shenanigans behind Vardy still being 7/4?!

    Unless I've gone mental, one of the biggest value bets ever
  • Options
    isam said:

    Vote winner in Tower Hamlets and Newham, probably not so much elsewhere

    twitter.com/jakewsimons/status/699572539547320320

    Talking my book a bit (though, in my defence, I have extended my position), but 1/2 looks awfully short for Sadiq given three more months of this.
  • Options
    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    America Elects
    South Carolina poll :

    Clinton 55%
    Sanders 34%

    Black vote:
    Clinton 63%
    Sanders 23%

    PPP
  • Options

    The market has moved the wrong way given the polling. Either there's a rabbit on the way, or someone is supporting the market.

    I would not be surprised at all to see this market supported by agents of the powers that be (on Betfair and elsewhere). Part of the appeal of Remain is that it is favourite, and that by implication Leave is a minority position.

    I think there's a rabbit and some panto to come, but the 'deal' will not be substantively different from what we already have.

    Cameron will proclaim it as a huge success, and then double-down on Project Fear, call up every friend in the universe to say the UK should stay, drop a British Bill of Rights dead cat, and cross his fingers.

    It will probably be enough.
  • Options
    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,631

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.

    Until the day after "Remain". The EU cannot be trusted on these matters. There is no way the ECJ will allow the City to be immune from measures that the majority of EU nations will have to submit to, many of which will make them relatively less competitive.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,002

    isam said:

    Vote winner in Tower Hamlets and Newham, probably not so much elsewhere

    twitter.com/jakewsimons/status/699572539547320320

    Talking my book a bit (though, in my defence, I have extended my position), but 1/2 looks awfully short for Sadiq given three more months of this.
    Well a small sample (!) but my mum has voted Labour at every opportunity since the 60s, and when I asked if she was voting for Zac she said ' I can't vote Tory, I just won't vote'
  • Options
    WandererWanderer Posts: 3,838

    Wanderer said:

    I was moved by it sufficiently to bet on Leave.

    I was not.
    To me it confirmed that there has been a real move towards Leave. I think that's very sinister for Remain because it would have expected a boost from the unveiling of the deal, Cameron promoting it while his Cabinet is still muzzled, Alan Johnson chipping in etc.
  • Options
    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,631

    The market has moved the wrong way given the polling. Either there's a rabbit on the way, or someone is supporting the market.

    I would not be surprised at all to see this market supported by agents of the powers that be (on Betfair and elsewhere). Part of the appeal of Remain is that it is favourite, and that by implication Leave is a minority position.

    I think there's a rabbit and some panto to come, but the 'deal' will not be substantively different from what we already have.

    Cameron will proclaim it as a huge success, and then double-down on Project Fear, call up every friend in the universe to say the UK should stay, drop a British Bill of Rights dead cat, and cross his fingers.

    It will probably be enough.
    I thought the same about his attempt to simply declare victory, but the polls have shifted decisively in Leave's favour since his farcical attempt to convince us all that a piece of shit was in fact gold. Reaheating that shit isn't going to drastically change the picture.

    This is all assuming that the polls can be trusted, which remains unclear.
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    Topped up a bit on Leave, can't see the price staying that long once the gloves come off half the Cabinet.

    As @Tissue_Price suggests it's possible that the odds aren't following the polls because someone's backing Remain hard, or someone has insider knowledge of a big rabbit that's about to come out of the PM's hat.
  • Options
    isam said:

    The market has moved the wrong way given the polling. Either there's a rabbit on the way, or someone is supporting the market.

    I would not be surprised at all to see this market supported by agents of the powers that be (on Betfair and elsewhere). Part of the appeal of Remain is that it is favourite, and that by implication Leave is a minority position.

    I wonder if there are similar shenanigans behind Vardy still being 7/4?!

    Unless I've gone mental, one of the biggest value bets ever
    The place part (1-2-3 @ 1/5) looks huge too.
  • Options
    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,715
    If Cam wants a Dead Cat to deflect from his half-baked deal, he could always sack Jeremy Hunt on Friday morning...
  • Options

    If Cam wants a Dead Cat to deflect from his half-baked deal, he could always sack Jeremy Hunt on Friday morning...

    Why on earth would he do that?
  • Options
    MaxPBMaxPB Posts: 37,631
    Cyclefree said:

    taffys said:

    Whilst I'd lose the will to live, putting off the referendum seems like the only face saving tactic now.

    Cameron doesn't have a good hand using any yardstick. It may give him added credibility cojones too if he positions it right.

    But that allows time for further Cologne style migrant issues to fuel Brexit.

    If Cameron needs Euro Parliament to sign off, why don't he just postpone referendum until they've done that??

    Cameron could come back saying his negotiations have revealed that a semi-detached EU membership is, contrary to his former belief, an impossibility. An associate membership deal cannot be agreed. And so the choice before the British people is in with closer integration, or out.
    He hasn't asked for associate membership. Some EU people have suggested that this may be the best solution to square the circle between what the UK wants and the rest of the EU. I'm puzzled why this is not being explored.

    AIUI there is literally zero appetite from the commission to formalise the concept of associate membership because the EEA already exists.
  • Options
    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,648
    edited February 2016
    MaxPB said:

    The market has moved the wrong way given the polling. Either there's a rabbit on the way, or someone is supporting the market.

    I would not be surprised at all to see this market supported by agents of the powers that be (on Betfair and elsewhere). Part of the appeal of Remain is that it is favourite, and that by implication Leave is a minority position.

    I think there's a rabbit and some panto to come, but the 'deal' will not be substantively different from what we already have.

    Cameron will proclaim it as a huge success, and then double-down on Project Fear, call up every friend in the universe to say the UK should stay, drop a British Bill of Rights dead cat, and cross his fingers.

    It will probably be enough.
    I thought the same about his attempt to simply declare victory, but the polls have shifted decisively in Leave's favour since his farcical attempt to convince us all that a piece of shit was in fact gold. Reaheating that shit isn't going to drastically change the picture.

    This is all assuming that the polls can be trusted, which remains unclear.
    They have moved in Leave's favour, but not decisively so. Remain still has a clear phone poll lead and there will be plenty of wobbling going on as the Big Day approaches. And quite a few will chicken out in the polling booth IMHO.

