Westminstenders: Exit 2020 Vision

[RedToothBrush]

Yet it is a great mistake to suppose that the only writers who matter are those whom the educated in their saner moments can take seriously. There exists a subterranean world where pathological fantasies disguised as ideas are churned out by crooks and half-educated fanatics for the benefit of the ignorant and the superstitious. There are times when this underworld emerges from the depths and suddenly fascinates, capturers and dominates multitudes of usually sane and responsible people, who thereupon take leave of sanity and responsibility. And it occasionally happens that this underworld becomes a political power and changes the course of history.
Norm Cohn ‘Warrant for Genocide’ 1970

(As referenced by Nick Cohen).

We have a deal (or bits of a deal). Bino til Dec 2020. Then the cliff?

Still a long way to go. It sounds better than it could be. But worse than it initially seems.

I have quite warm feelings toward the HO this morning:

A Home Office spokesman said: 'We are running a fair and open competition to ensure that the new contract delivers a high quality and secure product and offers the best value for money. We do not require passports to be manufactured from the UK.'
From the Daily Fail

Oh the irony!

I thought that too mofd. Seeing it play out is something to behold though

Blue passports are the gift that keeps giving

David allen green @ Davidallengreen
1. At last, this is the Twitter moment I have waited years for.

I get to explain public procurement law to bemused Russian pornbots.

This thread is about the law behind the blue passports thing.

(Disclosure: I used to be a central government public procurement lawyer.)

2. The law of public procurement is a key part of the Single Market.

With competition law and State aid law, it complements the four freedoms, and aims to force markets to be competitive.

3. But is not just EU law - there is also a WTO public procurement regime:
t.co/lXdvBDxuj9

So, generally speaking, public procurement law is part of the "WTO rules" which Brexiteers are so fond of saying should apply.

4. Public procurement law aims at non-discrimination.

Procurement decisions should be made on a procurement basis, without favouring domestic firms or shutting out foreign firms.

5. For simple contracts (eg goods), this means procurements should be on a lowest price basis.

For more complex contracts, the tender should be on a "most economically advantageous tender".

That has the acronym "MEAT".

Ho ho.

7. In other words: had De La Rue put in a more economically advantageous tender then they would have won the tender.

8. EU public procurement law is part of the Acquis which the UK has accepted during the transition period.

And, with State aid and competition law, it would be central to an UK-EU trade deal.

And it is part of WTO law anyway.

9. In practice, there are many things wrong with public procurement law. The proceses can be expensive and cumbersome, and it favours firms like Capita and Group4 that can afford to do bid after bid.

10. But in principle, there can be no serious complaint that tenders should be awarded on a procurement MEAT basis.

The alternative would be state authorities paying more for services/goods because of non-commercial factors.

11. And there are always questions about working out the correct criteria for most economically advantageous procurement exercises.

But once worked out that would be the basis of the award decision.

And that is how it should be.

/ends

Short version: under wto rules, British firms wouldn't get priority. They would have to compete with firms around the world. Instead of a French firm, we'd be up against Indian or Mexican firms for example.

What could possibly go wrong with all this?!

Jesus wept. A

Heartening to see that corruption can be addressed, though the price Daphe Caruana Galizia had to pay was far too high:

Authorities seize control of bank at center of Malta corruption scandal

Maltese authorities took control of Pilatus Bank that is at the center of a scandal exposed by the murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia

www.theguardian.com/world/2018/mar/21/iranian-banker-malta-corruption-scandal-money-laundering-charges

Maybe the next step for Brexiteers will be to demand we crash out of their (previously beloved) WTO Rules.

Gareth Potter @ ickoonite
I suspect some of the sour grapes stem from the feeling that the French pay scant attention to EU law regarding public procurement.

David allen green @ davidallengreen
This is true - and the UK and EU Commission should be using EU law to force open continental markets for British suppliers.

But after Brexit, this will not be possible.

Before you make a management decision, identify what the problem actually is, rather than assuming what the problem is.

I learnt this on a 12 week management course, which was 2 hrs a week paid for by my then boss at a firm employing 4. Its basic stuff.

Yet the people running the country, seem to be so caught up in their own arrogance of always being right that they don't know their arse from their elbow.

Allie Renison @ allierenison
Leaving the EU is supposed to be about leaving the political institutions/project behind, not Europe as we are so often told. The outrage from some that there is a hint of French dimension to our new passport makes it sound pretty darn anti-European generally

Anything but admit that too much outsourcing is a bad thing...

