The devil will be in the detail but it seems like today's is a sensible deal that is pretty much along the lines of what I've advocated for, for years.
If so, RIP to those who for years denounced what has just been announced as a "unicorn", it seems from the announcement that unicorns are alive and well.
Compromise was the nature of the Good Friday Agreement, and compromise seems to have happened here.
Hopefully this satisfies the DUP and we can all move on now. If it doesn't, we need to go back to negotiations.
For years the EU said stuff like this was impossible. The Remain-biased UK press, from the Guardian to the BBC, always took the EU's declarative statement as facts of life, while constantly scrutinizing the UK position as something to be flexed. Turns out the UK has a lot of cards to play after all.
The cards just needed playing by somebody capable and not motivated purely by self-interest. It's a sign of how things have slipped that these qualities in a PM now surprise and delight.
Ultra-Remainers should be wary of this deal. Because it normalizes Brexit. This is Brexit from now on. We will never rejoin, but there will be endless legal to-and-fro, as there is between Switzerland and the EU
This will cement Brexit in place
For oldsters like you and me Leon, Brexit is here to stay, and I never anticipated anything else. All today gives us is an unravelling of Johnson and Frost's Northern Ireland chaos. Hats off to Sunak and his team for that at least.
Nonetheless you will still queue with the Russians at Alicante Airport and have to wait for your passport to be stamped The Germans will be throwing their towels on the sunbeds as you are still hailing your taxi. Oh and tomatoes are still rationed at Lidl.
Passport stamps are on their way out. Around the world. All the queues will go - for everyone
As in so many fields, AI is about to render this issue irrelevant
The reality is prior to Brexit a visit to an EU or Schengen nation meant they were once already irrelevant.
And they are about to be irrelevant again
Also, with the advent of all these Digital Nomad visas a huge chunk of the Freedom of Movement angst has been removed. - again with the evolution of technology. All you need to move to Spain is a salary of about £25k a year - if self employed or working from home and so on
Yep! There’s millions of people who can now clearly work from anywhere in the knowledge economy, and there’s competition between nations to attract them. I know more than a few out here.
So many people - most? - do not begin to grasp this, and the enormous ramifications
The leaders here very much do. As do those in Portugal and Spain, where they can use good weather and low taxes to cream off the lifestyle now available to the 1%, rather than just the 0.01%.
AIUI UAE requires $5k a month salary and a letter of employment. Most digital nomads are freelancers. And on irregular incomes. That seems a pretty high bar to me.
They have visas for both. The one you mention is the ‘remote worker’ visa, aimed at people employed by a company overseas, and on their payroll.
There’s many other visa options for the self-employed working out of here. In practice, £10k gets you a company setup and three year visa for yourself and immediate family. A £250k cash property investment gets you a 5-year visa and anyone with a masters degree can sponsor themselves for a 10-year ‘golden visa’
The Spain and Portugual ‘digital nomad’ visas are also for those in employment with a regular salary, from an overseas company.
But. Isn't the purpose of being a "digital nomad", to be nomadic? Those options seem much better suited to those planning a significant period of residency.
Which is what they’re trying to encourage, people seeing the UAE as a place to settle and but property, rather than just a place you work for a few years, saving money that ends up overseas. The ‘digital nomad’ is something quite specific, someone who wants a residency, but works for an overseas company and draws a salary (of more than $60k).
Who'd want to settle in the gulf? Unless you're a drug dealer or political exile, what's the appeal?
Someone who doesn’t like paying income tax, nor corporation tax, nor capital gains tax - but enjoys it being 25ºC at 9pm right now.
Ultra-Remainers should be wary of this deal. Because it normalizes Brexit. This is Brexit from now on. We will never rejoin, but there will be endless legal to-and-fro, as there is between Switzerland and the EU
This will cement Brexit in place
For oldsters like you and me Leon, Brexit is here to stay, and I never anticipated anything else. All today gives us is an unravelling of Johnson and Frost's Northern Ireland chaos. Hats off to Sunak and his team for that at least.
Nonetheless you will still queue with the Russians at Alicante Airport and have to wait for your passport to be stamped The Germans will be throwing their towels on the sunbeds as you are still hailing your taxi. Oh and tomatoes are still rationed at Lidl.
Passport stamps are on their way out. Around the world. All the queues will go - for everyone
As in so many fields, AI is about to render this issue irrelevant
The reality is prior to Brexit a visit to an EU or Schengen nation meant they were once already irrelevant.
And they are about to be irrelevant again
Also, with the advent of all these Digital Nomad visas a huge chunk of the Freedom of Movement angst has been removed. - again with the evolution of technology. All you need to move to Spain is a salary of about £25k a year - if self employed or working from home and so on
Yep! There’s millions of people who can now clearly work from anywhere in the knowledge economy, and there’s competition between nations to attract them. I know more than a few out here.
So many people - most? - do not begin to grasp this, and the enormous ramifications
The leaders here very much do. As do those in Portugal and Spain, where they can use good weather and low taxes to cream off the lifestyle now available to the 1%, rather than just the 0.01%.
AIUI UAE requires $5k a month salary and a letter of employment. Most digital nomads are freelancers. And on irregular incomes. That seems a pretty high bar to me.
They have visas for both. The one you mention is the ‘remote worker’ visa, aimed at people employed by a company overseas, and on their payroll.
There’s many other visa options for the self-employed working out of here. In practice, £10k gets you a company setup and three year visa for yourself and immediate family. A £250k cash property investment gets you a 5-year visa and anyone with a masters degree can sponsor themselves for a 10-year ‘golden visa’
The Spain and Portugual ‘digital nomad’ visas are also for those in employment with a regular salary, from an overseas company.
But. Isn't the purpose of being a "digital nomad", to be nomadic? Those options seem much better suited to those planning a significant period of residency.
Which is what they’re trying to encourage, people seeing the UAE as a place to settle and but property, rather than just a place you work for a few years, saving money that ends up overseas. The ‘digital nomad’ is something quite specific, someone who wants a residency, but works for an overseas company and draws a salary (of more than $60k).
Who'd want to settle in the gulf? Unless you're a drug dealer or political exile, what's the appeal?
Someone who doesn’t like paying income tax, nor corporation tax, nor capital gains tax - but enjoys it being 25ºC at 9pm right now.
My brother-in-law is fearing redundancy in the UK - his employer is struggling - which surprises me - and I keep telling him to consider the Middle East. He's a CAD technician specialising in 'glass walls'.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Yes, sorting out the NI detail was always going to take both time and careful working through - and likely a lot of different personalities to those involved a couple of years ago. If everyone is happy with the deal, then that’s brilliant news.
Ultra-Remainers should be wary of this deal. Because it normalizes Brexit. This is Brexit from now on. We will never rejoin, but there will be endless legal to-and-fro, as there is between Switzerland and the EU
This will cement Brexit in place
For oldsters like you and me Leon, Brexit is here to stay, and I never anticipated anything else. All today gives us is an unravelling of Johnson and Frost's Northern Ireland chaos. Hats off to Sunak and his team for that at least.
Nonetheless you will still queue with the Russians at Alicante Airport and have to wait for your passport to be stamped The Germans will be throwing their towels on the sunbeds as you are still hailing your taxi. Oh and tomatoes are still rationed at Lidl.
Passport stamps are on their way out. Around the world. All the queues will go - for everyone
As in so many fields, AI is about to render this issue irrelevant
The reality is prior to Brexit a visit to an EU or Schengen nation meant they were once already irrelevant.
And they are about to be irrelevant again
Also, with the advent of all these Digital Nomad visas a huge chunk of the Freedom of Movement angst has been removed. - again with the evolution of technology. All you need to move to Spain is a salary of about £25k a year - if self employed or working from home and so on
Yep! There’s millions of people who can now clearly work from anywhere in the knowledge economy, and there’s competition between nations to attract them. I know more than a few out here.
So many people - most? - do not begin to grasp this, and the enormous ramifications
The leaders here very much do. As do those in Portugal and Spain, where they can use good weather and low taxes to cream off the lifestyle now available to the 1%, rather than just the 0.01%.
AIUI UAE requires $5k a month salary and a letter of employment. Most digital nomads are freelancers. And on irregular incomes. That seems a pretty high bar to me.
They have visas for both. The one you mention is the ‘remote worker’ visa, aimed at people employed by a company overseas, and on their payroll.
There’s many other visa options for the self-employed working out of here. In practice, £10k gets you a company setup and three year visa for yourself and immediate family. A £250k cash property investment gets you a 5-year visa and anyone with a masters degree can sponsor themselves for a 10-year ‘golden visa’
The Spain and Portugual ‘digital nomad’ visas are also for those in employment with a regular salary, from an overseas company.
But. Isn't the purpose of being a "digital nomad", to be nomadic? Those options seem much better suited to those planning a significant period of residency.