    They might move further in Leave's favour. Alternatively, they might not and just stay stuck at a narrow Remain lead.

    You are right to be wary of the polls.
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    edited February 2016
    LOL at watching Ronnie's 146. The guy is a genius, played that like it was an exhibition match!

    youtu.be/kLBDuWvcy7U

    Wonders how long it will take Paddy Power to pay out on the maximum being scored anyway, as it will cost them peanuts compared to the publicity they'll get from it.
  • Options
    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,715

    If Cam wants a Dead Cat to deflect from his half-baked deal, he could always sack Jeremy Hunt on Friday morning...

    Why on earth would he do that?
    Because he values EU membership above all else.
  • Options
    isam said:

    isam said:

    Vote winner in Tower Hamlets and Newham, probably not so much elsewhere

    twitter.com/jakewsimons/status/699572539547320320

    Talking my book a bit (though, in my defence, I have extended my position), but 1/2 looks awfully short for Sadiq given three more months of this.
    Well a small sample (!) but my mum has voted Labour at every opportunity since the 60s, and when I asked if she was voting for Zac she said ' I can't vote Tory, I just won't vote'
    Well she's half-way there then :-)

    See if you can persuade her to put Zac 2nd pref behind whoever. To vote is to choose - if she's chosen "not Sadiq" she should use her vote to its fullest extent to bring that about.
  • Options
    watford30watford30 Posts: 3,474

    Czech government saying child benefit will be paid in full to all those currently in UK.

    It's a nice little boost to their economy, British taxpayers cash flowing east.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002
    Sandpit said:

    LOL at watching Ronnie's 146. The guy is a genius, played that like it was an exhibition match!

    youtu.be/kLBDuWvcy7U

    Wonders how long it will take Paddy Power to pay out on the maximum being scored anyway, as it will cost them peanuts compared to the publicity they'll get from it.

    They paid out on Van Gaal before christmas :D
  • Options
    MyBurningEarsMyBurningEars Posts: 3,651
    edited February 2016
    MaxPB said:

    Cyclefree said:

    taffys said:

    Whilst I'd lose the will to live, putting off the referendum seems like the only face saving tactic now.

    Cameron doesn't have a good hand using any yardstick. It may give him added credibility cojones too if he positions it right.

    But that allows time for further Cologne style migrant issues to fuel Brexit.

    If Cameron needs Euro Parliament to sign off, why don't he just postpone referendum until they've done that??

    Cameron could come back saying his negotiations have revealed that a semi-detached EU membership is, contrary to his former belief, an impossibility. An associate membership deal cannot be agreed. And so the choice before the British people is in with closer integration, or out.
    He hasn't asked for associate membership. Some EU people have suggested that this may be the best solution to square the circle between what the UK wants and the rest of the EU. I'm puzzled why this is not being explored.

    AIUI there is literally zero appetite from the commission to formalise the concept of associate membership because the EEA already exists.
    I've posted on here before about this, but I think in the long run, some sort of "associate" membership is going to be necessary for countries which don't integrate into a quasi-federal Eurozone "core". It isn't just the UK, it would be a more viable long term path for some of the Nordic countries, and some possible future accession states. (Turkey? Ukraine? Further afield Morocco actually applied in the 1980s, and Cape Verde has considered it. Places like that aren't, within a 30 year timeframe, going to be in the European core.)

    And there are federalists who would prefer a two-speed Europe too, because at the moment hold-out countries like Britain are a barrier to deeper integration among countries with greater appetite for it. And indeed need for it: for the euro to work properly in the long run, the Eurozone is going to have to more closely resemble a functioning country.
  • Options

    If Cam wants a Dead Cat to deflect from his half-baked deal, he could always sack Jeremy Hunt on Friday morning...

    Given that plenty of Remainers seem to think that Leavers are just base xenophobes, it wouldn't surprise me if he was rather rude to an EU apparatchik.

    He might, for instance, say to Juncker he has the charisma of a damp rag, and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk.
  • Options

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. .

    Well thats alright then - just look at the way they stuck to their deal to reform the CAP in return for a chunk of our rebate....
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002

    Britain are a barrier to deeper integration among countries with greater appetite for it. And indeed need for it: for the euro to work properly in the long run, the Eurozone is going to have to more closely resemble a functioning country.

    :+1: it's as decent an argument as any for voting "out".
  • Options
    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    If Cam wants a Dead Cat to deflect from his half-baked deal, he could always sack Jeremy Hunt on Friday morning...

    Would be mad to move his second most effective minister.
  • Options
    That adds up. But I'm not dancing to Gideon's tune even if he gets a backslap from Nigel Farage, Bill Cash and Peter Bone.
  • Options
    WandererWanderer Posts: 3,838

    MaxPB said:

    The market has moved the wrong way given the polling. Either there's a rabbit on the way, or someone is supporting the market.

    I would not be surprised at all to see this market supported by agents of the powers that be (on Betfair and elsewhere). Part of the appeal of Remain is that it is favourite, and that by implication Leave is a minority position.

    I think there's a rabbit and some panto to come, but the 'deal' will not be substantively different from what we already have.

    Cameron will proclaim it as a huge success, and then double-down on Project Fear, call up every friend in the universe to say the UK should stay, drop a British Bill of Rights dead cat, and cross his fingers.

    It will probably be enough.
    I thought the same about his attempt to simply declare victory, but the polls have shifted decisively in Leave's favour since his farcical attempt to convince us all that a piece of shit was in fact gold. Reaheating that shit isn't going to drastically change the picture.

    This is all assuming that the polls can be trusted, which remains unclear.
    They have moved in Leave's favour, but not decisively so. Remain still has a clear phone poll lead and there will be plenty of wobbling going on as the Big Day approaches. And quite a few will chicken out in the polling booth IMHO.

    They might move further in Leave's favour. Alternatively, they might not and just stay stuck at a narrow Remain lead.

    You are right to be wary of the polls.
    All good points. A bet on Leave is a bet that the polls will move further. I think they will because:

    * some people are expecting a rabbit and they won't get one
    * the Cabinet sceptics being unleashed must have some effect (wags will say yes, it will help Remain)
  • Options
    NickPalmerNickPalmer Posts: 21,369
    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,970

    If Cam wants a Dead Cat to deflect from his half-baked deal, he could always sack Jeremy Hunt on Friday morning...

