After another day of mixed messages, the government has finally “decided” that we will leave the customs union.

 

This is the worst possible outcome for the manufacturing sector. Talk is focused on tariff free access but tariffs are not the only thing impacting cross channel trade. Cost of declarations will be a new cost to business and any tariff free deal will have to involve something that looks like the current arrangements because of goods have to get customs clearance before they enter the country then Dover and Folkestone need to start building warehouses for the thousands of lorries a day that will be parked there waiting for clearance for their cargo. I don’t think HMRC can be ready by the time the transition period ends and that would be the case if they had started planning when Camreron was re-elected!

 

The return of customs warehousing would end just-in-time manufacturing in the UK for anyone that used parts from the continent.

After another day of mixed messages, the government has finally “decided” that we will leave the customs union.

 

This is the worst possible outcome for the manufacturing sector. Talk is focused on tariff free access but tariffs are not the only thing impacting cross channel trade. Cost of declarations will be a new cost to business and any tariff free deal will have to involve something that looks like the current arrangements because of goods have to get customs clearance before they enter the country then Dover and Folkestone need to start building warehouses for the thousands of lorries a day that will be parked there waiting for clearance for their cargo. I don’t think HMRC can be ready by the time the transition period ends and that would be the case if they had started planning when Camreron was re-elected!

 

The return of customs warehousing would end just-in-time manufacturing in the UK for anyone that used parts from the continent.

No, they'll park on Boris Johnson's bridge.

Would it be too much of an oversimplification to suggest that for a majority of Remainers, the economy is the main issue iro EU membership, while for Leavers, the priorities are political/social factors? :unsure:

Would it be too much of an oversimplification to suggest that for a majority of Remainers, the economy is the main issue iro EU membership, while for Leavers, the priorities are political/social factors? :unsure:

 

yes it would. Quite a lot of Brexiteers are also an oversimplification. As is claiming you know why each and every one of them voted. All you know for sure is why you personally voted. Everything else is speculation. Given other comments from people depending on the State for their own well-being cheering in people who will slash money for their well-being because they are Hard Brexiters one suspects most don't have a clue what they are voting for. But I can't prove that, and neither can you.

yes it would. Quite a lot of Brexiteers are also an oversimplification. As is claiming you know why each and every one of them voted. All you know for sure is why you personally voted. Everything else is speculation. Given other comments from people depending on the State for their own well-being cheering in people who will slash money for their well-being because they are Hard Brexiters one suspects most don't have a clue what they are voting for. But I can't prove that, and neither can you.

 

That's why I was posing it as a question, rather than a statement.

http://metro.co.uk/2018/02/07/eu-seeking-p...ations-7293269/

 

The UK could be sanctioned while leaving the European Union, a leaked document has suggested.

Brussels are seeking the power to punish the UK during the Brexit transition if it breaches terms, according to the document.

The plans would see Brussels able to restrict access to the single market, while avoiding the European Court of Justice (ECJ) legal process.

 

 

Why is that news? The story can be summarised as "EU expects UK to stick to the rules if it wishes to maintain benefits of membership".

Why is that news? The story can be summarised as "EU expects UK to stick to the rules if it wishes to maintain benefits of membership".

 

I thought the 'avoiding the ECJ' part was pertinent.

I thought the 'avoiding the ECJ' part was pertinent.

 

The Hard Brexit loonies want nothing to do with the ECJ, they claim. That should be seen as a selling point for them. I would LOVE them try to take a case to the ECJ because the EU aren't abiding by rules (theoretically) as it would expose the sheer hypocrisy, as in prepared to make a case if it suits them.

 

Alternatively the Uk could come to a mutual agreement and it would all just be fine - there would be no need to go to the ECJ if it is all signed on the dotted line and the UK does what it agreed to do. Don't agree, don't sign. Simple enough. Much like David Davies. What could go wrong?!

Why is that news? The story can be summarised as "EU expects UK to stick to the rules if it wishes to maintain benefits of membership".

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/f...-brexit-demands

One news story to cheer us up on this cold Friday:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/fe...-brexit-eu-says

 

the EU draft withdrawal agreement will stipulate that Northern Ireland will, in effect, remain in the customs union and single market after Brexit

 

Watches the Conservative party implode. *.* :D

Then SURELY Scotland should be afforded the same courtesy?

 

It is an Empiric SLAP across Scotland's face to not do so.

Then SURELY Scotland should be afforded the same courtesy?

