** The Brexit Thread ** - 'Brexit Means Brexit'

[meic]

It's all very well, saying the the result should be respected, but after two years, no one can agree what that means. That being so, it would be best to interpret the referendum in a way that doesn't destroy the country. The opposite of how some others it, who have interpreted the referendum as an explicit instruction from the people of the UK to ruin us.

If they decided on that policy do you think that they would announce it upfront? Incur the wrath of hardbrexiters, lose votes in parliament needed for support, give Farage time to resurrect and regroup etc etc.
Or would they put up a good show of "fighting our corner" doing a good deal and exploring all options and then present "the only option" at some point after the deadline with little option for opposition and Farage still drunk down the pub.

[mr bajokoses]

Great Britain..or UK or British. Where did little Britain come from.................

I understand "little Britain" was a term coined by Messers Lucas and Walliams about the year 2000, generalising Little Englanders to the whole of Britain as the country collectively jumped the shark with its millennium celebrations and started to take its own national myths a bit too seriously... it then became three series of sketches making fun of such over-self-interested people, which Lucas has since described as "a more cruel kind of comedy than I'd do now" - but rather like Alf Garnett, some people seemed to miss the joke. Was Brexit the final absurd spasm of Little Britain? Only time will tell.

Exotic spresm, perhaps

The League of Gentlemen nailed it too, maybe we'll become a local country for local people.

[Cyril Haearn]

Were the millennium celebrations and the olympics among the causes of This Madness?

[bovlomov]

It's all very well, saying the the result should be respected, but after two years, no one can agree what that means. That being so, it would be best to interpret the referendum in a way that doesn't destroy the country. The opposite of how some others it, who have interpreted the referendum as an explicit instruction from the people of the UK to ruin us.

If they decided on that policy do you think that they would announce it upfront? Incur the wrath of hardbrexiters, lose votes in parliament needed for support, give Farage time to resurrect and regroup etc etc.
Or would they put up a good show of "fighting our corner" doing a good deal and exploring all options and then present "the only option" at some point after the deadline with little option for opposition and Farage still drunk down the pub.

That's a good question.

Somebody wrote: if they're only pretending, they're doing a very good job. The utter lunacy of much that has come out of cabinet; the sheer ignorance; the bizarre logical contortions... ..they seem very heartfelt. Acting mad isn't as easy as it looks.

Another possibility - in the realms of conspiracy theory - is that May and the cabinet have absolutely no control over what's happening, and everything is being organised above their heads. ...something to do with Olly Robbins...

Time will tell. But, meanwhile, a lot of damage is being done to the economy, to the lives of rEU citizens here and UK citizens in the EU, and to our standing in the world.

[Psamathe]

.....
It's one thing, calling a vote on a subject hardly anyone knows anything about. That's standard democracy. But to try and discern what actions would satisfy an electorate that knows nothing about the subject, yet still sets a bunch of impossible and inconsistent conditions? Well, that's the way to madness......

Many prominent Leave campaigners have shown how little they understood about it e.g. Davis Davis July 2016 showing how he didn't have a clue about EU and trade deals

I would expect the new Prime Minister on September 9th to immediately trigger a large round of global trade deals with all our most favoured trade partners. I would expect that the negotiation phase of most of them to be concluded within between 12 and 24 months.

So within two years, before the negotiation with the EU is likely to be complete, and therefore before anything material has changed, we can negotiate a free trade area massively larger than the EU. Trade deals with the US and China alone will give us a trade area almost twice the size of the EU, and of course we will also be seeking deals with Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, India, Japan, the UAE, Indonesia – and many others.

Ian

[mjr]

Many prominent Leave campaigners have shown how little they understood about it e.g. Davis Davis July 2016 showing how he didn't have a clue about EU and trade deals

I would expect the new Prime Minister on September 9th to immediately trigger a large round of global trade deals with all our most favoured trade partners. I would expect that the negotiation phase of most of them to be concluded within between 12 and 24 months.

Oh come on now, it's very unfair of you to be twisting David Davis's words by quoting an article on that hostile website (checks) "Conservative Home" by (checks) "David Davis MP".

[al_yrpal]

Trouble is almost 100% of the bleak warnings are just Remainer assertions and stunts. So far almost all of their predictions have failed. We are still waiting for the economic crash and the so called chaos are proving to be simply a figment of biased imagination. The negotiations have been complex and apparently sometimes tough. We all expected that, its no surprise, the EU have been making it so trying to get the UK to overturn our decision to leave. The EU have severely damaged their own reputation and the crass assertions that Leavers are all thick racists have stiffened many peoples resolve to leave even if its without a so called deal.

Al

[bovlomov]

Many prominent Leave campaigners have shown how little they understood about it e.g. Davis Davis July 2016 showing how he didn't have a clue about EU and trade deals...

