The UK Politics and EU Referendum thread - merged

[TightEnd]

"We are looking at either dividing the UK or a hard border in Ireland."

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/staggers/2018/02/what-remainers-need-know-about-eu-s-draft-brexit-plan on the EU’s draft Brexit plan:

[TightEnd]

EU exit plan: why does the draft fall short?

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/feb/28/eu-exit-plan-why-does-the-draft-fall-short?CMP=twt_gu

[TightEnd]

On Brexit, bastards, and country before party -

John Major bares his teeth

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-politics-43233745/in-full-sir-john-major-s-interview-with-laura-kuenssberg

[TightEnd]

Yes, the EU draft withdrawal agreement looks skewed to EU interests. The EU drafted it. UK could - should - have drafted one and hasn't. Whose fault is that?

https://www.ft.com/content/9cf07fbc-1c8f-11e8-aaca-4574d7dabfb6

[TightEnd]

Tony Blair: Theresa May has no hope of achieving Brexit aims

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/01/tony-blair-pm-has-no-hope-of-achieving-brexit-aims?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_b-gdnnews#link_time=1519907554

[TightEnd]

Time for ‘hard truths’?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43250039

[bookiebasher]

Tighty , your relentless , keep them coming ........

[TightEnd]

Theresa May’s speech. Brexiteers are happy because they say “as per speech we can diverge as and when we like”

They accept - as T May says in this section - that things may not change immediately after Brexit because future Parliaments will have the right to diverge

Click to see full-size image.

But in a separate part of the speech, Theresa May says the only way to avoid a hard border in Northern Ireland is to “ensure that the UK regulatory standards remain at least as high as the EU’s” and the UK would never want to reduce standards

Click to see full-size image.

Click to see full-size image.

So the message to Brexiteers is that if they diverge on standards in future there will be a hard border in Northern Ireland

[TightEnd]

Theresa May unveils fragile truce in third Brexit offering

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/mar/02/theresa-may-unveils-fragile-truce-in-third-brexit-offering?utm_term=Autofeed&CMP=twt_b-gdnnews#link_time=1520024669

[TightEnd]

What was the PM's 'hard facts' designed to do? Perhaps to say, 'let's do a deal'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-43265458

[TightEnd]

Click to see full-size image.

[TightEnd]

More people support TMay's approach to Brexit than Corbyn's:

YouGov https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/qi8qzf33xl/TimesResults_180227_VI_Trackers_w.pdf

[TightEnd]

'The EU is making a decent Brexit impossible – but Britain won't tame as easily as Greece,'

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/03/01/eu-making-decent-brexit-impossible-britain-wont-tame-easily

[TightEnd]

one journo described yesterday as

"The nightmare scenario for Theresa May: Brexit stance now too soft for Tory Brexiteers but too hard for the EU and parliament."

going on to say

My prediction has always been that Brexit will collapse under its own inertia, i.e., the collective weight of its own contradictions. A hard Brexit is a non starter as it will violate the GoodFridayAgreement to which both the UK and EU are guarantors.

Which means a soft Brexit retaining the #CustomsUnion & #SingleMarket necessitating continued EU budget contributions, ECJ jurisdiction and freedom of movement. However when we then look at what we are giving up, e.g., ability to shape EU law..

..versus what we are gaining, i.e., very little, the very rationale of Brexit evaporates. I see Brexit playing out as a national psychodrama as more and more people are led away from Brexit as they become aware of the realities it will entail.


but (my view) there is very little evidence that the last sentence is taking place yet, and time is running out

[TightEnd]

The man who brokered the Good Friday Agreement just issued a disturbing warning about Brexit

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-northern-ireland-border-serious-trouble-george-mitchell-good-friday-agreement-bbc-a8238111.html