    Given that plenty of Remainers seem to think that Leavers are just base xenophobes, it wouldn't surprise me if he was rather rude to an EU apparatchik.

    He might, for instance, say to Juncker he has the charisma of a damp rag, and the appearance of a low grade bank clerk.
    Maybe he'll say to Martin Shulz:

    “I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. I wave my private parts in your face."
  • Options
    I've waited years for the chance to vote OUT in a EU referendum and there is nothing the PM can say or do, to change my mind.

    Although I am seriously irritated by his comments on the border moving to Dover etc, I have now calmed down a bit and have to concede that his comments may have a ring of truth. I don't believe he would have said this otherwise.

    Either way, the French hate us, as do the rest of them. They are going to give us such a kicking, whether we vote in or out.

    You have to admire the PM's work rate. He looks knackered and I'm sure would much prefer having a break with his family.
  • Options

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    No, Nick, you haven't understood. It is an article of religious faith amongst the Leavers that anything Cameron, or any EU bureaucrat, or any European politician says on the subject is by definition a lie.
  • Options
    I think punters should be sceptical. The move in the polls to Leave follows a couple of weeks of unrelentingly negative coverage of the renegotiation. But very few people are actually interested in the details of the renegotiation; it's fear over jobs vs concern over migration which will decide this, and I don't think that has changed. The Remain side need to up the fear (easy) and address the incoherence of the migration argument (difficult). The Leave side need to assuage the fear, and try to ride the migration issue without sounding xenophobic.
  • Options
    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    No, Nick, you haven't understood. It is an article of religious faith amongst the Leavers that anything Cameron, or any EU bureaucrat, or any European politician says on the subject is by definition a lie.
    Man not the argument - a sure sign of defending the indefensible.

  • Options

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    No, Nick, you haven't understood. It is an article of religious faith amongst the Leavers that anything Cameron, or any EU bureaucrat, or any European politician says on the subject is by definition a lie.
    I do wish you and one or two others would stop talking about "Leavers" as if we are one homogenous group and defined by the worst examples you can find.
  • Options
    Lunch with the FT skewers Yentob. Or rather, he skewers himself.

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c0e910c4-d005-11e5-831d-09f7778e7377.html

    (Currently free, apparently).
  • Options
    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    No, Nick, you haven't understood. It is an article of religious faith amongst the Leavers that anything Cameron, or any EU bureaucrat, or any European politician says on the subject is by definition a lie.
    I do wish you and one or two others would stop talking about "Leavers" as if we are one homogenous group and defined by the worst examples you can find.
    It's easier than defending Cameron's flimsy deal of nothingness .
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,763
    I always think that the PM is at his best when his back is to the wall

    of course

    but does he have to back himself in to a corner quite so regularly ?
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,920

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    No, Nick, you haven't understood. It is an article of religious faith amongst the Leavers that anything Cameron, or any EU bureaucrat, or any European politician says on the subject is by definition a lie.
    Well the default position is always that politicians and anybody on the gravy train is going to lie, cheat and steal to keep their position and their ill gotten gains...
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753

    I think punters should be sceptical. The move in the polls to Leave follows a couple of weeks of unrelentingly negative coverage of the renegotiation. But very few people are actually interested in the details of the renegotiation; it's fear over jobs vs concern over migration which will decide this, and I don't think that has changed. The Remain side need to up the fear (easy) and address the incoherence of the migration argument (difficult). The Leave side need to assuage the fear, and try to ride the migration issue without sounding xenophobic.

    I don;t suppose telling voters the truth will get a look in, then.
  • Options
    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,205

    You have to admire the PM's work rate. He looks knackered and I'm sure would much prefer having a break with his family.

    He wanted the job and he wanted to bother with the renegotiation. If he doesn't like it he can quit and I'll collect my winnings.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002
    edited February 2016
    A wisdom index poll of what people "think" will happen would be a good idea I reckon. Most people aren't probability experts, so we may be able to discern some subconscious bias.
  • Options
    Bob__SykesBob__Sykes Posts: 1,176
    edited February 2016
    MaxPB said:

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.

    Until the day after "Remain". The EU cannot be trusted on these matters. There is no way the ECJ will allow the City to be immune from measures that the majority of EU nations will have to submit to, many of which will make them relatively less competitive.
    I wonder if there could be some sort of "referendum lock" mechanism enshrined in UK law, as part of the "package" put to voters, perhaps by way of an amendment to the 1972 Act which permits our membership, so that if any of the promised elements of the "deal" are vetoed or not implemented in the way specified, then there will be a legal requirement on the UK Government to hold a new in-out vote within say 6 months of any element being vetoed etc and in the meantime, from a UK perspective, the elements of the Feb 2016 deal will take precedence to any EU edict.

    Might take some creative drafting, and could lead to some legal challenges down the line as to whether there has been a failure, but the amendment could be passed into law before June 23rd, with a fair wind, to show it's not all talk, regardless of whether we subsequently vote Leave or Remain.

    Thoughts?
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,920
    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    Well that's fine then. Cameron says the deal is watertight and legally binding, but then an old europhile comes along and says, well, no, it's not entirely binding, who knows, they probably won't vote it down but we can't be sure, hey ho. And this is presumably you doing your best to sell it.

    And the REMAIN camp wonders why they aren't doing better in the polls?

    No one would buy a house, or a car, or a bottle of wine, under these terms, let along base a fundamental decision of future national sovereignty on the presumed goodwill of an organisation which is openly threatening to reverse whatever we decide.

    Cameron is in deep shit.
    It's all of his own making. The Europhiles know he isn't serious and would never walk out, so they can sit back and take the p*ss out of him and the UK.

    Which is exactly what they are doing.
  • Options
    TGOHF said:

    Man not the argument - a sure sign of defending the indefensible.

    Poppycock.

    What SeanT wrote was "Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying".

    How about these possibilities:

    1) SeanT has misunderstood one or other
    2) Cameron is mistaken
    3) The 'EU Parliament' (by which presumably SeanT means Martin Schulz) is mistaken
    4) Martin Schulz is saying the EU parliament might not support the deal, to which Cameron would reply: So what? It's a deal amongst the nations whose treaties set up the EU.

