Britain outside the EU

[1andrew1]

Originally Posted by Hugh

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64693922

So Johnson doesn’t want the current PM to change something (the NI Protocol Bill) that Johnson proposed, which was proposed by Johnson to change something that Johnson had originally proposed and got through Parliament (the NI Protocol as part of the Withdrawal Agreement).

Yup.

Johnson comes across as being jealous of Sunak being PM.

I suspect he is just trying to make things difficult for Sunak; I don't think Johnson has any strong political views on the matter.

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

Yup.

Johnson comes across as being jealous of Sunak being PM.

I suspect he is just trying to make things difficult for Sunak; I don't think Johnson has any strong political views on the matter.

As someone on Twitter put it

Boris Johnson is the least reliable character in British politics, but you could set your watch by his self interest.

h/t @KeithAdamTaylor

[richard-john56]

Boris Johnson is the least reliable character in British politics, but you could set your watch by his SELF-DESTRUCTION.

[1andrew1]

Grow up and compromise on Brexit, hardline Tory MPs warned

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing a backlash from “ultras” in his own party and unionists as he battles to win support for a compromise on the Northern Ireland Protocol.

But as MPs returned to Westminster after half term recess, moderate Conservatives urged “ideologues” not to threaten the deal.

Sir Bob Neill, chairman of the Commons justice committee, said: “What we need is pragmatism not dogmatism.

“It’s ridiculous to take purist points when you have got serious issues about people’s businesses, livelihoods and security. People have to grow up and compromise.”

With the UK facing recession this year and Bank of England chief Jonathan Haskel warning last week that Britain has suffered a loss of business investment since the 2016 referendum worth £29bn, the former minister Stephen Hammond added: “The PM is in process of finalising a deal that will serve the whole of the UK’s interests.

“A small group of ideologues must not threaten a deal which is in the interests of NI businesses and people.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsl...d25f96c27089e5

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newsl...d25f96c27089e5

Maybe the deal should be put before a referendum, lets see if they're ideologues or if they're acting on behalf of the people because I don't think this deal is what we voted for

[Sephiroth]

You all know that I'm a strong believer in our sovereignty over the EU.

Given the NI is in the EU Single Market, worrying about the ECJ writ running on a lorry travelling between Belfast and Dublin is what the DUP case boils down to.

It's perverse that Boris signed the NI Protocol and now insists that the NI Protocol Bill must remain in Parliament!

Perhaps, and let me just put it out there as a remote possibility, he was lying…

I know, I know, given his past record for absolute fidelity in what he says and does, it’s extremely unlikely, but it is within the realms of probability…

[ianch99]

Remember when the Leave cartel showcased stars of "Big Business" to declare how wonderful leaving the EU is and how the UK will prosper alone?

Well, one of these luminaries, Jim Ratcliffe, the UK's richest person first moves to tax-free Monaco to save him £4bn in tax payments. He also said:

After the referendum, he urged the government to adopt a tough approach to negotiations with the EU, saying: “We must listen, we must be unwaveringly polite and retain our charm. But there is no room for weakness or crumpling at 3am when the going gets tough and most points are won or lost.”

Ratcliffe said the EU needed access to the UK’s market as much as Britain needed access to the EU’s. “Never forget that we have a decent set of cards,” he said, adding: “Mercedes is not going to stop selling cars in the UK. And London is one of the two key financial centres, and that isn’t going to change.”

Guess what is now happening in the real, failed Brexit, world:

Sir Jim Ratcliffe confirms new vehicle to be made in France

Billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a Leave campaigner in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum, has confirmed a new 4x4 vehicle will be built in France.

It ends hopes his Grenadier off-roader, based on the original Land Rover, would be made at a new plant in Wales.

Those plans were put on hold in July while Mr Ratcliffe's Ineos Automotive negotiated buying Mercedes-Benz's Hambach site, in Moselle.

He said on Tuesday that Hambach offered a "unique opportunity".

Mr Ratcliffe, who built his fortune heading the chemicals company Ineos, added that Hambach was "a modern automotive manufacturing facility with a world-class workforce".

"Ineos Automotive set out a vision to build the world's best utilitarian 4x4, and at our new home in Hambach, we will do just that," he said.

When plans to build the vehicle at Bridgend, south Wales, were first announced, Mr Ratcliffe said it was "a significant expression of confidence in British manufacturing".

It was hoped the factory would create up to 500 jobs, producing about 25,000 Grenadiers a year, once fully up and running.

In a statement, Ineos Automotive said: "The site's location on the French-German border, only 200km from Stuttgart, gives excellent access to supply chains, automotive talent and target markets."

Daimler, the German company that owns Mercedes, said Ineos would take control of the factory in the coming weeks. No sale price was disclosed. The new vehicle will start being built at Hambach late next year.

"This acquisition marks our biggest milestone yet in the development of the Grenadier," Dirk Heilmann, chief executive of Ineos Automotive, said.

The decision is the second major blow for Bridgend, as the factory would have stood beside the now-closed Ford engine plant. Ford shut the plant in September after 40 years, with the loss of nearly 1,700 jobs.

A perfect example of the snake oil sold in 2016 .. you can still get the same snake oil sold today but it is only to be found in Poundland

[1andrew1]

Good analysis from Robert Peston on the decision that Sunak needs to make.

Johnson’s Northern Ireland Protocol Bill may be what blows up Sunak’s attempt to reform the NI Protocol.

On the one hand, the EU won’t do a deal with him if he doesn’t scrap it. On the other, Johnson, Braverman and other Tory Brexiters are saying he must permanently keep it as a reserve power with which to pummel the EU. In the end Sunak will have to choose between the Johnson-led Tory faction that loathes him, but which he can ill-afford to provoke, and an EU that looked to him to be a welcome break from that anti-EU faction.

If he isn’t strong enough to choose, which conceivably he isn’t, these Protocol negotiations will go back into the slowest of all slow lanes, and there’ll be no resumption of devolved government in NI any time soon (and the UK’s trade relations with the EU will remain massively sub-optimal sine die).

https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1627972209015750660

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https://www....ys-2023-02-23/

Therese Coffey, minister for the environment, food and rural affairs, said Britons could eat more seasonally, although she was conscious consumers had become used to supermarkets ensuring year-round availability of almost all produce.

"It's important to make sure that we cherish the specialisms that we have in this country," she told parliament.

"A lot of people would be eating turnips right now, rather than thinking necessarily about ... lettuce and tomatoes," she said, referring to the root vegetable traditionally available in Britain at this time of year.

She said the shortages could last up to a month.

Originally Posted by Hugh

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https://www....ys-2023-02-23/

But why post it in this thread?

[TheDaddy]

Originally Posted by Chris

But why post it in this thread?

I wonder

Originally Posted by Chris

But why post it in this thread?

Because our supply chain challenges since our change in status.

[heero_yuy]

So nothing to do with unseasonable weather in Spain and (non-EU) Morocco impacting crops?

[Taf]

Or ferries cancelled due to very bad weather?