 

It is an Empiric SLAP across Scotland's face to not do so.

And so should London and Brighton & Hove.

Scotland is one of the four nations and voted to remain. Mad May refused their requests to remain part of the EU and said the deal was for the WHOLE country. Obviously not. If they can allow exceptions for one nation that voted to stay, they can do it for the other. This is just bully tactics - they are literally only listening to violence by giving special treatment to NI! If Scotland had had the sectarian troubles and not NI, I can guarantee it would now be the other way round. That is completely unfair and cowardly. They need to give Scotland the same benefits if they are forcing it out the EU based on English votes anyway.

Oh that will not go down well with the DUP who prop this shoddy government up *grabs popcorn*

 

Yeah this will also just needlessly provoke Scotland. Their thinking that all is fine now coz they made progress is an even shoddier house of cards than the DUP agreement.

 

Correct deal for NI but it should be the same for the whole damn country. (Or just not leave at all)

And so should London and Brighton & Hove.

I mean... I want the whole country to stay in the Customs Union and Single Market, but it's a bit disrespectful towards the Good Friday Agreement and everything that led to it to suggest that it's equally valid to try and get the same deal for other places in the UK.

I mean... I want the whole country to stay in the Customs Union and Single Market, but it's a bit disrespectful towards the Good Friday Agreement and everything that led to it to suggest that it's equally valid to try and get the same deal for other places in the UK.

 

So what's the solution? N.I. in the single market & C.U. and the rest of the UK effectively having a new border in the Irish Sea? That has already been ruled out by the DUP. That means customs for everything coming from and going to Northern Ireland. In other words part of the UK in theory only, not in actuality, differing goods prices, rules on tax on imports and exports, free movement from and to the EU that the rest of the UK don't have. How will that go down in Scotland? What about disputes, will N.I be obliged to follow rulings of the EU as the UK shreds up regulations and drifts further apart with time? How will that go down in both the mainland and N.I.?

 

It's an impossible situation. It has to be a bespoke agreement for the whole of the UK, remaining in the CU and Single Market for the whole of the UK, or a very hard Brexit which will cause chaos in the whole of Ireland. The Tory Party is and has been living in fantasy land for 25 years over Europe. So what exactly is the Labour Party position on all this? Any solutions, helpful or otherwise, they can offer?

So what's the solution? N.I. in the single market & C.U. and the rest of the UK effectively having a new border in the Irish Sea? That has already been ruled out by the DUP. That means customs for everything coming from and going to Northern Ireland. In other words part of the UK in theory only, not in actuality, differing goods prices, rules on tax on imports and exports, free movement from and to the EU that the rest of the UK don't have. How will that go down in Scotland? What about disputes, will N.I be obliged to follow rulings of the EU as the UK shreds up regulations and drifts further apart with time? How will that go down in both the mainland and N.I.?

 

It's an impossible situation. It has to be a bespoke agreement for the whole of the UK, remaining in the CU and Single Market for the whole of the UK, or a very hard Brexit which will cause chaos in the whole of Ireland. The Tory Party is and has been living in fantasy land for 25 years over Europe. So what exactly is the Labour Party position on all this? Any solutions, helpful or otherwise, they can offer?

 

Exactly. Scotland also voted to stay. To only honour Northern ireland is basically only listening to violence, not Scotland's reasoning. That leaves them no choice but to have a second independence referendum. What a mess.

 

The Labour position will be the softest Brexit possible.

So what's the solution? N.I. in the single market & C.U. and the rest of the UK effectively having a new border in the Irish Sea?

 

Well as we know the DUP will kick up a fuss if there is any divergence between NI and the rest of the UK, so this proposal from the EU means we are probably staying in the customs union and single market.

 

I believe the Labour party are favouring a Turkey/EU style customs arrangement post March 2019. I don't really know what the solution is but Philip Hammond is I think on board for something like that.

If we must go through with this farcical mess, then we need some form of arrangement that keeps us in a tariff free zone that also means we can avoid turning Calais and Dover into car parks. Regulatory alignment is also necessary to keep the worlds largest market easily accessible to British businesses.

 

The logical solution to that is EEA membership. The realistic solution is a special customs arrangement that keeps us in the customs union but allows the EU to restrict companies landing goods in the UK to benefit from trade deals the UK has but the EU doesn’t and vice versa. Keeps the factories with transcontinental supply chains open and running efficiently, while still giving the brexiteers the illusion of control they want and the EU the protection for the internal market that it needs.