Which is what they’re trying to encourage, people seeing the UAE as a place to settle and but property, rather than just a place you work for a few years, saving money that ends up overseas. The ‘digital nomad’ is something quite specific, someone who wants a residency, but works for an overseas company and draws a salary (of more than $60k).
Who'd want to settle in the gulf? Unless you're a drug dealer or political exile, what's the appeal?
Someone who doesn’t like paying income tax, nor corporation tax, nor capital gains tax - but enjoys it being 25ºC at 9pm right now.
Someone who doesn't want to pay his way in other words.
Ultra-Remainers should be wary of this deal. Because it normalizes Brexit. This is Brexit from now on. We will never rejoin, but there will be endless legal to-and-fro, as there is between Switzerland and the EU
This will cement Brexit in place
For oldsters like you and me Leon, Brexit is here to stay, and I never anticipated anything else. All today gives us is an unravelling of Johnson and Frost's Northern Ireland chaos. Hats off to Sunak and his team for that at least.
Nonetheless you will still queue with the Russians at Alicante Airport and have to wait for your passport to be stamped The Germans will be throwing their towels on the sunbeds as you are still hailing your taxi. Oh and tomatoes are still rationed at Lidl.
Passport stamps are on their way out. Around the world. All the queues will go - for everyone
As in so many fields, AI is about to render this issue irrelevant
The reality is prior to Brexit a visit to an EU or Schengen nation meant they were once already irrelevant.
And they are about to be irrelevant again
Also, with the advent of all these Digital Nomad visas a huge chunk of the Freedom of Movement angst has been removed. - again with the evolution of technology. All you need to move to Spain is a salary of about £25k a year - if self employed or working from home and so on
Yep! There’s millions of people who can now clearly work from anywhere in the knowledge economy, and there’s competition between nations to attract them. I know more than a few out here.
So many people - most? - do not begin to grasp this, and the enormous ramifications
The leaders here very much do. As do those in Portugal and Spain, where they can use good weather and low taxes to cream off the lifestyle now available to the 1%, rather than just the 0.01%.
AIUI UAE requires $5k a month salary and a letter of employment. Most digital nomads are freelancers. And on irregular incomes. That seems a pretty high bar to me.
They have visas for both. The one you mention is the ‘remote worker’ visa, aimed at people employed by a company overseas, and on their payroll.
There’s many other visa options for the self-employed working out of here. In practice, £10k gets you a company setup and three year visa for yourself and immediate family. A £250k cash property investment gets you a 5-year visa and anyone with a masters degree can sponsor themselves for a 10-year ‘golden visa’
The Spain and Portugual ‘digital nomad’ visas are also for those in employment with a regular salary, from an overseas company.
But. Isn't the purpose of being a "digital nomad", to be nomadic? Those options seem much better suited to those planning a significant period of residency.
Which is what they’re trying to encourage, people seeing the UAE as a place to settle and but property, rather than just a place you work for a few years, saving money that ends up overseas. The ‘digital nomad’ is something quite specific, someone who wants a residency, but works for an overseas company and draws a salary (of more than $60k).
Who'd want to settle in the gulf? Unless you're a drug dealer or political exile, what's the appeal?
Someone who doesn’t like paying income tax, nor corporation tax, nor capital gains tax - but enjoys it being 25ºC at 9pm right now.
My brother-in-law is fearing redundancy in the UK - his employer is struggling - which surprises me - and I keep telling him to consider the Middle East. He's a CAD technician specialising in 'glass walls'.
There's got to be opportunities out there surely?
There’s loads of opportunities out here, but one needs to pitch themselves correctly. A CAD technician from the Philippines earns $2k a month, so he needs to be the manager of a team of CAD technicians, making $6k a month.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
1, 2 and a somewhat limited 3 were proposed by Maros Sefcovic back in 2021 following his discussions with Northern Ireland business and politicians. These proposals were subsequently rejected by Johnson, Truss and Frost. It's possible the new proposals are significantly different in the detail from Sefcovic's originals. On the whole it looks like Sunak's main work has been in getting his government on board.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
1, 2 and a somewhat limited 3 were proposed by Maros Sefcovic back in 2021 following his discussions with Northern Ireland business and politicians. These proposals were subsequently rejected by Johnson, Truss and Frost. It's possible the new proposals are significantly different in the detail from Sefcovic's originals. On the whole of looks like Sunak's main work has been in getting his government on board.
Lol no they weren't. The EU's position was always "you made the deal, live with it". As always you want to cheer the EU as much as possible, honestly I do wonder whether you're a paid astroturfer or just deluded.
Ultra-Remainers should be wary of this deal. Because it normalizes Brexit. This is Brexit from now on. We will never rejoin, but there will be endless legal to-and-fro, as there is between Switzerland and the EU
This will cement Brexit in place
For oldsters like you and me Leon, Brexit is here to stay, and I never anticipated anything else. All today gives us is an unravelling of Johnson and Frost's Northern Ireland chaos. Hats off to Sunak and his team for that at least.
Nonetheless you will still queue with the Russians at Alicante Airport and have to wait for your passport to be stamped The Germans will be throwing their towels on the sunbeds as you are still hailing your taxi. Oh and tomatoes are still rationed at Lidl.
Passport stamps are on their way out. Around the world. All the queues will go - for everyone
As in so many fields, AI is about to render this issue irrelevant
The reality is prior to Brexit a visit to an EU or Schengen nation meant they were once already irrelevant.
And they are about to be irrelevant again
Also, with the advent of all these Digital Nomad visas a huge chunk of the Freedom of Movement angst has been removed. - again with the evolution of technology. All you need to move to Spain is a salary of about £25k a year - if self employed or working from home and so on
Yep! There’s millions of people who can now clearly work from anywhere in the knowledge economy, and there’s competition between nations to attract them. I know more than a few out here.
So many people - most? - do not begin to grasp this, and the enormous ramifications
The leaders here very much do. As do those in Portugal and Spain, where they can use good weather and low taxes to cream off the lifestyle now available to the 1%, rather than just the 0.01%.
AIUI UAE requires $5k a month salary and a letter of employment. Most digital nomads are freelancers. And on irregular incomes. That seems a pretty high bar to me.
They have visas for both. The one you mention is the ‘remote worker’ visa, aimed at people employed by a company overseas, and on their payroll.
There’s many other visa options for the self-employed working out of here. In practice, £10k gets you a company setup and three year visa for yourself and immediate family. A £250k cash property investment gets you a 5-year visa and anyone with a masters degree can sponsor themselves for a 10-year ‘golden visa’
The Spain and Portugual ‘digital nomad’ visas are also for those in employment with a regular salary, from an overseas company.
But. Isn't the purpose of being a "digital nomad", to be nomadic? Those options seem much better suited to those planning a significant period of residency.
Which is what they’re trying to encourage, people seeing the UAE as a place to settle and but property, rather than just a place you work for a few years, saving money that ends up overseas. The ‘digital nomad’ is something quite specific, someone who wants a residency, but works for an overseas company and draws a salary (of more than $60k).
Who'd want to settle in the gulf? Unless you're a drug dealer or political exile, what's the appeal?
Someone who doesn’t like paying income tax, nor corporation tax, nor capital gains tax - but enjoys it being 25ºC at 9pm right now.
Someone who doesn't want to pay his way in other words.
It’s actually not that. He does very much pay his way - it’s just that other countries use different taxes, fees, and charges to what they might be used to in their own country.
I mean, this is sold as a 'deal,' which implies give and take.
But what's he actually conceded on?
It even, in effect, takes away almost all the oversight of the European Courts by transferring dispute resolutions to arbitration. Which is quite astonishing. I thought that the EU would more cheerfully see war in Ireland than give that up.
If this really is his style of negotiating May made a truly terrible error in not making him Brexit secretary from the off.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
And we needed to be out of the EU to be in the correct position to sort this from a position of strength.
1) 1700 pages of EU law disapplied, with most trade rules coming from the UK legal side (including food safety), so ECJ presence seems pretty limited
2) UK VAT and excise rates and calculations apply, not Irish or EU ones
3) Free GB-NI trade for medicines, medical products, agriculture, construction goods, steel. UK regulation, not EU, on food, jewellery, clothes and medicines applies
4) Data sharing based on existing data collection, so no additional bureaucratic burden for small businesses
5) Stormont break only applies to NEW EU laws - but can be used just by a minority at Stormont AND challenges to it will not be decided by ECJ, but an independent body.
6) Stormont break requires the block by Stormont AND a UK government veto
7) New legal commitment on both UK and EU to protect UK internal market
8) GB-NI trade will be based on UK commercial regulation, not international customs.
Overall I would say this is more like 3-0 for the UK position than 3-1. But both sides win from the deal.
Does this spell the end for Johnson? Hopefully, and quite possibly.
