A lot of ifs there

I fail to understand why a contingency could not have been devised in the four years (four) prior in case this scenario arose. It’s not like this is a minority industry with a small economic contribution. On the list of ‘pretty s*** things that could happen’ I’d say it would have been comfortably nestling in their top 10

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

Rubbish.

Hard to plan for if you have a month, sure.

4 years? Literally the purpose of their existence, along with agreeing a deal. What makes this worse is this would have been known about as it is part of the deal. So it's not like it's come as a surprise to the government. Perhaps they thought the PR of securing a deal would be a better short term gain than the reality of what was actually agreed.

Wouldn't be the first time short termism has triumphed in politics. And won't be the last

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

By way of balance, she also came clean that the EU f****d up.

Which it did.

Another tranche of shops closed and 2,450 jobs lost, not including the support workers.

[Link]

Awful chain of shops and have been for years. The High Street is dead, so you can blame Brexit, you can blame Covid, but at the end of the day the writing was on the wall for these shops a long time ago.

‘Speaking to lawmakers on Tuesday, Gove said the part of the Brexit deal covering Northern Ireland wasn’t working, and called for a reset in the EU’s relationship with Britain.‘

So now we want what took 4 years to devise and agree to be amended, to be more like what went before? i.e the common market. Ridiculous. This is starting to turn into a s*** show. What exactly is the incentive for the EU to renegotiate? Because from what I can read it’s only the UK that is really getting impacted by any of this.

It’s just as well we’re all locked down because if the music industry was functioning there would be hell to pay. Essentially, musicians can’t tour Europe due to the agreement and particulars re. Visas. No gigs. No festivals. No income. That’s another massive cock up to add to the e-commerce export situation.

JD just announced they would be creating a 1000 staffed distribution centre in Europe to get around the problem of exporting. Big companies will be fine, albeit taking money and jobs away from the UK and over to the EU - SMEs are screwed.

Edited by SW19 CPFC (10 Feb 2021 11.12pm)

Did you know? 98.0000001% of people are morons.

Shame for all staff laid off, however nothing to do with Brexit.

Times are a changing, and the way we shop is changing at quite a pace

"It feels much better than it ever did, much more sensitive." John Wayne Bobbit

The problems with the new trade rules are also impacting the ROI it will be interesting to see if the EU is happy to allow one of it's members to suffer just to stick it to the Brits.

As for the Irish being an EU member up until has been a good thing. However from this year onward Ireland is likely to become a net contributor in taxes to the EU, this and the recent issues over the vaccine and trade lets see how much they love the EU going forwards.

Oh I forgot the issue of fishing quotas as well, the Irish are now having the same problems as we did they think the EU is taking all their fish unfairly.

Edited by Badger11 (11 Feb 2021 9.56am)

One more point

There is some validity in this. Whilst I think certain issues are being exaggerated the reality is that the EU is acting in a way that is not beneficial to its own member states by way of its visceral loathing of the UK.

It is what I have struggled to understand about the HMG approach from day one of the Brexit process. The EU, and especially the Commission, have to try and f*** over the UK. A thriving UK, doing well whilst free of the shackles of Brussels, spells absolute disaster for them. The vaccine situation alone shows that. When old VDL tried to pull that stunt with Article 16, that was a sign of blind panic. A real 'tell' in terms of the utter fear they have when the UK manages to steal a march on them.

And these are vindictive people. In many ways our success with the vaccination programme might actually prove a hindrance in terms of our dealings with the EU because it has proven, in their own words, that a UK on the outside can react quicker and in a far more decisive way. The EU have to try and do our collective legs now in everyday possible.

The EU are a hostile organisation. Wishing nothing other than failure and misery upon the UK. And will use any and every means at their disposal. Which means we should respond in kind.

Go zero tariffs for as much as possible, apart from EU goods. Up those. The EU has not ratified the deal yet so we still have time to pull out. Open up every port we can to trade from around the world. Time to fight fire with fire. Scrap all controls on the internal border between the UK and NI and then dare the EU to impose a hard border.

The ROI sends 80% of its exports across into the north or transiting through the UK. By contrast, less than 2% of ours goes the other way. We can flood the UK with cheap agricultural produce. Lets not f*** around anymore pretending there is a deal possible.

"The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." - 1984 - George Orwell.

There could be some scope for the UK, as the trade deal has not been ratified yet by the EU.

But it is hard to see what the UK could offer.

It left the EU of its own volition without adequately considering the consequences.

Most sane people can see that the UK had nothing to gain by leaving, and everything to lose.

Indeed that is what we are seeing played out now.