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Brexit

Westministenders: Crisis, which crisis ?

982 replies

BigChocFrenzy · 29/02/2020 18:25

Main crises facing the government:

. Negotiating a Brexit deal with the EU
. Coronoavirus
. Floods
. Allegations of some ministers - and Cummings - bullying civil servants
. More trouble threatened from Turkey / Syria

Unfortunately with all these parallel crises, we have a workshy lying arse as PM
and the worst collection yet of incompetents in Cabinet
who seem to have decided on a strategy of bullying their civil servants to avoid hearing any facts that don't fit with current Tory party ideology

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missclimpson · 07/03/2020 08:48

I am an older (70) migrant In France and I never ever call myself an expat. DH worked abroad as a systems consultant in the eighties and nineties and met lots of expats. Americans working in Holland, Brits in the Middle East, Switzerland etc. They lived in expat communities, socialised together, used international schools - it was just a temporary thing for work.
I would say that we and others like us who have retired abroad are lifestyle migrants.

RedToothBrush · 07/03/2020 08:50

Think we will see a lot more of this...

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/axed-flybe-staff-face-losing-21648616.amp?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&__twitter_impression=true
Axed Flybe staff face losing pensions as collapsed airline is registered in tax haven
Flybe’s employee pension scheme is not protected by rescue body the Pension Protection Fund because the company is registered in the Isle of Man tax haven

Also affects former employees.

BigChocFrenzy · 07/03/2020 09:51

Oh bloody hell, red
How dreadful for the employees Sad
Especially for those with not many years until retirement
It sounds like even existing pensioners might be affected

That's another reason why wealthy owners of companies to use tax havens:
to safeguard their money at the expense of the workers who earned it

Bastards

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BigChocFrenzy · 07/03/2020 09:54

lonelyplanetmum I doubt if half the country would care, what with it being foreigners telling the UK what to do;
can't have that

especially if the news is buried on a bad day, say for Coronavirus

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Mockerswithnoknockers · 07/03/2020 10:18

Like I say, invade the Isle of Man.

FrankieStein402 · 07/03/2020 11:19

Re flybe - how could the fund trustees justify an offshore holding that wouldn't pay out if the corp folded? Is it that the offshore company registration meant they didn't have to follow uk pensions law - odd.

ListeningQuietly · 07/03/2020 12:34

Frankie
The whole system for offering the trustee / non exec directorships
STINKS
it is wall to wall nepotism, back scratching and reward for failure
if you look at the number of posts some of these people hold
(up to 20, each paid at around 10-20k a year or involving 'meetings' over three days at very posh hotels)
its a living for the already rich
and they do not know or care about the rest of us

www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/18286181.airport-deserted-flybe-fails/

DGRossetti · 07/03/2020 12:38

Something to remember when this is over ...

Westministenders: Crisis, which crisis ?
ListeningQuietly · 07/03/2020 12:42

Good for the planet long term ....
and thank goodness UK retires no longer have to buy annuities on required dates
www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/06/southwest-airlines-travel-decline-coronavirus

BigChocFrenzy · 07/03/2020 13:37

Calls for the govt to abolish air passenger duty tax - which would be absolutely the wrong decision
(but might not stop this govt)

What we need are much stricter laws to protect pension funds for workers in Britain, including
preventing owners from moving them outside UK jurisdiction and insurance schemes

We've had decades of people losing their pensions because of the greedy & incompetent spivs they work for
Bad enough to lose their jobs, but at least pensions should be safeguarded

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HoneysuckIejasmine · 07/03/2020 13:53

Oh gosh, those poor Flybe (ex)staff. Disgusting how corrupt the business and financial services world can be.

Mockerswithnoknockers · 07/03/2020 16:12

All Over 60s who survive the Corona Virus will be deployed to pick cabages this winter.

mrslaughan · 07/03/2020 16:16

Mockers - maybe it's just Tory voters that should? Their government.......

On another note - do you think the general populace are concerned that Bozo is very much a part time PM? Lots of comment in the press about it...... but is it starting to sink in?

Mockerswithnoknockers · 07/03/2020 16:18

Organ donation is now opt-out, but when it was opt-in, there was a campaign to write "Not For A Tory Voter" on your donor card.

mrslaughan · 07/03/2020 16:24

Mockers - maybe it's just Tory voters that should? Their government.......

On another note - do you think the general populace are concerned that Bozo is very much a part time PM? Lots of comment in the press about it...... but is it starting to sink in?

mrslaughan · 07/03/2020 16:24

Sorry for the double post!

That's very funny Mockers

ListeningQuietly · 07/03/2020 16:55

Just spotted this splendid quote on another thread
its from a New Yorker review of a Thomas Pickety book ...

"The most interesting findings in the second “Capital” come from his forays into political science. He argues that the “Brahmin left”—the most educated citizens and the greatest beneficiaries of the knowledge economy and the supposed meritocracy—has captured the left-wing parties in Western democracies, distracting those parties from their mission of improving the lives of working people. Conservative parties, meanwhile, are under the sway of the “merchant right.” Such polarization makes debate over redistribution impossible, and so the lower classes debate immigration and borders instead."