But what if most of the general public a) don't really understand the detail of these changes and b) don't care much about NI anyway?
If Sunak and the Tories don't see an improvement in the polls soon Johnson will still be circling in the hope MPs lose their nerve and ditch Sunak.
The whole problem with this for Sunak is if it works - which I can't see why it shouldn't - then it will be notable for what is *not* happening. No war in Northern Ireland. No disruption to food supplies. No constant whingeing in the press.
A b it like lockdowns, if it works he will get no credit as people will assume it wasn't needed, while if it fails he will get the blame.
But - that is not a reason for not doing it. Indeed, arguably the job of a really good PM or any sort of leader is to get the boring stuff that people don't notice right.
I mean, this is sold as a 'deal,' which implies give and take.
But what's he actually conceded on?
It even, in effect, takes away almost all the oversight of the European Courts by transferring dispute resolutions to arbitration. Which is quite astonishing. I thought that the EU would more cheerfully see war in Ireland than give that up.
If this really is his style of negotiating May made a truly terrible error in not making him Brexit secretary from the off.
Turns out that being a zero detail blowhard (not just Johnson, but also Davis) or a loony cake (Raab, Truss), or a duplicitous shit (Johnson again, Frost) is not terribly effective.
I mean, this is sold as a 'deal,' which implies give and take.
But what's he actually conceded on?
It even, in effect, takes away almost all the oversight of the European Courts by transferring dispute resolutions to arbitration. Which is quite astonishing. I thought that the EU would more cheerfully see war in Ireland than give that up.
If this really is his style of negotiating May made a truly terrible error in not making him Brexit secretary from the off.
I don't think he could have achieved this under May.
It took someone like Boris to close off the idea of the UK following EU rules, as May was prepared to do under the backstop.
Once that option was closed, suddenly negotiations were viable.
Boris broke the eggs, Sunak made the omelette. Both actions were necessary.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
And we needed to be out of the EU to be in the correct position to sort this from a position of strength.
I presume Ukraine has sharpened minds. Even outside the EU, we frankly matter more as a partner to most EU counties than Ireland does.
1) 1700 pages of EU law disapplied, with most trade rules coming from the UK legal side (including food safety), so ECJ presence seems pretty limited
2) UK VAT and excise rates and calculations apply, not Irish or EU ones
3) Free GB-NI trade for medicines, medical products, agriculture, construction goods, steel. UK regulation, not EU, on food, jewellery, clothes and medicines applies
4) Data sharing based on existing data collection, so no additional bureaucratic burden for small businesses
5) Stormont break only applies to NEW EU laws - but can be used just by a minority at Stormont AND challenges to it will not be decided by ECJ, but an independent body.
6) Stormont break requires the block by Stormont AND a UK government veto
7) New legal commitment on both UK and EU to protect UK internal market
8) GB-NI trade will be based on UK commercial regulation, not international customs.
Overall I would say this is more like 3-0 for the UK position than 3-1. But both sides win from the deal.
BRAKE! AAARGGH!
Edit - although Stormont is pretty broken at the moment.
Whoever is in charge of DEFRA right now (I’ve lost count of all the changes), needs to meet with Jeremy Clarkson, who’s the biggest advocate for farmers you’ll ever find. He has the massive benefit of being an outsider, who doesn’t have decades of NFU indoctrination and sees things as they are.
I mean, this is sold as a 'deal,' which implies give and take.
But what's he actually conceded on?
It even, in effect, takes away almost all the oversight of the European Courts by transferring dispute resolutions to arbitration. Which is quite astonishing. I thought that the EU would more cheerfully see war in Ireland than give that up.
If this really is his style of negotiating May made a truly terrible error in not making him Brexit secretary from the off.
I don't think he could have achieved this under May.
It took someone like Boris to close off the idea of the UK following EU rules, as May was prepared to do under the backstop.
Once that option was closed, suddenly negotiations were viable.
Boris broke the eggs, Sunak made the omelette. Both actions were necessary.
Utter bollocks, but I get why this is the flimsy scrap you must cling on to.
I mean, this is sold as a 'deal,' which implies give and take.
But what's he actually conceded on?
It even, in effect, takes away almost all the oversight of the European Courts by transferring dispute resolutions to arbitration. Which is quite astonishing. I thought that the EU would more cheerfully see war in Ireland than give that up.
If this really is his style of negotiating May made a truly terrible error in not making him Brexit secretary from the off.
Sunak seems to have taken the EU at its word that its interest was and is in preserving the integrity of the Single Market and of ensuring that the ECJ has oversight over all issues pertaining to ensuring the integrity of the Single Market. He has given the EU what it needs to meet those requirements and the EU is happy with that. It's all very grown-up.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
1, 2 and a somewhat limited 3 were proposed by Maros Sefcovic back in 2021 following his discussions with Northern Ireland business and politicians. These proposals were subsequently rejected by Johnson, Truss and Frost. It's possible the new proposals are significantly different in the detail from Sefcovic's originals. On the whole it looks like Sunak's main work has been in getting his government on board.
Ultra-Remainers should be wary of this deal. Because it normalizes Brexit. This is Brexit from now on. We will never rejoin, but there will be endless legal to-and-fro, as there is between Switzerland and the EU
This will cement Brexit in place
For oldsters like you and me Leon, Brexit is here to stay, and I never anticipated anything else. All today gives us is an unravelling of Johnson and Frost's Northern Ireland chaos. Hats off to Sunak and his team for that at least.
Nonetheless you will still queue with the Russians at Alicante Airport and have to wait for your passport to be stamped The Germans will be throwing their towels on the sunbeds as you are still hailing your taxi. Oh and tomatoes are still rationed at Lidl.
Passport stamps are on their way out. Around the world. All the queues will go - for everyone
As in so many fields, AI is about to render this issue irrelevant
The reality is prior to Brexit a visit to an EU or Schengen nation meant they were once already irrelevant.
And they are about to be irrelevant again
Also, with the advent of all these Digital Nomad visas a huge chunk of the Freedom of Movement angst has been removed. - again with the evolution of technology. All you need to move to Spain is a salary of about £25k a year - if self employed or working from home and so on
Yep! There’s millions of people who can now clearly work from anywhere in the knowledge economy, and there’s competition between nations to attract them. I know more than a few out here.
So many people - most? - do not begin to grasp this, and the enormous ramifications
The leaders here very much do. As do those in Portugal and Spain, where they can use good weather and low taxes to cream off the lifestyle now available to the 1%, rather than just the 0.01%.
AIUI UAE requires $5k a month salary and a letter of employment. Most digital nomads are freelancers. And on irregular incomes. That seems a pretty high bar to me.
They have visas for both. The one you mention is the ‘remote worker’ visa, aimed at people employed by a company overseas, and on their payroll.
There’s many other visa options for the self-employed working out of here. In practice, £10k gets you a company setup and three year visa for yourself and immediate family. A £250k cash property investment gets you a 5-year visa and anyone with a masters degree can sponsor themselves for a 10-year ‘golden visa’
The Spain and Portugual ‘digital nomad’ visas are also for those in employment with a regular salary, from an overseas company.
But. Isn't the purpose of being a "digital nomad", to be nomadic? Those options seem much better suited to those planning a significant period of residency.
Which is what they’re trying to encourage, people seeing the UAE as a place to settle and but property, rather than just a place you work for a few years, saving money that ends up overseas. The ‘digital nomad’ is something quite specific, someone who wants a residency, but works for an overseas company and draws a salary (of more than $60k).
Who'd want to settle in the gulf? Unless you're a drug dealer or political exile, what's the appeal?
Someone who doesn’t like paying income tax, nor corporation tax, nor capital gains tax - but enjoys it being 25ºC at 9pm right now.
Someone who doesn't want to pay his way in other words.
It’s actually not that. He does very much pay his way - it’s just that other countries use different taxes, fees, and charges to what they might be used to in their own country.
The gulf states fund their public services from their past and present fossil fuel sales, yes or no?
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
And we needed to be out of the EU to be in the correct position to sort this from a position of strength.
Sort what? There was no issue inside the EU. Or if there were, they were different issues.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
1, 2 and a somewhat limited 3 were proposed by Maros Sefcovic back in 2021 following his discussions with Northern Ireland business and politicians. These proposals were subsequently rejected by Johnson, Truss and Frost. It's possible the new proposals are significantly different in the detail from Sefcovic's originals. On the whole it looks like Sunak's main work has been in getting his government on board.
Report from the EU that Boris Johnson and Frost grated in the EU who welcome the new PM pragmatic attitude
No surprise there
The Johnson/Frost spin will no doubt be a deal was only possible because they scared the EU rigid with their hardball Protocol Cancellation bill. Nothing at all to do with us dropping the macho theatrics and behaving like mature adults.
