According to the Guardian Theresa May will in her speech on Brexit today say:
We must bring our country back together, taking into account the views of everyone who cares about this issue, from both sides of the debate
According to the FT the speech will set out five criteria for the UK's negotiation:
- a commitment to taking back control of money, laws and borders,
- the need for an enduring solution,
- the protection of jobs,
- the creation of an “outward looking” Britain, and
- a strengthening of the UK.
I have to say if this is what this speech is really going to be about my heart sinks.
First, the whole of the referendum and the whole of the issue to which it related was about dividing the country and its neighbours. That was its whole purpose. It makes no sense to appeal for unity in that case: that is the polar opposite of what Brexit was meant to deliver. Can't May see that?
And then to now say that, belatedly, she's found that there are five objectives for Brexit, when they should have been decided upon before June 23 2016 is absurd: the EU will, of course, be wholly unimpressed.
If this is as good as it's going to get, God help us. And if you don't believe there is a God, or one who helps, despair at the poverty of May's thinking, which is staggering.
The words 'creek' and 'paddle' were invented for occasions like this, but are hopelessly inadequate for the scale of the issue that we are, by choice, facing.
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Brown stuff and fan were my metaphor of choice but creek and paddle will suffice.
“a commitment to taking back control of money, laws and borders,”
We never gave away control of our money – we are not in the Eurozone. We have border controls which we don’t use and we have turned out legislation that does not pass the scrutiny of the law. Brexit will ensure that we withdraw from the process of legislation for trade with our biggest market partners. (What could possibly go wrong there?)
“the need for an enduring solution,”
Solutions are fluid – they need to be because problems are fluid.
“the protection of jobs,” Pointless. The jobs we have are mostly not the jobs we need done.
“the creation of an “outward looking” Britain,” (Give the girl a Perrier award. This is the antithesis of Brexit)
and
“a strengthening of the UK.”
By putting the clock back in NI to reignite ‘the troubles’ and keeping Scotland in colonial servitude ? By becoming the fifty second state of the union ?
How many fingers am I holding up, Theresa ? Is it two ?
Or just the one to swivel on ?
You added what I did not have time to say
“You added what I did not have time to say”
Apparently I’m learning.
Happy to be of service 🙂
🙂
He also got in ahead everything that I was going to say. Nice one, Andy.
Spot on Andy, except there are only 50 states in the US, so we’d be the 51st… 🙂
Yes, but they might give Scotland its own separate statehood.
Marco,
If you mean the UK Gov “might give Scotland its own separate statehood”, I can’t see that happening unless it is forced by outside circumstance (like a vote for independence or the complete collapse of the current UK structure under the weight of the Brexit crisis). Scotland has been treated a bit like a colony for as long as I can remember: it’s there to have its natural resources exploited and be lied to and threatened when the natives get uppity. As a Scot who has lived and worked around the world (including a real one-party state), I’ve long held the view that the Scots couldn’t make a bigger mess of running our own affairs than we’ve seen being done in our name, if not our best interests, by Westminster.
No Ken,
I was responding to Steve’s observation that:
“there are only 50 states in the US, so we’d be the 51st”
Beyond that I have no doubt that you are right.
Andy, to the Brexit lunatics, you are holding up as many, or as few fingers, as they say! If you are holding up 2 fingers in a ‘V’ configuration, they might say you are holding up 12,345, or 59.9573, or 10 billion….It doesn’t really matter to them, because reality is now whatever they say or think it is, regardless of what anyone else tries to point out to them.
Hence, May’s ludicrous totally contradictory claims to be ‘taking back control’, and forging an ‘outward looking Britain’. Cuckoo, Theresa, cuckoo!!
So is taken well over a year to pinch just a few of labours tests? And like many things try to dress them up as their own.