    Since the Legal Counsel of the European Council has given a formal opinion that the deal will be legally binding, options 1, 3 and 4 seem the most likely.
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,970

    I think punters should be sceptical. The move in the polls to Leave follows a couple of weeks of unrelentingly negative coverage of the renegotiation. But very few people are actually interested in the details of the renegotiation; it's fear over jobs vs concern over migration which will decide this, and I don't think that has changed. The Remain side need to up the fear (easy) and address the incoherence of the migration argument (difficult). The Leave side need to assuage the fear, and try to ride the migration issue without sounding xenophobic.

    The danger with upping the fear is that people might end up laughing at them, or just going "Yadda, yadda, yadda."

    I admit, I expected Project Fear to have gained some traction by now, but the reverse seems to be true.
  • Options
    isam said:

    Vote winner in Tower Hamlets and Newham, probably not so much elsewhere

    https://twitter.com/jakewsimons/status/699572539547320320

    Terribly unfortunate again. He just always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
  • Options
    GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 20,920
    edited February 2016
    Sean T Vs Richard Nabavi

    #Popcorn
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,292
    edited February 2016

    Lunch with the FT skewers Yentob. Or rather, he skewers himself.

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c0e910c4-d005-11e5-831d-09f7778e7377.html

    (Currently free, apparently).

    What a deluded man....

    Like many successful insiders, Yentob sees himself partly as an outsider.

    Yentob has said that, when he arrived at the BBC, money was “a flexible concept”.

    Yentob’s resignation means he is once more largely a film-maker. Critics have called his Imagine arts documentaries hagiographies, but his ambition continues. His trip to Calais with Daldry is focused on the jungle refugee camp. “There are musicians there,” he says. “What we’ve heard from the jungle are terrible stories — but what about the people and their lives and their expectations? Not just the sad stories.”

    It just goes on and on and on. It makes W1A mockumentary looks like a toned down documentary.
  • Options
    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503
    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    Well that's fine then. Cameron says the deal is watertight and legally binding, but then an old europhile comes along and says, well, no, it's not entirely binding, who knows, they probably won't vote it down but we can't be sure, hey ho. And this is presumably you doing your best to sell it.

    And the REMAIN camp wonders why they aren't doing better in the polls?

    No one would buy a house, or a car, or a bottle of wine, under these terms, let along base a fundamental decision of future national sovereignty on the presumed goodwill of an organisation which is openly threatening to reverse whatever we decide.

    Cameron is in deep shit.
    I don't care for Schultz, but that's not what he's saying. As an odious Leaver, I do think we have to keep the moral high ground here ;).

    What's he's saying, quite rightly, is that a democratic institution cannot promise to vote one way or another until they've seen the deal as agreed, debated it and voted on it. Which is fair enough. The only issue is it makes Cameron and Hammond look like complete twats with their legally binding bollocks.
  • Options
    GIN1138 said:

    Sean T Vs Richard Nabavi

    #Popcorn

    Not really, I've seen this film already
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002
    edited February 2016
    @John_M Schultz is not concerned with UK public opinion, so I'd take what he says over Dave on this one.
  • Options
    A generation of school buildings have leaking roofs, poor windows and cold cramped classrooms, said a head teacher who has accused the Welsh government of not doing enough to address it.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-35581013

    Public services safe in Labour's hands...
  • Options
    TGOHFTGOHF Posts: 21,633

    isam said:

    Vote winner in Tower Hamlets and Newham, probably not so much elsewhere

    https://twitter.com/jakewsimons/status/699572539547320320

    Terribly unfortunate again. He just always seem to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    The buckets of manure have only just begun to be tipped.
  • Options
    Sean_FSean_F Posts: 35,970
    SeanT said:

    MaxPB said:

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.

    Until the day after "Remain". The EU cannot be trusted on these matters. There is no way the ECJ will allow the City to be immune from measures that the majority of EU nations will have to submit to, many of which will make them relatively less competitive.
    I wonder if there could be some sort of "referendum lock" mechanism enshrined in UK law, as part of the "package" put to voters, perhaps by way of an amendment to the 1972 Act which permits our membership, so that if any of the promised elements of the "deal" are vetoed or not implemented in the way specified, then there will be a legal requirement on the UK Government to hold a new in-out vote within say 6 months of any element being vetoed etc and in the meantime, from a UK perspective, the elements of the Feb 2016 deal will take precedence to any EU edict.

    Might take some creative drafting, and could lead to some legal challenges down the line as to whether there has been a failure, but the amendment could be passed into law before June 23rd, with a fair wind, to show it's not all talk, regardless of whether we subsequently vote Leave or Remain.

    Thoughts?
    According to Steve Richards on the indy, a LEAVE vote might not mean LEAVE, anyway

    http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-is-an-emotional-rollercoaster-and-we-cant-get-off-it-now-a6875536.html

    "If “out” wins by a small margin the UK may not leave the EU."
    Say, the UK voted 51% to 49% for Leave. We'd still have a House of Commons and House of Lords dominated overwhelmingly by supporters of the UK remaining in the EU. The temptation to keep the UK in would surely be very strong.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,227
    isam said:

    Vote winner in Tower Hamlets and Newham, probably not so much elsewhere

    https://twitter.com/jakewsimons/status/699572539547320320

    Imagine how toxic such pictures will be if, and let's hope this does not happen, there is another Islamist atrocity here or in Europe, as the security bods fear is likely.

    I am not a Muslim but were I I would be deeply insulted by the assumption the Labour party seems to make that its Muslim representatives need to cosy up to the extremists and terrorist sympathisers and woman beaters and gay haters and anti-Semites in order to get my vote.

    Still, if it's good enough for the Labour leader and the last Labour Mayor of London, why shouldn't it be good enough for this Labour candidate, eh?

  • Options
    SeanT said:

    John_M said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    Well that's fine then. Cameron says the deal is watertight and legally binding, but then an old europhile comes along and says, well, no, it's not entirely binding, who knows, they probably won't vote it down but we can't be sure, hey ho. And this is presumably you doing your best to sell it.

    And the REMAIN camp wonders why they aren't doing better in the polls?

    No one would buy a house, or a car, or a bottle of wine, under these terms, let along base a fundamental decision of future national sovereignty on the presumed goodwill of an organisation which is openly threatening to reverse whatever we decide.

