ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
No project fear, Howard, just another step in the slow realisation of project reality. The penny is gradually beginning to drop.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Panic setting in now in Brussels with Labour's stance at Conference, the last paragraph here is rather telling.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/26/eu-steps-up-no-deal-brexit-preparations-as-labour-alarms-capitalsButton
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 22 Jul 2016
- Posts: 3,033
Ouch! I read 'One of the party’s six tests of any deal is that it offers exactly same benefits as the arrangements of today' and laughed so much the g&t came out my nose.
(Not my real name.)
Pablo- Registered: 21 Mar 2018
- Posts: 614
Yes Button, I had the same reaction. Too early for a G&T though. The Labour policy makers obviously believe in fairies.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Courtesy of the Times.
Theresa May is preparing to limit Britain’s ability to strike free-trade deals after Brexit in a significant concession to the European Union aimed at breaking the deadlock in negotiations. The prime minister is ready to propose a “grand bargain”, according to her colleagues, which would keep Britain tied to European customs rules on goods after the transition period ends in December 2020.
No 10 will claim that the UK has left the customs union at this point, but by keeping key rules the ability to agree trade deals would be curtailed for many years. Britain would also accept demands that goods entering Northern Ireland from Britain must meet European standards, with the potential for checks in the Irish Sea.
Downing Street hopes that the concessions will pave the way for a deal on the so-called Irish backstop, which has become a key stumbling block. The backstop would kick in if no agreement is reached during the Brexit transition phase on avoiding a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. The concession is likely to enrage Brexiteers, who will claim that it amounts to staying in a partial customs union indefinitely, severely limiting the scope to sign trade deals with countries such as America, Australia and New Zealand that want access to Britain’s agricultural markets.
Under the government proposals the arrangement would end only when a mutually acceptable technological solution to the Irish border issue was found. This could mean that goods entering Northern Ireland would be electronically tracked to their end destination, avoiding border checks and enabling the correct duty to be paid.
Critically, Britain is expected to accept that this cannot be time-limited and will be implemented only with the agreement of both sides. A government spokesman insisted that any such arrangement would be “temporary”. One senior minister said that Downing Street believed it could command a majority in parliament if it unlocked the talks and brought about a withdrawal agreement and clear statement on a future relationship. “We need to have a conversation about customs,” they said. “We have to move to unlock the talks and that is going to mean compromising on signing comprehensive free-trade deals immediately.”
The move would mean Britain agreeing to maintain EU tariffs on goods and to remain part of the common commercial policy. Downing Street published proposals over the summer for a temporary customs arrangement with the EU that would keep Britain tied to customs rules as part of the backstop. Unlike the new proposals it suggested the plan would be “time- limited”. Any plans will need to gain the support and consent of the DUP. Last night a DUP source said the party would oppose the idea of British goods facing checks at a notional border.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
I keep getting this picture in my head of the PM at Heathrow standing on the aircraft steps on return from Brussels and shouting "I have in my hand a piece of paper signed by Herr Barnier - deal in our time". Then the camera pans to a 20 mile traffic jam leading to Dover.
Bob Whysman likes this
Bob Whysman
- Registered: 23 Aug 2013
- Posts: 1,934
Only 20 miles Howard?
.
‘Deal in our time’..............also, are they really contemplating changing the name of Dover Howard?
Do nothing and nothing happens.
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
cruise terminal is hardly a roll on/ off part of dover docks. unless some passengers are blind drunk and tumble down the gang plank.
John Buckley
- Registered: 6 Oct 2013
- Posts: 615
A little light relief!
Jan Higgins and Pablo like this
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,821
So true.
I loved Yes Minister sadly there is so little really good comedy on TV now.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Weird Granny Slater
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 7 Jun 2017
- Posts: 3,008
I dunno. There've been lots of jokes at the party conferences.
'Pass the cow dung, my dropsy's killing me' - Heraclitus
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Courtesy of the Times.
European Union Brexit negotiators have told national diplomats in Brussels that a deal to solve the Irish border issue is now “very close”. After talks yesterday between Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister, and Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, sources in the commission told Reuters that both sides were closing in on an agreement. The basis of a deal was understood to centre around proposals, revealed by The Times on Tuesday, that are due to be formally tabled by the British side imminently. Under the plan the whole of the UK would remain within an EU-wide single customs regime until the technology exists to ensure no hard border in Ireland.
Northern Ireland would diverge from Britain and follow single market regulations that cover the sale of goods crossing the border. The government is insisting that this would have to be agreed by the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly, if and when it is reinstated. Both sides want to have the basis of an agreement in place in time for a summit of EU leaders the week after next. A member of Mr Barnier’s team briefed diplomats of the 27 states remaining in the bloc on latest developments yesterday afternoon. That person said that progress was also being made on other outstanding issues, including the policing of any agreement and protecting goods from special origins, according to the sources.
The source said their was openness in principle to a planned British proposal on the emergency Irish border fix but that it has not yet arrived in writing from London and would need to be carefully analysed once it did. Spain, sitting just north of Gibraltar, which will leave the EU along with Britain, and Cyprus were briefed on talks with London over two separate protocols that would be added to any withdrawal deal, the sources said. A Brexit department spokesman said that the government would “set out our alternative that preserves the integrity of the UK” but did not say when or if it would be made public. The spokesman said: “It will be in line with the commitments we made back in December — including the commitment that no new regulatory barriers should be created between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK unless the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly agree.”
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
To everyone's great relief a deal looks close to being finalised.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-45768848Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,821
Not really a surprise after the end of conference season together with our virtual threat of F the EU and we will not give in to any more their unreasonable demands.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
it depends what you class as unreasonable jan.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
What I cannot work out with this new deal is whether traffic will move seamlessly like it does now or whether customs documents would have to be completed and checked.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
both H when someone gets there act together.
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
Not sure what you mean Brian, if goods have to be customs cleared we won't have the simplicity and speed we have at present.
Brian Dixon- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
there is some customs clearance going on now howard,down at the western docks, b shed to be honest. just big enough for 2 lorries .
ray hutstone- Registered: 1 Apr 2018
- Posts: 2,158
Mrs May is petrified about not being in the Customs Union because she knows the chaos that would ensue. The fact that Jezza has finally come out in favour of a CU settlement has only added to her consternation. The news this weekend has been good, though, particularly for the port of Dover. It looks like agreement may be on the horizon. It will be the chagrin of Brexiteers.
Brian Dixon likes this