What can she say today? We’ve had Jeremy Corbyn, Boris Johnson, Liam Fox all wheeled out to chunter in front of the cameras. Johnson and Fox talked nonsense. Corbyn was a lethargic step in the right direction, unless he is just being a cynical bastard. Major was the only one who sounded like he knew what he was talking about and making real sense. In fact, that should have been the speech that Corbyn made. He missed a massive opportunity there. I guess May will just regurgitate the nonsense Fox and Johnson spewed out as the Farageist far right fruitcake faction have a gun to her head. Have a great weekend, everybody!
What “gun”?
May has one job and one job only, keeping the Tory party together. When she says, “We must bring our country back together, taking into account the views of everyone who cares about this issue, from both sides of the debate”, what she means is “We must bring our PARTY back together, taking into account…”. I think you’re wasting your time if you’re expecting anything else from her. It’s game over in many ways if the party splits. I think it will though, as I’ve said before, and we’ll see a giant political realignment of Neoliberals from all parties against the anti-Neoliberals from all parties. Right vs Left is so yesterday today.
I have similar views; save only that the Conservative Party knows it cannot afford to split, and since all that matters to them is the Conservative Party (and the expectation of office, if not power), the ferrets will find a way to keep the sack intact, whatever that entails. It is what they do best, at everyone’s expense. We should remember that for committed Conservatives, the Party interest and the National Interest are existentially the same entity.
You might expect that the British public would wake up and do the job of ‘splitting’ for them; and finally put the Conservative Party out of its misery (misery which the Party insists on inflicting on all of us): but this is Britain ….. ….
What the electorate do best (and more often) in Britain, is inertia. They prefer form to substance.
I take particular issue with the nonsense about “the creation of an outward looking Britain”.
Firstly the vision of this from the Conservative party seems to hark back to an era when trade was something that we did to other nations (sometimes at gunpoint). Nowadays trade always requires give and take (exactly what we are seemingly unable to offer to keep the best trading relationship with our nearest/most important partners).
Secondly, as has been said many times before, there is nothing about being in the EU that stops us being outward looking (and indeed being in the EU is an example of being outward looking that we are going to abandon). Germany must be really envious; just imagine what a successful, outward looking trading nation it could be if it was freed from the shackles of the EU!
I find it astonishing that someone of such little talent (May) has got to the position she has. Also, who knew that our elite universities were churning out so many utterly mediocre people (as evidenced by the current government)?
Given that UK is and never has been in the Eurozone I am increasingly intrigued by what is meant by “taking back control of money”.
I can only think that is something to do with the fall in the value of the pound but how on earth would they “control” that? Abandon the floating currency?, A one-off intervention by the BoE? Adopt MMT principles? (just kidding).
God only knows.
I think she means the UK’s net contribution to the EU. Except of course that we will keep paying to maintain access to bits we want , such as the European Medicines Agency or Erasmus. It remains to be seen whether buying “a la carte” access on a case by case basis will be any cheaper our current meal deal.
Andrew says:
“…. It remains to be seen whether buying “a la carte” access on a case by case basis will be any cheaper our current meal deal.”
Did you ever go to a restaurant where a la carte was the cheap option ?
No. Me neither.
They probably charge you for the jug of water aswell if you have the effrontery to ask for it.
Marco Fante says:
“Given that UK is and never has been in the Eurozone I am increasingly intrigued by what is meant by “taking back control of money”.
I can only think that is something to do with the fall in the value of the pound ”
Don’t think so. Unless that’s another fantasy up their sleeve.
I think she (she who must be …ignored) is talking about taking back control of the money Boris had pasted on his bus.
When the silly buggers have agreed to buy into what it costs for what’s left of the cake we want to have and eat I suspect the Boris millions will be into negative territory. That is to say it will cost more to be out than it cost to be in and we will have lost many of the advantages of membership.
There’s a psychological game, of sorts, where you offer a loaf of bread at a silly price and eventually the person pays substantially more for the crust that’s left after the rest of the loaf has by stages been removed from the table.
I think we risk seeing whether game theory works in practice.