But that will not wash. The current, grown-up UK government has made the legal advice clear: the bill was never going to work from a legal standpoint and would have exposed the UK to large compensation payments if enacted. And if the UK government knew that, the EU did too.
Course it won't. But they deal in fantasies. What this actually shows imo is the wasted opportunity to negotiate a better deal in the first place. All it needed was good faith, hard work, focus and professionalism. Instead we got all that 'No Deal is better than a Bad Deal' and 'holding all the cards' perpetual grandstanding nonsense. Then a mad rush to sign something - anything - so Johnson could win his election.
You can't go into a negotiation with the position that a bad deal is better than no deal, even if that's what you privately believe. And if the alternative is a Corbyn government, a deal held together with string and wishful thinking is better than whatever deal Corbyn would have cooked up. Imagine Corbyn trying to find a deal with the EU which could keep NI within the UK. It would be like all of his Christmasses had come at once (well, two of his Christmasses.)
Ok, I suppose a Marxist dystopia under Corbyn is about the only yardstick by which Johnson's tenure could be judged non-disastrous. Point of order though. If Labour had won GE19 there wouldn't have been a Brexit Deal. There'd have been no Brexit.
The famously enthusiastic Remainer Jeremy Corbyn would have called it off?
And a Marxist dystopia under Jeremy Corbyn is, unfortunately, the yardstick by which we must judge it. Because that was the alternative.
If I were making Johnson's case for posterity, it would be that I don't really see a credible scenario which didn't lead to a Marxist dystopia which didn't involve him and his rather half-baked deal. We can both prefer that a better deal had been in place from the start (or, for you, no deal at all), but the pathway which led to such a thing AND no Marxist dystopia was, in my view, so narrow in its likelihood as to be implausible. My view is that Johnson was the only broadly plausible way of getting from the failure of May's 2017 election to today which didn't go via Marxist dystopia.
I doubt Jeremy could have pulled off a Marxist dystopia with Labour largest party in a hung parliament. Which was the stretch target. But, yes, Ref2 with Remain as a binary choice against any specific Exit deal was a slam dunk. Brexit was a goner if GE19 had gone that way. This would have been pretty much the sole mandate of a short Corbyn 1st term - cancelling Brexit. Marxist dystopia to follow in his 2nd term after a landslide in 2021 perhaps. Then no more elections obviously.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
We have a solution that both sides are very happy with. One that has its roots in both sides accepting that they are not enemies and that they have common goals. The UK single market is preserved, the EU single market is preserved. It's a deal that has been done by grown-ups - and the make-up of the negotiating teams has only changed on one side of the table.
Whoever is in charge of DEFRA right now (I’ve lost count of all the changes), needs to meet with Jeremy Clarkson, who’s the biggest advocate for farmers you’ll ever find. He has the massive benefit of being an outsider, who doesn’t have decades of NFU indoctrination and sees things as they are.
A fairly common phenomenon is the union or advocacy group that ends up controlled by a small sub group. And leaves the rest of the group going “WTAF are those guys doing?”
1) 1700 pages of EU law disapplied, with most trade rules coming from the UK legal side (including food safety), so ECJ presence seems pretty limited
2) UK VAT and excise rates and calculations apply, not Irish or EU ones
3) Free GB-NI trade for medicines, medical products, agriculture, construction goods, steel. UK regulation, not EU, on food, jewellery, clothes and medicines applies
4) Data sharing based on existing data collection, so no additional bureaucratic burden for small businesses
5) Stormont break only applies to NEW EU laws - but can be used just by a minority at Stormont AND challenges to it will not be decided by ECJ, but an independent body.
6) Stormont break requires the block by Stormont AND a UK government veto
7) New legal commitment on both UK and EU to protect UK internal market
8) GB-NI trade will be based on UK commercial regulation, not international customs.
Overall I would say this is more like 3-0 for the UK position than 3-1. But both sides win from the deal.
BRAKE! AAARGGH!
Edit - although Stormont is pretty broken at the moment.
I would, however, very much recommend a Stormont break as well. It’s lovely.
Sky have just said that Sunak has agreed to bin the NIP bill going through Parliament
Johnson's further humiliation
The Johnson/Frost crew will just claim that as an essential bargaining chip that has been cashed in, if they have any sense. But the deal does render them irrelevant going forward, so who knows.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
1, 2 and a somewhat limited 3 were proposed by Maros Sefcovic back in 2021 following his discussions with Northern Ireland business and politicians. These proposals were subsequently rejected by Johnson, Truss and Frost. It's possible the new proposals are significantly different in the detail from Sefcovic's originals. On the whole it looks like Sunak's main work has been in getting his government on board.
That is halfway to the Sunak deal. Even the headline on agrifood applies to only 80%, rather than 100% of it. And the democratic check is additional consultation, rather than the unionist party at Stormont able to apply a hard brake.
I mean, this is sold as a 'deal,' which implies give and take.
But what's he actually conceded on?
It even, in effect, takes away almost all the oversight of the European Courts by transferring dispute resolutions to arbitration. Which is quite astonishing. I thought that the EU would more cheerfully see war in Ireland than give that up.
If this really is his style of negotiating May made a truly terrible error in not making him Brexit secretary from the off.
Sunak seems to have taken the EU at its word that its interest was and is in preserving the integrity of the Single Market and of ensuring that the ECJ has oversight over all issues pertaining to ensuring the integrity of the Single Market. He has given the EU what it needs to meet those requirements and the EU is happy with that. It's all very grown-up.
Recognising and addressing the legitimate concerns of the other side is class #101 of negotiation. Astonishing we have had to learn that all over again.
Ultra-Remainers should be wary of this deal. Because it normalizes Brexit. This is Brexit from now on. We will never rejoin, but there will be endless legal to-and-fro, as there is between Switzerland and the EU
This will cement Brexit in place
For oldsters like you and me Leon, Brexit is here to stay, and I never anticipated anything else. All today gives us is an unravelling of Johnson and Frost's Northern Ireland chaos. Hats off to Sunak and his team for that at least.
Nonetheless you will still queue with the Russians at Alicante Airport and have to wait for your passport to be stamped The Germans will be throwing their towels on the sunbeds as you are still hailing your taxi. Oh and tomatoes are still rationed at Lidl.
Passport stamps are on their way out. Around the world. All the queues will go - for everyone
As in so many fields, AI is about to render this issue irrelevant
The reality is prior to Brexit a visit to an EU or Schengen nation meant they were once already irrelevant.
And they are about to be irrelevant again
Also, with the advent of all these Digital Nomad visas a huge chunk of the Freedom of Movement angst has been removed. - again with the evolution of technology. All you need to move to Spain is a salary of about £25k a year - if self employed or working from home and so on
Yep! There’s millions of people who can now clearly work from anywhere in the knowledge economy, and there’s competition between nations to attract them. I know more than a few out here.
So many people - most? - do not begin to grasp this, and the enormous ramifications
The leaders here very much do. As do those in Portugal and Spain, where they can use good weather and low taxes to cream off the lifestyle now available to the 1%, rather than just the 0.01%.
AIUI UAE requires $5k a month salary and a letter of employment. Most digital nomads are freelancers. And on irregular incomes. That seems a pretty high bar to me.
They have visas for both. The one you mention is the ‘remote worker’ visa, aimed at people employed by a company overseas, and on their payroll.
There’s many other visa options for the self-employed working out of here. In practice, £10k gets you a company setup and three year visa for yourself and immediate family. A £250k cash property investment gets you a 5-year visa and anyone with a masters degree can sponsor themselves for a 10-year ‘golden visa’
The Spain and Portugual ‘digital nomad’ visas are also for those in employment with a regular salary, from an overseas company.
But. Isn't the purpose of being a "digital nomad", to be nomadic? Those options seem much better suited to those planning a significant period of residency.
Which is what they’re trying to encourage, people seeing the UAE as a place to settle and but property, rather than just a place you work for a few years, saving money that ends up overseas. The ‘digital nomad’ is something quite specific, someone who wants a residency, but works for an overseas company and draws a salary (of more than $60k).
Who'd want to settle in the gulf? Unless you're a drug dealer or political exile, what's the appeal?
Someone who doesn’t like paying income tax, nor corporation tax, nor capital gains tax - but enjoys it being 25ºC at 9pm right now.
Someone who doesn't want to pay his way in other words.
It’s actually not that. He does very much pay his way - it’s just that other countries use different taxes, fees, and charges to what they might be used to in their own country.
The gulf states fund their public services from their past and present fossil fuel sales, yes or no?
Mostly yes - but there are also things like VAT 5%, property stamp duty 4%, road tolls, inflated fees for government services etc. My employer just paid £800 to renew my visa, which is nothing but a paperwork exercise and an AIDS test. The employer must also pay for heath insurance.
