Brexit Watch

You couldn't make it up.......


...especially in a week that it was revealed that Brexit has caused a £113 BILLION drop in services export.

The reciprocal arrangement for the EU agreeing to have an open border in Ireland was that goods sent from mainland UK to NI would be checked to ensure they met EU standards - but it's not happening.

During the 2019 general election campaign Boris Johnson said there would be no checks on goods moving in either direction between Great Britain and Northern Ireland as a result of his Brexit deal, even though official documents at the time made clear that there would be.

Now the EU is losing patience with the Government so could this spark off a trade war?
I really hope not as we are so dependent on importing goods from the EU.

I can't remember where we talked about the EU's threats over the supply of AstraZeneca to them when they threatened us with all sorts including  where the EU invoked Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol and had to backdown because of the worldwide condemnation of them doing.

Anyway legal judgement in - the EU lost, they were in the wrong.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-57531064

If you take away the spin the EU has tried to put on it they lost on their two key points - delivery of 120m doses by end of this month - rejected, and supply for the jabs from the English factory - not enforced in the ruling.

A bit more on the case here -

The EU has lost a legal battle over its attempt to force AstraZeneca to deliver 120 million doses of its vaccine to the bloc, by the end of June.A court in Belgium ruled that AZ still has to deliver a total of 80 million doses by September, but this is significantly less than the EU was demanding.

What has the court decided?
The court ruled on 18 June that AstraZeneca must deliver a total of 50 million coronavirus vaccine doses to the EU by 27 September, on top of the 30 million it had already delivered, by the end of the first quarter of this year.

According to the ruling, the company has to deliver: •15 million doses by 26 July •20 million doses by 23 August•and 15 million doses by 27 September If it doesn't meet these obligations, AstraZeneca will incur a €10 fine per undelivered dose.

What were the reactions to the ruling?
AstraZeneca welcomed the court's decision and said in a statement it will deliver substantially more than 80 million doses by the end of June 2021: "All other measures sought by the European Commission have been dismissed, and in particular the Court found that the European Commission has no exclusivity or right of priority over all other contracting parties."

The European Commission wanted substantially more than the court ordered - a total of 120 million vaccine delivered by the end of June 2021, and 300 million doses by the end of September.

How did the EU-AstraZeneca dispute start?
The EU has been at odds with AstraZeneca over its contract for 300 million doses of the vaccine, signed in August 2020. The European Commission says only 30 million jabs arrived in the first three months of 2021, out of 90 million which AstraZeneca was supposed to deliver.

In the second quarter of the year, AstraZeneca said it could deliver only 70 million of the promised 180 million doses.

In April, the European Commission sued the company for not respecting its vaccine supply contract and for not having a "reliable" plan to ensure timely deliveries. All 27 EU countries supported the legal action.

What did AstraZeneca say?
AstraZeneca said it had "fully complied" with its agreement with the EU and hoped to resolve the dispute as soon as possible. The company had previously said the contract obliged it to make its "best effort" to meet EU orders.

It blamed production problems at a plant in Belgium - but the EU said its contract identified a number of plants, both in the EU and the UK, where the EU could source supplies.

The company acknowledged its agreement with the EU allowed the option of supplying Europe from UK sites, but only once the UK had sufficient supplies.

The full details of the company's deals with the UK and the EU have not been made public.

Analysis by the Politico website points to a clause in the UK's contract, saying the government "may terminate the deal and invoke what appear to be punishment clauses" if there is a delay in supply.

But the EU contract did not include such harsh potential consequences, Politico says.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/56483766

Every single day, Brexit is proving to be an utter disaster! 

Can't open the newspaper without yet another negative consequence being made all too clear. 

okocha wrote:Every single day, Brexit is proving to be an utter disaster! 

Can't open the newspaper without yet another negative consequence being made all too clear. 

Don't get me started

You both need to start reading The Telegraph, then you'll feel better.  

Cajunboy wrote:You both need to start reading The Telegraph, then you'll feel better.  

I've tried it and it doesn't work

Wetherspoons running out of beer because of Brexit made me chuckle 

Norpig wrote:Wetherspoons running out of beer because of Brexit made me chuckle 

That tw@t Tim Martin deserves all the grief he gets but I can't help but feel sorry for the staff he'd lay off at the drop of a hat - if there wasn't a shortage.
Made me cringe a couple of months ago when he called for freer migration from the EU to help staff their pubs.

And his attitude towards staff during the pandemic led to the "Neverspoons" campaign but at those prices folk will always give him money for a pint of Stella at 8 in the morning.

The Independent publishes the true cost of Brexit:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-vote-cost-trade-eu-b1843018.html


£800 million a week

I can't understand why Brexit fans have failed to grasp one simple and self-evident point. For the first time in history a trading nation has deliberately made it HARDER to trade with its neighbours. Britain has done exactly that. The pandemic has covered many of the true effects of Brexit but now we're beginning to see the real truth. We're struggling to get the supplies we need AND we're struggling to staff the jobs available. Why? Because of the restrictions on trade, movement of goods, services and people that come from no longer being part of the EU.