And worse.

We were told that Brexit was about controlling our borders. Then Grayling was confronted by the prospect of turning Kent into a lorry park. His solution? To remove border controls at Dover.

Not only would that be exceedingly stupid, but it would put us outside the WTO, and ALL trade agreements. No state would sign a trade agreement with a country that had open borders. They wouldn't need to.

[bovlomov]

So far almost all of their predictions have failed.

Depends what you mean. Many of the predictions are coming to pass - though perhaps not exactly as modelled. I wouldn't describe that as 'failed'.

[Psamathe]

So far almost all of their predictions have failed.

You might be right. Remainers didn't predict the £ would crash, didn't predict growth way below other EU member states, didn't predict stalled business investment, etc.

Ian

[pete75]

The Euro is not the EU and the EU is not the Euro.

Personally I dont think of Europe as the EU, my comment about the land grabs is nothing to do with the EU, it was about bad things that happened in the past. The EU will eventually disintegrate. Empires always do, especially undemocratic ones. When Juncker retires his place will be taken by an even more rabid integrationalist.

Al

And by mentioning it you believe the EU is all about land grab and domination?

No, the EU is clearly about integration. The land grabs are often about historical land disputes between individual nations or naked aggression to subjugate other countries.

Sorry, your clumsy attempts to put words in my mouth arent working.

Al

You mena like Britain's land grab of Ireland and retention of part of it is causing the major sticking point in the Brexit negotiations.

[mjr]

Were the millennium celebrations and the olympics among the causes of This Madness?

Probably not the causes, but among the catalysts, although I'd point the finger at the bizarre apparently-inspired-by-Frosties "Britain Is GREAT" marketing campaign launched by Cameron to accompany the 2012 Olympics, rather than the event itself.

Trouble is almost 100% of the bleak warnings are just Remainer assertions and stunts. So far almost all of their predictions have failed. We are still waiting for the economic crash and the so called chaos are proving to be simply a figment of biased imagination.

Well, we are still waiting for the Brexit. Some predictions were wrong because the assumptions were immediately subverted, such as Article 50 not being triggered immediately and the prolonged period of gov.uk engaging in dithering and self-harm. Other predictions, such as the drop in the pound were wrong in that it fell far more than was forecast.

The negotiations have been complex and apparently sometimes tough. We all expected that, its no surprise, the EU have been making it so trying to get the UK to overturn our decision to leave.

What the ...? The EU have made it as easy and clear as they were reasonably likely to, clearly setting out its top priorities in April 2017, while the UK has been floundering around like so many headless chickens led by a rabbit caught in the headlights, often asking for stuff that had already been rejected. Compare and contrast the clarity of https://europa.eu/newsroom/highlights/s ... /brexit_en and http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/h ... ies/brexit with https://www.gov.uk/government/organisat ... pean-union and https://www.parliament.uk/business/news ... ean-union/

Actually, just see if you can find those different Brexit information pages from the home pages http://www.europa.eu http://www.europarl.europa.eu http://www.gov.uk and http://www.parliament.uk - I think it's one click from the main EU home page and three from the EU parliament's, but I had to resort to searching to find it on the UK sites!

The EU have severely damaged their own reputation and the crass assertions that Leavers are all thick racists have stiffened many peoples resolve to leave even if its without a so called deal.

When has the EU ever made such crass assertions? Are Leavers getting so desperate that they're cranking Project Fear up to 11 and making even wilder accusations up than were on the bus?

[roubaixtuesday]

...The negotiations have been complex and apparently sometimes tough. We all expected that, its no surprise, the EU have been making it so trying to get the UK to overturn our decision to leave. The EU have severely damaged their own reputation and the crass assertions that Leavers are all thick racists have stiffened many peoples resolve to leave even if its without a so called deal.

Al

Well, Liam Fox certainly didn't expect it, having predicted the easiest negotiation of all time. Nor David Davis, per quotes above. But of course, as you point out, all these difficulties are the EU's fault. Nothing to do with the leave campaign, or their leaders who were then in government and responsible for the negotiations

re crass assertions, personally, I don't think it's helpful to label leave voters in any way at all. You, however, seem very comfortable labelling entire nations:

Germans... ...exhibit an unwelcome desire to totally dominate other nations.

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[al_yrpal]

BBC News - Brexit: Theresa May calls special cabinet meeting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46188790

Having a cup of tea and a hobnob to celebrate!

Al

[mjr]

BBC News - Brexit: Theresa May calls special cabinet meeting
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46188790

Having a cup of tea and a hobnob to celebrate!

So, a Chinese drink and a Turkish-owned biscuit?

Don't celebrate too early, though. Based on previous form, the cabinet will probably reissue the Chequers proposal...