1) 1700 pages of EU law disapplied, with most trade rules coming from the UK legal side (including food safety), so ECJ presence seems pretty limited
2) UK VAT and excise rates and calculations apply, not Irish or EU ones
3) Free GB-NI trade for medicines, medical products, agriculture, construction goods, steel. UK regulation, not EU, on food, jewellery, clothes and medicines applies
4) Data sharing based on existing data collection, so no additional bureaucratic burden for small businesses
5) Stormont break only applies to NEW EU laws - but can be used just by a minority at Stormont AND challenges to it will not be decided by ECJ, but an independent body.
6) Stormont break requires the block by Stormont AND a UK government veto
7) New legal commitment on both UK and EU to protect UK internal market
8) GB-NI trade will be based on UK commercial regulation, not international customs.
Overall I would say this is more like 3-0 for the UK position than 3-1. But both sides win from the deal.
BRAKE! AAARGGH!
Edit - although Stormont is pretty broken at the moment.
I would, however, very much recommend a Stormont break as well. It’s lovely.
I thought Stormont has been taking a break since the DUP walked out?
It's odd that so many here on a political betting site describe the DUP and ERG as bonkers. They are far from that, being quite rational, calculating and disciplined in their political positioning. Where they differ from those calling them bonkers is in their values and aspirations for NI.
It helps to be bonkers. The ERG seems to have been pretty successful in terms of obtaining political goals over the last decades. (True, the DUP are both bonkers and been unsuccessful ).
Let's, e.g., compare it to politicians who are keen on reducing wealth inequality. This is a political goal that has gone backwards over the last decades (or at best stagnated). No matter who is in power, there has been pretty meagre progress.
As we are (probably) coming to an end of a period of Tory rule, it is instructive to consider how Tory Governments (first Thatcher and then the Brexiteers) have changed the UK very dramatically.
By comparison, the Labour Governments of my lifetime -- though sometimes competent and sometimes incompetent -- have not achieved any comparably lasting changes in the UK.
I'm no fan of the last Labour government, but the last Labour Government achieved some lasting changes in the UK. Notably more equality for homosexuality, although that was a global phenomenon and they fell short of legalising equality in marriage itself which fell to David Cameron to achieve.
Devolution and BoE independence too, and the Minimum Wage.
What's remarkable though is that almost everything that the last Labour Government achieved was done in 1997/98. I'd be curious if even the most ardent of Labour supporters can name any lasting changes that were introduced from 1999 onwards?
Minimum wage -- I grant you. The Tories would never introduced that. But, it has not had much effect in reducing wealth inequality. So, in my book, it falls into the category of tinkering at the edges.
Devolution has been a disaster for Wales. It is poorer now that it was before 1999. The standard of Government has been abysmally low.
I will leave our Scottish posters to describe whether devolution has been good for Scotland.
You didn't ask for changes for the better, just lasting changes. Devolution certainly is a lasting change, even if it hasn't improved things.
On the same basis, perhaps you could include our indebtedness now as a lasting change brought about by Labour, but I don't know anyone from Labour who admits that was intentional, unlike devolution.
Increase in debt under last Labour government: £681bn. Increase in debt under current Tory government: £1,543bn. And counting.
That's a legacy of the deficit that Labour bequeathed.
Unless you think the Tories could or should have implemented a form of austerity so severe they ran a neutral budget from year one?
It was a legacy of the worst global financial crisis since WW2.
Which thanks to Brown's decade of preparation we were uniquely well-placed to weather?
You think Gordon Brown should have shut down the City and dug a big hole in the Midlands to sell commodities to China? Well, it worked for Australia.
If he'd been running a budget surplus as he should have for that stage of the economic cycle, then the deficit spending would have been far less significant afterwards and purely cyclical.
I’d say that Labour’s biggest long-term failure was letting house prices rip from 1999 to 2007.
2007 was the year that levels of home ownership began falling.
Not sure Labour could have donw much about it.
Banks shifted their lending criteria from 3x+1x earnings to 4x joint earnings and prices across the country increased to reflect the additional money people could borrow (for good and bad).I watched it happen down south in 2001/2 and then up north between 2003/4....
Brown wasn't shy about regulating the banks.
The problem is, he regulated all the wrong things...
Every CDO trader had lodged a photocopy of their passport with HR.
They had all completed their multiple choice exams (or got the desk junior to do it for them) - in how not to commit fraud. “An Orc from Mordor emails you, claiming to have a large stash of Mithril, following the fall of the Barad- Dur. Do you (a) help him sell it on the metals exchange, bypassing all regulations…. (e) call compliance”
And that's who to primarily blame for crashing the financial system. Those who did it, not those who supposedly provoked it by being lax or complacent. Similar to Putin and Ukraine.
Just as those who are primarily to blame for crashing our national Treasury accounts are those who did it (ie Gordon Brown), not those who supposedly provoked it like the Americans, or the financial sector or anyone else.
Brown was responsible for the Treasury, borrowed in the good times, then when the bad times came he inevitably had to borrow more but had no room left to manoeuvre. You can try and pin the blame on anyone else if you want a scapegoat, but those who did it, are the Treasury.
Ah I see. So 'he didn't fix the roof when the sun was shining' then?
This really is the most frightful tosh but I'm minded to cut some slack - because I sense your take on the Crash derives mainly from the Tory GE campaign of 2010. You swallowed it hook line & sinker at an impressionable time of life.
A nice political slogan but the problem is much more pernicious than that.
The country had a fantastic roof in 2001/02 that the Iron Chancellor had pledged to maintain. That's part of why I voted Labour for the only and first time in my life in 2001. Had the crisis struck in 01/02 then the Treasury would have been prepared and had the wherewithal to cope.
What's worse about Gordon Brown is that he took a fixed roof and broke it. He took the roof off in 2002 and never replace it as he'd abolished winter/boom and bust.
Pure hubris.
There's your problem right there. You start with 'Brown to blame' and work backwards, trying to make things fit. End up saying bizarre things like this.
If Brown really did cause the GFC and financial markets malfunction was responsible for public spending you'd say the main problem was the GFC not public spending. So by accident you'd be right in that case.
It was Brown's awful regulatory reform that allowed the GFC to have such a profound effect on the UK economy. Banks were leveraged at 70:1 and the FSA was mindlessly making sure that the banks had the right boxes ticked on their diversity forms.
Banks over-leveraged, cooked the books, consigned risk management to the bin, in a crazy chase for yield and remuneration. It popped and nearly brought down the financial system. Brown deserves criticism - he was there and a player, plus he took the plaudits when things were good - but it really is a mistake to overstate his contribution. The culture, a consensus here across politics, was light touch reg, markets know best, let them rock and roll so long as they pay their taxes.
He was the Chancellor - he was responsible. The buck stops there.
On the politics, yes. And it happened - it's why he was kicked out in 2010. Slogans like 'not fixing the roof' etc worked for the Cons. No problem with that. But it's nice to get beyond that here in 2023. It's a shame to glean your entire understanding of such an important event as the GFC, its causes and its impact on the UK, from the Tory 2010 election manifesto. I think so anyway.
The Tory 2010 manifesto has nothing to do with it. As I said, I voted Labour in 2001 when the self styled Iron Chancellor was running a responsible budget but didn't in 2005 precisely as u could see what was coming. Which was a matter of when, not if.
Labour overspent from 2002 onwards. Hence my vote in 2005, hence running out of money in 2007. Only if you are stupid and pathetic enough to argue that Crises has been abolished could you think otherwise. You're not that stupid, so I can only think you're being deliberately disingenuous and pigheaded.
Ah sounds like your vote tells us if the UK's public finances are being well managed then. That'll be useful for future historians.
Even in the EU write-up I don't see any major concession by Sunak. Whereas I see several major ones on the EU side (Stormont brake, agrifood, medicines, steel, tax rules).
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
We have a solution that both sides are very happy with. One that has its roots in both sides accepting that they are not enemies and that they have common goals. The UK single market is preserved, the EU single market is preserved. It's a deal that has been done by grown-ups - and the make-up of the negotiating teams has only changed on one side of the table.
It's changed completely on both sides.
Last set of negotiations were done while the EU had the UK as a member and subject to EU law, this time it does not.
This is a triumph for the UK that follows on from the triumph of 2019 in saying sort the UK out of the EU first, kick NI into the future to come back to.
This is a complete defeat of the Barnier framework of resolving NI first to bind the UK into the EU's sphere of influence.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
We have a solution that both sides are very happy with. One that has its roots in both sides accepting that they are not enemies and that they have common goals. The UK single market is preserved, the EU single market is preserved. It's a deal that has been done by grown-ups - and the make-up of the negotiating teams has only changed on one side of the table.
No this is utter bollocks
It was the EU - ursula herself - which unilaterally suspended the Brexit agreement to prevent fucking vaccines crossing the Uk border because the EU felt humiliated. By its vaccine failures of the time. It was macron who said astra zeneca was basically useless. It was the Germans who claimed astra zeneca was 10% effective for anyone older than 2 months etc etc
How many people actually DIED as a result of this childish petulance? Because the EU felt insulted or menaced by Brexit?