    Cameron is in deep shit.
    I don't care for Schultz, but that's not what he's saying. As an odious Leaver, I do think we have to keep the moral high ground here ;).

    What's he's saying, quite rightly, is that a democratic institution cannot promise to vote one way or another until they've seen the deal as agreed, debated it and voted on it. Which is fair enough. The only issue is it makes Cameron and Hammond look like complete twats with their legally binding bollocks.
    Clearly I was being a little hyperbolic to keep the comments interesting.

    What Schulz is saying is entirely fair, as you say. Cameron can get any number of preposterous "legally binding agreements", but the parliament will have its vote, and given the murkiness of EU decision making, no one can be sure what will emerge.

    So it is possible our deal will get completely unstitched. Which makes Cameron look simultaneously shifty, and inept and makes REMAIN a hugely difficult sell.
    Unless the European Parliament's vote is before the referendum. I'm not sure when the schedule is.

    If it comes after the referendum and is rejected I don't see any way to avoid a second referendum being justified.
  • Options
    Bob__SykesBob__Sykes Posts: 1,176
    John_M said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    Well that's fine then. Cameron says the deal is watertight and legally binding, but then an old europhile comes along and says, well, no, it's not entirely binding, who knows, they probably won't vote it down but we can't be sure, hey ho. And this is presumably you doing your best to sell it.

    And the REMAIN camp wonders why they aren't doing better in the polls?

    No one would buy a house, or a car, or a bottle of wine, under these terms, let along base a fundamental decision of future national sovereignty on the presumed goodwill of an organisation which is openly threatening to reverse whatever we decide.

    Cameron is in deep shit.
    I don't care for Schultz, but that's not what he's saying. As an odious Leaver, I do think we have to keep the moral high ground here ;).

    What's he's saying, quite rightly, is that a democratic institution cannot promise to vote one way or another until they've seen the deal as agreed, debated it and voted on it. Which is fair enough. The only issue is it makes Cameron and Hammond look like complete twats with their legally binding bollocks.
    Presumably the "deal" could clear all hurdles, including EU Parliament approval, before 23rd June, or whatever later date the referendum takes place?
  • Options
    Sean_F said:

    SeanT said:

    MaxPB said:

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.

    Until the day after "Remain". The EU cannot be trusted on these matters. There is no way the ECJ will allow the City to be immune from measures that the majority of EU nations will have to submit to, many of which will make them relatively less competitive.
    I wonder if there could be some sort of "referendum lock" mechanism enshrined in UK law, as part of the "package" put to voters, perhaps by way of an amendment to the 1972 Act which permits our membership, so that if any of the promised elements of the "deal" are vetoed or not implemented in the way specified, then there will be a legal requirement on the UK Government to hold a new in-out vote within say 6 months of any element being vetoed etc and in the meantime, from a UK perspective, the elements of the Feb 2016 deal will take precedence to any EU edict.

    Might take some creative drafting, and could lead to some legal challenges down the line as to whether there has been a failure, but the amendment could be passed into law before June 23rd, with a fair wind, to show it's not all talk, regardless of whether we subsequently vote Leave or Remain.

    Thoughts?
    According to Steve Richards on the indy, a LEAVE vote might not mean LEAVE, anyway

    http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/brexit-is-an-emotional-rollercoaster-and-we-cant-get-off-it-now-a6875536.html

    "If “out” wins by a small margin the UK may not leave the EU."
    Say, the UK voted 51% to 49% for Leave. We'd still have a House of Commons and House of Lords dominated overwhelmingly by supporters of the UK remaining in the EU. The temptation to keep the UK in would surely be very strong.
    Remember Winchester 1997. Voters hate a bad loser.

    If Cameron tried this there would be a leadership challenge. There are enough BOO'ers for it.
  • Options
    Plato_SaysPlato_Says Posts: 11,822
    Lololol
    If name-dropping were an Olympic sport, Yentob would be suspected of doping.

    Lunch with the FT skewers Yentob. Or rather, he skewers himself.

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c0e910c4-d005-11e5-831d-09f7778e7377.html

    (Currently free, apparently).

  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,227
    MaxPB said:

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.

    Until the day after "Remain". The EU cannot be trusted on these matters. There is no way the ECJ will allow the City to be immune from measures that the majority of EU nations will have to submit to, many of which will make them relatively less competitive.
    Exactly so. For all the talk, enough member states are not really in favour of competition at all. It's one reason why the Single Market in services has yet to come about.
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,292
    edited February 2016

    Lololol

    If name-dropping were an Olympic sport, Yentob would be suspected of doping.

    Lunch with the FT skewers Yentob. Or rather, he skewers himself.

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c0e910c4-d005-11e5-831d-09f7778e7377.html

    (Currently free, apparently).



    Plenty of drug taking the Beeb...allegedly...not sure how performance enhancing it is though.

    http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/6712935/Strictly-voice-claims-drugs-are-on-sale-at-BBC.html
  • Options
    I'm sure this will be handled sensitively on all sides.
    https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/699594955623366656
  • Options
    Bob__SykesBob__Sykes Posts: 1,176
    SeanT said:



    Agreed. IANAEUL but I think the timetable doesn't allow for an EU Parliament vote before the referendum, if it is on June 23. Therefore REMAINERS will be voting to TRUST the EU Parliament.

    In which case it would be truly absurd to hold a referendum on 23 June. Cameron would come under so much pressure to delay until we knew what we were actually voting for. He told us he would not capitulate to demands for a Cabinet meeting this weekend, but it seems after the gentlest of pressure being applied, he has done just that. There would be a lot more noise if the deal can still be vetoed after we've all voted.
  • Options

    I think punters should be sceptical. The move in the polls to Leave follows a couple of weeks of unrelentingly negative coverage of the renegotiation. But very few people are actually interested in the details of the renegotiation; it's fear over jobs vs concern over migration which will decide this, and I don't think that has changed. The Remain side need to up the fear (easy) and address the incoherence of the migration argument (difficult). The Leave side need to assuage the fear, and try to ride the migration issue without sounding xenophobic.