For some reason I am PMSL ....

But leaving wasn't about xenophobia.
(Just that unnamed subconscious thought that dark ads tapped into deliberately.)

Wait until India starts getting all these public procurement contracts and see heads explode.

But they're a former colony! Shouldn't they prostrate themselves before us and pay us if they want to have the honour of producing things for the UK?

Theresa May set to ban secretive Scottish shell companies to halt flow of dirty Russian money

www.heraldscotland.com/news/16103825.Banned__Scotland_s_secret_tax_havens_for_Putin_cronies/

CNN @ CNN
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says he is "happy to" testify before Congress "if it's the right thing to do"

'If' its the right thing. (About that moral compass for FB)

You have a written request to talk to uk parliament already. So they think it is the right thing. (Still isn't helping Zuk find that compass all by himself).

I guess we can expect you all over British tv and on the first flight to the uk, since British politicians strongly feel it the right thing to do.

tumbleweed

Shouldn't they prostrate themselves before us and pay us if they want to have the honour of producing things for the UK?

Nope its their opportunity to milk this country for all its worth at the expensive of its citizens.

Oh.

Empire 2.0 not looking so positive.

As a second generation immigrant from a former British colony I wish I could enjoy the irony more but it is utterly depressing that this is where we are.

Guardian Politics @ GdnPolitics
Minister floats prospect of procurement rules changing after Brexit after passport contract backlash - Politics live

David Allen Green @ davidallengreen
Here we go. Again.

Public procurement rules almost certain to be part of any EU/UK trade deal.

Also part of UK's WTO obligations.

Minister does not have a clue about this.

Please for once, will one high profile journalist, nail an MP to the wall with this story. Please.

Alex Wickham @ wikiguido
Thanks to our Franco-Dutch friends the UK taxpayer is saving £50 million, equivalent annual salaries of 2,272 nurses. What would Remainers and protectionists cut just so an expensive British company can have the contract?

Here is £350 million for the nhs revamped.

If only it were that simple.

First of all its not £50 million more. Those employed in the uk would have tax returns in the uk. (But this is beside the point given EU rules).

Second WTO rules would make it hard for any British company to compete for public procurement.

This would either lead to depression or stagnation of wages or mass unemployment.

There are many costs to the tax payer associated with high unemployment and low wages in social issues, health issues and crime.

But yes, leaving the EU is a cracking idea.

Its one thing to compete against the french. Quite another to compete against India.

Protectionism has its benefits, and if we lose a few contracts to the french so we can protect ourselves in other ways, i'll take that compromise.

If we were serious about British jobs we'd reconsider a fair few outsourcing contacts (not all, as I don't think that would work either). And we'd tackle the EU over governments flouting procurement rules, so we got a bite of their cherry.

Instead we get reduced to the bloody bus statements once again.

Alex Deane @ ajcdeane
We will trade with the world. I don’t care where our passports are made as long as it’s the best deal for the taxpayer.

Carl Gardner @ carlgardner
Yes, and lots of other Brexists don't care whether we trade with the world as long as our passports are made in Britain. The passport thing illustrates the political incoherence of Brexit.

Ffs. Its pick n mix politics.

About that '£50 million saving'...

It seems that this was all sorted based on information tendered pre-referendum

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-43489462?__twitter_impression=true
The Liberal Democrat's Brexit spokesman, Tom Brake, said: "The blue passport saga is turning into a farce. First it was established that we did not have to leave the EU to have blue passports. Now we learn that the passports will be printed by a foreign company.

"And to add insult to injury, we will pay over the odds for them because the value of the pound has fallen since Brexit and they will have to be imported."

Sam Wilkin @ mrsamwilkin
Breaking: EU wins reprieve from Trump tariffs. Keeps trade flowing after they come into force tomorrow. Talks for a permanent exemption to continue. By @JoannaSopinska and @PoppyCarnell @MLexclusive

Hmm...

J j patrick @ j_amesp
Momentum appears to be a volunteer troll farm. That’s what I’m learning live on Twitter. Love a good social media experiment.

Simon Hedges @ Orwell_fan
my son (a momentum member) came home late other night and started bragging about it. They have an office in east London that they call the "bro-zone". They spend all day on their various accounts, liking tweets and writing utter nonsense.

'Bro-zone'?

I think I'd prefer it to be a no-bro zone

So what are people's thoughts on J. J.Patrick's "alternative war"? A lot of what he wrote seems to be borne out by the events of the last couple of years but I know that it has been viewed some scepticism in the past.