The EU is at fault as is the UK. Both sides acted like wankers. Enough already
Over 30 is new isn’t it? Haven’t seen that for a while.
There was one at the end of last week, too. But this does seem to reinforce the split between polling firms that polled before the last election and those that didn't.
Even in the EU write-up I don't see any major concession by Sunak. Whereas I see several major ones on the EU side (Stormont brake, agrifood, medicines, steel, tax rules).
Sunak's major concession is that the UK will no longer act like an angry drunk on a Friday night binge. Which must be a considerable relief.
Oh? Not saying you are wrong, quite the reverse, but how?
The one I notice most - silly though it may sound - is apple sauce.
The own brand stuff for Morrisons, in particular, used to be pretty good and not very expensive. Now it has a much lower fruit content, so it's much less pleasant, and a much higher price.
But I could instance cornflakes, butter, toiletries, cheese - all sorts of staples that used to be better but seem to be sold in smaller packets and less tasty when you get them.
I used to buy at the big supermarkets (again, particularly Morrisons) rather than Aldi and Lidl because although it was a little more expensive the products were of a better quality so I didn't mind the extra charge.
Now - Aldi's actually producing better quality stuff and it's a lot cheaper.
Doubt this is a useful thing to say, but this is potentially profoundly useful to Remainers. Principles are being established about being in the EU's single market/customs union with veto powers, which could be quite easily expanded to include the whole of the UK.
Not getting overly excited. That's clearly not the aim on either side. But if you were a future British government and wanted to establish that sort of relationship, you can see quite clearly how it would work and the arguments you'd use.
Oh? Not saying you are wrong, quite the reverse, but how?
The one I notice most - silly though it may sound - is apple sauce.
The own brand stuff for Morrisons, in particular, used to be pretty good and not very expensive. Now it has a much lower fruit content, so it's much less pleasant, and a much higher price.
But I could instance cornflakes, butter, toiletries, cheese - all sorts of staples that used to be better but seem to be sold in smaller packets and less tasty when you get them.
I used to buy at the big supermarkets (again, particularly Morrisons) rather than Aldi and Lidl because although it was a little more expensive the products were of a better quality so I didn't mind the extra charge.
Now - Aldi's actually producing better quality stuff and it's a lot cheaper.
Morrisons has gone downhill in a big way over the last couple of years, not just on the value range.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
We have a solution that both sides are very happy with. One that has its roots in both sides accepting that they are not enemies and that they have common goals. The UK single market is preserved, the EU single market is preserved. It's a deal that has been done by grown-ups - and the make-up of the negotiating teams has only changed on one side of the table.
It's changed completely on both sides.
Last set of negotiations were done while the EU had the UK as a member and subject to EU law, this time it does not.
This is a triumph for the UK that follows on from the triumph of 2019 in saying sort the UK out of the EU first, kick NI into the future to come back to.
This is a complete defeat of the Barnier framework of resolving NI first to bind the UK into the EU's sphere of influence.
Negotiations were going nowhere until Sunak became PM and a new UK team started talking to the existing EU team.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
We have a solution that both sides are very happy with. One that has its roots in both sides accepting that they are not enemies and that they have common goals. The UK single market is preserved, the EU single market is preserved. It's a deal that has been done by grown-ups - and the make-up of the negotiating teams has only changed on one side of the table.
It's changed completely on both sides.
Last set of negotiations were done while the EU had the UK as a member and subject to EU law, this time it does not.
This is a triumph for the UK that follows on from the triumph of 2019 in saying sort the UK out of the EU first, kick NI into the future to come back to.
This is a complete defeat of the Barnier framework of resolving NI first to bind the UK into the EU's sphere of influence.
Yes, this completely tears apart the last vestiges of the idea that the UK can be levered into the single market or customs union indefinitely because of NI. That Brexit vision is dead now.
Doubt this is a useful thing to say, but this is potentially profoundly useful to Remainers. Principles are being established about being in the EU's single market/customs union with veto powers, which could be quite easily expanded to include the whole of the UK.
Not getting overly excited. That's clearly not the aim on either side. But if you were a future British government and wanted to establish that sort of relationship, you can see quite clearly how it would work and the arguments you'd use.
Nah. The model couldn’t work for an entity our size and the other members wouldn’t let it.
The fact that Sunak isn't trying to ram through this bill, and give everyone time to digest it, shows he knows how good it is.
He might also want to bask in the glory of it for a bit to get some political benefit. Because as I said, the real benefits will be if nobody sees any disruption after it comes in which tends to be rather intangible.
And who can blame him? This is a tremendous deal. Even better than May's deal which was far better than her critics allowed but wasn't without drawbacks. Head and shoulders above what Massive Johnson imposed.
Any MP from any party who rejects this deserves to be deselected. Unless there is a massive gremlin incredibly well hidden it really is a stunning triumph.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
We have a solution that both sides are very happy with. One that has its roots in both sides accepting that they are not enemies and that they have common goals. The UK single market is preserved, the EU single market is preserved. It's a deal that has been done by grown-ups - and the make-up of the negotiating teams has only changed on one side of the table.
No this is utter bollocks
It was the EU - ursula herself - which unilaterally suspended the Brexit agreement to prevent fucking vaccines crossing the Uk border because the EU felt humiliated. By its vaccine failures of the time. It was macron who said astra zeneca was basically useless. It was the Germans who claimed astra zeneca was 10% effective for anyone older than 2 months etc etc
How many people actually DIED as a result of this childish petulance? Because the EU felt insulted or menaced by Brexit?
The EU is at fault as is the UK. Both sides acted like wankers. Enough already
Of course. I am referring to the NIP deal. It was going nowhere and legislation that would have done great harm to the UK was making its way through Parliament. Then a new PM arrived, changed the negotiating team, changed the arguments and we are where we are now. This is a major victory for Sunak and for grown-up politics.
Ultra-Remainers should be wary of this deal. Because it normalizes Brexit. This is Brexit from now on. We will never rejoin, but there will be endless legal to-and-fro, as there is between Switzerland and the EU
This will cement Brexit in place
For oldsters like you and me Leon, Brexit is here to stay, and I never anticipated anything else. All today gives us is an unravelling of Johnson and Frost's Northern Ireland chaos. Hats off to Sunak and his team for that at least.
Nonetheless you will still queue with the Russians at Alicante Airport and have to wait for your passport to be stamped The Germans will be throwing their towels on the sunbeds as you are still hailing your taxi. Oh and tomatoes are still rationed at Lidl.
Passport stamps are on their way out. Around the world. All the queues will go - for everyone
As in so many fields, AI is about to render this issue irrelevant
The reality is prior to Brexit a visit to an EU or Schengen nation meant they were once already irrelevant.
And they are about to be irrelevant again
Also, with the advent of all these Digital Nomad visas a huge chunk of the Freedom of Movement angst has been removed. - again with the evolution of technology. All you need to move to Spain is a salary of about £25k a year - if self employed or working from home and so on
Yep! There’s millions of people who can now clearly work from anywhere in the knowledge economy, and there’s competition between nations to attract them. I know more than a few out here.
So many people - most? - do not begin to grasp this, and the enormous ramifications
The leaders here very much do. As do those in Portugal and Spain, where they can use good weather and low taxes to cream off the lifestyle now available to the 1%, rather than just the 0.01%.
AIUI UAE requires $5k a month salary and a letter of employment. Most digital nomads are freelancers. And on irregular incomes. That seems a pretty high bar to me.
They have visas for both. The one you mention is the ‘remote worker’ visa, aimed at people employed by a company overseas, and on their payroll.
There’s many other visa options for the self-employed working out of here. In practice, £10k gets you a company setup and three year visa for yourself and immediate family. A £250k cash property investment gets you a 5-year visa and anyone with a masters degree can sponsor themselves for a 10-year ‘golden visa’
The Spain and Portugual ‘digital nomad’ visas are also for those in employment with a regular salary, from an overseas company.
But. Isn't the purpose of being a "digital nomad", to be nomadic? Those options seem much better suited to those planning a significant period of residency.
Which is what they’re trying to encourage, people seeing the UAE as a place to settle and but property, rather than just a place you work for a few years, saving money that ends up overseas. The ‘digital nomad’ is something quite specific, someone who wants a residency, but works for an overseas company and draws a salary (of more than $60k).
Who'd want to settle in the gulf? Unless you're a drug dealer or political exile, what's the appeal?
Someone who doesn’t like paying income tax, nor corporation tax, nor capital gains tax - but enjoys it being 25ºC at 9pm right now.
And he's welcome to it. If I'm to be stripped and flogged it'll be on my own terms not the whims of a Maktoum!