    As a general rule, the side complaining about the media coverage is the side that's losing.
  • Options

    I'm sure this will be handled sensitively on all sides.
    https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/699594955623366656

    Mr Tickle.
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,227

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    The point, though, Nick, is that we won't know whether they will or not when we vote. It is possible that they may vote it down, at which point what then?
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,763

    I think punters should be sceptical. The move in the polls to Leave follows a couple of weeks of unrelentingly negative coverage of the renegotiation. But very few people are actually interested in the details of the renegotiation; it's fear over jobs vs concern over migration which will decide this, and I don't think that has changed. The Remain side need to up the fear (easy) and address the incoherence of the migration argument (difficult). The Leave side need to assuage the fear, and try to ride the migration issue without sounding xenophobic.

    As a general rule, the side complaining about the media coverage is the side that's losing.
    On that basis the Conservatives have been losing since 1979 :-)
  • Options
    SeanT said:

    Agreed. IANAEUL but I think the timetable doesn't allow for an EU Parliament vote before the referendum, if it is on June 23. Therefore REMAINERS will be voting to TRUST the EU Parliament.

    I think everyone should on this one. Can you seriously see the Tory party accepting a Remain vote conditional upon a deal after the deal is vetoed? It would be the swiftest way to guarantee Brexit.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002

    I'm sure this will be handled sensitively on all sides.
    https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/699594955623366656

    Hopefully she'll be found soon.
  • Options
    runnymederunnymede Posts: 2,536
    "If “out” wins by a small margin the UK may not leave the EU."

    No surprise that the europhiles are already talking about defying the wishes of the voters, which is what they have been doing for the last 40-odd years.
  • Options
    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    John_M said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    Well that's fine then. Cameron says the deal is watertight and legally binding, but then an old europhile comes along and says, well, no, it's not entirely binding, who knows, they probably won't vote it down but we can't be sure, hey ho. And this is presumably you doing your best to sell it.

    And the REMAIN camp wonders why they aren't doing better in the polls?

    No one would buy a house, or a car, or a bottle of wine, under these terms, let along base a fundamental decision of future national sovereignty on the presumed goodwill of an organisation which is openly threatening to reverse whatever we decide.

    Cameron is in deep shit.
    I don't care for Schuldeal as agreed, debated it and voted on it. Which is fair enough. The only issue is it makes Cameron and Hammond look like complete twats with their legally binding bollocks.
    Clearly I was being a little hyperbolic to keep the comments interesting.

    What Schulz is saying is entirely fair, as you say. Cameron can get any number of preposterous "legally binding agreements", but the parliament will have its vote, and given the murkiness of EU decision making, no one can be sure what will emerge.

    So it is possible our deal will get completely unstitched. Which makes Cameron look simultaneously shifty, and inept and makes REMAIN a hugely difficult sell.
    Unless the European Parliament's vote is before the referendum. I'm not sure when the schedule is.

    If it comes after the referendum and is rejected I don't see any way to avoid a second referendum being justified.
    Agreed. IANAEUL but I think the timetable doesn't allow for an EU Parliament vote before the referendum, if it is on June 23. Therefore REMAINERS will be voting to TRUST the EU Parliament.
    Just bloody wait to hold the referendum then. The date hasn't been announced yet even. Is Cameron really so keen on rushing to hold it before we can think so much that we have to do it before deal is final???
  • Options
    John_MJohn_M Posts: 7,503
    edited February 2016
    Cyclefree said:

    MaxPB said:

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.

    Until the day after "Remain". The EU cannot be trusted on these matters. There is no way the ECJ will allow the City to be immune from measures that the majority of EU nations will have to submit to, many of which will make them relatively less competitive.
    Exactly so. For all the talk, enough member states are not really in favour of competition at all. It's one reason why the Single Market in services has yet to come about.
    Like others, my main issue is sovereignty, but even looking at the EU as a trading entity, it's not pretty:

    http://www.tradingeconomics.com/euro-area/gdp-growth (select 'MAX' on the graph).

    Since its inception the EZ has been a lacklustre performer. It's had twenty years to deliver, and thus far has failed to do so, while simultaneously blighting many of its members with high unemployment. I see nothing on the table that's likely to change the EZ into some high performance economic superstar. It's flattered by virtue of Germany's membership.
  • Options
    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,403

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said anything. The President, Martin Schulz, is doing his job by saying they're not just patsies who will vote for any old deal, but neither he nor anyone else can say they'll definitely vote for or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    No, Nick, you haven't understood. It is an article of religious faith amongst the Leavers that anything Cameron, or any EU bureaucrat, or any European politician says on the subject is by definition a lie.
    Richard sorry but it's you who hasn't understood.

    The date of this referendum, which we are all arguing about, which we are wondering whether it will be June, July, sometime after...ain't gonna happen. According to some on here. Which makes me wonder why they are debating the merits of Leave or Remain so vigorously.
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753
    John_M said:

    Cyclefree said:

    MaxPB said:

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.

    Until the day after "Remain". The EU cannot be trusted on these matters. There is no way the ECJ will allow the City to be immune from measures that the majority of EU nations will have to submit to, many of which will make them relatively less competitive.
    Exactly so. For all the talk, enough member states are not really in favour of competition at all. It's one reason why the Single Market in services has yet to come about.
    Like others, my main issue is sovereignty, but even looking at the EU as a trading entity, it's not pretty:

    http://www.tradingeconomics.com/euro-area/gdp-growth (select 'MAX' on the graph).

    Since its inception the EZ has been a lacklustre performer. It's had twenty years to deliver, and thus far has failed to do so, while simultaneously blighting many of its members with high unemployment. I see nothing on the table that's likely to change the EZ into some high performance economic superstar. It's flattered by virtue of Germany's membership.
    they are thinking of bringing in a financial transaction tax. That'll help....
  • Options

    SeanT said:

    Agreed. IANAEUL but I think the timetable doesn't allow for an EU Parliament vote before the referendum, if it is on June 23. Therefore REMAINERS will be voting to TRUST the EU Parliament.

    I think everyone should on this one. Can you seriously see the Tory party accepting a Remain vote conditional upon a deal after the deal is vetoed? It would be the swiftest way to guarantee Brexit.
    Bet there will be several on here who would argue any changes are "minor" and should be ignored in that event. They are same folk who said they were waiting on renegotiation to decide and now say renegotiation don't matter.
  • Options
    taffys said:

    John_M said:

    Cyclefree said:

    MaxPB said:

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.