I hope wrapping yourselves in the flag was worth it Brexiteers, your children and grandchildren will pay a very heavy price for your jingoistic short sightedness.

I've been saying it for years but now Boris has finally admitted that there will be no free trade deal with America in the foreseeable future.
A central plank of both the Brexit Leave campaign and the Tory General Election campaign, another empty promise is exposed for the lie it always was.

And so close to raising NI to support the NHS instead of supporting the NHS with the money we are no longer giving to Europe - as promised.

A politician telling lies to gain power?

Wow, whatever next???




How many times do I need to tell people the two rules of politics???

Rule 1 - Do whatever you've got to do to obtain power, then,

Rule 2 - Do whatever you've got to do to keep power.


In western politics that includes telling 'fibs' in other country's it's locking up your rivals/critics or worse people!!!


Thankfully most people in this country don't give too much of a toss about politicians and politics and most of our politicians and politics don't have to go to extremes to gain and retain power but the more diverse and extreme reactions to them become (led by activists) the more extreme their reactions will become - look at America for instance and the storming of the Capitol, with many still believing Trump won the election still!!!

I usually like to quote a saying in my posts as I believe there's a lot of wisdom in them as they have stood the test of time but today I'll quote a law, from a true genius, Issac Newton, his third law of motion -

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

The more extreme activists try to bring down a government, the more measures the government will bring in and use to stop them.

Thin end of a wedge and all that.

Beware what you wish for!

No matter what many on social media may think, this country is still honestly run even though it may not be to your political or social taste and things can change at the free and fair elections we hold.

If we ever lose that we won't ever gat it back.

I question whether elections wherein disinformation, propaganda, undeliverable promises and downright lies are not policed or accountable to the legal system are genuinely "free and fair".

Not that there are many examples elsewhere of such a scenario - but we do hold up our version of democracy as being a bastion - and that's perhaps why folk are reticent to try to improve it.

However, if one party makes ridiculous claims etc, surely the other parties should be entitled to openly call them liars and cheats?

wanderlust wrote:I question whether elections wherein disinformation, propaganda, undeliverable promises and downright lies are not policed or accountable to the legal system are genuinely "free and fair".

Not that there are many examples elsewhere of such a scenario - but we do hold up our version of democracy as being a bastion - and that's perhaps why folk are reticent to try to improve it.

However, if one party makes ridiculous claims etc, surely the other parties should be entitled to openly call them liars and cheats?

Name me one party in the entire history of British politics that have acted to do all they claimed they would when they got in power?

All party's use propaganda and undeliverable promises - in fact Corbyn's manifesto was seen to be just that!!!

Labour leadership candidates unite in criticism of ‘unbelievable’ manifesto
https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour-leadership-candidates-unite-in-criticism-of-unbelievable-manifesto-381845

Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, Brexit and 'unbelievable' manifesto top voters' reasons for Labour defeat - poll
https://www.politicshome.com/news/article/jeremy-corbyns-leadership-brexit-and-unbelievable-manifesto-top-voters-reasons-for-labour-defeat--poll

There is absolutely nothing wrong in holding governments to accountability but that is through that ballot box.

If anyone breaks the law, by all means take them to court - Maugham did over Brexit, the courts found against him.

He's since banged on all the time about the government - yet two years on he's never actually shown any proof of anything much has he???

People like you simply hear what they want to hear to reinforce their existing prejudices.

I also think it is laughable for you to be outraged at politicians lying when you've been caught out on telling lies on here ffs!!!

Another saying that stands the test of time seems applicable here - 'people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones'.

I'm not following it as closely as you but Maugham's case is ongoing isn't it?

T.R.O.Y. wrote:I'm not following it as closely as you but Maugham's case is ongoing isn't it?

Maugham's got multiple cases ongoing, always has!

(God knows how much he/GLP is coining in from his deluded and totally blinkered followers crowd funding all these cases, many which never come to court, and which he keeps!!!).

Only 'won' two though, in respect of contract awarding - one was which the government had already said they had defaulted on - namely publishing contract awards within 28 days (because they were too busy sourcing PPE's at the time) and the second is currently being appealed - the one that didn't find the government actually at fault of anything but rather they might 'looked' to have been at fault!!!

If you are interested at all you may want to have a look at this post I made about the most current of Maugham's JR's, and the absolute, clear, unequivocal and open rebuttal from the company in question to Maugham's insinuations of corruption and cronyism of politicians to it - and the tragic events arising out of the forced redundancies that followed to 60 of it's workers (and consequently their family's) because of Maugham's 'game playing'.

It might actually open your eyes a little bit...

https://forum.boltonnuts.co.uk/t21726p360-nepotism-cronyism-watch#429559