11 hours ago, RayC said:

The single market and the war in Ukraine are two distinct matters.

 

This UK government was so worried about ensuring peace on the island of Ireland that it completely ignored the well publicised concerns and objections of its' (former) ally and the easily foreseeable consequences of doing so.

 

Or alternatively the true nature of insular opportunists is made plain to see.

The EU. Unable to stop member states paying for Putin's gas in roubles, meanwhile pouring all it's resources into stopping Cumberland sausage ending up in Donegal.

 

Their morality and ineptness laid bare for all to see. ????

 

Thank god we've left that corrupt mob.

52 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

The EU. Unable to stop member states paying for Putin's gas in roubles, meanwhile pouring all it's resources into stopping Cumberland sausage ending up in Donegal.

 

Their morality and ineptness laid bare for all to see. ????

 

Thank god we've left that corrupt mob.

It's funny. Brexit supporters claim that the EU is a kind of dictatorship. And yet, when it's unable to stop its members from paying in rubles, it gets mocked for being weak. That's some fearsome dictatorship!

30 minutes ago, placeholder said:

It's funny. Brexit supporters claim that the EU is a kind of dictatorship. And yet, when it's unable to stop its members from paying in rubles, it gets mocked for being weak. That's some fearsome dictatorship!

Indeed. They are very selective about which rules they enforce and which ones are more, 'flexible'. 

 

Supporting Ukraine against the Russians? Flexible.

Punishing Britain for leaving the club? Enforced with steely determination.

 

Morality. EU style.

4 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Indeed. They are very selective about which rules they enforce and which ones are more, 'flexible'. 

 

Supporting Ukraine against the Russians? Flexible.

Punishing Britain for leaving the club? Enforced with steely determination.

 

Morality. EU style.

Far from being punished, the UK still enjoys privileges that other non-EU nations (except for the affiliated like Norway, for example)  don't. Like tariff-free trade. I guess you no longer subscribe to the common Brexiter interpretation of  "Brexit means Brexit". 

16 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Although the U.K Gov has claimed that its lawful 

 

https://mpa.co.uk/uk-denies-breaking-law-with-new-northern-ireland-plan/

Although the EU claim's it's unlawful ... who wins,  who's on the driving seat, do you hear the sound tick, tick, tick, tick and boom

The superior form of democracy that is the UK version looks likely to throw up a situation whereby the elected government proposes legislation, which may be in breach of international law, only to find that the proposed legislation is likely to be returned to them by an unelected second chamber. Oh, the irony!

 

Perhaps 'Whitehall Farce' should be renamed 'Westminster Farce'?

Hi again !

 

6 years after the referendum and one year and a half after effective brexit (=the TCA), a long summative article in the Financial Times (Free Access https://archive.ph/FTkAM)

 

Excerpts

Quote

as the sixth anniversary of the UK’s vote to leave the EU approaches, economists are starting to quantify the damage caused by the erection of trade barriers with its biggest market, separating the “Brexit effect” from the damage caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. They conclude that the damage is real and it is not over yet.

 

 

Quote

Complaints about high immigration was one of the most contentious issues of the referendum, with a central promise of the Brexit campaign being tougher controls over the number of people entering the country. While net immigration from EU countries has stopped, with effectively no change apparent in the two years to the end of June 2021, net immigration from non EU countries has remained high, with 250,000 in the latest year.

Quote

There is, as yet, little appetite among Britain’s political leaders for a return to the EU — even if the other 27 member states were prepared to open the door. Even the pro-EU Liberal Democrats admit reversing course is a long-term aspiration, rather than an immediate goal.

 

Quote

Tobias Ellwood, a former Tory defence minister, suggested Britain should rejoin the EU single market to soften the cost of living crisis, and said there was “an appetite” for a rethink and claimed polling indicated “this is not the Brexit most people imagined”. And Daniel Hannan, a leading Tory Brexiter, repeated his longstanding view that Britain should have stayed in the single market under a Norway-style relationship with the EU, while adding that to rejoin it now “would be madness”.