    Until the day after "Remain". The EU cannot be trusted on these matters. There is no way the ECJ will allow the City to be immune from measures that the majority of EU nations will have to submit to, many of which will make them relatively less competitive.
    Exactly so. For all the talk, enough member states are not really in favour of competition at all. It's one reason why the Single Market in services has yet to come about.
    Like others, my main issue is sovereignty, but even looking at the EU as a trading entity, it's not pretty:

    http://www.tradingeconomics.com/euro-area/gdp-growth (select 'MAX' on the graph).

    Since its inception the EZ has been a lacklustre performer. It's had twenty years to deliver, and thus far has failed to do so, while simultaneously blighting many of its members with high unemployment. I see nothing on the table that's likely to change the EZ into some high performance economic superstar. It's flattered by virtue of Germany's membership.
    they are thinking of bringing in a financial transaction tax. That'll help....
    We have an absolute veto on a FTT in the UK so it won't be done here and would just drive even more business into our arms (just as it did when the Swedes tried their failed experiment on this).
  • Options

    I think punters should be sceptical. The move in the polls to Leave follows a couple of weeks of unrelentingly negative coverage of the renegotiation. But very few people are actually interested in the details of the renegotiation; it's fear over jobs vs concern over migration which will decide this, and I don't think that has changed. The Remain side need to up the fear (easy) and address the incoherence of the migration argument (difficult). The Leave side need to assuage the fear, and try to ride the migration issue without sounding xenophobic.

    As a general rule, the side complaining about the media coverage is the side that's losing.
    On that basis the Conservatives have been losing since 1979 :-)
    Conservatives only complain about the BBC.
  • Options
    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    edited February 2016
    I don't think the European Parliament has any formal say in this. It's a deal between the 28 countries whose treaties created the European Parliament.

    If you want a sane dissection of the legal status of the agreement - which is certainly not simple - look here:

    https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2016/02/13/pavlos-eleftheriadis-the-proposed-new-legal-settlement-of-the-uk-with-the-eu/


  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    Pulpstar said:

    I'm sure this will be handled sensitively on all sides.
    https://twitter.com/SkyNews/status/699594955623366656

    Hopefully she'll be found soon.
    Indeed. Sometimes the 24 hour news media need to know when to STFU.
  • Options
    OchEyeOchEye Posts: 1,469

    I always think that the PM is at his best when his back is to the wall

    of course

    but does he have to back himself in to a corner quite so regularly ?

    Of course, just like a previous PM, with his back up against the wall, he will turn round and go forward...
  • Options
    HurstLlamaHurstLlama Posts: 9,098



    Just bloody wait to hold the referendum then. The date hasn't been announced yet even. Is Cameron really so keen on rushing to hold it before we can think so much that we have to do it before deal is final???

    Can anyone explain why Cameron seems to want to hold the referendum so soon? I presume it is because he thinks he will have a better chance of winning it, but why?
  • Options
    TOPPINGTOPPING Posts: 41,403

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    John_M said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    Can someone explain to me how Cameron even BEGINS to sell this deal, when the EU Parliament is openly saying that they might scupper it, anyway.

    Either Cameron is lying, or the EU Parliament is lying. Either way, it's not a good look for europhiles.

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said afor or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    Well that's fine then. Cameron sng your best to sell it.

    And the REMAIN camp wonders why they aren't doing better in the polls?

    No one would buy a house, or a car, or a bottle of wine, under these terms, let along base a fundamental decision of future national sovereignty on the presumed goodwill of an organisation which is openly threatening to reverse whatever we decide.

    Cameron is in deep shit.
    I don't care for Schuldeal as agreed, debated it and voted on it. Which is fair enough. The only issue is it makes Cameron and Hammond look like complete twats with their legally binding bollocks.
    Clearly I was being a little hyperbolic to keep the comments interesting.

    What Schulz is saying is entirely fair, as you say. Cameron can get any number of preposterous "legally binding agreements", but the parliament will have its vote, and given the murkiness of EU decision making, no one can be sure what will emerge.

    So it is possible our deal will get completely unstitched. Which makes Cameron look simultaneously shifty, and inept and makes REMAIN a hugely difficult sell.
    Unless the European Parliament's vote is before the referendum. I'm not sure when the schedule is.

    If it comes after the referendum and is rejected I don't see any way to avoid a second referendum being justified.
    Agreed. IANAEUL but I think the timetable doesn't allow for an EU Parliament vote before the referendum, if it is on June 23. Therefore REMAINERS will be voting to TRUST the EU Parliament.
    Just bloody wait to hold the referendum then. The date hasn't been announced yet even. Is Cameron really so keen on rushing to hold it before we can think so much that we have to do it before deal is final???
    I think he thought he could convince the EU to agree...just because.
    And I think he thought or perhaps still thinks he can have a referendum and people will follow his direction...just because.

    Both truly misguided and hubristic.
  • Options
    Former Tory MP Louise Mensch is to launch a centre-right website for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp.

    Mensch tweeted that under her leadership the libertarian website, Heat Street, will be a place where “disagreement will be encouraged”.

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/16/louise-mensch-rupert-murdoch-news-corp-heat-street

    I bet Tim has just exploded...
  • Options
    taffystaffys Posts: 9,753

    taffys said:

    John_M said:

    Cyclefree said:

    MaxPB said:

    Robert Peston suggesting French have given way on banking. I'm interpreting that to mean original draft of memo will be outside single rulebook, thank God. Still think we will be exposed to Eurozone laws being passed over time, but sounds like it won't be immediate selling out of the City I feared.

    Until the day after "Remain". The EU cannot be trusted on these matters. There is no way the ECJ will allow the City to be immune from measures that the majority of EU nations will have to submit to, many of which will make them relatively less competitive.
    Exactly so. For all the talk, enough member states are not really in favour of competition at all. It's one reason why the Single Market in services has yet to come about.
    Like others, my main issue is sovereignty, but even looking at the EU as a trading entity, it's not pretty:

    http://www.tradingeconomics.com/euro-area/gdp-growth (select 'MAX' on the graph).