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
We have a solution that both sides are very happy with. One that has its roots in both sides accepting that they are not enemies and that they have common goals. The UK single market is preserved, the EU single market is preserved. It's a deal that has been done by grown-ups - and the make-up of the negotiating teams has only changed on one side of the table.
It's changed completely on both sides.
Last set of negotiations were done while the EU had the UK as a member and subject to EU law, this time it does not.
This is a triumph for the UK that follows on from the triumph of 2019 in saying sort the UK out of the EU first, kick NI into the future to come back to.
This is a complete defeat of the Barnier framework of resolving NI first to bind the UK into the EU's sphere of influence.
Negotiations were going nowhere until Sunak became PM and a new UK team started talking to the existing EU team.
The NI Protocol Bill started in Parliament on the 13th of June last year. Eight and a half months to get from there to this is pretty good.
Oh? Not saying you are wrong, quite the reverse, but how?
The one I notice most - silly though it may sound - is apple sauce.
The own brand stuff for Morrisons, in particular, used to be pretty good and not very expensive. Now it has a much lower fruit content, so it's much less pleasant, and a much higher price.
But I could instance cornflakes, butter, toiletries, cheese - all sorts of staples that used to be better but seem to be sold in smaller packets and less tasty when you get them.
I used to buy at the big supermarkets (again, particularly Morrisons) rather than Aldi and Lidl because although it was a little more expensive the products were of a better quality so I didn't mind the extra charge.
Now - Aldi's actually producing better quality stuff and it's a lot cheaper.
Morrisons has gone downhill in a big way over the last couple of years, not just on the value range.
That takeover deal looked bad at the time.
It looks even worse now.
It's ruined what was an excellent supermarket chain.
Even in the EU write-up I don't see any major concession by Sunak. Whereas I see several major ones on the EU side (Stormont brake, agrifood, medicines, steel, tax rules).
Sunak's major concession is that the UK will no longer act like an angry drunk on a Friday night binge. Which must be a considerable relief.
Yes, the major concession really does look like the UK dropping the NI protocol bill.
Oh? Not saying you are wrong, quite the reverse, but how?
The one I notice most - silly though it may sound - is apple sauce.
The own brand stuff for Morrisons, in particular, used to be pretty good and not very expensive. Now it has a much lower fruit content, so it's much less pleasant, and a much higher price.
But I could instance cornflakes, butter, toiletries, cheese - all sorts of staples that used to be better but seem to be sold in smaller packets and less tasty when you get them.
I used to buy at the big supermarkets (again, particularly Morrisons) rather than Aldi and Lidl because although it was a little more expensive the products were of a better quality so I didn't mind the extra charge.
Now - Aldi's actually producing better quality stuff and it's a lot cheaper.
Morrisons has gone downhill in a big way over the last couple of years, not just on the value range.
Tesco sausages have gone weird. Also, supermarket shopping at Tesco is a qualitatively less pleasant experience. Only one checkout is open and they play music too loudly where once there was silence. They have, though, been not unsuccessful in keeping prices down.
Negotiations were going nowhere until Sunak became PM and a new UK team started talking to the existing EU team.
Yes, it's an illustration of what the nebulous thing "Trust in the other side to be negotiating in good faith" can achieve. It was totally missing before, both ways. I'm not inclined to quibble or score points - unless some hideous snag emerges, it's an excellent thing.
I also think it's an example of the sort of achievement that I'd trust Sunak to be good at - complex, technical, and requiring an interest in detail without populist sloganeering. I'm not going to suddenly vote Tory, but I think he deserves credit.
Doubt this is a useful thing to say, but this is potentially profoundly useful to Remainers. Principles are being established about being in the EU's single market/customs union with veto powers, which could be quite easily expanded to include the whole of the UK.
Not getting overly excited. That's clearly not the aim on either side. But if you were a future British government and wanted to establish that sort of relationship, you can see quite clearly how it would work and the arguments you'd use.
Northern Ireland is effectively not in the customs union now, though. If the UK signs a new trade deal, Northern Ireland can import the goods from that.
As for the single market, if we could get full access to it with only core regulatory laws, vetos on all new ones, no FoM and the ability to strike our own trade deals elsewhere... well, that's everything most eurosceptics ever hoped for.
Doubt this is a useful thing to say, but this is potentially profoundly useful to Remainers. Principles are being established about being in the EU's single market/customs union with veto powers, which could be quite easily expanded to include the whole of the UK.
Not getting overly excited. That's clearly not the aim on either side. But if you were a future British government and wanted to establish that sort of relationship, you can see quite clearly how it would work and the arguments you'd use.
Ian *unt being neutered, is merely a pleasant side-effect.
Even in the EU write-up I don't see any major concession by Sunak. Whereas I see several major ones on the EU side (Stormont brake, agrifood, medicines, steel, tax rules).
Sunak's major concession is that the UK will no longer act like an angry drunk on a Friday night binge. Which must be a considerable relief.
Yes, the major concession really does look like the UK dropping the NI protocol bill.
Which, since it was going absolutely nowhere and merely represented our esteemed former PM having a hissy fit, was hardly a concession.
And in any case, since the EU have dropped their legal actions - which they didn't necessarily have to do - in exchange, even that doesn't fully address the rest of it.
Well, on first glance at the agreement my conclusion is that it wasn't a last minute scramble to get done, because for once it seems entirely consistently and correctly formatted.
Ultra-Remainers should be wary of this deal. Because it normalizes Brexit. This is Brexit from now on. We will never rejoin, but there will be endless legal to-and-fro, as there is between Switzerland and the EU
This will cement Brexit in place
For oldsters like you and me Leon, Brexit is here to stay, and I never anticipated anything else. All today gives us is an unravelling of Johnson and Frost's Northern Ireland chaos. Hats off to Sunak and his team for that at least.
Nonetheless you will still queue with the Russians at Alicante Airport and have to wait for your passport to be stamped The Germans will be throwing their towels on the sunbeds as you are still hailing your taxi. Oh and tomatoes are still rationed at Lidl.
Passport stamps are on their way out. Around the world. All the queues will go - for everyone
As in so many fields, AI is about to render this issue irrelevant
The reality is prior to Brexit a visit to an EU or Schengen nation meant they were once already irrelevant.
And they are about to be irrelevant again
Also, with the advent of all these Digital Nomad visas a huge chunk of the Freedom of Movement angst has been removed. - again with the evolution of technology. All you need to move to Spain is a salary of about £25k a year - if self employed or working from home and so on
Yep! There’s millions of people who can now clearly work from anywhere in the knowledge economy, and there’s competition between nations to attract them. I know more than a few out here.
So many people - most? - do not begin to grasp this, and the enormous ramifications
The leaders here very much do. As do those in Portugal and Spain, where they can use good weather and low taxes to cream off the lifestyle now available to the 1%, rather than just the 0.01%.
AIUI UAE requires $5k a month salary and a letter of employment. Most digital nomads are freelancers. And on irregular incomes. That seems a pretty high bar to me.
They have visas for both. The one you mention is the ‘remote worker’ visa, aimed at people employed by a company overseas, and on their payroll.
There’s many other visa options for the self-employed working out of here. In practice, £10k gets you a company setup and three year visa for yourself and immediate family. A £250k cash property investment gets you a 5-year visa and anyone with a masters degree can sponsor themselves for a 10-year ‘golden visa’
The Spain and Portugual ‘digital nomad’ visas are also for those in employment with a regular salary, from an overseas company.
But. Isn't the purpose of being a "digital nomad", to be nomadic? Those options seem much better suited to those planning a significant period of residency.
Which is what they’re trying to encourage, people seeing the UAE as a place to settle and but property, rather than just a place you work for a few years, saving money that ends up overseas. The ‘digital nomad’ is something quite specific, someone who wants a residency, but works for an overseas company and draws a salary (of more than $60k).
Who'd want to settle in the gulf? Unless you're a drug dealer or political exile, what's the appeal?
Someone who doesn’t like paying income tax, nor corporation tax, nor capital gains tax - but enjoys it being 25ºC at 9pm right now.
And he's welcome to it. If I'm to be stripped and flogged it'll be on my own terms not the whims of a Maktoum!
Well if you’re simply living here, as opposed to being a local Emirari, you either take the government or leave it. Your choice.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
That depends on what you believe the EU is trying to do. If it can monitor use of the Green lanes to ensure that there is no subsequent movement into the Single Market and that goods stay in Northern Ireland - and it can through access to UK data records which the deal has made available - then it is protecting the integrity of the single market and so also winning.
All it took was grown-ups on both sides of the negotiating table.
Something we were told was an impossible unicorn during the Brexit debate.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
We have a solution that both sides are very happy with. One that has its roots in both sides accepting that they are not enemies and that they have common goals. The UK single market is preserved, the EU single market is preserved. It's a deal that has been done by grown-ups - and the make-up of the negotiating teams has only changed on one side of the table.
