Gove: "Post-Brexit talks: UK prepared to walk away in June if no progress"

[Miljea]

BBC News

Is this the Brexit you voted for, Leavers??

Seriously? Threatening the EU?

Text: "The UK has warned the EU it will walk away from trade talks in June unless there is a "broad outline" of a deal.

Michael Gove told MPs the UK wanted to strike a "comprehensive free trade agreement" in 10 months.

But the government would not accept any alignment with EU laws as the EU is demanding, with Mr Gove adding: "We will not trade away our sovereignty."

The EU has already set out its priorities ahead of the formal start of the talks on Monday."

One would almost think No Deal was precisely what we're heading for....

Maybe someone will come from the other side and tell us, in italics why this is great news.

Exactly SacredCauses, imagine the country our children could have inherited if we didn't have a crazed government intent on pissing billions and billions away on Brexit. Disgusting. Every time I think of what that money could have been spent on, I feel sick. And that's before we even get to the ongoing costs of recreating agencies we previously only had to pay a share of, the new red tape of export and imports, the cost of shunning immigrants doing vital jobs and the cultural enrichment they bring. Absolutely shameful.

Yes, so you have a walk away position i.e. you call a halt to negotiations - you don't have a tantrum and say that if the other side doesn't give you want you want, you will destroy yourself - that's blackmail.

It puts me in mind of the sort of boyfriend who says that if you split up with him he'll kill himself, to try to make you feel guilty.

The EU are looking at the lack of preparedness for No Deal and concluding it's an empty bluff.

Not sure they are capable of comprehending the truth, that these halfwits actually believe what they are saying.

The EU are looking at the lack of preparedness for No Deal and concluding it's an empty bluff.

I honestly don't know. I think Johnson could easily end up with No Deal by accident. We certainly aren't prepared either for a Deal or for No Deal.

Johnson is a lazy arrogant turd. He's "Got Brexit Done" in his head, and delegated it all to Govey.

Govey is a schemer who proposes that he is so much smarter than everyone else, despite all evidence to the contrary.

We're headed for No Deal, then Chaos, then goodness knows what: Cave-In, Tory Coup, State of Emergency and Rule By Decree.

All bets are off.

delegated it all to Govey

Boris Johnson met with the Chancellor of Austria and the President of Croatia this week:

Feb 25 "Great to meet with Chancellor sebastiankurz of Austria today. We discussed the UK’s future relationship with the EU and our shared desire to reach a UK-EU Free Trade Agreement."

Feb 24 "Today PM BorisJohnson hosted Croatian Prime Minister AndrejPlenkovic at Downing Street.They discussed the UK's future relationship with the EU, and spoke about shared priorities such as climate change, defence, security and links between our people."

Boris Johnson can meet with all the individual European heads of state and politicians he likes, he's not negotiating with them, the UK is negotiating with the EU as a bloc.

May tried this tactic in 2016 (I can cut and paste a list, if anyone wants). It didn't work then and it's not going to work now.

Yes, Clavinova, we read the papers. Isn't it wonderful, significant parts of the country are under water and people are scared of a virus but what does he do? Cancel appointments to chair a COBRA meeting - no of course not.

Cancel appointments to chair a COBRA meeting - no of course not.

He is chairing a COBRA meeting for Coronavirus - reported on LBC about an hour ago.

But not until Monday.

What has he done about the flooding?

Nothing. It doesn't affect his house.

He will however no doubt announce "increased funding" for flood defences but fail to mention that said funding was cut (15% I think) since the Tories came to power in 2010.

He's not only doing it to our children's
He is doing it to our farmers
He is doing it to our fisherman
He is doing it to our manufacturing industry
He is doing it to the shipping and transport industry
He is doing it to the service industry
He is doing it to the financial services industry

Is there anyone he is not fucking over?..... ah yes the super rich, the oligarchs, the aristocracy......

50,000 Customs clearance clerks needed
Good luck with that one

fail to mention that said funding was cut (15% I think) since the Tories came to power in 2010

It depends on whose version you read - spending appears to have increased since 2010;

"The government has ramped up spending on flood defences in England since 2010, rising in real terms from about £818m in 2009-10 to £888m in 2018-19."

www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/nov/13/does-the-government-spend-more-on-flood-defences-for-the-south

fullfact.org/economy/government-defence-flood-defences/

From that article

"funding peaked in 2014-15 at about £950m after heavy winter flooding, and has been lower in every year since."

I tend not to believe this government frankly. Especially now with a serial liar as PM.

StarbucksSmarterSister
"funding peaked in 2014-15 at about £950m after heavy winter flooding, and has been lower in every year since."

2014-15 isn't 2010 though as per your pp.

The extra funding for 2014-15 was in response to the wettest winter month in England in almost 250 years (Jan 2014);

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/feb/01/january-uk-wettest-winter-month-250-years

“The Government is investing £2.6 billion to better protect the country from flooding.This is funding over 1,000 flood defence schemes, which will better protect 300,000 homes by 2021.The Government’s manifesto also committed an additional £4 billion for flood defences over the next five years."

deframedia.blog.gov.uk/2020/02/23/sunday-times-article-on-flood-defence-spending-formula/

The £2.6bn is obviously being spent already;

www.theconstructionindex.co.uk/news/view/eight-firms-named-for-26bn-flood-defence-works

The issue with the UKs walk away position is that there are currently two. The first is the economic walk away position which is worse than any deal we could do. The EU know this and so in reality it's not a position that bothers them. The second is the political walk away position which is basically Tory / Nationalists sticking it to Johnny Foreigner, which will be popular in the press and in the country. This is the one that's playing out and we will end up with a no deal Brexit, blamed on the bloody Germans/French (insert EU country of choice here).

@Miljea

I voted to leave the EU and my vote was not dependent on leaving only with a deal which the EU approves of. I want to see the UK and the EU treat each other as third countries, though happy to see cooperation in environmental, cultural, educational, scientific, crime, terrorism, public health, etc. Those things do not need the oversight or jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.

A mutually beneficial trade deal is of course desirable, but the EU is making absurd demands it has not made of other countries with which it has trade deals, leaving the UK with no option but to leave without one. No deal is as better than a bad deal.

Another extension just delays the inevitable and prolongs the uncertainty for everyone.

Jason - see the post immediately below yours for an exact example.

We might not need the eventual recourse to a Court if Johnson and his Government could be trusted, but so far all we have seen is either blatant lies or woeful ignorance. Johnson's Government are so far behaving like the divorcing spouse who has stropped off elsewhere - he can't get unlimited access to the children and come round for a shag when he feels like it, so he's crying, "it's not fair". Meanwhile someone has to make provision for the children, even if he won't, but as for the shagging - tough luck chum.

It would be nice in real life in our day to day dealings if we trusted one another, and never had recourse to a Law Court, and for most of us, that is the case, but there are times when they are necessary.

As for the EU making absurd demands which it hasn't made with other countries - so far no other country has left so no one can say whether such demands are absurd or not.

An partial exception is Greenland, which has a half in half out status, because it's still part of the Kingdom of Denmark which is still in the EU.

No deal is as better than a bad deal.
Ah yes, the tyranny of the unelected unaccountable WTO who are in hock to Trump
is better than playing a part in the elected EU parliament and council of elected ministers

No Deal is a Bad Deal.

The EU has trade deals with non-EU countries. It has not demanded a level playing field, access to their natural resources, or free movement of people with them. Trying to use the UK's proximity to the EU as justification for these demands is just laughable.

There is a world outside the EU, and the UK as one of the world's larger trading nations is more than capable of holding its own in it.

No deal is far better than EU membership or anything the EU is now offering.