    Since its inception the EZ has been a lacklustre performer. It's had twenty years to deliver, and thus far has failed to do so, while simultaneously blighting many of its members with high unemployment. I see nothing on the table that's likely to change the EZ into some high performance economic superstar. It's flattered by virtue of Germany's membership.
    they are thinking of bringing in a financial transaction tax. That'll help....
    We have an absolute veto on a FTT in the UK so it won't be done here and would just drive even more business into our arms (just as it did when the Swedes tried their failed experiment on this).
    Understood thanks. For me it just shows though, that socialism is built into the EU's DNA. It is doomed to at best anaemic growth, at worst economic meltdown. Its banks are struggling. This negotiation is showing it will not change until it has collapsed utterly, and even then I'm not sure.
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,941
    edited February 2016
    TOPPING said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    John_M said:

    SeanT said:

    SeanT said:

    "The EU Parliament" hasn't said afor or against some yet-to-be-defined agreement. In practice I doubt if they'll vote it down.
    Well that's fine then. Cameron sng your best to sell it.

    And the REMAIN camp wonders why they aren't doing better in the polls?

    No one would buy a house, or a car, or a bottle of wine, under these terms, let along base a fundamental decision of future national sovereignty on the presumed goodwill of an organisation which is openly threatening to reverse whatever we decide.

    Cameron is in deep shit.
    I don't care for Schuldeal as agreed, debated it and voted on it. Which is fair enough. The only issue is it makes Cameron and Hammond look like complete twats with their legally binding bollocks.
    Clearly I was being a little hyperbolic to keep the comments interesting.

    What Schulz is saying is entirely fair, as you say. Cameron can get any number of preposterous "legally binding agreements", but the parliament will have its vote, and given the murkiness of EU decision making, no one can be sure what will emerge.

    So it is possible our deal will get completely unstitched. Which makes Cameron look simultaneously shifty, and inept and makes REMAIN a hugely difficult sell.
    Unless the European Parliament's vote is before the referendum. I'm not sure when the schedule is.

    If it comes after the referendum and is rejected I don't see any way to avoid a second referendum being justified.
    Agreed. IANAEUL but I think the timetable doesn't allow for an EU Parliament vote before the referendum, if it is on June 23. Therefore REMAINERS will be voting to TRUST the EU Parliament.
    Just bloody wait to hold the referendum then. The date hasn't been announced yet even. Is Cameron really so keen on rushing to hold it before we can think so much that we have to do it before deal is final???
    I think he thought he could convince the EU to agree...just because.
    And I think he thought or perhaps still thinks he can have a referendum and people will follow his direction...just because.

    Both truly misguided and hubristic.
    If true that the deal will be voted on by the EU Parliament after June, then either the referendum will need to be postponed or the deal put in the bin.

    Unless there's a big rabbit coming it's clear that the EU has no interest in doing anything to help the PM and the UK, he should walk away and declare he's backing Leave. It might be the only thing that will get the EU leaders back around the table.
  • Options
    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 76,002
    edited February 2016
    I think the Romanian PM's point is fair enough, and he probably doesn't want the UK based Roma back in Romania either :D
  • Options
    CyclefreeCyclefree Posts: 25,227

    I don't think the European Parliament has any say in this. It's a deal between the 28 countries whose treaties created the European Parliament.

    If you want a sane dissection of the legal status of the agreement - which is certainly not simple - look here:

    https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2016/02/13/pavlos-eleftheriadis-the-proposed-new-legal-settlement-of-the-uk-with-the-eu/


    It makes sense to have the referendum only after every European institution who can have a say has done so so we know exactly what we are voting on and that it cannot be changed after our vote.

    You don't sign a contract while the contract is still being drafted, after all. Or rather, only a fool would do so.

    All this rush to get our vote smacks to me of a party which appears to want to evade full transparency and rush something past, in the hope that we might not notice that perhaps what we are being sold is not as good as it's made out to be or that there are some serious flaws.

    And there is no need to rush, is there? He has until the end of 2017 after all. So why give the impression that there is something to hide?

    Better get this right rather than do a poor rushed job. That is not an unreasonable request.

    If Cameron really feels that he has got a wonderful deal for Britain he would be willing to have it properly and fully scrutinised and tested and kicked and looked at from all angles precisely so that he can say - when/if there is a vote the Remain - the question of Britain's membership has been settled for a generation.

    The way he is going about it (at least on current evidence) will not achieve that.

    A section of the population feel that politicians in the past have not been honest with them. That has been compounded by Blair's perceived dishonesty over Iraq. Cameron saw how the expenses fiasco damaged the credibility of Parliamentarians. We're being told that he's not a fool, a clever politician, a brilliant student at Oxford etc etc. So why does he not see that this decision, an important one, which ever way it goes, needs to be arrived at properly? That the process by which it is arrived at is equally as important as the substance.

    Either he's not as clever as he thinks, or he just wants it to go away and can't be bothered or he's worried that the substance is no good and is not prepared to face up to what that means for what he needs to do next.

    Stupidity. Complacency. Or Cowardice.

    I'll leave it to others to decide which. Or come up with their own explanation.
  • Options
    Richard_NabaviRichard_Nabavi Posts: 30,820
    edited February 2016
    Cyclefree said:

    It makes sense to have the referendum only after every European institution who can have a say has done so so we know exactly what we are voting on and that it cannot be changed after our vote..

    I agree. That's the point I've repeatedly made, and have been accused of lying, dishonesty etc etc for my trouble.

    Unfortunately it's not possible to have even the faintest idea, let alone know exactly, what we would be voting for if we vote Leave.

    That's life. Voters will just have to live with the uncertainty, which of course is hugely, hugely greater on the Leave side.

    In any case, it's a very odd argument to say (as you do) that (a) the renegotiation is nothing, and (b) that it's vital to know exactly what its status is. Why do you care what its status is if it's trivial?
  • Options
    SeanT said:



    Just bloody wait to hold the referendum then. The date hasn't been announced yet even. Is Cameron really so keen on rushing to hold it before we can think so much that we have to do it before deal is final???

    Can anyone explain why Cameron seems to want to hold the referendum so soon? I presume it is because he thinks he will have a better chance of winning it, but why?
    Migration.
    Whatever his reasoning, it is not reasonable for the public to be asked before the deal is signed just because Cameron thinks his chances are better. We have two years to have this referendum, so we can make sure the European parliament does whatever amendments are done first. We need to know what we are voting on.
This discussion has been closed.