Britain and the European Union

[Miffymog]

So the government has given Nissan a sweat heart deal get them to keep their factories in the UK. This leads to the idea that any Brexit will, in fact, be soft. What's a soft Brexit? Well, it's where we still allow freedom of movement from the EU in the UK and still contribute to the EU budget in return for allowing our industrial and financial sectors to do business with the EU with out trade tariffs.

 

So what, you may ask, is the difference between this and the situation we had before? Well, with the extremely 'soft' Brexit as described above, there are still benefits of having voted out. One, we'll no longer have to answer to the European courts and we'll be able to set up our own trade agreements with other countries. This means that we can then start to become more international in our trade which in the long term may well benefit us.

 

But, there has also been another bonus of Brexit - the destruction of the immigrant camp called the Jungle in Calais. For ten years the French have just let this place grow and grow, happy to blame something that is their problem on us the British, as blaming the British for anything always tends to make them happy.

 

They would moan and moan about how it should be our problem and we should deal with it, despite it negatively effecting their own population. But they could not make it our problem because the migrants who had travelled across Europe had neither passports or tickets for the ferry, so they could not be let on and instead just built up due to the porous borders in other countries.

 

But, after Brexit, the EU is weaker, and the Jungle was a clear example of a failing in one of the key principles of the EU, which is the freedom of movement. Given how little effort the French have put into removing the Jungle over the last few years, they were clearly lent on by Germany to finally get rid of it, so there was not such a clear symbol of an EU failing.

 

This, in itself, is actually quite a god send for the people who use the channel during the holidays as there's now less chance of the ports and tunnels being closed down during peak times. This inconvenience actually caused great merriment for the French and the fact that now instead they are having to house 10,000 migrants across the country is a testament to just how important it is to the EU that they try to remove any signs of weakness.

 

So how does this tie in to a hard or soft Brexit? Well, the complex inter-country relationships have so many aspects that they are hard for any one person to understand all of them. So this means that the status quo, whatever it is at the moment, will remain fairly static. Hence the deal that Nissan got, it was an attempt to keep things as they are, rather than risk drastic change.

 

The greatest influence on Brexit and whether it will be soft or hard will actually not be anything to do with what happens in the UK, but rather what happens to the political parties in the EU over the next couple of years. The more dissonant the other member states become, the stronger position the UK will be in.

 

And, given that somehow, someone managed to force the French (!) to deal with a problem they really didn't want to is a sign of how fragile the Europhiles are feeling at the moment.

[Karl]

We don't know what deal was done with Nissan. It was a guarantee, of when and if, so to date there is no actual deal. It's the same line taken by May in respect of Brexit-that there won't be any running commentary on negotiations until the deal is done. She has confirmed that we will not be in the single market, the Euro Justice system, or the free movement of people and that there is no soft /hard Brexit, only that we will be leaving the EU political union and all that implies.

 

It was clear from the very brief speech she was allowed to make (5 minutes) and that she was refused entry to the chamber until required to give her speech, that we are leaving and that the EU will attempt to make things as difficult as possible for us in the short term. They still believe that we will return to the fold and our elite are doing all they can to make life as uncomfortable for us-Carneys QE that killed the pound-that the people will be screaming to be let back in.

[Jetsun]

Our great hero Tony Blair is going to save us from Brexit

[Karl]

Our great hero Tony Blair is going to save us from Brexit

You would think that he would have decided to keep his head down having ended his career as the equivalent of the walking dead endlessly circling the globe giving after dinner speeches to half drunken audiences looking for a pat on the back.

 

Anthony Blair please fuck off.