Brace for Brexit

[tilder]

I am a firm remainer and am pretty angry tbo. Feel disenfranchised and embarrassed about my country.

However. We have been taking steps to try and protect our family from Brexit fallout. We aren't stockpiling food or water (maybe some food items) but have done the following:

Made sure we have a few months of prescription medicines.
Several boxes ibuprofen and paracetamol.
Employed an accountant to ensure we only pay the tax we have to.
I have not moved jobs (despite a pay rise offer).
Moved our mortgage early to a 5 year fixed deal.
Managed pensions to limit uk investment.
Moved what savings we have to a non UK bank and out of premium bonds.

It's depressing and uncomfortable. I feel some of the above is a betrayal of my country. But then again, not sure I want to contribute anymore.

Is it just us? Is there more we could or should do?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/uk-politics-47470864

None of those were on the side of the bus.

As a pensioner, I note that pensions will still be paid. What it doesn't say is at what rate they will be paid. Will they be frozen at the rate in force at the date the UK leaves? Don't think that's not possible, that is the situation pertaining now in Canada definitely and I believe Australia also. So a lot of British pensioners living in Spain may suddenly find that they really can't afford to stay.

Peregrina
I have a feeling that pension may be frozen in a no deal and might be incremental increases with the WA but it is a while since I heard about it.
If you were enthusiastic about finding out it may be in the tech papers on the UK gov website. They have been pouring into my inbox the last couple of days. In a week or two things may get clearer, or not!

1tis, I wasn't actually planning to retire to Spain or France. Freezing would be the default, I believe. We would specifically have to pass legislation to say otherwise. There will be hundreds of things like this crawling out of the woodwork.

Could somebody please explain the backstop in really simple terms.
What's on offer with the deal being voted on today ?

The backstop is a device to prevent a hard (customs) border in Ireland.

You have to have a hard border if you are not both (1) in a customs union and (2) have regulatory alignment on both goods, including animals and plant materials (foods, agricultural products and live animals), crossing the border.

So the backstop aims to keep NI (and the rUK, at the UK govt's request) inside the customs union and also keeps NI in regulatory alignment so that goods transiting from NI to Ireland are in conformity with EU regulations.

What's being voted on today is the unchanged Withdrawal Agreement, plus a separate legal agreement that provides for arbitration if either party is not acting in good faith to reach the free trade agreement that will eventually replace the Withdrawal Agreement and negate the backstop.

It provides guarantees on both sides - presumably if the U.K. doesn't act in good faith the EU can also seek arbitration.

News is full of "May has achieved legally binding changes to the WA"

but not clear yet what it means

It means exactly what her prev deal meant.

Genuine question- how do any of you see the UK exiting the backstop assuming they enter deal and end up in backstop having not managed to do what appears impossible ie have a border with the EU that is both not a hard border and is an effective border?

@saoirse31 , we should stay with the backstop unless and until there are mythical technological---- solutions to avoid the hard border.

how do any of you see the UK exiting the backstop

Either the UK ends up with the sort of deal that Labour appears to want, including a customs union, or the backstop will be indefinite - I won't say permanent, but there is IMO no scope for a technological solution within a 5-7 year framework. Big IT and infrastructure projects like the mythical "technological solution" take at least 5 years and usually longer, and remember that this project hasn't even started (and can't start until someone works out what the technology should do, and how).

I can't see what exactly is wrong with a Customs Union.

Pérégrina: They want an "independent trade policy" because otherwise they are not to able to participate to the race to the bottom on workers' rights and food/ product standards.

saoirse31
I think I am correct that the WA and PD, if signed up to allows sufficient 'wiggle' room to negotiate a position where a border would not be necessary. This being a 'Norway' or some other permutation. the EU is likely to help facilitate this but absolutely not before the WA is signed.
The UK is playing 'slippery and untrustworthy' so rightly the EU is insisting on a firm starting position. Ultimately the UK and EU will have to trade properly as the UK cannot afford to import around a third of it's food from countries further than Europe. You have to consider that nowhere else in the world has piles of food sitting in warehouses ready to replace foods that have been coming from Europe.

Yeah I really can't see anyway for the UK to do anything but end up worse off... crazy situation to have ended up in....

Thankfully MPs once again rejected Mays hideous remain in disguise deal.

And tomorrow they're going to reject a No Deal Brexit. Hurray!

Then what happens? Hope EU agree to an extension to article 50?

If I was EU I would not agree to an extension.

Yeah, but you are not the EU and you don't really know very much about it, so what you would do MissedTheBoatAgain is completely insignificant.

The EU can only give a limited extension as elections to the European Parliament are in May. And Britain will no longer have seats. Their hands are tied by this to a great extent.

Yeah, but you are not the EU

Neither are you!

If EU agrees to extend to 22 May 2019 that is an overrun of 54 days. UK should pay for that.

All rough figures at the moment, but 1 Billion per month has been mentioned. Pro-rata that over 54 days is Approx. 1.8 Billion. Are the UK Tax Payers happy with that?

Just to remind everyone @MissedTheBoatAgain hasn't lived in the UK or EU for 30 years. 🐝

Just to remind everyone @MissedTheBoatAgain hasn't lived in the UK or EU for 30 years, but is a UK citizen with properties in; England, Scotland and Eastern Europe.