Civil Servants told to stand down on No Deal planning

[HPFA]

According to Sky News:

twitter.com/SkyNewsBreak/status/1116391388638318597

Good job government and businesses haven't wasted huge amounts of money on this.

Grr when are people going to remember that the WA is the leaving agreement and not the future agreement? The WA has to pass if we want to leave, regardless of what happens in future.

So if people don't like it, it's no deal or revoke. I suspect the latter is gaining traction.

And if we do end up leaving, what happens to that contract for the blue passports? They've already started producing burgundy ones without "European Union" on.

All that "austerity" and then billions wasted on a pointless project.

I meant if we end up remaining.

And if we do end up leaving, what happens to that contract for the blue passports?

And other similarly vitally important issues.

And other similarly vitally important issues

Blue passports are the most important thing ever!

Obviously no one can predict the future but imho (has brought me into v slight argument with BCF) i have never thought no-deal was a serious option, it was just a huge and extremely wasteful part of Mays bullying tactics to get her WA through the HoC

I agree. There was always the risk we could fall out, but most MPs value their jobs and parties too much to risk it - hence the majority against.

I’ve said my piece on BCF’s obsession. It has never really has been WA vs No Deal: the most likely outcome was neither.

May will probably try to resurrect her Deal. But as things stand I think we’re looking to some soft Brexit fudge.

What astonishes me is the lack of astonishment over the guargantuan waste of funds.

But it wasn’t really until the Iraq war enquiry that public fury really coalesced against Blair.

The civil service are already preparing for the Brexit enquiry.

It is madness to stop no deal planning. No doubt May will yet again say we can't leave, it will be a cliff edge. Only a cliff edge of not enough planning done. Crazy fifth largest economy wanting to be ruled my 27 other nations, some much smaller than UK.

But we aren't ruled by them @caringcarer . But hey, if you think that, there's not much anyone can do to change your mind after all this time.

We are not ruled by them now but will be if we come out with a backstop.

Not getting into it with you @caringcarer . No point.

USA, China and Japan will always be larger economies than UK, France and Germany as all three have much larger populations. India's economy is growing fast and it will not be long before it too has a larger economy than UK, France and Germany.

So if there are four Countries whose economies will always be larger than UK, then at best UK can be fifth in the World if they can pass France and Germany. As UK is already fifth and will never be able to beat; USA, China, Japan and India how does UK gain by trying to go it alone?

They already had stocks of burgundy passports without “European Union” on them, so no money spent on those yet. They’re used for British Overses Citizens, British Protected Persons and those living in the Crown Dependencies and some Dependent Territories.

We are not ruled by them now but will be if we come out with a backstop.

So - we are givng up all the benefits of being on the EU because they were "telling us what to do" but apparently they are not "tellign us what to do?"

caringcarer if we aren't ruled by the eu27 now, why are we leaving?

Makes for interesting reading.....

www.theneweuropean.co.uk/top-stories/alastair-campbell-on-brexit-public-inquiry-1-5990411

I hope some politicians and certain jingoistic newspaper editors go to prison for what they've done but as Govt's make the laws, i doubt anyone actually will.

Just so you know, without outing myself, it's not standing down so much as ratcheted down a couple of gears and be guided by your boss.

The US has said in no uncertain terms that there will be no UK/US trade deal if the Good Friday Agreement is damaged.

Apparently this was a surprise to the ERG who assumed that the NI border issue wasn’t something people genuinely cared about, but merely used for political point scoring, like they do.

So another nail in the no-deal coffin.

www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/us-politicians-and-brexiteers-clash-on-concocted-border-issue-1.3862750

So another nail in the no-deal coffin

USA say that as they think they will get a better deal.

Because of course there’s no Irish people in the US

@noblegiraffe

EVERY version of leaving will require the WA to be signed before the EU will start discussions. Even a 'no deal', so the HoC, HoL and cabinet can all hate it but it HAS to be signed. It was in the small print that everyone except Theresa and the EU didn't read.
As said earlier the WA is not a 'deal' as such but the 3 elements of citizens rights, the backstop for the border on Ireland and the 'exit expenses' have to be signed off.

To LeClerc

That's why it will go around in circles forever. MP's cant' even agree on a WA. So not much chance of being able to agree the finer details.

{That's why it will go around in circles forever. MP's cant' even agree on a WA. }

We agree here. The WA as written is the only one available.
By triggering A50 (and not negotiating properly from the beginning) MPs and the cabinet have crashed the UK car into a rockface, never mind a wall. The rock isn't for moving and the UK needs to understand this.

Looks like they did not do much, if any, research before the referendum was agreed to be held. Looks to the same for Article 50 as issues such as the backstop in Ireland would have come to light. Had they researched they could have advised that what was voted for was not legally possible as it contradicted the GFA which was established in 1998 and therefore Article 50 could not be triggered?

It would have been a huge embarrassment for the government and people would have asked why was the Referendum held in the first place. However, it would have been short lived and nothing compared to the ongoing embarrassment as UK has become the laughing stock of the World.

I work alongside people from Countries such as; India, ROI, Australia, Russia, China and South East Asia. Many have asked the same question;

If UK is the 5th largest economy in the World why does UK think it can do better by going it alone?

I have never been able to answer that question. Nor have any of my UK colleagues who voted leave been able to answer. Guess people voted leave for reasons other than money?

But they couldn’t have not prepared for no deal while it was still a possibility. It’s great that they’ve ruled it out but it’s unreanable to start baying for blood for what was essentially the only responsible course of action at the time.