EU blackmailing the UK

[houseinthesnow]

So it comes to pass. The EU have decided unless we agree to their unreasonable demands they will halt all travel, including air and road travel whilst still fishing in our waters apparently!

It is nothing short of piracy.

The true nature of the EU has been exposed for some time, hence our departure - but now no one can be any doubt just to the levels they will sink to.
The EU have no interest in trade relations, nor cooperation, they only seek control and power. The trading relations is and was always, window dressing to create a superstate - and it seems they are now not afraid to inflict as much damage as possible to stop a member leaving.
Even the most passionate remainer will now see how deeply disturbing this behaviour actually is.

One could argue it is an act of war in fact.

It should be treated as such.

I will happily eat beans to the end of my days than be blackmailed by the EU. We all knew it would get nasty at the end, but who they knew they were capable of this. I suppose we can't be that surprised given the past. The gloves are off now for sure - and that goes both ways we should remind them.

Hard hats on.

And the biggest plus of all - most Brexiteers will be furious about it. Win win.

That's the biggest plus - people being angry and turn further to the right?!

@houseinthesnow

So it comes to pass. The EU have decided unless we agree to their unreasonable demands they will halt all travel, including air and road travel whilst still fishing in our waters apparently!

It is nothing short of piracy.

The true nature of the EU has been exposed for some time, hence our departure - but now no one can be any doubt just to the levels they will sink to.
The EU have no interest in trade relations, nor cooperation, they only seek control and power. The trading relations is and was always, window dressing to create a superstate - and it seems they are now not afraid to inflict as much damage as possible to stop a member leaving.
Even the most passionate remainer will now see how deeply disturbing this behaviour actually is.

One could argue it is an act of war in fact.

It should be treated as such.

I will happily eat beans to the end of my days than be blackmailed by the EU. We all knew it would get nasty at the end, but who they knew they were capable of this. I suppose we can't be that surprised given the past. The gloves are off now for sure - and that goes both ways we should remind them.

Hard hats on.

Good for you, however I want better for the families in this country. As you happy for the next generation to eat beans so that you can wave your union flag and delude yourself that we stuck it to the EU? You can fuck right off.

This is akin to deciding not to renew your subscription to the local gym and then moaning about blackmail when they make you pay at higher rates for one-off visits.

Anybody who voted leave and is now surprised with how this has gone is a fucking idiot.

The EU are playing hardball because they literally have us over a barrel.

As the Minister on Radio 4 has just said, we were aiming for Canada and have arrived at Australia. Navigation at Great Britain's best.

@houseinthesnow

It is nothing short of piracy.

One could argue it is an act of war in fact.

It should be treated as such.

Genius

Let's send our boys over - start bayonetting those pesky forriners

So the UK have done nothing to get us to this point of nearly no deal? Really? After they showed they can't be trusted by passing the Internal Market Bill. UK will get what it deserves now, sadly for the rest of us.

"Good for you, however I want better for the families in this country. As you happy for the next generation to eat beans so that you can wave your union flag and delude yourself that we stuck it to the EU? You can fuck right off."

The flag-shaggers love to talk the hard talk (hard hats on!) but a week of actually eating beans and they'll be screaming their abuse at the government for doing exactly what they wanted them to do - ie leave the EU.

As a European I find it quite hilarious (though actively depressing for the People who didn’t vote for this yet are going to suffer the consequences of it) that Brexiters, are still think the EU is the bad guy here.

Like instead of thinking "Gosh what have we done?" doing the mental gymnastics of "All we wanted was to leave the EU and not lose any of our privileges and instead they asked to keep all their privileges and how awful can they be to try and get a good deal out of a divorce they didn’t sign up for and for looking out for their interest instead of ours?“

I am not happy about what will likely happen to the UK because I am not that awful and realize many people didn’t vote for that but I am 100% behind the decision of the EU to make negotiations as hard as possible for the UK, and not to give them an advantage over other (3rd world) countries who actually want to get deals going with the EU. I would much rather the EU redirect their resources and trade deals toward boosting the economy of those countries that try and preserve the interest of a country who cut their nose to spit their face and is directed by leaders who themselves purposefully chose to make Brexit as hard as it could have been and don’t seem to care to look for the interest of its own people.

I think what you aimed to say OP is that you are mad that the EU is doing what the UK/Brexiters (and their Leaders) failed to do which is look for the best interest of their country/ies and their people and negotiate (or not negotiate) based on that.

If Brexit could happen my way I would vote for Remainers to be able to keep their EU privileges and let the Brexiters experience the No-deal Brexit they seem to crave so intensely so that people who didn’t vote for this shit-show don’t have to suffer alongside you, OP.

You sound like the lady who goes to holidays in France every year and buy French cheese and felt offended France could negotiate for their best interests rather than hers. Is that you, again, OP? Because the only "act of war" is the vote Brexiters casted against the best interest of their own country a couple of years back and you comparing the EU defending their interest to an act of war would almost be funny if it wasn’t so inappropriate.

