Westminstenders: Tachographs and Empty Shelves

[pointythings]

So Grant Shapps' solution to the shortage of lorry drivers is to allow them to drive longer hours.

Leading to more accidents and deaths on the UK's roads. But Brexit is Job Done and all is well - isn't it?

It would be off the scale CORBYN CHAOS IN HUGE LETTERS.

Back in this twilight fantasy land here are some 2016 'promises' not fulfilled.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3617506/Brexit-means-cheaper-energy-bills-poor-claims-Boris-Johnson-slams-unfair-damaging-EU-rules-VAT.html

[quote vera99]It would be off the scale CORBYN CHAOS IN HUGE LETTERS.

Back in this twilight fantasy land here are some 2016 'promises' not fulfilled.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3617506/Brexit-means-cheaper-energy-bills-poor-claims-Boris-Johnson-slams-unfair-damaging-EU-rules-VAT.html[/quote]
Of course that article conveniently omits to mention that VAT on domestic energy wasn't introduced as a result of any EU rules but was voluntarily brought in by a Conservative government to raise extra revenue without increasing headline tax rates.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000ztbq

Farming Today, CO2 supply.

Minette Batters (NFU) - the questions we have posed have not been answered.

At what point does Johnson meltdown and admit defeat. How broken will our body politic have to be? Of course in the parallel Clav World all's good and any hiccups are as a result of a perfidious EU punishing us for having the temerity to leave. New day new horror.

Meanwhile, in an alternative universe The Express thinks there will be a trade deal with the US.

I.e. hitching a ride on an existing agreement between the USA, Mexico and Canada. Then of course we must join the Trans Pacific Partnership. We really ought to be pushing to join an African Trade Alliance and Mercosur as well, to be done with it. Isn't it a pity there is no agreement among European nations that we could join.

BBC article on that

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58646017

Joining the USMCA arrangement already agreed by the US, Canada and Mexico could give the UK deeper benefits on some goods and digital trade with North American economies.
But it has limited coverage of the UK's biggest strength when it comes to selling to America, namely services. Economists say the overall gains from joining USMCA may be very limited, perhaps less than 0.1% of GDP

As US Rep Brendan Boyle @RepBrendanBoyle says

Some seem to be confused so let me explain. About 30% of US trade is with Canada & Mexico. China accounts for another 13%. As for the UK, it is 2.5%, the same as Taiwan, Vietnam, & India. So when some are confused why a trade deal with the UK isn’t a high priority, now you know.

(After appearing on BBC Newsnight yesterday)

I.e. the USA's main trading partners are its immediate neighbours - it doesn't pretend that they don't exist.

In Brexit currency Brendan Boyle sounds like a Fenian supporter as is Biden so we Anglos are being shafted by Irish interests. Infamy ,infamy they've all got it in for me.

I really can't see Mexico or Canada being thrilled to have an extra wheel to contend with in trading.

It's hard not to envisage a self-fulfilling prophecy of a Winter of Discontent coming up. Don't forget that gritting operations are another thing that has been cut to the bone in the past few years.

There's only so much the army can do before we start looking like one of the occupied countries after the war Brexiteers fetishize so much.

The Express headline made me laugh - the US/UK deal which the Brexiters were banking on is at best on the back burner, so the Express bigs up the fall back attempt as thought its something wonderful.

I couldn't help think that if these are the easiest deals in history, then what would difficult ones be like?

Just been knocked back when I was attempting to get with the Brexit spirit and stop being such a wimpy remoaner.

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.

I read that there is a problem with firework supply because, I think, suppliers can't get new stock (British safety marked) because they would normally import from China via the EU and it's not compliant with EU standards. Also, there are no British standards yet because there's a delay setting them up.
Headline about EU banning British Bonfire Night, anyone?

.

In Brexit currency Brendan Boyle sounds like a Fenian supporter

You might be right!

Feb 2021
US Congressman Brendan Boyle tells 'Dublin, London, Brussels and Washington' to get ready for a border poll...

Mr Boyle...was part of a Congressional delegation headed by Nancy Pelosi that visited the Irish border in April 2019...

He said the "responsible course of action" was to prepare for a border poll, and he urged the governments in London and Dublin, along with the EU and the Washington administration, to join civic society and academia in planning for the referendum and beyond.