If we think its bad, just what might they be thinking in European capitals? Its was implied that she would be coming out with more specifics – not that I believed a word of it. Instead of which as Andy and others have pointed out, its just more generalisations and even they are in complete contradiction with the reality that is in front of her. My suspicion is that the European countries are preparing for the worst and will be a lot better prepared than the UK.
Odds on its a car crash Brexit, with May and co screaming that its all the EU’s fault as the UK’s economy and reputation goes over the cliff. With I’m afraid, JC sitting in the back seat, commenting on the driver and the route.
Outside chance – Labour get their act together with the other parties and the small sensible faction in the Tories and put May, this government and most of the UK out of its misery. Long odds though
Robin,
My view is that we’re more likely to have a constitutional show-down before the EU/UK Brexit show-down due to:
1. the as-yet unsolved Irish border conundrum;
2. the inherently unstable political situation in N Ireland;
3. the UK Gov attempt to undermine the powers of the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments by insisting on taking control of powers already devolved to these parliaments.
The Welsh and Scottish Parliaments are going ahead with their own Brexit Withdrawal Bills ahead of the UK’s Withdrawal Bill passing through Westminster, so the convergence of fan and ordure is likely before the end of this month. The potential of a constitutional crisis to bring down the UK Gov and tear the UK apart should not be under-estimated, but, true to form, UK Gov doesn’t seem to have addressed it.
All very fair points Ken.
But as I understand it, we still need a majority vote of no confidence in parliament to bring this government down. As long as they are in power, whether its May or anyone else, I can’t see them changing direction. Its Stockholm syndrome for May with the ERG.
At the moment, I can’t see that vote happening, though I wish it would. If it does happen – then what? EU agrees to suspend negotiations and stop the clock? And hard to predict the outcome of any resulting election.
I fear that the EU, and by that I mean the countries of the EU, not just Brussels, may well feel fed up with the UK and decide that its time the UK spent a few years in the wilderness until they can be confident its come back to its senses, and might possibly be trustworthy again.
Robin,
Given the maverick nature of N Ireland politics, there is the potential for a small but seismic change at Westminster. What if the as-yet-unresolved conundrum of the Irish border can only solved by imposing UK customs controls at UK Irish Sea ports? This crosses the DUP’s red line that N Ireland must be treated exactly like other parts of the UK and, if that happens, might the DUP withdraw its support for the Tories at WM? If so, we have a UK minority Government liable to lose a confidence vote at any time.
Likewise, it has long been Sinn Fein policy not to take its seats at WM, but if they get sufficiently riled by DUP, e.g. about the protracted failure to re-establish power-sharing at Stormont, they might be tempted to turn up at WM and change the voting dynamic.
A lot of “what-ifs” there, but is the WM Gov taking any steps to minimise these risks?
Re your thought that the EU might consider that it’s time the UK spent a few years in the wilderness, I had the picture in my mind of the ghost of General de Gaulle looking down on Brussels and saying “I warned you not to let the b*stards in!”
I am amused by your last para
It is bizarre. Lancaster House, Florence, today. How many set-piece speeches of bathetic generalities do we need?
Let me add the infernal handcart to the excremental fan and the absent paddle.
Additions noted!
It was a begging letter to the EU and entirely unworkable. Dual external tariffs would give UK business an advantage over EU business yet we would be able to sell into the EU tariff free. 2 sets of rules and regulations for business to follow instead of one which is built into everything we do anyway , more red tape and probably a legal nightmare.
Hmmmph!!
It seems as though May has just added a section to the longest economic suicide note in history.
That’s all.
Though given that they seem incapable of writing any of it down, less of a suicide note and more of a series of suicide speeches
With regard to this view that NI would have to be different to the rest of the UK regulations wise, which is not permissible, I read it another way. Northern Ireland will stay aligned with the EU regulations and also with UK regs unless Northern Ireland permit a divergence from the UK because of changes in EU regulation. This means that the UK must follow Northern Irelands lead , if they change (because of EU regs) we change!
talk about the tail wagging the dog!