Obviously Covid and impending trade friction isn't enough for some Brexiters.

Brexit won't be Brexit until they've declared war.

I'm sorry but this is fucking nuts. How many crises do you think that this confederacy of dunces aka the British government can handle at once?

@houseinthesnow

Are you ok? Did you remember to pick up your prescription? We’re all worried about you.

so do the EU demand control over fishing rights in Canadian and Japanese waters and are they subject to EU regulation and retaliation in other areas

We sold our fishing quota to european countries, they just want to keep what they bought.
UK boats also fish in EU waters, they want to keep this access too.

UK wants free and unfettered access to the worlds largest SM? it must abide by its rules.
Want to fly over EU airspace? sign up to EU flight standards, same as all other foreign airlines sign up to US standards.

Yeah, you don’t really understand what’s happening do you?

@Neolara

OP - Do you actually believe what you said? Or were you trying to be provocative?

If you do believe it, it's actually quite an interesting insight into why leavers voted / continue to support leave. But I can't help thinking you've entirely misread the point of how a negotiations work and the relative strength/ power of both the UK and the EU.

If I could be arsed to look and I can’t, think you’ll find a lot of these types of posts over social media which has been a big part of the Leave campaign’s tactics over the last few years.

Current idea is to get those who are Brexit believers so wound up by demonising the entirely predictable and rational current EU stance that they won’t complain when everything goes pear shaped next year . It’s well known that more people feel attacked the more entrenched they become. So OP doesn’t need to believe what they write, just get it out there so a load of people attack. Others who read it and the responses get more hardened in their view that disruption is necessary and are more compliant with the coming shit show.

If you stand back and look at it objectively it is has been a masterpiece and they have played a blinder. It will be studied for many years to come.

The EU isn't blackmailing the UK.

The EU doesn't need free trade with the UK on disadvantaged terms.

I suspect the level playing field is the only real issue, the rest (including fish) is noise.

The EU position has not changed - if you want to trade with the EU then you abide by EU rules.

Surely that argument should be symmetrical? If we have to abide by their rules, then they have to abide by ours? So we could unilaterally pass laws that their exporters would have to comply with?

If we are merely talking about product standards, that wouldn't be a problem. That's how trade works all around the world, anyway. I assume (as I've been paying no attention to the news) that it's not merely about that. I'm guessing that the EU thinks it should be able to dictate (for example) health and safety rules in Britain, but we can't unilaterally pass laws in Britain imposing similar production costs on German producers. (It would be mad if we could, but my point is, it's equally mad the other way. Unless you think the EU and UK aren't peers, that the EU is a superior entity, and therefore gets to make the rules.)

I repeat: that's all speculation on my part. Willing to be corrected by anyone who's less behind on the news than I am. I'm only posting because I do frequently see posts from people who don't seem to have grasped the concept that (post-Brexit) the EU is not supposed to be the superior entity in any relationship.

@MrsMiaWallis

The only comfort is that when Mumsnet gets this angry it's usually wrong

I agree with you on this one

The spiteful EU should have predicted we'd reach this point and proactively changes their thousands of laws and systems to keep the show on the road rather than blackmailing GB. It's like they want the UK to fail in its glorious endeavour. They'll start punishing holiday home owners and their puppies next. The EU should listen to the UK when our politicians tell the EU what's in their interests.

Isn’t it the U.K. that want to break international law? Because of difficulties people have known about for a long time. Negotiating with EU is like with China and US. People are gonna do what is best for their country/block - pretty unsurprising. It’s just that U.K. have a v weak hand. We can get out of it by doing a Brexit In Name Only if we choose. It is what it is, we can’t just throw our toys out of the Pram if we don’t get what we want.

Whatever the EU have or haven’t done, Boris told us that he had an ‘oven-ready deal’. Remember?

So that clearly wasn’t true, was it?

What’s the expression? Fool me once, shame on you...

Supermarkets are forecasting a price increase of at least 5% on a no deal exit due to the tariffs. There is also likely to be shortages of fresh produce and it will have very short shelf life.

"Surely that argument should be symmetrical? If we have to abide by their rules, then they have to abide by ours? So we could unilaterally pass laws that their exporters would have to comply with?"

Perhaps, if it was a equal relationship. The truth is the UK needs the EU way more the the EU needs us, so they get to make the demands. The EU could just look at our rules and go "nah, fuck off" and they wouldn't be any worse off for it. On the other hand, the UK losing access to one of the biggest trading markets in the world might just cause us a few problems.

@Buddytheelf85

Whatever the EU have or haven’t done, Boris told us that he had an ‘oven-ready deal’. Remember?

So that clearly wasn’t true, was it?

What’s the expression? Fool me once, shame on you...

Boris appears to get a bit confused with kitchen appliances, seems to think you hide in fridges. I don’t think he quite understands ovens either

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Yes. Of course.

Good one there. For a second I thought you were being serious OP.