Westministenders: Can you tell your Rs from Elbows?

[RedToothBrush]

This week Mark Sedwill has resigned (or was he pushed?) and David Frost (chief brexit lead) was appointed National Security Adviser in a move that enraged Theresa May. The former prime minister felt that his appointment was unprofessional and that was a political appointment not an independent one and that he lacked experience. Of course in terms of national security we still haven't had that report on Russia and I don't believe The Intelligence and Security Committee has yet been named (not sat since Johnson was appointed as PM).

We have passed the deadline for extending transition and we have now apparently said that negotiations on the end of transition will finish at the end of September.

The bill ending Free movement of people has been signed, amongst much fanfare by the Conservatives saying they have delivered on the Referendum promise. However we might have up to 3million Hong Kongers who we are willing to allow into the country which might not go down too well with those who were unhappy with 'unrestricted EU immigration'.

We also have the demonstration of utter incompetence, outsourcing and lack of coordination and communication from central government and local government in the covid-19 crisis. A national scandal that isn't being properly reported by the press and leave you with the very large question of who is this government serving? If its contract with Deloittes over testing didn't require them to report positive tests to Public Health England, what was the point in the testing? How can this be consistent with 'The Government’s new approach to biosecurity will bring together the UK’s world-leading epidemiological expertise and fuse it with the best analytical capability from across Government in an integrated approach.' and will provide real time analysis and assessment of infection outbreaks at a community level, to enable rapid intervention before outbreaks grow.?

The growing feeling that Brexit is being exploited by this government for personal interests and those of big business at the expense of the general public is one which was feared and grows harder to argue against by the day.

Pmk with complete lack of emotion as I have exhausted all feelings over the last few weeks!

PMK with a range of flora and fauna, muted to match the general mood...

It is a funny thread and I don't doubt the stupidity and shouting, but do they know that they can still retire to France if they have sufficient means? We know Australians and Americans who have done it as third country nationals.

I suspect that the sufficient means is going to be what stymies a lot of people - and things like having to get health insurance. It will just be more hoops for them to jump through, but it's what they wanted.

That, and inevitable tank of the pound against the euro..... those pensions won't go anywhere near as far

I've read the Twitter feed - my 'is this genuine' sense is tingling

Will the state pension even be uprated still? It's not in Canada, (and I think Australia and New Zealand?). It's frozen at the amount in force when you claim it. Despite all the Tory blather about the White Commonwealth, this does cause real hardship to pensioners in those countries who don't have a work related pension, but the Government has no appetite to do anything about it. The sums of money involved to uprate then would be trivial in the grand scheme of things.

Third-country nationals can get health insurance in France if they can prove "stable and regular" residence in the country.
They have to have a valid "carte de séjour" or prove that they have applied for one.
That's where the resources will come in...when their application for a carte de séjour is assessed. And they may not get more than a short-term carte de séjour, which will need to be renewed and more evidence of resources presented.

So retired UK citizens may be able to stay in France, if they go through a raft of paperwork and admin and can prove they are self-sufficient. Which will indeed depend on the value of the pound in coming years. And on their ability to negotiate complex, finicky French admin procedures, in French.

Is it genuine? I think many of us do know people like that.

Sorry, I meant retired 3rd-country nationals...I checked that category.

There will be issues regarding payment of their pensions, I'd have thought, if they move to France permanently.

I have also begun to doubt that Twitter tale, amusing though it is.

"The government will continue to uprate the UK State Pension paid to people living in the EU each year for the next 3 years."
www.gov.uk/government/news/uprating-guarantee-for-uk-state-pension-recipients-living-in-the-eu-after-brexit

And then a freeze as of March 2023.

(That's what they said then, anyway...)

Thread is funny, but far to many stereotypes and the punchline of the guy working as a tire fitter and being a total spanner don't ring true to me.

However I do know people very much like that.

Our pensions will continue to be uprated if we are already here by 31st December and S1 health cover will continue. The pound will undoubtedly impact on some. I also have my doubts about the thread and it plays well into popular view of pensioners abroad as the people everyone loves to hate.
Fortunately we are not all fuckwits who can't speak the language or battle with l'administration.

Whereas until Brexit, it was a reciprocal agreement, of indefinite duration.

Although on this matter I do think there is an injustice - if you are entitled to a full pension because you have paid your NI contributions, it should be paid, regardless of where you live.

Ah yes, French bureaucracy! (Do they have a word for it? [joke])

We do have our own two words - red tape, after the red ribbons which civil service documents used to be tied up with. I don't know if they are any more.

We will get our pensions uprated for as long as we live here. That is the updated guidance following the signing of the WA.

Have we all seen the Stanley Johnson has shown zero respect for Greece's sovereignty and travelled there via Bulgaria (also breaking there rules)? Apparently rules don't apply to him - hopefully the Greeks are pissed if enough to make an example of him

He's just pissing everyone off - this is hardly surprising at all.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/02/china-could-prevent-hongkongers-moving-to-uk-says-dominic-raab?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

I do wonder at what point he will realise that he is quite possibly hated more than Thatcher?

Face coverings to be mandatory in shops in Scotland (with a few exceptions: eg under 5s and medical reasons) from 9 July.

Pmk...

I do wonder at what point he will realise that he is quite possibly hated more than Thatcher?

He isnt

PMK as ever thanks to Red & all contributors, nothing to add except mounting horror as each day passes

This week’s Brexit talks finishing a day early, Barnier claiming U.K. doesn’t understand EU position and not engaging.

ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/speech_20_1262

No surprise there then.

Goods checks for NI

Looks like BJ will be obeying the NI Protocol
The inevitable price of a US trade deal

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jul/02/first-details-emerge-of-system-for-checks-on-goods-crossing-irish-sea

The first details of the controversial Brexit checks Boris Johnson insisted would not applyy^ to trade across the Irish Sea have emerged,
with mandatory paperwork for businesses in Great Britain supplying goods to Northern Ireland from January.

An HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) document marked “sensitive”,
seen by the Guardian, reveals that
firms in Great Britain will be obliged to complete three rounds of customs, security and transit forms on all goods.

The electronic documents will need to be completed whether there is a Brexitt^ trade deal or not and will apply to all suppliers.

An 11-page slide presentation from HMRC, outlining the new system, states:
“To achieve customs control, we need to ensure that all goods are presented and declared to customs.”

Under a new “Goods Vehicle Movement Service” (GVMS) system,
'hauliers or the owners of the freight will be obliged to pre-lodge three types of electronic paperwork*
before getting on a ferry from British ports such as Liverpool or Cairnryan in Scotland toNorthern Ireland.

Sorry Just - probably the wrong phraseology- I don't think he is yet, but I think with where we are heading it is a very real possibility. I increasingly know Tory voters - who loves him- who now think he is a charlatan.