No this is utter bollocks
It was the EU - ursula herself - which unilaterally suspended the Brexit agreement to prevent fucking vaccines crossing the Uk border because the EU felt humiliated. By its vaccine failures of the time. It was macron who said astra zeneca was basically useless. It was the Germans who claimed astra zeneca was 10% effective for anyone older than 2 months etc etc
How many people actually DIED as a result of this childish petulance? Because the EU felt insulted or menaced by Brexit?
The EU is at fault as is the UK. Both sides acted like wankers. Enough already
That 'fucking vaccines' jars a bit. Swearing's fine but don't strain to swear.
Three big wins coming out so far. Things the EU previously said were impossible.
1) A green lane with no checks for anything going to Northern Ireland
2) Availability of all GB foods, agriculture and medicine to Northern Ireland
3) A break from Stormont on EU laws (this could get downgraded to half a win depending on whether it only applies to new laws)
Then one potential win for the EU, unclear its size until more comes out:
1) Some EU law applying in NI, with ECJ decision maker.
We need to find out more, but right now seems like a 3-1 win for the UK.
1, 2 and a somewhat limited 3 were proposed by Maros Sefcovic back in 2021 following his discussions with Northern Ireland business and politicians. These proposals were subsequently rejected by Johnson, Truss and Frost. It's possible the new proposals are significantly different in the detail from Sefcovic's originals. On the whole of looks like Sunak's main work has been in getting his government on board.
Lol no they weren't. The EU's position was always "you made the deal, live with it". As always you want to cheer the EU as much as possible, honestly I do wonder whether you're a paid astroturfer or just deluded.
I have concluded @FF43 is simply beige and dull. Monumentally boring. See his inability to accept the ‘lab leak hypothesis’ even yesterday
My guess is “well educated” but sorely lacks in creative wit, self confidence or imagination; therefore gets stuck in intellectual positions even when they no longer make any sense, and cannot form an opinion by himself
Comments
There's got to be opportunities out there surely?
Johnson wanted to be at war with the EU and was wholly disliked by them
Hence todays humiliation of Johnson
He is delighted with the agreement
So the DUP and Mogg will clearly hate it.
We now have the unicorn solution. All it took was grown ups at the negotiating table ... and the UK to be clear in no unambiguous terms that we wouldn't be following EU rules and a compromise was necessary.
I mean, this is sold as a 'deal,' which implies give and take.
But what's he actually conceded on?
It even, in effect, takes away almost all the oversight of the European Courts by transferring dispute resolutions to arbitration. Which is quite astonishing. I thought that the EU would more cheerfully see war in Ireland than give that up.
If this really is his style of negotiating May made a truly terrible error in not making him Brexit secretary from the off.
https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/poorest-hit-hardest-by-inflation-as-budget-groceries-soar-in-price-awGN66n1RaHz
But what if most of the general public a) don't really understand the detail of these changes and b) don't care much about NI anyway?
If Sunak and the Tories don't see an improvement in the polls soon Johnson will still be circling in the hope MPs lose their nerve and ditch Sunak.
1) 1700 pages of EU law disapplied, with most trade rules coming from the UK legal side (including food safety), so ECJ presence seems pretty limited
2) UK VAT and excise rates and calculations apply, not Irish or EU ones
3) Free GB-NI trade for medicines, medical products, agriculture, construction goods, steel. UK regulation, not EU, on food, jewellery, clothes and medicines applies
4) Data sharing based on existing data collection, so no additional bureaucratic burden for small businesses
5) Stormont break only applies to NEW EU laws - but can be used just by a minority at Stormont AND challenges to it will not be decided by ECJ, but an independent body.
6) Stormont break requires the block by Stormont AND a UK government veto
7) New legal commitment on both UK and EU to protect UK internal market
8) GB-NI trade will be based on UK commercial regulation, not international customs.
Overall I would say this is more like 3-0 for the UK position than 3-1. But both sides win from the deal.
Johnson's further humiliation
Elissa Slotkin will have a narrower field of possible contenders as she makes her bid for Debbie Stabenow's Senate seat.
https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/02-27-2023/moves-for-stabenow-seat/
She’s a Democrat who understands rural politics.
A b it like lockdowns, if it works he will get no credit as people will assume it wasn't needed, while if it fails he will get the blame.
But - that is not a reason for not doing it. Indeed, arguably the job of a really good PM or any sort of leader is to get the boring stuff that people don't notice right.
It took someone like Boris to close off the idea of the UK following EU rules, as May was prepared to do under the backstop.
Once that option was closed, suddenly negotiations were viable.
Boris broke the eggs, Sunak made the omelette. Both actions were necessary.
Edit - although Stormont is pretty broken at the moment.
Or if there were, they were different issues.
The European perspective
Cameron’s issues were not with trade flow and single market regulations.
But the deal does render them irrelevant going forward, so who knows.
Your boys took a hell of a beating...
Labour lead is fifteen points in latest results from Deltapoll.
Con 31% (+3)
Lab 46% (-4)… https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1630257181097353217
If we’re really lucky, a reborn, back to its sane roots, UUP will make some advances in NI instead.
Last set of negotiations were done while the EU had the UK as a member and subject to EU law, this time it does not.
This is a triumph for the UK that follows on from the triumph of 2019 in saying sort the UK out of the EU first, kick NI into the future to come back to.
This is a complete defeat of the Barnier framework of resolving NI first to bind the UK into the EU's sphere of influence.
It was the EU - ursula herself - which unilaterally suspended the Brexit agreement to prevent fucking vaccines crossing the Uk border because the EU felt humiliated. By its vaccine failures of the time. It was macron who said astra zeneca was basically useless. It was the Germans who claimed astra zeneca was 10% effective for anyone older than 2 months etc etc
How many people actually DIED as a result of this childish petulance? Because the EU felt insulted or menaced by Brexit?
The EU is at fault as is the UK. Both sides acted like wankers. Enough already
We have the unicorn you and your FBPE clown posse said was impossible for years. All thanks to the NI Protocol Bill doing its job.
The own brand stuff for Morrisons, in particular, used to be pretty good and not very expensive. Now it has a much lower fruit content, so it's much less pleasant, and a much higher price.
But I could instance cornflakes, butter, toiletries, cheese - all sorts of staples that used to be better but seem to be sold in smaller packets and less tasty when you get them.
I used to buy at the big supermarkets (again, particularly Morrisons) rather than Aldi and Lidl because although it was a little more expensive the products were of a better quality so I didn't mind the extra charge.
Now - Aldi's actually producing better quality stuff and it's a lot cheaper.
As for any possible appeals to fairness or loyalty, LOL.
I think he’s fncked.
Trump targets Fox News for ‘promoting’ DeSantis ‘so hard and so much’
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/3875729-trump-targets-fox-news-for-promoting-desantis-so-hard-and-so-much/
Doubt this is a useful thing to say, but this is potentially profoundly useful to Remainers. Principles are being established about being in the EU's single market/customs union with veto powers, which could be quite easily expanded to include the whole of the UK.
Ian Dunt @IanDunt
Not getting overly excited. That's clearly not the aim on either side. But if you were a future British government and wanted to establish that sort of relationship, you can see quite clearly how it would work and the arguments you'd use.
BoZo , Frost, Francois, Mogg, Leon
Your boys took a hell of a beating...
And who can blame him? This is a tremendous deal. Even better than May's deal which was far better than her critics allowed but wasn't without drawbacks. Head and shoulders above what Massive Johnson imposed.
Any MP from any party who rejects this deserves to be deselected. Unless there is a massive gremlin incredibly well hidden it really is a stunning triumph.
Similarly to our historical VI tracker, this week has seen a reduction in the gap between Sunak and Starmer of eleven points.
https://twitter.com/DeltapollUK/status/1630257189246885888?s=20
It looks even worse now.
It's ruined what was an excellent supermarket chain.
Also, supermarket shopping at Tesco is a qualitatively less pleasant experience. Only one checkout is open and they play music too loudly where once there was silence.
They have, though, been not unsuccessful in keeping prices down.
I also think it's an example of the sort of achievement that I'd trust Sunak to be good at - complex, technical, and requiring an interest in detail without populist sloganeering. I'm not going to suddenly vote Tory, but I think he deserves credit.
As for the single market, if we could get full access to it with only core regulatory laws, vetos on all new ones, no FoM and the ability to strike our own trade deals elsewhere... well, that's everything most eurosceptics ever hoped for.
And in any case, since the EU have dropped their legal actions - which they didn't necessarily have to do - in exchange, even that doesn't fully address the rest of it.
My guess is “well educated” but sorely lacks in creative wit, self confidence or imagination; therefore gets stuck in intellectual positions even when they no longer make any sense, and cannot form an opinion by himself