DGRossetti · 07/03/2020 17:12

I wonder if - like the FAA - the new shiny CAA will have a brief to promote the UK aviation industry over the safety of planes. (One of the reasons the 737 Max was allowed to be self-certified, rather than actually inspected).

Not sure if I'd be so keen on flying in future ...

bbc.co.uk
UK will leave EU aviation safety regulator

The UK will leave the European aviation safety regulator after the Brexit transition period, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed.

He said UK membership of the European Aviation Safety Agency - responsible for certifying the airworthiness of planes - would end on 31 December.

He told Aviation Week that the UK's Civil Aviation Authority would instead "bring expertise home".

An aerospace trade body said the move could put high-skilled jobs at risk.

Mr Shapps told the publication much of the Cologne-based European Aviation Safety Agency's (EASA) expertise came from the UK and that a lot of its leaders were British.

He said the agency's powers would revert to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) "and the expertise will need to come home to do that, but we'll do it in a gradual way".
'Best option'

The trade body ADS - which represents more than 1,100 UK businesses in the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors - told the BBC the decision could potentially mean products and designs would need to be certified more than once.

For example, EASA is responsible for certifying commercial aircraft for service across the EU and some non-EU European countries.

When the UK ends its membership of EASA, it may need to certify aircraft separately itself.

ADS has estimated that it would take 10 years and cost up to £40m annually to create a UK safety authority with all the expertise of EASA, against a current contribution to the European agency of £1m to £4m a year.

It claimed a new regulatory regime could put jobs in the sector at risk.

"We have been clear that continued participation in EASA is the best option to maintain the competitiveness of our £36bn aerospace industry and our access to global export markets," the trade body said.

It added that the UK's influence within EASA "contributes to raising standards in global aviation" and helped make the industry "attractive to the investment it needs".

Airlines UK, which represents carriers including British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair, said its members supported continued membership of EASA - but not at the risk of the UK becoming a "dumb follower of EU rules".

It urged the government to begin negotiations on an air safety agreement with the EU so it can be ready by the end of the year.

The Department for Transport said: "Being a member of the European Aviation Safety Agency is not compatible with the UK having genuine economic and political independence.

"We will maintain world-leading safety standards for industry, with the Civil Aviation Authority taking over these responsibilities, and will continue to work with colleagues in the EU to establish a new regulatory relationship."

mrslaughan · 07/03/2020 18:11

The thing that struck me about the Shapps comments - was the presumption that British employees in Europe at the EASA will rush back to the UK to work.....

RedToothBrush · 07/03/2020 18:32

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/coronavirus-could-cause-worse-recession-than-no-deal-brexit-says-philip-hammond-7jjzvd0x3?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1583604600
Coronavirus could cause worse recession than no-deal Brexit, says Philip Hammond

The former Conservative MP said that outbreak had the potential to “cause similar” or “greater levels” of disruption to supply chains than a no-deal Brexit.

DGRossetti · 07/03/2020 18:50

The former Conservative MP said that outbreak had the potential to “cause similar” or “greater levels” of disruption to supply chains than a no-deal Brexit.

at a global level. Ships going without unloading preventing new cargo being loaded - ships in the wrong place. With all contingencies fucked, breaking the global supply chain.

AuldAlliance · 07/03/2020 19:02

While I appreciate that he's preparing the ground for blame games, it still makes a change to hear a minister openly saying that Brexit will cause huge disruption to supply chains.

Like mrslaughan, I did think that UK air standards experts who've been living and working in Cologne might not leap at the chance to move back to post-Brexit UK (possibly with EU partners and families). Particularly if they think there's a risk of a more US-style approach to the issue.
Presumably their skills are valued elsewhere than in the UK.

BigChocFrenzy · 07/03/2020 19:47

In Germany, analysts have been estimating the Coronavirus will likely reduce GDP by about 0.6%

  • which is around their estimate last year for a No Deal Brexit without a WA

No Deal with a WA is expected to be only slightly better

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BigChocFrenzy · 07/03/2020 20:58

US states' trade visit to UK abandoned over coronavirus fears

www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2020/03/06/us-state-trade-visit-abandoned-due-coronavirus-fears/

Trade agreements with individual states could improve the chances of a deal with the whole of the US

Coronavirus has dealt a blow to the UK's post-Brexit trade ambitions after a delegation of six US states cancelled a visit to London for talks this month.

Representatives of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, Mississippi, Maryland and Oregon had been scheduled to meet Department of International Trade (DIT) officials to discuss opportunities for state-level agreements with the UK,
expected to be worth billions of dollars to the British economy.

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ListeningQuietly · 07/03/2020 21:03

I do think that Covid will hit the USA very hard because the lack of universal health care will exacerbate
ditto India because Modi's dumb nationality rules will scare people

we also need to be really aware that cases are being reported where they are diagnosed.

If a country chooses to test nobody and record the deaths as pneumonia then mahoosive outbreaks will be missed

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