He said the work need to begin now to "maximise the chances of success, and minimise the chances of failure".

www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2021/02/02/news/us-congressman-brendan-boyle-tells-dublin-london-brussels-and-washington-to-get-ready-for-a-border-poll--2206173/

Interesting rumour -
The Philadelphia Inquirer
1 September 2021

Boyle may have been interested in going from Northeast Philly to the northeastern corner of Ireland if President Joe Biden appointed him as the U.S. special envoy to Northern Ireland.

www.inquirer.com/politics/clout/brendan-boyle-northern-ireland-20210903.html

Some success today;

British lamb exports to the US will soon resume after a ban stretching back more than 20 years to the Mad Cow Disease epidemic...

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-us-trade-lamb-b1924859.html

Yesterday - SAN DIEGO
Blackstone’s BioMed Realty Announces Plans to Double the Size of Its UK Life Sciences Portfolio.

Blackstone portfolio company BioMed Realty acquires 15-acre Cambridge International Technology Park and 27-acre plot at Granta Park in Cambridge.

Estimated £850 million investment expected to deliver approximately 800,000 square feet of in-demand Grade A purpose-built lab and office space in Cambridge, creating up to 2,700 jobs.

Acquisitions mark vote of confidence from Blackstone in the UK and the growth of the nation’s pioneering life sciences sector...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:

“This investment is hugely welcome news for Cambridge and the UK as a whole. The city was home to some of the country’s greatest scientific discoveries and I’m confident that the support of Blackstone’s BioMed Realty will mean there are many more to come.

“The jobs created by this investment are exactly the kind we want to see more of in the UK – high-skilled and future-facing, reflecting what the UK does best.”

www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210920005891/en/Blackstone%E2%80%99s-BioMed-Realty-Announces-Plans-to-Double-the-Size-of-Its-UK-Life-Sciences-Portfolio

🐿🐿🐿🐿🐿🐿

Regarding lamb

The National Sheep Association industry group welcomed the news, adding it had always seen the US as a "potentially important market".
Its chief executive Phil Stocker cautioned, however, that "we shouldn't expect to see any sudden surge in volumes going to the US".
He added that Brexit had made it more difficult to sell into the EU - the UK's lamb largest export market - and it was "important to work on any market that gives us future potential".

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-58654045

British lamb exports to the US will soon resume after a ban stretching back more than 20 years to the Mad Cow Disease epidemic...

Assuming the lamb farmers haven't gone out of business, and can find people to work in their abattoirs, and can get CO2 to keep the carcasses cold, and can find drivers to get it to the cargo ships...

How crass can he get.... "prenez un grip ..... donnez-moi un break"

Boris Johnson says France needs to 'get a grip' amid anger over AUKUS pact http://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-says-france-needs-to-get-a-grip-amid-anger-over-aukus-pact-12414414

"What I want to say about that is I just think it's time for some of our dearest friends around the world to prenez un grip [get a grip] about all this and donnez-moi un break [give me a break]," the prime minister said when asked about the continuing row over the AUKUS initiative.

Thinking about what Biden said when asked about the NI Protocol and I'd have loved to see his face under his mask when BJ interrupted him mid answer about how important it was that the GFA was not compromised: he'll be in NO hurry to finalise a Free Trade Deal with the UK, as his own farming and manufacturing lobby will demand lower different standards to the EU because the EU is big enough to say No but any difference in standards will require proper implementation of the NIP (which Frost the UK government and the DUP are against) and a managed border "in" the Irish Sea. A conundrum that cannot be resolved as any fool could have seen and most experts predicted

Lewis Goodall twitter thread
twitter.com/lewis_goodall/status/1440722792551370761?s=19

So with a US trade deal off the table where are we with post-Brexit trade deals overall?
DIT tells me they've signed 68 trade deals since Brexit.
Which sounds great (about third of the globe).
But vast majority of these were EU rollover deals, ie the same we had as members

Concludes with

So only real over and above deals we've secured so far are Japan and Australia (and Japan's was a sort of rollover, it contained only relatively modest additions to the EU deal).

(And Australia hasn't signed yet)

Oh, FFS.
What a total and utter prick this man is. Someone who doesn't know the meaning of the verb prendre and thinks it witty to speak childish franglais is really not in any position to lecture the French.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/22/aukus-row-boris-johnson-tells-france-donnez-moi-un-break

x-posted with prettybird

Brexit is so last millenium

Leeds for Europe have used an image of young people in the US to represent young people from Leeds - the same image;

www.aecf.org/blog/thrive-by-25-casey-foundation-announces-increased-focus-on-youth-and-young

Leeds for Europe rally in June - no digital enhancement here!

www.leeds-live.co.uk/news/leeds-news/live-leeds-europe-rally-updates-20894364